iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Customs officials searched more travelers electronic devices in 2017 than any previous year.



In fiscal year 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted 30,200 searches, up nearly 60 percent from 19,051 in 2016.



The number of searches of cellphones, laptops, tablets and other electronic data spiked from 2015 to 2016 and the upward trend continued last year.



The record month was in August, with 3,133 searches of electronic devices.



CBP is authorized to search any device of any international traveler -- both U.S. citizen and non-citizen -- as they leave or enter the United States, similar to a bag search.



About 80 percent of searches are of non-U.S. citizens. Only diplomats are exempt.



Just a fraction of travelers have their electronics searched. Approximately 0.007 percent of arriving international travelers processed by CBP officers in 2017 had their devices searched.



The number of searches has gone up over the past few years because travel has increased, more people carry devices and CBP has trained more officers in the search process, according to a senior CBP official.



CBP also released an updated policy directive this week, which provided clarified guidance and standard operating procedures for searching, reviewing and retaining information found on these devices.



The bureau issued the new directive to clarify public questions over the issue, as well as give crystal clear guidance to officers conducting the searches in the field, according to the senior CBP official.



The directive clarifies that only data found on the physical device at the time of travel can be reviewed by customs officials. Information stored on the cloud thats not already downloaded cannot be viewed.



In addition, officials are instructed to ask travelers to turn off their data transmission capability, such as putting a phone in airplane mode, before an officer looks at the phone, so that cloud data wont inadvertently be viewed.



Officers are instructed to document passwords only for the purposes of opening a phone or other device, according to the directive. CBP officers must destroy the password once the device is opened.



The directive also distinguishes basic and advanced searches. A basic search is a review of the content on the phone. An advanced search is when CBP is required to conduct further forensic testing to retrieve the data.



In order to do an advanced search, it must be based on reasonable suspicion of a violation of the law or a national security concern and requires approval by a higher-level officer.



The majority of searches are basic searches, said CBP.



If someone refuses to unlock a device, the device can be detained by CBP.



U.S. citizens will always be allowed to enter the U.S., but their phones could be held back -- generally for no more than five days.



For non-citizens, refusal to open a device could lead to denied entry. If incriminating information is found, CBP officers could refer the case to an investigative agency, like the FBI, or for non-citizens, deny them entry into the U.S.



People are selected for an electronic search based on a number of factors, including travel pattern, prior intelligence and answers to interview questions.



CBP has policies against racial profiling but said that country of origin can play a part in whether someone is searched, according to the CBP official.



These searches help detect evidence relating to terrorism and other national security matters, human and bulk cash smuggling, contraband, and child pornography, as well as financial and commercial crimes, according to CBP.



A good number of the searches that lead to inadmissibility involve national security-related content, said a senior CBP official.



Images of terror groups, like ISIS and images of torture have been found during these searches, according to CBP.



In this digital age, border searches of electronic devices are essential to enforcing the law at the U.S. border and to protecting the American people, said deputy executive assistant commissioner, Office of Field Operations, John Wagner in a statement.



Electronic searches have been under scrutiny from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which said that despite improvement, the updated policy still "falls far short of what the Constitution requires -- a search warrant based on probable cause."



The policy would still enable officers at the border to manually sift through a travelers photos, emails, documents, and other information stored on a device without individualized suspicion of any kind. Additionally, it fails to make clear that travelers should not be under any obligation to provide passcodes or other assistance to officers seeking to access their private information. Congress should continue to press CBP to improve its policy," said Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement.



In September, the ACLU, along with Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the administration, challenging searches of smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices at the border as unconstitutional.



The lawsuit represents 10 U.S. citizens and one green card holder, which the ACLU says had their rights violated when border officials searched their smartphones or other electronic devices when they were returning from travel abroad. Officials confiscated and held several of their devices for weeks or months, according to the lawsuit.



In December, the government filed a motion, asking the court to dismiss the case.

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The body of a Roswell woman missing since early December has been found near Hagerman.

Leotta Talbert, 80, was reported missing Dec. 3, 2017, after leaving Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell prior to being discharged. Surveillance video showed Talbert departing ENMMC in a white 2011 Ford Fiesta.

On Thursday, a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish pilot conducting a bird survey southeast of Hagerman spotted a car parked near the Pecos River. Game and Fish ground units in the area responded to the location and were able to confirm the vehicle belonged to Talbert.

The New Mexico State Police and Chaves County Sheriffs Office were contacted and initiated a ground search for Talbert. The search resumed this morning, with assistance from the Hagerman Police Department, Atoka Fire and Rescue, and U.S. Border Patrol, and at approximately 12:30 p.m., Talberts body was located near the area in which her vehicle was found.

The body has been turned over to the Office of the Medical Investigator for autopsy.

A Silver Alert had been issued for Talbert the day she departed ENMMC, and the RPD and NMSP had been engaged in air and ground searches in the Roswell area since Dec. 6. The area between Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge and Bottomless Lakes State Park had been searched with no success, as well as the area between Bottomless Lakes and Dexter.
Move comes close on the heels of a mega deal announcement late last month that Reliance Jio.

The deal will bring an immediate relief to RCom, which is reeling under Rs 45,000 crore debt. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Debt-laden Reliance Communications on Friday said it would not be paying interest on Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) till completion of its restructuring exercise.

The move comes close on the heels of a mega deal announcement late last month that Reliance Jio, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will acquire the spectrum, tower, optical fiber network and other wireless assets of Reliance Communications.

While the two companies have not disclosed the deal size, banking sources peg the transaction value at Rs 24,000-25,000 crore. In a regulatory filing today, RCom said:

"The asset sale proceeds shall be utilised to repay company's debt including NCDs in such manner as may be decided by JLF (joint lenders forum)...company shall not pay or fix any record date for payment of interest on NCDs till completion of restructuring process."

At present, the company is working "expeditiously" to complete the process and expects to close the deal in a phased manner between January and March 2018, subject to statutory approvals, it added.

The RCom-Jio deal announced on December 28 (coinciding with the 85th birth anniversary of Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani) packs in 122.4 MHz of 4G Spectrum in the 800/900/1800/2100 MHz bands, over 43,000 towers, 1,78,000 kilometres of fiber and 248 media convergence nodes.

The deal will bring an immediate relief to RCom, which is reeling under Rs 45,000 crore debt, and the company hopes to use the entire proceeds to pare its debt.

Just two days before the blockbuster deal, Reliance Communications - promoted by Anil Ambani - had announced its exit from the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) and outlined an ambitious revival plan that involved zero write-offs to lenders.
Under scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 per month.

APY became operational from June 1, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years.

New Delhi: PFRDA-run Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached a subscriber base of 80 lakh, an official statement said on Friday.

"Now, the subscribers' base under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has reached more than 80 lakhs and growing at a good pace," the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) said in a statement.

Uttar Pradesh is the highest contributing state at 11.41 lakh APY subscribers, followed by Bihar and Tamil Nadu at 8.87 lakh and 6.60 lakh respectively.

PFRDA said it has taken various initiatives for expansion of outreach and easing operations under APY such as account statement view and e-PRAN (permanent retirement account number) so that customers can easily access their accounts.

The authority said it is promoting digital initiatives for the convenience of subscribers and they can register for the scheme online as well to eliminate the need for furnishing physical documents.

APY became operational from June 1, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years.

Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 per month, depending on his contribution, from the age of 60 years.

APY follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of central government employees.

"During the year 2016-17, it has earned a return of 13.91 per cent," PFRDA said.

PFRDA-managed NPS and APY schemes have a subscriber base of 1.91 crore (at the end of December 2017). The overall assets under management (AUM) stands over Rs 2,17,000 crore.

"PFRDA's endeavour is to significantly scale up these segments during the ongoing months," it added.
Outfit's chief said that it was high time the Centre and the state government set an example by not allowing the film to release.

Jaipur: Shri Rajput Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi on Friday called upon the community members to gather in Chittorgarh on January 27, and push for a complete ban on the controversial Sanjay Leela Bhansali film 'Padmavati'.

"Members of the Rajput community will gather in Chittorgarh on January 27 to give a clear message that the sacrifice of Rani Padmavati has not gone in vain. Anyone who supports our call of banning the film can join us in Chittorgarh," Kalvi said at a press conference here.

He said that they will not let the film be released at any cost.

A panel that reviewed the film in a special screening has expressed the view that some of the facts presented in the film can upset the Rajputs and the Muslims, but the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief has ignored that, he added.

Kalvi said that it was high time the Centre and the state government set an example by not allowing the film to release.

He said that Bhansali had earlier maintained that the film was based on history, later he said it was a period drama and now he has said that it was fiction.

"Till now, he has not been able to clarify his point," he added.

On December 30, the CBFC, headed by Prasoon Joshi, had announced that the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Padmavati' would be given a U/A certificate, and suggested that the director change the film's title to 'Padmavat'.

It had also suggested certain modifications in the disclaimer of the film, making it clear that it did not glorify the practice of 'Sati', and relevant changes in the song, 'Ghoomar', to befit the character portrayed in it.

The CBFC had clarified that the U/A certificate would be issued to the film once the modifications were carried out, and the final material was submitted.

The film got stuck in a controversy after various Rajput groups alleged that it distorted history, a claim repeatedly denied by Bhansali.

As the anti-Padmavati protests spread across various states, the film's December 1 release was deferred as it did not have a clearance from the censor board.
There are countries which give it for free and it's an essential thing to make the women strong, says the superstar.

Mumbai: He may have now become one of the most bankable actors in Hindi film industry, but during the initial days of his career in Bollywood, Akshay Kumar said he was treated like an outsider.

The 50-year-old actor, who has given some major blockbusters such as 'Special 26', 'Baby', 'Airlift', and 'Rustom' in the past one decade, said an actor's luxury on a film's set depends on the number of hits and flops.

"Yes, I was made to feel (outcast). I remember while doing a two-hero film, my three-four films didn't work, but his (the other hero) did. We were having an equal role, but he gets a suite room and I get a single room. He gets an amazing car, but I get that 'you come in the bus,' yes it really happens," Akshay said in a media interaction.

The actor said the moment his films started working, his equations with a lot of people in the industry changed.

"If my films work, I would get a bigger room. Sometimes from business class, I was shifted to the first class when my films were running. When my films were doing exceptionally well, I would get a private jet as well," he added.

Akshay said in his "27 and a half years" long career he has had low phases "three to four times", but failures did not bother him.

"Never take lull or success seriously. They will come and go. It (the ups and down) is bound to happen."

The actor is now geared up for the release of his first film of the year, 'Padman', scheduled to hit the screens on January 25.

The film, directed by R Balki, chronicles the inspiring story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created affordable sanitary pads.

On government's decision to levy GST on sanitary pads, Akshay said they should be made free.

"People ask me what do you feel about GST (on sanitary pads). I say, why should there be a GST? It should be free! There are countries which give it for free, there's no GST on it. It's an essential thing to make the women strong. I feel it should be free for women."
Seven fire engines are at the studio - located in Kanjurmarg - trying to bring the blaze under control.

According to reports, the fire department received a call at around 8 pm and the fire engines reached the spot at 8:25 pm. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Mumbai: A massive fire has broken out at Cinevista studio in east central Mumbai on Saturday evening.

According to PTI, eight fire engines and six water tankers have been pressed into service to put out the flames.

According to reports, the fire department received a call at around 8 pm and the fire engines reached the spot at 8:25 pm.

#WATCH: Fire broke out in #Mumbai's Cinevista studio in Kanjurmarg. 7 fire tenders at the spot. pic.twitter.com/MV6OZz2YSH  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

Cinevista Stidio is run by Prem Kishen, son of actor Premnath.

At the time of the incident, two television (TV) serials were being shot at the studio. All the people including the cast and crew were evacuated from the studio and are reported to be safe.

The blaze, according to preliminary reports, started from a generator in the studio.

Located in a five acre property, the Cinevista studio has over 30 shooting locations.

The incident comes in less than ten days after a deadly fire killed 14 people including 11 women, most of them in their 20s and early 30s in the city's Kamala Mills Compound.
ASP Garg says last week, too, three powerful IEDs were recovered from two places in the same area.

Maoists regularly plant IEDs to target security forces during their anti-Naxal operations in the state.(Photo: Representational | PTI)

Raipur: Three powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suspected to have been planted by Naxals, were recovered by security forces from Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said on Saturday.

The home-made bombs, weighing 15 kg, 9 kg and 5 kg, were unearthed on Friday by a joint team of the CRPF and the local police from the forests under Basaguda police station limits where a road construction work is underway, Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

A road is being built from Basaguda (Bijapur) to Jagargunda in Sukma district, another insurgency-hit district.

The 49 km road is not only strategically important but also crucial for the people living in this inaccessible region, he said.

A bomb disposal squad immediately defused the explosives, which were spotted when security forces were carrying out patrolling near an under-construction bridge, the police officer said.

Garg said last week, too, three powerful IEDs were recovered from two places in the same area, he said.

Maoists regularly plant IEDs to target security forces during their anti-Naxal operations in the state.
The ministry said the cadre restructuring of AFHQ CS as approved by the Union Cabinet shall be duly implemented.

In the October 18, 2016, letter, the defence ministry, had made the rank equivalence between civilian officers and serving military officers on the basis of their functional responsibilities. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: In a major decision, the defence ministry on Friday announced withdrawal of a controversial note it had issued over two years back on status equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts, which had triggered widespread anguish in the armed forces.

"The Ministry of Defence letter dated October 18, 2016 on the issue of equivalence between Armed Forces officers and Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQ CS) Officers is withdrawn," the defence ministry said.

It said the letter has been withdrawn following direction by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The ministry further said the cadre restructuring of AFHQ CS as approved by the Union Cabinet shall be duly implemented.

"Designations to be created in consequence of the additional posts sanctioned by the Cabinet will be done in consultation with Service HQs," it said.

There has been growing resentment among the military officers who have been insisting that the current status equivalence was flawed and that the government must address their concerns.

For example, according to current norms, director-level officers have been put on the same level with the directors of the Armed Forces Headquarters-cadre. The military officials have been insisting that Lt Colonel is equivalent to directors of AFHQ cadre.

In the October 18, 2016, letter, the defence ministry, had made the rank equivalence between civilian officers and serving military officers on the basis of their functional responsibilities.

Following the order, for example, a Principal Director in AFHQ was made equivalent to a Major General, a Director was made equivalent to a Brigadier and a Joint Director was made on par with a Colonel.

A Colonel earlier was equivalent to a Director.

The ministry said "local designations" assigned to both service and civilian Officers in Service Headquarters/ Inter Service Organisations (ISOs) is also withdrawn.

It also said that both Service and Civilian Officers will use their respective cadre designations only.

"So far as the Channel of reporting/rendition of Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) is concerned, status quo ante is hereby restored, i.e., the position which existed prior to the issue of MoD letter dated 18 October 2016 shall prevail," the ministry said.
The probe agency had earlier attached a Delhi farmhouse in connection with its probe against Bharti and her husband.

The ED has filed a second chargesheet against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a second chargesheet against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a money laundering case before a Delhi court, which on Saturday kept both charge sheets for consideration on February 5.

Irked over the repeated filing of chargesheets by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar, Special Judge N K Malhotra berated the agency for not letting the trial begin.

"Will you let the trial begin or keep filing complaints? How many supplementary chargesheets will you file? You are a premier investigating agency. You cannot behave like this. It is an ill-drafted complaint," the judge said.

The court, which could not take cognisance of the chargesheet filed on December 23, 2017 against Bharti and Kumar, posted the matter for February 5 for considering both the charge sheets after ED special counsel Atul Tripathi sought time to make further submissions in the matter.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing chartered accountant Rajesh Agrawal, who was also arrested by the ED in connection with the case, sought adjournment citing pendency of bail plea of brothers Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain, who have been accused of laundering crores of rupees using shell companies.

Rajesh Agrawal was arrested by the ED following allegations that he mediated and provided Rs 90 lakh in cash to the Jain brothers in advance to invest in Bharti's firm Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd "as share premium".

The probe agency had earlier attached a Delhi farmhouse in connection with its probe against Bharti and her husband.

The farmhouse, located at 26, Palam Farms in south Delhi's Bijwasan area was attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

It belongs to Bharti and Kumar and is "held in the name of Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited", the central probe agency had said.

"It was purchased using Rs 1.2 crore involved in money laundering in the year 2008-09," it had alleged.

The agency had in July 2017 raided several locations, including the farmhouse, as part of its probe against the Jain brothers and others.

The Jain brothers were arrested by the ED under the PMLA.

One of the firms that the arrested duo was linked with was Ms Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited.

The ED had alleged that Bharti and her husband had served as directors of this firm in the past.

"The company, Ms Mishail Packers and Printers, was registered at the address 25, Tuglak Road, New Delhi till the shares were bought by Bharti. It was only during the year 2009-10 that the address was changed to farm no 26 Palam Farms, VPO Bijwasan, New Delhi. Bharti and Kumar were the directors of the company during the relevant period," the probe agency had said.

The couple were also interrogated and their statements were recorded by the agency in this probe case.

The agency said the Jain brothers, CA Agrawal and the daughter and the son-in-law of the former Bihar chief minister were the "key persons behind the money laundering of Rs 1.2 crore".
Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu reserved the order after hearing arguments of counsel for the accused, CBI and the complainant.

Pradyuman was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom on September 8, in 2017. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: A Gurgaon court will pronounce on Monday its order on the bail application of a 16-year-old student, accused of killing 7-year-old Pradyuman Thakur at Ryan International School.

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu reserved the order after hearing arguments of the counsel for the accused, the CBI and the complainant.

The defence counsel claimed the chargesheet in the matter was not filed within one month, as prescribed in the Juvenile Justice Act, and he was not given required documents.

Opposing the contention, the CBI said the mandatory period for filing a chargesheet is 90 days under CrPC provisions. The counsel for the CBI said that "circumstances have changed" as the accused had been declared an adult by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

Read: Pradyuman murder: Juvenile Board rules 16-yr-old to be tried as adult

Therefore, the chargesheet needed to be filed within three months. Seeking dismissal of the bail plea, the CBI said the JJB order asking to try the accused as an adult, spoke about his mental status and the fact that he committed a heinous crime.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for Pradyuman's father Barun Thakur, questioned the maintainability of the application and said the accused should file a fresh bail plea before the court due to the changed circumstances.

On the contention of the accused that necessary documents were not provided to him, the CBI said the records had already been produced before the court and the accused never demanded any paper, nor any direction was passed by the court in this regard.

Pradyuman was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom on September 8, in 2017.

The Gurgaon Police had claimed the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which was later refuted by the CBI.

The probe agency claimed, the teenager had killed Pradyuman in a bid to get the school closed so that a parent-teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the accused against an order of the JJB denying him bail.

Tekriwal had said the appeal for bail was at a "premature stage" as the investigation was yet to be concluded.

The JJB had on December 20 held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurgaon Sessions Court.

The JJB had noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions. If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 years old after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, it had said.

The board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 Ryan International School student. It had set up a committee which included a psychologist from the PGI, Rohtak, for an expert opinion on the accused, who was taken into custody by the CBI in November 2017.

Read also: Class XI student sent to 3-day CBI remand after being accused of killing Pradyuman

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 lowers the age of juveniles from 18 years to 16 years for heinous crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity-cum-murder, which warrant at least seven years of imprisonment.

However, the JJB first decides whether the crime was "child-like" or was it committed in an "adult frame of mind, following which it orders the accused to be tried as juvenile or adult.
Prakash Ambedkar says that the new order, in the name of religion, that is coming into existence is like Hitler-shahi (Hitler's rule).

Ambedkar urges the backward class communities to recognise their electoral strength and vote only for backward class, Dalit and tribal candidates, so that they could control the reins of power. (Photo:PTI)

Bhopal: The politics of religion, if not checked, could give rise to "many Hafiz Saeeds" among Hindus, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar said on Friday.

"The politics of religion can become uncontrollable if it is not checked and it can give rise to many Hafiz Saeeds among the Hindus," he said, referring to the Pakistan-based co-founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"This new order, in the name of religion, that is coming into existence is like Hitler-shahi (Hitler's rule)," Ambedkar said, addressing the gathering at a programme, organised to mark the birth anniversary of former Satna MP, late Sukhlal Kushwaha.

Referring to the recent violence in Maharashtra over the 200th anniversary celebrations of the battle of Bhima- Koregaon, Ambedkar, who had subsequently called for a bandh which brought life in Mumbai and elsewhere in the state to a halt, said, "People belonging to Hindutva organisations attacked those from the backward classes. We are demanding that the (Maharashtra) government arrest those who were involved, but the government appears to be helpless. It is the government's responsibility to act and if not checked immediately, it (violence against Dalits) may spread to the other states."

He urged the backward class communities to recognise their electoral strength and vote only for backward class, Dalit and tribal candidates, so that they could control the reins of power.

Referring to the BJP-led government at the Centre, Ambedkar said, "If it comes to power again, even the right to speak, which we are enjoying now, will be taken away. Therefore, we have to fight to save this right and the Constitution."

The former MP, who is the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, urged the Congress to declare backward class leader and the president of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit, Arun Yadav, its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state Assembly election.

"If the Congress fails to do so, we will have to choose our own way," he said.

Arun Yadav and former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav were also present at the meeting.
According to police, Dinesh was allegedly having an affair with the 23-yr-old woman and had eloped four days ago.

According to police, the woman's brother Shankar and her maternal uncle Rinku learnt about their location and took them near a canal in Mayur Vihar Phase-I where they repeatedly stabbed them. (Photo: Representational image)

New Delhi: A 30-year-old man was killed and his distant cousin who he was allegedly in an extramarital relationship with was injured after they were attacked with knives by the woman's relatives for eloping, the police said on Friday.

The incident was reported from east Delhi's New Ashok Nagar on Friday.

Dinesh, a father of three, was allegedly having an affair with the 23-year-old woman, who was his distant relative. They had eloped from their homes four days ago, the police said.

The woman's brother Shankar and her maternal uncle Rinku learnt about their location and took them near a canal in Mayur Vihar Phase-I where they repeatedly stabbed them, the police said.

A police constable saw the incident and raised an alarm, following which people gathered and the duo were caught, they said.

Dinesh died on the spot and the woman was admitted to a hospital.

The accused were upset as they felt that the woman had spoiled the family's reputation by eloping with her married cousin.

"Her marriage had been fixed somewhere else and was scheduled next month. The woman was accused of running away with ornaments and cash meant for the marriage," Ravindra Yadav, a senior police officer, said.

The accused suspected that Dinesh had influenced her to do so, he said.
The DDA had handed over rehabilitation of the Kathputli Colony, in west Delhi, to a private company, Raheja Developers, in 2007.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is mulling requesting lieutenant governor (LG) Anil Baijal to hand over Kathputli Colony to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) for rehabilitation of its displaced residents, sources said.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), of which Mr Baijal is the chairperson, had demolished the colony in October 2017 for redevelopment and the incident triggered

violence.

The DDA had handed over rehabilitation of the Kathputli Colony, in west Delhi, to a private company, Raheja Developers, in 2007.

An official close to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that no work has been done in the colony in the past nine years and the government proposes to ask Mr Baijal to hand over the colonys rehabilitation work to DUSIB.

The 13 acres of land (Kathputli Colony) worth Rs 1,000 crore was handed over to Raheja Developers for Rs 6 crore and they have not done anything in the past nine years. This is a scam, the official said.

On Thursday, Mr Kejriwal had written to Mr Baijal asking him to hand over 333 slum clusters on DDA land in the city to the Delhi government for rehabilitation.

Of the 13 acres of Kathputli Colony, a huge portion of land will be used by the private builder (Raheja Developers) for construction and sale of a large number of flats and commercial space in open market to private people in this prime location of Delhi, Mr Kejriwal had written in his letter to Mr Baijal.

The official said the developer would earn a profit of Rs 700 crore through this and said that if handed over to the government, they would make more flats available to the public and save crores of rupees of public money.
The injured OC has been hospitalised, cops said adding that a police contingent later went to the spot to bring things under control.

OC of Shyampur police station Suman Das, with a police team had gone to Bargarchomukh village on Friday night after hearing reports of a clash between two groups over property dispute, other police officials said. (Photo: File | Representational)

Howrah/Kolkata: Two policemen including the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shyampur police station were injured when a mob attacked them in Howrah district, police said on Saturday.

OC of Shyampur police station Suman Das, with a police team had gone to Bargarchomukh village on Friday night after hearing reports of a clash between two groups over property dispute, they said.

When police were trying to disperse the two groups, the OC and another policeman were attacked by a mob, the police said.

The injured OC has been admitted to hospital, they said adding that a large police contingent later went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Seven people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the OC, they added.
Shiv Sena bemoaned large-scale damage to property by protesters during the January 3 bandh called by Dalit outfits.

None of the Dalit leaders tried to calm tempers of the community members, who, anyway, were in no mood to listen to them, Shiv Sena lamented. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: Maharashtra is moving towards "chaos and destruction" due to caste conflict, the Shiv Sena said on Saturday as it continued its attack on the Devendra Fadnavis government over the violence at Bhima-Koregaon village.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, a junior ally in the BJP-led government, bemoaned large-scale damage to property by protesters during the January 3 bandh in Maharashtra called by Dalit outfits to denounce the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district.

"Dalits are calling for bandh and Hindutvawadi groups are taking out morchas. It looks like Maharashtra is moving towards chaos and destruction due to caste conflict instead of prosperity," read an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Sena organ said if the bandh called by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) was peaceful, his stature as a leader would have risen.

"His followers have become directionless. In Kolhapur, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was desecrated," the Marathi daily said.

The editorial said the Shiv Sena was showing solidarity with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the time of caste conflict as it wanted to protect Maharashtra's "asmita" (pride) and ensure law and order.

The newspaper said efforts are being made to incite caste violence in the state by exploiting the clashes which took place at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1.

None of the Dalit leaders tried to calm tempers of the community members, who, anyway, were in no mood to listen to them, the BJP's bickering ally lamented.

Violence during the state-wide bandh resulted in loss of property to the tune of crores of rupees, the publication claimed, adding the financially bleeding transport body MSRTC alone took a Rs 25-crore hit.

"This is not the time to analyse if the caste violence will benefit the BJP or any other party," the editorial read.

It said the recent events reflected poorly on the state's home department, headed by Fadnavis.

On January 4, too, the Shiv Sena had attacked the Fadnavis government over its inept handling of the violence in Bhima-Koregaon and the subsequent incidents, alleging it had no work except to fight elections using the state machinery.

The violence erupted when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra.

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory as it is believed soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces.

The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.
The Opposition, on the other hand, has demanded his resignation for allowing communal tension to escalate in the state in the last three years.

Mumbai: Despite reports of unrest being witnessed in various pockets of Maharashtra in the last few days, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday asserted that the law and order situation in the state was absolutely good. The Opposition, on the other hand, has demanded his resignation for allowing communal tension to escalate in the state in the last three years.

Even today, the law and order situation in Maharashtra is absolutely good, there is no problem with it, Mr Fadnavis told reporters while addressing a curtain-raiser event for an upcoming investment summit.

However, Congress state president Ashok Chavan has held Mr Fadnavis responsible for the unrest in the state on communal lines in last three years. Communal tension has risen in the state in the last three years and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is responsible for it. Why havent they arrested those responsible for Bhima Koregaon attacks? Are they protecting the culprits? The chief minister should take responsibility and resign, said Mr Chavan.

The Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader, Mr Prakash Ambedkar had alleged that right-wing leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote were behind the attack and an FIR has been lodged against them in Pune.
The worst casualty has been our relationship with China. There is an unprecedented Chinese build up taking place in Doklam.

India has effectively entered into a General election year, a year where decibel levels, rhetoric, hyperbole would reach a crescendo and invective would fall to a new nadir and governance would be an obvious collateral casualty.

A critical aspect that would get further neglected amid this din is the continued isolation of India in its neighbourhood. A remoteness that has been steadily creeping on us since 2014 threatens to overwhelm us now. How did we come to this pass? Can certain correctives be applied before the situation reaches a point of no return? The jury is out on this.

The worst casualty has been our relationship with China. There is an unprecedented Chinese build up taking place in Doklam. Far from the standoff being resolved, it is getting perpetuated. Permanent facilities, new supply routes, heavy weaponry and state-of-the-art communications infrastructure has been put in place just hundreds of metres short of the flashpoint.

Nothing has come out of the latest round of border talks between the two NSAs held in December 2017. On the Belt and Road initiative, the distance between both the countries has widened since India boycotted the Bejing conference earlier this year. It was only three years back that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi-Jingping were swinging together in Ahmedabad.

The only silver lining to this otherwise grim scenario is that the bilateral trade between the two countries has been growing. Today, China is Indias largest trading partner, with a bilateral trade upwards of $71.5 billion. The total imports from China during the last fiscal stood at $61.3 billion against Indias export to China worth $10.2 billion. But the trade deficit which stood at $37.2 billion a few years ago stands at a whopping $51.1 billion today. India must put this relationship back on the track.

Closer home, the relationship with Nepal has not recovered from the economic blockade of 2015. The NDA government at the Centre may argue that this was not the first time that the government of India had resorted to this tactic. An earlier government had done the same thing in 1989. However, the difference between the two is the times we live in. South Asia in the late 1980s and the region now are vastly different. The physiological blow, thanks to mobile telephony, Internet and the social media, to the people of Nepal because of the blockade has been far greater this time than ever before.

Bhutan has been a trusted friend over the decades. It is the only country in the neighbourhood that stood with India when we boycotted the Belt and Road Forum held in Bejing in May 2017.

The relationship with Sri Lanka isnt good either. The Chinese presence in that country is underpinned by huge infrastructure development projects in the form of ports and waterfronts. China is constructing the Port in Hamabantota and an entire new port city on the waterfront in Colombo. It is expected to attract investment worth $13 billion over the next 30 years. The Hamabantota Port was formally handed over on a 99 year lease to China in the December of 2017. The implications of having the Chinese sitting on the head of the Indian Ocean, a short distance away from the Indian shores will have portentous consequences.

A little to the South East lie the coral islands of Maldives. India, over the decades, has nurtured a very special relationship with this breathtaking archipelago. Back in November 1988, India had sent its special forces to ward of a coup attempt against the then President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Operation Cactus was a smashing success. From there we have reached a pass where three local Maldivian Councillors were suspended for as much as meeting the Indian Ambassador. Far more galling for India is the fact that Maldives has signed a Free Trade Agreement with China completely ignoring Indias sensitivities on the issue. It is the second country in South Asia in addition to Pakistan that has signed such an agreement.

Moreover, Maldives has reportedly signed 12 more agreements with China, including a pact to jointly promote the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. The agreements with the Maldives are part of Beijings persistent exertions to persuade South Asian countries to embrace the OBOR initiative, and confer infrastructure construction projects on Chinese companies.

Earlier, Maldives had allowed three Chinese warships to dock in Male, a first for the island nation.

Finally, moving to Pakistan. There has been a lot of exultation and self-congratulatory backslapping in India over a 4.42 am tweet by the US President Donald Trump on the first day of 2018 that skewered Pakistan. It would be appropriate to reproduce the tweet in full The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more! The irony is that there is no mention of India in this tweet.

This is notwithstanding the fact that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism roughly coincides with Pakistan becoming a frontline ally of the US in the Afghan Jihad in the early 1980s to free Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion of December 1979. In fact, it was the wash of weapons into the region to overpower the Soviet that were used by Pakistan to arm semi-state terrorists that have been wrecking mayhem in India since 1980.

Mr Trumps diatribe would push Pakistan into the welcoming embrace of China while Russia would be all too happy that a nation that bled them during the Afghan occupation bled the US equally through its chicanery and double dealing. This takedown of Pakistan should be off no strategic consequence to India, as it does not better Indias influence in the neighbourhood.

For serious students of Indias strategic interests, the question is how did we skid down this un-slippery slope so rapidly?
Lenovo has reveals new ThinkPad laptop series with 8th-Gen Intel core processors, facial recognition support and Type-C power adapters.

Lenovo has revealed its new "ThinkPad" laptop series ahead of the CES 2018. The company has introduced the updated versions of ThinkPad X, ThinkPad T and ThinkPad L laptop series. The refreshed versions integrate new features such as the 8th-generation Intel Core processors and the USB Type-C power adapters.

Talking about ThinkPad X series, it comes with fast charging feature that is said to juice up to 80 per cent battery life in 60 minutes. The ThinkPad the X380 Yoga will come packed with an Active Pen and an IR camera with Windows Hello support, starting at $1,459 (approximately Rs 92,500). The Lenovo ThinkPad X series will be available for purchase sometime in January.

Moving ahead, the ThinkPad T series has new security features such as fingerprint reader, the IR camera and ThinkShutter Camera. The company claims that the ThinkPad T480s is one of the lightest business laptops in its category and the ThinkPad T devices can get up to 27 hours of battery life. While the ThinkPad T480 is priced at $989 (approximately Rs 62,700), the ThinkPad T480s starting price is $1,269 (approximately Rs 80,500). The Lenovo ThinkPad T580 will be available at a price of $1,079 (approximately Rs 68,400).

As for the ThinkPad L laptop lineup, it offers the 8th Gen Intel Core processor, optional multi-touch displays and docking solutions. The ThinkPad L380 Yoga is priced at $549 (approximately Rs 34,800), the ThinkPad L380 will be available at a price of $449 (approximately Rs 28,500), the ThinkPad L480 will come with a price tag of $779 (approximately Rs 49,400). The Lenovo ThinkPad L series will be available for purchase sometime in February this year.

The company has unveiled the ThinkPad Ultra Docking Station that will be available in three different variants  Basic 90W at $199 (approximately Rs 12,600), Pro 135W will be available at a price of $249 (approximately Rs 15,800) and Ultra 135W at $299 (approximately Rs 19,000).

Lenovo also introduced a new 2-in-1 PC dubbed Lenovo Tablet 10. The new 2-in-1 PC features a fingerprint reader and discrete Trusted Platform Module. It is powered by an Intel Celeron N Series processor. The new Lenovo Tablet 10 will be available from January 2018.

Lenovo has also introduced the ThinkVision X24, priced at $249 (approximately Rs 15,800). The ThinkVision P32u monitor, on the other hand, offers a UHD 4K display with multi-colour space capability, priced at $1,349 (approximately Rs 85,500).
According to CBP, agents conducted 60 per cent more searches of travellers cellphones in 2017.

Travellers selected by the agents will be required to unlock their devices or provide passwords, allowing access only to the physically stored information on them. (Photo: File/Representational)

As US tightens its immigration and residency laws, a statistical report released by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveals an increase in the number of cellphones searched by US customs agents in the 2017 fiscal year.

According to CBP, agents conducted 60 per cent more searches of travellers cellphones in 2017.

The agency said it searched 30,200 devices, but the inspections affected 0.007 percent of the 397 million travellers - American citizens as well as foreign visitors - who arrived from abroad during the 12-month period that ended September 30, the Washington Post reported.

CBP said that the searches were not a policy directive but conducted in lieu of the fact that electronic devices are important sources of information on looming security threats.

CBP official John Wagner said in a statement, "In this digital age, border searches of electronic devices are essential to enforcing the law at the US border and to protecting the American people."

The agency has issued new guidelines formalizing the procedure for conducting such searches. Under it, travellers selected by the agents will be required to unlock their devices or provide passwords, allowing access only to the physically stored information on them.

CBP agents would not be allowed to seek information stored externally or on a "cloud" linked to the device, the agency said, adding that only photographs, numbers, search, etc would be subject to security.

Americans and travellers asked to hand over their cellphones at airports and border crossings have not taken wholly well to the request in spite of CBPs continued support for the move, which has justified it as not an unreasonable violation of privacy right.

CBP will be using the information they derive from these searches to determine the admissibility of foreign visitors as well as intel on terrorism, child pornography and other criminal activities.

Privacy rights groups in US have appreciated the new guidelines notwithstanding their view of the move as intrusive and in breach of constitutional rights.

Civil rights groups seeking to curb device searches filed a suit with the federal government in 2017.

20 per cent of the travellers inspected are US citizens, according to a CBP official adding that the rest are either permanent residents or visitors.

While Americans will have the right to deny turning in their devices, non-citizens who refuse to hand over their cellphones could be sent back.
US President Donald Trump has come out in support of the protestors.

Nikki Haley called on all of her other colleagues in the Security Council to join her in amplifying the message of the Iranian people. (Photo: File)

United Nation: "The world will be watching what you do," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has warned Iran during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in the Islamic nation which has faced a series of nationwide anti-government protests.

During the meeting, three members France, Russia and China of the permanent five, joined Iran in asserting that this 15-membered body was not an appropriate forum to discuss the current situation in Iran as it does not pose any threat to international peace and security.

Heated debate took place on the floor of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York after its 15 members were gathered at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran.

"The people of Iran are rising up. They are asking for something that no government can legitimately deny them: their human rights and fundamental freedoms. They are calling out, Think of us. If the founding principles of this institution mean anything, we will not only hear their cry, we will finally answer it. The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do," Haley told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

The meeting of the UN Security Council was convened at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran, where some 21 people have lost their lives in more than week-long anti-government protests across the country.

US President Donald Trump has come out in support of the protestors.

Every UN member state is sovereign, but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms, Haley said.

She called on all of her other colleagues in the Security Council to join her in amplifying the message of the Iranian people.

"And I call on the Government of Iran to stop censoring the voice of the people and to restore the access to the internet. Because in the end, the Iranian people will determine their own destiny," she said.

"And let there be no doubt whatsoever: The US stands unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call the protestors, puppets of foreign powers, will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth," Haley said.

Briefing the Security Council, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said the demonstrations taking place in Iran were a fundamental expression of human rights, and a powerful exhibition of brave people who were so fed up with their oppressive regime that they were willing to risk their lives in protest.

The Iranian regime's contempt of the rights of its people had been widely documented, she said.

Addressing the Security Council, the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Gholamali Khoshoroo slammed the 15-membered body to have allowed itself to be abused by the Trump Administration in holding a meeting that falls outside the scope of its mandate.

This is a mistake by the Security Council, he said.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the US administration to escape, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," he said.

There is a long history of US bullying at the UN, and the case of the Iranian protest was a preposterous example of interference in the purely internal affairs of a nation.

Khoshoroo alleged that the US has a long history of intervening in the internal affairs of Iran, including a continuous pattern of disruption in the democratisation process in Iran.

British Ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, refuted the Iranian allegations and said that no one is forcing Iran onto their agenda.

"The Security Council is perfectly empowered through Article 34 of the UN Charter, and I quote, to investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security," he said.

However, the Russian representative Vassily A Nebenzia agreed with Iran and said US is abusing the platform of the Security Council.

Iran should be allowed to deal with its own problems, he said asserting that the Council should not be involved in destabilising Iran.

"Following the current logic, it should have held a meeting after the events in Ferguson, Missouri. History is full of attempts to replace undesirable regimes, but people preferred not to remember that. The real reason to convene the meeting is a veiled attempt to use the current moment to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," he said.

Observing that the Council's primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security, Wu Haito of China said that it should not be the venue for discussing the human rights situation of any country.

"The Iranian situation did not pose a threat to international peace and security, and discussing its domestic situation is not part of the Council's responsibilities as outlined in the Charter," he said.

Among the non-permanent members, representatives from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia sided with the Iranian argument that the Council was not the forum to discuss the current situation in Iran.

The meeting was chaired by Kairat Umarov, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UN. Speaking in his national capacity, he said his country considered the developments in Iran to be a domestic issue that did not fall under the mandate of the of the Security Council.
The report quoted that China is in talks with Pak to build its 2nd overseas military base for greater maritime capabilities.

The facility could be built at Jiwani, a port near Iran's Chabahar close to the border in the Gulf of Oman, and is located a short distance from Gwadar in Balochistan province which is currently being developed. (Photo: AP/File)

Beijing: US President Donald Trump's recent outburst on Pakistan will further boost economic and defence ties between Beijing and Islamabad, including China acquiring a Pakistani military base close to Iran's Chabahar port, an official media report said on Friday.

Trump's January 1 Twitter attack against Pakistan where he accused it of providing safe havens to terrorists appears to be helping boost already close ties between Pakistan and China, a media report said.

It attributed Islamabad's decision to allow Chinese currency in bilateral trade and financing transactions as China has stepped up its investments in the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The report quoted a 'Washington Times' report that China is in talks with Pakistan to build its second overseas military base as part of a push for greater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes.

The facility could be built at Jiwani, a port near Iran's Chabahar close to the border in the Gulf of Oman, and is located a short distance from Gwadar in Balochistan province which is currently being developed at Chabahar port being jointly developed by Iran, India and Afghanistan to ensure a trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan.

On China establishing a military base at Jiwani, a South Asian studies expert said "both Beijing and Islamabad have the ability to build a joint naval and air facility in Pakistan, but it is unnecessary at this time".

China has established its "first overseas military base in Djibouti" , in the Horn of Africa in Indian Ocean. However, China officially states that it is only a logistics base to service its naval personnel deployed for anti-piracy operations.

Besides Djibouti, China has also acquired the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease.
At the Angelus, Pope Francis wishes that the Christmas celebration "will be a source of new spiritual vigor and communion among all of us Christians". The Youth Mission Sunday. "Follow the example of the Magi: be ready to meet Jesus in our lives".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - At the Angelus prayer with pilgrims in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis sent greetings to those Eastern Churches which - following the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian calendar - celebrate Christmas these days. "To them - the Pope said - I address my most cordial wish: That this joyful celebration be a source of new spiritual vigor and communion among all of us Christians, who recognize Him as Lord and Savior".

For the Catholics, January 6 the solemnity of the Epiphany celebrates and recalls the adoration of the Child Jesus by the Magi, who came from the East, symbol of the peoples who are called to the Christian faith. This is why, on this day, the Holy Childhood MIssion Day is celebrated. The pontiff cited it after the Marian prayer, recalling that it "invites the missionary children to take on Jesus' own gaze, so that it may become the precious guide of their commitment to prayer, fraternity and sharing with the neediest of their peers" .

This morning the Pope had celebrated Mass in the basilica. Before the Angelus, still referring to today's Gospel (Matthew 2: 1-12), Francis highlighted "the three attitudes" with which "the coming of Jesus and his manifestation to the world was welcomed: Careful research, indifference, fear ".

The "care" is that of the Magi, who "try to identify where the newborn King can be found"; "Indifference" is that of "the high priests and scribes. They know the Scriptures and are able to give the right answer on the place of birth ... but do not bother to go and visit the Messiah"; "Fear" is experienced by Herod: "he is afraid that the Child will take away his power".

"We too - he added - we have to choose which of the three to take on. Selfishness can lead one to consider the coming of Jesus into our life as a threat. Then we try to suppress or silence the message of Jesus. When we follow human ambitions, the most comfortable perspectives, the inclinations of evil, Jesus is perceived as an obstacle.On the other hand, the temptation of indifference is always present. Even if we know that Jesus is the Savior, we prefer to live as if it were not: instead of behaving in coherence with our own Christian faith, we follow the principles of the world, which lead us to satisfy the inclinations of arrogance, the thirst for power and wealth. Instead, we are called to follow the example of the Magi: to carefully search, be ready to to meet Jesus in our lives. Search for Him to worship Him, to recognize that He is our Lord, the One who indicates the true way to follow. If we have this attitude, Jesus really saves us, and we can live a beautiful life, we can grow in faith, in hope, in charity towards God and towards our brothers".
GRAND FORKS, N.D.  Few homes in northeast North Dakota are built with the goal of achieving high energy efficiency and minimizing negative impact on the environment.

Dexter and Betsy Perkins, of Grand Forks, would like to change that.

For a couple of years, theyve worked on plans for a home that meets those criteria. And its now under construction in south Grand Forks.

(We) are building the greenest home ever built in this region, Dexter Perkins said.

With numerous innovations that maximize energy efficiency, the Perkinses home will be the only LEED platinum-rated house in North Dakota, he said. There are only a few in Minnesota.

The couple hope their home will serve as a model to increase consumer interest in environmentally friendly features in homes built by area construction companies.

Why continue to build poorly engineered homes that waste energy and resources when there are so many superior designs and materials that can be used? Dexter Perkins said.

We dont have to do it the way weve always done it.

The Perkinses were inspired to consider building the home in 2016, during a semester in Norway where Dexter, a UND geology professor, worked at a university. They learned about energy-efficiency technologies used there and began studying them in depth.

He and Betsy are working with a team that includes Jeramy Holm of Holm Sweet Home Construction of Buxton, North Dakota; two North Dakota State University architects who specialize in LEED home design, and a solar energy expert.

Building plans have been reviewed by a certified LEED rater in Colorado, Perkins said.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a certification program used to rate all building types, was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to rate a structure based on design, construction, operation and maintenance.

Platinum is the highest LEED rating.

Energy independent

Construction on the Perkins house began in August.

The walls are up, roof is up, and the interior walls are pretty much done, Perkins said.

The Perkinses roughly 2,500-square-foot house will generate its own electricity from PV, or photovoltaic, panels  also known as solar panels  that convert light into electricity.

Perkins expects these panels, the homes primary source of electricity, will generate more electricity than needed, and well be selling it back to the power company, he said.

The kitchen will be equipped with energy-efficient appliances.

A highly reflective roof will reduce heat absorption in the summer, thus curbing demand for air conditioning.

Twelve-inch-thick structural insulated panels, or SIPs, used in walls and ceilings are stronger and much better insulated than other materials, Perkins said.

Six-inch stud walls commonly used in home construction in the region are less energy efficient, he said.

The SIP panels, manufactured in Iowa, provide an insulation rating of R60, Holm said. R19 to 21 is typical. The higher the R-value, the greater the savings in energy costs.

An indoor water feature, with water flowing about 20 feet down the sides of a chimney, will add humidity  and a touch of nature  to the homes atmosphere.

The home, expected to be completed by April, is Holms first experience building with SIP panels, he said. The technology has always interested me.

We will try to do more of this type of home in the future, he said. There are probably a lot of people out there like Dexter and Betsy.

Cost-prohibitive?

While energy-efficient features add 15 to 20 percent to the cost of the house, the investment in most of those features is recouped within 10 years, Perkins said.

Depending on the choice of materials, at five to eight years, you break even.

He likened the selection of building materials to automobile shopping.

Do you want a Volkswagen or a Cadillac? he said. Were using the high-quality stuff. We just wanted the best materials.

With this home, the couple have the satisfaction of knowing youve built the most efficient home you can, Perkins said.

But he and Betsy know they are bucking an ingrained system.

Area construction businesses are quite conservative, and have a method for home-building thats working, Perkins said. Theyve got a winning formula. They know how to do it their way.

Only when the market changes will those businesses be motivated to change. And the market will change when consumer awareness increases.

Its not that the old way is wrong, Perkins said. Its just that there are better ways to do it.

Were setting a new standard. Theres so much room for other people to copy.
The County of Kern will go into negotiations with its fire union in the next few weeks, if not the next few days, and the stakes will be high.
Together we rise. Women stand strong. Those were just a couple messages on more than 20 signs that were made on Wednesday for this weekends W
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COMMUNITY VOICES: Tastries owner has stood by her beliefs more than once, and it was the right thing to do
A Billings attorney who has twice been suspended by the Montana Supreme Court is under investigation again for misconduct.

Brian Kohn has been accused of six violations of professional misconduct, including committing criminal perjury or false swearing and failing to return unearned fees to a client.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the states attorney watchdog, filed against Kohn in April and held a formal hearing in October. There is no deadline for a finding on the complaint, which will be made by the Commission on Practice, a body appointed by the Supreme Court.

The complaint stems from Kohns representation of William Beeman, a Billings resident who approached the lawyer in 2014 to handle his divorce. Beeman later asked Kohn to represent him on a criminal case after he was charged with assault.

Kohn took on the criminal case in the middle of his second misconduct investigation.

In the divorce case, Kohn failed to resume proceedings after Beeman asked. Beeman had reconciled with his wife for a period, during which he asked the attorney to put the divorce on hold, later deciding to proceed with the separation and instructing his lawyer accordingly.

But Kohn took no further action on the case after filing the petition, the complaint said.

The presiding judge dismissed the divorce petition because no action had been taken in more than a year.

(Kohn) simply abandoned Beeman, the complaint said.

The complaint also said Kohn failed to withdraw from the divorce case or inform his client when he was suspended by the Supreme Court.

That suspension, for missing a deadline to file for a clients post-conviction relief, was ordered on March 10, 2015, to last for 60 days beginning May 1, 2015.

Kohn was required to notify his client, opposing counsel and the courts of his suspension within 10 days, under the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement, which are written and enforced by the Montana Supreme Court.

Kohn told the Supreme Court in an affidavit seeking reinstatement that he had candidly informed his clients about the suspension and helped them find alternative counsel.

But in its review of Kohn, the Office of Disciplinary Conduct found Kohn hadnt told Beeman about the suspension. Because of that, Kohn committed the criminal act of perjury or false statement, the watchdog group said.

Beeman could not reliably get in touch with Kohn and went for long periods of time without hearing from him, the complaint said. Kohn failed to keep his client informed on his cases.

The complaint also said Kohn failed to return unearned fees to Beeman. The client paid a total of $8,500 for Kohns representation on the divorce and criminal matters, according to the complaint.

Beeman disputed those amounts in his response but provided no alternative figures for the fees.

In the criminal case, Kohn filed to continue Beemans trial on the same date Kohn was suspended for the second time, for a period of seven months.

Kohn wrote that he did so to accommodate his clients out-of-town travel, presumably for work, and that he was unaware he had been suspended at the time he filed to delay the trial.

But the second suspension should have come as no surprise to Kohn, since a month and a half earlier the Commission on Practice found that he had committed misconduct and had recommended the seven-month suspension.

Kohns second suspension came after he failed to inform a client that his appeal of a DUI conviction had been denied. Because Kohn never told the client, the client missed a deadline to appear at the municipal court clerks office to register for programs and payments related to the conviction, triggering a warrant for the clients arrest, the commission found.

And when the Office of Disciplinary Counsel asked Kohn for his file on the DUI case, which contained just two briefs, the attorney said the rest of the paperwork might be missing because there had been a flood in the storage area where his files were kept. The flood occurred before Kohn took the case, the commission found.

In his response, Kohn admitted he failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing Beeman.

Kohn also agreed that Beeman had eventually asked him to resume divorce proceedings, reiterating that Beeman had expressed second thoughts about the separation.

However, due to the erratic, irrational behavior of his wife, Beeman and the undersigned discussed the dissolution petition on file with the clerk and determined to leave it on file in case his wife acted similarly and attempted to leave with the children.

Beeman was later charged with felony assault after prosecutors say he tried to choke his wife after an argument about finances. Kohn represented Beeman in that matter, as well as on a protection order later filed against him.

Kohn could not be reached for comment Friday. His listed business number was disconnected, and office staff at 2722 Third Ave. N., where he previously rented office space, said he had not been in the building for a year and had left no contact information.

Kohn was one of three attorneys to be suspended in 2016. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel received 291 informal complaints that year regarding lawyer conduct.
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Missoula's dinosaur population is on the verge of extinction, thanks to some thieves.

A Missoula gas station is seeking the publics help in finding who stole a dinosaur statue from its parking lot during last weeks snowstorm.

According to an announcement by Noons Food Stores, the brontosaurus statue was stolen from the store at the corner of East Broadway and Madison Street on Dec. 29. That Friday evening, a snowstorm knocked out power to the store for around two hours.

Noons believes during this power outage, the thieves cut the padlock that held the statue  Baby Dino  to the fuel price sign in the parking lot and absconded with it.

"That's been the most surprising thing. I mean it's sad that it happened at all, but that somebody took it during a power outage in a snowstorm is just wild," marketing manager Earl Allen told the Missoulian.

Slightly smaller than another such statue at the East Broadway location, the stolen dinosaur is described as being around 3 feet tall, 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and is painted Kelly green. Allen said it weighs roughly 150 pounds.

Unlike most of the dinosaur statues located at Sinclair gas stations, Allen said the one that was stolen was made of aluminum, not fiberglass. And rather than coming from Sinclair's normal supplier, this one was crafted by a sculptor in Great Falls several years ago.

Allen said the company is trying to pin down a more specific valuation for the statue, but believes it to be at least similar to the price for the fiberglass versions, which can run several thousand dollars each. Such a value would mean that taking the statue would constitute a felony in Montana.

Noon's announcement said the company has reviewed available video surveillance and been in contact with the Missoula Police Department about the statue's theft. It asked anyone with information about the dinosaur statue's whereabouts to contact the police. The store is offering a reward for its return.

This is not the first time that a Sinclair mascot statue at a Noons store has been tampered with.

In 2012, a 12-foot-long dinosaur statue was taken from the gas station located at the intersection of Interstate 90 and U.S. Highway 93.

Most of the statue was found days later in a wooded area west of Missoula, although the head was returned separately to the store. The statue was repaired and put back in place.
LANGDON, N.D.  A Thursday night fire destroyed a 115-year-old building that contained the Langdon General Store, marking the third major blaze in two days in the north Red River Valley.

The buildings destruction means downtown Langdon has lost not only a historical structure but the opportunity for another business to occupy the space in the near future, General Store owner Alex Chaput said.

It was just a majestic building, he said. The history is gone.

About 50 firefighters from Langdon, Munich and the Cavalier Air Force Station responded to the blaze at 8:25 p.m. Thursday, Langdon Fire Chief Lawrence Henry said. No one was in the building at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.

Its unclear what caused the fire that displaced two residents. They later received aid from the American Red Cross, according to a news release.

Firefighters spent the night and early hours of Friday morning battling the flames in subzero temperatures, finally putting out the fire around 9 a.m., Henry said. That made it difficult to fight as waterlines froze up at times, he said.

Things just were not working properly like they would in warmer conditions, he said, adding the building was a total loss.

Built in 1902, the structure hosted various general stores at different periods of time. The Chaput family bought the building and opened their store in early 2015 as a response to retail chain ALCO closing, Chaput said.

The incident came a day after firefighters in Hallock, Minn., and East Grand Forks had to battle two fires of their own. Dust that clogged equipment in the MGI Grain Processing elevator in East Grand Forks likely caused sparks to be blown into the top portion of the tower before tubing caught fire and exploded Wednesday night. The fire was contained to the tower and was put out in 45 minutes, but it likely caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, East Grand Forks Fire Chief Gary Larson said.

Hallock Electric, which has been owned by Gary Koops family for nearly six decades, also caught fire Wednesday night and was destroyed. All that is left is a shell of the buildings four walls, Hallock Fire Chief Kevin Klein said.

A fire marshall is investigating the cause of that fire, but it wont be safe to inspect the building until the walls are pulled away, he said.

Certain fires, such as electrical and heat-related fires, may be more common in the winter months, Larson said, especially as people use those sources more.

People use space heaters, he said. Our days are shorter, so there are more lights on.

Having this many fires in such a short period of time is probably a coincidence, Henry said. No foul play is suspected in the three incidents.

I think it is just the unlucky nature of it, Henry said. Up here, we can go several years without a structure fire.

Extreme cold temperatures can cause problems when fighting fires, as displayed in Langdon. Negative temperatures can freeze water fast, making the scene and equipment slippery, Larson said. Wind also can blow water back at firefighters, freezing gear and clothing.

Thats a big problem with equipment also, he said. Climbing ladders, even holding an axe when you have to chop a wall when its coated with ice, the safety level just goes away.

Fires started by cigarettes and candles still are common, Larson said. The fire chiefs suggested checking heating equipment and being cognizant of material building up near heat sources can help prevent fires.

If you are burning wood, make sure your chimneys are clean, Klein said. Make sure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are working.
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Pasco County Sheriff's officials say they've seen an increase in the reporting of potential human trafficking cases in the three years since the county's commission on human trafficking was created.

Commission formed in September 2014

Members work in diverse fields

Commission's work has heightened public awareness

"Not just a law enforcement effort, not just a legislative effort, but we need to be able to combine all of those things," said Cpl. Alan Wilkett with the sheriff's office.



The commission was formed in September 2014. Its members work in fields like behavioral health, business, and the hospitality industry, to name a few.



Cpl. Wilkett points to a former business on State Road 52 in Hudson, Risque Lingerie, as a sign of the commission's success.



"They never used the front doors, they always used the back," said Amanda Hart. She owns the business next door, Black Jack Media Group.



"They would have people come in, and they weren't there very long. Then they would leave," she said.



Hart reported the strange behavior to the sheriff's office.



Wilkett said sexually oriented businesses in Pasco County are required to have two signs posted. One sign is required by Florida law and promotes human trafficking awareness. The other is required because of an ordinance the commission helped pass.

That sign has to say in easy-to-understand language how human trafficking victims can get help.



"They had a little bit of lingerie in the front area, but they also had a room that was locked, and they refused, initially, to allow us to see that," said Wilkett." "We had to be able to identify that that room fell within the purview of that ordinance."

"When they eventually opened it, we saw that it was a bed, sheer curtains and things of that nature, which had the appearance of activity other than just lingerie sales," Wilkett concluded.



The business voluntarily shut down, and no charges were filed.



Sheriff Chris Nocco said the commission has also helped to raise awareness about trafficking through its education programs.



"It is absolutely amazing when you talk to people and they say, 'I never knew how big of an issue human trafficking is,'" Sheriff Nocco said. "They're talking about it. So, to us, I think that is probably the number one thing that we've done is raise awareness."



That increased awareness, Nocco added, is not just among the general public.



"One of the statements that was made to me by a trafficker was, 'You guys are everywhere.' That's exactly what we want them to know," he said.
When is a penny worth $300,000? -- When its one of the first copper coins struck at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, in 1793.

Rare US coins sell for pretty penny at auction in Florida

One of first copper pennies sold for $300K

$4 gold piece call 'Flowing Hair Stella' sold for $750K

Rare half-dollar minted in New Orleans in 1838 also sold

The George Washington-era penny is one of about 500 in existence, according to Mark Borckardt, a senior numismatist with Heritage Auctions in Dallas, and it went up for auction this week at the annual Florida United Numismatists convention in Tampa.

The convention is one of the five largest coin and currency collectors shows in the nation, experts say.

Three historic coins, including the pricey penny, went up for auction Thursday evening. The auction drew $24.9 million in sales.

Other high-value U.S. coins sold at auction included a half-dollar minted in New Orleans in 1838. It was one of the first 20 produced there.

A $4 gold piece called a Flowing Hair Stella, sold for $750,000.

It was an experimental piece that the government produced, hoping to create an international coinage, Borckardt told the Associated Press. Its literally the forerunner of todays Euro. The government finally decided no, thats not going to work.

There are only about 15 to 20 of those quarter-sized gold coins in existence.

The three coins sold at a high value due to their rarity and excellent condition.

Collectors interested in these have a very strong sense of history, both American history and financial history, said Borckardt.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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A Texas man convicted of helping notorious serial killer and sadist Dean Corll lure at least 28 boys to their death is up for possible release following a Thursday hearing.

David Owen Brooks has gone before the parole board roughly 20 times in the more than four decades since he was sent to prison for his role in the mass murders between 1970 and 1973. But now, thanks to a new law passed in 2015, if he isn't released this time it could be another ten years before he's up for parole again.

"The bottom line is serial killer and parole are oxymoronic terms to begin with. And in this case there's no compelling reason to release him," said city of Houston victim advocate Andy Kahan, who headed up to Angleton this week along with the parents of Stanton Dreymala, believed to be Corll's last victim.

Corll, referred to as 'Candy Man' because he worked for his family's candy store, buried bodies in Jefferson County, Lake Sam Rayburn, and Bolivar Peninsula.

Brooks reportedly lived in Beaumont as a teen before moving to Montgomery County.

BACKGROUND:For murder victim's parents, an agonizing ritual

"We're 99.9 percent confident he'll be denied, so we were really just pursuing getting the maximum set-off," Kahan said.

James Dreymala was more cautious.

"This is not first time we've gone through this so we know that, again, it's not over till it's over," he said. He and his wife Elaine are believed to be the last surviving parents of Corll's victims.

The killings came to light in 1973 after 17-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley called police to say that he'd shot Corll, the 33-year-old electric company worker who'd masterminded the gruesome slayings.

Henley said he had killed Corll after the older man threatened to rape and kill him and two other teens during a party at a bungalow.

But after the initial confession, another story emerged; Henley told police he could lead them to bodies. Lots of bodies.

Inside a stall at Southwest Boat Storage, authorities discovered the remains of 17 slain and tortured boys buried under the dirt floor, covered in plastic and a layer of lime. Eventually Henley admitted that he'd helped lure the unsuspecting victims, along with the help of then-18-year-old David Owen Brooks.

LAST TIME:"Houston Mass Murders" killer denied parole

In exchange, the serial killer had paid the pair $10 to $200 per child. In some cases, Brooks and Henley had helped with the torture and killing. Eventually, police probed other sites and found at least 28 victims.

"This was one of the most notorious serial killings in this country's history," Kahan said. "The term 'serial killer' wasn't even invented yet, it wasn't even known to criminologists. Hence it was always called the Houston Mass Murders."

Brooks was first eligible for parole in 1979 and Henley the following year. They've since been up for release every 18 months to 3 years, though Henley was given a 10-year set-off in his last parole review in 2015.

Though the Dreymalas expressed concern about the possibility of Brooks' release, Kahan was more confident and said it only boiled down to a question of whether the set-off would be ten years or something less than that.

"I have a better chance of growing my hair back than he does of getting parole," Kahan said.
CASPER, Wyo.  A private prison company is proposing to build an immigration detention facility in southwest Wyoming.

Utah-based Management & Training Corporation approached Uinta County and Evanston officials recently with its proposal to build a center to house about 600 detainees for the Salt Lake City office of the U.S. Department of Immigration and Custom Enforcement. The office serves Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.

Many local community leaders support the project for the jobs and revenue, but opponents note the company has been in trouble in the past in how it operates other facilities around the country.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that a Job Corps center in Riverton is among those facilities. The company is fighting a federal lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribal members.

___

Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
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Before he goes to trial to dispute a murder accusation, a Corpus Christi man is requesting to have his face tattoos removed, according to KIII report.

Joseph Tejeda, who is facing the death penalty for the death of Breanna Wood, made his request through his attorneys in a hearing on Thursday.

Tejeda, 27, has several tattoos on his face, including on his hairline, above each eyebrow, on his left cheek, and on his chin.

RELATED: Feds: Man accused of kidnapping slain roommate's kids cites 'crazy Mexicans' in case

His attorneys asked District Judge Jack Pulcher if he would allow them to hire a cosmetologist to remove the tattoos, according to the TV station.

Pulcher denied the request, according to the report, and told the attorneys he'll consider the issue after they become certified to defend a capital murder suspect. The judge also rejected attorney requests to lower his $1,000,000 bond or allow him out of jail.

Tejeda was initially indicted on murder, but was re-indicted in December on capital murder. He's also charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Wood, 21, went missing in October of 2016 after she was last seen with Tejeda in a convenience store, authorities said.

RELATED: Man re-indicted for Corpus Christi woman's slaying

After getting tips from Nueces County Jail inmates, Corpus Christi police found Wood's body stuffed in a box near an abandoned trailer in Robstown, officials said.

One inmate reportedly told police Tejeda told him he shot Wood in the back of the head, broke her arms and had sex with her corpse.

The trial is expected to happen later this year.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
Montanas capacity for radioactive oilfield waste could be expanded soon as regulators finalize rules for disposal.

State officials are reviewing the license application for the Yellowstone Disposal landfill. Its a project backed by a North Dakota-based company, which plans to build on 2,600 acres of land 4.5 miles southeast of Sidney.

Within that site would be a 55-acre special waste unit with a capacity of more than 5 million cubic yards. That area would be licensed to handle material with radioactivity levels up to 50 picocuries per gram, or pCi/g.

Most of the waste comes to Montana from North Dakota, where the state's health department created rules specific to this kind of waste after scores of illegal dumps were found around the Bakken region.

While North Dakota enacted those rules in 2016, no landfills have been licensed to operate under them.

Companies have looked across the border to Montana, which still has no universal set of rules for that type of waste. Officials have been working on a draft set and may have a final version by the fall.

Montana has licensed landfills on a case-by-case basis. If approved, the Yellowstone Disposal landfill would be the fourth facility licensed to handle that material.

The state received praise for the move toward regulation, but Eastern Montana residents have wondered why their area is the destination for radioactive oilfield waste.

Until Montana develops standards and protections, were going to continue to be North Dakotas dumping ground, said Seth Newton, a rancher near Glendive and member of Northern Plains Resource Council.

Just over the border

Newtons ranch sits near the Oaks Disposal Landfill, which has been the main destination for this type of waste in the Bakken region since 2013. It took in 253,000 tons of waste from 2013 to 2015.

Most of it comes in the form of filter socks, which most often arrive in truckloads from North Dakota.

Waste materials like filter socks are classified as technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material, or TENORM. They collect concentrated amounts of natural radiation during the extraction process.

The Environmental Protection Agency deemed exposure to radioactivity from TENORM waste as low-risk for people who live and work nearby. For comparison to the 50 pCi/g limit set by states, a banana has a natural radioactivity of 3.5 pCi/g, according to the North Dakota Department of Health. Clay-based cat litter is rated at 15 pCi/g.

Still, TENORM waste materials like filter socks are discarded in tons. Northern Plains has been watching Montanas rulemaking process, and its members have expressed concerns over how that waste collection might affect natural resources, as well as how companies self-report waste data from the rural reaches of the state.

Montana continues to indefinitely accept the risks that come with radioactive oilfield waste, Newton said in a statement released through Northern Plains. My ranch would be seriously threatened if the creek near my place is impacted.

Around the Bakken patch, there have been more illegal TENORM dump sites than legal ones. North Dakota officials tallied 150 illegal dumps in 2014, which helped spur the state to enact new rules.

The proposed Yellowstone Disposal landfill is being proposed by IHD Environmental, a Williston-based company. IHD already runs a landfill in North Dakota, but that facility isnt licensed to handle TENORM up to 50 pCi/g.

Its license application with Montana assumes a 50 pCi/g limit, which is in line with the states draft administrative rules. That would make the Montana landfill a more attractive destination for TENORM oilfield waste.

Company spokesman Chris Kreger said they chose the site near Sidney for cost-efficiency.

One of the largest competitive factors in waste disposal is transportation costs, he said. So we achieve two things by having a facility there.

One of those advantages is that its closer to clients, he said. The other is that it expands the companys geographic reach.

Kreger declined to say on the record why the company isnt pushing to augment its existing North Dakota license since the state expanded the available pCi/g capacity.

In 2016, IHD pulled that application with North Dakota after it was caught with about 950 tons of illegal TENORM waste, the Bismarck Tribune reported. IHD was ordered to remove it from the facility.

Without that applying for a license under North Dakota's new rules, the default radioactivity limit is 5 pCi/g. The North Dakota Department of Health said that 13 sites operate under that regulation.

IHDs application to build its landfill near Sidney is moving ahead, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on the proposal through Jan. 29.

Richland County Commissioner Shane Gorder said he was concerned that his county would be stuck handling another state's waste.

I just dont see the need for that landfill in Richland County when there are other disposal sites within 60 miles, he said.

Licenses and lifespans

The Oaks Disposal Landfill near Glendive has been taking TENORM waste for five years under an operating agreement with state regulators. It's the only facility of its kind in Montana and North Dakota.

Two other facilities have been licensed by Montana since 2014 and 2015, but they were never built.

The Yellowstone Disposal site near Sidney would be the fourth TENORM licensee in Montana if its approved. In addition to TENORM oilfield waste, IHD plans to build a separate, 75-acre section for more common municipal solid waste.

The company estimated taking in 90,000 tons of municipal waste annually from the Richland County area, or 300 tons per day. Part of the justification for the site was that all this additional waste would greatly reduce the lifespan of the existing county landfill.

Richland County Public Works Director Adam Smith said that the collection of 300 tons per day from that area is largely over-estimated.

It aint happening, he said. On average, especially in the winter like this, if we get 15 to 20 tons, thats a pretty busy day for us.

The draft environmental assessment for the Yellowstone Disposal site didnt estimate how much TENORM oilfield waste it expected to take. It did estimate the lifespan of that section to be 30 years.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is simultaneously reviewing public comment for the Yellowstone Disposal landfill and comments about the administrative rules that would regulate it.

Ed Thamke, waste and underground tank management bureau chief at DEQ, said they plan to seek an extension in the administrative rule-making process to address public concerns raised during the comment periods.

Revisions to the draft rules would go through a vetting process, and they hope to have a set of final rules completed by the fall.

Thamke said the DEQ declined to halt licensing for TENORM waste sites while the state drew up its administrative rules because the departments operating agreements in place had no fatal flaws. He said the department didnt have the ability to impose a moratorium, anyway.

The applications were already in.

Quite frankly, we dont think it would be fair to the applicant, he said.
A man wanted for allegedly murdering a woman on Thursday in northern Wyoming was found by law enforcement in Mills, according to a Lovell Police Department news release.

Donald Joe Crouse, 48, is currently in custody and faces first-degree murder charges, according to the release.

Police in Lovell went to an apartment on Thursday for a welfare check and found Carol Jean Barnes, 49, of Cowley dead inside, the release states. She was killed sometime in the afternoon or evening of the same day.

Crouse was arrested in Mills after a search by the Lovell Police Department, The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. The release did not specify when Crouse was taken into custody and Lovell police declined to answer additional questions.

A Natrona County Sheriff's Office spokesman declined to comment when reached about the case.

Police said Crouse and Barnes were previously in a relationship of an unspecified nature.

"Our thoughts, prayers and sympathy are extended to the victims family and loved ones," Lovell police Chief Dan Laffin wrote in the release.

Lovell police continue to work with local and state agencies, though the nature of that work was not specified.
A judge Friday sentenced a Casper area man to probation and a suspended prison sentence for felony child abuse.

Alan Farley was initially accused of sexually abusing a child. But he pleaded to lesser charges, including the child abuse, as part of a deal that could keep him out of prison.

Natrona County District Judge Daniel Forgey handed down seven-to-10 year suspended prison sentence that would potentially go into effect if Farley violates his five years of probation.

Farley, who frequently conferred with his lawyer during Friday's hearing, did not speak when Forgey offered him the opportunity.

The victim of the crime addressed the court before sentencing.

"What you did to me was the worst decision you could possibly make," the child said in a calm, measured tone.

"I want other kids to know they're not alone and they can stick up for themselves too," she said.

The plea agreement prevented prosecutors from seeking prison time.

Prosecutor Kevin Taheri asked Forgey for an eight-to-10 year suspended sentence and seven years of supervised probation. Public defender Curtis Cheney asked for a three-to-five year suspended sentence with probation.

Forgey, in handing down his sentence, did not explain why he imposed the stiffer penalty.

Although Farley was charged in April with two felony sex crimes including second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, he pleaded to lesser charges: felony child abuse and misdemeanor sexual battery.

The girl, who was born in 2006, first told her guardian that she did not like it when Farley cuddled with her, according to court documents. After the girl told her counselor more details, the guardian decided to report the girls allegations to police.

In a later interview, the girl said that Farley grabbed her butt under her pants while they were sitting in a recliner. She said that he stopped briefly when someone else walked into the room and she moved to a nearby bed. Farley then followed her to the bed, the April affidavit states.

The girl said she didnt remember much after that, except that at some point she was completely naked and he was on top of her. She said she was scared and that she froze, according to the affidavit.

She said that Farley later told her that he would hurt her loved ones if she told anybody about what happened.

Farley was couch surfing at the time of the report, the girl's family told police.
A recent article in The Billings Gazette asserted that Montanans are not lining up for school choice tax credit. The implication was that Montanans do not want additional educational options, but that conclusion is misleading. The demand for expanded choice is high, and hundreds of Montanans are benefitting from school choice despite the limitations of our tax credit program.

ACE Scholarships has been providing privately funded K-12 scholarships to low-income students in Montana since 2012, and the organization currently supports nearly 750 students annually in Montana. Demand has been clear from the beginning. In the first year, with no marketing, ACE received over 800 applications from families looking to change schools, and the demand has multiplied over the last five years.

ACE does not currently participate in Montanas scholarship tax credit program because of limitations built into the policy. Scholarship tax credit programs are designed to be incentives for charitable giving toward privately funded K-12 education scholarships, and policy details are essential to their success. Although Montanas legislation also created assistance for public schools, political compromises led to a Montana program that is far from the initial design.

Out of 18 states with scholarship tax credit programs, Montanas is the most restrictive. Capping the tax credits for individual contributors at $150 per year effectively discourages most donors from participating. For some, such a small credit may not even be worth filling out the required paperwork. For others with significant giving capacity, the restrictions make it more attractive to direct their philanthropy away from education.

Tax credit too small

As a consequence, Montanas program generated less than $10,000 in donations in 2017. By comparison, Arizonas four scholarship tax credit programs generated $130.8 million for scholarships in fiscal year 2016. Even Nevadas new scholarship tax credit program brought in $5 million in contributions in its first year. With careful design, many tax credit programs actually save money for their respective states.

Fortunately, generous individuals in Montana have enabled ACE to advance our mission of expanding opportunity for low-income students. However, improved programs that truly provide incentives would allow ACE and other educational charities, like Big Sky Scholarships, to provide additional options to students who cant afford school choice.

The difference educational choice is making in the lives of ACE students and their families in Montana is clear. ACE students in Montana reach higher levels of proficiency in math than their public-school peers, do as well or better in most grades when it comes to reading, outperform those same peers in all ACT subject areas, graduate from high school at higher rates, and directly enroll into colleges and universities after high school at higher rates.

Generations benefit

In the future, the children of current ACE students will also realize benefits from their parents educational success. Studies have identified parental education as the single strongest correlate of childrens success in school, the number of years they attend school, and their success later in life. ACE students are more likely to reach higher levels of academic success and attainment, so we can expect their children to do the same, creating a generational ripple effect throughout the Montana. Without the opportunity provided to their parents by educational choice, those outcomes could be very different.

ACE and other scholarship organizations are engaged in the hard work of changing the world by changing as many individual lives as possible for the better. That work is generating powerful impacts for students and families. Montanans may not be lining up to participate in the states limited scholarship tax credit program, but hundreds of Montana families are indeed benefitting from expanded choice in education, as are hundreds of thousands of students nationwide.

In light of the success of ACE scholars, the lack of participation in Montanas limited scholarship tax credit program demonstrates that we could be doing far more to help education as a whole in our state. We should make sure our focus remains finding ways to do just that.
In terms of natural resource policy, 2017 was a rocky one to say the least. But recent decisions and proposals with major implications for the Big Sky state have given Montanans some hope for 2018.

In my own backyard, the Missoula County commissioners in December joined Anaconda-Deer Lodge and made a preemptive statement on the importance of federally managed public lands. This isnt in response to any immediate threat; instead, they wanted to send the message to any lurking land transfer advocates: Missoula County will keep it public.

In Helena, Gov. Steve Bullock just signed Republican Rep. Alan Doanes House Bill 597, which serves to unlock some of the nearly 2 million acres of currently inaccessible public lands in Montana. The new plan is the first of its kind in any state. It allows the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to purchase access easements from voluntary sellers. Thanks to keystone funding provided by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Montana Wildlife Federation and other conservation groups, the plan is now a reality  and exactly the forward-thinking initiative that Montana needs.

Meanwhile, in D.C., Rep. Greg Gianforte recently introduced the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act (H.R. 4644), a bill that mirrors a Senate version previously introduced by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. If passed, the legislation would prevent 30,000 acres of public land north of Yellowstone from being mined, something Montanans have supported for years.

On the other side of Capitol Hill, Tester has committed to tackle the deeply concerning issue of chronic wasting disease in our wild deer and elk herds. This was the first year that CWD was found in Montanas wild deer herds, so the issue is really hitting home now. The time to fund research and take proactive steps to combat the disease is now, and we should applaud Tester for taking the lead on this.

Tester also recently cosponsored a bill aimed at streamlining recreation access and permitting on public lands. The Recreation Not Red-Tape Act, among other improvements, would instruct state and federal land management agencies to offer joint permits valid on both tracts of public lands.

And finally, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines cosponsored a bill to reauthorize and expand the U.S. Department of Agricultures Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, Open Fields, which rewards landowners who open their gates to sportsmen. Hunters and anglers list public access as the No. 1 hurdle to hunting and fishing, so opening as much land as possible should be a priority.

Speaking of access, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is one of the most important programs for Montanans, providing public access, conserving wildlife habitat and providing recreation opportunities in local communities. Unfortunately, the program is set to expire this year. Tester and Daines have been champions of LWCF legislation in prior years, but we are counting on all three members of Montanas congressional delegation to step up for sportsmen by supporting and advancing permanent reauthorization for this vital program in 2018.

As we reflect on these recent wins and advances for conservation and public lands in Montana, its important that we offer credit where credit is due. Equally necessary, we must also continue to hold our elected officials accountable when their actions deserve criticism. As we enter the new year, they should remember: Public land owners are watching. Well continue to demand quality habitat, public access and the responsible management of our natural resources in 2018 and beyond.
When you live in a small town like Medicine Lake, youre primed to look at the whole  the whole town, the whole community. After all, there arent very many of us.

When I made the move to Montana eight years ago, it wasnt to be a volunteer firefighter  it wasnt even to be a Montanan. My job in the oilfield and road construction called, and so I followed. The thing about small towns, though, is once you get there, its hard to leave. After being in and out of the Medicine Lake community for years, I made a move  one that would have a greater impact on me than I could ever imagine. I sold my semi-trucks, took a position at the Sheridan County Road Department, and became a permanent resident of Medicine Lake. Population: 240 + 1.

My transition to becoming a volunteer firefighter wasnt quick or instantaneous, but more like bison crossing the road, slow and steady. It was a transition that was 25 years in the making, prepped by my volunteer work with the Red Cross in Germany and years of experience with tanker trucks  a learned skill I wasnt sure would ever really translate. But after several conversations with the current fire chief, we decided it was time to turn my experience into an opportunity. An opportunity that would become one of the biggest blessings in my life.

After just one training session at the fire department, it was clear that this was where I belonged. Though I worked long hours with my job at the road department, there was something about volunteering that just kept me wanting more. The fulfillment of donating my time, the integrity and sense of pride I gained in myself and for my community, and the belonging I felt  it all came from being a volunteer firefighter.

Fast forward 365 days, and here I stand as not just a firefighter, but a peer support team leader for the Medicine Lake Rural Fire Department. As a member of the peer support team, I have the privilege of providing emotional guidance and support during times of crisis to both our members and our community  a support system that is unique to our department and a job I take very seriously. As just one of two females on the roster, I have the opportunity to serve as an influence to the many young women in our area. I get to be the voice telling them that they can, and I wouldnt have it any other way.

Though I take pride in what I do, I am just an ordinary resident of a small town who woke up one day and said: I can make a difference. I can use my skills, my experiences, and my passion to help the community that I love.

We all have unique skills and experiences. Some of us are great organizers, others are skilled drivers and compassionate caretakers. But we are all Montanans, and we are all responsible for our communities.

From one small-town resident to another, know that no matter your skill level, if you have the desire, you can make a difference in your community. You can do so by volunteering at your local fire department. When you volunteer, you not only gain a position, you gain integrity. I may just be 1 of 200 people in a small rural town, but I have made an impact and you can, too. Visit mtvolunteer.org to fill out an application and learn more.
In the 10 months since Ryan Zinke took the reins at the U.S. Department of Interior, he has proposed more than doubling summer entrance fees at Yellowstone, Glacier and other popular national parks to $70 per carload.

Lest the thrifty or those on a tight budget try to plan around such a price increase, under Zinkes leadership, the National Park Service reduced the number of free park admission days to four for 2018  down from 16 free days in 2016 and 10 in 2017. The reduction in no-cost admission days was announced two weeks before Christmas. (The National Park Service free days for 2018 are Jan. 15, April 21, Sept. 22 and Nov. 11. Not great dates for planning a picnic in Montana or Wyoming parks.)

The Trump administration proposed a 2018 budget with significant funding cuts for Interior. Even the budget for National Park Service deferred maintenance is targeted for reductions. Maybe thats why Zinke proposed to raise the fees visitors pay.

The austerity measures Zinke has proposed are all the harder to accept when average Americans, especially Montanans, see repeated extravagant spending by the interior secretary.

A story in last weeks editions of Newsweek magazine brought the credibility gap into sharp focus: A Nevada helicopter trip Zinke took on July 30 cost $39,295 that was billed to the departments firefighting preparedness fund, even though Zinke was flying over national monument land  not the wildfires burning in Nevada at that time.

Sure, the helicopter expense is a drop in the buck of the hundreds of millions the U.S. government spent fighting wildfire in 2017. But was it a good idea for the secretary to take the flight? That fire money was borrowed from other Interior and operations because Congress doesnt fund firefighting like it funds natural disasters.

When Newsweeks reporter asked Interior why Zinkes helicopter trip was charged to the fire fund, department spokeswoman Heather Swift said it was charged to the account in error. She said the BLM would pay for the helicopter from a more appropriate account.

Its all public money, regardless of which fund is billed. The same department that Zinke has billed for helicopter flights and chartered aircraft pays firefighters and park rangers and fixes potholes in Yellowstone roads.

We dont know of any law that says the Interior secretary cant fly around in helicopters and charter airplanes at public expense for quick, convenient trips. But when Zinke is wielding the budget knife and eyeing an increase of $40 for every car that rolls into Yellowstone Park, shouldnt he be demonstrating some frugal leadership?

Zinkes pricey trips at taxpayer expense have included:

- $12,375 for a chartered flight from Las Vegas to Whitefish for an overnight stay.

- $7,000 for a March charter plane trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands and a May trip to Alaska.

In October the Interior Office of Inspector General opened an investigation of Zinkes travel expenses.

In November, Inspector General Mary Kendall said her investigation has been delayed by absent or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips and a review process that failed to include proper documentation.

In early December, Politico, the Associated Press and other news organizations reported on Zinke helicopter trips that cost taxpayers more than $53,000. The information became public because of Freedom of Information requests for Interior travel documents.

The most expensive helicopter flight was the Nevada trip at $39,295. The records showed Zinke also spent $8,000 on a roundtrip that was just 72 miles each way. That flight got Zinke back to Washington, D.C., in time to attend Greg Gianfortes swearing in as Montanas U.S. representative. Zinke also took a roundtrip via helicopter for an aerial survey of a power line corridor about 160 miles away at a cost to taxpayers of $6,200. He returned to Washington in time to ride horses with Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri.

Zinke is failing to lead by example. How can taxpayers trust him to trim out waste  and sustain essential public services -- when they see the secretary spending extravagantly on his own taxpayer-funded travel?

It sure looks like theres one set of rules for Zinke and another for the rest of us who are expected to pick up his tab.
A Donegal Sinn Fein TD has said it 'beggars belief' that an adviser for a Junior Minister has started on 13,000 more than the first point on the Principal Officer pay scale.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor's two press advisers earn almost 200,000 a year between them.

It was reported yesterday that the Minister lobbied the Department of Public Expenditure in order to secure a pay rise for one of her advisers, despite them already earning 82,000 a year.

Deputy Pearse Doherty told Ocean FM News that Minister Mitchell O'Connor and the Government have questions to answer.

He said: "It just shows you how out of touch this Government Minister is and how out of touch this Government is - when they think that somebody who is earning 82,000 as an adviser to a Minister for State isn't being paid enough."

However, a Department of Education and Skills spokesperson said the adviser was offered the fifth point on the Principal Officer pay scale "having regard to both her expertise in the field of media and communications and her previous earnings".

"The Department of Education acts in accordance with guidelines for the appointment of Special Advisers as published by the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform," the spokesperson said.

"As a general principle, the Human Resources Unit of the Department offers the first point on the Principal Officer incremental pay scale.

"The Department offered Ms. McQuaid the fifth point on the Principal Officer incremental pay scale, having regard to both her expertise in the field of media and communications and her previous earnings."
New hospitals and up to 9,000 beds are needed to reduce overcrowding and waiting lists, according to the Government's bed capacity review.

A series of recommendations have been published in the Government's bed capacity review to help resolve pressure on our health system.

The review says that between 7,000 and 9,000 more beds will be needed in the next 10 years if the current system does not change.

However, if reform proposals by Slaintecare are implemented, it says the number of additional beds required could be around 2,500.

The reforms would include heavily investing in healthcare services in the community.

The review also says overcrowding and waiting lists could be reduced if a number of hospitals are established to deal exclusively with elective and non-urgent cases.

It comes as the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) claims comments made by Dr James Reilly, the former Minister for Health, calling for greater investment in the primary care sector are "political grandstanding".

The doctor's union said Dr Reilly must be held accountable for "his huge failures in office", which they say have directly contributed to the crisis.

On RTE Radio's Drivetime yesterday, Dr Reilly called for a seismic shift to primary care in his contribution to the debate about the trolley crisis.

The NAGP said he "singularly failed to deliver any such reform" when he held the minsterial post.

Dr Andy Jordan, Chairman of the National Association of GPs, said: "During Dr Reilly's time, GPs were forced to endure savage cuts, which continue to affect the delivery of care to patients.

"Primary care has been set back by at least a decade.

"Funding for primary care and general practice was cut by 38%, putting an already under-resourced sector under further strain. The NAGP is still dealing with the fallout of Dr Reillys actions, so his latest remarks are hard to take."

Dr Jordan said many young GPs had left Ireland, seeing no future here and there is a recruitment crisis ahead.

He said that the increase in the number of people with medical cards, or GP visit cards and free GP care for those under sixes and the over 70s, has been introduced with no corresponding funding.

He said agreement on a new GP contract with the Government is long overdue.

Dr Jordan said: "A lot of fine words are being spoken about implementing the SlainteCare Report and a shift to primary care.

"The NAGP has yet to see the required money and reform commitment from Government to back that up.

"So, the last thing the health service currently needs is a lecture and platitudes from a failed Health Minister."
The Government is to hold a symposium next week to discuss closing the gender pay gap.

It will hear from a range of experts about how best to bring about pay equality.

There are clear commitments in the programme for government to tackle the gender pay gap, and part of that is creating a dialogue with employers.

Policymakers, business representatives, trades unions and academics will meet on Wednesday to discuss it.

The Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan will announce some of the recommendations made by the public during a consultation over the last few months.

The gender pay gap in Ireland is almost 14% lower than the EU average, but the Government says it is still too high.

This week Iceland, which has one of the lowest gender pay gaps, introduced new laws meaning companies have to prove they pay men and women with the same qualifications doing the same job the same amount

Legislation is being considered here in Ireland that would make companies with over 50 employees publish what they pay men and women

Other ideas will be discussed next week.
The Government has launched a new national initiative to promote health and wellbeing across the country.

The Healthy Ireland campaign is encouraging people to get active, eat well and mind their mental wellbeing.
Latest: Rachel Allen's restaurant on Washington Street in Cork city is due to re-open tomorrow at 5pm following a fire at the premises which broke out on Saturday afternoon.

The restaurant will re-open with specific opening hours while repair work is being carried out.

I am thrilled to say we will re-open tomorrow (Thursday) from 5pm and from 5pm on Friday and Saturday. I will keep you informed of our opening hours while we continue essential repair work. We look forward to welcoming you to Rachels. pic.twitter.com/OefV05TD5x  Rachels (@RachelsCork) January 10, 2018

The re-opening of the popular restaurant, which brings the flavours of Ballymaloe Cookery School to Cork city, was announced on its Facebook and Twitter social media accounts today.

The post read: "I am thrilled to say we will re-open tomorrow (Thursday) from 5pm and from 5pm on Friday and Saturday. I will keep you informed of our opening hours while we continue essential repair work. We look forward to welcoming you to Rachels."

For updates on the restaurant's opening hours during repairs see their Facebook page here.

Earlier: A fire has forced TV chef Rachel Allen to close her Cork city restaurant for a few days, writes Eoin English.

The alarm was raised around 2pm today.

Three unit of Cork City Fire Brigade, including a hydraulic platform, rushed to the Washington St restaurant.

UPDATE: Fire at Rachels restaurant #Cork has been confined to extractor ducting. No internal damage. Members of @CorkCityFire standing down shortly pic.twitter.com/Q6SosFlZ8H  Eoin English (@EoinBearla) January 6, 2018

The premises was evacuated as fire fighters arrived.

They traced the blaze to the ducting of the restaurant air extraction system which leads from the kitchen.

They managed to contain and extinguish the fire before it spread. There was no damage to the building itself.

All out now I think. Units packing up pic.twitter.com/iO03ISTSEH  Formerly Mouse Cork (@OldMouseCork) January 6, 2018

The scene was declared safe within an hour.

However, in a post on social media in the last hour, Rachel Allen, said the restaurant will have to close for a few days and apologised to diners who may have bookings.

It could be closed until Monday at the earliest.

Due to a small fire in our kitchen, our restaurant will be closed for the next couple of days, she said.

I would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.

We will be back open as soon as we can.

An author and TV chef, Rachel Allen teaches at Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Her popular television series have been broadcast in more than 30 different countries.

As well as attracting viewers of two million on the BBC, her series is also the highest ever rated show on the Good Food Channel.

She has written 14 cookery books, selling over two million copies worldwide.

She opened her first restaurant on Washington St in March 2017.
Let Me Tell You is a new bespoke podcast series from



Hosts Daniel McConnell and Paul Hosford take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments in recent Irish political history from the unique perspective of one of the key players involved.


The Catholic Primate of All Irelands addressed the issue of a possible referendum on the 8th amendment to the constitution.

Archbishop Eamonn Martins says repealing the Article "will leave unborn children defenceless, and completely at the mercy of whatever abortion laws are introduced in Ireland - both immediately, and in the future".
An ambulance service in England has apologised to the family of a pensioner who died after waiting nearly four hours for paramedics to arrive.

It took three hours 45 minutes for a crew to reach the home of an 81-year-old woman who rang 999 complaining of chest pains.

The emergency call was made at around 8pm on Tuesday and the woman was still alive when she spoke to the control room again at 9.47pm.

It took another two hours for an ambulance to arrive at her property in Clacton, Essex.

Paramedics then had to break into the home and by the time they reached the woman she had stopped breathing and could not be saved.

East of England Ambulance Service said it has launched an internal investigation into the incident.

Sandy Brown, deputy chief executive, said: "Our sincere condolences and apologies go out to the patient's family and friends and we are truly sorry for the ambulance wait that occurred at this incident.

"We have very publicly expressed how stretched the ambulance service is and the pressures our staff and the NHS as a whole have been under the past few days.

"As a trust, we have experienced our busiest days ever and we know our partners in the hospitals are in the same situation."

The service received more than 4,200 calls on January 2 and was also facing hospital handover delays "which can prevent us from responding as quickly as we need to", she added.

"Due to extremely high demand on the service and delays at accident and emergency units, we were not able to immediately dispatch an ambulance."

She added: "A clinician in one of our control rooms made a welfare call and spoke to the patient at 9.47pm and an ambulance crew arrived at the address at 11.46pm.

"The patient was found unconscious and not breathing and sadly died at the scene."

A union officer said the paramedics who responded to the call were "devastated" and "emotional".

Dave Powell, regional officer for GMB, added: "They're devastated because they're not in the job to find people dead, they're in the job to help people and keep them alive.

"It puts enormous strain and stress on people who are working really hard as it is.

"Three hours and 45 minutes is totally unacceptable for an elderly woman on her own with chest pains.

"Something has got to be done and the Government has got to wake up to this crisis."

He added: "I'm sure this case is much more widespread than the public is aware of."

The service previously said it has had to rely on taxis to take patients to hospital after struggling to cope with "incredibly high demand" and "extreme pressure" over the holiday period.

In another incident in Portsmouth, an 88-year-old woman died following a seven-hour wait for a bed.

Josephine Smalley spent five hours in an ambulance and another two hours on a trolley in a corridor at Queen Alexandra Hospital.

She died on New Year's Day, after having a heart attack and previously a stroke.
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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has launched a public scrutiny of the finer details of the proposed $66 billion Bayer-Monsanto deal, as it feels that prima facie the deal has, or likely to have an major adverse effect on competition.

The Bayer-Monsanto deal would create the world's largest seeds and pesticide firm.
National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is mulling to set up a high-end aluminium products plant by availing technology from foreign suppliers. The project is planned keeping in view the future applications of aluminium metal in bullet trains, aerospace and electric vehicles.

"The technology for high end aluminium products plants is not available in India. So, we are in talks with potential suppliers in USA and Russia to avail their technologies. If we get the right technology, our proposed plant may come up within the aluminium park at Angul or somewhere closer to the site", said T K Chand, chairman & managing director, .
Two local business partners are combining their love for literature and liquor to open a specialty cocktail bar on Mandans Main Street.

Thomas and Moriartys, to be located at 200 W. Main St., is named for Jerry Thomas, author of The Bar-Tenders Guide, the first cocktail book published in the United States, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Professor James Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Michael Kashey and Stacy Sturm are partnering to open the late 1800s, early 1900s literature-themed bar this month.

Sturm was an English major in college and has worked in various forms of media.

I love the classics, Sturm said. Classic cocktails, classic stories  I guess it all kind of goes together.

The Devil in the White City will be one of their first drinks. The cocktail is named for H.H. Holmes, the infamous serial killer in 1893 Chicago. The drink starts white, with gin. Kashey will add sweet vermouth and squid ink to turn it black.

Kashey has worked at a craft cocktail bar for the past couple years. When the opportunity to implement his own vision for a bar came along, he went for it.

I have an appreciation for not just drinks but alcohol as well, Kasheys partner, Sturm, said.

It was their shared focus on chemistry and combinations and what makes a good balanced cocktail that brought the pair together.

Theres an appreciation you get when you really kind of study alcohol, Sturm said. We need more bars around here that really want to teach people about cocktails and spirits  Thats kind of the goal of our bar.

Thomas and Moriartys will host alcohol education and tasting seminars, including a history of absinthe event in February.

Kashey said the events will often feature three drinks. As host, hell talk a bit about the history of the liquors involved, the distilling process and how they got their start.

I think theres a lot of misinformation about alcohol and not understanding the culture behind it, he said.

In addition, they plan to have a daily absinthe hour with a discounted price on absinthe, which Kashey calls the most misunderstood spirit, with a murky history.

Sturm and Kashey also want to keep Thomas and Moriartys small, quiet and intimate, for the social anti-social drinker who wants to go out to have a drink but not deal with a lot of people. The capacity will be 30 people.

For those wanting an even more exclusive experience, there will be a VIP program, The Main Street Irregulars, with discounts on classes, tastings and events and access to a secret menu featuring time-intensive drinks.

These will be really cool, edgy drinks you normally only see in bigger cities, said Sturm, adding that membership to the program will be limited to 50 people.

There will be some beers on tap in the bar. For nondrinkers, there will be a craft mocktail menu, Sturm said. A charcuterie menu of preserved meats and cheeses will offer light eats.

Walking in will feel like walking into the 1800s, with woodwork, wainscoting, antique-style ceiling tiles and a vintage-style bar. Hours will be 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Kashey said the feedback has been positive and they hope the bar will help diversify Mandans drinking scene.

Theres a lot of people who work in Bismarck but live in Mandan so this gives them somewhere a little closer to home to come for a drink after work, he said.

Mandan is somewhat untapped territory for high-end cocktail bars, according to Sturm, who said Mandans downtown is growing and a number of new drinking establishments will be getting a start there.

It just gives options, Sturm said. People can spend a night in either (Bismarck or Mandans) downtown rather than just doing the same thing all the time.
Google sold more than one Home smart speaker every second since it started shipping in mid-October, taking the sales numbers to over six million, the company has announced.

"We sold more than one device every second since Mini started shipping in October," Rishi Chandra, VP, Product Management, Google Home, said in a blog post on Friday.

" usage increased 9X this holiday season over last year's, as you controlled more smart devices, asked more questions, listened to more music, and tried out all the new things you can do with your Assistant on Google Home," added Scott Huffman, Vice President, Engineering, Google Assistant.

The tech giant currently offers three Home devices -- the original Home, the Home Max, and the Home Mini. However, it did not reveal the sales figures for the individual devices.

Meanwhile, Amazon, Google's main rival in the smart speaker space has not revealed exactly how many Echo smart speakers it has sold but it pegged the number of its competing Echo Dot sales in the millions, according to Businessinsider.com.

Google in November rolled out an update that will allow you to use Home speakers as intercom systems in your house.

People can now broadcast their voice from Google Assistant on smartphones or voice-activated speakers like Google Home.

"When you need to round up the family in the morning, just say 'Ok Google, broadcast it's time for school!' and your message will broadcast to all Google Assistant-enabled speakers in your home," Alex Duong, Product Manager, Google Home, said in a blog post.

To get the feature work, sign in with the same Google Account for all devices. The feature is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.
While the Pune police have registered a case against Jignesh Mevani for a "provocative speech", Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the Gujarat MLA was not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district on January 1.

Speaking to reporters here after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader, said there was tension in the area even prior to the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1.

Dalits visiting the war memorial at Bhima-Koregaon had reportedly come under attack on January 1. Dalit leaders had blamed certain pro-Hindutva leaders, who were opposed to the anniversary celebrations, for the attacks, while the latter sought to blame Mevani's "provocative speech", which was delivered a day earlier.

"Jignesh is not responsible for the violence at Bhima- Koregaon. There was tension in the area prior to January 1. I had visited the place and the tension had eased. So, I had returned to Delhi on December 31. On the same day, Jignesh had delivered his speech at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune. He had not gone to Bhima-Koregaon. Some groups had held a meeting at night and the violence took place on January 1," the Union minister of state for social justice said.

"I have congratulated Jignesh on his Assembly election victory. It is good that a young, fresh Dalit face is emerging. My advice to him is that he should focus on uniting the society and not dividing it," said Athawale, who heads a faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

On Mevani's demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on the January 1 anti-Dalit violence, Athawale said, "It is not necessary that the prime minister should comment on every development. After the Una incident (where Dalits were assaulted by cow vigilantes), Modi had criticised it."



Fadnavis had assured him that those responsible for the Bhima-Koregaon violence would be punished and accepted his demand for compensation for those whose properties were damaged, the Union minister said.

Athawale also said he was going to organise a "social harmony conference" in Pune on January 13.

Referring to a demand put forward by some leaders of the Maratha community, he said he was open to a debate on the "misuse" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If Dalits and tribals were treated with respect, there would not be any need for such a law, Athawale said, while ruling out the possibility of its abolition at present.

The January 3 Maharashtra shutdown against the Bhima- Koregaon violence had put the Dalit community's strength in focus, the Union minister said.

"If Dalits can come together to voice their anger, the RPI factions can also do so to lend political strength to the community," he added.

He was ready to work under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar (who had called for the Maharashtra Bandh on January 3), Athawale said, adding, "United, we can decide if we should contest elections independently or align with the BJP or the Congress."



The Pune police has lodged an FIR against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged provocative speeches during the "Elgar Parishad", organised in the city on December 31 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

The FIR was registered under IPC section 153(a) (promoting enmity between two groups).

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory over the Peshwa's army at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.
Maharashtra is moving towards "chaos and destruction" due to caste conflict, the Shiv Sena said on Saturday as it continued its attack on the Devendra Fadnavis government over the violence at Bhima Koregaon village.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, a junior ally in the BJP-led government, bemoaned large-scale damage to property by protesters during the January 3 bandh in Maharashtra called by Dalit outfits to denounce the violence at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district.

"Dalits are calling for bandh and Hindutvawadi groups are taking out morchas. It looks like Maharashtra is moving towards chaos and destruction due to caste conflict instead of prosperity," read an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Sena organ said if the bandh called by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) was peaceful, his stature as a leader would have risen.

"His followers have become directionless. In Kolhapur, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was desecrated," the Marathi daily said.

The editorial said the Shiv Sena was showing solidarity with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the time of caste conflict as it wanted to protect Maharashtra's "asmita" (pride) and ensure law and order.

The newspaper said efforts are being made to incite caste violence in the state by exploiting the clashes which took place at Bhima Koregaon on January 1.

None of the Dalit leaders tried to calm tempers of the community members, who, anyway, were in no mood to listen to them, the BJP's bickering ally lamented.

Violence during the state-wide bandh resulted in loss of property to the tune of crores of rupees, the publication claimed, adding the financially bleeding transport body MSRTC alone took a Rs 250 million hit.

"This is not the time to analyse if the caste violence will benefit the BJP or any other party," the editorial read.

It said the recent events reflected poorly on the state's home department, headed by Fadnavis.

On January 4, too, the Shiv Sena had attacked the Fadnavis government over its inept handling of the violence in Bhima-Koregaon and the subsequent incidents, alleging it had no work except to fight elections using the state machinery.

The violence erupted when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra.

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory as it is believed soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.
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At least 100 domestic flights a day are expected to be canceled between January 18 and 26 from 10:30 am to 12:15 pm as part of annual closure, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said.
People who sleep less than the recommended eight hours a night may suffer from anxiety or depression, a study warns.

Researchers from the Binghamton University in the US assessed the timing and duration of sleep in individuals with moderate to high levels of repetitive negative thoughts (eg, worry and rumination).

Participants were exposed to different pictures intended to trigger an emotional response, and researchers tracked their attention through their eye movements.

According to the study published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, the researchers discovered that regular sleep disruptions are associated with difficulty in shifting one's attention away from negative information.

This may mean that inadequate sleep is part of what makes negative intrusive thoughts stick around and interfere with people's lives.

"We found that people in this study have some tendencies to have thoughts get stuck in their heads, and their elevated negative thinking makes it difficult for them to disengage with the negative stimuli that we exposed them to," said Meredith Coles, from the Binghamton University.

"While other people may be able to receive negative information and move on, the participants had trouble ignoring it," Coles said.

These negative thoughts are believed to leave people vulnerable to different types of psychological disorders, such as anxiety or depression, Coles said.

"We realised over time that this might be important - this repetitive negative thinking is relevant to several different disorders like anxiety, and many other things," said Coles.

"This is novel in that we are exploring the overlap between sleep disruptions and the way they affect these basic processes that help in ignoring those obsessive negative thoughts," Coles added.
Despite a series of modifications being made in the controversial film "Padmavati" including its renaming as "Padmavat", the Karni Sena on Friday again raised a demand for a complete ban on the film.

Speaking to media here, Karni Sena observer Lokendra Singh Kalvi said that filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali should forget dreaming about the film's release.

"All efforts of Bhansali and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) shall go down the drain as we will never allow the screening of Padmavati anywhere in India or abroad.

"We are still adamant on our demand. Let there be a complete ban on the release of Padmavati," he added.

Kalvi also demanded a complete ban on the "Ghoomar" song. "We don't want any changes in the said song, however, we demand a complete ban on the same," he said.

He also questioned the 'authenticity' of the panel formed by the CBFC to review the film.

Not all of them were historians, hence, their suggestions hardly make a difference, he said, adding that the CBFC proposed to bring in nine historians in the panel but ended calling only three historians "which speaks volumes on their seriousness to justify our demands".
It is no surprise that the latest data and security breach surrounding the biometric programme has been selectively denied by the Unique Identification Authority of (UIDAI), the government of and the .
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday that structural changes brought in by measures such as the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) had created a hiatus in the economy. But the economy was already showing signs of revival, he added. The FM also sent out a strong message to the banks asking them to perform after the Union government pumps in money to recapitalise them. Resilience of the banking system is under test, he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that Indian taxpayers were making a sacrifice to keep the banking system in good health and hence the performance of banks would be under the lens over the next few years.

He said the government's Rs 2.12 trillion recapitalisation plan was to keep banks in good health, which was "extremely" important for the economy.

"The tax payers in India are making a sacrifice to keep the banking system in good health. This money which is being infused could be used in other social purposes. But that is the money being infused into the banking system to make sure that you are kept in good health so that you (banks) are able to improve the credit growth and growth processes in the country," Jaitley said at the 75th anniversary celebration of the UCO Bank.

"The society through tax payers is reviving you. So it is your responsibility to come out with a much faster pace and in much better health so you are able to give a much more robust economy."

"And therefore the next few years, your performance is really on test," he said.

Jaitley said it was the responsibility of the banks to support and spur growth in India. He added a turnaround in the economy was now visible after various structural changes undertaken by the government which led to a "transient hiatus".

"The lending that the banks do is an indication of how growth will move. The latest data has shown that credit growth has moved up. And once this infusion of capital takes place into the banking system, credit growth will further go up.

"And when that goes up, coupled with the revival of the global commodity prices, one should really visualize a better future from the current challenges," he said.
Another employee of a Watford City accounting firm is charged with financial crimes after her boss  a federal fraud defendant  reported her alleged embezzlement to police.

Hannah Lea Lloyd, 38, of Watford City, is charged with felony theft of property. After a prosecutors motion, that charge could be amended to a higher level. She also could see an added charge of felony forgery.

Court documents allege she funneled more than $57,300 from the Watford City Park District for over a year using a fake employees name, two bank accounts and a limited liability company she reportedly created.

The cases affidavit says that Lloyds boss, Rene Johnson, reported the alleged embezzlement after the Watford City Park District brought payroll issues to her attention.

Watford City Police subsequently investigated and executed search warrants on Lloyds home and vehicle, reportedly finding bank statements, a checkbook and other documents related to the transactions.

Lloyd is held pending $100,000 cash bail at the McKenzie County Correctional Facility. Her preliminary hearing is set for March 1 before Northwest District Presiding Judge Robin Schmidt.

Johnson employed her for more than two years until November, according to the affidavit. Lloyd reportedly had control over the park districts account information and was able to transfer its funds.

Johnson, who is a certified public accountant, was indicted in federal court in September on counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and material false statements to a federal agent.

Her charges relate to $400,000 in allegedly fraudulent business dealings tied to the oilfield venture of James Henrikson, the former Bakken businessman convicted of ordering the death of his associate, Doug Carlile, in 2013.

Johnsons trial is set for late March in Bismarck. She could stand to lose her CPA license in North Dakota, if convicted.
On January 12, 10 am onwards, Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will drown in the scent of food  soft, soft galawati kababs sizzling on heavy griddles, the sharp tang of lemon being squeezed on crisp batter fried fish, the intoxicating smell of jalebis being cooked in desi gheeall the forbidden street food delights from all over India, each different from the other.
Trump administration has announced that it is freezing security aid to Pakistan. This means a suspension of aid worth US$ 1.1 billion. US says that Islamabad continues to shelter terrorists despite several warnings from President Donald Trump. Will this suspension have any effect on Pakistan? The author takes a look at this question in this Business Standard Special.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard.
The governments digital push, the rising use of technology in back-end processes, and the growing market for financial technology products have changed the banking landscape.
With two public sector (PSBs)  United Bank of India (UBI) and Allahabad Bank  looking to offer employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to their staff, a rift among employees and officers associations over the exercise has already surfaced. This is for the first time that PSBs are issuing to their employees.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will attend the Annual Conference of DGPs and IGPs on 7th and 8th January at the BSF Academy at Tekanpur, Madhya Pradesh. .

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DGPs Conference is an annual event in which top police officers from all over the country share and discuss security related issues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the conference earlier in Guwahati, Assam in 2014, Dhordo, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat in 2015 and National Police Academy, Hyderabad in 2016. .

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During the last meeting, issues such as cross-border terrorism and radicalization were discussed in detail. The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of leadership, soft skills and collective training. He specifically mentioned the importance of technology and human interface for the police force. .

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Holding the Annual DGP Conference outside the national capital, is in line with Prime Minister's vision that such conferences should be held across the country, and not just confined to Delhi. .

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A state-linked Saudi news website says 11 princes have been arrested and will be tried for staging a protest at one of the king's palaces and refusing orders to leave.

The Sabq website, quoting unnamed officials, reported Saturday that a division of the National Guard, which is tasked with protecting the royal family, was ordered to arrest the princes.

The news website reports the royals were sent to Ha'ir prison, a large maximum security facility south of the capital, Riyadh, run by Saudi intelligence services, where criminals, militants and al-Qaida terrorists are held.

Sabq reports the princes were demanding financial compensation from a judgment involving one of their cousins and demanding the king reverse a decision to suspend payments for royals' water and electricity bills.
After Djibouti, China is planning to build its second foreign naval base in Pakistan, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report.

The base is most likely to come up near Gwadar, according to Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming.

"China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port," SCMP quoted Chenming as saying.

"It's a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant's vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services," Chenming added.

Another source, which is close to the People's Liberation Army, has also confirmed the development.

"Gwadar port can't provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support," the source told the SCMP.

The SCMP story came after a report, which appeared on the Washington-based website The Daily Caller, a few days ago indicated the same.

US Army Reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin (retired) had stated that a consensus was reached in one of the meetings between Chinese and Pakistani military officers that a military base would come up on the Jiwani peninsula near Gwadar and close to the Iranian border.
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has served a Rs 100 million legal notice to Pakistan's defence minister for "defamation", days after the government banned the Jamaat-ud- Dawah from collecting donations following US President Donald Trump's outburst against Islamabad's sheltering of terrorists.

"I call upon you (minister Khurram Dastgir) to send a written apology to my client (Saeed) within 14 days and seek his forgiveness and promise to be careful in future, failing which criminal proceedings under section 500 of Pakistan Penal Code punishable for two years will be initiated against you," said the notice by lawyer A K Dogar who served it on behalf of Mumbai attack mastermind Saeed.

Pakistan banned JuD and FIF and other organisations from collecting donations on Monday, after Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.

Dastgir had said that action against JuD, Falah-i- Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and other organisations had been taken so that "terrorists cannot open fire on schoolchildren anymore".

Dogar claimed the JuD has no nexus with Lashkar-e-Taiba and the UN resolution against it is "illegal".

He alleged the minister had caused "immense damage" to the "reputation" of Saeed and JuD by issuing an "irresponsible" statement.

Dastgir had also said that Pakistan did not act against JuD and FIF under "pressure" from the US but after "serious deliberations".

The government has banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UN Security Council's sanctions list.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) also issued a notification prohibiting the collection of donations by the JuD, the front organisation of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as several other such groups named in a list of outfits banned by the UN Security Council.
Unfazed by fierce criticism and fears over his "mental" health, US President on described himself as being a "genius".

"Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence," Trump tweeted.

Identifying "mental stability" and being "really smart" as his two greatest assets, Trump in a series of tweets said that winning the presidential election on his first attempt qualifies him as a "genius".

"Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames," he said.

"I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try)," he said.

"I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that!" he tweeted.

Trump's tweets came in the wake of a new book titled 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House', and his "nuclear button" comment on North Korea this week, following which political opponents raised questions over his mental stability and fitness.

"I've never questioned his mental fitness. I have no reason to question his mental fitness," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said yesterday when asked about Trump's mental fitness.

According to multiple media reports, about a dozen lawmakers from the House and Senate received a briefing from Yale psychiatrist Bandy X Lee on Capitol Hill about Trump's fitness to be president.

During the meeting in December, lawmakers said they were worried about his mental state.

Yale University has disassociated itself from Lee's comments.

Lee had told CNN that Trump is showing signs of impairment that the average person could not see.

"He is becoming very unstable very quickly. There is a need for neuropsychiatric evaluation that would demonstrate his capacity to serve," she claimed.

The White House has ridiculed such claims saying Trump is a strong leader.

"What's the president's reaction to the growing number of suggestions, both in this book and in the media, that he's mentally unfit to serve as president?" White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked this week.

"The same way we have when it's been asked before: that it's disgraceful and laughable," Sanders responded.
Iran and Pakistan held talks on defence cooperation following United States President Donald Trump's recent Twitter spree against both nations, on Friday.

Recently, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Ali Hatami, in a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Khurram Dastgir-Khan, hailed the growing defence cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad.

The Express Tribune quoted Hatami, as saying, "The Americans always blame the others for their own failures in different parts of the world and they pursue the strategy of the Zionist regime (of Israel) to destabilise the region."

Hatami further blamed the "evil and stupid policies of the United States", adding they were the root cause of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the deaths of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Hatami also pointed to the potential for military cooperation between Iran and Pakistan.

Khurram Dastgir-Khan welcomed the promotion of military cooperation with Iran with regard to the regional issues. He also criticised Trump's repeated tweets against Pakistan.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Trump administration supports the aspirations of Iranian protesters, including calls for a "peaceful transition of government."

"At some point, people will decide this is not how they want to live any longer," Tillerson told CNN's Elise Labott in an interview Friday, saying "the Iranians have suffered under this regime."

"But we always support a peaceful transition of power," he cautioned. "We do not support violent transitions of power, but we do support peaceful transitions of power, and we've seen those expressions in years past with the large demonstrations at elections in 2009, the demonstrations that we see in the streets today."

Tillerson is the latest in a string of Trump administration officials to condemn the Iranian government since protests broke out across Iran last week. Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Wednesday that the US "has spoken clearly and unequivocally" in support of the protesters, while US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters Tuesday, "all freedom-loving people must stand with their cause."

President Donald Trump has weighed in forcefully on Twitter, writing on Monday, "The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!"

But these calls for a change in leadership, and a decision by the administration to call for a UN Security Council meeting Friday on the demonstrations, have irked US adversaries.

Russia's mission to the UN, for example, raised the notion of the Security Council meeting about protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Russia's deputy foreign minister has called the US proposal "harmful and destructive."

The Trump administration has never been shy about criticizing the Iranian government for its interventions in foreign conflicts and continued missile development program. Trump also refused to certify Iran as compliant with the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal, putting the future of that international agreement in question.

On Friday, Tillerson reasserted the administration's intent to "look at the totality of Iran's actions and behaviors" and suggested that further non-nuclear sanctions were in the works unless "Iran alters its behavior."

He suggested that demonstrators are motivated, in part, by frustration over the same aggressive behavior that angers the US, though Iran watchers have largely attributed the protests to growing economic concerns.

"We are supportive of the Iranian people achieving their aspirations for a better quality of life, for greater freedom," Tillerson told CNN. "We believe they deserve that, but it will be up to the Iranian people to manage that peaceful transition. We support that."
More than a year after Republican leaders promised to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election, two influential Republicans on Friday made the first known congressional criminal referral in connection with the meddling  against one of the people who sought to expose it.
warned Iranian authorities today that the world is watching as Tehran responds to anti-government protests.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Islamic republic.

The United States called the meeting despite fierce criticism from Russia, which accused Washington of interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

"The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley told the council.

"It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."



Haley accused the government of funding a pro-regime military campaign in Syria, backing Shiite militias in Iraq and supporting a crony elite while ordinary Iranians struggle.

The Iranian people are telling their government to "stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars," said Haley.

A total of 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested since December 28 as protests over economic woes turned against the Iranian regime, with attacks on government buildings and police stations.

Pro-regime rallies were held in Tehran after Friday prayers, the third straight day of marches in support of the government, which has declared the unrest over.

Diplomats had expected Russia to call a procedural vote to try to block the meeting, but in the end, Moscow's envoy did not make that request.

Heading into the council chamber, Haley gave reporters a thumbs-up and answered "yes" when asked if she had the nine votes needed for the meeting to go ahead.

Over the past days, the United States has lobbied hard to win support for the Security Council meeting, especially from the six new non-permanent council members, diplomats said.

For a new agenda item to be discussed at the Security Council, at least nine of the 15 council members must support holding the meeting. No vetoes apply.
The United States is examining ways to mitigate any Pakistani retaliation as it piles pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants, a senior US official said on Friday, cautioning that US action could extend beyond a new freeze in aid.
Veteran investor Mark Mobius, the bald-headed market guru who became one of the most recognized authorities on money-making opportunities in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, plans to retire from Franklin Templeton Investments after three decades at the firm.
Exchange-operator Inc will allow a type of privately negotiated transaction in all its agricultural for the first time on Monday, splitting traders who predict the move will either improve or hurt transparency.
At least 14 terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed in an airstrike in the Laghman province of Afghanistan.

According to Tolo News, the Laghman Police on Saturday said the airstrike was conducted in the Kondgul area of Alingar district in the province on Friday night.

Two IS commanders were also killed.

IS has not commented on the incident so far.

Earlier on Thursday, the IS terrorist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul's PD9 on late Thursday, which left more than 20 people dead and 30 others injured.

The Amaq news agency of the IS said a suicide bomber targetted the police and intelligence officers busy in an operation in the Banaee area of the city. The Kabul Police had conducted an operation against suspected drug traffickers in the same neighbourhood.

The Afghan Interior Minister, confirming the death toll, said that the victims were mostly police personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre on Saturday released fund worth Rs 500 crore to commence the 'Smart City' project in Amritsar.

Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu told ANI, "We thank the Government of India who has facilitated us. I can joyfully say that the Government of India, after the Punjab Government released Rs 50 crore, has given us Rs 500 crore to start off with the project. This is like a mutual symbiosis where both benefit from each other. I think the prerogative is more from the side of Government of India, as we went there with little hope, but we have got everything."

He added it was a constancy of purpose to evolve, become better and to make Amritsar and Punjab, as a whole, self-reliant and fulfilled with infrastructure.

"The Government of India sent a team and we held comprehensive meetings to deal with the development of the Smart Cities. We will prepare a comprehensive plan of about one billion dollars and we are going to request Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to put this forward in the meeting for this year's Financial Plan," Sidhu asserted.

He further said the future of Amritsar would set an example for others that this is the way development should be done.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man from Uttar Pradesh's Nandauli, working in Saudi Arabia, allegedly gave to his wife through an SMS.

The victim was allegedly being harassed by her in-laws as they were demanding a vehicle from her as dowry.

"My in-laws used to harass me. They were demanding for a vehicle. My husband ill-treated me as well. I received a message from him on phone, where he gave me divorce. I have a son and I want to survive," the victim told ANI.

However, the victim's father said he would file a complaint in this regard and want justice to be served to his daughter.

"Things were fine for two years. Then they started harassing her. Her in-laws threw her out of the house. Then one day, her husband gave her divorce through an SMS. We haven't informed the police, but soon will," victim's father said.

While the Supreme Court and the Centre have called for the scrapping of the triple talaq, terming it "illegal and unconstitutional", some Muslim women are still facing the brunt of this age-old practice.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 has been passed by the Lok Sabha and was tabled recently in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with most of the leading parties in the Opposition, including the Congress, voting in favour, but with caveats as the apex court had directed the Centre to bring an anti legislation.

The bill, if enacted, will make a criminal offence. It proposes a three-year jail term for a Muslim man who divorces his wife in any form of spoken, written or by electronic means such as email, SMS, and WhatsApp.

(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.)
Union Minister of state for Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Saturday met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded action against those responsible for the Bhima Koregaon violence.

"We had a discussion with the chief minister for half an hour regarding the incident that happened in Koregaon in which a lot of public property was damaged. We are ready to tackle things peacefully in Maharashtra. Investigation on who was involved and who wasn't involved is on," Athawale told ANI.

Fadnavis assured Athawale that people responsible will not be spared.

"We have asked the concerned authorities to differentiate between such people (who were responsible for the violence and who were not) and take appropriate action. People who put fuel to fire, we are trying to find them and strict actions will be taken against them and they will be arrested," he added.

Athawale defended Dalit leader and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid, saying they had nothing to with the violence.

He said that the Yalgar Parishad event where Jignesh and Khalid were speaking was a different event.

"Mevani and Khalid had nothing to do with whatever happened. They are two different issues," he added.

Athawale said Fadnavis had said that the police will work peacefully.

He also added that compensation will be given to those whose property had been damaged.

Earlier on January 1, a youth was killed in a clash between two groups during an event to mark 200 years of Bhima-Koregaon battle that took place near Pune.

The incident prompted the Dalit community to protest on the streets in Maharashtra and other states.

A total of 16 FIRs have been registered by the Mumbai Police relating to the shutdown called on January 3 by Dalit groups.

The Battle of Koregaon was fought on January 1, 1818 between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy at Koregaon Bhima.

The Marathas ultimately withdrew, fearing the arrival of a larger British force.

The Company troops of Indian origin included predominantly Mahar Dalit soldiers belonging to the Bombay Native Infantry, and therefore, Dalit activists regard the battle as a heroic episode in their history.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A case was registered against the Peace International School in Kerala's Kochi on Saturday for teaching objectionable content and for following syllabus containing material violating existing India laws.

The complaint was filed by Ernakulam's District Educational Officer.

Preliminary enquiries revealed that the text books in the school were aimed towards propagating ideas contradictory to the secular policies of the country in order to spread propaganda, against the policies of India.

An FIR was registered against the school administration under Section 153 A(1)(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Distrct Collector of Ernakulam reported that the allegation against the school was true, therefore, in order to prevent Muslims from joining ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), it was highly necessary to stop the operation of such institutions.

The school has no Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) affiliation.

An immediate action has been requested under RTE Act to close the school and transfer the students to neighbourhood schools.

It has been directed to scrutinise the syllabus of all existing schools and furnish the action.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China's indigenous third aircraft carrier is close to completion and may soon to be deployed in the in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

According to a South China Morning Post report, the Jiangnan Shipyard Group has been given the responsibility to go ahead with the installing the equipment.

State- run news agency Xinhua mentions that the destroyer will be equipped with new air defense, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons. The Global Times quoted Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military affairs commentator as saying, "Uncertainties still exist after the hardware is finalized on the destroyer, as the new facilities and weapons still need more tests. The maintenance and use of the new facilities also need coordinated efforts from the shipbuilder and user, meaning the PLA Navy."

Xiaojun however said that it will still be some time before the destroyer is capable of being used in combat.

The PLA Navy has three home built carriers, excluding the Liaoning, a decades-old Soviet ship Beijing bought from Ukraine and refurbished to practice carrier operations. The Type 001A (CV-17), first domestically designed aircraft carrier Shandong, was launched in April 2017 at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning Province by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. It is expected to enter service by the end of 2018.

China is on record as saying that it will be building more of the destroyers to meet its navy's increasing demand for modern warships as reported by SCMP. The vessel will have to undergo testing, including its equipment, berthing and sailing, before it is commissioned for use.

According to Chinese naval experts, it is too early to say when the third vessel would be launched, but China plans to have four aircraft carrier battle groups in service by 2030.

"The news is a sign that the destroyer will soon be delivered and put into service as all the major works are in their final stages," Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, told the Global Times.

China is trying to build up a blue-water navy as it looks to expand its maritime influence globally.

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The Washington Post citing local media said the bloodshed "sparked fears of renewed unrest in the south, where separatists have sought independence for more than 30 years in the West African nation."

The Senegalese military confirmed the deaths in the Saturday's attack.

The Separatist group, however, is yet to claim responsibility for the attack, said local media.

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan is believed to have got married once again on New Year's Day in Lahore.

According to The News' report, Imran Khan has tied the knot with a woman he used to visit for spiritual guidance.

"The PTI chairman inaugurated 2018 by tying the knot with the woman on the night of January 1 in Lahore and came straight from there the next day to appear before the anti-terrorism court in Islamabad that granted him bail", the report said.

"The nikah was performed by Mufti Saeed, a member of PTI core committee, who was also the 'nikah khawan' when Imran publicly entered into marriage with Reham Khan on January 8, 2015, amid reports of secret nikah in November 2014", it added.

When Mufti was asked about Imran Khan's new marriage, he didn't give a clear answer.

Imran Khan's political secretary Awn Chaudry and PTI spokesman Naeem Ul Haq, who reportedly attended the wedding, categorically denied the reports.

"This is irresponsible yellow journalism. I had categorically denied the veracity of this planted gossip to Cheema. Totally concocted story", he tweeted.

"Considering my 35-year-long association and keeping in view the fact that I have been privy to his personal life, he noted, I can say with absolute confidence that nothing like this occurred. Even if he marries, he will do after the general elections of 2018", Naeem said.

The report further said that the wedding ceremony took place at the residence of a close confidante of the bride who also happens to be a friend of a PTI leader.

While his first marriage with Jemima Khan ended in divorce after nine years on June 22, 2004, the second marriage with Reham Khan continued barely for 10 months.

The second marriage was publicly announced on January 8, 2015.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Indonesia on Friday condemned all forms of terrorism at the 5th Joint Commission meeting between the two countries.

Addressing a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Indonesia Retno Marsudi; External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, "We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms. We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approach to deal with this group of menace and called upon all the countries to stop providing state sponsorship to terrorism and prevent their territories to stop being used for establishing terrorist safe havens."

Earlier the two leaders reviewed trade, energy ties, defence cooperation and people to people links in the meeting.

Swaraj termed India and Indonesia as natural partners in peace and prosperity.

"We are the two major countries in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most dynamic regions in the . We agree to develop synergic relationship to harness the potential of Indo-Pacific region and to meet the challenges that the region faces," Swaraj said.

She added Indonesia has a critical role to play in evolution of the security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region.

Swaraj also expressed importance of addressing the higher trade deficit India has with Indonesia.

"The best way to address this issue is not to restrict trade but to increase it. We agreed to work together for a balanced and sustainable trade by providing greater market access both in goods and services," Swaraj said.

India also promised to continue skill development assistance to Indonesia in the form of short term training programme and scholarship.

Swaraj also appreciated that Indonesian President Joko Widodo has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to join the ASEAN Special Commemorative Summit as Guest of Honour at India's Republic Day celebrations along with other ASEAN heads of states.

Swaraj along with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi will jointly inaugurate ASEAN-India Think Tanks' Forum meeting tomorrow.

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An inquiry report has been submitted to the Municipal commissioner by the Inquiry Committee, in connection to the Kamala Mills fire.

The committee has concluded that the fire started from the pub Mojo's bistro and not from the restraunt 1Above as believed earlier.

The report also stated that there were several violations of fire safety norms by both Mojo's bistro and 1Above.

The inquiry committee has recorded statement of around 10 people, gone through video on social media and several news portals too, to conclude the reason of the fire and lapses from both the restaurant and pub.

On January 4, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) had directed BMC to submit a report on Kamala Mills fire, in which 14 people were killed last month.

The MSHRC chairperson Justice S.R. Bannurmath issued the notice to the BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta to submit the report on the tragedy on or before January 29.

Fourteen people lost their lives and over 30 others were injured, when a major fire broke late night on December 28 at a building in Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel. The massive fire reportedly had allegedly broken out from the '1Above' rooftop restaurant and later spread to the entire area.

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Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy has accused political organisations radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other right wing organisations for disturbing harmony in the state.

"Political organisations or those like PFI, RSS, Sri Ram Sena should work to maintain harmony in society but these all are involved in disturbing harmony here," Reddy told media here on Friday, a day after a Hindu activist, Deepak Rao, was allegedly murdered in Mangaluru.

According to reports, taking exception to Reddy's statement about the nexus between PFI and BJP, the saffron party's state president B S Yeddyurappa yesterday challenged the minister to prove his charges in 24 hours.

Yeddyurappa also dismissed the allegations that three leaders of BJP Minorities Morcha were involved in Rao's murder, saying the charges were false, concocted and politically motivated.

The state government has announced Rs. 10 lakh compensation to the family of the activist.

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It took ink of four pens to sign the 2,400-page judgement copy, which nailed former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and sent him to prison.

This verdict was a 3.5-year jail term for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief in connection with the case.

The special CBI court judge, Shivpal Singh, earlier in the day, also slapped Lalu with a fine of Rs 5 lakh.

Lalu has been sentenced in the case relating to embezzling of more than Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.

The court also said his jail term would extend by six months, if he failed to furnish the amount.

On December 3, the court had pronounced Lalu and 14 others guilty in the case. Seven other accused were acquitted including former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra.

Lalu Prasad had, on Friday, sought a minimum punishment citing health issues. In his plea, Lalu mentioned, "I have no role in this scam directly; consider minimum punishment keeping in view my age and on health grounds."

The court was scheduled to pronounce quantum of sentence on January 3, but it continued to be deferred till today.

The court had also found Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav and other party leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Manoj Jha guilty of contempt of court.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh had, on Tuesday, observed he got phone calls from Lalu Prasad Yadav's men, in connection with his conviction in the fodder scam case.

The judge also accused Lalu's family members - his sons, Tej Pratap and Tejashwi - of mouthing casteist statements.

The judge added, "Laluji, we are getting a lot of references and calls for you, but I told your men that I will take the decision the way I want to, following the law."

Meanwhile, the CBI court has recommended the state government to send Lalu Yadav and other convicts to an open jail in Jharkhand's Hazaribag keeping in view their age.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday asserted that the state of law and order here has been fine in the last three years and would continue to be so.

"Law and order in Maharashtra has been absolutely fine in last three years, and will continue to be so", Fadnavis said in an event to promote investment in Maharashtra named Magnetic Maharashtra convergence summit 2018.

While replying to a question related to the Bhima Koregaon violence as to whether social factors are affecting the business and development in the state, Fadnavis dubbed the law and order situation in the state as "good".

Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State for Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale met the Chief Minister and demanded action against those responsible for the Bhima Koregaon violence.

On January 1, a youth was killed in a clash between two groups during an event to mark 200 years of Bhima-Koregaon battle that took place near Pune.

The incident prompted the Dalit community to protest on the streets in Maharashtra and other states.

A total of 16 FIRs have been registered by the Mumbai Police relating to the shutdown called on January 3 by the Dalit groups.

The Battle of Koregaon was fought on January 1, 1818 between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy at Koregaon Bhima.

The Marathas ultimately withdrew, fearing the arrival of a larger British force.

The Company troops of Indian origin included predominantly Mahar Dalit soldiers belonging to the Bombay Native Infantry, and therefore, Dalit activists regard the battle as a heroic episode in their history.

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Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir on Saturday said there was nothing wrong in offering condolences to the local militants.

Speaking to ANI, the PDP leader said, "Every death, be it a militant or a policeman, we condemn it. Militants are our brothers; we would visit their homes on death as it is a religious obligation. Following the PDP policy, I would visit the family of a slain militant for condolences. Whether it is a CRPF man or our local militant, there is no bar on offering condolences. However, it depends on the security situation; sometime we can go and sometimes not."

Mir added the PDP had to shelve its own party agenda due to alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"On Article 370, they had a different perspective, while our perspective was different. On running the government in the state and of both the regions, they had a different perspective and we also had altogether different. But we had to join, since we had to form the government. We won around 28 seats. In Jammu, the BJP got the highest share of probably 26 seats. We needed the assistance of the Delhi Government here, therefore, we took a decision, a very harsh decision. There was resentment in our voters also and there is no doubt about it," the PDP leader further stated.

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Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis has been accused of sexual misconduct by four different women, including two rape allegations.

The 64-year-old Canadian screenwriter was sued in December by film publicist Haleigh Breest for allegedly raping her in 2013 at his apartment after a movie premiere.

However, Haggis denied the claims and now, three more women have come forward with sexual misconduct allegation with one accusing that Haggis forced her to perform oral sex then raping her, reports the Deadline.

Another woman claimed that in 2015, the 'The Third Person' director tried to forcibly kiss her.

In his defence, Haggis previously said he's used to defending himself against "false allegations" because he is a notable critic of Scientology.

Haggis is writer and director of 2004's 'Crash', which won Academy Awards for best picture and best original screenplay.

He also earned an Oscars nod for best-adapted screenplay for 'Million Dollar Baby'.

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World number five Dominic Thiem's late withdrawal from the semifinals of the Qatar Open has set the stage for finals between Frenchman Gael Monfils and Russian star Andrey Rublev.

The tournament's number one seed, just hours before his match against Monfils, announced that he had to pull out from the event because of illness.

"I have some bad news, due to some health conditions I have to cancel my start today. I am in bed with fever and there is almost no chance of a recovery until tonight", Thiem said on his official website.

He added, "Now I am focusing on Melbourne and being fit and prepared for the first Grand Slam of the year".

Earlier, Rublev defeated Argentine Guido Pella in the semi-finals.

Saturday's final will be Monfils' fourth Doha title match, having lost all the previous three.

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In the wake of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation releasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers during 2017-18, Congress President on Saturday took to Twitter to make a witty remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Attributing the growth of the economy to Jaitley's "genuis" and Modi's "Gross Divisive Politics", Gandhi mocked the Modi-led Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over a reduced GDP, this quarter.

The growth in GDP during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5 per cent, as compared to the growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2016-17, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had noted on Friday.

As per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Real GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in the year 2017-18 is likely to attain a level of Rs 129.85 lakh crore, as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2016-17 of Rs 121.90 trillion, released on May 31, 2017.

The sectors which registered a growth rate of over 7.0 per cent include public administration, defence and other services, trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting, electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services and financial, real estate and professional services.

According to information furnished by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), the production of food grains during the Kharif season of agriculture year 2017-18 was 134.67 million tonnes as compared to 138.52 million tonnes during the same period in 2016-17.

Further, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday had said that the estimated GDP growth of 6.5 per cent for 2017-18 confirmed a 'strong turnaround of the economy'.

"GDP growth of 6.5 percent for 2017-18 implies growth of 7 per cent for the second half. This confirms strong turnaround of the economy. Investment growth of almost twice that of last year's indicates investment is reviving," Garg had posted on Twitter.

Moreover, chief statistician TCA Anant on Friday had predicted that there would be an improvement in numbers on a quarterly basis, even though the year-on-year estimates suggested a dip in GDP growth.

"The reason for the lower GDP estimates is mainly the poor performance of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The first two quarters showed numbers of 5.7 and 6.3 percent respectively. Looking at this, we are expecting the GDP growth in the next two quarters at 7 percent each," he said on Friday.

The Congress President's remarks come at a time when the Budget Session of the Parliament has been announced.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Friday said that the first Budget Session is scheduled from January 29 to February 9, while the second session will be held from March 5 to April 6.

Meanwhile, the budget will be presented on February 1.

This will be the last full-fledged budget for NDA government.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday stated that amid the rising challenges emerging before banks in the present day, the resilience of the banking system is undergoing a test.

"The financial system of the country is what spurs the growth of the economy, ultimately. However, in the recent past, challenges have appeared before the banking system, and it is the resilience of the system that is undergoing a test today. It is the responsibility of the banking system to restore its credibility and help spur growth of the economy. Taxpayers are making a sacrifice to keep you in good health," Jaitley said, while speaking at the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of UCO Bank, here.

Jaitley, however, noted that amidst the global slowdown, India's economy continued to grow at a significant pace.

"During the global slowdown, commodity prices dropped, infrastructure saw a decline, and all this affected the balance sheets of companies, which in turn, affected the balance sheets of the bank. However, India continued to be one of the fastest growing economies, despite the temporary challenge posed by structural changes that were implemented," he said.

Talking about the bank recapitalisation plan announced for reviving public sector banks (PSBs), Jaitley said it was crucial to introduce this in order to keep the credit growth sustained, adding the infusion of the designated Rs. 2.11 lakh crore would further keep the credit growth positive.

"Banks must be conscious that to keep them in good health is important. They should be well aware of their responsibility for driving economy's growth. The Parliament, on its end, should also extend support," he said.

For the unversed, Jaitley had announced an unprecedented PSB recapitalisation program of Rs 2.11 lakh crore in October 2017, in a bid to improve the lending capacity of banks.

Following this, the ministry last week presented a demand in the Lok Sabha for an additional expenditure towards the bank recapitalisation plan to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore.

The supplementary grant was being sought to meet expenditure towards recapitalisation of PSBs, through the issue of government securities.

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Rohingya insurgents on Saturday launched an assault on the Myanmar Army, attacking its truck in the restive state of Rakhine, and injured five soldiers in the process.

According to Al-Jazeera, a spokesperson for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for the truck attack.

A Myanmar's government source said: "A vehicle was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain, by using homemade mines and small arms."

An article in the Frontier Myanmar magazine reported that six soldiers were injured and hospitalised. At least, one soldier was reported to be in a very critical condition.

Rohingyas are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar. They have been regarded by many majority Buddhists as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Also, the Rohingyas have been persecuted by the Buddhists and the security forces.

As of December 2017, an estimated 6,55,000 Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh to avoid the persecution from the security forces that started in Myanmar's Rakhine state in August last year.

There are more than 3,00,000 Rohingyas living in Bangladesh, who fled in earlier waves of violence from the Myanmarese Government since the last three decades.

The United Nations has called the violence against civilians 'ethnic cleansing', but the Myanmarese Government rejected the claims.

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Globally-designated terrorist and the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has slapped a Rs 100 million defamation notice on Pakistan's Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir.

"The minister has been asked to tender an apology in writing within 14 days, or face litigation," read the notice served by Advocate A K Dogar, on behalf of JuD chief Saeed, under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance of 2002, local media reported.

This comes days after Pakistan prohibited Saeed's Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Monday ordered to prohibit all companies from donating cash to JuD and FIF, as well as several other such organisations named in a list of banned outfits by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Following the ban, Dastgir had stated that the action against JuD, FIF and other organisations were "linked to ongoing Operation Raddul Fasaad" and were taken so that "terrorists cannot open fire on schoolchildren anymore."

Dogar accused that the minister had caused "immense damage" to the "reputation" of Saeed and JuD by issuing an "irresponsible" statement, the report said.

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Hours after former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad was sentenced to 3.5 years of jail in a fodder scam case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra took a poetic jibe at the Opposition by terming it a "coalition of corrupts".

Taking to Twitter, Patra targetted Lalu, along with Congress President Rahul Gandhi, former party president Sonia Gandhi, who are out on a bail in the Herald case, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption in a coal scam case.

"??? ??? ???,??? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???, ?????? ????? ??? ???, ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??, ???????? ?? ??????, ?? ??????? 2019 ?? ?????? ??? ?????? (Few are in jail and few out on bail. Madhu Kodad, Lalu are in jail, Sonia Lalu are out on bail. yet this alliance of corrupts are saying say that they will fight in the upcoming general elections in 2019)," he tweeted.

The BJP leader further said the alliance of corrupt was over after Lalu's sentencing.

"Gathbandhan [alliance] of corruption is now over in Bihar. Now, one more wicket of a corrupt system and Rahul Gandhi's alliance is down. The politics of Rahul Gandhi and his alliance parties are exposed in front of India. Lalu Prasad is inside the jail just because he indulged in corruption," he told ANI.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, earlier in the day, sentenced Lalu Yadav to 3.5 years of jail in a fodder scam case.

He has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 5 lakh.

Lalu has been sentenced in the case relating to embezzling of more than Rs 89 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994.

The Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the quantum of sentence via video conferencing.

The court also said his jail term would extend by six months, if he failed to furnish the amount.

On December 3, the court had convicted Lalu and 14 others in the case, acquitting seven, including former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kolkata Police on Friday raided the residence of a person in Burrabazar after locals complained of a sex racket being operated out of it.

The locals complained about an illegal sex racket being run by the landlord, Pramod Kumar Singhania, who calls himself to be a follower of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

"We went to the house on December 25 and discovered that prostitution was being practised there. We also found minor boys and girls there. The landlord escaped through a secret tunnel after we got hold of him. Although it functioned as a guest house, it also floated flesh trade," a local told ANI.

One hidden tunnel was found through which the landlord had managed to escape.

An enquiry revealed that Singhania had made some make-shift compartments in the premises and used to let these out to traders who came to Burrabazar for some business-related matters.

The police said an investigation was underway to nab the landlord and others involved.

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Hollywood veteran Stephen Fry has finally decided to end his long run as host of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).

According to the Independent, the 60-year-old actor has hosted the ceremony 12 times, but said it was "only right to stand down and let others take the BAFTAs on to new heights and greater glories."

He further added, "What fun it will be to watch BAFTA 2018 without my heart hammering, mouth drying and knees trembling."

Whereas the Academy Awards changes its host almost every time, in the U.K., Fry has been a near constant presence in recent years, fronting the BAFTAs from 2011-2017 and having first hosted it in 2001.

During Fry's break from hosting duties, Jonathan Ross stepped in to take up the mantle. BAFTA head Amanda Berry thanked Fry, saying that he made the awards "such memorable and joyous occasions."

She also shared that a new host will be announced on January 9 at the same time the BAFTA award nominations are revealed.

This year's ceremony, taking place on February 18, will be held for a second year at the Royal Albert Hall in London and will feature a performance by Cirque du Soleil.

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Several passengers were stranded for hours at New York's JFK Airport reportedly as an effect of the 'bomb cyclone' leading to halting of airplanes at the runways, on Saturday.

Massive delays, walls of people in terminals, complaints of hours-long waits to get to a gate after landing, then hours more to get checked baggage were some of the cries of the stranded passengers, who took to the social media, to vent out their anger.

"I have never seen that before! Landed at 10:25pm JFK airport, still in the plane at 3:50am after an 8h flight from Paris. We cannot get out, insane! #AirFrance #jfkairport," one of the passengers aboard Air France tweeted.

Another frustrated passenger, said, in a, Twitter post, "This is what the airport traffic looks like right now . Kuwait waited more than 3 hours before they got a gate. Lufthansa, Air France and Singapore waited about 2 hours for a gate. To say the least the Kongo line was pretty long tonight."

"Still waiting at terminal 1 for flight AF008 luggage, no food no water no wifi for 9 hours. Shame of a service. @NYGovCuomo" said another passenger.

"2hours delayed at cdg, 8h flight, 4h waiting for parking spot, 1h for staircase, 1h to remove snow at the terminal door, 1h for boarder controls and still waiting for luggage since 5am without food or water or any airport staff #thisisnyc #jfk @airfrance" came another tweet.

"Air China flight #CA989 landed at JFK airport 4h 30min ago and is still waiting for a gate. Very frustrated passengers @MattStein7 @Brunosmind @jennimonet are tweeting from that flight," a Swedish internet-based air travel tracking service, Flightradar24, said, in a Twitter post.

"We need help still on plane have been traveling since Thursday New Zealand Time @AirChinaNA @JFKairport @united almost 6 hours. Not enough stairs to deplane. We will expect FULL refund. #ca989 it's 5:30 in the morning!!!!!!!!! @ColeHaber," a passenger tweeted.

Another passenger tweeted, "Due to excessive flight delays, my new permanent address is JFK Airport. Please forward all my mail to Terminal 4, c/o @Delta."

According to air travel tracking service Flightradar 24, dozens of planes had similar issues after landing. It posted a screen shot of ground traffic at the airport displaying what apparently were several planes sitting, seemingly in the wait for gates.

"After landing 3.5 hours ago, #DY7019 awaits a gate. Unfortunately for passengers at JFK tonight, they have plenty of company," Flightradar 24 tweeted.

"4 hours after landing, and 1 tour of JFK airport later, #DY7019 made it to the gate," the service later tweeted.

"Been stuck on tarmac for over 3 hours at JFK Alitalia flight 8604. Multiple passengers seeking medical attention. Staff not communicating. Babies literally crying from hunger and people calling police from the plane. Please RT to get this to the press," tweeted one passenger.

JFK had closed on Thursday at 11am when the storm hit and reopened on Friday at 7am.

Another passenger tweeted, "@JFKairport. we landed 5 hours ago & are still waiting on luggage at baggage claim! Not a single staff member to be seen, no announcements made about what to expect. All after being stuck on the tarmac for 3+ hours waiting for a place to park. Unacceptable customer service!"

Several were reported to be waiting for hours at the baggage claim after getting off the plain.

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"Once it hits kill-you cold, 25 below, then you've got to get out and move around. You don't want to be put in jail for trying not to freeze to death."

-- Chuck Benjamin, on dealing with the cold after his pickup wouldnt start and he had to seek shelter.

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"We try and only keep things that are related to North Dakota or her story."

-- Mark Halvorson, curator of collections research at the North Dakota Heritage Center, on how items are selected for the states collection.

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"There's an appreciation you get when you really kind of study alcohol. We need more bars around here that really want to teach people about cocktails and spirits ... That's kind of the goal of our bar."

-- Stacy Sturm, who along with Michael Kashey, are opening a specialty cocktail bar on Mandan's Main Street, Thomas and Moriarty's.

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"While I don't speak for my family members, I can say that, as the mother of three of Theodore Roosevelt's great-great-great-grandchildren, I am passionate about preserving the president's wonderful legacy. Theodore Roosevelt was a model of leadership, citizenship and service, and my great hope is that his library will become a hub for the advancement of these American ideals."

-- Serena Roosevelt, on plans for a Theodore Roosevelt presidential complex on the campus of Dickinson State University.

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"What we try to accomplish from our restaurants is to give a unique, authentic experience that people can't have elsewhere in town  something that we experienced firsthand that we've really enjoyed. We want people to take time to enjoy themselves while eating."

-- Kenny Howard, on plans for an Italian eatery and wine bar at the former One World boutique in downtown Bismarck.

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"We're still looking for a developer on the hospitality side to develop a four star-hotel. Our focus right now is on the hotel."

-- Bruce Whittey, chairman of Bismarck Futures, on efforts to keep the FiveSouth project alive.

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"These animals (plesiosaurs) are exceedingly rare. You never find these things."

-- Paleontologist Jeff Person, of the North Dakota Geological Survey, on the discovery of 10 percent to 20 percent of the animal's skeletal remains in the 1990s.

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"I think it seemed like we were parents who wanted to keep our schools open, and (the board) responded just to that. If we were just concerned about saving Highland Acres and Roosevelt, our signs would have said, 'Save Highland Acres and Roosevelt,' or 'Protect small schools.' That's not what we said; we said we want neighborhood schools because it creates a healthy community."

-- Ann Richardson, a member of the Roosevelt Alliance for Neighborhood Schools, on the groups goal.

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"It was a whirlwind. The show is so fast paced. As I was watching the third show, I said to my friends, I don't remember playing these categories.' I knew I did well; I just didn't remember it."

-- Bismarck native Kyle Becker, after winning $64,802 on "Jeopardy!"

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"A primary goal of this project is ... Bismarck police will be able to enforce red light running more effectively. This would hopefully reduce the number of red light violators and improve safety at these intersections."

-- Gabe Schell, Bismarck city engineer, on plans to install confirmation lights at 107 intersections.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Sectary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter to inform about the meeting.

"Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy," Kumar tweeted.

Later in the day, she will address the Indian community in the capital city.

Earlier on Friday, India and Indonesia condemned all forms of terrorism at the 5th Joint Commission meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

"We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms. We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approach to deal with this group of menace and called upon all the countries to stop providing state sponsorship to terrorism and prevent their territories to stop being used for establishing terrorist safe havens," Swaraj said.

The two leaders also reviewed trade, energy ties, defence cooperation and people to people links in the meeting.

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A key Taliban leader, who was leading the financial affairs and providing logistics for the militants, has been killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

The Taliban leader was in contact with the group's leadership in Quetta and was arranging weapons and other military kits for the insurgents, reported Khaama Press, citing Helmand governor's office, as saying, in a statement.

No comments have been received from the anti-government armed militant groups, including the Taliban insurgents by far.

Earlier, in late December, at least 17 militants, belonging to the Taliban insurgent group, were killed, in a joint operation by the Afghan air forces and ground forces in southern Helmand province.

"The forces had also seized weapons during the operation," Provincial governor spokesperson Omar Zwak had said.

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Macron's remark came during a joint news conference with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris on Friday.

To this charge, Erdogan, according to The Telegraph, responded by claiming that some journalists had been nourishing terrorists with their writings.

At the conference, Erdogan said that his country was worn out after waiting for 54 years to get an entry into the EU.

"This is seriously exhausting us and seriously exhausting our nation. Maybe this will force us to take a decision," The Telegraph quoted the leader as saying.

However, Macron, in replying, was straightforward and said recent developments in Turkey were failing its EU accession bid.

"We must get out of a hypocrisy that consists in thinking that a natural progression towards opening new chapters is possible. It's not true," the French president said.

The European Union countries and various human rights organisations have expressed their displeasure with Turkey over the way affairs were handled post 2016 failed coup.

An order was given to arrest about 55,000 security force personnel, judges, journalists, academics and

activists after the failed coup. Over 1,40,000 people, accused of having links with US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara sees as a prime orchestrator of the attempted coup, have been sacked or suspended.

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The Uttar Pradesh Government has doubled the compensation given to the kin of jawans who were killed on-duty.

"To ensure the security of the 22 crore people of Uttar Pradesh, we have doubled the compensation given to the kin of the jawans who lose their lives on-duty," Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, while addressing a public gathering in Meerut.

"Earlier, the compensation amount ranged from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, but now it has been increased upto Rs 50 lakh," he added.

The chief minister said the compensation was increased to take care of the family of the killed jawans and to pay homage and respect to their families.

The chief minister also paid his tribute to the police constable, Ankit Tomar, who succumbed to bullet injuries a day after he was shot during the encounter in Shamli.

A wanted criminal, Satyaveer alias Satthe Ahediya, was reportedly killed in the encounter with the police in Bulandshahr's Kotwalinagar on Thursday.

Adityanath also lauded the UP policemen in protecting the people of the state.

He also attacked the previous government for failing to take care of the famers in the state .

"When we came to power, we ensured electricity reached every part and region of the state," he said.

The chief minister said politics should focus on rural development, farmers, youth and women empowerment and asserted that his government was bringing policies for the betterment of the people.

He also vowed to double the income of farmers in this year and urged people to keep supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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The boundary walls of the Haj House, which was painted saffron yesterday, has been repainted to its original colour.

Haj Samiti Secretary RP Singh has blamed the contractor for the incident while saying that an action would be taken against him.

"Whitewash and maintenance work were being done at the Haj House located at the Vidhan Sabha road in Lucknow by a contractor, as per the direction of the Haj Samiti. After several reports of its being painted in saffron colour, I reached there to review the work and found out that work was done completely opposite of what was directed. We immediately took the matter into consideration and directed to repaint the office. An action is also being taken against the contractor," he said, in a statement.

Saffron colour is majorly related with the Hinduism and also associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The move did not go down well with the opposition who claimed that the ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had resorted to alleged 'saffronisation' of the state.

However, Uttar Pradesh Minister Mohsin Raza said the move did not invite any controversy and the building was painted saffron just to beautify it.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday said, "We're saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young."

Young was the first person to travel to space six times and the ninth of 12 scientists to set foot on the lunar surface.

"NASA and the world have lost a pioneer. Young was at the forefront of human space exploration with his poise, talent, and tenacity. He was in every way the 'astronaut's astronaut'," said NASA acting administrator Robert Lightfoot, local media reported.

Local media stated that the octogenarian died of pneumonia.

Young was one of the three astronauts to travel twice to the moon.

The former US Navy test pilot flew into space twice during the Gemini programme of NASA in 1960's and twice on space shuttles.

Young was the longest serving astronaut, who worked with NASA for 42 years.

In an interview, after his retirement in 2004, he said that he considered himself "very lucky".

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United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster met the Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on Friday to discuss the bilateral issues between two countries.

The meeting came amid the United States move to cut off the military aid to Pakistan, as it has not taken "necessary steps" to curb terrorism.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert on Thursday said the embargo would remain in place until Pakistan takes action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

Nauert, in her media briefing in Washington, also noted, "No country has suffered more from terrorism than Pakistan. They understand that, but they still haven't taken the necessary steps."

The announcement comes three days after President Donald Trump made a scathing remark against its ally in the war on terrorism and accused Pakistan of lying and deceiving while receiving billions in aid.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" Trump tweeted on Monday.

However, the U.S. is only stopping the security aid, the humanitarian assistance to Pakistan will continue.

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The police from China and Myanmar have jointly solved several drug cases, nabbing three suspects with 160 kg of drugs, officials said.

The three suspects included two from China and one from Myanmar, said the drug control bureau, the public security department of Yunnan Province, on Friday.

On December 19, the Yunnan police received tip-offs that a batch of drugs would be transferred from Kokang in Myanmar into China. The local police immediately contacted their Myanmar counterparts, Xinhua news agency reported.

The same day, the Kokang police found six bags of methamphetamine weighing 160 kg in a sugarcane field. One Myanmar suspect was caught. The drugs were handed over to the Chinese police.

The Myanmar police also helped police officials in China's Chongqing Municipality and Jiling province catch two drug dealers who fled to Myanmar at the end of last year. All cases were still under investigation.

--IANS

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Saturday arrived in Assam, enroute to Meghalaya, and visited the ancient Kamakhya temple here, situated on the Nilachal Hill.

Shah is on a two-day long visit to northeast and is scheduled to address a public rally at Tikrikilla in Garo Hills region in Meghalaya on Saturday. He is all set to woo the voters in the Garo Hills belt in the Congress-ruled state.

Shah will spend the night in Shillong and leave for Tripura on Sunday morning. His visit assumes significance considering the fact that that Meghalaya and Tripura are going to polls in February this year.

Senior BJP leaders like Ram Madhav, Mahendra Singh have also accompanied Shah while Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also likely to accompany Shah during his visit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Meghalaya in December last year and addressed a public rally in Shillong to kick start the poll campaign.

--IANS

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China on Saturday implemented a ban on exports of steel and other metals to North Korea and placed limits on the supply of crude oil and petroleum products to the country in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

In a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce announced a complete ban on the sale of iron, steel and other metals, industrial machinery and transport vehicles to North Korea, reports Efe news.

It also said that crude oil exports to the country should not exceed four million barrels or 525,000 tonnes during any given 12-month period, while the sale of refined petroleum products would be stopped after reaching the imposed limit of 500,000 barrels for 2018.

China also banned imports of some products from North Korea, including cereal, soy, and other agricultural products, some minerals, wood and electrical equipment.

These measures were announced by China in order to implement Resolution 2397 of the Security Council, adopted in December in response to the latest ballistic missile testd by the Kim Jong-un regime.

This was the 10th resolution passed by the Security Council, where China is a permanent member, to harden sanctions against Pyongyang since 2006 when North Korea carried out its first nuclear test.

--IANS

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BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday said that he was confident that the party will overthrow the ruling Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government and form the new government in the state after the assembly polls slated for later this year

Addressing party workers after kicking off his election campaign at in West Garo Hills district, Shah said: "While on my way to Tikrikilla (to address a public rally), I did not have hope but after seeing the response of the people in Tikrikilla, and the anger of the public against (the Mukul) Sangma government, I am convinced that the next government will be of the BJP."

Speaking after inaugurating the newly-constructed party office here, he charged the ruling Congress with running a most corrupt government.

"In our country, there should not be a competition, which one is the most corrupt government. This is a competition which is not good for the country. But if there is one such, Sangma government certainly is vying for the top spot," he said.

He told that party workers that the party's mission is not to form the government "because we are already in power in 19 states".

"But our mission is to ensure that people get their due and Meghalaya should become a model state instead of vying as the most corrupt state. Meghalaya should become one of the most developed model state," he said.

The BJP chief also questioned the Congress government for its failure to develope Meghalaya despite the central government sanctioning Rs 5,817 crore to Meghalaya under the 13th Finance Commission while under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 14th Finance Commission increased this to Rs 25,413 crore.

"Therefore, the question is where has this money gone. Are you seeing any development, where are development in villages, where are roads, hospitals, doctors? You take all these figures and educate the people and every voter in Meghalaya," he said.

Earlier, launching his election campaign at Tikrikilla, Shah sought the people's support to strengthen Modi and BJP's dream for a developed India.

Union Tourism minister K.J Alphons and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also asked the people not to fall prey to the Congress "misinformation" campaign that BJP is anti-Christian and anti-minority.

--IANS

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One can feel the morning raga only when it is played in the morning, iconic sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who along with his two sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash is set to perform in Mumbai on Sunday, said on Saturday.

"I am playing a morning concert here in Mumbai after seven years and this is the first concert of the year, of course, I am excited," he told IANS here.

"I think one can listen to any raga, at any time on the recording, but if you want to feel the raga, you have to listen to them in the morning. We have several early morning ragas in classical music and these concerts give us an opportunity to play them," he added.

His elder son Amaan said that waking up early morning is a big task for him because "it is almost like going back to school."

"One might just feel a little groggy because these days we do not wake up at 5 in the morning. Since our concert starts at 6:30, we have to wake up much early. But the advantage of playing such concert is to play some of the beautiful morning ragas that otherwise we do not get a chance to play in the evening concerts," he added.

Meanwhile, Ayaan said that morning concerts have become rare phenomena in the recent years.

"For us, the concert is also very special because of its backdrop -- Gateway of India. You know this is one of those iconic monuments of our country that symbolises the spirit of humanity and oneness though it has experienced some of the atrocities. Gateway of India is the spirit of Mumbai," he said.

Asked if he can recall his special moment of early morning concert, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan said that his best experience was when he saw the rising sun when he performed in overnight concert in Kolkata.

Sharing his early memories of childhood, the recipient of Padma Vibhshan said, "I used to wake up around four in the morning for my namaz followed by riyaaz. I learnt it from my father and guru Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan."

"The practice went on until I started my world tour for performance. Then I had to change my schedule according to my show. But, I would still say, waking up early in the morning and the sound of sarod refreshes your mind," he added.

Presented by Pancham Nishad, in association with Culture Department of Maharashtra and Mumbai Port Trust, the two-hour long concert titled "Spiritual Morning" starts at 6:30.

--IANS

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Islamic Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad in Gaza on Friday called on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to withdraw its recognition of Israel.

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesmen in Gaza, said that the PLO "should immediately withdraw its recognition of the Israeli entity", reports Xinhua.

He also called on the Palestinian National Authority to stop security coordination with Israel.

"The arms of resistance are a red line that can never be overcome, dropped or to be discussed," Qassem was quoted as saying.

The PLO recognised Israel and signed Oslo peace agreements in 1993 throughout an exchange of letters between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, where Israel recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Khader Habib, the senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said it is important to carry on with the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising against Israel in the Palestinian territories.

He said the Intifada broke out in response to US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Habib told demonstrators in southern Gaza that the Palestinian Authority "must have severe security coordination with the Zionist entity and the PLO has to withdraw its recognition of this entity."

Earlier, the two groups said they received invitations to attend the meeting of the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), or the PLO parliament, which is scheduled in the West Bank on January 14.

The PLO Central Council is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the consequences of Trump's Jerusalem declaration, his intentions to move US embassy to the city and the current Israeli government's policy.

--IANS

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Haryana has achieved the distinction of becoming the first state in the country to launch high-risk pregnancy portal, a minister said on Saturday.

This portal not only helps in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to the grassroots but also ensures their timely referral to the civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists.

Health Minister Anil Vij said that this initiative has been lauded by the NITI Aayog and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The High Risk Pregnancy Policy has been implemented across the state since November 2017 for identifying 100 per cent name-based high-risk pregnancy cases and ensuring their delivery by specialists at civil hospitals.

"This initiative will definitely increase the pace of decline in maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate and still birth incidence as morbidity and mortality is quite high in high-risk pregnant cases, if not managed timely," Vij added.

Principal Secretary Health Amit Jha said: "This innovative web application has been designed to track every high-risk pregnant woman till 42 days after delivery so that she receives adequate treatment during the ante-natal period for healthy outcome of pregnancy."

National Health Mission Director Amneet P. Kumar said instructions had been issued to all civil surgeons for 100 per cent entry of high-risk pregnant cases in the high-risk pregnancy portal and their management at civil hospitals by specialists.

She said the state had also implemented birth companion strategy under which one female attendant would be allowed during delivery in the labour room.

--IANS

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Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticised the UN Security Council's emergency meeting on Iran's recent unrests and termed it a "foreign policy blunder" for Washington, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

"The UNSC rebuffed the US naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA (Iran's nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another foreign policy blunder for the (US President Donald) Trump administration," Zarif tweeted.

On Friday, the UNSC held an emergency meeting at the request of the US to discuss the recent protests on the economic condition in Iran.

According to some reports, at least 20 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in the riots and hundreds were arrested.

Iran has blamed the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia for inciting the violence in recent protests.

Iran's Ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshroo on Friday condemned the UNSC's debate on the recent protests in Iran.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the US administration to escape forward, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," Khoshroo said addressing the session on Friday.

--IANS

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In a huge setback to the RJD, its supremo Lalu Prasad was on Saturday sentenced to three-and-a-half-years jail in a fodder scam case.

After three days of arguments on the quantum of punishment, special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the order through video conferencing.

As the CBI judge was delivering the sentence, Lalu Prasad, who is at present lodged in the Central Jail here, was standing with folded hands.

The court also slapped two fines of Rs 5 lakh each on the former Bihar Chief Minister. If the fine is not deposited, he will have to stay in jail for another six months.

The court convicted Lalu Prasad and 15 others on December 23 in the case relating to the multi-million-rupee scam.

Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment on offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy under the the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He was also sentenced to the same period under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Both punishment will go simultaneously.

The sentences range from three-and-a-half-years to seven years imprisonment. The maximum fine imposed was Rs 10 lakh, slapped on three convicts including Jagdish Sharma, former Public Accounts Committee chairman, while they and three others got the seven years in jail too. Thre remaining nine were also sentenced to three and half years in jail.

The arguments on quantum of sentence had been going on since Thursday when those of five convicts were heard and another five, including Lalu Prasad, was heard on Friday.

While hearing arguments of quantum of sentence, the judge observed that the convicts "should be kept in open jail as they have experience in looking after cows".

The CBI court had acquitted another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case, relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury between 1990 and 1994 in then undivided Bihar.

Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of the undivided state from 1990 to 1997.

Convicted in another fodder scam case in 2013, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and is on bail.

He was facing a total five cases in the fodder scam and the judgment in two more cases are likely to be pronounced within one month.

The multi-million-fodder scam surfaced in 1996 and at directive of Patna High Court, the investigation was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). When Lalu Prasad moved the Supreme Court against high court order, the SC ordered the Patna High Court to monitor the investigation.

Lalu Prasad had to step down as Chief Minister post in 1997 following his arrest in the scam.

A total of 62 cases were filed by the CBI and majority of them were transferred Ranchi after Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar in 2000. The special CBI court has delivered judgment in 48 cases and several politicians, bureaucrats and others have been convicted.

--IANS

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With New Delhi enhancing its engagements with southeast Asia under its Act East Policy, India on Saturday called for the waters of the Indo-Pacific region to be better connected and free of traditional and non-traditional threats.

"The Indo Pacific region, is increasingly seen as a connectivity pathway - much of the world's trade passes through these oceans," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the Fifth Round Table of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-India Network of Think Tanks here.

"These waters must not only get better connected, but remain free from traditional and non-traditional threats, that impede free movement of people, goods and ideas," she stated.

"Respect for international law, notably Unclos (United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea), in ensuring this is, therefore imperative."

The remarks assume significance given China's belligerence in the South China Sea and growing influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Stating that both India and the Asean countries are maritime nations, Sushma Swaraj said: "As a mature and responsible nation, one of India's foreign policy interests, is to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security, and shared prosperity."

The Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Stating that both India and Asean shared a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain, Sushma Swaraj said that New Delhi looked forward to working closely with the regional bloc in a range of activities like developing a Blue Economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services, and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She also said that deeper economic integration with the Asean region was an important aspect of India's Act East Policy.

"Asean is India's fourth largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of India's total trade," she stated. "India is Asean's seventh largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 per cent increase in 2016-17, as compared to the previous year."

Pointing out that investment flows have remained robust, Sushma Swaraj said that there have been continuous efforts to promote dialogue among Asean and Indian business and trade associations, to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

"The establishment of a Project Development Fund will encourage Indian companies to develop manufacturing hubs in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam) countries," she stated.

"Our offer of a $1 billion line of credit is another important initiative to enhance physical and digital connectivity."

The Indian minister called upon participants of Saturday's round table to offer new ideas for a greater integration of Asean Economic Community with India and identify collaborative opportunities in investment, trade and services sector.

She also called for greater collaboration among educational institutions of India and the Asean nations, saying this would "contribute towards investing in the future of our relationship, especially where it involves the youth of our countries".

"I invite you all to discuss modalities for setting up a network of universities among Asean countries and India, to intensify our cooperation in the education sector," she said.

Sushma Swaraj arrived here from Thailand on Friday on the second leg of her three-nation tour of southeast Asia and co-chaired the fifth meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

After addressing the think tanks' round table on Saturday, she interacted with members of the Indian community here before leaving for Singapore, where she will inaugurate this year's Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on Sunday.

Sushma Swaraj's visit to the region comes ahead of the Special Commemorative Summit to be hosted by New Delhi later this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and Asean. Leaders of all 10 nations of the regional bloc are expected to attend the summit.

--IANS

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The Malaysian government has agreed to an offer by a US exploration firm to resume the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on a "no cure, no fee" basis, Transportation Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday.

The US company, Ocean Infinity, said earlier this week that it was "hopeful of receiving the final contract award for the resumption of the search for MH370 over the coming days", reports Xinhua news agency,.

"Now we have approached Australia and China, and we are working together to resume the search for MH370," he said.

Liow added the contract would be finalized by next week.

Ocean Infinity said it was moving Seabed Constructor, the vessel that the company uses for the search, towards the vicinity of the possible search zone given that the weather window would be relatively narrow.

MH370, carrying 239 on board, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Malaysia, Australia and China suspended the search operation in January 2017 after almost three years' efforts in a 120,000-square-km area in the Southern Indian Ocean failed to find any sign of the wreckage of the plane.

But a report from the Australian Transport Safety Board released later in the year pointed to a new area where the plane could be found.

--IANS

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A special court in Manipur has sentenced a 42-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment for raping his minor daughter.

The complaint against the man was lodged on September 19, 2016 when the mother of the victim alleged that her husband raped the minor at least three times. Police arrested the father a day after the complaint was registered.

After his conviction under the The Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Special Judge G. Golmei on Friday ordered the punishment with rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The defence had lesser punishment on the grounds that there was no previous crime committed by the convict.

The judge also directed the social welfare department and the Manipur State Legal Services Authority to give maximum permissible amounts of compensation to the victim.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday attend the three-day annual conference of top police officers that began in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, an official said.

Modi is expected to meet the police officers of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) from all states and central police organisations and speak on new-age crime like cyber terrorism and radicalisation of youths, an official said.

The Prime Minister addressed similar conferences in Guwahati in 2014, Dhordo in Rann of Kutch of Gujarat in 2015 and National Police Academy in Hyderabad in 2016.

He has been emphasising on the importance of leadership, soft skills and collective training, specifically mentioning the importance of technology and human interface for the police force.

Holding the Annual DGP Conference outside the national capital, is in line with Prime Minister's vision that such conferences should be held across the country, and not just confined to Delhi.

On Saturday, top police officers from all over the country shared and discussed security related issues, cyber terrorism, the impact of social media on the society, cross border terrorism, radicalisation of youths besides a host of other issues during the conference held at the BSF academy in Tekanpur of Madhya Pradesh.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh left Delhi on Saturday to join the conference and was likely to give an assessment on the internal security situation. Union Ministers of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Kiren Rijiju also joined the event.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba also joined the conference on Saturday.

About 250 senior police officers attended the conclave in which issues such as the security situation in the major combat theatres of Jammu and Kashmir, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and the Northeast are discussed.

The implementation and activation of decisions taken during the last few conferences will also be reviewed during the three-day meeting.

The subject of issuance and cancellation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the non- governmental organisations and others could also be put on the agenda.

--IANS

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Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has referred the privilege notice by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav against Congress President Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Yadav had raised the issue of a tweet by Gandhi and said that the Congress leader had "twisted" the name of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley which was derogatory and it also amounted to misinterpretation of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. Jaitley is the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha.

According to Rajya Sabha TV, Naidu concluded on examining Yadav's notice that there was prima facie a question of privilege and referred the matter to the Speaker for further consideration.

Gandhi represents Amethi constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Yadav had moved the notice on December 28 under Rule 187, against Gandhi and urged the Chair to take notice of the alleged breach of the privilege of the the Leader of the House.

"The members of this House have dignity. The name of the Leader of the House Arun Jaitley has been intentionally published by the Congress President with malafide intentions to defame this House," Yadav had told the Chair.

"The way his (Jaitley's) name has been twisted by the Congress President on his Twitter handle, it comes in the category of (breach of) privilege. I request you to...issue notice to Rahul Gandhi," he added.

Referring to a statement given by Jaitley in the House on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted: "Dear Mr Jaitlie (sic)- thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means."

Yadav again raised the issue of the privilege notice on Friday and the Chairman had told him that it was under his consideration.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet came after Jaitley made a statement in the House clarifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's position vis-a-vis his "conspiring with Pakistan" comments against his predecessor Manmohan Singh in order to end an impasse.

"The statement (by Modi) did not question nor did he mean to question the commitment to the nation of Manmohan Singh or Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President. Any such perception is completely erroneous. We hold these leaders in high esteem as also their commitment to the nation," Jaitley said.

The Finance Minister had made the statement as part of an understanding with the Congress over the issue that had led to stalling of the Rajya Sabha and disruptions in the Lok Sabha for several days with the party demanding an apology or explanation from Modi.

The Congress had also reciprocated by disapproving Mani Shankar Aiyar's criticism of the Prime Minister after which the House resumed normal business.

--IANS

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The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said here on Friday that the country fights the war against terrorism on its own resources.

Washington announced on Thursday that it is suspending the transfer of military equipment and security-related funds to Pakistan, Xinhua cited the State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert as saying.

Pakistan is engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and await further details, the ministry was quoted as saying.

Impacts of the US decision on pursuit of common objectives is also likely to emerge more clearly in due course of time.

It, however, needs to be appreciated that Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources which has cost over $120 billion in 15 years.

It added that Pakistan is "determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that Washington would withhold $255 million in assistance to Pakistan from the Foreign Military Financing fund, which is used to provide military equipment and training to a friendly country.

--IANS

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All-rounder Hardik Pandya led India with a counter attacking half-century as the visitors saw themselves at 185/7 at tea on the second day of the first Test against South Africa at the Newlands here on Saturday.

Pandya (81 batting) who notched up his second Test half-century along with right-handed Bhuvneshwar Kumar (24 batting) were at crease when umpires called it an end to the second session.

The duo who forged a 93-run unbeaten stand for the eighth wicket to help the visitors cut down the first innings deficit imposed by South Africa to 101 runs.

For the hosts, pacers Veron Philander (3/33) and Dale Steyn (2/51) picked up three wickets in unison in the second session.

Resuming the second session on 76/4, batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara (26) and Ravichandran Ashwin (12) failed to get going from the onset.

The Saurashtra batsman was sent back without scoring a run by delivery outside off from Philander which was taken easily at second slip by skipper Faf du Plessis. Later, Ashwin (12) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) were also sent back to the pavillion in quick succession.

However, the struggling Indian innings came to a recovery with a blistering 68-ball innings from Pandya -- who was tactically send down the order. The Baroda batsman hit 13 boundaries and one hit over the fence in his unbeaten innings.

Complimenting Pandya, incoming batsman Bhuvneshwar played a perfect second fiddle getting off the mark in the 32nd delivery he faced. The pacer played on the defence allowing his fellow batsman who looked in form to take charge of the innings.

The Proteas were seen to introduce their lone spinner Keshav Maharaj (0/15) for the first time in the second session. The only trouble for the hosts came in form of their premier pacer Steyn -- who was seen limping off the ground during the 61st over.

Brief scores: India 185/7 (Hardik Pandya 81 batting, Bhuvneshwar Kumar24 batting; Veron Philander 3/33) against South Africa 286 at tea.

--IANS

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A skywalk project across the arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road in the city centre was halted after citizens and green activists protested against it on social media, Bengaluru Mayor R.Sampath Raj said on Saturday.

"We have been asked by the Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George to keep the project on hold until it was reviewed," Sampath Raj told IANS.

The skywalk, a foot-over bridge, was being constructed at the junction of Mahatma Gandhi Circle in the central part of the city, across the busy M.G. Road.

The project had received vehement protests on social media for blocking the views of the heritage structures of Mahatma Gandhi Park and serving as "frames for political banners".

"The skywalk is a disaster in the making. Is it not a fact that many skywalks across the city are serving as nothing more than ugly frames for illegal political banners?" asked volunteer coordinator for people's forum Citizens For Bengaluru Srinivas Alavilli in a Facebook post.

Netizens also pointed that there was no need for the skywalk at a junction with traffic lights where people could cross during a red signal.

"If it was a highway or a ring road it is understandable to have a skywalk but why at a place where people can cross?" noted Alavilli.

The aesthetic views of the century-old Queen Victoria statue, which was installed in 1906 during the British rule, in the Mahatma Gandhi Park were going to be ruined with the skywalk, stated another netizen Srinivasa Raju.

The Karnataka High Court in October last year had issued a notice to the state government on a PIL filed protesting against the construction of a steel bridge at Shivananda Circle in the central part of the city.

In March last year, the state had dropped its plans to construct a 6.9km long steel flyover from Chalukya Circle in the city centre to Hebbal junction in the northern suburb after opposition from the civic society as it would have resulted in the loss of over 800 trees.

--IANS

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi will visit Bahrain on January 8 as part of his outreach to the Indian diaspora and will also meet the country's Prime Minister, Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.

Congress sources said Gandhi's visit is part of his interactions with Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs). Gulf countries have the biggest Indian diaspora of more than 35 lakh.

Gandhi will be chief guest at the three-day valedictory function organised by 'Global Organisation of People of India Origin' (GOPIO) on January 8. Delegates from 50 countries are participating in the event.

The sources said the Crown Prince and First Deputy Premier Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa will host the lunch for Gandhi.

Apart from meeting the Bahrain Prime Minister, Gandhi is also likely to meet King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Gandhi will also have an interactive session with business leaders of Indian Origin.

It will be Gandhi's first foreign visit since his elevation as party chief in December. Gandhi had visited the US in September and addressed students.

Gandhi's outreach is being seen as a move to popularise Congress among the large Indian diaspora. Prime Minister Narendra Modi engages with the diaspora during his visits abroad.

--IANS

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After RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half- years in jail in a fodder scam case on Saturday, the party has decided to reach out to people in Bihar with his message against fascist forces.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will reach out to people with Lalu's message "not to fear and bow before fascist forces and will fight against them".

Lalu's wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi along with her son Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly, said "Laluji has asked us to reach out with his message to villages across the state. He has sent a message from the jail for people".

"Now, RJD will reach out to people with Laluji's message. We will go to all villages across Bihar with his message," Tejashwi Yadav, the former Deputy Chief Minister, told the media here.

He said RJD will decide its strategy in a meeting that is underway with senior party leaders and party legislators here to deal with the court verdict against Lalu.

Meanwhile, all RJD leaders and workers have expressed full faith in the party in the absence of Lalu Prasad. They have made it clear in the party meeting that they are united behind the party.

According to RJD leaders, the party will use Lalu Prasad's jail sentence as a tool to consolidate its grip on the ground in the name of social justice.

--IANS

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Domestic original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Smartron is set to refresh its budget smartphone line-up with a new device that will be priced at around Rs 10,000.

Industry sources told IANS that the latest device will feature a mammoth 5,000mAh battery and will be exclusively available on Flipkart.

The device will feature a metal body with 32GB internal memory (expandable up to 128GB).

The company last year launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered IoT platform called "tronX" which, it said, helps connect a range of devices.

Smartron earlier launched srt.phone (srt is intreprated as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar) in India for Rs 13,999. It was launched by Tendulkar who is reportedly a strategic investor in the company.

"Billion Capture+," the first smartphone from Flipkart, also houses AI capabilities, courtesy Smartron.

In the next "tronX" update, users will have access to a range of intelligent and personalised experiences and services.

Smartron also aims at partnering other brands across market segments to design and engineer devices.

--IANS

ksc/na/vm

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Hundreds of brave swimmers challenged freezing temperatures on Saturday to compete in China's Harbin Ice Swimming contest.

With the morning temperature hovering around minus 20 degrees Celsius, locals and tourits were out to withstand the extreme cold, reports Efe news.

Armed with nothing but their swimming trunks, caps, and goggles, up to 600 contestants took to the freezing waters of the Songhua River.

The contest is part of the 34th annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, which opened to the public on Friday.

The festival is one of China's most popular tourist attractions during the winter months.

Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province that borders Russia, each winter welcomes more than 1 million tourists for the festival.

--IANS

ksk/vm

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Once again sidestepping whether Donald Trump's tweets violates its terms of service, the micro-blogging platform has clarified that it will not block world leaders from tweeting.

Although it didn't directly name Trump, in a blog post called "World Leaders on Twitter", the company said on Friday that there has been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on the platform.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company said.

"It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."

Twitter did not block Trump for his "nuclear button" tweet that stormed the social media which, many thought, raised prospect of nuclear war with North Korea.

Trump declared that his nuclear button was "much bigger" and "more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's after the latter threatened the US about Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.

A number of users reported to the tweet, TechCrunch reported, with the expectation that threatening a war one is capable of starting should violate Twitter's revised "Terms of Service", given the company's recent crackdown on violent threats.

In December, Twitter began enforcing new rules around violent and hateful content posted to its platform to reduce the amount of online abuse, hate speech, violent threats and harassment associated with its service.

"You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people," as per Twitter's rule about violent threats.

In response to Trump's threat on Twitter, the company earlier said that it had reviewed the case and "found that there was no violation of the Twitter rules against abusive behaviour".

Moreover, the rules do not apply to whatever Trump posts because of who he is and the "newsworthiness" of his statements, Twitter added.

In the latest blog post, the company said it reviews tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce its rules accordingly.

"No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind."

--IANS

na/vm

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A senior police officer and an assistant sub-inspector were severely injured after being attacked by a mob in West Bengal's Howrah district, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon, when a team from Howrah's Shaympur police station went to Bargram village to arrest a few miscreants.

"Suman Das, the officer in-charge and ASI T.K. Purkait were chased down and beaten up by a gang of miscreants when they tried to stop a clash over land dispute. Das has sustained severe head injury in the attack," an officer from Shaympur police station said.

Das has been admitted to Kolkata's Belle Vue Clinic while the ASI was taken to Uluberia hospital.

"Seven persons have been arrested in the case so far on the charges of attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt and deterring public servant from duty. They would be presented in the court today," the officer added.

--IANS

mgr/pgh/vm

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MOSS POINT, Miss. -- The trial in the brutal stabbing of a Moss Point educator was set to take place this week, but after an agreement between the prosecution and defendant, Lee Andrew Gipson's capital murder trial will not start until April 9, 2018, according to Assistant Jackson County District Attorney Cherie Wade.

Gipson, 24, was indicted for the stabbing death of Willie C. Williams, 64, more than 50 times in a robbery attempt.

Gipson reportedly has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charge.

Police found Williams dead in his home on Aug. 19, 2016 at the corner of Frederick and Charles Street after a friend placed multiple calls to Williams that went unanswered.

According to Jackson County Deputy Coroner Jason Moody, Williams stabbing was "uncommon."

"It is very rare," Moody said after the autopsy. "It's a very unusual crime and it's not something that we see often, but it was a gruesome act."

A week after the stabbing, Gipson was arrested and has been jailed without bond in the Mississippi Department of Corrections since his arrest.

Before his death, Williams was known as a friend, mentor, leader, and peacemaker to those he encountered.

Known for being a staple in the community, Williams graduated from Magnolia High School in Moss Point and completed his higher education at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Williams served as principal, assistant superintendent, and interim superintendent during his time in the Moss Point School District. He was known as a stern, loving educator able to help students and staff members reach their full potential.

Former student Jhai Keeton said Williams aura demanded a certain level of respect.

"I will never forget how Mr. Williams stood in front of the entire student body - seventh, eight, and ninth graders, and not one peep was heard," Keeton said. "He let us know what he was doing there and what he expected out of us. There was no giggling or anything. He commanded that kind of respect."

Gipson, if convicted, is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Unesco has announced its full support to India-based Terre Policy Centre's Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN) in its 2018 Programme.

Unesco's Knowledge Societies Programme will now work closely with SCCN to empower and enable the youth in the universities and colleges for 21st century leadership to realise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Expressing his delight on the partnership, Dr. Boyan Radoykov, Acting Director of Communication and Information of Knowledge Societies Division stated: "The time has come for re-examining intrinsic linkages between the digital innovations, technology penetration and increasing societal inclination for a digitized world. Undoubtedly, Terre Policy Centre's efforts to link educational campuses using cloud networking would provide a meaningful way forward in this direction."

The Knowledge Societies Division strives to enhance the quality of and access to by promoting open access to technological and scientific information and empower local communities, including youth in educational campuses. Sharing the same vision, Terre and Unesco have collaborated to drive youth engagement to contribute to SDGs by deploying SCCN and Knowledge Societies initiatives using latest Information and Communication Technologies including the Internet of Things, Cloud Networking, Artifical Intelligence and Data Analytics.

"Unesco hopes that its collaboration with Terre would pave the way for sowing the seeds to transform campus communities through better access to information and understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals," Radoykov added.

"Unesco's association with SCCN is not only a major milestone, it is a huge boost to the very foundation and objective of SCCN," said Rajendra Shende, Chairman of the Terre Policy Centre and former Director of UNEP.

"Getting recognition from UNESCO for SCCN would add speed and scale for students' efforts towards sustainability," Shende added.

SCCN has so far onboard 23 universities on its platform with the commencement of Cloud Network and digital sharing of information. The University Grants Commission (UGC) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development has also extended support to this initiative.

The Terre Policy Centre is a not-for-profit organisation and think-tank engaged in energy and food security. It is known for out-of-the-box thinking and innovative projects like urban forestry and social entrepreneurship for sustainable development.

--IANS

vm

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Thirteen youths were killed by "armed elements" in the Casamance region of southern Senegal, an area ravaged by armed conflict for more than three decades, a security source said.

"Armed elements attacked young people who were looking for wood in the Bayotte forest, in an area of the commune of Boutoupa. Thirteen were killed and two were able to escape," the source told AFP in regional capital Ziguinchor, confirming information from the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).

"They would have passed the buffer zone separating the positions of the Senegalese army from those of the MFDC (Movement for Democratic Forces in Casamance), the armed independent rebellion," said APS, not citing a source.

The MFDC, separatist rebels, began fighting for independence in December 1982, but have long ceased once frequent attacks on the Senegalese army, which retains a visible presence in the area.

Nine other young people were badly injured during the attack and taken to the regional hospital in Ziguinchor, according to APS.

The dead bodies were also transported to the morgue at the hospital.

The attack comes a day after two MFDC fighters were released by the army following negotiations launched by Rome's Community of Sant'Egidio, a charity with ties to the Vatican specialising in peace mediation.

On Sunday, Senegalese President Macky Sall appealed to rebels in Casamance to continue talks to create a "definite peace".

At its height, the rebellion for the independence of Casamance left thousands of civilian and military personnel dead, damaged the economy and forced many residents to flee.

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Eighteen people were killed and another 14 injured in the small west African state of Guinea- Bissau when a minibus collided with a truck, police and hospital sources said.

One witness said the truck appeared to have been speeding when the driver lost control and collided head-on with the minibus near Bissauzinho, around 15 kilometres (15 miles) from the capital Bissau.

Sources said the bus had been overloaded and that at least 10 of the injured were in a serious condition.

Both drivers were killed and the minibus was totally crushed, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Authorities issued an appeal for blood donors after the accident, which occurred around 8:00 pm (local time).

Guinea-Bissau, which lies between Senegal and Guinea, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

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Three persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl and attack on her male friend in a park in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh on December 16, police said today.

The three accused were identified as Shivprasad alias Babua (33), Arun Yadav (36) and Kamlesh alias Baba (28), Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Aslam Khan said.

Shivprasad is an auto driver, Arun Yadav is distributor of pesticides and Rajesh is a school dropout, he added.

The girl, who worked as a domestic help, was sitting in a park near Haiderpur slums with a male friend when the three accused picked up a fight with him.

She was raped after she tried to stop them from beating her friend. They also threatened her with dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident.

The incident had occurred on the fifth anniversary of the "Nirbhaya" case in which a physiotherapy student was gangraped on a moving bus and dumped on the streets under the cover of darkness in south Delhi, sparking outrage at home and abroad.

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Three youths were arrested today on charges of alleged gang-rape of a minor girl for two days in Kekrahi village under Chandwa police station of Latehar district, police today said.

The accused had picked up the 14-year-old girl when she had gone to collect firewood in a nearby jungle on December 29 last year and allegedly gang-raped her for two days by taking turns, the officer-in-charge of the police station Kamlesh Pandey said.

After the girl returned home on December 31, she narrated the incident to her family members, who apprised the matter to the villagers, he said adding that in view of the lackadaisical approach of the villagers, the parents of the victim had registered a complaint with the Superintendent of Police Prasant Anand and Chandwa Police station through speed post.

The Chandwa police, led by Pandey, swung into action on receiving the complaint and arrested the accused trio from the village and forwarded them to jail after completing the legal formalities, Pandey added.

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Potatoes were hurled from a truck at various prominent places here today in what is seen as a protest by farmers against low purchase price of the produce, even as the state government dismissed the incident as the work of "miscreants".

Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma told PTI, "There was a truck which had sacks of potato and it started throwing potatoes in various parts of the city early this morning.

"Now, whether this has been done by the farmers or by someone else is yet to be ascertained. So far, no farmers' group has claimed any responsibility for this act."



He added that the "potatoes were thrown on Vidhan Sabha Marg, near VVIP guest house and near the 1090 Crossing. The roads were then cleaned by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, soil was also put on the smashed potatoes so that motorcyclists and other two-wheeler riders do not skid off the road. Fire brigade was also roped in to get some roads adjoining the Vidhan Bhawan building washed, so that the road does not become slippery."



"This seems to be the work of anti-social elements. It is not very clear whether this is a work of farmers or any farmer organisation...We are probing all possible angles...," Sharma added.

When contacted, a state government spokesman said, "This was not done by farmers, but by miscreants."



Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Kisan Manch has slammed the state government over the incident.

The group's President Shekhar Dixit said, "There is difference in the words and actions of the government. I am not pointing fingers at the Narendra Modi government or Yogi Adityanath government. But this has been the situation even during the regime of SP and BSP."



"Today it is the potato farmers who have thrown potatoes on the streets of Lucknow, tomorrow it may be the sugarcane farmers, the wheat and paddy farmers...if the situation does not improve," he added.

Speaking to reporters, Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said, "This was a pre-planned act, as the potato which was thrown on the streets of Lucknow was partly or completely rotten, and rejected in the mandi (market). It is a deliberate attempt to malign the image of the Yogi Adityanath government.

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The US is keeping "all options" on the table apart from suspending about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan to put pressure on it to take decisive action against the Taliban and the Haqqani network and eliminate their safe havens, the White House warned today.

The US yesterday suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan over it failure to crack down on militants.

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after President Donald Trump in a New Year's Day tweet accused the country of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

"The US does have a range of tools that we're looking at beyond just the security assistance issue to deal with Pakistan and to try to convince it to crack down on the Taliban and Haqqani network," a senior Trump administration official told reporters.

"Certainly no one should doubt the US resolve to address this threat and all options I would say will be on the table," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The suspended amount include USD 255 million in the Foreign Military Funding (FMF) for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by Congress.

It also includes USD 900 million in the Coalition Support Funds (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017. In addition, the Department of Defence has suspended other unspent money from previous fiscal years.

While some policy makers have been asking the White House to revoke the non-NATO ally status of Pakistan and put pressure on the country through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, Pentagon generals have indicated unilateral actions.

However, the official refrained from divulging any of the options that the administration is considering against Pakistan.

"I'm not able to comment on specific steps at this time. But nobody should doubt our resolve in trying to address these threats. We're looking at all options. We hope that we can cooperate with Pakistan. But we do have options that we're considering," the official said.

The US wants action against the existing safe havens of the Taliban and the Haqqani network and demolish its ability to carry out strikes across the border in Afghanistan, the Official said and expressed hope that Pakistan would take actions that the US was seeking.

"....that will allow the relationship to return to a more positive trajectory," the official said.

In August, while unveiling his new South Asia strategy, 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's new policy, the official said, is driven by the his desire to have a successful strategy in Afghanistan.

"We firmly believes that for the future of the region, Pakistan needs to crack down on these terrorist elements. Unless they take a comprehensive approach to the terrorism problem it is going to threaten US interests and everybody's interests including Pakistans," the official said.

He said the announcement of the suspension of the security assistance to Pakistan clearly reflected the US' frustration over Pakistan's failure to crack down on all terrorists who find shelter on its territory.

"There has been ample time for Pakistan to show it is taking our request seriously. Unfortunately, we have not seen the kind of meaningful action that we were seeking," the White House official rued.

Responding to a question, the official said US has "a number of tools in its toolkit" and can "take unilateral" steps.

But at this time, the US prefers to cooperate with Pakistan and is hopeful about it, the official said.

"And we want to indicate Pakistan our seriousness about the issue of dealing with safe havens," the official said.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the US would restore the suspended security assistance to Pakistan if it takes action against terrorist groups.

"We would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us," Mattis told reporters.

The US is still working with Pakistan, he said, but refrained from going into details.

"The specific individual things we're doing are best handled in private, to ensure that we can be most productive. And that's what we're working now," he said.

Mattis had travelled to Pakistan last month for talks with the top Pakistani leadership.

"There's a campaign plan now that starts regionally.

So we started thinking about India and Pakistan and Afghanistan. We reinforced some of our forces there, because we found some forces didn't have the American advisers they needed, and the ones with advisers seemed to always win. The ones without them did not fare so well," he said.

The New York Times said Pakistan had played a double game by accepting American funding while backing militants who protect Pakistani interests in Afghanistan and Kashmir, but Trump administration cannot afford to walk away from the country.

"Mr Trump is not the first to call a spade a spade...But President Trump cannot afford to walk away from Pakistan, which has often provided vital intelligence and has the worlds fastest-growing nuclear arsenal. Whether Pakistan will cooperate after the aid freeze remains to be seen," the paper said.

"...President Trump's bombast and the precipitous way the decision seems to have been made have led to doubts that Mr Trump has a serious plan for managing the ramifications of this move," New York Times said.

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Actor Christian Bale has revealed he has not seen Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," the last installment in the Batman trilogy, since 2012's mass shooting that occurred during a screening of the film in Aurora, Colorado.

During a recent appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Bale discussed why he has avoided watching his final film in the series.

"Very sadly, I have not been able to watch that film since because of Aurora. I have not been able to sit down and see it without thinking of that," Bale said.

In 2012, a gunman opened fire during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.

The 43-year-old actor travelled to Colorado to meet with victims and hospital staff following the tragedy.

Bale, however, said he would "love to be able to (see it) one day.

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Security forces in Arunachal Pradesh have destroyed a temporary hideout of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) in Changlang district.

Based on specific intelligence inputs, the Jairampur Battalion of the Assam Rifles, under the aegis of DAO Division, conducted an operation near Namdapha reserve forest yesterday and busted the hideout, Defence spokesman Col Chiranjit Konwer said.

The action is part of the security forces' ongoing crackdown on insurgent activities in the run up to Republic Day.

There was information about the presence of cadres of the outfit trying to terrorise people through extortion bids at Miao town, the spokesman said.

Security personnel recovered extortion notes, opium and other documents from the hideout, Konwer said, adding, the cadres had been using the hideout as place of transit.

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BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh today said he would be touring all 62 Assembly constituencies of Vidarbha region as part of his "Vidarbha Aatmabal Yatra" from January 6 to February 13.

Deshmukh said that the initiative was to find out the views of the people of Vidarbha on separate statehood for the region.

The legislator from Katol said that farmers in Vidarbha were under acute distress and the rate of suicides among them had increased in the past three years.

He added that unemployement among youth in the region was also a cause of worry and said he feared they too would follow in the footsteps of distressed farmers and begin committing suicide.

Emphasising that statehood for Vidarbha could be an answer to these woes, Deshmukh said his tour would cover all 62 Assembly constituencies in two phases starting from Deekshabhoomi here on Sunday.

When asked whether Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had failed to live upto expectations, Deshmukh said the CM was making honest efforts.

He added that he strongly felt the Union budget to be presented in February would be farmer-friendly and would include assurances made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to farmers in 2014.

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Most people didn't bother reading the NSIDC analysis, they just weighed in because they want to believe that climate science is a hoax. What else could it be? After all, it's been very cold in much of the USA recently, and that proves something or the other. (Deniers would never accept that warmer waters mean heavier snowfalls, and maybe aided the meteorological "bomb" , or that the changes in the Arctic could be causing the polar jet stream to meander a lot further south these days. (There are differing ideas among scientists about this - see this WaPo article by Chris Mooney. There's also a good article about recent US weather by Michael Mann .)I bet many a rabid denier thinks of himself (they're predominately male) as Donald Trump just portrayed himself - as a " stable genius " (I don't think he means the horse kind), and " being, like, really smart " - oh my. The rabble at WUWT show as much decorum as the US President. Here's a sample.

Tom in Florida also suggests the change in methodology means scientists are lying. I don't know if he ever learnt arithmetic.

January 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm

As the saying goes: figures lie and liars figure.

January 5, 2018 at 2:30 pm

Caught red handed again. For another example, see my guest post here 2/17/17 concerning CONUS trends and NOAA s shift in early 2014 to NClimDiv. Typing NClimDiv into the search bar will take you there.

January 5, 2018 at 9:56 pm

Regardless of the merits of the change in method, the fact is that if it didnt result in lower levels of ice and an accelerated decline then the change wouldnt have been made. They know it, and we know it, just like with the one-way temperature adjustments. These scientists cant even pretend to be unbiased observers.

seems to think that it was very clever of Tom Wiita to catch NSIDC red-handed secretly and nefariously discussing the change in version on the very public NSIDC website , together with a very detailed analysis . I think that falls under criteria 6 , Self-Sealing Reasoning, or maybe criteria 7 , Unreflexive Counterfactual Thinking. The other thing it shows is that Rudd Istvan doesn't like change (except, I guess, when it's UAH versions).knows for sure that 97% of the world is conspiring against him and his 3% in denial. It's humankind's biggest ever conspiracy in the whole wide world. He's as eloquent as his demi-god:just knows that everything climate scientists do is nefarious. He wouldn't have it any other way.
Hinting that it was averse to the idea of capping airfares, the government today said if implemented it would result in increased cost of air travel for 99 per cent of the passengers.

A report tabled in Parliament recently recommended fixing an upper limit on air tickets as well as levying not more than 50 per of the base fare as cancellation charges.

"Pricing deregulation has allowed competition to bring down prices dramatically in India, making it one of the lowest-fare markets in the world," as per a late-evening statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

According to the government, instances of predatory pricing were far and few between.

"Please note that only between one per cent and two per cent of tickets are transacted at the highest fare basket. A capping of fares could raise prices for the 98-99 per cent of the passengers," the statement added.

The ministry said that airlines remain compliant to the regulations as long as the fare charged by them does not exceed the fare structure displayed on their website.

It added that any instance of predatory tariffs can be brought to the attention of the Director General of Civil Aviation as well as Competition Commission of India.

The ministry said that on its grievance redressal portal, AirSewa, it has received less than 10,000 complaints from nearly 12 crore passengers that have flown domestically in 2017.

The ministry also is also working on the air passenger bill of rights which will be inform passengers about their rights and responsibilities.

Urging the government to intervene, a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture noted that "airlines are charging more than ten times of the advance booking fare" and that "deregulatory environment does not mean unlimited freedom of exploitation.

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The CBI has taken over probe into the case of alleged fake encounter of gangster Anand Pal Singh in Rajasthan by re-registering the FIRs of the state police.

The CBI has registered three FIRs on the instructions of the Centre which had forwarded these cases to the agency, officials said.

The three FIRs pertain to the alleged fake encounter, the violent protests that followed and the death of a person, believed to be witness to the encounter, in the police firing.

Several groups in Rajasthan had demanded a CBI probe claiming it was a staged encounter.

Singh, wanted in several cases including of murders, was killed on June 24 last year (when he was 47 years old) in a police encounter at Malasar in Churu district.

His death triggered protests by the Rajput community to which he belonged.

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Lokayukta police today carried out raids at two premises of an electricity department lineman and claimed it had unearthed properties owned by him which are disproportionate to his known sources of income.

"The police raided two premises of lineman Chhaganlal Rathore (59) at Manawar in Dhar district and his son-in-laws residence at Indore and unearthed huge amount of properties in his possession," Lokayukta inspector Mahesh Sunaiya said.

He said that the lineman owns a modern house, three plots, Rs 1.91 lakh in cash and 120 grams of jewellery.

"Besides, he and his relatives also have 15 bank accounts which are being probed," the official added.

"The properties unearthed in the raid are highly disproportionate to Rathore's known sources of income. The exact valuation of these properties is going on," he added.

Sunaiya said Rathore, currently posted in Dhar's Gandhwani town, was in service for the last 35 years and was due to retire this year.

He added that police were also investigating information received that Rathore was allegedly running a travel agency which owns eight buses in the name of his wife and son-in-law.

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Eleven bodies have been recovered from a spot in north Kashmir's Kupwara district where a passenger vehicle was hit by a huge of snow, an official said today.

A passenger vehicle was hit by a huge of snow at Khooni Nallah near Sadhan Top on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road yesterday.

"Ten bodies were recovered today from the site," deputy commissioner Kupwara Khalid Jehangir told PTI.

The body of a Beacon officer was recovered last night after rescue operations were launched, Jehangir said, adding that a total of eleven people were killed in the avalanche.

Three people have been pulled out alive from the avalanche site, he said.

Jammu and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today expressed grief and sorrow over the incident, an official spokesman said.

The chief minister conveyed her sympathies to the bereaved families, he said.

The spokesman said the chief minister directed the Kupwara district administration to ensure all possible medical assistance to the injured.

Meanwhile, Minister for Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Floriculture, Javaid Mustafa Mir, today announced a compensation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the snow avalanche, an official spokesperson said.

The minister also announced a compensation of Rs 12,600 each to the injured, he said, adding that the minister expressed his deepest condolences to the bereaved families and assured them of every possible support from the state government.

Mir also issued directions to provide better medical facilities to the injured, the spokesman said.
The move to end extension of would be "bad policy" and is contrary to the goals of a merit-based immigration system, the US Chamber of Commerce said today over the Trump administration's reported plan that could result in self-deportation of around 700,000 Indians.

The H-1B programme offers temporary US visas that allow to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers. But since taking office last January, President Donald Trump has been cracking down on the scheme.

The proposal to curb H-1B visa extensions which was part of Trump's 'Buy American, Hire American' initiative that he vowed to launch during his election campaign trail, is being drafted by the Department of Homeland Security, reports said.

"It would be tremendously bad policy to tell highly skilled individuals who are applying for permanent residency and have been working in the US for several years that they are no longer welcome," a US Chambers of Commerce spokesperson said.

"This policy would harm American business, our economy, and the country. Further, it is inconsistent with the goals of a more merit-based immigration system," the spokesperson said.

He was responding to reports that the administration is discussing a move to curb extensions to H-1B visa holders who have completed their two-three years of H-1B visa terms and have been receiving extensions because of their pending Green Card application status.

Such a move would impact some 500,000 to 750,000 highly skilled Indian technology professionals, academicians and research scholars in the US and result in their moving back to India.

Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi hoped the administration "immediately rejects" the proposal.

"I fully support efforts to reform the H-1B system, and while our priority must continue to be improving advanced training for our domestic workforce, ending H-1B visa extensions would kneecap our economy and encourage to further offshore jobs, instead of making those investments here. It would also tear families apart and hurt businesses here. I hope the administration immediately rejects this proposal," he said.

The US is currently facing a skills gap of over six million jobs, and are struggling to find talent to fill these open positions, Krishnamoorthi said.

"Educators and employers need to be working together to ensure that we are developing the skills at home in America to fill the job openings domestically, both today and in the coming years. My bill to reauthorise career and technical education programmes would help to close this skills gap, and the Senate needs to take up this bill that passed the House unanimously last June," he said.
The issue of poor air connectivity with Gir National Park in Gujarat has been taken up with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the ministry has told a parliamentary panel.

The ministry stated this in its action taken report to a parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, and forest.

The ministry has also said that the Gujarat government has also been asked to take action regarding the recommendation of the committee to remove encroachments from around the Park.

"Encroachments and construction around the national parks and sanctuaries are in purview of the states. In so far as Gir National Park is concerned, state government of Gujarat has been communicated to take action according the recommendation of the committee.

"The ministry has also taken up the matter with Ministry of Civil Aviation regarding poor air connectivity of Gir National Park and requested for improving air connectivity," the Ministry told the panel chaired by Congress leader Anand Sharma.

The panel in its 308th report has said that although encroachments and construction around national parks and sanctuaries is in the purview of the states, the Ministry can always impress upon the concerned state governments to comply with the law in this regard.

The action taken report came after the committee in one of its earlier reports had observed that Gir national park is very poorly connected with air and had recommended that the environment ministry should take up the matter with the central and state government agencies so that it can be improved.

The committee in one of its earlier reports had noted that granting of licences to dhabhas and hotels being run near the national park needs to be reviewed keeping in view the fact that a lot of garbage is generated and thrown by them in the area.

The committee had then recommended that illegal construction or encroachment in and around national park should be viewed "seriously" and stringent steps must be taken in this direction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President asserted on Saturday that everything he has done is 100 per cent "proper" and there has been no collusion between between him and Russia in the 2016 presidential elections.

Trump told reporters that a new report in The New York Times that he directed the White House Counsel to lobby Attorney General Jess Sessions not to rescue himself from the Russian investigation was way off.

"Everything I have done is 100 per cent proper. That is what I do, is I do things proper," Trump told reporters at a press conference in the Camp David, a picturesque presidential retreat of Maryland, where he is holding meetings with his Republican leaders in the Congress.

"Everything that I've done was 100 percent proper. The story, by the way, in The Times was way off, or at least off," Trump said in response to a question.

Trump reiterated that there has been no collusion between him, his campaign and the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

"I guess the collusion now is dead. There's been no collusion between us and the Russians. Now, there has been collusion between Hillary Clinton, the (Democratic National Committee) and the Russians. Unfortunately, you people don't cover that very much. But the only collusion is between Hillary and the Russians and the DNC," he said.

"You will find out," he said when asked how The New York Times story was way off. Trump said that he stands with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump also said he is not under investigation, "maybe" his presidential opponent Hillary Clinton is.

"Just so you understand, there's been no collusion. There's been no crime. And in theory, everybody tells me I'm not under investigation. Maybe Hillary is, I don't know, but I'm not," he said.
The Congress party in the state today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds for failing to prevent the violence that occurred at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on January 1.

"The state government failed to prevent this incident. We discussed the chain of events leading to the violence and how the government had failed to take precautionary steps," Congress' state chief Ashok Chavan said today.

Demanding Fadnavis' resignation, Chavan added that all leaders of the Congress in the state were unanimous that the violence was a failure of the state machinery.

Chavan alleged that attempts to stoke caste tensions in the state have been going on for the past three years in connivance with the government. He claimed that the government was not taking action against those involved.

Informing about the party's plan to have district-wise shibirs (camps), Chavan said that the party wanted newly-elected chief Rahul Gandhi to address meetings in the state. He added that Gandhi might visit Western Maharashtra soon.

Chavan also accused the government of "going soft" on investigations in the Kamala mill compound fire which claimed 14 lives.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Police today arrested a man and his son in connection with a fire incident during a demolition drive carried out by the local civic body in a slum colony here in October last year, an official said.

Salim Sayyad alias Salim Lightwala and his son Salman were arrested by the Nirmal Nagar Police, said DCP Sachin Patil, a spokesperson of the Mumbai Police.

With this, three persons have been arrested in the case till now.

Salman Lightwala is suspected to have set a gas cylinder on fire that started a massive blaze in the Garib Nagar slums in Bandra (East).

Salim Lightwala is the main accused in the case, police have said.

Hundreds of families were affected in the blaze which broke out on October 26.

The incident had occurred when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was carrying out demolition of illegal hutments on directions of the Bombay High Court.

Salman Lightwala, with the help of other accused, allegedly set a gas cylinder on fire, resulting in the blaze which gutted hutments and obstructed the demolition drive, an official said.

The inferno also damaged ticketing equipment at Bandra station located adjacent to the slums.

The Nirmal Nagar police had earlier arrested another accused in connection with the fire.

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The FBI is investigating whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in any pay-to-play when was the secretary of state in the first term of the Obama administration, media reports have said.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for an investigation into Clinton, her aides and the foundation.

During the presidential campaign, Trump branded his rival "Crooked Hillary" and promised to send her to jail if he won. He briefly struck a more magnanimous tone after the election and said he had no interest in pushing for a prosecution.

The FBI agents are now "trying to determine if any donations made to the foundation were linked to official acts when was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013," The Washington Post reported citing unnamed sources.

"The people did not identify what specific donations or interactions agents are scrutinising," the daily said.

According to The Hill, which first reported about it, the FBI agents from Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month.

Established in 1997 by the former US president Bill Clinton, the Clinton Foundation has so far raised an estimated $2 billion from American and foreign corporations, foreign governments and individuals.

Funds are used for humanitarian programmes across the globe. Several of the donors are companies and individuals from India.

During the election campaign, Trump had accused the Clinton Foundation of pay-to-play .

The FBI is also looking into whether the Clinton Foundation violated tax laws. The Foundation has denied the allegations.

"Time after time, the Clinton Foundation has been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have been proven false. None of this has made us waver in our mission to help people," said Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian.

Nick Merrill, a spokesperson of Hillary, alleged that the goal of such an FBI investigation is to distract from the indictments, guilty pleas, and accusations of treason from Trump's own people at the expense of our justice system's integrity.

"It's disgraceful, and should be concerning to all Americans," he alleged.

Daily Beast said the FBI is also reviewing Clinton's use of private email server when she was Secretary of State.
The U.S. Department of Education is almost done critiquing states Every Student Succeeds Act plans. In fact, Idaho, which received a letter from the department on Dec. 27 , is the second to last state to get a response. (The lone state still waiting: South Carolina, which turned in its plan late for weather related reasons).

Like the other thirty-two states that have gotten feedback so far this winter, Idaho has a long list of things to work on. For instance:

Idaho is planning to create a minority children subgroup that combines six different groups of students. Civil rights groups say that combining subgroups that way masks achievement gaps. And the department says they are an ESSA no-no if states try to use those super subgroups on their own for accountability.



Idaho doesnt have a clear method of measuring English proficiency and incorporating it into its accountability system. Thats not Kosher under ESSA, the department says. (Florida has a similar issue.)

Idaho needs to be more specific about how it will identify schools where subgroups of students are consistently low-performing.

Quick refresher: Sixteen states and the District of Columbia turned in ESSA plans in the spring. So far, all of them have been approved, except Colorado. The other 34 states submitted plans this fall. And all of them have gotten feedback, except of course, the Palmetto State. You can read all of the feedback letters here . Nearly every state had a lot to improve.

How seriously are states supposed to take these letters? Thats not clear. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos greenlighted some state plans submitted this fall, even if states didnt make changes the department asked for.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29, as per the preliminary investigation report by the Mumbai fire brigade.

The fire probably started at Mojo's and spread to the adjacent rooftop pub "1 Above", the report indicates. Most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation, the police had said earlier.

"It was revealed from most of the eyewitnesses that hookah was served at Mojo's restaurant at the time of fire... There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire," the report stated.

The report has clarified that none of the two restaurants -- Mojo's and 1 Above -- had permissions to serve liquor and hookah but still they served them.

Although there was an emergency exit, the pub staff seemed to be unaware of it, it said.

Beer kegs near the exit path also blocked the escape and the kegs eventually exploded and escalated the fire, the report said.

Use of bamboo and cloth to make the roof led to the quick spreading of the fire, while wind velocity and direction were the major contributors too, it added.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the action against illegal alterations and constructions at commercial establishments will continue.

"We will start taking action across the city against all commercial restaurants and pubs and those who have illegal alterations. They have respite for 15 days so that they have time to remove the illegal constructions on their own without damaging their reputation," he said.
Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today had a team of students and faculty of the US based IOWA University besides officials during her visit to neighbouring Kadirkamam village to see the predicament of the Kanagan Eri lake.

Bedi visited the site on her bicycleand the nearly 15 foreign delegates also used bicycles to visit the village.

The team from the university was here since yesterday as visitors to Raj Nivas, the office of the Lt Governor, and held informal discussions with the Lt Governor, an official source said.

Bedi said later in a whatsapp message to media persons that today was her 131st morning week-end visit.

She said her intention was to ensure that Kanagan lake should be cleared of the hyacinth and be given a facelift.

"I would visit the lake consecutively in the next three Saturdays and dedicate it to the people on February three after a prayer at a local temple situated close to the lake" she said in her message.

The Department of Tourism would introduce a boating facility on the lake for the tourists.

She called upon the officials of different departments and also volunteers of NSS and students to join hands and ensure that the lake emerged as a place of destination for the visitors.

Bedi had already launched a clean up programme in Velrampet lake in Mudaliarpet in the vicinity of Kanagan lake.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There are great opportunities for collaboration between India and ASEAN nations, including in the areas of infrastructure, innovation and start-ups and the digital economy, Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister S Iswaran said today.

He cited the Amaravati project, the proposed capital city of Andhra Pradesh, where planners from Singapore helped devise the master plan, as "an example of what we can do together", the Straits Times reported.

He was speaking at the two-day ASEAN-India Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) conference, which began today.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also arrived here today for the summit.

The opportunity for collaboration partnership between India and the ASEAN is self-recognised, Iswaran told some 3,000 delegates at the two-day gathering.

"Both regions have strong growths, coming out of relatively modest pace but anchored by fundamentals whether in terms of demographic or the evolution of the economies and the needs of the population.

"What we see is the opportunity for continue investment in growth in both regions," he said.

Iswaran said that India and ASEAN nations have identified innovation as a priority, and they should study how to "build connectivity" so start-ups have access to markets in both regions.

He also highlighted the importance of the digital economy and e-commerce as another area of "common priority" as it serves as an enabling tool for small and medium enterprises to access markets that were once "out of their reach", the paper said.

The economic growth driving efforts in India are showing results, he said.

"We are seeing the results of the efforts that are underway under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Iswaran said.

"It means those who invest their time and efforts in developing deeper understanding of the (Indian) market and its nuances and variations are the ones for whom the awards will be greatest," said Israwan.

The ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tamil Nadu government would take up with the Centre grievances of the fishermen including frequent arrests of fisherfolk by Sri Lankan Navy and release of their seized boats, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today said.

"The government will take up with the Centre the issues faced by the state's fishermen including arrests by Sri Lankan Navy and seizure of their boats," he told reporters after meeting a team of fishermen here.

Panneerselvam said efforts would be made through the Centre to retrieve Katchatheevu islet, ceded to Sri Lanka by through the Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement in 1974.

A team of fishermen led by General Secretary of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Fishermen Association M J Bose and Rameswaram Fishermen's Association leader P Sesuraja met the Panneerselvam and put forth their demands including stopping frequent attacks on fisherfolk, arrests and retrieval of boats boats seized by Lankan Navy personnel.

The Lankan Navy had arrested 13 Tamil Nadu fishermen on January 4 for allegedly fishing in their territorial waters off Katchatheevu islet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian-American politician Nikki Haley is harbouring presidential ambitions and many in President Donald Trump's inner circle fear that she could be the heir to the presidency, Michael Wolff's new book about the White House has revealed.

In the book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' which hit the book stores yesterday, author Michael Wolff, claims that Haley has an eye on the presidency and Trump is seen to be grooming her for a national political future.

The move, however, was not liked by fired Steve Bannon, who once held the powerful position of White House Chief Strategist.

There was no immediate reaction from UN ambassador to the US Haley, who according to the book by October concluded that Trump at the most was a one-time president.

Haley, 45, is the first ever Indian American appointed to a Cabinet level position by any president.

She is currently US Ambassador to the United Nations, which is a cabinet level position.

In the last one year, the two-term governor from South Carolina has emerged as a close confident of Trump and has been strongly pushing for Trumps foreign policy agenda at the United Nations, attracting frequent praise from Trump himself.

However, the book, which has been dismissed by Trump and the White House, but has dogged the media limelight for the past few days portrays Haley in a negative light says that the Indian American has a presidential ambition and does not has a good view of the president.

"By October, however, many on the president's staff took particular notice of one of the few remaining Trump opportunists: Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador," the book said.

Haley"as ambitious as Lucifer", in the characterisation of one member of the senior staffhad concluded that Trumps tenure would last, at best, a single term, and that she, with requisite submission, could be his heir apparent, Wolff writes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court has dismissed a contempt petition against authorities for their alleged "wilful" disobedience of its order banning pictures of living persons in banners and hoardings.

Justice Vaidyanathan dismissed the contempt petition filed by social activist "Traffic" Ramaswamy yesterday.

The petitioner submitted that the authorities had failed to implement the October 23 high court order imposing a blanket ban on banners or hoardings carrying images of people who are alive.

The judge noted that the First Bench of the court on December 20, 2017 set aside the earlier order on the matter to a limited extent as regards depiction of photos in banners of persons who are alive.

The judge said the grievance of the petitioner was that photographs of living persons were depicted in the banners till the earlier order was partially modified by the First Bench.

"I am of the view that since the order dated October 23, 2017 passed by me got merged with the order dated December 20, 2017 passed by the First Bench of this court on the principle of Doctrine of Merger, the present contempt petition cannot be entertained."



However, if the petitioner was aggrieved, it was open to him to put forth his grievance before the division bench concerned, the judge said and dismissed the contempt petition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) is launching four new courses for professionals next month, both members and non-members, a senior official said today.

The courses are Executive Diploma in Business Valuation, certificate course in Arbitration, certificate course in GST and an exclusive executive diploma in Cost and Management Accounting for Engineers, ICAI Vice President H Padmanabhan told reporters here.

While valuation, particularly financial valuation, is emerging as an important profession, arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution and a technique for the resolution of disputes outside the court, Padmanabhan said.

GST being the major tax reform and a game changer, as a professional it was imperative to understand and assimilate the new taxation structure, associated compliances and the changes in business processes emanating there from, he said.

The Institute has in recent times been proactively involved in nation-building activities like providing impetus by supporting Make in India, Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, and GST One Nation One tax, Padmanabhan said.

The institute, which has done an accounting system for the Railways, will take up similar work for Defence and Aviation ministries on cost and pricing, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian Navy and Cochin Port Trust (CPT) have entered into an Memorandum of Understanding for utilising the Port's berthing facility at Mattancherry wharf for Naval ships.

As per the MoU, Cochin Ports Q2 and Q3 berths at Mattacherry wharf, totaling 228 metre quay length, would be be handed over to the Indian Navy for five years for berthing their ships.

The Indian Navy had requestedfor an exclusive berthing facility in Cochin Port for berthing their ships during reconstruction period of their berths.

"In view of the national interest involved, Cochin Port examined the request and decided that Cochin Port's oldest wharf, Mattacherry Wharf can be spared, since those are not suitable any longer for berthing of big cargo ships due to limitation of draft and displacement", a CPT release said.

This is a landmark decision in the history of Cochin Port and would go a long way in the combined efforts of the Port and Navy for ensuring the safety of the nation, it added. PTI TGB APR



The MoU was signed yesterday onbehalf of Cochin Port Trust by Goutam Gupta, Traffic Manager and Commodore Deepak Kumar, Chief Staff Officer (Ops), Southern Naval Command for Indian Navy, a Port Trust release said here today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ridiculed US President Donald Trump today over what he called the foreign policy "blunder" of trying to raise its recent protests at the UN Security Council.

The Security Council "rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate", wrote Zarif on Twitter.

"Majority emphasised the need to fully implement the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."



The United States had pushed for the UN meeting on Friday to discuss the five days of protests that hit Iran last week, leading to the deaths of 21 people and hundreds of arrests.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley argued the unrest could escalate into full-blown conflict and drew a comparison with Syria.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley warned.

But Russia's envoy shot back that if the US view holds, the council should have also discussed the 2014 unrest in the US suburb of Ferguson, Missouri over the police shooting of a black teenager or the US crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Britain and France reiterated that Iran must respect the rights of protesters, but French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the "events of the past days do not constitute a threat to peace and international security".

China also described the meeting as meddling in Iran's affairs, while Ethiopia, Kuwait and Sweden expressed reservations about the discussion.

Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the meeting as a "farce" and a "waste of time" and said the council should instead focus on addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Yemen.

Iranian authorities have declared the unrest over, and held three days of large pro-government rallies across the country between Wednesday and Friday.

Iran signed a nuclear deal with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in 2015, easing sanctions in exchange for curbs to the country's nuclear programme.

US President Donald Trump has fiercely opposed the deal, but the other signatories remain firmly behind it.

Trump must decide every few months whether to continue waiving nuclear sanctions, with the next deadline due yesterday.

Analysts say there is a chance he may use the latest unrest as a pretext to reimpose sanctions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A special CBI court here is likely to pronounce its order on January 23 on a plea by two Intelligence Bureau officials challenging the summons issued to them by a magistrate in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.

Rajeev Wankhede and T S Mittal, assistant central intelligence officers at the time of the alleged fake encounter, have challenged the summons issued by a metropolitan magistrate's court here.

CBI judge J K Pandya reserved his order on their pleas till January 23.

The lower court issued the summons to them and two others -- Central IB's special director Rajinder Kumar and officer M S Sinha -- on the basis of a supplementary charge sheet filed against them by the CBI in the Ishrat case.

The CBI has charged them with murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal detention and kidnapping.

The lawyers of Wankhede and Mittal argued today that the summons was not maintainable, as the court has not taken cognisance of the CBI charge sheet.

No summons can be issued as the Union government has not given sanction for their prosecution as required under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the lawyers said.

The CBI, however, contended that a court can use its discretion to issue a summons even when the competent authority hasn't given sanction.

The magistrate last month issued summons to the four IB officials after the CBI informed the court about denial of sanction by the Union government.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, her friend Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh, Amzad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Ahmedabad police on the outskirts of the city in June 2004. The police had then claimed that they were terrorists affiliated to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The first charge sheet filed by the CBI named seven Gujarat policemen, including IPS officers P P Pandey, D G Vanzara and G L Singhal, for carrying out a fake encounter. All of them are out on bail.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of small-town Arkansas middle school students made national headlines after they used a 3D printer to make a prosthetic foot for a duck, giving it newfound mobility after it had spent months hobbling around on a stump.

The story, and accompanying videos of Peg the duck are obviously adorable. But the project also speaks volumes about how grounding classroom projects in a sense of purpose and relevance can help motivate students to stay engaged and learn new things. Its something researchers are increasingly exploring as they search for ways to more thoroughly incorporate students emotions and development into education.

Peg, an Indian runner duck who is about 8 months old, was found by a woman who suspected a turtle had chewed off his foot.

Three 8th grade students in the small, unincorporated community of Armorel, Ark., worked all semester to fashion a prosthesis for him. It took 36 prototypes and a lot of failure to get to the exciting moment of seeing Peg walk on the little plastic footing, said Alicia Bell, who teaches the students in a project-based-learning class. But the studentswho hadnt been exposed to 3D printing technology until last yearwere willing to persist because they had met a real, living thing that was dependent on their work, Bell said in an interview with Education Week.

Peg, a bit of a ham because he was he was rescued by humans so young, strutted around for the students when they were first introduced. And they noticed that, although hed been making do without a foot, his stub was scabbed from being scraped on the ground as he walked.

Hes a living thing, and we got to see his challenges, Bell said, explaining why the students were so drawn to the project. He had adapted, but he wasnt living a full life.

The students had taught themselves how to use a 3D printer the previous year in the class, called Environmental and Spatial Technology, or EAST lab. The EAST Initiative , founded in Arkansas, provides support and training for schools to offer real-world, technological learning experiences for students. Bell works with community members to find real-world, self-guided projects, like producing videos or designing logos for businesses, that students can complete to help boost their problem-solving skills.

And a sense of purpose and relevance is very motivating to the rural students, many of whom have had little exposure to technology, Bell said. The projects give students opportunities to try and fail, to find new ways to approach challenges, and to learn new concepts, like measuring proportions or using the metric system, she said.

To make Pegs foot, for example, students had to learn about the specific way that Indian runner ducks stand, rather than squatting with their knees bent at all times like other duck breeds. That meant their original prototype, an actual peg, wouldnt work because he needed the ability to bend his knee when necessary and the strength to stand with his leg fully extended when walking. Other challenges? Accommodating his back toe and determining the appropriate shape and size needed to help him maintain his balance without encumbering his gait.

I just ask the questions, Bell said. They know they have to fix it. You cant turn in a paper and, OK, you have a C, and thats it. Its either it works or it doesnt.

After refining three final prototypes, the students found one that worked. A notch in the front allowed Pegs knee to bend. And a round surface helped him stay upright.

They come across a problem, and sometimes it takes a day, or sometimes it takes a month, Bell said, but we dont stop until we figure it out.

Research backs up Bells ideas about the value of purpose in learning. Researchers in the Mindset Scholars Network, a group that explores ideas like the popular concept of growth mindset, say a mindset of purpose and relevance  is key to students perseverence.

Boredom or frustration are by definition unpleasant, the organization says in a research brief. When feeling those emotions, students may ask themselves, Why am I doing this? If students have a hard time answering this question, they are less likely to spend the time necessary to try to learn deeply from the material at hand. On the other hand, if a student sees how her school work can help her understand something personally meaningful, she may be more motivated to persist and remain focused despite distractions. When students learn the material more deeply, they can do better in school.

The joy the students project brought to Pegs owners is evident in this segment produced by Arkansas news station KAIT. As the story quickly spread, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and USA Today all published news of Peg, and Armorel public schools became his informal press agent Friday afternoon.

KAIT Jonesboro, AR - Region 8 News, weather, sports

Photos by Armorel High School EAST and Patsy Smith. From top to bottom: Peg models his new prosthetic foot; 3D-printed prototypes for the prosthetic; 8th grade students Matthew Cook, Abby Simmons, and Darshan Patel pose with Peg and his owner, Patty Smith.

Related posts about student engagement:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.


Police have booked the owners of Mojo's Bistro for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with last month's massive fire in Kamala Mills compound, a day after a probe revealed that the blaze started from the high-end pub.

Yesterday, a report by the Mumbai fire department stated that flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the deadly blaze, which claimed 14 lives on December 29.

"On basis of the report by the fire bridge, we have booked owners of Mojo's Bistro pub for culpable homicide," Deputy Commissioner of Police and spokesperson of Mumbai Police Sachin Patil told PTI.

A senior police official gave the names of Mojo's Bistro pub owners as Yug K Pathak and Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli.

Yug Pathak's statement was recorded last week, he said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region) S Jaykumar said the owners were booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) in the same case registered on December 29.

Earlier, the police had booked owners of '1 Above' pub, Hitesh Sanghvi and Jigar Sanghvi, co-owner Abhijeet Manka and others on various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Yesterday, the police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information about Jignesh Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, who are absconding.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The police today arrested Yug Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer and one of the owners of the Mojo's Bistro pub, in connection with the deadly fire at the Kamala Mills compound here on December 29, which had claimed 14 lives.

Officials from the N M Joshi Marg police station arrested Pathak, the son of retired director general of police and former Pune police commissioner K K Pathak, the police said.

Yesterday, the Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary probe report on the fire, which had engulfed Mojo's Bistro and the adjacent "1 Above" pub at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, had said the fire possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying embers from a hookah.

The police today booked Pathak and his partner, Nagpur- based businessman Yug Tulli, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions.

The police had recorded Pathak's statement in the case earlier.

The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR, which was lodged on December 29 against the owners of "1 Above" -- Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar -- said a police official.

"As of now, we have arrested Pathak, while his partner Tulli has been summoned as he is also wanted in the case," senior police inspector, attached to the N M Joshi Marg police station, Ahmed Pathan said.

"We will produce Pathak before a court soon," he added.

Earlier, the police had arrested two managers of "1 Above" in connection with the fire. The police have also announced a reward of Rs one lakh for any information about the three pub owners, who are on the run.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Police have denied permission for a public gathering to be addressed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Sindhkhed Raja on January 12, citing "difficulty in crowd management", a senior police official said today.

Kejriwal was slated to address a public gathering during the 'Jijau Janmotsav Sohla' to be held at Sindhkhed Raja in this district of Vidarbha.

"Earlier, Kejriwal was to have a 'darshan' of Jijamata on January 12. However, a public gathering to be addressed by him was scheduled at a particular place in Sindhkhed Raja and the permission to hold it was rejected by the police," Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar Meena told PTI.

"The police declined permission for the public gathering citing difficulty in crowd management," he said.

Jijabai or Jijau is the mother of 17th century Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji and a function to mark her birth anniversary is held every year at Sidhkhed Raja.

The event is organised every year on January 11 and 12 and lakhs of people throng to Sidhkhed Raja for a 'darshan' of Jijau.

Four to five lakh people are expected at Sidhkhed Raja this year, the police official said.

Meena, however, said Kejriwal is permitted to take 'darshan' of Jijabai.

The public address of Kejriwal was organised by 'Samvidhan Morcha'.

"We had requested the organisers of Kejiwal's event to hold the programme away from the main venue in Sindhkhed Raja tehsil as the spot decided by them would have created problems for crowd management at the main venue (of 'Jijau Janmotsav Sohla')," the police official noted.

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Children suffering from chronic illness such as asthma, food allergy, epilepsy or diabetes are at an increased risk of developing mental health problems, a study warns.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada surveyed children between the ages of six and 16, and all within a month of their diagnosis with asthma, food allergy, epilepsy, diabetes or juvenile arthritis.

According to parents' responses to a standardised interview, 58 per cent of children screened positive for at least one mental disorder.

"These findings show that risk for mental disorder is relatively the same among children with different physical conditions," said Mark Ferro, from the University of Waterloo.

"Regardless of their condition, children with a physical and mental health problems experience a significant decline in their quality life within the first six months after receiving their diagnosis, indicating a need for mental health services early on," Ferro said.

Six months after diagnosis, the number of kids showing signs of a mental disorder dipped slightly to 42 per cent.

According to the study published in the journal BMJ Open, anxiety disorders were most common, including separation anxiety, generalised anxiety and phobias.

"It is possible that the number is higher very early because there is some uncertainty surrounding the prognosis, or unanswered questions about management and treatment," said Alexandra Butler, from the University of Waterloo.

"It is important to not only identify at-risk children early but to also have resources to support them," said Butler.

The researchers found that age and gender had no impact on the results. A subset of kids self-reported on their own mental health. Where 58 per cent of parents reported that their children presented signs of a mental health problem, only 18 per cent of kids reported it.

This result speaks to the need for health professionals to get multiple perspectives when assessing children's mental health.

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A special CBI court today sentenced RJD chief Lalu Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

The punishment was handed down to 69-year-old Prasad by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh. This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam.

The judge also imposed a fine totalling Rs 10 lakhs on him.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in a fodder scam case for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, and other sections under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Prasad was also given a jail term of three years and six months in the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

He was fined Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and the PCA, CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said, adding that failure to pay the fine would entail another six months in jail.

The sentences will run concurrently, he said.

Prasad, who was convicted in the second case on December 23, is at present lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail.

The judge conveyed the punishment to Prasad through videoconferencing.

The court had yesterday concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against Prasad in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

It had also heard arguments on the issue of punishment for 10 others convicted in the case.

Earlier today, the court concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against five other convicts.

Prasad was given a prison term of five years on September 30, 2013, in another fodder scam case. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after having remained in jail for over two-and-a-half months.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

In 1996, the Patna High Court had ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh Treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997.

Eleven of them died and three turned approvers, while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.

On September 30, 2013, Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and several others were convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s.

Prasad faces another three fodder scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.

Meanwhile, Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav said in Patna that they will move high court against his father's conviction.

"We will move high court against Lalu Prasad's conviction and appeal for bail after studying the court verdict," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined Rs 1 million by a special CBI court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

The punishment was handed down to 69-year-old Prasad by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh through video conferencing since the RJD leader is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in the case on December 23, CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said.

This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam. Prasad faces another three scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 39.7 million from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 1840 million from the Doranda Treasury.

The special judge also sent 15 other convicts in the case to prison for terms varying between three and six months and seven years under sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

The CBI lawyer said a fine totalling Rs 1 million was imposed the RJD supremo.

Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for offences of cheating, read with criminal conspiracy, using as genuine a forged document and other sections under the IPC



He was also given a jail term of three years and six months in the case under the PCA.

The counsel said failure to pay a fine of Rs 500,000 each under the IPC and the PCA would entail another six months in jail for the RJD leader.

The sentences will run concurrently, he said.

Prasad's counsel Chittaranjan Sinha said his client would filed an appeal next week against the verdict in the Jharkhand high court.

Reacting to the verdict, the BJP and its ally JD(U) said no one was above the law while the RJD claimed its leader fell prey to a "conspiracy" by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain asserted the verdict shows the law was equal for all. JD(U) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the court's decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.

Prasad's son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said in Patna a bail plea will also be moved in the high court.

The court had yesterday concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against Prasad in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 8.92 million from the Deoghar Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

Prasad was given a prison term of five years on September 30, 2013, in another fodder scam case. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after having remained in jail for over two-and-a-half months.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

In scam case order, former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Jagdish Sharma was sentenced to a prison term of seven years and fined Rs 2 million while RJD leader R K Rana was jailed for three and six months and fined Rs 1 million.

Three former IAS officers  Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad  were given a prison term of three and-a-half years each. A fine of Rs five lakh was also imposed on each of them.

Ex-government official Krishna Kumar was handed down a seven-year prison term and a fine of Rs 2 million while another former government official Subir Bhattacharya was jailed for three years and six months besides a penalty of Rs 1 million.

Transporters/suppliers Tripurari Mohan Prasad got seven years imprisonment and Rs 1 million fine while Sushil Kumar Sinha was given three-and-a half years in jail and a fine of Rs 500,000.

The other transporters/suppliers punished were Sunil Kumar Sinha (three-and-a-half years in prison and Rs five lakh fine), Raja Ram Joshi (three-and-a-half years jail and Rs five lakh penalty), Gopinath Das (seven years jail and Rs ten lakh fine), Sanjay Agarwal (seven years jail and Rs ten lakh fine), Jyoti Kumar Jha (seven years jail and Rs ten lakh fine) and Sunil Gandhi (seven years jail and Rs ten lakh fine).

The court had also heard arguments on the issue of punishment for 10 others convicted in the case.

Earlier today, the court concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against five other convicts.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

In 1996, the Patna High Court had ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh Treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997.

Eleven of them died and three turned approvers, while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.

On September 30, 2013, Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and several others were convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 377 million from the Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s.
No one is above the law, the BJP and its ally JD (U) said today after a special CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad to jail in a fodder scam case, while the RJD said its leader has fallen prey to a "conspiracy" by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

The special CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Lalu to three- and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in the fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the verdict shows the law is equal for all.

"The court has done its job, and this is a message that if anyone robs the country of its wealth, however important, then the law is equal for all. This is justice for the people of Bihar because it was their money that was looted," Hussain told reporters.

Janata Dal (United) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the court's decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.

"It will now be difficult to keep the RJD together and people in politics will be fearful," he said, when asked about the significance of the court's verdict.

"This is the end of a chapter that started with Laluji's leadership, where there was politics of corruption, nepotism and non-governance," Tyagi told reporters.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Patna, Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav said the party would go to the people after makarsankranti to make them aware of the "conspiracy" hatched by Nitish Kumar and the BJP against the RJD chief.

"Lalu is paying the price for his uncompromising stance against the BJP. Had he compromised, his detractors would have been comparing him to Raja Harishchandra," the former Deputy CM of Bihar said.

He dismissed suggestions the party may disintegrate with its top leader being behind the bars. "The more we are harassed, the stronger will be the public support in our favour. Lalu resides in the people's hearts".

"He is in jail, yet everybody is being talking about him. The only reason is that the people of Bihar are with us and this scares our opponents."



He also took potshots at the Bihar's ruling JD(U)-BJP combine, saying, "Let the double engine do something for the betterment of Bihar. They should set their own house in order instead of wasting their energy on the future of RJD.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A lawsuit has been filed against Harvey Weinstein which claims that the disgraced Hollywood producer hired an attorney to spy on actor Paz de la Huerta.

In November last year, Huerta had alleged that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010.

The complaint claims that Weinstein hired attorney Michael F Rubin to gain information from Huerta, reported Variety.

Rubin apparently also discouraged Huerta to not press charges against Weinstein.

Huerta is represented by attorney Aaron Filler and his firm Tensor Law has filed the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Filler claimed that Rubin interfered with his contractual relationship with Huerta, depriving him his legal fees of USD 20 million.

Rubin, however, has the dismissed the claims made in the lawsuit and said he has never met Weinstein.

"Every allegation in that lawsuit is false... I don't know Harvey Weinstein. I never met Harvey Weinstein. I had nothing but Paz de la Huerta's interests in mind. This guy is upset he lost a potential client," said Rubin.

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French President Emmanuel Macron suggested today that Turkey should renounce its ambition of joining the EU and settle instead for a looser "partnership" after talks with visiting Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey was hoping to warm frosty relations with Europe during Erdogan's trip to Paris, but the talks were overshadowed by concerns over Turkey's huge crackdown after a 2016 failed coup.

Macron said there was no chance of Turkey's membership bid, which has been languishing for years, moving forward.

"I'd be lying if I said we could open new chapters," he said in reference to the accession process.

"As regards recent relations with the European Union, it is clear that recent developments and choices allow no chance for progress in the process," Macron said after what he described as "very frank" talks with Turkey's strongman.

"We must list the subjects that are blocking things from the EU's perspective... and see if we cannot rethink this relationship, not in terms of an integration process but a cooperation, a partnership," he added at a joint press conference.

He emphasised however that he wanted to see Turkey "remain anchored to Europe".

Erdogan said that Turkey's 54-year wait to join the EU was "seriously exhausting" the Turkish people and that he might be forced "to take a decision."



He did not specify what that might be but admitted: "We don't really have an attitude of 'let us in' (to the EU) anymore."



The visit was Erdogan's first to France since the botched putsch against him, which triggered a sweeping purge of the public service and an intensified crackdown on the media, civil society and opposition.

It came after a year in which Turkish-European relations hit a low point, with Erdogan notably accusing Chancellor Angela Merkel of "Nazi practices" for refusing to let his ministers campaign in Germany.

Macron's invitation to Erdogan drew sharp criticism from the French left, trade unions and rights groups, and a group of Kurdish demonstrators who attempted to demonstrate outside the Elysee Palace on Friday were arrested.

The Reporters Without Borders group protested outside the Turkish embassy in Paris, holding aloft stencilled portraits of imprisoned journalists.

The French presidency insisted on the need to "maintain dialogue" without "covering up differences".

Tensions spilled over during Erdogan's meeting with the French press when a journalist pressed him on a report that Turkish intelligence services shipped arms to radical groups in Syria.

"Do not speak with the mouth of FETO," Erdogan retorted, referring to the Fethullah Terror Organisation -- the term Ankara uses for the movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of being behind the failed coup as well as the Syria arms report.

Macron chided Erdogan over his rights record.

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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today criticised the madarsas in the state for their refusal to put up a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside their premises, asking them to give up their "conservatism" on the issue.

"Installing the prime minister's portrait in all government institutions and those being run on government grants has been an established practice. The madarsas should give up their conservatism on the issue," he told reporters here.

"Madarsas are also educational institutions. They should not have any objection to installing a portrait of the prime minister. They should view the issue from the Indian point of view," Rawat added.

The madarsas in the BJP-ruled state have refused to comply with a state government order, asking the state-run educational institutions to install a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on their premises, on religious grounds.

"The madarsas in the state have not installed pictures of the prime minister because of religious beliefs as Islam prohibits installation of pictures of living beings inside mosques and madarsas," Deputy Registrar of Uttarakhand Madarsa Board Akhlaq Ahmad had told PTI yesterday.

However, he had also said that the refusal to install the picture of the prime minister inside the madarsas should not be interpreted as their opposition to an individual.

"They are not opposed to any individual in particular. It is purely due to religious beliefs. Islam does not permit us to install pictures of living things or individuals, including those of religious leaders, inside the mosques or madarsas," Ahmad had said.

The order was issued to all the government-run educational institutions soon after the Independence Day last year, asking them to install a portrait of Modi inside their premises and take a pledge to implement his vision of building a new India by 2022.

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To address Virginias growing teacher shortage, a state lawmaker has proposed easing the path to the front of the classroom for qualified military spouses.

Delegate Richard Bell, a Republican, introduced House Bill 2 , which would allow military spouses who hold out-of-state licenses whats known as a reciprocal license without having to meet any additional requirements. If at the end of the first year on the job in Virginia the teacher scores a satisfactory rating, he or she becomes eligible for a renewable license.

The state already provides reciprocity to teachers with out-of-state licenses, but only under particular circumstances. Teachers with fewer than three years in the classroom would normally have to pass a number of tests (of academic skills, subject matter knowledge, and reading) before their three-year provisional license expires. Military spouses with a satisfactory rating would not have to take these tests.

As Liana Loewus reports in this Education Week article , more states are trying to simplify the license-transfer process. Since 2016, according to a recent analysis by the Education Commission of the States, 11 states have passed regulations easing licensure requirements for out-of-state teachers. If House Bill 2 becomes law, Virginia will join 27 other states with special licensure provisions for military spouses .

Still, even with these efforts, the teacher-shortage problem persists. Virginia Education Association president Jim Livingston told the Virginia-Pilot that hes not sure special licensure for military spouses will help matters much. Hes concerned about a Band-Aid approach to the teacher shortage that doesnt get at what he considers the root of the problem: low teacher pay.

Portsmouth Public Schools director of human resources and operations, Scott Ziegler, agrees. He told the newspaper that debt-strapped college students pass on teaching for more lucrative professions. Ziegler doubted that easing requirements for military spouses would put a dent in the teacher shortage. More helpful, according to Ziegler, would be if lawmakers considered offering free tuition at a public university for college-goers who agree to commit to teaching for a set number of years.

Next up, the General Assembly, which meets on January 10, will review the bill.

See also:
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said she was pained by the about the killing of four policemen in an IED explosion in Sopore township of Baramulla district.

"Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families," Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Very sad from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace."



Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants went off in Sopore town in north Kashmir today.

Militants had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the 'Chotta Bazaar' and 'Bada Bazaar' in Sopore in Baramulla district and detonated it when policemen reached the scene, an official said.

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An alleged member of a mining mafia fired in the air during a late night raid by the Loni sub-divisional magistrate, but the officer and his team managed to seize five trucks and soil worth Rs 10 lakh, an official said today.

District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said SDM Indu Prakash had received information about illegal mining going on in the area on the intervening night of January 4 and January 5.

Prakash, accompanied by deputy superintendent of police (circle officer) Loni, Durgesh kumar, and other police officials, conducted raid around 1.30 am, the District Magistrate said.

When the team reached near Banthla village, they saw three stationary trucks. Upon seeing them, the drivers tried to flee but were caught by the officials, Maheshwari said.

When the officials asked about the registration papers of the trucks they could not show valid documents.

Suddenly, three people came in a car and fired in the air. The gunner of the SDM also returned fire. The three have been identified as Sageer, Mintoo and Harendra of Siroli village, the officer said, adding they managed to escape.

Two more trucks were seized upon information from the drivers.

The officer said soil worth Rs 10 lakh have been sized.

The police post incharge and the lekhpal of the area have suspended for their alleged negligence in duty, the DM added.

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The sarpanch of a village in Chhattisgarhs Bastar district was killed by Naxals at his home, police said today.

The sarpanch of Chhindgur village, identified as Pandru (45), was killed after a group of armed rebels stormed his house and slit his throat last night, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (south Bastar range) P Sundararaj told PTI.

The village where the incident happened is located inside dense forests about 25 kilometres away from Darbha which itself is about 350 kms away from Raipur, Sundararaj added.

On getting information about the incident, a police team rushed to the village and the sarpanch's body was brought for postmortem, he informed.

The official said that people from Chhindgur and nearby villages including Koleng have been opposing Naxal activities for the past couple of months now and it has left the Maoists frustrated.

He said that the Naxals tended to kill villagers or village heads branding them as police informers just to remind people of their power.

The official said that the Kanger Ghati area committee of the Maoists which operates in the Darbha area has suffered a crippling blow in the past couple of years with most of its cadre either killed, arrested or surrendered.

Sundararaj said that the cadre strength of the Maoists in this area may now be in single digits.

"On the demand of villagers, a police camp was set up in Koleng last month which was recently taken over by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)," he said.

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Nearly 1,000 flights to and from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) will be cancelled or rescheduled in the run-up to Republic Day parade as airspace over Delhi will remain closed for about two hours every day for over a week.

An estimated 500 domestic flights could be cancelled and as many international flights will be rescheduled due to the restrictions, an airport official said, adding it was being done due to increased traffic and capacity constraints this year.

The airspace over Delhi remains shut for commercial flights due to rehearsals in the days leading to the Republic Day on January 26.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has issued a NOTAM or Notice to Airmen informing the airlines that no take-offs or landings would be allowed from or to Delhi airport from 10.35 am to 12.15 pm for nine days between January 18-26, according to airport sources.

IGI witnesses 67 air traffic movement (both take offs and landings) per hour between 8 am to 11 pm everyday. With airspace shut for 100 minutes for nine days, an estimated 1,000 flights will either be cancelled or rescheduled.

"On an average 100 flights will be affected every day. We will accommodate 40 international flights before or after the closure hours.

"Out of the remaining 60, we will try to reschedule some of the flights. So, we could see roughly 50 flights being cancelled each day," said an airport official.

The Delhi International Airport Limited, which operates IGI, says no international flights will be cancelled.

"Keeping in consideration the capacity constraints and to minimise inconvenience to the passengers, Airports Authority of India-Air Navigation Services, several major airlines and DIAL have consulted on various options and jointly agreed that the best and safest course of action is to cancel domestic flights scheduled during the NOTAM period.

"International carriers have been requested to re- schedule and not cancel their flights," said a DIAL spokesperson.

Airport officials say that while on earlier occasions they were able to reschedule most of the affected flights, severe capacity constraints at IGI mean that it can't be done anymore.

"Since we had spare capacity we were able to accommodate flights either before or after the closure hours. But because we don't have any spare capacity now, these flights have to be cancelled," said a source.

Also, the airspace closure has been extended by two days, as a result the restrictions are in place for nine days instead of seven days.

The airlines were asked to curtail operations for R-day on December 29, when the NOTAM was issued.

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Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu today congratulated the newly elected BJP MLAs Biyuram Wahge from Pakke-Kesang constituency and Kardo Nyigyor (Likabali) who called on him at his office.

The chief minister congratulated them for the partys resounding victory in the state and welcomed them with traditional scarf, an official release said.

The people of the two constituencies have shown that they are with good governance and development. They have witnessed the changes brought in by the BJP government and have, therefore, bestowed their confidence on the party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Khandu said.

The chief minister advised the newly elected legislators to live up to the expectations of their respective electorates and become assets for the party.

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A senior leader of the ruling PDP today stoked a controversy by saying there was "no bar" in condoling the killing of local militants in Kashmir.

"Whether it is a CRPF man... or a local militant, there is no bar on offering condolences. However, it depends on the security situation, sometimes we can go and sometimes not," PDP chief spokesperson, Rafi Ahmad Mir, told reporters here.

Even before coming to power, the party had a policy of visiting the families of local militants who were killed in counter-insurgency operations by security forces, he said.

"The PDP had a policy. Whenever a militant was killed, I used to visit (the family) to offer condolences, and at that time the PDP president would also visit," Mir said, adding that "whoever becomes a martyr is before God and I think we should not talk about that".

Referring to today's IED blast in Sopore in which four police personnel were killed, the PDP chief spokesman said that whether a policeman gets killed or a local militant, "it is very unfortunate and we condemn it".

"It was a heart-wrenching incident. We were hopeful and thinking that the situation was getting better, but got this shock. It is very unfortunate. They were our own sons," he said.

"Whoever gets killed, be it (from) the police force or militants, it is very unfortunate and we condemn it. We hope this does not recur," Mir said.

The PDP had to shelve its election agenda to form government with the BJP, "otherwise, the state would have incurred losses as it needed Delhi's assistance in running the government in the state", he said.

"Unfortunately, what happened is that we had to shelve our election agenda. We won around 28 seats. In Jammu, the BJP got the highest share of probably 26 seats.

"We needed the assistance of Delhi here. We took a decision, a very harsh decision, a bitter decision (of forming government in an alliance with BJP)," Mir said.

There was resentment in our voters also. There is no doubt about it, the chief spokesperson said.

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As the ban on entry of "outsiders" into government offices in Uttarakhand sparked a controversy, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today said the government did not intend to hide any information from the media.

"It is our commitment to provide all information to media on time," he told reporters at his official residence here.

However, he sought to justify the recent directive issued to different departments asking them not to permit direct entry of "outsiders" into government offices at the secretariat saying the "problem is that there is sometimes a lot of smoke without fire".

Reports based on half-baked or premature information erode the credibility of both the government and the media, Rawat said. "A system is being put in place where the media gets all the information on a single counter," he added.

The Uttarakhand government recently issued an order banning the entry of "outsiders" directly into government offices at the secretariat fearing premature leakage of information.

The order was issued in view of the fact that the agenda of cabinet meetings on several occasions in the recent past was leaked to the media even before they took place, officials said on the condition of anonymity.

With the local media interpreting the order as a move to reduce systemic transparency, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh convened a press conference to clarify that the directive was issued to ensure that only authentic information reached the media.

However, members of the media felt the order was meant to deny them direct access to information by a government which claims total transparency in governance and zero tolerance to corruption.

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Tenders were floated for corporate firms to become partners in sanitation work by taking up maintenance of public toilets but "no response" was received, a senior NDMC official said.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) official said, "We wanted to use the public-private-partnership model for the maintenance, so we had invited the sector."



"The tenders were floated a few months ago, but sadly not a single corporate entity has shown interest in maintaining the public toilets," he said.

The official lamented that many of these firms want to "build toilets" but not maintain them.

"We thought, it would be a win-win situation if they could help in upkeep of public conveniences through their CAR (corporate social responsibility) activities," he said.

Many tourist sites, including the famous Chandni Chowk in the historic Shahjehanabad area in Old Delhi falls under the jurisdiction of the NDMC.

Incidentally, the BJP-led civic body declared that from December 31, all its 104 wards have become open defecation- free (ODF).

Mayor Preety Agarwal has also said that the NDMC will carry out a feasibility survey to assess if the public toilets in its area can be opened during night time.

"From December 31, 2017, now all 104 wards under the jurisdiction of the NDMC are open defecation-free. North corporation has adequate number of community and public toilets as per the yardsticks of the Swachh Bharat Mission," she said.

There are 314 community toilet complexes (CTCs), with 3,508 seats for men and 3,232 seats for women.

Besides, there are a total of 2,063 seats of men and 3,256 seats for women available in the public toilets, including the ones at petrol pumps, restaurants, metro stations and DDA markets falling in the areas under the jurisdiction of the corporation, she said.

When asked if there was any proposal to keep civic toilets open during night time also, Agarwal said, "Security is one main reason to keep our toilets closed at night."



"But, we will do a feasibility survey to see if we can have security measures and keep the toilet open at night too, so that people can benefit from it," the mayor said.

The NDMC officials informed that of the total number, 10 new toilet blocks are those which have been newly-built while other facilities have been upgraded.

Municipal Commissioner Madhup Vyas, said, this open defecation free (ODF) achievement will "go a long way in improving the ranking" of the NDMC in the Swachh Survekshan ranking.

In the Swachh Bharat reckoning of 434 cities for 2016-17, areas falling under the three municipal corporations were at a low -- the EDMC (196), SDMC (202) and NDMC (279).

When asked if any penalty measures were being contemplated for offenders, who urinate or defecate in the open, the mayor said, "We have the 'Roko Toko Seeti Bajao' campaign, which will also educate people".

The NDMC has also decided to paint in pink in future all the toilets that would be built for women only. At present there are 22 women toilets painted in pink.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The seven-member expertcommittee constituted to look into the issue of separatereligion status to Veerashivas/Lingayats has sought sixmonths time to submit its report.

The committee, which met for the fist time today,had been given four weeks time by the government to submit its report.

"We cannot complete our work in the four weeks timethat the government has given us," Committee Chairman, Justice H N Nagamohan Das told reportershere after the meeting.

"This is an important issueand the committee has an important responsibility to fulfill,"he said.

Das said that in order to complete the work as per law and in a scientific manner, the committee has decided to seek six months time from the government to submit the report.

Recently, the Karnataka State Minorities Commission (KSMC), to which the state government had referred the issue, had formed a seven-member committee, headed by retired high court Judge H N Nagamohan Das, to look into the issue of separate religion status to Veerashivas/Lingayats.

With the committee seeking six months time, the issue of seperate religion status is unlikely to reach conclusion before the Karnataka assembly elections, due early this year.

The Opposition BJP has been accusing the ruling Congress ofusing the issue for political reasons, keeping the assemblyelections in mind.

The demand for a separate religion tag to Veerashaiva/ Lingayat faiths has surfaced from the numericallystrong and politically-influential community, amidst resentment from within over projecting the two communities asthe same.

While one section led by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha has demanded separate religion status,assertingthat Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other group wants it only for Lingayats as they believe that Veerashaivais one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism.

The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that owes allegiance to the 12th century "social reform movement" initiated by Basaveshwara has a substantial population in Karnataka, especially in the northern parts of the state.

Pointing out that no representation has been provided for women during its constitution, the committee has also decided to give an opportunity to any interested party to submit their petitions along with documents before it.

It also said that opportunity would be provided to the petitioners for oral hearing, for which dates would be fixed during the next meeting.

Initial petitions that went to the committee included one arguing that Lingayats/Veerashaivas are Hindus, and the other by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha demanding minority religion tag for them.

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A woman advocate has moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the state government to provide due compensation to passengers who were reportedly forced to alight from buses midway in view of the strike announced by workers of state owned transport corporations.

The petitioner V Preetha also wanted the court to direct the government to deduct the compensation from the salaries of the striking workers.

The petition also wanted disciplinary action to be taken against the agitating workers under service Rules, and penal action for making passengers with valid ticket alight.

Though the demands of the protesting workers are reasonable, they cannot resort to such flash strike causing great inconvenience to public, the petitioner said.

Compelling passengers who hold valid tickets to get down midway, amounts to deficiency in service, for which the public are entitled for fair compensation, the petitioner added.

The petition as a public interest litigation is likely to come up for hearing on Monday before the first bench headed by the Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.

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Seashore Group CMD Prashant Das was today arrested by police from his residence here in connection with three chit fund cases against him, a day after his release from jail.

Das was yesterday released from jail here after got bail in the other chit fund cases.

Das was arrested by Dhenkanal Police based on the warrant against his name, said Dhenkanal Superintendent of Police, Basant Panigrahi.

The SP said a team of Dhenkanal Police was sent to Bhubaneswar to arrest Das in connection with three cases lodged against him at the Town Police Station. The cases were lodged against Das in 2013.

Das has been accused of duping investors of about Rs 7 crore in Dhenkanal district, police sources said.

"Das has been arrested from his residence at Jharpara in Bhubaneswar. After interrogation, we will forward him to court," the SP said.

Das said "I will move court for bail".

He also said that "I will ensure all the investors of Seashore get their money back."



Das was first arrested by Crime Branch of Odisha Police from Mumbai on June 20, 2013 after the Rs 500 crore Seashore Group chit fund scam surfaced.

Later the case was handed over to CBI which filed a charge sheet against Das, after probe.

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The Delhi High Court has paved the way for holding proceedings in a trial court in a defamation case filed by a journalist against a media house for publishing controversial tapped conversations of former lobbyist Niira Radia with politicians, corporates and scribes in connection with the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The proceedings in the trial court were adjourned sine die as the special CBI court was holding the trial of the cases arising out of the alleged 2G scam which was decided on December 21, 2017, acquitting all the accused.

The high court directed that the defamation case be listed before the magistrate concerned on February 3 and added that as the proceedings have remained stayed for over three years, the trial court is directed to expedite the matter and preferably conclude it within one year.

The tapes of the controversial conversations were in the custody of the Supreme Court during the pendency of the trial and the media house had said that without producing the original tapes, it would not be in a position to defend itself in the defamation case. Accordingly, a magistrate's court in June 2014 had adjourned the proceedings sine die.

The journalist, whose alleged conversation with Radia was also published by the magazine, had challenged the order of the magistrate's court adjourning sine die the hearing in the defamation case filed by him.

Taking note of the December 21 judgement of the trial court in the 2G cases, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said since there has been a change in the circumstances which earlier prevented the media house from accessing the tapes, the magistrate's court order adjourning sine die the defamation case filed by journalist Vir Sanghvi needed to be recalled.

"In view of the above facts and the changed circumstance that the 2G scam case has culminated in a judgement, in my view, the order adjourning the complaint case filed by Sanghvi sine die needs to be recalled. Accordingly, the impugned order of June 30, 2014 is set aside," Justice Sachdeva said.

In terms of the orders of the Supreme Court, the original recordings were kept under lock and key of its Secretary General during pendency of the 2G case.

The media house had published the story on November 29, 2010 purportedly extracting certain tapped conversation allegedly between him and other individuals.

The high court was informed by Sanghvi's counsel that as per the apex court's February 10, 2011 order, copies of the recordings, kept sealed under lock and key, were made available to the CBI and the Income Tax Department and could be summoned by the media house in their defence.

The high court said that if the media house, in its defence, wishes to summon, produce or to prove the recorded conversation contained in the tapes, it would be open to them to summon it from the CBI or the Income Tax authorities, which have been made available copies of the recording by the apex court's order.

"For which purpose, the media house would be at liberty to make an application to the trial court at the appropriate stage.

"In case there is any impediment in the media house seeking production of the recordings from the CBI or the Income Tax authorities, it would be open to the media house to approach the Supreme Court for appropriate directions," it said.

The journalist had filed the complaint case against the media house claiming that the extracted conversation was not correct and the alleged tape recordings, relied on by it and also made available on its website, were doctored and tampered.

He had contended that the imputations made in the story were false and defamatory.

The counsel for the media house had contended before the high court that as per law, truth is a defence to an allegation of defamation.

To establish that the published conversation was the correct transcript of what is contained in the tapes, it would be necessary for the media house to summon and prove before the trial court the original of the tape recordings, the counsel said.

The issue of Radia tapes had reached the apex court when two petitions were filed before it.

The conversations were recorded as part of surveillance of Radia's phone on a complaint to the then finance minister on November 16, 2007 alleging that within a span of nine years, she had built up a business empire worth Rs 300 crore.

One was filed by former Tata Sons Ltd chairman Ratan Tata claiming that some of these conversations, being private in nature, should not be allowed to be made public.

The other petition, filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), had sought that these transcripts be made public in larger public interest.

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The family of Deepak Rao, theHindu activist who was hacked to death near here on January 3, has refused to accept Rs 5 lakh personal aid offered by Congress MLA Mohiuddin Bava, family sources said.

Bava, who visited Rao's family yesterday alongwith Legislative Council Chief Whip Ivan D'Souza, had to face criticism from the family for the alleged "secret operation" by the police in which the body was brought to the residence from the hospital.

Bava represents Mangaluru North.

The MLA, who offered his condolences to Rao's mother and members of his family, told them that he did not attend thefuneral on the suggestion of the police in order to maintain law and order on the day of the funeral.

He also assured the family that he would do his best to get all the benefits from the government.

He alleged thatthe Opposition BJP was trying to spread communal hatred ahead of the coming assembly polss.

Ivan D'Souza also wanted the opposition to refrain from giving speeches instigating communal feelings for political gains.

Rao was hacked to death by four persons, all of whom were arrested within hours after the attack.

The BJP has blamed "jehadi forces" for the latest killing and accused the Siddaramaiah government of being "soft" towards them and claimed that, as a result, 22 Hindu activists have been murdered so far, a charge dismissed by the ruling Congress.

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A Gurgaon court will pronounce on Monday its order on the bail application of a 16-year-old student, accused of killing 7-year-old Pradhuman Thakur at Ryan International School.

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu reserved the order after hearing arguments of the counsel for the accused, the CBI and the complainant.

The defence counsel claimed the charge sheet in the matter was not filed within one month, as prescribed in the Juvenile Justice Act, and he was not given required documents.

Opposing the contention, the CBI said the mandatory period for filing a charge sheet is 90 days under CrPC provisions.

The counsel for the CBI said that "circumstances have changed" as the accused had been declared an adult by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB). Therefore, the charge sheet needed to be filed within three months.

Seeking dismissal of the bail plea, the CBI said the JJB order to try the accused as an adult spoke about his mental status and the fact that he committed a heinous crime.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for Pradhuman's father Barun Thakur, questioned the maintainability of the application and said the accused should file a fresh bail plea before the court due to the changed circumstances.

On the contention of the accused that necessary documents were not provided to him, the CBI said the records had already been produced before the court and the accused never demanded any paper, nor any direction was passed by the court in this regard.

Pradhuman was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom on September 8 last year.

The Gurgaon Police had claimed the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which was later refuted by the CBI.

The probe agency had claimed the teenager had killed Pradhuman in a bid to get the school closed so that a parent- teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the accused against an order of the JJB denying him bail.

Tekriwal had said the appeal for bail was at a "premature stage" as the investigation was yet to be concluded.

The JJB had on December 20 held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurgaon sessions court.

The JJB had noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions.

If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 years old after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, it had said.

The board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 Ryan International School student.

It had set up a committee which included a psychologist from the PGI, Rohtak, for an expert opinion on the accused, who was taken into custody by the CBI in November 2017.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 lowers the age of juveniles from 18 years to 16 years for heinous crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity-cum- murder, which warrant at least seven years of imprisonment.

However, the JJB first decides whether the crime was "child-like" or was it committed in an "adult frame of mind", following which it orders the accused to be tried as juvenile or adult.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said the "fight" in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state would be between between two ideologies -- communalism and secularism.

"It's not between Siddaramaiah versus BJP, it is not between me versus Narendra Modi... it is not between Siddaramaiah and Yeddyurappa; it is between two ideologies- Congress versus BJP," he told reporters in Chikkamagalur.

He termed the Congress a secular party and said, "We believe in secularism and are committed to it, while the BJP is a communal party."



"This is the ideological difference between the BJP and the Congress. The fight would be between communalism and secularism," Siddaramaiah said.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are scheduled this year.

The chief minister reiterated that the government would take stringent action against organisations instigating "communal sentiments" in the state.

"Any organisation that instigates communal sentiments, the government will be merciless against them, in accordance with the law," he said.

Siddaramaiah's comments come at a time when the coastal region of the state remained on the edge over a spate of killings of "Hindu activists".

In the latest incident, 28-year-old Deepak Rao, who was associated with the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, was hacked to death by a four-member gang on Wednesday, following which simmering tension prevailed in Dakshina Kannada district.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi has decided that all state unit chiefs of the party will continue in their posts until orders to replace them are issued.

Gandhi took the decision amid speculation that Pradesh Congress units would see new presidents and teams after the organisational elections.

"Congress president Rahul Gandhi has taken a decision that the presidents of all Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC), Regional Congress Committees and Territorial Congress Committees, will continue in their posts after the organisational elections, unless some decision is taken to replace them," a statement by AICC, general secretary, Janardan Dwivedi said.

Gandhi was elected as the Congress president unopposed in organisational elections of the party last month.

In another order, Gandhi asked Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel to continue in his post and appointed Ram Dayal Uike and Shiv Kumar Dhahariya as the working presidents of the PCC.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader T S Singdeo will continue in his post and Kawasi Lakma will be the deputy CLP leader of the party in the Chhattisgarh Assembly.

Gandhi also formed seven committees for the Chhattisgarh Congress ahead of the assembly elections later this year in the state.

Baghel would head the Pradesh Election Committee, Singdeo the Election Manifesto Committee and Charandas Mahant would be the chairman of the Election Campaign Committee of the state's unit.

Bodhram Kanwar would be the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi would head the Communications Department and Ravinder Chaubey the Planning and Strategy Committee of the Chhattisgarh PCC.

Ramgopal Agrawal would chair the Election Publicity committee.

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Actor-comedian Stephen Fry has stepped down from hosting the BAFTA Awards after 12 years and is looking forward to watching the show in the comfort of his home.

The 60-year-old star took over hosting responsibilities back in 2001 - the year Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" won - and became a much-loved fixture of the UK awards ceremony. He had a break from hosting duties between 2007-11.

"Every one of the twelve BAFTA film award ceremonies that I had the privilege of hosting has a place in my memory. The mixture of glamour, glory, drama and - occasionally - embarrassment and hiccup holds a unique place in the British film calendar. Over the last two decades I have especially loved watching the emergence of new young film talent behind and in front of the camera.

"But after so long a time I felt it only right to stand down and let others take the BAFTAs on to new heights and greater glories. What fun it will be to watch BAFTA 2018 without my heart hammering, mouth drying and knees trembling," Fry said in a statement to BBC.

BAFTA thanked him for making the awards "such memorable and joyous occasions". A replacement will be announced on Tuesday, when this year's nominees are revealed.

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Eminent agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan has appreciated the Telangana government for supplying power 24 hours a day to farmers in the state.

"I am very happy to see your announcement that Telangana will provide farmers with 24/7 power supply. This will be a great boon to the farmers particularly since Telangana is by and large a dry farming state," Swaminathan wrote in a letter addressed to state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The letter added that "crop life saving irrigation is vital for the success of agriculture." The letter was released to the media here today.

The Telangana government began supplying 24/7 free power to farmers since January 1 this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)




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India and Indonesia, as close maritime neighbours, are "natural partners" in peace and prosperity, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today as she held talks with her Indonesian counterpart here.

"We are two major countries in the Indo-Pacific region. This region is among the most dynamic regions in the world. We agreed to develop synergetic relationship to harness the potential of Indo-Pacific region and to meet the challenges that the region faces," Swaraj said after co-chairing the fifth meeting of the Joint Commission with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

She said the meeting was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere and the two sides reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations.

"During our discussions, there was clear recognition that India and Indonesia, as two close maritime neighbours, are natural partners in peace and prosperity. We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms, irrespective of its motivation and origin.

"We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approaches to deal with this global menace, and called upon all countries to stop providing state sponsorship of terrorism and prevent their territories being used for establishing terrorist safe havens.

"Overall, the meeting today was substantive, productive and future oriented. I believe that the fifth meeting of the Joint Commission would lead to further deepening of the strategic partnership between our two countries," Swaraj said.

She said Indonesia, as one of the largest countries, the most diverse democracy, and the biggest economy in ASEAN, has a critical role to play in evolution of the new security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Foreign Minister Retno conveyed Indonesia's determination to play its part and make due contributions to the ongoing efforts to strengthen rule and respect of law. I welcomed it and conveyed India's commitment for peace, security and development in the region," she said.

"We agreed to enhance our consultations and cooperation on maritime issues including on UNCLOS with a view to strengthen rule of law and to ensure the freedom of navigation and safety of sea lanes of communication.

"Foreign Minister Retno expressed appreciation for increase of Indian tourists to Indonesia. We agreed on expansion of civil aviation links to further enhance bilateral economic and tourism ties," Swaraj said.

"I expressed the importance of addressing the high trade deficit that India has with Indonesia and conveyed that the best way to address this issue is not to restrict trade but to increase it.

The two countries also agreed to work together for a balanced and sustainable trade by providing greater market access, both in goods and services, she said.

They also discussed the increasing demand for skill development in both countries as both have a large proportion of young population.

Swaraj conveyed that India will continue its skill development assistance in the form of short term training programmes and scholarships.

"Currently India offers close to 150 training slots and scholarships. We agreed to further strengthen our cooperation in education sector. Foreign Minister Retno expressed desire to further deepen cooperation in ICT and healthcare especially pharmaceutical sector," she said.

Earlier, Swaraj called on Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla and discussed ways to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two nations.

Swaraj, who arrived here from Thailand on the second leg of her three-nation tour, was given a warm welcome.

She will also call on Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and have other official engagements, including an interaction with the representatives of the Indian community.

As the biggest country in the ASEAN region with the largest economy, Indonesia is an important partner for India including in trade and strategic matters, the Ministry of External Affairs had said.

Swaraj will also visit Singapore and there she will inaugurate the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) of ASEAN countries on January 7.

Her three-nation visit is part of New Delhi's efforts to hold bilateral interactions in various sectors with countries of the South East Asian region within the framework of India's 'Act East' policy.

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Pakistan on Saturday said that those providing funds to banned groups, including the so-called charities run by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, will face up to 10 years in prison along with a hefty fine.

The warning was part of a countrywide advertisement in Urdu, which has been published in all major local newspapers of the country.

The advertisement lists 72 groups, including Jamat-ud- Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Tabia of Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad of Masood Azhar.

It said that according to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 of Pakistan and under UN Security Council act of 1948 it was a crime to provide funding to those groups which have been banned or are on the watchlist.

ALSO READ: US to rope in China in bid to make Pakistan shut down terror safe havens

Those giving funds to such individuals or groups may face "five to 10 years in jail or up to Rs 10 million fine or both", it said.

Their movable or immovable property can also be confiscated.

Pakistan has banned Saeed-led JuD and FIF from collecting donations on Monday, after President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.

Trump, in a scathing tweet, at the start of the new year said that Pakistan fooled American authorities and got $33 billion in the name of fighting terrorism.

ALSO READ: US looks at options to mitigate retaliation from Pakistan

The government has banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.

The advertisement reminds the people that they should make sure that their money given as charity does not end up in wrong hands.

The move comes after the US increased pressure on Pakistan to move decisively against all militants groups allegedly operating from its soil.
Police have arrested three persons from Nashik and Indore for allegedly peddling drugs.

Police said that one of the persons arrested has several cases against his name including an offence under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Makarand Ranade said that Akram Aslam Khan (30) from Ganjmal in Nashik has over 18 different offences of house breaking, theft and chain-snatching against his name in Nashik and Mumbai apart from the MCOCA charge.

Based on information, a trap was laid on January 3 near Nitin Chowk by officials of the Crime Branch's Unit V and Khan was nabbed, he said.

The official added that 822 gms of the drug MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) in powder form, valued at Rs. 16.44 lakhs, was seized from Khan.

Khan's arrest led the cops to two others from Indore, Raisuddin Sallauddin Shaikh (45) and Ajay Jadhavan (40), who were arrested from Indore yesterday, police said.

A case under relevant sections of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Drugs (NDPS) Act was registered with the Wagle Estate police station, they added.

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The forest department of Telangana today held a meeting with volunteers who would take part in the state's leg of the All-India Tiger Estimation 2018, popularly referred to as the "tiger census".

The census, to begin on January 22, will go on till January 29 and will be conducted simultaneously across the country, officials said. It is conducted nationwide once every four years.

A state government release stated that in today's meeting, the volunteers were explained the task ahead of them as part of the census.

The volunteers would assist the forest personnel in the survey, the release added.

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A trader was looted of Rs 5 lakh cash by motorcycle-borne men here, following which locals blocked the Naujhil Bajna road demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators.

Kishan Chandra Gupta, who owns a grocery shop in Bara Bazaar, was robbed in an area under the Bajna police outpost.

The protesters blocked the road for over three hours and dispersed after SP (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla assured them speedy investigations into the case.

"If found guilty, action would be taken against the staff posted at Bajna police outpost," he said.

However, SSP Swapnil Mamgai said, "Action would be taken against the police personnel at the outpost as they did not chase the looters."



Shops in the area were closed in protest, however opened after assurances from the police.

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the formation of a tribunal is the only way to resolve the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh.

The two states have been at loggerheads for the past three years over the sharing of Mahanadi waters.

"We have met before without any results. We ask them (Centre and Chhattisgarh) to stop work of barrages. The then Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati said that the Central government has no power to do so," Patnaik said.

Patnaik was responding to a question during an interactive session at a round-table conclave here. The chief minister was asked whether he would meet Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari, who in a letter to him, proposed another round of talks to resolve the dispute.

"I request you to communicate a date convenient to you for the discussion so that I am able to fix the meeting at the earliest in consultation with the CM, Chhattisgarh," Gadkari had written to Patnaik on January 2.

While justifying his government's demand for a tribunal to resolve the river water dispute, Patnaik said: "We have asked clearly to form a tribunal where both the states - Odisha and Chhattisgarh -- can come up with their points for judicial outcome."



Meanwhile, the ruling BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra in a press meet alleged that the Chhattishgarh has violated several laws and constructed six major projects on upstream of river Mahanadi.

"These projects are being constructed to feed water to industries and not to meet requirement of irrigation," Mishra alleged.

Mishra also alleged that though the BJP was aware of the violation of laws, the party-led central government was not taking any action against the violatos for political reasons.

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President Donald Trump today supported a top American Senator's proposal for a bill to stop the US aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on terror groups and divert the money for building roads and bridges in the US.

"Good idea Rand!" Trump tweeted, sharing a video of Republican Senator Rand Paul promoting his bill to stop US aid to Pakistan and use the money towards domestic infrastructure projects.

"I'm introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home," Paul said.

"The US should not give one penny to countries that burn our flag and chant Death to America. Countries like Pakistan that stonewall access to key information in fighting terrorism don't deserve our money," Paul said.

The Trump administration yesterday suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens.

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after President Trump in a New Year's Day tweet accused the country of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

The suspended amount also include USD 255 million in Foreign Military Funding (FMF) for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by the Congress.

In addition, the Department of Defense has suspended the entire USD 900 million of the Coalition Support Funds (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017 and other unspent money from previous fiscal years.

According to a senior Trump administration official, Trump is "frustrated" at Pakistans inability to take decisive actions against terrorist groups.

"He's talking with leaders of countries in the region. He is monitoring Pakistan and how Pakistan has reacted to our requests," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"It is a matter of frustration (for him). And the kind of information that was coming to him was not satisfying in terms of what we're looking for from Pakistan to support the South Asia strategy," the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump has asked Congress to set aside nearly USD 18 billion over the next 10 years to build or extend the long border wall separating the US from Mexico, providing an insight into how he will fulfil his signature 2016 presidential campaign pledge.

Trump has promised to "a big, beautiful wall" with Mexico as a centerpiece of his presidency but offered few details of where it would be built, when and at what cost. The wall, he said, is important to stop the flow of illegal migrants and drugs into the country.

The US Customs and Border Protection document calls for a total of USD 33 billion in new border spending, including USD 18 billion for the wall, USD 5.7 billion for technology gear, USD 1 billion for road construction and maintenance and USD 8.5 billion for 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, 2,500 border inspectors and other personnel, the US official said.

The proposal, If carried out as described, by 2027, about 1,552 kilometres of the 3218 kilometres southwest border would have some sort of fencing or wall separating the US from Mexico.

The opposition Democratic party immediately described as a waste of tax payer's money.

"Spending USD 18 billion on a useless border wall is a non-starter for House Democrats," House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley said.

"This is alarming," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in a dear colleague letter.

In a statement Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said it's outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hardline anti-immigrant billsplus an additional USD 18 billion in wall fundingon the backs of these people.

In its letter to Durbin, the Homeland Security said that it is essential to note that this submission represents only one element of the President's overall immigration priorities.

"Effective border security will not be successful unless we close dangerous legal loopholes that enable illegal immigration and visa overstays. If these loopholes are not closed, and enforcement capabilities are not enhanced, our immigration system and border cannot be secured," it said.

According to Wall Street Journal, which first reported about it, the document envisions the wall project unfolding over 10 years.

Congressman Ral Manuel Grijalva said the US-Mexico border region already boasts more than 1046 plus kilometres of physical barriers, thousands of Border Patrol agents, and billions in 'border security measures'.

"The vast majority of the 12 million people who call the borderlands home are vehemently opposed to building even more barriers, especially when historically low numbers of individuals are attempting to cross them," he said.

"Trump and the Republicans who still sympathise with his maniac obsessions would rather waste USD 18 billion on a border wall than fund critical programmes that invest in the American people.

It is also alarming that Trump continues to toy with the lives of more than 800,000 DREAMers," the Congressman said.

Since day one, his bait-and-switch approach to DREAMers has done nothing more than stop all progress we have made to ensure a permanent and fair fix to the DACA programme.

To now pool the issue of border security with that of DREAMers who are American in all ways except under a document is an outstanding showcase of his callousness, he alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two policemen including the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shyampur police station were injured when a mob attacked them in Howrah district, police said today.

The OC of Shyampur police station Suman Das with a police team had gone to Bargarchomukh village yesterday night after hearing reports of the clash between two groups over property dispute, they said.

When the police were trying to disperse the two groups, the OC and another policeman were attacked by a mob, the police said.

The injured OC has been admitted to hospital, they said adding a large police contingent later went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Seven persons have been arrested in connection with the attack on the OC, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu today said a delegation of experts will soon visit the Konkan region to explore opportunities for "make in Konkan".

Speaking at the inauguration of 6th Global Kokan Festival here, Prabhu said that the "Make in India" initiative of the Centre will be successful only if it happens at the state and district levels.

"As Railway Minister I had undertaken a program of developing a joint tourism circuit including Konkan and Goa regions. Now as Minister for Commerce and Industry I want to take the Make in India concept to the Konkan," he said.

"We want to explore how the startup programme of the Centre can be implemented here," he added.

The 5-day event is expected to attract around 3-4 lakh visitors across the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House has reportedly been granted access to a print of Steven Spielberg's Oscar- tipped newspaper drama "The Post" for screenings.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Donald Trump's team made a request to show the film at both the White House and Camp David, where the president is set to hold a summit over the weekend.

The film, which stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, tells the story of the journalists who fought against the government in the 70s to publish classified information about the administration's failings in the Vietnam war.

Both Streep and Hanks have publicly criticised Trump. Hanks recently said that if "The Post" did screen at the White House, he would not attend.

"Individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts. You don't take to the ramparts necessarily right away, but you do have to start weighing things. You may think: 'You know what? I think now is the time.'



"This is the moment where, in some ways, our personal choices are going to have to reflect our opinions. We have to start voting, actually, before the election. So, I would probably vote not to go," he told The Hollywood Reporter last month.

"The Post" is nominated for six awards at Golden Globes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three armed men allegedly raped a woman after taking her husband and brother-in-law hostage at gunpoint in a forest near Bhadawal village here, police said today.

The incident took place when the family was crossing a river on Banda-Chitrakoot border.

The woman, a resident of Chitrakoot district, had yesterday come to Gaurikhanpur village here along with her husband and brother-in-law to meet their relatives, Additional Superintendent of Police Lal Bharat Kumar Pal said.

When they were returning to their home, they were taken hostage by the three men at gunpoint near Bhadawal village, he said.

The three armed men then raped the woman in a hut in nearby jungle, Pal said, adding after the act, they fled from the spot.

On the basis of a complaint, an FIR was registered against the three accused men late last night, police said.

Police have launched a manhunt to nab the culprits, they said, adding the woman has been sent for medical examination.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Themed around 'Environment and Climate Change', the 26th New Delhi World Book Fair opened here today with a call for increased awareness and efforts to protect the environment.

The 9-day annual event was inaugurated by environmentalist Sunita Narain, European Union ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski, National Book Trust chairman Baldev Bhai Sharma and Madhu Ranjan Kumar, Joint Secy- Minister of Human Resource Development.

Addressing the visitors through a video conference, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that climate change awareness is important as humans have exploited earth beyond limits.

"We have taken more from the earth than it could offer. It is about time we realised the importance of awareness, and it won't be possible without collective efforts by not wasting electricity, water; by taking bicycle to travel or by walking more instead of using petrol and diesel-run vehicles," the minister said.

Author-environmentalist Sunita Narain also spoke strongly about the effects of climate change and the need for awareness calling it the "biggest threat faced by the poorest of the poor".

"The western world is talking and negotiating about environment change, they are holding meetings while here in India we are witnessing climate change with extreme cold, extreme drought and extreme rains.

"It is no more an upcoming event, climate change is here. And the worst affected are the poorest people, the farmers, the marginalised. We don't need to be told about climate change, we are living it," she said.

The book fair has a dedicated theme pavillion in Hall 7 E with books in English, Hindi and other Indian languages on environment-related issues like climate change, global warming, water and air pollution.

Kozlowski also emphasised the role of books in spreading awareness about climate change.

"The most important aspect of a book fair is the participation for general public, and with the event's theme of environment and climate change we hope to spread the message to as many people as possible.

"The fair has a very high reputation of creating awareness and bringing change in the society. It is a medium to develop cultural ties between India and the European countries," the ambassador said.

Over 20 European Union countries will participate with a delegation of publishers, editors and authors. The EU pavilion will also showcase some of the latest publications in English and other European languages along with panel discussions, talks, photo exhibits and cultural performances.

Apart from the EU nations, more than 40 countries including Canada, China, Egypt, Pakistan and United Kingdom will participate in the book fair.

In authors corner, visitors can get to interact with some of the well-known writers like Ruskin Bond, Jerry Pinto, Michael Creighton, Paro Anand, Mridula Garg and Ranjit Lal among others.

The author interactions will be held at five Authors Corners in Reflections (Hall 11), Conversations (Hangar over lake), International Events Corner (Hall 7A), Lekhak Manch (Hall 12-12A), and Sahitya Manch (Hall 8).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan today praised the company's co-founder Nandan Nilekani for correcting the 'wrongdoings' committed by previous board, by fixing a reasonable salary for the incumbent CEO.

"I think the board under Nandan has done the right thing to correct the previous wrongdoings... The salary structure for the current Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh looks reasonable with a large part tied to variable salary with greater focus on long-term retention," he told PTI here.

Balakrishnan said it is important for the board to clearly articulate the performance metrics for the vesting of variable salaries to senior management.

"The metrics should have clear focus on increasing shareholders' value by achieving superior growth.. If the board wants to exercise any discretion it should be explained to the shareholders with proper reasoning," he said.

Infosys has fixed Parekh's salary at Rs 6.5 crores with an eligibility for variable pay of Rs 9.75 crores at the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Elaborating on the 'wrongdoings' by the previous board, Balakrishnan said, "unfortunately, it never clearly understood the culture or value systems followed by Infosys under its founders, which resulted in excessive senior management salaries and a huge disconnect with rest of the organisation."

"The former CEO's (Vishal Sikka) salary was increased substantially without clear reason while the rest of the organisation had to contend with meager salary hikes and reduced variable compensation," he added.

The USD 20 billion target by 2020 was loosely used to justify the pay increase to the CEO that lacked conviction, Balakrishnan alleged.

Recalling N R Narayana Murthy's views, he said excess in capitalism will make the acceptance of capitalism difficult to a large section of the society.

"The CEO compensation should be reasonable enough to attract top talent while at the same time be comparable with peer group companies," the company's former CFO said.

"It should also reflect the realities within the organization otherwise selling it internally will be difficult," he added.

Balakrishnan also said when the founders ran the company, the senior management salaries were reasonable enough to attract top talent and were never considered excessive.

Also, in difficult times, the leadership took the pain before it being passed on to rest of the organisation, he added.

"Leadership by example was practiced both in substance and form," Balakrishnan said.

He also said, "As a shareholder, I want the board to be restructured quickly with some members who were part of the earlier dispensation like the erstwhile co-chairman (Ravi Venkatesan) and audit committee chairman (Roopa Kudva) be replaced."

An effective board is the need of the hour to establish proper checks and balances that was lacking in the earlier dispensation, Balakrishnan said.
"It takes something from being a kid, and it also takes into that child-like wonder and also being a bit naughty at the same time, and that makes it more joyful," she said.
All four Canberra providers named appear to be no longer operating in the territory. The Canberra Times made calls to the mobile numbers listed online for each of the providers, and found they were either disconnected, or no longer receiving incoming calls.
When the Toyota Raize came into the picture early this year , it commanded the kind of attention that made you think of it as possibly just ...
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Daniel CASAMAYOR, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-13616 Decided: January 05, 2018

Before MARTIN, JILL PRYOR, and HULL, Circuit Judges. Phillip Drew DiRosa, Sivashree Sundaram, U.S. Attorney's Office, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Wifredo A. Ferrer, Emily M. Smachetti, Ignacio Jesus Vazquez, Jr., U.S. Attorney's Office, Miami, FL for Plaintiff-Appellee Richard Carroll Klugh, Jr., Law Offices of Richard C. Klugh, Miami, FL, Defendant-Appellant

Following a remand by this Court for resentencing on one count, Daniel Casamayor Rojas (Casamayor) appeals his total sentence of 262 months imprisonment on multiple counts relating to his planned robbery of a marijuana grow house. After review, we affirm Casamayors sentence.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

A. Guilty Plea and Original Sentencing

In 2014, Casamayor pled guilty to: (1) conspiring to commit Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1951(a) (Count 1); (2) conspiring to possess with intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841(a)(1), (b)(1)(D) and 846 (Count 2); (3) being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1) and 924(e) (Count 3); (4) conspiring to use and carry a firearm during and in relation to the crime of violence charged in Count 1 and the drug trafficking crime charged in Count 2, and to possess the firearm in furtherance of those crimes, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  924(o) (Count 5); and (5) using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to the crime of violence charged in Count 1 and the drug trafficking crime charged in Count 2, and to possess a firearm in furtherance of those crimes, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  924(c)(1)(A) and 2 (Count 6).

At an October 2014 sentencing hearing, the district court determined, inter alia, that Casamayor qualified as a career offender under the Sentencing Guidelines and as an armed career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C.  924(e)(1)(B). Over Casamayors objection, the district court further concluded that Casamayors 2008 Florida conviction for fleeing-at-high-speed was a crime of violence for purposes of U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(a). The district court did not identify which of Casamayors many other felony convictions supported his ACCA status.

As a result of Casamayors career offender status, the district court determined that Casamayors advisory guidelines range of 262 to 327 months was preset for all five counts of conviction by the career offender table in U.S.S.G.  4B1.1(c). The district court denied Casamayors request for a downward variance and chose a 262-month total sentence, at the low end of the advisory guidelines range. Specifically, the district courts total 262-month sentence was composed of: (1) concurrent 202-month sentences on Counts 1, 3 and 5; (2) a 60-month sentence on Count 2, to run concurrent with Counts 1, 3, and 5; and (3) a 60-month sentence on Count 6 to run consecutive to all the other counts.

B. First Appeal and Remand

In his first appeal, Casamayor argued, inter alia, that he did not qualify as either a career offender under the Sentencing Guidelines or as an armed career criminal under the ACCA. Citing the then-pending Supreme Court case of Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), Casamayor argued that his 2008 Florida fleeing-at-high-speed conviction no longer qualified as a predicate offense for either designation because the residual clauses for both U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(a) and the ACCA were unconstitutionally vague. While Casamayors appeal was pending, the Supreme Court issued Johnson, which held that the ACCAs residual clause was unconstitutionally vague. Id. at , 135 S.Ct. at 2563.

On direct appeal, this Court affirmed Casamayors career offender designation, explaining that Johnson did not address the career offender provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines and that we were bound by United States v. Matchett, 802 F.3d 1185 (11th Cir. 2015), in which this Court had already held that  4B1.2(a)s residual clause was not unconstitutionally vague in light of Johnson. See United States v. Casamayor, 643 Fed.Appx. 905, 911-12 (11th Cir. 2016). Thus, we affirmed Casamayors sentences on Counts 1, 2, 5, and 6. Id. at 912.

As to Casamayors ACCA-enhanced sentence on Count 3, however, this Court noted that the district court had not identified which of Casamayors prior felony convictions it relied upon. Id. at 911. Thus, the Court vacated Casamayors sentence on Count 3 and remand[ed] for resentencing on that count. Id. at 912. In so doing, the Court stated that on remand, the district court should determine in the first instance whether the ACCA-enhanced sentence of 202 months on Count 3 may be supported by any of Casamayors other prior felony convictions and if so under what clause. Id. at 911.

C. Resentencing on Remand

Prior to resentencing, the probation office filed an addendum to the presentence investigation report (PSI). The addendum identified these four of Casamayors prior convictions that qualified as violent felonies under the ACCAs elements clause: (1) a September 6, 2001 Florida conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, under Florida Statutes  784.021(1)(A) and 775.087(1); (2) a January 31, 2012 Florida conviction for strong-arm robbery that occurred on December 22, 2010, under Florida Statutes  812.13(2)(C) and 777.011; (3) a separate January 31, 2012 Florida conviction for armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon that occurred on December 11, 2010, under Florida Statutes  812.13(2)(A), 921.0024(1)(B), and 775.087; and (4) a separate January 31, 2012 Florida conviction for strong-arm robbery, under Florida Statutes  812.13(2)(C) and 777.011, and aggravated battery with great bodily harm, under Florida Statutes  784.045(1)(a)1 and 777.011, both of which occurred on January 8, 2011.

Casamayor filed written objections to the PSI. As to his status under the ACCA, Casamayor did not dispute that he had the predicate convictions listed in the addendum. Instead, Casamayor argued that his convictions for aggravated assault and strong-arm robbery did not qualify as ACCA predicate offenses, and thus he did not qualify as an armed career criminal. Casamayor contended that both of these Florida offenses could be committed without the use of physical force against the person of another. Casamayor also objected to his career offender status under the Sentencing Guidelines, arguing that his Florida conviction for fleeing-at-high-speed no longer qualified as a crime of violence because the Sentencing Commission had recently amended the career offender guideline to delete the residual clause.

The government responded that all of Casamayors ACCA predicate convictions qualified under the elements clause, which Johnson left undisturbed. As for Casamayors career offender status, the government argued that because this Court already had concluded that Casamayor was a career offender during his first appeal, the law of the case doctrine precluded him from challenging that designation at resentencing. Alternatively, the government contended that Casamayor had multiple alternative felony convictions on which to base his career offender status.

At resentencing, the district court reviewed this Courts instruction to determine whether any of Casamayors prior felony convictions supported his ACCA-enhanced sentence on Count 3. Casamayor conceded that his January 2012 conviction for armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon qualified as a violent felony for ACCA purposes. Over Casamayors objection, the district court concluded that, in addition to that 2012 armed robbery conviction, Casamayors 2001 conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, his two separate January 2012 convictions for strong-arm robbery, and his January 2012 conviction for aggravated battery with great bodily harm also qualified as violent felonies under the ACCAs elements clause.

Casamayor pointed out that the Sentencing Commissions removal of the residual clause from the career offender provision would go into effect in about 60 days. Casamayor argued that he expected the Sentencing Commission to make the amendment retroactive and therefore the district court should reduce his sentence now to avoid a future 18 U.S.C.  3582(c) motion. The district court declined to do so, stating that it would address that issue if the amendment was made retroactive.

After the defendants allocution, the district court resentenced Casamayor to the same 262-month total sentence, consisting of 202-month concurrent sentences on Counts 1, 3, and 5, a 60-month sentence on Count 2 to run concurrent with Counts 1, 3, and 5, and a consecutive 60-month sentence on Count 6.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Casamayors Newly Raised Challenges to His Guilty Plea

For the first time in this second appeal, Casamayor argues that his guilty plea to all five counts was invalid for various reasons. Because Casamayor could have, but did not, challenge his guilty plea in his first appeal, his present argument as to his plea is barred by the doctrine of the law of the case.

Under the law-of-the-case doctrine, an issue decided at one stage of a case is binding at later stages of the same case. United States v. Escobar-Urrego, 110 F.3d 1556, 1560 (11th Cir. 1997). Under the doctrine, district court rulings that have not been challenged on a first appeal will not be disturbed in a subsequent appeal. See id. at 1560-61 (holding that, because the defendant had the opportunity to appeal the determination as to the amount of drugs in his first appeal but failed to do so, the law of the case barred him from litigating that issue in his second appeal). Further, an appellant should raise all trial errors in his appeal of the judgment and sentence, and an appellant is deemed to have waived his right to raise issues on a second appeal that he did not raise in his first. United States v. Fiallo-Jacome, 874 F.2d 1479, 1481-83 (11th Cir. 1989) (quotation marks omitted) (holding that a defendant who failed to raise challenges to his trial in his first appeal was deemed to have waived review of those issues in his second appeal and would not get two bites at the appellate apple).

Moreover, none of the exceptions to the law of the case doctrine apply here, as no new evidence about Casamayors plea was presented on remand, there was no intervening decision applicable to Casamayors guilty plea, and there has been no showing of a manifest injustice. See Baumer v. United States, 685 F.2d 1318, 1320 (11th Cir. 1982). Thus, Casamayors challenge to his guilty plea is barred by the law of the case doctrine.

Alternatively, even if we addressed Casamayors guilty plea claims, our review would be for plain error, and Casamayor has shown none. See United States v. Moriarty, 429 F.3d 1012, 1018-19 (11th Cir. 2005). First, there was a sufficient factual basis to support Casamayors guilty plea to each count. At his plea colloquy, Casamayor agreed to every fact in his factual proffer, which stated that Casamayor and his co-conspirators agreed to rob a marijuana growhouse, met to plan the robbery and decided that they needed to use firearms during the robbery, and then were arrested while driving to a rendezvous point with loaded firearms. The proffer stated that following his arrest, Casamayor provided post-Miranda statements acknowledging his involvement in coordinating the drug-related robbery conspiracy, including contacting one co-conspirator and securing her help to find another gunman and then meeting the other gunman to discuss the robberys execution. The proffer also stated that the parties agreed that the conspiracy would have obstructed, delayed, or affected interstate commerce.

Based on Casamayors factual proffer, the district court did not err in concluding as to Count 1 that Casamayor: (1) agreed to commit a robbery of a marijuana operation, which constitutes economic activity that affects federal commerce; (2) knew of the conspiracys goal; and (3) voluntarily participated in achieving that goal. See Taylor v. United States,  U.S. , 136 S.Ct. 2074, 2080-81, 195 L.Ed.2d 456 (2016); United States v. To, 144 F.3d 737, 748 (11th Cir. 1998). Likewise, as to Count 2, the district court did not err in concluding that the goal of the scheme was to possess with intent to distribute the marijuana Casamayor and his co-conspirators planned to take and that Casamayor was guilty of the drug crime of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. See United States v. Charles, 313 F.3d 1278, 1284 (11th Cir. 2002). As to the  924 firearm convictions in Counts 5 and 6, Casamayor admitted that he and his co-conspirators needed to carry guns to execute the marijuana-growhouse robbery and that a loaded firearm was found in his vehicle when he was arrested.

In addition, the district court did not err in accepting Casamayors guilty plea. The record demonstrates that at his plea colloquy, Casamayor testified that: (1) no one had coerced, threatened, or promised him anything in exchange for pleading guilty; (2) Casamayor received a copy of the indictment, discussed it fully with counsel, and counsel explained what the government would need to prove in order to convict him of the charges against him; and (3) counsel explained the consequences of being convicted and Casamayor understood them fully. The record also confirms that the district court explained the consequences of his plea. Accordingly, the district court complied with the three core concerns of Rule 11, and Casamayors guilty plea was knowing and voluntarily. See United States v. Jones, 143 F.3d 1417, 1418-19 (11th Cir. 1998).

In sum, Casamayor cannot show error, much less plain error, with regard to his guilty plea.

B. ACCA Sentence on Count 3

Under the ACCA, a defendant convicted of an 18 U.S.C.  922(g) firearm offense is subject to a mandatory minimum 180-month sentence if he has three prior convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense. 18 U.S.C.  924(e)(1). A prior conviction qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCAs elements clause if it has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another. Id.  924(e)(2)(B)(i).

On appeal, Casamayor argues that the district court erred in concluding that he had three prior convictions that qualified as violent felonies under the elements clause. Casamayor does not challenge the district courts determination as to two of his prior convictionsarmed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon and aggravated battery with great bodily harm. Casamayor contends, however, that none of his other predicates the district court identifiedhis conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2001 and his two separate convictions for strong-arm robbery in 2012qualify under the elements clause.

As Casamayor acknowledges, however, his arguments as to these Florida convictions are foreclosed by this Courts binding precedent. This Court has held that Florida aggravated assault with a deadly weapon under Florida Statutes  784.021 categorically qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCAs elements clause. See Turner v. Warden Coleman FCI (Medium), 709 F.3d 1328, 1338 (11th Cir. 2013), abrogated in part on other grounds by Johnson v. United States,  U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015). Moreover this Court has held that Turner remains binding precedent after the Supreme Courts decisions in Mathis v. United States,  U.S. , 136 S.Ct. 2243, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 (2016) and Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254, 133 S.Ct. 2276, 186 L.Ed.2d 438 (2013). See United States v. Golden, 854 F.3d 1256, 1257 (11th Cir. 2017).

Likewise, this Court has held that Florida strong-arm robbery under Florida Statutes  812.13 categorically qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCAs elements clause. United States v. Fritts, 841 F.3d 937, 940 (11th Cir. 2016), cert. denied,  U.S. , 137 S.Ct. 2264, 198 L.Ed.2d 704 (2017); United States v. Dowd, 451 F.3d 1244, 1255 (11th Cir. 2006); see also United States v. Lockley, 632 F.3d 1238, 1245 (11th Cir. 2011) (involving the identical elements clause of the career offender provision). Thus, under our binding precedent, either Casamayors 2001 conviction for aggravated assault or one of his two strong-arm robbery convictions in 2012 may serve as the third predicate violent felony.

Accordingly, the district court did not err in determining that Casamayor had three prior violent felony convictions and properly applied the ACCA enhancement to Casamayors sentence on Count 3.

C. Career Offender

In this second appeal, Casamayor raises a new and completely different challenge to his career offender status. Specifically, Casamayor argues that the career offender table in U.S.S.G.  4B1.1(c)(3), which was used to calculate Casamayors advisory guidelines range, runs afoul of the Supreme Courts decision in United States v. LaBonte, 520 U.S. 751, 117 S.Ct. 1673, 137 L.Ed.2d 1001 (1997), and exceeds the Sentencing Commissions authority under 28 U.S.C.  994(h). Casamayor argues that his preset advisory guidelines range of 262 to 327 months imprisonment was entirely disproportionate to his statutory maximum sentences of twenty years for Count 1 and five years for Count 2. See 21 U.S.C.  841(b)(1)(D), 18 U.S.C.  1951(a).

As with Casamayors challenge to his guilty plea, his arguments about  4B1.1(c)(3)s career offender table could have been, but were not, raised in his first appeal of his sentence. Indeed, in his first appeal, Casamayor raised other arguments as to his career offender status, but failed to make the arguments he raises now. Moreover, in his first appeal, this Court affirmed the district courts determination that Casamayor qualified as a career offender under  4B1.1(a). Accordingly, Casamayors new challenge to  4B1.1(c)(3) is barred by the law of the case doctrine.

In any event, Casamayor has not shown plain error. Casamayor does not cite any binding precedent holding that a career offender sentence is invalid where the advisory guidelines range calculated under  4B1.1(c)(3) exceeds the maximum terms for one or more of the counts of conviction. Notably, LaBonte, cited by Casamayor, does not stand for such a proposition. Rather, LaBonte merely noted that 28 U.S.C.  994(h) directed the Sentencing Commission to assure that the Sentencing Guidelines specify a sentence at or near the maximum authorized for defendants who (like Casamayor) had been convicted of a felony crime of violence or a controlled substance offense after having been convicted of two or more such felonies. 520 U.S. at 753, 117 S.Ct. at 1675.

In Casamayors case, the district courts application of the career offender table accomplished this goal, as Casamayors term of imprisonment for each count is either at or near the maximum term authorized by statute, including his 202-month term on Count 1 and his 60-month term on Count 2. Furthermore, the Sentencing Guidelines are clear that if an advisory guidelines range exceeds the statutory maximum penalty, the statutory maximum prevails. See U.S.S.G.  5G1.1(a), (c)(1), 5G1.2(e) & cmt. n.3(B).

Accordingly, the district court did not err, much less plainly err, in calculating Casamayors advisory guidelines using the career offender table in U.S.S.G.  4B1.1(c)(3).

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. On appeal, Casamayor does not challenge his conviction on Count 3 for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

. We recognize that Casamayor also makes a Johnson argument that his Count 1 conviction for Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy is not a crime of violence for purposes of his two  924 convictions in Counts 5 and 6. This, however, ignores that Casamayor also pled guilty to the drug trafficking crime in Count 2, which is expressly referenced as a predicate crime for his  924 offenses in Counts 5 and 6. At a minimum, Casamayor has shown no plain error. Thus, here we need not examine if conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery is a crime of violence for purposes of  924(c). In light of the foregoing, Casamayors request to stay proceedings pending the Supreme Courts decision in Sessions v. Dimaya, No. 15-1498, is DENIED.

. This Court reviews de novo whether a prior conviction qualifies as a violent felony within the meaning of the ACCA. United States v. Howard, 742 F.3d 1334, 1341 (11th Cir. 2014).

. We note that one of Casamayors strong-arm robbery offenses was committed on the same day as his aggravated battery with great bodily harm, January 8, 2011, and therefore may not satisfy the ACCAs requirement that the offenses be committed on occasions different from one another. See 18 U.S.C.  924(e)(1). Casamayor has never raised this issue, but even if he had, we would not need to address it because Casamayor has more than enough violent felonies to support his ACCA sentence.

. To the extent Casamayor challenges his career offender status based on his having two prior crimes of violence, this argument plainly lacks merit. The district courts determination on remand that Casamayor had at least four prior convictions that qualified as violent felonies under the ACCAs elements clause necessarily means that Casamayor also has at least four prior convictions that qualify as crimes of violence under the career offender provisions identical elements clause. See U.S.S.G.  4B1.1(a), 4B1.2(a)(1). Further, since Casamayors last appeal, the Supreme Court has held that the advisory Sentencing Guidelines, including U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(a)(1), are not subject to constitutional vagueness challenges like the one raised in Johnson. See Beckles v. United States,  U.S. , 137 S.Ct. 886, 890, 197 L.Ed.2d 145 (2017).

PER CURIAM:
Panoramic sunroofs have become the latest must-have for new car buyers and Hyundai is looking to answer any and all safety concerns about these glass roofs. Thus, the South Korean automaker has recently created a panoramic sunroof airbag, which it says is the first of its kind in the industry.



Hyundais solution involves an airbag being installed inside the sunroof mechanism of the tempered glass roof. If an on-board sensor detects the vehicle about to roll over during a crash, the airbag is deployed forward from the rear of the car and covers the entire roof surface in a mere 0.08 seconds.

The automaker claims that its sunroof airbag system prevents passengers from spilling out of the vehicle in a rollover, thus greatly reducing the risk of them sustaining serious injuries, although they didnt provide any info about when they intend to introduce it to its production vehicles.

PHOTO GALLERY
With the release of the Model 3, Tesla is finally expanding into a fully-fledged manufacturer that appeals to a significantly higher number of buyers. While the more affordable price tag of $35,000 before tax incentives surely is a major factor in drawing in customers, the automakers trying out new things, including launching a trip planner on its website, as Fortune reports.



Up until now, only Tesla owners could plan a trip out in one of their electric vehicles through the cars built-in navigation system. The company has added the new planner in an effort to provide drivers with a realistic view on what taking a trip with its all-electric vehicles would be like.

The website allows users to choose between the Model S, Model X, and Model 3, and its available on all of the Model S and Model Xs versions, namely the 75 kWh, 100 kWh, and 100 kWh ones. The Model 3 is only available with the long-range battery pack, which was confirmed to have a range of 310 miles (500 km). After choosing a vehicle, users can plan their trip by entering their location and intended destination.

The nifty thing about the trip planner is that it shows users where and how long theyll have to charge their electric vehicle for on the journey. Your truly, for instance, messed around with a trip from Detroit to Washington, D.C., which is a trip I made multiple times last year.

With a Model 3, I would have to make three stops to get to my destination: one in Macedonia, Ohio, another in North Huntingdon, Pa., and an additional stop in Breezewood, Pa. The stop in Macedonia would be the longest at 40 minutes, while the one in North Huntingdon would be a quick one at 25 minutes and the last one in Breezewood would be for 30 minutes. The trip, including the necessary stops, would take 10 hours and 17 minutes and span 548 miles.

The trip planner also provides an estimated gas savings amount. For the aforementioned trip, Tesla believes it would save me $23. That figures on the safe side, as I know my 2002 Toyota 4Runner would take about $75 in fuel on that exact trip.

Being able to see exactly where you have to stop and for how long is a nice touch for Tesla customers. Fortune, though, claims that the in-car navigation system is, for now at least, better than the website, as it provides more details.

PHOTOS
I was so dismayed at what I witnessed on my commute into work this week. As I was driving down Hwy 97 I watched a a bus picking up a young woman with a stroller literally on the highway because the sidewalks and bus stop were covered in snow.

It is hard enough to be reliant on public transportation but then to be not be able to safely access the bus stop because the city did such a poor job of clearing the snow is not acceptable. Step it up Kelowna and do a better job for your citizens.

Laura MacGregor


We need to fix what we as a country have broken stated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his year end conversation with Lisa Laflamme.



How I as a veteran agree with his statement. We need to fix the new Veterans Charter which the Liberals have broken, continued with the Conservatives for 10 years and to date have band aided with the latest release by the Minister of Veteran Affairs. The question we veterans have asked for years, to fix the veterans charter the way veterans want and need. The Pension Act which all other Canadians enjoy and by the PM's statement to fix what we as a country have broken needs action.



Need is not greed as some think by the attempt by this government to bamboozle Canadian citizens with your latest so called lifelong pension dealing with approx 12% of injured veterans. It is not a life long pension. The present award average is approx 42,000, how would you as PM and the Minister divide this amount into a life long pension?

Dale Dirk
You could have the missing piece of the puzzle that will help the RCMP put someone behind bars. Here are some recent crimes that Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers hope you can help solve by calling our anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net or text to CRIMES (274637), keyword Ktown.

CRIME: THEFT OF BOAT

DATE: December 14, 2017

RCMP FILE: 2017-74603

On December 14th the theft of a boat was reported to West Kelowna RCMP. The red and white 1999 Malibu 20 LX competition ski boat with HIN MB2F5546L999 was stolen from Green Bay Road sometime between December 7th and 14th. The boat was on a red 1998 SMP trailer with VIN 2BGB06091W1E87008 and BC licence plate number URH72X.

Photo: Crime Stoppers

If you know anything about this crime, or any other crime, call the Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS or visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net. Your information will be kept confidential and could lead to a reward of up to $2000.00.

CRIME: BREAK AND ENTER TO STORAGE CONTAINER

DATE: December 21, 2017

RCMP FILE: 2017-76081

West Kelowna RCMP received information that a storage container situated on the 2200 block of Bartley Road that was being used as a temporary office had been broken into during the early hours of December 21st. Thieves made off with all of the work vehicle keys along with a Christmas card containing cash. The companys vehicles were re-located to prevent the thieves from returning to steal them. If you have any information regarding this theft, please contact Crime Stoppers or West Kelowna RCMP.

You can help catch these suspects and qualify for a reward by calling Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net or text to CRIMES (274637), keyword Ktown.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Dave Ogilvie

A semi lost at least one of its wheels in highway traffic in West Kelowna, Friday.

Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement officers were combing over a DCT chip truck at the fuel stop on Ross Road as of about 1:30 p.m.

Castanet newshawk Dave Ogilvie said two rims and tires appeared to be missing from the rig, and one was standing up in the snow on the side of Highway 97.

The southbound chip hauler lost the rim and tire just before Daimler Road, went over the median and struck a

three-ton cube truck going north on the highway.

No one was injured in the incident, which backed up traffic and closed one lane in each direction.

It's not known what led to the wheel coming off the truck.
Photo: Contributed

While a flurry of new condo construction is poised to "transform" downtown Kelowna, the average home price in some city neighbourhoods has, for the first time ever, topped $1 million.

Vantage West Realty released the winter edition of The Vantage Report today, providing a hyper-local analysis of Kelownas real estate market.

The report presents an overview of real estate trends in 15 Kelowna neighbourhoods, and the latest edition highlights some of the major real estate trends in the city.

Some of the reports more eye-popping statistics deal with the citys average home prices, which have vaulted significantly higher in several neighbourhood.

For more on which neighbourhoods have surpassed the million-dollar-average-home-price milestone, as well as how Vantage's A.J. Hazzi says downtown Kelowna is about to change "forever," check out the full story on Castanet's sister business news website, Okanagan Edge.
Photo: Facebook

A Kelowna game developers flagship title has received some high praise, after social media giant Facebook named it one of its games of the year.

Hyper Hippos gaming hit AdVenture Capitalist beat out three other games to win the title of Facebooks Instant Game of the Year in 2017.

Facebooks game of the year awards recognize the best titles released on the platform over the past year, as judged by a panel of industry experts.

On the companys development blog, Calvin Grunewald praised AdVenture Capitalist for its simple yet addictive gameplay that allows you to grow your business even when youre idle.

For more on the awards, as well as why Hyper Hippo's CEO thinks Facebook will be one of the most significant gaming platforms in 2018, check out the full story on Castanet's sister business news website, Okanagan Edge.
Photo: Vernon RCMP

"Police are concerned about her health and well being."

Linda Ruth Cunnington was last seen at 10 a.m. on Jan. 2.

The 70 year old is missing and the RCMP are asking for the public's help in finding her.

Caucasian Female

Age: 70

Height: 5 Ft 6 In

Weight: 181 Lbs

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Brown

Glasses

A clothing description was not made available.

Cunnington may have travelled to Vancouver via a Greyhound bus from Vernon on January 2nd.

If you have any information about Linda Ruth Cunnington or where she might be, please contact the Vernon RCMP at (250)545-7171 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1(800) 222-8477.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. J. Graham ZAHORUIKO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee, Chubb National Insurance Company, DBA Federal Insurance Company, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, collectively and individually, Defendants. No. 17-965-cv Decided: January 05, 2018

PRESENT: REENA RAGGI, DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, RAYMOND J. LOHIER, JR., Circuit Judges. FOR APPELLANT: J. Graham Zahoruiko, pro se, Tolland, Connecticut. FOR APPELLEE: Jeffrey L. Williams, Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A., Hartford, Connecticut. Meredith W. Caiafa, Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A., Atlanta, Georgia.

SUMMARY ORDER

Plaintiff J. Graham Zahoruiko, proceeding pro se, appeals from an award of summary judgment to Federal Insurance Company (Federal) on Zahoruiko's breach of contract and related claims based on Federal's denial of coverage under a director and officer liability insurance policy. Specifically, Zahoruiko challenges the district court's determination that he was not entitled to coverage under Connecticut law because he did not timely notify Federal of the claims for which he sought insurance coverage. We review the challenged award de novo and will affirm only if the record, viewed in the light most favorable to Zahoruiko, shows no genuine dispute of material fact and Federal's entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. See Jackson v. Fed. Express, 766 F.3d 189, 19394 (2d Cir. 2014). In doing so, we assume the parties familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal, which we reference only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm substantially for the reasons stated by the district court. See Zahoruiko v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. 3:15-cv-474 (VLB), 2017 WL 776645 (D. Conn. Feb. 28, 2017).

Under Connecticut law, an insurer can be discharged from its coverage obligations pursuant to the notice provision of an insurance policy only by showing: (1) an unexcused, unreasonable delay in notification by the insured; and (2) resulting material prejudice to the insurer. Arrowood Indem. Co. v. King, 605 F.3d 62, 77 (2d Cir. 2010). Insofar as Zahoruiko argues on appeal that Federal failed to show prejudice, he forfeited the argument by failing to raise it in the district court. See Harrison v. Republic of Sudan, 838 F.3d 86, 96 (2d Cir. 2016) (It is a well-established general rule that an appellate court will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal. (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted)). In any event, upon an independent review of the record and relevant case law, we conclude, as the district court did, that Federal is entitled to summary judgment.

An insured's duty to give notice does not arise unless and until facts develop which would suggest to a person of ordinary and reasonable prudence that liability may have been incurred, and is complied with if notice is given within a reasonable time after the situation so assumes an aspect suggestive of a possible claim for damages. Arrowood Indem. Co. v. King, 605 F.3d at 77 (internal quotation marks omitted). The purpose of the requirement for prompt notice is to give the insurer a full opportunity to investigate the claim. Id. at 78. As to the prejudice prong, the insurer bears the burden of proving, by a preponderance of evidence, that it has been prejudiced by the insured's failure to comply with a notice provision. Arrowood Indem. Co. v. King, 304 Conn. 179, 39 A.3d 712, 72526 (2012).

Zahoruiko's delay in notifying Federal of his need for coverage was both unexcused and unreasonable. When the action at issue was commenced against Zahoruiko in 2010, a reasonably prudent person would have understood that liability might be incurred. Moreover, when default was entered against Zahoruiko, he certainly should have known that he could be found liable. Nevertheless, Zahoruiko failed to notify Federal until one and a half years after the lawsuit was commenced and 15 months after the default. Insofar as Zahoruiko argues that his untimely notice should be excused because the entity that sued him engaged in unscrupulous tactics, he fails to explain how that conduct prevented him from timely providing notice of the action to Federal.

Zahoruiko's arguments that the district court improperly assumed prejudice and that Federal failed to carry its preponderance burden are equally meritless. Federal provided a declaration from a senior claim officer stating that Zahoruiko's failure to give notice until after default was entered denied it the opportunity to interview witnesses or participate in the defense or any proposed settlement of the claim. Zahoruiko argues that the declaration is speculative, and that Federal would not have defended his claim because it denied coverage based on a different clause of the policy. The argument does not persuade. Connecticut recognizes that the denial of the opportunity to investigate, as well as entry of default, are prejudicial to an insurer. Ellis v. Cty. Agency, Inc., No. CV146017155S, 2017 WL 3011674, at *3 (Conn. Super. Ct. May 25, 2017) (Entry of a default judgment against an insured is evidence of prejudice as well as the lack of opportunity for the insurer to investigate a claim and to pursue a compromise or settlement. (internal citation omitted)); Jazlowiecki v. Nationwide Ins. Co. of Am., No. HHDCV126036618S, 2014 WL 4746527, at *6 (Conn. Super. Ct. Aug. 8, 2014) (same). Zahoruiko's prejudice challenge is further belied by his own waiver in the underlying action of defenses that Federal could otherwise have asserted. Federal having carried its burden, and Zahoruiko having failed to adduce evidence sufficient to support a jury verdict in his favor, see Burt Rigid Box, Inc. v. Travelers Prop. Cas. Corp., 302 F.3d 83, 91 (2d Cir. 2002), or even to challenge Federal's showing of prejudice in the district court, summary judgment was correctly entered in Federal's favor.

We have considered Zahoruiko's remaining arguments and conclude that they are without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The weather bomb that went off in the Maritimes late Thursday and kept detonating early Friday left plenty of ugly fragments in Wade Woodbury's backyard.

As he emerged from his home along the eastern edge of Halifax Harbour, cane in hand, Woodbury surveyed the damage, then marvelled at powerful waves crashing over a massive rock wall only 12 metres from his back door, howling winds hurling salt spray in his eyes.

"She was loud, very loud  like thunder," said Woodbury, wearing a grey parka and a blue tuque as the temperature hovered around the freezing mark.

A storm surge late Thursday breached the wall, shoving a collection of lawn furniture, garbage cans, firewood and the entire fire pit into a tangled heap.

Woodbury, a resident of Eastern Passage for more than 20 years, said the winter storm kept him up most of the night as the electricity flickered on and off.

"I got up and wandered around  not outdoors, mind you."

Work crews fanned out across the region Friday to deal with the mess left behind by hurricane-force winds, flooded coastal roads and downed power lines that left more than 280,000 utility customers in the dark  most of them in Nova Scotia, the province that endured the strongest winds.

The brawniest gusts were recorded in Cape Breton, where a 170-kilometre-per-hour blast streaked through the rural area of Grand Etang, known for producing powerful winds.

In the Halifax area, which weathered its share of power outages, siding was ripped off some homes, limbs were torn from trees and the roof was ripped from at least one home in Dartmouth.

Dominic Fewer of Nova Scotia's Emergency Management Office said some roads were washed out and others littered with rocks and debris caused by storm surge and heavy rains.

Among the roads still closed Friday was the winding, narrow oceanside lane into a little enclave of five homes in Purcell's Cove, across from Point Pleasant Park in Halifax harbour.

"That's the only road. We're sitting here till we get dug out," said Andrew Murphy, an accountant who was unable to get downtown. "There's no way through that."

Usually, he and his neighbours just clean the mess up themselves, but this storm "flipped pieces of pavement the size of little cars," he said.

The number of Nova Scotia Power customers still in the dark had dropped to 31,000 by Friday evening, with power for most homes and businesses expected to be restored later in the night or Saturday in more remote areas.
Photo: The Canadian Press Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna

The federal government has laid out a tough set of proposed new regulations to prohibit the use, sale, import and export of asbestos and products that contain it, as well as the manufacture of products containing the cancer-causing mineral.

The rules fulfil a Liberal promise made more than a year ago and complement proposals the government issued last spring.

Asbestos is a carcinogen that has been condemned by the World Health Organization and is banned in about 50 countries around the world.

The government says that with some minor exceptions, the proposed regulations and related amendments  published in the latest edition of the Canada Gazette  would ensure there is no market for asbestos and related products in Canada, and that it isn't being brought into the country.

The government is asking the public and industry for feedback during a comment period, which ends March 22.

Asbestos was mined in Canada until 2011 and was used mainly for insulating buildings and homes, as well as for fireproofing.

Many uses have been phased out, but asbestos may still be found in a variety of products, including cement pipes, industrial furnaces and heating systems, building insulation, automotive brake pads and clutches.

The use or sale of any asbestos-containing products that exist in inventories but that have not yet been installed would be prohibited under the new regulations. Any stockpiled asbestos-related materials would need to be disposed of or destroyed.

The government said it initially considered a complete prohibition on asbestos. However, after decades of use, many buildings and homes still contain asbestos, the health risks of which are low if the products, such as insulation, remain undisturbed.

Removing all asbestos would be "extremely costly" and might actually lead to greater health risks, the government said. For those reasons, the total prohibition option was rejected.
Photo: The Canadian Press

No one will ever know what caused the fatal crash of a private single-engine vintage plane in front of horrified spectators at an air show in Alberta.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says weather was not a factor and a review of the wreckage determined that the engine and flight controls were operating normally on the T-28B Trojan aircraft.

Pilot Bruce Evans of Calgary was performing acrobatic manoeuvres at the Cold Lake Air Show in July 2016 when something went wrong.

The plane hit the ground at high velocity in a near-vertical position.

No air show personnel or spectators were injured.

TSB investigator Fred Burow says the cause of the crash couldn't be determined.

"Being an older aircraft, it doesn't have any monitoring systems on board ... and with the pilot having tragically died, we have no way of knowing what occurred in the cockpit, so we have to go with the evidence that we could find," Burow said Friday.

A TSB report said Evans appeared to have modified the order of his manoeuvres about halfway through his performance, but added that is not unusual for an aerobatic performer.

"The pilot flew from show right to left at about 500 feet above ground level, within the defined airspace for the routine, then entered a roll just before show centre," said the report.

"As the aircraft reached the inverted position, the roll stopped and the nose began to pitch toward the ground ... the aircraft continued toward the ground in an arc until its collision with terrain."

The report said Evans, who was 59, had performed the routine without incident the previous day.

Evans had years of experience. The TSB said he earned a private pilot's licence in 1993, a commercial licence in 1995 and an airline transport licence in 2015. He also had a valid medical certificate.

He had accumulated just over 4,043 flying hours. About 460 of those were on the T-28B Trojan.
Photo: Contributed

A charity auction has raised $4,000 for the Kelowna Women's Shelter.

The second annual Premier Jewellery and Loans fundraiser auctioned off a pair of diamond earrings appraised at $7,800.

Readers bid on the earrings in December in the Castanet contest.

All proceeds will go to helping women and children escape domestic violence.

The ongoing support Premier Jewellery and Loans provides through this innovative fundraiser really makes a difference in the lives of women in our community who have experienced intimate partner violence, and were so grateful to participate, said Women's Shelter executive director Karen Mason.

It is only through the generous financial support of the community we are able to run valuable programs like Outreach, so we were delighted to partner with Premier Jewellery and Loans, added resource development co-ordinator Kathleen Lemieux. Clients do not have to stay at the shelter to access this program, and the service is free to women in the community.

Premier owner Martin Strasser said: "we're excited to support the Kelowna Women's Shelter. We share their dream that everyone deserves a safe place to call home. As a Kelowna business, it's important to us that this donation is used to help local residents, and we couldn't ask for a better charity to work with."
Photo: Google Street View

A man waving a handgun was taken into custody in Kamloops, Friday.

About 1:45 p.m., RCMP responded to a 911 call from the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society on Palm Street.

The man was reported to being waving a handgun around, threatening people inside the premises, said Staff Sgt. Edward Preto.

He was located a block away and taken into custody without incident.

A dog team was brought in to search for the handgun, which turned out to be a pellet pistol replica of a 9 mm semi-automatic.

Preto said it would be difficult even for people familiar with firearms to tell the difference at a glance.

The suspect faces several charges and is being held for a bail hearing on Saturday.
Photo: Kalimiller

Kamloops Fire responded to a fully engulfed structure fire of an abandoned restaurant at the North West corner of Hugh Allen and Pacific Way in Kamloops Friday evening.



RCMP are asking the public to avoid the area as traffic is very congested.

Castanet will update as more information becomes available.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Canada's public safety minister says a downtown armoury in Toronto is being opened as a temporary homeless shelter for two weeks.

The decision by Ralph Goodale comes as the city experiences an unusually frigid spell and a spike in demand on its homeless shelter system.

The federal government accepted a request from the city and Ontario to make the Moss Park Armoury available, Goodale said in a tweet on Friday.

Earlier this week, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city was revisiting a shelved proposal to open the facility to the homeless.

Goodale said the armoury will be open 24-7 for the duration.

"We're all working together to keep people safe from the cold," Goodale tweeted.

Temperatures in Toronto have dropped to around -20 C for several nights, prompting thousands of residents to sign a petition in favour of opening the armoury.

The facility, just on the eastern edge of the downtown core, is close to a supervised injection site and near other shelters where scores of people seek refuge every day.

Tory said in a release Friday evening that city staff were working to begin providing shelter services at the armoury.

City officials said it would be operational on Monday.

Toronto's shelters were close to full last weekend with 5,460 people staying in the shelter system on Jan. 1. Another 445 people used winter-respite centres  temporary shelters opened up only during cold months.
Photo: Contributed

Police say two men are in police custody after an alleged carjacking in Calgary.

Investigators with the Calgary Police say that at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, two men approached the driver of a pickup truck that was stopped at an intersection and produced a handgun.

They say the men demanded the driver get out, and the suspects got into the vehicle.

Police say the suspects fled in the truck, driving erratically throughout the northwest of the city, at times veering into oncoming traffic.

When officers tried to stop the vehicle, the pickup truck rammed into the police cars before continuing on.

Police say the vehicle was stopped a few hundred metres away, and the men were taken into custody.

Investigators say charges are pending against the men, who have not been publicly identified.
Photo: The Courts of Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

A Nova Scotia judge is urging a man to let go of a nose biting incident during a drunken brawl at a wake, after blocking the man's efforts to appeal his aggravated assault conviction.

Randall MacLean was sentenced to six months in jail followed by a year of probation last February after being found guilty of aggravated assault for his conduct during an alcohol-fuelled brawl at a wake in Pictou, N.S., in 2014.

In a decision released on Friday, Justice Anne Derrick of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal denied MacLean's motion for an extension of time to appeal the October 2016 conviction.

Derrick wrote that MacLean, who was released from jail in June, changed his mind several times about how he planned to pursue the appeal, arguing he had trouble focusing due to "injuries" sustained in the incident that led to his conviction.

She wrote that MacLean felt the provincial court judge did not fully consider his account of what he characterized as "accident," in which he latched onto the victim's nose to protect himself while he was forcibly ejected from the wake.

Derrick found that MacLean's proposed grounds of appeal "lack all merit," and while it seems he feels his conviction defines him, she assured him it does not, saying he "needs to now move on with his life and put all of this behind him."
Photo: BC Wildlife Park

Staff at a bird rehabilitation centre in Kamloops typically don't know where their rescued animals originally came from, but a recently discovered golden eagle was able to reveal just that.

The young golden eagle was found weak and starving just before the new year on the shore of the Thompson River.

Residents who spotted the bird called the Conservation Officer Service, which brought it to Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre  the only facility of its kind within a 400 kilometre radius.

Animal care supervisor Adrienne Clay says officers noticed right away that the eagle was both banded and carrying a GPS tracker.

Clay says staff were quickly able to determine the eagle was being monitored by researchers in Alaska, and it appears the bird  that's less than a year old  wasn't able to keep up with the rest of its flock while heading south for winter migration.

The eagle is expected to make a full recovery and Clay says it will be released back into the wild this spring.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Tyrone HICKS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Detective Michael MARCHMAN, City of New York, Defendants-Appellees, Detective Catalano, Detective Lynch, John and Jane Does, Defendants.* No. 17-615-cv Decided: January 05, 2018

PRESENT: GERARD E. LYNCH, RAYMOND J. LOHIER, JR., Circuit Judges, CHRISTINA REISS, Chief District Judge.** FOR APPELLANT: Adele Bernhard, Brooklyn, NY. FOR APPELLEES: Ingrid R. Gustafson (Fay S. Ng, on the brief), for Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY.

SUMMARY ORDER

Tyrone Hicks appeals from a judgment of the District Court (Crotty, J.) dismissing his complaint for failure to state a claim. On appeal, Hicks challenges the dismissal of his fair trial and malicious prosecution claims. We assume the parties familiarity with the facts and record of the prior proceedings, to which we refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

We first address Hicks's fair trial claim based on the defendant officers alleged fabrication of information. To state such a fair trial claim, a plaintiff must plausibly allege that investigating officers fabricated information that was likely to influence a jury's verdict, forwarded that information to prosecutors, and that the plaintiff suffered a deprivation of life, liberty, or property as a result. Garnett v. Undercover Officer C0039, 838 F.3d 265, 279 (2d Cir. 2016). And in assessing the claim, we accept all of the well-pleaded factual allegations in Hicks's complaint as true and draw all inferences in his favor. Lopez v. Jet Blue Airways, 662 F.3d 593, 596 (2d Cir. 2011).

Hicks's complaint alleges, among other things, that the officers used impermissibly suggestive identification procedures to encourage the victim, T.T., to identify Hicks as her assailant from a photographic array and then failed to disclose the use of those suggestive procedures to the District Attorney's Office. Had that been the only allegation, we would have affirmed the District Court's dismissal of the fabrication claim because the state criminal court assumed the procedures were suggestive, excluded the resulting identification, and determined that there was an independent basis for T.T.s later identifications of Hicks as her attacker. But the complaint alleges not merely that the photographic array was in some general way suggestive, but also alleges that (1) a detective deliberately gave T.T. prejudicial information about Hicks during the photo array procedure and hid this misconduct from the court and prosecutors; (2) the officers lied to the prosecutors that Hicks had bragged about being the Bronx Rapist and that Hicks's mother told them that Hicks was the person depicted in the sketch T.T. had created; (3) Hicks's parole officer ultimately refused to credit T.T.s identification of Hicks after interviewing T.T.; (4) the officers failed to preserve the photographic array from which T.T. identified Hicks; and (5) two other victims were unable to identify Hicks. In view of Hicks's ultimate exoneration, these allegations together raise a plausible inference that the officers fabricated information that was likely to influence a jury's verdict and that they forwarded that information to the prosecutors. Hicks has also adequately alleged that he was arrested as a result of the fabricated information and that the information influenced the prosecutors decision to pursue charges rather than to dismiss the complaint without further action[.] Garnett, 838 F.3d at 277. We therefore conclude that the complaint states a plausible fair trial claim based on the fabrication of information, and vacate the dismissal of that claim.

Hicks also challenges the dismissal of his claims that the officers violated his fair trial rights under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by withholding from prosecutors and defense counsel three pieces of material exculpatory evidence. None of these claims is persuasive. First, the trial transcript shows that Hicks's counsel had sufficient information about other victims failure to identify Hicks as the perpetrator of similar attacks to use that information in his defense at trial. See United States v. LeRoy, 687 F.2d 610, 618 (2d Cir. 1982). Second, the results of the analysis of a latent fingerprint recovered from T.T.s front door did not constitute Brady material, because there is no reason to assume that a fingerprint on an apartment door, which is accessible to many people, was left by the perpetrator of the crime or the person who left the threatening notes. See United States v. Sessa, 711 F.3d 316, 32122 (2d Cir. 2013). Finally, Hicks does not allege facts sufficient to support a conclusion that the existence of the second note should be considered exculpatory. We therefore affirm the District Court's dismissal of Hicks's claims based on Brady.

As a final fair trial challenge, Hicks urges that his complaint adequately alleges that the officers violated his fair trial right to have the police conduct an adequate investigation. Hicks cites no authority for the proposition that there is a stand-alone fair trial claim based on officers failure to conduct an adequate investigation. Accordingly, the District Court properly dismissed this version of Hicks's fair trial claim.

Finally, Hicks argues that the District Court erred in dismissing his malicious prosecution claims under 42 U.S.C.  1983 and New York law. We agree. [T]he merits of a claim for malicious prosecution under [Section] 1983 are governed by state law. Dufort v. City of New York, 874 F.3d 338, 350 (2d Cir. 2017). To state a malicious prosecution claim under New York law, a plaintiff must allege [1] the commencement or continuation of a criminal proceeding against [him]; [2] the termination of the proceeding in [his] favor; [3] that there was no probable cause for the proceeding; and [4] that the proceeding was instituted with malice. Mitchell v. City of New York, 841 F.3d 72, 79 (2d Cir. 2016) (quotation marks omitted). When raising a malicious prosecution claim under Section 1983, a plaintiff must also show a seizure or other perversion of proper legal procedures implicating the claimant's personal liberty and privacy interests under the Fourth Amendment. Id. (quotation marks omitted). It is true that Hicks's indictment by a grand jury creates a presumption of probable cause. But under New York law the presumption can be rebutted by showing that the police witnesses have not made a complete and full statement of facts either to the Grand Jury or the District Attorney, that they have misrepresented or falsified evidence, that they have withheld evidence or otherwise acted in bad faith[.] Colon v. City of New York, 60 N.Y.2d 78, 8283, 468 N.Y.S.2d 453, 455 N.E.2d 1248 (1983). Here, Hicks rebutted the presumption at the motion to dismiss stage by alleging that the officers provided fabricated evidence to the prosecutors, as described above. The allegations in the complaint also satisfy the other elements of a malicious prosecution claim under both New York law and Section 1983: the officers commenced the criminal proceeding, see Dufort, 874 F.3d at 353, malice may be inferred from the actual lack of probable cause, see Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth., 124 F.3d 123, 131 (2d Cir. 1997), Hicks was detained, and Hicks's criminal proceeding ultimately terminated in his favor with his exoneration. We therefore vacate the District Court's dismissal of Hicks's malicious prosecution claims.

We have considered Hicks's remaining arguments and conclude that they are without merit. For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED in part and VACATED in part, and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings.

FOOTNOTES

. In addition to the complaint, we have also considered records from Hicks's criminal case that he relied on in his complaint. See Nicosia v. Amazon.com, Inc., 834 F.3d 220, 230 (2d Cir. 2016).
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. Maurice ACHOLA, also known as Maurice Agar Achola, Petitioner v. Jefferson B. SESSIONS, III, U. S. Attorney General, Respondent No. 16-60548 Decided: January 04, 2018

Before KING, ELROD, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges. Christopher Pambu Ogolla, Esq., Savannah, GA, for Petitioner Anna Emily Juarez, Office of Immigration Litigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent

Maurice Achola, a native of Kenya and citizen of Kenya and Jamaica, petitions for review of the denial by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Achola, who proceeded pro se throughout his proceedings before the immigration judge, first argues through counsel that his due process rights were violated when the immigration judge informed him of his right to counsel during a group hearing and failed to state that the legal services list with which he was provided contained information about free assistance. Achola also argues that the actions of the immigration judge constituted a per se due process violation, which did not require a showing of prejudice on his part.

Purely legal issues, including whether an immigration proceeding comports with due process, are reviewed de novo. Ojeda-Calderon v. Holder, 726 F.3d 669, 672 (5th Cir. 2013). Aliens in removal proceedings are entitled to due process. See Manzano-Garcia v. Gonzales, 413 F.3d 462, 470 (5th Cir. 2005). While an alien has no Sixth Amendment right to counsel in an immigration proceeding, it is possible for the absence of an attorney [to] create a due process violation if the defect impinged upon the fundamental fairness of the hearing in violation of the fifth amendment, and there was substantial prejudice. Ogbemudia v. INS, 988 F.2d 595, 598 (5th Cir. 1993) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

Congress provided that an alien has a right to obtain counsel at his own expense. Id.; see 8 U.S.C.  1362. The corresponding regulations provide that an immigration judge must advise an alien of his or her right to representation, at no expense to the government, and to advise the alien of the availability of pro bono legal services for the immigration court location at which the hearing will take place, and ascertain that the [alien] has received a list of such pro bono legal service providers. 8 C.F.R.  1240.10(a)(1), (2).

Achola provides no authority for his assertion that due process is per se violated when an immigration judge addresses a group of aliens at a master calendar hearing nor does he allege that, in this instance, the immigration judge was rushed and did not have sufficient time to explain to the aliens their rights. Our reading of the record establishes that the immigration judge complied with  1240.10(a)(1) and (2), although the aliens were not expressly advised of the availability of pro bono legal services. See  1240.10(a)(2). Achola points to his omission as proof that the immigration judge gave him no indication that free legal services were available. While the immigration judge did not explicitly use the word free in describing the list of legal providers, the record reflects that Achola had written notice multiple times that the list contained free legal service providers, including every notice of hearing which informed him that [a] list of free legal service providers ha[d] been given to [him].

Additionally, this circuit requires a showing of substantial prejudice to prevail on a due process claim. See Ogbemudia, 988 F.2d at 598; Chike v. INS, 948 F.2d 961, 962 (5th Cir. 1991). Achola has failed to demonstrate what documentation he could have provided had he been represented by counsel at his removal hearing and how this documentation would have aided his requests for relief. In light of the preceding, he has not shown that he was denied a full and fair hearing nor has he shown that the alleged violation resulted in substantial prejudice. See Ogbemudia, 988 F.2d at 598.

In his next assignment of error, Achola argues that the immigration judges adverse credibility determination with regard to his requests for withholding of removal to Kenya and Jamaica was erroneous and was based on the immigration judges failure to liberally construe his application. We generally review only the BIAs decision except to the extent that the immigration judges ruling influences the BIA. Wang v. Holder, 569 F.3d 531, 536 (5th Cir. 2009). Here, the BIA approved of, and relied upon, the immigration judges findings; thus, we may review the decisions of the immigration judge and the BIA. See id.

Whether an alien has demonstrated eligibility for withholding of removal is a factual determination reviewed for substantial evidence. Chen v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 1131, 1134 (5th Cir. 2006). Under that standard, we may not reverse an immigration courts factual findings unless the evidence was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could conclude against it. Wang, 569 F.3d at 537; see 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B). It is the petitioners burden to demonstrate that the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. Zhao v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 295, 306 (5th Cir. 2005).

The BIA determined that the immigration judge did not clearly err in concluding that Achola did not demonstrate the requisite nexus between the harm he allegedly feared in Jamaica and either his political opinion or membership in a particular group so as to qualify for withholding of removal to Jamaica. Achola has briefed neither the merits of the BIAs denial of his request for withholding of removal to Jamaica nor the determinations that his asylum application was time barred and that he was ineligible for relief under the CAT. As such, he has waived review of those issues. See Chambers v. Mukasey, 520 F.3d 445, 448 n.1 (5th Cir. 2008).

Consequently, even if it is assumed arguendo that Achola was entitled to withholding of removal to Kenya, the regulations make clear that such a determination does not prevent the Department of Homeland Security from removing him to a country other than the one to which removal has been withheld, i.e., Jamaica. 8 C.F.R.  1208.16(f); Matter of I-S & C-S, 24 I. & N. Dec. 434 (BIA 2008). Unlike forms of relief from removal, such as asylum, withholding of removal (as well as CAT protection) prevents an alien from being returned to the place of danger; it does not prevent removal if some other country will accept the alien. Ramirez-Mejia v. Lynch, 794 F.3d 485, 492 (5th Cir. 2015).

PETITION DENIED.

FOOTNOTES

.

PER CURIAM: * FN* Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.
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United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Curt GILGENBACH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. State of ILLINOIS, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 17-2011 Decided: January 05, 2018

Before DIANE P. WOOD, Chief Judge, JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge, DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge Curt Gilgenbach, Pro Se Andrew Y. Acker, Attorney, Storino Ramello & Durkin, Rosemont, IL, for Defendant-Appellee

ORDER

Curt Gilgenbach has sued federal, state, and local taxing authorities asserting that because he has a land patent, he and his property are immune from taxation. The district court correctly ruled that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over this frivolous suit, so we affirm.

Gilgenbach sued the United States, the State of Illinois, DuPage County, Bloomingdale Township, and the Village of Glendale Heights. He asserts that in 1845 the United States granted to his predecessor-in-interest the title to land that he now owns and therefore the defendants may not constitutionally tax it. When the defendants, some of whom were not served with process, did not respond to this complaint, he moved for default judgments. The judge dismissed the suit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and denied Gilgenbachs motion as moot, ending the case.

In this court Gilgenbach argues that the district court was required to enter default judgments under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a). He also rehashes his earlier arguments about the unlawful taxation of his property.

Frivolous suits do not engage federal jurisdiction. Crowley Cutlery Co. v. United States, 849 F.2d 273, 277 (7th Cir. 1988); see Beauchamp v. Sullivan, 21 F.3d 789, 790 (7th Cir. 1994). And this suit is frivolous. We have sanctioned litigants for frivolously basing federal-question jurisdiction on the theory, which Gilgenbach uses, that a land patent from the United States is a federal law that bars others from later acquiring interests in the land. Hilgeford v. Peoples Bank, 776 F.2d 176, 179 (7th Cir. 1985). A land patent from the United States does not bar future interests, including taxable interests, in the land; it just conveys fee simple ownership to the original titleholder. Wisconsin v. Glick, 782 F.2d 670, 67174 (7th Cir. 1986) (relying on Hilgeford to sanction litigants for basing federal jurisdiction on a land patent and expecting that the sanction will ensure that others think twice before doing likewise); see also Van Zelst v. Commr, 100 F.3d 1259, 1261 (7th Cir. 1996) (explaining that a land patent is fee simple ownership). The district judge thus properly ruled that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction and could not enter default judgments.

Gilgenbach also argues that the defendants violated local and state laws in categorizing his land for zoning and taxation purposes, but he has not developed his argument so we need not address it. See Johnson v. Gen. Bd. of Pension & Health Benefits of United Methodist Church, 733 F.3d 722, 731 (7th Cir. 2013); Puffer v. Allstate Ins. Co., 675 F.3d 709, 718 (7th Cir. 2012). In any case, the judge properly declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state-law claims after she dismissed the federal claim as frivolous. See 28 U.S.C.  1367(c); Groce v. Eli Lilly & Co., 193 F.3d 496, 50001 (7th Cir. 1999).

This is not the first time Gilgenbach has pursued frivolous litigation. He filed a similar land patent case in 2016 in the United States Court of Federal Claims. We now sanction Gilgenbach with a fine of $1,000. If the fine is not paid in two weeks, we will enter an order under Support Systems International, Inc. v. Mack, 45 F.3d 185, 186 (7th Cir. 1995), barring him from filing papers in any federal court within this circuit except for defense of criminal cases or applications for writs of habeas corpus.

We have considered Gilgenbachs other arguments, and none has merit. The judgment of the district court is

AFFIRMED.
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United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Calvin WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. No. 15-3501 Decided: January 05, 2018

Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge, FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge, DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge Segev Phillips, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Peoria, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee Paul Camarena, Attorney, North & Sedgwick Law, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant

ORDER

Calvin Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, 21 U.S.C.  841(a)(1), and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in accordance with his binding plea agreement, see Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C). Williams contends that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary because he was misadvised during the plea colloquy about his sentencing exposure. Williams did not preserve this argument, so the plain-error standard applies here and is decisive. Because the record does not establish that Williams was misled or confused about his sentencing exposure, the plain-error standard is not met. We therefore affirm.

I. Background

In 2013 Williams was indicted for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in violation of  841(a). His minimum and maximum prison exposure depended on the drug quantity that could be attributed to him. He faced 10 years to life if the government proved that he distributed more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. 21 U.S.C.  846, 841(b)(1)(A)(viii). But if the government instead proved a quantity of between 50 and 500 grams of methamphetamine, Williams faced a prison term of 5 to 40 years.  846, 841(b)(1)(B)(viii). The indictment alleged that the conspiracy involved the larger amount: more than five hundred (500) grams of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. If convicted as charged, he faced a potential life term.

The applicable penalties increased when the government later filed a sentencing-enhancement information under 21 U.S.C.  851 based on two prior Illinois convictions for felony drug offenses. The  851 enhancement increased Williamss possible prison term under both subsections (b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(B) of  841. He faced a mandatory life term upon proof of the 500-gram quantity charged in the indictment.  846, 841(b)(1)(A)(viii). His exposure dropped to 10 years to life if the government proved a quantity between 50 and 500 grams.  846, 841(b)(1)(B)(viii).

The parties eventually negotiated a lock-in plea agreement under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) in which Williams would plead guilty to the charged conspiracy in exchange for withdrawal of the  851 information and an agreed-upon prison term of 20 years. The plea agreement included a stipulation that Williams conspired to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

At the change-of-plea hearing, the judge asked Williams if he was fully satisfied with his lawyers advice. Williams replied, Not fully, no, sir. The judge then recessed the proceedings and met privately with Williams and his lawyer. Williams explained that he wanted his counsel to ask the government for a Santiago proffer. See United States v. Santiago, 582 F.2d 1128 (7th Cir. 1978) (setting the standards for the admissibility of a coconspirators hearsay statements). But his counsel had advised him that the prosecutor would hold it against him and withdraw the plea offer, leaving him exposed to a mandatory life sentence. Williamss attorney did not deny telling his client that he faced a mandatory life sentence without the plea agreement; he explained that he thought the discovery received from the government made a Santiago proffer unnecessary. With that explanation the judge concluded that Williamss concern about counsels representation was unwarranted. The judge asked Williams if he wanted more time to consult with his lawyer. Williams declined. He affirmed that his decision to plead guilty was clear and he was ready to move forward.

The Rule 11 plea colloquy then reconvened, and the judge began by summarizing the terms of the plea agreement. When the judge mentioned the stipulated drug quantities, Williams said he did not agree that the conspiracy had involved more than 500 grams. He insisted that the total amount he probably sold was about 300 grams and the total for the conspiracy as a wholeincluding the reasonably foreseeable conduct of other participantsadded up to less than 500 grams. This equivocation prompted the judge to question whether the change of plea could proceed as contemplated.

The prosecutor then conferred privately with defense counsel. Following that conversation, the prosecutor informed the court as follows: Because this is a C agreement [i.e., Rule 11(c)(1)(C) ] for 20 years , we dont really think the weight is that important. He continued: If the [d]efendant wants to admit to 300400 grams as opposed to 500, the [g]overnment will accept that. That means, the prosecutor continued, his weights, it will be a (b)(1)(B) sentencing scheme, but the end result is still the same. Its 20 years. The judge then confirmed with Williams, his counsel, and the prosecutor that without the plea agreement Williams would face a mandatory life sentence if convicted as charged. All agreed with that assessment.

The prosecutor then stated that [t]he [g]overnment will agree with the [d]efendant that the weight was less than 500, more than 50, so were dealing with a (b)(1)(B) sentencing scheme. Williams concurred and pleaded guilty to what the judge described as a conspiracy to distribute more than 50 but less than 500 grams of methamphetamine. The parties agreed to revise paragraphs 4 and 6 of the plea agreement to refer to subsection (b)(1)(B) instead of (b)(1)(A). In paragraph 4 the judge crossed off the A in 841(a)(1)(A) and wrote in B. And in paragraph 6 he crossed though the possible prison terms and wrote in 10 years to life with the  851 enhancement and 5 to 40 years without it. Williams signed the revised agreement. At sentencing defense counsel asked the judge to accept the plea agreement and sentence Williams to 20 years in prison because he was facing a mandatory minimum of life in prison otherwise. The judge imposed a sentence of 20 years in accordance with the agreement.

II. Analysis

Williams argues that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary. He acknowledges that during the Rule 11 colloquy, he was correctly told that he would face a mandatory life sentence if he rejected the plea agreement and was convicted as charged in the indictment. He argues, however, that when the prosecutor said that the drug weights were not important, he was misled into thinking that he also faced a mandatory life sentence even if he was convicted of distributing less than the 500 grams.

The parties disagree over the standard of review. Williams contends that the harmless-error standard applies because he objected to the larger drug quantity. The government responds that our review is limited to the plain-error standard because Williams did not raise any objection to the judges Rule 11 colloquy or seek to withdraw his guilty plea. See United States v. Vonn, 535 U.S. 55, 5859, 122 S.Ct. 1043, 152 L.Ed.2d 90 (2002) (stating that a defendant who lets Rule 11 error pass without objection in the trial court has the burden to establish plain error).

The government is correct. Plain-error review is appropriate because Williams neither moved to withdraw his guilty plea nor lodged an objection to the judges Rule 11 colloquy. We recognize that Williams believes he preserved this issue by insisting at the change-of-plea hearing that he distributed only 300 grams of methamphetamine and by objecting at sentencing to the probation officers calculation of drug quantity. But his appeal challenges the Rule 11 colloquy and the voluntariness of his guilty plea; he preserved neither argument. It is axiomatic that in order to preserve an issue for appellate review, a party must make a proper objection  that alerts the court and opposing party to the specific grounds for the objection. United States v. Thomas, 845 F.3d 824, 831 (7th Cir. 2017) (quotation marks and alteration omitted).

Under the plain-error standard, a defendant must show that (1) an error has occurred; (2) it was plain; (3) it affected the defendants substantial rights; and (4) it seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings. United States v. Pineda-Buenaventura, 622 F.3d 761, 770 (7th Cir. 2010). In particular:

[A] defendant who seeks reversal of his conviction after a guilty plea, on the ground that the district court committed plain error under Rule 11, must show a reasonable probability that, but for the error, he would not have entered the plea. A defendant must thus [establish]  that the probability of a different result is sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the proceeding.

United States v. Dominguez Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 83, 124 S.Ct. 2333, 159 L.Ed.2d 157 (2004) (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984)).

The record does not support Williamss claim that he was misled or confused about his sentencing exposure with or without the plea agreement. Williams focuses on the judges failure to tell him that he faced a mandatory life sentence only if he was convicted of the drug quantities as charged in the indictmenti.e., more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. See  841(b)(1)(A). But the record shows that Williams had a sufficient basis to understand his exposure with the plea agreement and without it.

First, when the prosecutor said that the drug quantities were not important, he was referring only to the plea agreement, not to Williamss exposure at trial. Second, the judges handwritten changes to the plea agreement informed Williams of his sentencing exposure under the stipulated quantities, not his exposure if convicted of the quantity charged in the indictment. Third, the court correctly informed Williams of the consequence of declining that plea agreement: Williams indeed faced a mandatory life sentence if he was convicted as charged in the indictment.

Accordingly, we discern no plain error. Williams cannot establish that he misunderstood his sentencing exposure, either with the plea agreement or without it. See United States v. Davila, 569 U.S. 597, 133 S.Ct. 2139, 186 L.Ed.2d 139 (2013) (the reviewing court should assess the alleged error by the district court in light of the full record); United States v. Dominguez Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 83, 124 S.Ct. 2333, 159 L.Ed.2d 157 (2004) (holding that under plain-error review, the burden is on the defendant to show that he would have pleaded not guilty but for the Rule 11 violation).

AFFIRMED.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, PlaintiffAppellee v. Joe L. WELCH, DefendantAppellant No. 16-4163 Decided: January 05, 2018

Before BENTON, SHEPHERD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. Matt R. Molsen, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Lincoln, NE, for PlaintiffAppellee. Joe L. Welch, Pro Se. Stuart J. Dornan, DORNAN & TROIA, Omaha, NE, for DefendantAppellant.

Joe Welch pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. See 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1). At sentencing, the district court imposed an enhancement under United States Sentencing Guideline  2K2.1(a)(4) because Welch had a previous conviction for Missouri second-degree assault that the district court determined was a crime of violence. Welch appeals that determination, which we review de novo. United States v. Harrison, 809 F.3d 420, 425 (8th Cir. 2015).

A crime of violence is any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that  has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another  USSG  4B1.2. To determine whether a prior conviction qualifies as a crime of violence, we start with the formal categorical approach and look only to the fact of conviction and the statutory definition of the prior offense. United States v. Headbird, 832 F.3d 844, 846 (8th Cir. 2016). But if the statute criminalizes both conduct that does and does not qualify as a [crime of violence], the statute is divisible, and we must determine which section of the statute supplied the basis for a defendants conviction. Id. (quoting United States v. Jordan, 812 F.3d 1183, 1186 (8th Cir. 2016)).

This court has previously held that the Missouri second-degree assault statute is divisible because it defines multiple offenses. See United States v. Alexander, 809 F.3d 1029, 1031 (8th Cir. 2016). Welch asks us to reconsider this determination in light of Mathis v. United States,  U.S. , 136 S.Ct. 2243, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 (2016). Rather than undermining our previous holdings, however, Mathis confirms our analysis. In Mathis, the Court explained that [a] single statute may list elements in the alternative, and thereby define multiple crimes. 136 S.Ct. at 2249. Elements are the constituent parts of a crimes legal definitionthe things the prosecution must prove to sustain a conviction, id. at 2248 (quotation omitted), and can be contrasted with the various factual means of committing a single element. Id. at 2249.

At the time of Welchs prior conviction, the Missouri second-degree assault statute stated [a] person commits the crime of assault in the second degree if he:

(1) Attempts to kill or knowingly causes or attempts to cause serious physical injury to another person under the influence of sudden passion arising out of adequate cause; or

(2) Attempts to cause or knowingly causes physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument; or

(3) Recklessly causes serious physical injury to another person; or

(4) While in an intoxicated condition or under the influence of controlled substances or drugs, operates a motor vehicle in this state and, when so operating, acts with criminal negligence to cause physical injury to any person other than himself; or

(5) Recklessly causes physical injury to another person by means of discharge of a firearm.

Mo. Rev. Stat.  565.060.1 (2001). Each subsection is its own crime with different elements, rendering the statute divisible. See United States v. Fields, 863 F.3d 1012, 1014 (8th Cir. 2017) (analyzing only the subsection of Mo. Rev. Stat.  565.060.1 under which the defendant was convicted).

Welch next argues that, even if Missouri second-degree assault is a divisible statute, his prior conviction under that statute still does not qualify as a crime of violence. The parties agree that Welch pleaded guilty to violating subsection 2. To be guilty under that subsection, a defendant must knowingly cause (or attempt to cause) physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. Mo. Rev. Stat.  565.060.1(2). Welch argues that under Missouri law, the requirement that a person cause or attempt to cause physical injury to another person may be satisfied by something less than violent force as required by Johnson. See Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010) (explaining that physical force means violent forcethat is, force capable of causing physical pain or injury to another person); see also Mo. Rev. Stat.  556.061(36) (2001) (defining physical injury as physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition). This court has previously held, post-Johnson, that Missouri second-degree assault, under the second subsection, is a crime that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, and that it is therefore a crime of violence. United States v. Vinton, 631 F.3d 476, 485 (8th Cir. 2011) (quotation and citation omitted); see also United States v. Scott, 818 F.3d 424, 435 (8th Cir. 2016); Alexander, 809 F.3d at 103233. Welch offers no argument that a change in the law dictates a different result.

Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Joseph F. Bataillon, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska.

. The 1993 version of Mo. Rev. Stat.  565.060.1(2), which was at issue in Vinton, is identical to the 2001 version at issue here.

PER CURIAM.
Hamilton County Emergency Management continues to receive important winter weather information from the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tn. This is a brief overview of the on-going winter weather for Friday and throughout the weekend.

Wind Chill Temperatures Friday morning and again Friday night

 Wind Chill Temperatures Friday morning are extremely cold across the area with a Wind Chill Advisory for the Hamilton County area through the weekend.

 Wind Chills in Hamilton County will be as low as-5 to -15 degrees Friday morning for the higher elevations. In the valley, temperatures will generally range from -2 to +10 degrees this morning.

 Tonight, wind chills once again will surge below zero in the higher elevations with readings of -5 to -10 common in those areas, and in the valley values from 0 to +12.

Wintry Weather for Sunday night through Monday morning

 On Sunday, most areas will rise above freezing during the day, but then will dip below freezing Sunday night. There is a chance of freezing rain or possibly sleet Sunday night and into Monday morning until warmer air pushes into the area and changes the precipitation over to just rain.

 By Monday afternoon, temperatures in Hamilton County are expected to rise above freezing and the area will be getting just a cold rain.

 Right now, it looks like impacts would be limited, due to how light most of the precipitation will be while temperatures are below freezing, and that it looks like by the time moderate rains move into the area temperatures will already be above freezing.

 This possible freezing rain event is still a few days away and officials will be watching it closely.
photo by Teri Rose photo by Chuck Hartung photo by Chief Rick Boatwright photo by Bruce Garner Previous Next

Chattanooga firefighters battled two major blazes on Friday.

At 2:35 a.m., Chattanooga firefighters were dispatched to an automatic fire alarm at 7860 Magnolia Lake Drive in the Legends subdivision.



The first firefighters on the scene reported nothing visible. However, to be absolutely sure, they contacted the homeowner through the alarm company and gained access to the house. Once inside, they discovered a lot of smoke and confirmed that they had a working fire.



Battalion Chief Brandon Schroyer said the fire was hidden in the floor and difficult to gain access to. As the flames began to spread into the walls, Chief Schroyer called for a additional fire companies to assist those on the scene who were fighting the fire in 15 degree temperatures. Despite their best efforts, the fire spread up into the attic and raced across the top of the large, two-story house.

Those firefighters who arrived first fought the blaze in the frigid weather until their shift ended at 7:00 a.m. They were replaced by another shift of firefighters, who resumed the firefighting operation for several more hours. The house was considered a total loss.



Water runoff from the firefighting operation froze on the ground, pavement and fire equipment. One firefighter was injured when she slipped on the ice and hit her head. She was transported to a local hospital for observation, but her injuries are not life-threatening.



The house was unoccupied at the time of the fire. The couple who owned it said they were planning on selling the house next week. A track hoe with the city's Public Works Department was called in to raze the structure. The purpose was to make it easier for firefighters to put out hot spots, and also to remove potential hazards to the public, such as unsupported brick walls. The cause of the fire is under investigation.



Chattanooga police, Hamilton County EMS, EPB and Hamiltion County's Rehab Unit also provided valuable assistance on the scene.



While firefighters were still working to put out hot spots on this fire, the department received another alarm at 10:48 a.m. of a structure fire at 1048 Hurricane Creek Road. Some of the fire crews packed their gear and headed for that fire, which turned into a 2-alarm blaze. No one was injured in that fire.

A family of six lived in the house that was totally destroyed, including a husband, wife and four children. They lost everything in the fire.





Battalion Chief Travis Williams was the first on the scene and when he saw that the rear of the structure was engulfed in flames, requested a second alarm response to bring in additional firefighters and equipment.





Battalion Chief David Thompson Jr. said their firefighting efforts were hampered by several factors, including low water pressure and a damaged hydrant in front of the house. Firefighters with the first engine company to arrive on the scene, Engine 9, discovered that their pump was partially frozen, which put their truck out of commission. Chief Thompson said the firefighters had to swap out fire apparatus and hook up to a hydrant further down the street. In the meantime, the fire spread quickly and eventually erupted through the roof. It took the firefighters roughly an hour to get the blaze under control. The house was considered a total loss. No injuries were reported.





No one was reportedly home at the time of the fire. Though there were some initial concerns that two children might still be inside the burning structure, the homeowner told firefighters that his wife and four children were away at the time and all were accounted for. The family had three dogs and a kitten. Two dogs were found safe outside. It is believed one dog and the kitten perished in the blaze. A track hoe with the city's Public Works Division was requested to raze the remnants of the structure to help the firefighters put out the hot spots. The cause of the fire is under investigation.





With numerous fire companies committed to two large fires this morning, the decision was made to request help with a Mutual Aid Standby. The Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department sent three tankers to the Hurricane Creek fire to assist with the water supply issues. Other fire departments that provided assistance included the following: Dallas Bay Volunteer Fire Department, East Ridge Fire Department, Highway 58 Volunteer Fire Department, Signal Mountain Fire Department and the Soddy Daisy Fire Department. The Hamilton County 911 Mobile Incident Support Team also responded to the scene to assist with communications, since so many fire companies were committed on fire scenes. Chattanooga police, Hamilton County EMS, EPB and Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue's Rehab Truck also provided valuable assistance on the scene.





The Forgotten Child Fund showed up on the scene Friday afternoon and brought the family a supply of clothes, winter apparel (coats, gloves, scarfs and toboggans), gift cards and two large boxes of toys to replace the toys they lost in the fire. They will also be receiving bicycles.




Dr. Flora Tydings, chancellor for the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), will be the speaker at the Rotary Club of Cleveland luncheon on Tuesday, at the Museum Center at 5ive Points. Prior to the Rotary meeting, Chancellor Tydings will also have an opportunity to meet with President Seymours cabinet at CSCC.



Originally, this came about when I was asked to sponsor a program for our club, said Dr. Bill Seymour, CSCC president. I thought rather than me personally doing another presentation that I would invite the chancellor, and I was pleased that she accepted our invitation.



Dr.. Tydings will be providing a general update on The New TBR after the FOCUS Act changes including some of the systems new priorities and the impact this will have on CSCC. Dr. Tydings will also include a status report on the funding request for the new building and renovations on CSCCs campus. The TBR recommended $25 million for Cleveland State campus revitalization project that included a new Health and Sciences building and renovation of the Mary T. Barker Humanities Building.



In addition, she will also be discussing the new warranty for graduates of its colleges technical programs that was approved at the TBR quarterly meeting last month. This warranty guarantees that future graduates of technical training programs demonstrate skills identified in their curriculums and provide tuition-free retraining for those who dont. The warranty is valid for one year from the date of graduation.



Dr. Seymour said, We are excited that the chancellor is coming to Cleveland. This is our first Rotary meeting of 2018, and I think its a great way to start the new year.



Dr. Tydings was appointed chancellor by the Tennessee Board of Regents in a unanimous vote on Dec. 27, 2016, effective Feb. 1, 2017. As chancellor, she is chief executive officer of the Board of Regents system, managing operations of the system office and providing strategic leadership for the systems institutions in accordance with the boards policies and direction and with Tennessee law. She arrived as the board and its institutions continue the transition into a more unified community and technical college system under the FOCUS (Focus on College and University Success) Act of 2016. The TBR system is also the primary driver in Tennessees Drive to 55 initiative.

Dr. Tydings earned her Doctor of Education degree in Occupational Studies at The University of Georgia; her Master of Education degree at Mercer University, and her Bachelor of Science degree in education, with an emphasis in behavioral science, at Georgia Southern University.

Her career in higher education leadership began in 1996 as director of curriculum and staff development at Macon Technical Institute. She became vice president for academic affairs at Central Georgia Technical College two years later, and served in that position until her appointment as president at Athens Technical College in 2003. She served there until moving to Tennessee in 2015 as president of Chattanooga State Community College.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and President Donald Trump at the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. (John MacDougall / Getty-AFP)

BERLIN  For a dozen years, Angela Merkel seemingly floated above the laws of political gravity, making her calm and consensual leadership style as much a part of the German landscape as fairy-tale castles, precision engineering and beer-saturated Octobers.

But the early days of her 13th year as chancellor have been marked by a bracing return to Earth. Every political career ends, and Merkel's finale may be coming faster than just about anyone had predicted. Her rapidly diminishing political stock threatens to leave a void not only in Germany, but across the West, just as she had emerged as the most robust internationalist counterpoint to Trump-style nativism.

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Merkel's troubles started with a bitterly disappointing election result in September. They grew when her first attempt at forging a new government collapsed in November. And they have been compounded in recent days, as polls have shown German voters tiring of her leadership.

Merkel now has what many regard as a last shot to cobble together a coalition and ward off an embarrassing electoral do-over that could see her lose her grip on power.

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"Time is running out," said Stefan Kornelius, a Merkel biographer. "She is under immense pressure to somehow make this happen."

But even if she succeeds, significant damage has already been done. Once regarded as invincible, Merkel is suddenly vulnerable in a way that has shifted the German political conversation to a topic long whispered about but rarely publicly debated before: Who should come next?

There are many contenders, their names bandied about in German newspapers and magazines in recent days. But Merkel's saving grace - for now, at least - may be that there is no obvious successor.

There's certainly no one who could immediately fill the outsize role that Merkel has played in global affairs. Though not always willingly, the low-key East German with a PhD in quantum chemistry has become de facto leader of Europe and keeper-of-the-flame for those who regard President Donald Trump's brand of politics as a threat to core Western values.

"The world is engulfed by Trumpism and populism and vulgarianism," said Kornelius, a journalist with Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The alternative is not even visible any more. Merkel has to prove that the alternative can still exist."

She might not have the chance.

Over her dozen years in office, Merkel has guided Germany to robust economic health, with strong GDP growth and low unemployment. Her decision to welcome more than 1 million asylum seekers in 2015-2016 galvanized the far right but was supported by the political mainstream. She has navigated a series of European crises, from the war in Ukraine to Greek debt.

Before the September elections, political observers had widely assumed that Merkel would once again coast to victory, with a clear shot at matching the record 16-year tenure of her onetime mentor, Helmut Kohl.

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Instead, her center-right Christian Democratic Union suffered its worst result since 1949, including the loss of a million of its voters to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

While the CDU still came out on top of a fractured field, Merkel was forced to pursue an unwieldy deal among her own conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens.

When the Free Democrats unexpectedly backed out, Merkel had to go to plan B: a revival of the grand coalition between the center-right and the center-left that has governed Europe's largest economy for the past four years.

Substantive talks are only now getting underway, with a deal not expected before April, if one comes at all. It's already the longest that postwar Germany has ever gone after an election without a government.

Although voters didn't initially appear to blame Merkel, polls suggest she has increasingly become the target of frustration with the very un-German gridlock and dysfunction.

A survey published by the Bild newspaper in late December showed that nearly half the country did not want her to complete a fourth term. A poll released days later by Die Welt had even worse news for Merkel: Nearly half the country would like her to step down right away.

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"She is tasked with putting together a government, and she hasn't done it," said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund and a former presidential adviser. "There's a failure on her side that the constitution attributes to her and that the people seem to attribute to her."

More than that, Kleine-Brockhoff said, Merkel's core argument for staying in power may be fraying. The 63-year-old has long positioned herself as the guarantor of stability for a country that prizes that quality.

Yet in the current talks, he said, her presence may be more destabilizing than not.

The Social Democrats, the government's would-be junior partner, are desperate to get rid of Merkel. Her tenure has corresponded with a free-fall in the party's popularity as the chancellor has shifted to the center and co-opted the Social Democrats' core issues. The party's rank and file will have to approve any deal, which could prove a hurdle.

Even Merkel's own party, which has long been disciplined in supporting her, may have a reason to see her go early, since it will want to ensure an orderly transition to her successor.

"We will be seeing the last period of government for Angela Merkel, and it will be heavily influenced by, if not overshadowed by, the question of succession," Kleine-Brockhoff said.

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Although leading politicians from the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have generally been circumspect about their desire for the top job, that's beginning to change.

Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old who is considered a rising star on the CDU's right flank, has urged Merkel not to give an inch in talks with the Social Democrats and for the CDU and CSU to form a government on its own if negotiations fail.

But there may be some self-interest in that advice: Without a stable coalition government, Germany could be forced to hold new elections far earlier than planned, perhaps as soon as this year. And it's unclear whether Merkel would lead her party in another vote.

"That's a secret that's hidden in her heart," said Jurgen Hardt, a veteran CDU member of Parliament and the party's spokesman on foreign affairs.

Hardt said there is no question that Merkel should remain as chancellor and have the opportunity to lead a new coalition government.

"There's no one else who is able to get so much support from the Bundestag and from the public," Hardt said, referring to the German Parliament.

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But he also said it was time for her to promote possible successors, and to allow a younger generation to prove itself.

"There are too few new faces on the political scene in Germany," said the 54-year-old. "The CDU and the CSU have to be aware that sometimes, politics is about presenting something new."

It's been a long time since Germany has done that. Of the world leaders who have stuck around as long as Merkel, most are autocrats who resort to iron-fisted tactics.

Merkel, if anything, has positioned herself as the anti-autocrat - a defender of traditional democratic values at a time when those are seeming evermore outdated.

If she leaves, said Jurgen Falter, a politics professor at the University of Mainz, "it would weaken the European Union and it would weaken those who want the West to be led in a more rational way than Trump is able to do."

Already, Merkel's voice has been more muted on major European matters, including Britain's European Union exit and euro zone reforms initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron. Although she continues to lead a caretaker government, it cannot make any significant moves until the parties reach a coalition deal.

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With months of talks probably still ahead, Merkel has struggled not to show impatience with a process that she surely knows is sapping German influence, and her own, by the day.

"The world," she told the nation in her traditional New Year's Eve address, "will not wait for us."

The Washington Post's Rick Noack contributed to this report.
The Chattanooga Area Food Bank, Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgias largest hunger relief organization serving 20 counties, announced the hiring of Melanie Hammontree as the new Northwest Georgia development officer. Mrs. Hammontree, a third generation Daltonian, will support the nine counties the Food Bank serves in Georgia. She will be based out of the Food Banks Northwest Georgia branch, 1111 South Hamilton St. in Dalton. "Mrs. Hammontrees expertise will ensure the Food Banks long term strategies to eliminate hunger and promote better nutrition for the most vulnerable people in the area," officials said.With prior experience in the banking industry at Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo), Mrs.Hammontree has spent the past 13 years working with various non-profits in the Dalton area. Most recently, she worked at Dalton Arts Project and the Dance Theatre of Dalton, as well as served as president of the Dalton Middle School Booster Club.Combining Melanies expertise and dedication for our mission with her passion for serving her friends and neighbors in the Northwest Georgia community will allow the Food Bank to support our nine counties more effectively and efficiently, said Gina Crumbliss, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. We have the utmost confidence in Melanie as a respected leader in the Northwest Georgia community and have already seen a positive impact in our organization from having her on our team.A native of Dalton, Mrs. Hammontree attended Dalton Public Schools, earned an associate of science degree from Dalton State College and a bachelor of science in biology with a minor in psychology from Kennesaw State University. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and serves as a committee member for Dalton Arts Project.
Thanks to Festival of Lights sponsors

As the saying goes, "we couldn't have done it without you."

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We are thankful for the many sponsors, volunteers and the spirit of our local and surrounding neighborhoods that supported the 2017 Festival of Lights.

Our 10th year was amazing, but because of each and every one of you, this 11th year was a success as well. Between the mild weather, families returning and new families hearing of our lights, we set new records in attendance and contributions.

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Through the years, I believe the community has embraced the nostalgic lights and festive music to cherish as a holiday moment in their memories. All are able to enjoy this twinkling show due to the individuals who organized the schedule, setup the lights, donated their time and finally took down the lights. These tireless supporters include the city of Aurora, the folks at Phillips Park, the many, many sponsors that contribute dollars and staff to run the show, the community for their attendance, and finally all the Rotarians in the Fox Valley that provided their time and effort to deliver our show.

We are proud of the growth we've accomplished in the last 11 years, and we look forward to seeing you in 2018. For more information, please visit www.aurorafestivaloflights.com.

Here's wishing you a happy, healthy new year!

George Ball, President, Rotary 17-18

Director, Festival of Lights

Stop pushing renewable energy

Mr. Slowik stated some hardships about not having a consistent source of power. He used Puerto Rico as an example.

Odd, isn't it, that it has an abundance of renewable energy sources the nutty environmentalists want everyone on the planet to use: sun, wind and water. Yet, many are powerless!

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There is a reason our ancestors moved away from those renewable sources: gas and oil burn when the sun doesn't shine, the wind doesn't blow and the water doesn't flow due to drought (ask those in California). It takes acres of land for solar panels and wind farms to produce enough energy for a few dozen homes.

A recent article in the Beacon-News stated an acre was needed just to produce enough energy for 70 homes in St. Charles. How many homes are there in Puerto Rico (or St. Charles)? I bet more than 70. The wind farm along I-65 near Lafayette, Ind., takes up tens of acres to produce energy for a few hundred homes. But, hey, how many acres of homes, forests, agriculture will need to be wiped out to be able to produce enough renewable energy for whatever homes remain?

I guess the environmentalists believe it is worth it. But the energy produced can be stored in batteries when the renewable source isn't available, you may say. That would be those lithium-ion batteries that, for no apparent reason, suddenly overheat, burst into flames or explode destroying everything around them, right? Yeah, I want to drive in a confined electric car powered by one of those!

Quit idealizing the past. Relying on solar, wind or water sources for a consistent power source for millions of entities is ridiculous! And expensive. And dangerous! Our ancestors' experience is enough proof of that.

Bill Voda, Warrenville

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Submit letters to the editor via email to suburbanletters@tribpub.com. Please include your name and town of residence for publication. Please include phone number and email address for confirmation. Letters should be no more than 250 words.
Linette Lowe remembers that first impressions of Claire VanLandingham could be misleading.

She may have come off as a little bit shy or quiet, said Lowe, a staff member at the church VanLandingham attended while earning her degree in dentistry at University of Louisville from 2013 through 2017. But her compassion for people overwhelmed that in pretty short order. She was able to reach out.

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Lowe and others made heartbreaking recollections of the example VanLandingham set Friday, two days after authorities said she died in Lake Forest from multiple gunshots wounds. Police confirmed Friday that they are investigating her death as a suspected murder-suicide at the hands of a former boyfriend.

Thats the best working theory we have right now. But we are still interviewing people and trying to put all the facts together, Lake Forest Deputy Chief Robert Copeland said.

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Ryan Zike (Park District of Highland Park)

So we cannot say conclusively that is what happened, the deputy chief added, but said authorities have no reason to believe there is another gunman somewhere.

Police say VanLandingham, 27, was found with gunshot wounds outside a Dunkin Donuts on Western Avenue in Lake Forest early Wednesday and was pronounced dead at Lake Forest Hospital. A man later identified as Ryan Zike, of Louisville, Ky., was found dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head, officials said.

VanLandingham was a Navy lieutenant and recent dental school graduate who had started working last summer at Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, providing dental care to recruits at nearby Naval Station Great Lakes, the Navy confirmed. She lived in Lake Forest.

Zike, 33, was hired in September to work as a naturalist for the Park District of Highland Park. But he resigned from the job only a month later, a Park District spokeswoman confirmed. That would have been shortly after his relationship with VanLandingham ended, according to a news release from the Lake County coroner, citing the investigation of the deaths by the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

Before moving to the Chicago area, VanLandingham served as secretary of the First Unitarian Church of Louisville for a year. She also taught religion classes at the church, said Lowe, the churchs director of religious exploration.

Lowe recalled that VanLandingham provided dental care at a local clinic for low-income residents. After a trip to a developing country to provide dental care, VanLandingham returned to the youth education class she taught at First Unitarian and presented a slide show.

She did such a wonderful job of showing how one ordinary person can make such a huge difference in the world, if they choose to do that, Lowe said. I really think she set an example for them.

In a Facebook message to the Tribune, a brother, Ben VanLandingham, called her the best human being Ive ever met. She was smart and talented and devoted her life to trying to help others without ever taking credit for it.

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Zikes friends contacted on Friday did not return messages or declined to comment.

A native of Terre Haute, Ind., VanLandingham attended Culver Girls Academy, a college-prep boarding school near South Bend, Ind., graduating in 2008, a spokesman for the academy confirmed.

Gigi Nieto, who attended Culver for a year, said VanLandingham was her closest friend, and the two kept in touch long after leaving campus. Nieto said the girls used to joke that they were twins because Nieto dreamed of becoming a doctor and VanLandingham aspired to be a dentist.

After leaving Culver and moving to Mexico, Nieto visited VanLandingham in Indiana, and accompanied the VanLandingham family on a summer trip to Michigan. When VanLandingham visited Mexico, Nieto surprised her with a mariachi band serenade on her birthday, she said.

I will always remember us laughing and dancing together, Nieto said in a Facebook message to the Tribune. It was so great to be around her.

Nieto said VanLandingham could always be counted on as a travel buddy or partner for inside jokes. Her nicknames included Claire Bear and Goldie.

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I admired her deeply for everything she was and everything she accomplished, Nieto said. Im still shocked, I just cant believe what happened.

Claire VanLandingham appears in a video to promote the anti-domestic violence march Take Back The Night in 2016 on the University of Louisville campus. VanLandingham was killed after being shot multiple times, allegedly by an ex-boyfriend, in Lake Forest on Jan. 3, 2018. (American Association of Women Dentists) (American Association of Women Dentists)

VanLandingham came to Louisville in 2013 after graduating from Indiana University in Bloomington and joining the Navy, a spokeswoman for University of Louisville said. She was involved in many community service projects, served as vice president of the Association of American Women in Dentistrys Louisville chapter, was an active member of the universitys Hispanic Dental Association and represented the University of Louisvilles School of Dentistry in the 2016 Poland Exchange Student Program.

As church board secretary, VanLandingham always submitted her minutes on time and was great greeting visitors, recalled Jill Sampson, who served on the board with VanLandingham.

She was all the things you want in a board member, Sampson said. Young, energetic, engaged. She was quiet but when she said something, it was insightful.

After graduating from dental school, VanLandingham spent time in the Navys officer training command in Newport, R.I., the spokeswoman said.

In a release announcing Zikes hiring as a naturalist, the Park District of Highland Park said hed earned a bachelors degree in outdoor recreation and park administration from Eastern Kentucky University and worked for seven years at Jefferson Memorial Forest in Kentucky.

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Zike, who had no criminal record when hired in Highland Park, began working for the district on Sept. 14 but voluntarily resigned on Oct. 16, a Park District spokeswoman said. He gave no reason for his departure and was in good standing when he resigned, the spokeswoman said.

Ben Landingham said he never heard his sister say a bad word about anyone, even about those who did her wrong.

You could talk to everyone who ever knew her and nobody would have anything bad to say about her. This all sounds like exaggeration but it was true of Claire, he said. This is such a senseless tragedy. She deserved so much better than this.

Karen Berkowitz is a Pioneer Press reporter.

tgregory@chicagotribune.com

kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com

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vortiz@chicagotribune.com

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[ Ex-couple who died in Lake Forest shooting were Navy dentist and former Highland Park naturalist ]

[ Woman serving in Navy, man are dead after shooting in Lake Forest, police say ]
When Kimberly Kimmie Galloway was choosing a college, she had three main things she was looking for. She needed a college close to home because she was taking care of her sick mother at the time. She wanted to attend a community college because of the Tennessee Promise, and she needed a flexible schedule where she would not have to go to school every day. At CSCC, she found all of these things. She was able to remain close to her hometown of Copper Basin. She was also able to take advantage of Tennessee Promise, as well as flexible scheduling options.



My parents would have had a cow if I missed out on two years of free college, stated Ms. Galloway. I will be in less debt getting my bachelors degree than those who chose not to come to CSCC and take advantage of this great opportunity.



Throughout her time at CSCC, Ms. Galloway has been involved with the CSCC Ambassadors, assisting with many recruitment events, as well as the Student Senate. I really enjoy going to the high schools and talking to high school students about CSCC and telling them what I enjoy about CSCC.



Ms. Galloway said she loves the one-on-one attention she gets from her instructors at CSCC. All of my instructors are incredibly helpful, stated Ms. Galloway. My favorite instructors are Mrs. Moseley and Mr. Wilson. I like the way they teach. They have flipped classrooms, where you do the reading before you come into class, and then they give the class a chance to express their opinions on different topics.



Ms. Galloway plans to follow in many of her familys footsteps and become a teacher. Her grandmother, aunts, sister and brother were all teachers, as well as her mother, who went on to become a vice principal. After CSCC, Ms. Galloway plans to transfer to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to continue the family tradition and major in education.



I think community college is a great stepping stone for higher education, especially if you come from a small high school. I believe CSCC helps students learn life skills for a better future, and I would recommend it to everyone.
Instead of raising taxes on everybody, start cutting these fat, overpaid salaries that the politicians get. . . Cut them by about 40 percent. They're not worth it. None of them.

RC, Chicago

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Fellow Democrats, you are only making things worse for us by showing your mean, hateful actions. Believe me that this won't help. I don't want any part of it. I'm beginning to dislike us.

I read in the newspaper that charities are worried that fewer middle-class people will donate to their organizations due to the new tax law. Is that the motivating factor, then, as to why people donate  to get a tax break? If people were genuinely devoted to the causes that they claim to support, then they would continue to support them financially, whether they get a tax break or not. There's nothing quite like false virtue.

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With a huge increase in marijuana-influenced driving accidents, hospital stays, long term and short term physical disability costs, lost wages in the hospital stays, and more emergency calls, it is clear that these financial and social/societal costs far outweigh any possible tax revenue increase resulting in the legalization of recreational marijuana use. May it never come to Illinois like it has descended upon California.

JI, Oak Lawn
I was getting some exercise last week despite the freezing weather because my yellow lab Ziggy is oblivious to the cold and loves the snow, better to dig up scents.While we were walking, I suddenly noticed a lot of bird squawking going on  and when I looked down Meadow Lane I saw it.

A very small predator bird had another small blackbird, possible a grackle, and the blackbird was screaming. But it looked like the predator had it by its feet and couldn't make the kill. Before I got very close, the predator, maybe a kestrel because it was so small, let the blackbird go and took off. I never got a good look at it.

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The blackbird squawked off and all that was left was some nice wing prints in the snow. I decided I would return the next day with a camera, but it was dark the next day, so I waited until the following day. Wrong move. It was garbage day and the homeowner had placed the two carts right on the spot where the feather marks were. So it goes.

Bird count

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Joel Greenberg, who runs the annual Waukegan bird count on New Year's Day, said it was the coldest one they have been out in, from -8 to 5 degrees. He got a screech owl and a great horned owl to answer him at Old School Forest Preserve at sunrise with Bill Saylor. Greenberg reports that the count found a species total of 76, a respectable number, he said.

The best finds (rarest) he said were a forlorn northern mockingbird, followed by the count's only yellow-rumped warbler hanging out along the frozen Des Plaines River outside Libertyville. The river team included Stefanie Altneu, Tim Wallace and Matt Beatty.

He expects the species count will increase by a few after he gets the bird feeder reports back.

Eagle watch

Friends of the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and a number of other groups are hosting an eagle watch from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday Jan. 20 at four locations: McHenry Dam, Algonquin Dam, Carpentersville Dam and Fontana Beach in Wisconsin, near Lake Geneva. Representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, McHenry County Conservation District, Friends of Hackmatack Wildlife Refuge, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and McHenry County Audubon will be on hand at each location to help in the search for eagles.

It's free and kids are encouraged to attend. There will be binoculars and scopes to share.

At the Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road, Crystal Lake, the McHenry County Conservation District will host live raptors from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from the Illinois Raptor Center called "Eagles of Illinois."

You will get to see two kinds of eagles, the Bald and Golden, and also learn about other birds of prey that are commonly misidentified as eagles. The program is free, but space is limited and registration is required for the "Eagles of Illinois" program.

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To register, go online to .

Lake County's endangered species

Wild Ones Lake to Prairie Chapter is hosting an event where you will learn all about the endangered species of plants and animals living in Lake County, which has the most of any other county in the state because of its varied habitat.

The event is Tuesday, from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at the Fremont Public Library, 1170 N. Midlothian Road, Mundelein. It's free and children are welcome.

Lake County Forest Preserve District experts will explore why there are so many threatened species and what the challenges are for these protected plants and animals.

Don't get bogged down

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Winterfest at the Volo Bog State Natural Area is scheduled for Jan. 14 from noon to 4 p.m. at the state park, 28478 Brandenburg Road, Ingleside.

Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

It's free, although Friends of the Volo Bog accept donations, and there will be lots of things for kids to participate in, including snow sculpting, tours of the bog and nature crafts. Everyone can check out the photography contest (you can vote for People's Choice) and there is live music, Will Kruger, inside the nature center.

Pheasant dinner

Lake County Pheasants Forever 10th Annual Banquet will be held Feb. 10, at the Antioch VFW Hall, 75 North Ave., Antioch.

Maravela's will cater the meal. Doors open at 4 p.m. and the live auction starts at 7 p.m. There are several gun raffles planned, including one for a Beretta White Onyx 12 gauge over-and-under shotgun. Register before Jan. 25 and get extra raffle tickets for that shotgun.

Register online at https://www.pheasantsforeverevents.org/event/3092..

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The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County will host its Hard Water Classic ice fishing tournament from noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at Silver Lake at Blackwell Forest Preserve on Butterfield Road in Warrenville. (Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)

Photo contest results

Naperville resident Nancy Havener earned an honorable mention for her photo of a crimson sunset at Whalon Lake in the Forest Preserve District of Will County's Preserve the Moment photo contest.

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John D'Agostino of Homer Glen was chosen as the December winner of the contest for his photo of a cardinal taken at Isle a la Cache preserve in Romeoville.

Other December photos that earned honorable mentions were taken by Sharon McCartan Bruemmer of Lockport for a sky scene at Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve; Aisha Ray of Romeoville for three opossums in a tree at Isle a la Cache, and Barbara Parisi of Channahon for a landscape setting at McKinley Woods.

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Photographers throughout the district submitted 725 photos for the contest which ran from May 1 through Dec. 31. One winning photo was chosen each month, and the eight monthly finalists will compete for votes until Wednesday, Jan. 10, at www.facebook.com/willcoforests. The top three vote-getters will win prizes.

Picnic, camping permits on sale

Residents can now buy Forest Preserve District of Will County picnic or camping permits for 2018.

Permits are available at four of the district's visitor centers, including Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville, Plum Creek Nature Center in Crete Township and Sugar Creek Administration Center in Joliet. They are also available at Monee Reservoir in Monee Township, which will be closed from Jan. 15 to Feb. 28.

Picnic permits, which are required for groups of 25 or more people, are available for more than 30 rentable shelters. They must be bought in person at a visitor center, but camping permits may be bought either by phone or in person.

Picnic shelters and tent camping locations can be found at www.reconnectwithnature.org.

Ice fishing tournament

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County will host its Hard Water Classic ice fishing tournament from noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at Silver Lake at Blackwell Forest Preserve on Butterfield Road in Warrenville.

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The competition is open to fishermen of all ages. he top three catches of largemouth bass, bluegill, northern pike and crappie will receive gift cards of $125, $100 and $75 to local sporting goods stores, and the winner of the largest fish overall will win a gas-powered auger or ice shelter. Other prizes will be awarded.

Registration is $20 in advance or $25 at the event. Participants must check in between 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. and must bring their own gear, bait and fishing licenses.

Proceeds go toward ranger-led programs that provide outdoor experiences for special-needs groups, youth groups, scouts and community-resource centers in DuPage County.

Forest Preserve District open house

Residents interested in volunteering with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County should attend its open house from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, at Danada headquarters, 3S580 Naperville Road, Wheaton.

The open house will explain 11 different volunteer programs, and participants can talk with current volunteers and forest preserve district staff. A presentation about the programs will begin at 10 a.m.

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The forest preserve district also will host an informational session on volunteer opportunities from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Danada headquarters.

Volunteers help care for animals and restore habitats. They also help visitors explore forest preserve trails and participate in outdoor activities such as archery, kayaking and fishing.

For more information, call 630-933-7233.

Impaired drivers arrested

The Naperville Police Department announced the results of its December "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" holiday enforcement campaign.

Three people were charged with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to a news release. Police also made one drug arrest, issued 30 seat belt citations, 10 speeding tickets, three uninsured motorist tickets and one citation for driving on a suspended or revoked license.

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Naperville police participated in the campaign along with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Illinois State Police and other law enforcement agencies statewide.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
Pueblo voters give big support to public safety tax to fund police

75% of votes are in favor of Pueblo Measure 2B, collecting millions of dollars a year to fund 20 Pueblo Police Department officers and four sergeants.
Real Estate Partners Chattanooga LLC has named Chris Todd its director of Professional Development. In this newly created position, Mr. Todd is director and facilitator of the new Partners Work2Win agent career development program.



The Work2Win program will join the ongoing core curriculum courses taught by veteran real estate educator Pam Duffy, director of Training and the popular agent collaboration Mornings with Mary workshops facilitated by Mary Sanders.



Chris brings energy, structure, accountability and a great record of success in working with both new agents to jump start their careers and experienced agents to attain higher levels of sales production. We are excited about the new success tools he is offering beginning this month, Company President Darlene Brown said.



Mr. Todd is a certified trainer with a career performance history in pharmaceutical, industrial and tech sales, before embarking on a real estate career shortly after relocating to Chattanooga. He, his wife Kay and their two children live on Signal Mountain.



The Work2Win program is a reflection of Real Estate Partners corporate philosophy and company culture. We are implementing an ongoing multi-faceted, dynamic program to give both our new agents and experienced professionals the specific information, tools and accountability support to Work2Win, Mr Todd said of his new professional development platform.



The Work2Win program also offers transparency to new agents working to build their real estate business, according to Ryan May, Business Resource and Development director for the company.

To be successful and productive in the real estate industry a strong work ethic must be the foundation. We are giving our real estate professionals the tools to work to win in their business and with that in our profession as well, Mr. May said.



"The strong work ethic, dedication to clients and customers and a mandate for continuing education paid off for Real Estate Partners again in 2017 as it generated $240,485,827 in sales volume with a total of only 55 agents on board during the reporting period of 01/01/2017 - 12/31/2017. The company had the highest average sales price at $283,927 of any of the top five real estate companies and was the only locally-owned, independent real estate company to rank among the top five Chattanooga real estate companies, according to reports generated through the Greater Chattanooga Association of REALTORS data base," officials said.



The 11-year-old company has two offices, Downtown in the Southside District and East location on Shallowford Road. A third location on Signal Mountain will open during the first quarter of this year.
A total of 11 films have been nominated for the top honor bestowed by the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the group announced Friday.





It's the first time, not 10 but 11 films will race for the the PGA's Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures as the result of a tie in voting.





The nominees are "The Big Sick," "Call Me by Your Name," "Dunkirk," "Get Out," "I, Tonya," "Lady Bird," "Molly's Game," "The Post," "The Shape of Water," "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," and "Wonder Woman."





Among the front-runners, fantasy drama film "The Shape of Water" about a mute, female janitor who is drawn into an otherworldly love affair, tops all movies with seven nominations, including Best Picture, at Sunday's 75th annual Golden Globes.





The black comedy crime film "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" led the nominations with four nods, including best ensemble, for the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Jan. 21.





The Producers Guild has made progress in reducing gender inequality with its nominations list this year, as two of the eleven nominees are directed by women, including Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" and Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird".





Only eight of the top 100 movies in 2017 were directed by women and only 4.3 percent of the 1,223 directors of the 1,100 top movies over the last decade from 2007 to 2017 were female, according to a new study released Thursday by the University of Southern California.





Producers Guild of America kicks out former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein disgraced by sex scandal in October.





The PGA has remained one of the most reliable Oscar precursors on the awards season trail, matching the Oscar for best picture in 19 of its 28 years.





The nominees of the Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures are "The Boss Baby," "Coco," "Despicable Me 3," "Ferdinand" and "The Lego Batman Movie."





All 2018 Producers Guild Awards winners will be announced on Jan. 20, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in western U.S. city of Los Angeles.





The PGA is a trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 7,000 members of the producing establishment worldwide.




You are here: Arts

China issued a set of zodiac stamps on Friday to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dog.





China Post invited 99-year-old artist Zhou Lingzhao to design this year's zodiac stamps. Zhou is noted as the portraitist of Chairman Mao Zedong on the Tian'anmen Rostrum at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Zhou is something of a legend in Chinese design circles, having led the design of China's national emblem, the emblem of the Chinese Communist Youth League and the Medal of Liberation, not to mention being the chief designer of the second, third and fourth sets of renminbi banknotes.

Han Meilin, the 81-year-old designer of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games mascot "Fuwa" and the zodiac stamps of last Chinese Lunar Year of the Rooster, describes Zhou as his teacher.

"We have a close relationship like father and son," Han said.

At the launching ceremony for the dog stamps, the aged Zhou Lingzhao did not do anything more than simply sending a New Year's greeting.

Zhou spent about one year working on this year's zodiac stamps design.

The zodiac stamps contain two items at a total price of 2.4 yuan (about 37 U.S. cents).

The theme for the fourth round of zodiac stamps is "happy family," and the new stamps depict Chinese domestic dogs.

China Post says the first stamp depicts a male dog with its chin up and its eyes straight ahead. Its two ears point upward, while its hind legs are forcefully thrust against the ground, ready to pounce on any intruders.

The second stamp shows a brown bitch lovingly gazing at its puppy. The black puppy holds its head up high and tries to stand straight. The mother and the puppy stand side by side, demonstrating maternal love.

The two stamps are connected, signifying a peaceful, harmonious family, and a prosperous, flourishing nation.

The year 2018 marks Chinese "Wu Xu Year," the Year of the Dog.

In 1980, the Year of the Monkey, China issued its first round of zodiac stamps. Two years later in 1982, Zhou designed the dog year stamp for the first time.

There have been about 30 artists engaged in the designs until the current fourth round of zodiac stamps.

The characters on this year's dog stamps used "ink-free" carving to improve the effect of the format and prevent counterfeiting.

According to Gao Shan, distribution manager of China Post, this year's circulation of dog stamps will be 30 percent less compared with the rooster stamps last year.

"The dog stamps may have the lowest quantity of the fourth round zodiac stamps," Gao said.

The upcoming Year of the Dog begins on Feb. 16, 2018.
The two-year-old boy looked like any child his age, playing with plastic buckets and model trains in a baby-proofed room. The facility, however, serves to monitor children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Also in the room was 28-year-old Xu Ziwei, with pen and notebook in hand and carefully observing the child's every move. Throughout the day, Xu would use a wide variety of tests to assess the child's capabilities in behaviors as well as his verbal, learning, and social capabilities in order to design a treatment plan.

Xu is the first Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral Level (BCBA-D, a widely recognized certification of behavior analysis) in China and chief technology officer at Ing Care, a Beijing-based online platform for educating teachers on how to interact with children with ASD. She said her company aims to close the gap between research and practice in treating children with autism.

Improving awareness and expertise

Xu went to the U.S. in 2012 to study special education. There, she saw the huge gap between China and the U.S. in the field of autism study and rehabilitation. After earning a doctorate degree in special education at Ohio State University in 2016, Xu decided to return to China and join Ing Care.

Xu said she was attracted by the company's mission to spread expertise and knowledge of autism via the internet, and that she was happy to see that Chinese companies are willing to apply advanced and scientific methods to this end.

Founded in July 2014, Ing Care provides online courses to both parents and teachers, as well as assessments for children with autism. This January, the company will launch a research and development lab in Beijing.

We get the first-hand teaching experience from our research lab, and offer a set of more suitable and professional intervention solutions for Chinese families with children with autism, and to better supplement our online courses in the future," Xu said.

Wang Wei, the CEO of Ing Care, explained that the main problems in the field of autism rehabilitation are the lack of qualified teachers and the ineffectiveness of available training. "Based on our market research, 83 percent of the autism support teachers are college graduates or below, and they begin to teach children with autism after only two weeks of training. And only 8 percent of these teachers have degrees in special education."

Wang said he hoped his company's online courses can improve the awareness and expertise among teachers and parents across China.

Conservative estimates from experts say the number of people identified with ASD in China reaches around 10 million, with an upward trend of 200,000 new diagnoses every year.

Meanwhile, the industry of professional care for autism is facing a severe shortage of labor. According to Xu Xiaoming, general secretary of the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, there are only 12 Board Certified Behavior Analysts in all of China, as well as 12,000 registered autism support teachers.

Xu said the China Disabled Persons' Federation invited qualified teachers with expertise to give courses in rehab centers across China. However, at a very high cost in time and money, this effort had not produced the expected results.

The online education platform at Ing Care could not have come at a better time. "Now we have the best teachers to give courses online, and more teachers are joining Ing Care's community to acquire essential knowledge in a time-saving and convenient way," Xu Xiaoming said.

The company has so far provided training to more than 12,000 teachers in cooperation with the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons -- nearly 50 percent of over 21,000 autism support teachers in China. These teachers would go on to help around 72,000 children diagnosed with ASD.

Furthermore, Ing Care has provided free online courses to about 3,000 parents on how to best support their children with autism, according to the company's annual report.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said that members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and provincial and ministerial-level officials are "crucial" to the sound governance of the Party and the country.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the opening of a workshop attended by newly-elected members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as provincial and ministerial-level officials, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 5, 2018. The workshop is focused on the study and implementation of "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the opening of a workshop attended by newly-elected members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as provincial and ministerial-level officials.

Xi called on such officials to raise their political awareness, adopt a historical perspective, reinforce theoretical thinking, think in big-picture terms and improve their knowledge and intellectual attainments to think and understand major theoretical and practical issues with a broader perspective.

The workshop is focused on the study and implementation of "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress.
China has put its first level-four biosafety laboratory into operation, capable of conducting experiments with highly pathogenic microorganisms that can cause fatal diseases, according to the national health authority.

Virologists read data on a container for viral samples at China's first level-four biosafety lab at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Wednesday. [Xiao Yuzhou/For China Daily]





Level four is the highest biosafety level, used for diagnostic work and research on easily transmitted pathogens that can cause fatal diseases, including the Ebola virus.





The Wuhan national level-four biosafety lab recently passed an assessment organized by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, according to a news release on Friday from the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.





After evaluating such things as the lab's management of personnel, facilities, animals, disposals and viruses, experts believed the lab is qualified to carry out experiments on highly pathogenic microorganisms that can cause fatal diseases, such as Marburg, Variola, Nipah and Ebola.





"The lab provides a complete, world-leading biosafety system. This means Chinese scientists can study the most dangerous pathogenic microorganisms in their own lab," the Wuhan institute said.





It will serve as the country's research and development center on prevention and control of infectious diseases, as a pathogen collection center and as the United Nations' reference laboratory for infectious diseases, the institute said.





Previous media reports said the Wuhan P4 lab will be open to scientists from home and abroad. Scientists can conduct research on anti-virus drugs and vaccines in the lab.





The lab is part of Sino-French cooperation in the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases, according to the news release.





The central government approved the P4 laboratory in 2003 when the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome spread alarm across the country. In October 2004, China signed a cooperation agreement with France on the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases. This was followed by a succession of supplementary agreements.





With French assistance in laboratory design, biosafety standards establishment and personnel training, construction began in 2011 and lasted for three years. In 2015, the lab was put into trial operation.




Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday asked senior officials to consistently uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and promote the "great new project of Party building."

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the opening of a workshop attended by newly-elected members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as provincial and ministerial-level officials, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 5, 2018. The workshop is focused on the study and implementation of "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the opening of a workshop attended by newly-elected members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as provincial and ministerial-level officials.

The workshop is focused on the study and implementation of "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress.

Xi said that CPC Central Committee members and provincial and ministerial-level officials are "crucial" to the sound governance of the Party and the country.

He called on the officials to raise their political awareness, adopt a historical perspective, reinforce theoretical thinking, think in big-picture terms and improve their knowledge and intellectual attainments, so as to think and understand major theoretical and practical issues with broader perspectives.

"Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era must be upheld consistently as it is both the achievement and continuation of the people's great social revolutions led by the CPC," Xi said. "Both history and reality have proved that a long historical process is needed for a social revolution to be declared a final victory."

"We can grasp the essence of many problems only by looking back the path we have taken, comparing it with others' path and looking to the road ahead -- understanding where we came from and where are going," he said.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics does not drop from the sky, but comes out of 40 years of reform and opening up and the practice of exploration since the establishment of the People's Republic of China nearly 70 years ago, Xi said.

It is also the result of the 97-year practice of the people's great social revolutions under the CPC leadership, the 170-plus-year historical process during which the Chinese nation has become prosperous from decline, and the inheritance and development of Chinese civilization in the past 5,000-plus years, he added.

"It is extremely difficult to achieve this outcome," the president said.p The success of scientific socialism in China is of great importance for Marxism, scientific socialism and socialism across the world. It is most fundamental for the CPC to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics so as to realize its historic mission in the new era, Xi said.

"To remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind, we should not forget that we are communists and revolutionaries and should not lose revolutionary spirit," Xi said.

"The success yesterday does not mean that we can be always successful, and the glory of the past does not mean that the future can always be glorious," Xi said, adding that CPC members are like exam-takers and their results will be reviewed by the people.

All members of the Party should keep the revolutionary spirit and be brave to ensure the 97-year social revolutions achieve prosperity and enduring peace and stability, Xi said.

"The Party must not take pride in victory nor retreat from difficulty," Xi said, urging efforts for a more powerful of truth to be heard from socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The Party should have the courage to carry out self-reform and become stronger in order to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, he said. "To have the courage to carry out self-reform and conduct strict self-governance is the most distinctive part of our Party's character."

The great new project of Party building plays a decisive role in realizing the country's great cause and dream, he added.

The CPC should promote social revolutions led by the Party by self-reform, and build the Party into a vibrant Marxist governing party that is always at the forefront of the times, enjoys the wholehearted support of the people, has the courage to reform itself, and is able to withstand all tests, Xi said.

He urged the Party to consolidate basis, innovate, grasp the key points and judge from the overall situation to push forward the great new project of Party building in the new era.

It is not easy to stay ready to protect against potential dangers in time of peace, to maintain the hard-working and motivated spirit in time of success, or to keep modest and frugal and remain true to the original aspiration after one coming into power, Xi said.

Neither is it effortless to exercise strict discipline to officials and prevent and fight corruption at ordinary time or to follow the tide of the times and respond to the wishes of the people at the junctures of significant changes.

"To remain at the vanguard of the times, the backbone of the nation, and a Marxist governing party, our Party must always hold itself to the highest standards," he said.

Xi said the senior officials, also known as the "key few," are crucial to Party governance. He told them to have firm convictions and take the lead to embrace deep belief in and faithfully practice Communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

He required the officials to take a clear political stand in ideology and to uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee, implement the Party's political line and strictly observe the Party's political discipline and rules in practice.

He asked them to enhance their sense of responsibility, strengthen their calibre and abilities, and improve their work style and conduct, urging them to serve the people wholeheartedly.

Action against the practice of formality for formality's sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance must be carried out persistently, he said.

Xi said officials should strengthen ethics and pursue healthy interests to keep up with the high standards of clean governance and self-discipline.

He stressed that the more achievements China makes, the more prudent and prepared officials should become to avoid making strategic and subversive mistakes.

Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said when presiding over the workshop's opening ceremony that Xi's remarks expounded the consistency in sticking to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, in "the great new project of Party building", and in increasing sense of precaution and prevention against risks and challenges.

"The words are significant in guiding us to thoroughly understand and implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, and understand and grasp 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era'," Li said.

Other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng also attended the workshop.
You are here: China

Police in Xingtai City in north China's Hebei Province have arrested 11 drug suspects.

About 2.4 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than 2,000 tablets of magu, a stimulant composed of methamphetamine and caffeine, 500 grams of ketamine, and 40 grams of heroin were seized, together with 8 pistols and more than 400 bullets, local police said on Friday.

In October, Xingtai police caught two drug users who led them to a drug dealer surnamed Liu in Chongqing and another one surnamed Song in Hubei Province.

The police then went to Chongqing and arrested Liu. Song was caught later in Qianjiang, Hubei Province. The rest of the gang were captured by the end of 2017.

The case is still under investigation.
You are here: China

All Chinese astronauts who have traveled to space have reviewed the oath they took when they joined a special People's Liberation Army battalion.





The ceremony has been held as part of a series of events to celebrate the 20 birthday of the battalion.

The battalion is responsible for training China's astronauts.

During the latest ceremony, the astronauts pledged to train harder in the days ahead so as to stand ready for space missions at any time.

The PLA battalion for astronaut training was created in in January, 1998.

14 pilots were initially selected to launch the new battalion's training programs.

7 new pilots were added to the unit in 2010, bringing the total number of China's astronauts to 21.

11 of them have made trips to space on the heels of Yang Liwei to become the first Chinese astronaut in space in 2003. 51-year-old Jing Haipeng currently holds the Chinese record for space flights at three.

China was a late comer to space exploration, not sending its first satellite into orbit until 1971.

However, Chinese authorities have pumped enormous amounts of money and resources to back the country's space missions.

Plans are underway to establish China's own space station, an alternative to the existing International Space Station after it retires over the coming decade, by 2022.

A prototype of the planned station, Tiangong-2, was launched into space in 2016.

Chinese space scientists are currently looking at the possibility of sending Chinese astronauts to the moon at around 2035.




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Rainey, Kizer, Reviere and Bell, PLC announced the opening of its Chattanooga office, continuing the firms expansion across Tennessee. The new office will be staffed by the attorneys of the Chattanooga firm of Baker, Kinsman, Hollis & Clelland, P.C., founded in 1984, as the entire firm joins Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell, PLC effective Jan. 1.

With the addition of Baker, Kinsmans attorneys, Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell, PLC will have more than 40 attorneys serving its clients from its five offices across Tennessee, including Memphis, Jackson, and Nashville. Through the opening of its Chattanooga office, the firm expands the reach of its business and litigation practices and will have lawyers licensed to practice in Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Georgia to better serve its clients throughout the Mid-South.



N. Mark Kinsman.Mr. Kinsman received his Bachelor of Business Administration and law degrees from the University of Georgia. He focuses his insurance defense practice on handling insurance fraud, arson, insurance coverage case for insurers throughout Tennessee. Mark also defends people and companies in personal injury, construction, real estate professional liability, employment law, and other business-related litigation.



Joe Hollis. Mr. Hollis graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts degree and obtained his law degree from the Mercer University School of Law. He has a diverse insurance defense practice and handles cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, common carrier, and general liability.



Wilfred (Fred) Clelland. Mr. Clelland obtained his Bachelor of Arts, MBA, and law degrees from the University of Tennessee. He is licensed in Tennessee and Georgia and regularly defends cases on behalf of his clients in both states. He defends insurance companies and other corporate entities in numerous types of cases, including personal injury and business litigation.



Stephany Pedigo. Ms. Pedigo obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee and graduated from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham. She is licensed to practice in Tennessee and Georgia and regularly handles cases in both jurisdictions. She maintains a diverse practice, including handling insurance and personal injury defense cases; providing estate planning, wills, and handling probate issues; and handling conservatorship matters for people who can no longer manage their own affairs.
Will we see an Iranian revolution in 2018? This topic is not a theoretical discussion but what regime-change fanatics are starting their articles with. Iran has witnessed a week of violence, and the protest seems to stem from Iranian economic stagnation. Cries of death to the dictator are in the air, which means death to Iran's supreme leader, which is a capital offence under Iranian law.

Over 20 people are already dead, and Iran's leaders, both moderate and hardliners, are somewhat flabbergasted as to what the next move might be, as no one expected this backlash. Some of them are darkly hinting at a plausible Saudi effort to destabilize the regime by providing funding to Sunni insurgent groups.

This is a tricky situation for the international community, which can be observed from the silence from Iranian partners like India and the EU. Not a single word has come out of the EU bureaucracy, or from traditional regional partners like India. But it also is a tricky situation for traditional Iranian opponents. The Israeli PM, while being superficially supportive, is asking his ministers to pipe down on actively opposing Tehran's government. The British and American governments are also not actively doing anything other than releasing rhetorical attacks on Iran and stating that Iran needs to care about the "democratic aspirations" of its protestors. The reason might be due to the simple fact that everyone is wary of another Middle Eastern spring, this time involving a major military power in Persia  it is a positively nightmarish scenario.

Order is better than chaos and anarchy, that's the fundamental logic behind foreign policy. Unlike in 2009, where actual grassroots level protests rocked the country, this time it is sporadic, and more violent. In fact according to Iran experts on Twitter, the potential of violence is actually scaring off the protesters from a decade back. No one wants to see another Libya or Syria in their country, not even the ones who are arguably repressed.

That's not noticeable amongst the twitter experts and social media commentators however. But given the experience of Iraq, there are questions which need to be answered before anyone can suggest any policy course. Who are the people pushing for a Persian spring in Iran that are based in U.S. and Europe, and how much does the foreign based expat Iranian community's aspirations reflect the Iranians who are in the country? Iran is after all an electoral democracy, that's more than could be said about any Sunni powers in the region. Iranian expats, especially those who have lived for more than two generations abroad will have a warped view of realities on the ground, and may view the situation from their own perspectives, which might or might not be beneficial for the national interests of other powers. Imagine the arguments from Iraqi expats about toppling Saddam, or by Libyan expats about Gaddafi. How's that working out?

Secondly, everyone should be careful before they argue about interfering in the sovereign matters of another power. Where does this stop? Tomorrow, if Iran funds Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives matters, there won't be any logical counter arguments against such. There's a reason Westphalian nation states agreed to the principle of non-interference in the sovereignty of other states. It is because the concept is like nuclear deterrence, a sort of Mutually Assured Destruction.

One therefore might be very careful of what one wishes for, especially from a Western foreign policy perspective. Regimes might be brutal, but as long as they are providing stability and order, they are better than complete chaos. Iran, and Iran funded Shia militias are all over the region from Yemen to Syria. The Iranian government still enjoys a majority of support from the people of Iran, who more importantly than not, do not want any foreign interference. The previous "springs" also didn't result in liberal outcomes; from Iraq, to Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Syria, and there's no evidence to believe this time it will be any different. The prudent policy is therefore to wait and observe, instead of pouring fuel on the fire.

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.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that he wanted 2018 to be the year during which people in both Japan and China recognize "great improvement" in bilateral relations.

Abe made the remarks at a New Year celebration party organized by Jiji Press in Tokyo.

The Japanese prime minister has signaled his willingness to improve relations with China on a number of occasions in the second half of 2017, according to local reports.

He said last month during a speech in Tokyo that as 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, he wanted to take this opportunity to deepen high-level exchanges with China and elevate bilateral relations to a "new stage."




 Flash

South Sudan on Friday commended China's continued financial and technical assistance to the health sector of the war-torn east African nation.





Health Minister Riek Gai Kok said health cooperation between South Sudan and China in the past six years has had enormous impact on the country's health sector.





China has become South Sudan's leading donor of pharmaceuticals, grants and a major partner in capacity building for South Sudanese health professionals, the minister said.





A grant of about 33 million U.S. dollars provided by the Chinese government in 2013 to modernize and expand health facilities in the war-ravaged country has greatly improved health care across South Sudan, he said.





Last year, China offered short training programs to over 250 South Sudanese doctors in different areas of specialization.





"Our relations with China is very excellent and we have seen what China has done to this country in the past six years," Kok told reporters during an inspection visit to a China-aided project for modernization and expansion of Juba Teaching Hospital, South Sudan's biggest referral hospital.





"The health facilities constructed by Chinese grants will go for generations providing services and standing very firm as a symbol of our relationship with China," he said.





The minister also lauded China's donation of 28 containers consisting of transport and communication devices, medical equipment to support the Boma Health Initiative, a community-based project that seeks to bring health services to grass-root communities.





"When we launched the community health initiative (Boma Health Initiative) last year, the first country to come to our support was China. They supplied us with tools, equipment, which were delivered quickly," Kok said. "That shows China's commitment to our country's health sector."





Economic and Commercial Councilor Zhang Yi at the Chinese Embassy in South Sudan said Beijing is committed to improving South Sudan's health sector by offering financial assistance and capacity building to health professionals.





"With all our struggles and efforts, the cooperation between the two countries can move the whole health sector in South Sudan and improve the livelihood of the South Sudanese people," Zhang said.





Zhang urged the South Sudanese people to embrace peace for development to take place in the country devastated by four years of civil war.





"We sincerely hope that the peace process and resumption of stability could be moving forward," he said. "Peace and development are just like twins. Without peace, you can hardly make any development, and without development, no peace can be sustained."




You are here: World

 Flash

At least seven people including six school children were killed and 10 others injured Friday after their bus collided head-on with a goods truck in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, local officials said.





The accident took place near Bicholi road in Indore district, about 192 km west of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh.





"In a tragic accident here this evening, a school bus collided with a truck which resulted in death of six children and the bus driver," an official at Indore district told Xinhua.





"Ten school children injured in the accident were immediately rushed to nearest medical facility," said the official.





Reports said the bus was carrying students back to their homes, when it met an accident. Police have registered a case and ordered investigations to ascertain the actual reason behind the accident.




 Flash

A massive winter storm paralyzed much of the US East Coast on Thursday and Friday, dumping as much as 46 centimeters of snow from the Carolinas to Maine. It also caused flooding on the streets of Boston due to swelling storm tides, forced the cancellation of nearly 5,000 flights and closed businesses, offices and schools.





Forecasters expected the stormwhich some meteorologists classified as a "bomb cyclone" for its sharp drop in atmospheric pressurewould be followed immediately by a blast of cold air that could break records in more than two dozen cities and bring wind chills as low as -40 C during the weekend.





From Baltimore, Maryland, to Caribou in Maine, efforts were underway to clear roadways of ice and snow as wind chill temperatures were to plunge during the day, reaching -40 C in some parts after sundown, according to the National Weather Service.





Utility companies across the East worked to repair downed power lines early on Friday as about 21,000 customers remained without electricity, down from almost 80,000 the day before, and issued warnings that temperatures may become dangerously low.





"If the temperature in your home begins to fall, we recommend taking shelter elsewhere until service can be restored. You can find warming centers by contacting local authorities," National Grid power company, which serves Massachusetts, said on Twitter.





Airlines canceled 4,000 flights on Thursday and hundreds more on Friday, according to FlightAware.com, an online tracking service.





New York City was among the hardest hit, with up to about 20 cm of snow in Manhattan and 38 cm on the eastern end of Long Island. Wind gusts topped 65 kilometers per hour in Manhattan and neared 95 km/h on Long Island.





Mayor Bill de Blasio said it could feel like -30 C on Friday and Saturday nights with the wind chill.





"This is a serious, serious storm," he said at a news conference.





New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the southern part of the state, while New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency for several counties.




 Flash

Washington's relations with Pyongyang are expected to be US President Donald Trump's greatest foreign policy challenge in 2018, as tensions continue to simmer between the two nations, US experts said.





Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at a high point not seen in several years, as Trump wants Pyongyang to halt development of nuclear weapons that could hit the United States, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea believes that having nuclear weapons is the only way to defend itself from the US.





"The president has raised the stakes by staking out a clear position on no nuclear weapons for North Korea and severe limits on missile testing. This year could very well be the time that, unless there is a diplomatic breakthrough, he takes decisive action on these goals," said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank the Brookings Institute.





"That could involve targeted military strikes or a full-scale embargo on North Korea. Either way, it will be a dramatic time with lots of consequences for many countries around the world," West said, referring to 2018.





Trump has repeatedly said that military options remain on the table, and it remains unknown which course of action he will take.





"Each course has major risks, but Trump appears to have concluded that maintaining the status quo is not an acceptable alternative. He has indicated he is open to many different options, including military strikes on the DPRK's launch capabilities. He seems very serious about resolving this issue this year," West said.





Meanwhile, in his New Year speech, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un sent a conciliatory message to the Republic of Korea, saying that his country was willing to participate in the Winter Olympics being hosted by the ROK.





ROK offers dialogue





The following day, Seoul offered to hold a dialogue on Jan 9 with Pyongyang at the Peace House in the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily guarded inter-Korean land border.





However, skeptics said that the Sunshine Policy of a decade ago, which promoted warmer relations between the two neighbors, failed to halt Pyongyang's nuclear progress.





In the same speech, Kim threatened that the DPRK is capable of striking the US with nuclear weapons at any moment.





Despite Pyongyang's willingness to talk to its southern neighbor, experts said the DPRK will not be letting go of its nuclear weapons program anytime soon.





"Though we cannot rule out a preventive strike against North Korea entirely, the threat of a messy war in East Asia that shoves the world back into economic recession is a steep price to pay," said Rodger Baker, vice-president of strategic analysis at Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence group.





Last year saw tense relations between Trump and Kim, with the two leaders exchanging barbs, insults and threats. Analysts expect this year to be no different, adding that 2018 may be a decisive year regarding tensions on the Korean Peninsula.





But analysts are cautioning the two leaders to cool their anger toward each other, so that their bluster does not lead down a dangerous path of no return.




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Here is the upcoming City Council agenda for Tuesday:

I. Call to Order.



II. Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation (Chairman Mitchell).



III. Minute Approval.



IV. Special Presentation.



V. Ordinances  Final Reading:



PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION



Transportation



a. An ordinance to amend the Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 2, Sections 2-65

through 2-66; Chapter 32, Article I, Definitions, Section 32-16; Article III,

Excavations and Restoration of Paving, Sections 32-62 through 32-68; and Article

XI, Telecommunications Services; Franchises for Telecommunications Services,

Sections 32-224, and 32-231 through 32-270.

(Sponsored by Vice-ChairmanSmith) (Deferred from 12/19/17)VI. Ordinances  First Reading:PLANNINGa. 2017-158 Stephen Holmes (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone properties located in the 400 block of Dogwood Lane, moreparticularly described herein, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone.(District 1) (Recommended for denial by Planning and Staff) (Deferred from12/12/17)2017-158 Stephen Holmes (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone properties located in the 400 block of Dogwood Lane, moreparticularly described herein, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone,subject to certain conditions. (Alternate Version)b. 2017-184 Fickling & Company, Inc. (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone).An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 6038 Hixson Pike, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone, subject tocertain conditions. (District 3) (Recommended for approval by Planning andrecommended for deferral by Staff)2017-184 Fickling & Company, Inc. (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone).An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 6038 Hixson Pike, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (ApplicantVersion)c. 2017-185 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone part of property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone, subject to certainconditions. (District 4) (Recommended for approval by Planning andrecommended for denial by Staff)2017-185 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone part of property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone. (ApplicantVersion)d. 2017-180 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to A-1 Urban AgriculturalZone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to A-1 Urban Agricultural Zone.(District 4) (Recommended for approval by Planning and Staff)e. An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, Article II, Section 38-2, Definitions and Article IV, Section 38-32,General Regulations, Lot Frontage, Setback not to be Reduced Exception to add adefinition for sewer availability strip and to exclude sewer availability strips fromminimum lot frontage requirements.f. An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, Article V, Division 10, Section 38-137, Environmental Requirements todelete and add a cross-reference to City Code Chapter 31, Article VIII, StormwaterManagement.PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATIONTransportationg. MR-2017-156 Wilhelmenia L. Richardson (Abandonment). An ordinance closingand abandoning a portion of an unopened alley off the 500 block of TunnelBoulevard, as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions. (District 9)(Recommended for approval by Transportation)VII. Resolutions:ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTa. A resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute a First Amendment to Extend stadiumand parking complex lease with The Stadium Corporation, in substantially the formattached, for the management of the Finley Stadium and parking complex for anadditional term of twenty (20) years commencing October 1, 2017, and terminatingon September 30, 2037. (District 7)HUMAN RESOURCESb. A resolution authorizing the appointment of Trevis Swilley, as a special police officer(unarmed) for the Land Development Office, to do special duty as prescribed herein,subject to certain conditions.c. A resolution authorizing the appointment of James Piercy, as a special police officer(unarmed) for the Human Resources Department, to do special duty as prescribedherein, subject to certain conditions.OFFICE OF MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRSd. A resolution authorizing the Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs to enterinto a contract with CoLab to establish a local KIVA Chattanooga Program, with theCitys portion in the amount of $43,000.00, for a total amount of $213,000.00.PLANNINGe. Hixson Liquor, Inc.-Michael A. Wolff, Sr., M.D. (Special Exceptions Permit). Aresolution approving a Special Exceptions Permit for an existing liquor store, changein ownership, located at 6401 Hixson Pike, Suite A. (District 3)f. A resolution adopting the updated Land Use Policy for the Lookout Valley Area Planfor those properties fronting Browns Ferry Road between Interstate 24 andCummings Highway.PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATIONTransportationg. A resolution authorizing Billingsley Architecture c/o Kelley H. Hutchings, on behalfof property owner, R. Steve Hunt or Republic Centre, LLC, to use temporarily theright-of-way located at 615 Chestnut Street for the purpose of installing canopiesattached to the building, as shown on the maps attached hereto and made a part hereofby reference, subject to certain conditions. (District 7)h. A resolution authorizing Lewin Homes c/o Justin White, on behalf of property owner,W. Stephen Lewin, to use temporarily the unopened right-of-way located behind5010 Tennessee Avenue for the purpose of construction access to the rear of theproperty, as shown on the maps attached hereto and made a part hereof by reference,subject to certain conditions. (District 7)i. A resolution authorizing Jeff Cannon, agent, on behalf of property owner, Erik Zilen,to use temporarily the right-of-way located along the south side of Johnson Streetnear the intersection of Passenger Street for the purpose of constructing a dumpsterenclosure with roll-out dumpster for use by multiple area businesses, as shown on themaps attached hereto and made a part hereof by reference, subject to certainconditions. (District 8)VIII. Purchases.IX. Other Business.a. Hixson Liquor, Inc.-Michael A. Wolff, Sr., M.D. - Certificate of ComplianceX. Committee Reports.XI. Recognition of Persons Wishing to Address the Council on Non-Agenda Matters.XII. Adjournment.TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018CITY COUNCIL AGENDA6:00 PM1. Call to Order.2. Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation (Vice Chairman Smith).3. Minute Approval.4. Special Presentations.5. Ordinances  Final Reading:PLANNINGa. 2017-158 Stephen Holmes (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone properties located in the 400 block of Dogwood Lane, moreparticularly described herein, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone.(District 1) (Recommended for denial by Planning and Staff) (Deferred from12/12/17)2017-158 Stephen Holmes (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone properties located in the 400 block of Dogwood Lane, moreparticularly described herein, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone,subject to certain conditions. (Alternate Version)b. 2017-184 Fickling & Company, Inc. (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone).An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 6038 Hixson Pike, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone, subject tocertain conditions. (District 3) (Recommended for approval by Planning andrecommended for deferral by Staff)2017-184 Fickling & Company, Inc. (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone).An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 6038 Hixson Pike, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (ApplicantVersion)c. 2017-185 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone part of property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone, subject to certainconditions. (District 4) (Recommended for approval by Planning andrecommended for denial by Staff)2017-185 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone). Anordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance,so as to rezone part of property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-4 Special Zone. (ApplicantVersion)d. 2017-180 Philip and Jennifer Clay (R-1 Residential Zone to A-1 Urban AgriculturalZone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, so as to rezone property located at 7628 Davidson Road, more particularlydescribed herein, from R-1 Residential Zone to A-1 Urban Agricultural Zone.(District 4) (Recommended for approval by Planning and Staff)e. An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, Article II, Section 38-2, Definitions and Article IV, Section 38-32,General Regulations, Lot Frontage, Setback not to be Reduced Exception to add adefinition for sewer availability strip and to exclude sewer availability strips fromminimum lot frontage requirements.f. An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, ZoningOrdinance, Article V, Division 10, Section 38-137, Environmental Requirements todelete and add a cross-reference to City Code Chapter 31, Article VIII, StormwaterManagement.PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATIONTransportationg. MR-2017-156 Wilhelmenia L. Richardson (Abandonment). An ordinance closingand abandoning a portion of an unopened alley off the 500 block of TunnelBoulevard, as detailed on the attached map, subject to certain conditions. (District 9)(Recommended for approval by Transportation)6. Ordinances  First Reading:PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATIONTransportationa. MR-2017-155 ECGT, LLC ? Gabe Thomas (Abandonment). An ordinance closingand abandoning an unopened alley off the 400 block of Ziegler Street, as detailed onthe attached map, subject to certain conditions. (District 2) (Recommended forapproval by Transportation)7. Resolutions:PLANNINGa. Choo Choo Partners, LP-Ridgecroft Distillery, LLC (Special Exceptions Permit). Aresolution authorizing Ridgecroft Distillery, LLC to operate an intoxicating liquorsmanufacturing plant and approving a Special Exceptions Permit for a distillery(small) at 1400 Market Street, Suite 108. (District 8)PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATIONTransportationb. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Transportation toenter into a Partnership Agreement, Project No. T-17-010 with LIV Development,LLC for the Passenger Street reconstruction and extension and to accept the designand engineering certification of the design of the Passenger Street reconstruction.(District 8)8. Purchases.9. Other Business.10. Committee Reports.11. Recognition of Persons Wishing to Address the Council on Non-Agenda Matters.12. Adjournment.
A Signal Mountain man has been charged with shooting another man in the hand.

Nathan Robert Davis, 35, of 451 Timberlinks Dr., was charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated domestic assault.

Signal Mountain Police said Jim Hicks came into the station with a bullet wound to his right hand. He said Davis, who lives in the house beside him, shot him.

The victim was bleeding so medical help was summoned.

He said Davis, who is also his cousin, walked up to where he was on his porch. He said he was armed with a small silver and black .22 caliber handgun.

He said when Davis pointed the gun directly at his face that he grabbed the gun with his right hand. He said there was a struggle and the gun went off.

The bullet went through the meaty portion of his hand between his thumb and his pointer finger.

He said he shoved Davis back because his mother and his daughter were just inside the house.

He said Davis then began yelling that he (Hicks) had been by his house "messing" with him.

Police found Davis in his bedroom lying on his bed with the gun beside him.

He said he thought Hicks had been outside his house messing with him.

Police said Davis "kept saying he should not have done what he did."

There was one spent shell jammed in the gun. Several other shells were found in Davis' Jacket pocket.
The signing of a Free Trade Agreement last month between China and the Maldives, the first bilateral trade agreement between the two sides, is a landmark for the Indian Ocean nation. The two countries agreed to deepen cooperation in a wide range of areas, including marine environment, fisheries and tourism. The Maldives' main export is fish, primarily skipjack and yellow-fin tuna, either processed and canned or fresh sold at a premium, thanks to the sustainable pole-and-line fishing techniques used by Maldivian fishermen. From our (the Maldives') perspective, the free trade pact with China will help businesses that export fish products, by giving them the opportunity to expand exports to China at zero tariff.

But there is more to this relationship than mere commerce. The decision to pursue a free trade agreement was first mooted during President Xi Jinping's historic state visit to the Maldives in September 2014. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Maldives, and the two countries' relationship is more than just symbolic and thus endurable.

The first meeting of the China-Maldives Joint Committee on Marine Cooperation will be held soon. Law enforcement and security officials of the two countries will enhance exchanges and cooperation in anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, personnel training, and other areas.
China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd's first China-Russia multimodal transportation service kicked off on Friday from Tianjin, headed for Moscow with 46 containers measuring 40 feet (1,220 cm) long.

The train will also stop in Ereenhot, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region; Zamyn-Uud, Mongolia; and Naushki, Russia.

It will take 14 days to complete the 7,600 kilometer trip to Moscow.
BUENOS AIRES - A new shipment of Chinese-made locomotives have arrived in the Port of Buenos Aires to revive Argentina's key Belgrano Cargas cargo train network.

The eight locomotives will form part of a strategic rail line that traverses northern Argentina's agricultural heartland, connecting producers with the eastern export hub of Rosario, a port located 300 kilometers north of the capital.

Manufactured by China's CRRC Qishuyan, a subsidiary of the CRRC Corporation Limited, the locomotives are part of a comprehensive plan to reactivate Argentina's rail system by modernizing its aging infrastructure.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump said hes a very stable genius, a day after a new book about the presidents first year in the White House -- dismissed by Trump as fiction -- claimed that many of his top aides and confidants consider him unfit to hold office.

Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames, Trump said on Twitter early Saturday.

Trump is at the Camp David presidential retreat in rural Maryland, where he held meetings Friday afternoon and Saturday with top Republican lawmakers, White House aides and several Cabinet members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on legislative goals for the year and other pressing matters.

In the tweets, Trump added that hed gone from being a very successful businessman to top TV star ....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!

Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

Trump defended his mental abilities at a press conference at Camp David on Saturday, recapping his path from the best university, where he said he was an excellent student, to a successful business and television career before pursuing politics.

Dysfunction and Chaos

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, speaking to reporters on the sidelines, said he hadnt seen the presidents latest tweets but that Trump feels he can use Twitter to get his perspective directly to the public.

The comments follow the release of Michael Wolffs book, Fire and Fury, which details dysfunction, chaos and incompetence in the Trump White House -- claims the administration has denied. Wolff said in an interview with NBC Friday that 100 percent of the people around the president question his intelligence and fitness for office.

I consider it a work of fiction, Trump said of the book at his press conference.

Physical Scheduled

Trump, 71, is scheduled for a physical on Jan. 12 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, consistent with the practice of previous presidents.

In his Twitter messages Trump said his detractors, including Democrats and the media, were shifting from stories about Russian collusion with members of his campaign team, which hes repeatedly denied, to focusing on his fitness for office.

Those critics are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence, Trump told his 46 million Twitter followers.

Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, disclosed in November 1994, almost six years after leaving office, that hed been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease earlier that year. He died in 2004.

The stable genius comment followed several days in which Trump, having returned to Washington on Jan. 1 after spending the Christmas holidays at his club in Florida, produced a series of inflammatory and seemingly scatter-shot tweets.

Bigger Button

This week alone he boasted about having a much bigger & more powerful nuclear button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, took credit for the absence of commercial plane crashes in 2017, and urged Jail! for Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Clinton. In the same Jan. 2 message, Trump assailed the Deep State Justice Department -- the latest in a series of confrontational comments about the U.S. law enforcement agency.

The publication of Wolffs book, initially via explosive excerpts focused on Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon and in its entirety on Friday, sapped the momentum with which the president entered 2018 after the passage of a Republican tax overhaul bill in late December.

Defensive Mode

Instead of focusing on legislative priorities ahead of mid-term elections in November, Trump and the White House spent the week in defensive mode. That included a public falling out with Bannon, since nicknamed Sloppy Steve by the president, and the dispatch of a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Wolffs publisher, Henry Holt & Co. stop distribution of the book. The company instead moved up the publication date by several days.

This weekends retreat will be a chance to refocus. The White House late Friday distributed photographs of Trump flanked by Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan at a working dinner, and holding court at a meeting with lawmakers, aides and Vice President Mike Pence.

McConnell, speaking beside Trump on Saturday, said 2017 had been the most consequential year for right-of-center Americans, largely thanks to Trump.

On Thursday, Trump on Twitter called the book phony and full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. He followed that at Camp David by saying Wolffs interviews with him were imaginary and adding that he wishes U.S. libel laws were stronger.

Libel laws are very weak in this country. If they were strong it would be very helpful, Trump said.

Wolff has been making the rounds to discuss his work. Wolff, whose previous books include a biography of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, said he stands by everything in Fire and Fury and has notes and recordings to back it up.

They all say he is like a child, Wolff told NBC. What they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. Its all about him.

This man does not read, does not listen. Hes like a pinball, just shooting off the sides, Wolff added. They say hes a moron, an idiot.

Its absolutely outrageous to make these types of allegations about Trumps mental fitness, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Fox News on Friday.

Theyre desperate attempts to attack Trump, she said. Whats I think is really mentally unstable is people not seeing the progress the president is making.

While the president said he never spoke to Wolff for the book, the author said he spoke to Trump during the campaign and after the inauguration. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, the conversations werent off the record, Wolff said.

Wolff said that his sources told him Trump repeats stories over an increasingly short time period, and that he sometimes doesnt recognize longtime friends.

Trumps campaign released a letter from his doctor in September 2016, several weeks before the election, saying he was in excellent physical health. The upcoming physical will be his first known exam by a government doctor since taking office. Past presidents have also undergone periodic exams by government physicians who released statements afterward.

--With assistance from Laura Curtis and Jennifer Epstein

To contact the reporters on this story: Arit John in Washington at ajohn34@bloomberg.net, Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Kenneth Pringle

2018 Bloomberg L.P.
This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power.
WASHINGTON - If President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are right, the $1.5 trillion tax cut plan they sped into law last month will make individuals and businesses more prosperous. Paychecks will grow. Stocks will surge further. Consumers will spend more. The economy will accelerate.

Critics counter that the tax plan will mainly enrich the already wealthy and swell corporate profits while leaving most ordinary households with comparatively modest tax cuts - and, eventually, tax hikes.

So how best to judge who's right?

As soon as summer, it may become clear whether the tax cuts have unleashed stronger consumer spending. But it could take years to know whether many people are enjoying the generous pay raises.

Here are five ways to assess whether the tax plan is delivering on its promises:

Are you spending more?

The tax cuts were sold as a way to turbocharge spending on cars, appliances, home projects and splurges out at restaurants. All that is tracked by the government as retail sales, which are up a decent 4.2 percent year to date.

By February, workers should begin receiving more take-home pay because the tax cut means that a lesser portion of their income will be withheld for taxes. With more money in their pockets, consumers typically spend more. If that pattern holds true again, spending at retailers could begin rising within months.

Yet there's also the risk that the tax cuts - spread out over 26 paychecks this year - might feel too paltry for some Americans to notice or care enough to step up their spending. Others might be inclined to use their tax savings to pay health care or child care costs, in which case the boost to retail spending - the economy's primary fuel - might not budge much.

More stock gains?

Trump, a billionaire businessman, treats the stock market as an emblem of his success. He boasts frequently about record high stock indexes as proof that his economic agenda has already cheered investors, emboldened businesses and enriched most Americans.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has climbed more than 22 percent since Trump's 2016 election. Many stock analysts have suggested that the stock market has likely priced in much of the higher profits that might result from slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. But Gary Cohn, Trump's top economic adviser, has asserted that the stock market had yet to fully account for how much the tax cuts would boost profit margins.

Even if stock market keeps rising, it would intensify what critics say the tax cuts would do overall: reward the rich and neglect pretty much everyone else, thereby further widening the nation's wealth gap. Less than half of U.S. households own any stocks, even in retirement accounts.

A more robust economy?

Trump administration officials have asserted that the tax cuts would propel the economy ahead at a sustained 3 percent annual rate year after year, up from a recent annual pace of roughly 2 percent.

Their idea is that companies would invest in new equipment, which would increase worker productivity and wages. Those workers would then spend their windfalls and help accelerate the economy.

Trump has gone so far as to forecast annual growth of as much as 6 percent a year - a boast that draws widespread skepticism among mainstream economists.

Cranking out more goods?

Trump has said that lower corporate tax rates will draw factories back to the United States from overseas Last month, the president cited an example: The owner of the New England Patriots would be investing in a paper mill.

"A friend of mine, Bob Kraft, called me last night, and he said this tax bill is incredible," the president said. "And he said, based on this tax bill, he just wanted to let me know that he's going to buy a big plant in the great state of North Carolina, and he's going to build a tremendous paper mill there."

The government monitors the manufacturing sector's performance, so any changes will become evident in that data over the next few years.

Is your pay up?

Trump says lower business tax rates will lead to handsome pay raises for workers. An average household would receive an additional $4,000 a year, according to Trump's top economist, Kevin Hassett. That's equivalent to a nearly 5 percent pay hike.

Almost no mainstream economist envisions anything close to that much pay growth. A number of companies, including AT&T, Comcast and Wells Fargo, have recently paid bonuses to employees - as a result, they said, of the lower tax rates. But most Americans will know if the corporate tax cuts are helping them only if some of the tax savings goes into significant pay increases, not just one-time bonuses. The best measure on a month-by-month basis comes from the government's jobs report: Average hourly earnings.

Some economists say it could take more than a year to assess whether the tax cuts have raised pay broadly. But Hassett said the tax cuts could be the very spark needed to ignite higher wages.

"It's precisely now that we buy insurance for that wage growth with a big tax reform," he said.
A judge sentenced a 23-year-old Richmond woman to six years in prison Thursday for a 2016 apartment fire she started to get revenge at her cheating ex-boyfriend.

Sierra Renee Davis pleaded guilty in November to setting fire to an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Thompson Road the night of Aug. 23, 2016, according to a press release from the Fort Bend District Attorneys Office.

Several families were sleeping -- including a downstairs neighbor with four children -- when Davis broke a window and ignited a curtain, according to testimony. As a result of the fire, the children needed counseling and the complex suffered $100,000 in damages.

Davis sought revenge on a former boyfriend who had cheated on her, saying she wanted to make "him feel the pain I was feeling," according to the press release.

Witnesses told arson investigators that the day before the fire, Davis had tried to burn an apartment unit and a vehicle. Davis confessed to investigators that she set four fires in the prior two days -- two to an apartment unit and two to a vehicle in the parking lot.

During the sentence hearing's cross-examination, Davis said she was under the influence of "weed," Xanax and alcohol when she set the fire.



Following the fire, police arrested Davis at the daycare center where she was employed.

"The loss of life in this case could have been catastrophic and the court's decision today helps protect the community and our first responders from further danger," Assistant District Attorney Abdul Farukhi said.
FIREBAUGH, Calif. - Nicholas Andrew Flores swatted at the flies orbiting his sweat-drenched face as he picked alongside a crew of immigrants through a cantaloupe field in California's Central Valley.

He didn't speak Spanish, but he understood the essential words the foreman barked out: "Puro amarillo." And "rapido, rapido!" Quickly, Flores picked only yellow melons and flung them onto a moving platform.

It was hard and repetitive work, and there were days under the searing sun that Flores regretted not going to a four-year college. But he liked that to get the job he just had to "show up." And at $12 an hour, it paid better than slinging fast food.

For Joe Del Bosque of Del Bosque Farms in the San Joaquin Valley, American-born pickers like Flores, though rare, are always welcome.

For generations, rural Mexico has been the primary source of hired farm labor in the U.S. According to a federal survey, nine out of 10 agricultural workers in places like California are foreign-born, and more than half are in the U.S. illegally.

But farm labor from Mexico has been declining in California. And under the Trump administration, many in the agricultural industry worry that deportations - and the fear of them - could further cut the supply of workers.

But try as they have to entice workers with better salaries and benefits, companies have found it impossible to attract enough U.S.-born workers to make up for a shortage from south of the border.

"Americans will say, 'You can't pay me enough to do this kind of work,' " Del Bosque said. "They won't do it. They'll look for something easier."

For some immigrants working the fields, people like Flores are a puzzle - their sweating next to them represents a kind of squandering of an American birthright.

"It's hard to be here under the sun. It's a waste of time and their talents in the fields," said Norma Felix, a Mexican picker for almost three decades. "They don't take advantage of their privilege and benefit of being born here. They could easily work in an office."

But most don't last long, she added.

The Dust Bowl years

With the notable exception of the Dust Bowl years in the 1930s - when American migrant workers from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas moved west after a severe drought devastated their livelihoods - there was never a time when California crops were picked primarily by U.S.-born farmworkers, said J. Edward Taylor, a rural economist at the University of California, Davis. Those workers eventually moved on to nonfarm jobs.

Changes in Mexico

Now, Mexico is undergoing some of the same changes the U.S. did in the mid-20th century, Taylor said, with "employment shifting from farms to industry and services."

According to Taylor's research, the number of farmworkers coming out of rural Mexico is decreasing by an estimated 150,000 a year. That means U.S. and Mexican farmers will have to increasingly compete for a dwindling pool of labor.

Some advocates of restricting immigration see more farm mechanization and importing fruits and vegetables as ways to reduce the reliance on labor from illegal immigration.

"If we tighten immigration rules, there are going to be fewer farm jobs, but they will be better-paid. They will be more stable and consistent with more regular jobs," said Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. "That should be the goal. Huge increases in individual productivity so where you now need 200 farmworkers working seasonally, a farmer would be able to employ 10 people year-round, full time."

At Del Bosque Farms, about 300 workers pick during the cantaloupe season. Some of the U.S.-born laborers who show up can't get jobs in industries like fast food or retail because of criminal convictions. Others say college is out of reach and they need quick money.

Diego Romo, a 24-year-old American, said he grew up watching his father work the cantaloupe fields. He has worked every season at Del Bosque Farms since he was 17.

When he's not in the fields, he's at a local college, studying to become a corrections officer. He harvests cantaloupe to help his parents and to pay for his textbooks, he said.

His father, Rodrigo, sometimes works on the same crew as him. The father doesn't like that his son works in the fields.

"I want you to study hard and not work out there  like I do every year," he told him in Spanish recently. "You need to better yourself."

Diego Romo said he's aware how unusual workers like him are. Those Americans who show up usually end up being overcome by the heat or the sheer repetitive diligence required to do the work.

He takes pride in having lasted so long. But there are days when he regrets having not done better in high school. Perhaps he could have done well enough to get a full ride into college. Now Romo nags his younger brother, sounding like his father: "Study hard and better yourself. You see how we have to work every year - sunrise to sunset."
A court in Norway said this week that the government can hand out oil drilling licenses in the Arctic, dealing a blow to two environmental groups that had filed a lawsuit against further drilling in the Barents Sea.

The Oslo District Court acquitted the government against charges from Nature and Youth and Greenpeace Nordic that drilling for oil and gas in Arctic waters would violate with the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Norwegian constitution.
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Jacqueline Kent Cooke, the 29-year-old daughter of former Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, was arrested Wednesday after a New Year's Eve altercation that allegedly involved a $300 glass clutch and an anti-Semitic slur, according to the New York Police Department.

Cooke has been charged with second-degree assault, and the incident is being investigated by the Hate Crimes Task Force, the NYPD confirmed to The Washington Post.

The incident involving Cooke and a 52-year-old man, identified by the New York Daily News as San Francisco lawyer Matthew Haberkorn, took place just before midnight Sunday at Caravaggio, a high-end Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side, according to the police.

Cooke, Haberkorn and his family - including his 77-year-old mother, wife and four daughters - were waiting in the coat check line when the millionaire heiress reportedly got impatient. According to the NYPD, Cooke allegedly made an anti-Semitic remark to Haberkorn's mother. Haberkorn told the New York Daily News that she said, "Hurry up, Jew."

Now Playing: The socialite daughter of former Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke was arrested Wednesday following an altercation on New Years Eve, where she allegedly left a man bloodied after hitting him with her purse Video: People

Cooke allegedly repeated the slur, saying "Hurry up, Jew. I got places to be." Her boyfriend, who was not identified by name, also made a remark to Haberkorn's daughters, telling them "Happy bat mitzvah," according to both Haberkorn and his wife, Linda Thomas.

The situation escalated quickly when Haberkorn confronted Cooke for her comments outside the restaurant.

"I walked up to her and asked her why she said that," Haberkorn told the Daily News. "She took her purse, which was a mirrored glass purse, and smashed me with it."

The NYPD confirmed that the dispute become physical when Cooke struck Haberkorn in the head with a glass clutch. The Daily News identified the clutch that Cooke, who has worked in fashion, allegedly wielded as a $300 Lulu Guinness mirrored Perspex clutch.

Video of the incident, taken by one of Haberkorn's daughters, shows the lawyer and the socialite getting into an awkward tussle on the sidewalk outside the restaurant while Cooke's boyfriend intervenes. Photos published in the New York Daily News show a bloodied Haberkorn.

Cooke was arraigned on Thursday after being arrested and charged Wednesday with second-degree assault, a felony. She has filed a cross-complaint against Haberkorn, according to the Daily News.
Federal authorities in Michigan arrested a 34-year-old man after a woman said that he sexually assaulted her on an overnight flight when she fell asleep next to him.

The man, Prabhu Ramamoorthy, who prosecutors said was an Indian national living in the United States on a temporary visa, was charged with aggravated sexual abuse and held without bail after an appearance in federal court in Michigan on Thursday.

Ramamoorthy is accused of abusing a 22-year-old sitting in a window seat next to him on a Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas which landed in Detroit early on Jan. 3, even as his wife was by his side.

The victim told investigators that she woke up to find her pants and shirt unbuttoned and the man's hand inside her pants.

Federal prosecutor Amanda Jawad said that Ramamoorthy sat between his wife and the victim. He stopped after the victim woke up, and the woman went to the back of the plane to report the incident to a flight attendant, the criminal complaint said.

Two flight attendants told federal investigators that the victim was crying and that her shirt was untied and that her pants were unbuttoned when she had reported the alleged attack at about 5:30 a.m., 40 minutes before the plane's landing, Jawad said. The attendants kept the woman in the back of the plane and offered her a different seat, and while they were talking to the victim, Ramamoorthy's wife came to the back of the plane to see what was going on, Jawad said.

Ramamoorthy was arrested after the plane landed, according to court documents.

He told agents in a written statement that he had taken a pill and fallen into a deep sleep, Jawad said, and that he hadn't done anything besides learning from his wife that the 22-year-old woman was sleeping on his knees.

His wife told officials a similar story, and said that they had called the flight attendants to try to change seats.

But the "flight attendants did not report that anyone asked them to change seats other than the victim," Jawad said.

Both Ramamoorthy and his wife gave lengthier statements later indicating that the pill Ramamoorthy had taken was "plain Tylenol."

Ramamoorthy gave "conflicting reports," about what happened with the victim, Jawad said.

Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen, who said it was a "very unusual case," ordered Ramamoorthy to be held pending trial after Jawad successfully argued that he was a flight risk and a potential danger to others around him. The prosecutor said that Ramamoorthy's wife, who was also living in the United States on a temporary visa, would not make a suitable custodian for him.

"It seems that she's either colluding with the defendant to cover up his actions or she's completely oblivious to what he did," Jawad argued. "What makes this offense particularly egregious and the defendant even more of a danger to the community is the fact that it took place on an airplane. He was brazen enough to do this basically in public, next to his wife where anyone could have seen him."

Ramamoorthy's lawyer, Richard O'Neill, had offered to turn over his client's passport. He said Ramamoorthy had worked as a project manager at a technology group for about two and a half years.

"There's been no allegations from anywhere that his behavior has ever been inappropriate prior to this incident," O'Neill said. "I have a hard time with some of these allegations but that's what a trial is for."

O'Neill did not return a request for comment on Thursday.

Stephen Schuler, a spokesman for Spirit, said that it was cooperating with law enforcement on the incident.

Sexual harassment and abuse on airplanes is a largely unreported but prevalent issue for passengers, according to a report by the Seattle Times. According to a survey done by the Association of Flight Attendants union that the report cited, one out of five attendants said they had dealt with complaints of sexual assault made by passengers. The police were contacted less than half the time, the survey found.

The number of federal investigations into sexual assault aboard airlines has been increasing slowly, up to more than 60 in 2017 as of early December, from 57 in 2016 and 40 the year before.
John McMullan, who was first elected to The Woodlands Township Board of Directors in 2013, is the second most tenured member of the board. He serves as vice chairman of the board and also serves on the Ad Hoc Economic Development Committee and the Audit Committee. His current term on the township board is up in 2019.

An attorney with Winstead P.C. in The Woodlands, McMullan was previously a shareholder in the Global Energy and Infrastructure practice group of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig. According to his township bio, McMullan has considerable deal-making and contract negotiation experience in the energy market.

He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his wife, Kim, have lived in The Woodlands since 2008. They have four children.

McMullan sat down with The Villager for this week's Sunday conversation, where he offered his views on life in The Woodlands and shared his ideas on possible incorporation, the recent flooding and other matters.

Question: What makes The Woodlands a special community?

McMullan: So much was done right in the development of the Woodlands. It was a tremendously insightful thing that Mr. Mitchell did, not building homes, immediately off the freeway. And partly because of that foresight, we have this thriving business community here that helps to keep our taxes lower. And, many of us are able to work up here. This is the greater Houston area. It's more and more populated, it's taking much, much longer to get from point A to point B. Having these jobs, having these businesses here, is a real boon to our area. It's a unique thing that separates us from other parts, other portions of greater Houston

Question: How did you end up living in The Woodlands?

McMullan: My family moved to the Houston area in 1979, Bear Creek, right by, adjacent to Addicks Reservoir. Those homes got five, six feet, seven feet of water in them. [I] Went to Bear Creek High School, left for college and law school, but other than that, I knew I was coming home to Houston. When my wife and I married and we were without children, we lived just off Memorial Park, and we bought our first home in Fall Creek.

Fall Creek had envisioned itself as trying to become a little Woodlands, with many of the amenities we enjoy here. My wife and I watched the whole character of that neighborhood change when crime came. At the time my wife were both working downtown. The commute from The Woodlands to downtown was much, much worse than it was to Fall Creek.

We wanted to live somewhere, we wanted to raise our children somewhere where it was [safer]. We watched crime change the whole character of that community. That's a lot of the reason why I ran for office. When you see something, when you see a master planned community like that. It's one thing to be interested in public cause, you just study it to be a well informed person. It's another thing to live it and see some place where you have bought your first home and you saw the value of of those home prices rapidly decline. People who had the means to do so left that neighborhood. It was because of crime. I mean the commute from downtown Houston from there is much, much better than it is here in The Woodlands.

So that's part of my job. The Woodlands was wonderful place before I got here. And what I'm trying to do is serve with some humility, some decency and try to assure that when I am done serving The Woodlands that this remains a wonderful place to live.

Question: How did you enter local politics?

McMullan: You go to law school, you tend to be interested in government and public policy. What was appealing about serving the township, and is appealing, I can keep my job and still serve and make a difference. The township board has a lot of very capable, qualified people. I think if these were full-time paid positions I don't think you'd see some of us on that board because I've got to make a living, raising four children. What's wonderful about this is you can see the impact you have and it's rewarding. You try to make things better closer to your home without sacrificing your whole career path and becoming an actual politician.

Question: Do you have any long term political ambitions?

McMullan: If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have said "Yes." I've had people, an increasing number of people, asking me to run for greater office. I think that is unlikely to happen. I would do a better job [than professional politicians]. I have no doubt about it, but that's a difficult life for a family, particularly when you have four children, our youngest of whom just turned two. What I would like to do, I would like to find some candidates that I'm really excited about and support them, raise money for them and have them do that. It's a challenge because a lot of time the people that you want to be governed by look at the exact same incentives that I'm faced with and say, "You know I have a limited amount of time on this earth." That's a lot ask. So, you never say "Never" but I think it is far more likely that I will publicly support and raise money for candidates that I think are good and decent people.

Question: What do you think about the future of The Woodlands, including incorporation?

McMullan: A way to frame this is that we all paid a premium to live in The Woodlands. That's just a fact. To a real extent The Woodlands is not governed by the township board, but is governed by Montgomery County and in the case of Creekside, by Harris County. And I have stated many times publicly that the Montgomery County Commissioners Court is hostile to The Woodlands. So, our choice thus far is not to receive good government from Montgomery County, good thoughtful government that recognizes the things that makes The Woodlands unique. That option has not presented itself. These are easily very verifiable facts. In May of 2015 Montgomery County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to include The Woodlands Parkway extension on the May 2015 road bond. They asked our residents to pay for the privilege of making their traffic worse. That was absurd. That was absurd to include The Woodlands Parkway on that bond. And as badly as our area needs infrastructure, that bond failed because of their stubborness. And what to they do in the immediate aftermath? They voted themselves a 10 percent pay increase. This happened right as oil prices are collapsing. People are losing their jobs, these guys botch the May 2015 road bond and then they vote themselves a 10 percent pay increase. I think in the interest of full disclosure and accuracy, I guess some folks put some pressure on these guys and I think they eventually rescinded a good chunk of that increase.

That really shows you something. Montgomery County does not view The Woodlands as a partner. Montgomery County views The Woodlands as its piggy bank. It is the job of our board for people to stand up and protect our quality of living. This is not personal, but these guys, the Montgomery County Commissioners Court, their record is one of hostility towards The Woodlands.

Question: Any thoughts on the recent flooding?

McMullan: Wherever you sit on the political spectrum I think you should support flood infrastructure that will mitigate the impacts of future flooding in this area. The Chronicle put out a spectacular series, I think in article seven of the series, made a point that there is a window where you can get things accomplished politically. The floodwaters do not care if the homeowner is a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican. What we need is, we need our federal and state legislators to authorize the money to, one, buy out the homes that frequently flood. And two, fund infrastructure to mitigate future funding. If they don't do that they should be replaced.

This is there job. And look what our board recently did. We hired an engineering firm. Now I'm not a drainage expert, or a flood engineer, hydrology engineer, so I'm not going to prescribe what the precise flood infrastructure that should be built. But this is a matter of political will. We get the government, we demand it. The legislatura, federal and state, need to, they need to fund these projects. That's their job.

Question: Anything else you would like to add?

McMullan: This term [township board term] I think this is a vitally important two-year term. In yesterday's [board of directors] meeting in a lot of ways framed up the next two years. We're going to try to answer, we're going to answer, what it costs for The Woodlands to become a city. We're going to answer what are the benefits, what will change when we become a city and what it's going to cost. And it's not up to the township board to decide if we become a city. We can vote to call an election, but it's up to the citizens of The Woodlands. That's a good thing.

Question: Is that part of the process? Will you call for an election, will the residents be able to vote on it?\

McMullan: I'm going to vote on an incorporation election at the first moment when I believe the benefits of doing so exceed the costs. We can't lose sight of the fact that is not just a quantitative analysis. How do you value the future harm the Montgomery County Commissioners is going to try to foist on us. Reasonable people will ascribe different values to that. But I think the point of going through this study process, the study is going to take about a year, is so that we can, with the light of day, tell the public, "This is what we believe changes. We believe these are the benefits. Our estimate of the cost is this." I think everybody board member, every resident of The Woodlands, if you call an incorporation election, has got to make that decision.
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The Woodlands Township is taking another step forward towards possible incorporation with the township's Board of Directors voting unanimously to compile a "shortlist" of consulting organizations during a special meeting on Thursday, Jan. 4.

During the special meeting, board members voted unanimously to place four of the organizations on its list. The organizations selected for the incorporation study-Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), BerryDunn, Matrix Consulting Group and the Novak Consulting Group made the list after a township task force had evaluated proposals from seven firms.

In separate matters, the board also selected a company to provide engineering services for a study on the drainage and flooding issues along Spring Creek and also approved a recommendation by the township's Ad Hoc Economic Development Committee to advance a cultural arts feasibility study of a proposal that could eventually bring a natural science museum or a performing arts complex to the township.

BOARD TO INVITE 4 INCORPORATION FIRMS TO MEETING

With the incorporation consulting list whittled down to the four prospective firms, representatives from the organizations will be invited to make a presentation to the township board during a planning session set for Jan. 18. After that session, township staff will check the references of the groups and provide input to the Board of Directors during another meeting scheduled for Jan. 24.

The organizations selected for the shortlist appear to offer a wide range of expertise, while also being headquartered in various parts of the nation. HARC is a not-for-profit group based in The Woodlands that researches and studies sustainability issues. BerryDunn is a certified public accounting and management firm headquartered in Portland, Maine, while the Matrix Consulting Group is a research firm headquartered in California's Silicon Valley. Novak Consulting Group is a consulting firm located in Cincinnati.

BOARD APPROVES FIRM FOR DRAINAGE, FLOODING STUDY

Also approved unanimously by the board during Thursday's meeting was the naming of Katy-based Moffat & Nichol to provide engineering services for a study on the drainage and flooding issues along Spring Creek. When the creek overflowed its banks during Hurricane Harvey, hundreds of homes were flooded.

Board of Directors Member Bruce Rieser, who also heads up the drainage task force committee formed to address drainage issues in the township, described Moffat & Nichol, as an "ideal candidate" to conduct the study.

"I was really looking for somebody who was new to the area, that could give us the expertise that we were looking for," he said. "And it was clear that the principal that was being assigned to us has that requisite experience in the areas we're looking for, consultancy and advising assistance."

FUNDING FOR CULTURAL ARTS STUDY APPROVED

The board also voted unanimously to advance Phase III of a cultural arts study. The study, also discussed for nearly an hour by the Ad Hoc Economic Development Committee before the Board of Directors meeting, is expected to determine the feasibility of building a natural science museum or cultural arts center.

Possible cost of the two projects, the number jobs possibly created by the two facilities and the prospects of finding donors to help cover the potential cost of a museum would be part of the study.

As part of the committee's evaluation, committee members heard from a representative of Sterling Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm that provides expertise in fundraising matters. The representative, Rhonda Ruth, also later addressed the full Board of Directors.

During discussion of the study by the board of directors, Board of Directors Member Ann Snyder, who also chairs the economic development committee, noted the Houston Museum of Natural Science has indicated an interest in having a facility in The Woodlands.

Rieser added the study was just the next stage in the process of the possibility of building a museum.

"I want to make sure everybody in the community understands that nobody on this board is committing to building a building for anything at this particular point in time. We're still studying the feasibility whether or not this makes sense for the community," Rieser said.

Gordy Bunch, chairman of the Board of Directors, also pointed out that the funding for the planning process is coming from the "ticket tax" collected from the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, with the tax money that's accumulated in past years earmarked solely for a cultural arts item.

"There is no tax dollars going into the his particular planning process," Bunch said. "This is using accumulated ticket tax (funds) that is designated for cultural purposes."

After further discussion, the board voted unanimously to give the green light to the study, which is not to exceed $175,000.

Wrapping up the meeting, Bunch welcomed a longtime member of U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady's staff, Todd Stephens, to his new job at the township. Stephens will be working as manager of Internal Governmental Relations for the township. Previously, Stephens had worked as Brady's district director.

The township Board of Directors is scheduled to meet in regular session on Jan. 18.

Then another special planning meeting is set for Jan. 24 at 4 p.m., with that meeting followed by another regular meeting of the board.
Although most people list public speaking before large groups as one of their fears, the people in one local club see it as an opportunity.

Sara Cardiel, president of Woodlands Toastmasters that meets every Friday, said she enjoys the organization immensely because of the people who are in it.

"I just love the people. It is a community, and when you tap into that community of amazing people you get amazing things," she said.

Toastmasters International is a global organization made up of public speaking clubs. The Woodlands Toastmasters club will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in June.

"Toastmasters is a public speaking and leadership group focusing on how to improve communication and leadership skills," Cardiel explained.

The club's members follow a simple approach: at each meeting, two to four members will give a speech. Each speaker has their own evaluator who speaks at the end and gives an evaluation of the strong points a person has and some skills that need improvement. This system helps individuals to identify areas that need more work than others and can polish those areas in their next speech. The group encourages members by giving support and constructive criticism so that each person can conquer their fear of public speaking.

A club member for five years, Cardiel said she had just finished a master's degree program and gone into the workforce when she realized that she needed to work on her communication skills. At the suggestion of her husband, she attended a Toastmasters meeting.

"I went and they welcomed me with open arms. The next thing I knew I was sergeant at arms, which is the person who lugs things around and sets everything up (for each meeting), and then I was committed because I had to be there to set up the room each Friday," Cardiel laughed.

Cardiel is an instructional designer in Bellaire. She has two children-an eighth-grader and a sixth-grader-who she is also trying to get involved in public speaking. They have both joined a Gavel Club, a youth organization that focuses on developing public speaking skills.

Cardiel said she is excited that her sons are involved in the club because it will help them in the future.

Balancing work life, family life and her responsibilities to Woodlands Toastmasters doesn't present much of a challenge for Cardiel.

"I'm a good multi-tasker. I'm just really passionate about this organization. After being in a club for five years, I've had time to build up that experience and understand what needs to happen from week to week to make sure we have a successful meeting," she said.

What makes The Woodlands club unique, Cardiel noted, is that there are a lot of tenured members, or people who have been in the club since it started in 1988. The club also has a very diverse membership with members from Brazil, Australia and Texas who come from a wide range of backgrounds, careers and ages.

"You just walk in, people embrace you with a warm welcome. It's a super supportive environment. In this day and age people judge, criticize," she said. "To be in this kind of environment being supported, especially while you're doing something as vulnerable as public speaking, it's pretty amazing."

Toastmasters International has several clubs in the area, including one that meets on Market Street. To learn more about Woodlands Toastmasters and other Toastmaster groups in the area, go to www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club.

- Patricia Dillon is a features reporter for The Woodlands Villager. Contact her by phone at 713-362-4433 or on Twitter: @Dillon_Villager.
Author Michael Wolff remained defiant Friday in the face of personal attacks from the White House and threats of legal action from President Donald Trump's lawyers over his tell-all book on the West Wing.

Hardly bowed by the full-on assault from Trump's team, Wolff appeared to revel in the attention that has helped drive his book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," to be a likely best seller after his publisher, Henry Holt, sped up publication several days to early Friday.

The book paints Trump as unprepared for the presidency and his aides as concerned about his fitness for office.

"Where do I send the box of chocolates?" Wolff asked in jest during an interview on NBC's "Today" show when asked about Trump's vitriol.

RNC: 'Liar and phony'

Trump's attention and attacks, he added, are "not only helping me sell books, but he's helping me prove the point of the book. This is extraordinary that a president of the United States would try to stop the publication of a book. This doesn't happen - has not happened from other presidents."

Wolff also dismissed attacks from Trump and his allies over the author's credibility. Some sources for the book have disputed specific quotes and characterizations of their actions, while others have pointed to inconsistencies in the book and errors in Wolff's past reporting to suggest that his account cannot be trusted.

"Liar and phony," read an email from the Republican National Committee featuring Wolff's picture and selected quotes from other journalists criticizing his work.

But Wolff, a New York media columnist who has written for New York magazine, Vanity Fair, USA Today and the Guardian, said he had broad access to Trump, former senior White House adviser Stephen Bannon and other senior officials.

"I work like every journalist works," he said. "I have recordings. I have notes. I am, in absolutely every way, comfortable with everything released in this book. My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who walked on Earth at this point."

Wolff added that he has written "millions upon millions of words," but "I don't think there's been any corrections."

Trump's personal lawyers sent a letter to Wolff and his publisher early Friday threatening legal action and demanding that they cease publication, which did not happen. A revealing and embarrassing excerpt of the book was published Wednesday in New York magazine.

"Your publication of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel," the lawyers wrote.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump spoke to Wolff only once for about "five to seven minutes," and not specifically about the book. But the author said on "Today" that he had a full interview with the president.

"What was I doing there if he didn't want me to be there?" Wolff said. "I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I don't know. It certainly wasn't off the record. I spoke to him after the inauguration, yes."

All told, he said, "I've spent about three hours with the president over the course of the campaign and in the White House. My window into Donald Trump is pretty significant."

Trump has attacked Wolff and Bannon, who served as a key source and disparaged other aides, as well as Trump's son Donald Jr., in on-the-record statements. Among other things, Bannon referred to a 2016 meeting between Donald Jr. and a Russian lawyer, which has become part of a special counsel probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians during the election, as "treasonous."

Gaining aides' trust

Though Trump said Wednesday that Bannon had "lost his mind," the Breitbart News chief has since attempted to ratchet down tensions with his former boss, calling him a "great man" who maintains his full support.

Wolff said his visits to the White House and his discussions with staffers left him with the impression that "100 percent" of Trump's aides, including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers, had come to doubt the president's capacity for the job.

But the author also seemed to reveal that he had used a bit of deception to gain the trust of the very aides who looked foolish or disingenuous in the book.

"I'm a nice guy," Wolff said. But "I certainly said whatever was necessary to get the story."
WASHINGTON - Moments after Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it easier for federal marijuana laws to be enforced in states where possession and use of the substance is legal, the drumbeat began.

One by one, Democrats from likely to dark horse candidates for their party's 2020 presidential nomination denounced Sessions' move. By the end of the day, there was unanimous support among these ambitious Democrats in supporting the states' rights to legalize marijuana without federal interference - the stance of the Obama administration. It's a telling sign of just how popular the issue is with the party's base.

The first statement Thursday came from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor of a bill that, among multiple reforms, would change federal policy concerning medical marijuana use.

"Parents should be able to give their sick kids the medicine they need without having to fear that they will be prosecuted," Gillibrand said. "Veterans should be able to come home from combat and use the medicine they need without having to fear they will be prosecuted. This is about public health, and it's about reforming our broken criminal justice system that throws too many minorities in prison for completely nonviolent offenses."

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., another co-sponsor of the CARERS Act, but who favors legalizing marijuana outright, said in a statement and a floor speech that Sessions was "determined to revive the failed War on Drugs," and needed to be stopped.

"History has shown that our deeply broken drug laws disproportionately harm low-income communities and communities of color and cost us billions annually in enforcement, incarceration, and wasted human potential, without making us any safer," Booker said. "This unjust, backward decision is wrong for America, and will prove to be on the wrong side of history."

Restores 'confusion'

Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., who launched a 2020 bid for the presidency last year, said in a statement to the Post that he also disagreed with Sessions.

"The Cole Memo provided clear guidance to an otherwise conflicting situation," said Delaney, using the shorthand for the Obama-era guidance that allowed states like Colorado and Oregon to maintain legal marijuana markets. "Revoking the Cole Memo will restore that confusion and undermines the will of the voters in several states."

It was an even easier call for Democrats whose states have legalized marijuana. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who've received attention as potential candidates, swung hard against the decision.

"States like Massachusetts have put a lot of work into implementing common-sense marijuana regulations," Warren said. "This reckless action by the DOJ disrupts the ability of states to enforce their own drug policies and puts our public health and safety at risk. Congress needs to take immediate action to protect state marijuana laws and the patients that rely on them."

"This is the opposite of what we should be doing," Moulton said. "Let's not kid ourselves - people will be using marijuana regardless of what Attorney General Sessions says. We have an obligation to regulate it and make it as safe as possible."

Sen. Kamala D. Harris, D-Calif., a former state attorney general, attacked Sessions for misdirecting the DOJ's resources.

"Instead of wasting money on failed policies like the 'War on Drugs,' the Department of Justice should be directing federal resources toward working with local law enforcement to clamp down on transnational criminal organizations and the trafficking of guns and human beings," Harris said.

Vermont to OK possession

Late Thursday, the Vermont House of Representatives voted 83-61 in favor of a bill that would fully legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and allow individuals to grow up to six marijuana plants at home.

The bill is expected to win approval in the Senate, which passed a nearly identical version last year. The state's Republican governor, Phil Scott, has signaled he'd sign it.

If that happens it would make Vermont the first state to legalize recreational marijuana through the legislature, rather than via a statewide ballot initiative.

Lawmakers in the Vermont Senate, which is poised to take up the bill next week, were similarly defiant.

"Apparently, [Sessions is] more troubled by an 80-year-old using medical marijuana to treat a terminal health condition than he is by coordinating election strategy with Russians," said Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe.
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Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister's little white dog from her yard, flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees.

Zoey, an 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday afternoon not 50 feet from the home of his sister, Monica Newhard, on the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania.

"It seemed like something from the 'Wizard of Oz,'" he said. "I'm a city boy. This doesn't happen in my world."

With food scarce and waterways freezing up, raptors are "looking a little more widely and taking advantage of whatever might be out there," said Laurie Goodrich, a biologist at nearby Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.

Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister's home in Bowmanstown, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech.

"The bird was holding onto the dog. There was flapping of wings and then it was gone," said Rodriguez.

He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. Rodriguez assumed Zoey was gone for good.

Zoey's rescuer was Christina Hartman, 51, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead.

"I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move," Hartman said.

She scooped up the whimpering pooch, wrapped her in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup.

On Wednesday, Hartman spotted Newhard's public Facebook post - Newhard had uploaded a photo of Zoey - and made an excited call.

Zoey had bruises and a few missing patches of fur.

"She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love," Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. "She doesn't want to go out.  I really can't blame her."
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's effort to keep Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a vocal and loyal supporter of his election bid, in charge of an investigation into his campaign offers special counsel Robert Mueller yet another avenue to explore as his prosecutors work to untangle potential evidence of obstruction.

The federal investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia already includes a close look at whether Trump's actions as president constitute an effort to impede that same probe. Those include the firing of FBI Director James Comey, an allegation by Comey that Trump encouraged him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the president's role in drafting an incomplete and potentially misleading statement about a 2016 meeting with Russians.

At Trump's behest

The latest revelation - that Trump directed his White House counsel, Don McGahn, to tell Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation - is known to Mueller's investigators, who have interviewed many current and former executive branch officials. It adds to the portrait of a president left furious by an investigation that he has called a hoax and suggests that he worked through an intermediary to keep the inquiry under the watch of an attorney general he expected would be loyal.

Three people familiar with the matter confirmed that McGahn spoke with Sessions just before he announced his recusal to urge him not to do so. One of the people said McGahn contacted Sessions at the president's behest. All three spoke on condition of anonymity.

"What this adds that is new is that he took action to prevent, to attempt to prevent, Sessions from recusing himself," said Notre Dame criminal law professor Jimmy Gurule, a former federal prosecutor. "So now we go simply beyond his state of mind, his personal beliefs, to taking concrete action to attempt to prevent Sessions from recusing himself."

Sign of novice president

Though the episode makes clear Trump's exasperation with the investigation, it remains unclear whether Mueller's team has evidence to establish that the president's collective actions were done with the corrupt intent needed to prove obstruction of justice.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who supports Sessions' decision to recuse, said he sees Trump's order to McGahn as another sign of the president's novice - and norm-breaking - approach to governing, rather than evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.

"This may have been part of the learning curve," Turley said. "It does not necessarily mean that he was covering up a crime."

In stepping aside from the probe on March 2, Sessions said it was not appropriate for him to oversee any investigation into a campaign of which he was an active and vocal supporter, though the recusal also followed the revelation that he had had two previously undisclosed interactions during the 2016 campaign with the Russian ambassador.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday to focus on deadly protests in Iran, but the hearing didn't go as planned.

While most envoys criticized the violence and called on Iran's government to show restraint with protesters, several - including U.S. allies France and the U.K. - also used the opportunity to defend the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, an accord increasingly seen as under threat by President Donald Trump's administration.

After criticizing Iran's ballistic missile development and role in supporting Yemeni rebels, U.K. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft added that "The U.K. remains fully committed to the JCPOA," an acronym for the nuclear accord. "We encourage all members states to uphold all their commitments. A prosperous, stable Iran is beneficial to all."

Ending the nuclear accord "would be a major setback for the entire international community," French envoy Francois Delattre said, adding that "the agreement is one of the cornerstones of stability in the Middle East as a whole."

The concerns about the nuclear accord come as Trump faces key decisions on Iran starting next week - including whether to honor part of the 2015 agreement that lifted restrictions on Iran's banking, oil and shipping industries. He could opt to re-impose the sanctions and risk collapse of the accord, a move that Friday's UN session showed would leave the U.S. isolated.

Haley, who never mentioned the nuclear accord, focused on the protests that have killed at least 20 people and led to as many as 1,000 arrests. She said the demonstrations were a "spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights" against an "oppressive government" that prioritizes militias and terror groups abroad over its own people.

"The Iranian people are calling out, 'Think of us!'" Haley said, echoing a chant heard at some protests.

Sweden's envoy, Deputy Ambassador Arina Schoulgin Nyoni, appeared to sum up the view of many on the 15-nation Security Council: "Human rights violations must be separated from JCPOA. The agreement is there to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
1st Community Credit Union announces new addition to Member Service Team! Connie Devine  Teller I 1st CCU welcomes Connie Devine! Connie comes to 1st CCU with over 16 years of retail customer service and she is working full-time assisting members in our West Salem office. In her spare time Connie enjoys spending free time with family and friends. We are confident this new addition to our Member Service team will enhance 1st Community Credit Unions exceptional levels of member service. Stop in and meet Connie! 1410 W. Hwy 16  West Salem, WI  608-786-2420 1000 W. Wisconsin St  Sparta, WI  608-269-8121 1stccu.com An Equal Opportunity Employer
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Some Wisconsin employers are not enjoying the deep pools of job applicants they used to draw, and the Chippewa Falls Police Department  which has begun the recruitment process once again  is no exception.

One of the departments veteran officers is retiring Jan. 10, Chief Matt Kelm said Friday, and the department has begun casting its net for a new officer.

But the city doesnt enjoy the wealth of policing candidates it once did. Theres definitely a smaller pool (of applicants), Kelm said. Its become a competitive process between departments  and between different service fields.

Many local criminal justice students  including CVTC attendees  are branching into similar fields, becoming probation officers and social workers, Kelm said, but that means fewer are entering police work. He began noticing the downward trend in applications in 2013, and those low numbers have held steady since.

I feel that law enforcement is hit a little harder than some other fields, because of  national attention to some of the negative aspects in law enforcement nationwide. I think thats deterred people from coming into the field, unfortunately, he said.

There is a saving grace to the process, however. Kelm speaks of his existing cadre of young officers in glowing terms, and said he sees a trend of young candidates with passion and drive. The caliber of candidates (we see) is high, he said. You no longer get into this field to see if you like it. You get into it because its what you want to do with your life.

The department is embracing technology  especially social media  to recruit new candidates, and Kelm said the departments use of Facebook has been especially successful.

You wouldnt think law enforcement has to market themselves. We do. Were competing for resources, for good people, he said.

Kelms ideal candidate to fill the soon-to-be-empty post? Applicants with integrity top his list: I dont want robots out there. We want officers that are making intelligent decisions.

When Kelm joined the Chippewa Falls Police Department, the hiring process took a full year. The last hire took almost exactly 90 days. Kelm is looking forward to the same speedy experience with his future recruit: Weve made huge strides in making the process quicker and easier.

More details about the open position can be found at www.chippewafallspd.org/employment.html.
AKRON, Ohio -- Students, families and the community are invited to attend an information session on Akron Public Schools' new career pathways model Wednesday. Jan. 24.

The community issues session will be held at the American Red Cross, 501 W. Market St. in Akron, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

During the presentation, attendees will learn how Akron's public school district is changing the traditional high school education model to better equip students for the workforce.

The career pathways model is in place at North High School. Akron Public Schools will offer 57 career pathways for students in the district through its College and Career Academies.

Summit Education Initiative representatives will be present at the information session to discuss how the new College and Career Academies align with their mission to help local students graduate and prepare for college and the workforce.

The career pathways model has been implemented in cities throughout the United States.

The model aims to increase student attendance and graduation rates and prepare all students to be both college and career ready.

The information session is free, but interested attendees must register by Monday, Jan. 22. Registration is available at Eventbrite.com.

A networking reception will begin at 5 p.m., and the presentation will follow at 5:30 p.m.

Contact Akron Community Foundation Grants Administrator Kim Nott at 330-436-5626 or knott@akroncf.org for information.

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AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man who claimed the host of "Wheel of Fortune" told him to kill his mother was found not guilty Thursday by reason of insanity.

Derrick Williams, 48, will instead appear at a commitment hearing Jan. 18 to determine where he will be hospitalized to receive mental health treatment.

Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Christina Croce handed down the ruling just five days before Williams was scheduled to stand trial, Summit County Prosecutor's Office spokesman James Pollack said.

Williams was charged with murder in the Dec. 15, 2016 killing of his mother Alaine Williams, who was beaten to death with a frying pan, Pollack said.

Williams' attorney said he was watching "Wheel of Fortune" when he heard voices. He believed longtime host Pat Sajak told him to kill his 78-year-old mother at the Hartford Avenue home where they lived together, Pollack said.

Williams was found competent during a court hearing, but the judge determined he did not "know reality" when the incident took place, Pollack said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - In response to a tweet that pricked his conscience, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert on Saturday reversed an apparent policy requiring people to stand outside the Tower City Center lobby while waiting for buses making connections through Public Square - even in single-digit cold.

On Friday night, transit-user Tom Horsman, a senior admissions counselor at Cleveland State University and an aspiring city planner, was flummoxed when a security guard at Tower City, where Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services owns the Avenue shopping mall, told people waiting for bus connections that they had to wait outside.

Horsman used the moment to tweet a photo of the unidentified guard and to score points about Tower City's lack of empathy and the lack of a downtown transit center where patrons of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transportation Authority could wait for rides in comfort.

Since @GCRTA doesnt have a downtown transit center, people wait for their buses inside the Tower City lobby. Unfortunately this @ShopTowerCity (owned by @BedrockDetroit / @cavsdan) security guard is kicking ppl out. You have to wait outside. Yes, its 7 outside... pic.twitter.com/IzOtVX0UiG  Tom Horsman (@TomHorsman) January 6, 2018

Horsman said Saturday in a telephone interview that "people went out and followed her [the security guard's] instructions. Other people looked back at her and said, 'Do you realize how cold it is outside?' She didn't really seem to empathize."

Horsman's tweet caught Dan Gilbert's eye - or at least that of the person with access to his Twitter account.

Not any longer, Tommy. Thanks to your eyeballs. Not good when our team members need to learn WHO we are. I am confident they now know. All folks taking the transit are welcome to wait INSIDE... https://t.co/wWyBxDMzPq  Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) January 6, 2018

Score one small victory for social equity and basic human decency.

The Bedrock offices in Detroit were closed Saturday, and the company did not respond to a message left on voicemail.

Bedrock bought the Avenue in 2016 from Forest City Realty Trust for $56.5 million. That same year, Forest City sold the Terminal Tower at Tower City to K&D Group Inc. for $38.5 million.

The office tower and Avenue mall can be accessed through the Tower City Center lobby facing Public Square, a major crossroads for RTA buses.

Hours at the Avenue Mall are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the mall website.

Tom Horsman

Horsman said he was pleased he was able to influence Gilbert, in a way that could help RTA riders.

"It was just only that one tweet," he said. "I was surprised to see that he [Gilbert] did respond. I was glad that he did. And I understand obviously that a private property owner can do whatever they want with their property. But you'd think in these extreme weather times there'd be a little more compassion for people. So it was a good response."

Horsman, 29, a Cleveland native who recently earned a master's degree in city planning from Cleveland State University, uses his Twitter account to tweet frequently to his 2,571 followers about urban design, transit, the Indians, living car-free in Cleveland and his weakness for Taco Bell.

Horsman said he left work Friday and used the RTA 51 bus to ride from Tower City to Old Brooklyn and was waiting for the C-Line Trolley at Tower City when he was asked to leave the warmth and security of the lobby for the 7-degree weather outside.

He said he snapped a photo of security guard and posted his tweet to strike a blow for compassion on a chilly night.

"I mean I was just trying to think about people riding the bus, who are not thought about first and foremost," he said. "I hope it does raise consciousness about people who don't have cars or warm places to wait, especially in this cold weather."
CLEVELAND, Ohio --Investigators released surveillance images of two men sought in a trio of armed robberies in the Collinwood neighborhood days after a Cleveland city councilman called on police to address a spike in violent crime in the area.

The surveillance images released Friday show two men who investigators identified as suspects in Tuesday hold-ups at a Georgio's Pizza, a Subway and a Mr. Hero. The three robberies happened in the span of about one hour, police reports say.

No arrests have been made in the case.

The robbers took $30 from Subway and $1,300 from Mr. Hero's, police reports say. Nothing was taken from the pizzeria, which has bulletproof glass that separates customers from employees.

City Councilman Mike Polensek, whose ward includes Collinwood, wrote a letter to Public Safety Director Michael McGrath and Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams after reading about the robberies on cleveland.com.

The letter, sent Thursday, demands that the city provide more police officers throughout the city and have a more visible presence in Collinwood.

"Ward 8 has had the long distinction of having the lowest crime rate in the 5th District," Polensek wrote in the letter. "However, I have never experienced a year like 2017 with regard to homicides and violent crime, and heading into 2018 with a continuation of this same said violent crime is not making the businesses nor my constituents feel any safe."

Polensek asked Williams and McGrath to offer a plan to address the spike in violent crime in Collinwood. He wrote that the violence has "devastated" both businesses and residents.

"When gun packing criminals randomly shoot at one another and rob residents and businesses alike, they show they have no fear of being caught," Polensek wrote. "They know, like the rest of us, that there is a lack of police officers patrolling the streets and that the odds are in their favor of not being caught. That is pretty sad and tragic in the City of Cleveland in 2018."

Last month, Polensek asked Mayor Frank Jackson to declare a "State of Emergency" after armed robbers shots at a St. Mary of the Assumption priest in the parking lot outside the church, and a wild late-afternoon shootout at a gas station.

Polensek said Jackson never responded to his concerns. When Polensek was asked if Williams or McGrath responded to his most recent letter, he said "Hell no."

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.
Cleveland's latest attempt to dispense public records more promptly feels a lot like the attempts of the last 12 years. Half-hearted.

In November, Cleveland City Hall launched GovQA, an online portal through which people can make and track public records requests.

The portal is a good idea and does simplify the process for those of us on the front end who are asking for a document. But what really counts is what happens on the back end of the system. For such a system to work, the city needs to triage requests, quickly fulfilling the easy ones while devoting more time to those that legitimately need legal review or that require multiple departments to gather documents.

Based on our first request using the new system, this is not yet happening.

On Dec. 12, cleveland.com City Hall reporter Robert Higgs asked for a list of phone numbers and email addresses for City Hall department heads, a request that should require no heavy lifting and no legal review. He even asked for the most recent list available, so there would be no need to wait for a 2018 edition.

In short, this is the kind of record request that probably could have - should have - been turned over within 24 hours if not immediately.

But alas, 24 days later, Robert still doesn't have it.

Surely, the city isn't worried we will call or email a department head directly. We know they are forbidden from making factual statements to reporters without first getting press-staff approval.

Perhaps the intense planning around the Mayor Frank Jackson's fourth swearing-in distracted everyone from other more-important business. City Hall sent out multiple emails each day leading up to the Tuesday ceremony, not to mention the ill-timed media walk-through on the Friday afternoon before the holiday weekend. (In the end, the fourth swearing in was less exciting than the first three.)

Minority council members caucus: A meeting last month among a group of Cleveland City Council members is worth noting for a couple of reasons.

First, the meeting -- held at the home of Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood Councilman Kenneth Johnson -- included only minority council members, who represent mostly East Side wards. Two minority council members who were invited did not attend - Jasmin Santana, a Hispanic woman elected in November to represents several near West Side neighborhoods, and Basheer Jones, who represents the East Side's Hough neighborhood.

Kevin Conwell, who represents Glenville and University Circle neighborhoods, was present and described the meeting as a gathering to kick around ideas for working together on issues plaguing the East Side wards, such as a high crime rate and lack of economic development.

"Anytime there is a meeting about the East Side, I'm there," he explained to me.

If the meeting was indeed to discuss East Side issues, someone forgot to invite Councilman Michael Polensek, who represents the East Side's North Collinwood neighborhood and a portion of Glenville. He said he knew nothing about the meeting until after it was over, and suggested he was excluded because he is white.

Years ago, West Side council members, who have been predominately white, would caucus privately. But they have since abandoned the practice, viewing the gatherings as exclusionary and unnecessary given that the city's problems are largely shared on both sides of the Cuyahoga River.

Conwell said the recent meeting of minority council members was not about race.

Conwell said he talked about plans for trying to add technology that tracks the sound of gunshots. The device is known as a "shot spotter."

The council members also discussed who might succeed Mayor Frank Jackson. (Some people have speculated that Jackson might step down before the end of his four-year term but that's not likely.) Johnson said Councilman Blaine Griffin, who represents the Fairfax neighborhood among others and was elected in November, would make a fine replacement if Jackson leaves office in four years.

Conwell told me he likes Griffin, but sees himself as a decent potential candidate.

"I have an MBA and I get 80 percent of the vote in my ward," Conwell explained. (Okay, Kevin, we will add you to our running list.)

Jackson is not likely to seek a fifth term. He says he only reluctantly sought a fourth-term because no good candidates had stepped forward. But as sure as Cleveland is cold today, many will step forward in four years. Among those already considering a bid include West Side Council members Matt Zone and Kevin Kelley, who is council president.

In this semi-regular column, I hope to offer news tidbits, complaints, shout-outs and the occasional poke in the eye. Sometimes the column will appear as a video or a slideshow. Got a tip or comment, send me an email at mnaymik@cleveland.com On Twitter: @marknaymik
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jeff Johnson, just days after leaving office as a Cleveland council member following an unsuccessful run for mayor, says he plans to challenge Ohio Sen. Sandra Williams in the May Democratic primary.

In a Friday phone interview, Johnson said he plans to pull petitions at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections soon. A former state senator, Johnson opted not to seek re-election to City Council last year in order to run for mayor.

State Sen. Sandra Williams

Johnson said his experience as a state senator will help him fight to restore local government funding, increase money for transportation and increase the state minimum wage. He previously represented the 21st Senate District from 1990 through 1998. The district is heavily Democratic, and represents Cleveland's East Side and a handful of inner-ring, east-side county suburbs,

"I'm not here to blame Sandra. I just think I will be a stronger, more effective advocate for Northeast Ohio," Johnson said.

Johnson told cleveland.com that U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, an important power-broker in Cleveland politics, had endorsed his campaign. That suggests Johnson's candidacy may be connected to Williams' decision to seek the chairmanship of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party last year against Fudge's preferred candidate, County Councilwoman Shontel Brown.

In a phone interview Friday, Williams said she'd been warned that she would draw a primary challenger because she ran against Brown, who also was favored by other county Democratic powerbrokers.

"So this might be some backlash for actually having the gall to do that and run for party chair," Williams said. "I do think it had something to do with it. And of course, it could be because Jeff is unemployed and needs somewhere to go."

Williams also said: "This is a democracy. Everybody has an opportunity to run. And I look forward to winning in the primary. I think I've done an excellent job, and I think you are the results that you bring to the table."

Reached at home, Fudge said she and Johnson have been friends "for a long time," and that Johnson asked for her support.

"There's really no more of a story than that," Fudge said.

Johnson declined to comment on whether Williams' candidacy in the county party chair's race resulted in him being given the green light to primary an incumbent Democrat.

"Having the congresswoman's endorsement is significant and appreciated. But as far as the politics go, I'm going to leave that to you," he said.

Williams, a former state representative and past president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, has represented the 21st Senate District since 2015. Ohio senators are allowed to serve as many as two consecutive four-year terms.

Johnson, who is in the process of completing a move to Cleveland's Larchmere neighborhood, said he hopes to find work as a political consultant this year, although he will be focusing on his candidacy until the May primary.

Johnson was convicted in 1998 of extorting campaign contributions as a state senator. A state judge later restored Johnson's right to hold public office, although the conviction remains in place in the federal court records.
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- A brood of aggressive wild turkeys have interfered with mail carriers' abilities to deliver mail to homes in a portion of the city.

The Rocky River branch of the United States Postal Service notified the city that the turkeys were creating unsafe conditions for the carriers delivering mail to homes on Edgewood Drive, Valley View Drive, High Parkway, Schlather Lane, East Shoreland Avenue and Winfield Avenue, Rocky River Mayor Pam Bobst said.

About 25 to 30 homes haven't been able to get their mail delivered, she said, and the problem has been lingering for about three weeks.

Mail carriers are attempting to deliver the mail, but they have nothing to steer the turkeys away. Residents have had to pick their mail up at the post office.

The city can't eradicate the turkeys under the city's ordinance, Bobst said, so a letter was sent out this week to residents asking them to stop putting out any kind of bird food.

"There's a lot of bird feeders over there so there's a food source in that area," she said. "It is an issue so we've asked residents to cease putting out bird seed and bird food so we can see if they will go down to the Metroparks."

It's not unusual to see wildlife in that area, but Bobst is hopeful taking the food away will help the problem.

Mail carriers will now begin to deliver in the evening, said David Van Allen regional spokesman for the post office.

"The carriers are carrying an air horn to see if that will scare off the turkeys, if that will discourage them," he said. "We're attempting to deliver every day and we will continue to do that."

Some carriers have been pecked, but have not been hurt, Van Allen said.

"We're sorry for any inconvenience to people," he added.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's going to be frigid again Saturday. And in the lake-effect belt, a few more inches of snow are possible through Saturday afternoon. Some sun will return to Northeast Ohio the rest of Saturday, before snowy, gloomy, but noticeably warmer weather makes its way back Sunday. After a chilly Sunday morning, temperatures could hit above 25 degrees for the first time in Cleveland since Christmas Day (balmy).

Recently, the jet stream's position is stuck in such a way very frigid, arctic air is pooling south. Starting Sunday, however, the jet stream will get out of its rut and quickly shift so that upper-level winds, one of the primary drivers of daily temperature changes, will instead blow in more mild air from the west. That jet stream shift will happen in the late morning, so the morning low will still dip to near zero degrees, although the evening will stay closer to the high temperature in the mid to upper 20s.

Jet stream Saturday vs. Sunday -- SO EXCITED for this "warm-up" pic.twitter.com/ln2wHDhFq6  Kelly Reardon (@KellyRWeather) January 5, 2018

Extremely light lake-effect flurries continue to fall on the east-side lake-effect belt as frosty air from the west-northwest blows over the lake. On-and-off periods of scattered light snow could stick up to 3 more inches by Saturday afternoon.

Tonight, Cleveland could see at the very most a few random flurries from the sky, but chances are less than 20 percent - nothing should stick.

Snowfall totals through Saturday afternoon. (National Weather Service, Cleveland)

Saturday, clouds will begin to clear west to east across Northeast Ohio, leading to some sun for many.

Sunday, the clouds return. Winds are from the south, thankfully, meaning our neighbors to the north will get the worst of it. Chances of snow showers are slight in the afternoon and evening and kick up to likely overnight through the day Monday. Right now, the best bet is for a widespread 1 to 3 inches by the morning commute Monday.

Check out the forecast:

Temperatures

Temperature forecast.

Precipitation chances

Precipitation forecast.

Winds

Wind speed and direction forecast.

Live radar

Keep checking cleveland.com/weather for daily weather updates for Northeast Ohio, and don't forget to submit any weather questions you may have!

Kelly Reardon is cleveland.com's meteorologist. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @KellyRWeather.
Its been 10 years since Chippewa County Sheriffs Office Deputy Jason Zunker was killed while working at the scene of a traffic accident near Bloomer, but he hasnt been forgotten.

Absolutely positively not, Sheriff James Kowalczyk said. Very little time goes by where Jasons name doesnt come up in one way or another.

About 50 people, including the department and other legal representatives in the area, Kowalczyk said, gathered near Zunkers memorial outside of the Chippewa County Courthouse Friday to celebrate and honor his life.

Zunker, 31, was killed when he was hit while directing traffic following a Jan. 4, 2008 semi-trailer fire on Highway 53 near Bloomer. Zunker died from his injuries in Eau Claire shortly after midnight Jan. 5, 2008.

The then 21-year-old driver of the vehicle that hit Zunker was not criminally charged in Zunkers death.

Kowalczyk said the Zunkers death has resulted in the passing of a law that requires drivers to move over to the extreme left or right when they come upon emergency lights.

The move-over law was all based on what happened unfortunately with Jason and what happened on on Highway 53, Kowalczyk said. I think its really a law thats really appreciated.

But impact of Zunkers death  and the life he lived  has done more than impact legal statutes and proceedings.

Every year, Chippewa County Sheriffs Office jailer Leah Berg organizes Jasons Presents, with the goal of collecting donations to ensure every child in Chippewa County  regardless of their familys financial status  has a present or toy to open during the holiday season. Jasons Presents hosts a gift giveaway for families, and Berg makes sure families that cannot make it still receive presents, Kowalczyk said.

The department enlists the help of local businesses and stores to help them achieve this feat.

In one particular fundraising example, the Chippewa Family Restaurant donates one days worth of proceeds to Jasons Presents, and the department pitches in working at the restaurant for that day. This year alone, the restaurant donated over $15,000 to Jasons Presents, Kowalczyk said.

Its a legacy and action Kowalczyk knows would have been Jason-approved  had he not started first.

Would (Jasons Presents) have happened if this tragic accident didnt happen? Kowalczyk asked. Probably so, because Jason over the years was a very kind-hearted, giving individual.
WASHINGTON (AP)  In bountiful tweets and self-praise, President Donald Trump plays up "tremendous progress" in improving care for veterans in his first year. His claims fall short of reality.

Trump's initiatives have yet to show meaningful impact, and his campaign promises of expanding access to doctors and adding mental health specialists are unfulfilled.

Several of the 2017 accomplishments highlighted in a Trump tweet this week are largely symbolic  proclamations routinely signed by presidents or initiatives that haven't taken full effect or were later acknowledged by the Department of Veterans Affairs to be largely unneeded. In the meantime, wait times for veterans seeking treatment at VA medical centers haven't improved much, as Congress remains deadlocked over a long-term fix aimed at expanding access to doctors, in part due to rising costs.

The VA also admits it fell short of adding 1,000 new mental health professionals last year, even after Trump singled out mental health as especially in need of attention during the campaign and pledged a hiring surge.

Trump speaks often about his commitment to veterans, a group that backed him by nearly 2-to-1 over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

A look at his rhetoric on veterans and White House statements marking his first year in office:

TRUMP: "We will not rest until all of America's GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time."  tweet Tuesday, with an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is "fighting for our veterans."

We will not rest until all of Americas GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://t.co/ir25vW15hx pic.twitter.com/OtuzIgxMn6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

THE FACTS: The video with catchy music overstates the impact of these steps.

Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the VA system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The department's poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard.

A fifth claim involves "telehealth," a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasn't been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House.

A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited impact so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims.

The other two initiatives mentioned make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trump's watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the impact on veterans' care is not fully known.

TRUMP: "The VA was a mess." Before, "you couldn't fire anybody at the VA, if they were sadists, if they were horrible people. ... Now we look at them, they're no good  we say, 'You're fired. Get out of here.'"  Dec. 8 rally in Pensacola, Florida.

THE FACTS: It's wrong to say VA employees were never fired before Trump took office. In fact, more were fired in President Barack Obama's last budget year than in Trump's first.

In fiscal 2017, covering Obama's last three months and Trump's first nine months, 2,061 VA employees were removed for discipline or performance. About 1,419 firings took place since January 2017, when Trump took office, to present. That's down from 2,662 in the previous fiscal year, according to Office of Personnel Management information on the agency's data archive FedScope.

However, it's true that it often took longer for terminations to become final under an appeals process that has been shortened under Trump. Because a new accountability law making it easier to fire VA employees did not take effect until late June 2017, about 500 of the firings last year occurred under the former appeals system, which remains in place at other federal agencies. The new law shortens the length of time to challenge a disciplinary action and lowers the burden of proof needed to fire VA employees.

TRUMP: "Why would smart voters want to put Democrats in Congress in 2018 Election ... People are much better off now not to mention ISIS, VA ..."  Dec. 31 tweet.

Why would smart voters want to put Democrats in Congress in 2018 Election when their policies will totally kill the great wealth created during the months since the Election. People are much better off now not to mention ISIS, VA, Judges, Strong Border, 2nd A, Tax Cuts & more?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017

THE FACTS: He's entitled to his politics, but the tweet masks the fact that each veterans' bill signed into law by Trump won approval with strong support from Democrats as well as Republicans.

House Democrats did block one VA Choice emergency funding bill after major veterans groups complained it focused too much on private care without also investing in core VA programs. The bill was revised to add the money, was overwhelmingly approved and was signed by Trump on Aug. 12.

The bipartisan display began with David Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration confirmed unanimously by the Senate to serve as VA secretary in February. Trump calls Shulkin the "100-to-nothing man" because of that vote, since he is the only Trump Cabinet member to achieve that.

WHITE HOUSE: "Secretary Shulkin has expanded access to urgent mental health care to former service members with other-than-honorable discharges."  Nov. 9 press release.

THE FACTS: This claim glosses over VA's difficulty in hiring mental health professionals and providing counseling support to higher-risk veterans, due in part to a tightening VA budget. Trump cited mental health care as a top priority for fixing VA during the presidential campaign and pledged a hiring surge. But the VA only netted about 258 new personnel as of late November, far below the 1,000 additional mental-health specialists it had targeted for 2017.

In March, Shulkin announced an initiative to expand urgent mental health care to those with other-than-honorable discharges with much fanfare, but soon after, he revealed he wouldn't be asking Congress for additional money to pay for it. The program provides mostly emergency care, something that had been offered already to any veteran, not preventive services.

To reduce suicide rates, VA is seeking to establish "telehealth" hubs in rural areas to provide veterans with mental health assistance. It has launched a new predictive model to analyze veterans' health records to identify those at risk. Roughly 20 veterans take their lives each day.

WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program."  Dec. 22 press release.

THE FACTS: The money was quickly used up. Weeks after Congress approved the $2.1 billion in emergency funding to keep the VA Choice private-care program running, the VA acknowledged in September the program would again run out of money earlier than expected. The VA asked Congress to approve a long-term fix to its VA Choice program that could cost as much as $54 billion over five years, but divided lawmakers in December decided instead to approve another stopgap measure of $2.1 billion, punting the bigger issues until later.

The delay means that a larger overhaul of VA Choice  which Shulkin says will help significantly reduce wait times at VA medical centers  isn't likely to be fully implemented until 2019 or later.

The VA Choice program was put in place after a 2014 wait-time scandal that was discovered at the Phoenix VA hospital and elsewhere throughout the country. Veterans waited weeks or months for appointments while phony records covered up the lengthy waits. The program allows veterans to go to private doctors if they endure long waits for VA appointments, but it has suffered extended wait times of its own.

Last year, Shulkin said veterans were waiting more than 60 days for new appointments in about 30 VA locations nationwide.

___

Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this report; Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1
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A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:

NOT REAL: Fire Dept: Room Full Of Servers, Hard Drives Destroyed In Clinton House Fire

THE FACTS: A conspiracy-oriented site published this account of a small fire on property owned by Bill and Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, New York, anonymously quoting a fire official who said "smashed-up hard drives" and burnt paper were found at the scene. A town official said the fire was likely caused by a broken ceiling fan and damaged only the ceiling in a room used by the U.S. Secret Service. Hillary Clinton faced heavy criticism throughout her presidential campaign for her use of a private email server that was located at the Clinton home.

NOT REAL: Trump Orders to Remove Obama Highway Name and Get Back The Previous Name of 'Old Dixie' Highway

THE FACTS: A spokesman in Riviera Beach, Florida, said there are no plans to remove Obama's name from a stretch of highway it has been on since 2015. Several conservative sites, including JournalUnited and TrumpFriends, shared stories with the headline that the highway would return to its former name. The text of the story does not address the headline claim and expressed opinions on the removal of Confederate statues and symbols across the country. The story was accompanied by a picture appearing to show a sign being taken down; it actually shows the sign being erected in 2015.

NOT REAL: First Baptist Dallas Members Melt Golden Jewelry Down Into Towering Donald Trump Statue

THE FACTS: The Jan. 2 story by a Christian satire site Babylon Bee, reporting that Pastor Robert Jeffress asked members of his congregation to melt down their jewelry to build a statue to the president, went viral this week. It was accompanied by an altered photograph of Trump giving the thumbs-up with Jeffress in the background. Trump and Jeffress did appear together in July at a Kennedy Center event in Washington, but Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida the previous weekend. The church said it wouldn't comment, because it's a satirical piece.

NOT REAL: Federal Judge Nullifies Alabama Senate Election: 'It's Nothing But Fraud'

THE FACTS: No judge threw out the results of the Dec. 12 special election in Alabama won by Democrat Doug Jones, who was sworn into office as a U.S. senator this week. The story is one of many false accounts circulating after Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore. The story shared by groupviral, among other sites, attributes the ruling to U.S. District Judge Alejandro Wilson, who is not listed as a federal judge in any of the state's three districts.

NOT REAL: Scientists expect chocolate to go extinct by 2050

THE FACTS: Widely shared stories on dozens of sites caused alarm among chocolate lovers, but the headlines go farther than the studies the stories cite. The accounts cite the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which does say climate change will threaten cocoa production across the world. NOAA also referred to a 2014 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicted "considerable reduction" in terrain suitable for cocoa production in Ghana and the Ivory Coast by 2050. But neither organization predicts the extinction of chocolate.

___

This is part of The Associated Press' ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
WASHINGTON  So the haters in the Fake News Media are again having a wild rumpus, this time because President Trump, threatening nuclear war via Twitter, taunted North Koreas Kim Jong Un by saying his Nuclear Button is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

To those who say it is juvenile for the president of the United States to deliver playground taunts about nuclear annihilation, I offer this considered response: Your momma.

To those who say Trump is demeaning his high office, I have a ready rejoinder: Dont be a bunch of dork-faces.

To those who think it vulgar for the president to boast about the size and functionality of his nuclear button (after boasting during the campaign about the size and functionality of his, er, love button), I offer two thoughts: 1) You booger-munchers make me puke. And, 2) Suck it up, you snot-faced phlegm-wads.

Not only does Trump have the biggest and most beautiful, well-functioning nuclear button, but he has the greatest and most beautiful taunts. North Korea simply cant compete. The best Kim has come up with was calling Trump a dotard.

Fail! I know I speak for all 320 million Americans when I say we did not know that word. Every one of us had to look it up. But Trump, Smarty McThinkalot that he is, knows how to talk to us. However else we may be divided, virtually all American voters have finished the third grade and therefore understand the language of playground insults. And nobody speaks it better than Trump.

If Kim knew his taunts better, he would have responded in kind. When Trump called him short and fat, Kim would have replied with, Oh, really, Das Gropenfuhrer? or, Bite me, Mango Mussolini.

When Trump called Kim Rocket Man, the North Korean could have said, Shut it, Darth Hater, or, Can it, you Talking Yam. Kim, when dubbed a madman by Trump, could have achieved deterrence by addressing Trump as Agent Orange, Adolf Twitler, Hair Fuhrer or perhaps the Angry Cheeto.

Countertaunted so forcefully, Trump would probably be reduced to saying: Oh yeah? Well, madman times infinity!  thus opening himself up to the obvious but effective parry, Mango Mussolini times infinity plus one!

The two nuclear-armed leaders could go on firing ballistic missives across the Pacific:

Trump: Idiot-hole!

Kim: Jerk-bucket!

Trump: Chunky McEats-a-Lot!

Kim: Pudgy McTrumpcake!

Finally, Gen. Kelly would discover that Trump was tweeting and would take away his phone  and the nuclear standoff would end.

The North Korean dictator could learn by watching the way two masters of the genre  Trump and his former top strategist, Steve Bannon  taunt each other.

Bannon: You made the dumbest political decision in modern political history, bar none.

Trump: You not only lost your job, you lost your mind.

Bannon: Treasonous. Unpatriotic. Bad sh.

Trump: Youre only in it for yourself.

Bannon: Your momma is so fat, when she walked in front of the TV, I missed three commercials.

Trump: Your momma is so fat that when she weighed herself the scale said, One at a time, please.

But wait! Why am I advising that North Korean blowhole? As a patriotic American, I should be helping my country perfect the adolescent arts. And so, as gift to the president, I have composed a first draft of his State of the Union address:

My fellow Americans, including all of my enemies and haters, you idiot-holes. There are those who say that I am unfit to hold this office and who are calling for my impeachment. But what they do not realize is this: Im rubber, youre glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you. Tag, no tag-backs. Yes, Democrat jerk-weeds kept us from repealing Obamacare, but we passed a huge tax cut for the rich. In your face! And after years of nothing from President Wimpy McSissypants, I told ISIS: Talk to the hand, because the face aint listening.

Let the word go forth to all fatheads who say my administration stinks of corruption: He who smelt it dealt it. Let all dog-breath goobers who say I am dragging down Republicans know this: LALALALALALA! I cant hear you! And let everybody who thinks me a failure hear this: I know you are, but what am I? Your FACE is a failure.

The state of my union is bigger and more powerful than the state of your union. And your momma knows it.
On Wednesday, the Third Circuit granted Venezuela a victory in its ongoing settled-but-not-settled litigation with Crystallex. The case deals with a limited issue: Whether Delaware law imposes liability for the fraudulent transfer of an asset on an entity that is not itself a debtor. We want to use this post to speculate a bit about the implications the decision may have for the bigger Venezuelan debt drama. If the new decision is important, it is because it signals something about the receptivity of US courts toward claims that Venezuela, PDVSA, and perhaps US entities like CITGO are alter egos. We disagree a bit about that question. But first, some background on this aspect of the Crystallex case.

Crystallex holds a judgment against Venezuela for over $1 billion and has been looking for ways to collect. The case is in an odd limbo, in that there has been a settlement, which Venezuela does not appear to be paying. ( Perhaps its sending Crystallex chocolates .) Plus, the settlement calls for payment in installments, and Venezuela may stop paying even if it pays now. In any event, many of Crystallexs legal theories can be replicated by other creditors, especially the claim that PDVSA is Venezuelas alter ego. If successful, that claim would allow Crystallex to seize PDVSAs assets (if not protected by sovereign immunity). In the U.S., those assets consist of shares in PDV Holding, the ultimate parent company of CITGO Petroleum.

Before the settlement-not-a-settlement, Venezuela proclaimed that it had no intention to pay Crystallex and similar creditors with judgments against the government. Because its a sovereign government, Venezuelas assets are protected (but not absolutely) by sovereign immunity. Its assets are also protected by the corporate form, because assets held by state-controlled entities like PDVSA, and ultimately CITGO, belong to those entities, not to the government itself. If a creditor succeeds on an alter ego theory, these legal barriers between entities dissolve.

In any event, Venezuela was concerned that its creditors, or creditors of PDVSA, would go after CITGO. So it decided to extract as much wealth from CITGO as possible. According to Crystallex (though few dispute this), Venezuela did this by causing CITGO to issue $2.8 billion in bonds and then to pay the proceeds out as a dividend.

The Third Circuits decision deals only with PDVHs liability to Crystallex under Delaware law. Upset that Venezuela had siphoned wealth from CITGO, Crystallex alleged that the dividend payment was a fraudulent transfer under Delaware law. In a purely formal sense, of course, the transfer was almost exactly the opposite of a typical fraudulent transfer, in that it involved a transfer of assets to the debtor from a non-debtor. But of course, the practical effect was to stiff the governments creditors. Thats because they have no practical ability to recover money held by Venezuela. Their only realistic hope is to seize assets held by other entities in the U.S. And that, again, requires them to prove that these entities are Venezuelas alter egos or otherwise liable for its debts.

Although the district judge had ruled in Crystallexs favor, the Third Circuit, by a 2 to 1 vote, reversed. The majority held that a non-debtor cant be liable for a fraudulent transfer under Delaware law. PDV Holding is a non-debtor precisely because no court has found it to be Venezuelas alter ego; in fact, Crystallex didnt allege (much less prove) the contrary. The dissent would have affirmed the district court, on the theory that a non-debtors transfer of property at the direction of a debtor (Venezuela) violated Delaware law.

What does all this mean for future alter ego or veil piercing cases? Here, we disagree a bit. In a nutshell, Mitu wonders if the Third Circuit decision might be a signal that veil piercing claims face a tough uphill climb under Delaware law. Delaware, as the court points out in its decision, is a jurisdiction that takes corporate formalities seriously. And certainly Venezuelas conduct was shady here; all judges seem to acknowledge that it essentially directed these transfers. If that isnt enough to impute liability to a legally-separate entity, future litigants will need to come up with something even stronger. He agrees (with Mark!) that veil piercing and similar theories should work differently in the sovereign context.

Mark thinks that's just nuts. No, actually he shares the view that creditors will have a hard time convincing courts to disregard the separate legal status of the U.S. entities (though an easier time with respect to PDVSA). But he doesnt read very much into the Third Circuits decision. Without credible alter ego allegations against PDVH, the Third Circuit would have to expansively interpret Delaware fraudulent transfer law, which plays a key role in all kinds of cases, usually not involving sovereign governments.

In any event, it is odd that a case that has ostensibly been settled continues to produce new law and to be actively litigated. Which brings us back to a question that we and others have asked before: What exactly is the point of this settlement?
It was not the sort of problem that should tie up a top official at a hotel and restaurant holding company, yet it happened at the start of last summer.

The company  with multiple businesses in New England  wanted to bring back a veteran, seasonal hotel worker from Jamaica in a high-priced resort area.

The man wasnt a manager, nor someone with special tech skills, nor a high-level employee of any kind. But the company needed him  and couldnt bring him in under newly tightened immigration visa work rules.

Suddenly in 2017, the government needed to know what would happen if the company didnt get the worker.

We had to sign on a Department of Labor agreement that it would severely impact the financials of the corporation, said the official, who requested that I not name the company for fear of retribution by the federal immigration service and the Trump administration.

Naturally, the corporation couldnt make that claim. The job went unfilled for the summer.

It affected the economy in a small way thats adding up. Tighter rules for companies hiring foreign workers, and tighter immigration restrictions generally  both of which were seeing under President Donald Trump  could hurt Connecticut more than most places, experts said Friday at a conference on the states economy.

We all know Connecticut isnt creating jobs, as the total in Connecticut was down in November compared with one year earlier, according to preliminary estimates.

But why is that? Skittishness by employers in a high-cost, low-growth state, certainly. But thats not the whole answer, as executives everywhere say they have jobs open and cant find the right people. We have probably over 25,000 jobs that are unfilled, said Peter Gioia, economist at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, which sponsored Fridays event in Hartford.

That includes 13,000 jobs in manufacturing, he said.

And that brings us back to foreign workers and immigrants. Connecticut, famously, is gaining just a few thousand people a year through its birth rate. And equally famously, were losing an average of just over 20,000 people a year who move to other states.

The only thing keeping the states workforce afloat is immigration and foreign work visas.

By this logic, we shouldnt build a wall, we should build an airport and fly people in  all the better if that airport is located near Bridgeport and New Haven, which would make us a lot more attractive to the Amazons of the world.

The idea of tighter immigration restrictions sent Gioia on a rant.

Our immigration policy is a disaster for Connecticut, Gioia said. Going back to 1980, all of our population growth is due to immigration.  It boggles my imagination that we can bring these people over here, train them and educate them, they in many cases want to work here, and what do we do? We kick them out.

Punctuating his remarks, he added, Foreign-born people are 80 percent more likely to start a business than native-born Americans.

I know what youre thinking because part of my brain holds the same thought. Companies have abused foreign work rules to the detriment of many American workers by bringing people from overseas, especially in information technology and other computer trades, and paying them less than their U.S. citizen counterparts.

Allowing a flood of cheap foreign labor undermines worker pay at a time when corporations already pay a record low percentage of their profits to rank-and-file workers.

Youre also thinking that if the Connecticut employers sitting on those 25,000 unfilled jobs would raise the pay offers, people would come out of the woodwork to fill those jobs. They might even come from Texas and Florida, though not this weekend, with temperatures below zero.

The answer is balance. The pendulum may have swung too far as corporations emerging from the Great Recession abused employees and overused cheaper foreign workers. But now, exactly when the big problem really is a shortage of workers, as the jobless rate is low and companies finally want to hire, the pendulum on immigration has swung too far the other way.

Trump, of course, shrewdly appeals to disenfranchised, mostly white workers  many of them doing just fine, but angry at the perception that America is under siege from foreign workers.

But without a steady supply of workers, companies wont necessarily buck up and pay more for the workers who walk in the door. Theyll take that work elsewhere  especially if they dont have faith in the patchwork system of worker training programs.

Looking at national threats to growth, said Alissa DeJonge, chief economist at the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Immigration policy is probably the biggest piece, not just for the U.S. but for Connecticut specifically.

Its ironic that the answer for Trump and populist Republicans in Congress was to hand over the store to multinational corporations and financial services firms, some of the exact companies that abused the system to begin with, leading to the anger that put these politicians in power. Now, to pay for that gift, we have a tax policy that hurts the high-cost states, the ones creating economic activity.

The optics are that people in the state of Connecticut are actually going to be hurt, said Susan Coleman, professor of finance at the University of Hartford. Whether thats the reality, we dont know.

Theres a lot we dont know, including why the governments monthly survey of households shows the number of Connecticut residents with jobs rising nicely, while the monthly survey of employers shows jobs disappearing. We cant all be crossing into New York and Massachusetts for jobs.

We also dont know whether the new tax policy, combined with tighter immigration, will leave Connecticut too starved for workers to recover.

But we know this: Immigration and foreign work visas need to be a big part of Connecticuts recovery. The tech entrepreneur in New Haven who cant find the right people otherwise will tell you that.

The economist from South Asia who graduated with a Ph.D. from UConn, found work, settled in Connecticut and now fears that route is blocked will also tell it to you.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
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BRIDGEPORT  Two thousand and eighteen is here, and the new East Side train station is no closer to being built than when announced four years ago by the governor with a 2018 opening date.

As it stands right now, the proposed Barnum Station is essentially on hold while questions are being debated regarding the long-term solvency and sustainability of the (states) Special Transportation Fund, Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, wrote in an email last week.

Translation: There is no money.

The project was first announced by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy during a visit to Bridgeport in late summer 2014.

Critics at the time charged that Malloys decision and the ambitious opening date was politically calculated to win urban votes that November in a tough, but ultimately successful, bid for a second term.

The Barnum Station had, in fact, been pursued by then-Mayor Bill Finchs administration and local business leaders as an economic driver to lure new development and tenants to the troubled East Side.

But a Freedom of Information Act request by Hearst Connecticut Media revealed Malloys announcement had caught key DOT staff off guard.

During a DOT-hosted public hearing last year on the East Side, state officials sought to lower expectations about when the station would actually be constructed and open for business. They noted the design was only 15 percent complete and the operational date moved to 2021  depending on the availability of funding.

The price tag, which ballooned over the years from $48 million to $300 million in part because of demands to accommodate not just Metro North trains but Amtraks high speed ones, is challenging given Connecticuts and Bridgeports budget problems. In fact some people who testified at last winters hearing argued the Barnum Station  which would technically be Bridgeports third Metro North stop counting the downtown transit hub and the Fairfield Metro just over the border  should be scrapped in favor of investing available money into improving the states existing transportation infrastructure.

Everhart insisted that the Malloy administration remains supportive of this project and noted state money footed the initial $2.5 million design tab. But, as Everhart also noted, the Special Transportation Fund is in trouble because of a loss of gas taxes and other issues.

A modest proposal

Early last month Malloy, who is not seeking a third term this year, urged the General Assembly to act on a variety of options, including controversial train and bus ticket increases, highway tolls and mileage taxes, to shore up the fund.

The (Barnum) station is among numerous transportation projects and proposals that are at risk of being suspended or deferred indefinitely, Everhart said.

That does not have to be the case, insisted Av Harris, a Ganim aide and the mayors liaison with the legislature.

It doesnt have to be a five star or Cadillac station, Harris said. Harris said Ganim has urged the DOT to consider something more modest.

Could it be $50 million? $100 million? And lets look at creative ways to finance it, said Harris, like a public/private partnership.

Station proponents have long thought that it would draw the interest of developers seeking to construct residential, retail and office space within walking distance of the station. One of those  JHM Group of Stamford  recently built mixed income housing on the nearby site of a former public housing project, Father Panik Village.

Our main point is we want to get it (the Barnum Station) built ... so we can keep the momentum going in that part of the East Side, Harris said. Still, he admitted he was not optimistic in the last year of a lame duck administration.

With Malloy on his way out, Ganim, a fellow Democrat, is among the contenders vying for governor, and he has touted the still-on-paper station on the campaign trail as an example of progress in Bridgeport.

But even if Ganim were to become governor, the legislature would likely need to be a part of whatever his solution would be to move the Barnum project forward.

State Rep. Christopher Rosario, whose district includes the Barnum Station neighborhood, expected the project will be discussed during the upcoming legislative session.

Ive been pushing for that station even before I was elected, Rosario said. As long as Im there, I will continue to push.
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When five teenagers ran from police a few hours before dawn in Saugatuck a few weeks ago, Westport police turned to their newest crime-fighting tool, the drone.

I (flew) over the marshland to see if anyone was there, said police Capt. Ryan Paulsson, a certified drone pilot. The vegetation is high enough that you cant really see in.

Police said the teens drove a stolen SUV into a police car after breaking into vehicles around the residential neighborhood.

Federal Aviation Administration rules treat Paulsson just like any other commercial drone operator, and prohibit flights before dawn. So he waited for sunrise to launch the drone, which has four rotors, is the size of a pizza delivery box and half the weight of a gallon of water.

Police found the suspects with traditional policing tools: sniffing dogs, a police patrol boat and thermal imaging devices. But drones are becoming an increasingly important tool for law enforcement.

In the crawl-walk-run stage, were crawling, and moving to walking, Paulsson said. Its a new technology to law enforcement ... we dont want to move too too fast with it.

The drone industry and the rules that govern it are also moving slowly.

The state Legislature considered a bill last year backed by Berlin police that would have allowed cops to fly drones equipped with lethal

weapons. The proposal snagged national headlines  no other state allows lethal drones  and died in committee.

This was originally a good bill to protect communities from unwarranted police drone surveillance and prevent police from weaponizing drones, said David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, in a May 1 statement. The ACLU (supports) protecting people from unwarranted drone surveillance, but opposes the amendment to allow police to equip drones with lethal and less-lethal weapons.

Paulsson said Westport police dont currently need those abilities.

I dont plan on putting any attachments at this point, Paulsson said. This is purely for documenting scenes, search and rescue and public safety.

Considering possibilities

Some Connecticut companies are positioning for a drone boom.

We envision a future where every squad car in America has a drone integrated into its computer system, said Paul Ouellette, a spokesman for a West Haven-based distributor Drone USA. At present, the drone industry is in infancy. (Police) departments are just learning how drones can make their work simpler and safer.

This summer, the company flew quadcopter and airplane-type drones in demonstrations to police departments in Trumbull and on Jennings Beach in Fairfield.

Drone USA hopes to get a foothold in the Connecticut and New Jersey markets by selling and servicing drones like the DJI Phantom 4 that Paulsson flies. Stamford police use a slightly older model. They retail for between $800 and $1,400.

The departments we encounter seem to be at different stages of interest, Ouellette said. For example, some departments are experimenting with DJI products; others tend to favor more sophisticated U.S. manufactured products.

Like any novel technology, the drone industry faces a novel set of problems.

In August, the U.S. military stopped using DJI drones, which are made in China, due to concern their data might not be secure. Documents posted online alleged data was shared with the Chinese government, and immigration officials started an investigation.

DJI Ltd. said in a statement that it doesnt look at flight logs, photos or video unless customers actively upload and share them with us, the Associated Press reported in December.

Flying and the Fourth Amendment

Privacy and other civil rights concerns persist.

Without additional legislation, theres no definite rule prohibiting Westport police from flying their drone cameras over peoples houses, according to a 2014 study by the Connecticut General Assemblys Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee.

U.S. courts have never defined exactly how far above the ground private property ends and the so-called public highway of the navigable skies begins. The Supreme Court has yet to take up a drone case.

There is a place for drones in the police department, but they have to be used in accordance with the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, McGuire said.

In the year or so that Westport police have used a drone, its mainly flown at scenes of fatal or serious accidents, Paulsson said. Where a fire truck ladder can get an aerial shot of a car crash, a drone is safer and quicker. When a worker fell off shaky scaffolding, a drone allowed police to assess the top of the structure without risking a fall.

But Paulsson said he can imagine expanding the drones capabilities eventually, perhaps adding thermal imaging and flying at night  abilities that could have simplified the search for the five teen suspects in Saugatuck.

Much of that could happen without new legislation. All Paulsson has to do to fly at night, over people, or higher than the standard limit of 400 feet, is to craft a reasonable safety plan and submit it to the FAA for a geographically specific exemption.

For now, Paulsson is focused on the basics. He wants two more cops to pass the FAAs remote pilot exam, to increase the departments pilots roster to five. That means learning airspace rules, atmospheric pressure science and airport radio tower communication.

Its not an easy exam, he said.
Welcome to 12th night or the last day of Christmas. On Monday the old Scotch Proverb will say Yule is come, and Yule is gone, and we have feasted well; so Jack must to his flail again, and Jenny to her wheel, or in short it is back to the grindstone for us all.

Yet in keeping with the close of Yule perhaps we could re-adopt the English tradition of the Plough Light. For those of us who have a difficult time remembering these things, a simple explanation: Monday will be the first Monday after the feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6). The origins of the day are not clear, but one possibility is that it was the first day when the peasants returned to work after the Christmas holiday.

At this time it was usual for a light to be kept burning in the local church before the image of a saint that was known as the plough light. This was probably a semi-Christian ritual to ensure a good harvest. The first practice of going around the village with a plough on this day and begging for money was to ensure that there was enough to pay to keep the plough light burning throughout the year. The second practice was to raise money for the poor and destitute.

Medieval peasants did not own land but were given an area of land to farm in return for working two or three days a week farming their lords land. During the 12 days of Christmas they were given a holiday from working their lords lands, but once Epiphany had passed the lord would want his land ploughed ready for the spring seed to be sown and so all his serfs would be obliged to turn up with their ploughs and do just that. (Explanation courtesy of Elizabeth Ashworth, an English author.)

Until the passage by the Wisconsin Legislature aid to the Foxconn corporation and the new federal tax bill just before Christmas, I must say I never felt ill used. I followed the biblical admonition of the vineyard owner below.

When people who worked 10 hours were paid the same as people who worked 1 or 2 hours the owner said to those who complained, I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didnt you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Dont I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? so the last will be first, and the first will be last.

That is a fine parable for the Kingdom of Heaven, but here on earth, using my money, I must disagree with the generous vineyard owner. I will raise money for the poor and the needy, but for the king and his corporate masters, no.

Sometimes if the truth be told many of us feel like medieval peasants who do not own or control anything. This can be frustrating, plus it puts us in ill health by raising our blood pressure. Like the Medieval peasant I do not mind working the kings fields once in a while, but Ill be gosh darned if I will plow the whole of Racine and Kenosha counties for a foreign corporation and let the Feds give my tax money to the rich.

As the Yuletide of 2017 fast disappears in our rearview mirrors and the voice of Jacob Marley is silenced once again it is fair to ask a question. As Jacob Marley said in A Christmas Carol, Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. Do we live up to any of those ideals that Jacob Marley expressed? The jury is out.

In most communities, the Plough Light has been extinguished and we have lost its light. Monday will be here before we know it. So it is off to work for the king I will go. Which king it will be I am uncertain. All I know is that that the true revolution will soon be upon us if our middle class situation does not change for the better.
January 5, 2018At home in Ontario, his activism barely raised an eyebrow.But when a quiet-spoken Chinese dissident travelled to the country of his birth last year, security officers shadowed him for weeks, booking hotel rooms next to his, even following him to breakfast.Before he left, they also had a disturbingly direct message: Stop condemning the Chinese government to Canadian media, or the family he had come to visit would face the consequences.They said if this (critical) story comes out in the Canadian press, then you are responsible for the life of your relatives, he recalls.According to a confidential report submitted to the federal government earlier this year  not yet released to the public  its just one example of a sweeping intimidation campaign by Chinese officials against activists here in Canada.The product of a coalition led by Amnesty International Canada, the report catalogues harassment ranging from digital disinformation campaigns to direct threats.Targets include Canadian representatives of what the Chinese sometimes call the five poisons: the Uyghur Muslim minority, independence-minded Tibetans, Taiwanese, democracy advocates and, especially, the Falun Gong.This is not just a matter of occasional and sporadic incidents, said Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty Canada, one of the organizations behind the report, along with groups representing Chinese religious, human-rights and ethnic minorities in this country. There is a consistent pattern  a troubling example of a foreign government being very active in Canada in ways that are undermining human rights.The threats also seem to be working. The report, which comes just as the Liberal government and business leaders strive for closer economic ties with China, notes a significant chilling effect on human-rights activism among Chinese-Canadians.That includes the Ontario dissident interviewed for this story, who agreed to speak only on condition of total anonymity, and has ceased activism since his trip.Among those who continue to speak out are Falun Gong organizers. And as recently as last month, emails making grandiose claims about the group  that their leader was the greatest God in this world, exceeding any others including Jesus Christ  were sent to members of Parliament. The missives also claimed that MPs such as Liberal Judy Sgro were being featured in the groups posters.The emails were purportedly from Falun Gong practitioners themselves, but according to organizer Grace Wollensak, they had nothing to do with the group, and clearly echo Beijings propaganda campaign against it.Seen as a threat to communist party control, China banned the Falun Gong in 1999, and has allegedly jailed, tortured and killed countless practitioners since. Although Chinese authorities often call it an evil cult, Canadian experts have described Falun Gong as a new, loosely organized religion emphasizing meditation and profoundly moral teachings.When the fake emails began to arrive a few years ago, says Wollensak, they were easily traced to accounts in China. Theyre harder to track now, and some politicians are unaware they are not from Falun Gong.Its really an attempt to disparage the Falun Gongs followers, says Sgro, who chairs a parliamentary friendship committee with the organization (and keeps getting the emails).Over the last decade or so, city councilors, mayors and other politicians have certainly tried to quash Falun Gong commemorative events or protests, often under pressure from local Chinese consulates. The former mayor of Vancouver, for instance, publicly ordered the group to stop protesting outside the local consulate in 2006.Uyghurs in Canada, who number about 2,000, have faced more insidious intimidation, says community leader Mehmet Tohti.The Muslim ethnic group is at the centre of unrest in Chinas Xinjiang region, with human-rights groups accusing Beijing of repressive crackdowns in response to calls for independence and alleged terrorist acts.Tohti, who founded the Uyghur Canadian Association, believes he too has been shadowed by Chinese agents in Toronto. And he says telephoning kin back home can land them in prison.When he rang a distant relative two years ago, for example, immediately she was put in police custody. It was in February and she was put outside for two hours, says Tohti. Theyre punishing me and forcing me to stop doing what Im doing.Experts say such tactics form part of a larger push to influence and monitor Chinese-Canadians, Chinese citizens who study here and Canadian society as a whole  a project active in many other countries, too  that has reportedly swelled under leader Xi Jinping.The groups behind the report  presented to Global Affairs Canada, RCMP and CSIS officials at meetings in September  want Canadian authorities to take a more coordinated, aggressive approach to the harassment.Adam Austen, a spokesman for Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, declined to comment on the broad-ranging report, saying the department does not talk about specific cases.But he says any attempt by a foreign government to improperly influence or harass Canadians is taken seriously. In instances where unacceptable activities by foreign diplomats do occur, appropriate action is taken, up to and including rendering the diplomat persona non grata.One Chinese official accused of harassing Falun Gong was blocked from renewing Canadian credentials. Another was successfully sued for libelling the group. But activists say they are unaware of any Chinese diplomat actually declared persona non grata.The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not respond to requests for comment.Meanwhile, activists suggest the long arm of China continues to punish dissents in Canada. Former Miss Canada Anastasia Lin is acutely aware of the collateral damage from criticizing China: After speaking to Canadian media about Chinas oppression of the Falun Gong, she was barred from the 2015 Miss World contest in Sanya, and says her father, still living in China, has been intimidated repeatedly by police.Lin also revealed to the Post that her pageant sponsor  a Toronto dress shop owned by a Chinese-Canadian  dropped her after receiving an admonishing email from the local consulate.Most of the Chinese here would have business ties or family back in China, and that itself is holding everything they have in China hostage, she says. So people here dont step out of line.
05 Ocak 2018 Cuma, 13:14

The report in which the AKPs fight against FETO comes in for harsh criticism starts with the comment, The AKP government, which claims to have fought FETO following the 15 July Coup Attempt, nevertheless continues to keep many figures who have past FETO associations in their posts. This is not all, and appointments are made involving the filling of fairly critical posts with certain figures whose names were at one time connected with FETO. On the other hand, certain people whose lives have been devoted to the fight against FETO are branded with FETOism and arrested or even detained, due simply to their opposition credentials.



FETOIST JOURNALISTS GIVE TESTIMONY WHILE THOSE WHO COMBATTED FETO ARE IN THE DOCK!



According to a report by Deniz Ayas of Sozcu, the conclusion reached in the report in which stress is placed on the accusation, Mindboggling inconsistencies and injustices attributable to the AKPs hesitant policies are taking place in the fight waged against FETO in the aftermath of the 15 July coup attempt, is that former FETOist scribes are nowadays held in high regard while journalists who used to criticise FETO stand charged of FETOism.



STRESS ON OUTRAGEOUS DETAILS IN THE SOZCU OPERATION



The report, recalling that Fethullah Gulens right-hand man Huseyin Gulerce had been appointed as a columnist on the government-aligned Star newspaper, while Fehmi Koru had at one time been tasked with mediating between FETO and Ankara, reaches the following conclusion over the perception management operation targeting Sozcu: Huseyin Gulerce gave testimony in the trial filed against opposition Sozcu newspaper, which for years had pointed to the FETO danger, on the charge of having FETO connections. Inconsistency of this magnitude has not even been witnessed in coup periods. No action has been taken until now against Gulerce even though he was at one time part of FETOs brain squad simply because he voiced his contrition. With journalists such as Murat Aksoy and Sahin Alpay detained simply for having written on newspapers with Gulenist connections, figures such as Erhan Afyoncu and Mazhar Bagl, who also wrote articles for Gulenist newspapers, have been appointed as rectors at Erdogan's behest.



FETOS GUEST OF HONOUR INFORMS ON BURAK AKBAY



Even in the aftermath of 15 July, neither the ruling body nor the judiciary inquired into Fehmi Koru's FETO ties. On top of this, attaching credence to Fehmi Koru's accusation unsupported by any concrete evidence whatsoever against Sozcu newspapers proprietor Burak Akbay that, He may be a FETOist, Korus statement was made the grounds for the investigation launched into Akbay. Guest of honour at Gulen's dinner table, Fehmi Koru continues quite happily with his articles, the said relations uninvestigated. The AKP then comes out and claims to be fighting FETO.



EXCERPTS FROM THE REPORT



Many names, from journalists to mayors and civil servants to members of the senior judiciary feature in the report commissioned by CHP Deputy General Chair Yasemin Oner Cankurtaran. Here are some excerpts from the report whose style resembles that of a newspaper column with those names and the accusations against them, quoted verbatim:



NAGEHAN ALCI, RASIM OZAN KUTAHYALI, ERKAN TAN AND MAHMUT OVUR



Also, alongside the detaining of people who deposited money at Gulenist-owned banks, the Nagehan Alc and Rasim Ozan Kutahyal couple, who bought themselves a waterside residence along the Bosphorous having obtained a low-interest loan from FETO-owned Bank Asya, were still able to appear on screens following 15 July. Or, many pro-regime journalists, including A Haber presenter Erkan Tan, whose praise knew no bounds when he said, Mr Fethullah Gulen, we cannot enjoy ourselves and rejoice here without you, and we are forlorn. Come back finally. We have missed you, and Sabah newspaper columnist Mahmut Ovur, who visited Gulen in the USA, are today able with ease to accuse people on the opposition of FETOism. Without even applying for their statements, it was possible for the author of the book The Imams Army, Journalist Ahmet Sk, who pointed to the FETO danger at the time FETO was at its strongest, to be accused of FETOism by the AKP-controlled judiciary. We can come up with further such examples. The upshot of all this is that the AKP government is not really fighting FETO. The AKP government is acting with partiality under the guise of a fight, and is using the FETO accusation against its opponents. With the FETO label attached to those who give the AKP grief, certain figures who had no end of praise for FETO are ignored. In fact, some of them have also been appointed to important positions following 15 July.



INTERIOR MINISTER SULEYMAN SOYLU



Suleyman Soylu is one of the most curious politicians of our recent past. In the days when he was Democrat Party General chair, he had harsh criticism for Erdogan and the AKP with comments such as, Corruption is flowing out of their trouser bottoms, The Prime-Minister has introduced the mother of all corruption and He sees himself as sultan. He then forgot these comments and passed to the AKP. However, there was one area in which he would brook no criticism. And that was FETO! Soylu, pretty sharp as his tongue may be, had no end of praise when it came to FETO. This was not all, and he hectored those who criticised FETO as if FETOs lawyer and gave them a mauling! For example, he called up FETOs outlet Samanyolu TV and criticised MHP leader Devlet Bahceli and the CHPs Isa Gok, who were calling for the Gulen Brotherhoods activities to be suspended.

(Soylus pro- Fethullah Gulen comments at the time are included.)

The following is also noted about the Interior Minister: Despite his ample praise for FETO in the past, he was made Interior Minister in place of Efkan Ala following 15 July. However, nobody has been able to account for the thinking and logic behind bringing in Soylu, who had a past record of praising FETO far more than Ala, to head the fight against FETO.



ENERGY MINISTER BERAT ALBAYRAK



Berat Albayrak was modest-living journalist Sadk Albayraks son. His father was on old acquaintance of Erdogan. After marrying Erdogan's daughter Esra Erdogan, thanks in part to this acquaintanceship, both he and his brother Serhat Albayrak embarked on a rocket-like ascent. This ascent took Berat Albayrak as far as being Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. Some allegations have it that Erdogan sees Berat Albayrak as heir to the throne or even envisages him taking Binali Yldrm's place. Time will show if this is indeed so. Son-in-law Albayrak is a former pupil of one of FETOs schools. He does not deny this, either. He replied from the parliamentary rostrum on being questioned about this, Yes, at a school of the Gulenists. But I did not attend on a grant. I am one of hundreds of thousands or millions of young people who attended the Gulenists hundreds of schools over 35 years. But such were the mother and father who brought me up that I have never ever rented my mind to another mortal. Thank God, I have never done so, so that mob you speak of knows well whose son I am and the kind of life I live. We have hundreds of thousands of young people who attended those schools in this country and are not FETOists, people who did not rent their minds. Berat Albayrak is right! There is no rule that everyone who attended FETO schools is going to be a FETOist. However, with his father-in-law Erdogan not having a word to say about former-FETO school pupil Berat Albayrak and with Albayrak retaining his ministerial post, Sozcu newspaper proprietor Burak Akbay stands charged of FETOism on the allegation, supported by no concrete evidence whatsoever, of Fehmi Koru, who was in FETO for many years, that he stayed in the Houses of Light, even though the former staunchly denies this. This unfounded accusation was cited as grounds for the investigation launched against him. Which person of conscience can accept injustice on this scale?



THE AKPS SABAN DISLI



One of the most important figures in the 15 July coup attempt was Major General Mehmet Disli. Saban Disli, brother of Mehmet Disli, who was alleged to have been a member of the Peace at Home Council and is still in detention pending trial, has been made senior advisor with responsibility for the economy by Erdogan. Even if Disli subsequently resigned from this post, this appointment made following 15 July caused public uproar, because Saban Disli, who is alleged to have spoken on the phone to his big brother four times on the evening of the coup, has crossed paths with FETO in the past. Former Bolu Governor Ibrahim Ozcimen, brother-in-law of FETOs police prayer leader Kozanl Omer, made the claim under interrogation by the public prosecution that, I intimated to Sakarya MP Saban Disli that I wanted to be a provincial governor. And he later told me that my name had been put forward. Criminal responsibility is personal in the eyes of the law. So, of course, Saban Disli cannot be held accountable for the crime committed by his brother. However, with this rule finding application by Erdogan to Disli, it is not applied to the relatives of thousands of detainees. The victims are unable to find jobs when knocking at the states door or are dismissed from the jobs they have for a crime they did not themselves commit.



HEAD OF DIRECTORATE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS ALI ERBAS



Prof. Dr. Ali Erbas, who has recently been appointed to head the Directorate of Religious Affairs, at the fore among public bodies that take the biggest share of the budget, has courted controversy ever since taking up the post. It has emerged that Erbas has crossed paths with FETO many times in the past, or has even been a member of the executive board of the Intercultural Dialogue Platform, one of FETOs most important platforms. Erbas, who also numbered among the regulars at FETOs Abant Meetings, was also seen on events of the Kimse Yok Mu Association, a FETO aid entity. However, this is not the full run down on Erbas. Erbass signature has also been ascertained to have appeared on the doctoral thesis of fugitive Adil Oksuz, the key name in 15 July. Along with Erbas, one of the individuals included on Oksuz's panel was Prof. Dr. Suat Yldrm, at the time Dean of Sakarya University Faculty of Divinity. Suat Yldrm, whose name had been touted as a potential future leader of the brotherhood after Fethullah Gulen, is today on the run. Another person on the jury, however, Prof. Dr. Davut Ayduz, was detained following the coup. The question whose answer is now awaited with curiosity is how and by what criteria was Erbas, who was included on such a panel and had participated in many FETO events, selected to head the Directorate of Religious Affairs.



ERDOGANS CHIEF ADVISOR YAVUZ ATAR



The allegation has been raised that Prof. Yavuz Atar, who is still a member of the Council of Higher Education and is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief advisor, is a FETOist and this has been aired in the media. Moreover, this allegation was raised on pro-regime TGRT by Nurettin Veren, who had once been in Gulen's inner circle but left the organisation years ago and made important confessions. Nurettin Veren, who accused Atar of FETOism, asserted that after 15 July Atar went to Manas University in Kirghizstan alleged to be under FETOs control. Atar, who responded through his lawyer to the allegations by Veren, claimed that he had no ties with FETO and had gone to Manas University under bilateral relations between Turkey and Kirghizstan and not through FETOs intermediation. Atar may be right! But, with people undergoing prosecution in the absence of the slightest evidence of them being FETOists, when a person close to Erdogan was involved, it was not even considered worth looking into the accusations.



FORMER TRT GENERAL DIRECTOR IBRAHIM SAHIN



In the period in which Ibrahim Sahin, whose current post is as a non-serving provincial governor, acted as General Director of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), he is accused of filling the body with FETOists. He transferred a whole host of people from Samanyolu TV, FETOs media outlet at the time, and placed them in important posts and he made figures who names were synonymous with FETO such as Ekrem Dumanl and Hakan Sukur into commentators at the TRT on high salaries. Although Ahmet Koyuncu, who was made Deputy General Director with wide powers by Sahin, has been sentenced to eight years and one months imprisonment for FETO membership, and even though former TRT News Department Head Ahmet Cavusoglu has pointed to Sahin, saying, At the TRT, everything is at the general directors orders. He orders and we do. There is no independent initiative, the failure for a fresh investigation to be launched into Sahin has raised question marks.



RECTOR MAZHAR BAGLI



One of the six rectors appointed by Erdogan last March was Prof. Dr. Mazhar Bagl, made rector of Nevsehir Hac Bektas University. Bagl, who was AKP Sanlurfa MP in the 25th parliamentary period and was an AKP Central Decision and Executive Committee member between the years of 2009 and 2015, was on pretty good terms with FETO at one time. Bagl, who wrote articles for FETOs publishing outlet Zaman, came out in support of the Ergenekon investigations organised by FETO in these articles. He expressed the satisfaction he felt at his daughter attending the FETO schools in a tweet he posted in 2013. Bagl, too, numbers among those to have been rewarded by Erdogan despite his past ties.



RECTOR ERHAN AFYONCU



Erhan Afyoncu came to public attention through his TV programmes. Despite having no military past, he was brought in to head the National Defence University established to replace the War Colleges that had been closed following the 15 July coup attempt. Erhan Afyoncu wrote articles for Bugun newspaper, known for its proximity to the Gulenists, for a full six years between the years of 2008 and 2014. Afyoncu also penned articles for Zaman newspaper for a period in the past. However, this did not prevent him from being rewarded by Erdogan with an appointment as rector.



SEC CHAIR SADI GUVEN



The Supreme Election Council (SEC) gave rise to a massive disgrace following the 16 April referendum by not declaring unstamped votes to be invalid contrary to express statutory stipulation. SEC Chair Sadi Guven had great difficulty in announcing this disgraceful decision at that time. Sadi Guvens name was mentioned in the testimony given in court on 16.11.2016 by former Adyaman Republic Chief Prosecutor Faruk Buyukkaramuklu, who had been detained charged with FETO membership, as follows: I was appointed Adyaman Republic Chief Prosecutor under the 2011 summer decree. Sadi Guven, who is currently SEC Chair, is somebody I know from work placement in Fethiye. I told him that I wanted to be a chief prosecutor. And he was somebody who liked me and I was appointed Adyaman Republic Chief Prosecutor in this way. This testimony on its own does not lead to the conclusion that Guven has FETO ties. However, is the judiciary, which inquires of Cumhuriyet trial defendant Guray Oz why he phoned a pitta vendor who is under investigation for FETO ties, not obligated to ask somebody in such a critical position why he gave a reference for a person who is being prosecuted on FETO charges? When calling a FETOist pitta vendor is a matter for investigation, why was appointing a person with FETO ties as chief prosecutor not? Considering the claims that were aired in certain media outlets following the referendum that Guven and certain SEC members did not cancel the unstamped votes for fear of being accused of FETOism by those in power, this question is forever going to weigh on peoples minds.



AKP PARLIAMENTARIANS VISIT TO PENNSYLVANIA



AK Party Adana MP in the 23rd and 24th parliamentary period, Fatos Gurkan, Attorney-at-Law, one of twelve members of parliament on the AKP delegation that visited Fethullah Gulen's farm in the US state of Pennsylvania in 2012, was appointed as curator of 54 companies that were seized as part of the fight waged against FETO by Adana Chief Republic Prosecution. On this visit, the AKP MPs conveyed their respects to Gulen, perhaps kissed his hand and then took commemorative photographs. The appointing of Gurkan, who was on the delegation that went out to visit Gulen, as curator of the seized FETO companies is just one example of the insincerity that marks the AKPs fight against FETO.



ENGIN NOYAN



With appearing on stations with FETO ties being imputed as a crime element against defendants in many trials, this rule has not worked in the same way for everyone. Engin Noyan made programmes for years on FETOs closed Samanyolu TV station and rose to fame on this station. In those days, on being asked, Do you have a bond of affection with the scholar Fethullah? he used to say, I greatly love and attach importance to the scholarly gentleman. Despite these relations, Noyan began to make the programme Avaz on the state TRT station months after 15 July.



THE MARBLE FOR THE MEMORIAL TO THE 15 JULY FALLEN PROCURED FROM A FETOIST COMPANY!



It has emerged that the marble for the Memorial to the 15 July Fallen whose construction has begun at Erdogan's behest was procured from the company of Sami Coban, who was detained as part of the FETO investigation and turned informant. The state also apparently gave Sami Coban's companies 33.5 million lira in incentives prior to the coup attempt. Coban also numbered among the businesspeople who gave a standing ovation to the speech in which Erdogan was threatened at the general assembly meeting of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists held on 1 March 2014.



PENETRATING QUESTIONS FROM THE REPORTS CONCLUDING SECTION



The 44-page report ends in the following question-filled section headed, Is AKP-FETO cooperation continuing in changed form?:



We are not saying that the figures we have named and whose past FETO ties and praise we have recalled are without doubt guilty. That is the judiciarys business. What sets us apart from the AKP is our belief in the supremacy of the law and a person being innocent until proven guilty. However, the publics conscience has been pricked and is seeking answers to the following questions.



-With people like Ahmet Sk, Kadri Gursel and other Cumhuriyet columnists along with Celal Celik, who in 2011 resigned from his post on the Court of Cassation in reaction to the FETOist formation in the judiciary, accused of FETOism, why are certain people who had blatant FETO ties in the past being protected and looked after and, furthermore, rewarded?



-Or, is AKP-FETO cooperation continuing in changed form?



-Even if the AKP today appears institutionally to be against FETO, is it leaving the door open to renewed co-operation with FETO if circumstances change in the future by continuing to make use of figures whose names are still associated with FETO?



-Considering the U-turns that the AKP and Erdogan made over relations with Israel and Russia, going forward can Erdogan make a U-turn over FETO?



-What are the criteria for the fight against FETO? Is it enough to say, I was deceived. I didnt know?



-With depositing money at Bank Asya or subscribing to Zaman newspaper sufficing for certain people to be dismissed under a decree with the force of law or even detained, why are these criteria not applied to certain people who had relations with FETO for years?



-What distinguishes these people who are protected and looked after from the others?



-Are FETOists who have in some way managed to access Erdogan and persuade him or who are considered to have a potential use being given immunity from the judiciary and prosecution?



Many more questions like these await answer. There are murky points awaiting clarification both up until the 15 July coup attempt and after 15 July. The CHP is seeking clarification of these murky points in the interests of justice being meted out equally to all.
Court Strikes Baltimore Forced Abortion Speech Law

BALTIMORE, Md., Jan. 5, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Today, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Baltimore City Ordinance seeking to impose notification requirements on unlicensed pregnancy centers. The ordinance compelled these pregnancy resource centers to post notices that conspicuously state in English and Spanish that they do not provide nor refer women for abortions or birth control services.

The Fourth Circuit found that the ordinance violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. In contrast to decisions by the Ninth Circuit which validated a similar law in California, the Fourth Circuit found that the Baltimore ordinance was not commercial or professional speech. The court said, "The compelled speech at issue here raises particularly troubling First Amendment concerns. At bottom, the disclaimer portrays abortion as one among a menu of morally equivalent choices. While that may be the city's view, it is not the center's."

The court also found that the ordinance represented an impermissible attempt by the City of Baltimore "to use compelled speech as a weapon to run its ideological foes into the ground," which risks grave violation of the country's most cherished freedoms.

Similarly, Liberty Counsel represents three pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in Southern California, all of which offer women experiencing crisis pregnancies resources, counseling, advice and alternatives to abortion. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, one of four cases brought by crisis pregnancy centers challenging the law as a violation of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free exercise of religion. The ruling on the NIFLA case will apply to the other pending cases.

"The Baltimore City Ordinance which forced crisis pregnancy centers to speak a message that goes directly against their religious beliefs and mission to save lives is unconstitutional," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The First Amendment protects the right to speak and the right not to speak. This unbelievable government mandate forced pregnancy help centers and staff to be puppets of the government and channel the state's abortion message," 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.
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John and Caroline Strafford have been married for 50 years  and Conservative Party members for 53. I know them well, and we always meet up when I attend the Tory Party conference each year, and occasionally elsewhere.

Honest, decent and patriotic, John and Caroline are typical of the party members who have helped make the Conservatives the most successful party in the Western world for the past 200 years, and  I am certain  an immeasurable force for good.

They ran a small manufacturing business for four decades, bringing up three children as they did so, while still finding time in their busy lives for public service.

John was a Kensington and Chelsea councillor, and later treasurer and then chairman of Beaconsfield constituency association. John and Caroline are the heart and soul of the Conservative Party and of Britain, too.

There were more than three million members of the Conservative Party in the years after World War II when Winston Churchill was Prime Minister

It is people like them who make the world go round. They pay their taxes. They generate employment. They stand on their own feet. They serve the community. In their quiet way, it is the Straffords of this world who put the great into Great Britain.

And it is them, and others like them, who slave away during general elections to get out the vote, run the local party machinery and make the Conservative Party a functioning organisation. Naturally, the party high command utterly despises them. The sharp-suited career politicians hate activists like the Straffords, who have genuine beliefs, dont tell lies and enter public service for purely honourable reasons.

The Tory chairman, Sir Patrick McLoughlin, has done nothing for ordinary members. To be fair to Sir Patrick, his predecessor Lord Feldman (chairman under David Cameron) was far worse.

There were still around one million party members in 1990, the year Margaret Thatcher was defenestrated as party leader and Prime Minister

While Sir Patrick is merely useless, Feldman didnt even make any secret of the lacerating contempt he felt for Tory activists. On one occasion, after a late-night dinner, it is alleged he told a group of political journalists he regarded them as swivel-eyed loons, though he continues to deny it.

With men like Feldman and McLoughlin at the top of the Tory Party, its no surprise that party membership is not merely in decline, it is in collapse.

There were more than three million Tory Party members in the years after World War II, though this number had halved to 1.5million by the mid-Seventies.

By the time Margaret Thatcher was defenestrated by Tory MPs in 1990, there were approximately one million members.

But it was David Cameron who delivered the death blow. He inherited more than 250,000 members when he became leader in 2005. In a decade, that number had sunk to around 125,000.

Cameron and Feldman have moved on. Having done well out of the Conservative Party, they are following the revolting example of Tony Blair and doing very nicely thank you in the private sector.

Its always the faithful activists like John Strafford who remain loyal  but this week he delivered a bombshell. My old friend told Channel 4 political editor Michael Crick that he has had advance sight of the latest Tory membership figures.

According to Strafford, the number now stands at 70,000. Seventy thousand! Thats less than one third of the number inherited by Cameron 12 years ago, and less than 10 per cent of the membership bequeathed by Maggie Thatcher to John Major in 1990.

David Cameron inherited more than 250,000 members when he became leader in 2005. In a decade, that number had sunk to around 125,000

It is such a derisory figure that it raises searching questions as to whether the Conservative Party can continue to exist at all. It was so deeply shocking that I felt I needed to check it. I rang up Tory headquarters, who refused to comment. I take this as confirmation that the number is correct.

After all, Labour makes no secret of its party membership. They have nothing to hide. Last December, the number stood at 570,000, over eight times more than the Conservatives. (Labour received ten times more than the Tories in party membership fees in 2016.)

The Conservative Party is dying  and the consequences for democracy are terrible. As it did in 2016, it may well fall once more to this diminishing band to select a new leader  and thus the probable next Prime Minister  at some point. I dont doubt the vast majority are decent people, but most are over 65 and hardly reflect the views of the nation as a whole.

This week, the new Tory MP Andrew Bowie suggested the party has fewer than 10,000 members aged under 30, and feels like a fringe group to millions of younger voters.

Crucially, you cant fight an election with an army of just 70,000 activists. Worst of all, the collapse of the membership has made the Tory Party almost totally dependent on wealthy donors  hard-faced and, in some cases, unscrupulous people  many of whom expect a return for their money.

The number of Tory members stands at just 70,000 now under Theresa May's leadership, with one MP suggesting there are fewer than 10,000 members aged under 30

I went to see party chairman McLoughlin not long after Theresa May became leader. I wanted to learn how he planned to renew the party membership which had been taken for granted by David Cameron. It was soon obvious he did not have a single idea about how to galvanise more people to join.

He fobbed me off with anecdotes about the times he met Margaret Thatcher 30 years earlier. I cannot understand why Mrs May has allowed this useless individual to occupy such a pivotal position for so long. In any half-decent business, McLoughlin would have been sacked ages ago. To be fair, he is not a bad man, merely an incompetent one.

I am an admirer of Theresa May, and it pains me to say that she has failed as Tory leader to reinvigorate the grass roots of the party.

Reform is urgent. There is talk of a reshuffle next week, and the Prime Minister must appoint a powerful and energetic figure who can relaunch the Conservative Party.

If Mrs May does not address this problem as a matter of urgency, there will soon be no Conservative Party left to fight the next election in four years time. John and Caroline Strafford, and thousands of other like them, are magnificent servants of the party, but they cannot do it all on their own.

This is not what honours are for

What has Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who has never risen to higher office than a junior whip, done to deserve a knighthood in this years honours list?

One might ask the same question about Cheryl Gillan, who has been made a Dame after a political career which culminated in a short period of forgettable service as Welsh Secretary.

And what about Sir Graham Brady, who has never held a ministerial position of any sort?

The answer lies in the fact that all three are on the ruling board of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, which ultimately determines whether or not a Prime Minister can survive.

What a shame that the honours system should have to be deployed to shore up the Prime Minister.

MPs are set to mount a revenge attack on Sir Ian Kennedy, who used to regulate their expenses when he was head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Vindictive back-benchers cannot forgive the way he stopped them feathering their own nests.

Now, they are plotting to stop him being appointed to the Board of the Electoral Commission. I can think of no one more appropriate than Sir Ian  a man of genuine integrity  to run this independent body.

But how contemptible of these vindictive MPs to try to stop this worthy man fulfilling a vitally needed public role. Truly, it is impossible to exaggerate the low calibre of many MPs from all political parties.
With a network of celebrity friends and cash to burn, Hugo Campbell-Davys' enviable lifestyle affords him the opportunity to criss-cross the globe enjoying the very finest things on offer.

So the British entrepreneur, 38, is perfectly placed to advise the world's elite on exactly where they should eat, sleep, shop and party.

And Hugo, the brains behind a members-only social app, says getting your foot in the door at the world's most exclusive hotspots isn't simply about schmoozing your way in... it's about getting there before anybody else knows about it.

'Its all about knowing things before they happen,' he told FEMAIL. 'Then you get bragging rights.'

Former boarding school pupil Hugo Campbell-Davys is the brains behind the Urbanologie app

Hugo, who was born in Westminster, is well-connected and has asked celebrity friends like Frasier star Kelsey Grammer (pictured) to guest edit guides for Urbanologie

It's part of Hugo's day-to-day job to go out every night and party at the latest club openings, trying them out for members who want to know where to go

Five years ago, Hugo, a former Mayfair nightclub promoter and PR executive, launched a private newsletter to share his social recommendations, and soon built the side-project into an impressive network of some of the world's biggest power players.

Now the free newsletter has been replaced by the Urbanologie mobile app, which charges its subscribers an achievable 100 a year in exchange for tips on the hottest new openings, whether they be in New York, London, Miami or Ibiza.

HUGO'S INSIDER TIPS If you're desperate to get your name down at the next hotspot follow these tips from Hugo: Don't wait until a place is the next best thing - get there before

Check if you know someone in your network with a contact who can help

Show your gratitude - follow up any invitations with a thank you to a restaurant manager and build up a personal relationship Advertisement

If you're a member, Hugo says, you'll know about the most exclusive places even before they open - because he makes it his business to keep his finger on the pulse of everything up and coming.

And he says his techniques can be applied to your own life.

He suggests making use of your network of friends and acquaintances in whatever city you're in.

'Ask around, ask a favour, you have someone in your own network that will know a staff member or a person that can help you to get into the "hard to get into" places,' he said.

Hugo also says simple manners are vital, for example after attending an opening or launch, sending a follow-up message to the manager or maitre d' as a thank you will stand you in good stead when it comes to access going forward.

'We encourage our members to be appreciative and follow up. Its to show a sense of loyalty,' he explained.

'You can be generous in your gratitude when leaving a tip, but we say follow up and show your appreciation in an email to the general manager and to the maitre d saying how much you have enjoyed the meal.

'Start building that very personal relationship. We find that helps, its about being memorable.'

Hugo told FEMAIL he makes it his business to keep his finger on the pulse of the hottest cities around the globe

Hugo launched Urbanologie as a newsletter in 2012 and it transformed it into a community with 15,000 subscribers

Hugo works throughout the week attending launches, pop-up events but says his downtime comes at the weekend

Hugo's business began from a free newsletter which he transformed into the private Urbanologie network

Former boarding school pupil Hugo, who was born in Westminster, has friends in high places, including actor Kelsey Grammer and millionaire businessman and husband of Cindy Crawford Rande Gerber, both of whom have guest-edited guides for the site.

The entrepreneur describes Urbanologie's 15,000-strong membership as a community - which includes everyone from Made in Chelsea reality stars to industry types from the worlds of media, food and finance.

Hugo says they are all very involved, including one who has recently invested in the app itself.

'Members drive it. If we didn't have our members we wouldn't have a business,' he said.

Along with his small team he updates the app with the latest content on pop-ups, exclusive openings and events, details of which are filed by his network of editors around the globe.

The constant updates and editorial that populates Urbanologie is, as Hugo points out, what makes it so unique: 'The travel guides out there are very limited. We promise to our members that we are providing content that they can't get anywhere else.

'Members want to be told where to go and why to go there. We don't review restaurants - we tell you why you should go.'

'For people being able to live like a local in the city theyre in, its pretty extraordinary,' he said.

Some of the members on the luxury lifestyle app include reality stars, chefs, hedge-fund managers, CEOs and Michelin star chefs. Pictured, Hugo with Ferne McCann

Hugo is a regular on the party circuit. Pictured with Veuve Clicquot's Christina Jesaitis attend the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award in 2013

His life now involves flying around the globe to attend restaurant previews, networking lunches and soirees at private members' clubs to find the very best tips for his subscribers - quaffing champagne and feasting on fine foods along the way.

While he set out to attract the world's best and brightest, he admitted that it has been a challenge, but said that he's happy to provide something no one else has for his subscribers.

'Our members dictate a lot of what we do and where we go. The feedback they give us about content helps us drive back to the service and propositions.'

Next, Hugo plans on expanding Urbanologie into more locations around the world including Monaco, Havana, Tulum, South of France, and Asia, with a goal of being in 25 countries by 2020.
An Oregon company peddling what it calls 'raw water' is at the forefront of a new trend tricking across the US.

Live Water sells spring water that it promises is 'unfiltered, untreated, and unsterilized,' taken straight from Opal Spring in Madras, Oregon and delivered without any treatment or chemicals added.

And for the privilege of drinking this untouched H2O, customers are willing to pay up to $36.99 for a 2.5 liter jug.

Fad: Live Water sells spring water that it promises is 'unfiltered, untreated, and unsterilized,' taken straight from Opal Spring in Madras, Oregon

Behind it: The company was founded by Mukhande Singh (who was born Christopher Sanborn)

Three years ago, Mukhande Singh (who was born Christopher Sanborn) launched the company on the West Coast. He had become convinced that tap water was full of dangerous chemicals and wanted an alternative.

'Tap water? You're drinking toilet water with birth control drugs in them,' he told the New York Times. 'Chloramine, and on top of that they're putting in fluoride. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it's a mind-control drug that has no benefit to our dental health.'

He's not a fan of home filters, either, claiming that it ruins water as well.

'You're going to get 99 per cent of the bad stuff out. But now you have dead water,' he said.

So he began gathering fresh water from local springs, and built his company up. Juicero founder Doug Evans gave the brand a boost when he lent his support to it in 2017.

If you say so... The company claims that 'raw water' is better for you and doesn't have harmful chemicals

Um, ew... The founder is not a fan of tap water and has described it as 'toilet water with birth control drugs in them'

It worked centuries ago (when life expectancy was lower)! Singh claims the water tastes better and isn't 'dead water' like what comes through the tap

Live Water makes several claims about tap and bottled water. Many  like the supposed mind-control properties of fluoride  are scientifically unsupported. The company also says that the sterilization process 'destroys beneficial sources of minerals and probiotics.'

'Spring water  like eating wild plants and game meat, or fresh wild fish, it's just better. Better than anything from a bottle or a tap, it has a richer mouth feel, a cleaner flavor, and is distinctly more hydrating,' Singh wrote on Instagram.

'Our lives have become so domesticated  we are so factory farmed  that most folks have forgotten where water even comes from. We've become like adult sized bottle-fed babies who've never seen a lactating breast.'

The company's water is collected from the spring into large glass jugs, then delivered straight to subscribing customers or to local grocery stores.

Customers in certain parts of California can get their Live Water straight from the company. Four 2.5 gallon jugs cost $16 each, and there are discounts for larger orders. That comes to $6.40 per gallon.

Ever heard of cholera? Experts, however, point to the myriad diseases that untreated water can carry

Lieutenant Dan, is that you? The water has a loyal fan base and stores that sell it are out of stock quickly

Price of hydration: Four 2.5 gallon jugs cost $16 each, and there are discounts for larger orders

At stores that stock the water, prices can be higher. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco sells out quickly when a shipment comes in, even with a price tag of $36.99 per jug (and $14.99 per refill, if a customer brings his or her own glass jug).

HOW IS DRINKING WATER TREATED IN THE US? Public drinking water systems use various methods of water treatment to provide safe drinking water for their communities. How it is treated depends on the quality of the water that enters the treatment plant. Typically, surface water requires more treatment and filtration than ground water because lakes, rivers, and streams contain more sediment and pollutants and are more likely to be contaminated than ground water. Today, the most common steps in water treatment used by community water systems (mainly surface water treatment) include: The Environmental Protection Agency's image shows how public drinking water is typically treated Coagulation and flocculation Coagulation and flocculation are often the first steps in water treatment. Chemicals with a positive charge are added to the water. The positive charge of these chemicals neutralizes the negative charge of dirt and other dissolved particles in the water. When this occurs, the particles bind with the chemicals and form larger particles, called floc. Sedimentation During sedimentation, floc settles to the bottom of the water supply, due to its weight. This settling process is called sedimentation. Filtration Once the floc has settled to the bottom of the water supply, the clear water on top will pass through filters of varying compositions (sand, gravel, and charcoal) and pore sizes, in order to remove dissolved particles, such as dust, parasites, bacteria, viruses, and chemicals. Disinfection After the water has been filtered, a disinfectant (for example, chlorine, chloramine) may be added in order to kill any remaining parasites, bacteria, and viruses, and to protect the water from germs when it is piped to homes and businesses. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advertisement

That comes to nearly $15 per gallon for the first jug.

Meanwhile, the average cost of a gallon of tap water in the US is $0.004, or .4 cents, per gallon.

Even regular bottled water comes at an average cost of $1.22 per gallon, according to Slate.

Another thing that sets Live Water apart: Because it isn't sterilized, it needs to be refrigerated and has an expiration date, typically a few months after it was bottled.

'It stays most fresh within one lunar cycle of delivery,' Singh told the Times. 'If it sits around too long, it'll turn green. People don't even realize that because all their water's dead, so they never see it turn green.'

According to several experts, however, water turning green could, in fact, be a bad sign. Many warn the dangerous of drinking untreated water, saying it can contain animal feces and carry dangerous diseases.

'Without water treatment, there's acute and then chronic risks,' Dr. Donald Hensrud, the director of the Healthy Living Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told the Times, citing E. coli, viruses, parasites, and carcinogenic compounds.

'There's evidence all over the world of this, and the reason we don't have those conditions is because of our very efficient water treatment.'

According to the World Health Organization, drinking contaminated water causes over half a million diarrhea deaths every year.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drinking water supplies in the US are among the safest in the world, with water treated to remove disease-causing agents that cause cryptosporidium, hepatitis A, giardia intestinalis, and E. coli.

According to the agency, adding fluoride prevents tooth decay safely and effectively. It says: 'Water fluoridation has been named one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.'

Still, Live Water has many fans who sing the company's praises online.

'The water is great. It's a bit pricey but it's worth it. I'm worth it. My family is worth it. These guys are doing a great service, and there is no other company delivering truly "raw" un-messed-with water,' wrote Qmars Imandel on Facebook.

'The tastiest water I ever drank,' wrote Lauren D. 'The fountain of truth is packed with minerals that actually make you feel healthier. I've been able to see positive side-effects, and the glass jug is beautiful.'

'This is delicious, sacred water and I am so grateful for the opportunity to receive this abundance at my doorstep! Having access to the clean, fresh, unadulterated drinking water has totally changed my life,' wrote Vanessa K.

Seattle-based food safety advocate and food poisoning attorney Bill Marler, who pointed out that untreated water can also contain animal feces, thinks it is important for people to understand what they are buying.

'You can't stop consenting adults from being stupid,' he told Business Insider. 'But, we should at least try.'
Like any bride-to-be, Meghan Markle will want to look her best on her wedding day.

From her gown to her hair, the closest attention will be paid to every detail of her appearance to ensure she's at her most dazzling when she walks down the aisle.

Now London-based Nichola Joss, of whom Meghan is a known fan, has offered a hint at what the future royal's skincare regime might be in the lead-up to the May 19 ceremony, giving other brides-to-be the chance to replicate her signature glow for their own big day.

Speaking to Marie Clarie, Nichola, who counts Kate Moss and Jennifer Lopez among her roster of clients, revealed her approach involves a little more than just cleanser, toner and moisturiser - and requires starting five months in advance... which conveniently is almost exactly how long we have to wait to see Meghan herself walk down the aisle.

Best in the business: Meghan Markle, left, 36, has enlisted the help of A-list facialist Nichola Joss, right, who counts Kate Moss and Jennifer Lopez among her roster of clients

Big day: Miss Markle will want to look her best when she ties the knot with Prince Harry in May

Leave plenty of time

Nichola advises starting 'four or five months' before the big day if a bride needs corrective work for conditions like acne or scarring.

Brides should also start by seeing their facialist every two weeks, with the possibility of cutting down to every three weeks as the day draws closer.

This early period is also the time to use serious corrective products that require a lot of healing time, such as 'acid peels, intense microdermabrasion, or laser treatments', according to Joss.

Two months before the wedding, treatments should focus on making the skin calmer and more hydrated.

Signature treatment: Nichola uses an inner-mouth massage which addresses sagging muscles through deep lymphatic massage and contouring techniques, as seen above

Glowing results: Meghan has previously credited the massages with sculpting her cheekbones

Have constant massages

Nichola is famed - and loved by the A-list - for her bizarre 'inner facial', which costs 250 and involved her massaging the inside of her client's mouths.

Meghan has previously credited the technique - which sees Joss manipulate the skin on the inner-cheek - with helping to sculpt and tone her cheekbones.

Joss also advocates massaging the skin with facial oil - targeting areas like the neck, cheek and forehead. Ideally this would be done by Joss but she also provided followers with a step-by-step guide to help them with the process at home.

Be gentle on the day

On the morning of the wedding, Joss advises using only 'simple, nourishing products'.

Also be sure to keep dirty hands off your face, leave spots alone and drink plenty of water.
Philadelphia cheesesteaks are famously delicious, but one dad has proved that the tasty sandwiches not only serve as a great meal or snack - they also make great photo props.

At least according to Brad Williams, a father from Philadelphia who used cheesesteaks to measure his son, Lucas Royce Williams, every month for a year, and the pictures are undeniably adorable.

The tradition started in 2015 when Williams brought home cheesesteaks for dinner and realized the sandwiches were roughly the size of his newborn son.

Delcious tradition: Brad Williams, a father from Philadelphia, used cheesesteaks to measure his son, Lucas Royce Williams, every month for a year

Could just eat them both up! The tradition started in 2015 when Williams brought home cheesesteaks for dinner and realized the sandwiches were roughly the size of his newborn son

Bedtime companion: For the first two months, little Luke was sound asleep while his father took the pictures

Williams has shared the heartwarming pictures on his blog, in a gallery he titled 'Cheesesteak for Scale,' explaining that photo series started as a joke.

'When Lucas was two-weeks old I shared a picture online showing his size in comparison to a cheesesteak,' Williams explains in the post.

'What started out as a joke turned into a monthly tradition of cheesesteak measuring as Lucas was growing.'

In the first photo, newborn Luke is fast asleep in his mother's arms while she holds a wrapped cheesesteak next to him.

Progress: By the time he was three months old, Luke was able to hold the cheesesteak in his arms while his father took his photo

Bigger by the day: Luke was about double the size of a cheesesteak when he was five months old

All smiles: The little boy had a tiny grin on his face while posing for the photos when he was six and seven months old

By the time he was three months old, Luke was able to hold the cheesesteak in his arms while his father took his photo.

Luke soon became double the size of the cheesesteak, and when he was 11-months-old, he was standing on his own while his mom held the sandwich up next to him for comparison.

In the final photo in the series, Williams - who revealed on Twitter that he bought all of the tasty treats at his 'favorite' establishment, Dalessandro's - is holding one-year-old Luke in one arm and a cheesesteak in the other.

Too cute: Luke could barely sit still for the photos by the time he was eight months old

Clever: Williams has shared the heartwarming pictures on his blog, in a gallery he titled 'Cheesesteak for Scale'

On the go: When he was 11-months-old, he was standing on his own while his mom held the sandwich up next to him

He's done! The dad tried to get Luke to pose with a cheesesteak for his second birthday, but the little boy adamantly refused

Williams admits on his blog that he had to stop taking the monthly picture after Luke's first birthday because the little boy was 'quickly growing a dislike for cheesesteaks.'

The dad tried to get Luke to pose with a cheesesteak for his second birthday, but the little boy adamantly refused.

Luke is currently an only child, but Williams told ABC News they will continue the tradition if they have more children.

'Its fun and it puts a smile on peoples faces,' he said. 'Plus its a reason to eat cheesesteaks every month.'
Zara Phillips and her husband Mike Tindall have been seen for the first time since the couple announced they were expecting their second child.

The royal, her rugby player husband and their daughter Mia Grace touched down on the Gold Coast after spending Christmas in Sydney.

The Queen is set to become a great-grandmother again twice this year, after her granddaughter Zara announced that she and husband Mike were expecting their second child.

Zara will give birth in the English summer, about three months after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child is due, sources claim.

Scroll down for video

Zara Phillips (middle) and her husband Mike Tindall (back of picture) have been seen for the first time since the couple announced they were expecting their second child

The royal, (middle) her rugby player husband (back) and their daughter Mia Grace (pictured) touched down on the Gold Coast after spending Christmas in Sydney

The 36-year-old looked radiant in a loose grey top which subtly framed her small baby bump as she strolled through the airport.

She also opted for ultimate plane comfort in a pair of stylishly-cut white shorts and white sneakers.

Her sport-star husband, 39, cut a similarly casual figure in a dark navy t-shirt and beige chino shorts.

The couple brought along their first child, three-year-old Mia Grace, who is the fourth of the Queens great-grandchildren, and 17th in line to the throne.

The 36-year-old (pictured right) looked radiant in a loose grey top which subtly framed her small baby bump as she strolled through the airport

The couple brought along their first child, three-year-old Mia Grace, who is the fourth of the Queens great-grandchildren, and 17th in line to the throne

Zara also opted for ultimate plane comfort in a pair of stylishly-cut white shorts and white sneakers.

Three-year-old Mia Grace (pictured) zoomed along on an adorable suitcase scooter

Mia Grace trailed behind her mother, who is the only daughter of Princess Anne, riding an adorable scooter-suitcase hybrid.

The royal family were seen getting into a black car which was branded with the Magic Millions logo - a raceday which will take place on January 13.

Zara will give birth in the English summer, about three months after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child is due, sources claim.

With Prince Harry due to marry fiancee Meghan Markle on May 19 at Windsor Castle, it will be a joyous year for the 91-year-old Queen and her family.

News of Zara's pregnancy came just over a year after the royal couple suffered the heartache of a miscarriage.

Mia Grace trailed behind her mother, who is the only daughter of Princess Anne, riding an adorable scooter-suitcase hybrid.

Zara will give birth in the English summer, about three months after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child is due, sources claim

News of Zara's pregnancy came just over a year after the royal couple suffered the heartache of a miscarriage

It is believed she was around four months pregnant at the time. As a result, she missed the Royal Family's annual celebrations at Sandringham (Pictured leaving their plane in Queensland)

At the end of November 2016 the couple said they were expecting a brother or sister for three-year-old Mia, but almost a month later, on Christmas Eve, they announced Zara tragically had lost the baby.

It is believed she was around four months pregnant at the time. As a result, she missed the Royal Family's annual celebrations at Sandringham.

Zara has not spoken publicly about the tragedy but former England rugby captain Mike Tindall later said: 'One thing you do learn is how many other people have to go through the same thing.

'The saving grace for us has been Mia. However down we feel, she will come running up in our faces.'

The expecting couple touched down in Queensland alongside three-year-old daughter Mia Grace (Pictured leaving the aircraft)

Zara (pictured) flashed a hint of a baby bump while wearing a loose grey top on the Gold Coast

At the end of November 2016 the couple said they were expecting a brother or sister for three-year-old Mia, but almost a month later, on Christmas Eve, they announced Zara tragically had lost the baby

Zara has not spoken publicly about the tragedy but former England rugby captain Mike Tindall later said: 'One thing you do learn is how many other people have to go through the same thing'

Zara and Mike Tindall (pictured left) are expecting their second child after experiencing a tragic miscarriage

Her sport-star husband, 39, (pictured) cut a similarly casual figure in a dark navy t-shirt and beige chino shorts

The new baby  likely to be born in the same Cotswolds NHS hospital as Mia  will not be given a title as both parents are keen for their children to have a 'normal' upbringing.

Zara and Tindall live with her mother, Princess Anne, on her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

The family are currently in Australia, where they have seen in Christmas and the New Year before attending the Magic Millions horse racing carnival, which is staged on Australia's Gold Coast and begins this weekend.

Zara and Mike Tindall are expecting their second child. Pictured, the couple with daughter Mia, three, on their way to a party in Sydney on Christmas Eve

The couple, pictured at lunch in Sydney on New Year's Eve, previously announced they were expecting a baby in November 2016 but suffered a miscarriage just weeks later

Zara and Mike Tindall, pictured on the announcement of their engagement in December 2010

Recent images of Zara show her wearing floaty tunic-style tops that skim over her midriff. Pictured, Zara with daughter Mia and husband Mike on a day out with friends in Manly

For a number of years Zara  a former world eventing champion and Olympic silver medallist  has been involved with the event which features thoroughbred sales, racing and polo matches.

The Queen's granddaughter is patron of the event's Magic Millions Racing Women, an initiative promoting racehorse ownership among women.

Photographs taken of Zara out and about in Sydney over the past few weeks showed a clear hint of a baby bump, but the couple were not ready yet to announce their good news, a source explained.
All The Money In The World Cert: 15 2hrs 12mins

Rating:

Its perfectly possible, even quite likely, that we will see better examples of film-making this year than Ridley Scotts All The Money In The World. But I doubt we will ever see a better example of film remaking. Consider the extraordinary logistics.

Just two months ago, this dramatic retelling of the notorious kidnapping of John Paul Getty III was fully completed and ready for release. It was due to have its first public screening at the American Film Institute Festival in November, ahead of its official release in the United States at Christmas.

And then the sex-abuse scandal surrounding Kevin Spacey, who originally played the teenagers grandfather, John Paul Getty I, broke and refused to go away.

Faced with the prospect of releasing a film that had hitherto been nursing serious hopes of awards but would now be inevitably tarnished by association, Scott and his co-producers took an extraordinary decision  to replace Spacey entirely.

The fine veteran actor Christopher Plummer would take on the role, complete ten days new filming at breakneck speed, the film would be re-edited all without changing its release date.

Christopher Plummer completed ten days' new filming at breakneck speed. The film would be re-edited... all without changing its release date.

Even by the standards of a director whod had to work out how to complete Gladiator when Oliver Reed died halfway through filming, it was an extraordinary and brave decision.

And boy has it paid off. Almost before hed finished filming, Plummer had been nominated for a Golden Globe (well find out whether hes won tonight at the awards ceremony in Beverly Hills), and he dominates the film in a way that makes something of a mockery of his appearance in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Thats because, while the film is ostensibly about the kidnapping of his 16-year-old grandson (played here by Charlie Plummer, no relation) in Rome in 1973 and the desperate attempts to secure his release, it is the ageing and curmudgeonly Getty patriarch  a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing  who dominates the film, both on screen and off.

The film is ostensibly about the kidnapping of Getty Snr's 16-year-old grandson (played here by Charlie Plummer, above) in Rome 1973 and the desperate attempts to secure his release.

At the time of the kidnapping, Getty Snr, who had made his billions initially in oil, wasnt just the richest man in the world but, as David Scarpas screenplay puts it, the richest man who had ever lived.

But when the Calabrian gangsters who seized his grandson demand a $17 million ransom, he walks out to address the worlds press and calmly replies no, arguing that if he pays a ransom for one grandchild, all his other grandchildren will be kidnapped too.

To some extent he was ahead of his time, anticipating the we do not negotiate with terrorists mantra that has now become the accepted norm, but here hes portrayed as a cold-hearted and reclusive tyrant, a man slowly losing touch with reality, Citizen Kane- or Howard Hughes-style, at his well-guarded Surrey estate.

He believes he is the reincarnation of the Emperor Hadrian (his re-creation of an imperial Roman villa is now the Getty Villa in Malibu, California) and that despite having a billion dollars in the bank, he has never been more financially vulnerable.

Michelle Williams is fabulous playing Gail (above), the kidnapped boy's mother and just about the only person battling tirelessly for his release.

This is a man who genuinely believes he cant afford to pay the ransom that might secure his grandsons release.

Its a gem of a part for Plummer and he seizes the unexpected opportunity with ruthless conviction. Michelle Williams is fabulous, too, playing Gail, the kidnapped boys mother and just about the only person battling tirelessly for his release.

But her ex-father-in-law wont pay, the Italian police are incompetent and even the ex-CIA Getty Oil troubleshooter Fletcher Chase (played here by a refreshingly low-key Mark Wahlberg) is struggling to make progress.

The Italian police are incompetent and even the ex-CIA Getty Oil troubleshooter Fletcher Chase (played here by a refreshingly low-key Mark Wahlberg, above) is struggling to make progress.

And yet Gail fights on with the characters anger and aggression combining with the hair and wardrobe of the Sixties and Seventies to show us a side to Williams we definitely havent seen before.

Quite rightly, shes also been nominated for a Golden Globe, along with Scott for Best Director.

Scott imparts a convincing sense of both period and place and generates suitable layers of menace. If the kidnapping is remembered for anything these days, it is for the young Gettys captors brutal decision to cut off his ear and send it to an Italian newspaper as proof of life.

Like something from The Godfather, that scene is chillingly recreated here.

The overall result of 'All The Money In The World' is an absorbing early offering in the new film year and one that does a good job of retelling a story that was huge news at the time but is now in danger of being forgotten

The overall result is an absorbing early offering in the new film year and one that does a good job of retelling a story that was huge news at the time but is now in danger of being forgotten.

IT'S A FACT John Paul Getty I also had a son, Timmy, who became blind from a brain tumour but Getty scolded his wife for spending money on treatment. He died aged 12. Advertisement

But it does have its shortcomings  at more than 130 minutes, it feels a little long. Whats more, the narrative does jump, potentially confusingly, back and forward in time  both to the oil-rich Arabian peninsula of 1948 and to the San Francisco of 1964 when things first started to go wrong for Gail and her husband (John Paul Getty II), a man whose independent free spirit and addictive appetites had already distanced him from his relentlessly business-driven father.

But more importantly, as Scott and Scarpa admit more than once in the credits, this is a fictionalised version of a true story, and even a non-expert is left with the clear sense that events  and particularly the denouement  really cannot have played out quite as neatly and dramatically as this.

SECOND SCREEN

Hostiles (15)

Rating:

Brad's Status (15)

Rating:

By 1892, the American Civil War had been over for nearly 30 years and General Custer dead for 16 years. But the battle for control of the American West raged on. Tensions between the largely white incomers who claimed the land as their own and the Native Americans who had lived there for centuries remained murderously high.

So when, as the aptly named Hostiles gets under way, battle-hardened army captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is ordered to escort the dying Cheyenne leader Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) to his ancestral homelands in Montana, to say he is reluctant is an understatement.

Nevertheless, he rounds up a group of men he can trust and sets off. But when his escort party stumbles across the atrocity that so dramatically kick-starts the film, his already challenging journey is about to get a whole lot more complicated.

Christian Bale (above) is terrific as the battle-hardened army captain Joseph Blocker, however, the ever-photogenic Rosamund Pike (above) has minor grounds for complaint, reduced to looking pretty in an 'Indian' plait.

The only survivor is the beautiful Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike), and shes half-mad with grief and fear.

I love a good Western and this is certainly one  dark, violent but with delicious, faint hints of redemption, reconciliation and even romance coming somewhere along the way.

Bale is terrific and theres good support from the likes of Jonathan Majors, Bill Camp and Studi.

Only the ever-photogenic Pike has minor grounds for complaint, reduced to looking pretty in an Indian plait.

Brads Status occupies a very different but rapidly expanding genre: that of the male mid-life crisis. Ben Stiller plays the aforementioned Brad, a late-fortysomething who runs his own charity consultancy and is reasonably happily married.

But he is increasingly gripped by a sense of failure and underachievement. So a trip to Boston to help his 17-year-old son pick a university prompts a fresh bout of self-reproach and regret as he recalls his own college days and comes to terms with the fact that his musically gifted son might actually be cleverer than him.

Ben Stiller (above) is good playing the aforementioned Brad, a late fortysomething who runs his own charity consultancy and is reasonably happily married.

Stiller is good and Austin Abrams excellent as his cool but regularly mortified son. But this is familiar territory, with the extended internal monologue bringing umpteen Woody Allen films to mind.

Painfully embarrassing at times, modestly amusing at others, it promises more than it delivers, let down by a surfeit of narration and by a growing sense that charmless Brad is very much the architect of his own perceived misfortune.
Claude Debussy: The Complete Works

Warner Classics, out now

Rating:

The most significant centenary of 2018 has to be that of Claude Debussy, who died in March 1918, aged only 55, after years of suffering from rectal cancer.

A dedicated worker even when desperately ill, Debussy produced a full range of music, from orchestral masterpieces, through chamber and piano, to song, and one of the 20th centurys greatest operas, Pelleas Et Melisande. The only box he didnt really tick was anything religious.

In commemoration, Warner Classics, now very much a French-led company, have produced the first ever Complete Works, including a handful of premiere recordings, and arrangements made by Debussys close confederates like Andre Caplet, plus piano roll, and acoustic horn recordings by the master himself.

Debussy fans will still want this, and there is much to enjoy. But it could, and maybe should, have been better. Above: Debussy with daughter Claude-Emma

The collection includes arrangements made by Debussys close confederates like Andre Caplet (above), plus piano roll, and acoustic horn recordings by the master himself

Its a remarkable collection, running to about 40 hours of music on 33 CDs, and, at around 65, a real gift horse.

Though not one, perhaps, to be looked too closely in the mouth, as some of the choices of recordings are a bit curious.

The orchestral music is mainly assigned to the excellent Jean Martinon, but with some first-class British contributions, from Simon Rattle in the Images, and the Philharmonia under Carlo Maria Giulini in the Nocturnes and La Mer.

Elsewhere though, things sometimes go a bit awry, notably in the piano section, where the short-lived Russian pianist Youri Egorovs performances of the two books of Preludes, surely Debussys masterpieces for the instrument, are preferred to the magnificent recordings of Walter Gieseking, expensively remastered by the company as recently as 2011. Theres also too much of the heavy-handed French pianist Samson Francois for my taste.

A dedicated worker even when desperately ill, Debussy produced a full range of music. Above: entertaining the Chausson family in 1893

If thats a mistake, the choice of Armin Jordans Monte Carlo recording of Pelleas Et Melisande is absurd. Because Warners have in their archives Herbert von Karajans inspired Berlin recording, described by the leading French music magazine, Diapason DOr, as deeply felt and full of beautiful things. The recording is excellent

If nationalism played an unhelpful part here, why not Roger Desormieres wartime recording; elderly sound maybe, but full of authority, having been supervised by the original chorus master of the 1902 premiere.

Debussy fans will still want this, and there is much to enjoy. But it could, and maybe should, have been better.
Hearts And Minds

Jane Robinson

Doubleday 20

Rating:

They marched and they petitioned and they campaigned. They did battle with the police and the judiciary. They were assaulted and jeered and spat on. They suffered the humiliations of imprisonment and force-feeding. And in the end they got what they wanted. February 6 this year marks the centenary of the Representation of the People Bill receiving Royal Assent and becoming law. Women, at least those aged over 30 and property owners, were given the right to vote. It had been a long time coming.

Jane Robinsons Hearts And Minds is a fine and sometimes moving account of the struggle for suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It tells remarkable stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the sake of something we take for granted today: a share in democracy. One of the most significant, and yet oddly neglected, stories is that of the Great Pilgrimage in the summer of 1913. From all corners of the country women of every age and class embarked on a six-week march to London, risking reputation  and sometimes life and limb  to make Parliament listen to their demand. It is one of the noblest mass demonstrations of people power ever witnessed in this country.

Jane Robinsons Hearts And Minds is a fine and sometimes moving account of the struggle for suffrage. Pictured, a 1913 engraving of Suffragettes being force-fed in prison

Robinson draws a vital distinction here between the two major wings of the womens movement. The Great Pilgrimage was undertaken by the National Union of Womens Suffrage Societies, ie, suffragists who protested by peaceful and constitutional means  speaking in public, fundraising, demonstrating before people either indifferent or hostile to the idea of a woman voting. The most forthright thing a suffragist could do was to defy the Inland Revenue: if they were excluded from the rights of their countrys citizenship, why should they pay its taxes?

Opposing these peaceable women were the suffragettes  a name coined in 1906 by the Daily Mail  who grabbed the headlines with their militant tactics: Deeds Not Words was their motto. They united under the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst, a formidable Mancunian matron who represented the public face of this countrywide revolt. She called womens suffrage a movement to set free half of the human race that has always been in bondage. Her bravery was beyond doubt, but her autocratic personality would alienate friend and foe alike; even her own daughter Sylvia became estranged.

While the authors own sympathies are with Millicent Fawcett, head of the NUWSS, and her band of non-militant sisters, its true that the most compelling dramas surrounded the violence that was done by, and to, women in the ten years up to 1914. Robinson tells stories of courage and despair familiar from previous accounts, like that of Kitty Marion, who, imprisoned for stone-throwing, lost 36 lb in weight while on hunger strike. She was forcibly fed 232 times. Or that of Emily Davison, trampled to death beneath the Kings horse on Derby Day in June 1913, just weeks before the Great Pilgrimage was due to start. Her terrible sacrifice was exactly the sort of outrage the suffragists feared, given that a large proportion of the public regarded both -gettes and -gists as a single army of troublemakers. Mrs Fawcett, trying to pre-empt the dangers facing the marchers, declared that the keynote of the pilgrimage would be joyousness and happiness, not grim-faced confrontation.

Emmeline Pankhurst was the leader of the suffragettes  a name coined in 1906 by the Daily Mail

But they would meet confrontation nonetheless. The hindsight of a century makes us wonder at their enemies, not just the antis  what could be more absurd than women joining anti-suffrage societies aimed at excluding women from politics?  but ordinary folk who would plainly have benefited from universal suffrage. Perhaps they took their cue from Queen Victoria, who called womens rights a mad, wicked folly and proposed that one suffragist be given a good whipping. Nor should it be forgotten that some campaigners were married to men who resented the idea of their wife as a political rebel: Public disapproval could be faced and borne, but domestic unhappiness, the price many of us paid for our opinions and activities, was a very bitter thing.

Sporting the NUWSS colours of red, green and white, the women set out from Carlisle and Newcastle, Cromer and Yarmouth, Bangor and Lands End, Portsmouth, Brighton and Margate. Despite carrying banners with such slogans as By Faith Not Force, the pilgrims were sorely tried along the way. Marjory Lees and her friends found their caravan under siege from a ravening mob in Thame, of all places. Some were roughed up by crowds who took them to be arsonists and street-fighters. From Stoke to High Wycombe they were pelted with rotting vegetables, dead rats, rocks, cow pats, even bottles of poisonous gas. And yet they also met with kindness and hospitality, sometimes from people opposed to their cause. A certain anti-suffrage gentleman named Mr Bark invited a group of weary pilgrims to his home for a meal, and made them breakfast next morning, too  a case of Bark offering more than a bite.

Suffragette Emily Davison falls under the hooves of the Kings horse on Derby Day in 1913

Robinson writes in a breezy, conversational tone free of piety. She is respectful without being reverential, highlighting individual courage and enterprise among the pilgrims  such as Alice New, a Birkenhead woman who, with her mother, sister and aunt, joined the Watling Street march; or Selina Cooper, a Lancashire millworker turned union activist, and a brilliant public speaker for the womens movement; or Gladys Duffield, a Cumbrian wife and mother who, after the war, became a professional pianist and composer. You cannot help but be cheered by their example of selflessness, of supporting a cause in the face of severe discomfort, verbal abuse and random missiles. Even the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, long-time enemy of womens suffrage, was impressed by their endurance and invited a deputation from the NUWSS to Downing Street.

Unfortunately, militancy trumped moderation in terms of newsworthiness, and while the suffragettes continued their campaign of disorder, the government refused to budge on the issue of the vote. It took the intervention of the First World War to effect a change. Women en masse came to the countrys aid and served in workplaces left unmanned by the fighting. They proved to the authorities that they were the equal of men. But, as Hearts And Minds reveals, many of them would not have been so effective in organising and accepting responsibility had they not been through the crucible of suffrage work. Adversity had already steeled them.

Half Of The Human Race by Anthony Quinn is published by Vintage
Form an orderly queue, ladies of Great Britain. Levison Wood, the handsome explorer, is single again, another love affair sacrificed to his urgent wanderlust.

He may be feeling a bit blue about it. I, well, ah, no, Im not in a relationship any more. It was complicated and going away on this trip, er, it was not meant to be...

But hes never been a man for whom home and hearth exerts a greater pull than the open road.

The trip hes referring to is his recent circumnavigation of the Arabian Peninsula, a homage to his hero TE Lawrence. Its the fifth of five epic overland journeys, which began in 2013 when he became the first man to walk the length of the Nile, two years in the planning, 4,250 miles and nine months of blisters and hardship. The Caucasus, Central America and the Himalayan roof of the world followed. The result has been a portfolio of award-winning writing and some riveting television.

Levison Wood has never been a man for whom home and hearth exerts a greater pull than the open road

His latest book, Eastern Horizons, about a youthful Silk Road hitchhike, is out now and Walking The Americas, an expedition through Central America, is published in paperback this month. The two volumes stand in contrast to each other: one is a nobly impoverished trek from Europe to Asia, the other is a brave but far more commercially informed adventure.

Interestingly, Wood has dec-lined any external funding for his Arabian trip, paying the whole six-figure bill from his own pocket. Its a financial risk hes willing to take to buy back the freedoms he lost to sponsorship.

There would be some significant health and safety issues with backing for a trip to the Arabian Peninsula  its never out of the headlines, he says. And the more other people become involved the less risk you can take. I am never reckless, but adventures are an inherently risky business and so they should be. Thats part of what makes me do the job.

Risk has a lot of negative connotations but it is essential. Not taking risks breeds fear. You should be courageous and face your fears. How can you grow if you dont?

This is the kind of attitude that saw Woods fellow explorer Benedict Allen rescued by helicopter from Papua New Guinea last November after being felled by malaria and trapped by tribal wars. Wood defends him: If he was sick and struggling then it was right that he was rescued. When I fell off a mountain in Nepal I had to be rescued, and very glad of it I was too. Ive had a few close calls along the way.

So having to be rescued occasionally is an occupational hazard? You could say that.

Nor does he believe Allens radio silence expeditions, in which he refuses to take a mobile or a GPS device, are in any way selfish.

Ditto the extraordinary plan recently announced by Ben Fogle and Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton to scale Mount Everest together this May, even though both are married and Fogle has a young family.

What is more selfish than being entirely absorbed by your own little private universe in the form of a family? It could be argued that is selfish. Focusing on your passion and your dreams takes great vision and that can inspire and motivate untold numbers of other people in their lives. If you have to get lost in the jungle or climb a mountain to fulfil that potential then its not selfish.

If you have a partner they should know what they are getting into at the start. If you sign up to life with someone like that [he means like him] then its going to be part of the relationship.

Applicants for the position of Woods girlfriend, please take note.

Wood, now 35, has been in almost perpetual motion for a decade and a half. Since he became a TV star with the Channel 4 series on his Nile trip three years ago, he has spent increasing amounts of time on the red carpet, too. He wears his celebrity as comfortably as the white linen shirt he takes with him on his expeditions in case of an invitation for drinks.

He doesnt seem to mind being asked which grooming tools he packs (a beard trimmer and moisturiser) and causing lustful Twitter meltdowns when he appears on TV programmes such as Saturday Kitchen.

Wood selects a local made in Uganda during his Nile trip

Its because he knows that, today, profile pays the bills. His heroes would be the same in 2018, he reckons. Belstaff made a jacket for [TE] Lawrence, and even when he was stranded on his ship on the ice [Ernest] Shackleton had to take pictures for his sponsors, Burberry. That was over 100 years ago and it was no different to feeding an Instagram account these days.

He grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of two teachers, and studied history at Nottingham University. Im one of the few people for whom it turned out to be a vocational subject, he says. In 2003, aged just 21, he took a detour home from Cairo through war-torn Baghdad and the following year he made the Silk Road trek. Wood then joined the Parachute Regiment for five years, serving operationally in Afghanistan. He left in 2010, but remains a reservist with the rank of major.

His latest book, Eastern Horizons, about a youthful Silk Road hitchhike, is out now

The idea to walk the Nile came to him in 2011. I had no idea if I would survive the Nile, no idea if it would be a success. I hoped I could write a book  television did not enter my imagination. In the end it was life-changing. It meant I could afford to eat.

Actually it made him an incredibly bankable name, albeit one who has never lost his appetite for hardship and a degree of danger. Setting aside tropical diseases, bandits, rogue policemen, terrorists, junkies, warlords and being entertained as a house guest-cum-hostage by an Afghan opium trader, his nearest miss was in Nepal, where the taxi he was travelling in went off the edge of a cliff, breaking his arm and shoulder. It was my worst moment ever  those final few seconds after the brakes failed and before flying off that cliff... he says, somewhat economically.

He does full cultural immersion when hes away, once washing his hair in cow urine in South Sudan. It turns your hair ginger, which is very fashionable and the local ladies like it.

Worst food? Ugandan. They have maggot stew and bush rat soup, both dreadful. The maggot stew is maggoty on purpose  they let it rot and become infested for extra protein.

Worst drink? Also Uganda. Waragi gin, which is a kind of moonshine. It comes in those plastic bags you used to get goldfish in and contains stuff that makes you go blind.

These days he loves to come back to his house in Hampton Court, London. He relaxes with tea and toast and then tries to re-enter London life. It is a similar feeling to coming back from a tour in the Army. Youve been in a high-intensity environment, acutely aware of whats going on around you, and suddenly its Black Friday and people are shoving each other out of the way to buy a widescreen TV. Its difficult to integrate.

Next hes hoping to try his hand at fiction, perhaps a spy thriller using his hard-won knowledge of exotic places as a backdrop. And then dont be surprised if you see him enter politics one day. Hes a fan of Rory Stewart, the diplomat and adventurer turned MP. Asked if he might follow Stewart to Westminster, Wood says, I have no plans as yet. Lets see. Politics is a messy business... Which, given that its not a yes or a no, is a consummate political answer.

Very little in life frightens him. Other than sharks theres nothing Im scared of  apart from the prospect of getting a real job, I suppose.

Walking The Americas is published by Hodder on Jan 25, priced 9.99. Offer price 7.99 (20% discount) until Jan 21. Pre-order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free on orders over 15
The Old Butchers

Park Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucester

theoldbutchers.squarespace.com

Staff required, says the blackboard outside The Old Butchers in Stow-on-the-Wold. Experience not required. Personality essential. Hallelujah to that. And while the streets outside may be treacherous with yellow-tinged ice, the atmosphere within is warmer than a fat mans embrace. The room is small, comfortable and unpretentious, the whole place infused with a mildly chaotic, genially higgledy-piggledy charm.

At its heart is a bar overflowing with a generous glut of booze, the tables crowded all around. Yet despite the hugger-mugger feel (and theres barely a surface that isnt covered with vases of flowers, or jeroboams of champagne, or glass jars stuffed full with corks), it never feels crammed or uncomfortable. Because this is a restaurant where pleasure comes before prissy interior design, and the only commerce that really seems to matter is the serious business of eating.

The room is small, comfortable and unpretentious, the whole place infused with a mildly chaotic, genially higgledy-piggledy charm

Laid-back it might be, but the cooking is anything but casual. With a broadly European menu, lusty with seafood and steak, there is just the occasional jaunt across to Japan (tempura oysters) or the USA (crab roll). Fritto misto sees a thin, crisp, grease-free and burnished batter draped over whitebait, soft-shell crab and prawn. So often an excuse to cover up (and mark up) second-rate seafood, here each mouthful sings of crashing waves and iodine-soaked spray.

My son attacks a dozen Porthilly rocks, big buggers but bracingly saline rather than brutish. His capacity for bivalves exceeds even mine and buys a blissful ten minutes of peace. Even my daughter  whose idea of pure culinary nirvana is a hot dog, preferably Herta, naked and unadorned  is impressed by her smoked haddock and Parmesan omelette. Its an omelette Arnold Bennett, I tell her grandly. Named after the journalist and writer who has now, perhaps unfairly, faded into learned obscurity and I look up to see my daughter yawning theatrically, before turning entirely serious and looking me straight in the eye. Dont be a bore, Daddy. My pretension duly piqued, I hijack a gobful. And its as serious, rich and smoky as an Edwardian gent, lavished with great chunks of fish, and a centre that oozes with unapologetic delight.

FROM THE MENU Porthilly rock oyster 3.25 Fritto misto 12.95 Haddock omelette 10.50 Raclette 8.95 Loin of rabbit 21.50 Advertisement

More comfort, from a cast-iron pan filled with raclette. Damn, I love raclette, so steadfast and straightforward, so filled with lactic Alpine allure. The puddle of slightly browned, melted cheese is attended by tiny potatoes, pert cornichons and slivers of air-dried ham. Just as it should be. I vainly attempt to fight off a flurry of marauding forks. Freddy has now moved on to mussels, fat and Cornish and creamy, the sweet garlicky sauce mopped up with fistfuls of good chips. Bens crab roll, filled with a generous whack of freshly picked crab, both bosky-brown and clean, virginal goody-two-shoes white, sits in a toasted, buttery brioche bun. Which is then finished with a hearty splodge of spicy cocktail sauce. It disappears in two mouthfuls, followed by a satisfied grunt.

I eat an ox cheek bourguignon of pure bovine brilliance, the meat cooked so it falls apart with luscious ease yet still holds its shape. The sauce is deep and dark and glossy, furiously reduced and gloriously sticky. Alongside the usual pearl onions, mushrooms and charred carrots are a half-dozen or so snails, adding bouncy contrast to the soft flesh. Sitting at its side, a Jagger-esque length of tender tongue, wearing the char of the grill and the faintest whiff of the farmyard floor. Oh, and a great buttery pile of silken mashed potato. Like Gerard Depardieu, its a dish that combines heft and depth with a surprising lightness of touch. That, and plenty of booze.

Raclette 8.95. The puddle of slightly browned, melted cheese is attended by tiny potatoes, pert cornichons and slivers of air-dried ham. Just as it should be

Mussels, fat and Cornish and creamy, the sweet garlicky sauce mopped up with fistfuls of good chips (left); Its testament to a kitchen that it can produce the most diaphanous of fritto mistos

Its also testament to a kitchen that is capable of producing the most diaphanous of fritto mistos, alongside one of the best versions of beef bourguignon Ive ever eaten. The service, as youd expect, is lovely. That blackboard outside meant what it said. So as youve probably gathered, I love this place. Dont for Christs sake write about it, begs Ben as we leave. Its impossible enough to get in as it is.

Sorry mate, but The Old Butchers is too good to keep to myself. Its one of those rare local restaurants that combines charm, comfort, value and damned good cooking too. Plus, the bill arrives with a handful of pink foam prawns. All this and sweetshop crustaceans too. Truly, my cup runneth over.

About 30 a head

What Tom ate this week

FRIDAY

Right. Quite enough of this Christmas excess. Although with only a few days to go until New Year, no point relaxing now. So dinner of XO fried rice, Sichuan prawns and, for the sake of my digestion, steamed gai lan with oyster sauce at Shikumen.

SATURDAY

Down to my sisters for my twin nephews birthday. Graze various sandwiches and crisps, then chicken jalfrezi, tarka dahl, poppadoms, chana masala and naan at The Palm.

SUNDAY

Thai beef salad and noodles for lunch, then off to The Pheasant for seared scallops, plus chateaubriand and chips.

MONDAY

Urgh. Feeling a touch tender. Still, nothing a stiff Bloody Mary cant fix. Spaghetti Bolognese for lunch and lashings of wine. The last gasp. Sober, sensible and pious life starts tomorrow once more. I hope.
Dry January? Not for me. I prefer to give the new year a fighting chance of happiness by generally drinking less but better. Cutting out the joy of gentle tippling in this deep freeze of a month seems at best kinky to me, so how about lifting the month of moodiness with the occasional bright white to fight off the gloom? And remember, many of these beauties are a little lower in alcohol. To pick the best of these virtuous delicacies, look to regions that have historically produced wines lower in alcohol.

Germany is a prime candidate, and top of your list should be bbr.com with its Mosel Riesling Kabinett by Selbach-Oster (9.5%) 10.25. Fruity and off-dry, its wines answer to the tea-cake  ideally suited for a late-afternoon pick-me-up.

From the same stockist, Moscato dAsti, Marcarini (5%), 13.50 is proper sherbet pudding, stunningly sweet and effervescent, a wine that paints a rainbow across the greyest day.

English wine producer Hush Heath has moved into sparkling apple fizz  its Sparkling Apple Rose Wine and Sparkling Apple Wine are both 15 from hushheath.com and 8%.

My favourite low-alcohol option is beer. Big Drop Brew is my top pick with four to choose from, all under 0.5%: stout, pale ale, spiced ale and lager, available from wisebartender.co.uk for 2.49.

On the high street, M&S Southwold Pale Ale (0.5%) is 1.60, or its Czech Pilsner is 1.50 (0.5%). For zero-alcohol options, Fever Trees range continues to impress  try the ginger beer, or have a look at boroughwines.co.uk for an exciting range of options such as Lurvills Delight Botanical Blend, Lavender Spice for 1.95.

But best of all, mix tomato juice with Bloody Bens spice mix, below, for maximum flavour impact. And raise your glass proudly, declaiming virtus deliciis, which is Latin for virtue in deliciousness
McMafia

New Years Day & Tuesday, BBC1

Rating:

Hard Sun

Saturday, BBC1

Rating:

Sue Perkins And The Chimp Sanctuary

New Years Day, BBC2

Rating:

McMafia is the eight-part groundbreaking international crime drama that has thus far taken us to London, Prague, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Paris, Moscow, Mumbai and the Negev Desert but has been a little bit McDull in all of them.

It stars James Norton as Alex Godman, the English-educated scion of a Russian mafia family exiled to London. Like Michael Corleone in The Godfather, he wants nothing to do with the family business but gets sucked in anyhow. Hes an emerging-markets fund manager, and therefore ideally positioned to launder money. (If only hed opted for a different career; a vicar in Grantchester, say?)

McMafia stars James Norton as Alex Godman, the English-educated scion of a Russian mafia family exiled to London

He refuses  Im a banker not a gangster  but ultimately must co-operate to protect his father from a rival. Given his father is a self-pitying, sentimental, lachrymose, annoying drunk, Id have simply handed him over, gladly, but Alex is deeply attached. He calls his father Papa, and every time he said it I expected Papa to come back with Nicole!, but I accept that may be my limitation.

Based on the non-fiction book by journalist Misha Glenny about organised crime and corporate corruption, the first half of the opening episode was mostly men talking in rooms, but it did brilliantly liven up halfway through when Uncle Boris had his throat cut with a caviar knife and Alex had to run for his life  no turning back now, boy  while calling his Mama and telling her not to answer the insistent rings at her door and to press the panic button.

Mama (and Papa) are safe in this instance but then wander around freely without protection? Just saying. This has The Night Manager aspirations, but while Norton is excellent in the title role, his character is familiar  a sort of Clint Eastwood type who observes and never says too much  and there is no Hugh Laurie or Tom Hollander to charismatically back him up.

Also, The Night Managers narrative essentially focused on one man having to win another mans trust to destroy him, whereas this involves much exposition as to how money is moved around and how organised crime works. At one point we were told that McDonalds is more successful than Burger King simply by virtue of having more restaurants, although I did wonder: maybe it has more restaurants because people like it better?

Then theres the woman question. Id read an interview with Juliet Rylance, who plays Alexs girlfriend Rebecca, saying she was attracted to the role because there are rarely any good parts for women in gangster set-ups, but are there any here? Has Rebecca, as of yet, done anything beyond look at Alex worriedly as she suspects hes being corrupted?

And then, in episode two  oh, sweet Jesus  we had to deal with those sex-trafficked women being raped and shot in the desert. Still, it may be worth sticking with as Alex works out exactly what hes got himself into  would he be so guileless, in the circumstances?  and how he might get out of it.

As for the rumour that this is Nortons audition for James Bond, they said that about Tom Hiddleston and The Night Manager, and they say it every time Idris Elba steps out of his front door. So I dont think we need get too worked up about that.

Hard Sun is a pre-apocalyptic crime thriller set in contemporary London that opened with the most horrific violence (Ive yet to forgive it) and has the most terrible premise. Two detectives (Jim Sturgess, Agyness Deyn) investigate the death of a hacker and along the way discover that the Government has been sitting on the fact that the sun is due to burn out in five years.

With MI6 on their tail, they go on the run with the information, which is the terrible premise, as why would they wish to be responsible for such news? As we left the first episode, Deyns DI was about to tell all to a newspaper, which has to be plain stupid.

Yet shes presented as a brave heroine. Mad.

Sue Perkins And The Chimp Sanctuary was a documentary about humankind and chimpanzees, and while the chimps came out of it well, humankind did not. Perkins visited Chimp Haven, a 200-acre site in Louisiana that takes in chimps who have spent their lives being used for medical research in laboratories.

Their back stories werent pretty and broke her heart, as well as ours. Bravely, Perkins even watched footage from the lab where her favourite chimp, Jill, had lived, and the conditions were shockingly appalling. Is furthering the health of mankind and that of animals mutually exclusive? she asked.

The ethical debate  as it was noted, its easy to be against medical testing on animals until your child has cancer  never properly got going, but that was OK. It was just so pleasing to see shy, sweet-faced Jill make a friend (spitting Pierre) as Henry finally learned to socialise. That was McLovely.
Efforts to curb pay in Britains boardrooms and outsize rewards in the City are still failing.

In spite of the resignations of the senior independent directors at housebuilder Persimmon there is no public sign so far of chief executive Jeff Fairburn giving up any of his total pay, bonuses and incentive package of 110million.

The scale of his award is an insult to a generation of young people in Britain who now need an 80,000 deposit to get on the housing ladder.

Moreover, the 400million to be shared among the next layer of Persimmon bosses does not sit well in a country grotesquely short of social housing, where private sector builders seek to minimise the amount of land and resources devoted to the less well-off.

Grotesque: There is no public sign so far of Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn giving up any of his total pay, bonuses and incentive package of 110m

Persimmon may appear to represent the worst of the bitter divisions in our society. But who could not feel queasy at the sight of one of the plumpest panjandrums of investment banking, Sir Simon Robey, collecting 37million for advising on a series of deals which weakened the fabric of Britain.

Robey and colleagues at Robey Warshaw should be in the stocks for advising Japanese titan Softbank on the purchase of UK smart chipmaker ARM, and promoting the hugely misjudged, aborted London Stock Exchange deal with Deutsche Boerse.

The collapsed merger saw executives at both exchanges thrown to the wolves, and the LSE destabilised, while the bosses of Robey Warshaw split 63.3million.

It would be nice to think of Robey rolling up his sleeves at a charity like Toynbee Hall or the local homeless shelter rather than lording it up as he once did as chairman of the Royal Opera House.

The public owes a debt of gratitude this week to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the High Pay Centre for shining a brilliant light on the gross inequalities that exist within Britains FTSE 100 companies.

Together, they calculate that in the last year the average pay of bosses was 120 times that of a full-time employee on the median wage.

A week earlier, Vlerick Business School in Belgium found that of 861 public companies in Europe the pay gulf between those at the top and employees was greatest in Britain.

What is most startling about this is that executives have been allowed to help themselves by compliant boards at a moment in history when the incomes of ordinary Britons have been squeezed by the financial crisis and the fall in the pound.

The sacrifices have been made by staff while business leaders enjoy the good life, in some cases irrespective of performance.

There are some signs attitudes are changing. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has called on boards to be more sceptical about the need for vast executive pay awards.

It noted that big pay gaps show that too many companies fail to appreciate the value of their workers.

Worse than that, companies in trouble such as Bernard Matthews, Toys R Us and Palmer & Harvey have tried to escape pension obligations built up over a lifetime to loyal workforces.

The need for boardroom pay to be approved by investors in non-binding votes at annual meetings has helped, with the bosses of the UKs top companies earning 17 per cent less on average in 2016 than a year earlier.

The added requirement by the Government that annual reports will have to show the pay ratio between chief executives and the average worker should also ramp up the public outrage.

Whether that will make much difference in the most extreme cases such as Sir Martin Sorrell at WPP, who earned 48million in 2017 (down from 70million the year before), is hard to tell.

What is certain is that pension funds and big investors like BlackRock, with 5.7trillion under management, need to keep up the pressure by opposing fat cat deals.

As we have seen time and time again a companys investors cannot count on supine pay committees, often headed by the weakest link among the directors, to take on the bosses.

Bringing real discipline to pay in the boardroom may require the Government to turn non-binding votes into law, with dissent of 20 per cent of investors requiring action.

If the Tories dont do it we can be sure that Jeremy Corbyn and his frightening Marxist sidekick, John McDonnell, wont hesitate to act.
Lawyer Charles Randell has been chose to head the Financial Conduct Authority

A leading lawyer whose firm raked in 33million from taxpayers during the financial crisis is to be chairman of the City watchdog.

Charles Randell, 59, shot to fame by helping the Treasurys bank rescues as markets teetered in 2007 and 2008  and earned a fortune in the process with rumoured fees of 500 an hour.

Slaughter and May, the prestigious law firm where he was a partner, made 32.9million from the work while the rest of the world came close to collapse and ordinary people suffered.

Randell takes over at the Financial Conduct Authority in April, and will also chair the Payment Systems Regulator.

The married father-of-three was educated at Trinity College, Oxford.

He was due to study English but switched to law after his father died, so that he could support himself with a career.

With a fearsome reputation among colleagues, Randell is likely to be seen as a tough leader.

He left Slaughters in 2013 after 33 years, and has gained public sector experience on the Bank of Englands prudential regulation committee and the board of the Business Department.

The lawyer  made a CBE in 2015  will replace current chairman John Griffith-Jones.
TAKEOVER TALKS Engineer Keller is in talks to buy Moretrench, an employee-owned underground engineering firm in the US. Moretrench has revenues of 125million.

Keller also said it expects the cut in US corporation tax from 35 per cent to 21 per cent to add 7.4million to its 2017 earnings.

PAIR APPOINTED Air services firm Gama Aviation has appointed Richard Steeves, 56, and Neil Medley, 41, to its board. Steeves founded FTSE 250 outsourcer Synergy Health, while Medley is Gamas chief operating officer.

ZULU PLAN AIM-listed Premier African Minerals is considering spinning off its Zulu lithium project in Zimbabwe into a separate listing. Bosses said it could unlock huge value for shareholders given the interest in lithium.

UPBEAT BROKER Shipbroker Clarksons said it expects results for 2017 to be in line with expectations. The 1852-founded firm is due to report on March 12.

In November, the FTSE 250 business revealed it had suffered a cyber attack and warned confidential information could be leaked.

PENSIONS REBOUND The pension black holes at Britains 350 biggest public companies shrank by 8billion last year, says actuary Mercer.

The total shortfall in their defined benefit schemes fell from 84billion to 76billion after a good year for the markets and tweaks to life expectancy.

MUSIC BOOST Music streaming service Spotify has reached 70m subscribers, up from 60m last July, as the company prepares to go public on New Yorks stock exchange.

TAX CREDIT Cambridge-based biotech firm Abcam is set for a boost of up to 7million from US tax reforms, saying it would get the tax credit in the current financial year.

FESTIVE RECORD Tech giant Apple had record-breaking 880million of sales on its app store over the Christmas period. Customers spent 222million on New Years Day alone.
Uber founder Travis Kalanick is to sell his shares in the company for the first time in a deal which is set to net him 1billion.

The 41-year-old is reducing his 10 per cent stake by just under a third as part of a funding agreement with Softbank.

A deal announced earlier this month will see the Japanese tech giant take a 17.5pc stake in Uber, largely by buying shares from early investors and employees.

Taxi tycoon: Travis Kalanick, 41, is reducing his 10 per cent stake by just under a third as part of a funding agreement with Japanese tech giant Softbank

It will secure a 900million cash injection for Uber as it seeks to rehabilitate its image and get back on track after a tumultuous 2017.

Kalanicks decision to sell comes after reforms that have significantly weakened his grip on the company.

He was ousted as chief executive last year amid a string of scandals but has remained as a director, with former Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi parachuted in to take the reins.

Kalanick offered to sell half his shares but, because there was a limit on how much Softbank will buy, will now sell just 29 per cent  about 2.9 per cent of Uber shares overall.

The arrangement means Kalanick, already a billionaire on paper thanks to Ubers 35billion valuation, will be able to start spending his vast theoretical fortune.

The Softbank deal comes as Uber prepares for its long-awaited listing, which is currently planned for 2019.

A spokesman for Kalanick declined to comment.
Commuters will be forgiven for thinking that there is absolutely no good side to Oxford Circus.

But a series of striking birds-eye-view snaps by aerial photographer Jason Hawkes can safely prove that indeed there is.

Mr Hawkes, who takes helicopter flights over the capital, captures the city at it's very best angles  and at a comfortable distance from the hustle and bustle of Trafalgar Square.

Each spectacular shot showcases the city in a different light; from mist-shrouded vistas of the City, to bustling the bustling crowds of a Justin Bieber concert.

The photographer also captured the horror of the Grenfell Tower disaster in June this year, with one harrowing image showing plumes of thick smoke billowing from the blazing inferno.

You can see view more of Jason's outstanding work on his website at www.jasonhawkes.com.
A commercial plane bound for Mexico from New York City turned around for an emergency landing after someone on board said they saw a wing was on fire, reports are saying.

An American Airlines flight left John F Kennedy International Airport around 1pm bound for the tropical resort city of Cancun, NBC New York reports.

The crew quickly turned the Boeing 738 back around after reports of the fire and it landed once again around 1.20pm, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The Port Authority tweeted out a photo of the American Airlines Boeing 738 that safely landed at its point of origin, John F Kennedy International Airport after turning back 20 minutes after takeoff

Pictured is the plane's flight path. American Airlines said the plane turned back due to a 'possible mechanical issue' but other reports say the plane turned back after someone on board said they thought they saw a wing on fire

American Airlines has officially said that the plane needed to land due to a 'possible mechanical issue'.

Sources told NBC that there was no evidence of a fire.

The union that represents Port Authority police officers posted a picture of the plane sitting on the snow-blown tarmac.

A Port Authority spokeswoman says the plane taxied back to the gate under its own power.

No one was hurt, ABC7 reports.

The Port Authority tweeted: 'Port Authority Police Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter Unit responded to JFK Runway 31L, an American Airlines 737 returned immediately after departure because of a report of an engine fire. Aircraft landed without incident, no evidence of fire.'

The landing comes after the Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger jet - was en route to land at the John F Kennedy International Airport when it was diverted to Stewart Airport in Orange County on Thursday due to winds and whiteout conditions.
Months of bipartisan negotiations in the US Senate over the fate of young, unauthorized immigrants known as 'Dreamers' have turned angry, with the lead Democratic negotiator blasting President Donald Trump for making 'hardline anti-immigrant' demands.

Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Senate Democrat, on Friday called Trump's demand for $18billion in border wall funding 'outrageous' and threatened a government shutdown if Democrats' demands on 'Dreamers' aren't met.

The White House on Friday added the funding request to a list of prior conditions it sent to Congress in early October, including an end to chain migration policies and the diversity lottery, both of which Trump implicated in the wake of recent terror attacks on New York.

Durbin said in a statement that it was 'outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hardline anti-immigrant bills - plus an additional $18 billion in wall funding - on the backs of these young people.'

The Democratic whip added on Twitter: 'President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction.'

Senator Dick Durbin (above), the number two Senate Democrat, called Trump's demand for $18billion in border wall funding 'outrageous' and threatened a government shutdown

Trump on Friday added the wall funding request to a list of conditions he sent to Congress in early October, including an end to chain migration policies and the diversity lottery

Trump in September ordered that an Obama-era program that prevented young immigrants from being deported should end in six months. The program is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Saving DACA recipients from deportation is a high priority for Democrats, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers have struggled to reach a bipartisan deal.

Durbin said the latest White House move, coming as Congress also struggles to pass a bill by January 19 to fund the government through September, could push federal agencies closer to a shutdown.

Pro-immigration activists have pushed Democrats to use the threat of a government shutdown at the January 19 funding deadline in order to pass a 'clean' DACA bill, with no concessions to Trump's demands.

On Saturday, congressional Republican leaders are due to huddle with Trump at Camp David, the presidential mountain retreat, to discuss 2018 legislative priorities.

About 94 percent of DACA recipients were born in Mexico or Central and South America, and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats. Pictured: Pro-immigration protest in LA on Wednesday

Trump wants $18billion in border wall funding over 10 years to make a deal to protect DACA recipients. Pictured: Southern border wall prototypes near San Diego

Republican and Democratic leaders are also scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to talk about immigration legislation.

Earlier, some congressional Republicans downplayed the likelihood of a deal with Democrats on legislation to protect the Dreamers - some 700,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children.

Republican Senator John Cornyn accused Democrats in a tweet of trying to force a deal on Dreamers by doing a 'slow walk' on efforts to approve critical disaster aid and defense spending.

Two other Republicans late on Thursday said the sides remained far apart.

'Our discussions on border security and enforcement with Democrats are much further apart, and that is key to getting a bipartisan deal on DACA,' senators Thom Tillis and James Lankford said in a statement.

On October 8, the White House released a list of immigration 'principles' Trump wanted in return for giving Dreamers legislative protection from deportation.

A supporter of President Trump confronts police officers and a DACA supporter during a rally outside the office of Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein Wednesday in Los Angeles

Besides the border wall, it included the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 300 federal prosecutors.

Immigration advocacy groups fear the hiring expansion would be part of an attempt to round up the adult relatives of Dreamers to ship them to their native countries.

Resubmitting the demands that were dismissed by Democrats three months ago, Durbin said, was 'outrageous.' But he added that bipartisan negotiations continue among senators.

Democrats have said they are open to tying DACA to additional funding for border security technology. But they oppose Trump's wall, which government estimates have said could cost over $21 billion.

Republican lawmakers met with Trump at the White House on Thursday and initially emerged saying they were optimistic that they could find a legislative fix for DACA.

The struggle over the 'Dreamers' carries political weight for both parties heading into the November 2018 midterm congressional elections.

About 94 percent of DACA recipients were born in Mexico or Central and South America, and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats.

Cornyn, in an interview on Fox News on Friday, said Trump would demand that an immigration deal address the visa lottery system and chain migration that unites family members.

'Those are things that he's insisted upon,' and Democrats would have to embrace them along with border security, said Cornyn.
A Canadian woman who was attacked with her disabled husband outside a coffee shop in north London is facing deportation despite being his only carer.

Natasha Stevens, 27, and her husband Aidan James, 28, were drinking coffee outside Starbucks in Camden, north London, when they were set upon by a group of teenage girls.

After a row over a chair, the girls, believed to be aged between 12 and 14, hurled abuse at the couple, punching Ms Stevens in the back of the head and shoving her husband.

The teenagers continued by throwing their drinks at them, as well as a chair, ashtray and empty cups.

Recording the incident on her phone Ms Stevens, who works in marketing, uploaded the video to Facebook, where it has been widely condemned.

Natasha Stevens, 27, and her husband Aidan James, 28, were drinking coffee outside Starbucks in Camden, north London, when they were set upon by a group of teenage girls

But it has now emerged the couple are facing a terrifying deportation battle, which could see Ms Stevens sent back to Canada for good and her husband left with no one to look after him.

She told MailOnline: 'At his worst he was having 20 seizures a day.

'He can't lift a coffee cup he's so weak. He has no sensation in his left side. He's in constant pain.

'He wouldn't be alive without me here to look after him. The whole thing is absolutely terrifying.

'You hope love will prevail and everything will be alright but these people just don't seem to care.'

Mr James, a musician, is constantly in pain as a result of nerve damage and partial paralysis on his left side.

After being diagnosed with mould poisoning caused by negligent conditions in their previous London home, he also suffers 'non-epileptic seizures' - which at their worst can happen 20 times a day.

But it has now emerged the couple are facing a terrifying deportation battle, which could see Ms Stevens, pictured, sent back to Canada for good and her husband left with no one to look after him

After being diagnosed with mould poisoning caused by negligent conditions in their previous London home, Aidan suffers 'non-epileptic seizures' - which at their worst can happen 20 times a day

The guitarist, who has lived in Camden with his wife since they met in 2011, also has calcification of the brain, which can cause the motor neuron to deteriorate and lead to further paralysis.

He has Asperger's Syndrome too, which is exacerbated by the stress of the deportation battle.

Ms Stevens, originally from Toronto but of Hungarian descent, has been his full-time carer since he was found collapsed at work in 2013.

Giving up her office job she went freelance to be able to look after him 24 hours a day.

They have been married since 2012 and had no problem getting her first two-and-a-half-year spouse visa mid-2013.

But when it came up for renewal at the end of 2015, the Home Office refused, telling her she had to leave within seven days.

The 27-year-old said: 'We didn't think there would be any problems.

Guitarist Aidan,, who has lived in Camden with his wife since they met in 2011, also has calcification of the brain, which can cause the motor neuron to deteriorate and lead to further paralysis

Natasha, pictured, said: 'When we applied the first time they specifically told us we couldn't claim disability benefit - so we didn't. 'Now they're saying we should have been. They just don't like the idea that I'm the one earning the money and that our annual income is ours as a couple, not just his'

'But with the refugee crisis there seems to be a lot of pressure on Theresa May and the Home Office to cut down on immigration.

'They told me I needed to leave within seven days or I'd be arrested - it was terrifying.

'We managed to fight off immediate deportation but we've been battling it ever since.

'The whole thing has caused Aidan so much pain and emotional distress.

'We spent more than a year saying goodbye to each other every single night because we thought I'd get taken away.

'It breaks my heart what's happening. I love this country, but I feel so disappointed and like they'll do anything to catch me out and send me home.'

Mr James' symptoms were first surfaced in 2013, after which he spent over a year battling doctors for a firm diagnosis.

At one point his condition was misdiagnosed as terminal and the couple 'thought he was going to die'.

The couple have now collected over 80,000 signatures petitioning the Home Office

Ms Stevens added: 'Not know what was wrong added to the stress - it was extremely traumatic and stressful.

'Aidan tried to commit suicide several times.'

Her husband's long list of medical conditions have left him unable to work, leaving Ms Stevens as the soul breadwinner.

But despite them being over the 25,000 annual income threshold, Ms Stevens claims the Home Office 'doesn't like' the fact she is self-employed and that some of their money has been donated by relatives.

She said: 'When we applied the first time they specifically told us we couldn't claim disability benefit - so we didn't.

'Now they're saying we should have been. They just don't like the idea that I'm the one earning the money and that our annual income is ours as a couple, not just his.

The row started after the girls forcefully grabbed a chair from marketing worker Natasha's table and threw it across an outdoor seating area

According to the couple the girls ran away after five minutes with Aidan left cowering inside Starbucks on the phone to police

'He can't work. Sometimes he plays the occasional gig, but he has to sleep for three days before and three days after and he's in constant pain for that half an hour on stage.

'I think he feels guilty because disabled people are villainised so much - people think they're lazy scroungers.

'But his mother is severely ill, one of his brothers is autistic and the other is too young to look after himself.

'He needs to be to look after him - there's no one else.'

The couple had a court date set for the end of November, but it was adjourned until February - buying them more time.

Just hours before the cancelled hearing the couple claim their lawyer 'blackmailed' them into coughing up an extra 2,000 in fees.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Police were called to Parkway, NW1 at 19.13 on 29 December to reports of an assault. At the scene a man and woman, both aged 27, had been assaulted by a group of four teenaged girls'

The girls threw a hot drink before launching an ashtray, chewing gum, chairs and empty cups at the couple

They were forced to pay believing the case would go ahead and are still disputing the payment.

After crowdfunding 2,350 online, the couple still need another 8,000 to cover the costs of a new lawyer, the application for her indefinite leave to remain and the money to pay their old legal team.

They have also collected over 80,000 signatures petitioning the Home Office to keep the couple together.

Ms Stevens told MailOnline: 'If the court case doesn't work out I could be deported within a week.

'I don't have my passport, so I haven't seen my family for four years.

'My grandparents are old and I don't know how long they've got left. Two of my friends have died and I had to miss their funerals because I can't leave the country.

'He has no one else, I'm literally the only one.'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.'
Investigators say the widow of the man who killed dozens of people at a gay nightclub in Florida knew her husband 'was going to do something bad' before the attack.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that a statement written by an FBI agent and signed by Noor Salman says that she was in denial that her husband, Omar Mateen, could hurt other people when he left their home with guns and ammunition.

'I knew when he left the house he was going to Orlando to attack the Pulse Night Club,' Salman said allegedly during an 18-hour interview that was written by a FBI agent.

A statement written by an FBI agent and signed by Noor Salman says that she was in denial that husband, Omar Mateen, could hurt others

'I knew when he left the house he was going to Orlando to attack the Pulse Night Club,' Salman said allegedly of Mateen's brutal attack that killed 49 people and wounded 68

Salman faces charges of aiding a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice. Mateen killed 49 people and wounded at least 68 others during the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016.

But Bruce Frumkin, a Miami psychologist and expert on false confessions, will testify that Salman's testimony to FBI was not true.

In a ruling on Friday, U.S. Judge Paul Bryon sided with the defense to let Frumkin testify, according to Salman's lawyer Charles Swift.

Swift has argued that Salman was not in custody at the time she was detained by the FBI, hours after the attack.

But Bruce Frumkin, a Miami psychologist and expert on false confessions, will testify that Salman's testimony to FBI was not true

He also asserts that the woman was not read the Miranda rights but U.S. attorneys respond that she was never in custody in the first place and gave her statements, voluntarily.

'I knew on Saturday, when Omar left the house about 5 p.m. that this was the time that he was going to do something bad. I knew this because of the way he left and took the gun and backpack with ammunition  ' Salman said, according to the statement she signed.

Her statements were recently made public.

'I knew later, when I could not get ahold of him that my fears had come true and he did what he said he was going to do,' Salman added.

'I was in denial and I could not believe that the father of my child was going to hurt other people.'

Salman shared that Mateen became obsessed with the Middle East and ISIS recruitment videos for two years up until the shooting.

Salman shared that Mateen became obsessed with the Middle East and ISIS recruitment videos for two years up until the shooting

He was said to have been looking at the area now referred to as Disney Springs and City Place in Palm Beach, according to Salman's statement.

The couple was said to have driven around the club for a week before the shooting with their young son sitting in the vehicle.

'"How upset are people going to be when it gets attacked?"' Mateen said, according to his wife's statement.

'I knew he was talking about himself doing the attack on the Pulse,' she added.

Salman's attorneys and federal prosecutors continued a hearing Friday to discuss whether sealed evidence and an expert witness' testimony should be allowed at her March trial. The hearing was closed to the public.

She apologized in her statement.

'I'm very sorry I lied to the FBI,' she said. 'These are my words.'
A woman has described how a bout of the Aussie flu sweeping the country left her hallucinating in a state of 'total delirium'.

Mother-of-four Laura-Jane Merryweather, from Northampton, was hit by the deadly bug after returning from a family holiday to Walt Disney World, Florida, on December 23.

The dreaded Aussie flu outbreak expected to be the worst in 50 years is continuing to wreak havoc on Britain, official figures show.

Laura-Jane Merryweather was hit by the Aussie flu virus after returning from a holiday in Florida

The mum-of-four has been wearing a mask in a bid to stop the virus spreading to her children

GP surgeries have been overwhelmed with the influx of patients amid the winter flu epidemic, made worse by an aggressive strain of influenza A that rocked Australia.

At first when 38-year-old Mrs Merryweather called the NHS 111 line, the operator feared she was suffering from the tropical disease, dengue fever while she herself went to see her GP to rule out meningitis.

'I was in total delirium - seeing things that weren't there. You don't really realise it at the time but my husband said it was scary,' she told the Mirror Online.

'The pain in my legs was like nothing I have ever experienced. I was seeing things that weren't there. The pain was absolutely horrendous.'

'I was hallucinating, being sick and my husband had to walk me to and from the toilet.

Public Health England data also shows the killer virus has left 1,078 in hospital - a quarter of which because of so-called 'Aussie flu'

'I had such bad rigors my teeth clattered for two days and I was shaking up and down.'

'My children had swine flu back in 2009 and that was horrible. The way Aussie flu is spreading across the country, it reminds me of that time.'

In order to prevent the spread of the virus to her children, age five, 10, 12 and 14, she has been wear has worn a surgical face mask each time she hugs one them.

She is now recovering as her husband takes over the role of cleaning the house, also in order to stop the virus spreading.

'I can walk up and down, which is a bonus. Now I have congestion and shivers which is horrible but I'm nowhere near as bad as I was. I finally feel like I'm coming out of a dark hole.'
It is also believed he attended the dead;y alt-right rally in Charlottesville

He was charged with terrorism and other violence against railroad carries

Wilson was armed when train employees grabbed him after he pulled the brake

An armed man believed to have ties to white supremacist groups has been charged with terrorism after he stopped an Amtrak train in Nebraska.

Documents unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln show 26-year-old Taylor Wilson, of St. Charles, Missouri, is charged with terrorism attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems.

Wilson, who was a ticketed passenger on an Amtrak train, entered a restricted area of the train and enabled the emergency brake in an attempt to derail it, authorities said.

This booking photo provided by Furnas County Sheriff's Office shows Taylor Wilson, a white supremacist accused of stopping an Amtrak train in Nebraska. Unsealed federal documents show Wilson is charged with terrorism attacks and other violence against railroad carriers

Wilson is accused of pulling the emergency brake on an Amtrak train in October in an attempt to derail it

It is believed that Wilson attended the deadly, far-right rally in Charlottesville in August. His phone had numerous alt-right and white supremacist images and material.

The train was heading eastbound with about 175 people aboard, when the brake was pulled and the train was halted early Oct. 22 in Oxford, Nebraska, about 200 miles southwest of Omaha. The train was headed to Chicago from California.

Passengers sat in darkness for more than an hour after the train suddenly stopped, according to passenger Bobbie Garris.

'We lunged forward in our seats and all the power went out, it went completely black,' Garris said. 'We could smell something burning and I'm going to guess that was the brakes.'

Amtrak staff searched the train and discovered Wilson in the engineer's seat of the follow engine, where he was behaving erratically and playing with the controls.

A Furnas County deputy sent to the scene found Amtrak employees holding Wilson, court documents said.

Wilson had a loaded revolver, plus more ammunition and a knife, the deputy said.

No injuries were reported.

The court documents show the FBI has evidence of Wilson's activities with white supremacist groups, including a business card for the National Socialist Movement in Detroit, a neo-Nazi group.

FBI agents searched Wilson's home in December and found a tactical vest, 15 firearms, ammunition and white supremacy documents and paperwork.

Alt-Right, and White Supremacists encircle and chant at counter protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va

According to the affidavit, Wilson's firearms and electronic devices 'have been used for or obtained in anticipation of engaging in or planning to engage in criminal offenses against the United States.'

Wilson has been ruled competent to stand trial.

He was arrested Dec. 23 and is now in federal custody.

His attorney, Jerry Sena of Omaha said on Friday that Wilson plans to plead not guilty to the federal charges.
Having to sort through their husbands dirty socks and shirts seems a sure-fire way to make a womans blood boil.

But, unlikely as it seems, sniffing a partners unwashed clothes could help women cope with stress, according to a study.

Canadian researchers found that when women were given a T-shirt worn by their partner for 24 hours without deodorant to smell, they felt more calm under pressure. They said it shows the natural scent of the people we love can be a powerful tool to help reduce stress.

Unlikely as it seems, sniffing a partners unwashed clothes could help women cope with stress, according to a study

Women who were given their partner's shirt to sniff reported less stress after a mock job interview, according to researchers in Canada

The study, by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, saw 48 women subjected to a mock job interview and mental arithmetic task in front of a camera and judging panel.

Those who were given their partners T-shirt to sniff beforehand reported significantly less stress in a questionnaire after the interview.

Saliva tests also showed their levels of the stress hormone cortisol were a lot lower than in women who had smelled a T-shirt worn by a stranger.

Neither group were told whose top they were smelling in the study, published in the Journal of Social Psychology.
A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was diverted to Alaska after the flight crew reported a man on board had vandalized two airplane bathrooms by spreading human waste, airport police said on Friday.

'We received a report of a passenger who had messed up the bathrooms with his own feces,' Anchorage Airport Police Lieutenant Joe Gamache said by telephone.

The man, a 22-year-old Vietnamese passport holder with U.S. residency, was escorted off the plane in handcuffs on Thursday night and met by law enforcement in the terminal, Gamache said.

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A man (pictured, muzzed) on a plane traveling from Chicago to Hong Kong spread his own feces in two bathrooms, in addition to other acts

The plane was diverted to Anchorage, where the 22-year-old man was escorted off in cuffs

The passenger sitting next to the man said his family was sending him to Vietnam in an effort to help him stay out of 'trouble', KTVA reports.

Tri Nguyen told KTVA: 'He just was out of control and I tried to calm him down as much as I could.'

After being interviewed by authorities through a translator, he was transported to an Anchorage hospital for a mental evaluation.

The man made no threats and did not try to interfere with the flight crew, Gamache said, adding that no charges have been filed.

The man, who is a Vietnamese passport holder with U.S. residency, will undergo a mental evaluation

Fellow passengers were provided hotel accommodation by United Airlines due to the diversion

Other antics of the man, according to witnesses on the flight, were his shaking of seats and pouring beverages on the ground.

One passenger described the excrement-filled scene to KTVA: 'He had crap everywhere...He was stuffing his shirt in the toilet then wiping it on the walls.'

The passenger, BJ Canup, added that the passenger was 'shirtless'.

After the incident, families and children sitting around him were moved and replaced with 'some really big guys' to sit around him. The move was done without incident, witnesses said.

'I was just asked to help out and was ready to do what I could,' said one such man, who was 7-feet-tall.

Tri Nguyen told KTVA: 'He just was out of control and I tried to calm him down as much as I could'

He had crap everywhere...He was stuffing his shirt in the toilet then wiping it on the walls,' passenger BJ Canup said

The pilot decided after the incident that the rest of the plane ride would be too risky for the pooper's fellow passengers.

United Airlines, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc , said there were 245 people on board the plane and said it provided hotel accommodations for its customers.

No one was hurt, KTUU reports.

United Airlines listed on its website that the plane was diverted due to 'operational difficulties'.
House of Fraser is seeking to slash its rent bill, sparking fears it could be the next high street retailer to suffer financial woe.

The struggling department store chain has written to landlords asking for its rents to be cut, as it prepares to reveal its results for the all-important Christmas trading period next week.

It comes just 24 hours after rival Debenhams saw nearly 70million wiped off its value after issuing a shock profit warning following dismal Christmas sales.

House of Frasers plea to landlords has sparked concern for the overall health of the business. And it echoes action taken by BHS shortly before it went bust in 2016 when it desperately sought to reduce its rent bill to cut costs.

The struggling department store chain has written to landlords asking for its rents to be cut, as it prepares to reveal its results for the all-important Christmas trading period (file photo)

House of Frasers plea to landlords has sparked concern for the overall health of the business. And it echoes action taken by BHS shortly before it went bust in 2016 when it desperately sought to reduce its rent bill to cut costs.

House of Fraser is Britains third-largest group of traditional department stores with 61 branches, 58 of which are in the UK. It employs 17,000 staff and is privately owned by Sanpower, a Chinese conglomerate run by billionaire Yuan Yafei. Sources say Sanpower made an informal request to revise the amount of rent it pays on stores in recent weeks.

It is not known which stores could be affected, but many are in expensive buildings in large town centres.

House of Fraser has been struggling to revive its high street sales as customers opt to shop online. Its sales were further hit by an overhaul of its website in April and May, and it has scrapped a string of underperforming brands which forced it to heavily discount a number of items.

Last year hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey, who is notoriously gloomy about the fortunes of UK retailers, said of Debenhams: Its a race between them and House of Fraser as to who will go down first.

House of Fraser has been struggling to revive its high street sales as customers opt to shop online (file photo)

In December ratings agency Moodys branded House of Fraser a very high credit risk. Bosses asked Sanpower for help in the autumn, which resulted in a 25million cash injection to ensure there was enough cash to fulfil orders over the Christmas period.

Over the years House of Fraser has purchased chains such as the Army & Navy Stores, Barkers of Kensington, Beatties, Dickins & Jones, Jenners, Kendals, Rackhams and Binns.

In accounts for the year to January 2017, the company warned of costly store lease agreements and said it had set aside 5.7million to deal with the problem. It reported profits of 22.2million that year, up 70 per cent.

The store is expected to publish the results of its trading over Christmas next week, alongside rivals John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.

House of Fraser said: We have contacted some landlords asking for support as we drive forward with our transformation programme.
Meghan Markle's future sister-in-law was arrested on New Year's eve in Oregon after an altercation with Thomas Markle, potentially dashing her brother's hopes to attend the royal wedding in May.

An law enforcement source with the Josephine County Jail told DailyMail.com that Tom's fiancee 'Darlene Blount was booked on January 1st. She was charged with fourth degree assault.'

Prince Harry's soon to be sister-in-law was arrested just before the clock struck midnight on New Year, and was booked around 4:20am, after a boozed-up altercation with Tom.

Darlene Blount, 37, was arrested just before the clock struck midnight in Oregon on New Year's eve, for assaulting Meghan Markle's half brother Thomas Markle Jr.

What would Harry say? Meghan Markle's future sister-in-law was arrested for assaulting the soon-to-be royal's half brother

Prince Harry and Megan Markle are preparing for a May wedding, pictured in an engagement announcement photo from November

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a decidedly more upscale welcoming for 2018, as they rang in the New Year on the French Riviera.

Sources say the prince and Meghan Markle flew out of Heathrow on New Year's Eve on a scheduled British Airways flight to Nice.

In an attempt to remain incognito, the pair boarded their 9.55am flight before any other passengers and headed straight to the back of the plane, next to the rear toilets.

They also took up three rows of economy seats on both sides of the aisle, even though there were only themselves and three 'edgy and nervous' bodyguards in their party.

Harry, 33, took the seat next to the window dressed in jeans, a jacket and with a baseball cap pulled over his face.

Meghan's brother Tom spoke to DailyMail.com just days before the New Year began.

Before ringing in the New Year on a sour note, Tom spent his Christmas at home in Grants Pass with Blount, 37, and her seven-year-old son.

He has not seen or spoken to his 36-year-old half-sister since 2011 but says he and Meghan are not estranged but lost touch after she moved to Toronto, Canada, to take up a role in Suits.

'She got to the point where she got busier and busier so it was really hard to nail her down,' he explained to DailyMail.com.

'It's not really that we grew apart, it was she was out there [in Toronto] doing her job  it was the biggest deal she got on TV so she had no time.

'But we spent a lot of weekends together with our grandmother [Doris Markle] before she left.'

He is now hoping that the Markle clan will one day be reunited for Christmas and says that while he doesn't expect an invitation to Meghan and Harry's May wedding, it would mean a lot to get one.

Meghan's half brother had his own run in with the law, pictured left in his mugshot from last January. That incident also involved Blount- authorities said he threatened her with a gun

Childhood photos provided by her half-brother Thomas Jr show 11-year-old Meghan with her father Thomas Sr, her nephews, and sister-in-law

The 51-year-old, who was arrested himself last January for putting a gun to his fiancee's head, was released without charge, added: 'I don't know if she gets to invite who she wants. But she'll reach out if she wants me there - she'll call me. She knows where to find me.

'But that's up to her, there's no pressure. I wouldn't mind seeing my little sister have the biggest wedding in the world  that would be incredible.

'Of course [it would mean a lot]. I didn't go to her last one in Jamaica, I was working or something. But if my dad doesn't walk her down the aisle, then I will.'
Cheating in school exams has risen 25 per cent in a year  fuelled by pupils smuggling mobile phones into exam halls, a report has found.

Data from exams regulator Ofqual showed 2,715 penalties were issued to youngsters for breaking rules during their A-level and GCSE exams last summer. Half were due to the use of 'unauthorised materials', with 78 per cent of these involving mobile phones.

Maths and computing combined accounted for more than a third of all malpractice penalties, Ofqual said.

Cheating in school exams has risen 25 per cent in a year  fuelled by pupils smuggling mobile phones into exam halls (file photo)

The figures, which cover England, also revealed that penalties for teachers and school staff more than doubled from 360 in 2016 to 895 last year. The biggest reason was for maladministration of exams, followed by giving improper assistance to candidates.

Suzanne O'Farrell, assessment specialist at the Association Of School And College Leaders, said: 'It is disappointing there has been an increase. However, the vast majority of people follow the rules correctly.'

Data from exams regulator Ofqual showed 2,715 penalties were issued to youngsters for breaking rules during their A-level and GCSE exams last summer (file photo)

Ofqual said the 2,715 penalties issued to students, up from 2,180 the year before, represent just 0.015 per cent of exam entrants.

Malpractice covers anything that could 'undermine the integrity of an exam', according to Ofqual.

This includes issues such as students attempting to communicate with each other while sitting a paper, or failure by staff to comply with exam board instructions.

The most common penalty handed out to students was a loss of marks, the statistics show.

The most common penalty meted out to staff for malpractice was a written warning.

Last month, Ofqual said exam safeguards should be 'strengthened' in its review of rules allowing teachers to set question papers.

In a report, published in the wake of exam leak allegations, the watchdog said cheating is rare but can be 'deeply damaging' to public confidence when it happens.
A man has been arrested over the fatal stabbing of an Australian man while he was in Sweden.

A 25-year-old man is in custody over the alleged attack on Kai Foley, 30, in Gotherburg days before Christmas, according to Expressen.

Swedish authorities believe Mr Foley, who moved to Sweden six months ago, did not know the suspect.

A man has been arrested over the fatal stabbing of an Australian man Kai Foley (pictured)

A 25-year-old man is in custody over the alleged attack on Mr Foley (pictured) in Gotherburg on December 20, 2017

Prosecutor Niklas Hogden told the local publication a short interrogation took place and further interrogation will happen at the weekend with the suspect's lawyer.

Mr Foley was found fighting for life at Odins Square on December 20 in the early hours of the morning before dying in hospital, according to ABC News.

The 30-year-old, who studied nursing in Melbourne, moved to Sweden to be with his girlfriend and has no criminal background.

Police commissioner Ben Wahlin said investigators were confused to why Mr Foley was targeted because they was 'absolutely nothing' to suggest he would be a victim of such crime, according to the NT News.

Devastated family members and friends have mourned the shock death of the former disability support worker.

'Taking timeout to remember a truly great guy tragically taken from us in Sweden last week ... you were an amazing carer, a gentle giant and a fun guy to be around. RIP,' one person wrote.

Swedish authorities believe Mr Foley, (pictured) who moved to Sweden six months ago to be with his girlfriend, did not know the suspect

Mr Foley was found stabbed in Odins Square in Gothenberg, Sweden (pictured) before he was rushed to hospital where he later died

'Kai's family and many friends are devastated at the loss of a very special, beautiful, fine young man,' a relative said in a statement.

'A private memorial service for Kai's family and friends will be held in the coming weeks. Details will be posted on Kai's FB page.'

Friend Kira Kosh also took to social media to pay tribute to Mr Foley.

'My heart is so so sad for his family and his Swedish girl friend he was living with,' she said.

'Never forget your smile, you ate like a horse and loved hip hop more then anyone I have ever met. You were the most gentle giant.'
When was the last time you used a disposable wipe? It might have been to take off make-up, polish your reading glasses, wipe a childs grubby hands, or clean the kitchen floor.

We reach for a wipe without a second thought  so much so that the global market for them is estimated to be worth in excess of 12.5 billion. After all, theyre handy, not too expensive and much less faff than using a cloth that you then have to wash.

And we get through staggering numbers of the things. Nice-Pak, one of the worlds largest producers of wet wipes, churns out more than 670 million packs a year in Europe  everything from cosmetic and baby wipes to moist toilet tissue and household cleaning wipes. Each pack will contain anything from ten to 100 wipes, so were talking billions of them.

Modern menace: Claire Coleman with some of the many wet wipes on the market

But few of us stop to think about where they come from, or where they end up once weve used them. Theyre binned or flushed and forgotten about  and that is a serious problem.

Most wipes arent designed to be flushed but nonetheless, consumers chuck baby wipes, cosmetic wipes and others down the loo, with awful consequences.

Because what users may not realise  or ever stop to think about  is that many wipes contain plastic, often in the form of polyester. This means they do not break down easily and can become a serious menace to the environment after weve disposed of them.

The problems start in the sewer system. A report from Water UK showed disposable wipes were responsible for 93 per cent of the material causing blockages. Wet wipes do not break down as quickly as toilet paper, Thames Waters website explains. They lurk in pipes and merge with fat to create huge, rock hard fatbergs. A fatberg is a disgusting mass that gathers in a sewer  wipes are a key component, along with congealed cooking fat that has been poured down sinks. Last year, one weighing the same as 11 double-decker buses blocked a section of an East London sewer, presenting a very real risk that the streets could be flooded with raw sewage.

But while the Whitechapel fatberg, which took a team of workmen three weeks to break up, might have been one of the largest, its by no means the only one. There are around 300,000 sewer blockages every year, costing the country an estimated 100 million.

And when flushed wipes make it out of sewers and into the sea, things get even worse.

In the past decade weve seen a 700 per cent rise in wipes washed up on beaches, says Dr Laura Foster, head of pollution at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

Just like the toxic plastic microbeads the Daily Mail campaigned to ban, plastic wipes may be eaten by marine life and enter the food chain.

London's biggest ever fatberg was found in Whitechapel last year. It was longer than Tower Bridge and consisted mostly of wet wipes

Whether broken down into microparticles of plastic that plankton consume at the bottom of the food chain, or mistaken for food by larger sea creatures, this means theres every likelihood that plastics are ending up on our plates.

Plastics have been found in mussels destined for human consumption, in the guts of fish and in the tissues of other marine animals. And as a growing body of research suggests some types of plastics ingested by humans could be responsible for everything from weight gain to breast cancer, this is a serious concern.

Many of the wipe companies we spoke to were at pains to point out they are working to educate consumers about not flushing wipes.

Since January 2017, EDANA [the industry body that represents non-woven textiles] has been promoting the use of a Do Not Flush symbol on the front of packaging to help stop non-flushable baby wipes, cosmetic wipes and household wipes being flushed down Britains toilets, says Marines Lagemaat, the organisations scientific and technical affairs director.

The above wet wipes are not biodegradable. Usually liquid alternatives are more environmentally friendly

EDANA members and retailers are being encouraged to adopt the front-of-pack Do Not Flush logo on non-flushable wipes by October 2018.

But while binning wipes is better, its far from ideal. They ultimately end up in landfill  which wouldnt be a problem if they rotted down, like kitchen towels, but because most are polyester, they dont. As a rule, cotton takes between one and five months to decompose, while polyester takes 200 to 500 years.

Rockline, a company that has been producing wipes since the Seventies, says on its website that wipes can be made from a number of different materials, including polyester, wood pulp, viscose and cotton, a number of which are often blended together.

Wood pulp, viscose and cotton do decompose in landfill, so why do brands insist on using polyester?

The answer is predictable  its cheap.

So how did we become so dependent on these moist rectangles of material?

The man credited with producing the wet wipe was an American who in 1958 trademarked the first Wet-Nap. In 1963, Wet-Nap became a supplier to KFC, where the individually wrapped damp sheets were described as a folded finger bowl.

By the late Seventies, baby wipes had hit the market and the number of uses weve found for them has ballooned from there. These days, whether you want to polish the car dashboard, remove nail polish, or even deodorise your dog, theres a wipe that can do it.

So, if you want the convenience of a wipe, can you at least opt for an environmentally friendly one that doesnt contain polyester?

Put simply, the answer is no.

Most packs tell you what wipes are soaked in, but they almost never reveal what the wipes are made of  and they dont have to. The Trading Standards Institute says if a textile is considered to be disposable, the manufacturer is under no legal obligation to disclose the information.

We decided to ask the manufacturers of a number of wipes about their ecological credentials  and discovered some more environment-friendly alternatives:
No one is happier to see the back of 2017 than Prince Charles  a year when he was virtually written out of the royal script as his sons marked the 20th anniversary of Princess Dianas death and paid lavish tribute to their mother.

As numerous TV documentaries either ignored the Prince of Waless part in the tragedy or reduced it to that of villain of the piece, a series of bruising opinion polls showed his popularity was flagging.

One revealed that only one-third of Britons believe the Prince had been beneficial for the Monarchy  down from nearly two-thirds four years earlier. A quarter believed that Charles had had a negative impact on the Royal Family, compared with a sixth in 2013. Fewer than one in ten thought his influence very positive.

In contrast, almost half of those polled considered that Prince William had had a very positive influence on the monarchy.

Harry was garlanded with praise for his recent guest editorship of Radio 4s Today programme, where his interviewees included his father and Barack Obama

How crucial, therefore, 2018 will be for the Prince of Wales. Yet while undoubtedly relieved that interest in Diana will drift away for now, Charles knows that he will not have the stage and the spotlight to himself.

Prince Harrys wedding to Meghan Markle in May, the arrival of William and Kates third child in April, and the 65th anniversary of the Queens coronation in June will all be significant and hugely popular royal events.

In November, Prince Charles has his own landmark  his 70th birthday. And had things turned out differently, it might have been Charles rather than his younger son who would have been beginning the New Year basking in the goodwill of the public.

Harry was garlanded with praise for his recent guest editorship of Radio 4s Today programme, where his interviewees included his father and Barack Obama.

History may well note his decision to participate in BBC Radios flagship current affairs programme as the moment that Harry finally shed what is left of his playboy prince reputation. It is unlikely, though, to record the events preceding it.

Friends say Charles was disappointed to miss out on the three-hour news show which would have presented him with a significant national audience to highlight his pet projects

The origins of Harrys appearance go back to early last summer when he received an invitation to be one of several celebrity guests who edit the programme between Christmas and New Year.

I can reveal that when he did not immediately commit to the project, Today executives turned instead to Prince Charles, who readily agreed. However, mindful perhaps of his sensitive relationship with his sons, Charles insisted that Harry was kept informed about what was going on.

Quite what happened next is unclear, but abruptly Harrys diary became freer and he accepted the Today offer, leaving his father no option but to stand aside.

Friends say Charles was disappointed to miss out. The three-hour morning news show would have presented him with a significant national audience to highlight his pet projects.

And this may go some way to explain why Harry chose to include an at times preachy interview with his father about climate change and the environment. However, their encounter was far more revealing  and intriguing  for the light it shone on the relationship between father and son.

Harry included an interview with his father about climate change but the encounter was more revealing for the light it shone on the relationship between father and son

Along with a liberal exchange of terms of endearment  Pa, Dear boy, Darling boy  what emerged was a depth of affection thats all too rarely seen between Charles and his younger son.

Charles has always worried more about Harry than William; and, of course, has at times been troubled more by him, too. But ever since Dianas death, their relationship has been stronger than that between him and William.

William has always been more independent of Charless influence and has modelled himself far more on his grandmother than his father. Friends say William will never be a meddling prince in the mould of Prince Charles.

At the height of the Diana commemorations, it was Harry rather than William who offered his father some public acknowledgement. Recalling the aftermath of their mothers death in a TV interview, he praised Charles for his support.

One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that the other parent has died, he said. But he was there for us. And he tried to do his best to make sure that we were protected and looked after.

While undoubtedly relieved that interest in Diana will drift away for now, Charles knows that he will not have the stage and the spotlight to himself

What also became clear as Charles and Harry discussed the merits of sustainability and the dangers of a throwaway society during their Today encounter was that at least some of what the Prince of Wales has been talking about for so many years had been absorbed by his son.

For years, Charles has grumbled in a jokey yet semi-serious way that his sons take no notice of their father. Its the kind of complaint that many a father has made about his children.

However, what has upset Charles is that his sons do not show much enthusiasm for his passions and campaigns. If they do show interest, it was murmured that it was done without much grace.

One issue that rankled particularly was that having arranged briefings for William on the internal workings of the Duchy of Cornwall, which he will one day inherit, William never bothered to discuss them with his father afterwards.

His charities and foundations are a sore point, too.

In November, Prince Charles has his own landmark  his 70th birthday. He readily agreed to the Today project but insisted that Harry be kept informed

Charles always hoped that one of his sons would have wanted to take on one of his organisations, such as the Princes Trust, but theres always been a reluctance, says one of the Princes circle.

This week, it was disclosed that Charles was stepping back from some of his charitable work as he devotes more time to supporting and standing in for the Queen.

Now would be the perfect moment for William or Harry to step forward. But so far neither has. Instead, they will concentrate on their own charitable interests, from conservation in Africa to the Heads Together mental health campaign.

One area where they may be agreement, I understand, is on the scourge of knife crime. Prince Charles is keen for one or both of his sons to be a focus for a campaign to tackle the issue of stabbings. (In London alone last year, 80 people were killed.)

These are certainly changing times. This year, the Royal Family will reach something of a watershed  a tipping of the balance from the old to the new. The Queen will turn 92 and Philip 97.

This year, the Royal Family will reach something of a watershed  a tipping of the balance from the old to the new. The Queen will turn 92 and Philip 97

There has been talk in palace circles that, should she live to 95, the Queen would pass the baton to Charles, making him Prince Regent although never abdicating.

Whether that happens or not, the passing of responsibility is already taking place. When Charles travels abroad, he is there on his mothers authority as she no longer makes long-haul flights.

There is also the presence of a new royal bride to consider. Some observers say that Harrys salute to his father in that TV interview in the summer was an early sign of the influence of Meghan Markle.

Like Harry the product of a broken home, Meghan has remained on good terms with both her parents. She is also said to have warmed to the eccentricities of her future father-in-law.

Prince Harrys wedding to Meghan Markle (pictured) in May and the arrival of William and Kates third child in April will be significant and hugely popular royal events

This is not the only manifestation of the Meghan effect. Kate and William holding hands in public on the walk to church on Christmas Day was another, as are formal Palace bulletins referring to Meghan as Ms Markle  a modern title that would once not have been used. Trivial, yes, but they are significant changes.

For Charles, however, the real challenge in 2018 will be to reach the kind of understanding with William that he has with Harry.

Bound by tragedy, the brothers have always been the closest of siblings  generating worldwide admiration for their efforts to honour their late mother and promote the causes she supported.

The question in the year ahead is will they show that same commitment in supporting their father?
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As Boston digs out from Thursday's blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow and led to its worst flooding in 40 years, it was faced with another weather headache - single-digit temperatures that created rivers of ice water and trapped a number of cars.

Images from Boston on Friday show cars stuck in frozen floodwaters that reach up to the hoods in some cases.

Some car owners tried to prepare for the storm by lifting their windshield wipers and opening their trunks so that they wouldn't be buried under snow and frozen.

But it is unlikely they anticipated that the cars would be done in by floodwaters.

One amateur video filmed in Revere, Massachusetts, the coastal city just north of Boston, showed a large sheet of ice covering the street.

According to The Boston Globe, about 20 residents needed to be evacuated from their homes. Some of them were rescued by high-water vehicles deployed by the National Guard.

As Boston digs out from Thursday's blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow and led to its worst flooding in 40 years, it was faced with another weather headache - single-digit temperatures that created rivers of ice water and trapped a number of cars

One amateur video filmed in Revere, Massachusetts, the coastal city just north of Boston, showed a large sheet of ice covering the street

According to The Boston Globe , about 20 residents needed to be evacuated from their homes. Some of them were rescued by high-water vehicles deployed by the National Guard

Overnight, the low temperature in Boston could reach -1, with wind chills of -35 in some places

Sixty cars were damaged after high tides flooded the parking lot of a high school in Gloucester, The Boston Globe reported.

The frigid temperatures - Boston's high was only 15 degrees on Friday - will continue to blanket the area for the next 48 hours.

Overnight, the low temperature could reach -1, with wind chills of -35 in some places.

That's balmy compared to the -100 wind chill that can be felt on Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast United States.

The winter storm has claimed the lives of nearly two dozen Americans, according to the New York Daily News.

In Virginia, a nine-year-old girl who was sledding while visiting relatives was struck and killed by a pickup truck.

Also in Virginia, a 75-year-old man was hit and killed by a snowplow while clearing snow from parking lots.

According to the National Weather Service, Boston broke the record for the highest ever recorded tide on Thursday.

Benjamin Sipprell, a meteorologist in Boston for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, told the Daily Beast that the flooding was a result of the blizzard hitting at high tide, and the high tide being higher than usual due to Wednesday's supermoon.

A supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This happens about four to six times a year.

Boston suffered its worst flooding in 40 years on Thursday as the city was hit by Winter Storm Grayson. Above, a car driving through floodwaters in the suburb of Lynn

Experts say that a reason the flooding was so bad was because the storm hit at high tide, which was higher than usual due to Wednesday's supermoon (seen above in Wells, England)

A wave crashes over homes on Lighthouse Rd. in Scituate, Massachusetts on Thursday as a massive winter storm begins to bear down on the region

Boston experienced historic flooding on Thursday, after a 'bomb cyclone' winter storm hit the Northeast, causing travel chaos across the region, but officials have predicted that the aftermath may be deadlier than the storm

The tides are caused by the moon's orbit, and are at their highest during full moons. Supermoons bring them even higher.

'Normal tides in Boston are between 9 and 10 feet,' Sipprell explained. 'When we get tides, we get some that go up to 12 feet or more. We were forecasting 12.1 feet with this one, but with the surge, it got bumped up to 15 feet.

'It's definitely historic.'

It ended up being a disastrous combination when Winter Storm Grayson hit the city right at high ride - flooding the Seaport district in waist deep freezing water.

It was the first time that the city had seen such flooding since the blizzard of 1978.

The situation was even worse in the coastal towns of Plum Island and Scituate.

While most people have kept their eyes on Winter Storm Grayson, the National Weather Service has predicted 'life-threatening' cold overnight Friday and Saturday for much of the Northeast. Above, a car in floodwaters in Boston on Thursday

In the next 24 hours, the Northeast will be sent into a deep freeze that could cause roads and streets to be covered with a sheet of snow and ice for days. Above, more cars in floodwaters in Boston on Thursday

A woman watches as ocean waves overtop the seawall during a winter snow storm in the Boston suburb of Lynn, Massachusetts on Thursday

Firefighter Justin Plaza pulls a rescued motorist to dry land, in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday

The floodwaters were thigh-deep on this stretch of road in Boston on Thursday

Firefighter's on dry land help man out of zodiac boat, in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday

The intense flooding (left) trapped some Boston residents inside buildings. Meanwhile one video showed the moment a garbage bin was knocked over as trash was washed down the street by floodwaters in Boston

On Plum Island, the high tide washed out a road connecting the barrier island to the town of Newburyport and residents had to be rescued by a National Guard high-water vehicle.

In Scituate, a town on Boston's South Shore, waves crashed over beachside homes

However, he says the biggest component of all in the flooding was the storm itself.

'The storm was the biggest thing of all,' he noted. 'The combination of the Arctic air mass surging south and the subtropical air mass going north [along with] the massive deepening low [pressure] means that we were going to deal with coastal flooding.'

There was also another component that others were blaming the flooding on - global warming.

The Boston Fire Department shared an image on Twitter of crew members saving a man whose car was floating in the ice water

'Firefighters come to the rescue of an adult male trapped by rising water,' the dept. tweeted. 'The firefighters bringing the driver to safety. Please avoid these dangerously high waters.' The first responders were then seen carrying the man (pictured) to safety

Boston firefighters work at the scene of flooding from Boston Harbor on Long Wharf in Boston on Thursday

Boston firefighters wade through a street flooded from tidal surge during Storm Grayson in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., January 4, 2018

One Boston resident shared a Snapchat video of someone kayaking through their icy street with a kayak. The video was captioned: 'Cai has fled the scene via kyak'

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was quick to blame climate change.

'If anyone wants to question global warming, just see where the flood zones are. Those zones didn't flood 30 years ago,' he said Thursday.

And some exerts agree. Richard Alley, a sociologist at Penn State, told the Daily Beast that the sea level has been rising because of 'human-caused warming'.

'Most of the high water in Boston and elsewhere along the East Coast is from the wind, but a little bit of extra flooding can be traced to the ocean starting out higher that it was in the past,' he said.

Additionally, warmer seas cause more powerful storms.

Now that the storm has passed, the worst isn't even over for Boston yet. The storm has been followed by a blast of Arctic Air that's expect to keep temperatures well below freezing this weekend.

That means that if the flooding isn't cleaned up fast, it could freeze over and cause even more of a problem in the coming days.

The Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist Jim Cantore stands at the Sandy Bay Yacht club as he reports on severe weather in Rockport, Massachusetts

Lighthouse Road in Scituate, Massachusetts begins to flood as a massive winter storm begins to bear down on the region on Thursday

Above, another view of water crashing over homes in Scituate, Massachusetts on Thursday

On Plum Island, Massachusetts (left and right), residents were evacuated when a road connecting the island to Newburyport washed out. Residents were evacuated with a National Guard high-water vehicle

There was also significant flooding around the Plum Island Beachcoma

Da Thi Hoang and Searidang Pa wait at Logan International Airport, after successfully flying in from Los Angeles only to find their bus to Middlebury, Vermont was cancelled, during a winter snow storm in Boston on Thursday

White-out conditions are seen in Hull, Massachusetts on Thursday. Hull is located on narrow peninsula that extends into Boston Harbor and often bares the brunt of winter storms that hit the area

Deep sea fishing and scallop boats docked at the Fish pier in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday

A news crew readies for a live shot in Copley square in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday
A record number of violent criminals  including 19 murderers  are on the run after breaking parole conditions.

More than 1,500 convicted offenders are at large after being released from jail on licence.

Incredibly, the Ministry of Justice initially rebuffed requests to identify the escaped killers, claiming it would breach their privacy  even though the information could help trace them.

Justice Secretary David Lidington overturned the decision and published the list of murderers

But following an outcry, Justice Secretary David Lidington overturned the decision  which had been taken without his knowledge  and published a list of escaped murderers.

The fugitives include Robert Hamilton, 64, who has been at large for a total of more than 30 years after absconding twice.

He was given a life sentence in 1972 for battering a man to death. But he managed to flee Sudbury open prison in Derbyshire in 1983, and remained on the run for 17 years until his recapture in southern France following a newspaper tip-off.

He was returned to jail, but absconded again in 2003 after being released on licence from Wormwood Scrubs in London.

Of the 19 murderers, Michael Ahearne, 60, has been missing the longest, disappearing in November 1984. Vincent King, 77, has been a fugitive since 1997.

Officials have named 17 of the 19 missing murderers. One identity is being kept secret because police say the publicity will jeopardise an ongoing operation. Another cannot be identified because of an issue with a victim.

A total of 1,584 prisoners were at large at the end of September after breaking their parole conditions, according to figures published by the MoJ.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Ed Davey said the names should never have been kept secret as it was an issue of public safety

The figure has increased 62 per cent from 976 in 2012.

The count includes two killers convicted of manslaughter, 55 rapists and other sex offenders and 221 who were serving time for violent crimes. There were 145 robbers, 216 burglars, 215 thieves, 210 fraudsters and 293 drug dealers still at large. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said the refusal to release the identities of the most dangerous fugitives was ludicrous. He added: This is an issue of public safety.

The cuts this Government has inflicted on our police and prison officers have undoubtedly contributed to this fiasco. Their stunning incompetence is handing violent criminals a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The deadly fugitives DANIEL WHITEHEAD Daniel Whitehead absconded in 2016 Jailed for life in 2004 after stabbing 24-year-old Christian Smith to death with an ornamental sword in Oldham. He absconded in April 2016. ROBERT HAMILTON Handed a life sentence in 1972 for battering a gay man to death. Escaped from Sudbury open prison in 1983 and found in France in 2000. Fled a second time in 2003 after being released on licence from HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Now 64. MEWA SINGH NAGI Jailed for murdering his brother-in-law Malkit Singh in 1968 in Huddersfield. He disappeared in August 2006. GLENN WATHALL Convicted of beating his partner to death on Christmas Day in 1999. He went missing in November 2015. Advertisement

David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention think-tank, said: The sharp increase in recent years indicates how police priorities seem to have shifted further and further away from keeping people safe from convicted felons.

In these circumstances, privacy considerations should play second fiddle to getting these murders, rapists, and violent offenders off the streets and behind bars without delay.

Rachel Almeida, of the charity Victim Support, said: The figures highlighted have the potential to leave victims and the general public feeling unsafe.

Murderers are released on a licence that lasts for the rest of their life, while other offenders are on licences until the end of their sentence. About two thirds of the missing prisoners were recalled to prison for failing to keep in touch with probation officials. Others failed to comply with the terms of their licence, did not live at their specified address, committed a new crime, travelled abroad or failed drug or alcohol tests.

Officials claimed there was a blanket ban on releasing the missing criminals identities because it would be unfair to give out their own personal data.

The National Offender Management Service said prisoners had a clear and strong expectation that their data would not be disclosed.

Doing otherwise would breach the 1998 Data Protection Act, according to a spokesman.

The MoJ said offenders have been successfully returned to custody in more than 99 per cent of cases after being recalled. A spokesman said: We would urge anyone with information on the whereabouts of each of these offenders to contact the police so they can be put back behind bars immediately.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has clearly been enjoying his festive break, having been spotted swimming at the beach in recent days.

And while the nation's leader may be away from the political grounds of Canberra, it seems local politics have found him in Bondi.

Having spent Friday morning swimming at the iconic beach, Mr Turnbull was later greeted by a man with a peculiar question about police horses.

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Malcolm Turnbull was greeted by a man at Bondi Beach on Friday, who had a peculiar question about police horses

The man approached the Prime Minister while he was chatting to a group of people to explain the defecation of police horses on Bondi beach

The man, who is unknown, approached the Prime Minister while he was chatting to a group of people to explain the defecation of police horses on Bondi beach.

Wearing nothing but a bumbag over a pair of red budgy smugglers, the man seemed upset at the situation.

'Stop police horses coming here,' the man can be heard saying on video.

'It's an abuse to our beach.'

Wearing nothing but a bumbag over a pair of red budgy smugglers, the man seemed upset at the situation

Mr Turnbull appears intrigued at the question and lets the man have his time

Mr Turnbull appears to take the impromptu question time in his stride, smiling as he tells the man: 'Surely the horses swim between the flags.'

'Doesn't matter but they s**t on the sand, they s**t on the promenade,' the man replies.

While the group are all smiles, the beachgoer appears to be worked up about the matter.

The man is eventually asked to politely leave with a security guard, turning away from the group

The man's friend is left to shake Mr Turnbull's hand and also thanks him for his time

Mr Turnbull can be heard saying: 'You know, that issue has never been raised with me before'

'You love the beach and it's a disrespect to all of us,' he continues.

The man is eventually asked to politely leave with a security guard, while his friend shakes Mr Turnbull's hand and thanks him for his time.

A very confused-looking Prime Minister is left to talk with the rest of the group, telling them: 'You know, that issue has never been raised with me before.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Prime Minister's office for comment.
The start of 2018 has signaled positive change for the Sydney housing crisis as the rise in listings shifts the city from a seller's market to a buyer's.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that an 'avalanche' of homes will flood the market between January and June as people attempt to sell before their properties before they decrease too much in value.

An increase in the number of houses for sale coupled with a lower demand from investors could mean that 2018 is the year to break into the housing market.

The start of 2018 has signaled an end to the Sydney housing crisis as homes flood the market

The median house price is Sydney has tumbled to $859,000 - a drop of 2.1 per cent in 3 months

Compared to the same period last year, there has been a 21.3 per cent increase in the number of listings, sending the median house price tumbling to $859,000 instead of $1 million.

Furthermost, the median price is expected to drop a further five per cent in the next two years - a welcome change considering that the typical value of a home skyrocketed 70 per cent between 2012 and 2017.

The change in the market as also brought about a change in the mindsets of homeowners, according to SQM Research director Louis Christopher.

'Before, homeowners wanted to buy their next home before selling their current one so they aren't locked out of the market,' he said.

'Now the fear is that if they buy first and can't sell at the price they want they'll be short-changed.'

SQM Research director Louis Christopher noted a huge change the mindsets of homeowners

Among those tipped to sell are families looking to downgrade but had 'delayed' the decision

Mr Christopher added that there would be no price collapse because population growth is strong, the economy is 'good' and the demand for houses remains as strong as ever.

Meanwhile, Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said that a 'calmer' market will be beneficial to first home buyers and those looking to upgrade.

Among those tipped to sell are families looking to downgrade who may have 'delayed' the decision to buy a new property in recent years but will now have to the chance to do so.
Whether they are saving a cat from a tree or ducklings from a drain, it's all in a days work for a firefighter.

Eight little ducklings made for a very cute rescue after a group of neighbours and firefighters helped save the curious swimmers.

The tiny quackers were found in a Gold Coast drain but with the help of some pool scoop nets, they weren't down there long.

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Eight little ducklings made for a very cute rescue (pictured) after a group of neighbours and firefighters helped save the curious swimmers

The tiny quackers were found in a Gold Coast drain (pictured) but with the help of some pool scoop nets, they weren't down there long

With the help of some concerned neighbours, the Robina firefighters scooped the ducklings into a laundry basket.

The cute rescue was captured on camera with a crowd of onlookers, including a number of intrigued children, eagerly watching on.

'It's not all what it's quacked up to be,' one person can be heard saying.

The little duckling's parents weren't far away, following closely behind as they were carried in a laundry basket.

'We like doing community service like this and with good outcomes everybody's happy,' firefighter Graeme Stoner told Nine News.

The duck family were released in a safer spot at a nearby waterway, bringing smiles to locals faces.
The storm cancelled more than 5,000 flights in and out of the US Thursday and sent temperatures dipping to a high of just 19F in the North East Friday

Flyers took to Twitter and told DailyMail.com they waited up to three hours on planes after landing and faced further delays in reclaiming their luggage

Airline passengers continued to face delays Friday night at New York's JFK Airport in the aftermath of Thursday's 'bomb cyclone' snow storm

Travel chaos continued on Friday evening in the aftermath of the 'bomb cyclone' with passengers at New York's JFK Airport stuck on the runway for up to three hours after landing.

East Coasters were dealing with a deadly dip in temperatures Friday just a day after a winter storm walloped the region with up to 18 inches of snow Thursday.

Passengers told DailyMail.com that after facing delays from the huge snowstorm which cancelled more than 5,000 flights in and out of the US Thursday, once they finally thought they had reached their destinations they had more setbacks.

Teacher Jessica Holden who was returning to New York on a Thomas Cook flight from Manchester in the UK said: 'The flight was due to land at 1.55pm, it touched down at 4pm but we were sat on tarmac until 6pm.

'I waited for baggage, then at 7.30pmish they said 'Oh sorry, because the plane went into the wrong terminal we can't bring it in'. There was nothing since. It's now 11pm and we've just been told we won't get our baggage tonight. People are getting angry. I just want to go home.'

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Passengers are seen above waiting for their baggage at JFK on Friday evening after being held on planes after landing for up to three hours

Passenger Gemma Bond took this photo at JFK on Friday night as she was stuck on a plane for nearly three hours after landing

Crews can be seen trying the clear the snow from the runway in this photo snapped by flyer Gemma Bond on Friday night

Passengers wait for their luggage at baggage claim in New York's JFK Airport on Friday evening

Gemma Bond, who is from the UK and visiting NYC for a vacation, said: 'After my flight being cancelled due to JFK's closure I was very lucky to get on a later flight today which had us land at JFK at 5.50pm local time, you could see the airport and runways had masses of back log and that this wasn't going to be a quick exit.

'After 25 minutes we were informed it could be another 50 minutes it was actually another two hours plus.'

Others took to Twitter. Michael Giurgea tweeted: '@JetBlue Been on Flight 915 for over 2 hours and now we're being told that there are over 50 planes ahead of us!! Does that make any sense? Get us out of here. Another 3 hours is unacceptable #ridiculous #jfk #JetBlue #furious.'

JetBlue responded to his tweet and said: 'I know it's a long frustrating wait. Hang in there! We'll have you on your way as soon as we can.'

Curt Hill tweeted: 'Flying to JFK was easy. Getting to a gate well.... landed 90 min ago and still waiting. #JFK #DeltaAirlines.'

Colin Offland added: 'JFChaos. Im hearing it might be 2 hours until we can disembark and twitters talking about 2 more in baggage. #JFK challenging #Ringway and #CDG as worlds worst airport.'

Michael Giurgea was also stuck at JFK and tweeted out above. JetBlue responded to him saying 'hang in there'

And Janelle with the handle @writergirlinnyc wrote: 'Landed at #JFK via @emirates 2 hours ago, but still haven't reached my gate. Why? JGK's been reduced to 1 runway.....wtf? Know it was a blizzard bit srsly guys, a bit excessive #waiting.'

At 6.53pm Friday Jessica French tweeted: 'I am trapped on @jetblue flight 915 from #JFK to SFO. We have been sitting on the plane since 3.45pm. We were told there are 50 planes ahead of us to take off and there is NO estimated time of departure. We were not given water until 2 hours in... Take us back to the gate!'

Frustrated passengers trapped on planes at New York's JFK Airport on Friday took to Twitter, seen above

JFK closed Thursday at 11am when the storm hit and reopened on Friday at 7am.

Other passengers took to Twitter frustrated that their flights were still delayed Friday evening.

Kamara tweeted: 'Our flight is delayed and they're making us wait 8 hours in the airport for the next flight without giving us another ticket. I'm losing my mind.'

More passengers took to Twitter above saying that their flights out of JFK were delayed Friday evening

Temperatures reached only a high of 19F in the region Friday - making it even colder than when the storm hit on Thursday.

And it will remain cold throughout the weekend, with highs of 16 degrees expected on Saturday and 21 degrees on Sunday.

It will feel as low as minus 15 degrees from Philly to Beantown on Friday, while residents of states like Maryland and Virginia shiver from temps ranging from 10 degrees to 15 degrees.

NORTHEAST TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR THE WEEKEND CITY FRi SAT SUN NYC 14 /5 11 /0 18 /16 PHILADELPHIA 17 /6 16 /0 19 /15 BOSTON 14 /-1 8 /-5 15 /11 DC 19 /8 20 /7 27 /20 PORTLAND 12 /-6 5 /-10 13 /8

The storm began two days ago in the Gulf of Mexico and first struck the Florida Panhandle.

By Thursday it was wreaking havoc as blizzard warnings and states of emergency went into effect along the Eastern Seaboard. Wind gusts hit more than 70 mph in places and some areas saw as much as 18 inches of snow.

The storm caused school and business closings, airline and rail service cancellations or reductions and thousands of utilities outages, many of them restored quickly. Some ferry services even had to be shut down along the Canadian coast.

In the South, the winter weather forced portable toilets to be put in place outside Mississippi's Capitol after pipes burst and it caused iguanas to become sluggish and topple from trees in South Florida. Residents of southeast Georgia were treated to a rare half foot of snow.

A satellite image showed the extent of the storm which closed down much of the East Coast Friday and flyers were still feeling the aftermath Friday night

A Southwest Airlines airplane navigates a snowy and icy Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, Friday
A young father has allegedly been killed by an Indian student driving on an international licence.

John Wilson, 30, died after a crash involving his sedan and an Isuzu delivery truck driven by Hari Bommareddy, 24, in Newbury, Victoria on Thursday morning.

Mr Bommareddy allegedly veered onto the wrong side of the road on Greendale-Trentham Road about 7.45am, according to The Courier.

A young father has allegedly been killed by an Indian student driving on an international licence

John Wilson, 30, died after a crash involving his sedan and an Isuzu delivery truck driven by Hari Bommareddy, 24, in Newbury, Victoria on Thursday morning.

Mr Wilson died at the scene having just left his home in Fern Hill.

His fiance and two-year-old child arrived shortly after the fatal crash and were comforted by police.

Geelong resident Mr Bommareddy was granted conditional bail at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Victoria Police have alleged Mr Bommareddy said Mr Wilson was on driving on the wrong side of the road and caused the collision.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Matthew Hunt told the court evidence from the scene refuted that.

'Evidence shows [Mr Wilson] has braked heavily prior to impact, leaving a skid mark that was up against the outside fog line for the south-bound traffic,' he said.

Mr Wilson died at the scene having just left his home in Fern Hill

Mr Bommareddy told police he was awake and driving at the time of the crash and had an international driver's licence from India.

His bail conditions specify that he surrender his passport, not leave Victoria, not drive a motor vehicle and to report to police three times a week.

The court heard Mr Bommareddy was on a student visa studying engineering management at Deakin University.

He will appear before Bendigo Magistrates' Court on May 16 charged with dangerous driving causing death.
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Thousands of car enthusiasts have flocked to Australia's capital city to celebrate the annual Summernats festival on the weekend.

Canberra was flooded with people from all over the country as they descended on the city to watch revved up cars take to the streets for the yearly horsepower party.

The festival, which runs from January 4 - 7, brings car enthusiasts and their polished supercharged machines to Exhibition Park in Canberra for a weekend of burnouts and music.

Thousands of car enthusiasts have flocked to Australia's capital city to celebrate the annual Summernats festival on the weekend

Race girls pose with a Rare Spare car, sponsors of Summernats, as thousands descend on the capital city for the festival

The festival, which runs from January 4 - 7, brings car enthusiasts and their polished supercharged machines to Canberra's Exhibition Park

Day one kicked off on Friday with a last chance shootout to enter the burnouts competition, sending fans wild as turbocharged cars covered them in smoke and soot.

Australian hip-hop group Thundamentals wowed crowds on Friday night as well, getting festival goers ready for a weekend of burnouts, music and tattoos.

Plenty were happy to add some new ink at the car show, with the event launching the first Summernats Body Art Nationals Awards.

Australia's top 'street machine' will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the festival, as well as champion of the burnout battle.

Despite the heat, many were still keen to watch tyres burn as drivers gave their best shot at the burnout competition

Dressed down in singlets and bras, many women made the most of the sunny day to capture a selfie or two

With a stockpile of beers, the owner of this ute is sure to be having a fantastic time cooling off at the Summernats festival

The sweltering heat appeared to be too much for one fan, who took to parading around with a T-shirt, bum bag and not much else

Festival goers were sure to be melting on Saturday however, with temperatures in Canberra expected to reach 36C and climb to 38C on Sunday.

Described by some as the 'Bathurst of burnouts', Summernats is a streetmachine festival started by renowned local rev-head Chic Henry in 1988.

More than 1,800 cars take part in the annual festival supported by hundreds of thousands of car enthusiasts.

Festival goers were dressed in a collection of clothes, ranging from muscle T-shirts and short shorts to barely anything as the temperature climbed in the afternoon.

Despite the heat, many were still keen to watch tyres burn as drivers gave their best shot at the burnout competition.

Justine Mott (pictured) is the only female driver in the masters Summernats burnout competition in Canberra

Australia's top 'street machine' will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the festival, as well as champion of the burnout battle

The annual festival brings together car enthusiasts from across the nation to celebrate all things muscle and supercharged

Covered in soot and no doubt melting in the heat, this bunch of friends appeared to be in good spirits at the festival
A startling video has emerged of a young man damaging a woman's car in a parking lot before almost being run over.

Dashcam footage from a parked car shows a woman driving a grey Madza, pulling up and then reversing backwards.

After the car comes to a stop, a man dressed in hoodie, tracksuit pants and running shoes jogs up to the vehicle and punches the rear-view mirror before turning away.

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A startling video has emerged of a young man damaging a woman's car in a parking station

But seemingly eager to catch the thug, the woman accelerates and drives towards the man, who responds by kicking the car again.

As his foot makes contact with the rear view mirror a second time, it snaps off the car and dangles by its wires as the car starts to move.

The woman then opens her door as the car rolls forward towards the vandal, resulting in a collision with the parked car and the man running away.

A motorist claiming to be the car's owner spoke out in the comments section of the YouTube video.

They said the police later handed over the woman's details but that she never responded to his insurance company.

'Need David Attenborough to narrate this one, the feral Aussie bogan in its natural habitat,' wrote another amused commenter.

Dashcam footage from a parked car shows a woman driving a Mazda, pulling up and reversing
Six volunteer firefighters including the fire chief and the operations captain in Virginia are accused of gang raping a 17-year-old and posting video of it to Snapchat.

The investigation into the firefighters with the Strasburg Fire Department began in April. On Tuesday police charged Nathan Hirschberg, 26, Andrew Key, 24, Dale King, 36, Bradly Marlin, 21, Christopher Pangle, 32 and Fabian Sosa, 25, with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

King is the Fire Chief, while Pangle is the department's operations captain. The firefighters face up to 12 months in jail, and, or a fine of $2,500 on the misdemeanor charge.

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Strasburg Fire Department's operations chief Christopher Pangle (left) and volunteer firefighter Nathan S. Hirschberg (right) were both charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor

Strasburg Fire Department volunteers Andrew S. Key and Fabian J. Sosa were also charged

The investigation started when a concerned citizen alerted the mayor of Strasburg to the existence of a video that allegedly showed a 'gang rape' of a 17-year-old, according to local Fox5.

The Virginia State Police took over the case. Investigators with the say the acts happened in three different locations- with at least one of those occurring at the Strasburg firehouse.

At least one of the alleged incidents happened at the Strasburg Firehouse (pictured)

They add that screen shots from the alleged video show the teen 'highly intoxicated' and intimidated by all of the suspects.

Meanwhile the unidentified teen says sex with at least one of the men was non-consensual.

The case will be held in Shenandoah Juvenile Court, and will not be open to the public.
The accused woman is likely to be charged with causing grievous bodily harm

Over 22 per cent of her chest and back was burned by boiling water from a kettle

Trudi Lenon, 43, was taken to hospital with severe burns after the brutal attack

Convicted murderer of autistic teen boy attacked behind bars on New Year's Day

A female prisoner accused of attacking convicted murderer Trudi Lenon is 'likely' to be charged next week with causing grievous bodily harm.

'Fetish killer' Lenon was taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital suffering severe burns to 22 per cent of her chest and back after she was doused with boiling water from a kettle on New Year's Day.

It is understood that guards inside Bandyup Women's Prison intervened and helped Lenon before the ambulance arrived. She will be in hospital for several days.

According to Perth Now, police have yet to interview the accused woman.

Convicted murderer Trudi Lenon was taken to hospital with severe burns after being attacked

Trudi Lenon was convicted of the murder of Aaron Pajich (left) alongside Jemma Lilley (right)

The 43-year-old was convicted in November 2016 for stabbing and killing autistic teenage Aaron Pajich in Perth in 2016

She was charged alongside her accomplice Jemma Lilley, 26, for killing Aaron to 'satisfy a twisted death fetish'.

The 18-year-old's body was found in the backyard of the Orelia house which Lenon and Lilley shared in July 2016.

Lenon insisted that she was only an accessory in the murder of Mr Pajich, who had been described as having high functioning autism, claiming Lilley was the real killer.

Lilley's motive for murder was reportedly that it was her 'life's ambition' to kill someone by the time she was aged 25, a West Australian Supreme Court jury was told on in October.

Sharon Pajich, mother of Aaron, leaves the court in Western Australia after the guilty verdict

Lilley was reportedly so 'full of herself and euphoric' after committing the murder, that she could not help boasting about killing someone to one of her colleagues.

She also left incriminating voice messages to her 'obsequious and sycophantic' fellow murderer Lenon, talking about how excited she was experiencing things 'she had not felt before'.

The 18-year-old's body was found in a shallow grave and covered with concrete and tiles on June 13 last year.

Lilley was reportedly so 'euphoric' after killing Aaron (pictured) that she boasted to a friend

Veronica Desmond, Aaron's stepmother, leaves court after Lilley and Lenon were found guilty

Evidence of Lilley and Lenon's guilt could be found in a series of phone messages, where they were discussing killing someone while referring to each other by their bizarre names SOS and Corvina.

SOS was the name of a serial killer in a book Lilley had written while Corvina was the name Lenon used as a submissive participant in the bondage scene.

Lenon is in a stable condition at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth's south.
President Donald Trump repeated his attacks on author Michael Wolff and sloppy Steve Bannon with a late-night tweet on Friday.

The president denounced Wolff, the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a scathing new book that contains embarrassing claims about the 45th commander in chief.

Among the claims made by Wolff in the book are that the president is mentally unfit for the job and that he has trouble taking in new information, which is a possible result of either dyslexia or him being 'semi-literate.'

Trump on Friday blasted Wolff as a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book.

President Donald Trump repeated his attacks on author Michael Wolff (right) and sloppy Steve Bannon (left) with a late-night tweet on Friday

The presidents tweet was a response to a tweet put out by the official Republican Party Twitter account which uses quotes from other journalists to call into question Wolff's credibility

Trump also takes a verbal jab at sloppy Steve Bannon, tweeting that he cried when he got fired and begged for his job.

Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone, Trump tweeted.

Too bad!

The presidents tweet was a response to a tweet put out by the official Republican Party Twitter account.

The GOPs Twitter handle posted an image of Wolff, saying the reviews are in.

Trump has re-branded his estranged former adviser Bannon as 'Sloppy Steve'

It then lists a number of quotes made about Wolff by journalists who have questioned his credibility.

Wolff has been accused in years past of fabricating details in books and misrepresenting events.

Wolff is the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a scathing new book that contains embarrassing claims about the 45th commander in chief

Bannon, a former Trump strategist and campaign CEO, joined an exclusive club Thursday night, earning the derogatory nickname 'Sloppy Steve' from Trump.

Shortly after initial claims from the book were published, the president on Tuesday tweeted that the political gossip tome is 'full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist.'

'Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!'

Bannon is known for dressing 'like an unmade bed and doesn't care,' a close associate told DailyMail.com on Friday, layering two polos on top of each other.

He eschewed suits and other business attire outside the White House when he worked for the president.

Wolff describes Bannon's typical attire as a 'disheveled blazer' and 'signature pairing of two shirts and military fatigues.'

Trump famously labeled his presidential rivals with vicious nicknames.

Sen. Ted Cruz became 'Lyin Ted'; the low-statured Sen. Marco Rubio was 'Liddle Marco'; Hillary Clinton became 'Crooked Hillary' as the then-candidate harped on her classified email scandal.

Bannon is often unshaven and typically wears army fatigues instead of suits

The former White House chief strategist dresses 'like an unmade bed,' a close associate told DailyMail.com on Friday, 'and doesn't care'

The president has firmly decided on a nasty nickname for Bannon, tweeting twice already about 'Sloppy Steve'

Trump has repeatedly called Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal Democrat, 'Pocahontas,' a dig at her unproven claim to have American Indian ancestry.

And after a choked-up Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wept while slamming Trump's travel ban in 2017, the president stamped him as 'Cryin Chuck.'

More recently, the president has rebranded North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un as 'Rocket Man' over his nuclear ambitions, using the insult during speeches to the United Nations and South Korea's national assembly.

Recipients of the Trump nickname treatment during the 2016 Republican presidential primary season included (L-R) 'Lyin Ted' Cruz, 'Liddle Marco' Rubio and 'Low-energy Jeb' Bush

(clockwise from top left) Trump called Hillary Clinton 'Crooked Hillary' because of her classified email scandal and coined 'Crazy Bernie' to describe Bernie Sanders' democratic socialism; he mocked Chuck Schumer as 'Cryin Chuck' after a weepy press conference, and has ridiculed Elizabeth Warren as 'Pocahontas' because she claims to be part American Indian

Trump cemented the newest sobriquet after financiers Robert and Rebekah Mercer cut Bannon off and stopped funding his political exploits

'Bekah' Mercer is also a part owner of Breitbart News, the conservative website where Bannon serves as executive chairman and de facto executive editor.

'The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!' Trump tweeted.

'I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,' Mercer said Thursday in a statement.

'My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.'

The Mercers were principally driven away after Republican Roy Moore, whom Bannon backed, lost a U.S. Senate seat in the deep-red state of Alabama.

Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, prominent conservative donors, have cut off Bannon and won't contribute to any more of his political exploits

Bannon, shown stumping for failed Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore last month, is generally a stranger to business attire

But Wolff's book may have been the final straw for the conservative donors, who initially back Ted Cruz's White House candidacy but put $5 million into Trump's campaign when the political winds shifted.

With the publication of Wolff's book, Bannon has been recast as a serial leaker, among the most active dirt-disher in the Trump White House's early months.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said this week that 'close to 95 per cent' of Wolff's interactions with presidential aides came about because Bannon asked for them.
Two enormous snakes weighing more than 15 kilograms have been seized from a Brisbane house after a public tip-off.

Queensland Police searched the house in Dutton Park and found the two huge pythons on Friday.

The olive python was almost three metres long while the albino python was almost two metres long.

Two enormous snakes weighing more than 15 kilograms have been seized from a Brisbane house after a public tip-off (one python pictured)

The olive python (pictured) was found in Dutton Park house and was almost three metres long

The albino python (pictured) was almost two metres long and was put into the care of RSPCA

'This little fella was rescued during the full-scale sssssearch of an East Brisbane home yesterday afternoon,' Queensland Police wrote on Facebook.

Taking three officers to hold the olive python, the snakes were put into the care of the RSPCA.

Police also found an improvised taser, knuckledusters and drug utensils on the property.

A 41-year-old East Brisbane man was given a Notice to Appear for restriction on keeping or using a taken protected animal, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing drug utensils and unlawful possession of weapons.
Plus-size Australian fashion retailer Maggie T has become the latest victim to the country's retail downturn, entering into administration on Wednesday.

The company was believed to have been struggling to pay debts in the lead-up to Christmas and appointed administrators this week, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Since the announcement, the brand has slashed the prices of their clothing in online sales.

Plus-size Australian fashion retailer Maggie T has entered in administration this week

Maggie T Corporation was developed to celebrate Australian model and Gold Logie winner Maggie Tabberer (pictured)

Customers can now save up to 70 per cent online and 30 per cent in store as the company reduces their prices.

Administrators from DW Advisory are set to hold a meeting for creditors on Friday to discuss the future of the company.

Maggie T lists 28 stores across most parts of the country, with many in Sydney and Melbourne.

The stores, which stock women's fashion from sizes 12 to 24, are believed to still be operating.

Maggie T Corporation was developed to celebrate Australian model and Gold Logie winner Maggie Tabberer.

Since the announcement, the brand has slashed the prices of their clothing in online sales

While she is a brand ambassador, Ms Tabberer is not a director or shareholder in Maggie T Corporation Pty Ltd.

The company's administration follows the collapse of high end handbag retailer Oroton in November.

Ms Tabberer, who celebrated her 80th birthday last year, has been advocating fashion for fuller-figured women for decades.
She claimed she has reached out to the company but has not received a reply yet

Sally, 22, used lotion The Fox Tan but said she ended up with red skin and blisters

A New South Wales woman claims she was sunburned after using tanning lotion

The quest for the perfect summer tan took a nasty turn for one woman who says she's been burned by a tanning lotion, even though she used SPF50 sunscreen.

Sally, 22, packed her bags for Evans Head on Wednesday to enjoy some surf and sun on the northern New South Wales Coast when she decided to buy 'The Fox Tan' after a recommendation from a friend.

The tanning lotion, which retails for $60, claims that it is 'activated by repeat UV exposure', and directs users to apply it to their skin before sitting in the sun.

Sally, 22, is still in 'incredible pain' after being badly burnt by a tanning lotion called 'The Fox'

Sally applied The Fox Tan (left) to her untanned skin (right) and left it on for about 45 minutes

'It advertises that you get minimal UV exposure to tan quickly with their product and its recommended to use some sunscreen with it,' Sally told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday.

'But I followed the instructions AND I also wore SPF50 sunscreen and that didnt happen for me at all.'

She planned to use The Fox Tan once on each side of her body, and then continue with regular sunscreen: 'I just wanted the product to speed things up a bit without getting fried like what those reef oils do.'

After less than 45 minutes in the sun on a 27C day, Sally was delighted to notice tan lines developing on her body, and decided that she'd had enough sun for the product to work.

After less than 45 minutes, Sally found that her skin had turned the brown colour she wanted

Retiring to the shade for a break from the heat and some water, she started to notice that her skin was no longer brown.

'The whole front of me turned cherry-red in less than four hours,' Sally said, adding that she has burst blood vessels on her legs and large blisters all over her body.

'Even though I was constantly spraying Aloe Vera, I had that feeling like I was standing too close to a fire but couldnt cool down.'

'The first night it was so painful, I couldnt even sleep under the sheet and blanket because it heated my skin up further,' she said.

Sally's pharmacist gave her burn dressings and antiseptic spray, and personally believes the almond oil in the lotion could have caused the burns,

The pharmacist advised her that her skin needs to be cool in order for it to heal and that there was nothing else to be done.

Even with SPF50 sunscreen, she has barely been able to go outside for three days, and says that even changing her clothes is painful.

'The first night it was so painful, I couldnt even sleep under the sheet,' Sally said of her burn

'Im just really disappointed,' Sally admitted, adding that if her injuries had been any worse she would have been 'really mad'.

'I am an avid fake tanner, I've never used a solarium in my life and I used a different product in February last year and did not have this reaction.

'That product was an oil ... then for the second time I gave the same technique a go with a different product and the burning and blisters then occurred.

'I'm sleeping terribly because of the blisters [and] my skin will be out of action now for weeks - I still can't go to the gym or even hug people.'

Three days later, her skin is still bright red and it hurts to do simple tasks like changing clothes

She also worries for other people, and wants to stop them from having the same painful experience that was inflicted upon her - and recommends that people stick to getting a tan that comes solely from a bottle.

Sally reached out to The Fox Tan company via their Instagram page. They issued an apology and a refund, and assured customers that Sally's case was incredily unnusual.

'The Fox Tan has been on the market for 2+ years with hundreds of thousands of satisfied users globally, and this is one of the few occasions that weve had a disgruntled consumer,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'We take great pride in our products and take all customer feedback seriously.'
The father of one the two kidnapped girls from Texas says he was previously concerned about the how man, who is been charged in the kidnapping, was behaving around his daughter.

Greg Griffith, whose 14-year-old daughter Lilianas Griffith was kidnapped along with her half sister Luluvioletta Bandera-Magret, was relieved the girls were found, but he says the alleged kidnapper was 'acting like a pedophile' around his daughter they were allegedly snatched.

'He was not mentally right,' Griffith told KVUE about Terry Allen Miles, 44, who was placed under arrest following a frantic nationwide search for the girls.

Miles is also a person of interest in the girls' mother, Tonya Bates' death.

Terry Allen Miles, 44, (left) was arrested in a remote area of southern Colorado Wednesday and is charged with kidnapping the girls, and is a person of interest in their mother's murder. Greg Griffith (right) the 14-year-old's father said he was acting like a 'pedophile' around his daughter

Lilianas Griffith, 14, and Luluvioletta Bandera-magret, seven, (right) were found in Trinidad, Colorado after they were abducted from their home in Round Rock, Texas allegedly by Terry Allen Miles (left). Miles was also found and is in custody

The girls' mother has been identified as 44-year-old Tonya Bates. Her cause of death has not yet been revealed

'Something was not quite right, but I had no idea he had so much wrong' the 14-year-old's father said. And, he says, the relationship Miles had with his daughter was troubling, and found it had crossed the line.

Griffith told the Statesman that Miles had first met his daughter around July 4, while she was staying with her father in Louisiana. Miles was doing housework at Griffith's home.

'I had to run him off,' he told KVUE. 'As soon as he met her, he couldn't leave her alone.'

However, he was shocked to learn that Miles followed his daughter to her home in Round Rock, Texas and began living with the girls and their mother- as a roommate.

'I just could not believe he was down there and I knew exactly why he was there,' said Griffith. 'He was stalking [my daughter].'

Griffith tried to tell his daughter that Miles could be dangerous, but he says, she got upset at him.

'She said I was treating Terry like (expletive), and that she really liked Terry and wasn't going to let me tell her who her friends were,' Griffith said.

Miles was captured after a deputy in Las Animas County spotted his gray 2007 Hyundai Accent

However, he never expected their mother to turn up dead, and the girls to be kidnapped.

'It was the worst thing,' he said.

He says he is thankful the girls are safe.

'I don't want her to be discouraged in herself,' Griffitth said. 'Especially with her mom passing on like that. I don't want her thinking that it's her fault that happened ... I'm here for her anytime she wants and has a place for her to recuperate.'

The girls are currently in foster care in Texas, as the state determines whats best for their well being.

A petition by Child Protective Services filed Thursday seeks to terminate parental rights, according to the Statesman. The petition alleges Griffith knowingly allowed his daughter to remain in conditions that were dangerous to her physical or emotional well-being.

The seven-year-old's father is homeless, according to the petition, and could not be located.

The girls were recovered safely some 700 miles from their Texas home and taken to a hospital to be checked for injuries.

Law enforcement had been looking for Miles as a person of interest after the girls' mother, Tonya Bates, 44, was found dead in their Round Rock home on December 30.

Miles sent a text message to his own mother saying that he had 'left with the kids and came home to something bad' adding that 'Tonya was involved in some bad stuff' and 'these guys are crazy Mexicans'.

Miles and the girls were spotted on December 30 on surveillance video at a store in Trinidad

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver, where Miles made his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon, said he waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Colorado and consented to being transported to Texas.

Spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Miles reserved his right to have a preliminary hearing and detention hearing when he arrives in Texas.

Co-workers first alerted police in Round Rock to ask that they check on Bates when she did not show up for work that Saturday. An officer found Bates dead from apparent blunt force trauma.

An affidavit submitted by an FBI special agent seeking kidnapping charges against Miles says police contacted Bates' family, who told them Bates' daughters lived with her and she had a roommate, who they identified as Miles.

Police issued an Amber Alert for the girls, noting they could be with Miles and could be driving in Bates' car, which was also missing from her home.

Special Agent Sean Mullen wrote in the affidavit that Miles' mother had received a text message from him about 1 a.m. Saturday using one of the daughters' cellphones, mentioning 'crazy Mexicans.'

Police believe Bates and Miles were roommates

Law enforcement officials tracked the girls' phones, finding one in the woods near a Wal-Mart in Round Rock. Surveillance footage from the store showed Miles buying camping gear, including a 10-person tent, rope and tarps, then leaving in a vehicle that matched Bates' car.

The other daughter's phone showed a location near two cell towers in New Mexico on January 1. A license plate reader also captured a picture of the car travelling toward Colorado.

Law enforcement officers in several Colorado cities and counties checked hotels in the area after receiving multiple reports of sightings.

Deputy Chief Jay Harrison of the Trinidad Police Department in Colorado said Miles may have been camping near Stonewall.

He said deputies and officers had been looking for Miles in the remote area near the Sangre de Cristo Mountains about 24 miles west of Trinidad, Colorado, Wednesday evening. After he was spotted, authorities said he began to drive erratically.

Lilianas Griffith (left) and Luluvioletta Bandera-magret will be placed in the care of child protective services before they are returned home to Texas

Miles has a long criminal past and was arrested at least seven times between 2006 and 2015, including for porn involving a juvenile. The case is still being investigated

After more deputies arrived, Harrison said they were able to pull over Miles and take him into custody without any problems.

Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Miles is still a person of interest in the 2014 homicide of the mother of a woman in Louisiana he was dating and living with at the time.

According to Louisiana court records, Miles is on probation from a 2015 domestic violence conviction and a 2014 conviction for possession of stolen goods.

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso told the Austin American-Statesman that Miles had a history of domestic violence arrests and convictions. He was convicted two other times in 2009 and 2011 on domestic violence charges.

Mancuso said Miles is still a person of interest in the 2014 homicide of the mother of a woman he was dating and living with at the time. He was also charged with second-degree attempted murder for trying to suffocate a woman he was dating in 2011 and allegedly staging a suicide scene.

The 2011 charges were dropped when that woman killed herself before she could testify.

'He will live with a woman until she's had enough, then he beats up on her and moves on and finds another victim,' Mancuso said.

Miles was also convicted twice in California with of injuring a spouse or cohabitant, in 1995 and 2002.
A man ended up in hospital after a taxi allegedly dragged him down the streets of Sydney early Saturday morning.

NSW Police said the 30-year-old man got into an argument with a taxi driver.

The man attempted to hail a taxi at the intersection of Park and George streets at about 1.20am but the driver allegedly declined the fare.

A man ended up in hospital after a taxi allegedly dragged him down the streets of Sydney early Saturday morning (stock image)

The man attempted to hail a taxi at about 1.20am but the driver allegedly declined the fare and dragged him to Druitt and Sussex streets (pictured) where he fell to the ground

'The would-be passenger reportedly reached into the cab as the driver accelerated away,' NSW Police wrote in a statement.

The 30-year-old was then allegedly dragged about 100 metres to the intersection of Druitt and Sussex streets before he fell to the ground.

The taxi driver reportedly left the scene, leaving the man unconscious on the ground.

Passers-by helped the man until emergency services arrived at the scene.

The man suffered injuries to the head and was taken to Sydney Eye Hospital.

Police are encouraging anyone with information to contact Day Street Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Search warrants that were recently returned shed further light on the grisly murder of a Virginia couple that is believed to have been committed by their daughter's neo-Nazi boyfriend.

Nicholas Giampa is accused of murdering Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, 43, and Scott Fricker, 48, in their home in Reston, Virginia, at 5am on December 22.

Investigators found bullet holes, cartridge cases, a knife and a hammer in the home along with blood stains in multiple locations, the Washington Post reports.

Nicholas Giampa is the teenager accused of murdering his girlfriend's parents on December 22 by shooting them in their home after they told their daughter to break up with him over neo-Nazi tweets they say he posted

Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, 43, and Scott Fricker, 48, died in their home on December 22 after being shot at around 5am

Courtesy: WJLA

Ammunition was found in the accused's home, according to another search warrant.

Other search warrants appear to confirm the version of events that has been established in the sordid crime.

One also states that Kuhn-Fricker had had contact with the family of the accused.

Giampa, 17, allegedly murdered his girlfriend's parents after they convinced her to break up with him over his neo-Nazi views.

It came days after Ms. Kuhn-Fricker reported a Twitter account she believed was his to the school he attended with her daughter.

The account belongs to a Kevin Gallo who tweets under the handle @doctorpepper35. It was revealed on Thursday as Giampa remained in hospital.

He shot himself after allegedly murdering the girl's parents and remains in hospital with a brain injury.

Stock photos show cartridge cases (left) and a hammer (right), two items found in the home

Giampo is said to have tweeted under the name Kevin Gallo to repost and share pro-Nazi content online. It was posts such as this one which Ms. Kuhn-Fricker reported to the school he attended before she was shot dead

Police have charged the teenager, who remains in hospital after shooting himself at the scene, with murder but have not released his name.

However, The Huffington Post spoke with friends of the Fricker family who gave his name. They linked him to the Twitter account by an email address which was used for both Giampa's Facebook page and the Kevin Gallo account.

Among its memes and photographs he retweeted is one of Adolf Hitler in which he appeared dressed in a cape.

The accompanying caption read: 'If not all heroes wear capes, explain this to me.'

Two months before allegedly shooting dead his girlfriend's parents, Giampa mowed a giant swastika into the grass of a community field in Lorton, Virginia, where he lives. Residents told his parents about it instead of the police.

On Twitter, @doctorpepper35 most often retweeted anti-semitic posts.

He shared content which denied parts of the Holocaust and said the biggest tragedy of WWII was the death of Hitler's dog.

Huhn-Fricker was alerted to the posts on her daughter's phone and was horrified.

She pleaded with her daughter to break up with the boy and wrote an email to their school alerting them to the harmful content.

In that email, she called the boy a 'monster' who was 'spreading hate'.

Other posts he shared questioned the Holocaust. All of the content was violently derogatory towards Jews

Under the Kevin Gallo Twitter account, Giampa also retweeted this image depicting a girl drawing a swastika. Two months before the Frickers' killing, he mowed a swastika into grass of a community field in Lorton, Virginia, according to residents

According to friends and relatives, Ms Kuhn-Fricker had been trying to split her daughter and Giampa up for months. She eventually listened to her and dumped the boy a few days before her mother's death

Her daughter, who DailyMail.com is not naming, followed her advice and broke off their romance after an intervention from her mother and grandmother days before the shooting, according to friends.

On the morning of their deaths, the Frickers had several other people in their home. The family had gathered there for Christmas.

The couple woke up to sounds coming from their daughter's room and went inside to find Giampa there.

It is not clear where he got his weapon from or if he ever intended to harm the teenage girl.

After arguing, he allegedly shot both of her parents and then himself. He survived and was taken to hospital where, according to a relative, he is suffering a brain injury.

One of the search warrants states: 'The suspect was observed in a verbal confrontation with the homeowners, one search warrant reads.'

It continues: 'The confrontation turned violent and the suspect shot and killed the homeowners.'

The boy was described by friends and neighbors of the family as 'troubled'. It is not known what other interaction he ha had with the police if any at all.

After the swastika incident in October, residents took it upon themselves to re-mow the grass themselves.

Giampa's family have not commented since the Frickers' deaths.

Scott and Buckley Fricker with their daughter and 10-year-old son. He was in the front yard when police arrived at their home on December 22, according to charging documents
Firefighters are battling an out-of-control blaze that is threatening a number of suburban homes.

The bushfire has already damaged at least one house in Carrum Downs in southeast Melbourne.

Residents have been ordered to leave their homes although a late-afternoon wind change has come through and fire crews are combating the blaze.

In Melbourne's west an out-of-control grassfire is travelling in a northerly direction towards Eynesbury township, and residents have been asked to leave.

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Residents have been ordered to leave their homes, with a wind change expected in the next 30 minutes that could impact homes in nearby streets

Firefighters are battling an out-of-control blaze that is threatening a number of suburban homes

One of two firefighting helicopters fighting the fire drops water at Carrum Downs in Melbourne

'Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option - conditions may change and get worse very quickly,' Vic Emergency warned residents of Carrum Downs, Frankston North, Langwarrin and Skye.

'Emergency Services may not be able to help you if you decide to stay.'

The fire broke out on Blue Wren Rise in Carrum Downs at about 2.40pm, and thirty crews of firefighters were sent in response.

The bushfire is now travelling in a south-easterly direction towards Lexton Drive.

Two fire helicopters were ordered to the scene and water-bombed the blaze from the air, joined by fire crews on the ground.

Residents should remember to take pets, mobile phone and medications, and travel to the home of family or friends that are away from the warning area.

A fire helicopter was on the scene water-bombing from the air, joined by fire crews on the ground

A man is seen watering a rooftop at Carrum Downs in Melbourne despite residents being warned to leave

'Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option - conditions may change and get worse very quickly,' Vic Emergency warned

A bushfire breaks out of control near the Peninsula link Freeway in Carrum Downs, Melbourne

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, according to CFA Assistant Chief Officer Trevor Owens, The Herald Sun reported.

The fire damaged 10 hectares of land, one home, four sheds and fencing, and over 300 firefighters were involved in combating the blaze.

'It traveled several kilometres in the first hour. A lot of embers were being thrown up in front of the fire which caused a lot of concern,' he said.

'Firefighters have made a tremendous effort to get in top of what has been a difficult day of extreme heat, low humidity and strong northerly winds. It was a very very good outcome.'

This map shows the area where residents have been ordered to leave after a bushfire threatened homes

A bushfire burns houses in Flora Park Way, Carrum Downs in Melbourne

A man is seen watering a rooftop at Carrum Downs in Melbourne, Saturday, January 6

They are asked to keep the roads clear so emergency services can respond, not return to their homes if they are away, and to monitor conditions for changes in the situation.

'If you are currently driving slow down and turn on your headlights; smoke will make it difficult to see,' said Vic Emergency.

A total fire ban is in place across Victoria until midnight. Sunday is expected to be much cooler.

In South Australia's southeast a local farmer reported a 'wall of flames' as an extremely dangerous bushfire raged out of control through scrub and grassland.

Burnt out land is seen at Carrum Downs in Melbourne after a bushfire ravaged the area

Damage is seen to a home on Darnley Drive at Carrum Downs by Saturday's out-of-control bushfire

Resident Ray O'Halloran looks at the damage done to his motor home bus during a bushfire in Carrum Downs

The bushfire has already damaged at least one house in Carrum Downs, southeast Melbourne

An emergency warning was issued on Saturday afternoon for the Sherwood, Brimbago, Lowan Vale, McCallum and Senior areas near the South Australian-Victorian border.

'If you are in this area you are in danger. There is a risk to your life and property,' the CFS said.

'Take shelter inside a solid building. Do not leave or enter this area in a vehicle or on foot. It is too late to leave and the roads will not be safe.'

A local resident posted photos of a huge blaze sweeping through Sherwood, South Australia

Images posted on Twitter showed trees and grass on fire while a video shows thick smoke blanketing paddocks, significantly reducing visibility

Local farmer Robyn Verrall (pictured) said her husband was fighting the blaze which was about 20 kilometres from their property when it broke out

By 3pm the blaze had burnt through more than 4000 hectares and remained a threat to farm buildings and equipment.

The CFS said more than 70 firefighters had been deployed to the area and the blaze was also being attacked by four water bombers.

Local farmer Robyn Verrall said her husband was fighting the blaze which was about 20 kilometres from their property when it broke out.

Residents stand along McClelland Drive, Skye as a fire burns in the bushland behind their homes in Melbourne

Images she posted on Twitter showed trees and grass on fire while a video shows thick smoke blanketing paddocks, significantly reducing visibility.

'At (the) fire scene, it's a wall of flames,' Ms Verrall said.

Police said the blaze closed the Dukes Highway at one stage but it had since reopened.

However, police said the Ngarkat Highway, between Bordertown and Pinnaroo is closed, along with Emu Flat Road.

Local residents posted pictures of the blaze threatening homes at Carrum Vale, Melbourne

A man is seen watering a rooftop at Carrum Downs in Melbourne, Saturday, January 6

Two water-bombing helicopters were ordered to the scene to protect threatened properties

The southeast blaze came amid soaring temperatures and catastrophic fire conditions in SA's Mt Lofty Ranges, and upper and lower southeast.

The state's 12 other districts were either severe or extreme, with authorities considering the conditions as the worst in several years.

Other fires were also burning in SA but the CFS said those at Happy Valley, Penfield and McLaren Vale had been contained.

Other incidents on Saturday included the failure of the Alert SA smartphone app designed to warn residents of emergency situations.

The operators of the app said the issues were being investigated as a 'critical priority'.

Adelaide had a top of 42.3C just after 1pm but by 3.30pm the mercury had dipped to about 35C as a cool change continued to move across the state.

CFS crews refill their trucks while they attend a fire at Southern Waste Resource Co near McLaren Vale, South Australia
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has come under fire following a mid December photo op with a freed Taliban hostage who was was arrested last week on charges including assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement.

The Canadian Joshua Boyle, who was recently freed from captivity in Afghanistan along with his wife and and three children quietly met with Trudeau on December 18.

The meeting was not on leader's schedule, and his office has not responded to a growing chorus of questions about whether or not the family was vetted before being brought in for the meeting and if the he knew about the pending charges.

Phil Gurski, a former analyst for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), told CBC News, said the fact that Boyle decided to take his pregnant wife backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012 in itself should have given enough pause before the prime minister accepted the meeting inside the Parliament Hill office.

Joshua Boyle and his family met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the leader's office last month, the meeting was not on the leader's schedule

A Canadian court on Wednesday postponed a bail hearing for Boyle, who is seen above in a court sketch showing him wearing an orange jumpsuit while he appeared via video link in an Ottawa courtroom

A Twitter account named 'The Boyle Family' posted photos of Boyle, his wife, and their three children inside what appears to be the prime minister's Parliament Hill office, has sparked questions to if Trudeau had any inkling about the charges the Joshua Boyle is facing

'What was the actual motive, shall we say, behind this whole trip in the first place?' Gurski said, noting there are many, safer places for an American woman, and a Canadian man to travel to.

'Somebody in the PMO should have said: 'Is this really the kind of person that we want?''

'I can't fault him for wanting to welcome back Canadians who have been through these types of experiences and I respect that, but in this particular case we knew that there were issues surrounding this particular situation,' Gurski added.

In a statement, Trudeau's office said the meeting was arranged at the request of the family and that the prime minister would always agree to meet freed Canadian hostages.

Joshua Boyle, who was recently freed from captivity after years of being held hostage in Afghanistan, has been arrested and faces 15 charges including sexual assault

A Twitter account named 'The Boyle Family' with the handle @BoylesVsWorld posted photos of Boyle, his wife, and their three children inside what appears to be the prime minister's Parliament Hill office.

The discussion of the hostage-taking was the main purpose of the meeting with the Boyles, a government official told www.metronews.ca.

The Prime Minister's office said they wouldn't comment on the charges due to the ongoing investigation.

In September, Trudeau said he couldn't imagine what the family went through.

In a separate tweet Boyle revealed he had met Trudeau previously, back in 2006 before he had left for Afghanistan. He did not elaborate on the purpose of the meeting.

On Wednesday a Canadian court postponed Boyle's bail hearing after he was arrested January 30. He is facing a total of 15 criminal charges including assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement.

When the family returned to Canada with three children born in captivity, Boyle said a fourth child had been murdered and his spouse raped after their capture by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network.

The Taliban denied the accusations of rape and murder.

Boyle, 34, appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Wednesday via video link dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.

He confirmed his name, but did not enter a plea to the charges.

He is due to appear again in court on January 8.

The court imposed a publication ban that prevents media from reporting on information that could identify any victims or witnesses.

The ban also prohibits reporting on the details of the bail hearing.

The charges include eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement and one count of uttering death threats.

Boyle has retained the services of Lawrence Greenspon, one of Canada's leading criminal defense lawyers.

'Mr. Boyle is presumed innocent of all charges. He has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with the police,' Greenspon said in an e-mailed statement.

'As Mr. Boyle has only just been charged, we are waiting to receive more information about these allegations so that we can respond to them appropriately in court,' Greenspon said.

Authorities said the charges include eight counts of assault, two accounts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful confinement. Boyle was reportedly charged with one count of causing someone to 'take a noxious thing, namely Trazodone'

He declined to comment further.

A sign attached to the door of the Boyle apartment in Ottawa said family members would not be speaking to the media and requested privacy.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp posted a picture of the notice on its website.

Boyle, of Canada, his American wife Caitlan, and their three children were rescued in October in Pakistan, five years after the couple was abducted by a Taliban-linked militant group while on a backpacking trip in neighboring Afghanistan.

Boyle was reportedly charged with one count of causing someone to 'take a noxious thing, namely Trazodone,' an antidepressant, court documents indicated Tuesday.

There is also a charge of uttering a death threat and a charge of misleading a police officer.

The purported acts allegedly occurred between October 14 - the day after the family returned to Canada - and December 30.

The misleading the police charge stems from an incident on December 30 where Boyle called police to report someone being suicidal and missing. He allegedly concocted the story to 'divert suspicion from himself'.

A judge granted lawyer Ninetta Caparelli's request for adjournment until Monday so the defense can work on a bail plan.

A day after they were rescued, Boyle told the AP in October that his wife, Caitlan (pictured) had been hospitalized in Ottawa, but did not specify why she was taken to the hospital

In a statement to the Toronto Star, Boyle's wife (left) wrote: 'I can't speak about the specific charges, but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this'

Ottawa police declined comment.

In a statement to the Toronto Star, Boyle's wife wrote: 'I can't speak about the specific charges, but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this.'

'Obviously, he is responsible for his own actions,' she added, 'but it is with compassion and forgiveness that I say I hope help and healing can be found for him. As to the rest of us, myself and the children, we are healthy and holding up as well as we can.'

When the family returned to Canada in October, they briefly stayed with Boyle's parents in Smith's Falls, Ontario, but have since moved to an apartment in Ottowa.

According to reports, Caitlin's parents have traveled from the U.S. to support her and her children.

Boyle told the AP in October that his wife had been hospitalized in Ottawa, but did not specify why she was taken to the hospital. He took a picture of her in her hospital bed and emailed it to the AP.

Boyle and his wife were abducted in 2012 by a Taliban-linked militant group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan

The parents of Caitlan, who is from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, said after the rescue that they were elated she had been freed, but they also expressed anger at their son-in law for taking their pregnant daughter to Afghanistan. They are pictured while still in captivity

Pakistani troops rescued the family in an operation October 11 aimed at their captors from the Taliban-linked Haqqani group

He also told the AP that he and his wife decided to have children even while held captive because they always planned to have a big family.

'We're sitting as hostages with a lot of time on our hands,' Boyle said.

'We always wanted as many as possible, and we didn't want to waste time. Cait's in her 30s, the clock is ticking.'

Boyle said then that their three children, two boys were four and two years old and their baby gilr was 'somewhere around 6 months'.

'Honestly we've always planned to have a family of 5, 10, 12 children... We're Irish, haha,' he wrote in an email in October.

The parents of Caitlan Boyle, who is from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, said after the rescue that they were elated she had been freed, but they also expressed anger at their son-in law for taking their pregnant daughter to Afghanistan.

The Pakistanis caught the Haqqani fighters at some point after they had moved with their captives across the border from Afghanistan

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the operation was based on a tip from US intelligence. Boyle is pictured with one of his children at their family home in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada

Pakistani troops rescued the family in an operation October 11 aimed at their captors, the Taliban-linked Haqqani group.

The Pakistanis caught the Haqqani fighters at some point after they had moved with their captives across the border from Afghanistan.

Caitlan said that they were being moved in a car when they came under fire and were rescued by the Pakistani forces.

Boyle said he was hit by shrapnel in the incident and that the last thing he heard his captors say was 'kill the hostages'.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the operation was based on a tip from US intelligence.

Boyle was once briefly married to Zaynab Khadr, the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a senior al-Qaida financier who had contacts with Osama bin Laden.

The Canadian-born Omar Khadr was 15 when he was captured by US troops following a firefight and was taken to the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Officials had discounted any link between that background and Boyle's capture, with one describing it in 2014 as a 'horrible coincidence'.
Seven Australian tourists are lucky to be alive after they were caught up in a deadly hot air balloon crash in Egypt.

Six women and one man from Australia were inside the basket which was floating up the southern Egyptian city of Luxor when it crash landed, killing one and injuring 12 others.

Among the passengers were Melbourne couple Montanna Leveque, 20, and her 21-year-old boyfriend River Kano, Newcastle woman Zoe Drinkwater, 22, Illawarra woman Vanessa Condran, Melbourne woman Adele Jayde, 24-year-old Emma Forster and 54-year-old woman Morgan Adams.

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Among the surviving passengers was Melbourne couple Montanna Leveque, 20, (right) and her 21-year-old boyfriend River Kano (left)

Montanna Leveque (pictured) was on an Egyptian holiday with her boyfriend when the pair were caught up in the deadly crash and luckily survived

Several of the young Australian tourists were together in the ancient city of Luxor on a TopDeck trip.

Ms Condran, from Lake Illawarra, near Wollongong in NSW, confirmed she is okay following the joy flight crash and survived with only a few scratches.

'I am alright - a few bumps and bruises. And probably will never set foot in another hot air balloon ever again,' she said.

'I feel lucky to have walked out of this traumatic experience, a scary freak accident.'

Melbourne woman Adele Jayde also took to social media to inform friends and family that she had been caught up in the crash.

'I am extremely thankful and blessed that myself and my travel companions on this tour all managed to come out of it alive, with only minor injuries, as others in the basket with us werent so lucky,' she said.

Newcastle woman Zoe Drinkwater, 22, (pictured) was also aboard the hot air balloon when it crashed

Illawarra woman Vanessa Condran (pictured) said she is lucky to be alive after the freak accident

Melbourne woman Adele Jayde (pictured) also took to social media to inform friends and family that she had been caught up in the crash

'I am also extremely grateful for the friends weve made on this tour for being absolutely wonderful and looking after one another. Also thankful for Topdeck and our tour leader for being amazing and helpful throughout the whole ordeal.'

Ms Leveque, Mr Kano and Ms Condran had posted holiday pictures of their trip to Egypt only days before the freak accident.

Twelve holidaymakers were rushed to Luxor International Hospital with minor injuries but one man, a South African tourist, suffered critical head injuries and died in hospital, ABC reports.

The injured tourists hailed from around the world, including Australia, Africa, Argentina, Brazil and France.

It remains unknown if the Australian tourists will return home early from their holiday due to the crash.

Bad weather conditions are thought to have caused the incident on Friday, which forced the balloon off course above the city's historic temples and tombs.

'I am alright - a few bumps and bruises. And probably will never set foot in another hot air balloon ever again,' Ms Condran (pictured) said

Ms Drinkwater (pictured) was enjoying her Egyptian getaway when she miraculously survived the crash unscathed

Mr Kano, 21, (pictured) spent New Year's in Egypt with Ms Leveque when they were involved in the crash

Horrifying photos show the aftermath of the crash, with the empty basket and the deflated balloon sprawled across the sand.

The company which owned the doomed hot air balloon is Sindbad Balloons, which was rated as 'excellent' online by TripAdvisor.

The tourists would have paid between $120 (79) and $15 (99) for the 45 minute flight.

Sharif Wadie, the assistant health minister in charge of emergency services, said there were no other casualties but did not elaborate on the extent of the passengers' injuries.

It is not the first time there have been other incidents involving hot air balloons over Luxor.

In 2013, 19 foreign tourists were killed when their balloon caught fire.

The crash, which happened on Friday, is thought to have been caused by bad weather conditions which blew the balloon off course (Balloon pictured)

The injured are said to be from Africa, Argentina, Brazil, France and Australia. They have been transferred to Luxor International hospital, according to local media

Brits Joe Bampton, 40, and Yvonne Rennie were among the 19 tourists killed during an early morning flight over Luxor when their balloon caught fire and exploded after it hit a power line.

British resident Suzanna Gyetvai, 34, the girlfriend of Mr Bampton, also died in the blaze which killed 19 tourists.

Nine desperate passengers trapped in the blazing balloon basket tried to escape by leaping 300ft to the sugar cane fields below.

Rescuers arrived to find bodies strewn across the ground and the incinerated remains of the balloon lying in a charred heap.

While in 2016, Egypt temporarily halted balloon flights after 22 Chinese tourists suffered minor injuries in a crash-landing.

Sharif Wadie, the assistant health minister in charge of emergency services, said there were no other casualties but did not elaborate on the extent of the passengers' injuries

Since then, balloon rides have been monitored by cameras and banned from flying above 2,000m (6,562ft).

Tourists often take early morning hot air balloon rides over the city and the ancient Egyptian temples and relics in neighbouring areas.

One of the main attractions is the Karnak temple, which dates back thousands of years.

The hot air balloons also offer views of the Valley of the Kings, where pharaonic nobility were buried.
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More than a million people are expected to attend the annual Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in South Korea, which for the next three weeks will attract huge international interest.

One of the more bizarre spectacles at the fish-centered get-together is the sight of local people eating fish such as trout raw and uncooked.

Hwacheon County is one of the coldest places in South Korea during the winter but becomes a place of celebration at this time of year, Yonhapnews reported.

The town covers a 560-square-miles area but its 27,000 residents are only able to live in seven percent of it because so much of the land is taken by rivers and mountains.

The area is also famous for being the scene of fierce battles during the 1950-53 Korean War, at that time making the county home to more military personnel than residents.

The festival has also become renowned for people drilling holes through thick ice to fish and for its scantily-clad swimmers braving the freezing waters.

In total there are more than 60 programs to enjoy at the festival including sports, games and cultural experiences.

Gotcha! A boy reacts after catching a trout with his bare hands during an event promoting the Ice Festival in Hwacheon

A boy shouts after catching a trout during a trout catching contest in Hwacheon

Fishermen are not afraid to brave the cold in pursuit of their prey

Fish including trout (above) are a major part of South Korean cuisine and the festival features various novel ways to pursue them

Thousands of anglers fish through holes created in the surface of the town's frozen river - about 170 tons of trout are released into the frozen Hwacheon river during the festival

The anglers have to get their line through several inches of thick ice

A participant bites a trout he caught with his bare hands during a trout catching contest at a pool in Hwacheon
Hefty property taxes and uncertainty over the economy is forcing the prices of upmarket family homes to collapse, new research has found.

Nearly half of the homes for sale between 1million and 2million in London have reduced their asking prices, with the average price cut a whopping 142,000 - but even reaching up for 900,000 in some cases.

A third of all sellers in Britain reduced the asking price of their houses last year, the highest amount since the 2012 recession.

Sellers of houses which fall outside the super-prime properties in Central London are being hit hardest and having to compromise the most on their original asking price.

Estimates suggest there are around 500,000 of these homes across the country, mostly in London and the South East, with 15,000 for sale. Houses in this band are being forced to drop the original asking price by an average of 10 per cent, with the national average price drop being 3.1 per cent.

Nearly half of the homes for sale between 1million and 2million in London have reduced their asking prices, with the average price cut a whopping 142,000 (stock image)

Property experts claim that sellers are being forced to make unprecedented cuts in order to secure a sale.

Henry Pryor, a property analyst and buying agent, told The Times: 'This section of the market is now being driven by debt, death and divorce. People who have lost a spouse, got an unexpected tax bill or need to cash in a legacy are the sellers.'

He claimed that buyers feel the condition in the market, including Brexit uncertainty, mean they feel they can get a good deal even if they wait.

Mr Pryor added: 'Then there is the issue of stamp duty, which is particularly painful for buyers in this category. they don't have the silly money of oligarchs to afford it. The result is that sellers are having to cut prices very aggressively to do a deal.'

Former Chancellor George Osborne increased stamp duty for homes worth more than 1million in 2014. This has been blamed on prices cuts, as the buyer of a home worth 1.6million are paying more than 100,000 in taxes.

Property experts claim that sellers are being forced to make unprecedented cuts in order to secure a sale (stock image)

Data by property analysts Lonres show 47.6 per cent of London homes worth 1million to 2million cut their price, at an average of nearly 10 per cent. Just five years ago, only a quarter of homes in this band dropped their price.

Research has shown that only a quarter of homes worth less than 250,000 have had their prices cut. Property website Rightmove said 31 per cent of properties for sale reduced their price on average by 3.1 per cent.

There is also a shortage of homes for sale across the country, with the number of properties listed per agent has fallen from 60 to 34 in five years. The squeeze is mostly felt in London, although Surrey and other commuter areas are also feeling the pinch.

Yet in the north of England and Scotland, prices of prime and country homes are still rising.

Charlie Ellingworth, a buying agent at Property vision, said: 'These homes are still relatively cheap. A small home in London will buy you a very grand house in large parts of the country.'
Jeremy Hunt's promotion could be delayed during next week's cabinet reshuffle over the worsening crisis in the NHS.

Theresa May wants the Health Secretary to take on the role of de facto deputy prime minister following Damian Green's resignation last month.

But it is understood the Prime Minister will spend the weekend considering whether or not to keep in his current role until spring  instead of moving him as part of a cabinet reshuffle designed to refresh the government.

Familiar faces in the Cabinet Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, are all expected to remain in their posts to avoid 'destabalising' the government, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Theresa May wants the Health Secretary to take on the role of de facto deputy prime minister following Damian Green's resignation last month

Mr Hunt apologised to NHS patients who had their operations delayed. The crisis impacting the Health Service is expected to deepen due to freezing weather and flu

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, are all expected to remain in their posts

Mrs May can not delay the move much longer as Mr Green was chairman of nine Cabinet sub-committees.

It comes after health officials said the crisis in the NHS could deepen, with freezing temperatures expected over this weekend and a flu epidemic declared across the Channel.

'Everyone is expecting Jeremy to get Damian Green's job, but it would look bad to replace the Health Secretary in the middle of an NHS emergency,' a senior cabinet source told The Daily Telegraph.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, is understood to have succeeded in a debate in favour of promoting younger MPs

'There is a debate going on about whether she could reshuffle other posts and somehow delay Jeremy's promotion, perhaps by announcing he has got the job but saying he won't start for another few weeks.'

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, is understood to have succeeded in a debate in favour of promoting younger MPs, after worried aides said that it could lead to a backlash among sacked minsters.

The Health Secretary is set to be the biggest winner in the reshuffle, while Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the party chairman, will leave the Cabinet to make way for new faces.

The Education Secretary, Justine Greening, is expected to be demoted along with Business Secretary Greg Clark.

The Education Secretary, Justine Greening (left), is expected to be demoted along with Business Secretary Greg Clark (right)

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis is expected to replace Sir Patrick, while James Cleverly, Mr Lewis' Parliamentary Private Secretary, set to take on the role of deputy chairman

The Health Secretary is set to be the biggest winner in the reshuffle, while Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the party chairman (pictured), will leave the Cabinet to make way for new faces

Others who will be expecting a call include climate change minister Claire Perry (left), justice minister, Dominic Raab (centre), and Anne Milton (right), a former nurse who could replace Mr Hunt.

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis is expected to replace Sir Patrick, while James Cleverly, Mr Lewis' Parliamentary Private Secretary, set to take on the role of deputy chairman.

Others who will be expecting a call include climate change minister Claire Perry, justice minister, Dominic Raab, and Anne Milton, a former nurse who could replace Mr Hunt.

But calls for Brexit-supporting Jacob Rees-Mogg to be appointed to a cabinet role are likely to be ignored because he has never held a ministerial post before.
A Labor MP has been slammed for comparing Liberal politicians to Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering.

Paul Edbrooke, State Member for Frankston, Melbourne, posted Goering's photo along with a quote on Twitter on Friday night.

Captioned: 'Just sayin',' the tweet appears to have been a response to Liberal MPs' criticism of the government over the city's African gang crime wave.

A Labor MP (pictured) has been slammed for comparing Liberal politicians to Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering

Paul Edbrooke, State Member for Frankston, Melbourne, posted Goering's (pictured) photo along with a quote on Twitter on Friday night

Captioned: 'Just sayin',' the tweet (pictured) appears to have been a response to Liberal MPs' criticism of the government over the city's African gang crime wave

'The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders  tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger,' the quote read.

Mr Edbrooke was soon under fire from Liberal MPs Tim Smith and Chris Crewther, and from the Anti-Defamation Commission.

Mr Smith said Mr Edbrooke should be ashamed of himself for quoting a Nazi in a law and order debate, The Herald Sun reported.

'He's been to Israel so he knows just how deeply offensive, provocative and simply grubby it is to use a quote from a Nazi war criminal in a domestic Australian debate regarding African youth crime gangs,' he said.

'So on the first Shabbat for 2018 this despicable foul mouth grub who is the member for Frankston quotes Nazi war criminal Herman Goering,'[sic] he wrote on Twitter.

'The gutless foul mouth grub [Paul Edbrooke] has taken down his despicable tweet quoting Herman Goering but here it is forever,'[sic] he tweeted a short time later.

Mr Edbrooke was soon under fire from Liberal MPs Tim Smith and Chris Crewther, and from the Anti-Defamation Commission

Mr Crewther was equally scathing, writing: 'Frankston Labor MP [Paul Edbrooke] comparing Liberal Fed Govt and State Opp to Nazis. Shocking.'

Mr Crewther was equally scathing, writing: 'Frankston Labor MP [Paul Edbrooke] comparing Liberal Fed Govt and State Opp to Nazis. Shocking.'

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich told Daily Mail Australia the tweet was insensitive and insulting to the victims of the Nazis.

'There is no comparison between Hermann Goering's evil tactics ... and the Turnbull government or the Victorian Opposition,' he said.

'In a month when we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, this inappropriate quote and analogy is an insult to the victims, the survivors, and to those diggers who sacrificed their lives in the battle to defeat Nazi Germany.

Mr Edbrooke (pictured), who has since deleted the tweet, admitted he should not have tweeted the image

'We call on Mr Edbrooke to apologise and to pledge to never again use the Holocaust so as to demonise those who disagree with him.'

Mr Edbrooke, who has since deleted the post, admitted he should not have tweeted the image.

'I apologise to all people who have been offended,' he said.

Victoria's Labor government has been attacked in recent days by opposition MPs and the Federal Government over rampant African gang crime in Melbourne.

Goering, Adolf Hitler's second-in-command, committed suicide after being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Edbrooke for comment.
Two men delighted with their raffle winning were determined to get it home themselves.

Thammarat Thumphat and Ritti Kiatmongkol, who live in Sisaket in Thailand, took home their prize of an enormous fridge via their motorbike.

They both went to a party on Thursday night with some friends, where they paid 20 Thai bahts (45 pence) to buy the raffle tickets.

Thammarat Thumphat and Ritti Kiatmongkol placed the fridge between them to take it home from the party where they won it

Balancing act: Both men and the fridge managed to get home safely after the party they had attended

The men were chosen as the mystery prize winner as their tickets were pulled out of a hat, and the huge purple fridge was given to them.

However, the new owners were then faced with getting their fridgehome.

Unfortunately, the gigantic appliance would not fit inside a taxi, so they decided to take matters in their own hands and carried it home themselves.

The unbelievable footage shows Thammarat holding onto the refrigerator while Ritti drives the motorcycle.

The men, from Sisaket in Thailand, went to the Red Cross foundation party night with friends and won the mystery prize, which turned out to be a fridge

Pramote Boonta, a friend of the raffle winners, said: 'Five of us all went to the Red Cross foundation for a party night and we bought a pair of tickets each to share.

'We were happy when we won but didn't know how to take home the fridge. I suggested a taxi, but the fridge was too big.

'Then we decided to go back on our motorcycles like you can see in the pictures.'

Both Thammarat and Ritti got home safely with their new fridge.
Russia and Iran have both strongly criticized the U.S. for calling a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday to discuss recent protests in Iran which have killed at least 21 people.

Russia's envoy Vassily Nebenzia said involving the Council was wrong because what was happening in Iran was an 'internal affair' which undermined the reputation of the U.N.'s top body.

Mr Nebenzia argued that if American logic on the issue was to be followed, a Security Council meeting should also have been convened after the 2014 killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya, left, speaks to American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley before Friday's Security Council meeting on Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was scathing of the US move to convene the meeting on twitter

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the emergency session put Iran on notice that 'the world will be watching' its actions

The anti-government protests began at the end of December, fueled by spiraling food prices and soaring unemployment

Thousands of Iranians took part in pro-government rallies in several cities earlier this week in a state-sponsored show of force aimed at countering the outpouring of dissent

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter after the meeting that the Security Council 'rebuffed the U.S.' naked attempt to hijack its mandate.'

He said the majority on the Council emphasized the need to fully implement the 2015 nuclear deal and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries.

'Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration,' he wrote.

The Iranian envoy at the meeting, Gholamali Khoshroo, said that the U.S. had 'lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world'.

France was also critical of the move to convene the meeting, pointing out that any interference in Iran's affairs would be counter-productive.

Ambassador Francois Delattre said that while the recent protests were of concern, they hardly undermined international peace and security.

Mr Delattre said the international community should instead concentrate on fully implementing the nuclear agreement with Iran - which the Trump administration has refused to endorse.

But U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the emergency session put Iran on notice that 'the world will be watching' its actions.

Her call for the emergency meeting surprised Security Council members and she had to overcome Russian opposition to get it - the U.S. required the backing of at last nine of the Council's 15 members for it to have gone ahead.

Ms Haley said that her country stood 'unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families and dignity for their nation'.

She said that 'no dishonest attempt to call the protesters puppets of foreign powers' would deter the US from speaking out.

Protests began in Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, on 28 December and spread to several other cities and towns. The demonstrations were triggered by a rise in food prices and soaring unemployment.

Some demonstrators even called for the government's overthrow.

Hundreds of people were arrested in addition to those killed.

Large pro-government rallies have been held in response, with officials blaming the anti-government unrest on foreign meddling.

Iran's state TV on Saturday showed government supporters again rallying throughout the day.
An elderly woman with dementia and limited English who was allegedly taken from her Melbourne nursing home by a stranger has been found by police.

Dimitra Pavlopoulou, 97, was wheeled out of her Inverness Street, Clarinda, nursing home about 12pm Saturday and put in a car, Victoria police said.

Her wheelchair was left behind and camera's didn't record the pair's direction of travel, officers said.

An elderly woman (pictured is Dimitra Pavlopoulou) who has dementia and limited English was allegedly been taken from her Melbourne nursing home by a stranger

Police released a CCTV image of the woman they want to speak to in connection to Ms Pavlopoulou's disappearance (pictured)

Police released a CCTV image of the woman they wanted to speak to in connection to Ms Pavlopoulou's disappearance.

The woman is believed to be unknown to the elderly woman or her family.

Ms Pavlopoulou, who is very frail and can't walk by herself, was found by police offciers at a Cheltenham address about 9.30pm.

The 97-year-old has been taken to the hospital as a precaution, officers said.

A 51-year-old woman was arrested and is being interviewed by police.
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Thousands of car enthusiasts dismissed the scorching heat and chose flames and burnouts over air conditioning during the annual Summernats car festival.

The searing 38C temperatures in Canberra did nothing to deter rev-heads from across Australia from flocking to the nation's capital to indulge in the yearly horsepower party.

Despite sweltering through an unusually hot weekend, crowds of car fans delighted in watching the supercharged machines blow hot exhaust and emit flames around the track at the Exhibition Park in Canberra.

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The searing 38C temperatures in Canberra did nothing to deter rev-heads from across Australia from flocking to the nation's capital to indulge in the yearly horsepower party

Despite sweltering through an unusually hot weekend, crowds of car fans delighted in watching the supercharged machines blow hot exhaust and emit flames around the track at the Exhibition Park in Canberra

The festival, which runs from January 4-7, saw 50,000 people pass through the gates for the wildly popular car appreciation event.

It was so hot that Summernats organiser Andy Lopez urged car enthusiasts to go easy on the alcohol.

'Take it easy, don't drink too much,' he told reporters on Saturday, and reminded patrons there was free water available on site.

While the mercury reached searing heights, Sunday is set to be even hotter with a max of 39C predicted.

The festival, which runs from January 4-7, saw 50,000 people pass through the gates for the wildly popular car appreciation event

It was so hot that Summernats organiser Andy Lopez urged car enthusiasts to go easy on the alcohol (Burnout pictured)

'Take it easy, don't drink too much,' he told reporters on Saturday, and reminded patrons there was free water available on site

While the mercury reached searing heights, Sunday is set to be even hotter with a max of 39C predicted

Straw hats, impressive mullets and tattoo sleeves appeared to be the sartorial theme of the four-day event in a true Australian fashion.

Sunburnt festival-goers found ways to cool down with ice-cold drinks and sprays from a hose as the sun beat down on them.

Day one kicked off on Friday with a last chance shootout to enter the burnouts competition, sending fans wild as turbocharged cars covered them in smoke and soot.

Sunburnt festival-goers found ways to cool down with ice-cold drinks and sprays from a hose as the sun beat down on them

Thousands of car enthusiasts have flocked to Australia's capital city to celebrate the annual Summernats festival on the weekend

Race girls pose with a Rare Spare car, sponsors of Summernats, as thousands descend on the capital city for the festival

The festival, which runs from January 4 - 7, brings car enthusiasts and their polished supercharged machines to Canberra's Exhibition Park

Australian hip-hop group Thundamentals wowed crowds on Friday night as well, getting festival goers ready for a weekend of burnouts, music and tattoos.

Plenty were happy to add some new ink at the car show, with the event launching the first Summernats Body Art Nationals Awards.

Australia's top 'street machine' will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the festival, as well as champion of the burnout battle.

Despite the heat, many were still keen to watch tyres burn as drivers gave their best shot at the burnout competition

Dressed down in singlets and bras, many women made the most of the sunny day to capture a selfie or two

The sweltering heat appeared to be too much for one fan, who took to parading around with a T-shirt, bum bag and not much else

Australia's top 'street machine' will be awarded to one lucky winner at the end of the festival, as well as champion of the burnout battle

Private tents were set up for patrons to get their tattoos at this year's festival, as one woman prepares to see her Elvis inking

Described by some as the 'Bathurst of burnouts', Summernats is a streetmachine festival started by renowned local rev-head Chic Henry in 1988.

More than 1,800 cars take part in the annual festival supported by hundreds of thousands of car enthusiasts.

Despite the heat, many were still keen to watch tyres burn as drivers gave their best shot at the burnout competition.
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The latest festival trends were on full display at the wildly popular music event FOMO, which kicked off its 2018 series in Brisbane.

Thousands of revellers descended on outdoor venue Riverstage on Saturday wearing everything from glitter body suits and fishnet stocking to tassels and combat boots.

The music-hungry festival-goers indulged in acts from American rappers RL Grime and Post Malone, Australian band Kite String Tangle and electronic artists Sza and Stooki Sound.

The latest festival trends were on full display at the wildly popular music event FOMO, which kicked off its 2018 series in Brisbane

Thousands of revellers descended on outdoor venue Riverstage on Saturday wearing everything from glitter body suits and fishnet stocking to tassels and combat boots

Queensland festival lovers will certainly give the rest of the country a run for its money as revellers celebrated the beginning of the Australia-wide music event.

A major sartorial theme of the festival was once again mountains of glitter, with female attendees wearing futuristic body suits and painting their skin in gorgeous sparkles.

Several women opted for sparkling leotards paired with chunky combat boots as they danced to the sounds of their favourite musical acts.

Others arrived wearing skin-baring outfits such as skimpy shorts and skirts in a bid to beat the heat at the outdoor festival.

The music-hungry festival-goers indulged in acts from American rappers RL Grime and Post Malone, Australian band Kite String Tangle and electronic artists Sza and Stooki Sound

Queensland festival lovers will certainly give the rest of the country a run for its money as revellers celebrated the beginning of the Australia-wide music event

A major sartorial theme of the festival was once again mountains of glitter, which female attendees wearing futuristic body suits and painting their skin in gorgeous sparkles

Several women opted for sparkling leotards paired with chunky combat boots as they danced to the sounds of their favourite musical acts

This woman looked glamorous as she wore a leotard and a long sheer skirt, while her friend wore glitter on her chest and a similar black leotard

Others arrived wearing skin-baring outfits such as skimpy shorts and skirts in a bid to beat the heat at the outdoor festival

One woman stood out from the crowd in a metallic silver ensemble and thigh-high combat boots.

Another decided on an all-black outfit paired with fishnet stockings as she enjoyed the festival with a male friend.

The fashion choices of the male guests, however, were limited to muscle t-shirts and shorts while the women took centre stage in the outfit department.

Festival-goers wore an array of different outfits, like the woman pictured above who opted for cut-out jeans and a sparkling bralette, while the woman pictured right played it low-key with a band t-shirt

Revellers danced to the festival tunes and enjoyed a sunny day of music at the Brisbane outdoor event

Revellers opted for shorts and t-shirts as the basked in the hot sun at the over-18 event in Brisbane

male attendees bucked the trend and wore matching flamingo-printed shirts and shorts

The fashion choices of the male guests, however, were limited to muscle t-shirts and shorts while the women took centre stage in the outfit department

This man appeared to be having the time of his life dancing despite sporting what seemed to be a bandaged foot

Attendees converged at the stage during the 10-hour festival to watch the global music acts perform during the day.

Throngs of people swayed and danced in the crowd while police officers stood close by in case the fun got out of hand at the over-18 event.

Unlike many other festivals, FOMO promises all acts perform on the one stage so revellers don't miss out on their favourite artists due to clashes.

Attendees converged at the stage during the 10-hour festival to watch the global music acts perform during the day

Throngs of people swayed and danced in the crowd while police officers stood close by in case the fun got out of hand at the over-18 event

Unlike many other festivals, FOMO promises all acts perform on the one stage so revellers don't miss out on their favourite artists due to clashes

Some women wore fishnet stockings with leotards and combat boots as they danced during the 10-hour festival

Crowds enjoyed the popular music acts who all performed on the one stage at the Brisbane showground

Stalls were on-hand at the event to paint body glitter on revellers who didn't have the time to do so at home

The FOMO festival saw musical acts from around the globe perform at the outdoor event on Saturday

Female attendees wore interesting ensembles with outfits ranging from glitter leotards to fishnet stockings

The FOMO festivals, which are now held annually across Australia, sold out quickly when tickets went on sale last year.

A major appeal for the music event was the line-up addition of rapper Post Malone, who has grown in popularity in the past year.

FOMO will arrive in Adelaide on Sunday January 7, followed by January 11 in Melbourne and January 13 in Sydney's Parramatta Park.

The FOMO festivals, which are now held annually across Australia, sold out quickly when tickets went on sale last year

A major appeal for the music event was the line-up addition of rapper Post Malone, who has grown in popularity in the past year

Revellers took a break from dancing to lie on the grass and recover as the musical acts performed to the crowds
A nationwide kidnap alert was triggered in France on Saturday after a father illegally snatched his seriously ill baby from hospital.

The child - identified as Tizio - was taken from the Purpan Hospital, in the South West city of Toulouse, between 6.30pm and 7pm on Friday night.

Tizio, who is two months old, 'requires immediate care and could die if this care is not given,' said a spokesman for local prosecutors.

The alert means that all of France is now on the lookout for the abducted two-month-old

The child was taken from the Purpan Hospital, in the south-west city of Toulouse

While the whole of France is now technically mobilised, there are also fears that the baby may have been taken to a neighbouring country, such as Britain.

South-west France is full of expat British people and they are all being asked to keep an eye out.

The prosecutors spokesman described Tizio's father as aged 33 and 'tall, slim, and with a long brown beard and brown-to-black curly hair'.

The man - who has not been named - was last seen driving a white Peugeot 307 registered in the Ariege department of France. Tizio was dressed in a light blue, woolen costume.

The kidnap alert system was set up in France in 2006, and has been triggered more than 20 times since then.

It leads to information being broadcast on at least 50 outlets, including online, on TV and on the radio.

The idea is to mobilise the entire population into looking for the abductor and the child.

It can only be launched by a prosecutor when there is clear evidence that a kidnapping has taken place, and not just a disappearance.

Anybody who catches sight of Tizio or his father in France is asked to call 0800 36 32 68, or send an email to alerte.enlevement@interieur.gouv.fr
An Australian woman has been arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport with almost two kilograms of heroin allegedly stashed in her luggage.

Cambodia's General Department of Immigration says on its official Facebook page that 1,814 grams of heroin were found embedded in the side of Ve Thi Tran's suitcase in several different packages.

An immigration official at Phnom Penh airport, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to comment, said the 37-year-old was preparing to return to Australia via Hong Kong when she was arrested as she was checking in at the airport on Saturday.

An Australian woman (pictured is Ve Thi Tran) has been arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport with almost two kilograms of heroin allegedly stashed in her luggage

The 37-year-old was preparing to return to Australia via Hong Kong when she was arrested as she was checking in at the airport on Saturday (pictured is Tran's Australian passport)

Cambodia's General Department of Immigration says on its official Facebook page that 1,814 grams of heroin were found embedded in the side of Ve Thi Tran's suitcase (pictured)

The heroin was discovered in several different packages (pictured)

It followed a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police, which worked with the Cambodian Immigration Department to arrest her.

Tran is being questioned by the anti-transnational crimes squad of the general commissariat of the national Police.

An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told the Sydney Morning Herald it is aware Tran is being detained in Phnom Penh.

'We stand ready to offer consular assistance in accordance with the Consular Services Charter,' the spokesperson said.

Tran's arrest is followed a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police, which worked with the Cambodian Immigration Department
A woman mauled by a coral reef fish after 10 seconds in the water has required a skin graft for the gruesome wound.

Julie Pochet, from Port Douglas in tropical far north Queensland, had just dived into the water at a local beach on November 26 when a fish bumped into her ribs.

When the fish swam towards her she reached her hand out to touch it and it attacked, taking a chunk out of her hand.

A woman mauled by a coral reef fish after 10 seconds in the water has required a skin graft for the gruesome wound (pictured)

Julie Pochet, from Port Douglas in tropical far north Queensland, had just dived into the water at a local beach on November 26 when a fish bumped into her ribs (pictured is a Green Titan triggerfish)

'I jumped out of the water and went to the tap to rinse it,' she told The Cairns Post.

'I asked a tourist who offered to ring the ambulance, to run to the restaurant to get pepper  an old cook's trick  to stop the blood from flowing out.'

She then drove herself to Mossman Hospital, but the bite was so severe - damaging her nerve endings - she ended up getting a skin graft from Cairns Hospital.

Ms Pochet was wearing a coral swimsuit at the time and thinks the fish may have confused her with live coral.

When the fish swam towards her she reached her hand out to touch it and it attacked, taking a chunk out of her hand (pictured is Anzac Park Beach)

The 39-year-old described the creature as a dark-coloured fish that looked like a wrasse and was the size of a parrotfish.

Professor David Bellwood, a coral fish expert from James Cook University, suspects the fish was either a triggerfish or a puffer fish.

Both species are known to bite humans, and are common in tropical shallow waters such as those where Ms Pochet was swimming.

Triggerfish are named for their ability to lock their first dorsal spine with their second dorsal spine.

They are aggressive in defending their nests, and have strong jaws and sharp teeth used for crushing shells.
President Trump defended his mental health again at a press conference on Saturday, saying his Ivy League education, television fame and 2016 election win are proof he is more than competent to run the country.

Responding to claims in Michael Wolff's new book Fire and Fury that White House insiders worry he is suffering mental decline, the president fired back and said he was never interviewed for it - hours after declaring himself a 'very stable genius' on Twitter.

'It's a disgrace that he can do something like this,' said Trump said of Wolff, who he called a 'fraud' as he attacked the libel laws in the United States at a Camp David press conference attended by GOP leaders.

Not happy: Trump (pictured at Camp David with the Republican leadership) attacked Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff for his book that alleges the president's White House is in disarray

A steely Trump dubbed Michael Wollf a fraud and said that he never gave an interview to the New York City journalist

'Libel laws are very weak in this country. If they were stronger, hopefully, you would not have something like that happen,' said Trump who had defended his intelligence just moments before.

'Only because I went to the best colleges, I was an excellent student, came out and made billions and billions of dollars and became one of the top business people, went to television and was a tremendous success, as I am sure you all know and ran for president first time and won.'

'And then this guy who doesn't know me, doesn't know me at all. Who said he interviewed me for three hours in the White House, it didn't exist, it's in his imagination.'

'He was never in the Oval Office,' said the president who blamed 'Sloppy' Steve Bannon for bringing him into the White House.

Trump then dubbed the biography 'a work of fiction'.

Earlier on Saturday, Wolff, who is a contributor to the Hollywood Reporter, gave that publication a follow up interview on Saturday in which he said he knew Trump was apoplectic with rage over the book.

'I hear that the president is very angry, or, let me be precise: I hear that he is truly bouncing off the walls,' said Wolff to the magazine.

Talking about the now-infamous dinner-party attended by former Fox CEO Roger Ailes, Steve Bannon and Hollywood Reporter co-owner Janice Min, Wolff said he recalled they ate clams and Arctic char.

Revealing that 100 percent of Trump's inner circle believe the president to be 'hopeless', Wolff also claimed that he got such unfettered access to the West Wing because essentially no one knew who he was because they don't read, especially Trump.

'People tell him what's in an article  that's what Hope Hicks does  and she probably told him it was great. It's easier if he thinks it's great,' said Wolff.

This came hours after Wolff declared in a BBC interview that his instant New York Times bestseller would prove the catalyst for the end of the Trump administration, which has not yet completed one year in office.

President Donald Trump repeated his attacks on author Michael Wolff (right, out in NYC on Friday) and 'sloppy' Steve Bannon

Striking back: Donald Trump launched off a series of early morning tweets on Saturday

Anger: The president was defending himself against claims that he is unfit to be in the Oval Office

Boasts: Trump declared himself to be a genius in his series of posts - and attacked favorite target Hillary Clinton too

The controversial journalist told the Today program, 'I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect.'

This was followed by one of Trump's now-traditional Saturday morning barrage of tweets - claiming that he is fit to be president and not just smart, but a 'genius... and a very stable genius at that!'

Hours before this, Wolff told the BBC's Today program: 'The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in a way that it says he can't do his job.

'Suddenly everywhere people are going, 'Oh my God, it's true, he has no clothes.'

He said the book was making people realise what the president was like.

When asked about what impact he expected the book would have, he said: 'We will end this presidency now.'

The journalist's book - 'Fire and Fury' has already shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller's list and portrays Trump as an imbecile who never believed he would win the 2016 election.

The book also severely questions the president's ability to carry out his job and casts aspersions on his mental acuity amid suggestions from White House sources he might be losing his mind.

Under fire: President Donald Trump departs for Camp David from the White House in Washington on Friday afternoon

The fallout sparked Trump onto Twitter to defend his mental fitness and boast about his intelligence.

It's his latest pushback against a book that portrays him as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of the presidency.

In the book, former aide Steve Bannon questions Trump's competence.

Trump's was having none of it.

He wrote that critics are 'taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.'

Trump modestly added, 'my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.'

Furthermore Trump opined that he was a successful businessman to reality TV star to president on his first try 'would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!'

Another target: Trump aimed an attack on Brian Ross - who erroneously reported that the president had nefariously ordered Michael Flynn to contact the Russians

During the course of his 15-minute interview with the BBC, Wollf repeated many of his previous claims about Trump, his White House and defended his book from claims of inaccuracy.

'Everyone went into election night expecting not to win. It would have been a victory to have kept their loss (to Hillary) to under six points,' said Wolff to the BBC.

'It was only around 8.15pm (on election night in 2016) that the trends started to really go the other way and come to terms with the fact that they were going to win.

'And by all reports the person most shocked by this was Trump's wife Melania, who certainly didn't want to be First Lady. Second to her it was Trump himself who appeared to be white as a ghost.'

Denying Trump's claim that he was given zero access and that the book was completely false, Wolff claimed he spent months in the West Wing, literally sitting on a sofa watching the West Wing and definitely got tacit permission from the president.

'I went the time honored fashion and I spoke to everyone who is as close to the action as possible who will talk to you. And you often grant them the veil of anonymity,' said Wolff.

'I got the president to say 'If not welcome, here, come in', then he certainly seemed to shrug his shoulders and say 'yea, if that's what you want to do then fine.'

Revealing that Trump's tantrums and volcanic temper are as much bemusing as intimidating, Wolff said that the White House resembled a side-show at times.

'One of the things about Donald Trump is that everything he does is Trumpian and that is one of the amusing things and one of the disconcerting things,' said Wolff to the BBC.

'It is theatric - he screams, he is yelling. What starts out as a schtick turns into vein popping rage.

'Every person in the White House describes him as child-like. That the president is in some way like a child. Sometimes it's an 11-year-old, sometimes its a six-year-old and sometimes it's a two-year-old. It's his need for immediate gratification.'

Worryingly, Wolff claims that despite entering the White House on a swell of euphoria - at least from his base - Trump does not have the faith of his cabinet anymore.

'All the senior staff have come to the conclusion over eight months that something was unbelievably amiss here - this was more peculiar than they ever imagined it could be and that in the end they had to look at Donald Trump and say, 'No, this man can't function in this job.' said Wolff.

'He may have been elected president but that does not turn him into president.'

Discussing the most shocking claim in Wolff's book - that of the president's mental health, Wolff said that it is not for him to say, but West Wing insiders are worried.

'Is he experiencing fundamental physical and mental issues?' said Wolff.

'All I can say is that it's a subject discussed in the White House and it is a subject of concern because his repetitions have been so frequent that people around him are saying, 'Oh my God, what are we going to do?'

The Saturday-morning tweet-barrage defending his own mental competency launched by Trump followed two other posts, one praising news the country's African-American unemployment rate had fallen to its lowest rate on record.

The presidents tweet was a response to a tweet put out by the official Republican Party Twitter account which uses quotes from other journalists to call into question Wolff's credibility

He then attacked ABC reporter Brian Ross, who has returned to the network after a month-long suspension for reporting in error that Trump had ordered his former national security adviser Michael Flynn to collude with the Russians.

Trump said that Ross should have lost his job over his error.

These tweets followed last night's further attack on Steven Bannon in which he accused his former Chief Strategist of crying when he lost his job.

Hitting out at 'sloppy Steve Bannon,' tweeting that he 'cried when he got fired and begged for his job.'

'Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone,' Trump tweeted.

'Too bad!'

The president's tweet was a response to a tweet put out by the official Republican Party Twitter account.

Difficult years: Michael Wolff's biography also made the claim that Trump has been 'chronically' unfaithful to his wife Melania

The GOP's Twitter handle posted an image of Wolff, saying 'the reviews are in.'

It then lists a number of quotes made about Wolff by journalists who have questioned his credibility.

Wolff has been accused in years past of fabricating details in books and misrepresenting events.

Bannon joined an exclusive club Thursday night, earning the derogatory nickname 'Sloppy Steve' from Trump.

Shortly after initial claims from the book were published, the president on Tuesday tweeted that the political gossip tome is 'full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist.'

'Look at this guy's past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!'

The former White House chief strategist dresses 'like an unmade bed,' a close associate told DailyMail.com on Friday, 'and doesn't care'

Bannon is known for dressing 'like an unmade bed and doesn't care,' a close associate told DailyMail.com on Friday, layering two polos on top of each other.

He eschewed suits and other business attire outside the White House when he worked for the president.

Wolff describes Bannon's typical attire as a 'disheveled blazer' and 'signature pairing of two shirts and military fatigues.'

Sources claim Trump's closest allies questioned his suitability for office and view him as a 'child'.

Trump's lawyers made threats of legal action and tried to stop Henry Holt & Co from publishing the critical book which the president has dismissed as full of lies.

Trump, 71, attacked Wolff and former top aide Steve Bannon, who was quoted in the book, on Twitter on Friday night.

Wolff is the author of 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House'

He wrote: 'Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book.

'He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job.

'Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!'

The book claims Bannon called a meeting involving the president's son, Donald Trump Jnr, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign 'treasonous'.

The meeting is being probed as part of an investigation into possible collision between Trump's presidential election campaign and Russia.

After the comments attributed to Bannon were made public, Trump said his former strategist had 'lost his mind'.

Trump's lawyer has said that legal action is 'imminent' against Bannon.
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Temperatures tonight could plummet to a staggeringly low -15C (5F) in parts of rural Scotland as arctic conditions sweep across Britain.

Met Office forecasters say arctic air from the north, combined with clear and calm conditions overnight, form the 'perfect ingredients' for a bitterly-cold night ahead.

The mercury will plunge in parts of rural Scotland, says the Met Office, making it colder than parts of Siberia as an area of high pressure in the west draws in cold, arctic air.

Forecaster Alex Burkill told MailOnline: 'It's going to be very cold indeed. Calm conditions could see it get as cold as -14C (6.8F) or -15C (5F) in parts of rural Scotland  a harsh frost is likely.'

A woman wraps up warm as she walks through the streets of London where the temperature is dropping

Londoners and tourists are wrapping up warm ahead of a cold snap that will see freezing arctic air plunge down across Britain

Parts of Northern England, Wales and Scotland are also expected to endure bitingly-cold temperatures  especially where these is still lying snow

The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for ice in parts of Northern England and Scotland ahead of the cold snap arriving

Met Office forecasters say arctic air from the north, combined with clear and calm conditions overnight, form the 'perfect ingredients' for a bitterly-cold night ahead

Met Office forecasters say arctic air from the north, combined with clear and calm conditions overnight, form the 'perfect ingredients' for a bitterly-cold night ahead. Pictured: Seaham Harbour in County Durham this morning

The mercury will plunge in parts of rural Scotland, says the Met Office, making it colder than parts of Siberia as an area of

The mercury will plunge in parts of rural Scotland, says the Met Office, making it colder than parts of Siberia as an area of high pressure in the west draws in cold, arctic air. Pictured: Seaham Harbour, County Durham this morning

A black Toyota RAV4 ended up on its roof following a two-car collision in Horseheath, Cambridgeshire where temperatures remain in the low singles

Britons will wake up to a cold morning tomorrow, too but it the day ahead is looking to be a 'fine' one, added the forecaster

Parts of Northern England, Wales and Scotland are also expected to endure bitingly-cold temperatures  especially where these is still lying snow.

Britons will wake up to a cold morning tomorrow, too but it the day ahead is looking to be a 'fine' one, added the forecaster.

'There will be a lot of sunshine about and, for most, it will be a very sunny but cold winter's day,' said Alex.

'Temperatures will perhaps feel a little bit colder than today - around 7C (44.6F) in the south and 2C (35.6F) to 3C (37.4F) in the north - but some places could be around freezing.

Cars are left stranded after flooding from Storm Eleanor left London into disarray. Two men are pictured observing the chaos

In the aftermath of Storm Eleanor thousands of homes remain without power and a clean-up operation is under way after widespread flooding in parts of the country. A man is pictured wading past his car after the Thames burst its banks in London

Cars are pictured sitting in floodwater after the River Thames burst its banks at high tide in west London yesterday

Floods to the big chill: Powrthcawl in South Wales is pictured being battered by huge waves as Storm Eleanor runs its course

After Storm Eleanor battered the UK this week, this weekend brings an Arctic blast with ice cold temperatures and frost

The Met Office also issued weather warning for ice affecting North East England and parts of Scotland from 5pm tonight through to 10am tomorrow, highlighting that there is a 'chance that injuries could occur from slips and falls on icy surfaces'.

It comes as NHS England urge people to stock up on medicines, check on vulnerable or elderly neighbours and get the flu jab, after winter pressures put strain on the health service.

Unseasonably cold weather will rise back to around average again for most of the UK on Monday and into the working week.

Forecaster Alex Burkill said the weather will become more 'unsettled' around Wednesday and through the second half of the week.

Bitter Arctic air and sharp frosts are to hit Britain over the weekend and into next week as the country prepares to wrap up warm. Snow fell on a cottage near Carrshield in Northumberland yesterday

A gritter spreads salt along a road in Northumberland this morning. Storm Eleanor has now passed but forecasters are warning of an Arctic blast about to hit the UK

Temperatures could plunge to as low as -12C as Britain braces for a big chill. Snow fell in County Durham today

Across the country, day time should see sunshine. But as the nights draw in temperatures will plunge to well below freezing
Federal prosecutors' hopes for a retrial in the case of Cliven Bundy will be answered on Monday.

Bundy is a Nevada cattle rancher who the feds say conspired against the government with his sons following a decades-long dispute over unpaid grazing fees.

It came to a head in 2014 in a days-long standoff which saw Bundy and his friends arm themselves against a team of snipers and federal agents.

Bundy, 71, was arrested two years later when his sons, Ammon and Ryan, were caught in a second, unrelated standoff in Oregon.

The charges against them include conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and using a firearm in a violent crime

The case finally went to trial last October but the prosecution's failure to hand over key evidence which could have helped the defense led to a mistrial.

Cliven Bundy, 71, remains behind bars awaiting a judge's decision on Monday on whether or not prosecutors will be able to retry him for conspiracy and assault. He is shown on his Nevada ranch in May 2014, days after the famous government standoff which made him a hero among cattle ranchers

The evidence included memos and surveillance footage which critics say proved the government was heavy handed and overzealous in its pursuit of Bundy's cattle. It also shows that he did not want a violent confrontation and feared for his life as the FBI enlisted snipers on his property, his lawyers say.

Prosecutors did not share the evidence which broke the Brady rule, a trial mandate which means the state or government must turn over all evidence which can exonerate the defense.

As a result of the breach, Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial on January 20.

Ammon and Ryan were allowed out of jail on house arrest as a result. Cliven, their father, was given the same luxury but refused it, staying in prison instead on principal.

On Monday, Judge Navarro will decide to dismiss the case with or without prejudice. If she dismisses it without prejudice, federal prosecutors can retry and they are likely to.

Prosecutors have already vowed to seek a new trial.

'The Brady violations found by the court are regrettable and benefit no one.

'But because the government neither flagrantly violated nor recklessly disregarded its obligations, the appropriate remedy for such violations is a new trial,' Nevada's Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre said last month.;

Bundy's adult sons Ammon (left) and Ryan (right) are accused alongside him. They were granted house arrest in November last year pending the trial and are shown above in December leaving court after the mistrial was declared. Their father chose to remain behind bars

The case revolves around a 2014 standoff between FBI agents and agents from the Bureau of Land Management near the Bundy property in Bunkerville, Nevada. Bundy had been refusing to pay grazing fees for years and when the government came to round up his cattle, he and his friends responded by blocking them and arming themsleves

Legal experts told Fox News it was impossible to predict what she would decide but they lamented the prosecution's blunder in the first place.

'In this case the failures to comply with Brady were exquisite, extraordinary. The judge exercised tremendous patience,' Judge Andrew Napolitano said.

The evidence they failed to turn over included a memo from the Bureau of Land Management which expressed concern for its heavy-handed response to the issue.

The dispute stems back to Bundy's refusal to renew his grazing permit with the BLM in 1993. They changed the rules to limit his herd of 150 cattle and he did not believe it was their right to do so.

For 20 years, he ignored their orders telling him to renew the permit and let his cattle graze where they had been before.

The Bundys were supported by local protesters and militiamen who used their horses in the standoff. The government claims its agents feared for their lives and that the men were violent - something they deny and which evidence that the prosecution did not turn over to the defense purportedly proved

Among the crucial arguments is that the government put snipers in place near the Bundy property during the standoff. The government said they did so in response to the armed militiamen - Bundy says the snipers were there before they took arms

Finally in April 2014, they instigated a round up of unauthorized cattle. For years, they had been serving Bundy with legal letters and notices which he ignored.

When BLM agents arrived to herd up the animals, they were met with resistance from Bundy's sons and supporters.

Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial last month and will decide on Monday if prosecutors can retry the case

A few days into the operation, one of Bundy's sons was shot with a stun gun. Militia men, including Ryan Payne, then joined their efforts.

The government claims that in response to their bolstered group, they implemented snipers to protect them.

During the trial, however, the defense argued that there was evidence to show the snipers were there beforehand, supporting Bundy's argument that he and his friends armed themselves to protect themselves against what they thought was the government's strengthening operation.

Other evidence includes an FBI threat assessment which said the Bundys were not likely to resort to violence.

Eventually, on April 12, BLM canceled the operation citing security fears for employees and the cattle were released.

Ryan Bundy (who suffered facial nerve damage and paralysis as a child in a car accident) is shown above last month leaving court. He and his brother maintain that the prosecution has always acted unfairly against them and that the government was overzealous with its response to their standoff

In January 2016, Ammon and Ryan were arrested after another, unrelated standoff in Oregon. Their father was arrested when he flew to Portland to see them.

Judge Navarro rebuked the prosecution for not disclosing the evidence from the 2014 standoff when she made her decision last month.

'The court does regrettably believe a mistrial in this case is the most suitable and only remedy,' she said.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy walked victoriously out of jail last year not long before the mistrial was declared.

In December, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions launched an investigation into Nevada's prosecutors' office.

The attorney leading the Bundy case was Steven Myhre.

Myhre was brought on as Acting US Attorney in Nevada after following the resignation of Obama-era US Attorney Daniel Bogden in March.

Myhre was replaced two days ago by a Texas prosecutor. Dayle Elieson is now the Acting US Attorney for Nevada and Myhre has returned to his role as as first assistant U.S. attorney.
President Donald Trump hit back at claims of mental instability calling himself a 'very stable genius' and 'like, really smart.'

In a series of tweets on Saturday morning, Trump went on the defensive against questions raised by a new book that painted a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of his campaign and the early months of his presidency.

'Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,' Trump tweeted.

President Donald Trump (pictured, Friday) hit back at claims of mental instability calling himself a 'very stable genius' and 'like, really smart'

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump went on the defensive against questions raised by a new book that painted a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of his campaign and early months of his presidency

The commander-in-chief added that although doubts about his mental capacity have been frequently raised by his critics, he proved them wrong with his 'successful' career in television and business and his stunning victory in the 2016 election.

'I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!' he said

Questions surrounding Trump's competence for office intensified following the release of 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' by Michael Wolff, which included shocking claims, including doubts among Trump's senior aides about his mental fitness in the role of 'leader of the free world'.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders faced questions three days in a row about Trump's mental health and his ability to serve as commander-in-chief.

Sanders said that what 'is really mentally unstable is people that don't see the positive impact that this president is having on the country.'

'It's absolutely outrageous to make these types of accusations and it's simply untrue, and it's sad that people are going and making these desperate attempts to attack the president,' she said on 'Fox & Friends.'

Following this, Trump slammed Democrats and the media on the allegations his campaign colluded with Russia during the presidential election, calling them a 'total hoax'

Questions surrounding Trump's competence for office intensified following the release of 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' by Michael Wolff, which included shocking claims, including doubts among Trump's senior aides about his mental fitness in the role of 'leader of the free world'

The White House has pushed back vocally against Wolff's book, with Trump himself denying that the author had West Wing access or was present for interviews with Trump

In addition, Trump slammed Democrats and the media on the allegations his campaign colluded with Russia during the presidential election, calling them a 'total hoax'.

'Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence,' he wrote.

This claim comes one day after GOP senators recommended that the author behind a controversial, unverified dossier linking Trump to Russia face a criminal investigation.

The White House has pushed back vocally against Wolff's book, with Trump himself denying that the author had West Wing access or was present for interviews with Trump.

'Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!' the president tweeted Saturday.
An Australian father has been found dead in his hotel room in Bali of what police believe was a heart attack.

The 36-year-old from Perth had complained of feeling ill on Friday evening, and had gone out on Saturday morning before returning to his Kuta hotel room.

About 1pm on Saturday the man's Balinese girlfriend asked staff to call a doctor to their room at the Matahari Bungalows.

An Australian father has been found dead in his hotel room in Bali of what police believe was a heart attack (pictured is a room at the hotel)

The 36-year-old from Perth had complained of feeling ill on Friday evening, and had gone out on Saturday morning before returning to his Kuta hotel room (pictured is the hotel)

Staff found the man face down on the bed unconscious, and when the doctor arrived he declared the man dead of a heart attack, The Herald Sun reported.

Kuta Police chief, I Nyoman Wirajaya said an investigation had been conducted and police had found the room to be neat.

'We do not find any violence or crime in this case. The doctor alleged that the victim died because of a heart attack,' he said.

About 1pm on Saturday the man's Balinese girlfriend asked staff to call a doctor to their room at the Matahari Bungalows (pictured is the Kuta Art Market)

He said the man had consumed alcohol on Saturday night, gotten a headache and taken a panadol before going to sleep.

The couple had been to the Kuta Art Market in the morning before returning to the hotel when he felt pain in his stomach and went to bed.

They had been together for three months, and the man's girlfriend said he was sick, but he told her he was tired from work.

Police said the man's body was taken to Sanglah morgue awaiting instructions from local and Australian authorities concerning an autopsy.
Hundreds of demonstrators burnt the US flag and images of Donald Trump in protest at Washington's decision to suspend $255million of security aid to Pakistan.

Trump tweeted calling Pakistan liars and cheaters, provoking mass fury in the South Asian country.

The US had at the same time announced plans to withhold aid to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Hundreds of demonstrators, pictured, burnt the US flag and images of Donald Trump in protest at Washington's decision to suspend security aid to Pakistan

Violent scenes erupted at the Peshawar military cantonment yesterday as Pakistanis demonstrated again Trump's decision.

The United States announced on Thursday that Washington would suspend national security assistance to Pakistan, claiming Islamabad was not taking the militant threat seriously enough.

'Today we can confirm that we are suspending security assistance only to Pakistan at this time,' State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert announced at a press briefing.

'Pakistan has the ability to get this money back in the future, but they have to take decisive action.'

Protesters also gathered to rail against the US president in the Pakistani port or Karachi on Tuesday, reports Fars News.

The crowd burned effigies of Trump along with his portrait and US flags.

Marching through the streets, they carried placards and banners which read, 'No more Trump!'

Trump tweeted calling Pakistan liars and cheaters, provoking mass fury (pictured) in the South Asian country

The US had at the same time announced plans to withhold aid to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital

One protestor called Trump's declatation demeaning adding that Pakistanis had spent billions of rupees on the war on terror and in the fight against ISIS.

Others suggested that US aid was not as significant to the country as Washington thought

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif hit back at the US, stressing that the Donald Trump administration has used Islamabad as a 'whipping boy'.

The United States announced on Thursday that Washington would suspend national security assistance to Pakistan, claiming Islamabad was not taking the terrorism threat seriously enough

Asif said on Friday that Pakistan no longer thinks of the US as an ally after the behavior of the Trump administration.

'We do not have any alliance' with the US, Asif stated curtly, adding 'This is not how allies behave.'

This follows comments on Wednesday where the minister said history had taught his country not to 'blindly' trust the US.

One protestor called Trump's declatation demeaning adding that Pakistanis had spent billions of rupees on the war on terror and in the fight against ISIS.

'We considered your enemy as our own, we filled the Guantanamo Bay, we served you with such enthusiasm that we left our country in electricity and gas shortages,' he said.

'We tried to please you at the expense of our economy. We provided tens of thousands of visas as a result of which Black Water networks spread across our country.'

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also waded in, announcing his country should end dependence on US aid.

Sharif described Trump's tweet 'non-serious' and 'regrettable'.

Violent scenes erupted at the Peshawar military cantonment (pictured) yesterday as Pakistanis demonstrated again Trump's decision

The White House confirmed The United States has suspended its 255million military aid package to Pakistan for now.

The fate of the package, it said, would depend on Pakistan's future response to domestic terrorism.

Pakistan also summoned the US ambassador in Islamabad, David Hale, to a meeting at the Foreign Ministry after high level consultations between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and civil and military leaders.
Almost two months have passed since John Ibrahim's loyal bodyguard Semi 'Tongan Sam' was shot in the back, but police are yet to make a single arrest.

The 59-year-old was gunned down at John's mother home in Price Street, Merrylands in Sydney's west on November 17.

Tongan Sam was hit at the same address where John's cousin Sam Sayour and Aisha Mehajer were married the next day.

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Almost two months have passed since John Ibrahim's loyal bodyguard Semi 'Tongan Sam' (pictured, second left, with Daniel Ibrahim, left, and John Ibrahim, second right) was shot in the back, but police are yet to make a single arrest

Tongan Sam was hit at the same address where John's cousin Sam Sayour (pictured, right) and Aisha Mehajer (pictured, left) were married the next day

The shooting took place at John Ibrahim's mother's home, pictured here being searched by police in August

He was released from hospital 11 days later but refused to break the code of silence and speak to investigators.

With at least three uncooperative witnesses, police are struggling to make headway in the case, which may never be solved, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The 59-year-old (pictured, centre, with Sam Ibrahim, left, and lawyer Stephen Alexander, right) was gunned down at John's mother home in Price Street, Merrylands in Sydney's west on November 17

Tongan Sam (pictured, right, with Sam Ibrahim) was released from hospital 11 days later but refused to break the code of silence and speak to investigators

One such theory, since discredited, suggested the shooting was the result of a dispute between the two high profile families over the dowry.

The bride's brother's absence from the ceremony fuelled more speculation, but since then another Ibrahim cousin and Mehajer sister have tied the knot.

Mouhamed Tajjour announced his engagement to Sanaa Mehajer on Christmas Eve and the pair married two days later in a lavish ceremony.

Mouhamed Tajjour announced his engagement to Sanaa Mehajer on Christmas Eve in 2017

The first wedding went ahead without a hitch, however, and Mehajer has since made glowing comments about his brothers-in-law.

'Then there was "Sam", who I clashed heads with over three times with,' said Mehajer last week.

'But when push came to shove, he proved to be even better then I ever have imagined! He turned out to be a true man and took me by surprise.'

Mouhamed Tajjour (pictured, right) announced his engagement to Sanaa Mehajer (pictured, left) on Christmas Eve and the pair married two days later in a lavish ceremony

It is unclear whether Mehajer was talking about his brother-in-law Sam Sayour, Tongan Sam, John's brother Sam Ibrahim, or another man with the same name.

With police appearing to have hit a dead end, John Ibrahim may feel vindicated over comments made in the past about investigations into the shootings of his brothers.

'Even if the cops did stumble across the person responsible for Fadi's shooting, there'd be no charges laid,' he wrote in his memoir, Last King of the Cross.
Passengers aboard a luxury cruise liner returning from the Caribbean say they are lucky to be alive after their ship was nearly demolished by a ferocious winter storm.

Recounting their harrowing experience was the Ross family, of Stony Brook, New York, who spoke with CBS News on Friday.

'I thought I'd never be in a situation where I would say that's the scariest moment of my life,' said Karoline Ross. 'This was the worst moment of my life.'

A 4,000 passenger cruise ship called The Norwegian Breakaway sailed earlier this week to the Bahamas

The vessel sailed right into the 'bomb cyclone,' a fierce winter storm that has battered the East Coast

n an initially statement released Friday, Norwegian Cruise Line made no mention of the harrowing experience (pictured: water leaking into the Norwegian Breakaway during storm)

Ross said that 21 members of her family boarded the 'Norwegian Breakaway,' a 4,000 passenger cruise ship, that set sail to the Bahamas. Ross said they were headed to the Caribbean island to celebrate the family patriarch's 80th birthday.

But little did they know that their dream getaway would soon turn into a nightmare as the vessel sailed right into the ominous sounding 'bomb cyclone,' a fierce winter storm that has battered the East Coast all week, as they returned home.

They later released an apology to passengers, saying that weather conditions were stronger than expected (Pictured: Hallways flooding aboard the Norwegian Breakaway)

Ross said that over a 'traumatic' two day period, the cruise liner suffered a colossal battering by ocean swells that at time rose up to 30 feet.

'When you're on a boat in the middle of the ocean and water is pouring down the stairs, you're thinking 'this is not going to end well,' Karoline said.

'Our room was full on two inches of water. The elevator shafts were dripping water everywhere,' Del said.

As water began seeping through the ceilings and flooding the deck, a wave of panic and seasickness gripped passengers, some taking to social media to document their horrific experience.

'There were people crying, everyone was throwing up. it was a nightmare,' said Olivia Ross. 'It was so tilted I was shaking.'

'I'm completely traumatized. I'll never go on any type of boat again in my life after this,' fellow passenger Emma Franzese told CBS New York once the ship docked.

'I was holding on for dear life. I honestly wasn't sure we were going to make it through the night. The boat was tilted like crazy,' said passenger Conor Vogt.

'Everything fell off our shelf, glasses broke in the middle of the night. There was no announcement made,' passenger Luisa Franzese said.

One passenger said that over a 'traumatic' two day period, the cruise liner suffered a colossal battering by ocean swells that at time rose up to 30 feet

In an initially statement released Friday, Norwegian Cruise Line made no mention of the harrowing experience passengers say left them badly shaken (Pictured: passenger Luisa Franzese)

As water began seeping through the ceilings and flooding the deck, a wave of panic and seasickness gripped passengers

In an initial statement released Friday, Norwegian Cruise Line made no mention of the harrowing experience passengers say left them badly shaken, only apologizing for an unexpected delay in the company's next embarkment.

'Due to winter storm Grayson, Norwegian Breakaway will have a delayed arrival into New York today,' the statement reads. 'As a result, Norwegian Breakaway's 14 day cruise that was originally scheduled to depart on January 5, will now depart on Saturday, January 6, at 3pm.'

The company later released another statement, apologizing to those aboard the Norwegian Breakaway for the 'stronger than expected weather conditions' that contributed to their 'discomfort.'

'During the early morning hours of January 4, Norwegian Breakaway encountered stronger than forecasted weather conditions due to winter storm Grayson during the trip's return to New York from the Bahamas. All guests and crew are safe. We sincerely apologize to our guests for these stronger than expected weather conditions and any resulting discomfort they may have experienced.'

After returning back to land, the Ross family said that they plan to ask the company for a full refund, along with answers to their many questions.

''(The captain) took all our lives in his hands, and we were really in a bad spot. It was really horrible,' Karoline said.

'If they knew the storm was coming in, they should've already just taken us back,' fellow passenger Barbara Stevenson-Felder told CBS News.

'We'd rather get home a day early than have to go through something like this.'

The company later released another statement, apologizing to those aboard the Norwegian Breakaway (pictured) for the 'stronger than expected weather conditions'

Initial Statement by Norwegian Cruise Lines

'Due to winter storm Grayson, Norwegian Breakaway will have a delayed arrival into New York today. As a result, Norwegian Breakaway's 14 day cruise that was originally scheduled to depart on January 5, will now depart on Saturday, January 6, at 3 p.m. Due to the ship's late arrival today, and the ongoing weather situation, embarking guests are encouraged to arrive to the pier on Saturday morning. All guests must be onboard by 1 p.m. on January 6. Guests unable to adjust their travel are welcome to board on Friday evening between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The ship will now sail a slightly adjusted itinerary, which will be communicated to guests onboard. All guests will receive a refund of one day of their cruise fare, in the form of an onboard credit. We sincerely thank our guests for their understanding of this unexpected change due to the weather and apologize to our guests for any disruption to their schedule,' the statement said. Advertisement
President Donald Trump took aim at ABC News' chief investigative reporter, Brian Ross, after his return to the network following his suspension.

'Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity,' Trump wrote on Saturday morning.

'He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!' the president added.

ABC News was forced to issue a correction after Ross reported incorrectly on live television that ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn would testify that Trump had ordered him to make contact with Russians about foreign policy while Trump was still a candidate.

The report spread quickly before it was corrected, and stocks plunged shortly after. Ross was subsequently suspended for four weeks without pay.

Sources told CNN that Ross will still have the title of 'chief investigative correspondent' but he will be focusing on 'long-term projects'.

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President Donald Trump took aim at ABC News's chief investigative reporter, Brian Ross, after his return to the network following his suspension, saying he should have been fired (pictured)

Ross (pictured, July 2016) was subsequently suspended for four weeks without pay following an incorrect report on ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn

He reported incorrectly on live television that Flynn would testify that Trump had ordered him to make contact with Russians about foreign policy while Trump was still a candidate (Pictured, Flynn and Trump at a rally in Colorado, October 2016)

ABC News president James Goldston announced at an editorial meeting on Friday that Ross would be reassigned to ABC News' outside production house, Lincoln Square Productions, starting Monday.

Lincoln Square Productions is separate from the rest of ABC News and creates unscripted programming for ABC and cable channels such as Discovery Life and Investigation Discovery.

Ross, who arrived at ABC in 1994, will work with his longtime producer Rhonda Schwartz and still appear on both '20/20' and 'Nightline' as needed, a source close to the situation told Fox News.

However an insider said he would 'never be on ABC air again'.

The source speculated that the correspondent was handed a sinecure while his contract winds down.

Goldston also told staffers last month that Ross would never again be allowed to cover President Trump.

ABC News has steered increasingly away from investigations in recent years and does not have another dedicated investigative correspondent.

The blunder gave President Donald Trump further ammunition in his continuous 'fake news' assault on the media

For his part, Ross wrote on Twitter that his job 'is to hold people accountable

ABC News president James Goldston (right) also told staffers last month that Ross (left) would never again be allowed to cover President Trump and that he didn't think he had ever felt more rage and frustration as he did after the botched report was revealed

Trump (pictured, Thursday) congratulated ABC on suspending Ross but continued an assault on the media for reporting 'fake news'

After ABC was forced to retract the report, Goldston said in a staff call that that he didn't think he had ever felt more rage and frustration as he did after the botched report was revealed.

'I don't even know how many times we've talked about this, how many times we have talked about the need to get it right,' he said in a staff call, acceding to CNN.

'That how we have to be right and not first. About how in this particular moment, with the stakes as high as these stakes are right now, we cannot afford to get it wrong.'

The blunder gave President Donald Trump further ammunition in his continuous 'fake news' assault on the media.

He tweeted after the suspension: 'Congratulations to @ABC News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt. More Networks and 'papers' should do the same with their Fake News!'

For his part, Ross wrote on Twitter that his job 'is to hold people accountable' and noted, 'That's why I agree with being held accountable myself.'




An end may be in sight to the sickening practice in India of sending low caste people into sewers to unblock drains that are clogged up with faeces.

A group of entrepreneurial engineering students from the southern state of Kerala are developing a robot to do the grim job instead, hindustantimes.com reported.

It says that the Kerala Water Authority has already placed orders for 50 robots, which are known as Bandicoots.

Rights groups have for decades being lobbying the government to end 'manual scavenging'

Manual scavenging is almost invariably done by low-caste communities and usually kills several people each year

Activists say tens of thousands of low caste people are involved in the demeaning and degrading work

The scientists claim their robot can manage three workers' three-hour schedule in 30 minutes

The young engineers have formed a startup to market their invention which is called Genrobotics.

They have already received a patent for the robot from India, and will soon get a world patent applicable in 150 countries.

Rights groups have for decades being lobbying the government to end 'manual scavenging' - a job which is almost invariably done by low-caste communities and which usually kills several people each year.

The practice is banned by law in India, but it in reality it is rampant - activists say tens of thousands are involved in this demeaning and degrading work which adds to the prejudice and abuse low caste people frequently experience.

According to one estimate more than 1,200 people died from manual scavenging related activities between 2014 and 2016 in India.

Scavengers have only their bare hands to do the drain cleaning

The start-up claims the Bandicoot is the technical solution to end this 'depraved social malaise'.

Genrobotics says it has big plans to go global, but only after fixing one the country's most depressing and most nagging problems.

Mechanical engineer Vimal Govind, 24, the CEO of Genrobotics told the Hindustan Times that he has put the project together in collaboration with nine classmates at the MES Engineering College in Kuttipuram.

'We developed the first prototype in six months,' he said.

Initially they struggled to find financial backing for the project, but now they say money is pouring in from different sources.

The manufacturing cost of the machine is about $5,000. It weighs 176 pounds but the main operating part that goes into the sewage hole is much lighter.

A wire-carrying camera goes inside the sewage hole and beams pictures of the problem to a screen on the surface.

The robot then dismantles itself from the main machine and goes into the hole with tools such as a shovel or a jet pipe to clean the system.

The scientists claim their robot can manage three workers' three-hour schedule in 30 minutes.
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In a rare outing, former Spanish King Juan Carlos was seen at Epiphany Day celebrations just days after complaining bitterly, and publicly, about feeling sidelined by the royal family.

Fresh from his 80th birthday celebrations, the disgruntled monarch made a comeback appearing in full military garb alongside his son, Queen Letizia and his wife Sofia at the royal palace in Madrid.

Current King Felipe VI paid homage to his father during the ceremony in an apparent attempt to placate the unhappy former ruler.

Helping hand: In a rare outing, former Spanish King Juan Carlos (pictured left) was seen at Epiphany Day celebrations just days after complaining bitterly, and publicly, about feeling sidelined by the royal family

Four years ago, the same ceremony had been torture for Juan Carlos, physically weakened after health issues and tainted by scandal.

'He made mistakes in his speech, lost track of what he was saying, offering a pathetic spectacle,' said Jose Apezarena, Felipe VI's biographer.

That was when he asked for preparations to be made for his abdication, he said.

Later that year in June, he stepped down in favour of his son and became 'king emeritus,' a title he hates according to the press.

Fresh from his 80th birthday celebrations, the disgruntled monarch made a comeback alongside his son (pictured left) appearing in full military garb alongside his son, Queen Letizia (pictured left) and his wife Sofia at the royal palace in Madrid

'It wasn't what he wanted as he had repeatedly said he would be king until he died,' said Penafiel.

Juan Carlos had met Spain's army, navy and airforce chiefs at a traditional military ceremony held at the start of every year.

The show of unity comes at a trying time for Spain after the wealthy Catalan region attempted to break away - and where 47 per cent of voters want to live in an independent, monarchy-free republic.

The show of unity comes at a trying time for Spain after the wealthy Catalan region attempted to break away - and where 47 per cent of voters want to live in an independent, monarchy-free republic

The Catalonian furor has also put Juan Carlos back in the spotlight. Carlos was credited for leading Spain to democracy after decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco.

But he was forced to abdicate in 2014 after nearly 40 years on the throne after a series of scandals rocked his public image.

The next generation of Spanish royals have proved more popular, especially Queen Letizia - often said to be the country's answer to Kate Middleton.

The furor has also put Juan Carlos (pictured with Queen Letizia) back in the spotlight. Carlos was credited for leading Spain to democracy after decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco

Felipe congratulated his father on turning 80 on Friday. Here former King Juan Carlos greets guests beside his son as they arrive for Epiphany Day

Felipe congratulated his father on turning 80 on Friday, drawing a smile from the elderly former monarch, who now walks with a stick.

'Congratulations your majesty and thank you also for so many years of loyal service to Spain,' he said, as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his defence and interior ministers looked on.

Widely lauded for his negotiating skills, political acumen and his role in defusing an attempted coup in 1981, Juan Carlos fell from grace during Spain's economic crisis as his lavish lifestyle drew anger.

Widely lauded for his negotiating skills, political acumen and his role in defusing an attempted coup in 1981, Juan Carlos fell from grace during Spain's economic crisis as his lavish lifestyle drew anger

When he took the throne, Felipe VI, who turns 50 at the end of the month, kept his distance in a bid to restore the image of the monarchy. But now with this appearance he has reentered the spotlight. Here he is seen with wife Sofia and Queen Letizia greeting guests

Adding fuel to fire, his daughter Princess Cristina and her husband Inaki Urdangarin were embroiled in a corruption and tax fraud investigation, with the latter since found guilty of siphoning off millions to fund a lavish lifestyle. Cristina was acquitted.

When he took the throne, Felipe VI, who turns 50 at the end of the month, kept his distance in a bid to restore the image of the monarchy.

In June, Juan Carlos was notably absent from an event marking 40 years since the first democratic elections after Francisco Franco's dictatorship, despite having been widely credited for enabling the vote to take place.

That, according to Felipe VI's biographer and other royal affairs experts, angered and hurt him.

Juan Carlos was notably absent from an event marking 40 years since the first democratic elections after Francisco Franco's dictatorship. That, according to Felipe VI's biographer, angered and hurt him

'It was thanks to him that there was an exemplary transition from a dictatorship to a full democracy,' said Jaime Penafiel, a royal affairs journalist.

'He made it known that if they humiliated him again, he would go and celebrate his 80th abroad.'

So it was that on Saturday, Juan Carlos and Sofia accompanied Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to the ceremony for the first time.

Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal credited Juan Carlos for building a 'democratic and modern Spain... from the basis of reconciliation, harmony and peaceful cohabitation'.

The former king allegedly threatened to celebrate his 80th birthday abroad is he was humiliated once again
Diving ace Tom Daley, pictured, is seen posing on the bed he now shares with his husband in the images

Olympic diver Tom Daley is facing new anguish after naked selfies of him in the bed he now shares with his husband were leaked online.

One of the images shows the 23-year-old athlete lying in bed looking into the camera with his Olympic ring on his finger - while in a second he is seen in an erotic pose.

He is seen alone in the pictures which were taken in the bedroom he now shares with husband Dustin Lance Black, 43, in Southwark, south London.

They appear to have been originally sent using the Snapchat app which automatically deletes images seconds after they have been viewed.

But an unscrupulous user could have secretly taken a screenshot without the athlete knowing.

At the top of the screen, the letters 'TD' can be seen in an apparent reference to his name.

The athlete has instructed lawyers to send 'take-down' notices to websites hosting the pictures after they were uploaded to a US website and shared on Twitter.

A close friend told MailOnline: 'The pictures are from 2016, way before Tom and Lance were married.

'They are from a time where they split for a few months, which they have both talked about previously -but they reunited.'

Less than a year ago Daley confessed to having an online tryst with another man during a secret relationship break in 2016. It is thought that the images were taken in that period.

Footage of the diving ace stripping for online sex emerged prompting him to confess a number of online relationships to his then-fiance Dustin.

He admitted to being on a seven-month 'break' from his then boyfriend as the pair were tied up with demanding work commitments.

During this time he messaged another man and send explicit pictures and video over social media - before eventually getting married in May last year.

Tom Daley is pictured in his bed where the pictures were taken. MailOnline is not publishing the images

In the pictures Daley is seen alone in the bedroom he now shares with husband Dustin Lance Black, 43, in Southwark, south London. The couple are pictured together at a launch party in November last year

At the time the Olympic bronze medallist then said his relationship with Dustin was stronger than ever.

He added: 'It was the distance. It's not like I actually met up with anyone.

'I'm 22 years old, and if you talk to someone through social media it is what it is. It was nothing more than that. We never physically met.

'But in the modern world this is what can happen  things are more accessible online, and distributed, and they spread like wildfire.'

Daley reportedly made contact with a Liverpudlian male fan just months after he announced his engagement to Dustin.

Just days ago Tom shared this 'throwback' picture of himself and husband Dustin Lance Black on their honeymoon last year

He told the 23-year-old stranger he was 'fit' in a private Instagram message before passing on his mobile number.

According to The Sun, he repeatedly messaged the man asking him to come and visit in London over an 11-month exchange, as well as sending him explicit videos and pictures via Snapchat.

Daley met his Oscar-winning screenwriter fiance in March 2013, at a dinner in LA.

As well as being a screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black is a director, film and TV producer and an LGBT rights activist.
The escort accused of extorting former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer for $400,000 has released a recording she says is of him threatening to kill her.

Svetlana Travis Zakharova, 27, was charged with extorting Spitzer, 58, who she said she had a long-term relationship with after a 2016 bust-up at The Plaza Hotel during which she said he tried to choke her.

Zakharova denied extorting him but pleaded guilty to stealing from another lover to for rent money last year.

She has always argued that Spitzer ought to have been arrested for assault after their Plaza fight.

On Saturday, The New York Post published a recording of a phone call she provided them in which a man is heard telling her: 'You're going to die a slow and painful death you f****** b****'.

Former escort Svetlana Travis Zakharova, 27, released a 2016 recording on Saturday which she claims is of disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer threatening her life

She claims it is of Spitzer and that it demonstrates his violent streak.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Spitzer's lawyer refused to say whether or not it was his in the recording.

'This is a woman who has been extorting and threatening Mr. Spitzer and his family for years. The record in her criminal case speaks for itself,' he said.

Zakharova was charged with extorting Spitzer for $400,000 by threatening to take their relationship public. She is pictured in court in 2017

Zakharova alleges that the phone call took place in February 2016, shortly after the incident at The Plaza.

It is not clear who initiated the call but the recording begins with her saying: 'You never helped me, you ruined my life.'

In response, the man fires back: 'You f**king bitch! You piece of s**t. And then you f**king destroyed my life! the man exploded.

'You know whats going to happen to you? Youre going to be f**king dead.

'Youre going to die a slow painful death and your family is going to look at you and laugh because youre a f**king bitch.'

Spitzer and the woman were found inside a suite at The Plaza Hotel on February 13, 2016.

She had called 911 from the bathroom on her cell phone, claiming they had been fighting.

When police arrived, he answered the door, said all was fine and she was nowhere to be seen.

Zakharova worked as a prostitute in New York City after coming to America from Russia as a teenager

They went back not long afterwards and saw broken glass and blood spatter on the floor inside. Zakharova was then found injured in the bathroom.

Her version of what happened changed several times during police questioning.

At first, she claimed he had choked her after she refused her sexual advances, alleging that he said: 'What am I paying you for?'

In another story, she said he was angry because she'd told him of her plans to go back to her native Russia and called her a 'whore'.

He was never charged and she left the country but five months later, he sued her claiming she was ruining his life by trying to extort him.

He claimed that their relationship was not a business one, that they were dating, but that he had given her money to keep their liaisons quiet.

Spitzer wanted to keep them secret, he said, because of his use of prostitutes in the past which led him to resign in 2008.

Their civil case was settled but the NYPD investigated and arrested Zakharova afterwards.

Spitzer, showna bove with girlfriend Roxana Girand, has not commented on the recording

In February 2016, the NYPD responded to a 911 call at The Plaza Hotel where Zakharova and Spitzer were staying and had had a fight. They photographed this evidence which included a sex toy, condoms, massage oil and a leather leash which the woman says Spitzer liked to be walked around on

In October last year, she accepted a plea deal which saw her plead guilty to petit larceny for stealing from another ex-lover to get rent money.

The deal meant that she would not have to serve time for extorting Spitzer but it also stopped her from being able to speak publicly about it.

In November, her lawyers filed a motion to lift that ban. As part of it, she was able to describe his alleged fetish for being walked around on all fours while wearing a leather leash.

'The fact that Spitzer was paying young girls to insert sex toys into his anal cavity and walk him around the floor on all fours with a leash is conduct that he made a conscious choice to engage in.

'If these facts are embarrassing to Spitzer and his family then shame on Spitzer for engaging in the conduct in the first place and shame on the Bronx DA for catering to Spitzer by trying to suppress [Zakharovas] right to free speech,' her lawyer said.

Zakharova was sentenced to three months in jail but was released on time served, having already spent a year behind bars.

In 2008, Spitzer resigned after it was revealed he had spent $10,000 on prostitutes from the agency Emperors VIP.
Eagle-eyed chocolate fans have discovered a sneaky way to find out if they've got a special edition white chocolate Creme Egg, without even taking off the wrapper.

The limited edition goodies were revealed by Cadbury's last week with 350 to 400 white chocolate eggs hidden in normal Creme Egg wrappers.

Lucky buyers could be in with a chance of winning up to 2,000 and, thanks to a sneaky find, can now tell if they've got the special egg by just looking at the ingredients list.

The limited edition white chocolate Creme Eggs were revealed by Cadbury's last week with 350 to 400 white chocolate eggs hidden in normal wrappers

The list, on the back of every Creme Egg, usually includes milk chocolate as an ingredient.

However, the special version replaces the milk chocolate with white chocolate, according to Metro.

This one key change is a tell-tale clue to work out if you're Creme Egg is a special one - and you don't even have to take off the wrapper.

The special promotion, which delighted fans, is reminiscent of Willy Wonka and his five golden tickets hidden in chocolate bars in the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

The news of the trick will be a relief to supermarkets and shoppers all over the country after Creme Eggs everywhere were hit by eager hunters.

Shoppers took to Twitter to share photos of Creme Eggs that had been opened and then put back in the hunt for the elusive white eggs.

The new trick will come as a relief to shoppers and supermarkets with customers opening Creme Egg wrappers and returning them to the shelves

Shoppers have been tweeting images of rewrapped Creme Eggs and accusing shoppers and staff of unwrapping the chocolate and putting them back on the shelf

Scott Bartlett tweeted saying the competition was causing 'unwrapped and unwanted' Creme Eggs

Ryan Reeves, from Essex, tweeted a picture of pile of tampered with eggs and said '@sainsburys The search for a white chocolate creme egg has gone to your employees heads clearly'.

Another shopper found unwrapped Creme Eggs in a Tesco Express in Essex.

'I opened one of the other boxes that was stacked in the store and they were the same. I can't see how that could have been done by shoppers!' he told The Sun.

Another user tweeted: 'This white creme egg thing just means every single creme egg has been unwrapped and touched by some randoms in tesco'

Every white egg will be worth at least 100, according to Cadbury.

One of the eggs on sale at a Co-op supermarket will be worth 2,000, while 33 will be worth 1,000 and the rest 100.

There are 500 million Creme Eggs produced a year and about 333 million of those are sold in the UK, meaning shoppers will have about a 1 in 850,000 chance of winning a prize.

Paul Lang said he initially thought there was a production problem with the Creme Eggs, but later realised it was due to people searching for the 2000 prize

Shoppers across the country have shared pictures of the Creme Eggs on social media, saying people are unwrapping sweets in the store in the hope of winning a white chocolate treat

Kate Flood noticed on New Year's Day that people had already unwrapped the Creme Eggs in a shop in the hope to win 1000

Hoping to bring some cash into the New Year. One Twitter user noticed that all the Creme Eggs were unwrapped in one shop

Freelance writer Paul Lang tweeted a picture of some unwrapped Creme Eggs saying at first he thought there was a production problem, but he's since realised they were unwrapped due to the confectioner's competition.

On New Year's Day, Kate Flood from Manchester tweeted a picture of Creme Eggs saying 'Shout out to the person whose first life choice of 2018 was to stand in the middle of the shop and unwrap all the Creme Eggs to find a prize'.

Tasmin Dawes tweeted: 'Every single creme egg in the co-op clearly already been opened and re wrapped.... somethings telling me this definitely isnt a white one'

Trainee Pilot Josh Slesser, from Newcastle tweeted at Cadbury to express his disappointment at the apparent wrapping and unwrapping of the chocolate eggs

Another eagle-eyed shopper spotted unwrapped chocolate in a branch of co-op.

Tasmin Dawes tweeted: 'Every single creme egg in the co-op clearly already been opened and re wrapped.... somethings telling me this definitely isnt a white one'.

Trainee Pilot Josh Slesser, from Newcastle tweeted at Cadbury to express his disappointment too. 'Well not only do these look smaller, I see people have already started unwrapping the foil to look for the white creme eggs' he said.

The white chocolate Creme Egg will have the same gooey fondant yolk centre as the classic Creme Eggs, but will have a white chocolate shell instead of a milk chocolate one.

They are available to find in stores now until April 1.
Two brothers took pretending to be wizards to the next level, by incorporating fireworks.

The foolhardy pair, in Asuncion, Paraguay, shouted spells at each other as they fired the small fireworks.

The fireworks they were holding simulated wands.

The pair shot fireworks at each other while shouting spells in a bizarre stunt in Paraguay's capital

In the majority astounding clip, only one brother can be seen shooting the fireworks, with the other 'wizard' out of the camera's shot until the end.

The brother, who is not wearing a shirt despite being shot at, deftly avoids the sparks being fired at him.

At one point, one of the blasts reaches him, but he does not appear to be hurt and continues firing at his opponent.

The brother, who is not wearing a shirt despite being shot at, deftly avoids the sparks being fired at him

Eventually, the man on camera appears to surrender as his firework runs out.

He ducks for cover as his brother runs to corner him.

One brother said: 'In the video, my brother and I with shots of fireworks [sic] that symbolize a wizarding duel of the Harry Potter movies.'
President Donald Trump allegedly considered his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner for the position of secretary of state.

In Michael Wolff's new book, 'Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House', he writes that the president and then-new Chief of Staff John Kelly had a meeting during which the four star general hoped to discuss how to encourage Kushner and Ivanka Trump's departure from the White House.

However, Kelly quickly learned that Trump was 'delighted with all aspects of their performance' and had even higher aspirations for Kushner.

President Donald Trump allegedly considered his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner potentially becoming secretary of state (Pictured, Trump and Kushner, December 2017)

In Michael Wolff's new book, 'Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House', he writes that General John Kelly (pictured) was hoping to encourage Kushner and Ivanka Trump's departure from the White House but soon learned that Trump was 'delighted' with their performance

'General Kelly had Jared and Ivanka on his agenda - how the president saw their role; what he thought was working and not working about it; how he envisioned it going forward. It was all intended to be a politic way of opening a discussion about getting them out,' Wolff wrote.

'But the president was, Kelly soon learned, delighted with all aspects of their performance in the West Wing. Maybe at some point Jared would become secretary of state - that was the only change the president seemed to foresee.

'The most Kelly could do was to get the president to acknowledge that the couple should be part of a greater organizational discipline in the West Wing and should not so readily jump in the line.'

Kelly reportedly had been seeking changes and to institute order in a White House that was seemingly chaos under his predecessor, Reince Preibus, and wanted to control access to Trump and his office.

It seems Kelly was able to succeed late last year. A report indicated both Kushner and Ivanka's roles had diminished in the White House despite their lofty titles.

The roles of Ivanka and Kushner has long been a point of tension in the current administration. According to Wolff, conservative pundit Ann Coulter told Trump when he was president-elect that he could not simply hire his children.

The roles of Ivanka and Kushner (left) in the White House has long been a point of tension in the current administration. According to Wolff, conservative pundit Ann Coulter told Trump (right) when he was president-elect that he could not simply hire his children

'Nobody is apparently telling you this. But you can't. You just can't hire your children,' Coulter told Trump (Pictured, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner with their son, Theodore, December 2017)

'Nobody is apparently telling you this,' Coulter said. 'But you can't. You just can't hire your children.'

Speaking to the BBC in London on Saturday, Wolff declared that his instant New York Times bestseller would prove the catalyst for the end of the Trump administration, which has not yet completed one year in office

The Trump Organization has long been a family affair for Trump, who turned over the day-to-day running of his companies to his sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, upon assuming the presidency.

Additionally, the relationship between the president and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been contentious.

In November, Trump said 'we'll see' if Tillerson lasts his full first term. Tillerson has insisted he isn't leaving.

Speaking to the BBC in London on Saturday, Wolff declared that his instant New York Times bestseller would prove the catalyst for the end of the Trump administration, which has not yet completed one year in office.

The controversial journalist told the Today program: 'I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect.'

This comes as the president fired-off one of his now-traditional Saturday morning barrage of tweets - claiming that he is fit to be president and not just smart, but a 'genius.. and a very stable genius at that!'

Trump, 71, attacked Wolff and former top aide Steve Bannon, who was quoted in the book, on Twitter on Friday night

The presidents tweet was a response to a tweet put out by the official Republican Party Twitter account which uses quotes from other journalists to call into question Wolff's credibility

Trump, 71, attacked Wolff and former top aide Steve Bannon, who was quoted in the book, on Twitter on Friday night.

He wrote: 'Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book.

'He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job.

'Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!'

The book claims Bannon called a meeting involving the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, and Jared Kushner, with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign 'treasonous'.
A young boy who was saved from a filthy house with his four other siblings 'blamed himself' for the break-up of his family, a court has heard.

Police found out about the appalling conditions the children were living in after a school flagged up their absences. They then arrived at the address in Liverpool, Merseyside, to find the shocking state of the property.

The parents were spared jail at Liverpool Crown Court after the judge heard about the mother's horrific upbringing, including being raped as a child, while the court heard about how the father was 'overwhelmed' with the situation.

Services found out about the appalling conditions the children were living in after a school flagged up their absences

One of the children told his new carers that he 'blamed himself' for being separated from the rest of his family because he said he 'should have gone to school', the court heard.

The defendants, who have not been named to protect the identity of the children, will 'never care for their children again' are admitting to five counts of child neglect.

Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, said the family took a 'long time to gain access' to the house but that the police eventually gained entry to the property.

He continued: 'The officers found rather shocking conditions inside the house beginning with the hallway...

'They noted in particular there were a number of bags of rubbish which were strewn around the house, while all over the floor there were soiled nappies, some of which appeared to have been trodden in.

'There was also a strong smell of stale urine.'

He added that the living room in the property north of the city was devoid of furniture, and that while there was no food in the fridge, the chest freezer was 'well stocked' with food.

The children, aged as young as two, were in nappies while the oldest, of primary school age, was roaming around house in just a pair of underpants.

There was a strong smell of urine in the house as authorities walked into the property

Used nappies, some which looked like they had been trodden in, were left scattered around the property

The mother was said to be suffering from depression and struggled to complete housework. She also told the court that one of her children had suffered with diarrhoea, which was one of the reasons why he had been kept off school.

All the children were taken to a hospital in Liverpool, where doctors found no signs of deliberately inflicted injuries.

The visit to the Alder Hey Hospital revealed that some of the children had 'developmental delay' while others had behavioural issues and autism.

Julian Linskill, representing the mother in her 20s, said; 'She has, in my submission, not resolved these problems satisfactorily.'

He also revealed that two close family members passed way just days before the offences.

Ken Heckle, representing the father, admitted the father should have sought help to deal with the problem at hand.

Passing sentence, Judge Robert Warnock said the case was extremely 'serious'.

Empty bin bags and rubbish were left on the floor

There was a sink full of dirty dishes which officers found when they entered the property

He added: 'The fact is, for different reasons, each of you failed properly, or indeed at all, on some occasions to care for these five children.

'The circumstances in which the police found these children were, as you have both acknowledged, disgraceful...

'The consequences have been dire, not for you, but for the children.. They will now not be raised within the family household, and that is a direct consequence of your neglect.'

The pair managed to avoid jail due to lack of previous convictions, mental health difficulties and that the offences were due to neglect rather than malice, Judge Warnock said.

The pair were sentenced to eight months behind bars, suspended for a year and a half, and made to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. They were also ordered to carry out 30 rehabilitation activity days with the Probation Service.
Up to 10 hospitals in rebel-held areas of Syria have been mercilessly subjected to air or artillery attacks over the past 10 days, aid workers say, representing the most intense bombardment of medical facilities for a year.

At the same time at least 17 civilians were killed in Syrian government and Russian air strikes in eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, on Saturday, monitors said.

Eastern Ghouta is one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in the country, and is the target of near-daily air raids.

No effort has been made to spare the most vulnerable in the air strikes, aid workers say

At least 64 percent of attacks on civilians have been blamed on the Syrian military

A wounded man is carried following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Erbin in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus on January 2, 2018

A Syrian child who was wounded in bombardment of the rebel-held town of Misraba receives treatment in the nearby town of Douma late on January 3

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday's strikes also hit the Hammuriyeh district, killing 12 civilians including two children.

The Syrian government and Russia military have have repeatedly denied they are targeting civilian areas.

But aid agencies said medical centres were hit in the most recent air strikes, including a maternity hospital in Maarrat al-Numan, in Idlib province, which was reported to have been targeted at least three times in four days.

Meanwhile an AFP reporter in Hammuriyeh saw residential buildings with their facades blown open, collapsing into streets strewn with rubble.

Residents including members of the White Helmets rescue group rushed to help the wounded.

The Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus has been razed to the ground in the raids

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict began in March 2011

One man held a crying boy in his arms, while another carried the apparently lifeless body of a child through the streets.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Syrian and Russian aircraft had 'continued their intense bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, targeting several residential areas'.

He said those killed also included two people in the district of Madira and three in Erbin, adding that 35 people were also wounded in the three areas.

At the start of the week, a coalition of rebels and jihadists including a former Al-Qaeda affiliate surrounded the only regime base in Eastern Ghouta, which lies east of Damascus and has been under a crippling regime siege since 2013.

The blockade caused serious food and medicine shortages for the enclave's estimated 400,000 inhabitants.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protest.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict, about 485 medical facilities have been hit by military airstrikes, resulting in the deaths of about healthcare workers, estimates provided by Syria Deeply say.

Rights workers say this is a clear breach of the Geneva Convention, which classifies the targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers as a war crime.

At least 64 percent of these attacks were carried out by the Syrian military, with the rest committed by Russian forces, non-state groups or unknown attackers.

'The constant bombardment and the destruction of fundamental health services leaves many people suffering serious complications or dying as a result of illnesses that could otherwise be successfully treated.,' Syria Deeply said.

'Even giving birth can be life-threatening.'
Posting this because the same four questions keep coming up on Facebook and elsewhere regarding rum-centric visits to Jamaica:

What distilleries should I go to? (There are only 6 on the island)

What bottles should I bring back?

Where should I buy Jamaican rum?

Where should I drink?

Before getting to the answers to the above, if learning about Jamaican rums is your thing, start here with the Jamaican Rum Distillery Cheat Sheet.

Rick Steves, I am not. This is wallet-reference card level stuff, below.

Distilleries anyone can visit

Be aware that Jamaica is a big island. Dont harbor expectations that you can hit all the distilleries in a day. The distilleries are clustered together in a few spots. Use that to your advantage.

Distilleries you need an industry connection to visit

There are currently no public tours available for Long Pond or Clarendon. Both are part of National Rums of Jamaica, which is co-owned by Plantation Rum and Dememera Distillers (El Dorado). Use your industry connections if youve gotem. Both are very worth visiting, should you be able to get in.

Distilleries you arent getting into

If you manage to get in to New Yarmouth, which is owned by Campari/Wray & Nephew, we need to talk.

What should I bring back?

If youre any sort of rum hound from a country like the U.S., the UK, France, etc you probably already have decent access to the main product lines, e.g., Appleton.

Contrary to popular belief, you wont find a whole lot of rare bottles in Jamaica. Nor will you find abundance of independent bottler rums at the local rum shop. The locals arent drinking Velier Long Pond TECC or Worthy Park 502. Most of the really good stuff is exported.

It is what it is.

While the Monymusk lineup once wasnt in the US, its now appearing in more and more states. Compare/contrast their lineup with Appletons. May be worth picking up if you cant find it at home.

Sure, you may find more white Overproof rums that youve never seen before. Pickem up if you want. But know theyre from one of the big four distillery groups. If ultra-funk is your thing, and you dont have Rum Fire, Charleys J.B., or Conquering Lion in your home market, grab them.

Some folks like to pick up Captain Morgan Jamaican rum while on the island. Unlike anywhere else in the world, on Jamaica, Captain Morgan is made by J. Wray & Nephew. That said, its not particularly exceptional compared to more readily available Jamaican rums.

The Edwin Charley Proprietors Collection is a nice thing to grab. Limited number of bottles made. Four very different rums, in unique bottles.

Where should I buy Jamaican rum?

Jamaica has no shortage of rum bars, something like 20,000, but most are simple, roadside enterprises.

On our trip, we didnt find any amazing liquor stores holding a bounty of rare, exotic bottles to make a rum wonks heart go pitter patter.

Hampden, Worthy Park, and Appleton have retail stores. However, most of what they carry is their regular, export product lineup, i.e., things you can get at home. Dont expect tons of distillery-only bottlings, and if you do find them, expect that theyll be costly.

The best place we found to stock up on rums in Jamaica was actually a warehouse store: Mega Mart, in Kingston. Good selection, and Edwin Charley to boot. My Jamaican-residing rum brother adds:

Mega Mart also has a location in Montego Bay, but other chain supermarkets with decent selection are Hi-Lo, Loshusan, General Foods (in Kingston) or Progressive Supermarkets. These are pretty much across the island.



Theres a very random well stocked spot near Ocho Rios. Its at a BOOT gas station which also has a small supermarket with a (very) good local rum selection. Ive seen some limited bottlings available there.

Youll also find a decent selection in duty free at the two airport, as you depart. The Kingston duty free has been known to have a few exotic bottles like Hampden Great House, but best not to depend on that. However, duty free may or may not be a viable option, depending on if your flight home has layovers, or other circumstances.

Martin buying all the Edwin Charley at Mega Mart

Mega Mart in Kingston

Where should I drink?

Well, there are the aforementioned rum bars. But if youre looking for craft cocktails or amazing Tiki, youll have a tough swim upstream. Sure, hotels and restaurants have bars, but Jamaica (as well as other Caribbean islands) is not known as a hotbed of advanced mixology. Set your expectations accordingly and youll have a good experience.

Ting & Wray (Ting soda and Wray & Nephew Overproof) is a common drink on the island. At our hotel, our WIRSPA group upgraded to Ting and Appleton 12  certainly was delightful given the surroundings. In the absence of Ting, Schweppes Grapefruit works  so says a local!
A nurse with a staff parking permit has been given 5,500 in fines while she helps save patients' lives because there aren't enough spaces.

Victoria Slayford, 38, works 12 and a half hour shifts as paedeatric nurse at Croydon University Hospital in south London.

But while she's inside working, she claims parking wardens have issued her with over 80 tickets for 'being in the wrong space' - despite having a staff permit.

The single mother, of south east London, says she lives in fear of the hospital's private parking firm Empark taking her to court.

Victoria Slayford (pictured), 38, works 12 and a half hour shifts as paedeatric nurse at Croydon University Hospital in south London

She told the Daily Mirror: 'Most of the fines are because I had to work late and stay with a patient.

'It's incredible we have to go through this when we're trying to do our job and save lives.'

Ms Slayford told the newspaper there are a limited number of staff spaces at the hospital, meaning the bays are often full by the time she gets to work.

She said she often drives around the car park for 45 minutes looking for a space, and is eventually forced to park in the public parking spaces - which cost 15 a day.

Despite paying 10 for a staff permit, she is regularly slapped with fines for being in non-staff bays.

She has even attached a note to her car window saying: 'Really sorry, please do not fine me, call me on this number as there is nowhere to park'.

The nurse claims all 'nearly all' of her colleagues have suffered parking fines.

But while she's inside working, she claims parking wardens have issued her with over 80 tickets for 'being in the wrong space'

She lives half an hour away from the hospital and cannot use public transport to get there as she finishes work after hours.

Earlier this week a doctor at Croydon University Hospital tweeted to say he had finished a 'night shift from hell' to find wardens in the car park trying to fine people.

Dr Paul Robinson wrote: 'Guy in a jacket making money for Empark as I finish my night shift from hell. 10 tickets so far and counting. I am wholly disgusted #hospitalparking.'

A spokesman for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust told MailOnline: 'We are a busy hospital and our dedicated staff work unsociable hours to care for people 24-hours-a-day.

'We try very hard to make sure our parking is fair for all, with several car parks at Croydon University Hospital - some of which designated for patients and visitors, and others set aside for staff.

'However, like many NHS trusts within urban areas, at peak times demand can exceed the number of car spaces available.

'Parking wardens will only ticket cars that have stayed over their allotted time. If any patient or staff feels they have been ticketed unfairly, we offer the chance to appeal  details of which are clearly marked on the back of the ticket.'

The single mother (pictured), of south east London, says she lives in fear of the hospital's private parking firm Empark taking her to court

MailOnline has approached Empark for comment.

There has been wide condemnation of hospital parking charges, with patient support groups claiming they are a 'tax on the sick'.

It was revealed last week that hospitals across England made a record 175million in parking charges last year, despite the Government trying to crack down on them.

The Freedom of Information request responses revealed 1million had been made in parking fines.

The Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guilford charged the highest fees - 4 an hour.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has previously admitted the fees were 'unfair'.

In 2014, he introduced guidelines urging NHS trusts to offer free or reduced parking for cancer patients, the disabled, relatives and staff.

But the rules were not legally binding and many trusts chose to ignore them, because the fees are an important source of income.

A petition lobbying the Government to scrap hospital parking charges has gathered over 34,000 signatures.
Saudi authorities have detained 11 princes after they protested at royal palace in Riyad against austerity measures including having to pay their own utility bills.

Saudi Arabia has introduced reforms including cutting subsidies, introducing value added tax (VAT) and cutting perks to royal family members in a bid to deal with a huge budget deficit caused by falling oil prices.

The princes had gathered on Thursday at Qasr al-Hokm palace demanding the cancellation of a recent decree that halted state payment of water and electricity bills for royal family members and seeking compensation for a death sentence implemented in 2016 against one of their cousins, Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir.

The guards who arrested the princes were from a unit comprising more than 5,000 members linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured)

Part of the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh was converted into a prison for royals and officials rounded up as part of a crack-down on corruption

Footage emerged of the detained royals sleeping on the floor of the hotel

'Despite being informed that their demands are not lawful, the 11 princes refused to leave the area, disrupting public peace and order. Members of the security services stepped in to restore order and the princes were arrested,' the public prosecutor's statement said, without identifying the princes.

'Following their arrest, they have been charged on a number of counts in relation to these offences. They are detained at Al-Hayer prison south of the capital pending their trial.'

News website Sabq earlier identified the leader of the group of princes by the initials SAS.

The Saud al-Kabir branch of the House of Saud descends from a cousin of the late King Abdulaziz, who founded the modern kingdom.

The meteoric rise of 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kings favoured son, and his ambitious, sometimes aggressive, policies have caused rare tensions within the royal family, which for decades favoured rule by consensus.

Dozens of princes, high officials and senior businessmen were rounded up in November in a crackdown on graft that has boosted Mohammeds power.

They have been held at the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh while government officials negotiate financial settlements, asking them to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom.

The round up followed a meticulously planned palace coup in June through which Mohammed ousted his elder cousin Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as heir to the throne.

Last year, Saudi Arabia announced the round-up of former senior officials including royals, which has strengthened heir to the Saudi throne, Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Michael Diebold, 40, was arrested on Friday in Leechburg, Pennsylvania

A married, one-armed police chief who became a local hero after losing his arm in a fireworks accident has been arrested for trying to solicit sex from a 14-year-old girl on a messaging where he called himself 'Kutecop4U'.

Leechburg Police Chief Michael Diebold was taken into custody on Friday in the Pennsylvania town where he is a beloved community leader.

He was arrested at a Sheetz gas station where he'd arranged to meet the girl.

Prosecutors say he contacted an undercover agent who was posing as a 14-year-old girl through the app Kik and arranged to meet up with her for sex.

He is charged with two felonies - unlawful contact with a minor and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse - and is being held in county jail on a bond of $500,000.

Prosecutors say Diebold, 40, sent the agent lewd photographs of himself and explicit material under the pretense that he was speaking to a teenage girl.

The agent began speaking to him by responding to an ad posted by the man.

It read: 'Dominate male police officer seeks fun, discreet, sub playmate-m4w,' according to the criminal complaint against Diebold.

The listing read: 'I am a dom male that is also employed as a full time police officer. I hope that does not scare you off. I am white, straight, good looking, clean, d/d free, mentally stable and fun.

In June, Diebold became a local hero after losing his arm in a fireworks accident and marrying his high school sweetheart two weeks later

Diebold is pictured with his wife Danielle on their wedding day in June last year

'I can also host or travel. I do have pics to share and I am very discreet.

'I am looking for a female sub for ongoing play sessions. I do not have a set type of woman so any age, race or status may email me. I respect any and all limits and you do not need to be experienced. I hope to hear from someone soon. KIK=kutecop4you's.'

It is not clear when the pair began speaking.

In June, Diebold lost part of his arm in a fireworks explosion in the town. Two weeks later, he married his partner in a ceremony that was well-attended and widely reported in local media.

The pair had welcomed their baby son not long beforehand.

According to local station WTAE, Diebold admitted his wrongdoing in custody and told officers his life was 'totally over'.

He is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing later this month.
Attorney Aaron Filler, who formerly represented de la Huerta, filed the lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles

A lawyer who represented actress Paz de la Huerta has filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and an attorney, alleging they coordinated in a scheme to get the actress to drop her rape complaint against the movie mogul.

Attorney Aaron Filler, who formerly represented de la Huerta, filed the lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles against Weinstein, his company and attorney Michael Rubin.

Rubin, a former New York prosecutor turned defense attorney, is a 'specialist in the criminal defense of rapists', the suit claims.

But Rubin, posing as a 'victims rights advocate', contacted de la Huerta in a nefarious attempt to gain access to and expose her medical records and convince her to drop her rape allegations against Weinstein, the suit claims.

A lawyer who represented actress Paz de la Huerta (left) has filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein (right) and a former New York prosecutor, alleging they coordinated in a scheme to get the actress to drop her sexual misconduct complaint against the movie mogul

Rubin initiated contact with de la Huerta after she came forward in a November 3 interview with Vanity Fair, alleging that Weinstein raped her twice, according to the suit.

De la Huerta said that the sexual assaults occurred in 2010 in New York, within New York's statute of limitation for first degree rape. Prosecutors have said they are considering bringing charges, but not have yet been filed.

The complain alleges that Rubin approached de la Huerta, insisted she keep their communications secret, and urged her the immediately drop Filler and his firm as her attorneys in the matter.

'After this series of efforts to damage and humiliate De La Huerta, Rubin informed her, on November 12, she had no case and should withdraw her allegations against Weinstein,' the lawsuit states.

De la Huerta said that the sexual assaults occurred in 2010 in New York, within New York's statute of limitation for first degree rape

Rubin denied the allegations and said that Filler is just upset he lost a client.

'I never met Harvey Weinstein in my life,' he said.

Rubin said his intentions in reaching out to the actress were to help de la Huerta get Weinstein arrested.

Weinstein spokeswoman Holly Baird said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday that it's 'insanity' to suggest that Weinstein 'had any involvement.'

More than 80 women have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, but he has yet to face criminal charges in any of the cases.

Weinstein and his team reportedly provided a list of names to former Mossad agents and other Israeli intelligence agencies to gather intelligence about his accusers.
Rhiannon Clifford-Powell, 15, was found dead at her family home in Kendal, Cumbria yesterday

A teenager who once met the Duchess of Cambridge at a scout camp has been found dead at her family home.

Rhiannon Clifford-Powell, 15, was pronounced dead at her home yesterday afternoon.

Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the teenager's death which they are not treating as suspicious.

Ms Clifford-Powell met the Duchess of Cambridge in March 2013 at a scout camp as the royal made her first ever official visit to Cumbria.

Speaking to the Westmorland Gazette at the time, Ms Clifford-Powell, who was ten, said: 'I was really excited when I found out Kate was coming and I was bursting to tell everyone but I had to keep it a secret.

'I did not know what to expect but she was really nice and friendly.'

Following the teenager's death at her home in Kendal, her family said: 'It is with our deepest sadness that we inform you of the passing of our daughter, Rhiannon Clifford-Powell.

'Our two families are in bits. We are struggling to come to terms with this.

'We wish Rhiannon to be remembered as a talented violinist, artist, explorer scout, sea cadet and the bright, caring and kind soul she was. The eldest to a sister and five brothers, she is the love of our lives.

'She has left two devastated families. Please leave us to grieve in peace.'

Police confirmed the Coroner has been informed and an inquest into the cause of the teenager's death will be held in due course.
Former cadaver dealer Arthur Rathburn (pictured) stored human body parts inside a 'filthy' Detroit warehouse, a federal agent testified in court on Friday

A former cadaver dealer stored human body parts inside a 'filthy' Detroit warehouse where they were preserved in makeshift containers including paint cans and beer coolers, a federal officer testified in court on Friday.

FBI agent Leslie Larsen added that she and her colleagues found human remains frozen together inside Arthur Rathburn's refrigerator, next to ingredients for sandwiches, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Rathburn, 64, is currently facing 13 federal charges, including wire fraud, transport of hazardous material and making false statements.

Rathburn is also charged with defrauding customers by selling them body parts infected with hepatitis and HIV.

Investigators said that they found the body parts along with fetuses inside the warehouse during a December 2013 raid.

Rathburn is pictured at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. in November 1988

Investigators said that they found the body parts along with fetuses inside the warehouse (pictured) during a December 2013 raid

'We seized human remains, documents and tools,' Larsen told the Detroit courtroom.

The fetuses, which appear to have been in their second trimester, were submerged in a liquid that included human brain tissue.

How Rathburn acquired the fetuses and what he intended to do with them still remians unclear.

Arthur Rathburn (pictured), 64, is currently facing 13 federal charges, including wire fraud, transport of hazardous material and making false statements

Rathburns lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, and neither the indictment nor other documents made public in his case mention the fetuses.

Rathburn, along with his ex-wife, Elizabeth, were accused of fraud after they were caught selling infected body parts through their company, International Biological Inc.

Elizabeth, however, turned government witness after pleading guilty to one charge of fraud and now is a witness in the case.

Authorities first became suspicious of Rathburn when U.S. Customs agents seized a severed head he was transporting from Tel Aviv to Chicago.

The head was infected with sepsis, U.S. Attorney John Neal said during court, and was packed in a trash bag filled with fluids, which failed to meet shipping standards.

Rathburns lawyer, James Howarth, urged the jury to focus on the documents in the case, not gruesome photographs. He said that Rathburns ex-wife is 'most responsible' for any wrongdoing.

'This case is so sensitive because the nature of the evidence is going to make us all cringe, make us all uneasy,' Howarth told the jury. 'Theres nothing particularly pretty about a deceased body that has been separated into parts, but I would hope no one would have bad feelings toward Mr. Rathburn because of that.'

The fetuses, which appear to have been in their second trimester, were submerged in a liquid that included human brain tissue

The buying and selling of cadavers and other body parts - with the exception of organs used in transplants - is legal and virtually unregulated in America

Rathburn allegedly lied about the liquid, claiming it was mouth wash, and that he had embalmed the head, Neal said.

The buying and selling of cadavers and other body parts - with the exception of organs used in transplants - is legal and virtually unregulated in America. But trading in fetal tissue violates U.S. law.

Such brokers take cadavers donated to science, dismember them and sell them for parts, typically for use in medical research and education.

The multimillion-dollar industry has been built largely on the poor, who donate their bodies in return for a free cremation of leftover body parts.

In most states, including Michigan, public health authorities are not required to regularly inspect body broker facilities. As a result, its impossible to know whether body brokers who deal in adult donors are acquiring and profiting from fetuses.
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has been caught on video getting kicked out of a New York City bar after a dispute around the pool table.

The video, shot Friday night in Barfly, a cozy dive bar in the otherwise upscale Gramercy Park neighborhood, shows the actor who plays Jon Snow arguing with bouncers and patrons.

The context of the dispute is unclear, but 31-year-old Harington appears at points to be attempting to locate his coat and belongings in a manner disruptive to the other revelers.

His leading-man charm didn't appear to impress one young lady, who tartly tells him 'Say excuse me' as he tries to jostle past her.

Kit Harington as Jon Snow is seen with Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones. The show's stars are among the highest paid in television

Harington leans over the pool table in the crowded neighborhood pub and yells unintelligibly. Bouncers and patrons are seen reeling him back as he struggles

The bar has only one pool table, squeezed into cramped quarters outside the restrooms.

According to one eyewitness, Harington was booted out of the bar and left, but then came back in and had to be physically dragged out into the cold by bouncers, TMZ reported.

Representatives for Harington did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

In September, London-native Harington announced his engagement to Game of Thrones co-stare Rose Leslie.

Harington, along with his top billed co-stars on Game of Thrones, is among the highest paid actors on television.

Harington was seen conferring with this mystery man, who seems to be a member of his party

The mystery man points the way to the door as Harington looks reluctantly out into the cold

Kit Harington and his fiancee Rose Leslie are seen in July attending the season seven premiere of Game Of Thrones at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles

He and the other leading cast members make $500,000 per episode, according to a report this summer from Variety.

He reportedly snapped up a 1.75million home with Leslie, 30, in East Anglia late last year.

The couple met on set of the hit HBO show when she appeared as wildling Ygritte.

They were previously believed to be on the house hunt in New York, but instead settled on a medieval 15th century timber home in the English countryside.

It is unclear what Harington was doing in New York at the time of the bar incident.
A shameless thief stole 4,000 from her 87-year-old grandmother who suffers from dementia to fund a trip to Disneyland Paris.

Kathryn Kent, 28 posted pictures of her holiday online which caused her family to become suspicious and question how she was able to afford it.

They later found that Kent, from Burton in Derby, had paid for the trip by stealing money from her grandmother's bank account.

She also attempted to take her grandmother to a solicitor to change her will so that she could inherit her money, Derby Crown Court heard.

Kathryn Kent (pictured), 28 who stole 4,000 from her dementia suffering grandmother has been spared jail and handed a 12-month suspended sentence

Although the defendant was spared jail after admitting the theft the judge handed her a 12-month suspended sentence.

Recorder Adrian Reynolds told her: 'You have stooped about as low as you can get stealing from your own grandmother who is suffering from dementia.

'I hope you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself?

'There are probably a number of people that think I should send you to prison but I am not going to.

Kent stole the money so she could afford a trip to Disneyland Paris but was caught out when her family asked where she got the cash from

'It is apparent to me that you have your problems and you are struggling. If I send you to prison that will not help you and I strongly suspect that your grandmother would not want that either.

'It was a dreadful wrong that you carried out and you know that.'

Kent had previously lived with her grandmother and had access to her bank account so that she could take money out to pay for living essentials - not pay for holidays, the Derby Telegraph reports.

However at the time of the theft Kent's grandmother was living with another family member, Katrina Wilson, prosecuting told the court.

Miss Wilson said: 'The theft itself took place on September 19, 2016.

'It was discovered that 4,000 had been withdrawn from the victim's bank account and this defendant had gone on holiday to Disneyland Paris.

'She posted pictures on social media and they (Kent's family) questioned how she was able to afford to do that.

Derby Crown Court (pictured) heard that Kent had previously been living with her grandmother and had been given access to her bank account under the proviso that she would get money out for living essentials

'It was also discovered that she had arranged to take her to a solicitor to write a new will but that has been overturned by a new will.'

Miss Wilson said the theft had caused Kent's grandmother 'a high degree of emotional distress at the abuse of trust'.

In a victim impact statement she said: 'I am very upset at what's happened and simply want my money back.'

Kent was arrested and later pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

Elisabeth Evans, mitigating, said her client had no previous convictions and had never been in trouble with the police before.

She said: 'At the time of the offence she was living an emotionally unstable lifestyle and was in a controlling relationship.

'As a result of this she suffered a mental breakdown. She is on medication for anxiety and depression.'

Recorder Reynolds asked Miss Evans: 'Does she accept that some of the money was used to fund the holiday to Disneyland?'

She replied: 'She does, your honour, and she is keen to pay her grandmother back.'
At 16, he was already known as the golden hippy, a hard-drinking, cocaine-snorting, rebel who resented his familys vast oil wealth. Then in July 1973, disaster struck. John Paul Getty III was snatched from the streets of Rome by the Calabrian mafia, the Ndrangheta.

Now, director Ridley Scotts new film All The Money In The World has captured the extraordinary drama as, month after month, Gettys tightfisted grandfather refused to pay the 2.1 million ransom... until the richest man in the world was sent a crudely severed ear.

Here, in his own harrowing words, is John Pauls story, as told to author Charles Fox for his book, Kidnapped.

John Paul starts his account with a moment that shocked the world...

I tried to be tough. I imagined the pain and tried to think of a way to make it easier. I think three days passed before they said, Were going to do it tonight, but they didnt.

The following day, they washed and disinfected me. Piccolo, one of my captors, promised: Three days after the ear is cut off, we swear to release you. They told me it would happen at 7pm. I waited. Nothing happened.

At about 4am on October 21, they cooked me four steaks. They said, This is to help you. I ate them all. At about 7am, I heard them come in. They said: OK. Its now.

John Paul Getty II - his right ear missing - after being freed by his kidnappers in December, 1973. He is played in the film by Charlie Plummer, right

They told me to blindfold myself and sit on the chopping block. I was petrified. There were about seven people in the room. I heard the clink of the surgical things. Piccolo said: Prepare the cotton and that red stuff  iodine. I said: Can I have a handkerchief? I rolled it up and put it in my mouth like a gag.

I said: Is it going to hurt? and Piccolo said: Of course its going to hurt. I said: Do it. Quickly.

He rested the razor on my ear. There was a sound like ripping paper. It was done in two strokes. The noise was the worst thing. Theres a limit to pain. If you prepare yourself, you can withstand it.

It was 3am in Rome on July 10, 1973. They were starting to close the cafes as I walked through the streets to Piazza Navona wearing my disco clothes  tight jeans, a T-shirt with glitter and boots with a broken heel.

I bought a newspaper and some cigarettes and walked on. I was drunk and hot. My head was swimming and it was difficult to carry on. Sometimes I leaned out and touched the wall. All the time I was looking at the stone face of a boy on a white marble fountain under the light at the end of the street. He was staring back at me and I swear he smiled.

As he did, I realised a car was stopping alongside me. These men were coming out of it. They grabbed me and wrestled me to the floor behind the front seats. The car took off.

They drove for an hour in silence. Then the guy in front, the passenger, leaned over the seat and looked down at me. He asked, Who are you? I said, Paul Getty and instantly realised my mistake.

I slept as we drove south for hours. I didnt realise at all what was going on. I remember the drive and voices talking to each other. I would have never dreamed it was real.

When I woke, the car had stopped and it was getting light. I heard them talking. Then I was blindfolded and carried out on to the grass. Beneath the blindfold, I saw an Arab-looking guy  half beard, brown face and a cigar  whom I later called Piccolo, the little guy. A guy told me in a thick Arab accent: Now the food comes.

I thought: It must be Arab guerrillas. I was sure it was political; that they wanted the money. Then I thought it might be communists. Or maybe fascists. I didnt know who it was. Then I realised these men had nothing and wanted everything. They had nothing to do but kidnap people.

Real grandfather: Oil baron John Paul Getty was said to be the richest man in history when his grandson was snatched

I lay there for an interminable amount of time until the next night came when they moved me again, still blindfolded. They walked one on either side of me on rough ground. They made me march in circles and then theyd get me in the car and drive me a half mile and then Id get out again and Id walk again in circles. We walked all night.

I dont think they knew where they wanted to take me. They had caught me and they werent ready and were getting things together. We walked again that night, in and out of the car, just like the previous night.

I went to sleep again at four in the morning. The next night, they took me through pouring rain to a hut. One of them dried me off, another gave me some clothes and another made a fire on the dirt floor. They made some pasta.

Thats when they took the blindfold off for the first time. I had to sit looking at the wall so I couldnt see them. Piccolo brought me paper and a ballpoint pen. He dictated a letter:

Dear Mother,

Since Monday, I have been in the hands of the kidnappers. I beg you, do not put my life in danger. Please stay away from the police. Do not think that this is a game that I have set up. Try to put yourself in contact with my kidnappers.

P.S. If you delay, my kidnappers will cut off a finger and send it to you. Do not involve the police because otherwise they will kill me. I love you.

A few days earlier, Id had a fight with my mother. I came home stoned and told her: I am addicted to coke. She began to cry. Id been hanging out with gangsters in Rome  people who never slept. Coke, coke, coke. We had machine guns. We were starting to get into big drug deals. In some ways it was even romantic.

Then two guys who said they worked for Air France walked in. I always thought our gang leader was a big guy, but when these guys came in, he bowed down.

These Air France guys said to me: Why dont we kidnap you? I was ready to do it out of economic necessity  when you get into coke youll do anything to have it. But after a while I changed my mind and began to avoid the gangsters but the idea was in the air.

July 23

If you dont do as they say, dear Mother, it will mean that you want me dead. If one of them is taken, the others have orders to kill me. Take the autostrada to Palermo... the money should be in sacks... If you dont follow these instructions, it will mean my life.

My family did not answer, which caused some consternation. Gradually, everyone got paranoid. They started being mean to me. They were scared of one another. I got the feeling the chief was around.

It was fine to be with one alone, but as soon as it was two, theyd show off who could be the meanest: The chief wanted to blow your brains out and throw you in the water. After that, I really didnt care. I tried to irritate them, turn up the radio when they were talking, that sort of thing.

August 16

Dear Mother and Father,

I have been with my kidnappers a month. The waiting is terrible. Will my family pay or will I be killed? See they dont kill me. I am so young, not even 17. What they are asking for now is 5 million. You have 20 days. PS: After that it will be difficult for you to see me alive.

When the nights cooled, they said we would have to go farther down the mountain. We left in the morning and walked the whole day to a cave so small I had to lie on my side. It was terrifying. They said, This is going to be your final resting place. All we have to do is bury you right here.

Yet the famously stingy billionaire - portrayed with remarkable accuracy by Christopher Plummer, after disgraced Kevin Spacey was edited out of the completed film, resisted paying the ransom for five months

They covered the entrance with leaves and told me they would shoot me if I walked out. Every other day they would bring me hot food, like spaghetti, which was a real treat. I would spend hours eating it and save some for later. There was friction between all the guys. They had come to really despise me. They took my radio and Piccolo told me: Please try to escape. We can use that as an excuse to kill you.

On October 5, a letter from the kidnappers was published in the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero. It seemed a terrible conclusion was imminent: The Getty family has 15 days to find the money for Pauls release. At the end of this period, a letter will be sent containing an ear with a lock of hair from Paul. After which, if they dont bring the money, Paul will be killed.

We moved down the hill to a house that looked, inside, like a castle. The floor was dirt. There was a window with shutters, a bed with a little Madonna picture over it and a chopping block specked with blood. They said: We have to get some medical things together. They kept delaying: Tomorrow, tomorrow... We can wait more if you want, but eventually I said: Lets do it. I thought it was the only way to get out of there.

After they cut my ear off, there was no pain until they put alcohol on the wound  oh Jesus. Then they bandaged me and gave me anti-tetanus and penicillin shots.

In about half an hour, I began to bleed. I was scared. After about five hours of continuous bleeding, I had to lie down, I couldnt move. Then they started to get scared. They gave me about six shots an hour of penicillin  I found out later Im allergic to it.

The kidnapped teenager was effectively saved by his penniless mother Gail, left  played, again with uncanny likeness, by Michelle Williams

So much blood and gooeyness, it was in my hair, all over my body, down my back. If I touched my ear the bleeding started again. The bandage, my body, the bed, everything was completely red. There were rats eating the blood and on my bandages.

The bleeding stopped after about a day and a half when they gave me a coagulant shot. By the third day, I was sure I was going to die. However, on that day I started to eat.

For what seemed like an age, nothing happened (the letter containing the ear and a threat that other body parts would follow took 28 days to arrive because of an Italian postal strike).

Finally, on December 10, they came and said: We spoke to them. Weve come to an agreement. My family had agreed to pay 1.6 billion lire in small, used notes.

It was about 7pm on December 14 and they had dressed me up in clean shirt and trousers  for Italians, you have to be presentable when you go home.

It was snowing. There was a cliff in front of us and they made me walk for three hours wearing a ski mask so I couldnt see anything. Five or six of them came to say goodbye. They put me in a car and drove me for around for seven hours.

The hills were full of police, but they were more organised: the car would go for a mile, then it would stop and we would meet another car. Then they would talk and that car checks ahead with us following.

By this point they had the money, but were scared to die. They had families and had been paid next to nothing. Maybe $7,000. The one who wasnt driving said, Dont talk, or well cut your tongue out.

Eventually, they stopped. It was cold and dark, the early hours of the morning. There were enormous blocks of ice on the side of the autostrada. They let me out and gave me blankets and a pack of cigarettes. One said: Theres a guy watching, so dont turn around; wait ten minutes, take off your mask. Your mother will be here in a few hours.

I heard their car start, the shifting of gears as it moved away. It was a strange feeling, like a huge weight taken off... I took the mask off. It was over.

John Paul Getty III never truly recovered from his ordeal. Addicted to heroin and cocaine, he took an overdose in 1981 which left him paralysed, almost blind and confined to a wheelchair. He died at his Buckinghamshire home in 2011, aged 54.

From Kidnapped: The Tragic Life Of J Paul Getty III, by Charles Fox.  2018 by the author and reprinted by permission of Picador USA.
The WannaCry 'hero' facing trial in the US accused of creating a separate malware was coerced into an alleged confession while intoxicated and sleep-deprived, his lawyers have claimed.

Marcus Hutchins, 23, was arrested at a Las Vegas airport as he prepared to fly back home to Ilfracombe, Devon, after attending a hacking convention.

Prosecutors claimed the cybersecurity researcher admitted during interrogation that he created and sold the Kronos malware, which harvests bank details.

Marcus Hutchins, 23, is due to stand trial in the US accused of creating malware that harvests bank details. His lawyers claim a confession was coerced

Marcus Hutchins prevented more than 100,000 computers across the globe from being infected with the WannaCry virus (pictured) in May

But his lawyers argued in a document filed in court in on Friday that he had likely been subject to surveillance leading up to his arrest in August and therefore agents 'knew he was exhausted and intoxicated at the time'.

'The defence intends to argue that the government coerced Mr Hutchins, who was sleep-deprived and intoxicated, to talk,' they added.

'As such, his decision to speak with the agents was not knowing, intelligent, and made in full awareness of the nature of the right given up and the consequences of giving up that right, as the law requires.'

The legal team also argued that if he was not read his rights he may have wrongly believed his silence could be used against him, as it could be in the UK's legal system.

Hutchins was arrested at a Las Vegas airport as he prepared to fly back home to Ilfracombe, Devon, after attending a hacking convention

Hutchins has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him and last month Tom Bossert, Donald Trump's homeland security adviser, praised him for finding the 'kill-switch' that scuppered the WannaCry attack that crippled the NHS and spread to 150 countries in May.

Blame for the malware has been levelled at North Korea by both the UK and the US.

Hutchins, who is currently on bail in Los Angeles where has worked for a computer security firm, denied six counts of creating and distributing the banking trojan between July 2014 and July 2015.

A date for his trial in Wisconsin has not been set.
President Donald Trump said he's open to talking to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and is hoping some good can come from upcoming talks between the Koreas.

Trump, answering questions from reporters at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, expressed a willingness to talk to Kim - who he's referred to as 'Rocket Man' but not without preconditions.

'Sure, I always believe in talking,' Trump said in response to a question about whether he'd speak with Kim.

'Absolutely, I would do that,' he said, stressing he would also 'be very firm.'

President Donald Trump (pictured, Friday) aid he's open to talking to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and is hoping some good can come from upcoming talks between the Koreas

North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with South Korea next week. The two countries agreed to discuss cooperation on the upcoming Olympics in South Korea, as well as other issues, in rare talks set to begin Tuesday (Pictured, Kim Jong-un, Monday)

North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with South Korea next week, the first in more than two years and hours after Washington and Seoul delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

North and South Korea have agreed to discuss cooperation on the upcoming Olympics in South Korea, as well as other issues, in rare talks set to begin Tuesday.

Trump suggested the talks might lead to an easing of tensions and took credit for the diplomatic breakthrough, saying it was a result of his steady pressure.

'Look, right now they're talking Olympics. It's a start, it's big start. If I weren't involved they wouldn't be talking at all right now,' the president said, adding that if 'something can come out of those talks that would be a great thing for all of humanity'.

North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with South Korea next week, the first in more than two years. Trump (pictured, Friday) took credit for the diplomatic breakthrough, saying it was a result of his steady pressure

Trump said Kim (pictured, July 2017) - who's threatened the US with a nuclear attack - 'knows I'm not messing around, not even a little bit, not even one percent'

He said Kim - who's threatened the US with a nuclear attack - 'knows I'm not messing around, not even a little bit, not even one percent.'

Kim and Trump have engaged in an unprecedented war of words for months. Trump has referred to Kim as 'little rocket man,' 'short and fat' and a 'madman,' and threatened to wipe Kim and his country off the face of the earth if they attack the US or its allies.

Kim has responded in kind, calling Trump a 'mentally deranged dotard (senile person),' saying he deserved the death penalty, and vowing to annihilate the US if it attacks North Korea.
The heroes of one of the most crucial campaigns of the Second World War could finally be recognised for their sacrifices.

A memorial is being planned in honour of the 50,000 Allied serviceman and merchant sailors who lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The struggle to protect the convoys bringing vital supplies from the USA to Europe was the longest campaign of the conflict, and Winston Churchill said it was the dominating factor on which the wars outcome depended.

A memorial is being planned in honour of the 50,000 Allied serviceman and merchant sailors who lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic. Pictured: A depth charge blasting a u-boat

Tomorrow an appeal will be launched to raise 2.5 million to fund a 15-ton bronze sculpture on the waterfront in Liverpool, where Allied commanders of the battle were based.

The campaigns chairman Vice Admiral Mike Gretton  whose father Vice Admiral Sir Peter Gretton served during the battle  said the memorial would be chance to correct an oversight, 73 years after the last skirmishes.

He said: Despite the immense significance of the Battle of the Atlantic, it does not have a dedicated national memorial in Britain.

We believe that, as the veterans leave us, it is vital that we create a fitting memorial to the lion-hearted men and women who served.

The statue is being designed by Paul Day, who previously created the Battle of Britain Monument on the Thames Embankment.

U-Boat crew member rescued by an Allied ship during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War Two

His new sculpture will remember those on both sides of the conflict, including the many German U-boat submariners who died.

Alec Owen, 93, who served in the Navys convoy escorts, told The Mail on Sunday that the memorial was crucial. Recalling one sinking, he said: I can still see those people we left in the water. Its difficult to explain the atrocities and what we went through.

I feel a memorial must be created to help us communicate what happened, so that our stories are not forgotten.

For more details of the project, visit battleoftheatlantic.org.
A decorated British soldier who fought alongside Prince Harry in Afghanistan is believed to have killed himself after complaining to colleagues about the treatment he was receiving for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Married Warrant Officer Nathan Hunt, 39, was found dead last week after confiding to Royal Engineers colleagues that he was struggling to cope with the effects of battlefield trauma. He also described the care provided to him by the Army as useless.

The father-of-one protected Prince Harry when they belonged to a British Army desert reconnaissance unit. Warrant Officer Hunts highly dangerous role was to identify roadside bombs encountered by the elite force as they crossed Helmand Province on secret missions to ambush the Taliban.

Prince Harry, fifth right, pictured with his battle group in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in March 2008, with Warrant Officer Nathan Hunt, circled, who took his own life last week and Corporal James Dunsby, extreme right, who died on an SAS selection course in 2013

Prince Harry served alongside Warrant Officer Nathan Hunt, 39 in 2008 while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Prince Harry spent two-and-a-half months in the deadly Helmand Province

After the nerve-racking tour in 2008, WO Hunt was awarded a Mention in Dispatches for his courage and professionalism. But the role also took its toll on WO Hunt, who was diagnosed with a combat stress condition caused by his frontline experiences.

Last night, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Harry had written a private letter of condolence to WO Hunts family.

The Prince is committed to improving standards of mental healthcare for troops and last year launched a new 2 million project to help traumatised veterans.

But last night WO Hunts former colleagues accused the Ministry of Defence of letting him down. One said: Nathan was a cracking bloke who saved a lot of lives in Afghanistan. He fought the demons in his head for years but it seems they won in the end. He said recently at a get-together for veterans that the care he was receiving for his condition was useless and he was thinking of getting out of the Army.

How many troops are going to die back in UK from the mental scars of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq before the MoD takes this problem seriously?

When asked whether WO Hunt whose most recent Army role was as an instructor  had lodged an official complaint about his treatment, the MoD said it did not comment on individual cases. An Army spokesman added: Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. The circumstances of his death are currently being investigated and it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Prince Harry, pictured here on a 50cal machine gun, wrote a personal note to WO Hunt's family after he was informed of his former comrade's tragic death

We take the mental health of the Armed Forces community extremely seriously and work tirelessly to ensure troops and veterans receive the care they deserve.

WO Hunts family declined to comment last night.

Disturbingly, the number of troops suffering from conditions such as PTSD has nearly doubled in the past ten years. In 2007, just 1.8 per cent of regular soldiers were diagnosed with mental health conditions triggered by battlefield experiences. Last year, the figure had jumped to 3.2 per cent  around 2,500 troops  yet defence officials have refused to acknowledge the problem is getting worse.

Instead, the MoD attributes the rise to the successful effect of campaigns to reduce stigma, resulting in an increase in mental health awareness. Soldiers diagnosed with mental illnesses are offered psychiatric treatment, drugs and, for the most serious cases, residential care. Since 1995, more than 400 serving personnel are believed to have committed suicide.

The Mail on Sunday understands that WO Hunts condition had been a significant factor in his separation last year from his wife Elaine, 41, from Barnard Castle, County Durham. His former colleagues have pledged to raise funds to support the couples young daughter. The exact circumstances of WO Hunts death remained unclear last night but his body was discovered at an address in his home city of Lincoln on January 2. An inquest is expected to open later this month.

WO Hunts death is the second tragedy to hit Prince Harrys desert squad. Corporal James Dunsby, 31, belonged to the same unit. He died after collapsing during a Special Air Service selection march in the Brecon Beacons in 2013.
An investigation found that Ohio's Cleveland Clinic kept a surgeon accused of raping patients on staff while reaching a confidential settlement, which allowed him to move to another hospital without any warnings.

In 2008 and 2009, two women accused colorectal surgeon Ryan Williams of anally raping them while they were his patients.

One of the women, Lachelle Duncan, sued Williams and the renowned Cleveland Clinic after she alleged that Williams anally raped her during a rectal exam in 2008. She received a confidential settlement, according to USA Today.

An investigation found that Cleveland Clinic reached a confidential settlement with a patient who accused a doctor of anally raping her. The doctor was kept on staff. A year later, the doctor allegedly anally raped another patient

In 2009, Kristin Fehr went to see Williams to remove a hemorrhoid. She claims that Williams gave her two pills and told her to take the pills immediately, leaving her groggy and hazy during and after the treatment. In 2014, she said she started to experience flashbacks of having been sexually assaulted by Williams.

Fehr told USA Today that she assumed she was the first and only victim and reported what she said happened to her to the Cleveland Clinic's ombudsman, assuming that if the hospital was aware of the accusations against Williams, they would fire him.

Instead, she said that she started seeing a PR campaign positively promoting Williams through promotional videos and online articles.

Fehr then went to the police, where she was accidentally given a poorly redacted version of Duncan's report.

In October 2014 - the same month that Fehr filed her complaint with the Clinic's omudsman - Duncan's reports was 'ordered expunged by a common pleas court judge, according to authorities.

According to USA Today, the police reports for both Duncan and Fehr's experiences with Williams were similar, even though the two women have never spoken with each other.

Williams was not criminally prosecuted in Duncan's case.

Two women claimed that colorectal surgeon Ryan Williams allegedly anally raped them. He denies their claims

In the summer of 2017, Williams left the Cleveland Clinic and for a job at Ohio State University (OSU) Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.

According to a spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic, Williams left the hospital for reasons that were not related to the sexual assault allegations made by Duncan and Fehr.

However, when questioned by USA Today, a spokesperson at Wexner Medical Center said that the hospital was unaware of an allegations made against Williams, but would look into the charges.

The next morning, Williams was put on paid administrative leave and no longer seeing patients.

Washington plaintiffs' attorney Patrick Malone told USA Today that, in confidential settlements, hospitals are known to take over doctors' liability as a method of preventing medical negligence claims from appearing in the National Practitioners Data Bank, which hospitals check prior to hiring doctors.

Lawyer Michael Shroge, who used to be an associate general counsel at the Cleveland Clinic, said that laws passed in Ohio over the last 20 years have led to some of the United State's broadest 'protections affording confidentiality.' He also noted that these days, major health care systems are keen to protect their brand over the health of their patients.

Gag clauses in confidential settlements are thought by some to be problematic because they compromise patients' health and safety since 'these things never happen on one occasion,' Malone told USA Today. He advocates that at least part of the settlement should be made public to ensure that what happens to one patient won't happen to another down the line.

In contrast to Ohio, South Carolina is said to have some of the strictest laws governing confidential settlements and California bars confidential settlements in cases involving felonies, such as sexual assault.

New Jersey is expected to see legislation that would would ban confidential settlements in litigation including medical malpractice cases that would led to the covering up of a 'public hazard.'

And, the recently passed tax bill includes a provision that erases a corporation's ability to write off attorney fees and settlement payments in cases of sexual harassment or abuse if a nondisclosure agreement is involved.

Since Ohio's statue of limitations for medical malpractice or rape is one year, Fehr is no longer able to sue Williams or the hospital over her claims, but she decided to go public with her allegations due to concern that Williams still has his medical license.

Fehr said that the Cleveland Clinic 'went to great lengths to cover it up and there was just no way for someone to be warned, to know what could happen.' As a result, 'it almost encourages these kinds of crimes,' she said.

Williams told USA Today that he 'vehemently' denies Duncan and Fehr's allegations and that they have impacted both his work and home life.
Millions of pounds earmarked for the battle against cancer are being diverted by drugs firms towards preparations for a hard Brexit, MPs have been told.

If Britain leaves the EU without a deal in place covering their sector, the pharmaceutical companies will have to reregister and repackage thousands of medicines and conform to a welter of fresh regulations.

With just 14 months until Britain formally leaves the EU, the companies say they need to build contingency funds in case negotiations with Brussels break down without a deal in place.

Millions of pounds earmarked for the battle against cancer are being diverted by drugs firms towards preparations for a hard Brexit, MPs have been told (file photo)

Now members of the Commons Health Committee have been told no-deal contingency money is being diverted from vital work developing new lifesaving drugs.

Phil Thomson, president of global affairs for drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, told the committee his company had more than 1,700 products that would be directly affected by Brexit and had set aside 70 million to prepare for new testing and regulation systems and updating every drugs pack.

Mr Thomson said: Obviously, that money could be put behind clinical trials. I can tell you we have a cancer portfolio we are trying to invest in, into which that money should be going, to develop the next generation of cancer medicines.

'That is something we are wrestling with internally.

Tory MP Sarah Wollaston chaired a committee that was told drug companies were being kept in the dark by the Government over the effect on their business

The committee, chaired by Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, was also told by Mr Thomson that drug companies were being kept in the dark by the Government over the effect on their business.

He said: We have been working to get to understand what the true position is. The earlier we can get clarity on a transition process, the better. And in the event of a hard Brexit, we need to be putting in plans to make sure we can manage supply and there is no disruption.

He added: The costs, I am afraid, are going to be incurred. All I would say to you is that we are going to do everything we can to minimise disruption.
Theresa May was last night engulfed in a row over obscene tweets sent by her controversial new university tsar  casting a huge shadow over her imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

The Prime Minister last night voiced her distaste for a string of sexist and obscene tweets sent by Toby Young  whose position on the new Office For Students watchdog was put into deeper jeopardy as it was revealed that he posted a sick sexual joke about starving children on Comic Relief.

The campaigners misogynistic Twitter messages threaten to undermine Mrs Mays attempts to rebrand the Tories as a women-friendly Party with the expected promotion of several female MPs to the Cabinet tomorrow.

Theresa May was last night engulfed in a row over obscene tweets sent by her controversial new university tsar  casting a huge shadow over her imminent Cabinet reshuffle

The Prime Minister is under growing pressure to scrap Mr Youngs appointment after two senior female Conservative MPs said his position was now untenable.

It was further revealed yesterday that Mr Young  a close friend of Cabinet Ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove  was a self-confessed pornography addict who had watched thousands of adult films.

But his tweet joking about masturbating over scenes of starving African children in a BBC Comic Relief segment fronted by Simon Cowell may prove the final straw.

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: In continuing to defend Mr Young when the Party needs to appeal to women and young people, we risk alienating those we need to re-engage with to win the next Election.

Fellow Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, added: I feel deeply uncomfortable about someone who says things like this being appointed to a high profile public role.

Last night there were signs that Mr Young was in danger of losing support from Mrs May and other senior Ministers, despite Mr Johnson leading a defiant rearguard action to save him. A Downing Street source said: Toby Young has a great record in setting up free schools.

MP Sarah Wollaston, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, said she was 'deeply uncomfortable' about Mr Young being promoted to such a high profile public role

However, the Prime Minister was not aware of these tweets when she appointed him and, like most people, sees them as distasteful.

Now he has a public role, any repeat of those kinds of comments would be clearly incompatible with that position.

The message is seen as a clear warning to Mr Young, a former journalist, that if further damaging information comes to light, he is likely to lose his new job.

The tweet that threatens to end Mr Youngs appointment stems from 2009, when Cowell was filmed in Kenya with children scavenging from a rubbish dump to survive. The pop mogul called it hell on Earth.

A female Twitter user tweeted she had gone through 5 boxes of Kleenex watching the harrowing scenes. Minutes later, just after midnight, Young tweeted a sarcastic and sick response, saying: Me Too, I havnt [sic] w***** so much in ages.

Mr Young told The Mail on Sunday last night he had no recollection of posting the tweet.

He said he had been a provocative journalist for 30 years, whose stock in trade was saying controversial, sometimes outrageous things so it was no surprise people were able to dredge up material to embarrass him.

All the offending messages date back at least five years and most much longer. Mr Young insisted he was a changed man, saying: Im a more serious person now.

Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said Mr Young's appointment risked alienating voters

He spent three months in Kenya in 2013 to help a friend who was trying to establish a primary school and added: Ive helped set up four free schools and have been running a charity for more than a year, helping other people set up schools.

If anyone who has said anything offensive on Twitter was to be banned from public life, it would become even more homogenous and anaemic than it is at present, said Mr Young.

But Ms Morgan disagreed, saying Mr Young seemed determined to live up to the title of his comedic memoir, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.

She said: More seriously, many people will find it hard to understand how someone who expresses the kind of views in Mr Youngs tweets can be appointed to a body responsible for universities.

There must be someone else better suited to the position.

Ms Wollaston added: Initially, I thought this was a confected explosion of rage against Toby from people opposed to him for political reasons over free schools. But it is increasingly clear that someone did not do due diligence when they appointed him to this post.

His Trump-esque tweets are wholly inappropriate.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: These tweets are revolting and impossible to defend. But I am a huge admirer of Mr Youngs pioneering work in free schools and do not believe he is unsuitable to work with young people in universities.

Labour Equalities Spokesman Dawn Butler said: To mock children in desperate need with a sexually explicit joke is truly beyond the pale. The spotlight should also turn on his chief defender Boris Johnson whose own misogynistic fantasies make him unfit for high office.

But there is no sign that Boris or his brother, Universities Minister Jo  who announced Mr Youngs appointment  are to withdraw their support. A source close to the Foreign Secretary said he stood by his view that there had been a ridiculous outcry against Mr Young who would bring independence, rigour and caustic wit to the university post and was the ideal man for the job.

It is understood Jo Johnson is also continuing to back Mr Young. However, it is less certain if other senior Tory figures will continue to rally round. Environment Secretary Mr Gove hailed Mr Young last week for working night and day to provide great state schools for children of every background. But asked yesterday if Mr Gove still endorsed Mr Young, a source close to the Environment Secretary declined to comment.

Mr Young has tried to stop further revelations about his past behaviour by deleting almost 50,000 tweets from his account.

The row over Mr Young comes two weeks after Mrs May was forced to sack her Deputy Prime Minister, Damian Green, for allegedly lying about pornography on his Commons computer.
When teacher Kato Harris was accused of raping a pupil, ex-Crown Prosecution Service boss Alison Levitt was said by a judge to have put 'enormous pressure' on police and her former employers for him to be prosecuted, despite a paucity of evidence.

Yet last month  18 months after the teacher was cleared by a jury in just 15 minutes  Ms Levitt raised concerns over the police's policy of automatically believing rape complainants.

And last night, Mr Harris branded Ms Levitt 'completely hypocritical' over the comments she made following the collapse of two high-profile rape cases.

Ms Levitt, former principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, warned on Radio 4's Today programme that a 'rigid mind-set' could lead the police to miss or even disregard significant material that could clear rape-case defendants.

When teacher Kato Harris (pictured) was accused of raping a pupil, ex-Crown Prosecution Service boss Alison Levitt was said by a judge to have put 'enormous pressure' on police and her former employers for him to be prosecuted, despite a paucity of evidence

Mr Harris said: 'These points, in regard to the police's handling of rape suspects, are entirely fair. But it is beyond belief and completely hypocritical to hear Alison Levitt making them.

'As legal adviser to the family of the pupil accusing me, she did everything she could to ensure I ended up in court on charges, even though it was clear there was no supporting evidence and no realistic chance of conviction.

According to the judge, she subjected the police and the CPS to enormous pressure.

'Where was Ms Levitt's sense of fairness to both complainant and accused then?

'She appears to have very sound principles about justice for defendants. Those principles evaporated quickly when she was paid to put them to one side. Her opinions on sex offences are worthless.'

But a month ago, 18 months on, Ms Levitt (pictured) raised concerns over the police's policy of automatically believing rape complainants, leading Harris to brand her a 'hypocrite'

Ms Levitt's comments follow a judge ruling last year that the QC and ex-Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers  both employed by the pupil's parents through top law firm Mishcon de Reya  placed 'enormous pressure' on the CPS and police to pursue the conviction of Mr Harris.

Despite warnings from police that the case was flimsy, Ms Levitt demanded detectives contact every pupil Mr Harris had ever taught in his career and pressed officers to seize his computer.

The judge said he was 'at a loss' to see how the CPS decided there was 'sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction' and that the decision to prosecute Mr Harris was 'an unnecessary or improper act'.

Despite their actions, the judge added that there was nothing to suggest those acting for the complainant's parents acted improperly or that their actions prevented the police and CPS from conducting a proper inquiry.

Mishcon, at which Ms Levitt is a partner, declined to comment on Mr Harris's comments.
Travellers arriving at Britain's biggest airport are being forced to endure queues of up to two-and-a-half hours at passport control.

A leaked report seen by The Mail on Sunday reveals that the Border Force at Heathrow broke their waiting-time targets more than 100 times on a single day last month.

Border Force bosses are understood to have written to the Home Office to explain the shambles.

It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that the under-staffed Force is recruiting a 'Dad's Army' of volunteers to monitor smaller ports.

The agency's agreed service standards are to clear European Economic Area (EEA) passengers within 25 minutes and non-EEA passengers within 45 minutes 95 per cent of the time.

A leaked report seen by The Mail on Sunday reveals that the Border Force at Heathrow (pictured) broke their waiting-time targets more than 100 times on a single day last month

But figures from the report for December 29 show that targets were missed on 101 occasions when queue times were checked every 15 minutes throughout the day.

In 17 cases, queue times for non-EEA travellers exceeded 85 minutes and twice surpassed that time for EEA passengers.

The longest queue time was 150 minutes at Terminal 4 for non-EEA.

It means some passengers arriving on flights from Amsterdam could have waited nearly twice as long in a queue as they spent in the air.

Last night, Lucy Moreton, of the ISU union for borders, immigration and customs staff, said: 'It's not uncommon to fail to meet queuing-time targets at Heathrow because of the huge staffing pressures.'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The security of our border is paramount, which is why 100 per cent of passengers are checked.'

A Heathrow spokesman said: 'We have been working with Border Force on improving waiting times.'
The Chinese have quietly taken control of a 5 billion, London-based company that stores vast amounts of highly sensitive data, sparking fears for Britains national security.

Politicians and experts last night called for the security services to investigate the 100 million share swoop over the New Year that gave Chinese investors majority control over Global Switch, Europes largest data centre operator.

The Australian government has already said it will to move files from its Department of Defence out of a Global Switch site in Sydney, due to concerns that Communist officials in Beijing could access military secrets.

But security expert Professor Anthony Glees accused the UK Government of failing to take this threat as seriously as it should, adding that Ministers were so obsessed with attracting foreign investment that they risked throwing national security to the four winds.

The Chinese have quietly taken control of a 5 billion, London-based company Global Switch that stores vast amounts of highly sensitive data which has sparked fears over UK national security

Conservative MP Nigel Evans also questioned the deal. If other countries like Australia have had deep concerns, then why is it we dont? he said.

A group of Chinese investors operating as a consortium called Elegant Jubilee increased its stake to 51 per cent in the company in discreet dealings between Christmas and the New Year. The power-grab went almost unnoticed because most people were on holiday.

The Chinese have been investing heavily in UK infrastructure over the past few years, including Hinkley Point nuclear power station and National Grid gas pipelines.

Elegant Jubilee was put together by Li Qiang, the founder of Chinese data centre firm Daily-Tech, and is led by Jiangsu Sha Steel Group, Chinas largest private steel-maker.

They say they are independent investors with no links to the Chinese state.

The Chinese have been investing heavily in UK infrastructure over the past few years

However, Prof Glees said: The Chinese Communist Party has a finger in every single significant pie. He added that control of Global Switch could give China very easy access to vast quantities of Western data. Were there to be a conflict between us at some point, the Chinese would be extremely well-placed not just to shut down our energy supplies but to use our own data against us, he said.

Labour MP Dan Jarvis, a former paratrooper who sits on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, said: We would never countenance replacing the Royal Marine Fleet Protection Group that guards our nuclear weapons with a foreign-owned security company.

This includes Hinkley Point nuclear power station and National Grid gas pipelines

Yet we seem happy to entrust our intellectual property to another country. This is muddled thinking.

Previously, Global Switch was controlled by the Reuben brothers, property tycoons David and Simon, whose 14 billion fortune puts them among the richest men in Britain. They own the other 49 per cent of the company.

They sold a 2.4 billion stake to the Chinese investors behind Elegant Jubilee in December 2016, provoking the Australian governments move.

Global Switch was founded in 1998 by Andy Ruhan, a Birmingham-based property and telecoms mogul.

It is now one of Britains biggest private companies with 11 warehouses around the world, including two in Londons financial district of Canary Wharf. It stores huge amounts of confidential data for banks, governments and companies, including BT.

Global Switch said the Reuben brothers would continue to control the business jointly with their Chinese investors. A Global Switch spokesman described the company as a property firm and said it had no access to any customer data stored in its facilities, and a security agreement restricted investors access to data centres.

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said the deal was a commercial matter.
Universities could face legal action if they allow student zealots to ban speakers from campuses just because they dislike their views.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is drawing up tough new guidance telling university bosses to crack down on undergraduates who restrict free speech.

It is understood the commission will consider backing banned speakers if they sue vice-chancellors for allowing activists to bar them from addressing student unions or organisations.

Cardiff University students are pictured trying to stop a speech by feminist Germaine Greer

Rebecca Hilsenrath, the commissions chief executive, said the clampdown was needed to combat a growing culture of snowflake students stifling open debate.

Curbs on free speech on campuses would create a generation of students who cant challenge opinions or think for themselves, she claimed.

The move comes after:

High-profile figures including feminist Germaine Greer and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell faced attempts to no-platform them  the term used when students formally bar speakers or withdraw their invitations after protests against their views.

Undergraduates at Oxford demanded that a statue of Cecil Rhodes be removed because of his imperialism, and Professor Nigel Biggar was pilloried for suggesting that the Empire was not all bad.

Universities introduced trigger warnings and safe spaces to shield over-sensitive students from views and language they might find upsetting, and student unions have even banned the wearing of sombreros because it is racist.

The news also follows the creation by Universities Minister Jo Johnson of the Office for Students, a new regulatory body that has the power to fine or deregister universities that fail to protect free speech.

The commission, which was set up to police the last Labour Governments Equalities Act 2006, will tell universities later this month that they are legally obliged to uphold freedom of expression that does not promote extremism or hate speech.

It will publish more specific guidelines on the contentious issue of no-platforming by April after consulting the National Union of Students, the Office for Students and the umbrella organisation Universities UK.

Rebecca Hilsenrath says universities are restricting honest and constructive debate

A survey conducted last year found that free speech had been restricted at more than 90 per cent of British universities.

In 2016 alone, speakers were barred from events at more than 20 colleges because of fears their views might upset minorities.

Ms Hilsenrath said: Universities are an ideal space for people to formulate, express, defend and hone their theories about the world. But if these theories are to be developed into valid arguments, they need to be appropriately challenged.

By restricting honest, constructive and open debates about subjects which others may find difficult or uncomfortable to digest, universities risk stifling future generations and allowing unpleasant theories to spread unopposed.

Just because we dont like their opinions does not mean they are not entitled to have them.

Left-wing feminist Linda Bellos was recently invited to speak to a student organisation in Cambridge but had her invitation withdrawn after complaints over her views on transgender campaigners.

She said: We should be getting students to understand why they should be challenging ideas rather than excluding them. But I am not sure a government diktat is the best way to achieve that.
COLUMBUS  A moment of distraction and some quick thinking allowed Columbus Police Officers Dale Ciboron and Chico Lozos to disarm and subdue a suicidal woman at a local apartment complex last spring.

With Lozos aiming a Taser at the woman, the 47-year-old Ciboron was able to divert her attention by shining a flashlight in her eyes, followed by a swift lunge kick to the womans chest that dislodged the large hunting knife she was threatening to harm herself with.

It was nothing that was planned, said Ciboron, who, along with Lozos, received the citys Award of Valor for their roles in the incident.

The honor is presented to city employees who perform an act of heroism in the face of personal injury or risk of life to them or others.

The spring incident involving the woman suffering from mental health issues contributed to Ciboron, an 18-year veteran of the local police department, being named the Nebraska American Legions 2017 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

The incident was cited in Ciborons nomination. He will be honored Jan. 13 at the American Legion Mid-Year Conference in North Platte.

Im not sure I deserve it, but Im very honored by it, Ciboron said. Ive been fortunate to work with great people here in Columbus.

Columbus Police officials lauded the department veteran for his continuous diligence and tenacity in the apprehension of criminals.

The Columbus natives service to the community and police department are incalculable, police officials said in announcing the American Legions selection.

Ciboron began his law enforcement career as a Platte County Sheriffs deputy for 11 years before shifting to the local police department.

Last years city valor award was actually Ciborons second.

In 2005, he was recognized for his role in helping save a man who fell through the ice at Wagner Lakes while riding a four-wheeler on a cold, blustery day.

Virtually all the departments patrol officers teamed to form a rope line and pull the man out of the frigid water, Ciboron said. By the time the man was rescued, the officer said, it appeared he was about to give up.
Saudi Arabia has laid the groundwork for momentous social and economic changes that will take place this year, defying its conservative reputation for slow, cautious reforms.

King Salman and his ambitious 32-year-old son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have upended decades of royal family protocol, social norms and traditional ways of doing business.

They bet instead on a young generation of Saudis hungry for change and a Saudi public fed up with corruption and government bureaucracy.

Saudi Arabia will begin issuing driving licences to women this year

There is also a need to cut a budget deficit of at 195 billion riyals ($50 billion) caused by collapsing oil prices.

The world's biggest oil exporter had previously been able to rely on income from it to spend lavishly to maintain its population's standard of living and subsidise the extravagant spending of its royal princes.

The clam down on corruption that has seen 200 officials detained, including one of King Abdullah's sons, former National Guard chief Prince Miteb bin Abdullah.

He was released last month after agreeing to pay back the government $1 billion.

The conservative kingdom hosted Comic Con events here thousands of fans dressed up in their favorite action-hero costume

Hand-in-hand with economic reforms, the Kingdom is bringing about social changes.

A ban on women driving has been lifted and there are plans to begin issuing licenses to women, even allowing them to drive motorcycles.

This year women will also be allowed to attend sporting matches in national stadiums, where they were previously banned.

Movie theaters, shut down in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism, are returning to the Kingdom.

Rapper Nelly performing in Saudi Arabia, one of many entertainers who made it to the country

Previously, Saudis could stream movies online, watch them on satellite TV or travel to neighboring countries like Bahrain and the UAE.

This past year, rapper Nelly and two Games of Thrones stars came to Saudi Arabia for the first time. John Travolta also visited the Kingdom, meeting with fans and talking to them about the US film industry.

Saudi Arabia also held two Comic Con events in major cities, where thousands of fans dressed up in their favorite action-hero costumes.

Actors Julian Glover and Charles Dance, Grand Maester Pycelle and Tywin Lannister from HBO's 'Game of Thrones', made an appearance at one as rock music blared in the halls.
Couples could in future get pregnant using skin cells instead of sperm and eggs, according to a fertility pioneer.

Stephen Hillier, who helped set up one of Britain's earliest IVF units shortly after the birth of test tube baby Louise Brown, said it was already possible to create artificial egg and sperm cells.

Giving the keynote speech at the conference of the British Fertility Society yesterday, he said scientific breakthroughs could make it feasible for a child to be born without the use of reproductive organs.

Couples could in future get pregnant using skin cells instead of sperm and eggs, according to fertility pioneer Stephen Hillier

He joked: 'Probably you will just need a couple of hairs, to pop them in an envelope, send them to Amazon and you will get a pre-loaded embryo transfer catheter back.'

Three years ago scientists at Cambridge University said they could make a human egg from adult skin cells, paving the way for babies with two fathers or mothers.

Speaking after his lecture Professor Hillier said it might not be necessary to use sperm or eggs to have a baby in the future.

He added: 'The knowledge and all the research suggests that at some time in the future it will be possible.'

The emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh explained that he was joking about Amazon.

Giving the keynote speech at the conference of the British Fertility Society yesterday, he said scientific breakthroughs could make it feasible for a child to be born without the use of reproductive organs

But he added that animal experiments show you can make eggs or sperm from almost any cell in the body.

He said there was no clear timescale for humans having babies using skin cells, and the scenario was 'pure speculation'.

Dr Raj Mathur, a gynaecologist at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, was speaking at the same event.

He said: 'Creating a baby from skin cells may seem like science fiction but there was a time when IVF was considered science fiction too. This may be feasible one day.'

Professor Hillier was giving the Bob Edwards memorial lecture, marking 40 years of IVF.

Since the first fertility treatment, which did little to help men with sperm problems, babies are now born from frozen embryos and eggs harvested and stored by women to beat their biological clocks.

Sperm can be injected directly into an egg to boost the chances of conceiving, while the embryo can be tested to avoid parents passing on genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

Speaking about the future, Professor Hillier said more fertility advances were in the pipeline, adding: 'You don't need gonads (ovaries and testes) to do IVF any more.'

In the book The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction, US professor Henry Greely claims couples could largely stop having sex for reproduction in 40 years.
A new breakthrough in testing Einsteins spooky action at a distance could soon pave the way for ultra-secure quantum communication.

Scientists have been investigating how pairs of photons can be used to form a link across great distances, in a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement.

It could allow for networks that are essentially unhackable  but, losing photons through absorption or scattering as they travel could threaten the security of the system.

In new experiments, researchers have demonstrated how quantum teleportation could be used to overcome the problem, to reveal if the light particle has made it through or not, and exclude any failed links at the get go.

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A breakthrough in testing Einsteins spooky action at a distance could pave the way for ultra-secure quantum communication. Scientists have been investigating how pairs of photons can be used to form a link across great distances, in quantum entanglement. Artist's impression

WHAT IS QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT? In quantum physics, entangled particles remain connected so that actions performed by one affects the behaviour of the other, even if they are separated by huge distances. This means if you measure, 'up' for the spin of one photon from an entangled pair, the spin of the other, measured an instant later, will be 'down' - even if the two are on opposite sides of the world. Entanglement takes place when a part of particles interact physically. For instance, a laser beam fired through a certain type of crystal can cause individual light particles to be split into pairs of entangled photons. The theory that so riled Einstein is also referred to as 'spooky action at a distance'. Einstein wasn't happy with theory, because it suggested that information could travel faster than light. Advertisement

The new study from researchers at Griffith Universitys Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Australia demonstrates how pairs of photons, or particles of light, can be tested rigorously even in conditions that mimic those outside of the lab.

Entangled photons create whats known as a quantum link.

In this state, the actions of one affect the behaviour of the other even across great distances.

And, when sent along a communication channel, these could make for secure networks.

In order confirm that photons in different locations demonstrate whats known as quantum nonlocality, the researchers developed a demanding new test method using quantum teleportation.

Failing the test means an eavesdropper might be infiltrating the network, said team leader Professor Geoff Pryde.

As the length of quantum channel grows, less and less photons successfully pass through the link, because no material is perfectly transparent and absorption and scattering take their toll.

This is a problem for existing quantum nonlocality verification techniques with photons.

'Every photon lost makes it easier for the eavesdropper to break the security by mimicking entanglement.

The team selected photons that survived the high-loss channel, and teleported them to another clean quantum channel, according to first author Dr Morgan Weston.

In new experiments, researchers have demonstrated how quantum teleportation could be used to overcome the problem, to reveal if the light particle has made it through or not, and exclude any failed links at the get go. Artist's impression

To go through with the teleportation step, the researchers had to add additional high-quality photon pairs.

These must be generated and detected with high efficiency, so they can compensate for losses.

The researchers used photon source and detection technology co-developed with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado.

QUANTUM TELEPORTATION How quantum teleportation works is complicated, but an analogy for the principle behind it may help. Let's say there are two people, Alice and Bob. Alice wants Bob to have a photon that's in the same 'state' as her photon, which we'll call photon P. For the sake of this analogy, we can pretend that the 'state' is a colour, and photon P is yellow. A third person named Charlie sends out two entangled photons, photon A to Alice and photon B to Bob, which behave as if they are part of the same whole. Both of these photons start out as blue. Alice's two photons, P, which is yellow, and A, which is blue, 'collide.' Alice measures the photons as they annihilate one another. This Nasa cartoon demonstrates the principle of quantum teleportation using an analogy. Alice wants Bob to have a photon that's in the same 'state' as her photon Although P and A are destroyed in the crash, P's yellow colour is preserved. Because photon A and photon B are entangled, the yellow colour is 'teleported' to B. But in order to get photon B to become yellow, as photon P originally was, Alice needs to send Bob two bits of information to B the 'classical' way - for example, by sending pulses of light over an optical fibre. When Alice measures the state of her photon, Bob's photon changes state as well, as if flipping a switch. But Bob cannot know how the switch flipped unless Alice sends him the bits of information classically. Bob does not know that his photon has changed to yellow without that additional information. Advertisement

In the lab experiments, they tested channels with photon absorption equal to that of about 80 kilometers of telecommunications optical fiber.

There, the chosen verification test, called quantum steering, could be done without any problem, said Weston.

Our scheme records an additional signal that lets us know if the light particle has made it through the transmission channel.

This means that the failed distribution events can be excluded up front, allowing the communication to be implemented securely even in the presence of very high loss.
Snow-capped mountains seem to glide past as I wallow in a hot tub on deck. Then its a case of enjoying a five-course dinner in the restaurant, with seafood picked up at fishing villages that day.

No, there is not a West-End-style stage show to finish the evening; instead I snuggle under a blanket on a sun-lounger to watch something even better  the Northern Lights.

My cruise on a small Hurtigruten ship pottering along Norways northern coast may not involve multiple swimming pools or tinkling casinos  but thanks to this nightly performance its the match of any big ship from a major cruise line.

Wonderland: A Hurtigruten ship makes its way through the majestic Norwegian fjords

Take a 12-day trip before the end of March and Hurtigruten guarantees youll see the Northern Lights. If not, theyll give you another chance  on a free seven-day cruise.

I am on a shorter five-day trip, which starts at remote Kirkenes, next to Norways border with Russia, and finishes at the historic Viking port of Trondheim.

Hurtigrutens fleet is a part of Norwegian history. For the past 120 years, it has operated like an Arctic bus service. Eleven ferries transport trucks, cars, freight and passengers between 34 ports north of Bergen.

Depending on the size of each coastal settlement, ships stop for several hours  or as little as five minutes. Hurtigruten passengers can get off anywhere and stay, then jump back on the next passing ship.

In fact, Norway subsidises the service because it links outposts that would otherwise take all day to reach by road. I meet someone using it to go to a hospital appointment in the next town.

Kick off: The first day-trip starts in Kirkenes, next to Norways border with Russia

The rugged utilitarian ships used be a traditional butt of Norwegian jokes. Those who holidayed on these oily old freighters were surely mad, said locals. Hurtigruten was like a ferry. It stood for bad food and boring travel, one Norwegian tells me over dinner.

He looks up from the fantastic fresh seafood and adds: Its not now.

Is it because Norway is now such a rich country? No, its because British businessmen took over this Norwegian institution two years ago. They recognised the tourism potential of sailing these mountainous fjords, islands and inlets.

My ship, the recently modernised Nordkapp, is a luxurious working vessel where a wealthy American couple might find themselves sitting next to a Scandinavian lorrydriver or fisherman on his way to market.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Norway is planning the worlds first underwater tunnel buoyed by floats, shortening the 21-hour coastal drive to ten hours Advertisement

Cabins are a little smaller than on a normal cruise liner, but still offer sumptuous beds, neat en-suites and big TVs. Public decks feature homely touches such as rocking chairs and sofas. The on-board shop sells thick Norwegian sweaters.

By day, you can gaze at the scenery or jump into a boat for an unforgettable Arctic adventure. The new owners introduced 100 excursions, from husky sledding to snowmobiling. In summer there are options such as kayaking or giant king crab fishing.

I take an exhilarating trip to the rocky headland our ship was named after. Nordkapp is Norways John o Groats, the last mainland before the North Pole. I cling on as my boat bounces across a black, icy sea to reach the cliffs of North Cape while spotting giant sea eagles, Europes largest birds of prey.

Normally, I would be sceptical of Hurtigruten brochures wildly describing the route as the worlds most beautiful voyage. Then I take another open-boat excursion round the Lofoten Islands.

We whizz through a narrow gap between sheer jagged cliffs to explore Trollfjord, one of the most glorious landscapes Ive ever seen. The brochures arent exaggerating.
No holiday is complete without the animal adoption showdown, that moment when the children demand we take home some dog or cat they have found in the street and their cruel father says no. This, though, was the first time Ive had to refuse a turtle.

I wasnt even aware that there were turtles in the Mediterranean until we came to Kalkan, in south-west Turkey.

But to bump in to one, then swim with it for the best part of an hour, was just one of many surprises in a spot that manages to combine the dramatic beauty of the Amalfi coast and the bohemian charm of Ibiza at half the price of either.

Lovely: The harbour in Kalkan has maintained much of its historic ambience

Political upheavals may not have helped Turkeys image but, perversely, they mean there has never been a better time to head for a place like Kalkan. It started life as a (Greek) fishing village, but unlike, say, St Tropez, has managed to retain much of that original ambiance with steep streets meandering past whitewashed houses.

A seafront cappuccino costs just 2, a beer 3, though what you really want is Turkish limonata. Throughout our stay, my children  aged ten, eight and five  ordered nothing but this fabulous lemonade. Why cant the rest of Europe serve this instead of Fanta?

We booked through Simpson Travel. They suggested Korsan Suites, an enclave of villas and apartments perfect for families. We had a villa with three en-suites, two terraces staring out to sea and our own Jacuzzi, all inside a small bougainvillea-draped complex with a pool and restaurant.

A vast breakfast and a nothings-too-much-trouble concierge service is included.

Its a short walk down the hill to the centre of a town which claims to have more restaurants per person than anywhere in Turkey. Whats more, the Turkish lira is much kinder than the euro.

With only a small public beach, people spend their days at beach clubs dotted around the bay.

Much to like: The Hardman family were thrilled by the turtles they found on the beach in Kalkan

Most run a free ferry shuttle from the harbour and provide loungers, umbrellas and towels for a modest fee. Easily the prettiest is the Villa Mahal, attached to a romantic boutique hotel perched on the rocks. If you want turtles for company, this is the place.

Simpson also arranged a hire car through a local Kalkan firm. It really was painless with no queue and no arguing over a scratch on the hubcap.

It meant we could explore inland, driving up to the hill village of Islamlar, famous for its trout.

My trout went from river to plate in 20 minutes for the equivalent of 1.

Kalkan is just a 20-minute drive round to Patara Beach, one of the longest in Europe. The only man-made structures along its eight miles of sand are a small cafe and the well-preserved ruins of a Roman town. Im ashamed to say we spent longer in the boutiques of Kalkan than the ruins of Patara. Despite my pleas for restraint, there was much buying of earrings, bracelets, bags and flip-flops.

Still, we made it home without the turtle.
You can eat like a king and then walk it off along some of the most heavenly pathways in all of Greece.

The island, one of the triumphs of the Cyclades, has for years been a refuge for pleasure-seekers. My sister is one of them. She bought a 300-year-old peasant house ten years ago in the little village of Exambela, and Ive visited ever since.

Only nine miles long and five miles wide, the island is a craggy outcrop with hilltop churches looking out over whitewashed villages and sandy beaches tucked away in exquisite coves.

Tuck in: The Greek island of Sifnos has become something of a foodie haven

Gold and silver mines made Sifnos one of the wealthiest Greek islands in ancient times, and today it retains an elite aura.

Upper-crust Athenians and French tourists stroll the boutique-lined capital, Apollonia, yet the island remains relatively off the map to the British.

Partly because its tricky to get to: you need to take a boat via Athens or Santorini and Sifnians like it that way  a proposed airport a few years ago nearly caused a riot.

But word is getting out. Recently its become a foodie haven  appropriate given that Nikolaos Tselementes, who wrote the first proper Greek cookbook, was born here in 1878.

Star quality: Scarlett Johansson was spotted last summer at a restaurant on Sifnos

And Scarlett Johansson was spotted last summer at one of the more experimental restaurants, Omega3, a culinary flagship for the island. One dish, whitefish roe mousse, tastes like the light-as-air idea of what the gods had in mind for taramasalata before it became earth-bound in all-you-can-eat tavernas.

One of a handful of Sifnos specialities, revithia, the islands equivalent of a roast, is a lemony chickpea soup cooked overnight before being scoffed on Sundays.

Or theres thimarisio, a herby lamb stew so tender it feels like you could nudge it off the bone by the power of thought. Taverna Chrysopigi, on a sapphire-blue bay, offers a possibly unrivalled version.

When not ascending culinary heights, there are plenty of real ones to climb. The island has extensive walking networks  one route might take you to a mysterious Mycenaean acropolis atop a hill, another to a lonely swimming spot by an ancient silver mine, or yet another to the former capital, coastal Kastro.

The authorities have recently waymarked all the paths so you can mosey onwards enjoying the landscape.

Anna Graikou is my expert guide. A former chef, she swapped her fag habit at the stove for blue skies and less stress. We pass a peaceful little countryside chapel, and then a stand of wild carrot interspersed, Anna points out, with hemlock. Socrates poison, she remarks, deadpan.

Along with striding the hills and cooking like angels, dropping casual references to ancient history is, you discover, a Sifnos habit.
In her new BBC1 series Miriams Big American Adventure, the actress  who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films  embarks on an epic road trip through the heartlands of middle America.

This latest journey follows her appearance on The Real Marigold Hotel and, more recently, The Real Marigold Hotel On Tour which took her to China, Cuba, Florida and Japan.

I lived in Santa Monica in California for 16 years but I knew that it didnt really represent the real America. With the election of President Trump, it is a very peculiar time in the States and I thought it would be interesting to see what it, and the people, were like now  and to find out why President Trump was elected.

Miriam inside a women's prison in Ohio, where she met some of the inmates. It was part of her new BBC1 show where she is taking a road trip across America

My new three-part TV series is a road trip from Chicago to New Orleans, but its not really a travel programme, its more sociological.

I see a lot of places that Id never been to before, but the programme is really about the people I meet. Its the opposite of Marigold which was really a travel programme. This time my favourite place was the inside of a jail!

I realise that this series, coming hard on the heels of Marigold, means that Im on the TV quite a lot at the moment  people are going to get very sick of me.

Im technically an actor, but Ive done documentaries. One of my favourites was the programme I made 12 years ago about going around America in the footsteps of Charles Dickens.

I also loved doing Marigold because I liked the people I was travelling with and, you know, you cant believe that youre being paid to go on holiday.

I really enjoyed our time in India  partly because we stayed there longer than the other places we visited. If I looked as if I wasnt enjoying China, it was because we didnt stay there long enough to visit the really interesting bits and get to know people, so that was probably the least successful visit, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Miriam with a female biker in New Orleans. She travelled across the American heartlands for her tour

Actually I just love travelling: its wonderful to meet people and learn new things. I now realise you need to get out and travel while you still can. As you get older, its less easy  I dont walk as well as I used to, and I cant climb stairs very well, so the things I can do are somewhat limited now.

We didnt travel much when I was a child, just to Glasgow and Broadstairs. My father was Scottish so we went there to see the family, and my mother had always gone to the Kent coast for her holidays and so we went there as well.

What I liked about doing my Big American Adventure was that I was travelling with a purpose, and when you do this you always have an interesting trip.

There were three highlights for me. One was going to a womens prison in Ohio and meeting the inmates and talking to them and working with them, actually cleaning toilets with them, and understanding something of the horror of drug addiction, which Ive never been familiar with before. Americas drug problem is an absolute epidemic.

Meeting Zena Stevens, a black woman sheriff in Texas, was also a highlight: she was an electrifying personality. I really hope she will stand for President one day. She was extraordinary.

Miriam's new three-part TV series is a road trip from Chicago, pictured, to New Orleans, but she describes it as a 'sociological programme'

I also met an incredible female biker gang called the Caramel Curves in New Orleans.

A lot of the places I visited are probably not the sort of places that people would think of visiting on a holiday to America. Yet, funnily enough, Dickens always went to the jails, workhouses and the mental homes.

My next trip is to Australia where Im going for two months: I am an Australian citizen and I have a home there in Robertson, a little town in New South Wales where they made the movie Babe about the little pig. In the film I was the voice of Fly, the mother dog.

I wanted to do that role because when I read the book, the very first line of Babe is: This is the tale of an unprejudiced heart. As soon as you hear those words, you know that something different and good is about to be unfolded before you.

The place Id still love to visit is Africa. I dont really know anything about the vast continent but Ive adopted three elephants in Kenya and Id love to go to see them.

The only thing that will slow me down is if I dont get offered work. But, at the moment, thats not the case, and you just keep going.
Chris Soules is still facing felony charges after his fatal road accident last year.

The Iowa farmer-turned-reality television star is fighting to avoid prison after driving his pickup into the back of a tractor and killing a neighbor in April.

He lost a legal battle on Friday in the felony case against him when a judge dismissed his constitutional challenge to an Iowa law requiring the surviving driver in a fatal accident to remain at the scene until police arrive.

Rejected: Chris Soules has lost his legal battle to have the felony case against him dismissed after his fatal road accident last year (pictured November 27)

While the 36-year-old reported the accident, identified himself, waited for paramedics and even administered CPR himself, he left the scene before police arrived  which is against the law in Iowa, and Iowa alone.

Soules' attorneys say he vigorously disagrees with the judge's ruling and will ask the state's highest court, Iowa Supreme Court, to review it.

Soules, who became known as 'Prince Farming' during his 2015 appearance on 'The Bachelor' and also appeared on 'The Bachelorette' and 'Dancing With The Stars,'now faces trial on January 18.

Soules rear-ended a farm tractor driven by Kenneth Mosher on a rural northern Iowa road just after sunset on April 24. Mosher died soon after at a hospital.

Crash: The Iowa farmer-turned-reality television star is fighting to avoid prison after driving his pickup into the back of a tractor and killing a neighbor in April

The accident sent the tractor Mosher was driving and Soules' pickup into ditches on opposite sides of the road. Soules called 911 and identified himself, administered CPR to Mosher and remained at the scene until emergency personnel arrived. But before law enforcement could arrive, Soules was driven home.

He was arrested at 1:16 the next morning at his home near Arlington, 12 miles northeast of the accident scene. Sheriff's reports indicate he declined to let officers into his house until after they obtained a search warrant.

He was charged with failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

His attorneys claim Iowa's law violates the constitutional rights of citizens to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and to avoid self-incrimination.

Trouble: Soules, who became known as 'Prince Farming' during his 2015 appearance on 'The Bachelor' and also appeared on 'The Bachelorette' and 'Dancing With The Stars,'now faces trial on January 18

The law in question says, in part, 'a surviving driver shall promptly report the accident to law enforcement authorities, and shall immediately return to the scene of the accident or inform the law enforcement authorities where the surviving driver can be located.'

Most states consider it a felony to leave the scene of an accident in which someone is injured or dies, but Iowa's law differs in that it has been interpreted to require the surviving driver to be present when law officers arrive.

'No other state has a comparable requirement,' Soules' attorneys said in court documents.

A driver forced to meet face-to-face with police is exposed to interrogation and observation by officers and risk self-incrimination, his attorneys argued.

State prosecutors contend the purpose of the law is to prevent drivers from evading liability for driving recklessly, driving while drunk or driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Victim: Soules performed CPR on Kenneth Mosher (seen with family) after April's accident. Soules' lawyers said it was 'reasonable' for him to stop after blood came from Mosher's mouth

'The state submits the legislature foresaw that drunk drivers could flee the scene of a fatal crash precisely because they wanted to escape and sober up before confronting law enforcement officers who may detect telltale signs of intoxication,' prosecutors said in court documents.

Initial court documents Buchanan County Attorney Shawn Harden filed in May said Soules was seen purchasing alcohol at a convenience store shortly before the accident. They allege he attempted 'to obfuscate the immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the accident, including a determination of his level of intoxication and an explanation of the empty and partially consumed open alcoholic beverages located in and around his vehicle ...'

Had Soules been tested at the scene or soon after and found to have been legally drunk, a much more serious charge such as vehicular homicide could have been brought. It carries a prison sentence of as much as 25 years.

Soules, 36, pleaded guilty to drunken driving in 2005 and was sentenced to one year of probation and a 60-day suspended jail sentence. In 2001, when he was 19, he twice pleaded guilty to underage possession of alcohol and also was fined for having an open container in a car.

Location: While the 36-year-old reported the accident, identified himself, waited for paramedics and even administered CPR himself, he left the scene before police arrived  which is against the law in Iowa, and Iowa alone

The ruling Friday by Judge Andrea Dryer says Iowa's requirement to remain at the scene is not a seizure under the state or federal constitutions and it does not require the driver to divulge anything to police that would violate rights against self-incrimination.

Soules became a television reality show celebrity after appearing on the ABC network's 'The Bachelorette' in 2014 and played the starring role in the network's 'The Bachelor' in 2015. He also was chosen to be one of 12 celebrity competitors on 'Dancing With The Stars' in that year but was eliminated during week eight of the competition, finishing fifth.

One of Soules' attorneys, Brandon Brown, said in court documents that he may claim as a possible defense diminished capacity 'based upon his then-existing medical condition due to injuries sustained.'

Brown did not provide an immediate response to the judge's ruling or indicate whether Soules would appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court but indicated a statement was planned for release Friday.

Appeal: Soules' attorneys say he vigorously disagrees with the judge's ruling and will ask the state's highest court, Iowa Supreme Court, to review it
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The past six months have had dramatic twists and turns for James Packer following his dramatic split from Grammy winning diva Mariah Carey.

But the 50-year-old Australian casino mogul seems to have bounced back after recently enjoying the holiday season with his nearest and dearest at his jointly shared Aspen property, West Buttermilk Estate.

The billionaire confirmed with the Sydney Morning Herald that he had enjoyed the 'best Christmas ever' and 'magical' time with his three children Indigo, nine, Jackson, seven, and Emmanuelle, five, their mother and his ex wife Erica Packer, whom he shares the estate with.

Quality family time: James Packer has recently enjoyed the holiday season with his nearest and dearest at his Aspen property, West Buttermilk Estate, with his three children Indigo, 9, Jackson, 7 and Emmanuelle, 5, their mother and his ex wife Erica Packer

The lavish property offers seven spacious bedrooms and seven bathrooms, enough to accommodate his kids, family and guests.

The home also has a state-of-the-art kitchen with an island breakfast bench and solid timber cabinetry, a medieval-style dining room and a generously sized living room with ceiling-to-floor windows looking out to the scenic hills.

But the home isn't without its luxurious features including a theatre room, bar, steam room, a games room with a Billiard table, a cosy library filled with a large collection of books and a fire place.

Landscaped gardens: The billionaire, 50, confirmed with the Sydney Morning Herald that he had enjoyed the 'best Christmas ever' and 'magical' time with his family

Lavish living: The lavish property offers seven spacious bedrooms and seven bathrooms, enough to accommodate his kids, family and guests

Kitchen space: The home also has a state of the art kitchen with an island breakfast bench and solid timber cabinetry

Spacious: West Buttermilk has a generously sized living room with ceiling to floor windows looking out to the scenic hills

Stone masonry and iron chandeliers are present throughout the home giving it a stylishly antiquated feel.

For outdoor entertaining, the house has beautifully landscaped front and backyards with a fire pit, a man-made rock formation waterfall and lake with views looking out to the picturesque mountain views.

The former couple purchased the estate for over $20million according to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013, the year they split up.

The publication also reported that Erica recently met with James' new flame, New York-based socialite Kylie Lim, and it happy he has found love again since splitting up from Mariah Carey last October.

It is also understood that he has even introduced his kids to the Canadian-born beauty.

Indoor entertainment: But the home isn't without its luxurious features such as a games room with a Billiard table

Details: Stone masonry and iron chandeliers are present throughout the home giving it a stylishly antiquated feel

Nights in: The lavish property features a theatre room (pictured), bar and steam room

Cosy: It also has a library filled with a large collection of books, a fire place and TV

Outdoor entertainment: A man-made rock formation waterfall and lake with views looking out to the picturesque mountain views

New flame: The publication also reported that Erica recently met with James' new flame, New York-based socialite Kylie Lim, and it happy he has found love again since splitting up from Mariah Carey last October. It is also understood that he has even introduced his kids to the Canadian-born beauty

This is the first holiday Erica and James have spent together since their split in 2013.

James also spent the holiday with his first wife: glamour-model-turned-sportswear-designer Jodhi Meares.

He admitted to the publication: 'For better or worse, the two women who know me best are my best friends.'

Last August, the luxurious property also played host to Erika's Midsummer Night's Dream themed 40th birthday bash.

The former model's milestone occasion was attended by her friends Orlando Bloom, Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch.

Fire pit: For outdoor entertaining, the house has beautifully landscaped front and backyards with a fire pit

Stunning views: Outdoor dining is also an option for the Packers and their guests at West Buttermilk

Scenery: Last August, the luxurious property also played host to Erika's Midsummer Night's Dream themed 40th birthday bash. The former model's milestone occasion was attended by her friends Orlando Bloom, Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch
Masterchef: The Professionals judge and award-winning restaurateur Marcus Wareing, 47, makes a surprising admission  he creates fine cuisine for a living but never eats proper meals at work himself.

I wont sit down today and have a meal. No plate, no knife and fork.

Ill put my whites on and wait for service to begin and have a nibble or two.

Marcus Wareing, 47, makes a surprising admission  he creates fine cuisine for a living but never eats proper meals at work himself

I still dont have breakfast. Im terrible at breakfast. Fortunately he does manage to feed himself when hes at home. At weekends and holidays Ill have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thats when I do have a routine.

He blames a lack of eating for a breakdown earlier in his career.

It was really the tiredness that hit home to me. It hurt like hell . . . to get out of bed. I wasnt burnt out but I was heading that way.

My food intake was so weird.

Actress Juliet Stevenson admits to a secret past  as a shoplifter.

Juliet, 61, recalls: I wandered out of Harrods with a pile of rare and expensive mushrooms and forgot to pay for them. I didnt mean to.

Its my only shoplifting experience. It was about 25 years ago. I thought: Should I go back? and then I thought, Ah no, I think Harrods can afford it.  They know about it now, Juliet!

Nineties supermodel Helena Christensen has no desire to relinquish her catwalk queen status just yet.

The Danish beauty, 49, impressed admirers this week by posting this snap online in which she shows off her wrinkle-free skin and slender figure in a pink bodice and black bra while suspending herself between banisters.

The Danish beauty, 49, impressed admirers this week by posting this snap online

Tell us your secret, pleaded one fan.

Helena, who has a 17-year-old son by Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, recently revealed: Ive been using a lot of coconut oil, yellow turmeric masks and, after emptying the espresso machine, I put the coffee grinds into a bowl and place it in the shower so I can use them to wash my body.

Kinks rocker in bust-up with BA

Kinks guitarist Dave Davies is so in tune with his beloved Gibson guitar that he cant bear to be parted with it  even in mid-air.

So the Sunny Afternoon hit-maker kicked up a storm on a British Airways flight from London to New Jersey on New Years Eve, because the airlines staff refused to let him carry his delicate instrument on board.

Kinks guitarist Dave Davies is so in tune with his beloved Gibson guitar that he cant bear to be parted with it  even in mid-air

The modish rocker, 70, has flown BA for decades, and has always been allowed to store his guitar in the cabin, by his side. But Davies has threatened to boycott his favourite airline, after BA staff charged him 69 to store his vintage Gibson guitar in the hold, where it risked being damaged.

MENTIONING NO NAMES... Which Conservative statesman is giving his friends and family cause for concern on account of his copious drinking? Advertisement

Im really shocked  this is the first time they have not allowed me to store my guitar in the cabin, he says.

Im so sick and tired of being treated like a second-class citizen because Im an artist. Next time, I might fly a different airline.

Time for BA to face the music?
COLUMBUS  A 30-year-old Columbus woman was sentenced Friday to eight to 14 years in prison for the armed robbery of a downtown bar that left a bartender shaken by the threat of being shot if she didnt cooperate.

It was a violent crime in which you entered the bar, racked the slide on a gun and committed an armed robbery, Platte County District Court Judge Robert Steinke told Malinda Honea while sentencing her for use of a firearm to commit a felony.

You told the bartender you would kill her if you had to, Steinke told the divorced mother of four children who stole more than $600 from a cash register inside Avenue Bar during the Aug. 16 robbery.

The charge is a Class 1C felony, punishable by up to 50 years imprisonment with a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars. The judge gave Honea credit for 140 days served in jail since her arrest in August.

Steinke said outstanding arrest warrants for Honea remain in Saline, Lancaster and Richardson counties. Colorado corrections officials are also seeking the former Colorado resident for absconding from parole for a 2008 conviction.

Honea was paroled from prison in Colorado after serving a 2008-13 sentence for a motor vehicle theft conviction.

Also during Fridays proceedings, Steinke sentenced Honeas accomplice in the robbery, 22-year-old Devin Piper of Columbus, to six to 10 years in prison for his role in the robbery.

The city man pleaded guilty in November to preceding Honea into the bar to case the situation before leaving to get behind the wheel of a waiting getaway car.

Piper was convicted of aiding and abetting an armed robbery, a Class 2A felony that carried a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. He was also given credit for 140 days already served in jail.

The judge imposed the sentence after citing Piper's lengthy criminal history involving juvenile and adult offenses, including six adult convictions for assault, forgery and several theft-related crimes.

A presentence investigation revealed Piper was addicted to methamphetamine at the time of the robbery and indicated the defendant supported himself from June until his August arrest by dealing drugs, the judge said.
Journalist Georgie Gardner is replacing Nine veteran Lisa Wilkinson on the Today show in 2018, alongside co-host Karl Stefanovic.

And fans were treated to a sneak peek promo of the breakfast duo in action this week.

In the short advertisement, Georgie and Karl look comfortable behind the desk as they read the news, share banter and introduce high-profile guests.

Scroll down for video

'Make a fresh start to your day': Georgie Gardner and Karl Stefanovic debut as Today show hosts in SNEAK PEEK promo for Nine... after host Lisa Wilkinson's shock resignation

Georgie opens the clip by announcing, 'It is a brand-new day! Morning, Karl', to which Karl responds: 'Morning, Georgie.'

However, the duo soon break the fourth wall and begin conversing with their devoted viewers, with Karl saying good morning to a mother Karen in her kitchen.

Karl also plays the hero, by warning Karen's son Jack, who is watching them on TV, that his toast was burning.

He's so helpful! Karl also plays the hero, by warning Karen's son Jack, who is watching them on TV, that his toast was burning

'Here's your stop Tom': She also advises a distracted commuter watching her present the news on the bus to get off, before he misses his stop

Georgie then delivers the news, and gives a personal shout out to Alex watching from his laptop.

She also advises a distracted commuter watching her present the news on the bus to get off, before he misses his stop.

The promo ends with a promo shot of the pair in their broadcast outfits, with the voiceover announcing: 'Make a fresh start to your day. Wake up with Georgie and Karl on Today.'

The hosts will return to screens officially from January 22.

'Wake up with Georgie and Karl on Today': The hosts will return to screens officially from January 22

Meanwhile, Lisa Wilkinson has also starred in her own promos for The Project this week.

She reportedly departed Channel Nine in October after network bosses refused to pay her the same salary as her Today co-host Karl Stefanovic.

This week, the network revealed a first-look trailer of Lisa's debut, which pokes fun at the media hype surrounding her arrival.

In addition to her role on The Project, Lisa will also become editor-in-chief of the new online platform, Ten Daily.

Lisa is due to debut on The Project after Australia Day, despite the show returning on January 9.
The Australian acting legend returned to his home-base in Los Angeles earlier this week, with wife Deborra-Lee Furness and their two children: Ava, 12, and Oscar, 17.

And his return Down Under may come again sooner than expected, reports The Gold Coast Bulletin this week.

According to a theme park executive for Village Roadshow, the Wolverine star discussed a desire to revisit Gold Coast's Movie World or Wet 'n' Wild.

'Would love to come back': Why Wolverine star Hugh Jackman could be set to return to the Gold Coast in 2018

Theme park executive Bikash Randhawa recently hosted the Greatest Showman actor, 48, at Sydney's Wet 'n' Wild and claims to have discussed Hugh's upcoming travel plans.

'He said he loves the Gold Coast and hopefully we'll be seeing him soon,' he said, hinting to a visit to one of the Village Roadshow Queensland theme parks.

He added: 'Hugh said he hadn't been in a while but has been before and would love to come back.'

'He said he loves the Gold Coast and hopefully we'll be seeing him soon': Theme park executive Bikash Randhawa recently hosted the Greatest Showman actor, 48, at Sydney's Wet 'n' Wild and claims to have discussed Hugh's upcoming travel plans to visit one of the Village Roadshow Queensland theme parks

Meanwhile, Hugh and his wife Deborra-lee enjoyed their time together in Australia, even climbing the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The smitten duo were all smiles as sunny Sydney and the Opera House made for a picturesque backdrop.

Walking a route many tourists have trodden before them, the high-profile couple made their way up 1300 steps to the bridge's summit.

Taking their love to new heights! Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee Furness scale the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge on cute date together

Dressed in the Bridge Climb uniform, both Hugh and Deborra-lee were in good spirits as they posed at the top.

The couple brandished wide smiles as they embraced one another with a scenic surroundings encompassing them.

What a view! Sydney and the Opera House made for a picturesque backdrop behind Hugh

The Wolverine actor tied the knot with actress and producer Deborra-lee in 1996 and their love for one another has seemingly never wavered.

Last year, Hugh appeared on UK talk show Lorraine and took the opportunity to rave about how much he loved her.

'I'm married to the greatest woman alive. She's amazing. We're best friends, and we share everything. She's smart,' the Australian actor gushed.

'We met on my first job when she was already a big star, I was a nobody. So we have shared everything, all the ups and downs, and always will.'

'I'm married to the greatest woman alive': Last year Hugh gushed about his 'best friend' and wife Deborra-lee during an interview on UK talk show Lorraine
Tyson Mullane sparked speculation that his actress fiancee Pia Miller was pregnant after sharing a cryptic social media post on Friday.

And the former Home and Away was positively glowing in a snap shared to her Instagram Story soon after.

The 33-year-old shared a snap of herself soaking up the sun at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, showing off her flawless complexion in the process.

She's glowing! Former Home and Away star Pia Miller shares flawless selfie in Hawaii

The brunette bombshell's long locks were left to cascade over her bikini-clad body, while a wide-brimmed hat protected her

It's a been a big few months for Pia, who announced her engagement to entrepreneur Tyson in November.

And fans got very excited on Friday when the genetically-blessed couple appeared to hint at another relationship milestone.

Tyson shared an Instagram photo of himself and Pia, 33, on holiday in Hawaii - and used a rather cryptic caption to describe their year ahead.

'We have a few things in the pipeline...' Tyson shared a cryptic post featuring the couple, which many followers thought hinted that a baby was on the way

'We have a few things in the pipeline...' Tyson wrote, supposedly in reference to their beach destination.

But their social media followers had different ideas, and soon began flooding the pair with messages of 'congratulations' and baby emojis.

Meanwhile, one of Tyson's family members - and even Pia herself - remarked that his caption was 'clever'.

'Congratulations' Fans were quick to jump to conclusions after the cryptic post

Smitten: Tyson and Pia announced their engagement in November last year

'Clever caption t bone x,' wrote Chelsea Mullane, with Pia replying: 'Haha! clever'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tyson and Pia for comment.

Later in the day however, Tyson hosed down the rumours, commenting: 'No babies yet' and 'only step papa for now'.

Pia - who has two sons from previous relationships, Isaiah and Lennox - confirmed her separation from ex-husband Brad Miller in October 2015.

She revealed her relationship with Tyson on Valentine's Day the following year.
He recently became a father-of-three, welcoming his newborn daughter into the world with wife Julia Carey in December.

And getting used to having a newborn on his hands again, James Corden cut a tired figure as he stepped out in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on Friday.

The Late Late Show host, 39, appeared to be picking up part of his attire for the Golden Globes that are set to take place on Sunday, as he stopped by the shops with his trip proving to have been a success.

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Struggles of a newborn? James Corden cut a tired figure as he stepped out in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on Friday

James was seen clutching onto a large circular shopping bag, as he made his way onto the streets while sporting a casual all-black ensemble.

A far cry from his no doubt suited and booted appearance on Sunday, James stepped out clad in a dark crew-neck sweatshirt and complementing jeans, while sporting a pair of white trainers on his feet.

Walking along with his hand in his pocket, James kept his head down as he stole a break away from juggling his busy working schedule with his parenting duties.

His appearance in Beverly Hills comes just weeks after James had welcomed his third child with wife Julia. He was forced to drop out of his presenting role on The Late Late Show last minute and was filled in by his close pal and former One Direction star Harry Styles - who had announced James' baby joy just 30 minutes after Julia had given birth.

Sweet: He recently became a father-of-three, welcoming his newborn daughter into the world with wife Julia Carey in December

She and husband James are still yet to name their daughter, with James revealing during a later appearance on the US talk show that he had suggested calling their little girl Beyonce.

The Gavin & Stacey actor revealed: 'After the baby was born, anyone who's been in this situation will know, we were both crying, I was crying my eyes out, my wife's crying her eyes out, the baby's crying.

'The doctor asked about her name and I don't know why I said it and I looked at the doctor and said, "We're going to call her Beyonce." My wife did not think that was funny.

He claims a nurse actually believed him and had even started filling out the necessary paperwork, as he added: 'I had to go over to her and go, "Excuse me, there's only one Beyonce."'

Success! And his spot of retail therapy appeared to be a success, as he emerged clutching onto a large shopping bag in one hand

Dressed down: A far cry from his no doubt suited and booted appearance on Sunday, James stepped out clad in a dark crew-neck sweatshirt and complementing jeans, while sporting a pair of white trainers on his feet

The baby's arrival had been 'a complete shock' to the couple as she wasn't due for another two weeks.

James dished: 'We went to a routine check-up on Tuesday and suddenly the doctors turn to us and say, 'Oh no this is probably happening today and this baby could arrive in the next few hours... we were unprepared!'

'Seriously we were not expecting this baby to arrive for another couple of weeks. We didn't think this would happen and so this is absolutely true, we still haven't chosen a name for her yet. We don't know what we're going to call her.'

Following his daughter's arrival, comedian James took to Twitter to praise his One Direction pal, and his lovely wife tweeting: 'Today we welcomed a beautiful baby daughter into the world.

'Both she and her mother are doing great. Thank you Harry for stepping in to host the show at 2 and a half hours notice! x x x.'

James and Julia, who married in 2012, already share son Max, and daughter Carey, two.
Braless Sophia Richie proved she needed no support on Friday.

The 19-year-old did the grocery shopping all on her own, aside from a little assistance from boyfriend Scott Disick's bodyguard.

The teenager was spotted picking up some bits and bobs at up market Bristol Farms in Calabasas.

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Self-supported! Braless Sofia Richie wore a sheer top to hit the grocery store in Calabasas on Friday

She wore a sheer black wrapped crop top  opting against a bra  pairing it with high-waisted blue jeans and white sneakers.

She and her 34-year-old beau have just returned from their New Year's getaway to Aspen Colorado, where it was reported that Scott engaged in 'a jealousy-fueled fight' with Sofia's ex-boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, according to Page Six.

The new report alleges the couple were party-hopping in Aspen and stopped by an event where Sofia's ex Lewis Hamilton was playing a $100,000 winner-takes-all billiards game with oil heir Brandon Davis.

'Sofia started talking to Lewis during the [pool] game,' a source told the publication. 'When Scott saw them talking, he went ballistic, crazy. He was very jealous. He insisted they leave the party immediately.'

Cute: She looked perky in a sheer black wrapped crop top, pairing it with high-waisted blue jeans and white sneakers

Elite: The teenager was spotted picking up some bits and bobs at up market Bristol Farms in Calabasas

Formula One driver Hamilton was linked to the young model from January-May of 2017. However his lawyer denied the claims.

'Although Mr Hamilton was in Aspen for the holiday, there was no jealousy, no fight, and no issue; rather, as Ms. Richie has herself confirmed, there was a perfectly friendly, polite exchange and any claim to the contrary is simply false,' Hamilton's lawyer told the publication.

A source told E! News Lewis and Sofia 'were never exclusive. Lewis thought she was a cool girl,' adding: 'Lewis and Sofia are still good friends. They are all adults.'

'Scott got frustrated that they ran into Lewis over the weekend, and that it was unexpected,' the insider continued. 'He doesn't like surprises and reacts aggressively in situations like that. This isn't the first time that Scott has lost it for a minute.'

Helping hand: The 19-year-old did the grocery shopping all on her own, aside from a little assistance from boyfriend Scott Disick's bodyguard

The source insisted that 'everything is fine between the two now.'

'They will get in small fights and are over it within a few minutes. Sofia is definitely a good match for him because she understands him and puts up with his behavior in moments like this,' according to E! News.

Sofia and Scott made their relationship public in September while enjoying a romantic holiday in Miami, Florida, and have been linked together since May 2017.

Scott shares co-parenting responsibilities of his three children with Kourtney Kardashian; Mason, eight, Penelope, five, and Reign, three.

Is that you Kourtney? She and her 34-year-old beau have just returned from their New Year's getaway to Aspen Colorado
They have been inseparable ever since confirming their relationship early last year.

And proving just how close they are as a couple, Vogue Williams shared a very cheeky snap of her boyfriend Spencer Matthews photo-bombing her while completely naked.

The Irish model, 32, was seen perfecting her pose for a glamorous mirror selfie, but her snap managed to catch the unclothed Made In Chelsea star in the background, prompting Vogue to amusingly caption her photo: 'Nudey nude nude.'

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Cheeky: Proving just how close they are as a couple, Vogue Williams shared a very cheeky snap of her boyfriend Spencer Matthews photo-bombing her while completely naked

Making sure to cover her beau's modesty, Vogue placed a flame emoji across Spencer's lower body, as he appeared a little taken aback to be caught on camera - having seemingly just got out of the show.

Mischevious Vogue, however, clearly saw the moment as one for sharing on social media, adding a crying with laughter emoji alongside her caption.

Despite her selfie being slightly overshadowed by the reality star, Vogue cut a glamorous figure in an all-black ensemble that she paired together with towering stiletto heels and a faux fur navy blue statement jacket.

She and Spencer have returned to London after jetting overseas to spend Christmas together in Courchevel - a ski resort in the French Alps. It marked Vogue's return to skis for the first time following the injury to her knee she sustained while training for The Jump's final series in 2017.

Festive break: She and Spencer have returned to London after jetting overseas to spend Christmas together in Courchevel - a ski resort in the French Alps

She and Spencer had met on the show, which he later went on to win, but she was forced to pull out prior to it launching due to suffering a fall on the slopes.

Clearly smitten, Vogue marked her first Christmas with Spencer while overseas with him and gushed: 'Heres to the first of many Christmass with you @spencermatthews,' while sharing a throwback holiday snap of the pair.

She and Spencer then headed to Monaco to ring in the New Year, with Vogue once again taking the opportunity to share a smitten post about her other half. She said: 'Happy New Year! The highlight of my year was meeting my favourite person in the world  2017 was an amazing year and I hope 2018 is just as brilliant. Wishing health and happiness to you all .'

Vogue and Spencer went public with their romance in March after meeting on The Jump.

Sweet: Clearly smitten, Vogue marked her first Christmas with Spencer while overseas with him and gushed: 'Heres to the first of many Christmass with you @spencermatthews,' while sharing a throwback holiday snap of the pair

They haven't been shy about flaunting their love for each other, with Spencer gushing on social media, 'never been happier in my life' while she reciprocated, 'at my happiest with this boy by my side.'

Vogue revealed the secret to success with their relationship is that they never argue in a recent interview with The Sunday Mirror.

She said: 'He is my best pal. I remember thinking we would be best friends forever. It is the first relationship where I don't have fights with people.'

The duo are currently living together and their move came after Vogue denied reports she had moved into Spencer's Chelsea home.

Speaking during an appearance on Loose Women, Vogue revealed the pair have bought a new house together.

Loved-up: Vogue and Spencer went public with their romance in March and haven't been shy about flaunting their love for each other, with Spencer gushing on social media, 'never been happier in my life'

She said: 'We moved in together last night. He arrived home at four in the morning from Greece and forced me to get up to have a glass of champagne to toast the new house. He didn't want me to move in to his house.

'He lives in a one-bed in Chelsea and I have a lot of clothes so that was never going to work. And I lived with two Irish boys so I think we've always wanted to have our own place so that's what we started looking at straight away.'

Previously, Vogue was married to Westlife's Brian McFadden for three years before they parted ways in July 2015.

Spencer, meanwhile, has dated a string of beauties including Louise Thompson, Stephanie Pratt, Vicky Pattison and Lauren Frazer-Hutton.
She plays Patty in FX's anticipated TV series Pose, which airs later this year.

And Kate Mara looked stunning as she walked on stage to join her colleagues on the Pose panel at the TCA Press Tour in Pasadena, California on Friday.

The 34-year-old put her cleavage on display while sporting a sexy red jumpsuit teamed with nude heels.

Red hot: Kate Mara looked stunning as she walked on stage to join her colleagues on the Pose panel at the TCA Press Tour in Pasadena, California on Friday

Kate kept her golden ombre tresses in loose waves down by her shoulders, while accentuating her natural beauty with blush and eye shadow.

The House Of Cards actress finished off her ensemble with a dainty rose-gold necklace and her wedding ring from husband Jamie Bell.

She sat next to her co-star and on-screen husband Evan Peters, who looked sharp in a dark gray suit and white dress shirt.

Also on the panel, sitting on Kate's other side, was Dawson's Creek alum James Van Der Beek who plays a financial kingpin named Matt.

Stunning: The 34-year-old put her busty chest on display while sporting a sexy red cleavage-baring jumpsuit teamed with nude heels

She's glowing: Kate kept her golden ombre tresses in loose waves down by her shoulders, while accentuating her natrual beauty with blush and eye shadow

James looked studly as he showed off his toned biceps in a tight white shirt, which he teamed with gray trousers and brown oxfords.

Pose screenwriter Brad Falchuk - who's currently dating Gwyneth Paltrow - joined the panel while rocking double denim.

The 46-year-old Scream Queens writer accessorized his rugged look with a brown leather belt and matching leather shoes.

Commanding the stage: James looked studly as he showed off his toned biceps in a tight white collard shirt, which he teamed with gray dress pants and brown oxfords

Effortlessly fierce: Pose screenwriter Brad Falchuk - who's currently dating Gwyneth Paltrow - joined the panel while rocking double denim

TV stars: In the new series, Kate and the American Horror Story actor portray a New Jersey couple named Patty and Stan, who discover the LGBT ballroom pageants of Manhattan

In the new series, Kate and the American Horror Story actor portray a New Jersey couple named Patty and Stan, who discover the LGBT ballroom pageants of Manhattan circa 1987.

'Now is the time to tell this story about this group of people who are sadly more and more disenfranchised and cut off,' co-creator Ryan Murphy said - according to Variety.

'We wanted to celebrate them. They're part of our family. The timing of this show was very important.'

Timely: 'Now is the time to tell this story about this group of people who are sadly more and more disenfranchised and cut off,' co-creator Ryan Murphy said - according to Variety
She proudly declared that she will finally marry her fiance of two years, DJ Rukus, this year.

But this time Shanina Shaik has lent her face to high-end boutique jewellery designer Jacquie Aiche, posing with over $20,000 worth of accessories.

The 26-year-old took to Instagram on Friday to share a snap from what appears to be a behind-the-scenes post from the set of the photo shoot in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

All blinged up! Shanina Shaik has lent her face to high-end boutique jewelry designer Jacquie Aiche , posing with over $20,000 worth of accessories. She took to Instagram on Friday to share a behind the scenes post from the set of the photo shoot in Dubai

In her candid snap, the Melbourne-born stunner showcased an extravagant display of necklaces, rings and other pieces as she posed seductively for the camera.

The most expensive item she wore for the shoot was a $8,750 necklace that featured 15 small diamond pieces hanging from a yellow gold chain.

On her hand she rocked what appeared to be a white opal petal stack ring worth $2,625 in addition to the six vintage style diamond waif rings, coming to a total of $5,040.

Shanina also wore a long necklace with a rose quartz round potion bottle shaped gemstone with the look, despite it being out of frame, which is valued at $2,965.

Loved up! This comes after she welcomed the New Year alongside her fiance of two years DJ Rukus at a star-studded bash in Singapore

Dangling from her ears were a pair of $1,040 teardrop stud earrings from the collection.

This comes after she welcomed the New Year alongside her American beau at a star-studded bash in Singapore and at one point she gushed: 'We getting married this year!'

Taking to Instagram at the stroke of midnight, Shanina and DJ Ruckus, otherwise known as Greg Andrews, locked lips at the DJ booth at the opening of LAVO.

'We getting married this year': Shanina Shaik proudly declared that she will finally marry her fiance of two years DJ Rukus at a New Years bash in Singapore

Smooches: The couple enjoyed a passionate embrace at the stroke of midnight at the star-studded event

The exotic beauty, who is of Pakistani and Saudi Arabian heritage, partied alongside the likes of actor Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne.

Shanina flashed her shapely pins in a thigh-skimming frock, that featured a floral print - paired with matching pointed-toe pumps.

American hunk DJ Ruckus cut a festive figure in a red and white shirt paired with patriotic-themed pants.

Busty: Shanina displayed her ample assets in a white figure-hugging frock

Prior to the New Year's Eve countdown, Shanina could be seen downing shots as Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody blared in the background.

The Melbourne-native no doubt had plenty to celebrate, ahead of her upcoming wedding to DJ Ruckus.

'We getting married this year 2018,' she gushed in an Instagram caption after the countdown.
Diane Kruger looked absolutely besotted with her partner Norman Reedus as they hit the beach in Costa Rica during their vacation in honor of his 49th birthday this Saturday.

The German 41-year-old paired a black halter bikini with a grey mini-skirt to go bodyboarding, while the Florida-born father-of-one sported a baggy wetsuit to go surfing on Tuesday.

The former models returned to the Central American hotspot following their successful getaway together in August.

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In honor of his 49th birthday this Saturday! Diane Kruger looked besotted with her partner Norman Reedus as they hit the beach in Costa Rica during their vacation (pictured Tuesday)

Diane made sure to share a silhouetted selfie in her swimwear and pink sunglasses for her captive, combined 827K social media following.

On Wednesday, Kruger (born Heidkruger) hit the beach with Norman and pals while clad in a white backless Moschino 'Mighty Mouse' one-piece and Daisy Dukes.

Reedus carried a pizza box and bottle of booze while sporting classic Converse high-tops and a black souvenir T-shirt from the nearby Pura Vida Retreat & Spa.

The SAG Award winner - who tagged the Walking Dead heartthrob in an 'infinite happiness' NYE post - met on the set of their film Sky in December 2015, but they only went public in March.

Wave riders: The German 41-year-old paired a black halter bikini with a grey mini-skirt to go bodyboarding, while the Florida-born father-of-one sported a baggy wetsuit to go surfing

Back on the beach: The former models returned to the Central American hotspot following their successful getaway together in August

Blissed out: Diane made sure to share a silhouetted selfie in her swimwear and pink sunglasses for her captive, combined 827K social media following

Also joining the acting couple in Costa Rica for ATV adventures were Diane's gal pals Fabienne Berthaud, CeCe Von Mallinckrodt, and Aimee Nash.

Fabienne - who directed Kruger and Reedus in Sky - shared yet another silhouetted seaside bikini snap of the natural blonde posing in front of a sunset on Wednesday.

The Tout nous separe stunner just admitted her 2016 split from her partner of a decade - Dawson's Creek alum Joshua Jackson - was 'a long time coming.'

'We broke up many months before we said we were broken up, so by the time I made that decision, it didn't feel like it was so urgent anymore. You don't break up overnight after ten years, you know what I mean?' Diane explained to Vulture on December 28.

Sandy: On Wednesday, Kruger (born Heidkruger) hit the beach with Norman and pals while clad in a white backless Moschino 'Mighty Mouse' one-piece and Daisy Dukes

Party: Reedus carried a pizza box and bottle of booze while sporting classic Converse high-tops and a black souvenir T-shirt from the nearby Pura Vida Retreat & Spa

Went public in March: The SAG Award winner - who tagged the Walking Dead heartthrob in an 'infinite happiness' NYE post - met on the set of their film Sky in December 2015

Weee! Also joining the acting couple in Costa Rica for ATV adventures were Diane's gal pals Fabienne Berthaud (L), CeCe Von Mallinckrodt (R), and Aimee Nash

'Va va voom!' Fabienne - who directed Kruger and Reedus in Sky - shared yet another silhouetted seaside bikini snap of the natural blonde posing in front of a sunset on Wednesday

'It wasn't like an urgent, "Oh my god, I can't sleep at night" thing. Actually, it felt liberating because I didn't have to worry about that anymore, so I could immerse myself 100 percent into [my role on the German set of In the Fade].

Meanwhile, Norman's 18-year-old son Mingus spent the holidays with his ex-partner, nineties supermodel Helena Christensen.

The talented twosome might finally make their official red carpet debut at this Sunday's Golden Globes or next Thursday's Critics' Choice Awards where they're both up for honors.

'It felt liberating!' The Tout nous separe stunner just admitted her 2016 split from her partner of a decade - Dawson's Creek alum Joshua Jackson - was 'a long time coming' (pictured in 2016)

Mini-me: Meanwhile, Norman's 18-year-old son Mingus (L) spent the holidays with his ex-partner, nineties supermodel Helena Christensen (R)

Both up for honors: The talented twosome might finally make their red carpet debut at this Sunday's Golden Globes or next Thursday's Critics' Choice Awards

The Cannes best actress winner will support her In the Fade director Fatih Akin, who's up for best foreign language film honors at both the Globes and the CCAs.

As for the Triple 9 actor, his motorcycle docuseries Ride with Norman Reedus scored a best unstructured reality series nomination at the CCAs.

Fans can catch more of Reedus as beloved crossbow-armed biker Daryl Dixon in the eighth season of The Walking Dead, which resumes February 25 on AMC.

Plays grieving Katja Sekerci: Diane will support her In the Fade director Fatih Akin, who's up for best foreign language film honors at both the Globes and the CCAs

On set snap: As for the Triple 9 actor, his motorcycle docuseries Ride with Norman Reedus scored a best unstructured reality series nomination at the CCAs
She's the AFL WAG and TV presenter with a body to die for.

And while she was all rugged up during a recent holiday to Canada's snowfields, Rebecca Judd appeared to be enjoying her time back in the sun now that she's returned to Australia.

The 34-year-old took to her Instagram Story on Saturday to flaunt her enviable figure in a skimpy multi-coloured bikini - her second swimwear outfit in two days.

Another day, another bikini! In an Instagram shot posted to her account on Saturday, Rebecca Judd sizzled in VERY skimpy multi-coloured swimwear as she makes the most of the Australian sun following her snowy Canadian vacation

The very skimpy crocheted Tasmin bikini top and bottoms - valued at $285 - showcased the star's lithe frame.

Meanwhile, a wide-brimmed straw hat from Hatmaker by Jonathan Howard obscured her face from view.

After returning from her Canadian Christmas holiday with her AFL-playing husband and four children, it didn't take long for Bec to acclimatise to an Australian summer, with the glamazon donning a skimpy bikini and heading straight to her pool.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the brunette beauty was barely off her flight before she changed into a black two-piece and enjoyed an afternoon of swimming at her luxurious Melbourne home.

Her time in the sun! Following a holiday in snowy Canada, Bec didn't take long to acclimatise to an Australian summer, with the glamazon donning a skimpy bikini and heading straight to her pool

Sizzling summer: She captioned an Instagram post: 'And we're baaaaaack ... Let's do this Summer'

The mother-of-our captioning the image, 'And we're baaaaaack,' she posted, before adding, 'Let's do this Summer.'

The bronzed beauty putting on a leggy display as she holds one of her twin boys, who appears to be playing with her sunglasses.

In a separate Instagram story, Bec joined the chorus of other parents, who bemoan a long haul flight with her children.

Gorgeous! Bec put on a cheeky display in a black bikini in the scorching heat

Appearing slightly frazzled in a black-and-white striped top, the mother was nursing one of her tots in an aeroplane seat while holding a fluffy bunny.

'Longest flight eeeeeever,' she wrote.

It's been a big couple of weeks for the Judd family, with Bec and Chris taking the brood overseas for a holiday and celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary.

Long flight: Earlier in the day, Bec showed off her multi-tasking skills taking a selfie while nursing her son on the long haul flight back to Melbourne

On New Years Eve, the couple posted a tribute to each other during enjoying a meal at luxurious Fairmont Chateau resort.

'Happy new year, happy 7 year wedding anniversary,' she started.

'Fab dinner at @fairmontwhistlr with friends and family tonight ...#notsureaboutthecostumes #thathat.'

Seven years strong! Bec and hubby Chris celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary on New Years Eve with a luxurious meal at the Fairmont Chateau resort

During the celebration, the beaming WAG cut a low-key figure in a pink fur coat atop an all-back ensemble.

She wore minimal makeup with her locks swept up in a sleek ponytail and completed the look with a feather headband.

Father-of-four Chris kept it casual in a denim shirt and grey sweater, paired with a white Fedora hat.
COLUMBUS  A Platte County District Court judge told a 46-year-old Grand Island woman the temptation of making easy money led her to distributing large quantities of methamphetamine in Columbus a year ago.

Judge Robert Steinke said Carla Velazquez had proven she could hold down legitimate jobs while working at a meatpacking plant and bar in Grand Island, but chose to supplement her income by serving as a go-between for a drug supplier.

You chose to supplement your income, in your own words, because it was easy money, Steinke said, citing a presentence investigation report, before sentencing Velazquez to four to eight years in prison Friday for distributing meth during transactions from January to March of last year.

She pleaded guilty in October to two counts of distributing 10 to 28 grams of meth, Class 1D felonies punishable by a mandatory minimum of three years imprisonment and maximum penalty of 50 years behind bars for each charge.

In exchange for her pleas, two other distribution counts were dismissed.

Velazquez was charged with meth distribution after initially reneging on a deal with law enforcement authorities to cooperate by making controlled drug buys from her supplier.

She was also ordered to pay $3,600 and given credit for 17 days already served in the case during Friday's hearing.

Court documents describe a Nebraska State Patrol investigation that got underway in early January 2017 when Velazquez met an informant equipped with a recording device in a local parking lot. Approximately 1 ounce of meth was sold during that transaction, according to court documents.

Velazquez was accused of making three similar drug transactions in January, February and March before her arrest.

During an interview at the State Patrol office in Columbus, Investigator Keith Bignell reported Velazquez confessed to delivering the meth and identified her drug supplier.

The investigator wrote that Velazquez said she was willing to actively cooperate with law enforcement to make controlled drug purchases from her supplier.

After several months, it became apparent that Velazquez cooperation was not producing the results she claimed it would, nor did it produce any prosecutable cases, Bignell wrote in his statement.
She fell madly in love with handsome Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson on the most recent season of The Bachelor.

But on Saturday, Bachelor winner Laura Byrne, 31, decided to take a solo stroll on Bondi Beach - swapping her main man for her three-legged rescue dog Buster.

The brunette beauty attracted plenty of attention on the beach, as she and Buster navigated around beach-goers.

Scorching! Bachelor winner Laura Byrne, 31, cut a casual figure as she hit Bondi Beach on Saturday amid scorching temperatures, with the trim television star showing off her incredible bikini body

Flaunting her incredible abdominal muscles, the reality star wore a black bikini top paired with ripped denim cut-offs.

Laura's slender arms and shapely legs were on full display in the barely-there bikini.

The model completed her casual look with her hair in a messy bun and a pair of designer shades, and off-white flip flops.

Brunette beauty: Laura looked relaxed and happy as she strolled around Bondi Beach

Finding a spot? The reality television star walked along the golden sands of Bondi Beach on Saturday morning

Attracting attention: Laura turned a number of heads as she strolled along the famous beach

Beach body: Down-to-earth Laura tried to find a spot for herself and rescue dog Buster

Beach buddy: The reality show star walked with her three-legged rescue dog, Buster

Laura accessorised with a floral beach bag and clutched her gold iPhone in her hand.

Meanwhile, mindful of the scorching near 30-degree day, the reality star opted for a beach umbrella to protect herself from the sun.

At times, she also could be seen carrying a circular blue-and-white beach towel.

Beach attire: The star showed off her toned tummy and slender legs in a black bikini top and a pair of ripped denim cut offs

In shape: The model flaunted her toned legs and spiritual-style back tattoo before hitting the water

The Bachelor star is well-known for her love of exercise, particularly taking Buster out for regular beach walks.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Laura admitted she found it challenging to not be able to stick to her normal regime, saying contestants gave up a lot of 'freedoms.' to be on the show.

Matty, meanwhile added that he was grateful for finding love with Laura thanks to the reality series.

'I wanted to go on the show to meet someone who I thought I could spend the rest of my life with and I've found that, so it's just nice to be able to enjoy what we've got,' Matty told the publication.

Bronzed: The model carried a beach umbrella and a circular beach towel while she walked along Bondi Beach

Dog's life: Laura's dog, Buster, was clearly happy with the Bondi Beach walk

Beach day: The model carried a blue and white beach tote
She's one of the most celebrated names in comedy, coming off a major life change.

Mindy Kaling was snapped running errands in Beverly Hills, California on Friday, less than a month after giving birth to her first baby, daughter Katherine Swati.

The 38-year-old star of The Mindy Project kept a low profile as she wore dark black sunglasses, and had her black locks pulled back.

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Inconspicuous: Mindy Kaling, 38, was snapped running errands in Beverly Hills, California on Friday, less than a month after giving birth to her first baby, a girl she named Katherine Swati

She wore a black puff jacket over a green top with a black-and-white graphic across the chest, wearing black high water pants.

Mindy, who appears in the upcoming Ocean's 8, wore black loafers and carried a black leather purse with a gold chain, accessorizing with dangling green earrings.

Kaling, who played Kelly Kapoor on NBC's The Office, gave birth to her daughter December 15 in Los Angeles, choosing the child's middle name, Swati, in memory of her late mom Dr. Swati Chokalingam, who died in 2012 after battling pancreatic cancer.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts native, whose full name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam, told NBC's Willie Geist last fall about her late mom's signature trait - keeping an open mind - that she most hopes her child inherits.

Busy: The Mindy Project actress was on the move as she made her way through a parking garage

'My career choice was not something that she was familiar with and she was just so supportive of that,' Mindy said. 'If I could give that to my child, just that open-mindedness, I'd be so happy.

In the chat, Mindy recalled how her late mom was 'incredibly fierce' and unconditionally 'devoted to' her offspring.

She 'just loved us and really wanted us to be happy no matter what we did,' the Emmy-nominated performer said.

Ensemble: Mindy (fourth from L) was part of the phalanx of stars who appeared in the Jay-Z video for Family Feud, directed by Ava DuVernay

Shining star: The actress was snapped last September at a bash in LA for her show, The Mindy Project

In the exchange, Kaling revealed to Geist how she viewed her parenting style. She said, 'I'd like to be the fun mom,' adding, 'I know I'm gonna be the dorky mom. So it could be kind of fun, too. I think that would be nice.'

Kaling, who has not publicly named her child's father, joked that her newfound membership in the parenthood club opened doors for her to vent on others' shortcomings when it comes to raising their children.

'Its so easy to criticize parenting until youre a parent, so one of the nice things about becoming a parent is that Ill be able to openly criticize other parenting because I will have a child,' said the actress.

Warmly remembered: Mindy, in part, named her daughter after her late mom Dr. Swati Chokalingam (above), who made a cameo on The Office (with Steve Carell) in 2006
Dakota Johnson was serving nineties retro realness while sipping on a smoothie from Earth Bar in West Hollywood on Friday.

The 28-year-old actress - who relies on stylist Kate Young - looked leggy in a b&w patterned wrap dress, black cardigan, peep-toe shoes, and mirrored shades.

The Fifty Shades Darker star recently returned from Colorado where she spent the holidays with her modern family in a cozy Aspen lodge.

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Alabaster: Dakota Johnson was serving nineties retro realness while sipping on a smoothie from Earth Bar in West Hollywood on Friday

Pale: The 28-year-old actress - who relies on stylist Kate Young - looked leggy in a b&w patterned wrap dress, black cardigan, peep-toe shoes, and mirrored shades

Melanie Griffith shared a Polaroid of Dakota (with ex-husband #1 Don Johnson) rocking the mic alongside her 21-year-old daughter Stella (with ex-husband #3 Antonio Banderas) on autoharp.

The 60-year-old Oscar nominee also posted a picture of her 32-year-old son Alexander (with ex-husband #2 Steven Bauer) and Don's 35-year-old son Jesse (with ex-partner Patti D'Arbanville).

Miss Golden Globe 2006 - whose grandmother is Tippi Hedren - certainly has nepotism to thank for her acting career.

Meanwhile, Johnson's boyfriend Chris Martin spent the holidays on the island of Antigua with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow and their daughter Apple, 13; and son Moses, 11.

Fireside: The Fifty Shades Darker star recently returned from Colorado where she spent the holidays with her modern family in a cozy Aspen lodge

Sibling band? Melanie Griffith shared a Polaroid of Dakota (with ex-husband #1 Don Johnson) rocking the mic alongside her 21-year-old daughter Stella (with ex-husband #3 Antonio Banderas) on autoharp

'Ever so wonderful!' The 60-year-old Oscar nominee also posted a picture of her 32-year-old son Alexander (R, with ex-husband #2 Steven Bauer) and Don's 35- year-old son Jesse (L, with ex-partner Patti D'Arbanville)

US in The Hollywood Reporter #familyforever A post shared by MELANIE (@melanie_griffith57) on Dec 20, 2017 at 2:03pm PST

'Airborne!' Meanwhile, Johnson's boyfriend Chris Martin (R) spent the holidays on the island of Antigua with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow and their daughter Apple (L), 13; and son Moses, 11

Kaleidoscope: On Friday, Gossip Cop reported that the 40-year-old British belter and the Texas-born brunette have 'become somewhat serious' since first canoodling at Sushi Park in LA two months ago (pictured November 7)

On Friday, Gossip Cop reported that the 40-year-old British belter and the Texas-born brunette have 'become somewhat serious' since first canoodling at Sushi Park in LA two months ago.

The Coldplay frontman and his band will next compete for two trophies - pop vocal album and pop/duo group performance - at the Grammy Awards airing January 28 on CBS.

The Time's Up activist will resume her role as bride-to-be Anastasia Steele a third time opposite Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades Freed, which hits UK/US theaters February 9.

Airing January 28 on CBS! The Coldplay frontman and his band will next compete for two trophies - pop vocal album and pop/duo group performance - at the Grammy Awards
She's the TV personality who always manages to look glam whether she be gracing the small screen or the red carpet.

And on Saturday, 52-year-old Sonia Kruger proved she has a body that's sure to be envied by women half her age as she posed in a bikini for an Instagram snap.

The Voice host donned a blue and white bikini top teamed with navy bottoms as she flaunted her figure in a backyard kiddy pool with a hat obscuring her face.

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The fountain of youth! Sonia Kruger, 52, defies her years as she poses in a barely-there bikini for saucy snap

'So glad we got the pool finished in time for summer,' she joked in the caption, adding hashtags '#nofilter' and "#vogueliving'.

During an interview with Sophie Monk, 37, on Today Extra on last year, host Sonia revealed fans often confuse her for the younger star.

'You know what happened to me at the ARIAs? I got into an elevator as I was leaving and this guy in the elevator goes "Oh Sophie!" and And I went, 'Um, no Sonia,"' the morning show co-host said.

But it appears Sonia isn't the only one to feel the force of a case of mistaken identity.

Sophie also revealed she has the opposite problem, stating: 'Yeah I got Sonia, and I'm like, I'm not as smart as her.'

Spot the difference! On Today Extra last year, Sonia Kruger (left) claimed she is often mistaken for fellow blonde TV star Sophie Monk (right)

Double take! Sophie (pictured) revealed the reverse is also true, with people confusing her for Sonia as well

Returning the complimentary comment, Sonia responded: 'Well I'm not as young as she is but I'll take it.'

The Nine Network presenter also added she felt pressure to keep up appearance as Bachelorette fans were so invested in Sophie's love life.

'On occasion I've felt the need to pretend to be you,' Sonia explained, noting it was mainly when the hype for The Bachelorette was at an all-time high.

'I'm not as young as she is but I'll take it': Sonia said she takes the mistake as a compliment

It comes after Sophie confirmed she would be hosting new Channel Nine reality series Love Island next year.

Speaking to the Today show on Friday, Sophie explained the concept of the series which has already been a huge hit overseas.

'It is a young group of people from 18-35 who are going to hook up on an island and they have got to try and last,' she said.

'You can vote them out if you don't believe they are in love. At the end there is a lot of money and the couple either split it or one person takes it. So Australia kind of choose who is really in love. They send in intruders. It is exciting.'
It looks like Ali Larter is beginning the year on a strong note.

The 41-year-old actress was snapped in Beverly Hills, California Friday with her husband Hayes MacArthur looking stylish as she made her way through the well-heeled 90210.

The Cherry Hill, New Jersey native wore a long-sleeved navy blue with a plunging neck with black leather pants and black slip-on shoes. She had her blonde mane parted on the right, accessorizing with a dark blue trench coat, black sunglasses and a black leather purse with a gold chain.

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Happy together: Ali Larter, 41, was snapped in Beverly Hills, California Friday holding hands with her husband Hayes MacArthur, 40, looking stylish

She was snapped walking hand-in-hand with MacArthur, who's been married to the Resident Evil regular for more than eight years.

MacArthur, 40, an actor who's on the TBS series Angie Tribeca, wore a black ball cap with an ocean blue knit sweater with grey jeans and black sneakers. He sipped out of a water bottle as he walked with his spouse, who he shares two children with: son Theodore, seven and daughter Vivienne, two.

Larter and her hubby are back in Southern California after ringing in the new year in the tropical locale of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with their two children.

While there, Larter shared a New Year's Day post in which she posed in a white bikini, and wrote that she's praying '2018 is filled with golden light,' and 'a beautiful year filled with peace and love.'

Beaming: The Resident Evil actress left an establishment with a shopping bag in hand

Fab fashion: The entertainer was decked out in winter style as she made her way through the well-heeled locale

The Pitch actress added that she 'couldnt be happier to close 2017,' a year in which she said she felt 'there was a feeling of imminent disaster at every turn ... from the tumultuous times in our country, the natural disasters, and the overall state of unrest in the world.'

Ali has past been outspoken in her support for the organization Planned Parenthood - and the efforts of President Donald Trump and his administration to strip it of funding.

She lent her celebrity to a gathering in support of Planned Parenthood a year ago at the Philadelphia Action Forum.

Fresh start: Larter took to Instagram on New Year's Day with a message of optimism toward the coming year

Influential: Larter delivered an impassioned speech on behalf of Planned Parenthood in January of 2017 in Philadelphia

Involved: Larter said that supporting Planned Parenthood is not a political issue, but rather one promoting health

There, she opened up on why she feels 'its an essential part of health care for so many women in this country,' according to People.

She told a crowd of 400 attendees, 'I am one of the one-in-five women that will use a Planned Parenthood health center in their lifetime,' emphasizing how helpful it is to those who employ its services.

She stressed that no matter who's in charge, the efficacy of Planned Parenthood 'shouldnt be a political issue,' adding that 'it doesnt matter if youre a Republican, Democrat or Independent.'
She's the Australian actress who just enjoyed a relaxing holiday Down Under over the Christmas period.

But Nicole Kidman was back in Hollywood on Friday to celebrate at the 7th AACTA International Awards alongside fellow nomineeHugh Jackman and songstress Delta Goodrem.

The 50-year-old scooped up Best Supporting Actress for her incredible roles in Lion and Top Of The Lake: China Girl.

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Winners are grinners! Nicole Kidman scoops up Best Supporting Actress gongs at the AACTA Awards

She accepted the gongs from film director Phillip Noyce, who gave her a warm hug on stage before she gave her speech.

The 50-year-old looked right at home on the red carpet as she floated majestically before the press pit in a capped sleeve maxi dress.

The pink number was a safe bet for Nicole, whose pale complexion works well with a softer tone.

Winner! Speckles of red accentuated the otherwise fairy floss colouring, which she matched with her small clutch bag

Winners are grinners! Nicole Kidman scoops up Best Supporting Actress gongs at the AACTA Awards wearing a pastel pink maxi dress

Speckles of red accentuated the otherwise fairy floss colouring, which she matched with her small clutch bag.

The mother-of-four kept her hair natural, lightly tousling the ends to add depth.

Her incredible engagement ring was on full display and was paired with two thin silver bracelets.

Glowing! The pink number was a safe bet for Nicole, whose pale complexion works well with a softer tone

Speaking to Angela Bishop from Ten News Nicole admitted she almost didn't make the grand affair.

'I was determined to get here. I was snowed in while we were staying in Canada. We only got back two hours ago,' she admitted with a grin.

She also managed to run into heart-throb Hugh Jackman, pulling him into a warm hug when he arrived.

Ran into a familiar face: It was lucky she did attend though as she scooped up Best Supporting Actress for her incredible roles in Lion and Top Of The Lake: China Girl

Friends! She also managed to run into heart-throb Hugh Jackman, pulling him into a warm hug when he arrived

The pair will walk the carpet again in two days time as they gear up for the Golden Globes - the first one since Harvey Weinstein assault allegations came to light.

Of the controversy, Nicole commented she would be doing her best to support those who have been impacted.

'A lot of it is based in helping each other. And feeling safe and being heard,' she told Ten News.
They're two of Australia's biggest acting exports.

And there is plenty of love between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, the longtime friends unable to hide their delight when they bumped into each other on Friday.

The Hollywood heavyweights greeted each other with a warm hug as they arrived on the 7th AACTA International Awards red carpet on Los Angeles.

A warm welcome! Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman greet each other with a friendly hug on the 7th AACTA International Awards red carpet

Hugh and Nicole looked overjoyed to spot each other on the red carpet, smiling as they embraced each other warmly.

Nicole was pretty in pink in a breezy floral dress which featured beaded detailing and cap sleeves.

Meanwhile Hugh looked suave in a sharp black suit, which he paired with a striped tie.

Happy: Hugh and Nicole looked overjoyed to spot each other on the red carpet, smiling as they embraced each other warmly

How's things? After hugging, Hugh and Nicole could be seen chatting enthusiastically to each other

After hugging, Hugh and Nicole could be seen chatting enthusiastically to each other.

All smiles and arms around each other, the acting friends posed for photos together on the media wall.

Inside the event Nicole scooped up two Best Supporting Actress gongs for Lion and Top Of The Lake: China Girl.

Say cheese! All smiles and arms around each other, the acting friends posed for photos together on the media wall

Starred together: Both appeared in the 2008 spectacular Australia directed by their friend Baz Luhrmann

Besides being long time friends and supporters of the Australian film industry, Hugh and Nicole previously shared the silver screen together.

Both appeared in the 2008 spectacular Australia, which was directed by their friend Baz Luhrmann.

Hugh and Nicole are both back in the United States after celebrating Christmas with their families in Australia.
Bachelorette star Jake Ellis' mother Robyn has died after a 25 year battle with cancer.

On Saturday, the reality TV star revealed the devastating news on Instagram, penning a heartfelt tribute to his mum.

Speaking with Daily Mail Australia, Jake also paid tribute to the woman he described as 'mine and my brothers hero, the strongest women Ive ever met'.

'Yesterday we lost our beautiful Mother': On Saturday, Bachelorette star Jake Ellis' revealed that his mother Robyn has tragically passed away following a 25 year battle with cancer

Robyn was originally diagnosed with cancer when Jake was just six years old. She spent a decade clear of the disease, before it sadly returned. The mother-of-two passed away on Friday.

'Last year was definitely the hardest year for her and my family  She held on in true Robyn Ellis style, she fought all the way until the very end', the TV star told Daily Mail Australia.

He added that she was 'the biggest fighter Ive ever met'.

'The biggest fighter I've ever met': Jake paid tribute to his brave mother who fought cancer on-and-off since her son was just six years old

'Right now Ive got some of my closest friends and family at our house celebrating [her life and her strength], going through photos.'

Robyn's cancer battle was made public during Jake's appearance on The Bachelorette in 2016, in which he placed third in the pursuit for the heart of newsreader Georgia Love.

A prominent campaigner for cancer causes, Jake will continue to passionately support fundraising initiatives.

Cancer campaigner: Jake, who took his mother to many fundraising events, said that raising awareness about the deadly disease 'will always be my passion'

'Since The Bachelorette, one of the biggest things I wanted to be a part of was [raising awareness for] Cancer Council and cancer charities,' Jake explained.

'Every event I ever did I took my mum along to. It is and will always be my passion'.

Jake also revealed he received a 'beautiful message' of condolence from Georgia, whose own mother tragically passed away from cancer in 2016.

He has also kept in close touch with her chosen suitor, Lee Elliot.

'Its been good to have that relationship [with Lee and Georgia]- Lee is one of my closest friends, and to be able to talk with Georgia has been really nice, and her message was really special,' Jake said.

Fighting spirit: Jake told Daily Mail Australia that Robyn 'fought all the way until the very end'

Lee shared his heartbreaking news on Instagram, posting a photo him and younger brother Luke with Robyn, revealing she had died on Friday.

'This is the hardest post Ive ever had to do.. Yesterday we lost our beautiful Mother after her 25 year battle with Cancer,' he wrote.

'Words will never describe the amazing woman that she was, she was our hero, the strongest and most special person in our lives and to the lives of many.

'Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support, means the world to myself and family. Forever I Love you, forever I miss you, forever in our hearts.'

Sad news: 'This is the hardest post Ive ever had to do.. Yesterday we lost our beautiful Mother after her 25 year battle with Cancer,' he wrote.

Heartbreak: Jake shot to fame on the 2016 season of The Bachelorette, where his close connection with his mum was featured on the show

The reality TV star's post was met with a flood of well wishers paying tribute to Jake's mum.

Last June, Jake and Robyn spoke with the Gold Coast Bulletin about her cancer battle.

'I remember mum had to be away from us for a long time. The smell of the hospital has always stayed with me,' Jake said.

Series favourite: Jake placed third in his pursuit for newsreader, Georgia Love

In the interview, Robyn revealed that she hid the extent of her breast cancer while Jake was filming The Bachelorette.

'I didnt tell him because I didnt want to worry him,' she said.

'I think mothers with cancer often do that sort of thing. They want to protect their families.'

Tragic loss: Georgia's mum tragically died just days after The Bachelorette finale aired in 2016

The Brisbane-based star bonded with Georgia over both their family's health struggles, with the newsreader's mother Belinda also battling pancreatic cancer during filming.

Georgia's mum tragically died just days after The Bachelorette finale aired in 2016.
They raise their two children together, five-year-old Faith and three-year-old Aaron.

But Michelle Heaton and Hugh Hanley took a night off parenting duties to enjoy some quality time together on a romantic date in London on Friday.

The former Liberty X star, 38, showcased her svelte figure in an olive green bomber jacket and leggings as she cosied up to her dapper Irish businessman husband.

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Heaton up their marriage! Giddy Michelle showed off her svelte figure in a bomber jacket as she stepped out for romantic date with her husband Hugh Hanley in London on Friday

Personal trainer Michelle paraded her slender limbs in skintight PVC trousers, paired with sky-scraper high heels which added to her petite height of 5foot 3inches.

Framing her face with her bouncy curls, the actress highlighted her eyes with a shade of pink shadow and she wore a shade of glossy lipstick.

Michelle was giddy as she held hands with her handsome husband, proving the pair have remained as loved-up as ever since they first started dating in 2008.

Dapper Hugh teased a glimpse of his muscular frame and chest hair when he left his black shirt unbuttoned at the top.

She's got a fab figure: The former Liberty X star, 38, showcased her svelte figure in an olive green bomber jacket to catch the eye of her husband

Looking good: Personal trainer Michelle paraded her slender limbs in skintight PVC trousers, paired with sky-scraper high heels which added to her petite height of 5foot 3inches

The couple headed out to spend some time with their friends including Lee Latchford-Evans at Kibele restaurant in Marylebone.

The pop princess pledged to spend the rest of her life with the businessman in a sun-drenched wedding in the Bahamas in July 2010.

Michelle gave birth to her first child, daughter Faith, via emergency C-section to prevent going into labour after her waters broke two weeks early in January 2012.

She welcomed little Aaron into the world via C-section after which she was left with a flap of skin in place of her scar which left her 'uncomfortable' in February 2014.

Must be love: Michelle was giddy as she held hands with her incredibly handsome husband, proving the pair have remained close since they first started dating in 2008

It's a love story: The pop princess pledged to spend the rest of her life with the businessman in a sun-drenched wedding in the Bahamas in July 2010

In May 2017, the songstress appeared on Loose Women wearing a bikini to publicly display her hysterectomy and C-section scars for the first time.

Michelle has undergone two C-sections, a double mastectomy, breast reconstructive surgery, a hysterectomy and oophorectomy.

She also underwent extensive work as a preventive measure when she discovered she possessed a mutated BRCA2 gene causing a high risk of cancer.

In good company! The couple headed out to spend some time with their friends including Steps star Lee Latchford-Evans (pictured) at Kibele restaurant in Marylebone

Hunky man: Lee bundled up in a stylish grey coat when he headed out into the chilly London air after a charming evening out with friends
Megan McKenna recreated Kim Kardashian's sizzling bed snap just six hours after the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star shared the picture on Instagram on Friday.

The former TOWIE star drove her legion of two million followers wild when she imitated the curvy American reality television sensation- yet some fans hit out at her lack of originality and even branded the star 'an Asda' version of Kim.

Megan paraded her incredibly slender figure as she left little to the imagination when she folded her legs in the same way the reality star did in her own saucy snap.

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She's Keeping Up With The Kardashians! Megan McKenna recreated THAT Kim Kardashian bed snap six hours after the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star shared it on Instagram on Friday

Eagle-eyed fans flooded the post with the striking similarities between the two bedroom pictures, with one fan leading the way: 'Love it. Who did it better tho?' (sic)

The Only Way Is Essex star-turned-pop singer, Megan come under fire from online trolls for 'copying' the American businesswoman's picture.

'Why's she trying to be Kim doe?' A handful of fans remarked, 'Why try and copy Kim K. No one is original!' (sic)

Others added: 'Just like Kim'; 'Trying to copy Kim loool'; 'KimKwannabe'; 'You're like Asda's Kim K'; 'hey hey Kim K'; 'Kim K copy cat?'; 'Tried to do the Kim Kardashian' as well as 'As if this isn't a copy of one of the Kardashians'. (sic)

'Tried to do the Kim Kardashian': The former TOWIE star drove her legion of two million followers wild when she imitated the curvy American reality television sensation

MailOnline has contacted Megan's representatives for comment.

Megan's loyal fans were quick to defend the TOWIE star for doing the 'same pose' as the Los Angeles born beauty while others remarked she was 'hotter than Kim'.

Followers penned: 'Whats the big problem with someone doing the same pose as someone else?'

'To the females who put other females down. Who cares if Kim K did a similar photo to this? Great body so show it off. This girl is on.'

'Trying to copy Kim loool': Former The Only Way Is Essex beauty Megan come under fire from online trolls for 'copying' the American businesswoman's picture

Famed for breaking the internet, Kim courted the attention of her 105million Instagram followers with her sexiest look of the year yet.

The mother-of-two barely covered her modesty with her hands, which showed off plenty of underboob, when she went topless for the sizzling social media snap.

Posing up a storm on her bed, the television personality proved to be more confident than ever as she flaunted her peachy derriere in skimpy briefs.

'What is the big problem with someone doing the same pose?' Megan's loyal fans were quick to defend the TOWIE star for doing the 'same pose' as the Los Angeles born beauty

Kim has built up her confidence once again after she was left feeling insecure when pictures of her enviable asset emerged from her Mexican getaway with her sister Kourtney in the summer of 2017.

Elsewhere, Megan is moving away from reality television as she has quit TOWIE while she focuses on her country singing career.

In a shock statement released to The Sun, the ITVBe favourite said: 'Ive absolutely loved my time on, although this series has been emotionally draining so I need a break from all the drama and lies.

'My music is really important to me and I just want to focus as much of my time on that as possible but Id like to think I might return at some point. Id like to thank everyone at Lime Pictures and ITV for their ongoing support.'

Sexy: Famed for breaking the internet, Kim courted the attention of her 105,000,000 Instagram followers with her sexiest look of the year yet
Serving Nebraska during the last five years has been an honor, and as I begin 2018, I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of our great state and our great people. My staff, both in Washington and throughout Nebraska, work hard to ensure that Nebraskans receive the best representation and guidance when navigating federal bureaucracy, planning a trip to the nation's capital, or looking for other services that my office can provide.

My offices in Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney and Scottsbluff are always ready to help you. Whether working with the VA to help you with services you earned protecting our nation, getting an answer about Social Security benefits, or obtaining passports for your next trip out of the country, my Senate staff is committed to serving you.

Sometimes problems in foreign countries can become matters of freedom, or even life or death. In 1999, Marcel Pika moved his family to Lincoln following the start of a civil war in his native country of the Republic of Congo. In 2016, after becoming an American citizen, he was arrested while visiting the Congo following their election. He was never charged with a crime.

Working with the State Department and Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, my office helped to secure his release. When I met with the Pika family, I was touched by their incredible strength and courage. I was happy to join all Nebraskans in welcoming Marcel and his wife, Josephine, home and wishing them well as they reunite with their family.

My casework staff is also dedicated to dealing with issues closer to home. In March 2017, the conservator of Bert Crum, a 100 percent disabled Vietnam veteran, contacted my office. He hoped to obtain the service medals Mr. Crum earned during Vietnam. A fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973 destroyed his records outlining his commendations. Working with the National Personnel Records Center, we checked battle reports and contacted archivists to find Mr. Crum's service records. He had earned a Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon and Presidential Unit Citation, among other awards. In May, Mr. Crum received all of his medals from serving in the United States Marine Corps.

For those who want to meet in person with a member of my staff about any issue, we also hold mobile office hours in communities all across Nebraska. In 2017, our office held 93 of these meetings  one in each of our states counties. These mobile office hours act as a convenient place where you can ask questions and share concerns regarding the challenges you have encountered with the federal government. To find more information about upcoming office hours in 2018, check your community newspapers, my website and Facebook page or my Twitter account.

Every year, thousands of Nebraskans visit our nations capital to experience our countrys rich history and tour some of our wonderful museums and monuments. I encourage you to use my Washington office as a resource as you plan your trip. Staff can schedule tours of the White House or U.S. Capitol. They also have information about many other attractions in Washington, D.C.

If you visit the nations capital, I also hope you consider attending a time-honored state tradition: the Nebraska Breakfast. Hosted in the Senates Dirksen Office Building, the breakfast is open to all Nebraskans and attended by the entire Nebraska congressional delegation. This will mark the 75th year of the breakfast, which Sen. Hugh Butler instituted in 1943. The Nebraska Breakfast is the longest-running meeting of its kind. More information regarding the Nebraska Breakfast can be found by visiting my website or contacting my office.

Serving Nebraska families is the most rewarding aspect of my job. Please contact me if you have concerns regarding your interaction with the federal bureaucracy, are planning to visit Washington, or want to voice your suggestions on important issues.
They are two of the toughest actresses in Hollywood.

And Ashley Judd, 49, looked thrilled to rub shoulders with Joan Collins, 84, at the Esquire and the Medavoys party in Beverley Hills on Friday night.

The pair showed off their age-defying beauty as they posed for a snap at the celebratory Golden Globes bash.

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Glam:Ashley Judd, 49, looked thrilled to rub shoulders with Joan Collins, 84, at the Esquire and the Medavoys party in Beverley Hills on Friday night

Ashley oozed glamour in the monochrome dress, which accentuated her ample assets with a plunging neckline.

Featuring billowing sleeves and dozens of ruffled flowers, the gown showcased her slim frame as she beamed for the camera.

She complemented the look with a black clutch bag and added a boost to her height with suede court shoes.

Cosying up to Joan, the Kiss The Girls actress beamed with happiness as she enhanced her youthful complexion with blush-swept cheeks and a glossy red lip, with her brunette locks swept into an elegant updo.

Wow factor:Ashley oozed glamour in the monochrome dress, which accentuated her ample assets with a plunging neckline

Speaking out: Last year, Ashley was the catalyst for exposing Harvey Weinstein's abuse allegations

She finished off the look with a decadent diamond ring and small hoop earrings.

Meanwhile, Joan looked every inch the Hollywood icon as she joined her husband Percy Gibson for the celebrations.

The Dynasty actress showed off her slender physique in a silky black gown and red embellished blazer.

She accessorized the glamorous ensemble with velvet gloves, a silver choker and diamond square earrings.

Screen-star: Joan looked every inch the Hollywood icon in a silky black gown and navy velvet gloves

Stylish: The Dynasty actress paired the dress with a red embellished blazer as she posed with her husband Percy Gibson

Last year, Ashley was the catalyst for exposing Harvey Weinstein's abuse allegations.

Judd detailed an incident involving the Hollywood mogul for The New York Times in their bombshell investigation into Weinstein's decades of alleged sexual harassment.

Her claims sparked a tide of women to come forward with further sexual harassment allegations including Hollywood producer Elizabeth Karlsen and British actress Jessica Hynes.

Joan also lifted the lid on the dark side of Hollywood during an appearance on This Morning back in October to discuss the prevalence of 'bad men' in the industry, who behaved inappropriately towards her in her youth.

She revealed she was once 'harassed' by two megastars, and asked to pull down her top at an audition.
Her romance with PR fashion guru Simon Motson has gone from strength-to-strength over the last two years.

And Myleene Klass looked happier than ever as she jetted back into the UK with her hunky partner on Friday after a family holiday in the Seychelles with their children.

The presenter, 39, cracked a radiant smile as she flashed her cleavage in a black V-neck top, which clung to her slim figure.

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Beach break: Myleene Klass looked happier than ever as she jetted back into the UK with her hunky partner on Friday after a family holiday in the Seychelles with their children

She paired the top with comfortable joggers and trainers and knotted a satin hoodie around her waist, as she sweetly hugged her two lookalike daughters Ava, 10, and Hero, six, who she shares with ex-husband Graham Quinn.

Giving a superstar edge to her look, Myleene peeled on a pair of huge oversized sunglasses paired with delicate gold earrings and a necklace.

Her caramel flecked brunette bob was styled sleek and straight and she wore a light dusting of make-up to enhance her pretty features.

Her beau Simon matched his partner in an all-black ensemble as he wheeled a trolley of suitcases out behind Myleene with his son and daughter also part of the group.

Family time: The presenter, 39, cracked a radiant smile as she flashed her cleavage in a black v-neck top, which clung to her slim figure while hugging her daughters Ava, 10, and Hero, six

Chic: She paired the top with comfortable joggers and trainers and knotted a satin hoodie around her waist

When Myleene went public in May, and the brunette later raved of their romance to the Daily Mirror: 'He is so hot. Its lovely. Im enjoying myself.'

Her new found love comes after her failed marriage with bodyguard Graham Quinn, 41, who is the father to Hero and Ava.

Graham walked out on her 34th birthday in April 2012 putting an end to their love, with their divorce finalised in 2013.

Discussing her devastation, she admitted to Woman magazine: 'I thought I'd never smile or trust anyone ever again'.

'I felt so betrayed and so crushed. But I couldn't wallow in it. I said to my mum and dad, "I'm broken, but I will not sink."'
She made a name for herself when she starred alongside Jamie Foxx and John Hamm in Baby Driver last year.

And Eiza Gonzalez ensured all eyes were on her on Friday as she joined a slew of celebrities at the Esquire and the Medavoys pre-Golden Globes party in Beverley Hills.

The 27-year-old actress put on an eye-popping display in a plunging green dress as she greeted a mystery man at the star-studded bash.

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Stunner: Eiza Gonzalez ensured all eyes were on her on Friday as she joined a slew of celebrities at the Esquire and the Medavoys party in Beverley Hills

The revealing gown highlighted her impressive bust and slim waist before the dress billowed out into a pleated a-line skirt.

Eiza, who was previously linked to Liam Hemsworth in 2015, complemented her glitzy dress with a gold smoky eye and pink lip.

The Mexican-born beauty let her brunette tresses cascade over her shoulders as she embraced the mystery man.

MailOnline has contacted Eiza's representative for a comment.

Glam: The 27-year-old actress put on an eye-popping display in a plunging green dress as she greeted a mystery man at the pre-Golden Globes party

The Dusk Till Dawn actress was joined by Ashley Judd, 49, who oozed glamour in a monochrome dress, which accentuated her ample assets with a plunging neckline.

Featuring billowing sleeves and dozens of ruffled flowers, Ashley's gown showcased her slim frame as she beamed for the camera.

She complemented the look with a black clutch bag and added a boost to her height with suede court shoes.

Cosying up to Joan Collins, the Kiss The Girls actress beamed with happiness as she enhanced her youthful complexion with blush-swept cheeks and a glossy red lip, with her brunette locks swept into an elegant updo.

She finished off the look with a decadent diamond ring and small hoop earrings.

Wow factor: Ashley oozed glamour in the monochrome dress, which accentuated her ample assets with a plunging neckline

Slim: Featuring billowing sleeves and dozens of ruffled flowers, the gown showcased her slim frame as she beamed for the camera

Star-studded: Ashley Judd looked thrilled to rub shoulders with Joan Collins at the party

Meanwhile, Joan looked every inch the Hollywood icon as she joined her husband Percy Gibson for the celebrations.

The Dynasty actress showed off her slender physique in a silky black gown and red embellished blazer.

She accessorized the glamorous ensemble with velvet gloves, a silver choker and diamond square earrings.

Screen-star: Joan looked every inch the Hollywood icon in a silky black gown and navy velvet gloves
She's one of Australia's most successful actresses as well as a mother and wife.

But Asher Keddie refuses to say she 'has it all', hitting out at the expression which claims women can juggle everything in life.

The 43-year-old told InStyle Australia that 'no respect' is given to how complex women's lives can be and claiming to have it all sends a 'negative message'.

'Im not juggling it all brilliantly, Im doing my best': Offspring star Asher Keddie hits back at claims she 'has it all' as she manages motherhood with acting career

'Im not juggling it all brilliantly, Im doing my best,' Asher told the publication, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The Offspring star argued that claiming to have it all was detrimental to other women.

'No respect (is) given to the complexity of (a womans life). Its just bulls**t. We shouldnt expect women to have it all and manage it all and I certainly dont want to be portrayed in that way  I think its a very negative message to send women,' Asher said.

'We shouldnt expect women to have it all and manage it all and I certainly dont want to be portrayed in that way': Asher said it was a 'negative message' when it was claimed women could have it all

Close family: The couple share a two-year-old son Valentino together and Asher is stepmum to Vincent's other son Luca (pictured)

Despite her strong comments on juggling family with her career, Asher said she had found deep satisfaction in her marriage to Vincent Fantauzzo.

The couple share a two-year-old son Valentino together and Asher is stepmum to Vincent's other son Luca.

'Were growing up as partners and artists and really starting to appreciate that we have a different perspective on things,' she told InStyle.

Asher previously told Fairfax Media that she struggled to return to work on Offspring after having a child.

'Were growing up as partners and artists and really starting to appreciate that we have a different perspective on things': Asher said she had found deep satisfaction in her marriage to Vincent Fantauzzo

'Last year it was very difficult to go back to work and I really felt it, especially after spending 13 months at home all day with my baby,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald last August.

'But this year I've embraced it. I wouldn't be going back, and certainly not into a seventh series, if I didn't love it.'

Famous for her role on the small screen as Nina Proudman, Asher will be appearing in cinemas this month in comedy film Swinging Safari.

The retro flick also stars Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Julian McMahon and Radha Mitchell.
She's one of the world's original supermodels, shooting to fame in the 1990s alongside Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.

And nearly three decades on, Helena Christensen is still hot property.

According to The Herald Sun, the 49-year-old is soon set to arrive in Australia, where she will be an international guest of honour at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival in March.

Third time's a charm! Helena Christen is set to appear at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival in March, after having previously wowed crowds at the event twice before

It'll be the third time Helena has appeared at the Fashion Festival, having last wowed crowds in 2011.

She first headlined the event back in 1997.

The Danish-born beauty has a close connection with Australia, having dated INXS frontman Michael Hutchence for four years back in the early 90s.

Iconic couple: The Danish-born beauty has a close connection with Australia, having dated INXS frontman Michael Hutchence for four years back in the early 90s

Emotional: In November, upon the 20th anniversary of the late rocker's death, Helena took to Instagram to pay tribute to her ex

In November, upon the 20th anniversary of the late rocker's death, Helena took to Instagram to pay tribute to her ex.

Beneath a picture of the star she emotionally wrote: 'What a special honor it is to have been one of the lucky few who got to know the sweet, curious, caring, smart and funny man you were on a personal level.'

She added: 'We play INXS every summer when we're gathered under a dark violet summer sky, while cicadas chirp along and stories about you are shared, making us all smile and hug.'

Icon: Helena is one of the world's original supermodels, shooting to fame in the 1990s alongside Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Carla Bruni (pictured all together in 2017)

Helena now lives in New York, with her 17-year-old son Mingus, who she shares with ex Norman Reedus, of The Walking Dead fame.

The celebrity duo were together for five years from 1998 to 2003 and now co-parent their boy, who was born in 1999.

The brunette beauty is still firmly entrenched on the Hollywood A-List, having last year scored an invite to the star-studded wedding of talent manager Guy Oseary.

Madonna, U2, Sasha Baron Cohen, Chris Rock, Matthew McConaughey and Dakota Johnson were among the other guests present at the ceremony.
He has been happily in love with Phillipa Coan for two years but has kept their romance very private.

And Jude Law, 45, looked delighted to have the psychologist on his arm as they attended the Annual Moet Moment Film Festival in West Hollywood on Friday.

With awards season hot on their heels, the pair - who have not been seen together since July - made a stylish exit from the Pre-Golden Globes event in California.

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Cute couple: Jude Law, 45, looked delighted to have girlfriend Phillipa Coan on his arm as they attended the Annual Moet Moment Film Festival in West Hollywood on Friday

The British actor, who hails from London, highlighted his enviable frame in a slim-fit jumper and fitted trousers for the glitzy occasion.

Hollywood hunk Jude, who will next appear on the big screen in November in the sequel to Fantastic Beasts, was in high spirits as he was joined by his girlfriend.

Psychologist Phillipa paraded her sensational figure in skintight PVC trousers, worn with a bright white blazer to catch the eye with its striking contrast.

Putting on Golden (Globes) appearance: Jude, who will next appear on screen in the sequel to Fantastic Beasts, was in high spirits as he was joined by his girlfriend

The couple party hopped as they also made a glamorous appearance at The Post reception hosted by David O. Russell and Colleen Camp in Los Angeles, California.

Jude rubbed shoulders with the star of Steven Spielberg's latest movie Tom Hanks at the star-studded event hosted in celebration of the 2018 flick.

The Post tells the true story of why The Washington Post decided to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971, which exposed the government's secret history of the Vietnam War, and its consequences.

In Spielberg's movie, the country's first publisher Katharine Graham (Streep) and the newspaper editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) lead the battle between journalists and the government.

Chic and cheerful: Psychologist Phillipa paraded her sensational figure in skintight PVC trousers, worn with a bright white blazer to catch the eye with its striking contrast

Phillipa has been mingling within Jude's Hollywood circles since they first started dating back in 2015.

Despite accompanying him to A-list parties, Jude prides their romance on being a 'very private thing' that makes him 'very, very happy'.

The Sherlock Holmes star told Modern Luxury magazine for the January 2017 edition: 'Shes mine and no one elses. Im very, very happy. A large part of that is the fact that shes a very private person.

Social butterfly: The couple party hopped as they also made a glamorous appearance at The Post reception in Los Angeles, California where he rubbed shoulders with Tom Hanks

'And our relationship is a very private thing, and I think part of the fact it works so well is exactly because of that.'

While he shares no offspring with his current girlfriend, Jude is the doting father to his five children from his former relationships.

The Holiday star shares three children, two sons 21-year-old Rafferty and 15-year-old Rudy as well as 17-year-old daughter Iris, with his ex-wife Sadie Frost.

The former flames, who met on the set of Shopping, were married in a romantic ceremony in September 1997 but they went onto divorce in October 2003.

He moved his heartache on with his 2004 Alfie co-star Sienna Miller and they got engaged to on Christmas day but they went their separate ways in November 2006.

Jude raises his fourth child Sophia, eight, with American model Samantha Burke whom he enjoyed a brief romance with.

In late 2009, he returned to his ladylove Sienna and the couple spent Christmas together in Barbados with his kids before the split for good in February 2011.

The Hollywood movie star also shares two-year-old daughter Ada with former flame Catherine Harding.
She has landed a job in New York whilst he is relocating to Spain.

Yet Gemma Collins, 36, and James 'Arg' Argent, 30, didn't let the prospect of long-distance love hamper their passion as the pair were spotted kissing in Marbella on Thursday.

Looking positively smitten, the on/off couple - who found fame on TOWIE - did not seem to care who was watching as they stopped in the street in a steamy clinch.

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Pucker up: Gemma Collins, 36, and James 'Arg' Argent, 30, didn't let the prospect of long-distance love hamper their passion as the pair were spotted kissing in Marbella on Thursday

The pair were joined by Arg's best friend Elliott Wright and his new wife Sadie Stuart on the outing, who also seemed in good spirits on the outing.

A representative for Gemma told MailOnline: 'They are good friends, but nothing more. Arg is relocating to Spain and Gemma agreed to help him find a home as she knows the area well.'

MailOnline has contacted Arg's representative for comment.

All over each other: Looking positively smitten, the on/off couple - who found fame on TOWIE - did not seem to care who was watching as they stopped in the street in a steamy clinch

Long distance lovers? She has landed a job in New York whilst he is relocating to Spain

Fun in the sun: The pair were joined by Arg's best friend Elliott Wright and his new wife Sadie Stuart on the outing, who also seemed in good spirits on the outing

Getting the candy: Arg and Gemma were all over each other as they shared a smooch

For the sun-soaked stroll, Gemma donned a black beaded kaftan that was adorned with silver embellishments.

She teamed the garment with leggings, and sensibly swapped her typical towering heels for a pair of flip flops, while he accessorised with a woven beach bag.

Wearing her golden locks loose and tousled, she boasted a rich tan and sported a pair of oversized sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Arg kept things casual in a black fleece and shorts that he teamed with luminous green running trainers.

Hug it out: The duo were very tactile as they also enjoyed a cuddle on their stroll

Dressed to impress: For the sun-soaked stroll, Gemma donned a black beaded kaftan that was adorned with silver embellishments

All-smiles: Gemma seemed in high spirits as she beamed broadly on the outing

Leggy lady! She teamed the garment with leggings, and sensibly swapped her typical towering heels for a pair of flip flops, while he accessorised with a woven beach bag

Blonde bombshell: Wearing her golden locks loose and tousled, she boasted a rich tan and sported a pair of oversized sunglasses

Low-key look: Meanwhile, Arg kept things casual in a black fleece and shorts that he teamed with luminous green running trainers

Confirming their romance with a kiss comes at an interesting time, as Gemma just revealed her plans to relocate to New York City.

In an Instagram post on Friday, the CBB star wrote: ''So excited to finally tell you all I have landed first AMERICAN JOB so so excited NY CITY here I come #dreambig' (sic)'.

She seems to be following in the footsteps of former co-star Mark Wright after he landed a job on US show Extra in sunny Los Angeles.

Making moves: Confirming their romance with a kiss comes at an interesting time, as Gemma just revealed her plans to relocate to New York City

Also on the go: Arg, meanwhile, is said to be relocating to Spain and is house hunting

Loving life: The pair seem to be moving on from any problems they've faced in the past

It has since been claimed that Gemma has landed a role on hit Netflix series, Orange Is The New Black.

A source told The Sun: 'Gemma can't wait to get started. She is bursting with excitement and feels really proud to have landed the job.

'Her "Queen of Memays" tag has really paid off.'

Sunny stroll: Arg and Gemma looked cosy as they walked together side by side

All-smiles: The duo seemed in high spirits as they went on a stroll through Marbella

Chatting away: The duo were seen deep in conversation with former TOWIE star Elliott

Gemma teased fans as she shared an article about the rumours on her Instagram account on Friday and wrote: 'Thank you. It really is a big dream come true.'

Gemma and Arg have enjoyed an on/off relationship since they first started dating in 2012.

Yet Arg delighted TOWIE viewers by finally confessing his feelings for Gemma in the show's Christmas special.

More hugs: Gemma and Arg kept stopping to shower each other with affection

Feeling sleepy? Gemma was seen yawning as they strolled along the beachfront

Quality time: Gemma was seen enjoying an animated chat with Elliott on the outing

Getting up on stage in front of all his Essex pals, Arg, dressed as Santa, grabbed the microphone and said: 'I'm looking round the room there's one person who deserves a special shout out. And her name's GC.

'Gemma you're so lovely to me, you're always there for me whenever I need you and you make me laugh. You know what Gem, you think 'Arg he cares too much what people think.'

'I want to let you know no I don't give a f*** what anyone thinks. I f****ng love your candy.'
He's been a staple of daytime telly alongside wife Ruth Langsford.

And now This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, 58, appeared to be thinking of his next screen venture as he joked about a potential spin-off from the reality favourite Love Island.

The TV personality was a guest on Friday's Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side, when he dropped his idea for an OAP version of the hit summer show jokingly called 'Silver Surfers Island'

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Spin-off? This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, 58, appeared to be thinking of his next screen venture as he joked about a potential spin-off from the reality favourite Love Island on Friday

Sharing some banter with host Rylan Clark, who also shares the screen with Eamonn on This Morning, the Irish TV talent kicked off the joke with: 'As regards to me being asked to do Love Island next year...'

The cheeky suggestion was quickly rebutted by Rylan who exclaimed: 'There is no way I would ever let you do that!'

Unphased by Rylan's remark, Eamonn quickly batted back: 'No, but think if you had a couples' Love Island, if Ruth came on it and it would be like a Silver Surfers' Island, it could be, really!'

OAP Island? The TV personality was a guest on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side, when he dropped his idea for an OAP version of the hit summer show jokingly called 'Silver Surfers Island'

Not to be dismissed, Rylan amusingly quipped back: 'I would disembark myself from this family all together if that happened.'

It wouldn't be a bad choice for the host to make, as Love Island turned out to be the surprise hit of the summer, winning celebrity fans including Liam Gallagher and Stormzy and turning the lucky couples who found romance into instant stars.

After applications opened for the new series, 60,000 singletons put their names forward in an attempt to find romance in the famous villa.

Silver surfer? Sharing some banter with host Rylan Clark, who also shares the screen with Eamonn on This Morning, the Irish TV talent kicked off the joke with: 'As regards to me being asked to do Love Island next year...'

Racy reality TV: Love Island wouldn't be a bad choice for the host to make, as the show turned out to be the surprise hit of the summer, winning celebrity fans including Liam Gallagher and Stormzy and turning the lucky couples who found romance into instant stars

This isn't the first time host Eamonn, who looked dapper in a professional blue shirt and jacket combo, has been close to a reality stardom, as he was reportedly offered a whopping 800,000 to appear on Celebrity Big Brother.

According to the Mirror, Eamonn was approached by Channel Five bosses to star on the show,

He, however, reportedly turned down the generous offer, telling producers he 'didn't need the money'.

Romance: Bomb disposal expert Camilla and male model/deep thinker Jamie, 28 and 27, have endured their share of controversy after they were seen having a huge row in the street but are still blissfully happy together

The veteran presenter was apparently high on producers list to join the show but refuses it each time of the offer is made.

However, Eamonn was quick to deny the claims that he turned down the offer, telling the ITV This Morning viewers that 'The words you will never hear from my lips are: 'I don't need the money,''

He also admitted that wife Ruth wouldn't let him go on the controversial show, saying: 'She doesn't allow me to do it'.
Their relationship continues to go from strength to strength.

And Ben Affleck couldn't help but plant a kiss on his girlfriend Lindsay Shookus during a spot of shopping in Los Angeles on Friday.

The 45-year-old Batman actor and the 37-year-old Saturday Night Live producer appeared relaxed as they browsed stores for a low-key date.

Love birds: Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus packed on some PDA while the SNL producer held a pair of Christian Louboutin in her hands in Los Angeles on Friday

Coffee date: Ben looked relaxed as he faced the misty day with Lindsay by his side

Ben sported a casual look with a dark gray T-shirt, black denim jeans, and a black leather jacket.

The father-of-three finished off his attire with brown oxfords and sunglasses that he hung off his shirt collar.

Lindsay donned a chic look while strolling the streets in black denim, nude flats, and a gray long-sleeve shirt with bell-sleeves.

The 37-year-old sported a make-up free look as she kept her blonde tresses down by her shoulders.

Looking good: The 35-year-old Batman actor and the 37-year-old Saturday Night Live producer appeared relaxed as they browsed stores for a low-key date

Coffee run: Ben sported a casual look with a dark gray T-shirt, black denim jeans, and a black leather jacket

Out and about: The father-of-three finished off his attire with brown oxfords and sunglasses that he hung off his shirt collar

The couple later headed inside a store where they perused the selection of designer shoe brands.

Ben and Lindsay packed on some PDA while the SNL producer held a pair of Christian Louboutin in her hands.

Ben later found multiple pairs of shoes he found keen, while holding them up and asking the seven-time Emmy nominee for her opinion.

Shopping spree: The couple later headed inside a store where they perused the selection of designer shoe brands

The perfect pair: Ben later found multiple pairs of shoes he found keen, while holding them up and asking the seven-time Emmy nominee for her opinion

Meanwhile, Ben's ex-wife Jennifer Garner was seen getting in a workout across town.

The estranged couple spent Christmas together with their children according to People.

Ben and Jennifer are parents to daughters Violet, 12, and Seraphina, eight, and son Samuel, five.

The former couple, who also spent Thanksgiving together with their kids, separated in June 2015 after 10 years of marriage.

Life of luxury: Lindsay seemed to find multiple designer heels she wanted to buy
She caught the attention of Justin Bieber in 2016 when the pair enjoyed a wet and wild skinny dipping session in Hawaii.

And Australian bikini model Sahara Ray was up to her usual tricks this week, flaunting her figure in racy white lingerie on Instagram.

The busty blonde, 24, shared a photo of herself in a ripped crop top and G-string as she soaked up the sun in Mexico.

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White hot! Justin Bieber's rumoured fling Sahara Ray showcases her washboard abs in a VERY racy crop top and G-string in Mexico

Showing off a golden tan, Sahara was pictured standing on a balcony, with her long blonde hair styled in beachy waves.

Her G-string featured a provocative lightening bolt design.

Sahara appeared to keep her makeup simple, including a matte nude lip and dewy foundation.

Claim to fame: She caught the attention of Justin Bieber in 2016 when the pair enjoyed a wet and wild skinny dipping session in Hawaii

Sahara is no stranger to sharing scantily-clad photos with her 1.3 million Instagram followers.

The social butterfly was born in the Australian coastal town of Torquay, but was raised in Santa Cruz, California.

She is the daughter of Australian big wave surfer Tony Ray.

California girl: The social butterfly was born in the Australian coastal town of Torquay, but was raised in Santa Cruz, California

Her own best advertisement! Sahara splits her time between working as a model and the owner of bikini brand Sahara Ray Swim

Sahara splits her time between working as a model and being the owner of bikini brand Sahara Ray Swim.

She found herself in the spotlight last year after she was spotted skinny dipping in Hawaii with Justin Bieber.

The Australian's notoriety has increased in recent years thanks to her raunchy Instagram profile.




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.
He rose to fame as a star of The Only Way is Essex, joining the cast in 2014, and becoming a show mainstay until his department in October last year.

And Tommy Mallet wants to share his celebrity success with his fans, revealing plans to pen an autobiography about his rise to greatness.

The 25-year-old star posted a snap of a closed book on Instagram, captioning the post with plans to send the book to fans for free if they feel 'useless' and 'talentless'.

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New venture: TOWIE star Tommy Mallet, 25, has revealed plans to pen an autobiography, which he will send to fans who feel 'useless' and 'talentless'

Tommy captioned the post: 'Eating my favourite chocolate bar since I was a kid thinking back to this crazy journey I've been on in my 25 years.

'I'm in the process of writing a book about me, not only talking about the Up I've been on the last few years with business and towie also the bad I went through for years before finding what i was destine for.

'I won't be selling it online I will be sending it to people personally for free. People who feel stuck, useless, talentless & have no one to talk to I send you this ting when it's finished... #HardWorkBeatsTalent.' (sic)

Work in progress: Posting a snap of a closed book on Instagram, Tommy revealed he will write a book all about his road to greatness, and send it to fans for free

Magnum Opus? Tommy also posted a snap of him working on his book on his Instagram stories

Fans immediately rushed to praise the star for his kind gesture, with some immediately requesting a copy of the book.

One wrote: 'I love this. Would so love to read this,' while another commented: 'I feel like I need this right now! All the best and well done you!'

A third wrote: 'I've been watching your journey and would find it so fascinating!'

As well as being a star of TOWIE, Tommy has also set up the Mallet Footwear company, and is the co-owner of Essex nightclub Circuit.

Supportive: Fans rushed to comment that they would love to read the new book, with some requesting a copy already

Happy life: After joining TOWIE in 2014, Tommy found love with Georgia Kousoulou, though the star reportedly has a 'bible' of ground rules to follow

The hunk also found love during his reality TV stint with girlfriend Georgia Kousoulou, though the star recently revealed he has been given a 'bible' of rules to follow by the blonde beauty.

Speaking on ITV's Lorraine last year, Georgia said: 'A few? I set out like two pages! I had to for my own benefit,' before Tommy added: 'It's a bible!'

She continued: 'But didn't it help us? I think all girls going forward should have rules, it just helps relationships.'
She's the Australian supermodel awaiting the birth of her second child.

And on Friday, Nicole Trunfio flaunted her blossoming baby bump while on a shopping trip in Los Angeles.

The 31-year-old catwalk queen was joined by her lively son Zion, who turns three later this month.

That pregnancy glow! Australian supermodel Nicole Trunfio flaunted her blossoming baby bump on a shopping trip in Los Angeles with son Zion, two, on Friday

The brunette beauty showed off her pregnancy figure in a tight black maxi dress.

She added a splash of colour to the ensemble with a lightweight emerald green coat featuring a floral design.

She finished off her look with black ankle boots, a tan handbag, and a pair of designer sunglasses.

Effortlessly chic: Nicole, 31, turned the sidewalk into her own personal runway

Carry me! Nicole was pictured holding her son Zion, who turns three this month

Curvy: The catwalk queen showed off her pregnancy curves in a tight black dress

Stylish: She finished off her look with black ankle boots, a tan handbag and a pair of sunglasses

Nicole, who is married to American musician Gary Clark Jr., announced in October that the couple are expecting a girl.

She recently spoke about her pregnancy in an interview with Mother Muse.

'We are currently awaiting the birth of our new daughter which will be any day now, possibly the same birthday as Zion which would be fun!' she said.

Expecting: Nicole, who is married to American musician Gary Clark Jr., announced in October that the couple are expecting a girl

Thirsty? Nicole enjoyed a take-away juice during the shopping trip

'We havent decided on a name for her yet, we think its very important to meet them first,' she added.

Nicole also revealed she is currently working on a book about pregnancy and childbirth.

The entrepreneur is believed to have had two baby showers recently, one in Texas and the other in Beverly Hills.

'We havent decided on a name for her yet, we think its very important to meet them first': Nicole and husband Gary Clark Jr. haven't picked a name for their baby girl yet

Several celebrity friends joined her for the LA baby shower, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jessica Gomes and Renee Bargh in attendance.

During her peak years as a model, Nicole worked with fashion powerhouses like Versace and Valentino.

She also served as a mentor on the reality TV shows The Face Australia and Make Me a Supermodel.
Saturday night's Hopman Cup final in Perth between Germany and Switzerland is fitting of Grand Slam deciders.

The men's clash will feature world No.2 Roger Federer and No.4 Alexander Zverev, while the women's singles will pit together two former top 10 players, Belinda Bencic and Angelique Kerber.

Of the quartet, only Zverev lost matches during this week's tournament, to in-form Belgian David Goffin and Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Both countries won all three of their doubles clashes.

With arguably the best ever male player waiting for him in the final, Zverev hit the practice court as soon as Germany had won the doubles against Australia to qualify for the play-off.

"I didn't play my best yet," he said.

"I felt I played today better than I did the past few days even though it is still far from perfect.

"That's why I am going to practise now at 11.30(pm). I have to prepare the best I can against Roger.

"He is someone who feels the ball well, no matter where he goes, or how much he practises."

In the 30th edition of the event, both countries are chasing their third titles.

Federer has been in ominous touch this tournament though, not even dropping a set in singles wins over Yuichi Sugita, Karen Khachanov, and world No.8 Jack Sock.

World No.74 Bencic, who missed five months last year after undergoing wrist surgery, recorded wins over top-15 players Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and CoCo Vandeweghe along the way to the final.

Bencic has never dropped a set against former world No.1 Kerber, and leads the German 3-0 in head-to-head encounters.

The battles between Federer and Zverev have been much closer.

Zverev trails 3-2 in ATP battles, but it doesn't include his win over Federer at last year's Hopman Cup. That match went to to three tiebreak sets.

Federer was just 19 when he won the Hopman Cup in 2001, alongside then world No.1 Martina Hingis.

He narrowly missed out on making the final with Bencic last year, but now has the chance to add a second Hopman Cup crown to his bulging trophy cabinet.

Bencic grew up idolising Federer, and said it would be special to win a title with the 19-time grand slam winner.

"It would mean so much. It's a dream even playing here with Roger," Bencic said.

"The players are taking it seriously. We would love to win.

"Kerber is a top player. She always shows it. But I've got a good record against her."
Volatile Czech third seed Barbora Strycova has been dumped from the ASB Classic, downed 6-0 2-6 2-6 by quarter-final foe Su-Wei Hsieh.

Strycova - after a clinical first set in which she broke thrice and won at a canter - went to pieces in Auckland, grumbling as she lost game after game.

The 31-year-old was trailing 2-5 in the third set - and just two points from defeat - against the Taiwanese Hsieh when the heavens opened on Saturday.

Hsieh duly returned after a 15-minute delay to play out the match, and will now take on German second seed Julia Goerges in Saturday's semi-final.

Earlier, the world No.14 Goerges shrugged off her own rain delay to beat Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-4 6-4 and progress to the final four.

The rain halted the match for half an hour but didn't break Goerges' mental focus, as she dispatched her opponent in 90 minutes and smashed four aces.

In the other quarter-finals on Saturday, top seed Caroline Wozniacki takes on Sofia Kenin and Agnieszka Radwanska plays Sachia Vickery.

The women's singles schedule is heavily backlogged due to Thursday and Friday's Auckland downpours, which cancelled all play and pushed both the quarter-finals and semi-finals into Saturday.

The final will now be held on Sunday.

Weather also forced Classic organisers to push the women's doubles competition indoors on Friday, with both semi-finals taking place inside.

In the doubles final, which will be held on Sunday, favourites Sara Errani and Bibiane Schoofs will take on Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato.
An emergency warning has been issued for a fire in western Victoria, with residents being told it is too late to leave.

The warning has been issued for issued for Glenormiston North, Glenormiston South, Noorat, Noorat East, Kolora, all north of Warrnambool.

"You are in danger, act now to protect yourself. It is too late to leave. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. Do not get in the car and drive. It is safer to stay where you are," the warning reads.
More than 100 artists have signed a pledge of support for Kiwi musician Lorde after she was criticised for deciding not to perform in Israel.

The letter, published in The Guardian on Saturday, was signed by a range of people including film director Ken Loach, musicians Brian Eno and Roger Waters and actors Mark Ruffalo and John Cusack.

"We write in support of Lorde, who made public her decision not to perform in Israel and has now been branded a 'bigot' in a full page advertisement in the Washington Post," it read.

"We deplore the bullying tactics being used to defend injustice against Palestinians and to suppress an artist's freedom of conscience. We support Lorde's right to take a stand," the letter, written and promoted by Shmuley Boteach said.

On Christmas Day Lorde cancelled a concert scheduled for Tel Aviv's 15,000-seat Convention Centre on June 5 after criticism from activists in the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement.

Lorde said in a statement it was the right decision to cancel the show, Variety reported.
NSW Police are searching for a taxi driver after a would-be passenger was allegedly dragged 100 metres along a Sydney street before being abandoned unconscious.

Detectives say a 30-year-old man hailed the cab in the CBD after 1am on Saturday but the driver declined the fare.

"The would-be passenger reportedly reached into the cab as the driver accelerated away and the man was dragged about 100m," a police spokesperson said in a statement.

The victim was knocked unconscious and passers-by looked after him until emergency services arrived at the scene.

The 30-year-old was subsequently taken to hospital where he was treated for head injuries.
An Australian woman has been arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport with almost two kilograms of heroin stashed in her luggage.

Cambodia's General Department of Immigration says on its official Facebook page that 1,814 grams of heroin were found embedded in the side of the Ve Thi Tran's suitcase in several different packages.

An immigration official at Phnom Penh airport, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to comment, said the 37-year-old was preparing to return to Australia via Hong Kong when she was arrested as she was checking in at the airport on Saturday.

It followed a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police, which worked with the Cambodian Immigration Department to arrest her.

Tran is being questioned by the anti-transnational crimes squad general commissariat of the national Police.
A 50-year-old man has been charged over an alleged hit and run that killed an 18-year-old woman in Alice Springs.

Northern Territory Police on Saturday said they'd charged the man with hit and run causing death over the Thursday night incident on Gap Road.

Detectives believe the man was driving a white Mitsubishi Triton ute with Queensland registration plates when he struck and killed the teenager.

They're appealing for any witnesses to contact them. The 50-year-old is due to face court on Monday.
While rubber burns on the race track, petrol heads will try to keep cool on the final day of the Summernats car festival.

Canberra is set for a scorcher on Sunday with a predicted temperature of 39 degrees.

Organiser Andy Lopez doesn't expect the heat to affect crowd numbers.

"I think the heat's a factor in how people experience the event but Summernats only comes once a year so a hot (weekend) won't scare off anybody," he told reporters.

He said there had been some incidents of people becoming dehydrated and requiring first aid.

Mr Lopez urged visitors to stay well hydrated and go easy on the alcohol.

The champions of the burnout competitions and showcase cars will be crowned on Sunday.
Fire crews have spent the night blacking out a fire that severely damaged a Melbourne family's home.

The fire at Carrum Downs started just after 3pm on Saturday and moved fast, putting the entire street of Darnley Drive at risk, CFA Assistant Chief Officer Trevor Owen told reporters.

"It travelled very, very quickly and we had a few kilometres of a front within a matter of an hour that we had to be able to control," he said.

"There were a lot of embers being thrown up which caused a lot of other fires that were progressing in front of the fire front."

At the height of the fire, 50 fire appliances and more than 300 firefighters were battling the blaze.

It was declared under control before 9pm.

The fire in dense scrubland damaged one Darnley Drive home when embers got into an evaporative air conditioning unit. The house escaped total destruction but the family can't stay there, Mr Owen said.

It also damaged sheds, fences and a motorhome.

It's unclear how or where the fire started and that will be investigated.

The fire was one of many sparked across the state as Victoria suffered through an extremely hot Saturday.

At one stage a fire in the western Victorian town of Glenormiston was declared an emergency and residents were told it was too late to leave, but firefighters were quick to get it under control.

Localities in western Victoria along the South Australian border have also been issue smoke alert from fires burning in the neighbouring state.
England insist they won't be cooked come the start of their second innings in Sydney, even if they have to spend the first half of day four in the field.

Temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees on Sunday, and England could still be forced to field for at least half the day before they start their second innings after Australia went to stumps on Saturday at 4-479 with a lead of 133.

England have already sent down 157 overs in Australia's first innings, adding more miles to the no doubt tired legs who have had to bowl more than 120 overs in at least one innings of all five Tests.

But wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow said it wouldn't be a concern for the tourists.

"We did 180 overs in Perth, we've done 200 in Cape Town when it's been 35 degrees. We've done 30-plus degrees in Chennai and we did 200 overs there," Bairstow said.

"It's not something you're adverse to when you follow the sun around doing a job you love.

"You're going to be out in the field at some point for a period of time. Who knows, it might not be us that are out there are all day tomorrow."

In comparison to the time spent in the field, England have managed to bat for 120 overs just once this series - a feat they may again need to achieve if they are to save the fifth and final Test.

They'll also have to do it on an SCG pitch that appeared to be showing more signs of assistance for spinners Moeen Ali and Mason Crane on Saturday afternoon.

But after putting on scores of at least 400 in India three times last summer, Bairstow said his side had the experience required to nullify the in-form Nathan Lyon.

"We had challenges when we faced (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja in India," Bairstow said.

"We've got a guy at the top of the order (Alastair Cook) who batted for 12 and a half hours in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan over there. The amount of runs that he has got against spin.

"There's different challenges (for Lyon) with (Joe) Rooty and (James) Vincey with the right-hander turning it in, there's not as much rough outside the right-hander's off stump.

"They've played well and the pitch as a whole is still a very good pitch."
World No.7 David Goffin wants to ride his wave of confidence all the way to a maiden semi-final appearance at this month's Australian Open.

Goffin enjoyed a strong end to 2017, and he started 2018 on a bright note as well with Hopman Cup wins over world No.4 Alexander Zverev, Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, and Canadian Vasek Pospisil.

Belgium narrowly missed out on a spot in the final, but the mixed-teams tournament gave Goffin a strong preparation for the first major of the year.

The Australian Open is shaping to be a wide open race in the men's field following a host of injury concerns to the world's best players.

Three-time major winner Andy Murray (hip) and Kei Nishikori (wrist) have already pulled out, while Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, and Milos Raonic are under injury clouds.

Goffin looms as a dark horse following a career-best year in 2017.

The year ended with him spearheading Belgium's Davis Cup loss to France in the final.

That defeat was by no means the fault of Goffin, who won his singles matches against Lucas Pouille and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Shortly before that, Goffin beat both Nadal and Federer on the way to reaching the decider of the ATP Finals in London.

Now, Goffin has his eyes firmly fixed on grand slam success.

The 27-year-old has only reached the quarter-final of a grand slam twice - at the Australian Open last year and the French Open in 2016.

"This year, I want to go far. I want to go maybe one step further in the draw," Goffin said.

"I only made the quarter-finals twice.

"But the way is really long, and there's a lot of tough matches. You have to manage the fatigue and the weather.

"I won a lot of matches in the last few months. I'm ready to go far. But it doesn't mean it will be there."

Goffin will continue his Australian Open build-up at the January 9-12 Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.
The bushfire emergency in South Australia's southeast has reduced as moderating weather conditions help fire crews get the upper hand.

The Country Fire Service says the progress of the Sherwood fire has slowed with emergency warnings for locals replaced with a watch and act message.

"Firefighters are still working to contain the fire, however, fire intensity and rate of spread has moderated," the CFS said.

It said farm buildings and other assets could still be at risk and anyone who had left the area should not yet return.

Earlier a fire crew battling then South Australia's southeast survived a frightening burnover in their truck as the fire raged, destroying two farm buildings and threatening homes.

The crew was among more than 70 firefighters who battled the blaze which also posed a threat to properties at Brimbago, Lowan Vale, McCallum and Senior near the South Australian-Victorian border.

By late on Saturday the blaze had destroyed more than 8000 hectares of scrub and farmland.

At one stage local farmer Robyn Verrall reported a "wall of flames" as the fire burned out of control.

Images she posted on Twitter showed trees and grass on fire while a video showed thick smoke blanketing paddocks, significantly reducing visibility.

The southeast blaze came amid soaring temperatures and catastrophic fire conditions in SA's Mt Lofty Ranges, and upper and lower southeast.

Those conditions moderated during the day with most of the state forecast to have much cooler weather on Sunday.

The southeast blaze was also among about 40 incidents requiring CFS attention, including other fires at Happy Valley, Penfield and one at a rubbish dump at McLaren Vale where equipment valued at $1.5 million was lost.
The Melbourne Stars are in freefall following a six-wicket Big Bash League derby loss to the Renegades.

After coasting to the win with 13 balls to spare on Saturday night at the MCG, the Renegades went top with a 4-1 record and the Stars are bottom on 0-4.

But Kevin Pietersen is typically defiant, saying the Stars are one big individual performance away from turning their season around.

Pointing to the talent in their squad, Pietersen said it was not all doom and gloom.

The Stars have made the finals in every BBL season, but the top four looks a long way off after Saturday night's comprehensive loss.

"I've played in too many of these franchises over the years," Pietersen said.

"Sometimes, you get on a roll winning and sometimes, you get on a roll losing.

"It can change with one innings, it can change with one spell of bowling.

"Somebody of the form and class that is in our dressing room can change a season around."

Pietersen said the Stars must look at winning all six of their remaining matches and see where that leaves them.

"I've never in my whole career stood back and said 'there's no hope'," he said.

"I mean, I've been in the darkest times of my career and I've never, ever, ever not committed to trying to win.

"This is no different - this is really important, to try to get what we can."

He said there is always plenty of expectation on the Stars and they should embrace it.

"I played with that expectation, the weight of expectation, every single time I batted, so it's something I enjoy, it's something I thrive on," he said.

"It's about standing up and being counted.

Pietersen scored 40 from 30 balls on Saturday night and Ben Dunk returned to form with a top score of 47.

But the Stars lost their way when Pietersen was dismissed midway through the innings, ending his 71-run partnership with Dunk.

Pietersen said he was annoyed when man of the match Mohammad Nabi dismissed him, adding he should have hit the ball for six.

The Englishman, who announced this year would be his last, did not field after hurting his ankle while batting, but hopes to play in Tuesday's Adelaide Oval match against the Strikers.
Emergency service workers stand near the site where a train crashed into truck on January 4, 2018, in Kroonstad, Free State Province, killing at least 12 people injuring about 180

A passenger train smashed into a truck at a level crossing in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 18 people, injuring 254 and throwing several carriages off the rails.

Flames ripped through the twisted wreckage and choking black smoke rose into the air as desperate passengers clambered out of the train travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg to escape the inferno.

Tiaan Esterhuizen, who was travelling on the train as he returned from holiday, attempted to rescue three women who were trapped in a burning passenger wagon.

"I saw around 12 cars on their side and one was already burning. We heard some women screaming when we came closer` so a few of us climbed over the cars," he told the Times LIVE news site.

"Two of the women were sort of on top of each other. Another was further back. Her legs were trapped. One of the women was shouting that there was a baby inside also.

"We searched but could not find the child... I am quite sure those women burned to death."

- Truck driver blamed -

Rescuers rushed to the scene to search for survivors and treat the injured. Officials warned the toll could rise as operations continued to clear the crash site.

"Police are investigating. The truck driver was taking chances... that cost lots of lives," Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi told reporters at the scene.

Map of South Africa locating Kroonstad, where a train collided with a truck

"The truck driver has been taken to hospital where we are going to do a blood test to verify if he was sober or not, or what was the problem."

The Shosholoza Meyl rail company, which operates long-distance trains in South Africa, said the train collided with the truck at about 09:00 am (0700 GMT).

It said the truck had made an "untimely" crossing of the tracks when it was hit by a train at high speed, between the towns of Hennenman and Kroonstad, 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

One of the derailed carriages was the power generator behind the locomotive car. It caught fire and the flames spread rapidly.

Shosholoza Meyl said there were 429 passengers on board.

Mthuthuzeli Swartz, the acting chief executive of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa's rail division confirmed that 18 people had been killed and 254 injured, adding that it would be "tragic and unexpected" for the death toll to increase further.

"The pathologists who are here have given us the assurance they are convinced that the number of dead, 18, will be the final number," he told AFP adding that only 88 crash survivors remained in hospital.

Maswanganyi said in a statement that an investigation to determine the circumstances of the crash had been launched.

- Holiday travellers -

Some victims were treated on a strip of grass beside the railway line while others were taken to hospital. Uninjured passengers waited on a nearby road, some of them carrying their luggage.

The New Year is a busy period for transport in South Africa, with railways and roads carrying travellers returning to work after the holidays.

Emergency service workers work at the site where a train crashed into truck on January 4, 2018, in Kroonstad, Free State Province

In 2015, 15 people were killed in eastern South Africa when a mini-bus taxi fell from a bridge onto railway tracks and was hit by a train.

In 2016-17, 495 people were killed on the country's railways according to the Railway Safety Regulator -- an increase of 8 percent on the previous year.
Pakistani demonstrators protest US aid cuts in Lahore

US President Donald Trump's decision to freeze aid to Pakistan could affect almost two billion dollars' worth of assistance, a senior administration official said on Friday -- substantially more than first thought.

After an announcement designed to force Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus to cut support for the Taliban and other Islamist groups, the official said that both US military assistance and Afghanistan coalition funding to Islamabad could be suspended.

It is "approximately two billion worth of equipment and coalition support funding that is in play," the official said on condition of anonymity.

After more than a decade of simmering US anger at links between Islamabad and the Taliban and the Haqqani network -- a Taliban affiliate -- President Donald Trump is trying to draw a line in the sand.

On the hook is almost $1 billion of US military equipment that has allowed Pakistan access to advanced military technology, but also funding that is meant to pay Pakistan for helping get US and NATO materiel into Afghanistan.

Analysts believe the United States is highly unlikely to freeze all that funding, which totals $1.9 billion, according to the source.

US officials have already indicated that there could be "exemptions" for programs deemed vital to US national security -- likely including cash for keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons safe.

But nevertheless, the total figure of $1.9 billion is much higher than first indicated and is a signal of Washington's seriousness.

The senior administration official said "all options are on the table" when it comes to further moves, including stripping Pakistan of its status as a "major non-NATO ally" or calling in vital IMF loans.

The White House is demanding Pakistan crack down on Taliban elements and other groups that raise funds and take refuge in the border areas with Afghanistan.

It believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war in Afghanistan -- entering its 17th year -- by weakening the Taliban militarily and forcing the organization to the negotiating table.

US officials believe that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

Islamabad denies those allegations and has called Trump's decision to threaten funding "counterproductive."

Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a cautious statement in which it said it was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

Without referring to the decision directly, it warned that "arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats."

The announcement ignited some small protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan where several hundred people gathered to chant anti-US slogans.

US officials admit that Pakistan could make life difficult for Washington by closing land routes that are vital to supply US troops in Afghanistan. But, the official said, it was "difficult but not impossible" to find other ways to get equipment in.
"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff, quickly sold out in bookstores in the US capital, with some even lining up at midnight to get their hands on it

The following are excerpts from "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," an incendiary new book by Michael Wolff which was rushed into bookstores Friday after President Donald Trump failed to suppress it.

The book quickly sold out in shops in the US capital, with some lining up at midnight to get their hands on the instant best-seller, dismissed by Trump as "phony" and "full of lies."

Without addressing specifics, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there were things in the book that were "completely untrue," while Trump denounced comments attributed to Steve Bannon, saying his former chief strategist had "lost his mind."

- Team Trump: running to lose -

"'We're all losers,' Trump would say. 'All our guys are terrible, nobody knows what they're doing.'"

"'This thing,' he told the Mercers, 'is so fucked up'".

Trump was reportedly addressing the family of Bob Mercer, the ultra-conservative billionaire sponsors who swung behind his campaign in its final months -- and who reiterated their support in the wake of Wolff's bombshell book.

- The shock of election night -

"When the unexpected trend -- Trump might actually win -- seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he called him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania, to whom Donald Trump had made his solemn guarantee, was in tears -- and not of joy."

"There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon's not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States."

- Bannon on meeting with Russians -

"'The three senior guys in the campaign,' an incredulous Bannon went on, 'thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor -- with no lawyers.

'They didn't have any lawyers. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.'"

Bannon was referring to Trump's son Donald Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort.

- Learning the constitution -

"Early in the campaign, in a Producers-worthy scene, (campaign aide) Sam Nunberg was sent to explain the Constitution to the candidate: 'I got as far as the Fourth Amendment before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head.'"

- George W. Bush on Trump's inaugural address -

"That's some weird shit."

- Trump's Putin obsession -

"'What has he gotten himself into with the Russians?' pressed (the late Fox News chairman Roger) Ailes. 'Mostly,' said Bannon, 'he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet Putin. But Putin couldn't give a shit about him. So he's kept trying.'"

- Trump's Murdoch obsession -

"'I'll call him,' said Ailes. 'But Trump would jump through hoops for Rupert. Like for Putin. Sucks up and shits down. I just worry about who's jerking whose chain.'"

- Murdoch on Trump? -

"'What a fucking idiot,' said Murdoch, shrugging, as he got off the phone" after talking immigration issues with Trump.

- Too much to think about -

"'I wouldn't give Donald too much to think about,' said an amused Ailes. Bannon snorted. 'Too much, too little-doesn't necessarily change things.'"

- Trump fears being poisoned -

"He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's -- nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-made."

- Flattery and Egyptian shoes -

"Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian strongman, ably stroked the president and said, 'You are a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible.' (To Sisi, Trump replied, 'Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes. Man....')"

- 'Our man' in Saudi -

"Within weeks of (Trump's Saudi) trip, MBS (Mohammed bin Salman), detaining MBN (Mohammed bin Nayef) quite in the dead of night, would force him to relinquish the Crown Prince title, which MBS would then assume for himself. Trump would tell friends that he and Jared had engineered a Saudi coup: 'We've put our man on top!'"

- Ivanka's presidential ambitions -

"Balancing risk against reward, both Jared and Ivanka decided to accept roles in the West Wing over the advice of almost everyone they knew. It was a joint decision by the couple, and, in some sense, a joint job. Between themselves, the two had made an earnest deal: If sometime in the future the opportunity arose, she'd be the one to run for president. The first woman president, Ivanka entertained, would not be Hillary Clinton; it would be Ivanka Trump."

- Her brothers' presidential nicknames -

"His sons, Don Jr. and Eric -- behind their backs known to Trump insiders as Uday and Qusay, after the sons of Saddam Hussein."

- And the comb-over: explained by Ivanka -

"She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate -- a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery -- surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray. The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men -- the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump's orange-blond hair color."
Flashfloods and landslips claimed lives in Ngaliema, a hillside community in sprawling Kinshasa

The morning light showed a scene of desolation as people in Ngaliema surveyed the wreckage of shanty homes swept away by killer floods and landslips.

Among the 44 people who perished overnight Wednesday in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, were a teenager, Brunelle, her sister Gladys, and Gladys' baby.

Their home of makeshift yellowish clay bricks, located at the foot of a steep slope literally dissolved after the waters struck, neighbours said.

"The emergency services came, but they arrived late, around 4:00 am," said a young man, Magloire, who said that he was the one who found the bodies.

The disaster was one that could have been avoided -- the rainfall was indeed torrential but not exceptional, given this city's location in the heart of central tropical Africa.

Women mourn the death of a family member following a landslide

But mass fatalities were sadly predictable, given the triple contribution of poverty, uncontrolled development and over-population. Homes made of flimsy materials had been built illegally and without foundations in a place vulnerable to floods.

"This is uncontrolled building," said Ruffin Abedi, deputy chief of Ngaliema district.

"The regulations have stipulated for years that people shouldn't live there. But people settle there anyway, because they don't have the money to go elsewhere."

A Chinese company had been contracted to install drainage on a road at the top of the slope, but the pipes were swept away by the rain, and lay among debris at the bottom, near a sofa -- the only visible sign of a home that once stood there.

- Chaotic city -

"The solution is to move people who live in flood-prone areas to places which are habitable," said Roger-Nestor Lubiku, former director-general of the Congo Geographic Institute (IGC).

Aftermath of a landslide in Ngaliema district, which bore the brunt of Wednesday night's flooding

Such things are easier said than done, in a city whose population size is little more than a good guess, and which lacks an accurate land registry.

A common estimate is that the DRC capital has 10 million inhabitants, amounting to a rough doubling over less than 20 years, and accounting for possibly a seventh of the national population.

Between 2000 and 2005 alone, the population rose from six million to 7.5 million, according to satellite pictures.

A 2009 study in the Belgian Review of Cartography -- Belgium, the former colonial power, retains close ties with the DRC -- found that 30 percent of urban development had taken place on steep slopes with an incline of 15 percent, or more than one in seven. "These present a significant risk of erosion," it warned presciently.

Three-quarters of homes in Kinshasa are slums which have no access to sanitation or electricity, Corneille Kanene, former head of UN-Habitat, said last year. The opposition blames the problem on poor governance and the flaws of the state.

The proximity of these slums to wealthy areas is also a shock, and a reminder of DRC's deep inequalities. Ngaliema's ramshackle homes lie just a few hundred metres (yards) from the villas of Macampagne and a couple of kilometres (miles) from the tower blocks, embassies and mansions of Gombe.
The Royal Standard flutters above Windsor Castle, where Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle in May

In picturesque Windsor, in the shadow of the castle where Queen Elizabeth II spends her weekends, a dozen homeless people shelter from the cold in a jumble of blankets and cardboard boxes.

But with less than five months to go until the May 19 wedding of her grandson Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle in the mediaeval castle's chapel, the local authority's bid to sweep the homeless off the streets has triggered indignation.

Simon Dudley, the Conservative leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council, has urged the local Thames Valley Police force to take action against their "aggressive begging and intimidation".

"A large number of adults that are begging in Windsor are not in fact homeless," he wrote in a letter, while those that were genuinely homeless had rejected secure accommodation in order to keep begging.

"This is creating a concerning and hostile atmosphere for our residents and the seven million tourists who come to Windsor each year."

The level of interest in Windsor, some 20 miles (35 kilometres) west of London, is "set to multiply" ahead of the royal wedding, he added.

According to the business valuation consultancy Brand Finance, the event should draw hundreds of thousands of extra tourists to the town, normally home to just 30,000 people, in 2018.

The British economy could be set to benefit to the tune of 500 million ($680 million, 565 million euros), they claimed.

- Homeless by 'choice' -

Dudley said the genuinely homeless, having rejected help, were on the streets by "voluntary choice".

Sheltering from the wintry wind, Stephanie, who has been in the town centre for two years after suffering mental illness, insisted: "I don't choose to sit here."

"Whatever people give me, they give me. I don't choose to ask for money to get given something to eat, like sandwiches," she told AFP.

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The council's plans have been condemned by, among others, the Conservative MP for Maidenhead -- Prime Minister Theresa May.

Murphy James, the Windsor Homeless Project manager, was all the more shocked by the proposed clampdown as Harry and his brother Prince William have long been involved in work with the homeless -- William having even slept rough by a bridge in London.

"I am pretty sure they're as outraged by the comments that have been made as I am and many of the Windsor residents are," James told AFP in the church where the project offers hot meals, clothes and a shower.

Regardless of the royal marriage, the authorities should pursue the reasons why people end up on the streets rather than the homeless themselves, he said.

"It's a constant problem," he said.

"We've always had between 12 and 15 people sleeping rough. The majority of those people don't beg."

He claimed there was a lack of emergency accommodation in the town and deplored the state of the housing provided by the local authority -- often "infested with rats", he said.

- 'A lovely day' -

Many passers-by in Windsor barely take notice of its homeless population.

Peggy Outhwaite said she was uncomfortable waiting for the bus while a homeless man took up residence in the bus shelter.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle show off her engagement ring while posing in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in London

"I don't think that they should be here," she said of the homeless.

"This is a royal town and Harry should have his day -- and a lovely day at that," the pensioner told AFP.

Derek Prime, who runs a souvenir shop already selling mugs and trinkets with Harry and his fiancee's faces on, doubted the council's claims to have proper accommodation in place.

Dudley "really wants to come out here and spend a night on the street just to see what it's like," he said.

Thames Valley Police commissioner Anthony Stansfeld, an elected official, is preparing a response to Dudley's letter.

Last month, Dudley complained on Twitter of the "epidemic of rough sleeping and vagrancy" in the royal town.

But the local police hit back on the social media network, saying: "Housing is the responsibility of the council but it is better that agencies work together so people don't become homeless."
Two individuals have been charged after police say they solicited money for sexual acts at an area truck stop and led police on a pursuit.

Steven Madden, 52, is charged with a class E felony of promoting prostitution in the third degree, a class E felony of resisting arrest and a class D felony of tampering with a motor vehicle on the first degree.

Stephanie Haper, 34, of Cottage Hills, Illinois, is being charged with a class B misdemeanor of prostitution.

According to a probable cause statement, on Dec. 4, a Ste. Genevieve County Sheriffs deputy was called to Love's Travel Center at 11:04 p.m. for a woman contacting truck drivers in the rear parking lot and soliciting money for sexual favors.

The deputy reported he arrived at 11:12 p.m. and found a 2004 Ford Ranger with Alabama license plates in the rear semi-truck parking lot with no lights on. As the deputy made contact with the driver, later identified as Madden, he slowly drove towards the deputy and then rapidly accelerated away from the deputy as he attempted to talk with him.

The deputy reported from his training he knows pimps are the male counterpart organizers of prostitution and typically remain in the area of the prostitute while they perform sexual activities with clients.

As the Ranger sped away, the deputy went back to his patrol car and turned on his emergency lights and sirens and started pursuing Madden. The Ranger went out Enterprise Road toward Route Y and then turned left onto Route Y.

As the deputy chased after Madden, they reached speeds up to 70 mph. Near the intersection of Route Y and LaSanta Lane, Madden pulled onto the right side of the road, got out of the car and ran. Madden continued to run from the deputy and after a short foot pursuit was taken into custody.

Madden was placed in handcuffs and they were double locked for safety. At that time, Madden told the deputy he was with a woman named Ashley and she had gone to eat inside the Love's Travel Center. A records check on Madden revealed he had a no-bond warrant through the U.S. Marshal Service for a probation violation of escape.

It was also discovered the Pike County Sheriffs Office in Mississippi had a stolen vehicle report on the truck Madden was driving. The deputy called for other officers to help assist in finding the woman, later identified as Haper, who was at the travel center.

Three other deputies showed up and created a roadblock at the entrance/exit of the semi-truck parking lot. They then made contact with the truck drivers in search of Haper. After an hour, one of the deputies found her in a semi-truck and she claimed to be with Madden.

Haper was found in a Freightliner semi-truck with a man who said he paid her $32 for a sexual act The money was taken as evidence and the man was released at the scene due to his cooperation. It was noted in the report that the department may apply for a warrant at a later time against the man.

Haper was taken into custody at 1 a.m. and both her and Madden were taken to the Ste. Genevieve County Jail.

The next afternoon, Haper was questioned about the incident the night before and she admitted that she was paid for the sex act. She said she had knocked on the mans truck and solicited the act. Madden was also interviewed but he refused to discuss the reason he was parked in the semi-truck parking lot.

Madden is being held in the Ste. Genevieve County Jail on a $50,000 bond and a no-bond warrant from the U.S. Marshal Service. Haper was released from her 24-hour hold and was later served with a criminal summons. She failed to appear and is now wanted on warrant with a $500 cash-only bond.
David Gressly, the UN's deputy special representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo, walks along the coffins of Tanzanian peacekeeperes killed in a December 7 attack in the Beni territory of North Kivu province, DR Congo

The United Nations on Friday set up a special investigation of the attack that killed 15 UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo last month and wounded 43 others.

The December 7 attack in the Beni territory of North Kivu province was one of the worst to target UN peacekeepers in recent history in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Dmitry Titov, a Russian national who has worked in UN peacekeeping to lead the special investigation that will also look into other attacks against peacekeepers in that area, a UN statement said.

"This special investigation will include a focus on the 7 December attack in Semuliki, in which 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed, 43 wounded and one remains missing," it said.

The United Nations has said the ambush of the peacekeeping base was carried out by suspected ADF rebels, a shadowy group dominated by hardline Ugandan Muslims that is one of several armed groups active in the North Kivu region.

UN investigators will examine the circumstances surrounding the attacks, evaluate the response of the UN peacekeepers and make recommendations on how to prevent such violence, the UN said.

Two military officers from Tanzania will take part in the investigation that will travel to the DR Congo later this month and to countries in the region.

The attack was the bloodiest against MONUSCO, the UN force deployed in the DR Congo since 1999, and the worst against a UN force since the death of 24 Pakistani peacekeepers in Somalia in June 1993.

DR Congo's huge eastern region has long been wracked by violence, but fighting between government soldiers and militia groups, as well as inter-ethnic clashes, has increased in 2017.

North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, has seen a particular uptick in killings and kidnappings between rival ethnic groups.

Since October 2014, the hardline ADF -- or Allied Democratic Forces -- has been accused by Kinshasa and the UN of killing more than 700 people in the Beni region, where last week's attack also took place.

Uganda's defense ministry said in late December that it had launched air and artillery strikes against the ADF in DR Congo, killing over 100 of its fighters in a joint operation with the DR Congo's army.
The allegations against Paul Haggis are the latest in a torrent of accusations made against powerful men that began with the fall of film mogul Harvey Weinstein in October

Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Paul Haggis is now accused of sexual abuse by four women, according to an amended civil suit filed on Friday in New York.

Haggis, who wrote and produced "Crash," and penned the screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby," is also known for his high-profile split almost a decade ago from the Church of Scientology.

The allegations against him are the latest in a torrent of accusations made against powerful men that began with the fall of film mogul Harvey Weinstein in October, over numerous accusations including rape.

Three women alleging to be victims of Haggis's abuse are referred to in the lawsuit amended Friday and initially filed on December 15 at a New York court by a film publicist, Haleigh Breest.

She accused Haggis of abusing and raping her in January 2013 when she was 26.

On the same day Haggis, 64, filed his own action against Breest, denying the accusation and accusing her of seeking "to extract many millions of dollars" from him.

Breest's lawsuit says that since she filed her claim "three other women have accused Paul Haggis of rape and sexual abuse."

Those three are identified only as Jane Doe one, two and three.

The first woman, a publicist who worked with Haggis on a television program, alleged that in 1996 he forcefully kissed her before making her perform oral sex and then raping her.

Another woman, who wanted to propose an idea for a show, alleged that she had to flee from his office in 2008 when he kissed her by force.

The third woman, whom Haggis met at a film festival, said she was abused in 2015 when he tried to forcefully kiss her.

According to the law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, who are acting for the plaintiff and passed the allegations to AFP, the claims show that Haggis "is a serial predator who has preyed upon women for many years."

A lawyer for the film-maker, Christine Lepera, did not immediately comment when reached by AFP but in a statement to the Deadline.com website said he "denies these anonymous claims in whole."

She said that Haggis "views the fact that these reports appear to be spearheaded from the law-firm representing Ms Breest, as a further tactic to try to harm him and continue their effort to obtain money."
Tourists and clerics walk near the Massoumeh shrine in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran

As a child 40 years ago, Mohammad Hassan Sharifzadeh saw the opening salvos of the Islamic revolution in Iran, starting with a particularly strange scene in a mosque in the holy city of Qom.

Mohammad was eight years old on January 8, 1978 and visiting the mosque with his father in front of the Fatima Masumeh shrine -- one of the holiest sites in Iran.

Then something shocking happened: a senior cleric took off his turban and threw it on the ground in disgust.

The reason behind this symbolic gesture -- one reserved for displaying only the most grievous offence -- was the publication of an article the day before against Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who would soon lead the country into an Islamic revolution.

"He was angry that they had insulted our source of emulation," says Mohammad, now a sweet seller.

Each Shiite Muslim must choose an ayatollah as his "source of emulation" -- and many in Iran had chosen the politically radical Khomeini, who by then had spent 13 years in exile for his scathing attacks on shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the United States.

The article in government newspaper Ettelaat had accused Khomeini of being a British agent, in league with communists, and insinuated that he was not really Iranian and that his religious credentials were questionable.

It is often seen as the moment that sparked the revolution 40 years ago.

Iran's Islamic rulers have many commemorations planned for the anniversary as they flaunt the unlikely survival of a regime that has often been written off by analysts and opponents, but which once again saw off a major bout of unrest in recent days.

- 'Provocation' -

Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, a former chief prosecutor and two-time parliamentarian, was a teacher in one of Qom's many seminaries -- "hawzats" -- when he first heard about the article.

This file photo taken on February 01, 1979 at Tehran airport shows Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini leaving the Air France Boeing 747 jumbo that flew him back from exile in France to Tehran

"It was around 7:00 pm when two or three of my students came to me, very angry, with a copy of Ettelaat and told me to read the article," he told AFP in Qom, where he has gone back to teaching.

"It was the last straw. Insulting Khomeini like that, saying he was a pawn of the British and other offences -- it was an insult to the whole clergy. It was a provocation."

Although Iran's Islamic rulers focus most of their ire on the United States these days, many Iranians still reserve a particular suspicion for the British in memory of their colonial machinations in the early 20th century.

Qom's clerics quickly organised a response.

That same night, a dozen senior clerics gathered at the home of Tabrizi's father-in-law, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani.

"It was decided to stop classes the next day as a sign of protest," he said -- a rare move in a place that prized education so highly.

The strike by students on January 8 saw minor clashes with police. It grew the following day and gathered support from merchants in the bazaar who joined the shutdown.

Soon the protests were widespread, with people chanting slogans against the monarchy and the government.

The spark had been thrown into the tinder box of grievances that had been building for years over growing social inequality, hatred of the brutish security services and an increasing Westernisation that had scandalised the country's religious conservatives.

- 'Several dead' -

Abolfazl Soleimani, a white-turbaned cleric in Qom, was 24 at the time and remembers the scene at Eram Square, now called Shohada (Martyrs') Square.

"The police opened fire, first in the air I think, and then into the crowd, at the religious, the non-religious, the bazaaris (merchants). There were several dead and injured," he told AFP.

Historians have since questioned the original death toll of 20-30, with British historian Michael Axworthy saying "there were no more than five" in his book "Revolutionary Iran".

Women take selfies near the Massoumeh shrine in Qom, where police opened fire on demonstrators 40 years ago

Either way, news of the shootings in Qom swept across the country and set in train a cycle of unrest that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the shah little more than a year later.

Conforming with Shiite tradition, mourning ceremonies were held for the dead 40 days later -- on February 18 -- providing a pretext for fresh protests against the shah in several cities.

In Tabriz in northwestern Iran, those protests quickly degenerated, with police firing on the crowd and killing some 30 people.

And so 40 days later came further ceremonies that turned angry, in turn sparking more protests 40 days after that.

The authorities managed to calm things down by June, but the ball was already rolling, and the second half of 1978 saw escalating unrest.

"All repressive regimes dig their own graves," said Ayatollah Tabrizi.

On January 16, 1979, the shah left Iran, never to return.

Ayatollah Khomeini made a triumphant return to Iran the following month and the last government of imperial Iran was soon at an end.
A homeless man's tent, decorated with his artwork and snowmen, is seen on an overpass in Washington on January 5, 2018, as the National Weather Service forecast dangerously cold wind chills

Two sleeping bags and "many blankets" are not enough to keep Jin Yang-Hun comfortable in the pup tent in which he lives just blocks from the White House.

Yet Jin isn't going anywhere, even as dangerously cold wind chills are forecast to sweep across the eastern United States this weekend.

Jin, a US citizen originally from South Korea, is among almost 7,500 homeless people in the United States capital.

Many stay in emergency shelters but some like Jin prefer to live outside even in below-freezing temperatures.

"My situation is terrible," says Jin, 54.

Scattered on sidewalks in the city's business and university district, the tents are an incongruous site which the city's more fortunate pass on their way to offices, bars and restaurants.

In the past five years Washington, DC's homeless numbers have "increased dramatically," says Kate Wiley, marketing and communications manager of the non-profit group So Others Might Eat (SOME).

She thinks Washington's numbers are the highest per capita in the country, and cites the lack of affordable housing as a major cause.

"It's very hard for people to be able to afford rent if they're not making really high salaries," says Wiley.

SOME, among numerous charities helping the poor in one of the world's wealthiest societies, offers a range of services including job training, housing for about 1,000 people, and a dining room that serves daily breakfast and lunch for hundreds.

- 'It's so cold' -

A homeless man, one of about 7,500 in Washington, DC, rests on top of a subway vent grate for warmth as a tourist walks past on January 5, 2018

With temperatures around 20 F (-7 C) outside, SOME opened its dining room all morning on Friday to give the needy a warm place to gather and watch a movie, its sound blaring in the packed hall.

"It's so cold outside, obviously we don't want people to be outside any longer than they have to be," Wiley says.

Holding about 100 people at a time, the dining hall has a warm feel. A Christmas tree stands at one end of a faux-brick wall decorated with seasonal bells proclaiming "joy" and "hope."

There is a painting of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr on another wall, and cool jazz music plays as the diners file back in for lunch.

Wearing tuques and winter jackets, some bring suitcases and bags.

They take their places at rows of tables set with red cups which patrons hold up to signal for a refill of piping hot coffee.

One woman yells, to nobody in particular. Others joke loudly at the tables, or just sit silently. A couple of men read donated books.

In the kitchen, a huge flame burns under a giant pot as volunteers from a local church prepare the meal: steaming plates of chicken casserole, green beans, bread rolls, chocolate brownies and apple sauce.

"Can't complain," says Charles Jackson, 43, when asked about the food.

Eating quietly, he says he worked as a lead carpenter until being laid off last August after 20 years in construction.

Rent became too expensive where he lived, but he has avoided turning to the street and is temporarily staying at a recreation center while he applies for jobs and hopes to get into transitional housing.

"This is the longest I ever been unemployed," he says, a bag of donated clothes and books beside him.

Wiley says that with the temperature so low, city authorities have taken extra measures including opening additional shelters such as gymnasiums.

Some, like Jin, refuse any such help.

- Home at last -

A homeless man carries his belongings near the White House in Washington, DC in below-freezing weather on January 5, 2018. The city is reported to have the highest per-capita homeless rate in the United States

"Shelters are dangerous. Shelters are full of drug people... terrible. HIV patients," says Jin, who has lived on Washington's streets since 2009, and before that was homeless in New York -- where it was even colder.

"There are some people that just don't trust shelters," Wiley says.

Across town, within sight of the US State Department, a type of tent city has sprung up on a patch of snowy dirt.

Two brothers, Mark and Tommy Taylor, are warming themselves over a fire they started in a donated drum outside their hut. It is a tent fortified with a canopy and tarpaulin, furnished with a love seat and warmed by a propane heater that someone gave them.

"I've been homeless for the last 40 years off and on," says Mark, 60.

"I keep ending up homeless 'cause I got a mental illness that has played havoc with me all my life. So I've had a hard time keeping jobs."

But finally, he and Tommy, who just got out of jail, have realized their dream.

"We just got an apartment," thanks to the help of community activists working with the homeless, says Mark.

"We're supposed to be movin' this afternoon."

Just in time, says his brother.

"It's gonna be real cold tonight."
The latest incident comes during a spike in violence in the disputed region which is claimed in full by India and Pakistan

Four policemen were killed Saturday in a bomb blast set off by suspected Islamist militants in Indian Kashmir, police and reports said, marking a deadly start to the new year in the restive valley.

They were on patrol when the improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Sopore, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the main city of Srinagar.

"IED blast in Sopore. Four policemen martyred," Jammu and Kashmir police said on Twitter.

The bomb was planted by militants near a shop amid a strike called by separatists, the Press Trust of India and other local media said.

The latest incident comes during a spike in violence in the disputed region which is claimed in full by India and Pakistan.

Last week four Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by armed militants who stormed a paramilitary camp outside Srinagar.

Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule over the subcontinent in 1947.

Since 1989, rebel groups have been fighting roughly half a million Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, seeking independence for the former Himalayan kingdom or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

Last year 206 suspected militants, 57 civilians and 78 Indian security forces personnel were killed, making it the deadliest year in a decade.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sending militants across the disputed border in Kashmir to launch attacks on Indian forces.

Islamabad denies the allegations, saying it ony provides moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination.
Joel Reyes, accused of killing a prominent environmental activist, was caught in Thailand in 2015

A former Philippine official charged with the murder of a prominent environmentalist has been freed after a court voided the case against him, his lawyer said Saturday.

Joel Reyes, the ex-governor of the western island of Palawan, was arrested in 2015 for the killing of Gerry Ortega, a prominent campaigner and radio host who frequently accused Reyes of massive corruption.

Demetrio Custodio said his client was released late Friday after the court decision.

Ortega was shot dead while shopping in the capital of Palawan, one of the Philippines' biggest islands and a popular tourist destination, famed for its lush forests and pristine landscapes.

But it has also suffered from illegal logging, mining and fishing. Ortega had accused Reyes of corruption linked to alleged environmental crimes on the island.

While there have been many cases of environmental activists and journalists being murdered, the brazen killing of Ortega shocked the Philippines.

Reyes and his brother Mario, who was also implicated, went missing in 2012 after an arrest warrant was issued for them.

They were caught in Thailand in 2015.

Custodio said Saturday an appellate court upheld a petition to void the arrest warrant against Reyes, challenging the testimony of a key witness in the case.

The court said the testimony linking Reyes to the killing was "riddled with inconsistencies," according to Custodio..

"On that basis, the finding of probable cause and the issuance of a warrant of arrest was wrong," the lawyer cited the court ruling as saying.

A spokesmen of the appellate court could not be reached for comment.

Mario Reyes was freed on bail in 2016. Custodio said the latest ruling -- which effectively dismisses the case -- would also apply to him.

Reviving the case would be difficult unless the matter is taken to the Supreme Court or if the prosecutor finds new evidence, he added.

"Our family is still recovering from the shock of (Friday's) news," Ortega's family said in a statement, asking supporters to "remain vigilant".

The Philippines has long been criticised for a "culture of impunity" in which powerful figures like politicians and government officials can commit crimes -- including murder -- without fear of punishment.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in mid-2016, has further reinforced this impression, openly urging policemen to kill suspected criminals and vowing to protect them from prosecution.

Nearly 4,000 suspects have been killed by security forces under Duterte, according to government figures, while thousands more have died under mysterious circumstances.
An Egyptian policeman stands guard in Cairo's Tahrir Square on January 25, 2017

Clashes erupted between Egyptian protesters and policemen on Saturday outside a Cairo police station over the death of a young man in custody, security sources said.

The protesters torched 10 cars including three police vehicles, they said.

Nine people were injured and 40 people arrested in the overnight clashes in Cairo's Moqattam district which saw some protesters throw petrol bombs as police responded with tear gas and birdshot, they said.

The security sources said a young man nicknamed Afroto, who was arrested on Friday for alleged drug trafficking, died after a violent brawl with other detainees.

But protesters accused the police of being responsible for his death. They set fire to tyres and cars near the police station, leading the fire brigade to intervene.

Calm returned to Moqattam later in the morning after Cairo's security chief pledged a probe into the detainee's death, promising not to obscure any police involvement.

The prosecutor examined the body and ordered an autopsy.

Egypt has tried and sentenced several policemen for violent deaths in detention in recent years.

Rights groups have repeatedly denounced alleged torture and deaths in detention.

Egypt's interior ministry has said it does not condone torture but said there have been "individual" cases of abuses.

Police abuses fuelled a 2011 uprising that toppled veteran dictator Hosni Mubarak and ushered in years of political instability.
A brutal military crackdown in Myanmar has sent some 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh

Two Myanmar security officers and a driver were wounded by Rohingya rebels who ambushed their vehicle in northern Rakhine state, the army said Saturday, the first apparent insurgent attack to hit the violence-scarred region in weeks.

Rakhine was plunged into crisis last August after a series of militant raids that killed at least a dozen officials prompted a brutal military crackdown that sent some 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh.

While the army insists it only targeted Rohingya rebels, the UN has accused Myanmar troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the persecuted minority.

The insurgents, known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), have launched few attacks since the sweeping military reprisal sparked the mass exodus.

But on Friday morning, "about ten" Rohingya militants ambushed a car travelling through northern Rakhine state with hand-made mines and gunfire, the army chief's office said in a statement.

"Two security personnel and a driver were injured," it said. "Security members shot back at them and the terrorists retreated."

Myanmar's military, which denies carrying out any abuses against the Rohingya, has tightly controlled access to northern Rakhine by blocking independent reporting trips and a UN fact-finding mission.

The refugees massing in Bangladesh, however, have told consistent accounts of being driven from their homes by soldiers in a campaign of murder, mass rape and arson.

Any uptick in violence or fresh build-up of troops in Rakhine will deepen concerns about plans to begin repatriating refugees later this month.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement in November allowing for repatriations from January 23.

But many aid groups and diplomats have expressed doubt that fearful Rohingya will agree to return.

The Rohingya have been the target of decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which does not recognise the group as a genuine ethnicity and has stripped them of citizenship.
A member of Syrian pro-regime forces fires a machine gun towards rebel-held positions in Idlib province on November 11, 2017

More than 2,000 Afghans deployed by Iran have been killed fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, an official in the volunteer force told Iranian media.

The Fatemiyoun Brigade of Afghan "volunteer" recruits has been fighting in Syria for five years, said Zohair Mojahed, a cultural official in the brigade.

"This brigade has given more than 2,000 martyrs and 8,000 wounded for Islam," he said in an interview with the reformist Shargh newspaper published Saturday.

Iran rarely provides figures on the numbers fighting and killed in its operations in Syria and Iraq.

The last toll was provided by the veterans organisation in March, which said 2,100 volunteers had died without specifying how many were foreign recruits.

Iran denies sending professional troops to fight in the region, saying it has only provided military advisors and organised brigades made up of volunteers from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Fatemiyoun is reportedly the biggest military unit deployed by Iran in Iraq and Syria, made up of recruits from Afghanistan's Shiite minority.

Iran has backed Afghan forces in the past against the Taliban in their own country, as well as mobilising them against Saddam Hussein's forces in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.

Some 3,000 Afghans died fighting Iraq in the 1980s, Mojahed said.

Tehran offers Iranian citizenship to the families of those foreign fighters "martyred" in the conflicts of Syria and Iraq.

Iranian media has reported on the funerals of volunteer "martyrs" and aired television features about their presence in Syria.
Tatsuro Toyoda served as Toyota president between 1992 and 1995

Toyota's former president Tatsuro Toyoda, who helped the Japanese auto giant establish a foothold in North America, has died at the age of 88, the company said Saturday.

Toyoda, an uncle of current Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, died of pneumonia on December 30, the firm said in a statement.

His funeral has already been held and was attended by close relatives, but Toyota said it plans to hold a separate farewell ceremony.

Toyoda joined the company -- founded by his father Kiichiro Toyoda -- in 1953 and in 1984 became the first president of a new firm formed by Toyota and General Motors.

The California-based joint venture was part of Toyota's push to expand production and increase its share in the North American market. The plant produced nearly 8 million vehicles until its closure in 2010, according to the company.

Toyoda served as Toyota president between 1992 and 1995.
In 2017, Leadington Mayor Dustin Winick and the city's board of aldermen were encouraged by signs of economic progress when a builder of playground equipment moved into the former Walmart building. Later, the board began the process of forming TIF districts within the city limits, and by year's end, started the search for a person to fill a vacancy on the board following an unexpected resignation.

January

After years of sitting empty and unused, the old Walmart building in Leadington has a new owner  SportsPlay, a builder of playground equipment.

After more than a few years of dealing with a tight municipal budget and few prospects for economic growth, Leadington Mayor Dustin Winick believes the city of Leadington turned a corner last year and the best is yet to come.

February

A request made by a local veterinarian to vacate the alley running behind US Bank and the Leadington Free Will Baptist Church has been denied by the Leadington Board of Aldermen after a number of property owners expressed their opposition to the move.

March

St. Francois County 911 Director Alan Wells provided the Leadington Board of Aldermen with an update on the renovation and expansion of the existing 911 Communications Center in Park Hills.

Winick announced that a community member had made a $1,370 donation to the city's police department for the purchase of body armor.

April

Winick and Alderman Casie Braddy, both incumbents, along with local pastor and political newcomer Brad Luckey, were sworn into their respective offices for two-year terms by City Clerk Debbie Eggers after the election results were certified at the top of the meeting.

As part of the eligibility requirements to apply for a Community Development Block Grant through the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the board unanimously approved a "Fair Housing" ordinance for the city.

Following discussion, the board of aldermen voted to accept a $7,000 bid from Maloney, Wright and Robbins to perform the city's annual audit.

May

The board of aldermen discussed the possibility of extending the number of days residents can legally shoot fireworks within the city limits. It ultimately decided to amend the city ordinance to allow legal fireworks use between July 3-10 for this year. A vote will be taken in June.

Braddy announced she will be looking into grant funding for the purchase of storm sirens for the city.

June

The Leadington Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance approving the 2017-18 budget.

The board of aldermen approved an ordinance bringing Garson Lane into the city limits.

The aldermen unanimously approved changes to the citys ordinance regarding the purchase and usage of fireworks within the city limits.

July

The board of aldermen received an update on the placement of another storm siren in the city. Braddy said she had spoken with Wells when she began her research and that he had informed her of a grant that was available.

The board approved a bid of $12,125 from Jokerst Paving and Contracting for repairs to the alley between Chat and Donnelly streets.

The aldermen asked Eggers to write up an ordinance for the city to take over maintenance of Penny Lane.

August

Leadington city officials are considering the formation of three local Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to provide for the financing of economic development.

The board of aldermen approved looking into applying for an USDA Rural Development loan for the purchase of one or more city storm sirens.

The aldermen approved an ordinance taking Penny Lane into the city and accepting responsibility for its "reasonable maintenance and repair."

September

The Leadington Board of Aldermen took the first step in developing three Tax Increment Financing districts to encourage economic development in the city.

Leslie Seabaugh, of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, spoke to the aldermen about the process of the city signing a letter of agreement with the Economic Development District that offers planning and economic development services.

The board approved Fire Chief Doug Grahams request to apply for a Missouri Conservation 50/50 grant for the purchase of two nozzles, two chainsaws, three truck fittings and a portable scene light, totaling $3,126.

October

Winick put owners of dilapidated, dangerous and abandoned properties on notice that the city plans to start condemning public nuisances and, after all the necessary legal steps have been taken, start tearing them down.

Winick announced the names on the city's new TIF commission that will be holding its first meeting Oct. 16. Representing the city of Leadington is Winick, Brad Dush, Kary Buckley, Chris Hulsey, Mark Politte and Tracy Fisher.

November

Following the publicly announced resignation of Luckey, the board of aldermen began the process of filling the vacancy until a candidate is elected to a full two-year term in the April 3 general municipal election.

The city began the process of seeking a buyer for a small piece of land in Park Hills left to the city in a will and also approved the end of random drug testing for city employees.

The aldermen passed an ordinance providing relocation assistance for those whose property is acquired for the implementation of TIF redevelopment activities.

December

The board of aldermen are continuing to search for a replacement for Luckey who resigned from the board because he and his family moved out of the area.
Palestinian policemen push protesters away from Greek Orthodox patriarch Theophilos III's convoy in Bethlehem on January 6, 2018

Palestinians protesting church land sales to Israelis scuffled with Palestinian police in Bethlehem Saturday as they tried to block the arrival of the Holy Land's Greek Orthodox patriarch for Christmas celebrations.

Demonstrators scuffled with club-wielding Palestinian security forces and banged on the sides of police escort vehicles but patriarch Theophilos III passed safely in his black limousine to the Church of the Nativity for the traditional Orthodox Christmas eve observance.

"Today we stand here to prevent the entry of the traitor Theophilos," Salama Shaheen, an activist of the Arab Orthodox Youth movement, told AFP in Arabic.

"We do not want this man. This man must be brought to trial because he betrayed the homeland, betrayed the church and betrayed every human principle," he added.

Patriarch Theophilos III walks towards the church of Nativity in Bethlehem on January 6, 2018 for a Christmas service

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Theophilos joined heads of the Syrian and Coptic Orthodox churches in the ancient church, which Christians believe marks the birthplace of Jesus.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's office told AFP he would attend midnight mass celebrated by Theophilos at the church on Saturday and present him with a model of Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre church as a Christmas gift.

Most Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, while those in the West observe it on December 25 because of differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

- Traditional parade -

The Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala municipalities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had called for the boycott over the Greek Orthodox church allegedly allowing controversial sales of its property in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem to groups aiding Jewish settlement there.

They had urged the public to stay away, but it was not immediately known if there was a significant drop in attendance compared to previous days or what effect driving rain in Bethlehem may have had.

Palestinian scouts parade in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on January 6, 2018

The traditional parade of boy and girl scout marching bands went ahead, and performers in santa and clown costumes staged a children's show in the square next to the church.

At least some official invitees were at the church to welcome Theophilos, WAFA said on its English-language website.

"He was received by Palestinian officials, including the governor of Bethlehem Jibrin Bakri and Minister of Tourism Rola Mayaya among others," it wrote.

The mayor of the Christian town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, earlier said he wanted Theophilos removed from his post over the controversial land sales.

"Our move today is a protest against the patriarch over the sale of land of the Orthodox," mayor Nicola Khamis told AFP.

The church elected Theophilos in 2005 after dismissing his predecessor Irineos over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land to Jewish buyers.

But Khamis says the practice continues.

"Theophilos ignored all the demands and continued selling this land even if the (Christian) majority is against it," he said.

"Today we are taking a stand to say the patriarch must stop the selling of the land."

- Wealthiest church -

Property transactions with Jewish buyers anger Palestinians, who see Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III leads midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to mark Orthodox Christmas in January 2017

In August, Theophilos himself denounced an Israeli court ruling upholding deals made before his appointment between the church and Israeli pro-settlement organisation Ateret Cohanim for two hotel properties near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of east Jerusalem.

He said the church would appeal to Israel's supreme court over the ruling.

According to Israeli media, the 2004 agreements were for 99-year leases on hotel properties near Jaffa Gate.

The church went to court against Ateret Cohanim, claiming the deals were signed illegally and without its authorisation.

The Greek Orthodox Church is the largest and wealthiest Christian Church in the Holy Land.

Its Jerusalem patriarchate commands massive wealth, largely in land portfolios in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jordan.

Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported in October that the church was also selling off vast swathes of real estate in west Jerusalem and across Israel.

"In recent years the patriarchate has been quietly selling off its properties in various parts of the country to companies hidden in tax shelters, for sums so low one wonders whether the church is trying to get rid of its assets at any cost," it wrote.

"All the purchasers are foreign companies registered in tax shelters, so it is impossible to obtain information about their owners," it added.
Dozens of Kuwaiti opposition members or supporters have been jailed for storming parliament, seen here in October 2017

A Kuwaiti activist sentenced to seven years in prison after he stormed parliament has begun a hunger strike in jail to demand a mistrial, according to his family.

Sulaiman Binjassem was one of 67 people handed prison sentences in November over a 2011 protest calling for an investigation into corruption and bribery.

A statement from Binjassem's family said he had launched an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday because the 2017 ruling failed to meet the standards of a fair trial, including allowing witnesses to testify.

Mohammed al-Hamidi, who heads the Kuwait Human Rights Society, told AFP the Kuwaiti appeals court had not yet allowed defence attorneys to appeal the sentencing. Hamidi represents six of the 67 convicted.

All of those sentenced to jail are members of, or sympathise with, Kuwait's opposition, which includes both nationalists and Islamists.

While the Kuwaiti opposition has called for political reform, including a crackdown on corruption, it has stopped short of targeting the Al-Sabah monarchy which has ruled Kuwait for two and a half centuries.

Kuwaiti parliament has been dissolved seven times since 2006 due to frequent feuds between the government and opposition.
A man runs past a burning car after a reported bombardment by Syrian and Russian forces in the rebel-held area of Hammuriyeh in Eastern Ghouta on January 6, 2018

Regime and Russian air strikes on a rebel-held enclave near the Syrian capital killed at least 17 civilians on Saturday, a war monitor said.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in the country, is the target of near-daily air raids.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday's deadliest strikes had hit the Hammuriyeh district, killing 12 civilians including four children.

An AFP reporter in Hammuriyeh saw residential buildings with their facades blown open, collapsing into streets strewn with rubble.

Residents including members of the White Helmets rescue group rushed to rescue the wounded.

Running past a burning car, one man held a crying boy in his arms, while another carried the apparently lifeless body of a child through the streets.

"I was with other people when a projectile fell nearby," said 33-year-old Mustafa Abu Badr, who was slightly wounded in the head.

A wounded man is carried following an air strike on the rebel-held town of Erbin in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus on January 2, 2018

"The blast threw me five metres (yards). There were seven wounded and one dead," he said.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Syrian and Russian aircraft had "continued their intense bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, targeting several residential areas".

He said those killed also included two people in the district of Madira and three in Erbin, and that 35 people were wounded in the three areas.

The Britain-based monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

At the start of the week, a coalition of rebels and jihadists including a former Al-Qaeda affiliate surrounded the only regime base in Eastern Ghouta, which lies east of Damascus and has been under a crippling regime siege since 2013.

The blockade has caused serious food and medicine shortages for the enclave's estimated 400,000 inhabitants.

Rebels in Eastern Ghouta respond to air strikes by firing shells and rockets at Damascus. On Saturday, shellfire killed a civilian, Syrian state television reported.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
South African police have launched a manslaughter investigation into Thursday's rail crash in the centre of the country

The death toll from one of South Africa's worst ever rail crashes has risen to 19 including four children, the authorities said Saturday.

The passenger train, travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg, smashed into a lorry at a level crossing near Kroonstad in central Free State province on Thursday and burst into flames .

Provincial health department spokesman Mondli Mvambi said the number of dead had risen to 19 and that work on identifying the victims was continuing.

Another 164 people were admitted to hospital after the crash but only one, a 14-year-old, was still being treated on Saturday for multiple fractures.

South African police on Friday launched a manslaughter investigation, with the lorry driver central to the probe.

"The truck driver was taking chances... that cost lots of lives," Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi said at the scene on Thursday.

However noone is in police custody or has been charged in connection with the crash.
Catholics were among demonstrators in Kinshasa demanding DR Congo President Kabila will not stand for re-election

The UN said it was "deeply alarmed" by the actions of security forces in DR Congo during anti-Kabila protests in Kinshasa last Sunday, and believe the toll of victims during the crackdown "may be higher".

"Our colleagues on the ground were denied access to morgues, hospitals and detention centres. They were sent away from some sites by defence and security forces," the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said from Geneva in a statement on Friday.

"The security forces allegedly fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas grenades, in some cases at point blank range," the statement added.

The organisation said at least five people were known to have been killed and 92 injured. Around 180 were arrested, most of whom have now been released, it said.

The DR Congo government said nobody was killed Sunday in connection with the marches, which were organised by the Catholic Church.

Together with opposition groups, the Church was demanding that President Joseph Kabila -- in power since the assassination of his father in 2001 -- will declare he will not stand for re-election in 2018.

The protests took place on the first anniversary of a deal under which Kabila was scheduled to leave office in 2017 after fresh elections.

The poll has since been postponed until December 2018. Western powers have accepted the delay with reluctance, hoping it will avoid bloodshed and encourage stability in this vast and volatile central African country.

The OHCHR called for "credible and independent investigations into alleged use of excessive force".

"The Government should ensure that everyone, including political opponents, journalists and civil society representatives, are able to fully exercise their right to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly, opinion, and expression," it said.
Soaring bread prices in Sudan has prompted calls for anti-government protests and at least one student demonstration during which police fired tear gas

Police fired tear gas on Saturday at groups of students protesting in a central Sudanese town against soaring bread prices, witnesses said, as opposition parties called for anti-government demonstrations.

Bread prices almost doubled on Friday across Sudan after flour manufacturers raised prices amid dwindling supply of wheat following a government decision to stop importing the grain and allow private companies to do so.

"Citizens, demand your rights," shouted university students in the central Sudanese town of Sennar as dozens of residents joined them in a sporadic march against the rise in bread prices, witnesses said.

Police fired tear gas to break the protest while shopkeepers closed their shops in the town's main market, witnesses and residents from Sennar told AFP by telephone.

"The police fired tear gas at protesters. I had to close my shop as demonstrators approached the market," a shopkeeper said on condition of anonymity.

Pictures and videos of protesters chanting anti-government slogans and burning tyres in the streets were uploaded on several social media websites.

Flour manufacturers have raised the price of a 50-kilo (110 pounds) sack of wheat flour from 167 to 450 Sudanese pounds ($65, 54 euros), Mohamed al-Saeed, a member of a barky owners' union, has told AFP.

That sent bread prices soaring and in response leading opposition groups have called for anti-government protests across the country.

"The Umma Party calls on all its members and Sudanese citizens to protest peacefully against the rise in bread prices," the main opposition party said in a statement.

"The only way to solve this problem is to overthrow the regime," it added.

The opposition Communist Party and the Sudanese Congress Party also called for anti-government protests.

"The only way to defeat this regime is to go in the streets and demonstrate to get back the dignity of Sudanese people and their freedoms," the Communist Party said.

"People have to protest against these economic policies."

Sudan had witnessed sporadic protests in late 2016 after a government decision to cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities had cracked down on those protests in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the deadly unrest that followed a similar round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed in 2013 protests when security forces crushed large street demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.
Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama (R) and Congolese Foreign Minister Emmanuel Kasongo (L) at a joint press conference in Tripoli on January 6, 2018

Nigeria is to speed up repatriating its citizens from Libya which has been accused of exploiting and ill-treating migrants, its foreign minister said in Tripoli on Saturday.

Geoffrey Onyeama told a news conference Nigeria was chartering two aircraft to repatriate over the next few days 800 of its citizens who wanted to go home.

Onyeama said he had visited two migrant detention centres in Libya and met a number of his compatriots.

"The reality is that a large number of these Nigerians here have suffered greatly and have gone through an extreme traumatic experience," he told reporters.

"The main objective is to get these Nigerians back home as quickly as possible."

Onyeama admitted there had been difficulties in identifying the number of Nigerians in Libya, as many were undocumented or in detention centres not controlled by the authorities.

Nigeria had already pledged to repatriate 250 migrants a week, following a CNN report on a slave trade targeting illegal migrants from west Africa in Libya.

Nigerians make up the majority of undocumented migrants trying to make the treacherous crossing via the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Almost 1,300 Nigerian migrants were brought home from Libya last November -- nearly twice as many as in the previous month, the head of Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said in December.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks near Coptic Pope Tawadros II (L) during a Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Cairo on January 6, 2018

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians held a Christmas Eve mass on Saturday at a massive new cathedral east of Cairo amid tight security after a year of deadly jihadist attacks on the community.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave a short speech before the liturgy, which was led by Pope Tawadros II, wishing the Christians a merry Christmas and telling them that the country would prevail over the jihadists.

"You are our family, you are from us, we are one and no one will divide us," he said to ululations and chants from some of the congregants and visitors.

Police had set up barricades outside the cathedral in a new administrative capital Egypt is building east of Cairo.

The cathedral, Sisi said, was a "message to the world, a message of peace and a message of love".

Police had tightened security around the country's churches ahead of services following a spate of attacks that began in 2016.

More than 100 Christians have been killed in the violence, including a shooting at a church south of Cairo just last week claimed by the Islamic State group.

Since the military ousted divisive Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, security forces have sought to quell attacks led by the Egypt branch of IS which has increasingly targeted Christians.

While the jihadists have also taken aim at other civilians, including more than 300 Muslim worshippers massacred at a mosque last November, they have focused on the ancient Coptic community.

In December 2016, an IS suicide bomber killed almost 30 worshippers at a church in Cairo located in the Saint Mark's Cathedral complex, the seat of the Coptic papacy.

In the Sinai Peninsula, where IS is based, hundreds of Christians were forced to flee in January and December after a wave of assassinations.

IS suicide bombers killed more than 40 people in twin church bombings in April and shot dead almost 30 Christians a month later as they headed to a monastery.

The year ended with an IS jihadist killing nine people in an attack on a church in a south Cairo suburb.

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 93 million people, have long complained of discrimination and intermittent sectarian attacks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral n January 6, 2018

Coptic Orthodox Christians packed Egypt's newly built Nativity of Christ Cathedral on Saturday for a Christmas Eve mass after a bloody year for a minority repeatedly targeted by jihadists.

Police had bolstered security around the country's churches for days, especially at the cathedral east of Cairo where President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to pay his respects to the ancient community.

He walked in alongside Coptic Pope Tawadros II and took to the altar amid ululations and cries of "we love you".

"We love you too," he responded. "You are our family, you are from us, we are one and no one will divide us."

Sisi said the cathedral, in a new administrative capital Egypt is building, was a "message to the world, a message of peace and a message of love".

Military and political officials also attended the mass, conducted in a mix of ancient Greek and Coptic.

"It really is excellent... I love him," said church volunteer Sandy Atef.

"I love him because he saved us from the (Muslim) Brotherhood," said Hedy Elwahsh, an Evangelical Christian who attended the mass.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi greets Coptic Orthodox Christians during a Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral on January 6, 2018

She was referring to the 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military, led by Sisi.

Since then, security forces have sought to quell attacks led by the Egypt branch of the Islamic State group, which has increasingly targeted Christians.

Tightened security around the cathedral and other churches were testament to fears of a another attack.

Police set up barriers around the church and spread out on the street leading to it while congregants took pictures before a Christmas tree outside.

Within the church, some congregants had small Egyptian flags and used cellphones to take pictures of public figures as they entered.

IS jihadists have taken aim at other civilians, including more than 300 Muslim worshippers massacred at a mosque last November.

But they have focused on the ancient Coptic community, the largest Christian group in the Middle East.

In December 2016, an IS suicide bomber killed almost 30 worshippers at a church in Cairo located in the Saint Mark's Cathedral complex, the seat of the Coptic papacy.

In the Sinai Peninsula, where IS is based, hundreds of Christians were then forced to flee after a wave of assassinations.

IS jihadists killed more than 40 people in twin church bombings in April and a month later shot dead almost 30 Christians as they headed to a monastery.

The year ended with an IS jihadist killing nine people in an attack on a church in a south Cairo suburb.

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 96 million people, have long complained of discrimination and intermittent sectarian attacks.
A demonstrator stands with placards asking for peace in Casamance on a street of Dakar in 2012

Thirteen youths were killed on Saturday by "armed elements" in the Casamance region of southern Senegal, an area ravaged by armed conflict for more than three decades, a security source said.

The victims were out collecting wood in the Bayotte forest, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the regional capital Ziguinchor, "when they were attacked by an armed band of 15 people," army spokesman Abdou Ndiaye told AFP.

A source in Ziguinchor said that "thirteen were killed and two were able to escape,", with Ndiaye adding that seven others were injured in the attack.

The attackers would have passed the buffer zone separating the positions of the Senegalese army from those of the MFDC (Movement for Democratic Forces in Casamance), the armed independent rebellion," the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) said.

The MFDC, separatist rebels, began fighting for independence in December 1982, but have long ceased their once frequent attacks on the Senegalese army, which retains a visible presence in the area.

"It is too early to say whether the attackers were members of the MFDC, the enquiry will tell us that," said Ndiaye.

The area has been calm for several years since the arrival of President Macky Sall in 2012 and peace talks with the rebels have taken place.

"There had been no tensions lately, no warning signs," the army spokesman said.

The army deployed 150 troops to evacuate the victims and flush out the perpetrators.

The dead bodies were also transported to the morgue at the hospital.

The attack comes a day after two MFDC fighters were released by the army following negotiations launched by Rome's Community of Sant'Egidio, a charity with ties to the Vatican specialising in peace mediation.

On Sunday, President Sall appealed to rebels in Casamance to continue talks to create a "definite peace".

At its height, the rebellion for the independence of Casamance left thousands of civilian and military personnel dead, damaged the economy and forced many residents to flee.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes has issued a subpoena to David Kramer, a former State Department official who, in late November 2016, traveled to London to receive a briefing and a copy of the Trump dossier from its author, former British spy Christopher Steele. Kramer then returned to the U.S. to give the document to Sen. John McCain.

Kramer is a senior fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University.

McCain later took a copy of the dossier to the FBI's then-director, James Comey. But the FBI already had the document; Steele himself gave the dossier to the bureau in installments, reportedly beginning in early July 2016.

McCain, recovering in Arizona from treatments for cancer, has long refused to detail his actions regarding the dossier. For his part, Kramer was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee on Dec. 19. The new subpoena stems from statements Kramer made in that interview.

In the session, Kramer told House investigators that he knew the identities of the Russian sources for the allegations in Steele's dossier. But when investigators pressed Kramer to reveal those names, he declined to do so.

Now, he is under subpoena. The subpoena, issued on Dec. 27, directs Kramer to appear again before House investigators on Jan. 11.

Knowing Steele's sources is a critical part of the congressional dossier investigation, for both sides. If one argues the document is not verified and never will be, it is critical to learn the identity of the sources to support that conclusion. If one argues the document is the whole truth, or largely true, knowing sources is equally critical.

Beyond that, there is another reason to know Steele's sources, and that is to learn not just the origin of the dossier but its place in the larger Trump-Russia affair. There is a growing belief among some congressional investigators that the Russians who provided information to Steele were using Steele to disrupt the American election as much as the Russians who distributed hacked Democratic Party emails. In some investigators' views, they are the two sides of the Trump-Russia project, both aimed at sowing chaos and discord in the American political system.

Meanwhile, in a Fox News interview on Dec. 29, Sen. Lindsey Graham strongly suggested there is something untoward in the dossier material. Noting that special counsel Robert Mueller is not investigating the dossier, Graham said he, Graham, has finally gotten a look at the origins and use of the document:

"I've spent some time in the last couple of days, after a lot of fighting with the Department of Justice, to get the background on the dossier, and here's what I can tell your viewers: I'm very disturbed about what the Department of Justice did with this dossier, and we need a special counsel to look into that, because that's not in Mueller's charter. And what I saw, and what I've gathered in the last couple of days, bothers me a lot, and I'd like somebody outside DOJ to look into how this dossier was handled and what they did with it."

Host Brian Kilmeade asked Graham whether he was disturbed by the contents of the dossier or how the Justice Department used it in the Trump-Russia investigation. Graham continued:

"And the one thing I can say, every prosecutor has a duty to the court to disclose things that are relevant to the request. So any time a document is used to go to court, for legal reasons, I think the Department of Justice owes it to the court to be up-and-up about exactly what this document is about, who paid for it, who's involved, what their motives might be. And I can just say this: After having looked at the history of the dossier, and how it was used by the Department of Justice, I'm really very concerned, and this cannot be the new normal."

What, precisely, did Graham mean? A well-informed source would not explain beyond Graham's words, and a Justice Department source did not respond to a request for comment.

But by discussing when "a document is used to go to court," Graham seemed to refer to the dossier and the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. And he seemed to suggest that, if the FBI used revelations from the dossier to secure a warrant to spy on Americans, it was not fully transparent about the source of those revelations, which was an opposition-research project funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign. FBI and Justice Department officials have told Congress they have not been able to verify the dossier's substantive allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Further, Graham found the dossier affair serious enough to warrant an entirely new investigation, as he does not appear to trust the Justice Department to investigate itself on this particular issue.

But there has been serious resistance to the idea of another special counsel in the Trump-Russia matter. Such investigations are inevitably subject to mission creep and can go on seemingly forever. It's unclear whether anything would be done in response to Graham's call.

In any event, the efforts pushed by Nunes and the Senate show that Congress, if it is aggressive, can investigate a matter like this. They also indicate that, rather than going away, the dossier investigation will only intensify in the new year.

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
Michael Steinhardt, pictured in 2010, is a well-known collector of Greek antiquities

Authorities seeking illegally acquired antique artworks have searched the apartment and office of a prominent New York billionaire and philanthropist, prosecutors said.

As many as nine pieces were reportedly seized. The target of the inquiry, 77-year-old Michael Steinhardt, made his fortune as a hedge-fund manager.

A spokesman for Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. would neither confirm nor deny the seizures Friday but did confirm the searches. Vance has been active for years in trying to repatriate stolen artworks.

Steinhardt is a well-known collector of Greek antiquities and even has a gallery named after him and wife Judy in the Metropolitan Museum, not far from their Fifth Avenue apartment. Steinhardt told The New York Times he had no comment on the matter "for now."

Copies of search warrants provided to AFP, and signed by a New York judge on January 3, indicated that investigators were seeking about a dozen antiques from Greece and Italy, acquired between 1996 and 2011 for sums ranging from $25,000 to $380,000.

- 'Thousands' of pieces returned -

The latter sum was spent in 2006 to acquire an 18-inch tall (45-centimeter) white oil vessel that depicts the figures of a woman and a young boy in a funerary scene dating from around 420 BC.

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office would not say whether Steinhardt might face any charges, but the search warrants list criminal possession of stolen property as a potential violation.

In recent years, Vance's office has made it a priority to track stolen works -- seizing some from museums, private collections or auction houses -- and return them to their rightful owners, including in Lebanon, Pakistan and Italy.

So far, no charges have been brought against anyone for possessing the disputed works -- which sometimes pass through several hands before reaching owners in New York, the Times said.

Thus, on December 15 three antiques were returned to Lebanon. They included a Greek bull's head statue that had been exhibited at the "Met." Its estimated value: $1.2 million. Vance's office said it had been stolen during Lebanon's civil war.

Vance said at the time that his office had, since 2012, tracked down several thousand antique pieces with a total value of more than $150 million.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - A senior Pakistani senator expressed disappointment Friday at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid, saying it will be detrimental to bilateral relations, while the government itself said it was too early to gauge the effects of the decision.

Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, said Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.

"What the U.S. is doing now is not good for its policy against terrorism and for a lasting peace in this region," she said, adding that Pakistan has always "played a vital role in the war on terror."

In this Jan. 4, 2018 photo, Pakistanis activists of civil society protest against U.S. President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan. A senior Pakistani senator has expressed disappointment at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid to Islamabad, saying it will be detrimental to Pakistani-U.S. relations. Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, says Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

The State Department's declaration on Thursday lambasted Pakistan for failing to take "decisive action" against Taliban militants targeting U.S. personnel in neighboring Afghanistan. U.S. officials have long complained that Pakistan tolerates or even encourages extremists, charges denied by Islamabad.

A statement issued by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry nearly 24 hours after the announced suspension of military aid said it's too early to tell what impact the U.S. decision will have on counter-terrorism initiatives in the region. But it said the war on terror, which is entering its 17th year, has cost Pakistan over $120 billion.

The statement said Pakistan's cooperation had helped "decimate" al-Qaida and drive other militant groups out of the lawless regions along the border.

Another statement on Friday rejected the U.S. decision to add Pakistan to a special watch list for violations of religious freedom, pursuant to 2016 legislation. That step does not carry any serious consequences. The Foreign Ministry said the designation is not based on "objective criteria."

Pakistan has recently begun constructing dozens of security posts along the border with Afghanistan as well as a fence to curtail cross-border movement. Afghanistan, which does not recognize the international border between the two countries, has objected to those moves.

The Foreign Ministry statement blamed Afghanistan for much of the unrest, saying it should accelerate efforts to repatriate the more than 1 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and curb the runaway opium production that finances the Taliban and other armed groups.

Mohammed Amir Rana, director of the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, said that both Pakistan and the United States "need to realistically review their relationship and scale down expectation of each other."

"Pakistan cannot put all its eggs in the China basket," he added, referring to the billions of dollars China is investing in Pakistan on a major transportation and power grid.

Rana said the U.S. needs Pakistan if it wants to find a peaceful end to decades of turmoil, and if it wants to navigate the changing circumstances in neighboring Iran, which has seen anti-government protests in recent days.

The U.S. mission in Afghanistan is heavily reliant on supply corridors that run through Pakistan.

Dozens of Pakistanis meanwhile took part in protests against the United States in a number of cities. In some places, the protesters set fire to portraits of President Donald Trump, but there were no reports of violence.

Pakistani religious students protest against U.S. President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Jan 5, 2018. A senior Pakistani senator has expressed disappointment at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid to Islamabad, saying it will be detrimental to Pakistani-U.S. relations. Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, says Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistani protesters burn posters of U.S. President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Jan 5, 2018. A senior Pakistani senator has expressed disappointment at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid to Islamabad, saying it will be detrimental to Pakistani-U.S. relations. Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, says Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio woman accused of fatally shooting her husband in the head and dismembering his body has pleaded not guilty in a county court.

Authorities say 49-year-old Marcia Eubank shot 54-year-old Howard Eubank in June, put his remains in containers around their Akron-area home and acknowledged the killing after their son found the remains in December.

Marcia Eubank pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, corpse abuse and evidence-tampering at her arraignment Friday in Summit County court. The Akron Beacon Journal reports that she remained jailed on $1 million bond.

Defense attorney Brian Pierce says Eubank suffered physical and mental abuse in her marriage. Pierce has said mental health professionals will evaluate Eubank to help with her defense.

The Eubanks were married for about 25 years.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Rico's governor has vetoed three highly criticized bills that would have imposed stricter measures on juvenile offenders in the U.S. territory.

One of the bills would have allowed minors to be charged as adults in certain cases. Opponents also argued that the measures recently approved by the island's Senate and House of Representatives would have made it harder to resolve cases through mediation.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Friday that he is seeking a more fair and responsible law to address criminal cases involving minors.

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2017 file photo, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, left, speaks during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on hurricane recovery, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rossello has vetoed on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, three highly criticized bills that would have imposed stricter measures on juvenile offenders in the U.S. territory. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Puerto Rico has more than 250 minors in juvenile institutions.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings had a medical procedure on his knee Friday to drain a bacterial infection, his office said, hours after his wife announced she was dropping out of the Democratic primary for governor because of "personal considerations."

The congressman's office said doctors drained the infection in a minor procedure. He was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital Dec. 29.

"He is resting comfortably and expects a full recovery," his office said in a news release.

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2017, file photo, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., participates in a panel discussion during a summit on the country's opioid epidemic at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Cummings has been admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital for a bacterial infection in his knee. His office said doctors drained the infection in a minor procedure Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. Cummings' office says he is resting comfortably and expects a full recovery. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

When he was first admitted last week, Cummings was being treated with antibiotics before it was determined the procedure was necessary, said Trudy Perkins, a spokeswoman for Cummings.

The 66-year-old leading Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had a heart procedure last year. He was hospitalized for a few days in May for a transarterial aortic valve replacement to treat aortic stenosis. He returned to Capitol Hill in September, after working in his district office in Baltimore.

His office announced the latest medical procedure on the same day as his wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, announced she was suspending her campaign for Maryland governor in a crowded Democratic primary.

"Unfortunately, due to personal considerations, I am suspending my bid for governor of Maryland," she wrote in a statement. "I thank all of the people across the country who have supported my campaign and those whom I have met on the campaign trail who also fervently believe that we can and must do better for the people of Maryland."

The announcement by her campaign did not provide details on why she dropped out of the race, and the campaign didn't respond to a request for comment about why the campaign was suspended.

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This story has been corrected to say the congressman's medical procedure was announced after his wife announced she was suspending her campaign.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana has paid at least $1.3 million to settle more than two dozen sexual harassment claims since mid-2009, including allegations made against college professors, judges, health care workers and one former state lawmaker, according to records released Friday.

The money was paid through Louisiana's self-insurance program, the Office of Risk Management, and covers claims made across all three branches of state government. Data involving the 27 payments was provided to The Associated Press and other news outlets in response to public records requests.

Payments range from $5,500 for a sexual harassment claim involving a professor at Grambling State University to $205,000 for two claims against a New Orleans civil court judge. A former commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control was the subject of two payments totaling $150,000.

Dollars were paid involving claims against a custodian supervisor at a state-owned safety-net hospital, the director of a state juvenile prison facility, a probation and parole supervisor, and a state park manager.

A $50,000 payment was made in 2012 to settle a claim against then-state Rep. Clif Richardson, a Republican lawmaker from the Baton Rouge area who resigned in 2013 citing health problems related to a cancer diagnosis. Richardson did not respond to a telephone message left by the AP on Friday. But the ex-legislator told The Advocate that he had repeated a joke of a sexual nature to an aide who took offense and he didn't feel up to fighting the allegations because of cancer treatment.

The list of payments provided by the Office of Risk Management doesn't include details of the conduct alleged, the person making the allegations, or what if anything was proved. It wasn't immediately clear if any of those accused of sexual harassment still worked in the positions or elsewhere in government.

In the past few months, sexual misconduct accusations have unseated people in positions of power in Hollywood, the media and government. In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards' deputy chief of staff, Johnny Anderson, stepped down in November after sexual misconduct claims were made against him. The governor's office hasn't said what the allegations were and has hired an attorney, in case the woman who accused Anderson of harassment files a lawsuit.

Anderson had previously been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in 2006 when he worked for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and was chairman of the Southern University System Board of Supervisors.

Anderson has denied wrongdoing.

Anderson's resignation - and the broader national conversation about sexual misconduct - spurred multiple reviews of Louisiana's policies for handling claims. Edwards has created a seven-member study group to make recommendations by March 1. Louisiana's legislative auditor is conducting his own review.

Release of the data came the same day the Southern University System announced it has put one of its administrators on leave because of sexual misconduct allegations.

The higher education system said associate vice president for human resources Lester Pourciau was placed on administrative leave Thursday. Southern said it received a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from a former employee with accusations that were "sexual in nature." An investigation is ongoing. Pourciau did not respond immediately to a telephone message seeking comment.

"Every employee and student has the right to a safe, positive working and learning environment," Southern System President Ray Belton said in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to ensure such."

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Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the shutdown of all air and maritime traffic with three Caribbean islands for the next 72 hours.

Maduro said Friday evening that he was closing the nation's maritime border with Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

In a televised appearance, the president accused island leaders of being complicit in the illegal trafficking of goods and resources.

The islands lie a short distance from Venezuela's coast and host oil refineries run by Venezuela's state oil giant and U.S. subsidiary Citgo.

In recent years, Venezuelans fleeing the nation's economic collapse have tried reaching the islands by boat.

Venezuelan authorities frequently contend the trafficking of goods out of the nation is one of the chief causes of food and medical shortages.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. is launching an investigation into attacks on peacekeepers in a part of Congo where the deadliest single assault on a U.N. peacekeeping mission in almost 25 years unfolded last month.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Friday he's appointing longtime U.N. peacekeeping official Dmitry Titov to lead a special investigation into attacks around the town of Beni.

The probe will focus on the Dec. 7 rebel attack that killed 15 peacekeepers and wounded over 40 others at a base near Beni. The dead were Tanzanian.

The attack has been blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, one of various armed groups in the mineral-rich region.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo is the world's largest. The investigation will evaluate its preparedness and response to attacks and provide recommendations on preventing them.
NEW YORK (AP) - About 100 million people faced a new challenge after the whopping East Coast snowstorm: a gusty deep freeze, topped Saturday by a wind chill close to minus 100 on New Hampshire's Mount Washington that vied for world's coldest place.

Jaw-clenching temperatures to start the weekend throughout the Northeast hit Burlington, Vermont, at minus 1 and a wind chill of minus 30. Both Philadelphia and New York were shivering at 8 degrees.

And in Hartford, Connecticut, a brutal cold of 10 degrees yielded a wind chill of minus 20.

Gusty wind picks up snow accumulated on the ground as Jesse Sherwood, of Jersey City, N.J., jogs at Liberty State Park, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Jersey City. About 100 million people faced a new challenge after the whopping East Coast snowstorm: a gusty deep freeze, topped Saturday by a wind chill close to minus 100 on New Hampshire's Mount Washington that vied for world's coldest place. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

On Saturday, winds of more than 90 mph swirled Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest peak, at a temperature of minus 37 degrees and a wind chill of minus 93. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world.

Boston, at a relatively balmy 11 degrees, was wrangling with a different kind of challenge: a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

A 3-foot tidal surge brought on by the nor'easter along the Massachusetts coast was the highest recorded in nearly a century. Residents of Boston and its suburbs were cleaning up Saturday after the tide that came in Thursday, flooding streets and forcing some residents to be evacuate as the water started to freeze.

In New Jersey, many people stayed home instead of dealing with single-digit temperatures. Others were cleaning up from the storm that dropped more than a foot of snow in some spots earlier in the week.

"My car felt like an icebox this morning, even though I had the heat on full blast," Julie Williams said as she sipped coffee inside a Jackson Township convenience store. She was headed to work at a local supermarket, and was expecting it to be packed.

"People think it's nuts before a storm happens, with everyone getting milk, bread, etc." she said, adding with a laugh, "but it's even worse in the days afterward, because they do the same thing but they're a little crazy from cabin fever."

The operators of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were struggling to recoup from Thursday's storm.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said it was working with airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration to limit flights into Kennedy on Saturday "until there are adequate gates available to handle the backlog of flights due to recovery of flight schedules in the wake of Thursday's storm."

In Rhode Island, hospitals were treating dozens of storm-related injuries as the region grits through a deep freeze that followed a powerful blizzard.

In Providence and Newport, at least 40 people were treated for various weather-related conditions, from heart attacks, snowblower or shoveling injuries, frostbite and more, according to The Providence Journal.

The storm dropped more than 14 inches of snow on Providence.

Monday is expected to be the first day above freezing since last month. In New York City, temperatures should reach 40 degrees next week.

Even more southern locations didn't escape the cold; the mercury dipped into the single digits in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., during the weekend, about 20 degrees below normal for this time of year.

The high winds and frigid temperatures prompted several ski resorts to close some of their lifts. Bolton Valley in Vermont said there was a general "lack of demand and enthusiasm from skiers and riders." With a temperature of minus 14 at the summit and minus 11 at the base, the resort cancelled evening skiing due to a frostbite warning.

In Vermont's capital city of Montpelier, with the temperature at minus 5 Saturday, business was slow at La Brioche Bakery but soups were a big seller, said bakery clerk Caroline Cunningham. "Nobody wants to be outside," she said.

The key strategy for most East Coast residents was to wear layered clothing.

Brooklyn resident Zelani Miah, who was walking home from running errands Saturday morning, said he wore lots of them.

"Right now, the only thing I put on was just some gloves, a couple sweaters of course, like five or six of them, and two pants basically and boots," Miah said. "Keep warm, make sure you wear hats."

Chris Fidler, left, of Halifax, and Ben Reigert, of Reading, walk out onto the ice at Sweet Arrow Lake, to fish on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Pine Grove, Pa. Freezing temperatures since December 26 have made for ideal ice fishing conditions. (David McKeown/Republican-Herald via AP)

Runners sprint down Forest Park Avenue in Watervliet, Mich., Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, during the start of the 5th Annual FROSTY 5K Run/Walk. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

Jay Churkin and his dog Siba play on the frozen Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park while temperatures were in the single digits, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Portersville, Pa. Pennsylvanians continue to deal with bone-chilling temperatures and related weather issues that have gripped the state in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Jay Churkin and his dog Siba play on the frozen Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park while temperatures were in the single digits, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Portersville, Pa. Pennsylvanians continue to deal with bone-chilling temperatures and related weather issues that have gripped the state in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

John Delcamp, left, and his girlfriend Michelle Lutian cross country ski along the edge of the frozen Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park while temperatures were in the single digits, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Portersville, Pa. Pennsylvanians continue to deal with bone-chilling temperatures and related weather issues that have gripped the state in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
WASHINGTON (AP) - In bountiful tweets and self-praise, President Donald Trump plays up "tremendous progress" in improving care for veterans in his first year. His claims fall short of reality.

Trump's initiatives have yet to show meaningful impact, and his campaign promises of expanding access to doctors and adding mental health specialists are unfulfilled.

Several of the 2017 accomplishments highlighted in a Trump tweet this week are largely symbolic - proclamations routinely signed by presidents or initiatives that haven't taken full effect or were later acknowledged by the Department of Veterans Affairs to be largely unneeded. In the meantime, wait times for veterans seeking treatment at VA medical centers haven't improved much, as Congress remains deadlocked over a long-term fix aimed at expanding access to doctors, in part due to rising costs.

FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump is flanked by veterans at an event to sign a proclamation honoring veterans at the Hyatt Regency Danang Resort in Danang, Vietnam. Trump is again claiming more success than reality in improving veterans care, touting initiatives that have yet to show meaningful impact and glossing over bigger unfulfilled campaign promises. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The VA also admits it fell short of adding 1,000 new mental health professionals last year, even after Trump singled out mental health as especially in need of attention during the campaign and pledged a hiring surge.

Trump speaks often about his commitment to veterans, a group that backed him by nearly 2-to-1 over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

A look at his rhetoric on veterans and White House statements marking his first year in office:

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TRUMP: "We will not rest until all of America's GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time." - tweet Tuesday, with an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is "fighting for our veterans."

THE FACTS: The video with catchy music overstates the impact of these steps.

Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the VA system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The department's poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard.

A fifth claim involves "telehealth," a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasn't been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House.

A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited impact so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims.

The other two initiatives mentioned make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trump's watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the impact on veterans' care is not fully known.

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TRUMP: "The VA was a mess." Before, "you couldn't fire anybody at the VA, if they were sadists, if they were horrible people. ... Now we look at them, they're no good - we say, 'You're fired. Get out of here.'" - Dec. 8 rally in Pensacola, Florida.

THE FACTS: It's wrong to say VA employees were never fired before Trump took office. In fact, more were fired in President Barack Obama's last budget year than in Trump's first.

In fiscal 2017, covering Obama's last three months and Trump's first nine months, 2,061 VA employees were removed for discipline or performance. About 1,419 firings took place since January 2017, when Trump took office, to present. That's down from 2,662 in the previous fiscal year, according to Office of Personnel Management information on the agency's data archive FedScope.

However, it's true that it often took longer for terminations to become final under an appeals process that has been shortened under Trump. Because a new accountability law making it easier to fire VA employees did not take effect until late June 2017, about 500 of the firings last year occurred under the former appeals system, which remains in place at other federal agencies. The new law shortens the length of time to challenge a disciplinary action and lowers the burden of proof needed to fire VA employees.

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TRUMP: "Why would smart voters want to put Democrats in Congress in 2018 Election ... People are much better off now not to mention ISIS, VA ..." - Dec. 31 tweet.

THE FACTS: He's entitled to his politics, but the tweet masks the fact that each veterans' bill signed into law by Trump won approval with strong support from Democrats as well as Republicans.

House Democrats did block one VA Choice emergency funding bill after major veterans groups complained it focused too much on private care without also investing in core VA programs. The bill was revised to add the money, was overwhelmingly approved and was signed by Trump on Aug. 12.

The bipartisan display began with David Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration confirmed unanimously by the Senate to serve as VA secretary in February. Trump calls Shulkin the "100-to-nothing man" because of that vote, since he is the only Trump Cabinet member to achieve that.

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WHITE HOUSE: "Secretary Shulkin has expanded access to urgent mental health care to former service members with other-than-honorable discharges." - Nov. 9 press release.

THE FACTS: This claim glosses over VA's difficulty in hiring mental health professionals and providing counseling support to higher-risk veterans, due in part to a tightening VA budget. Trump cited mental health care as a top priority for fixing VA during the presidential campaign and pledged a hiring surge. But the VA only netted about 258 new personnel as of late November, far below the 1,000 additional mental-health specialists it had targeted for 2017.

In March, Shulkin announced an initiative to expand urgent mental health care to those with other-than-honorable discharges with much fanfare, but soon after, he revealed he wouldn't be asking Congress for additional money to pay for it. The program provides mostly emergency care, something that had been offered already to any veteran, not preventive services.

To reduce suicide rates, VA is seeking to establish "telehealth" hubs in rural areas to provide veterans with mental health assistance. It has launched a new predictive model to analyze veterans' health records to identify those at risk. Roughly 20 veterans take their lives each day.

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WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program." - Dec. 22 press release.

THE FACTS: The money was quickly used up. Weeks after Congress approved the $2.1 billion in emergency funding to keep the VA Choice private-care program running, the VA acknowledged in September the program would again run out of money earlier than expected. The VA asked Congress to approve a long-term fix to its VA Choice program that could cost as much as $54 billion over five years, but divided lawmakers in December decided instead to approve another stopgap measure of $2.1 billion, punting the bigger issues until later.

The delay means that a larger overhaul of VA Choice - which Shulkin says will help significantly reduce wait times at VA medical centers - isn't likely to be fully implemented until 2019 or later.

The VA Choice program was put in place after a 2014 wait-time scandal that was discovered at the Phoenix VA hospital and elsewhere throughout the country. Veterans waited weeks or months for appointments while phony records covered up the lengthy waits. The program allows veterans to go to private doctors if they endure long waits for VA appointments, but it has suffered extended wait times of its own.

Last year, Shulkin said veterans were waiting more than 60 days for new appointments in about 30 VA locations nationwide.

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Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this report.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

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Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1
Standing here -- shivering here -- in one of America's changeless corners, where the snow-encrusted peaks stand immobile in the face of irrepressible winds and remorseless temperatures, it is sometimes hard to contemplate the changes beyond this low point along a fierce mountain ridge.

But change is the motif of the epoch, and epochal changes are occurring beyond the notches of New Hampshire. The Republican presidential candidate carried this county 14 months ago, but that is not particularly remarkable; more than a half-century ago Carroll County voted for Sen. Barry Goldwater, who didn't win another county in all of New England. But the Republican whom the voters here sided with was Donald Trump, who carried the area by more than a 2-to-1 margin in a state that delivered its four Electoral College votes to Hillary Clinton.

So here, in the shadow of the Presidential Range at the end of Trump's first year in the White House, one question is unavoidable if not unanswerable: Has the presidency changed Trump more than Trump has changed the presidency?

Almost every president has been transformed merely by taking the oath of office. That solemn vow transformed the identities of George Washington, Ulysses Grant, Dwight Eisenhower and the nine other generals who became chief executives; they became civilian commanders. It transformed the regional figures Calvin Coolidge, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton into national leaders. It transformed the obscure politicians Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman into iconic leaders. It transformed generational figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy into timeless symbols.

But it may be possible to argue that, after he leaves Washington, the presidency may not have transformed Trump at all. Certainly it would be hard to disagree that his first 11 months left the president acting, thinking, deciding and tweeting much the same way he did 11 months before he stood on the West Front of the Capitol, spoke of "American carnage" and vowed to put, and keep, America first.

He was irrepressible as a real-estate mogul and is irrepressible now. He was no slave to facts then, and is not enslaved to them now. He was immodest then, and -- with nuclear weapons, a naval armada, a standing Army and a fleet of war planes -- is even less modest now. He was unconventional then and is unconventional now.

Some presidents (William McKinley, Herbert Hoover and George H.W. Bush) went into the presidency fixed in character. Some (Kennedy, Barack Obama, even Franklin Delano Roosevelt) were works in progress. Still others (Truman, Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush) were transformed by the office.

But none of them was as resistant to change as Trump. McKinley, a product of small-town Ohio, took America international. Hoover, shaped by laissez-faire nostrums that made him rich, embraced more aggressive action against the Great Depression than has been acknowledged for two generations. The elder Bush, steeped at the United Nations and the Central Intelligence Agency in Cold War precepts, adapted to a unipolar world without a Soviet bloc.

In "The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office," published in September, the University of Texas scholar Jeremi Suri argued that Trump's supporters understood that it "was impossible to lead as president in 2016," and, as a result, they "elected an anti-leader, Donald Trump, whose main qualification was that he had never served in public office and had no desire to act like a traditional public servant."

He hasn't. He has warred with his allies and sparred with, rather than romanced, his opponents. He has eschewed nearly every canon or doctrine of political behavior. Indeed, he actually has discredited conventional politics -- a sharp departure from every one of his 44 predecessors, including the great improviser FDR.

Lincoln, facing an even more tumultuous first year than Trump, had every reason to forgo conventional politics in a nation literally breaking apart. "He saw no shame in the practice of politics, and experienced no priggish discomfort about what it takes to get great things done," Princeton historian Sean Wilentz wrote. "He was never too good for politics. Quite the contrary: For him, politics -- ordinary, grimy, unelevating politics -- was itself a good, and an instrument for good."

But while the presidency has not changed Trump, it is very likely that Trump has changed the presidency.

He has in some ways removed party, and in some ways ideology, too, from the presidency. He was elected a Republican and -- this weekend's Camp David summit on legislative priorities is an example -- leans toward Republicans for succor. But he is far more intuitive than ideological. He has scrambled the political calculus for this decade, and may have changed the notion of conservatism forever.

He has made the presidency less formal. He is not the first president to do so; Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt and Carter all had impulses of informality. Though Kennedy affected informality, he was at home in a dinner jacket, even if his wife pressured him to wear it, and there were times when, as a campaigner, he consorted with a Western Massachusetts tavern keeper and powerbroker known as "Onions" Burke and had dinner at the Ritz in the same day.

Ronald Reagan, himself an outsider, still had enormous respect for presidential precedent and comportment. Trump does not, although, in fairness, Obama was photographed in shirtsleeves in the Oval Office and, unforgivably for traditionalists, with his feet on the presidential desk built from the timbers of HMS Resolute.

Few presidents -- perhaps none besides Jackson, Truman and Nixon -- spoke of their rivals with the bitterness and anger of Trump. Truman's remarks seem almost innocent today, the equivalent of saying "heck" in public. Nixon's insults, some anti-Semitic, were uttered in private and were revealed only because the Supreme Court ordered that his tapes be released. But Trump's are vitriolic, at times cruel and crude.

It is too early to know whether the president's style will become a presidential style, employed to some degree by successors. Nor can we say whether it is a reflection of the coarsening of American life or whether it contributes to a further coarsening of our civic culture. Some things a president can affect, even control. This may be one of them. So much else that any president, or this president, confronts is well beyond his power.

David M. Shribman is executive editor of the Post-Gazette (dshribman@post-gazette.com, 412 263-1890). Follow him on Twitter at ShribmanPG.
BERLIN (AP) - The German and Turkish foreign ministers took small steps Saturday toward restoring friendlier relations after more than a year of tension between their countries, but they made clear that significant differences remain.

Germany's Sigmar Gabriel welcomed Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu to his hometown of Goslar as the Turkish leadership is making a broader effort to improve their country's strained relationship with Europe. On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited France.

Turkish-European ties worsened last year amid mass arrests and firings by authorities following a July 2016 coup attempt. Relations deteriorated further after authorities in some countries - including local officials in Germany - prevented Turkish ministers from holding rallies with expatriate Turks to promote a referendum on expanding the president's powers.

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, right, and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu take a walk through the old town of Goslar, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 after a meeting. The German and Turkish foreign ministers are taking small steps toward restoring friendlier relations after more than a year of tension between their countries. But they are making clear that differences remain. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP)

A particular irritant in relations between Ankara and Berlin has been Turkey's jailing of several German or German-Turkish nationals, including journalist Deniz Yucel, over terror-related allegations. Seven are currently being held for what Berlin considers political reasons.

Gabriel said there has been some progress lately, pointing to the release of some other Germans.

He said the two ministers agreed to recommend that a joint German-Turkish economic commission that hasn't met recently reconvene. They also want to revive a "strategic dialogue" between their ministries.

"We can't expect to agree on every question straight away. There are differences of opinion, but we are well-advised to continue our discussion openly and with mutual respect," Gabriel told reporters, noting that Germany and Turkey are both NATO members.

Cavusoglu stressed the importance of "sincere cooperation" and acknowledged differences over Turkey's stalled bid to join the European Union.

Despite those differences, he said, "We need to overcome issues such as the renewal of the customs union agreement that is of benefit to both sides."

Germany has made clear that journalist Yucel's detention is an obstacle to improved ties. The correspondent for German daily Die Welt has been in custody for nearly 11 months.

Gabriel said "you can be sure" the case came up during Saturday's discussions. Cavusoglu did not mention it at a public appearance with his German counterpart.

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Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed to this report.

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, right, and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu take a walk through the old town of Goslar, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 after a meeting. The German and Turkish foreign ministers are taking small steps toward restoring friendlier relations after more than a year of tension between their countries. But they are making clear that differences remain. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP)

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, right, and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu smile prior to a statement in Goslar, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The German and Turkish foreign ministers are taking small steps toward restoring friendlier relations after more than a year of tension between their countries. But they are making clear that differences remain. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP)

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, right, and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu talk before they deliver a statement in Goslar, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The German and Turkish foreign ministers are taking small steps toward restoring friendlier relations after more than a year of tension between their countries. But they are making clear that differences remain. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP)
PATNA, India (AP) - An Indian court on Saturday sentenced a powerful regional politician to 3 1/2 years in prison on a second conviction of embezzling state government funds as a top elected official two decades ago.

The court found Laloo Prasad Yadav and 15 others guilty of conspiracy to defraud the Bihar state government of 8.45 million rupees ($130,000). Judge Shivpal Singh sentenced all the convicts to prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 years to seven years.

Yadav's conviction will be challenged in an appeals court, his son Tej Pratap Yadav said after the court's decision in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state.

Yadav already is serving a five-year prison sentence on a conviction in a related case for fraudulently withdrawing 378 million rupees ($5.8 million) from the Bihar state government treasury for fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle. Yadav has been barred from contesting elections.

Yadav spent two months in jail in 2013 before he got bail from the Supreme Court as he challenged his conviction. He was taken to the prison again after his conviction in the second case on Dec. 23.

Corruption is endemic in Indian politics. Judges are now expediting trials of politicians following a Supreme Court order to reach verdicts within one year in cases in which lawmakers are accused of serious crimes.

The Supreme Court order is part of its attempt to clean up India's electoral system by making it more difficult for politicians with criminal cases to contest elections. Indian lawmakers are now barred from running in elections if they are found guilty of offenses carrying a jail term of at least two years.
MADRID (AP) - Spanish authorities say that 23 people have been arrested for participating in a fight between fans of Sevilla and Real Betis hours before the teams play each other in a league match.

The emergency services for Sevilla said via Twitter on Saturday that police intervened to make the arrests of "at least 23 people."

They add that the rival fan groups had arranged the meeting in order to fight.

The derby between Seville's two teams is considered the most hotly disputed rivalry in Spain.
WASHINGTON (AP) - It's been a week of bogus boasting by President Donald Trump and members of his administration as they took unearned credit for airline safety, pollution cleanup and major advances in care for veterans.

The president ignored fatality-free years in aviation during the Obama administration when he declared 2017 the safest year on record and suggested that was because he's kept a sharp eye on airlines.

He represented routine and ceremonial proclamations recognizing a day in remembrance of Pearl Harbor and a month in honor of military families as substantive achievements that improved care for veterans.

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2017, file photo, the air traffic control tower is in sight as a plane takes off from San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. It's been a week of bogus boasting by President Donald Trump and his administration as they took unearned credit for airline safety, pollution cleanup and major advances in care for veterans. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)`

And his Environmental Protection Agency took credit for completing work on seven Superfund sites even though the actual cleaning was done by President Barack Obama's EPA.

Here's a look:

TRUMP: "Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!" - tweet Monday.

THE FACTS: It's been 4 years since the last deaths involving a scheduled passenger airline in the U.S. Three passengers died in the crash of an Asiana Airlines plane while landing at San Francisco International Airport in July 2013. It's been almost nine years since the last fatalities involving a U.S.-registered, scheduled passenger airline in the United States. That was a Colgan Air plane that crashed on approach to Buffalo, New York, in February 2009, killing all 49 on board and a man on the ground.

Last year was notable for having no commercial passenger jet deaths worldwide, although there were two fatal regional airline crashes involving small turboprop planes in Angola and Russia. There were also fatal accidents involving cargo airliners.

What's Trump got to do with any of this?

His administration has instituted additional screening of passengers and their personal electronic devices at foreign airports with flights to the U.S., to prevent terrorist attacks. But there have been no new major safety regulations imposed on passenger airlines as Trump rounds out his first year in office. Indeed, he's held back a regulation pending from the Obama administration that would ban shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries on passenger planes. Testing has shown that the batteries can self-ignite, creating intense fires and explosions.

The White House cited Trump's initiative to "modernize Air Traffic Control" as justification for his tweet, but that doesn't fly. His proposal to privatize air traffic control isn't in effect, so it had nothing to do with the 2017 safety record. And even its proponents say the idea is not about safety, but rather efficiency.

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TRUMP: "We will not rest until all of America's GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time." - tweet Tuesday, with an Instagram link showing eight accomplishments where Trump is "fighting for our veterans."

THE FACTS: The video with catchy music overstates the impact of these steps. Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations - National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

Two are pieces of legislation that extended a troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available in its account to pay for care from private doctors outside the VA system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers

A fifth claim involves "tele-health," letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasn't been completed. It's now being dealt with in legislation that passed the Senate and is going to the House.

A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited impact so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims.

The other two initiatives he listed make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trump's watch. But the pace of dismissals is roughly on par with or a little below that during the Obama administration.

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EPA Administrator SCOTT PRUITT, on EPA claims that it completed - or "delisted" - more Superfund sites last year than Obama's EPA did the year before: "We have made it a priority to get these sites cleaned up faster and in the right way." - news release Tuesday.

THE FACTS: This is a case of people taking credit for other people's work.

The EPA removed seven Superfund sites from its priority list last year, compared with two sites delisted the year before. But records show that construction work at all seven sites hyped by Pruitt's EPA, such as removing soil or drilling wells to suck out contaminated groundwater, was completed years before Pruitt was confirmed as the agency's chief in February. Removing sites from the list is a procedural step that occurs after monitoring data show that remaining levels of harmful contaminates meet cleanup targets, which were often set by EPA decades ago.

An analysis of EPA records by The Associated Press shows that the seven Superfund sites delisted last year fell short of the average pace set under both the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush, even in their opening years.

Trump's proposed 2018 budget seeks to cut the Superfund program by 30 percent. More than 1,300 Superfund sites on EPA's list are at various stages in the cleanup process.

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Associated Press writers Hope Yen and Michael Biesecker in Washington and Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.
CAIRO (AP) - In a show of solidarity with Egypt's embattled Christians, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi Saturday made a symbolic appearance at an Orthodox Christmas Mass in a new cathedral as tens of thousands of soldiers and police deployed outside churches across the country in anticipation of possible attacks by Islamic militants.

"We, with the grace of God, are offering a message of peace and love from here, not just to Egyptians or to the region, but to the entire world," el-Sissi told a jubilant congregation while standing next to Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic pontiff.

"I always say this and repeat it: Destruction, ruin and killing will never be able to defeat goodness, construction, love and peace. It's impossible," said el-Sissi, a Muslim. "Pay attention, you are our family. You are part of us. We are one and no one will ever drive a wedge between us."

In Cairo and across much of the Muslim majority country, soldiers in full combat gear joined the police in protecting churches, most of which are now equipped with metal detectors. Worshippers undergo body searches at church entrances. Some churches have had their surrounding streets sealed off, with sidewalks barricaded to control pedestrian movement.

The tight security across Egypt is a precaution against possible attacks by Islamic militants who have specifically targeted Christians since December 2016, staging a series of bombings, killing about 100 people.

Orthodox Christians are the overwhelming majority of Egypt's Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the population, or nearly 10 million. They celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7.

The new cathedral in which Mass was held has been named Christ's Nativity and is located in Egypt's new Administrative Capital, a 45-billion-dollar, under-construction project some 45 kilometers (28 miles) east of Cairo. The Christmas Mass consecrates the new cathedral and marks the first time in living memory that the liturgy is not held at St. Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the orthodox church in central Cairo.

The new cathedral can house up to 9,000 worshippers and is touted as the largest in the Middle East.

El-Sissi arrived shortly after nightfall, as silver lights twinkled on the cathedral's dome, piercing the surrounding darkness. A general-turned-president, el-Sissi is viewed by most of Egypt's Christians as their protector and ally in the face of Islamists. He led the military's 2013 ouster of an Islamist president whose divisive rule alarmed many Christians fearful over their future in the country.

The cathedral's bells tolled as Tawadros received el-Sissi outside the cathedral and they walked inside together. Women ululated in jubilation and many in the congregation waved Egyptian flags or threw white rose buds at the smiling president, who waved back and shook hands with some of them.

The consecration of the new cathedral attracted the attention of Pope Francis, the head of the Roman catholic Church who visited Egypt last year where he spoke of the need for tolerance between Muslims and Christians.

"I'd like to express in a special way my closeness to Orthodox Coptic Christians, and I cordially greet my brother Tawadros II in the glorious occasion of the consecration of the Cathedral of Cairo," Pope Francis said in remarks to the faithful after celebrating an Epiphany Mass Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica.

But not everyone was as positive about the new cathedral or holding Christmas Mass there.

Ishak Ibrahim, a prominent expert on Christian affairs in Egypt, said in a Facebook post that moving Mass to an "isolated" spot projected a "disappointing" message.

"Christianity never commanded us to build churches so we can boast about their size, beauty or to accord legitimacy to the sultan," he wrote. "Those in the villages , meanwhile, are hurt and see their churches ... shuttered," wrote Ibrahim, alluding to frequent instances of Muslim mobs in rural Egypt reacting violently to the construction or repair of churches, or the use of private Christian homes as places of worship.

The latest such incident took place last month, when an angry Muslim mob stormed an unlicensed church in a village south of Cairo, ransacking the facility. Christian rights activists point to such incidents as evidence of the government's inability to protect Christians, particularly outside big cities.

The latest deadly attack against Christians was on Dec. 29, when a militant opened fire outside a suburban Cairo church, killing at least nine people.

A local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for most attacks on Christians, including a series of killings that forced scores of Christian families last year to flee their homes in northern Sinai, the epicenter of an insurgency spearheaded by IS militants, who also target the country's mainland.

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Associated Press writer Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.
UPPER SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) - Authorities say a 37-year-old man and his 2-year-old daughter have been killed in an Ohio house fire while his wife and another young daughter managed to escape the flames.

The Wyandot County Sheriff's Office has identified the victims as Shawn Stock and his daughter, Avery.

The Sheriff's Office says 34-year-old Lisa Stock called 911 on a cellphone just before 1 a.m. Saturday saying she'd dropped 1-year-old Alana Stock to the ground from a window of the burning home but couldn't get out herself.

A sheriff's deputy arrived and helped Lisa Stock escape through a window of the Tymochtee Township home. Heavy smoke prevented Sgt. Brandon Kromer from getting inside to rescue Shawn and Avery Stock.

An initial investigation indicates the fire was caused by a wood-burning stove in the basement.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Two former Zimbabwean cabinet ministers aligned with a faction loyal to ousted leader Robert Mugabe face corruption charges.

Samuel Undenge, a former energy minister, and Walter Mzembi, a former foreign affairs and tourism minister, were released on bail Saturday after spending a night in detention in the southern African nation.

Undenge is accused of corruption in connection with the awarding of energy contracts while Mzembi allegedly misused resources earmarked for a tourism conference in 2013.

They are among a number of former ministers and top officials in Zimbabwe arrested or questioned over corruption allegations since the military helped President Emmerson Mnangagwa take over from longtime leader Mugabe in November.

Many of those arrested are aligned with a ruling party faction associated with the former president's family.
Lawmakers and others in Democratic-leaning states have been howling over the past year about actions by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans that they say have undermined states' rights. That includes promoting concealed carry legislation and attacking sanctuary status for immigrants to this week's decisions on legalized marijuana and offshore oil drilling.

But it wasn't too long ago that the shoe was on the other foot, with Republican states pushing back against the Obama administration's intrusions on issues such as transgender rights and environmental regulation.

Promoting the constitutional protections for states' rights - outlined in the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - has always been popular among politicians. But it also is situational. Recent history shows that how strongly a party feels about states' rights can depend on whether it's in power and how a specific policy affects other constitutional rights.

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 file photo, a customer purchases marijuana at the Harborside marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif., on the first day that recreational marijuana was sold legally in California. In January 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a 2013 Obama Administration policy pledging that federal authorities would not crack down on marijuana operations in states where they were legal as long as the states maintained tight regulations. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

There's been a steady flow of lawsuits from mostly Democratic-controlled states opposing Trump administration policies, partly on states' rights grounds. That follows a pattern set by Republican-led states, which repeatedly sued the Obama administration.

Following is a look at some current and recent battles involving states' rights arguments:

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MARIJUANA

The federal government's position on state laws legalizing marijuana is the latest high-profile states' rights fight.

This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a 2013 Obama Administration policy pledging that federal authorities would not crack down on marijuana operations in states where they were legal as long as the states maintained tight regulations.

After Sessions' announcement, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, said Sessions was violating the will of the people of Colorado, a state where recreational marijuana is legal. Gardner threatened to hold nominations to the Department of Justice over the change.

Before the Obama administration's announcement, states felt more risk in advancing laws to allow recreational or medical use of cannabis, which is classified under federal law as a dangerous drug. Since then, state laws allowing marijuana have become more common.

Currently, most states allow medical use. Recreational marijuana is legal in eight states, including California, where legal sales began this month.

Despite the federal policy change, the Vermont House passed a bill this week to legalize marijuana.

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CONCEALED CARRY

The GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines last month to pass the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would prevent states from enforcing their own handgun permit laws against out-of-state visitors.

The measure, which is expected to be debated in the Senate this year, declares that citizens with valid state permits to carry concealed handguns - as well as those who live in several other states that don't require permits to carry - can travel with their weapons nationwide without fear of prosecution.

Critics of the bill, including many Democrats and public safety professionals, argue that the measure is a blatant attack on the rights of states, which currently have the ability to choose which out-of-state permits to recognize.

They warn that popular tourist areas in states with strict gun laws, like New York City, could see a surge of people carrying loaded weapons. Supporters of the bill say the hodgepodge of state laws undermines the constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense.

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SANCTUARY STATES AND CITIES

The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from states and cities that offer sanctuary status to immigrants, arguing that localities must cooperate with federal efforts to identify and remove those in the country illegally. Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions argue that the sanctuary approach to immigrants allows some criminals to be released instead of shipped back to their homelands.

But supporters of sanctuary policies say state and local officials should be allowed to decide how to treat non-citizens in their communities and how to best use their policing resources.

They argue that such jurisdictions have lower rates of crime and improved safety because immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crimes can report them without fear of deportation.

In November, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking Trump's executive order that had directed the government to make sanctuary cities ineligible for federal grants. The decision said Trump's order would "violate the Tenth Amendment's prohibition against commandeering local jurisdictions" and other parts of the Constitution.

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OIL DRILLING

Some Republican and Democratic governors of coastal states have spoken in opposition to Trump's plan announced this week, to allow oil drilling in the Arctic and off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

The areas that would be opened are all federal waters - generally starting 3 miles off the coast - and several of them have been closed to drilling for decades.

State officials have warned of risks to their environments and tourism if drilling is allowed. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, said he opposes drilling off his state's coast and wants Florida withdrawn from consideration of new leases. Maryland's Larry Hogan, another Republican, said he also opposes drilling off his state.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said that state regulatory agencies will have a say in whether offshore drilling is allowed. If the federal government disagrees with that, it could set up another states' rights legal dispute.

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ELECTION COMMISSION

In another development this week, Trump disbanded a commission he assembled last year to investigate voter fraud in the 2016 elections, something he asserts without evidence cost him the popular vote.

State election officials of both parties bristled last year when the commission asked for detailed voter information, including names, partial social security numbers, party affiliations and voters' history of participating in elections.

Some states sued over the request. Even after the administration clarified that it was asking only for information that states considered public, more than a dozen still refused to comply, including several Republican-leaning states.

Part of their argument was that running elections is the business of the states, not the federal government.

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GAY MARRIAGE

Opponents of marriage rights for gays and lesbians argued for years that the policy should be left to the states to decide. They argued that state lawmakers, not judges or Congress, were best positioned to decide whether to sanction such relationships in any given state.

Dozens of states voted to amend their constitutions to outlaw same-sex unions, while courts and lawmakers in others started to legalize the relationships. Supporters of same-sex marriage argued that the bans were unfair, calling the issue a matter of equality that should not be left to the whims of popular opinion.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in a landmark 2015 ruling, finding that the Constitution requires states to issue same-sex marriage licenses and to recognize those licensed in other states.

The court rejected arguments from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, which sought to preserve their state laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

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Follow Foley at https://twitter.com/rjfoley and Mulvihill at https://twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

FILE - In this Thursday, July 20, 2017 file photo, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy walks with nine-year-old Hayley Chavarria before speaking at a press conference at Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church in New Haven where her mother Nury Chavarria, who was supposed to be deported Thursday to Guatemala, has taken sanctuary. Malloy, said the attempt to deport the housekeeper and mother of four shows President Donald Trump's administration is not being truthful when it says its immigration policies are focused on "the bad guys." The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from states and cities that offer sanctuary status to immigrants, arguing that localities must cooperate with federal efforts to identify and remove those in the country illegally. (Catherine Avalone/New Haven Register via AP)

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2016 file photo, Marilyn Smolenski uses a mock gun to demonstrate how to pull a handgun out of concealed carry clothing she designs at her home in Park Ridge, Ill. In December 2017, the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines last month to pass the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would prevent states from enforcing their own handgun permit laws against out-of-state visitors. (AP Photo/Tae-Gyun Kim)

FILE - In this Friday, March 17, 2017 file photo, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, second from right, announces plans to support a ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Maryland during a news conference in Annapolis, Md., giving a boost to legislation to ban the practice. From left are Del. Robert Flanagan, R-Howard; Sen. Robert Zirkin, D-Baltimore County; Hogan and Sen. Bryan Simonaire, R-Anne Arundel. Some Republican and Democratic governors of coastal states, including Hogan, have spoken in opposition to Trump's plan announced in January 2018, to allow oil drilling in the Arctic and off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

FILE - In this Friday, June 26, 2015 file photo, Ann Sorrell, 78, left, and Marge Eide, 77, who have been together for 43 years, kiss after exchanging vows in Ann Arbor, Mich., following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down bans on same sex marriage nationwide. Opponents of marriage rights for gays and lesbians argued for years that the policy should be left to the states to decide. They argued that state lawmakers, not judges or Congress, were best positioned to decide whether to sanction such relationships in any given state. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
William Etherton holds a camera on the North Sea island of Suderoog, Germany, after it was washed away four months ago

An English boy has been reunited with a video camera which went missing on a beach four months ago and washed up in Germany.

William Etherton, 10, lost his camera last year when it was carried off by a wave at Thornwick Bay in East Yorkshire, where he had been filming his day at the beach.

The camera drifted for about two months before washing up on the island of Suderoog in the North Sea, some 350 miles away.

But William, from Hull, has now been reunited with the camera, which amazingly survived the journey and still works.

Island resident Roland Spreer, 67, found the camera in early November, and his son Holger posted footage on Facebook which William had taken at Thornwick Bay before it was washed away.

The video eventually came to the attention of William's father, Mark Etherton, and this week the family travelled to Germany and walked more than four miles from the mainland at low tide to reach the island.

William said it was great that the camera still worked, after he was given it as a Christmas present in 2016, according to German broadcaster NDR.

'I'll have to take better care of my camera in future,' he said.

'It's a huge adventure that we're not going to forget,' added William's father.

The family had been visiting Thornwick Bay at Flamborough, East Riding of Yorkshire, when the camera went missing.

Holger Spreer posted the video, which showed the boy clambering around rocks on the seaside, on November 2 with the caption: 'That's surely never happened before.'

William Etherton holds the camera with island resident Roland Spreer, who found it on the North Sea island of Suderoog, Germany

The Etherton family, from left to right: Father Mark, daughter Poppy, son William and mother Hellen. They walked four miles from the mainland at low tide to reach the island

He wrote: 'The camera was found by my father, who knows all about beachcombing from his childhood.

'As it was packed in waterproof casing it still works and so we could watch the recorded footage from the memory card.

'It turned out to belong to an English boy who liked to film his family. He put the camera down on a rock while playing and forgot about it. But then the tide came in and a small wave pushed it into the sea.'

The memory card also included footage of the boy's grandparents and from the previous year's Christmas.

The younger Mr Spreer and his partner are the only permanent residents of the tiny North Frisian island.

The camera travelled 350 miles after it was washed away on a Yorkshire beach before reaching the German island of Suderoog in the North Sea
The Latest on the death of astronaut John Young (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Legendary astronaut John Young, who died Friday in Houston, is being mourned by his fellow space explorers.

Robert Crippen, Young's co-pilot on Columbia's successful maiden voyage in 1981, told The Associated Press that flying with Young was "a real treat."

"Anybody who ever flew in space admired John," said Crippen, a close friend who last spoke to him a few months ago.

U.S. astronaut Terry Virts said in a tweet: "Rest In Peace John Young. You were one of my heroes as an astronaut and explorer and your passion for space will be missed."

Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield echoed that on Twitter, saying "John Young is one of my heroes, an astronaut's astronaut, a fearless individual and a good friend. Godspeed."

Retired U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly said he was saddened by the loss and called Young in a tweet "the astronauts' astronaut, a true legend. Fair winds and following seas, Captain."

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2 p.m.

Former President George H. W. Bush is offering condolences on the death of astronaut John Young.

Bush says he and Barbara Bush "join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss."

His statement says "John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time. To us, he represented the best in the American spirit - always looking forward, always reaching higher."

Bush also said "John leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family. May his memory serve to inspire future generations of explorers to dare greatly, act boldly, and serve selflessly."

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1:40 p.m.

Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, according to a statement from NASA. Young was 87.

The space agency said in a statement that Young died Friday night following complications from pneumonia.

NASA said Young was the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.

He died at home in Houston.

Young was in NASA's second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell.

"Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer. Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement Saturday. "John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space."

Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, Young's blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.

He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during NASA's Apollo program, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.

Young spent his last 17 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004.
Down at the courthouse, the kind of story Donald J. Trump is peddling is laughingly called the "some-other-dude-done-it" defense.

Among the president's 23 (!) separate denials that his presidential campaign "colluded" with Russia during a half-hour New York Times interview was this preposterous line: "I actually think it's turning to the Democrats because there was collusion on behalf of the Democrats. There was collusion with the Russians and the Democrats. A lot of collusion ... starting with the dossier."

The other dude, in Trump's addled mind, being "Crooked Hillary." She's the one that conspired with Vladimir Putin!

You see, deep thinkers on the right have been arguing that it was a partially unverified report written by former British intelligence operative Christopher Steele that first convinced the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation of Trump's dalliance with the Kremlin.

And since the Democrats (taking over from anti-Trump Republicans) had partly paid for the so-called "dodgy dossier," the entire Russia probe amounted to nothing more than a "deep state" dirty trick. Because, as everybody knows, investigating a crime is exactly the same thing as committing one -- an absurdly circular argument that would render law enforcement impossible.

Which in the case of Trump and the Russians, is exactly what's intended. To Trumpists, "deep state" refers to anybody and everybody in the U.S. government whose first loyalty is to the Constitution rather than to Donald J. Trump.

Just ask around at your friendly, neighborhood penitentiary. Maybe half the inmates will assure you that an unholy conspiracy among cops, prosecutors and lying witnesses is what put them there.

Once in a blue moon, it's even true.

But I digress. Some fervid Trumpists even began to talk about a "purge" of the FBI -- language no American should use.

So somebody decided to set the record straight. The New York Times delivered itself of a New Year's Eve blockbuster. See, it turns out that it wasn't the Steele dossier that caused the FBI to open an investigation of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016 at all.

"Instead," the Times revealed, "it was firsthand information from one of America's closest intelligence allies." Specifically, Australia.

"During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia's top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton" in the form of stolen emails.

"I can speak from experience," my pal Charles Pierce has written. "Drinking with Aussies is not for rookies."

Certainly not in Papadopoulos's case. At first, the Australians didn't know what to believe. But two months later, as stolen DNC emails embarrassing to the Clinton campaign began to appear on Wikileaks, the Australians took what they knew to the FBI: At some level, the Trump campaign was in cahoots with the Kremlin. Only afterward were FBI agents were dispatched to interview Christopher Steele -- a respected intelligence professional.

Along with the Aussies and the Brits, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, France and Estonia also provided intelligence to the Top Secret investigation.

The Times story also establishes that far from being the insignificant "coffee boy" depicted by Trump loyalists after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, Papadopoulos exercised real influence at key intervals. Guided by one Olga Polonskaya, a young woman from St. Petersburg posing as Vladimir Putin's niece, he helped to craft Trump's first major foreign policy speech on April 27, 2016 -- in which the candidate spoke warmly about Putin, with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak seated in a position of honor.

While the Times could not confirm that Papadopoulos told the Trump campaign what he told the Aussies about Russian espionage, what would you say are the odds that he kept the secret to himself? Moscow was his meal ticket. With Papadopoulos as a cooperating witness, we can be confident that by this time Robert Mueller's investigators know for sure.

What the Russians wanted was a relaxation of economic sanctions imposed by the NATO countries as a consequence of their seizing Crimea and invading eastern Ukraine. Seen from that perspective, everything that happened subsequently -- public and private -- looks like a protracted negotiation between Trump and the Kremlin.

Thus, when Russian operatives promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton before the famous June 16 meeting in Trump Tower, Donald Jr. almost certainly thought he knew exactly what they had. And when his father the presidential candidate said in a July 2016 press conference, "Russia, if you're listening," the indefatigable Seth Abramson argues, "he a) knew they were listening, b) knew they'd stolen the emails he was urging them to release, and c)... had already promised ... to reward them for being good to him."

Meanwhile, anybody down at the courthouse could tell Trump that if he really expects to be believed, 23 denials are about 21 too many.

Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of "The Hunting of the President" (St. Martin's Press, 2000). You can email Lyons at eugenelyons2@yahoo.com
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The Latest from the TV Critics meeting in Pasadena, California (all times local):

6:00 p.m.

When a producer mentioned a Twitter post from Benedict Cumberbatch led to a TV role, the actor couldn't resist riffing on President Donald Trump's "stable genius" tweet.

Stephen Colbert, center, executive producer of the Showtime animated series "Our Cartoon President," takes part in a panel discussion on the show with fellow executive producer Chris Licht, left, and showrunner/executive producer/writer R.J. Fried at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Michael Jackson, executive producer of Showtime's new "Patrick Melrose" series, told TV critics Saturday that he learned from Twitter that Cumberbatch longed to play the title role.

Cumberbatch, participating in the news conference by satellite, asked if he'd called himself a "stable genius" in the tweet.

"Good things can come from Twitter," but so do world wars, Cumberbatch said. At least, the actor added sardonically, he got a part because of the social media site.

Cumberbatch said he considers Edward St. Aubyn, whose Patrick Melrose novels were adapted for Showtime's series, perhaps the greatest prose stylist working in the English language.

The five-part series will debut this year, with a date yet to be announced.

___

4 p.m.

Stephen Colbert clearly isn't worried about television audiences getting Trump fatigue.

"He is president of the United States," he said on Saturday. "There is no escaping it. It's like having oxygen fatigue."

Colbert has vaulted to the top of the late-night ratings with sharp, topical humor focused on the president. Now he's a producer behind an animated Showtime series, "Our Cartoon President," that debuts later this month.

Showtime will stream an episode that features the cartoon Trump preparing to deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 28. The 10-episode series debuts on the television network on Feb. 11.

___

3:25 p.m.

Showtime programming executive Gary Levine says if David Lynch is willing to tackle another season of "Twin Peaks," the channel is willing to listen.

But given the "Herculean" effort that Lynch put into reviving the cult drama last year, including directing all 18 episodes, Levine said he's unsure Lynch wants to do it again.

The original "Twin Peaks," starring Kyle MacLachlan as a FBI agent investigating a murder in an offbeat town, aired in 1990-91 on ABC. It picked up 25 years later in the lives of the characters in its return on Showtime.

Levine told TV critics Saturday the door at Showtime is always open to Lynch or his fellow "Twin Peaks" creator Mark Frost to discuss the show or any other project they have in mind.

___

2:45 p.m.

Television viewers will soon get an inside look at what President Donald Trump likes to call the "failing" New York Times.

Showtime announced Saturday that filmmaker Liz Garbus is producing a four-part documentary series on the Times, "The Fourth Estate," that will debut in May.

Documentary-makers were given access to meetings and discussions at the Times as it shaped coverage of the Trump administration. A clip on Saturday showed the newsroom reacting to Trump's inaugural address.

Besides giving a view of how the newspaper covers the president, "The Fourth Estate" will also show the Times in a period of transition. In a generational change for the family-controlled business, 37-year-old A.G. Sulzberger has taken over as the Times' new publisher.

___

11:50 a.m.

The producers of the new CBS comedy "Living Biblically" say their goal is to appeal to both believers and non-believers.

Inspired by A.J. Jacobs' book "The Year of Living Biblically," the series stars Jay R. Ferguson as a modern New Yorker who decides to strictly follow the Bible in his daily life. He's guided by a priest and a rabbi.

Executive producer Patrick Walsh told TV critics Saturday that the show aims to "loosen up the conversation" about religion in a funny, respectful way.

Among the show's producers is Johnny Galecki, who stars on "The Big Bang Theory." Galecki said that presumptions that "The Year of Living Biblically" will be sarcastic about religion are wrong.

The hope is that viewers will find the comedy to be a "cool take" on religion, which is what a lot of people base their lives on, Galecki said.

The show, which also stars Lindsey Kraft, Ian Gomez, David Krumholtz, Tony Rock and Camryn Manehim, debuts Feb. 26.

___

11:03 a.m.

Actor Alan Cumming will portray what is believed to be the first gay lead character in a broadcast network drama and he says it's particularly important that the milestone is happening during President Donald Trump's administration.

His crime procedural "Instinct" arrives at a time when Cumming said "the president is actively condoning, by his silence, violence and persecution against the LBGT community."

The show premieres on CBS March 11. Cumming plays an author who is an expert on serial killers who gets drawn into helping New York police track down a killer who models his behavior on one of his books.

Cumming says it's a perfect time to have a married same-sex couple portrayed on network TV.

___

Stephen Colbert, executive producer of the Showtime animated series "Our Cartoon President," takes part in a panel discussion on the show at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Johnny Galecki, right, co-executive producer of the new CBS series "Living Biblically," takes part in a panel discussion on the show with co-executive producer Patrick Walsh at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Gael Monfils won the Qatar Open title on his fourth appearance in the final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Andrey Rublev of Russia on Saturday.

The 46th-ranked Monfils, a former top-10 player, lost previous finals at the tournament to Roger Federer in 2006, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2012, and Rafael Nadal in 2014.

"I've been very close and finally I get it," Monfils said after winning his seventh career title.

Monfils was playing in his first tournament since a right-knee injury forced him to retire during his U.S. Open third-round match in September.

"I had a long rest and I'm a lot stronger for 2018," Monfils said. "I didn't expect to win the first tournament, but I'm happy I did."

The 39th-ranked Rublev nervously rushed on many shots against the more experienced Monfils.

Rublev countered his 21 winners with an equal number of unforced errors, while Monfils posted 29 winners to only 10 unforced errors in the one-hour match.

"I think I was completed tired today," Rublev said. "We played only one hour and the match was almost without chances for me."

Monfils broke his opponent's serve to go ahead 3-1 in both sets. The Frenchman faced two break points in the match, but saved both which came in the fifth game of the second set.

In the first set, Monfils broke Rublev a second time in the final game. In the second set, he had to serve out the match in the ninth game.

Monfils reached the final without hitting a ball in the semifinals when top-seeded Dominic Thiem withdrew from the tournament because of illness.
A veteran firefighter was fatally injured Saturday when a burning row home collapsed in Philadelphia and he became pinned under the debris, authorities said. A person who lived in the home was also killed.

Lieutenant Matthew LeTourneau, 42, was pulled from the home by fellow firefighters and taken to Temple University hospital. The 11-year-veteran was pronounced dead there a short time later.

"Our hearts are breaking, and we are without words," city Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. He said it took about 30 minutes for firefighters to free LeTourneau from the debris caused by the interior structure collapse.

Firefighters embrace as their colleagues battle a row home fire in Philadelphia on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. A veteran firefighter was fatally injured when a burning row home collapsed and he became pinned under the debris, authorities said. A person who lived in the home was also killed. Lieutenant Matthew LeTourneau, 42, was pulled from the home by fellow firefighters and taken to Temple University hospital. The 11-year-veteran was pronounced dead there a short time later. (Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

The fast-moving fire was reported around 8:50 a.m., and dozens of firefighters battled the blaze for nearly two hours before it was brought under control. Two other firefighters were also injured and were being treated at a hospital. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening and they were expected to be released later Saturday.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Authorities say a person found inside the home died in the fire, while another person from a neighboring home was taken to the hospital and was listed in critical condition. Their names and further details about their injuries were not disclosed.

LeTourneau joined the fire department in 2007 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2015. He had received a unit citation in 2010 and a letter of commendation for his service during the World Meeting of Families in 2015.

Thiel said LeTourneau would receive a fire department funeral with full honors, but said it had not yet been scheduled.

Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said the city will "be there for (LeTourneau's) family forever."

The last Philadelphia firefighter killed in action was Lieutenant Joyce Craig, who was fatally injured in December 2014 while battling a wind-whipped house fire.
MOSCOW (AP) - Orthodox Christian believers across Russia have crowded into churches to stand shoulder-by-shoulder for Christmas Eve midnight Masses.

The Russian Orthodox, like several other Orthodox denominations, observes Christmas on January 7.

President Vladimir Putin attended a Mass at the Church of Sts. Simeon and Anna in St. Petersburg, his hometown.

State television channels showed a live broadcast of the Mass from Moscow's enormous and elaborate Christ the Savior Cathedral. The church was demolished during Josef Stalin's dictatorship, but reconstructed after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended the Mass at Christ the Savior.
TORONTO (AP) - The Toronto Blue Jays acquired infielder Yangervis Solarte from the San Diego Padres on Saturday for prospects Edward Olivares and Jared Carkuff.

The 30-year-old Solarte hit .255 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs in 128 games last season for the Padres. He made his big league debut with the New York Yankees in 2014.

The 21-year-old Olivares hit .269 with 17 home runs, 72 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 120 Class A games with Lansing and Dunedin this year. From Venezuela, he signed with Toronto as an international free agent in 2014.

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2017, file photo, San Diego Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte holds on to the ball after catching a line drive hit by Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles. The Toronto Blue Jays acquired Solarte from the Padres on on Saturday, Jan 6, 2018, for prospects Edward Olivares and Jared Carkuff. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo, File)

Carkuff, 24, was 3-4 with eight saves and a 3.86 ERA in 34 relief appearances between Single-A Vancouver, Lansing and Dunedin and Triple-A Buffalo last season. He was selected by Toronto in the 35th round of the June 2016 draft out of Austin Peay.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced protests over press freedom and the deteriorating state of human rights in his country as he arrived in Paris for talks with French leader Emmanuel Macron.

The trip is Mr Erdogans first to France since his governments crackdown on suspected opponents following a failed coup in July 2016.

About 50,000 people have been arrested and 110,000 others were removed from public sector jobs in Turkey.

#Erdogan in #Paris: Mr. President, #journalism is not terrorism, criticism is not terrorism either. A journalist has nothing to do in prison and yet there are more than 100 in your prisons. pic.twitter.com/K3FQMJMs4l  RSF (@RSF_inter) January 5, 2018

Roughly 30 activists from watchdog group Reporters Without Borders held images of jailed journalists outside the Turkish Embassy.

A dozen demonstrators, mainly ethnic Kurds, later tried to reach the presidential Elysee palace, but police pushed them back onto a side street.

The French Communist Party and several left-wing parties have criticised Mr Erdogans visit to France, which came the day before the fifth anniversary of the slayings in Paris of three Kurdish women activists.

Kurds demonstrate in Paris

The French judicial system had pointed out Turkish secret services involvement in this crime, the Communist Party said in a statement.

Mr Macron is expected to raise the issue of media freedom with his Turkish counterpart. The two presidents also are set to discuss Turkeys relationship with the European Union, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the war in Syria.

Mr Erdogan defended his country as before all else, a state of law.

Erdogan and Macron

In a joint news conference with the Turkish leader, Mr Macron said he had asked Mr Erdogan about specific cases from a list provided by watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

Mr Erdogan said the judicial system in Turkey is independent, but that he would give Turkeys justice minister names from the cases in question to seek information about their status.

At a meeting chaired by our president Recep Tayyip Erdogan with business representatives in the French capital of Paris, we reiterated how much of a safe country Turkey has become for international investments.@RT_Erdogan pic.twitter.com/JykJXYzdHs  Mevlut Cavusoglu (@MevlutCavusoglu) January 5, 2018

He said Turkey is fighting numerous enemies inside the country, from the Islamic State group to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.

Mr Erdogan said terrorism doesnt create itself alone, and declared that ideologues must be fought.
Police are seeking the publics help to trace the movements of a man whose body was found on New Years Eve.

Kyle Hudson, 28, was found dead outside a property on Darby Way, in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, Somerset at 10.20am.

Avon and Somerset Police said a post-mortem examination has been carried out and Mr Hudsons death was not being treated as suspicious at this time.

Kyle Hudson was found dead outside a property in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton (Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

Were appealing for help to trace the movements of Kyle Hudson, 28, whose body was found in Bishop's Lydeard on New Years Eve.



Kyle's death is not being treated as suspicious but were keen to speak to anyone who saw him on 31/12.



More here - https://t.co/Y2E2fzJTha pic.twitter.com/AYexH2TrbF  Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) January 6, 2018

Officers wish to speak to anyone who saw Mr Hudson in the hours before his body was found.

Detective Inspector Angela Burtonwood said: Kyles family are being fully supported and kept updated on the progress of our inquiry. Our thoughts continue to be with them during this difficult time.

Were releasing a photograph of Kyle in the hope that someone recognises him and remembers seeing him early on December 31.

Were you in Bishops Lydeard that morning? Did you see or speak to Kyle?

Kyles phone is also missing and is something wed like to trace. If you found a black iPhone 7 in the vicinity of Darby Way, or remember seeing one discarded please get in touch.
Gunmen have killed at least 13 people in Senegal as they gathered firewood in the forest, the military said.

It was the worst attack in years in the West African nations restive southern region, where a separatist insurgency has dragged on for more than three decades.

The bloodshed sparked fears of renewed unrest in the area, which had been relatively calm for the last few years.

(PA)

Colonel Abdoul Ndiaye said seven other people were wounded in the massacre four miles (seven kilometres) outside the town of Ziguinchor, and the military stepped up its presence near there.

Casamance is separated from the rest of Senegal by the nation of Gambia.

While no immediate claim of responsibility was made, suspicion fell on the separatist group founded in 1982 known as the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance.

The armed wing of the group had agreed a ceasefire in 2014, and the last major attack blamed on the group was in 2013 when rebels took 12 employees of a South African bomb disposal firm hostage.

The victims, all Senegalese citizens, were eventually released.

Saturdays deaths came just hours after the release of two prisoners belonging to the separatist group following negotiations that were mediated by the Community of SantEgidio.

The separatists have long argued that their region is culturally distinct from the rest of Senegal and has suffered from inattentive governments in the countrys capital, Dakar.
ADEN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The chief of staff of the Yemeni army has been injured by a land mine that went off while he was visiting the northern al-Jouf province, where heavy fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters is underway, a senior government official said.

The official said Brigadier General Taher al-Aqeeli suffered minor injuries in the explosion, which happened on Friday while he was inspecting government positions in Khub wa al-Sha'af, the largest district in al-Jouf province.

Forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government captured most of the district in heavy fighting with the Houthis last month.

Anti-Houthi forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have intensified an offensive against the Iran-aligned group that controls most of northern Yemen since former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed after he switched sides in Yemen's nearly three-year-old civil war.

The Houthis, who killed Saleh after they surrounded his compound in Sanaa, accused the former president of trying to sow sedition in the country. Saleh's General People's Congress party accused the Houthis of trying to monopolise running the country.

The Houthis said Aqeeli and several of his aides were injured in the blast, describing Aqeeli's injuries as serious.

Hadi appointed Aqeeli last September, replacing Major General Mohammed al-Maqdeshi, who was appointed as a presidential adviser.

The United Arab Emirates news agency WAM reported earlier this week that local Yemeni fighters in the southwest, backed by Emirati forces, killed dozens of armed Houthi group members and cut one of their main supply routes to the country's third largest city of Taiz.

The Houthis, who have swept across Yemen since 2014 and overthrew Hadi's internationally-recognised government in 2015, hold the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, where most of the country's 25 million people live.

The conflict - widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran - has displaced more than 2 million people, caused a cholera epidemic and pushed the country to the brink of famine. At least 10,000 people have been killed. (Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Potter)
DUBAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Saudi Arabia to release a local journalist who was reportedly arrested this week after criticising the government.

Saudi activists and media reported that Saleh al-Shehi, a columnist for Arabic-language daily al-Watan, was detained on Wednesday over various articles and television appearances, including one in which he accused the royal court of corruption in distributing land.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has launched reforms over the past two years to foster economic diversity and cultural openness, ordered the arrest of more than 200 people, including princes, ministers and billionaires, last year. He said he was going after corruption but critics saw the move as a consolidation of power.

Resistance to his economic agenda and assertive foreign policy has been treated harshly, according to civil liberties monitors, who say freedom of expression is increasingly constrained.

"Despite promises of reform and moderation from Saudi Arabia's emerging leadership, it is clear from Saleh al-Shehi's arrest that repression as usual continues," Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, said in a statement late on Friday.

"Saudi authorities must release al-Shehi immediately, and Saudi leaders should ensure that the press is able to freely report on all issues of public interest."

The government's Center for International Communication did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not independently confirm that Shehi had been arrested. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter)
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GOSLAR, Germany, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Germany and Turkey's foreign ministers on Saturday agreed to pull out all the stops to improve ties that have soured due to disputes over Ankara's post-coup crackdown and the arrests of German citizens in Turkey, but they stressed differences remain.

Meeting in an ornate imperial palace in central Germany, the pair said they were keen to make amends after falling out as Ankara rounded up suspected supporters of a failed 2016 coup, a comedian mocked Turkey's president and a German-Turkish journalist was detained without charge.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel pointed to historic links between the countries including the role Turkish guest workers played in rebuilding Germany after World War Two, Turkey's hospitality in taking in German refugees during the Nazi era and the 3 million-strong Turkish community here.

"We've both made it our business to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been in German-Turkish relations and to find more common ground in the future by remembering everything that binds us together," Gabriel said.

German politicians have been outspoken critics of Turkey's post-coup crackdown, in which some 50,000 people have been arrested pending trial and 150,000, including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been sacked or suspended from their jobs.

Turkey says the crackdown, targeting alleged supporters of a Muslim network it blames for the coup, is necessary on security grounds. Ankara has criticized Germany's refusal to hand over asylum seekers it says were involved in the failed putsch.

Adding to the tension, the German government believes seven Germans, of whom four have dual citizenship, are being held in prison in Turkey for political reasons.

But in a sign of recovering relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the NATO allies believed they could overcome recent escalations in tension through dialogue.

Cavusoglu said Turkey and Germany shared similar views on conflict-hit Middle East countries and they were cooperating on humanitarian issues like migration.

During a working lunch on Saturday, he and Gabriel would discuss steps they can take together in future, Cavusoglu said.

THORNY ISSUES

But the pair acknowledged areas of disagreement. Cavusoglu said one bone of contention was whether Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union - a move that Germany opposes - but he sounded a conciliatory note.

"There is benefit in pushing our disagreements aside and continuing on our path. We should focus on issues that serve as win-win for our countries, like the Customs Union," he said.

One of the disputes between Berlin and Ankara centres around the arrest of Deniz Yucel, a reporter for German newspaper Die Welt. Turkish authorities accuse him of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He denies the charge.

Gabriel said he had discussed thorny issues including Yucel's case with Cavusoglu but did not give details.

Germany is Turkey's biggest trade partner but exports from Europe's largest economy to Turkey dropped by 5.9 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2017.

Gabriel told magazine Der Spiegel on Friday Germany had refused to authorise "a large number of arms exports" to Turkey and that would remain the case until Yucel's case was resolved.

But on Saturday he said the German government would consider whether to deliver mine protection gear for armoured vehicles in Turkey, an issue not linked to arrests, he said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Ros Russell)
By Hani Amara

TRIPOLI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Nigeria is starting flights to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Libya which will continue until all those wanting to return home have done so, its foreign minister said on Saturday.

Nigerians have recently been the largest national group among African migrants travelling to Libya and trying to cross from there to Italy by sea.

Since local armed factions and Libya's coastguard began blocking more migrants from leaving in July last year, large numbers have been trapped in Libya, where they often face dire conditions and abuse, including forced labour.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has in recent months accelerated a "voluntary returns" programme to repatriate migrants from a number of countries. Nigeria now joins Niger in organising bilateral returns.

"The main objective, and we're very focused on that objective, is to get these Nigerian citizens back home as quickly as possible," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyema told reporters during a visit to Tripoli.

"Our president has made available all the resources necessary to repatriate all the Nigerians here.

"We have two planes arriving today and God willing we are hoping to evacuate anything up to 800 Nigerians today."

Nigeria had been expecting to fly back about 5,500 migrants, Onyema said, but the situation on the ground made the actual number hard to ascertain.

"Some of the difficulties with getting precise numbers is that some are within the control of the central government in camps, some are clearly outside the camps, some are also in less accessible areas where there might not be full central government control and authority," he said.

Facilitating voluntary returns could also be complicated by lack of access, Onyema said. Criminals involved in smuggling and trafficking migrants "also (have) an interest that a number of them should not be repatriated, because these represent economic assets for them".

Libya has been in turmoil since a 2011 uprising, with rival governments and armed factions vying for power. Onyema was hosted by the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, which has struggled to assert its authority on the ground.

Slightly fewer than half as many migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 than 2016, the IOM said on Friday, largely due to a drop in numbers crossing from Libya.

(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has visited the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka on Friday.

Kono was briefed by Sri Lankan government officials about a project under consideration to expand the port.

It is the largest port in Sri Lanka, which is a strategically important point in Indian Ocean sea lanes.

The Japanese government has been involved in building port facilities there for many years. Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers on a counter-piracy mission off Somalia have made calls at the port.

The Japanese government wants to promote cooperation for the port expansion project. China is increasing involvement in port development in Sri Lanka.

Before the port visit, Kono told reporters that projects to build ports and other infrastructure should be open to any country.(NHK World)
AFP: Qatar has approved legislation allowing 100-percent ownership for foreign investors in most sectors of the economy in a bid to boost non-energy revenues, the government said this week.



The move comes at a time of political crisis in the Gulf, with Qatar under an economic and diplomatic boycott by neighbouring countries for the past seven months.

It is also an attempt by Qatar, the third largest economy in the Gulf, to secure new revenues to finance a budget deficit due to the slump in oil prices since mid-2014.

Overseas investors will be able to fully own businesses in almost all economic sectors but they are not allowed to purchase real estate or own franchises, according to the ministry of economy and trade.



To invest in the banking and insurance sectors, foreigners need to secure a special permit from the government, the law states.



Currently, foreign investors can own up to 49 percent of companies listed on Qatars stock exchange in accordance with a law passed in 2014.



The new law was approved at the cabinets weekly meeting on Wednesday.



The draft law aims to increase tax revenues, protect foreign and local investors and boost Qatars status in global economic indicators, according to a statement by the ministry.



It is not yet clear when the draft law will come into force.



The move is the latest attempt by Qatar, the worlds largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, to secure new revenues since the Gulf crisis took hold.



Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of links to extremist groups and being too close to Shiite Iran, Riyadhs regional arch-rival.



Doha has denied the charges.



Qatar has increased business with existing trade partners outside the region, announced plans to produce more gas and sought new markets, most recently in West Africa.
Gordy said: This argument doesn't really make sense when the Palestinians don't even have the ability or capacity to commit genocide against Jews.



If occupation is the only way to solve the "Palestinian problem", then why hasn't it solved it? Click to expand...

Their hope to annihilate Israel, the Palestinian always relay mainly on powerful external antisemitic assistance. First, these external anti-Zionists were Turkish Caliphs (Sultans) and Turkish officials, then British colonial empire, Hitler, one more time Britons, Arab nationalists, Nasser, USSR, Saddam Hussein, Iranian Ayatollahs, Western Left, Western mainstream, United Europe, one more time Jihadis, one more time Turkey etc etc.The quarrel between FATAH and HAMAS over external assistance and external money is just who is better for the Palestinians. HAMAS relaid on the "circle of Islam". FATAH relaid first on Arab nationalists, then on the worldwide secular antisemites, that is, the UN majority, and currently on World corporations like Facebook, Google, automotive corporations, banks etc. Last HAMAS Charter reflects HAMAS' attempt to get assistance from worldwide secular antisemites, too.Simultaneously, HAMAS is building its own military power in Gaza. Underground fortresses and tunnels enable HAMAS' military to rescue themselves from air strikes, rocket and artillery fire, to change quickly places of rocket launching and to attack IDF suddenly from underground. HAMAS' rocket arsenal is growing in numbers and in quality, they learn more advanced methods, but don't resign from using massive "population shield". That is continue turning the Gaza people victims of Israeli counter-strikes, which is the core of propaganda and basis of antisemitic assistance from abroad. Actually, entire World assists HAMAS military, which is strengthening its power and political influence.Until World gives the assistance to the Palestinians, they are unready to reconciliation with Israel. Tramp's idea is to take from the Palestinians their hope for annihilation of Israel, even with antisemitic assistance from abroad.The israeli occupation of the West Bank prevents Gaza scenario extended to whole Palestine. The more you help Palestine, the more Israel needs occupation of the West Bank. The alternative is genocide of the Jews. Strangely, the occupation turned means to achieve peace.
Bengaluru: Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan on Saturday praised the company's co-founder Nandan Nilekani for correcting the 'wrongdoings' committed by previous board, by fixing a reasonable salary for the incumbent CEO.

"I think the board under Nandan has done the right thing to correct the previous wrongdoings.. The salary structure for the current Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh looks reasonable with a large part tied to variable salary with greater focus on long-term retention," he told PTI here.

Balakrishnan said it is important for the board to clearly articulate the performance metrics for the vesting of variable salaries to senior management.

"The metrics should have clear focus on increasing shareholders' value by achieving superior growth.. If the board wants to exercise any discretion it should be explained to the shareholders with proper reasoning," he said.

Infosys has fixed Parekh's salary at Rs 6.5 crores with an eligibility for variable pay of Rs 9.75 crores at the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Elaborating on the 'wrongdoings' by the previous board, Balakrishnan said, "unfortunately, it never clearly understood the culture or value systems followed by Infosys under its founders, which resulted in excessive senior management salaries and a huge disconnect with rest of the organisation."

"The former CEO's (Vishal Sikka) salary was increased substantially without clear reason while the rest of the organisation had to contend with meager salary hikes and reduced variable compensation," he added.

The USD 20 billion target by 2020 was loosely used to justify the pay increase to the CEO that lacked conviction, Balakrishnan alleged. Recalling N R Narayana Murthy's views, he said excess in capitalism will make the acceptance of capitalism difficult to a large sections of the society.

"The CEO compensation should be reasonable enough to attract top talent while at the same time be comparable with peer group companies," the company's former CFO said.

"It should also reflect the realities within the organization otherwise selling it internally will be difficult," he added.

Balakrishnan also said when the founders ran the company, the senior management salaries were reasonable enough to attract top talent and were never considered excessive. Also, in difficult times, the leadership took the pain before it being passed on to rest of the organisation, he added.

"Leadership by example was practiced both in substance and form," Balakrishnan said.

He also said, "As a shareholder, I want the board to be restructured quickly with some members who were part of the earlier dispensation like the erstwhile co-chairman (Ravi Venkatesan) and audit committee chairman (Roopa Kudva) be replaced."

An effective board is the need of the hour to establish proper checks and balances that was lacking in the earlier dispensation, Balakrishnan said.
Airline is offering a one-way ticket in the Delhi-Chennai sector at Rs 3,099 and in the Chennai-Port Blair sector at Rs 3,699.

Mumbai: Private carrier Vistara on Friday announced expansion of its network by entering the Delhi Chennai sector with two daily flights and a direct service between Chennai and Port Blair, from February 15 and March respectively.

The Tatas and Singapore Airlines-promoted Vistara said these two flights increase its network to 22 cities and the bookings are already open on these new sectors.

While the Delhi-Chennai operations will begin from February 15, the one between Chennai and Port Blair will be starting from March 1, the airline said in a statement.

The airline is offering a one-way ticket in the Delhi-Chennai sector at Rs 3,099 and in the Chennai-Port Blair sector at Rs 3,699.

Within three years of operations, Vistara has expanded to 22 cities offering over 700 weekly flights, operated by a fleet of 17 Airbus A320s.

Since the launch full service, the airline has ferried more than 7 million customers.
Sidharth Malhotra is on cloud nine. The actor, towards the end of last year, performed to some foot tapping numbers of Amitabh Bachchan at an event. What made it better for Sid was that Big B, his childhood hero, was sitting in the front row at the show, watching him dance to his tunes.

It was a wonderful feeling indeed, smiles Sidharth. When the event was organised, I didnt have any dates for it. But I didnt wish to miss the opportunity of performing on these exuberant dance numbers, that too in front of Amitabh, and got my dates adjusted.

He recalls, I also said a few words for him, and I saw him turn emotional; he was very touched. He spoke to me too later, and asked me how I remembered all those steps to the song in one go.

The actor says he had sleepless nights when Amitabh praised him. Some of my friends told me that Amitabh said that its good I wasnt around during his time or Id have grabbed his characters! This, coming from a legend that has enjoyed such stardom made me emotional, signs off Sid.
Jaipur: Shri Rajput Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi on Friday called upon the community members to gather in Chittorgarh on January 27, and push for a complete ban on the controversial Sanjay Leela Bhansali film 'Padmavati'.

"Members of the Rajput community will gather in Chittorgarh on January 27 to give a clear message that the sacrifice of Rani Padmavati has not gone in vain. Anyone who supports our call of banning the film can join us in Chittorgarh," Kalvi said at a press conference here.

He said that they will not let the film be released at any cost.

A panel that reviewed the film in a special screening has expressed the view that some of the facts presented in the film can upset the Rajputs and the Muslims, but the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief has ignored that, he added.

Kalvi said that it was high time the Centre and the state government set an example by not allowing the film to release.

He said that Bhansali had earlier maintained that the film was based on history, later he said it was a period drama and now he has said that it was fiction.

"Till now, he has not been able to clarify his point," he added.

On December 30, the CBFC, headed by Prasoon Joshi, had announced that the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Padmavati' would be given a U/A certificate, and suggested that the director change the film's title to 'Padmavat'.

It had also suggested certain modifications in the disclaimer of the film, making it clear that it did not glorify the practice of 'Sati', and relevant changes in the song, 'Ghoomar', to befit the character portrayed in it.

The CBFC had clarified that the U/A certificate would be issued to the film once the modifications were carried out, and the final material was submitted.

The film got stuck in a controversy after various Rajput groups alleged that it distorted history, a claim repeatedly denied by Bhansali.

As the anti-Padmavati protests spread across various states, the film's December 1 release was deferred as it did not have a clearance from the censor board.
Mumbai: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan might not have established herself back in Bollywood completely, but that doesnt stop the actress from getting interesting roles. After Fanne Khan with Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao, Ash has now been roped in for Nargis 1967 film Raat Aur Dins remake.

The actress is playing a double role, which means she will have to put double of her efforts and time, for which she will be charging a whopping amount of Rs. 10 crore. The producers however have no qualms with that whatsoever.

"Since Aishwarya has a double role, the film will require extensive preparation. It will be a time-consuming project, which means she will have to let go of the other films that come her way. The fee she has quoted is fair. The producers have agreed to the amount without any negotiation," a source told mid-day.

The source adds, "The makers have discussed the tribute film with Sanjay. Since Aishwarya has wrapped up her parts for 'Fanne Khan', she will start prepping for the film soon. Though trade insiders are squirming at the possibility of a 44-year-old female actor walking home with a fat pay cheque, producer Prernaa Arora believes that Ash is putting a lot at stake for her film, and the fee is warranted."
Anju Nair belongs to that eclectic class of artistes who very well manages both big and small screens with the ease of an acrobat. The everyday face in Ayalathe Sundari, Krishna teacher, does not mind, no matter big or small, to show up in big screen when opportunities beckon. She who played wife to Mukesh in Kattumakkan, Rajasenan in Wound and Dileesh Pothen in Pokkiri Simon. She has completed her fourth outing, in Asif Ali starrer B.Tech., again in the role of a better half, paired opposite

V.K. Prakash this time. On completion, she anticipates the biggest pie in her career, acting in Ramesh Pisharodys debut directorial, Panchavarnathatha as a jealous neighbour to Jayaram. Soon after B.Tech, Id move on to the sets of Panchavarnathatha.

There is something different to do in this film from what I have done before. The film keeps high hopes for me in 2018, she says.

Once the conversation gathers momentum do we realise, she is more than what is seen on screen. An active theatre person is co-partner to an oil and gas company in the Middle East, with a high-flying professional profile to boot.

Back in Abu Dhabi, I used to take part in events, TV programmes and do modelling as well. That was when I got an invite to act through an event management team, she narrates how Kattumakkan came to her in 2016.

Somewhere in between, she had a tryst with theatre donning greasepaint in Bhagnabhavanam, a play by theatre veteran

N. Krishna Pillai. It was an old play recreated for the present day. I studied a lot to portray the lady lead in it and people accepted it, she says.

Before Ayalathe Sundari happened, Anju had a role in Madhupals tele-serial Kaligandaki. So she has no remorse accepting that acting has its worth irrespective of the medium. Ayalathe Sundari is a K.K. Rajeev project, becoming a part of it is equivalent to acting in cinema. My focus is entirely on cinema anyways, she clears.

Theres a way, Anju has mastered over the years to keep cool while flitting across diverse media and different nations. Our availability matters to grab roles in television. When I am busy acting, my business partner would look after the firm aboard, she says.
Do you remember the little boy from Poland, Zbigniew Acharya Chertlur aka Bujji, who has constantly been in the news for his impeccable rendition of Telugu songs from time to time? Well, hes back again and Pawan Kalyan has noticed him. The actor, who has never acknowledged or replied to any post on social media, was not only impressed with Bujjis rendition of the song Kodaka Koteshwara Rao from his upcoming film Agnyaathavaasi, but he also responded to him saying he loved his work.

Zbigniew Acharya Chertlur

Dear zbigsbujji, My dear little friend Thankyou for your New Year gift. Your message has reached me.May God bless you! - Pawan Kalyan (sic), the star responded, much to the delight of the little boy.

Speaking to us about the same, Sharat Chertluru, father of the eight-year-old boy, shares, Zbigniew doesnt know Telugu but learns songs very well! He learnt this one in half an hour. Its exciting that such a huge star has acknowledged my sons work. Bujji himself is unable to believe this has really happened and keeps checking the tweet again and again.
It looks like actor Ravi Teja has decided to work without any breaks. Earlier, the 49-year-old actor would begin a new film only after the release of an ongoing film. However, this time, he has started shooting for another project even before his Touch Chesi Choodu has hit the screens.

Directed by Kalyan Krishna of Soggade Chinni Nayana fame, Ravi is presently shooting for his next in Hyderabad. Notably, Kalyan was initially supposed to work on a sequel called Bangarraju with Nagarjuna, but since the actor is busy, the director decided to take up the Ravi Teja starrer. Its a family entertainer and the role is going to be another good one for Ravi Tejas career, says a source in the know.

The actor even posted a group picture on his Twitter account to say that shoot has begun. The film will be introducing a new face, Malvika Sharma as the female lead.

Ravis Touch Chesi Choodu is all set to hit screens on February 27.
Meghan Markle won't be borrowing from the Queen's royal collection until she's officially part of the family. (Alexi Lubomirski/ AP)

While she has been sporting a ring made from Princess Dis own diamonds since November, Meghan Markle won't be borrowing from the Queen's royal collection until she's officially part of the family.

The bride-to-be has been welcomed into the fold with unprecedented speed ever since Prince Harry, 33, got down on one knee, but it seems access to the monarch's jewels is a privilege Meghan, 36, will have to wait for.

The royal jewels is reserved solely for members of the Royal family and married women.

While the Duchess of Cambridge, 35, is now often seen wearing tiaras at state dinners and other formal occasions, it was only after she and Prince William exchanged vows in 2011 that she was allowed to borrow the Queen's jewels. The same rule will apply to Meghan who is set to marry Prince Harry on the 19 May at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

According to Diana Mather, a senior tutor for The English Manner etiquette consultancy, the tradition dates back centuries to when only married women were allowed to wear tiaras, signifying that they were taken.

Speaking to BBC, she said that flashy diamonds and tiaras are not worn during the day, and only married ladies wear tiaras.

The Duchess of Cambridge first wore a tiara on her wedding day in April 2011, when the Queen loaned her the Cartier Halo Scroll tiara.

The 1000-piece diamond tiara was initially bought in 1936 as an anniversary gift from King George VI to his wife in 1936, and it is thought Meghan will also wear this tiara when she ties the knot in Windsor in May.

Since then, Kate has worn a tiara just five times.

In 2013, the Duchess wore a tiara for the first time since her marriage when she arrived for a diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace wearing the Queen Mother's fan-motif tiara, more commonly known as the Lotus Flower tiara.

A favourite of Princess Margaret during the later years of her life, the jewels were first configured as a necklace before being turned into the exquisite headpiece.

In December 2016, the Duchess wore a tiara that beloved of Princess Diana, the Cambridge Lover's Knot, to Buckingham Palace's annual Diplomatic Reception in December 2016.

The tiara was passed down from Queen Mary, to Queen Elizabeth II, to Princess Diana, and was kept in a safe at Buckingham Palace after her 1997 death before it was handed to Kate.

The duchess wore the tiara again in July 2017 when she attended the State banquet in honour of King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain.

Its last outing was just last month, when Kate, who is expecting her third child in April, once again wore the tiara to the annual Diplomatic Reception.
It has emerged that Roberto had revealed to his psychiatrist that he had began enlarging his penis since he was a teenager. (Photo: Pixabay)

Roberto Esquivel Cabrera, from Saltillo, Mexico, gained worldwide attention on his appendage after claiming that it is 18.9 inches long - making it the largest in the world.

However, if a doctor is to be believed, the Mexican can just be making tall tales, with suggestions his member is only six inches long.

Radiologist Dr Jesus Pablo Gil Muro, who has examined Roberto, threw the world record claims into doubt when he said the man refused to take off all the bandages and would not let him see the skin.

Dr Muro said that when he went to him to do a CT scan, his first impression was that it was a unique and unusual case. Becoming suspicious, he conducted a CT scan and found that there is a very large foreskin which goes just before the knee.

"But the penis itself is about 16 to 18cm from the pubis, he said, adding, The rest of the tissue found there is just foreskin, blood vessels, and some inflammation of the skin.

It then emerged that Roberto had revealed to his psychiatrist that he had began enlarging his penis since he was a teenager.

It is understood 54-year-old Roberto has been stretching it with weights since he was a teenager. The claims have sent quivers through the world record community, particularly after the man with the second largest penis in the world argued Robertos todger was not what it made out to be.

Jonah Falcon, 47, who claims to have a 13.5inch penis, says the fact that Roberto Esquivel Cabrera used weights means his claim is not real.
Chennai: A 29-year-old woman was run over by a road-roller near Chengalpet on Thursday night.

The victim was identified as R. Rukmani, of Kottimangalam village in Kancheepuram district.

On Thursday evening, she was riding pillion with her husband Ranganathan on a motorcycle when the incident happened, police sources said.

The couple were riding towards Chengalpet from Kottimangalam.

Since road-laying works were underway near Nemmeli, Ranganathan chose to ride his bike along the side of the road when he lost control.

The couple suffered a fall. While the man fell to his right, the woman fell to her left and in the process came under the wheels of a road-roller engaged in road-laying works there.

She was crushed to death on the spot, police said.

Chengalpet taluk police registered a case and moved the womans body to the government general hospital for autopsy. Hunt is on for the driver of the road-roller vehicle, police said.
Hyderabad: The West Zone task force arrested four men for possessing opium and seized 5 kg contraband from them. The arrested were identified as Mohammed Masood Ahmed, 39, Arif Khan, 25, Shaik Taj, 33, and Syed Hashim Hussain alias Imran, 42.

Officials nabbed the gang when they arrived to deliver the drugs to customers near Victoria Hotel in Tolichowki. A car and three cell phones were also recovered from them.

Masood Ahmed arranged the contraband with the help of D. Satyanand Vardhan alias Satyam. The accused hatched a plan to sell the contraband for Rs 4 lakh per kg in the city. He sought the help of Arif Khan, Syed Hashim and Shaik Taj to sell it for a commission, said P. Radha Kishan Rao, DCP, commissioners task force.

On Friday, while the gang arrived at Tolichowki to sell the stash to customers, the police apprehended them and handed them over to the Golconda police.
Feeling that her husband had become an obstacle for her extramarital affair, a 24-year-old woman along with her paramour killed her husband at Karmanghat.

Hyderabad: Feeling that her husband had become an obstacle for her extramarital affair, a 24-year-old woman along with her paramour killed her husband at Karmanghat and dumped his body in a lake at Choutuppal. The police arrested Jyothi, her paramour and three others in the case.

A video in which one of the suspects, Naresh, narrates his role in the murder and the call data analysis of Jyothis paramour, Karthik, helped the police solve the murder mystery, which was earlier registered as a suspicious death case at the Choutuppal police station.

Last Sunday, the body of an unidentified man was found near NH 65 at Ankireddygudem village. Based on a contact number, the police identified him as Kammari Nagaraju, 35, a carpenter from Karmanghat.

After Nagarajus brother expressed suspicion on Jyothi, the police started the inquiry and the CDR analysis revealed that Jyothi had called Karthik many times.

Mr E. Ramachandra Reddy, DCP Bhongir Yadari, said that Karthik and Jyothi were in relation before she got married to Nagaraju in 2012.

Two months ago, she got Karthiks contact number and their relation began again. However, they felt Nagaraju was an obstacle for their illicit relationship and hatched a plan to kill him.

On Sunday, Jyothi laced milk with sleeping pills and made Nagaraju drink it.

After he fell asleep, she called Karthik, who along with his friends, Bismilla Khan, 19, Nadiyal Gourav, 24 and Sirrappa Naresh, 23, came to her house in a car.

They smothered Nagaraju with a pillow and killed him. Later, they dumped his body near the highway.
Chennai: A 34-year-old man from Tamil Nadu has been arrested in the United States of America after a woman co-passenger on a flight complained of being sexually assaulted by him while asleep. Prabhu Ramamoorthy, according to his Facebook profile hails from Vellakoil in Thanjavur district and did his engineering at a private college in Chennai. He has been working in USA as a project manager with a private firm for the past two and half years.

He allegedly groped a 22-year-old woman who was seated next to him on a Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit, which landed on January 3, according to the Washington Post.

Prabhus wife was also travelling with him. He had been charged with aggravated sexual abuse and held without bail after the flight landed.

According to various US media reports, the victim claimed that she woke up to find her pants and shirt unbuttoned and his hands inside her pants, while his wife was seated next to him.

US media quoted federal prosecutor Amanda Jawad as saying that Prabhu was seated between his wife and the victim and continued assaulting her until she woke up and went to report the incident to flight attendants.

In a written statement, Ramamoorthy claimed that he had taken a pill and fallen asleep. He rubbished the victims claims, saying he had learned from his wife that the woman was sleeping on his knees.

According to a report, judge Steven Whalen said, It seems that shes either colluding with the defendant to cover up his actions or shes completely oblivious to what he did. Jawad argued, What makes this offence, particularly egregious and the defendant even more of a danger to the community is the fact that it took place on an aeroplane. He was brazen enough to do this basically in public, next to his wife where anyone could have seen him, calling the incident a very unusual case.

He ordered Ramamoorthy to be held pending trial following the prosecutors argument that Ramamoorthy was a flight risk and a potential danger to others around him.

Ramamoorthys lawyer Richard ONeill offered to turn in Ramamoorthys passport and said, There have been no allegations from anywhere that his behaviour has ever been inappropriate prior to this incident.
Sub-Inspector N. Jayaram of Saroornagar said the police was verifying the evidences and would take forward the investigation. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: The dance master and the principal of Sri Chaitanya School at Kothapet under Saroornagar police station limits were booked for allegedly beating a Class IV student for not doing well in dance rehearsals.

Saroornagar police sent the girl for medical examination and registered a case against the dance master and the principal.

Sub-Inspector N. Jayaram of Saroornagar said the police was verifying the evidences and would take forward the investigation.

Meanwhile, Balala Hakkula Sangham alleged that though a number of cases were being registered against teachers for practising corporal punishment, there was no change in their attitude.


The court had convicted RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. (Photo: PTI)

Ranchi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad, on Saturday, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted Prasad, along with 10 others on December 23, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him for two cases in the scam.

He was fined Rs 5 lakh for each case, failing which he would serve another six months in jail, a CBI counsel said.

The court had convicted Prasad for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the quantum of sentence for Lalu Yadav and other accused, via video conferencing.

Soon after the punishment was announced by the court Lalu Yadav twitter account said: "Rather than practicing BJPs Simple Rule - 'Follow us or We will Fix you'. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony and equality."

Rather than practising BJPs Simple Rule - Follow us or We will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality.  Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

The RJD went into a huddle immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence.

Addressing media after the verdict, Lalu's son and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav said that the party (RJD) would move the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for bail.

Lalu's son Tej Pratap said: "We are confident that he (Lalu Yadav) will get bail. We have full faith on judiciary. We are not going to be cowed down."

Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi welcomed the judgement of the court. "This will prove to be a historic decision in Bihar politics. It is the end of a chapter," Tyagi said.

Besides Lalu, other convicts include Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julious, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram.

The scam is related to withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deogarh Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar.

The 69-year-old RJD chief, in a written plea on Friday, had sought leniency from the CBI court citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad.

This is the second fodder scam case in which Lalu Prasad has been jailed.

He was sent to prison for five years on September 30, 2013.

Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court after having spent over two-and-a-half months in jail.

(With inputs from PTI.)
According to HMDA official, four companies participated in the tender process to lease out Nehru Outer Ring Road to private parties for 20-35 years.

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has roped in LEA Associates South Asia as advisor-cum-technical consultant to lease out the 158-km Nehru Outer Ring Road (ORR) on a Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) basis. Besides technical feasibilities, the Canada-based consultant will also look into the financial viability of the project and will submit a report on maintenance and rehabilitation of assets along ORR.

According to HMDA official, four companies participated in the tender process to lease out Nehru Outer Ring Road to private parties for 20-35 years. Through the TOT model, the authority is planning to rake in Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore as revenues.

The proceeds from the project will be utilised by the state government.

The Canada-based consultant will take into account highway design, pavement design, rehabilitation of existing structures and cost estimates, HMDA officials said.

It will also study value engineering, quality audit and safety audit in design and implementation.

He said as of now the HMDA is offering the operation and maintenance contract on a yearly basis.


14 people were killed in a blaze at Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, 2017. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: The police on Saturday arrested Yug Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer and one of the owners of the Mojo's Bistro pub, in connection with the deadly fire at the Kamala Mills compound in Mumbai on December 29, which had claimed 14 lives.

Officials from the NM Joshi Marg police station arrested Pathak, the son of retired director general of police and former Pune police commissioner KK Pathak, the police said.

On Friday, the Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary probe report on the fire, which had engulfed Mojo's Bistro and the adjacent "1 Above" pub at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, had said the fire possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying embers from a hookah.

Also Read: Kamala Mills inferno: Mojo's Bistro owners booked for culpable homicide

The police on Saturday booked Pathak and his partner, Nagpur- based businessman Yug Tulli, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions.

The police had recorded Pathak's statement in the case earlier.

The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR, which was lodged on December 29 against the owners of "1 Above" -- Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar -- said a police official.

"As of now, we have arrested Pathak, while his partner Tulli has been summoned as he is also wanted in the case," senior police inspector, attached to the NM Joshi Marg police station, Ahmed Pathan said.

"We will produce Pathak before a court soon," he added.

Earlier, the police had arrested two managers of "1 Above" in connection with the fire. The police have also announced a reward of Rs one lakh for any information about the three pub owners, who are on the run.
Born as Akhila, she converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya before marrying Jahan. (Photo: File)

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency probing the 'Kerala Love-Jihad' case on Friday decided to interrogate "some accused" jailed in connection with an Islamic State (ISIS) module case in the state.

NIA sources said "some accused" in the 'Kanakamala ISIS module case' knew Shafin Jahan, a Muslim man facing probe into his marriage with Hadiya, a Kerala woman at the centre of the alleged love-jihad case.

The sources said they had communicated with Jahan so that the probe agency has "to speak to them to verify true facts."

The NIA's Kochi unit had earlier filed two charge sheets before the NIA special court in Kochi against eight people from Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the case relating to a secret meeting by the Kerala-based ISIS module (Omar Al-Hindi ISIS module) at Kanakamala in Kannur.

The NIA had in December questioned Jahan, after the Supreme Court gave its nod to it to continue its probe into his marriage with Hadiya and her conversion.

Their marriage was annulled by the Kerala High Court in December 2016 after her father alleged that his daughter was being indoctrinated and may be taken to Islamic State territories in Iraq and Syria by extremist Islamic outfits.

The Supreme Court in November last year had allowed Hadiya, who was placed under her parents' custody since her marriage was annulled by the High Court, to resume her studies at a homeopathy college in Tamil Nadu's Salem district.

Born as Akhila, she converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya before marrying Jahan.
Chennai: Ordering that the striking workers of state transport corporation should immediately report for duty, the Madras high court on Friday said any worker refraining from attending to work and/or performing duty shall do so at his own risk of the consequences thereof including termination of their services and/or penalization for gross contempt of court.

Holding that recourse to lightning strikes and/or flash strikes without notice leads to the consequences of denying the citizens of their right to free movement and is clearly illegal and against public interest, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose restrained the state transport corporation workers and especially the drivers and conductors, from taking recourse to strike.

Ordering notice to Central Trade Union (CITU) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on a PIL from Varaaki, the bench directed the petitioner to implead other Unions after serving notice on them and posted to January 8, further hearing of the case.

The bench said the transport corporation workers provide essential public utility services. There can be no doubt that all employees were entitled to legitimately agitate their grievances. However, strike calls on issues such as this to press nominal demands of about Rs 600 per month or so cannot be countenanced. The state was bound to protect the right of free movement of citizens. The rights were ensured by the State through a machinery of functionaries including the transport corporation workers. Moreover, innumerable office-goers, students and other service providers avail public transport to attend to their duties. Disruption of transport services would affect students, as also other forms of services, the bench added.

The bench said this petition has been filed by way of PIL seeking appropriate orders for restoration of public transport services, which have been disrupted by reason of a flash strike by transport corporation workers, pursuant to a call of by some workers Unions.

In the petition, it was stated that the CITU and AITUC as also 34 other unions were negotiating settlement of disputes with regard to wages and pension payable to the transport corporation employees of the state. In the petition, it was stated that the government has agreed to 2.44 per cent increase, whereas workers unions were demanding 2.57 per cent increase. The difference was only 0.13 per cent. However, without prior intimation or information, at about 6.30 p.m. on January 4, the transport corporation workers announced flash strike leaving thousands of commuters stranded. The drivers, it was alleged, parked their buses along roads in a haphazard manner affecting movement of other vehicles and causing traffic snarls. In some areas, passengers were forced to get off the buses midway. In some parts of the city, passengers blocked the road protesting against the frequency of buses, which also obstructed traffic, the bench added.

The bench said advocate general submitted that wage settlement talks were going on and 11 to 12 sitting have been held. A settlement has also been signed by 32 Unions on January 4. However, 14 Unions refused to sign the settlement. The settlement talks also finalized increase of the scale of pay from Rs 6,900 to Rs 17,700 for new entrants as drivers by merger of grade and similarly for all other categories using a specified factor. For employees who entered service after 2013 and up to 2016, it was decided to give a special increment of 3 per cent. This would benefit 32,000 employees. The average expenditure to the government would be Rs 24 crore per annum. It was stated that this has been the highest increase compared to previous settlements, the bench added.
Jaipur: Reel life Dabang - Salman Khan, on Friday, received a death threat from real life Dabang Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.

Lawrence Bishnoi is leader of one of the top crime gangs of Punjab and prime accused in murder of a Jodhpur-based businessman.

"Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur. Then he will come to know about our real identity," he told media while being taken to a Jodhpur court in police security. Although, the motive of his threat to Salman is not known it is assumed Salmans alleged involvement in the black buck hunting case is the real reason of threat because the Vishnoi community worship these animals.

The gangster claimed that he had been framed in false cases and that to date, not even a single witness had deposed in the court to prove the charges. "Now, if police want me to do some major crime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur," he added.

Not only the gangster threatened the Bollywood star who was in Jodhour two days ago for the hearing in blackbuck poaching case, he even claimed that he can flee from the police custody whenever he wants. I will flee from police custody whenever I want but I am not escaping from custody anytime soon, he claimed.

Whatever the gangster said in the court, his statement has been taken on record by the police. Appropriate case will be registered under relevant sections, said Ashok Rathore, Commissioner Jodhpur Police.

Meanwhile, the court has given a seven-day remand of the gangster to the Jodhpur police to interrogate him in the murder case. It is expected that he will be cross-examined in presence of other accused in the matter as well.

Lawrence was brought to Jodhpur from Faridkot on production warrant amidst tight security arrangements. His name figured in cold blooded murder of one Vasudev Israni, owner of a departmental store located on Sardarpura road. The police filed a challan in court last week and produced Lawrence in court on Friday.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu which has the highest Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education in the country has registered an increase of 2.6% to take GER to 46.9 per cent in 2016-17, according to the results of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released by the ministry of human resource development on Friday.

Almost half of the students in the age group of 18-23 years in the state are enrolling themselves into colleges.

Of nine lakh students who write plus-2 state board exam, over eight lakh students cleared it. Approximately 1.5 lakh are joining the engineering courses and around 3 lakh students joining arts and science, medicine, law and other courses.

Meanwhile, the country's gross enrolment ratio in higher education has witnessed an increase of 0.7 per cent as it raised from 24.5 per cent in 2015-16 to 25.2% in 2016-17. Totally 35.7 million students among the eligible age group (18-23 years) joined the higher educational institutions.

The number of universities in the country increased from 799 in 2015-16 to 864 in 2016-17. Though India's GER is increasing and aims to achieve 30 per cent in 2022, it is way behind when compared to countries like China (43.39 per cent) and US (85.80).

Puducherry tops the average enrolment per college with 549 students while Telangana has topped in the number of colleges (59 colleges) per one lakh eligible population. Bihar and Jharkhand lay at the bottom as they have 7 and 8 colleges per one lakh eligible population.

The survey also recorded there is only a marginal improvement in the number of foreign students increased only from 45,424 in 2015-16 to 45,575 in 2016-17.

Ramanathapuram has highest number of colleges next to Chennai

Higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal attributed the increase of enrolment to the increase in access to colleges.

"The enrollment increases when students have colleges within their reach. The state government has focused the educationally backward districts like Ramanathapuram and Dharmapuri while establishing new colleges and it yielded good results," he said.

"Now, after Chennai district, Ramanath apuram has the highest number of government colleges (6). In Dhar mapuri district, many university constituent colleges and government colleges recently opened," he added.
Father Albert Braun worked as a Roman Catholic missionary among the Apache for 30 years. Taking issue with other Roman Catholic missionaries, as well as with the Dutch Reform Mission, he saw the Apache ceremonials not as pagan rites, but as expressions of a fundamental belief in God. He discovered that the Apache always had believed in the existence of a God, whom they called Ussen, or, Great Grandfather, and from their earliest memories had prayed to Him.

The early Apache religion, long before white man came to this land, had a culture heroine called White Painted Woman. White Painted Woman is highly respected by all, the young, the old, men and women. She is the model for heroic and virtuous womanhood, and is the guiding factor of a young girl's four-day puberty ceremony, which is a big and most important event for embracing the young girl into womanhood under extremely rigid and difficult testing.

White Painted Woman gave birth to a divine son, named Water's Child. Child of Water would destroy evil beings that were threatening the extinction of the world, mankind, and watch over us. To me, this sounds like what most Christians believe in today  the Blessed Virgin Mary and baby Jesus born to Mary for the purpose of teaching us right and wrong, good and bad, and for our salvation.

White Painted Woman, along with her son, Water's Child, gave instructions, examples of prayer, ritual songs, and how to live wisely, then left, appearing back on Earth on rare occasions, just as she has done over the centuries for all Christians.

Following these accounts of White Painted Woman's appearances to the Apache people, let us move on to the morning of Dec. 9, 1531, when a native Mexican peasant named Juan Diego saw a vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe, identifying herself as the Virgin Mary, mother of the true deity.

Our Lady of Lourdes: Another significant event of our Lady was in 1858, in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains near the town of Lourdes, where to this day people flock by the millions yearly to drink or bathe in the water flowing from the spring.

In 1917, Cova da Iria, Portugal, three shepherd children, Lucia Santos, Francisco and Jacinta Marto were blessed with the apparitions of Mary. It is well known to Christians as Our Lady of Fatima. Her request was to pray the rosary for world peace

Our Lady of Medjugorje, the most recent, appeared in 1981 in Yugoslavia to six children.

Hopefully this homage given to Mary, mother of Jesus, does not lead others to think some put Mary before God. It is through the love of God for us all that He chose a humble, innocent girl to give birth to His only son, Jesus, by an earthly mother to save us all. Many times in the Bible, Mary pleads with her son to make things right for others. One example is the changing of water to wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). What loving son does not listen to His mothers plea?

In the Apache way of life and prayer, there is a belief that a dark side of life is present, as well as a light side. In the dark side of life there is misery, suffering, and nothing goes right. But, in the light side of life there is love, happiness, peace, and all goes along well. It is the world Great Grandfather (God) created of peace and harmony for His children.
The strike, following the failure of talks on wage revision and clearance of pending dues with Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar, was declared on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai: Scores of commuters were left stranded in Koyambedu bus terminal of Chennai as an indefinite strike by the transport workers' unions in Tamil Nadu continued for the third day despite the Madras High Court warning.

Taking a serious view of the strike called by certain transport unions, the Madras High Court on Friday said the workers should get back to work or "face consequences", including termination and contempt of court.

"There will be an interim order restraining the transport workers, specially, the drivers and conductors, from taking recourse to strike," the court said.

Hours after the Madras High Court ordered them to call of the strike, the transport corporation unions on Friday said their agitation would continue till their demands on wage revision were met by the Tamil Nadu government.

The unions, including DMK-affiliated LPF and CITU, rejected the state government's ultimatum to return to work or face 'consequences', issued following the court directive.

Drivers and conductors of various state transport corporations are demanding wage hike among other things.

DMK working president MK Stalin on Friday, spoke to Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palanisamy over phone and expressed concern over the ongoing transport strike and urged the government to expedite talks with the unions.

A large number of people were seen queued up waiting for the private buses at the different bus stops.

The strike, following the failure of talks on wage revision and clearance of pending dues with Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar, was declared on Thursday.

The workers of the transport department have been demanding for a pay scale revision to Rs 30,000.

However, the authorities agreed to pay only Rs 24,400.
Hyderabad: A 14-year-old boy suffering from autism went missing from home at Miyapur. The police has registered a case to trace B. Aravind. The police said the boy was captured by a CCTV camera on the highway, but there were no clues after that.

According to the police, B. Aravind is the elder son of Raghuram, a tec-hie. Raghurams wife is working in the passport office and the couple has a younger son also. His parents enrolled him in a school for special needs children at BHEL and his brother is also attends a play school nearby.

Late in the evening, when the parents reached home, they were told that Aravind left home and did not return.

Based on their complaint, a missing case is registered. D. Apparao, SI Miyapur, said that the boys whereabouts are not known.

His parents claimed that Aravind went missing at least four times earlier and was traced in the city. We have deputed teams to search for the boy, the SI said.
Hyderabad: A caravan of seven Shia Muslims, including a 66-year-old hotelier from Chatta Bazaar in the Old City, began a pilgrimage on foot to holy centres in Iran and Iraq.

Mr Syed Abdul Ali, who runs a Seven Star Hotel, is going on foot for the fourth time. It will take at least seven months for us to travel across Iran and Iraq to visit all the pilgrim centres. We are travelling on foot as we believe it will get us more rewards, he said.

The group includes Mr Ali Asgher, 31, Mr Syed Shareef-ul-Hassan, 28, Mr Mir Asim Ali Mosvi, 33, Mr Mir Sadeq Ali Naqvi, 33, Mr Syed Ali Mohammed Razvi, 31, and Mr Syed Muqtaar Ahmed, 37.

In his three journeys earlier, he was accompanied by 14 men in 1998 and 1999 and six in 2009. In our earlier journeys, we passed through Pakistan only once. Owing to visa issues, we are taking a flight from Amritsar to Tehran in Iran. After landing there we will go to Zahedan and resume our journey on foot, he said.The group plans to walk 30 to 35 km daily.

From Iran, we will go to Iraq and again back to Iran. There is not much of a problem in obtaining visa from Iran to Iraq. But in Iraq we are not allowed to travel on foot and will have to go by bus on a few routes, said Mr Shareef-ul-Hassan.

The journey commenced from Mir Momin Daira. The caravan would be covering 6,000 km and was expected to complete the pilgrimage by August end.
He led the Institute to new heights in terms of multi-disciplinary pursuits, and brought the Institute closer to the government and decision making processes.

BENGALURU: One of India's most renowned nuclear scientists, Prof Baldev Raj, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), passed away while attending a conference in Pune on Saturday.

A recipient of Padma Shri, Prof Raj took over as Director of NIAS, in 2014. He led the Institute to new heights in terms of multi-disciplinary pursuits, and brought the Institute closer to the government and decision making processes. An eminent scientist, Prof Raj was former Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, and helped advance several challenging technologies, in particular those related to the fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) and the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR). He nurtured excellent schools of global stature in nuclear materials and mechanics, non-destructive evaluation, nanoscience and technology, robotics and automation. He contributed substantially to the interdisciplinary domains of energy, cultural heritage, medical technologies, nanoscience and technology and education.

He was responsible for providing solutions to many unsolved problems in strategic and security sectors.

Author of around 1000 academic papers in peer reviewed journals and more than 70 books, Prof Raj's brilliance was recognized by the more than 100 awards hae was given, and his many top-notch assignments in more than 30 countries.

His other awards included the Life Time Achievement Award of the Indian Nuclear Society, the Homi Bhabha Gold Medal and the Nayudamma Memorial Award. A member of the Circle of Advisors, Cambridge University, and a member of the Search Group for the Queen Elizabeth Prize in Engineering, Prof Raj was also a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the World Academy of Sciences. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Gandhinagar, a member of the Court of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Prof Raj mentored hundreds of students, scientists and technologists, inspiring them to pursue high levels of professionalism in science and technology without losing sight of the need for exemplary ethical practices.
The government received representations from locals, builders and industrialists expressing concern over development taking a hit in areas falling in the buffer zone.

Hyderabad: The state government would press for a smaller eco-sensitive zone around the National Deer Park in Chilkur on city outskirts.

The Union environment ministry in February 2017 issued a draft notification notifying a 5-km radius for the eco-sensitive zone. The final notification was expected soon.

The government received representations from locals, builders and industrialists expressing concern over development taking a hit in areas falling in the buffer zone.

They pointed out that the city outskirts was already affected by GO 111, which barred construction activity in 84 villages in the 10-km radius of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar lakes. The 5-km eco-sensitive zone would deal a double blow, they said.

The move came when the state government had constituted a committee of senior officials to examine the abolition of GO 111, which, they said, was obstructing development of several villages abetting Hyderabad. The move for the 5-km eco zone would mean that GO 111 abolition would serve no purpose.

They wanted the zone radius to be cut down to 1 km or even up to 500 m. The State Government decided to pursue the case with Centre before the final notification was released.

A meeting convened by environment and forest minister Jogu Ramanna with officials decided to take up the issue with the Centre. As many as 15 villages would fall in the 5-km radius of the National Deer Park. Of these, six were in Moinabad mandal and the rest in Rajendranagar mandal.

Villages in Moinabad include Chilkur, Himayat-nagar, Bandlaguda, Nakkalapalle, Ibrahimpur and Aziznagar.

Those in Rajendranagar were Narsingi, Manchirevula, Kokapet, Peeramcheruvu, Himayat-sagar, Hydarshakote, Neknampur, Bairamulguda and Gandhamguda.

Of the 15 villages in 5-km radius of the park, six were already covered by GO 111. The remaining villages were witnessing quick development with several realty projects, raising the land value.

Locals feared there would be no takers for their lands and property prices would crash if the 5-km radius norm came into force.

The draft notification of the Deer Park already reduced buffer zone radius towards Manchirevula to 3 km from 5 km to exempt the financial district in Cyberabad.

The state government wanted further reduction of radius to 1 km around the park to take up various development projects in villages abetting Hyderabad to meet the city's future expansion.

Panel can allow change

The government would press for a smaller eco-sensitive zone around the National Deer Park in Chilkur on city outskirts. As per ESZ rules, Change of land use of forests, horticulture areas, agricultural areas, parks and open spaces earmarked for recreational purposes into areas for commercial or industrial related development activities shall not be permitted.

Conversion of agricultural lands within the ESZ might be permitted on the recommendation of the monitoring committee comprising the collector and senior officials, and with prior approval of the state government, only to meet residential needs arising out of the natural growth of population.
Authorities of schools where parents went to inquire for admission to their wards quoted high fees. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Private schools hiked fees by 10-15 per cent and informed parents that they had not received any notification from the government regarding status quo of the fee structure. They said they would proceed with the increased fee slabs for the next academic year.

Authorities of schools where parents went to inquire for admission to their wards quoted high fees. No notification had been sent to the Mandal Education Office yet regarding maintaining the fee structure as it was during the last academic year. Private schools were enrolling children and taking the hiked fees, parents complained.

A parent. Sachin B., said, When I enquired with Epistemo Global School at Nallagandla for admission into Class II, I was told that the fee is 12 per cent higher than the 2017-18 slab. On informing the management about the government ordering a status quo, I was told that no notification or circular had reached the school.

Even Birla Open Minds at Gachibowli hiked fees. Another parent, Mr Ramanjeet Singh of Gachibowli, said, Santa Maria at Lingampally, Manthan International School at Tellapur, Chirec at Kondapur and Phoenix Green at Gachibowli have increased the fees on transport for the next academic year.

Mr K. Venkat Sainath added, Private schools in Hyderabad are over 3,000 in number. The government announced the status quo on January 4 and the circular had still not reached the mandal education officers and even the school till January 6. While schools have already raised the admission fee, an LKG admission that was Rs 70,000 last year was now Rs 77,000. Gitanjali Devashray, SD Road, and St Andrews School (certain branches ) have hiked the fees.

Prior to the status quo order, minister for education Kadiam Srihari had clarified, There wont be any admission into schools and those finalised will not be considered till the government takes decisions on the fee hike.

But parents said that despite clear orders, schools had completed 80 per cent of their admissions and had not adhered to the government directions. Members of Telangana Registered Schools Association did not respond when contacted.
New Delhi: In an order asserting the rights of major girl, the Supreme Court on Friday held that she is entitled to decide whether she wanted to stay with father or mother and the court cannot assume the role of super guardian in deciding her custody.

In its order a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud said, The Courts cannot, as long as the choice remains, assume the role of parens patriae.

The daughter is entitled to enjoy her freedom as the law permits and the Court should not assume the role of a super guardian being moved by any kind of sentiment of the mother or the egotism of the father. We say so without any reservation.

The Bench, while disposing of a special leave petition relating to custody of the daughter, said it needs no special emphasis to state that attaining the age of majority in an individual's life has its own significance. She/he is entitled to make her/his choice.

When she was present in the court, she expressly stated that she would like to go with her father to Kuwait and pursue her career.

The Supreme Court bench said, In such a situation, we are of the considered opinion that as a major, she is entitled to exercise her choice and freedom and the Court cannot get into the aspect whether she has been forced by the father or not.

Referring to the mother's contention that the daughter had been coerced, the Bench said, We had directed the daughter of the petitioner to remain personally present in Court and gave the responsibility to the father to see that she is present. There may be ample reasons on her behalf to go back to her father in Kuwait, but we are not concerned with her reasons. What she has stated before the Court, that alone matters and that is the heart of the reasoning for this Court, which keeps all controversies at bay.

The bench added that as the son is coming to stay with the mother in Kerala during the summer vacation, it directed the father to pay an amuont of Rs 50,000 to the petitioner-mother on every visit of the child.
Chennai/Karur: Nearly 70 per cent of government buses remained off roads across Tamil Nadu for the third consecutive day on Saturday even as transport minister MR Vijayabhaskar put the striking workers on notice warning them of severe action if they dont report to work by Sunday evening.

Lakhs of people continued to suffer in cities, towns and villages across the state as the transport corporations were able to run only skeletal services with only a few drivers and conductors reporting for duty in every depot. As buses remained off roads, people opted for alternate mode of transport like MRTS, suburban rail services, Metro rail, cabs and auto rickshaws which ran to their full capacities even on Saturday.

With transport unions and employees still belligerent and showing no signs of softening their stand, Vijayabhaskar told reporters in Karur in western Tamil Nadu that strict action would be taken against employees who fail to report to duty by Sunday evening.

Many have returned today. We believe (more of them) will come tomorrow also. If not, departmental action will be initiated as per law. Many are getting back to work today considering the wage revision offered by us, besides respecting the High Court directive in this regard yesterday", Vijayabhaskar told reporters.

The transport corporations issued notices to striking employees warning them of strict action if they don't comply with the order of the Madras High Court, which directed them to report to duty immediately. However, transport unions sought to brush aside the warning saying they know "how to handle notices and orders".
Chennai: More than half a century after writer Kalki Krishnamurthy set the benchmark for Tamil historical novels with his evergreen Ponniyin Selvan, the present decade has begun to embrace historical novels with both hands.

Now historical novels have become a go-to option for publishers.

At every book fair, we participate, historical novels fare well among readers. Interestingly Ponniyin Selvan tops the list till now, P. Mailavelan, vice president, The Booksellers and Publishers Association of India, said.

Back to back Sahitya Akademi award winning Tamil novels Su. Venkatesans Kaval Kottam (2011), D. Selvarajs Thol (2012), Joe D. Cruz Korkkai (2013), Poomanis Agngnaadi (2014) are all set in historical backgrounds on the basis of true events.

Due to historical novels winning Sahitya Akademi awards, young readers go for them. Though books dealing with economics, entrepreneurship and health have some dedicated readers, historical novels remain at the top, Mailavelan added.

He also said that readers are always fascinated by history. Though the increasing publicity for award-winning novels is one factor, the fascination is a major factor for their success, Mailavelan added.

Madhorubhagan by Perumal Murugan, which also a historical novel has earned popularity after many outfits voiced against its content is also faring well. The sales increased the oppositions, he added.

Meanwhile, publishers attributed the book fairs to the rare collection of books. To buy rare books which could not be found in bookshops, readers visit the book fair to directly get them from publishers.

This is the main reason for the success of book fairs across the state, P. Gurudev of Bellco said.
Ballari: The BJP intends to field former legislator, Gali Somashekhar Reddy, brother of beleaguered mining baron- turned- politician, Janardhan Reddy, from Ballari in the coming state assembly elections.

Revealing this here on Friday, state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa warned Congress president, Rahul Gandhi against opting to contest from the iron ore rich district in the not so far away Lok Sabha elections.

Hitting out against Mr Gandhi for  trying to lure scheduled tribe leaders of the BJP to join his party, Mr Yeddyurappa asserted he would lose from Ballari if he contested against ST community strongman and Member of Parliament from the constituency, B Sriramulu by a massive margin of one lakh votes.

The BJP leader who was addressing the 'Karnataka Parivartana Yatra' here, accused previous Congress president, Sonia Gandhi of betraying the people of Ballari by resigning her Lok Sabha seat from the constituency to retain Amethi without even informing them. "So the people of Ballari must teach a befitting lesson to Rahul Gandhi by defeating him," he stressed amidst speculation that Mr Gandhi could desert Amethi for a safer seat in the next Lok Sabha election.

Mr Yeddyurappa claimed that the Rs 3300 crore Sonia Gandhi Special Package for Ballari had been looted by Congress leaders as the district had received nothing under it. The package was announced by then Chief Minister, SM Krishna in 1999 after Ms Gandhi gave up her Ballari Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP president appealed to the people of Ballari to ensure that Mr Somashekhar Reddy won with a margin of over 20,000 votes and promised to work hard to link the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers to provide them water.
Allison McCoy, I don't know where you get your information (Mailbag, Dec. 31), but I have been reading John Rosemond's column in the Democrat-Herald every Sunday for years.

I have never read any reference by him to any form of religion. What he does have is a common sense approach to parenting, which is bound to rile up the $500-an-hour psychologists. I grew up right here in Lebanon, and in the 1940s, '50s, and early '60s, common sense was the guideline for, well, everything. Parents were to be good leaders, but leaders nonetheless. Children were taught to obey until they had the wisdom and experience to function on their own.

Then came the hippies. I spent a lot of 1967 in San Francisco, and I do recall them coining the phrase "question authority," which over the years evolved into "defy authority." Modern psychologists were telling parents to give more authority to their kids, but to be more submissive. So there went the discipline. Discipline is the thing that keeps civilizations civil. Without it, we see kids that have been led to believe they are the center of the universe, then when that is challenged, they get a gun and shoot up their own school. I don't call that civil.

So while Allison is warning all you folks out there about John Rosemond, I would like to invite you to read his column every Sunday. Because I have 71 years of real-life and four happy successful children that say his way still works.

John Leard

Lebanon (Jan. 3)
Hyderabad: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will present a special financial package proposal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting on January 12 or 13 in New Delhi.

It will be after almost a year that the CM will meet mr Modi and he is expected to submit a memorandum on several issued related to the AP State Bifurcation Act apart from the special financial package.

Mr Naidu seeks to clear outstanding loans through a special financial assistance from the Centre. He will seek the PMs approval for this.

In fact, TDP and BJP MPs had submitted a memorandum to Mr Modi when they met him on Friday. The issues will be discussed by Mr Naidu during his meeting with the PM. Mr Naidu expressed disappointment over the letter from the Centre on June 10, 2017, intimating that the special assistance would be provided by way of repayment of loan and interest for the external-aided projects (EAP), signed and disbursed during the five years and it would not provide support to clear outstanding loans. It also intimated that the EAP loans would be released to the state in the present procedure as loan only and within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits.

According to the Andhra Pradesh government, it could have been received in the ratio of 90:10 under Centrally-Sponsored Schemes (CSS) at Rs 2,951 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 2,992 crore in 2016-17.

But the Centre arrived at Rs 2,516 crore for 2015-16, deducting its share of schemes and those for which the sharing pattern was same for special status and other states.

As a result, the state government tentatively arrived at Rs 15,000 crore for five years from 2015-16. It was expecting this amount under EAP as Central grant and a provision of Rs 3,500 crore was also made in the 2017-18 Budget. Apart from this, special category states were eligible to grants under CSS as well as EAP projects at 90:10 ratio.

The State Government had sought special assistance at 90:10 ratio for EAP projects as given to special States. Loan received under EAP was Rs 685.17 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 873.81 crore in 2016-17. As a special category State, AP would be eligible to 90 per cent as grant instead of loan at 70 per cent as received. This would be Rs 881 crore for 2015-16 and Rs 1,124 crore for 2016-17. The average would be Rs 1,002 crore per year and for five years this the total would be Rs 5,010 crore.

Accordingly, the State Government sent proposals to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). Of this, Rs 8,349 crore worth of projects were given in-principle clearance by external agencies. Projects worth Rs 18,857 crore were recommended to external agencies by the DEA and the balance Rs 7,611 crore worth projects were pending DEA and external agencies clearance.

The State Government was anticipating about Rs 20,010 crore as assistance from the Centre under special assistance measures. It said it might not able to spend this amount on EAP projects in the stipulated five years. In this backdrop the CM would request the Prime Minister to permit it to clear other outstanding loans towards EAPs, small savings and NABARD.

Also it should be allowed to borrow from internal lenders like NABARD, HUACO and other commercial banks. It could use the gap to pay interest commitments to the Central Government, NABARD and EAPs.

Since the repayment responsibility of EAPs would be taken up by the Centre, the liability of EAPs could be taken out from the accounts of AP Government so that it would not form part of the FRBM limit.
Patna: With RJD boss Lalu Yadav behind bars, the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, led by his son Tejashwi Yadav, is all set to play the sympathy and the caste cards. Tejashwi Yadav is planning a Nyay Yatra across the state to whip up sympathy for his father and try to rally the subaltern vote bank.

Lalu Yadav is a victim of a political vendetta and people will give a fitting reply to our opponents, Tejashwi Yadav said after a party meeting in Patna on Saturday, urging workers to remain united in the absence of his father.

Analysts said that Lalu Yadav, who has been sent to jail seven times earlier, has always bounced back and emerged stronger after a stint in prison.

RJD MLA Mohammad Neamatullah told this newspaper that people, especially Muslims and Yadavs, feel that the BJP has been trying to suppress Lalu Yadavs voice by using investigative agencies.

The verdict in the fodder scam case has come at a time when Lalu Yadav was preparing to stitch together a secular alliance against the BJP.

Analysts are of the view that Lalu Yadavs conviction for the second time in the fodder scam will not impact the partys relationship with the Congress which is trying to return to power in 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.

Congress spokesperson Saroj Kumar said, We formed a secular alliance in Bihar to stop the communal forces. In the coming elections, the grand secular alliance will stop the NDA not only in Bihar but also at the national level.

An RJD functionary claimed that if the public sentiment continued to remain the same in 2019, the RJD along with the Congress could give the NDA a run for its money.
The South Korean giant has not yet revealed the price and other details regarding the HU80KA projector.

LG has unveiled a new projector  the HU80KA ahead of CES 2018. The new 4K UHD model is the first such projector which is said to deliver ultra-sharp video.

The company claims that the device is almost half the size of its 4K rivals in the market. While most 4K projectors currently in the market are heavy and expensive, the company crowned its 4K UHD projector as an "affordable yet premium device."

With the new 4K UHD projector, the company claims that it can create a 150-inch screen at 2,500 lumens that make it the brightest projector from the company until yet. The model also supports HDR content for a cinematic experience in the home.

Apart from the 4K resolution, the company also offers HDR video support with HDR10. LG says projector's portability and upright design have been credited to the mirrorless L-shaped engine which allows the projector to be placed on the floor, mounted on the wall.

The LG HU80KA model comes equipped with standard connectivity options such as USB, Ethernet and HDMI ports, as well as wireless support for external devices such as a keyboard and mouse. The model comes packed with two 7-watt speakers in the projector and can be connected to external speakers or soundbars.

The South Korean giant has not yet revealed the price and other details regarding the HU80KA projector. LG will put the whole 2018 projector on display at the LG Booth in the Las Vegas.

Besides, the company latest version of MiniBeam Projector  PF50K will also be showcased at CES 2018.

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According to the notice, the changes are being made in light of President Trump's 'Buy American and Hire American' order issued earlier in 2017. (Photo: File)

Washington: The Trump administration is considering revoking an Obama-era rule that extends work authorisation to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a move that could affect thousands of Indian workers and their families.

Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas.

In 2016, more than 41,000 of H-4 visa holders were issued work authorisation. In 2017, till June more than 36,000 H-4 visa holders were issued work authorisation.

The H-1B programme attracts foreign specialised workers to come to the United States for employment, many of them from India and China.

"DHS is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation," said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a latest regulation.

According to the notice, the changes are being made in light of President Trump's 'Buy American and Hire American' order issued earlier in 2017.

According to CNN, while changing the rule wouldn't prevent spouses of H-1B holders from pursuing other avenues for work authorisation, it could deter a number of high-skilled immigrants from staying in the US if their spouses can't easily find work.

The Wall Street Journal said such a proposal dismayed supporters of the programme.

"This announcement places into jeopardy thousands of hardworking, contributing individuals who have started their own businesses and often have US citizen children who will needlessly be forced to revert to a status of inactivity," Leon Fresco, an immigration attorney who worked for the Obama administration, told the daily.

As well as dropping the rule allowing spouses to work, the Department of Homeland Security statement mentioned plans for other changes to the H-1B visa program.

They include revising the definition of what occupations are eligible for the program "to increase focus on truly obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals", CNN said.

That would be a standard potentially far above what is currently understood under the law.

The Obama-era rule allowing spouses to work already faces a legal challenge. A group called Save Jobs USA filed a lawsuit in April 2015 arguing that it threatens American jobs.

The Trump administration's plans to overhaul the H-1B program have caused particular alarm in India, which accounts for 70 per cent of all H-1B workers.

The H-1B is a common visa route for highly skilled foreigners to find work at companies in the U.S. It's valid for three years, and can be renewed for another three years.

It's a program that's particularly popular in the tech community, with many engineers vying for one of the programme's 85,000 visas each year.
The report quoted a 'Washington Times' report that China is in talks with Pakistan to build its second overseas military base as part of a push for greater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes. (Photo: File)

Beijing: US President Donald Trump's recent outburst on Pakistan will further boost economic and defence ties between Beijing and Islamabad, including China acquiring a Pakistani military base close to Iran's Chabahar port, an official media report said on Friday.

Trump's January 1 Twitter attack against Pakistan where he accused it of providing safe havens to terrorists appears to be helping boost already close ties between Pakistan and China, a report in the state-run Global Times said. It attributed Islamabad's decision to allow Chinese currency in bilateral trade and financing transactions as China has stepped up its investments in the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The report quoted a 'Washington Times' report that China is in talks with Pakistan to build its second overseas military base as part of a push for greater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes.

The facility could be built at Jiwani, a port near Iran's Chabahar close to the border in the Gulf of Oman, and is located a short distance from Gwadar in Balochistan province which is currently being developed b Chabahar port being jointly developed by Iran, India and Afghanistan to ensure a trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan.

On China establishing a military base at Jiwani, a South Asian studies expert said "both Beijing and Islamabad have the ability to build a joint naval and air facility in Pakistan, but it is unnecessary at this time".

China has established its "first overseas military base in Djibouti", in the Horn of Africa in Indian Ocean. However, China officially states that it is only a logistics base to service its naval personnel deployed for anti-piracy operations.

Besides Djibouti, China has also acquired the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease.
The Defence Ministry on Friday ordered the suspension of all business link with a Delhi-based firm headed by fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.



Bhandari's firm Offset India Solutions (P) Ltd is under investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Delhi Police for its reported role as a defence contractor in the Rs 2,800 crore (6.09 million Swiss Franc) deal to purchase 75 Pilatus PC-7 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

The defence ministry order said that the investigating agencies were looking into the charges of "corrupt practices, unfair means and illegal activities" adopted by the company to swing the deal in favour of the Swiss company.

"Business dealings with Offset India Solutions (P) Ltd and its group companies will remain suspended for a period of six months," said the order.

Bhandari was booked after copies of classified reports were recovered from his residence by the Income-tax authorities during a raid in April 2016. A FIR against him was lodged in October, but Bhandari escaped to London.

There are reports in a section of the media claiming Bhandari's closeness to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

However, there is no official record of the association between the two and Congress never spoke about Bhandari's link with Vadra.

While Bhandari flew to London, CBI in November 2016 registered a preliminary enquiry report against Bhandari and his partner Bimal Sareen for their role in the basic trainer aircraft procurement case.

In May 2017, OIS was issued a show cause notice by the defence ministry on why business dealings in defence procurements with all its associate and group companies should not be suspended or banned.

The reply from the company was unsatisfactory, leading to the imposition of the ban.

The procurement of Pilatus PC 7 MkII was approved by the government in May 2012 and the first batch of PC-7 Mk II arrived at the Indian Air Force Academy in February 2013.
In a shocking incident an inmate of a women's shelter home in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur town, about 90 km from here, was killed after allegedly being gang-raped.



According to the police sources here, the 28-year-old victim was brutalized before being hacked to death by the perpetrators. ''The body of the victim bore injury marks at several places,'' said a doctor, who was part of the team which conducted the autopsy.

Sources said that the woman had been brought at a government hospital on Tuesday night by some employees of the shelter home. They told the doctors that she was a mental patient and had fits.

The docs, however, said that the woman was dead when she was brought at the hospital. They sent her body for postmortem examination.

The autopsy report on Thursday revealed that she had been gang-raped before being strangled. Three employees of the shelter home have been detained by the police in this connection, sources said.
The residents of Bhima-Koregaon village, the epicentre of caste violence in Maharashtra, Friday blamed "outsiders" for the January 1 incidents and claimed there was inadequate security for the mega gathering that preceded the unrest.



Sunita Kamble, sarpanch of Bhima-Koregaon, said all the communities in the village, including Dalits and Marathas, have been living peacefully. The villagers also sought compensation for people who suffered losses in the rioting and vandalism.

Earlier this week, the event to mark 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, in which forces of the British East India Company defeated Peshwa's army, was marred by incidents of violence, in which one person was killed.

Right-wing groups were blamed for the violence.

Following this, Dalit organisations called for a Maharashtra bandh on January 3 during which normal life was crippled in Mumbai and other parts of the state.

The bandh also saw attacks on police personnel and damage to public and private property by protesters.

A group of residents of Bhima-Koregaon on Friday organised a press conference and spoke about the entire episode, which has brought simmering caste conflict in the state to the fore.

They claimed that "outside" elements unleashed the violence and destroyed and torched their shops and houses.

The villagers sought a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the next of the kin of Rahul Phatangale, who was killed during the clashes.

A villager accused the local authorities of "negligence" and said despite knowing that lakhs of people come to Bhima- Koregaon on January 1 every year, they failed to provide adequate security arrangements, which led to the violence.

Recalling the ordeal, another resident Vrushali Gavhane claimed women, children and elderly people were attacked by mobs.

"In the last three days, we have been facing a lot of issues. There is no water, electricity in the village but unfortunately the government has not taken any cognisance of the situation," Gavhane lamented.

She claimed that some "outside" people even tried to assault a visually-impaired girl.

Every year, villagers help the visitors who come to commemorate the battle of Bhima-Koregaon by facilitating parking places and providing eatables and drinking water to them, Gavhane added.

Meanwhile, the villagers resolved to rebuild the 'samadhi' of Govind Gaikwad, a Dalit, in Vadhu Budruk near Bhima-Koregoan which was vandalised by a mob.
A high-level delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has arrived for a tour to India as the two neighbouring nations are trying to mend bilateral ties.



Meng Xiaofeng, a close aide of Chinese President Xi Jinping, is leading the CPC delegation, which was received by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh at the Hyderabad House on Friday.

The CPC delegation is likely to meet leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress as well as some other political parties.

Meng holds the office of deputy director of the general office of the Communist party of China's central committee.

He is perceived to be highly influential in the power structure in Beijing, ostensibly due to his close ties with the Chinese President.

He played a key "behind-the-scene" role in resolving India-China military face-off at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan last year.

Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the visit of the CPC delegation led by Meng was yet another part of New Delhi's "sustained engagement" with China.

Beijing's persistent policy of shielding anti-India terrorists based in Pakistan from United Nations' sanctions, India's opposition to China's Belt-and-Road initiative and the 72-day-long face-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan brought the bilateral relations to a new low during 2017.

New Delhi and Beijing, however, tried to bring the ties back on track with several back-to-back engagements towards the end of the year.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had a bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he came to New Delhi to attend a Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral talks on December 11.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, hosted Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi for the 20th round of boundary negotiation in New Delhi on December 22.

Doval and Yang are Special Representative of India and China for boundary negotiations and strategic consultations.
Three persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl and attack on her male friend in a park in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh on December 16, police said today.



The three accused were identified as Shivprasad alias Babua (33), Arun Yadav (36) and Kamlesh alias Baba (28), Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Aslam Khan said.

Shivprasad is an auto driver, Arun Yadav is distributor of pesticides and Rajesh is a school dropout, he added.

The girl, who worked as a domestic help, was sitting in a park near Haiderpur slums with a male friend when the three accused picked up a fight with him.

She was raped after she tried to stop them from beating her friend. They also threatened her with dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident.

The incident had occurred on the fifth anniversary of the "Nirbhaya" case in which a physiotherapy student was gangraped on a moving bus and dumped on the streets under the cover of darkness in south Delhi, sparking outrage at home and abroad.
Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants went off in in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday.



Reports said that at around 10:05 am, the IED planted by militants beneath a shop went off near Haaritar area of Sopore, resulting in injuries to four policemen. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital where all of them succumbed to injuries.



Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Munir Khan confirmed that four policemen were killed in the blast. He said that three shops were also damaged in the blast.



Pakistan based terror outfit JeM claimed the responsibility for the attack. A local news gathering agency GNS quoting JeM spokesperson claimed that they have attacked the police party in Sopore. "The Shaheed Afzal Guru squad carried out the attack," he said.



Three among the slain policemen were identified as ASI Irshad Ahmad from Doda, Muhammad Amin from Kupwara and Ghulam Nabi from Sopore. Soon after the attack army and paramilitary forces launched searches to nab the attackers.



Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while expressing her grief over the killings tweeted: "Pained to hear that four policemen have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families."



Mehbooba's predecessor and opposition NC leader Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter: "Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in piece."



The separatists had called for a shutdown in Sopore town on Saturday to mark the 25th anniversary of Sopore massacre in which 55 people were killed in alleged firing by Border Security Force (BSF) on this day in 1993. The authorities had deployed additional police and paramilitary CRPF men in the town to thwart any protests.



A senior police official said militants intentionally choose this day to target the police in Sopore. "They want to show their strength by carrying out such attacks. The separatists had already called for a shutdown in the town," he said.



This was the first major militant attack in the Valley in 2018 in which security forces suffered casualties. On December 31, three fidayeen (suicide) militants of Jaish had attacked the 185th battalion camp of the Central Reserve Police Force in Awantipora area of Pulwama killing five paramilitary troopers. The three militants were also killed in the retaliatory action by the security forces.




The Uttarakhand High Court has suggested that the state government bring in a law which imposes death penalty for raping minors, so that it acts as a strong deterrent against such offences.



A division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh on Friday made the observation, while upholding the death sentence of a man, who was convicted by a lower court last year for raping and killing an eight-year-old in June 2016.

Citing steady rise in crime against children in recent years, the bench observed that it is the state government which can bring an appropriate legislation to impose death penalties on convicts, who are found guilty of raping minors aged 15 or below.

The high court underlined the need for a strong deterrent as it is coming across a number of cases, where the victims aged 15 or below are being raped and murdered.

It quoted a recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau titled 'Crime Against Children (States & UTs)', which said 676 such cases were registered in the state in 2016, compared to 635 in 2015 and 489 in 2014.
The Supreme Court has expressed shock over the fact that criminal appeals were pending in Allahabad High Court as early as year 1976.



A report sent by the HC's registrar general stated that over 1.79 lakh criminal appeals were pending. Of this, 1714 cases were filed as jail petitions with appellants languishing in jails.

Alarmed at 10 to 15 years delay in deciding criminal appeals leading to prolonged incarceration of accused in certain cases, the top court has last year embarked upon a pilot project with the Allahabad High Court to mitigate long-standing hardships of the jailed people.

Subsequently, it also called for a report from Madhya Pradesh High Court on a PIL by NGO 'Lawyers for Justice'. In MP, it was pointed out that as many as 71,474 cases were pending over there since 1994.

After going through the report from two High Courts, a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said something has to be done to contain the alarming situation.

"We at present don't know what could be done but certainly we will try to do something. This is very concerning situation. Some of the matters are taken up for hearing in two to three decades," the bench said.

The apex court, however, said that in some high courts like in Madras and Andhra Pradesh high courts, the situation is better.

The court was hearing two petitions one filed by a murder convict, Ramu, through advocate Dushyant Prasahar, seeking bail due to delay in adjudication on his appeal, and another by NGO 'Lawyers for Justice'. The individual petition was languishing in jail for 12 years with his appeal pending in high court.

The court appointed senior advocate M N Rao as amicus curiae to assist in the matter. It had earlier sought assistance from senior advocates C U Singh and Shyam Diwan as amicus curiae.

Advocate Navin Prakash appearing for the NGO said that this situation has resulted in convicts completing maximum sentence for the offence in jail with their appeal challenging their conviction still pending in high courts.

In March last year, the court had sought report from the Allahabad High Court on the status of criminal appeals pending with it.
The Department of Transport is mulling over imparting heavy vehicle driving training for women by the government and engage them in public transportation system. Funds would be earmarked for the purpose in the next budget, Transport Minister H M Revanna said.



He was speaking after laying the foundation for heavy vehicle driving training institute at Kamblapadavu at a cost of Rs 15 crore. "Women have excelled in all walks of life. Women drive heavy vehicles in foreign countries. After imparting free training, a license would be issued for women by the government."

After Bengaluru and Dharwad, the heavy vehicle driving training institute will come up in Mangaluru. The centre will start functioning within 18 months. The institute will give priority to road safety and checking road accidents.

Under Raitha Sarathi programme, farmers will be trained in driving tractors. There are 5 lakh tractors in the state, of which 3 lakh farmers have a license for driving.

On the occasion, the minister distributed licenses to farmers for driving tractors.

Commissioner for Transport and Road Safety B Dayanand said the institute is coming up on a 10-acre land. It will have automated vehicle inspection as well as test driving tracks.

District-in-Charge Minister B Ramanath Rai said the finance department has given its approval for the RTO office in Bantwal. The RTO office will be inaugurated by the end of the month, which will benefit the people of Belthangady and Bantwal.

'Peace disrupted'

Transport Minister H M Revanna said that the untoward incidents in Dakshina Kannada district have hurt him. "In spite of peace-loving people in the district, an attempt is being made to disrupt the peace in the society. Innocent lives are being lost over personal rivalry," he said.
The KIOCL will set up a pellet plant with a capacity of 1.2 million tonne per annum at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) unit at Vizag, said Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh. A memoranum of understanding in this regard has been signed.



Speaking to reporters at KIOCL here on Saturday, the RINL's demand for the pellets will be met by the plant. The excess will be exported or sold within the country.

The Union government is laying emphasising on increased utilisation of pellets as a raw material in the blast furnaces and sponge iron industry in the country.

Further, the minister said that KIOCL has been recognised as Mineral Exploration entity under section 4(1) of MMDR Act 1957 for carrying out Mineral Exploration works. Accordingly, the company has already taken up G4 level exploration for a new mineral bearing blocks allocated by the Ministry of Mines, under the National Mineral Exploration Trust Programme. The KIOCL will take up exploration of iron ore in Thiruppur district in Tamil Nadu on a 100 square kilometre area while it will explore gold in 200 square kilometre area in Mysuru. The exploration at Tamil Nadu will be completed within six months, he said.

He said that the KIOCL is in the process of diversifying and expanding its activities by setting up of captive solar power Plant in its existing land available at Blast Furnace Unit, Mangaluru. The proposed project would support the Government of India's National Solar Mission. The project is expected to be completed by March. In order to support the Government of India's National Solar Mission, KIOCL has plans to add higher capacity solar plants in Karnataka state during next financial year.

Revamp of unit

The KIOCL has proposed to set up forward and backward integration projects to the Blast Furnace Unit for production of Ductile Iron Spun Pipe and LAM Coke along with pulverised coal injection system and modification to Blast Furnace. About 2 lakh tonnes of DI pipes would be manufactured. The feed material for the project would be obtained from Devadari mines in Ballari. "We also want the production of pig iron to commence at its Blast furnace unit," he said.

The KIOCL has posted a profit of Rs 28 crore during the 2016-17. After the deduction of the tax, the profit stood at Rs 18.27 crore. It has exported 10.33 lakh tonnes of pellets to China, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia. In the domestic market, it has sold 7.3 lakh tonnes of pellets.

Promotion of tourism

In reply to a query on KIOCL land in Kudremukh where it had stopped its mining, the minister said that the KIOCL has the patta of the land. "I hope the KIOCL will have a new venture may be in promoting tourism. It had hired a consultant to prepare a project report and the report is with the KIOCL. We want to make best use of the land. Even after mining stopped, it continues to remain a lush green cover."

Ministry of Steel secretary Aruna Sharma said that as per the steel policy 2017, the production of steel will reach 150 million tonnes by 2020. In line with steel policy of Government of India for production of 300MT of steel by 2030, utilisation of pellets to the tune of 25% for steel production will go a long way towards KIOCL contribution, says Aruna Sharma, secretary, ministry of steel.

KIOCL will not stop with only marketing its own product but shall participate in programmes to promote usage of pellets in manufacture of steel and manufacture of special grade pellets, she added.

Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh said that after getting a few statutory clearances from the state government, the KIOCL will start mining operations at Devadari mines at Ballari. The KIOCL is also planning to set up beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Devadari. The setting up of the plant will reduce the cost incurred on transporation of pellets to Mangaluru plant as well, he said.
Samajwadi Party's attempt to form a grand alliance of the Opposition parties to counter the BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha bypolls at Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies suffered a setback as Congress and BSP skipped a crucial meeting convened by SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday.



Akhilesh had invited all the Opposition parties to formulate their strategy on the issue of EVMs and unitedly demand use of ballot papers in the two LS constituencies. Sources in the SP said that the issue of fielding an united Opposition candidate against BJP was also on the agenda.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Left parties and some other smaller outfits attended the meeting and supported the demand for using ballot papers instead of EVMs.

SP leaders, however, claimed that the Congress had sent a letter conveying its support to the demand.

Crucial for BJP

Sources said that SP was likely to nominate candidates for both the seats where bypolls could be held in the next couple of months. The two seats were crucial for the BJP as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath represented Gorakhpur and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya represented Phulpur before resigning.

While BSP was not likely to put up its candidate in the bypolls, it was not clear if the Congress would follow suit. Akhilesh has been trying to form a grand alliance of the Opposition parties to counter BJP in the state in the next general elections in 2019.
Demanding taluk status for Kushalnagar, the students of various colleges formed a human chain at Cariappa Circle in Kushalnagar on Saturday.



The indefinite hunger strike under the aegis of Kaveri taluk Horata Kendriya Samithi president V P Shashidhar has entered the sixth day.

The students of various colleges extended their support and staged a dharna on the occasion. The students had blocked the road for half an hour and disrupted the movement of vehicles.
Trouble seems to be brewing for New Delhi's flagship initiative for connectivity to South-East Asia, as Nay Pyi Daw has dragged its feet on negotiation for an India-Myanmar-Thailand motor-vehicle agreement.



The proposed agreement was intended to ensure hassle-flree movement of vehicles within India, Myanmar and Thailand, notwithstanding which of the three countries they are registered in.

New Delhi was keen to ink the agreement with Nay Pyi Daw and Bangkok, as it would help reap the benefit of the proposed India-Myanmar-Thailand highway - one of its flagship initiatives for connectivity with South-East Asia.

Nay Pyi Daw, however, of late conveyed to New Delhi and Bangkok that it was not immediately ready to sign the agreement.

"Myanmar has conveyed that it would proceed with this agreement once it has comprehensively reviewed the implementation of similar arrangements it has with other countries," V K Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, informed the Lok Sabha in written reply to a question.

This is New Delhi's second connectivity initiative to be stalled by one of its friendlier neighbours.

The Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Nepal (BBIN) motor-vehicle agreeement too could not be implemented even after all the four nations signed it in June 2015. The National Council or upper house of Bhutan's Parliament declined to ratify the agreement, although India, Nepal and Bangladesh was ready to implement it.

New Delhi has been keen to move fast on the 1360-kilometer-long India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, which is proposed to link Moreh in Manipur in north-eastern India to Mae Sot in Thailand through Tamu, Kalewa, Yargyi, Monywa, Mandalay, Meiktila, Baw Nat Gyi, Mawlamyine, Kawkareik and Myawaddy in Myanmar.

India has already awarded contracts for construction of 69 bridges on the Tamu-Kyigone-Kalewa section of the proposed highway in Myanmar.

India will also fund works for upgrading 120.74 km road on the Kalewa-Yargi section in Myanmar.

Though the officials of the three nations had some preliminary meetings to discuss the proposed agreement, Nay Pyi Daw dragged feet recently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the issue with Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, during his visit to Nay Pyi Daw in September 2017. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar also took it up with senior officials of Myanmar Government during his visit to Nay Pyi Daw last month, sources told DH.

Modi may get another opportunity later this month to nudge Suu Kyi to give her nod to the proposed agreement. Myanmar's de-facto Head of Government is likely to visit New Delhi for a commemorative summit, which is being hosted by Prime Minister to mark the 25th anniversary of India's partnership with the Association of South East Asian Nations or ASEAN.

New Delhi, which has been opposed to the Belt-and-Road initiative of China, often highlighted the proposed India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway as one of the examples of its own connectivity initiatives.

India has been maintaining that its connectivity initiatives, unlike the BRI of China, are alll "based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality".
Minister for Higher Education Basavaraj Rayareddy said that the state government will distribute free laptops within a week to 31,800 SC/ST students of first grade, polytechnic and 14 government engineering colleges.



He was speaking after distributing laptops under Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) of 2016-17 to SC/ST students of the Government First Grade College and Government Polytechnic College in Mangaluru on Saturday.

The minister said that 1,50,000 general category students will get laptops by March. "In Dakshina Kannada, as many as 7,900 general category students will get laptops. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earmarked Rs 227 crore in the budget for the distribution of laptops," he said.

"The youth power in the country should be empowered through knowledge. The youth should enrol for higher education. Out of 100 youths, only 24 youths become graduates, in India. In Karnataka, there are only 27.3% graduates in Karnataka. In the next five years, the government wants to increase it to 40%," he said.

Residential colleges

Rayareddy said that 175 residential colleges will be set up in Karnataka in a phased manner. There are 650 SC/ST beneficiary students in Dakshina Kannada, of whom 472 are first grade college students.

District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai said that laptops are given to students to gain knowledge. "Lack of knowledge has affected the communal harmony in the district. The students should be cautious. Every step of students will decide the future of the country," he said.

Legislator J R Lobo presided over the programme.
The Departmentt of Shalya Tantra of Muniyal Institute of Ayurveda Medical Sciences, Manipal, will be conducting a free medical check up and treatment camp on Piles and Fissure in Ano from January 8 to 13 between 9 am and 4 pm at its premises. General public suffering from bleeding and pain while passing stools are requested to make use of this opportunity, stated a press release.



Austin Prabhu visits Heggade

Dr Austin D'Souza Prabhu, the first Indian origin Governor of Lions District 1A (Chicagoland, USA - Mother District of Lionism, where Lions movement came into existence and the headquarters of Lions International situated) visited Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade at his residence in Dharmasthala. Maria Advertisers proprietor H R Alva and former student of Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) Law College, Mangaluru, had accompanied Dr Austin.

Austin was born (1950) and brought up in Nanthur, Mangaluru. He migrated to the US in 1981 and since then he resides in Chicago. Heggade hailed the services of Austin through Lions International and presented with him 'Abode of Dharma Dharmasthala' (Pictorial Information Book) and a memorial medal.

Poster presentation winners

Navaneetha and Eldhose Benny, fifth Pharm D students of Srinivas College of Pharmacy, Valachil, were declared winners of first prizes in scientific poster presentation and 'Pharma maze' competition respectively in the International conference on 'Evolving role of clinical Pharmacist' organised by Acharya and B M Reddy College of Pharmacy recently.

CDE prog held

A continuing dental education programme comprising a lecture and hands-on session on clinical chairside intraoral scanner was conducted by the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, A B Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Nitte Deemed to be University recently. The inaugural session was followed by a lecture session on Clinical Chairside Intraoral Scanner by Dr Soumia Mohan, Product and Application Specialist, Planmeca, India. The participants were briefed about the novel ultra-fast intraoral scanning to sophisticated designing and high-precision chairside milling, cutting edge planmeca FIT system which includes all the necessary tools for a completely integrated and digital workflow. In the hands on session Santhoshkumar, National Service Manager, Panmeca India, demonstrated the use of the intraoral scanner.

Selected for Atal Tinkering Lab

Dr N Shankara Adyanthaya Memorial Senior Secondary School, Nitte has been selected for the award of grant-in-aid by the Government of India for the establishment of Atal Tinkering Lab, at Nitte. The Tinkering Lab aims to create scientific temper and cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation among young minds. Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) is a workspace where young minds get hands on do- it-yourself mode and learn innovative skills. The main vision of ATL is to 'Cultivate one million children in India as innovators'.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday hailed Google but said it can never replace a 'Guru' or teacher.



Delivering his address at the 12th convocation of Malviya National Institute of Technology in Jaipur, he advised students to work with the community and be rooted in their traditions. "When old and new combines, gold is created. Students should assist smart city projects and share ideas with panchayat offices," he exhorted.
The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Language Studies (IILS), New Delhi, has organised the 13th International Conference of South Asian Languages and Literatures (ICOSAL-13), from January 8 to 10.



Addressing a media conference here on Saturday, Director of CIIL D G Rao said that the linguistic and cultural diversity is a subject of growing social importance because a majority of the world's living languages are threatened in their continued existence.

"Out of 7,099 living languages, South Asia is the most linguistically diverse area with four language families, comprising more than 650 individual languages. Apart from the languages that rank in the top 10 numbers of speakers worldwide, Hindi ranks second and many so-called minority languages are spoken by significantly greater numbers of people than more well-known and more-widely taught European languages," he said.

"The South Asian languages belong to four major language families - Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-Burman. The diversity of languages in South Asia and the different vitality of the languages, cultures, and literatures have strong implications on individuals and societies," he added.

"This is the first time, the CIIL is directly hosting an ICOSAL, even though it has been a partner with the host universities, whenever they were held in India. ICOSAL is an international forum of scholars from across the globe that deliberates on various aspects of languages, cultures, and literatures of South Asia. Four of the past 12 conferences were hosted by the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University. Eight conferences of ICOSAL have been held in India at Punjabi University, University of Hyderabad, Annamalai University, Osmania University, Punjabi University, Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University and again in the University of Hyderabad. The previous conferences have attracted a large number of senior and young Indian and foreign scholars," he said.

Rao said, "The focus of ICOSAL-13 would be on the differences and similarities between the languages, cultures, and literatures of South Asia, approached from the perspective of the typologies of individual linguistic and cultural phenomena, the historical development of language families, and the numerous contacts between languages spoken in South Asia."

"The thrust areas for ICOSAL-13 are: Language Endangerment and Language Documentation; Linguistic Typology; Grammatical Tradition; Anthropological Linguistics; Cognitive Linguistics; Computational Linguistics; Language Contact and Language Change; Translation and Writing Systems. Besides this, there will be papers in general sessions that includes Applied Linguistics; Clinical Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Forensic Linguistics; Genetic Classification; Historical Linguistics; Language Education; Lexicology and Lexicography; Literacy studies and literary theories; Literature; Morphology; Natural Language Processing; Neurolinguistics; Pragmatics; Phonetics and Phonology; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Semiotics and Sign Language; Sociolinguistics; Stylistics and Syntax," he said.

Participants

Two hundred participants, including 20 scholars from Russia, the United States of America, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and other South Asian countries working on various aspects of South Asian languages, cultures and linguistics will participate in ICOSAL-13. Boris A Zakharyin and Liudmila Khokhlova of Moscow State University, Moscow, and Omkar N Koul, co-founders of ICOSAL, are the key participants.

Deputy Director of CIIL and organising secretary of ICOSAL-13 Umarani Pappuswamy and co-organising secretary Ramamurthy were present.
Bengaluru, dhns: BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje on Saturday said that the Congress party should reimburse to the government the expenses incurred by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to organise the rallies and programmes undertaken as part of Navakarnataka Nirmana Yatra.



Shobha said the chief minister's yatra was more of a political event than a tour to highlight the government's initiatives. She said Siddaramaiah was not only misusing the taxpayers' money, but also the government machinery for the rallies, where he attack his political opponents.

Shobha demanded that Siddaramaiah put a stop to his whirlwind tours immediately in the light of a PIL filed before the High Court against it.

She said the tours were a clear violation of the Supreme Court order of 2013, which said public funds should not be used for political or electoral gains.
Mandya is considered the sugar bowl of Karnataka. But for the BJP, the electoral experience has been rather bitter here: The party has not been able to win a single seat in any of past Assembly polls in the Vokkaliga-dominant district.



The BJP is pulling out all the stops to open its account in coming elections in Mandya. The party is trying to make best use of the factional feud in the rival parties to achieve its goal.

Vokkaliga leader and Channapatna MLA C P Yogeeshwara, who recently joined the BJP, has been entrusted with the task of ensuring victory for the party in the district. He has been trying to woo disgruntled leaders in the Congress and the JD(S), besides farmers' leaders, sources in the BJP said.

He recently managed to get influential leader of the farming community K S Nanjunde Gowda to the party. Induction of Nanjunde Gowda has come as a shot in the arm for the party. Gowda, had unsuccessfully contested from Srirangapatana for six times. And in 2004, he lost the election by a slender margin of about 1,500 votes.

The BJP has drawn up a strategy to win at least three of the seven constituencies in Mandya: Srirangapatana, Malavalli and Maddur. While Nanjunde Gowda is most likely to be the party's candidate from Srirangapatana, former minister B Somashekar or retired IAS officer K Shivaram are among those considered for Malavalli (SC Reserve). Yogeeshwara himself is planning to contest from Maddur.

The Congress is riddled with many factions in Mandya. Though senior leader S M Krishna quit the Congress and joined the BJP, many of his followers have remained in the Congress. But they are feeling sidelined. Actor-turned-politicians, M H Ambareesh and Ramya, are at loggerheads. Besides, a section of party leaders is upset with the decision to induct rebel JD(S) MLAs, N Chaluvarayaswamy (Nagamangala) and Ramesh Bandesidde Gowda (Srirangapatna).

The JD(S), which has been rattled by the move of its two MLAs quitting the party, is looking for alternative leaders. In some constituencies, the party is facing the problem of plenty with too many leaders aspiring to contest the polls.Grapevine in the political circles is that top BJP leaders have assured Yogeeshwara that he will be rewarded with a ministerial berth if he helps the party open its account in Mandya district. Yogeeshwara, who who is known for his political astuteness, is said to have struck a deal with BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa in this regard.
Bengaluru: JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy has been forced to put off his ambitious grama vastavya (village stay) programme, following strict advice from doctors, who have asked him to slow down his pace of poll campaign.



Kumaraswamy, who underwent a second heart surgery September 2017, is still highly prone to chest infections.

In fact, soon after he undertook his first grama vastavya at Mugulavalli in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagalur on November 7 last year, Kumaraswamy fell ill, which restricted him to his residence in Bengaluru for nearly 10 days after that.

After his surgery on September 23 last year, Kumaraswamy had announced that he would undertake grama vastavya in 50 Assembly constituencies by the end of December 2017. For this purpose, the party had even readied a Rs 1 crore, custom-made luxury bus - Karnataka Vikasa Vahini.

All set, he restarted his campaigning activities by launching the Kumara Parva Vikasa Yatre from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, which was followed by the village stay in Chikkamagaluru.

However, the long hours, travelling and over exertion took a toll on him. Leading cardiologist and Kumaraswamy's family doctor Dr C N Manjunath told DH that he had categorically asked his brother-in-law to put a stop to the grama vastavya programme.

"I have advised him not to take up any more village stays. Though his heart is functioning normally, the minute he starts over exerting himself, he is developing infections. It's not that he is susceptible to infections all the time. But, everytime he is surrounded by large crowds who speak close to his ears and mouth, he is bound to develop an infection," Dr Manjunath said.

Kumaraswamy suffered extreme exhaustion during the grama vastavya because he left Mysuru late and reached Chikkamgalur at 3.30 am, following which he addressed a series of meetings, he added.

Sources said that upon hearing Kumaraswamy's prognosis, his father H D Deve Gowda is said to have advised him to cut short his statewide tours as much as possible. But, Kumaraswamy is not paying much heed to the concerns aired. Though he spent a large part of December in Bengaluru, he is presently on a three-day tour in Belagavi and Bagalkot.

He is scheduled to return to Bengaluru on Sunday, following which he will be travelling to Mysuru, Mangaluru and Ramanagaram. Kumaraswamay's close associates however maintained that grama vastavya was not entirely off the agenda.
Bengaluru, dhns: The BJP and the Congress will intensify the poll heat, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi arriving in Bengaluru later this month.



Modi is slated to participate in the valedictory of the BJP's Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatra at Palace Grounds on January 28. Rahul is scheduled to address a rally at Palace Grounds or the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, off Tumakuru Road, the very next day on January 29. The last time Modi addressed party workers was during a brief pitstop at the HAL airport in October, 2017.

Initially, Rahul was to visit state from January 21-23. This has now been pushed to January 27-29 after the party realised that it will be a disadvantage if his visit precedes Modi's.

Sources in the Congress said Rahul will be addressing a ST convention at Hosapete in Ballari on January 27, followed by an interaction with farmers at Vidurashwatha in Chikkaballapur and students in Mysuru on January 28, before arriving in Bengaluru on January 29.
After 43 years, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board is outsourcing the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the Cauvery I, II and III stages of water pumping under a public-private-partnership (PPP) model.



Presently, the O&M of these pumping stations is handled by the board staff who operate the pumps and motors round the clock. The PPP model aims to increase the efficiency of the machinery and cut down on maintenance costs.

The existing motors and pumps, some of which were manufactured by the New Government Electric Factory (NGEF), have been underperforming, with an efficiency of just 72%. It is a major reason for excess consumption of power.

According to BWSSB chairman Tushar Girinath, the machinery is indeed old and can break down anytime. "We cannot afford to lose the reliability of water supply using such old machines, which not only consume more power, but are also under frequent repair. We are forced to spend on it regularly without carrying out any preventive maintenance," he added.

In order to cut down on the cost of maintenance and shift to an energy-saving model, the BWSSB has prepared a proposal to hand over the O&M of all the nine pumping stations to private players and submit it to the state government.

Explaining the project, Girinath said energy-saving companies would be invited to participate in the tendering that would work on the Viability Gap Funding (VGF). The work will be awarded to the company that shows the least VGF.

The board has worked out the outlines of the proposed PPP model, whereby an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore is invested by the company, while the BWSSB invests around Rs 43 crore as part of the VGF. The model would expect the company to save up to 6% of the energy for 10 years.

According to the conditions of the PPP model, the company will have to change the existing machinery at all the pumping stations, including motors, soft starters, control relays, electrical substations, transformers, breakers and switches, among others.

The role of the engineers will be confined to monitoring the O&M of the company.

The proposal is with the finance department. Once finalised, it will be placed before the Cabinet for approval, following which the tenders are expected to be floated.

The BWSSB has been handling 54 pumping systems at nine pumping stations at TK Halli (Thorekadanahalli), Harohalli and Tataguni. These stations are handled by nine engineers, 16 operators from the board and 144 contract staff.
Fares for cabs and traditional taxis are likely to shoot up as the transport department will soon allow them to charge three times the current rates.



The maximum fare for a hatchback will be Rs 44 for four km. The Rs 44 is the base fare with the government set to allow Rs 22 as maxium fare for subsequent kilometres.

For the first time, the department has fixed a minimum fare in addition to the maximum rate. Cars have been classified into four categories as per their on road price and each have different maximum and minimum fares.

A notification to this effect will be out within a week, transport minister H M Revanna told DH. It will now be legal for cab-hailing services like Ola and Uber to charge much higher surge rates.

The last revision of fares was in June 2013, when the government had set a maximum fare of Rs 14.50 for hatchbacks and Rs 19.50 for sedans. Under the new regime, operators can charge anywhere between Rs 19 and Rs 44 for hatchbacks.

File moving

Revanna confirmed he had cleared the file with the hike proposals. "It is a long-pending demand that we have addressed," he told DH.

RTO sources said the fares had been fixed after a scientific assessment and several rounds of talks with commuters, conventional taxi operators and online cab aggregators.
Prof Baladev Raj, renowned scientist and director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) here, died in Pune on Saturday. He was 70.



He had gone to Pune to attend a conference. Known for his research in nuclear science, Baldev Raj held various eminent positions and won many fellowships before becoming the director of NIAS in 2014. He was the scientific officer in the Department of Atomic Energy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, in 1970. He became the director of Department of Atomic Energy, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, in 1993.

His field of interest ranged from materials science and technologies to medical technologies, and cultural heritage and policies. He was also known for his contributions to the world of academic research.

A Padma Shri, Baladev Raj has to his credit more than 1,300 publications, 80 books and over 100 articles in encyclopedia and handbooks besides achievements like patents.

He was conferred with the lifetime achievement award by the Indian Nuclear Society, the Homi Bhabha gold medal and the Nayudamma memorial award.

In an official statement, the NIAS said Baldev Raj took the institution to the new heights. "He not only bridged the gap between the institution and the government but also played

a major part in decision-making. He took steps to increase the number of staff in the institution and bringing grants to the research projects," the statement added.
A consumer court has directed a motorcycle manufacturer and its dealer to refund a customer who developed severe pain after riding a bike with a defect.



The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum at Bengaluru (Urban) accepted the customer's contention that the bike had a manufacturing defect.

Bhoopathi B, a resident of B Narayanapura, Mahadevapura, had filed a complaint against India Yamaha Motor and Panache Enterprises in Indiranagar.

Deputy manager in a private company in HSR Layout, he had bought a Yamaha FZS bike in September 2015 for Rs 98,416.

The joy of his purchase did not last long. Bhoopathi felt a shooting pain in his left arm and neck soon after he started using the bike. By the end of a week, the pain in his back had become severe. He says he had to be hospitalised.

The problem, according to Bhoopathi, was that the bike was veering left. As a result, he had to apply pressure to keep it straight. He left the bike at the service centre as they were unable to fix the problem.

The dealer asked him to return after a month, but the problem persisted. A second visit didn't help either. He then decided to approach the consumer forum. The consumer forum, headed by president P V Singri, observed the problem had not been rectified even after the bike was given for service twice.

Within the period of warranty, the customer is entitled to free repair, replacement or refund, he said. The forum ordered the company to refund Bhoopathi the price of the bike (Rs 98,416) and also pay Rs 4,000 as litigation costs.
Unnerved by the Mumbai rooftop fire, pub hoppers in Bengaluru are now more aware of their surroundings, more observant of the safety rules. This came across clearly as DH went around the city to get a pulse of what they really feel.



Shrey Jani, a student this newspaper spoke to at Easy Tiger on Church Street, notes that there are absolutely no safety measures in most pubs and bars in the city. Let alone inbuilt fire safety measures, he cannot even recall seeing a fire extinguisher exhibited prominently at any of the pubs and bars he has been to.

At another pub on M G Road, Prateek, a businessman is convinced that safety norms are not followed at all. This, he says, is bad for customers if an incident does occur. However, this glaring gap does not stop people from going to bars.

Suresh Eswar, a Chief Executive Officer at a bar in Koramangala laments, "None of the resto-bars have fire safety. In fact there needs to be more awareness on fire safety information such as emergency exits, fire extinguishers and other measures in place to tackle a fire."

He says there should be a fire safety and rescue plan at every establishment, and this must be shared with the customers. "Fire safety drills must be done with bar employees and they must know how to react and what to do in case of a fire. But this is also a responsibility of all stakeholders and not just the establishment owners," adds Eswar.

Another regular pub-goer, business manager Amitabh Satyam says, "fire safety regulations must be better implemented and authorities must carry through with enforcing it effectively." Otherwise, he warns, customer safety will be seriously compromised. "The government must not do this on an ad-hoc basis and should follow through the enforcement part consistently."

Echoing similar sentiments, Judy notes: "It is the establishment's duty and responsibility to protect its customers. As of now we are not well prepared and very few places have fire safety."

Giving his perspective as a risk engineer, Ujjwal Kumar talks about the need for splinkers and other inbuilt safety measures. The entire country and not just Bengaluru is severely lagging behind in this regard. Usage of fire resistant materials, he notes, will go a long way in minimising the fallout.

But in many establishments, aesthetics is given priority over public safety. Evacuation drills are a must to educate people on what they must do in case of a fire to avoid chaos, says Kumar.

Outside Three Dots and a Dash, a popular outlet in Indiranagar, Amazon executive Nikita offers more insights: "Bars and Pubs are ill prepared. I have been to many pubs and bars in Bengaluru, but don't see any fire safety equipment. And even if any bar has a fire extinguisher, if it is not visible, then what's the use?"

Visibility and ease of access to fire safety measures are equally important, she notes. "Also, many of these places have a lot of wooden walls which will catch fire easily. There is also a complete lack of fire exits in most places. Public awareness on fire safety is very low."

The State fire and emergency services department must also focus on educating the public apart from enforcing these measures. "The scariest part is we don't even know how to react in case of a fire," observes Nikita.

Rajeshwari, who works in the retail industry feels that, "No matter where you go, be it a bar, pub or restaurant, it's the responsibility of every single person and not just the government and the owner. But the government must take the initiative on fire safety drills and proper education on fire safety as the layman's knowledge on such things is very minimal."
Online fraudsters cheated a software engineer in the city of Rs 20 lakh under the pretext of offering him a business deal with high returns.



In his complaint to the cyber crime police, H N Ravi Kumar, residing in JP Nagar 5th phase, said he received a call in September from a man introducing himself as Russell, the head of Nova Pharma company in the United States.

Russell asked Kumar to source some cancer healing seeds available in India in return for a brokerage. Kumar ignored the call.

Two weeks later, Kumar received a mail from Russell, from the email ID of nova-pharma.org. The American man had stated in the mail that Shukla in Maharashtra was his distributors, and asked Kumar to act as his Indian agent

to purchase the seeds from them.

The offer of Rs 50,000 per packet of seeds was too tempting to ignore, Kumar had said in his complaint. Russell further gave him the phone numbers of Girish and Shilpa, with instructions to call them.

The American imposter also told Kumar that a packet of seeds actually costs Rs 2.5 lakh and he needs 10 packets of the seeds.

Once Kumar purchased the seeds and dispatched them to the United States, Russell said he would wire him Rs 30 lakh, including brokerage.

Kumar contacted Girish and Shilpa, who asked him to deposit the money in a Canara Bank account.

To his horror, Kumar found their mobile phones switched off after he had deposited the money.
Toshiba sells Westinghouse to Canada's Brookfield for $4.6 billion

Bankrupt US nuclear firm Westinghouse Electric Co, which nearly brought its parent company Japan's Toshiba on the brink of collapse, is being sold to Canadian buy-out firm Brookfield Business Partners for $4.6 billion.

Cranberry-based Westinghouse on Thursday announced the signing of a letter of intent with Brookfield, effectively barring other bidders from pursuing their offers.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to the approval of Westinghouse's bankruptcy judge. It is, however, still preliminary.

Brookfield's parent company, Brookfield Asset Management, owns gas distribution networks, wastewater facilities, real estate, and wind farms. This would be its first entry into nuclear services.

Brookfield's Westinghouse effort may be a big shift for the in business for the $265 billion assets giant, best known for its investments in office buildings and malls (Brookfield Property Partner, market cap $5.6B), infrastructure (Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, market cap $16.6B) and renewable energy (Brookfield Renewable Partners, market cap $10.8B).

Reports said Brookfield Business Partners is expected to contribute about $1 billion in equity to finance the deal and raise billions more using debt. Brookfield Business Partners will itself finance 50 per cent of the equity check while limited partners and co-investors are likely to supply the rest.

If approved by bankruptcy courts, expected in the third quarter of 2018, Westinghouse would be BBU's biggest ever deal.

"Westinghouse is a high-quality business that has established itself as a leader in its field, with a long-term customer base and a reputation for innovation. We look forward to bringing our significant expertise and reputation as a long-term owner and operator of critical infrastructure in the US and globally, as well as our deep facilities management capabilities, to enhance the Company's position as a leading global infrastructure services provider to the power generation industry,'' Brookfield CEO Cyrus Madon said.

It's not clear what will happen to Westinghouse's new reactor business, which triggered the company's bankruptcy as schedule delays and cost overruns shut down a project to build two AP1000 nuclear power plants in South Carolina and nearly crippled a similar project in Georgia.

Brookfield spokesperson said the company won't pursue any new reactor projects in the US or abroad.

Later on Thursday, Brookfield clarified that "it believes the AP1000 design and technology is core to the company" and said the firm "looks forward to investing in its growth in the US and around the world."

The Toronto-based asset manager did not mention the AP1000 in its statement announcing the deal, focusing instead of Westinghouse's "strong market position" in servicing existing plants.

"The majority of (Westinghouse's) profitability is delivered through regular scheduled services which are provided under long-term contracts" the statement said, referring to the company's nuclear fuel and plant outage activities.

At present, there are only a handful of companies around the world that design nuclear power plants and there is little competition in the business at least in the US with other groups like GE not active in the space in recent years, say reports.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse has submitted a bid for new AP1000 reactors in Saudi Arabia and has been involved in a molasses-paced effort to bring its plants to India.

The deal "reaffirms our position as the leader of the global nuclear industry,'' Westinghouse CEO Jose Emeterio Gutierrez said in a statement on Thursday.

Westinghouse spokesperson Sarah Cassella said there would be ''no changes to the current projects or bids expected as a result of the transaction.''

In a note sent to employees, Westinghouse said it does not expect staffing changes during the sales process. ''We do not currently anticipate any further layoffs once the transaction closes,'' she said.

Westinghouse employs a total of about 11,000 personnel , including 3,400 in Western Pennsylvania.

The deal also won't impact Westinghouse's role at Plant Vogtle, the Georgia site where possibly the last two AP1000 plants are being built.

According to statements from both parties on Thursday morning, the deal provides for Brookfield to assume "certain pension, environmental and other operating obligations."

Toshiba bought Westinghouse for $5.4 billion in 2006, a price that was widely considered too big at that time. Now the $4.6 billion price tag has also puzzled investors.
Millions of US citizens hear ringing in their ears, a condition called tinnitus. According to new research an experimental device could help quiet the phantom sounds by targeting unruly nerve activity in the brain. In a new study in Science Translational Medicine, a team from the University of Michigan reported the results of the first animal tests and clinical trial of the approach, which included data from 20 human tinnitus patients. On the basis of years of scientific research into the root causes of the condition, the device uses precisely-timed sounds coupled with weak electrical pulses that activate touch-sensitive nerves, both aimed at restoring normal activity to damaged nerve cells. Human participants reported that the loudness of phantom sounds decreased following four weeks of daily use of the device. Also their tinnitus-related quality of life improved, but a sham "treatment" which only used sounds did not produce such effects. Results from studies with guinea pigs and a double-blind human study funded by the Coulter Foundation validate years of preclinical research funded by the National Institutes of Health, including previous tests in guinea pigs. "The brain, and specifically the region of the brainstem called the dorsal cochlear nucleus, is the root of tinnitus," said Susan Shore, the U-M Medical School professor who leads the research team. "When the main neurons in this region, called fusiform cells, become hyperactive and synchronize with one another, the phantom signal is transmitted into other centers where perception occurs. "If we can stop these signals, we can stop tinnitus. That is what our approach attempts to do, and we're encouraged by these initial parallel results in animals and humans." To do so, the researchers designed a gadget that perfectly times sound and skin stimulation to target the nerve activity that causes the signal. ''The device plays a sound into the ears, alternating it with precisely timed, mild electrical pulses delivered to the cheek or neck. This sets off a process called stimulus timing-dependent plasticity, or STDP. The approach aims to reset the activity of fusiform cells,'' the authors wrote. The invention was then tested on 20 humans, who used it for a half an hour every day for one month. After they analysed the results the researchers found that two of the participants were cured completely, and 11 reported reduced noise and pitch levels.








This is how Democrats make it clear what we stand for

Tammy Baldwin has every reason to be cautious.

Republicans have already spent $3.1 million to unseat the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate, which is more than what all the other Democratic Senate incumbents on the ballot this year have faced combined, according to the Huffington Posts Amanda Terkel.

Baldwin is running for reelection in Wisconsin, a state that has been the political proving ground for Koch Industries and other billionaires like Diane Hendricks, who helped nudge fellow rich guy Ron Johnson over the finish line last November. Hendricks would have plenty of money to spare, even if she didnt often end up paying ZERO in state income taxes.

With the help of every GOP dark art available, these robber barons have turned a progressive state mostly red and made mannequins like Scott Walker, Sean Duffy and Paul Ryan look like political geniuses. Still it took massive voter suppression in the Badger State, on top of the tsunami of right-wing cash and gerrymandering, for WIs electoral votes to end up in the GOP column.

None of these cancers on Wisconsins democracy have been cured. They havent even been treated. You could argue theyve metastasized, but probably only if you know as little about actual cancer as I do.

But the prognosis is the same  Tammy Baldwin has every reason to run scared into the welcoming arms of centrism, as Democratic swing-state Senators in 2014 and 2010 did. RIP.

And she isnt.

Instead, Baldwin is one of 28 Dream Heroes in the U.S. Senate who have taken the Dreamer Pledge, which promises that these Senators will only vote for a continuing resolution if it contains the Dream Act.

Numbers are key here because Democrats can only hold the GOP accountable for Trumps unnecessary attack on the Dreamers in the U.S. Senate. To do this, they need 40 of the 49 Senators who caucus with the party to take a stand in the next few weeks.

Sherrod Brown, who may also face a tough re-election race this year, has taken the pledge. Michigans Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters have not.

There are reasons for Stabenow to be cautious, of course. She faces re-election in a state Donnie won. And the idea of letting the GOP shut down the government over non-citizens could stoke the sort of hostile ethno-nationalism that many think boosted the GOP nominee in this state.

But that would be a bad read of the political winds coming off Lake Michigan.

Republicans have not been able to find a top-tier candidate to face Stabenow. Id argue the Senator needs to worry much more about the more than 51,000 Michiganders who voted for Jill Stein and less about 11,000 voters who have gave Don the edge over Clinton here.

A December Quinnipiac Poll found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe undocumented children brought to the U.S. as children should be allowed to stay and to apply for citizenship.

In contrast, the awful wall Trump is willing to shut down the government for is opposed by a majority of Americans, even 2/3 of voters in the swing border state of Arizona. And this is before Democrats get it together and start mocking Trump for giving up on making Mexico pay for the wall, a cornerstone political promise. On Friday, he sent Congress a budget request that would stick taxpayers with the $18 billion bill.

(Check out this thread from MoveOns Ben Wikler for more on the polling and politics of these issues.)

Im not questioning Stabenows good intentions or political acumen. Shes proven these qualities more than 99.9 percent of us will ever will. Polling has also found that anti-immigration sentiment tends to be worst in areas where voters have the least interaction with immigrants, much like the more rural parts of Michigan Stabenow must be competitive in to win. And shutdowns rarely benefit the party making a stand.

But lets not pretend that what happens in January will be top of mind by even February 2, unless what happens in January is an extra crispy nuclear war.

The political environment now revs faster than a first-generation Ford Fiesta. Details scroll out of mind faster than tweets. It took me a second to even remember the origin of Fire and Fury.

What people will remember is that Democrats stood for something  kids and the American Dream. Making it clear what we stand for, in addition to what we stand against, is a necessity right now.

Dreamers were brought here before they could make any decisions on their own. The biggest choice theyve made is to devote their lives to this country, many by risking their current existence by bravely registering for DACA.

REPUBLICANS CONTROL THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT. If they want to shut down the government over something Donnie broke and all of America wants to fix, Democrats cannot lose  unless they give in.

Theres no moral argument for what Trump wants to do. Estimates suggest that deporting Dreamers would cost our economy almost half a trillion dollars.

This all about the kind of politics  politics that pretends cruelty is strength. If Democrats cant stand up to that now, its not going to get easier in November.
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To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
United Airlines(BOSTON) -- Authorities are investigating an incident where a United Airlines flight failed to stop and hold short of an active runway and almost crossed into the path of a landing JetBlue flight at Boston Logan International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.



Friday evening, United Airlines flight 1946, was returning to the gate due to a maintenance issue. According to a Boston Logan spokesman, the Boeing 737 entered a safety area of the tarmac before the runway, which triggered a sensor that set off an alarm in the control tower.



GD Pennington, a passenger on the plane, tweeted, Close call with our pilot slamming the brakes.



Air traffic controllers told United Airlines flight 1946 at least five times to hold short of runway 27.



The pilot of the United flight responded, Were short.



As a precaution air traffic controllers told the approaching Jet Blue flight to execute a go around according to the airport spokesman. The United Airlines aircraft never actually got onto the runway, the airport spokesman said. This was an example of the system working perfectly.



A United Airlines spokesman said the pilot of the Boeing 737 stopped the aircraft to avoid snow on the tarmac, and the JetBlue flights execution of a go around was completely unrelated and coincidental.



A similar incident occurred last October at San Francisco International Airport when an Air Canada flight failed to respond to six separate calls from air traffic control tower to abort its landing because an aircraft was already on the ground. The FAA said they are investigating that incident as well.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Any impartial observers would agree that House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes has been doing all he can do to sabotage his own committees bipartisan examination of the Russian activities that took place in regard to the 2016 presidential election. There are no progressives on the committee, just a pack of conservative New Dems (Adam Schiff, New Dem chairman Jim Himes, Terri Sewell, Andre Carson, Mike Quigley, Joaquin Castro, Denny Heck, plus moderates Eric Swalwell and Jackie Speier) so I have no way of getting any inside information. Watching Eric Swalwell on MSNBC frequently, I get the idea that the Democrats on the committee all feel Nunes has been functioning on the committee as a Trump enabler and cover-up puppet master. According to a Thursday night CNN report , it looks like Nunes may well have been getting his walking orders from none other than Speaker Paul Ryan.





Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI head Christopher Wray paid an unscheduled visit to Ryans office about Nunes role in the Putin-Gate scandal on Wednesday. Ryan appears to have defended Nunes sabotage of the investigation.

Over the summer Nunes served subpoenas seeking a broad range of documents connected to the dossier of compromising allegations about President Donald Trump's connections to the Kremlin, including those related to payments the FBI made to fund it (if any), efforts to corroborate any information contained in it and whether the FBI used information from the dossier to apply for warrants to conduct surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Trump associates. The Justice Department has already allowed Intelligence Committee members and staff to review a number of highly classified materials at a secure location at the department, but last month Nunes escalated the feud, threatening top officials at Justice and the FBI with contempt of Congress if they did not meet all of his subpoena demands.



At Wednesday's meeting-- initiated at Rosenstein's request-- Rosenstein and Wray tried to gauge where they stood with the House speaker in light of the looming potential contempt of Congress showdown and Nunes' outstanding subpoena demands, sources said. CNN is told the discussion did not involve details of the separate Russia investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller.



While Ryan had already been in contact with Rosenstein for months about the dispute over documents, Rosenstein and Wray wanted to make one last effort to persuade him to support their position. The documents in dispute were mostly FBI investigative documents that are considered law enforcement sensitive and are rarely released or shared outside the bureau.



During the meeting, however, it became clear that Ryan wasn't moved and the officials wouldn't have his support if they proceeded to resist Nunes' remaining highly classified requests, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting.



Sources also told CNN that the Justice Department and the FBI also had learned recently that the White House wasn't going to assert executive privilege or otherwise intervene to try to stop Nunes.



Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong told CNN on Thursday, "The speaker always expects the administration to comply with the House's oversight requests," but would not address the details of the discussion.



A compromise was reached later Wednesday that allows House Intelligence Committee members to go to a Justice Department facility to view the documents, sources said. Nunes said in a statement Wednesday night that he was being given "access" to the materials he had requested. Normally congressional committees want documents turned over to them. In this case, the documents can be reviewed but not taken from FBI and Justice Department possession.



The Justice Department has also approved a slew of Justice and FBI officials to be interviewed by the committee in January, including former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, an official with ties to Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm behind the Trump dossier; embattled FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, whose text messages trashing the President became cannon fodder for congressional Republicans last month; and recently reassigned FBI General Counsel James Baker. The committee will also be permitted to interview FBI Attorney Lisa Page (who exchanged the texts with Strzok), FBI Attorney Sally Moyer, FBI Assistant Director for the Office of Congressional Affairs Greg Brower, FBI Assistant Director Bill Priestap and FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki.



CNN has also learned from a source with knowledge of the negotiations that a second batch of Strzok's text messages is expected to be produced for the committee next week.

All the candidates who would like to replace Nunes in Congress, have spoken out against him and his role in the Putin-Gate coverup But one candidate, Andrew Janz, is extremely conservative-- a real Blue Dog type-- and another, Ricardo Franco, is a committed progressive who would like to see real changes in Congress. Franco told us that "In 16 years, Nunes has been in Congress and done nothing for his constituents from the Central Valley. Now he's actively driving the nation towards a potential constitutional crisis and puppet regime for Putin. Those of us here in the Valley like to think of ourselves as very practical people, and when we look at Nunes we just see pure incompetence. The biggest criticism I hear of Nunes from his fellow conservative constituents is not about what he's done concerning Russia, but rather that he's just incompetent, to put it politely. The rest of the country and the world got introduced to him from his midnight Uber ride to the White House. I think people then believed he was scheming and politicking his way into discrediting the Democratic party or the justice system as a whole. In reality, scheming and politicking is giving Nunes way too much credit. He's not competent enough to do that. We've known that here all along. To borrow some words from Lindsey Graham, he's more of an Inspector Clouseau than anything else."









NY Times OpEd on Tuesday Wall Street Journal, have spun a succession of mendacious conspiracy theories about our motives and backers. What Nunes wants is all the information about the pee-pee dossier. Nunes may not want the public to see what that information leads to (Trumps money laundering) though as Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, founders of Fusion GPS indicated in theirOpEd on Tuesday The Republicans Fake Investigations , theres plenty for Trump allies to cover-up. They wrote that In the year since the publication of the so-called Steele dossier  the collection of intelligence reports we commissioned about Donald Trumps ties to Russia the president has repeatedly attacked us on Twitter. His allies in Congress have dug through our bank records and sought to tarnish our firm to punish us for highlighting his links to Russia. Conservative news outlets and even our former employer, the, have spun a succession of mendacious conspiracy theories about our motives and backers.
Merkel to deport anti-Israel migrants

German conservatives are working on a new law draft. Anti-Semites cannot have a place in country, draft legislation reads.

According to Laurens Cerulus from Politico, German Chancellor Angela Merkels conservative alliance has said it will propose beefed-up legislation to deal with anti-Semitism among migrant groups, which would include the possibility of deportation.

New law draft will include not only anti-Semites but also anti-Israelis who refuse to recognize Israel as a state.

"THOSE WHO REFUSE JEWISH LIFE IN GERMANY CANNOT HAVE A PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY"

The draft legislation calls on the absolute acceptance of Jewish life to be considered a benchmark for integration and stipulates that those who refuse Jewish life in Germany or question the right of existence of Israel, cannot have a place in our country. German newspaper Die Welt reported Saturday.

Deputy chairman of the CDU-CSU group in the German Bundestag Stephan Harbarth said: We must resolutely oppose the anti-Semitism of migrants with an Arab background and from African countries.





While deportation orders will have to comply with rules set by the German parliament in 2016, migrants found guilty of anti-Semitic hate speech would face deportation under the new law.

The parties will propose the new rules by Holocaust memorial day on January 27.
Celebrated talk show legend David Letterman has announced his first guest on his Netflix talk show, former President Barack Obama.

Obama Reunites With Letterman

Former President Obama will be the very first guest on Letterman's new Netflix series: My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. The interview will be the first time that Letterman sat down with the former President since the Chicago native paid farewell to the comedy icon on May 4, 2015.

During President Obama's last visit to the Late Show with David Letterman, the two men talked about numerous topics such as First Lady Michelle Obama's final appearance on Letterman's CBS talk show to severe hot issues such as addressing bigotry and how to address incorporating veterans back into society. The former President also took time to pay homage to the talk show host and added that the entire country would miss the talk show host when he retired.

Before President Obama concluded his third Presidential visit (and eighth overall visit) to the show, he offered Letterman a chance to hang out with him at Starbucks and play dominoes. There have been no reports or indications that the two men have done the said activity since Former President Obama left the White House on Jan. 20, 2017.

Letterman aired his final episode of Late Show with David Letterman from the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 20, 2015. Comedian Stephen Colbert inherited the show and the legendary landmark theater once Letterman retired.

My Next Guest 101

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is expected to air six specials on Netflix. Netflix subscribers can expect to see a new episode once a month. Each chapter is expected to feature a special guest that Letterman admires. In addition to former President Obama, Letterman will interview freedom activist Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, and George Clooney. Also, Letterman's longtime friends Tina Fey and Howard Stern are expected to round out the first season's guest list.

"In interviews that take both inside and outside of a studio setting, the conversations are intimate, in-depth, and far-reaching, with the levity and humor Dave's fans know and love," said a Netflix spokesperson.

Netflix also added that the interview's field segments will be a major part of the new mini-series and will allow Letterman to dig deeper with his guests.

While several fans expected Letterman to have a quiet retirement, the former CBS Late Night host has been busy. Letterman received the Mark Twain Prize in Humor in October 2017 and also visited acolyte (and heir apparent) Jimmy Kimmel during the ABC late night host's visit to Brooklyn that same month.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will premiere on Netflix on Friday, Jan. 12.
Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning director who wrote the films: Crash and Million Dollar Baby, is being accused of sexual misconduct by four different women. Two of the women alleged that they were raped by Haggis.

Haggis' Million Dollar Dilemma

Three women, who have chosen to remain anonymous, have recently chosen to speak out against Canadian director in separate interviews to the AP Press. The women stated that they found the courage to recount what happened to them after publicist, Haleigh Breest, filed a civil lawsuit against the director, claiming he raped her.

One of the three accusers claimed that Haggis asked her to perform oral sex on him and then proceeded to rape her. The victim was 28 years old at the time when Haggis asked to preview her photos from a previous show.

"I thought it was odd, but I agreed. He was the ultimate boss. I didn't feel inclined to say no," the accuser stated.

When she arrived at his office, no one else was present. The woman states that Haggis suggested they speak in the back office. Once there, Haggis began kissing on her and violently forced himself on her.

"I just pulled away. He was just glaring at me and came at me again. I was really resisting. He said to me, 'Do you really want to continue working?' And then he really forced himself on me. I was just numb. I didn't know what to do," she continued.

Breest alleges in her lawsuit that Haggis raped her in Jan. 31, 2013 in a New York City apartment. In the lawsuit, the publicist stated that Haggis forced Breest into the bedroom where he became sexually aggressive with her. She then stated that he forced her to perform oral sex on him, fondled her, and then raped her.

The Terminator Salvation writer has denied the new allegations against him through his lawyer, Christine Lepera. Lepera also stated that the director denied Breest's allegations against him and that she and her lawyer tried to extort him for $9 million.

Haggis was also the co-creator of the popular television series, Walker, Texas Ranger. Haggis won an Academy Award for the films Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and Letters from Iwo Jima.

Haggis most recent film, Gold, premiered on Jan. 27, 2017, which starred: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Craig T. Nelson.
Paris Hilton has hired 24/7 security to guard the huge $2 million diamond engagement ring she received from actor boyfriend Chris Zylka earlier this week.

Around The Clock Security

The hotel heiress doesn't want to take any chances and wants to make sure that the 22-carat diamond engagement ring is protected around the clock.

"They've had 24/7 security shadowing them," sources told TMZ. "And specifically the ring - ever since last weekend."

Hilton's friend, Kim Kardashian, was robbed at gunpoint of $10 million worth of jewelry, including a $4 million ring in Paris in 2016, and her aunt Kyle Richards was also a victim of a home invasion. Therefore, it seems logical for Hilton to take the extra precautions to protect herself and her ring.

Hilton And Zylka's Engagement

Hilton and Zylka got engaged during a ski trip in Aspen, Colorado, over the New Year's weekend after The Amazing Spider-Man actor got down on one knee and popped the question.

"I said yas! So happy and excited to be engaged to the love of my life," she captioned the pictures. "My best friend & soulmate. Perfect for me in every way. So dedicated, loyal, loving & kindhearted. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! You are my dream come true! Thank you for showing me that fairytales do exist."

The Engagement Ring

The Simple Life star announced the news of their engagement with a series of romantic pictures on her Instagram account, including a photo of the multi-million dollar sparkler.

A post shared by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Jan 2, 2018 at 4:26pm PST

According to E! News, the $2 million engagement ring was designed by renowned jewelry designer Michael Greene.

Greene told the publication that after the engagement, Hilton called him to express her appreciation over the ring and said it was "her dream diamond." He added that she never imagined Zylka would think of something "so perfect" and she's quite "happy and excited."

The jeweler also noted that the actor reached out to him and visited him in New York, where he told him what he was looking for. He pointed out that Zylka had spoken to Hilton's family members for tips and ideas and wanted the ring to be nothing short of perfect.

Zylka surely got what he wanted because Hilton cannot stop showing off the ring and gushed about it in a recent interview with People.

"The ring was so gorgeous and sparkling," she said. "I was shaking as I put it on. It is the most beautiful ring that I have ever seen!"
Up to this point, the plan to establish the Bac Van Phong SEZ in Khanh Hoa province has been formulated.

However, the plan still lacks an assessment report on the impact of the project in such aspects as population size, population distribution, government structure, socio-economic development, management of natural resources, environment, security and defense in the locality.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh requested Khanh Hoa Province to continue supplementing and finalizing the plan in order to clarify the need for establishing the Bac Van Phong SEZ.

In addition, the province must show the situation and development direction of the Bac Van Phong SEZ with the expansion plan for the entire area of Van Ninh district. The project plan must highlight the comparative advantages of Bac Van Phong SEZ with Van Don SEZ in Quang Ninh province and Phu Quoc SEZ in Kien Giang province. Also, the plan must include the analysis and assessment of advantages and inadequacies in the selection of plans for the establishment of the SEZ.

Khanh Hoa province also needs to clarify its orientation and general objectives by sectors; identify the model of local government and the plan on rearranging the organizational apparatus; It also needs to promptly complete the planning, paying special attention to the settlement of population distribution, environmental protection, strict management of land, and defense and security work for the smooth implementation of the project.

The Deputy Prime Minister agreed on the policy of the province in completing the project on the entire natural area and population of Van Ninh district. At the same time, he agreed on the principle of seeking and selecting strategic investors which must be in line with the planning and development orientation of Bac Van Phong SEZ.

The plan to establish Bac Van Phong SEZ on the basis of the entire natural area and population of Van Ninh district was approved by the Khanh Hoa People's Council in early December 2017.

The plan clearly stated that Van Phong Bay in general and Bac Van Phong area, in particular, have a geo-economic position, which is important for the country and the region, conquering all favorable conditions to develop into a gateway area to the East Sea of Vietnam and the Indochinese Peninsula.




The bicentenary commemoration of the battle at Bhima Koregaon on 1 January 2018 in Pune district, Maharashtra was marred by dispersed but organised attacks on Dalit participants who had congregated from all over the state. In response, an enraged Dalit community led protests against the attacks in city centres across Maharashtra. The key to these attacks seems to lie in the distinct anti-Hindutva theme underlying the commemoration, which was presided over by Dalit and minority leaders who have become the faces of dissent against dominant right-wing forces today.

The battle of 1818 between the British imperial army and the Peshwa regime of the day at Bhima Koregaon is upheld as a watershed moment in Dalit history. The victory of the colonial forces was secured by a predominantly Mahar battalion, heralding the end of the Brahmanical Peshwa rule. This cultural memory was revitalised by B R Ambedkar himself, as a symbol of Dalit valour and victory over oppressive forces. Subsequently, the event became part of a longer list of milestones and anniversaries celebrated annually as part of Ambedkarite counterculturein opposition to and departure from caste-Hindu culture. Some milestones in the months of December and January include Ambedkars death anniversary on 6 December wherein Dalits congregate in thousands at Chaityabhoomi, Mumbai to pay homage to their leader; Ambedkars burning of the Manusmriti on 25 December (celebrated as Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas by DalitBahujan feminists); anniversary of the victory at Bhima Koregaon on 1 January (celebrated by congregating at Koregaon village in Pune, the site of the battle); the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule (also celebrated as teachers day) on 3 January; and Republic Day on 26 January when India adopted the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar. Participation in these events has harnessed the formation and internalisation of an Ambedkarite identity and consciousness among Dalits in the state.
To reach me for collaborations, sponsorships, and event invitations, I am contactable at

the-ice-angel@hotmail.com


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The key to writing a best-selling book: have the president of the United States blast it on Twitter and send a cease-and-desist letter to the publisher.

Local booksellers and major retailers across the nation are struggling to keep in stock Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, the new political tell-all by journalist Michael Wolff. Publisher Henry Holt and Co. added to the frenzy by releasing the book four days ahead of schedule Friday instead of complying with a cease-and-desist letter from President Donald Trumps personal lawyer delivered to the publisher Thursday.

Trumps move to prevent the bombshell books release and his Twitter rant denouncing it as a phony book seem to have backfired. Amazon.com has a backlog of orders for Fire and Fury of up to four weeks. Barnes & Nobles website says the tome wont be available for shipping until Wednesday. Fire and Fury is out of stock on Walmarts site, with no indication of when the book will be back in stores or ready for shipment online.

Dozens of prospective book buyers flooded The Twig Book Shop with calls when the store at the Pearl complex near downtown opened at 10 a.m. Friday, bookseller Sam Jimenez said. The independent store was sold out of all copies by 10:30 a.m., he said.

With this high demand, I have no idea when were going to get them back in stock, Jimenez said.

Fire and Fury sat at the top of Amazons sales charts for paper books as well as its Kindle e-book and Audible audiobook services, an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. A spike in interest and a last-minute change in the release date have the online retailer working with the publisher to fulfill print book orders as quickly as possible, the spokesperson said.

Kenny Johnson, co-owner of Dead Tree Books on the South Side, said hes received a couple of phone calls inquiring about Fire and Fury but that so far no customers have requested him to order it.

Henry Holt and Co. initially planned to release Fire and Fury Tuesday but moved up the release date after Trumps lawyer issued the cease-and-desist letter, leaving some retailers with little time to stock the book.

H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said the San Antonio-based supermarket chain hasnt received copies of the book but that some stores that sell books will have Fire and Fury in stock at a later date.

None of Half Price Books five locations in the San Antonio area had received copies of the book as of noon Friday, company spokeswoman Emily Bruce said. But she said area stores had received a lot of calls about it. Only eight copies of the book were available among the companys 124 stores as of noon, likely because of the shift in release dates, Bruce said.

BookPeople, an independent bookstore in Austin, ordered about 100 copies due to arrive early next week and had already presold 70 by 11:30 a.m., spokeswoman Abby Fennewald said. The store positioned three employees to staff the phone lines, which wasnt enough to field more than 100 calls inquiring about Fire and Fury, Fennewald said.

Thats an unusual amount of interest for a book thats not penned by a major author or a writer slated to visit the store, Fennewald said. BookPeople sold out of Hillary Clintons book What Happened ahead of the Democratic presidential candidates appearance there Nov. 17, Fennewald said.

For just a book thats out in the ether, nothing drives the preorders like, apparently, the president tweeting about them, Fennewald said.

Political tell-alls dont usually get this much hype, Bruce said. Thats typically reserved for releases such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the script for the 2016 stage play penned by J.K. Rowling and Jack Thorne. Half Price Books held midnight release parties for that publication, including one at its flagship store in Dallas that attracted more than 100 people, Bruce said.

Its a different situation than weve seen in the past, Bruce said.

The book, reportedly culled from hours of interviews by Wolff with Trump and his staffers, riled Trump and sparked a fiery statement insisting that his former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, had lost his mind. In the book, Bannon was reportedly quoted as saying that Donald Trump Jr. had been treasonous and unpatriotic for meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign and that Ivanka Trump was dumb as a brick.

I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! Trump tweeted Thursday about Wolff. I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!

Some early reviewers and political journalists have pointed out falsehoods and exaggerations in published excerpts. San Antonio entrepreneur Brad Parscale, an adviser to the Trump campaign who served as chief digital strategist for Trump during the 2016 presidential race, tweeted a thread of rebuttals using screenshots of excerpts from the book Friday morning.

Only skimmed the #MichaelWolff book #fire and fury and already found tons of false statements, Parscale tweeted. Time for me to write a book. Im the only person that saw the entire campaign, family and knows what happened after. These are just more lies to continue the #FakeNews narrative!

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer for mySA.com and ExpressNews.com. Read more of his stories here. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
The new year begins with Canada relying on an old strategy for saving the North American Free Trade Agreement

Three cabinet members are in the United States this week to promote trade, and more are expected to head south as part of Ottawas renewed charm offensive.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale is in Kentucky for a series of meetings with high level officials, including Gov. Matt Bevin.

The U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Kelly Craft, who is from Kentucky, will also be at the meetings.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is in California for two days to discuss clean technology and trade.

And starting Friday, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay will be in Tennessee for three days, attending the American Farm Bureau Federations annual trade show.

Two government sources tell CBC News that more ministers and MPs will be taking part in the charm offensive, amid the tense NAFTA renegotiation process.

The Liberal government launched the strategy about a year ago, with key members of the prime ministers inner circle meeting with hundreds of American politicians over the past 12 months.

Canadian officials used the meetings to highlight the number of American jobs that depend on trade with Canada, and to lobby for wide support of NAFTA.

Trump to speak with farmers

Canadian officials said on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to speak to delegates at the farming trade show that MacAuley is attending.

The president could be facing a difficult audience, as his threats to kill NAFTA have not been entirely welcomed by the U.S. farming community.

His own agricultural secretary, Sonny Perdue, has acknowledged the trade deal has been good for the U.S. farming industry, and farming lobbyists have been some of the loudest advocates to save the agreement.

But Canada and the U.S have different views on the dairy farming industry, which has made it a contentious point in negotiations so far. The Americans wants the sector brought into the free trade agreement and have asked Canada to eventually dismantle its supply management quota system.

Farmers in the U.S. have long complained about Canadian dairy regulations. Canada has said it will protect supply management.

Canadian officials will be watching Trumps comments closely next week, as they continue to prepare for the next round of talks.

Source : Canadian Meat Business
A New Jersey-based real estate broker pleaded guilty Friday to trying to bribe a Qatari official to finance the sale of a high-rise building complex in Vietnam.

Joo Hyun Bahn, also known as Dennis Bahn, 39, of Tenafly, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan.

He admitted one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count of violating the FCPA.

He faces up to five years in prison on each count. Sentencing is scheduled for June 29.

The bribes were intended to help a South Korean construction company  Keangnam Enterprises Co., Ltd.  sell the Landmark 72 building complex in Hanoi to Qatars sovereign wealth fund.

The purported bribes were supposed to be $2.5 million. Landmark 72 was valued at $800 million. Bahn would have made $5 million for brokering the deal.

He was charged with his father, Ban Ki Sang, 69, and Malcolm Harris in December 2016.

Ban Ki Sang was a senior executive at Keangnam. Hes still at large. His brother is former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Harris, 53, was sentenced to 42 months in prison in October last year. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

Harris took $500,000 from Ban and Bahn by posing in text messages and emails as an agent of the Qatari official.

Bahn and Ban transferred $500,000 to Harris for him to pass on to the foreign official, the DOJ said Friday.

But Harris double-crossed Bahn and Ban and simply stole the $500,000 bribe, the DOJ said.

Prosecutors said a fourth man, San Woo, also known as John Woo, 35, of Edgewater, New Jersey, allegedly helped secure the $500,000 for the upfront bribe.

Woo was charged in a separate complaint with conspiracy to violate the FCPA. He was arrested at New Yorks JFK Airport in January 2017 and released on bail.

Landmark 72, also known as Hanoi Landmark 72, opened in 2012. It includes two 50-story office buildings and one 72-floor tower, the tallest building in Vietnam. There are apartments, offices, and hotels in the complex.

The chairman of Keangnam, Sung Woan-jong, committed suicide in April 2015 after being investigated for alleged corruption. He reportedly left a list of politicians in Korea he claimed to have bribed.

_____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.


Shane Lynch and Wayne Sleep have entered the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house.

Shane Lynch

The Boyzone star and the ballet dancer and actor are just two of the famous faces that joined the reality show on Friday night (05.01.18), which is celebrating it being a century since women won the right to vote in the United Kingdom.

John Barnes, Courtney Act (Shane Janek) and 'Love Island's Jonny Mitchell also made their way into the house, joined by Daniel O'Reilly also known as Dapper Laughs, 'The Apprentice' contestant Andrew Brady and American rapper Ginuwine.

It was a interesting turn of events for the girls, including Amanda Barrie, Jess Impiazzi and Malika Haqq, who have been in the house on their own since Tuesday (02.01.18).

Once all the men arrived into the house, it was revealed to them that they wouldn't be able to have a say in who could be nominated to leave in the first eviction but would be able to be put up for eviction themselves.

Big Brother also announced that the female housemates had decided what roles to put the men in - be that doing the cooking, cleaning the toilet or keeping the house tidy.

Meanwhile, Wayne is most looking forward to seeing people he hasn't met before and learning about their careers.

Speaking prior to his entry into the house, he said: "I am looking forward to Celebrity Big Brother most, because I will meet other thespians and people I might never have met in my life and it will be very interesting and share stories with about their careers."

And Jonny promised he wouldn't be creating any drama in the house, adding: "I am looking forward to the experience. I am looking forward to meeting new people, having a good time. I want to make friends. I'm not going in to rattle cages."

The show didn't get off to a great start for Shane Janek, whose skirt fell off when he tripped on the stairs, exposing his naked bottom to the live audience both in the studio and at home. And just when he thought the ordeal was over, his skirt fell off again when he was introducing himself to housemates.

'Celebrity Big Brother' continues on Saturday (06.01.18).
Vietnams textile and garment industry has targeted a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent in export value to $34 billion in 2018 despite difficulties in markets at home and abroad, according to Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex). He recently reported Vinatexs performance at a meeting in Hanoi.Vinatex reported its total revenue in 2017 was 45.55 trillion VND ($2.02 billion), out of which domestic sales contributed 10.39 trillion VND, which is 22.8 percent of the total revenue. The pre-tax profit in 2017 reached 1.43 trillion VND, the group disclosed.

Vietnam's textile and garment industry has targeted a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent in export value to $34 billion in 2018 despite difficulties in markets at home and abroad, according to Le Tien Truong, general director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex). He recently reported Vinatex's performance at a meeting in Hanoi.#

The organisation has set a revenue target of 48.5 trillion VND and a pre-tax profit of 1.45 trillion VND for 2018, a Vietnamese news agency reported.As Vietnams textile and garment industry will face more competition this year, Truong urged the industry to continue to invest in technology to create stability, sustainability and efficiency in production.Last year, the country exported textile and garments worth $31 billion, higher than its target of $30 billion. Major markets such as the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea maintained good growth, while there were breakthroughs in exports to other markets such as China, Russia and Cambodia, said Truong.The Korean market jumped to the fourth position in 2017, close to the Japanese market, reaching an export value of $2.7 billion. Exports to China last year was $3.2 billion, the same as the export value to Japan.This year, the ministry of industry and trade will withdraw 53.5 per cent of its shares in Vinatex as part of the prime ministers divestment initiatives. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
HON PM BAINIMARAMA AT THE RAM LEELA PROGRAM IN SIGATOKA





The Tuva Sanatan Ram Leela, Committee,Members of the Shree Satsang Ramayan Mandali,Tuva Primary and Secondary School, CommitteeDistinguished Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen.Bula vinaka and a very good evening to you all.Im very glad to be here as  for the very first time  I have the chance to take part in the Ramleela festival here in Sigatoka as we mark such an important celebration on the Hindu calendar.We are lucky to call home a nation so rich in different cultures and religions, and I am especially grateful that in Fijian society we so openly share in the traditions and celebration of our fellow Fijians, as we do so today in welcoming the Ramleela Festival.Every year, this festival brings colour, artistic expression and joy to communities across Fiji. Through the dramatic re-enactment of the life of the Hindu Lord Ram, poetry, singing and dancing, our Hindu brothers and sisters express the noble ideals lived out by Lord Ram, and the triumph over adversity that was the ultimate purpose of Ramas incarnation on earth.I have been told that the art form of Ram Leela has been practiced in Fiji for around 140 years, when it was first brought to Fiji by indentured labourers from British India in the early years of the Girmit Era. Then, it was a social gathering, a celebration that brought the comfort and familiarity of home to a strange and foreign land. And we can all be proud, that nearly a century and a half later, this festival continues as a joyous tradition in our nation life.I was very proud when, just over one year ago, Fijians from all backgrounds and walks of life came together to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the arrival of the SS Sutlej  the last ship of the Girmit era that brought 888 indentured labourers to Fiji in November 1916. It was a very special and emotional tribute to the ancestors of our fellow Fijians who suffered through that dark time in our history.I was grateful then, as I am grateful now, that Fiji is blessed with such a rich tapestry of religions, ethnicities and cultural heritage.While it has not always been an easy journey, today, that diversity is our nations greatest strength, and our unity has emerged as the foundation for the great progress weve made for Fiji over the past decade.In every religious tradition in Fiji there are values that every Fijian can appreciate and celebrate. The Ramleela festival is no different, as in the story of Ramas life are lessons that hold meaning for us all.It is a story of family, friendship and leadership. And as a father and grandfather myself, the story of Lord Rama puts forward ideals that I strive to meet in my own life, and I know mothers, fathers and grandparents across the country strive to do the same.The Story of Lord Ram is also a story of teamwork, unity and camaraderie. Values that have built the Fiji we know and love today. Values that bond us together in our great journey forward as a nation. And values that we have enshrined, for all time, in the Fijian Constitution. A Constitution that, for the first time, establishes common and equal citizenry in Fiji, regardless of our background, our beliefs, our socioeconomic status, or where we live.Under that Constitution, united in common purpose, the Fijian people have taken our nation to unprecedented heights  at home, as weve grown our economy for eight straight years, and abroad, where weve assumed global leadership on causes critical to our secure future. Weve shown that when we respect one another, when we work alongside our fellow Fijians and embrace our differences, there is nothing we cannot achieve.We have just entered the New Year, as we look ahead to the rest of 2018, it is more important than ever that we continue to stand together  as one nation and one people  in building the new Fiji.We will be holding our national elections later this year, and, as we have seen before, we will again be confronted with old forces that seek to divide us and hold us back from our journey into the future. Again, we must reject that backwards way of thinking. Again, we must choose progress over prejudice and dirty politics. And again, we must renew our commitment to one another, as Fijians and as men and women dedicated to the betterment of our nation.We must continue our work to make Fiji a better, safer and more inclusive nation. We must continue the sound financial management and planning that has carried our economy to such success. We must continue opening doors of opportunity for our young people, through free education, subsidised bus fares for school children, and record funding towards scholarship programmes. We must continue our work to create a more knowledge-based society, one that rewards on the basis of merit, and merit alone. And we must continue to hold our great belief in what this nation can accomplish, as we strive to make every year an even better year to be a Fijian.Ladies and gentlemen,I would like to acknowledge the Tuva Sanatan Ram Leela Committee and our Hindu communities in Vulileka, Labasa and Navua that are also holding celebrations for the Ram Leela festival. Lastly Id like to give my thanks to the Sanatan Ram Leela Committee for continuing the tradition of Ramleela in the Sigatoka communityI wish you all happy New Year and a wonderful festival celebration.Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.
CANTON, OH / ACCESSWIRE / January 6, 2018 / Founder and Chairman of The Granted Wish Foundation, Rodney Napier, has successfully led the organization to be recognized as a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. It is the fourth consecutive year that the non-profit has achieved such a respected honor, and is a reflection of the foundation's dedication to helping and enriching the lives of those less fortunate.

A Better Business Bureau accredited charity is any particular organization that meets all 20 of the Standards for Charity Accountability, based on a review of information and materials provided by The Granted Wish Foundation. Charities that receive this honor can participate in a charity seal program that allows them to show the Accredited Charity Seal on their website and in their written publications on websites or newsletters. If the organization is a seal holder, it appears in the heading of the bureau's reports. Rodney Napier is pleased with his foundation's accreditation, as it ensures a prosperous and positive future for children who seek the most help and assistance.

Established in 2005, The Granted Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) registered charity dedicated to helping the dreams of physically challenged children and young adults come true. Other services are the annual local Adopt-A-Family program. Volunteers shop during the Christmas season to offer household items, groceries and toys for those in need. Napier's team also supports the running of 'Rosalie's House', a fully furnished home owned by the foundation that provides local low-income families the opportunity to live comfortably at a reduced cost.

'It is such an honor to be accredited,' says Rodney Napier. 'The Better Business Bureau is a great way for The Granted Wish Foundation to excel at what it does best: helping children from all over the U.S.

Rodney Napier is the Founder and CEO of The Granted Wish Foundation. He launched Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings Inc. in 2001, which has grown from a single idea into a company with sales of over $50 million each year. AMCH has many companies and ventures under its umbrella, such as Lincoln Treasury, and Heat Surge, LLC Businesses can learn about sponsorship, and getting more involved in The Granted Wish Foundation, by emailing scoletti@grantedwish.org.

Rodney Napier - Business Leader and Philanthropist: http://rodneynapiernews.com

Rodney Napier - Brings Together Haitian Amputee With U.S. Family: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rodney-napier-brings-together-haitian-171500674.html

Rodney Napier - AMCH Proud to Support The Granted Wish Foundation: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rodney-napier-amch-proud-support-035000174.html

Contact Information:

RodneyNapierNews.com

http://rodneynapiernews.com

contact@rodneynapiernews.com

SOURCE: Rodney Napier
Sophia, the robot-humanoid is developed by the head of the SingularityNET, Ben Goertzel. She looks very much like a human and she can express emotions, listen, speak and move independently. According to Ben Goertzel, Sophia is a complex of various technologies that imitate human feelings: the ability to speak, to see, to think She is capable of abstract thinking, there is a software for collecting and processing video. Sophia quickly learns languages and has already received the Saudi citizenship. The technologies used to create the intellect of Sophia will find application in Estonia for the development of innovative consulting marketplace.

Ben Goertzel, the worlds leading specialist in the field of artificial intelligence (founder and CEO of SingularityNET, a blockchain-based AI marketplace) confirmed his intention to participate in the integration of the artificial intelligence system into the communication platform G-Global Business Portal. Mikhail Korb, a Member of Parliament and the Secretary-General of the Centre party of Estonia has endorsed the project. Openness to new financial instruments is an important step of digitalization of the country economy and strengthening its competitiveness in the worlds stage, said Mikhail Korb.

The G-Global Business Portal is a blockchain-based consulting marketplace designed to unite experts from all over the world. The platform is developed as an auxiliary tool for digitalizing Estonian enterprises of the real sector of the economy. The application of the AI, developed by Ben Goertzel, will provide both experts and customers with quality technical support: communicating with the platform users, the AI will be able to find the best solutions and provide the necessary information. The AI will be able to recommend specific experts of the G-Global Business Portal platform based on the needs and objectives of the client or enterprise.

David Chen (AngelVest Fund) and Sergei Sergienko (ChronoBank) have confirmed the integration of their companies into the G-Global Business Portal for the management of financial instruments and human resources. Sergei Sergienko has developed the TIME token, the use of which will ensure a stable evaluation of the productivity of an employee during his working hours.

Using the possibilities of the AI and the methods of Ben Goertzel in the process of picking an expert or consultant will allow finding the necessary professional in the shortest possible time.

Alvin Roth, the Nobel laureate in economics, an author of game theory models and one of the brightest specialists in the field of market design will take part in the development of matching mechanisms for the AI on the G-Global Business Portal platform. Two-sided matching models will help in the search for a necessary expert.

Denis Tsyro, the head of the G-Global Business Portal, noted that it is also planned to develop an auxiliary application in cooperation with Ben Goertzel.
Kolkata: Filmmaker Suman Ghosh whose documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was previously red flagged by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), on Friday (5 January) said the board has now allowed the film to be released without any modification to the previously objected words, except a reference to "Gujarat".

The Argumentative Indian, originally scheduled for a 14 July, 2017 release, was refused the green signal by the Indian censor board over the use of the words "cow", "Gujarat", "Hindu India" and "Hindutva", by Sen in the film.

"I have received the letter from the CBFC today. The board has removed the cuts it previously wanted except the word Gujarat," Ghosh told IANS . "I also had a very positive conversation with CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi," he added.

The director who previously refused to abide by the censor board's suggestion to mute those four words in the film and hinted he might release the film online, said he has not taken any decision on whether he would go ahead with the word in the film or drop it.

"I have just received the letter today. So nothing has been decided yet. I will shortly take a decision on the film's release," he added.

The hour-long documentary, structured as a free flowing conversation between Sen and his student and Cornell economics professor Kaushik Basu, shot in two parts in 2002 and 2017 and has Sen talking about the social choice theory, development economics, philosophy and the rise of right-wing nationalism across the world, including India.
Awe, featuring an ensemble cast, gives cinema in 2018 a kick-start. Presented by Nani and starring Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen, Regina Cassandra and Srinivas Avasarala among others, Awe looks like everything we are looking forward to from Tollywood this year.

The first glimpse of Awe begins with Nani's intriguing voice over and later moves to introduce several quirky characters. Ravi Teja too accompanies Nani's narration of the story. The two are a goofy addition to this teaser and voice a fish and Bonsai plant, respectively (yes, you read that right).

Awe definitely is packed with layers, with each character building-up the premise. It already teases some sleek and crisp cinematography. The plot, which is yet to be revealed, hints at some sort of a crazy puzzle.

Awe surprises with a line-up of incredible woman leading this suspense drama. Nithya Menen is at her best, Regina is all things goth and Kajal Aggarwal seems to be relishing sweet revenge of a kind (or rather, her character is).

Nani calls the content the 'hero', and we can't wait to watch how and why the various edgy characters of the movie come together.

The film has been the subject of much buzz since late 2017, ever since Nani introduced us to the project. Like the tagline of the film suggests, we truly are expecting the unexpected.

Directed by debutant Prasanth Varma, Nani turns producer for the first time with Awe.

Watch the teaser here:
A lawsuit has been filed against Harvey Weinstein which claims that the disgraced Hollywood producer hired an attorney to spy on actor Paz de la Huerta.

In November last year, Huerta had alleged that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010.

The complaint claims that Weinstein hired attorney Michael F Rubin to gain information from Huerta, reported Variety.

Rubin apparently also discouraged Huerta to not press charges against Weinstein.

Huerta is represented by attorney Aaron Filler and his firm Tensor Law has filed the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Filler claimed that Rubin interfered with his contractual relationship with Huerta, depriving him his legal fees of $20 million.

Rubin, however, has the dismissed the claims made in the lawsuit and said he has never met Weinstein.

"Every allegation in that lawsuit is false... I don't know Harvey Weinstein. I never met Harvey Weinstein. I had nothing but Paz de la Huerta's interests in mind. This guy is upset he lost a potential client," said Rubin.
Jodhpur/ Jaipur: Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of Rajasthan on Thursday (4 January) issued a death threat to Salman Khan, saying the Bollywood actor will be killed in Jodhpur.

"Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur... Then he will come to know about our real identity," Bishnoi told media persons while being taken to a Jodhpur court in police security.

Bishnoi was being produced in the court following his arrest on charges of terrorising traders and extorting them.

The gangster claimed that he had been framed in false cases and that to date, not even a single witness had deposed in the court to prove the charges.

"Now, if police want me to do some major crime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur," he added.

Bishnoi's death threat to Salman is being linked with the black buck killing case of 1998, in which Salman and his co-actors are accused. It was the Bishnoi community which had brought up the black buck hunting case, and ever since the community considers the Bollywood actor a "villain".

However, some onlookers felt that the gangster talked of killing Salman just to create a sensation.

On Thursday, the actor appeared in the Jodhpur's Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Rural Court in connection with the hearing in the black buck poaching case.

Bishoi is a notious gangster and has been charged in over 20 cases of attempt to murder, carjacking, extortion, snatching and under the Arms Act in Punjab-Haryana belt.
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah will be on a three-day tour to the poll-bound north eastern states Meghalaya and Tripura, starting Saturday.

Shah will reach Meghalya on Saturday to address a public rally and inaugurate the party's office in Shillong.

He is also expected to address two rallies and attend party meetings in Tripura during his two-day stay on 7 and 8 January, a party leader said.

The polls in Tripura and Meghalaya, which have 60 Assembly seats each, is likely to be held in February.

In Tripura, the BJP has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling CPM, while in Meghalaya it is in contest with the Congress.

Several MLAs, including those from the Congress, have joined the BJP ahead of the polls.
Lucknow: Terming the Centre and Maharashtra government of being "casteist" in nature, BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday accused the latter of trying to save the two main accused in the violence that took place at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune in which one person was killed.

Milind Ekbote of Samast Hindu Aghadi and Sambhaji Bhide, the founder of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, were booked under relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly "orchestrating" the violence at the anniversary celebrations of the battle fought 200 years ago in Bhima-Koregaon.

In a statement in Lucknow on Saturday, Mayawati said, "Non-acceptance of holding a discussion on Bhima-Koregaon incident in the Rajya Sabha (as demanded by the BSP), shows the casteist attitude of the both the Centre and Maharashtra government."

"If the Maharashtra government failed in giving protection to the Dalits, the Centre failed to fix responsibility," she said.

The BSP supremo also claimed that despite an FIR registered against the two leaders, no arrests have been made so far.

"This proves that the BJP government in Maharashtra is trying to save the culprits," she said.

Mayawati claimed that people in Gujarat have given a befitting reply to the BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, and the people in Maharashtra, too, are fed-up with their government.

"This will not stop here, as under the BJP governments, atrocities against Dalits, poor and backward castes are continuing," she said.
Shillong: Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma on Friday accused the BJP-led NDA central government at the Centre of trying to legalise immigrants by proposing to amend the Citizenship Act.

"On one hand they wanted to push illegal immigrants, but on the other, they wanted to legalise immigrants by amending the Citizenship Act. This is not acceptable to the people of Assam, Meghalaya and the Northeast," he told journalists after chairing a Cabinet meeting.

"If this Act is amended, the whole fallout will be on the Northeast. Do you think those immigrants from Bangladesh will go to Punjab, Kerala or Rajasthan? They will look at the Northeast as their destination," Sangma said.

He said that the government has instructed all deputy commissioners and superintendents of Police of the state districts bordering Assam to take all necessary measures to address the issue following the publication of first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

He said steps were being taken according to mandate of the law including the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016 that has been passed by the state Assembly as part of the comprehensive mechanisms to check influx and illegal immigrants.
Mumbai: Even as various pockets of Maharashtra witnessed unrest in the past few days, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday asserted that the law and order situation in the state was "absolutely good".

Over the past week, various pockets, especially the industrial ones like Pune and Mumbai, witnessed unruly mobs going on a rampage, damaging public property and bringing economic activity to a standstill through blockades.

The unrest began after a group of Dalits observing the 200th anniversary of an Anglo-Maratha battle were allegedly attacked on the outskirts of Pune.

"Even today, the law and order situation in Maharashtra is absolutely good, there is no problem with it," Fadnavis told reporters while addressing a curtain raiser event for a forthcoming investment summit to be hosted.

Various groups called a state-wide band on 3 January, which managed to shut down most areas of the state and also turned violent at some places, leaving two people dead and hundreds others injured.

Earlier, Fadnavis announced that Maharashtra is aiming to break into the trillion-dollar GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) league in the next 7-10 years, assuming that it can continue with its current growth of over 10 percent per annum.

At present, Maharashtra's GSDP is $ 400 billion.

"Businesses can vouch for it that nobody is troubling them. And that is the strength of Maharashtra. The people of Maharashtra is the strength of Maharashtra," he added.

Fadnavis said the state has "regained" its top spot in business now and announced the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence, a three-day summit next month, aimed at increasing investments in the state.

The three-day summit, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 February, will focus on future industries and sustainability, employment and infrastructure, and will have dedicated sessions.

He said the state has adopted an infrastructure-led development approach and will continue to stick to it.

Answering those sceptical of such summits, Fadnavis listed successes from the national-level 'Make in India' summit organised in Mumbai in 2016 to make his point.

He said 1,523 of the 2,984 memorandums of understanding signed with industry have fructified, which entail an investment of Rs 4.91 lakh crore (as against the overall Rs 8 lakh crore envisaged), and creation of 22 lakh jobs as against the target of 30 lakh.

Stating that statistics are a "befitting reply" to sceptics, Fadnavis said the MoUs do not convert into action immediately on the ground and it takes up to eight years before an industry may move.

He lauded the work done by the industries department, saying results achieved by it are 20 per cent above the rest.

Industries Minister Subhash Desai said the state accounts for 15 percent of the national GDP and contributes a fourth of the total exports of the country and was entrenched in all the major sectors and was focusing on the upcoming ones.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's chief executive Sanjay Sethi said heads of state and business leaders from across the globe are expected to attend the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence.

The state also announced awards for start-ups which aim to encourage newer businesses with over Rs 1 crore in prize money for the first three winners.
Four police officers were killed and two others injured on Saturday in a massive improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore, according to reports.

News18 reported that a police vehicle ran over the planted IED causing the explosion.

#BREAKING -- Four cops killed in a massive IED blast in Sopore, J&K | @islahmufti with more details pic.twitter.com/Fue5rMuXcR  News18 (@CNNnews18) January 6, 2018

More #visuals from Baramulla where 4 Policemen have lost their lives after an IED blast by terrorists in Sopore #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/BLybHzhaFl  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

Jammu and Kashmir IGP Munir Khan told Greater Kashmir that three shops were also damaged. The report quoted a source as saying that the IED was planted beneath a shop.

The report also identified three of the four policemen as ASI Irshad Ahmad from Doda, Muhammad Amin from Kupwara and Ghulam Nabi from Sopore.

A police officer told IANS that the injured were shifted to the hospital and a search operation is underway.

There was heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces in Sopore at the time of the incident to prevent any protests in view of the shutdown called by separatists on Saturday, reported The Indian Express.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the attack in a tweet.

Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families.  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) January 6, 2018

She also said that the policemen were killed when they were on duty to protect the people in the town. It is highly unfortunate to see, she added. "The vortex of violence in the state needs to be broken and for that every section of society has to work shoulder to shoulder," the chief minister said.

This comes just days after two heavily armed militants stormed a CRPF camp in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing a personnel and leaving two others injured.

The militants had attacked the 185th battalion camp of the Central Reserve Police Force in Awantipora around 2 am on 31 December. According to CRPF officials, the militants "were armed with under-barrel grenade launchers and automatic weapons". The camp also serves as training centre for troops inducted for counter-militancy operations in Kashmir Valley

With inputs from agencies
Hyderabad: An Islamic seminary based in Hyderabad, Jamia Nizamia, has issued a `fatwa' that Muslims should avoid eating prawns.

Prawns do not fall in the category of fish, and their consumption should be avoided, it said.

Jamia Nizamia, a century-old seminary, is a highly-respected Islamic institution in the city.

Fatwa is a legal pronouncement based on the Islamic law, issued usually when someone seeks to know the legal position on a particular issue.
Jakarta: India wants to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security and shared prosperity, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday as she called for a deeper economic integration with the "dynamic" ASEAN region.

Swaraj, who inaugurated the 5th Round Table of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) India Network of Think Tanks in Jakarta, emphasised on enhancing maritime security, trade and investment, education and cultural heritage among the grouping.

"These are important markers in our engagement with South East Asia, in enhancing our strategic ties with ASEAN across 3 Cs. These 3Cs are commerce, connectivity and culture", she said.

Swaraj, who arrived in Jakarta on Friday from Thailand on the second leg of her three-nation tour, said both India and ASEAN countries are maritime nations, with a rich and glorious history of maritime trade.

"We have energised our ancient links in a contemporary setting, to become a driving force in Asia's resurgence", she said.

"As a mature and responsible nation, one of Indias foreign policy interests, is to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security, and shared prosperity," she said.

"This was enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, in his vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region). It recognises the central role played by the seas and oceans around us in promoting sustainable economic progress in a secure and stable environment."

She said the India Pacific region is increasingly seen as a connectivity pathway  much of the worlds trade passes through these oceans.

"These waters must not only get better connected, but remain free from traditional and non-traditional threats, that impede free movement of people, goods and ideas. Respect for international law, notably UNCLOS, in ensuring this is, therefore imperative," she said.

She said India and ASEAN share a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain and New Delhi looks forward to working closely with the grouping in a range of activities.

She called for cooperation in blue economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She noted that a deeper economic integration with the "dynamic" ASEAN region, is an important aspect of India's Act East Policy.

ASEAN is India's 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of Indias total trade.

India is ASEAN's 7th largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 percent increase in 2016-17, as compared to the previous year.

She said India wants to promote dialogue among ASEAN and Indian business and trade associations to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

She invited the scholars, academics and think tanks present at the round table to offer new ideas, for a greater integration of ASEAN Economic Community with India and identify collaborative opportunities in investment, trade and services sector.

Swaraj also held talks with ASEAN Secretary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi as India steps up efforts to strengthen engagements with the countries of the region under its 'Act East' policy.
ELY  Sitting south of Ely on the way to Las Vegas is a convenience store and truck stop on Ely Shoshone Tribal land. Located there is Tsaa Nesunkwa, a medical marijuana dispensary that opened in October and now also sells recreational marijuana.

Tsaa Nesunkwa (pronounced zaah nuh-soon-gwa) is now Elkos closest marijuana dispensary, 188 miles south on U.S. Highway 93, although it does not show up on any online marijuana store maps or even the states posted list of stores.

It began selling medical marijuana Oct. 21 and started selling recreational products in early November. The dispensarys grand opening was Dec. 2.

The dispensary is the second one of its kind on tribal land in the state. The Ely Shoshone Tribe and Yerington Paiute tribes entered into a compact with the governor to sell marijuana after Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill 375 into law June 2.

The Las Vegas Paiute Tribe opened a 31-acre marketplace Oct. 16 on land purchased by the tribe.

The store

Not just anyone can pull off the road and browse through the dispensary as though it were a tourist stop.

The dispensary is in the back of the convenience store. Although signs point to an unmarked door, new customers wander around the building a few times or ask a truck stop employee for directions.

Customers who step into the small lobby with six green chairs immediately see a small counter and partially open window. No one can enter the dispensary until proper identification and/or a medical marijuana card is produced.

Signs also inform people of a few additional facts about the dispensary: Only those over 21 with ID are permitted; no loitering; no consuming marijuana products on the premise; and cameras are watching everything.

After documents are checked, ID is verified by the employees, and the customer signs in, the solid white door is unlocked and access to the dispensary is granted with a loud voice that announces the front door has been opened.

Open seven days a week, customer flow is steady and lets up for about five minutes before another wave comes in, said owner Trent Griffith, an Ely Shoshone tribal member.

On the walls and in the display counters, items range from glass water pipes to vape cartridges to rolling papers to tinctures to edibles. Anything sold must be placed in childproof bags that are white on the outside and silver-lined inside.

They are difficult to open, Griffith said.

All products are labeled with the amounts of CBD  cannabidiol; CBG  cannabigerol; and THC  tetrahydrocannabinol. They are also tested for pesticides. Only organic plants must be used in producing products, said Griffith, adding that if the products do not pass the test, they cannot be sold and must be destroyed per Nevada state law.

As far as I know, Nevada is one of the strictest for testing, Griffith said.

He and his three employees help customers locate different products for their needs, especially those seeking treatment for ailments.

We try to have what the people want, Griffith said. For some customers, it is cannabis without the chemical that produces a high.

CBD is non-psychoactive and works well for pain management, Griffith said, showing products like Trokies and edibles such as gummies, chocolates, throat lozenges and mouth spray.

A lot of people love Trokies because theyre so simple. You dont smoke it, Griffith explained, adding that some come in a ratio of 1-1 CBC to THC.

Because of the variety of medical conditions of customers, Griffith said he and his employees spend extra time working with them to find the right product.

One thing may work for them, one thing may not. So you really have to pinpoint what will work. Its almost like trial and error, he said.

Griffith and his staff use a diagram in the shape of a wheel to help customers find their ailment and the type of cannabis terpenes needed to treat it.

The medical patients are awesome about finding what works for them, Griffith said. Most of the ones we see suffer from cancer or surgery and have all kinds of medications [to take]. Theyve been able to ween themselves off medications with cannabis.

Not just humans can find pain relief in medical cannabis. Dog treats with CBD are also sold for pets to treat anti-inflammatory effects, pain, tumors, spasms, seizures, aggression and anxiety.

A lot of people love their pets and when they get old, they dont move around as much as they used to, Griffith said. You dont want to feed your pets THC because its not really good for them.

The need

Griffith said he sees the dispensary meeting more than one need in the community. The first is to provide a closer outlet for medical marijuana clients than Reno or Las Vegas.

A lot of them are so happy because were here locally [or] youd have to drive to Reno or Las Vegas, Griffith said, noting that customers have to spend extra money to travel, stock up on their limit and risk breaking the law for transporting an illegal substance.

We do have some good traffic from Elko, Griffith said, explaining that because of the heavy customer flow, he did not have exact numbers.

Its easier to come here that it is Reno.

Griffith said the dispensary also gives people an option to avoid black market marijuana, something he said can be dangerous for his medical clients.

I had a medical patient come in and say they tried something from the street and they didnt know what was in it, Griffith said. They said it must have been treated with chemicals or something. Thats not what they wanted, [and] they came back to us.

Finally, Griffith said the dispensary gave the tribe the ability to raise money for language programs, something that is needed to provide the tribes youth with a strong base.

In my opinion, the language and the culture go hand-in-hand  those programs will help the tribal youth have something to do.

The concept of using the stores name, which means to feel good, was to attach the Shoshone language to something big, like the dispensary, Griffith explained.

When nontribal members ask, What does it mean? it gets the conversation going, Griffith said.

Additionally, a portion of the tax revenue goes to the Boys and Girls Club. It was first offered to the City of Ely, which declined it. Griffith said he hopes the money will also benefit the youth of Ely.

Im hoping this store will help that program so we can help the greater community so they have something to do so they dont turn to alcohol and drugs, he said.

The response

Griffith said the store was well received by Ely residents, adding that medical marijuana customers were the ones who were breaking the stigma of marijuana.

The people suffering are using this as a medicine, and its working for them and thats really the number one thing, Griffith said.

One Shoshone tribal member, a recreational user who did not want to give his name, said he was supportive of the dispensary.

Its not hurting anyone as long as its monitored, he said, adding that the store keeps children safe from street drugs.

They dont have to deal with criminals or drug dealers, he said.

Another customer said he was from Elko and that he drives to Ely now to purchase medical marijuana for an ailing parent. He declined to give his name because his employer tests for marijuana, but said he wished Elko had a dispensary.

It would be nice if one was in Elko, he said. The other closest dispensary is in Reno.

Mark Caylor is a second-generation Ely resident and said he has no problem with the business.

I dont use it, but I think its great, Caylor said. I hope that we see a lot of good from the revenue  that its helping someone.

Dany Feinstein said she has lived in Ely for eight years and said she saw friends and family harmed more by meth, heroin and alcohol than marijuana.

Ive seen more damage done by alcohol and drugs, but I havent seen damage by people smoking pot, Feinstein said. I dont believe it causes harm.

The dispensary is something I never thought Id see in my lifetime, Feinstein said, adding that she supports medical marijuana and responsibility in using recreational marijuana.

Im not encouraging people to go out and smoke it, Feinstein said, but if someone wants to and theyre responsible.

We do have some good traffic from Elko. Its easier to come here that it is Reno.  Trent Griffith, owner{/blockquote}

We do have some good traffic from Elko. Its easier to come here that it is Reno.  Trent Griffith, owner
The Mumbai Police arrested Mojo's Bistro owner Yug Pathak on Saturday, a day after a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report revealed that the fire that killed 14 and injured 55 had actually originated at the high-end pub. Yug Pathak is reported to be the son of a retired DGP-rank IPS officer.

Yug Pathak, one of the owners of Mojo's Bistro has been arrested by Mumbai Police #KamalaMillsFire  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

Earlier on Saturday, the police had booked the owners of Mojo's Bistro for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the massive fire that took place on 29 December, 2017.

On Friday, a report by the Mumbai fire department stated that flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the blaze.

This report painted a completely different picture as compared to initial reports which had blamed the 1Above bar for the fire. The two pubs share a terrace space.

"On basis of the report by the fire bridge, we have booked the owners of Mojo's Bistro pub for culpable homicide," deputy commissioner of police and spokesperson of the Mumbai Police Sachin Patil had said.

According to a senior police official, Pathak and Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli own Mojo's Bistro.

Additional commissioner of police (Central Region) S Jaykumar told PTI that the owners were booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code in the case that was registered on 29 December.

Earlier, the police had booked 1Above owners Hitesh Sanghvi and Jigar Sanghvi, and co-owner Abhijeet Manka and others on various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304, 337, 338, 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The case was registered against the three at the NM Joshi Marg police station.

On Friday, the police had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information about the three owners of 1Above who are absconding.

With inputs from agencies
Mumbai: Police have booked the owners of Mojo's Bistro for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with December's massive fire in Kamala Mills compound, a day after a probe revealed that the blaze started from the high-end pub.

On Friday, a report by the Mumbai fire department stated that flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the deadly blaze, which claimed 14 lives on 29 December.

"On basis of the report by the fire bridge, we have booked owners of Mojo's Bistro pub for culpable homicide," Deputy Commissioner of Police and spokesperson of Mumbai Police Sachin Patil said.

A senior police official gave the names of Mojo's Bistro pub owners as Yug K Pathak and Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli.

Yug Pathak's statement was recorded last week, he said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region) S Jaykumar said the owners were booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) in the same case registered on 29 December.

Earlier, the police had booked owners of 1Above pub, Hitesh Sanghvi and Jigar Sanghvi, co-owner Abhijeet Manka and others on various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

On Friday, the police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information about Jignesh Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, who are absconding.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad was on Saturday sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined Rs 5 lakh by a special CBI court in the second fodder scam case.

On 23 December, 2017, the special CBI court had convicted the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and 15 others in a case related to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury in Bihar between 1990 and 1994. The former chief minister of Bihar has been lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi since his conviction in the second case.

The quantum of punishment was pronounced on Saturday after being postponed twice this week.

Here is a timeline of the key developments in the case:


Kolkata: With RJD supremo Lalu Prasad sentenced to three and a half years jail in a fodder scam case, the CBI's retired Joint Director (East) Upen Biswas on Saturday said he was certain that the offenders would be punished as there was very strong documentary evidence against them.

Biswas, who had relentlessly pursued Lalu Prasad and others accused in the fodder scam, said crores of rupees were taken from the treasury by the offenders to supply fodder by floating false tenders.

"It is one of the most strong cases in the history of the CBI. There was plenty of documentary evidence against the accused. So someone or the other was bound to get punished in this case," Biswas said after the verdict was announced.

"It was found that false tender was floated and the treasury did not have any record of the money spent on fodder... So we knew that the offenders would be punished," he added.

A special CBI court sentenced the former Bihar chief minister to jail and imposed two fines of Rs 5 lakh each on him in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury of then undivided Bihar.
Srinagar: Denouncing the killing of four policemen in an IED blast in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged the people to work shoulder to shoulder to break the "vortex of violence" in the state.

These young policemen were killed when they were on duty to protect the people in the town. It is highly unfortunate to see, Mufti said.

"The vortex of violence in the state needs to be broken and for that every section of society has to work shoulder to shoulder," the chief minister said.

She wrote on Twitter,

Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families.

 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) January 6, 2018

Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants went off in Sopore in north Kashmir. Militants had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the 'Chotta Bazaar' and 'Bada Bazaar' in Sopore in Baramulla district and detonated it when policemen reached the scene, an official said. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted,

Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 6, 2018

J-K Congress chief GA Mir condemned the killing and said the incident had exposed the tall claims of the Mehbooba

government about the Kashmir situation being normal. The central and J&K governments were engaged in

concealing the truth, he alleged.
Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated and laid foundation stones of around 750 projects, worth more than Rs 500 crore, in Khagaria and Begusarai districts of the state.

As part of his 'Vikas Samiksha Yatra', Kumar began the day with a tour of Gauchhari Kataha village in Khagaria, where he flagged off 294 projects worth Rs 236 crore.

Later, at Barbigghi village in Begusarai, he inaugurated another 462 projects totalling around Rs 321 crore, an official release said.

The chief minister addressed public meetings at both the places, and laid stress on eradicating social evils like dowry and child marriage, against which his government has launched a campaign.

He also spoke about the state government's measures for women empowerment and schemes introduced for young boys and girls pursuing studies or in search of employment after completing education.
It is all very well for a parliamentary committee to indict Indias private airlines for arbitrary practices but it is the government itself that gave the okay for deregulation in the aviation sector. It began this process in 1986 and by 1994 the cluster of private carriers had grown exponentially and was carrying nine times the passenger load into the new open skies era.

With the changing rules, dynamic pricing or what the industry calls flexible pricing or cleverly, surge strategy, came to stay. Shorn of its verbal finery it is just plain price gouging. Spikes as high as 400 percent in festive periods or school holidays or even acts of force majeure (in August fares to Chandigarh and Amritsar rose dramatically because of the Dera violence as did the fares to Mumbai because of Ganesh Chaturthi and the North East because of floods.) The DGCA had to step in on two occasions to order the airlines to back off. Time-based pricing is an accepted practice.

That airlines have no sense of decency and would even exploit a calamity has been known for years so floods, quakes, riots, ash clouds, drought, war, these are often good news for airline bean counters.

The Indian MPs sound good to the public like they care but the airlines are not duty bound to listen and would only do so by way of insincere promise to stay in the good books of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. A month after Minister of State Mahesh Sharma had announced that fares would soon be capped his boss, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Ganapathi Raju has backed off any such move. Even in the ministry, theyre not on the same page.

He was quoted as saying that competition between airlines would take care of this issue. In a perfect world maybe but the cartel element in aviation springs into action and all airlines follow suit spurred as they are by yield, come hail, storm celebration or adversity. No airline has stood its ground and said the passenger comes first. Nor will they.

Herein lies the irony. The minister believes that some carrier with its heart in the right place will snub the others and earn goodwill by keeping its fares at a lower level. It does not happen, not even with the government-owned Air India which has been known to spurt upwards during the Diwali, Christmas-New Year phase. Consequently, it is only a piece of tinsel thought and has no basis in reality. It is as impractical as expecting passengers not to fly because they are being fleeced. Boycotts are not feasible even though the US has seen some such groundswells of such action during the Hurricane Irma days when carriers upped the cost of tickets.

The minister then goes on to say that such a command would jeopardise the regional transportation network which is clearly close to the governments heart with 32 airports derelict and non-functional at present. There is no connection between opportunistic greed disguised as a legitimate market practice and adopting new routes. Fly the right aircraft on the right routes with a studied schedule and connectivity will zip across the length and breadth of the country.

The excuse is threadbare and city and town pairings that suit political agendas are never really going to fly with a carrier. A token agreement to absorb a certain route may be undertaken because that state or the Centre will offer some counter sop to that airline, some major compensatory concession to keep its bottom line in the black.

Airlines are a business and they will run to make a profit. The only way to keep them from going berserk with their price surges is to boycott them as passengers and sit out their venal periods. Highly impractical but there is no other way once you have deregulated the skies. The government, to be honest, has no say in the matter and this seasonal piracy will not disappear because a committee has made mewling sounds.
New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi will visit Bahrain on 8 January as part of his outreach to the Indian diaspora and will also meet the country's prime minister, Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.

Congress sources said Rahul's visit is part of his interactions with Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs). Gulf countries have the biggest Indian diaspora of more than 35 lakh.

Rahul will be chief guest at the three-day valedictory function organised by 'Global Organisation of People of India Origin' (GOPIO) on 8 January. Delegates from 50 countries are participating in the event.

The sources said the Crown Prince and First Deputy Premier Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa will host the lunch for Gandhi.

Apart from meeting the Bahrain prime minister, Rahul is also likely to meet King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Gandhi will also have an interactive session with business leaders of Indian origin.

It will be Rahul's first foreign visit since his elevation as party chief in December. Gandhi had visited the US in September and addressed students.

Rahul's outreach is being seen as a move to popularise Congress among the large Indian diaspora. Prime Minister Narendra Modi engages with the diaspora during his visits abroad.
Mumbai: While the Pune police has registered a case against Jignesh Mevani for a "provocative speech", Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the Gujarat MLA was not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district on 1 January.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader, said there was tension in the area even prior to the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on 1 January.

Dalits visiting the war memorial at Bhima-Koregaon had reportedly come under attack on 1 January. Dalit leaders had blamed certain pro-Hindutva leaders, who were opposed to the anniversary celebrations, for the attacks, while the latter sought to blame Mevani's "provocative speech", which was delivered a day earlier.

"Jignesh is not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon. There was tension in the area prior to 1 January. I had visited the place and the tension had eased. So, I had returned to Delhi on 31 December. On the same day, Jignesh had delivered his speech at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune. He had not gone to Bhima-Koregaon. Some groups had held a meeting at night and the violence took place on 1 January," the Union minister of state for social justice said.

"I have congratulated Jignesh on his Assembly election victory. It is good that a young, fresh Dalit face is emerging. My advice to him is that he should focus on uniting the society and not dividing it," said Athawale, who heads a faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

On Mevani's demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the 1 January anti-Dalit violence, Athawale said, "It is not necessary that the prime minister should comment on every development. After the Una incident (where Dalits were assaulted by cow vigilantes), Modi had criticised it."

Fadnavis had assured him that those responsible for the Bhima-Koregaon violence would be punished and accepted his demand of compensation for those whose properties were damaged, the Union minister said.

Athawale also said he was going to organise a "social harmony conference" in Pune on 13 January.

Referring to a demand put forward by some leaders of the Maratha community, he said he was open to a debate on the "misuse" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If Dalits and tribals were treated with respect, there would not be any need for such a law, Athawale said, while ruling out the possibility of its abolition at present.

The 3 January Maharashtra shutdown against the Bhima-Koregaon violence had put the Dalit community's strength in focus, the Union minister said.

"If Dalits can come together to voice their anger, the RPI factions can also do so to lend political strength to the community," he added.

He was ready to work under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar (who had called for the Maharashtra Bandh on 3 January), Athawale said, adding, "United, we can decide if we should contest elections independently or align with the BJP or the Congress."

The Pune police has lodged an FIR against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged provocative speeches during the "Elgar Parishad", organised in the city on 31 December to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

The FIR was registered under IPC section 153(a) (promoting enmity between two groups).

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory over the Peshwa's army at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.
New Delhi: A Gurugram court will pronounce on Monday its order on the bail application of a 16-year-old student, accused of killing a seven-year-old student at Ryan International School.

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu reserved the order after hearing arguments of the counsel for the accused, the CBI and the complainant.

The defence counsel claimed the charge sheet in the matter was not filed within one month, as prescribed in the Juvenile Justice Act, and he was not given required documents.

Opposing the contention, the CBI said the mandatory period for filing a charge sheet is 90 days under CrPC provisions.

The counsel for the CBI said that "circumstances have changed" as the accused had been declared an adult by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB). Therefore, the charge sheet needed to be filed within three months.

Seeking dismissal of the bail plea, the CBI said the JJB order to try the accused as an adult spoke about his mental status and the fact that he committed a heinous crime.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for the Class 2 student's father Barun Thakur, questioned the maintainability of the application and said the accused should file a fresh bail plea before the court due to the changed circumstances.

On the contention of the accused that necessary documents were not provided to him, the CBI said the records had already been produced before the court and the accused never demanded any paper, nor any direction was passed by the court in this regard.

The Class 2 student was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom on 8 September last year.

The Gurugram Police had claimed the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which was later refuted by the CBI.

The probe agency had claimed the teenager had killed the seven-year-old in a bid to get the school closed so that a parent-teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the accused against an order of the JJB denying him bail. Tekriwal had said the appeal for bail was at a "premature stage" as the investigation was yet to be concluded.

The JJB had on 20 December held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurugram sessions court.

The JJB had noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions. If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 years old after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, it had said.

The board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 Ryan International School student.

It had set up a committee which included a psychologist from the PGI, Rohtak, for an expert opinion on the accused, who was taken into custody by the CBI in November 2017.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 lowers the age of juveniles from 18 years to 16 years for heinous crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity-cum-murder, which warrant at least seven years of imprisonment.

However, the JJB first decides whether the crime was "child-like" or was it committed in an "adult frame of mind", following which it orders the accused to be tried as juvenile or adult.
ELKO  A policy shift that puts federal prosecutors in charge of enforcing marijuana laws could put groups such as Tribal Cannabis Consulting into a holding pattern while we seek government to government communication and guidance, said Cassandra Dittus, co-founder and president of the group working with tribes to begin marijuana sales in Nevada.

On Jan. 4, Attorney General Jeff Sessions lifted the Obama-era policy that guided federal attorneys not to prosecute marijuana charges in states where the drug is legal. Nevada voters approved to legalize marijuana in 2016.

We would hope that the tribal programs that are up and running in the state of Nevada would not be an enforcement priority for the Department of Justices resources as the programs are very robustly regulated and not a threat or a danger to the community, Dittus said Jan. 5.

The community desires this, the voters approved this and the tribal program is extremely regulated, she added.
New Delhi: On a day an IED blast claimed the lives of four policemen in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress questioned the recent covert meeting of the NSAs of India and Pakistan and alleged that the BJP-led Centre has "singularly failed" to protect the country's defence personnel.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said not a day goes without attacks on Army, paramilitary and police men and all that the government has to offer are "boastful" statements and tall claims.

"The accountability of this government will have to be established. This government has singularly failed to reassure the country of its ability to protect defence establishments and personnel.

"We are completely in the dark as to what was discussed during the recent meeting between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart (retired Lt Gen) Nasser Khan Janjua. There have been similar meetings in the past. What has been their outcome?" Sharma asked.

Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants went off in Sopore town in north Kashmir on Saturday, an official said.

Five CRPF men were killed on 31 December when heavily armed terrorists carried out a suicide attack on a camp of the paramilitary force in Pulwama in south Kashmir.
Within hours of US announcing a massive $1.2 billion cut in security aid to Pakistan, US envoy to India Kenneth Juster met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in New Delhi in the early hours of Friday to discuss how the move would impact India.

According to a report in The Wire, the two diplomats discussed the latest developments, including US move to slash military aid to Pakistan over its "inaction" against the Taliban and Haqqani network.

Another report in The Times of India mentioned that the external affairs ministry had made no statement about the meeting or the US decision so far. The report also quoted sources as saying that the reason behind this could be that both US and India did not want to "gloat" or humiliate Pakistan further and that India has reasons to be pleased with the US decision.

It is a welcome first step. (We) hope it will get Rawalpindi (Pakistans military) thinking, a senior official told The Hindu.

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending $1.15 billion worth security assistance to Pakistan until the country resolves to fight against local militants who have attacked US troops in Afghanistan. On Saturday, reports claimed that the cut could go up to $2 billion and will also include funding granted to Islamabad to help US fight the war in Afghanistan.

In response, the Pakistan government had reacted strongly, accusing the US of betrayal and decried "arbitrary deadlines" and "unilateral pronouncements". In an interview on Thursday with the Geo News channel, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said that the US was now neither a friend nor ally, but "a friend who always betrays". Earlier, he had accused Trump of "speaking the language of India".

US Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul announced on Friday, that he will introduce a bill that would eliminate US aid to Pakistan and set the money aside for infrastructure funds to build roads in the US. To this, Donald Trump extended his support calling it a "good idea".

Im introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home. pic.twitter.com/SHlA00rWEd  Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 4, 2018

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes days after US president Donald Trump, in a new year tweet, accused Pakistan of giving nothing but "lies and deceit" to the US and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for $33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

Prominent among the suspended amount includes $255 million in foreign military funding for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by Congress. In addition, the Department of Defence has suspended the entire $900 million of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017.

With inputs from agencies
Lucknow: Facing flak for giving a bright saffron coat of paint to the boundary wall of the UP Haj Committee office in Lucknow, the BJP-led state government on Saturday went into damage control mode and admitted "laxity" on part of the contractor tasked with the job.

"Secretary of the UP Haj Committee RP Singh has taken immediate cognisance of the matter, and issued directives for its rectification," a statement issued by the government said.

Singh said, "There was laxity by the contractor in the painting and maintenance work of the UP Haj Committee office. On inspecting the boundary wall of the office, it was found that there has been laxity, and a dark shade of paint has been used contrary to the instructions issued".

"Further painting of the boundary wall has been stopped, and instructions have been issued to officials that painting and maintenance of the boundary wall should be done as per directives," he said.

He also ordered action be initiated against the erring contractor.

The boundary wall of the Uttar Pradesh Haj office, opposite the state legislature building in the heart of the capital, had been given a saffron look overnight, days after the secretariat building facade was given the same coat.

The work was done by the UP estates department late on Thursday night and the Haj office staff was not immediately available for a reaction, Friday being a holiday.

The saffron colour, mostly associated with Hinduism and especially with the Sangh Parivar of which the ruling BJP is a part, was also painted on the front portion of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan Annexe where the offices of the chief minister and top bureaucrats are located.

The move prompted the opposition Samajwadi Party to accuse the BJP government of indulging in "blatant saffronisation".

"The BJP is a party known for changing colours. It is indulging in these antics only to hide its faults and failures. If the BJP really considers the saffron colour as sacrosanct, it should not indulge in the politicisation of the colour and indulge in blatant saffronisation," SP spokesman Sunil Singh Sajan said.

All India Shia Personal Law Board spokesperson Yasoob Abbas took strong exception to the change in colour.

"What is this? The BJP will paint it saffron, the SP will choose green and the BSP blue...This is politics of colour and should be avoided," he said.

Commenting on the matter, the lone Muslim minister in the UP government had on Friday said, "I fail to understand the problem of those having issues with the new colour. Is saffron an anti-national colour? Saffron is a colour which symbolises 'ujala' (brightness) and 'urja' (energy)".

"When the first rays of the Sun fall on the Earth, it comes with saffron light," Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mohsin Raza had said.

"Saffron is a colour, which is synonymous with positivity. It is a gift of God. I think those who are against the usage of saffron colour on the (boundary) wall of the UP Haj committee office, may also object to saffron on the national tricolour," he said.

"This is peculiar politics. After all, only the outer wall of the government office has been painted and not the building or any personal property of any individual," he said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has landed in trouble over a tweet in which he referred to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as "Jaitlie". A privilege motion against Rahul has been forwarded to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The privilege motion was served by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Bhupendra Yadav, who accused Rahul of using "derogatory" language against Jaitley, The Indian Express reported. The privilege motion was raised in the Rajya Sabha, and chairman of the Upper House, M Venkaiah Naidu, has referred the matter to the Lok Sabha since Rahul is a member of the Lower House, the report added.

On 27 December 2017, Rahul had tweeted: Dear Mr 'Jaitlie' - thank you for reminding India that our prime minister never means what he says or says what he means", in reponse to Jaitley's statement in Rajya Sabha.

Dear Mr Jaitlie - thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies pic.twitter.com/I7n1f07GaX  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 27, 2017

Rahul's remarks was in reference to Jaitleys statement after an agreement to end an impasse in the Upper House was reached between the treasury and Opposition benches over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh during the Gujarat Assembly election campaign.

Moving the privilege notice, Yadav had said that, "The members of this House have dignity. The name of the Leader of the House Arun Jaitley has been intentionally published by the Congress president with malafide intentions to defame this House."

"The way his (Jaitley's) name has been twisted by the Congress President on his Twitter handle, it comes in the category of (breach of) privilege. There are precedents such as that of NC Chatterjee in 1954," he said.

During Zero Hour on the last day of the Winter Session, Yadav wanted to know the fate of his privilege notice, to which Naidu replied saying it was under his consideration.

"Your notice is under my consideration. I have already told you, I will be taking action immediately, but it's not within the purview of Rajya Sabha, finally it has to go to Lok Sabha. I will take necessary decision at the earliest," the chairman had said.

With inputs from agencies
The bunker, one of the most enduring symbols of the raging conflict in Kashmir, has now become a cultural objet.

The model of a bunker has been installed at the centre of the armaments section of the new building of the SPS Museum, established in 1896 during the Dogra monarchy, in Srinagar.

The bunker installation is an octagonal wooden cabin; strips of glass and square cutouts provide visitors a peek inside. If it were not for an A4-size computer printout that reads Bunker Model/ Wooden/ Kashmir, one would mistake it for an office cubicle.

Overlooking the bunker model from display cases are Dogra-era daggers, swords, knives, shields, a mace, rifles and pistols. A vintage machine gun and a small 18th century canon are the other objets in the armaments section of the museum, which is housed in a Dogra Maharajas summer guest house that suffered damages in the 2014 flood. Several artifacts are still to be shifted to the new building.

The word model in the bunkers description needs some explanation. For Muhammad Zahid, director  archives and museums, the model simply means a model of the bunkers that have, like elsewhere, been an integral part of any places martial history.

It shows continuity. Bunkers were present in the Mughal period. They are present today also, said Zahid.

Probably underscoring this continuity, noted Kashmiri short story writer, the late Akhtar Mohiuddin, once told a writer, pointing to the medieval Afghan-era fort on the Haripart Hill, This was the first bunker in Kashmir.

However, the make of the model bunker at the museum has a contemporary resonance.

In 2002, when there was relative calm in the Valley  so much so that the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed declared normalcy  the government decided to gradually remove the majority of the sand bunkers in the city and beautify those that had to stay.

Tourism authorities had told the government that the citys landscape, dotted with sand bunkers, looked menacing to the tourists.

It was felt that it would be difficult to convince a potential tourist that Kashmir was safe for travel when bunkers  a sign of war  were everywhere. The customary olive green netting that covered a bunker, the razor wire that girded it and a machine gun barrel that protruded from a slit are hardly inspiring.

The government then decided to beautify bunkers, to meld them into the landscape. Thus, the model bunker came into being.

To the sand bunkers was added a layer of wooden paneling from the outside. These bunkers started looking like a watchmans cabin. At some places, which demanded bigger bunkers, bricks replaced sand bags. The ugly cousin of the model bunker can still be seen at a few places, though.

The model bunker at the museum, said Zahid, is a work in progress. The other missing ingredients of a typical bunker will be added to it in the near future.

The idea of putting up a bunker in the armaments section was conceived during the consultations with a renowned firm, M/S Matrika Design Collaborative, Mumbai.

Once completed, the bunker diorama at the museum will mimic a typical Srinagar street of the '90s, only that the model bunker would be, aesthetically at least, not so repulsive.

When the insurgency erupted in 1990, the state apparatus had nearly collapsed. Gradually, however, the state started to assert its authority. The bunker was one such measure to reclaim the place that had nearly slipped out of control.

No security agency has kept a count of how many bunkers were constructed during the early years of the militancy. But there were several hundred scattered across every nook and corner of the city.

To give you an idea about the density, there were four bunkers on the four corners of the bridge at Nawab Bazar, where I was born and brought up. One of these bunkers gradually overtook the uninhabited house of an affluent local family. Then there were two bunker-lings at the mouth of two small lanes of the mohalla. These were day posts. A single trooper manned each during the day before retreating into the biggest one at dusk. Over the years, only the biggest one, which had the house as a bonus, remained. It was finally dismantled about five years ago.

The bunkers had become training targets for new recruits or newly-arrived-from-Pakistan militants.

About 200 metres from the Nawab Bazar bunker cluster, there was one at Zaldagar. About the same distance, toward the right of the biggest Nawab Bazar bunker, there were two more on either side of the SMHS Hospital bridge. Then there was one at each of the four entrances to the hospital and Government Medical College complex.

This was, more or less, the case for every major mohalla in Srinagar.

Bunkers had become so integral to the life in the city, that they were new addresses. Even today, in Bemina, where I live currently, the ugly sand bags-and-net bunker outside a migrant Kashmiri Pandits house is cited more than the name of the residential colony, Gousia Colony, as a landmark. People say, 'Batte bunkaras nish' (near the Pandit bunker).
New Delhi: Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken on Saturday filed an objection to nomination of Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha candidate ND Gupta for allegedly holding an office of profit.

In his objection filed with the returning officer, Maken claimed that Gupta is "currently holding the office of a Trustee of the National Pension System Trust. He was appointed on 30 March".

Gupta, along with two other Rajya Sabha candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party, Sanjay Singh and Sushil Gupta, had filed nomination papers on 4 January. The scrutiny of the nominations is Saturday.

"ND Gupta's nomination is liable to be rejected under Section 36 of Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 read with Article 102 of the Constitution," Maken claimed.

Meanwhile, AAP said that Maken was trying to gain "cheap publicity" through "frivolous" objections as the law does not forbid trustees from contesting. "Section 3, clause (L) of Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, gives exemption to a trustee from disqualification under office of profit," AAP leader Raghav Chadha tweeted.

"Also, the returning officer is not the competent authority to adjudicate on office of profit; Election Commission is. Frivolous objections to gain cheap publicity by Congress," he added.
New Delhi: Defending Rahul Gandhi over his tweet against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Congress today said if it attracted a privilege notice, then the BJP should be held guilty on many such counts.

Hitting back at the ruling party, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Vice President Hamid Ansari during the recent Gujarat polls.

His response came after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah sent a privilege notice against the Congress president moved by BJP Rajya Sabha member Bhupinder Yadav to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for further action.

"If it comes to privilege, ministers in the government have made many such comments which will attract privilege notices. The prime minister made inappropriate remarks against people who held constitutional posts.

"Later, the finance minister said that the prime minister did not mean what he said. If political comments and tweets have to become privilege matters then the ruling party stands exposed and shall invite many breach of privilege notices," Sharma told reporters.

Naidu had sent the privilege notice against Gandhi to Mahajan while holding that "prima facie there is an issue of privilege", according to sources.

Gandhi had tweeted:
Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the "fight" in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state would be between between two ideologies - communalism and secularism.

"It's not between Siddaramaiah versus BJP, it is not between me versus Narendra Modi... it is not between Siddaramaiah and Yeddyurappa; it is between two ideologies - Congress versus BJP," he told reporters in Chikkamagalur.

He termed the Congress a secular party and said, "We believe in secularism and are committed to it, while the BJP is a communal party."

"This is the ideological difference between the BJP and the Congress. The fight would be between communalism and secularism," Siddaramaiah said.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are scheduled this year.

The chief minister reiterated that the government would take stringent action against organisations instigating "communal sentiments" in the state.

"Any organisation that instigates communal sentiments, the government will be merciless against them, in accordance with the law," he said.

Siddaramaiah's comments come at a time when the coastal region of the state remained on the edge over a spate of killings of "Hindu activists".

In the latest incident, 28-year-old Deepak Rao, who was associated with the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, was hacked to death by a four-member gang on Wednesday, following which simmering tension prevailed in Dakshina Kannada district.
New Delhi: The Congress on Friday held the BJP responsible for the impasse in the Rajya Sabha due to which the triple talaq bill could not be taken up, and accused the ruling party of trying to use Parliament as a "rubber stamp".

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, people could see ministers stalling proceedings leading to an impasse for the last three days and the triple talaq bill could not be taken up.

"They (the ruling BJP) are squarely responsible for this impasse in the Rajya Sabha. For the first time, Union ministers and (ruling party) MPs were seen standing in the Rajya Sabha and stalling Parliament," he told reporters.

Azad said the government was responsible for the situation and the House not being able to take the triple talaq bill for sending it to a select committee for further scrutiny.

"The BJP does not want to pass the triple talaq bill. So, they are using it as a tool of propaganda against the Congress. The bill is not in favour of Muslim women as it renders them helpless after putting their husbands in jail, with nobody to fend for them," he said.

The Congress leader said the current bill does not have provisions for taking care of Muslim women, whose husbands would be sent to jail for instant triple talaq.

"This is the first time that the Winter Session and the Budget Session will be held in the same month. This is due to the government's delay in holding the Winter Session," he said.

Holding the central government responsible for the impasse in Parliament, Azad said the ruling party did not allow the bill to be sent to a parliamentary committee, where every party is consulted to scrutinise bills introduced by them.

"Unfortunately, the BJP doesn't believe in parliamentary democracy," he alleged.

Azad said for the first time, the Opposition had an overwhelming majority and the ruling party had an absolute minority in the House, and it was the Opposition which wanted voting on the bill while the government was opposing it.

He said the BJP was averse to sending the bill for scrutiny and this "brazenly displays the party's insecurity in democratic procedures".

In the matter of triple talaq bill, Azad said the government states that the onus of aggrieved wife's sustenance lies on the jailed husband. But BJP government neither explains how this is possible nor takes responsibility of the aggrieved wife's financial securities.

He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of converting his cabinet into a campaign committee for Gujarat polls at the cost of delaying parliamentary proceedings.

Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Deepender Singh Hooda alleged that the government was not taking Parliament seriously and was using it only as a "rubber stamp".

"They do not believe in Parliament. Today we are seeing an 'ordinance raj', where the BJP government has laid out the highest number of ordinances. They want to treat Parliament as a rubber stamp" he told reporters.

Hooda said all the BJP has to do is hold a discussion on the bill and pass it.

"But the BJP does not believe in discussion at all!" he alleged.

During UPA II, Hooda said, 71 bills were sent to standing committees, where those were scrutinised by all political parties, but the BJP, in this session, has hardly sent a single bill to such a panel.

GST is a prime example of consequences of when a law is not scrutinised, as there have been 301 rules that have been changed, he said.

"We, in the Congress, will continue to strongly oppose the constant undermining of the Constitution and Parliament by the BJP," he said.
Mumbai: The Congress party in the state on Friday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds for failing to prevent the violence that occurred at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on 1 January.

"The state government failed to prevent this incident. We discussed the chain of events leading to the violence and how the government had failed to take precautionary steps," Congress' state chief Ashok Chavan said on Friday.

Demanding Fadnavis' resignation, Chavan added that all leaders of the Congress in the state were unanimous that the violence was a failure of the state machinery.

Chavan alleged that attempts to stoke caste tensions in the state have been going on for the past three years in connivance with the government. He claimed that the government was not taking action against those involved.

Informing about the party's plan to have district-wise shibirs (camps), Chavan said that the party wanted newly-elected chief Rahul Gandhi to address meetings in the state. He added that Gandhi might visit Western Maharashtra soon.

Chavan also accused the government of "going soft" on investigations in the Kamala mill compound fire which claimed 14 lives.
To invest in the future of Elko County, Barrick Gold Corp. committed to donating $100,000 to the Community Foundation of Elko County fund at the nonprofits second annual meeting Jan. 4 at the Western Folklife Center.

Its a real honor for Barrick to take the lead on this, said Katie Neddenriep, Barricks corporate social responsibility manager, who serves as chair of the fund advisory committee. This is our investment in the future of Elko.

The mining company has already paid one installment of $25,000 and plans to donate the rest over the next year. Barrick is also contributing $16,000 to the organizations operating fund over four years.

Were proud to be the initial corporate sponsor, said Rebecca Darling, Barrick director of corporate responsibility. We would challenge  in a friendly, loving way  for other businesses to join us.

The Community Foundation of Elko County formed in December 2015 with the mission of strengthening Elko County through philanthropy and leadership and connecting people who care with causes that matter.

As a rural affiliate of a larger group, the Community Foundation of Elko County is administered by the Community Foundation of Western Nevada. A local board helps oversee a permanent endowment fund, supported by individual, legacy, estate and business donations. Interest generated from the fund is granted to Elko County organizations.

I like to call it a retirement plan for our community, Neddenriep said.

The total local endowment announced Jan. 4 was $48,913, up from about $16,000 the previous year.

From the available resources, the organization gave two $500 grants to area groups selected from a pool of 12 applicants.

We just wanted to award all of them, but we had to make choices, said Ben Reed, Elko police chief who serves on the fund advisory committee. He explained that even though the donations might have been small this first year, every one of those dollars counts.

Recipients of the first grants were the North East Nevada NAMI, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Local Animal Shelter Support Organization.

NAMI representative Flora Boyer said the grant was meaningful to the organization because mental illness hits one in five Americans at one time in their life. We are grateful and thank you so much.

LASSO president Curtis Calder, also the Elko city manager, said the donation was combined with other funding to help provide lower-cost spay and neuter operations.

These are organizations that strengthen the fabric of our community, said Elko City Councilman Reece Keener. This fund provides a mechanism for sustainability.

For more information, visit nevadafund.org or call Neddenriep at 775-340-4654.

I like to call it a retirement plan for our community.  Katie Neddenriep, Barricks corporate social responsibility manager and Community Foundation of Elko County advisory committee chair
Mumbai: The Opposition parties on Saturday took serious umbrage at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Ajoy Mehta's shocking statement that he was under pressure "to go slow" on the probe into the pub fire that killed 14 on 29 December, 2017.

Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam lashed out at Mehta and challenged him to "reveal" and expose the politician who pressurised the civic body, ruled by the Shiv Sena.

"Mehta should not talk like a politician. Don't make vague statements. Disclose the names of those who pressurised you to drag the probe," Nirupam said.

"I reiterate that he is responsible for the incident and must be booked for it," Nirupam said.

He also asked the BMC chief to declare all the names of the owners of the 17-18 high-end pubs and bars functioning within the Kamala Mills compound which was the scene of the inferno last week that left another 55 injured.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande demanded that Mehta should be made to undergo "narco test" to get to the truth in the matter.

"Who called up Mehta 'to go slow' on the action against illegal constructions in the Kamala Mills compound, whether it's from the ruling (Shiv Sena) or the Opposition 'bhaiyyas' (Congress)," Deshpande asked.

However, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said he has asked him "not to succumb to any pressures" and continue the drive against illegal constructions in the city.

"Its outrageous to announce a reward (for the absconders)... They are not terrorists, the police department's role is in question," Thackeray added, indirectly hitting out at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who handles the home portfolio.

On the other hand, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said the Mumbai Fire Brigade's report "would be studied in detail to ascertain whether it is accurate or not" before it could be discussed.

Mehta's controversial statement was made late Friday after the fire brigade submitted its probe report into the pub blaze.

The fire brigade report has clearly confirmed that the blaze erupted in Mojo's Bistro and quickly spread to the adjacent 1Above and other premises, trapping an estimated 400-500 people present there that fateful night.

BMC officials had earlier said that the fire was first noticed in Mojo's Bistro.

BMC chief Mehta will submit the report to Fadnavis next week and it effectively corroborates the oft-made contentions of 1Above pub in the matter that the cause of fire was in Mojo's Bistro, which the latter has countered.

In a stinging indictment, the fire brigade said that even after the fire broke out, not a single staffer or security personnel bothered to raise an alarm or intimate the fire brigade.

The cause of the fire is stated as the illegal hookahs served on the premises, no proper exit signs and availability of heavy stocks of liquor  highly  on the pub premises.

The burning coals of a hookah came in contact with a curtain at Mojo's Bistro in the south-end corner, which quickly spread into the pub and then onto the adjoining 1Above pub.

The fire brigade said an illegal shed with thatched roof, both made of highly combustible materials, further spread the fire blocking emergency exits which even the security personnel were not aware of.

The lift was the only way out of the burning premises, a passage on the eastern side was blocked as it was used for storages and it was in an illegal toilet where the 14 persons who took refuge were killed, mostly by toxic fumes.

"It is clear that the fire originated in Mojo's Bistro restaurant and further spread to 1Above," the fire brigade said, referring to videos, eyewitness reports, tweets and newsclips of the incident.

The fire brigade investigators found remnants of hookahs, charcoal, standpipes, pedestal fans, and other evidences in the south-east corner of Mojo's Bistro and also repeatedly hit out at the unauthorised thatched roof in the 1Above.

Mehta said his report to the Chief Minister would be a comprehensive one comprising the administrative lapses, illegalities and actions taken against officials, the demolition drives, etc.

Late on Friday, the Mumbai Police announced a reward of Rs 1,00,000 to anyone providing information on the absconding owners of 1Above pub, who have reportedly gone underground since 29 December.

The owner-partners, Kripesh M Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar who are "wanted" to face various charges, including the stringent IPC Section 304 pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in the complaints registered by NM Joshi Marg Police Station.
Rahul Gandhi's 'Dear Mr Jaitlie' tweet has landed the Congress president in trouble. On 27 December, Rahul had sent out the following tweet:

Dear Mr Jaitlie - thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies pic.twitter.com/I7n1f07GaX  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 27, 2017

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has found merit in a privilege motion moved against Rahul following this tweet, and after due consideration, admitted it and sent it to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for further action.

The move itself is extraordinary with huge political ramifications, not just because it is against the Congress president but also because Rahul is a member of Lok Sabha and not Rajya Sabha. This would inflame Congress' passions and has the potential to snowball into a major controversy, one that may disrupt Parliament proceedings in the Budget Session, which begins on 29 January.

Interestingly, the news of Naidu accepting the motion against Rahul was broken by Rajya Sabha TV, which essentially means that the official broadcaster had clearance from the Rajya Sabha chairman's office to break the news and make it official. Rajya Sabha TV tweeted:

Rajya Sabha Chairman: Prima facie there is a question of privilege against Rahul Gandhi  Rajya Sabha TV (@rajyasabhatv) January 6, 2018

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu refers privilege notice against Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajanhttps://t.co/sYJLe0osu1  Rajya Sabha TV (@rajyasabhatv) January 6, 2018

What was the controversy about

Following days of logjam in Parliament, where Congress was demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former vice-president Hamid Ansari for insinuating they colluded with Pakistan ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Congress and BJP reached a negotiated settlement in order to allow Parliament to function smoothly.

This settlement took place inside the chairman's chambers. Since the meeting between leaders of both parties was held in the chairman's chamber and related to previous and incoming proceedings of the house, the settlement too became part of the proceedings, sources said.

On 27 December, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also happens to be Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, told Parliament, "The prime minister in his speeches did not question, nor meant to question, the commitment to this nation of either former prime minister Manmohan Singh or former vice-president Hamid Ansari. Any such perception is erroneous. We hold these leaders in high esteem, as well as their commitment to India."

As per the negotiated script, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad responded to this by saying, "I want to thank the Leader of House that he issued a clarification on the issue which was causing a deadlock for the last one week I, on behalf of my (Congress) party, say that we disassociate from any comments made by any member during the elections that may have hurt the prime minister's dignity. We also do not want any such thing to be said in future."

With this, Parliament began functioning smoothly. But then, Rahul Gandhi posted the tweet referring to Jaitley as "Jaitlie". Sources told Firstpost that a draft of Jaitley's statement was shown to Azad and Manmohan Singh. Jaitley had read his statement only after due consultation and approval from top Congress leaders.

The issue has two parts: One technical and the other political

Consider the political part of it first. The move would arguably worsen the relationship between BJP and Congress.

But what is even more significant is its internal bearings on the Congress party. By posting the "Jaitlie" tweet, Rahul Gandhi effectively denigrated his own party's leadership structure and processes, and also the Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and former prime minister Manmohan Singh. He proved that he has scant regard for seniors in his own party. Just as he had done in September 2013, when he tore an ordinance drafted by his own Congress government at a time when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was touring abroad.

But as Manmohan Singh suffered the humiliation and remained silent then, he again remained silent now. Though nobody in the Congress would speak anything against their president, Naidu's move has provided fodder for private talks within the ranks of the main Opposition party.

Sources told Firstpost that Naidu had prima facie found merit in the privilege motion moved by a BJP member on the following counts: Through his tweet, Rahul denigrated and condemned proceedings of the House, and also an officially negotiated settlement of which Congress was also part of.

Jaitley made this statement in his capacity as Leader of House after a settlement was arrived at. Rahul thus lowered the dignity of the House and its proceedings. The House is competent to accept privilege motions against anyone whether or not he is part of that House. In this case, since he is a Lok Sabha MP, the chairman has written sent a note to the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

"On perusing the documents on record, matters seem to involve prima facie a question of privilege. I am accordingly referring this matter to you in terms of the procedure laid down in the report of the committee of both Houses of Parliament mentioned above for further action as may be deemed appropriate," he said in his letter. He also urged the Speaker to intimate him of "action taken in the matter".

By doing so, Naidu has also added pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to take action. She has no option but to accept the privilege motion against Rahul. The Congress wouldn't take that lying down.
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked the Centre for the economic slump in the country and described "GDP" as the "Gross Divisive Politics" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi targeted both Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the slowdown in investment, bank credit growth, job creation and agricultural growth.

"FM Jaitley's genius combines with Modi's Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India: New Investments: 13 year (low), Bank credit Growth: 63 year (low), Job creation: 8 year (low), Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7% (low) Fiscal Deficit: 8 year (high), Stalled Projects (high)," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

FM Jaitleys genius combines with Mr Modis Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India: New Investments: 13 year 

Bank credit Growth: 63 year 

Job creation: 8 year 

Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7%

Fiscal Deficit: 8 year

Stalled Projects https://t.co/bZdPnREYiE  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 6, 2018

Rahul also tweeted a news report in which the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has projected that economic growth rate for 2017-18 will be lower than the 7.1 percent that was achieved in 2016-2017.

Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and subsequent slowdown in the manufacturing sector was expected to drag down India's growth to 6.5 per cent in 2017-18, official data showed on Friday.
A meeting called by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to bring together Opposition parties on the issue of using ballot papers instead of EVMs in elections saw ally Congress and Mayawati's BSP staying away.

The meeting called by Yadav at the Janeshwar Mishra Trust office to discuss the issue was attended by senior leaders of his party as well as representatives of NCP, CPI, CPM, Apna Dal (Krishna Patel faction), Peace Party, AAP, RLD and RJD. "There was also a communication from the BSP and Congress representatives that they will not be able to attend the meeting because of some preoccupation," Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudahry said.

"BSP state unit president Ram Achal Rajbhar called to say that he is unable to attend the meeting, but his party has already expressed its views against EVMs. UPCC president Raj Babbar informed that he was out of station today," Chaudhary said.

On discussions held during the meeting, Chaudhary said all the parties, barring CPM, were of the view that all future elections should be held through the ballot papers. "The CPM said that it will have to discuss the issue with its national leadership," he said.

"All agreed that there are flaws in the conduct of elections through the EVMs and the VVPAT were also not being used," Chaudhary said. "The impartiality of the electoral system is proved only when people have faith in it... besides the use of EVMs

is not easy for the countrymen, as they do not understand its working," Chaudhary added.

The SP president had initiated efforts to mobilise opinion among different political parties for holding elections using ballot paper instead of EVMs and had invited their leaders.

The move was also seen as an effort to evolve consensus on holding bye-elections to Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituencies through ballot paper and send out a message of Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Agartala/Shillong: With the political activities gradually picking up ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in February in Left-ruled Tripura, tribal parties are negotiating with BJP and Congress for electoral alliances, informed sources said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah began a three-day tour to Meghalaya and Tripura on Saturday to formally kick off the party's election campaign in the two northeastern states.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) politburo member Brinda Karat is now on a five-day election campaign in Tripura while party general secretary Sitaram Yechury has already addressed a central election rally in Agartala earlier this week.

Assembly polls would be held in three northeastern states  Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland  with 60 Assembly seats each, in February. The five-year terms of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura assemblies would expire on 6, 13 and 14 March respectively.

While the Left Front holds power in Tripura, Congress is in power in Meghalaya and the Naga People's Front-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) in Nagaland. The DAN is supported by BJP.

Tripura's main tribal based party, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), which has been agitating since 2009 for upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council into a separate tribal state, held a series of meetings in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and central BJP leaders.

Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma, who holds the Finance, Health and Family Welfare and Education portfolios in the BJP-led state government, arranged these politically significant meetings.

Sarma, who is also the convener of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) anti-Congress front, is the party's election in-charge of Tripura.

"Our meetings about our separate state demand with the prime minister, Union home minister and other ministers and BJP leaders are positive. The Union home ministry would announce a committee on 8 January about our long pending demand," IPFT's president Narendra Chandra Debbarma told IANS over phone from Delhi.

Leading a ten-member IPFT delegation to Delhi, the veteran tribal leader said: "After returning to Agartala, we would hold meetings with the state BJP leaders to finalise the electoral alliance and seat sharing strategies. Now the long pending hurdles about the alliance with BJP have been settled."

Most of the political parties, including the ruling CPM, Congress and BJP had earlier rejected IPFT's demands saying it is not practical to divide the small state.

Two other important tribal based parties  Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and National Conference of Tripura (NCT)  have also started talks since Friday to form an electoral alliance with Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura.

The INPT and NCT also opposed IPFT's separate state demand.

"We are holding talks with the Congress and TMC leaders to form an anti-BJP and anti-Left electoral alliance to fight against both the ruling Left Front and opposition BJP," INPT spokesman Srota Ranjan Khisa told IANS.

A top official of the Tripura Election Department said that the Election Commission is likely to announce the election schedule in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland next week.

After about a four-and-half-month-long summary revision of the voters' list, the final photo-affixed electoral rolls were published on Friday simultaneously across Tripura with January 1, 2018, as the qualifying date of age.

"With the regular instructions from the Election Commission, we are readying ourselves to conduct the elections in the state. The commission is in close touch with us about the preparations of the elections," Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti said.
New Delhi: The just-concluded winter session of the Rajya Sabha, the first session for new Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, saw a few "firsts" as part of reforms he brought in the proceedings in the upper House.

On the very first day of the session on 15 December, Naidu, who was elected as vice-president, told the Ministers to stop saying "I beg to..." before laying papers on the table, something that he repeated a few days later.

Normally, Ministers say "I beg to lay on the table of the House papers listed under my name" while laying papers or reports in the House. Naidu told the Ministers and other members of the House to do away with this colonial lexicon.

"Just say, I rise to lay the papers or simply, I lay the papers on the table of the House," Naidu told them.

He also proved to be quite a disciplinarian as Chairman. He chided Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel for indulging in an argument directly with a member.

"No cross arguments...only address the Chair," he told the Minister and other Members.

On another occasion, he reprimanded the members for "constantly" talking with each other.

"Some members keep talking with each other. I noticed this even when I was reading obituary references. Sometimes the mic gets on automatically and the voice comes out. This does not send a good message. So please don't do this," he said.

On one occasion, he termed the Members' absence from the House during the Question Hour a"bad practice".

He also asked the members to be crisp with their questions as well as Zero Hour submissions so that more members could be accommodated. He told the ministers to be precise with their replies. And his efforts did bear fruit.

On 2 January, the Rajya Sabha could take up even an extra Zero Hour submission besides all the listed 10 mentions. All Special Mentions were also made, a feat achieved for the first time in 15 years. Also, the House completed all the starred questions (meant to be orally answered by the Ministers concerned) on the same day.

"I am glad to note that the leaders of all the parties in the House and the Members as well were delighted over the positive media reports of the House creating a record of taking up all the listed Starred Questions on 2 January after 15 long years," he said in his valedictory remarks on Friday.

"I am happy to note that there has been a certain degree of change in the way the proceedings were held in this august House."

He advised the Ministers to make it a point to get back to the members about their concerns and queries raised in the House either as Zero Hour submissions or as Special Mentions.

Known for his witty one-liners, Naidu did not let go of this habit as Chair.

"No change of dress, only change of address," he remarked about his change of accommodation after becoming the vice-president although he still wears his traditional dhoti and shirt.

On one occasion he told an MP, who raised a Point of Order: "There is no order in your Point of Order".

Pleased with the completion of all the listed business of Zero Hour on 2 January, Naidu told the Members: "My operation depends on your cooperation."

On occasions, he also indulged in some light-hearted banter with the members. Once during the Question Hour, as Members raised questions about consumer protection against misleading advertisements, Naidu related his personal experience of how he was once duped by a shady company selling weight loss medicines.

However, for the first time perhaps, the live telecast of the House on Rajya Sabha Television was blacked out on two occasions during a ruckus in the House. Naidu instructed that nothing would go on TV as he did not want the world to see "such scenes" in the upper House.
In an evolving political drama over US aid to Pakistan, President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday supporting Senator Rand Paul's proposal for a bill to end all American aid to Islamabad.

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending more than $1.15 billion worth security assistance to Pakistan until the country resolves to fight against local militants who have attacked US troops in Afghanistan.

What I find particularly troubling is that the U.S. continues to fund, we continue to give money to Pakistan over a billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money is sent to Pakistan. I'll be introducing legislation to end their funding and use that money here at home. pic.twitter.com/xBpdlo3Otm  Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 5, 2018

"I'm introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home," Republican senator Paul had said after the administration's decision was announced.

"US should not give one penny to countries that burn our flag and chant Death to America. Countries like Pakistan that stonewall access to key information in fighting terrorism don't deserve our money," he said. "We should stop now sending hard earned tax dollars to Pakistan. We sent Pakistan over $33 billion since 2002. What did we get for? Pakistan didn't even help us find (Osama) bin Laden even though he was living in one of their cities for years," he alleged.

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes days after President Donald Trump, in a new year tweet, accused Pakistan of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for $33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

Prominent among the suspended amount includes $255 million in foreign military funding for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by Congress. In addition, the Department of Defence has suspended the entire $900 million of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017.

The rhetoric has raised hackles in Islamabad and fears the row could undermine Pakistan's support for US operations in Afghanistan.

The announcement ignited some small protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan where several hundred people gathered to chant anti-US slogans. "We don't need any type of aid. Almighty Allah is with us and he is giving us everything," protester Mohammad Saleem said, adding that he had a message for Trump: "Don't threaten us."

But Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a cautious statement in which it said it was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

Without referring to the decision directly, it warned that "arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats."

With inputs from agencies
Washington: US president Donald Trump's freeze on aid to Pakistan could be worth almost two billion dollars, a senior US administration official said on Friday - substantially more than first thought.

The move  designed to force Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus to cut support for the Taliban and other Islamist groups  will include both US military assistance and Afghanistan coalition funding to Islamabad.

It is "approximately two billion worth of equipment and coalition support funding that is in play," the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The source added that "all options are on the table" when it comes to further moves, including stripping Pakistan of its status as a "major non-NATO ally" or calling in vital IMF loans.

After more than a decade of simmering US anger at Islamabad's links with the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network  a Taliban affiliate  the Trump administration is trying to draw a line in the sand.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," Trump tweeted on New Year's Day.

"They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018

On the hook is almost $1 billion of US military equipment that has allowed Pakistan access to advanced military technology, but also funding that is meant to pay Pakistan for helping to get US and NATO material into Afghanistan.

Analysts believe the United States is highly unlikely to freeze all that funding, which, according to the source, totals $1.9 billion.

US officials have already indicated that there could be "exemptions" for programs deemed vital to US national security - likely including cash for keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons safe.

But nevertheless, the total figure of $1.9 billion is much higher than first indicated and is a signal of Washington's seriousness.

"We are still working with Pakistan and we would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us," said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Hackles in Islamabad

Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against homegrown Islamist groups, and says it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars in its long war on extremism.

But US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with groups that attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.

The White House believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

It also believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war in Afghanistan  now entering its 17th year  by weakening the Taliban militarily and forcing the organization to the negotiating table.

"Unless we deal with the Pakistan sanctuary issue, it will undermine all of our other efforts in Afghanistan," the senior official said. "We can no longer accept Pakistan's dual policies of fighting some terrorists while supporting others."

In September last year, the US suspended $255 million in funding to help Pakistan buy high-tech weaponry from American manufacturers.

Now, the Defense Department has been instructed to stop making payments from "coalition support funds" set aside to refund Pakistani spending on counter-terrorist operations.

The rhetoric has raised hackles in Islamabad and fears the row could undermine Pakistan's support for US operations in Afghanistan.

The announcement ignited some small protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan where several hundred people gathered to chant anti-US slogans.

"We don't need any type of aid. Almighty Allah is with us and he is giving us everything," protester Mohammad Saleem told AFP, adding that he had a message for President Donald Trump: "Don't threaten us."

But Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a cautious statement in which it said it was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

Without referring to the decision directly, it warned that "arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats."

Afghanistan welcomes move

US officials admit that Pakistan could make life difficult for Washington by closing land routes that are vital to supply US troops in Afghanistan. This year's fighting season will begin again within months.

But, the official said, it was "difficult but not impossible" to find other ways to get equipment in, and the US was also worried about its credibility if it continues to fund a country harboring America's enemies.

The move, which US officials had hinted at for months, was greeted optimistically in Afghanistan.

"We have been saying for years that neighboring Pakistan is providing safe haven to terrorist groups, and they were also funding the terrorist groups," Nasrat Rahim, deputy interior ministry spokesman, told reporters in Kabul.

On Thursday, the US State Department also tweeted that it has placed deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan on a special watch list for severe violations of religious freedom.

Pakistan, whose religious minorities have long been marginalized and targeted, said it rejects the designation and would seek a clarification from Washington.
Washington: The FBI is investigating whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in any pay-to-play politics when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state in the first term of the Obama administration, media reports have said.

US president Donald Trump has repeatedly called for an investigation into Clinton, her aides and the foundation.

During the presidential campaign, Trump branded his rival "Crooked Hillary" and promised to send her to jail if he won. He briefly struck a more magnanimous tone after the election and said he had no interest in pushing for a prosecution.

The FBI agents are now "trying to determine if any donations made to the foundation were linked to official acts when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013," The Washington Post reported citing unnamed sources.

"The people did not identify what specific donations or interactions agents are scrutinising," the daily said.

According to The Hill, which first reported about it, the FBI agents from Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month.

Established in 1997 by the former US president Bill Clinton, the Clinton Foundation has so far raised an estimated $2 billion from American and foreign corporations, foreign governments and individuals.

Funds are used for humanitarian programmes across the globe. Several of the donors are companies and individuals from India.

During the election campaign, Trump had accused the Clinton Foundation of pay-to-play politics.

The FBI is also looking into whether the Clinton Foundation violated tax laws. The Foundation has denied the allegations.

"Time after time, the Clinton Foundation has been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have been proven false. None of this has made us waver in our mission to help people," said Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian.

Nick Merrill, a spokesperson of Hillary, alleged that the goal of such an FBI investigation is to distract from the indictments, guilty pleas, and accusations of treason from Trump's own people at the expense of our justice system's integrity.

"It's disgraceful, and should be concerning to all Americans," he alleged.

Daily Beast said the FBI is also reviewing Clinton's use of private email server when she was Secretary of State.
London: The author of a book that is highly critical of Donald Trumps first year as U.S. president said his revelations were likely to bring an end to Trumps time in the White House.

Michael Wolff told BBC radio that his conclusion in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House that Trump is not fit to do the job was becoming a widespread view.

I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect, Wolff said in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says he cant do his job, Wolff said. Suddenly everywhere people are going oh my God, its true, he has no clothes. Thats the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency.

Trump has dismissed the book as full of lies. It depicts a chaotic White House, a president who was ill-prepared to win the office in 2016, and Trump aides who scorned his abilities.
Washington: There is a very high level of tension in Pakistan between different elements of the civilian government and the military which complicates the US' ability to have an effective dialogue with the country over combating terrorism, a senior American official said.

The remarks by the Trump administration official came as the US stepped up efforts to put pressure on Pakistan to take decisive action against the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The US, the official said, will continue to engage with both the military and the civilian leadership and be clear and consistent about the things that it is looking for and about how it wants to work with Islamabad.

"Pakistan is in a state of flux right now, as we're looking at new elections maybe in six to seven months' time. There is certainly a high level of tension between the military and many of the civilian elements. So it does complicate our ability to have an effective dialogue," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The official said it was important for the civilians and military leadership to work together to deal with extremist groups. "We recognise there are civil military tensions which complicate our ability, but we engage with both civilian and military leaders. We make our requests very clear to both institutions," said the White House official.

"We are simply seeking to convince the Pakistanis to change their policies toward the Taliban and the Haqqani Network and to cooperate more fully with us in our Afghanistan strategy. We're not you know evaluating the internal political situation," the official said.
Yangon: Rohingya Muslim insurgents ambushed a military vehicle in Myanmars Rakhine State, wounding five members of the security forces, state media and officials said, and the rebels claimed responsibility for the rare attack.

A wave of raids by the insurgents on security force posts on 25 August sparked sweeping army counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of the state that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 6,50,000 Rohingya villagers to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The United Nations condemned the Myanmar military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejected that.

But since 25 August, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents, who claimed responsibility for the coordinated raids on 30 security posts, have mounted only a few sporadic attacks.

The military said extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA carried out the Friday attack on a truck taking someone to hospital.

A vehicle ... was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms, the government said. The military said there were about 10 attackers.

An ARSA spokesman said his group had carried out the attack.

Yes, ARSA takes responsibility for the latest military movement, the spokesman told Reuters through a messaging service.

He said further details may be revealed later.

The ARSA dismisses any links to Islamist militant groups and says it is fighting to end the oppression of the Rohingya people.

The Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine quoted a resident of a nearby village as saying sporadic gunfire had been heard at the time of the ambush. A state-run newspaper reported on Saturday that fighting continued after the ambush.

The area is largely off-limits to reporters.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the Rohingya refugees but more insecurity in Myanmar is likely to raise doubts about how quickly that might take place.
Riyadh: Saudi authorities have detained 11 princes after they gathered at a royal palace in Riyadh in a rare protest against austerity measures that included suspending payment of their utility bills, Saudi media reported on Saturday.

Saudi officials did not respond immediately to a request for a comment on the report.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter, has introduced reforms that included cutting subsidies, introducing value added tax (VAT) and cutting perks to royal family members to try to cope with a drop in crude prices that has caused a budget deficit estimated at 195 billion riyals in 2018.

Online news website sabq.org said the princes had gathered at the Qasr a-Hokm, a historic royal palace, demanding the cancellation of a royal decree that stopped state payment of water and electricity bills for royal family members.

They were also demanding compensation for a death sentence issued against a relative, sabq.org said.

"They were informed of the error of their demands, but they refused to leave Qasr al-Hokm," Sabq said, quoting unidentified sources. "A royal order was issued to the royal guards ... to intervene and they were detained and put into al-Hayer prison in preparation to put them on trial."

It gave no details on the identity of the princes but said the leader of the group had been identified by the initials S.A.S.

"Everybody is equal before the law and anyone who does not implement regulations and instructions will be held accountable, no matter who he is," the website added.

Arabic-language Okaz daily carried a similar report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Saudi Arabia last year rounded up dozens of royal family members, current and former senior officials in a crackdown on corruption that has also strengthened the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

They were held at the five-star Ritz Hotel in the capital Riyadh while government officials negotiated financial settlements.
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has declared himself mystified by the US threats to cut off funding, saying that Washington's financial assistance was "very, very insignificant" and that Islamabad was "on the forefront of the war on terror".

In an interview with the Guardian, Abbasi said that reports about the US was considering cuts of up to $2 billion in security assistance were bewildering because of the total aid Pakistan  civilian and military  actually received was a tiny fraction of that amount.

"I am not sure what US aid has been talked here", Abbasi said in his office in Islamabad.

"The aid in the last five years at least has been less than $10 million a year. It is a very, very insignificant amount. So when I read in the paper that aid at the level of $250 million or 500 or 900 has been cut, we at least are not aware of that aid."

US President Donald Trump used his first tweet of 2018 to threaten to withhold aid to Pakistan because of what he called its "lies and deceit" over terrorism, claiming: "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help." The president said that the US had "foolishly" given Pakistan $33 billion over the past 15 years.

According to the US Agency for International Development, the US gave $778 million to Pakistan in assistance in 2016, of which 35 per cent was military and the rest economic.

Abbasi rejected Trump's charge of duplicity over the fight against terrorism, calling his claim that Pakistan was harbouring terrorists a "fallacy".

"Pakistan is a sovereign country and it has always abided by international conventions," he said.

"We are today fighting the largest war on terror in the world. We are fighting the world's war on terror with our own resources. That is something the world has to appreciate.

"Today we are fighting terrorists. So if somebody says we are harbouring terrorists, there is no greater fallacy," Abbasi said.

"We have engaged US at every level from President Trump down. We have explained to them. What Pakistan has done we have explained to the rest of the world also."
Tehran: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ridiculed US President Donald Trump on Saturday over what he called the foreign policy "blunder" of trying to raise its recent protests at the UN Security Council.

The Security Council "rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate", wrote Zarif on Twitter.

"Majority emphasised the need to fully implement the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of others. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."

The United States had pushed for the UN meeting on Friday to discuss the five days of protests that hit Iran last week, leading to the deaths of 21 people and hundreds of arrests. US Ambassador Nikki Haley argued the unrest could escalate into full-blown conflict and drew a comparison with Syria.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley warned.

But Russia's envoy shot back that if the US view holds, the council should have also discussed the 2014 unrest in the US suburb of Ferguson, Missouri over the police shooting of a black teenager or the US crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Britain and France reiterated that Iran must respect the rights of protesters, but French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the "events of the past days do not constitute a threat to peace and international security".

China also described the meeting as meddling in Iran's affairs, while Ethiopia, Kuwait and Sweden expressed reservations about the discussion.

Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the meeting as a "farce" and a "waste of time" and said the council should instead focus on addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Yemen. Iranian authorities have declared the unrest over, and held three days of large pro-government rallies across the country between Wednesday and Friday.

Iran signed a nuclear deal with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in 2015, easing sanctions in exchange for curbs to the country's nuclear programme.

US president Donald Trump has fiercely opposed the deal, but the other signatories remain firmly behind it. Trump must decide every few months whether to continue waiving nuclear sanctions.

Analysts say there is a chance he may use the latest unrest as a pretext to reimpose sanctions.
United Nations: US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Iranian authorities on Friday that the world is watching as Tehran responds to anti-government protests.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Islamic republic.

The United States called the meeting despite fierce criticism from Russia, which accused Washington of interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

"The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley told the council.

"It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."

Haley accused the government of funding a pro-regime military campaign in Syria, backing Shiite militias in Iraq and supporting a crony elite while ordinary Iranians struggle.

The Iranian people are telling their government to "stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars," said Haley.

A total of 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested since 28 December as protests over economic woes turned against the Iranian regime, with attacks on government buildings and police stations.

Pro-regime rallies were held in Tehran after Friday prayers, the third straight day of marches in support of the government, which has declared the unrest over.

Diplomats had expected Russia to call a procedural vote to try to block the meeting, but in the end, Moscow's envoy did not make that request.

Heading into the council chamber, Haley gave reporters a thumbs-up and answered "yes" when asked if she had the nine votes needed for the meeting to go ahead.

Over the past days, the United States has lobbied hard to win support for the Security Council meeting, especially from the six new non-permanent council members, diplomats said.

For a new agenda item to be discussed at the Security Council, at least nine of the 15 council members must support holding the meeting. No vetoes apply.
2017 ended on a high note for the space program -- Russia's space program.

Ever since NASA canceled its Space Shuttle program in 2011, America has depended on Russian rockets to provide access to the International Space Station. Buying tickets for its astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for as much as $82 million a seat, NASA in effect subsidized the Russian space program (Roscosmos) at the expense of our own.

And now we're doing it again. As The Wall Street Journal reported last month, NASA has contracted to buy three more Russian rocket rides for NASA astronauts over the next two years, and at a cost in excess of $200 million. For this, you can blame Boeing (NYSE: BA)... and SpaceX.

Examining the fine print

The specifics of this transaction are a bit convoluted, but bear with me and I'll straighten them out. In May 2016, Boeing won a $320 million court judgment (stemming from a dispute related to the bankrupt Sea Launch joint venture) against Russian space company RSC Energia. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, RSC Energia was at the time majority-owned by The United Rocket and Space Corporation JSC, which was in the process of being merged into (and is now part of) the Russian-state-owned corporation Roscosmos (literally "Russian Space"). This makes RSC Energia itself essentially a subsidiary of Roscosmos -- Russia's version of NASA.

In settlement of its dispute with Boeing, Energia (i.e., Roscosmos) transferred to Boeing the right to fill two "seats" on Roscosmos Soyuz flights in 2017 and 2018, with the option to buy a further three seats for flights in 2019. (It's not entirely clear from the details of NASA's announcement whether exercising the option requires Boeing to pay any additional funds to Roscosmos, but this seems unlikely.)

In turn, Boeing sold its two Soyuz seats, plus the option for three more seats, to NASA in February 2017. The potential cost of all five seats, assuming the option was exercised, totaled $373.5 million -- about $74.7 million per seat.

Now, NASA is exercising the option, obligating it to pay the full contracted amount to Boeing. Upon Energia/Roscosmos providing the seats (i.e., filling them with astronauts and sending them to space), its obligation to Boeing will be satisfied in full. Thus in effect, by paying Boeing for the seats, NASA is paying off Roscosmos' debt.

Progress... delayed

It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing (and privately held SpaceX) twin contracts to develop human-rated spacecraft capable of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. Boeing would receive $4.2 billion to launch up to six crewed missions to ISS aboard its new CST-100 space capsule. SpaceX would receive $2.6 billion to do the same with its new Crew Dragon spaceship.

As originally planned, both companies would conduct "at least one crewed flight test per company with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch, maneuver in orbit, and dock to the space station" in 2017.

In case you haven't noticed, though, it's now 2018, and neither company has conducted so much as an uncrewed test flight -- much less put an astronaut in space. Delays in development at both Boeing and SpaceX have now pushed back SpaceX's first unmanned test flight to April 2018, and Boeing's to August 2018. SpaceX is hoping to conduct a manned mission in August; Boeing hopes to squeeze in its first test flight by November.

Hope for the best, pay for the worst

Worse, according to the Journal, "senior NASA officials increasingly are concerned the current 2018 timetable for switching to U.S. vehicles may prove too ambitious." I.e., after repeated delays, NASA has little confidence that either SpaceX or Boeing will launch capsules this year at all. That's why NASA is exercising its option to buy the additional Soyuz rocket rides from Roscosmos via Boeing -- at $75 million per seat.

The longer SpaceX and Boeing delay, the more money we'll be paying Russia to keep Americans in orbit.

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President Donald Trump will meet with Republican congressional leaders at Camp David over the weekend to come up with a plan for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

DACA, the Obama-era program that prevents young immigrants from being deported, was rescinded by Trump with a six-month delay for current recipients.

In Trump We Trust author Ann Coulter told FOX Business Lou Dobbs Friday that protecting the so-called Dreamers with legislation should not be Congress first focus after Trumps election win was based on deporting illegal immigrants and building a stronger border wall.

Id deport the Dreamers before deporting MS-13 members. You catch them they at least say, Ok, you got me, Coulter said.

Coulter said any limit set by Congress on Dreamers requesting pardons would provide amnesty for the entire world.

I promise you Lou Dobbs any amnesty, it could be only for nuclear scientist that is an amnesty for everyone. It is an amnesty for illegals who are not even in this country, she said.
Steve Bannons vitriol against President Donald Trumps administration and his family have forced him into exile from his financial backers and retaliation from his own party, as some Republican lawmakers look to eliminate any influence he may have over their constituents.

Many within the GOP have remained silent in reacting to the recent slew of attacks from the former White House chief strategist that were made public in excerpts of Michael Wolffs book, Fire and Fury. However, two members of the House of Representatives that are up for reelection in 2018 tell FOX Business they agree with the presidents decision to distance himself from him and suggested Breitbart News, the conservative news website led by Bannon, should move on from the controversial firebrand.

In his first public comments since Bannon was quoted in Wolffs book claiming that Donald Trump Jr., the presidents son, committed a treasonous act when he met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 election, Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) told FOX Business in an interview he believed that Trump was betrayed by Bannon.

Bannon betrayed the president. The president allowed him access to the White House and his inner circle, Donovan said. He took that information he gained from the trusting relationship and, what I expect the president believed was confidential, gave that information to a reporter, he added.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told FOX Business that both during and after Bannons tenure within the administration, White House officials informed him that Bannon was leaking negative and sometimes fabricated stories about the president to the press in order to publicize his nationalist agenda.

People I know within the White House were telling me all along that he would be leaking. You dont leak against your own president. He was blaming everyone else when something went wrong, King said.

Both King and Donovan agreed that Bannon should be removed from his post as Breitbarts executive chairman after his attacks on Trump and his allies. When asked if Bannon should be removed as chairman, King said, I think everybody should move on from Steve Bannon. Leave him out on an island by himself.

The president on Wednesday responded to Bannons shocking assertions in a statement by echoing Kings criticism of the former chief strategist spreading false information.Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was, Trump said in a statement. He also blasted Bannon for attempting to take credit for Trumps election victory. Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind, the statement read.

After Bannon departed the White House in August, he vowed to fight for the presidents agenda outside the administration by recruiting anti-establishment candidates as a means to fight Republican lawmakers who he deemed were opponents of Trumps legislative priorities.

As he moved forward with nominees like Roy Moore in the race for Alabamas Senate seat, who was later accused by numerous women of sexual assault, leaders of the congressional fundraising committees publicly denounced Bannon and since he took on the president, the Breitbart chairmans access to campaign fundscontinues to dwindle.

Officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the fundraising arm dedicated to electing Republican candidates for the Senate and the same group that pulled their funding for Moore when the accusations of sexual assault surfaced, turned their attacks on Bannon himself after he disparaged the presidents family and administration. I didnt expect Steve Bannon to become relevant in the first place because its not deserved. I guess if you back a child predator and lose a ruby red state and then talk bad about the presidents son on the record, you know whats coming at you, said one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

That same official would not comment directly on whether Bannon deserves to be fired from Breitbart but did say theres a growing consensus that the conservative publication should return to its roots. Theres a huge appetite among conservatives for Breitbart to go back to the way it was under [founder]Andrew Breitbart, the official said.

A spokeswoman for the NRSC declined to comment. Bannon did not respond to requests for comment.

The usually quiet Republican mega-donor and majority stakeholder in Breitbart, Rebekah Mercer, also shut the door on any potential contributions following Bannons remarks. In a statement to the Washington Post on Thursday, Mercer declared she would not be contributing to any of Bannons future political endeavors but declined to acknowledge his future at Breitbart.
Experts say theres a high chance you won't stick to your New Years resolutions, but it may not be completely your fault. It turns out where you live may increase or decrease your odds of following through on your big plans for 2018.

According to a recent study compiled by WalletHub, 42 to 92 percent of people will fail to achieve their New Years resolutions. Jill Gonzalez, a senior analyst for WalletHub, says the report analyzed some of the most popular resolutions, and fitness was at the top of most Americans list.

WANT TO KEEP A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION? HERE'S HOW

This is all based on what the most popular New Years resolutions are, Gonzalez told Fox News, adding that other popular resolutions include losing weight, stressing less and saving more. "So based on those things, weve actually developed metrics that say which cities are best at those things.

The report uses 52 different data points to compare 182 cities across the country, including the two largest cities in each state. Gonzalez noted this is the first time that WalletHub has included cities from every state in the report.

If you live in Seattle, San Francisco or San Diego, you have the best chance at holding to your fitness, financial or life-plan goals. But for those who live in Gulfport, Miss., Shreveport, La., and Newark, New Jersey, which are all at the bottom of the list, the odds are stacked against you.

6 MORE WAYS TO MAKE A RESOLUTION STICK

Parameters such as gyms per capita, access to healthy foods, financial literacy and the local economy were included in the study. Gulfport, Miss., ranked lowest overall and is also the second-lowest-ranking city for least active adults.

In Gulfport, were seeing a lot of numbers that are unfortunately lower than national averages, Gonzalez said. Some of those include the obesity rate [and] the number of people that have been inactive which is over 50 percent in the past 30 days.

Gulfport Mayor Bill Hewes says he thinks the study may have missed the mark in rating his city. He added there are plenty of opportunities and places for people to get out and stay active if getting fit is at the top of their New Years resolution list.

I think theyre off a bit, or by a great mark, Hewes said. You can find everything [including] gyms that are low cost. You have outdoor recreation [along] the beach front [and] along the bike paths that we have along our communities in south Mississippi. Youll find folks out on the front beach just about anytime of the year kite-surfing. If you want to get [outdoors], this is the place to be.

He also pointed out a new gym that will open soon, a major renovation to the citys sport complex and a new bird-watching trail.

Gonzalez adds that cities like Gulfport can always improve their fitness resolution rankings by hosting community fitness programs or by adding more gyms. She also says people can stick to their New Years resolutions by setting realistic goals for themselves and joining a group fitness session.

GET FIT AND STAY FIT WITH THIS 'ANIMAL' WORKOUT TREND

Dean Morrow, a former firefighter and co-owner of a running shoe and apparel store called Run-N-Tri, says hes not surprised by the report from WalletHub. He notes that there are limited health food store options and only a few gyms in the area. His store hosts a free running event every week to get people out and active.

We have a fun run every Monday night, Morrow said. People come down, some local fitness people come in [and] other fitness-related businesses come in and sponsor the event that night.

Fox News spoke to several gym-goers at Rhodes Fitness in Gulfport who also said they werent surprised by the findings in the report. The gym has been a go-to spot for those interested in fitness for decades. Each person talked about ways they plan to stick to their fitness goals and resolution for 2018.

Gulfport resident Miller Baugh said she recently started working on her New Years resolution. She's also not surprised by the report. I can see that a lot of people dont [exercise] but I also see that a lot of people do get out there and exercise. This gym is always very busy.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Other gym-goers commented on how food plays an important role in sticking with their fitness goals. Gulfport has plenty of fast food choices and Mayor Hewes has pointed out an array of healthy and international options within the city limits as well. He said portion control is important, but it may be too good to limit yourself in the Gulf coast.

If you make a resolution revolving around food, youre going to cave in because its just too good and [theres] too much to offer, Hewes said.
The Trump economy is strong. The stock market is at record highs and the unemployment rate is at a 17-year low. This is thanks largely to the Trump Administrations aggressive regulatory reforms and the passage of historic tax cuts. Business after business is celebrating the passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by announcing new investments, bonuses, and pay raises.

But despite soaring business confidence and a strong economy, businesses are scrambling to find workers to fill 6 million open jobs. And now, their primary challenge is to get people who have been sitting on the sidelines back to work.

President Trump knows our broken welfare system is a major barrier to achieving this goal, and he has vowed to tackle welfare reform next. And its a good thing, because welfare definitely is, as the President put it, out of control.

In 2000, over 17 million Americans received food stamps, officially known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. That number has swelled to more than 42 million today. As a result of Obama Administrations policies, the number of Americans on food stamps is now greater than the population of Canada.

Nationwide spending on the program is roughly $70 billion annually 20 percent of which is wasted on junk food, candy, soda, and other sugary drinks. Consider California, which spent more than $1 billion on food stamp benefits in August and September alone.

Nationwide spending on the program is roughly $70 billion annually 20 percent of which is wasted on junk food, candy, soda, and other sugary drinks. Consider California, which spent more than $1 billion on food stamp benefits in August and September alone.

During the Obama years, liberals argued that the program was expanding rapidly due to the recession. But that was only half the story, as the Obama Administration also expanded program eligibility through aggressive administrative actions.

And now, despite the booming economy and employers who are desperate for more workers, enrollment in food stamps remains high  and is not expected to return to pre-recession levels any time soon, if ever.

The good news is that President Trump has a chance to take on food stamps in the upcoming Farm Bill, which funds the program and is reauthorized every five years. The bad news is that unfortunately, the food stamp program is not the only runaway welfare program.

Medicaid enrollment has soared to nearly 75 million, with almost one out of every five Americans on the program. Medicaid spending is now 30 percent of state budgets, and the number of working age, able-bodied adults on the program has more than quadrupled since 2000. Even worse, 52 percent of non-disabled adult enrollees do not work at all. Let me repeat, these are able-bodied Americans who have decided not to work.

Similarly, Social Security Disability for working-age adults nearly doubled from 1996 to 2015, increasing from 7.7 million to 13 million and pulling more working-age adults out of the workforce. Are we to believe, with all of our workplace safety and health care advancements in the past 20 years, that Americans are now nearly twice as likely to become disabled as they were two decades ago? Or are there simply now more people collecting disability who are actually fully capable of working?

This is why President Trumps plan to tackle welfare reform is so important. With no major federal welfare reform in over 20 years, these programs have continued to consume more public funds and encourage more Americans to seek dependency, rather than a productive work life.

When we worked with President Clinton to pass welfare reform in 1996, it helped drive the boom of the late 1990s. The welfare rolls shrunk by 60 percent nationwide and low-income families formerly on welfare went to work and saw their incomes increase by 25 percent. As a result, child poverty rates fell every year through 2000. In fact, it was the largest improvement in children leaving poverty in American history.

To do this again, we must get people back to work. One of the reasons that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash welfare dependency hasnt grown out of control, while enrollment in other welfare programs has dramatically increased, is that TANF has a work requirement and a time limit. Conversely, the food stamp program has a work requirement for only a narrow segment of adults and has been largely waived, and Medicaid has none at all, although states are now asking that it be added. The Trump Administrations budget wisely proposes applying work requirements more broadly in the welfare system.

Its smart because work requirements help lift people out of poverty. Maine and Kansas have shown that work requirements in TANF and food stamps helped people more than double their earnings.

The President should take an all-of-the-above approach to welfare reform. He should pull back on some of the Obama Administration's overreaches, approve waiver requests, advocate for Congress to reform food stamps in the upcoming Farm Bill, and work with Congress on additional legislation.

Now is not the time for structural entitlement reform of Social Security or Medicare, but there is no better time economically and politically to tackle welfare reform and enable millions of Americans to experience the power of work. There is no more powerful economic force than an American experiencing the dignity of work and pride in a paycheck, earning the admiration of their children and the respect of their community. Lets unleash it.
The news Friday that two Republican senators have recommended the FBI and Justice Department to investigate the author of the Steele dossier  a collection of memos filled with wild and unsubstantiated allegations involving President Trump and Russia  gives a black eye to the mainstream media that have devoted enormous news coverage to the dossier.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for the investigation of former British spy Christopher Steele, who wrote the dossier after he was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS.

Fusion GPS initially received funding from the Washington Free Beacon, and then was paid by Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee for the dossier that Steele produced.

The New York Times first reported that Grassley and Graham had reason to believe that a former British spy, Christopher Steele, lied to federal authorities about his contacts with reporters regarding information in the dossier, and they urged the (Justice) department to investigate.

The news organizations that have devoted so much attention to the Steele dossier  the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, you get the idea  inflated its importance to such a disproportionate extent that they became active participants in Russias effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Back in the fall and winter of 2016 the media even reported that the dossier was providing the FBI with a roadmap for its investigation of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

But now its clear that the dossier was nothing more than an expensive political dirty trick by the Russians, the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign.

The media are now trying to change their story about why they blew the dossier up beyond all proportion  a classic case of making a mountain out of a molehill. We cant allow that to happen. The media failed the American people and they must be held accountable.

Recall that back in the October 2016 the New York Times and Politico breathlessly reported that then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent a letter a FBI director James Comey. In it Reid claimed that he was aware that Comey held explosive information about close ties between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

Reid was referring to the Steele dossier. How did Reid know about this dossier? A couple of ways. First, then-CIA director John Brennan briefed him on the matter. Second, a reporter friendly to the Clinton campaign  David Corn of Mother Jones  had already been reporting on the dossier, despite the now rewritten history that the dossier was first published by BuzzFeed in January 2017.

The medias reporting on the material in the Steele dossier and reporting that senior Obama administration officials were sharing the information in official government briefings with senators was the best outcome the Russians, the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign could have hoped for.

All this created a patina of legitimacy around the unverified allegations in the Steele dossier  despite the fact that the dossier had never been vetted by the CIA or FBI for accuracy.

Well into October and after the election, the media were still reporting that the dossier was being used as a road map by the FBI in its investigation into alleged Trump campaign collusion with the Russians  a baseless accusation that remains unproven to this day.

We now know that the Fusion GPS dossier was nothing more than propaganda, much of it fed to Steele and Fusion GPS by current and former Russian intelligence operatives. In short, the Democrats, the Clinton campaign and the media facilitated the Russians most effective campaign tactic to undercut Americans faith in two important institutions: government and the media.

To be clear, it would appear that many in the mainstream media, our government and one of our major political parties were willing stooges in a massive Russian misinformation campaign. Because the dossier fed into their biases against Donald Trump, many ate it up  hook, line and sinker.

Yet, rather than own up to their failures, the media are doing what most people do when caught in a lie or a serious error in judgment: changing the narrative, shifting the blame and just making up another story.

In recent days, weve seen coordinated pushback, from yet another anonymously sourced piece by the New York Times, a supporting op-ed by the founders of Fusion GPS in the same newspaper, and now Democratic members of Congress loudly proclaiming that the dossier is really not that significant in the Russia investigation.

Really? CNN reported in April of 2017 : The FBI last year used a dossier of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump's campaign as part of the justification to win approval to secretly monitor a Trump associate, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. In other words, our government was weaponized against private citizens based on a piece of partisan propaganda.

Thats one hell of a story. Yet members of the left and the media are now working to reverse themselves, to undermine the very role they reported the dossier played in the investigation, to find something else  anything else  to blame for triggering the Russia investigation.

This is happening because the continued highlighting of the fake dossiers role in the investigation reveals the medias complicity in the fairytale of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. But no matter how many times this phony story gets repeated, it remains nothing more than an anti-Trump smear job without a basis in fact.

The stakes for the media and those pursuing President Trump are incredibly high  thus the desperation we see now to change the story.

If the fake dossier funded by Democrats spurred on the Russia investigation and was in many ways the impetus for the probe, this calls into question the entire legitimacy of the investigation. In addition, it would confirm in many ways what President Trump has been saying all along: that Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation is in fact nothing but a political witch hunt meant to nullify the 2016 elections.

But its another issue that should give every American  regardless of political affiliation  pause. Did a political party in power weaponize government against its opponents in an attempt to hold onto power? And was the self-appointed watchdog of government  a free, but at many times dishonest press  unwittingly or wittingly complicit in the effort?

The very troubling aspect, and an ironic one, is that for 90-plus years phony dossiers, rumors and innuendo were used by the Soviet Unions KGB spy agency to send innocent people to imprisonment in the gulags. The state-controlled media did nothing to expose this, and were in fact used as tools by the government.

And we should never forget that the New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for what turned out to be propaganda fed to its Moscow correspondent by the Russian government. In the 1980s, the Times finally admitted the truth: Taking Soviet propaganda at face value this way was completely misleading, as talking with ordinary Russians might have revealed even at the time.

Some folks never learn. We are now seeing some of the same behavior: a phony dossier used as justification to spy on American citizens, used to spin up investigations that are illegitimate, all wrapped in whisper and rumor campaigns and anonymously sourced stories.

This is why Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., (chairman of the House Intelligence Committee) and Senators Grassley and Graham should redouble their efforts regarding finding out the facts about the Steele dossier.

If the lawmakers keep pulling the thread on Steeles work of fiction, going where it leads them, it will take them to where some of us have suspected: a deeply corrupt Department of Justice and FBI badly in need of reform, and a media that must be forced to confront their own massive mistakes and report on one of their greatest failures.
Democratic warnings that President Trump would make life worse for minorities were discredited once again Friday, with the release of new unemployment statistics for December. In just under one year in office, the president and the Republican Congress have helped minorities make dramatic gains.

Since taking the reins from President Obama, President Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress have embraced free-market and pro-liberty economic policies. Now  after a year of reducing regulations, approving a tax cut, and encouraging stricter standards for numerous welfare programs at the state level  the economy is thriving. Working-age minorities are benefitting in ways they have rarely, if ever, have enjoyed in the modern era.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate for African-Americans fell to 6.8 percent in December  the lowest rate since recordkeeping began in 1972. Thats an astounding drop from the 8.3 percent black unemployment rate in October 2016, just before Donald Trump was elected president.

Hispanic unemployment was at a near-record low of 4.9 percent in December  down from 5.7 percent the month before the election of President Trump. Additionally, there were four months in 2017 in which the Hispanic seasonal unemployment fell below 5 percent  the only time that has occurred in a single year over the past 44 years.

Asian-Americans, the demographic group that typically has the lowest unemployment rate, enjoyed a 2.5 percent unemployment rate in December  the lowest figure since 2006.

The overall U.S. unemployment rate in December was 4.1 percent, matching the lowest level in 17 years  down from 4.9 percent in October 2016.

In addition to putting more Americans to work, President Trumps economic and job-creation policies are creating once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunities.

The Trump-era economic gains are allowing more and more families to move off welfare rolls and enjoy self-sufficiency and the pride that comes with regular work.

Under the Obama administration, welfare programs were expanded dramatically. Many policies that have a proven record of keeping people from getting trapped in a cycle of poverty  such as work requirements and time limits for working-age able-bodied people collecting government assistance  were temporarily removed or watered down. This disproportionately affected blacks and Hispanics, especially in lower-income urban regions.

The economic gains made because of the Trump administrations policies, coupled with states efforts to improve welfare programs, have had the opposite effect.

For instance, from October 2015 to October 2016, enrollment in Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expanded by 2.9 million people, to 74.7 million. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported, thanks in large part to the Affordable Care Acts Medicaid expansion provisions, that Medicaid rolls increased by 37.8 percent from September 2013 to November 2016. But in what can only be described as a remarkable turnaround, preliminary Medicaid data for October 2017 (the most recent period available), show Medicaid enrollment fell by about 500,000.

Food stamp rolls also experienced a significant decrease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports total enrollment declined by 2.7 percent nationally from September 2016 to September 2017, with enrollment increasing in only six states.

Supporters of President Obama might attempt to argue that these incredible economic achievements should be credited to him, not to President Trump. But that would be wishful thinking without a basis in fact.

The truth is that although the economy has been slowly improving for several years, the rate at which the economy has experienced gains increased rapidly once President Trump was elected. It doesnt take a genius or a mathematician to understand why.

Unlike the Obama administration, which added more than 20,000 new regulations over eight years, President Trump has slashed unneeded regulations, freeing up businesses to operate without the burden of an overbearing national government.

Within the first 11 months, we canceled or delayed over 1,500 planned regulatory actions, more than any previous president, by far, President Trump said in December. And you see the results, when you look at the stock market, the results of companies, and when you see companies coming back into our country.

The Trump administration says its cut in regulations will amount to a savings of $8.1 billion in net regulatory costs. Business can use a big chunk of those savings to create yet more jobs.

In addition to reducing regulatory burdens, President Trump approved the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines; announced plans to auction off oil and natural gas drilling leases to roughly 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico; stopped President Obamas war on the coal industry; and signed one of the largest tax cuts in American history, which has already led to major corporations such as AT&T, Boeing, and Southwest Airlines giving huge bonuses to hundreds of thousands of employees.

And on Thursday the Trump administration announced yet another move to create jobs and strengthen our economy  an expansion of offshore drilling for oil and natural gas to almost all U.S. coastal waters. This will also make our nation less dependent on imported oil and gas and reduce our trade deficit with other nations.

All these policies  along with promises from President Trump and congressional Republicans to do even more in the coming months  have catalyzed Americas previously sluggish economy. Minority groups are some of the nations biggest winners.
The world economy has reached its strongest point since the global financial crisis a decade ago, but rising political risks may cloud prospects in 2018 and perhaps beyond.

At the World BankInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings last fall, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde announced that in 2017 global growth would be stronger (3.6 percent) and more broadly based than in recent years, and that this year growth would be slightly higher.

But she also pointed to economic risks, such as financial tightening, volatile capital markets, trade protectionism, and technology disruptions such as crypto-currencies.

Another class of risks  political  is also becoming more or a worry. Three types of these risks, often intertwined, may sap growth. Consider the worlds largest markets: China, Europe, and America.

Economic nationalism is a key source of political risk.

In Europe, Brexit has created unprecedented uncertainty in the continents second-largest economy. Brexit threatens to sunder sophisticated cross-border supply chains, as in auto manufacturing, and scatter much of Londons highly efficient financial market. RAND modeling reveals that under most plausible scenarios, the UKs economy will be worse-off outside the European Union. Russia, burdened by low oil prices, structural impediments, and Western sanctions, resorts to wasteful import substitution and state economic interference.

In America, President Donald Trumps renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement sparks anxiety and uncertainty. The United States is the largest trading partner for Mexico and Canada, and together they account for one-quarter of all U.S. trade. In 2016, U.S. trade with the two countries totaled more than $1.2 trillion. The Trump Administration is also unwisely tightening visa issuance for skilled foreign workers, essential to the tech industry.

Political unwillingness to make economic reforms is a second source of risk.

Although President Xi Jinping stage-managed good news at the 19th Communist Party Congress last November, economic anxieties are rampant. In remarks riddled with nationalist themes, he touted state enterprise and downplayed market forces. But state entities may have distressed assets of several trillion dollars. In a sell-off last July some equity shares fell to trading limits as authorities signaled plans for tighter financial regulation and deleveraging. In August, the IMF warned that China was not immune to a debt-driven financial crisis.

It has been recognized for years that China must reform its economy, changing from export- and manufacturing-led growth to consumption- and innovation-led. But nearly five years into Xi Jinpings presidency, reforms have stalled. His Made in China 2025 manufacturing plan will create barriers to foreign business, in part through subsidies to domestic producers.

Beset by structural barriers, France and Italy have lagged in making reforms. French President Emmanuel Macron is launching some labor and other reforms, but his is a country where street protests and trade unions have derailed earlier attempts.

Security troubles are a third source of political risk.

Trump unnerves others by threatening fire and fury on North Korea, and a U.S. pull-out from the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal. China undermines freedom of navigation and others resource rights with land grabs in the South and East China Seas. Russia is waging a simmering war in eastern Ukraine, where over 10,000 have been killed.

Over the past quarter century, most major countries have offered a reasonably stable policy environment, with economic growth, increased openness, and wider integration. Now in the worlds largest markets, heightened political risk is compounding economic risk.

The world economy has faced numerous financial risks, as in the 1992 UK exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the 1997 Asian crisis, the 1998 Russian crisis, the 1999 Brazilian crisis, the 2001 Argentinian default, the 2008-2009 global crisis, and the Eurozone crisis. Although often wrong about predicting financial crises, policymakers have a variety of tools for mitigating and resolving them. This helps explain the current global recovery.

The remedies to economic risk, such as greater labor market flexibility and easing market entry and exit by firms, are well known. But since reforms often harm specific business sectors or groups in society, and many governments are reluctant to employ them.

Political risk is at least as complicated as economic risk, and forecasting may be harder. Consider North Korean provocations, Russian adventures, Chinese power plays, Middle Eastern instability, and U.S. unilateralism. Moreover, political risks often persist or defy consensus solutions.

That political risks can exacerbate financial and economic ones compounds the challenge for policymakers. To address it, they should intensify reforms, bolster diplomacy to lessen foreign risks, and not count too much on global growth to lift all boats.
Overturning 33 years of energy policy, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed opening as much as 90 percent of the U.S. coast to oil and gas development.

The move, praised by some experts as a potential avenue to expanded energy opportunities, also inspired criticism from some Democratic governors as well as environmentalists.

"This is a dramatic departure from previous policy," said Karen Harbert of the Global Energy Institute. "Currently, 94 percent of our offshore resources are off-limits. This is an opportunity to open up more of those areas to supply growing demand."

In unveiling the administration's five-year blueprint, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the U.S. can be a reliable, clean and safe supplier for growing worldwide oil demand.

"Under President Trump, we're going to have the strongest energy policy and become the strongest energy superpower," Zinke said in a conference call.

Trump's plan takes a wrecking ball to President Obama's environmental legacy. In June 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon spill off Louisiana, Obama rescinded his own plan to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Atlantic Ocean to drilling.

"I have issued a six-month moratorium on deep water drilling," Obama told the nation from the oval office. "We need to know the facts before we allow deep water drilling to continue."

Currently, the U.S. produces about 15 percent of its oil offshore, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico. The Trump plan opens up 47 new areas for leasing: 19 off Alaska, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, seven in California and nine in the Atlantic. Each leasing block represents thousands of acres where, if approved, companies can explore and potentially drill for oil and natural gas.

However, overcoming opposition on both coasts will be difficult. Almost any new drilling proposal faces political and legal hurdles. Offshore exploration is especially risky and expensive because of the threat to tourism and wildlife. Those issues may force some companies to go overseas or drill on land.

"Offshore drilling is inherently dirty," says John Fleming, staff scientist at the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity. "It's inevitable that there will be an oil spill."

The leasing block most observers believe could be easily pried loose for development is in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, west of Florida and south of Louisiana. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has reportedly called President Trump to discuss his concerns.

The governors of three Western states, all Democrats, voiced their opposition to the plan on Thursday.

"We are united in our opposition to this move by the President," said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. "I am appalled that our President would move contrary to Oregon values, frankly contrary to West Coast values and frankly these moves would be damaging to our coastal economies."

Not everyone sees it that way. Oil and gas production in 16 states produced roughly $270 billion in 2013, of which state governments took home $30 billion in taxes, or roughly 10 percent of the production value.

Experts say that due to the long moratorium on outer continental shelf drilling, no one really knows how much oil there is and how expensive it is to produce. Generally, the drillers' axiom is the shallower the rig, the cheaper the oil. That's especially true in the Gulf of Mexico, where existing infrastructure makes transportation relatively cheap. While the U.S. is not considered a 'low cost' producer like Saudi Arabia or Iran, competition from American shale drillers have kept world oil prices relatively low.

Many say the U.S., with the most advanced seismic mapping available, could discover large new offshore oil deposits if given the chance.

"There's got to be a process," said Zinke. "We're working together with the states. We're working together with the stakeholders. The Interior [Department] should not be in the role of being an adversary, we should be a partner."
The Trump administration has asked Congress to set aside $18 billion over the next decade to install or replace more than 700 miles of the barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The proposal by U.S. Customs and Border Protection would extend the barrier's coverage to 970 miles, nearly half the distance of the southern border. It includes 316 miles of new construction and 407 miles of replacement or secondary fencing, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter told the Associated Press.

The request is one of the most detailed insights into how the administration plans to carry out Trump's signature campaign promise.

Trump has repeatedly promised to construct "a big, beautiful wall," but offered few details of where it would be built, when and at what cost. His administration asked for $1.6 billion this year to build or replace 74 miles of fencing in Texas and California, and officials have said they also will seek $1.6 billion next year.

The 10-year plan resulted from discussions with senators who asked the agency what it would take to secure the border, the official said.

CONTRACTOR HOPES FOR A PIECE OF TRUMP'S BORDER WALL -- NO MATTER WHO PAYS FOR IT

The plan also comes as the administration intensifies negotiations in Congress on a package that may include granting legal status to about 800,000 people who were temporarily shielded from deportation under an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Trump said last year that he was ending DACA but gave Congress until early March to deliver a legislative fix.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described the CBP proposal as "alarming" in a letter to fellow House Democrats Friday morning. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Wall Street Journal that the plan threatened to undermine negotiations on a spending bill needed to keep the government open later this month.

"Its outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish list of hard-line anti-immigrant bills  plus an additional $18 billion in wall fundingon the backs of these young people," Durbin said.

The plan on border security came in response to a request by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., according to Flake spokesman Jason Samuels.

An administration official confirmed the document was prepared at the request of congressional negotiators and said funding for the wall and other security measures must be part of any legislative package on immigration. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the wall would be "first and foremost" in any package that includes new protections for DACA recipients. She also said the administration wanted to close "loopholes" on issues that include handling asylum claims and local police working with immigration authorities.

Nielsen called the $3.2 billion requests for fencing during the administration's first two years a down payment.

"This is not going to get us the whole wall we need, but it's a start," she said.

Mexico has steadfastly rejected Trump's demand that it pay for the wall and few doubt that U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill if the wall is built.

The CBP document includes $5.7 billion for towers, surveillance equipment and other technology; $1 billion over five years for road construction and maintenance; and $8.5 billion over seven years for 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, 2,500 border inspectors and other personnel, the U.S. official said.

The document doesn't specify where the extended wall should be built.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Few words in the congressional vocabulary are as profane as earmark.

Capitol Hill leaders essentially scrubbed earmarks from the congressional experience a few years ago. They toppled the earmarking process like statues of Communist dictators in Eastern Europe, circa 1989.

Earmarks were dispatched to the dustbin of history.

The problem is that congressional earmarks epitomized what the public viewed was wrong with Washington. So the House and Senate -- along with President Barack Obama -- ditched them.

But the earmarks could soon rise from the dead.

Fox has learned that House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, under the direction of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., plans to conduct hearings evaluating the merits and demerits of restoring some forms of earmarks.

Republicans nearly reinstated earmarks in the fall of 2016 before Ryan singlehandedly spiked the effort.

In mid-November 2016, House GOPers huddled in the ornate House Ways and Means Committee hearing room, in the Longworth Office Building, across the street from the Capitol. They plotted new internal rules for the 115th Congress that would start in January, 2017.

GOP Reps. Tom Rooney, Florida, and John Culberson, Texas, each crafted proposals to resuscitate limited forms of earmarks. The House Republican Conference was moments away from voting on the Rooney-Culberson plans.

Then Ryan interceded.

The speaker reminded his colleagues they were just days removed from a drain the swamp election. It was bad optics to immediately return to the old way of doing business, though earmarking was an accepted practice under Democrats and Republicans more than a decade ago.

Ryan promised his colleagues hed address the earmark question in the first quarter of 2017.

Well, that didnt happen.

Last year was wild. House Republicans incinerated the first quarter trying to pass a bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The GOP brass finally yanked the initial plan off the floor in late March, only to pass an altered version in mid-May. But the endeavor died in the Senate.

Then it was on to tax reform. Thats to say nothing of the political vortex that churned all year on Capitol Hill. Special elections. Administration scandals. Russia. North Korea. Sexual harassment. Government funding. General pandemonium.

There are only so many hours in the day. The earmark issue never again gurgled to the surface.

Earmarks are funny topic on Capitol Hill. When Ryan claimed the speakership in October 2015, he argued that Congress should reassert legislative authorities as prescribed under Article I of the Constitution.

That includes spending power. Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution declares No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. Thats why House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said at that time, Youre going to see a very refreshing movement to get that power (of the purse) back to the people.

First, lets consider what defines an earmark:

House Rule XXI defines earmarks as a provision or report language included primarily at the request of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator providing, authorizing or recommending a specific amount of discretionary budget authority, credit authority, or other spending authority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or Congressional district, other than through a statutory or administrative formula driven or competitive award process.

In other words, specific money designated for a specific project at a specific place by a specific lawmaker.

But heres where it gets tricky.

Earmarks pale in comparison when it comes to actual federal spending. Some earmarks in 2007 cost as little as tens of thousands of dollars. Thats nothing when compared to trillions spent on federal entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

The public loves to have federal money go toward projects in their home states and districts. Money for museums. Bridges. Roadways. Dams. Locks. Levies. Research centers at universities. New equipment for police departments. But youre liable to get an earful if you ask voters if they like earmarks.

Voters turned against lawmakers and earmarks from 2005 to 2008. They didnt like how House GOP leaders often larded up legislation with earmarks to persuade reluctant lawmakers to support bills they otherwise opposed.

So-called good government groups interpreted those efforts as bribes. Scandals erupted about the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska. Coconut Road in Florida. There were questions about then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., buying land near his farm in Illinois -- followed by $207 million in earmarks to extend a highway close to Hasterts land.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lit up then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for an earmark to help construct a museum near Max Yasgurs farm in upstate New York to commemorate Woodstock.

Im sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event, McCain said.

Authorities probed influence peddling involving numerous lawmakers. Several former lawmakers were put on trial or did jail time. Democrats focused their campaign efforts on what voters interpreted as a culture of corruption in Washington.

But veteran members of both parties argue there is merit in limited earmarks. The 2016 plan from Culberson would allow earmarks for federal, state and local governments and would originate in subcommittees.

Crafting earmarks at the subcommittee level would grant them proper vetting by members and staff as a bill moves to the floor. Earmarks wouldnt just appear magically at the end as an afterthought -- and perhaps an effort to coax a lawmaker to vote yes on a bill they otherwise opposed. Rooneys 2016 effort would allow earmarks for Army Corps of Engineers projects.

Its easy for the public to lampoon earmarks like the $500,000 National Science Foundation study on crustacean mobility. It involved putting shrimp on treadmills. The same with money for a teapot museum in North Carolina.

But heres the conundrum in the upcoming earmark debate: what some constituents and lawmakers view as crucial is seen by others as a boondoggle.

The Constitution clearly asserts its up to Congress to direct federal spending. That lack of focus means unnamed federal bureaucrats at agencies decide how to spend taxpayer dollars instead of elected representatives.

Ask voters if they want invisible bureaucrats calling the shots -- or their members of Congress.

Its unclear if lawmakers will get anywhere with earmarks this time or forge a consensus on bringing them back. The drain the swamp mantra still resonates. That phrase rhymes with the Democrats 2006 culture of corruption slogan. And thats why earmark could remain a dirty word in Washington.
The White House is working with lawmakers on a legislative fix that could allow the U.S. to remain in the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Associated Press during an interview Friday.

Changes to the U.S. law codifying U.S. participation the 2015 agreement could come as early as next week Tillerson said.

President Donald Trump faces approaching deadlines for how to proceed with an Obama-era accord he has threatened to tear up, describing it as the worst deal ever and too soft on Iran.

The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it, Tillerson said. We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it.

"The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it. We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it."  Rex Tillerson, U.S. secretary of state, discussing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal

Tillerson said the administration was speaking with congressional leaders on a very active basis about a fix. He suggested Trump might be inclined to preserve the deal by waiving sanctions again Thursday if Congress shows signs of acting in short order.

Extremely challenging

However, getting an agreement in Congress on such a short timeline could be extremely challenging. A congressional aide confirmed there has been significant progress in discussions between key lawmakers and the administration, but said formal negotiations havent started yet.

While the talks involving the White House, State Department and Congress wouldnt impose new restrictions on Irans nuclear activity, which Trump wants, they could strengthen the way the U.S. enforces the agreement, perhaps convincing Trump that its worthwhile for the U.S. to remain in the pact.

The president hasnt yet decided what hell do about Iran next week, when he must decide yet again whether to certify Tehrans compliance with the pact and continue granting it relief from U.S. economic sanctions.

Regardless, Trump waived the sanctions for another three months, something aides have said he loathed doing. He left the ultimate decision on whether to quit the deal for later while urging Congress to change the U.S. law concerning certification.

Consequently, lawmakers were discussing with the White House the option of removing a requirement that Trump certify Iranian compliance, which yields another possibility for a fix: changing the law so certification occurs far less often, officials said.

Any changes would have to get significant support among Republicans, including many die-hard opponents of the nuclear deal, and some Democrats who largely support it.

Discontent with the EU

In the AP interview, Tillerson also voiced his discontent with the European Union for failing to support protesters in Iran.

Were a bit disappointed that the European Union has not taken a more definitive stance in supporting those voices in the country that are calling for reform, he said.

"Were a bit disappointed that the European Union has not taken a more definitive stance in supporting those voices in [Iran] that are calling for reform."  Rex Tillerson, U.S. secretary of state

The former Exxon Mobil CEO also discussed next weeks inter-Korean talks, about which he was cautious. He said the rare talks between South Korea and the North about February's Winter Olympics could offer clues regarding Pyongyangs willingness to discuss broader issues, including its nuclear weapons.

The meeting will be the first such session in two years, and Tillerson said it could be a platform for the North to indicate interest in talks with the U.S.

Is this the beginning of something? I think its premature, he said. Well see if the North Koreans come with more than just wanting to talk about the Olympics.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday evening to once again take shots at "Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff -- and former White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump retweeted a parody cover of the book that the Republican Party had tweeted earlier Friday, and used it as a springboard for his latest criticisms -- calling Wolff a total loser and saying Bannon "cried when he got fired" and has been "dumped like a dog by almost everyone" since leaving the White House in August.

The GOP's parody cover retitles the book "Liar and Phony," and surrounds a photo of Wolff with blurbs from actual reviews of his much-criticized White House expose.

"He gets basic details wrong," a New York Times writer says about Wolff.

"Real factual errors ... makes you wonder about the overall content," notes a CNN reporter.

Then there's the full content of Trump's tweet:

Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!

Tweets unleashed

In recent days Trump has unleashed a series of tweets attacking Wolff and the content of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which went on sale Friday.

Trump has also targeted Bannon, whose trash-talking of the president and his family have sparked the media frenzy surounding the book's release.

For example, the book quotes Bannon dismissing Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump: She became a White House staffer and thats when people suddenly realized shes as dumb as a brick.

The book's Friday release was moved up from its original Jan. 9 release date, in part because of the swirl of publicity and also because Trump's legal team has demanded that the publication and release be halted.

In addition, the date was pushed up due to unprecedented demand, a spokesman for publisher Henry Holt and Company told Fox News in an email.

Earlier Friday, Trump claimed the book was merely a distraction from the investigation into the Trump team's possible collusion with Russia turning out to be a hoax.

Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad! Trump tweeted Friday morning.

In a tweet Thursday, the president attacked Wolffs credibility, claiming he authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times), and that he never spoke to him for book.

Wolff fires back

However, Wolff fired back Friday morning during an interview with NBCs Today, insisting that he did speak to the president, and whether he realized it was an interview or not  it certainly was not off the record.

Wolff claimed he spoke to the president for several hours over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign and after he took office, adding that his window into Donald Trump is pretty significant.

The author said he stands by his work.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday dismissed the book as tabloid gossip that was laced with false and fraudulent claims.

Among some of the claims in the book, Wolff writes that candidate Trump told his wife Melania there was no way he would win the presidential election, and that the president and first lady spend relatively little time together.

Wolff wrote the book over 18 months, in which he claims to have spoken with more than 200 people. He said he had access to top officials inside the Trump administration, including the president, according to an interview Thursday with the Hollywood Reporter that details the backstory to the book's publishing.

Fox News Brooke Singman, Alex Pappas, Bill Mears, NuNu Japardize, Kristin Brown, Ryan Gaydos and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock reportedly encountered employees at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino more than 10 times" in the days prior to the deadly concert shooting ambush in October, MGM Resorts International said.

Mandalay Bay staff, room service and housekeeping had contact with Paddock or entered his suite more than 10 times over the course of his stay, including the three days leading up to October 1, a statement obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal from the hotel group said. As a result of these interactions, there was no need to conduct a welfare check.

LAS VEGAS SHOOTING VICTIMS ALL DIED OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS, CORONERS REPORT FINDS

There were numerous interactions with Stephen Paddock every day at the resort, including a room service delivery and a call with housekeeping on Oct. 1, all of which were normal in nature, the statement continued.

Paddock was the lone gunman in the deadly Oct. 1 ambush at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the Strip that killed 58 people and injured more than 500 others.

More than 1,100 rounds were fired from his room on the 32nd floor into a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Paddock killed himself as police approached his suite.

LAS VEGAS SHOOTER STEPHEN PADDOCK KILLED HIMSELF WITH GUNSHOT TO MOUTH: CORONER

The statement from MGM followed an inquiry by the Review-Journal, the outlet said, regarding potential policy adjustments focusing on entering guest rooms.

The company reportedly didnt provide information on the nature of the interactions.

The hotel chain was reportedly criticized in the wake of the Paddock episode, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, under the argument that had hotel employees entered and cleaned Paddocks room, they would have likely found his weapons, the outlet said. The gunman reportedly left a do-not-disturb sign on his door.
A police lieutenant in New Jersey who was killed early Friday morning died a hero trying to help someone else, police said.

In a news conference, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly described fallen Jersey City Police Lt. Christopher Robateau as an unbelievable family man and one of the most decorated police officers in the department, ABC News reported.

Robateau, 49, was reportedly involved in a crash with a Freighliner box truck around 6 a.m., leaving the officer's Toyota Rav4 "disabled on the right shoulder" of the New Jersey Turnpike, State Police said on Facebook. He was then fatally hit by a Ford Ranger pickup truck after exiting his vehicle, they said.

"Lt. Robateau's instincts are always to help and save others and that's what he was doing when he was struck," Kelly added, according to the outlet.

HONOR SOUGHT FOR US SOLDIER WHO DIED IN BRONX FIRE RESCUE

Police said he sustained serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

We have over 900 police officers in the Jersey City, Kelly said of Robateau, per ABC News. He may be our best. Thats how good that this man was.

State Police said everyone involved in the incident stayed at the scene and are working with authorities. Nobody was charged or reported serious injuries, they said.

FLEEING IN TRUCK, SHOT SUSPECT DRAGS FBI AGENT THROUGH ATLANTA SUBURB

Kelly said a funeral will be held for the fallen officer and the department will mourn the way that we mourn when we lose one of our heroes, ABC reported.

Robateau was a 23-year veteran of the force after joining in 1994, ABC 7 NY reported. He was reportedly promoted to lieutenant in 2014. The officer was married with three children, the outlet said.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said in a tweet that the city lost a great officer. We consider him on duty in JC being that he was looking to help someone which is what we want all JC officers to do all the time R.I.P Lt Chris Robateau, he said.
When authorities entered Arthur Rathburn's warehouse in December 2013, it was "filthy," an FBI agent testified Friday as the body-parts broker's trial opened in a Detroit courtroom.

FBI agent Leslie Larsen and her colleagues found dead flies, dried blood on the floor -- plus human body parts in paint cans, beer coolers and plastic containers, she told the court.

Some body parts were found frozen together inside a refrigerator, next to ingredients for sandwiches, she said.

We seized human remains, documents and tools, Larsen testified, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"We seized human remains, documents and tools."  FBI agent Leslie Larsen

Authorities also allegedly found four fetuses preserved in liquid alongside human brain tissue, Reuters reported last month.

Rathburn, 64, is accused of selling diseased body parts. He faces 13 federal charges, including wire fraud, transport of hazardous material and making false statements to a public official, MLive reported.

He and his now ex-wife Elizabeth, were accused of fraud for misrepresenting the human body parts sold by their company, International Biological Inc.

However, Elizabeth pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, and has agreed to work with the government as a witness in her ex-husbands case, the website reported.

Rathburn caught the eye of authorities after U.S. Customs agents seized a severed head he provided for a dental seminar while transporting it from Tel Aviv to Chicago.

The head was infected with sepsis, authorities said, and its packaging failed to meet shipping standards. It was packed in a trash bag in some fluid, inside a cooler, U.S. Attorney John Neal said during his opening statements, MLive reported.

Rathburn allegedly lied about the liquid, claiming it was mouth wash, and that he had embalmed the head, Neal said.

The defendant's attorney, James C. Howarth, argued that the case should not be a criminal matter, but merely a contractual dispute, MLive reported.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday, with testimony expected to continue through early February, MLive reported.
Cindy Rolow said she didn't really know the family that lived five doors away from her, but she would often see the father and son walking through the neighborhood holding hands.

"We always thought that was cute," she said.

On Friday, the father and son -- plus the mother and another child, were found dead in their Southern California home.

Authorities believe the man shot and killed his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself.

"This is just awful, it's horrific," Rolow said. "It's so sad to hear somebody would take their family's life and their own life."

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies went to the house in Santa Clarita -- about 35 miles north of downtown L.A. -- early Friday after getting a call from someone concerned about the family, Lt. Rodney Moore said.

Found fatally shot were Michael Birnkrant, 51, wife, Amy, 47, their college-age daughter, Drew, and 11-year-old son, in what appeared to be a murder-suicide carried out by the father, KTLA reported.

Police were not looking for any suspects.

According to investigators, the family members were found shot in the chest, with the gun discovered close to Michaels body.

The house is in a neighborhood of modern, two-story homes in a development below the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the young Missouri woman who is serving 10 years in prison for second-degree murder in her mothers death, said she felt like a prisoner before the fatal day.

Blanchard, 26, opened up in an ABC 20/20 interview that aired Friday about the abuse she endured at the hands of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.

The prison that I was living in before, with my mom, it's, like, I couldn't walk. I couldn't eat. I couldn't have friends. I couldn't go outside, you know, and play with friends or anything, she said. Over here, I feel like I'm freer in prison, than with living with my mom. Because now, I'm allowed to  just live like a normal woman.

Blanchard is serving time at Missouris Chillicothe Correctional Center home for the 2015 death of her mother. Dee Dee Blanchard, a single mother, likely suffered from a mental illness called Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), which occurs when a person attempts to produce psychological or physical symptoms in another person.

Dee Dee claimed from the time Gypsy was 7 years old that her daughter could not walk and had the mindset of a child. She also claimed Gypsy suffered from epilepsy, leukemia and muscular dystrophy.

However, Gypsy could walk and did not have any of the ailments or cancer.

The only thing I had wrong with me is I have a little bit of a lazy eye. Not all the time, but I have better vision in [my left] eye than I do [in my right] eye, Gypsy said. Thats it.

MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST: WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME BY PROXY?

The young woman said she knew she could walk but was told by Dee Dee to use the wheelchair.

I was so young, so me looking up to her so much and just believing she knows best -- I didnt question it, said Gypsy. Its sad because I think about all the times that I could have been walking around like a normal person, skating, riding bikes and stuff, and I've never done any of that.

When asked if she thought about walking to expose her mothers lies, Gypsy said she was terrified of the consequences.

I honestly didnt think about that, Blanchard said. I was always so afraid of her  afraid of the consequences after.

Dee Dee and Gypsy were well-known in the community and were gifted a Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World after they lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. Their house in Missouri was built and donated to them by Habitat for Humanity.

Police found Dee Dee, 48, dead on June 14, 2015 in their Missouri home. Two days later, Gypsy and her boyfriend, Nicholas Paul Godejohn, were arrested in connection with the murder.

Gypsy said she and her mother started to fight after she wanted to leave the home and live a normal life. The arguments would last a couple of days and sometimes become physical.

The 26-year-old claimed her mother beat her with a coat hanger and she was chained to her bed after she attempted to run away.

She physically chained me to the bed, and put bells on the doors, and told anybody that I probably would have trusted that I was going through a phase, and to tell her if I was doing anything behind her back, Gypsy said.

Gypsy said after she fell in love with Godejohn, whom she met online, Dee Dee became jealous and ordered me to stay away from him.

Needless to say, that was a very long argument that lasted a couple weeks, Gypsy said. Yelling, throwing things, calling me names: b----, s---, w----.

It all came to a boiling point.

It was not because I hated her. It was because I wanted to escape her, Gypsy said.

CALIFORNIA FAMILY DEAD IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE

Godejohn went to Dee Dees home where Gypsy gave him the materials needed to stab her mother. After the attack, the couple fled and were spotted in a surveillance video camera at a Walmart in Springfield, Mo.

Authorities caught Gypsy after they traced a cryptic Facebook post she had written about her mother to Godejohns home in Wisconsin.

Gypsy said she wrote the post: That b---- is dead so police would search and discover Dee Dees body.

I couldn't stand the thought of her just there because what happens if it would have taken months to find her, so I wanted her found so she could have a proper burial, she said.

Godejohn, who is behind bars in Greene County Jail, claimed Gypsy planned the whole murder.

All the planning she did, every bit of it. She pretty much willed the knife in my hand to commit the deed herself. She is the mastermind behind the entire thing, Godejohn said.

Gypsy claimed Godejohn had no remorse for her mothers murder.

I don't hate him. I feel sorry for him, and just that somebody could do something so heartless and not express remorse and not feel like he's responsible for it, she said.

Gypsy told 20/20 she was doing well in prison and was working on getting her GED. She said there was not a day that passed by that she did not think of her mother.

All I could hope is that wherever she is, that she still loves me in some small way, she said in between tears. And I want her to know that I am sorry. I am so sorry.
A married small-town Pennsylvania police chief was arrested Friday and accused of trying to solicit sex online from an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The state attorney general's office said Leechburg Police Chief Michael Diebold, 40, was arrested at a spot in Westmoreland County where he thought he had made plans to meet the girl.

Diebold is charged with unlawful contact with a minor and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, both felonies.

"This case is particularly heinous because the perpetrator is a public official, sworn to serve and protect the community," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement. "We have a zero tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of children and my office will prosecute any offender to the fullest extent of the law, no matter who they are."

WTAE, citing court documents, reported that Diebold sent explicit messages and photos to the agent using the Kik messaging app under the username "Kutecop4you." The agent said he began communicating with Diebold after responding to an online ad in which the chief described himself as a "dom male ... looking for a female sub for ongoing play sessions.

"I do not have a set type of woman so any age, race or status may email me," the alleged posting said.

According to an affidavit, Diebold was interviewed without an attorney present and admitted to sending the messages.

"Diebold admitted that he knew that sexual contact with a 14 year [old] child was wrong and illegal and that his life was totally over," the agent wrote in the affidavit, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Part of Diebold's left arm was amputated last year in a fireworks accident during a fire company carnival. The chief got married fewer than three weeks later. The Post-Gazette reported that Diebold's wife recently gave birth to a boy.

Diebold was scheduled to return to work last month, but city officials placed him on leave Dec. 11. Leechburg Mayor Wayne Dobos told the Post-Gazette Friday that he was not aware that Diebold was under investigation when he was placed on leave.

"This is all a surprise to me," Dobos said. "I'm just as shocked as everyone else."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Philadelphia's new district attorney fired 31 staffers Friday as part of a promised shakeup of an office tarnished by scandal.

DA Larry Krasner, 56, made the personnel moves on only his fourth day on the job.

Spokesman Ben Waxman said the changes shouldnt be surprising, given that Krasner, a longtime civil rights lawyer, campaigned on a promise to clean up the DAs office, which he previously called "off the rails," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Reorganization and a change in some key personnel are necessary to fulfill that promise, Waxman said.

Krasner's campaign platform included reducing incarceration rates, ending cash bail and favoring lighter punishments for gun and drug offenders.

His disgraced predecessor, Seth Williams, was sentenced to five years in prison for accepting bribes.

Assistant DAs fired Friday included some veterans of the office.

The head of the Republican Party of Philadelphia said the firings were what we might expect from a defense attorney who made a career out of suing the police. Krasner places victims on the back burner from day one.

Change is never easy," spokesman Waxner said. "But DA Krasner was given a clear mandate from the voters for transformational change.
A Philadelphia fire lieutenant and a resident were killed Saturday morning when a fast-moving fire tore through a row house on the city's north side.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters that Lt. Matthew LeTourneau, 42, was pinned under debris inside the home when it collapsed. LeTourneau was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital after being rescued by fellow firefighters.

"Our hearts are breaking," said Thiel. "We are without words." He said it took about 30 minutes for firefighters to free LeTourneau from the debris caused by the interior structure collapse.

Letourneau was an 11-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department and was promoted to lieutenant in 2015. He had received a unit citation in 2010 and a letter of commendation for his service during the World Meeting of Families in 2015.

Letourneau is the first city firefighter killed in the line of duty since 2014, when Lt. Joyce Craig was fatally injured while battling a wind-whipped house fire.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney praised the work of firefighters who "on every shift put themselves in harm's way for us" and vowed the city will "be there for [LeTourneaus] family forever."

Thiel said LeTourneau would receive a fire department funeral with full honors, but said it had not yet been scheduled.

The fast-moving fire was reported shortly before 9 a.m., and dozens of firefighters battled the blaze for nearly two hours before it was brought under control. Two other firefighters were also injured and were being treated at a hospital. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening and they were expected to be released later Saturday.

Authorities say a person found inside the home died in the fire, while another person from a neighboring home was taken to the hospital and was listed in critical condition. Their names and further details about their injuries were not disclosed.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox29.com.
President Donald Trump on Friday evening issued support for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's proposal to fund infrastructure projects in the U.S. with foreign aid halted from going to Pakistan.

"Good idea Rand!" came the president's response.

In a tweet Thursday, Rand, a Kentucky Republican, said he planned to introduce his proposal soon.

"My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home," the senator tweeted.

On Thursday, the U.S. announced plans to end up to $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan. The reasoning: The U.S. State Department contended that Pakistan had failed to take "decisive action" against Taliban militants targeting U.S. personnel in neighboring Afghanistan.

The figure represents about $1 billion in planned military assistance, including $255 million that was placed on hold in August, and about $900 million in Coalition Support Funds intended to reimburse Pakistan for counterterrorism operations.

Earlier in the week, President Trump contended that the U.S. had foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years and had gotten nothing in return but lies & deceit.

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused Pakistan of playing a double game for years, at times working with the U.S. while harboring terrorists who attack American troops in Afghanistan.

That game is not acceptable in this administration. We expect far more cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, she said.

But officials in Pakistan expressed disappointment with the U.S. plans, saying the suspension of aid would be detrimental to bilateral relations. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry asserted that the country had spent more than $120 billion of its own funds on the war on terror in recent years.

It contended that Pakistan's cooperation with the U.S. had helped "decimate" Al Qaeda and drive other militant groups away from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

"Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The United States is currently holding up more than $200 million in foreign aid to Pakistan. A senior U.S. administration official emphasized the money could potentially still be available if Pakistan were to change course.

But Paul went a step further Thursday, arguing that Pakistan has been of little use in the war on terrorism, and proposed cutting off aid to Pakistan altogether.

Weve sent Pakistan $33 billion since 2002. What did we get for it? Well Pakistan didnt even help us find Bin Laden, even though he was living in one of their cities for years. Then they jailed the informant who helped us to get Bin Laden. Theyve allowed suspected terrorists to operate in their country. Some say Pakistani intelligence agents actually aid and abet the terrorists. Its wrong.

Paul, who said he has been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years, called Trumps recent proposal to suspend aid a breakthrough.
The widow of the man who killed dozens of people at a gay Florida nightclub in the name of ISIS told investigators she knew her husband was going to do something bad before the 2016 attack.

Noor Salman told investigators she was in denial that her husband, Omar Mateen, could hurt other people when he left their home with guns and ammunition, the Orlando Sentinel reported citing a statement written by an FBI agent and signed by the widow.

I knew when he left the house he was going to Orlando to attack the Pulse Night Club, Salman said.

FBI ARRESTS WIFE OF ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB MASSACRE GUNMAN OMAR MATEEN

I knew on Saturday, when Omar left the house about 5 p.m. that this was the time that he was going to do something bad. I knew this because of the way he left and took the gun and backpack with ammunition, Salman said.

Salman faces charges of aiding a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice. Mateen killed 49 people and wounded at least 68 others during the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016.

I knew later, when I could not get ahold of him that my fears had come true and he did what he said he was going to do, Salman said. I was in denial and I could not believe that the father of my child was going to hurt other people.

Salmans attorneys and federal prosecutors attended a hearing Friday to discuss whether sealed evidence and an expert witness testimony should be allowed at her March trial. A judge ruled in favor of allowing the expert to testify. The hearing was closed to the public.

PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTERS WIFE TO STAND TRIAL IN ORLANDO

Salman said her husband became obsessed with ISIS and fighting in the Middle East two years prior to the shooting. He also purchased a rifle, toys and jewelry before the shooting, spending thousands of dollars.

The widow said her husband considered other places before they drove around the Pulse Night Club about a week before the attack.

Salman apologized at the end of her statement.

Im very sorry I lied to the FBI, she said. These are my words.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Government airstrikes and shelling of suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus have killed 17 people as government forces press to retake areas they recently lost.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17 people were killed Saturday, 12 of them in the suburb of Hamouriyeh.

The volunteer first-responders Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, reported 12 people killed in Hamouriyeh saying they included four children. They said five others were killed in other areas.

The Observatory reported more than 40 airstrikes on the suburbs known as eastern Ghouta.

Syrian government forces have been trying to reach a force trapped inside the suburb of Harasta for a week without success.

The U.N. says government forces are holding 400,000 people under siege in eastern Ghouta.
Police in Austria say a woman has been arrested for allegedly suffocating her 8-month-old son in a Vienna hospital.

Vienna police said Saturday that the suffocation took place Wednesday in a room at the hospital where the 37-year-old mother and her baby had been admitted.

A police statement issued Saturday said the mother then fled and tried to kill herself.

The statement from Vienna police said the "obviously mentally ill" woman was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a secure psychiatric unit.
The Malaysian government has approved a new attempt to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the Indian Ocean.

A U.S.-based company early this week dispatched a search vessel to look for debris in the southern Indian Ocean, 3  years after the Boeing 777 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew.

Malaysia, China and Australia called off the 1,046-day official search last year without solving the mystery.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Saturday that the government remains committed to continue with the search and the offer from Ocean Infinity is based on the company finding the wreckage.
A new expedition to search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was approved by the countrys government, officials announced Saturday, nearly four years after the unsolved disappearance.

The U.S.-based company Ocean Infinity has undertaken the task of continuing the hunt, which set off Tuesday for the southern Indian Ocean. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the companys offer to search for the plane debris was agreed to on the condition of "no cure, no fee, meaning that payment will only be made if the team finds the wreckage.

"That means they are willing to search the area of 25,000 square kilometers (9,653 square miles) pointed out by the expert group near the Australian waters," he said.

SUB-EQUIPPED BOAT DEPARTS SOUTH AFRICA TO SEARCH FOR MISSING MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT

Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, and was headed to Beijing when it disappeared. There were 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

Lai said his government has not wavered in its mission to find the plane, however he doesnt want to evoke too much optimism among the victims' families.

The companys search vessel Seabed Constructor was dispatched from the South African port of Durban on Tuesday, according to a statement from Ocean Infinity. The company said it was taking advantage of favorable weather to move the vessel towards the vicinity of the possible search zone. The ship has unmanned submarines that can descend deep into the ocean.

After more than 1,000 days searching, the mission was called off last January by governments in Malaysia, China and Australia without a concrete conclusion as to where or why the Boeing 777 vanished.

MYSTERY OF MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370 IS ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE, REPORT SAYS

However, the understanding of where the plane may be is better now as a result of studying debris that washed ashore in 2015 and 2016 that showed the plane was "not configured for a ditching at the end-of-flight," meaning it had run out of fuel.

The search team also looked back at satellite imagery that showed objects in the ocean that may have been MH370 debris.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he would be open to talking with the North Korean dictator he has nicknamed "Little Rocket Man."

Trump, who last year took his chief diplomat to task for talking about negotiations with the nuclear-armed North, told reporters at Camp David that some dialogue with Kim Jong Un was not out of the question. This, as the dictator has inflamed tensions on the world stage with his nation's aggressive pursuit of a nuclear weapons and missile program.

"Sure, I always believe in talking," Trump said, according to a report in The AP on Saturday. "Absolutely I would do that, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all." But he was quick to add that any talks would come with conditions, and he did not specify terms.

The first formal talks between North and South in more than two years are set to take place in a border town on the Korean peninsula on Tuesday as the rivals try to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in Seoul -- and perhaps generally improve relations.

"Right now they're talking Olympics. It's a start, it's a big start," Trump said after meetings with GOP leaders in Congress and Cabinet members on the Whie House's legislative goals for this new year.

The AP quote Trump sas saying that "if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world."

"You have to have a certain attitude and you have to be prepared to do certain things and I'm totally prepared to do that," Trump said, maintaining that his tough words on the North Korea situation helped persuade the North to sit down with the South.

Trump and Kim have traded barbs recently about their nuclear arsenals and their respective nuclear "buttons."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a triumphant visit to the newly liberated city of Kherson. He hailed the Russian withdrawal from the southern city as the beginning of the end of the war but also acknowledged the heavy price Ukrainian soldiers are paying in their grinding effort to push back the invaders. Retaking Kherson was one of Ukraines biggest successes in the nearly 9-month-old war and delivered another stinging blow to the Kremlin. But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine are still under Russian control, and the city of Kherson itself is without water, power and heat, and remains within reach of Moscows shells and missiles. Heavy fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine.
Tourism in Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania could nearly double its economic impact to a billion dollars by 2028.

Thats the conclusion reached by members of the localities Tourism Advisory Council, which spent six months examining the areas regional tourism efforts and meeting with state-level tourism experts to hear what other regional tourism organizations around the state are doing.

They believe that the region can go from $550 million to a billion relatively easily. That works out to 4 percent growth per year, which we thought was very manageable if we can target and have goals created for that purpose, Sue Henderson, the advisory groups facilitator, told City Council during its work session last month.

The Tourism Advisory Council was formed last spring at the request of City officials, who invited the counties to nominate a cross-section of representatives to participate. They included Kirsten TalkenSpaulding, superintendent of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park; Terry English of the Fredericksburg Regional Hospitality Council, Inc.; and developer Bill Vakos III of W.J. Vakos Co. The city and counties sent staff as well.

The council agreed unanimously on 10 recommendations, the first of which is to hire a nationally recognized tourism strategic consultant as soon as possible to analyze the regions ability to reach the billion-dollar goal, and to come up with a strategy and measurable goals for getting there, Henderson said.

She said this needs to be done soon, as the Fredericksburg Regional Tourism Partnerships marketing agreement with BCF ends in June, and an RFP will be put out soon for BCF is one of the top tourism agencies in the nation, and represents the State of Virginia tourism as well as many other Virginia localities.

Currently, the partnership focuses on marketing outside the region, and each locality markets its own parades, Fourth of July celebrations and other activities inside the region.

Theres no consolidated effort looking inward to this region, and that marketing effort is being driven somewhat by outside experts from the marketing firm and not necessarily driven by goals from here, Henderson said. This group of stakeholders believes that if we sat down and took the time to develop the goals internally here, we could then tell the marketing firm what we want instead of listening to them tell us what they think we should have.

The advisory council also recommended that marketing include a broader cross section of regional assets besides historic sites, which she called the bedrock of the areas tourist attractions. These would include outdoor recreation, cultural/arts-related opportunities, sports, restaurants, brew pubs and wineries. While all of the regions tourism-related offerings are listed on the Fredericksburg Regional Tourism Partnerships website, VisitFred.com, marketing efforts tend to focus on trends, such as the current interest in craft beers.

The historians, particularly, were concerned about that, as you can imagine, said Henderson said.

Another recommendation is for the localities to commit to enhancing and improving a more aggressive regional approach to tourism.

I know this will not be popular in any jurisdiction, but tourists do not see borders, Henderson said. This group of stakeholders really thinks looking at borders is really not helping the tourism effort. So if we can figure out a way to work together more comprehensively, inevitably the tourism product will improve and well get bigger.

She said that other regional tourism groups that spoke to the advisory council all said that theyd gotten better traction when they renamed themselves after a region. The Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, for example, has renamed itself Visit Virginias Blue Ridge; and the Coastal Virginia Tourism Alliance markets an area that includes Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore and the Historic Triangle, among others.

Theyre marketing themselves intentionally as a region like that. We dont. Weve heard those conversations. We all know those arguments will happen . . . about whose name is on what. The bottom line is, none of these stakeholders think thats a really much of a valuable conversation, Henderson said. We think it should be a regional effort, and we need to figure out a way [to do it].

Other recommendations included developing a regional signage strategy, becoming a regional leader in digital and virtual tourism, and increasing marketing efforts to local and Virginia tourists. Currently, BCS is focusing on Philadelphia and other areas along the Interstate 95 corridor.

Thats an interesting tactic and certainly understandable and maybe historically accurate, but not viable particularly, Henderson said. Every stakeholder, and this will not be a surprise to you, is very concerned about the impact of I-95 on tourism. Its just not working. If its not working, why are we targeting people who have to face that miserable traffic, and will be miserable when they arrive and depressed that they have to get back on that road to leave?

Instead, she said, the advisory council suggested targeting other areas, including the western part of the state and North Carolina.

Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw asked if the advisory council has any idea of how much money would be needed to reach the billion dollar goal.

Obviously youll want professional help, she said. Was there any discussion of how inadequate our spending is or how we should step it up?

Henderson said that Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania currently spend $513,000 a year on promoting tourism, and hiring a national-level consultant would probably cost between $50,000 and $60,000. She said it might be possible to tag along on another tourism organizations contract.

I hope, as we move forward, this working group becomes more involved, said Council member Matt Kelly. Its critically important, and something thats been missing: having all the stakeholders at the table.

Henderson said that one of the suggestions is to make the advisory council permanent.

Council member Kerry Devine said that localities definitely need to do a better job of telling each other about their events and attractions.

Weve talked about that lack of local coordination, or reaching out to our neighbors. When you have things like concerts in Market Square, people say, I live just up the road, but I never knew this was there,  she said. I do think that regional piece, at least for us, getting people downtown and appreciating what we have is critical.

City Manager Tim Baroody said that he would reach out to his counterparts in Stafford and Spotsylvania to come up with funds to hire the outside consultant in the existing 2018 budget.

Basically, wed have to not do something to find resources to do more to move forward, he said. The study would take the form of an action plan.
What do the King and the Thin White Duke have in common?

Elvis Presley and David Bowie were rock royalty. They were versatile performers who made indelible impressions on rock as we know it today, through their vocal talents, showmanship and embracing visual presentation and costuming as means of enhancing musical experiences. But thats not it.

They likely would have put on an epic tour and recorded the ultimate holiday album if theyd had the chance to collaborate. But thats not even what they share.

What Bowie and Presley share at a most human, sentimental level is a birthdayJan. 8. David Robert Jones was born in 1947 in Brixton, London, England; Elvis Aron Presley came into the world in 1935 in Tupelo, Miss., the surviving brother of a set of identical twins.

Thats why some of your favorite Charlottesville bands and artists will throw an Elvis & Bowie Birthday Party a couple of days early, at 8 p.m. Saturday, at the Southern Cafe and Music Hall to get you in a festive birthday mood and fill your ears with local performers interpretations of worldwide hits and hidden gems by both icons.

And while youre still in that First Fridays frame of mind, plan to arrive early, at 6 p.m., to see the Bowie and Presley art installation. Look for works by Scott Mariano and Aimee McDavitt that are inspired by the rock titans.

McDavitt has been planning the bash for quite a while. She has lined up Erin Lunsford, Travis Elliott, Sally Rose, David Tewksbury, Alethea Leventhal, Red Knierim, Brianna Litman, Matt McDavitt, The Judy Chops and the Jean Jeanies (featuring members of New Boss).

DJ Cadybug will be spinning music by Bowie and Presleyand tunes inspired by them.

The musicians get to pick whether theyll be playing Bowie fare or Presley tunes.

I selected the people I thought would be good doing this, and I left it up to them to decide, Aimee McDavitt said.

Listen for a few collaborations along the way, tooand for at least one artist who couldnt pick just one birthday boy.

Travis Elliott will appear doing both artists, McDavitt said.

The bands wont have all the fun; audience members also get to show their appreciation for Presley and Bowie by dressing up. Both stars are known for multiple styles, so have fun deciding which era to evoke. Ground Control or Blue Hawaii? Blue suede shoes, or red shoes to dance the blues?

Im hoping to encourage people to show some Bowie and Elvis love, McDavitt said. You can be leather-daddy Elvis, or Las Vegas Elvis, or early Elvis.

And Bowies wealth of stage personae can offer countless costume choices. Think Ziggy Stardust, Major Tom, Aladdin Sane or the serious-moonlight savoir faire of Bowies Lets Dance phase.

In addition to an abiding love for music, the birthday boys had quite a bit in common.

Theyre both rock, though Bowie gets a little glammy and Elvis gets a little rockabilly pop, McDavitt said. Both of them enjoyed careers that lasted decades, and both have cult followings. Youve got people who probably listen to both.

After Bowies death on Jan. 10, 2016, McDavitt started playing recordings around the house from her sizable Bowie collection. Her musician husband occasionally reacted with surprise. Bowie did that? hed say, impressed.

Working on the Elvis & Bowie Party inspired McDavitt to explore Presleys catalogue, too, and she has come away with a deepened respect. She has been discovering his darker, more socially conscious works from the later stage of his career.

You can appreciate them on a surface level, or you can dive into it, she said.

McDavitt hopes the birthday bash will become an annual event in the vein of the popular Mock Stars Ball, which gives local musicians a chance to dress up as their own favorite bands, perform their music and enjoy Halloween along with their listeners.

Part of the price of each ticket sold will go to University of Virginia Cancer Center; additional donations will be accepted with gratitude.
SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY

First New Hope Baptist Church, 4508 Dickerson Road, Partlow, will host Bishop Joel Nelson as guest preacher on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 6030 Harrison Road, will host the African Childrens Choir on Jan. 21 at 10:30 a.m. Admission is free; a freewill offering will be taken to support choir programs. africanchildrenschoir.com.

New Destiny Baptist Church, 11903 Bowman Drive, will host its first annual I Have A Dream Career Day on Jan. 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. newdestinyva.org.

Redeemer Lutheran Church, 5120 Harrison Road, will host the African Childrens Choir on Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free; a freewill offering will be taken to support choir programs. africanchildrenschoir.com. 540/898-4748.

Spotsylvania Sunday School Union will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15 by hosting a prayer breakfast at the American Legion Post 320, 8456 Brock Road, from 9 a.m. until noon. The Rev. Dwight B. Micheal Sr., pastor of Piney Branch Baptist Church, will speak on the theme, Continuing to Honor His Legacy. Tickets are $15 per person. Children ages 8 and younger are free. Breakfast will be catered by Golden Corral. Seating is limited. 540/845-2830; or 540/287-0635.

St. Judes Catholic Church, 10725 Courthouse Road, will host Christian Music Cafe on Friday at 7 p.m. Open-mic format for all performers to share their talents, up to three songs. Performer sign-up starts at 6:30 p.m. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Free beverages and snack. For more information, contact George Evans at music@stjudechurch.us or 540/891-7350. A new season of Seasons of Hope, a faith-based bereavement group, will start on Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. and run for six consecutive Tuesdays. To register or for more information, call 540/891-7350. 540/841-6598.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5600 Smith Station Road. Missionaries offer tours of the church building on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Tours include the chapel, cultural hall and classrooms, a 20-minute video segment and free Book of Mormon. To schedule a tour, call 540/455-8341.

Trinity Bible Church, 6331 Campus Drive, holds a midweek Bible study Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the Book of Revelation. The church will also continue to host Sunday evening AWANA ministry from 5-7 p.m. admin@tbc.me.

STAFFORD COUNTY

Beth Sholom Temple, 805 Lyons Blvd. Beth Sholom Temple Sisterhood will host Planning for College: Its Not Too Soon or Too Late on Jan. 17 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Representatives from Germanna Community College Outreach and Virginia529 College Savings Plans will present options and tips on how to plan effectively. Share concerns, learn and ask questions. The presentation is free. 540/373-4834; bstsisterhood@gmail.com.

Bible Way Christian Church, under the leadership of Pastor Bobby R. Smallwood, has moved and is now located at H.H. Poole Middle School, 800 Eustace Road. Sunday morning services are at 10 a.m. biblewaystafford.org.

Rock Hill Baptist Church, 12 Van Horn Lane, has challenged Cub Scout Pack 845 in SouperBowl 2018, and will begin collecting canned soup on Sunday. The churchs goal is 520 cans of soup. All soup will be donated to S.E.R.V.E. souperbowl.org/welcome.

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg, 25 Chalice Circle. The Art Of Memory, an exhibit of the paintings by Mark Prieto, will be held through Feb. 25, with an opening reception on Monday from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Diagnosed in 2010 with dementia, he paints every day in an effort to ward off memory loss. He also will present Storytelling Talk on Jan. 21, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free. Empowering Communications: Confronting Harassment will be held Jan. 13, 1-3 p.m., in Sanctuary Hall. Marcia Grimsley will present skillful communication techniques for handling controlling, harassing and bullying individuals. All participants must be at least 18 years of age. Bring paper, writing tools and a firm surface to write on. $10; no credit cards. 540/785-4104 or 540/310-4001.

CULPEPER COUNTY

Beulah Baptist Church, 9297 Eggbornsville Road, Rixeyville, will hold installation of new church officers on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. Dr. Kenneth Pitts, pastor, hosts a call-in Bible study every Wednesday from 7:30-8 p.m. Free dial-in 302/202-1118; access code:862090. 540/937-5563; bbc9297@gmail.com.

REGIONAL

Fauquier Friends Worship Group (Quakers), Bealeton Library Depot, 10877 Willow Drive N., Bealeton. Meet the Friends for quiet, reflective worship on Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. Hospitality time is at 10:30 a.m. and again after worship. Come as you are, and bring the children for First Day School. Open to all faiths. fauquierfriends@gmail.com.
ALEXANDRIAA federal judge declined Friday night to order a redo of the controversial election in which Republican Del.-elect Bob Thomas defeated Democrat Joshua Cole for the 28th District House of Delegates seat.

That means Republicans will hold a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates when the General Assembly convenes Wednesday, giving the GOP the ability to appoint a House speaker and make committee assignments despite a surprising wave of Democratic victories on Nov. 7.

Democratic-aligned law firm Perkins Coie filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on behalf of several Fredericksburg voters in light of revelations that at least 147 residents in the city and Stafford County received ballots listing the wrong House candidates. Thomas defeated Cole by just 73 votes for the 28th District seat that includes parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford.

At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis said the lawsuit requesting the new election alleged what he considered to be garden variety irregularities that do not warrant federal intervention in a state election. He did not dismiss the case entirely, though he indicated that the plaintiffs would need to prove that the election represented a broad-gauge, fundamental unfairness that erodes the democratic process.

Thats a high threshold, with the judge saying he would order a new election if, say, a large number of people had been denied the right to vote because of their race. Let me be clear that if the facts were different, I wouldnt hesitate to call for a new election, Judge Ellis said.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said they are weighing their options, which could include appealing the judges ruling.

In a statement after the ruling, Thomaswho will be sworn in Wednesdaysaid that campaigning is behind us, and its time to get to work.

I want the people of Stafford and Fredericksburg to know whether you voted for me or not, I will represent you with honor in Richmond and champion issues important to the 28th district, he added.

Thomas, who previously served on the Stafford Board of Supervisors, will fill the seat held by retiring House Speaker Bill Howell, who endorsed him.

Republican Del. Kirk Cox, who hopes to become House speaker, said in a statement that the ruling reflects what we have been saying for nearly two months nowThomas was the rightful winner in this election, and we are thrilled to welcome him to Richmond.

Judge Ellis noted that the losing candidate could have contested the results to the General Assembly under state law. After an attorney for the plaintiffs described a court-ordered special election as the only remedy, Ellis said: That didnt have to be the case.

Cole announced recently that he would not appeal to the General Assembly, saying in a statement that voters should choose their delegates, not 100 politicians in Richmond. He could not immediately be reached for comment Friday night.

The long list of defendants in the federal suit included registrars in Fredericksburg and Stafford and the State Board of Elections.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs blamed the wrongly assigned ballots on deliberate acts and omissions by local elections officials, citing emails and meeting minutes showing the Fredericksburg Registrars Office was aware of similar problems for more than two years.

In an email April 2015, a then-spokesman for Howell wrote that several 28th District voters had been erroneously assigned to the 88th District. Later, a Virginia Department of Elections official wrote that then-Registrar Juanita Pitchford, who has since passed away, fixed the problem and sent letters to affected voters.

An attorney for the registrars said that issue from 2015 is unrelated to last years alleged mistakes. And he wrote in court papers that unintentional data entry errors are inevitable because of the large number of addresses involved.

The alleged errors, while certainly undesirable, do not establish that a constitutional violation has occurred, and do not warrant federal intervention into this election for state office, Richmond attorney Michael Matheson wrote in court papers.

He also wrote that Fredericksburg voters Dolores and Kenneth Lecky, two of the lawsuits plaintiffs, should have known they had been assigned to the wrong House district ahead of the general election. Thats because both voted in Junes Democratic primary, where ballots would have listed 88th District candidate Steve Aycock, attorney Matheson claimed.

Had it been brought to the registrars attention at that time  this whole lawsuit could have been avoided, he wrote.

The plaintiffs attorneys disputed that, writing that the Democratic primary ballot did not include Aycock because he was the only 88th District candidate seeking the partys nomination. Astonishingly, the registrars opposition  blames the Leckys for failing to uncover the election officials systematic errors, Washington attorney Aria Branch wrote.

The plaintiffs attorneys also criticized the citys response to reports of incorrect ballots on Election Day, writing that officials would not let the affected voters cast provisional ballots or take any remedial steps to address the issue.

Incredibly, the [Electoral Board] decided on Election Day that the eventual prospect of a contest before the House of Delegates was a sufficient remedy for voters whose constitutional rights were being infringed before their very eyes, the attorneys wrote.

After reports of misassigned voters, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley wrote an email advising elections officials to continue to distribute ballots in line with the State Board of Elections database, which she said is entitled to a presumption of validity.

She also recommended against offering provisional ballots to potentially affected voters and noted that an unsuccessful candidate can contest the result under state law if the database is incorrect.
FREDERICKSBURGS historic Market Square may soon be getting a face-lift, which city officials hope will attract more visitors downtown.

The city-owned space on Princess Anne Street, located behind the Fredericksburg Area Museum, was an actual market during the early 18th century, a place where farmers and craftsmen gathered to sell their wares.

It was being used as a parking lot when a 2003 renovation turned it into a popular venue for the citys Sounds of Summer concert series. The museum has also used the outdoor space to show movies, such as Finding Nemo and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Located in the citys Arts & Cultural District, the square has been used to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, host an annual Christmas singalong, and offer free concerts from bands ranging from the Quantico Marine Corps Band to the Fredericksburg-based rock band, Acoustic Onion.

Its also been recently used for a memorial service for the homeless, a Halloween block party and a rally for electoral justice.

Market Square is one of those third placesa term first used by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe places between home (first places) and work (second places) where members of a community can physically gather.

Although third places can include coffee shops, bars and other gathering spots, places like Market Square are becoming harder to find in urbanized areas where parcels of open land are increasingly scarce.

According to Oldenburg, successful third places provide a home away from homea neutral and accessible setting where people feel comfortable enough to relax and enjoy being out in public. They build community bonds by fostering conversation that reduces the barriers between people from different socio-economic levels and backgrounds.

The primary goal of any redesign of Market Square should be to facilitate that conversation.

On neutral ground, people avoid the obligations of both guest and host and simply enjoy the company. They come and go without making arrangements or excuses; they may leave the very moment it suits them to do so. It is a very easy form of human association, Oldenburg wrote.

The advent of social media, which virtually connects people from all over the world, could have made third places obsolete. But Twitter chats and other online forums that allow users to connect on topics of common interest are, to a great extent, self-limiting.

Heavy use of social media has also been linked to depression, while participation in community events ward off feelings of loneliness and isolation, which are at epidemic levels in our society.

Although people with similar artistic tastes are drawn to the same performances, its also more likely that they will interact with someone with a different background and demographic profile while attending a free concert or other event. Third places allow people to mingle with those who they would not ordinarily come in contact with.

And at a time when political, racial, ethnic and religious divisions are tearing Americans apart, a place like Market Square that brings people from all walks of life together is more important than ever.

Places like Market Square are becoming harder to find in urbanized areas, where parcels of open land are increasingly scarce.
Trump anything but a disappointment

On Dec. 28, Donnie Johnston wrote a column article about putting divisiveness away [Lets put divisiveness, drama in our rearview].

However, in the middle of the article, he put in a throwaway line, saying Yes, Trump has been a disappointment so far. I for one would like for Donnie to tell us why he is a disappointment.

Is it because the stock market has been exploding to an all-time high?

Is it because of the more than 3 percent growth in the gross domestic product?

Or because the employment rate is so low?

Or because he finally got funding for our military so it can execute its mission?

Or because he has unleashed our military to virtually destroy ISIS?

Maybe its because he has taken action to fix the VA. Or because he got a tax reform law passed.

Maybe you do not like that he is not a polished Washington politician and is blunt in his statements, and calls out the media. For disappointment, look at the Democrats, who have no plan other than get rid of Trump.

They said if I liked my doctor and plan, I could keep them. Whopper! They delivered billions to Iran, which went to fund terrorism. Russia, well, that goes back to Ted Kennedy and Clinton. And they tainted the Justice Department and the FBI. The list goes on.

John W. Powell

Stafford
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On The Water: You might need a bigger boat for Transpac 2023
Beginning Jan. 22, mid-valley churches will open their doors to women of all faiths for the winter Community-Wide Bible Studies sponsored by the Albany-based Mid-Valley Women of Christ.

Benton and Linn county Bible study locations include Adair Village, Albany, Brownsville, Corvallis, Harrisburg, Lebanon, Philomath, Sweet Home and Tangent.

This will be the 21st Bible study coordinated and promoted by Mid-Valley Women of Christ in the region. Fifty class times from McMinnville to Springfield, Sweet Home to Willamina will gather women from more than 325 different churches as they dive into a study of the life of King David titled The Longing in Me, by Sheila Walsh.

The international ministry of Walsh, who co-hosted "The 700 Club" on CBN for many years, spans two decades.

The Longing in Me reveals how the longings all people share can bring them closer to God. Walsh said, You have vowed to never repeat the same mistakes. What is it that keeps drawing you back? Why cant you seem to break free? In this six-session video-based study, Walsh shows how those longings that often lead people into traps.

Community Bible studies join efforts in reaching women and their families with literally hundreds of gifts of food, clothing, toiletries and furnishings each quarter. Classes gather supplies and donate to local charities. The winter 2018 community outreach, Loving Your Community, will focus on a drive to collect socks, hand-warmers, underwear, onesies, diapers and wipes to help residents in 21 mid-valley communities.

The studies are free and open to women of all faiths. Participants can purchase a $10 companion workbook through the host churches and participate in small group discussion. Classes offer hospitality, teaching, homework discussion and prayer at each location. Churches will have the option of showing clips from a DVD based on the life of King David. Child care is offered at several locations.

Specifics on each church can be found on the ministry website, www.midvalleywomenofchrist.org, where women can register to attend the class of their choice. For more information, write to info@midvalleywomenofchrist.org. Mid-Valley Women of Christ is a nonprofit faith-based public charity.
A judge on Friday sentenced a former mental health manager in the Benton County Health Department to two-and-a-half years in prison for downloading child pornography.

Kent Shropshire Hill should also pay a $5,500 fine, Benton County Circuit Court Judge David Connell ordered. Hill will be placed on three years of post-prison supervision and is required to register as a sex offender for life, the judge ruled.

This is not a victimless crime at all, Connell said before handing down the sentence. The activities you took part in harm children.

Hill, who is 55 years old, pleaded no contest to 11 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first-degree. The charges are a Class B felony, each carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.

Linn County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Crow, acting as special prosecutor in the case, asked for Hill to be sentenced to four years in prison. He said the fact that Hill was serving in a position of public trust and professional responsibility was an aggravating factor in the case.

Hills defense attorney, Stephen Ensor, requested probation for his client. He said Hill has an addiction and requires treatment that he cannot get in prison.

Ensor said Hill was a therapist for more than 30 years and previously worked as a behavioral health counselor in Kansas.

Linn County sheriff detectives arrested Hill on March 10 after serving a search warrant in the 900 block of Southeast Centerpointe Drive.

The Benton County Sheriff's Office had initiated the investigation, but when Hill was discovered to be a Benton County Mental Health division manager, Linn County was asked to take over the investigation. This practice is common in law enforcement in order to avoid perception of bias or conflict of interest in cases.

Crow said law enforcement served the search warrant after a Benton County detective identified Hills IP address while conducting an investigation of computers in Oregon that were searching for or downloading child pornography.

During the search, law enforcement officers seized two computers and five USB flash drives belonging to Hill, Linn County Sheriff's Office Detective John Trenary testified at the sentencing. On the devices were several hundred images of child pornography, Trenary said.

Trenary said Hill was using Shareaza, a peer-to-peer file sharing software, to search for and download the images, some of which he duplicated onto flash drives. The detective said Hill downloaded and deleted the software from his computer multiple times.

The detective sent the images to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which identified one known victim in some of the images.

Ensor said Hill has been in sex offender treatment since August. Hill has also been participating in Sex Addicts Anonymous and has connected with Oregon Voices, an organization that advocates for rational sex offender policies, Ensor said.

I think he embraces the need to change, said Peter Shannon, a certified sex offender therapist who has been serving as Hills counselor.

The therapist said there is no sex offender treatment program in Oregons prisons. By sentencing Hill to probation, Ensor argued his client would receive more effective treatment.

Hill addressed Connell before the judge announced his sentence.

I am deeply ashamed of my actions, the defendant said.

Hill admitted that he intended to download the illegal images and view them.

I have now been forced into admitting I have an addiction to pornography, he said.

Crow said he feels that court proceedings sometimes sanitize the issue of child pornography.

What it is, is the sexual abuse of a child that is memorialized, he said.

The judge said he considered the 11 letters submitted by friends, family members and former colleagues in support of Hill.

But, Connell said, he also read the descriptions of the images in the probable cause affidavit. One of those images, he said, depicted the rape of a young girl by two men, and it became clear to him why the state has strict laws against child pornography.

We have these laws to protect children, the judge said.
Junction City/Harrisburg/Monroe Habitat for Humanity (JCHM Habitat) is holding an informational meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 177 W. Sixth Ave. in Junction City. The meeting will explain how low- and moderate-income families can apply to become a Habitat for Humanity partner family.

For families who live or work in the Junction City, Harrisburg, or Monroe area, this is an opportunity to learn more about Habitat for Humanitys unique program, said Executive Director Cindy Decker.

JCHM Habitat will be accepting applications for homeownership from Jan. 10 to Jan. 24. If families have lived or worked in the service area for at least six months, are in unaffordable or unsafe housing, are willing to partner in the building process and are able to pay a monthly mortgage payment, they may be eligible to become Habitat for Humanity homeowners.

For more information about Habitat for Humanity and the program, call 541-998-9548 or see www.jchmhabitat.org.
In a bid to halt an outbreak of meningococcal disease, Oregon State University will hold five straight days of mass vaccination clinics starting Tuesday, university officials announced.

Since the first case was diagnosed in November 2016, six students have fallen ill with strain B of the potentially fatal disease on OSUs Corvallis campus.

The university has been ramping up measures to stem the outbreak, and after the sixth case was diagnosed last month it made vaccinations for meningococcus B mandatory for all students 25 or younger, the most susceptible age group.

The vaccination clinics will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday of next week. Students can check in at the Student Experience Center Plaza, next door to the Memorial Union.

Meningococcus B vaccinations require at least two doses, which must be given a month apart. Students are required to complete the vaccinations by Feb. 15.

State law requires insurance carriers in Oregon to cover vaccines deemed necessary during an outbreak, OSU officials noted. Students who don't have insurance are urged to attend one of the clinics, where staff members may be able to provide coverage options.

For students unable to attend the clinics, the vaccine may be available from their doctor or a local pharmacy.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Indian mass : Male order CMI celebrates Holy Chavara in the Adelheidis Church

Bonn/Putzchen Unusual sounds amidst altar, christmas trees and crib - instead of christian organ music the Adelheidis Church is filled with exotic music. But nobody was surprised last Wednesday afternoon.

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Priests are processing slowly through the church. All normal so far. But unusual sounds fill the air amidst altar, christmas trees and crib - instead of christian organ music the Adelheidis Church is full of exotic music. But nobody is surprised on Wednesday afternoon this week. A different kind of mass is taking place today.

Indian order Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) celebrates the anniversary of the death of founder Kuriakose Elias Chavara, who died on January 3, 150 years ago. The catholic priest plays an important role in the Syro-Malabar Church. He avoided the splitting of the Indian Christians from the roman-catholic church. About three years ago, Pope Francis declared him a saint. In his honour the mass takes place in a Syro-Malabar tradition. Only the running order is slightly different, but the most important elements are featured in it, according to priest Kuttiyannickal Georgekutty.

The German delegation of the CMI has its headquarters in Putzchen. Cardinal Joseph Hoffner called the Indian Fathers approximately 30 years ago to the Bonn on the right-hand side of the Rhine. The Putzchen Chaplain Tijo George is also part of the order. He grew up as the youngest child of a devout family, left school at the age of 15 to live and work for the church. He chose the life amongst the Brothers of the CMI deliberately - as his father already travelled to the grave of Chavara, although it was 60 kilometres away in the Indian town of Mannanam, to remember the founder of the order: Through this I had a strong connection with the order since my childhood.

When Chaplain George speaks of the saint, his admiration is noticeable. Particularly Chavaras commitment to the matter of education impresses him. Back then, the priest built schools that everybody was allowed to attend - independent of caste or skin colour: That way he didnt just achieve something for the Christians but for every other religion too.

The importance of Chavara to the priests and the entire Syro-Malabar parish is also noticeable during the mass itself. During the sermon, he gets described as a dynamic leader, even a social reformer, who cared for the elderly and poor. And the mass nowadays is also a kind of international communication.

Quite fitting then, that the church-goers were welcomed into the Parish Hall by a traditional Indian meal - to which also the eight-year-old Bjorn Kurt is looking forward to. The mass and the unusual music he liked a lot - but I didnt understand a thing.

Original text: Julian Schmidt-Farrent
kacylee at 6-01-2018 12:20 PM (4 years ago) (f)

The Nsobundus, the Nigerian couple living in the Houston-area of the United States has been ordered by an American court to pay $121,000 as restitution to the Nigerian woman who worked for 20 hours a day for two years as the nanny to their five children.

The Nsobundus, the Nigerian couple living in the Houston-area of the United States has been ordered by an American court to pay $121,000 as restitution to the Nigerian woman who worked for 20 hours a day for two years as the nanny to their five children.

The nanny was not paid throughout the period. Now she has a N44m windfall. Chudy Nsobundu, 57, and his wife Sandra Nsobundu, 49, also were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas to seven months in jail and seven months of home confinement, plus three years on probation, the Associated Press reported. The naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Nigeria recruited the woman there with the promise of a $100 monthly wage. Instead, authorities said they abused her physically and verbally while she worked at their home in the Houston suburb of Katy from September 2013 to October 2015. Chudy Nsobundu in 2016 pleaded guilty to visa fraud while his wife pleaded guilty to unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of forced labor. According to court documents, the nanny would work every day from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., couldnt take breaks and had to eat leftovers and not fresh food, including being forced to only drink milk left in bowls in which the children had eaten cereal. She also couldnt take hot showers. Authorities said the Nsobundus prevented the nanny from leaving their employment by keeping her passport and by threatening her with physical and mental abuse.







The nanny reached out for help and was rescued following a tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Her name has not been released. Prosecutors say the couple knowingly caused a false visa application for the victim to be submitted to the Department of State with numerous pieces of false information. The womans date of birth was incorrect on the application, listing her 20 years older than she was, said she was married when she was not, incorrectly indicated the purpose of her travel was to attend a nieces graduation and falsely identified her in a letter that Chudy Nsobundu was her brother. Prosecutors also said he made false representations under oath on the visa application to increase the chances that the application would be accepted and to hide the fact shed be working for his family as a housemaid and nanny under conditions that violated U.S. labor laws. Federal prosecutors said Sandra Nsobundu took the nanny to the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, to obtain her visa and provided her with a letter indicating she didnt speak English well, that she was to attend a family graduation and gave her a picture of her husband with instructions that she tell embassy officials he was the nannys brother and that she was married. The nannys husband listed on the visa application actually was the Nsobundus driver in Nigeria.



The nanny was not paid throughout the period. Now she has a N44m windfall. Chudy Nsobundu, 57, and his wife Sandra Nsobundu, 49, also were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas to seven months in jail and seven months of home confinement, plus three years on probation, the Associated Press reported. The naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Nigeria recruited the woman there with the promise of a $100 monthly wage. Instead, authorities said they abused her physically and verbally while she worked at their home in the Houston suburb of Katy from September 2013 to October 2015. Chudy Nsobundu in 2016 pleaded guilty to visa fraud while his wife pleaded guilty to unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of forced labor. According to court documents, the nanny would work every day from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., couldnt take breaks and had to eat leftovers and not fresh food, including being forced to only drink milk left in bowls in which the children had eaten cereal. She also couldnt take hot showers. Authorities said the Nsobundus prevented the nanny from leaving their employment by keeping her passport and by threatening her with physical and mental abuse.The nanny reached out for help and was rescued following a tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Her name has not been released. Prosecutors say the couple knowingly caused a false visa application for the victim to be submitted to the Department of State with numerous pieces of false information. The womans date of birth was incorrect on the application, listing her 20 years older than she was, said she was married when she was not, incorrectly indicated the purpose of her travel was to attend a nieces graduation and falsely identified her in a letter that Chudy Nsobundu was her brother. Prosecutors also said he made false representations under oath on the visa application to increase the chances that the application would be accepted and to hide the fact shed be working for his family as a housemaid and nanny under conditions that violated U.S. labor laws. Federal prosecutors said Sandra Nsobundu took the nanny to the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, to obtain her visa and provided her with a letter indicating she didnt speak English well, that she was to attend a family graduation and gave her a picture of her husband with instructions that she tell embassy officials he was the nannys brother and that she was married. The nannys husband listed on the visa application actually was the Nsobundus driver in Nigeria.

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 6-01-2018 12:20 PM (4 years ago) | Addicted Hero
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine kicked off his 2018 reelection bid, and talked about his role in opposing President Donald Trumps administration, with a community discussion Friday afternoon at Brewed Awakening in Danville.

We dont care how cold it is, Kaine said about his decision to campaign this early in the year. Lets start 2018 off right.

Kaine stopped in Danville, Farmville and Martinsville on Friday as he looks to keep his U.S. Senate seat in this years November midterm elections.

The senator thanked community members in attendance for helping Democrats win statewide offices and gaining 15 seats in the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly during the 2017 election.

We gave the nation a little bit of hope last November, Kaine said.

Kaine said even his colleagues in Washington were feeling downtrodden before the results of the election and got a boost of excitement from the results. He said he was proud to be from a state where Democrats had won 10 statewide elections in a row.

Nobody has moved further [left] than Virginia, he said.

Kaine said he was currently fighting for a fair budget deal in Washington  one where the party could secure hurricane relief packages, renewal of the Childrens Health Insurance Program and Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals and keep the government open by Jan. 19.

We want to find a package deal that takes care of all of them, and I think well get there, Kaine said.

Garren Shipley, Virginia Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, criticized Kaine for his vote against the recent tax bill.

Kaines vote, Shipley argued, was against bigger paychecks for the average worker.

In recent weeks, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has made that a reality as hundreds of companies have announced bonuses, higher wages, and massive new capital investments, Shipley wrote in an email.

Kaine said it was hard to tell if the bonuses and wages were a direct result of the tax bill. He added that the bill disproportionately benefited millionaires and billionaires.

Kaine also said he thought Trump was bluffing when the president said that he would not sign a DACA deal if it didnt including billions of dollars for a border wall.

What Ive learned from him is whatever we put on his desk, hell sign and take credit for it, Kaine said.

Kaine was introduced at the event by Danville Democratic Party representative and area lawyer Steven Gould. Gould praised Kaines commitment to Danville through good times and struggles.

Tim Kaine has been a good friend to our region, Gould said.

Danville City Council member Larry Campbell Jr. asked Kaine what he could do at the federal level to help increase funding to education, as the city faces the prospect of continuing to fund much of its school district at the local level.

There is no way we can keep this up, Campbell said.

Kaine responded that he would push back against the Trump administrations plan to strip federal funding away from public schools in order to fund vouchers for charter schools and private schools.

We are fighting to stop that from happening, Kaine said.

Another attendee asked Kaine how the culture in Washington could change from the current toxic atmosphere. Kaine said that he had always felt an obligation to include Republicans in the lawmaking process, and would continue to do so.

You have to build bridges, Kaine said.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is asking a federal agency to grant requests for a rehearing of its split-vote decision last year in support of a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run through the Roanoke and New River valleys.

In a letter Friday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Kaine backed a position taken by more than 20 petitioners: that the commission should reconsider its decision allowing plans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to go forward.

Kaine, D-Virginia, made the same request for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a second project planned for Central Virginia.

When FERC voted 2-1 to approve both pipelines in October, there were just three members on what is normally a five-member commission.

Calling the split votes most unusual, Kaine noted that 98 percent of FERC decisions in 2016 were unanimous.

Given that the Commission now has a full complement of five members, there is a real concern about whether the divided rulings by a partial Commission fairly reflect the FERC position, Kaine wrote in his letter to the panels chairman, Kevin McIntyre.

After FERC issues a final order on whether there is a public need for a proposed pipeline, anyone opposed to the decision has 30 days to file a petition seeking a rehearing and a stay of the order while the case is pending.

More than 20 such petitions were filed by landowners whose property the Mountain Valley Pipeline would dissect, counties it would cross and environmentalists who say that sediment dislodged from its construction would pollute the regions streams and creeks.

On Dec. 13, FERC issued whats called a tolling order, which is neither a denial of the petitions nor a decision to promptly hold a rehearing. Instead, such an order continues the case indefinitely, often allowing construction to proceed but not providing an avenue for opponents to take legal action because there is no final order to appeal.

In his letter, Kaine asked for an explanation of how tolling orders work.

This suggests that even if an original FERC decision changes upon either rehearing or judicial order, it would be moot if the project is already built and any impacts already felt, he wrote to McIntyre. I would like to know whether this is your interpretation as well, and if so, whether this is consistent with the intent of the rehearing option.

FERC spokeswoman Mary ODriscoll said Friday that the commission chair plans to respond to Kaine in writing. She declined to elaborate.

Kaine made it clear in his letter that he was not taking a position on the substantive merits of the two pipelines.

Having Congress vote on individual projects would inevitably lead to partisan decision-making, and it is appropriate that a technical agency consider projects according to a robust public input process, laid out in federal law, he wrote.

Nonetheless, Kaine has been critical of the FERC decisions, noting the very suspicious circumstances of how they were released on a Friday night after the close of business hours.

When somebody puts something out at 7 oclock Friday night, theyre trying to hide it, Kaine said at the time. That means theyre ashamed of their decision. Why would they be ashamed of it?

In its order, FERC found that there was a public need for the natural gas that would be transported at high pressure through the two buried pipelines  a position taken by supporters who say the projects will boost the energy market and the larger economy.

As proposed, the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline would run from northern West Virginia, near where the natural gas is mined through the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, to Pittsylvania County, where it would connect to an existing pipeline.

The project is designed to and will support growing demand for natural gas supplies in the Appalachian, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets, Mountain Valley officials said in a filing with FERC that opposed the requests for a rehearing.

A Republican spokesman said Kaine's letter came as no surprise.

"Environmentalists have been skeptical of him before, and he saw the unending headaches pipeline protests caused for Ralph Northam," said Garren Shipley of the Republican National Committee.

"Its not so much a letter to FERC as it is a please take me back letter to Tom Steyer," Shipley said, referring to a billionaire environmentalist who has been active in Democratic causes.
Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - GREAT ATLANTIC RESOURCES CORP. (TSXV.GR) (the Company or Great Atlantic) announces that as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, we are issuing the following news release to clarify our disclosure. The information contained in this news release is intended to provide clarification to disclosure on the Companys May 31, 2016 news release (the May 31, 2016 News Release), its website (the Website), and disclosure contained in the corporate presentation (the Corporate Presentation), contained on the Website.

The Company has temporarily shut-down the Website and has removed the Corporate Presentation and will amend the technical disclosure to comply with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties (NI 43-101).

News Release dated May 31, 2016

In its May 31, 2016 news release, the Company disclosed a mineral resource estimate on its Golden Promise Project. It constituted the first-time disclosure of a mineral resource estimate for the Golden Promise Project, and triggered the requirement for the Company to file an independent technical report under s. 4.2(1)(j)(i) of NI 43-101. The statements in the above noted news release regarding mineral resources on the Golden Promise Project are not supported by a NI 43-101 compliant technical report, contrary to NI 43-101, such that mineral resource estimates should not be relied on until they have been verified and supported by a NI 43-101 compliant technical report on the Golden Promise Project.

A NI 43-101 compliant technical report is in preparation and will be filed as soon as practicable.

Website

The Company is amending all disclosure relating to historical estimates on its Pilleys Mine Project contained on the Website.

The disclosures were of historical estimates on its Pilleys Mine Project, but without providing all of the information required by s. 2.4 of NI 43-101. These historical estimates did not include any more recent data or estimates, and a qualified person (as defined under NI 43-101) has not done sufficient work to classify these historical estimates as current mineral resources.

Corporate Presentation

The Company retracts the Corporate Presentation which contained statements regarding potentially more Au (gold) than previously indicated on the Golden Promise Project.

The disclosure is restricted by section 2.3(1)(a) of NI 43-101 because it does not include the information and cautionary language required by s. 2.3(2) of NI 43-101. Disclosures of potential quantity and grade, expressed as a range, of a target for further exploration must include with equal prominence that the potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource; and state the basis on which the disclosed potential quantity and grade has been determined.

The Company cautions investors that all non-compliant disclosure contained on any website or any other written disclosure document is not to be relied upon.

Website and IR Materials

The Website and investor relations materials disclosed certain exploration information that did not include all of the information required by sections 3.2 and 3.3 of NI 43-101. The Company and its qualified person did not verify exploration information. Additionally, contrary to s. 3.2(c) of NI 43-101, the Company did not provide an explanation as to why the information has not been verified by a QP. As such, the Company retracts all disclosure relating to the exploration information and has removed such disclosure from its Website and investor relations materials.

The Company retracts all non-compliant disclosures referenced above, and is amending its website and corporate presentation.

Failure to Name the Qualified Person

The Company did not name a Qualified Person in its Corporate Presentation or on its Website. The Company is in the process of preparing new website materials under the review of a Qualified Person.

The Company advises that the technical information disclosed should not be relied upon until it has been reviewed and approved by a Qualified Person.

The Company has temporarily shut-down the Website and has removed the Corporate Presentation and will amend the technical disclosure to comply with the requirements of NI 43-101.

Technical material in this news release has been reviewed by David Martin, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.

About Great Atlantic Resources Corp.: Great Atlantic Resources Corp. is a Canadian exploration company focused on the discovery and development of mineral assets in Atlantic Canada. Great Atlantic is currently building the company utilizing a project generation model, with a focus on antimony, tungsten and gold.

On Behalf of the board of directors

 Christopher R Anderson

Mr Christopher R Anderson " Always be positive, strive for solutions, and never give up "

President CEO Director

604-488-3900  Dir

Investor Relations:

Kaye Wynn Consulting Inc.: 604-558-2630, Toll Free 888-280-8128

E-mail: info@kayewynn.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to the completion of a NI 43-101 compliant technical report, geological interpretations, updating the Website and disclosures, and statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as may, expect, estimate, will, anticipate, intend, believe and continue or the negative thereof or similar variations. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements, except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the industry and markets in which the Company operates, including that: the current price of and demand for minerals being targeted by the Company will be sustained or will improve; the Companys current exploration programs and objectives can be achieved; results of exploration activities; the Company will be able to obtain required exploration licences and other permits; general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner; financing will be available if and when needed on reasonable terms; the Company will not experience any material accident; and the Company will be able to identify and acquire additional mineral interests on reasonable terms or at all. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict.

Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including: that resource exploration and development is a speculative business; that the Company may lose or abandon its property interests or may fail to receive necessary licences and permits; equipment breakdowns; labour disputes; the increase in cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; the results of exploration activities; that environmental laws and regulations may become more onerous; that the Company may not be able to raise additional funds when necessary; potential defects in title to the Companys properties; fluctuating prices of commodities; operating hazards and risks; competition; potential inability to find suitable acquisition opportunities and/or complete the same; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the Companys public filings. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

There can be no assurance that that economic resources will be discovered or developed on any properties. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, commodity prices, title dispute claims, government regulations, equipment failures, increase in costs, the loss of key directors, employees, advisors or consultants and fees charged by service providers. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information, will prove to be accurate. The Company does not undertake any obligations to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.

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.

To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/GreatAtlantic01052018.pdfSource: Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:GR, FWB:PH01)

To follow Great Atlantic Resources Corp. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below.

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Copyright  2018 FSCwire
(TNS) - Citing a long-term systemic failure at the California Department of Water Resources, independent forensic investigators released their final report Friday on the nearly-catastrophic emergency last February at Oroville Dam.In a 584-page dissection of the disaster at Americas tallest dam, the investigative team said Oroville Dam was designed and built with flaws from the beginning, which were exacerbated by inadequate repairs in the years that followed.Due to the unrecognized inherent vulnerability of the design and as-constructed conditions and the chute slab deterioration, the spillway chute slab failure, although inevitable, was unexpected, the panel reported.The panel also said the Department of Water Resources, which runs the dam, has been somewhat overconfident and complacent and gave inadequate priority for dam safety. At the same time, the investigators said the entire dam industry, including federal regulators who oversee the facilitys operations, needs to heed the lessons learned at Oroville.Although the practice of dam safety has certainly improved since the 1970s, the fact that this incident happened to the owner of the tallest dam in the United States, under regulation of a federal agency, with repeated evaluation by reputable outside consultants, in a state with a leading dam safety regulatory program, is a wake-up call for everyone involved in dam safety, the panel wrote. Challenging current assumptions on what constitutes best practice in our industry is overdue.Made up of six independent engineering consultants from around the country, the investigative team said there was no single root cause for the crisis, which began Feb. 7. Rather, the panel pointed to a complex interaction of relatively common physical, human, organizational and industry factors. The giant crater that erupted in the concrete chute set off a slow-motion emergency that culminated five days later with the evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents.Problems emerged almost immediately after the dam, the linchpin of the State Water Project, opened in 1968. The concrete chute slab cracked above and along underdrain pipes, leading to higher-than-expected flows of water directly beneath the chute, the panel wrote.The slab cracking and underdrain flows, although originally thought of as unusual, were quickly deemed to be normal, and as simply requiring on-going repairs, the panel wrote. However, repeated repairs were ineffective and possibly detrimental.The 3,000-foot-long chute deteriorated over the years, with its steel rebar and anchors corroding. The chute was also plagued by poor foundation conditions directly beneath the concrete, which were documented in geological reports but werent properly addressed in the design and construction of the spillway, the panel wrote.All these factors came together Feb. 7, as the dam was releasing water down the spillway to lower reservoir levels during a massive rainstorm. Water that crept into the cracks and joints of the concrete chute resulted in uplift forces beneath the slab, causing the spillway to erupt.The panels findings are in line with its interim reports, although the final report ventures into new territory by criticizing Department of Water Resources officials for their handling of the first few days of the emergency once the initial fracture appeared in the main spillway.After the crater formed, dam operators decided to curtail water releases on the chute the next few days in an effort to limit the damage. Water levels at Lake Oroville, the states second largest reservoir, rose so high that water started pouring over the nearby emergency spillway, which consists of a concrete lip sitting on an unlined hillside, for the first time since the dam opened.The forensic team said the DWR dam operators didnt realize just how risky it was to let water pour over the emergency spillway.The decisions were made with the best of intentions, but against the advice of civil engineering and geological personnel, who had by then recognized the poor bedrock conditions and the potential for unsatisfactory performance of the previously untested emergency spillway, the forensic team wrote.One day after water started running over the emergency structure, the hillside had eroded so badly that dam officials feared the lip of the emergency spillway would crumble, releasing a wall of water on communities below the dam. That necessitated the evacuation. Faced with imminent disaster, dam operators then dramatically ramped up water releases over the main spillway, which lowered lake levels to the point that water stopped flowing over the emergency spillway.The evacuation ended two days later, although the heavy water releases over the main spillway turned the initial fracture into a massive canyon that would take months to fix.The panel had other criticisms for DWR, calling it a somewhat insular organization that hasnt tapped industry knowledge to improve its technical expertise.Lake many other large dam owners, DWR has been somewhat overconfident and complacent regarding the integrity of its civil infrastructure and has tended to emphasize shorter-term operational considerations, the panel added.The report was a blow for an agency that has built a reputation for diligently policing Californias dams. An audit in 2016 by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials concluded that California operates the leading dam safety program in the nation. Yet a Sacramento Bee investigation last fall showed that dam owners are allowed to let flaws and deficiencies go unrepaired for years, even after repeated notifications from DWRs inspectors.The independent investigation was ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which licenses Oroville Dam. State officials said they welcomed the investigation and incorporated its preliminary findings into the massive repair project that has been underway since last spring.DWR Director Grant Davis, in a prepared statement, said we will carefully assess this report, share it with the entire dam safety community and incorporate the lessons learned going forward to ensure California continues to lead the nation on dam safety.The flood control spillway has been largely repaired in time for the rainy season, although portions of the chute have been patched or partially replaced and are awaiting further repairs later in 2018.The total emergency, including the repairs, is expected to cost around $500 million or more. State officials are expecting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pick up most of the expense. Any leftover costs are to be covered by the water agencies that store water behind Oroville Dam, such as the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.2018 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)Visit The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) at www.sacbee.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
To hear a wireless trade group tell it, deploying small cell antenna technology will enhance a citys ability to compete in the next 5G technology race that pits the United States against the likes of China, the European Union, Japan and South Korea.Small cell antennas are defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as low-powered wireless base stations that typically provide coverage for targeted indoor or localized outdoor areas ranging in size from homes and offices to stadiums, shopping malls, hospitals and urban outdoor spaces. The towers are roughly the size of a shoebox.According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), which represents the wireless communications industry in the United States, Americans invented the cell phone, the smartphone and the app industry and 4G networks, and they argue that now is the time to jump forward and beat the competition for wireless dominance. But at what cost?Often, what benefits wireless service providers  and their customers  comes at the cost of local control, where public infrastructure and private equipment meet.For the state of Arizona, which dreams of usurping California's technological dominance, passing the CTIA-sponsored bill could not happen fast enough.The state Legislature passed the bill in spring 2017 and paved the way for 5G deployment as quickly as possible. "I was proud to sign House Bill 2365 on March 31," said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, adding that it would expand capacity to existing wireless networks while improving infrastructure.According to Ducey, in an editorial published on LinkedIn, tech companies like Uber, Google, Apple and Yelp have flocked to Arizona for reasons that signing the small cell bill make sense. Were making it clear to them that our state is laying the groundwork for the future: streamlining the deployment of 'small cell' wireless facilities, reforming our regulatory framework to meet the needs of today, and accelerating investments in our economy."HB 2365 also found support from four major wireless companies, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint, as part of a nationwide effort to end overly-burdensome siting ordinances and excessive fees to gain access to municipal rights of way. To date, some 13 states have enacted small cell bills sponsored by the CTIA, these include Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, Rhode Island and Virginia.In all these states, each bill is different, but they all have common elements:1) expedited timelines for processing applications;2) reduced and capped fees for right-of-way use and applications;3) presumed application approvals and limited scope for local governments to deny requests; and4) prohibited or limited zoning authority over attachments and new poles.But the harsh reality is that this legislation is not only burdensome to implement for smaller cities that want to be on the cutting edge, it also takes control away from cities and counties.On Dec. 4, 2017, Gilbert announced that it was the first Arizona community to implement a streamlined program permitting small wireless facilities in municipal rights-of-way, bringing in the infrastructure needed for future technologies.This is a critical step in preparing our community for future jobs and technologies, and will help us tremendously as Gilbert continues to grow, Gilbert Mayor Jenn Daniels said.Nichole McCarty, transportation planner for the city of Gilbert, has been heading up the effort to adopt a whole new process and fees that would align the city with the legislation. No one had a process in place with this bill.She said the city had to make important changes in zoning, small cell equipment review and fees. There was a huge hustle to get this together, she explained.Gilbert is in Maricopa County and is within the Phoenix metropolitan area. Once known as the hay shipping capital of the world, Gilbert has grown exponentially from 5,700 in 1980 to over 200,000 in 2010. It encompasses 76 square miles and is the most populous incorporated town in the United States.We have tried to smooth the process for carriers, McCarty said. To do this the city, which she says has the lowest public-servant-to-population ratios in the state, brought together 26 city employees for four hours of training, so each could help process applications and smooth permitting licenses. The city does not expect to hire more staff to help out. Our approach was to get everyone involved, so we each had a hand in it.While Gilbert has good cell coverage already, they believe that the deployment of 5G will allow for more autonomous car coverage. We are bracing for the impact of autonomous vehicles. To do this, the city had to examine public access spots that cell carriers might want to cover. We have had to map our above-ground infrastructure and release them publicly. Because their experience has been limited to larger cell towers, officials aren't sure quite what to expect.We expect a rush and a ton of discovery, she said. Though the city has never released infrastructure maps before, a GIS map will be released on the city website soon. This is a lot of work for us.And while Gilbert sees the opportunity to enact state law as a business proposition, what about a much more massive state that does not worry so much about attracting business?For the state of California, with eyes on competing on a global level, passing the CTIA-sponsored bill was an unnecessary step that would have taken away local control and revenue.Even though the state Assembly passed the measure without issue, there was so much ruckus raised publicly about the bill that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the measure in October 2017 . In his signing memo, Brown said he saw the value in extending this innovative technology rapidly and efficiently, but added that the bill took too much control away from cities and counties.The bill, Senate Bill 649, was co-authored by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, and Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward. It alarmed many local government officials because it would have capped how much they could charge cell companies for leases on city-owned infrastructure. Other, grass-roots activists and scientists raised concerns about the risk to public health from the cell towers.The bills sponsor was disappointed with the veto. We spent a lot of time working on amendments to address many of the concerns raised during the year, said Quirk. However, the lawmaker said he has some hope that the governor is willing to reconsider the issue down the line.
Public and internal online services in Mecklenburg County, N.C., where hackers last month penetrated defenses and froze key data, are nearly completely restored but the incident has changed the countys security posture and strategy, its county manager told commissioners this week.Mecklenburg County temporarily shuttered all online systems as a precaution, but has already relaunched core, critical Tier One services and should restart any remaining Tier Two internal-facing applications by weeks end, County Manager Dena Diorio told the Board of County Commissioners at its Jan. 3 meeting Those public-facing areas include online tax payments and access to code enforcement, human resources; and the departments of social services, and parks and recreation, she said, emphasizing that while tremendous progress has been made, much work remains.In an email, Assistant County Manager Mark Foster said Information Technology Services (ITS) staff have worked around the clock for the past few weeks to restore applications and systems, utilizing backups and other sources.But the Dec. 5 hack, believed to have been perpetrated by criminals from Iran or the Ukraine who froze data with a new strain of ransomware known as LockCrypt, then demanded a ransom payment of two Bitcoin, has further galvanized the countys top tech officials and its dedicated IT staff of 151 employees.The county, which serves more than 1 million residents and includes Charlotte, the states most populous city, must further enhance its cybersecurity position and tactics, Diorio told the commission.We must strengthen our security systems to stop the ability of hackers to successfully attack us again. I am determined that Mecklenburg County will lead the way with a new normal security posture, Diorio told the commission, indicating staff has already taken concrete steps to make networks more secure and will redouble threat education and training for employees.Members were generally receptive and complimentary  praising the manager for her decision, announced Dec. 6, to not pay the ransom, which would have cost more than $23,000 at the time.The financial impact and ongoing cost of the breach, which affected 48 of the countys 500 servers, are unclear, but the manager told commissioners that staff is updating and moving up elements of its security plan on a two-year timeline.IT services is developing a revised comprehensive security plan that will accelerate components of their three-year strategic business plan in Fiscal Year 2018. Implementation of these projects will continue into FY 2019 and beyond, Diorio said, adding that she intends to bring the plan and recommendations to the commission over the coming weeks.Diorio did not mention specific details about ITS new normal posture or the revised security plan. She noted, when she answered a request from Commissioner Trevor Fuller for a little more granular examination of the incident, that such an up-close look would likely come during the closed session portion of a future meeting.Charlotte-based forensic company Fortalice Solutions is assisting onsite with forensic analysis and will provide the agency with a report, the county manager told commissioners. Foster said via email that the county has also worked throughout its recovery with legal team Mullen Coughlin LLC, and cyber technical consulting firm Kivu Consulting Inc.Commissioners praised the work of Diorio and IT staffers and commended the manager for standing up to the hackers.The community sees it, that you guys are working overtime to get systems back up and get servers back up. A lot of organizations buckle and say, Well just go ahead and pay. I just want to commend you for that decision. I know it was a tough one to make, said Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour, who pronounced himself excited to hear about the IT teams progress and some of the things we plan to accelerate to keep Mecklenburg County up and running and data-secure.
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RALEIGH  The bitter cold continues tonight, with wind chills bringing lows down to the single digits in the Triad, the National Weather Service said Saturday.

An arctic air mass entrenched over central North Carolina is to blame for the cold, the weather service said in a statement.

Temperatures are expected to slowly fall through the teens Saturday night. Wind chills will make it feel like about 8 to 13 degrees.

Temperatures of 5 to 10 degrees will be common overnight, forecasters said.

Farther east, including Alamance County, will also face potential icy roads leftover from the recent snow storm.

The lingering cold has kept the snow from melting, leading to icy patches, forecasters said. Affected areas are primarily secondary roads and roads that lead through a wooded area or hilly terrain, the weather service warned.

While single-digit temperatures were expected in Greensboro through early Sundaymorning, highs could hit the 60s by Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Expect highs Sunday in the upper 20s to mid-30s with lows in the upper teens to 20s.

Highs start climbing Monday, hitting the low 40s and 50s through Wednesday before peaking near 61 on Friday, the weather service said.
GREENWICH  YWCA Greenwich will hold a panel discussion on human trafficking as a tribute to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

The discussion, which is free and open to the public, is set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday at 259 East Putnam Ave. The discussion will focus on the fight to end what is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that transports people from one country or area to another, typically for forced labor or prostitution.

Topics include how to recognize human trafficking, how to charge the abusers and how to support the victims.

Human trafficking is modern day slavery, Mary Lee Kiernan, YWCA Greenwich president and CEO, said. This is a topic we believe that Dr. King would be very involved with if he were still alive today.

Kiernan said fighting human trafficking is deeply connected to the central mission of the YWCA: eliminating racism and empowering women. She said overall 71 percent of the victims of human trafficking are women; 99 percent of victims of human trafficking sexual crimes are women.

Krishna Patel, the general counsel and director of justice initiatives for the Grace Farms Foundation and the former deputy chief of National Security and Major Crimes in the District of Connecticut will serve as moderator. The panel will be made up of Jillian Gilchrest, chair of the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons Council; Joette Katz, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families; Rod Khattabi, the former head of Homeland Security for the State of Connecticut and Vincent Nappo, a lawyer on the case against Backpage.com, a classified ad website used by human traffickers to sell sex, including with children.

The panelists will discuss the use of data to identify and track the traffickers and their victims. And it will also focus what is being done to help survivors and how the general public can support victims and law enforcement efforts to stop trafficking.

YWCA Greenwich has partnered with 30 other local non-profits and houses of worship for the event. That list includes Kids in Crisis, the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, Christ Church, the Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education, Temple Sholom, Family Centers, the Greenwich Public Schools and the Greenwich Police Department.

The town of Greenwich is also serving as a partner.

We want to educate the public on the full extent of the problem as well as what they can do about it, Kiernan said. They can learn to better identify the signs of a victim of trafficking as well as become a better educated consumer when it comes to identifying products that are made by forced labor and child labor. Hopefully it will inspire the public to be more involved with organizations that are fighting against trafficking and helping out the victims of trafficking.

Reservations are suggested. People can RSVP by sending an email to rsvp@ywcagreenwich.org.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com




Haiti - Social : Death of Professor Rachel Beauvoir Dominique





The Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) learned, with infinite sorrow the sad news of the death Friday, January 5, 2018 at his residence in Mariani, of the manbo (Voodoo Priestess) and Anthropology Professor Rachel Dominique Beauvoir, daughter of the deceased Ati National (Supreme Chief of Haitian Voodoo) Max Gesner Beauvoir.



"The Rectorate, on behalf of the university community, salutes the departure of this researcher and this eminent intellectual figure, who has contributed enormously to the development of studies on Haitian culture and on Voodoo



The Rectorate offers its condolences to her husband, Mr. Didier Dominique, Professor at the Faculty of Sciences, her family, colleagues, friends and fellow Vodouizan."



Learn more about Rachel Dominique Beauvoir :

After studying cultural anthropology at Tufts University in the United States of America, in social anthropology at Oxford University in England, Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique taught anthropology and Haitian culture in two (2) entities of the State University of Haiti: the Faculty of Human Sciences (FASCH) and the Faculty of Ethnology (FE). She collaborated with the Vice-Rectorate for Research and participated in various research projects, including the research project on the history of ethnology in Haiti implemented by the Faculty of Ethnology and its research unit, the laboratory LADIREP.



Engaged politically in the battle against dictatorship in the 1980s, Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique was part of the contingent of young graduates who rushed to return to the country to help rebuild.



Voodoo Priestess, she was a vigilant defender of this popular religion, founder and active member of two Foundations dedicated to the preservation of Haitian cultural traditions.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















BEC WORSHIP, a new imprint of BEC Recordings, announces the new signing of River Valley Worship. Kicking off 2018 with a declaration song, River Valley Worship recently released their label debut single, "World Needs Jesus," available now at Spotify and Apple music (http://smarturl.it/WorldNeedsJesus). "Unfortunately this song will always be relevant," shares River Valley Worship leader Ryan Williams. "We live in a broken world that will always need an anthem to rise above the brokenness. 'World Needs Jesus' has reminded me that my worship and my world don't run along separate lines, but they need to intersect. Let's be brave enough to sing about the darkness and sing that dark straight to the light of Jesus." River Valley Worship is a collection of artists, musicians and songwriters who are an extension of the vibrant creative culture within River Valley Church. With campuses spread across the greater Minneapolis, MN area as well as an international campus in Swaziland, Africa, River Valley Worship is making a global impact. This new single is the debut song from their upcoming full-release Million Lifetimes that will be available on March 2, 2018 on BEC Worship. River Valley Church began in 1995 in Minnesota and has grown as a multisite church with weekly attendance of more than 9,000 with eight U.S. campuses and one international campus with plans to continue to grow. The church is led by Pastor Rob Ketterling. Supporting the new song, River Valley Worship has also released the official lyric video for the song that is an anthem for the nation and world as the new year begins. Click below to watch the lyric video.

ABOUT BEC WORSHIP: BEC Recordings recently launched the new imprint, BEC WORSHIP, to feature their new worship-focused artists and projects. BEC WORSHIP aims at bringing music that will both impact the listener and resource the local church. In partnering with River Valley Worship, they are excited to release music that is unique and powerful, while remaining accessible for the church to sing. Visit BEC WORSHIP (http://becworship.com) for resources.
HAWAII SUPREME COURT DECISION STOPS WEST HAWAII FISHING PERMITS PENDING AN ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

News Release from DLNR, January 5, 2018

(Honolulu) - DLNR announced today that after applying a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling from last year to an existing DLNR rule, no aquatic life may be taken for commercial aquarium purposes off West Hawaii until an environmental review is completed.

The court ruled on September 6, 2017, that an environmental review must first occur before permits can be used to catch aquatic life for the commercial aquarium trade. Following that ruling, State Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey P. Crabtree terminated and canceled all fine mesh net permits. DLNR rules state that a Hawaii State Aquarium Permit is also required to take any aquatic life from waters off of West Hawaii for commercial aquarium purposes.

Although the state permit referenced in the rules is not defined, the intent of the Supreme Court decision is clear, said Bruce Anderson, Administrator of the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources.

As a result of these court decisions it is clear that fine mesh nets cannot be used anywhere in Hawaii in the commercial aquarium trade until the environmental review process has been completed. Given the intent of the court ruling, any taking of aquarium fish or other animals for the commercial pet trade in West Hawaii is prohibited until the environmental review has been completed, said Anderson.

# # #

KGI: Ban on taking fish for aquariums now statewide

WHT: DLNR shuts down aquarium fishing in West Hawaii pending environmental review

Related:

Oct 2017: Judge Invalidates Aquarium Collectors Permits
Tulsi Gabbard say that she doesnt control the Russian bots that support her, but she did control the hiring of Chris Cooper, the smear campaigner who was paid by Natalia Veselnitskaya and her Russian backed sponsors to smear me and try to repeal the Magnitsky Act in DC https://t.co/pxS1eBmln8  Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) October 20, 2019

Tulsi Gabbard Hires Russian Agent to Keep Hawaii Media in Check

by Andrew Walden, www.HawaiiFreePress.com, January 5, 2018

Russia has lots of experience in media censorship. So perhaps it is logical that Rep Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI-2) hires an agent of the Russian government as a consultant to keep Hawaii media under control.

But Gabbards consultant, Chris Cooper of the Potomac Square Group, is no ordinary Russian agent. Cooper is allegedly one of seven identified as being at the center of illegal Russian lobbying efforts reaching into the Trump campaign and Congress.

Inquiries with Gabbards DC office last June by reporter Christine Gralowthen stringing an article for Honolulu Magazine--must have piqued the attentions of the numerous Hare Krishna cultists employed there . Within 24 hours a letter from Cooper, identifying himself as a consultant to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, riddled with misspellings and inaccuracies, landed in the in-box of Honolulu Magazines editors.

It worked. Honolulu Magazine suddenly lost interest in Gralows articles  which she eventually published on her own website, www.MeanwhileinHawaii.org . And confirming its obsequience, on November 20, Honolulu Magazine characterized a Gabbard cult expose in the New Yorker as another project in otherizing Gabbards faith journey.

Gralow says she became aware of the Cooper letter in November when a source sent her a copy. She posted the letter on her website December 31, 2017 . Cooperwho has not previously been publicly known to be tied to Gabbardis one of seven people named by Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder in a July 15, 2016 memo to the US Department of Justice identifying unregistered agents working illegally in the US under the direction/control/influence of the Russian Government. The seven are seeking repeal of the now-famous 2012 Magnitsky Act signed into law by President Obama in response to the imprisonment and 2009 murder of Hermitages anti-corruption investigator, Sergei Magnitsky , by agents of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin .

Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya is also among the seven agents cited by Hermitage. Repeal of the Magnitsky Act was the subject of a well-known June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Veselnitskaya and Trump campaign officials. This meeting is a focus for numerous Trump-Russia conspiracy investigations.

The interests of Russias Syrian client-dictator Bashar al-Assad were front and center when Gabbard met personally with then President-elect Trump November 21, 2016 . Gabbard afterwards told reporters, I shared with (Trump) my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world. In January, 2017, Gabbard travelled to Syria and met with Assad in a highly criticized trip organized by a pro-Assad political party . Gabbard has repeatedly argued that President Obama was arming ISIS and al-Qaeda via his support of anti-Assad rebels.

Gabbards Hare Krishna guru Chris Butler seeks recognition from mainstream Hinduism in India. Gabbard has developed close ties with the Hindu nationalist government of India. Indias foreign policy is traditionally aligned with Russia. The Hindu nationalists are anti-Islamist. By aligning with Indias foreign policy, Gabbards work relating to Russia and Syria dovetails with Butlers drive for recognition from India.

International intrigue is nothing new for the Butler Cult. Cult followers were convicted in New Zealand in 2008 and 2010 for trafficking 240 tonnes of hashish into the US--in part from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

According to Hermitage, Cooper arranged a June 13, 2016 Washington, DC showing of an anti-Magnitsky Act documentary along with Rinat Akhmetshin a former member of the Russian military intelligence services (GRU). Hermitage continues: the day after the Newseum event, Congressman Royce chaired a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. policy towards Putins Russia attended byNatalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin.

Coopers website informs readers that he help(s) clients define and disseminate their narratives and client work focuses on interests in the US and Europe and countries that include Russia.

The New York Times buttonholed Cooper at the documentary showing and reports: Mr. Cooper rented the theater in the Newseum and declined to say who was paying his company.

Asked who paid him to write the letter to Honolulu Magazine, Cooper likewise did not respond to Hawaii Free Press.

Gabbards FEC records and the Congressional Statement of Disbursements for the timeframe show no payment of campaign funds or Congressional office funds to Cooper or Potomac Square. Neither Gabbard nor her office responded to our query.

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PDF: Cooper Letter to Honolulu Magazine
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Several centuries after the birth of Jesus, Syrian scribes offered these names for the wise men who came to Bethlehem: King Hormizdah of Persia, King Yazdegerd of Saba and King Perozadh of Shelba.

A late-fifth-century Alexandria chronicle called them Bithisarea, Melichior and Gathaspa, which evolved into the familiar Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar. In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian commissioned a mosaic in the Ravenna church now called the Basilica of St. Apollinaris, showing three magi wearing what appears to be Persian clothing, and carrying gifts.

Over the centuries, these images shaped countless Nativity scenes, church pageants and carols, noted Father Dwight Longenecker, author of a new book, Mystery of the Magi. He is an Oxford University graduate and former Anglican priest who, after converting to Roman Catholicism with his wife and children, now leads Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

This weekend, worshippers celebrating the Epiphany feast  which closes the 12-day Christmas season  will hear what the Gospel of St. Matthew says about all this. Comparing the simple biblical account with many colorful Three Kings stories, Longenecker explained, is rather like comparing the humble, pious, third-century St. Nicholas of Myra with the Santa Claus found in Hollywood flicks.

I dont think we need to give up Nativity plays and singing We Three Kings of Orient Are. But I do think we need to realize that these are elaborations on the historical story from Matthews Gospel. Theyre delightful, but they are related to the facts of Jesus birth in the same way the Broadway musical Camelot is related to scholars writing about the historical King Arthur, he said.

Our culture has ... stuck the magi in the same sentimental, magical Christmas bundle with Santa and a bunch of flying reindeer. In this story, the magi are wise men  rather like Gandalf and Dumbledore  who make a When You Wish Upon a Star journey across the desert. Its nice, but it isnt biblical.

The Matthew account begins: When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.

Later there are more details. After facing Herod, the magi were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Anyone paying close attention may wonder: Wait, how many magi? Matthew doesnt say. What were their names? Ditto. Where are their camels? Were they kings from a distant land, like Persia? The biblical account cites the east, which to early Christians in Judea and Syria would have been northern Arabia, perhaps Petra and the Nabatean civilization  with its close ties to Jewish culture and trade.

By the time the magi arrived, the shepherds are gone and the holy family is in a house, not a cave. Jesus is a child, almost certainly a toddler, not a newborn.

In other words, explained Longenecker, as Christianity spread throughout the Roman world and beyond, St. Matthews simple account of the magi  to quote the Lord of the Rings epic  became legend, and legend became myth.

That doesnt mean, he stressed, that key details in the Gospel of Matthew cannot be defended as true, especially in light of decades of new research. This debate matters because several generations of mainstream Christian leaders and clergy have been taught, in seminary, that key parts of the Nativity narrative are pious myths  period.

The bottom line, for Longenecker: The details of the Nativity passages matter because history matters, and history matters because truth matters. It matters whether clergy believe what they are saying during Christmas and Epiphany.

At best, lots of people say this is a parable, he said. They say were all supposed to go on a mysterious journey of faith through the darkness and find our inner light, or something like that. That basically means its all a myth. ... Thats not a good way to talk about details in an important passage of scripture.
The support of Vietnams court sector to its Lao counterpart is a vivid manifestation of the special relationship between the two countries Parties and States, the official said.

He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always backs the bilateral judicial ties, contributing to the development in each nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh (R) and Chief Judge of the Lao Supreme Peoples Court Khamphanh Sithidampha (Photo: VNA)



The Deputy PM asked the Lao court to continue implementing contents of cooperation agreements reached by the two sides, and organise visits and exchanges for Vietnamese and Lao judicial officials.

The Communist Party, State and Government of Vietnam always do their best, in any circumstances, to preserve the traditional relationship and special solidarity between Vietnam and Laos, he emphasised.

In reply, Khamphanh Sitthidampha told his host that the Vietnamese and Lao court sectors have carried a range of cooperation activities with a focus on judge training, over the past time and increased the exchange of delegations at both central and local levels.

Hailing the Vietnamese court sectors assistance in personnel training, the guest said ten Lao court officials will be sent to Vietnam to attend training courses at the Vietnam Court Academy in 2018.

On this occasion, Khamphanh Sitthidampha handed over an insignia of the Lao court sector to Deputy PM Binh to honour his contributions to the formation and development of the Lao Peoples Supreme Court.

On January 4th, on behalf of Vietnamese Party and State leaders, Chief Judge of the Supreme Peoples Court of Vietnam Nguyen Hoa Binh presented a first-class Independence Order to the Supreme Peoples Court of Laos./.
Think of the Iranian uprising as a bottom-up revolt by people who feel theyve been ignored by a corrupt elite.

The issues and the faces in the street are very different from those of the populist movements that swept America and Europe in 2016, but you sense a resonance: Make Iran Great Again and Iran First.

This revolt probably wont topple the Islamic Republic, but it certainly has deepened the fault lines. It shows that Irans revolutionary adventures in the Middle East carry a cost at home. And it puts a cocky, belligerent regime on its back foot. For unlike the 2009 Green Movement, this isnt primarily an urban, elite protest, but something potentially broader. A crackdown could backfire.

This is a nationwide uprising taking place all over Iran, argues Alireza Nader, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp. who has been monitoring the protests since they began. The government has been taken by surprise and the security forces have been slow to act. Its a revolt of the mustazafin, or dispossessed, Nader says, but also of the urban middle class.

President Trumps enthusiasm for the protesters has bubbled over in his tweets. Explains a senior administration official: Dissent shows Iran has deep structural problems and a corrupt economic system, dominated by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, that is unsustainable.

The White House sensibly plans to work with allies to hold Iran accountable for any violence against its citizens. Argues the senior official: Iran is now encountering the cost of the choices theyve made. Thats not going away until they make different choices.

Like most social upheavals, this one was obvious only in hindsight. But there were hints. Last April, as moderate President Hassan Rouhani was on his way to re-election, voters clearly wanted economic growth. Asked about their income levels, 54 percent of Iranians surveyed by the Toronto-based IranPoll answered either I hardly get by or It is very difficult to get by. Last year, Gallup reported that Iran ranked third on its Negative Experience Index, after Iraq and South Sudan.

Partly, this is a revolution of rising expectations. Iranians had hoped that Rouhani and the nuclear deal he championed with the West would bring new investment, jobs and the dynamic modern life Iranians want. But this hasnt happened. Frustrated people get angry, and their rage eventually surges into the streets.

The protesters denounce both Rouhanis reformers and the hardliners led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They come from Irans equivalents of red states and blue states alike. On videos, you can see protesters taunting two of the regimes most sacred cows, Khamenei and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force.

As U.S. officials have tried to reconstruct events of the past week, they see a spontaneous, diffuse movement that ignited like sparks on dry tinder. The first big protest was in the conservative stronghold of Mashhad in eastern Iran. U.S. officials think it was initially organized by Khameneis supporters to protest Rouhanis economic policies, but it quickly spread so that the mullahs, too, became a target.

The next big protest came in Kermanshah, a Kurdish-dominated area along the western border. The region was rocked by a powerful earthquake in November, killing more than 500 and wounding nearly 10,000, and protesters blamed corrupt building inspectors. Protests then spread to Ahvaz, an Arab-dominated city in the south, to Isfahan in the center and to several dozen other cities.

The people in the streets have defied government intimidation, which had crushed the 2009 revolt. Watch their videos and you can hear the chants that echo across the country: Death to the dictator, Leave Syria, think of us, Dont be afraid, we stand together, and Well die to get Iran back. One clip shows a female protester calling out the men around her: What are you waiting for? Be men. Come forward.

Karim Sadjadpour, a leading Iran analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, summarizes the surprise explosion: No one anticipated this. It happened in the Islamic Republics heartland. It reflects a feeling of utter frustration and despair toward everyone and every part of the system.

The world is watching. Thats the right message for Trump, and every other leader who cares about Irans future.

Rouhani may sympathize with this revolt  these are the people who voted for him, after all  but Khamenei will want to crush it. The best gift America can give the Iranian people is a digital lifeline, so humanity can witness their brave struggle and encourage them to prevail.

David Ignatius can be reached via Twitter: @IgnatiusPost.
Minh called on the UK Government to encourage British businesses to step up their investment and business in Vietnam, closely coordinate with the Vietnamese side to raise the efficiency of the use of capital sourced from the UK Commonwealth Foundation and create favourable conditions for the country to access the fund.



He also suggested the UK Government continue coordination with its Vietnamese counterpart in building a long-term development pathway for the Vietnam-UK Institute for Research and Executive Education and make it easier for the entry and residence of Vietnamese students in the country.



For his part, Mark Field highly valued achievements Vietnam has recorded in socio-economic development as well as in international integration in general and trade liberalisation in particular.



He affirmed that the UK Government will prioritise deepening the strategic partnership across fields in the time ahead.





Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and UK Foreign Office Minister for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field. (Source: VNA)



Earlier the same day, Mark Field and Vietnamese Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son co-chaired the sixth Vietnam-UK Strategic Dialogue, which took place in an open atmosphere and on the basis of mutual respect and understanding.The two sides discussed orientations and concrete measures to beef up the strategic partnership in a more practical and effective manner, particularly in politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, education-training, science-technology and national defence-security, in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (1973-2018).They agreed to increase the exchange of all-level delegations while fruitfully implementing the strategic dialogue mechanism on diplomacy, national defence and security.At the same time, they will increase the promotion of trade, investment, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchange, along with intensifying their cooperation in international forums such as the UN, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and within the framework of the ASEAN-EU cooperation.

Both sides stressed that economic cooperation will continue being a key pillar of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership.

Son affirmed that the Vietnamese Government will continue creating favourable conditions for UK enterprises to do effective business in the country in the fields of infrastructure development, finance-banking, insurance, oil and gas, energy and pharmacy.

The two sides agreed to foster cooperation to ensure the continuity of key cooperative fields, especially trade and investment, after Brexit.

The two countries will also boost connection in vocational training to develop high-quality human resources for Vietnam as well as effectively implement activities of the Vietnam-UK Institute for Research and Executive Education in Da Nang University and scientific research projects in the framework of the Newton Programme Vietnam funded by the UK Government.

Regarding defence cooperation, Mark Field praised the fruitful relations between the two countries Defence Ministries, reaffirming the continued implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms and the Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding between the two ministries.

The UK will continue supporting Vietnam in joining UN peace-keeping activities, he said.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to closely coordinating in fighting organised crimes, human trafficking, illegal migration, and illegal trade of wildlife.

In the framework of the dialogue, the two officials compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern, agreeing on the importance of improving the efficiency of global administration as well as regional linkages, and the role of international law in resolving global issues.

Concerning the East Sea issue, they called on involved parties to show their goodwill in implementing international obligations, avoid activities that can complicate the situation and increase tension in the region.

They also stressed the increasingly important role played by ASEAN in maintaining peace and stability in the region, reiterating that disputes must be solved by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

The two sides also issued a joint press release on the outcomes of the dialogue./.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
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China has invested billions of dollars to increase its soft power, but it has recently suffered a backlash in democratic countries. A new report by the National Endowment for Democracy argues that we need to re-think soft power, because the conceptual vocabulary that has been used since the Cold Wars end no longer seems adequate to the contemporary situation.

The report describes the new authoritarian influences being felt around the world as sharp power. A recent cover article in The Economist defines sharp power by its reliance on subversion, bullying and pressure, which combine to promote self-censorship. Whereas soft power harnesses the allure of culture and values to augment a countrys strength, sharp power helps authoritarian regimes compel behaviour at home and manipulate opinion abroad.

The term soft power  the ability to affect others by attraction and persuasion rather than the hard power of coercion and payment  is sometimes used to describe any exercise of power that does not involve the use of force. But that is a mistake. Power sometimes depends on whose army or economy wins, but it can also depend on whose story wins.

A strong narrative is a source of power. Chinas economic success has generated both hard and soft power, but within limits. A Chinese economic aid package under the Belt and Road Initiative may appear benign and attractive, but not if the terms turn sour, as was recently the case in a Sri Lankan port project.

Likewise, other exercises of economic hard power undercut the soft power of Chinas narrative. For example, China punished Norway for awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. It also threatened to restrict access to the Chinese market for an Australian publisher of a book critical of China.

If we use the term sharp power as shorthand for information warfare, the contrast with soft power becomes plain. Sharp power is a type of hard power. It manipulates information, which is intangible, but intangibility is not the distinguishing characteristic of soft power. Verbal threats, for example, are both intangible and coercive.

When I introduced the concept of soft power in 1990, I wrote that it is characterised by voluntarism and indirection, while hard power rests on threats and inducements. If someone aims a gun at you, demands your money, and takes your wallet, what you think and want is irrelevant. That is hard power. If he persuades you to give him your money, he has changed what you think and want. That is soft power.

Truth and openness create a dividing line between soft and sharp power in public diplomacy. When Chinas official news agency, Xinhua, broadcasts openly in other countries, it is employing soft-power techniques, and we should accept that. When China Radio International covertly backs 33 radio stations in 14 countries, the boundary of sharp power has been crossed, and we should expose the breach of voluntarism.

Of course, advertising and persuasion always involve some degree of framing, which limits voluntarism, as do structural features of the social environment. But extreme deception in framing can be viewed as coercive; though not violent, it prevents meaningful choice.

Techniques of public diplomacy that are widely viewed as propaganda cannot produce soft power. In an age of information, the scarcest resources are attention and credibility. That is why exchange programmes that develop two-way communication and personal relations among students and young leaders are often far more effective generators of soft power than, say, official broadcasting.

The United States has long had programmes enabling visits by young foreign leaders, and now China is successfully following suit. That is a smart exercise of soft power. But when visas are manipulated or access is limited to restrain criticism and encourage self-censorship, even such exchange programmes can shade into sharp power.

As democracies respond to Chinas sharp power and information warfare, they have to be careful not to overreact. Much of the soft power democracies wield comes from civil society, which means that openness is a crucial asset. China could generate more soft power if it would relax some of its tight party control over civil society. Similarly, manipulation of media and reliance on covert channels of communication often reduces soft power. Democracies should avoid the temptation to imitate these authoritarian sharp-power tools.

Moreover, shutting down legitimate Chinese soft-power tools can be counter-productive. Soft power is often used for competitive, zero-sum purposes; but it can also have positive sum aspects.

For example, if both China and the US wish to avoid conflict, exchange programmes that increase American attraction to China, and vice-versa, would benefit both countries. And on transnational issues such as climate change, where both countries can benefit from cooperation, soft power can help build the trust and create the networks that make such cooperation possible.

While it would be a mistake to prohibit Chinese soft-power efforts just because they sometimes shade into sharp power, it is also important to monitor the dividing line carefully. For example, the Hanban, the government agency that manages the 500 Confucius Institutes and 1,000 Confucius classrooms that China supports in universities and schools around the world to teach Chinese language and culture, must resist the temptation to set restrictions that limit academic freedom. Crossing that line has led to the disbanding of some Confucius Institutes.

As such cases show, the best defence against Chinas use of soft-power programmes as sharp-power tools is open exposure of such efforts. And this is where democracies have an advantage.

Joseph Nye is a professor at Harvard and author of The Future of Power.

The views expressed are personal
Teaching young people to dream again is the vision of a Moroccan cultural centre in a rundown Casablanca district, once home to a group of suicide bombers who killed 33 people in 2003. Based in a white building next to a tramline and opposite a mosque, the Stars Cultural Centre in Sidi Moumen regularly hosts more than 300 young people for classes in music and music theory, classical dance, hip-hop, English and French. When we tell young people that violence is not a means to express themselves, we must find them other means, said filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, who co-founded the centre with artist Mahi Binebine.

Ayouchs connection with the district began with his film Horses of God, which looked at how young people in the neighbourhood were becoming radicalised. When he organised a screening of the film in Sidi Moumen, Ayouch realised something: Even in an area without rights, there is the right to hope. That seed of an idea eventually led him to set up the centre in the district that was home to 12 suicide bombers, who carried out the May 2003 attacks in Casablanca.

Yacine, 14, is studying piano and music theory and hopes that one day he can become a concert musician and perform with an orchestra. The training is much better than at the Casablanca Conservatoire, he said. Students families pay for the lessons but those on limited means receive subsidised rates. The centre offers free film screenings, hosts foreign artists and gives shows that attract spectators from far and wide.

The centre hopes to change the way people see a neighbourhood many would previously have avoided. (AFP)

Conservative society

Back in 2014, there was nothing -- no culture, no cinema, said the centres assistant manager, Soumia Errahmani. But funded by private donations and foreign cultural institutes, the centre has shown that there are also stars and not only terrorists in the district, she said. The 24-year-old, her hair covered with an Islamic headscarf, said the project had taught her that if you want, you can. She herself signed up for a class because she had always dreamed of playing guitar and percussion. She put together a band, Africa Vibes, and stayed. Now she manages student registrations at the centre and works to reassure parents.

In Moroccos conservative society, the relationship with art in general, and with dance in particular, is very difficult, she said. But today, parents come to see the shows, they are proud of their children, she said. Mothers, who were worried about seeing their daughters dancing, come to ask for advice, some borrow books.

Local Moroccan children attend a music class at the Stars Cultural Centre in Casablanca's northeastern suburb of Sidi Moumen. (AFP)

Invisible walls

Performances and lessons at the centre take breaks around Muslim prayer times. Ayouch, who grew up among the tower blocks of the working-class Paris suburb of Sarcelles, said the centre aims to break down the invisible walls both mental and geographical, which confine culture to the city centre. In November, he opened a similar centre in the Beni Makada district of Tangiers, a neglected, over-crowded neighbourhood known for drug dealing and police raids.

Director Annafs Azzakia Ben Sbih told AFP the centre aimed to show that there are also young talents and change the way people see a neighbourhood many would previously have avoided. Further centres are planned in disadvantaged districts of Marrakesh and Fes. Ayouch said the idea is to create a network with similar programmes and shared programmes, with passionate teachers who are trained and rewarded, who can make openings for young people to jump into, Ayouch said.

It was through the centre that Meriem, 21, became a rapper. She is working on a new record, What belongs to girls, and dreams of going on tour. Her father opposes her hobby but her mother is supportive. She encourages me and tells me go ahead, she said.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more
After inspiring industry-wide introspection with her comments about nepotism on Karan Johars chat show, Koffee With Karan, star Kangana Ranaut found herself blacklisted from a certain section of the film industry, by her own admittance. Karan has now said that despite being called the flagbearer of nepotism on his own show, he would welcome Kangana on his new reality show, Indias Next Superstar.

I am sure when Star Plus (the channel which will air the show) invites her we will be happy to have her, he told PTI. Our heart is big, our house is open to all. We will happily, lovingly and respectfully welcome her on the show, he added.

In the show, Karan will judge contestants along with filmmaker Rohit Shetty. Actor Priyanka Chopra will be the first guest.

Karan and Rohit will judge 20 contestants of which two will be given an opportunity to work with the filmmakers. The show will air from January 13.

Our job as a director is to find talent and with this show we are just going to continue doing that. Our aim is to provide new talent to the industry, Karan said.

Kangana recently appeared in Simran and will next be seen in Manikarnika, playing the Rani of Jhansi. Karans last film as director was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. He is currently producing the ambitious trilogy Brahmastra with Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
I last wrote about the best meals I had eaten in 2017 in a May issue of Brunch. Heres a list that takes up from that date. Rather than list them chronologically however, I have tried to distinguish the chef-driven restaurants from the others.

The chefs

Sergi Arola: Arola is one of Spains most famous chefs, with two Michelin stars at his flagship restaurant and branches all over the world  including (very briefly) a restaurant at the JW Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai. I ate at his restaurant at the stunning Penha Longa Ritz-Carlton resort in Portugal. Much to my surprise, Arola was not only present (celebrity chefs are usually only seen on TV) but was actually cooking.

Chef Sergi Arola has two Michelin stars at his flagship restaurant (Getty Images)

I ordered the Menu Loco, which is tasting portions of every single dish on the menu and Arola (who I know slightly from his time in Mumbai) added a few off-menu choices. I was very full by the end of it but it was worth it. A standout was the seafood pot-au-feu, Arolas homage to the great French chef Michel Guerard.

Jose Avillez, Portugals most famous chef, runs Belcanto in Lisbon

Jose Avillez: Belcanto in Lisbon has two Michelin stars but would  I dare say  have won three stars if it was in France. It is run by Jose Avillez, Portugals most famous chef and his tasting menu was exquisite. I loved his signature Golden Egg, slow cooked and served on a bed of mushroom, and his Roast Pork which was a tribute to Sunday lunch: a square of roast pork with crisp crackling, hand-cut chips and the heart of a lettuce.

Scallops served at chef Giorgio Locatellis restaurant Locatelli in London

Giorgio Locatelli: Locatelli has run a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant for over a decade in the heart of London without ever trying to push himself or infuse the food with gimmicks. This time, I ate a typical Locatelli meal: first rate ingredients (including a wonderful tartare of Italian beef) cooked perfectly in a simple and unshowy way.

Masaharu Morimoto: Most guests at Wasabi (in Delhi and Mumbai) think of Morimotos food in terms of Nobu where he was once executive chef (at the first Nobu in New York). But Morimoto has gone far beyond that phase and his food is now far more complex and varied.

I ate at Wasabi, Delhi, when he was visiting and he cooked himself (some of it at the counter in the restaurant) and while all of the food was good, I have memories of the sea-urchin dish, which will not fade easily.

Gaggan Anand: Every three months or so, Gaggan changes his menu. Over the last few years I have usually been able to go to Bangkok and keep up with the changes. This year too, I must have eaten his food at least four times. Each menu is different, each one is more of a dive into the deep end. Somehow, he manages to make it work, to reinvent his food and to keep me astonished!

Martin Berasategui: The least globally famous of Spains many three star chefs, Berasategui, is among the most consistent. I ate at his San Sebastian restaurant and was bowled over: parfait of foie gras and smoked eel, a tiny omelette filled with truffles, a foamy mushroom broth and more.

Mugaritz in Spain is the global laboratory for modern cuisine techniques

Andoni Luis Aduriz: Andoni is the chefs chef. His restaurant, Mugaritz, is among the worlds most famous but what makes his food special is his creativity with techniques. I ate 27 courses and with each dish I was reminded of something some other chef had copied and done. Mugaritz is pretty much the global laboratory for modern cuisine techniques.

Manish Mehrotra: Indias greatest chef. I ate this year at both the old Indian Accent and the new one at The Lodhi hotel. The difference was that Manishs food has got even better. He has just opened in London to great word-of-mouth and I only hope it does not mean that we see less of him in Delhi.

Sriram Aylur and Srijith Gopinath: The two stars of the Taj group: Sriram runs Quilon in London and Srijith is chef at San Franciscos Campton Place. Both have Michelin stars but their food is very different. Sriram (who was chef at Bengalurus Karavali) is a master of South Indian flavours and seafood while Srijith is more California-influenced and ingredient-focused.

The Taj brought them both back to India in 2017. Srijith cooked at the stunning dining room at Hyderabads Falaknuma Palace and then both did a joint dinner at Varq at the Delhi Taj. Their food is always terrific. But both are at their best in their own restaurants.

Brett Graham: I have never worked out why Michelin does not regard Grahams food at Londons The Ledbury as worthy of three stars  he is stuck at two. I had the single best meal of my trips to London there and the sophistication of the cooking was breathtaking.

Andrew Wong, the man behind A. Wong, the best Chinese restaurant in London

Andrew Wong: A. Wong is probably the best Chinese restaurant in London. Run by Andrew Wong (who has just opened at the Delhi Oberoi) it serves a modern take on the food of China: a single scallop wrapped in slithery cheung fan skin, Wagyu fried rice, pork with frozen foie gras and more.

Thomas Zacharias: Thomas is probably the youngest chef on this list and he is slightly handicapped by working in the shadow of the great Floyd Cardoz, the influential New York chef behind both The Bombay Canteen, where Thomas is the executive chef, and O Pedro, its sister restaurant which does a fun version of Goan food.

But Thomas has found his own voice now, routinely creates great dishes and has a distinct philosophy which is reflected in his food. The Bombay Canteen continues to be terrific and I ate better Goan food at O Pedro (in Mumbai) than I did at any of Goas trendy restaurants.

Restaurants

There are too many to mention. But here are some that served me meals that I remember.

Rustoms: This Delhi Parsi restaurant is a labour of love and the food is truly outstanding.

Nara, an elegant mini-chain, serves outstanding Thai food in Bangkok and has recently opened in Mumbai

Nara: I go to a branch of Nara every time I am in Bangkok so I had two reasons to be delighted. One: they opened the wonderful spin-off Lady Nara at Bangkoks Central Embassy Mall. And two: best of all, there is now a Nara in Mumbai that matches the high standards of the Bangkok branches.

Bukhara: One day someone will open a better kebab place than Bukhara. Till then, however, this is the gold standard. The cooking is excellent but the secret lies in the ingredients: the finest quality available. Given what Bukharas prices are, they can afford it.

Shang Palace: I had so many fabulous meals at the Delhi outlet and I still cant wait to go back. The roast pork is a classic.

Wasabi: The Delhi Wasabi has never ever been better  even when Morimoto is not around. The best modern Japanese in India.

Avartana: The first truly great concept created by ITC Hotels in a decade, this modern South Indian place at Chennais Grand Chola is a real breakthrough. I wait for more Avartanas at other ITC hotels.

Masala Library: How Zorawar Kalra manages to keep opening so many new restaurants and still maintain such high standards at the Delhi Masala Library is a mystery. Obviously the food is good when the brilliant Saurabh Udinia is cooking; but the restaurant is so consistent that standards hold up in his absence.

POH: Vikramjeet Roy has made a success of this modern Asian in Mumbais Parel because of his dogged vision and commitment to quality.

Elkano: Just outside San Sebastian, this is one of the worlds greatest fish restaurants. Everything is local and simply cooked. And every mouthful is a delight.

China Kitchen: The pioneering restaurant at Delhis Hyatt Regency went through a bad patch but is now back on form. Leave the menu to chef Zhang.

Duck egg custard buns at A. Wong, London

There were other great meals too in the period from May to December 2017. Sadly, Ive run out of space. Besides, this is quite a list...

From HT Brunch, January 7, 2018

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Wafts of freshly-browned onions and possibly a mean haleem - boiling away in some cauldron  interpolated by the aroma from freshly squeezed lemons guide my nostrils to the home of Sadia Dehlvi. A familiar face in the media and social circuits, Sadias now added a new feather to her cap  thats heavy with titles ranging from author, writer, columnist and activist - and turned chef!

Its not hard for me to spot her lovely home in the upscale Nizamuddin East locality of New Delhi where on the second floor curtains at the entrance bear life-size block prints of Islamic greetings as well as the smell of sumptuous spreads from the homes of Old Delhi. These, however, must not be mistaken for the rich Mughlai dishes doused in dollops of spices and ghee, but what Sadia is bringing to the table are authentic and some forgotten recipes from the Muslim households of North India.

At 60, Ive found a new career and Im having a lot of fun as a chef. I feel food is as much about memories as it is about spices, festivity, culture as well as love and compassion, says Sadia who recently tied up with ITC to celebrate the Capitals authentic cuisine over a six-day dinner buffet festival - Delhi Tablespread.

It was in the hotel kitchen that she was referred to as chef by the helpers and though initially she was a little take aback, now she revels in the new designation she has earned.

Thought for food

After finishing my cookbook (Jasmine and Jinns: Memories and Recipes of my Delhi) I felt the need to share recipes that are cooked in our homes and some things in particular to the community that I belong to, which is the Punjabi Saudagaran and they are a very isolated and insular community. These recipes need to be enjoyed and documented and a lot of youngsters in the community are not cooking these, says a concerned Sadia, taking breaks and to keep an eye on her signature alu ka saalan that shes cooking today.

Haleem is one of Sadias many signature dishes

Take for instance the kela (unripe banana) and sangri (beans from Khejri tree) saalan or the kachnar (Butterfly ash) ka bharta, I havent had these since my grandmother and Apa Sayeeda (their family retainer and governess) taught me how to cook before I moved to New York. I had made these after 20 years when I was working on my book! says Sadia, quickly adding goolar ka bharta to the list of forgotten recipes and reading my amusement shows me the goolar tree touching her balcony and explaining that its called country or cluster fig tree in English.

She adds:  Goolar ki sabzi is my sons favourite and I learnt the recipe from my aunt because nobody is cooking it anymore. But like a lot of the food we eat, goolar and kachnar have medicinal value. You see our communitys hub was Ballimaran  the residential area of the hakims of the city and what they advised came into our cuisine.

Wondering how cooking has taken centre-stage in her life at the moment, I ask Sadia how the cookbook and then the food festival figured in the scheme of things. She laughs and readily tells me the stories of her fairytale-like childhood days at Shama Kothi, her ancestral home studded with ponds and lilies and fountains on Sardar Patel Marg.

Sadia prepares nehari - winter favourite garnished with lemon, coriander and ginger

Sadia takes great pride in growing up in a culturally-rich household that impacted her very deeply. So, now she wants to share stories of her childhood through her cooking and food as it played a central role our lives and culture.

I was born in 1957 in Shama Kothi where very glamorous and lavish banquets were thrown by my grandfather. We grew up entertaining film stars and literary figures because of Shama, our literary and film magazine, says Sadia and adds how their home was a stopover for film stars like Meena Kumari, Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rakhi Gulzar, Dharmendra and Dimple Kapadia to literary greats like Ismat Chughtai and Ainee Apa (or Qurratulain Hyder) and poets like Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and the like who would attend mehfils, mushairas and qawwalis at Shama Kothi. Now events have shifted to the auditoriums but in those days in Delhi mehfils were in peoples homes, explains Sadia.

Whoever would get married would come to seek blessings of my abba (father) whod give them an asharfi and there would be a huge dinner. There was a grand reception for Nargis when she became MP, she says and I listen with child-like amusement only to be interrupted by a whiff of alu saalan and corriander leaves from the kitchen.

Alu ka saalan is a favourite of Sadias guests

She goes to share memories of their monsoon picnics in Mehrauli and how all kids would look forward to eating hari mirch keema, besan ki roti and aam ki chutney and her longing to write about these memories and how food was an integral part of them.

Hari mirch keema was part of the menu during the monsoon picnics at Mehrauli

I worked on Jamine and Jinns for about two years and its the easiest book Ive written as it was always in my head. My other books are research-oriented and deal with Sufiism and dargahs. This was light writing but the most difficult part was to writing the measurements for the recipes because I cook with andaaz or a sense of proportion and never measure the ingredients. But when you are writing a recipe it has to be accurate, she says.

And how did she learn cooking? By observing my Apa Sayeeda and chaachis (paternal aunts) in the kitchen. My mother is a disaster when it comes to cooking. She never cooked in her life and she doesnt like me cooking and thinks I waste my time. She always tells me I havent educated you to work in the kitchen, only women with oppressive husbands cook well, she says.

Sadias smoked kachri keema is a huge hit among family and friends

A spiritual edge

However, Sadia herself is not a foodie. Her everyday home cooking comprises light salads, soups and fish or chicken prepared using Turkish and continental recipes passed on to her by her friends around the globe.

But she enjoys cooking and feeding people. Im often told that I must reserve some recipes and not share everything, but Im a great follower of the Sufi path and frankly I think if Gods given me a skill or knowledge I must share it and bring joy to peoples lives. And the more I share the more I get, whether its food or recipes, says Sadia.

In fact the festival came along because of her desire to feed people. Says Sadia: I approached ITC and expressed my desire to showcase Delhi cuisine. They said I could start with Delhi Pavilion and do a food festival there. But what I didnt realise was the hard work it involved.

Shahi tukra was among the desserts that shone bright at the eight-day food festival at ITC in New Delhi

She was allotted a station in the kitchen and got some help with cutting and chopping but was physically cooking from 11am to 6.30pm every day only taking namaz and coffee breaks in between. The eight-day festival featured starters like keema golis, chicken pasanda and kalmi vada and desserts ranging from regular shahi tukra to off beat shakarkandi ki kheer and gajar bharta, all prepared by Sadia.

She made a menu for four days and then repeated it. It had six vegetarian dishes, so she tried out new recipes like paneer stew, paneer korma, shalgam bharta, ghotwa saag, diwani handiya, safed maash ki daal with laal pyaaz, pudina and dhania and bhuni moong dal tempered with masalas used for pulao.

Bhuni maash ki dal was among the vegetarian dishes featured at the food festival

The quantities never rattle her as Sadia has earlier manned the kitchen for food festivals with IIC and can easily cook for up to 100 people who she hosts for mehfils and during eid and bakra-eid dinners at home.

What was challenging was the number of dishes that had to be prepared in a certain time, like six vegetarian, two mutton and one chicken-based dish along with things which are usually stand-alone like shabdeg, nehari, haleem and smoked kachri keema, which was the biggest hit, she says.

Shabdeg, a dish typically cooked in Muslim households of North India, found favour with the guests at ITC

She worked with her late brothers wife and was happy to have a co-chef from the family, and considers the experience to be a very rewarding one. This, of course was a winter spread but going forward Sadia plans to don the chefs cap yet again and is hoping to do these food festivals seasonally on a long term now.

As for me, I was happy to taste the now ready alu saalan with hot chapatis off the tawa!

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From HT Brunch, January 7, 2018

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I would say the theatre is a better reflection of a people, their values and attitudes, than the cinema. For instance, make belief or escapist fantasy is more difficult on stage than on celluloid. Conversely, the immediacy of a play can be more telling than the directness of a film. A musical drama I saw in London last week is the example Im going to tell you about today.

Called Everybodys Talking About Jamie and set in the British Midlands town of Sheffield, its about a young teenage boy who wants to dress like a girl. Jamie is not a transgender and he is not necessarily gay. His dream is to be a drag queen. The play is about how its fulfilled and how he emerges a hero for the audience.

Before I tell you more, let me put this play in perspective. At the moment the hip-hop American musical Hamilton is the talk of the town. Its completely sold out and touts are said to be selling tickets in the black market for over a thousand pounds. The truth is everyones talking about Hamilton and Jamie is hardly mentioned. But thats a travesty.

Ive seen both and I wont deny Hamilton is very good. But Jamie is not just outstanding and exceptional, its unique. Ultimately, Hamilton isnt worth the kings ransom you pay to see it. Jamie deserves every penny and considerably more of the normal theatre price it costs.

Now back to why Jamie is a play Britain should be very proud of. In many, if not most, societies a boy wanting to dress as a girl would be a family tragedy and a public embarrassment. He would be consigned to the shadows, shut up behind locked doors and never spoken of. Lets be honest, thats how we would treat him in India. But not in this play which is what makes it so special.

In its working class Yorkshire setting, Jamies ambition is treated as a joyous celebration of life. Be true to yourself and what the rest of the world thinks doesnt matter, is one half of the lesson this play teaches. The other is even more important. When you are, the world will accept you for what you want to be and many will, eventually, come to respect you for it.

For two and a half hours the audience laughs and cries with Jamie and his Mum who encourages and defends him. His school chums, who support him, unlike his teacher, who cannot accept and doesnt realise shes being horribly cruel, forcefuly make the point that the young are often wiser than the elderly.

Finally, when Jamie attends the school prom in a cream dress, matching stiletto heels, a blonde wig and make up the play reaches its beautiful climax. No doubt Jamie makes a stunning girl but the real magic of the moment youre witnessing is the beauty of a fulfilled human dream and, though it defies custom and convention, its acceptance and respect by Jamies friends and neighbours. Only his Dad, an old curmudgeon, is the odd man out.

The applause when the play ended was thunderous and prolonged. It quickly turned into a standing ovation. Not surprisingly, Dad was booed.

So, if youre planning a visit to London this year beg, borrow or steal a ticket to see Jamie. Youll never see anything like it in India. In fact, Id bet you wont see anything like it again in your life.

The views expressed are personal

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Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Saturday criticised the madrasas in the state for their refusal to put up a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside their premises, asking them to give up their conservatism on the issue.

Theres a catch though. The Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Board has already brushed aside a similar directive to educational institutions for installing PMs portrait, issued after the Independence Day last year, saying such orders were applicable only on government and aided schools.

Of the total 297 madrasas in Uttarakhand, only one at Rehmaniya Road in Roorkee receives government aid.

Installing the prime ministers portrait in all government institutions and those being run on government grants has been an established practice. The madrasas should give up their conservatism on the issue, CM told reporters here.

Madrasas are also educational institutions. They should not have any objection to installing a portrait of the PM. They should view the issue from the Indian point of view, Rawat added.

His statement is being taken as an apparent reaction to the madrasas refusal to comply with the state government orders on religious grounds.Islam prohibits installation of pictures of living beings inside mosques and madarsas, Deputy Registrar of Uttarakhand Madrasa Board Haji Akhlaq Ahmad Ansari had told news agencies a day ago.

However, he had also said that the refusal to install the picture of the prime minister inside the madrsas should not be interpreted as their opposition to an individual.

It was after the Independence Day last year that the Uttarakhand government directed all state-run and aided schools to put up a portrait of the PM and to take a pledge to implement Modis vision of a new India by 2022.

Uttarakhand has a total of 297 madarsas of which only one  at Rehmaniya Road in Roorkee  received government aid  an arrangement that was put in place even before the state came into existence. After the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in the 2000, Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Board  a government institution  was formed to look after the affairs of the madrasas.

When BC Khanduri was the chief minister, he constituted the madrasa education board. But, the Congress government didnt move an inch on this issue because of which 99.99% madrasas are still not aided by the government, Madrasa Welfare Society chairman Sibte Nabi told Hindustan Times.

Incidentally, the madrasas are functioning in a pitiable condition. Over 5,300 students enrolled in these madrasas will appear for the board exam this year. The teachers at the madrasas are provided salaries from the fund received under the Centres Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPEQM). The welfare society plans to take up the matter with chief minister so that quality education can be imparted in the madarsas.

The directive is meant for offices. The madrsas dont come under the purview of the directive. Therefore, theres no question of putting up pictures of the PM. The offices too havent received any verbal or written instruction regarding the direction s|o far, Haji Akhlaq Ahmad Ansari, deputy registrar of the board, informed.

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Thousands of fliers into and out of Delhi will be affected with at least 100 flights a day being cancelled for a little over a week between January 18 and Republic Day on January 26.

Starting January 19 every year, airspace over Delhi is closed for 60-90 minutes for rehearsals for the air flypast that is a regular feature of the Republic Day parade. Previously, flights scheduled in this window used to be rescheduled, but this year, thanks to congestion at the Delhi airport, the airport operator says it will be unable to reschedule the flights by providing alternative slots.

According to people familiar with the matter, this years notice from the Airport Authority of India to the airlines (the so-called Notice to Airmen) says that the airspace over Delhi will be closed between 10.35 am and 12.15 pm, and between January 18 and January 26.

The airlines and DIAL have agreed to cancel domestic flights scheduled during this period, the people familiar with the matter said. DIAL confirmed the cancellations of the domestic flights. Approximately 15,000 passengers a day are likely to be affected by the shutdown.

On an average, Delhi airport handled 1,350 flights every day in 2017, around 150 more per day than the previous year. Officials say while the number of flight handled by the Delhi airport has been going up by 10-15% every year, and number of passengers by 20%, there has been no commensurate increase in the airspace and terminal capacity.

Rescheduling flights is not an option anymore because we have no extra slots. If we try to adjust, it will disrupt the entire days schedule. So we have decided to cancel the domestic flights that were meant to operate during the shutdown period, said an airport official on condition of anonymity.

The people familiar with the matter said it is not possible to cancel international flights because they are long-distance and many connect more than one destination, and that these airlines have been asked to either advance or push back their timings to avoid the restricted window. For domestic flights, airlines have been asked to inform the passengers about the changes. We have also told them to accommodate passengers in other flights scheduled during the day, the airport official added.

Keeping in consideration the capacity constraints and to minimize inconvenience to the passengers, Airports Authority of India-Air Navigation Services, several major airlines, and DIAL have consulted on various options and jointly agreed that the best and safest course of action is to cancel domestic flights scheduled during the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) period. International carriers have been requested to reschedule and not cancel their flights, DIAL said in an email .

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The citys two ambitious projects  the Delhi-Meerut high-speed rail corridor and Metro Phase-IV  have been stuck for over a year with the Delhi government due to financial reasons, according to sources.

Once commissioned, the projects will not only strengthen the public transport system, but will also reduce nearly 20 lakh vehicles from the road every day and as much as 19 lakh tonnes of pollutants annually.

Sources said that the files, especially of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), have been doing the rounds of various departments, but to no avail.

One reason for the delay is lack of funds, sources said. As soon as the Delhi government gives its approval, it will have to disburse a total of Rs 13,671 crore for the two projects within 3-4 months.

Its share for the 104-kilometre Metro Phase-IV project is Rs 12,597 crore out of its total cost of Rs 52,625 crore. For the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor, the Delhi government will have to give Rs 1074.2 crore of the total project cost of Rs 32,598.6 crore.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, transport minister Kailash Gahlot, however, said that the approvals were stuck because of the new tax regime. We are waiting for the GST implications on both the projects and only after that will the government be able to approve them, Gahlot said.

Even as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) claimed of having submitted the revised funding pattern under GST to the Delhi governments transport department, Gahlot said he was not aware of the same.

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC), which is implementing the RRTS, however, is yet to give the fresh funding pattern as per GST. It claimed that it was a minor issue and should not be a reason to hold up the project.

The 90-km-long RRTS project was placed before the Delhi government in December last year for approval, whereas, the Metro Phase-IV project report was first submitted on October 7, 2014.

The Uttar Pradesh government has already given its approval. Vinay Kumar Singh, managing director of NCRTC, said the company is ready to start construction as soon as it gets the Delhi governments green signal. In the recent meeting of NCR planning board, we have been assured of getting the approval at the earliest. As soon as we get it, construction work shall begin, Kumar said.

For Metro Phase-IV, the Delhi Cabinet had first approved the project with riders about its funding pattern. Later, it agreed to withdraw its conditions. But, no fresh approval has been given ever since as the Cabinet is yet to take up the matter.

Traffic decongestion

According to an internal report of NCRTC accessed by HT, 36% commuters travelling between Delhi and Meerut use cars, 32% use the sub-urban railways and 27% use two-wheelers to commute.

But, once the Delhi-Meerut RRTS is ready, the share of car users is expected to go down to 22%, and the share of two-wheelers to 15%. Almost 46% of the traffic is expected to shift to RRTS. It is expected to carry about 7 lakh passengers daily.

The Metro Phase-IV network is expected to have a daily ridership of 8.5 lakh and will expand the reach of the Metro network to 434 kilometres with its six new lines. As per the projection, by 2018, when Phase-III of Delhi Metro network will be fully operational, about 7 lakh cars will go off roads per day and the number is expected to double by 2023 when Phase-IV is completed.

But for that, we need to start construction. The cost is already increased by 5-7% and the contractors, who are part of construction of Phase-III, will started moving out now. Bringing them back will increase the cost, a DMRC official said.

Official sources said that the delay of both the projects is expected to increase the cost by Rs 1,200 crore, which is more than the share of Delhi government in these projects.
A key panel of Indias apex education reforms body is likely to recommend bringing pre-school and classes nine and 10 within the ambit of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, thereby expanding the range of free education for children across India, members of the panel said on Saturday.

Currently, the landmark law applies to children between six and 14 years of age studying in Classes 1 to 8.

The sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) will meet on January 11 to finalise its recommendation before sending the report, the officials indicated.

The CABE meets on January 15, which will be chaired by Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar. Education ministers of most states will attend the event at which the change in the RTE Act will be discussed and a decision could be taken.

A final decision will be taken in consultation with all the states. The report of the committee once it is tabled at the CABE meeting will be circulated and discussed at length, said a senior official, who asked not to be named.

If the recommendation is accepted by the government, the act will have to be amended in Parliament to accommodate the changes.

The 29-member CABE sub-committee headed by Union minister of state for HRD Satyapal Singh, who is in charge of higher education, was formed three years ago to study the feasibility of extending the law from pre-school to secondary education.

If the government approves the suggestion, it will be a key step in ensuring continuity in free school education and arresting dropouts. The dropout rate is more than 17% at the secondary level  classes nine and 10  as against 4% in elementary school in 2015-16, according to government data.

There is broad consensus among all the members to extend the RTE Act, a member of the sub-committee said.

The sub-panel was also asked to prepare a detailed estimate on the cost of providing free education from pre-school to Class 10. A change will have financial implications for the government and, so, a broader consensus is required, the official said.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had also pitched for extending the right to education to pre-schools, officials said.

The CABE meeting assumes importance as the board in the past had taken significant decisions, including discarding the contentious no-detention policy in schools.

Extension of the act has been a longstanding demand, according to Annie Namala, a member of the National Advisory Council for implementation of the act in 2010.

Class 10 is considered the bare minimum these days. Studying till Class 8 does not ensure a better future, said Namala, who is now the executive director with the Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion.

But several educationists feel the move will not help improve the quality of education, especially in government schools. This is just populism, said Janaki Rajan of Jamia Millia Islamia.

(With inputs from A Mariyam Alavi)

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Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Paul Haggis is now accused of sexual abuse by four women, according to an amended civil suit filed on Friday in New York.

Haggis, who wrote and produced Crash, and penned the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby, is also known for his high-profile split almost a decade ago from the Church of Scientology.

The allegations against him are the latest in a torrent of accusations made against powerful men that began with the fall of film mogul Harvey Weinstein in October, over numerous accusations including rape.

Three women alleging to be victims of Haggiss abuse are referred to in the lawsuit amended Friday and initially filed on December 15 at a New York court by a film publicist, Haleigh Breest.

A December 2017 civil lawsuit charging the Oscar-winning filmmaker with rape has prompted three other women to come forward with their own accusations, including a publicist who says he forced her to perform oral sex, then raped her. Haggis has denied the allegations in the lawsuit, and when asked about the new accusations, his lawyer said, "He didn't rape anybody." (AP)

She accused Haggis of abusing and raping her in January 2013 when she was 26.

On the same day Haggis, 64, filed his own action against Breest, denying the accusation and accusing her of seeking to extract many millions of dollars from him.

Breests lawsuit says that since she filed her claim three other women have accused Paul Haggis of rape and sexual abuse.

Those three are identified only as Jane Doe one, two and three.

The first woman, a publicist who worked with Haggis on a television program, alleged that in 1996 he forcefully kissed her before making her perform oral sex and then raping her.

Another woman, who wanted to propose an idea for a show, alleged that she had to flee from his office in 2008 when he kissed her by force.

The third woman, whom Haggis met at a film festival, said she was abused in 2015 when he tried to forcefully kiss her.

According to the law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, who are acting for the plaintiff and passed the allegations to AFP, the claims show that Haggis is a serial predator who has preyed upon women for many years.

A lawyer for the film-maker, Christine Lepera, did not immediately comment when reached by AFP but in a statement to the Deadline.com website said he denies these anonymous claims in whole.

She said that Haggis views the fact that these reports appear to be spearheaded from the law-firm representing Ms Breest, as a further tactic to try to harm him and continue their effort to obtain money.

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Eleven people, including a two-year-old child and an engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), were killed as an avalanche hit north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Friday evening, officials said on Saturday.

In one incident the avalanche swept away twelve people -- including seven in a passenger vehicle -- while at another the BRO official MP Singh was hit while on duty on Friday evening, a senior police officer said. Both the incidents occurred near the Sadhna Top area of the district.

The search operation concluded Saturday evening and we have recovered ten bodies. A little girl, around two-year-old girl, is among the dead, SHO police station Kralpora, Waseem Ahmad, said.

Of those affected by the avalanche in the area, two people were saved. Led by the police and the army, locals also helped in the massive search operation in the snow-lined hilly terrain, officials said.

A passenger was pulled out of the snow in the early hours of Saturday morning, while a child was rescued soon after the accident last evening. The driver of a passenger vehicle affected by the avalanche had escaped unhurt, Kupwara deputy commissioner Khalid Jahangir told Hindustan Times.

Ghulam Nabi Bhat (45) and the seven-year-old rescued child are both undergoing treatment and their condition is said to be stable, officials added.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed grief and sorrow over the deaths and directed the Kupwara district administration to ensure all possible medical assistance to the injured in the accident.

The state government announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed and a compensation of Rs 12,600 each to two other people who were injured condition in the accident, an official spokesperson said.

Minister for Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation Reconstruction and Floriculture Javaid Mustafa Mir announced the compensation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for the victims families.

Since December 21, Kashmir has been experiencing the Chilai Kalan -- the 40-day harshest period of winter in the region marked by frequent snowfall. On Friday, there was snowfall in the upper reaches while the entire valley shivered under sub-zero temperatures.

On Saturday, Srinagar recorded a minimum of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius while the ski resort of Gulmarg shivered at minus 9.4 degrees. Leh recorded a low of 16.6 degrees.

(With PTI inputs)

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah arrived in Assam on Saturday, enroute to Meghalaya, and visited the ancient Kamakhya temple situated on the Nilachal Hill in Guwahati.

Shah is on a two-day visit to northeast and is scheduled to address a public rally at Tikrikilla in the Garo Hills region in Meghalaya on Saturday. He is all set to woo voters in the Garo Hills belt in the Congress-ruled state.

Shah will spend the night in Shillong and leave for Tripura on Sunday morning. His visit assumes significance considering the fact that Meghalaya and Tripura are going to polls in February this year.

Senior BJP leaders like Ram Madhav, Mahendra Singh also accompanied Shah while Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also likely to accompany Shah during his visit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Meghalaya in December last year and addressed a public rally in Shillong to kick start the poll campaign.
An intense cold wave in Uttarakhand has killed six people in Haridwar district in the past one week. Four people have died in Haridwar town, and two in Roorkee.

Two unidentified persons died in Haridwar on Friday  one at a night shelter, the other in a hospital. Their last rites were performed by Sewa Samiti, a religious and social organization in the service of the poor.

With the minimum temperature plunging to seven degrees Celsius and fog prevailing till noon, its a nightmare for those living on streets and open slums.

District magistrate Deepak Rawat has ordered closure of all schools and anganbadi centers till January 15 because of the cold wave.

Assistant town commissioner Sanjay Kumar told HT that Chidiyapur depot of Forest Corporation has been asked to provide additional supply of wood for bonfires to keep the underprivileged people warm.

About 80 public points in the city woods for bonfire lighting has been provided by the Municipal Corporation since past fortnight, Haridwar mayor Manoj Garg told HT.

From railway station, bus stand, Har-Ki-Pauri, Ranipur, Jwalapur, shrines, temples, intersections, and other public places we have made arrangements for bonfire so that poor people can keep themselves warm, Garg said.

But social activist JP Baduni cites more than a dozen points like Chandighat, Dudhadhari square, Bharat Mata Mandir, Sukhi Nadi, Tibdi stretch, Upper Road, Devpura Road, Rishikul, Arya Nagar stretch and parts of sub-urban Jwalapur where no such arrangements has been provided by the civic corporation.

Sewa Samiti is also providing free of cost wood and twigs for lighting fire at public places like Har-Ki-Pauri Ganga ghats, vegetable market, post office barrier and upper road.

Additional district magistrate Lalit Narain Mishra distributed more than 100 blankets to poor and needy people in past two days.

Ten long distance trains have been cancelled in past two days due to heavy fog. The cold and fog has also led to led to fewer pilgrims at Ganga ghats.

According to a Met department forecast, partly cloudy and foggy condition will continue for the next few days.Rain is unlikely before January 15.Snowfall is forecast in the upper reaches of Garhwal division while the plains will face foggy and chilly weather till January 10.

Teerth purohit Pandit Avikshit Raman said the cold is likely to lessen after January 13.

From January 14 as per Hindu calendar Hemant Ritu phase will pave way for Shishir Ritu and Makar Sakranti festive baths will be observed followed by Mauni Amawasya. The suns intensity will gradually increase and the cold will then lessen, Pandit Raman said.
Asserting that communal harmony in the country was intact, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday asked state police and paramilitary forces to effectively combat communal incidents that have marginally increased in India.

Singh was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day conference at the BSF academy in Tekanpur, Madhya Pradesh. PM Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will also take part in the conference that will be attended by officers of director general of police (DGP) and inspector general of police (IGP) ranks from all states and central police organisations.

Singh spoke about the law and order situation in the country with special focus on Kashmir, northeastern states, and Left-wing extremism.

He mentioned that while allover communal harmony in the country was intact, there was a marginal rise in communal incidents. The reasons for these are varied such as religious processions and ceremonies, desecrating religious places, illegal construction, slaughter of cows and their illegal trade and land disputes.

He asked police forces to deal with such incidents effectively and mentioned that the government had recently allocated Rs25,000 crore for modernisation of police forces so that such incidents are effectively combated, a senior ministry official said.

Other government officials said Singh spoke about the prevailing situation in Kashmir and expressed satisfaction over counter-insurgency operations. He also appreciated the efforts made by the government by initiating a peace dialogue.

The home minister awarded 10 police stations for their performance.

While the top three rank holders were RS Puram police station (Coimbatore City), Panjagutta (Hyderabad) and Gudamba (Lucknow), Delhis Kirti Nagar station ranked tenth.

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A Ranchi court on Saturday sentenced former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined him Rs 10 lakh in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from a government treasury 21 years ago.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the quantum of punishment to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Prasad and 15 more convicts in the case through video conference, after the court convicted them on December 23 last year. Prasad is lodged in Ranchis Birsa Munda Central Jail since his conviction.

The jail terms for the convicts range from three-and-a-half years to seven years, and fines between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh. The fraud was part of the fodder scam that came to light in 1996, and a CBI probe allegedly found that more than Rs 900 crore had been siphoned off from several local treasuries by showing spends for fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle.

Prasad didnt speak throughout the sentencing, but a tweet from his Twitter handle targeted the BJP.

Rather than practising BJPs Simple Rule - Follow us or We will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality, read the post shortly after the verdict.

Prasads younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, said in Patna that the special CBI courts verdict will be challenged in the Jharkhand high court. He also accused the BJP and chief minister Nitish Kumar of conspiring against his father, saying his mass appeal and courage to take on communal forces have left his detractors insecure.

Lalu is not the name of a person but of an ideology. We, his followers, will not be cowed, said the 28-year-old former Bihar deputy chief minister.

A sentence exceeding three years means 69-year-old Prasad, who had undergone a heart surgery in 2014 and is under strict dietary restrictions, cannot immediately apply for bail in the lower court and must wait until the high court hears his petition.

We will move an appeal-cum-bail petition before the high court, his lawyer Prabhat Kumar said.

The special CBI court acquitted six of 22 accused in the case, including Jagannath Mishra, another former chief minister.

The BJP praised the verdict. Conviction is conviction. Either 3.5 yrs or 7 yrs. Our charges against Lalu has been vindicated by Court (sic), tweeted Bihars deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

The Congress said the ruling will not affect the alliance with Prasads RJD. The special courts judgement to convict and sentence Lalu Prasad will not have impact on forces fighting for secularism and social justice. Congress-RJD alliance will continue in Bihar, Bihar Pradesh Congress committees acting president Kaukab Qadri said.

Prasad was sentenced for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, and other sections under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was also given a jail term of 3.5 years in the case under the anti-corruption law. The sentences will run concurrently.

This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been convicted. He was convicted in September 2013 in a case of swindling Rs 37.70 crore from Chaibasa treasury and was given a sentence of five years. The ruling led to his disqualification from Parliament and a ban on contesting elections. He was given bail by the Supreme Court in December 2013.

Prasad is named in three more cases  illegal withdrawal of Rs 33.61 crore from Chaibasa treasury, Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda treasury  in the fodder scam.

On Thursday, judge Singh said he had received several phone calls from well-wishers of the RJD chief. Prasad had also moved a petition on Friday for a lenient sentence, citing his health and jail conditions.

On Saturday, judge Singh gave the maximum punishment of seven years in jail to seven convicts, including former Janata Dal (United) parliamentarian Jagdish Sharma.

When one of the convicts, bureaucrat Subir Kumar Bhattacharya, requested for a leniency citing his ailing wife, the judge suggested he could be shifted to an open jail.

You people have a vast experience of cattle rearing. You would enjoy open jail with your wife where you can feed the cattle with fodder. The government has invested huge money to construct these open jails, take benefit of this, he said. Bhattacharya withdrew his request after the judges response.

(with inputs from Anirban Guha Roy and PTI in Patna)

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The mood at former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devis residence oscillated between hope and despair, as the CBI special court in Ranchi prepared to announce the quantum of punishment for incarcerated RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday afternoon.

A ripple of excitement spread through the party leaders, including Prasads son and leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his mother Rabri Devi, when a media person broke the news in the middle of partys press conference that their leader had been given a three-year jail term.

Smiles appeared on the faces of those present, with some even standing up to applaud the verdict, terming it a victory of the people. Unable to contain his excitement, Tejashwi said, this would mean he (Lalu) will be able to seek bail from the lower court.

Rabri Devi, sitting next to Tejashwi, engaged in an animated discussion with former Union minister Kanti Singh, a broad smile covering her face. Moments later, she called up Prasads counsel in Ranchi for details of the special courts proceedings.

However, the excitement turned out to be short-lived. A sense of despondency descended on the gathering, as Sanjay Yadav, a close confidant of Tejashwi, said the jail term was of three and half years along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

Barely able to deal with the swing in mood, Tejashwi said appropriate steps would be taken after analysing the sentence. The high court will be approached for bail, he said, even as the young scion continued briefing the media.

Unaware about technical details of the sentence, party workers, however, viewed it as a relief for their leader and started shouting slogans in favour of Prasad.

He (Lalu) will soon be with us, as he has been awarded only three year jail. The jail term will be of three years and six months only if he does not furnish the fine of Rs 10 lakh, explained former minister Alok Mehta to the jubilant party workers, who started raising slogans like, Jail ka tala tutega, Lalu Yadav chhutega.

A huge poster of Prasad, portraying him as an avatar of Lord Krishna, was the centre of attraction for party workers. There is striking similarity between Lord Krishna and Lalu Prasad. Both have spent parts of their lives in jail and both have fought against demons, said Krishna Rai of Sota village in Madhupura.

Apparently enthused by the hope that Prasad would soon be with them, some party workers were seen discussing their plans to shake up Bihar and Jharkhand, if their leader was handed out an unreasonable quantum of punishment.

People of Bihar are desperate to teach the JD(U) and BJP a lesson in the coming polls for their opportunistic politics, said a worker, urging the media not to record their discussions. They would fan out into the interiors of Bihar and Jharkhand to take Prasads message to one and all, the supporters avowed.

Minutes after the CBI court pronounced jail term for him, Prasad tweeted, Rather than practising BJPs Simple Rule  Follow us or We Will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social Justice, harmony and equality.

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A parliamentary panel has asked the government to establish an institutionalised mechanism for better security coordination, particularly along the Pakistan border.

In its latest report to Parliament, the standing committee on external affairs pitched for an institutionalised mechanism for coordination in maritime security to counter sea borne threats.

It also wants a new mechanism between the different wings of the military.

In order to bolster comprehensive security of our border with all neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan, the government should establish a joint coordination mechanism of all the three services  the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and the security forces guarding the borders, said the report.

The panel headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wants the Centre to take tangible steps to strengthen and modernise border security.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is an MP from Amethi, is also a member of the committee.

India has suffered a number of terror attacks in the recent past, including the one on a BSF camp in Pulwama and the attack on an airbase in Pathankot.

While experts have argued in favour of resumption of dialogue at the top level, they have also called for strengthening the security mechanism.

While underlining the need for modern technological means, including sophisticated electronic sensors and powerful satellites, the panel expressed its concern over poor road conditions in border areas.

It asked the government to ensure proper and all-weather connectivity roads along the border in order to strengthen border security.

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Dalit rights activist and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid were not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune, said Ramdas Athawale, Union minister of state for social justice and president of Republican Party of India (A).

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Athawale said Mevani may have made provocative statements but that was not the actual reason for the unrest. Tension started after a meeting held by the Marathas at midnight on January 31, he alleged.

Athawale also met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning and demanded action against those responsible for the violence in which a 28-year-old man died and also an end to harassment of Dalit youth by the police. The Pune police have booked Mevani and Khalid for allegedly making inflammatory statements at the Elgar Parishad event in Punes Shaniwarwada on December 31. The case was registered after a complaint by a 22-year-old student.

He (Mewani) may have said something provocative but is not responsible for the unrest. Tension between the two communities erupted after a banner  put up by a Dalit youth explaining the history of Govind Mahar, a Dalit farmer who cremated Sambhaji Maharajs body against the order of a Mughal emperor was torn down, Athawale said.

The tension was defused after several leaders, including me, intervened. But a meeting by the Marathas took place around midnight on January 31, and the very next day, Dalits, who had come to mark the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, were attacked and vehicles burnt, he added. When asked about right-wing leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, prime accused for the violence, he said Fadnavis had assured action against the guilty be it Bhide or Ekbote.

Athawale, however, advised Mevani to exercise restraint in his statements. Dont provoke youth, instead, start making efforts for unity and social harmony, the RPI chief said. He also announced a social reconciliation conference in Pune on January 13. He said leaders from all communities will be invited to restore peace. He defended PM Narendra Modi for his silence on the Bhima-Koregaon violence, saying it was not necessary for him to react on every incident. Mevani had taunted Modi for his silence on the incident. Meanwhile, the Congress demanded resignation of Fadnavis over the clashes. Blaming the BJP-led state government, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan on Saturday said the violence erupted and snowballed because of the failure of the state government.
Manual scavenging, an abominable practice that claims several lives across the country every year, could soon be a thing of the past with a group of young engineers from Kerala developing a robot to do the sewage cleaning job.

The Kerala Water Authority that manages the sewage department in the state has already placed orders for 50 robots, christened as Bandicoot.

To market their invention, the young engineers have started a startup called Genrobotics. After receiving patent for the robot from India, the company has now applied for the world patent, applicable in 150 countries.

Manual scavenging is a caste-based occupation mainly involving cleaning septic tanks, sewers and gutters.

Despite legal bans, the dehumanising practice continues in the country. According to one estimate more than 1200 people died from manual scavenging related activities between 2014 and 2016 in the country.

The start-up claims the Bandicoot is the tech solution to the social malaise. Genrobotics says it will go global only after fixing the countrys nagging problem.

Apart from sewer lines the robots can also be pressed into service for other under-water activities.

Death of three sewage workers on the outskirts of Bangalure two years ago prompted the young techies to think something out of the box to tackle the problem, which is often being called Indias shame, said Vimal Govind, the 24-year-old CEO of Genrobotics. Govind is a mechanical engineer.

I worked more than one year in the TCS to earn some money to fund the stage one of the project. We all nine classmates of MES Engineering College in Kuttipuram came around quickly and developed the first prototype in six months, added Rashid K, a software engineer.

Initially they struggled to find fund for the project, but now they say money is pouring in from different sources.

Manufacturing cost of the machine is somewhere between Rs 3lakh and Rs 5 lakh, Rashid said. Their machine weighs 80kg but the main operating part that goes into the hole weighs only 30 kg.

Once installed atop a clogged sewage line, a wire carrying camera goes inside the hole and beams pictures of the problem on the screen atop.

After gauging the problem, the robot dismantles itself from the main machine and goes into the hole taking tools such as a shovel or a jet pipe, depending on the magnitude of the problem, and cleans the system.

Young scientists claim a robot can manage three workers three-hour schedule in 30 minutes.

To operate the machine, the Genrobotics wants to engage manual scavengers so that they dont become jobless.

Even a small boy can operate our system. We will train these workers. It is their product. We are planning to move a proposal under the Prime Ministers flagship Swachh Bharat scheme to train them, said Govind, who recently visited Taiwan for a presentation.

Our guiding spirit is our former President A P J Abdul Kalam. He always used to say dream, dream. The young India is committed to fulfil his dream of becoming a fully developed nation sans hunger and strife, said Jaleesh, another member of the team.

He said talks are on to produce these machines commercially.

Keralas IT department, which is the first in the country to formulate a start-up policy is upbeat over the achievement of the youngsters.

The noble product shows social commitment of these youngsters. Many firms including the BPCL promised help to take their innovation to the next stage, said state IT Secretary M Sivasankar.

In an international conference conducted recently by the American Society of Research, out of 13 papers submitted, a paper on Bandicoot was selected as the best.

The paper was published in the International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research.

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In 1977, posters of a jailed George Fernandes, post emergency, made such an impact, that he won the Muzaffarpur parliamentary seat in absentia by a huge margin to become the union minister for industries in the subsequent Janata Party government.

Rashtriya Janata Dal sympathisers and workers believe, the party would be strengthened by the incarceration of their leader Lalu Prasad, and their leader would emerge from the dumps to rule India a la George.

The confidence may be infectious to the cadres, but its difficult to predict yet the impact of Lalus fresh incarceration on the party or his political career. For, there are a series of three more cases lined up after the verdict in Dumka treasury fodder scam worth Rs 90 crore is done and dusted. The next hearing in the fodder scam pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal from Deoghar treasury, (Jharkhand), could come up in the CBI special court in Patna as early as January 10. Even that would not be the end of it all.

The RJD had risen like a colossus, decimating the Congress in 1990 and reached its apogee in 1995, making a clean sweep of the Assembly elections winning over 167 out of the then 324 seats in combined Bihar-Jharkhand. The huge win, was cemented against the backdrop of a huge social change, sparked off by his rise-the son of a charvaha-as Lalu himself described it- and upturning the upper caste hegemony in governance, services and politics itself.

It was a plebeian government, led by the poor with the strength of 15% of the Yadavs as the vanguard and Muslims at its core. The MY combination, weighing in with 28% votes assured that Yadav would be unchallenged for some time. The combination put an end to communal riots too, as had happened in Bhagalpur, just before Lalus rise, with over a 1000 losing their lives, mainly at the hands of Lalus castemen.

Lalus rise, as a commoners CM who had tamed the upper caste made for signature politics and a churning of the caste cauldron, which dominated thereafter. However, what added to the hype was his mannerism--sometimes bordering on the comical and a careful cultivation of a language tempered in local dialects--in which all followers saw themselves in power.

His rise spawned many fables-- invented, added and propelled by people themselves. In his shabby treatment of bureaucrats and high police officers, they saw a revenge being exacted from those in power and created a new bond.

However, Lalus catapulting to national fame rode the singular act of stopping BJP leader LK Advanis rath yatra to Ayodhya in 1998 at Samastipur, resulting in latters incarceration. The action propelled him as the frontline secular leader whom Muslims could trust. That trust among Muslims for RJD was to be fashioned into his political spearhead, resulting in spectacular wins.

Thereafter, it has been downhill, especially after the fodder scam was reported in 1996 in Chaibasa treasury, and by 1997, had started sullying his carefully built image. First jailed in 2001 and seven times since then, including the one on Saturday, Lalus downhill march has since riveted all, except the brief party revival in 2014, together with Nitish Kumar.

The man who spawned films, Diwali crackers, merchandise across the board after his name, however, has larger worries today.

As in 1995 and 2005, when tallest Janata Dal leaders, including Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes, left him forcing him to float the RJD, there is the fear, that a party , built with many but purged of the best to be turned into a family asset, could disintegrate sooner.

But then, RJD stalwarts like Jagtanand and Raghuvansh Narain Singh believe, it cannot die.

Laluji may be within jail, but his counsel will always prevail. His following can only increase. Party spokesman, Manoj Jha, said, We have just been strengthened.

The problem is that while stalwarts like Singh are not the happiest at the mention of Lalus younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav leading the side in his fathers absence, the majority of the 81 party legislators, were always dependant on Lalu waves to win their constituencies. Can Tejashwi emerge as the winnable mascot whom they can trust. To that question there is a silence.

The family too is a bunch of ambitious and fiery individuals with eldest daughter Misa Yadav also gunning for the top post, but for the ED cases now piled up against her for money laundering charges, elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, sidelined by the suave younger brother, is also in as much hurry to establish himself.

The cat among the pigeons was sprung last week by JD(U)s man of few words, RCP Singh, who said The situation is such, that many RJD leaders are in touch with us, though some do not subscribe to our party philosophy. We cannot accommodate them all. The RJD stoutly denies such a possibility.

The problems for Lalu are many, though he still has a chance to mitigate the sentence in higher courts, without his physical presence, there is every possibility that his longer absence, could spark an exodus.

Lalu in jail is an asset, if the assembly polls are to happen this year; 2019 could be a different ball game, said a top RJD leader, not willing to be quoted.

The main worry within the family is, the boys are far from settled in politics, and how many of the RJD first family could manage to stay out of similar trouble, he added.

The party is being cornered politically, for the ruling party at the Centre knows that only Lalu Prasad can tame its storm. He was emerging as the leader of a combined national opposition. Crowding him with cases is a tactic, which will ultimately fail, Tejashwi told his partymen on Saturday, even as his father was handed down a sentence of 3.5 years in Ranchi.

JD(U) leader KC Tyagi believes, the latest jail term, closes the RJD chapter. Its difficult for it to emerge out of this abyss, he said.

But betting against Lalu, a man known to rebound into national contention every time he looked to be down and out, can still be a political miscalculation.

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Myanmar sought time to review the implementation of connectivity arrangements in the region before proceeding with a motor vehicle agreement to operationalise the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) highway that New Delhi wants to speed up, officials familiar with the developments said.

Ahead of the India-Asean Commemorative summit later this month, New Delhi is keen on making progress in the 1,360km IMT highway that could eventually extend up to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as a showpiece connectivity project of the region.

The way Myanmar figures in Chinas One Belt, One Road project has lent a sense of urgency to the project, the idea for which was first floated in 2003. It missed the 2015 deadline and may now miss the 2020 one, too.

The three countries (India, Myanmar and Thailand) are negotiating a motor vehicle agreement. An inter-ministerial meeting reviewed the progress of the project last month. Myanmar informed India it would want to study and do a thorough review of the connectivity arrangements it has with other countries and in the region before proceeding with the agreement, an official said on the condition of anonymity, adding that it was an understandable position.

Another official said, Eventually, as it happens in some cases, we could also explore the possibility of whether we need a bilateral or a trilateral motor vehicle agreement.

The development comes in the background of several sub-regional connectivity projects  such as the BBIN (Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal)  that were stalled in the region. BBIN was touted as an alternative after Pakistan stalled a motor vehicle agreement among Saarc countries.

The government, meanwhile, has decided to speed up the IMT. A joint venture between Punj Lloyd and Varaha has been given the contract to upgrade a 120.74km road on the Kalewa-Yargi section in Myanmar.

Some experts believe Indias slow pace in completing such projects inspires little confidence among other countries. We have been lax. The government is expediting many projects now. Early or timely completion of projects will inspire confidence, said professor Sachin Chaturvedi, director general at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based think tank.
The Indian economy was forecast to slow down; the United States read the riot act to Pakistan over fighting terrorism, and Lalu Prasad pleaded before a court for leniency. These were the top stories on Thursday. Here is more about them.

Indias GDP growth seen decelerating

The economy is expected to decelerate to 6.5% in 2017-18 from 7.1% in the previous year, marred by demonetisation and hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The Central Statistics Office data showed that the agriculture sector is expected to grow at 2.1% in FY18, slower than 4.9% in the previous year, while manufacturing is likely to grow at 4.6%, compared with 7.9% a year ago.

US suspends security assistance to Pakistan

The United States has said it was suspending at least $1.15 billion in security assistance to Pakistan until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups. The US State Department said the decision reflected the Trump administrations frustration that Pakistan has not done more against the two groups, which have long used sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks in neighboring Afghanistan that have killed US, Afghan and other forces.

Lalu Prasad pleads before Ranchi court

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad asked a court in Ranchi to be lenient when it sentences him in a corruption case. I have no role in this scam directly; consider minimum punishment keeping in view my age and health grounds, Lalu said. He has been convicted in a case relating to the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

US lawmakers oppose proposed change to H-1B visa rules

Influential US lawmakers and advocacy groups have criticised the Trump administrations proposal to change rules for H-1B visa which is used by highly skilled workers--mostly Indians--to work in the country. The proposal seeks to end the provision of granting extensions to H-1B visa holders whose applications for permanent residency (Green Card) has been accepted. It could result in 500,000-750,000 Indian Americans being deported.

Jignesh Mevani asks Modi to speak up on violence against Dalits

Jignesh Mevani, Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader, has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged silence on caste violence and accused his government of harassing him. Why arent Dalits safe in this country? Why is the monster of caste still alive when we are trying to find out if there is water on Mars, he said. The Mumbai Police have filed a case against Mevani and student leader Umar Khalid for allegedly provoking people about Dalit protests in Maharashtra this week.

Mumbai restaurant where 14 died was a fire-trap: Police

Mumbai rooftop restaurant 1Above had a cramped exit and its staff didnt help customers when a fire broke out on December 29, police said after a preliminary investigation. Fourteen people died in the fire, all of them suffocating when the covered terrace of the restaurant filled up with smoke.

Professor arrested for murdering ailing mother in Gujarat

A pharmacy college professor has been arrested in Rajkot, Gujarat, for allegedly killing his 64-year-old mother by pushing her off a terrace in September last year, police said. Sandip Nathwani, 36, was allegedly fed up with his mothers illness.

US shivers under brutal cold spell

A giant winter bomb cyclone walloped the US East Coast on Thursday with heavy snow and freezing cold that made for treacherous travel conditions and bone-chilling misery. The brutal cold spell has killed more than a dozen people in the United States.
In the wake of caste violence in Maharashtras Bhima Koregaon, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has asked its affiliates, including the BJP, to scotch the growing differences between communities.

Caste fault lines, the Sangh has cautioned, will not bode well for future politics of the country.

The incidents of caste violence were discussed at a meeting of the RSS and its affiliates in Ujjain on Friday. The Sangh, which is the ideological mentor of the BJP, is concerned by the escalating friction between Hindu caste groups.

People familiar with the meeting told HT that the RSS has been pushing for improving ties between caste groups to ensure there is no division in the Hindu vote bank.

It is concerned that the growing hostility of Dalits towards the BJP will not augur well for the party that is aiming to repeat its 2014 performance in the next polls. Sangh also rebuffed the allegations made against it by the Congress and BSP, accusing them of inciting violence.

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Boundary wall of the Uttar Pradesh Haj Committees office got back its original cream colour on Friday, within 24 hours of the structure being painted in saffron which evoked criticism.

The committee blamed the contractor for the blooper and said action is being taken against him.

Chief executive officer and secretary of the committee RP Singh told HT on Saturday: We had asked the contractor to paint the building matching the colour of the nearby structures.

While the two main buildings near the Haj office -- the Vidhan Bhawan and Lok Bhawan (chief ministers secretariat) are stone structured, the other important building in the vicinity-- the BJP state headquarterswears the same dark and light shades of saffron that the contractor applied on the Haj offices boundary wall.

Singh said the wall is now repainted in cream.

He also issued a press note on Saturday, which says that the contractor was negligent in painting the wall in a bit darker shade than what was approved.

Immediate cognisance of the negligence done by the contractor in colouring and the building was taken and corrective measure as well as action against him (the contractor) was initiated, the press note said.

The office facilitates annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. The committee also manages the UP Haj House that is located near the Lucknow airport on Kanpur road.

On Friday the UP Haj minister Mohsin Raza, who often wears a saffron coloured waistcoat, had defended the new colour.

There is no need for any controversy over such things. Saffron is a bright and energetic colour and it has rendered the building more beautiful. The opposition has no big issues against us, so they raise inconsequential matters.

Critics of the states ruling BJP, however, claimed the move aimed at imposing the party colour on other. The BJP is often associated with the saffron, which is regarded as the holiest colour in Hinduism.

State chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a monk-turned politician, is always clad in saffron.

In September last year, the state government painted its secretariat annexe building (Shastri Bhawan) in shades of saffron and then launched a rural bus service with saffron coloured buses.

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Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday forwarded to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan a privilege motion against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allegedly mocking finance minister Arun Jaitley.

BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav had on December 28 submitted a privilege notice under Rule 187, alleging that Gandhi had intentionally, maliciously and disrespectfully twisted the name of Leader of the House and Arun Jaitley in a tweet.

In the tweet, Gandhi had questioned Jaitleys claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not question his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singhs commitment to the nation when he accused him of conspiring with Pakistan to affect the outcome of the Gujarat elections. Gandhi had spelt the finance ministers surname differently while thanking him for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means.

Dear Mr Jaitlie  thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies, Gandhi said, while putting out a video of the prime ministers speech against his predecessor and Jaitleys remarks made in Rajya Sabha.

At a rally in Palanpur earlier this month, Modi had triggered a controversy by asking Singh and former vice-president Hamid Ansari to reveal the purpose behind their secret meeting with Pakistan diplomats at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyars house during the assembly elections in Gujarat.

Naidu had rebuked Congress for demanding an apology from Modi for his controversial remark. Nobody is going to give apology. Nothing happened in the House. The statement was not made here, Naidu had said.

Your notice is under my consideration. I have already told you, I will be taking action immediately, but its not within the purview of Rajya Sabha, finally it has to go to Lok Sabha. I will take necessary decision at the earliest, Naidu told Yadav during the winter session of Parliament.

In 2016, the Congress president was sent a show-cause notice by a parliamentary ethics committee over allegations made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy that Rahul was a British citizen.

(With agency inputs)
Hundreds of people gathered at the Pipliyapala crematorium in Indore city on Saturday morning and bid a tearful adieu to the four DPS students who died in a bus-truck collision on Friday.

As a mark of respect, all the CBSE schools of Indore remained closed and the main markets too did not open for the first half of the day.

The tragedy-struck city also hailed the parents of three students who donated their childrens organs.

Shruti Ludhyanvi of class 1, Harmit Kaur of class 3, Swastik Pandya of class 6 and Kruti Agrawal of class 8 and bus driver Rahul Yadav (35) were killed when the school bus rammed into a truck at the Bicholi Hapsi bridge on Indore bypass road.

The parents of Swastik, Shruti and Kruti have donated their cornea and skin, according to officials of Indore Society for Organ Donation.

The bus driver, Rahul Yadav (35), who also died in the accident was cremated at his village in Kanadia.

#MadhyaPradesh: 5 school children and bus driver killed after a school bus collided with a truck on Indore's Kanadia Road. pic.twitter.com/Q7k8WQ4GoX  ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2018

There were 16 students in the bus at the time of the accident. The cleaner of the bus, Balram alias Ballu (30) succumbed to his injuries this afternoon. The condition of two other students who are on ventilator remains critical.

Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident, and according to preliminary reports, the speed governor of the bus had been tampered with.

It is mandatory for all school buses to have speed governors to avoid over-speeding.

District collector Nishant Warwade said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

The responsibility of schools in such cases would be fixed to ensure childrens safety in the future. The government has issued guidelines for schools after a school bus accident in Bhopal. We will fix the responsibility on schools to ensure the safety of children, Warwade said.

State home minister Bhupendra Singh had directed that report on the cause behind the accident be submitted within 24 hours.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bhupendra Singh ordered an immediate inquiry into the matter.

Chouhan expressed condolences on Twitter saying, I pray to God for the peace of the innocent children who lost their lives in the road accident in Indore and strength to their families.

(With ANI inputs)
The inquiry report on Fridays accident involving a Delhi Public School (DPS) bus and a truck on Indore bypass has held the school management accountable.

Six people including four school students were killed.

A letter issued by the state home minister to the DIG Indore directing him to register an FIR against the school management and the company that had fitted the speed governor in the bus, and also arrest the accused.

The letter said the probe has found that the driver had told the school management about a technical problem in the bus, but the latter did nothing, thereby showing gross negligence.

Read | Indore bids tearful adieu to DPS students killed in bus accident; 3 donate organs

The probe report also said that at the time of the accident, the bus was travelling at a speed of 80km per hour, way above the limit, which means that the speed governor was not working.

The letter also recommended that a high level technical agency should be appointed to probe the fitness of the bus.

The bus, which was 14 years old, had received a fitness certificate for a year from the Indore RTO just a month ago. The probe had been ordered by the home minister and the DIG Indore had been directed to see that it was submitted within 24 hours.
Bharatpur:

Residents of a village, adopted by the governor under the smart village initiative, came down on a meeting held by officials, saying the promised benefits have not reached them.

The Rajasthan government came up with the smart village initiative in 2016 on the lines of the Centres smart cities mission, promising good internal road connectivity, public health care, computers in schools, and so on.

Barso village under Sewar panchayat samiti in Bharatpur district was adopted under the initiative, and Maharaja Surajmal Brij University was given the onus of overseeing the progress. It was promised that central and state government schemes will be implemented in the village.

Nearly one and a half years after the adoption, district officials reached the village for the first time to prepare a progress report at a co-ordination committee meeting held on Saturday.

A state-level celebration of the 69th Republic Day will be held at Lohagarh stadium in Bharatpur, and governor Kalyan Singh will stay here for two days. The officials went to Barso, anticipating that the governor might visit the village, located on Jaipur-Agra highway and nearly 5km away from the district headquarters.

Additional district magistrate OP Jain held the committee meeting at the government Adarsh middle school in Barso. Additional superintendent of police (rural) Dharmendra Singh, Bharatpur sub-divisional magistrate Pushkar Mittal and officials from all departments participated in the meeting.

A meeting was held to ensure development at the smart village. We have directed officials to provide all facilities to the village, said OP Jain.

The villagers have a different take. Lakhmi Chand, a villager, said, After the village was adopted, officials held a meeting for the first time over development.

The Adarsh middle school has no furniture for students. The RO plant has been closed for the last three months and students bring water from their houses, the villagers said.

With 441 households, the village under Bachhamadi panchayat has 2034 residents; it records 79.94% literacy rate.

We do not get water supply; we have been using saline groundwater for the past five years, said Tej Singh, a villager. Sher Singh said, Villagers are forced to buy water with Rs 300 for a tanker. Each household needs to pay for three water tankers in a month. Hari Singh said, The district administration has constructed an overhead water tank to supply Chambal water from Mallah, but water does not come.

All 33 gram panchayats under Sewar panchayat samiti have been declared open defecation free, but villagers alleged that half of the households have not got payments for toilets under the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.

Hari Singh said, Nearly 200 households have been waiting for payments for toilets constructed under SBM. Tej Singh said, Villagers go to agriculture fields for open defecation as there is no enough water to use toilets.

Around 400 saplings were planted on pasture land and a worker was deployed to take care of the plants. Villagers said the plants were not to be seen as the land was illegally possessed to grow mustard crops.

Villagers alleged that they get power for only five to six hours a day. Farmers are worried as they find it difficult to irrigate rabi crops due to power cuts.

Villagers demand construction of a boundary wall around a crematorium built by Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation at Rs 2.31 lakh.
Doctors and 10 medical associations on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to reverse 85% pictorial warnings on all tobacco products as directed by the Karnataka high court.

In December, the high court struck down the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014. The rules mandated 85% pictorial warnings on both sides of packages of cigarettes, bidis and all forms of chewing tobacco products.

In a letter to Modi, 453 doctors and the medical associations said: Your government implemented 85% pictorial warnings on tobacco products with effect from April 1, 2016 and it was a world leading step towards progressive public health. With these warnings, India rose to third place in global ranking of the pictorial warnings on tobacco products from 136th position.

The medical associations include Indian Dental Association, Bhopal Divisional Ophthalmic Society and Indian Dental Association Madhya Pradesh chapter.

Voice of Tobacco Victims campaign Rajasthan patron Dr Pawan Singhal said on December 15, 2017, the high court reversed all this good work by the Modi government by quashing the large pictorial warnings, which will take India back to 146th position in the world even behind Pakistan.

The Karnataka high court, in its judgment, said: It is unnecessary to have pictorial and textual warnings suggestive of cancer particularly when the contents of the said warnings are not universally accepted as medically proven.

Singhal said: As doctors, we see these cases on daily basis, are horrified that the court has used this view to strike down such an effective rule.

Singhal, who is also the head and neck cancer surgeon of Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, citing the findings of Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2, 2017 said larger pictorial warnings on tobacco packets were highly effective.

The percentage of people thinking of quitting tobacco after seeing these warnings rose from 38% in GATS-1 to 62.1% for cigarettes, from 29% to 54% for bidis and 34% to 46% for chewing tobacco, he said.

India is a country where people use several languages and dialects, pictorial warning transcends the language and in many case illiteracy barrier. These 85% graphic warnings were appreciated globally and research has also proven the success of these, too.

India must continue with 85% pictorial warnings for a progressive public health, as our prime minister wishes a healthier nation, he said.

The letter also mentioned that tobacco was literally a product that was leaving millions of people widows and orphans. Every year, 10 lakh Indians die due to using tobacco and it is the single most preventable cause of death, it said.
A war of words broke out between the BJP and Congress on Saturday over the Barmer refinery as former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should reconsider his decision to re-lay the foundation stone while the ruling party said it had saved the state Rs 40,000 crore under a revised agreement.

Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone for the refinery proposed in Pachpadra, 120km from Barmer, on January 16.

Addressing media persons, Gehlot said he had written to Modi on August 12, 2017 and again on January 5, requesting him to re-think his visit for foundation stone laying as this had already been laid by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2013.

He said chief minister Vasundhara Rajes obstinate attitude had delayed the project and caused a cost overrun of Rs 6000 crore from Rs 37,000 crore to Rs 43,129 crore. The former Congress government had signed an MoU with HPCL for putting up the 9MMT capacity refinery and petrochemical complex at a cost of Rs 37,229 crore.

The chief minister should apologise to the public for misleading them and for her anti-development stance.

Gehlots outburst comes at a time when the BJP government is showcasing the refinery as a major achievement. Raje has often said the agreement signed earlier with HPCL by the Congress agreement was an unprofitable proposition for the state. She said her government renegotiated the terms of agreement, saving the state Rs 40,000 crore.

State BJP president Ashok Parnami said since the earlier MoU has been cancelled, there is no question of re-laying the foundation stone. He claimed the groundwork for the refinery had been laid in 2005 by Raje who was chief minister then. As the Congress was in power at the Centre then, it did not give us permission to go ahead with the project.

He said when Gehlot became chief minister, he initiated the project in a hurry in the last year of his tenure. No expert committee was set up nor was any survey done. They signed the agreement under which the government would have to give Rs 56,000 crore to HPCL for 30 years to set up the refinery despite giving them land, water and electricity, Parnami said

The agreement signed by the Congress government would have burdened the state with a debt of Rs 1,57,000 crore. We renegotiated the terms and brought down the payment to Rs 16,000 crore. Gehlot should apologise to the people for his ill-considered decision.

Gehlot said as per the agreement signed by the Congress government with HPCL, an incentive of Rs3736 crore was to be paid by the government to HPCL for 15 years. However this was only in the event that the crude output was 4.5 MMTPA. If the crude output was more, then the government would not have to pay the interest free loan. The current crude output is 9MMTPA and so there is no need to give interest-free loan.

Gehlot also said to repeat the mantras and pooja done at the time of foundation stone laying was against religious sanctity and re-laying the foundation stone was not a healthy tradition.

Cong not against triple talaq bill, BJP playing politics

Former CM Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said Congress has always favoured womens empowerment and is not against the triple talaq bill but only wants the shortcomings to be ironed out.

It was (former Congress president) Sonia Gandhi who had raised the demand for 33% reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies, Gehlot told reporters.

The BJP is only playing politics. It has no love for Muslim women or the Muslim community. They did not give tickets to any Muslims candidates in the UP or Gujarat elections. Muslim women understand this, he said replying to a question on the issue of the Congress stalling the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha.

He said the Congress was only pointing out the lacunae in the bill so that these could be ironed out and Muslim women would not face problems.

Replying to a question on Congresss soft Hindutva approach and Congress president Rahul Gandhis temple visits in Gujarat, Gehlot said Congress had never been anti-Hindu or opposed temples. Its a myth that only BJP or RSS are Hindus.

He said, Rahuls visit to temples was made an issue by the BJP which believes in polarisation of votes. They were worried about their vote bank and so it became an issue instead of development.
Some politicians are using caste, community and cash to rise in politics instead of character, calibre and content, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu said here on Saturday.

Naidu was speaking at the 12th convocation ceremony of the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, where 57 doctoral, 354 masters and 687 bachelor degrees were awarded.

While delivering the convocation address the vice-president said the students should work with the people and the community.

You must assist municipal bodies, panchayats and the smart city project. You have got new ideas. When old and new combine, gold is created, said Naidu, who had been a long time member of the BJP and former union minister.

Naidu also urged the people in the gathering to speak in their respective mother tongue in their houses.

One was able to articulate his or her thoughts better in mother tongue and heads of states such as France, Germany, Russia, always speak in their native language while visiting other countries, he said.

He also said seeing the enthusiasm of the graduating students, he was reminded of his own college days.

If you want to go abroad, go. But learn, earn and return. Serve your motherland, he told the students, adding that everything was now available in India and even professionals, who had earlier gone abroad, were now returning.

Besides, Naidu said British and Mughals attacked and looted the country for centuries. Before that 27% of the world GDP was from India. The British also corrupted our minds through the Macaulay system of education that they left behind, he said.

But now the entire world is looking towards India again, he added.

Touching upon the award-wapsi campaign wherein some artists were returning their awards to protest against alleged rising intolerance, he said India was the most tolerant country in the world and if issues arise, you must isolate them, condemn them, but not tar the image of the country.

India has never attacked any other country, he added. He also quoted modernist poet TS Eliot to elucidate the nuances of information, knowledge and wisdom, and urged the students to inculcate viveka or the wisdom to use knowledge for your well being and the welfare of the humanity.
It is a double whammy for patients admitted to government hospitals, with the mercury nosediving and broken window panes letting in draughts of cold air into the wards.

Government hospitals across the city are bursting at the seams with patients and so are the shelter homes. As a large number of patients come from other cities, there is usually more than one attendant with each patient. Staying around the hospital is a tough job for attendants, particularly in the evening, because only one attendant is allowed to stay inside with each patient and the shelter homes have limited capacity.

As the icy wind enters through the open windows, attendants put up plastic sheets and even bed sheets for cover. Several of them have complained with the medical staff to get the broken window panes repaired.

During the day its fine but as the sunlight fades, the temperature dips further and at times even the lightest wind troubles the patient. Hence we make sure the window is fully covered, said an attendant in a government hospital. Nothing, however, can be done for the vents near the ceiling.

The inconvenience has increased since December 28, as fog has been troubling people in the state capital. As the sun is hardly seen during the day, the maximum temperature for the past three day is keeping low. On Friday, Lucknow recorded a minimum temperature of 3 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature touched only 11.7 degrees Celsius.

WORK STARTED

Hospitals have geared up to make the stay of patients comfortable but as the cold wave has been going on for over a week, the step comes a bit late.

Two days ago, we installed halogen heaters in all the wards to bring the temperature to a comfortable level, said Dr Rajeev Lochan, director of Balrampur Hospital. He said that apart from routine blankets for patients, work to repair broken window panes and panels had also begun and about 90% of the work was done.

The Balrampur Hospital has three shelter homes for attendants and two have been renovated with halogen warmers installed.

At the Civil Hospital, all new buildings have air conditioners with dual mode. They give hot air in winter and cold in summer.

We have dual mode air conditioners in private wards, surgical male and female wards and pathology and have got permission to install such equipment in all wards where we shall need air conditioners, said hospital superintendent Dr Ashutosh Dubey.

He said that heaters were a risk as often due to misuse by patients, incidents of fire were reported from wards.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR PATIENTS TO STAY WARM?

Cold wind can be a hazard for patients undergoing treatment in hospitals as it can cause hypothermia to lower the heart rate. If the temperature rises, the pulse rate will also rise and if the body temperature falls due to external causes, the heart rate will also fall , which is not good for metabolism, said Dr Abhishek Shukla, an expert in geriatric medicine and founder of Aastha Geriatric Hospital.

He said proper body temperature was also important for proper functioning of vital organs such as kidney, liver, heart, brain and lungs. Too much exposure to cold wind can even cause a cold stroke just as hot winds cause heat stroke, he said.
The state government is more than willing to extend all support to the pharmaceutical sector to make UP a hub of pharma industries like Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

INCENTIVES Subsidy on interest up to Rs 50 lakh per annum till seven years on loan availed to purchase land in pharma parks. Rs 50 crore subsidy on interest on loan availed to construct a building in pharma park. On construction of hostel, subsidy of Rs 30 crore on interest generated on loan availed for construction work. For purchasing of machines and development of infrastructure, subsidy on interest has been assured by the state government. Tax rebate, subsidy on stamp duty and electricity bills.

Tax rebate, subsidy on interest on loan availed to set up pharma industry in proposed pharma parks, plots for setting up units and lower electricity traffic have been finalised for the pharmaceutical sector.

Among all sectors, the pharma sector has been the most neglected in Uttar Pradesh with only few companies having their manufacturing units in the state.

After formulation of the pharma policy, the state government is going to ensure that the forthcoming investors summit in February concludes with sizable investment in the pharma sector.

A Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company has already expressed its desire to invest in the state. In the summit, the company could announce its plan to invest in UP.

In the new pharma policy finalised by the state government, several districts have been selected where pharma parks would be set up.

The government has proposed green field pharmaceutical parks in Kanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi, Shahjahapur and Ghaziabad.

These parks would be developed by private developers where medicines and surgical equipment would be manufactured. They would also have research laboratories, diagnostic centres, godowns of pharma companies, common facility centres, hostels and a power station for uninterrupted power supply.

The pharma units coming to Uttar Pradesh would be divided into three formats  mega, large and MSME. The mega units investing more than Rs 100 crore would have to ensure that 75% of their total workforce comprises local people. Large pharma units investing between Rs 10 crore and 100 crore would have to ensure that 50% of their workforce is local.

PROMOTING START-UPS The government has also proposed to create a special fund to promote start-ups in the pharma sector. This corpus would also be utilised to fund research in the pharma sector.

Along with manufacturing allopathic medicines, the state government would also promote manufacturing of AYUSH medicines in the proposed pharma parks. Those willing to set up AYUSH units would also get special concessions from the government in terms of allotment of land and other related facilities.

We are hopeful that the state government will look into specific concerns of the pharma industry. This will encourage pharma industrialists to invest in the state, said Manish Goel, state president, IIA.

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Four constables and a sub-inspector were suspended for alleged dereliction of duty after farmers dumped heaps of rotten potatoes outside Uttar chief minister Yogi Adityanaths residence in Lucknow on Saturday.

The farmers were agitated that the government had fixed just Rs 487 as the minimum support price for a quintal of potato, as opposed to their demand of Rs 1,000. The incident had occurred early that morning.

While the sub-inspector and two constables were attached to the Gautampali police station near Kalidas Marg, the other two policemen belonged to the Hazratganj police station  located in the vicinity of the Vidhan Bhawan. Hazratganj night inspector Rahul Sonkar saw a mini-truck dumping potatoes at the site. He noted down the registration number of the truck, and it has now been tracked down. We havent found the involvement of any political outfit so far, said senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar.

The chief minister said a group of ministers would be formed to examine and resolve agricultural issues. Charging previous governments of the Samjawadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party with ignoring farmers woes at the inauguration of the Mohiuddinpur sugar mill in Meerut district, he said: Farmer welfare is my governments priority. Dont fall into the traps laid by unscrupulous politicians.

Reacting to the protest, Samajwadi Party national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary said potato farmers in the state are not even getting Rs 2 a kg and are forced to dump the produce on roads.

Police said unidentified farmers sneaked into the high-security on Vidhan Sabha Marg and Kalidas Marg under the cover of darkness and fog to unload hundreds of kilos of potatoes. The two stretches looked extremely dirty after the potatoes got squished under the wheels of vehicles on Saturday morning.

Deepak Kumar said the vehicles of the farmers, who were involved in throwing potatoes, have been identified and action would be taken accordingly.

The potatoes gave something to cheer about for the poor people. They thronged the area in the morning, picked as many potatoes as they could and feasted on them over bonfires the administration had set up for the destitute to protect them from the cold.

The administrations sanitation workers had a tough time cleaning the roads  first with brooms and then with water sprinklers.

Such farm protests arent new to Lucknow. Hundreds of sugarcane farmers burnt their crop outside the Vidhan Sabha last October, though that was an organised protest by the Bharatiya Kisan Union. They were angry over the Rs 10 hike in minimum support price offered by the government, which they said was too low for their produce.

Last August, Congress workers opened stalls selling tomatoes at a concessional rate to protest against the rise in price of the vegetable. The party sold petrol at a discounted rate a month later in protest against hikes in fuel price.

(with inputs from S Raju in Meerut)

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Evolved in the royal kitchens of the Mughal Empire in Medieval India, Mughlai cuisine is an amalgamation of Indian and Persian cuisines. Mughlai was a community food, earlier started by the Mughals then the Persians and then got segregated in India with versatile specialties across Old Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad majorly. Though often confused with the regular Indian food, Mughlai cuisine is an entirely different entity.

Right from the ingredients, preparations and expertise to the time one takes to prepare Mughlai cuisines are very unique and out of the box. Mughlai food, very precisely is an array. It is not something run of the mill. Each and every dish from the Mughlai menu speaks for an identity and needs attention and experience.

Mughlai cuisine is distinct in every manner. The taste ranges from extremely mild to spicy and the dishes are often associated with a peculiar aroma and and the flavor of whole and ground spices.

Mughlai food is one of its kinds as every Mughlai cuisine has a story and a rich history behind it. For example, Rogan Josh is originally a Persian lamb dish that was brought to Kashmir by the Mughals and has now become one of the staples of the Kashmiri cuisine. Navrantan Korma is a vegetarian dish from the Mughal kitchen. Here, Navratan mean nine gems hence the dish is usually prepared from nine different vegetables.

Another delicacy from the royal Mughal kitchen is Pasanda, the name of which is probably derived from the Urdu word pasande which means favorite. This rich and elaborate history behind the Mughlai cuisines truly depicts that this food is an outcome of extensive expertise and a cuisine inspired from culture and traditions.

A bespoke catering concept like Mughalnama is changing the contours of Mughlai cuisines as it is ready to alter the way this food is perceived by its patrons. Mughal cuisine has started to reach a level where people from all demographics and geographies are accepting it in its catering format as well.

According to Mohd Khalid, managing director, Mughalnama, The culinary changes and alteration in the mode of dining in India are rapid and have begun to reflect new strands in the culture of Indian cuisine. Mughlai cuisine has been in existence since 16th century but it has undergone a lot of transformation over the course of time. The humble Biryani and kebabs have always adorned the north Indian weddings but to have a full fledged Mughal spread was always relegated to a Muslim wedding. Mughlai Food has never been considered to be catered or served during occasions and gatherings.

It was considered to be one of the kind cuisines predominantly consumed by the Muslim community. But keeping in mind the contemporary consumption food pattern of the millennial, the cuisines preparation has got a modern touch with less oil, balanced ghee, few spices and proper usage of other ingredients so that it could be part of the mainstream. With various innovations in terms of both preparation and presentation, Mughal spreads are now finding its new patrons at private parties and bespoke gatherings. The celebration of indigenous cuisines and ingredients has also helped the cause as the young patron wants to celebrate what emanates from his roots, he added.

The primary Mughlai dishes would consist of meat of goat, sheep, fowls and venison. Extensive use of milk, cream and butter in various gravies and curries and different spices, saffron, dry fruits, ghee and other diary produces makes the traditional Mughlai cuisines quite rich and heavy. Though now-a-days food is prepared keeping in mind todays era, tradition, work and life, suitable for the more health conscious but enthusiastic epicureans.

Keeping this facet in perspective, Mughalnama a bespoke catering unit has taken the onus to popularise Mughlai cuisine within the catering gambit. The hygiene and presentation of authentic Mughlai dishes at Mughalnama has taken a new dimension. It is no more a usual deg and handi serving but the exclusive copper and brass one with chafing dishes to serve a cuisine that is inspired from the royal kitchens at Mughalnama.
US citizen of Pakistani origin and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley wanted to meet Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray during his visit to Sena Bhavan in 2008, former party worker Rajaram Rege told a sessions court on Friday.

The prosecution examined Rege as witness no. 35 to corroborate Headleys claim about his visit to Sena Bhavan. Headley, declared an approver, was the first witness to be examined against Abu Jundal, the 26/11 attacks handler and LeT operative.

In his deposition recorded via a video conference in early 2016, Headley said he had extensively video-recorded Bal Thackerays house from outside. He informed the court that LeT chief Hafiz Saeed had told him that Thackeray needed to be taught a lesson. He also mentioned that Rege was the first person he met during his visit to Sena Bhavan.

Headley said his handler had asked him to cultivate Rege.

After Headleys deposition, the Mumbai crime branch recorded Reges statement, which was submitted by the agency through a supplementary charge sheet filed in late 2016.

On Friday, Rege admitted that he had met Headley and exchanged several e-mails. Deposing before the court, Rege said, I know David Headley. He met me at Sena Bhavan in 2008. He had come with one Vilas Varak. Rege said that Varak had introduced Headley to him as an immigration consultant.

Rege said when he asked Headley the purpose of his visit to the Bhavan, Headley told him that he wanted to meet Sena chief Bal Thackeray and see Sena Bhavan. Rege said he denied to give him access to both.

He told me that he wanted to guide Shiv Sena activists at the Bhavan on the issue of immigration, Rege told the court.

He said Headley continued to contact him over the programme. Rege said that they had exchanged several mails on the immigration event.

He was later asked to identify Headley in the photograph and also was shown the mails exchanged between Headley and Rege. He recognised Headley and confirmed the emails.

Headley, in his deposition, said he had organised a fund-raising programme for the Shiv Sena in the US and planned to invite Bal Thackeray for the event.

Apart from Rege, the prosecution on Friday also examined Sanju Soni, general manager of a five-star hotel in Mumbai where Headley stayed during his visit to Mumbai. Soni confirmed that Headley stayed in the hotel between April 30, 2007 and May 2, 2007 and he paid the hotel bill using his credit card.

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Registrations to the Joint Entrance Examination-Mains (JEE-Mains), one of the most sought after competitive exams for entry to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other premier engineering colleges, ended earlier this week, and once again, applications have reduced from the previous year.

In the past five years alone, total registrations to JEE-Mains have decreased by 15.3%.

According to figures shared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), close to 11.48 lakh students have registered for the exam this year, 51,000 less compared to last year, when the total registrations were 11.99 lakh. In 2016 and 2015, 12.07 lakh and 13.04 lakh students registered, respectively. Registrations had increased from 12.82 lakh in 2013 to 13.56 lakh in 2014.

Students are smart these days and know that a degree alone is of no use if it does not assure a lucrative job thereafter. Courses such as management and law are becoming increasingly popular among youngsters these days, whereas a degree in medicine or engineering seems to have taken a back seat, said the director of a state-based engineering institute.

However, Maharashtra has always been one of the top three states in India to send most number of engineering hopefuls for JEE-Mains for some time now. This year, too, the number has risen, but its a marginal increase owing to the overall dip.

In 2017, the total registrations from the state for JEE-Mains stood at 1.59 lakh, whereas this year, the number has increased only by 4,000. We have received a total of 1.63 lakh applications from Maharashtra alone this year, said an official from CBSE.

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Blame it on tougher competition or lack of job opportunities after a degree, engineering institutes, including the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are increasingly complaining about the declining demand for their courses. The fall in demand has also automatically reflected in the rising number of vacant seats in engineering institutes across the country.

Many experts highlighted how an engineering degree no longer has the prestige it earlier did, and this could be one of the reasons for the declining number of JEE aspirants over the years. Students are very clear about the institute they want, especially for the quality of education it imparts. If they dont get a seat in a good institute of their choice, theyd rather choose something else more lucrative and interesting to do instead of struggle in an institute which cannot promise them the best education, said Devang Khakkar, director of IIT-Bombay.

Some also felt the increasing level of difficulty of the JEE exams is another reason for the drop in demand for JEE. Students prefer state-conducted Common Entrance Tests (CETs) compared to an all-India exam because that gives them a chance at engineering institutes closer home, and the level of difficulty is less compared to JEE, said Pravin Tyagi, founder and director of Pace Junior Science Colleges.

Of the 10,988 seats in 23 IITs in 2017, the number of vacant seats stood at 121, up from 96 in 2016 and 50 the year before that. Similarly, 36% of the 1.31 lakh seats available in engineering institutes in Maharashtra had no takers in 2017-18. However, this lack in demand is limited to only certain branches of engineering, said another head of an engineering institute.

Colleges also said that some courses like electronics and telecommunications are losing popularity, leading to higher number of vacant seats for these courses. These courses account for the highest number of closures across the country, according to the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

Its not that engineering altogether is losing its sheen, but the fact that certain branches of engineering have become defunct over the years. Branches that do not promise steady jobs after the degree are seeing very few takers, whereas other branches are overflowing with applications, said Dhiren Patel, director, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Matunga, Mumbai.

In December 2017, the AICTE announced that it might allow mergers of institutes, especially those struggling to fill vacant seats for some time. The decision has been welcomed by many, especially since the AICTE was previously planning to shut down institutes with zero enrolment in the past five years.

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Following police directives, right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhides public speech  scheduled to take place in Parel this Sunday  was postponed.

This comes a day after the police refused permission to an event organised by student outfit Chhatra Bharati, at which Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid were to address students at Vile Parle.

Bhide is the prime accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence. Based on a complaint by social worker Anita Ravindra Salve, a member of the Bahujan Republican Socialist Party, the Pimpri police filed an FIR against him on Tuesday for conspiring and inciting violence.

Police said they decided to deny permission after an assessment revealed that Bhides presence in the city would lead to a law-and-order problem and trigger more Dalit protests. They said it would take a lot of effort to pacify protesters. They said that should Bhide make a provocative statement, it would add fuel to the fire and cause tension not just in the city, but also the state.

As we did not want trouble, we decided to not permit the organisers to conduct the program, said an officer. Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, the organisation associated with Bhide, announced on Friday that his speech had been postponed, but not cancelled. It denied Bhides involvement in the violence, calling the case against him false and misleading.

In a statement issued in Sangli, Bhide denied allegations that he was involved in any violence. The allegations of a conspiracy are completely baseless. I demand that the government investigate this matter thoroughly. Strong punishment must be given to whosoever is guilty.

Bhide played no role in the violence. The police still approached us and said we should postpone the talk in case the speech leads anti-social and anti-Hindustan elements to take advantage of the situation and rain violence on Mumbai again. We support the governments search for the culprits, said Chetan Balaskar, member of Shiv Pratishthan.

Despite Salves assertion that Bhide was at Bhima-Koregaon on Monday, Balaskar said the right-wing leader was at his home town Sangli, which the police could attest to. He blamed Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar for inciting the Bhima-Koregaon violence. Those who demand Bhides arrest are the actual culprits.

The Chhatra Bharati and the Aam Aadmi Party demanded a ban on Bhide. This hate monger should not be allowed to enter Mumbai and disturb its peace. He should not be allowed to address any meetings, said Priti Sharma Menon, spokesperson, AAP.
Shaken by Wednesdays protests against the Bhima-Koregaon violence, the Mumbai police have decided to strengthen mohalla (colony) committees to maintain peace and harmony between communities. Wednesdays state-wide bandh brought Mumbai to a standstill, resulting in vandalism and blockades.

To avoid knee jerk reactions to such law and order situations, the police are looking at these committees to prevent violent protests, especially in sensitive areas. We have been conducting meetings with residents, said a senior officer, who was part of a team to control protesters. During the agitation, a police inspectors rapport with leaders from Ramabai Nagar ensured that there was no major flare up. The place was the most sensitive pocket in the city, and we managed to contain the crowd, said the officer.

Mohalla committees will ensure that there are no false rumours. They will also keep a watch on provocative videos being played or forwarded by residents. The police will conduct meetings with residents of sensitive pockets and put up banners and posters, depicting the fruits of communal harmony.

Meanwhile, the Powai police on Friday arrested three people for allegedly attacking an inspector and spreading violence during the state-wide bandh on Wednesday. The unemployed men, who are from Powai, grew violent during the protest, said an officer. The men along with other wanted accused have been booked for rioting and attempt to murder, among other charges. They have been remanded in police custody till Tuesday.

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With 16 long weekends in 2018, travel portal managers said Indians have a good scope to plan trips and explore new destinations. While Indians usually prefer short international and domestic destinations over long weekends, portals said the number of long weekends will ensure that travelers can plan visits to lesser-known destinations.

Popular destinations for 2018 include Japan, South America, Greece, Italy, South Korea. With the 2018 Winter Olympics approaching, the spotlight is on South Korea. East Asia will likely see an incursion of visitors to Seoul. Other top global destinations include Italy, South Africa, France, Iceland and Australia, with Japan emerging as an untraditional multigenerational family travel destination, said Daniel Dsouza, head sales, India and NRI markets, SOTC Travel.

Going by last years trends, the travel service said international destinations that see a surge in popularity over long weekends include Dubai, Thailand and Bali. Popular domestic holiday spots will be Goa, Andaman, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Indian tourists tend to book holidays at least 30 days or even weeks in advance. The maximum bookings were made by Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai residents, Dsouza added.

Karan Anand, head relationships, Cox and Kings said travelers should choose a couple of destinations they would like to visit  either those in the country or short-haul international destinations. If you plan to fly, then look out for airline deals. The long weekend starting from January 26 is a good example of when domestic airlines introduce offers. Keeping your budget in mind, you can avail of such offers, said Anand.

From November 15 to December 15, MakeMyTrip surveyed people who had travelled in the past six months, finding that those aged between 25 and 30 had travelled he most. According to the survey, 49% of Indians travelled with friends or family to places such as Thailand, UAE and Singapore. Around 18% travelled to explore new destinations, 16% for went on romantic trips, 7% travelled for their honeymoon, 6% went on religious trips and 5% travelled for adventure.
After student outfit Chhatra Bharati was denied permission to hold a seminar in Vile Parle on Thursday, it will now hold its conference online on January 10.

As part of the seminar, Dalit activist-legislator Jignesh Mewani and student leader Umar Khalid will give speeches, which will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.

The group said it wanted to show the authorities and politicians that they cannot muzzle freedom of expression.

We were unfairly denied permission to hold the seminar, based on frivolous grounds. This online convention is a protest, meant to spread the message that such tactics will not deter students from voicing their opinion, said Sagar Bhalerao, vice president, Chhatra Bharati.

The police had booked Mewani and Khalid for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima-Koregaon, which made national headlines and led to a Maharashtra bandh being organised on Wednesday in protest against the incident.

While Mewani, the face of Dalit politics in Gujarat, was elected to the state Assembly, Khalid is a well-known Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader and was arrested on sedition charges in February 2016.

Chhatra Bharati had organised its All India Students Summit a day after the Maharashtra bandh.

Unwilling to take a risk, the Mumbai police denied it permission to hold the event, detained the organisers and invoked section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code to prevent people from assembling at the spot.

In response, Chhatra Bharati members staged a protest.

Bhalerao said they decided to hold an online summit keeping in mind the large number of student leaders who had come to the city from across India to attend the summit.

Organising their stay in Mumbai again would be a logistical nightmare. An online seminar will ensure that they can address the audience at home. It also ensures that we will not be at the mercy of the police or have to seek their permission, he added.
The Shiv Sena has targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the polices failure to nab the three accused in connection with the Kamala Mills fire that killed 14 people last week. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the home department must answer for the delay.

Thackeray raised doubts over the ability of the police machinery to nab the accused and said there was a need to check whether the government was under political pressure to not the arrest the accused.

The NM Joshi Marg police booked the owner-partners of 1Above  Kripesh M Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar.

While pointing fingers at the BMC, it should also be noted that many days have passed since the Kamala Mills fire, but no arrests have been made so far. The accused are not terrorists that a reward should be announced in exchange for information about them, Thackeray said.

The home department is headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Sena  the junior partner in the state government  has been demanding that there be a full-time minister to head the crucial portfolio.

Thackerays statement came after civic chief Ajoy Mehtas statement that he was under political pressure to not take action against restaurants violating fire safety norms. On Saturday, Thackeray asked Mehta not to succumb to any pressure and to continue the drive against illegal constructions.

The Opposition targeted Mehta over his statements, saying he should reveal the names of those pressuring him. The BMC commissioner should not make such vague statements; he should disclose the name of the person who asked him to drag out the probe, said Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Sandeep Deshpande said Mehta should undergo a narco test to get to the bottom of the issue.

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The state government has asked the residents and landlords of Kamathipura to appoint a builder for redevelopment of the area, else the task will be assigned to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The majority of buildings in Kamathipura, Mumbais infamous red light area covering a staggering 39 acres, are over 100 years old. Adding to that, the 700 buildings and chawls with approximately 5,000 tenants are in extremely bad shape which puts the residents at risk.

According to Ravindra Waikar, the state minister for housing, there is no alternative to the revamp.

The buildings are very old and almost crumbling. There is no way we can allow people to die, said Waikar. Hence, we are giving the residents and landlords the first right to appoint a builder and if they dont, we will appoint MHADA and start the process ourselves, he added.

He said the redevelopment model of the Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls would be adopted, where MHADA would be the nodal agency and appoint contractors to execute the project.

Most of the residents in Kamathipura live in houses measuring an area of 50-180 sqft. The area, which used to be swarming with sex workers for decades, has seen a significant decline in recent years, with barely 25 buildings housing around 500 sex workers.

However, local Congress legislator Amin Patel said that the state should take the people into confidence, instead of pushing MHADA into the picture. MHADA will not be able to handle a project of such massive scale. This will only delay the revamp work, and residents will continue to languish in their old buildings, warned Patel.

The Kamathipura Landlord Association (KLA) had, two years ago, assigned renowned project management consultant Sailesh Mahimtura to prepare a feasibility report on the revamp.

According to Sachin Karpe, treasurer, KLA, they have been trying their best to get the builder to execute the project.

The builders are reluctant to start redevelopment work, owing to the slowdown in the realty sector, said Karpe.

However Suresh Kale, who heads the Sai Krupa Welfare Association, one of the leading resident associations in the area, said residents are desperate to shift to new premises.

We are tired of waiting for years in such dangerous structures. We just want redevelopment, irrespective of who does it, said Kale.

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For the second time in two days, the Shiv Sena attacked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over the handling of Dalit protests and violence that have rocked Maharashtra since January 1.

On Saturday, in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena claimed that the state was descending into chaos and destruction because of caste conflicts.

Taking a dig at Fadnavis pet project  the Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor  the editorial said: Under the leadership of Fadnavis, Maharashtra is not on the corridor of prosperity, it seems to be falling into a pit of chaos and destruction.

The Sena is showing solidarity with the CM in times of such conflict as it is a matter of Maharashtras pride and the maintenance of law and order, the Marathi daily added.

Over the past couple of years, relations between the Sena and the BJP have become increasingly strained, though so far, the party had refrained from taking on Fadnavis personally. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Fadnavis are said to share a good rapport.

The chief minister is being praised for the patience he showed during the protests, but he does not show similar patience elsewhere. The patience he showed to tackle rioters has resulted in losses worth crores for the state, the editorial said, criticising the government for the way violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1 and protests by Dalit groups on January 3 were handled.

The home department, headed by Fadnavis, has become weak, the Sena said. The home department is the backbone of the state, and if that breaks, the state will collapse, it warned.

The editorial also attacked Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh chief Prakash Ambedkar, and said if the bandh he had called had been peaceful, his stature as a leader would have risen. But now, his followers have become directionless, the newspaper said, adding that none of Maharashtras Dalit leaders have the ability to calm people in the community when tensions run high.
The country joined the league of the worlds most powerful supercomputers on Monday, with the launch of the Pratyush High Performance Computing (HPC) system that will generate weather and climate forecasts in just one hour.

The Pratyush HPC system is housed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, which is under the ministry of earth sciences (MoES). It will also be hosted at the Noida-based National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) within a few weeks.

This supercomputer is five times more effective than the existing ones, said Suryachandra A Rao, project director of Pratyush HPC. HPC systems housed at MoES institutes rose from 40 teraflops in 2008 to one petaflop in 2014. One petaflop denotes 1,000 trillion operations per second. Flop stands for floating-point operations per second.

The Pratyush HPC was inaugrated on Monday. (HT Photo)

Presently, the MoES HPC system occupies the 368th position in the list by Top500 that ranks the fastest 500 computers in the world. The computational capacity of the Pratyush HPC at Pune will be 4 petaflops, and 2.8 petaflops at Noida. With the Rs450-crore projects total computational capacity at 6.8 petaflops, India will be among the top 30 fastest computers in the Top500 list. As for using supercomputers for weather and climate information, India will occupy the fourth place after Japan, UK and USA.

The Pratyush HPC will improve weather forecasts and extended range forecasts. It will also predict cyclones and tsunami accurately, with more lead time. Scientists said it will help those dependent on agriculture, hydrology and power sectors. This is a big achievement and a proud moment for India, said Rao.

With increasing demand for tailor-made predictions from users such as farmers, we need to improve our strategy which calls for a better computer, said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan , secretary , MoES.

With the Rs450-crore projects total computational capacity at 6.8 petaflops, India will be among the top 30 fastest computers in the Top500 list. (HT Photo)

WHAT MAKES PRATYUSH HPC SO SPECIAL

The Rs450 crore project will increase Indias total computational capacity to 6.8 petaflops, which will place it among the top 30 fastest computers in the world, from its current ranking of 368.

It will occupy the fourth place in rankings after Japan, UK and USA as far as using supercomputers for weather and climate information is concerned.

It will improve weather and climate forecasts by reducing the time and increasing the resolution.

It can predict extreme weather events, cyclones, tsunamis with more lead time.

It will help in seismological studies and also provide information on potential fishing zones.



Computational powers of different Met centres in the world:

Country Total Capacity in Petaflops

UK 20.4 PF

Japan 20.0 PF

USA 10.7 PF

Korea 4.8 PF

France 4.4 PF

China 2.6 PF

India 1.0 PF

(Source: Top500)

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Once a key Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader in Thane, Vasant Davkhares political future was cut short because of health complications that led to his demise on Thursday night.

A close associate of party president Sharad Pawar, Davkhare had close friends across the political spectrum. He also shared cordial relations with former Sena chief, late Bal Thackeray. This was why he was elected the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from the Thane local constituency for 24 consecutive years, despite the fact that Shiv Sena ruled the municipal corporation.

Davkhare passed away on Thursday at Bombay Hospital, after a long battle of around 45 days. He was suffering from renal failure and heart ailments, and had been on ventilator support. He was laid to rest with full state honour at the Jawahar Baugh crematorium in Thane on Friday evening.

Senior leaders from various political parties reached Thane to pay their last respects, including chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray among others.

Davkhare was among the first few leaders who resigned from Congress to join NCP after it was formed in 1999. Feeling sad as I have lost a loyal and close associate, who has left an imprint in public life with his work. His ideology was beyond controversy and thus, was popular among all the political parties, Pawar said.

Fadnavis said, Davkhare was a friend to everyone and had no enemies, his loss will be greatly felt. He efficiently handled the proceedings of the legislative council. He never expressed his sorrow and had a permanent smile on his face. I have worked closely with him for many years, and have many fond memories of him.

Coming from a family of vegetable vendors from Shirur in Pune district, Davkhare joined politics in 1986 and was elected as a Congress corporator from Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). He got elected as the mayor of Thane the very next year, despite the fact that Shiv Sena was in majority. He was then elected as member of the legislative council for the first time from Thane local body constituency in 1992.

In 1998, he was elected the deputy chairman of the legislative council, and held the position for 18 years. Its a record in the history of the legislative council, that a person held the post of deputy chairman for three consecutive terms, said Anant Kalse, principal secretary, state legislature.

In 2010, he got re-elected unopposed as the deputy chairman of the legislative council, after Shiv Sena withdrew nomination of its candidate Ramesh Jadhav.

His health was not supporting him and although he liked to be proactive, Davkhare was forced to lay low. He has also got a kidney transplant, but because of his frequent travelling, he suffered several infections, said Munaf Hakim, senior party leader and former chairman of state minorities commission.
UP principal secretary of housing and urban planning, Mukul Singhal, on Saturday directed the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to chalk out a proposal for recovery of Rs1,147 crore spent on Hindon elevated road project.

The 10.3km road is slotted to be completed in January with certain minor works being carried out in the final phase. The road will provide connectivity to commuters from Raj Nagar Extension to UP Gate near Delhi-Ghaziabad border.

For the project, the authority had procured a loan of Rs700 crore from the NCR Planning Board.

For recovery of the cost, the GDA officers will decide and refer the matter to the state government. The methods could be a proposal for a toll or levying charges on nearby lands that will benefit from the project. The authority will take a decision on cost recovery, Singhal said.

The elevated road will provide signal-free connectivity up to UP Gate near Delhi-Ghaziabad border. Commuters can further move to the Delhi-Meerut Expressway Phase I from UP Gate to Akshardham and reach central Delhi in around 25 minutes.

District officials have also requested Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to inaugurate the project.

The decision on CMs arrival will be taken by the state administration, Singhal said.

However, the elevated road is marred by a major issue. Residents of Vaishali, Vasundhara and Indirapuram, travelling from UP Gate on the elevated road, will not be able to exit the road near their area. The elevated road has two ramps being constructed near Vasundhara.

One of the ramps will be used by commuters from trans-Hindon areas to get on the elevated road but the other ramp is only for those moving towards Raj Nagar Extension.

We have not given provided provisions to access the road it is an access-controlled road. The purpose will be defeated if there are too many access points for commuters, Singhal said.

On the other hand, officials of the GDAs engineering department said a provision for exiting the road at Vasundhara was not provided as the authority will be constructing another major road below the elevated road.

The ground level road will be constructed from GT Road to near UP Gate. Commuters who wish to move to UP Gate from Indirapuram and Vasundhara can use the surface road. Apart from this, the residents of Indirapruam already have other routes available to reach UP Gate, SS Verma, superintending engineer, GDA, said.

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The Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested one of the two persons who had robbed an export trader at Shakti Khand of Rs 2.5 lakh on the night of January 2.

The police said the duo arrived from Delhi on high speed bikes and used the same to flee back after loots in Ghaziabad.

The officials said they arrested one Mohammad Riyaz who is from Ghazipur in Delhi while the second accused is also being traced who is also from the same area. An amount of Rs82,000 was also recovered along with an Apache bike from his possession.

The duo had robbed a Delhi police of his mobile constable a month back in Indirpauram. However, the constable noted down the number of their bike and passed it on to us. We were trying to trace the accused but he could not be found at his location, said Akash Tomar, superintendent of police (city).

During the robbery with the export trader, our teams got the location of the same man near the scene of crime. He was later traced near Vaishali and arrested, he added.

During the incident, export trader Rohit Bhardwaj, 33, was returning from Paharganj in Delhi on his scooter and was intercepted by a duo near green belt area of Shakti Khand. Bhardwaj is a resident of a high rise in Ahimsa Khand.

The robbers pushed him and fled with his bag which contained Rs 2.5 lakh after the victim got disbalanced. Bhardwaj tried to chase them but they sped away on their bike. He later lodged an FIR for robbery.

Riyaz has a total of three criminal cases of loot and also under the Arms Act against his name, lodged at Indirpauram in Ghaziabad.

We have some information about the second accomplice and he will be traced soon, Tomar added.
The citys ambitious Ganga water project aimed at supplying drinking water to households is set to miss its March 2018 deadline. The Greater Noida authority has set a new deadline of October 26, 2018, for the completion of this project.

The Rs 300 crore project was started in 2010 and was scheduled to be completed in 2013 but has missed several deadlines since then. In April 2016, the authority had set March 2018 as the deadline for this project, but work got delayed.

At present, residents depend on hard groundwater for drinking, which is often saline.

We aim to finish the 11-km pipeline laying work by June 14, 2018. We have completed 26% work on the pipeline needed to bring Ganga water from the Masuri-Dehra Ganga Canal to the water treatment plant here that is under construction in Palla village of Greater Noida. Work on the water treatment plant is 21% complete and it will be ready by October 26, 2018, Greater Noida authority general manager Rajiv Tyagi said.

The Ganga water project, under which the authority plans to bring 85 cusecs (204 MLD) drinking water was initially delayed due to land disputes between farmers and the state government. Later, the authority took time to get a loan from the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), a central government agency, meant to help and infrastructure and housing projects in and around Delhi.

In 2016, the authority got a 300 crore loan for the project from NCRPB.

The Ganga water will be cleaned at the treatment plant in Palla village before the same is supplied to residents.

The authority plans to supply 100% Ganga water without extracting any groundwater for mixing. The authority plans to supply this water to residents of Greater Noida in phases; in Phase 1 over 3 lakh residents will get this water. In future, the authority has decided to supply Ganga water to 12 lakh residents, which is the estimated population of Greater Noida as per Master Plan 2021.

Residents, who are living in high-rise apartment complexes or plotted houses said the groundwater that they depend on is salty and not fit for drinking.

The drinking water, which is being supplied in our tower is too salty and does not taste sweet. Even after purification with the help of RO, the quality of the drinking water is not good. The authority should have provided Ganga water before the residents moved into the housing complexes, said Deepti Sharma, a resident of Gaur City.

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Dalit protests against the violence during the celebrations of the bicentenary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon have engulfed the state of Maharashtra. It is tempting to analyse the events and their consequences in terms of simple binaries such as Hindutva versus Dalit politics or yet another sign of Maratha discontent rooted in agrarian distress in the state. Such simplistic categorisation would not help us understand the reasons and future consequences of the entire episode. Three main factors seem to have played a role in what has happened in the state in the last few days.

The trigger for the Bhima Koregaon violence seems to be a controversy between Marathas and Mahars (a Dalit sub-caste) over the question of whether it was a Dalit or a Maratha who conducted the last rites of Shambhaji, the son of Shivaji in a village near Bhima Koregaon. This is a classic case of conflict over upper caste honour with the added twist that the Dalits, unlike in the past, are not willing to back down.

Incidents of conflict between Marathas and Dalits have been occurring at regular intervals in the state of Maharashtra in the recent past. The reasons for this have to be located in the loss of political power that the Marathas have experienced after the BJP captured power in the state in 2014. The erstwhile dominance of Congress-NCP in the state is also a story of Marathas controlling political power. A post poll survey by CSDS Lokniti showed that less than one in four Marathas voted for the BJP during the 2014 assembly elections in the state. The survey also showed that Marathas are a politically divided lot and hence unlikely to regain their earlier dominance anytime soon. It is this desperation  along with their diminishing economic clout due to agrarian crisis  which is making the Marathas, a sizeable 30% of the states population, a volatile lot. The fact that the person who has died in the protests is a Maratha is only likely to deepen this sense of unease in the community.

The manner in which Dalit protests gained momentum in the state, including in Mumbai,shows that the anger is spontaneous in nature. This is rooted in a pent-up feeling that the State does not do its duty; and even actively discriminates when it comes to guaranteeing the safety of Dalits. Localities like Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai, where Dalits were killed in police firing during protests after a statue of B R Ambedkar was desecrated in 1997 have been at the forefront of the protests in Mumbai.

The Bhima Koregaon anniversary celebrations have a pilgrimage-like status among Dalits in the state. BR Ambedkar himself had addressed a gathering of Mahars at the event in the 1920s. A big reason for Dalit anger is the fact that adequate police deployment was not ensured despite apprehensions of violence during the celebrations. This feeling is not confined to Maharashtra alone. The protests in Una after violence against young Dalit men by gau-rakshaks in broad daylight is yet another example.

Right-wing voices have been trying to discredit the Bhima Koregaon celebrations as an anti-national activity as the Mahars fought for the British against the Peshwas. The Dalits justify their act by saying that the Peshwas practised the worst kind of caste discrimination against Dalits and their participation in the battle represents a struggle against the exploitative order. Jignesh Mevani, a radical Dalit leader and a newly elected MLA in Gujarat, termed the BJP as todays Peshwas during the programme at Bhima Koregaon. It is worth noting that the Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra Chief Minister is also a Chitpavan Brahmin like the Peshwas. Upper castes including Brahmins have been the traditional supporters of the BJP in the state. At the same time the BJP knows that it cannot risk alienating Dalits, which comprise of more than 10% of the states population just because their political-cultural assertion infuriates its traditional upper-caste Hindutva base.

Managing this conflict between its attempts to integrate more and more OBCs/Dalits and the upper castes, who are unwilling to compromise on their notions of historical honour and social privilege, is central to the BJPs political fortunes  not just in Maharashtra, but across the country.

Whether or not the anger on the streets will find electoral reflection in the states politics will depend on how the political players handle the these contradictions.

roshan.k@htlive.com

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Let me turn our attention to President Donald Trump and his declaration that Pakistan should be declared a terrorist State and have its US aid cut off. A brave statement but I fear for reasons cited in my book, Neighbours in Arms: An American Senators Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent, that he might not be able to do that. President Trump has had a good run as a foreign policy president in Washington DC these last few weeks. His administration expanded talks with North Korea. He declared we should cut aid to Pakistan. He did his first in-depth foreign policy interviews with the New York Times. In foreign policy/defence policy, he is receiving good marks from the old hands such as myself who have observed many presidents.

What Trump has not received is any credit or praise from the traditional US news networks or the major national papers. Groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations (of which I am a member) are still holding their breaths for some catastrophic Trump event in foreign policy. However, Trump has been steadily going forward and seems to be winning some begrudging approval. Many were particularly impressed with his strong statements and tweets regarding declaring Pakistan a terrorist State. His constant public complaints about Iran  transmitted through social media  appear to have helped trigger the beginning of widespread unrest and maybe revolt in that country.

Trump has developed a comprehensive foreign policy for Asia. He is the first US President since George HW Bush to have such a comprehensive, overall policy for that region. Professional diplomats and some traditional foreign policy writers are having a difficult time getting adjusted to his tweets and I must agree  I too am troubled by some of his off-the-cuff remarks. However, his salty language, like Harry Trumans, seems to be understood by all parties involved, including the Rocket Man of North Korea who appears now to be willing to come to the bargaining table.

In Neighbours in Arms, I advocated that Pakistan be considered a terrorist State. In President Trumps review of Asian policy, the State Department distributed a dozen of my books throughout the various federal agencies. Indeed, on page 223, in my observations and prescriptions of the future, I wrote:

Pakistan should be treated like North Korea  like a rogue state. The only reason Pakistan is not a totally failed state is that countries like China and the United States continue to prop it up with massive amounts of foreign aid. Unless Pakistan changes its ways with respect to terrorism, it should be declared a terrorist state. Several leading foreign policy experts besides me have urged as much. Indeed, the first Bush administration seriously considered doing so in 1992. Pakistans leaders have essentially blackmailed us into providing aid for the war on terror with threats to cease assistance in rooting out terrorists in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we know full well that Pakistan harbours terrorists, and many military leaders believe terrorists have infiltrated Pakistans ranks.

I certainly dont want to claim credit for the idea of declaring Pakistan a terrorist State, but essentially the late Senator John Glenn and I had sponsored the Pressler-Glenn line of amendments since 1982, essentially marking Pakistan as a terrorist State.

However, Trump might have a problem: what I call the invisible Octopus. The tentacles of the Octopus comprised all the secretive law firms and lobbying firms that raise campaign money and work on behalf of arms manufacturers, equipment suppliers, bankers, and others who have financial interest in Pakistan. According to my book, they will very quietly go to work behind the scenes and keep the aid flowing to Pakistan through slightly different channels.

The country of Pakistan and its business and military interests have several Washington DC lobbying firms on permanent retainer. Trump will probably find that this invisible Octopus of lobbyists will thwart his efforts to turn aid off to Pakistan.

For example, when the Pressler-Glenn Amendment shut off military sales under our defence department, the Octopus went to the commerce department for licensure to export the same arms to Pakistan!

However, we must give Trump credit for trying some new things in Asia. In part, I do admire his effective use of tweets. They are a modern form of communication. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt was criticised for his fireside chats on the radio because they were seen as too common and diminishing to the presidency, so too are tweets considered below the presidency by some. I suspect every president from now on will be tweeting a lot. Donald Trump has given us a new form of diplomatic communication.

And thank you, President Trump, for being the first US President to openly attack Pakistan and to identify them as liars about terrorism! And thank you for moving closer to India.

Senator Larry Pressler served in the United States Congress for 22 years.

The views expressed are personal
Patiala Police on Friday arrested an alleged serial killer claimed they have cracked seven murders in the past 22 years across Patiala and Ludhiana in Punjab and Yamunanagar in Haryana.

Jagroop Singh (47) of the Basti Badlowal area in Ludhiana district is an auto-rickshaw driver and is accused of killing husbands of two of his paramours in 2004 and 2011. Police claim he confessed to committing the first murder in 1995. None of the murders had been solved.

He was finally arrested after the police began investigating a blind murder in which Rajinder Singh (43) was killed in the Model Town area of Patiala on December 30.

Deputy inspector general of police (DIG, Patiala range) Sukhchain Singh Gill said a police team working on Rajinders murder zeroed in on Jagroop on the basis of clues collected from the scene of crime.

Gill said Rajinder was murdered after Jagroop suspected him of having illicit relationship with his alleged lover Hema (43) who has also been named in the case. She has not been arrested.

Jagroop and Rajinder were known to each other and shared a drink on the day of crime. Jagroop laced Rajinders drink with sedatives before killing him with sharp-edged weapons and a brick on the night of December 30, Gill said.

Police said Jagroop returned to Ludhiana after committing the crime. But a CCTV camera near the crime spot had recorded his presence which led to his arrest.

Trail of murders

The DIG said the accused confessed to have murdered a woman with his friends for the first time while committing a robbery in Shimlapuri area of Ludhiana in 1995. He killed another woman in the Badowal area of the city in 1998.

In 2004, Jagroop developed illicit relations with a Haryana-based woman Paramjeet Kaur and killed her husband Kuldeep Singh in Yamunagar, the police said. After strangulating Kuldeep, he stacked the body in a trunk and threw it in the Yamuna, the police said.

In 2011, Jagroop developed illicit relationship with Hema of Ludhiana, who now lives in Patiala. Jagroop and Hema murdered her husband Nand Lal at Ludhianas Kakowal village and dumped his mutilated body in a vacant plot, the police said. Hema then started living with her parents.

In May 2015, Jagroop in connivance with Paramjeet killed Patialas Anil Kumar and stacked his body in a briefcase before dumping it at Vikas Nagar, the police said. Paramjeet and Anil Kumar were allegedly involved in a flesh trade racket. She decided to eliminate him after he came to know of her involvement in a snatching incident.

A year later, Jagroop and Hema killed Paramjeet in Ludhianas Dehlon locality after she discovered their relationship, the police said. In April 2016, police had registered a case of murder against unidentified people. Following Jagroops arrest on Friday, the police registered a case against him and Hema under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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A day after the Punjab government issued a press statement announcing mayor Kulwant Singhs suspension  which was later retracted  the Mohali municipal corporation (MC) House on Friday passed a condemnation resolution against the order.

Of the 37 councillors present in the House, 24 voted in favour of the resolution, even as the Congress councillors raised objection. Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, who is at loggerheads with Kulwant, did not attend the meeting.

The mayor also threatened to file a defamation suit against local bodies minister Navjot Sidhu, on whose orders the press statement was issued. I have been called corrupt. I have faced a lot of harassment. I have sent the press note to my advocates. I will file a defamation case, Kulwant told mediapersons after the House meet.

Cost breakdown The MC claimed the tractor, which is part of the tree pruning machine, alone costs Rs 28 lakh Main machine: Rs 88 lakh Mowing head: Rs 18 lakh Washing unit: Rs 16 lakh Excise duty: Rs 58 lakh

The government on Thursday issued the statement: Mayor Kulwant Singh had been suspended for causing loss to the state exchequer.

But two hours later, after the news spread on social media, a revised note was issued, stating, The mayor had been issued a show-cause notice for misuse of power and causing loss to the exchequer.

It was pertaining to the purchase of a tree pruning machine. An inquiry conducted by the chief vigilance officer (CVO) of the local bodies department found that the Mohali corporation in February 2016 passed a resolution to buy the machine, priced Rs 28 lakh in India and Rs 80 lakh abroad, at an exorbitant price of Rs 1.79 crore.

Govt had approved agenda

At the onset of the meeting, Kulwant Singh walked in with a smile and said: I can see some of the councillors are very happy, some are less happy, some are lesser happy, but all are happy. Its New Year and there are some new developments; something should keep happening.

Making it clear that he is here to stay, the mayor said: I wish we meet the same way next year. My agenda this year is development and to come up to the expectations of the city residents.

On the issue of tree pruning machine, Kulwant said: The agenda was placed before the House. The House cleared the agenda and sent it to the government, which approved it. The tenders were floated, a comparative statement was prepared and after that the order was placed.

Taking on Sidhu, the mayor added: The minister says he can get the machine for Rs 28 lakh. It will be not be of good quality. There is a difference between a donkey and a horse. Compare both the machines and see the difference.

Kulwant said the machine, which will have multiple use, including tree pruning and cleaning garbage dump and signboards was purchased from Germany, and a part of the cost component was excise duty. He said he will soon conduct a trial of the pruning machine in the city to show how it works.

Later, talking to media, he said: I was not served any notice or given any hearing before the orders were issued through a press release. I dont know who conducted the inquiry, as no one approached me. It was only through the media release I got to know of the development. The mayor received the show-cause notice later on Friday evening.

Development hit

Earlier, during the meeting, Kulwant also accused the government of bringing the citys development to a halt. He highlighted various development agendas that are awaiting the governments approval for the past six months.

These include construction of public toilets, procurement of smart bins and setting up of a solid waste plant in Dera Bassi. He said after a contract for cleaning parks was allotted, the government objected to it after four months and held back the payment to contractor.

Even road maintenance has been hit after the government objected to the premix specifications, he said.

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With the finale just a week away, tensions have never been higher in the Bigg Boss 11 house. Saturday and Sundays Weekend Ka Vaar episodes will reveal the last contestant to be evicted from the house and according to HT readers, it should be Luv Tyagi.

We started a poll earlier this week, asking Bigg Boss fans to vote for their least favourite contestant on the show, the one they want evicted. Of the 6,900 votes counted, 46% voted against Luv while Hina Khan and Vikas Gupta tied with 23% votes each. Shilpa Shinde, the final nominated contestant, got only 8% votes.

Luv started his journey on the show as one of the most active among the five padosis or neighbours on Bigg Boss 11. However, when the neighbours entered the house, Luv seemed to fade into the background and often used others to shield himself from tough tasks as well as nominations. But he made it so far on the show due to his great fan following among his people in his hometown of Muzaffarnagar.

Luv Tyagi meeting his fans at the Inorbit Mall in Mumbai.

This weekend, actor Rani Mukerjee will visit the house to promote her upcoming film, Hichki. She will meet host Salman Khan and bring a new task for the contestants inside the house.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Regime and Russian air strikes on a rebel-held enclave near the Syrian capital killed at least 17 civilians on Saturday, a war monitor said.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in the country, is the target of near-daily air raids.

Syrian and Russian aircraft on Saturday continued their intense bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, targeting several residential areas, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

The deadliest strikes hit the Hammuriyeh district, leaving 12 civilians dead including two children, he said.

Two people were killed in the town of Madira and three in Erbin, the Observatory head added, saying 35 people were also wounded in the three areas.

The Britain-based monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

At the start of the week, a coalition of rebels and jihadists including a former Al-Qaeda affiliate surrounded the only regime base in Eastern Ghouta, which lies east of Damascus and has been under a crippling regime siege since 2013.

The blockade has caused serious food and medicine shortages for the enclaves estimated 400,000 inhabitants.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests
Chinas Tiangong-1 space laboratory, held up as a symbol of the countrys ambitions in space when it was launched in 2011, is out of control and set to crash to the earth by the end of March, according to a media report.

In the most likely scenario, the 8.5-tonne space lab will largely burn up as it enters the earths atmosphere over the ocean and a few parts will sink to the sea floor, CNN quoted experts as saying.

The worst scenario would be the Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace spacecraft re-entering over a highly populated area, and a few largest chunks hit the ground, with perhaps some minor property damage, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

But this has never happened in the 60-year history of re-entering space debris. The chances are small, he said.

Though the risk of the spacecraft causing damage on re-entry was described by CNN as miniscule, the loss of control over Tiangong-1 will impact Chinas plans to emerge as a space superpower.

They have a PR embarrassment on their hands, McDowell said. The actual danger is small, but it is accepted international best practice nowadays that objects that big shouldnt be able to fall out of the sky in this manner.

The 40-foot Tiangong-1, which was launched in Septmeber 2011, and its successor  Tiangong-2, launched in 2016  were part of Chinas plans to build and put into space a 20-tonne space station that is expected to launch around 2022.

Tiangong-1 docked with the Shenzhou-10 spaceship in 2013, and mastering this docking manoeuvre is necessary for developing a space station, experts have said. The Tiangong-1 was last used by astronauts in 2013.

The original plan was for it to be retired soon after and sent under control into the ocean, but they were worried that its successor, Tiangong-2, might not get into orbit successfully, so they decided to keep the Tiangong-1 around as a backup, McDowell said.

Tiangong-1 ceased functioning on March 16, 2016, China told the UN in May last year without giving reasons. Roger Handberg, a professor at the University of Central Florida, said China may have lost control of the lab because it ran out of fuel.

The launch of Tiangong 1 in September 2011. (Courtesy: China Manned Space)

As of December 24, Tiangong-1 was 286.5 km up, compared with 348.3 km in March, according to an update on the space labs location published on the website of Chinas manned space programme.

In its UN submission anticipating the spacecrafts fall to earth, China said most parts of Tiangong will be burned and destroyed in the process of re-entering the atmosphere. It added, Its of little probability that it will cause harm to aviation or ground activities.

One risk is that people could come into contact with remnants of the toxic hydrazine rocket fuel that might remain in the Tiangong-1. Worst case, it hits a populated area and curious individuals decide to investigate, thereby coming into contact with the hydrazine, said Joan Johnson-Freese, a former chair of nationals security affairs at the US Naval War College.

Space experts said the odds of debris from the Taingong-1 hitting a human are estimated to be less than one in 1 trillion. That compares with a one-in-1.4 million chance of a person in the US being struck by lightning.

Though China has said it expects Tiangong-1 to crash by late March, unpredictable weather in the outer atmosphere makes it hard to predict exactly when this will happen. Experts know roughly the latitude at which the spacecraft will land, putting places like Canada and the UK in the clear.

Space debris, including spent satellites and rocket stages, have fallen to earth in the past. In 2017, five objects weighing more than three tones made uncontrolled re-entries but all melted as they entered the atmosphere. When the US Skylab space station, which weighed 74 tonnes, re-entered the atmosphere in 1979, parts of it hit western Australia.
A Catholic charity on Friday protested that Facebook had removed a page for Viennas first baby of 2018, born of Muslim parents, which had garnered 20,000 messages of support after a rash of racist comments.

The birth of Asel, hailed in the press as the first Viennese baby of the year, sparked a wave of racist comments on the internet as the mother was seen wearing an Islamic veil.

In response, the Catholic charity Caritas, which works with migrants and refugees, launched a campaign of support for the infant and her parents, Naime and Alper Tamga.

One person wrote: Im hoping for a crib death, while others demanded the newborns deportation: Deport the scum immediately, one social media user wrote.

It is a completely new dimension of online hate, targeting an innocent newborn, said Klaus Schwertner, head of Caritas in Vienna. That crosses a red line.

Schwertner said the Facebook page was probably targeted in a concerted campaign to get it taken down and called on Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg to reinstate access.

We want to show that love is stronger than hate, on Facebook just as in real life, he said.

The hateful messages come amid tensions in Austrian society over the migrant influx to Europe and Islam.

The countrys new conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurzs coalition includes a far-right party.

One of the hostile messages to the babys family referred to the new far-right interior minister Herbert Kickl, saying he is going to send you out of the country. Hes the man to do it.
Pakistani authorities on Saturday warned the public that making donations to 72 groups that have either been banned or put on a watch list, including the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), would be considered a crime.

Hafiz Saeeds JuD and Falah-e-Insaniyat (FIF), both declared fronts for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, are not banned but are included in the interior ministrys watch list.

A statement issued by the interior ministry, which listed all the 72 groups, said aiding and abetting any of the blacklisted organisations, financially or otherwise, would be a crime

Hence, people should avoid giving them charity, and should instead report any suspicious activities on 1717, the statement said, referring to the number for a helpline for terror-related complaints established by the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

It said that according to Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 of Pakistan and under UN Security Council act of 1948 it was a crime to provide funding to those groups which have been banned or are on the watchlist.

Those giving funds to such individuals or groups may face five to 10 years in jail or up to Rs 10 million fine or both, it said.

Their movable or immovable property can also be confiscated.

The interior ministrys warning came days after the government acted on Monday to prohibit fundraising and social, political, welfare and religious activities by proscribed groups and individuals.

Police in Islamabad have registered three First Information Reports (FIRs) against unidentified persons who had put up banners of the FIF in the capital, the local media reported.

The advertisement lists 72 groups, including Jamat-ud- Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Tabia of Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad of Masood Azhar.

(With PTI inputs)
A prominent Sikh group in the UK wants to ban Indian officials from entering gurdwaras in the country, alleging that they are interfering in the internal matters of the Sikh community.

Sikhs in the diaspora are fed up with Indian government officials and their agents increasingly interfering in our institutions and Sikh affairs, undermining of Sikh campaigns for greater rights and internal matters of the Sikh community, said Bhai Amrik Singh, the chair of the Sikh Federation (UK).

Indian authorities also target Sikhs from the diaspora when they visit India, Singh said, citing the case of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who was arrested for his alleged role in targeted killings in Punjab.

Johal, who got married last month, was apprehended from Jalandhar in connection with the target killing.

The draft declaration by the UKs Sikh Federation states that anyone in their personal capacity can pay their respects to the Sikh holy scriptures.
A day after the US government suspended nearly $2 billion security-related assistance to Pakistan, President Donald Trump expressed public support for a Republican senators plan to introduce legislation, cancelling all aid to the country over its continued refusal to take tangible action against terrorists.

The US has given nearly $33 billion aid to Pakistan since 2002.

The president has been tightening the noose around Pakistan for not taking action against Haqqani network and Taliban and for not dismantling their safe havens.

Good idea Rand! Trump wrote on Twitter Friday night, retweeting a post by Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, saying, Im introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home.

The legislation will end all aid to Pakistan, going beyond the suspension of security-related assistance the Trump administration announced hours later.

The Trump administration announced Thursday it was suspending  not ending, as proposed by Paul, or cancelling  nearly all security related assistance to Pakistan, that includes foreign military financing, US financial assistance to recipient country to buy US military hardware, and Coalition Support Fund, a reimbursement for expenses incurred in support of IS-led international coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Economic, or civilian, assistance was to be left untouched.

The United States should not give one penny to countries which burn our flag and chant Death to America, Paul said in a short video message posted online before the US administration went public with the suspension decision.

Countries like Pakistan that stonewall access to key information in fighting terrorism dont deserve our money, the senator added. I say we should stop now. Stop sending your hard-earned tax dollars to Pakistan.

The senator said his bill would call for this saved money to be invested in building infrastructure at home in the United States.

Paul is a long-time critic of Pakistan. In February 2016, he had introduced a joint resolution in the senate opposing an Obama administrations proposal to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan at costs subsidized by US taxpayers. The US and Pakistan relationship has been a troubled one, he had said in a statement. Though the government of Pakistan has been considered Americas ally in the fight on terrorism, Pakistans behavior would suggest otherwise. While we give them billions of dollars in aid, we are simultaneously aware of their intelligence and military apparatus assisting the Afghan Taliban.

The resolution had fallen, but sale was blocked.

On Thursday, the senator said, Ive been fighting to end Pakistani aid for years. But now we have a breakthrough. President Trump has publicly called to end their aid, and is currently holding up over $200 million of it. I want to end all of it.
Street crews dug out snow-clogged roads across the US Northeast on Friday after a powerful blizzard, as temperatures plunged during a brutal cold spell that has already killed at least 18 people.

Extreme cold will reach from New England to the Midwest and down to the Carolinas, forecasters warned. Temperatures were expected to be 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average across the northeastern United States for the next several days.

From Baltimore to Caribou, Maine, workers battled to clear snow and ice as wind chills were forecast to fall as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in some areas after sundown, according to the National Weather Service.

In the latest fatality blamed on the harsh conditions, a driver slid off an icy road, killing a pedestrian, early on Friday in North Charleston, South Carolina, city officials said. The 17-year-old driver was arrested on charges including going too fast for the conditions, they said.

THE DANGERS ARE REAL, the officials warned in a Twitter message. Huge patches of ice all over the city. Stay at home.

A couple dig their car out the morning after a massive winter storm on January 5, 2018 in Boston, United States. (AFP Photo)

In much of New England on Friday, the highs reached only into the single digits or teens Fahrenheit, but wind chills made it feel below zero in many places.

It can be very dangerous, said Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist with private forecasting service AccuWeather. Any kind of exposed skin can freeze in a couple of minutes.

There were noticeably fewer tourists on Friday afternoon in New York Citys Times Square, which is usually thronged with visitors.

Arjun Shah, a 22-year-old Briton, studies in Indiana but had never visited the U.S. East Coast. He flew in to New York City, where temperatures have been below freezing since Christmas Day, just 24 hours before the blizzard struck.

Oh its so bad! Its not this bad in London, Shah said, shivering while taking a break from snapping photos of Times Square.

A mail delivery person pulls her cart through the snow on January 4, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York. (AFP Photo)

FROZEN MONUMENTS

In Washington, bundled-up tourists ventured onto the frozen Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial before being shooed away by a National Park Service ranger.

The memorial, also normally busy with visitors, was mostly vacant with temperatures in the teens and bone-chilling winds that sent American flags whipping straight out from their poles.

I dont think Ive felt this cold, ever, said Zoie Irwin, a 19-year-old student from San Francisco State University as she huddled with friends.

At the nearby National World War II Memorial, Varun Solipuram, a 31-year-old native of Hyderabad, India, who studies in California, said he was taken aback by snow in the bright winter sun.

Its really beautiful, Solipuram said.

The storm that swept in on Thursday with gusts of more than 70 miles per hour (113 km per hour), dumped 22 inches (56 cms) of snow in parts of Maine and 17 inches (43 cm) in parts of Massachusetts, before ending on Friday, the National Weather Service said.

The storm was powered by a rapid drop in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis, or a bomb cyclone.

Cities from Houston to Boston have stepped up efforts to bring the homeless to shelters. Authorities said that three homeless people in Texas died from exposure to the cold.

Canadas largest city, Toronto, scrambled to find emergency shelter for the homeless as temperatures dropped to record lows after the sweeping storm knocked out power to tens of thousands in eastern provinces and destroyed coastal roads.

La Guardia Airport awaits arriving flights after runways were plowed of snow on January 5, 2018 in the Queens borough of New York City. (AFP Photo)

Numbing temperatures have also had some unusual effects: cold-shocked iguanas fell out of trees in Florida and wildlife officials in the state said they had rescued more than 200 stunned sea turtles from freezing waters.

Schools in New York were open, while children in Boston and Baltimore enjoyed a second day of canceled classes. Schools in Newark, New Jersey, opened two hours later than usual.

Commuters riding railways serving New York and Bostons suburbs endured extensive delays as crews worked to repair frozen equipment and clear snow-covered tracks.

New Yorks John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports resumed flights on Friday after closing during whiteout conditions the day before. More than 1,500 flights at U.S. East Coast airports had been canceled by Friday evening, most at the New York areas three major airports and Boston Logan International Airport.

Nearly 500 members of the National Guard were activated to assist with the emergency response along the East Coast, including 200 in New York state, authorities said.
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Now that the holiday season is behind us, you're probably wondering where to store all of your gold ingots, lumps of physical gold and bars of gold bullion. The struggle is real, amirite?

Never fear, the State of Texas has your back in 2018.

Specifically, the Texas Bullion Depository wants to solve all your gold storage problems.

The Depository - created via legislation passed in 2015 and blessed by statute with the imprimatur of the Texas State Comptroller - is managed by a private company named Lone Star Tangible Assets.

Lone Star's business affiliates also are in the business of selling gold, diamonds, and precious metals as well as offering storage services for investors and collectors, according to spokesman Josh Hinsdale.

The depository is slated to open this month, at which point it will publish rates for depositors. Unlike the U.S. Bullion Depository, aka Fort Knox, private investors, corporations and endowments will be able to store and insure their gold at the Texas depository. Fort Knox only stores official U.S. gold reserves.

For now, Hinsdale told me, Texas depository customers should expect the cost of a combination of storage and insurance will be less than half of 1 percent of the value stored, per year. Meaning, storing and insuring a $100,000 pile of gold bars should cost you less than $500 per year at the depository.

Now, I don't personally own any gold, for reasons I'll explain further down, but it's true that storing gold could be a problem for some Texans.

I called my homeowner's insurance provider, and learned they explicitly exclude precious metals like gold in lump, bar or sheet form from their homeowners policies. So, I could try to store gold in my closet or basement at home, but it would be with the knowledge that any losses, including theft, are at my own risk.

Another answer could be a safe-deposit box at my bank. I checked with my bank, and for $100 per year I could rent one of its larger boxes at its headquarters office in town. This would remove the gold problem from my house and would give me bank-level security. It would not, however, provide insurance against losses.

The bank provides the space only, and unlike money deposited at the bank, my gold would get no guarantees against theft or destruction. I would need to purchase separate insurance for the value of my gold ingots.

Individual investors will be able to store and insure their gold at the Texas Bullion Depository this month.

The depository is building another facility for institutional investors, such as the University of Texas' endowment, in Leander, outside Austin. That's slated for completion in December 2018 for those who want to store their bullion closer to home. The endowment for Texas' state universities held about $491 million in physical gold bullion as of Aug. 31, reportedly at HSBC bank in New York.

Now, the Texas Bullion Depository appears to be a thoughtful and serious service, and for people who need to store their personal gold, this seems better than the alternatives.

But here's the more important thing I feel obligated to point out: Nobody should be buying gold for their personal accounts. It's not a wise use of your money.

Gold - unlike actual investments like stocks and bonds and real estate - produces no wealth or cash flows. Unlike real money, it is too volatile to serve as a stable store of value.

Unlike real money, it's too bulky and inconvenient to serve as a convenient medium of exchange.

Gold is one of my Four Horsemen of Your Personal Financial Apocalypse, along with time-shares, variable annuities and bitcoin.

I guess I could say the only thing gold has going for it is that it's "better than bitcoin." But frankly they are in the same genre of financial tricks played on the simultaneously gullible and paranoid.

What I mean is that if gold is the Bozo the Clown of investments, bitcoin is Pennywise.

From previous reader feedback, I already know I'm whistling into the wind with you gold enthusiasts, and likewise you can trust that your (polite) disagreements will not tempt me to agree with you.

Given the precious metal fever-dreams to which gold-enthusiasts succumb, I think the state-sponsored part of the Texas Bullion Depository is odd.

The depository is, naturally, the only one of its kind in the United States. No other state has seen the need to create this through legislation.

The state comptroller's office released a video in December extolling the creation of the depository in Texas, noting, "The Texas Bullion Depository will provide safe, fully insured storage for precious metal, providing an alternative to depositories largely located in and around New York City."

Something about storing gold in New York apparently makes Texas lawmakers nervous.

"The law will repatriate $1 billion of gold bullion from New York to Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott's office announced upon signing the bill to authorize the depository in 2015. I think using the word "secession" would be impolite here, but I'm also not denying that's the word that comes to my mind when I hear this kind of crazy talk.

The Texas Bullion Depository offers a legitimate solution to some people's gold storage needs. Undoubtedly, however, this facility will also stoke more fringy gold-bug fantasies.

Now, do you mind if I share my own fantasies? I was disappointed to hear from Hinsdale there are no plans as of now for a "visiting room" to see the physical piles of gold once the facility in Leander gets built. I would totally take my girls on a field trip to visit big lumps of other people's gold. Then we could spend the whole drive talking about how to stage an "Ocean's 11"-style heist of the "Fort Knox of Texas."

And really, what's the point of a Texas Bullion Depository if it doesn't inspire this kind of magical thinking?

If Richard Linklater or Robert Rodriguez isn't currently writing a "Goldfinger of Texas" screenplay staring the Wilson brothers, then I demand a full refund for all of 2018.
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Despite a long recovery and record streak of job growth, the share of Americans moving to new locations continued a steady decline in 2017, reaching a new post-World War II low, an indicator of a less mobile workforce that reflects an aging society and economic problems facing younger workers.

The decline marked the fifth straight year in which the share of the population moving dropped. In 2017, the number fell to 11 percent, according to the Census Bureau. The level was nearly twice as high in 1985, 20 percent, but has fallen steadily, except for occasional cyclical zigzags, for the last three decades.

For decades, high rates of mobility sharply distinguished the U.S. from other developed economies in Europe and Japan. The decline in mobility is due partly to what has become a less-dynamic and fluid American labor market, some economists believe.

The decline also reflects social and demographic factors such as an aging population and declining birth rates; older people tend to stay put more, and starting families often motivates people to go out on their own.

But economics has pushed the trend: Even though the job fortunes of young adults have improved after several difficult years following the Great Recession, many are still living in their parents' homes or stuck in apartments with multiple roommates.

Stricter requirements for mortgages and large student debts may be keeping some from homeownership. But high prices, particularly in larger urban centers favored by young adults, also play a role. Builders have tended to bank on more-profitable, higher-priced houses or luxury apartments, and that's helped exacerbate a shortage of affordable homes in many cities.

"I've been waiting for now a long time for these young people to get out of their parents' basement," said William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer who compiled and analyzed the census statistics, which cover the period between March 2016 and March 2017 and also include a sliver of foreign migration in the U.S.

Part of the slowing mobility could be a lifestyle issue, Frey said. "Maybe a little bit of inertia based on having not followed the norm of earlier generations."

There was, however, an encouraging sign in the data: Even as local moves, that is within counties, fell to a record low, pushing down total domestic migration, the percentage of the population relocating from one state to another in 2017 picked up slightly over 2016. Those long-distance moves are driven largely by job changes, and 2017 saw noticeable mobility gains on the part of adults 25 to 34 years old, those with college degrees and older people, according to Frey.

In recent decades, the rate at which companies create new jobs has fallen; so has the rate at which they eliminate positions, said Steven J. Davis, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Both trends discourage workers from moving.

"Lower gross job destruction rates mean less impetus from one's labor market experience to pick up and move locations," he said. "At the same time, lower gross job creation rates mean less opportunity to find a job in a new location."

Some analysts say the recently signed GOP tax overhaul, and President Donald Trump's efforts to reduce government regulations on business, could help strengthen the "creative destruction" in the American economy and spur migration. The tax bill, which mostly benefits corporations, is expected to increase economic growth in 2018. That could give a boost to mobility and in turn a lift to the housing market.

Just how much people will pull up stakes and relocate as a result of economic growth remains to be seen, however.

No one expects a major reversal of the long-running trend of lower mobility, in part because of strong demographic trends that include slower overall population growth.

Separate census data released last month showed that as of July, the U.S. population rose by 2.3 million from the prior year to 325.7 million. That's an annual growth rate of 0.72 percent - the second lowest since 1937.

The slowing growth of the U.S. population reflects a steady decline in births and growing numbers of deaths. The resulting natural increase over 2017 was 1.2 million, the smallest in at least 17 years.

Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire, estimates that the Great Recession resulted in 4 million fewer births than what otherwise might have been.

With the economy growing, some women who are in their 30s and who put off having children earlier could do so now and give a bump to the natural increase in the population.

Still, lingering effects from the recession and demographics suggest that many people will remain tethered to where they are. Young people account for the bulk of moves, and the U.S., like other developed countries, is aging, Johnson pointed out.
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WASHINGTON - There is a reason why the last federal sale of oil or gas drilling leases off Florida's Gulf coast or California's Pacific coast was in the 1980s: The local and congressional opposition is bipartisan and intense.

And that's why the Trump administration can expect a fight over its draft five-year plan for managing such leases, which calls for new drilling in those areas once thought to be sacrosanct.

In the aftermath of Thursday's public reveal of the new record-breaking offshore strategy, lawmakers from both parties are urging the Interior Department to drop its plans to hold lease sales off the Florida Gulf Coast and the entirety of the Pacific coast.

Fears of oil spills and interference with defense activities highlight the arguments against the administration's plan to tap all the domestic oil and gas that it can to achieve in pursuit of U.S. dominance of global energy markets.

"As the Department of Interior works to finalize their draft plan, I urge Secretary Zinke to recognize the Florida congressional delegation's bipartisan efforts to maintain and extend the moratorium in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and remove this area for future planning purposes," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., whose sentiment echoed that of Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. - a unifying issue for two politicians likely poised for electoral battle this cycle.

The White House acknowledged Thursday that the proposal may have struck a nerve with Florida lawmakers, vowing to reach a consensus on how to move forward, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The Pacific sales, the first time that region could see a lease sale since 1984, represent an even harsher and ideological opposition.

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington issued a joint statement calling the proposal "a political decision" that "flies in the face of decades of strong opposition on the part of Washington, Oregon and California- from Republicans and Democrats alike."

That statement included a promise to "do whatever it takes to stop this reckless, short-sighted action," the three governors said.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke vowed to maintain an open channel of communication, repeatedly highlighting on a media call Thursday afternoon that this draft proposal was the first step in a long process of completing the new five-year plan for 2019-2024, and that the former Montana congressman was open to hearing from all stakeholders, including members of Congress and governors.
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Parker School Uniforms spent months seeking capital, financing and refinancing, but the 87-year-old Houston company "exhausted all reasonable avenues" this week. It permanently shut down operations and terminated all employees, according to emails obtained by the Chronicle.

"Parker believed that it would be successful in obtaining the necessary capital and that, if it had, it would have been able to avoid the closure of the business," read an email sent to employees and shared by one of them with the Chronicle. "Further, if Parker had provided earlier notice, it would have it (sic) undermined its efforts to obtain additional outside capital."

The result was unemployment for workers who began their holidays expecting to still have jobs in the new year. As of Friday afternoon, employees hadn't been paid for hours worked at the end of 2017.

UPDATE: The Texas Workforce Commission now reports that Parker laid off 320 workers in Harris County effective Jan. 3.

"It's put a lot of us in dire straits," said a Dallas-area manager who asked to remain unnamed for fear of retaliation from potential employers.

RELATED: Parker School Uniforms may be closed after decades clothing private schoolers

For many Parker employees, the saga began Wednesday morning as they awoke to an email sent at 11:10 p.m. Tuesday.

"We regret to advise that the company continues to struggle to meet its financial obligations," the email read. "And while we aggressively seek out a path forward, we would like to respectfully request that you do not report to work tomorrow, Wednesday, January 3rd."

A conference call later on Wednesday informed workers they were still employed and that Parker School Uniforms was working on a solution. But a follow-up email that evening confirmed their fears - all employees were terminated, and the company did not provide specifics about pay or insurance.

"It's not a high-paying job to begin with," the Dallas manager said. "You live paycheck to paycheck, and this is the first paycheck after Christmas."

Verbally, employees were told they'd be paid for hours worked at the end of 2017. But their paychecks weren't deposited on Thursday. They were told the checks would come through Friday, but the employee again awoke to an empty bank account.

A text to several managers said the company's accounts were frozen, which prevented Parker from making payroll. It was trying to work something out, but was not "optimistic that this is going to be resolved" on Friday.

The Dallas employee filed for unemployment on Thursday and spent Friday looking for a new job.

Parker School Uniforms did not respond to requests for comment. Salem Investment Partners, which lists Parker as part of its portfolio, also did not respond to requests for comment. A woman who answered the phone at Argosy Private Equity, another company listing Parker among its portfolio, declined to comment.

Parker School Uniforms has been a Houston institution clothing generations of private school students. More recently, it has frustrated parents who complained of unfilled orders and a lack of communication.

The local office of the Better Business Bureau reports Parker was the subject of 85 complaints within the last three years - 81 of them since last July.
The annual Expanding Your Horizons day-long conference sets to kick off its 26th year on Feb. 24 at Spring Forest Middle School inviting young women from the sixth, seventh and eighth grade along with their teachers, parents and counselors to listen to other women sharing their success stories.

The conference is sponsored by the West Harris County branch of the American Association of University Women, which works to provide career information to stories of inspiring women for middle school girls.

"Our goal is to inspire young women to study science, technology, engineering and math so they can reach their dreams," said KarenJean North, from AAUW.

Each student will attend four small classes where they will be given the opportunity to meet a professional woman who works in STEM. The speaker will share her early interests in the field, her day-to-day activities, rewards she has received for her work, and any preparation that is required for the job.

Some sessions will include a hands on project that is used as a tool to help illustrate their work.

"These creative people don't lecture kids, but involved them in various ways to create hands-on experiences in every one of the conference workshops," KarenJean said.

Students are asked to fill out the form choosing their top category sessions they would like to be placed in ranging from their first choice category to their least chosen category.

Part of the policy for the conference is to not allow parents in the same sessions as students siting in the form.

"We have found that girls are intimidated when adults are also in the class, so our policy is that adults may not attend student sessions."

The categories to choose from are: Design & Engineering Adventures, Health and Medicine in Action, Math Opens Doors, Nature's Treasures, and Sensational Science.

The conference begins at 8 a.m. starting with check-in and a light breakfast followed by the opening session that includes the Keynote speaker. The day concludes with a drawing for door prizes at 2:45 p.m. before students are dismissed at 3:15 p.m.

This year's conference keynote speaker will be NASA's Ginger Kerrick, plans to share how she joined NASA and walked a path toward achieving her goals.

Kerrick is a Division Chief of the Flight Integration Division at Johnson Space Center with more than 25 years of experience in human space flight training and operations.

A total of 450 seats are available for students to reserve a seat. Schools that register 20 or more students might be eligible for a bus grant. Each person registered includes a $6 fee.

The conference first launched in 1992 when volunteers would gather to organized the EYH conference. The first Houston based EYH was held at Rice University in 1993. Spring Branch ISD began hosting the conference in 2011 at Northbrook Middle School.
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Make bird-watching one of your 2018 resolutions. It sharpens the mind, and offers exercise and relaxation.

Bird-watching takes you on long walks in the neighborhood or park while your body burns 100 calories per hour. Though it's not an aerobic routine, it serves as a fun way to burn calories. Especially after the holidays.

Besides, winter is a great time to take a bird-watching stroll. Trees barren of leaves make it easy to spot migrant birds who have arrived here for the winter - including yellow-bellied sapsuckers, yellow-rumped warblers and American goldfinches.

Look for chipping sparrows on lawns and in short-grass fields.

Although petite pine warblers with green and yellow colors are here all year, they normally remain high in the pines. In winter, though, they dangle on the lower branches or drop down to feed in the grass.

Lift those binoculars to get a better look at birds such as titmice, chickadees and woodpeckers. Of course, it's not bona fide weight lifting, but it helps your flexibility. (Remember my horrible bicycle accident last summer? Badly busted up right hand, arm,and shoulder, among other injuries. Advice from the physical therapist: Lift your binoculars!)

Admonitions abound about mental fitness as you age, and you'll definitely sharpen your mind by learning the variant calls and musical rhythms of songbirds. The skill involves complex cognitive functions and revitalizes the brain's neural pathways.

More Information Bird-watching to-do list A Get a pair of binoculars. A Buy a bird book. I shamelessly recommend "Book of Texas Birds," by Gary Clark with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press, $39.95.) A Study the bird book before heading out. A Look carefully at every bird you find during your bird-watching walk. A Carry a notepad and jot down the birds you see. A If you don't know a bird's name, describe it or draw a rudimentary picture noting body shape, size, color and beak shape - and describe the song or call. A Back home, look up the birds you saw in your bird book and learn more about them. See More Collapse

But don't overload your brain by trying to learn every birdsong at once. Start by learning a Carolina wren's 50 songs and calls in all their variations; that will keep your brain charged up all year.

Figure out the sounds a mockingbird mimics - hint: It's not only sounds of other birds. That'll give your brain a good workout.

Aside from brain training, the harmony of birdsong reaches deep into our ancestral DNA to recover feelings of joy that have long comforted people.

Which brings me to advice about relaxation, most of which involves meditation. Though my mind usually wonders, when I'm bird-watching, I'm focused on soothing thoughts, excluding all else.

I stand at a window with a cup of coffee as the morning dawns and birds begin to sing. My mind hums an old spiritual with the words, "My Lord, what a morning." Nothing else matters.
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If the Houston-Galveston region continues to boom for the next 60 years and sea level rises as scientists predict, a direct hit to Galveston from a massive hurricane could destroy an estimated $31.8 billion worth of homes, a new study says.

But Texas A&M researchers found that if the government builds a 17-foot barrier about 60 miles long from Galveston Island to Bolivar Peninsula, the potential residential destruction from a storm surge would drop to about $6 billion  a reduction of more than 80 percent.

The only problem: So far, Texas can't get congressional funding to build the coastal barrier, a proposal that has been floated since Hurricane Ike threatened to make a run for Galveston in 2008.

"The numbers make sense," said state Sen. Larry Taylor, a Friendswood Republican who has tried for years to get federal funding for a coastal barrier, estimated to cost up to $12 billion. "This investment is going to pay for itself time and time again."

The cost-benefit numbers could change with additional data: The A&M study only looked at damages to homes and apartments from a storm surge  not flooding caused by rainfall  and excludes the potential harm to the region's commercial buildings and its bustling ports.

After Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast in August, Taylor and other supporters of the coastal barrier saw their opportunity. Both City of Houston and state officials asked the federal government to include $12 billion for a barrier as part of their post-Harvey aid requests.

But the $81 billion disaster relief package passed by the House on Dec. 21  which also includes aid for storm victims in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands  does not appear to include funding for the barrier. The Senate recessed for the holidays before taking up the disaster relief funding.

The storm relief likely will become part of the negotiations for an all-inclusive 2018 spending bill to be considered by the Jan. 19 deadline for lawmakers to continue funding the federal government, said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, a Friendswood Republican, said some Republican lawmakers have pushed back against funding infrastructure as part of disaster relief, warning it sets a bad precedent.

Weber said he hopes to get the coastal barrier included in an infrastructure package if efforts to include it in disaster relief ultimately fail.

"This is foolish for us to just keep paying for these disasters over and over and over again," Weber said. "How about something to prevent this from happening on the next go around?"

State officials say they are willing to chip in for construction of a barrier, but can't  and shouldn't have to  pay for it alone.

A spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott said he was working with Congress on a Harvey recovery package but did not address state funding for the coastal barrier.

"The package is a work in progress and Governor Abbott continues to work with Congress to fight for the funds necessary to rebuild after Harvey," said Ciara Matthews, deputy communications director.

The Texas General Land Office already has dedicated more than $15 million toward studying coastal protection, the bulk of it going to a joint $20 million study with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that is expected to generate possible construction recommendations by this summer.

"There's no question that the state is going to tap the Rainy Day Fund to pay for Harvey costs, but should the state pay the entire cost for the Ike Dike? No," said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, a confidante of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who heads one of several special Senate committees studying Harvey. "That's absolutely unrealistic to even suggest that. Let's recognize the obvious: The state doesn't have to money to do that.

"Should the state pay something? Yes," he said. "Should the feds and local governments chip in? Yes. This is what the feds are for, is to take the lead on projects like this. This is a project that will take collaboration to get it done."

Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle

A wall of water

For years, academics and lawmakers have warned of the potential danger of a direct-hit hurricane for the Houston-Galveston region. Hurricane Ike in 2008 looked as if it might slam into Galveston, but it veered away before landfall.

Hurricane Harvey slammed into Rockport, about three hours south of Houston, in August and dumped rain for days, creating epic flooding in Houston. As bad as Harvey was, Weber said, the region still "dodged a bullet" compared to what would happen if a hurricane slammed directly into Galveston and sent a wall of water up the 44-mile Houston Ship Channel.

In March, Weber and other members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee visited the Netherlands to see the massive barrier system installed there after a flood killed thousands.

"I've looked at their gates. They hold back the sea," Weber said. "And by golly, if they do it over there, why can't we do it over here? It's not a matter of if we get another hurricane. It's simply when."

The Houston Chronicle also visited the Netherlands after Harvey to explore possible solutions to the flooding here. One of the main lessons: There's a short window to get plans in motion for big-picture projects.

What the project may ultimately involve is still up in the air.

Texas A&M professor Bill Merrell proposed the idea of building a barrier after Ike hit the coast, causing an estimated $30 billion in damages. Modeled after a system built by the Dutch, the idea eventually secured backing by the state, which created a public corporation in 2010 to study its feasibility.

But with the economy still in recovery mode, and no funding for the public corporation until 2013, the project seemed to progress in fits and starts, beset by opposing visions among academics and concerns about its potential environmental impact.

Michael Ciaglo/Staff

'Largest engineering feats'

Texas A&M and Rice University researchers have extensively studied the coastal barrier and have floated proposals that vary widely in scope and price, but are all in the billions.

The General Land Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reached an agreement in 2015 to split the cost of a study to evaluate risk reduction and ecosystem restoration along the Texas coast. The study involves analyzing four different options for coastal protection, including building barriers, levees and surge gates.

The Corps expects to publish a draft study with construction recommendations in the summer of 2018 and a final report by 2021.

"I believe this will lead to one of the largest engineering feats of the 21st century," Col. Lars Zetterstrom, the Army Corps' Galveston District commander, told a state legislative committee in October.

Taylor, the Friendswood lawmaker who is co-chair of the state's Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System, said although the project's construction as yet remains unfunded, he is not giving up hope  far from it.

Taylor noted that President Donald J. Trump has signaled support for infrastructure projects, and cited the general momentum toward mitigation post-Harvey.

"I think this is our best opportunity," he said. "If we don't get it done in this next year, our chances start diminishing."

The Army Corps has about $60 billion in authorized construction projects nationally that compete each year for money based on their cost-benefit ratio, said Edmond Russo, the Corps' deputy district engineer for programs and project management in Galveston.

"It's a very competitive process," he said.

State Sen. Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat who represents Houston's East End and parts of Pasadena, Galena Park and Baytown, said the project is simply "taking too long," considering what is at stake.

"We've studied this thing enough," she said. "It's time for action."

A direct hit from a hurricane is "probably the greatest risk to our region," she said, "and it is increasing each day."

***

DEVELOPING STORM: Hurricane Harvey was the most destructive storm in Houston's history. The late-August storm dumped up to 60 inches of rain on southeast Texas, but the resulting damage was multiplied by actions taken  and not taken  during the past 50 years. Our seven-part series explains why the storm's damage was both a natural and man-made disaster.

Part 1: Nature ruled, man reacted. Hurricane Harvey was Houston's reckoning

Part 2: Build, flood, rebuild: flood insurance's expensive cycle

Part 3: What's in Houston's worst flood zones? Development worth $13.5 billion

Part 4: Harvey overwhelmed some levee systems. Future storms could do worse.

Part 5: Officials patched and prayed while pressure built on Houston's dams

Part 6: For buyers within 'flood pools,' no warnings from developers, public officials

Part 7: In Harvey's wake, Dutch have much to teach Houston

Click here to read all of our Harvey coverage.

GET ENGAGED:

 Where do we go from here? Seven Houston-area leaders discussed flooding causes and solutions at a Greater Houston After Harvey forum hosted by the Houston Chronicle in early December. Watch Wednesday night's keynote address by Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice University's Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center. Read his thoughts on living around water.

 Sign up for our Facebook community to share your Harvey story, engage with other community members and ask our reporters questions.

 Join the discussion on Twitter: #HoustonAfterHarvey.

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Houston rang in the new year logging 33 fewer murders in 2017 than it recorded in 2016, an 11 percent decrease the city's top cop credited in part to an intense police focus on assaults and domestic violence.

"The way you reduce murders is to solve attempted murders," Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said in a recent interview. "If you think about people who shoot people, frequently it's not the first person they've ever shot, and in many cases it won't be the last person they will shoot."

Acevedo is already putting potential violent criminals on notice in the new year with this warning: "You may end up beating the charge later on, but you ain't gonna stop from taking a ride to jail," he said during a presentation to City Council.

HPD's preliminary estimates put the number of murders in 2017 at 269 - down from 302 during the previous year. Using the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent population estimates, that would equate to about 11.7 murders for every 100,000 city residents. That's a significant upswing from the city's 25-year low of 9.2, set in 2011, according to data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program.

But while some of those numbers are preliminary, they're nonetheless consistent with a two-decade nosedive in the city murder rate, as well as decadeslong drops in crime in most American cities - trends that have forged together an unlikely cohort of right- and left-wing activists and researchers in their calls to end mass incarceration.

New year, same issues

Despite fewer murders, Houston's year end was punctuated by a spate of horrific violence: In a three-day period in late December, a 13-year-old boy and three others were killed in two separate shootings, and a woman was "nearly" decapitated by her samurai sword-wielding boyfriend, officials said.

Hours after the 13-year-old boy was killed on Dec. 28, Acevedo wrote on Twitter that "we need to come together to hold anyone who commits aggravated assault especially with firearms accountable."

"We have shootings in our city almost nightly," he wrote. "Too many lives are being cut short."

Acevedo cited the Thanksgiving's day death of Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Damon Allen, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop on Interstate 45 in Freestone County.

Allen's alleged killer, Dabrett Black, had two previous arrests for assaulting a police officer and was out on a $15,500 bond at the time.

"We're starting to find a myriad of cases where individuals that have committed aggravated assaults are out on relatively low bonds, and while out on relatively low bonds they are committing other aggravated crimes," Acevedo said.

Officials with the HPD union have voiced similar concerns, with its new president saying last month that "we can't have predators out here preying on people of this community."

"I understand the justice system wants to be fair to folks," said Joseph Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officer's Union."But you have to be fair to the victims, to the community. You can't just keep letting people out."

It's an issue that is central to HPD's relationship with the Harris County District Attorney's Office under Kim Ogg, who like Acevedo is a reform-minded leader entering her second year at her agency's helm.

The chief did, for his part, say that he understands departmentwide reforms take time, and said he and Ogg's goals and visions for their respective departments largely align.

First Assistant District Attorney Tom Berg said Ogg has "built on the efforts of predecessors in this office to attack violent crime, perhaps with less emphasis on the death penalty, but very much in locking up armed robbers and burglars and gangs that victimize marginalized communities."

"Our initiatives diverting low-level offenses such as simple possession of marijuana were intended to free up scarce resources to reallocate to crimes against people and property," Berg wrote in an email Thursday.

'American carnage'

Houston's overall violent crime rate is, however, projected to increase by about 4 percent, according to an annual Brennan Center For Justice report that tracks crime in American cities through Dec. 19.

The Brennan Center estimated that Houston will experience a violent crime rate of 1,012 violent crimes per 100,000 the nation. In comparison, at its 1991 peak, Houston's violent crime rate was 1,600, according to the FBI's UCR database.

That same year, city police reported 36.5 murders for every 100,000 residents - more than triple the rate of this year.

Nationally, the Brennan Center estimated 2017 will likely have the second-lowest overall crime rate since 1990. Violent crime is down slightly since 2016, the report found, while the national murder rate plummeted 2.5 percent thanks to sharp declines reported in Chicago, New York City, Houston and Detroit.

The findings, while preliminary, are the latest in exhaustive research countering claims that crime is on the rise in American cities.

"Since Day 1 in office, President Trump and his administration have wrongly pushed this idea of 'American carnage' and a nationwide crime wave," Inimai Chettiar, the director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program, said in a statement. "They appear to be trying to scare Americans into supporting some of the administration's most controversial policies, from changes to drug prosecutions to aggressive immigration enforcement. But numbers clearly undercut their claims. Crime rates this year remain near historic lows."

Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, said the report "refutes claims that crime is on the upswing in this country."

Holden, whose bosses include conservative, billionaire megadonors Charles and David Koch, continued: "That doesn't mean we should be complacent. We should learn from the dozens of states that have made moves to successfully reduce crime and recidivism while also reducing incarceration."

Social media ties

In Houston, Acevedo also anticipates an intensified focus on gun and gang violence this year. That will include more data-driven police work, he said, as well as having more detectives working at night, when gang violence more often occurs.

Official estimates by law enforcement agencies peg the number of local gang members at about 20,000, though the exact numbers are difficult to pin down.

Sgt. Clint Ponder, a veteran of HPD's gang division, said that the city's focus on counseling and social work has helped deter young people from joining gangs.

He did, however, say that social media may be responsible in part for the number and sophistication of robberies committed in recent years. In December, for instance, a crew of masked men stole ATMs from five local hotels in one week.

"Before, guys were just standing on a street corner with their four or five buddies," he said. "Now they can kind of work through social media."

But, he added, it's important for officials and resident alike to not over-exaggerate the threat or sophistication of Houston's myriad gangs, which mainly operate in small pockets of the city.

"There is no way in the world these guys will every get organized enough to really pose a huge threat on you and me, or on the regular average Joe," he said. "They're just not that smart."
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Imagine making the nine-month trek to Mars just to have such poor vision upon arrival that it's impossible to land.

That type of scenario would be a nightmare for NASA astronauts headed to the red planet  but it's a very real possibility if scientists don't develop a way to counteract a phenomena that leaves men visually impaired after long-term exposure to zero gravity.

"This is a big concern for astronauts, who are mostly pilots," said David Zawieja, regents professor at Texas A&M University's College of Medicine, who is studying the problem for NASA. "You have to have them be able to land and appropriately be able to see. They have to get there, land, do what they need to do and then return."

Researchers still don't know why it happens or why only men have been shown being affected, not women, Zawieja said. The leading hypothesis is that increased pressure in the heads of male astronauts is to blame.

RELATED: NASA isolation study may provide answers for mission to Mars

Scientists at Texas A&M and Florida State University are studying how fluid pressure changes in a person's head  such as the cerebrospinal fluid that cushions the brain from shock  might impact vision. They're also studying coronary artery function.

Space Flight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome appears to be more prevalent during long-duration missions.

"Few data exist from which to determine the extent or cause" of the syndrome, according to a November 2017 risk report produced by Houston's Johnson Space Center.

Researchers expect to have results later this year from a study that launched 20 male mice to the International Space Station in August, with a goal of putting scientists one step closer to discovering why the vision problems happen to men.

Some scientists think zero gravity increases the cerebrospinal fluid pressure in the skull, increasing pressure in the back of the eyeballs and the optic nerve, Zawieja said.

"When there's increased pressure on the nerve, it doesn't act properly," he said.

NEW MISSION: New NASA mission to study little known boundary between Earth and outer space

Others think the syndrome might be caused by increased vascular fluids, such as blood and lymph, in the head. About 68 ounces of this fluid  the same as a two-liter bottle of soda  shift from an astronaut's legs toward their head in space, according to NASA.

Scott Kelly, the first American to spend a continuous year in space, wrote in his book, "Endurance," about the vision changes he experienced on many of his spaceflights. His vision would get blurry about 10 to 12 feet in front of him, he wrote, but eventually returned to normal back on Earth.

After his first long-duration flight, which lasted 159 days, Kelly wrote that doctors found swelling of his optic nerve as well as choroidal folds, similar to stretch marks, on his eye.

NASA researchers have identified these and other eye problems, such as the flattening of eye shape, in many male astronauts on long-duration space missions.

About 60 percent of 300 International Space Station Astronauts who were surveyed by NASA said their vision had degraded, according to the Johnson report. It did not specify if the respondents were male and female.

Researchers are attempting creative ways to counteract this problem, but it's difficult to do without knowing the exact cause. For example, as part of an experiment during his year on the space station, Kelly would don vacuum pants that literally sucked his body in an attempt to relieve the intracranial pressure experienced during spaceflight.

"The human body is roughly 70 percent fluids, which includes blood, lymph, and water contained within and around cells. On Earth, our cardiovascular system keeps those fluids distributed throughout our body despite the pull of gravity," according to a June 2015 NASA blog post from the space station. "During spaceflight, body fluids accumulate in the upper body, causing a noticeable puffiness in astronauts' faces."

The redistribution of fluids may contribute to vision problems in space, the post said.

"Reducing the pressure on our lower bodies also reduces the amount of fluid in our heads," Kelly wrote. "By studying the effects of [the Chibis pants] on our bodies, we hope to understand more about this problem."

SPACE: Earth's ozone is recovering thanks to decades-old chemical ban, scientists say

The main problem is that measuring this type of pressure requires an invasive procedure, such as a spinal tap or drilling a hole in one's skull, which cannot safely be done in space.

That's why Zawieja's mice are a great asset for researchers.

After the mice returned from their one month on the space station, scientists extracted tissues, arteries and veins from the neck and head, for example. Those samples were tested and will be compared to mice that stayed on the ground at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Zawieja and other scientists are planning a trip to Florida in April to continue their research efforts.

Rodents, obviously, are different than humans, but Zawieja believes researchers can extrapolate from the findings. And he hopes that their findings eventually help NASA determine a way to combat the problem, perhaps through medication.

"That's the goal: to figure out how to prevent this so when we go to Mars that by time we return, we can see," he said.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
AUSTIN -- The Blue Wave that Texas Democrats are hoping for this year could also result in a surge of gay elected officials in the state.

Amid reports that a record number of 2018 election candidates in Texas are LGBTQ, doubling the previous record in the Lone Star State, party leaders and consultants are predicting that large field of candidates could drive up turnout for Democrats statewide.

Houston-based OutSmart magazine reported that at least 42 LGBTQ people -- lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer, or questioning their sexual preference -- are running for a variety of offices. All but four of them are running as Democrats.

Included on the list are two Democrats for governor -- former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Dallas businessman Jeffrey Payne -- one candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, three for the Texas Senate, 10 for the Texas House, eight for the U.S. House and dozens for various judicial seats.

"I believe it's motivated by the fact that in 2017, members of the LGBT community in Texas watched themselves be attacked in the Texas legislature and they have decided to get involved in the political process to keep that from happening again," said Chuck Smith, chief executive officer of Equality Texas, an LGBTQ equal-rights advocacy group.

TEXAS TAKE: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz touts tax cuts and throws shade on Washington Democrats

"I hope this is a watershed moment, that many of these candidates will be elected."

Michael Webb, president of Houston GLBT Political Caucus, the oldest equality organization in the South, echoed that sentiment.

"This is a result of people who are tired of being the scapegoat of the far right, tired of being discriminated against, tired of being oppressed," said Webb, noting that the filings are part of a "progressive wave" involving numerous communities in Texas "that have been used as targets."

Fourteen of the LGBTQ candidates are from the Houston area, nearly a third of the total, according to the magazine. Twenty-one are women and 21 are men and five are transgender. Six are incumbents who currently are among 18 current LGBTQ elected and appointed officials in Texas.

Included among the LGBTQ hopefuls are Plano attorney Mark Phariss, who in 2013 was a plaintiff in the successful Texas marriage equality lawsuit.

Longtime Austin activist Glen Maxey, who became the first openly gay member of the Texas Legislature in 1991, said the numbers are clearly historic -- and signal a notable shift in Texas' acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

Francisco Vera/Laredo Morning Times

'Game changer'

In many respects, the larger numbers of candidates highlights how the LGBTQ community is going mainstream, activists and political consultants say.

"The glass ceiling we once had is no longer cracked, it's not even there any more," said Maxey, now the legislative director for the Texas Democratic Party. "The previous elections of (Mayor) Annise Parker in Houston, Lupe Valdez in Dallas, (Travis County Sheriff) Margo Fraser in Austin, (state Rep.) Celia Israel in Austin and others paved the way to where we are."

"Gay people have been running for and serving successfully in office for some time, and their orientation is no longer a consideration for most voters ... 2018 is not where Texas was 10 years ago, and certainly not where it was in 1991."

In a year when Democrats are predicting a "blue wave" will hit sweep Texas, fueled by voter opposition to President Trump's policies and Texas' increasingly ultra-conservative GOP leadership, longtime Democratic insiders insist the record wave of LGBTQ candidates signals a new energy that could prove significant.

TEXAS DEMS: Justin Nelson relishes role as underdog in attorney general's race

"It's going to part of what could be a game changer -- one of a number of groups that will build momentum for that wave," said Matt Angle, a longtime Democratic consultant, citing anger toward Republicans from women, Hispanics and the LGBT community.

Not surprisingly, Republican Party officials and their consultants downplay the uptick.

"The LGBT community is central to the Democratic Party, and while it's potentially valuable to them in the Democratic primary, I don't see that carrying through into the general election," said Matt Mackowick, a longtime GOP consultant and chairman of the Travis County Republican Party.

"Republicans don't evaluate candidates based on their identity -- race, sexual orientation, gender identity. We evaluate candidates based on their principles."

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Turnout is key

Should the record number of LGBTQ candidates help fuel a larger-than-expected turnout in the Democratic primary, that could benefit the party heading into the November general election, political consultants say.

And if more LGBTQ candidates win offices, it will increase their clout on issues facing that community -- and perhaps spell trouble for Republican leaders who might want to try again to pass the bathroom bill or other measures the LGBTQ community opposes.

By some measures, it could also increase the chances that Valdez or even Payne could become the Democratic Party nominee for governor, perhaps even end up with them in a primary runoff. Such developments would almost certainly draw national attention to Texas and its hard-line GOP policies that have been labeled as punitive by gays and transgender people.

2017 ELECTIONS: Danica Roem will be Virginia's first openly transgender elected official

At the same time, that could help draw more conservative Republican voters to the polls as they seek to ensure Texas continues as Red State -- as most politics watchers believe it will.

Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University who has been watching Texas politics for years, thinks the large number of LGBTQ candidates, while significant, may not make much difference to many voters.

"Lupe Valdez is seen by most people as a Latina sheriff. Her sexual orientation is not a defining factor in her career," he said. "Jeffrey Payne is a businessman who is gay. With less than two months before voting begins, both will want to get their message out on what they will do as governor -- not about their orientation."

In the end, he and other political scientists say their identity as Democrats will be a key in the primary. In the general election, not being a Republican could be an insurmountable goal for them as they try to break Democrats' two-decade drought in holding statewide office in Texas.

Maxey and other Democratic officials maintain hope that the Blue Wave will happen this year in Texas.

"These numbers are pretty significant and having the LGBTQ community firmly in the Democratic column will help the party this year, especially in the primary," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston.

"How that plays out in the general election remains to be seen."

Mike Ward is the Austin Bureau chief, covering Texas politics, the Executive Branch, criminal justice, ethics and other issues for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send him tips at mike.ward@chron.com.
The Star Wars franchise's latest evil government, the First Order, seems carefully crafted to send a shiver down contemporary spines. Based on an alpine-looking ice planet, run by crisp functionaries in sharply tailored uniforms and armed with world-destroying weaponry, the First Order hearkens back to fascist regimes of the 20th century. But the most frightening thing about the First Order, as far as real-world audiences ought to be concerned, is the radical inequality festering in the society it aims to rule.

In the world depicted in "The Last Jedi," the relationship between mass politics and the First Order is never made entirely clear; the regime seems to have manifested out of some dark energy conjured by its diabolical alien leader, and, this being a mass-market sci-fi flick, we can't fault it too much for that. (After the heat "Attack of the Clones" took for wasting time on mind-numbing political tick-tock, it's easy to understand why the writers behind "The Last Jedi" didn't want to make the same mistake.)

But the film does linger on the shape of its characters' economy: upside-down, one gathers. Wealthy arms dealers and other rich characters decked in haute couture throw money down and drinks back in glittering casinos while dirty-faced children muck out stalls for alien beasts roughly akin to terrestrial racehorses. This inequality is adduced as a source of strength for the Resistance. At the film's conclusion, a child laborer is seen using the Force to summon a broom for his chores, glancing at a Resistance emblem and gazing up hopefully toward the stars. Things simply can't go on this way, we're meant to conclude; the oppression of the many by the few will eventually be righted via popular uprising. Resistance, to borrow a trope from another star-franchise, is not futile.

RELATED: Texas poor

If only it were that easy: the bad guys openly callous and hostile to peace and prosperity, the good guys obviously and genuinely humane, and the citizenry alert and attuned to the difference. In reality, the economic conditions sketched in "The Last Jedi" are perfectly primed to give rise to the very sort of fascist regimes the film seems to think they're naturally antithetical to.

Filmic fascism may arise from the shadowy machinations of evil mystics, but in life, fascists neither arrive on the political scene ex nihilo nor present themselves as straightforwardly evil. On the contrary, fascists frequently lean into concerns about class struggles, rhetorically throwing in their lot with the downtrodden. Germany's Nazi Party was putatively socialist, though its commitment to addressing the interests of workers was never much more than empty verbiage. Hitler found the word "socialism" both useful and troublesome: It allowed him to tap into the frustration of dispossessed workers,but also obligated him and his party to pursue solutions they didn't actually favor and had no real intention of accomplishing. As scholar Tom Childers wrote for The Post, "Hitler understood that there are times when desperate, angry people want two and two to be five, and he swore that the Nazis would make it so," largely by making contradictory pledges to different groups of hurting people: "higher sale prices for farmers and lower food prices for workers in the cities," for example.

In their hands, fascists claim, capitalism can be tamed and the pain of workers reduced, thereby preserving the hierarchy of society by not allowing the divisions sown by mass inequality to collapse the entire system. German and Italian fascists both offered up such promises, as did Latin American variants on the same theme.

The fascists of the First Order don't seem as politically adept as their real-world predecessors. In his speech on the eve of the destruction of the free New Republic, the First Order's General Hux referred to the Republic's alleged disorder and lawlessness, both common enough fascist complaints, but didn't spare a moment to meditate on the vast socioeconomic divisions causing desperation and discord in nearby provinces he ostensibly means to annex.

There are worse things for a movie to miss. But it's worth keeping in mind that inequality is no guarantee that a popular politics of democratic resistance will thrive. If history is instructive, in fact, inequality, social unrest and instability provide fertile ground for the rise of fascism. If today's resistance-minded folk are interested in preventing the rise of a less imaginary First Order, eliminating inequality - not just reconceptualizing it as an engine of popular opposition - should be a top priority.

Bruenig is an opinion columnist at the Washington Post.
If our country is going to create jobs and expand the economy at a faster rate, we need to increase exports. That means that President Trump and Congress should find a strong leader for the U.S. Export-Import Bank so that it can do its job.

The chairman's office has been empty for nearly a year. And its board lacks a quorum to approve deals worth more than $10 million. That means about 80 to 90 percent of its activities are shut down. The last whole year that the bank was fully operational was Fiscal Year 2014.

Last month, the Senate Banking Committee wisely refused to confirm the president's nominee, Scott Garrett. When he was a New Jersey congressman, Garrett voted twice against renewing Ex-Im's charter, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "strongly opposed" his confirmation.

RELATED: Export-Import Bank loans support American jobs, including Houston-area jobs

As chairmen of the Ex-Im Bank for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, we know first-hand the institution's power to promote the nation's economic interests. In the last decade, the bank has supported more than 1.7 million jobs in all 50 states. And export-supported jobs are good jobs: They pay, on average, up to 18 percent more.

Critics, like Garrett, maintain that the bank primarily helps large corporations. The numbers tell a different story: In 2014, nearly 90 percent of the Ex-Im's transactions directly served small businesses. CECA Supply & Services Inc. of Houston has relied upon the Export-Import Bank for nearly a decade to export oilfield equipment to Algeria. Since taking advantage of Ex-Im Bank's financing, the company has increased its sales from $5 million to just under $49 million, all of which are export-related. "We are big supporters of the bank," said President Rami Touma. "It's been a great resource for us."

The list of Houston-area firms supported by Ex-Im in recent years also includes GX Technology Corporation, Schlumberger Technology Corp., Cameron Solutions, Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations, M-I LLC, and Paragon Offshore Services.

What does this cost taxpayers? Nothing - all the money comes from the bank's own operations. In fact, it actually generates money for the taxpayer. That's how cost-effective it is. Since 1992 Ex-Im has sent the U.S. Treasury $7 billion more than it has received in appropriations.

The bank was born in 1934 to provide financing for transactions that otherwise would not take place because commercial lenders were either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risks. Small businesses, for example, often operate with razor-thin margins, which tend to deter private financers. The bank provides a variety of loan, guarantee, and insurance products to aid the export of American goods and services.

During its 83 years the bank has had the support of every president. Ronald Reagan said, "The Export-Import Bank contributes in a signicant way to our nation's export sales." (Its second chairman was Houston legend Jesse H. Jones.)

If we allow Ex-Im to atrophy, we will be closing our eyes to the new realities of global competition. The bank used to be a novelty, but today there are more than 90 such agencies around the world, and other governments have given their own versions of the bank more flexibility and authority. During eight decades of operation, Ex-Im has financed some $600 billion worth of exports. China has financed more than that over just the past two years.

We risk kicking away tremendous opportunities. The McKinsey Global Institute projects that the world will need to invest $3.7 trillion in economic infrastructure each year through 2035 to keep up with projected GDP growth. On every continent airports, highways, railroads, power plants, cell towers, and hospitals need to be built. If we don't have a vibrant agency providing financing for companies that need a hand, then firms in other countries will win the contracts that might otherwise have come to American businesses.

Global competition is fierce - and becomes more so by the day. We urge the president to nominate - quickly - a chairman who will put the Ex-Im Bank to work on behalf of American companies and their employees and stockholders.

Draper and Macomber chaired the Export-Import Bank under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, respectively.
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Superior Court Briefs: Jan. 2 - Jan. 3

Cases heard before Judge John Agostini on Tuesday, January 2.

Juan Aragon, 46, of Pittsfield had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on two counts of enticing a child under the age of 16, and single counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, indecent assault and battery on a person who has attained age 14, and misleading a police officer or other person.

He was released on personal recognizance. The incident allegedly occurred in Pittsfield on March 25, 2017 and involved two girls - ages 13 and 14.

Cases heard before Judge John Agostini on Wednesday, January 3.

Ishmael Lytle, 28, of Pittsfield pleaded guilty to single counts of assault and battery on a disabled person, and caretaker abuse on a disabled person.

His case was continued without a finding for one year. Lytle assaulted a student while working at Eagleton School on February 20, 2013.
Lanesborough residents Al Terranova and Chris Dodig participate in Tuesday's Transition Committee meeting.

Mount Greylock Committee Hikes Rate for Tuitioning Towns

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Mount Greylock Transition Committee on Tuesday decided to raise the anticipated cost of tuitioning students to the middle-high school by 23 percent.

With the advent of a fully regionalized PreK-12 school district, the committee, which is responsible for all financial decisions affecting Mount Greylock after July 1, needed to set a new tuition rate for the towns of New Ashford and Hancock, and Stamford, Vt.

Back in 2014, the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee negotiated an agreement with the sending towns that looked to gradually raise the tuition rate to the level of the cost per student for Grades 7 through 12.

In fiscal 2019, that rate would have been $14,477 per student under the previously negotiated agreement.

On Tuesday, the Transition Committee, which includes members of the Mount Greylock, Williamstown and Lanesborough school committees, voted to set the FY19 tuition rate at $17,843 for all students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The committee held a lengthy discussion about the right way to arrive at a fair tuition rate, considering a number of options, including weighted averages.

In the end, it decided to use a simple average of the most recent per-student cost published by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for Lanesborough Elementary and Mount Greylock, the two schools utilized by the tuitioning towns.

Mount Greylock's per student cost was $18,372.30, and Lanesborough's per-pupil cost was $17,314.01 in FY16, the most recent year with data available. At Mount Greylock Williamstown Elementary, the per-pupil cost is $14,763.45.

Hancock has its own elementary school but tuitions its middle and high school students into three different secondary schools: Mount Greylock, McCann Tech and New Lebanon, N.Y.

New Ashford, which has no elementary school, has a longstanding tuition agreement with Lanesborough.

Last year, under pressure from town officials, the Lanesborough School Committee notified New Ashford that it was raising the tuition rate for K-6 education to $17,314 per pupil.

The move to raise the tuition rate across the district is likely to please critics in both Mount Greylock's member towns, who have complained that the tuitioning towns were getting too good a deal to send their children to the Tri-District's Level 1 schools.

At Tuesday's meeting, Transition Committee member and Lanesborough Committee Chairwoman Regina DiLego noted that New Ashford already was anticipating a jump in tuition for FY19, implying that the raise approved Tuesday would be less of a shock.

It is unclear how the increase will be received in Hancock, where four years ago, a group of residents including the chairman of the Select Board, put an article on the annual town meeting warrant calling for the school committee to pull out of its tuition agreement with Mount Greylock, which then cost the town $11,910 per student.

Transition Committee member Carolyn Greene expressed concern about the sticker shock that might be felt to the west.

"With Hancock, we haven't in the past told them the rate," said Greene, who was chair of the Mount Greylock School Committee when the previous tuition agreement was negotiated.

"I don't know if it's fair to say to them, 'This is our rate. Take it or leave it.' "

The Transition Committee discussed the idea of voting a tentative number for the tuition rate, pending a discussion with the sending towns. But ultimately it decided to make a firm decision on the $17,843 figure.

"I'm willing to talk with them, but I don't understand what argument they could make to pay below that," Transition Committee member Chris Dodig said. "What would persuade you that we could be below the average rate? We're building a brand new high school here. It's going to be state of the art. I don't see the argument for paying below [$17,843] that I would understand."

An Wednesday email to the chairman of the Hancock School Committee was not returned at the time of publication.

In other business on Tuesday, the Transition Committee discussed whether and how the newly formed Mount Greylock district would participate in Berkshire County Education Task Force.

Three members of the Transition Committee, Greene, DiLego and Dan Caplinger, each served on the task force.

They were asked to serve because at the time the task force was formed, each was the chair of his or her respective school committee (WES in the case of Caplinger). But, as Greene explained  not for the first time  on Tuesday, they did not formally represent their committees or act in any official capacity on the ad hoc, non-governmental task force.

The BCETF's July report recommending the county aspire to a goal of a single school district has drawn a lot of fire , including from one member of the Transition Committee, Steven Miller, a member of the Mount Greylock School Committee.

With its initial study and recommendation of an aspirational goal completed, the task force is undergoing a transformation into what its members have dubbed the BCETF 2.0. Given that and the consolidation of the three school committees in Williamstown and Lanesborough, the local members of the task force asked for guidance from the Transition Committee about how it wanted to interact with the BCETF.

"My concern with 2.0 is not considering all the alternatives," Miller said. "They looked at the status quo or three regions or one region. They didn't consider regions like ours."

After asking whether the Transition Committee could formally request the BCETF to start looking at more alternatives, Miller said would like to participate in the task force meetings going forward.

Task force members have said that the spirit of its recommendation is to encourage cooperation and shared service agreements among school districts  whether or not such collaboration ultimately leads to a single district for the county.

Transition Committee Chairman Joe Bergeron said that he would like to see Mount Greylock have a seat at the table as the BCETF 2.0 continues its work. But he is concerned that the countywide district idea  and its many detractors  could prevent the kind of collaboration that district should be pursuing.

"When I read that North Adams is having trouble hiring a business manager right now, I'd love to be able to say in a meeting, 'Should we think about whether it makes sense to share business office functions,' " Bergeron said. "But I want to have that conversation without someone saying, 'That's just because you have this one district goal.' That's my fear as a committee member who wants to find ways to collaborate.

"I also don't want to close ourselves off to the task force."

The task force had scheduled a meeting for interested school committee members on Thursday, but the snowstorm forced it to reschedule to a date to be announced.




iciHaiti - Justice : Minujusth's innovative approach to strengthening the rule of law





The new United Nations Mission (Minujusth), which began its mandate in Haiti in October 2017, has taken an innovative approach to strengthening the rule of law and supporting the Haitian National Police (PNH) in its work to maintain the order.



Mobile Police Teams of the United Nations Mission for the Support of Justice in Haiti (Minujusth) will strive to work with local communities and political leaders as part of an approach to finding durable solutions to of peace and justice of the country.



"With this new mission, the mandate of the Security Council focuses exclusively on the rule of law. Specifically, it is about strengthening the government of Haiti by strengthening the institutions of the rule of law," said Susan Page, the head of Minujusth.



According to her, there are still many weaknesses in Haiti in the rule of law "There are still so many questions about corruption, the state of working conditions, pay, salaries for magistrates, clerks, for all kinds of things. If you are not well paid, you will do something else to make a living.



Minujusth's role is to work with the government of Haiti "to try to strengthen the institutions. It's a big challenge," insisted Susan Page.



IH/ iciHaiti


















A chance to nurture the spirit of democracy in Iran

Washington, DC - The ruling mullahs of Iran may be able to silence anti-government protestors but they cannot win their hearts and minds. The people want an Iranian Republic, not an Islamic Republic. And you can make book on the fact that the latest unrest that rocked that nation over the New Year's weekend will continue, notwithstanding the brutality of the country's security forces.

In 2009, pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets of the capital city of Tehran. An estimated 3 million protestors took part in the hope of igniting a Green Revolution, according to the United States Institute of Peace. But hundreds of them were killed, maimed and jailed and the uprising was put down. For the next eight years limited anti-government activities continued. But, the latest protests are significant because they were countrywide with citizens taking part in big cities and smaller municipalities throughout Iran.

President Obama essentially ignored the 2009 protests and he was widely criticized for doing so on both the right and the left. Many experts say he was concerned that if he took any kind of stand, it would upset negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran.

But, President Trump appears to be taking the opposite approach. He has already been busy tweeting support for the protestors. And, he has a variety of choices for next steps.

For example, Michael Singh, managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that just making statements of support doesn't cut it. "The United States and its allies should, through public statements, private messages, U.N. resolutions and whatever other vehicles are available, clearly express their support for Iranians' right to protest. They should also warn authorities in Iran against any violent suppression of the demonstrations, whether such violence takes place on the streets or - as occurred after the 2009 protests - later on in homes and prisons, out of the public eye. Both the regime and demonstrators should be made constantly aware that the world's attention is fixed on them."

Nurturing the spirit of democracy in Iran has a variety of near-term and long-term benefits. For one thing, it could eventually lead to the establishment of an Iranian government that is more interested in peace and prosperity for its people and less absorbed with supporting terrorism, nuclear conquest and the destruction of the state of Israel.
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Over the last year, Netflix has begun releasing an increasing number of their own films featuring big-name actors and directors, including Bong Joon-hos Okja, Noah Baumbachs The Meyerowitz Stories, and David Ayers Bright.

The streaming service has now penned a huge deal with Matt Reeves, guaranteeing Netflix an exclusive first-look at any of the feature films the War for the Planet of the Apes director produces under his 6th & Idaho banner. Fox previously had the same deal with Reeves.

Speaking to Deadline about the news, head of film at Netflix, Scott Stuber, said: Matt is a fantastic storyteller with a unique vision and his track record speaks for itself.

At Netflix we are partnering with the best filmmakers and know that Matt and his team will bring great inventive films to our global audience. We couldnt be more excited to welcome him to the Netflix family.

27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

Reeves said of working with Netflix: Netflix is at the forefront of a new age in how storytellers are reaching their audience. I am incredibly excited to be working with Scott and our teams to find and create thrilling, character-centred genre stories, and to guide and nurture new filmmaking voices.

Before Reeves  whose credits include Cloverfield, Let Me In, and the TV series Felicity  makes any films for Netflix, the director has been signed to Warner Bros. upcoming Batman, which may, or may not, star Ben Affleck as the caped crusader.
Leader of the Radical Party faction Oleh Liashko has bought a land plot with a total area of 544 square meters in Obukhiv district of Kyiv region.

According to the changes in the property status that the politician entered into his declaration in the Unified State Register of Declarations, Liashko received the ownership of the corresponding land plot on December 20, 2017, the estimated value of which was UAH 300,288.

According to information in the declaration, the land plot was sold to Liashko by Valentyn Savytsky.

Meanwhile, in the declaration for 2016, Liashko pointed out that since 2015 he has rented a part of the residential house with a total area of 357.1 square meters from Artem Valentynovych Savytsky in Kozyn, Obukhiv district.

According to open sources, Valentyn Savytsky was a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of IV convocation, he has two sons - Valentyn and Artem.
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The whistleblower whose actions in leaking the Pentagon Papers 50 years ago inspired the movie The Post and who faced life in prison for doing so, has claimed Donald Trump is in some ways more sinister and dangerous than Richard Nixon.

Daniel Ellbserg, who was charged under the Espionage Act for providing to the press a classified Pentagon study about the war in Vietnam that revealed the government had repeatedly lied, said Mr Trump - unlike Nixon - had openly demonised the media and sought to undermine it.

What we have never had is the President openly demonising the press in the way Trump does and telling his base that the press is making up news against him, said the 86-year-old former military analyst.

Mr Ellsberg campaigned for the release of fellow whistleblower Chelsea Manning (Getty)

Nixon thought of the press as the enemy, but he kept that private. We can get it from Trumps tweets.

Asked if he believed Mr Trumps actions were in that sense more dangerous than those of Nixon, who sought to jail him for up to 115 years, he told The Independent: Nixon did not make an effort to destabilise the press. This is something new and its sinisterThe press is all we have.

Yes, its more shocking and dangerous in a way. Its hard to stop.

He said he believed other branches of government were not seeking to counter Mr Trumps assault on the media. If he is successful, our democracy is very much under threat.

Mr Ellsberg became a cause celebre in the early 1970s when he leaked the documents that revealed the US government knew very early on after its escalation of the war in Vietnam that it could most likely never be won.

One leaked memo from the administration of President Lyndon Johnson listed the calculation that had been made for the US to keep fighting. It said 10 per cent was for the chance of allowing the people of South Vietnam to live better lives, 20 per cent was to keep South Vietnam out of Chinese hands and 70 per cent was to avoid humiliation for the US.

 Chelsea Manning tearfully says thank you to Barack Obama

Mr Ellsberg, who obtained the documents while working for the Rand Corporation, was disgusted by the government lies he was confronted with. In the end, the US continued the war until 1975, with the death toll including 58,000 US troops, up to 430,000 South Vietnam civilians and 300,000 South Vietnamese soldiers, and 850,000 North Vietnamese troops and 65,000 civilians.

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In May 1973, amid a flurry of revelations about the Nixon administration that became the Watergate scandal, charges against Mr Ellsberg were thrown out. Nixon resigned in August 1974 as congress was preparing to impeach him.

The whistleblowers seminal role at this pivotal moment of US history has recently been once again highlighted by the release of Steven Spielbergs movie, The Post.

The film tells the story of how, when the New York Times was prevented by an injunction from publishing Mr Ellsbergs documents, the Washington Post, under its publisher Katherine Graham and editor Ben Bradlee, was able to step in and do so. In cinemas, audiences have been cheering when Graham, played by Meryl Streep, gives the green light to her editor, played by Tom Hanks, to publish and set the presses rolling.

In the film, Mr Ellsberg is played by Matthew Rhys, who spent a day with the octogenarian to prepare for the role.

The publication of the Pentagon Papers helped transform 'the Post' into a national newspaper (20th Century Fox)

What struck me is his passion for justice, ultimately, hasnt waned in 45 years. What surprised me in the research I did about him was how often he was called a traitor, and how the opposite is actually true, Rhys told MarketWatch.

So much of what he did came from a true patriotism, not to mention his humanitarian approach as to why he wanted the US to withdraw from the Vietnam War. He was a soldier himself. He served in the military. He believed vehemently in this country and that drive within him. still hasnt waned in any way.

Mr Ellsberg, who late last year released a book The Doomsday Machine Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, which provides an inside account of Americas nuclear programme from the 1960s until now, praised the film and said Rhys was a good actor.

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

Yet he said much of the movie was taken up by the drama about whether Graham would publish the documents. The movie quotes her late husband as saying such journalism represented the first draft of history.

I was not interested in history. I wanted to enlighten people right then, Mr Ellsberg said. The analogy to now is the same. Were involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would hope someone would put out the information in the media now.

Indeed, he praised Katharine Gun, a former employee of British intelligences listening service GCHQ, who in 2003 leaked information she obtained about the US National Security Agencys (NSA) efforts to bug the New York offices of six swing nations who, it was believed, would determine whether the United Nations Security Council would approve the US and UKs invasion of Iraq. Ms Gun was charged under the UK Official Secrets Act but the case was subsequently dropped when the prosecution offered no evidence.

Mr Ellsberg also praised former CIA contractor Edward Snowden who leaked information about several US global surveillance programmes and Chelsea Manning, the former US solider who leaked 750,00 documents to Wikileaks. She was sentenced to 35-years imprisonment but that was subsequently commuted by Barack Obama before he left office.

Mr Ellsberg pointed out Mr Obama had used the Espionage Act against journalists sources more than all other presidents combined - nine cases compared with only three by all previous administrations. He said he feared Mr Trump would soon follow suit given the vow by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to do so.

In the summer of 2017, Mr Sessions claimed the Department of Justice was pursuing three three times as many leak investigations as were open at the end of the Mr Obamas term. We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited, said Mr Sessions.

For all that, Mr Ellsberg said he hoped any official uncovering evidence of government malfeasance or lies, especially when peoples lives were at risk, would consider doing what he and others had done.

He said if there was another Edward Snowden out there he would hope they would come forward. He said he regretted he had not done so, in 1964, when he first became aware of what the government was doing.

My advice would beif you have the information and can take the risk, to get the information out and let the public know.
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A Mexican man who weighs more than half a ton is attempting to lose weight with the help of local doctors.

Juan Pedro Franco, 33, weighed a shocking 93 stone (595kg) by his mid-20s with the Guinness World Records declaring him the heaviest person alive in 2017.

But now, after years of being confined to his bedroom, Franco is embarking on a life-changing weight loss journey.

In a short film made by Natasha Pizzey-Slegert for the BBC, Franco explains that following a car accident at the age of 17, half his body was broken and he never fully recovered.

However, doctors remain baffled as to why he gained so much weight.

Since then Franco has developed diabetes, high blood pressure and hypothyroidism

The 33-year-old insists that he has tried everything to shift the pounds but after years with no success, he is finally getting surgical help.

One year ago, Franco moved several hours from his home to be closer to doctors and managed to lose a third of his body weight under their guidance.

Juan Pedro Franco left the house for the third time in seven years for his final operation (BBC)

Having been rejected by a number of doctors, he now has a team of 30 professionals helping him for free.

Patients like him typically get rejected for two reasons. Beds, operating room and special tools for them, Dr Jose A. Castaneda explained.

The second is the blame, its your fault youre here. But thats really not how it is.

Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight Show all 4 1 /4 Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight A girl looks over at the artist, seeming to size her up Haley Morris-Cafiero Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight The performer has taken thousands of photos over six years Haley Morris-Cafiero Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight Morris-Cafieros photos have provoked mixed reactions Haley Morris-Cafiero Five photos that reveal what it's like to be overweight Women crossing a street cast their gazes in Morris-Cafieros direction Haley Morris-Cafiero

Franco has since undergone a two-part gastric bypass which involves diving the intestine into two parts; one which will be able to absorb nutrients, and another that cant.

The operation should mean Franco only absorbs about 40-50% of the calories he eats.

Recovering well, doctors hope that he will get own to around 19 stone (120kg) in the coming months.

The two-part gastric bypass means Franco only absorbs 40-50% of the calories he eats (BBC)

Hopeful for the future, Franco says the first thing he wants to do when he can walk is go outside.

I want to feel the air, feel the street, be outside, he said.

Because being in bed, trapped in four walls just watching everything is really hard.
SCM, a company belonging to Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov, has said that they will appeal against a Cyprus court's ruling to freeze Akhmetov's assets worth $820 million, the SCM said in a statement.

"A company of SCM group indirectly acquired shares in PJSC Ukrtelecom from Raga Establishment Limited (formerly - EPIC Telecom Invest Limited) in 2013two years after privatization of Ukrtelecom. We have now indeed received information about interim order of the court in Cyprus concerning, among others, several entities of SCM Group and issued pursuant to an application from Raga Establishment Limited. We disagree with the order in its entirety and will contest it. The entities of SCM group will also vigorously defend themselves against baseless claims by Raga Establishment Limited that gave rise to issuance of the interim order," the group said in its statement.

The company said that SCM group did not directly or indirectly participate in privatization of Ukrtelecom in 2011.

"As we stated on multiple occasions, the current allegations by the State Property Fund of Ukraine and other governmental bodies of Ukraine regarding unlawfulness of privatization of Ukrtelecom and non-performance of investment obligations all stem from the activities of Raga Establishment Limited and its real beneficial owners, as well as persons who funded the privatization in 2011," the company said in a statement.

As reported, a Cyprus court has ordered the freezing of $820.5 million of the assets of Akhmetov at the request of Raga Establishment, owned by the former head of the bankrupt Rodovid Bank, Denys Horbunenko, which accuses Akhmetov's SCM Financial Overseas (SCM FO) of underpayment for the purchase of Ukraine's fixed-line telecoms group Ukrtelecom, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
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Donald Trump has claimed his two greatest assets are his mental stability and being, like, really smart.

In a series of early-morning tweets, the President hit back at questions about his capacity for office after revelations in Michael Wolffs explosive new book renewed scrutiny of his mental health.

The Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence, Mr Trump wrote.

He added: Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.

Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!

Mr Trumps fitness for office has been repeatedly questioned by critics since he entered the White House, with some invoking the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, which lays out the procedure for removing a President deemed unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

Democratic members of Congress have called for the President to undergo psychological evaluation to establish if he is fit for office, while a Yale University psychiatry professor told US lawmakers she believes Mr Trumps mental was unravelling and posed public health risk if he remained in the White House.

The publication of Mr Wolffs book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, this week shed light on apparent concerns among the Presidents aides over his mental state.

Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions, the veteran journalist wrote in the tell-all work, based on interviews with senior White House staff.

It used to be inside of 30 minutes hed repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories  now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions  he just couldnt stop saying something.

The book also quotes former Steve Bannon, Mr Trumps former chief strategist, discussing the possibility of the President being unable to complete his his four-year term, noting the possibility of a threat by the cabinet to act on the 25th Amendment.

Hes not going to make it, Mr Bannon is reported to have said. Hes lost his stuff.

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

The White House has condemned suggestions Mr Trump is unfit to serve as President as disgraceful and laughable.

If he was unfit, he probably wouldnt be sitting there and wouldnt have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

This is an incredibly strong and good leader.

The President has angrily denounced Mr Wolffs book as phony and full of lies, describing the author as a total loser who made up stories to sell copies.

Last year the American Psychiatric Association warned its members to stop psychoanalysing Mr Trump from afar, saying to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible.
Navalny's representatives to continue fighting for his participation in election, but admit chances are "negligible"

The opposition politician Alexei Navalny will continue seeking a reversal of the Central Election Commission decision not to register a group of voters who support his self-nomination as a presidential candidate, his representative Ivan Zhdanov told Interfax on Saturday.

"We will appeal today's Supreme Court ruling at the Presidium and will also appeal to the Russian Constitutional Court," Zhdanov said.

"In theory Navalny still has chances of taking part in the election, but in reality they are negligible," he said.

Both the Presidium and the Constitutional Court may quickly examine the complaints and compel the CEC to allow Navalny to run, Zhdanov said. "But we hardly believe in such an outcome," he said.

On December 30, 2017 a lower instance of the Supreme Court threw out Navalny's administrative lawsuit against the CEC decision not to register the voter group which nominated him as a presidential candidate.

This ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court on January 6 and thus has come into effect.

If the court does not overturn the ruling, it will also be appealed at the European Court of Human Rights, Navalny's representatives said earlier.
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Donald Trump has claimed Steve Bannon cried when he was fired and begged for his job", marking an escalation in the feud between the former strategist whose contributions to an explosive new book have made headlines around the world.

The US President also branded author Michael Wolff a total loser who made up stories to sell copies of his purported tell-all account of the billionaires first year in the White House.

Mr Trump took aim at the pair on Twitter, returning to his favoured method of attack after his legal team failed to halt the publication of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which shot to the top of bestseller lists before release on Friday.

Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book, wrote the American leader.

He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!

The Presidents attack on Mr Bannon marked a further deterioration of his relationship with his former confidante.

Mr Trump is said to have felt infuriated and betrayed when Fire and Fury excerpts emerged this week in which the Breitbart News executive chairman described a meeting between the Presidents eldest son and Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer as treasonous.

Mr Bannon also portrayed the Republican as out of his depth, with the instincts of a child, and said the Presidents team White House possessed no brain trust.

In response, Mr Trump claimed his ex-strategist had lost his mind and had very little to do with our historic victory,

Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency, Mr Trump said in a statement. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.

Mr Trumps lawyers also sent a cease and desist letter to Mr Bannon, accusing him of breaking his employment agreement and defaming the President.

As the American leader retreated to the woods of Camp David to discuss legislative priorities with senior Republicans this weekend, his administration and party continued efforts to discredit Mr Wolffs book.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Fire and Fury was full of errors and claimed even journalists who had been critical of the administration believed Mr Wolff had damaged the credibility of the media.

This is a guy who made up a lot of stories to try and sell books, she told Fox News, while the Republican National Committee tweeted a mocked-up book cover with the headline Liar and Phony.

 Michael Wolff, author of explosive Donald Trump book, describes inner circle view of President

Some journalists have also pointed out factual inaccuracies in the book.

Mark Berman, a Washington Post reporter who Mr Wolff writes of eating breakfast in the Four Seasons at the same time as Ivanka Trump, said he had never actually been there and that he was attending the birth of his child on the day in question.

The reporter later added he believed he had been mistakenly named instead of lobbyist Mike Berman.

Mr Wolff himself concedes in authors note some of what his sources told him was untrue.

Recommended Trump just sealed his fate by lashing out at Bannon

Many of the accounts of what has happened in the Trump White House are in conflict with one another; many, in Trumpian fashion, are baldly untrue, he writes. "These conflicts, and that looseness with the truth, if not with reality itself, are an elemental thread of the book."

He adds: Sometimes I have let the players offer their versions, in turn allowing the reader to judge them. In other instances I have, through a consistency in the accounts and through sources I have come to trust, settled on a version of events I believe to be true.

In an NBC interview, the veteran journalist said he has recordings and notes and remains absolutely in every way comfortable with everything Ive reported in this book.

Complaints from Mr Trump's camp have done nothing to impede the book's popularity.

After published Henry & Holt Company pulled forward a planned 9 January release date, the book stood as the best-seller on Amazon in the UK and US on Saturday, as well as at Barnes & Noble.
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Emergency services in southeast Australia are warning people to stay indoors as a dangerous heatwave batters the country, with temperatures so high that the asphalt on some roads has been melting.

The "catastrophic" hot weather caused a 10km stretch of the Hume Highway, near the Victoria state capital Melbourne, to become soft and sticky, causing havoc for motorists trying to enter the city.

Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have now declared a total fire ban after blazes on the outskirts of Melbourne raged out of control, destroying buildings and threatening lives.

It took a team of 300 firefighters, 50 trucks and three helicopters to tackle one fire in Victoria's Carrum Downs on Saturday, which threatened dozens of homes.

And another 49 bushfires are said to have been reported across the state - although many were small and easily extinguished - with 400 residencies losing power.

The state's emergency management commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said hot temperatures had combined with dry weather, strong winds and a wind change to create dangerous conditions.

"It's exactly what the forecast indicated and when we have fires running that's obviously a problem for us," he said.

Temperatures are expected to exceed 40C in the southeast, with the country's Bureau of Meteorology forecasting highs of 45C in Penrith, 44C in Richmond and 43C in Liverpool, with much of the area being rated as 'catastrophic' or 'code red' by emergency services.

Australia is prone to deadly blazes thanks to its combination of remote terrain, high summer temperatures and flammable eucalyptus bush.

In 2009, the worst bushfires on record destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria, killing 173 people and injuring 414 on a day the media dubbed "Black Saturday".

Australia's winter in 2017 - which runs from June to August - was the hottest ever recorded with the Bureau of Meteorology attributing it to a "long-term warming trend" mostly caused by climate change.

The South Australian County Fire Servce (CFS) issued an emergency warning for Sherwood, Brimbago, Lowan Vale, McCallum and Senior areas near the Victorian-South Australian border.

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

"If you are in this area you are in danger," a statement said. "There is a risk to your life and property.

"Take shelter inside a solid building. Do not leave or enter this area in a vehicle or on foot. It is too late to leave and the roads will not be safe."

NSW Health also released a statement saying emergency services were ready to respond to possible fatalities as a result of the weather.

"A NSW Health study published last month found extreme heatwaves lead to a more than ten percent increase in both deaths and ambulance callouts," said Dr Ben Scalley, director of environmental health at NSW Health.

"They put a lot of strain on the body and can cause dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke."

And speaking to reporters, Ambulance Victoria's state health commander issued a warning for the state's residence to take the heat "seriously".

"This heat is a killer. It's going to be like a blast furnace tomorrow and you need to adjust what you do," he said.

In August 2017, bushfire conditions in the east of the country reached "near record levels" following what was believed to be the driest winter since 2002.

At the time, Andrew Watkins of the Bureau of Meteorology said: "We've certainly seen a shortening of our winters."

Additional reporting by Reuters.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has announced that this year the main guideline for the country should be 'peace and development'.

"For four years now, we have combined offensive reforms with defense efforts to protect the country from the Russian aggression. There's no third option. So, let the words 'peace and development' unite into the main guideline for 2018," the head of state wrote in his column for the Novoye Vremia newspaper and The Economist World published on Saturday.

Poroshenko noted that Ukraine doesn't need an internal struggle of all against all, but requires the consolidation of the efforts of the authorities, civil society, and international partners. "And this is the only possible way for a successful Ukraine," he said.

The president stressed that the enemy continues to destabilize the situation inside the country. "We are rebuffing these attempts. The opponents of the authorities have already entered the active phase of the election campaign, some are even not above taking money from Moscow," he said.
As renowned musician Jayanthi Kumaresh sits facing her altar with the Saraswathi Veena on her lap, going deep into raga Bhairavi, her thoughts drift the far-flung locales her veena has visited. Believe it or not, this beautiful instrument has been to more places than most people have - covering countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Canada, United States, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, France, Luxembourg, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In fact, over the past year alone, this veena has been to over 30 cities, touching upon venues like the London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall and the Theatre de la Ville in Paris. Here's an unlikely glimpse of globetrotting though the lens of a classical artiste and the one companion she cannot live without - her beloved veena.

The first time I took the veena outside of India was in 1990 to London. At that time, taking a huge instrument like the veena on a plane was a formidable task. We got a huge rectangular wooden box made, which was both oversize and overweight and had a rather interesting shape which made people curious about its contents. I wondered at that time how was I going to carry this instrument and popularise it worldwide, if each journey was as laborious as this one? A 30-city-concert tour through the United States with my guru Smt Padmavathy Ananthagopalan ji back in 1995 was quite an eye opener. I told my guru that if she really wanted me to spread the divine twang of the veena across the globe, something had to be done about carrying it easily. That is when she made a very beautiful veena for me that weighed all of three kgs (half the original weight) which I could carry with me into the plane and that did not compromise in any way in its tone, texture or design. Having travelled extensively to all countries in the last 26 years, not a day passes without my bowing in salutations to my guru who actually made this possible for me.

The veena is as old as 2000 years and is as new as tomorrow. 2017 was a wonderful year for the Saraswathi Veena. Representing India and presenting the national instrument of India to the world is a matter of great honour and pride and at the same time, a huge responsibility. This year started with concerts at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Mackintosh Church for Celtic Connections in Glasglow, Scotland where most of the audience were seeing and hearing the Saraswathi Veena for the first time. A Strings Attached Europe tour along with violin Maestro R Kumaresh in early summer saw the veena being presented in Bern (Switzerland), Rorbas (Switzerland), Frankfurt and Luxembourg. One of the greatest music festivals worldwide is the BBC Proms, at Londons Royal Albert Hall. In August, we presented the Saraswathi Veena and the violin (Maestro R Kumaresh) to a packed British audience. In October, the veena travelled to Australia to perform in Sydney. In November, I performed at Theatre de la Ville, Paris to a sold out audience who were highly receptive to the voice of the veena. I was truly humbled by the ovation, encore and the warmth from the audience.

One does not need in-depth knowledge about the art form to appreciate it. The veena showed that music went beyond language and region. And at long last, last December, the Saraswathi Veena returned home to Chennai to be cherished and celebrated during the Margazhi season. My travels have definitely influenced the narrative of my presentation. My hope is to share the richness of these experiences that I picked up from all these concerts and travels throughout the following year and present it to rasikas from all over the world attending the music season, and beyond.
Health minister chairs medical panel treating Buharis son

According to new report by Punch, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, is chairing the medical team attending to President Muhammadu Buharis son, Yusuf, who was involved in a bike accident in Abuja recently. Many Nigerians are however displeased by it. According to them, the Health Minister should leave that for other competent doctors. Heres what some Twitter users had to say about it;

Medical panel for a recalcitrant child while innocent law abiding citizens either die from marauding Fulani herdsmen or die for lack of adequate medical treatment. Wonderful country  Concerned Nigerian (@lagospikin) January 6, 2018

Is this how low we have sunk, so the Health Minister has nothing to do anymore??? So much for CHANGE  Jaspa Jacksparo (@ijacksparo) January 6, 2018

Ok, thats why I went to hospital and there were no doctors there, they all went to Abuja  Ayke Iyinagoro (@aykeii) January 6, 2018

BAADonDSTV

Nigerias newest celebrity couple, Banky W and Adesuwa Etomi whose fairy-tale wedding got everyone talking last November is back this time with more sauce to their love story. The couple have got to be one of the most loved celebrities in Nigeria at the moment. Trending today all over social media is # BAADonDSTV as fans get to relive the fairy tale wedding and go behind the scenes to discover never before seen moments of BAAD2017.

Banky even goes on tell us how to properly slid into DMs, his reaction to Ebukas agbada and so on.

This guys can make anything trend. They did that with their Proposal, then their wedding, now this. Too awesome!!!
Illegal armed formations continued to fire at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as a result of which one soldier was injured, the press center of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters reported.

"There is still no full compliance with the ceasefire regime because of the Russian-occupation groups. The enemy continues to shell the position of the Armed Forces using weapons banned by the Minsk agreements," the headquarters said on their Facebook page on Saturday morning.
Unknown gunmen invaded Jermiya village in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State on Thursday evening as a Sharia court judge, Abubakar Jibrin was kidnapped.

It was learnt on Friday that the judge was returning from work when he was accosted by the kidnappers at around 6:05 pm.

The incident is coming barely three days after seven people were kidnapped and three others killed along the same road.

District Head of Alawa, Ibrahim Saleh, who confirmed the incident, said that the kidnappers had demanded N50m as ransom for Jibrins release.

Saleh said that the entire community now lived in fear following the activities of armed men in the area.

Commissioner for Justice in the state, Nasara Danmalam, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report as his telephone line failed to connect.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muhammad Abubakar, when contacted, also confirmed the incident, saying they were working hard to secure his release.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Days ago, there was drama on social media after an aggrieved bride called out a Nigerian designer, Maryam Elisha of RikatoByMe, for giving out her wedding reception dress to actress Mercy Aigbe for her 40th birthday photoshoot.

The designer blamed the supposed mistake on a dispatch error and apologized for the pain she caused the new bride. Now although Mercy didnt react as the back and forth went on, a stylist Styledbyseun has come forward to take responsiblity. In a post on Instagram today, he wrote;

I would like to apologize to my Client regarding the ongoing  RED DRESS SAGA  involving my client MERCY AIGBE who contracted me to style her for her 40th birthday photoshoot . I picked up (4) four dresses on behalf of my client (Mercy Aigbe) from the Fashion Designer  RIKAOTO BY ME on 28th December,2017 for my clients photoshoot of which the Red Dress was one.

However, I was in no way informed it was a custom-made dress for RIKAOTOs BRIDE. This has put a dent in my clients image for which I am truly sorry for as I handled the transaction on her behalf.

I would like to clearly state that my client Mercy Aigbe wasnt aware the dress was for anyone prior to when the news broke. My heartfelt apologies to the affected bride as well; No bride should be without her dress on her big day. I wasnt aware the Red Dress was hers and I am truly sorry for the disappointment she exprerienced. Thank you

Source: Linda Ikejis blog
More than 2,400 people spent time this week on a trolley or chair waiting for a hospital bed, nurses have said.

The first week of January, traditionally the worst days of the year for getting admitted to a ward, saw a 10% increase in the number of patients queuing for a proper bed compared to the same time last year.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said its staff counted 2,408 patients on trolleys from Monday to Friday.

The number is 221 higher than the first week of 2017 and is a record high, the union said.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said talks with the Health Service Executive (HSE) on trying to ease the crisis overcrowding have been productive.

"We now have a clear focus on implementing patient flow measures," she said.

Following the talks the states Emergency Department Taskforce will meet on Monday to set out immediate, medium and long-term practical approaches to the recurring problem of overcrowding.

The INMO had previously revealed a record number of admitted patients, 98,981, spent time on trolleys in hospitals during 2017.

The union said it wanted hospitals to be operating under the full capacity protocol and mandatory de-escalation policies in order to stop overcrowding spreading throughout hospitals and to reduce the risk of cross infection, poor patient outcomes and burnout amongst staff.

The INMO report on the first week in January was released alongside figures which showed hospital overcrowding had eased slightly by Friday, with fewer than 500 people waiting for a proper bed.

According to the latest morning headcounts in A&E units and corridors around hospitals, there were 483 patients on trolleys or in chairs queuing for space in a ward.

University Hospital Limerick had the worst record for the second day in a row, with 43 people waiting for a bed.

Others with high levels of overcrowding included St Lukes Hospital in Kilkenny, with 34 people on trolleys, the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, which had 33, and Cork University Hospital, which had 31.

The INMO said its 8am headcount on Friday found 351 people on trolleys in A&E units and 132 waiting in corridors around wards.

The latest figures were released following calls from Health Minister Simon Harris and the Health Service Executive for people not to go to hospital if they have flu symptoms, for workers to stay at home if they think they have the virus and for children to be kept off school if they are at risk of spreading the germs.

The flu season will run for another fortnight before it is expected to peak.

Meanwhile,the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said Taoiseach Leo Varadkars apology for the overcrowding reflected a shocking ignorance of health services and the impact of years of austerity.

IMO president Ann Hogan said his remarks were "particularly worrying" as he is a former health minister.

"Austerity is the root cause of this crisis and investment, significant and urgent, is the only response," she said.

Dr Hogan said the Taoiseachs promises of the crisis stabilising involves a 92% bed occupancy on average; a new norm of 500 patients waiting for admission on trolleys; and almost 700,000 patients waiting for an outpatient appointment; an ever-increasing number of cancelled operations and procedures; and a GP system which is struggling to meet demand.

She said: "Is that what is acceptable to the Taoiseach as stability?"
The number of murders in New York city last year dropped to its lowest level in the modern era.

Officials said there were 290 murders in 2017, down from 335 the year before.
CAN it really be the case that there hasnt been a resale for six or seven years past, at the stylish The Avenue section of Woodville, above and just east of Glanmire, on the commutable edges of Cork city?

Designed by Wilson Architecture back in the early- to mid-2000s, Woodville had over 50 new-builds ranged around a period 1800s Georgian grand home, which was itself converted into apartments, plus courtyard homes, in one of the decades more elegant schemes of contemporary design in the greater Cork region.

Still looking fresh and aesthetically adept, Woodville (developed as a calling card of quality by a company called Rossdale around 2004/05) had its dozens of new arrivals slotted in around retained mature hardwood trees, lending one section the address The Beeches, for example. And, while the Price Register shows quite a few resales with a Beeches address going back to 2011 (with one of the more recent at 335,000 in 2016, and a few in 2017 under the 300k mark), not a single home appears to have sold at the more prestigious, upmarket The Avenue.

The Price Register shows a sale at 414,000 in late 2013 with a simple Woodville, Dunkettle address listed, and so is possibly one of this house style and substance. Separately, No 3 The Avenue came to market back in 2016, and was a 1,720 sq ft four-bed on a 0-.3 acre site, with planning for two extensions to enable it to swell to a five-bed of 3,000 sq ft, should a new owner so wish. It had a price guide of 530,000, and doesnt appear to have been sold.

Overall at Woodville, there was a good variety of size, and pricing, from day one, with the Avenue detacheds (19 in all planned) going from 1,400 to over 2,000 sq ft, and with a stand-out couple on large sites at up to 2,700 sq ft, and priced at 1m, reflective of the run-up to the times max pricing. The smaller homes sold from the mid/high 400,000s, up to c 700,000, and now No1 2 The Avenue comes to market for an early 2018 sale for its relocating owners, whove been here since day one.

No 12 The Avenue is priced at 475,0000 by city-based estate agent Dan Howard, and as its c 1,460 sq ft, it seems as if its 2018 value is coming back close to what it was worth c 2005, when there was another year or two of price froth left in the then-rampant market. Its notable that Daft property websites consultant economist Ronan Lyons earlier this week forecast that Irish house prices are heading back to 2007 peak levels, and could be reached in a few more years time whilst adding the peak of the Celtic Tiger housing bubble is not, of course, a target.

Launching No 12 and hoping for an early New Years sale, Mr Howard says a property as good as this rarely comes to the market. He started his open viewings on Wednesday, and his listing brought a lot of advance online views and calls: he put it up on the web on December 23, and it stayed at the top of the live new listings for Cork for ten days or so, getting over 5,000 hits over the holiday lull  a tip there for other estate agents and vendors for next year?

In its shape and outline, No 12 The Avenue is a sort of modern interpretation of the traditional Irish long house or long, two-storey Irish farm dwelling thats typically just one room wide. And, thats indeed the case here, at least in the example of the main, gable end living room, which had a triple aspect. Theres a mix of glazing, including tall narrow opes on one side by the entrance, as well as other floor-to-ceiling windows by a glazed corner under a grey-painted C-section steel beam, plus French doors to a patio. Theres also a dining room with French doors to the outside, kitchen with large, pale floor tiles and wood-effect slick cabinets plus range cooker, utility and guest WC.

Moving around the house theres quite a variety of windows sizes, shapes and placements, including clerestory windows on high, a long, horizontal slit by the stairs. Several rooms (including the master bedroom and living room) have full-height corner/double aspect windows for an open and airy feel, even if furnishing/furniture placement and fitting of curtains/drapes calls for a bit more creativity for those hung up on high notions of privacy.

Overall condition is excellent, with a lustrous walnut floor in the hall, well-specced bathrooms, and theres gas heating. Externally, the grounds are well landscaped with trimmed lawns ringed with sleepers and low, white, rendered walls. Theres a useful deck serving the living room and dining room, with bamboo planting.

No 12s site is bounded by mature hardwoods and beeches: photography for the sales launch is a mix of seasonal winter shots and some taken during summer months, to show the glories of whats to come  another sales tip for anyone who may be selling in the next few years: take good quality exterior shots in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and keep/save them safely to be sure to be sure.

No 12s vendors are trading across to another part of metropolitan Cork. Auctioneer Dan Howards says their home oozes charm and character, has a wonderful private and sunny site and would make an ideal family home. He anticipates good trading-up interest, as well as interest from those relocating. The Glanmire/Glounthaune/Little Island area is continuing to grow its employment base, with a major new office building going in during 2018 for back-office support services for pharma company Lilly at Eastgate among the larger moves.

Its located a few minutes from the Dunkathel/Dunkettle interchange, due now for a major upgrade to relieve traffic congestion at the tunnels busy feeder roads. Developers OFlynn Construction are set to build new homes near the completed Woodville in the next year or so at Ballinglanna, while the development of their valuable ground at Dunkathel House may follow in later years, once tunnel congestion is removed.

VERDICT: stylish still.

Dunkathel, Glanmire

475,000

Size: 135 sq m (1,460 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 3

BER: C1
The study, A Review of Respiratory medicines Expenditure in the Primary Care Reimbursement Services 2005  2015

, analysed data from the Primary Care Reimbursement Service schemes and shows total expenditure peaked in 2009 and has been falling since, with the level in 2015 of 135.25m below that of 2006 and similar to the spending back in 2005.

It also found that 87% of respiratory medicines in the primary setting are funded by the Government through its public schemes and that 13% of respiratory medicines are funded privately.

Author Jackie ODwyer, who has a masters in health economics from University College Cork, referenced a number of barriers to full take-up of respiratory medicines, including the cost of the medicines in some cases.

It also referred to Irelands rapidly ageing population and the fact that chronic diseases are responsible for 76% of deaths in Ireland, with four out of 10 hospitalisations in Ireland in 2011 either directly or indirectly due to four of the main chronic diseases  cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and diabetes.

Irish research shows that there are several factors for a low adherence rate  one of which is access to medications and treatments and another is the cost of medications, it said.

It found that there were higher adherence rates in those who were on medical cards than those that had to pay or co-pay themselves.

This is despite the costs of vaccinations and nebulisers rising but then falling over the period under review.

According to the report: The extra cost in order to provide all respiratory medicines through public schemes could range from between 20.2m to 33.8m. As respiratory disease are chronic diseases and some are part of the chronic disease management programmes this extra cost could be paid through the LTI [Long-Term Illness] scheme.

This could result in the removal of an adherence barrier, i.e. cost of medications.

The research, carried out in collaboration with the Irish Asthma Society, is expected to be published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science in the coming weeks.

www.ucc.ie/en/media/research/carl/JackieODwyerCARLreport2017IrishAsthmaSociety.pdf
The orders were sought in respect of the woman, who has been hospitalised with the eating disorder for several weeks, currently weighs just 36kg (5.7 stone) and has a body mass index (BMI) of just 12.

While the woman has told those treating her she does not want to die and wants to get better, she has refused to give her consent to allow the hospital to feed her by a nasal tube. However, the hospital says her life is in danger unless it is permitted to feed her via the tube.
Focus Ireland says it is concerned at the surprise re-appointment of Conor Skehan as chairman of the Housing Agency, claiming that the move raises quite significant challenges.

Mr Skehan was widely expected to step down from his role at the state body and had recently come in for criticism after he claimed some families in emergency housing may be gaming the system by declaring themselves as homeless to advance up the housing list.

Those remarks brought swift rebukes from a number of homeless charities which claimed that it was not backed up by evidence.

Yesterday, it emerged that the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, had re- appointed Mr Skehan to the role for 2018.

The surprise move was met with unease by some homeless organisations, with Focus Irelands director of advocacy, Mike Allen, stating: The fact that he is now continuing as chair for the year raises quite significant challenges.

We have been very clear that we think a number of things he said are personal opinions for which there was no evidence.

Last night, the Department of Housing said: Dr Conor Skehan was due to step down from the role of chair of the Housing Agency at the end of his term. The department is currently in the process of identifying a suitable replacement.

In the meantime, the minister has asked Dr Skehan to stay on as chair until a replacement has been appointed. Dr Skehans re-appointment has been made on a temporary basis for a period of up to one year. As soon as a suitable replacement has been identified through the normal Public Appointment Service arrangements, the department will then make the necessary order to appoint him or her in Dr Skehans place.

Mr Skehan had also urged that homelessness charities should be subject to performance targets to justify the state funding they receive and last year said that the housing crisis was completely normal.

The latest homelessness report showed that in November, there were 5,524 homeless adults and 3,333 children living in emergency accommodation.

News: 7

Editorial: 14
Mr Harris defended the changes, which exempts small local shops from the more draconian elements of the bill regarding separation of alcohol, saying the alterations are common sense.

Mr Harris, in an interview with the Irish Examiner, said he is satisfied with the final makeup of the bill.

I said alcohol must be less visible to children and it will be. But this will be more practical for small shops. This was never about small shops having to spend a fortune to change their shops. I always felt certain compromises would need to be made to get the bill passed. The Taoiseach when he appointed me told me to get this passed and I feel the compromise was proportionate, he said.

He rejected accusations that he has rolled over to the drinks industry: The fact I was not on their Christmas card list is probably a good thing. I dont see how that holds up that I have rolled over.

It was 700 days from its initiation to the time it passed the Seanad. We were somewhat going around in circles and some in the drinks industry thought it would never leave the Seanad. We have made a number of common sense changes which dont alter the fundamental principle of what I wanted the bill to do, Mr Harris said.

Mr Harris said under this bill minimum unit pricing will come into law, advertising restrictions will be introduced, and new labels with health warnings will come in.

Even when Micheal Martin brought in the smoking ban he had to compromise on the legislation. It has to go through the Dail and hopefully we can get it done quickly, Mr Harris said.

Mr Harris said he was the subject of intense lobbying from within his own party and from members of the Opposition: In fairness to them, they were transparent about it, they were true to their word. They said we dont have a problem about alcohol being less visible but is there a more practical way to solve it.

They had very strong views based on what they heard from local retailers in their constituencies, Mr Harris said.

A number of senators criticised of the Bill. Fine Gael senator Paudie Coffey said the bill should not make pariahs out of responsible shopkeepers who are trying to manage their businesses.

Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard also said that he was concerned that the legislation would threaten the existence of small retailers.

Fianna Fail senator Keith Swanick said the legislation would require small shops to put in place new shelving units, fire exits and work barriers.

However, Independent Senator Frances Black urged the minister not to weaken on this part of the legislation.

She said that this part of the legislation was about the woman who walks into the shop and just getting a bottle of wine, like as if it was a pint of milk and that bottle of wine could cause that woman breast cancer.
The findings emerge from an international study that shows just under three quarters of fourth-class pupils here were almost never bullied. They did not experience four out of eight bullying behaviours asked about, and suffered from the others just a few times a year.

However, 5% of Irish children were bullied weekly, meaning they were victims of half the kind of behaviours mentioned once or twice a month, and the rest a few times a year.

The bullying mentioned ranged from being called names to physical attacks like hitting or kicking. Other behaviours listed in the questionnaire were: Being left out of games or activities; having lies told about them; having things stolen; being threatened; made to do things they did not want to; and having embarrassing information shared.

The figures are based on the responses of more than 4,800 children at almost 150 Irish primary schools that took part in the Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) tests in April 2016. The 74% who were almost never bullied compares very well to an international average of 57% of children across 50 countries where the same questionnaires were completed.

The pupils were asked how often in the present school year they had been the subject of different types of behaviour by other children from their schools, including by texting or online. The figures mean that at least one pupil in the average class of 20 pupils or more is very regularly bullied by others from their school.

However, that is significantly less than the international average of 14%, or one in seven. It also compares favourably to 11% of pupils in Northern Ireland being bullied weekly, and 15% in English schools.

Despite the relatively low levels of persistent bullying, the possible impacts are evident in the fact that those who are bullied about weekly scored 49 points lower on average than those who are almost never bullied. That is 10 points more than the difference internationally between those bullied least and most often, with only 11 other countries showing a wider gap. In most other countries the reading score differences were between 20 and 40 points.

Only children in Kazakhstan and Finland were found to be bullied less than those in Ireland, with 77% and 75% of their pupils, respectively, being almost never victims. By contrast, 42% of South African pupils and nearly one third in Bahrain were bullied about weekly.

In a separate questionnaire distributed during the PIRLS reading tests process, principals were asked about discipline issues. The responses from Irish principals suggest our primary schools are among the best-disciplined.

With 83% categorised as having hardly any problems, it places Ireland sixth-highest for discipline. Across all 50 countries, an average of 62% of schools was in the same category.

Schools were ranked based on answers by principals to questions about the degree to which issues like absenteeism, disturbances in class, profanity, vandalism, theft, fighting, and intimidation or verbal abuse of other students or staff, were a problem among their fourth-class pupils. Another 15% of Irish primary schools were found to have minor problems, and just 2% had moderate to severe problems.
Nicholas Veale, aged 33, of Cluain Garbhain, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to a number of public order charges arising out of two incidents.

Inspector John Deasy said Garda Timothy OSullivan was on beat patrol at Parnell Place, Cork, on the afternoon of January 31 last year.

Nicholas Veale was passing Garda OSullivan and he proceeded to flick Garda OSullivans cap in an effort to knock it off his head.

Garda OSullivan demanded his name and address and confiscated a half-full bottle of cider from his hand as he believed it was contributing to his offending behaviour.

Mr Veale became extremely aggressive and pushed Garda OSullivan in an attempt to retrieve the alcohol. He was arrested for threatening behaviour, the inspector said.

The accused committed the second offence at 2am on April 1 last year, on Grand Parade, where he shouted abuse at a second man. He failed to comply with a direction to leave the area.

Yesterday, at Cork District Court, he pleaded guilty to being threatening and failing to leave the scene in respect of the Grand Parade incident and a threatening charge relating to Parnell Place.

Insp Deasy said the accused had 40 previous convictions, 20 of which were for public order offences.

Solicitor Eddie Burke said Veale was originally from Dungarvan and left Cork shortly after the incidents.

A sentence of two months imprisonment was imposed by Judge Olann Kelleher.
Robin Martin, of Cappanacush West, Greenane, Killarney, Co Kerry, has paid over 3,000 to the poor box after driving without insurance on six occasions in Kenmare and in Killarney. He pleaded guilty yesterday at Kenmare District Court which heard he was hoping to join the British Army.

Martin admitted offences relating to September 2016 along with January 14, April 18, May 7, May 9, and June 10 last year.
New figures show that sales in the 45 bars and canteens operated by the Defence Forces fell by 6.3% in 2016 to just under 1.84m  down by more than 123,000 on the previous year.

Turnover at messes for officers, NCOs and privates has been on a sharp downward trend since the early 2000s when annual sales of more than 5m were recorded.

Profit levels also dipped in 2016  down 2.9% to 501,653.

The Defence Forces Canteen Board which operates financial control of the bars and canteens said the 27% gross profit rate as a percentage of sales is satisfactory.

The Department of Defence also provided a grant of 55,532 to the board in 2016 towards the cost of retirement of one employee.

A significant reduction in operating expenses allowed the DFCB to post a net surplus of 10,451 in 2016 after recording a net deficit of almost 25,000 the previous year.

It followed the return of almost 368,000 in profit to the individual bars and canteens.

The DFCB said its cash reserves at the end of 2016 had increased to just under 35,000 while its net assets have also increased in value to a similar amount.

Messes for private soldiers were informally established in 1990 as a result of the report of the Gleeson Commission on pay and conditions in the Defence Forces and put on a formal footing in 1997.

Since 1999, the board has supervisory and financial control over all messes for officers, NCOs and privates in military bases around the country.

Around 20 messes have been shut down in the past 15 years, while four dry canteens were closed in 2013 due to falling sales.

According to the Defence Forces, messes are not public premises but civilians may attend as guests of Defence Forces personnel.

Alcohol prices were increased in military barracks last year as a result of price hikes by drinks suppliers in June.

The price of a pint of Guinness and Heineken was increased by 10 cent to 3.10.

The price of a bottle of Budweiser and Miller also increased by the same margin to 2.30 and 2.40 respectively.

A measure of 12-year-old Jameson 1780 costs 3.80 in military barracks following a 50 cent increase.
Yesterday it was revealed that 14 homeless families, who have been living in Dublins Gresham Hotel will be forced to move elsewhere as the hotel is no longer accepting homeless people.

Deputy CEO of Dublin City Council (DCC) Brendan Kenny said they had officially been informed last November that the hotel would not be renewing its contract to provide emergency accommodation.

The Gresham Hotel had a financial contract with DCC to provide emergency accommodation.

Mr Kenny stated that some of the families would now go to hubs and others were now eligible for permanent social housing.

However, Sinead Hughes, who has been living in the hotel for the last 18 months with her eight-year-old son, said DCC had still not informed her about alternative accommodation.

Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) CEO Anthony Flynn, said his charity has been assisting families left in the lurch when the hotels they are staying in need their beds on busy weekends.

The bubble is going to burst. There are going to be more families in this situations. There are already over 600 families in hotels nationwide and there are more tourists coming in so those beds are going to be needed, Mr Flynn told the Irish Examiner last night.

He said there was a child as young as one-and-a-half living in the Gresham Hotel.

He explained that families learned about the change of contract from the hotel and not DCC.

While Mr Kenny, who has responsibility within DCC for housing, said it was a positive thing that fewer families will be in hotels, Mr Flynn rejected this narrative.

There is a narrative that this is a positive thing that people are being taken out of hotels, but theyre not being taken out of hotels, they are being forced out of them, Mr Flynn said.

Mr Kenny said: We want fewer families in hotels. We have alternatives now, like hubs.

However, Mr Flynn also challenged this assertion saying it was unrealistic as there is currently a shortage of housing and the DCC was waiting on a hub, on OConnell St, Lynams, to be ready.

In 2014, at the first homeless summit, a Nama-managed hotel was tabled as a solution to get families out of homelessness.

Yesterday, Labour spokesman for urban regeneration, Joe Costello, once again called on Nama to step in to help solve the crisis.

There is now a public body that has the capacity to make an immediate and substantial difference in the crisis. The Government must accept that its existing policy of relying on the private sector to solve the crisis has failed as the homeless and housing lists continue to increase.

Nama has completed its legislative remit. It has demonstrated flair and capacity in the construction industry. It is well resourced. Now is the time to redirect and reconfigure the agency into a new role as the States national housing body, he said.

Editorial: 14
Netflixs new teen dramedy has been described as the cousin once removed to last years smash 13 Reasons Why.

The success of that series, in which a high-school student outlines, from beyond the grave, the reasons for her suicide, was on a scale even Netflix was blindsided by.

Of course it was also enormously controversial, with censors in New Zealand going so far as to create a new ratings category specifically for the show (high school suicide rates in the country being among the highest in the developed world). But this did not put audiences off and 13 Reasons Why, which is to return for a second season, is seen as one of Netflixs stand-out smashes in an uncertain year (during which the streaming service racked up flops such as Gypsy and Girlboss).

On the face of it, The End of the F***ing World is every bit as dark and troubling as its spiritual predecessor. The eight-parter, previously available through Channel 4s on demand service but which now arrives in its entirety on Netflix, centres on anti-hero James (Alex Lather), a moany, wooly haired teenager who appears entirely archetypal  apart from the fact that he has longed, for as long as he can remember, to kill someone.

Enter Alyssa (Jessica Barden), a highly strung teen, who mistakes grumpy James for a bad-boy and potential love interest. The deal is sealed, as far as she is concerned, when he punches his father and steals the family car.

The story is adapted from the graphic novel by Charles Forsman and shares with the source material a cheerful indifference towards authenticity.The tone is almost self parodyingly bleak  and there are frequent lurches into black comedy, with the unlikely couple taking turns to deliver pithy narration.

To reveal any more would be to spoil the surprises (of which there are many). Suffice to say 13 Reasons Why fans yearning for further bittersweet diversions will find much here to chill and thrill.
WHEN US authorities arrested Arthur Rathburn last year, they hailed their investigation as a milestone in efforts to police a growing industry: Brokers who acquire bodies donated to science, dissect them, and sell or lease the parts for profit.

The indictment alleges that Rathburn stored bodies destined for medical education and training in grisly conditions and dismembered them with a chainsaw.

He is accused of endangering clients, mostly healthcare workers, by renting them cadavers and severed heads that were infected with HIV and hepatitis.

A government news release touted the arrest as a significant step, one that demonstrates that protecting the public is a high priority. But authorities missed repeated opportunities to rein in Rathburn. Warning signs about his activities date back more than a dozen years.

In the mid-2000s, for example, New York state health inspectors twice reprimanded him for failure to provide documentation that bodies he acquired were in fact willingly donated.

Rathburn had also been on the radar of federal authorities since 2010, when border agents first questioned him about 10 heads he was transporting from Canada, court records show.

Over the next three years, agents documented five similar cross-border shipments, one that included a severed penis. But agents did not raid Rathburns warehouse until December 2013. In the meantime, he acquired, sold, and rented out more bodies and parts.

The failure to intervene sooner shows how easily brokers can evade government scrutiny and points to a gap in law surrounding the body trade, an industry that typically targets the poor with incentives such as free cremation.

Rathburn and his then wife were charged with defrauding customers, not with selling or desecrating human remains.

Selling or leasing body parts is not a federal crime and is largely unrestricted in all but a few states.

The FBI told me they found my sisters shoulder inside Rathburns warehouse, said Carol Keenan. Her sibling had donated her body in 2013, hoping to aid cancer researchers.

It was hard enough to lose her, but this has been devastating, said Keenan. I was shocked when I learned theres no regulation  that any Joe-fly-by-night can start up a company and nobody knows what hes doing.

Rathburn, 63, faces trial this month on charges of defrauding healthcare workers and lying to federal agents. He has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed. His ex-wife, Elizabeth Rathburn, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and is cooperating with prosecutors. Neither the Rathburns nor their attorneys responded to requests for comment for this story. The FBI also declined to comment.

A chance to establish national standards governing body brokers came in 2004, after disturbing reports emerged about the nascent industry.

In one case, police arrested a California university employee for secretly selling donated cadavers. In another, the US army admitted that bodies originally donated to a university for educational purposes were used in landmine experiments. Harpers Magazine also published a 10-page expose on body brokers, briefly citing Rathburn as a supplier.

Appalled by the reports, a federal health advisory panel meeting that year called for regulation of body brokers. The panel asked the US government to apply the same strict oversight to the body parts trade that already governed organ transplantation.

Nothing came of the panels recommendation.

Since that failed effort, the market for body parts has grown, and abuses abound, some reminiscent of those the 2004 federal panel sought to prevent. A Reuters review of court, police, and internal broker records and interviews identified more than 2,357 body parts obtained by brokers from at least 1,638 people that were misused, abused or desecrated.

The customers include the US government. As Reuters previously reported, the US army used heads, arms, and legs from more than 20 bodies in blast experiments in 2012 and 2013, even though donors had not given permission.

In one of the most egregious examples, the military used the body of an army veteran who signed a donor form two months before he died of cancer in 2013. The man was so angry about the poor healthcare provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs that he checked no to military experimentation on the consent form. It didnt matter. His body was used in a violent army test anyway.

An army spokeswoman said the military was deceived by its supplier and never knowingly used the bodies of donors against their wishes.

Asked about the federal panels 2004 call to regulate body brokers, a US Health and Human Services Department spokesman said the agency was under no obligation to accept the recommendation. How and whether to police the industry, spokesman Martin Kramer added, is left to each state.

Most US states, including Michigan, dont regulate body brokers closely, or at all. In those states, a broker may legally sell a donated cadaver or its parts, such as heads and arms, so long as the remains are not intended for transplantation. Only 10 states provide any oversight. Just a handful require licensing or disclosure.

As a result, donors and their families are left to rely on the good faith of the people who run the programmes, said retired anatomy professor William Burkel, who supervised Rathburn at the University of Michigan when they both worked there in the 1980s.

Because the laws vary so much from state to state, he said, there is a lot of opportunity for people like Mr Rathburn to do it without any sort of oversight.

Rathburns alleged victims included not only donors and their families but also the doctors, dentists, and other healthcare workers who acquired parts from him.

Steve Schomisch, who directs surgical training at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, learned recently how unregulated the industry can be. Federal authorities told him that a head Rathburn supplied to train Case Western neurosurgeons in 2013 was among a number of body parts that could not be traced to a donor, raising questions about the donations legitimacy.

We felt betrayed, said Schomisch. Then we said, What can we do to make sure this doesnt happen again?

Schomisch formed a university committee to research the way the industry supplies body parts; the panel found little oversight and few rules.

Today, Case Western leases only from a handful of pre-screened brokers that follow standards established by the American Association of Tissue Banks, a national accrediting organisation.

Its such a difficult decision whether to donate, Schomisch said of people who bequeath their bodies. I think you just assume that by donating, youre doing something good. But people like Art Rathburn tarnish that.

A CHARISMA ABOUT HIM

Rathburn was hired in 1984 by the University of Michigan body donation programme, which uses cadavers for anatomy classes and research. He was 30 years old with a community college degree and a work ethic that endeared him to better-educated colleagues.

He had a charisma about him, said former supervisor Stuart Baggaley.

Rathburn arrived at a critical time. University archives show that Rathburn helped the programme rebound from complaints by donor families about poor customer service.

He was just energetic, doing something all of the time, said Burkel, who led the programme during those years. He had a lot of ideas.

One merited publication in a scientific journal and a patent: A State-of-the-Art Embalming and Autopsy Station, a device that promised safer and easier preparation of dead bodies.

In 1988, Rathburn was prominently featured in the monthly Ann Arbor Observer newspaper. He expounded on the significance of cadavers in the classroom and told a whimsical tale about his entry into the business  a friend bet him $10 he wouldnt fill out a funeral home job application. He did. In a photograph accompanying the story, Rathburn wears a tie, lab coat, and broad smile.

A coffin, mops, and coolers used to transport body parts lie in an abandoned courtyard outside a warehouse once shared by Southern Nevada Donor Services. Picture: Reuters

TWO years later, however, Rathburn left the school, records show, following unspecified allegations of misconduct. He obtained a court order barring release of his personnel records. But recently, two people with direct knowledge disclosed the alleged transgression: Rathburn mishandled the donor ashes, a cardinal sin in the funeral industry.

With that information shielded from public view, Rathburn set out in the early 1990s to sell body parts.

One person Rathburn impressed was Ed Eichenlaub, then a doctors assistant in Pittsburgh who began working with him to supply body parts for research and surgical seminars.

I would call up Art and say, I need half a dozen human heads, he said. Later, Eichenlaub said, he worked for Rathburn handling body parts at medical seminars in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago.

I wont lie to you. It was creepy, said Eichenlaub. You arrive at this place and there is this huge ice chest and you open it and there are a dozen heads. Theyre wrapped up, but it takes a special person to do this.

One reason entrepreneurs like Rathburn can avoid scrutiny is the patchwork of state laws relating to the sale of body parts. Only 10 states provide meaningful oversight, and almost all of them do it differently.

For example, Virginia and Florida regulators need to give advance permission before a broker may bring body parts into the state for research or training. In Oklahoma and Oregon, regulators do not require prior approval to ship individual body parts, but they do inspect brokers regularly and require stringent record-keeping.

In two of the 10 states, the laws do not appear to be a high priority. In New Jersey, said an official, a 2008 law restricting the business to nonprofits and requiring brokers to register with health authorities hasnt been implemented, because the legislature failed to authorise funds.

In Maine, a state spokesman said that although the law requires brokers to be registered, officials havent bothered to create rules because nobody has ever applied for a permit.

Perhaps no agency in America imposes tighter controls on body brokers than the New York state health department. New York requires licences, inspections and annual statistical reports  for any broker, even those not based in the state, that ships body parts to customers in New York. State health officials travel around the country to inspect brokers.

Still, neither New Yorks laws nor its regulators were enough to stop Rathburn, according to a review of court documents and state health records obtained under open-records laws.

In 2004, a New York inspector travelled to Rathburns warehouse in Detroit. Though Rathburn was notified of the visit a week in advance, the inspector still found serious deficiencies  flaws that demonstrate how body parts can enter a black hole of accountability after being donated, dissected, and shipped to customers. Among the problems: Rathburn could not produce documents proving that bodies were donated willingly.

There are no such records for whole bodies and body segments received for use at the facility, stated the report.

Rathburn, the records show, contended that privacy laws and supplier policies prevented him from providing such proof. New York officials said that was no excuse for not supplying consent forms.

Your plan of correction, inspectors wrote him in 2005, does not address the core of this deficiency.

In 2006, officials told Rathburn he could no longer ship body parts to New York until he resolved their concerns. In 2007, New York health officials issued Rathburn a provisional licence, allowing him to resume operations there.

In a statement to Reuters, New York officials said they conducted a thorough examination. A New York health official added that her agency did not notify Michigan authorities at the time because such a regulatory agency does not exist in that state. The official did not elaborate on what agency that might be.

The records show that, from 2005 through 2007, Rathburns business continued unabated outside New York as he distributed more than 200 severed heads.

At least one broker voiced concern during this period. Walter Mitchell, former owner of BioGift, an Oregon body donation firm, said he stopped supplying body parts to Rathburn after a 2006 incident.

A week after shipping two human torsos to Rathburn in Detroit, Mitchell got a call from the airline that transported them. No one had picked up the packages at the airport.

When are you going to come? an airline employee asked, according to Mitchell. The coolers are leaking and it smells. Rathburn ultimately picked up the torsos, Mitchell said.

In the mid-2000s, Rathburn launched an ambitious expansion, one that would lead to bankruptcy.

FOR $1.8m in 2005, Rathburns company bought a funeral home and warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. People familiar with the deal said he chose the properties because they were strategically located near two interstate highway exits, a convention centre, and a medical school. The neighbourhood was also on the upswing.

They were going to bring in loads of cadavers to be stored at the warehouse and, as needed, transferred to the funeral home, then to medical training events, recalled former city councilman Bill Pantele.

Having invested a lot of years in revitalisation of that neighbourhood, I thought, This is a bad idea.

Faced with community opposition, Rathburn abandoned the plan and struggled financially. While his Michigan company grossed almost $900,000 annually from 2006 to 2008, records show, debts mounted.

By late 2008, when Rathburns company declared bankruptcy, it reported assets of $72,130 and debts of $621,905. It owed $210,402 in back taxes and at least $175,000 to companies supplying body parts.

In court records, Rathburn described the Virginia venture as an ill-conceived plan. As part of the bankruptcy filing, Rathburn provided a list of assets. The inventory included 14 chairs, 10 file cabinets, 91 heads, 18 spines, six hips, and a copy of the hippocratic oath. He put the total market value of the body parts at $160,900.

Despite the bankruptcy, Rathburn continued to operate. Through 2013, six body brokers shipped him more than 800 body parts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to court and New York health department records.

Federal authorities came into contact with Rathburn or his employees a dozen times  including six border crossings  from 2010 through 2013.

In 2010 and again in 2011, federal law enforcement records show, Rathburn was stopped returning from Canada. Each time, he was carrying 10 human heads.

In 2012, picnic-style coolers containing eight heads in red liquid arrived at the Detroit airport. Border agents confronted Rathburn. Among the lies agents allege Rathburn told them was that the liquid wasnt blood, but Listerine mouthwash, used to preserve specimens.

The alleged lies to the federal agents appeared to accelerate the investigation of Rathburn, court records show, though no one intervened to search his warehouse or stop his business.

Seven months later, alleges his indictment, Rathburn sent a cadaver infected with hepatitis B and HIV to a medical convention in Washington. No attendees were harmed, although they would not learn of the potential danger for years.

In August 2013, New York officials inspected the Detroit warehouse once more  and again reported problems with Rathburns ability to keep proper records for each body part. No other action was taken against him at the time. Rathburn continued to acquire bodies for $5,000 and heads for $500 until late 2013.

Lachell Jeffries-Hanson: Her mothers head, legs, and shoulder were in Rathburns warehouse. Lachell had thought her mothers head had been cremated. Picture: Reuters/Joshua Lott

Among those remains: The head, two legs, and a shoulder from Glorious Pearl Jeffries, according to her daughter, Lachell Jeffries-Hanson. The Chicago-area wedding planner, who died at age 72 of a pulmonary embolism, hoped her donation would educate others, recalled the daughter. She said the FBI told her recently that the donation firm that took her mothers body distributed some of its parts to Rathburn.

You dont really read through everything, Jeffries-Hanson said of the donation paperwork she signed. I was distraught.

In December 2013, after nearly four years of investigation, the FBI raided Rathburns warehouse and office. Inside, authorities said, agents found thousands of body parts.

Rathburn stored human heads by stacking them directly on top of each other without any protective barrier, authorities state in a court filing.

The FBI began informing next of kin with a form letter: There is nothing that I can say that can make this news easy for you. As a victim, however, you have the right to know the truth...

We want justice, said Jeffries-Hanson.

What troubles her most, said Jeffries-Hanson, is that her mothers head, which she thought had been cremated, was sitting on someones shelf. Thats her face, thats her brain, thats her, thats what made her function.

Rathburn was arrested in January 2016. By then, he told agents, he was homeless and living out of his van.
When tasting the sweet life, its arguable theres no better place than Italy. La Dolce Vita has long been a paradigm for living well, even before its meaning acquired international currency. After all, enjoying everyday luxuries, from food and wine to culture and the arts, are sanctified Italian rituals  simple pleasures that qualify as special occasions. It is still arguable where the tastiest of these simple pleasures can be found. Not a mean feat in a country celebrated for its enviable lifestyle.

Im happy to hang my geographical hat on the Emilia Romagna region  a northern province known for its medieval cities, rich gastronomy, and unstudied elegance.

Heres why. Having lived in Bologna (the capital of Emilia Romagna) for a year at university, I was no stranger to the areas gourmand status (they dont call it the fat city for nothing); not to mention its equally robust historical and architectural rap sheet.

That said, I was none the wiser about the outlying regions, particularly the Adriatic Coast, until I recently sampled its delicious heritage.

My travels took me an hours drive outside of Bologna to the historical town of Ravenna (easily reached in 90 minutes, with 24 trains a day leaving Bologna Centrale station). Small and perfectly formed, its unassuming size belies a more prodigious reputation. Once the capital of the western Roman and eastern Byzantine empires from the 5th to the 8th centuries, Ravenna has since accrued a laundry list of must-sees: Eight UNESCO World Heritage sites to be precise; a staggering boast which blends nonchalantly with its pedestrianised streets, unassuming wine bars (enoteca), and family-run restaurants (trattoria). Given my short overnight stay, I was surprised at just how much I could fit in.

My tightening trouser waistband was another surprise but more on that later. Five of the eight sites can be covered under one 24-hour round ticket (9.50; www.ravennamosiaci.it). Pro-user tip? Aim for two and soak it all in; the sheer magnitude of the gilded basilicas and ancient mosaics will leave you slack-jawed. Speaking of which

The mosaics. The oldest mosaics in the world. Words dont quite do justice to the ornate 6th-century tiles which were used by the ancients to illuminate biblical parables and Christian teachings. Given their pervasive presence, the best individual examples can be found in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and neighbouring Basilica of San Vitale. Greeted by a ceiling of breathtaking stars and representations of Christs triumph to eternal life, the mausoleum ranks as one of UNESCOs best-preserved mosaic monuments. The basilicas gilded Byzantine interior, vaulted ceilings, and vertiginous columns ranks an equal contender. True to Ravennas elegant discretion, the brick-faced exteriors of both monuments betray a certain awe upon entering. A neck pillow in both instances would have helped.

Fast-forward to the present moment and youre bound to spy some colourful street art (Brazilian artist Kobra pays fitting homage) dedicated to the poet Dante Alghieri.

Exiled in the 14th century from his native Florence to Ravenna, the authors neo-classical tomb can be found a few short steps from the basilica. Prefer your poetry in motion? Dont miss the Ravenna Festival (www.ravennafestival.org), a two-month-long summer celebration of the performing arts which often includes theatrical re-enactments of the Divine Comedy among other Dante-inspired pieces.

After raising the minds eye to God, a two-minute cobblestoned walk to Al Cairoli restaurant (www.alcairoli.com) is in order.

Serving regional produce with oodles of charm, this modest trattoria is vastly territorial. Expect only locally produced fare like fried crescentine breads, cold cut meats, parmesan cheese, 12- and 24-month old balsamic vinegar (rumour has it, most families have a tub of the sweet elixir in their attics); and, of course, Pignoletto and Lambrusco sparkling wines (bearing the strict Italian DOC and DOCG quality labels). We havent even talked pasta yet. Cue: Disappearing waistline.

Need a post-prandial walk? Take a leisurely stroll to Cabiria Wine Bar (www.cabiriaravenna.it)  one of Ravennas most popular after-dinner haunts; order an Aperol Spritzer and call it a day.

Why? Youll want to save your appetite for Rimini.

The Ponte Di Tiberi in Rimini

An hour by car or train from Ravenna, Rimini is, without doubt, the main attraction of the picturesque Adriatic Riviera. A seaside resort, popular in summer with Italian tourists, the ancient town boasts more than its 15km coastline. Historically one of the culturally richest towns in the Roman Empire, the city is easily identified with era-centric gems from the Tiberius Bridge and Augustus Arch to the artistic masterpieces of the Malatesta era. Its also got the three Fs going for it: Film, festivals, food.

You dont have to be a certified cinemaphile to appreciate the towns reverence for its most famous resident  the late director Federico Fellini. Film buffs can follow the self-guided walking tours (www.gpsmycity.com) taking in the newly restored Cinema Fulgor where Fellini saw his first film; the Borgo San Giuliano  a village decorated with colourful murals that commemorate his films; and the nouveau Grand Hotel  made famous by Oscar-winning 1973 film Amarcord and officially listed as an Italian national monument in 1994. As a child, he was said to have gazed through the hotels gates not realising, as an adult, he would be a regular guest with his own favourite suite.

With its coastal location, Rimini is a must for seafood. Not far from the Fellini borgo is the unpretentious La Marianna restaurant (www.trattorialamarianna.it) overlooking the Marecchia river  a favourite with Beyonce who dined here in 2011 with husband Jay-Z. Although Queen Bey reportedly ordered oysters, clam tagliolini (traditional Emilia-Romagna pasta), a light broth and a buffalo mozzarella salad; the set menu A Taste of Romagna offers a gourmand greatest hits of the region for 30 per person. Start with fresh mussels, followed by handmade pasta tagliatelle with clams poveracce (onion, garlic, parsley, white wine, and extra virgin olive oil). Take a breather  theres more. Continue with a mixed fry-up of young squid, anchovies, and vegetables and finish with a lemon sorbet, coffee, and wild fennel digestif. Now, do you see why Italian lunches generally last two hours?

Luckily, Rimini is also known for its year-round festivals from The Worlds Longest New Year (www.capodanno.riminiturismo.it), a month-long celebration which turns the town into an open-air stage of performances, DJ sets, Christmas markets, and concerts; to Pink Night (www.lanotterossa.it)  a one-night-only summer beach party involving all 100km of the Adriatic Coast.

Dancing and digestion make fitting partners. Bear this in mind, especially if indulging in Emilia-Romagnas burgeoning food tourist trade. Fancy cooking with locals?

Dont leave without visiting Agriturismo Ripabottina (www.agriturismoripabottina.it), a family-run olive mill and restaurant set in the green hills of Montegridolfo. Although a short 40-minute drive from Rimini, it is a much longer, and more expensive, train and taxi journey. That said, its worth the trek and the extra shekels. Why?

The sheer fun of it all. Experience an olive oil tasting and learn what to look for when choosing a bottle (four generations of experience makes the Renzi family real experts).

Learn how to make the ubiquitous piadina bread made from flour, lard, water, and salt. Try yours with squacquerone cheese and a plate of strozzapreti pasta prepared by the family and enjoy the countryside view.

You may not have room for dessert (even I failed on that front) but one of the sweetest tastes of Italian life hides within the walls of once medieval fortified village, just a three-minute walk away. Impeccably restored by fashion designer Alberta Ferretti and a team of investors in 1988, the old brickwork town of Montegridolfo with its palace-turned-hotel Palazzo Vivianni (colourful window boxes and red-tile rooftops), resembles something from a movie set; not least its panoramic view of the Riminese hinterland. A true visual feast.

Its a bitter pill having to leave but thats the thing about Italy; even when youve had your fill, youll come back for more.

Getting there

Annmarie travelled to the Adriatic Riviera with Topflight.

Topflight offers a weekly programme from Dublin to the Adriatic Riviera and features the beach resorts of Rimini and Cattolica.

Weekly prices include return flights from Dublin, airport transfers, accommodation for seven nights, 20kg baggage allowance, all taxes and Topflight resort representative services in resort.

There is an extensive excursion programme in the resort including the option to visit the principality of San Marino.

There are also numerous theme parks in the area which are great for families including Italy in Miniature, Aquafan Water Park, Fiabilandia Theme Park and Cattolica Aquarium. Guests can also hire a car and discover the surrounding towns and countryside.

For 2018, La Notte Rosa takes place on the weekend of July 6.

For further details and to discuss Topflights holiday options call 01 240 1700, visit www.topflight.ie or drop into your local travel agent.

CHECK IN

Ravenna - La Reunion www.lareunion.it

Bijou hotel near UNESCO monuments.

Best for: solo travellers, friends, couples

Rimini - Villa Adriatica www.villaadriatica.it

Friendly staff and centrally located.

Best for: families and business travellers

Montegridolfo - Palazzo Viviani - www.palazzovivianni.com

Splash out on a special treat.

Best for: solo travelers, friends, couples.

LINKS
There arent many niches left to fill in the automotive world these days  we have SUVs styled like coupes, and off-road spec city cars, for example. However, Mercedes-Benz reckons its found a new one, that of the premium pick-up truck.

Its argument is that more and more people are buying pick-ups for personal use, so theres a market for a truck thats a bit less utilitarian than whats currently out there.

With almost 1,000 pre-orders in the nine months since it was revealed, Mercedes might be on to something...

WHATS NEW?

Rather than build a new vehicle from the ground up, Mercedes-Benz signed a deal with Nissan to use the platform for the Navara pick-up.

That means the engine available at launch is from the Japanese manufacturer, albeit with new software, while the transmission and four-wheel-drive system is also carried over.

The exterior is sleeker than the Navara, however, while Mercedes suspension has given the pick-up a much better ride quality.

The interiors a massive step up, too, though some switchgear is reused.

WHATS UNDER THE BONNET?

At launch, theres one 2.3-litre diesel engine in two states of tune. The lower-powered X220d model has 161bhp, while the X250d gets 188bhp. We got behind the wheel of the latter, finding it to be surprisingly slow in everyday driving  its fine once youre up to speed, but getting there is a genuine effort.

Fortunately, for those who want to use the X-Class off-road, it proved more than torquey enough to get the truck out of trouble on a particularly boggy 4x4 course.

Fortunately, a more powerful version is on the way  a high-torque diesel V6 with 255bhp and a monstrous 550Nm of torque. It should be the pick of the bunch when it goes on sale in mid-2018.

WHATS IT LIKE TO DRIVE?

Typically, when driving pick-up trucks, you have to make a concession for the fact theyre set-up for having heavy loads in the back, leading to an often jiggly ride.

However, Mercedes has done incredibly well to tame this, leading to a best-in-class ride quality.

This is thanks largely to two things  new suspension and a wider track. Because the wheels are further apart, it helps make the X-Class more stable than the Navara, while Mercedes road-tuned suspension helps smooth out the tarmac ahead of you.

Its impressive in corners too, resisting too much body roll, though with slow steering its best to keep your speed in check, otherwise you could find yourself sawing at the wheel in tighter turns.

HOW DOES IT LOOK?

The rear two thirds of the X-Class are quite forgettable  theres only so much you can do with the traditional pick-up shape.

However, Mercedes has worked wonders with the front end to give the truck a distinctive face.

In a segment where most cars are defined by simple, rugged aesthetics, the X-Class brings a sense of sophistication.

Its a real head-turner, and many pick-up truck drivers along our test route in North Wales couldnt help but take a look.

Higher-spec Progressive and Power models get alloy wheels and shiny chrome, but if you go for the entry-level Pure trim you get steel wheels  perfect for those who want to make the most of the X-Classs 4x4 capabilities without damaging expensive alloys. The simple look doesnt quite work with the smart front end, but the Pure trim does have a slightly more function-over-form ethos than the rest of the range.

WHATS IT LIKE INSIDE?

The X-Classs interior is a mixed bag. This is where the clash between Mercedes reputation for high quality interiors struggles against its need to be functional in all weathers. By pick-up truck standards, its definitely up there with the best of them, with smart propeller-like air vents and a prominent infotainment screen.

However, while the hard plastics used throughout might be normal for this segment, they feel slightly at odds with the premium image the X-Class is trying to portray. Its best described as premium for a pick-up truck, but if youre coming out of one of the German brands road cars you might get a bit of a shock.

Fortunately, this is offset by comfortable seats and well-judged driving position, while theatre-style seating helps rear passengers view out the front.

WHATS THE SPEC LIKE?

The X-Class is well-equipped in all trims, but most private buyers will want to avoid the more ruggedly styled Pure trim. Opt for the top-spec Power trim instead and youre looking at chrome detailing and body-coloured bumpers, 17-in alloy wheels and LED lighting all around. Inside, black artificial leather and microfibre upholstery makes for extremely comfortable seating, while fully electrical adjustment makes it easy to get the seat in the perfect position. The entry-level model starts at 39,950.

VERDICT

Compared with pick-up rivals, the Mercedes X-Class is a bit of a revelation to drive.

Those simply looking for family practicality would still be better served by an estate or SUV, but if the well-sized load bay appeals and you dont want to give up interior creature comforts, the X-Class treads a fine line very well indeed. If you qualify for the commercial rate, it makes financial sense, too.

At a glance:

Model as tested: Mercedes-Benz X-Class Power

Engine: 2.3-litre diesel

Power: 188bhp

Torque: 450Nm

Max speed: 109mph; 0-60mph: 11.6 seconds

MPG: 35.8

Emissions: 207g/km
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Best bishop

Just to echo the thoughts of Mrs C Ellingford regarding Bishop Jonathan Blake (News Shopper, October 17). He conducted the christening of my two children, too, in our back garden in August two years ago. I cannot praise him enough for what he did. The service was very intimate and all our family were present. Enough has been said about what he has done wrong. What about speaking to the people he has helped and conducted services for. I hope he continues to go from strength to strength and wish him every success.

S BRAIDWOOD

Bexleyheath

No legal vows

Re: Mrs Ellingford's letter (October 17). I would like to illustrate the story which she told. I have it on good authority Jonathan Blake does not actually marry any of his couples. Since he is no longer a priest of the Anglican Church, his right to marry people is not recognised by law or the Church of England. Instead, he urges couples to "tie up loose ends" at their local registry office before his ceremony, i.e. get married before he "marries" them. No wedding is performed by Mr Blake, merely a blessing ceremony.

MISS L WEST

Welling

Excellent care

I have read about so many complaints about Darent Valley Hospital I thought I should write. I was sent there by my doctor for a blood test and x-ray. I received the utmost respect and courtesy right from the start, first by the gentleman at the door showing me where to go then by all the staff. I was only in the hospital for 45 minutes and I was most surprised and grateful.

Mr J Hopgood

Mabel Road

Swanley

Job well done

It is very rare for any of us to have the opportunity to congratulate the local authorities for doing something which is genuinely an improvement and a benefit to road safety but the new local traffic lane for traffic exiting the London-bound A2 at the Black Prince, although long overdue, deserves our thanks.

R D Cannon

Holmhurst Road

Upper Belvedere

October 29, 2001 11:15
The state insurance commissioner said Friday he does not support a 18.7 percent statewide increase in single-family homeowner-insurance rates that is proposed by the N.C. Rate Bureau.

Increases also were recommended for 18 geographic territories within the state, all of which would have gone into effect July 1 if they had been approved by Commissioner Mike Causey.

For homeowners in Forsyth and Guilford counties, the requested hike is 21.5 percent for single-family homes and 40 percent for condominium owners and tenants.

Causey has set a July 23 hearing in Raleigh on the request that was made Nov. 17.

After hearing and reading the more than 9,000 comments from residents across the state and studying the figures in the filing, it is now necessary to hold a hearing to reach a resolution that will make the most financial sense for our residents and insurance companies, Causey said in a statement.

It is the first bureau rate request before Causey, a Republican who was elected in November 2016.

The bureau is an independent group representing insurers writing policies in North Carolina. It typically asks for rate increases  some substantially higher in areas prone to damage from natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and winter storms.

The commissioner historically seldom agrees to the bureaus full request, but instead typically approves a lower increase, or sometimes a decrease, for each territory as measured by risk.

The other proposed single-family rate hikes for the 14-county region are: Alamance (21.5 percent); Alleghany (4.5 percent); Ashe (4.5 percent); Davidson (8.9 percent); Davie (21.5 percent); Randolph (8.9 percent); Rockingham (21.5 percent); Stokes (21.5 percent); Surry (21.5 percent); Watauga (4.5 percent); Wilkes (23.5 percent); and Yadkin (7.8 percent).

Causey said the department and bureau will continue to negotiate up to the hearing. Once a hearing is held, state law requires the commissioner to issue an order on the rate proposal within 45 days, this time by mid-October.

The bureau has the right to appeal the commissioners order to the state Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court.

The last time the bureau secured a rate increase was in 2012, when it settled for an overall statewide average of 7 percent after requesting a 17.7 percent hike.

It is the first rate increase officially sought by the bureau since January 2014.

At that time, the bureau requested a statewide average increase of 25.6 percent, to go into effect Aug. 1, 2014. The rate increase request was 16.2 percent for Alamance, Forsyth and Guilford, and 20.6 percent for Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Wayne Goodwin, a Democrat serving as commissioner, rejected that increase and issued a ruling of no change. Goodwin said the bureaus rate increase would have cost North Carolina homeowners a combined $600 million.

In August 2016, the state Appeals Court ruled in Goodwins favor. In December 2016, the state Supreme Court denied the bureaus appeal, as well as a separate bureau appeal based on a constitutional question.

I think it is in the nature of the office that the commissioner displays a pro-consumer stance, at least publicly, since it is consumers  as voters  that elect the commissioner, and not insurance companies, said Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University.

David Wood, an insurance professor at Appalachian State University, has said he would not be surprised by another round of insurers sending consent-to-rate requests to homeowners.

Consent to rate means a homeowner is consenting to pay a rate higher than the maximum homeowners insurance rates set by the commissioner to keep an existing policy.

A company cannot charge a policyholder a higher rate without the policyholders permission, according to the department.
Q: Is it legal in North Carolina to be charged a fee for using your credit card for a purchase?

G.K.

Answer: North Carolina does not have any statutes regarding this, and therefore any such fees are a matter between the retailer and the credit card companies, and whatever policies they have agreed to. According to J. Craig Shearman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, few retailers charge extra for using a credit card because card companies already require that card-processing fees be built into the price of merchandise. Some retailers, however, offer a discount to customers who pay by cash.

Most of what retailers can or cant do involving credit and debit cards is governed by their contracts with the card companies, not by state or federal laws, according to Shearman.

Eleven states and territories  California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas, plus Puerto Rico  have statutes that prohibit merchants from charging consumers extra on credit card transactions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ten states  including some of the same ones  have laws that allow merchants to give discounts to encourage customers to use forms of payment other than credit or debit cards.

Q: I have a complaint about a bill from a local optometrists office. They didnt tell me my insurance wasnt in their system until after the exam, and I feel they should have told me. I called my insurance to check and see if I was in the system, and they said my bill should be no more than $71.73. I was billed for $74.54. I talked to them several times, and paid the bill for the $74.54. Then I got a call from a collection agent telling me I owe $7 and some cents more. I am mad that I didnt get another bill before they sent it to a collection agent.

A.P.

Answer: A spokeswoman for the optometrists office said they could not discuss the matter with us, citing HIPAA health information privacy regulations. Our office will not discuss this with anyone other than the patient, she said.

Since you have not gotten a response that you find satisfactory, your next step may be to file a complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Examiners, according to a representative of that board. Go to ncoptometry.org/file-a-complaint.

Q: Where can Christmas cards be recycled? St. Judes has stopped accepting them.

N.B.

Answer: We are not aware of any nationwide programs like the one St. Judes Ranch for Children used to have, in which old cards were re-used to create new ones. The charity discontinued its recycled card program after 30 years, citing declines in card orders and limited availability of volunteers that made the program too time-consuming and expensive.

However, you may want to ask your church, school or civic groups if they may be interested in the cards for art projects.

Plain paper Christmas cards can be recycled, but ones with shiny material, glitter or metallic embossing need to go into the trash instead.
Q: You once wrote that Paul, not Jesus, was the founder of Christianity. Please explain why you say that?

Answer: Many people have expressed opinions about this issue. Before presenting my views, I want to note that this discussion does not affect the power and importance of the words and deeds of Jesus as presented in the New Testament. At that time, Jesus and the followers were not called Christians. They were first called Christians in the late first century in Antioch as noted in Acts 11:26. Later, Constantine gave credit to the Christian God in 312 A.D. for a battle victory, and he issued the Edict of Toleration in 313 A.D. It was at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. which was called by Constantine that declared the full divinity of Christ. Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of Rome around 380 A.D.

Now to the question presented by the reader, I find no evidence in the New Testament that Jesus intended to break with Judaism or start a new religion. Rather, he attempted to reform Judaism. Paul, on the other hand, clearly intended to found a new movement that included both Jews and Gentiles. His primary missionary journeys were directed toward Gentiles. He traveled to Asia Minor, Europe, including Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus and Athens, and some claim he went to Spain.

He began as an opponent of Christianity, rejecting the idea that Jesus was the Messiah. While traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus to arrest Christians, he had a dramatic conversion experience and was blinded by a bright light. He was carried to Damascus where, after three days, his blindness was miraculously healed by Ananias. He began preaching about Jesus. He attended the Council of Jerusalem, meeting the original apostles. He and Peter seem to have disagreed concerning the conversion of Gentiles, and they parted agreeing that Peter would minister primarily to Jewish coverts and Paul would be a missionary to the Gentiles. Paul always insisted that he was as much of an apostle as the originals; and, in Galatians, he said he received his message directly from God, not from the other apostles. Although contemporary scholars are critical, traditionally, he has been credited with writing 14 of the 27 New Testament books.

While visiting Jerusalem, he was opposed by Jewish Christians who contended that he was antinomian or that he neglected the importance of obedience to Gods law. He was also accused of defiling the Temple by accompanying Gentiles to visit it. Exercising his right as a Roman citizen, he appealed his case to Caesar and traveled to Rome. He spent about two years there without charges being pressed against him. Some contend that it was then that he traveled to Spain. According to Eusebius, he was eventually beheaded by the Emperor Nero. Paul is believed to be buried just outside Rome. In 2002, a sarcophagus was discovered bearing the description, Paul, Apostle, martyr.

The Roman Catholic Church regards it as containing the authentic remains of Paul.

Paul was also responsible for the development of Christian theological tenets such as original sin, the atoning, the sacrificial death of Jesus, and Jesus second coming. He is, to a large degree, responsible for relegating women in Christianity to a position of subservience. He taught that women should learn in silence and not presumed to teach men.

If there had been no Paul, it is questionable what would have become of Christianity. It might have been limited to a small group of Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Or perhaps there might have been another who took up the cause and spread Christianity. But the fact is that Saul of Tarsus, Paul, was responsible for spreading the message like no other. That is why I regard him as the founder of Christianity.
The N.C. Supreme Court has stayed a decision overturning the conviction of a Winston-Salem man for the attempted murder of a volunteer at a homeless shelter in March 2014.

Prosecutors with the N.C. Attorney Generals Office had filed a motion to stay the ruling from the N.C. Court of Appeals on Dec. 5 that vacated the conviction of Jermaine Tart. A Forsyth County jury found Tart guilty in 2016 of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. Tart was accused of stabbing Richard Cassidy, a volunteer shelter monitor, in the chest, back and neck on March 2, 2014.

The appeals court ruled that Tarts conviction should be overturned because Forsyth County prosecutors improperly worded the indictment for attempted first-degree murder. That indictment said Tart attempted to kill and slay Cassidy, which the court said is the language for manslaughter. The indictment should have said that Tart attempted to kill and murder.

The terms murder and slay are not interchangeable, the appellate court said in its 11-page opinion, which was written by Judge Robert Hunter Jr. Chief Judge Linda McGee and Judge Hunter Murphy concurred with the ruling.

The court said because the indictment was flawed, the trial court did not have the jurisdiction to enter judgment. Tarts conviction on the assault charge was upheld.

On Dec. 14, Michael Henry, an assistant attorney general, filed a petition asking the N.C. Supreme Court to review the lower courts decision and a motion for a temporary stay of that courts decision. The N.C. Supreme Court granted the motion to stay the appellate courts ruling on Dec. 15.

Henry said in court papers that the appeals courts ruling seems to conflict with previous decisions.

To the knowledge of the undersigned, the decision of the Court of Appeals is the lone authority in this State for the proposition that an indictment alleging the essential elements of an offense, providing the required notice, and otherwise satisfying the law pertaining to the sufficiency and construction of indictments, is nevertheless fatally defective unless it adheres to its authorizing statute, even on matters not necessary to be proved on the trial, Henry said in court papers.

According to testimony at the trial, Cassidy was walking with Tart and other men from Loaves and Fish ministry on Fifth Street, across from the Forsyth County Central Library, to an overflow shelter at First Presbyterian Church. Tart stabbed Cassidy with two knives, according to testimony.

Prosecutors said Tart nearly killed Cassidy, almost cutting an artery and barely missing his lungs. Tart was sentenced to 17 years and three months to 21 years and nine months in prison on the attempted first-degree murder. He was sentenced to eight years to 10 years and eight months in prison on the assault charge.
Employees of the Forsyth County Department of Social Services were informed Friday of a change in the top leadership of the department, following a closed-door meeting of the social services board.

Shontell Robinson, the countys human resources director, spoke on behalf of the social services board in an email to the staff, saying that DSS Director Debra Donahue is currently out of the office until further notice.

Robinson said, Effective immediately Ronda Tatum, assistant county manager, will serve as the acting social services director until further notice.

The message included an email to reach Tatum directly.

Ronda will do her best to assist you, Robinson said. She looks forward to meeting all of you next week, and you can expect to hear from her soon. We ask that you provide her with your support and cooperation.

County Manager Dudley Watts and Commissioner Fleming El-Amin, the chairman of the social services board, both referred questions about the change to the human resources department. Robinson did not provide additional details beyond those in the email.

Donahues appointment as DSS director was effective in November 2014. She was previously the DSS director in Florence County, S.C. She replaced former director Joe Raymond who left in August 2014 to take a job in Guilford County. When Raymond left, the board brought in then-DSS member Nigel Alston to serve as the interim director.

In a Oct. 28, 2014, Journal article, Donahue said she began her career in social work in Michigan as an investigator for abuse and neglect in 1987. She worked for child welfare and social service programs in Michigan and coordinated services for the homeless in Nevada before spending two years prior to her Forsyth County DSS appointment leading Florence County DSS in South Carolina.

This is the second change within the leadership ranks of DSS in recent months.

In an email obtained by the Journal dated Nov. 30, 2017, Donahue stated that she had terminated DSS Deputy Director Michael LaDisa.
WASHINGTON  The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Friday that the Justice Department investigate for possible criminal charges the author of the now-famous "dossier" alleging the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.

The move by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, marks a major escalation in conservatives' challenges to the FBI's credibility as the agency investigates whether any Trump associates committed crimes. Another Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined in the letter to the Justice Department.

Their letter makes what is called a criminal referral to the Justice Department, suggesting it investigate the dossier author, former British spy Christopher Steele, for possibly lying to the FBI. It is a crime to lie to FBI agents about a material fact relevant to an ongoing investigation.

The move was viewed skeptically by some Democrats and experts in criminal law.

Steele's role has become a matter of increasingly heated debate, with the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill suggesting his reports were biased, since he was hired with money that ultimately came from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Steele's allegations - in addition to other information, including intelligence intercepts and an Australian diplomat's account of a conversation with a Trump staffer in a London pub - prompted the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump associates in July 2016, according to current and former officials. The Australian warning was first reported by The New York Times.

That investigation has since expanded into a special-counsel probe by Robert Mueller, whose work has led to indictments of two former Trump campaign officials, as well as guilty pleas and cooperation deals from two others. As the Russia probe has heated up, some Republicans have amplified their attacks on Steele's dossier, contending it was a weapon in a political smear campaign they claim was aided by the FBI.

Steele did not respond to a request for comment. But a lawyer for the consulting firm that hired him had a strong reaction.

A lawyer for Fusion GPS, Joshua Levy, said the senators' letter may be simply another effort to discredit the Russia investigation.

"After a year of investigations into Donald Trump's ties to Russia, the only person Republicans seek to accuse of wrongdoing is one who reported on these matters to law enforcement in the first place," Levy said in a statement. "Publicizing a criminal referral based on classified information raises serious questions about whether this letter is nothing more than another attempt to discredit government sources, in the midst of an ongoing criminal investigation. We should all be skeptical in the extreme."

A veteran prosecutor, Peter Zeidenberg, said he had never heard of anything like the Grassley-Graham complaint and labeled it "nonsense" designed to detract from ongoing inquiries in to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"The FBI doesn't need any prompting from politicians to prosecute people who have lied to them," said Zeidenberg, a federal prosecutor for 17 years. While members of Congress make criminal referrals from time to time, they are usually related to independent congressional investigations, not to material already known to the FBI. "They should stay in their lane," Zeidenberg said of the Grassley-Graham effort.

In this case, the referral suggests the committee has information indicating Steele may have lied to the FBI about the distribution of information contained in the dossier. Steele told a London court that he had off-the-record conversations with a handful of news organizations during that period, including The Washington Post. It was not immediately clear how conversations with reporters might be materially relevant to the investigation the FBI was conducting.

"If we see what appears to be credible evidence of a violation that should be further investigated based on information from any source, public or non-public, we are going to formally notify the department," Grassley said in a statement.

Steele was a senior intelligence officer monitoring the Kremlin for Britain's intelligence service, MI6, before he left the agency and established a consulting firm, Orbis. In that role, he worked for a range of clients, including law firms and Fusion GPS.

The dossier is a compilation of reports he wrote for Fusion GPS between June and late October 2016, plus a final report in December, after the election. Among other things, the dossier alleged that the Russian government collected compromising information about Trump and that the Kremlin was engaged in an effort to assist his campaign for president.

U.S. intelligence agencies later released a public assessment asserting that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to aid Trump. The FBI has been investigating whether Trump associates helped the Russians in that effort.

Trump has vigorously denied the allegations in the dossier and has called the FBI probe a witch hunt.

Washington Post News Service (DC)
SAN FRANCISCO  The decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind an Obama-era policy on federal marijuana enforcement sparked an outcry from Republicans and Democrats. Their criticism: Sessions was trampling on the rights of states that had decided to legalize pot for medical or recreational use, or both. Pot remains illegal under federal law, and Sessions' new direction lets federal prosecutors in states where marijuana is legal decide how aggressively to enforce that law.

Here's a look at how states have broken with the federal government on pot and the tension that has generated:

THE LEGALIZATION PUSH:

Federal law classifies marijuana along with heroin and LSD among the most dangerous drugs, with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Efforts to change that classification have failed. A federal judge in California in 2015 considered the issue, but then decided it was up to Congress to change the law if it wishes.

An increasing number of states, meanwhile, have legalized marijuana. California led the way in 1996, when voters approved marijuana for medical use. Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana with voter-approved measures in 2012. Eight states, including California, have now legalized marijuana for recreational use and more than 30 have medical marijuana programs.

Critics of Sessions' decision, including members of the Republican Party, say the federal government should respect the wishes of local voters and stay out of states' marijuana choices. They cite the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says states have all powers that the constitution does not delegate to the U.S. government or deny them.

"Today's decision announced by the Department of Justice is a direct violation of states' rights," said U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. Alaska allows recreational marijuana use. Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner from Colorado said he's placing a hold on Justice Department nominees in response to Sessions' decision and will try to push legislation to protect marijuana sales in states where they are legal.

"With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states," he said in a Tweet.

STATE AND FEDERAL LAW CLASH:

Marijuana's status as an illegal drug under federal law has led to the prosecution of growers and dispensaries that appear to be operating legally under state law, and Sessions' announcement is raising fears of a possible renewed crackdown. "The states can enact their own laws, but the federal government can say, 'We're going to prosecute people and businesses,'" said Alex Kreit, a marijuana law expert at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 2005 ruling said the federal government could prosecute medical marijuana possession in states that had legalized the drug for medical use.

In 2011, California's four U.S. attorneys announced that they were going after the state's "widespread and illegal marijuana industry." Prosecutors threatened landlords with prosecution unless they evicted tenants who were supplying marijuana and moved to seize properties where the drug was sold.

The DOJ under former President Barack Obama said in 2013 it wouldn't interfere with state marijuana laws as long as the states tightly regulated the drug and made efforts to keep it from children, criminal drug cartels and other states.

Still, pot prosecutions continued.

CONGRESS STEPS IN:

In 2014, Obama signed into law a congressional amendment that said the DOJ could not use money allocated by Congress to prevent states that have legalized medical marijuana from implementing laws that permit its use, distribution and possession. A federal appeals court that covers much of the Western U.S. ruled two years ago that the law banned the DOJ from going after medical marijuana users and dispensaries in cases where no state laws were broken. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals covered California, Washington and seven other states.

While the ruling could complicate efforts to ramp up marijuana prosecutions in those states, it's far from a panacea for marijuana dispensaries and users. Kreit said the amendment only applies to medical marijuana, so recreational users and businesses are not protected. Additionally, the protection for medical marijuana disappears if the amendment is not renewed.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California who co-sponsored the medical marijuana amendment, said during a conference call with reporters on Thursday that Sessions' decision would create momentum for a law that wouldn't have to be constantly renewed and would protect "all of the decisions" states make about marijuana.
It was a totally unexpected step, commented Diaaeddin Al-Kousi, an expert on water issues and former adviser to the minister of water resources and irrigation, in reaction to news that Egypt wants the World Bank to give technical advice on the building of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In a meeting with his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu in Addis Ababa last week, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri proposed the involvement of the World Bank as an impartial third party in meetings of the technical committee studying the effects of the construction of the dam on downstream countries.

The one-day meeting between Shoukri and Gebeyehu aimed to break the impasse regarding the work of the tripartite technical committee made up of representatives of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Ethiopia is attempting to prolong negotiations on technical matters in order to sidestep a report stating that the dam will harm downstream countries until after the completion of the dams construction, Al-Kousi added.

Involving the World Bank has several advantages, as it was the party that initiated the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in 1999 on the management of the River Niles water and thus has ample experience in this regard.

The NBI was a partnership initiated by the Nile Basin countries as a platform for dialogue and joint work on sharing the rivers resources, promoting peace and stability in the region.

According to the international laws governing international rivers, differences between countries should be settled via direct negotiations between the involved parties followed by involving a third party or more. If the mediation fails, the issue can be referred to international organisations like the United Nations.

Al-Kousi added that the bank has experts who have long experience in mediation issues. I cannot describe it as 100 per cent unbiased, but they have the skills and the ability to read, understand and analyse the issues, he said.

Mohamed Hegazi, former assistant to Egypts foreign minister, agreed. During the difficult technical and political negotiations, World Bank experts assisted the involved countries in solving various legal hurdles and proposing the proper legal solutions to many problems that came up in the negotiations, he said.

Hegazi pointed to the role played by the World Bank in the difficult negotiations between India and Pakistan which had led to the historic signing of the Indus Water Treaty in 1960.

This was signed after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank, which is also a signatory to it. It lasted until December 2016, when India wanted to build various hydroelectric projects on the river, to which Islamabad raised objections.

The competition for water in the Indus River Basin has noticeably increased since the treaty was signed, necessitating the need for renegotiation of it. Delegations from India and Pakistan met at the World Bank headquarters in Washington in September last year for a round of talks on the issue.

After they had failed to agree, Pakistan requested the World Bank to fulfil its obligations by establishing a court of arbitration to settle the dispute in the light of the Indus Water Treaty.

Based on the success of previous third-party mediation in water-sharing issues, Egypt then suggested to Ethiopia last week that the World Bank be included in the River Nile negotiations.

The failure of the technical committee to agree on the preliminary report submitted by the consultancy firms will impede the continuation of the studies on the impacts of the dam on Egypt and Sudan, Shoukri told his counterpart in Ethiopia.

According to the Declaration of Principles signed in March 2015, the studies should be conducted before the dam filling process starts.

Assuring his countrys commitment to the Declaration of Principles and its determination not to cause harm to Egypt, Gebeyehu promised to study the Egyptian initiative and respond at the earliest opportunity.

Shoukri stated that he would submit the same initiative to Sudan within the next few days. The World Bank has not reacted to the Egyptian initiative, and no one was available to comment on the issue.

Negotiations between the three countries on the GERD broke down last November after the 17th round of technical talks was held in Cairo and attended by the irrigation ministers of the three countries.

After the meeting, Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati declared that the technical track was facing deadlock. Egypt approved the preliminary report, but Ethiopia and Sudan demanded major amendments to the proposed studies. They failed to reach a compromise.

It is strange that Ethiopia did not accept the preliminary report, Al-Kousi said. It is even stranger that Sudan did not either, although it signed an agreement with Egypt stating that both states should follow the same policies regarding Nile water issues, he added.

The draft preliminary report was produced by a French consultancy firm in March last year. It includes studies to be conducted by the firm on the hydrological, hydraulic, environmental and economic impact of the dam.

During last weeks visit to Addis Ababa, Shoukri also met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to discuss the upcoming visit by Desalegn to Cairo later this month in addition to bilateral relations and the challenges facing the technical track on the dam.

The involvement of the World Bank, Hegazi added, would be likely to provide a catalyst for establishing a framework for regional cooperation in which a multi-purpose project integrating water, power grids, railway and road network between the three countries could be drawn up.

International financial institutions like the World Bank and other donors will certainly favour supporting a multi-dimensional project that involves many countries, in which water is just one factor in a multi-faceted cooperation programme, he said.

The construction of the GERD has been a source of tension between Ethiopia and Egypt for some years. The dam, begun in 2011, is due for completion in the middle of this year. It will hold a massive 79 billion cubic metres of water and will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.

Ethiopia argues that there will be no reduction of water downstream, as all the Blue Nile water will be cycled through the dam and eventually reach the downstream countries on its way to the Mediterranean. It also claims that more water will be available overall because there will be less evaporation.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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RALEIGH  Visitors and applications are on the rise at the UNC campuses offering a tuition break as part of the new NC Promise plan.

The reduced tuition program, which starts this fall, establishes a $1,000 tuition pricetag on a year of college for North Carolina residents at Elizabeth City State University, UNC-Pembroke and Western Carolina University. Out-of-state students will also get a reduction, paying $5,000 a year in tuition at the schools.

So far, interest is up as word has spread about NC Promise. The program, created by the legislature in 2016 and funded this year at about $51 million, gives families a lower tuition option in three areas  the northeastern, southeastern and western regions of the state.

Completed applications from prospective students are up 50 percent at UNCP, 11 percent at Elizabeth City State and 12 percent at Western Carolina, compared to this time last year. At UNC Pembroke, officials report a big spike in people looking at marketing material about NC Promise  a 2,900 percent jump in online traffic from North Carolina residents and 11,400 percent increase from South Carolina residents. UNCP is about 20 miles from the South Carolina line.

UNCP quadrupled its marketing budget to promote the program, said Chancellor Robin Cummings.

We see it as a very positive thing at this point, Cummings said. Were seeing a good response that is exciting to us.

The price cut only applies to tuition, which is currently $2,856 annually at ECSU, $3,602 at UNCP and $3,971 at WCU. Other costs, such as fees, room, board and books, wont be discounted.

The total annual price for North Carolina students will drop 13 percent, to $12,680, at ECSU. The decrease will be 15 percent at UNC Pembroke, for a total cost of $14,675. At Western Carolina, North Carolina residents will see a decrease of 16 percent in the total tab, which will be $15,665.

It will take an education that already is affordable and make it more affordable, Cummings said.

Thats still not enough for many students. In 2015-16, about 56 percent of Pembroke students received Pell Grants, the federal grant program for low-income families, according to federal data. In the end, though, Cummings said NC Promise will mean less debt for students.

For our students, this is a real good opportunity, he said. Sometimes, as weve seen, the difference between the car breaking down and not breaking down is the difference between being able to come back to school next semester. This is a big difference, its a big help.

UNCP has 6,300 students, well below its pre-recession high enrollment of about 6,900, Cummings said. The new tuition program may set the university on course for growth, with perhaps 500 to 1,000 additional students in the near term, Cummings said.

ECSU recovery

Thats what leaders at Elizabeth City State are hoping. The university has experienced a devastating period since the recession, with enrollment plummeting 59 percent from 2010 to 2016. Significant budget cuts followed as a result. But last fall, enrollment increased for the first time in seven years, to 1,411 students. NC Promise is one element of ECSUs overall recovery plan.

Recruiting students has not been a problem at Western Carolina, which is west of Asheville in the mountain town of Cullowhee. The universitys undergraduate and graduate enrollment, at more than 11,000 last fall, has increased nearly 18 percent since 2011.

For seven of the past eight years, WCU has seen an increase in applications from high school students. For last fall, applications reached 19,476.

So its a little hard to tell whats driving this years increase, said Mike Langford, director of undergraduate admissions. But first-year applications are running almost 12 percent ahead of last year, even though the online application was activated by the university two weeks later this year. Transfer applications are up 54 percent over last year.

Langford said WCU has seen a surge in people showing up for campus tours. The real test will be whether more students who are admitted eventually enroll, he said, which could be difficult to predict because the university is in uncharted waters.

If anything, its piqued peoples interest in taking a look at us, Langford said. Were the westernmost institution in the public system in the state of North Carolina. Youve got to pass a lot of other schools to come to Western and take a tour.

Awareness at WCU

Western Carolina is less than an hours drive from the South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee lines.

Fall open house events at Western Carolina showed a growing awareness of the program. In September, most participants were not familiar with NC Promise; by November, a majority of attendees knew about NC Promise.

The three campuses, and UNC President Margaret Spellings, produced a joint video to promote the program. It has been marketed to parents and students in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia on social media.

The $500-a-semester plan created by the legislature has not always been a popular idea. Originally, it was also targeted toward three historically black universities in the system. Alumni and supporters of the campuses rallied against the cheaper tuition plan, fearing that the replacement state funding wouldnt be permanent. Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State were removed from the original bill, but Elizabeth City State was ultimately added back in.

The UNCP chancellor said he remains concerned that state funding may not always be there to support the program. But for now, hes encouraging students to take advantage of it. In the last month, he said he had visited four or five high schools in his area to talk up NC Promise.

The students that we serve are students who are, honestly, economically challenged, Cummings said, even though some may look at this and say, well, thats not a real big break. But $2,500-$2,600 a year, I can tell you, can make a difference between students being able to continue their education and not having to stop it to go and make money. Its a big deal, especially in our part of North Carolina.
Rapid advances by the Syrian army into rebels' largest remaining stronghold, Idlib province, have brought it closer to a key insurgent-held military airport and displaced tens of thousands of people struggling to find shelter in winter weather.

Supported by Iran-backed militias and Russian air power, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have taken territory in northeastern Hama and southern Idlib provinces since beginning an offensive in late October.

The fighting and air strikes have forced more than 60,000 people to leave their homes since Nov. 1, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In recent days the offensive has escalated, with forces progressing towards the strategic Abu al-Duhur military airport, to which rebels laid siege in 2012 before completely ousting Assad's forces in September 2015.

A commander in a military alliance fighting in support of Damascus has said the army and its allies intend to capture the air base.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday the Syrian army and its allies had taken around 84 villages since Oct. 22, including at least 14 in the past 24 hours.

The Britain-based war monitor said the rapid advance this week was made possible by intense air strikes which caused rebels to withdraw.

The Syrian army lost Idlib province, which borders Turkey, to insurgents when the provincial capital fell to insurgents in 2015. It became the only province fully under opposition control.

Tahrir al-Sham, spearheaded by al-Qaeda's former branch in Syria formerly called the Nusra Front, is the main rebel force in the province.

A Syrian military source said the Nusra Front and its allies are the target of the military operation in northeast Hama and southeast Idlib provinces.

"The army's operations there are continuing and the army is achieving advances. The terrorists (are facing) big losses in the area," he told Reuters.

Idlib is part of Russian-engineered "de-escalation zones" meant to reduce fighting in western Syria. Turkish troops are also present in northern Idlib under the de-escalation deal struck with Assad's allies Russia and Iran.

"De-escalation zones do not cover the Nusra Front at all, and the Nusra Front is in reality the one fully controlling Idlib," the military source said.

Tahrir al-Sham is simultaneously under attack from Islamic State (IS) militants, which has been expanding a small pocket of territory in northeastern Hama on the edge of the Idlib enclave since the Syrian army ousted it from central Syria in October last year.

Mustafa al-Haj Yousef, head of Idlib's Civil Defence, rescuers who work in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, said: "If martyrs, the displaced, the injured, are on the rise, collapsing the houses, striking civilians, targeting civilians? It's as if there's no de-escalation."

DE-ESCALATION?

The United Nations said the situation of civilians newly displaced by the fighting in Idlib was "dire", with humanitarian agencies struggling to meet their needs.

Yousef, of the Civil Defence, said that even after fleeing heavy frontline air strikes and shelling, people face an air campaign deeper inside the province.

He said there are not enough camps to cope with the flows, warning that if the army pushes up to Abu al-Duhur and beyond, "the displacement will double, it will multiply".

"Most of them are sleeping on the ground, in tents that can't protect from the rain or the cold. Some people are able to rent, but the rent prices have also been very high."

Idlib has been a haven for tens of thousands of rebels and civilians forced to abandon their homes in other parts of western Syria that the government and its foreign military allies have recaptured.

It has also been the target of intensive Russian and Syrian air strikes that have killed thousands of civilians and destroyed hospitals and civil defence centres.

Communities and camps, already hosting thousands of displaced, are struggling to absorb new arrivals.

U.N. OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said that in Idlib province 55 percent of communities are overburdened. In around 10 percent of these communities, internally displaced persons make up more than 70 percent of the total population.

OCHA also said the fighting had forced some humanitarian organizations to stop work in parts of southern Idlib.

"The greatest need we're seeing among people struggling to survive in this part of Syria is for food. Having been displaced repeatedly by conflict, they've exhausted their resources and are left with few choices, none of them good," said Christy Delafield of Mercy Corps, one of the largest organisations delivering aid in Syria.

"It doesn't look to us like things will get easier any time soon."



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Pope Tawadros II of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church will lead on Saturday evening the first mass ever at the new Nativity of Christ Cathedral in the new administrative capital on the occasion of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas.

According to Egyptian state TV, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other top state officials are expected to attend the mass.

The Coptic church is providing several buses starting Saturday at noon for worshippers who would like to attend mass at the new cathedral in the new administrative capital, which is located 28 miles (45 kilometres) east of Cairo.

Coptic Orthodox Egyptians, who make up around 90 percent of all Christians in the country, celebrate Christmas on 7 January. A minority of non-Orthodox Christians observed the holiday on 25 December.

In January 2017, following twin terrorist attacks that killed at least 27 Coptic Egyptians at St. Peter and St. Pauls Church in Cairo in December 2016, President El-Sisi commissioned the construction of the countrys largest mosque and church in the new administrative capital to become symbols of coexistence and national unity.

The Nativity of Christ Cathedral would be, upon-completion, the largest church in the Middle East, with a capacity to accommodate 8,200 worshippers.

The new cathedral stands at the heart of a large complex built on 15 feddans, and includes a papal residence, a reception hall, meeting halls and offices.

The cathedral features two large vaults, 40 metres wide, which cover the central and cross nave. At their intersection a dome stands on four central arches. The two ends of the cross nave, and the western end of the central nave, terminate in large semi-domes while the apse area is flanked on the outside by two 60-metre spires.



The countrys new administrative capital is set to be completed in 2020 and is part of the governments plan to expand urban areas to deal with the country's rapid population growth and improve the nation's infrastructure.

The Coptic Orthodox Church has held its Christmas mass at the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo since the country's main cathedral was built.

Egyptian police and army forces have been on high alert to secure the country's Christmas celebrations.

The Ministry of Interior has deployed 230,000 security personnel to secure 2,626 churches nationwide.

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Like Orthodox churches around the world, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 7 January, according to the Julian Calendar.

On 7 January, Coptic Orthodox Christians  who comprise 90 percent of Egypt's Christian population  will break their 43-day fast and celebrate Christmas.

The festival comes almost two weeks after most Western denominations, including Catholics and Protestants, held their celebrations on 25 December.

Ahram Online asked Bishop Abram of the Fayoum Diocese to explain why there was a difference in the dates; he stressed that the difference in fact results from the use of different calendars, not from any underlying theological dispute.

Although the exact date of Jesus' birth was -- and remains -- unknown, within the first few centuries after his death, churches around the world agreed to celebrate the nativity of Jesus Christ on 25 December (29 Kiahk in the Coptic calendar), most probably to replace the pagan feast celebrating the Roman winter solstice which continued to be observed until then.

Bishop Abram argues that celebrating the birth of Christ, considered by Christians to be "the light of the world" is also astronomically apt, since night-time begins to shorten and daylight to lengthen in the middle of December.

The different dates of the celebration in the modern period are a result of a change in calendar; while Western churches follow the Gregorian calendar, Orthodox churches continue to follow the older Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar who introduced it in 46 BC), which in turn is in line with the ancient Coptic calendar.

Until the Julian calendar, the date of 25 December and 29 Kiahk in the Coptic calendar happened on the same day each year. But the introduction of the Gregorian calendar changed this alignment. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII of the Roman Catholic Church had his astronomers study the calendar, and they realised that the Julian year was 11 minutes shorter than the actual solar year. Over time, the 11 minutes had added up  the equivalent of three extra days being added to the calendar every 400 years. The calendar date was becoming out of sync with the solar year. To correct this, Pope Gregory's recalculated the whole system and cut out the extra days for his new Gregorian calendar. As a result of the difference, the Julian calendar is now 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, and 25 December in the Julian system falls on 7 January in the Gregorian system. Although the Gregorian calendar was adopted by Khedive Ismail in 1875, the Coptic Orthodox Church has continued to use the older calendar, and 29 Kiahk (or 25 December in the Julian calendar) falls, under the Gregorian system, on 7 January. *This article was first published on 6 January 2014

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A South Cairo prosecution ordered on Saturday that an autopsy be conducted on a man who died in police custody on Friday, and has ordered the detention of 40 people accused of attempting to storm the police station where the man died.

The death of the 22-year-old man, Mohamed "Afroto," sparked altercations between police and an angry crowd outside El-Moqattam police station in Cairo.

The prosecution has ordered a post-mortem drug test be conducted on Mohamed, who was being investigated for alleged drug trafficking.

Mohamed's family claimed that their relative was tortured to death in police custody.

According to the prosecution, Mohamed's body "showed no outward signs of injury".

The prosecution said that following Mohamed's death, 40 of his friends, family and others gathered in front of the police station where they torched two police vehicles and attempted to storm the station.



Later on Saturday, Egypt's Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar ordered the department of inspection at the ministry to launch an investigation into the incident, Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

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Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry met with Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir on Saturday in Jordan's capital Amman where they discussed regional and bilateral cooperation, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

The meeting came on the sidelines of a meeting of the FMs of Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the UAE, Egypt and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit to coordinate Arab efforts to preserve the historical and legal status of Jerusalem.

The meeting, which was set up after the recent decision by US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, also involved discussion of ways to confront challenges facing Arab national security.

Shoukry and Al-Jubeir agreed on "the importance of preserving the historical and legal status of the City of Jerusalem in accordance with the relevant international resolutions, highlighting the need to push efforts to revive the peace process to achieve a just and comprehensive settlement for the Palestinian question," spokesman Abu Zeid said in a statement released in Arabic and English.

The two ministers also discussed ways to confront foreign interference in Arab countries and safeguard Arab national security and stability.

The two officials agreed on the importance of "bolstering coordination and solidarity between their countries in addressing such challenges, and adopting common positions that would safeguard the interests of the two brotherly peoples."

Shoukry and Al-Jubair also discussed developments in Yemen, Syria and Libya, especially the joint efforts by Egypt and Saudi Arabia in forming a Syrian opposition delegation to negotiate a political resolution in Syria.

Shoukry said that he was keen on having this meeting with his Saudi counterpart in the context of ongoing consultation with the UAE foreign minister on threats posed by the increased external presence and interference in areas adjacent to the spheres of the three countries national security, and the overall Arab national security.

Shoukry arrived in Amman on Saturday.

On 9 December, the Arab League tasked the six Arab countries with discussing and evaluating the developments concerning the status of Jerusalem following Trumps decision.

Egypt has long-maintained its support for a two-state solution where East Jerusalem would serve as the capital of a new Palestinian state.

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At 7:30pm on Saturday, many Copts tuned in to TV channels to watch the soft inauguration of the New Nativity of Christ Cathedral at the New Administrative Capital.

Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawdros II headed the Christmas mass at the cathedral, where President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi made an appearance to express felicitations for Coptic Christian Egyptians, who celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

Of course I will watch for a short while before attending mass with my family and friends at the Mar Morcos Church [in Heliopolis]; of course it is a source of great joy for us to see a new large, beautiful cathedral being opened in Egypt, said Darine, a 35-year-old banker.

Darine said that she finds the opening of this cathedral to be very significant, especially since it comes at these very troubling times of so many attacks  not just physical but also verbal assaults in the media  against the Coptic citizens of this country.

It shows, she added, that the state at least feels it has a responsibility towards the Copts of this country; of course this does not make up for anything else, but I still think that it is very important that this cathedral is being opened now and that the president will be there himself.

Since he took office in June 2014, President El-Sisi, who has enjoyed significant support from Copts in the wake of the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, has made a point of consistently attending Christmas mass.

The first time he visited the cathedral was in January 2015. We were praying at the Virgin Mary Church in Ain Shams [eastern Cairo]. We got the news on the phone and we were so joyful; it was the first time ever for a president to attend Christmas mass, said Samiyah, a 45-year-old nurse.

Coptic Christmas, which is celebrated on 7 January, was declared a national holiday in Egypt in 2005 by the government of Hosni Mubarak.

Unlike Easter, which goes against the dominant Muslim creed that does not acknowledge the crucifixion of Jesus, Christmas is acknowledged by the Muslim faith as the birth of the prophet of Christianity, not as the birth of the son of God.

In 2005, Gamal Mubarak, the younger and politically ambitious son of Hosni Mubarak, started attending Christmas mass at St Marks Cathedral in Abbassiya, which was built in the 1960s in an initiative by then-president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, to the rejoicing of the church and worshipers alike.

It was an important gesture from Mubarak to send his son, which we had all thought would be the next president, but Mubarak himself never came, Samiya said.

She added that after the 2011 revolution, we saw all presidential candidates attend mass, but still, when El-Sisi attended mass in 2015, it was the first time ever for a sitting president to join mass; this was big.

Like Darine and other Copts who spoke to Ahram Online while preparing to celebrate Christmas, Samiya pointed to the recent attack by an Islamist terrorist on the Mar Mina Church in Helwan, where seven people died, including a poorly armed guard at the church entrance.

Honestly, if there had been enough security measures, this would not have happened, said Fady, a 28-year-old engineer.

According to Fady, security around most churches is insufficient.

It is much better than it used to be, but in the face of all the anti-Coptic sentiment that we come across in society and in the media  both direct and indirect  the state should expect that this incitement would result in terror attacks, Fady said.

However, what is even more hurtful for Fady and some other Copts is the recent incident in Atfih, a small village south of Cairo where Copts were attacked by Muslim neighbours last month for holding mass at a property that was not officially sanctioned for use as a church.

The grievance that many, if not most, Copts in Egypt have is the complications that surround obtaining permits to build churches.

Last week, acting Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli held a meeting with the representatives of the Coptic, Catholic and Evangelical churches to discuss regulations on the matter.

We have been hearing about this regulation for long; but I dont think it will actually happen; I dont think there is enough will on the part of the state to face the anger of radical Islamist groups  especially not this year, with the presidential elections coming up in March, said Lina, a 19-year-old university student.

Lina said that for her, it would have been much better for poor people all around the country to be able to have small neighbourhood churches where they can pray rather than have a large new cathedral in this very remote spot.

Today, weekly Coptic newspaper Watani reflected on the mixed feelings that Copts have this Christmas.

While the paper published an article titled Sisi makes good on his promise to celebrate Christmas this year at the new cathedral, an editorial on the front page by editor Youssef Sidhom, titled A Christmas with the flavour of martyrs, lamented the continued loss of Coptic lives in terrorist attacks.

The fear of a possible massive attack was on the minds of over 15 Copts that spoke to Ahram Online Saturday.

Darine said she would be lying if she said that this fear was not on her mind, adding that she was praying for the safety of the worshipers.

We hope we will not see one of the massive terror attacks on churches tonight; we are praying, she said.

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FILE - In this July 17, 2015, file photo, flowers and a portrait of Kate Steinle remain at a memorial site on Pier 14 in San Francisco. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, a homeless undocumented immigrant acquitted of killing Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier is scheduled to be sentenced on a lesser gun charge Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2017 file photo, John Landgraf, CEO of FX Networks and FX Productions, participates in the executive panel during the FX Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. Landgraf says an investigation into sexual misconduct by Louis C.K. found nothing involving his work for the company over the past eight years. The investigation followed a published report of misbehavior, Landgraf told TV critics Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The network cut ties in November with C.K. after he admitted wrongdoing. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump sits with Attorney General Jeff Sessions during the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony in Quantico, Va. TrumpAos White House counsel personally lobbied Attorney General Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice DepartmentAos investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended Christmas mass on Saturday evening  along with top officials including the ministers of interior and foreign affairs as well as army officials  at the partial opening of the new Nativity of Christ Cathedral in the new administrative capital.

El-Sisi commissioned the building of the church, the largest in the country, in January 2017 following twin terrorist attacks that killed at least 27 Coptic Egyptians at St Peter and St Pauls Church in Cairo.

The president, who entered the cathedral along with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, stressed that the partial opening of the cathedral is "a message of peace and love from Egypt, not only to Egypt and the region, but to the whole world."

"Evil and destruction and killing will never defeat goodness, construction, peace, and love," he said.

El Sisi, who offered felicitations to Egyptian Copts, said "we are one, and you are our families. No one can ever divide us," adding that no one will be able to hurt Egypt as long as Egyptians are united.

The Coptic Orthodox Church had announced that it would provide buses for worshippers who would like to attend mass at the new cathedral in the new administrative capital, which is located 28 miles (45 kilometres) east of Cairo.

The Nativity of Christ Cathedral will, upon completion, be the largest church in the Middle East, with a capacity to accommodate 8,200 worshippers.

The new cathedral stands at the heart of a large complex built on 15 feddans, and includes a papal residence, a reception hall, meeting halls and offices.

The cathedral also holds two 40-metre-wide vaults that cover the central and cross nave. At their intersection, a dome stands on four central arches. The two ends of the cross nave, and the western end of the central nave, terminate in large semi-domes, while the apse area is flanked on the outside by two 60-metre spires.

The countrys new administrative capital, set to be completed in 2020, is part of the governments plan to expand urban areas to deal with the country's rapid population growth and improve the nation's infrastructure.

Coptic Orthodox Egyptians, who make up around 90 percent of all Christians in the country, celebrate Christmas on 7 January. A minority of non-Orthodox Christians observed the holiday on 25 December.

Egyptian churches have been targeted repeatedly by Islamist terrorists in recent years.

Egyptian police and army forces have been on high alert to secure the country's Christmas celebrations, with the Ministry of Interior deploying 230,000 security personnel to secure 2,626 churches nationwide.

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Regime and Russian air strikes on a rebel-held enclave near Damascus killed at least 17 civilians on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The deadliest of the raids on the Eastern Ghouta region hit the Hammuriyeh district, leaving 12 civilians dead including two children, the British-based war monitor said.

Eastern Ghouta is the target of near-daily regime air raids.

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A look at the potential of the local gas sector in the wake of the Zohr Field starting production in December

Egypts Zohr Field, the largest offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean, started production on 16 December. It could prove to be a permanent remedy to Egypts power needs and bring it closer to the goal of self-sufficiency in the energy sector in 2018.

The supergiant field covers an area of about 100 square km, with estimated reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet and expected initial production of 350 million cubic feet per day. This is expected to rise to about one billion cubic feet by next June and then to 2.7 billion cubic feet by the end of 2019.

The fields output would cover the gap between Egypts total gas consumption, standing at 4.9 billion cubic feet per day in 2016, and its total daily production of four billion cubic feet, according to data from the British Petroleum (BP) Statistical Review.

It could enable Egypt to return to exporting gas as soon as 2019. The country was a net exporter of gas for ten years before an energy crisis hit in 2013 when foreign companies stopped operations as they had not been paid their dues by the government, pushing Egypt to tap export markets.

This was followed by Egypts purchasing 89 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from international suppliers in 2015/2016 at a cost of $2.2 billion, according to Egypts Petroleum Ministry.

Initial production from the Zohr Field is equivalent to three LNG cargoes a month at a cost of $90 million, according to the Petroleum Ministry. Meanwhile, the cost of local production does not exceed $30 million, which means that Egypt would be saving $60 million on a monthly basis.

The Zohr Field is not the only newly discovered gas field off the Egyptian coast. The North Alexandria and Nooros fields will, together with Zohr, raise Egypts natural gas output by 50 per cent in 2018 and 100 per cent in 2020. The three fields together will contribute to natural gas self-sufficiency by the end of 2018, Petroleum Minister Tarek Al-Molla said recently.

Foreign investors are keen to capitalise on the gas sectors potential. Italian oil giant Eni, which discovered the Zohr Field, intends to pump investments of $3.5 billion into Egypt in 2018, representing half the companys annual investments.

BP has started gas production from the Taurus and Libra Fields in the West Nile Delta Field off Egypts coast. These currently add 700 million cubic feet of gas a day to the Egyptian national grid.

The West Nile Delta development includes five offshore gas fields that could have a combined production of up to almost 1.5 billion cubic feet a day in 2019. This gas will also be fed into the national grid.

The government is expected to issue another tender for LNG purchases in early 2018 to cover the countrys needs for the second quarter of the year. It plans to stop importing the fuel by the end of next year because of the gas from the Zohr Field.

The government has also taken other steps to encourage energy investment in Egypt. Under Law 196 from August last year, private businesses will be allowed to transport and trade gas using the countrys pipeline network and infrastructure, moving away from a state monopoly, said Amira Al-Mazni, former vice-chairman of the National Gas Authority EGAS.

The law is part of a push by the government to spur investment in the economy. Over the past year, the government, backed by the International Monetary Fund, has enacted economic reforms that have included floating the currency, cutting subsidies and passing legislation to attract foreign investment.

Egypt has also adopted a flexible gas-pricing formula to encourage such investment. It previously paid a fixed price of $2.65 per 1,000 cubic feet. Talks are being held to price the gas at $4 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The Zohr Fields output should satisfy the domestic market, with the nations two existing gas-liquefaction facilities being large enough to process the huge quantities of excess gas for export in 2019. If the Zohr and other gas fields generate more supplies, Egypt may consider adding a third LNG-exporting terminal, Al-Molla said.

Egypt can also become a gas-exporting hub as the sector has many advantageous features. In addition to abundant supply, thanks to the newly discovered fields, Egypt has 19 plants for natural gas treatment and two liquefying facilities with total capacities of 12 million tons per year.

Egypt has two floating deliquefying facilities with a total capacity of 1,300 million cubic feet per day. Osama Mobarez, head of Development of the Petroleum Sector at the Ministry of Petroleum, said Egypts strategic location together with its proximity to main international trade routes and the presence of Suez Canal enabled it to be a regional energy hub, being able to liquefy and store gas if necessary.

Law 196 is an important addition as it allows the private sector to directly ship, transport, store, market and trade natural gas using the pipeline and network infrastructure.

It also relieves the government from the burden of providing for the rapidly growing natural-gas consumption and turns it into a regulator, a practice common to countries that have liberalised their markets and freed them from state monopolies, said Hafez Al-Salmawi, an energy expert at the World Bank.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper

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Hi I am from New Zealand.

I am an enthusiastic but not a very skilled knitter.

Ive just been knitting for my two grand-children who have arrived at the same time coincidentally - one In NZ and one in Australia.



I am delightd to have found on the site an explanation on how to make a no cut buttonhole in knitting as shown in a French knitting book. This technique would help me out with a problem Ive created in a garment Im knitting for my first grand-son.

My first grand-daughter has received her cotton knit bolero already !



I wonder if any member has photos for that no cut button hole technique or knows where I might find that information with photos please. I would be most grateful.



Many thanks.

My best wishes to all

Fiona
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WE GO



By Michael Hurt





Photo illustration by Michael Hurt

Today, I'm going to lead you down The Rabbit Hole. Literally. And I'm going to do something unusual for me and cut right to the chase.



I'm using my picture/social commentary/visual sociology column slot this week to talk about the "Korean Girl," fashion and gender codes in Korea. And like all my columns so far, the picture is part illustration, but also the data in the argument, while also being the springboard for conversation and (hopefully) some critical thought that might make you enjoy that afternoon cup of coffee you're sipping while in front whatever screen you're using.



Simply put, gender is a social construction. And while that assertion might seem obvious for some, I'm going to keep going. The "girl" is also a construction, in the same way that the "teenager" is a recent invention of late modernity as a commercially useful category in the nebulous region between child and adult.



Back before certain market forces decided to focus consumption through this new demographic, one was a child and then quickly became an adult, usually by dint of marriage. The average age of marriage for a young female in both the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony and Joseon Korea was 13. You were a child until you weren't.



In the same way, the idea of a girl who wasn't a woman or a child was the result of formations of capital. Without teenagers, girls, or teenaged girls, you can't have a demographic around which to market things. Without the social category, you can't create a lever of social control. So, that being said, in a neo-Confucian society such as Joseon>Chosun>Korea, the "girl" is an especially useful social category.



That being said, one thing important to understand is that one's gender status, one's boyness or girlness, is not an inherent state of being one occupies without thinking or effort.



Gender theorist/academician Judith Butler says gender is performed. It is conveyed/signified to oneself and others as a series of performative acts. And people are encouraged to stay within their categories, to stay in their lanes, because doing so is socially beneficial, necessary and possibly even fun.



Yes, we are all told, being a girl is supposed to be fun! It can be fabulous, and in that regard liberating. But it's hard work being a "good" girl, as most women who were once girls and most drag queens know and will tell you. And, as those living here might have noticed, nowhere on earth is it harder to be a girl than in South Korea. The girl game here is on point and en pointe, on a level that can be bone-grinding, soul-crushingly intense.





Photo illustration by Michael Hurt
A screen shot of Pinoy Seoul



By John Redmond



A website aimed to provide useful facts and information about life in Korea for members of the Filipino community was launched recently in Seoul by Philippine national Nash Ang.



Titled Pinoy Seoul, the site in both English and Tagalog covers a diverse range of topics and information relevant to Filipinos living, studying and working in Korea.



The site also features local and overseas news, scholarship program information, travel advice and articles put together by the Filipino community.



Ang, a former scholarship recipient for a master's degree program in film at Korea National University of Arts, spoke with The Korea Times about the site and the Filipino community in Korea.





Nash Ang at his desk in Seoul / Courtesy of Pinoy Seoul
Its good to do business in La Jolla. Thats the message the La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA) put forth at its inaugural Winter Gala, Dec. 14, which was held inside the Poliform La Jolla design/furnishings store at 7726 Girard Ave.

In addition to the mixing and mingling, cocktails, hors doeuvres, pulsating deejay-hosted rhythms, photo station and ever-changing video screen showcasing iconic images of the La Jolla scene, the highlight of the gala was the presentation of LJVMAs first Jewel Awards.

The winners were chosen by ballot mailed to Merchants Association members, who cast their votes in November in each category from the entities located within the 30-block La Jolla Business Improvement District.

Drum roll, please!

Emerald Award for Best New Business Opened in 2017: J. McLaughlin clothier

Sapphire Award for Best Fast Casual Restaurant: Puesto

Sapphire Award for Best Upscale Restaurant: Tie between Eddie Vs and Catania.

Ruby Award for Best Long-term Business (over 25 years old): Warwicks Books.

Sparkle & Shine Award for Best-Kept Storefront: Tie between Adelaides and Warwicks.

And last (but surely not least!) Pearl Award for Outstanding LJVMA Board Member (2016-2017): Mike Dorveillier for his work with the La Jolla Concours dElegance, held in April.

In presenting the awards, LJVMA president James Niebling told the more than 100 guests gathered: We are so happy to have you all here and we thank you for your support of the Merchants Association. He also noted his regrets, though understanding, that several of the award recipients could not be present to accept their recognition because This is their busiest time of the year!

The gala was presented by member BizX, a community of local business owners who engage and leverage one another within the BizX network using a tool called the BizX dollar that enables them to buy from and sell to one another without spending cash.

 For more information about LJVMA, visit lajollabythesea.com or call (858) 454-5718.
PRESS RELEASE

Grassley, Graham Refer Christopher Steele to DOJ for Criminal Investigation

Jan. 5, 2018 (EIRNS)Sens. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham referred the author of the Trump Dossier, Christopher Steele, to the Justice Department

"for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C.  1001 for false statements investigators have reason to believe Steele made about the distribution of claims contained in the dossier,"

Sen. Grassley said in a statement on his website. Graham, who co-signed the referral, also called for a special prosecutor in the case.

"I dont take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation," Grassley said.

"But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review. Everyone needs to follow the law and be truthful in their interactions with the FBI. If the same actions have different outcomes, and those differences seem to correspond to partisan political interests, then the public will naturally suspect that law enforcement decisions are not on the up-and-up. Maybe there is some innocent explanation for the inconsistencies we have seen, but it seems unlikely. In any event, its up to the Justice Department to figure that out."

Grahams statement reads:

"After reviewing how Mr. Steele conducted himself in distributing information contained in the dossier and how many stop signs the DOJ ignored in its use of the dossier, I believe that a special counsel needs to review this matter. The rule of Law depends on the government and all who work on its behalf playing by the rules themselves. I hope the Department of Justice will carefully review our letter and take appropriate action."

Thursday evening, Grassley and Graham delivered to Senate Security a letter and classified memorandum for delivery to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray containing information that forms the basis of the referral. Their referal is ccd to the heads of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees of both houses of Congress.

Grassleys statement says:

"Under 18 U.S.C.  1001, individuals are prohibited from making false statements to the federal authorities of the United States. Grassley and Graham are referring Steele for making potentially false statements about the distribution of claims from the dossier. This referral does not pertain to the veracity of claims contained in the dossier. The referral is for further investigation only, and is not intended to be an allegation of a crime. It is the practice of the committee to notify the Justice Department whenever it comes across what appears to be credible evidence of a criminal violation that warrants further investigation by appropriate authorities based on information from any source, public or non-public. "In the interest of transparency, the senators and committee staff are working to redact all sensitive information in the classified memorandum sent to Rosenstein and Wray. If and when that process can be lawfully and appropriately completed in consultation with the Justice Department, an unclassified version of the memorandum will be released."

The letter to the DOJ reads:

Dear Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Director Wray:
American women dont earn as much as men do, a persistent phenomenon that cant be explained by disparities in education, opportunity or child-bearing. But a growing body of research points to a new and compelling cause: Women make less because of the sexual harassment they face at work.

The gender-pay gap has hovered under 80% for nearly two decades. Most of the discrepancy is because men work in higher-paying jobs and in more lucrative fields, and most of the policy remedies have focused on encouraging women to pursue those same, high-paying opportunities.

Months of revelations about sexual harassment and abuse of women across industries shed new light on why women dont lean in to higher-paying jobs more often. Whether women are earning more because theyre in more lucrative fields or because they have more senior positions, big paycheck jobs also often pose higher risks of sexual harassment, says Joni Hersch, an economist at Vanderbilt University.

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Whats more, women who experience sexual harassment at work are6 1/2 times more likely to leave their jobs compared with women who dont, according to research by Amy Blackstone, Christopher Uggen and Heather McLaughlin.

In one of the only studies that looks at the effects of sexual harassment over time, the sociologists asked about 1,000 men and women if they had experienced unwanted touching, offensive jokes and other behaviors that could be considered workplace harassment. Among the female respondents who said they experienced unwanted touching or at least two of the other, non-physical behaviors, 80% said they left their jobs within two years.

When these women leave their jobs, Blackstone said, they dont tend to trade up. They land in less lucrative fields or positions, a negative economic effect on women that persists through the rest of their working years.

Not long ago, Samantha Ainsley was on the academic fast track, pursuing a doctorate in computer science at MIT, imagining a future of research, consulting and maybe starting her own company. Then she was assaulted by one of the leading professors in her field at a conference. When she rebuffed him, she says, he continued to try to grab her and accused her of sleeping with fellow students to advance her career.

For Ainsley, it was a life-changing event. All I could think about is, this guy is going to review all of my papers, she says. It crushed me.

A few months later, she left her program at MIT to work as a software engineer at Google, which she described as a much more modest career than I had aspired to originally. I had to, in a sense, start over.

Lower Pay

Understanding exactly how much harassment affects earning power isnt easy, said Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor who studies the gender-pay gap. Abuse at work is notoriously under-reported, especially at professional and managerial levels. Someone who experienced harassment may ultimately leave her job for an unrelated reason, which wouldnt show up in traditional economic analysis.

At the same time, jobs and fields that are dominated by women are considered safer, according to Herschs research. They also usually pay less.

Kristian Lum was working as a data scientist in academia when she was groped at a professional conference, an incident that, she says, prompted her to look for work in a new field. She now works at a nonprofit, in a job that pays less and offers less security than if shed stayed put.

I was looking to get away, she said. There was a general feeling of, I just dont want to be around this.

Why Women Leave

There are many factors that influence a womans career path, but even having children  that notorious career-killer  may not prompt the same adverse consequences as harassment and its effects on job satisfaction and performance.

Of female engineers who quit or changed jobs over the five years that ended in 2012, only one-third left to take care of children, according to a 2014 study by Nadya Fouad, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The majority left for better opportunities, broadly defined, in other fields or companies.

Similarly, a 2014 study of 25,000 Harvard Business School graduates found that only 11% of female baby boomers and Gen Xers had left the workforce to care for children  and even among those women, the majority left primarily because they saw few prospects for advancement.

Hazard Premium

Women who persist in hostile environments do earn more. Hersch, the Vanderbilt professor, studies hazard pay  the premium workers require to work in dangerous environments.

Traditionally, researchers have used on-the-job fatalities or physical injury to assess whether compensation accounts for physical risk. Hersch looked at complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to determine whether companies facing sexual harassment allegations also had to pay workers more.

They do. Women earn on average an extra 25 cents an hour at such companies. Men in jobs known to be hostile earn even more: an extra 50 cents an hour, according to Herschs research.

For many, a higher paycheck isnt worth the difficulties of staying in a hostile workplace. Women who experience harassment can lose their drive or develop anxiety and depression, any of which can have an adverse effect on productivity or performance, according to Lisa Kath, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who studies workplace harassment. And when those things start to suffer, opportunities for professional advancement  and higher earning power  also decline.

Greenfield and Colby write for Bloomberg.
What you see, and how you see, Harmony Hammond's engrossing show closing soon at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects depends on your angle of approach  not so much the physical angle as the temporal one.

Enter through the past and you're likely to regard the work in terms of Hammond's early dismantling of barriers between painting, sculpture and craft, as in her landmark "Floorpieces" of the early '70s, rag rugs she braided and painted. You're apt to consider her long, luminous history as a champion of female, feminist and lesbian visibility in the art world through her writings, her co-founding of a women's gallery and her own formidable example.

Enter through the present and what you'll discover are captivating works richly informed by 20th century art history but sensually immediate, and relevant to the moment. The five large canvases (all 2016-17) are layered with planes of fabric and painted all over in tones of yellowed paper, pale wheat, dirty eggshell. The paint rests uneasily on these surfaces. It seeps into burlap's coarse weave and the fuzzy nubs of other fabrics, and it dries to a heavy crust. Fragments of cloth pucker and protrude in low relief. Loose threads dangle from raw edges. Other threads, stiffened by paint, jut out like tiny wires or branches.

Harmony Hammond, Bandaged Grid #7, 2016-2017. Oil and mixed media on canvas, 74.5 inches by 61 inches. (Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects)

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Splits in the fabric layers reveal, as if peeled-back skin, glimpses of dark blood red. Grommets pierce the fields. Bodily allusions abound: small open mouths, pustules, nipples, tough hides. The grid, in all of its postminimal imperfection, recurs throughout. Crisscrossing straps invoke restraint, but also protection.

There is a private archaeology at work here, a stratification of action and reaction. The pieces are embedded with the physical memory of their making. Lee Bontecou and Alberto Burri are clear touchpoints, and Robert Rauschenberg as well. Also brought to mind, though less obviously linked, are the intimate collages of Hannelore Baron  material, domestic diaries of trauma and survival.

Hammond, based in New Mexico since 1984, is a printmaker too. Three modest-size monotypes here share with the paintings a surface thats legible more as terrain than image. Each has rugged edges and a dozen grommets punctuating the paper in a slightly irregular grid. The sheets look like ancient texts, corroded shields or the residue of some sort of geological phenomena. Their hues run toward soil, lichen and rust. Like the assemblage paintings, they suggest both rupture and endurance. Their appeal, too, is visceral.

Harmony Hammond, Rims 3, 2016 Monotype on Twinrocker paper with metal, 13 inches by 10 inches unframed, 16 inches by 13.25 inches by 1.25 inches framed (Harmony Hammond / Alexander Gray Associates / Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects)

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, 6006 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Closes Saturday. (310) 837-2117, www.vielmetter.com

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

MORE ART:

Machine Project is closing its doors

Contested art and artifacts from Japanese American internment camps go on view

What's next for the Getty's Pacific Standard Time? This critic has an idea

UPDATES:

For the Record

The caption for the third artwork displayed here has been corrected.
Happy New Year! Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, with the first arts newsletter of the year. And this week, weve got it all: political art, the border wall and a giant tongue. Herewith, the most scintillating cultural stories of the week:

POLITICAL ART THAT IS PERSONAL

As we approach the anniversary of Donald Trumps inauguration  and the wave of protests it unleashed  Times art critic Christopher Knight looks at a pair of exhibitions in which issues of equity and power are top of mind: We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 at the California African American Museum and One Year: The Art of Politics in Los Angeles at Glendales Brand Library and Art Center certainly resonate in these times. Its art at the intersections of race, gender and politics. Los Angeles Times

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United States of Anxiety, 1995, by Scott Grieger at the Brand Library and Art Center. (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times )

ADIEU TO A POSTMODERN ARCHITECT

John Portman, the postmodern architect best known in Los Angeles for his design of the mediagenic Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown, has died at age 93. Portman brought a new level of drama to hotel architecture, writes Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. In place of lobbies leading predictably past a check-in desk to a bank of elevators, Portman carved out giant central atriums that included elaborate water features, stacked balconies and restaurants on several levels. The result was a hotel that aspired to be a city within a city. Los Angeles Times

In honor of the architect, Hawthorne spent an afternoon at the Bonaventure to see how it has stood the test of time. The only people I know who go there are architectural tourists, he writes. And they tend to leave disappointed, because the hotel is less the Super-Late Modern time capsule they expect than an oversized and poorly laid out 1970s hotel that has been serially  though haphazardly and unsuccessfully  updated over the years. Los Angeles Times

A MUSICAL REVOLUTIONARY

Times classical music critic Mark Swed pays tribute to violinist Robert Mann, founder of the Juilliard String Quartet, who died on New Years Day. Robert Mann, he writes, was one of a handful of transformative American musicians who in the years after World War II forever changed the way we think about and make music, who gave it a new meaning and a new necessity for a new age. Los Angeles Times

Robert Mann, left front, at his last L.A. performance with the Juilliard String Quartet in 1997. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

A PITCH TO THE GETTY

As Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA heads into its closing months, Christopher Knight makes a pitch to the Getty Foundation for the next PST series (provided there is one): Pacific Standard Time should underwrite full retrospective exhibitions of artists with significant histories of working in Los Angeles, beginning in the late 19th century and continuing to the present. Necessary, he writes, to counter the way in which an artists market so often determines the institutional treatment they get. Los Angeles Times

An installation view of the John McLaughlin retrospective held at LACMA in 2016. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times )

THE BORDER WALL CRITIQUED

Christopher Hawthorne recently paid a visit to the border wall prototypes currently lined up on the mesa near Otay, at the U.S.-Mexico border to have a look at what they might represent on an architectural level. The slabs in front of me seemed at once the most and least architectural objects Id ever seen, he says. They were banal and startling, full and empty of meaning. Here were the techniques of Land Art, medieval construction, marketing and promotion, architectural exhibition and the new nativism rolled uncomfortably if somehow inevitably into one. A must-read. Los Angeles Times

A border patrol officer rides past prototypes of President Trumps proposed border wall in San Diego. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images )

Speaking of the prototypes, artist Christoph Buchel has launched a petition to turn the wall prototypes into a national monument on the basis that they represent a major Land Art exhibition. New York Times

But critic Laila Pedro says that the project, with its arch tone and conceptual trappings ... normalizes and sanitizes the man stoking tensions about nuclear war via Twitter. Hyperallergic

ART OF INTERMENT

In 2015, a collection of artworks created by prisoners in World War II-era Japanese American interment camps went up for auction. But public concern that the pieces would fall into private hands led to their being acquired by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Now the works, which include paintings, photographs and sculptures, are going on view at the museum. As part of the project, the museum is inviting camp survivors and family members to help share whatever knowledge they might have about some of these poignant pieces. Los Angeles Times

MACHINE PROJECT TO CLOSE

Machine Project, the experimental artist-run space that has occupied a small storefront in Echo Park since 2003, is coming to a close. Established by artist Mark Allen, the space has, over its existence, featured experimental theater (a giant tongue sweeping actors off the stage) and wry installation (a fake forest  complete with a live pig). Allen reminisces about the spaces most iconic events and the role it has served in the local arts ecosystem. My favorite thing, he tells me, is when artists have a ridiculous idea and they need someone to say, Yeah, lets do it. Los Angeles Times

Founder Mark Allen in Machine Projects storefront space in Echo Park. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

BEN VEREEN ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

Broadway and television actor Ben Vereen has been accused of sexual assault by several young women he cast in a 2015 Florida production of Hair. Among the allegations are unwanted sexual advances and unwanted sex. In a statement issued in response to the accusations, Vereen said: I would like to apologize directly to the female cast members of the musical Hair for my inappropriate conduct when I directed the production in 2015. New York Daily News (via Los Angeles Times)

Actor Ben Vereen in 2008. (Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images )

IN OTHER NEWS

 Artist Nan Goldin, who once struggled with an addiction to OxyContin, writes a searing indictment of the Sacklers, the family behind the drug, and the art that they fund. Artforum

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has changed its admission policy. Non-New Yorkers will now have to pay a mandatory admission fee of $25 (instead of the customary pay-what-you-wish donation). New York Times

 Critics Holland Cotter and Roberta Smith say the policy is a mistake. You should be able to walk in off the street and see the art just as you can enter a public library and read the books on the shelf, says Cotter. New York Times

 Critic Philip Kennicott sees the Mets admission decision as the nuclear option. Washington Post

Visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art inspect a map of the galleries. (Mary Altaffer / AP )

 In Australia, controversy over plans to replace an Aboriginal cultural center with an Apple store designed by Norman Foster in Melbourne. CityLab

 Innovative ceramic artist Betty Woodman has died at 87. ARTnews

 Plus, Dominican artist Tony Capellan, who currently has work on view in Long Beach at the Museum of Latin American Art, died suddenly between Christmas and New Years. Dominican Today

 A list of all the L.A. area museums participating in free admission day on Jan. 28. Los Angeles Times

 The Cake, a theatrical comedy by Bekah Brunstetter about a conservative baker asked to make a cake for a lesbian couple, will land at the La Jolla Playhouse in February. Los Angeles Times

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Katy Kellehers fascinating cultural histories of color. The Awl

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carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah
Mika Brzezinski apologizes for homophobic insult of Pompeo By Tracy Brown Morning Joe co-hosts Mika Brzezinski, left, and Joe Scarborough. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski has apologized for referring to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo as wannabe dictator President Trumps butt boy. During a segment discussing the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the MSNBC show Wednesday morning, Brzezinski questioned whether Pompeos comments were the words of a patriot. I understand that Donald Trump doesnt care.  He doesnt care, said Brzezinski. But why doesnt Mike Pompeo care right now? Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on Fox & Friends, is that a patriot speaking? Or a wannabe dictators butt boy? Critics were quick to point out the homophobic nature of the insult, and Brzezinski promptly apologized on Twitter for her super bad choice of words. (While sometimes referring to a person eager to please for personal gain, a butt boy is also understood as a derogatory term for gay men.) I should have said water boy like for football teams or something like that, tweeted Brzezinski. So Sorry! And its not the first time Trumps critics have been called out for relying on homophobic jokes in their efforts to mock the president. Totally agree with you -SUPER BAD choice of words .. I should have said water boy... like for football teams or something like that.. apologize to @SenatorDurbin too! SO SORRY! https://t.co/zIqsGdK3Tk  Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) December 12, 2018 Facebook

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Baby, Its Cold Outside bites back as fans embrace embattled holiday song Fans are pushing back against the Baby, Its Cold Outside backlash, driving the song to surge in both sales and streaming. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) Baby, Its Cold Outside got a chilly reception on some airwaves earlier this year, but the seasonal favorite is heating up the charts, thanks to loyal fans who are pushing back against, well, the backlash. The tune has grown controversial in recent years, due to a changing cultural climate and conversations cropping up in the wake of #MeToo, prompting some radio stations to remove the song from airplay. But the tide appears to be turning for Baby, Its Cold Outside. On Monday, San Francisco-area radio station KOIT-FM (96.5) announced that it had returned the song to its rotation after a vast majority of listeners in an online poll voted to have it reinstated. KOITs listeners have spoken, and the overwhelming message is they do want to hear Baby, Its Cold Outside on our station, as they have throughout the years, KOIT program director Brian Figula said in Mondays statement. The radio station was one of several that had excised the song from their playlists, is now among those that reversed their original decision after fan outrage. And its not just on the radio where Baby is gaining ground. Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales chart for the week of Dec. 15 feature three different versions of the song, with Dean Martins 1959 rendition at No. 2, Idina Menzel and Michael Bubles 2014 duet reentering the chart at No. 29, and Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanels 2003 duet from the Elf soundtrack debuting at No. 41. As for radio stations, they remain dedicated to giving the audience what it wants. More than seven out of every ten listeners who responded said although some lyrics of the song may reflect a different era and a different sensibility than today, still they love the tradition and history of the song, and want to hear it as part of their holiday season, Figulas statement added. At KOIT, we always listen carefully when our listeners take time to comment. In this case, it was very obvious what they wanted us to do. Facebook

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Selena series based on the life of the Tejano singer ordered at Netflix By Los Angeles Times Staff The late Tejano singer Selena was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Grammys. (Photo by Rick Corrales) Netflix is ready to Bidi Bidi Bom Bom. The streaming platform has ordered a new scripted series about the life of famed Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. Selena: The Series will follow the coming-of-age of a young Selena as her dreams of becoming a professional singer come to fruition, forcing her and her family to make life-changing personal and professional choices. The family of the late singer is involved with the project and will serve as executive producers. Moises Zamora (Star, American Crime) is attached to write and executive-produce the series, which hails from Campanario Entertainment. Selena will always have a lasting place in music history and we feel great responsibility to do justice to her memory. With this series, viewers will finally get the full history of Selena, our family, and the impact she has had on all of our lives, Suzette Quintanilla, Selenas sister, said in a statement. We are excited to partner with Campanario and Netflix to give fans a never-before-seen glimpse at our story and highlight why Selena will remain a legend for generations to come. Selena rose to fame in the late 80s and early 90s with hits like Bidi Bidi Bom Bom and Como La Flor. She was shot and killed in 1995 at the age of 25 by her former fan club manager. Her death came months before she was slated to release her first crossover English-language album, which featured the hit singles I Could Fall in Love and Dreaming of You. Jennifer Lopez famously played the singer in a 1997 biopic, which marked one of Lopezs early breakout roles. More recently, Selena served as the inspiration for a posthumous makeup line for MAC cosmetics that launched in 2016. There is no premiere date yet for the series. Facebook

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Heres how to watch the SAG Award nominations on Wednesday By Nardine Saad Hump day might be a lot more enjoyable this week thanks to Awkwafina, Laverne Cox and the Screen Actors Guild. Cox (Orange Is the New Black and Bad Hair) and Awkwafina (Oceans 8 and Crazy Rich Asians) are teaming up to announce the nominations for the 25th SAG Awards on Wednesday and will hopefully enliven the typical awards-show announcements with their sass and comedic chops. The acting nominees will be revealed at 7 a.m. Pacific time at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. The announcement  being made on TNT, TBS and truTV  will also be carried live on each outlets website and social media pages, as well as the SAG Awards site. Heres when and how to watch: Live on TNT, TBS and TruTV and their websites and social media pages

tntdrama.com/sag-awards

truTV.comsagawards.org

TNTs Facebook, Twitter @TNTdrama and YouTube channel

TBS Facebook, Twitter @tbsnetwork and YouTube channel

The SAG Awards homepage Actresses Awkwafina, left, and Laverne Cox will announce the Screen Actors Guild Award nominees on Wednesday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris will introduce Awkwafina and Cox. Before that  at 6:50 a.m. Pacific  nominees in the the stunt ensemble categories will be announced by SAG Awards Committee chair JoBeth Williams and committee member Elizabeth McLaughlin during a live webcast on TNT and the SAG Awards websites. The 25th SAG Awards ceremony will be simulcast live on Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. Pacific on TNT and TBS and on the networks mobile and smart TV apps. Facebook

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Hoda Kotb in tears after Kathie Lee Gifford announces Today exit By Nardine Saad Kathie Lee Giffords announcement that shes leaving NBCs Today show reduced her on-air BFF Hoda Kotb to a sea of tears on Tuesday, and their life preserver was the box of tissues that a prop master dropped from the ceiling. Kotb, who knew about Giffords departure before the live announcement, was still emotional afterward, telling her longtime co-host that she had changed her life. The minute you stepped into my life with both feet, everything changed, Kotb said through tears, prompting the tissue-box drop. You chose me and thats how it started, she added. I was thinking about everything good thats happened in my life has happened since you came. "Its bittersweet, as these things always are@kathielgifford announces she will be leaving TODAY on her 11th anniversary in April 2019. pic.twitter.com/YsHIq6c9ev  TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2018 Kotb, who has become a fan favorite since co-hosting the freewheeling 10 a.m. hour of the program with Gifford since 2008, said Gifford hiring her enabled her to meet husband Joel Schiffman and adopt their daughter, Haley Joy Kotb. Gifford also invited Kotb to meet her family when she first joined the Today team. Everything happened.  How does one person step in your life and change it like that? And you did that for me, Kotb said. Gifford, who will officially sign off the show in April, referred to Kotb as a beautiful Egyptian goddess and thanked their viewers for sticking with them from their disastrous early days as a nothing burger outside on the plaza. You start sharing life, and your friendship shows up on the air, Gifford said. We werent colleagues very long. We became friends and now were going to be friends for the rest of our lives. Im grateful to God for you, Gifford added. Gods used you in my life every bit as much as hes used me in yours, sweetie. Thats the way it goes. No crumbs on his table. Gifford has co-anchored Todays fourth hour with Kotb for the last decade and is retiring from the program to pursue other creative endeavors. I had a chance to work with a legend... not something many people get to say in their lifetime.. but thanks to you @KathieLGifford .... I get to xxxx https://t.co/sXGdwmq7vm  Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) December 11, 2018 Facebook

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Times Person of the Year? Four journalists and a newspaper, guardians in the war on truth By Associated Press Times Person of the Year recognition for 2018 is shining a collective spotlight on guardians in what the magazine calls the war on truth. The group is made up of four journalists and a newspaper that Time says are representatives of a broader fight by countless others around the world. Read More Facebook

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Carol Burnett to receive inaugural Golden Globe award for TV achievement Carol Burnett will need to clear some space on her crowded mantel: At next months Golden Globes ceremony, she will pick up yet another award honoring her long and distinguished career in television. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced Tuesday morning that Burnett will receive the inaugural Carol Burnett Award, a new prize honoring lifetime achievement in television. The award was teased at last weeks nominations announcement for the Globes; its meant to be a bookend prize to the HFPAs Cecil B. DeMille Award for film achievement. A five-time Golden Globe winner, Burnett is also the most decorated honoree of all time in the TV category, according to the organization. For more than 50 years, comedy trailblazer Carol Burnett has been breaking barriers while making us laugh, HFPA President Meher Tatna said in a statement Tuesday. She was the first woman to host a variety sketch show, The Carol Burnett Show. She was also the first woman to win both the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and Kennedy Center Honors. And now we add another first to her running list: the first recipient  and namesake  of the new Golden Globe top honor for achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award. Burnett, 85, will receive the award at the Golden Globes ceremony, which NBC will broadcast live from coast to coast on Jan. 6 from the Beverly Hilton hotel. Facebook

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Andy Serkis revives Gollum as a Brexit-obsessed Theresa May By Tracy Brown As if British Prime Minister Theresa May werent in enough of a Brexit bind, now she has to deal with a biting Andy Serkis impersonation thats making the digital rounds. Literally biting because its Serkis via his immortal rendition of Gollum. The Lord of the Rings actor reprised a version of the One Ring-obsessed character in a new video posted by We Wants It. Much like the Gollum of the film series, Serkis May has her own fixation: the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Oh, Precious, our agreement, says a blue-suit clad Serkis. This is it. Our deal  We takes back control: Money, borders, laws, blue passportses. But another May personality quickly rebuts: No. It hurts the people. Makes them poorer. The parody features the two sides of May arguing with herself and its somehow both hilarious and terrifying. One personality only cares about how much she wants the juicy and sweet deal, while the other recognizes that there are plenty of people opposed to the idea. They hates the deal, all of them hates it. They wants a peoples vote, Gollum/May says to herself. The Peoples Vote refers to the efforts of those in the U.K. calling for a public vote on whether Britain will leave or remain in the EU based on the terms of the final exit agreement. On Monday, the real May delayed the parliamentary vote for the Brexit plan because she feared it did not have enough support to pass. The vote had been scheduled for Tuesday. While May has defended the deal (that EU leaders have said is the only one on the table), it has been slammed by both Brexit-backers and remainers who oppose leaving the 28-nation bloc. As of now Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Facebook

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Sarah Hyland of Modern Family opens up about second kidney transplant By Nardine Saad Sarah Hyland (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) After her body rejected her first kidney transplant, Modern Family star Sarah Hyland underwent dialysis last year and had to have a second transplant, she revealed Monday in an interview. Recovery from that surgery has been relatively smooth, but the 28-year-old has contended with a spate of other medical issues that resulted in additional procedures. After the second transplant, she had surgery to mitigate her endometriosis and another to repair a hernia. The chronic illnesses have resulted in six surgeries in the past 16 months, she told Self magazine, where she opened up about her tumultuous medical journey. Im stable. Im thriving. Im super happy with life, the 28-year-old actress said. .@sarah_hyland was born with kidney dysplasia. She went into kidney failure, and needed a transplant. In 2012, her dad gave her one of his. What Hyland hasnt been ready to share until now is that in 2016, her body began to reject the donated kidney. https://t.co/iAw8rdXJ1z pic.twitter.com/rR0xqZPiGy  SELF (@SELFmagazine) December 10, 2018 Hyland was born with kidney dysplasia, which causes the organs to grow debilitating cysts. She had a kidney transplant in 2012, with her father giving one of his kidneys to his daughter. But in October 2016, her body began rejecting the transplant and  under the scrutiny of social media and the public eye  Hylands weight dropped, her face swelled due to immunosuppressant drugs and fluid retention and her blood pressure spiked, damaging her vision, the mag said. The candid star said she began dialysis in February 2017 to filter her blood because her kidneys couldnt. However, the treatment fell short and the transplanted kidney had to come out. Doctors removed it that May, then in September of that year transplanted a kidney donated by her younger brother, Ian. I was very depressed, she told the magazine. When a family member gives you a second chance at life, and it fails, it almost feels like its your fault. Its not. But it does. Hyland felt completely helpless, she said, and for a long time contemplated suicide. I didnt want to fail my little brother like I failed my dad, she said. I had gone through [my whole life] of always being a burden, of always having to be looked after, having to be cared for. The thoughts subsided after she reached out to a friend, and she encouraged others to do the same. Its not shameful, she said. For anybody that wants to reach out to somebody but doesnt really know how because theyre too proud or they think that theyll be looked upon as weak, its not a shameful thing to say. Its not a shameful thing to share. Hyland said on Instagram on Monday that she shared her story so others might feel like theyre not alone. Hopefully those that are lucky enough not to experience this will learn about something new and take a moment to appreciate their health, she wrote. Facebook

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New Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer features the titan fights youre craving When the first trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters was released in July, it delved deep into the lives of its human characters  which was fine  and was accompanied by Debussys Clair de Lune  which was awesome  and everyone seemed happy to see that the titular titan seemed to be doing OK for himself. It was arty and magnificent. But there wasnt any fighting. And there was barely any destruction. And if youre coming in here to sell me a Godzilla film, then by gosh, it had better be apocalyptic. Luckily, most of that appears to be rectified in the second trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was released Monday morning. While the humans are still hanging out in the background, wringing their hands and staring in mute disbelief, far more of the footage is given over to the wrath of the titans. Heck, Godzilla even takes on King Ghidorah head-to-head(-to-head-to-head) and it looks amazing. See what it looks like when the world burns, but this time the old gods are to blame. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is scheduled to stomp its way into theaters May 31. Facebook

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New Stranger Things teaser reveals totally 80s episode titles By Nardine Saad Its summer 1985 and things are still pretty strange in Hawkins, Ind. Netflix on Sunday unveiled a teaser for Season 3 of Stranger Things, giving fans a list of eight episode titles to mine for clues about the sci-fi series new season. The new season will reunite viewers with Chief Hopper (David Harbour), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and their gang of middle-school outcasts, who find themselves at the center of the peculiar happenings in their small town. The streaming giant also confirmed a 2019 release for the new season, which will center on the already announced arrival of the Starcourt shopping mall, which makes the finale episode title all the more foreboding. (Check out that earlier teaser below.) Heres the title list: Suzie, Do you Copy?

The Mall Rats

The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

The Sauna Test

The Source

The Birthday

The Bite

The Battle of Starcourt In March, Netflix announced that Priah Ferguson would return as Lucas Sinclairs (Caleb McLaughlin) younger sister Erica, and Maya Hawke was cast in the new role of Robin. Last week, the Emmy-winning show earned a Golden Globe nomination for dramatic television series and a supporting actor nod for Harbour, who in addition to playing the town sheriff is now Elevens adoptive father. Facebook

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Americans, Gianni Versace and Dannemora lead Critics Choice TV nominees By Libby Hill The Broadcast Film Critics Assn. clearly has a thing for crime, with Mondays announcement of the TV nominees for the 24th annual Critics Choice Awards revealing lots of love for shows about skirting the law. The Americans, famous for its super sneaky Russian spies; The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and its depiction of the murder and aftermath; and Escape at Dannemora, with its tale of a real life jailbreak, lead all television nominees with five mentions apiece. Gianni Versace and Dannemora are competing in limited series, with Americans in drama, but all four projects were buoyed by their performances, which got four nominations each. Read More Facebook

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The Favourite and Black Panther lead film nominees for Critics Choice Awards By Libby Hill The Broadcast Film Critics Assn. announced its film nominees for the 24th Critics Choice Awards on Monday, with period black comedy The Favourite earning 14 nominations, just ahead of box office blockbuster Black Panther, which scored 12. Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz all garnered nominations for their performances in The Favourite, with Yorgos Lanthimos also nominated for direction and editing. Nipping at the heels of the two front runners are Damien Chazelles First Man with 10, Mary Poppins Returns, A Star is Born and Vice all nabbing nine nominations each and Roma with eight notices. Read More Facebook

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Times Person of the Year shortlist includes Meghan Markle, director Ryan Coogler, President Trump and separated families By Nardine Saad Actress-turned-duchess Meghan Markle is on Time magazines short list for 2018 Person of the Year. (Gareth Fuller / Associated Press) Actress-turned-duchess Meghan Markle and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler joined Donald Trump, separated families, Robert S. Mueller III and Christine Blasey Ford on Time magazines shortlist for the 2018 Person of the Year. Selected by the magazines editors since 1927, the title is bestowed on a person  or people  who most influenced the news and the world, for better or for worse, during the last year. On Monday, the magazine revealed the top 10 candidates on NBCs Today show, which will also name the titleholder on Tuesdays show. Markle and Coogler were the only entertainment figures represented during another contentious news year. Last year, the Silence Breakers who spoke out against sexual assault and misconduct earned the magazines cover spot. Heres the shortlist for @TIMEs Person of the Year #TIMEPOY pic.twitter.com/kHAmF8A3ut  TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 10, 2018 Heres who made the shortlist this year: Donald Trump: The tweet-happy U.S. president was named the 2016 Person of the Year when he was president-elect. Last year, when he also made the shortlist, Trump tweeted he had passed on the nominal title, though Time disagreed Separated families: Despite weathering the fallout of putting a crying Honduran child who had not been separated from her family on its magazine cover earlier this year, Time still selected migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border as candidates for its Person of the Year, again highlighting the battle over immigration in the U.S. Vladimir Putin: The Russian president was named Person of the Year in 2007 and has continued to make headlines due to Russias alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, and his relationship with Trump. Which brings us to ... Robert Mueller: The special counsel appointed by the Justice Department, who has been investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the election and Trumps ties to Russia, has become a foil to the bombastic leader. Though the investigation has ensnared Trumps former personal attorney Michael Cohen, his former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and several others, Trump has repeatedly decried it as a witch hunt for evidence of collusion with Russia. Ryan Coogler: The Black Panther director and screenwriter turned a lesser-known superhero into a cultural phenomenon with his groundbreaking film, which became a critical darling and broke a bevy of box-office records while boasting a predominantly black cast. Christine Blasey Ford: The university professor who accused U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers brought the nation to a standstill with her emotional testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, throwing Kavanaughs shoo-in appointment into question for weeks. Jamal Khashoggi: The Saudi journalist was killed soon after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and his disappearance led to widespread criticism of the Arab nation, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is believed to have ordered Khashoggis murder. March for Our Lives activists: The teenagers who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., assembled to take on gun control and march on Washington, D.C., to speak out against gun violence. Moon Jae-in: The South Korean president, who helped host the Olympic Games this year, mounted a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, officially bringing about an end to the war between the two countries. Meghan Markle: The Suits actress who hails from California became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Britains Prince Harry in May, offering a fairy-tale reprieve from pressing conflicts around the world. In October, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child, who would be seventh in line to the British throne. Facebook

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Saturday Night Live finds DeNiros Robert Mueller in Eric Trumps closet After a week full of new revelations from the Robert Mueller investigation, it was probably no surprise that Robert De Niro got the call to reprise his role as the special counsel for this weeks Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Jason Mamoa with the musical guest Mumford and Sons. With the always-on news cycle of 2018, the cold open is typically a feast-or-famine affair that benefits from standout, vaguely surreal moments  Kanye West in the White House, for example. With so much news this week surrounding the legal affairs of the presidents inner circle, SNL imagined the FBIs special counsel as the boogeyman in Eric Trumps closet. Dont be scared, its just me, De Niro assured him, your dads friend from work. Alex Moffat as a clueless Eric and Mikey Day as Don Jr. has been a solid pairing on Weekend Update, and they were natural choices given the news cycle. Still, the segment lacked the sort of standout snap that makes the cold open the usual talking point for the episode, apart from its closing exchange. People say youre the worst thing that happened to my dad, Moffats Eric Trump told De Niro. No, getting elected president was the worst thing to happen to your dad, he countered. Watch a clip below. "Its just me, Robert Mueller. Your dads friend from work." #SNL pic.twitter.com/xsLhnSg1oe  Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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Times Up congratulates Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu on Golden Globes nomination Approaching the one-year anniversary of the movements birth, Times Up congratulated the women who earned 2019 Golden Globe nominations, including Crazy Rich Asians star and activist Constance Wu. We celebrate all of our sisters who were nominated for Golden Globe awards this year, including Constance Wu who became the first Asian woman to be nominated for best actress in more than 40 years, the organization said in a statement to The Times. (While few women of Asian descent been nominated for best actress in the awards 75-year history, Hailee Steinfeld, who is part Filipino, was nominated in 2017 for Edge of Seventeen.) As far as Asian Americans go, not Asian-Asians, there have been two others [in the comedy/musical category], Wu told The Times on Thursday morning, reacting to her nomination for Crazy Rich Asians, the first contemporary-set all-Asian studio film in 25 years. It is especially meaningful to receive a nomination for a leading role in an Asian American-centered story, Wu added. In its Globes nominations kudos, Times Up also called out the lack of female filmmakers among this years all-male directing nominees. We are thrilled to see some progress in the diversity of artists recognized, but, once again, the best director category lacks a single woman nominee, the statement read. The body of work directed by women this year deserves acknowledgement. The Times Up movement was first announced Jan. 1, unveiling an initiative to battle sexual harassment in industries including Hollywood, which included a legal defense fund to help underprivileged women. The movement called for supporters to wear all black to the glitzy 2018 Globes ceremony and speak out against harassment and gender inequality. As of Thursday, Wu was not yet sure if there will be a repeat of last years red carpet call to action or similar coordinated show of solidarity. I dont know if its going to be a clothing statement, but the solidarity and the sisterhood that we have is always there and is growing every day  so it will 100% be there at the Golden Globes, she said. Maybe not in terms of wardrobe, but in terms of passion? For sure. Read the full Times Up statement below: Statement from TIMES UP on the 2019 Golden Globe Nominations We celebrate all of our sisters who were nominated for Golden Globe awards this year, including Constance Wu who became the first Asian woman to be nominated for best actress in more than 40 years. We are thrilled to see some progress in the diversity of artists recognized, but once again the best director category lacks a single woman nominee. The body of work directed by women this year deserves acknowledgement. While we greatly admire the excellent work honored yesterday, we are also reminded of the vast imbalances that still exist across our industry and many other industries, and remain committed to our collective work. Facebook

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Kevin Hart shouldnt have stepped down from Oscars gig, GLAAD chief says: He should have stepped up By Christie DZurilla Comedian Kevin Hart decided not to host Februarys Academy Awards. (Willy Sanjuan / Associated Press) GLAAD would rather Kevin Hart hadnt quit as Oscars host, with its leader expressing disappointment Friday morning on social media and on CNN. Kevin Hart shouldnt have stepped down; he should have stepped up, tweeted Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ advocacy group. Harts apology to LGBTQ people is an important step forward, but he missed a real opportunity to use his platform and the Oscars stage to build unity and awareness. Ellis said the group would still welcome that conversation with the 39-year-old comic. Hart, who got the job only Tuesday, walked away Thursday night rather than cave to internet trolls for old anti-gay tweets that had resurfaced after he deleted them. He later did an about-face and offered an apology to those he had hurt, saying he was stepping down because he didnt want to distract from the awards themselves. We were hoping that this was going to turn into a teachable moment, Ellis told CNN on Friday morning. GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis on why she was hoping Kevin Hart wouldnt step down as Oscars host:



We were hoping that this was going to turn into a teachable moment  [and] to use the Oscar stage ... to help build unity and awareness. https://t.co/Kt5qT05hAA pic.twitter.com/PNijmSM2Vv  New Day (@NewDay) December 7, 2018 Ellis said Hart could have become an ally of the community if he had faced it, explained he had evolved and was willing to lead moving forward. It wasnt the conclusion that I think everybody would have liked, Ellis said. The academy has yet to respond to Harts public exit or announce a replacement host. (But we have some ideas about who should get the gig.) We would still welcome that conversation with him. The Academy has recently made significant strides in featuring diverse talent onstage and they should now double down on that commitment as they look for a new host.  Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) December 7, 2018 Facebook

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Marvel drops Avengers 4 trailer, reveals title By Los Angeles Times Staff The end is near. Or more precisely, the endgame. On Friday, Marvel Studios unveiled the official first trailer for the latest Avengers film. The clip also confirmed the title for the project, Avengers: Endgame, and an April 26 release. Endgame picks up where the events of Avengers: Infinity War, released in April, left off. The beginning of the trailer focuses largely on Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in solitude before moving the focus to Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). The new footage also shows the return of Jeremy Renners Hawkeye, who did not appear in Infinity War. He was last seen in Captain America: Civil War. Watch the trailer below. Facebook

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Justin Timberlake postpones Man of the Woods tour, citing bruised vocal cords By Nardine Saad Justin Timberlake. (Amy Harris / Invision/Associated Press) Justin Timberlake is sorry that the remainder of his Man of the Woods tour has now been postponed to next year while the singer recovers from bruised vocal cords, a problem that has dogged him since October. My vocal cords are healing but they are not all the way back to normal yet, so my doctors want me to continue to rest my voice, the 37-year-old wrote on Instagram Wednesday night. That means hell hold off on singing until next month. Im really sorry, Timberlake wrote. I want to be back on the stage and I am doing all I can to get there quickly. Live Nation, the producer of the tour, confirmed on Thursday that the tour would resume in January, and tickets for the originally scheduled shows will be honored at the 2019 events. Timberlake, whose tour accompanies his folksy fifth studio album, Man of the Woods, first canceled his Madison Square Garden show in New York in late October and had since postponed a slew of dates. (Though that didnt derail his silent interview on The Tonight Show to promote his memoir Hindsight shortly after.) The North American tour will now resume in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4, according to Live Nation. Timberlakes Los Angeles stop at the Staples Center  originally set for Nov. 27  is now slated for March 10, Live Nation said. Hes also been rescheduled to play the Honda Center in Anaheim on Feb. 22. Additional appearances in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Fresno and Oakland have also been pushed back to March, and tickets for the previously scheduled concerts are valid at the respective new dates in each city. Refunds are also available at point of purchase. (A full list of the rescheduled shows can be seen here.) Facebook

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Faye Dunaway returning to Broadway to play Katharine Hepburn in Tea at Five By Nardine Saad (Lionel Cironneau / Associated Press) Oscar winner Faye Dunaway is returning to Broadway to play four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn. The Bonnie and Clyde star will embody the legendary actress with a devil-may-care personality in Matthew Lombardos Tea at Five, marking the shows Broadway debut and Dunaways return to the Great White Way after 35 years, producer Ben Feldman said in a statement on Thursday. Lombardo has created a new version of the one-woman-show, which took audiences to 1938 as Hepburn awaited word on the final casting for the role of Scarlett OHara to 1983, where they witness the sunset of her health and career. The new show will be directed by Tony Award nominee John Tillinger and will have a limited engagement in summer 2019. Additional information, including the complete creative team, dates and theater, will be announced early next year. Dunaway made her Broadway debut in 1961 with A Man for All Seasons and followed it up with appearances in After the Fall and The Changeling. However, her breakthrough happened off-Broadway when she appeared in Hogans Goat, which led to her casting in 1967s Bonnie and Clyde. (She later earned her Academy Award for the 1976 drama Network.) The 77-year-old actress last appeared on Broadway in 1982 in the original play The Curse of an Aching Heart. Facebook

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Father John Misty rallies musician friends for wildfire benefit concert Father John Misty announced that he will host a benefit concert for victims of Californias recent wildfires. (Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP/Getty Images) Father John Misty, the singer, songwriter and occasional Chateau Marmont pianist, announced Thursday morning the California Wildfire Benefit Concert, an evening of music to benefit victims of the recent fires. Misty, the stage name of Josh Tillman, is teaming up with Los Angeles-based concert promoter Goldenvoice and has scrolled through his contacts for a coterie of special guests, including Haim, Mac DeMarco, Lucius, Tim Heidecker, Rostam, Jonathan Wilson, Rivers Cuomo and Weyes Blood, among others. Set for Dec. 18 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in L.A., the night promises to be an intimate affair: an all-acoustic session of songs from some of the areas most accomplished songwriters, with a Steinway & Sons-donated piano to add some class. The benefit is the latest to raise money for those affected by the devastating fires. Over the weekend, Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani and Robin Thicke raised a reported $1 million as part of the One Love Malibu Benefit Concert. Last week, garage rocker Ty Segall and friends took over Zebulon in Frogtown to make money for those in need. Proceeds from Tillman & Co.s event will go to the Southern California Disaster Relief Fund, created by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles in partnership with United Way of Ventura County. In a statement Thursday morning, organizers explained that the fund is directed at low-income families whose lives and livelihoods are affected by the current wildfires in Southern California. Specifically, the fund focuses on longer-term support to help individuals and families in need to rebuild their lives. Bonus opportunity: Fans will be able to bid on front-row tickets to the concert through CharityBuzz. The high-bidder will also get a commemorative poster signed by participating artists and a room at the Ace Hotel. Tickets for the all-ages concert range from $59.50-$199.50 and go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific. Facebook

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A Star Is Born: Peter Buck turns 62 today By Los Angeles Times Staff (Joe Pugliese / Los Angeles Times) Everyone I know has enough bad times and struggles in their lives to draw upon for a lifetime.  Peter Buck, 1996 FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Lowdown on Hi-Fi Facebook

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Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg to co-host 2019 Golden Globes By Nardine Saad Andy Samberg, left, and Sandra Oh will co-host the 2019 Golden Globes. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times; Micha Theiner / Los Angeles Times) Killing Eve will meet Brooklyn Nine-Nine at the 76th Golden Globe Awards next month now that Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg have been announced as co-hosts of the annual show. They bring wit, charm and style to a room filled with the very best of film and television. Its sure to be another unforgettable fun-filled night, said NBC co-chairmen Paul Telegdy and George Cheeks in a statement on Wednesday. The party-like ceremony, hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. at the Beverly Hilton hotel, will honor the best in film and television and marks the official kickoff of the 2019 awards-show season. The three-hour telecast will air live, coast to coast, on NBC on Jan. 6 at 5 p.m. Pacific time. Golden Globes nominations preview: 5 things to watch for, including Mary Poppins Returns vs. Roma  The nominees will be announced early Thursday across 25 categories  14 in film and 11 in television  and the winners are voted on by members of the HFPA. Were excited to welcome Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg as co-hosts of Hollywoods Party of the Year, said HFPA President Meher Tatna in a statement. Both Golden Globe Award recipients have continually showcased their talents in film and television, and we cant wait see what their undeniable chemistry will bring to the Golden Globes stage. Oh, who famously starred as Dr. Cristina Yang on ABCs Greys Anatomy, won a 2006 Golden Globe for performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television; a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role and five Emmy nominations for supporting actress in a drama. Her role as an MI5 officer hunting down a female assassin on BBC Americas Killing Eve earned her another Emmy nomination earlier this year. As for Samberg, the Saturday Night Live alum won two Golden Globes in 2014 for his work on the cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which recently landed at NBC after being canceled on Fox. It wont be the first time for him to host a major awards show either: The comedian previously emceed the Primetime Emmy Awards as well as the Film Independent Spirit Awards. The duo take over hosting duties from recent hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and Ricky Gervais. Facebook

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Natalie Portman apologizes to Jessica Simpson for bikini-shaming her By Nardine Saad Actress Natalie Portman, left, in a recent interview alluded to a bikini photo of Jessica Simpson. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times, left; Evan Agostini / Invision/Associated Press, right)) Oscar winner Natalie Portman hears you, Jessica Simpson, and agrees that women should dress and behave however they like without judgment. Thats a different tune than the one Portman appeared to sing in a USA Today profile published on Tuesday  one that prompted a lengthy statement from Simpson calling out Portman for shaming her, particularly amid the Times Up era that Portman helped usher in. Portman plays a pop star in the upcoming film Vox Lux, which explores the underbelly of the music industry, and in discussing the topic, she lauded Madonna but appeared to throw shade at Simpson and the industry that touted the virgin/vixen paradigms around the millennium. I remember being a teenager, and there was Jessica Simpson on the cover of a magazine saying Im a virgin while wearing a bikini, and I was confused. Like, I dont know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl, Portman, 37, told the publication. Simpson. 38, read those words Wednesday morning and, in a missive posted on Instagram and Twitter, said she was disappointed, but did not indicate what magazine cover Portman was referring to. As public figures, we both know our image is not totally in our control at all times, and that the industry we work in often tries to define us and box us in, the fashion designer wrote. However, I was taught to be myself and honor the different ways all women express themselves, which is why I believed then  and I believe now  that being sexy in a bikini and being proud of my body are not synonymous with having sex, Simpson added. Simpson, who made no secret of losing her virginity after she wed 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey in 2002, had said that shes always embraced being a role model to women by letting them know they can look and wear whatever they want and choose to have or not have sex whenever they want. The power lies within us as individuals, Simpson wrote. Addressing Simpson directly (and publicly) in the comments section of the post, Portman thanked her and said she she completely agrees with her. I only meant to say I was confused  as a girl coming of age in the public eye around the same time  by the medias mixed messages about how girls and women were supposed to behave, Portman wrote. The actress said she didnt mean to shame Simpson and is sorry for any hurt her words might have caused. I have nothing but respect for your talent and your voice that you use to encourage and empower women all over the globe, Portman said. UPDATE 2:21 p.m.: This story was updated with Portmans apology. This story was originally published at 11:52 a.m. pic.twitter.com/zBLuyF3a8p  Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson) December 5, 2018 Facebook

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Surviving R. Kelly screening evacuated after anonymous threats By Christie DZurilla Singer R. Kelly. (Noam Galai / Getty Images) Phoned-in threats cleared the house at a screening of the Surviving R. Kelly documentary Tuesday night in New York City, leaving the singers ex-wife Drea Kelly more fired up than deterred. [S]everal anonymous threats were called in, Lifetime said in a statement to The Times. As a precaution, the network elected to evacuate the building. The incident was investigated and concern about a gunman in the house was determined to be unfounded, a New York Police Department spokeswoman told The Times. The R&B singer has been accused of abusive and controlling behavior toward women, especially younger ones, allegations R. Kelly has denied. Those allegations are detailed in the three-part documentary series. Tuesdays screening was attended by alleged victims Jerhonda Pace, Kitti Jones, Assante McGee, Lisa Van Allen and Lizzette Martinez, in addition to Drea Kelly. Also there were #MeToo activist Tarana Burke, radio host Angela Yee and former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson. Burke and Yee were to have been part of a panel with Lifetime executive producer Brie Miranda Bryant. They thought they were putting us out; they just put gasoline on a fire and now were just gonna burn longer and stronger. You actually helped us when it was meant to harm us [because] this did nothing but unite us even more, Drea Kelly told Rolling Stone. The incident lets me know were on the right track. Were causing people to listen. Were getting peoples attention and were getting attention from the one who thought that he was invincible and untouchable, she said. Surviving R. Kelly airs Jan. 3-5 on Lifetime. Facebook

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Cardi B announces split from Offset a year after they wed By Nardine Saad Offset, left, and Cardi B arrive at the American Music Awards in October. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press) A little more than a year after they secretly wed, rappers Cardi B and Offset have split, according to Cardi B, who announced the break-up in an Instagram video on Tuesday night. Things just havent been working out between us for a long time. And its nobodys fault, its just like I guess, we grew out of love, the Okurr-trilling, I Like It rapper said. Were not together anymore. It might take time to get a divorce, but Im always gonna have a lot of love for him because he is my daughters father, she added. Cardi and Offset, a member of the rap trio Migos, secretly wed in Georgia in September 2017 before the arrival of their daughter, Kulture, whos now nearly 5 months old. Cardi, 26, real name Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, said that they remain good friends and business partners who got a lot of love for each other. Offset, also 26, real name Kiari Kendrall Cephus, very publicly proposed to the Bodak Yellow MC in October and the two often discussed their plans for a blowout celebration. Then news of their actual marriage  and marriage certificate  leaked in June and the two welcomed their baby girl in July. Reps for Cardi and Offset did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment. Facebook

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Kevin Hart to host the 2019 Academy Awards Kevin Hart will be hosting the Oscars next year. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Stepping into what is often considered one of the most difficult  and at times thankless  gigs in Hollywood, Kevin Hart is set to host the 91st Academy Awards. The stand-up comedian and actor made the announcement himself Tuesday on Instagram, promising, I will be sure to make this years Oscars a special one. For years I have been asked if I would ever Host the Oscars and my answer was always the same, Hart wrote. I said that it would be the opportunity of a lifetime for me as a comedian and that it will happen when its suppose to. In tapping Hart, who has starred in box-office hits like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Central Intelligence and who boasts a massive social media following and large base of young fans, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is hoping to stem a steady decline in ratings for the telecast. In each of the past two years, under host Jimmy Kimmel, the ratings dipped, with Marchs show reaching a record-low audience of 26.5 million viewers. Facing perennial criticism over what many have decried as the sometimes tedious length of the Oscars, the academy has vowed that this coming years show, which is being produced by Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss, will not run over three hours. To trim the proceedings down, some awards will be given out during commercial breaks rather than live on air. In an ultimately fizzled gambit to bring in a wider audience for the all-important telecast, the academy earlier this year announced the creation of a new award recognizing outstanding achievement in popular film. But after weeks of blowback, the academys board of governors reversed itself and decided to shelve the idea, at least for the time being. Hart has previously served as emcee of the MTV Movie Awards along with his Central Intelligence co-star Dwayne Johnson. The Oscars will air on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 24. Facebook

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2018 AFI Awards honorees include Black Panther, Atlanta, Roma and The Americans By Sonaiya Kelley The American Film Institute announced 10 films and 10 television shows as honorees of the 2018 AFI Awards this morning. BlacKkKlansman, Black Panther, Eighth Grade, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Favorite, First Reformed, Green Book, Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place, and A Star Is Born were recognized as culturally and artistically significant films by the institute. Netflixs Roma, a Spanish-language film not eligible for the main list, was also recognized with an AFI Special Award which honors films outside the Institutes criteria for American film. On the television side, FXs The Americans, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, Atlanta and Pose, HBOs Barry and Succession, AMCs Better Call Saul, Netflixs The Kominsky Method, Amazon Primes The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and NBCs This Is Us were all recognized. The AFI Awards will be presented at an annual private luncheon on Jan. 4, 2019, in Los Angeles. Facebook

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Terry Crews, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann and Christian Slater to announce Golden Globe nominees Terry Crews, left, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann and Christian Slater will announce the Golden Globe nominees on Thursday morning. (Ricardo DeAratanha, left, Carolyn Cole, Michael Nagle, Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) There are four Hollywood stars who are guaranteed to be awake bright and early for this years Golden Globe Awards announcement, regardless of whether they have a nomination in the offing. Terry Crews, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann and Christian Slater have been tasked with presenting the Golden Globe nominees at Thursdays annual news conference, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced Tuesday. The HFPA also said a major announcement regarding the Golden Globes schedule would be made prior to this years nominees. Joining Crews, Gurira, Mann and Slater will be newly minted Golden Globe Ambassador Isan Elba (also the daughter of actor Idris Elba), HFPA President Meher Tetna and Golden Globe executive producer Barry Adelman. The Golden Globe nominations announcement will take place on Thursday at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. Live-stream coverage of the event begins at 5:05 a.m., with the first categories announced at 5:15 a.m. and a second and final group of categories revealed shortly thereafter. Facebook

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SNL star Pete Davidson says he wont give in to online bullying; Ariana Grande chimes in By Christie DZurilla Pete Davidson (Angela Weiss / AFP/Getty Images) Pete Davidson says no matter what you do to him, hes not going to kill himself. Wait, what? Yes, exactly what you just read. Online trolls cant bully him to death, he says. And he wonders why theyre getting away with such abusive behavior. Ive been getting online bullied and in public by people for 9 months. Ive spoken about BPD and being suicidal publicly only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who dont want to be on this earth, the Saturday Night Live actor said bluntly Monday on Instagram. I just want you guys to know. No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I wont. The Saturday Night Live actor, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, was presumably referring to his break from pop star Ariana Grande. The two met in March and became an item toward the end of May, got engaged just weeks into the relationship and then split up in October. She has got around 137 million Instagram followers, some of whom have apparently been talking to  or at  Davidson online. He has no verified Twitter or Facebook accounts. He said he has kept his mouth shut about the online bullying to this point and hasnt mentioned any names  nor does he drop any names in the post. Im trying to understand how when something happens to a guy the whole entire world just trashes him without any facts or frame of reference, Davidson wrote. Especially in todays climate where everyone loves to be offended and upset it truly is mind boggling. Pete Davidson just posted a touching note about mental health to his Instagram pic.twitter.com/nAudS7NdmU  Alexis Benveniste (@apbenven) December 3, 2018 Davidsons missive comes on the heels of the new video for Grandes hit song thank u, next, whose title echoes a Twitter comment involving the actor. The singer put Davidsons statement and a comment of her own on her Instagram story around midnight, urging her many fans to change their behavior. [I] really dont endorse anything but forgiveness and positivity. i care deeply about pete and his health. im asking you to please be gentler with others, even on the internet, Grande said, in part. Later in the statement, she got a bit more specific. [P]lease let whatever point youre trying to make go. I will always have irrevocable love for him and if youve gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point, she said. Heres Grandes statement in full: i know u already know this but i feel i need to remind my fans to please be gentler with others. i really dont endorse anything but forgiveness and positivity. i care deeply about pete and his health. im asking you to please be gentler with others, even on the internet. ive learned thru my own mistakes not to be reactive on socials so i do understand. but you truly dont know what anybody is experiencing ever. regardless of what they choose to display on social media or how they may appear in public. i can promise u that. so please let whatever point youre trying to make go. I will always have irrevocable love for him and if youve gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point. Borderline personality disorder is marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image and behavior, according to the National Institute of Mental Health website. Symptoms can often result in impulsive actions and relationship problems, with people experiencing intense episodes of anger, depression and anxiety that last for hours or days. People with BPD tend to experience things as all good or all bad, and according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the risk of self-harming behavior or suicide is an extreme risk. UPDATE Dec. 4, 10:18 a.m.: This post was updated with the statement from Grande. This post was originally published on Dec. 3 at 12:37 p.m. Facebook

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Kanye West apologizes after being called out for his behavior at The Cher Show By Christie DZurilla Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West at the opening night of The Cher Show on Monday. (Evan Agostini / Associated Press) Kanye West really, really liked The Cher Shows opening night on Broadway. But at least one performer couldnt tell, cause Ye apparently was messing with his phone the whole time. Hey @kanyewest so cool that youre here at @TheCherShow!, cast member Jarrod Spector tweeted at the rapper shortly after things got rolling on Monday night. If you look up from your cell phone youll see were doing a show up here. Its opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much. West might as well have taken a flash photograph  he was so busted. Hey @kanyewest so cool that youre here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone youll see were doing a show up here. Its opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much.  Jarrod Spector (@jarrodspector) December 4, 2018 West must actually read his mentions  at least the ones that blow up  because he replied with an apology a few hours later. And he apparently really did dig the show. The dynamics of Cher and Sonnys relationship made Kim and I grab each others hand and sing I got you babe, he wrote. Please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece. the dynamics of Cher and Sonnys relationship made Kim and I grab each others hand and sing I got you babe

please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece.  ye (@kanyewest) December 4, 2018 But West might not have behaved as awful as all that. A Kanye source told TMZ that the rapper loved the show so much he was actually taking notes on his phone. Still rude, but at least he didnt tweet that apology halfway through the show. Facebook

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Red Bull Music Festival sets 2019 lineup, including Red Dead Redemption 2 live gig Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd in October. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times ) Liquid adrenaline manufacturer Red Bull has announced the lineup for the 2019 Red Bull Music Festival Los Angeles, which will focus nearly as much on sight as on sound. Most notably, the multi-event program will feature the first live performance of music from the blockbuster action-adventure game Red Dead Redemption 2. It will be the centerpiece of a festival that aims to explore how music intersects with gaming, film and photography. Attendees will experience live Red Dead Redemption 2 performances by composer Woody Jackson, Indonesian duo Senyawa and others featured in the game in whats billed as a reimagining of the score as a unique auditory installation. The festival, happening at various locations across multiple February dates, will also present the first U.S. stops on Swedish pop powerhouse Robyns upcoming North American tour. Hitting the States to promote her new album, Honey, Robyn will perform her first Los Angeles shows in eight years on Feb. 22 and 23 at the Hollywood Palladium. The festivals Feb. 7 opening event will aim a much-deserved spotlight on the performer San Cha. Shell be introducing a new original piece, according the notes, based around the telenovela programs of her childhood, and will feature artists from a range of L.A.s creative disciplines. On Valentines Day, the Tupelo, Miss., rap team Rae Sremmurd will host an event described in release notes as an eclectic show inspired by the golden age of Hollywood. Along with surprise guests, hosts Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee will marry their hits with covers of iconic love songs of past and present, putting a contemporary slant on classic silver screen romance. The party will take place at the Reserve, which is in a historic bank vault in downtown Los Angeles. On Feb. 16, the skate, film and art collective Illegal Civilization will take over the Pink Motel in Sun Valley  most visible these days as a setting in the Netflix show GLOW  for a daylong installment called Illegal Civ Movie Motel. The group is headed by Mikey Alfred, best known for his work with Jonah Hill on Mid90s, and Alfred and his peers will entangle skating, film screenings and a swap meet with music performances by affiliates including Show Me the Body, Tierra Whack and Tommy Genesis. Throughout February the festival will take over the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Koreatown to present Center Channel, a film series with a mission to explore the most compelling intersections of sound and film. In conjunction with Los Angeles curators and tastemakers, programmers have scheduled not-yet-announced premieres, screenings, panels and live performances. Tickets for all events go on sale Wednesday at noon. Facebook

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New Captain Marvel trailer teases Carol Danvers backstory and cosmic fights By Tracy Brown The new trailer for Captain Marvel features a little something for everyone: additional details about the story, fight scenes in outer space and a cute cat. The second trailer for the Marvel Studios film debuted Monday night, and it sends a clear message that Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, is the hero everyone has been waiting for. At least according to Disney. While the first trailer hinted that Carol (played by Brie Larson) is trying to piece together what seems to be her forgotten past on Earth, this new promo provides more information about who she has become. Carol explains to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) that she is Kree, an alien race of noble warrior heroes. But then the trailer immediately reveals that wasnt always the case. It turns out that after somehow stumbling upon an injured and memory-less Carol, the Kree turned her into one of them. This gave her enhanced strength, a prolonged lifespan and various other superpowers. And these powers appear to be no joke. The trailer shows Captain Marvel handle everything from hand-to-hand combat against what appears to be an elderly woman (but is likely an enemy in disguise) to flying around in space while taking out spaceships with energy blasts she shoots from her hands. Looks like there is definitely hope for the remaining Avengers to save the universe following the events of Avengers: Infinity War after all. Captain Marvel is scheduled to hit theaters March 8, 2019. Check out the new poster and tune-in to @ESPNs Monday Night Football to see the brand new trailer for Marvel Studios #CaptainMarvel. pic.twitter.com/43EPkcTBET  Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 3, 2018 Facebook

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Queen announces Rhapsody Tour with Adam Lambert By Christie DZurilla Brian May, left, and Adam Lambert perform at the Forum in 2014. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) Bolstered by the success of the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen is going back on tour in North America next summer. And Adam Lambert will take the mic once again in place of the late Freddie Mercury, the band announced Monday. The Rhapsody Tour will take place from mid-July to late August 2019 and feature (in the bands words) 23 giant shows. Theyll play the Forum in Inglewood on July 19. Tickets go on sale Friday, with pre-sale codes sent to fan club members and QueenOnline.com subscribers on Tuesday. The soaring success of Bohemian Rhapsody  the Freddie Mercury/Queen movie that is set to become the biggest-grossing music biopic of all time  has proven that the publics love for Queen remains as strong as ever, the band said in a release. We are ready for America and raring to get back in the saddle, drummer Roger Taylor said in the statement, with lead guitarist Brian May adding: This is a great opportunity. Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever and got us our best notices ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious! Lambert has been touring with the band since 2012 after sharing the stage with them during the 2009 American Idol finale. Completing the tour lineup are longtime collaborator Spike Edney on keyboards, Neil Fairclough on bass and Tyler Warren on percussion. See the full list of dates here. Were excited to announce Queen + @adamlambert will be debuting the brand new Rhapsody touring show across 23 North America dates July-August 2019. Read all the details here:https://t.co/rBI0jbxQRb



Photographer: Bojan Hohnjec

 Miracle Productions LLP pic.twitter.com/s0LTa128Ey  Queen (@QueenWillRock) December 3, 2018 Facebook

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Halsey calls out Victorias Secret Fashion Show over trans exclusion By Christie DZurilla Halsey, left, performed at the 2018 Victorias Secret Fashion Show, recorded last month. (Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images) Halsey, who performed at the 2018 Victorias Secret Fashion Show that aired Sunday night on ABC, posted a lengthy note on social media at the same time regarding the shows perceived lack of trans inclusivity. I have adored the Victorias Secret Fashion Show since I was young. Performing this year alongside other amazing artists, and hardworking models/friends was supposed to be the best night of my year. However, after I filmed the performance some comments were made regarding the show that I simply cannot ignore, she wrote. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity. Especially not one motivated by stereotype, continued the 24-year-old singer, who is out as bisexual. She then directed followers to the GLSEN website and said she had made a big donation to the organization, which champions LGBTQ issues in K-12 education. The show featured 49 female models of various races and skin colors from at least 14 countries and six continents. However, a comment from a Victorias Secret executive in a Nov. 8 Vogue article  which ran the same day the show was taped  upset some transgender people and their allies, and appears to have sparked Halseys post. There was also discussion in the article about the absence of plus-size models on the VS catwalk. Its like, why doesnt your show do this? Shouldnt you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I dont think we should, Ed Razek, chief marketing officer for Victorias Secret owner, L Brands, told the magazine. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. Its a 42-minute entertainment special. Thats what it is. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us. And they carp at us because were the leader.  @GLSEN - https://t.co/XdQMPro0KC pic.twitter.com/agOzSYREkX  h (@halsey) December 3, 2018 Victorias Secret did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The quote was in the context of a larger discussion about criticism of the show on social media, which had ramped up ahead of the show. Halsey, for one, wasnt having it. If you are a trans person reading this, and these comments have made you feel alienated or invalidated please know that you have allies. We stand in solidarity, and complete and total acceptance is the only fantasy that I support, she said in her Sunday post. Also performing at the fashion show were Shawn Mendes, Rita Ora, the Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha, Leela James, Kelsea Ballerini, and the Struts, most of whom posted generic social-media reminders to watch the show. None of them talked about trans exclusion. Rexha, however, had a bit more to say, and added a video of her performance Monday on Twitter so followers could see it  in some cases, again. It has always been a big dream of mine to perform at @victoriassecret Fashion Show and its finally happening tomorrow!! So dont you miss it!!!, she posted Saturday on Instagram. Watch me strutting my curvy ass body unapologetically down that runway.  I cant believe this happened. Dream come true. https://t.co/lHJMfI7OhM  Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) December 3, 2018 Facebook

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Kennedy Center Honors celebrate Cher, Wayne Shorter, Reba McEntire and Philip Glass  plus the creators of Hamilton By Christie DZurilla Wayne Shorter, front left, Cher, Reba McEntire, Philip Glass; back, Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andy Blankenbuehler, Alex Lacamoire. (Greg Allen / Associated Press) The Kennedy Center Honors, which once again were not attended by President Trump, included tributes Sunday night to the late former President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday at age 94. I think its appropriate to recognize the passing of a wonderful man who dedicated his life to service and who graciously attended this event many times during his administration, laughing, applauding, singing along and even shedding a tear from right up there in the presidential box, host Gloria Estefan said to kick off the evening at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington. She recalled being invited to the White House and how Bush literally spent 45 minutes patiently talking to my 8-year-old son about how government worked. Estefan was recognized last year; this year, the lifetime artistic-achievement honors went to jazz great Wayne Shorter, pop diva Cher, country star Reba McEntire and composer Philip Glass, with a unique award of distinction going to the team behind Hamilton: Andrew Blankenbuehler, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire and star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their names, like the other nominees, were first announced this summer. In recognizing Hamilton and its co-creators, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said in a statement at the time, the Kennedy Center is making an unprecedented statement about an unprecedented work  a work that transcends cultural boundaries and tells Americas story in a powerful and contemporary way. On Sunday, comic Whoopi Goldberg introduced Cher and friend Cyndi Lauper sang If I Could Turn Back Time. Kelly Clarkson paid tribute to McEntire with a version of Fancy, the Bobbie Gentry song McEntire turned into a hit in 1990. Jason Moran, the Kennedy Centers artistic director for jazz, said Shorters sound over a six-decade career holds a special place in the galaxy, adding that he could safely say that somewhere in the galaxy right now, a band is playing one of his pieces. And previous award winner Paul Simon did the honors for Glass, whom he praised for never settling into one particular style, always developing and exploring. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who also missed last years event after several honorees threatened a boycott, returned in the wee hours Sunday from the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. Though Bush attended most years and continued to do so after his presidency, he  like other heads of state, including Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton  missed a year due to major events. Trump is the first president to decline an invitation twice. You can watch the Kennedy Center Honors when they are broadcast on CBS on Dec. 26. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Facebook

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Grammy Awards nominations delayed over Bushs memorial services By Christie DZurilla (Julio Cortez / Associated Press) The Recording Academy said Monday morning it would delay its announcement of the 61st Grammy Award nominees to avoid competing with memorial services and public viewings for former President George H. W. Bush, who died Friday. The organization had planned to announce nominees early Wednesday morning but will now share nominees in select categories on Friday at 5:30 a.m. PST via CBS This Morning and Apple Music. A full nominations list across 84 categories will follow at 5:45 a.m. PST on Friday at Grammy.com  the academys website  as well as all of its social-media platforms. Nominations cover recordings released between Oct. 1, 2017, and Sept. 30, 2018. Facebook

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A Star Is Born: Lucy Liu turns 50 today By Los Angeles Times Staff (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) For me, I want to be the best person for the job  not the best color for the job. That to me would be the most ideal thing.  Lucy Liu, 2006 FROM THE ARCHIVES: Versatility in action Facebook

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Alec Baldwin, Ben Stiller open a Saturday Night Live that features a Kendrick cameo and a Robert Mueller holiday jingle After a few weeks off for some legal trouble involving a parking dispute, Alec Baldwin was back in the pursed-lip saddle as President Donald Trump this week on Saturday Night Live. Playing off the G20 summit in Argentina and recent revelations surrounding the Russia investigation, SNL found Baldwins Trump isolated and calling his Mikey Coco Puffs in attorney Michael Cohen, who was again played by Ben Stiller. Nostalgic for the late-night talks with Cohen and vacations to Moscow, the sketch found Trump sad to see his lawyer going to prison, and told him he was like a son to me. Then whyd you make me do such much illegal stuff? Stillers Cohen asked. Thats cause you were like a son to me, Baldwins Trump countered. The sketch went on to nod toward Baldwins troubles as Trump hung up and Baldwin said he hadnt been so mad since he flipped out over that parking space. Fred Armisen also appeared in the sketch as Saudi Arabias Mohammed bin Salman, Cecily Strong as Melania Trump and Kate McKinnon as a wild-eyed Rudy Giuliani. The Russia investigation received another callback at the end of the episode with McKinnon and Strong joined by Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones, Melissa Villasenor, Heidi Gardner, and newest cast member Ego Nwodim for a performance of All I Want for Christmas Is You dedicated to Robert Mueller in the hopes of an indictment for the president. All they want for Christmas is you, Mueller  #SNL pic.twitter.com/bYtpwM0moN  Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) December 2, 2018 Still, thats unlikely to be the nights most talked about musical moment. Those honors likely go to Oxnard native Anderson .Paak, whose third album (which is named after his hometown) was released in November. .Paak performed Who R U along with his single Tints, which featured an assist from Kendrick Lamar, who performed a few verses next to .Paaks drum riser. It wasnt a recast of a Christmas song, but it made a strong impression nonetheless. Facebook

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Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson make beautiful music together on Nothing Breaks Like a Heart Its been a minute since Miley Cyrus released new music, but much like Los Angeles, the drought is over. Cyrus, in collaboration with British DJ and producer Mark Ronson, released Nothing Breaks Like a Heart on Thursday, the first single from Ronsons upcoming album, his first solo effort since 2015. Its the first new music from Cyrus in more than a year. Cyrus brings her huskiest growl to the tale of love gone wrong, singing, This world can hurt you, it cuts you deep and leaves a scar / Things fall apart, but nothing breaks like a heart. The accompanying video features Cyrus in a low-speed chase with a bevy of cop cars, smashing through walls as if she were a wrecking ball  or the Kool-Aid Man. In the world outside, cultural references play out in disconnected fashion, as football players kneel and children visit a gun range, all while Cyrus looks on. Also, she goes to a strip club, so watch the video at your own risk. However, the video does end with a stunning sequence of a car wreck that features Cyrus still inside the vehicle singing, as gold and glass float through the air around her, in what appears to be an obvious homage to Julie Taymors gold dust bus crash in 2002s Frida. The video is worth watching for those stylish seconds alone. Facebook

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Hugh Jackman is hitting the road  and the Hollywood Bowl  with 2019 world tour Hugh Jackman starred in The Greatest Showman last year and is now taking to the stage to see if he can match the hype. The Logan actor appeared on Today on Thursday to announce his 2019 world tour, The Man. The Music. The Show. The tour will feature Jackman performing hits from The Greatest Showman, Les Miserables and other stage and screen roles. Im on the back nine of my life right now, Jackman said on Today, explaining the impetus for the show, and this is about the best parts of the front nine. The tour launches with a 12-date European leg in May, beginning in Hamburg, Germany, and concluding with two shows in London. The U.S. tour begins June 18 in Houston and wraps up with two shows at the Hollywood Bowl on July 19 and 20. Fans of comic-book culture will notice that those Los Angeles dates coincide with San Diego Comic-Con, leaving Jackman either plenty of time for a jaunt south for a guest appearance at SDCC or a built-in excuse for the Wolverine actor to skip out altogether. Tickets for a handful of Jackmans tour dates go on sale Dec. 7 at 9 a.m. PST on HughJackmanTheShow.com. Tickets for the Hollywood Bowl appearances do not yet have an announced sale date. pic.twitter.com/iO5NLSDE8G  Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) November 29, 2018 Facebook

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Quentin Tarantino marries singer-model Daniella Pick in L.A. By Christie DZurilla Quentin Tarantino and Daniella Pick in 2016. (Jean-Philippe Ksiazek / AFP/Getty Images) Once upon a time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino married Daniella Pick, the Israeli singer-model hes been engaged to since last year. The two tied the knot in Los Angeles in an intimate ceremony, People reported exclusively Wednesday, ahead of a larger gathering that was planned for that night. Tarantino, 55, and Pick, 35, met in 2009 when he visited Israel to promote Inglourious Basterds, but they had been dating steadily only for about a year when he popped the question in summer 2017. Theyd been on and off before that. Its a first marriage for the director, who explained his take on marriage to GQ in 2009. When Im doing a movie, Im not doing anything else. Its all about the movie, he said. I dont have a wife. I dont have a kid. Nothing can get in my way.  Im not saying that Ill never get married or have a kid before Im 60. But Ive made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time. This is my time to make movies. Tarantino said at a conference in 2016 that he was going to retire after he had directed 10 movies. His Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is in post-production now, while an untitled Star Trek project looms. That latter one would be his 10th full-length effort. Just Married! Congrats Quentin Tarantino & Daniela Pick!

 Curtis Dahl / @people pic.twitter.com/uFBk94kvyS  Quentin Tarantino Fan Club (@TarantinoFC) November 29, 2018 Facebook

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SpongeBob fan lobbies for Empire State Building to glow yellow to honor Stephen Hillenburg By Christie DZurilla A SpongeBob SquarePants balloon floats over Central Park West last week during the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Associated Press) A fan of the Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants has started an online petition asking that the Empire State Building be lit up in yellow to remember series creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died Monday of ALS at age 57. As Nickelodeon Studios is based in New York, I felt it fitting to ask the Big Apple to show its love for Stephen by embracing SpongeBobs classic yellow glow, fan Alison P. said in her petition on the Care2 website. She said she started the petition as a way to honor Hillenburg and also to drive awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative neurological condition also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. The petition had closed in on its 3,000-signature goal by early Wednesday afternoon. Stephen Hillenburg at the world premiere of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water in 2015. (Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images) SpongeBob SquarePants has taught his audience not only about friendship but helped to drive awareness around the importance of ocean conservation, Alison P. said. It was Stephens genius that was able to invent a character who could connect with kids and adults to deliver such an important message in a fun and charming way. Though Hillenburg left the series in 2002 after about 60 episodes, it has continued on through 12 seasons so far and amassed a loyal fan base that includes both young and old. There have been two SpongeBob movies, with one more on tap for 2020. Hillenburg went public with his ALS diagnosis in March 2017. READ MORE: Stephen Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, dies at 57 Facebook

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Bobby Brown sues Whitney: Can I Be Me distributors, including Showtime and the BBC By Christie DZurilla Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in 1997. (Rene Macura / Associated Press) Bobby Brown and the estate of Bobbi Kristina Brown are suing Showtime and other distributors of the unauthorized 2017 biopic Whitney: Can I Be Me, alleging the defendants used more than half an hour of old footage of both Browns, plus his other children, without permission. The suit, which seeks at least $2 million in damages, was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, where defendants Showtime, the BBC and Passion Pictures all have offices. The named defendants  which also include Tracey Baker-Simmons, Wanda Shelley, B2 Entertainment and Simmons Shelley Entertainment, based in Atlanta  are accused of distributing footage including some shot for the 2005 reality show Being Bobby Brown, thereby violating the Browns privacy rights in pursuit of financial gain. Though Brown was contacted by the filmmakers, the suit says, to be interviewed for Can I Be Me, he declined. A mention in the films credits suggests Browns production company OKd the use of the Being Bobby Brown footage, including footage of Bobbi Kristina Brown, but the complaint says no such permission was given. The footage was actually recorded prior to the divorce in 2007 between Brown and Houston. Brown never signed or executed a release for the material that appears in the film, the lawsuit says. The footage of Brown is approximately fifteen (15) years old. The Los Angeles Times review of Can I Be Me noted that some voices were absent from the film, which was co-directed by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal. (Neither director is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.) Broomfield, for his part, was hampered by the fact that he was not able to interview key people in Houstons life, including ex-husband Bobby Brown, her closest friend Robyn Crawford, and Clive Davis, the Svengali who began her career, Times critic Kenneth Turan wrote. Showtime and the BBC declined to comment on Wednesday. And an email sent to Tracey Baker-Simmons was not immediately returned. Bobbi Kristina Brown died in July 2015 from undetermined causes. Facebook

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Sundance 2019: Get an inside look at the feature film lineup and the festivals early trends By Los Angeles Times Staff People walk past the Egyptian Theatre, a landmark venue showing films during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Mindy Kaling. Alec Baldwin. Naomi Watts. Pete Davidson. Awkwafina. Emma Thompson. Shia LaBeouf . Those are just a few of the many names headed to Park City, Utah, in January for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. On Wednesday, the Sundance Institute unveiled the full lineup of feature films from all over the world set to premiere at the annual festival. To mark the official lineup reveal, festival director John Cooper and programming director Kim Yutani visited the Times video studio for a livestream discussion. Joined by Times film reporter and The Reel host Mark Olsen, the two offered their instant analysis on the lineup and what trends to watch for come January. Read our full report on the titles selected, and press play on the video below to watch a replay of the livestream. The 2019 Sundance Film Festival runs Jan. 24 to Feb. 3. For full coverage, make sure to bookmark latimes.com/entertainment and follow @latimesent on Twitter, @latimesent on Facebook and @latimes_entertainment on Instagram. Facebook

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Mac Miller singles released posthumously on Spotify By Christie DZurilla Rapper Mac Miller died Sept. 7 of an accidental overdose. (Owen Sweeney / Associated Press) Spotify has released a couple of new tunes from the late rapper Mac Miller. A recording of his song Dunno and a cover of Billy Prestons 1974 hit Nothing From Nothing are part of a Spotify Singles playlist that came out Tuesday on the streaming platform. They were recorded live in New York City before Millers death on Sept. 7. Miller appears to get emotional about an ex-girlfriend  perhaps Ariana Grande?  in the wistful Dunno, from his 2018 album Swimming. And he puts a smoky, introspective spin on Nothing From Nothing. Listen to songs below. Miller, who was 26, died from an accidental overdose of alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl, the Los Angeles County coroners office concluded. The unexpected nature of his death left many strings untied, including a Halloween concert date at the Greek Theatre that became the peer-loaded tribute concert Mac Miller: A Celebration of Life. Facebook

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Margaret Atwood announces Handmaids Tale sequel to be released in 2019 Margaret Atwood announced Wednesday that a sequel to her iconic 1985 novel, The Handmaids Tale, is coming next year. (Patrick T. Fallon / Los Angeles Times) In the surest sign yet that we are living in the age of reboots, revivals and sequels, Margaret Atwood announced Wednesday that a sequel to The Handmaids Tale, her prescient 1985 novel, is in the works. Titled The Testaments, the new novel is set 15 years after the protagonists final scene in The Handmaids Tale, and is narrated by three female characters. Atwood revealed the news in a tweet Wednesday morning and said the book is set to be published next year. The Handmaids Tale and its dystopian tale of life in Gilead, a patriarchal society overseen by fundamentalist zealots with a singular obsession with womens reproductive rights has seen renewed cultural significance in recent days. The books continued relevance is thanks in part to the high-profile Hulu adaptation, along with plenty of other contributing factors. Dear Readers: Everything youve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! Atwood wrote in her tweet. The other inspiration is the world weve been living in. Yes indeed to those who asked: Im writing a sequel to The #HandmaidsTale. #TheTestaments is set 15 years after Offreds final scene and is narrated by three female characters. It will be published in Sept 2019. More details: https://t.co/e1umh5FwpX pic.twitter.com/pePp0zpuif  Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 28, 2018 I have published Margaret Atwoods work since 1976  her poetry, fiction and nonfiction, publisher Nan A. Talese said in a statement Wednesday. A manuscript from her is always a reason for joy. She writes wonderfully and has a mind like a steel trap. This new book is no exception. Beyond the timeline and the narrators, little else has been revealed about the sequel. The book is not, however, in any way connected to Hulus current adaptation. The Testaments is scheduled for release on Sept. 10, 2019, by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday with a first printing of 500,000 copies. Facebook

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A Star Is Born: Alfonso Cuaron turns 57 today By Los Angeles Times Staff (Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times) I think it is vital for filmmakers to have their feet firmly planted in their countrys cultures. ... But the theme must be universal.  Alfonso Cuaron, 2002 FROM THE ARCHIVES: A New Mexican Revolution Facebook

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Amanda Bynes makes triumphant return on cover of Paper magazine Actress Amanda Bynes, pictured in 2013, battled several problems that played out in public for a few years. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images) Former child star turned cautionary tale Amanda Bynes has resurfaced on the cover of Paper magazine looking happy, healthy and ready for a comeback. Bynes broke through on Nickelodeons sketch comedy show All That before scoring a series of her own at age 13 with The Amanda Show. Her star continued to rise through the early 2000s with movie roles aplenty, including What a Girl Wants, Shes the Man and Hairspray. But eventually, Bynes said in a new sit-down interview with Paper, self-image issues fueled her burgeoning drug habit and led to her abandoning acting altogether. The actress recounted a moment on the set of Hall Pass, when, after seeing herself on a monitor, literally tripping out and thinking my arm looked so fat because it was in the foreground or whatever and I remember rushing off set and thinking, Oh, my god, I look so bad. According to Bynes, it was a combination of image issues and Adderall abuse that resulted in her eventually leaving Hall Pass. Shortly thereafter, she found herself in a similar situation while watching her performance in Easy A. Amanda Bynes on the cover of Paper magazines Break the Internet issue. (Danielle Levitt / Paper) I literally couldnt stand my appearance in that movie, and I didnt like my performance, she said. I was absolutely convinced I needed to stop acting after seeing it. Bynes is clear that any bad behavior in previous years was spurred by drug use and not by psychological issues, saying that once she quit acting, her days were filled with little beyond getting high and self-destructing online. Im really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said. I cant turn back time, but if I could, I would, Bynes said. And Im so sorry to whoever I hurt and whoever I lied about because it truly eats away at me. It makes me feel so horrible and sick to my stomach and sad. Everything I worked my whole life to achieve, I kind of ruined it all through Twitter, she said. In the interview, Bynes also discusses her four years of sobriety and educational pursuit at Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, as well as her potential return to acting. Facebook

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Aubrey Plaza to host 2019 Spirit Awards By Sonaiya Kelley Aubrey Plaza, a Spirit Award winner herself, will host the 2019 Spirit Awards ceremony. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Film Independent announced on Tuesday that Aubrey Plaza will host the 2019 Spirit Awards. The search for a great Spirit Awards host is never easy, Film Independents president, Josh Welsh, said in a release. This year we said, Lets find someone funny, smart, a cinephile  being a great actor wouldnt hurt and it would be an added bonus if theyve previously won a Spirit Award. Then we realized, Oh wait, thats Aubrey Plaza! I am truly honored and delighted to host the Spirit Awards this year, said Plaza in the release. It is a dream come true to host a show that celebrates my greatest loves: independent film, the people that make them possible and live television. Plaza starred opposite Elizabeth Olsen in last years Ingrid Goes West, which she also produced. As a producer, she received a Spirit Award for best first feature for that film. She currently stars in FXs Legion series, which is based on a Marvel comic of the same name. Season 3 of the show will premiere in 2019. She is also well known for her role on the Emmy-nominated series Parks and Recreation and will next appear in Lars Klevbergs Childs Play remake with Brian Tyree Henry, scheduled for release on June 21, 2019. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independents year-round programs. Nominees were announced on Nov. 16. Among this years best feature nominees are Eighth Grade, First Reformed, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace and You Were Never Really Here. The 34th Independent Spirit Awards will broadcast live on IFC on Feb. 23, 2019. The ceremony will be held on the beach in Santa Monica. Facebook

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Bruce Springsteen teases Netflixs Springsteen on Broadway with a new trailer By Christie DZurilla One step up and two steps back? More like one door closing and another one opening. So it is with Bruce Springsteen, whos bringing Springsteen on Broadway to small screens the day after his autobiographical show closes following more than a year at New York Citys Walter Kerr Theatre. This is what Ive presented to you all these years as my long and noisy prayer, as my magic trick, Springsteen says to kick off the trailer released by Netflix on Tuesday, not quite three weeks ahead of the specials debut on the streaming service. Think of it as a two-hour reward for resisting the urge to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a ticket to the gig, which opened in October 2017. Heavy on serious theatricality, the trailer offers a low-key taste of the nearly solo show  staged in a theater that seats fewer than a thousand  which on most nights has included Springsteens wife, Patti Scialfa, on a couple of songs. Its a hybrid, but clearly not a Bruce concert. Far from it. Unlike his raucous arena shows, there are no massive singalongs by the crowd. It doesnt stretch to 3 or four hours, though its apparently grown longer with time. Its a coming-of-age story, and I want to show how this  ones coming of age  has to be earned, Springsteen told Esquire magazine this month. Its not given to anyone. It takes a certain single-minded purpose. It takes self-awareness, a desire to go there. And a willingness to confront all the very fearsome and dangerous elements of your life  your past, your history  that you need to confront to become as much of a free agent as you can. This is what the show is about. Springsteen on Broadway premieres Dec. 16 on Netflix. Facebook

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Sesame Street Records is reborn, with classic childrens hits headed to streaming Tell your kids to break out the Casio keyboard, because 
On frosty nights in India, people sip a glass of hot milk into which has been whisked a heaping teaspoon of turmeric. In Ayurvedic medicine, the drink  called haldi doodh  is considered a panacea for everything from the flu to inflammation. Proponents says regular turmeric consumption may also be one reason India has relatively low rates of Alzheimers and dementia.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center says turmeric has also demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities in lab studies. Those findings along with turmerics anti-bacterial properties is why Dr. Taz Bhatia, an Atlanta-based physician and author of Super Woman RX, touts its benefits. There is one downside, she said.

It is not always the most palatable, so when combined with other spices  it is delicious. (Bhatias homemade version includes ginger and honey.)

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Known more commonly outside India as golden milk  the golden comes from the rich yellow of the turmeric  the fortifying drink is now increasingly found in alternative formulations such as a breakfast bowl, bottled drink and an easy-to-prep mix.

Here are a few ways to get your fix as winter sets in:

Stir a teaspoon of this golden milk mix from Gaia Herbs into a cup of warm dairy or non-dairy milk. Other ingredients include date palm, cardamom, vanilla and black pepper. The mix also contains ashwagandha, a staple of Ayurveda medicine, for its immunity-boosting reputation.

Info: $19.99. gaiaherbs.com

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You dont just have to end your day with golden milk; you can wake up with it too. Daily Harvest makes a golden milk breakfast bowl that stores in the freezer and is then warmed up on the stove or in the microwave with milk. The brand adds other healthful ingredients like chia seeds, organic mango and pineapple, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander and pepper. Daily Harvest delivers the cups of Mango + Turmeric Chia Parfait to your home or office as part of a monthly subscription.

Info: Starts at $6.99 a cup. daily-harvest.com

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GoldynGlows Goldyn Mylk mix includes cacao, cayenne and nutmeg for an extra nutritional boost, said Saara Vakil, founder of the Los Angeles-based brand. Adding these superfoods and other healing spices has helped improve the taste of a traditional golden milk while supercharging the benefits, said Vakil. A teaspoon of the ground powder can be mixed with any warm milk. The product has a small amount of coconut sugar, but sweetness can be enhanced with honey, agave or stevia.

Info: $25. goldynglow.com

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Coconut milk is the base of the bottled Turmeric Golden Milk from Emeryville, Calif.-based brand Rebbl, creating a creamy and slightly sweet beverage that can be consumed right out of the refrigerator or heated on the stove. The black pepper fruit in the drink is said to make the turmeric easier for the body to absorb.

Info: $3.79 to $3.99 at Whole Foods, Sprouts and other natural grocery stores. rebbl.com

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He lost 84 pounds in four months  and kept it off
Among journalists, Fire and Fury has hydrated a handful of freeze-dried complaints about Wolff, a tireless panelist, devotee of the rich and snide opiner on media who is never not described as a gadfly. In a more serious key, Wolff has been faulted for making stuff up. Writing in the New Republic, Michelle Cottle argued in 2004 that the scenes in his columns arent recreated so much as created  springing from Wolffs imagination. He has also been accused of flacking for [Rupert] Murdoch, although the Murdoch connection seems to have served him well in reporting Fire and Fury. A lion in winter, Murdoch is evidently bored by Trumps idolatry of him, and now hardly conceals his contempt for his acolyte. My favorite line in the New York magazine excerpt is his. Heres hoping it works without the obscenity: What an idiot, said Murdoch, shrugging, as he got off the phone.

Its clear that Wolff uses all manner of sleight of hand  tricks common to a more reckless period in 20th century magazine journalism  to generate operatic effects in Fire and Fury. The dialogue, for example, is suspiciously Netflix-ready, although Wolff claims to have reported all from what he told New York was his semi-permanent seat on a couch in the West Wing. He conducted about 200 interviews with capricious flakes, and Wolff also has some skeletons in his sourcing closet that someones bound to drag out.

But who cares, really? Wolffs dislikable. He plays by his own rules. Big surprise. No one likable or rule-bound would have been able to abide this unsavory crew  Murdoch, Bannon, Roger Ailes, or, for Gods sake, Trump  long enough to squeeze this much big, fat, soapy story out of them.

Wolffs ace has always been his excitement about cartoonish power dynamics among insufferable old men. In the past, this excitement has been decidedly uninfectious. But this time Wolffs subjects are not boresville moguls with interchangeable faces and net worths but the president of the United States and his psycho crew. And, because the world finds itself at their mercy, wed do well to hear their fetid locker room talk interpreted by a writer who can stomach it.

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So many people have fallen sick with influenza in California that pharmacies have run out of flu medicines, emergency rooms are packed, and the death toll is rising higher than in previous years.

Health officials said Friday that 27 people younger than 65 have died of the flu in California since October, compared with three at the same time last year. Nationwide and in California, flu activity spiked sharply in late December and continues to grow.

The emergency room at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica typically treats about 140 patients a day, but at least one day this week had more than 200 patients  mostly because of the flu, said the ERs medical director, Dr. Wally Ghurabi.

The Northridge earthquake was the last time we saw over 200 patients, Ghurabi said.

A rush for treatment

Experts say its possible that this years flu season is outpacing the last simply because its peaking earlier.

No, it's not too late to get a flu shot 

The flu season is typically worst around February, but can reach its height anytime from October to April. Though influenza had only only killed three Californians at this time last year, it had taken 68 lives by the end of February, according to state data.

Many California doctors, however, contend that the recent surge has been unusually severe.

Rates of influenza are even exceeding last year, and last year was one of the worst flu seasons in the last decade, said Dr. Randy Bergen, clinical lead of the flu vaccine program for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California.

Source: California Department of Public Health. (Graphics reporting by Soumya Karlamangla)

State health officials said Friday that there was no region of the state where people were being spared from the flu.

In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, ambulance services have been severely strained because of the number of flu calls coming in, local health officials said.

Plus, emergency rooms are so crowded that ambulances arriving at hospitals cant immediately unload their patients, so theyre unable to leave for incoming 911 calls, said Jose Arballo Jr., spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

The ambulances have to wait  and if theyre waiting there, they cant be out on calls, Arballo said.

Most people in California and nationwide are catching a strain of influenza known as H3N2, which the flu vaccine typically doesnt work as well against. National health officials say the vaccine might only be about 32% effective this year, which could be contributing to the high number of people falling ill.

H3N2 is also a particularly dangerous strain of the flu, experts say.

It tends to cause more deaths and more hospitalizations than the other strains, said Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, L.A. Countys interim health officer.

Of extra concern this year are large numbers of older patients who are showing up at hospitals with the flu and pneumonia, a potentially fatal combination.

You have no choice but to admit them and hydrate them on IV antibiotics to prevent -- God forbid -- a bad outcome, Ghurabi said.

Each year, the number of flu deaths reported by the state includes only people younger than 65 and therefore underestimates the flus real toll, since elderly people are most likely to succumb to the illness, experts say. In Los Angeles County, 33 people have died of the flu this season and only a handful were under 65, Gunzenhauser said.

Dr. Matthew Mullarky, an emergency physician at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, said that half of the patients he saw on a recent ER shift were so sick that he had to keep them in the hospital. Most of them were older than 85, with the flu and pneumonia.

Its incredibly scary, he said.

A search for Tamiflu

Doctors often prescribe the flu medication oseltamivir, known by the brand name Tamiflu, to patients with the flu. But doctors and patients said this week that the drug was hard to find.

Caroline Bringenberg, who lives in Silver Lake, fell ill when she was visiting her family in Denver for the holidays. She had headache, fever and weakness.

I dont remember the last time I was this sick, said Bringenberg, 25.

When her doctor prescribed her Tamiflu on Wednesday, Bringenberg learned that a CVS pharmacy in Glassell Park was out of the medicine. All the CVS pharmacies in the area had run out, the pharmacists there told her.

Bringenberg then called a nearby independent pharmacy, but it also had exhausted its supply.

Ive just sort of given up, said Bringenberg, through sniffles. I think honestly it would make me feel worse to be in the car driving all over town, so I've just opted for ibuprofen and DayQuil.

CVS spokeswoman Amy Lanctot said increased demand for Tamiflu in California may have led to some stores being temporarily out of stock. Other pharmacies reported that they were running low on the medicine or were out completely.

Theyre all on back order right now, said Talia Dimaio, a pharmacy clerk at Rancho Park Compounding Pharmacy in West L.A. We cant get it.

Bob Purcell, spokesman for the San Francisco-based pharmaceutical company Genentech, which makes Tamiflu, said there isnt a national shortage of the medicine, suggesting that pharmacists shelves were emptied this week by a sudden surge in demand.

Marenna Bielman, right, takes Angelica Laras blood pressure as she is treated for flu-like symptoms at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Doctors say Tamiflu doesnt eliminate the flu but lessens the severity of symptoms and how long they last. It works best if taken within 48 hours of when patients start to feel sick.

Nihar Mandavia, a pharmacist who owns the Druggist Pharmacy in Laguna Niguel, said hes been ordering as much Tamiflu as possible from wholesalers and filling 25 prescriptions a day, compared with a typical one a day. He said out-of-stock pharmacies are referring patients to him.

Its been crazy, he said. And theres still more -- were getting calls right now.

On Friday morning, Mandavia had enough left for only four more patients, he said. And some of his wholesalers had run out too.

Avoiding the flu

Though flu season is underway, health officials say its not too late to get the flu shot. The vaccine is recommended for everyone older than 6 months.

Even if youre healthy, the downside of getting the flu vaccine is so low  its relatively inexpensive. At the worst youll have a sore arm, Gunzenhauser said.

The vaccine can also mean not getting sick and then infecting someone who might not recover so easily. Nationwide, 13 children have died of influenza this flu season.

Dr. Greg Hendey, UCLAs chair of emergency medicine, said people usually develop flu symptoms two to three days after theyre exposed to the virus, but are most contagious the day before symptoms develop.

So before you even know youre sick youre already spreading the virus, he said.

He recommended that people wash their hands often and avoid close contact with anyone coughing or sneezing.

Hendey said theyve been trying to adjust staffing levels at the ER to keep up with the crowds, but theres been an added challenge lately.

Sometimes we dont have our full complement of nurses because, theyre people too, they get sick, he said.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla

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The boat left Redondo Beachs King Harbor early Friday morning under conditions so perfect, I couldnt think of one good reason to ever go back to the office.

The overnight fog had lifted, with only a thin layer lingering over the Palos Verdes Peninsula. A small swell rolled gently under the boat, gulls sailed through the salt air, harbor seals frolicked and common dolphins used our wake as a playground.

We were headed to Redondo Canyon, just off the peninsula, the day after the Trump administration announced plans to open coastal waters around the country to drilling, including six regions off California. The administration is also rolling back protections put in place to reduce the risk of oil spills.

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This is one of two major submarine canyons in Santa Monica Bay, Sarah Sikich, vice president of Heal the Bay, said when we arrived at our destination.

Beneath us, in the blue-green depths, fish big and small swam through copper-colored ribbons of kelp.

Heres where it drops from shallow to very, very deep, said Sikich, who wore a hat that said, Oil & Water Do Not Mix. The unique thing is that the canyon supports a diversity of wildlife. One of the things a submarine canyon does for the ecosystem is that its a funnel for deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters to come to the surface.

That makes Redondo Canyon rich in plankton, which draws blue and gray whales, among other wildlife.

 Heal the Bay Chief Executive Shelley Luce, left, and Vice President Sarah Sikich are rallying forces against a Trump administration proposal for offshore drilling in coastal waters across the U.S., including six regions off California.

But while some might view the wonder of the sea as a gift too precious to squander, and the green energy movement gains momentum as evidence of climate change becomes undeniable to all but a fossilized few, President Trump sees a different kind of treasure in the depths.

Dont worry, say the presidents men. Drilling will be good for the economy and energy independence, and the technology is safe.

You can mark Shelley Luce, president of Heal the Bay, as a skeptic.

We havent seen it done safely yet, said Luce, who joined us on our morning cruise. There were rules before Deepwater Horizon blew [in 2010 in the Gulf Coast, killing 11, releasing millions of barrels of oil and devastating the environment], and that didnt help. How many months did it take to cap that? And now the new rules put in place after Deepwater Horizon are being rolled back.

Some drilling operations are ongoing in California, but there have been no new leases since the Reagan administration. It may be that the drilling plan announced by the Interior Department is all bluster, or that world oil markets will make it impractical to invest in massive new drilling operations. But Californians made clear they are not about to let Trump mess with our beaches or kick sand in our faces.

Gov. Jerry Brown joined the governors of Oregon and Washington  also targeted for coastal drilling  in vowing to resist any attempts to pump black gold from beneath the sea.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a member of the state Lands Commission, tweeted Aint. Gonna. Happen.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi of (D-Torrance) reintroduced legislation outlawing new pipelines and other oil-extraction infrastructure in state waters.

This is our lifeblood, our power and our strength, Katie Davis said of the California coast and the tourism and fishing industries it supports. The chairwoman of the Santa Barbara Sierra Club recalled the extensive marine damage in 2015 from the Refugio pipeline break and promised to fight any new oil operations.

Were fortunate in that we have good congressional leaders, state leaders, business leaders and a very active citizenry broadly united against this, said Jennifer Savage of Surfrider Foundation. The latest polling shows that 73% of the people are against offshore drilling.

Richard Charter, a senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation and a longtime oracle on the dangers of offshore oil and gas extraction, surprised me with his response to the Trump plan. He said he was somewhat relieved.

How so?

Because, in his opinion, the oil and gas grab is so gargantuan, it could collapse under the weight of its own greed.

I would not have advised them to take every square inch of everything, because politically and strategically, its a moronic move, said Charter, especially coming just after news that the administration wants to relax protections against accidental catastrophes.

By itself, California might not have been able to stop it, Charter said of the Trump proposal.

But now weve got plenty of allies, because Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke want to lift bans not just in Alaska and the West, but in the Arctic and along the Eastern Seaboard, where Democratic and Republican governors alike have opposed drilling that could threaten tourism and fishing economies.

In California, the plan would open the northern, central and southern regions to a total of six new drilling sites. Charter said a number of Republican congressional representatives in California hold seats where they cant get reelected unless theyre in favor of saving the coast.

Charter said the oil companies covet oil off La Jolla, Palos Verdes and Malibu, among other places, while the far northern part of coastal California contains natural gas deposits.

There is no way to assuredly prevent human error or mechanical failure in extraction, Charter said. You cant, and so once you have either routine pollution from day-to-day permitted releases from a rig, or an accidental spill or pipeline spill, you are not going to have the capability to clean it up. You cant sell that theory in California because we know better, not just from the 1969 blowout in Santa Barbara, but because of Refugio.

All you have to do is get oil into the prevailing ocean currents and into the food source for our marine ecosystem, and your fishery is toast, and your coastal-dependent tourism is toast.

And yet, as we saw in its unsuccessful attempt to drill in Hermosa Beach, the oil industry can be expected to spend millions on lobbying and marketing, trying to sell the notion that drilling is safe and that communities will benefit from jobs and tax revenues. And in the near future, for better or for worse, it will have the White House on its side.

On our Friday cruise, the skipper was Apryl DeLancey, interim operations manager at Heal the Bays aquarium on the Santa Monica Pier. She said she grew up surfing, kayaking, swimming and diving, and the water quality has vastly improved to the benefit of humans and sea life.

That took decades of work, including public policy changes, public education and a growing respect for our greatest natural resource.

We used to dump raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay 35 years ago, said Luce.

The sewage flows out of Washington, D.C., these days, but California is ready for the fight.

We are not going to go backwards, said Luce.

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez
Orange County stands as an outlier in California, a state that has become increasingly friendly to immigrants.

At a time when state leaders resisted President Trumps hard line against illegal immigration, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens reached out to the Trump administration, stating that she wanted her deputies to work more closely with federal immigration officials.

When state legislators drafted Senate Bill 54, a measure that positioned the Golden State as a sanctuary for those who are in the country without legal status, Hutchens vehemently spoke out in opposition.

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But as 2017 drew to a close and with SB 54 taking effect at the start of this year, Hutchens took a step back and ended her agencys participation in a federal-local immigration enforcement program known as 287(g), which allowed Orange County deputies to act as immigration agents in its jail.

The program was emblematic of the countys historical opposition to illegal immigration and cozy relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The O.C. Sheriffs Department was a holdout in California, becoming the only government entity in the state to participate in the program. Los Angeles County dropped out of the program in 2015.

Its no surprise that a place that gave rise to some of the most influential immigration enforcement activists in the country would hold on for so long, said Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science at UC Irvine.

It certainly has always been an anchor of right wing populism in the state, he said.

In the mid-1990s, Barbara Coe of Huntington Beach launched Proposition 187, a ballot initiative approved by voters that sought to deny public services such as public schooling and healthcare to people in the country illegally. The measure was eventually struck down in the courts.

In 2005, Jim Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo co-founded the Minuteman Project, a civilian militia that patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.

On Dec. 27, Hutchens announced shed halt her departments participation in program because it would run afoul of the state legislation that shed lobbied against but was ultimately signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in October. Still, Hutchens promised to cooperate with ICE as much as the law allowed. Orange County, for example, has a contract to house ICE detainees in its two jails and will continue to do so.

We were always against SB 54 because it hinders our ability to cooperate with another law enforcement partner, Sheriffs Department spokesman Ray Grangoff said. Its put much more responsibility on the federal government.

Orange County has long had a closer relationship with ICE than any other county in the state, and that isnt likely to change unless the countys leadership changes, DeSipio said.

Orange County has just been stuck in the past. It still looks like the state used to in the past and I think it will take a change in the Board of Supervisors. For that sort of change to happen, you need a change in the electoral demographics that can have an effect on county agencies, including the Sheriffs Department, he said.

The 287(g) program trained deputies to screen jail inmates for their immigration status, place a hold on those they deemed removable from the country and notify ICE. The new state law forbids state and local law enforcement from using resources or staff to help immigration agents with deportations.

Under the new law, local law enforcement agencies can still notify ICE of inmates release dates if they were convicted of specific crimes  mostly violent or serious ones.

However, its up to ICE agents to check arrest records to find out who is in jail and request notification of an inmates release date if they want to send an agent to pick up that person for possible removal from the country after theyre released, Grangoff said.

Orange County has an estimated 250,000 residents who lack legal status, according to an analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Immigration rights advocates had lobbied county officials for years to leave the program, contending that it encourages racial profiling. The program became so controversial that the Obama administration scaled it back and reduced its funding.

Yet, Orange County remained on board because Hutchens said it helped her deputies get rid of criminals in the community.

It allowed us the opportunity to be in communication with ICE on serious and violent offenders. ICE would know they were in custody and they would make it possible for them to remove dangerous people from our community once they serve our local sentence, Grangoff said.

In 2016, 391 county inmates were turned over to ICE under the 287(g) program, he said. Thats less than 1% of the approximately 57,000 inmates.

Immigrant rights activists welcomed the end of 287(g) in Orange County but remain cautious.

Despite a demographic shift in Orange County and the results of the 2016 election, in which a majority of the countys voters supported the Democratic presidential nominee for the first time since the 1930s, DeSipio said the establishment in Orange County is reflective of old California.

Those elements are still present in the county and are influential in county politics. he said. The southern part of the county is very much like it was in the past. There is a core of support of the electorate there for strong enforcement of immigration law.

cindy.carcamo@latimes.com

Follow Cindy Carcamo on Twitter @thecindycarcamo
Orange County sheriffs investigators struggled Saturday to unravel the mystery surrounding the abrupt disappearance four days ago of a 19-year-old college student who was home on winter break, authorities said.

Blaze Bernstein, a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania, failed to return to his parents home in Foothill Ranch late Tuesday night after going to nearby Borrego Park with a friend, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Sheriffs Department.

The friend told investigators that he went to a restroom at the park and when he came out, Bernstein had walked off, Braun said. We do not believe foul play was involved at this point, and the friend is only a witness, not a suspect or person of concern.

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On Saturday, sheriffs search-and-rescue teams and canine units fanned out across the park and adjacent rugged canyon lands searching for clues, including Bernsteins cellphone. The search was expected to continue until nightfall.

Bernsteins cellphone, which had been lent to him by a relative a week earlier, was not receiving calls, according to investigators and friends of the family.

Blaze Bernstein was last seen late Tuesday at Borrego Park near Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

Were doing everything we can to find Blaze and bring him home, Lt. Brad Valentine said during the search Saturday in the vicinity of Bernsteins last known whereabouts. Were hoping hes, perhaps, incapacitated and in need of medical attention.

Its going to be a slow, tedious search, he added, as we get out there and beat the bushes for any sign of him.

Bernstein left personal belongings, including his keys, wallet, credit cards and eyeglasses, behind when he left his parents home to see his friend without saying goodbye  we didnt even hear him leave, his father, Gideon Bernstein, said in an interview with The Times on Saturday.

Blaze left the house around 10:30 p.m. or so, but exactly why he left is a big mystery, he said, adding that we didnt know the person he met up with.

Were hoping he comes back, or we find him, he added.

Searchers scouring Borrego Park and the trails of nearby Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park for signs of Bernstein, who is scheduled to fly back to Pennsylvania on Sunday, included Katherine and John Coster, who are friends of the Bernstein family.

We run in the canyon quite often, so we know it well, Katherine Coster said in an interview. Were still hopeful, all of us.

Before leaving home, Bernstein had been in lengthy communication with his friend using social media apps that do not leave a permanent record, authorities said. He was last seen in the park about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He is described as white, 5 feet 8, 130 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Bernstein was wearing a dark-colored jacket, a dark-gray long-sleeved top and white Adidas sneakers at the time of his disappearance, authorities said.

There are so many unknowns to deal with, Annee Della Donna, a friend of the family, said. Were talking about a brilliant kid who goes to a small park five minutes from home, then disappears.

Sheriffs investigators are urging anyone with information about Bernsteins whereabouts to call (714) 647-7000.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

irfan.khan@latimes.com.

UPDATES:

4:20 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from sheriffs officials.

2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from sheriffs officials.

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from authorities and friends of the Bernstein family.

This article was originally published at 11:45 a.m.
Three additional women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, in support of a woman who sued him last month alleging that she was raped.

The new claims were detailed in an amended complaint filed Friday in New York by publicist Haleigh Breest. She has alleged that Haggis, 64, a Canadian filmmaker best known for Crash and Million Dollar Baby, raped her in his SoHo apartment after a movie premiere in 2013.

Haggis preemptively sued Breest hours before her Dec. 15 lawsuit was filed, alleging that the woman had attempted to extort $9 million from him with a false claim.

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After the suits were filed, three additional women contacted Breests attorneys with allegations against Haggis. One of the new accusers also said Haggis raped her. None of the women were named in the complaint.

On Friday, Haggis attorney denied the latest claims in whole, and said in a statement that the additional allegations appear to be spearheaded by Breests attorneys as a tactic to obtain a settlement.

In a society where one of a persons fundamental rights is the ability to confront an accuser, that right has now been eviscerated when it comes to anyone being charged in the press with any sort of sexual misconduct, said attorney Christine Lepera.

One of the additional accusers, identified as Jane Doe #1 in the complaint, said she met Haggis in 1996 while working as a publicist for a television program.

She said Haggis forcibly kissed her while in a back office and when she pushed him away, he became menacing and threatening and asked if she wanted to continue working in the industry, according to the complaint. He forced her to give him oral sex and pushed her to the floor, then raped her, according to the complaint.

The Associated Press, which first reported the new allegations, corroborated the womans account with a friend. The friend told the AP that the woman lost weight and appeared to be depressed after the alleged rape. When asked about it, the woman told the friend that Haggis had raped her a few weeks earlier.

Two additional women, identified as Jane Does #2 and #3, said Haggis attempted to rape them in 2008 and 2015, respectively, when they were young women discussing professional opportunities. Jane Doe #3, who met Haggis at a film festival, said she screamed for help, physically fought him off and ran into her building to stop his advances.

In her initial lawsuit , Breest said she was 26 when she met Haggis while working on a movie premiere on the upper west side of Manhattan.

Haggis, who was a guest at the premiere, offered her a ride and then invited her to his apartment for a drink, she alleged. Breest said she asked to go to a public bar instead, but the director insisted and she relented, not wanting to offend him.

Breest said she repeatedly told Haggis no, but the director used significant force and violence to tear off her tights and rape her, according to the lawsuit. She said she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, and in June 2017 began receiving mental health treatment for trauma from the assault.

Haggis, in his lawsuit, said he had maintained what he believed was a friendly and at times flirtatious relationship with Breest but denied raping her. He said he was recovering from back surgery at the time of the alleged rape and was unable to lift anything more than a light grocery bag.

He questioned whether the allegations were related to his public comments about Scientology, of which he has been a vocal critic since defecting from the church in 2009. The women denied any connection to the religion, according to the AP report.

Breests attorney declined to say whether any police reports had been filed. Representatives of the New York Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the Television Critics Assn. winter tour Friday, actress Hilary Swank, who starred in Million Dollar Baby, was asked if she was aware of the allegation against Haggis. She said she hadnt heard them, but said she was supportive of women bringing sexual misconduct to light.

I think that its wonderful that women are able to be so courageous and come out and speak something that has been so troubling for a very long time, she said. I applaud their bravery.

Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim
Its not an indictment of President Trump that he failed in his first year in office to broker what he once called the ultimate deal  an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. After all, the effort to end that bitter conflict, which has been underway in one form or another for well over 100 years, also eluded his recent predecessors, despite intense effort and creative diplomacy.

Trump can be faulted, however, for his arrogance, his ignorance and his shortsightedness, which ultimately made an unsatisfactory situation worse. Although he boasted that a deal was within reach  and not as difficult as people have thought over the years  and although he appointed a team of emissaries to explore the possibilities of peace (including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner), efforts to move forward have been overshadowed by Trumps own words, actions and intemperate tweets. He has emboldened extremists in both the Israeli and Palestinian camps, alienated Americas allies and sowed the same sort of confusion about U.S. intentions in this arena that has clouded other aspects of foreign policy.

Most recently, reversing decades of bipartisan U.S. policy, Trump decided to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, a premature and provocative step but one that cheered many of his supporters. The president portrayed his action as a simple recognition of the reality that the seat of Israels government is in (West) Jerusalem. In defending the decision, his advisers also suggested that the move didnt commit the U.S. to any particular view of Jerusalems ultimate borders or the future of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967.

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[Trump] needs to stop pandering for domestic audiences and get serious about bringing the parties back to the negotiating table.

Yet the Palestinians dont see Trumps actions in such innocuous terms, and Trumps own words arent likely to reassure them. This week he tweeted: We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table  an inscrutable statement that could be read to endorse Israeli claims to all of Jerusalem. If thats indeed what he means, it would deal a serious blow to hopes for a negotiated two-state solution.

In the same series of tweets, Trump complained that we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect . . . [W]ith the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them? (Some of the payments take the form of contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. Even some prominent Israelis believe it would be a mistake for the U.S. to abruptly cut off those funds.)

The Trump administration already had a credibility problem with many Palestinians because of his equivocal attitude toward a two-state solution, in which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel. In February Trump said: Im looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like. I can live with either one. Trumps ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a longtime supporter of right-wing Israeli causes, has continued to fuel suspicion that the administration is hostile to Palestinian aspirations. Recently the Israeli Broadcasting Corp. quoted Friedman as urging the State Department to stop using the word occupied to describe the Israeli military presence in territories Israel captured in 1967 that are claimed by the Palestinians.

The administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital left it isolated at the United Nations. It was condemned by the U.N. General Assembly by a vote of 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions. A similar resolution in the Security Council had the support of 14 out of 15 members  but was defeated when the U.S. exercised its veto.

Yet the Trump administrations response to this overwhelming opposition wasnt to reconsider its position; it was to throw a party at the U.S. mission at the U.N. for the Friends of the U.S.  i.e., only those that voted against or abstained on the General Assembly resolution.

The Middle East peace process was ailing well before Trump came into office; he and his son-in-law can hardly be blamed for that. But they need to understand that the bedraggled and much-maligned two-state solution remains at the moment the only realistic hope for resolving the conflict. If they want to move beyond empty bluster toward a fair and durable solution, they need to stop pandering for domestic audiences and get serious about bringing the parties back to the negotiating table for tough talks on thorny issues. That process will of course be difficult.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
To the editor: I was disappointed in your Jan. 3 editorial Keep mountain bikes out of wilderness areas, as it misrepresents HR 1349 by claiming that the bill would allow mountain bikers to cruise through the approximately 109 million acres of land designated as wilderness.

Rather, the bill would allow the local land manager, at his or her discretion, to decide whether to allow bikes on wilderness trails based on the characteristics of the land and its historic usage.

We mountain bikers are particularly concerned about National Forest Service land with a long history of responsible mountain bike access. When such land is designated as wilderness, we applaud the extra protection against motor vehicles and logging but fear losing historic mountain bike access.

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Also, we are concerned about small wilderness areas that separate larger nonwilderness areas that have long-established mountain bike access.

Ross Finlayson, Mountain View, Calif.

..

To the editor: Thank you for opposing bikes in wilderness areas.

Bikes are not only damaging to the environment, they also go a lot faster than humans and pose a serious risk. As a horse rider, I do not want a cyclist to whip around a switchback on a narrow trail and crash into me. Hikers also face a similar danger when they share a trail with mountain bikers.

Horses and mules are used not only for the enjoyment of riding, but also for the necessary transportation they provide to trail maintenance crews that need special equipment.

Carol May, North Hills

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To the editor: This editorial uses the term fake news to describe the distortion by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) of the Wilderness Acts ban on mechanical transport. This term was co-opted by the Trump campaign to impugn the honesty of our national news media.

The news of McClintocks position is not fake. What is fake is McClintocks dissembling, which should be reported as a distortion or a lie.

The use of President Trumps favored term here helps to propagate it as a meme and should be avoided. The term fake news should not be allowed to infiltrate our language when referring to the medias honest reporting of a politicians dishonesty.

Alfred Sils, Woodland Hills

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Gavin Newsom releases ad that highlights his push to allow same-sex couples to marry By Phil Willon A new ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom features Phyllis Lyon, who with her partner, Del Martin, received the first marriage license after Newsom vowed to allow same-sex couples to marry when he was mayor of San Francisco in 2004. The current lieutenant governors push for marriage equality thrust him into the national spotlight and he has emphasized that effort to portray himself as a bold, progressive leader. Facebook

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Failed California housing bill was not a bad idea, Gov. Jerry Brown says By Liam Dillon Gov. Jerry Brown (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Earlier this month, high-profile housing legislation that would have allowed for four- to five-story apartments and condominiums near transit stops failed to advance in the state Legislature. But had it reached his desk, would Gov. Jerry Brown have signed it? Maybe. I think that was not a bad idea, Brown said of Senate Bill 827 at a meeting with business leaders from the Bay Area Council on Monday afternoon. The bill, written by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), attracted national attention and a maelstrom of opposition in part because it would have eliminated single-family zoning near transit stops in favor of apartments or condominiums. Brown said that a relative of his who lives in West Portal, a low-density neighborhood in San Francisco, told the governor he was horrified by the bill. Brown also lamented dramatically rising housing costs. He said he bought his first house in Los Angeles in 1973 for $75,000 at a time when his salary as secretary of state was $35,000. Now, he said, buying a house for a little over twice ones annual salary is virtually impossible anywhere in the state. FOR THE RECORD

May 1, 9:32 a.m.: This post originally misstated the year Brown purchased his house as 1970. It was 1973. Facebook

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John Cox begins California barnstorm with the delivery of gas tax repeal signatures By Javier Panzar GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox strolled up to the stack of 12 boxes in front of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorders offices in Norwalk on Monday and placed his hands on top of his partys hope for success in 2018. The boxes, stacked four across and three high, contained 211,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees. Cox says the effort has gathered more than 940,000 signatures from registered voters to put the measure on the ballot  far more than the 585,407 signatures that are required. The aim: to bring out the partys base to the polls this November and help candidates in tough congressional and legislative races down the ticket. A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in November found 54.2% of registered voters surveyed said they would repeal the tax and fee hike, but a survey a month earlier by another group said a majority would vote to keep the higher taxes. Cox was flanked by Bill Essayli, a former federal prosecutor who is challenging Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside in the June primary. Cervantes voted for the gas tax and Essayli plans to use that vote against her. He even launched his campaign at a 76 gas station in Norco. This is a central issue in my campaign, he said. Cox also submitted signatures in San Diego on Monday and is headed to Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, as well as Shasta and Butte counties in coming days. We are going all across the state, Cox said. The whole state is paying this tax and the whole state wants it gone. Facebook

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All Californians would be able to serve on state boards  even people in the U.S. illegally  under new bill By Jazmine Ulloa Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State lawmakers on Monday introduced legislation that would allow all Californians to serve on state boards and commissions regardless of immigration status. Senate Bill 174, by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), comes as the state is locked in a broader legal battle with the Trump administration over state immigration laws and his call for mass deportations. Lawmakers point to what they say is the states own discriminatory history as their basis for introducing the legislation. The proposal would amend an 1872 provision that was first adopted to exclude Chinese immigrants and other transient aliens from holding appointed civil positions. At the time, antipathy toward the Chinese had been building in California, though, Chinese immigrants opened hundreds of businesses across the state and would play a critical role in building the transcontinental railroad. The Senate bill would delete the phrase transient aliens from the government code and make clear that any person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, can hold an appointed civil office if they are at least 18 years old and a resident of the state. That would allow any Californian to serve on hundreds of boards and commissions that advice in an array of policy areas, including farm labor, history and employment development. Californias two million undocumented immigrants are a source of energy for our state, Lara said in a statement. It is shocking to read the words of fear and exclusion that are still in California law but belong in historys trash can. Facebook

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Tony Mendozas fundraising dries up after resignation amid harassment inquiry By Patrick McGreevy Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). (Steve Yeater / Associated Press) Political contributions to Tony Mendoza, who resigned from the state Senate under pressure amid sexual harassment allegations, have nearly dried up. New documents he filed with the state in his bid to reclaim the seat he once held show that his support has eroded. As a result, five other candidates for the 32nd District senate seat in the June 5 election have raised more than Mendoza so far this year. With the June 5 election approaching, Mendoza has reported raising just $7,750 in cash from six supporters during the nearly four-month period from Jan. 1 to April 21. Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, went on a leave of absence from the Senate Jan. 3 and resigned a month later under the threat of expulsion from colleagues. An investigation ordered by the Senate found a pattern of unwanted flirtatious or sexually suggestive behavior based on testimony from six women. Mendoza has denied wrongdoing. Last year, Mendozas reelection campaign raised $412,600, or an average of about $34,000 per month, from more than 350 supporters. Most of Mendozas 2018 total was contributed by the political arm of the Southern California Pipe Trades District Council 16 on Jan. 22, a month before Mendoza resigned. Mendoza also reported that his campaign loaned $125,000 this year to his legal defense fund. That left him with $446,600 in his campaign account at the end of April. Mendoza is running against eight Democrats and two Republicans. Democrat Bob J. Archuleta, a Pico Rivera city councilman, raised the most, $210,000, during the period. On Monday, Mendoza suffered another setback when the State Legislative Womens Caucus endorsed Democrat Vicky Santana, a member of the Rio Hondo College Board. Facebook

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Newsom and Villaraigosa affairs coming to TV ads in California By Phil Willon An independent political committee backing Republican John Cox for governor released an ad blasting both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for their past sexual affairs. The California Deserves Better ad, which was first reported by Politico, criticizes Newsom for having an affair with a woman on his staff in 2005 while he served as mayor of San Francisco. It also goes after Villaraigosa for having an extramarital affair with a television reporter in 2007 while he was mayor of Los Angeles. The ad, which begins airing on Fox stations in the states top media markets Monday, links Newsom and Villaraigosa to the men accused of sexual impropriety in the #MeToo movement, including movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and disgraced Today show veteran Matt Lauer. Powerful men are finally being held to account, punished for inappropriate sexual conduct with women over whom they exercise power, the ad begins. Newsom and Villaraigosa think the rules shouldnt apply to them. The independent campaign committee, called Restore Our Values, already has raised more than $100,000, said Leigh Teece of Emeryville in Northern California, co-founder of the group. Teece, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps line up students with professional mentors, said the campaign will actively support Cox. She called him a true conservative and noted that he supports cutting taxes and opposes Californias sanctuary state policy. John is a business person who has demonstrated integrity, Teece said. Facebook

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Was that Cisneros in the voicemail? Dispute is latest espisode of Democratic infighting in crowded primary races By Christine Mai-Duc Gil Cisneros speaks during a forum at Fullerton College in January. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) With less than five weeks to go before Californias primary, insults and accusations are flying with abandon in the most crowded races Democrats hope to ultimately win. The latest example of this is in the 39th Congressional District, where a half dozen Democrats are vying for a chance to replace Rep. Ed Royce, whos retiring. Its one of several California contests where Democratic leaders are already worried that divisions could ultimately split votes and shut Democrats out of key pickup opportunities. In that race, millionaires Gil Cisneros and Andy Thorburn are going negative  about going negative. Cisneros was recently elevated to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees Red to Blue program in hopes it would serve as a signal to Democratic activists and donors that his campaign was the most viable. But both Cisneros and Thorburn have poured millions into the race, which promises to be a knock down, drag out fight through June 5. At the center of the latest controversy is a voicemail, allegedly left by Cisneros on Thorburns home answering machine earlier this month. The recording, which the Thorburn campaign turned over to media outlet The Intercept, lasts less than 10 seconds. Hi Andy, its Gil Cisneros. Im gonna go negative on you, a mans voice is heard saying. Cisneros campaign manager Orrin Evans denied the candidate made the call, posting a cease and desist letter to The Intercept on Twitter. The letter, sent by a Cisneros campaign attorney, called the voicemail fabricated and demanded that the story be taken down, calling it defamatory. It gave the publication until 3 p.m. Friday to take down the story before they pursue all legal rights and remedies. An attorney for The Intercept, in a letter to Cisneros, said the publication confirmed with multiple sources familiar with Mr. Cisneros that his voice was on the recording, and that it stands by its reporting. Thorburns camp says it flatly rejects Cisneros denial, and that the timing of a negative website filled with unflattering background on Thorburn, released three days later, suggests it was him. Track the California races that could flip the House According to The Intercepts report, Cisneros campaign manager did not respond to initial inquiries about the voicemail, calling its questions ridiculous. In a follow-up statement Friday, Evans said called the episode a dirty, desperate trick by the Thorburn campaign and said they are readying to pursue legal action for defamation and false light against both him and the publication. It sounded like him to me! said Thorburns wife, Karen, in a statement released by the campaign. She was the one who first heard the voicemail, they said. Thorburn campaign manager Nancy Leeds called Cisneros threats Trump-like tactics and accused the candidate of trying to harass and intimidate anyone who stands in his way. Its not the first time candidates from the same party have clashed in the lead-up to the June 5 primary, and its all but certain to not be the last. Cisneros sued two of his opponents, Thorburn and Sam Jammal, over their ballot descriptions until they had to change them. Earlier this month, Democrat Bryan Caforio asked his opponent, Katie Hill, to sign a pledge rejecting the use of independent expenditure committees, entities that neither of them can legally coordinate with, in the race to unseat Rep. Steve Knight (R-Lancaster). Hill refused and called the attempt hollow and likened it to political theater, while Caforio accused her of empty campaign promises. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: The money raised in the race for governor hints at a race thats now red hot By John Myers With less than six weeks before election day, the cash raised in the California governors race mirrors the overall dynamics: one major front-runner and a heated race for second place. This weeks podcast episode offers a glimpse into those cash reports and how the Republican field seems more settled in a new statewide poll than the battle between Democrats. We also examine the reasons why a nationally talked-about housing bill in Sacramento was killed by the Democratic authors own allies. Im joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher. Facebook

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L.A. County politician sexually assaulted woman when she was 16, lawsuit claims By Dakota Smith A woman sued an unnamed politician in Los Angeles County on Friday, alleging the man sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager after he gave her an unusual-tasting drink. The politician, identified as John Doe, was in his early 40s and a public figure at the time of the 2007 assault, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The man is an elected official today and lives in Los Angeles, said attorney Lisa Bloom, who is representing the woman identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe. Bloom declined to say what branch of government the man represents. Read More Facebook

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Villaraigosa touts his working-class upbringing, accomplishments as mayor in first TV ad By Phil Willon Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa released his first TV ad in the governors race Friday, touting his record and accomplishments as mayor of Los Angeles when up against the economic downturn during the recession. The 30-second television spot opens with a sweeping shot of Los Angeles and cuts to Villaraigosa sitting on a bus. In kindergarten, my sister and I took three buses to get to school. As mayor, I remembered that, Villaraigosa says into the camera. And despite the recession, we built more new schools and rail lines than any city in America, added 200,000 living wage jobs, built 20,000 units of affordable housing and nearly doubled graduation rates. Campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino said the ad will air statewide over the next week at a cost of approximately $1 million. The commercial will being airing Saturday. Two Democratic rivals in Californias race for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Treasurer John Chiang, also launched ads this week, signaling the biggest ramp-up of the campaign as the June 5 primary approaches. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican John Cox. One recent poll has Villaraigosa trailing both Cox and Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach. Chiang has been stuck in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. Last week, an independent expenditure group called Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor, funded largely by a trio of wealthy charter school backers, launched a spot in support of the former mayor of Los Angeles. That ad campaign is focused on increasing Villaraigosas chances of coming in second in the June 5 primary and moving on to the general election. Villaraigosas ad, titled Three Buses, emphasizes the struggles he faced growing up in East Los Angeles and addresses one of his central campaign themes  that hes the candidate best suited to help working-class Californians. I know how far a bus can take you, Villaraigosa says in the ad. Facebook

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein wont participate in pre-primary debate By Sarah D. Wire California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not participate in a proposed pre-primary debate because there are too many candidates in the race, her campaign spokesman said Thursday. Political activists with the group Indivisible Los Angeles said they had a venue and date  May 5  reserved for a debate with four of the Senate candidates. But they said if Feinstein does not participate, it will be canceled. Feinstein faces 31 primary opponents in her bid for a fifth full term representing California in the Senate. Feinstein staffers initially said she had a prior commitment on May 5 in San Francisco. When organizers offered to let her campaign pick another date, her campaign said it wasnt fair for the group to invite only some of the candidates when there is such a big field, said Tudor Popescu, volunteer community organizer with Indivisible Los Angeles. The invited candidates, all Democrats, were Feinstein, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, political action committee director Alison Hartson and lawyer Pat Harris. They were selected based on fundraising and poll numbers. There are 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, nine independents and 2 third-party candidates running for Senate on the June ballot. Indivisible Los Angeles is still hoping Feinstein will pick another date, Popescu said. Feinstein spokesman Jeff Millman pointed to a San Francisco Chronicle endorsement of Feinstein, which indicates that she told the editorial board she would be willing to have a debate ahead of Novembers general election. Senator Feinstein looks forward to debating her opponent in the general election, Millman said in an email. Feinstein holds a substantial lead in both fundraising and in the polls. Front-runners in statewide races have routinely declined to debate their challengers, knowing that its free publicity for candidates who dont have the cash to increase their name recognition on their own. De Leon spokesman Jonathan Underland said the state senator has done candidate forums before, but planned to attend the May 5 debate only if Feinstein did. We basically said well clear his calendar 100%, well clear his calendar if Feinstein shows up, Underland said. Wed love to make it happen, but we want her to be there. Facebook

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NRA, Olympic shooter sue California over its restrictions on ammunition sales By Patrick McGreevy Olympian Kim Rhode is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the NRA and its state affiliate against California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) The National Rifle Assn. and its state affiliate have filed a fourth lawsuit against California over its gun control laws, this time challenging new restrictions on the sale and transfer of ammunition. The NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. filed a challenge in federal court to a requirement that ammunition sales and transfers be conducted face to face with California firearms dealers or licensed vendors, ending purchases made directly from out-of-state sellers on the internet. The lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California also challenged a requirement starting next year for background checks for people buying ammunition. The lawsuit was filed in the name of Kim Rhode, a six-time Olympic medal-winning shooter, and others. It challenges Californias new ammunition sales restrictions as a violation of the 2nd Amendment and the commerce clause of the United States Constitution. Restrictions on ammunition purchases were included in Proposition 63, approved by voters in 2016, and in bills approved by the Legislature. As a result of these laws, millions of constitutionally protected ammunition transfers are banned in California, Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRAs Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. Californias law-abiding gun owners are sick of being treated like criminals and the NRA is proud to assist in this fight. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor, defended his initiative and vowed to fight the NRA lawsuit. We wrote Proposition 63 on solid legal ground and principle: If youre a felon banned from possessing guns in California, then you should not be able to purchase the ammunition that makes a firearm deadly, Newsom said in a statement. California voters said loudly and clearly that guns and ammunition do not belong in the hands of dangerous individuals  but once again, the NRA has prioritized gun industry profits over the lives of law-abiding Californians. Facebook

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Republicans hope to ride a gas-tax repeal to victory By Patrick McGreevy In a Central Valley barn decked out in red, white and blue, dairyman and state Senate candidate Johnny Tacherra drew cheers from a crowd of fellow farmers when he said he opposes the California Legislatures hike on gas taxes and vehicle fees. I would not have voted for that. It is not the time to be voting on (raising) the gas tax, said Tacherra, a Republican running against Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, who voted for the tax increase last year. Three hundred miles away the same week, a campaign mailer arrived at homes in Orange County from an Assembly candidate with a message blaring from the cover in bold type: Republican Greg Haskin  tough enough to stand up to Jerry Brown and repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook

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Treasurer John Chiang launches ad in governors race touting his record as a fiscal steward By Seema Mehta In his first television ad in the governors race, state Treasurer John Chiang touts his record on fiscal issues as California faced the recession. Some thought we were done, Chiang says in a voiceover in the 30-second spot he released Thursday, with images of him standing seriously at a lectern and complimentary headlines about his work as controller and treasurer. But I knew better. I made the tough calls. And brought California back from the brink of financial disaster because you trusted me to manage our economy. Chiangs campaign is spending about $500,000 to air the ad in Los Angeles and San Diego in coming days. That buy is dwarfed by seven-figure purchases for ads supporting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican businessman John Cox. Chiang has been mired in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. His ad, called Quiet Storm, tries to portray Chiang as a progressive who is effective and can move policy in Sacramento. Chiang points to his work challenging Wells Fargo before arguing that he could accomplish what doubters say is impossible to improve the states healthcare, housing and schools. I say, we got this, Chiang concludes. Facebook

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Been ignoring the race for California governor? Thats OK, in some ways its just starting By Mark Z. Barabak On a recent trip to Iowa, Eric Garcetti  the mayor of Los Angeles and a possible 2020 White House contestant  raised eyebrows with a bit of exuberant outreach. Los Angeles and Iowa, Garcetti insisted, have a ton in common, and he didnt simply mean both are inhabited by carbon-based life forms needing oxygen to survive. Urban or rural, farmer or fashion plate, all of us harbor the same hopes and dreams, the mayor suggested, and if it wasnt a terribly original thought it also wasnt the most egregious sort of political pandering  like, say, ordering that every home in Los Angeles be powered by Iowa-produced ethanol. Read More Facebook

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California voters should expect to decide on an $8.9-billion water bond in November By Liam Dillon (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A proposal to borrow $8.9 billion for improvements to Californias water quality systems and watersheds and protection of natural habitats is eligible for the statewide ballot in November, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced in a press release Wednesday. Padilla said the measure, which is backed by agricultural interests, had exceeded the 365,800 valid signatures it needed to qualify for the general election ballot. The bond measure will appear on the ballot unless proponents withdraw it by June 28, the release said. The bond is one of many voters could decide on in 2018. A $4-billion bond for parks and water infrastructure improvements will appear on the June 5 ballot. State lawmakers approved it last year. Facebook

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They came for Darrell Issa. They stayed with their inflatable chicken, blue wall and signs for political therapy By Christine Mai-Duc (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) A mother of two turned ringleader of the resistance and more than a hundred of her faithful followers gathered on Tuesday morning outside Rep. Darrell Issas office in a northern San Diego County suburb. Across the street was her foil, a wedding DJ in a red Make American Great Again cap, setting up hefty speakers for an upcoming war of words. For about 65 weeks the deep divide in America played out along this 100-yard stretch of road in Vista. Here, at 10 a.m. every Tuesday, passersby found signs, chants, songs and, if they were lucky, sometimes a 20-foot-tall inflatable chicken with a Trump-esque coif. Theyd also glimpse the state of the body politic in 2018, a time when shock has turned to anger and post-2016 calls for reconciliation have morphed into grudging acceptance that each side might be better off in their respective corners. Or in this case, their sides of the street. On Tuesday, the anti-Issa, anti-Trump contingent fought this particular battle for the last time, declaring it their final protest at the congressmans office. They said they planned to use their energy to knock on doors and get out the vote, with an occasional protest on the side. Their pro-Trump rivals vowed to show up wherever they do. Read More Facebook

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Efforts to regulate bail companies have some unlikely allies: bail agents By Jazmine Ulloa Jane Un, chief executive and founder of Abba Bail Bonds, works with a client. ( Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) In recent years, the seriousness and number of official complaints related to the bail industry in California have significantly increased while bail agents and bounty hunters face limited oversight, putting vulnerable communities at risk of fraud, embezzlement and other forms of victimization. This year, as Gov. Jerry Brown has pledged to work with lawmakers in a push to overhaul how courts assign defendants bail and to better regulate bail agencies, even some who profit from the court practice admit its time for regulation. These bail and bail-recovery agents could become unlikely allies, saying they advocate for change because theyve seen the system abuse the poor. Read More Facebook

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California voters: Get ready for an onslaught of television ads By Seema Mehta After a sleepy campaign, California voters are now being bombarded with television advertisements in the governors race, an onslaught that is expected to ramp up in coming weeks. The ads most frequently seen on television are those promoting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in the race, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is trying to secure the second spot in the June primary. Newsoms campaign and an outside group backing Villaraigosa are spending seven figures weekly on these efforts, according to filings with the California secretary of states office and a media buyer who asked not to be identified in order to freely discuss the ads. Other gubernatorial candidates are expected to hit the airwaves soon, the media buyer said. State Treasurer John Chiang has reserved a half-million dollars in the coming days in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets, and Villaraigosas campaign has requested availability in at least five of the states biggest TV markets. The GOP candidates in the race, who will be seeking the state Republican Partys endorsement at its convention next weekend, have been much less active. Businessman John Cox in recent weeks has been spending about $90,000 per week, but doubled that this week in Los Angeles and added small buys on KFI-AM radio and cable in markets including Fresno, Bakersfield and Salinas. State Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach, who has been scooping up Republican Party endorsements across the state, has yet to make a notable television or radio buy, though he and Cox have received some attention as commentators on Fox News. Facebook

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Republicans ready to turn in signatures for ballot measure to repeal California gas-tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices last year. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Republican activists said Tuesday that they have collected at least 830,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees, more than enough to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The activists need 585,407 signatures of registered voters to qualify the ballot measure. Because signatures are still being processed and counted by the campaign, backers hope to have 900,000 by the time they begin turning them in to the counties on Friday, according to Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and organizer of the drive. The breadth and depth of voter anger over the car and gas tax hikes is just amazing, said DeMaio, who hosts a radio talk show. We are seeing Democrats, independents and Republicans sign the petition and volunteering to carry the petition, people from all walks of life. The initiative targets a law approved in April 2017 by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown that is expected to raise $5.4 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and improvements to mass transit. The money comes from a recent 12-cents-per-gallon increase in the gas tax, a 20-cent increase in the diesel fuel excise tax and a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 for cars valued at under $5,000, to $175 for cars worth $60,000 or more. The petition drive raised more than $2 million with significant contributions from the California Republican Party and Republican members of Congress from California, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and Reps. Ken Calvert of Corona and Mimi Walters of Irvine. Republicans hope the issue will help their candidates for office in this years election and hurt Democrats who support the higher taxes. I think this is going to put Democrats in real bad spot, DeMaio said. A spokesman for Brown declined to comment until the signatures are filed. DeMaio said there were approximately 20,000 volunteer petition circulators who brought in more than 250,000 signatures, with the rest collected by paid circulators who received $1 to $2.50 per signature. Its a pretty comfortable margin [of signatures] that we have been able to hit here, DeMaio said. Opposition will grow, he said, as more Californians get their annual vehicle registration notice. The repeal campaign hopes to raise $5 million for the campaign to pass the constitutional amendment, which would not only repeal the increase in the gas tax and vehicle fees but require future increases to be submitted to voters. We know that Gov. Brown and his cohorts are going to spend an amazing amount of money to mislead voters, DeMaio said. But I feel pretty confident that we will repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook

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Rep. Duncan Hunter sets up trust to raise money for legal expenses amid ongoing criminal investigation By Morgan Cook Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has filed paperwork to establish a legal expense fund amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into misused campaign cash. Hunter filed the required paperwork March 27, seeking a rarely granted Legal Expense Fund through which members of Congress under investigation or being sued in connection with doing their jobs or running for office can raise money for their legal expenses. Such funds are administered by an independent trustee and allow donors to give above the maximum amount they can contribute a candidates campaign. Hunter has spent more than $600,000 of campaign money on lawyers. Read More Facebook

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Kamala Harris says she wont take corporate donations anymore By Sarah D. Wire (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) California Sen. Kamala Harris says she will no longer accept money from corporate political action committees. In an interview with WWPM-FMs The Breakfast Club, in New York that aired Monday, the senator said she wasnt expecting a question at a town hall this month about whether she would accept money for corporations or corporate lobbyists. At the time, Harris said it depends, but she said on Monday that she had reflected on the matter and changed her mind. Money has had such an outside influence on politics, and especially with the Supreme Court determining Citizens United, which basically means that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing a campaign, right? Harris said. Were all supposed to have an equal vote, but money has now really tipped the balance between an individual having equal power in an election to a corporation. So Ive actually made a decision since I had that conversation that Im not going to accept corporate PAC checks. I just  Im not. You can watch the video of the interview here. (Harris corporate money comments come about 30 minutes in.) Harris wouldnt be on the ballot for a second Senate term until 2022, though its widely believed that she is planning a presidential bid in 2020. Other potential 2020 presidential candidates, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have also ruled out taking corporate PAC money. Soon after Mondays show aired, Harris campaign sent out a fundraising request noting her new stance. As corporate PACs continue to corrupt our politics and twist Congress priorities at your expense, were going to focus on raising money from small-dollar, individual donors like you, the email says. Facebook

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With money tied up in court, California lawmakers try again with new plan to spend $2 billion on homeless housing By Liam Dillon A man sleeps on the sidewalk in front of the Union Rescue Mission in the skid row neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot. State Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California. De Leons new measure is a do-over for a 2016 plan passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion toward building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. A Sacramento attorney sued over that decision, arguing that the move violated constitutional rules on approving loans without a public vote and that lawmakers shouldnt take money away from mental health treatment. The case remains active in Sacramento Superior Court and its unclear when, or if, the state will be able to spend the $2 billion. De Leons Senate Bill 1206 would put the $2-billion loan on the ballot in November, freeing up the money if voters approve the measure. De Leon said had he been able to predict the 2016 plan would end up in court, he would have sought a ballot measure at the time. We thought this was like apple pie and baseball and puppies, De Leon said. Who would oppose the idea of repurposing the dollars to build immediate housing as a permanent solution for homelessness? Obviously with a crystal ball, had I anticipated the litigation, I would have worked to place it on the ballot. De Leon noted that the 2016 plan had bipartisan supermajority support in the Legislature, something his new bill also will need to get on the ballot. Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) is a coauthor of the plan. SB 1206 is scheduled for its first hearing in the Legislature on Wednesday. Should De Leons measure be approved, it will join a crowded list of housing issues before voters in November. Californians will decide on a separate $4-billion bond to help finance new low-income housing and home loans for veterans. De Leon said hes not worried those two measures will compete against each other because voters are aware of the scale of the states housing problems and the proposed homeless housing bond redirects existing dollars instead of raising taxes. Once [voters] know that the impact on their pocketbook is not existent, Im confident that theyll join me and my colleague John Moorlach in support of this measure, De Leon said. Facebook

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California lawmakers say too many former felons are being denied professional licenses By John Myers Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) along with supporters of bills to allow more former felons to receive professional licenses. (John Myers/Los Angeles Times) A trio of California Assembly members urged colleagues on Monday to pass legislation that would prohibit state commissions and agencies from rejecting a professional license for those who were once convicted of less serious crimes. We cant say we want to rehabilitate people, and then block them from getting the jobs that they need when theyre released, said Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco). That leads to more recidivism and to more crime. The bills, scheduled to be heard in Assembly committees Tuesday, would ban the use of arrest or conviction records as the reason for denying a professional license. The bill would not apply to Californians who served time for any of the offenses on the states list of violent crimes. The authors, all Democrats, said that a government-issued professional license is required for some 30% of all jobs in the state. Their bills would change the licensing process at the California departments of Consumer Affairs and Social Services and agencies that certify emergency medical technicians. The bills would block prior convictions from leading to the delay or denial of a license unless that crime is directly related to the profession the person intends to pursue. Two of the bills also specifically say convictions less than 5 years old could continue to play a role in licensing decisions. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that keeps private sector employers from inquiring about a job applicants conviction history prior to an offer of employment. Advocates joined the lawmakers at a press conference in Sacramento to point out that limits on awarding licenses should focus only on those whose prior criminal activity could pose a threat to consumers. Continuing to hold people back for crimes that are 6, 7, 8, 10, 20 years old does not actually make sense if youre looking at public safety, said Jael Myrick of the East Bay Community Law Center. One of the proposals, Assembly Bill 2293, seeks to make it easier for ex-felons to get a license allowing a job with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection  the same agency that often uses prison inmates to battle blazes around the state. If a person is good enough to risk their life fighting fires for the state of California as an inmate, said Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Grand Terrace), their previous actions should not prevent from having a job utilizing the skill set that they learned. Facebook

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Assembly speaker rebukes building trades union after it targets Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia By John Myers ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) The decision by a politically powerful labor group to openly campaign against an embattled Los Angeles-area lawmaker drew a sharp rebuke on Friday from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. The Lakewood Democrat lashed out hours after the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California filed paperwork for a political action committee to defeat Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). Garcia, whos seeking her fourth term, took an unpaid leave of absence in February following allegations of sexual misconduct. She has denied the reports and an Assembly investigation remains underway. Rendon didnt criticize the labor group by name, insisting instead that the decision was driven by oil and gas industry interests. This is a thinly veiled attempt by Big Oil and polluters to intimidate me and my members. It is an affront to my speakership, Rendon said in a statement. We are proud of the work that the Assembly has done to increase jobs and wages while defending our environment. We will vigorously defend the members of our caucus from any ill-advised political attack. A statement from the labor group, which sparred with Garcia last year on her effort to link new climate change policies with a crackdown on air pollution, said it had decided to reverse past support for her. The Trades have thousands of hard working members in Garcias district, and we look forward to lifting up another Democrat in the 58th Assembly to better represent them and their families, said the statement. The political action committees campaign finance filing on Friday listed nonmonetary in kind contributions from Erin Lehane, a public affairs consultant aligned with the building labor group. Lehane said she had begun researching Garcia in November. In January, a former legislative staffer accused her of groping him in 2014. Lehane, who identified herself as a spokesperson for the labor groups political action committee, said on Friday that she believed Garcias hypocrisy threatened a movement that will dictate how much harassment and abuse my daughter will face in her work life. Garcia, who has been an outspoken advocate for women in the #MeToo movement, has complained that her political opponents helped fan the flames of the accusations. Through a campaign consultant, she declined to comment on Friday. Rendons critique came on the heels of a full-page ad in The Times on Friday, partly paid for by the Trades Council, that criticized well-funded ivory tower elites who push proposals that hurt the oil and gas industry. We are the real jobs that fuel the real California economy, read the advertisement. Facebook

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Legal tiff breaks out over independent committees ad backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor By Phil Willon An attorney representing Gavin Newsoms campaign for governor is demanding that California television stations cease airing an ad by an independent political committee supporting his Democratic rival Antonio Villaraigosa. Attorney Thomas A. Willis, in a letter to the stations, said the ad is false and misleading and violates California law because it uses snippets of video footage from Villaraigosas own campaign ads. Willis called that illegal coordination between the campaign and PAC. Under California law, advertisements made by entities other than a candidate are presumed to be coordinated  and thus not independent expenditures  when the advertisement replicates, reproduces or disseminates substantial parts of a communication, including video footage, created and paid for by the candidate, the letter states. A representative for the independent expenditure committee  Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor  fired back. Attorney Brian T. Hildreth says those allegations have no merit and accused the Newsom campaign of being misleading. Hildreth sent a letter to the television stations in response, urging them to ignore the Newsom campaigns accusations. He said the Newsom camp appears to intentionally misrepresent the law and that the video use was permissible. He said only six seconds of video from Villaraigosas campaign ads was used, which is well within the legal limits. The independent committee is sponsored by the group California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The ad is airing on broadcast and cable stations statewide. The committees ad is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and as mayor of Los Angeles when there was a drop in crime. Facebook

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Governors race snapshot: Californians are generally upbeat but not focused on the campaign By Mark Z. Barabak Armand Werden, a 29-year-old community college student who works the taps at Dust Bowl Brewery in Turlock, said the state is on the upswing. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) As California chooses a new governor  one of just a handful in the last 40 years not named Jerry Brown  the state seems to be enjoying something unusual in these tumultuous political times: a feeling of relative contentment. Not to say things are perfect. Still, more than 100 random interviews conducted over the length and breadth of the state  from Redding in the north to Santee in the south, from the Pacific coastline to the edge of the Sierra Nevada  found most saying things are looking up, at least so far as Californias direction is concerned. Read More Facebook

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Sierra Club backs Gavin Newsom for California governor By Phil Willon Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with members of the public following a debate at USC in January. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The Sierra Club endorsed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race for California governor, with officials in the established environmental group praising the Democrats record on climate change and clean energy. He has a proven record for leading on environmental protection, public health and clean energy, Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, said in a statement released by the Newsom campaign. He understands that we are feeling the effects of climate change and that California must reduce carbon emissions and reach 100% renewable energy to achieve our climate goals. Phillips said the Sierra Clubs extensive network of volunteers will campaign for Newsom as the June 5 primary approaches. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also praised the Democrat, saying he will protect California from Donald Trumps attacks on our clean air and water. The Sierra Club joins a series of other influential groups in California that have backed Newsom. The California Medical Assn., the powerful state doctors lobby, announced its endorsement of Newsom on Thursday. The California Nurses Assn. and the Service Employees International Union, one of the most powerful labor unions in the state, also support Newsom. Newsom is the races front-runner in polls and fundraising. A poll released earlier this month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 26% of likely voters backed Newsom. John Cox, a Republican from Rancho Santa Fe, was favored by 15% of likely voters and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, by 13%. Facebook

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Californias GOP House members are taking their challengers more seriously and the numbers show it By Christine Mai-Duc For much of last year, consultants and campaign managers for some of Californias most vulnerable Republican incumbents maintained a bullish tone on the prospect that the GOP would hold the House in this years midterms. The National Republican Congressional Committee insisted that longtime Republican incumbents in California had built up reputations as effective champions of local issues that would help them weather a flood of Democratic enthusiasm. Since then Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) have decided not to seek reelection and the NRCC has opened a West Coast headquarters in Orange County. Read More Facebook

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California officials say Pentagon has confirmed National Guard funding despite Trump threat By John Myers (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The awkward dance between Gov. Jerry Brown and the federal government over the National Guard jerked back toward discord on Thursday, when Trump said he would refuse to pay for a new deployment of troops  just hours after his administration said otherwise. And a few hours later, California officials said they had received written confirmation from the Pentagon that the mission would indeed be funded. Trump had earlier called Browns decision to approve 400 troops for a mission focused on combating transnational crime and drug smuggling a charade in a tweet. We need border security and action, not words! the president wrote. Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy up to 400 National Guard Troops to do nothing. The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Browns charade. We need border security and action, not words!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2018 A spokesman for Brown pointed to a tweet written Wednesday night by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, thanking the California governor for his efforts. Trump was meeting on Thursday with Nielsen at his Mar-a-Lago estate not long after his tweet was posted. A tweet later posted by the California National Guard said that almost three hours after Trumps comment, the state received written confirmation from the Pentagon to fund the mission as outlined by Brown the day before. In short, nothing has changed today, said a subsequent Guard tweet. Just spoke w @JerryBrownGov about deploying the @USNationalGuard in California. Final details are being worked out but we are looking forward to the support. Thank you Gov Brown!  Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) April 19, 2018 Brown was the last of the nations border governors to respond to Trumps insistence earlier this month that National Guard troops were needed to assist with immigration-related duties at the U.S.-Mexico border. And he has consistently refused to allow California troops to engage in any mission related to federal immigration law. This will not be a mission to build a new wall, Brown wrote last week to Nielsen and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life. Exactly what the California operations will cost remains unclear, as state officials have said it will depend on decisions made once the mission begins. The funds would not be transferred to the state, but instead would be paid directly by the Department of Defense. Trump has critiqued California several times over the past few days, often writing tweets that embrace the actions by some cities and counties to join his administrations lawsuit against the states sanctuary immigration law. He made similar comments to reporters on Thursday afternoon. If you look at whats happening in California with sanctuary cities  people are really going the opposite way, Trump said. They dont want sanctuary cities. Theres a little bit of a revolution going on in California. 2:26 p.m.:This article was updated with additional information from the California National Guard and with remarks from Trump. This article was originally published at 9:51 a.m. Facebook

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Gay conversion therapy services would be banned under measure advancing in California By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The California Assembly voted Thursday to add gay conversion therapy to the states list of deceptive business practices, following a debate that focused on the personal experiences of several lawmakers and hinted at potential lawsuits to come. It is harmful and it is unnecessary, Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the bills author and one of the Legislatures most vocal LGBTQ members, said of the practice. Low, who told Assembly members that he explored conversion therapy as a teenager and suffered depression over his sexual orientation, insisted that the bill would be limited to efforts that involve the exchange of money. Theres nothing wrong with me, he said in an emotional speech on the Assembly floor. Theres nothing that needs to be changed. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, has become the focal point of intense debate on social media. Some religious groups have said that such a law would be a violation of their constitutional rights, while advocates insist the provisions are narrow and theres no credible evidence that the services work. One key part of the debate centers on whether Assembly Bill 2943 would stretch beyond businesses that charge for these programs and extend to printed documents, even Bibles. An analysis by the Assembly Judiciary Committee says the bill would apply only to services that purport to change a persons sexual orientation and offered on a commercial basis, as well as the advertising and offering of such services. Lawmakers who spoke in support of AB 2943 also made clear that they believe those kinds of services have been discredited. This is fraudulent, it should not be occurring, said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton). But you can still try to pray the gay away, if you like. Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who said the bill addresses a difficult issue, nonetheless said that its important to ensure laws dont tamper with religious freedom. We have to think about the legitimate experience of people who have gone through conversion therapy and said this was a good thing for them, Gallagher told his colleagues. California law already bans the use of conversion therapy by mental health professionals on those under age 18. Lows bill would expand the states efforts beyond minors. It would join a list of commercial activities deemed unfair or deceptive acts or practices and therefore banned under state law. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom gets backing from doctors group, despite differences over single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Californias doctors are siding with Gavin Newsom in the governors race, even though they dont see eye-to-eye on a defining issue of the campaign: single-payer healthcare. The California Medical Assn., the state doctors lobby and a political heavyweight, announced its endorsement of the lieutenant governor on Thursday. Gavin is a lifelong champion for health care in California, and we know he will continue to fight for pragmatic solutions to our most crucial health care challenges, including working to achieve universal access and tackling our states physician shortage, CMA President Theodore M. Mazer said in a statement. Newsom has made his support for state-financed healthcare a centerpiece of his campaign, and he earned the early backing of the most ardent single-payer supporters, the state nurses union. The doctors, meanwhile, oppose the nurses bill, SB 562, which emerged as a flashpoint in the healthcare debate last year. The CMA said the bill would dismantle the healthcare marketplace and destabilize Californias economy. Newsom has said SB 562 should advance in the Legislature, but also said it has open-ended issues that still need to be addressed. The doctors group is also battling with another prominent Newsom endorser, the Service Employees International Union, over a new measure that would impose price caps on an array of medical services paid for by commercial health insurers in the state. The SEIU is a leading sponsor of the proposal; the doctors fiercely oppose it. Newsom and the physicians group have a history of political alignment. Newsom was the first statewide official to support Proposition 56, a 2016 tobacco tax pushed by the CMA that raised revenue in part to increase money for doctors who saw Medi-Cal patients. That year, the association also endorsed two initiatives championed by Newsom: Proposition 63, which imposed new gun control measures, and Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana. Facebook

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Independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor hits the airwaves with first ad By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the 2018 California Democratic Party Convention in San Diego in February.. (Denis Poroy / Associated Press) A well-financed independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosas bid to be Californias next governor released its first television ad Thursday, praising his record for working with Republicans and as a candidate for all of California. The ad, which is to air statewide on broadcast and cable stations, is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and mayor of Los Angeles, including on education and a drop in crime while he was at City Hall. To move California forward, we need to help more Californians get ahead, the ad says. Thats why Antonio Villaraigosa brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools and new career training programs. The independent expenditure committee behind the ad campaign, Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, is sponsored by the California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The committee is spending seven figures per week on the ad buy, said Josh Pulliam, a political consultant for the committee. As mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa clashed with teachers unions, starting with his failed attempt to take political control of the Los Angeles Unified School District. His fight with those unions continued after he left office in 2013. Money has poured into the committee this month from wealthy charter schools supporters: Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, donated $7 million, and Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Eli Broad donated $1.5 million. On Wednesday, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan donated $1 million. The independent expenditure committee is expected to provide a boost to Villaraigosas campaign. Democratic front-runner Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a major advantage in fundraising over all other candidates in the race and has received the backing of the California Teachers Assn. and other education unions. A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll also showed Villaraigosa lagging in third place in the race, trailing Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. The candidates who finish in the top two in the June 5 primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown says Trump administration will fund his National Guard mission  without immigration duties By John Myers (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown formally mobilized 400 California National Guard members Wednesday for transnational crime-fighting duties, thus preventing any effort by President Trump to have the troops focus on immigration enforcement on the Mexican border. The governor announced that federal officials have agreed to fund the plan he announced last week  a mission to combat criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers in locations around California, including near the border. The order Brown signed makes clear that the troops will not be allowed to perform a broader set of duties as envisioned by Trumps recent comments. California National Guard service members shall not engage in any direct law enforcement role nor enforce immigration laws, arrest people for immigration law violations, guard people taken into custody for alleged immigration violations, or support immigration law enforcement activities, the order read. The cost of the mission, a spokesman for Brown said, will be paid directly by the federal government. No initial estimate has been made, as the exact amount will depend on exactly how the troops will be used. Though the duties of California Guard members were outlined last week, the state had been waiting for an agreement by federal officials to pay for the operations. Since that time, the president has taken Brown and the state to task over its decision to avoid any immigration-related duties at the border. On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted, Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW! There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018 Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border, Trump tweeted Tuesday. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Browns announcement. On Tuesday, Brown told reporters in Washington that his plan was consistent with a safer border. That sounds to me like fighting crime, the governor said. Trying to catch some desperate mothers and children, or unaccompanied minors coming from Central America, that sounds like something else. The order Brown issued Wednesday after returning from a brief trip to talk climate change in Toronto and to speak to a national trade union and visit with reporters in Washington is set to expire at the end of September. It specifically says no Guard service member may participate in a mission that would exceed the mission scope and limitations related to transnational crime activity. It also says troops cannot help build any new border barrier. 5:27 p.m.: This article was updated with information related to the cost of the Guard mission and Browns trip to Washington. This article was originally published at 5:13 p.m. Facebook

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California bill aims to end practice that keeps workplace misconduct cases out of court By Melanie Mason A California bill would prohibit employers from requiring workers to use private arbitration to settle disputes, a practice that critics say shields improper workplace conduct from public view. The bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) would bar businesses from making employees, when they are hired, waive their future rights to take any harassment, discrimination or other claims to court. Arbitration can be a highly effective dispute resolution method when both parties can choose it freely, when both parties are equal, Gonzalez Fletcher said at a news conference on Wednesday. It is far less successful when the more powerful party forces the other to accept those terms, especially as a condition of employment. Forced arbitration has come under increasing scrutiny since the #MeToo movement, with high-profile figures such as former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson pointing to the practice as shielding workplace abusers from public disclosure because arbitration resolutions often include nondisclosure agreements. Last year, a bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress to end mandatory arbitration in employment agreements. Gonzalez Fletcher said she was pursuing an unusual tool to draw attention to the issue  a subpoena issued by the Legislature to compel testimony from a worker bound by a nondisclosure agreement as a result of arbitration. The Legislature has subpoena power but it is rarely used. The bills sponsors believe lawmakers last issued a subpoena in 2001 while investigating price manipulation by Enron. Gonzalez Fletcher said she has requested Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) to issue the subpoena to require Tara Zoumer, who sued the company WeWork in 2016 for overtime pay, to testify before the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week. Zoumers suit was moved to arbitration and resolved. She is now subject to a nondisclosure agreement and could face a financial penalty for speaking publicly about her case. A spokesman for Rendon said the subpoena request is under consideration. Business groups oppose the bill, AB 3080. The California Chamber of Commerce has dubbed it a job biller, claiming it would dramatically increase legal costs for businesses. Banning such agreements benefits the trial attorneys, not the employer or employee, the group said. The bill must first advance from the Assembly Labor Committee on Wednesday. Facebook

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At least 240 House lawmakers want a vote on immigration. California supporters say they arent ready to force one By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Jeff Denham says at least 240 of the 430 current House members have signed onto his resolution to hold votes on four immigration bills, and he hopes House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and President Trump are paying attention to the show of support. But, the Republican from Turlock and his allies said Wednesday that they are not yet willing to commit to forcing Ryans hand through a little-used procedural move called a discharge petition; they acknowledged theres no guarantee that all of 47 Republicans and 193 Democrats House co-signers will back them up if they try to force the issue. Im sure that it is something that will be discussed in the coming weeks. You should not need a discharge petition. When you can show the overwhelming majority of the House, the support of it, you should not need a discharge petition, but it is something we would talk about in the future, Denham said. It is far too early to talk about next steps. Ryan said last week that he opposes Denhams effort, saying its a waste of time for the House to vote on bills the president might veto. Denhams resolution would prompt debate and votes on four very different immigration bills: one favored by the Trump administration, one preferred by Democrats, one bipartisan proposal and another immigration bill of Ryans choice. Whichever got the most votes would move forward to the Senate. All four bills would help Dreamers to differing degrees and include varying levels of border security or immigration enforcement. For example, the Trump-backed bill would also dramatically reduce legal immigration, while the Democrats would only deal with legal status for Dreamers. Democrats say they dont expect the show of support will sway Ryan. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said Tuesday night she expects Ryan will have to be forced into allowing a vote. It doesnt matter how many signatures we get. We could have every signature, technically, except his, on the floor of the House and... if he doesnt want to, it doesnt happen, Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), who gathered the Democratic co-sponsors for Denham, also wouldnt give a deadline for House leaders to act, but said the co-sponsors are only willing to wait weeks not months. We do want to give them an opportunity to bring up the rule and to use whatever process they want, Aguilar said. They do have options, but I think they need to understand that we have options too. Facebook

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Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer endorses Kevin de Leon in his insurgent bid against Sen. Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer is endorsing state Sen. Kevin de Leon in his insurgent challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and did not rule out funding an outside effort to boost De Leons chances. I think hes the kind of young progressive that reflects California and would be a very strong advocate for our state nationally, Steyer said in an interview on Tuesday, pointing to De Leons efforts on issues such as immigration, climate change and gun control while he was the state Senate leader. I know him well and hes a friend. We share a lot of values. Steyer, who flirted with running for the Senate seat, did not criticize Feinstein as he has in the past. Sen. Feinstein has been an outstanding public servant who has dedicated the bulk of her adult life to the service of our state and the country, he said. These are two strong, very good Democrats. I just believe Kevin is the true progressive and he reflects something we need representing California going forward. I have nothing bad to say about Dianne Feinstein. I have a lot of good to say about Kevin de Leon. De Leon faces enormous odds as he tries to oust Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for a quarter-century, is well known to the states voters and has daunting leads in polls and fundraising. But De Leon has gained notable endorsements, most recently from the 2.1-million-member California Labor Federation last week. Campaign finance reports released this week show that Feinstein has more than $10 million in the bank, while De Leon has just more than $670,000. Feinstein, a multimillionaire and one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, has already lent her campaign $5 million and could easily write another check. But Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager, could write a larger one. He is among the largest Democratic donors in the nation and has already committed more than $50 million to push for the impeachment of President Trump and to register young voters. He was noncommittal when asked if he would fund an independent expenditure group on behalf of De Leon. I dont have any concrete plans for that, he said. Read More Facebook

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Californias largest pension fund sends next years invoice to state government: $6.3 billion By John Myers The California Public Employees Retirement System building (Max Whittaker / Getty Images) As part of a shift toward less optimistic expectations for investment returns to pay for government worker pensions, board members of the California Public Employees Retirement System voted Tuesday to require an almost $6.3-billion payment from the state budget in the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The action, which could receive final approval on Wednesday, reflects a gradually higher annual contribution to public employee pensions by the state and from local governments across California. In 2016, CalPERS approved a half-percentage point decrease in its official estimate of the long-term investment return on its $353.3-billion portfolio. That shift was designed to happen over several years, in hopes it would lessen the financial shock of shifting more of the costs onto government employers. The highest costs are also, in part, a reflection of increases in the size of the states payroll. The states CalPERS payment will be about $450 million more than the total paid in the current fiscal year and more than double what it was only a decade ago. CalPERS board members voted on Tuesdays staff proposal with little discussion, save for a question about the increase in contributions also required from workers hired after a pension overhaul that took effect in June. It seems like it will be a ding on peoples salaries, said Theresa Taylor, the chairwoman of CalPERS finance committee and a member of SEIU Local 1000, the union that represents some 96,000 state employees. The $6.299-billion payment required from Californias state government must now be factored into the budget crafted by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in late June. Brown had already assumed a similarly sized payment in his budget proposal unveiled in January. In February, a coalition representing city governments warned about the effects of rising pension costs under the expectations of less money from Wall Street investments. The report issued by the League of California Cities projected an average increase of more than 50% in annual pension payments made by the states largest cities over the next seven years. A CalPERS staff report notes that the net return on all of the funds investments for the fiscal year that ended in July was 11.2%. But expectations on profits over the next 30 years remain significantly more modest, and theres long been a robust debate about how to properly set those future expectations. The lower the rate of projected investment return, the larger the share of pension costs that must be covered by taxpayers and some employees. Overall, CalPERS officials believe the system has assets to cover 71% of its long-term obligations. Facebook

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California warns legal pot sellers not to participate in unlicensed 4/20 events By Patrick McGreevy Marijuana on display at a dispensary in Los Angeles. ( (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)) The state issued a warning Tuesday that businesses holding licenses to sell marijuana could face penalties if they participate in unlicensed temporary events away from their stores, including on Friday, April 20, which has become an annual celebration for counterculture groups. The warning was issued ahead of 4/20 by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. Since Jan. 1, the bureau has issued more than 700 state licenses to sell marijuana for medical or recreational use. The bureau has issued 47 temporary event licenses to groups that are limited to holding the marijuana celebrations on county fairgrounds that have authorized such events with city approval. Any bureau licensee participating in an unlicensed cannabis event may be subject to disciplinary action, the warning said, adding that lawful participation by bureau licensees in any temporary cannabis event that allows sales and/or consumption is dependent upon issuance of the appropriate licenses from the bureau. While many Californians have been issued medical approval to sell or use marijuana, the law does not allow them to participate in unlicensed events, also referred to as Proposition 215 events after the ballot measure that legalized medical pot two decades ago in the state. Participation in such events may lead to civil penalties for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, the warning said. Meanwhile, a survey of some 1,000 marijuana users that was released Tuesday by the firm LendEDU found that the average 4/20 participant plans to spend $71 on marijuana to celebrate the unofficial holiday, and about 35% of respondents are planning to take off work Friday. Facebook

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California police groups shift position on officer discipline records, now consider support for making some of them public By Liam Dillon Los Angeles Police Department recruits at a graduation ceremony in April (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Some major law enforcement groups signaled Tuesday they are willing to support making part of police officer disciplinary records public, a dramatic departure from their past positions. Local and national attention on police shootings and misconduct has led law enforcement organizations to reconsider their blanket opposition to proposals that would give public access to some internal disciplinary investigations of officers. Were going to be open to supporting efforts that would allow for some records to be released, said Ryan Sherman, a lobbyist with the Riverside Sheriffs Assn. Debate over secrecy provisions in officer disciplinary files came during a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 1421 from Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). Skinners bill, which advanced out of the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, would require public disclosure of all internal officer shooting investigations and confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. Currently, all police discipline information is confidential outside of a courtroom in California, which has some of the nations strictest standards against public disclosure. Unfortunately, the fact that we have such strict restrictions on any access to public records has affected certain communities trust towards our law enforcement, Skinner said during the hearing. Prior to Skinners effort, other have tried to loosen these rules, some of which date back 40 years. Most recently in 2016, a bid by then-Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) failed in a Senate committee. In debate two years ago, no major law enforcement groups indicated they would accept changes to state laws that would make individual internal investigations public, saying they were essential to protect officer privacy and safety. But Tuesday, Sherman and other lobbyists including those representing the states largest police labor organization, signaled they might be willing to entertain changes. They said they were negotiating with Skinner on the bills details. Law enforcement groups still have major concerns about SB 1421 as written. Ed Fishman, an attorney for the Police Officers Research Assn., told legislators that the bill would wrongfully expose police officers who acted within departmental policy to invasions of their privacy. It has unintended consequences that are extreme and will hurt the public, Fishman said. Tuesdays hearing featured testimony from many who have had relatives killed by police officers in recent years advocating for the bill. Senators on the Public Safety Committee also gave public rebukes to law enforcement lobbyists, criticizing them for a lack of diversity and insensitivity to concerns raised by communities of color. I think that you are completely and utterly out of touch with the realities of how those you are representing are perceived by major segments of California, said Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles). You are not going to be able to continue to lobby your way out of it. The bill faces at least one more committee hearing in the Senate before reaching the floor. It will have to pass both houses of the Legislature by the end of August. Facebook

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Newest member of the California Assembly arrives ready to work on criminal justice issues By John Myers Two weeks after winning a Los Angeles special election, the newest member of the California Assembly says she hopes to focus on reforms to the states criminal justice system during her time in Sacramento. Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) took the oath of office on Monday, filling one of three vacant seats representing Los Angeles County in the lower house. The Democrat, a former community college trustee and legislative staffer, thanked her mentors in remarks from the Assembly rostrum. So many women, and in my life so many black women, have paid in giving me the kind of morals and integrity and grit that is required to fight on behalf of people that you know, and people that you dont know, she said. Kamlager-Dove won handily on April 3, receiving 70% of the votes cast in the 54th Assembly District which encompasses communities west of downtown Los Angeles, from Crenshaw to Culver City and as far north as Westwood. She will serve the remaining eight months of the term of former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, who resigned last year citing health concerns. She has said she hopes to focus her attention on poverty issues and on reform of the states criminal justice system. I think we have an opportunity to really push the needle in terms of how we look at rehabilitation, how we look at incarceration, and how we look at changing the lives oftentimes of poor men and women of color, Kamalager-Dove said on Monday in a video released by Assembly Democrats. Facebook

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Survivors of violent crime raise their voices in California to call for a new approach to criminal justice By Jazmine Ulloa Aaliyah Smith marches with her cousins. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Her father, uncle, a cousin and two older brothers. Those are some of the family members 16-year-old Aaliyah Smith has lost to gun violence. Then there are her friends. Jermaine Jackson Jr., 27, was shot and killed in 2016 while he painted over graffiti in San Francisco. Toriano Tito Adger, 18, was shot there a year later at a bus stop. He called Smith, who was nearby, and warned her to run. She made it inside a library moments before the crack of gunfire. Last week, Smith was among hundreds who gathered in Sacramento for annual National Crime Victims Rights Week events, where calls were issued for a new approach to criminal justice and public safety in California, one that puts survivors at the center of policy. But a debate is brewing over what that entails. Read More Facebook

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California expects $14 billion in tax payments this month By John Myers State workers handle income tax returns at the California Franchise Tax Board offices. (Laura Morton / For The Times) Gov. Jerry Browns proposed state budget is built on what taxpayers might find an audacious assumption: almost $14 billion in tax payments in the month of April, an average of $83 million collected per hour on every business day of the month. Most of that money will come from the taxes Californians pay in advance of Tuesday nights filing deadline for income tax returns. If history is any guide, the rate of payment could quadruple by weeks end. While tax rules have shifted some of the payment schedules to other months, April remains a vitally important month to the fiscal health of state government. The state controllers office reports more than 15% of all personal income tax revenues in 2017 were collected in April. In the recession years of a decade ago, tax revenue predictions were frequently off the mark by hundreds of millions of dollars. The last two state budgets have seen significant windfalls of personal income tax revenue, thanks in part both to an improving economy and to the continuation of a temporary surcharge on the wealthiest taxpayers  extended by voters in 2016. In the budget plan he sent to lawmakers in January, Brown projected a $6.1-billion windfall and proposed using a sizable amount to top off Californias rainy-day fund ahead of schedule. The independent Legislative Analysts Office reports that through the end of last week, the months income tax tally stood at $3 billion, slightly ahead of projections. By the end of the current week, a single days total could be almost that large. Lawmakers began reviewing the governors $190.3-billion spending plan during the winter, but few decisions are made until they get a look at Aprils tax revenues. The governor will release a revised plan based on the new data next month; lawmakers are required to send him a completed budget no later than June 15. Facebook

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Feinstein war chest tops $10 million while Kevin de Leon struggles to keep pace By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein widened her already-massive fundraising advantage in the run-up to Junes primary, raising twice as much in the first quarter than her strongest Senate challenger has sitting in the bank. Feinstein raised $1.3 million between January and March, bringing her war chest to just over $10 million as Californias U.S. Senate race begins in earnest, according Federal Election Commission reports. Former state Senate leader Kevin De Leon, the best known of the more than 30 people who will appear with Feinstein on the June primary ballot, raised just $575,991 in that same period, bringing his cash on hand to $672,331, according to his quarterly FEC report. Read More Facebook

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Trump has met his match, says Gov. Jerry Brown in promoting climate action on a quick trip to Canada By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown told a Canadian audience Monday that he believes President Trumps efforts to reverse course on climate change policy are a momentary deviation as others in the United States seek limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Thats very temporary, I can assure you, Brown said at a joint event in Toronto with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The governors quick international trip, announced only late last week, comes as Wynnes Liberal Party faces a stiff challenge in Junes election from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and its leader, Doug Ford. Critics of Wynnes party have called for Ontario to pull out of the Western Climate Initiative, a cooperative agreement between three Canadian provinces and California on efforts to limit greenhouse gases. Brown sought to link the efforts of Canadian conservatives with Republicans in the United States who oppose existing climate change programs. In contrast, he told the audience, several GOP lawmakers voted last summer to renew Californias cap-and-trade program. I would say to the conservatives of Canada, wake up and see what your friends in California are doing, he said. The Democrat took particular notice of Trumps efforts to shift away from climate change policies from the administration of former President Obama, as well as a push by the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel Californias strict limits on automobile emissions. If Trump tries to change that, well have litigation well beyond his term in office, Brown said while also noting Chinese government efforts to produce more low-emissions vehicles. Between California and China, Trump has met his match. What hes saying is not going to happen. Many of the governors remarks, though, were aimed at the tough political situation in which Wynne finds herself with seven weeks to go before Ontarios parliamentary elections. Dangers abound, but success is right in our hands, Brown said. So dont blow it! Facebook

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California voters are getting to know the states attorney general through his aggressive stance challenging Trump By Patrick McGreevy Less than two months from his first statewide election, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has become adept not only at challenging President Trump but at using the bully pulpit of his office to raise his profile with voters. The aggressive effort may help boost the former Los Angeles congressmans chances at winning a full term in office this fall, almost two years after he was appointed to replace Sen. Kamala Harris in 2017. Appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Becerra took office as attorney general four days after Trumps inauguration. Thats afforded him an opportunity to get in front of Californians  and potential voters  on an array of issues including immigration, healthcare and the environment. Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown forms commission for 2020 census outreach By Melanie Mason In an effort to make sure California has a strong showing in the next national census, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday established a state commission to prepare outreach for the decennial count. It is vitally important for California to do everything it can to ensure that every Californian is counted in the upcoming census, Brown said in a prepared statement. The commissions formation comes on the heels of a Trump administration plan to ask about citizenship status as a part of the census. State officials fear that such a question, which has not been asked in a census since 1950, could chill participation among California residents. That could result in the state losing billions of dollars in federal funds and a seat in Congress. The 23-member panel, appointed largely by Brown as well as picks by legislative leaders, comes from private- and public-sector backgrounds, including civil rights groups, religious institutions and educational institutions. Facebook

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Garcetti kicks off Iowa visit with 2020 on his mind and a hardhat on his head LA Mayor - and 2020 prospect - Eric Garcetti makes his Iowa debut at the Carpenters Union Training Center. Fearlessly flaunts the never be photographed in head gear/safety glasses rule. pic.twitter.com/14bUOPXMvF  Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) April 13, 2018 Facebook

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Asm. Rocky Chavez takes the lead in race to replace Issa, while Doug Applegate slips By Joshua Stewart A new poll shows that Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez has taken a clear lead over 15 other candidates running to replace Rep. Darrell Issa in Congress and has overtaken Democrat Doug Applegate, the previous frontrunner. In a SurveyUSA poll by 10News and The San Diego Union-Tribune, Chavez, R-Oceanside, has support of 16 percent of likely voters, putting him ahead of Applegate, a lawyer, who was favored by 12 percent of voters and is in second place. The top two vote-getters in June, regardless of party, will proceed to a November runoff election. Competing with Applegate for the No. 2 spot is Democrat Mike Levin, also a lawyer, with support of 9 percent of voters. Several other candidates were right at his heels. Democratic Businessman Paul Kerr and Board of Equalization Member Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, were tied for fourth at 8 percent each. Read More Facebook

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Pro-Kevin de Leon group launches ad castigating Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta A group that is supporting Kevin de Leons bid for the U.S. Senate launched a blistering ad against Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday, questioning her progressive principles and tying her to President Trump. The ad buy from A Progressive California is minuscule  $10,000 to air it in Los Angeles for one day on CNN and MSNBC during programming such as The Rachel Maddow Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Anderson Cooper 360. The minute-long ad features news clips about Feinstein not getting the California Democratic Party endorsement earlier this year, as well as footage of Feinstein saying that Trump can be a good president and appearing to share a laugh with Trump. That moment actually came during a White House meeting in the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting when the president suggested an assault weapons ban should be included in a bipartisan bill to expand gun background checks. It also features extensive clips of de Leons speech at the state partys convention. De Leon, who just ended his final term as leader of the state Senate, announced last year he would run against fellow Democrat Feinstein as she seeks her fifth full term. Feinsteins longtime political advisor dismissed the ad, noting the size of the buy. Its not really a buy, said Bill Carrick. Ten thousand dollars in cable in L.A. Poof, its gone. Still, he said he planned to have the campaigns lawyers review the ad to see if it violates campaign law that limits what outside groups like A Progressive California can do. Such groups cannot coordinate with campaigns or candidates, and are limited in how much their messages can support a candidate. Ann Ravel, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said if the ad was in a state race, she is certain that the state commission would open an investigation into potential coordination with de Leons campaign because of the messaging and the types of footage in the ad. But the bipartisan federal commission cant agree on how to enforce the federal regulations, she said. The problem is [outside groups] understand that given the lack of very strong enforcement at the federal level, theres the ability to stretch the law, she said. A spokeswoman for the FEC declined to comment. Dave Jacobson, a spokesman for A Progressive California, disputed the suggestion that the ad violated campaign law. This frivolous allegation shows that Sen. Feinstein is afraid of the public seeing an ad which showcases her own words, that Donald Trump can be a good president, he said. Facebook

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Dispute over money emerges in campaign to repeal Californias gas tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A motorist prepares to gas up her vehicle in San Rafael, Calif., in 2015. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) A proposed initiative to repeal hikes to Californias gas tax has been caught in the middle of a dispute involving Republican rivals in the governors race. Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, decided in January to drop plans for his own initiative and said he would urge supporters to sign a separate petition being supported by several Republican members of Congress. Then last week, the committee Allen formed to finance his ballot measure reported a $300,000 contribution from PISF Inc., a Novato, Calif., real estate firm. Now, an organizer of the still active Give Voters a Voice committee is urging the Allen committee to immediately donate their funds in support of the ongoing signature gathering efforts. There is only one gas tax repeal measure currently in circulation and that is the measure sponsored by the Give Voters a Voice Committee, said Dave Gilliard, a consultant to the group. PISF Inc., he said, gave to repeal taxes and there is only one committee that can do that. Allen rejected the request, noting that the active initiative drive is co-chaired by wealthy businessman John Cox, a Republican also running for governor whose campaign has donated $250,000 to the initiative drive. I would be doing the gas-tax-repeal contributors a huge disservice if I was to transfer any funds to a campaign committee involving John Cox, Allen said. John Cox has spent millions of dollars campaigning for office and he has lost every single time. Cox ran unsuccessfully for three offices in Illinois before he moved to California. Allen said he will use the donations received by his ballot measure committee to campaign for approval of the gas tax 
Donald Trump has this much in common with Barack Obama: Both presidents first years spawned books that chronicled crises. Obamas crisis, however, was inherited. Trumps has been largely self-made.

Trump even provided the alliterative title  Fire and Fury  for the book that has roiled Washington and the nation. Michael Wolff lifted the phrase from a particularly memorable statement in which Trump seemed to threaten North Korea with nuclear annihilation.

Metaphorically, it fits the warring and chaos within the White House which Wolff recounts.

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After two days of appetite-whetting excerpts and nonstop cable TV coverage, the book was released Friday morning  rushed into stores by publisher Henry Holt & Co., in defiance of a cease and desist letter from Trumps lawyers that only stoked book-buyers interest. In Washington, it promptly sold out.

The 322 pages dont provide a lot of new news  the picture of mayhem is mostly familiar to readers who have followed the daily reporting of White House correspondents. Some of what is new strains credulity.

Yet Wolffs work carries a punch, the result of the power that comes from tying together in one place the dizzying events of Trumps initial year plus his ability to write  as his subtitle proclaims  that his account comes from Inside the Trump White House.

Wolff offers anecdote upon anecdote, quote upon quote, to buttress his theme, but one of the strongest pieces of evidence of political incompetence in the West Wing is the simple fact that he was there. No other White House in memory would have allowed an author of Wolffs high-flying reputation to have such extensive and unrestrained access.

The Trump White House, and Trump, have been quick to counterattack, impugning Wolffs credibility (much as Bill and Hillary Clinton sicced lieutenants on unflattering authors).

In tweets, Trump derided the book as phony and full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. He falsely claimed hed not spoken to Wolff. The Republican National Committee circulated past criticisms of Wolff by other journalists, in an email with the headline Liar and Phony (in a font mimicking Fire and Fury on the book cover).

Yet for all the perceived flaws in Wolffs reporting  notably a much-disputed anecdote in which Trump asks Whos that? about former House Speaker John A. Boehner  significant parts of the book have been corroborated.

Worse for Trump, his own record of repeated false statements on matters large and small has robbed his denials of much strength.

My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than, perhaps, anyone who has ever walked on Earth at this point, Wolff said Friday on NBCs Today.

Little in the book has been refuted; the White House, asked for specific errors, cited only the Boehner passage. Wolffs main source, Stephen K. Bannon, headed Trumps campaign in its final months, was chief strategist in the White House until his firing in August and, even after, remained an architect of Trumps nationalist agenda.

Bannons role as source and enabler for Wolff has outraged Trump, who said in a statement that Bannon had lost his mind. If Bannon is not dead to the president, the disheveled insurgent at a minimum has been reduced to the kind of sophomoric Twitter nickname the president likes to bestow on foes: Sloppy Steve.

Other advisors are quoted as well, however. Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide, tells of Trumps eyes glazing over as Nunberg attempted to give him a tutorial on the Constitution.

Former deputy White House chief of staff Katie Walsh, who ultimately quit, grouses of her exasperation at fielding competing directives from a trio of West Wing rivals: Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (also now gone) and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The pre-publication excerpts caught many of the books highlights. Trump didnt expect to be elected, Wolff wrote; he thought hed parlay his greater fame into something else, perhaps a Trump Network, as former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, now dead, suggested. On election night, as it became clear Trump might win, Melania Trump was near tears  and not of joy, he wrote. (Her office issued a statement insisting she had been happy with the result.)

Perhaps most troublesome for Trump is Bannons condemnation of the meeting that Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had at Trump Tower, in June 2016, with Russians said to have incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad sh-t, and I happen to think its all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately, Bannon said, a line that severely undermines Trumps longtime contention that talk of a Russia-Trump connection is a Democratic hoax.

Bannon is also quoted contradicting Trump and his lawyers predictions that the probe led by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, will wrap up quickly and satisfactorily.

This is all about money laundering, Bannon says, adding that the path to Trump goes right through Manafort  who has been indicted  as well as through Trumps son and son-in-law.

Perhaps most damaging  both to Trumps ego and his reputation with the public  are the vivid and repeated accounts of contempt for Trump from those around him.

Some of those remarks unspooled in front of the author. Wolff hosted a small post-election dinner at his apartment in Manhattan spiced with banter from Bannon and Ailes belittling Trump. At one point, he recounts Ailes advising Bannon: I wouldnt give Donald too much to think about.

For other remarks, Wolff leaves his sourcing ambiguous. Its unclear, for example, how he claims to know that after a nighttime telephone call with Trump, publishing baron Rupert Murdoch, exasperated by Trumps ignorance, exclaimed upon hanging up, What a f---ing idiot.

He similarly leaves a reader to guess who told him that Priebus and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin called Trump an idiot, that economic advisor Gary Cohn said Trump was dumb as sh-t, or that national security advisor H.R. McMaster called him a dope.

Whatever the flaws, however, the White House is right to fear that this book will do damage.

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, referring to Trump, recently told The Times, the sense of chaos, the constant fight, fight, fight and alarm bells going off all the time has so vexed voters that it helped elect Democrat Doug Jones, Trippis client, to a Senate seat in Alabama long held by Republicans.

Theres this sense of being on edge, Trippi said, that most voters dont want anymore.

Wolffs book is a reminder of what made them edgy to date, and why more likely lies ahead.
The California Legislature unveiled a new policy Friday that for the first time would reveal the identities of some who have been accused of sexual misconduct, two months after refusing to disclose detailed information about years of allegations.

By expanding public access to a select number of employee files, legislative leaders acquiesced to the reckoning that continues to reverberate through workplaces across the nation. Activists and news organizations alike pointed out the political and legal risks of lawmakers keeping the documents shielded from public view.

The new policy was outlined in a brief statement attributed to legislative leaders, who said the Senate and Assembly will release documents related to sexual harassment claims that have been substantiated against a high-level legislative employee or legislator for which discipline has been imposed or allegations have been determined to be well-founded.

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Amid uproar over sexual harassment, California lawmakers return to work 

That language precisely mirrors the phrasing used by the Los Angeles Times in requests for records filed with both houses on Nov. 3. The statement goes on to say that documents covering some claims of past sexual harassment will be released in the coming weeks.

While the public statement does not make clear whether the release of sexual harassment information is a one-time occurrence, an aide to Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said the policy will be part of the upper houses customs and practices, and not a formal rule.

Allegations of misconduct have upended the state Capitol in the 11 weeks since more than 140 women wrote an open letter denouncing the pervasive nature of sexual harassment and abuse in Californias political world.

Two legislators, former Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) and Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills), resigned after multiple women accused each man of inappropriate sexual advances. Both lawmakers denied the allegations against them.

Sexual harassment hearings come as California Capitol is roiled by accusations and a resignation 

A third legislator, state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), is currently on a leave of absence while the Senate conducts an investigation into allegations that he behaved inappropriately with multiple female staff members, which the senator has denied. Mendoza, who had initially refused to temporarily step aside, gave in to the demands of his fellow Democrats after a tense private meeting on Wednesday.

In early November, legislative officials revealed broad data about the number of sexual misconduct investigations that both houses had conducted since the beginning of 2006, disclosing a total of 31 investigations. That information was released after a request by The Times for more substantive information, including the number of actual complaints  even when no additional investigation was conducted  and the cost to taxpayers. Lawmakers refused to provide those details, citing a 1975 state law that allows the Legislature to deny access to records that other state agencies and local governments must make available to the public.

The Times then asked for records pertaining to instances involving legislators, staffers or even lobbyists where the charges were found to be true, discipline was imposed or the complaints were judged to be well-founded. Legislative officials rejected that request on Nov. 21.

On Dec. 5, an attorney for The Times urged lawmakers to reconsider their position and said a California court would likely rule in favor of disclosure.

If teachers and superintendents and finance clerks and city managers and mayors and licensed attorneys all are subject to disclosure of records explaining the basis for discipline or finding that allegations of workplace misconduct are well founded or true, then legislators also are subject to disclosure of such records, wrote Jeff Glasser, The Times vice president for legal affairs.

Fridays about-face on releasing documents appears to have some boundaries that could limit the publics effort to understand the full context of sexual misconduct issues at the state Capitol. Disclosure, said the statement, will be limited to complaints against either a legislator or high-level legislative employee, which a De Leon aide described as someone who manages staff. That means there would be no disclosure of sexual harassment allegations against employees in jobs like scheduler or legislative aide  the types of lower level jobs which many managers hold before being promoted.

In short, records pertaining to disciplinary action against anyone with a pattern of improper behavior could presumably be kept confidential.

For legislative leaders, the controversies have proved challenging, pitting the desire to project a forceful reaction to the burgeoning scandal against long-held policy and the tendency to avoid disclosure.

Its important that we are responsive as a body, both as an institution but as individual members, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) told reporters earlier this week. Theres a certain amount of vigilance that I think seemed to have been missing in previous generations in this building.

In that same conversation, he demurred when asked if he was aware of any allegations of sexual misconduct against currently serving legislators.

I dont talk about human resources issues, Rendon said.

De Leon, who is running for U.S. Senate, signaled at a news conference last month that requests for information about sexual harassment allegations would be handled in a more open manner.

Part of changing that culture is to be more transparent, De Leon said. Part of changing culture is to work closely with the press. This is unprecedented but we will be moving forward with that.

john.myers@latimes.com; melanie.mason@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers and @melmason on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast

UPDATES:

8:45 p.m.: This story was updated to clarify that the policy in the California Senate will be a custom and practice of the House, which a top aide to the Senate leader said is not the same as a formal House rule.

This story was originally published at 4:35 p.m.
Trump promotes sons Justice with Judge Jeanine interview President Trump promoted via Twitter an interview with his son Eric Trump just before it aired Saturday night on Fox News Justice with Judge Jeanine. Eric Trump on @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews now!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 Eric Trump called into the show to defend his father from criticism prompted by the first government shutdown in more than four years, as well as a series of Womens March events that saw protesters in dozens of cities take to the streets to oppose the presidents policies. .@EricTrump joined me over the phone from Mar-a-Lago ! pic.twitter.com/Hro3TzUW52  Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) January 21, 2018 Speaking to host Jeannine Piro  who is reportedly an old friend of the presidents  Eric Trump offered effusive praise for his father, ticking off glowing statistics to illustrate the strength of the U.S. economy and gains against Islamic State fighters overseas. My fathers working like no ones ever worked before to bring back this country and to fulfill his promise to make America great again, said the executive vice president of the Trump Organization. He also repeated a sentiment recently expressed on Twitter by his father: That Democratic lawmakers forced a government shutdown on the anniversary of the presidents inauguration in a bid to distract from his achievements. You look at this whole government shutdown, and the only reason they want to shut down government is to distract and to stop his momentum, Eric Trump said. I mean, my father has had incredible momentum. Hes gotten more done in one year than arguably any president in history. Facebook

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Trump tweets: a perfect day for all Women to March President Trump hailed the nationwide Womens March gatherings Saturday. On Twitter, the president called it a perfect day for all Women to March, seeming to imply that those taking part were celebrating his administrations accomplishments: Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Participants in the marches across the United States were actually seeking to deliver a powerful rebuke to Trumps policies and mount a crucial mobilization for this years midterm elections. But Trump continued to tout his administrations unprecedented success in tweets sent later in the day: Unprecedented success for our Country, in so many ways, since the Election. Record Stock Market, Strong on Military, Crime, Borders, & ISIS, Judicial Strength & Numbers, Lowest Unemployment for Women & ALL, Massive Tax Cuts, end of Individual Mandate - and so much more. Big 2018!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The Trump Administration has terminated more UNNECESSARY Regulation, in just twelve months, than any other Administration has terminated during their full term in office, no matter what the length. The good news is, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO COME!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018 In addition to the roll call of major American cities where womens marches took place  including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta  protesters also raised their voices in suburbs and small towns, reflecting the aim of coalescing a broad-based movement on the anniversary of Trumps inauguration to oppose the presidents stance on immigration, healthcare, racial divides and an array of other issues. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

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Trump calls shutdown a present from Democrats By Associated Press President Trump is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown  tweeting that they wanted to give him a nice present to mark the one-year anniversary of his inauguration: This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 That comes after Senate Democrats late Friday killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept agencies functioning for four weeks. Democrats were seeking a stopgap bill of just a few days in hopes that would build pressure on Republicans, and they were opposing a three-week alternative offered by GOP leaders. Democrats have insisted they would back legislation reopening the government once theres a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting about 700,000 immigrants  known as Dreamers  who arrived in the United States illegally as children. Trump on Saturday accused Democrats of holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration: Democrats are holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration. Cant let that happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Democrats are laying fault for the shutdown on Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. In a series of tweets hours after the shutdown began, the president tried to make the case for Americans to elect more Republicans to Congress in November in order to power through this mess: Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 He noted that there are 51 Republicans in the 100-member Senate, and it often takes 60 votes to advance legislation: For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60. That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election! We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 #AMERICA FIRST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The stopgap spending measure won 50 votes in the Senate, including five from Democrats. Although the House and Senate were in session Saturday, it was unclear whether lawmakers would take any votes of consequence. Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon for a fundraiser at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where he intended to mark the inauguration anniversary. But he remained in Washington and ended up scrapping his plans to attend the Saturday fundraiser. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet casts doubt on likelihood of averting shutdown President Trump appeared to cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching a deal to avert a government shutdown Friday night in a tweet. Trump also sought to blame Democrats for what would be the first shutdown since 2013. His message came just hours before the midnight deadline by which lawmakers must pass a measure to fund government agencies, or some operations will cease. Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Despite last-minute negotiations Friday between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Congress remained deadlocked over a spending bill and the federal government was headed toward a shutdown at midnight. Senate Democrats  joined by some GOP deficit hawks and immigration allies  were set to filibuster a stopgap funding bill approved by the House on Thursday. A Senate vote was planned for 10 p.m. Eastern, and even White House officials predicted it would fail. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro. Facebook

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Trump signs surveillance law after confusing tweets By Associated Press President Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program: Just signed 702 Bill to reauthorize foreign intelligence collection. This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2018 Trumps tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia. That caused people to wonder if he didnt support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad. Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened. Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face. This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land, he tweeted. We need it! Get smart! In his tweet announcing that he had just signed the bill, Trump wrote: This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first! There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trumps oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign. Facebook

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In tweet, Trump suggests that Pennsylvania trip is a political one The White House press office was once again forced to walk back a tweet from President Trump on Thursday morning after he described a trip to Pennsylvania later in the day as a political one  a statement that would force the Republican Party, not taxpayers, to pay for the journey. The White House had said Trump was going to an industrial equipment company outside of Pittsburgh to highlight the good economy and new tax cuts, making it an official, policy-oriented event. It was widely assumed that the trip had a political cast  the area is holding a special election to fill a congressional seat vacated by a Republican who resigned. Trump, by his tweet, seemed to confirm that politics was the whole purpose: Will be going to Pennsylvania today in order to give my total support to RICK SACCONE, running for Congress in a Special Election (March 13). Rick is a great guy. We need more Republicans to continue our already successful agenda!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 Trump later shared via Twitter a pair of video clips of his speech at H&K Equipment, in which he touted the tax cuts he signed into law just before Christmas and tried to turn the conversation back to his accomplishments after weeks dominated by distractions, including questions about his mental health and comments about immigration that some considered racist: Departing Pittsburgh now, where it was my great honor to stand with our incredible workers, and to show the world that AMERICA is back - and we are coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before! pic.twitter.com/kWPgylqFzj  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 AMERICA will once again be a NATION that thinks big, dreams bigger, and always reaches for the stars. YOU are the ones who will shape Americas destiny. YOU are the ones who will restore our prosperity. And YOU are the ones who are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! #MAGA pic.twitter.com/f2abNK47II  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018 The Republican National Committee, rather than the White House, is supposed to pay for political travel so that taxpayers are not financing party activities; for trips that combine policy and politics, parties have split the cost under past presidents. Neither the RNC nor the White House responded to emails sent Thursday asking who would pay. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement later Thursday suggesting that taxpayers would foot the bill. She insisted that Trump would be conducting government business while in Pennsylvania. Read More This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump tweets praise of Bob Dole after awarding him Congressional Gold Medal By Associated Press Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole knew the art of the deal before President Trump published the 1987 book of the same name. The two shared a stage under the Capitol dome Wednesday as Dole, 94, accepted Congress highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, for his World War II service and decades of work in the House and Senate. Trump later praised Dole in a tweet, attaching to his message a video composed of clips from the ceremony: Today, we witnessed an incredible moment in history  the presentation of Congress highest civilian honor to our friend, and true AMERICAN HERO, Bob Dole. #CongressionalGoldMedal pic.twitter.com/qNQqDLRmCk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2018 At the ceremony, the president saluted Dole as a patriot and gave tribute to Doles struggle as a veteran who worked his way back from a grievous shoulder wound he suffered in Italy. He knows about grit, said Trump. But it was Doles penchant for working across the aisle that earned him his latest award, according to the legislation. Bob Dole was known for his ability to work across the aisle and embrace practical bipartisanship, reads the legislation Trump signed in September. Some of the awards 300 recipients include George Washington and Mother Teresa, according to the Congressional Research Service. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts report that seeks to link terrorism cases with immigration By Joseph Tanfani The Trump administration on Tuesday released a report attempting to link terrorism with migration, arguing that it was evidence of the need to dramatically reshape the nations immigration system. New report from DOJ & DHS shows that nearly 3 in 4 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges are foreign-born. We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 ....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The report, ordered by President Trump in an executive order last year, said that 75% of the 549 people convicted of terrorism charges since 9/11 were born outside the U.S. Administration officials called that a sign that the U.S. needs to scrap its policy of family preferences for visas, which they call chain migration, and a diversity visa lottery program. But the report did not specify how many  if any  of the convicted terrorists entered the country through those means. It also did not detail how many of the convictions were related to attacks or plans in the U.S. versus overseas and how many involved people who went to fight overseas for the Islamic State or another terrorist group. Those details were not available, officials said. The report, due last year, is being released in a highly charged moment in the immigration debate, as Trump and some Republicans in Congress seek tough new border and immigration measures in return for a deal protecting the 690,000 people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump also fired off a pair of tweets on the topic earlier Tuesday: We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The focus of our immigration system should be assimilation, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition that his name not be used. He said the nation should give priority to potential immigrants who speak English, who have an education and those who are committed to supporting our values  not family members of people already here. The official said the timing of the report was coincidental. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets welcome to president of Kazakhstan By Associated Press President Trump said Tuesday that he and the president of Kazakhstan are united in a shared determination to prevent North Korea from threatening the world with nuclear devastation. Trump and President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed North Korea along with other issues during meetings at the White House. Today, it was my honor to welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to the @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/TerYFZViax  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 Trump said Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union, is a valued partner in our efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Together we are determined to prevent the North Korean regime from threatening the world with nuclear devastation, he said, as both presidents addressed journalists between meetings. Nazarbayev noted that his country once had one of the worlds largest nuclear arsenals but voluntarily gave it up after the Soviet Union collapsed. He said his country is in talks with Iran, which was the focus of a global deal that lifted some economic sanctions in exchange for Irans curbing its nuclear program. Trump has sharply criticized the Iran nuclear deal and threatened last week to pull out soon unless other countries fix what he says are terrible flaws. Read More Facebook

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Trump falsely claims his approval rating among black Americans has doubled By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump lashed out at the news media Tuesday morning in a tweet denouncing the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion among members of his campaign team. Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the presidents tweet, but it appeared as though he was watching Fox & Friends. A short time later, Trump tweeted a headline from a report that aired during that mornings episode: 90% of Trump 2017 news coverage was negative -and much of it contrived!@foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The segment focused on the latest survey results from conservative watchdog Media Research Center, which purportedly analyzed the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 and found that 90% of the statements made about Trump were negative. Study: 90% of Trump media coverage in 2017 was negative pic.twitter.com/vbrwup4Drg  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 16, 2018 But believe it or not, through all this negative coverage, they did a survey of 600,000 people about how black America views this president, co-host Brian Kilmeade said. His numbers have actually doubled in approval. Trump highlighted the statement in another tweet: Unemployment for Black Americans is the lowest ever recorded. Trump approval ratings with Black Americans has doubled. Thank you, and it will get even (much) better! @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 But its not true. The claim appears to have originated from a misreading of data from the online polling firm SurveyMonkey, according to factcheck.org. The firm polled 600,000 Americans in 2017 and found that Trumps approval rating among blacks actually dropped from 23% early in his presidency to about 17%, as of the week ending Jan. 3. Some conservative outlets, including Breitbart, produced an average from those and other SurveyMonkey figures and compared them to the scores Trump received from black voters in the 2016 exit polls. That methodology is not sound. And since the statistics measure different things, the comparison is misleading. Facebook

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Trump goes after senator who surfaced his immigration remark By Associated Press President Trump turned his Twitter torment Monday on the Democrat in the room where immigration talks with lawmakers took a famously coarse turn, saying Sen. Richard J. Durbin misrepresented what he had said about African nations and Haiti and, in the process, undermined the trust needed to make a deal. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting, Trump tweeted, using a nickname to needle the Illinois senator. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 Trump was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young people who came to the United States illegally as children. Members of Congress from both parties are trying to strike a deal that Trump would support to extend that protection. Trump also cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching an agreement in tweets sent earlier Monday: Statement by me last night in Florida: Honestly, I dont think the Democrats want to make a deal. They talk about DACA, but they dont want to help..We are ready, willing and able to make a deal but they dont want to. They dont want security at the border, they dont want.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 ...to stop drugs, they want to take money away from our military which we cannot do. My standard is very simple, AMERICA FIRST & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 On a day of remembrance for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Trump spent time at his golf course with no public events, bypassing the acts of service that his predecessors staged in honor of the civil rights leader. Instead, Trump dedicated his weekly address to Kings memory, saying Kings dream and Americas are the same: A world where people are judged by who they are, not how they look or where they come from. That message was a distinct counterpoint to words attributed to Trump by Durbin and others at a meeting last week, when the question of where immigrants come from seemed at the forefront of Trumps concerns. Some participants and others familiar with the conversation said Trump challenged immigration from shithole countries of Africa and disparaged Haiti as well. Without explicitly denying using that word, Trump lashed out at the Democratic senator, who said Trump uttered it on several occasions. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks pundit for laudatory Fox & Friends spot By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump thanked Fox News personality Stuart Varney after Varney praised Trump during an appearance on Fox & Friends. In a pair of tweets early Sunday, Trump quoted from Varneys commentary, in which he argued that Trump deserves more credit for the booming economy. The pundit, who also hosts a show on Fox Business Network, cited moves by some corporations to raise workers minimum wage or pay out one-time bonuses in response to the GOP tax cuts. President Trump is not getting the credit he deserves for the economy. Tax Cut bonuses to more than 2,000,000 workers. Most explosive Stock Market rally that weve seen in modern times. 18,000 to 26,000 from Election, and grounded in profitability and growth. All Trump, not 0...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 ...big unnecessary regulation cuts made it all possible (among many other things). President Trump reversed the policies of President Obama, and reversed our economic decline. Thank you Stuart Varney. @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 Varney was reacting to a quote from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who on Thursday called the bonuses handed down to workers pathetic in comparison to the gains corporations are expected to see from the tax cuts. In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on is so pathetic, Pelosi told reporters. Its pathetic. Varney shot back Sunday that the bonuses, along with explosive stock market growth, are enriching all Americans. This is a huge shot in the arm, its the result of this tax cut deal and I think President Trump should get the credit for it, he said. .@Varneyco Sets the economic record straight after Nancy Pelosi calls U.S. mass bonuses crumbs pic.twitter.com/BvjIHGm3HE  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 14, 2018 The sweeping tax plan passed last month lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and cuts personal income taxes. Analysts say the benefits will largely flow to corporations and the wealthy, as theyre more likely to be in positions to share in corporate profits. For instance, Wells Fargo & Co., which responded to news of the tax overhaul by announcing it will raise workers pay to at least $15 an hour, also reported that it expects to pay an effective tax rate of 19% this year, down from about 31% in previous years. That should amount to tax savings of more than $3 billion annually. On average, middle-class Americans are expected to see a very small tax cut in the near term and a tax increase after 2025, when all of the tax cuts for individuals expire. The tax cuts for corporations, however, are permanent.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer James Rufus Koren. Facebook

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Trump touts MLK proclamation in tweet, but ceremony is overshadowed by reports of racist remarks By Associated Press President Trump signed a proclamation Friday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, noting the contributions of a great American hero. Today, it was my great honor to proclaim January 15, 2018, as Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service activities in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy. pic.twitter.com/samlJsz1Nt  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 Overshadowing the event was mounting backlash from Trumps comments during a private meeting with lawmakers the day before. A short time after the meeting, which was called to discuss a possible immigration deal, reports emerged that Trump had asked participants why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the Senates second-ranking Democrat, appeared to confirm those reports on Friday. Trump did not respond Friday to several questions about the incident, including whether he actually used vulgar language to describe African nations, or if he is racist. The president said at the White House that love was central to the slain civil rights leader. Trump said the nation celebrates King for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or place of our birth, we are all created equal by God.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump criticizes Democrats in tweet calling for stricter immigration rules President Trump hit out at Democrats on Thursday night in a tweet calling for stricter immigration rules. Trump wrote that members of the party seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the border with Mexico: The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process. It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the tweet. Earlier Thursday, Trump rejected a bipartisan compromise to resolve the standoff over so-called Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children but have temporary permits to work, attend school or serve in the military. The president drew widespread condemnation after reports emerged that he had asked participants in an Oval Office meeting about the proposal why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts bill aimed at improving border screening for fentanyl By Associated Press President Trump signed legislation Wednesday aimed at giving Customs and Border Protection agents additional screening devices and other tools to stop the flow of illicit drugs. Speaking at a surprise bill-signing ceremony while flanked by members of Congress from both parties in the Oval Office, Trump described the bill as a significant step forward in the fight against powerful opioids such as fentanyl, which he called our new big scourge. He echoed that language Thursday in a tweet: Yesterday, I signed the #INTERDICTAct (H.R. 2142) with bipartisan members of Congress to help end the flow of drugs into our country. Together, we are committed to doing everything we can to combat the deadly scourge of drug addiction and overdose in the United States! pic.twitter.com/ELZvFol5Lo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 The legislation will pay for new portable and fixed chemical screening devices to detect and intercept fentanyl at ports of entry and in the mail, along with other laboratory equipment and personnel, including scientists. Trump has made fighting the opioid epidemic a centerpiece of his administration, though critics say he hasnt dedicated nearly enough money or resources to make a difference. Trump suggested during his remarks on Wednesday that hed like to take a more aggressive approach to the drug crisis  but the countrys not ready for what he has in mind. So were going to sign this. And its a step. And it feels like a very giant step, but unfortunately, its not going to be a giant step, because no matter what you do, this is something that keeps pouring in, he said. And were going to find the answer. There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but Im not sure the countrys ready for it yet, he added. Does anybody know what I mean? I think so. Facebook

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Trump applauds news that Toyota-Mazda plant is slated for Alabama By Associated Press Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda on Wednesday announced plans to build a mammoth, $1.6-billion joint-venture plant in Alabama that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. President Trump lauded the news in a tweet: Cutting taxes and simplifying regulations makes America the place to invest! Great news as Toyota and Mazda announce they are bringing 4,000 JOBS and investing $1.6 BILLION in Alabama, helping to further grow our economy! pic.twitter.com/Kcg8IVH6iA  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Good news: Toyota and Mazda announce giant new Huntsville, Alabama, plant which will produce over 300,000 cars and SUVs a year and employ 4000 people. Companies are coming back to the U.S. in a very big way. Congratulations Alabama!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 Several states had competed for the project, which will be able to turn out 300,000 vehicles per year and produce the Toyota Corolla compact car for North America and a new small SUV from Mazda. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and company executives held a news conference to announce that the facility is coming to the Huntsville area not far from the Tennessee line. Production is expected to begin by 2021. The decision to pick Alabama is another example of foreign-based automakers building U.S. factories in the South. To entice manufacturers, Southern states have used a combination of lucrative incentive packages, low-cost labor and a pro-business labor environment, because the United Auto Workers union is stronger in Northern states. Read More Facebook

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Trump highlights call for border wall in tweets on visit with Norways prime minister By Associated Press President Trump praised Norways prime minister in a tweet on Wednesday after Erna Solberg became the first foreign leader to visit with the president in 2018. Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway to the @WhiteHouse - a great friend and ally of the United States! Joint press conference: https://t.co/qWR1BhfQZI pic.twitter.com/PJvwznjRCO  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Trump also shared via Twitter a video clip of a joint news conference he held with Solberg on Wednesday afternoon. In the clip, Trump responds to a question from a reporter by saying there can be no bipartisan immigration deal absent funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been seeking a solution for hundreds of thousands of so-called Dreamers, young people who were brought to the United States as children and are living here illegally. The United States needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval. The safety and security of our country is #1! pic.twitter.com/4CFzQXb5aS  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 We need the wall for security, we need the wall for safety, we need the wall for stopping the drugs from pouring in, Trump said Wednesday.  Any solution has to include the wall because without the wall, it all doesnt work. On Tuesday, Trump drew widespread attention when he said during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers that he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. That contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill in subsequent tweets and public comments. Read More This post contains reporting from Los Angeles Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump praises Cabinet in tweet touting meeting By Associated Press President Trump promoted a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday, sharing via Twitter a link to a video of the session posted on the White House YouTube account. In his tweet, Trump thanked his Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country and wrote that the last year has been one of monumental achievement. I want to thank my @Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country. 2017 was a year of monumental achievement and we look forward to the year ahead. Together, we are delivering results and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/ptXa1hAPwW pic.twitter.com/yv6RALkQf3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The former reality television star continued to dispense accolades at the meeting Wednesday, greeting reporters in the Cabinet Room by saying: Welcome back to the studio. Then he proceeded to relive a Cabinet Room session from the prior day, when he had allowed reporters and TV cameras to stick around for much of his meeting with a bipartisan group of legislators on the thorny issue of immigration. It was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good. And my performance  you know, some of them called it a performance  I consider it work, Trump said. Trump went on to say he had received letters from news anchors calling it one of the greatest meetings theyve ever witnessed. He added that the media will ultimately support Trump in the end, because theyre going to say, if Trump doesnt win in three years, theyre all out of business. Asked for examples of letters received from news anchors, the White House said it had received private communications. It also offered a series of positive on-air comments and tweets from journalists about the unusual access to the meeting. During his remarks, Trump swung from praising his own meeting coverage to telling journalists that they were dependent on his presidency for ratings to threatening a strong look at libel laws. Still, Trump thanked the journalists in front of him, joking: Youve gotten very familiar with this room. I appreciate your nice comments yesterday. Facebook

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Trump blasts DACA ruling in tweet calling courts broken and unfair By Lisa Mascaro President Trump denounced the federal courts Wednesday as broken and unfair after a district judge in San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction keeping protections in place for so-called Dreamers. Trump tweeted: It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 On Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administrations decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which has protected from deportation some 700,000 people who came to the country illegally as children. Alsup granted a request by the state of California, the University of California and other plaintiffs to stop Trump from ending DACA on March 5. The administrations decision to end DACA, which was announced in September, was based on a flawed legal analysis, Alsup wrote in his decision. Dreamers would be irreparably harmed if their DACA protections, which allow them to live and work legally in the U.S., were stripped away before the courts had a chance to fully consider their claims, he ruled. The action is the mirror image of a ruling in 2015 by a federal judge in Texas who ruled in favor of that state when it sought to block President Obama from expanding DACA to include the parents of Dreamers. Trump administration officials praised that judicial ruling. By contrast, they sharply criticized Alsups decision. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks lawmakers for productive immigration meeting, says deal must include border wall President Trump thanked a bipartisan group of lawmakers for participating in a meeting on immigration legislation on Tuesday. Much of the discussion involved so-called Dreamers, an estimated 700,000 young people who were brought to the country illegally as children and are now facing deportation. In a tweet, Trump wrote that there was strong agreement to negotiate a bill to protect Dreamers, as well as put into place some of the reforms favored by Republicans. Thanks to all of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers for todays very productive meeting on immigration reform. There was strong agreement to negotiate a bill that deals with border security, chain migration, lottery and DACA. https://t.co/SdqAQ3aL3z pic.twitter.com/8DYHZHspAy  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 The most notable exchange of the meeting came when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat, asked Trump whether he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. Yeah, I would like to do it, Trump responded. The statement drew widespread attention because it contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump later backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill, tweeting that a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico must be part of any deal: As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Pressure has been mounting for Congress to broker an immigration deal by Jan. 19 as part of a must-pass budget package to fund the government. This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump thanks officers and veterans in tweets President Trump doled out a slew of accolades Tuesday via Twitter. He thanked the nations law enforcement officers, including in his message a hashtag denoting a day of appreciation organized by a national support group for law enforcement families. On behalf of the American people, THANK YOU to our incredible law enforcement officers. As President of the United States - I will fight for you, and I will never, ever let you down. Now, more than ever, we must support the men and women in blue! #LawEnforcementAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/Qb4uxB4JRm  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trump later expressed gratitude for federal immigration agents, in particular: .@ICEgov HSI agents and ERO officers, on behalf of an entire Nation, THANK YOU for what you are doing 24/7/365 to keep fellow Americans SAFE. Everyone is so grateful!#LawEnforcementAppreciationDay

President @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/HXCpTlruVo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The president thanked veterans as he cited his administrations efforts to curb the number of veteran suicides by improving mental health treatment for the high-risk group: Today, it was my great honor to sign a new Executive Order to ensure Veterans have the resources they need as they transition back to civilian life. We must ensure that our HEROES are given the care and support they so richly deserve! https://t.co/0MdP9DDIAS pic.twitter.com/LP2a8KCBAp  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trumps tweet included photos of the president signing an executive order Tuesday directing the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to provide seamless access to mental health and suicide prevention resources for 12 months for members leaving the armed forces. Also on Tuesday, Trump touted a law he signed the day before designating the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a national historic park: It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act, which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. https://t.co/Qe0b6HBFTY pic.twitter.com/QTgaqTawPT  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 And he thanked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for sharing a video compilation comprised of clips of politicians and commentators praising the GOPs tax cut bill: Thank you @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy! Couldnt agree w/you more. TOGETHER, we are #MAGA https://t.co/QaxtqpyXTR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018  This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump hails tax bill in tweets recapping speech to farmers By Associated Press Connecting with rural Americans, President Trump on Monday hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers. Farm country is Gods country, Trump told the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Trump became the first president in a quarter-century to address the federations convention. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game. Cant wait to be back in the amazing state of Tennessee to address the 99th American @FarmBureau Federations Annual Convention in Nashville! #AFBF18



On my way now - join me LIVE at 4:00pmE: https://t.co/QaljAqekdD. pic.twitter.com/Wm7Io0hYT8  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Joined by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and a group of Tennessee lawmakers, Trump said most of the benefits of the tax legislation are going to working families, small businesses, and who  the family farmer. The package Trump signed into law last month provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families. In every decision we make, we are honoring Americas PROUD FARMING LEGACY. Years of crushing taxes, crippling regs, & corrupt politics left our communities hurting, our economy stagnant, & millions of hardworking Americans COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. But they are not forgotten ANYMORE! pic.twitter.com/MdYS7xnukQ  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The president vastly inflated the value of the package in his speech, citing a total of $5.5 trillion in tax cuts, with most of those benefits going to working families, small businesses and who? The family farmer. The estimated value of the tax cuts is actually $1.5 trillion for families and businesses because of cuts in deductions and the use of other steps to generate offsetting tax revenue. We have been working every day to DELIVER for Americas Farmers just as they work every day to deliver FOR US. #AFBF18 pic.twitter.com/QDH7fvFkZ7  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 From Nashville, Trump traveled to Atlanta to watch Alabamas Crimson Tide and Georgias Bulldogs face off Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship. We are fighting for our farmers, for our country, and for our GREAT AMERICAN FLAG. We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also! pic.twitter.com/16eOLXg6Fi  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Before departing for the game, Trump referenced his ongoing defense of the American flag and the national anthem, saying there was enough space for people to express their views. We love our flag and we love our anthem, and we want to keep it that way, he said. Facebook

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Trump tweet hails drop in unemployment rate for African Americans By Associated Press President Trump touted a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans on Monday in a tweet. African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote! #NeverForget @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The rate fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Trump also hailed the development via Twitter on Saturday. His latest tweet on the topic came about an hour after it was discussed during an episode of Fox & Friends, according to Mediaite. Facebook

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Trump talks up the economy and dresses down the media in Sunday tweets With President Trump cheering from the sidelines, the White House on Sunday pressed its defense of the presidents fitness to govern, as fired former aide Stephen K. Bannon reversed course and apologized for his role in a new books explosive portrait of Trump. The presidents critics, meanwhile, said Trumps stream of taunts and insults in response to the book  Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, released last week  served only to underscore the authors unsettling portrayal of Trumps year-old presidency, depicting a leader whose own aides consider him childish, ignorant and dangerously erratic. Trump provided more ammunition Sunday morning, as he continued to attack the book via Twitter while preparing to depart Camp David for the White House: Leaving Camp David for the White House. Great meetings with the Cabinet and Military on many very important subjects including Border Security & the desperately needed Wall, the ever increasing Drug and Opioid Problem, Infrastructure, Military, Budget, Trade and DACA.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Ive had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 The most vehement defense of Trump on Sunday came from senior advisor Stephen Miller, a onetime Bannon acolyte who distanced himself from his former mentor. In a combative appearance Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, Miller called the book grotesque and writer Michael Wolff the garbage author of a garbage book. Trump is known to closely monitor aides televised performances in putting forth his case, and he gleefully weighed in within moments of Millers televised clash with host Jake Tapper. CNN has long been a particular target of Trumps ire. Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trumps reaction, however, seemed to bolster Tappers on-air depiction of Miller as using his appearance on the show to play to the president rather than addressing questions put to him. I get it  theres one viewer that you care about, the host said exasperatedly after Miller turned the discussion repeatedly to negative news coverage of the president while deflecting specific queries. Later on Twitter, Trump took up two themes that have been prevalent on his social media feeds recently. The president again went after the news media, tweeting that the recipients of his self-proclaimed most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year, which he promised earlier in the week to announce on Monday, would actually be revealed the following Wednesday: The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trump later lauded a New York Post opinion piece that compared him favorably with his predecessor, President Obama, as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In quoting the op-ed, Trump initally misspelled consequential as consensual, but he deleted those tweets and re-sent the messages. His is turning out to be an enormously consequential presidency. So much so that, despite my own frustration over his missteps, there has never been a day when I wished Hillary Clinton were president. Not one. Indeed, as Trumps accomplishments accumulate, the mere thought of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 ...Clinton in the WH, doubling down on Barack Obamas failed policies, washes away any doubts that America made the right choice. This was truly a change election  and the changes Trump is bringing are far-reaching & necessary. Thank you Michael Goodwin! https://t.co/4fHNcx2Ydg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Trump also continued talking up the economy, which has been enjoying a period of strong gains. The Stock Market has been creating tremendous benefits for our country in the form of not only Record Setting Stock Prices, but present and future Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Seven TRILLION dollars of value created since our big election win!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 In addition to Miller, other senior administration officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to decry the claims made in Wolffs book. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Wolffs characterization of Trump as averse to digesting classified briefing material was ludicrous, and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, insisted that that those around Trump love their country and respect their president. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

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Responding to book that mocks his intelligence, Trump tweets hes like, really smart By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump declared himself a very stable genius on Twitter on Saturday and later in a televised news conference called the author of a book that questioned his mental fitness a fraud. His comments came on a bone-cold day at Camp David during a weekend retreat with top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders strategizing on the years legislative agenda, including matters such as infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and national security. Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Still, Trumps explosive rebuttal to author Michael Wolffs claims not only opened the day, but it also ensured the presidents capability to fill the highest office in the land was a topic that would not go away. In his early-morning tweets, Trump said two of his greatest assets have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart. He noted that his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, played these cards [about competence] very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). Read More Facebook

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In morning tweets, Trump touts job numbers and takes digs at news media By Associated Press President Trump used Twitter on Saturday morning to tout a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans. He also used the tweets as an opportunity to take digs at media outlets whose past coverage he has found to be critical. The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, Trumps first year jobs numbers were very, very good.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Still, the rate for black workers remains well above those for whites and some other groups, something experts attribute in large part to decades of discrimination and disadvantages. Robust job creation has lowered unemployment for all Americans. U.S. employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017  the seventh straight year that hiring has topped 2 million. In his tweet, Trump praised a report that noted the numbers, touting the fact that it appeared in the Washington Post (of all places). Minutes later, Trump renewed his attack on an ABC News reporter who was suspended last month after filing an erroneous report on Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security advisor. Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The reporter, Brian Ross, was reportedly reassigned within ABC News upon returning from his unpaid suspension. But on Saturday, Trump wrote that he should have been fired. Trumps tweets came hours before he was set to host congressional Republicans and administration officials at Camp David. The meeting scheduled to begin at midmorning Saturday was expected to touch on the budget, infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and the shape of the midterm election this fall. Facebook

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Trump commends Sen. Rand Paul after he proposes eliminating all U.S. aid to Pakistan President Trump commended Sen. Rand Paul after the Kentucky Republican announced plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate all U.S. aid to Pakistan. Trump tweeted Friday night: Good idea Rand! https://t.co/55sqUDiC0s  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending security assistance to Islamabad until the country moves aggressively against local militants who have attacked U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration at the apparent inability of Pakistani authorities to rein in militants who cross out of the countrys rugged tribal areas to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson. Facebook

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Trump continues to lash out at Sloppy Steve Bannon in tweets on tell-all book By Associated Press President Trump is praising a major Republican donor family for distancing themselves from his former advisor Steve Bannon. Trump tweeted Friday: The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trump has continued to lash out at Bannon over an explosive new book that quoted his former aide as questioning Trumps competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower among Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as treasonous and unpatriotic. On Thursday, billionaire GOP donor Rebekah Mercer issued a statement distancing her family from Bannon. Mercer is a co-owner of Breitbart, the populist website Bannon helps run. I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected, Mercer said. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements. The book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, quickly shot atop Amazons best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday. Trump took up the topic again on Twitter on Friday night, denouncing both Bannon and the books author, Michael Wolff, in starkly personal terms: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Trumps message linked to a meme depicting a parody book cover titled, Liar and Phony, that featured a photo of Wolff and disparaging quotes about the author. In a tweet sent earlier Friday morning, Trump suggested the book was intended to serve as a distraction from the FBIs investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Trump wrote is proving to be a total hoax. Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 That came amid reports that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Departments Russia investigation. Trumps effort to keep Sessions, a vocal and loyal supporter of his election bid, in charge of an investigation into his campaign offers special counsel Robert Mueller yet another avenue to explore as his prosecutors work to untangle potential evidence of obstruction. Read More Facebook

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Trump praises the economy ahead of meetings at Camp David By Associated Press President Trump is praising the strength of the U.S. economy ahead of meetings at Camp David with congressional Republicans. Trump tweeted early Friday: Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The president also told reporters on the South Lawn that the tax cuts are really kicking in after Congress passed a package of tax cuts at the end of 2017. And the president praised the December jobs report, which found U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000. The modest but steady pace of hiring is a reassuring sign for investors who have been buoyed by the just-passed Republican tax plan and have been sending stock market indexes roaring to uncharted heights. The president is meeting with Republican congressional leaders and members of his Cabinet on Friday and Saturday to discuss the 2018 agenda. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets as Dow crashes through 25,000 By Associated Press President Trump dispatched a congratulatory tweet as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above the 25,000-point mark Thursday, just five weeks after its first close above 24,000. Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 After the Dow closed above 25,000, Trump shared a graphic depicting the stock indexs record-setting rise. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/iONbr1DkVk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Later in the day, the president was back on Twitter, complaining that news outlets had barely covered the stock market milestone. He suggested that the strength of the economy would be the biggest story on earth, had it unfolded during the presidency of his predecessor. The Fake News Media barely mentions the fact that the Stock Market just hit another New Record and that business in the U.S. is booming...but the people know! Can you imagine if O was president and had these numbers - would be biggest story on earth! Dow now over 25,000.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The Dow broke past 1,000-point barriers in 2017 on its way to a 25% gain for the year, as an eight-year rally since the Great Recession continued to confound skeptics. Strong global economic growth and good prospects for higher company earnings have analysts predicting more gains, although the market may not stay as calm as it has been recently. The Dow has made a rapid trip since it reached 24,000 points Nov. 30, partly on enthusiasm over passage of the Republican-backed tax package, which could boost company profits this year with across-the-board cuts to corporate taxes. Read More Facebook

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Trump reacts to Fire and Fury book in tweet lashing out at author and Sloppy Steve President Trump lashed out at the author of a soon-to-be-released book about the chaotic first year of his presidency Thursday night. In a tweet, Trump called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a phony book and claimed that hed never spoken to its author, Michael Wolff. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve! Trump wrote. He appeared to be referring to former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, whose stunning criticisms of Trump and his circle figure prominently in the title. I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trumps tweet came hours after he had his lawyer demand that Henry Holt & Co. and Wolff stop publication the book. Instead, the publisher expedited the books release to Friday, four days before it was slated to hit bookstore shelves, in response to unprecedented demand. Published excerpts on Wednesday and Thursday whetted that appetite and roiled Washington. Bannons comments, including that it was treasonous and unpatriotic for Trumps son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort to have met in 2016 with Russians said to have dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, prompted Trump on Wednesday to rebuke his former advisor, saying Bannon had lost his mind. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump thanks senators who attended meeting on immigration President Trump tweeted thanks to Republican senators who attended a meeting about possible immigration legislation on Thursday. In his message, Trump also listed his top priorities when it comes to any type of overhaul of the nations immigration system. Thank you to the great Republican Senators who showed up to our mtg on immigration reform. We must BUILD THE WALL, stop illegal immigration, end chain migration & cancel the visa lottery. The current system is unsafe & unfair to the great people of our country - time for change!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Trumps tweet echoed his remarks at the beginning of Thursdays meeting, when he insisted again that constructing a border wall and overhauling two legal immigration programs must be part of any deal with Democrats to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation. Two-year deportation protections and work permits given under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begin to expire March 6 under an executive order. Trump announced in September that he was ending the Obama-era program, but told Congress to draft a law to continue protections for people brought to the country illegally as children  a group that has widespread public support. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Brian Bennett. Facebook

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Trump resumes Twitter war against kneeling NFL players President Trump has resumed his Twitter war against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustice and racial inequality. In a tweet early Thursday, Trump replied to a supporter who shared a meme that appears to depict family members lying on the grave of a fallen soldier with the caption: This is why we stand. Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! Trump wrote. So beautiful....Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! https://t.co/tJLM1tvbvb  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The president has denounced players who kneel during the anthem in previous tweets. Hes also called for the firing of players who do so. His latest message came amid news that the NFL finished the regular season with TV ratings that fell nearly 10% below the previous season. Analysts attribute the drop to controversies facing the league, as well as changing viewing habits and a possible saturation point in the number of games available. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Stephen Battaglio and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump credits himself with facilitating talks between North and South Korea By Associated Press President Trump says his tough stance on nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula is helping push North Korea and South Korea to talk. Trump tweeted early Thursday: With all of the failed experts weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North. Fools, but talks are a good thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 That assertion is in conflict with some of the presidents own statements. Last year, he ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for talking about negotiations with the North. This week, Trump seemed open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare overture toward South Korea in a New Years Day address. But Trumps ambassador to the United Nations insisted that talks wont be meaningful unless the North is getting rid of its nuclear weapons. The overture about talks came after Trump and Kim traded more bellicose claims about their nuclear weapons. In his New Years Day address, Kim repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a nuclear button on his office desk and warned that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike. Trump mocked that assertion Tuesday evening in a tweet. Facebook

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After disbanding his vote fraud panel, Trump still says voting system is rigged By Brian Bennett One day after disbanding his troubled voter fraud commission without any findings of fraud, President Trump continued to call the U.S. voting system rigged and said states should require that Americans have voter-identification cards. In two tweets on Thursday morning, Trump blamed the commissions failure on the lack of cooperation from mostly Democrat States that refused to hand over voter rolls because they know that many people are voting illegally. However, voting supervisors in Republican-led states refused as well, objecting on privacy and other grounds. Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 As Americans, you need identification, sometimes in a very strong and accurate form, for almost everything you do.....except when it comes to the most important thing, VOTING for the people that run your country. Push hard for Voter Identification!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Despite Trumps assertions, analysts have not found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after alleging, without proof, that millions of illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Trump was elected after winning a majority in the electoral college, but the nationwide count showed Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes. The commission sought personal data on voters across the country and faced mounting lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts another good day for stocks, credits tax cut By Associated Press President Trump touted another good day for the stock market Wednesday in a tweet. Stock Market had another good day but, now that the Tax Cut Bill has passed, we have tremendous upward potential. Dow just short of 25,000, a number that few thought would be possible this soon into my administration. Also, unemployment went down to 4.1%. Only getting better!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Big gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped U.S. indexes set records again Wednesday. Some analysts attributed the surge to investor enthusiasm for Trumps $1.5-trillion tax cut. All told, Wall Street analysts estimate the tax package should boost earnings for companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index by roughly 8% this year. Thats much more generous than the average tax cut of 1.6% that middle-class families will receive, according to the Tax Policy Center. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The public has been less enthusiastic about the tax law. A Monmouth University poll last month found that nearly half of Americans disapproved of it, with only 26% in support. Still, as Trump also noted on Twitter, some workers have seen a benefit: So far, dozens of companies have announced bonuses and higher minimum wages as a result of the tax cut. AT&T, Comcast, Bank of America, and American Airlines have all pledged to pay $1,000 bonuses to their employees. Some 40 U.S. companies have responded to President Trumps tax cut and reform victory in Congress last year by handing out bonuses up to $2,000, increases in 401k matches and spending on charity, a much higher number than previously known. https://t.co/bmWrwWzxMR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Investors also appear less concerned than many politicians about how the additional profits will be used. The Trump administration says it expects companies will plow much of the extra profit back into their businesses, purchasing more software, machinery, and other equipment. Those investments will make workers more productive and provide a key boost to the economys long-run growth. They should also boost wages and salaries for employees. Opponents of the tax law respond that companies are more likely to pass the windfall on to shareholders in the form of higher dividend payments and share buybacks, which raise the price of those shares still in investors hands. Previous cuts in corporate tax rates, in the United States and overseas, havent always led to higher wages. For Wall Street, its all good, at least in the short run. Most analysts take the view that either way, companies and the economy will benefit. Facebook

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Trump reacts to death of Mormon Church president By Associated Press President Trump mourned the death of Mormon Church leader Thomas S. Monson on Wednesday evening. Trump tweeted a link to a statement in which he said that Monson demonstrated wisdom, inspired leadership, and great compassion and delivered a message of optimism, forgiveness, and faith. Melania and I are deeply saddened by the death of Thomas S. Monson, a beloved President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...https://t.co/ETD3fWtfU3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 A church bishop at the age of 22, Monson became the youngest church apostle ever in 1963 at the age of 36. He served as a counselor for three church presidents before assuming the role of the top leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February 2008. After a life of church service, Monson died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. He was 90. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets that Iranian protesters will see great U.S. support at the appropriate time By Associated Press President Trump continued to express support for Irans anti-government protesters on Wednesday. In a tweet, Trump commended the protesters and pledged that the United States will support them at the appropriate time. Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Trumps tweet Wednesday morning came as Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo sent a letter to United Nations officials complaining that Washington was intervening in a grotesque way in Irans internal affairs. The President and Vice-President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts, the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.S. didnt immediately respond to the letter, which maintains that Washington has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilized conduct of international relations. At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran during a week of anti-government protests and unrest over economic woes and official corruption. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took part in counter-demonstrations Wednesday backing the clerically overseen government, which has said enemies of Iran are fomenting the protests. Trump has unleashed a series of tweets in recent days backing the protesters, saying Iran is failing at every level and declaring that it is time for change in the Islamic Republic. Facebook

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Trump congratulates Sen. Orrin Hatch upon news of his retirement By Associated Press President Trump congratulated Sen. Orrin Hatch for an absolutely incredible career upon news of Hatchs impending retirement. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump called Hatch a tremendous supporter and wrote that he will be greatly missed in the Senate. Congratulations to Senator Orrin Hatch on an absolutely incredible career. He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate! pic.twitter.com/0VjzLEeHTl  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Hatchs decision to retire from the Senate after four decades lets the Utah Republican walk away at the height of his power after helping to push through an overhaul of the tax code and persuading Trump to downsize two national monuments. Retirement also preserves the 83-year-olds legacy by allowing him to avoid a bruising reelection battle that would have broken his promise not to seek an eighth term. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet exaggerates progress in improving veterans care By Associated Press President Trump played up tremendous progress in improving care for veterans in his first year on Tuesday in a tweet. His message linked to an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is fighting for our veterans. But it overstates the impact of these steps. We will not rest until all of Americas GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://t.co/ir25vW15hx pic.twitter.com/OtuzIgxMn6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The departments poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard. A fifth claim involves telehealth, a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasnt been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House. A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited effect so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims. The last two initiatives make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trumps watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the effect on veterans care is not fully known. Facebook

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Trump unleashes his first tweetstorm of 2018 By Noah Bierman President Trump clearly didnt resolve to change his Twitter habits this year. With nine disparate tweets over three hours on Tuesday morning, the first working day of 2018, Trump continued to exploit social media to be the most aggressive commentator in chief in American history. For any other president, his posts would have made for a monumental day of (mis-)statements. Yet for Trump, the series  attacks on political foes and media, provocations of foreign leaders and self-praise for events he had nothing to do with  was all but unremarkable. His Twitter barrage  sent between 7:09 a.m. and 10:16 a.m.  reflected a familiar gamut after nearly a year in office: Attacks on political foes: Nearly 14 months after his election, Trump called for the jailing of Huma Abedin, Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid (his misspelling, another occasional feature of Trump tweets). Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 In the same tweet, he disparaged the Deep State Justice Dept, headed of course by his appointees, calling on it to act against James B. Comey, the FBI director he fired for investigating the Russia thing. Diplomatic provocations: Trump again called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Rocket man, ridiculed the volatile nuclear-armed foe for recent military defections and openly speculated about potential talks between North and South Korea. Sanctions and other pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not  we will see! Trump wrote. Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Also later Tuesday, Trump tweeted an attack on Pakistan, his second in as many days, and added a new one against Palestinians: It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ...peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Undermining media: Trump offered Congratulations! to A.G. Sulzberger, who took over as publisher of the New York Times this week. The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved. Get...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ....impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent sources, and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you wont have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the two-part post was really yet another slam against a perceived media foe: Trump said the paper had a last chance to fulfill its journalistic mission, and accused it of relying on phony sources and substandard reporters  just days after he granted another exclusive interview to the paper. As a bonus, the tweet contained a recycled falsehood, that the paper apologized after the election for reporting on him unfairly. It didnt. Trump later said on Twitter that he would soon announce the most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year. Stay tuned! I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 oclock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 The president also tweeted a quote from Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs Tonight, which aired a segment praising Trumps first-year accomplishments. Dobbs reportedly joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday for a gala to celebrate New Years Eve. President Trump has something now he didnt have a year ago, that is a set of accomplishments that nobody can deny. The accomplishments are there, look at his record, he has had a very significant first year. @LouDobbs Show,David Asman & Ed Rollins  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Taking credit: Trump congratulated himself for policing the border with Mexico, an area where his policies and anti-immigration rhetoric are believed to have had some effect on reducing illegal crossings. Thank you to Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council for your kind words on how well we are doing at the Border. We will be bringing in more & more of your great folks and will build the desperately needed WALL! @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 He took credit for employee bonuses by companies after he signed Republican tax cuts into law last month. Companies are giving big bonuses to their workers because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the jaw-dropper was Trump congratulating himself for planes not crashing. Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 It was the safest year on record worldwide, but the American streak without commercial jet passenger deaths goes back to 2009. Trump, who has promoted deregulation as one of his top accomplishments, has not signed off on any new airline safety regulations. The White House pointed to new security screening of passengers, to electronic devices to prevent terrorist attacks and to Trumps support for privatizing air traffic control  a proposal that has gotten nowhere in Congress. Falsehoods: Trump said President Obama, in brokering the 2015 nuclear arms limitation deal with Iran, foolishly gave money to the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. He didnt. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 The nuclear deal, which included major U.S. allies as signators, released Irans own funds that had long been frozen. Trumps art of the deal: When Trump sees a big deal looming, he often blasts the other side  to gain leverage, as hes written. This week he resumes a showdown with Democratic lawmakers over funding the government and immigration protections for so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Trump, who in September ordered a gradual end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sought to shift blame for the resulting controversy, saying Democrats are doing nothing for DACA and are just interested in politics. Trump has insisted that any help for Dreamers be paired with funding for a border wall and a crackdown on legal immigration. Democrats, and some Republicans, are opposed. Read More Facebook

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In tweet, Trump suggests U.S. will withdraw financial assistance to Pakistan By Shashank Bengali Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies & deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018 U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest and asked for clarification about Trumps comments, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. Read More Facebook

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Trump continues to tweet in support of Iranian protesters By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday  and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size  were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Trump has tweeted about the protests for three days straight as Iranians took to the streets despite a heavy police presence, tear gas and scores of arrests. The defiance gained urgency after two people were reported shot to death in the city of Dorud, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran. As the conflict escalated, Iranian authorities on Sunday slapped a temporary ban on Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which were widely used to fan protest fervor. Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Irans leaders already are casting Trumps increasingly effusive expressions of support for the demonstrators as opportunistic meddling and are painting the demonstrators as foreign pawns, adopting a strategy that some analysts say could jeopardize the legitimacy of the nascent antigovernment protests. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets condolences after Colorado deputies are shot in ambush, one fatally By Associated Press A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriffs deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. President Trump expressed sorrow, writing on Twitter: My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @DCSheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all! #LESM  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost
South Coast Plazas 50th-anniversary book, detailing how the Segerstrom family transformed their lima bean farm into an iconic shopping center in Costa Mesa, is available for purchase online.

Author Kedric Francis writes how the Segerstroms envisioned creating more than just a place to shop but a cosmopolitan center for culture and arts for the county, according to publishing house Assouline. The South Coast Plaza area now includes South Coast Repertory and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

The book, released in November, can be bought for $195 at assouline.com.

Costa Mesa audio/video company celebrates 50 years

QSC, a Costa Mesa-based designer and manufacturer of professional audio/video systems, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The company started in 1968 as Quilter Sound Things in an industrial building in Costa Mesa. It originally focused on handbuilt guitar amplifiers.

Our story is one of constant innovation and forward transformation, always with the passion to serve our customers needs, Barry Andrews, one of QSCs founders, said in a statement.

Slapfish expands in Huntington Beach with Raw Bar

Andrew Gruel, founder of the grill and fried seafood restaurant chain Slapfish, is testing another restaurant concept in Huntington Beach.

According to the Orange County Register, Raw Bar by Slapfish is scheduled to open this month next to the flagship Slapfish restaurant in the Newland Center at 19696 Beach Blvd.

Its menu will include chilled seafood and oysters.

Recovery center names new executive director

New Directions for Women, a Costa Mesa-based drug and alcohol treatment center, has named Sue Bright as its new executive director.

Bright last worked as vice president of patient services and quality at the Livengrin Foundation, a recovery company based in Pennsylvania, according to a news release.

She starts at New Directions on Feb. 8.
In their first meeting of 2018, Costa Mesa planning commissioners Monday will wade through a flood of requests for city permits from operators of sober-living homes and alcohol and drug treatment facilities.

Though the establishments up for review are already operating, a city ordinance passed in 2015 requires such facilities with at least seven residents in multifamily areas to obtain conditional use permits to remain open.

Most of the applications on Mondays agenda are from Northbound Treatment Services  which is seeking permits for its facilities at 2417 Orange Ave., 171 and 175 Rochester St., 125 and 131 E. Wilson St. and 235 and 241 E. 18th St.

The maximum number of residents at each of those properties would be 20 to 26, according to the applications.

In letters to the city, Devon Wayt  listed online as Northbounds chief operating officer  wrote that its facilities are substantially compatible with surrounding permitted uses and not materially detrimental to other area properties.

Residents, who are transported by passenger vans, are required to stay on the property unless accompanied by a staff member and are limited in where they can smoke, Wayt wrote.

Another operator, RAW Recovery LLC, has applied for conditional use permits to operate a sober-living home with up to 22 residents at 3016 and 3018 Jeffrey Drive.

RAW [Recovery and Wellness] provides the best possible opportunity for successful long-term recovery by supporting our residents transition into the community, David Alexander of RAW Recovery wrote in a letter to the city. We instill the importance of 12-step-based recovery in our residents while promoting the importance of purpose.

Alexander added that residents are closely monitored by staff and have restricted smoking areas.

Alexander and Wayt said parking has not been an issue at their properties.

The proliferation of addiction-treatment and sober-living homes in residential neighborhoods has been the subject of local debate and consternation in recent years.

Some residents have complained that such facilities  which typically house recovering alcoholics and drug addicts  harm the character of their neighborhoods and create problems with parking, traffic, litter, noise and cigarette smoke, among other issues.

Supporters, however, say the facilities strive to be good neighbors and give people a safe place to maintain a lifestyle free of alcohol and drugs.

According to a city staff report, all the Northbound properties up for review Monday run afoul of the citys rule that group homes, licensed alcohol and drug treatment facilities and sober-living homes be at least 650 feet from one another in residential areas.

Northbound is asking the Planning Commission to consider waiving that requirement.

No similar facilities are within 650 feet of the RAW property, the staff report states. However, per city codes, sober-living homes may occupy only a single parcel. Because of that, RAW had to apply for separate permits for the two properties on Jeffrey Drive  meaning the buffer rule would still come into play.

RAW is seeking leniency on the distance requirement. Barring that, the commission has the option to approve one of the requested permits and deny the other, according to the staff report.

Mondays commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney
In its first meeting of the new year, the Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday may weigh in on an issue that has essentially turned into a parking dispute between a local yacht charter company and its Lido Marina Village landlord.

The council will consider an appeal of a Planning Commission adjustment of the shopping centers parking management plan.

Last fall, the commission updated Lido Marina Villages city permit to allow employees of the centers roughly 30 businesses to park for free in the onsite parking garage.

Previously, workers chose between two options: pay $85 a month to park at a medical office building about a mile and a half away and take a shuttle or seek free parking in the residential neighborhood across the street from the recently refurbished center. Many took their chances on the latter.

But the influx of employees at the garage is crowding out customers of Electra Cruises, sending some onto the same surface streets and causing some to miss their boats, the company says. Electra, a longtime tenant at Lido Marina Village, offers charter superyacht cruises for weddings and other events.

Electra representatives say Lido Marina Village management failed to honor a private parking agreement and misled the city by not sharing the scope of the centers parking circumstances, according to an appeal filed after the Planning Commissions October decision.

In a report for the council, city planning staff did not comment about the private agreement. It recommended that the council uphold the commissions decision because it allows flexibility. Lido Marina Village still has offsite options and maintains its shuttle system for busy periods.

Tuesdays meeting starts at 4 p.m. with a study session, followed by the regular session at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
As Glendales hospitals welcomed their first babies of 2018 on New Years Day, Anita Johnson Mackey  a resident of Scholl Canyon Estates retirement community in Glendale  turned 104 years old.

Johnson Mackey, who moved into Scholl Canyon Estates as its sixth resident eight years ago, had a lunchtime birthday celebration on Thursday as she was joined by a two visiting family members.

Estates staff member Marybeth Maloney Thicke also presented Johnson Mackey with a certificate from Hawthorne Retirement Group, the company that owns the facility, as well as a certificate from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

We love you dearly, and you are a ray of sunshine here at Scholl [Canyon Estates], Maloney Thicke said.

Born in 1914, Johnson Mackey is originally from Riverside but calls Santa Barbara home, as its where she spent the most time when she wasnt earning advanced degrees at the University of Redlands and later the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

Johnson Mackey was raised mostly by her sisters and father, a descendant of U.S. President Andrew Johnson, because she lost her mother when she was 10 years old. They lived in Riverside.

She said because her father had fair skin and blue eyes, he was able to listen discreetly to the opinions of white people about black people. He then shared with her what he heard in the real world.

She recalled learning that black people were not welcome at Fairmount Park and were segregated to a different pool at Lincoln Park.

I never learned to swim because I wasnt going to go to a segregated pool, she said

At 23, Johnson Mackey joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and, more than 80 years later, shes still active at a nearby Glendale location.

I like it because they are not only interested in making it into the Kingdom. Theyre interested in leading a good life while youre here, she said.

Missions with the church and her 49-year marriage to her husband, Frank Johnson, took Johnson Mackey to more than 100 countries. She said places in northern Europe, such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, were her favorites.

For 30 years, until her retirement in 1976, she made a living as a medical social worker for the Veterans Administration,visiting homes to see what veterans needed and that they were under proper medical care.

Everything that a veteran was entitled to, I [saw] that they got it, she said. I was personally interested in each veteran.

As a tri-county supervisor, she covered Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.

Johnson Mackey had advice she often shares after living more than a century.

Dont waste your time on what people are doing to you, use your time on what you can be, she said. Education is the road to success  Never fail to ask if you dont know, and of all things, be kind and considerate to others.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
With the help of local religious leaders, two Glendale hospitals held ceremonies Friday to help the large Armenian community in the city celebrate Armenian Christmas, which falls on Jan. 6 each year.

At Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, prelate of the western United States, and members of his clergy led a ceremony with prayers at 11 a.m. in both English and Armenian.

The start of the new year presents a wonderful opportunity for mankind and will be patient for renewal, Mardirossian said. The new year brings this opportunity for renewal, however, [it] comes from God.

Hospital staff, employees and executives were joined by local leaders such as Glendale Mayor Vartan Gharpetian, Fire Chief Greg Fish and state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), who spoke briefly before the ceremony.

As a Roman Catholic, representing an Armenian community, I love celebrating Christmas twice, he said. Its an honor to represent such a vibrant and spiritual community.

Faith-based hospital Adventist Health Glendale held a similar Armenian Christmas ceremony at noon led by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, leader of the Western Diocese Armenian Church.

Derderian said prayers and blessed water and the Armenian pastry called Gata as a symbol of the baptism of Jesus Christ.

There are millions of interpretations about our thoughts and feelings [of Christmas], but one statement in which I will leave with you: Christmas is the time where we lead our lives to holiness, he said.

Council members Paula Devine and Vrej Agajanian as well as Mayor Gharpetian also joined the Adventist ceremony.

In keeping with tradition, the Armenian Orthodox Church maintains Christmas on Jan. 6, which is 12 days after the Dec. 25 date many other denominations observe the religious holiday.

Armenian Christmas is also referred to as the Epiphany or the Holy Nativity of Christ.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
I was fresh off a broken engagement, having dated my ex for four and a half years. My friend and I were at the annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades, and Id just posted a picture of us on Instagram. (First step to showing the world Im out and having fun, right?)

My co-worker texted to let me know she was on the way and wanted to meet up for a glass of Champagne. She was coming with her husband and his cousin, Andrew, whom she said had just seen my #veuveclassic post and thought I was cute. I drunkenly texted her to meet me at the first picnic bench. They finally arrived and I was surprised by how attractive he was, especially his eyes.

Before we left, he asked for a kiss and I laughed. You should probably take me out to dinner before that, I said. OK, give me your number. He had an attractive amount of confidence. I didnt quite know what my intentions were, but I was excited about the possibilities.

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Later that week I received a text about dinner. I couldnt wait. I had this unbelievably excited feeling in my stomach. I literally counted down the days and nights. Our first date was casual, the Woodman in Sherman Oaks. I felt like I couldnt stop laughing, and we probably could have continued talking for another couple of hours. Needless to say, it was a great first date. And the chemistry was out of this world.

We ended up casually dating for about four months until I made a decision: I wasnt interested in dating him while we were both dating other people. He didnt agree. He also just got out of a serious relationship and just wasnt quite ready to jump back into one.

And for some reason, that really hurt.

Was I even ready to be in a relationship again? Or was I just scared of being alone? There was something about him that I couldnt shake off.

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We broke it off and I continued to date other guys, convincing myself that all of these dates were fun and exciting. But nobody made me feel the way I felt with Andrew. I constantly wondered if I actually fell in love with him or if I fell in love with how he made me feel and who I wanted to be. Or maybe I was just running away from something, maybe the embarrassment and disappointment Id felt from an engagement that had ended two months before my wedding.

I later heard that he met a girl and theyd become pretty serious. That was when I felt the knife sink in. Why her? And more important, why not me? The line between my feelings for him and my hurt ego were blurred. I wasnt this upset over my engagement ending. Or any of my other past relationships. How could this be? I barely knew him.

Fast-forward a year.

I received an early morning text from an unfamiliar number. It turned out to be his, which Id deleted from my phone. It said:

Sad, sad boy wanted to say hi. Let me know if you want to grab a drink.

Was he serious?

I ignored it and immediately felt satisfaction.

I won. He lost. The victory felt so good.

A few days later I received an email with the subject line: I know my text was dumb but I still want to buy you dinner. OK. Well played. Maybe he wasnt being the callous, unapologetic person I thought he was. I quickly remembered why I felt so strongly about him. His sense of humor.

He followed up with a heartfelt, genuine email about how he was in a different place now and wanted to see if something was there with me. I didnt know if I wanted the same. It had been enough to recover the first time, and I wasnt sure if I ever would if I tried a second time. After a couple of sassy email exchanges, I decided to let him take me out to dinner  as friends.

We had a great time. And I let him have it: I told him how bad he made me feel, and I told him how Id honestly felt about him. He apologized, not aware of how much Id cared about him.

I ended things with the guy I was dating. Soon, it was as if no time had gone by, and we started over.

We went back and forth for another eight months, from deciding to be friends and then lovers to not speaking to each other to dating other people but occasionally getting together for hikes in Mandeville Canyon Park.

I didnt know where we really stood, but I knew I just needed him in my life. I wrote him off as a potential boyfriend and decided to be content just having him as a friend. He was good at it. No guy I went on a date with seemed to really care about my job or my family or any of the trips I went on. But Andrew was curious about seemingly every detail of my vacations, my relatives, my career goals and my life.

Slowly, we developed a friendship and an admiration for each other and created a relationship that wed never invested the time in years ago, when we first met.

I think thats why were together now, as a couple, engaged to be married.

For the longest time I thought that having self-respect and dignity meant not being vulnerable, not giving someone that second chance to hurt me.

But I needed to give this one more chance. One more shot.

And I thank my lucky stars every day for doing so.

The author is a director of digital distribution at an independent television and film studio. You can find her on Instagram @brookemorgan124.

L.A. Affairs chronicles the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles. If you have comments or a true story to tell, email us at LAAffairs@latimes.com.

MORE L.A. LOVE STORIES 

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A one-time local doctor charged with molesting two children pleaded no contest Friday to endangering the two.

Vamsimadhav C. Korrapati was charged with molesting a then-11-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl between 2008 and 2014. He pleaded no contest Friday to recklessly endangering the children.

By pleading no contest, he admitted prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him of the crimes but didn't outright admit to them. The children are now ages 12 and 8.

Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden sentenced Korrapati, 43, to two years of probation. It's not clear how the convictions will affect his ability to practice medicine or his citizenship status. He is a native of India but now lives in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Korrapati completed his internal medicine residency at St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill and also worked in Easton Hospital.

He took a similar plea deal in November 2016 but backed out of the deal in March 2017. He was scheduled to stand trial Monday but decided Friday to take the plea deal.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
A student at Salisbury High School faces terroristic threats and harassment charges for a post on the social media app Snapchat, the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office said Friday.

Oliver Stewart, of the 1700 block of Piccadilly Circle in the township, is accused of posting a threat to the school.

A screenshot of the post was emailed Thursday to the school, which was closed at the time due to snow, according to the prosecutor's office.

School administrators, upon receiving the email, notified township police and an investigation was opened.

"As a result of of their investigation, it is alleged that Stewart sent the Snapchat post," Friday's announcement from the district attorney's office says.

Stewart acted alone, and there is no known threat to the community, the school district, the high school, or its students and staff, District Attorney James Martin says in the announcement.

"Unlike other recent incidents involving alleged student threats, in this case, the student is an adult, so the Juvenile Act does not apply and more details about the incident itself, and the actor, may be released," Martin said.

Salisbury Township police obtained a warrant for Stewart's arrest on the two misdemeanor charges, and he was scheduled to be arraigned later Friday in Lehigh County Central Booking.

Martin thanked the administration and staff of the Salisbury Township School District for their cooperation in the investigation and commended township police officer Richard Nothstein and members of the Salisbury Township Police Department for their work on the case.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A Slate Belt man had to be cut free from a luxury SUV he crashed into a tree then a utility pole after driving recklessly Friday on Route 611, according to police.

William E. Sandnes, 28, of Upper Mount Bethel Township, was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash about 1:20 p.m. on the North Delaware Drive in Lower Mount Bethel Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police at Belfast.

He was taken by Suburban EMS to St. Luke's University Hospital, Fountain Hill. Police did not immediately say how badly he was injured.

Sandnes was driving south "at an extremely high rate of speed" in a 2015 Land Rover Range Rover and passing other vehicles, police said, citing multiple witnesses. Route 611 in that area is one lane in each direction, divided by a solid double yellow line, according to police.

A little more than 1,000 feet south of Upper Little Creek Road, Sandnes lost control while southbound in the northbound land and struck the tree head-on, Trooper John Stepanski said.

The SUV then spun and hit the utility pole, snapping it in two, according to police.

Sandes' vehicle came to rest against an embankment along the right shoulder of the northbound lane, police said.

The Lower Mount Bethel Township Fire Department cut Sandnes free from the vehicle, in which multiple airbags had deployed, police said.

He faces a citation for driving at an unsafe speed, according to police.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The first major fashion day of the Irish racing calendar in 2018 takes place at Naas Racecourse this Sunday when the Winter Ladies Day is hosted at the Kildare track.

Along with some top horse racing action, there will be plenty of competition off the track as the Hugh Statham Goldsmith & Jewellers-sponsored Winter Ladies Day will provide some exquisite prizes for those who are selected as the best dressed.

The prize for the winning lady will be a stunning Raymond Weil watch worth more than 2,250, while there are also bracelets worth 190 each for the four runners up in the fashion competition, bringing the total value of the prizes to over 3,000.

All prizes have been kindly sponsored by Hugh Statham Goldsmith & Jewellers, who is a boutique independent retailer based in Naas. The well known jewellers sells one of a kind jewellery that is impossible to get anywhere else, ensuring originality as well as elegance for the customer.

Speaking ahead of the Winters Ladies Day at Naas Racecourse, Hugh Statham said; We are delighted to partner with Naas Racecourse once again to sponsor the Best Dressed Lady Competition. Jewellery is such a major part of every style, and with the right blend of jewellery to suit a dress it can turn an otherwise bland outfit into something more colourful and eye-catching. We like to think that our original pieces of jewellery provide that added touch of elegance to a persons outfit that can really make them stand out.

A large crowd is expected for the first major meeting of the new year, and the Grade 1 Lawlors of Naas Novice Hurdle is the main race on the card. Fashion judges on the day will be celebrity stylist Ingrid Hoey, and Anna Fortune, Commercial Manager at the Kildare Post.

Speaking in advance of Winter Ladies Day at Naas Racecourse, judge Ingrid Hoey said; Im really looking forward to seeing all the wonderful fashion that will be on show this year in Naas. In particular, I will be looking out for those who are able to combine comfort and warmth with style, considering the time of year. Naturally, its January so we dont want to see skimpy summer dresses or bare legs. I will be looking for an unusual head piece, a well-cut coat and someone who has put a great look together in an effortless, elegant and very individual way.

The two ladies gave some tips to those who are coming along to the races this Sunday, and with temperatures expected to be rather chilly, it is very much about wrapping up well to suit the weather.

Wear something appropriate

Fashion does not have to hurt! Dress for the weather, look stylish and warm at the same time. Racewear should be elegant, classy and chic. It is not the same type of outfit you might wear to a night club! Anything too short or revealing will look out of place at the track.

Wear something on your head

If you dont want to wear a hat, think about a fascinator, head piece or elegant hair accessory such as a vintage clip.

Accessories

Dont forget your bag, shoes and jewellery will also be in show, make sure they coordinate with your outfit.

Colour

Although its January it is nice to see a little pop of colour. Think of a gorgeous shawl or scarf to lift your outfit.

Grooming

Make up and nails are part of your overall look. Watch out for your make up, this is a day time event, heavy make up looks odd in the cold light of day. Aim for a natural, warm, healthy complexion and go easy on the bronzer!

There are seven races on the card with the first going to post at 12.40pm. Admission tickets cost 15 and include a 5 free bet. A range of hospitality packages are available and bookings can be made by contacting Naas Racecourse on (045) 897391 or by visiting www.naasracecourse.com
A call for the council to put in place a schedule to clear drains and ditches to combat flooding was made at last months full council meeting, which was held on December 18 last.

Cllr Carmel Kelly tabled a motion to cover the duration of winter 2017 to 2018.

The meeting heard that the list of rivers and drains requiring cleaning exceeds the amount the council can cover annually.

However, in general members were told that those causing flooding to properties are prioritised.

The meeting heard that each January, the council decides which drains will require maintenance as part of the Drainage Channel Maintenance Programme.

This is controlled by Inland Fisheries Ireland and is the only time the council are allowed to use machines to remove silt from rivers and drains.

The meeting heard the council are allowed to use the machines to remove suspended silt and debris, but cannot touch the riverbeds.

Health and safety requirements mean, however, that the council is generally restricted to smaller drains and streams, the meeting was told.

Tree cutting has to be carried out in advance of any river cleaning and can only be done between the months of September to February, and is dependent on access to lands being granted by the relevant landowners.

Members were told of the programme for 2018, once access from landowners and approvals from Fisheries are in place.

The programme is funded from the revenue budget.

Issues such as funding and refusal of access, either from the landower or Fisheries, can result in changes to the programme.

Cllr Carmel Kelly acknowleged the report, but said that it fell short in relation to the road drains.

Where are the road drains in the report? she said.

The ones that get blocked in bad weather due to fallen debris. Look at the recent flooding in Dara Park in Newbridge during the heavy rains. Why is there reoccuring floods and what is the plan?

Director of Services Joe Boland told the meeting that Dara Park was a complex issue adding that it was progressing well.

The Newbridge interceptor sewer needs to be updated at a cost of 25 million. It is an Irish Water project. This will improve the sewage capacity in Newbridge.

Despite 300,000 of council funds spent on flooding issues in Dara Park, the residents were hit once again by sewage floods last November.

According to a council report, the flooding at Dara Park was caused by debris blocking a trash screen located in a property next to the estate owned by Irish Rail. The council said it is working with Irish Rail to ensure the problem does not reoccur.

It stated that the Dara Park Surface Water Scheme was to alleviate flooding from the storm water system and not the foul water system.

Both of these systems consist of separate pipe networks, with the foul network unfortunately compromised by illegal/improper and legacy surface water connections, the meeting heard.
A PAKISTANI man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a middle-aged man with an intellectual disability on a bus in Limerick.

Mohammad Sarwar, aged 43, of no fixed abode, is accused of inappropriately touching the Limerick mans genitals for a number of minutes during the journey. Kilmallock Court heard that the sexual assault occurred in the Dooradoyle area on January 19, 2017.

Sergeant Donal Cronin said the State was objecting to the defendant being released on bail pending a sentencing hearing. He cited the nature and strength of evidence and the likelihood of the defendant reoffending.

Detective Garda Mick Dunne said he believed if Mr Sarwar was given bail he would commit similar serious offences.

Det Garda Dunne said Mr Sarwar has lived in Asylum Centres in Tralee, Foynes and Dublin and has come to garda attention in the past.

In May 2016, Mr Sarwar inappropriately approached two children in a playground in Foynes, said the detective.

In December 2016, he inappropriately approached a woman in a shopping centre in Tralee. In May / June 2017, he followed a female manager of an asylum centre from her workplace and made an unwanted approach.

He was moved to another asylum centre and made another inappropriate approach to a woman at a bus stop. He asked her could he come home with her. She felt very uncomfortable. He was removed from the asylum centre system due to his behaviour to staff members, said Det Garda Dunne.

Answering questions from Mr Sarwars solicitor, Sarah Ryan, Det Garda Dunne said no formal complaints were made to gardai relating to any of these incidents, and Mr Sarwar has no previous convictions.

Ms Ryan said if granted bail a friend of Mr Sarwars has agreed to let him live with him and his family in Dublin.

The male took the stand and said he has known Mr Sarwar for eight or nine years.

He is a Muslim. I am a Hindu. We are friends, he told Kilmallock Court.

Ms Ryan asked him if he was fully aware what Mr Sarwar is charged with.

Yes. He said he hasnt done anything wrong. He cried one day. He has stayed quite a few times with me, said the man, who has a wife and three children aged 13, 11 and seven months.

Do you have any concern about Mr Sarwar staying in your house? asked Ms Ryan.

No, he said.

Judge Marian OLeary also asked him if he had, Any difficulty in a man who allegedly inappropriately approaches women in your house?

No, he replied.

Sgt Cronin reiterated the States objection to bail on the grounds of the risk of reoffending, pleading guilty to a serious charge and he would leave the jurisdiction.

Judge OLeary granted bail under very strict conditions.

She ordered that 5,000 of an independent surety be lodged, Mr Sarwar must reside with the man in Dublin, sign on daily and commit no offences. Mr Sarwar was remanded in custody until the money is lodged.

He appeared before Limerick District Court this week and it was adjourned to next Tuesday, January 9 for a victim impact statement to be prepared.

Mr Sarwar was further remanded in custody with consent to bail.
THE government made almost 400,000 available to Limerick council to tackle the aftermath of ex-Hurricane Ophelia.

Figures released this week revealed that of a total of 7m given to councils nationwide, 391,041 came to Limerick.

At least 6,814 homes across Limerick were without electricity at the height of Ophelias force in mid-October. Serious damage was caused to homes, businesses and roads across the country, but particularly in the south-west.

But Independent councillor John Gilligan said that compared to other counties, Limerick dodged a bullet.

Cllr Gilligan welcomed the allocation, saying: I wasn't expecting too much more than this. We didn't have as much damage as was forecast. It won't come out of our estimates. I think we dodged a bullet. We had no major flooding or infrastructural damage. I would have expected this.

Meanwhile, Clare County Council received some 70,310 in support, and Tipperary County Council got 416,513.

The two authorities with the largest funding support were Cork City Council and Cork County Council with 1.9m and 1.4m respectively.

Elsewhere, Cllr Gilligan has welcomed news that the flood defences could be erected across the Kings Island in as little as 18 months.

Preliminary designs went on display to residents prior to Christmas.
A FORMER company director has admitted generating false invoices which resulted in the fraudulent payment of more than 600,000 to the company she owned, over a nine month period.

Mary Donnelly, aged 71, who has an address at Rathmale, Mungret pleaded guilty to an offence under the provisions of the Companies Act after she was prosecuted following an investigation by Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

Detective Garda Glen Mackessy of the National Economic Crime Bureau told Limerick Circuit Court the defendant was one of the directors of a family-owned business  Shannonside Audio/Video Limited which was liquidated in November 2013.

The detective told John OSullivan BL, instructed by state solicitor Padraig Mawe, a formal complaint was subsequently made by the liquidator to the ODCE and that he was appointed as the lead investigator.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told the company, which was established in 1979, provided audio/visual services to a clients across the country.

Mr OSullivan said it had a prestigious list of clients across a number of sectors including education, hospitality and banking.

Det Garda Mackessy said Shannonside Audio/Video had entered a debt purchase arrangement with another company  Close Invoice Finance Limited  which ensured there were no issues regarding cash flow.

As part of this arrangement, Mr OSullivan explained, Close Invoice Finance would give an advance based on invoices which were sent by Shannonside Audio/Video.

Basically a company is able to trade and stay in business through this scheme, he said adding there was nothing unusual about the arrangement.

Det Garda Mackessy said Shannonside Audio/Video used a computerised billing system and that invoices were automatically uploaded to Close Invoice Finance  meaning there was a constant cash flow.

The court heard that prior to the appointment of a liquidator, Shannonside Audio/Video had been experiencing difficulties as a result of the economic downturn.

Concerns emerged during the ODCE investigation that false invoices had been created and uploaded onto the billing system.

Detective Garda Mackessy said false invoices relating to 35 different clients were identified and that the total amount of money paid over by Close Invoice Finance Limited was 648,614.88.

Tom Power BL, instructed by solicitor Darach McCarthy, said his client, who was paid a salary by Shannonside Audio/Video, suffers from ill-health and that a number of other family members were sick around the time the offences took place.

He said she was just trying to keep the company running and that her family difficulties had affected her ability to make rational decisions.

He said Ms Donnelly lost her family home and her pension as a result of what happened and that she has nothing left.

Judge ODonnell requested the preparation of a probation report.
TWENTY greyhounds and lurchers have said arrivederci to Limerick and ciao to Italy.

Since 2012, Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) has linked up with Pet Levrieri in Milan to rehome dogs. Often these animals have been abused or mistreated but after being nursed back to health and cared for in the sanctuary in Kilfinane they are now being treated like royalty in Italy.

Marie Quirke, sanctuary manager, said: These are the lucky ones.

It is a life that only a greyhound or lurcher can dream of, she said.

These breeds of dogs are very popular in Italy, whereas in Ireland they are seen more as racing and coursing dogs.

Marie says they make wonderful pets. She would prefer to see them being rehomed in Ireland but the demand just isnt there. It is completely different in Italy.

On the day of adoption a huge crowd gathered, media covered the event and the families welcomed their greyhounds and lurchers into their lives, she said. This latest transportation of dogs brings the numbers to around 200 that Limerick Animal Welfare has helped live la dolce vita.

Four rescues came together to make this trip possible -GSPCA, Erin Hounds and Limerick Animal Welfare, who took in and cared for the unwanted greyhounds and abandoned lurchers until they were ready for new homes. Italian rescue Pet Levrieri, in Milan, sourced homes where these dogs would become part of families.

Our thanks too must go to Avril and Anthony, from Limerick Animal Welfare, who travelled with the dogs to make sure they were fed and exercised on the 40 hour journey, and arrived safe and well at their destination, said Marie.

It is far from a matter off just loading them up and heading for the ferry.

The adoption process starts months in advance of the big day. Profiles and photographs are sent from Ireland to Italy for prospective owners. Before travelling, all dogs must be issued with a pet passport, get a rabies vaccination and have a vet check.
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Bharatendu Harishchandra: The man behind modern Hindi Harishchandra began life in 1850 in a combination of tragedy and grandiosity, and lost his parents young but grew up so rich that all his life his greatest difficulty /news/talking-point/bharatendu-harishchandra-the-man-behind-modern-hindi-111645963252622.html 111645963252622 story

In 1757, on the eve of the historic Battle of Plassey, a merchant called Amir Chand threw in an alarming demand at Robert Clives table. Omichund", as the English knew him, had served the East India Company, assisting in their shaky relationship with the nawab of Bengal. Now, however, as war looked inevitable, he also made himself indispensable, helping hatch that infamous plot by which the nawabs commander, Mir Jafar, was to betray his sovereign and join ranks with the Company. At the last minute, however, Omichund put forth an ominous clausehe wanted Rs30 lakh for his services, failing which he would (regretfully) divulge the scheme to the nawab himself. Colonel Clive was upset. But he was also shrewd: two copies of the pact with Mir Jafar were prepared. The counterfeit carried Omichunds clause, while the actual agreement said nothing about his reward. And when everything was over and the English had prevailed, the old merchant was summoned and simply told: Omichund, the red paper is a trick, you are to have nothing!"

It is said that Omichund died a broken man. Two of his sons left colonial Calcutta to do business in Varanasi instead, where prosperity came to them soon enough. But it would be some generations before one of their line could redeem the reputation of their perfidious ancestor. To be sure, this great-grandson, Harishchandra, often referred to as Bharatendu (Moon of India), was not a vengeful nationalistbefore he died this day in 1885, many were the occasions when he hosted gatherings to demonstrate affection for the Raj that betrayed his forebear. But even as he sang of the Western rays of civilization" and the progressive policy of the British nation", Harishchandras contributions to the development of Hindi carved for him a place in the eyes of posterity. He might have composed panegyrics when births and weddings took place in Queen Victorias household, but it was also his pen that helped propel a movement to transform a neglected language of mixed origins into a mass cultural campaign that culminated in that famous cry, Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan".

Harishchandra began life in 1850 in a combination of tragedy and grandiosity. He lost his parents young but grew up so rich that all his life his greatest difficulty was how not to mismanage more of his money. He founded and edited one of Indias first womens journals, Balabodhini, but to his own wife all he offered was neglect. If an object caught his eyea camera perhaps, or new perfumehe required it at once. This money," he laughed, has eaten my ancestors; now I am going to eat it." But even as he reduced life into an oscillation between debt and extravagance, he also left behind a mark that endures to this day. His Kavivachansudha (founded 1868) and Harishchandrachandrika (founded 1873) emerged as iconic platforms for literary exchange in northern India. Featuring Dadabhai Naorojis drain theory as well as news from the local Dharma Sabha, it was through these publications that Harishchandra, as the scholar Vasudha Dalmia notes, veritably created literary Hindi" even as he gently voiced his support for Hindu consolidation. He became a catalyst for a vernacular nationalism that would achieve full force in the following century, rising simultaneously as the Father of Modern Hindi Literature and Hindi Theatre".

If modern Hindi is today well entrenched, where it comes from is an issue that still provokes debate. As Prof. Harish Trivedi writes, Hindi was commonly perceived to be an underdeveloped and underprivileged language, fragmented into several competing dialects, backward and dusty by association with its largely rural constituency". The British recognized Urdu as the norths language of government. Since it was spoken primarily by elite Muslims, however, this stirred resentment among others who competed for jobs but did not know Urdu. As Harishchandra argued, thanks to this official bias, Muslims enjoyed a sort of monopoly" where employment was concerned, which was not only injustice" but also a cause of annoyance and inconvenience" to masses of Hindi speakers who also happened largely to be Hindus. The matter was not black and white, but the message carried resonance. Both languages were cousins derived from the same rootsone was truer to Sanskrit, while the other had gained much from Arabic and Persian. Now they became rivals.

But this time also coincided with an urge to make new literaturesomething modern and fitted to emerging feelings of cultural and political nationalism. Much of the poetry in Hindi was in the Brajbhasha and Avadhi dialects, traditionally considered prestigious but thought to be encumbered by an excess of devotion and piety. Khariboli, the dialect spoken around Delhi and present-day Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, was an open vessel for literary innovation. The progress of ones own language is the root of all progress," Harishchandra argued, and page after page in his magazine was devoted to plays, poetry, satire and essays, all of which combined to create a new corpus for speakers of an increasingly standardized Hindi. Khariboli was swiftly invested with pride and disseminated widely through Harishchandras energy and enthusiasm. Only he could have pulled it offwealthy, flamboyant, and with personal networks stretching from British officials to Bengals reformers, he was noticed in the right circles. That he also centred his activities in Varanasi, a city of special significance for Hindus in a time of political consolidation, further legitimized his ventures.

In 1885, not yet 35, Harischandra died, by now less convinced of the Raj and its goodness for India. But what he had helped launch assumed a life of its own, becoming the Standard Modern Hindi of today in the course of a few decades. By 1893, a Nagari Pracharini Sabha emerged to lobby for official recognition of Hindi and Devanagarithe request was granted in 1900. By 1910, a Hindi Sahitya Sammelan was born, of which Gandhi remained a member longer than he was of the Congress. Poets and writers raised to think of Urdu as the language of culture, invested increasingly in Hindi. As Premchand wrote in 1915, Urdu will no longer do. Has any Hindu ever made a success of writing in Urdu, that I will?" This Hindi Renaissance" was infused with nationalism and some even drew links to 1857seeds of a standardized Hindi were sown when speakers of various dialects united for the First War of Independence" and recognized themselves as one people. Harishchandra, however, did not live to see the fruits of his workbut for many, by helping Hindi rise to its feet, he had more than paid off his ancestors debt. Omichund may have erred by siding with the British, but by creating a vehicle for cultural and national aspirations, Harishchandra had earned only honour.

Medium Rare is a column on society, politics and history. Manu S. Pillai is the author of The Ivory Throne: Chronicles Of The House Of Travancore.

The writer tweets at@UnamPillai
You don't have to go downtown to enjoy the best nightlife San Antonio has to offer.

Downtown is home to the River Walk and the dozens of restaurants and bars that line its walkways, but the rest of the city is ripe with nightlife options that appeal to all tastes.
After lawsuits and a Supreme Court decision, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued a new policy extending disaster relief to churches, synagogues and other congregations.

Addressing a church-state separation issue, the agency's latest policy guide says FEMA made the change so houses of worship aren't considered ineligible "on the basis of the religious character or primarily religious use of the facility."

It cites the June 2017 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, in which the high court ruled 7-2 in favor of a Missouri church that claimed religious discrimination after it was refused state funds to improve its playground.

In FEMA's previous guide, language deemed private nonprofits ineligible for aid if they primarily offered religious activities  including worship and religious instruction. That language has been removed from the policy guide released Tuesday.

President Donald Trump tweeted in September that Texas churches should be "entitled to reimbursement from FEMA" for aiding Hurricane Harvey victims. Texas officials followed up and asked him to change the FEMA policy so affected houses of worship could get rebuilding assistance.

FEMA was sued by three Texas churches damaged by Harvey. They challenged the previous FEMA policy, saying it "explicitly denies equal access to FEMA disaster relief grants for houses of worship solely because of their religious status." Later, two Florida synagogues damaged by Hurricane Irma also sued FEMA.

"Better late than never," said Daniel Blomberg, a lawyer with the nonprofit law firm Becket, which represents the Texas churches and the Florida synagogues. "By finally following the Constitution, FEMA is getting rid of second-class status for churches."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State expressed concern about the new policy, tweeting, "The new FEMA policy raises very serious constitutional questions by appearing to authorize problematic tax aid to churches."

And Larry T. Decker, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, said: "A government that truly values religious freedom can never be in the business of building churches."

But Nathan Diament, public policy director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, hailed the policy change, which his organization sought for more than 15 years.

"We thank the Trump administration for righting this long-time wrong," he said.
The Interior Department has approved a land swap deal that will allow a remote Alaskan village to construct a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, according to local officials. The action effectively overrules wilderness protections that have kept the area off limits to vehicles for decades.

The land exchange, which has been agreed to but not formally signed, sets in motion a process that would improve King Cove's access to the closest regional airport. The village, with roughly 925 residents, has lobbied federal officials for decades to construct a 12-mile gravel road connecting it to the neighboring town of Cold Bay.

In an interview late Friday, City Administrator Gary Hennigh said residents "are encouraged that this administration has a different attitude about this road, and . . . that the needs of the people in King Cove can be met. At the same time, the special qualities of the Izembek refuge can continue."

Environmentalists, along with two Democratic administrations, have blocked the road on the grounds that it would bisect a stretch of tundra and lagoons that provide a vital feeding ground for migrating birds as well as habitat for bears, caribou and other species. The refuge was established by President Dwight Eisenhower, and all but 15,000 of its 315,000 acres have been designated as wilderness since 1980. Motorized vehicle access is traditionally prohibited in such areas.

Interior officials did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but Hennigh said Secretary Ryan Zinke and the King Cove Corporation's president will sign the agreement in Washington sometime in January. The department has declined to publicly discuss the land exchange negotiations, which The Washington Post first reported in October.

Federal, state and local officials have long struggled to address the needs of King Cove, which is located on the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula. The federal government has spent more than $50 million to fund a modern telemedicine clinic and a hovercraft that covered the distance between the village and Cold Bay in 20 minutes. Multiple federal analyses endorsed alternative solutions to the road project - such as a marine ferry to replace the hovercraft residents got rid of several years ago - and suggested poor weather could make the road impassible for stretches in the winter.

Yet King Cove officials, as well as Alaska officials such as Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have argued the same poor weather often makes air and boat transport treacherous and warrants construction of a single-lane route through the refuge.

Between 1980 and 1994, 12 people died during aerial medical evacuations en route to the hub airport, though no residents have died during such evacuations since then. Hennigh noted there have been 68 evacuations by air or boat since then-interior secretary Sally Jewell blocked the road's construction in December 2013.

Murkowski could not be reached for comment Friday.

Local officials estimate 10 to 15 vehicles will travel the road daily, which may include employees coming to work at a seafood cannery in King Cove. Hennigh said the project would have "a minimal impact" on the refuge but provide a critical service for area residents.

"A person is a person, if it's a cannery worker trying to get to King Cove or an Aleut trying to get to either Cold Bay or King Cove," he said, adding that the road would not be used to transport "commercial seafood products" to the airport in Cold Bay. "This will significantly improve the quality of our life and give us access to the outside world."

Conservationists and ecologists caution that the very act of constructing a road could fragment critical habitat for species that need it, especially the waterfowl that undertake an arduous migration along North America's Pacific Coast. In spring and fall, nearly the entire global population of emperor and Pacific black brant geese consume the refuge's eelgrass. In winter, tens of thousands of the threatened Steller's eider sea ducks stay in Izembek and molt.

The 1964 Wilderness Act bars new roads and the use of motorized vehicles in areas designated under the law except in rare instances - such as to provide access for the development of existing mining claims - and there appears to be no precedent for the executive branch's approval in this case.

Randi Spivak, who directs the public lands program for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an email that the advocacy group was prepared to challenge the agreement in federal court if it is finalized. The proposed project, she argued, would likely run afoul of the Wilderness Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

"Bulldozing a road through the heart of the refuge violates federal laws designed to protect Alaska's pristine wild places," Spivak said. "Zinke's backroom deal is an end run around Congress and will destroy world-class wetlands critical to millions of migrating birds, bears and other wildlife. Once it's destroyed, we'll never get it back."

It is unclear how much land the King Cove Corporation will give the federal government in exchange for the land it needs to build through the refuge. Hennigh said he expected the two sides would spend between four and six months appraising different parcels.

Several years ago, the state of Alaska and tribal officials had offered to transfer the deed to tens of thousands of acres in the vicinity as part of any deal. According to documents obtained this fall by The Post, the corporation president had recently identified two parcels of tribal land totaling 2,604 acres along the refuge's southern boundary on Cold Bay as a possible swap for land within Izembek.

The exchange proposal that Jewell rejected, Hennigh said, would have been "an outrageous price" to pay. By contrast, he added, the agreement now close to final will consist of "something that is a rational expectation of the King Cove Corporation shareholders and of all Aleuts."
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In an attempt to get his client a new trial, an attorney for a man convicted in the grisly 1998 dragging death of a Jasper man argued in federal court Thursday that the killing was a "backwoods drug deal gone bad," not a racially-motivated killing.

John William King, 43, was the first of three white men convicted of capital murder for killing James Byrd Jr. almost two decades ago. Byrd, 49, was chained by his ankles to the bumper of a truck and fatally dragged on an old logging road on the outskirts of town.

At a hearing at the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Thursday, King's attorney, A. Richard Ellis, argued that his client's trial lawyers were deficient and failed to present evidence that would have proven King's innocence.

Now Playing: Texas News & Crime Video: Houston Chronicle

> > RELATED: The dragging death of James Byrd Jr.

King, who is on death row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, was not present at the hearing. He was defended at trial by Sonny Cribbs, who died in June, and Brack Jones, who has previously declined to comment on the appeal.

During the trial, King's tattoos, including one of a black man hanging from a tree, were used as evidence that the killing was racially motivated. Ellis argued Thursday that more than one of the tattoo artists who drew King's tattoos should have been called as a witness to prove that the tattoos were not racist.

Ellis described the tattoo as "just a person hanging from a tree" who was drawn in black ink, a claim the state's attorney refuted by quoting testimony from King's trial that he had previously described the tattoo by using racial slurs.

> > Scenes from Lawrence Russell Brewer's execution

Ellis also argued, as he has previously in court filings, that Cribbs and Jones did not thoroughly investigate and challenge claims of who owned the sandals found in King's apartment with Byrd's blood on them, or the DNA on a cigarette butt used as evidence to tie King to the crime.

Jason LaFond, assistant solicitor general for the Texas Attorney General's Office, called King's claims "meritless" and said the appeal is nitpicking the work of his attorneys without actually presenting any new evidence.

He said evidence that Ellis argued should have been presented at trial didn't prove anything new and could be contradicted by other evidence presented at trial, including King's own words and statements.

LaFond also argued that the claims of ineffective assistance of counsel have already been exhausted in previous appeal proceedings, and cannot be appealed again, while Ellis said the issues of evidence and failure to prove innocence are separate from previous rulings.

Three federal court judges will rule on the case, after considering the oral arguments and filed motions.

Both attorneys declined to comment further after the hearing.

> > Texas death row inmates won't receive last meals after Jasper killer's final request

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
The Palestinian economy is crippled by restrictions on trade, investments and access to natural resources, but driving around Ramallah you might get the impression it's booming.

Underground parking lots are brimming with Audis and BMWs, residential buildings are popping up at a frenetic pace, and cafes and restaurants are buzzing with customers.

Helping drive the appearance of wealth in the West Bank city, just six miles from Jerusalem, is the emergence of a consumer loan market that was all but non-existent just a decade ago. Its growth can be can be attributed to a 2008 law that forced banks operating in the Palestinian territories - which preferred to lend their money abroad - to extend at least 40 percent of their credit to locals. In the past four years, the debt market has more than doubled to $6.4 billion, of which $2.6 billion has gone to local residents, according to the Palestine Monetary Authority.

"This is a relatively new phenomenon," said Samir Abdullah, a former Palestinian Authority planning and labor minister who now does research at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute. "It's opened a new world of possibilities for some Palestinians, and of course the banks are quite happy too, because they charge relatively high margins on the loans."

The credit growth has allowed members of the Palestinian middle class - those who already have a steady job - to boost their quality of life.

But the overall picture for the West Bank's economy is still one of stagnation. Israeli restrictions on trade and investments and a shallow production base mean that large parts of the local society are falling behind.

Unemployment in the West Bank and Gaza is at about 30 percent (versus a low of 4.3 percent in Israel) and economic growth in the West Bank is expected to be about 2 percent in coming years, which won't be enough to keep up with population growth, according to the World Bank. Palestinians import more than three times what they manage to export - a trade structure the World Bank says resembles failed states such as Somalia.

The danger is the expansion of credit could lead to an asset bubble and widen inequalities between those with a steady job - typically people working for NGOs or the Palestinian Authority - and those who don't have a reliable income.

"In many ways it's just leading to higher prices, which makes life unaffordable for many," said Chris Harker, a lecturer at the Institute for Global Prosperity at the University College London who has researched Palestinian debt. "Because there's nowhere to build, the price of housing has skyrocketed in Ramallah."

"All this debt is a coping mechanism," he says. "A way to deal with the disillusionment of the failed Oslo peace process."

But those in charge of the economy aren't concerned. The debt buildup is still low by global standards and the banks are careful in their lending, according to Palestine Monetary Authority Governor Azzam Shawwa, a former banker. He says defaults are relatively low and that the economy is on solid footing, though he's concerned that recent turmoil following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital could derail growth.

"There's no credit bubble here and there won't be one, because banks are very conservative," said Shawwa, from his glimmering new central bank building in Ramallah. "We have a very sophisticated credit scoring system here. Banks aren't lending wildly."

With Trump's envoys shuttling back and forth in pursuit of the elusive peace deal, Shawwa stressed there is much to do to strengthen the economy, including granting Palestinians more control of lands and resources in the West Bank.

"The Palestinian economy is being managed conservatively, we are doing everything we can to boost growth," he said. "But eliminating restrictions and allowing us to invest in infrastructure would really help the economy to take off."

---

Bloomberg's Fadwa Hodali contributed.
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he remains open to direct talks with North Korea's regime over its nuclear program and added that he hopes the rogue Asian nation participates in the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea next month.

"Sure, I always believe in talking," Trump said during a news conference at Camp David, where he was meeting with Republican congressional leaders over the GOP's 2018 agenda. "But we have a very firm stance. . . . But I absolutely would do that."

Asked if has no prerequisites to bilateral talks - past U.S. presidents have demanded the North be committed to denuclearization - Trump said Pyongyang knows that he is "not messing around" in his past statements that he will protect the United States and its allies against attacks from the North.

"At the same time, if we can come up with a very peaceful and a very good solution. . . . If something happens and something comes out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all humanity, it would be a great thing for all the world," Trump said.

The president's remarks come amid mounting concerns that rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula could escalate into a military confrontation.

Trump has engaged in a continuing war of words with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un over the countries' nuclear arsenals. Trump recently tweeted that his nuclear button is "much bigger & more powerful" than Kim's, after the North's leader boasted about having a button on his desk at the ready.

Even as he seemed to offer an opening to Pyongyang, the president appeared to suggest he remains ready to use military force if necessary: "You have to be prepared to do certain things, and I'm totally prepared to do them."

Trump has vacillated between threats and offers of talks. Last spring he said he'd be open to talks but then shifted course after North Korea continued its nuclear and ballistic missile tests and after Otto Warmbier, an American college student, died several days after his release from 17 months in captivity in the North.

Trump on Saturday took credit for Kim's recent overture to South Korea; the two nations spoke through a secure communications hotline and agreed to talks over the Olympics and other issues.

"Right now, they're talking Olympics; it's a start, a big start," Trump said. "If I was not involved, they would not be talking Olympics right now."

Trump, who agreed in a talk with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to halt joint military exercises through the Olympics, said of the North that he would "like to see them get involved in the Olympics and things will go from there. . . . I'd love to see them take it beyond the Olympics."

Trump added that his tough talk of being willing to use military force against the North "is not a stance; it's what has to be done, if it has to be done."
The Vermont House of Representatives voted 83-61 Thursday in favor of a bill that would fully legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and allow individuals to grow up to six marijuana plants at home.

The bill is expected to win approval in the Senate, which passed a nearly identical version last year. The state's Republican governor, Phil Scott, has already said he is "comfortable" with the legislation and has signaled he'd sign it.

If that happens it would make Vermont the first state to legalize recreational marijuana through the legislature, rather than via a statewide ballot initiative. But Thursday's House vote was significant for another reason: Just hours earlier, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the removal of long-standing federal protections for state-legal recreational marijuana programs.

That decision weighed on some Vermont legislators, who cited the federal policy change in introducing amendments that would delay implementation of the bill, according to the Burlington Free Press. But those changes were voted down.

Lawmakers in the Vermont Senate, which is poised to take up the bill next week, were similarly defiant. "Apparently, [Sessions is] more troubled by an 80-year-old using medical marijuana to treat a terminal health condition than he is by coordinating election strategy with Russians," said Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe.

Vermont legislators' decision to move forward on legalization is emblematic of the difficulties the Justice Department will face if it attempts to crack down on state-legal marijuana operations. Lawmakers in states that have already passed legalization measures tend to be fiercely protective of them, particularly when the question of federal interference arises.

Vermont's bill also differs from marijuana legalization measures passed in other states in that it doesn't set up a commercial market: Buying and selling pot would remain prohibited. With no large-scale marijuana growing and selling operations, Vermont would not offer much in the way of targets for zealous federal prosecutors.

The public, meanwhile, appears eager to see an expansion of legal marijuana nationwide. Nearly two thirds of American adults say marijuana should be legal. Michigan voters are likely to see a marijuana legalization measure on the ballot this November, and New Jersey's new Democratic governor has pledged to legalize marijuana in that state.

The next state-level challenge to federal marijuana policy will happen next week, when New Hampshire legislators take up a legalization bill of their own.
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Cat people, even a few people who would like to believe they are cats, strutted through the George R. Brown Convention Center in faux ears, detachable tails and cat-themed clothing worthy of a feline's curious stare.

The Houston Cat Club hosted its 65th annual charity show on Saturday featuring regional and national breed judging, an agility contest, pet supply sales and for the first time, a "Meet the Breed" booth where guests could learn about the origins and unique traits of more than 40 show breeds.

"This is my happy place," said Sarah Bailey, 12. "So long as there are cats all around me, I'm good."

PHOTOS: Cats who clearly don't understand why they're at the cat show

Within a few minutes of arriving with her mother Susan, Bailey purchased four books in a series on a cat with anxiety.

She cooed at an American Shorthair kitten as her tied on cat tail swished behind her.

All around, Siamese cat yowls, phone camera clicks and gasps at adorableness traveled through the air. Yet the volume in the center's Hall A was kept to a low hush all morning in an effort to keep from spooking any particularly wound-up cats, said show manager and cat club president Becky Galloway.

A fourth-generation Texan, Galloway has been breeding and showing cats since 1983. What started as a side hobby turned into a full blown commitment as her Maine Coon cats started reaping awards coast to coast.

She spent nearly every weekend of 2016 through April 30th traveling to shows, spending on first-class airfare, hotel rooms for herself and her felines, registration fees and equipment. One of the most notable perks of it all has been connecting with fellow breeders and competitors who become close friends.

"It's a hobby with a social aspect," she said.

Her pride and joy is named Crockett. Weighing in at 20 pounds and born on Texas Independence Day, the red-tabby- and white-colored Maine Coon was ranked 20th best cat in the nation in 2016 and best of his breed.

On Saturday, Crockett took to the sidelines as his nephew, Roland claimed the spotlight. A 4-month-old kitten weighing 8 pounds, Roland won best in breed twice at his first show that morning.

After lunch, it was time for the final round of kitten judging. Galloway held her breath, glancing over at the judge while also texting fellow show staff instructions on how to handle the line forming outside for entry.

The judge, Don Williams, former president of the national Cat Fanciers' Association, scooped Roland out of his cage, stretching him out to full length.

"Gorgeous condition," Williams concluded.

Roland placed 10th among the 46 kittens. A good run for his first time, Galloway said.

Just a few feet away, another first timer was giving it his all for a literal run.

Riverspots Jungle Boogaloo, a 4-month-old Ocicat, leaped over wooden stairs, twisted and turned through poles and scampered through plastic neon green tunnels at the agility course.

A crowd whispered cheers as the kitten did his best to reach the horsehair toy his owner dangled before him. He halted at the four-bar hurdle. The audience grew silent. During his first three tries, Boogaloo had failed to jump over, opting to run around it instead.

One tentative paw reached out at the top bar, followed by another. The next moment, his whole body flew over and across. The crowd erupted into soft claps.

At the opposite end of the hall, another celebration took place.

Noel, the calico kitten, was about to go home with her new forever mother.

Proceeds of the two-day cat show go to local animal welfare groups, with some offering adoptions on site. Nancy Kline, a foster mom for Homeless and Orphaned Pet Endeavor, burst into tears of joy as she greeted Baytown resident Tina Burton.

When Burton first laid eyes on Noel, she knew the kitten would be the best fit for her family after they lost their 7-year-old cat in Hurricane Harvey.

"I just want to say thank you," a tearful Kline said to Burton. "She's such a good kitty, you're going to love her."

"Thank you, I knew I had to have her," replied an equally tearful Burton.

While Burton finished filling out the necessary paperwork, Kline scooped Noel out of her cage.

"You be good OK?" she whispered to the kitten.

Snuggled in her foster mom's arms for the last time, Noel rubbed her head against Kline's cheek.
The Government has doubled funding for Longford's National primary and secondary roads this year.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) announced yesterday (Friday, January 5) that it is giving 5,103,907 to Longford County Council for its 2018 Roads improvement and maintenance programme - which is significantly higher than the allocations of 2,541,514 and 2,643,188 for Longford in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The 2018 allocation includes 600,000 for National Primary Route lighting improvement on the N4 at Newtownforbes.



The National Secondary Route Allocation includes 600,000 for what are described as minor works on the N63 Majors Well, Longford town and 400,000 for N55 Ballymahon traffic studies.

436,512 has also been set aside for N55 Ballymahon street pavement strengthening and 1,138,752 has been allocated for pavement overlay, pavement strengthening and surface replacement at the N55 Ardagullion.



136m is being allocated nationally for multiple road safety schemes and road projects, and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross said the funding will progress a number of long-awaited road projects, including the Ardee Bypass which will begin construction in 2018.

Minister Ross said; I committed to providing funding for road safety programmes and I am very happy to be able to confirm that a significant number of safety schemes across country are going ahead next year.



"Although road traffic collisions occur for a variety of reasons, the condition of our roads is an important factor in preventing crashes and saving lives.

"I would like to stress that I am dedicated to improving road safety for all of our citizens in whatever way possible, whether through legislation, education or road maintenance and therefore I am delighted to see TII making this funding commitment to safety improvements across the country.

Minister Ross added; I am also happy that TII have confirmed they are moving ahead with other major projects included in the Capital Plan.



The Minister noted that funding has also been confirmed to allow the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramogue scheme to progress to statutory approval. This scheme is 35 km in length and involves the upgrade of the N5 National Primary route in Roscommon.

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Longford set for freezing conditions this weekend

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Thrissur: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will not attend the inauguration ceremony of the 58th State School Arts Fest on Saturday as he has to participate in the CPM District Conference at Kollam.

Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan will inaugurate the event in the absence of Chief Minister. The Kalolsavam will be held according to the green protocol in a plastic-free environment.

Thrissur, the Cultural Capital of Kerala is all set to welcome the festival in which thousands of students are expected to participate.
NORTH ADAMS -- A North Adams man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of his wife, the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office announced Saturday.

Police arrested 47-year-old Mark S. Steele-Knudslien and charged him with one count of murder after the body of his wife, 42-year-old Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien was found inside their Veazie Street home Friday night, the DA's office reported.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the woman's cause of death on Sunday in Holyoke, officials said.

Mark S. Steele-Knudslien, who is being held without the right to bail, will be arraigned on the murder charge Monday morning in Northern Berkshire District Court.

State police dectectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office, members of the North Adams and Adams Police Departments and the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services Section are conducting the investigation.
This updates a story posted at 12:25 p.m.



SHELBURNE -- A single-story, ranch-style home was destroyed by fire Friday afternoon, and Shelburne fire officials say the cause remains under investigation, the Greenfield Recorder reported.

Firefighters responded to a Fiske Hill Road house at about 11:30 a.m. to find it engulfed in flames and on the verge of collapsing, Fire Cheif John Taylor told the newspaper.

A former Colrain couple living in the home were at work when the fire broke out. They had been renting the house from a friend who lives in Florida.

Firefighters from Shelburne, Greenfield, Colrain, Buckland and South Deerfield braved fierce winds and brutally cold temperatures to fight the fire. It took nearly two hours to bring the fire under control.

The state fire marshal's office and Shelburne police and fire departments are investigating the blaze.
SPRINGFIELD --A long-time advocate for the homeless in Springfield is urging those who may be outside this weekend to beware of "life-threatening" weather conditions.

Bill Miller, vice-president of housing and homeless services for Clinical & Support Options, said there has been collaboration between homeless advocates, city officials and public safety officials to help those who might be at risk during the extended freezing weather.

"We just hope people take extreme caution this weekend," Miller said. "This is probably about as cold as it ever gets in this region. It's life-threatening."

Miller is the former director of the Friends of the Homeless emergency shelter on Worthington Street, and continues to manage the shelter as part of his current duties. CSO and Friends of the Homeless merged in 2016.

The National Weather Service has predicted extreme cold weather Friday night and throughout Saturday and early Sunday. There is a wind chill warning for Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex and Worcester counties in effect from 7 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Sunday.

Miller said that approximately 150 homeless people have been staying at Friends of the Homeless on a nightly basis, which is about average. The agency's resource center provides warmth and programs for the homeless during the day, he said.

Miller said he believes expanded efforts to house the homeless and provide them with programs in collaboration with the city and other agencies is one of the factors that the shelter numbers did not climb during the extreme cold.

"We worked all year long to make sure there are not people stuck out there now in these critical conditions," Miller said. "The biggest focus is to move people into housing so they are not homeless when weather like this exists."

Friends of the Homeless has roughly 110 to 120 beds for men and about 30 to 40 beds for women, Miller said. The agency can also place people in cots and on the floor if needed, he said.

"We've been working through different challenges an awful lot of the year," Miller said. "We are concerned about the cold and we want people to be safe."
SPRINGFIELD -- The Planning Board voted unanimously this week to recommend a moratorium on marijuana shops in Springfield for up to a year to allow time for the city to draft local regulations.

The board's recommendation in favor of the moratorium, by a 7-0 vote, has been forwarded to the City Council for its needed approval.

If approved, the moratorium would be in effect until Dec. 31, 2018 "or until such time as the City of Springfield adopts Zoning amendments that regulate Marijuana Establishments, whichever comes first," the proposal says.

The council will take up the issue at a public hearing on Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. There was a similar moratorium last year, but it expired in August.

The city needs time to evaluate state regulations on recreational marijuana, now being finalized, before it drafts its own regulations on retail shops, said Philip Dromey, the city's deputy director of planning. The state regulations may be finalized in mid-March, he said.

"The purpose of the moratorium is to provide an opportunity for the city to study the potential impact of the state regulations on local zoning," Dromey said.

In November, City Solicitor Edward Pikula said state law allows certain local controls for marijuana facilities such as: time, place and manner regulations; limiting the number of marijuana establishments in a city; restricting cultivation, processing and manufacturing of marijuana that is a public nuisance; establishing reasonable restrictions on public signage; and establishing civil penalties for violation of an ordinance.

The city is also conferring with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission regarding model regulations for marijuana retailers.

In November, the planning commission's executive director, Timothy Brennan, said moratoriums are being recommended for many communities to allow time for local guidelines. "None of this is intended as a stall technique," he said.

The moratorium is being considered as U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was weighing in on the marijuana issue nationally.

Sessions said this week that he was planning to rescind a memo issued by the administration of President Barack Obama that effectively allowed states to legalize marijuana. It was unclear what impact Sessions' recision would have in Massachusetts in which the voters, the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker approved a state law legalizing marijuana.

Massachusetts voters legalized the recreational use of marijuana in November 2016, but manufacture and sale is prohibited pending state regulations and any local regulations approved.

The city did approve a medical marijuana facility on Cottage Street in East Springfield, which followed similar state legislation.

That facility is slated to open this spring.
Washington state has sued budget hotel chain Motel 6, accusing it of illegally providing guest lists to U.S. immigration authorities.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that motel employees had disclosed the names of at least 9,150 guests to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in violation of the state's consumer protection and anti-discrimination laws.

He said the motel also divulged birthdates, driver's license numbers, license plate numbers and room numbers, all without a warrant or the guests' knowledge or consent.

Ferguson said at least six Motel 6 locations in Washington state had engaged in the activity from June 2015 to May 2017.

He said Motel 6 knew ICE used the lists to target guests based on their national origin and to check whether any were wanted in connection with immigration issues. He said the disclosures led to the detentions of at least six people in Washington and noted the practices in the state mirrored those in Arizona, where media reports said in September that ICE had arrested 20 people at Motel 6 locations there after getting similar tips.


Montana In Focus: The Musher follows the dogsledding career of Livingston-native Jenny Roddewig, who won Montanas prestigious Race to the Sky as an 18 year old and competed multiple times in Alaskas grueling Jr. Iditarod. The "semi-retired" racer now studies animal science at Montana State University, plans to attend veterinarian school and runs her dogs during winter camping trips with her husband Mike. Watch her describe the deep compassion she has for her team of four-legged athletes.
Senator Jon Tester https://www.tester.senate.gov/ (D-MT) got some tough questions Friday as his "Montennial" tour continues. They didnt come from the media but from Kalispell students.

Senator Jon Tester was at Glacier High School in Kalispell Friday morning to talk to students from Glacier, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Flathead and Stillwater Christian School.

After a brief introduction and background of himself, the senator answered questions ranging from net neutrality and the new tax bill to same-sex marriage and the state of the North Korea situation.

By Jack Ginsburg

http://www.kbzk.com/story/37204481/tester-fields-questions-from-hs-students-along-montennial-tour
FCC Commissioner Clyburns passionate dissent at last months meeting left no room for guesswork on her position on the Commissions plan to eliminate net neutrality. But it wasnt all she had to say. Today, released alongside the final text of "Restoring Internet Freedom" order, is an extended statement that goes into further detail and strikes at the new rules numerous inadequacies.

The whole statement is a whopping 6,000 words, and well worth reading in its entirety  especially if you missed her delivery of it on the day. Perhaps half its length dedicated to the new, more technical exposition of the rules flaws.

Devin Coldewey

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fcc-commissioner-clyburn-apos-extended-212835554.html
McDowell detectives are asking the publics help in finding a family heirloom grandfather clock and other items stolen from a home.

Elizabeth C. Moricle, 61, reported Thursday, Dec. 28 that someone broke into her home in the Mud Cut Loop area and stole a custom-made grandfather clock, valued at $4,000. The victims are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the return of the clock, which has been in the family for generations.

Multiple other items were taken from the home at different times, including: various hand tools and wrenches, 32" flat screen TV, generator, DVD player, trail camera, Troy Built riding mower, John Deere Mower, buckets of random tools, motor vehicle batteries, drill press, welder and an air compressor

Anyone with information concerning the crime or suspect(s) is asked to call Detective Andy Manis at 652-2237 or McDowell County Crime Stoppers at 65-CRIME (652-7463). Now, you can also text your tips to Crime Stoppers. Text MCDOWELLTIPS and your information to 274637 (CRIMES). With Crime Stoppers, your identity remains anonymous, and you could receive a cash reward.
Heres some unsettling news: A 19,000-pound Chinese satellite will soon come hurtling back to Earth and no one knows where it will land.

According to a Jan. 3 CBS News article, scientists expect the satellite Tiangong-1 to crash this year, but they cant say exactly when or where.

"Even a couple of days before it re-enters we probably won't know better than six or seven hours, plus or minus, when it's going to come down," Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told The Guardian last year. "Not knowing when it's going to come down translates as not knowing where its going to come down."

As the interim senior science, technology and aerospace correspondent for this esteemed publication, a title I made up while re-watching the 1967 sci-fi thriller Mars Needs Women, I will attempt to answer some commonly asked questions about this event in case you are worried about being crushed by a Chinese satellite.

Q. Hey, Scott, Im worried about being crushed by a Chinese satellite. What are the odds I walk out to the mailbox to find a postcard from my neighbor Brenda who is driving out to the Grand Canyon in March with her boyfriend Jeff  you know, that fellow who works down at the asbestos plant and has kind of a lazy eye  and I am squashed flatter than a possum on a four-lane by a Chinese satellite before I have a chance to feed Brendas dogs, Jesco and Lil Bit?

A . According to the CBS News article, theres a 1-10,000 chance the satellite will crash into a populated area  any populated area. Considering how many populated areas are on the planet, the chances that you would be crushed before giving Jesco and Lil Bit their kibble are astronomical.

Q. So you are saying about 50-50?

A. A tad less than that.

Q. Lets say the satellite misses me but makes a big hole in my yard. I nearly broke my back sewing grass and fertilizing and now some Chinese satellite makes a hole big enough to swallow a Mack truck and Im going to have to hire Kenny and his backhoe to dig it out and drag it down to the scrap yard where I hope I can get enough out of it to fix my yard. Do you think thats fair?

A. I do not. Fortunately, by international law, China would have to compensate you for damage. A 2011 story in LiveScience explains that damage caused by objects falling from space is regulated by the 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects.

The treaty specifies that you have to present your claim no later than one year following the discovery of the damage. Once that is done, China would be responsible for hiring Kennys backhoe and all of the reseeding.

Q. Kenny wont take Chinese money. If Ive heard him say it once, Ive heard him say it a thousand times. Do you think I can get American money, or maybe get it on a gift card?

A. Probably.

Q. What if it lands across the street at the Jenkins place and their boy Dakota, the least one, runs out of the house and starts licking it. Hed do it, too. I saw him licking the frost off the hood of their Oldsmobile last Friday. The boy aint right. Is licking the satellite going to hurt him even worse?

A. Probably.

Potentially, there may be a highly toxic and corrosive substance called hydrazine on board the spacecraft that could survive re-entry, warns the Aerospace Corporation (as reported by Space.com.) For your safety, do not touch any debris you may find on the ground nor inhale vapors it may emit.

Finally, for those who cant help but worry, the best advice is this: Dont panic, dont touch and have Kenny on standby.

Scott Hollifield is editor/GM of The McDowell News in Marion, NC and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com.
Arif Mohammed Khan has said he will make the matter 'a big issue at the national level'.
To say the least, it had been a long time.

The air wasn't filled with cigarette smoke and the sound of gossiping little old ladies.

The kitchen had doubled in size.

Everything was clean and new with a 1950s diner theme.

Rather than spinning on the bar stools and sipping chocolate milk, I was choosing from a menu of award-winning cheeseburgers and accompanying my coworkers to celebrate a work milestone.

A lot had changed at the former Lunch Bucket, now Phil's Diner, since the last time I was there. I'm not even sure exactly when that last time was. I hadn't frequented the tiny restaurant on Railroad Street in Elkton since I was a child in the early-to-mid 1980s.

As I sat down with my coworkers, I marveled at the fact that they sat us at the same table where I spent so much time as a kid accompanying my grandmother and her friends at their morning coffee gatherings decades ago.

My early days at the Lunch Bucket took place before there was a Cheeseburger Festival in Caseville. Now the menu at Phil's contains cheeseburgers entered in that festival's contest, and they are amazing.

When I think about going to the Lunch Bucket as a kid, I think about my late grandmother.

When I think of her, I think of her health struggles, and how those struggles never got in the way of her showing her love for us.

I remember when it became a big deal to spend the night at her house.

Her crippling arthritis pain had eased enough for her to handle taking care of me and another grandchild or two for a few days while we were on break from school.

She once told me over breakfast at one of those sleepovers that rather than see one of her children or grandchildren suffer from arthritis, she'd double her pain.

Her pain did worsen a great deal by the end of her life. And none of us ended up crippled by arthritis.

Her doctor urged her to move to a warmer climate in order to ease her pain. She refused to move away from her family.

There is so much more to the memories I have of my grandmother beyond her pain.

There is her sense of humor, of which I would like to think I inherited a tiny part.

She would work tirelessly in the kitchen before Christmas, filling a shirt box for each one of her kids and grandkids with goodies -- peanut butter balls, all sorts of Christmas cookies, peanut brittle and chocolate-covered anything you can imagine.

She often used food to show her love for us, and her arthritis rarely prevented that.

A member of the Elkton Historical Society, she was always proud when Autumn Fest rolled around, insisting that we all "come over for the doings" during Labor Day weekend.

I've come a long way from spinning on the bar stools and blowing bubbles in my chocolate milk at the Lunch Bucket. But no matter what they call that restaurant; no matter how much they renovate and redecorate it; no matter how many award-winning cheeseburgers they sell, it will always remind me of a much simpler time: A time when a few days at grandma's house meant the world to me. A time I would give anything to have back, just for one more morning of coffee and gossip with Earline Powell, the woman who taught me how to love not necessarily through words, but through actions and deeds.

Brenda Battel is a staff writer with the Huron Daily Tribune. She can be reached at bbattel@hearstnp.com
HARBOR BEACH -- Harbor Beach Community School is hosting a used book sale next weekend.

The sale will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan, 13 inside the Harbor Beach Community Schools library. Soft cover books are 25 cents, hard cover books are 50 cents or bring your own bag and fill it for only $2.

There will be a wide variety of used books, fiction, biographies, literature, sports, American history, world history, animals, health, references and much more. Also complete sets of encyclopedias for $5.
BAD AXE -- The Huron County Chapter of Right to Life of Michigan will be hosting a memorial service later this month.

The service is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m Jan. 21 on the steps of the Huron County Courthouse in Bad Axe.
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CASS CITY -- Hills & Dales recently announced a continued partnership with Central Michigan University's Comprehensive Community Clerkship program, part of the CMU Medical School.

CMU College of Medicine has a strong emphasis on rural and medically underserved regions. In January, Hills & Dales will welcome two medical students, which marks the beginning of a sixth series of students joining Hills & Dales.

This clerkship allows the students to gain essential experience in a rural setting. Beginning Jan. 15, two CMU medical students will partner with Dr. Surendra Raythatha at Cass City Family Practice. In addition to their time in the clinics, the students will rotate through other clinics (pediatrics, orthopedics, and general surgery), as well as spend time in the emergency department, operating room, and inpatient unit.

Allison Hazy is from Rockford, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, with a bachelor of neuroscience. Hazy enjoys running and hiking in her free time. She will be working with Dr. Raythatha.

Amanda McGinnis is from Keego Harbor, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan, with a bachelor of science in biochemistry. McGinnis enjoys cooking, board games and working out. She will be working with Dr. Raythatha as well.

The students are third year medical students with Central Michigan University's College of Medicine.

"Working with CMU's students has been very rewarding for us," said Jean Anthony, President & CEO. "It's exciting to see the students learn and grow, as well as to see our physicians mentoring them. We hope this experience gives the students an understanding of the importance of rural healthcare."
BAD AXE -- Huron County planners are frowning upon the use of the term "wind park" by wind developers.

Planner Charles Bumhoffer criticized the phrase as stated in a DTE Energy year-end report at this week's Huron County Planning Commission meeting.

The report was entitled, "DTE Energy Thumb Wind Parks 2017."

"I didn't know we had any wind parks in our county," he said. "We have wind energy conversion facilities "

Bumhoffer added: "I would have to ask the DTE Energy people, are your wind farms open to the public, without restricted access? Do the wind parks contain items usually associated with parks, such as trees, shrubs, playground equipment, swings, sandboxes, play-scape, barbecue grills, picnic tables, restrooms?"

"Somebody at the public relations department at DTE Energy is really putting a stretch on things," he said.

He eventually made a motion that the planning commission should send DTE, and any other developer that uses the term "wind park," a letter urging the company to change its language when referring to their developments in communications with the county.

The motion passed unanimously.

Bylaws review

The planners also reviewed proposed changes in the commission's bylaws. One point of contention came was the bylaw committee's recommendation that commission officers must have three years of experience.

Those that support the three-year minimum, which equals one term, said that those with experience on the commission know of the history of the board and how things work.

Robert McLean, who is in his first term and also was elected vice chair of the commission in April, said such a rule is "discriminatory, exclusionary and short sighted."

He argued that some planners have experience on township planning boards.

County Corporation Counsel Stephen Allen said not all discrimination is bad except for that which is prohibited by law.

"Any time you draw a line, it's discriminatory," he added.

Allen said there are good reasons for requiring experience, giving examples of a bachelor's degree taking four years and police academy requirements to be a cop.

Planner Robert Oakes said it's important for planning commission members to "leave our agendas out there and do the right thing."

"Our job is not to be for or against wind turbines," he said, adding that so far, the commission's actions have kept the county out of court.

Bumhoffer noted that no experience is necessary to be the President of the United States.

Planner Ken Walker pointed out that the Huron County Board of Commissioners has no such rule.

"Had there not been two nominations for chair, this would not have come up," he added.

McLean, along with Chair Bernie Creguer were both nominated for the position last spring.

The planners will discuss the bylaws further next month, and the final draft of the bylaws will be voted on at the March meeting.

Repairs to wind facilities

Another concern voiced at Wednesday's meeting was that NextEra Energy Resources, Inc. has not reported to the county on any repairs to its Pheasant Run Wind facility.

NextEra built two parks, one of which was sold to DTE.

Earlier this year, DTE reported to the planning commission on numerous pitch motors, gearboxes and blade bearings that had been switched out at its park.

County Building and Zoning Director Jeff Smith said DTE officials planned to return in the spring with an update to the commission on blades.

Planners were concerned because no news had been received from NextEra regarding repairs.

"Is there anything in our ordinance that requires that we monitor repairs of the windmills?" Planner Terry Heck asked Smith.

Smith replied that there is nothing in Huron's wind ordinance that addresses the county's right or ability to monitor repairs on turbines.

He added that such a provision could be considered in future ordinance updates.

Twelve months after a wind facility is constructed, the developer is required to give a post construction compliance update.

"That's the only thing that is required by our ordinance," Smith said.

A noisy debate

In other business, the planners discussed whether to allow a debate between two acoustical experts regarding wind turbine noise at the next meeting.

Rich Lampeter, acoustician from Epsilon Associates, will be at the Feb. 7 planning commission meeting to present an overview of Big Turtle Phase I and II sound compliance reports.

Robert Gaffke, who has a long-standing complaint regarding a Big Turtle turbine near his property, asked the commission whether he could bring another acoustician to "keep an eye on" Lampeter.

A few planners insisted that Gaffke be allowed to bring an acoustician, which they said should be given more than the three minutes than members of the public are entitled to.

They also discussed putting that person on the agenda and giving them equal time to speak.

Deerfield's post construction compliance report

Officials from Deerfield Wind Energy, LLC provided an overview of its post-construction compliance report.

The planners questioned a portion of the report that referred to the blades as having been produced in China.

Deerfield officials said the blades had, in fact, been produced at the Vestas Colorado plant, although the company does have operations in China.

Some 50 blades at the park were found to have problems with adhesive when it first went online last year.

Deerfield officials also submitted raw data on the wind park's sound study.

The planning commission will meet next Feb. 7. Alan Bean of Spicer Group will be present to facilitate work on the Huron County Master Plan.
BAD AXE -- He wasn't supposed to, but he did it anyway.

Newborn Rowan James Kretzschmer -- with a due date of Jan. 27 -- became the first baby born in Huron County in 2018.

Rowan made his way into the world at 1:08 p.m. on Jan. 3. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches in length.

When parents Wesley Kretzschmer and Emily Engler arrived Tuesday evening at Huron Medical Center, the thought of having the county's first baby of the year didn't even cross their minds. When they were told that the hospital hadn't had its first one yet, they still didn't think much of it.

"There was another couple that was here, so we didn't think it was going to happen," said Engler.

With the birth, the family took home the annual First Baby Contest that the Huron Daily Tribune runs in conjunction with the hospital, where various prizes donated by area businesses are awarded to the winner.

"It's cool," Engler said. "We both grew up in Huron County and we were both born at this hospital, so it's kind of cool that he was the first one."

Both Engler and Kretzschmer are from Caseville. After moving to Ann Arbor for eight years, the couple moved back to their hometown last year so Wesley could begin working on the family farm.

"Our family is all here," Engler said of coming back.

Part of that family is Rowan's 3-year-old brother Asher, who bounced around the room with the excitement of being a big brother.

"He's very excited," Kretzschmer said.

"It's going to be real fun," he added. "It's going to be rambunctious at our house."
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Work started so quietly that the news barely made the paper.

"Without ceremony, without the tension which might be expected in the culmination of a dream of years, operators swung two big steam shovels into action at Lime Point, digging a pit for the Marin county shore anchorage," the San Francisco Chronicle announced on page 19 of the Jan. 6, 1933 edition.

And, with that, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge had officially begun.

Although the actual groundbreaking ceremony would take place a month later, Jan. 5, 1933 is the official birthday of California's most beloved span. That day, 100 workers on the San Francisco and Marin sides of the bridge started digging the massive holes that would host the two anchorages. They'd eventually excavate 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt; By the end of the first six months, the Marin (north) tower was already done.

Now Playing: A look at the construction of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Video: Martin do Nascimento, SFGATE

MORE: Underrated San Francisco landmarks every local should visit at least once

The bridge was seen not just as a great California accomplishment, but as a great international one. In February of 1933, the Sotoyome Scimitar of Healdsburg wrote that the bridge would be a "key link in the projected 'all-coast' highway system, eventually to stretch magnificently from South America to Alaska."

Even though that lofty goal didn't quite pan out nearly a century later, there's nothing to disappoint about the Golden Gate. When the bridge opened to traffic on May 28, 1937, it was then the longest suspension bridge in the world; New York City's Verrazano Narrows eclipsed it in 1964.

The Golden Gate Bridge was also finished ahead of schedule and under budget  a feat that's hard to imagine happening today.

To see rare photos of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, click through the gallery above.
Shoreline Arts Alliance is presenting the 18th annual New Voices in Childrens Literature: Tassy Walden Awards competition. To date, the alliance has successfully seen books published by more than 30 former winners and finalists.

The New Voices in Childrens Literature: Tassy Walden Awards is a Connecticut statewide, juried competition opened to writers and illustrators who are not published or under contract for publication. Categories are: Picture Book (text only), Illustrated Picture Book (author and illustrator must be same person), Childrens Book Illustrator Portfolio, Middle Grade Novel, and Young Adult/Teen Novel. All submitted works that meet the contest guidelines will be sent to literary agents for the first tier of judging. Works deemed outstanding will then be sent on to publishers and editors at major publishing houses for childrens literature. All submissions for this years contest must be postmarked by February 1, 2018. Call for Entry form and guidelines are available for downloaded at www.shorelinearts.org or call 203-453-3890.

Gowrie Group donates to Bikes for Kids

WESTBROOK  At the end of the year, employees from Gowrie Group, a leading independent insurance agency based in Connecticut, donated over $1,150 along with many bikes, to the local non-profit Bikes For Kids. Gowrie employees undertook this effort to be their end of year thank you gift to the owners and partners of Gowrie Group.

Nancy Sprigg, Manager of Gowrie Groups Boat Department, said, In prior years we [employees] have given the owners of Gowrie Group physical items as holiday gifts. About five years ago we decided it would be more meaningful to instead make donations to local non-profit organizations, on behalf of the owners and partners. It is a great way to show our appreciation for all that the owners of Gowrie Group do for us, and we are proud to have come up with a creative and generous holiday present that directly helps others.

Bikes For Kids is a Connecticut based non-profit organization that brings smiles to children one bike at a time. Volunteers collect, repair, and safety test donated used bicycles. The refurbished bicycles, along with new helmets, are given away to individuals of all ages and needs. Most donated bicycles remain in Connecticut, but some have reached children in other states and countries. In 2017, Bikes For Kids gave away 1,300 bicycles, with 300 of those given to children in the month of December for the holidays. Since the inception of Bikes For Kids in 1989, the organization has donated more than 21,000 bicycles. Requests for bicycles come from local and state social service organizations, churches, schools, non-profits, and individuals. Learn more about Bikes For Kids at: http://bikesforkidsct.org/

Tax prep volunteers needed

MIDDLETOWN  The Community Renewal Team (CRT) is actively seeking volunteers to assist individuals and families with the preparation of their 2017 federal and state tax returns as a part of its annual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

CRT has provided this service to the community for the past 15 years, and has served more than 25,000 families during that time. The total return on investment (refunds plus tax preparation savings) for participants in the program is worth more than $76 million. Last year alone the refunds and tax preparation savings equaled more than $2.9 million, helping 926 tax filers.

The average refund received during the past 15 years has been more than $3,000 per filer.

Individuals that volunteer to help provide this valuable service receive free training so that they can work one-on-one with tax filers to prepare and electronically file their state and federal income tax forms, and to help determine qualifications for eligible tax credits and refunds. Tax preparation services are provided to eligible individuals in the community free of charge.

Volunteers need to be able to commit to at least one shift per week (4 - 5 hours per shift), from February 1 through April 16, 2018. Volunteers are needed in both Hartford and Middletown - bilingual volunteers are strongly encouraged to apply. There is no experience necessary to become a VITA volunteer, and training sessions are available now.

To find out more about becoming one of CRTs VITA volunteers, please contact Eileen Feliciano, CRT Financial Literacy Coordinator at: 860-560-4210.

Women in Business luncheon is Jan. 9

CLINTON  Geraldine (Geri) Brown Giomblanco is the guest speaker at the Women in Business Luncheon sponsored jointly by the Madison and Clinton Chambers of Commerce, Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 12 p.m. in the Hamilton Room at Food & Beverage Company, 36 Killingworth Turnpike, Clinton. Her presentation will outline the concepts, rational and importance of vision work.

Vision is the ability to see a future. Its the ability to see beyond the barriers that stop the average person. It is seeing the possibilities where others see impossibilities. It is having the courage to stretch ones creativity to great and greater limits. It links the present to the unfolding future. Those able to see a plan for their future, accomplish far more in their lifetimes than those who wander along with no plan or awareness of where their life is going. This is true for individuals as well as all organizations and companies.

Giomblanco will share real life stories of the power of vision from her professional and personal experiences. Learn about the state of mind required to set your brain in motion in order to achieve real success.

The luncheon is open to all interested women. The cost is $15 for chamber members and $25 for non-members. To register, contact the Clinton Chamber of Commerce office at 860-669-3889, by email at chamber@clintonctchamber.com, or visit the registration link at ClintonCT.com.

Girl Scouts of Connecticut seek volunteers

Girl Scouts of Connecticut is looking for volunteers across the state to help girls and young women in Connecticut shine. Volunteers can help prepare girls in Connecticut for a lifetime of leadership and be the mentor she needs to succeed. As a Girl Scout volunteer, youll be a girls cheerleader, guide, and mentor, helping her develop essential life skills and confidence that will last a lifetime. Imagine the excitement, the impact, the memories madethose are the moments youll share at Girl Scouts. Learn more at www.gsofct.org/volunteer.
CHELSEA, MI - A fire this week destroyed a home in a Chelsea subdivision and displaced a man, woman and young child.

All managed to leave the burning structure, but the man was treated for smoke inhalation, Lt. Bill Regnier of the Chelsea Area Fire Authority said Saturday.

According to a YouCaring page, established to raise money for the family, the man was at Michigan Medicine with an ulcer on his esophagus and inflammation from the smoke. By Friday, he was out of the hospital and resting with family "while they try to rebuild their lives."

"Thankfully (the three) and their animals were able to escape the fire safely. Devastatingly, however, their entire house, belongings and vehicles are a total loss," reads the page.

A neighbor first reported the fire just after 11 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, in the 400 block of Elm Street.

Firefighters arrived to find the attached garage fully in flames. The fire was beginning to extend into the house, traveling through the attic.

Last night we had a fire in the Heritage Point sub. Thankfully the residents all made it out. A funding page has been... Posted by Chelsea Fire Fighters on Friday, January 5, 2018

Regnier said the house is a "total loss." Most of the fire damage was in the attic area, which began to collapse and there was "significant structural damage."

The cause was under investigation.

Firefighters had the fire under control in about an hour but remained at the scene until about 3:30 or 4 a.m. Friday, the lieutenant said.

Personnel from the Dexter and Scio Township fire departments were there to assist. Manchester firefighters covered the Chelsea station.

The American Red Cross' Washtenaw Disaster Action Team responded to the fire and provided emergency financial assistance to help the family through the first few days, Disaster Program Manager Armando B. Falcon reported in an email.

As of Saturday, the fundraising site had raised nearly $9,000. The family is staying with relatives but have no more than the clothes they were wearing the night of the fire, reads the YouCaring page.
Stacks of severed heads, dead bodies frozen together and pools of blood and bodily fluid.

Those were some of the gruesome discoveries investigators made when they raided Arthur Rathburn's nondescript Detroit warehouse in 2013.

It was Rathburn's business, one that specialized in selling or making available for rental donated cadavers and body parts to schools, researchers and "primarily medical conventions," according to U.S. Attorney John Neal, who spoke during opening arguments at Rathburn's trial in Detroit federal court Friday.

Rathburn, 64, of Grosse Pointe Park, is accused of fraudulently misrepresenting his unusual product, charged with 13 federal crimes, including nine counts of wire fraud, a count of illegal transport of hazardous material and two counts of making false statement to a public official.

He's been jailed since his arrest in 2016 and his jury trial began Friday, Jan. 5

"This is a case about lying and deception," Neal said.

The U.S. government claims Rathburn's business model included obtaining cadavers and body parts, which he received at a discount when they were infected with HIV, hepatitis or other diseases, and renting or selling them to customers.

Neal offered one example during opening statements. An invoice was displayed for the jury, which includes eleven women and five men, including four alternates. The invoice showed that Rathburns company, International Biological at one point purchased a cadaver for $5,000, but was credited $3,500 because it was infected with HIV.

Rathburn's attorney, James C. Howarth, countered during his opening statements: "The isn't a criminal matter at all ... At best, this is a contract case."

Rathburn came to the government's attention when he arranged for a human head to be flown to Chicago from Tel Aviv. He'd provided the severed head to a dental seminar and it was being returned after the seminar concluded.

It was, however, intercepted by U.S. Customs agents. Nean said the head was infected with sepsis and not shipped in accordance with bio-hazard requirements as it should have. Instead, it arrived inside a trash bag that was packed in a cooler in pooled fluid.

The government claims Rathburn lied to officials, telling them the fluid, which turned out to be human fluids, was actually Listerine. He also lied to Customs officials when he said the head had been embalmed, a process of sterilization, Neal said.

Federal prosecutors claim Rathburn, with the help of his ex-wife, Elizabeth Rathburn, operated the business fraudulently from 2007 until 2013.

Elizabeth Rathburn, who's already pleaded guilty to a count of wire fraud in what Howarth called a "very sweet deal," has agreed to be a key witness against her ex-husband for the government.

Rathburn's involvement in the body broker industry spans back to his stint as a donor coordinator for the University of Michigan, where he worked from 1984 to 1990.

In the book "Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains," author Annie Cheney writes that Rathburn was a morgue attendant at the U-M Medical School, who "supplied body parts to the American Association of Clinical Anatomists and other organizations until he was caught and fired."

State regulators in 2014 permanently revoked Rathburn's mortuary science license.
DETROIT - Federal agents spent days using a pneumatic chisel to separate frozen clumps of heads, arms, legs, organs and torsos found in a Detroit warehouse in 2013, an FBI investigator testified Friday in the fraud trial of a body broker.

In some cases, body parts were found in ordinary beer coolers, Tupperware, paint cans, 50-gallon drums and even in a refrigerator next to ingredients for sandwiches, said FBI Agent Leslie Larsen during the opening day of the federal criminal trial for Arthur Rathburn.

Rathburn, 64, of Grosse Pointe Park, and his ex-wife Elizabeth Rathburn were accused of operating a body broker business named International Biological Inc. and fraudulently misrepresenting its unusual products -- human body parts.

They purchased disease-infected bodies at a discount and failed to disclose infections to customers, according to federal investigators. Sepsis, HIV and hepatitis were among the infections that U.S. attorneys say Rathburn failed to disclose.

Customers would rent body parts that originated from dead people who donated their bodies and organs to science. The cadavers were dissected and displayed at "primarily seminars," U.S. Attorney John Neal said during opening statements.

Arthur Rathburn is charged with 13 federal crimes, including nine counts of wire fraud, a count of illegal transport of hazardous material and two counts of making false statements to a public official.

Elizabeth Rathburn pleaded guilty to a count of wire fraud and agreed to be a witness against her ex-husband for the government.

The court testimony from the FBI agent Friday, Larsen called the warehouse "filthy" as she described photos she and her colleagues took while at the warehouse when it was raided in December 2013.

There were piles of dead flies and other insects -- 10 to 20 piles, she estimated, bodies that had frozen together requiring a crowbar to separate and various power saws used to dismember cadavers in what she called the "cutting room."

There was no running water nor operational restrooms. The FBI rented portable toilets they used while conducting the multi-day investigation at the warehouse.

While each of the 16 jurors were provided copies of numerous gory photos, which they kept in manila folders, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman forbid attorneys from displaying them on the large overhead screen. Other, less gruesome images were projected onto the screen.

The U.S. government claims Rathburn ignored basic industry standards that he knew customers expected his company to maintain, and intentionally withheld information about diseased bodies in order to secure business -- and widen his profit margin.

The government says its case centers on three cadaver rentals to seminars that Rathburn's company supplied.

In one case, Rathburn provided a cadaver for a dissection at a 2012 American Society of Anesthesiologists seminar in Washington D.C., according to court testimony from Dr. Kevin Vorenkamp, who signed the agreement with Rathburn.

Court records entered into evidence by assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Wyse included an invoice sent to Rathburn by the Biological Resource Center of Illinois, the entity that originally received the donor's cadaver.

According to the invoice, Rathburn agreed to pay $5,000, but he received a $3,500 credit because the body had tested positive for HIV and hepatitis B.

He received lab results for the same body in 2011 that revealed the same, based on another document presented to the jury.

None of this was disclosed to Vorenkamp when he agreed to pay Rathburn for the cadaver, he testified. Vorenkamp said the agreement required that the human tissue was screened for HIV, hepatitis and other diseases.

Had he known of the infections, Vorenkamp said, he never would have accepted the cadaver, due to health concerns.

While the agreement said the cadaver had been screened, it added that the biological tissue should "still be treated by the service user and its research participants as if such materials may be infectious" and that "the service provider expressly disclaims any liability should any anatomical material prove infectious."

Rathburn came to the government's attention when he arranged for a human head to be flown to Chicago from Tel Aviv in 2012. He'd provided the severed head to a dental seminar and it was being returned after the seminar concluded.

It was, however, intercepted by U.S. Customs agents. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Neal, during opening statements, said the head was infected with sepsis and was not shipped in accordance with bio-hazard requirements. Instead, it arrived in a trash bag packed in a cooler with pooled fluid.

The government claims Rathburn lied to officials, telling them the fluid, which turned out to be human, was actually Listerine. He also lied to Customs officials when he said the head had been embalmed, a process of preservation and sterilization, according to prosecutors.

Rathburn's attorney, James C. Howarth, said this case should never have become a criminal matter, and was at worst a contractual dispute.

He also says the office-related aspects of the business, including written agreements and decisions about which body parts to ship to customers, were handled by Rathburn's ex-wife, Elizabeth Rathburn.

Trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday, and testimony is expected to run through at least Feb. 7, based on an online court court schedule.
LOWELL, MI - When Beau Heimer crashed his dirt bike while drunk, incurring nearly $200,000 in medical costs, his insurance company denied benefits: the policy excluded injury resulting from "illegal use of alcohol."

U.S. District Judge Janet Neff said those key words - "illegal use of alcohol" - didn't absolve Companion Life Insurance Co. of responsibility for the medical bills.

Heimer was 22, legally allowed to drink, when the crash occurred in 2013. His illegal act wasn't drinking, rather it was riding the dirt bike while intoxicated before he crashed head-on into a friend's motorcycle.

"He did illegally drive an off-road vehicle," Neff wrote in her opinion. "The question is whether that is an illegal use of alcohol. Under the unambiguous language of the (insurance plan), the Court cannot so conclude."

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld Neff's decision this week.

It found that Neff "read 'illegal use of alcohol' to disclaim coverage only for the illegal consumption of alcohol, and not for Heimer's illegal post-consumption conduct of operating a motorbike while under the influence of alcohol. The district court's reading is consistent with the ordinary meaning of 'use' and best gives effect to the contract as a whole."

Heimer and his buddies were drinking beer in April 2013 on a field off of Two Mile Road NE in Lowell when he and his friend collided head-on while playing a game of "chicken," court records said.

They were riding at each other to see who would "chicken out," court records showed.

He suffered "catastrophic" injuries with medical bills exceeding $197,000.

Heimer had a blood-alcohol level of 0.152 percent, or nearly twice the state's definition of intoxication, 0.08 percent. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of operating an off-road vehicle while intoxicated.

The appeal was decided by Chief Judge R. Guy Cole, and judges David McKeague and Jane Branstetter Stranch.

Cole, who wrote the opinion, said: "What was illegal about Heimer's behavior was his use of a motor vehicle, not of alcohol. And if there were any doubts, the district court explained, the contract should be construed against the insurance company as the drafter."

McKeague concurred in the ruling but issued a dissenting opinion. He disputed that the insurance policy's exclusion was unambiguous.

"Let's consider the context. Beau Darrell Heimer and some friends decided to over-indulge in alcoholic beverages to work up the nerve to hurtle themselves toward each other at high speed on dirt bikes - after nightfall in a farm field - to see who might 'chicken out' at the last second. No one plays this game sober. The alcohol they deliberately ingested emboldened them to play a reckless game of chicken, leading to predictably tragic results when neither Heimer nor his contestant 'blinked' and they collided head-on."

McKeague said that the insurance company "surely did not intend its policy to cover injuries arising from drunken participation in a reckless game of chicken. Reading 'illegal use of alcohol' so narrowly leaves one seeing double. But ultimately, in this case, the insurer must bear the consequences of its sloppy drafting."
UPDATE Wednesday, Feb. 14: The deaths were ruled accidental.

NILES, MI - Police are investigating after finding a 55-year-old woman and her 81-year-old father dead in their Niles home.

Police said that the temperature in the home was below freezing.

Police do not suspect foul play and autopsies, while not conclusive, showed no signs of violence involved in the deaths.

Patricia Bivins and her father, Albert Bivins, were found Wednesday, Jan. 3, in their home at 621 Woodruff St., Niles police Detective Richard Krueger said.

Police were called late that afternoon after a neighbor became worried because the Bivins had not been seen outside for some time, and snow had piled up on a car in the driveway.

The doors were locked when police responded. Officers looked through a window and saw the father, who did not appear to be breathing, on a couch. Police and firefighters then broke out a window of the front door to gain entry.

Once inside, police found that the father and daughter had died.

Police immediately noted that the temperature in the house was "well below 32 degrees," but initial investigation showed that there was gas and electricity to the home.

Autopsies were conducted Friday, Jan. 5, at Western Michigan University School of Medicine, police said.

The causes and times of death could not be determined. Results of laboratory tests are expected within two weeks which could help explain why they died.

"The cause of death (on both victims) was not violent in any way and all indications lead investigators to believe the deaths of Albert and Patricia Bivins was accidental in nature," Krueger said in a statement.

The investigation continues. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 269-683-0404.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The U.S. Attorney's Office in West Michigan is one of 27 nationwide that will add a prosecutor to fight violent crime.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the new prosecutors - 40, in all - will focus exclusively on violent crime.

Federal prosecutors already work with local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies with violent-crime task forces in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and Lansing.

The task forces are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, and target crimes involving guns, gang activity and drugs.

Sessions is seeking additional project funding for hiring under Project Safe Neighborhoods "because I believe nothing will be more effective at reducing crime," he said in a statement issued Friday, Jan. 5.

"Under this program, I am asking a great deal of our United States Attorneys. I am both empowering them and holding them accountable for results."

Andrew Birge, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said the added position "will be a significant force multiplier in our efforts targeting violent crime."

He expected the position to be filled in the next few months.
HOLLAND, MI -- The parent company of longtime Holland company, Thermotron Industries, recently acquired Lakewood Fab Tech, a Holland firm.

Venturedyne, Ltd., Pewaukee, Wis- holding company purchased the firm, at 875 Brooks Ave, according to a release announcing the deal. The sale price wasn't disclosed.

Thermotron is one of North America's biggest manufacturers of high-performance environmental test chambers and vibration test systems, widely used to simulate harsh environments to improve product quality and reliability.

Acquiring the supplier is intended to help Thermotron quickly increase capacity. Lakewood has worked with Thermotron, supplying sheet metal fabrication and welding services.

Recently, the smaller firm has taken on a more significant role manufacturing sheet metal for more of Thermotron's environmental test chambers.

"Thermotron quickly became a primary customer for Lakewood and was a good fit, especially given our previous experience working with stainless steel," said Mike Miedema, former owner of Lakewood Fab Tech, in a statement.

He will now serve as transition leader between Thermotron Industries and Lakewood Fab Tech. The firm's 27 employees have all been offered jobs with Thermotron, a company spokesman told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

Part of the appeal of Lakewood is its geography. The firm is located across the street from Thermotron's Brooks Avenue plant.

"The additional capacity Lakewood Fab Tech provides will help Thermotron reach a significant number of growth goals in the coming months and years," said Clint Peterson, Thermotron president in a statement.

Lakewood has specialized in the manufacturing of machines, subassemblies, and parts for food processing, material handling and automated assembly. The firm's expertise includes laser cutting, metal forming, deburring and finishing, CNC machining, welding and passivation, assembly of stainless steel and powder coating.

Venturedyne, Ltd., is a holding company for eight manufacturing, sales, and service companies. They include Climet Instruments, Dings Magnetic Separator Company, Scientific Dust Collectors, and Advanced Detection System Company.

Thermotron was founded in 1962 by Charles F. Conrad, an entrepreneur and engineer who spent the early part of his career working on the development of high-performance refrigerant systems.

Conrad may be known for bringing back the S.S. Badger, Ludington's iconic ferry service to Manitowoc, Wis. In the early 90s, he used his fortune to refit and refurbished the ferry to handle passengers and autos.

Thermotron's first product was a thermo-electric heat transfer device that used space age semi-conductors. The company's product line has since grown to encompass other areas of product and environmental testing.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Look for the AMC Portage Street 10 theater complex to reopen on Saturday morning.

After a week-long shutdown, a spokesman for the business said it is expected to reopen at 11 a.m. on Jan. 6, in time for midday movies.

The 180 S. Portage St. multiplex (at the corner of Portage and South streets) was closed on Dec. 31, after a frozen pipe burst, causing damage inside the building, according to a company spokesman.

On Monday, Jan. 1, AMC Spokesman Ryan Noonan said via email, "We've canceled shows for today and tomorrow and will reassess our opening timeline later this week."

The closure was announced on the theater group's local web site, with the management stating, "We apologize for the inconvenience, this theatre is temporarily closed."

The business has apparently been able to rectify damage problems caused by the burst pipe. There was no response to messages left Friday for Noonan.

The closure happened during what is often a popular time for moviegoers, particularly young people off from school from Christmas through New Year's Day.

Kansas City-based AMC, which is the nation's largest movie theater operator, launched its first venture in Kalamazoo on Nov. 2, renovating a space that had been used by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The complex opened as AMC Kalamazoo 10 but was later renamed to AMC Portage Street 10, avoiding conflict with Goodrich Quality Theater's Kalamazoo 10 movie complex just west of the city.
PORTAGE, MI - A new book provides an oral history of the Portage Public Schools, from former superintendents Cleora Skinner to Pete McFarlane.

Tom Vance, who served as community relations manager at Portage schools from 2000 to 2012, edited the 164-page document that is available on Amazon, with all proceeds going to the Portage schools collection at the Portage District Library.

Superintendents participating in this project include Varl Wilkinson, James Rikkers and Pete McFarlane, with a prologue featuring an interview conducted in 1963 with Cleora Skinner, who served as the first superintendent of the consolidated school district from 1921-39.

Board presidents interviewed include Robert VanderRoest, Bill Boyer, James Ellinger, Patricia Dolan, Phil Sheldon, Kevin Flynn, John Whyte, Kevin Hollenbeck, Tom Eddy and Shirley Johnson.

Vance said the book is meant to be a reference for anyone interested in certain decades or how a superintendent or board president led the district.

"This is history not journalism," Vance said. "It will give someone a pretty good idea of what goes into running, developing and growing a school district. The whole collection is really about leadership."

Vance did most of the interviews in 2004 as part of his master's degree program in United States history at Western Michigan University. The interviews covered eight decades of the district's history and were initially on the PPS website until he decided to put them into a book form.

"I wanted to turn it into a book format, so it is available for library users, students in high school or the college level," he said.

An introduction by Steve Rossio, the local historian at the Portage library, places the oral histories in context. He also wrote about one room schools in Portage for the appendix. The appendix also contains a listing of district leadership provided by Edna M. Kent, recently retired administrative assistant to the superintendent.

"An Oral History of Portage Schools" is not the first book to examine the district's history. In 1997, "75 Years of Shaping the Future" was published and in 1976 Grace Potts wrote "Portage and Its Past" that focused on the city but had information about the Portage schools.

Vance said he obviously could not interview the late Cleora Skinner, but she did an interview in 1963 that talks about some of the challenges of not only being the first superintendent but a woman in a time when her gender was seldom in leadership roles.

The new book includes remarks by Ted Vliek Sr., former administrative assistant to the superintendent and board of education secretary who served as interim superintendent between Varl Wilkinson and George Conti.

"Public education is a vital component of our culture and a basic part of our democratic system of government," Vliek said. "On this premise, Tom Vance interviewed district leadership spanning eight decades.

"The vast array of issues throughout the development of Portage schools include enrollment (reaching a peak of nearly 11,000 students in the 1970s); instruction; building, closing and renovating schools; state and local funding; collective bargaining; changes in social mores; and technology. How the district met these challenges is revealed here."

Vance is a former president of the Michigan School Public Relations Association and a past chair of the History Section, Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters. His career in public affairs includes the Army (both active and reserve duty), The Upjohn Company and later Pharmacia & Upjohn, Biggs-Gilmore Communications, Portage schools and currently is a communications officer for the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

The book can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/Oral-History-Portage-Schools-McFarlane/dp/1534635564/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511661763&sr=1-1&keywords=an+oral+history+of+portage+schools or can be found at the Portage schools collection at the Portage library.
Infosys

Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan today praised the company's co-founder Nandan Nilekani for correcting the 'wrongdoings' committed by previous board, by fixing a reasonable salary for the incumbent CEO.

"I think the board under Nandan has done the right thing to correct the previous wrongdoings.. The salary structure for the current Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh looks reasonable with a large part tied to variable salary with greater focus on long-term retention," he told PTI.

Balakrishnan said it is important for the board to clearly articulate the performance metrics for the vesting of variable salaries to senior management.

"The metrics should have clear focus on increasing shareholders' value by achieving superior growth.. If the board wants to exercise any discretion it should be explained to the shareholders with proper reasoning," he said.

Infosys has fixed Parekh's salary at Rs 6.5 crores with an eligibility for variable pay of Rs 9.75 crores at the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Elaborating on the 'wrongdoings' by the previous board, Balakrishnan said, "unfortunately, it never clearly understood the culture or value systems followed by Infosys under its founders, which resulted in excessive senior management salaries and a huge disconnect with rest of the organisation."

"The former CEO's (Vishal Sikka) salary was increased substantially without clear reason while the rest of the organisation had to contend with meager salary hikes and reduced variable compensation," he added.

The USD 20 billion target by 2020 was loosely used to justify the pay increase to the CEO that lacked conviction, Balakrishnan alleged.

Recalling N R Narayana Murthy's views, he said excess in capitalism will make the acceptance of capitalism difficult to a large sections of the society.

"The CEO compensation should be reasonable enough to attract top talent while at the same time be comparable with peer group companies," the company's former CFO said.

"It should also reflect the realities within the organization otherwise selling it internally will be difficult," he added.

Balakrishnan also said when the founders ran the company, the senior management salaries were reasonable enough to attract top talent and were never considered excessive. Also, in difficult times, the leadership took the pain before it being passed on to rest of the organisation, he added.

"Leadership by example was practiced both in substance and form," Balakrishnan said. He also said, "As a shareholder, I want the board to be restructured quickly with some members who were part of the earlier dispensation like the erstwhile co-chairman (Ravi Venkatesan) and audit committee chairman (Roopa Kudva) be replaced."

An effective board is the need of the hour to establish proper checks and balances that was lacking in the earlier dispensation, Balakrishnan said.
The issue of poor air connectivity with Gir National Park in Gujarat has been taken up with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the environment ministry has told a parliamentary panel.

The environment ministry stated this in its action taken report to a parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, environment and forest.

The ministry has also said that the Gujarat government has also been asked to take action regarding the recommendation of the committee to remove encroachments from around the Park.

"Encroachments and construction around the national parks and sanctuaries are in purview of the states. In so far as Gir National Park is concerned, state government of Gujarat has been communicated to take action according the recommendation of the committee.

"The ministry has also taken up the matter with Ministry of Civil Aviation regarding poor air connectivity of Gir National Park and requested for improving air connectivity," the Ministry told the panel chaired by Congress leader Anand Sharma.

The panel in its 308th report has said that although encroachments and construction around national parks and sanctuaries is in the purview of the states, the Ministry can always impress upon the concerned state governments to comply with the law in this regard.

The action taken report came after the committee in one of its earlier reports had observed that Gir national park is very poorly connected with air and had recommended that the environment ministry should take up the matter with the central and state government agencies so that it can be improved.

The committee in one of its earlier reports had noted that granting of licences to dhabhas and hotels being run near the national park needs to be reviewed keeping in view the fact that a lot of garbage is generated and thrown by them in the area.

The committee had then recommended that illegal construction or encroachment in and around national park should be viewed "seriously" and stringent steps must be taken in this direction.
The Indian Navy and Cochin Port Trust (CPT) have entered into an Memorandum of Understanding for utilising the Port's berthing facility at Mattancherry wharf for Naval ships.

As per the MoU, Cochin Ports Q2 and Q3 berths at Mattacherry wharf, totaling 228 metre quay length, would be be handed over to the Indian Navy for five years for berthing their ships.

The Indian Navy had requested for an exclusive berthing facility in Cochin Port for berthing their ships during reconstruction period of their berths.

"In view of the national interest involved, Cochin Port examined the request and decided that Cochin Port's oldest wharf, Mattacherry Wharf can be spared, since those are not suitable any longer for berthing of big cargo ships due to limitation of draft and displacement", a CPT release said.

This is a landmark decision in the history of Cochin Port and would go a long way in the combined efforts of the Port and Navy for ensuring the safety of the nation, it added.

The MoU was signed yesterday on behalf of Cochin Port Trust by Goutam Gupta, Traffic Manager and Commodore Deepak Kumar, Chief Staff Officer (Ops), Southern Naval Command for Indian Navy, a Port Trust release said here today.
PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a top-level police conference on January 7-8 at the Border Security Force (BSF) Academy at Tekanpur in Gwalior.

An official release said that the "Annual Conference of Director General of Police (DGPs) and Inspector General of Police (IGPs) of states" is an event where top police officers share and discuss security-related issues.

The PM has earlier addressed the conference in Guwahati in 2014, in Dhordo in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch in 2015 and at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad in 2016.

"During the last meeting, issues such as cross-border terrorism and radicalization were discussed in detail. The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of leadership, soft skills and collective training. He specifically mentioned the importance of technology and human interface for the police force," the release stated.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Gwalior today to take part in the annual conference.
The Delhi Police will proceed with its probe into the case of a newborn being wrongly declared dead by a city-based hospital only after it receives a reply from the Delhi Medical Council on whether there was medical negligence in the matter, a police official said.

The Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has received replies from the nine doctors and two nurses of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh who were issued notices last month for alleged medical negligence in connection with the case.

A senior DMC official said that they have received the replies and these will be put up before its executive committee.

The committee will form an expert panel comprising paediatricians and gynaecologists that will prepare a report in the matter, he said.

The process might take a fortnight.

A police official, privy to the probe, said that they will proceed further with the investigation only after they receive a report in the matter from the DMC.

The DMC had sent the notices on December 20 and sought a response from them within 15 days.

The case pertains to a baby boy being wrongly declared dead after his birth on November 30 by the upscale private hospital. His twin, a girl, was still-born.

The infant boy died a week later at a nursing home in Pitampura. The case sparked a public outcry.

Their family has been protesting in front of the hospital after an appellate authority stayed the order of the Delhi government cancelling the licence of the facility.
The Uttarakhand High Court has suggested that the state government bring in a law which imposes death penalty for raping minors, so that it acts as a strong deterrent against such offences.

A Division Bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh made the observation, while upholding the death sentence of a man, who was convicted by a lower court last year for raping and killing an eight-year-old in June 2016.

Citing steady rise in crime against children in recent years, the Bench observed that it is the state government which can bring an appropriate legislation to impose death penalties on convicts, who are found guilty of raping minors aged 15 or below.

The High Court underlined the need for a strong deterrent as it is coming across a number of cases, where the victims aged 15 or below are being raped and murdered.

It quoted a recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau titled 'Crime Against Children (States & UTs)', which said 676 such cases were registered in the state in 2016, compared to 635 in 2015 and 489 in 2014.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrives to address the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz - HP1ED9L1NA1B2

Two former Zimbabwean cabinet ministers who served under ex-president Robert Mugabe have been charged with corruption, their lawyers said on Saturday, the latest sign of a crackdown on officials loyal to Mugabe.

Mugabe, 93, stood down in November after 37 years in power following a de facto military coup, making way for his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over.

When the military seized power they arrested key allies of Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who was vying with Mnangagwa to succeed her husband.

Former foreign minister Walter Mzembi and ex-energy minister Samuel Undenge were charged on Friday with "criminal abuse of office", their lawyers said. They both deny wrongdoing.

Undenge is accused of issuing a $12,650 contract without due tender to a company that did no work, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters.

Mzembi and Undenge were both granted bail on Saturday, asked to surrender their passports and remanded until Jan. 22 when their cases will be heard.

"We are going to make an application for an exception to the charge because the charges that my client is facing are ridiculous," Job Sikhala, Mzembi's lawyer, told reporters outside the court.

Undenge's lawyer Alex Muchadehama described the case against his client as a "circus".

Former finance minister Ignatius Chombo is on bail after being charged in November over accusations he tried to defraud the central bank over a decade ago. Chombo denies wrongdoing.
The author of a book that is highly critical of Donald Trump's first year as U.S. president said his revelations were likely to bring an end to Trump's time in the White House.

Michael Wolff told BBC radio that his conclusion in "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" that Trump is not fit to do the job was becoming a widespread view.

"I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect," Wolff said in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

"The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says he can't do his job," Wolff said. "Suddenly everywhere people are going 'oh my God, it's true, he has no clothes'. That's the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency."

Trump has dismissed the book as full of lies. It depicts a chaotic White House, a president who was ill-prepared to win the office in 2016, and Trump aides who scorned his abilities.
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
Happy November! What season are you entering? Me? Im entering the season of wonder. My favorite. The season of wonder takes us back to our childhood  a time when the delights of wonder and the sensation of awe came...
January 06, 2018 Trump Offloads Foreign Policy Problems - Lets EU Grow A Spine The U.S. is more and more isolated in international politics and even Europe is growing some spine and implements an independent foreign policy. U.S. imperialists are miffed but can do little about it. This development may well be part of Trump's plan of "Making America Great Again". After Trump declared that the U.S. sees Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the UN Security Council as well as the UN General Assembly condemned the move. The U.S. had to veto a UNSC resolution that 14 other members supported. While the minor protests and riots in Iran are calming down (as predicted here), the U.S. ambassador Haley tried to use them to stage some UNSC verdict against the country. She was rebuffed by several countries including the U.S. allies Sweden and France: A United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss recent protests in Iran turned into criticism of the United States for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Tehran. The EU spoke out against any condemnation of Iran. Russia and China repeated Iran's arguments that such internal issues have no place in the UNSC and that a string of much worse riots and police massacres in the U.S. would be more deserving of such attention: China and Russia -- which seldom like to discuss political protests at the UN -- led a group of countries that said the demonstrations were a domestic affair that didnt threaten international security and shouldnt be taken up. Chinas envoy said that if Haleys logic were to be followed consistently, the Security Council should have held hearings after the 2014 racial protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in 2011. France spoke for the EU: We must be wary of any attempts to exploit this crisis for personal ends, which would have the diametrically opposed outcome to that which is wished, Ambassador Francois Delattre said. However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security. This was a repeat of the fear that President Macron expressed two days ago and which we quoted here. Even U.S. media are now taking note of it: The official line pursued by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in many ways, is almost one that would lead us to war, Macron told reporters, according to Reuters. It was a deliberate strategy for some, he added. The U.S. attempt to use protests against neoliberal policies of the Rohani government as a step to regime change in Iran has evidently failed. Trump has threatened to end the nuclear agreement with Iran but his administration is wary of the consequences. The agreement is between a number of countries, not the U.S. and Iran alone, and the UNSC has endorsed it. But Trump also loathes to certify Iran's adherence to the agreement every three month. It keeps the issue boiling and he has no interest in that. The certification is a condition the Republicans in the U.S. Congress had written into law. Trump's solution is not to kill the nuclear agreement but to change the law to relief him of the certification demand: The Trump administration is working with key lawmakers on a legislative fix that could enable the United States to remain in the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. The changes to the U.S. law codifying Americas participation the 2015 agreement could come as early as next week or shortly thereafter, Tillerson said. President Donald Trump faces a series of deadlines in the coming days about how to proceed with an accord he describes as terrible and too soft on Iran.

...

The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it, Tillerson told the AP as he sat in front of a fireplace in his State Department office suite. We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it. Trump and Congress have no power to change an international agreement. So what would that "fix" be? One option lawmakers are discussing with the White House is removing the requirement that Trump certify Iranian compliance. Another possibility is changing the law so certification occurs far less often, officials said. If this is really all that is needed to get Trump off the anti-Iran train it neatly fits the "isolationist" theory discussed below. But back to the EU position. Trump has reversed a U.S. opening to Cuba but the EU is not following its move. The EU foreign policy chief is currently on the island and rejecting the U.S. stance: The European Union wants to be a reliable partner for Cuba in the face of the reversal in U.S.-Cuban relations under President Donald Trump, its foreign policy and security chief said Thursday. Federica Mogherini said at the end of a two-day visit that the EU is a "predictable and solid" partner that can help Cuba manage a political transition and slow, halting economic opening.

...

"We are consistent and we do not have unpredictability in our policies, or sudden shifts," Mogherini said, in a clear dig at Trump's reversal of some elements of President Barack Obama's opening with Cuba. After Jerusalem and Iran, Cuba is the third foreign policy issue on which the European Union is setting itself in opposition to the United States. After years of marching in lockstep with U.S. policies the change is a pleasant surprise. Two more issue are likely to follow - Syria and Russia. With the German chancellor Merkel still busy to find a domestic coalition to renew her rule, the French president Macron is taking the lead when he now echos what the Syrian president Assad has been saying for 7 years: Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron - 4:54 PM - 5 Jan 2018

Ce n'est ni a Ankara ni a Paris qu'on decidera de l'avenir de la Syrie. Le peuple syrien, y compris ceux qui ont fui le regime, devra lui-meme decider de son avenir.

[Machine translated from French]

It is neither Ankara nor in Paris that it will decide the future of the Syria. The Syrian people, including those who have fled the regime, should itself decide its future. Poland was one of the parties which had strongly pressed for regime change in Ukraine. It got its wish fulfilled but now finds that the new Ukrainian rulers are elevating those fascist groups and people who historically were responsible for massacring ten-thousands of Poles. Oops. The sanctions on Russia over the situation in Ukraine and Crimea have cost Germany huge export opportunities. The combination of both of these factors will likely lead to a change in the EU policy towards Russia. While the U.S. delivers new weapons to the Ukraine I predict that the EU will lower its exposure to the issue. Its sanctions against Russia will be eased or circumvented. The imperial think-tanks in the U.S. are not happy with an independent EU. Here are voices of Brookings, the premier "centrist" lobby and influence peddlers, and of the Washington Institute, part of the Zionist lobby: Suzanne Maloney @MaloneySuzanne - 7:24 PM - 4 Jan 2018

Suzanne Maloney Retweeted Michael Singh

This is a huge missed opportunity for Europe, both to use their diplomatic & economic leverage for the long-term good of Iran & to demonstrate the possibility and even utility of making common cause with Washington on Iran Michael Singh @MichaelSinghDC - 7:14 PM - 4 Jan 2018

Regrettable that preexisting gaps between the US and Europe over Iran seem to be widening due to protests - supporting human rights in Iran should be an area of transatlantic agreement Brookings on Cuba: Tom Wright @thomaswright08 - 11:02 PM - 5 Jan 2018

Tom Wright Retweeted EU External Action

A real moral failing here. Okay to engage Cuba but should pressure regime to liberalize. Combined with "both sides-ism" on Iran, it's been a terrible week for European foreign policy. The Europeans may judge that differently. Trump made loud noise towards North Korea and even boosted that his dick is bigger than Kim Jong-un's schlong. But when North Korea offered a quiet period for the Winter Olympics in South Korea and renewed talks, Trump agreed with the peace seeking South Korean president Moon and let him take up the offer. Patrick Armstrong and Andrew Korybko see a method behind these developments. Armstrong: Trump Cuts the Gordian Knot of Foreign Entanglements Trump has little interest in the obsessions of the neocon and humanitarian intervention crowd.

...

President Trump can avoid new entanglements but he has inherited so many and they are, all of them, growing denser and thicker by the minute. Consider the famous story of the Gordian Knot: rather than trying to untie the fabulously complicated knot, Alexander drew his sword and cut it. How can Trump cut The Gordian Knot of American imperial entanglements? By getting others to untie it. Armstrong, a former Canadian defense official and Russia specialist, thinks that Trump is taking his extreme positions only to press others to take over and let Trump and the U.S. leave the issue aside. If the EU takes up the Iran issue or Cuba, if Russia engages in the Middle East "peace process" and if South Korea handles the North Korea problem, Trump will be fine with it. There nothing to win in those issues for his core agenda. Korybko's piece, Trump: Agent Of Chaos (a.k.a. The Kraken), presumes that Trump is deliberately creating chaos to better the U.S. position. There is a high chance that this will not work and the U.S. will have to retreat to its hemisphere. Trump knows this but does not care - he can live with both outcomes but may even prefer the retreat to a more isolationist stand. I do not believe that Trump is as stupid as his enemies portrait him. Trump simply does not explain what he is doing. He is letting everyone guessing, even his own staff. One has to watch what he does, not what he says. Trump does not care about many foreign issues where the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations were the first to meddle. In his view the various adventures abroad do not further U.S. core interests. If other countries can be pushed into taking these up, the U.S. can leave the issues aside. His position is the opposite of what the usual Washington grown-ups are used to do. That is why they are fighting him down to tooth and nail. Will Trump survive long enough to successfully pursue this strategy and to make a lasting difference? Or is the Armstrong/Korybko theory completely wrong? Posted by b on January 6, 2018 at 13:25 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
While activist investors talk about the break-up value to be released from splitting companies apart, conglomerates continue to grow through acquisitions. Packaging maker Bunzl (BNZL) is firmly in the latter camp.

Does anyone there ever pause to think whether each acquisition is really value for money?

Its latest trading update wasnt about trading at all, which is pretty much in line with the previous guidance. It was about the latest acquisition, Lightning Packaging, which distributes industrial packaging throughout the UK. This takes spending on acquisitions this year to a company record 600 million and as the pipeline for acquisitions remains active it is quite possible that the previous high of 327 million in 2015 will be doubled before the month is out.

I just get the feeling that the joy of the takeover trail has taken control of the Bunzl boardroom. Does anyone there ever pause to think whether each acquisition is really value for money? Organic growth this year has been propelled by low-margin businesses bought last year, which suggests that growth is being pursued for its own sake.

Bunzl went on a massive buying spree in the 1980s, at one stage buying up three companies a week. It all ended in tears then. The fear that history may repeat itself stops me from considering Bunzl as an investment.

Keep an Eye on Carphone

After a difficult year that saw shares in Dixons Carphone (DC.) fall from 350p to 150p, there was some light relief when interim results pushed the shares 15% higher over two days. Now Im a great optimist and, as a Dixons shareholder, I really want to believe that the troubles are over. But when you have bought at a higher price, as I have done, its not a good idea to turn a blind eye to the problems.

Much of the relief came from the decision to maintain the interim dividend, with a strong indication that the final payout will also be unchanged, which assuaged fears of an imminent dividend cut, but Dixons will have to start doing better soon to justify this decision.

The old Dixons retailing outlets are doing well; the disappointment is in the Carphone Warehouse half of the merger. Customers are hanging onto their phones for 29 months instead of trading in for the newest model after 24. As Dixons recovers the cost of the phones over the lifetime of the contract, the impact of this phenomenon will continue to depress sales and profits for a while yet.

Management is taking steps to address this issue and there are positive signs for the groups operations in Scandinavia and Greece. Some of the sales decline in the UK has come from closing unprofitable stores, which should start to help the bottom line.

Nonetheless, profits for the 26 weeks to October 28 are down sharply and the projected range for the full year is slightly lower than the spread of existing forecasts. I shall not be topping up my holding at this stage.

Trinity's Bad Buyback

Trinity Mirror (TNI) has spent 10m buying back 10 million shares, which according to a quick count on my fingers equates to 1 a share. The current price is 71p so that wasnt a great success, except for those who had the sense to get out. If you are still in, its not too late to do likewise before the shares slide further. Loyalty may bring its own rewards but they cannot be counted in hard cash.

Until Next Year ...

In stock market terms the next two Fridays are effectively Christmas Eve and New Years Eve so there will be no columns from me on those days to spoil your festive spirit. Unlike last January, I will not be clearing off on an 11-week cruise so I will be back in the New Year. Until then I wish all readers a happy, healthy and above all prosperous Christmas and New Year.

Rodney Hobson is a long-term investor commenting on his own portfolio; his comments are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, nor are they the opinions of Morningstar.
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UPDATE: Photos added from Bean and Grape's interior on opening day.

Small Bites is already looking toward a busy 2018 with new restaurants and drink shops on the horizon. A tea shop, Asian restaurant and a few fast food chains are opening up soon. In the meantime, here is what's going on recently among food spots and restaurants.

Appetizers

You've probably seen the commercials, but Whataburger has released its Mushroom Swiss Burger for a limited time. The burger is built with two patties topped with mushrooms, Swiss cheese and a creamy Au Jus sauce.

In other Whataburger news, the Midkiff location will host Coffee with a Cop with new Midland Police Department chief Steve Henry. Visit with the chief from 7 to 9 a.m. at 3206 N. Midkiff Road.

ICYMI, see photos from LongHorn Steakhouse's opening day here. The restaurant opened Dec. 18.

Read why Abilene Christian University is encouraging students not to apply at the new Hooters which is set to open soon.

Have you seen this tamale hack from this San Antonio woman? Mind. Blown.

Coming Soon

Coming off its inaugural New Year's Eve Party, the coffee, wine and beer boutique Bean and Grape announced today that it will open its doors on Monday.

From Bean and Grape:

Bean & Grape will be open for craft beer, wine, coffee and small bites. Located at 3211 W. Wadley, Suite 21 of the Imperial Shopping Center in Midland, our establishment provides an eclectic atmosphere to enjoy unique libations and delectable eats.

Outside of our passion for good food and drink, we hope to inspire connection and conversation among friends, new and old, while visiting. Our space is the perfect one for early morning conversation with a loved one, a quick lunch meeting with an associate, an after work refreshment with friends, a private party celebrating a milestone, and more!

Starting Monday, Bean & Grape's hours will be 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 5:30 a.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturday. We are closed on Sundays. Welcome to your new spot for great coffee, a dynamic wine list, an assortment of craft beers, and in-house made breakfast, lunch, and light bite items.

Find us at beanangrapemidland.com and on Facebook and Instagram for updates on special offerings and events.

On the menu

Dickey's Barbecue Pit announced three new menu items Thursday that are expected to appeal to southern palates.

"Grilled Cheese, Texas Toast and cornbread are all southern staples folks love and we are proud to now offer that to our guests at all Dickey's locations nationwide," Renee Roozen, President of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. said. "Dickey's is a family-owned, family-run business and we pride ourselves on serving our guests delicious food that they can share with their family. By incorporating these new items, we are able to better serve all of our guests."

From Dickey's press room:

Dickey's Barbecue Pit incorporates three new southern favorites to their menu including Grilled Cheese, Texas Toast and Cornbread. Guests now have the opportunity to upgrade their slow-smoked barbecue meal by changing their side to either a piece of buttery Texas Toast or savory Cornbread.

Dickey's Grilled Cheese is available both as a Kids Meal or as an a la carte option for adults. The addition of the Grilled Cheese is perfect timing as Kids Eat Free at Dickey's until January 31 with each purchase of a $10 adult dine-in meal.

Closing Time

Mercy Eatery and Catering Co. updated its closing time to 2 p.m. from 3 p.m.

Farm to Table

The sustainable and organic farm Farmer Troy of Odessa is now offering a create-your-own-bag option. Instead of the usual $20 bag, customers can now order custom bags with carrots, beets, turnips and even pecans. Farmer Troy is a sustainable and beyond organic farm.

Order pick-ups are 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays at 407 W. 47th St. in Odessa.

Upcoming food, drink and restaurant events

Sunday | Sunday Skool Brunch with DJ JRey. 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at Steak 42, 911 S. Big Spring St.

Jan. 13 | Winter Market by the Midland Downtown Farmers Market. 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Museum of the Southwest, 1705 W. Missouri Ave.

Jan. 14 | Urban Market Brunch with local vendors and food trucks. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at So...Fly Boutique, 312 N. Colorado St.

Feb. 2 | Empty Bowls 2018 hosted by West Texas Food Bank. The event features handmade ceramic bowls created by students and faculty of Odessa and Midland Colleges, UTPB, The Odessa High School International Baccalaureate Program, Boys & Girls Club of Odessa and Midland and Trinity School. Bowls are $15 each. 7-9 p.m. at Trinity School, 3500 W. Wadley Ave. wtxfoodbank.org.
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A Round Rock man accused of kidnapping his dead roommate's children apparently blamed his decision to flee with the girls on fear of "crazy Mexicans" he linked to the killing, according to federal court documents.

Terrance Allen Miles was taken into custody Wednesday after authorities in Colorado pulled him over and found the two missing children  14-year-old Lilianais Victoria Cake Griffith and 7-year-old Luluvioletta Mariposo Bandera-Magret  in the car with him.

The Las Animas County traffic stop capped off days of searching begun in late December after authorities responded to the Leslie Court home of Tonya Ellen Bates for a welfare check. The mother of two had failed to show up for work for her 7 a.m. shift the day before, prosecutors said.

When Round Rock police stopped by her home they found Bates dead from blunt force trauma, according to court documents. Investigators later determined she'd died sometime on Dec. 29, and her car and both daughters had disappeared.

Authorities sent out an Amber Alert along with a tip that Miles, then considered a person of interest in the "suspicious" death of his roommate, could be headed to Louisiana. Police initially said the girls were in "grave or immediate danger" after an abduction.

Surveillance footage later recovered from a Round Rock Walmart showed Miles purchasing camping supplies just after midnight on Dec. 30, driving what appeared to be Bates' vehicle, prosecutors later said. He stocked up on sleeping bags, tarps and ropes, according to court documents.

About an hour after his late-night shopping trip, Miles' mother got a text, believed to be sent by her son from the older girl's phone.

Now Playing: We're learning more about a man who is believed to have kidnapped two young Round Rock girls and who is also a person of interest in their mother's death. FOX 7's Ashley Paredez has more. Video: Fox7

BACKGROUND: 2 missing Round Rock children found safe

"Mom I left with the kids and came home to something bad I think Tonyas boyfriend," it said, according to court documents. "I cant talk now tonya was involved in some bad stuff I will talk to you later when im safe these guys are crazy Mexicans."

By 6 a.m, the girl's phone pinged off a tower near Lubbock, and by mid-morning someone was using it to make calls in New Mexico. Investigators located the younger girl's phone where it had been apparently discarded in a wooded area near in Round Rock.

Just after noon, license plate readers near Raton, New Mexico, recorded the dead woman's car headed north toward the Colorado border, according to court records. Later that day, police said, Miles was spotted on surveillance footage at a Trinidad, Colorado, business.

Although authorities initially issued an Amber Alert covering much of Texas, by Wednesday police were certain enough the girls were in another state to call off the alert and reissue one for Colorado.

Late Wednesday, a Las Animas County deputy acting on a tip spotted the missing vehicle and tailed it for a few miles before pulling over the erratic driver. Both girls were found safe inside, and Miles was taken into custody without incident, police said.

"I'd like to say thank you to that tipster," said Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks, adding that Miles' arrest with the help of the multi-state Amber Alert was "a prime example of the system working."

Miles doesn't appear to have priors in Texas, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records. But he is already on probation for a 2015 domestic violence conviction in Louisiana and is considered a person of interest in a 2014 slaying there, according to authorities.

He was also charged with second-degree attempted murder for trying to suffocate a woman he was dating in 2011 and allegedly staging a suicide scene.

Miles is charged in the Western District of Texas but was slated to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon in Colorado. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Colorado and prosecutors have filed a request to deny bail, citing the severity of the crime and possible flight risk.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
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States including Florida have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical use and some even for recreational use. But a policy change by Attorney General Jeff Sessions lets U.S. Attorneys decide whether to enforce the federal rules regardless of what states decided.

New federal policy lets U.S. Attorneys enforce marijuana regulation

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith refiled bill to decriminalize marijuana in Fla.

Sessions called the shift a return to the rule of law

Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith recently refiled a bill to fully decriminalize marijuana in Florida.

"Jeff Sessions seems to be stuck in the Dark Ages, and he's basing all of his actions not on facts but based on fear and misinformation about cannabis," he said.

Sessions called the shift a return to the rule of law.

In Florida, more than 70 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment in favor of medical marijuana.

Orlando Attorney John Morgan emailed Spectrum News 13 a statement that said:

Jeff Sessions as a Senator was in favor of states rights. I guess that changed.

Pharmaceutical companies are killing our children with opioids. The best alternative is medical marijuana and they know it. Opioid deaths are down in states with Medical Marijuana. These companies are engaged in the premeditated murder of our people. My law firm is representing states and cities across America against these horrible killers. What we know will shock you. As to this always follow the money.

President Trump was in favor of medical marijuana. Last time I checked he was still President.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders addressed the issue this week.

The President's position hasn't changed, but he does strongly believe that we have to enforce federal law," she said.

The turnaround may be a moot point. Legal pot is a multi-billion dollar business over several states, and the industry may be too large to bust.

"Right now we just have to kind of keep pushing through, don't get scared by what we see at the federal level right now because I just truly believe you can't turn back a clock that's already been wound," said Roz McCarthy CEO, the founder of Minorities for Medical Marijuana.
A meeting called for Saturday to discuss African Americans in city policy became a lively discussion on the black history surrounding the Jonestown massacre.

James Taylor, a professor of political science at the University of San Francisco, gave a talk at the New Liberation Presbyterian Church in the Western Addition, focusing on what he said is the forgotten black history surrounding the 1978 Jonestown massacre.

He drew parallels between the current African American departure from San Francisco and the mass murder-suicide in Guyana that killed more than 900 people  the majority of them black Bay Area residents who were following Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple.

Pressure should be put on acting Mayor London Breed to install a monument to remember those killed, Taylor said at the event, which was organized by the Lower Fillmore Neighborhood Association. The Jonestown massacre became a taboo subject in the city, not only because of the loss of hundreds of lives, but also because of the subsequent political embarrassment. Before the tragedy, politicians who supported cult leader Jones ranged from Gov. Jerry Brown to former Mayor Willie Brown, now a Chronicle columnist.

The erasure of Jonestown to me ... the erasure of the black people in Jonestown is not unrelated to the failures of the city of San Francisco, Taylor said. It also has to do with the black out-migration right now.

As much as Jim Jones represented a real, deep evil, even without Jim Jones, the black community is still being erased.

November marked 39 years since Jones ordered his followers to kill themselves by taking cyanide mixed with a sweet purple drink, forcing those who refused. The deadly event followed a visit by Rep. Leo Ryan, D-San Mateo, who went to Guyana to investigate the settlement but was shot by temple gunmen when he tried to leave.

Among those shot and killed with Ryan were NBC photographer Robert Brown and reporter Don Harris, San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson and Patricia Parks, a temple member who wanted to leave. Jackie Speier, an aide to Ryan who now holds his seat in Congress, was severely wounded.

The massacre has stayed with Yulanda Williams, now a lieutenant with the San Francisco Police Department, for years. As she listened to Taylor speak, she also called for a monument to be set up.

Williams had been a member of the church and left the settlement with her family before violence broke out, she said. The ordeal became something to hide and deny, she said, and soon it wasnt discussed much in the city.

When we first got back from Guyana, people said they could not understand how black people could be so foolish, Williams said. They made the survivors feel as though they were unintelligent.

She suggested that a monument be placed at the post office in the 1800 block of Geary Boulevard  the former Peoples Temple site.

Nine hundred people lost their lives, and we dont even have a monument or statue or anything, she said. There should be a day of remembrance.

The discussion became more heated as the group  many of whom lost friends in the massacre  debated Jones role as a leader, the role of the black movements of the 60s and 70s, and asked How did they get caught up in some madness like that?

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Black unemployment fell to 6.8 percent in December, the lowest ever recorded by the U.S. Labor Department since it began tracking the black unemployment rate in 1972.

Economists say it's a sign the recovery from the Great Recession is finally starting to help a wider swath of the population.

During the aftermath of the financial crisis, black unemployment soared to 16.8 percent in 2010, meaning more than one out of every six African-Americans was looking for a job but could not find one. The rate has steadily declined since, breaking the prior all-time low of 7 percent that was set in 2000 during dot-com boom.

"6.8 percent unemployment rate for African-Americans is lowest on record. Good news, except pretty bad news that this is the best ever," tweeted Dean Baker, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The white unemployment rate is 3.7 percent. The black-white gap in hiring and pay has existed for decades, with the black unemployment rate typically more than double that of whites. But the gap has narrowed slightly to 1.85 times higher unemployment for blacks instead of two times more.

African-Americans face a number of barriers to employment, including biases from recruiters. An oft-cited study in 2004 took the same resumes and put more "white sounding names" and "black sounding names" on others. The study found that employers were 50 percent more likely to call in the person with the white sounding name for an interview, even though the two resumes had exactly the same qualifications.

The experiment has been repeated several times since with similar results, leading some minority candidates to attempt "resumes whitening" when they apply for jobs.

Beyond unemployment, blacks lag far behind whites on pay, wealth and homeownership.

"If you are black and a college graduate, your net worth is still typically two-thirds that of whites who dropped out of high school," says Darrick Hamilton, an economist at the New School.

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump famously asked African-Americans: "What do you have to lose?" by voting for him. He promised his agenda would lead to more jobs and higher wages for everyone. He ended up winning 8 percent of the black vote, a bit higher than Mitt Romney in 2012.

Hiring has been strong in Trump's first year in office, especially in manufacturing, construction and health care. The economy added 2.1 million jobs in 2017, the Labor Department said, slightly down from 2.2 million in 2016 and 2.7 million in 2015.

Wages, however, continue to be stagnant, especially for African-Americans. The median income for black households is still lower than it was in 2000, according to U.S. Census data.
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Bankruptcy filings in South Central Texas dipped last year, the eighth-straight year that bankruptcies have fallen as the economy rebounded from the Great Recession.

Overall, there were 2,976 consumer and business bankruptcy filings last year in the San Antonio division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, 40 fewer than the 3,016 filings in 2016. It also was the lowest number of filings since 2006 when 2,743 were recorded.

The number of businesses seeking refuge in bankruptcy plunged by almost half to 64 last year from 125 in 2016.

The economy is doing better, said Ronald Smeberg, a San Antonio bankruptcy lawyer, in explaining the decline in commercial bankruptcies.

RELATED: Bill Hall Jr.'s son loses court battle for murdered trucking tycoon's assets

Smeberg said that many business bankruptcies in recent years were the result of balloon loans maturing and the borrowers not being able to obtain new financing.

Now that the economy is doing better, most of those bad balloon (loans) have kind of filtered out, he said. You dont have as many of those notes going bad, which was causing the bankruptcies.

The rebound in oil and gas prices last year also had a calming affect for companies in the oil patch after 2016s financial upheaval when prices bottomed.

The drop in oil prices led to a slowdown in the Eagle Ford Shale that contributed to a rise in commercial bankruptcies in 2015 and 2016. For example, Sanjel Corp. and affiliates filed 11 bankruptcy petitions in April 2016 in San Antonio.

Now that things have kind of leveled out, the businesses that were going to go under have gone under, Smeberg said.

RELATED: Bankruptcy judge awards $8M to Alfaro investors

There werent as many notable businesses to enter bankruptcy last year in comparison with 2016. Last years high-profile bankruptcies included Upper Padre Partners, a company affiliated with Schlitterbahn officials that managed a 500-acre Padre Island development, and Trey West Vacations, owner of the Flying L Hill Country Resort in Bandera County.

Among those to file in 2016 were the owner of Cowboys Dancehall; Buffets, which ran more than 300 restaurants in 35 states under various names; Palmaz Scientific Inc. and Dickinson of San Antonio Inc., which did business as Career Point College.

Last year, 35 businesses filed for Chapter 11 reorganization while 26 filed for Chapter 7 liquidation. One business, Texas Association of Public Schools Property and Liability Fund, an insurer for schools based in Boerne, filed Chapter 9, which generally is used by financially distressed municipalities.

Consumer filings were essentially flat last year, rising by 22 to 2,912.

RELATED: Atascosa bank swaps charters

Nationally, the total number of bankruptcy filings fell by 5,400, or less than 1 percent, to 766,698, according to data provided to the American Bankruptcy Institute by Epiq Systems Inc.

Total filings fell for an eighth-consecutive year as high filing costs continue to weigh on struggling businesses and families, Samuel J. Gerdano, the ABIs executive director, said in a statement Friday. The ABI wants to remove barriers to filing bankruptcy protection for distressed businesses, he said.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPD
San Francisco police arrested a 27-year-old Fairfield man Friday whom they believe is the person who, wearing a Santa cap, shot at an occupied car in the Tenderloin on Christmas morning.

A day after police released video of the shooting, narcotics officers arrested Xavier Watson in the 4500 block of Third Street in the Bayview. He was taken into custody without incident, and booked into San Francisco County jail on suspicion of willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, assault with a firearm, transportation of a narcotic for sale and possession of cocaine for sale.
With events of DreamWeek set to begin Monday, one of the country's oldest minority chamber of commerce celebrated its 80th anniversary with a posh gala.

City and business leaders gathered at Pearl Stable Friday for an evening of refreshments, dancing and networking in celebration of the Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce's annual gala.
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The 49-year-old woman in Dr. Amy Cobbs office was complaining of typical flu symptoms: cough, aches, nausea, fatigue and a 101-degree fever. Because she hadnt gotten the flu shot, and she had a history of pneumonia, Cobb ordered a chest x-ray, which revealed the patient had what is sometimes called atypical, or walking, pneumonia.

Nothing to sneeze at (as it were), atypical pneumonia is a less serious form of the potentially deadly disease that, Cobb warned, can sometimes strike those who get the flu.

Not all pneumonia is the result of influenza, of course, she said. And not all flu becomes pneumonia. But its something patients need to watch out for.

Flu kills thousands of Americans annually and sends tens of thousands to the hospital. About 50,000 people die of pneumonia each year. But together, the flu-plus-pneumonia combo is surprisingly dangerous, especially for those at increased risk such as the frail and elderly. In 2016, it was the No. 8 leading cause of death in the United States.

More Information Flu treatment toolbox In addition to seeking medical help, here are several ways to ease flu symptoms: Drink plenty of fluids Get plenty of rest Over-the-counter medications Throat lozenges. Soothe a sore throat Decongestant. Relieves nasal congestion and a runny nose. Cough medicine. Blocks the cough reflex. Saline drops. Thin and loosen mucous, making breathing easier. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.). Relieve pain, decrease inflammation, and reduce fever. See More Collapse

When I worked in a hospital training to be a doctor, I saw people die from the flu every year, Cobb said. Often the cause of death would be the pneumonia they developed while sick.

As we enter the peak of what promises to be a nasty influenza season, the Centers for Disease Control is reporting an increase in cases, apparently because this years flu vaccine is less effective against the predominant strains of the disease. So its important to do what you can do to avoid getting the flu and, if you do, to keep it from morphing into pneumonia.

Locally, the University Health System is reporting a record number of new cases for a single week (excluding the swine flu pandemic of 2009). During the week ending Dec. 23, UHS confirmed 254 cases of influenza type A and B.

There are several types of pneumonia. The most common, bacterial pneumonia, occurs when the flu virus weakens the immune system, making the lungs more susceptible to infection, often by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. This causes the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs to fill with pus and other fluid, making breathing difficult and starving the body of oxygen. In a worst-case scenario, this can lead to organ failure and death.

Viral pneumonia, on the other hand, occurs when the flu virus itself attacks the alveoli, to similar effect.

Pneumonia can strike even young, healthy adults, but a list of those at greatest risk include the elderly (especially nursing home residents) and the very young, diabetics, pregnant women, smokers, the obese and those with chronic health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes and asthma, or who are immune-compromised, such as the HIV-positive.

The obvious first step to avoid getting flu-related pneumonia is to avoid getting the flu. And the best way to do that is by getting the flu vaccine, which is recommended for everyone  other than those with medical complications  older than 6 months.

While the flu shot is never 100 percent effective, most years it can reduce risk by 10 percent to 60 percent, depending on the prevalent flu strain. Even if you do get sick, the vaccine should reduce the severity of the illness, which, if youve ever had the full-blown flu, can make you feel darn miserable for a week or more.

This year its particularly important to get the shot, said Dr. Jason Bowling, an infectious disease specialist with UT Health.

In Australia, where the flu season begins before ours, the vaccines effectiveness was pretty low, about 13 percent, he said. Thats because this years flu tends to have more minor genetic mutations, called drifting. So the vaccine doesnt match up with it as well as wed like.

Even if you havent been immunized yet, its not too late.

The flu season runs from through the end of March, so theres still plenty of time, Bowling said.

Other ways to reduce spread of the flu will be familiar to most people: avoid close contact with others, wash hands thoroughly and frequently, cover your mouth and nose when sneezing and coughing, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth and, if you do get sick, stay home from work or school until youve been fever-free for at least 24 hours.

There are also two pneumonia vaccines available for people 65 and older or at higher-than-normal risk. Yet only about half of healthy adults who are eligible are protected.

The first vaccine, called PCV13 (Prevnar 13), is a one-time dose that protects against 13 types of pneumoccal bacteria.

The second vaccine, administered a year later, is PPSV23 (Pneumovax) and protects against 23 strains. Depending on your age and overall health, your doctor may recommend a second dose of Pneumovax five years after the first.

If you do get the flu, its important to see a doctor as soon as possible.

If you suspect you have the flu, dont nurse yourself at home, said Dr. C. Junda Woo, medical director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. See a doctor so you can be tested to confirm, but also so you can get treated with an antiviral medication like Tamiflu.

Because antivirals are most effective if given within the first 24 to 48 hours of symptoms, the CDC recently put out an advisory stating that treatment should not be delayed even for a few hours to wait for the results of testing (for flu).

Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) can help lessen flu symptoms and may also reduce the risk your illness will develop into pneumonia.

Richard A. Marini is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | rmarini@express-news.net | @RichardMarini
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DANBURY  When State Police bloodhound Texas was lost last month during the search for a missing man near the Wooster Mountain State Park, numerous resources were immediately called in to help find the dog, including a helicopter.

But it took several hours for the air support, which can cost as much as $6,000 an hour to operate, to deploy. A drone, on the other hand, could have been available in as little as 15 minutes  and at a lower cost.

That was not an option for Danbury at the time, but it is now.

The Danbury Fire Department received its first drone last week. The device, which cost more than $20,000 and is equipped with a thermal heat-sensing camera, was given to the department by an anonymous donor.

Jamie Gagliardo, the drone program administrator for the department, said his interest in drones, which can carry several cameras at the same time, began several years ago after he was introduced to the machines by Deputy Chief Bernie Meehan.

We soon realized the value that this technology could provide in the field, Gagliardo said. With the drone we can hover over a fire scene providing us with a lot of information, from the location of the firefighters to hotspots inside the fire with the use of the thermal camera. You can set the drone so it will circle over a given point and maintain its camera position on the point of interest.

Additional features can also be added, including a zoom camera that can read a license plate from nearly two miles away and a hazardous materials monitor, Gagliardo said.

With the monitor on the drone, we could send it into a hazmat situation and determine the level of the contaminant before we ever send a firefighter into the scene, he said. That can be extremely valuable.

Unlike Danbury, other towns in the state, including Westport, have drones operated by the police department, not the fire department.

But even as the devices become an increasingly important tool for emergency officials, the drone industry and the rules that govern it are moving slowly.

The state Legislature considered a bill last year backed by Berlin police that would have allowed cops to fly drones equipped with lethal weapons. The proposal snagged national headlines  no other state allows lethal drones  and died in committee.

This was originally a good bill to protect communities from unwarranted police drone surveillance and prevent police from weaponizing drones, said David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, in a May 1 statement. The ACLU (supports) protecting people from unwarranted drone surveillance, but opposes the amendment to allow police to equip drones with lethal and less-lethal weapons.

In the year or so that Westport police have used a drone, its mainly flown at scenes of fatal or serious accidents, said Westport police officer Capt. Ryan Paulsson, a certified drone pilot.

Considering possibilities

Some Connecticut companies are positioning for a drone boom.

We envision a future where every squad car in America has a drone integrated into its computer system, said Paul Ouellette, a spokesman for a West Haven-based distributor Drone USA. At present, the drone industry is in infancy. (Police) departments are just learning how drones can make their work simpler and safer.

This summer, the company flew quadcopter and airplane-type drones in demonstrations to police departments in Trumbull and on Jennings Beach in Fairfield.

Drone USA hopes to get a foothold in the Connecticut and New Jersey markets by selling and servicing drones like the DJI Phantom 4 that Paulsson flies. Stamford police use a slightly older model. They retail for between $800 and $1,400.

The departments we encounter seem to be at different stages of interest, Ouellette said. For example, some departments are experimenting with DJI products; others tend to favor more sophisticated U.S. manufactured products.

Like any novel technology, the drone industry faces a novel set of problems.

In August, the U.S. military stopped using DJI drones, which are made in China, due to concern their data might not be secure. Documents posted online alleged data was shared with the Chinese government, and immigration officials started an investigation.

DJI Ltd. said in a statement that it doesnt look at flight logs, photos or video unless customers actively upload and share them with us, the Associated Press reported in December.

Flying and the Fourth Amendment

Privacy and other civil rights concerns persist.

Federal Aviation Administration rules treat emergency officials just like any other commercial drone operator, and prohibit flights before dawn.

But without additional legislation, theres no definite rule prohibiting police from flying their drone cameras over peoples houses, according to a 2014 study by the Connecticut General Assemblys Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee.

U.S. courts have never defined exactly how far above the ground private property ends and the so-called public highway of the navigable skies begins. The Supreme Court has yet to take up a drone case.

There is a place for drones in the police department, but they have to be used in accordance with the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, McGuire said.

In Danbury, Gagliardo has been busy learning more about the technology and earning the certification from the Federal Aviation Administration required to pilot the device.

The city is also in the process, in conjunction with Danbury Municipal Airport, of gaining a certificate of authorization that will allow the fire department to fly the drone in Danbury.

Authorization from the FAA is required to fly any drones in the city because the entire municipality  and parts of Ridgefield  are within the airports five mile approach zone.

All drone activity, even if its just recreational, must be approved by the control tower, said Mike Safranek, the assistant administrator of the airport. There is a misconception that hobbyists can fly wherever they want, but thats simply not true.

The regulations are in place, he said, to protect planes from drone activity, particularly during critical landing maneuvers.

Weve experienced a growing problem with people operating drones near the airport and its getting to the point where we will start calling the police, Safranek said. Its a criminal offense to fly a drone in the airports airspace.

The drone will be made available through mutual aid to other departments in the area, and requests already started coming before the device was even delivered to the city. If other departments call for the drone, Gagliardo will also be on call as its pilot.

We believe this will be a very popular resource, Gagliardo said. As far as I know, we are the only department in the area to have the technology.
1 Deadly fire: Two children and a woman died in a house fire Friday in Baton Rouge, La., where a neighbor watched in horror as another young woman ran from the home with her clothes on fire. A 19-year-old woman and a 5-year-old boy were taken to a hospital in critical condition, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. Louisiana is experiencing a surge in fire-related deaths  some of which are likely due to the use of space heaters during the recent spate of cold weather, the state fire marshals office said. Since December, fire officials have responded to more than six residential fires that resulted in more than 10 deaths.

2 Homeless eviction: Orange County officials are planning to clear an extensive homeless encampment on a riverbed trail within weeks. Authorities will post notices Tuesday that the hundreds of people living in tents on the 2-mile stretch near Angel Stadium in Anaheim will need to move. Supervisor Todd Spitzer said the county will clear the encampment on Jan. 22. The county has long said it eventually planned to clear the encampment that has ballooned in recent years along with a rise in homelessness. Homeless advocates say the plan will simply shuffle homeless people elsewhere due to a lack of housing.
Roy Watford was 18 and borderline intellectually disabled, when a Virginia judge asked him to make a decision that would go a long way to determine his future: How would he plead to the charge of raping a 12-year-old girl?

Watford contended he was innocent, but his grandfather urged him not to take the risk of going to trial. He was looking at the possibility of life in prison if convicted by a jury, while a prosecutor was offering a deal that would allow him to walk out of the courthouse without serving a day.

So Watford rose on March 23, 1978, with a heavy sense of shame and uttered the word that would dog him over the next four decades: guilty.

Watford, 58, of Chesapeake, Virginia, is now petitioning the Virginia Supreme Court to overturn his conviction, saying he erred in his plea and new evidence - including DNA tests - show he could not have committed the crime. The state opposes the motion, saying Watford has not met the high bar of proof to be cleared.

The court will hear oral arguments Wednesday before returning a decision.

Few think they would plead guilty to a crime they didn't commit, but a recent spate of cases like Watford's is bringing increased attention to the issue of defendants who claim they are innocent despite their guilty pleas. Innocence advocates say such cases raise questions about the plea bargain system, which has grown to resolve about 95 percent of felony criminal cases in the United States.

U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of New York, Jed Rakoff, said mandatory minimums and other factors that increased the length of sentences during the rise in crime between the late 1960s and mid-1990s have given prosecutors extraordinary leverage over defendants - even innocent ones.

"The penalty for going to trial is so high if you lose that, many people cannot take it," Rakoff said.

The National Registry of Exonerations database shows nearly 400 of the nation's roughly 2,140 known exonerees pleaded guilty to their crimes before being cleared, or about 18 percent of the total. The Innocence Project and others launched a campaign to highlight the issue earlier in 2017.

"People plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit all the time. I didn't realize the gravity of the situation," Watford said. "I was raised by my grandmother and grandfather and was never told anything wrong by them, so I listened to them."

Watford, who received a sentence of 10 years probation, said the rape conviction has left him unable to find steady work. He has bounced from job to job over the years, barely earning more than minimum wage.

Faded memories, missing evidence and the death of the detective involved have made re-examining his case challenging, but the basic outline is not in dispute.

Watford's trouble began on Sept. 14, 1977.

At a recent evidentiary hearing held to help the court make a decision about Watford's innocence claim, the rape victim testified that she got on her bike in Portsmouth, Virginia, and set out to find Watford, a teen she knew from the neighborhood. The Post generally does not name victims of sexual assault.

The victim testified she knocked on a door of a home that a neighbor said was vacant and used for trysts and partying.

When the door opened, the victim told the court she saw Watford's 15-year-old brother inside before someone threw a blanket over her head. She said her view remained blocked by the quilt during the attack that followed.

At the time of the incident, the victim told a detective she was taken inside the home, and raped and sodomized by three black males on a bare mattress, according to court records. The victim later identified the three Watford brothers as her attackers, according to court records.

But at the recent evidentiary hearing, the woman said the only person she could definitively say was in the house was the 15-year-old brother. The victim said she did not see Roy Watford that day and could not say whether she heard his voice during the assault. She did not remember whether she specifically identified Roy Watford to police as one of her attackers.

Joseph Edward Brown, a neighbor, testified at the evidentiary hearing that he and a friend happened to be passing by the vacant home around the time of the rape.

"We heard a girl screaming on the way home, so we went into the vacant house, saw the girl standing up screaming to the right," Brown testified. "Some guys were on the left. We took the girl out of the house."

After the attack, the victim went home and told her mother what happened, she testified at the evidentiary hearing. The victim's mother took her to the Naval Regional Medical Center, where she was examined and police were called.

Sperm was collected from a vaginal swab of the victim, the girl's jeans and the mattress, according to court records. DNA matching was not yet developed, so the material was not tested at the time.

Hairs were also taken from the scene of the crime that were eventually matched to Roy Watford and his other, 16-year-old brother. In the years since, hair matching has been discredited as a form of forensic science.

The Watford brothers were subsequently charged with rape and sodomy. Roy Watford had no previous criminal record and told The Washington Post he was hanging out with friends at a store in Portsmouth at the time of the rape. The Post does not generally name juveniles charged with crimes, so is it not naming Watford's brothers.

The 15-year-old brother was found "not innocent" in juvenile court and the charges against the 16-year-old were eventually dropped. The case against Roy Watford continued.

At his arraignment in March 1978, Roy Watford was offered the plea deal that included dropping the sodomy charge. The prosecutor, Gregory Pomije, had only a faint memory of the case but confirmed it was unusual to offer a deal of no jail time on a rape charge, according to court records.

Jon Sheldon, Roy Watford's attorney, said he felt the light punishment reflected the weakness of the case against Roy Watford.

After the conviction, Roy Watford returned to his life, continuing high school and working a job. He completed probation and has not had another charge since, but he said the conviction narrowed his horizons.

In 2005, then-Virginia Gov. Mark Warner ordered fresh DNA tests in thousands of criminal cases from 1973 to 1988 including Watford's, after a trove of biological samples was discovered in the case files of a deceased former analyst from the state's department of forensic science.

The sweeping review came after DNA evidence led to a handful of high-profile exonerations in the state that shook confidence in the justice system.

The DNA testing in Watford's case excluded all three brothers as contributing any of the biological material that was collected from the scene of the crime and the victim. The tests did not provide any positive matches.

Detectives visited the victim in 2010 and 2016 following the results of the DNA tests, but she did not provide any other details about the case and said she wanted to put it behind her, according to court records. The woman did not respond to requests for comment.

In August 2016, Roy Watford filed his petition for a writ of actual innocence with the Virginia Supreme Court.

The Virginia Office of the Attorney General opposed the motion, writing there was not enough evidence in the record to grant it since there wasn't a trial and the DNA evidence alone was not strong enough to prove Roy Watford's innocence.

The state argued the only DNA that could be definitively linked to the rape was that recovered from the victim's vagina, not what was found on her pants or the bed since they may have been deposited at other times.

Since there were multiple assailants, the OAG reasoned Roy Watford could have participated in the attack, but one of the other attackers could have deposited the sperm found in the victim. The OAG declined to comment.

"He has not shown by clear and convincing evidence that a rational trier of fact would have disbelieved [the victim]," the OAG wrote in response to Watford's petition.

Earlier in 2017, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered the April evidentiary hearing to ascertain facts that weren't in the record.

Watford said he is cautiously optimistic the court will side with him.
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Astronaut John Young -- the first man to make six trips to space and the ninth to walk the moon -- died Friday night from complications from pneumonia. He was 87.

Young was one of the nation's longest-serving astronauts, spending 47 years leading missions in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.

"Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer," NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said. "Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier."

Young's bravery and commitment "sparked our nation's first great achievements in space. But, not content with that, his hands-on contributions continued long after the last of his six spaceflights -- a world record at the time of his retirement from the cockpit," Lightfoot said in a prepared statement.

He served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years, retiring as a captain in 1976. The pilot joined NASA in 1962 in the second astronaut class, known as the "New Nine." Young was inspired to join NASA by President John F. Kennedy's 1961 call to land a man on the moon.

"I thought returning safely to Earth sounded like a good idea," said Young, according to a NASA statement.

Lightfoot noted that Young commanded the Gemini 10, the first mission to rendezvous with two separate spacecraft; orbited the moon in Apollo 10; landed on the moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission; and, on his final mission, landed the STS-9 with a fire in the back end.

In early 1973, Young became chief of the Space Shuttle Branch of the Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center. The following year, he was named chief of the Astronaut Office, a post he held until May 1987.

During his decades, he received a Congressional Space Medal of Honor, three NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, two Navy Distinguished Service Medal and dozens of other awards, including four honorary doctorate degrees.

He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988.

Young, who lived in El Lago near Clear Lake, retired in 2004 after logging 835 hours in space.

"I've been very lucky, I think," Young said at his retirement from NASA in 2004. As to which moment was most memorable, he says simply, "I liked them all."

Around his retirement, Young recounted his first trip to the moon on Apollo 10 with the Houston Chronicle. "The impressive thing about the back side of the moon is how many darn craters it has," he said. "If the back side of the moon was facing us, I think human beings would be far more adaptive, far more educated, about (asteroid or comet) impacts on planet Earth."

Former President George H. W. Bush mourned the loss of the astronaut in a statement Saturday, saying that Young was a good friend and also "a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time."

Bush went on to say that Young, "represented the best in the American spirit  always looking forward, always reaching higher" and "leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family."

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts shared his sadness about Young's death, tweeting on Saturday: "You were one of my heroes as an astronaut and explorer and your passion for space will be missed."

Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 340 days on a mission to the International Space Station, called Young "a true legend" and "the astronauts' astronaut," in a statement posted to Facebook Saturday.

"Fair winds and following seas, Captain," he wrote.
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The spillway failures at Oroville Dam that prompted tens of thousands to flee for their lives last winter were the result of years of mistakes, lax inspections and lazy repairs by the states water agency, a team of independent dam experts reported Friday.

Their conclusions: State water managers should not have built the dams primary spillway on faulty bedrock. They should have done more when the spillways concrete began to crack and water seeped through. And they should have been on high alert when the ground below began to give way.

Now Playing: A coalition of nonprofits who warned state officials of the dangers posed by Oroville Dam more than a decade ago released a report of recommendations to solve aging water infrastructure across California. Their recommendations include reconstructing the emergency spillway at Lake Oroville and for the Federal Energy Regulation Commission to incorporate dam safety into its relicensing criteria. The coalition also pointed to Folsom Dam as a good example for updating water infracture. Video: KCRA

Instead, during nearly 50 years of preventable decay, the California Department of Water Resources did only a few patch jobs on the half-mile-long water chute, leading up to its disintegration in February and prompting wider concern about how the state maintains its other nearly three dozen water storage sites.

The six-person team charged by federal regulators with investigating the nations tallest dam has pointed out several of the structural deficiencies in previous reports, but its latest and final assessment links them to a steady run of human missteps.

The 584-page document describes a culture of complacency, overconfidence and insularity at the Department of Water Resources that allowed errors to compound earlier errors, dating back all the way to the dams construction in the 1960s.

Although the authors say state managers had numerous opportunities to prevent spillway problems, they dont blame any individual. Nor do they identify a single root cause behind the dams flaws.

Although were recommending that DWR look at its organization and improve, many of the lessons apply to other dam owners as well, said John France, a geotechnical engineer and head of the review team. As a group, our industry needs to improve what were doing.

State water officials said Friday they are still reading the report but that they take the findings seriously.

As we have done in the past, we will carefully assess this report, share it with the entire dam safety community and incorporate the lessons learned going forward to ensure California continues to lead the nation on dam safety, said Grant Davis, director of the Department of Water Resources.

The report notes that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency tasked with inspecting all dams that generate electricity, also failed to spot long-standing issues at Oroville Dam, as did several consultants who worked with the state.

The report calls the repeated oversights a wake-up call for everyone responsible for dam safety.

People should not lose sleep over this, but they should be concerned, France said.

The problems at 770-foot-tall Oroville Dam, located about 75 miles north of Sacramento, became obvious to everyone on Feb. 7. A section of the giant spillway fractured as large volumes of water poured out of the reservoir, prompting dam operators to turn to an emergency spillway, essentially a barren hillside, to make releases. The backup chute, however, also began to fall apart.

Fears that water would pour uncontrollably out of the lake prompted officials to order evacuations for 180,000 people living downstream.

The new report takes issue with how state water officials handled the crisis as well. The slopes of the emergency spillway were geologically unsound and not tested, according to the document, and dam operators should not have allowed water releases there.

As it turns out, dam operators were able to use the broken main spillway to make safe releases and prevent the reservoir from overflowing. The reports authors say the primary chute should never have been taken out of service.

The decisions were made with the best of intentions, the report said, but against the advice of civil engineering and geological personnel.

The panels assessment dates the issues at the dam to even before the first concrete was poured. The ground beneath both the primary and backup spillways was not as strong as it should have been, the authors say, and few at the Department of Water Resources took note initially or in the ensuing years.

Although the poor foundation conditions at both spillways were well documented in geology reports, these conditions were not properly addressed in the original design and construction, and all subsequent reviews mischaracterized the foundation as good quality rock, the report said.

The person who designed the spillway, the report said, had only limited experience with such work.

Shortly after the dam was built, cracks emerged on the main spillway, according to the assessment. Rather than recognize a problem, dam managers assumed the fractures were normal.

The report identifies five fixes that were done on the main chute as the cracks widened, one as late as 2013. But none got to the heart of the problem. According to the panel, water seeped into the ground and slowly ate away at the soil and the spillways anchors. In addition, the drains proved insufficient.

The dams damaged spillways have since been mostly rebuilt in what amounted to one of the fastest construction projects in modern state history. The costs so far have totaled $500 million.

In the wake of Februarys scare, state water officials have begun a review of Oroville Dam as well as evaluations of spillways at other reservoirs.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
President Donald Trump continues to defend himself in the wake of a new book that suggests top White House aides fear that he is unfit for the job.

In a tweetstorm Saturday morning, the president called himself a "very stable genius" and called being "really smart" one of his greatest assets. Trump cited his career in business and reality television and his victory in last year's election as evidence of his mental prowess. And he again lashed out at the ongoing special counsel investigation into his campaign's contacts with Russian operatives, calling suggestions that he colluded with Moscow a "total hoax on the American public."

"....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star....." Trump tweeted Saturday, "....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!"

Trump's outburst came a day after the public release of a new book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," by Michael Wolff, a New York media columnist who said he spent time in the West Wing interviewing top aides, as well as Trump.

Wolff paints the picture of a president who is unfit for the job and aides who come to fear Trump is not capable of, or interested in, processing information and making important decisions. Late Friday, Trump blasted Wolff as a "total loser," and the president mocked his former campaign chairman and White House adviser, Stephen Bannon, who was a key source for the book. Bannon criticized other aides and Trump's son, calling a meeting at Trump Tower last year between Donald Jr. and a Russian lawyer "treasonous."

"Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone," Trump said on Twitter.

White House aides have mounted an all-out attack on the book since it was first reported on Wednesday, calling it "fiction" and a "complete fantasy." And Trump's lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to Wolff and his publisher demanding they not release the book. But the publisher, Henry Holt, moved up the release date from later this month to Friday amid the publicity, and hard copies were quickly sold out in the Washington area.

Reporters asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday to respond to the book's suggestion that Trump is mentally unfit for office.

"It's disgraceful and laughable," she said. "If he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen. This is an incredibly strong and good leader. That's why we've had such a successful 2017 and why we're going to continue to do great things as we move forward in this administration."
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A former H-E-B executive convicted in October on 48 counts of possession and promotion of child pornography was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

John Campbell was indicted in November 2016 on 53 counts of possession and promotion of child pornography and was fired after he admitted attaching a photo of a naked male who was a minor to a business email in April 2014. Bexar County jurors found him guilty on 48 counts and not guilty on five counts of possession.

Campbell had elected to be sentenced by state District Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl.

Earlier Friday, Campbell testified at a presentencing investigation hearing and spent most of the morning talking about his childhood and ambitions. He started at H-E-B while in high school and eventually worked his way up to executive management. His career spanned more than 40 years with the San Antonio-based grocer, and he was credited with designing the upscale Central Market stores.

Under direct questioning by his lawyer, Charlie Baird, Campbell said he is a changed man and not the person he used to be. He also admitted he was an alcoholic, workaholic and a sex addict who viewed pornography up to eight hours a day, including while at work, which led to his firing and eventually his conviction.

I was ashamed and heartsick that I had gotten into that situation, he said. It bought my career to a close and brought shame to the family.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Josh Somers, Campbell at first said he did not know the ages of the males in the photographs, but when shown an image taken from his computer of a 5-year-old boy engaged in a sex act, Campbell eventually admitted he knew the boy was underage and that the image sexually aroused him.

My conduct was unnatural, reprehensible, disgusting and out of line, said Campbell. I couldnt help myself.

Somers told Campbell the children in the images were victims of sex abuse and that each time he viewed the photos, it is as if they were victimized again.

Do you believe you perpetuated and played a role (in victimizing them)? Somers asked.

Yes, I did, Campbell replied.

Family and supporters filled both sides of the gallery in the 175th state District Court, and the defense called 10 witnesses who spoke fondly of Campbell and touted him on his rehabilitation efforts since he was arrested in 2014 after he sent a lewd photograph to a co-worker.

In his closing argument, Baird told the judge that Campbell, who had no previous criminal record, deserved probation because he is a man of exceptional kindness, who gave money to start a school for girls.

This is not somebody who comes to you like a DWI who gets another chance and falls off the wagon, Baird told Torres-Stahl, adding that Campbell attended 90 meetings of Sex Addicts Anonymous in 90 days right after his arrest and has helped others with similar addictions.

Somers reminded the judge that Campbell also participated in a lewd Skype chat in which he asked the boy, Is your mom around, to see if it was safe enough to chat.

You didnt get to hear from those children, Somers told Torres-Stahl. You have the opportunity to send a message and to be a voice for those children.

Before she sentenced Campbell, Torres-Stahl said although she felt the work Campbell has done in rehabilitation was admirable, she was disturbed by the lewd conversation in the Skype chat.

She sentenced Campbell, 67, to 10 years on six counts of promotion of child pornography and eight years on 42 counts of possession of child pornography. The sentences will be served at the same time, and Campbell will be eligible for parole after he has served a quarter of his sentence.

Promotion of child pornography is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Possession of child pornography is a third-degree felony with a punishment of two to 10 years in prison.
The Alabama home of Tina Johnson, who accused former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of groping her, was destroyed Tuesday in a fire that is being investigated as an act of arson.

Johnson's house on Lake Mary Louise Road in Gadsden caught fire Tuesday morning, according to AL.com. Johnson and her husband were at work at the time and her grandson was at school.
WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday presented Congress with an expansive list of hard-line immigration measures, including an $18 billion request to build a wall at the Mexican border, that President Donald Trump is demanding in exchange for protecting young unauthorized immigrants.

The request, which totals $33 billion over 10 years for border security measures including the wall, could jeopardize bipartisan talks aimed at getting an immigration deal. Among the items on Trump's immigration wish list: money to hire 10,000 additional immigration officers, tougher laws for those seeking asylum, and denial of federal grants to "sanctuary cities."

The list, delivered to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., who has been leading the talks related to young immigrants without documentation, is identical to one Democrats declared a non-starter when the White House issued it in October.

"President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall," a furious Durbin said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon. "With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction."

The senator went on: "It's outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish list of hard-line anti-immigrant bills - plus an additional $18 billion in wall funding - on the backs of these young people."

An estimated 780,000 young people brought to this country illegally were shielded from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, a program instituted by former President Barack Obama in 2012. But in September, Trump rescinded the program, known by its acronym, DACA, and gave Congress six months to come up with a replacement.

'Punch list' delivered

Since then, immigration advocates say, 14,000 young people have lost their protected status because they could not renew two-year work permits issued under the program.

Durbin and four other senators - including three Republicans - have been meeting nearly every day for the past two months to negotiate a deal that would protect the DACA recipients while beefing up border security, a key Republican demand. Senators said they were making progress but were stalled while awaiting a "punch list" from the White House that would set forth the president's conditions.

The White House documents include a list of "critical physical border security requirements," including the $18 billion for a "border wall system," first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday. The money would be used to construct more than 2,000 miles of new or replacement barriers along the border with Mexico.

Durbin, who said he would continue the bipartisan talks with his senate colleagues "in good faith," made the documents public late Friday afternoon, sparking an intense reaction from his fellow Democrats. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic House leader, took to Twitter, writing, "@realDonald Trump, that border wall funding you are asking for (again) could do so much more good in other places .... .NoWall".

The White House issued the demands as Trump decamped to Camp David, where he was meeting with Republican congressional leaders to address a series of issues - including keeping the government open past Jan. 19.

But part of the discussions were also expected to center on how to reach an accord with Democrats over protections for the immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, those known as Dreamers, as well as how to fund a major children's health care program that is in danger of running out of funds.

The president met with Republicans at the White House on Wednesday, but the meetings at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, are designed to come up with a clearer strategic approach.

Stopgap bill expires Jan. 19

The administration and Congress must also strike a deal to raise statutory limits on military and domestic spending before Jan. 19, when the current stopgap spending bill expires.

If they cannot reach a deal, the government could be forced into a partial shutdown almost a year to the day after Trump was sworn into office.

How Trump works with Congress over these critical domestic issues will set a tone for his second year in office, and could shape the 2018 midterm election landscape. Republicans are deeply concerned that their majorities in the House and Senate may be in jeopardy.

Earlier this week, the president expressed some hope that he could reach a deal with Democrats over the Obama-era immigration initiative, which allowed immigrants illegally brought to the United States as children to be shielded from deportation and to receive temporary, renewable work permits.

Trump said then that, in addition to the wall, he wanted to limit family-based migration, which critics call "chain migration," that allows relatives to sponsor family members to come to the United States. And he wants to do away with the diversity visa lottery, a State Department program that admits immigrants from countries that do not send many people to the United States.

"We'd love to take care of DACA," Trump said Thursday, "but we're only going to do it under these conditions."

In a Twitter message Tuesday, the president accused Democrats of "doing nothing for DACA" and being interested only in politics.

Whether that approach will bring along dubious Democrats is not certain, but it is clear that DACA is only one piece of a larger puzzle.

While many Democrats support ending the visa program and stiffening border and interior enforcement, it is not clear whether they will back the measures that Republicans demand to limit what they call "chain migration," allowing immigrants to sponsor family members once they gain legal status.

"Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to," Pelosi said in an interview on Tuesday.
Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office of Drug and Crimes as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.

In developing countries such as Haiti, where, according to the World Bank, a quarter of people live on less than $1.23 per day, this type of activity happens frequently, often because parents are unable to provide their children with the education and food they need. In most cases, they are sent to live with other families or orphanages on the promise that they will be taken care of. In exchange, the children are required to perform domestic services.

The term used to refer to these children is restavek, a Haitian Creole word meaning to stay with. There are an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 restavek children in Haiti. Because of the domestic nature of these services, it is hard for governing agencies to determine if many children are being used as restavek labor.

Many children sent to live in orphanages end up in terrible conditions, with no clean water or medical care, and they are often sexually exploited. In November, a 35-year-old man from Miami was found guilty of traveling to Haiti multiple times to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minor girls under his care at an orphanage in the city of Jacmel.

There have been several laws and decrees issued by the Haitian government to set boundaries for child domestic labor, including in 2015 the creation of a national committee on human trafficking. Most of these laws are underfunded or unknown to the public, and law enforcement struggles to implement many governmental policies. So restavek labor continues to be a widespread practice in all social classes across Haiti, despite the laws against it.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. This sheds light on what is happening not just in Haiti but around the world. Additionally, organizations such as Lumos and LiveBeyond are proactively trying to educate and end the cycle of human trafficking and child labor. So far, Lumos has worked with the Haitian government to close five orphanages that traffic children.

At LiveBeyond, the Ke Pou Timoun program provides an alternative for parents faced with sending off their children. Ke Pou Timoun means Heart for Children in Haitian Creole.

The goal of this program is to improve all areas of the childrens lives. Monday through Friday, more than 200 children come to the LiveBeyond base for two nutritious meals, literacy lessons in Creole and English, Bible lessons, tutoring, leadership training, and regular basic health checkups. Taking the financial stress off families means they can keep their children at home, where they are safe, and reduce the risk that they will be trafficked.

What can the average American do to help prevent human trafficking? Because poverty is a root cause, the best course of action is to support organizations working to eradicate poverty with sustainable solutions, such as LiveBeyond. Anyone looking to donate to other groups working in Haiti should research them carefully, as Lumos has done, to ensure they are truly looking out for the best interests of families in need, and then give to those organizations.

With all of us working together, we can make a difference for all these precious children, protecting them from lives of slavery and prostitution.

Devin Vanderpool of Kerrville is the director of communications for LiveBeyond, a nonprofit humanitarian organization founded by David and Laurie Vanderpool in 2005 dedicated to providing clean water, medical care and adequate nutrition to the poorest of the poor.
iStock/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) -- Washington state will allow residents to change the sex on their birth certificates to a nonbinary option called X.



Social norms are changing, state registrar and Center for Health Statistics director Christie Spice told ABC News on Friday. When a persons gender designation on their birth certificate doesnt match how people present themselves, it opens the door to harassment and intimidation.



The new rule, announced Thursday and effective Jan. 27, also removes the need for medical approval from a primary physician for adults who want to change the sex status on their birth certificate.



Minors who don't identify male or female and want to change their sex designation still need written consent from a parent or legal guardian and medical input. The difference now is that the list of health care professionals who can approve the change has expanded for minors to include primary physicians, physician assistants, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and mental health counselors, according to the state Department of Health.



People interested in changing their sex classification must complete a request, have it notarized and submit it to the health department.



Washington state has allowed residents to change their sex designation from male to female and vice versa for the past 10 years, Spice said, adding that the movement toward a third option stemmed largely from changing social norms.



We received a couple of requests from residents but we were already in the process of discussing the new rule, Spice told ABC News.



The Department of Health put the process in motion in August, followed by a public hearing in December. [The hearing] was a packed house, Spice said. There were people on both sides of the issue but a majority supported the change.



Some who argued against the rule said a birth certificate should only reflect information available at birth.



Other attendees discussed what some see as positive aspects of the new rule, such as freedom of expression and speech, as well as destigmatization.



The Department of Health also received about 1,000 written comments, Spice said. We took every comment into consideration when we drafted the language for the rule, she added.



The rule was signed by Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman and officially adopted Dec. 27, but not publicly released until Thursday, a state official said.



Washington will be the second state to enact the third sex rule, after Oregon. California is also adopting the law, effective in September.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
By ANI

JAKARTA: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Sectary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter to inform about the meeting.

Kumar tweeted:

Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy. pic.twitter.com/CRDqfe3zcF  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

Later in the day, she will address the Indian community in the capital city.

Earlier on Friday, India and Indonesia condemned all forms of terrorism at the 5th Joint Commission meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

"We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms. We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approach to deal with this group of menace and called upon all the countries to stop providing state sponsorship to terrorism and prevent their territories to stop being used for establishing terrorist safe havens," Swaraj said.

The two leaders also reviewed trade, energy ties, defence cooperation and people to people links in the meeting.

JAKARTA: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Sectary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar took to Twitter to inform about the meeting. Kumar tweeted: Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy. pic.twitter.com/CRDqfe3zcF  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018 Later in the day, she will address the Indian community in the capital city. Earlier on Friday, India and Indonesia condemned all forms of terrorism at the 5th Joint Commission meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries. "We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms. We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approach to deal with this group of menace and called upon all the countries to stop providing state sponsorship to terrorism and prevent their territories to stop being used for establishing terrorist safe havens," Swaraj said. The two leaders also reviewed trade, energy ties, defence cooperation and people to people links in the meeting.
Suicide barrier study gets OK from RITBA board

Barrier advocates argue the state needs to address the need for safety barriers with more urgency.
Reporter/Columnist

Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth).
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 28F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 17F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Mumbai: Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan on Saturday praised the company's co-founder Nandan Nilekani for correcting the 'wrongdoings' committed by previous board, by fixing a reasonable salary for the incumbent CEO.

"I think the board under Nandan has done the right thing to correct the previous wrongdoings.. The salary structure for the current Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh looks reasonable with a large part tied to variable salary with greater focus on long-term retention," he told PTI.

Balakrishnan said it is important for the board to clearly articulate the performance metrics for the vesting of variable salaries to senior management.

"The metrics should have clear focus on increasing shareholders' value by achieving superior growth.. If the board wants to exercise any discretion it should be explained to the shareholders with proper reasoning," he said.

Infosys has fixed Parekh's salary at Rs 6.5 crores with an eligibility for variable pay of Rs 9.75 crores at the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Elaborating on the 'wrongdoings' by the previous board, Balakrishnan said, "unfortunately, it never clearly understood the culture or value systems followed by Infosys under its founders, which resulted in excessive senior management salaries and a huge disconnect with rest of the organisation."

"The former CEO's (Vishal Sikka) salary was increased substantially without clear reason while the rest of the organisation had to contend with meager salary hikes and reduced variable compensation," he added.

The USD 20 billion target by 2020 was loosely used to justify the pay increase to the CEO that lacked conviction, Balakrishnan alleged.

Recalling N R Narayana Murthy's views, he said excess in capitalism will make the acceptance of capitalism difficult to a large sections of the society.

"The CEO compensation should be reasonable enough to attract top talent while at the same time be comparable with peer group companies," the company's former CFO said.

"It should also reflect the realities within the organization otherwise selling it internally will be difficult," he added.

Balakrishnan also said when the founders ran the company, the senior management salaries were reasonable enough to attract top talent and were never considered excessive. Also, in difficult times, the leadership took the pain before it being passed on to rest of the organisation, he added.

"Leadership by example was practiced both in substance and form," Balakrishnan said. He also said, "As a shareholder, I want the board to be restructured quickly with some members who were part of the earlier dispensation like the erstwhile co-chairman (Ravi Venkatesan) and audit committee chairman (Roopa Kudva) be replaced."

An effective board is the need of the hour to establish proper checks and balances that was lacking in the earlier dispensation, Balakrishnan said.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday ordered a monthly payment of 1,000 riyals ($267) to state employees over the next year in compensation for rising cost of living after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax (VAT).

In a royal decree published by state news media, the king also ordered the payment of 5,000 riyals to military personnel serving at the front lines with Yemen where the kingdom is fighting a nearly three-year-old war.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, roughly doubled gasoline prices on Monday as part of a broad reform initiative aimed at diversifying its economy. A 5 percent VAT on a broad range of goods and services came into effect on the same day.

The new payment orders were an acknowledgment of "the increased burdens for some segments of the population following from the necessary measures which the state took to restructure theeconomy," according to the decree.

King Salman directed the state to bear the burden of VAT in some situations, including special health and education services as well as the first purchase of a house that is valued at up to 850,000 riyals ($226,660). Allowances for students, retirees and social security recipients were also boosted.

The decree did not reveal the total cost of the new allowances, but it appeared to be considerably smaller than some past handouts by Saudi kings, and therefore unlikely to have much impact on economic growth or the state budget deficit.

About 1.18 million Saudis are employed in the government sector and there are more than 1.23 million pensioners and beneficiaries of pension payments, the central bank says. That suggests a total package cost of about 23 billion riyals, according to Reuters calculations.

That compares to a projected 2018 deficit of 195 billion riyals, according to a budget plan released last month. A package of handouts marking King Salman's accession to the throne in early 2015 was estimated to cost more than 100 billion riyals.

Saudi Arabia will slow plans to eliminate subsidies for a wide range of energy products, according to a new long-term fiscal plan in the 2018 state budget.
New Delhi: Tata Group and Singapore Airlines are open to potentially bidding for debt-ridden national carrier Air India, a top official at Vistara, the joint venture owned by the firms, said on Friday.

Air India, which was founded in the 1930s by the Tata Group and nationalised in 1953, is saddled with a debt of $8.5 billion. The government agreed last June to sell it, after multiple efforts to resurrect the business failed.

Leslie Thng, chief executive of Vistara, the carrier launched jointly by the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines in 2015, said in response to a question at a news conference that the companies were "open to evaluating" a potential bid for Air India.

"They keep an open mind," Thng said, without elaborating.

It was not immediately clear if the companies might bid jointly or separately.

Several private domestic carriers have expressed an interest in buying the beleaguered airline, which still has about a 13 percent market share in India, and is the country's third biggest carrier, according to analysts and government reports.

Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran said late last year that the company would be interested in bidding for Air India.

Vistara's Thng, at the conference, also said the group would lease five more A320neo aircraft by June 2018. Vistara currently has a total of 17 aircrafts on lease, including four of the fuel-efficient A320neos.
Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led government might have announced a Minimum Support Price (MSP) to help out the about 25 lakh farmers of the state, but it does not seem to be good enough. On Saturday morning, the state capital woke up to see thousands of tonnes of potatoes strewn on city roads.

Disgruntled farmers brought tonnes of potatoes loaded in tractor-trolleys, trucks and dumped them on roads, right in front of the CM House and UP State Assembly.

After a record production of 155-160 lakh metric tonne potatoes in Uttar Pradesh during 2016-17, the state government after its cabinet meeting in April last year, had decided to buy the produce at a rate of Rs 487 per quintal. The procurement, of nearly one lakh metric tonne potatoes, was to start immediately.

CM Yogi Adityanath had also reached out to the central government and asked Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to ask other states to procure potato from UP. Adityanath also wanted potato crop from the state to get prominence for procurement in the Centres E-National Agricultural Mart.

Speaking to News18, farmer leader, Harnam Singh said, The government might have announced a basic MSP but the procurement is next to nil. Also, the support price of Rs 487 per quintal is not enough. They have not taken into account the money paid by farmers to store their produce in the cold storages. In such a situation farmers are forced to dump their produce on roads.

Singh added that the government was only interested in handing out figures about their help to farmers. Figures dont help or provide any relief to farmers. Farmers sit on dharna in this cold weather and no one cares. If the government does not wake up now, it will face consequences, he said.

BJP Spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi responded to the claims and said, UP was one of the first states to announce a minimum support price for potato. But yes, I admit that it might not be enough. We are working towards addressing this issue.

Meanwhile, SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar has said that strict action will be taken against those who littered with streets with potatoes. The police have identified the people and the vehicles they used to do this, he said.
Indore: Police in Madhya Pradesh have booked the driver of the school bus which crashed along the Indore bypass killing him along with four students.

The accident occurred on Friday after the steering wheel jammed of the bus belonging to Delhi Public School in Indore and it swerved into the opposite lane before colliding into a truck coming from the other side.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manoj Kumar Rai told PTI that an FIR was lodged at the Kanadiya police station under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against Rahul Sisodia Sisodia (35) and some unidentified persons.

However, following public outrage over the accident, Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh ordered DIG, Indore, to probe the accident.

The probe report, a copy of which is available to News18, revealed that the bus at the time of the incident was running at the speed of 80km/hour which was sufficient to prove that the speed governor fitted in the vehicle was not working properly.

Furthermore, DPS student Harman Singh who also used to travel in the same bus, told the media that Sisodia had told him about technical snags in the bus which he complained to administration but no one paid any attention.

Had I attended school on Friday, I would have talked to school administration as requested by the driver, he said.

Following the report, the government has ordered a case to filed against DPS Indore and the company which manufactured the defective speed governor. The order mentioned that the bus driver had complained to the school administration regarding some technical snag in the vehicle but the management did not listen to his inputs.

A large crowd turned up to pay tribute to the children who died in the accident and took part in their funeral procession on Saturday.

RTO Bhopal did not confirm the claims that no school bus failed fitness test in one year in the city. However, one of the officers off the record accepted that they dont reject application and hold it until shortcomings are done away with.

(With inputs from Vivek Trivedi)
Mumbai: While the Pune police has registered a case against Jignesh Mevani for a provocative speech, Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the Gujarat MLA was not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district on January 1.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader, said there was tension in the area even prior to the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1.

Dalits visiting the war memorial at Bhima-Koregaon had reportedly come under attack on January 1. Dalit leaders had blamed certain pro-Hindutva leaders, who were opposed to the anniversary celebrations, for the attacks, while the latter sought to blame Mevanis provocative speech, which was delivered a day earlier.

Jignesh is not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon. There was tension in the area prior to January 1. I had visited the place and the tension had eased. So, I had returned to Delhi on December 31. On the same day, Jignesh had delivered his speech at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune. He had not gone to Bhima-Koregaon. Some groups had held a meeting at night and the violence took place on January 1, the Union minister of state for social justice said.

I have congratulated Jignesh on his Assembly election victory. It is good that a young, fresh Dalit face is emerging. My advice to him is that he should focus on uniting the society and not dividing it, said Athawale, who heads a faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

On Mevanis demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the January 1 anti-Dalit violence, Athawale said, It is not necessary that the prime minister should comment on every development. After the Una incident (where Dalits were assaulted by cow vigilantes), Modi had criticised it.

Fadnavis had assured him that those responsible for the Bhima-Koregaon violence would be punished and accepted his demand of compensation for those whose properties were damaged, the Union minister said.

Athawale also said he was going to organise a social harmony conference in Pune on January 13.

Referring to a demand put forward by some leaders of the Maratha community, he said he was open to a debate on the misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If Dalits and tribals were treated with respect, there would not be any need for such a law, Athawale said, while ruling out the possibility of its abolition at present.

The January 3 Maharashtra shutdown against the Bhima- Koregaon violence had put the Dalit communitys strength in focus, the Union minister said.

If Dalits can come together to voice their anger, the RPI factions can also do so to lend political strength to the community, he added.

He was ready to work under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar (who had called for the Maharashtra Bandh on January 3), Athawale said, adding, United, we can decide if we should contest elections independently or align with the BJP or the Congress.

The Pune police has lodged an FIR against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged provocative speeches during the Elgar Parishad, organised in the city on December 31 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

The FIR was registered under IPC section 153(a) (promoting enmity between two groups).

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory over the Peshwas army at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Companys forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.
Mumbai: The police on Saturday arrested Yug Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer and one of the owners of the Mojo's Bistro pub, in connection with the deadly fire at the Kamala Mills compound on December 29, which had claimed 14 lives.

Officials from the N M Joshi Marg police station arrested Pathak, the son of retired director general of police and former Pune police commissioner K K Pathak, the police said.

Yesterday, the Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary probe report on the fire, which had engulfed Mojo's Bistro and the adjacent "1 Above" pub at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, had said the fire possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying embers from a hookah.

The police today booked Pathak and his partner, Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions.

The police had recorded Pathak's statement in the case earlier.

The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR, which was lodged on December 29 against the owners of "1 Above" -- Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar -- said a police official.

"As of now, we have arrested Pathak, while his partner Tulli has been summoned as he is also wanted in the case," senior police inspector, attached to the N M Joshi Marg police station, Ahmed Pathan said.

"We will produce Pathak before a court soon," he added. Earlier, the police had arrested two managers of "1 Above" in connection with the fire. The police have also announced a reward of Rs one lakh for any information about the three pub owners, who are on the run.
Srinagar: At least 11 people have been confirmed dead while three, including a seven-year-old, were rescued on Saturday, day after an avalanche hit Tangdhar sector in north Kashmirs Kupwara district.

Among those killed was an officer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) whose vehicle was swept away in the avalanche at Sadna Top, an ascent point on the Kupwara-Tangdhar highway. Another BRO officer in the vehicle was among the three rescued.

Two vehicles were buried in snow when the avalanche struck on Friday evening, following which rescue operations were launched comprising teams of civilians, army and police personnel.

Among the first bodies to be recovered was that of Beacon officer MP Singh who was declared brought dead at a military medical facility in Chowkibal.

In a separate operation, a 7-year-old boy was rescued in Khoni Nallah near Sadhna Top. The driver of the vehicle had jumped out when the avalanche occurred.

The residents of Tandhar have been demanding a tunnel to bypass the treacherous uphill trek, especially with the onset of winters. The area is avalanche prone and every year casualties are reported on the stretch. A tunnel will make Tangdhar accessible throughout the year, without people having to go through the risks of taking the other route.

Jammu and Kashmir minister for disaster management and relief, Javeed Mustafa, has sanctioned Rs 4 lakh each to the deceased and other relief material.

This is not the first of weather related tragedy in the area. Several people perish every year to the avalanches and mudslides in the area. The problem for the roughly 70000 people who live in the area is that is gets buried under up to 10 feet of snow from the first snowfall of the season. The stretch from Chowkibal to Sadna Top and down are prone to snow slides.

''This is a perennial problem. We are cut off for months together wherever it snows here. We are literally in prison for six months. We can't take sick out of Tangdhar on winters,'' said Mohammad Maqbool, a resident.

Maqbool, a former zonal education officer, said that residents of the area have been demanding a tunnel between Chowkibal and Zarla in Karnah.

"This would bypass the treacherous Sadna Top and make travel less risky," he said.

Arif Khwaja, who serves as a doctor in the area says the pre-feasibility study with government suggests the tunnel should be only 6.25 km long which is not a big deal considering the level of advancement in tunnel digging technology.

"Tangdhar being at a strategically important location badly needs a tunnel. This will make the area accessible all the time," he said.
Ranchi: Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced to three-and-a half-years in jail by a Ranchi court on Saturday in the fodder scam case.

The punishment was handed down to 69-year-old Lalu by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh through videoconferencing since the RJD leader is lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in the case on December 23.

Soon after the sentencing, a post from his Twitter handle criticised the BJP for fixing him. I will die happily fixing myself for social justice, harmony & equality, Yadav said in the tweet.

This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam. Prasad faces another three scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.

The special judge also sent 15 other convicts in the case to prison for terms varying between three and six months and seven years under sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said a fine totaling Rs 10 lakhs was imposed the RJD supremo. The counsel said failure to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and the PCA would entail another six months in jail for the RJD leader.

Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for offences of cheating, read with criminal conspiracy, using as genuine a forged document and other sections under the IPC

He was also given a jail term of three years and six months in the case under the PCA. The sentences will run concurrently, he said.

Lalus counsel Chittaranjan Sinha said his client would filed an appeal next week against the verdict in the Jharkhand high court. His son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said he would also move the High Court for bail. A jail term of over three years means that bail can only be granted by the HC and not the lower court.

Former Bihar CM and RJD senior leader Rabri Devi and leader of opposition Tejshwi Yadav after the press conference in Patna on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

Apart from Lalu, convicts Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Beck Julious, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram have also been sentenced to three-and-half-years in jail and a Rs 5 lakh fine was imposed on them. RJD leader Jagdish Sharma got the maximum jail term, seven years, and a fine of Rs 10 lakh was imposed on him.

The court had on Friday concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against Lalu in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

The RJD chief was given a prison term of five years on September 30, 2013, in another fodder scam case. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after having remained in jail for over two-and-a-half months.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

Reacting to the verdict, the BJP and its ally JD(U) said no one was above the law while the RJD claimed its leader fell prey to a "conspiracy" by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain asserted the verdict shows the law was equal for all. JD(U) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the courts decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.
Mumbai: A major fire gutted the Cinevista studio at Gandhi Nagar Junction in Mumbais Kanjurmarg area on Saturday evening but no casualties were reported.

According to the BMC Disaster Control, the fire erupted in the studio around 8pm and at least 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire was confined to a 3,000 square feet ground plus first floor area of the studio where shootings are usually held.

The blaze came just days after a massive blaze claimed the lives of 14 people in the Kamala Mills compound, and another one in Andheri that claimed the lives of four people.

The official said that shooting for two TV serials was underway in the studio and there were some people inside, but they were quickly evacuated. Located in a five acre property, the studio has over 30 shooting locations.

The studio is owned by Prem Kishen, son of erstwhile actor Premnath. Electric wiring, lights and other studio equipment were gutted in the blaze, the cause of which is not known.

Last September, a shooting floor in the famous R.K.Studios, Chembur had been reduced to ashes along with some priceless memorabilia belonging to Bollywood's Kapoor family.
Bengaluru: The seven-member expert committee constituted to look into the issue of separate religion status to Veerashivas/Lingayats has sought six months time to submit its report.

The committee, which met for the fist time today,had been given four weeks time by the government to submit its report.

"We cannot complete our work in the four weeks time that the government has given us," Committee Chairman, Justice H N Nagamohan Das told reporters here after the meeting.

"This is an important issue and the committee has an important responsibility to fulfill," he said.

Das said that in order to complete the work as per law and in a scientific manner, the committee has decided to seek six months time from the government to submit the report.

Recently, the Karnataka State Minorities Commission (KSMC), to which the state government had referred the issue, had formed a seven-member committee, headed by retired high court Judge H N Nagamohan Das, to look into the issue of separate religion status to Veerashivas/Lingayats.

With the committee seeking six months time, the issue of seperate religion status is unlikely to reach conclusion before the Karnataka assembly elections, due early this year.

The Opposition BJP has been accusing the ruling Congress of using the issue for political reasons, keeping the assembly elections in mind.

The demand for a separate religion tag to Veerashaiva/ Lingayat faiths has surfaced from the numerically strong and politically-influential community, amidst resentment from within over projecting the two communities as the same.

While one section led by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha has demanded separate religion status,asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other group wants it only for Lingayats as they believe that Veerashaiva is one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism.

The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that owes allegiance to the 12th century "social reform movement" initiated by Basaveshwara has a substantial population in Karnataka, especially in the northern parts of the state.

Pointing out that no representation has been provided for women during its constitution, the committee has also decided to give an opportunity to any interested party to submit their petitions along with documents before it.

It also said that opportunity would be provided to the petitioners for oral hearing, for which dates would be fixed during the next meeting.

Initial petitions that went to the committee included one arguing that Lingayats/Veerashaivas are Hindus, and the other by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha demanding minority religion tag for them.
Kolkata: The political establishment of the country may have locked horns over the passage of the Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament, but one of Kolkatas most prominent Muslim Royal families has welcomed the move.

Dr Talat Fatima, the great-great-granddaughter of Nawab of Oudh Wajid Ali Shah, backed the controversial legislation and called for the abrogation of instant triple talaq in the country.

Speaking to News18.com, Fatima said, Triple Talaq has been banned in 22 Islamic countries. Hence, it must be immediately abrogated in India.

Fatima  a former Principal of Law College in Dholpur, Rajasthan and author of Cyber Crimes  said, Triple Talaq is regarded as Talaq-e-Biddat by the Prophet and originated in Arab countries when writing was not in fashion. In India, it is highly misused by non-serious husbands and is responsible for the miseries, abject condition of Muslim women.

Dr Talat Fatima, the great-great-granddaughter of Nawab of Oudh Wajid Ali Shah.

She also expressed support for Muslim women who have been abandoned or rendered homeless by their husbands.

I stand with lakhs of victimised and helpless Muslim women who were thrown out of their houses like a bag of rotten apples by their haughty husbands. When the erratic husband realises his mistake and wants to take back his divorced wife, he asks the woman to opt for Halala. This encourages another obnoxious tradition which insults women. Hence, Triple Talaq must go, she said.

Halala is an Islamic marriage practised primarily by certain sects of Sunni Muslims, which requires a divorced woman to marry someone else, consummating the marriage and then get a divorce in order to remarry her first husband.

The great-great-grandson of Wajid Ali Shah, Shahanshah Mirza, also opposed the practice, but said there were bigger issues facing Muslims in the country.

I am against Triple Talaq but the issue is very small compared to other problems which Muslims are facing across the country. The issue (of Triple Talaq) is not troubling the Muslim community as a whole. There are issues like education, health and housing that need to be addressed for the larger benefit of the Muslim society, he said.

Shahanshah Mirza further called for people to be educated as a mere law cannot ensure love between a husband and wife. Resorting to divorce because the wife did not serve tea in the morning is just insane. That person is not normal. There needs to be a plan to educate people, he said.

The Muslim Women Protection of Rights in Marriage Bill, 2017, which criminalises instant triple talaq and makes it a non-bailable offence, was passed by the Lok Sabha but remained deadlocked in the Rajya Sabha. The bill will now be taken up in the Budget Session.
Jaipur: Despite a series of modifications being made in the controversial film Padmavati including its renaming as Padmavat, the Karni Sena on Friday again raised a demand for a complete ban on film.

Speaking to media here, Karni Sena observer Lokendra Singh Kalvi said that filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali should forget dreaming about the film's release.

"All efforts of Bhansali and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) shall go down the drain as we will never allow the screening of Padmawati anywhere in India or abroad.

"We are still adamant on our demand. Let there be a complete ban on the release of Padmawati," he added.

Kalvi also demanded a complete ban on the Ghoomar song. "We don't want any changes in the said song, however, we demand a complete ban on the same," he said.

He also questioned the 'authenticity' of the panel formed by the CBFC to review the film.

Not all of them were historians, hence, their suggestions hardly make a difference, he said, adding that the CBFC proposed to bring in nine historians in the panel but ended calling only three historians "which speaks volumes on their seriousness to justify our demands".
Jodhpur/Jaipur: Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of Rajasthan on Thursday issued a death threat to Salman Khan, saying the Bollywood actor will be killed in Jodhpur.

"Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur... Then he will come to know about our real identity," Bishnoi told media persons while being taken to a Jodhpur court in police security.

Bishnoi was being produced in the court following his arrest on charges of terrorising traders and extorting them.

The gangster claimed that he had been framed in false cases and that to date, not even a single witness had deposed in the court to prove the charges.

"Now, if police want me to do some major crime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur," he added.

Bishnoi's death threat to Salman is being linked with the black buck killing case of 1998, in which Salman and his co-actors are accused. It was the Bishnoi community which had brought up the black buck hunting case, and ever since the community considers the Bollywood actor a "villain".

However, some onlookers felt that the gangster talked of killing Salman just to create a sensation.

On Thursday, the actor appeared in the Jodhpur's Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Rural Court in connection with the hearing in the blackbuck poaching case.

Bishnoi is a notorious gangster and has been charged in over 20 cases of attempt to murder, carjacking, extortion, snatching and under the Arms Act in Punjab-Haryana belt.
Patna: Just after Lalu Yadav was sentenced to three-and-half years in jail in the fodder scam case, his younger son and leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, on Saturday vowed to go to public with his father's message and continue to fight for the cause of the poorer section of society.

Addressing the media after holding meeting with all MLAs, MPs and senior leaders of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Tejashwi accused Narendra Modi government at the Centre and state's chief minister Nitish Kumar of conspiring to frame charges against his family to wipe out opposition from the state.

"Lalu is messiah of a common man. They know their leader has been framed by CBI at the behest of political opponents but no one can challenge our determination. We will not bow down and go to people's court after Makar Sankranti, he said.

The judiciary performed its duty. We will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail, he added.

Rejecting claims of bickering within the RJD after Lalu's incarceration, Tejashwi said the party was united and will give a befitting reply to BJP-JDU combine in the next elections.

This is the second fodder scam related case in which Lalu was convicted and sentenced to jail along with 15 other convicts. Earlier the same court had held him guilty and sentenced him to five years in jail in 2013. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December, 2013.
Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress on Saturday skipped the all-party meeting called by Samajwadi Party here to plan for a strategy push for the use ballot papers in the upcoming by elections on Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats.

An invitation in this regard was sent from SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel to Congress, BSP, RLD, CPI (M), CPI, Peace Party and many others.

SP national president Akhilesh Yadav was present in the meeting. Political analysts believe that this meeting was also important for any kind of collaboration between all the opposition parties as a part of the strategy for defeating BJP in the by-elections.

There were unconfirmed reports of the opposition uniting in these two constituencies to defeat BJP and give a message ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Earlier speaking to News18, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, We will discuss the issue of EVMs with other parties and will decide on how to get future elections conducted through ballot papers. This is an attempt by the party to maintain the sanctity of the election process and revive the confidence of people in our democratic system.

Both the seats are significant as Gorakhpur has been a traditional stronghold of the BJP since 1991 while the saffron party won Phulpur for the first time in 2014 and will not like it to slip out of their grip. In Phulpur, Keshav Prasad Maurya had defeated his nearest SP rival by 3, 08,308 votes, while in Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath had defeated his SP rival by 3, 12,783 votes.

The Lok Sabha seats of Phulpur and Gorakhpur were vacant after Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Maurya and CM Adityanath resigned from their posts and became MLCs. The by-elections on both the seats have to be held before 22 March 2018, however it is expected that these elections could be held along with state assembly elections of four other states, which is due in the month of February 2018.
New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modis divisive politics and Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys genius for the bleak GDP forecast.

Tweeting a day after estimates predicted a four-year-low growth of 6.5%, Gandhi took a jibe at Modi and Jaitley, saying they had given India a 63-year low in bank credit growth and an eight-year low in job creation.

FM Jaitleys genius combines with Mr Modis Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India:New Investments: 13 year Bank credit Growth: 63 year Job creation: 8 year Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7%Fiscal Deficit: 8 yearStalled Projects https://t.co/bZdPnREYiE Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 6, 2018

Gandhi claimed the fiscal deficit had increased and projects had been stalled.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also hit out at the government, saying the worst fears of an imminent economic slowdown have come true.

The Modi governments tall claims of India growing at a robust growth rate have evaporated in thin air. No amount of sugar coating, false bravado and rhetoric along with headlines management can conceal the stark reality. Our fears and warnings have proved true," Chidambaram said in a statement.

He said the recent social discontent could be a "direct manifestation of this economic slowdown, which the government was conveniently hiding".

The advance estimate of national accounts was released by Chief Statistician TCA Anant on Friday, projecting economic growth at 6.5 per cent, the lowest since Narendra Modi took office.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 7.1 percent in 2016-17 and 8 percent in the preceding year. It was 7.5 percent in 2014-15.

"Is there an impact of the GST (Goods and Service Tax) on average growth? The answer is, to some extent, of course and I can explain why," Chief Statistician TCA Anant told reporters.

Elaborating further, he said, "When we did the first quarter estimates, we had explained this that because of fact that the GST is going to be implemented from July 1, there will be natural anticipation of GST...by the manufacturing sector. Since the first quarter is part of whole year, the manufacturing includes the first quarter as part of it. Yes that impact is built into the exercise."
New Delhi: The Congress party on Saturday sought to distance itself from corruption-tainted Lalu Prasad Yadav, soon after he was sentenced to three-and-half years in jail in a fodder scam case by a CBI court in Ranchi.

"Congress has always waged war against corruption. As far as the alliance is concerned, it is with RJD and not particular individuals," party leader RPN Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee acting president Kaukab Qadri said the alliance would continue, but refrained from commenting on the judgment. "The special court's judgement to convict and sentence Lalu Prasad will not have impact on forces fighting for secularism and social justice. Congress-RJD alliance will continue in Bihar," he said.

This Congress stance is different from the one it had put up after Lalus conviction on December 23, when the party had come to the defence of the RJD supremo and said that criminal cases and political coalitions are separate matters.

Manish Tewari had said that the CBI was behaving like a "pet parrot" of the BJP government, while Sanjay Nirupam said the torture of Lalu in the decades old case should stop.

"This (case) has not started today. It had started in 1993-94. Between 1993-94 and today, we (Congress) have had coalition with RJD, during UPA-1 they were part of the government, they were part of mahagatbandhan as well. So criminal cases and political alliance are two separate matters," Tewari said.

He had also questioned why similar actions were not initiated against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Srijan scam, in which the "quantum of embezzlement was of a much greater order". "Why are there different strokes for different folks?" Tewari alleged, while demanding an SIT probe into the Srijan scam.

The special CBI court on Saturday sentenced Lalu Prasad and 15 others in the fodder scam case and also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him.

While Lalus son Tejashwi said the CBI courts decision would be challenged in the high court, RJDs former alliance partner, JD(U), welcomed the judgment. This will prove to be a historic decision in Bihar politics. It is the end of a chapter, JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, meanwhile, said the CBI court had upheld the charges he and others had levelled against the RJD supremo before the Patna High Court by sentencing Lalu to jail. The senior BJP leader also rubbished the "conspiracy" allegation levelled by the RJD against his party in connection with Prasad's conviction by the court.

"In the PIL filed in the Patna High Court, Shivanand Tiwary, Lalan Singh and I had levelled the charges against Lalu Prasad with solid evidence. By awarding punishment to him, the court has upheld our charges," Modi said in a statement.
New Delhi/Patna: No one is above the law, the BJP and its ally JD (U) said on Saturday after a special CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to jail in a fodder scam case, while the RJD said its leader has fallen prey to a "conspiracy" by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

The special CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Lalu to three- and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in the fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the verdict shows the law is equal for all.

"The court has done its job, and this is a message that if anyone robs the country of its wealth, however important, then the law is equal for all. This is justice for the people of Bihar because it was their money that was looted," Hussain told reporters.

Janata Dal (United) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the court's decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.

"It will now be difficult to keep the RJD together and people in politics will be fearful," he said, when asked about the significance of the court's verdict.

"This is the end of a chapter that started with Laluji's leadership, where there was politics of corruption, nepotism and non-governance," Tyagi told reporters.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Patna, Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav said the party would go to the people after makarsankranti to make them aware of the "conspiracy" hatched by Nitish Kumar and the BJP against the RJD chief.

"Lalu is paying the price for his uncompromising stance against the BJP. Had he compromised, his detractors would have been comparing him to Raja Harishchandra," the former Deputy CM of Bihar said.

He dismissed suggestions the party may disintegrate with its top leader being behind the bars. "The more we are harassed, the stronger will be the public support in our favour. Lalu resides in the people's hearts".

"He is in jail, yet everybody is being talking about him. The only reason is that the people of Bihar are with us and this scares our opponents."

He also took potshots at the Bihar's ruling JD(U)-BJP combine, saying, "Let the double engine do something for the betterment of Bihar. They should set their own house in order instead of wasting their energy on the future of RJD."
With more than 1400 navigational satellites currently operational in the geosynchronous orbit, positioning of almost all the electronic equipment carrying an electric receiver capable enough to interact with the satellites signals, is being mapped constantly. These GPS receivers can be found on almost all the smartphones, laptops, computers, smart watches, cameras and of course, the GPS modules. This clearly indicates that the positioning of anyone in possession of such a device at any given time is being monitored. While this might raise serious privacy concerns and seem nightmarishly similar to Charles Xaviers Cerebro wherein the professor could monitor each and every individual on the planet through his mind, truth be told, location-based information has become an integral part of human lives across the globe. To think of it, the technology is the sole reason why we are able to navigate our way from one point of location to another, provide instant disaster management support to affected areas, issue warnings ahead of a natural disaster, map the topography of an area, detect seismic activities and perform numerous other tasks based on location etc.

It wasnt always like this though. The GPS was first used for military activities after its origin in the United States. The transfer of this technology towards applications built to cater to the masses can be accredited to a few individuals. Kanwar Chadha, better known as Mr GPS, founded SiRF (now a part of Qualcomm) back in 1995 and achieved a breakthrough in the technology by integrating all the elements of GPS processing in small chips. Subsequently, many individuals, as well as private firms, have played crucial roles in evolving the location-based services over the years. One such individual, who to this date, propagates the agenda of locational information and its application through various platforms is Sanjay Kumar, Founder and CEO at Geospatial Media and Communications.

We had a chance to interact with Sanjay regarding the ongoing focus on geospatial data around the globe, its current applications and how the agencies, both government and private alike, are now pushing to expand the boundaries of the technology to help create a better world.

UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (UN-GGIM)

Back in 2011, the United Nations set up a group of experts under the name of UN Global Geospatial Information Management in the statistics department of the UN, which is a part of the Economic and Social Commission. The objective of the group to date is to develop a global geospatial information platform to address the development, objectives and agendas of the UN. Through this initiative, the UN recognised that geospatial information is very critical and foundational for supporting the sustainable development goals by strengthening the monitoring capabilities towards the implementation of those goals.

The group was formally approved in 2016 by then UN Secretariat, as the UN adopted 17 new sustainable development goals and handed the responsibility to the statistical department to provide information towards monitoring those goals. Essentially, United Nations supports the national governments with the framework for these goals and helps them monitor their implementation. Behind this body, is the aforementioned group of experts whose prime aim is to co-develop the structure, content and the legal and policy frameworks with regards to geospatial information and make it present as well as future technology compliant. For the latter part, the UN had to rope in private industry players as well, probably for the first time ever, in the form UNGGIM Private Sector Network (PSN).

Sanjay Kumar, who serves as the Chair of the UNGGIM-PSN, urges all the private sector companies associated with geospatial technology to share their views and objectives with the agency.

The goal is to integrate all the information systems and deliver a singular platform to work towards 6 thematic causes, which are -

Geospatial and statistical integration, legal and policy frameworks, institutional arrangements, geospatial knowledge and platform services, geospatial information for disaster management, geospatial and marine integration.

How active is India in all of this?

India has traditionally not been very active in this initiative. The country has started engaging at the global level since the last 1 year. However, to push things forward, there is a need for better connectivity between Survey of India and Niti Aayog for implementing the assigned sustainable development goals within the country.

UNGGIM will be adopting common minimum guidelines with regards to geospatial data and India should definitely be a part of this more actively.

RADIANT EARTH

Most of the development sector organisations face a lack of information many a time, especially while working in the developing countries, which are poorly equipped with regards to the information systems. This is a big challenge that hinders the work towards development goals at a very local level.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network recognised the problem at its core and developed a joint strategy committed to tackling challenges faced by these not-haves. The initiative was termed as Radiant Earth, with the sole aim of providing geospatial information in the form of maps and imagery, software, case studies and all the other tools and knowledge that might help in any sort of development work. The objective is to create a singular platform through which this information can be availed.

Currently, Radiant Earth is expanding its reach as organisations like Amazon, HP and several others join this initiative. The information is readily available to everyone through an online portal. The information is collected from all the publicly available satellite imageries like those of NASA, ISRO and others. In addition, the organisation even buys more such information which is not available so readily and then makes it accessible at no cost.

In essence, Radiant Earth acquires/ buys location-based information and then makes it available for free through a singular platform. Not only this, the organisation also helps all those who avail the information with its applications by manuals, technical support and several other ways.

Sanjay Kumar serves as one of the five board members of Radiant Earth.
New Delhi: China is planning to build its second overseas naval base near Pakistanis Gwadar port following the opening of its facility in Djibouti last year.

A report in the South China Morning Post said that Gwadar port was a key part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The report cited a source close to the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) as saying that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one in Djibouti. The source is reported to have raised questions on the feasibility of the decision and has told South China Morning Post that Gwadar port cant provide specific services for warships since public order there is in a mess.

It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support, the source is quoted as saying.

Experts quoted in the report said that the port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels and also provide logistical support. The expert, Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming, pointed out that it was common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels due to their different operations.

The development comes just eight months after ships carrying personnel for China's first overseas military base in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, set sail in July last year to begin setting up the facility, as China's rapidly modernising military extends its global reach.

China began construction of base in Djibouti in 2016 and is to be used to resupply navy ships taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular.

The People's Liberation Army Daily said in a front-page commentary the facility was a landmark that would increase China's ability to ensure global peace, especially because it had so many UN peacekeepers in Africa and was so involved in anti-piracy patrols.
New Delhi: Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, may be considering a White House run in 2020 when Donald Trumps first term as President comes to an end.

If Michael Wolffs book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is to be believed, the Indian-American ex-governor of South Carolina believes that Trump will, at best, be a one-term President and she sees herself as the natural heir to the Trump administration.

Many in Trumps inner circle have described Haley to be as ambitious as Lucifer, while a top Trump aide said she was so much smarter than Trump himself.

Haley, the first woman to hold the office of Governor of South Carolina, supported Florida Senator Marco Rubio over Donald Trump in the Republican Partys primary race for President.

However, she was quick to move to the Trump camp after he clinched the nomination. She is said to have befriended Trumps daughter Ivanka, which gave her access to the Trump familys inner circle.

According to Wolff, Haley is said to have been groomed by the president in a "notable amount of private time" on Air Force One.

According to the book, Trump even considered appointing her as the Secretary of State before finally appointing her as US Ambassador to the UN, describing her as a proven dealmaker.

A moderate Republican, Haley is seen as a threat to the Trump Presidency by some of the more hardline elements within the establishment. That is, perhaps, why, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who is accused of being a White Supremacist by critics, is said to have pushed back against Haley when Trump was considering her name for Secretary of State.
Dubai: Thousands of government supporters staged rallies in Iran for a fourth day on Saturday, in a backlash against widespread protests that the clerical establishment has blamed on the country's enemies.

Saturday's show of support came a day after Iran's foreign minister said a United Nations Security Council meeting called by the United States to discuss the protests had proved a "blunder" by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

State television showed rallies in cities including Amol, Semnan and Shadegan waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America", "Death to Israel" and "Death to Britain".

More than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials, in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade.

Unrest spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities on Friday said the protests had shown sign of abating, after the government intensified a crackdown on protesters by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

The provincial governor in northeastern Mashhad, where the protests started, was quoted as saying on Saturday that 85 percent of detainees there had been release after signing a pledge not to re-offend.

"Those with a criminal record, or those charged with sabotage such a setting fire to motorcycles or damaging public buildings have been referred to judicial authorities," governor Alireza Rashidian told the ISNA news agency.

Tehran University Vice-President Majid Sarsangi said the university had set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the unrest.

"Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time," Sarsangi told ISNA.

Separately, a member of parliament said about 90 students were detained, 10 of whom were still not accounted for.

"It seems that the total number of detainees is around 90. Ten students from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an uncertain position, and ... it is still unknown which body has detained them," the labour news agency ILNA quoted reformist politician Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying.

Iran has several parallel security bodies and residents say arrests are often not immediately announced.

Videos that appeared on social media in recent days showed relatives of detainees gathering outside prisons to seek information about the fate of their loved ones.

A United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss the protests turned into criticism of the United States for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Iran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: "The UNSC rebuffed the U.S.'s naked attempt to hijack its mandate ... Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."

Iran's elite Guards and its affiliated Basij militia suppressed the country's 2009 unrest over alleged election fraud, in which dozens of pro-reform Iranians were killed.
Washington: A United Airlines flight was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Alaska after two of the aircraft's toilets were vandalised with excrement, officials said.

The plane, carrying over 200 passengers from Chicago to Hong Kong, landed in Anchorage on Thursday evening due to a "passenger smearing faeces everywhere", Fox News reported on Friday.

The police said the man, a US resident of Vietnamese origin, made no threats. It was not clear what led to the incident taking place.

"We received a report of a passenger who had messed up the bathrooms with his own faeces," Anchorage Airport police spokesman Joe Gamache said.

The passenger, a 22-year-old whose name was not released, was co-operative and faced "no appropriate charges for anything criminal", Gamache added.

The man was handcuffed by the police at Anchorage International Airport and escorted off the plane. He was later taken to a hospital for mental health evaluation. He was not arrested, the police confirmed.

United Airlines said in a statement that flight UA895 was carrying 245 people when it was diverted because of "a disruptive passenger".

Hotel accommodation was provided for those on board, the statement added.
Islamabad: Washington accuses Pakistan of playing a dangerous double game, taking billions in US aid while supporting militants attacking its forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.

Its belated move to suspend assistance, after years of mistrust, highlights the perils of alienating a quasi-ally. The dramatic freeze in deliveries of military equipment and security funding comes after President Donald Trump lambasted Pakistan for its support for militant safe havens, including in a furious New Year tweet.

What does the US want from Pakistan?

Washington, New Delhi and Kabul accuse Pakistan of supporting militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani group. They say the terrorists have safe havens in Pakistan's border areas and links to its shadowy military establishment, which aims to use them in Afghanistan as a regional bulwark against India.

Pakistan's support for these groups must end, Washington insists.

Islamabad has denied the accusations, insisting it has eradicated safe havens and accusing the US of ignoring the thousands who have been killed on Pakistani soil and the billions spent fighting extremists.

It also levels the same charge at Kabul, accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militants on its side of the border who then launch attacks on Pakistan.

Why hasn't Washington axed aid before?

US figures show that more than $33 billion has been given to Pakistan in direct aid since 2002. Given fears that Pakistan is being duplicitous, cutting the money off seems an obvious step.

It has been suspended before, notably after the US raid on the Pakistani town of Abbotabad in 2011 that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The discovery of the world's most wanted man, less than a mile from Pakistan's elite military academy, drew suspicions that he had been sheltered by the country's intelligence agency for years.

But despite the provocations, the US does not want to completely rupture its relationship with Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment already runs high.

Washington's footprint in Afghanistan is much smaller than it was at the height of the war, and it needs access to Pakistan's supply lines and airspace.

Pakistan is still believed to have the strongest influence over the Taliban, making its cooperation necessary for peace talks.

Pakistan also holds the Muslim world's only known nuclear arsenal and the US wants to prevent it from going to war with nuclear-armed India, or collapsing and allowing the weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.

"They want to apply graduated pressure to Pakistan to change its policy, rather than abandon it altogether," security analyst Hasan Askari said.

Will the US strategy work?

Some analysts have said there is no real way to pressure Pakistan, which believes that keeping Kabul out of India's orbit is more important than clamping down on cross-border terrorism.

Hasan Askari warned the suspension of millions of dollars in security assistance might see the US lose crucial influence over Pakistan which will instead look to other countries for support.

China  which is investing some $60 billion in infrastructure projects in Pakistan  was the first to rush to Pakistan's defence after Trump's latest tweet criticising its militant policy.

But China may also prove to be intolerant of any double-dealing with terrorists. It has a horror of Islamist militancy and its own interests in keeping Pakistan and Afghanistan stable, from protecting its investment to ensuring security on the borders with its vast, restive western province of Xinjiang.

In the end, observers say, until Washington addresses Pakistan's fears over India, it will not shake its support for militant proxies.

"There's no amount of bribery or threat that can ultimately make people act against what they consider to be their core interests," tweeted journalist Murtaza Mohammad Hussain.
Bone-chillingly cold temperatures in Central Virginia can create a bit of a conundrum for firefighters in rural areas: Heating systems are a common cause of house fires and the water sources firefighters draw from can be rendered inert by the cold.

Dry hydrants are pipe fixtures that poke out of the ground near natural water sources and allow access to that water to fight fires. In locations where there arent street hydrants installed, heavy tanker trucks can safely pull up to those pipes to refill.

When fighting a house fire that broke out near Sedalia last week, Bedford Fire Department Deputy Chief Matt Scott said a dry hydrant about a quarter of a mile away would have been tapped if it hadnt turned out to be frozen-over and unusable.

You just basically have to move to plan B, he said of the situation. That house was going to be destroyed  but it did definitely delay getting some water on the fire.

In that instance, he said firefighters had to travel farther to reload water, with some going to the Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Big Island some eight miles away.

Scott said there are about 20 such dry hydrants around the town of Bedford and the Bedford Fire Department doesnt have to rely on them often. Firefighters from Bedford helped out with fires at Turkey Foot Road in Forest and on Chatham Drive in Goode on Tuesday, but Scott said they didnt have to rely on dry hydrants for either of those incidents.

Bedford County Fire and Rescue Chief Jack Jones said both the Chatham Drive and Turkey Foot Road fires this week were accidental in nature but caused by human sources.

At Chatham Drive, a wood stove was likely overfilled, he said. Someone was burning mail and debris in a barrel inside the building on Turkey Foot Road, which was not occupied by residents, he said.

During such unusual cold snaps, he said people can sometimes get overzealous with their heating systems.

Fred Turck manages the Virginia Department of Forestrys dry hydrant program, through which fire departments work with VDOF representatives to install and maintain the hydrants. He said theres nothing that can be done if the hydrants freeze.

I know this has come up pretty infrequently  we dont usually get this type of cold weather, he said. But Im not surprised.

Similar to pipes in a house, he said the issue with the hydrants isnt that the water in the pond or lake freezes, but the pipe thats buried underground freezes. He said the most fire departments can do is to check on hydrants during cold spells like this one to see which ones are unusable and prepare accordingly.

In Campbell County, Fire Marshal Randall Johnson said firefighters had to tap a dry hydrant for water while fighting barn fires in Gladys around Thanksgiving.

We do have an opportunity to use some of these at sites, but luckily [with] the size of the buildings we havent needed that resource as much, he said.

Past the thousands of gallons that tankers can bring to a fire, Johnson said fire trucks are equipped to pull water directly from natural sources or use standpipes, which connect them to water in running streams or creeks from bridges. But in cold weather, those sources might not be accessible.

The advantage to the dry hydrant is that its a known resource, he said. You know the roadway to it is sustainable  for the most part you know the water is accessible.

Despite the cold snap, he said there havent been many fires that have broken out in Campbell County because of heating systems.

The Appomattox Volunteer Fire Department hasnt had to tap a dry hydrant for water in years, according to Assistant Chief Jonathan Garrett. Between his department and mutual aid from those in Concord and Red House, he said firefighters can handle most rural fires with the water that tankers carry. He said they also rarely have to use water from municipal hydrants hooked up to the town of Appomattoxs water supply.

A lot of the dry hydrants  if theyre installed property below that frost line they should work the way theyre designed, but thats not always the case, he said.

Garrett said since the dry hydrants are located on private property, the Appomattox Volunteer Fire Department usually encourages those property owners to keep tabs on the hydrants to make sure they are usable and arent frozen or clogged.

Turck said applications for 25 to 35 dry hydrants cross his desk every year, and most are approved as long as there arent any mechanical issues that could prevent them from working correctly. Fire departments work with land owners on where to drill one, and coordinate with a local VDOF representative for required materials and installation. A grant program provides all funding for the hydrants through VDOF and the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, he said.

It is a very important part of fire suppression, especially in these rural areas, he said. The more we put in, the better for everybody.
This weeks unusually frigid temperatures werent just record setting  they also were lethal.

On New Years Eve night, a Lynchburg dog died after being left out in the extreme cold without proper shelter, according to Danny Marks, animal warden with Lynchburg Animal Control. Marks said a concerned neighbor called after seeing two dogs remain in the backyard on a night where the temperature dropped to 8 degrees.

It was inside of an igloo-style doghouse with a piece of carpet on top but nothing on the bottom, he explained. The dog was lying directly on the ground.

The second dog was not reportedly harmed.

Charges related to the dogs death are currently pending the results of a necropsy from the Department of Agriculture, although both Marks and the Chief Animal Warden Ryan Ballcited the cause of death as cold.

Virginia Law 3.2-6503 requires pet owners to provide adequate food, water and shelter for their companion animals. In this case, Marks said, the owner did not provide sufficient shelter because the dog had no protection from the cold ground.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Lynchburg Police Department defined adequate shelter as provision of and access to shelter that is suitable for the species, age, condition, size, and type of each animal; provides adequate space for each animal; is safe and protects each animal from injury, rain, sleet, snow, hail, direct sunlight, the adverse effects of heat or cold, physical suffering, and impairment of health.

These shelters also must be properly cleaned and have some type of bottom between the animal and the ground. Marks suggested using a blanket, straw or wood chips to insulate the bottom of an outside animal shelter.

Sergeant Randolph Roland from the Bedford County Sherriffs Office agreed and added old clothing, rags, and towels to the list.

Anything you can put into a doghouse or where they sleep that gives them a layer between the ground and sleeping, he emphasized.

Roland also recommended setting up shelters to face the sun when its cold so dogs can take advantage of the natural heat. He said another important element of keeping animals comfortable outside is ensuring they have access to fresh, non-frozen water because dehydration causes a faster onset of hypothermia. Providing warm water and warm food is even better for an animals system in the cold, according to Roland.

He said that when people see animals outside for extended periods of time in the cold, it is important for them to make an overall assessment of what the animal looks like because some dog breeds, like the Great Pyrenees and Siberian husky, are bred for these temperatures. Roland advised concerned neighbors to check out the animals overall health and whether they are under any duress.

However, he said lack of appropriate shelter for dogs left out for a long time is always a reason to alert someone.

Its a common sense thing. If they feel comfortable, they can approach their neighbor and have a discussion.

Otherwise, Roland said, they can contact their local animal control office.

According to the Thursday Facebook post from the Lynchburg Police Department, if a dog is found outside in extreme weather without protection, they will issue a warning to the owners requiring them to bring the dog inside until they can provide adequate outside shelter. If officers cannot reach the pet owners, or the owners refuse to provide shelter, they will seize the animal and charge the owner(s) with animal cruelty, a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia. These charges carry a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Officers also can find pet owners who have not provided sufficient food and shelter in violation of the care of companion animals law, a Class 4 misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $250.

Local animal shelters are doing all they can to help residents take care of their outdoor animals. Tony Cerqua, president of the Humane Society of Amherst County, said the shelter provides food year-round for those who are able to come pick it up.

Additionally, the Friends of Bedford County Animal Shelter has a Straws for Paws program that provides straw to those who need it for keeping outdoor shelters insulated. They also have cat boxes for feral cat populations in the area.

Its a plastic tote with insulation  inside of it and on top of it with a cat bed, explained Stacy Epperson, president of the Bedford County friends organization.

Epperson said her organization is accepting donations of straw, insulation and totes for the two programs. Anyone who would like to donate, or needs straw or cat boxes, can email fobcasfriends@gmail.com.

Laurie Walsh, who runs Til the End of Time Animal Sanctuary in Appomattox, is collecting dog and cat food, blankets, and old towels at the One Stop Shop in Spout Springs. She said part of the store is a dedicated distribution center where members of the community can pick up free items to keep outdoor animals warm and fed.

The Lynchburg Humane Society also has items for keeping animals comfortable in the cold.

If people have needs, we do have a few dog houses here, but we are also trying to help with supplying crates so the owners can bring the dogs inside, said Makena Yarbrough, executive director of the Lynchburg Humane Society.

She said bringing animals inside to a shed, garage, or even bathroom is preferable to leaving them in outside shelters during the current cold snap.

Doing something is better than nothing.

To request a dog house or crate, call the Lynchburg Humane Society at (434) 448-0088. Anyone who needs to report a potential animal cruelty concern should contact that localitys animal control office.

Staff writer Nicole Steenburgh contributed to this report.
Thumbs up to Brad Ferguson, the now-retired chief of the Lynchburg Fire Department, for his long career with the city and for his devotion both to the department and the citys residents.

Fergusons last day on the job was New Years Eve as he closed out a 41-year-long career with the LFD that began when he joined up as a frontline firefighter in 1976.

The biggest change Ferguson told The News & Advance he saw in the department over those 41 years was one in which he had an integral role: the introduction of EMS services. According to Ferguson, the company that was providing emergency medical services to the city cut back in 1977, leaving the LFD as the primary provider for residents. Ferguson was captain of EMS services at the time, and it fell to him build the division almost from scratch. Today, every firefighter in every station is cross-trained in EMS. During that time, building fire codes and technology dramatically changed, reducing the need for traditional fire response in departments across the nation.

Ferguson believes that the integration of EMS into the fire department saved and gave it time to grow and expand its mission. Today, in addition to ambulances residing at each station, the LFD has added hazmat response and swift-water rescue teams to its lineup.

We wish Chief Ferguson all the best in his retirement. You earned it, sir.

* * *

Thumbs up to Shannon and Katherine Tillman, of Nelson County, who made a major contribution toward the preservation of their countys rural heritage.

The couple, whove lived in the Arrington community since 2010, placed their 850-acre farm in a permanent conservation easement with the Land Trust of Virginia. Inglewood Farm, home to 800 head of Angus cattle and almost 200 Dorset sheep, is the largest property in a conservation easement with the Trust, which holds 157 easements that protect 17,541 acres in 13 counties.

The couple have lived all over the country but fell in love with Nelson Countys rural beauty and its friendly residents. They decided that they wanted to do all they could to protect that beauty, with a conservation easement being the best way to go. The idea of it [staying] this way forever was really important, Tillman said.

From all of Central Virginia, thank you.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is battling colon cancer, at his residence in Highlands yesterday where they held private discussions for close to an hour.



Tsvangirai made public his health condition last year and ever since he has been in-and-out of hospital  a development that has triggered divisive succession talk in his party ahead of crucial elections this year.





Accompanied by his deputy, General (Rtd) Constantino Chiwenga, Mnangagwa addressed the media soon after the meeting, saying the MDC leader was on the mend.

He is fine and recuperating very well and he says he will soon be going back for further medical check-ups in South Africa, Mnangagwa said.



He brushed aside speculation that he had gone there to discuss the possibility of an inclusive government, insisting the situation in the country did not call for such.

Whats the cause to form an inclusive government? he asked. You are allowed to lobby, its a democratic country. People are allowed to lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need, he emphasised.



The Daily News can, however, report that the meeting was at the MDC leaders request.

Tsvangirai had been eager to meet with Mnangagwa to discuss the way forward on elections and the worsening economic plight.



Mnangagwa then seized on the request to also check on Tsvangirais health, more so given that they are related.



Highly-placed sources familiar with the visit said the meeting was conducted in a friendly atmosphere so much that one would have confused it for an engagement among brothers.

They said Tsvangirais visitors pledged to materially support the frail opposition leader in his battle with cancer, which has drained the familys savings.



Mnangagwa also undertook to look into the MDC leaders long-standing grievances about his outstanding pension, accrued when he was prime minister in the inclusive government between 2009 and 2013.



It will not be the first time that Tsvangirai has been assisted by his rivals in Zanu PF.

Under Mugabes regime, Tsvangirai received about $70 000 to pay for his medical expenses.



Sources said Mnangagwa repeated his commitment during his meeting with Tsvangirai that the forthcoming polls would be free and fair, and even pledged to work closely with the opposition in the event that he is re-elected.



Analysts were unanimous yesterday that by taking time to visit Tsvangirai, Mnangagwa scored key political points to boost his political ratings.



They were, however, divided on whether the timing was right for the MDC leader to accept such a cunning gesture, considering it has a double-edged sword effect of showing Zimbabweans that Tsvangirai was too sick to be a factor going into the 2018 polls while at the same time projecting him as an empathetic leader.



Piers Pigou, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said Mnangagwa has made an appropriate and powerful gesture but reckoned Tsvangirai was visibly unwell and needs to focus his energies on himself and his family.

Pigou urged the MDC leader to get on with the business of facilitating the process for his succession.



There will be understandably cynical interpretations of the photo opportunity this provides to the president, but much depends on how it is played. His visiting ... Tsvangirai, however, reflects a level of respect and political maturity rarely afforded an opposition figure; especially by the head of a party that had done its upmost to destroy Tsvangirai and his MDC, he observed.



University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masunugure concurred saying the president has demonstrated a high level of statesmanship; that he is a national leader and not just head of Zanu PF.



He said while his visit could well have been for other reasons, it was possible that he genuinely wanted to lend moral support to someone not feeling well.



The fact that he was with his deputy also shows that Chiwenga too is moving in to assume the status of a national leader. So they have shown maturity and that is something that should be commended. They have shown Tsvangirai that he is not alone in his battle and that the nation empathises with his situation.



Its also possible that ED wanted to lend financial support to a former prime minister in terms of his package that he so much deserves, said Masunungure.

Professor of world politics at the University of Londons School of Oriental and African Studies, Stephen Chan, said there was a sense of seeking to offer Tsvangirai some place in the new government.



Chan said Mnangagwa has sent a signal to foreign governments that his administration is looking at the opposition with respect unlike before.



It may be rare in Zimbabwe, but in the United Kingdom, the prime minister and leader of the opposition often confer together, said Chan.



Tsvangirai certainly looks frail. Cancer can be very difficult and he should release the clinical reports on his condition as a reassurance to his supporters. Again, that would be the usual step in the UK where ... (Theresa) Mays diabetes condition is fully known by the voting public, he added.



Gladys Hlatywayo, a political analyst and civil rights campaigner, said it was normal for leaders across the political divide to constantly dialogue and share ideas.

In this respect, the meeting of the two leaders might be seen as an attempt to build a new political culture predicated on political tolerance and maturity. Nevertheless, the genuineness of the visit is now tainted by the pictures of the opposition leader that are now circulating. It now appears the visit was to score a political point more than anything, said Hlatywayo.



Addressing the media after the meeting, Tsvangirais deputy Nelson Chamisa described the development as positive.



Its a welcome thing, its African to care for one another; its very Zimbabwean, it shows the spirit of Ubuntu is still in us, Chamisa said.



He added: This is the new politics we want to see, the politics of peace, the politics of working together, the politics of feeling for one another. This is the direction and we hope it is the kind of talk that will be walked and talk that will be sustained. Going forward, we want this to be cascaded to the communities so that as we go into elections, people dont fight each other especially when their leaders are able to sit down and converse like this.



In a statement released after the meeting, Tsvangirais spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said Mnangagwas visit came just as Tsvangirai was about to leave the country for his routine medical check-up.



We thank president Mnangagwa for his gesture to come and pay a visit to the former prime minister of the land. We thank him for his gesture, which is in keeping with our African culture, he said.



Tamborinyoka said the two leaders discussed the current dire situation in the country, the plight of the people, the cash crisis afflicting the country, the urgency of free and fair elections to ensure a return to legitimacy as well as the need to engage the international community so that the country rejoins the family of nations. Daily News
Ex-combatants have accused their leaders of blocking them from occupying key positions in the ruling Zanu PF party.



Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Mashonaland Central chairperson Sam Parirenyatwa has written to his leader Christopher Mutsvangwa saying the associations secretary-general Victor Matemadanda is scuttling their political ambitions.



There is a systematic and deliberate marginalisation of ZNLWVA war veterans from the structures and the activities of the party seemingly yet evidently with support from very powerful members of the party.





All our efforts to join the structures of the party have been strongly resisted to the extent that as we speak, there is no single war veteran from the association who has managed to join the structures of the party in the province, the letter reads.



This comes as a result of nullification of all concessions to fairly share leadership positions in the party we had made with the civilian component of the leadership in the province by senior leadership who seem to be determined to ensure that war veterans who championed the demise of former president (Robert) Mugabes dispensation are not included in the new structures of the party.



On two occasions Matemadanda had to call our provincial chairperson to advise war veterans in the province to recede their concessions as our actions are deemed tantamount to disrespecting the higher offices in the party.



Parirenyatwa said the move by Matemadanda angered war veterans.

I have been advising war veterans in the province, against their will and much to the erosion of my standing and authority, to back-off from their gains in line with the orders given to me by our SG.



This has not gone down well with war veterans who have sacrificed their lives and personal resources to bring about the new dispensation.



Their marginalisation remains a bitter pill to swallow as they expected due respect and recognition cognisant of the pronouncement by His Excellency the President on the importance of the role they played in bringing about the new dispensation and the constitutional provisions.



According to Parirenyatwas letter, war veterans are afraid to speak out fearing the name-dropping of army generals to subdue them.



Often the name of the president and army generals are used with threats to subdue us to the extent that the association could not attend the last PCC meeting held on December 30, 2017 where the party was restructured, completely sidelining us from the structures of the party.



The new leadership in the province appears determined to forge ahead with party activities without our involvement.



Such a situation will result in fierce resistance from the war veteran fraternity as war veterans feel shortchanged.



Besides, there is a notable resurgence of the G40 cabal in some parts of the province with the cabal holding meetings in such places as Mt Darwin where such meetings are actually held at Saviour Kasukuweres homestead.



Efforts to get comments from Mutsvangwa and Matemadanda were fruitless as their mobile phones went unanswered.



However Mashonaland Central Zanu PF chairperson Kazembe Kazembe dismissed the allegations from the Mt Darwin meeting.



We had a lot of war veterans in the meeting. Im not aware if some did not attend because I saw most of them at the venue.



When we did introductions, a lot of them stood up to be recognised. No one was barred from attending the meeting.



Those who constitute the PCC, according to the constitution, were free to attend. We had a full house.



We are working together with the war veterans, all our wings and other affiliates in preparations for the 2018 harmonised elections, he said. Daily News
This State's Road Signs

Were Too Much for the Feds
A 34-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman sitting next to him on a flight while his wife sat on the other side of him, the Washington Post reports. The Detroit Free Press, citing the criminal complaint, reports a 22-year-old woman sleeping next to the window on an early morning Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit says she woke up "to a hand in her pants and noticed that her pants and shirt were unbuttoned." The woman says the man sitting in the seat next to her had his fingers in her vagina but removed them when he saw she was awake. She went to flight attendants, who say she "appeared visibly upset and was crying."

The man, identified as 34-year-old Prabhu Ramamoorthy, was arrested when the flight landed. In an initial written statement, he allegedly said he had taken a pill and fallen into a "deep sleep" during the flight. His wife, who was sitting on the other side of him, corroborated his story, saying the woman fell asleep on her husband's knees. But a federal prosecutor notes Ramamoorthy gave "conflicting reports" regarding the incident. He later allegedly admitted the pill he took was "plain Tylenol" and told an FBI agent he was playing with the woman's bra and "might have" unhooked it. He also allegedly admitted to groping her breast over her clothing and putting his finger in her pants, though not in her vagina. Ramamoorthy, an Indian national living in the US on a temporary visa, was charged with aggravated sexual abuse. The AP reports he's due back in court Jan. 17. (Read more sexual assault stories.)
In what Gizmodo calls "a very sad commentary on the current state of geopolitical affairs," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will later this month hold a briefing on the government's preparedness for a nuclear attack on US soil. The presentation, called "Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation," will be held Jan. 16 and feature officials from all levels of government discussing US preparations for a nuclear blast, USA Today reports. It will also feature information from experts in radiation studies.

"While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps," Politico quotes the CDC as stating on a website for the briefing . Despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness. Topics for a teaching session being held along with the briefing include "Preparing for the Unthinkable" and "Roadmap to Radiation Preparedness." The briefing comes amid escalating tensions with North Korea. Last weekend, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said nuclear war with North Korea is closer "than we have ever been." The CDC held a similar event in 2010.

(Read more nuclear war stories.)
Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister's little white dog from her yard and disappeared over the trees. Did he really just see that? The AP reports he had. Zoey the 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said. "It seemed like something from The Wizard of Oz," he said. Even more astonishing: Zoey would live to bark the tale. Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister's home in Bowmanstown, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech and hurried to the door. "There was flapping of wings and then it was gone," Rodriguez said. He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. He assumed Zoey was gone for good.

Rodriguez's sister and her family were devastated. "I did nothing but cry all day," Monica Newhard said. She and her husband scoured the woods for Zoey's body. Little did they know their dog would be found later that afternoona full four miles away. Zoey's rescuer was Christina Hartman, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead. "I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move," Hartman said. She wrapped Zoey in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. Hartman noticed several small wounds on the back of Zoey's neck, and the dog walked with a limp. She had no collar. Hartman spotted Newhard's public Facebook post Wednesday morning and returned Zoey. "She doesn't want to go out," Newhard said. "I really can't blame her."

(Read more eagles stories.)
Using an airplane bathroom is often a nose-plugging experience, but passengers on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hong Kong encountered a new level of awful on Thursday night. KTVA reports the plane had to land in Anchorage after police say an unnamed male flier "smear[ed] feces everywhere," with everywhere allegedly encompassing two bathrooms, per KTUU. He also reportedly removed his shirt and tried to shove it into a toilet. KTVA describes him as "cooperative" by the time the plane landed around 6:30pm local time at Ted Stevens International Airport, and police noted he had no altercations with the flight crew.

The passenger was taken to a hospital where a psych evaluation was planned, and the rest of those on board were forced to spend some time in Alaska, as the plane was grounded through Friday afternoon so that clean-up could occur and maintenance could be performed, reports McClatchy. It notes the 16-hour flight had seven hours to go when the emergency landing occurred. (Read more feces stories.)
Brutally cold conditions are expected to envelop the East Coast most of this weekend, prompting wind chill warnings from Virginia to Vermont. Temperatures will reach close to zero from Philadelphia to Boston through Saturday night, with wind chills making it feel like minus 10 degrees to minus 20 degrees. Even more temperate locations won't escape the cold, with the mercury dipping into the single digits in Baltimore and Washington, DC, over the weekendabout 20 degrees below normal for this time of year. The blast of cold air, which comes just days after a storm dumped as much as 18 inches of snow in some places, could bring the feeling of real jaw-clenching temperatures to people living further north, reports the AP.

The National Weather Service said Friday that temperatures in the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts could seem like a frosty minus 35 degrees, parts of New Hampshire and Maine could experience minus 45, and Vermont's mountain regions could feel like minus 50 degrees. These locations, however, will have nothing on the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Mount Washington Observatory, on its website, predicted the mountain's highest summits could see wind chills of minus 100 degrees into Saturday. "It's definitely cold and the type of bone-chilling cold that happens every few years," says Dan Hofmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Baltimore. He adds that the last time such extreme cold occurred was in February 2015.

(Read more winter weather stories.)
FBI Agent Leslie Larsen says the body partslegs, arms, torsos, organs, and headsinside the Detroit warehouse were "frozen together in flesh-on-flesh chunks" that required a pneumatic chisel and crowbar to separate. She says there was no heat in the "filthy" warehouse, nor running water or functioning bathrooms. There were, however, piles of dead flies, dog bowls, dried blood on the floor, and, of course, the body parts stored in beer coolers, Tupperware, and a refrigerator next to sandwich fixings. MLive reports Larsen testified Friday on what agents found when they raided Arthur Rathburn's warehouse in 2013. Rathburn had been selling or renting parts from bodies donated to science to researchers for decades, according to Reuters. The Detroit Free Press reports he was indicted on fraud and other charges in 2016 following a years-long investigation.

Court records show a human body, when cut into parts, can bring in $10,000 to $100,000, and there are no federal regulations covering so-called body brokers. However, Rathburn is accused of buying bodies infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases at a discount and fraudulently providing them to researchers without disclosing the infections. An anesthesiologist testified that doctors won't accept such bodies due to health concerns. The government started investigating Rathburn after he shipped a human head from Tel Aviv to Chicago inside a trash bag in a cooler. Rathburn allegedly lied about the pooling liquid in the cooler being Listerine and the head having been embalmed. Rathburn's ex-wife has already pleaded guilty to fraud and is acting as a witness against him. Rathburn's lawyer says she is "most responsible" for any alleged wrongdoing. (Read more body parts stories.)
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The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.
New Delhi:

The police today arrested Yug Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer and one of the owners of the Mojos Bistro pub, in connection with the deadly fire at the Kamala Mills compound here on December 29, which had claimed 14 lives.

Officials from the N M Joshi Marg police station arrested Pathak, the son of retired director general of police and former Pune police commissioner K K Pathak, the police said.

Yesterday, the Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary probe report on the fire, which had engulfed Mojos Bistro and the adjacent 1 Above pub at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, had said the fire possibly started at Mojos Bistro due to the flying embers from a hookah.

The police today booked Pathak and his partner, Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions.

The police had recorded Pathaks statement in the case earlier.

The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR, which was lodged on December 29 against the owners of 1 AboveKripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar -- said a police official.

As of now, we have arrested Pathak, while his partner Tulli has been summoned as he is also wanted in the case, senior police inspector, attached to the N M Joshi Marg police station, Ahmed Pathan said.

We will produce Pathak before a court soon, he added. Earlier, the police had arrested two managers of 1 Above in connection with the fire. The police have also announced a reward of Rs one lakh for any information about the three pub owners, who are on the run.
New Delhi:

Steven Spielbergas Oscar-nominated newspaper drama, The Post, has been granted the access to be screened at the White House.

According to Spielberg, the team of President Donald Trump made a friendly request to show the movie at both White House and Camp David, where the President is said to hold a summit.

Starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, the film tells the story of the journalists who fought against the government in the early 70s to publish classified information about the administrationas failings in the Vietnam war.

Hanks and Streep have publicly criticised Trump recently. Hanks had also said if aThe Posta did screen at the White House, he will not attend the screening.

Also Read:A Jurassic World in China; Construction workers discover 30 fossilised dinosaur eggs at Dayu County on Christmas

In his interview with Hollywood Reporter in December, Hanks said, aIndividually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts. You don't take to the ramparts necessarily right away, but you do have to start weighing things. You may think: aYou know what? I think now is the time.a This is the moment where, in some ways, our personal choices are going to have to reflect our opinions. We have to start voting, actually, before the election. So, I would probably vote not to go.a

aThe Posta is nominated for six categories at the Golden Globes 2018.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Four policemen were killed while one was seriously injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Sopore town of Jammu and Kashmiras Baramulla district on Saturday.

Militants had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the aChotta Bazaara and aBada Bazaara in Sopore in Baramulla district, the official said.

While three policemen died on the spot, the fourth, who was seriously injured in the blast, succumbed to the injuries later. They wereA patrolling the area in view of a separatist-sponsored strike there.

Three of the four policemen who lost their lives were identified as ASI Irshad, Mohammad Amin and Gh Nabi.A The identity of the 4th slain policeman was not immediately known.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said she was "pained" by the incident and expressed her condolences to the families of deceased policemen.A

Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families. a Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) January 6, 2018

No group has yet claimed the responsibility of the blast.

This was the first major attack on the security forces in the valley in 2018.

Five CRPF men were killed on December 31 when heavily armed terrorists carried out a suicide attack on a camp of the paramilitary force in Pulwama in south Kashmir.

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New Delhi:

RJD chief Lalu Prasad was on Saturday sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted Prasad, along with 10 others on December 23, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him for two cases in the scam.

Here is the timeline of events in fodder scam case:

December 13, 2017: Hearing of case number RC-64A/96 completed in the CBI court of Shivpal Singh. Judgment will be pronounced on Saturday

May 2017: The Supreme Court holds that Lalu Prasad and other accused persons, including Mishra, will be tried separately for corruption in a criminal case involving the withdrawal of Rs 84.53 lakh and falsification of records from the Deoghar Treasury in 1991-94

November 2016: The Supreme Court pulls up Mishra for allegedly dragging and delaying the appeal filed by the CBI, challenging the quashing of four pending fodder scam cases against him

November 2014: The CBI challenges the order of the Jharkhand High Court quashing four pending fodder scam cases against Lalu Prasad on the grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences. The court upholds the CBI plea to continue proceedings in the trial court against Lalu Prasad under two sections

September 30, 2013: Lalu Prasad and Mishra along with 45 others are convicted by Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh. Lalu Prasad stands disqualified as member of the Lok Sabha following the verdict. The two cannot contest any election, including that of the Assembly/Council for six years from the date of their release from jail.

September 17, 2013: The Special CBI court reserves its judgment

August 13, 2013: The Supreme Court rejects Lalu Prasads plea seeking the transfer of the trial court judge hearing the case

March 2012: Six months after their appearance before the Special CBI court, charges are framed against Lalu Prasad and Mishra. The court charges the former with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 47 lakh from the treasuries at Banka and Bhagalpur districts, wherein forged and fake bills were drawn by the Animal Husbandry Department in 1995-96 when he was the Chief Minister

June 2007: The special CBI court in Ranchi sentences 58 persons, including two nephews of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, to jail terms ranging from two-and-a-half years to six years for fraudulently withdrawing Rs 48 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in the 1990s.

December 2006: Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi acquitted of charges in the disproportionate assets case filed by the CBI

February 2002: Trial begins in the Ranchi special CBI court

October 5, 2001: The Supreme Court transfers the scam cases to Jharkhand after the creation of the new State

April 5, 2000: Charges framed before the special CBI court. Rabri Devis name included as co-accused, but she is granted bail. Lalu Prasads bail plea rejected and he is remanded in judicial custody

July 30, 1997: Lalu Prasad surrenders before a CBI court and sent to judicial custody

June 23, 1997: The CBI files a charge sheet and names Lalu Prasad and 55 others as accused in the case. 63 cases were registered under IPC Sections 420 (forgery) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 13 (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act

March 27, 1996: The CBI registers an FIR in the Chaibasa Treasury case

March 11, 1996: The Patna High Court directs the CBI to probe the scam. The Supreme Court upholds the order

January 1996: The scam surfaces after deputy commissioner Amit Khare raids the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department and seizes documents that showed siphoning of funds by non-existent companies in the name of supplying fodder

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Tekanpur (MP):

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said terror infrastructure in Pakistan continue to exist and the neighbouring country is leaving no stone unturned to instigate the youths of Jammu and Kashmir against India.

He also asked the country's top police brass to take strong action in cases of riots and desecration of religious places.

Addressing the annual conference of the DGPs and IGPs here, Singh said terror infrastructure in the form of training camps, launch pads and communication stations continue to exist in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

He said the neighbouring country is leaving no stone unturned to provide all help, including finance, to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and that youths of the state are being instigated against India, sources privy to the home minister's speech said.

Singh said Pakistan's encouragement to the separatist anti-India sentiment in Jammu and Kashmir often lead to law and order problems.

Highlighting the appointment of a representative for initiating dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was a matter of satisfaction that security forces have been successful in tackling the situation in the state to a great extent.

The home minister said the violence perpetrated by Naxals have come down to a great extent and assured that the government would encourage the surrender policy for Naxals in the coming days.

Referring to the Northeast, Singh said insurgency has come down in the region but camps and hideouts of underground outfits in Myanmar was a matter of concern.

The home minister said there has been a slight increase in communal violence in the country and asked the top police officers to take strong action wherever such incidents and desecration of religious sites take place.

Singh also talked about growing incidents of cyber crime, use of internet and the social media by anti-social elements to create tension in the society and asked police officers to be vigilant.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the three-day conference tomorrow.

The conference of the DGPs and IGPs is an annual affair, where senior police officers of the states and Centre meet and discuss issues. The Modi government has been organising the conference outside the national capital since it came to power in 2014.

The last three conferences were held in Guwahati, Rann of Kutch and Hyderabad.

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New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met with a delegation of Communist Party of China for a meaningful exchange of views.

Gandhi took to Twitter to share the information about the meeting. He tweeted, "Met with the CPC Delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, member of the CPC Central Committee for a meaningful exchange of views."

Met with the CPC Delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, member of the CPC Central Committee for a meaningful exchange of views. pic.twitter.com/smkisW5Hiu  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 5, 2018

He also posted two pictures of his meeting on the micro blogging site.

Gandhi had earlier stroked a controversy when he met the Chinese ambassador in Delhi at the height of Doklam border standoff between the two countries.

The Congress President met the Chinese ambassador on July 10, 2017, when the Doklam border standoff was at peak heights.

Also Read: India-China hold border talks; discuss CBMs after Doklam

After the controversy, he tweeted, "It is my job to be informed on critical issues. I met the Chinese Ambassador, Ex-NSA, Congress leaders from NE & the Bhutanese Ambassador."

It is my job to be informed on critical issues. I met the Chinese Ambassador, Ex-NSA, Congress leaders from NE & the Bhutanese Ambassador  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) July 10, 2017

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Mumbai:

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should not succumb to political pressure while carrying out the demolition of illegal pubs and eateries in the megapolis.

Talking to reporters here, Thackeray said his party will be firmly in support of the BMC commissioner.

The Shiv Sena is in power in the BMC for the past two decades.

"The civic authorities should first thoroughly confirm that the premises they are going to demolish are not complying with rules and regulations and then take action no matter how influential the owners are. Shiv Sena will be in support of the civic administration," Thackeray said.

"BMC should not succumb to political pressure while carrying out the demolition of illegal pubs and eateries," the Sena President said.

The Mumbai civic body has started demolition of illegal constructions or alterations at pubs and eateries after a deadly fire at the rooftop pub 1 Above in Kamala Mills compound claimed 14 lives on December 29.

The Mumbai Police yesterday announced reward of Rs 1 lakh for those providing information about whereabouts of three absconding owners of 1 Above pub.

Thackeray said it reflects poorly on the police and the state's home department (which is headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis).

"Why the accused can't be traced and arrested yet," Thackeray questioned.

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New Delhi:

What else is left in the list to issue a fatwa against? Poor prawns are now the latest target of Hyderabad based Islamic outfit Jamia Nizamia.

The fatwa directs Muslims to not eat prawns, crabs and shrimps as it is considered as, haram, in Islam.

Established in 1876, Jamia Nizamia is one of the oldest Islamic seminaries in the country.

The fatwa issued on January 1, categorized these extremely delectable sea foods categorizing them as, makruh tahrim, since these does not fall under the category of fish.

Mufti Mohammed Azeemuddin, the chief Mufti of , Jamia Nizamia issued the Fatwa which says "Prawn is an arthropod and it doesn't belong to the fish community and so falls under 'markruh tahrim' category. It is strictly abominable for Muslims."

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New Delhi:

A new study carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and based on the data collected from the Aura satellite claims that a decline in the ozone-depleting chemicals has resulted in a 20 per cent less depletion of the ozone layer since 2005.

The study, which is published in Geophysical Research Letters, shows that the depletion of the ozone layer had reduced specifically due to a decline in chlorine levels by 0.8 per cent each year between 2005 and 2016.

Susan Strahan, lead author and atmospheric scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Centre, said, We see very clearly that chlorine from [chlorofluorocarbons] is going down in the ozone hole, and that less ozone depletion is occurring because of it.

The chlorofluorocarbons, referred by Strahan, are the ozone depleting chemicals that are used in aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, and refrigerators.

The CFCs are broken down into chlorine by the suns ultraviolet rays, thus causing the depletion.

The ozone layer hole was first discovered in 1980s and soon enough, the whole world joined in to solve the problem. The Montreal Pact was signed by several nations, which would ultimately ban the CFCs and the chemicals responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer.

Also Read: NASA's Juno spacecraft clicks stunning Jupiter image, reveals atmosphere of the gas giant

NASAs latest announcement came in November where it said that the layer measured was now smallest since that in 1988.

This is very close to what our model predicts we should see for this amount of chlorine decline. This gives us confidence that the decrease in ozone depletion through mid-September shown by data is due to the declining levels of chlorine coming from CFCs, added Strahan.

Anne Douglas, co-author and atmospheric scientist at Goddard, said, As far as the ozone hole being gone, were looking at 2060 or 2080. And even then, there might still be a small hole.

The ozone layer protects the Earth from the suns ultraviolet radiations which can cause skin cancer and cataracts, supress immune systems and harm plants.

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United Nations:

US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Iranian authorities on Saturday that the world is watching as Tehran responds to anti-government protests.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Islamic republic.

The United States called the meeting despite fierce criticism from Russia, which accused Washington of interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

"The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley told the council.

"It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."

Haley accused the government of funding a pro-regime military campaign in Syria, backing Shiite militias in Iraq and supporting a crony elite while ordinary Iranians struggle.

The Iranian people are telling their government to "stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars," said Haley.

A total of 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested since December 28 as protests over economic woes turned against the Iranian regime, with attacks on government buildings and police stations.

Pro-regime rallies were held in Tehran after Friday prayers, the third straight day of marches in support of the government, which has declared the unrest over.

Diplomats had expected Russia to call a procedural vote to try to block the meeting, but in the end, Moscow's envoy did not make that request.

Also Read| Donald Trumps pressure on Pakistan may push it closer to China: Report

Heading into the council chamber, Haley gave reporters a thumbs-up and answered "yes" when asked if she had the nine votes needed for the meeting to go ahead.

Over the past days, the United States has lobbied hard to win support for the Security Council meeting, especially from the six new non-permanent council members, diplomats said.

For a new agenda item to be discussed at the Security Council, at least nine of the 15 council members must support holding the meeting. No vetoes apply.

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London:

A prominent Sikh group in the UK wants to ban Indian officials from entering Gurudwaras, alleging that they are "interfering" in the internal matters of the Sikh community.



"Sikhs in the diaspora are fed up with Indian Government officials and their agents increasingly interfere in our institutions and Sikh affairs, undermining of Sikh campaigns for greater rights and internal matters for the Sikh community," said Bhai Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK).



Indian authorities also target Sikhs from the diaspora when they visit India, Singh said, citing the case of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who was arrested for his alleged role in targeted killings in Punjab.



Johal, who got married last month, was apprehended from Jalandhar in connection with the target killing.



The draft declaration by the UK's Sikh Federation being considered states that anyone in their personal capacity can pay their respects to the Sikh Holy Scriptures.A

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Washington:

The US, on Saturday, suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens, a White House official said.

Such a drastic step has been taken at the direction of US President Donald Trump who is frustrated at Pakistan's inaction on terror groups, a senior administration official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Despite four months of high-level engagement with Pakistan, the information that Trump was receiving from the ground was not satisfactory, as a result he decided to suspend security assistance to Pakistan, the official added.

He, however, said that suspension can be lifted if Pakistan takes decisive actions against militant groups and terrorists.

The White House official disagreed with Pakistani allegations that the US is speaking the language of India and that US has dumped Pakistan.

"We do not believe this is the language of India. This is the language of the president and the US administration. So, we just disagree with that," the official said.

The official was responding to a question about a statement made by the Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawja Asif in this regard. In an interview, Asif alleged that the US is "trumpeting India's lies and deceit" and is speaking the "language of Indians".

Also Read: UN Security Council to meet on Iran protests, at US request

According to the official, the suspension does not include civilian assistance. It is mostly security assistance, with the provision of exceptions in case of national interest.

"Prior year funding for equipment that have not yet been delivered would be suspended. It includes the USD 255 million in FMF (foreign military funding) that was notified to Congress in August of last year. It totals about billions worth of military assistance that has been planned," the official said, giving the breakdown of suspension of about USD 2 billion security assistance to Pakistan.

This also includes USD 900 million in the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), the official said, adding that US considers CSF as security aid, whole Pakistan considers this as a reimbursement.

"That is what approximately USD2 billion worth of equipment and the Coalition support funding that that is in play," the official said, reiterating that this has been suspended.

"I just want to be clear that it's been suspended. Nothing's been reprogrammed. We're hopeful that we can lift the suspension and the aid would be able to go forward. But at this time that?s what is suspended," the official said.

According to the White House, there are going to be "exceptions made", and the administration is still working on the details of the implementation of the aid suspension policy.

"There will be exceptions made. I think you can assume that you know things that are in the US national security, things that might be related to nuclear issues, end use monitoring of equipment. I don't want to get into specific because the implementation is still being worked out but there certainly will be exceptions made when the items are deemed to be in the US national security interests," the official said.

Also Read: UK Sikh group wants to ban Indian officials from entering Gurudwaras

Not responding to questions of other steps like removing Pakistan from its non-NATO ally status, the official said US has a number of tools in its toolkit.

"We can take unilateral steps. We prefer to cooperate with Pakistan. We are hopeful that we will be able to cooperate in the future. But right now, we're frustrated and we want to indicate to Pakistan our seriousness about the issue of dealing with safe havens," the official said.

Terrorist safe havens in Pakistan has been a problem for the US for the past 15 years and it has been one of the major reasons that the American efforts in Afghanistan have been frustrated.

Noting that the president has a comprehensive strategy on Afghanistan that the administration believes Pakistan can benefit from if they cooperate.

Also Read: 'The world will be watching what you do': US warns Iran at United Nations

"The president has shown that he is willing to speak with clarity when he talks about Pakistan and our relationship," the official said.

"This can help to have a more effective policy toward Pakistan and we can get some better results this time around," the official said in response to a question.

Reacting to the Trump administration's move, Pakistan had earlier said, "We are engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and await further details".

"Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats," the Foreign Office said in a statement in Islamabad earlier.

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#FIFA World Cup Ghana coach 'happy' to see old pupil Son Heung-min in Qatar When South Korea and Ghana square off in their second Group H match of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this month, it will also set up a reunion for a coach and a former player o...
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 2, 2018 /CNW/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQB: LDSYF), (XETR:LD6) ("LDS" or the "Company") announces the filing of an enhanced provisional patent for the CannaStripsTM technology and two additional applications for CannaStrips trademark protection in the United Kingdom and European Union to complement the Company's current Canadian trademark application.

The new provisional patent filed by Dr. Sanderson, the Company's Chief Science Officer and the licensor of the CannaStripsTM technology, adds additional enhanced capabilities to the current CannaStripsTM formula, which will be implemented into the 2018 CannaStripsTM product line. The new trademark applications are intended as an anticipatory action to protect the CannaStripsTM oral strips brand in geographical territories where the Company may have future plans for distribution. The Canadian trademark filing was made back in April 2017, as part of the structural predevelopment plans for possible future product licensing and distribution collaboration or partnership regarding CannaStripsTM technology in Canada. The Company has made its interest to collaborate on clinical trials in Canada known to a number of Canadian licensed producers ("LP"). Should the Company come to an agreement with a Canadian LP for sponsorship of Canadian clinical trials and subsequently have those trials result in an approval from Health Canada for the CannaStripsTM technology for use in Canada, the Company would focus on a license agreement to introduce CannaStripsTM into the Canadian market. LDS CEO, Brad Eckenweiler, stated, "We strongly believe that the CannaStripsTM delivery system is so unique that with clinical trials from a recognized health organization to substantiate the efficacy of the technology it would have to be at the top of the list of preferred delivery solutions anywhere in the world."

The Company will continue to pursue a collaborative effort for clinical trials with the intent on accomplishing commencement of those clinical trials in the first quarter of 2018.

Extension of Financial Milestones for Escrow Agreements

In addition, on December 28, 2017, the Company's Board of Directors resolved to extend the deadline for satisfying certain financial milestones set out under the terms of its escrow agreements with the former shareholders of Canna Delivery Systems Inc. ("Canna"). Under the terms of the escrow agreements, a total of 7,800,000 common shares issued to the former shareholders of Canna (the "Performance Shares") were held in escrow, subject to release upon the Company achieving certain financial milestones by December 31, 2017 (as amended on November 6, 2017). The Company has agreed to extend the deadline for satisfying the financial milestones until June 30, 2018. As of the date of this news release, a total of 2,100,000 Performance Shares remain subject to escrow, of which 840,000 Performance Shares are held by the Company's CEO, Brad Eckenweiler.

About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to smoking but also a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the product. From start to finish, the production process tests for quality and composition of all the ingredients used in each and every strip, resulting in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective.

On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Brad Eckenweiler

CEO & Director

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

[email protected]

1-866-347-5058

Cautionary Disclaimer Statement:

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Related Links

http://www.lifestyledeliverysystem.com


NORTH HAVEN  A Hamden police sergeant was arrested and charged with assault while on duty at the end of December and has since been place on modified duty.

Sgt. Michael Cirillo allegedly left his post and arrived in a police vehicle at the scene of an investigation by North Haven police Dec. 31, police said. There, Cirillo allegedly was involved in an altercation with the North Haven polices initial suspect in a harassment complaint, according to a police report. Cirillo was arrested that day and charged with third-degree assault.

He has since been relieved of his police powers and restricted to administrative duty, police said, which means his gun, badge and police equipment were taken pending the completion of an internal investigation.

I dont want to prejudge facts and circumstances, Hamden Police Chief Thomas Wydra said. I know what the optics are. The optics are bad.

The initial suspect of the complaint allegedly had sent threatening text messages to his girlfriend that day, according to a police report. North Haven officers Christopher Spose and John Gaspar were on scene at an apartment on Phillip Place investigating when Cirillo showed up and entered the basement where Spose was with the suspect.

Cirillo immediately yelled at (the suspect) and grabbed (the suspect) by the shirt and chest area, according to Sposes report. Cirillo pushed (the suspect) backward and both parties went to the ground with Cirillo on top of (the suspect). Spose tried to get Cirillo off (the suspect) as Cirillo yelled at him about making threats to his family, according to the report.

Further, Sgt. Robert DePalma, who was assisting in the initial investigation, wrote in his report, Cirillo walked past Spose, directly at (the suspect). Cirillo yelled at (the suspect), grabbed him by his upper torso and threw him to the ground. Cirillo continued to wrestle with (the suspect) and eventually placing (the man) into a head lock. Cirillos action were unprovoked.

The suspect reported suffering injuries to his lower back from the confrontation and the North Haven Fire Department and American Medical Response responded to the scene, Sposes report said. He was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Cirillo cooperated after the altercation and Gaspar took him upstairs where he took Cirillos weapon, Sposes report said.

Police learned that the suspects girlfriend had called a relative about the threatening messages and the person who received the call is related to Cirillo.

Initially, when Spose and Gaspar arrived at the apartment, the suspect was sitting in a car and Spose detained him for questioning. Police learned the suspect and his girlfriend had recently leased the apartment together and planned to move there from Hamden.

The suspect told police that the couple had an argument recently and she had asked him to move out and take his things, according to the report. The woman confirmed this when DePalma and Officer Alan Cantele interviewed her at the police station. She told police she wanted to end the relationship, the report said.

At the station, the woman shared messages she had gotten that day from the suspect indicating he would kill her parents and sisters, according to DePalmas report.

Cirillo had a court date set for Jan. 11, but no pending cases appeared on the state Judicial Branch website. The man who was the target of the alleged assault does not have a case related to the incident pending, according to the state website.

The man visited North Haven police station Jan. 2 to request all charges associated with the incident be withdrawn, according to a police report.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has debunked an allegation that he is the chief financier of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

The association is the national body of Fulani herdsmen.

Paul Ibe, Atikus spokesman, in a statement on Friday, described the allegation against Abubakar, who holds Tiv traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv, as sad and false.

Ibe said it was disheartening that in this period of intense grief in Benue State, Chief Paul Unongo would choose to level false allegations on the person of Abubakar.

Unongo was the former Chairman, Governing Board of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

Ibe said while Abubakar was proud to be Fulani, he is a thoroughly detribalized Nigerian that would never favour one ethnic group over another.

He recalled that in 2017 during the massive flood in Benue which affected over 100,000 families, Abubakar, donated cash to the Benue Government for the care of the victims.

He said, This is fitting for a man whose Tiv traditional title means the biggest shade of the Tiv people.

It is strange that Chief Paul Unongo chose to neglect that act of love and care from the Waziri Adamawa to the people of Benue.

Not only did the Zege Mule U Tiv make a financial donation, he also called on the Federal Government to do more to assist the flood ravaged communities.

Let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is a Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member.

He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo.

Furthermore, Abubakar enjoins that a thorough investigation be made into the killings in Benue, and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law.

Ibe added that it would be a very sad day when a supposed elder chooses to make mileage of the sufferings of the people of Benue State who have had to endure the impunity of these killings for far too long.

Abubakar, according to Ibe, prayed for the souls of the departed.

As a traditional title holder of Tiv land, Abubakar, assures the entire people of Benue (including the Idoma and Igede) that he would do everything in his power to bring justice, relief and compensation their way, he added.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday restated its commitment to peaceful and credible 2019 general elections in Ebonyi.The states Chairman of the party, Mr Eze Nwachukwu, who gave the assurance while addressing journalists in Abakaliki, therefore, appealed to groups and individuals preaching violence and war ahead of the elections to have a rethink.Nwachukwu insisted that APC would abide by extant laws, rules and regulations guiding peaceful conduct of elections in the country.He said that the party had at a stakeholders meeting on Friday, reviewed its preparedness for the forthcoming general elections and seen the need to make its position known especially in view of unsavoury comments allegedly made by some politicians in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state governor, David Umahi, had said that he was ready for the political intrigues that would herald the battle for elective positions in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.He said this on Monday while addressing stakeholders of Afikpo North and Ezza South, who paid him a Christmas visit at his country home in Uburu.In his remarks, he vowed to ensure the re-election of the state and federal lawmakers from Afikpo North and Ezza South Local Government Area of the state.Umahi had said that there was no vacancy in the state House of Assembly and National Assembly positions in both councils, and that those aspiring for the positions should wait for 2023.I am a man of war and ready to war in ensuring that the present occupiers of the positions are re-elected in 2019.We all came together on the platform of divine mandate and would complete the mandates together.When we all finish our tenures, I will force the present occupiers to vacate the seats to ensure that other aspirants realise their ambitions, Umahi said.Nwachukwu described the governors threat as an indication of acceptance of defeat.Gov. Umahi, while addressing stakeholders of Afikpo North and Ezza South, who paid him a Christmas visit at his country home in Uburu, declared himself as a man of war and ready to fight for his re-election in 2019.For us in APC, such comments are un-dignifying and unwarranted especially coming from a man occupying the exalted office of Governor.Election is neither a war nor a do-or-die affair. It is a free contest that is only decided by the electorate through the ballot hence it is not an act or war.Our questions then are: who is fighting who and who is warring against, who since it must take two to fight or to get involved in a war, Nwachukwu said.The Governor knows that he has been technically defeated and that is why he wants to threaten and intimidate.Nwachukwu stated that as the largest opposition party in the state, APC believes that power resides with the people and that such power is exercised through their free franchise.He said that the party would rather seek the votes of the people than preach war.For us in the opposition, ours is to mobilize the electorate, canvass for their votes and support and to urge them to actively participate in the electoral process through sustained sensitisation.We are letting residents know that we are ready and set to take over power not by hook or crook, but by the laid down legal procedure that enhances peaceful and credible elections.We in APC subscribe to the laws of the land and this includes those laws and guidelines regulating conduct of behaviour during elections because in Nigeria there are laws guiding actions and behaviour and our actions, Nwachukwu added.He, therefore, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be vigilant and to apply strict sanctions against any political party or candidate for the elections that violates the electoral law or INEC guidelines.
The Nigerian army says Mamman Nur, a factional leader of the Boko Haram insurgent group, has been fatally injured.

The Nigerian army says Mamman Nur, a factional leader of the Boko Haram insurgent group, has been fatally injured.

Nur was said to have sustained grave injuries during the armys bombardment of Boko Haram enclaves.





Onyema Nwachukwu, deputy director pulic relations of the Lafiya Dole operation, made this known in a statement on Friday.





Ongoing artillery and aerial bombardments of Boko Haram enclaves in the Lake Chad region by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole has continued to yield positive results, he said.





Currently an evaluation report of the ongoing operation indicates that a major factional leader of the terrorists group, Mamman Nur has been fatally injured in the bombardment as he and his sub commanders fled from the onslaught.




A non governmental organization known as Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative (GOPRI) has described as irresponsible, unprofessional and misleading, the statement credited to the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, yesterday suggesting that the recent massacre in Benue State was a communal clashes and not a herdsmen attack as widely believed.The group said the statement was unbecoming of the number 1 law enforcer of the most powerful African nation and therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter urgency, relieve him of his position in order to avoid further embarrassment for the country.Executive Director of (GOPRI), Mr Melvin Ejeh stated this in Jos while addressing a coalition of youth groups across the North Central states.Ejeh wondered why a senior police officer of his position and calibre could make such unprofessional, reckless and unguarded statement without waiting for results of a full investigation.We were shocked when we heard the statement emanating from the IGP himself and wondered what the future holds for the country with Idris as our IGP. This is an indication of the biased route the investigation into the unprovoked killings will take.The statement is capable of causing serious breach of peace and a threat to National security if nothing is done by the Commander in Chief. The people of Benue State and the entire middle belt might regard this statement as the presidencys official position.While we as a group are not trying to conclude that the attackers were Fulani herdsmen since investigations are still on going and because we are respecters of laws and due process, we find the statement of the IGP as too sudden, hasty and disturbing, suggesting that investigations into the gruesome murder of innocent Nigerians in Benue state can never be fair under Idris kpotun as IGP. The IGP should bury his head in shame now that the leader of Miyetti Allah cattle Breeders in Benue State admitted openly that the Fulani attacks on the state were in retaliation for alleged stealing of their cows.Garus Gololo told BBC News Pidgin that over 1000 of their cows were stolen at Nengere when their owners were relocating to Taraba through Nasarawa State.Gololo said the herdsmen were only defending themselves from thieves.It is on this note that we are unanimously calling on President Mahammedu Buhari to sack this serial goof  and have him replaced with a more competent and objective professional officer, he said.
In July 2012, clashes between natives and herdsmen reached a head in Plateau state leading to tens of deaths on both sides. Then President ...

In July 2012, clashes between natives and herdsmen reached a head in Plateau state leading to tens of deaths on both sides. Then President Jonathan, when briefed about the situation insisted that there wouldnt be such impunity under his leadership and immediately ordered the army to go to the affected communities and fish out the perpetrators and bring them to book.

The military immediately obeyed the then presidents orders and sent troops to Barkin Ladi Local Government Area. They ordered all residents to leave their residence for temporary accommodation provided for them so they could conduct a joint air and ground operation to flush out the armed herdsmen who had been suspected of killing innocent Nigerians. The residents complied and the soldiers went in and not only did they clear the area, they made arrests which led to trials.





That is how a commander-in-chief acts. When your people are being slaughtered you dont send them commiserations, like the frequent commiserations President Muhammadu Buhari has been sending to the people of Benue State. No. You assert yourself as the leader by using the nations symbols of strength to quash any threat to the national security of the nation.





That is what Jonathan did in Plateau state in July 2012. So effectively was Jonathans orders carried out that Malam Nasir El-Rufai tweeted his now infamous tweet on the 15th of July 2012 threatening that We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes. (his exact words)





So when he was elected governor and we began to hear him say that he had paid public monies to herdsmen to prevent further killings (there was actually a spike in killings), and that he as a governor was of the same ethnicity as these herdsmen, I was not at all taken aback as others were. The man had publicly signified his intentions long before he became governor. But the point I am trying to make is that former President Jonathan, who was called weak by the All Progressive Congress, did something to end the menace of herdsmen killings, but President Buhari who is called strong by his supporters, has refused to do anything.





And so today, when I read about the killings perpetuated by herdsmen in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba and other parts of Nigeria, I really feel for our citizens who have to go through these ordeals of impunity. No arrests are made, no forms of deterrence whatsoever is carried about by the Buhari administration.





I heard that the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, wept when he saw corpses of his citizens massacred by herdsmen. It might sound harsh, but can Ortom recall that only last month he smiled as he told Nigerians that President Buhari deserves a second term? My question to Ortom is this: If President Buhari gets a second term, would there be human beings left alive in Benue?





It is a fact that herdsmen belong to the same wider ethnic nationality as President Muhammadu Buhari, although most killer herdsmen are not mainstream Fulani, but rather fringe Fulani of the Wodaabe (also known as the Mbororo or Bororo) subgroup of the Fula people.





It is also a fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was the grand patron of the umbrella union of herdsmen in Nigeria known as Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.





From that vantage point, he had in the past angrily and malevolently confronted state governors in states were herdsmen had received the wrong end of the stick in their acts of marauding.





As a matter of fact, on October 13, 2000, Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacity as the Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, demanded for and got a meeting with the then Governor of Oyo state, Lam Adesina, were he angrily said the words below to Governor Adesina:





Your Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your government our displeasure about the incident of clashes between two peoples the Fulani cattle rearers and merchants are today being harassed , attacked and killed in Saki. That some arrests were made by Oyo State Police Command in the massacre with their immediate release without court trial. This was said to have been ordered by Oyo State authorities and they were so released to their amazement. The release of the arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the authorities are backing and protecting them to continue the unjust and illegal killings of Fulani cattle rearers





Muhammadu Buhari then ended his speech by demanding for an immediate stoppage of the killings, justice and compensation to the Fulanis.





After listening to Muhammadu Buhari, Lam Adesina asked the then Commissioner of Police for Oyo state to respond to his angry visitor and the Commissioner responded thus:





The killing of the natives by the Fulanis was duly reported to the police and, of course, we cant make arrest because, as soon as they kill, they migrate to other areas. Who are you going to arrest? That is the problem. On the killing of Fulanis, which he said was as result of piled up anger, the commissioner disclosed that arrests had been made and the suspects were in police custody.





When the Commissioner was done, Governor Adesina responded to Buhari thus:





I want to say also that we really have to appeal to our people, the itinerant Bororo people, that they should observe less aggression. It is not good , it is not right just coming from somewhere then you just pass through farm lands cultivated may be with the persons life savings and then over night everything is gone. That is not right, even Allah does not approve of that. We even wonder when they talk about this people carrying dangerous weapons, I say do they really believe in Allah? When you just take life like that and go away! Are we not forbidden not to take human life? So I think General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating them. It is my pleasure to inform you that at the Presidential Lodge, we have made some arrangements for refreshments so that before you go we can refresh together.





That meeting of October 13, 2000, was recorded and the quotes above are from Agbaakin Kehinde Olaosebikan, then Chief Press Secretary to late Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo state.





Now imagine the level of concern and care that President Muhammadu Buhari showed for his kinsmen in in October 2000, that he went to challenge a sitting Governor to a pissing contest when herdsmen were killed in reprisal killings. Why hasnt Muhammadu Buhari shown that level of concern for Nigerians killed by herdsmen?





Now that same man is our President and Commander-in-Chief, and herdsmen killings have exploded exponentially under his watch to the extent that the United States Congress declared Nigeria as the most dangerous place to be a Christian in the entire world bar none, principally because of the killings by herdsmen.





Can it be a coincidence that herdsmen killings has multiplied just as soon as their immediate past Grand Patron became President? Where is the anger that Buhari displayed to Governor Lam Adesina now that Fulanis are killing Nigerians?





How many people were killed in the Southeast before President Buhari ordered Operation Python Dance? Now ask yourself how many thousands have died at the hands of herdsmen in Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa? The answer proves we are not all equal in Buharis Nigeria.









That is why I laughed when Governor Ortom said I have reiterated my call on the Federal Government to arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore. Why is Governor Ortom talking like a child? Can a Mafia godfather order the arrest of a mafioso to please a non mafia member? You are asking their Grand Patron to arrest the people who made him Grand Patron!





Apparently, Governor Ortom does not know his friends from his enemies.




The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being the chief financier and m...

The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being the chief financier and most influential member of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the apex body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria, Punchng reports.

He, therefore, called on Atiku, who is a prince of the Tiv Court, to caution the herdsmen, who have been slaughtering hundreds of people in the country.





On friday, Unongo said, I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I dont know.





There are so many possibilities. The most powerful person who finances the Miyetti Allah is Abubakar Atiku and he is a prince of the Tiv Court. The Tiv gave him a traditional title, meaning the biggest shade of the Tiv people.





This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them. This is the man who heads Miyetti Allah and is the greatest financier of this organisation. .





He has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah. It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place and then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people, and the government is doing nothing!





When asked if he was sure that Atiku was the most influential member of the Miyetti Allah, Unongo said the former Vice President told him personally that he was an influential member of the association. .





In reacting to the elders claim, Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, debunked the allegation that he is the chief financier of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).





The association is the national body of Fulani herdsmen.





Paul Ibe, Atikus spokesman, in a statement on Friday, described the allegation against Abubakar, who holds Tiv traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv, as sad and false.





Ibe said it was disheartening that in this period of intense grief in Benue State, Chief Paul Unongo would choose to level false allegations on the person of Abubakar.





Unongo was the former Chairman, Governing Board of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).





Ibe said while Abubakar was proud to be Fulani, he is a thoroughly detribalized Nigerian that would never favour one ethnic group over another.





He recalled that in 2017 during the massive flood in Benue which affected over 100,000 families, Abubakar, donated cash to the Benue Government for the care of the victims.





He said, This is fitting for a man whose Tiv traditional title means the biggest shade of the Tiv people.





It is strange that Chief Paul Unongo chose to neglect that act of love and care from the Waziri Adamawa to the people of Benue.





Not only did the Zege Mule U Tiv make a financial donation, he also called on the Federal Government to do more to assist the flood ravaged communities.





Let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is a Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member.





He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo.





Furthermore, Abubakar enjoins that a thorough investigation be made into the killings in Benue, and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law.





Ibe added that it would be a very sad day when a supposed elder chooses to make mileage of the sufferings of the people of Benue State who have had to endure the impunity of these killings for far too long.





Abubakar, according to Ibe, prayed for the souls of the departed.




Bayelsa State, was yesterday thrown into mourning following the sudden death of a newly-inducted Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. F...

Bayelsa State, was yesterday thrown into mourning following the sudden death of a newly-inducted Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Francis Egele.Egele, an illustrious son of the state, who hailed from Okoroba in Ogbia Local Government Area, reportedly breathed his last on Friday morning.The prominent lawyer was said to have died in his late 50s.The lawyer held a Thanksgiving in Yenagoa, last Sunday, to appreciate God for joining the ranks of SANs last year.Sources said he developed complications arising from High Blood Pressure and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, where he died later.Egele, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Bayelsa, in October last year, urged the state government to appoint new judges in order to quicken dispensation of justice in the state.
The lingering  wedding gown turned birthday gown scandalinvolving a Nigerian designer, Maryam Elisha @rikaotobymeand Nollywood actress, M...

The lingering  wedding gown turned birthday gown scandalinvolving a Nigerian designer, Maryam Elisha @rikaotobymeand Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe over a red gown meant for a bride, has taken another turn.

The designer who was accused of lying in her first apology, has once again tendered her apology to Mercy Aigbe and the bride, Mrs Lawrentta Sawyer





Sharing a stunning photo of Mercy Aigbe, Maryam wrote:





Dear Mercy Aigbe @realmercyaigbe, I am sorry I havent been in touch since the the dress incident. I was actually out of town with limited internet access.





I know I owe you an apology and actually I would like to do it in person and explain so we can resolve the issue.





Neither you nor the bride deserved what happened. This is not my proudest moment ever. I feel so terrible for what this has caused you as well, especially seeing the comments and knowing that majority believe you were at fault here, which isnt the case. This is so sad.





Once again, please accept my apology. I will continue to apologise to you and my other client, the bride. I hope we can sit and talk about it.





Thank you, Maryam Elisha









The designer after getting dragged for apologising to Mercy Aigbe only, later shared screenshots of her apologising to the disappointed bride on whatsapp and also used that opportunity to apologise to her on Instagram. See below:
















Notable leaders in the South- South geo-political zone on Friday ridiculed the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ov...

Notable leaders in the South- South geo-political zone on Friday ridiculed the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over plans to return the party to the Presidential villa in 2019, saying it is cloud cuckoo land for anyone to believe that could be done.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has broken the back of PDP in Nigeria. Anyone who thinks the PDP is going to run the federal government in 2019 is living in cloud-cuckoo land the leaders said.





They described the PDP as a party of the past





PDP is not a party with a future. In 16 years, the party failed to act as broker of ideas. It could not articulate the desires of the people





At a high level meeting in Benin, capital of Edo State, the respected leaders praised Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi for his decision to quit the former ruling party.





The 2019 general election is going to be difficult for PDP governors in the South-South zone the leaders said.





They urged Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, Benedict Ayade and Ezenwo Nyeson Wike to join the ruling party.





In a statement by the chairman, South-South Front (SSF), Chief John Harry, the leaders praised the national chairman of the ruling party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for creating a good image for the party, tolerating views different from his own and leading the party by the strength of ideas.





They also eulogized the national chairman for thinking out the best interests of the members and the means to achieve them, presenting them in a simple, intelligent and interesting form and reshaping them in the light of altered circumstances.





Listing intelligence, self control and conscience as qualities that helped Oyegun in the effective management of the ruling party, the leaders scolded critics of the Edo State ex-governor for their smear campaign aimed at making the national leadership of the party appear helpless to manage the party, damage the reputation of the national chairman and force him into a corner.





The leaders who condemned Timi Frank, Kola Amzat, Felix Anirah and others for losing touch with reality commended Oyegun for not perverting public power to private interest.





They urged critics of the national chairman to rise from the bondage of half-truths to objective appraisal.





What do you expect from a moody, erratic character? What do you expect from an unblushing liar and a grumpy fellow? Timi Frank, a thin, almost emaciated fellow, is childish, reckless and out of control. He is a public relations disaster and enemy of the South-South people.





In an audacious move, the leaders urged APC members nationwide to support a second term for the charismatic, calm strategist and humble Edo chief.





Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is inducing in Mr. President, ministers, governors and others the strength and confidence necessary to plan and implement short and long term policies





They also urged Founder and General Overseer of Gods Anointed and Blessed Church International, Pastor Toye Ebijomore to continue to pray for the ruling party.




Former Nigerias High Commissioner to Canada and second Republic senator, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher, has literarily torn President Muhammadu B...

Former Nigerias High Commissioner to Canada and second Republic senator, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher, has literarily torn President Muhammadu Buhari apart over his loud silence on the ongoing killing of citizens he swore to protect across the country.

Hagher, who is now President African Leadership Institute USA, in an open letter addressed to Buhari, averred that the president has betrayed the nations democracy and is promoting genocide.









The former minister said Buharis body language was a clear indication that he is in support of the pogrom going on in the country.





His letter reads.





Your Excellency Mr. President,





YOU HAVE BETRAYED DEMOCRACY AND PROMOTED GENOCIDE





I would have loved to wish you a happy new year, but I am not a hypocrite. I am not happy and nobody in Benue is happy today, because many of our citizens did not have a happy new 2018. Genocide on citizens of Nigeria has escalated in earnest in Benue State. This genocide has turned their happiness to nightmare and death. Let me also apologize for making this letter public. It is not in my character. In this case there is an emergency and urgency, which cannot wait.





I am pained that you ignored my advice in my private memorandum to you dated 30th July 2016. I had warned you of the possibility of a horrendous genocide in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, and Southern Adamawa States. I asked you to be proactive and stop the genocide that has been ongoing but which would burst out in the open and shock the world within 18 months. Your office replied my letter on September, 28th 2016, and the reply was couriered to me in the United States, thanking me immensely and giving me the assurances that the advice would be heeded.





With the current situation on ground, I regret to now inform you that it is seventeen months since my warning and prediction and your government did nothing to pre-empt or prevent the genocide. The nomadic terrorists have finally accelerated the ethnic cleansing in Benue State. They have strategically moved against the Tiv, the largest minority ethnicity in northern Nigeria. These perpetrators believe that if they can ethnic cleanse the Tiv, then nobody can stand in their way to possess the land and carve a new geo-polity and demography for the middle-belt.





Now that you have allowed the genocide in the Middle Belt to go on unimpeded you have betrayed your campaign promise to Nigerians that your government will always act in time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester.









In allowing the Benue genocide to take place your government has acted irresponsibly and has allowed problems to fester and failed to act on time. You have also failed to lead from the front; giving the impression that centrifugal forces around you are dictating vicious anti-people agenda!





Mr. President, the protection of lives and property of the citizens is more important than your war against corruption! The protection of lives of citizens is the most sacred responsibility of the state and your presidency. Your government has failed woefully in this regard. Mr President there is no greater corruption than the government looking the other way while the strong bullies and kills the weak with impunity and pleasure!





Your Excellency, in your passion (monomania, I think!) to rid the country of corruption, you have totally ignored nation building and ended up with a very divided country. You have failed your immediate Northern constituency by your inability, failure or lack of the political will to end northern poverty through measures that enhance school enrolment, promote girl-child education, and revive dead industries. You became Nigerias president on the altar of northern unity when the northern minorities abandoned President Goodluck Jonathan to vote for you. You have now desecrated that altar. By refusing to arrest those that brutally butchered defenseless innocent Benue women and children, you have imperiled northern unity and taken sides with evil.





Many Nigerians think you have failed the country by the lack of a clear vision and a lack of capacity to provide needed infrastructure and a composite holistic development; more significantly, they think you have failed to institute a political culture of integrity. You are often compared with the lone King Sisyphus of Ephyra who was punished by the gods to roll an immense border up the hill, only to watch it roll back down, then condemned to repeat the same rolling action forever. This is the picture people have in mind of your war against endemic corruption. You honestly deserve pity and prayers, but certainly not support for a second term.





Nobody can deny that you still have a horde of admirers, which still look up to you with great admiration; however, the Benue genocide seriously questions your integrity, and your capacity to lead a plural modern state. Is there a rule of law in this country? Why does the Miyetti Allah act with so much impunity? Is this because this terrorist group claims you as their life patron? Do not accept the clamor of those who for their personal political reasons urge you to contest in the 2019 election to be a second term president! Mr. President, please rise above the impression being given that you are just another power obsessed and hungry politician!





Step aside and open the political space for another person to continue your war against corruption with a more comprehensive development program that Nigeria needs and deserves. For now, modernize infrastructure and try to banish poverty. And while your party campaigns for 2019, take a sabbatical from partisanship and build national unity, good governance and concentrate on getting rid of Boko Haram and the Herdsmen Terrorists. After all, great people are not great for winning elections; rather they are known to be great by the legacy they leave behind. With what legacy do you wish the country to remember you for? It is unfortunate that family members of those that were hacked to death will remember you as the genocide president!

Your Excellency Mr. President,





I remain respectfully Sir,
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, but a Burlington County Superior Court judge returned a sentence of 50 years Friday for a man convicted of fatally stabbing the mother of one of his children.

Rashon A. Causey, 40, must serve more than 42 years before becoming eligible for parole. He killed Shanai Marshall, 37, in her Monroe Street home in Burlington City in 2016 after forcing his way inside. Causey had a violent crime history of more than 92 arrests and 11 felony convictions before the murder, authorities said.

"Given this defendant's enormous criminal history, and the violent way in which he killed the mother of his child, it is hard to imagine a defendant more deserving of the life sentence the state sought here," Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. "However, the court's sentence of 50 years makes it likely that he will never experience freedom again, and that will hopefully afford some degree of comfort to Shanai's loved ones."

More than 20 family and friends of the victim were in the courtroom in Mount Holly on Friday at the sentencing, including two who addressed the court about the magnitude of their loss.

"She was done with the guy... You could see the glow in her," Nicole Vieira, 42, of Lumberton, said shortly after the killing. "She was serious, and he knew it."

Loved ones described Marshall as an energetic, candid woman who meant what she said and had unlimited love for her friends and family. Nicknamed Doobie, she never took any grief from anyone and stood up fiercely for others, especially her family, a cousin said.

Staff writer Rebecca Everett contributed to this report.

Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Education is deeply personal to Jordan Thomas. It's a value his parents, Neil and Mari Thomas, have always emphasized in their Newark household and one that his dad, a science teacher at American History High School in the city, would talk about to start each school year.

"He would say they can take your car, they can take your house, they can take your job, but they can't take your education," Jordan said.

Thomas' transcript were dominated by A's, with occasional interruptions by a few B's during grammar and middle school. Thomas showed no slippage until eighth grade when he wasn't selected valedictorian or salutatorian, falling to third place in class rankings.

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns

It would be the last time he'd lose out on an opportunity or have anyone outwork him. Thomas, now a 21-year-old senior at Princeton University, is a Rhodes Scholar, the first in Newark public school history to study at the University of Oxford in England since at least 2001.

He's one of 32 American college students elected from a pool of 866 candidates, a distinction Thomas hasn't quite grasped since the announcement in November.

"It's so surreal," said Thomas, who plans to study comparative social policy at Oxford in the fall. "I still don't think it's fully sunken in yet."

Even his family remains in awe. His mother has 30,000 hits on her LinkedIn page. On the way home from Yankee Stadium -- where Thomas was interviewed and selected to be a Rhodes Scholar -- Thomas' parents had to pull the car over to take in the enormity of what their son had accomplished.

Neil Thomas, his father, said he has been teaching 17 years, an honor he takes seriously as an educator.

"But for it to come back so strongly in your own house, for you to reap those rewards, is absolutely numbing," he said. "Jordan continues to not be satisfied to settle and continues to reach for the very top."

Newark Board of Education members honored Thomas last month with a proclamation, heaping praise on the young man whose major is based at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and his minor is Portuguese language and culture and African-American studies.

"He put Newark on the map," said board Chairman Marques-Aquil Lewis.

"He's one of our jewels that we want to see flourish. " Students in the district have had the chance to see why. He has talked with them at his father's high school about the college application process.

Until the inclement weather closed school on Thursday, Thomas was scheduled to do the same thing at his alma mater -- University High School -- where he was the 2014 valedictorian with a 4.5 grade average and straight A's, an academic streak he's kept since freshman year at Princeton.

"I don't care if you're more talented than me. I don't care if you're more gifted than me, you're not going to outwork me," he said. "I'm never going to stop giving it 110 percent."

Scott Hood, his 11th grade English teacher, mentor and now friend, said Thomas' intellectual curiosity has set him apart. He remembers how Thomas thrived on discovery, coming to him often about words he learned, engaging him about class assignments, world events.

"As good as he is academically, he's even a better human being," Hood said. "He has the ability to get along with everybody and talk about everything competently in an interesting way."

Thomas' hunger to expand his intellect globally blossomed at Princeton, where he began to meet international students. There was a world out there larger than what he knew and he wanted to know more.

Thomas was a Fulbright Summer Institute Fellow at the University of Bristol, where he studied the culture, heritage, and history of the United Kingdom. He interned at the Office for Civil Rights' Program Legal Group at the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative.

In the summer following his sophomore year, Thomas interned for a law firm in Lisbon, Portugal, and volunteered in the depressed favela neighborhoods of Rio de Janiero.

After Oxford, Thomas' plan is straightforward: Law school. Return to Newark and work for a nonprofit organization or a public interest law firm. Then, run for public office on the local, then state and, ultimately, federal level. As early as pre-school, Thomas knew he wanted to serve, telling teachers of his goal to be president of the United States.

Thomas, who grew up on Barber Street, in Newark's Ironbound section, has not forgotten his roots.

"Newark built me," he said. "Newark shaped me."

Returning to Newark is not complicated for Thomas. He wants to pay it forward and give back to the city that had a hand in his Rhodes scholar achievement.

If and when he's elected to office, Thomas said, he wants to help struggling Newark families and strengthen city schools. As a student representative on the Board of Education, he would hear parents shout angrily at board meetings about how the system was failing them.

That stung, but the contentious 2013-2014 school year planted the seed for Thomas to tell board members he would be back.

Parents didn't like Newark's controversial universal enrollment plan under former Superintendent Cami Anderson. They railed against the district for closing public schools and replacing them with charter schools.

"It was huge. What does it mean to fail this group of people that we were here to serve?" said Thomas, who criticized the district's charter school direction back then as a "systemic attack on public schools."

Education is the most viable means for "social mobility," says Thomas, and "the main tool for people to improve their circumstances in life."

He can talk education policy all day, but Thomas does have balance in his life. Beyond the classroom, he is a residential college adviser and serves on the executive board of Community House, a student-driven program at Princeton that works to close the achievement gap among underrepresented area youth.

MORE CARTER: Newark community leader spent her own money to hire young job seekers | Carter

During his downtime, he cheers for the New England Patriots, plays ultimate Frisbee and listens to various musical genres from hip-hop and classical jazz to heavy metal and down tempo electronic. Physically fit, Thomas guards his health as much as his academics, having lost 65 pounds in high school.

An independent thinker, he is not afraid to express himself. The neatly combed Afro that he wears is not a fashion statement. It's a symbol of nonconformity and what he believes is an "unjust social paradigm" in society that defines what intelligence and success looks like.

"I want to show people that you can be a successful, intelligent person by owning your appearance and owning your race and your ethnic background," he said.

Thomas hopes his story is an inspiration to students, so they'll know that being raised in Newark is not a weakness. It's a strength.

"Hopefully it shows them that 'Wow, somebody who is like me, same color as me, went to the same school as me, grew up in the same city as me -- did it,' " Thomas said.

If they make education personal and give 110 percent like Thomas, they can do it, too.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @Barry CarterSL
Two bills co-sponsored by Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, D-Jersey City, that will help student loan borrowers manage their debt have been approved by the state Senate.

The bills are aimed at helping especially those facing financial hardships, such as the loss of a job during the repayment period. Sen. Jim Beach and Sen. Nellie Pou also co-sponsored the bills.

The senators pointed out that as of 2017, it is estimated that Americans owe more than $1.45 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 44 million borrowers.

"Student debt is growing out of control and if we do not come up with options and strategies to help graduates manage their loans, this debt will follow these graduates well into adulthood," Cunningham said. "There is a growing need for repayment plan options, including income-driven options, and for additional assistance for borrowers who are having difficulty repaying their loans but feel they have nowhere to turn for help."

S-3198, sponsored by Cunningham and Beach, establishes the Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman within the Department of Banking and Insurance, and provides for the regulation of student loan servicers by the department.

The ombudsman would be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, and would have a variety of duties relating to the assistance of student loan borrowers with complaints and concerns regarding their loans, and would be required to make recommendations to the legislature and other interested parties regarding problems faced by student loan borrowers. The bill was approved by a 28-2 vote.

The similar Assembly bill, sponsored by Raj Mukjerji, D-Hudson, Gary Schaer, Annette Quijano, Jamel Holley and Joe Danielsen was approved in June and will now head to the governor's desk fro final approval.

S-3218, sponsored by Cunningham and Pou, was approved by a 32-0 vote. It would direct the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) to establish a repayment assistance program under the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program for borrowers who experience a material loss of income during the period of loan repayment.

The bill gives additional focus on borrowers who filed bankruptcy proceeding. HESAA would be required to notify the borrower of the repayment assistance program if a proof of claim is filed.
Monday was a dream come true for new Jersey City Councilman James Solomon, but his nephew was more excited about meeting the guy his uncle trashed on the campaign trail.

Solomon, 33, whose winning bid for the Downtown council seat was heavily critical of Mayor Steve Fulop's policies, was sworn in to his first term on Monday. But the councilman's 5-year-old nephew Theo -- who had traveled with his family all the way from China for the occasion -- had just one interest when he entered City Hall.

"He said, 'When do I get to meet the mayor?'" Solomon said.

See, Theo plays SimCity, the video game where the player acts as a mayor building a city. The idea of meeting a real-life mayor thrilled the 5-year-old.

Fulop and Theo spoke briefly. Fulop told the boy that he once sat in the council seat his Uncle James now holds.

The mayor, also a SimCity fan, told The Jersey Journal he did not try to snag any city-building tips from the tyke. Fulop was also being sworn in that night, to his second term.

"I was not in a place," Fulop said, "to really swap strategies with him."

Solomon's brother, Peter, is a French horn player with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
When police officers Kevin Williams and Mike Cipriano drove up to a panhandler under a highway overpass in downtown Trenton Friday night, the man quickly put his makeshift sign in his pocket when he saw their marked police car.

Some nights, they would have moved the man along or warned him against obstructing traffic while asking motorists for a handout.

On a bitterly cold, single-digit temperature nights like Friday, they offered him help.

"We'll give you a ride to the Rescue Mission, no questions asked," Williams said to the man.

Williams means no questions about the law because Cipriano does ask him a question.

"You got somewhere to stay tonight?" Cipriano inquires.

"Nah, I'm staying in a truck," the man responds, pointing further down Bridge Street.

The man relaxes more when the officers talk about lending a hand.

The man says he worked at a restaurant in Hamilton but was laid off because of his criminal record. He wants to move to Wisconsin and is doing what he can to get by. He has gas in his truck and will be fine, he says to the officers.

They tell him that if he changes his mind, to wave them down later, or any Trenton police car, and they'll come back and pick him up.

"Like I said, we'll take you no questions asked," Cipriano says.

"We're just trying to look out for you tonight," adds Williams.

"Ok," the man responds.

Williams and Cipriano were on "endangered person" patrol. It's a duty triggered by the outside temperature dropping to 10 degrees overnight, windchill included. When it does, a patrol car is assigned to scour the city for homeless and endangered people and offer them a ride to a shelter.

The officers would have several more exchanges similar to the one they had with the panhandler under the overpass during their 12-hour shift from Friday into Saturday.

In circuitous routes through the city's four wards, they go down a mental list of anywhere the homeless or people who could use a warm place to stay usually gather: known encampments, parks, dead-end streets, intersections where they panhandle, and the city's train station.

Williams and Cipriano are rookies each with less than 18 months on the job, but they already know the city well.

They do not get any takers for a ride in the first three hours, but they find several people and make the offer. They suspect that it's so cold, many of the homeless and transient population have made it indoors already.

While Williams and Cipriano do their patrol, the Rescue Mission of Trenton is also reaching out to the same population. They're offering rides too, plus food, blankets, and hats and gloves. For the mission, it's triggered by their own policy, "code blue."

One Rescue Mission staffer, James, knows the people he is helping. He was one.

He's a former addict, panhandler and shelter resident. "I can remember being out here, man, cold, rain, sleet, it didn't matter, not in my case," he said as his partner Will drove.

He supported his heroin habit for two years through panhandling, always seeking, "one more bag."

"I am so glad to be clean and sober where I can help somebody else," James said.

They hand out food and supplies, but like the police, they do not transport anyone.

The Rescue Mission outreach teams and Williams and Cipriano encounter the same people sometimes just minutes apart - like a known group of people who live in tents on East Front Street across from Mill Hill Park, a man hanging out in front of a convenience store on Lalor Street, and a man on a bench at the Trenton train station.

"Everybody OK?" Cipriano calls out to the tent dwellers, shining his flashlight.

"Yeah, we're OK," a man's voice comes from inside the tent, which stays zipped.

"Want to go to a shelter?" Williams asks. "No, were good," the male voice says.

Trenton Officer Mike Cipriano talks with NJ Transit officers abut a man in the train station. (Kevin Shea | For NJ.com)

At the train station, which the officers pass several times, they encounter a man apparently sleeping on a bench, but New Jersey Transit police officers are already assisting him, and have called an ambulance, suspecting he's under the influence of narcotics.

Williams and Cipriano say the endangered person patrol is not just a good thing for the city, and the people they encounter, but it helps them in their training.

While on the assignment, they do not respond to 911 calls, or other incidents, and say the duty sharpen their skills in building rapport and solving problems. It gets them looking for things, and people, without the typical routine of looking for crime.

Getting people to get into a police car without handcuffs, "It's a little bit of a sales pitch," Cipriano said.

On Hamilton Avenue, the pitch almost works on a man smoking a cigarette and sipping a beer in front of a liquor store. The man says he might need a ride in three hours.

"Three hours? Cipriano says.

The man acts intoxicated and enjoys some playfully sparring with the officers, asking their names and saying he wants to promote them, "I'm gonna make you sergeants."

"Look, we see you hanging out, and we know it's cold, we're just making sure you have somewhere to be."

The man declines, but thanks them for lookin' out for him, and then retrieves his beer from the front stoop of a house.

Williams says on a warmer night, their approach to the loiterer would be "different."

"Not tonight, when it's this cold," Williams says and pulls away.

- Staff Photographer Michael Mancuso contributed to this story.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The exceptionally frigid weather slamming the state appears to be a factor in at least three deaths since early Thursday, including that of a young girl.

Authorities in Vineland believe Michael Fleming, 57, fell victim to the blizzard conditions that had been lashing southern New Jersey for hours by the time his body was found in the parking lot of a liquor store Thursday morning. Although Fleming has family in the area, he may have been homeless, police said.

"It's tragic,"Lt. Lenny Wolf told NJ Advance Media. "We have services available and unfortunately not everyone uses them."

Several hours later, around 4 p.m., police, firefighters and medical personnel responded to a Perth Amboy apartment building, where dozens had been sickened by exposure to carbon monoxide. The gas is a byproduct of the combustion of fuels, including heating oil, and is potentially deadly if it accumulates in an enclosed space.

That's believed to have happened at the 12-unit building on Fayette Street, where a blocked chimney sent the CO level inside soaring to dangerous levels. CO detectors did not appear to be working at the time of the incident, the city said in a statement. The owner told authorities the detectors were working as of last month, however.

About three dozen people were treated for CO exposure. A 13-year-old girl died and three of her relatives remained in critical condition Friday.

The girl's name had not yet been released by police.

On Friday morning, when temperatures with the wind chill had dipped below zero, a man's body was found in a snowbank near an Elizabeth bus stop. While no cause was given, foul play is not suspected and weather likely played a role, officials said.

Authorities described the victim as in his 50s but did not release his name. A spokesperson for the Elizabeth Police Department, which is handling the investigation, could not be reached Friday night.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The United States' most popular doughnut shop is marking the new year by making their sugary snacks a little more natural amid a rebranding rolling out in 2018.

Dunkin' Donuts is eliminating artificial dyes from all their food and drinks in the U.S. by the end of the year, the Massachusetts-based company said Thursday in a statement.

The change comes just before the introduction of a limited menu with fewer doughnut options as the company seeks to become known more for its drinks than for its doughnuts.

Dunkin' Donuts' new menu, including a reduction to 18 types of doughnuts from 30, is set to arrive in New England on Monday, The Boston Herald reported. It is expected to come to New Jersey and the rest of the country in mid-March.

The company is also testing signs at a few of its locations that call the store just "Dunkin'" in an attempt to bolster its image as a beverage-led brand.

In the meantime, Dunkin' Donuts is touting its new Snow Flurries Donut, a yeast ring doughnut with blue icing and snowflake sprinkles. The treat is available at certain stores across the country for a limited time, the company said in the statement.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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By James J. Florio

Our gubernatorial election in New Jersey may be a harbinger of a positive change in the values of American voters -- an indication of the maturing of judgment about political leaders.

The alienated views that many citizens have about politics in general results in the low turnout we see in our elections. They have had it with foolish non-substantive campaigns and trite empty promises; e.g. "build a wall that Mexico will pay for"; "put all coal miners back to work."

The electorate has become cynical and feels that its intelligence is being insulted.

With the election of Phil Murphy as governor, New Jersey voters have acknowledged that they are prepared to accept someone who speaks honestly to them, even when the truth is not easy to accept. Take the issue of gun safety.

Most politicians would never think of raising the issue, much less campaigning on it in a manner to alienate the NRA and the gun lobby. Murphy did, because he understood that engaged voters know that reasonable restrictions on gun ownership are necessary to control the epidemic of gun violence in our nation while preserving Second Amendment rights.

Likewise, it is hard to imagine many candidates working aggressively to advance the full legalization of marijuana. Murphy did, and took the time to explain the social justice justification for addressing the criminal law disparities in the current justice system, to say nothing about the needed revenues to be derived.

Lastly, our governor-elect breached the ultimate taboo -- he informed voters that taxes would undoubtedly go up if we wanted higher education to be more affordable for the middle- and working-class young people.

Likewise, if we wanted all of our children to have access to pre-school with all of its unquestioned educational benefits or a transit system that works, taxes would undoubtedly go up. We do not have a spending problem; we have a revenue problem.

Whether the revenue comes from the income of the most affluent, the restoration of the estate tax or some other source, the public has been honestly addressed and treated as adults.

In forthrightly responding to issues and problems, Murphy was overwhelmingly supported by New Jersey voters. Our hope should be that acceptance by the electorate of the fact that there are no easy answers, and that people who offer them are charlatans who are uninformed or dishonest.

Perhaps the election of our new governor will encourage more truth-tellers who will work to get more citizens engaged and informed. The only way a real Democracy works.

James J. Florio of Moorestown, a Democrat, is a former New Jersey governor. He is a senior fellow for public policy and administration at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. He is a founding partner of the law firm of Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Cappelli, L.L.C. headquartered in Phillipsburg.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
The Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School Board of Education has agreed to pay $110,000 to a former Spanish teacher who alleged that he was harassed by students for being gay, and that the school did nothing to stop it.

Kevin McManus, who began working at the high school in Bridgewater in 2008, alleged that not only did the school fail to take action, but that the school retaliated against him after he filed a civil rights complaint.

William Hyncik, president of the high school's board of education, signed off on the agreement last month. James Strickhart, a spokesman for the school, could not be reached for comment.

The settlement was first reported by government watchdog John Paff on one of his blogs, random notes on NJ government.

According to McManus' complaint, filed in 2015, the harassment began after a student revealed the teacher's sexual orientation during class in 2011.

From then on, several other students -- identified in the lawsuit only by their initials -- began to relentlessly harass McManus. The students allegedly taunted him with statements like "don't drop the soap," and "do you like fudge?" among other things, the lawsuit alleged. One student was also continually insubordinate and disruptive during class, the suit said.

Though McManus expressed his concerns multiple times to school officials, the harassment continued, the suit alleged.

McManus claimed to have reported one of the students' harassing behavior to the school's disciplinary coordinator, Jamie Morales, who allegedly failed to "take appropriate steps to stop it," according to the suit.

Instead, Morales allegedly told the student to 'keep doing what you're doing'" and to "document Mr. McManus' activity during class."

McManus also allegedly reported the harassment to the school's principal, Diane Ziegler, and Affirmative Action Officer Teresa Morelli, both of whom also allegedly failed to take action to stop the conduct.

According to the suit, after filing a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, McManus alleged school officials retaliated against him by demanding his resignation, barring him from using certain types of personal days and denying him paid leaves of absence due to medical conditions caused by the alleged harassment.

The school's superintendent, Chrys Harttraft allegedly demanded that McManus resign his position as a tenured teacher or his disability retirement would be delayed, according to the suit.

Harttraft could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The settlement agreement contains a confidentiality clause and a clause that the payment cannot be interpreted as an admission of liability by the school or employees.

According to the settlement agreement, McManus will receive about $66,905 of the $110,000 with the rest going to attorneys fees.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: Phillipsburg fire investigated as arson, prosecutor says

A fire early Saturday morning destroyed a two-story building on Stockton Street near Silk Street in Phillipsburg.

No one was injured in the blaze that was reported at about 1:50 a.m. and quickly engulfed the vacant building, town fire Chief Rich Hay said.

Reports from the scene at 224 Stockton St., which is the Tuscany Hill Plaza, indicated the fire was in a smaller building next to the retail plaza.

Mayor Stephen Ellis said on Facebook a general fire alarm came in at the former Hi Qu Kitchen & Tile Design Center.

Phillipsburg public works trucked in salt to try to help with the ice, he said, as single-digit temperatures made the firefighters' challenge all the more dangerous.

"The building is fully engulfed and the FD is hosing down adjacent buildings to keep it from spreading," Ellis posted. "Everything is a sheet of ice and very dangerous."

The town closed Stockton Street in the area, and Ellis advised before dawn: "Please stay clear of this area tomorrow."

The mayor described the fire as under control about 3:40 a.m.

The firefighting effort drew downtown water supplies by 3 feet, but Aqua New Jersey was already working to refill the reservoirs, Ellis said.

Firefighters continued to pour water on the blaze around 7:30 a.m., according to reports from the scene. The Warren County Prosecutor's Office was on scene to help investigate the cause.

Photographer Tim Wynkoop contributed to this report.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Fog hangs above the Mississippi River in New Orleans. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune)
Spray painted markings made by Louisiana State Police investigators are visible Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, on the roadway and shoulder of U.S. 190 near North and South Mill roads in the Lacombe area. A pedestrian died after being struck by a vehicle around 5 a.m., authorities said.(Robert Rhoden, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune )
Former President Donald Trump is preparing to launch his third campaign for the White House with an announcement Tuesday night. Trump is looking to move on from disappointing midterm defeats and defy history amid signs that his grip on the Republican Party may be waning. The former president had hoped to use the GOP's expected gains in last week's elections as a springboard to win his party's nomination by locking in early support and keeping potential challengers at bay. Instead, Trump now finds himself being blamed for backing a series of losing candidates in last week's midterm elections.
The Midlands Humane Society will be open additional hours starting in 2018.

The public can now visit us from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. We will remain closed on Sundays.

With the additional open hours, the humane society will be closed to the public on the third Wednesday of each month to accommodate for staff meetings and trainings, deep cleaning of the facility, organizational needs and building repairs. As a reminder, we do ask that all pet adoptions begin no later than 30 minutes prior to closing, due to the paperwork that is required before an animal leaves with their new owners.

Here are a few tips to help keep your pets safe in these frigid temperatures:

If it is too cold for you to be outdoors for an extended period of time, it is probably too cold for your pet to be outside. We encourage that your pet spend extra time indoors during the winter months. If bringing your pet inside is not an option, you must provide extra protection for them to stay outdoors.

For the City of Council Bluffs, this means that between Nov. 1 and March 31 and whenever the real temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, the entryway of the animals enclosure must be protected by a self-closing door or flexible flap and a sufficient amount of dry bedding consisting of hay, straw, or cedar shavings to help insulate against cold and damp conditions.

Blankets, rags and newspapers are prohibited due to their tendency to hold moisture and freeze.

Additional food is required for pets that spend time outdoors, as their bodies use more energy just trying to stay warm. Water must be safe and drinkable at all times; a heated water dish is recommended to ensure that fresh water is available.

Also be aware of any ice melt that you might use on your walkways. This can be caustic and cause damage to your pets paws. Take note of antifreeze at your property, which has a sweet aroma that is attractive to animals but can poison your pet very quickly. Keep this product away from pets and children. Check your garage floors to make sure your vehicles are not leaking antifreeze where a pet can easily lick it.

MHS Animals of the Week: Leading off the pack is Bootsie, a 3-year-old neutered male cat, who arrived here on Dec. 9 as a stray. Bootsie is a handsome boy who is all dressed up in his beautiful black and white soft, thick coat. As you can see from his picture, he is playful once he warms up to you and can be quite the little lover.

Next is Kylo, a large black Labrador Retriever/hound dog mix. He is most likely between 3 to 4 years old and was found as a stray along State Orchard Road on Dec. 12. Our first impression of Kylo is that he is a sweet, laid back gentleman that would make a great family dog. Oh Mama Mia  or is that Mama Masha! Mama Masha is a delightful little long-haired female calico cat who is about 3 years old. She was surrendered by her owner on Aug. 28. She is a sweetheart to her people, but may not be terribly fond of other cats. If you think Mama Masha might be the perfect little girl for you, and only you, come by and pay her a visit.

Last but not least, we have Pongo, an American Pitbull mix. Pongo was found on Oct. 13 in Underwood and brought in as a stray. Pongo is about a year old and because of his youth, he is the life of the party.

He has a high level of energy, seems to like other dogs, but can play a bit rough. Pongo can be scared of men, so he needs time to adjust. Families with older children may be OK, but will need a meet and greet with the whole family. Because Pongo is not allowed to live inside the city limits of Council Bluffs, he will need to find a home in Pottawattamie County, the state of Nebraska or another location.
DES MOINES  Gov. Kim Reynolds defended her decision to tap an emergency fund to balance the state budget last year, arguing she followed the law despite a lawsuit challenging that assertion.

Reynolds answered yes to reporters when asked Thursday if she followed the law as written in transferring $13 million from the fund. The move allowed Reynolds to avoid calling lawmakers back for a special session.

Reynolds did not elaborate on her assessment but added: I feel that we operated within the intent of the law.

The issue is at the heart of a lawsuit recently filed by Rep. Chris Hall, a Sioux City Democrat who claims the Republican governor and her budget aide illegally transferred the money because certain financial conditions werent met. Halls lawsuit contends the detail ensures the fund is tapped in true economic emergencies and not because of what the lawsuit described as fiscal mismanagement.

State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, also a Democrat, warned Reynolds in September the fund transfer could lead to a court challenge.

Reynolds, who called the lawsuit politically motivated, argued the issue should be resolved through legislative action that addresses an outdated reference to when a key panel meets to talk about the budget.

The statute is outdated, and the Legislature has the opportunity to come in and update it, she said. And I would think that thats what they would want to do instead of filing a costly lawsuit.

House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Clear Lake Republican, said earlier Thursday she was open to changing the law. She appeared at odds with Reynolds but also supportive of her action.

I do believe that Gov. Reynolds was entirely complying with the spirit of the law ... it was not, perhaps, the letter of the law. So we will be happy to change that, Upmeyer said.

Reynolds and Upmeyer spoke at a legislative forum at the state Capitol hosted by The Associated Press. Iowa Republicans, who control the statehouse, used the annual event to highlight their interest in passing a tax overhaul plan when lawmakers convene Monday for the next legislative session.

Republicans did not offer specifics, such as how they planned to push tax legislation despite a constrained budget. Lawmakers are expected to soon address a $37 million shortfall in the current budget of roughly $7.2 billion. They face another possible shortfall for the state budget that goes into effect in July, though officials are reviewing how a new federal tax law will impact finances.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, a Shell Rock Republican, said his focus is a rate reduction but hes open to simplification. He didnt offer information to explain his interest to make our state more competitive but he highlighted Iowas decision in the late 90s to cut income taxes.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen of Des Moines said her party is open to discussing an update to the tax code but one thats fair. She said a tax plan implemented in Kansas in 2013 hurt that states incoming revenue in a way that reduced services.

Iowans dont want to be the next Kansas, she said.

Reynolds, who was sworn in last May, is preparing to preside over her first legislative session as governor. She plans to provide more details on a tax plan during her Condition of the State address on Tuesday. Shes also expected to address expanding workforce training opportunities, an issue she called a priority.

The former lieutenant governor is finishing the final term of Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down to be U.S. ambassador to China. Reynolds is seeking her own four-year term in this years gubernatorial election.
QUANTICO, Va.  Nebraska State Patrol Lt. Kurt Von Minden graduated from the 270th class of the FBIs National Academy on Friday during a ceremony in Quantico, Virginia. Von Minden is part of a class of 222 students, from 21 countries, that completed 11 weeks of study as part of the FBI National Academy.

President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended the graduation ceremony. I am here not only to congratulate you, but to honor you for your courage and for your devotion, Trump said.

Von Minden has been with the state patrol for 19 years and is currently assigned to state headquarters at the Fusion Center in Lincoln. He has previously served in the traffic and carrier enforcement divisions. He has previously been stationed in Troop E, B, D, H and District 2 of the carrier enforcement division. He has also served as a range officer (2000-14) and an SFST instructor, and was a member of the NSP SWAT Team.

Participants in the national academy are leaders and managers of state, local, country, tribal, military, federal and international law enforcement agencies. Participation is by invitation only through a nomination process, and participants are drawn from every U.S. state and territory, as well as from international partner nations.

The FBI National Academy offers courses of study in criminal law, behavioral science, forensic science, understanding terrorism/terrorist mindsets, leadership, communication and health/fitness. Officers participate in a wide range of leadership and specialized training, where they share ideas, techniques and experiences with each other, creating lifelong partnerships. Students take 17 hours of classes while at the academy, which are accredited through the University of Virginia.
Editors note: Area ministers who would like to be part of this feature can contact Joan von Kampen at 308-535-4707 or joan.vonkampen@nptelegraph.com. Submissions may be edited for length or to conform to newspaper style.

Speak to the Rock

Moses is in a difficult situation. The obstinate and angry Hebrews surrounding him are complaining about having no water to quench their thirsty throats. Faced with the seemingly impossible situation of providing water for such a great multitude with no water source in sight, Moses calls out to God for help and is told to strike a nearby rock. He does so, and water gushes forth for the parched crowd.

Now flash forward to a later time when Moses experiences a strangely similar situation in Numbers 20. Again, people are angry and thirsty. Again, Moses calls out to God for help. Again, God speaks to Moses and gives him a solution. But this is where the story twists; God commands Moses not to strike the rock, but speak to it. This second time Moses only need speak to the rock to receive the clear, crisp, thirst-quenching liquid.

But Moses does not speak to the rock. Instead, likely recalling his earlier encounter, he calls the people around him rebels and in a show of force strikes the rock with his staff. Water gushes forth, but God tells Moses that this act of unbelief has now disqualified him from entering the Promised Land. Moses, after patiently leading the people, pleading for them before God and being called the most humble man in all of Israel is suddenly and shockingly denied entrance to the Promised Land. Why was striking the rock a second time such a problem?

The scope of Moses error becomes clear when Paul, in his first-known letter to the Corinthian believers, states, Our fathers  drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). This makes even more sense as we recall that Jesus stood up boldly at a Jewish festival and said, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37).

When God wanted to draw that living water from Jesus the first time, what did he do to His beloved Son? God struck him. On the cross, God the Father struck the Rock called Jesus with his just and powerful wrath. But now, after that has happened, how do you and I receive clear, crisp, living water to quench our thirsty souls? By faith, we speak to Jesus. No other cheap substitute can fully satisfy the thirst we all carry in our souls (to be significant, to have comfort, to be approved, to be content, etc.).

By striking the rock instead of speaking to it, Moses marred the picture God was giving people about how He would wonderfully refresh them with the truest living water. First the Father struck Jesus in His wrath (which took the punishment for our sin), so now, by faith, we can speak and seek forgiveness. The living water of Jesus Christ flows to us in that order  struck by the Father, spoken to by us. Would you today, speak to Jesus and ask Him to quench your thirst?

Pastor John Stone

North Platte Berean Church
A new welding and machining job training program is coming to the south suburbs, a few miles from the state line.

Prairie State College in Chicago Heights secured a $938,447 federal grant for a mobile manufacturing job training program that's expected to create 350 jobs and retain another 100 positions. Prairie State College also estimates its program, which involves training workers in welding and machining in semitractor-trailer, will spur $8.5 million in additional private investment.

Dennis Alvord, U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs, commended the college for its innovative approach.

This new and innovative job training facility will provide workers with the skills they need to receive highly specialized jobs in the manufacturing industry, he said.

Prairie State College, which trains local ArcelorMittal employees through its Steelworker for the Future program, plans to bring the semitractor-trailer around to area employers, community sites and underserved communities to help teach people needed manufacturing job skills.
Northwest Indiana has lost more than 10,000 jobs over the past year as its workforce has shrunk.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development estimates that 10,275 fewer people were employed in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties at the end of November than at the end of November 2016. Lake County lost, 6,098 jobs, Porter County 2,263 jobs and LaPorte County 1,194 jobs over that period.

Though the employment losses are widespread, most significantly the Gary metro has lost 6,200 jobs in manufacturing and construction since 2012, according to Indiana University's Indiana Business Research Center.

Unemployment rates are still down significantly across the Region because the labor force decreased by a greater amount over the past year, said Micah Pollak, Indiana University Northwest assistant professor of economics. The state government estimates the labor force has shrunk by 7,753 people in Lake County over the past year, 2,812 in Porter County and and 2,369 in LaPorte County.

"While the economy in Northwest Indiana has been growing slowly, economic confidence remains very high and continues to improve," Pollak said. Following the 2007/2008 Great Recession, many individuals not in the labor force were forced by circumstances to enter and look for work. For example, married couples and families with only one income-earner may have decided that their spouse needed to take on a job, or college students might have decided they could no longer afford to continue their degree and instead needed go back to work."

That trend is reversing because of the high economic confidence, Pollak said.

"With a stronger economy, families are more confident about their jobs and earnings, and may be able to go back from double-income to single-income households," he said. "Former college students may receive more support from their families and exit the labor force to return to school."

But many working age people aren't staying in Northwest Indiana. Pollak said there's reason to be concerned about a "serious underlying demographic trend" in the Region.

"Northwest Indiana has long been experiencing a population drain among the ages that are most likely to be in the labor force," he said. "Between 2000 and 2015, the population aged 20 to 24 years old grew 14.7 percentage points slower in Northwest Indiana than nationally  or by 4.1 percent in Northwest Indiana vs. 18.8 percent nationally."

In other words, recent college graduates looking to start a career aren't coming to the Region, Pollak said. Northwest Indiana also is having trouble keeping older workers.

"Over the same time period, the population aged 45 to 54 years old also grew 14.1 percentage points slower in Northwest Indiana than Nationally  or by 2.8 percent in Northwest Indiana vs. 16.8 percent nationally," Pollak said. "This age group is often well established in their careers and close to their peak lifetime earnings. As the population of these two age groups, which are highly desirable from in terms of the labor force, declines or at least grows so much slower than the nation, the underlying labor force is being affected."

Northwest Indiana eventually will have to address the demographic shift to ensure its long-term economic vitality, Pollak said.
Wintrust Financial Corp. completed its cash acquisition of a Veterans Affairs-backed home loan lender for an undisclosed sum.

Wintrust, which has Dyer, Lansing, South Holland, Steger and Crete locations, closed on its purchase of Utah-based Veterans First Mortgage. The Rosemont, Illinois-based bank will take over the servicing of 8,300 home loans with an estimated $1.4 billion in principal balance.

Veterans First originated $800 million in loans this year, mostly for U.S. military veterans buying their first homes. The company employs 400 workers at offices in Salt Lake City and San Diego.

"The terms of this cash transaction are not being disclosed by the parties; however, a significant portion of the purchase price for Veterans First Mortgage assets is conditioned upon certain future profitability measures," Wintrust said in a press release. "The transaction is expected to be slightly accretive to Wintrusts 2018 earnings per share."

Wintrust has $27 billion in assets, aspires to be "Chicago's bank" and has said it's looking to grow in Northwest Indiana.
CROWN POINT  A man charged with murder in the killing last summer of Cody Klotz is expected to testify at his trial later this month, his defense attorney said Friday.

Charles E. Bayne, 21, of Lowell, appeared Friday in Lake Criminal Court with defense attorney Kevin Milner.

Milner said at the court hearing, the last court appearance scheduled before Bayne's trial Jan. 16, that the defendant would testify on his own behalf about why he shot the 27-year-old man. The testimony is expected to bolster a self-defense claim Bayne will offer at trial, Milner said.

Milner said at a court hearing in December that Bayne had a kidney problem, which is part of the reason why he armed himself with a gun before meeting Klotz on July 15 outside Bayne's home in 17000 block of Mount Street in Cedar Creek Township.

The men had allegedly quarreled on Snapchat over Bayne's girlfriend, who was previously Klotz's fiancee, before Klotz drove to the home with another friend, according to court documents.

The men tussled outside the home before Bayne allegedly shot Klotz, documents state.

Bayne is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter.

A trial date last month was canceled after prosecutors said they needed more time to track down a credible witness who heard Bayne told a friend he planned on assaulting or killing Klotz before the man's death.

Such evidence would support the state's allegation the shooting was premeditated.
HAMMOND  A 25-year-old Highland man accused in several robberies in the Region allegedly admitted to police he robbed his former boss last month with a toy gun as she tried to make a night drop of money at a bank.

Jordan Ravesloot has been charged with two counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery, all level 5 felonies, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Friday in Lake Criminal Court.

A manager at Marco's Pizza told police she went to drop off a bag of money at a local bank Dec. 3 when she heard a voice say, "Drop the bag," according to court records.

When she turned around, she saw a person, later identified as Ravesloot, wearing black clothing and ski mask and appearing to hold a black handgun.

He ordered her to sit against the bank wall while he took off with the bag of money and her cellphone. In a later interview with police, Ravesloot said he recognized the woman as his former manager at Marco's Pizza.

Ravesloot is also accused of robbing the Taco Bell at 10130 Indianapolis Blvd. just before midnight Dec. 14. He ordered two tacos but pulled out a handgun instead of paying for his food and ordered a manager to empty the cash drawer into a Meijer shopping bag, the affidavit stated.

In a third incident, Ravesloot reportedly tried to rob a Subway at 9515 Indianapolis Blvd., in Highland, at 7:50 p.m. Dec. 17.

After ordering a chicken sandwich, he handed the employee a note that said, "Remain calm. I have a gun. Don't call the police."

Ravesloot then pulled up his shirt, displaying a gun tucked in his waistband, the affidavit stated. When a manager came out from around the corner, Ravesloot took the note back and left the store.

Last month, Ravesloot was charged with robbing the KFC at 2733 169th St., in Hammond, on Dec. 9, and attempting to rob the Burger King, 1817 Indianapolis Blvd., in Hammond, at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 12 and a nearby Subway hours later.

After obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle, police last month followed Ravesloot, pulled him over and discovered a black Northwestern University jacket, a toy handgun painted black, five pairs of sunglasses, a black hat with a face mask, dark gloves and the note he reportedly gave to his victims.

Ravesloot allegedly admitted to his involvement in the robberies at KFC, Subway and Burger King. According to court records, he also admitted to other robberies in the area to fuel his gambling habits.
HAMMOND  Three people were sent to the hospital Thursday after a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 80/94 east of Calumet Avenue.

Elisha Charles, 32, of Riverdale, Illinois, was driving westbound on I-80/94 around 4 p.m. when she lost control of her car about a half mile east of the Calumet Avenue exit, according to a news release from Indiana State Police.

Her 2015 Chevrolet Cruze spun across westbound lanes to the left and struck a 2006 Honda Accord.

The driver of the Accord was Rebecca Kuntsman, 38, of Geneva, Illinois.

The collision pushed Kuntsman's Accord into the concrete median barrier on the inner shoulder before the Cruze spun back, going again into the westbound lanes. It was then that Charles' Cruze struck Steven English, 56, of Dublin, Ohio, in his 2001 Lexus LX470.

All three vehicles were extensively damaged and had to be towed.

A passenger in the Cruze  Cisroe Brown, 26, of Markham, Illinois  was transported to Franciscan Health in Hammond with a dislocated/broken collarbone, state police said.

Kunstman and her passenger, Hannah Gagnepain, 15, of Geneva, Illinois, was also taken to North Lake Methodist for complaints of pain and a broken arm, respectively.

Neither Charles nor England were injured.

The crash is under investigation.
HAMMOND  Police are investigating after one person was killed in a shooting Friday night just north of Morton High School.

The Lake County coroner's office confirmed it pronounced 20-year-old Shermane Sargent, of Calumet City, dead from a gunshot wound to the chest at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary.

The initial shooting call came in at about 8:30 p.m., Hammond Police Lt. Steven Kellogg said, with officers responding to the scene on the 6700 block of New Jersey Street.

Upon arrival, officers located a black male laying just outside of a vehicle. The vehicle was determined to be stolen from Calumet City.

The coroner's office listed the manner of death a homicide.

Other agencies assisting in the investigation were Hammond police and Hammond Fire/EMS.

Policee said this is an ongoing investigation and anyone with information should contact Det. Sgt. Jajowka at (219) 852-2989 or Det. Munoz at (219) 852-2995.
The Lake County Coroner's Office has identified three men who were shot to death in Gary and neighboring Calumet Township in separate incidents over a 12-hour span.

Louis Watson, 25, of Gary, was shot to death early Friday morning on the 2100 block of Harrison Street by Roosevelt Park, about a half mile from the childhood home of Michael Jackson in Gary's Midtown neighborhood.

The Lake County Coroner's Office was called out to the scene at about 3:03 a.m. Friday. Watson was pronounced dead at 3:37 a.m.

"Upon arriving officers were met by a male who stated his friend was shot inside the residence," the Gary Police Department said in a news release. "Officers entered the residence and discovered a man ... shot multiple times. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene."

The manner of death was homicide, and the cause of death was a gunshot wound, according to the coroner's office.

At 5:07 a.m. Friday the Lake County Coroner's Office was called to a scene in the 4300 block of Roosevelt Street in unincorporated Calumet Township, just outside of Gary's Black Oak Neighborhood. A man was pronounced dead of homicide by gunshot wound at 5:30 a.m.

The coroner's office on Friday identified the shooting victim as Shawn Magerski, 36, of Gary.

The overnight shootings followed a fatal shooting of 55-year-old Gary resident Terrence Conley about 6 p.m. Thursday at 800 S. Lake St., near the South Shore Line train station in Gary's Miller neighborhood.

"Upon arriving officers discovered a male unresponsive in a vehicle at that location with an apparent gunshot wound to the face," the Gary Police Department said in a news release.

He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Anyone with information about the killings is urged to contact Sgt. Jeremy Ogden or Cpl. James Bond of the Lake/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3852.

People also can leave anonymous tips on the Gary Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The FBI is investigating whether the Clinton Foundation accepted donations in exchange for political favors while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, two people familiar with the probe confirmed Friday. The revelation comes as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have been urging the Justice Department to look into corruption allegations involving the foundation.

It is unclear when or why the probe began, but the sources told The Associated Press it has been ongoing for several months, with prosecutors and FBI agents taking the lead from their offices in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation has offices. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Hill newspaper first reported the probe.

Critics have accused the Clinton family of using the foundation to enrich themselves and give donors special access to the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. But public corruption prosecutors in Washington expressed disinterest in working with the FBI on a Clinton Foundation-related investigation in 2016, saying they had concerns about the strength of the FBI's evidence.

A spokesman for the foundation, Craig Minassian, said it had been "subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have proven false."

Trump has repeatedly called for an investigation into Clinton, her aides and the foundation, harping on Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not taking action. Democrats say Trump is trying to steer attention away from investigations examining whether his campaign was involved with Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.

Sessions in November directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate a number of Republican grievances and determine whether a special counsel should be appointed to look into allegations that the Clinton Foundation benefited from an Obama-era uranium transaction involving a Russian state company. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said the prosecutors would also make recommendations into "whether any matters currently under investigation need additional resources."



Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Concerned youth have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to have minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa impeached over what they term as questionable conduct in Uganda and at international level.

Led by former Makerere University guild president David Bala Bwiruka, lawyers; Simon Peter Esomu, Henry Byansi and Martin Twomo among others argued that despite his censorship as Finance state minister over corruption in 1999, Kutesa has continued to engage in scandalous acts even as Foreign Affairs minister, tainting the countrys image.

Hon. Kutesa was once formally censored by our parliament for corruption and has since been involved in many other scandals dating back to 1999, when he deviated public funds in connection with Uganda Airlines, the national carrier which eventually collapsed. He has been accused of deviating state funds when we hosted the Chogm [Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting] in 2007 where $150m still remains unaccounted for, the petitioners told Kadaga.

Some of the youth who petitioned Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to have minister Sam Kuteesa impeached

Details of a criminal bribery case being prosecuted in the United States indicate that Kutesa allegedly received a $500,000 bribe to help a Chinese firm obtain business advantages in the energy and banking sectors including potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank while serving as president of the United Nations General Assembly.

The petitioners also based on various local and international media reports in November last year where it was reported that the Justice Department of the United States of America had implicated Kutesa for successfully creating a fake charity organization with a ploy to engage in bribery and money laundering activities.

The petitioners say that contrary to principles established in the Constitution, Leadership Code of Conduct, values and aspirations of Ugandans, Kutesa conducted himself in a manner indicative of corruption tendencies and detrimental to the public good, welfare and good governance of the country.

Shs 1.8 billion bribe was transmitted through New York to an account designated by Kutesa in Uganda. That bribe was paid on or about May 6, 2016 after Kutesa finished his term as president of the UN General Assembly, Bala said.

We are further concerned that through the impugned conduct, Kutesa has maligned the image of Uganda hence putting its future on cold ice. We are concerned that Uganda is now viewed as a country of greedy and egocentric people with no political will to fight corruption, he added.

The petitioners have demanded that Kadaga, sets up a committee or refers the matter to an appropriate committee for investigations as well as moving a motion to impeach Kutesa as a Foreign Affairs minister for his dishonorable conduct.

The group also threatened to petition court should parliament not take action against Kutesa.

We demand that this matter be taken seriously lest we shall be constrained to refer the matter to the courts of law to compel parliament to perform its constitutional oversight role over the executive, Bala said.

Kadaga however promised to get back to the petitioners on the way forward, noting that Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga tabled the same matter before the House with similar demands.

Although Karuhanga mid last month raised a matter of national importance asking that parliament through the speaker summons Kutesa to explain to the country the role he played in the bribery case to help a Chinese energy company get unlicensed oil blocks in Uganda, Kadaga instead told the MPs to refer that issue to Financial Intelligence Authority.

"Lodge a complaint as a concerned citizen. If the offence was committed here, I would have no problem. But I have no control over another jurisdiction,' Kadaga said then.

namuloki16@gmail.com
The auditor general (AG) has found that government lost Shs 40.8 billion last financial year through breach of tax laws by government ministries, departments and agencies.

Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga receives the Auditor General's report from AG John Muwanga. PHOTO: Josephine Namuloki

Handing over his report for 2016-17 to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga yesterday, John Muwanga noted that government entities either failed to pay value added tax (VAT) or paid to non-existent service providers, and that no deductions of pay as you earn (PAYE) were made, leading to a huge financial loss to government.

According to the Value Added Tax Act, VAT should be paid by the ministry or department for goods and services, but the auditor general's report indicates that Shs37.6b worth of VAT was not paid while Shs 87million in VAT was paid [as VAT refund] to non-registered service providers.

The Income Tax Act, 1997 (as amended) also requires entities to deduct withholding tax and PAYE and to remit the withheld taxes within 15 days of the month following the one in which deductions were made. But Shs 1.12b in withholding tax was not remitted and Shs 261m was lost in withholding tax non-deductions.

The report indicates that that practice not only denies the government revenue for funding the national budget but also attracts penalties and fines, which in turn constrain the cash flows of the affected entities.

Failure to settle the taxes may also adversely affect future project financing in the case of donor funded projects, the report indicates.

namuloki16@gmail.com
In November 2015, the World Health Organization released new guidelines recommending that all people diagnosed as HIV-positive be enrolled on antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of disease stage.

The universal test and treat (UTT) policy soon followed. There is persuasive research which forecasts that, globally, if as many people as possible are tested, and immediately enrolled on treatment (if diagnosed as HIV-positive), their ability to transmit the virus will be limited, rendering the end of the HIV epidemic as a feasible target by as early as 2030.

Indeed, many countries have rolled out test and treat. In Africa, Botswana is among the countries that have registered tremendous success in this regard. In Uganda, many health facilities began implementing test and treat this year following its inclusion by Pepfar, a predominant donor in Uganda, in its annual program targets.

Without doubt, the test and treat policy is a potent strategy in the national HIV response in Uganda and globally.

However, field research we have been conducting across Uganda with colleagues from Makerere University, School of Public Health and a partner US university over the last six months, suggests that a myriad of bottlenecks stand in the way of Ugandas implementation of test and treat.

Perhaps the most prominent of these is the widespread and prolonged stock-out of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), especially second-line regimens in the regions of Busoga, Bugisu and Acholi which we visited twice in 2017 in two rounds of data collection (mid 2017 and late 2017).

Patients who used to get a three-month supply of ARVs have had that reduced to as few as two weeks. An un-interrupted supply of ARVs is a cornerstone of the test and treat strategy.

As the print media has consistently reported in the last couple of months, Uganda is experiencing nationwide stock-outs of ARVs with the clear and present danger of a systemic drug resistance.

It was welcome news recently when Deborah Malac, the US ambassador to Uganda, announced a grant of over $18 million government to address ARV stock-outs. We cant wait for operationalization of Ugandas AIDS Trust Fund (ATF) to reduce our heavy dependence on international assistance in our national HIV response.

Clearly, test and treat demands new kinds of performance of the Ugandan health system and requires unprecedented resources. In one of the health facilities we visited, active patients on ART almost doubled from 2,000 to 3,800 in a space of less than six months.

Health workers partly attributed ARV stock-outs to increased demand due to test and treat but we now know that other factors were also at play at national level.

Health workforce shortages, a perennial constraint, featured prominently. Despite a dramatic increase in patient volumes, the number of health workers remained the same or declined. In some health facilities, health workers shunned ART clinics due to punishing workloads.

Because of implementation of test and treat and escalating patient burdens, the waiting time for patients was reported to have become longer.

As a country, we need to evaluate our readiness for implementing test and treat or double our investments at the level of government and donors to realize its successful implementation. Surely, pilot studies must have been conducted before full-scale rollout as I have seen reported elsewhere.

This piece is by no means aimed at discrediting test and treat but is intended as a reflection on our national readiness for implementing of a clearly worthwhile and potent strategy. As things stand today, the more clinically-needy patients may have been denied life-saving treatment as test and treat may have spread us thin.

During our field visits, we found little evidence in the field of implementation of differentiated care models.

These have been touted as another strategy for managing the escalating demand for HIV treatment where visits to clinics are reduced for stable patients and more are permitted for patients not achieving viral suppression. This strategy, too, could potentially aid in Ugandas implementation of test and treat.



hzakumumpa@cartafrica.org



The author is a health systems researcher and CARTA Fellow at Makerere University, School of Public Health
Forests are very important because they provide wood for construction, energy, food security, a natural habitat for animals, and help to reduce the effects of climate change. But between 1990 and 2015, Uganda lost an average of 90,000 hectares of forests annually, shrinking the forest cover from 24 to 10 per cent. However, according to the ministry of Water and Environment, only about 7,000 hectares of planted forests have been established yearly in the last 15 years.

This imbalance threatens Ugandas ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially on sustainably managing forests to mitigate climate change, transformation of Uganda into a green and modern economy, and the contribution of forests to livelihoods of current generations and those is posterity.

I applaud the government of Uganda for supporting commercial forestry through innovative approaches, while at the same time creating jobs and increasing household incomes. One such approach is the Sawlog Production Grant Scheme (SPGS) Phase III Project implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) on behalf of the government of Uganda with funding from the European Union (EU), for a period of five years, starting in 2016.

SPGS III seeks to encourage private sector investment in commercial timber plantations by providing grants and forestry technical advice to private sector investors involved in tree planting for production of timber and electricity transmission poles.

Through this model and recognizing favorable government policies such as Build Uganda, Buy Uganda that promotes local consumption of domestic products, FAO, supported by the UN Office for Project Service (UNOPS), offers the investor a conditional grant of about 30 per cent of the estimated total investment.

The retrospective disbursement is made after a field inspection confirms that the investor has carried out critical forest operations and has complied with the FAO/SPGS III recommended standards for quality forest plantations.

This model helps to guarantee that the investor will have sufficient funds to effectively establish and manage the forest plantations while also ensuring that the plantations benefit from the recommended silvicultural operations that will favour high quality timber and transmission poles. Neglecting some key operations results in poor forest plantations and, therefore, poor return on investment.

So far, 520 small, medium and large scale tree growers have been selected throughout Uganda.

These will receive grants to plant a combined area of about 23,000 hectares. Grant management is done by UNOPS, for transparency and efficiency of financial resources.

Another success factor in SPGS III Project is the voluntary certification of tree nurseries and forest plantation contractors as key service providers in commercial forestry. Certification is vital because many investors in commercial forestry in Uganda have limited skills in operations related to forest plantation establishment and maintenance.

FAO/SPGS III offers training and recommends acceptable standards to nursery operators and contractors, who thereafter receive one-year rating-based certification which empowers them to guarantee customer satisfaction.

Lists of certified nursery operators and contractors are shared with the investors to enable them identify where to buy good quality seedlings or access technical know-how for establishment and maintenance operations such as planting, weeding, pruning and thinning.

Currently, FAO has certified 66 tree nurseries and 40 contractors (pruning and thinning).

The demand for certification is a positive indicator of the relevance that private sector players attribute to providing quality planting material and forestry services to support a vibrant sector.

FAO/SPGS III project is supporting downstream processing  including plantation infrastructure, skills development, timber logging, access to finances, saw milling and timber market development along the commercial forestry value chain to help match Ugandas wood processing capacity to the local demand for wood products.

The State of Ugandas Forestry 2016 reports that the estimated sawn-wood market in Uganda is 369,000 cubic meters with an estimated value of Shs 101 billion. FAO forecasts consumption of industrial wood at 1.7 million cubic meters by 2030. As such, SPGS III will help to expand supply while ensuring high quality timber on the Uganda market.

Local communities and institutions that are highly dependent of wood for energy are also benefitting from the SPGS III project which targets establishment of 4,000 and 2,500 hectares by communities and institutions respectively, majorly for provision of wood fuel or bioenergy.

So far, FAO, through the SPGS III project, has distributed about two million seedlings to communities and institutions in the country. Grants are also provided to growers, up to a target of 5,000 hectares for pruning and thinning forest operations.

To promote ownership and sustainability of this unique approach, FAO is implementing the Project with support from private and public entities. These include Uganda Timber Growers Association (UTGA), Forestry Sector Support Department (FSSD) of the Ministry of Water and Environment, Nyabyeya Forestry College, Makerere University, National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI) and the National Forestry Authority (NFA).

FAO has also trained 20 district forest officers and forest officers from NFA, in plantation establishment and in drafting Forest Investment Plans.

Finally, the SPGS III project is fast showing that a model of co-investment (public-private partnership) and retrospective payment of grants for commercial tree planting can greatly incentivize private sector players to invest in commercial forestry and contribute to a critical mass of high quality plantations.

The latter are envisaged to result in high quality forest products such as timber and create jobs along the commercial forestry continuum. But, efforts are required in downstream processing, research and development as well as policy formulation and implementation to propel the sector.



The author is the project coordinator, Sawlog Production Grant Scheme (SPGS III),

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.




posted by , ,

Now you can get iTunes Cards extremely easily and pay in Naira from www.usitunescard.com The cards are valid for US iTunes account only.





And here is a personal story that led to this.





It all started in 2013 (or so) when I needed to buy a movie on iTunes and it was no small trouble. Many contents aren't available for the Nigerian iTunes account. The changing your country to US makes those contents available but then you have to pay with a US debit card (one with a US billing address). After hours and days of troubles, I ended up buying a US iTunes gift card and loading on my US iTunes account.





Soon, I started buying more gift cards. And then I noticed that there would be people like me needing such cards too. So I did a market entry test. And was amazed by how much demand there is for US iTunes cards, even had a few people contact me from outside the country (India, Pakistan etc). Seems the problem isn't just here in Naija.





So I have now built www.usitunescard.com to solve that problem easily for all Nigerians.





I sell the cards at almost the same amount it costs to get them directly from Apple (actual face value). Added the Paystack transaction charge and accommodation for exchange rate fluctuation but it still comes at less than N400/$ to the buyer/customer. While others on Konga and other e-stores are selling as high as a rate of N600/$ and more.





$5 iTunes card sells for N1,999

$10 iTunes card sells for N3,999

$15 iTunes card sells for N5,999

$25 iTunes card sells for N10,999

$50 iTunes card sells for N19,999

$100 iTunes card sells for N39,999





It is the cheapest I have seen anyone sell iTunes Cards here in Nigeria. Below are screenshots of how much the same cards are sold for on Konga









Again, the store link is www.usitunescard.com





Guaranteed low prices and instant delivery always!
The case of a teen accused of shooting at Douglas County deputies is essentially at a standstill until the Nebraska Supreme Court rules on an appeal on the decision to move the case from adult to juvenile court.

Tyler Pitzl, 17, is accused of two counts of attempted murder and weapon use, and second-degree assault. Authorities said that in September, while at his parents home, he punched his mother and shot at two deputies, striking one. He had faced a maximum of 220 years in prison if tried in district court.

Douglas County District Judge Marlon Polk ruled in November that the case should be moved to juvenile court, agreeing with Pitzls attorney, James Martin Davis, that Pitzl would receive better treatment for rehabilitation in juvenile court.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has appealed. The case will be heard by the states highest court. Both sides have an end-of-the-month deadline for filing briefs.

Meanwhile, Pitzls case was moved to juvenile court per Polks order. An arraignment was Friday.

Prosecutors objected to the hearing because they believed juvenile court did not yet have the authority.

Juvenile Court Judge Vernon Daniels agreed and extended the arraignment for 90 days, in the hope that a decision on the appeal would be made before then.

Pitzls parents said they were disappointed because they want their son to receive mental health services as soon as possible.

Pitzl has been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder due to a traumatic brain injury.

Its just delaying things more, said Pitzls mother, Gail Pitzl.

His father, Dennis Pitzl, believed the prosecutions objection to the arraignment was a political move, tied to the Douglas County Sheriffs Offices being upset about Polks decision.
DES MOINES (AP)  The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a longstanding right to privacy by throwing out the marijuana possession conviction of a woman whose purse was searched during a drug raid at a house she was visiting.

Danielle Brown was smoking methamphetamine with several other people at a Des Moines home in October 2015 when a SWAT team burst in with a search warrant. Brown was not named on the warrant, but police searched her purse and found pot. She appealed her conviction, saying that the purse search violated her constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure.

A majority of four justices on Friday agreed, saying that since she was only a visitor in the house and wasnt named in the warrant she had an expectation of privacy.

Three members of the court disagreed, saying that Brown wasnt an innocent bystander and that police had ample authority to search her purse.
LINCOLN  Last month at the Tecumseh State Prison, staff and management discussed whether to close areas of the prison due to a shortage of workers, and that a recent $2,500 hiring bonus had not attracted as many new corrections officers as expected.

At least 100 job vacancies existed as of Dec. 13, according to a state prison memo about the meeting, and each day, five or six prison employees from Omaha were traveling to fill empty posts at the rural prison.

Warden (Brad) Hansen said it is constantly being discussed ... how to manage with the lower staffing levels, the memo said.

A group of state senators said Friday that memos like the one from Tecumseh make it clear that Nebraskas prison troubles are far from over.

While progress has been made, the Department of Corrections still faces significant and concerning challenges, said State Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln.

Bolz joined nine other senators at a Friday press conference to discuss legislation introduced this session to address long-running problems in the state corrections system, including overcrowding, understaffing, violent uprisings and attacks on staff.

Among the measures is Legislative Bill 871, introduced Friday by Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart and 13 other senators, to allocate an unspecified amount of money to corrections to provide longevity raises for workers systemwide.

Wishart said that some newly hired employees earn more than longtime corrections officers, which is unfair and works to fuel the high turnover rates among prison workers. Turnover rates have been 25 percent for all workers and even higher among security staff.

State corrections spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith said that its no secret that Tecumseh has struggled with staffing issues, but said that using staff from Omaha, adopting 12-hour shifts and shutting down nonessential posts at times are among the strategies being used to deal with it.

In recent months, the agency also has offered hiring bonuses and wage increases to improve retention of staff at some prisons.

But some senators want more action. They have introduced proposals to study staffing levels at state prisons and to plan for the release of parole-eligible inmates if the state doesnt reduce overcrowding to less than 140 percent of capacity by July 2020, triggering an overcrowding emergency. One bill would move up the emergency to July of this year.

Nebraska prisons currently hold about 155 percent of their design capacity, and the senators said that public safety would be threatened if theres no plan for the possible emergency, which might require the release of about 1,000 inmates.

One lawmaker who serves on a legislative prison oversight committee, Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist, said that moving up the emergency date is a mistake.

Corrections, she said, is making progress in reducing overcrowding, and though its been slower than expected, the department deserves more time to work it out.

Longevity raises, Geist added, are an issue for labor negotiations, not the Legislature.
LINCOLN  The debate about rules for Internet traffic is headed to the Nebraska Legislature.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln introduced Legislative Bill 856 on Friday to implement the Internet Neutrality Act.

Morfeld said he thinks the Federal Communications Commission made a huge mistake in December when it voted to repeal net neutrality rules. The decision reversed a policy put in place in 2015 during President Barack Obamas administration.

I think they are catering not to the interests of the country but rather the interests of some powerful corporations, Morfeld said.

Under Morfelds bill, Internet service providers would be prohibited from degrading the speed of Internet traffic in Nebraska or providing paid prioritization of certain sites. Paid prioritization is when an Internet provider charges a website such as YouTube or Netflix for faster speeds. If they dont pay, Internet access could be slowed.

Morfeld said that with an emerging technology sector in the state, throttling Internet speeds and limiting access could hurt economic growth.

He said the Internet has also changed the way people consume and share information with each other.

If we want to have an informed and engaged young electorate, we have to ensure that everybody has equal access to information, Morfeld said.

Morfelds bill will likely face pushback and perhaps even legal challenges.

Americans for Prosperity, a free-market advocacy group, said it opposes the bill. The group worked to repeal net neutrality at the federal level because it believes the government should have a hands-off approach to the Internet, said Brad Stevens, regional director.

A free and open Internet is a principle we believe has fostered creativity, technological advancement and economic opportunity that has improved the quality of life for millions of Americans, Stevens said. He added that the Internet should be a free marketplace of ideas and commerce.

Other bills introduced Friday:

 Superintendent pay. Public school superintendents and educational service unit administrators would have their compensation capped under LB 851, introduced by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha. Under the bill, superintendents salary and benefits could not be more than five times the amount of salary and benefits provided to beginning teachers in their districts or ESUs.

 Sexual crime reports. All public colleges and universities would be required to have confidential advisers to whom students can report sexually oriented criminal offenses under LB 857, introduced by Morfeld. The advisers would get training and could serve as advocates for the victims of such offenses.

 Juvenile confinement. New limits would be placed on the use of room confinement by youth prisons and facilities housing juvenile offenders under LB 870, introduced by Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln. The bill also sets standards for the areas used for room confinement. Studies show that confining youths alone in their rooms can exacerbate mental illness and the risk of suicide and can increase the chance that a youth will reoffend.

World-Herald staff writer Martha Stoddard contributed to this report.
LINCOLN  Attorneys for Gov. Pete Ricketts argued Friday in court that he simply exercised his rights as a citizen when he participated in a referendum petition that restored Nebraskas death penalty in 2016.

Lawyers for the ACLU of Nebraska countered that as the states top executive, the governor doesnt get to make law, but when he led and helped fund the referendum petition drive to overturn the Legislatures death penalty repeal, the governor made law in violation of the Constitutions separation of powers clause.

Lancaster County District Judge John Colborn heard 50 minutes of legal debate Friday from six different lawyers in a lawsuit that could strike down the 2016 death penalty referendum vote.

The judge said he will consider the arguments along with written briefs before he issues a ruling. He could dismiss the case, remove some of the defendants or allow the lawsuit to proceed unchanged.

Lawyers for Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson, Treasurer Don Stenberg and several other defendants argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed now before engaging in further litigation.

J.L. Spray, who represents Stenberg and the three residents who sponsored the pro-death penalty petition drive, said it would be a ridiculous conclusion for the judge to say certain citizens could not participate in the process by virtue of holding elected office.

Just because youre a governor or state senator or a judge or an employee of the state, you dont lay down your constitutional rights, Spray argued.

Bill Trac, a lawyer for the ACLU, said no one is arguing that elected officials or judges cant vote on a ballot issue. But by organizing the petition drive, Trac said, Ricketts sought to defeat the death penalty repeal, something he could not accomplish even with the veto power of his office.

Thats really the fundamental argument in this case, Trac said. Had the executive not acted, there might not have even been a referendum on the ballot.

The lawsuit by the ACLU of Nebraska also argues that the Legislatures 2015 repeal took effect long enough to void the death sentences of the 11 men on death row.

Did this law go into effect and change our clients sentences to life in prison? We say yes, said Brian Stull, a lawyer with the ACLU.

Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post disagreed. He said that once petition organizers turned in sufficient signatures in the summer of 2015 to put the question on the ballot, the law was suspended until the election on Nov. 8, 2016.

The suit was filed in December in response to the Department of Corrections obtaining fresh supplies of lethal injection drugs. The department gave notice that it intended to use the drugs to execute Jose Sandoval, ringleader of a botched 2002 bank robbery in Norfolk that left five dead.
A 27-year-old Seward, Nebraska, man was killed in a three-vehicle crash east of Seward.

Zacchary Golter died in the crash at 6:25 p.m. Thursday 4 miles east of Seward, officials said.

The Seward County Sheriffs Office said Golters 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier was westbound on U.S. Highway 34 when it crossed into the eastbound lane, colliding with a 2010 Dodge Caravan. The third vehicle, a 2011 Cadillac SRX that was also eastbound, struck the rear passenger side of the Caravan, the Sheriffs Office said.

There were no passengers in Golters Cavalier, authorities said, and it appeared that Golter was not wearing a seat belt.

The Caravans driver, Susan Riddle, 46, of Seward, was taken to Memorial Hospital in Seward and later transferred to a Lincoln hospital. She was in stable condition Friday, the Sheriffs Office said.

The Cadillacs driver, Joann Eicher, 57, of Lincoln, refused medical care at the crash scene, officials said.

There were no other occupants in the Caravan and the Cadillac, officials said.

The crash remains under investigation by the Sheriffs Office, the State Patrol and Seward police, authorities said.
Grand Island is home to the impressive Hall County Courthouse, a stately structure designed by noted architect Thomas Kimball of Omaha. Now, Grand Island residents can be proud that their citys downtown has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The district contains an intact collection of late-19th and early- to mid-20th-century commercial and public buildings that reflect nine decades of commercial development in Grand Island, the announcement from the Nebraska State Historical Society states.

In all, some 64 structures contributed to the districts historic qualities, demonstrating the commercial development of Grand Island from roughly 1870 to 1960.

The National Park Service also added to the National Register the historic downtown districts in Kearney and Neligh, as well as two structures in Omaha: the Chiodo Apartments at 2556 Marcy St. and the On Leong Tong House at 1518 Cass St.

Such recognition by the National Register serves several useful purposes.

It provides a community the opportunity of better understanding its heritage. It helps a community cultivate a sense of place. And it shows how, in many cases, the present remains linked in significant ways to what has come before.

The Nebraskans who pulled together the material for the National Register applications deserve congratulations for their work.

In Kearney, 99 structures in the historic downtown district, within roughly five square blocks along Central Avenue, demonstrate the commercial development of Kearney from roughly 1875 to 1965, the State Historical Society said.

In describing Nelighs recognition, the Historical Society observed that the historic district functioned as the central business area of Neligh since the opening of the Neligh Mill one block south of the District . . . in 1874.

The Neligh districts 41 downtown structures illustrate the evolution of Neligh from a mill site and railed depot to a thriving agricultural community and county seat.

The two Omaha structures  the Chiodo Apartments and the On Leong Tong House  well illustrate how the present connects to notable parts of local heritage.

Vincenzo Pietro Chiodo (1869-1949) built the Chiodo Apartments in 1918 in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Chiodo was born in Calabria, Italy, and arrived in Omaha at age 16. In the early 20th century, he was a leader in Omahas sizable Italian community.

Chiodo purchased the former county jail and 1885 county courthouse. In the 1910s, he brought in masons from Italy, who re-used the materials to build four apartment buildings: the Florentine, Carpathia, Leone and Chiodo.

The entrance columns at the Chiodo previously supported the courthouses dome.

The On Leong Tong House, built in 1911, once housed a Chinese-American business association that provided assistance and social events for Omahas Chinese community. As World-Herald staff writer Blake Ursch explained, in the early 1900s, Omahas Chinatown covered a four-block area northeast of 12th and Douglas Streets.

Nebraskas historically significant buildings can indeed bring the past alive, deepening our understanding.
By Brett Campbell | For The Oregonian/OregonLive

Before Tesla was a car, he was a genius.

By the end of the 19th century, the Serbian-American engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla had conceived some of the underlying technology behind alternating current, the induction motor, remote control, X-ray imaging and a host of other crucial Industrial Age technologies, including nearly 300 patents. He's partly responsible for the fact that most of us have instant access to light, heat, TV, radio and the internet.

"He's an unsung hero," says University of Oregon professor Brad Garner. "We wouldn't have cell phones and power in our homes without his work."

Tesla's vision was even more towering than his many achievements. If he'd had his way, everyone in the world would have access to clean, abundant, nearly free energy, transmitted wirelessly across vast distances, and wireless communication. Some of his ambitious ideas eventually became part of everyday American life, some are within sight now, others were sheer crackpottery, still more were undermined by various combinations of bad luck and timing, dirty dealing, capitalist chicanery, economic turmoil and his own social ineptitude. Once a wealthy, famous figure, the one-time employee then rival of Thomas Edison and partner of George Westinghouse lost the fortune he'd made from his inventions. When he died penniless in the last of many New York hotels he called home in 1943, his closest friends were the pigeons he'd adopted.

Though Tesla's turbulent story has been told in books and documentaries (including one now running on the Discovery Channel called "Tesla's Death Ray"), a life so colorful and complex invites a similarly multidimensional representation. That's what Garner and the other members of a Eugene artists consortium are bringing to three Oregon cities this month, including Saturday's performance at Newmark Theatre.

"Tesla: Light, Sound, Color" uses original choreography, digital animation, a new score performed live by a string octet and electronic musicians, and even live physics demonstrations to illuminate the legendary figure who's been called the man who invented the 20th century.

Garner, a dance prof who directs the show, is one of four University of Oregon faculty members who make up Harmonic Laboratory, a nonprofit interdisciplinary collective unaffiliated with the university founded in 2010. In more than a dozen projects in Eugene and beyond, including productions as far away as James Madison University in Virginia, they've created multimedia art performances, installations and more that defy conventional categories.

Their subjects range from volcanoes to Faust to Mozart to the relationship between body and space. Many involve emerging, underrepresented or marginalized voices and interactions among art, humanities and science. And all involve substantial collaboration with academic, civic, artistic, community and other groups.

One of the group's most ambitious collaborative creations, "Tesla" represents its subject's simultaneous reach into the past and the future by juxtaposing traditional and contemporary artistic styles.

Garner's choreography for dancers from Eugene Ballet and the University of Oregon includes both ballet-influenced and modern movement. Jeremy Schropp's classical-form acoustic chamber music (performed by Eugene's superb Delgani String Quartet and members of Orchestra Next) contrasts with Jon Bellona's electronic sounds. John Park pits straightforward representational imagery against abstract animations (to illustrate electromagnetic energy fields, for example).

To hold the story together, the production uses explanatory slides, a silent role for a performer who represents Tesla, and a physicist (Stanley Micklavzina, a senior physics instructor at the University of Oregon) who will demonstrate several brief experiments. The show's two-year creative development was supported by a Creative Heights Award from the Oregon Community Foundation with the University of Oregon Department of Dance and Art & Technology program.

It's both ironic and appropriate that Tesla, whose achievements were long suppressed in academic circles, is celebrated by a quartet of academic artists. "As contemporary artists we feel a bit misunderstood, not nearly to the extent he did," Garner explains. Tesla provides a model of how "to stay creative when no one understands your vision."

He remains relevant for other reasons, too. Some of Tesla's most far-reaching visions, like clean energy and widespread wireless charging, are now on the cusp of realization. In a time when some politicians strive to erect barriers to global collaboration, "he was an immigrant with an American dream who changed the world," Garner notes. And then, of course, there are those cars.

***

Harmonic Laboratory presents "Tesla: Light, Sound, Color"

When/where: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, Jan. 10-11, Soreng Theater, Hult Center, Eugene

8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway, Portland

8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15, Tower Theatre, 835 N.W. Wall St., Bend

Tickets: $27-$50, college, youth and senior discounts available at Eugene shows

Eugene: hultcenter.org or 541-682-5000

Portland: portland5.com or 800-273-1530

Bend: towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700
U.S. Attorney Billy Williams on Friday said he's troubled by the overproduction of marijuana in Oregon and the black market exportation of the crop to other states, though he declined to detail how his office will carry out a new federal directive stripping legal protections for marijuana businesses.

In his first public comments since Thursday's announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice, Williams told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he's awaiting additional guidance from federal officials. He offered a cautious response, saying he doesn't "believe in overreacting."'

"I want to be methodical and thoughtful about what we do here in the District of Oregon," he said.

His answer is likely to frustrate Gov. Kate Brown, who held a press conference in front of the U.S. District Courthouse, where Williams works.

The governor vigorously defended the state's legal marijuana market and accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of "ripping the rug out from underneath the marijuana industry," which she pointed out has generated thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue for the state.

Brown's staff continues to press Williams for a guarantee that he won't meddle in legal pot sales and production.

"We want assurance that nobody is going after lawful Oregon businesses operating under Oregon law," Jeffrey Rhoades, Brown's marijuana policy advisor, said Friday.

State officials pointed out new state laws aimed at cracking down on the black market and additional police assigned to a law enforcement task force in southern Oregon to curb the illicit market as evidence that Oregon takes federal concerns seriously.

Sessions roiled Oregon's cannabis industry when he released a memo saying he would let federal prosecutors decide how aggressively to enforce federal marijuana law in states where the drug is legal.

Under President Obama, the federal government took a largely hands-off approach to recreational and medical marijuana provided states developed robust regulations targeting illegal distribution.

In a document known as the Cole memo, federal enforcement officials spelled out their marijuana enforcement priorities, which included cracking down on the black market, violent crime and keeping the drug from minors. Those guidelines served as a roadmap for states as they crafted rules.

Under federal law, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug, a category of drugs that includes heroin and is defined as substances that have a "high potential for abuse" and "no currently accepted medical use."

Oregon was the first state to decriminalize personal possession of marijuana in 1973 and legalized medical marijuana in 1998. Voters overwhelmingly approved its recreational program in 2014, becoming the third state behind Colorado and Washington to do so.

The state's industry employed more than 20,000 people last year and generated close to $450 million in sales, according to Beau Whitney, a senior economist with New Frontier Data, a market research firm.

Yet Oregon's seed-to-sale regulation of marijuana has done little to reduce the state's notorious role as a black market source, said Williams, who on Friday called it a "huge problem."

"That has been my concern for months," he said.

He questioned why Oregon has failed to contain marijuana production by limiting the number of licenses it issues. According to the latest figures from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the agency that regulates marijuana, the state has licensed 892 marijuana producers. The agency is in the process of reviewing another 766 applications for producer licenses.

"There is currently no cap," Williams said. "Why not?

He said he remains unconvinced that Oregon has taken adequate steps to address problems identified in a draft report obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive last year. The report, later criticized by the governor as inaccurate and biased, concluded that Oregon has an "expansive geographic footprint" on the black market, with a half-dozen counties leading the way in supplying much of what is shipped out of state.

"I assume that has only grown in the last 12 months," Williams said.

Even as the new federal directive injected uncertainty into an already risky business, some in the industry said many entrepreneurs seem to be taking the announcement in stride.

Vince Sliwoski, a lawyer who advises Oregon marijuana businesses, said "it's full speed ahead" for his clients.

"Regardless of what Jeff Sessions does with policy guidance, I believe this ship has sailed and they'll keep doing what they are doing," Sliwoski said.

Cannabis activists also point out that Sessions seems to have galvanized a broad swath of politicians from states with recreational and medical marijuana -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- who blasted the announcement.

The policy shift was announced days after retail pot shops opened for business in California, creating what industry analysts say will become the world's largest market for legal marijuana.

Since 2012, eight states and Washington, D.C., have voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. A total of 28 states have legalized pot for medical purposes.

"It's just so enormous at this point," said Amy Margolis, who also advises cannabis clients in Oregon. "When you bring California online it really does feel like it's game over for federal prohibition because it's such a vast cannabis economy."

Until the Cole memo, issued in 2013, police raids of large-scale marijuana farms in southern Oregon weren't uncommon. Previous U.S. attorneys fired off letters to dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries informing them they were breaking federal laws and raising the specter of prosecution and property seizures.

Amanda Marshall, the former U.S. attorney for Oregon who resigned in 2015, said the memo prompted a clear shift in priorities away from marijuana enforcement.

Marshall said Williams is likely hearing from law enforcement officials and others around the state and in Washington, D.C., who take issue with legal marijuana.

Those perspectives, she said, are bound to shape his response.

"He has different people pushing him," said Marshall, "including his boss, Jeff Sessions."

-- Noelle Crombie

ncrombie@oregonian.com

503-276-7184

@noellecrombie
For several hours on Thursday, it seemed as if Oregon's thriving marijuana industry was about to go up in smoke. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, long befuddled by pot, announced he was rescinding the hands-off policy toward marijuana prosecution adopted during the Obama Administration. Rather than maintain the truce that allowed pro-legalization states to commercialize marijuana, Sessions is now directing the U.S. Attorneys in each district to decide for themselves how aggressively to go after pot.

The reaction from Oregon's elected leaders, from Congress to the city of Portland, was swift, indignant and best summed up by three words: Butt out, Sessions. The decision, they rightly noted, was an affront to Oregon voters who overwhelmingly approved legalizing pot. It ignores the success story that the pot industry in Oregon has become, with some 19,000 employees and $70 million in tax revenue funding education, public safety and other services. And Sessions' refusal to respect the systems set up by states exposes a deeply hypocritical stance for a man who claims to value states' rights.

But for all the anger directed at Sessions, the real power lies with Billy Williams, the U.S. Attorney for Oregon, who will be deciding locally how big an emphasis to put on marijuana. And while his initial comments seem vaguely promising, he should more clearly commit to leaders, law enforcement and Oregonians as a whole that those individuals and businesses acting legally under Oregon law will be left alone. He should pledge to maintain the same focus that was laid out in the now-rescinded "Cole memo," which directs federal agencies to target their resources on the "most significant" marijuana-related public safety threats such as distribution to kids, trafficking for drug cartels and drug-related gun violence. Not on the list? Hassling storefronts selling pot to individual consumers.

Oregonian editorials

Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Mark Katches and John Maher.

To respond to this editorial, post your comment below, submit an OpEd or a letter to the editor.

If you have questions about the opinion section, email Laura Gunderson, editorial pages editor, or call 503-221-8378.

There's a pragmatic reason for continuing under the guidelines. There's simply no putting the genie back in the bottle - nor has Oregon's experience given any compelling reason to try to do that anyway. While the transition to legalization hasn't been flawless, legislators, state regulators, law enforcement and entrepreneurs have done an impressive job of working together to create a successful new industry while preserving public safety. Williams should give Oregon businesses and consumers assurances that the set of rules they've been operating under aren't going to all of a sudden change.

That said, the state should do all it can to make sure Williams has no excuse to increase federal involvement. That means looking at both its recreational market and the established medical marijuana industry to get tough on overproduction of cannabis. Oregon is one of the top providers of black-market marijuana in the country, according to an Oregon State Police analysis from 2016. That's a problem the federal government would target even before Sessions' rescinding of the Cole memo.

Additionally, the state should continue efforts to crack down on homemade hash-oil production, a hazardous process that poses deadly dangers to not only the manufacturer but anyone in the vicinity. If unchecked, this too, would legitimately invite federal involvement.

Oregon has good reason to be proud of its legalized marijuana industry. Its leaders understandably plan to defend it tooth and nail. They should recognize that the best defense is to give Williams no reason to change course.
On Nov. 19, I co-authored a guest opinion in The Oregonian/OregonLive with youth across southern Oregon, called "Gov. Brown, protect our future and stop the pipeline."

Last month, Sen. Jeff Merkley helped do just that, by coming out in opposition to the Pacific Connector Pipeline and Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal. I, along with other youth impacted by this project, applaud Merkley for standing with our communities against this project. I hope Oregon's other politicians, especially Gov. Kate Brown, will follow his lead and oppose the project that, if built, would become our state's largest source of pollution and a threat to my and future generations.

Merkley knows that it is possible to create jobs in areas such as wind or solar energy that help instead of hurt our state and its environment. Politicians cannot say they are committed to climate action while supporting Jordan Cove at the same time.

Our state has the authority to end this project, and we need Brown to use that authority to stop Jordan Cove LNG for good. I, along with other youth affected by the pipeline, sincerely thank Merkley for his opposition. I feel very lucky and honored to have a senator who listens to the voices of the youth in his state and stays true to his word to take action on climate change.

Maya Davis, Jackson County
If TriMet's executive board would stop congratulating itself on how grand it is, board members might notice huge gaps in service. Having lived in Northwest, Southeast and now Southwest Portland, I can compare and report service in the close-in westside neighborhoods are abysmal.

The latest example of TriMet's failure to serve was for the annual First Run & Walk beginning midnight Dec. 31 into Jan. 1. TriMet can get you downtown but not home again. No bus service was available. Yes, the light rail ran late, but those of us living close-in have no access to light rail from neighborhoods such as Multnomah Village, John's Landing, and Lair Hill. If light rail can run until 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, why not the buses?

Other gaps in service are weekday and weekend evenings. If Portlanders want to bus downtown for a lecture, theater or other events and live close-in, getting home is always a problem after 10 p.m. Passengers will have waits of up to an hour. Again, this is a failure to serve. I have found TriMet's bus drivers, trip planners and customer service representatives to be very kind, patient and helpful. To TriMet executives, I say stifle your arrogance, take off your blinders and look honestly at your failure to serve this tri-county community.

Emily Frank, Southwest Portland
The law firm of Shinners & Cook, P.C. recently announced that Scot C. Putzig has been named a shareholder.

Putzig joined Shinners & Cook in 2014 and focuses his practice on business law, employment, intellectual property and litigation. Putzig's commitment to the success of local businesses and the mid-Michigan community is evident from his quick rise to leadership as the vice chair of the Saginaw Young Professionals Network, board member of the Saginaw Economic Development Corp., and the District Committee Member for Boy Scouts of America, the law firm stated.
Every year, floods cause significant property damage throughout America. Years ago, private insurers had difficulty providing economically viable flood insurance, so the government stepped in to subsidize the process. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was created in 1968 to provide flood insurance to properties that are at significant risk.

Unfortunately, NFIP does not appear to be economically viable either. The program had racked up a debt of approximately $25 billion before the effects of the difficult 2017 hurricane season. Congress has already provided a $16 billion bailout through debt forgiveness, and the Government Accountability Office still considers FEMA unlikely to ever pay off its remaining debt of over $20 billion.

Congress intended NFIP to be supported through interest on the premiums paid by policyholders, but payouts in difficult years go well beyond income. Hurricane Katrina made 2005 a huge NFIP budget-buster, producing an almost $16 billion deficit. 2012 came in a distant second with a nearly $6 billion deficit, and 2017 is likely to produce a massive deficit as well.

Why is the program in such trouble? NFIP has two major problems  the agency can't charge premium rates that cover the true cost, and certain areas require disproportionate help.

It shouldn't be surprising that hurricane-prone coastal areas and areas near large rivers file the most claims  but it is surprising that a mere 12 U.S. counties make up one-third of all flood insurance claims since 1978. Three counties near the Texas and Louisiana coasts lead the way. Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish in Louisiana are the top two counties, followed by Harris County in Texas. All three have over 100,000 claims filed since 1978.

The remaining nine counties are in the same Louisiana/Texas coastal area, areas in New York and New Jersey affected by Superstorm Sandy, or in south Florida (Miami-Dade and Broward). The common threads are strong hurricanes affecting densely populated coastal areas.

Such areas tend to have higher home prices by definition  aside from hurricane risk, they are generally desirable places to live with properties in high demand. Data from Zillow shows that two-thirds of all flood insurance claims placed since 1978 come from counties with median home values well above the national median. Flood claims become disproportionately expensive, adding to NFIP's financial challenges.

NFIP is hamstrung in several directions on risk assessments and premiums. Many flood plain maps are outdated and don't reflect increased development that removed natural drainage space or changing climate patterns. Properties built prior to 1975 are protected from premium rates proportionate to the flooding risk, as are structures built before the first flood insurance rate map was published for that area. Buildings that are remapped into higher levels of risk are grandfathered into their current premium, and can't be charged rates reflecting their true risk.

As a result, over 30,000 "repetitive loss properties" in flood-prone-areas are constantly bailed out. Without some type of Federal buyout program, these homeowners can have more incentive to rebuild than to move  but, as a nation, can we afford a massive buyout to change that incentive?

Removing NFIP entirely leaves homeowners in flood-prone areas in a terrible dilemma. Property values would plummet and insurance rates would skyrocket in those areas, making homeownership difficult for many families and undercutting the ability to sell an existing home in a flood plain.

Congressional representatives from coastal districts are obviously wary of NFIP cuts. While it's true that people choose to live in these areas, in some cases, this would displace people from homes they've grown up in and lived in their entire lives  and lower-income residents may have no viable relocation options.

Most Congressional solutions are aimed at finding the middle ground of raising premiums and lowering discounts while improving flood risk assessment. Hopefully, the burden will be tilted toward affected homeowners instead of being spread across all taxpayers  but Congressional history suggests otherwise.

Congress has been unable to agree on how to solve the NFIP puzzle, but time is running out. As of this writing, NFIP reauthorization is still in limbo. On the day a three-month extension signed by President Trump was set to expire in December 2017, the President signed another four-week extension. Congress now has until January 19, 2018, to get proposed reauthorization legislation to the President's desk. While existing polices will be honored, renewals and new policies can't be issued without reauthorization.

We'll see if Congress takes any steps to make the program more sound, gives up and throws more money at it or simply lets it die and leave flood-prone landowners to fend for themselves.

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Sentences may vary based on previous offenses committed by the defendant. Some sentences include other fees imposed by the state. Compiled by reporter Kelly Dame.

The following people were sentenced recently in Midland County's 42nd Circuit Court by Judge Michael J. Beale or Judge Stephen P. Carras:

 Hunter Alexander Harger, 22, Ithaca, was sentenced for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The offense occurred on Jan. 14, 2017, in Jasper Township. Carras sentenced Harger to between three and 15 years in prison with credit for 128 days, and to register as a sex offender.

 Timothy Michael Murphy, 64, Sanford, was sentenced for third-offense drunken driving. The offense occurred on Sept. 3, 2016, in Jerome Township. Carras sentenced Murphy to 10 months in jail with credit for 80 days, $1,250 fines and costs, 18 months probation and driver license sanctions by the state. Murphy previously was convicted of drunken driving on Aug. 12, 2008, and Aug. 24, 2016, both in Midland County.

 Mark Deen Wright, 34, George Street, was sentenced for two counts of controlled substance possession. The offenses occurred on April 14 in Midland when Wright possessed cocaine and amphetamine. Carras sentenced Wright to 43 days in jail with credit for time served, and $1,750 fines and costs.
The seventh annual all-inclusive travel experience to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island organized by Midland Parks and Recreation will take place in October 2018.

The Mackinac Island Grand Experience is organized in partnership with the Michigan Recreation and Park Association, and will occur from Oct. 8 through Oct. 11. Registration for the trip begins Monday, Jan. 8.
The Saginaw County Department of Public Health is distributing hundreds of free radon test kits during the month of January in recognition of Radon Action Month.

Chris Klawuhn, Saginaw County Environmental Health director, encourages area residents to get a kit and test their home during the heating season and, if necessary, to take action to reduce their exposure to this tasteless, odorless, colorless, radioactive gas.

Some area residents may be at risk of developing lung cancer from exposure to elevated levels of radon gas in their homes, Klawuhn said.

"We are encouraging Saginaw County residents to stop by the health department and pick up a radon test kit, and more importantly, to use that kit during the coming heating season," Klawuhn said.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, surpassed only by cigarette smoking, and it is a significant environmental health threat that can be easily detected. When elevated radon levels are found, residents should confirm the measurements with additional testing, and then take action to reduce the levels in their homes.

Radon occurs naturally in soil and rock, but being a gas, it can move upward through the soil and it enters buildings through cracks and openings in the foundation floor or walls. Typical entry points include floor/wall joints, sump openings, crawlspaces, cracks in the floor, and other penetrations caused by plumbing wiring, or ductwork. Outdoors, it is diluted by the atmosphere, but indoors it tends to be more concentrated and can accumulate to unhealthy levels. Klawuhn is quick to add that "the only way to know if your home has an elevated radon level is to test your home."

"Because radon is invisible and can't be smelled, it's easy to ignore," Klawuhn said. "It doesn't cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, skin rashes, or other warning symptoms that might be experienced as a result of exposure to many other environmental toxins, yet extended exposure to elevated radon levels may increase one's risk of lung cancer, a generally fatal disease."

Nearly one in eight homes in Michigan has elevated radon levels.

The do-it-yourself test kits distributed by the health department are normally available for $10, and that includes postage back to an out-of-state lab, as well as the fees for having the device analyzed and a report sent back to the consumer. Supplies are limited. Up to 300 free kits are available through Jan. 31 in Room 101 at the Saginaw County Department of Public Health, 1600 N. Michigan Ave. in Saginaw, and 100 kits are available at the Rehmann Health Center, 147 S. Saginaw St. in Chesaning.

For more information, call Environmental Health Services at 989-758-3686 or visit www.saginawpublichealth.org. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality also has a toll-free number at 1-800-RADON-GAS (1-800-723-6642).
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Kelly Dame.

Thursday, Jan. 4

11:03 a.m. - Police assisted probation agents in the 200 block of West Ellsworth Street.

11:44 a.m. - Animal Control was sent to a home in the City of Midland to check the well being of two dogs. The dogs, which are kept indoors, were in good health and had food and water.

11:45 a.m. - A Larkin Township home's mailbox was damaged when it was struck by a vehicle.

3 p.m. - Property was stolen from the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue.

3:43 p.m. - Deputies were sent to a report of possible drug use and manufacturing with children present at a Greendale Township home. Found inside were four adults and a child, age 3. The child was healthy and well cared for, and no illegal substances were found at the home.

5:35 p.m. - A deputy was sent to a Lee Township home for a report of an unwanted guest, and arrested a 46-year-old woman on a warrant.

6:04 p.m. - Three Midland County Jail inmates were involved in a fight. The suspects are two men, ages 20 and 23, and the victim is a 17-year-old male. There were no major injuries. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office for review.

8:25 p.m. - A Greendale Township man reported a broom and a broken vacuum, a total value of $10, were stolen from his home.

8:25 p.m. - A deputy was sent to Lincoln Township for a report of a dog that had been hit by a car. The deputy found the dog's owner and left the dog with him.

9:38 p.m. - An Edenville Township man, 48, reported he received a phone call from a number that he did not recognize and it sounded like a child was speaking. The number is out of Ohio and is associated with credit card fraud cases.

10:37 p.m. - Deputies were called to a domestic assault in Jerome Township involving a man, 30, and woman, 25. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office for review.
Beaverton has hired Heath Kaplan to manage its city hall.

Mayor Ray Nau said it was an extensive search that led to the finding of Kaplan, who began his job on Tuesday.

After a lengthy search, weve landed a candidate that can hit the ground running for our community, Nau said.

Kaplan has a master's degree in public administration from Grand Valley State University. He is the former finance director for Muskegon County. He also has a background in city government.

Beaverton is a small community, with good recreational opportunities and a good school district. And, while it may have its own unique challenges, it cannot be too complicated to manage for someone skilled in administration.

Kaplan, 44, has experience, and he said he is not afraid of hard work. We believe he has the tools to overcome any pitfalls that await him.

My skill set is perfect for what the city needs, Kaplan said.

We trust he is correct, and the city has made a good decision in hiring its future leader.

However, the city must be prudent in its oversight of the new city manager. Kaplan was investigated for unprofessional behavior at his position in Muskegon County. After leaving there in 2014, he accepted a city manager job in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. But he lasted only nine months at that position, departing after a reported controversy with purchasing practices.

In 2016, news reports say he received a public censure and lifetime ban from the executive board of the International City/County Management Association, or ICMA. The board also permanently expelled Kaplan, a strong and unusual action.

It doesn't bother us so much that Kaplan made a mistake in judgment at his job in Muskegon. What raises a red flag for us is that Kaplan did not bend over backwards to make sure he could keep his job in Poplar Bluff  for at least a year.

City officials say they have investigated Kaplan's background and are satisfied with his answers.

I really am excited to be here, Kaplan said. I want to be part of this community.

We believe in second and maybe even third chances. And we are glad that Kaplan wants to move his family to Beaverton. But city officials owe it to their constituents to work closely with Kaplan in the days ahead.
To the editor:

Once again, I find myself both amazed and exceedingly grateful to the people of our wonderful Midland community who truly understand the importance of giving in ways that impact the lives of others. During these past several weeks, we here at The Salvation Army Midland Corps have been collecting donations of toys, coats and money that will serve our own Midland County neighbors this coming year. This year, we set a goal to raise $108,000 during our annual Red Kettle Campaign, and as of Dec. 16, we had raised only $79,000, leaving us just one week to raise $29,000. In those final seven days leading up to Christmas, we received donations totaling $29,295 helping us to reach our goal with just a little extra.

Simply put, we couldnt have done it without the support of so many volunteers and donors, and we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who gave from the heart, because this year every donation really made an impact.

We are particularly grateful to a generous donor who sponsored a $4,000 matching challenge for all of the funds raised in our kettles on Dec. 9. Due to this generous contribution, we were able to raise nearly $11,000 in just one day, an astonishing accomplishment.

The Salvation Army would certainly like to also thank the 10 area businesses that hosted our bell ringers again this year, without whose partnership this fundraiser would not be possible. In addition, another 13 businesses allowed us to have one of our small countertop kettles in their stores. Aside from these businesses, another nine served as coat collection sites, and 33 more hosted a toy collection box that helped us collect toys that were given to 486 children. Additionally, we are grateful to the 81 families and organizations who met the needs of 93 families through our Adopt-A-Family program this Christmas.

This year, The Salvation Army in Midland had 42 different groups of volunteers helping ring the bell for a combined 467 hours of service. Among those many groups, there are a few that deserve some special recognition as well for going above and beyond what most would do. So while we here at the Salvation Army are appreciative of all who helped and contributed this Christmas season, we want to particularly recognize the following groups who contributed significantly to our work these last two months:

The Midland High School Key Club volunteered more hours than any other organization, spending 74 hours bell ringing, helping to raise $1,787.

The Kiwassee Kiwanis Club helped to raise more funds than any other volunteer group, collecting $7,809 in our Red Kettles.

We also offer our thanks to the Elks Club, which helped provide food baskets to 50 families that had registered to receive Christmas assistance from us.

We are grateful to Family Fare for not just allowing us to ring outside of their store, but also for their on-going food drives for our Food Pantry and the use of carts in our toy shop.

We also want to show our appreciation to Meijer and all of the various members of law enforcement, firefighters and EMTs who helped provide an amazing shopping experience for 20 children during the annual Shop With A Hero event.

We would like to thank Midland Center for the Arts for once again helping us collect toys during the Center Stage Choirs Jingle Holiday Extravaganza. We appreciate all those who gave, along with the centers efforts to help us in collecting these toys for needy children in our community.

Finally, we have one last word of thanks to the anonymous donor who placed a gold commemorative coin in one of our kettles worth $1,175. This gift was a wonderful surprise this Christmas season.

Clearly, I could go on and on thanking everyone who gave or donated in some way (and I would still likely forget someone), but the point is simply this: when we work together as a community, we can accomplish great things for the sake of everyone, helping those in the most need.

CAPT. BRIAN GOODWILL

Corps Officer

Salvation Army Midland Corps
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BLOOMINGTON  Bloomington police are asking for the public's help in finding a 72-year-old woman who left a Bloomington hospital Wednesday against medical advice.

Kathleen Tabor of Bloomington and Atlanta was reported missing Friday after she left OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center on Wednesday, police said. She suffers from several medical and mental health issues, police said.

She is described as white, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 100 to 110 pounds and having long gray hair and hazel eyes.

Tabor was last seen Wednesday near Oak and Washington streets in Bloomington. She reportedly was walking with the assistance of a walker at that time.

Tabor also may go by the first name of Vivian or the last name of Howe.

Anyone with information about Tabor is asked to contact the Bloomington Police Department at (309) 820-8888.
Here is a selection of stories curated by AP editors to keep you informed as you start your weekend.
Marc Honigman has filed Class Action #21 against Apple for purposely slowing iPhones in the New York District Court (Brooklyn). An additional four Class Action lawsuits are reportedly in-the-works in Canada, South Korea, Australia and France but are not official at this point in time.

Complaint In-Part

The followings excerpts are from Mr. Honigman's formal complaint before the court: "Apple has consistently represented that its iOS updates improve rather than hinder the performance and security of iPhone Devices. For example, Apple's website states: 'Keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your Apple product's security.' Thus, iPhone users are urged to update their devices to add vital security updates and bug fixes necessary for the iPhones to properly function. Users are essentially forced to make a 'choice' between leaving their personal data susceptible to hackers and identity thieves, or upgrade their iOS software which remedies serious security breaches. In essence, no reasonable consumer, including Plaintiff, would leave their iPhone vulnerable to security breaches by not upgrading to the new iOS version.

Plaintiff and Class members were unaware that Apple's iOS 10.2.1 and later updates were engineered to intentionally slow down the performance speed of iPhone Devices or that these updates otherwise had the effect of hindering the devices' functionality.

Apple's iOS download notifications and its statements on its website never disclosed to consumers that the slowdown and reduced functionality of older iPhone devices was a planned result of iOS updates. Nor did Apple inform consumers that the shutdown bug that impacted many iPhone Devices might be remedied by replacing the battery in affected devices and avoiding the download of new iOS versions. Battery replacement at the Apple store costs less than $100, whereas the cost to upgrade to a new iPhone can range between $200 to $1,000, depending on the model.

Nothing on Apple's website or in its iOS notifications informed consumers of the deleterious impact that iOS software may have on the devices.

Apple's intentional degradation of the iPhone Device's performance through the release of iOS impacted the usability of Plaintiff and the Class members' devices. Effectively, Apple has forced the obsolescence of Plaintiff and Class member's iPhones by secretly diminishing their performance.

Causes for Action

Count 1: Violations of 349 of New York General Business Law: Deceptive Acts and Practices Unlawful

Count 2: Violations of 350 of New York General Business Law: False Advertising

Count 3: Breach of Express Warranty

Count 4: Negligent Misrepresentation

Count 5: Intentional Misrepresentation

Count 6: Unjust Enrichment

For more details on this case, review the full Class Action lawsuit filings below provided to you courtesy of Patently Apple

Marc Honigman Files Class Action Against Apple by Jack Purcher on Scribd

Class Action Lawsuit Reports Posted on this One Issue since December 22, 2017

19: Class Action #21 against Apple was filed in Brooklyn for Intentionally Degrading the iPhone's Performance

18: Class Action #20 against Apple is demanding $5 Billion for Purposely Slowing iPhones

17: The First Class Action against Apple in 2018 over slowing iPhones was filed in Cincinnati Ohio

16: Class Action #18 has been filed against Apple in Chicago for Purposely 'Throttling Processor Speed' to Induce sales of new iPhones

15: Class Action Lawsuits #16 and #17 against Apple over Purposely Slowing iDevices were filed in Mississippi and Missouri

14: Class Action #15 filed in Indiana Claims Apple Software Updates dramatically & artificially reduced performance of Legacy Devices

13: First Class Action from New Orleans Claims that Apple 'Designed Software Updates' to slow iPhones to Encourage New Sales

12: Despite Apple's Public Apology and Explanation over the Performance of Batteries, another Class Action was Filed Yesterday in San Jose

11: First Class Action from Texas Claims that Apple Intentionally Designed Software Updates to Slowdown iPhones

10: First Class Action against Apple from Chicago Surfaces Claiming 'Intentional Sabotage of Older Model iPhones'

09: Apple Hit with a Lawsuit over Slowing iPhones in France and a Pair of Law Firms in Korea are Preparing Class Actions

08: The 10th Class Action against Apple Claims they Fraudulently Omitted Information about the Battery Issue in order to sell new iPhones

07: The 9th Lawsuit against Apple for Purposely slowing iPhones Points to Fraud, Unjust Enrichment and 9 other Causes for their Class Action

06: The 7th and 8th Class Action Lawsuits have been filed in New York and California with one Suit demanding an insane $999 Billion Payout

05: Apple Hit with a $125 Million Class Action in Israel over Purposely Slowing iPhones

04: Apple hammered with Class Action #5 for slowing iPhone Battery Issue

03: The Fourth Lawsuit against Apple regarding the slowing iPhone Battery Issue was filed in New York on Friday

02: Apple has been hit with a Third Battery Issue Related Lawsuit by a Bay Area Resident

01: In the Blink of an Eye, Apple's Admission of Slowing Batteries on Older iPhones turns into a Class Action Lawsuit (this report covers two class action lawsuits)

Please note that it's been reported that lawsuits against Apple on this issue are in-the-works in France, South Korea, Australia and Canada in 2018, but are not presently official.





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Before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube made their entry in the media market, the PatnaDaily had already registered its presence in...
Supaul: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is on his 'Vikas Sameeksha Yatra' of Bihar to review progress in developmental works and effect of prohibition in the state, inaugurated 198 projects, many for the second or third time under different names, to the tune of Rs. 304 crore in Supaul district.

Kumar also held a meeting with the women of many self-help groups to ascertain the effect of prohibition in the district and to educate them about the ill effects of child marriage and dowry system.

With virtually no major investment in the state since he became the Chief Minister of Bihar over 12 years ago, Kumar had been seen shifting his focus gradually from industrial development to social reforms leading him to launch a number of social schemes including prohibition with concentration on small, micro-level schemes like the solar-powered mini water supply system built at the cost of Rs. 37 lakh he inaugurated on Friday in Supaul district.

Kumar, who is increasingly being blamed for the collapse of education in Bihar, paid a visit to a local school that is being run from a small room where there is no plaster on the wall and children have to sit on the floor in the lack of even the most basic amenities required in schools.

"Don't let your children go without education. The government is with you and we will provide all the necessary help that you need in educating your children," he told to a group of women.

The Chief Minister then went on to blame the banks for not making his student credit card scheme successful that promised to put Rs. 4 lakh in loan money in the hands of the students so their parents did not have to worry about their school and college education.

Kumar then touted the success of his prohibition policy, a hallmark of all of his public appearances, saying it had brought down crime figures in Bihar and had helped improve law and order in the state.
Ranchi: Once again, for the third day in a row on Friday, a CBI special court in Ranchi deferred its judgment on the quantum of punishment to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav till Saturday when the judge would deliver his verdict in an offshoot of the fodder scam involving fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar treasury.

Yadav was earlier convicted in the case by the same CBI court on December 23, 2017.

The illegal withdrawal took place between 1990 and 1994 when Yadav was the Chief Minister of an undivided Bihar.

The RJD chief, who has been languishing in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Jail since his conviction, will be appearing before the CBI court via videoconferencing, Judge Shivpal Singh announced.

Appearing before the court on Friday via videoconferencing, Yadav, 69, appealed to the judge for leniency on account of his age and illness. He also complained about poor medical facility and lack of clean drinking water inside the jail that, his lawyer said, could be detrimental to his health.

Meanwhile, in Patna, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh blamed Yadav's opponent, read the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of making a phone call to the judge while pretending to be the supporters of the RJD chief in an attempt to influence the judgment.

Afraid his leader will be denied justice by the CBI judge, Tiwari advocated reservation in the appointment of judges saying only a dalit judge would be part justice to Yadav who is a backward.

As reported, CBI special judge Shivpal Singh on Thursday said that some people claiming to by Yadav's supporters called him several times and asked him to go easy on their leader in his judgment.

"This is clearly a ploy by the BJP that wants to anger the judge so he would hand out the harshest punishment to our leader. If what the judge said is true then why no legal action has been taken against this caller?" Tiwari asked.
Ranchi: After deferring the announcement on the quantum of Lalu Prasad Yadav's punishment in the case involving illegal withdrawal of Rs. 84.5 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury, a CBI Special Judge in Ranchi on Saturday awarded 42 months in jail and a fine of Rs. 5 lakh to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief along with 16 other accused, including three former IAS officials.

The sentence was announced via video-conference to avoid any ruckus at the court house.

Yadav was earlier convicted in the case by the same CBI court on December 23, 2017. Since then he has been lodged in the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi.

The embezzlement took place between 1990 and 1994 when Yadav was the Chief Minister of the undivided Bihar.

As reported earlier, another Chief Minister of Bihar Jagannath Mishra was exonerated by the same court on December 23.

Out of 34 accused, 11 had already died while one person turned the CBI informant.

Besides Yadav, among those who were also convicted today by CBI Judge Shivpal Singh included former IAS officers Phoolchand Mandal, beck Julius, and Mahesh Prasad, and Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram.

With this conviction, Yadav stands convicted in two of the five cases of fodder scam.

The former Chief Minister's lawyers had appealed to the court for a short sentencing of three years on account of his age and health. Besides, a sentencing of three years would have immediately made Yadav eligible for bail. With six extra months added to the three years sentencing, Yadav will now have to go through the Ranchi High Court to obtain a bail.

While Yadav's fate remains unclear as he faces three more cases of corruption related to the same fodder scam, his lawyers said that justice was not served today and that their client would immediately seek bail in the appropriate court.

In Patna, Yadav's son and heir-apparent Tejaswi Yadav also pledged to seek bail.

"The judiciary has done its job; now we will knock the door of the High Court to seek bail for my father who has several physical conditions and is old," the former Deputy Chief Minister said.

Speaking during an emergency meeting of the party leaders in Patna on Saturday, the junior Yadav said that his father was the victim of a witch-hunt by the Sangh family.

"Lalu Prasad Yadav was chosen by the people of Bihar and he's in jail while those who were not elected are now part of the Bihar government. Amit Shah is scared of my father and that's why he conspired to send my father to the jail," Yadav said.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain hailed the court's decision saying the people of Bihar finally got the justice that they deserved.

Senior Janata Dal  U leader K C Tyagi also welcomed the judgment saying it was historic and the 'end of a chapter'.

Yadav's troubles, however, are expected to further mount in the coming days as another CBI Special Court in connection with the same fodder scam has issued production warrant against him and eight others.

All are expected to appear before the court in Ranchi on January 10.
The Egyptian parliament has commenced processes to criminalize atheism in the predominantly Muslim north African country.



A legislation proposed on the eve of 2017 Christmas was given consideration by the parliament on the eve of New Years Day, the USA Today website reported.



Under existing Egyptian laws, it is illegal to insult or defame any religion. Blasphemy arrests carry a conviction of up to five years. The new development if approved means just refusing to believe in God could be punishable by law.



The proposal was championed by the head of the parliaments committee on religion, Amro Hamroush who stated that lack of belief in God was an insult to the Abrahamic religions  Islam, Christianity and Judaism.



It must be criminalized and categorized as contempt of religion because atheists have no doctrine and try to insult the Abrahamic religions, Hamroush said on December 24 when announcing the proposed law.



Reports indicate that the move has the backing of the countrys highest Islamic religious institution, the Al Azhar. In defense of the law, an Azhar official said it was necessary to punish those who have been seduced into atheism.



Egypt along with Mauritania, Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia were African nations listed in a 2017 report as being places were blasphemy and apostasy laws carry the death penalty.



Completing the list are: Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.



But founder and leader of a U.S. based rights group challenges the proposed law. Ani Zonneveld says even Islam in an of itself did not criminalize atheism quoting a Quranic verse to back her position.



This criminalization of atheism contradicts the very essence of the Quran, verse 2:256, There is no compulsion in faith, she further describing the legislation as anti-Islam.

Source: Africanews.com









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Tundu Lissu, the Tanzanian opposition chief who was shot by unknown assailants in September last year says the countrys politics had taken a dangerous turn thanks to the dictatorial regime led by President John Pombe Magufuli.



Lissu is currently recuperating at a Nairobi hospital where he was flown to for specialized medical care. The trained lawyer and avowed critic of Magufuli was shot and wounded by unknown gunmen in the countrys administrative capital, Dodoma.



In an interview with the BBC, he described the attack as an assassination attempt and that he felt unsafe at the thought of returning home. He further described the intolerance of political dissent as similar to military dictatorships of decades ago.



Politics, particularly our kind of politics, is dangerous. For 25 years, we were used to peaceful politics, we were used to politics where your argument was answered by counter-arguments.



Now our arguments are answered not by counter-arguments, but by a hail of gunfire. It has become a place where a journalist is abducted and they disappear.



It has become a place where people are murdered, they are shot dead, their hands and feet are tied and they are dumped into the sea and washed onto the beaches. We have become no different from those odious military dictatorships of the 1970s and 80s.



The main opposition, CHADEMA, and the ruling Chana Cha Mapinduzi  CCM, both condemned the attack. President Magufuli joined in the condemnation and tasked security agencies to go after the assailants.



The party condemns this violent act and wants the police authorities to search, investigate and take legal action against anyone associated with this heinous act.



The leaders of CCM are praying for brother Lissu and wish him a speedy recovery so that he may continue with his parliamentary duties, CCMs statement said.

Source: Africanews.com









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The award jury of the Daily Trust African of the Year Award has named 34-year-old Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar as African of the Year for 2017.



Former President of Botswana and chairperson of the award jury, Festus Mogae said Muqthar was selected for his exemplary works on counter-terrorism which led to de-radicalization of would-be extremists in Africa.



He said the seven-member jury noted with satisfaction the effectiveness of Muqthars engagement with dozens of would-be terrorists, including a 21-year-old who was dissuaded from joining ISIS in Syria.



President Mogae said the extra-ordinary advocacy being undertaken by this ordinary African will help to deepen the understanding of violent extremism and radicalization of youths across the continent.

Meanwhile, the award jury also named 82-year old Professor, Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub for a Life-Time Achievement Award to commemorate the tenth year anniversary of African of the Year project.



In choosing Prof. Yacoub, President Mogae said the jury was impressed with his indelible global accomplishments as well as his humanitarian and exemplary offer of heart surgeries to children across Africa.



He said Prof. Yacoub is a role model for Africans, who have made remarkable personal achievements and attain the height of their professional accomplishments to contribute to humanity in Africa.



The African of the Year award will be presented in Abuja, Nigeria, at a dinner ceremony to be hosted by Daily Trust newspaper and United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc, on January 17, 2018.



Born in Salaga, Northern Ghana, to a family of peasant farmers, Mutaru Muqthar is the founder and Executive Director of the West African Centre for Counter Extremism, WACCE, based in Accra.



He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Ashesi University, Ghana, and a 2013 Masters degree in international terrorism, international crime and global security from Coventry University in England, UK.



He was inspired to fight terrorism after his family fell victims of the deadly 1994 Nanumba-Konkomba conflict in Northern Ghana in which about 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands were internally displaced.



Muqthar now works across West Africa with a team of professionals he engages to de-radicalize vulnerable youths whom he helps to reintegrate into the society, school or work.



A renowned heart surgeon, Professor Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub was born to a Coptic Christian family at Bilbeis, Al Sharqia, Egypt, and studied at Cairo University where he qualified as a media doctor in 1957.



He moved to Britain in 1962 and later became a Professor of Cardio-thoracic Surgery at Imperial College London. He carried out the first British live lung transplant and he is reputed to have performed more heart transplants than any other surgeon in the world.



To actualize his philosophy of giving back, he founded the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation, which launched the Aswan Heart project while he continues to offer free heart operations on children through his Chain of Hope charity.



Mutaru Muqthar expresses joy



Muqthar expressed joy and appreciation over his selection as winner of the prestigious award.

In a reaction to the jury he said I am deeply humbled and honoured to be chosen as winner of the African of The Year award for 2017. I am unable to truly capture how I feel about this at the moment. Working in an area that is highly unpopular and challenging for especially young people, there is no greater testament and validation of our work than this noble award.



This is far greater than anything we have ever accomplished or even envisaged when we set out to engage in countering violent extremism and radicalization in West Africa.



This has come at a time West Africa continues to serve as an epicentre for radicalization and violent extremism. My team and I therefore receive this with great excitement and gratitude and are confident that this will forever serve as a huge motivation to continue to do more in dealing with the challenge of violent extremism and radicalization in West Africa.



I dedicate this to all the vulnerable youth I have worked with including the radicalized young man whom we have helped to stop from travelling to Syria last year and to all victims of terrorism, who have never in any way considered violence as a legitimate course of action.



My greatest appreciation to Daily Trust, UBA Bank and the eminent award committee for this. Thank you all for the honour and the confidence reposed in me, Im more determined to make Africa proud.



Background on African of the Year Award

The African of the Year award project was initiated by Nigerias Daily Trust in 2008 as part of the newspapers commitment to African unity and sustainable development.



The award, which enjoyed the support of United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc, was aimed at recognizing ordinary Africans for their extra-ordinary contributions to the continent in any field of human endeavour in a given year.



The maiden award for 2008 was given to a Congolese gynecologist, Dr. Denis Mukwege, in recognition of his offer of free reconstructive surgery to victims of rape in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.



Dr. Mukwege has since been nominated twice for Nobel Prize and was in 2014 named winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the highest human rights award given by the European Parliament.



Subsequent winners are the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdulraheem (2009), Mr. Danny Jordaan (2010), Judge Mrs. Fatimata Bazeye (2011), Mr. Thabo Mbeki (2012) and Dr. Donald Kaberuka (2013). The 2014 award was skipped owing to the prevalence of Ebola disease in parts of Africa while Mr. Gregoire Ahongbonon emerged winner of the 2015 award, with a no-show in 2016.



To protect the integrity of the award, the winners are selected by an independent jury of eminent personalities that are drawn from the five sub-regional blocs of Africa. The jury is helmed by His Excellency Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana and winner of the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize for African Leadership.



Other members of the prize committee are Ambassador Mona Omar (North Africa), Mr. Kabiru Yusuf (Daily Trust), Ms. Gwen Lister (Southern Africa), Mr. Pascal Kambale (Central Africa), Mr. Mahtar Amadou Ba (West Africa) and Prof. Sylvia Tamale (East Africa).



Now in its tenth year, the award has also benefited from the wisdoms of pioneer members of the Prize Committee especially His Excellency, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, and former Prime Minister of Tanzania, who was chairperson for a record ten years.



The other past members were: Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily (Senegal) Dr Muthoni Wanyeki (Kenya) Prof. Okello Oculi (Uganda) Dr Obadiah Mailafia (Nigeria), Prof. Kwame Karikari (Ghana) the late Dr Tajudeen Abdulraheem (Nigeria) and Prof. Tandeka Nkiwane (South Africa/currently on the Board of Tony Elumelu Foundation).

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, the Upper East Regional Minister on Thursday said the quality of debates on radio and television stations need to be scrutinised and facilitated to derive maximum benefit for the listening and viewing public.



He observed that the quality of some issues discussed on these airwaves was worrying to serious and decent minded citizens, and noted that it was incumbent on Journalists, especially radio and television talk show hosts to control their guests and serial callers when they use unacceptable or abusive language on others.



Mr Bukari was speaking at a press soiree in Bolgatanga organised by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) which attracted Municipal and District Chief Executives, and Heads of Departments.



It offered the media the opportunity to quiz duty bearers on diverse issues pertaining to development in the Region.



Mr Bukari said not everyone has the opportunity or time to contribute to radio discussions or call to refute allegations levelled against him or her, and added that the liberalisation of the media landscape was meant to enhance the democratic credentials of the country.



He indicated that the media liberalisation was nevertheless intended to be used to malign decent citizens who had gained their reputation through years of toil.



The Minister said even though remunerations to journalists from some media houses were not the best, it was not an excuse for journalists to exhibit mediocrity in the discharge of their duties, and urged them to endeavour to cross check their facts to avert publishing falsehoods.



He observed that the various cities, towns and villages in the region were engulfed in filth which had resulted in wide spread of some preventable diseases like malaria, typhoid, cholera among others, and called on the media to join hands with government to spread the message of good sanitation practices.



Mr Bukari charged the media to impress on their behavioural change agent role to educate the masses on attitudinal change towards sanitation and the felling of trees, especially rosewood, the prevention of bush fires, illegal mining on farm lands and the destruction of water bodies and forests to guarantee sustainable development in the Region.



Asked what government was doing to revamp the defunct factories in the region, notably the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, the Bolgatanga Meat Factory and the Bolgatanga Rice Mills among others, the Minister said various interventions were underway to revamp them, and added that the rehabilitation works on the Tono and Vea Irrigation Dams will soon be completed to meet the economic needs of our people.



Mr Bukari disclosed that there was a discovery of some underground water at Kadare in the Bongo District which was projected to last for about 200 years, and tasked the media to investigate more into the discovery because the Region needed sustainable water supply for both domestic and industrial purposes.



Mr Eric Kwadjo Amoh, Chairman of the Upper East Region branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) said media personnel were partners in development, and indicated that no nation could develop without the media.



He said we are proud to say we are one of the best press that nobody can beat, we are number one in Africa enjoying press freedom, and that is a big opportunity for us.



Mr Amoh said the media as a watchdog provided security and direction to duty bearers on areas that needed critical attention and criticised when necessary, to bring peace and development to the Region and the nation.



He thanked the Regional Minister and the RCC for the opportunity given to the media in the region to interact with duty bearers to promote the development agenda of the Region.



The Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, Tongo-Rana, Kubilsong Nalebegtang, who chaired the function called on Journalists to investigate their facts to ensure that the region benefitted positively from their works.



He reminded Journalists working in the region to be circumspect in their reportage and present balanced reports devoid of arrogance, and pride and accept criticisms of their work.



The Tongo-Rana called on Chief Executive Officers of the various Assemblies in the region to take issues of agriculture seriously, as it was an area that was being patronised by majority of the people in the region.

Source: GNA









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Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak, has raised concerns over governments commitment to fight the felling of Rosewood in the Northern Region.



There was a ban on the felling of Rosewood in the country early part of last year until the government gave approval for grant of permit to Messrs Jusdal Plus, and other 24 companies to salvage Rosewood from the Brong-Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions.



In the last few years, harvesting of the species had gone out of control and in curbing the indiscipline, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in 2014 banned the harvesting, transportation, export, sale or processing of rosewood in the country which mainly come from the three Northern regions.



The companies are to strictly comply with 17 guidelines and regulations relating to the grant of timber rights and also pay all statutory fees and approval premiums.



But speaking on Wednesday January 3, 2018, Dr. Apaak said the government had not shown enough commitment to ending the felling on rosewood in the Northern Region, accusing of discrimination.



I am very close to believing that because I had earlier made a statement sometime last year in parliament which was referred to the Speaker to the sub-committee on Lands and Forestry and as I speak to you today, we are in the year 2018 the committee has not brought the report before the House. If no action is taken clearly the conclusion that Id reach is that government is discriminating in as far as protecting the Savanna Woodland forest is concerned, he said.



He therefore urged government to channel the same level of enthusiasm in the fight against galamsey to that of the ban on felling of Rosewood.

Source: Today









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Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Trade in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, has asked the media to partner him as he prepares to contest the flagbearership of the Party and recapture power in 2020.



At a media interaction in Accra on Wednesday evening, Dr Spio-Garbrah launched his Forward Agenda, which echoes his intention to contest the elections to aid him seek the highest office of the land.



This really is not a time of campaigning  it is simply a time to share our message of partnership, stewardship, service, commitment, nationalism and patriotism of sacrifice with all of you.



And to pray that even as you examine us thoroughly in terms of all the things we have done well and the things we have not done so well, when you conclude with your examinations of those who wish to stand before you and offer themselves for leadership of our country through various political parties, you may, hopefully, come to the conclusion that Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is a man who may deserve the support of most Ghanaians to attain the highest office of this land in order to bring us to where we all will like to reach, he said.



He said the Forward Agenda was a grand plan to mobilise the grassroots to enable him to win the race this time, after his initial attempt in 1993 was unsuccessful.



Dr Spio-Garbrah said his Forward Agenda conveyed a message of sacrifice and commitment towards developing Ghana.



The Agenda, he said; "Is not one that can be led by just anybody. It is not just a matter of your talents, it is not a matter of the nature of your educational attainments or your financial capacity, it is the motivation in your spirit, which is very difficult to measure."



He said the primary focus of public services or politics was not about making money or amassing wealth for oneself or for ones family but about service, and that was why Ghanaians were often seen rejecting all those public servants in their electoral decisions.



So Im just saying that this Forward Agenda that has been established to carry the message of sacrifice, of stewardship, of partnerships with many stakeholders and with commitment to the development of Ghana and Africa is not one that can be led by just anybody.



My exposure, experience and reputation in various capacities, both locally and internationally, makes me a better person to lead this Party and subsequently lead the country in the future and lift up the nation to a level that had never been attained, but is attainable.



It is for this knowledge that I have been privilege to experience and to observe and to see at first hand that should you wish to give me the opportunity to lead this party and hopefully to lead this country, that I know what it takes and what to do to solve most of the problems we talk about in Ghana, he said.



Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo Mensah, a Former National Security Adviser under the Mahama Government, urged the media to be truthful in their reportage and also ensure that they informed the people about the real happenings to enable them to make the right decisions and choices in life.



Dr Kwame Amporful, the Former Chief Executive Officer of Tema Oil Refinery, urged the media to rally behind the Forward Agenda to promote democracy.



Mr Ransford Tetteh, the Managing Director of Graphic Communication Group Limited, urged journalists to be fair, accurate and objective in their professional practice even when they believe in a certain course or conviction.



Meanwhile the NDC has started a reorganisation drive following their defeat in the 2016 Election.



The Party has indicated that it would elect its presidential candidate for the 2020 Election by the close of 2018 as the NDC Constitution stipulates that a flagbearer should be elected two years ahead of elections while the Party is in opposition.

Source: GNA









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An activist of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Dela Coffie has slammed former President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for going on a unity walk on the day a 'party stalwart' is being buried.



According to him, "the lack of empathy is so shocking"



Alhaji Bature, who was the Editor of the Al-Hajj newspaper and a staunch member of the NDC passed away on Friday, January 5, 2018 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital following a short illness.



He was buried today in accordance with Islamic law at the Nima Cemetery in Accra.



However on the same day of the burial, the NDC held its 5th Unity Walk at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region and was led by former President John Dramani Mahama.



Dela Coffie who was not enthused about the development wondered if "the NDC is worth dying for"



He took to his facebook page and wrote:



I am so shocked. Pleasantly shocked. A party stalwart and a hero has fallen. He is due to be interred later this afternoon. The man he defended with his life, toiled and "died for" is on a self promotional tour ("unity walk"), amidst fanfare, pomp and pageantry, and without an ounce of respect to the fallen activist?



Couldn't the organisers of the so-called unity walk pushed it to a later date in honour of Alhaji's demise?



Does the death of #AlhajiBature mean anything to John Mahama? And is the NDC worth dying for?



Is anyone else sick of this? The lack of empathy is so shocking.



May the Almighty God have mercy on us all.



Rest well, Alhaji....

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Project HOME outreach worker Michelle Sheppard, left, talks to a homeless man inside Suburban Station in Center City on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. Sheppard, who herself was homeless for many years, now works to persuade homeless Philadelphians to seek shelter. Read more

On this frozen Friday in January, Michelle Sheppard returned to Sherwood Forest.

That's what everyone called the vestibule in the depths of Suburban Station, the one off JFK Boulevard, where Michelle and other homeless people would sleep, behind the marble pillars that lined the hallway. Hidden like Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

A whimsical name for a dire place.

For nearly three decades, Michelle, who is 53, called the cold concrete home. Four years ago, she came in from the cold.

Now, with the city in the grip of a historic freeze, she comes back to the place where she used to sleep  as a Project HOME outreach worker.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked a man in layers, bracing himself in the frigid vestibule.

The call of crack

It was the late 1980s, and Michelle was 21, with babies and a boyfriend she feared, living in a Grays Ferry rowhouse. She fled to North Philly to escape the boyfriend, but couldn't escape the pull of crack cocaine. Her children went to live with family. She went to live behind the old Spaghetti Warehouse, on a cardboard mattress. She spent years there, in the alley behind the restaurant. Then years in a sleeping bag outside the Family Courthouse, where scores of homeless people once lived. And all those frozen winters in Sherwood Forest.

She never grew used to it  the train station bathrooms, the fear, the cold  but on the streets in the grip of her addiction, she felt a freedom.

"It was scary at first," she said of living on the street. "But when I got used to staying out there, I just stayed."

By 2014, the workers at the winter outreach center run by Project HOME in Suburban Station knew Michelle well. The Hub of Hope wasn't far from Sherwood Forest. She was a regular.

Carol Thomas, the agency's director of homeless services, would engage her whenever she came through. Michelle was always pleasant, Carol remembers, but always resistant.

"But we were equally persistent," Carol said.

It took two years. One day, Michelle walked in. She was ready.

She entered a 19-month city recovery program called the Journey of Hope.

"Once I allowed them to help me," she said, "I did the rest of the work."

Her graduation present was a set of keys to a Project HOME apartment in North Philly. One of her neighbors was a man she knew from her days on the Parkway, homeless for decades as she'd been. He wore his keys around his neck now, out of pride.

Michelle went inside, placed the key on her dresser, and danced around the apartment.

Last year, she regained custody of her 15-year-old daughter, Cierra.

"I am proud of her," Cierra told me. "Not only did she recover from addiction  and it takes courage and patience to do that  but she is helping others."

Volunteer with a knack

After graduation, Michelle went to Carol Thomas and asked if she could volunteer at the Hub. It wasn't something Carol was prone to do  accepting a volunteer so early in recovery.

But, she said, "there is something special about Michelle."

After just a year of volunteering, Michelle was hired as an outreach worker.

She knew almost everyone in the station. She was outgoing. She was persistent, carrying outreach pamphlets on her at all times, even when she wasn't working. She shared her story.

Michelle became a role model, Carol said, offering what is needed most: a reminder that there is hope for everyone and in everyone on the streets.

And Michelle was good at getting people inside. Like Miss Edie, who slept next to her in Sherwood Forest, and who no one seemed to be able to reach. Miss Edie refused to come inside, believing for years a family member was coming for her.

"We have to go and get ourselves now, baby," Michelle would tell her.

It took her a year.

"I just stuck with her and it got her in," Michelle said. "And it felt good to get her in."

As the mercury falls, her numbers rise

On Friday, she and Carol made the rounds through Suburban Station, Michelle calling out person after person by name, doling out hugs and pamphlets, urging them to come inside. And some finally did.

Like the man in the wheelchair whom she found at Dunkin' Donuts, whom she'd been working for months. She leaned in close to listen to him. This time she persuaded him.

And there was the man with an icicle in his beard. She handed him a napkin and talked him into going to a hospital.

This winter, she and her regular partner, Edward Dover, have done this again and again, every day, with temperatures plummeting, the stakes higher than ever and with hundreds of extra city beds opening to accommodate as many people as possible during the freeze.

Over the last two weeks, the woman who took three decades to come inside has persuaded 45 people to follow her out of the cold.
Myrrha Fleeing After Being Discovered in Her Fathers (King Cinyrass) Bed is one of the pieces of art being sold by the La Salle University Art Museum. Read more

Looking to raise money for its operations, Randolph College in Virginia three years ago sold its signature painting, a 1912 piece by George Bellows called Men of the Docks, for more than $25 million to the National Gallery in London.

Retribution from the art community was swift.

The Association of Art Museum Directors called the decision "a violation of one of the most fundamental professional principles of the art museum field," imposed sanctions against the college, and asked other museums "to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaboration on exhibitions and programs" with the college's museum.

And they did.

The same kind of punishment could be levied at La Salle University in the wake of its announcement Tuesday that it plans to sell 46 pieces of art from its museum to help fund teaching and learning initiatives in its strategic plan. The proposal quickly drew scorn from several national museum advocacy groups, including a task force that formed nearly a decade ago to dissuade universities from pawning their art treasures. At the same time, some higher-education experts defended the decision as one of survival: In a time of unprecedented financial challenges, universities may have to choose their core mission over other priorities.

"I'm sure this was a tough decision," said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, "but it is in the long-term interest of the university. La Salle is a university that has an art museum. That is very different from being a museum that has a university."

The university estimates it will raise between $4.8 million and $7.3 million, much of it for masterpieces including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' Virgil Reading the Aeneid Before Augustus from 1865; Dame Elisabeth Frink's sculpture Walking Madonna; Dorothea Tanning's Temptation of St. Anthony;Georges Rouault's Le Dernier Romantique (The Last Romantic); and Albert Gleizes' Man in the City (L'Homme Dans la Ville).

The Association of Art Museum Curators slammed the plan in a statement.

"This decision goes against fundamental best practices of museums, the very standards that have built and shaped the country's tradition of establishing and preserving art collections for the public trust," the group wrote.

Both the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors followed with a statement, and the Task Force for the Protection of University Collections also informed La Salle of its opposition to the plan, said Lyndel King, director and chief curator of the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota and cochair of the task force.

"Our major role is making sure that institutions understand the implications and potential consequences of what they are proposing to do," King said, noting that other museums could refuse to lend traveling exhibits to the museum and essentially isolate it from collaboration with its peers. "We also want to make sure that donors and others know that this is being considered. It's a black mark on the university. If I were a donor, I would certainly think about making another donation to a university that did that."

Often university trustees and administrators don't understand how inflammatory it is to sell art for purposes other than improving its collection and museum, or that the museums are an integral part of a college's teaching, she said.

The task force formed around 2009 when Brandeis University in Massachusetts, like many schools stung by the recession and a loss in its endowment, proposed to close its Rose Art Museum and sell off the art. The museum, opened in 1961, had a loyal following who complained. Legal action ensued, and the plans eventually were scrapped.

"I believe that the [museum] is here to stay, and I joined it," said Luis Croquer, who was hired six months ago as museum director. "The university is committed to it."

Controversy also erupted at Fisk University, a historically black school in Nashville, when it proposed in 2005 selling pieces of its collection, donated by painter Georgia O'Keeffe, widow of Alfred Stieglitz, the New York photographer/artist. After a legal battle, a deal was struck for the university to share its collection with Crystal Bridges, a museum in Arkansas. The university received $30 million.

The New York Times reported in 2016 that former Fisk president Hazel O'Leary had quietly sold off two pieces before that deal was completed, one of them a 1920 painting by Florine Stettheimer called Asbury Park South, depicting a restricted beach in New Jersey and featuring mostly African Americans but also the white artist and some of her friends.

Raymond Wade, a spokesman for Fisk, declined to comment on the aftermath of the controversy, saying that the school's administration had turned over several times since then.

Randolph College first proposed selling several pieces of art in 2007 to raise money for its endowment. Officials did not return calls or emails seeking comment on the backlash the school sustained, especially after selling Bellows' piece to the National Gallery of London in 2014.

But the college's president has acknowledged that the sanction by the art museum directors group had impact. The Tacoma Art Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, for example, canceled plans to borrow Randolph's O'Keeffe painting, according to an article in the News & Advance, a newspaper in Lynchburg, Va.

"What the AAMD did, it does affect our students," Randolph's president, Bradley Bateman, told the paper. "It hurts our students."

But Bateman told the paper that the school also saw positive impacts, including an ongoing relationship with the National Gallery.

For La Salle, a 3,200-student Catholic university that has struggled with a projected deficit and layoffs in recent years, criticism isn't just coming from the art community. Alumni from other fields also have sounded off on social media.

"Pretty soon it will be a trade school. Sad times," Tierney Kelly, a 1998 graduate from Philadelphia, posted on Facebook.

Kelly, a film publicist who majored in English literature at La Salle, said she visited the museum frequently as a student. Her projects for a class on Shakespeare took place there.

"It was amazing to be able to conduct a class in a place like that," she said.

Later, she worked in La Salle's admissions office and touted the museum as a selling point.

"It was a gem for the university," she said.

Christian Brother Daniel Burke, formerly La Salle's president, started the museum in 1976. Burke died in 2015 but in a recorded interview on La Salle's website he talks about the day he announced he would start an art collection. He said Leonard Rosenwald, a collector, advised him that it wasn't a good time.

"Stuff is getting very expensive these days," he said Rosenwald told him. The collector, he said, asked him how much he had to invest.

"I said I've got $3,000," Burke recalled. "There was general laughter."

But over time, Burke, through university funds and donations, built and expanded the collection. La Salle's paintings, drawings, and sculptures span the Renaissance to the present, some of it on display in a series of period rooms at the museum, on the lower level of Olney Hall in the center of campus.

La Salle, in the Logan section of Philadelphia, intends to keep the museum open and replace works on display that are being sold with other pieces from its collection. But alumni worry that with the sale of such prominent pieces the museum won't be the same.

Vinny Vella, a 2012 communications graduate who currently works as a reporter at the Hartford Courant, said the "paltry" amount La Salle stands to raise isn't worth it.

"La Salle has certain assets that make it valuable to the students and one of those assets has always been its art museum," said Vella, a former Daily News reporter. "If La Salle is willing to sell off parts of its art collection, what else is it willing to sell?"

Staff writer Stephan Salisbury contributed to this article.
A confluence of talent like Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep usually points to something massive  a project years in the making, costing zillions, and about as maneuverable as a super-tanker.

Spielberg, in fact, was working on one such project  the virtual-reality sci-fi extravaganza Ready Player One  when he saw the script for The Post, and was so taken with it he decided to hit pause on his tentpole project and make The Post immediately, enlisting Hanks and Streep.

The Post is the story of the Washington Post (and the New York Times) challenging a Nixon administration attempt in 1971 to block publication of the top-secret Pentagon Papers, which revealed that America's political leaders were pouring men and money into a Vietnam War they viewed as unwinnable.

To Spielberg, The Post isn't just history  it's a timely opportunity to express full-throated support for the First Amendment and press freedom at a time when both are held in apparently low regard by the current occupant of the Oval Office, who likes to post Photoshopped videos of himself body-slamming reporters (Montana's Upper Merion-born and raised Congressman Greg Gianforte was recently elected on that same platform).

Spielberg and Co. are obviously excited to be making The Post, and that palpable enthusiasm makes the movie feel so unusually lively for a big-studio movie. It's nimble, crisp, passionate, full of verve and invention. Put another way: It's a newspaper movie that feels like something made by hustling professionals. On deadline.

Read more: What it's like to get a call from Steven Spielberg at 6:30 a.m. asking you to rewrite 'The Post'

Spielberg is telling two stories here. The first is the as-advertised account of the Washington Post newsroom, led by editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), striving to chase the New York Times' big Pentagon Papers scoop. Portions have been published, but an injunction has prevented the Times from printing the rest.

Bradlee wants to find and publish the best of what remains, and sends his army of reporters (led by Bob Odenkirk, Carrie Coon, David Cross) to find it. Bradlee wants the scoop, but he also wants to elevate the reputation of the Post as a provincial publication for Washington, D.C., insiders and elites (the movie opens with a debate over how to cover Tricia Nixon's wedding).

Spielberg also gives us a parallel story  that of the Post's publisher, Katharine Graham (Streep), who has inherited the paper from her husband and father, and is struggling to make herself heard in a world of swaggering alpha males.

They include pushy newsman Bradlee, a know-it-all lawyer (Bradley Whitford) and worried financiers  Bradlee's (possibly illegal) bid to publish classified government documents comes just as Graham seeks to sell stock to investors.

Spielberg and Streep find myriad ways to give this aspect of the story heft  Streep makes her voice tiny, her movements timid, and Spielberg finds endless visual ways to remind us that she's the only woman in a room full of bossy men. All leading to a scene of Graham holding up a patrician hand and waving away a room full of stunned mansplainers.

Read more: The day in 1971 when the Inquirer defied the government and published the Pentagon Papers

It's a nice moment, even though Graham is not the most galvanizing icon of female empowerment, having overcome the dual handicaps of wealth and inherited power. She views the glass ceiling by standing on it.

Still, these scenes make a more subtle point: It takes more than reporters and gumption to defend the First Amendment. It takes money. Money to pay an expensive army of lawyers who fight other powerful factions in court.

Currently, the Post is owned by an individual worth $99 billion. So maybe money is no object. (Alexa, read me the Pentagon Papers.)

Other news outlets are scrambling to find ways to pay for the kind of journalism that Justice Hugo Black, in his ruling telling Nixon to buzz off, defended using these words: "The Founding Fathers gave the press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the government."

His concurring opinion is featured in the climactic moments of The Post, which closes with every print journalist's favorite money shot.

Look at those papers rolling off the press. And look at those ads!
It's hard to think of a concerto that is, from start to finish, brimming with greater amity and warmth than the new Flute Concerto by Samuel Jones, given its world premiere Friday afternoon in Verizon Hall by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

What's more, the piece has tremendous mood  with the kind of opening that establishes a poignant urgency, the way the first movement of Walton's Violin Concerto does.

Jones, Mississippi-born and Eastman-trained, works in a musical language that looks back  to Howard Hanson, perhaps, with whom he studied, but also generally to Barber and other mid-20th-century traditionalists. There's nothing wrong with that. And nothing wrong with the fact that there are stretches of his Flute Concerto that could be at home in film. At 82, Jones is comfortable with who he is, and who he is is the composer of some beautifully elegiac music.

The work was written for its soloist, Jeffrey Khaner, the orchestra's longtime principal flutist, who had it firmly under his fingers. If Jones is a traditionalist in some ways, he also took a novel approach or two. Instead of shying away from the sound of the other flutists in the orchestra, he melded their colors with that of the soloist in the third movement. Elsewhere, he blended two piccolos. The third movement is woven from American tunes  "Battle Hymn of the Republic" makes an appearance  but so skillfully that Jones avoids the obvious traps of jingoism or echoing Ives. It's all very dignified and sincere, modes that ring in modern ears as a salve.

The first movement ends with Khaner on a single low note, all by himself  a particularly emotional stroke when you realize that grief was an influence here; both composer and soloist were dealing with the loss of brothers as the piece was being written.

Jones seemed also to have something of the sound of this orchestra in mind. It wasn't entirely clear elsewhere in the program that the conductor was interested in cultivating what we normally think of as the plummy Philadelphia Orchestra sound. Pablo Heras-Casado brought a chipper, well-detailed interpretation to Schubert's Overture to Rosamunde, and the sound was even leaner in the Brahms Symphony No. 2. When this Spanish conductor made his debut here in 2016, he led a Mendelssohn symphony of changing tempos and character.

This time in Brahms, it was about emotional control, and I wondered whether there might be a place on the spectrum in between  an individuality, but one expressed judiciously. There were Goldilocks moments: the section after Jennifer Montone's lovely horn solo at the end of the first movement, where Heras-Casado took a bit of time to feel something, and in the quicker tempo of a second movement made to seem all the more charming for its blush of youth.

Additional performance Saturday at 8 p.m., Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Sts. Tickets are $10-$153. www.philorch.org, 215-893-1999.
Lindenwold High School English teacher Larry Abrams gives away books to students after school at Lindenwold Elementary School No. 4. He started BookSmiles a year ago, collecting donated books toward his ambitious goal of getting 100 books in every childs home. Read more

Larry Abrams, an English teacher at Lindenwold High School in South Jersey, never gave much thought to how many books his students had at home  until a fateful conversation with a 17-year-old pupil who was raising her own 2-year-old.

"What are you reading to your baby these days?" Abrams asked her.

"I'm not reading  she's still little, Mr. Abrams."

The teacher responded with alarm. "No, no, no," he said. "I read to my daughter, you can read to her!"

Five years later, Abrams' classroom is cluttered with overflowing cases of books  from large picture books for toddlers to the wizardry of Harry Potter  basically anything a young reader might enjoy.

And those boxes are just a fraction of the roughly 20,000 tomes that Abrams and the organization he finally launched 13 months ago, BookSmiles, has collected from schools and families in more affluent South Jersey districts, then redistributed mostly in economically disadvantaged Lindenwold toward his ambitious goal of 100 children's books in every kid's home.

Abrams' BookSmiles is just one player in a fast-growing, but little coordinated, network of ad hoc, community-based groups in the Philadelphia region collecting used books and getting them to families in what researchers have branded "book deserts"  lower-income communities where kids grow up with few, if any, books to read, and where outlets that sell even newspapers, let alone literature, are few and far between.

"I teach English and see ninth graders come to me with terrible skills, bad writing skills," said Abrams, 50, who has worked in the 2,700-student Camden County district since 2003. Forty-two percent of students are Latino and 76 percent receive free or reduced-price lunch. "Being a dad, my own children went to Cherry Hill West and in ninth grade, kids were writing really, really well. Know why? Not because they're smarter but because they had books in the home."

A growing body of research backs that up. Donna Celano, an assistant professor of communications at La Salle University who studies book deserts, said one recent project conducted in 27 countries found the single best predictor of whether a child is going to finish high school was the number of books in the home  "not the parents' educational level or income level, but it was knowledge culture."

Now, the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation is launching an 18-month study  led by Susan Neuman, professor of childhood and literacy education at New York University, and Celano  of book giveaway programs like Abrams' with the goal of making them more efficient. Celano said the effort targeting kids up to 8 years old will focus on how many books are actually in homes, what makes up a good home library, and how to enlist parents in making sure books are actually read after they have been handed out.

Celano and Neuman's research over the last 15 years popularized the concept of book deserts  not unlike the so-called food deserts in neighborhoods that lack supermarkets  by finding the shockingly low number of stores that sold books or reading material in low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia and other cities.

Kids who show up for kindergarten with no book exposure, Celano noted, start school from behind because their vocabulary is smaller. "It's getting even worse now in the digital age, because people are buying their books on the internet and a lot of families don't have access to the internet," she said.

"We know there's a connection between having books in homes and improving literacy," said Jenny Bogoni, executive director of the Philadelphia Free Library Foundation's literacy project the Read by 4th campaign. "What we don't know is how many books  what tips to be giving to families on how to use the books effectively."

Meanwhile, an informal network of community groups and activists has formed to help get books into lower-income households. Locally, the groups include Reach Out and Read, which is affiliated locally with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Treehouse Books, a North Philadelphia nonprofit; Philadelphia Reads, out of Martin Luther King High School; Team First Book Philadelphia; and a Cap4Kids program run out of St. Christopher's Hospital.

In South Jersey, Alexa Grabelle  now a 16-year-old junior at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees  was only 10 when she first heard about the "summer slide," kids who don't read during the school break and see their reading skills diminish. Curious about children who don't have books, she launched a donation drive that became Bag of Books and has collected a remarkable 125,000 volumes, including 5,000 to 10,000 in her garage, awaiting distribution.

"I'm pretty much a one-man show," said Alexa, who has gathered books from staffers at the University of Pennsylvania, law firms, and companies based in Philadelphia and South Jersey such as Subaru to redistribute at some 15 to 20 schools in South Jersey's lower-income communities. "Anytime I'm around adults I have my cards with me and I try to find out where you work  is it a big company?" she explained.

That same freelance spirit has driven Abrams to reach out to teachers in Moorestown, where he worked before switching to Lindenwold, in Cherry Hill, and in local Friends schools to amass his stockpile of books. He has also solicited donations from local churches and synagogues.

"Usually these books are sitting in people's houses collecting dustor go to the library or Purple Heart," said Abrams  but finding donors is often the easiest part.

On the Wednesday after New Year's Day, Abrams had five high school students sifting through boxes to sort books into categories for young readers. While there are plenty of "Upper Elementary" series like Junie B. Jones and the Magic Treehouse, baby picture books prove more elusive.

The volunteers then lugged cases of books across the street  and through the bitter cold  to Lindenwold School Four, where kids snatched up as many as five at a time. "They're like piranhas," Abrams said. "It's incredible, the enthusiasm."

No one seems more enthusiastic than Abrams, who sets up book fairs throughout the school year at events like Spanish Heritage Night. Although he said he's only about a tenth of the way toward his dream of 100 books in every Lindenwold home, he's collected enough books that his project has also distributed some in Camden and Vineland, and he's hoping now to plant the idea with other South Jersey teachers.

"I dream," Abrams said, "of one day having this model take off."
Sears Holdings Corp. announced that it will close 100 more stores, including a Sears in Northeast Philadelphia and one at the Shore, and a Kmart in Port Richmond. Read more

The start of the new year is more a continuation of the demise of Sears Holdings Corp., as the company announced to its employees Thursday the closure of an additional 103 Sears and Kmart stores.

The list consists of 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores  including the Sears at 7300 Bustleton Ave. in Northeast Philly and one at the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, N.J. Also on the chopping block is a Kmart on 3301 Aramingo Ave., in Port Richmond.

The closures  which come on top of the 350 Sears and Kmarts closed last year  are expected between early March and April of this year with liquidation sales to start as early as next Friday, Jan. 12, at some locations. The entire department store sector is suffering as internet sales intensify.

"Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base," the company said in a statement. "In the process  we will continue to close some unprofitable stores."

The company said full-time employees will receive severance and be able to apply for open positions at area Kmart and Sears stores.

A total of 10 Kmart stores in Pennsylvania are targeted for closure in early April, including Bridgeville, Sayre, Harrisburg, and Pittston; and three Sears stores  including Pittsburgh and Hanover.

The Sears at the Ocean County Mall is the only one in New Jersey that is closing in this round.

The news comes a little more than six months after the company announced in early June that it was closing 66 stores nationwide, including a Sears in Vineland, and Kmarts in Mantua, Gloucester County, and Manahawkin, Ocean County. No Sears stores in Pennsylvania were affected then.

"Sears is on life support with very limited turnaround prospects on the horizon," Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics Inc., which tracks the retail industry for investors, said at the time.

Perkins said the once-iconic department store has had just one quarter of positive same-store sales growth in the last 12 years. Sears has not turned an operating profit in five years and has managed just eight profitable quarters in the last 39  including last quarter. The stock closed Friday at $3.48, down 2.79 percent.

Sears' store count has plummeted from a high of 4,010 at the end of 2011 to just 1,275 at the end of April 2017. The additional 100 closings will bring it down to just over 1,100 stores.

In July 2015, Sears Holdings created New York-based Seritage Growth Properties, an independent real estate investment trust (REIT), to better manage its remaining assets and to take on the role of a landlord.

Seritage's growth strategy is based on taking space away from Sears. The trust bailed out Sears Holdings by buying 266 Sears and Kmart stores for $2.7 billion. Seritage gets 78 percent of its rent from Sears Holdings, which occupies all but 11 of the stores.

Seritage aims to capture higher rates by slicing up Sears anchor stores into smaller spaces and re-leasing them  such as the former Sears at the King of Prussia Mall, which is now occupied by a Primark and a Dick's Sporting Goods.

In a recent SEC filing, Seritage said that the department-store chain had exercised its right to terminate the leases on 19 unprofitable stores. This marked the second time Sears chose to close stores it sold off to Seritage in 2015.

Sears chief financial officer Rob Riecker said in a recent conference call with analysts that the retailer would be focusing on improving the customer experience in its remaining stores.

But analysts have been saying it's likely too late.

This is the latest round of closures for the company that has struggled against online shopping's surge and that retail analysts say is part of the overall deterioration of the traditional department store. Macy's and J.C. Penney have also been shuttering hundreds of stores.

Even though J.C. Penney reported that same-store sales climbed more than 3 percent during November and December compared with last year, and Macy's reported strong holiday sales, a turnaround is unlikely for either, according to analysts.

Macy's announced in August it was closing 100 stores, with the remaining 11 stores closing in the first quarter of this year.

Sue Gill, 58, of Beachwood, N.J., about a mile from Toms River, said she will miss the Sears there, where she shops at least once a month.

"I was always taught by my family to have a Sears [credit] card for mainstays of the home, like sheets and linens, and if I ever needed an appliance," said the nursing professor at Ocean County College. "Sears stood for reliability and dependability.

"It's definitely the online shopping," she said. "People are changing their style of shopping."
A 46-year-old man was killed early Saturday morning when his 1999 Toyota Camry ran a red light and crashed into a tow truck in Upper Darby, said Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

The accident occurred about 1:20 a.m. when the Camry, traveling west on Lansdowne Avenue, struck a AAA tow truck on Township Line Road, Chitwood said.

Paul McCullough, of Havertown, was pronounced dead at the scene. His 36-year-old female passenger, who was in the front seat of the Camry, was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, Chitwood said.

The preliminary investigation indicates that the Camry ran a red light, but it was not clear why, Chitwood said.

The truck operator, a 37-year-old Philadelphia man, was not injured, Chitwood said.
Rashon A. Causey was convicted by a Burlington County jury in October of fatally stabbing Shanai Marshall in her Mount Holly home. Read more

A 40-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 50 years in New Jersey state prison for the 2016 fatal stabbing of the 37-year-old Burlington County mother of his child, prosecutors said.

Rashon A. Causey, of Burlington City, was found guilty by a jury in October of killing Shanai Marshall in her Mount Holly home on Nov. 14, 2016.

He must serve more than 42 years of his sentence to become eligible for parole.

Assistant Burlington County Prosecutor Courtney J. O'Brien argued for life in prison, pointing out that Causey had an extensive criminal record as a juvenile and an adult: 92 arrests and 11 felony convictions.

More than 20 of the victim's family members and friends attended the sentencing, including two who addressed the court about the magnitude of their loss, prosecutors said in a statement. Causey was sentenced by Judge Jeanne T. Covert.
Just last week, in a tweet that matched the nuttiness of the North Korean Leader, Trump bragged his nuclear button was bigger and more potent than Kim Jong Uns. Read more

It's no accident that the latest blockbuster to portray President Trump as volatile and erratic is called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

The book's title is a play on President Trump's threats to unleash "fire and fury" on North Korea and "totally destroy" that country if its leaders don't stop threatening America. The title links Trump's tumultuous style with his reckless nuclear tweets against Pyongyang.

Just last week, in a tweet that matched the nuttiness of the North Korean leader, Trump bragged that his nuclear button was bigger and more potent than Kim Jong Un's  "and my Button works!"

Call it Button Man vs. Rocket Man. (Of course, there is no button. The nuclear codes are written on a plastic card called "the biscuit" that is carried in a briefcase by an aide.) If it were a comic strip, we might be laughing at their competitive bombast.

But, given the president's approach to North Korea, there's good reason to worry he might decide to prove his is bigger  and start a disastrous nuclear conflict. Kim's proposal this week for direct talks between North and South Korea offers little hope of addressing such fears.

Worries about Trump's button finger were seeping out of Washington even before the book lollapalooza. In October, GOP Sen. Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned that Trump's reckless tweets on North Korea could set the nation "on the path to World War III."

In November, Corker cochaired a hearing on who has authorization to order the use of nuclear weapons  the first such hearing in over four decades. To sum up: There's no question that the president has sole authority to order their use if the United States is attacked.

But there is little to stop a president from ordering a preemptive nuclear attack if he deems it necessary (although one hopes for restraining advice from the State Department and Pentagon). However, even National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster has spoken of preventive war.

"Donald Trump can launch nuclear codes just as easily as he can use his Twitter account, without the check and balance of the United States Congress," warned Sen. Edward Markey (D., Mass.) at the Senate hearings.

Efforts by Markey to push legislation prohibiting the president from authorizing a first strike without a congressional declaration of war aren't going anywhere.

Nor has the public caught on to the risks of the president's overall approach to the North Korean conundrum. Give the Trump team full credit for obtaining tougher U.N. sanctions against North Korea, and pressing China to tighten its trade and oil exports to Pyongyang.

On one level, the tough White House stance on North Korea's nuclear program has reaped successes. But Trump has failed to take full advantage of those gains.

That's because the purpose of tougher sanctions should be to drive Rocket Man to negotiate about his weapons at the bargaining table, with Washington, Beijing, and Moscow all pressing on him to freeze the program. Yet Trump has publicly undermined efforts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to get such negotiations going  insisting that North Korea must first commit to total denuclearization.

That is not going to happen. North Korea has been producing nuclear weapons since 2006 and is already, effectively, a nuclear power.

"Zero nuclear weapons is not a feasible outcome given the size of North Korea's program, and its perception that those weapons guarantee regime survival," says Robert Litwak, vice president of the Wilson Center and author of Preventing North Korea's Nuclear Breakout.

The urgent goal now is to get Pyongyang to the table before the regime succeeds in perfecting intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads capable of surviving reentry  thus truly threatening our country. "The only feasible objective," says Litwak, "is some kind of freeze to prevent a bad situation from getting worse."

This, of course, will not be easy. North Korea has a track record of cheating and of blackmail. Kim will try to soft-talk or threaten South Korea into splitting from its American ally. That is Pyongyang's goal in pursuing narrow negotiations with Seoul over whether North Korea will attend the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea next month.

Yet if Trump insists on winning big  meaning Kim must agree to zero nukes before substantive talks  he will box himself into a corner. Rocket Man will continue to test, and goad Trump via tweets, and Trump will goad back. The upshot may be a Trump temptation to strike first, and use nukes to try to preempt Kim's retaliation.

Such a war could cause tens or hundreds of thousands of South Korean casualties, and huge casualties to U.S. troops and dependents in South Korea. And without ground troops, the U.S. might not be able to find, or prevent the use of, North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

When asked, at an Oct. 30 congressional hearing, whether the president could order a first strike, without congressional authorization, Defense Secretary James Mattis replied he could imagine such a strike if an attack were imminent, "although, it's not the only tool in the tool kit to try to address something like that."

"I think that we have to keep trust, keep faith in the system that we have that has proven effective now for decades," Mattis added. He didn't address whether that system has been shredded by a president whose fingers are reckless.

That is a question more Americans now need to ask and demand that their legislators publicly raise.
State Sen. Mike Folmer (R., Lebanon) and State Sen. Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson). Folmer (left) said he would appeal to Congress to reschedule marijuana so that medical cannabis patients might still own firearms. Because of federal law, patients have no Second Amendment rights. Scarnati said he would cosponsor the resolution. Read more

A Republican state legislator in Pennsylvania said he would call on the U.S. Congress to protect the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana patients.

State Sen. Mike Folmer (R., Lebanon) will introduce a resolution to amend the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, he said. The law currently prevents anyone who consumes marijuana for any reason from owning a firearm. State Sen. Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), the Senate president pro tempore, is on board to cosponsor the resolution.

Federal law prohibits gun ownership by anyone who is deemed "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance." The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, without any approved medical use, and the equivalent of LSD and heroin.

Pennsylvania and 28 other states have made marijuana available for medicinal purposes. Folmer was a prime mover behind legalizing the substance for treating 17 serious health conditions. The law Folmer cowrote with State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) states "scientific evidence suggests that medical marijuana is one potential therapy that may mitigate suffering in some patients and also enhance quality of life."

"As Republicans, we're supposed to be about limited government and states' rights," Folmer said in an interview Friday. "We have thousands of patients who are good citizens, and close to 70 percent of this medicine is going to be non-psychotropic, so in most cases there'll be no impairment."

It will take an act of Congress, however, to amend the federal gun control law's language. That could be difficult without the nation's most powerful gun-rights organization. The NRA has said it has no interest in entering a debate involving medical cannabis, and has advised marijuana patients to lobby to change the law themselves.

Folmer wants to light a fire under federal lawmakers.

"I'm hoping to get Congress to move marijuana off Schedule 1 so people don't have to be fearful of losing their weapons," Folmer said.

Folmer has his work cut out for him. On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era policy that has allowed state marijuana programs to flourish without federal intervention.

About 11,000 people in Pennsylvania have registered so far to become medical marijuana patients, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said on Friday. Though cannabis oils, tinctures, and lotions won't be available until February, at the earliest, nearly 450 people already have received identification cards attesting that they have registered.

One patient, suffering from Crohn's disease, told the Inquirer and Daily News he had attempted to buy a .22-caliber rifle before Christmas but the gun dealer refused to sell him the firearm after he checked the box on his federal questionnaire indicating he was in the program. If he had not volunteered the information, a state police background would have flagged him, stopping the sale.

Gun dealers in all states are forbidden by the ATF from selling firearms to anyone who admits to using cannabis or anyone a dealer suspects may be using it. In 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that banning sales to medical marijuana users did not violate the Second Amendment.

The Pennsylvania State Police issued a statement in late December that said that due to the federal law, patients might be refused a license when they applied for renewal.

Gov. Wolf, however, told radio station WESA-FM in Pittsburgh that the state would not seek out patients who own firearms.

"We're not going to take their guns away," he said.
Since its earliest days, The Planetary Society has supported a variety of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) projects. Last fall, Jason Davis delved deeply into the history of the field and produced a comprehensive, three-part web feature called, Is There Anybody Out There? In these pages we offer a short excerpt, but make sure to enjoy the full story on our site.

Total solar eclipses are not rare events on Earth, but this past Augusts eclipse was the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States from its Pacific to its Atlantic shores since 1918. First time eclipse-viewer Whitney Pratz hopped onto one of Betchart Expeditions extraordinary tours and wrote a diary of her adventure for us. Check out There Goes the Sun.

The Planetary Society has taken another major step in our march toward the launch pad with LightSail 2. The spacecraft is now fully tested and ready to be integrated into a P-POD (Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer), which will use a spring mechanism to deploy the spacecraft once it is in orbit. In Closeout! Bruce Betts reviews the last year in LightSail 2s development, and he looks ahead to the future.

Casey Dreier breaks down the changesand lack thereofin portions of 2017s space exploration policy in The More Things Seemed to Change   (Hint: some expected budget cuts did not happen, and NASA announced a bold new plan for Mars exploration.)

Plus: Our European volunteers are full of excitement, and Bill Nye is celebrating our expanding reach and global engagement.

The Planetary Society is always advancing space science and exploration in new and exciting ways. We always haveand always willprovide ways for the public to be a part of the adventure. If you are not yet a member and you want to get in on the fun, join us.

Happy reading and Happy New Year!

Donna Stevens

Editor

The Planetary Report
An FBI agent was forced to open fire early Friday after a wanted man ran from a Sandy Springs hotel, hopped in a pickup truck and dragged the agent for a quarter-mile, according to an agency spokesman.

The agent and the wounded man were taken to local hospitals, FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said in an emailed statement.

While the agents injuries were not life-threatening, the man is in surgery, according to the FBI. His condition is unknown.

The incident started shortly after 6 a.m. in the lobby of the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria when the FBI agent tried to arrest the man in connection with a gang investigation, Rowson said.

The arrest is the latest in an investigation that earlier yielded an indictment against dozens of members and associates of the Nine Trey Gangsters Oct. 12.

The wounded driver was the lone suspect that was not apprehended from that investigation, Rowson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A Jersey City, NJ, police lieutenant on the job for 23 years was killed on the New Jersey Turnpike early this morning.

Christopher Robateau, 49, of Carteret, exited his car to help a motorist on his way to work this morning and was struck by a vehicle, according to Mayor Steve Fulop.

"We consider him on duty being that Lt. Robateau got out of his car to help someone else which is what we want all our officers to be doing all the time regardless of their location or time of day," Fulop said on Facebook.

Robateau leaves behind a wife and three children, NJ.com reports.
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As Robert Muellers Russia investigation continues to progress, another member of the first family is now in its crosshairs: Ivanka Trump.

According to a new Los Angeles Times report, Mueller is now looking into a previously undisclosed meeting that took place between Ivanka Trump and two of the Russian officials involved in the infamous June 9th meeting at Trump Tower.

More from the report:

Investigators also are exploring the involvement of the presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump, who did not attend the half-hour sit-down on June 9, 2016, but briefly spoke with two of the participants, a Russian lawyer and a Russian-born Washington lobbyist. Details of the encounter were not previously known. It occurred at the Trump Tower elevator as the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and the lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin, were leaving the building and consisted of pleasantries, a person familiar with the episode said. But Muellers investigators want to know every contact the two visitors had with Trumps family members and inner circle.

Trumps daughter, who played a major role in his presidential campaign and continues to hold influence within the administration, is just the latest member of the first family under the Mueller microscope.

Donald Trump Jr. and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner are also under scrutiny for their Moscow connections during the election, which they often covered up until they no longer could. This is particularly true of their own involvement in the Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials promising damaging dirt on former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Ivanka Trump was not present at that meeting, but the LA Times report shows that she spoke to at least two of the Russian officials on the same day, after the meeting concluded.

As this investigation continues to rage on, the number of people in Donald Trumps orbit who had previously unknown meetings with Russian officials continues to grow. Despite what the president claims, these were not just interactions between Russia and low-level Trump campaign officials  these were some of the closest family members and advisers in his inner-circle.

The idea that Trumps daughter, son, and son-in-law were speaking to Russian officials who had so-called damaging dirt on Hillary Clinton without Donald Trump knowing is becoming increasingly unlikely.
HALLOCK, Minn.  Mike Swanson thinks Minnesota could be at the center of a whiskey revolution.

And he is accumulating the data to prove it.

Whiskey aficionados pay a lot of attention to the aging process when they look for high-quality whiskey.

Swanson, who owns Hallock-based Far North Spirits, argues craft distillers need to pay more attention to the front end of the process. In the case of whiskey, it's the rye that makes the mash that makes the whiskey.

Swanson concedes that Far North and other small distilleries can't beat Makers Mark at their own game.

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"But we can out farm them. Because they're being supplied by grain merchants and they don't know what variety they're distilling," he told Minnesota Public Radio .

He was curious whether each rye variety would add different flavors to whiskey, so he got a grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to study rye varieties for taste.

Swanson is now distilling 18 varieties of rye. The crop is planted in the fall and harvested late the following summer.

"To our knowledge, this has never been done before," Swanson said of the taste research. "If it has, it's somebody's proprietary company information. One of the big distilling houses might have done this, but they didn't publish it. We're the first to go public with this sort of thing."

Smell of success

It will be a couple of years before the study is published, but the results are promising.

With a large copper still roaring in the background, Swanson pours clear distillate, called white whiskey or moonshine, into three glasses lined up on a table.

"Three different samples of distillate, three different varieties," said Swanson, closing his eyes and inhaling the fumes from each glass. "The differences start when you put your nose up to the glass."

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As he swirls and sniffs, Swanson talks about vanilla, spice and grassiness.

It's hard to scientifically measure taste and smell. This study is based on large-scale taste and smell testing by hundreds of accomplished distillers and whiskey experts who do blind tests and offer their observations on each variety. With hundreds of tests, Swanson sees patterns emerge. One rye has consistently strong vanilla notes; another commonly reminds people of tequila.

Once the distinctive characteristics of each rye variety are established, Swanson's dream is to link distillers and farmers who will grow specific varieties for a premium price.

"Depending on the flavor profile that a distiller is going for, they can select a variety that is reliably going to produce that flavor," said Swanson.

He hopes this research will lead to a distinctive Minnesota taste that will excite whiskey lovers everywhere.

Bottom line

But the study is about more than tasty whiskey.

Rye will need to attract more than a few farmers to be a viable alternative crop.

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"The bottom line is always going to be is it economically viable against other commodities, because that's how you get acres," said Jochum Wiersma, an agronomist at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

He's studying yield potential and disease resistance in the same rye varieties that Swanson is testing for taste. Wiersma thinks rye has potential as animal feed and as a cover crop, grown to prevent soil erosion and keep fertilizer from polluting streams.

And rye can be very productive in Minnesota.

"It is by far the most winter-hardy and has a really good fit, in especially really sandy soil," Wiersma said. "It is probably the most drought tolerant of any crops that can be used for both feed and food."

Rye is much more popular in Europe where rye flour is commonly used in breads. It's also more widely used in animal feed. Wiersma said research is starting to show that animals fed a mix that includes rye have healthier gut bacteria and are less likely to need antibiotics.

Historically, rye has been susceptible to a fungal disease that creates a toxin on the grain harmful to animals and humans. That's still a concern, but Wiersma said newer varieties are much more resistant, and new techniques have been developed to clean the grain.

Some of the best rye varieties for the Minnesota climate were developed in northern Europe, and Wiersma said companies there are interested in expanding rye production in the U.S.

A researcher from North Dakota State University is also involved in the research, studying the malting process for rye. Malting is a process of sprouting and toasting the grain. Malted barley is commonly used in beer and malt is also used in some whiskey varieties.

Rye is an almost invisible blip on a Minnesota landscape dominated by corn and soybeans  only a few thousand acres are grown, compared to millions of acres of the dominant crops.

Swanson admits small distillers won't bring about a big resurgence of rye, since just a few acres will grow enough to make a batch of craft whiskey.

"It'll be a niche crop, but a profitable one. Because distillers are usually willing to pay more for a premium raw material," said Swanson, who's thinking big about the future of whiskey in Minnesota. "In Scotland, you have all these different styles of whiskey that are very, very different from each other. I would love to see the same thing here. And I think rye is still up for grabs."
California has proclaimed itself a sanctuary state, in which public employees, including law enforcement, are directed to defy the nations immigration laws. At American Greatness, Michael Walsh writes that California Democrats have fired on Fort Sumter:

Now California Democratsas radical a group of anti-Americans as you will find in this country, whether legal or undocumentedhave again fired on Fort Sumter. And once again (dont kid yourselves), the goal is de facto and, later, de jure, secession from the United States of America, as part of the Aztlan-inspired Reconquista of what Hispanic radicals consider lost territory.

Well, maybe. But before that happens, a serious confrontation with the federal government is possible. As Walsh notes, the acting director of I.C.E., Thomas Homan, is talking tough:

The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says politicians who run sanctuary cities should be charged with crimes. Thomas Homan said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channels Neil Cavuto that the Department of Justice needs to file charges against municipalities that dont cooperate with federal immigration authorities and deny them funding. He also says politicians should be held personally accountable for crimes committed by people living in the U.S. illegally. Homan says, Weve got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes.

It strikes me that victims of crimes by illegal aliens may also have good causes of action against state and local authorities. I dont see how the usual immunities could apply, when local authorities are acting in violation of federal law. One way or another, I suspect that sanctuary status wont play out as painlessly for California, and other jurisdictions, as they seem to expect.

One gets the feeling that California thinks it could get along quite well without the rest of us, but Michael Ramirez doesnt see it that way. Click to enlarge:

A fundamental issue is in play here, and also with regard to various states acting in defiance of federal law by purporting to legalize marijuana. (Here, too, California is joining Colorado as a scofflaw state.) Before the Civil War, there was considerable ambiguity about the relationship between the states and the federal government under the Constitution. It was believed, in some quarters, that the states were, in the end, sovereign. The Civil War resolved that issue, for the next 150 years, in favor of federal supremacy. But now, states are again asserting the right to nullify federal law. Who ever thought that John C. Calhoun would emerge as a key political thinker of the 21st Century? I certainly didnt, but that is exactly what has happened.

Apart from the specific issues of slavery, illegal immigration and drug use, on all of which the Democratic Party has been on the wrong side, there seems to be a strain of perversity in that party that the centuries have failed to eradicate.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism Chairman Lindsey Graham have referred the Christopher Steele to the Justice Department for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C.  1001 for false statements investigators have reason to believe Steele made to them, according to Senator Grassleys press release. Steele is of course the apparent author of the dossier of memos full of salacious misinformation and disinformation provided by the friends of Vladimir Putin to the Clinton presidential campaign via Fusion GPS and the Perkins Coie attorney who served as the Clinton campaigns general counsel.

I dont take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation. But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review, Grassley said. Everyone needs to follow the law and be truthful in their interactions with the FBI. If the same actions have different outcomes, and those differences seem to correspond to partisan political interests, then the public will naturally suspect that law enforcement decisions are not on the up-and-up. Maybe there is some innocent explanation for the inconsistencies we have seen, but it seems unlikely. In any event, its up to the Justice Department to figure that out.

After reviewing how Mr. Steele conducted himself in distributing information contained in the dossier and how many stop signs the DOJ ignored in its use of the dossier, I believe that a special counsel needs to review this matter. The rule of Law depends on the government and all who work on its behalf playing by the rules themselves. I hope the Department of Justice will carefully review our letter and take appropriate action, Graham said.

Senator Grassleys press release notes that Grassley and Graham delivered to Senate Security a letter and classified memorandum for delivery to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray containing information that forms the basis of the referral. It also makes clear that the referral does not pertain to the veracity of claims contained in the dossier.

The press release adds that the senators and committee staff are working to redact all sensitive information in the classified memorandum sent to Rosenstein and Wray. If and when that process can be lawfully and appropriately completed in consultation with the Justice Department, an unclassified version of the memorandum will be released.

Senator Grassley has posted the referral letter along with his press release here. It has generated stories by Politico, The Hill, the Weekly Standard, and, oh, yeah, the New York Times.
Jonah Goldberg says hes struggling to think of a comparable figure in American political history who squandered real power and influence as completely and quickly as [Steve] Bannon has. The closest he comes is Father Coughlin from the 1930s.

I can come no closer. However, Bannons fall reminds me of what happened to David Stockman in the 1980s.

In some ways the comparison seems inapt. Stockman, who served as President Reagans director of Office of Management and Budget, was a buttoned-down policy wonk (or so he seemed at the time) with no apparent desire to lead a national political movement, though he had been elected to public office (the U.S. House)  something Bannon has never accomplished.

However, both share revolutionary dispositions to some degree. Steve Hayward tells me that Stockman has characterized himself as the Trotsky of the supply-side movement. Bannon may or may not have described himself as a Leninist, as been reported, but he has described the movement he wants to lead as an insurgent, center-right populist movement that is virulently anti-establishment, and its going to continue to hammer this city, both the progressive left and the institutional Republican Party.

In the early Reagan years Stockman was almost as prominent  and for some, infamous  as Bannon became last year. He was the leading public exponent of Reaganomics and the major force behind Reagans budget, a serious attempt to rein in the welfare state.

Like Bannon, then, Stockman wielded real power and influence in an administration dedicated to new ways of taking on prevailing liberal orthodoxies. But like Bannon, Stockmans power was contested. At times, he clashed with Jim Baker, Donald Regan, and Richard Darman over budget and tax policy.

Stockmans downfall occurred because spilled his guts in an interview for Atlantic Magazine with William Greider, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. Stockman provided Greider with 18 taped interviews.

In the interviews, Stockman expressed doubts about the Reagan administrations ability to contain federal budget deficits. He told of his private delight at the administrations failure to get as the drastic a tax cut as it wanted from Congress.

Most notoriously, Stockman told Greider that the supply-side economic theory underlying Reaganomics was really just trickle down economics. Trickle down was too unpopular to sell and thus needed to be dressed in new clothes, Stockman explained.

This, of course, is what Democrats and media liberals had been saying all along.

President Reagan took Stockman to the woodshed. His power waned, though he remained in his job at OMB for almost four more years.

Bannon, for all of his flamboyance, never bad-mouthed central substantive principles of the movement hes associated with. For example, he has never said (nor should he because it wouldnt be true) that Make America Great Again is really a gussied up version of xenophobia and racism.

However, Bannon, while still working at the White House told leftist Robert Kuttner that Trumps fire and fury talk about North Korea is basically hogwash. And now, in conversations with the author of a hostile back about the Trump administration, he reportedly has rejected what I take to be the main tenet of Trumpism in practice  the view that there is nothing to Russia collusion allegations  and has used the word treason in connection with the presidents son.

As a result, what was left of Bannons power and influence appears to have been squandered completely, as Goldberg says.

What compelled Stockman and Bannon to speak to lefty journalists in ways contrary to the interests of the administration they served and/or were allied with? Frustration surely provides a partial explanation.

The deeper explanation, I think, is the strong sense of both that they are the smartest person in any room, and the desire to validate that sense. Any administration lackey can spout the party line to journalists. It takes the smartest man in the room to say he sees through it.

Similarly, any lackey can impress friendly journalists. It takes the smartest man to impress hostile ones.

Moreover, Greider and Kuttner arent hacks. Greider was an original thinker whose Against the Grain column graced the Washington Posts Sunday Outlook section during the 1980s. Kuttner is a substantial journalist and intellectual who specializes in economics. According to Kuttner, Bannon told him it was a great honor to finally track you down and that he has followed your writing for years.

Stockman and Bannon probably thought that Greider and Kuttner (respectively) had the stature to validate their sense of being the smartest man in the administration. (Whether Bannon viewed Michael Wolff that way seems less clear).

I find it interesting that leading figures in liberal administrations dont speak to conservative pundits in ways that harm the interests of their boss. Did anyone in the Clinton administration spill his guts for publication to George Will? Did anyone in the Obama administration vent on the record to Charles Krauthammer? I dont think so.

What explains the difference? I think liberals are better team players than conservatives. I think they are less flaky.

I also think they are more secure  maybe less questioning is a better way to put it. Frankly, its easier for them to be that way. They get all the validation they need from the elites. Conservatives, especially if they work in a despised administration like Reagans or Trumps, get their validation from less credentialed, less respected journalists and outlets.

This may partially explain why the ones with the biggest egos feel the need to turn to a Greider or a Kuttner, or others of whom one might expect them to be the most wary.

UPDATE: Here is what Steve wrote about Stockman in The Age of Reagan:

Stockman himself would later characterize his role as the Trotsky of the supply-side movement. He was touted as the youngest financial wizard since Alexander Hamilton, but ended up exciting Jeffersonian outrage. In retrospect the signs of Stockmans disharmony with Reagan should be have been more easily recognized, for the odyssey of David Stockman encapsulates the crosscurrents and confusions of the baby boom generation. Raised in a Republican family on a rural Michigan farm, Stockman got caught up in the radical fervor of the New Left when he arrived at Michigan State University in 1964, where he drew the attention and surveillance of the Michigan State Police. He intended to study agriculture and return to the farm; instead, he studied Marxism, joined the radical Students for a Democratic Society, burned his draft card, grew his hair long, bought a guitar so he could croon Bob Dylan songs to coeds, and eventually ended up at Harvard Divinity School, where God is barely a dying memory. Stockman didnt just strike the radical pose; he helped organize anti-Vietnam War protests, and participated in the most famous of the antiwar hijinks, the October 1967 March on Washington. Stockman downplays this period to some extent in memoir The Triumph of Politics, dismissing it as my coffee house period. It was at Harvard, where Stockman went to avoid the draft, where he began to have second thoughts. About this time he encountered the anti-utopian works of Reinhold Niebuhr and Walter Lippmann. The scales fell from my eyes as I turned those pages, Stockman recalled. Then in one of those strange twists of fate that seem to occur with regularity in American life, Stockman contrived to become the live-in babysitter for Pat Moynihan, who at that time was commuting back and forth from Cambridge to his post in the Nixon White House. This ended up providing Stockman with his entree into the real world of politics. Through Moynihans connections Stockman went to Washington in 1970 to work for Illinois Congressman John Anderson. Anderson was chairman of the House Republican Conference, and he installed Stockman, then just 25, as its executive director. Anderson, Stockmans congressional patron, was a liberal Republican, as became evident when he ran for president as a left-leaning independent in 1980. (It was Stockmans history with Anderson that originally brought Stockman to the Reagan campaigns attention as they sought someone to be a stand-in for Reagans debate preparations in 1980.) Though Stockman was thought to be an ideological conservative when he arrived on his own in the House, his outlook was close to Andersons. He voted with Anderson 80 percent of the time in the House. Stockman supported abortion, opposed school prayer, and joined the last outpost of Rockefeller Republicans, the Ripon Society, which by then was long past its peak influence. He boasted that he had not voted for Richard Nixon in 1972. In his bitter 1986 memoir, he wrote: I would never be comfortable with what I viewed as the primitive, right-wing conservatism of my grandfather or Goldwateror Reagan. (In 1979 Stockman delivered an astute observation about another young Congressman who entered the House the same year he didAlbert Gore Jr. Id give him higher odds at the brass ring than his father, the former senator, ever had, Stockman wrote at the time. Unfortunately, he inhales populist nostrums as naturally as he breathes.) Ronald Reagan was not Stockmans first choice for president in 1980. I considered him a cranky obscurantist, Stockman wrote, whose political base was barnacled with every kook and fringe group that inhabited the vasty deep of American politics. Stockman would later express various signs of contempt for Reagan, such as referring to Reagans old speeches and writings as The Scrolls, and comparing Reagans intellect to a trenchnarrow, but deep. Stockman initially backed John Connally in 1980, but quickly switched to George Bush when Connallys candidacy proved stillborn. As Martin Anderson reflected later, Anyone who could love John Connally, the godfather of wage and price controls under President Nixon, couldnt be all good. Pat Moynihan quipped: Stockman is peerless. I have never known a man capable of such sustained self-hypnotic ideological fervor. One day he arrives at Harvard preaching the infallibility of Ho Chi Minh. Next thing you know, he turns up in Washington proclaiming the immutability of the Laffer Curve. Everyone missed the signs of what the Wall Street Journals Robert Bartley identified as Stockmans intellectual instability and congenital restlessness, and James Q. Wilson called ideological promiscuity. He professed to be a supply-side true believer, and he brought to the coming budget battle the energy and intellect that Reagan needed. (Though for all his learning at Michigan State and Harvard, he apparently never took a course in economics.) As Martin Anderson described Stockmans ascension, He joined the administration with the enthusiasm of a new puppy, eager and urgent, bounding and leaping through the federal budget with wild-eyed passion. . . Stockman tuned out to be a superb leader for OMB. Another enthusiastic endorsement came from Alan Greenspan: Hes the brightest guy around. Whereas the Reagan team initially thought budget cuts in the $13 to $18 billion range would be hard to get, Stockman came along with a plan to cut $41 billion out of the next budget, and more than $100 billion a year by 1986. Reagan and his top aides were dazzled. Stockmans confidence and fiscal command erased any doubts that might have been raised by his erratic history. One is reminded of the (mistaken) description of the 41-year-old Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, convincing older and slower minds that the Dardanelles offensive would work.

Bannons political history doesnt feature the wild swings that Stockmans does. However, he appears to have been a conventional conservative from the late 1970s, when he concluded that President Carter had made a hash of things, until the late 2010s, when he concluded that President Bush had too. It was then, he says, that he turned against the whole establishment.
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Inne oferty, ktore mogy byc w kregu Twoich zainteresowan:
Focus anti-slavery effort on its practice today

If you search for the terms modern slavery or contemporary slavery, a number of sites will appear, including ones from the UN, CNN, Time magazine and other assorted media and organizations.

Estimates are all over the map regarding the number of people who are in slavery worldwide, with a high number of almost 90 million, more now than ever before in history.

It would seem to me, rather than argue and criticize people who are long gone, that the efforts should be concentrated on the ones who are practicing slavery today.

Jim Munroe

Galloway Township

Murphy inclusive leader

I enjoyed learning about Gov.-elect Murphys trip to Puerto Rico.

His inclusive and collaborative leadership style, which he showed while on the island, stands in stark contrast to that of President Trump, who often has been disrespectful of United States citizens who live on the island.

Murphy held effective meetings down there and offered to help displaced residents in New Jersey.

Leadership like Phil Murphys is needed in the country now more than ever given the situation at the federal level.

Steven M. Clayton

Ocean Township

Vineland roads cleared

Finally, clear streets in the city of Vineland after two December snow events.

It has been a very long time since the roads I see have actually been cleared.

Kudos to Vinelands new mayor, Anthony Fanucci, and the Vineland road department on a job well done. They deserve to hear someone speak up about the good that they do for the citizens of Vineland.

The handling of these weather situations showed a huge difference compared to the past mayor, who didnt have a clue.

Michael Smith

Vineland
DEERFIELD, Illinois, January 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT / NYSE Euronext: CATR) informs its stockholders that today, a Form 8-K was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") with respect to the retirement of one of its board of directors.

Caterpillar files electronically with the SEC required reports on Form 8-K, Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and Form 11-K; proxy materials; ownership reports for insiders as required by Section 16(a) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and registration statements on Forms S-3 and S-8, as necessary; and other forms or reports, as required. All of the forms and reports filed electronically with the SEC are available on the SEC Internet site (www.sec.gov ).

Caterpillar also maintains an Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com) and copies of its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to these reports filed or furnished with the SEC are available free of charge through Caterpillar's Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com/secfilings ) as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant document has been filed with the SEC.

CONTACT: Corrie Scott, Corporate Public Affairs, +1-224-551-4133

This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.
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New Delhi, Jan 2 : Taking forward the agenda set in 2017, the Supreme Court in 2018 is set to decide on a number of important issues -- including the Ayodhya title dispute -- that will have a bearing on the country's politics, economics, inter-state relations and the conflict over the national capital's governance.

With pendency of over 55,000 cases, the number of fresh cases that will reach the top court are unlikely to be less than what they were in 2017 -- or in the preceding years. The likelihood of the pendency coming down is apparently not bright as the court, by its own calendar, will be working for 190 days in 2018.

Besides the fresh cases and pending matters, the top court has a number of issues to be decided by the constitution bench that are already scheduled for hearing, including the Ayodhya title dispute, the challenges to the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and the legality of the demonetisation decision, as also whether a politician holding a public office can comment on a matter being investigated by an agency of the State.

Another issue that is being examined by the constitution bench is the challenge to the new privacy policy of the WhatsApp online messaging service.

The bench is seized of the challenge to the Delhi High Court's September 23, 2016, order allowing WhatsApp to roll out its new privacy policy but stopping it from sharing the data of its users collected up to September 25, 2016, with Facebook or any other related company.

Also referred to the constitution bench is the challenge to Tamil Nadu regulation paving way for the Jali Kattu bullfight sport -- an issue the court wants to settle once and for all.

Yet another issue that a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra referred to the constitution bench is women in the 10-50 age-group being prohibited from entering Sabarimala, a temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa in Kerala.

The year 2018 will also see the top court pronouncing a spate of constitution bench judgments on the powers of the Delhi government vis-a-vis the Centre-appointed Lt Governor in the administration of the national capital, and the plea for making a "living will" (passive euthanasia) authorising the withdrawal of all life support systems if, in the opinion of the doctors, a patient has reached an irreversible stage of terminal illness.

Along with this, there will be a verdict on whether the top court can look into or rely on a parliamentary committee report for deciding an issue before it.

This issue of far-reaching significance is rooted in a public suit questioning the safety and efficacy of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that is used for preventing cervical cancer.

Petitioner Kalpans Mehta, a medical doctor, while contending that the HPV vaccine was "unproven and hazardous", had relied on the 72nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in support of her contention. A drug company has opposed the petition.

The year will also witness the outcome of the top court's maiden forays adjudicating the Cauvery river water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A three-judge bench had heard the matter despite the Centre contending that the court can't adjudicate on the award of a tribunal on an inter-state river water dispute.

The matter was heard for 29 days spread over eight months.

For engaging with its heavy calendar, some of the matters may have to be heard during the summer vacation that would commence from May 21 -- an initiative earlier taken by former Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar last year.

(Parmod Kumar can be contacted at saneel2010@gmail.com)
Jaipur, Jan 2 : More than 40 protesters were arrested and 600 were rounded up after violence unleashed in Bundi town of Rajasthan by right wing activists over a disputed site, police said on Tuesday, even as the Hindu Mahasabha has called for a bandh there.

Meanwhile, Kota Range IG Vishal Bansal was in Bundi on Tuesday to monitor the situation. Bansal reached Bundi after the situation worsened.

Internet services in the town remained suspended on Tuesday in the wake of violence which erupted in the town on Monday. Section 144 is also being maintained in the town till further orders.

The Hindu Mahasabha has called for a bandh in the town on Tuesday to protest "police atrocities" on its members.

Speaking to IANS, a senior police officer informed that 41 protesters have been arrested so far while around 600 protesters have been rounded up since Monday over the violence.

MP O.M. Birla also visited the location to monitor the situation and said that peace should be maintained in the town.

Hindu organisations have called for a pooja on a disputed site in Mandhata situated chhatri on Tiger Hills. They had decided to take out a religious procession in the town on Monday. However, the district administration, to maintain peace and avert any untoward incident, clamped section 144 in the town.

Flouting section 144, thousands of members of Hindu Mahasabha marched to the disputed site, forcing police to resort to lathicharge which left many people, including BJP workers, injured.

Chander Prakash Kaushik, president, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, speaking to IANS, criticised the lathicharge by police and accused the BJP government of "working with vote bank interest".
New Delhi, Jan 3 : A 42-year-old man from Assam died in a hospital in the national capital within hours of hospitalisation, after allegedly being given wrong medication, said family members on Wednesday.

They also alleged that the hospital was operating without licence and the patients were being treated by its staff impersonating as doctors.

The incident took place on November 16, 2017, after Utpal Saikia, working with a Delhi-based NGO, was admitted to SHL Hospital in Munirka of south Delhi by the paying guest accommodation owner as he was unwell.

"My brother (Utpal) was unwell on November 16 and was taken to the Munirka-located SHL Hospital by the owner of his paying guest accommodation as this hospital was nearby. Within hours of his admission, he became unconscious after he was given some medication," Mouchumi Saikia, sister of the deceased and who herself is a doctor with the Civil Hospital of Assam's Lakhimpur, told IANS.

She stated that in the evening of November 16, Saikia's condition started to deteoriate, following which he was referred to Safdarjung Hospital. However, when taken to Safdarjung Hospital, Saikia was declared "brought dead" there.

R.K. Yadav, who treated the patient at SHL Hospital, said the patient was brought to the hospital with complaints of severe stomach pain and vomitting.

"We just gave Pantocid injection to the patient. His condition deteriorated thereafter," Yadav said.

Suspecting foul play, Mochumi and her husband, also a doctor, inquired about the doctors and the hospital and discovered that the hospital was operating without a government licence and that the doctors were fake.

According to Mochumi Saikia, Yadav had claimed that he was registered with the Goa Medical Council and his registration number was 1360.

However, on checking the website of Goa Medical Council, they found that the given registration number belonged to some other doctor, named Rajendra Pratap Singh.

A compalaint against the hospital and Yadav has been filed at the Vasant Kunj Police Station, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Delhi Medical Council (DMC).

"We have received the documents from the family members of the deceased that shows the hospital operating illegally and people in the hospital impersonating as doctors. We have sent the documents to the authorities concerned for survey and hopefully things will be clear in a day or two as to what needs to be done," DMC Secretary Girish Tyagi told IANS.

It was also discovered that the hospital had a nursing home registration certificate on display, which was being confirmed with the nursing home cell of the DGHS.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : Delhi Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Thursday said the BJP and its leaders were behind the riots in Bhima-Koregaon of Pune.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers, led by the minister, also protested outside Maharashtra Sadan here and raised slogans against the BJP and its leaders.

The riots followed violence in Bhima-Koregaon of Pune on Monday during the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Anglo-Maratha War of 1818.

Hundreds of thousands of Dalits had assembled at Sanaswadi village in Maharashtra when stone-pelting, allegedly by some rightwing groups carrying saffron flags, started.

In the ensuing violence, more than 30 vehicles were torched or damaged and a young man was killed. The violence then spread out to Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.

Speaking to reporters, the minister said that this was not the first time that the BJP and its workers were attacking Dalits and they had earlier attacked Dalits in Gujarat.

"This was done at the behest of the regional BJP-led government as they have an anti-Dalit mindset," Gautam said.

The minister urged the government to punish the guilty as soon as possible.
Washington, Jan 5 : US President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded publisher immediately stop release of a forthcoming controversial book about his administration, one day after he lambasted former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon over book quotes.

In a letter sent to publisher Steve Rubin and author Michael Wolff by Trump's legal team, the president also demanded "a full and complete retraction and apology", Xinhua news agency reported.

"(Mr.) Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book," attorney Charles J. Harder wrote in the letter obtained by US local media outlets.

Harder requested the publisher send him a full copy of the book. Meanwhile, he argued in the letter that the book includes "false/baseless statements" which could be "defamation by libel."

The cease and desist letter came one day after The Guardian newspaper revealed that Bannon, quoted from excerpts of the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," described the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between a Russian lawyer and Trump's son and son-in-law as "treasonous" and " unpatriotic."

"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," Trump was quoted as saying.

Later on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fiercely slapped Wolff's book, accusing it is "filled with false and misleading accounts."

She also said the president felt "furious" and" disgusted" about Bannon's comments in the book.

The book is set to be published on January 9.
Washington, Jan 5 : An intense "bomb cyclone" battered the US East Coast on Thursday with high winds and heavy snowfalls, leaving thousands of flights cancelled, numerous schools and offices closed and millions of Americans bracing for potential power shortages.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Thursday three people have died in the snow storm, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The storm will produce heavy snow along the Mid-Atlantic Coast into Southern New England by Thursday morning that will move northward into the Northeast by Thursday afternoon, while ending over the Mid-Atlantic Coast by Thursday evening," the US National Weather Service wrote in an earlier alert.

US forecasters called the ongoing winter storm a "bomb cyclone" for its rapid and rare drop in atmospheric pressure. The storm is crawling up the northeastern American Thursday morning with a threat of winds gusting as high as 60 mph and a bone-chilling blast of Arctic air.

Through Thursday, parts of New York could see five to nine inches, Philadelphia three to six inches and Washington one to two inches.

In New England, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get eight to 12 inches, while Portland, Maine, could see 10 to 15 inches, the US National Weather Service said.

The service also said Atlantic City could record up to 18 inches of snow, Delaware beach towns were facing the prospect of a foot of snow and travel has become "very dangerous to impossible" in the highly populated Hampton Roads region of Virginia, which could receive up to 12 inches of snow in places.

More than 3,000 flights were cancelled on Thursday, with airports in New York, Newark, New Jersey; Boston reporting the most cancellations, according to FlightAware, an aviation tracking website.
Ankara, Jan 5 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday blasted the US and Israel for their "meddling" in the internal affairs of Iran and Pakistan.

Since protests broke out across Iran last week, US President Donald Trump has voiced his support for the demonstrators, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised them for taking to the streets to protest against the government, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trump also lashed out at Pakistan for "lying" and not rendering enough help to hunt down terrorists.

While addressing the press in Istanbul before leaving for France for a visit, the Turkish President said the same intervention was also seen in countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan and Chad.

"Look, all these countries are Islamic countries and their peoples are all Muslims," he said.

Erdogan also urged Washington to reconsider "its sense of justice" as a Turkish banker was convicted in a US court for helping Iran evade sanctions.

"If this is the US understanding of justice, then the world is doomed," said the Turkish leader.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy Chief Executive Officer at Turkey's Halkbank, was accused of several charges including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate US sanctions law, in a New York federal court on Wednesday.

Erdogan claimed that Washington had been operating a process that includes "a serious chain of plots" against Ankara.

"Not only in law but also in economy as well," Erdogan said, warning that bilateral legal accords with the US were "losing validity".

Turkey-US ties have been strained over an array of issues, including Washington's military support to Syrian Kurdish militia, whom Ankara listed as terrorists, and its refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish cleric who allegedly masterminded the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016.
Madrid, Jan 6 : The Spanish Supreme Court on Friday rejected the appeal made by former Catalan deputy leader Oriol Junqueras on releasing on bail as he awaits trial on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

Junqueras made his appeal on Thursday after spending over two months in prison, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that after being re-elected to the Catalan assembly in December 21 regional elections, he should be allowed to represent his voters.

However, the Supreme Court judges unanimously rejected Junqueras' appeal, arguing there was no evidence he would abandon the idea of unilateral independence for Catalonia and saying the leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) had "risen up against the Spanish state, against the Constitution, against the Catalan Statute and against the remainder of judicial order."

The Supreme Court said it was an "illegitimate" and "very serious" act.
Islamabad, Jan 6 : The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said here on Friday that the country fights the war against terrorism on its own resources.

Washington announced on Thursday that it is suspending the transfer of military equipment and security-related funds to Pakistan, Xinhua cited the State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert as saying.

Pakistan is engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and await further details, the ministry was quoted as saying.

Impacts of the US decision on pursuit of common objectives is also likely to emerge more clearly in due course of time.

It, however, needs to be appreciated that Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources which has cost over $120 billion in 15 years.

It added that Pakistan is "determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that Washington would withhold $255 million in assistance to Pakistan from the Foreign Military Financing fund, which is used to provide military equipment and training to a friendly country.
Washington, Jan 6 : Two US Republican senators have asked the Justice Department and FBI for a criminal probe into Christopher Steele, the author of a controversial book on President Donald Trump.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham referred Steele, a former British intelligence agent, for allegedly making false statements to federal investigators, Xinhua reported.

It is the first known criminal referral from the congressional investigations into Russia's interference in US presidential elections in 2016.

"I don't take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation. But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review," Grassley was quoted as saying.

"After reviewing how Steele conducted himself in distributing information contained in the dossier and how many stop signs the DOJ ignored in its use of the dossier, I believe that a special counsel needs to review this matter," Graham said, adding that the referral "is not intended to be an allegation of a crime."

Grassley is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has been conducting an investigation running parallel to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Trump's alleged ties to Russia.

The referral, which was made on Thursday but revealed on Friday, comes days after the latest public back-and-forth between Grassley and research firm Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the controversial dossier.
Paris, Jan 6 : French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that political developments in Turkey were blocking the country's EU accession bid, suggesting a "partnership" instead of a full membership.

"For relations with the European Union, it is clear that recent developments and choices allow no progress in the process," Xinhua cited France 24 TV channel which quoted Macron as saying.

"I'd be lying if I said we could open new chapters," he said at a press conference with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, referring to Turkey's accession process.

Erdogan, for his part, said his country was sick of waiting to join the European Union after half a century.

"Turkey has been waiting in the EU antechamber for 54 years. When it comes to saying why, the EU is not really capable of giving reasons," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Although Turkey is hoping to warm frosty relations with Europe, Erdogan's talks with Macron were overshadowed by difference over Turkey's actions following a failed coup in July 2016.

Fethullah Gulen, a US-based preacher, is accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup attempt. At least 250 people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured in the coup attempt.

The Turkish government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen's supporters in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
San Francisco, Jan 6 : Sidestepping once again whether Donald Trump's tweets violates its terms of service, the micro-blogging platform has clarified that it will not block the US President's tweets because he is a world leader.

In a blog post called "World Leaders on Twitter", the company said on Friday that there has been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on the platform.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company said.

"It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."

Twitter was not blocking Trump for his "nuclear button" tweet that stormed the social media, and many thought raised prospect of nuclear war with North Korea.

Trump declared that his nuclear button was "much bigger" and "more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's after the latter threatened the US about Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.

A number of users reported to the tweet, TechCrunch reported, with the expectation that threatening a war one is capable of starting should violate Twitter's revised "Terms of Service", given the company's recent crackdown on violent threats.

In December, Twitter began enforcing new rules around violent and hateful content posted to its platform to reduce the amount of online abuse, hate speech, violent threats and harassment associated with its service.

"You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people," as per Twitter's rule about violent threats.

In response to Trump's threat on Twitter, the company earlier said that it had reviewed the case and "found that there was no violation of the Twitter rules against abusive behaviour".

Moreover, the rules do not apply to whatever Trump posts because of who he is and the "newsworthiness" of his statements, Twitter added.

In the latest blog post, the company said it reviews tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce its rules accordingly.

"No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind."
New Delhi, Jan 6 : Vistara, the joint venture passenger carrier of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, plans to commence international operations from the second half of 2018 and will add Chennai to its growing domestic network from next month.

According to the full-service passenger carrier's Chief Executive Leslie Thng, the airline will have a fleet of 22 aircraft by May 2018 and will then be in a position to commence international flight operations.

Current regulations require domestic passenger carriers to at least have a fleet of 20 aircraft before starting international operations.

On the question of bidding for flag carrier Air India, Thng told reporters here, that the decision for the same lay with Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.

However, he added that the first priority for the promoters is to expand Vistara's domestic operations.

On Friday, the full-service carrier announced the addition of Chennai to its network, effective from February 15, 2018.

At present, the airline serves 22 destinations with over 700 flights a week, operated by a fleet of 17 Airbus A320 aircraft.
Srinagar, Jan 6 : Four policemen were killed and several others injured on Saturday in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town.

The powerful IED explosion ripped through the Sopore market area, which was immediately cordoned off, police said. Separatists had called for a protest shutdown and a march in the town on Saturday.

The injured were shifted to hospital. A search operation is underway, a police officer said.

Heavy deployment of security forces was already in place to maintain law and order situation in the wake of separatist-called protest shutdown in Sopore.
Imphal : Imphal Jan 6 (IANS) A special court in Manipur has sentenced a 42-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment for raping his minor daughter.

The complaint against the man was lodged on September 19, 2016 when the mother of the victim alleged that her husband raped the minor at least three times. Police arrested the father a day after the complaint was registered.

After his conviction under the The Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Special Judge G. Golmei on Friday ordered the punishment with rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The defence had lesser punishment on the grounds that there was no previous crime committed by the convict.

The judge also directed the social welfare department and the Manipur State Legal Services Authority to give maximum permissible amounts of compensation to the victim.
San Francisco, Jan 6 : Google sold more than one Home smart speaker every second since it started shipping in mid-October, taking the sales numbers to over six million, the company has announced.

"We sold more than one Google Home device every second since Google Home Mini started shipping in October," Rishi Chandra, VP, Product Management, Google Home, said in a blog post on Friday.

"Google Home usage increased 9X this holiday season over last year's, as you controlled more smart devices, asked more questions, listened to more music, and tried out all the new things you can do with your Assistant on Google Home," added Scott Huffman, Vice President, Engineering, Google Assistant.

The tech giant currently offers three Home devices -- the original Home, the Home Max and the Home Mini. However, it did not reveal the sales figures for the individual devices.

Meanwhile Amazon, Google's main rival in the smart speaker space has not revealed exactly how many Echo smart speakers it has sold but it pegged the number of its competing Echo Dot sales in the millions, according to Businessinsider.com.

Google in November rolled out an update that will allow you to use Home speakers as intercom systems in your house.

People can now broadcast their voice from Google Assistant on smartphones or voice-activated speakers like Google Home.

"When you need to round up the family in the morning, just say 'Ok Google, broadcast it's time for school!' and your message will broadcast to all Google Assistant-enabled speakers in your home," Alex Duong, Product Manager, Google Home, said in a blog post.

To get the feature work, sign in with the same Google Account for all devices. The feature is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.
Beijing, Jan 6 : China on Saturday implemented a ban on exports of steel and other metals to North Korea and placed limits on the supply of crude oil and petroleum products to the country in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

In a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce announced a complete ban on the sale of iron, steel and other metals, industrial machinery and transport vehicles to North Korea, reports Efe news.

It also said that crude oil exports to the country should not exceed four million barrels or 525,000 tonnes during any given 12-month period, while the sale of refined petroleum products would be stopped after reaching the imposed limit of 500,000 barrels for 2018.

China also banned imports of some products from North Korea, including cereal, soy, and other agricultural products, some minerals, wood and electrical equipment.

These measures were announced by China in order to implement Resolution 2397 of the Security Council, adopted in December in response to the latest ballistic missile testd by the Kim Jong-un regime.

This was the 10th resolution passed by the Security Council, where China is a permanent member, to harden sanctions against Pyongyang since 2006 when North Korea carried out its first nuclear test.
Lima, Jan 6 : Spanish motorcyclist Laia Sanz, one of only 14 women competing in the motorbike category of the 2018 Dakar Rally feels that the process of expanding female participation in the event will be a gradual one.

Sanz, 32, reflected on the presence of women in the event as she prepared to ride in her 8th Dakar, where female competitors will make up only 10 percent of the 140-strong field in the motorbike race, reports Efe.

"We need a few years to see more women in the Dakar," she told Efe.

"We need to wait for them to develop and to have the support to participate in the rally."

The 13-time Women's Trial World Champion rider holds the distinction of achieving the highest-ever finish for a female competitor in the Dakar: 9th place overall in the motorbike class in the 2015 edition of the event.

The Spanish rider has also reached the finish line in all seven of her previous appearances in the Dakar.

While she considers finishing in the top-15 overall a "realistic" goal for this year's race, Sanz said she's hoping to reach to the top 10 for a second time.

"I come here encouraged because I have experience, which is always good in a race of this kind and especially this year, which will be a very tough year," she said.

The course for the 2018 Dakar Rally extends nearly 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) from Lima to the Argentine city of Cordoba.

This year's 40th anniversary race marks a decade since the event was moved from Africa to South America due to security concerns.
New Delhi : For the third time since the Narendra Modi government's assumption of office, the Dalits have come into conflict with the Hindutva brigade. The first time was in Una in Gujarat, where a group of Dalits were thrashed by saffron activists for skinning a cow, a traditional occupation of the "untouchables".

The second time was in Hyderabad central university where a standoff between members of the Ambedkar Students Association and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) student wing, led to the suicide of a Dalit student, Rohith Vemula.

Now, perhaps the most serious of all these incidents has taken place in Maharashtra following the objections of Hindu Right organisations to the celebrations by Dalits of an 1818 battle in the village of Koregaon on the banks of the Bhima river near Pune in which the "untouchable" Mahar soldiers of a British army defeated the upper caste Marathas.

Considering that these celebrations have been held for decades without the rest of the country noting it as an event of great significance even when B.R. Ambedkar participated in them in 1927, it is noteworthy that they should have led this time to a violent outbreak which spread from Pune to Mumbai and other Maharashtra towns.

Evidently, the Hindu Right groups have been emboldened by the BJP's political ascendancy to decide to stop an instance of Dalit assertion, not least because it targeted the upper caste Peshwa rulers of the state of the 19th and earlier centuries.

The episode was a much larger version of the clash which took place in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, between Dalits and the Rajputs in May last year when the former objected to the processions taken out by the Rajputs to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap. A few weeks earlier, the latter had objected to the celebrations of Ambedkar's birth anniversary by the Dalits.

What these episodes show is that unlike in the past, the Dalits are unwilling to commemorate their days of pride in a low key and are also ready to object to the noisy festivities of the upper castes.

The Bhima-Koregaon event may have kindled the ire of the Hindu Right all the more because of the unapologetic participation of the Dalit soldiers with the British army to defeat a Hindu ruler.

This is something which evidently riles the ultra-nationalists associated with the saffron brotherhood at a time when they are engaged in rewriting history to suit their own fads and prejudices as is evident in their objections to a yet-to-be-released film on a fabled Rajput queen.

In such a time of triumphal chauvinism, the Dalit-East India Company collaboration is obviously unacceptable to the Hindu Right, especially when Ambedkar had noted that the "untouchable" Dusads had helped Robert Clive to win the battle of Plassey in 1757, just as the "untouchable" Mahars, a community to which Ambedkar himself belonged, had helped the "foreigners" to win in Koregaon.

Not surprisingly, Ambedkar had not been a favourite of the BJP till recently when the party changed its mind about him after realising the high political cost of alienating both the Muslims and Dalits.

However, the party's "mann ki baat" or speaking one's mind about the Dalits was succinctly expressed by Arun Shourie, who was a minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee's government, in his book, "Worshipping False Gods", in which he said that "there is not one instance, not one single solitary instance, in which Ambedkar participated in any activity connected with the struggle to free the country".

Considering that there are not too many instances of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) participating in "any activity" to free the country, Shourie's charge cannot be taken seriously. But it does underline the traditional Brahmin-Bania outlook of the Sangh Parivar towards the Dalits and their foremost leader.

The objections voiced by the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, about the continuing reservations for Dalits in government jobs and educational institutions also denote the saffron attitude which is resented by the latter.

The BJP has tried to make amends by nominating a Dalit, Ramnath Kovind, as the country's President, but it is unlikely to make any difference to the longstanding antipathy of the community towards a party whose hardliners swear by the Manusmriti, an ancient book which was once "ceremonially" burnt by Ambedkar along with hundreds of his followers for its anti-Dalit pronouncements.

For the BJP, the latest confrontation with the Dalits carries a disturbing message on the eve of elections in as many as eight states this year, including those where the party is expected to face the anti-incumbency factor.

While the BJP's success in winning 69 of the 85 reserved seats in Uttar Pradesh last summer showed that the party was gaining the support of the Dalits, the trend was not in evidence in the recent Gujarat elections where, among other things, the victory of the previously unknown Jignesh Mewani, by a margin of 19,000 votes, pointed to the disaffection of the Dalits with the saffron organisation. Mewani emerged from nowhere after the Una incident to become a well-known figure in today's politics.

There is little doubt that farily large sections of the Dalits, who make up 16.6 per cent of the population, as well as Muslims, who comprise 14.2 per cent, harbour reservations about the BJP, notwithstanding its attempt to placate at least the Muslim women by bringing the triple talaq bill. The BJP cannot but be deeply worried, therefore, about the impact of their alienation on the forthcoming elections.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
Mumbai, Jan 6 : The opposition parties on Saturday took serious umbrage at BrihanMumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta's shocking statement that he was under pressure "to go slow" on the probe into the pub fire that killed 14, here on December 29 last year.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam lashed out at Mehta and challenged him to "reveal" and expose the politician who pressurised the civic body, ruled by the Shiv Sena.

"Mehta should not talk like a politician -- Don't make vague statements. Disclose the names of those who pressurised you to drag the probe," Nirupam said.

"I reiterate that he is repsonsible for the incident and must be booked for it," Nirupam told IANS.

He also asked the BMC chief to declare all the names of the owners of the 17-18 high-end pubs and bars functioning within the Kamala Mills Compoud complex which was the scene of the inferno last week that left another 55 injured.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande demanded that Mehta should be made to undergo "narco-test" to get to the truth in the matter.

"Who called up Mehta 'to go slow' on the action against illegal constructions in the Kamala Mills Compound - whether its from the ruling (Shiv Sena) or the Opposition 'bhaiyyas' (Congress)," Deshpande asked.

However, Mehta found support from Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray who said he has asked him "not to succumb to any pressures" and continue the drive against illegal constructions in the city.

"Its outrageous to announce an award (for the absconders)... They are not terrorists, the police department's role is in question," Thackeray added, indirectly hitting out at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who handles the home portfolio.

On the other hand, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said the MFB's report "would be studied in detail to ascertain whether it is accurate or not" before it could be discussed.

Mehta's controversial statement was made late Friday after the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) submitted its probe report into the pub blaze.

The MFB report has clearly confirmed that the blaze erupted in The Mojo's Bistro and quickly spread to the adjacent 1Above and other premises, trapping an estimated 400-500 people present there that fateful night.

IANS had reported on December 29, quoting BMC officials, that the fire was first noticed in The Mojo's Bistro.

BMC chief Mehta will submit the report to Fadnavis next week and it effectively corroborates the oft-made contentions of 1Above pub in the matter that the cause of fire was in The Mojo's Bistro, which the latter has countered.

In a stinging indictment, the MFB said that even after the fire broke out, not a single staffer or security personnel bothered to raise an alarm or intimate the fire brigade.

The cause of the fire is stated as the illegal Hookahs served on the premises, no proper exit signs and availability of heavy stocks of liquor - highly inflammable - on the pub premises.

The burning coals of a Hookah came in contact with a curtain at The Mojo's Bistro in the south-end corner, which quickly spread into the pub and then onto the adjoining 1Above pub.

The MFB said an illegal shed with thatched roof, both made of highly combustible materials, further spread the fire blocking emergency exits which even the security personnel were not aware of.

The lift was the only way out of the burning premises, a passage on the eastern side was blocked as it was used for storages and it was in an illegal toilet where the 14 persons who took refuge were killed, mostly by toxic fumes.

"It is clear that the fire originated in Mojo's Bistro restaurant and further spread to 1Above," the MFB said, referring to videos, eyewitness reports, tweets and newsclips of the incident.

The MFB investigators found remnants of Hookahs, charcoal, standpipes, pedestal fans, and other evidences in the south-east corner of The Mojo's Bistro and also repeatedly hit out at the aunauthorised' thatched roof in the 1Above.

Mehta said his report to the Chief Minister would be a comprehensive one comprising the administrative lapses, illegalities and actions taken against officials, the demolition drives, etc.

Late on Friday, the Mumbai Police announced a reward of Rs 100,000 to anyone providing information on the absconding owners of 1Above pub, who have reportedly gone underground since December 29.

The owner-partners, Kripesh M. Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar who are "wanted" to face various charges, including the stringent IPC Sec. 304 pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in the complaints registered by N. M. Joshi Marg Police Station.
Washington, Jan 6 : Distinguished aerospace expert Vivek Lall has joined Lockheed- Martin to look after the companys combat jet programme, specifically the newer generation F-16 Block 70 that the company has offered for production to India.

Lall took over his new assignment as Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, on on January 2 at the company's aircraft production facility at Fort Worth, where the F-16 Falcon, F-35 Lightning II and other combat and transport aircraft like the F-22 Raptor and C-130J Super Hercules are made. The F-16 is on offer for indigenous production under New Delhi's Make in India programme for single-engined fighters, some 300 to 400 could be made if it is selected.

A US citizen of Indian origin, Lall has successfully worked with NASA, Raytheon, Boeing and General Atomics, and is well regarded in India, Southeast Asia and the Gulf regions, where he has been frequenting to sell military ware to nuclear safety devices and materials as per US government laws. Nearly all the weapon systems in the US are made by private companies but most critical items can be sold only with the permission of the US Departments of Defense and State.

Asked to comment on his assignment, Lall observed that Lockheed-Martin is the world's biggest defence company, nearly all the futuristic military aircraft are made by it, the F-16 has been produced in the largest possible numbers in the world and has logged the highest number of flying hours, and is a robust platform now being evolved into Block 70 configuration with plans for further development into Block 80.

If the Indian Air Force (IAF) selects it, the Block 70 production facility will move to India and is where the aircraft's evolution into Block 80 would take place in collaboration with the Indian industry, Lall told India Strategic.

Although the first F-16 was inducted into the US Air Force (USAF) in 1980, there have been periodic upgrades. The UAE Air Force (UAEAF) inducted the first Block 60 with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar in 2004, and now Bahrain has purchased 16 Block 70 aircraft for $3.8 billon with an option for three more. The aircraft come with weapons and maintenance support.

If India selects the F-16, it would be the same Block 70 but IAF might add some of its own requirements for compatibility with its other aircraft, radars and ground systems. That for instance, has been done in the case of 36 Rafales that IAF is acquiring from France.

The RFI was actually expected around October but now, it is stated to be due in about 3-4 months, possibly in or around April.

The IAF requires both single and twin engine aircraft. In the single engine category, the RFI is to be issued to the Lockheed-Martin and Sweden's Saab. For the twin-engine requirements, the Boeing F-18 Advanced Super Hornet Block III and French Dassault's Rafale are in the competition, both for IAF and the Indian Navy.

Notably, Lockheed-Martin already has an agreement with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) for making the aircraft in India and the process to select vendors for sub-assemblies has already started, something that all big companies do well before they win a contract.

As of today, IAF has 32 combat squadrons against the sanctioned 42, and it is losing two squadrons every year due to obsolescence. Except for the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, all the IAF combat aircraft are of the Soviet or 1980s vintage and IAF has literally been roaring for jet speed in the acquisition of Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCAs) as well as some Fifth Generation Fighters.

The IAF has already ordered 123 Tejas indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) but these are light jets for missions around the borders. For deep strikes, IAF needs heavier, powerful aircraft.

(By arrangement with India Strategic www.indiastrategic.in)
San Francisco, Jan 6 : Once again sidestepping whether Donald Trump's tweets violates its terms of service, the micro-blogging platform has clarified that it will not block world leaders from tweeting.

Although it didn't directly name Trump, in a blog post called "World Leaders on Twitter", the company said on Friday that there has been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on the platform.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company said.

"It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."

Twitter did not block Trump for his "nuclear button" tweet that stormed the social media which, many thought, raised prospect of nuclear war with North Korea.

Trump declared that his nuclear button was "much bigger" and "more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's after the latter threatened the US about Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.

A number of users reported to the tweet, TechCrunch reported, with the expectation that threatening a war one is capable of starting should violate Twitter's revised "Terms of Service", given the company's recent crackdown on violent threats.

In December, Twitter began enforcing new rules around violent and hateful content posted to its platform to reduce the amount of online abuse, hate speech, violent threats and harassment associated with its service.

"You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people," as per Twitter's rule about violent threats.

In response to Trump's threat on Twitter, the company earlier said that it had reviewed the case and "found that there was no violation of the Twitter rules against abusive behaviour".

Moreover, the rules do not apply to whatever Trump posts because of who he is and the "newsworthiness" of his statements, Twitter added.

In the latest blog post, the company said it reviews tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce its rules accordingly.

"No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind."
Agartala/Shillong, Jan 6 : With the political activities gradually picking up ahead of the crucial assembly elections in February in Left-ruled Tripura, tribal parties are negotiating with the BJP and Congress for electoral alliances, informed sources said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah began a three-day tour to Meghalaya and Tripura on Saturday to formally kick off the party's election campaign in the two northeastern states.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Brinda Karat is now on a five-day election campaign in Tripura while party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has already addressed a central election rally in Agartala earlier this week.

Assembly polls would be held in three northeastern states -- Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland -- with 60 assembly seats each, in February. The five-year terms of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura assemblies would expire on March 6, 13 and 14, respectively.

While the Left Front holds power in Tripura, the Congress is in power in Meghalaya and the Naga People's Front-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) in Nagaland. The DAN is supported by the BJP.

Tripura's main tribal based party, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), which has been agitating since 2009 for upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council into a separate tribal state, held a series of meetings in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and central BJP leaders.

Assam's powerful minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who holds the Finance, Health and Family Welfare and Education portfolios in the BJP government, arranged these politically significant meetings.

Sarma, who is also the convener of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) anti-Congress front, is the party's election in-charge of Tripura.

"Our meetings about our separate state demand with the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and other ministers and BJP leaders are positive. The Union Home Ministry would announce a committee on January 8 about our long pending demand," IPFT's President Narendra Chandra Debbarma told IANS over phone from Delhi.

Leading a ten-member IPFT delegation to Delhi, the veteran tribal leader said: "After returning to Agartala, we would hold meetings with the state BJP leaders to finalise the electoral alliance and seat sharing strategies. Now the long pending hurdles about the alliance with the BJP have been settled."

Most of the political parties, including the ruling CPI-M, Congress and the BJP had earlier rejected IPFT's demands saying it is not practical to divide the small state.

Two other important tribal based parties -- Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and National Conference of Tripura (NCT) -- have also started talks since Friday to form an electoral alliance with the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura.

The INPT and NCT also opposed the IPFT's separate state demand.

"We are holding talks with the Congress and TMC leaders to form an anti-BJP and anti-Left electoral alliance to fight against both the ruling Left Front and opposition BJP," INPT spokesman Srota Ranjan Khisa told IANS.

A top official of the Tripura Election Department said that the Election Commission likely to announce the election schedule in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland next week.

After about a four-and-half-month-long summary revision of the voters' list, the final photo-affixed electoral rolls were published on Friday simultaneously across Tripura with January 1, 2018, as the qualifying date of age.

"With the regular instructions from the Election Commission, we are readying ourselves to conduct the elections in the state. The commission is in close touch with us about the preparations of the elections," Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti said.
Jakarta, Jan 6 : With New Delhi enhancing its engagements with southeast Asia under its Act East Policy, India on Saturday called for the waters of the Indo-Pacific region to be better connected and free of traditional and non-traditional threats.

"The Indo Pacific region, is increasingly seen as a connectivity pathway - much of the world's trade passes through these oceans," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the Fifth Round Table of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-India Network of Think Tanks here.

"These waters must not only get better connected, but remain free from traditional and non-traditional threats, that impede free movement of people, goods and ideas," she stated.

"Respect for international law, notably Unclos (United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea), in ensuring this is, therefore imperative."

The remarks assume significance given China's belligerence in the South China Sea and growing influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Stating that both India and the Asean countries are maritime nations, Sushma Swaraj said: "As a mature and responsible nation, one of India's foreign policy interests, is to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security, and shared prosperity."

The Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Stating that both India and Asean shared a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain, Sushma Swaraj said that New Delhi looked forward to working closely with the regional bloc in a range of activities like developing a Blue Economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services, and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She also said that deeper economic integration with the Asean region was an important aspect of India's Act East Policy.

"Asean is India's fourth largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of India's total trade," she stated. "India is Asean's seventh largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 per cent increase in 2016-17, as compared to the previous year."

Pointing out that investment flows have remained robust, Sushma Swaraj said that there have been continuous efforts to promote dialogue among Asean and Indian business and trade associations, to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

"The establishment of a Project Development Fund will encourage Indian companies to develop manufacturing hubs in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam) countries," she stated.

"Our offer of a $1 billion line of credit is another important initiative to enhance physical and digital connectivity."

The Indian minister called upon participants of Saturday's round table to offer new ideas for a greater integration of Asean Economic Community with India and identify collaborative opportunities in investment, trade and services sector.

She also called for greater collaboration among educational institutions of India and the Asean nations, saying this would "contribute towards investing in the future of our relationship, especially where it involves the youth of our countries".

"I invite you all to discuss modalities for setting up a network of universities among Asean countries and India, to intensify our cooperation in the education sector," she said.

Sushma Swaraj arrived here from Thailand on Friday on the second leg of her three-nation tour of southeast Asia and co-chaired the fifth meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

After addressing the think tanks' round table on Saturday, she interacted with members of the Indian community here before leaving for Singapore, where she will inaugurate this year's Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on Sunday.

Sushma Swaraj's visit to the region comes ahead of the Special Commemorative Summit to be hosted by New Delhi later this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and Asean. Leaders of all 10 nations of the regional bloc are expected to attend the summit.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : Domestic original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Smartron is set to refresh its budget smartphone line-up with a new device that will be priced at around Rs 10,000.

Industry sources told IANS that the latest device will feature a mammoth 5,000mAh battery and will be exclusively available on Flipkart.

The device will feature a metal body with 32GB internal memory (expandable up to 128GB).

The company last year launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered IoT platform called "tronX" which, it said, helps connect a range of devices.

Smartron earlier launched srt.phone (srt is intreprated as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar) in India for Rs 13,999. It was launched by Tendulkar who is reportedly a strategic investor in the company.

"Billion Capture+," the first smartphone from Flipkart, also houses AI capabilities, courtesy Smartron.

In the next "tronX" update, users will have access to a range of intelligent and personalised experiences and services.

Smartron also aims at partnering other brands across market segments to design and engineer devices.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has referred the privilege notice by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav against Congress President Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Yadav had raised the issue of a tweet by Gandhi and said that the Congress leader had "twisted" the name of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley which was derogatory and it also amounted to misinterpretation of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. Jaitley is the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha.

According to Rajya Sabha TV, Naidu concluded on examining Yadav's notice that there was prima facie a question of privilege and referred the matter to the Speaker for further consideration.

Gandhi represents Amethi constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Yadav had moved the notice on December 28 under Rule 187, against Gandhi and urged the Chair to take notice of the alleged breach of the privilege of the the Leader of the House.

"The members of this House have dignity. The name of the Leader of the House Arun Jaitley has been intentionally published by the Congress President with malafide intentions to defame this House," Yadav had told the Chair.

"The way his (Jaitley's) name has been twisted by the Congress President on his Twitter handle, it comes in the category of (breach of) privilege. I request you to...issue notice to Rahul Gandhi," he added.

Referring to a statement given by Jaitley in the House on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted: "Dear Mr Jaitlie (sic)- thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means."

Yadav again raised the issue of the privilege notice on Friday and the Chairman had told him that it was under his consideration.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet came after Jaitley made a statement in the House clarifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's position vis-a-vis his "conspiring with Pakistan" comments against his predecessor Manmohan Singh in order to end an impasse.

"The statement (by Modi) did not question nor did he mean to question the commitment to the nation of Manmohan Singh or Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President. Any such perception is completely erroneous. We hold these leaders in high esteem as also their commitment to the nation," Jaitley said.

The Finance Minister had made the statement as part of an understanding with the Congress over the issue that had led to stalling of the Rajya Sabha and disruptions in the Lok Sabha for several days with the party demanding an apology or explanation from Modi.

The Congress had also reciprocated by disapproving Mani Shankar Aiyar's criticism of the Prime Minister after which the House resumed normal business.
Washington, Jan 6 : The East Coast in the US is shivering in a record-breaking freeze in the wake of a deadly "bomb cyclone" that dumped snow as far south as Florida.

In parts of the US and Canada, temperatures were forecast to fall below -29 degrees Celsius, with wind chill making it feel more like -67 degrees Celsius on Friday night, the local media reported.

In Canada, high winds knocked out power for tens of thousands of residents in Nova Scotia.

Thousands of snow ploughs were clearing roads across the US East Coast.

On Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted dangerously low temperatures moving into the weekend as frigid air lingering over the North Pole prowled towards the US mid-Atlantic region.

The storm that delivered the wintry deluge has battered coastal communities in Massachusetts. Residents of Boston, which received over 30 centimetre of snowfall, were clearing the streets with shovels, a BBC report said.

In the beach town of Revere, near Boston, frozen floodwaters left an entire street full of parked cars trapped in ice, in images captured on video posted to social media.

It came just days after a phenomenon described as a "bomb cyclone" brought heavy snowfall to a wide area along the US East Coast, as well as hurricane-force winds.

Giant waves caused by the storm saw freezing floodwaters inundate parts of the New England coast. The extreme weather has so far been linked to up to 19 deaths in the US and two more in Canada, according to reports.

The extreme weather caused travel chaos and led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. On Friday, more than 1,300 US flights had been cancelled by the afternoon, most of them at the New York area's three major airports and Boston Logan International.

Hundred of schools and businesses were closed in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, the Carolinas, Maryland and Virginia.

Panicked New York City residents rushed to shops before the snow came, clearing shelves of milk, eggs, and kale, the New York Times reported.

Natural gas prices in the US' northeast rose to an all-time high, driven by demand for heating fuel.

Atlantic and central Canada were also hit by the winter storm. The provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador were put under storm and blizzard warnings.

On Friday morning, some 125,000 customers were still without power after 140km/h wind gusts hit parts of Nova Scotia province. Power cuts were also reported in New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

Ontario was under an extreme cold warning, while Quebec faced heavy snowfall, strong winds and storm surges.
Islamabad, Jan 6 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has declared himself mystified by the US threats to cut off funding, saying that Washington's financial assistance was "very, very insignificant" and that Islamabad was "on the forefront of the war on terror".

In an interview with the Guardian, Abbasi said that reports about the US was considering cuts of up to $2 billion in security assistance were bewildering because of the total aid Pakistan -- civilian and military -- actually received was a tiny fraction of that amount.

"I am not sure what US aid has been talked here," Abbasi said in his office in Islamabad.

"The aid in the last five years at least has been less than $10 million a year. It is a very, very insignificant amount. So when I read in the paper that aid at the level of $250 million or 500 or 900 has been cut, we at least are not aware of that aid."

US President Donald Trump used his first tweet of 2018 to threaten to withhold aid to Pakistan because of what he called its "lies and deceit" over terrorism, claiming: "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help." The President said that the US had "foolishly" given Pakistan $33 billion over the past 15 years.

According to the US Agency for International Development, the US gave $778 million to Pakistan in assistance in 2016, of which 35 per cent was military and the rest economic.

Abbasi rejected Trump's charge of duplicity over the fight against terrorism, calling his claim that Pakistan was harbouring terrorists a "fallacy".

"Pakistan is a sovereign country and it has always abided by international conventions," he said.

"We are today fighting the largest war on terror in the world. We are fighting the world's war on terror with our own resources... That is something the world has to appreciate.

"Today we are fighting terrorists. So if somebody says we are harbouring terrorists, there is no greater fallacy," Abbasi said.

"We have engaged US at every level from President Trump down. We have explained to them A what Pakistan has done we have explained to the rest of the world also."
Kolkata, Jan 6 : India's tea exports grew by over 8.3 per cent to 216.99 million kg during January to November period of 2017 as compared to 200.36 million kg exported in the corresponding period of 2016.

According to provisional data of Tea Board India, tea exports, in value terms, stood at Rs 4,269.47 crore during the eleven months of 2017, up by about 6.3 per cent from Rs 4,016.26 crore in the year-ago period.

In volume, tea exports to CIS countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, were at 56.11 million kg in the period under review of 2017, up from 54.14 million kg in the same period of 2016.

Exports to Britain, however, fell to 13.81 million kg in January-November period of 2017 as against 15.28 million kg in the year-ago period while exports at 9.1 million kg to Germany during the period were also down marginally from 9.8 million kg exported in corresponding months of 2016.

However, tea exports to Iran went up to 24.85 million kg in January-November of 2017, from 21.21 million kg in the year-ago period.

As much as 8.54 million kg of tea was shipped out to Egypt during eleven months of 2017, up from 3.4 million kg in the year-ago period.

Tea exports to the neighbouring country Pakistan stood at 12.29 million kg in the period under review, as against 11.22 million kg exported in the corresponding period of 2016. India's tea exports to China during the period were at 7.44 million kg, up from 4.68 million kg.

India's tea production, in November 2017, stood at 118.9 million kg, down by 7.79 per cent from 128.94 million kg produced in the year-ago month.

In November, the estimated crop in north India - which includes West Bengal and Assam - fell by 11.39 million kg to 98.35 million kg.

South India's tea production in November 2017 grew by 7.03 per cent to 20.55 million kg.
Patna, Jan 6 : After RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three-and-a-half- years in jail in a fodder scam case on Saturday, the party has decided to reach out to people in Bihar with his message against fascist forces.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will reach out to people with Lalu's message "not to fear and bow before fascist forces and will fight against them".

Lalu's wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi along with her son Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly, said "Laluji has asked us to reach out with his message to villages across the state. He has sent a message from the jail for people".

"Now, RJD will reach out to people with Laluji's message. We will go to all villages across Bihar with his message," Tejashwi Yadav, the former Deputy Chief Minister, told the media here.

He said RJD will decide its strategy in a meeting that is underway with senior party leaders and party legislators here to deal with the court verdict against Lalu.

Meanwhile, all RJD leaders and workers have expressed full faith in the party in the absence of Lalu Prasad. They have made it clear in the party meeting that they are united behind the party.

According to RJD leaders, the party will use Lalu Prasad's jail sentence as a tool to consolidate its grip on the ground in the name of social justice.
Bengaluru, Jan 6 : Unable to procure land to set up Indira Canteens in all civic wards here, these would soon be made mobile, a civic official said on Saturday.

"Due to the lack of land availability in few civic wards, the civic authorities have decided to have 24 mobile Indira Canteens in the city which would be parked near public parks and prime locations of the wards," the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) spokesman L. Suresh told IANS here.

The mobile Indira Canteens, which will provide food to the poor at subsidised rates, would be run on modified Tempo Travellers equipped with CCTV cameras and GPS system to track their locations.

To be unveiled on January 26, these mobile units would also have overhead drinking water tank and an underground sump to collect used water, Suresh added.

The state government-run canteens, named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, were unveiled on August 16 last year by Congress President Rahul Gandhi aiming to make Karnataka "hunger-free".

With an eye on the upcoming state polls in April-May, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the state Finance Minister, had earmarked Rs 100 crore in the state Budget in the 2017-18 fiscal to run the canteens in all 198 civic wards.

These canteens are run on the lines of the popular 'Amma Unavagam' in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, started by the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, late J. Jayalalithaa.

The canteens which are currently operational in over 150 civic wards, have been serving vegetarian breakfast at Rs 5 per plate and lunch and dinner at Rs 10 per plate. There are 12 kitchens operational in the city to cater to these canteens.

Due to delays in procuring the land for setting up the food canteens, the BBMP could not open the canteens in all 198 wards by October 2 last year, as the Chief Minister had earlier stated.

With a budget of Rs 185 crore, the state government in October had decided to open 246 Indira Canteens in all the 30 districts of the state and their sub-districts (taluks).

The daily operating cost of all canteens in the state was estimated to be Rs 29 lakh, with monthly expenditure of Rs 9 crore.

After the Congress party in Karnataka set up these subsidised food outlets, canteens are being set up across the state in the name of other political leaders as well to woo the voters.

A Janata Dal (Secular) leader from the state had started "Appaji Canteens", named after the JDS supremo and former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda.

Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit President B.S.Yeddyurappa are also planning to set up low-cost food outlets named "Yeddyurappa Ji Canteens", though the party isn't funding these outlets.
Mumbai, Jan 6 : On former colleague and actor Om Puri's first death anniversary on Saturday, veteran actors Anupam Kher and Paresh Rawal expressed their sadness on the loss of a "great actor and human being".

After contributing to the world of cinema with projects like "Aakrosh", "Arohan", "Ardh Satya", "Wolf", "Maachis", "Mrityudand" and "A Death in the Gunj", Om Puri died at the age of 66 on January 6, 2017, due to heart attack at his residence in Andheri, here.

Remembering Om Puri on Saturday, Anupam tweeted: "Miss you my friend".

Actor Paresh Rawal also posted: "Remembering shri Om Puri on his first death anniversary. A great actor and a greater human being."

The National Award winning actor and recipient of Padma Shri, was also honoured at the 89th Academy Awards in memoriam segment for his contribution in Indian and world cinema.
Cape Town, Jan 6 : Batsman Hardik Pandya played a fighting knock to help India post 185/7 against South Africa at tea on the second day of the first Test at the Newlands here on Saturday.

Pandya (81 batting) who notched up his second Test half-century was at the crease along with right-handed Bhuvneshwar Kumar (24 batting) when umpires called an end to the second session.

The duo who forged a 93-run unbeaten stand for the eighth wicket to help the visitors cut down the first innings deficit imposed by South Africa to 101 runs.

For the hosts, pacers Veron Philander (3/33) and Dale Steyn (2/51) picked up three wickets in unison in the second session.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday attend the three-day annual conference of top police officers that began in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, an official said.

Modi is expected to meet the police officers of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) from all states and central police organisations and speak on new-age crime like cyber terrorism and radicalisation of youths, an official said.

The Prime Minister addressed similar conferences in Guwahati in 2014, Dhordo in Rann of Kutch of Gujarat in 2015 and National Police Academy in Hyderabad in 2016.

He has been emphasising on the importance of leadership, soft skills and collective training, specifically mentioning the importance of technology and human interface for the police force.

Holding the Annual DGP Conference outside the national capital, is in line with Prime Minister's vision that such conferences should be held across the country, and not just confined to Delhi.

On Saturday, top police officers from all over the country shared and discussed security related issues, cyber terrorism, the impact of social media on the society, cross border terrorism, radicalisation of youths besides a host of other issues during the conference held at the BSF academy in Tekanpur of Madhya Pradesh.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh left Delhi on Saturday to join the conference and was likely to give an assessment on the internal security situation. Union Ministers of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Kiren Rijiju also joined the event.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba also joined the conference on Saturday.

About 250 senior police officers attended the conclave in which issues such as the security situation in the major combat theatres of Jammu and Kashmir, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and the Northeast are discussed.

The implementation and activation of decisions taken during the last few conferences will also be reviewed during the three-day meeting.

The subject of issuance and cancellation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the non- governmental organisations and others could also be put on the agenda.
Cape Town, Jan 6 : All-rounder Hardik Pandya led India with a counter attacking half-century as the visitors saw themselves at 185/7 at tea on the second day of the first Test against South Africa at the Newlands here on Saturday.

Pandya (81 batting) who notched up his second Test half-century along with right-handed Bhuvneshwar Kumar (24 batting) were at crease when umpires called it an end to the second session.

The duo who forged a 93-run unbeaten stand for the eighth wicket to help the visitors cut down the first innings deficit imposed by South Africa to 101 runs.

For the hosts, pacers Veron Philander (3/33) and Dale Steyn (2/51) picked up three wickets in unison in the second session.

Resuming the second session on 76/4, batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara (26) and Ravichandran Ashwin (12) failed to get going from the onset.

The Saurashtra batsman was sent back without scoring a run by delivery outside off from Philander which was taken easily at second slip by skipper Faf du Plessis. Later, Ashwin (12) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) were also sent back to the pavillion in quick succession.

However, the struggling Indian innings came to a recovery with a blistering 68-ball innings from Pandya -- who was tactically send down the order. The Baroda batsman hit 13 boundaries and one hit over the fence in his unbeaten innings.

Complimenting Pandya, incoming batsman Bhuvneshwar played a perfect second fiddle getting off the mark in the 32nd delivery he faced. The pacer played on the defence allowing his fellow batsman who looked in form to take charge of the innings.

The Proteas were seen to introduce their lone spinner Keshav Maharaj (0/15) for the first time in the second session. The only trouble for the hosts came in form of their premier pacer Steyn -- who was seen limping off the ground during the 61st over.

Brief scores: India 185/7 (Hardik Pandya 81 batting, Bhuvneshwar Kumar24 batting; Veron Philander 3/33) against South Africa 286 at tea.
Washington, Jan 6 : US President Donald Trump, in an extraordinary defence of his mental capacity and fitness for office, described himself on Saturday as a "genius", after a new book suggested that top White House aides feared he was unfit for the job.

In a series of Twitter messages that seemed to respond to revelations in author Michael Wolff's new book "Fire and Fury", Trump defended himself by charting his rise to the presidency, saying one of his chief assets throughout his life was "being, like, really smart".

Trump cited his career in business and reality television and his victory in last year's election as evidence of his mental prowess.

He again lashed out at the ongoing special counsel investigation into his campaign's contacts with Russian operatives, calling suggestions that he colluded with Moscow a "total hoax on the American public".

The book included depictions by top White House staff members painting Trump as an "uninformed and at times erratic President", the Washington Post reported.

Late Friday, Trump blasted Wolff as a "total loser", and the President mocked his former campaign chairman and White House adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, who was a key source for the book.

Bannon criticized other aides and Trump's son, calling a meeting at Trump Tower last year between Donald Jr and a Russian lawyer "treasonous".

White House aides have mounted an all-out attack on the book, calling it "fiction" and a "complete fantasy". And Trump's lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to Wolff and his publisher demanding that they do not release the book.

But the publisher, Henry Holt, moved up the release date from later this month to Friday amid the publicity and hard copies were quickly sold out in the Washington area.

"It's disgraceful and laughable," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said while responding to suggestions that Trump was "mentally unfit for office".

"If he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen. This is an incredibly strong and good leader.

"That's why we've had such a successful 2017 and why we're going to continue to do great things as we move forward in this administration," she said.
Jaipur, Jan 6 : Former Rajasthan Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Saturday asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-laying the foundation stone of Barmer refinery as former Congress President Sonia Gandhi had done so in 2013.

Modi is scheduled to visit Barmer in Rajasthan on January 16 to lay the foundation stone of the Barmer refinery.

Gehlot said Modi was inaugurating the refinery again to draw the credit of bringing this entity in Rajasthan, which in true terms, was the Congress' initiative.

Speaking to media persons here, Gehlot said he has already written to Modi raising the question as to why he is again laying the foundation stone of the Barmer refinery.

The letter mentioned Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the refinery on September 22, 2013.

He added that Modi's proposed visit on January 16 for the foundation laying ceremony is unfortunate. "There shouldn't be this new trend set for re-laying foundation stones as governments keep changing in a democratic country".

Gehlot also accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of delaying many projects, including the refinery, which he said, was initiated under his tenure.

He has also requested the Election Commission to draw its attention to this issue. "The Prime Minister's visit to lay the foundation stone when the code of conduct has already been implemented in the state in the wake of by-polls is violation of all set norms," he added.

According to informed sources, HPCL and Rajasthan government, in a joint venture, has proposed to bring up the refinery cum petro-chemical complex on a vast spread land of 4,813 acre.

HPCL shares 74 per cent of share while Rajasthan government has 26 per cent of share. This refinery will be ready by 2021.
Kolkata, Jan 6 : With RJD supremo Lalu Prasad sentenced to three and a half years jail in a fodder scam case, the CBI's retired Joint Director (East) Upen Biswas on Saturday said he was certain that the offenders would be punished as there was very strong documentary evidence against them.

Biswas, who had relentlessly pursued Lalu Prasad and others accused in the fodder scam, said crores of rupees were taken from the treasury by the offenders to supply fodder by floating false tenders.

"It is one of the most strong cases in the history of the CBI. There was plenty of documentary evidence against the accused. So someone or the other was bound to get punished in this case," Biswas said after the verdict was announced.

"It was found that false tender was floated and the treasury did not have any record of the money spent on fodder... So we knew that the offenders would be punished," he added.

A special CBI court sentenced the former Bihar Chief Minister to jail and imposed two fines of Rs 5 lakh each on him in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.5 lakh from the Deoghar district treasury of then undivided Bihar.
Patna, Jan 6 : Hundreds of people on Saturday staged protest in Bihar capital Patna against the attack on Dalits in Bhima-Koregaon in Maharashtra.

The protestors alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government and the central government have been trying to protect two accused Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote.

Senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Uday Narayan Choudhary, a Dalit leader, has also joined the protest march. JD-U is an ally of BJP.

Choudhary is a well known Dalit leader and former Speaker of state assembly.

The protest march was organised under the banner of Loktantrik Jan Pahal, a civil society body.

People from all walk of life including activists, intellectuals, theatre personality, journalists, women activists and others have joined the protest March.

They shouted slogans against Hinduvta forces behind the attack and violence against Dalits and demanded action against them.

"Instead of taking action against Hinduvta forces, Maharashtra government has filed a fake FIR against Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and student leader Umar Khalid. RSS and BJP have been playing politics in the name of Ambedkar," Kanchan Gala of Loktantrik Jan Pahal said.

She said in the coming days, Loktantrik Jan Pahal would organise similar protest across Bihar.
Panaji, Jan 6 : Beef traders in Goa on Saturday refused to withdraw their strike and demanded the BJP-led coalition government crack down on vigilante groups who hamper bringing in beef from neighbouring states.

President of the Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa, Manna Bepari has said an assurance has been given by the Chief Minister's Office that the "issue would be resolved within two days".

"We will not sell beef until the government finds a solution to the problem. We went to meet the Chief Minister but he is not in Goa. His office has assured us that a meeting of all stakeholders will be called within two days and the issue will be resolved," Bepari told IANS.

"Today, we observed a complete strike and beef will not be sold in Goa until this problem involving vigilante groups and clarity on beef-import modalities are not resolved," Bepari said.

On Saturday, butcher and meat shops across the state did not sell beef, even as prices of mutton, which is sold at Rs 500 per kg, surged by Rs 30.

Beef is normally consumed in the form of stew, curries, roasts, soups and is an essential protein, and one of the cheapest meats in most Christian and Muslim homes in the state.

Minorities comprise more than 30 per cent of the state's 1.5 million population.

Cheaper than mutton, beef is also commonly consumed in the tourism-oriented coastal belt, which sees nearly six million tourists, half a million of which are foreigners.

According to official statistics from the Goa Meat Complex, the state's only abattoir facility allowed to slaughter cattle and buffaloes, the state consumes nearly 30 tonnes of fresh beef every day.

And with the Complex not functioning over the last few months, majority of the beef is brought in from Karnataka by the meat traders in Goa to meet the demand for red meat.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : Welcoming the jail sentence to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, the BJP on Saturday said the corrupt faced consequences of law, adding there was no political interference.

"Public money was looted from the government treasury. These are out and out black and white cases of corruption. No amount of press conference is going to help Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) politically," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson G.V.L Narasimha Rao said.

"What is important to this country is that politicans who have indulged in brazen acts of corruption actually face consequences of law for their corrupt deeds."

In a tweet, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said BJP's charges against Lalu Prasad "were vindicated" by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.

"Conviction is conviction. Either 3.5 years or 7 years... Our charges against Lalu has been vindicated by the court," he said.

Refuting the charges that Lalu Prasad was targeted by the BJP, he tweeted: "A.R. Kidwai, Deve Gowda were not BJP men when Lalu was prosecuted in Fodder Scam. Court was monitoring the case. Lalu went to jail during his own rule. Where is bias?"

Meanwhile, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader K.C. Tyagi criticised the RJD for its lack of faith in Indian judiciary. He also said the development meant an end of an era, which had corruption, nepotism and third-grade non-governance.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : The Congress on Saturday again raised objection over the candidature of AAP's Rajya Sabha candidate N.D. Gupta, saying he has resigned from the post of trustee but not as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the National Pension System.

"Narayan Dass Gupta (N.D. Gupta) is also the chairman of Audit Committee of National Pension Scheme Trust and he has been appointed as a chairman from September 8, 2015," Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken said in a letter to the Returning Officer for biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Delhi.

His letter came on the day the scrutiny of nominations is taking place for the Rajya Sabha elections. If needed, polling will be held on January 16.

"It is pertinent to mention that Gupta has not resigned from the Chairmanship of Audit Committee of National Pension System Trust till date," Maken alleged.

Earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha defended his party's Rajya Sabha nominee Gupta, saying that he had resigned from the post of Trustee of the NPS and the Congress was only raising frivolous objections to gain cheap publicity.

Maken also said that it was also contented that N.D. Gupta has not mentioned about the legal requirement of 30 days notice for resigning as trustee in a reply submitted before the Returning Officer.

"It was also submitted before the RO that N.D. Gupta has not given any proof to the effect that his resignation was accepted by the NPS Trust," he added.

Earlier in the day, Maken has demanded that the candidature of Gupta for the the Rajya Sabha election from Delhi be rejected on the ground he holds an office of profit as he was Trustee of the NPS.
Tehran, Jan 6 : Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticised the UN Security Council's emergency meeting on Iran's recent unrests and termed it a "foreign policy blunder" for Washington, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

"The UNSC rebuffed the US naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA (Iran's nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another foreign policy blunder for the (US President Donald) Trump administration," Zarif tweeted.

On Friday, the UNSC held an emergency meeting at the request of the US to discuss the recent protests on the economic condition in Iran.

According to some reports, at least 20 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in the riots and hundreds were arrested.

Iran has blamed the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia for inciting the violence in recent protests.

Iran's Ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshroo on Friday condemned the UNSC's debate on the recent protests in Iran.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the US administration to escape forward, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," Khoshroo said addressing the session on Friday.
New Delhi, Jan 6 : The Congress on Saturday attacked the Narendra Modi government over a blast in Kashmir in which four policemen were killed, saying that it had failed to contain the terror incidents despite its "boastful statements".

"We have been losing regularly officers of the Indian Army, officers of the Border Security Forces and jawans of the paramilitary forces, CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir Police," Congress leader Anand Sharma at a press conference here.

"Even today, it is sad that four of the police personnel have been killed in Sopore," Sharma said referring to the bomb blast in north Kashmir's Sopore town in which four policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were killed and two others injured.

"It is high time that the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and his government stop making tall claims.

"Accountability has to be established of this government as to why it has failed despite the boastful statements of the Prime Minister himself and of his Ministers about action across the border," he said.

Raising concern over the frequent attacks on the army and paramilitary forces in the state, Sharma said, "The question which legitimately has to be asked and must be asked that why the attacks are escalating on our defence personnel and defence establishments."

Targetting the government over the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's recent talks with his Pakistani counterpart, he said, "We are completely in dark as to what has been discussed between the two NSA's - Doval and Pakistan's NSA General Janjua."

He said that two NSAs have been meeting in the past too but "what has been the outcome?", adding that "outcome has only been more attacks, more deaths, and more killings of the defence personnel".

"The government should not continue with its habit of making claims about some strike and remaining silent when actual strikes that takes place against our defence establishments and against our personnel," Sharma dded.
Bengaluru, Jan 6 : A skywalk project across the arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road in the city centre was halted after citizens and green activists protested against it on social media, Bengaluru Mayor R.Sampath Raj said on Saturday.

"We have been asked by the Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George to keep the project on hold until it was reviewed," Sampath Raj told IANS.

The skywalk, a foot-over bridge, was being constructed at the junction of Mahatma Gandhi Circle in the central part of the city, across the busy M.G. Road.

The project had received vehement protests on social media for blocking the views of the heritage structures of Mahatma Gandhi Park and serving as "frames for political banners".

"The skywalk is a disaster in the making. Is it not a fact that many skywalks across the city are serving as nothing more than ugly frames for illegal political banners?" asked volunteer coordinator for people's forum Citizens For Bengaluru Srinivas Alavilli in a Facebook post.

Netizens also pointed that there was no need for the skywalk at a junction with traffic lights where people could cross during a red signal.

"If it was a highway or a ring road it is understandable to have a skywalk but why at a place where people can cross?" noted Alavilli.

The aesthetic views of the century-old Queen Victoria statue, which was installed in 1906 during the British rule, in the Mahatma Gandhi Park were going to be ruined with the skywalk, stated another netizen Srinivasa Raju.

The Karnataka High Court in October last year had issued a notice to the state government on a PIL filed protesting against the construction of a steel bridge at Shivananda Circle in the central part of the city.

In March last year, the state had dropped its plans to construct a 6.9km long steel flyover from Chalukya Circle in the city centre to Hebbal junction in the northern suburb after opposition from the civic society as it would have resulted in the loss of over 800 trees.
Bengaluru, Jan 6 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would address a BJP rally here on Sunday in view of the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka, a party official said on Saturday.

"Adityanath arrived on Saturday night to participate in our party's rally and address the public on Sunday afternoon," a party spokesman told IANS.

It is second time Adityanath is participating in the party's rally in the state after he did on December 21 at Hubballi in north Karnataka.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) state unit has embarked on a 90-day statewide rally on November 2 from Bengaluru in the run-up to the assembly poll, due by April, under the banner of "Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivarthana Yatra", flagged off by party chief Amit Shah.

The party is expecting about 50,000 people to gather at the Vijayanagar public grounds for the rally.

The BJP, which came to power in the state for the first time on its own after the 2008 assembly election, lost to the Congress in the 2013 assembly poll following a split in its state unit and five years of "misrule" with three Chief Ministers at the helm of office.

Besides party's state unit President B.S. Yeddyrappa, central ministers from the state Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda and state unit leaders Jagadish Shettar, K.S Eshwarappa and A.R. Ashok will address the gathering.

"Adityanath will also will visit the Adichunchanagiri Mutt to meet its seer Nirmalanandanath Swami and have lunch with him after the yatra event," said the party leader.

The popular mutt of the powerful Vokkaliga community has been associated for long with the Gorakhnath Mutt in Uttar Pradesh' Gorkahpur where Adityanath was head priest.
Amman, Jan 7 : King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday called for intensified Arab efforts to support the Palestinians following a decision by US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

At a meeting with several Arab foreign ministers, the king said there was a need for more efforts to support the rights of the Palestinians in preserving their legal and historic rights in Jerusalem and in creating their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, reports Xihua.

The Jordanian leader said the issue of Jerusalem should be settled through negotiations and as part of a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis based on the two-state solution, the international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

He underlined the need for supporting the Jerusalemites and protecting the Arabic identity of the city as well as the holy Islamic and Christian sites.

Jordan, he said, will continue to safeguard the holy sites in the city.

Discussions also covered best means to face the consequences of the US decision that violates international resolutions.

In a press conference following a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Amman, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi reiterated the Arabs' rejection of the US decision.

Rejecting any Israeli unilateral measures, he said the Arabs will push for a global recognition of Palestine.

The minister added that the Arabs will exert more efforts to curb any further recognitions of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding that there will be no peace and security in the region without creating an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Less than three percent of all practicing attorneys in the state were selected as Legal Elite this year. This is the third consecutive year that Ms. Keeton has received this honor.

Lori Keeton has been selected for inclusion in the 2018 edition of Business North Carolinas Legal Elite, a listing of the states top lawyers, in the field of Litigation.

Each year, Business North Carolina sends ballots to members of the North Carolina Bar Association who are residents of the state. Voters are asked one question: Of the Tar Heel lawyers whose work you have observed firsthand, whom would you rate among the current best in these categories?

Less than three percent of all practicing attorneys in the state were selected as Legal Elite this year. This is the third consecutive year that Ms. Keeton has received this honor.

Ms. Keeton has been practicing law in North Carolina since 1998. She regularly represents individuals, businesses and municipalities in civil actions in both state and federal courts. In addition, she utilizes her litigation experience to assist companies in analyzing and minimizing their litigation risks.

A complete list of the 2018 winners can be found here: http://businessnc.com/special-sections/legal-elite/
IntelliVision's object classification AI and edge computing are the new commuter vision battleground.

IntelliVision, a pioneer and leader in AI/deep learning video and audio analytics software for Smart Cameras, today announced availability of its full product line of intelligent video analytics software on Ambarellas most advanced S5L IP camera SoC (System on Chip). The software will be demonstrated in the Ambarella booth at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.

We have the most advanced AI and deep learning-based video analytics software in the industry so it makes sense to run it on the most advanced camera chipset, said Vaidhi Nathan, IntelliVisions CEO. IntelliVision and Ambarella have been good partners for many years and this product combination strengthens our lead in AI and edge computing  the new computer vision battleground.

IntelliVisions AI/deep learning video analytics product line includes:



Face Detection, Recognition and Search

Intelligent Motion, Object Detection and Tracking

Intrusion/Perimeter Watch

Object Classification (People, Vehicle, Pet)

License Plate Detection and Recognition (LPR/ANPR)

Audio/Sound Recognition

IntelliVisions video analytics products are in use in over 3 million cameras around the world. IntelliVision has been named a Red Herring 2017 Global Top 100 Company and has been awarded Entrepreneurial Company of the Year 2017 in Security and Video Analytics by analyst group Frost and Sullivan.

About IntelliVision

IntelliVision is a market leader in AI and Deep Learning video analytics software for Smart Cameras, providing video analytics solutions for several markets including Smart Home/IoT, Smart Security, Smart Retail, Smart Business, Smart City and Smart Auto (ADAS). IntelliVision technology has been recognized as the Brains Behind the Eyes for many applications using cameras to analyze video content, extract metadata, send out real-time alerts and provide intelligence to other home, business and security systems. IntelliVision provides the largest suite of video analytics products in the market today. Its products are used by Fortune 500 companies, the US Government and many leading brands. IntelliVision is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in Asia and Europe.

For more information, visit: http://www.intelli-vision.com

Email: info@intelli-vision.com

Phone: 408-754-1690
Fitscript is delighted to be able to share GlucoseZone at the Biotech Showcase.

Fitscript, LLC. today announced that it will present GlucoseZone, the first-ever digital exercise solution for people living with diabetes, at the Biotech Showcase Annual Conference on January 8-10 in San Francisco.

GlucoseZone offers exercise guidance based on users real-time glucose levels and other diabetes metrics (including data from wearable devices). The patented GlucoseZone program enables doctors to prescribe exercise to diabetics to improve A1C, achieve weight loss, and halt the progression of the disease.

Charles OConnell, founder and CEO of Fitscript, LLC. will present twice at the Biotech Showcase:

Date: Monday, January 8, 2018

Time: 3:30 p.m. (PST)

Room: B-Cyril Magnin III (4th Floor)

Venue: Parc 55 San Francisco Union Square, 55 Cyril Magnin Street

Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Time: 10 a.m. (PST)

Room: Franciscan  B (Ballroom Level)

Venue: Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel, 333 OFarrell Street, San Francisco, CA (United States)

Fitscript is delighted to be able to share GlucoseZone at the Biotech Showcase, said Charles OConnell, founder and CEO of Fitscript, LLC. Were bringing a digital exercise solution to the global diabetes community, accessed by smartphone, that has helped thousands of people control the disease, lower the cost of treatment and change lives.

More than 100 million Americans are living with or at high risk for diabetes, and nearly every one of them is advised by their physician to begin an exercise program. However, for those living with diabetes, exercise is a fundamentally different process, beginning with the need to test blood sugar. Depending on the persons blood sugar it may or may not be safe to exercise, or to perform certain types of exercise. In addition, multiple factors further complicate the requirement of exercise and diabetes including glucose levels, food consumed, medication regimen, time of day, etc.

The patented GlucoseZone platform offers content to users based on their individual and real-time diabetes metrics, providing end users with instruction from fitness and diabetes professionals from around the world to best match their individual, real time needs.

GlucoseZone is a clinically validated program proven to help patients achieve lower A1c results and weight loss, halt the pharmaceutical therapeutic progression of diabetes management, and in many cases reduce medication usage and reliance for patients living with diabetes.

For more information, please visit http://www.GlucoseZone.com.

About Fitscript, LLC:

Created in 2012, Fitscript LLC was founded to help people living with diabetes meet the exercise requirement for safely and effectively reducing, reversing and controlling their diabetes. Fitscripts patented, proprietary GlucoseZone program, now with more than 900,000 users, is the first-ever digital exercise solution for diabetics that helps improve their A1c levels and achieve weight loss based on real-time glucose levels. The all-new GlucoseZone app contains live and on demand exercise solutions, interactive workouts, diabetes discussions and much more. The app is currently available on iOS and Android.
Crystal Lake, "Space People" - artwork Space People conjures images of a wild, boisterous night out where its abundantly obvious that denizens of the dark are more interesting than daytime office drones. At a tight 02:38 in length, the Original Edit is superbly taut and fast-paced psy-trance.

Rapid. Frenetic. Electrifying. Crystal Lakes Space People (inHarmony Music) has the power to move and the track is out now.

With a gripping, deeply resonating intro, Space People starts-off on the progressive-leaning tip of the trance music spectrum before diving into a frenzied pace. With an atmosphere thats as speedy as the BPM itself, this is a tune with gigantic swells of energy forcing listeners to jump up and take notice. Theres a positively huge climax on the Original Edit that virtually pushes one out of ones seat, or if heard while standing, may knock a person clear across the dancefloor. Space People conjures images of a wild, boisterous night out where its abundantly obvious that denizens of the dark are more interesting than daytime office drones. At a tight 02:38 in length, the Original Edit is superbly taut and fast-paced psy-trance.

The Extended Mix evokes the same vibe as the Original Edit and draws the uncommon, unexpected pacing and beautiful female vocal out into a tidy rendition. A males spoken-word serves as an accent and brief counterpoint. Unlike anything else heard in clubland lately, the production of Space People sounds unique. Space People can be considered next-level psy-trance. The track is a tornado of controlled energy, like drinking a quadruple jolt of espresso while being shot out of a cannon.

About Andrew Rayel

Hailed by Armin van Buuren as the future of trance music, Andrew Rayel (real name: Andrei Rata) is a classically trained electronic dance music DJ and producer from Moldova often referred to as the modern-day Mozart. As a DJ, Rayel exudes an unbridled enthusiasm for the music he plays and his onstage performances are electric and filled with physical energy. Drenched in a well-earned sweat after every set, Rayel earns his position as a bandleader, stirring up his crowds passion as much with his music selection as with his bodily vigor. He has DJd the worlds biggest festivals, including: Ultra Music Festival in Miami, TomorrowLand in Belgium and TomorrowWorld in Atlanta, Stereosonic in Australia, Global Gathering in the UK and other countries, Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Electric Zoo in New York, Transmission Festival in various countries, Ministry of Sound in the UK, Dreamstate in San Bernardino, Electronic Family in Amsterdam, Zoukout in Singapore and Together Festival in Thailand. Rayel is a regular on the lineup at various ASOT stages around the world. Nightclub residencies have him performing onstage at super-clubs, including: Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub in Las Vegas, Marquee and LAVO in New York, Ushuaia Beach Club in Ibiza, Zouk in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Escape in Amsterdam and Ministry of Sound in London.

About inHarmony Music

Launched in September, 2017, inHarmony Music is the record label headed by Andrew Rayel and distributed by Armada Music. As label chief and head of A&R for inHarmony Music, Rayel is the key decision-maker when it comes to signing new artists and music. Fulfilling a lifelong dream while on his never-ending career quest, Rayel is now able to do for new artists what Armin van Buuren did for Rayel years ago. The circle is complete and there will be an abundant supply of lovingly curated new music ahead.

Listen to Crystal Lakes Space People (inHarmony Music), here: https://IHM007.lnk.to/SPMA

For information on Andrew Rayel, David Gravell, Mark Sixma, FATUM, MaRLo, Ryan Farish, NOA | AON (Pavel Stuchlik), Maro Music (Marek Walaszek), Paul Damixie, NativeOrigin303, NKRIOT, and artists like Armin van Buuren, contact EMILY TAN Media Relations (U.S.), +1(917) 318-3758, EmilyEmilyTan(at)aol.com. Follow EMILY TAN Media Relations on Twitter @EmilyEmilyTan and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/emily-tan/4/342/70b.
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Quoting unnamed family source, mynewsgh.com reports that Alhaji Bature collapsed at his bathhouse and was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

"There were plans underway to fly him to South Africa when his situation was not getting better but before we completed arrangements, we were told he died on Friday afternoon, a family source said.

He reportedly had difficulty walking and talking and was confined to his hospital bed.

The former journalist will be buried today, Saturday, January 6, 2018, in line with Islamic customs, a statement from the family said.
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Nwajagu who is a banker was reportedly arrested and arraigned in court for locking up a child who was brought to her to work as a housemaid.

The child was allegedly brought to her by a woman she claims was her elder sister.

Instablog9ja reports that according to the police public relations officer, SP Chike Oti, the suspect reportedly locked up the child in a poorly ventilated apartment before leaving for work and would not release the child until she returned home at night at the close of work.

The police report read: "Nwajagu, from Ajali in Orumba LGA of Anambra state but residing at No.12 Baderin street, Mafoluku Oshodi, reported to the police last night at Makinde Police Station Oshodi from where she was taken to the Human Rights Section of Lagos State Command Ikeja."
8. Bomigo

Bomigo is a town that most Ghanaians would fail to identify on a map if they were asked to. Bomigo is a very small town situated in the Keta District of the Volta Region. The town is surrounded by the salty waters of the Keta Lagoon. It is about 146 kilometres from Ho, driving to Keta, onwards to Anloga and to Atorkor, then branching to Tunu for an about 15 minutes journey by boat to Bomigo.

Like other towns listed in this article, Bomigo has a very dark open secret: There are no female goats in the town. The town is populated by male goats only, which are able to reproduce and give birth to other male goats. It is currently unclear if this is due to a spirit or god imposing this anomaly o the land, or if it is a curse. This phenomenon has given the town a very mysterious theme and atmosphere.

7. Nkonya-Alavanyo

Over a century ago, due to territorial disputes over which of the two towns a portion of land should belong to, the people of Nkunya and Alavanyo, both in the Volta Region, got into a tribal war that has lasted for over 100 years and claimed so many lives. Despite numerous interventions by governmental bodies and several cultural institutions to curtail the dispute, the citizens of both towns start fighting again every now and again and that revives the war all over again.

This has made both towns and their environs a very scary and unsafe place to live, with citizens ever always fleeing to greener pastures. The government has on several occasions instituted curfews on the towns, which further restrict the activities of the citizens and makes their lives unbearable. Doctors, teachers and other public sector workers who are posted to the area often refuse to report to their posts or leave later on when the going gets too tough.

6. Kwame Nkrumah Circle

This circle is named after the first President of the Republic of Ghana  Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is a central point in Accra and life never stops here. Crime rate is on the high and it is presently facing a crisis involving drug gangs. Street crimes such as muggings and theft are also common, making this an undesirable destination for most people. And please, dont travel alone at night and be careful when buying valuable items like phones from hawkers.

5. Seva

Seva is an Island located in the Keta Lagoon in the Volta Region of Ghana. This island is important as a bird watching site because it is a stop over point for many migratory birds. The town has many attractions such as the sandy beaches, general cleanliness and local story telling in Ewe.

However, the town also has a very mysterious and superstitious cultural background. According to popular folklore, the stones on the beach of Seva cannot be carried across the sea to the mainland. The gods of the island simply will not allow it. Trying to defy the gods and carrying stones across the sea will have unfortunate consequences on anyone carrying out the act.

4. Sefwi Wiawso

The Sefwi-Wiawso District is a district located in the Western Region of Ghana. Its capital is Wiawso, and It was elevated to the status of a municipal assembly in 2012. The town has been under constant media scrutiny due to the high levels of murder that take place there.

These killings are often done for spiritual reasons. People killing relatives for blood and money rituals isnt unheard of in the town and new residents are often warned to be careful or stay away.

3. Ashaiman

We wont say much about Ashaiman, well just give you a bit of friendly advice: If you ever find yourself in the Ashaiman area, be sure to lock your doors and keep your phones, purse and any other things you have on yourself safe.

The streets of Ashaiman are filled with the most ruthless and hardened criminals who will rob you the instant you let your guards down. Ashaiman is also home to some notorious gangsters and thugs known in pidgin english as Kwashey boys. These kwashey boys may not even bother trying to rob you in secret, theyll just pull up on you with a gun and ask you to hand over your possessions. If you think you can outrun a bullet, go ahead and attempt an escape.

2. Nima

In second position of our list of most scariest towns in Ghana is the notorious town of Nima. As one of the many Zongos in Ghana, Nima is infamous for being riddled with crime, violence and thug culture. In fact, some of the most popular lyrics about the town can be found in a song titled A Nima Mi Seh by Shatta Wale, a popular Ghanaian dancehall artist.

In the now iconic song, Shatta sings about how life in the ghetto is .. You could find me inna di barracks.

Alkayeeda youth control di shattas which translates to You could find me in the barracks, where alkayeeda youth control the streets. That line alone should tell you everything you need to know about Nima.

There are definitely peaceful and non-violent people living in Nima and its environs, but the bad fruits give the whole town a bad name.

1. Nogokpo

If you have any friends who hail from the Volta Region, then chances are, you have definitely heard of Nogokpo. Your friend(s) may even joke about sending you to Nogokpo when you wrong them.

Nogokpo is a small village located in the Ketu-South Municipal of the Volta Region of Ghana along the TransWest African Coastal Highway. It is noted for its traditional and spiritual shrine. It has a shrine  Nogokpo Shrine  built during a misunderstanding between some people at Agbozume in the very olden days, in the early 1900s. The story goes that the spirit asked to be moved elsewhere for peace to prevail. The name Nogokpo means stay in peace and interestingly enough, Nogokpo is a very peaceful town.
The newspaper said its sources said Dr Asiama was queried about the extra cash printing reports and he allegedly admitted it happened, but explained that officials of the presidency at the time, mounted pressure on him to okay the deal.

Responding to that, Dr Asiama, through his lawyers, noted: "Our attention has been drawn to some newspaper publications and communications of a smear campaign which is being used to tarnish the image and reputation of our client.We wish to state that these are part of the plan to get him out of office and any publication by such newspapers should be treated with the contempt that it deserves," the statement by Mr Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu of Lord & Lords said.
In a Facebook post, John Mahama expressed his condolence to the family of the former ace journalist and the media fraternity.

"Sudden news of the passing of my brother and friend, Alhaji Bature Iddrisu. This is a great personal loss and for the NDC family. His wit and great sense of analysis will be sorely missed.

"May Allah the Merciful grant him Jannatul Firdaus," he said.

On Friday, January 5, ace journalist and Editor of the Al-Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature has died.

READ ALSO: Alhaji Bature has died

The senior journalist died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Friday where he had been on admission after suffering a stroke.
They are Ameyaw Kyeremeh, Majority Chief Whip, who will Chair the Committee, Dr. Assibey Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, and Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, MP for Adentan.

On the Minority side are James Klutsey Avedzie, Deputy Minority Leader, and Dominic Ayine, the MP for Bolgatanga East.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye, in ruling for the formation of the committee, said the Committee is expected to submit its report to the House as soon as possible, one day after our recall which is 24th [January 2018].

It has been alleged that expatriate businesses were charged $100,000 to allow them to sit close to the President Nana Akufo-Addo during the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards held in the country.

The Flagstaff earlier summoned the sector minister, Alan Kyeremanten, to disclose fully what the issue was to President Akufo-Addo.

After briefing the president, the Flagstaff House issued a statement saying officials at the Trade Ministry did no wrong in commercialising the Presidential Table at the recent Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA).

The facts, as reported to the president, do not disclose any wrongdoing on the part of the minister of any government official.
READ MORE: Security personnel who lost their lives in line of duty in 2017

Sections 45-50 of the Road Traffic Act 683/04, as well as regulations 23&24 of the Road Traffic Regulation 2012 (L.I 2180), are clear on the use of DV and DP number plates.INGPOL directs with immediate effect no personnel should arrest any motorist with trade license plates with regard to time of movement indicated above [1800hours and 0600hours (6pm  6am)], the IGP said in an internal memo sighted by Pulse.com.gh.

According to him, any arrest made with regard to time of movement of he trade license plates by the police is "unlawful."

"Any arrest made with regard to time of movement of trade license plates by personnel is unlawful. Commanders must bring this to the notice of all personnel for strict compliance, he insisted.

READ MORE: Dismissed police officer threatens to join ISIS
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He said members of the NDC are apostles of probity and accountability, saying ex-government officials are ready to subject themselves to the test of probity and accountability.

We the members of NDC are not scared whether Special Prosecutor, Attorney General or state Attorney, we are not scared," said Mahama.

"I said at Ho that we are the apostles and disciples of probity and accountability. So if we are out of government and you want to subject us to probity and accountability, we dont have a problem but we must make sure that all our colleagues, ex-appointees who are accused of any wrongdoing go through the right process and are convicted by a competent judge.

He added: "We the NDC members should not pass judgement on our colleagues because they are deemed innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction.
It killed "two terrorists and (destroyed) one vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, preventing it from being used against the people in Mogadishu," AFRICOM said in a statement.

"We assess no civilians were killed in this strike," the statement read.

The Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow successive internationally backed governments in Mogadishu since 2007 and frequently deploys car and truck bombs against military, government and civilian targets.

The group lost its foothold in Mogadishu in 2011 but has continued its fight and still controls vast rural areas and is widely blamed for the country's worst ever bombing, which in October left 512 dead.

According to a study released Wednesday by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, the United States conducted 35 air strikes in Somalia in 2017, a big increase over prior years.
"I've never questioned his mental fitness. I've had no reason to question his mental fitness," said Tillerson, whose office was last year forced to deny reports that he had referred to Trump as a "moron" after a national security meeting.

And, even in defending Trump, the former ExxonMobil chief executive admitted he has had to learn how to relay information to a president with a very different decision-making style.

"I have to learn how he takes information in, processes it and makes decisions," Tillerson told CNN. "I'm here to serve his presidency. So I've had to spend a lot of time understanding how to best communicate with him."

But, whatever difficulties they may have had communicating, Tillerson insisted that the right decisions had been made and that the United States is in a stronger place internationally thanks to Trump's policies.

"He is not a typical president of the past, I think that's well recognized -- that's also why the American people chose him," he said, insisting that he does not expect to be asked to resign in the coming year.

Tillerson was forced to mount his defense as Washington devoured a new supposed tell-all -- Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" -- rushed into bookstores after the White House failed to suppress it.

The book quickly sold out in shops in the US capital, with some even lining up at midnight to get their hands on it and others circulating pirated copies. Trump has decried the instant best-seller as "phony" and "full of lies."

Journalist Wolff, no stranger to controversy, quotes several key Trump aides expressing doubt about Trump's ability to lead the world's largest economy and military hegemon.

"Let me put a marker in the sand here. One hundred percent of the people around him" question Trump's fitness for office, Wolff said in an interview with NBC's "Today" show.

"They all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. It's all about him."

The 71-year-old Republican president, approaching the first anniversary of his inauguration, responded with fury.

"I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist," Trump tweeted Thursday.

But Wolff countered: "I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not. I don't know, but it certainly was not off the record."

The book includes extensive quotes from Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, and its publication sparked a very public break between the former allies.

Bannon is quoted accusing Trump's eldest son Don Jr of "treasonous" contacts with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, and saying the president's daughter Ivanka, who imagines running for president one day, is "dumb as a brick."

Criticism from aides

But it is Trump himself who is cast in the most unfavorable light.

The book claims that for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the president was an "idiot." For chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, he was "dumb as shit." And for National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, he was a "dope."

The publication came as it emerged that at least a dozen members of the US Congress were briefed last month by a Yale University professor of psychiatry on Trump's mental health.

"Lawmakers were saying they have been very concerned about this, the president's dangerousness, the dangers that his mental instability poses on the nation," Dr. Bandy Lee told CNN.

The White House issued a scorched-earth dismissal of "Fire and Fury", its author and his sources, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders calling it "complete fantasy."

Behind the scenes, though, Trump has been enraged by the betrayal by Bannon -- a man who engineered the New York real estate mogul's link to the nationalist far right and helped create a pro-Trump media ecosystem.

Sanders suggested that Bannon's employer, Breitbart News, should consider firing him.

He wasn't fired, but Bannon's main financial backer is formally cutting ties with him, The Washington Post reported.

"I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected," the newspaper quoted billionaire conservative donor Rebekah Mercer as saying.

'Minute-by-minute'

Bannon, who left the White House in August, is also quoted in the book as saying that the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election -- and possible collusion by the Trump campaign -- will focus on money laundering.

Wolff confidently defended himself against attacks on his credibility, which have included threats from Trump's lawyers of a libel suit.

"My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than, perhaps, anyone who has ever walked on earth at this point," Wolff said.

"I spoke to people who spoke to the president on a daily, sometimes minute-by-minute basis," he added.
"Majority emphasised the need to fully implement the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."

The United States had pushed for the UN meeting on Friday to discuss the five days of protests that hit Iran last week, leading to the deaths of 21 people and hundreds of arrests.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley argued the unrest could escalate into full-blown conflict and drew a comparison with Syria.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley warned.

But Russia's envoy shot back that if the US view holds, the council should have also discussed the 2014 unrest in the US suburb of Ferguson, Missouri over the police shooting of a black teenager or the US crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Britain and France reiterated that Iran must respect the rights of protesters, but French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the "events of the past days do not constitute a threat to peace and international security".

China also described the meeting as meddling in Iran's affairs, while Ethiopia, Kuwait and Sweden expressed reservations about the discussion.

Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the meeting as a "farce" and a "waste of time" and said the council should instead focus on addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Yemen.

Iranian authorities have declared the unrest over, and held three days of large pro-government rallies across the country between Wednesday and Friday.

Iran signed a nuclear deal with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in 2015, easing sanctions in exchange for curbs to the country's nuclear programme.

US President Donald Trump has fiercely opposed the deal, but the other signatories remain firmly behind it.

Trump must decide every few months whether to continue waiving nuclear sanctions, with the next deadline due on Friday.
According to a tweet by the foundation, Dr Adaoro was one of the doctor infected with the communicable disease by Mr Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian diplomat, in Nigeria0. An incident that happened at the First Consultant Medical Centre (FCMC) in Lagos where she was having her one-year compulsory medical housemanship and training.

Adaoro, who has now dedicated her life to the research, treatment, and prevention of future epidemics, said about her experience fighting the disease.

You dont know if its going to end with your death, she said.

Ebola is going to come back. It may not be next year or the next five years. But it will come back. I know I was sick for a reason. Theres a lot more I have to do.

How Nigeria failed to honour Dr Ameyo Adadevoh, Adaoro and others

Dr Ameyo Adadevoh, Adaoro and others of the FCMC, Lagos have been credited for curbing the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the Patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite repeated pressures from Liberian Embassy in the country.

Adaoro narrated the incidence during one of her interviews: On the night of Sunday, July 20, 2014, Patrick Sawyer was wheeled into the Emergency Room at First Consultants Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos, with complaints of fever and body weakness.Knowing that Mr Sawyer had recently arrived from Liberia, the doctor asked if he had been in contact with an Ebola patient in the last couple of weeks, and Mr Sawyer denied any such contact. He also denied attending any funeral ceremony recently.

During our early morning ward round with Dr Adadevoh, we concluded that this was not malaria and that the patient needed to be screened for Ebola Viral Disease Dr Adadevoh at this time was in a pensive mood. Patrick Sawyer was now a suspected case of Ebola, perhaps the first in the country. He was quarantined.

However, Dr Adadevoh never survived the infection but she and her team did a good job of millions of lives in Nigeria.

Also Read: Stella Adadevoh deserves to have more schools named after her

Despite the obvious sacrifice made by Dr Adadevoh and her team, the government of Nigeria has not acknowledged their efforts in preventing this epidemic. The team had not received a National Merit Award nor have medical facilities named after them.

Like many other Nigerian heroes, it is foreign agencies and governments that usually accord these rare stars an opportunity to tell the world their stories. As a result, many people see no reason in giving more towards developing the country.
Simona Mangiante says her fiance, George Papadopoulos, is staying positive.

Mangiante and Papadopoulos first met in person in New York in April 2017, she said, about seven months after they first started chatting on LinkedIn. They traveled to Europe that summer for a whirlwind vacation and parted ways in late July, with Mangiante staying in Italy and Papadopoulos heading back to the US.

"We had traveled to Mykonos, to Athens, and to Capri," Mangiante said. "He had finished his work for the campaign and I had left my job at the European Parliament. We spent every second together."

Papadopoulos texted Mangiante when he landed at Dulles airport in Washington, DC on July 27  minutes before he was arrested by the FBI. By the time he emerged from his Alexandria jail cell on July 28, Papadopoulos

"It was traumatic, and completely unexpected," Mangiante said. Papadopoulos's cousin wrote to her on Facebook in the interim, explaining that he had been arrested.

"I didn't know what was going on," Mangiante said. "So I went to the US, and everything changed completely."

Mangiante flew to Chicago to see Papadopoulos and was promptly served with a subpoena by a federal agent working for special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is investigating potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and had charged Papadopoulos with lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia-linked foreign nationals during the election. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to the charge.

Mangiante left the organization in November 2016. By that point, she had already begun chatting with Papadopoulos, who had messaged her on LinkedIn two months earlier after seeing that they shared a mutual professional connection  Mifsud.

"How do you know him?" Mangiante said Papadopoulos asked her at the time, referring to Mifsud. "What does he do?"

"Not even George really knew anything about him," Mangiante said.

A mysterious resume

Mifsud came under renewed scrutiny last weekend, when The New York Times reported that Papadopoulos drunkenly told an Australian diplomat in May 2016  one month after meeting with Mifsud  that Russia had dirt on Clinton.

The diplomat relayed the details of his conversation with Papadopoulos to Australian government officials, who in turn relayed it to the US government shortly after news surfaced that the Democratic National Committee had been hacked. Papadopoulos' inadvertent disclosure, combined with the massive data breach, is what triggered the FBI's Trump-Russia probe.

Before it was scrubbed, Mifsud's London Centre biography said he had "lectured extensively throughout the world," "worked in a number of universities," "attended and chaired conferences" and "organized major ministerial and institutional meetings on pan-Mediterranean dialogue." He also worked for the government of Malta, where he is from.

Mifsud has been filmed speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club, a think tank based in the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod that is close to President Vladimir Putin andhosts him every year for a keynote address. Mifsud also wrote three pro-Russia articles that are featured on Valdai's website.

Beyond that, not much is known. In November, Mifsud disappeared from the

The Trump campaign was quick to downplay Papadopoulos' role on the campaign following his guilty plea, describing him as a "coffee boy" who played no meaningful foreign policy role  a claim at which Mangiante bristles.

"They're just undermining all of George's efforts. He even helped to organize a meeting between Trump and [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi through a connection he had at the Egyptian embassy."

Papadopoulos represented the campaign at numerous points during the election. He

Asked why she thought Papadopoulos told the Australian diplomat about Russia's Clinton dirt, or what he may have meant by it, Mangiante said she couldn't say with certainty.

"I was not there," she said. "But they clearly had had many drinks."

Mangiante reiterated that she and Papadopoulos had nothing to hide and were looking to the future. Right now, for example, they're busy planning their wedding.

Papadopoulos proposed at the end of September, about a year after he sent her that first LinkedIn message.
LONDON  The former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has accused the government of attempting to sideline Parliament by planning to put an incomplete Brexit deal to the vote on at the end of Article 50 talks.

In December MPs passed an amendment calling on Theresa May's government to give Parliament a "meaningful vote" on the Brexit withdrawal deal agreed by British and European Union negotiators.

The amendment, tabled by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, was designed to ensure the government will have to secure parliamentary approval before signing off any final Brexit withdrawal deal.

However, Clegg told Business Insider that he expects Parliament to be shown an incomplete deal lacking key details on issues like the Irish border, trade and customs arrangements.

"I dont think the government has any intention of completing the next phase of talks before it invites MPs to make a judgement," the former Liberal Democrat leader told BI this week.

"And that would be a scandalous dereliction of democratic duty to expect MPs to vote on a deal which will be composed of little more than the fudge on the Irish border included in this December package, some warm words about the future, and maybe a little bit more detail on aspects of that future."

He added: "The governments clear intention is to try and lull parliament into signing away the future before it has spelled out what that future holds."

BI spoke to the former MP for Sheffield Hallam at an event hosted by anti-Brexit group, Islington In Europe.

At the event, Clegg said he was unphased by the negative reaction of some figures to recent news of his imminent knighthood.

"You can hardly call it a backlash when the entirely predictable people dont share my views on things and criticise," he said.

"The Daily Mail is never going to agree with my worldview and neither is Owen Jones. I dont take it too seriously.

"I was included in the honours because of the work I did as deputy prime minister and I remain immensely proud of what me and my team succeeded to do in providing stability to the country at a time of immense turbulence and difficulty.

"It doesnt really affect my pride in what we achieved that there are people on either side who want to snipe."

He also attacked the "absolutely pathetic" Labour Party for failing to capitalise on the Tory government's dithering over Brexit.
This week marked major developments in relations between North and South Korea, and many are hopeful that it means peace and cooperation are on the horizon in the Korean Peninsula.

In his first state address of 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced he was open to dialogue with South Korea, and urged easing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, even as he issued new threats to the US.

On Tuesday, a North Korean official said on state television that the country would reopen its direct communications hotline with South Korea, and eagerly planned to discuss sending a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics games in Pyeongchang.

Following Kim's proposal, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon told reporters that the government welcome talks with the North "regardless of time, location, and form." South Korea's President Moon Jae-in jumped at the opportunity, and proposed conducting talks on the peninsula next week.

On Wednesday, South Korean officials called North Korea from their communications headquarters and spoke for the first time in two years. The two sides spoke for about 20 minutes before the North disabled the line.

The US and South Korea on Thursday agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the Olympics.

And in a major sign of progress on Friday, North Korea sent a message accepting the South Korean offer, and plans for both sides to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday are in place.

Bringing peace to the peninsula

Experts say this week's developments are significant for both countries in the short-term, but doubt that increased communication will help bring long-term reconciliation.

Director of the Nautilus Policy Institute, Peter Hayes, told Business Insider that reopened communications between indicate a strategic policy shift on North Korea's part.

"It indicates Kim Jong Un plans an interregnum in testing of missiles and warheads," Hayes explained, adding that Kim understands any military provocations at this time would interrupt a potential breakthrough moment for North and South ties.

By pausing its weapons testing and opening itself up, at least rhetorically, to South Korea, Kim hopes to cast himself as a rational broker in its war of words with the US President Trump and other US officials, who have characterized Kim as unstable.

"If it goes well, it will also put the Trump Administration on the back foot in terms of child-like war talk and sending mixed messages to Pyongyang," said Hayes.

Dr. Go Myong-Hyun, Research Fellow at The ASAN Institute for Policy Studies said Kim's willingness for dialogue is a temporary plan built out of desperation: "North Korea is engaging in a tactical move with South Korea for two main reasons: to avoid a preemptive attack from the US, and to mitigate crippling sanctions imposed on the country by the US."

"North Korea would love to see a growing gap between US and South Korea, but its really a byproduct of North Korean goals rather than its objective," Go added.

According to Lindsay Ford, Director of Political-Security Affairs at the Asia Society Policy Institute, the South's preparations for the Olympics provide North Korea with the perfect opening to achieve its objectives.

"North Korea sees a moment of opportunity given South Korea's clear interest into wanting to have a positive and peaceful Olympics, and will leverage that moment for tactical gains to ease pressure of sanctions."

Ford said she, too, is skeptical about whether the North's overtures are strong enough to pave the way for peace.
President Donald Trump's decision last month to relocate the US embassy in Israel sparked widespread protests in cities across the Middle East. Arab governments swiftly denounced the move as protestors sympathetic to the Palestinian cause took to the streets to express their outrage.

But behind the scenes in Egypt, things were a bit different.

As the Egyptian government publicly condemned Trump's decision  including drafting a UN resolution calling for the US to reverse course  a state intelligence officer was also privately coordinating with popular talk show hosts in an attempt to get them to convince their viewers to accept it, according to The New York Times.

We, like all our Arab brothers, are denouncing this matter, Captain [But] after that, this thing will become a reality. Palestinians cant resist and we dont want to go to war. We have enough on our plate as you know.

Egypt continues to struggle to contain threats from a variety of regional foes, including the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Iran, and scattered ISIS militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a strip of land that links northeastern Egypt to southern Israel.

The Egyptian government's attempts to mitigate outrage over Trump's decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem appears to be a calculated strategy. Analysts argue that Egypt would rather begrudgingly accept the US position than encourage protests that could easily devolve into more threatening regional violence.

Kholi spoke to at least four influential TV hosts, all of whom appeared receptive to his argument.

Give me orders, sir, host Saeed Hassaseen said. I am at your command.
President Donald Trump unloaded on the Russia investigation and Michael Wolff, the author of an explosive new tell-all book during a press conference with reporters at Camp David on Saturday.

In the book, former White House chief strategist and head of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, is quoted eviscerating Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his daughter Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

During the press conference, Trump called the book a "work of fiction" and said it was a "disgrace" that Wolff could "do something like this."

"Libel laws are very weak in this country," Trump said. "If they were stronger, hopefully, you would not have something like that happen."

He added that Wolff did not know him at all and did not interview him, though he then said Wolff interviewed him once "a long time ago" for a magazine story.

"I guess 'Sloppy Steve' [Bannon] brought him into the White House a lot," Trump said. "That's why 'Sloppy Steve' is looking for a job."

In a noteworthy exchange Friday during an interview with "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, Wolff saidevery single person around Trump, including senior aides and family members, questioned his intelligence and fitness for office.

Trump defended his intelligence in a series of Saturday morning tweets, saying his "two greatest assets" were his "mental stability and being, like, really smart."

He added that he believed he was a "very stable genius."

Asked during the press conference why he tweeted about his mental stability, Trump replied, "Only because I went to the best colleges, or college. I went to a  I had a situation where I was a very excellent student, came out and made billions and billions of dollars."

He continued, saying that he then pursued a television career and was a "tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won."

No collusion and no crime

Reporters also touched on a recent New York Times report that said Trump asked White House counsel Don McGahn to convince Attorney General not to recuse himself from the FBI's Russia investigation last year. Sessions recused himself last March when it emerged that he had failed to disclose his contacts with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2017.

Calling the Times story "way off," Trump said, "Everything I've done is 100% proper. That's what I do is I do things proper."

"Collusion now is dead," he added. "Because everybody found out after a year of study there has been absolutely no collusion."

He went back to a frequent target, former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and accused her, as well as the Democratic National Committee, of colluding with Russia.

When a reporter asked Trump to specify how the Times' story was "off," Trump said, "You'll find out. But the story was off."

"If [special counsel] Robert Mueller asks you to come and speak with his committee personally, are you committed still to doing that?" another reporter asked.

Trump reiterated that there was "no collusion" and "no crime." He also repeated another claim he's frequently mentioned in the past, saying that "everybody tells me I'm not under investigation."

Trump is a critical figure in several threads of Mueller's investigation, and he is the central subject in the obstruction-of-justice case Mueller is said to be building.

The case is based on Trump's decision to fire FBI director James Comey last May. The White House initially said Comey was fired because of the way he handled the bureau's probe into Clinton's use of a private email server.

But Trump later told NBC's Lester Holt that "this Russia thing" was a key factor in his decision. He also reportedly told two Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting one day after terminating Comey that the FBI director's firing had taken "great pressure" off of him.

Trump said Saturday that he and the White House have been "very open" in cooperating with Mueller's team. "We could have done it two ways. We could have been very closed and it would have taken years. But you know, sort of, like, when you've done nothing wrong, let's be open and get it over with, because honestly, it's very, very bad for our country and it's making us look foolish."
Google changed corporate America and Silicon Valley with company perks, like free bikes for employees to get across sprawling office parks.

But the community of Mountain View, California  where Google is headquartered  has caught on, forcing Google to rethink just how "free" its bikes really are, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The company estimates that between 100 and 250 of its 1,100 multi-colored "Gbikes" disappear on a weekly basis, and it's started to take actions to reduce those numbers.

Among the solutions, the company hired a team of 30 contractors and five designated vans whose only job is to retrieve Gbikes from around the community, according to The Journal.

Google is also testing GPS trackers on some of its bikes, and locks that only Google employees can open using their cell phones, according to the report.

Google first launched its bike program in 2007, and switch over to its iconic, multicolored two-wheelers in 2009.

By 2015, bike sharing switched from a company-wide initiative to an opportunity for Google to change the world. The company launched a $5 million grant to develop more bike-friendly cities, and worked closely with Mountain View to make its local streets as bikable as the city of
The Justice Department on Wednesday fired its long-awaited opening shot at the cannabis industry.

The move has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle scrambling to figure out what the change means for the eight states, including California, that have legalized the plant for adult use, as well as the 29 states where medical cannabis is legally prescribed to patients.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, both voiced their opposition to the announcement, and public cannabis companies saw their stocks nosedive on Thursday morning.

But many investors and entrepreneurs who have years of experience operating in the cannabis industry were unperturbed.

"

What Sessions move actually does, and doesnt do

Sessions is a longtime opponent of cannabis  he once joked in 1986 that the Klu Klux Klan was "

"The Justice Department's new directive leaves the legal status of cannabis up to 93 US Attorneys," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat who's seeking to become the governor of his home state in 2018, said in a call with reporters. "Whatever side of the bed they wake up on, that's what happens with cannabis."

On the same call, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, said he thinks Sessions has "forgotten state's rights, and forgotten the Tenth Amendment".

"Sessions is

Investors see an opportunity in chaos

Krista Whitley is the CEO of Nevada-based Altitude Products, a company that sells accoutrements for cannabis consumers. She said she's seen a "cooling off" of high-net worth individual investors looking to jump into the cannabis industry in the few days since Sessions' announcement.

The move "spooked several investors w

cannabis businesses clamp down on complying with state regulations.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are fighting back

Lawmakers are vowing to fight Sessions' move in order to protect an industry that could provide thousands of jobs and billions in tax revenue in states where cannabis is legal. In California alone, the state is predicted to rake in $1.4 billion in cannabis-generated tax by 2021.

Sen. Gardner  who voted to confirm Sessions last year  has vowed to withhold Justice Department nominees until Sessions backs off of state-legal cannabis. Reps. Polis of Colorado, Rohrabacher of California, and Blumenauer of Oregon are urging both parties to support an amendment on the House's next budget bill that prohibits the Justice Department from spending money on enforcing federal law against medicinal cannabis.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers has public opinion on their side. Approximately 51% of Republicans and 64% of Americans overall support cannabis legalization, according to a recent Gallup poll.
San Francisco city building inspectors have issued a violation notice against Millennium Tower, the city's leaning, sinking luxury skyscraper, because of an apparent fire safety risk.

The December 2017 notice cites "a breach in the fire and smoke barrier" and other evidence that suggests "the issue may be more widespread," NBC Bay Area reported on Thursday.

Millennium Tower is a luxury residential high-rise that has sunk 17 inches and tilted 14 inches since it was completed in 2008. Though an inspection by the city found it's safe to occupy, the situation has sparked a flurry of lawsuits and an exodus from the building by many residents.

Last year, a report commissioned by the Millennium Homeowners Association warned there may be unseen safety issues at the building. Architectural engineering firm, had found gaps in the walls of one unit that could present risks in the event of a fire.

Paula Pretlow and several other homeowners had complained of unexplained odors permeating their luxury units. Consultants from burrowed holes through several apartment walls in Pretlow's unit and set off smoke bombs below. They found that smoke rose through openings surrounding pipes and ducts in the walls. Typically, gaps like these are sealed with fire-resistant caulking to make sure fires are contained on the floor where they start.

Since the report, the tower's developer and city building inspectors have not addressed the fire safety warning. But an investigation from NBC Bay Area provided new details from the report in December, which appears to have prompted action. (NBC Bay Area found that some information was redacted from the report provided to homeowners.)
On Friday, Twitter published a short blog post explaining why it won't be suspending President Donald Trump's personal account, though it did not mention him by name.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the post said. "It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."

A provocative tweet on Tuesday night from Trump that some perceived as threatening nuclear action against North Korea reignited the debate over whether Twitter should suspend or take other action against the president's account.

North Korean Leader Kim Jon... @ Donald J. Trump

At the time, Twitter said the tweet did not violate its terms of service.

People protesting outside Twitter's San Francisco headquarters earlier this week urged CEO Jack Dorsey to suspend Trump's account, calling Dorsey "complicit" for not doing so.

"We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly," Twitter's blog post says.

Basically: You might not agree with Trump's tweets, but since they are the from the US president, the rules are a little bit different from those for other users.

Also of note is that the blog post disputes a long-running criticism that Twitter allows Trump to continue using the platform even after perceived violations of its terms because the response to his tweets drives people to use the service.

"No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions," the post says.

The post is attributed not to any Twitter executive or employee, but to "Twitter, Inc."

This is the first official response from Twitter on its policy regarding Trump and other world leaders. Last year, however, Dorsey explained his reasoning for allowing Trump to keep using the social network.

"I think it's really important that we maintain open channels to our leaders, whether we like what they're saying or not, because I don't know of another way to hold them accountable," Dorsey told Backchannel in April. "Anytime we have any leader tweet, including Trump, there's a very interesting and thriving conversation. A mixture of fact checking, disagreement, agreement, and some random things."

"There's been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance.

"Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.

"We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly. No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.
Ramamoorthy, who was charged with aggravated sexual abuse and held without bail after an appearance in a Michigan Federal Court the following day was reportedly living in the United States of America on a temporary visa.

The Independent News UK reported that the victim woke up to find her shirt unbuttoned as well as the man's hand in her pant.

This was confirmed by female prosecutor Amanda Jawad who disclosed that the accused stop the act as soon as the abused woke up.

She reportedly disclosed what had happened to her to flight attendants who informed federal prosecutors that the victim came crying to them prompting them to offer her a different seat.

Ramamoorthy's wife who visited the circle to confirm what had gone wrong explained that her husband had taken plain Tylenol" which made him a potential flight risk. The prosecutor however submitted that she appeared to be either covering for him or was totally absent minded about the incident.

It seems that she's either colluding with the defendant to cover up his actions or she's completely oblivious to what he did,

What makes this offence particularly egregious and the defendant even more of a danger to the community is the fact that it took place on an aeroplane. He was brazen enough to do this basically in public, next to his wife where anyone could have seen him, Jawad said.

After a lawyer for the accused, Richard O'Neill successfully argued that he was a flight risk using his medication as a backing, Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen, who described the matter as a very unusual case, ordered that Ramamoorthy be remanded pending trial.

Sexual assault in Nigeria

Cases of women being sexually assaulted in Nigeria during flights are hardly reported but one will find more common unsolicited advances between adult males and teenagers who are often intimidated and threatened.

In Ibadan, Nigeria, Mr. Shuaibu Ahmed, a 70-year-old ex-soldier initiated a sexual assault on a girl of 14 who is five months pregnant, by paying her N100 after getting her disvirgined.

The victim in a report by Vanguard News revealed that her tormentor who also threatened to kill her if she divulged details of their activities acknowledged that he deflowered her.
Gibson's profile on the Bunny Ranch website states that she was raised by strict adoptive parents as a devout Christian and attended an all-girls boarding school. At 19, she was out of the house and dating a young man with similar beliefs, thinking that they would both wait until marriage to have sex. But during the relationship, Gibson says that her boyfriend cheated on her twice, which left her disillusioned with her decision to wait.

"After grieving for a while, I came to the conclusion that waiting until marriage to lose my virginity was the wrong decision, because my ex-boyfriend wasnt worth waiting for," she wrote. "I thought that I could trade my virginity for my boyfriends lifelong devotion. I was wrong. So, I decided that I was going to get something for my virginitysomething that benefits me and my life. I wanted to lose my virginity in the most profitable way possible."

That led her to Dennis Hof, the proprietor of the Bunny Ranch and several other brothels in the Nevada Area. Hof is organizing an auction where a customer can "buy" Gibson's virginity, and she'll work as a temporary employee of the Bunny House. The House and Gibson will split the highest bid evenly.

Gibson knows her decision will raise some eyebrows, but she says she's okay with that.
Ibe, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, described the allegation against Abubakar, who holds Tiv traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv, as sad and false.

Ibe said it was disheartening that in this period of intense grief in Benue State, Chief Paul Unongo would choose to level false allegations on the person of Abubakar.

Unongo was the former Chairman, Governing Board of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

Ibe said while Abubakar was proud to be Fulani, he is a thoroughly detribalized Nigerian that would never favour one ethnic group over another.

He recalled that in 2017 during the massive flood in Benue which affected over 100,000 families, Abubakar, donated cash to the Benue Government for the care of the victims.

This is fitting for a man whose Tiv traditional title means the biggest shade of the Tiv people.

It is strange that Chief Paul Unongo chose to neglect that act of love and care from the Waziri Adamawa to the people of Benue.

Not only did the Zege Mule U Tiv make a financial donation, he also called on the Federal Government to do more to assist the flood ravaged communities.

Let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is a Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member.

He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo.

Furthermore, Abubakar enjoins that a thorough investigation be made into the killings in Benue, and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law.

Ibe said that it would be a very sad day when a supposed elder chooses to make mileage of the sufferings of the people of Benue State who have had to endure the impunity of these killings for far too long.

Abubakar, according to Ibe, prayed for the souls of the departed.
The association said this in a statement condemning the killing of over 50 people in Tiv communities in Benue state.

According to Daily Post, NANS spokesman, Comrade Okereafor Bestman Opeyemi described the attack as callous.

Opeyemi who also said it was a barbaric act, added that Fulani herdsmen are a threat to Nigerias democracy.

He said The National Association Of Nigerian Students condemns in all totality the New year herdsmen attack on residents of Benue state, leaving at least 33 people dead and several others injured, thereby causing residents to flee the State to seek refuge in Nasarawa State.

We consider the heartless and cruel activities of the herdsmen as a threat to our democracy, and call on the Presidency to declare the herdsmen as a terrorist group and be treated as such without delay.

NANS condoles with the family, and relatives of affected victims as well as the Benue State government; may God grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, as we call on security agents to take prompt action aimed at bringing the perpetrators to book.

ALSO READ: Benue Protesters charge Buhari to act on killing by Fulani herdsmen

Herdsmen group defends members actions

The umbrella body of Fulani Herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Of Nigeria (MACBAN), while commenting on the incident in Benue state, said that its members were protecting themselves from cattle thieves.

The leader of MACBAN in Benue state, Garu Gololo, in an interview with BBC News Pidgin said that 1000 cows from his members as they were relocating to Taraba state.

Buhari condemns the attacks
The Army on Saturday said 1, 050 insurgents had surrendered to troops in Lake Chad and Monguno general area of operations, as it also warned that many of them are on the run.

The army urged communities to watch out for the fleeing Boko Haram insurgents as their enclaves in Lake Chad region is under intense onslaught.

Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Operation Lafiya Dole, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Maiduguri.

Nwachukwu disclosed that 250 fighters of the Al Barnawi-led faction of the insurgents had surrendered to Nigerian Army, sequel to artillery and aerial bombardments by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole of their enclaves in Lake Chad basin.

He added that 700 insurgents also surrendered to troops at Monguno in an ongoing clearance operation.

The army spokesman noted that some of the insurgents fleeing from the ongoing offensive were senior and junior commanders of the Al Barnawi faction.

The insurgents are attempting to melt into communities in and around Kano, Geidam and Gashua axis unnoticed. One of such fleeing commanders is Bana Bafui.

Members of the general public, particularly in Kano, Geidam, Gashua, Hadejia and northern part of Jigawa State are therefore enjoined to be vigilant, watch out for strange faces in their communities and report same to security agencies.

Nwachukwu called on the insurgents to surrender, adding that the Federal Government has provided a window through the Operation SAFE CORRIDOR to encourage the insurgents voluntary surrender.

ALSO READ: 2 Boko Haram members killed by troops in Borno

He revealed that about 300 insurgents were currently undergoing de-radicalization process for possible integration into the society.

We call on Boko Haram insurgents to abandon the futile struggle; take advantage of the Safe Corridor programme and surrender to troops in any location nearest to them.
The government on Monday rescheduled the curfew hitherto observed between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. to run between Jan. 2 and 6.

A statement by Dr Muhammad Bulama, the Commissioner for Information, said the curfew was extended to Jan. 12.

Bulama said that the curfew was based on strong advice of the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole.

The state government hereby announces the extension of the rescheduled curfew time earlier announced 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day by another one week.

In other words, the prevailing curfew regime is to now last until Friday, 12th January, 2018.

Bulama explained that the action was to avail the Armed Forces sufficient time to complete the on going special operation against Boko Haram terrorists and consolidate on the success so far recorded.

He noted that the state government deeply regretted the inconveniences and difficulties caused to the people by the action.

Bulama stressed that the decision was taken to safeguard the collective security and overall well being of the people.

Government therefore urges all indigenes and residents of Borno State to see this temporary measure as part of necessary sacrifices we all have to make in the interest of peace, stability, development and progress of not only our dear state, but Nigeria as a whole.
Mrs Ejiro Ofondu, States DPR Operations Controller, told newsmen in Yenagoa during the exercise that enforcement was necessary in the efforts to regulate the oil price.

She said the exercise was to compel marketers not to sell the product above the official price of N145.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in Bayelsa apart from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station, along Sani Abacha Express-way that sells at N145 per litre, other stations sell above the official price.

Among the filling stations visited by DPR were Sobaz Filling Station, Ekeki in Yenagoa, was selling at N210 per litre while Ereboter Oil along Swali Road in the state capital was selling at N205.

However, DPR on the visit, enforced the filling stations that were selling above the official pump price to sell at the official price.

Our duty is to regulate pump prices, we are not suppliers and we dont stock oil, she said.

Mr Ere Peters, Manager of Ereboter Oil, explained that he did not buy the product from NNPC.

I bought the petrol from Warri Depot at N198 per litre, so, how can we sell at N145? he lamented.

Also, the General Manager, Ebi Egrin and Sons Nigeria Limited, Mr. Austin Emmanuel advised the government not to quickly enforce price on them but try to know the source of their product.
The DPR Operations Controller in the state, Mallam Ango Haruna, made this disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Gusau.

NAN reports that the committee led by its chairman, Sen. Kabiru Marafa of Zamfara Central, had visited the state last week to monitor fuel scarcity situation in the state.

The committee during the visit, observed that some of the filling stations were selling petrol above government approved price, while some were hoarding and diverting the product.

Haruna said that the committee had directed the DPR to sanction the four filling stations found selling the product above government approved price as well as hoarding it.

Yes, we have the records of the affected filling stations, we will sanction them as directed by the committee at the appropriate time.

You know, we were given directive from the Minister of Petroleum Resources that we should not seal off any filling station at this critical time, and in fact, even the committee chairman reminded me of this directive during the visit.

ALSO READ:6 steps Nigeria should take to prevent fuel scarcity

What we do when we find any filling station selling above government price or hoarding is to force them to revert and make sure that they sell fuel to the public at N145, as approved by the government, he said.
The thugs set the office on fire, as the local government election in Delta state was about to commence today, Saturday, December 6, 2018.

According to reports, the incident occurred following a protest by youths who alleged that result sheets were not included in the voting materials.

Punch also reports that the hoodlums, who dared security operatives, shot indiscriminately into the air, injuring many people.

The Ughelli office of the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) houses sensitive materials, reports say.

How it started

Vanguard reports that an eyewitness said that the trouble started when some opposition party members insisted that they will authenticate the voting materials.

ALSO READ: INEC says card readers will work fine in 2019

Enis Ogegere who was reportedly at the scene of the incident, said: Upon inspection of the materials, we noticed that there were only ballot papers and thumb printing materials excluding result sheets, this was what led to the fracas."

Also a senior police officer at the Delta state A division told newsmen that the situation is being handled, adding that minimal force was used to disperse the crowd.
According to Channels TV, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom also confirmed the incident which reportedly occurred on Saturday, December 6, 2018.

Following the incident, the President General of Mzough U-Tiv, Mr Edward Ujege called on the United Nations and the international community to help the people of Benue.

Ujege said Benue people are law-abiding and have remained so even in the face of frequent armed provoked attack by the herdsmen.

We want any assistance from anywhere in the world to avert the killings in Benue State. And we are calling on the United Nations, United States, European Union, African Union, and any other person to come to our aids.

Benue Governor thanks security operatives

ALSO READ:Police charge 6 Fulani herdsmen suspects to court

According to reports, Governor Ortom also praised security agencies for their prompt response.

He said We appreciate the fact that now we have the massive presence of the police, we have an additional deployment of the military.

They are on ground and deployment is being done; we are also providing logistics to ensure that these do not continue. As at now, over 40,000 people have been displaced and we are still counting.

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris had earlier told newsmen, after a meeting with President Buhari, that the police is working hard to handle the crisis, Channels TV reports.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Benue state, Garus Gololo has defended the attack on Benue communities, saying that his members were protecting themselves from cattle thieves.
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi, who stated this to State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday, said states crime statistics covering the affected months indicated that the state recorded no single case of armed robbery or kidnapping in the months under review.

According to him, an attempt to snatch a vehicle from a citizen sometime this week was however frustrated by a combined team of security agents keeping the peace in the state.

In Kogi State today we have done tremendous work as far as security is concerned.

In the months of November, December and this January, there has not been any single case of armed robbery, kidnapping even mere stealing.

One attempt was made, as I speak the DSS in collaboration with Army and Police have apprehended a particular gang that attempted to snatch a vehicle from a citizen.

The security operatives are collaborating with us, we are spending a lot on security.

So collaboration between the security agencies and understanding by the people, they are giving us a lot of information and we are treating them with utmost secrecy and we are working harmoniously together, he said.

The governor announced that the Fulanis in Kogi were equally collaborating and assisting the security organisations in apprehending criminal elements within and beyond their enclaves.

He said: So we are living very harmoniously with the Fulani herdsmen, farmers and the citizens.

Travellers are safe day and night because anywhere you go you see security operatives and we have even vigilantes, hunters that are equally assisting us in our farms and so many other deserted areas.So, Kogi is very safe.

Bello dismissed social media reports that he gave masquerades N2 million and vehicle each, adding that there was nothing of that nature at all.

I think Im just hearing that for the first time. But let me just tell you that in Kogi State, first we promote culture, two we dont give millions to masquerades.

In our culture Masquerades are ancestors, I dont know how a masquerade will go and spend money? Is it in the grave?

They are supposed to be spirits and I dont know how masquerades will spend money. There is nothing of that nature at all, he said.

On the forthcoming 2019 general election, the governor disclosed that Kogi had already endorsed President Buhari for the presidential election in 2019.

President Buhari is from Daura in Katsina state, but the votes that would come out of Kogi would dwarf that of Katsina state.

Im sure you are following us as we are receiving decampees from PDP and all other political parties.

And any time we hold any decamping rally in any local government you will see the mammoth crowd that will turn out.

So Kogi State has already endorsed President Buhari for second term, we are just waiting for the time to come.
Nigerias power sector is often a case study in erratic output. But Tuesdays was so bad, every home in the country had no power as the grid caved in.

It was a national blackout arriving just hours after President Muhammadu Buhari touted his administrations gains in the power sector in his New Year message.

If the light in your area just went out, please retweet,Pulse Managing Editor, Ayomide Tayo, tweeted at exactly 9:38pm on the second day of the new year.

Within minutes, retweets bordering on power outage on a national scale, were clogging dark timelines.

Power was restored in some homes around midnight, but most parts of Nigeria havent seen a flicker of light from the grid since the nationwide blackout.

We havent had public power in Bariga since it happened, blogger Olubayo Paul told

Fatimah Oyelami said; ours was restored around midnight, but went off soon after.

Loool, Nigerias power grid just collapsed. Welcome to 2018, tweeted Joachim McEbong.

"It's shocking that we are shocked that there is no electricity", tweeted Dijaji Prime.

One respondent described lights dimming before everywhere went pitch black--a picture painted by thousands of other respondents.

It was also exactly how it played out in this writers apartment.

Fire incident

The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing says the national outage was caused by a fire incident which blew up gas pipelines feeding power plants.

Regrettably, after a sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since Sept 2017 to date, the Nigerian Gas Processing Transportation Company Ltd has reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State on Tue, 2nd Jan, 2018.

The incident requires a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320MW; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW, Olorunsogo 338MW, Omotosho NIPP 450MW, Omotosho 338 MW and Paras 60MW power stations.

The sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 20:20 on 2nd January 2018. The national transmission grid is owned and operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Most of Nigeria's power generation is from thermal power stations that require gas for fuel. The gas is produced by oil and gas companies overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

The gas is delivered to the power stations through pipelines owned and operated by Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC), a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

TCN and the generation companies are working to restore operation of the national grid.

Once the national grid is restored, output from the hydroelectric power stations and all other unaffected gas fired thermal power stations will be increased to the extent possible to minimize the impact of loss of generation from the affected power stations.
He said the call became necessary owing to the need for the people of the area to return to their farms.

According to him, the security challenges in the area are having a negative impact on the way of life of the people.

The people of Takad, Kagoro and Atyap chiefdoms are still battling with security challenges which if not checked would find their way back into our land.

On education, he said although the disengagement of teachers in the state was with a view to reshaping the sector, a sizable number of teachers from the community were affected with many of them still struggling to come to terms with.

He, therefore, urged the state government to review its recruitment arrangements so that it would be able to re-absorb a significant number of disengaged indigenes of the community.

On agriculture, he urged the government to support the community to enable it to improve on the already high yielding crop varieties they were producing.

He identified such high-yielding crops as rice, ginger, groundnuts, Irish potatoes, soya beans, and Yam, among others.
Wike made the allegation when the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau (Rtd) paid him a courtesy call in Port Harcourt.

He stated that the security agencies in the state had knowledge of the cult kingpins terrorizing flashpoints in the state.

The security agencies have the profiles of all cult kingpins in different parts of the state and they know their locations, there is no wisdom in the politicization of security.

Insecurity can affect anybody, you can never know the next victim of insecurity, the governor stated.

Wike called on the security agencies and the Federal Government to deploy personnel to cult flashpoints in the state to stop repeated attacks by cultists.

In every system, the security agencies know the flashpoints, here we requested for the strengthening of security around these flashpoints, especially areas with high prevalence of cultists.

I expect that security would be beefed up in these places, I ask this question, Is there an orchestrated plan to tag Rivers State unsafe?

Is the situation above the security agencies, despite the information we have made available to them? the governor asked.

He accused oil multinationals for the escalation of cultism in some communities, adding that the multinationals had encouraged cultism through the award of surveillance contracts to cultists.

Wike lamented that having been funded by multinationals, cultists were able to purchase sophisticated weapons with which they caused mayhem on communities and law-abiding citizens.

He disclosed that the State Government had made several requests to the Inspector-General of Police to deploy special squads to tackle cultism and kidnapping in Rivers.

The governor stated that the Inspector-General of Police had failed to deploy special squads to the state, despite several requests by the State government.

The peculiar nature of Rivers State requires peculiar intervention, before now, I have been shouting that we need support to fight crime, I have made this complaint severally, he said.

Wike berated politicians who had wanted to adopt cult-related killings to play politics by making false allegations against the state.

Earlier, the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Danbazzau noted that he was in the State at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari to assess the security situation.

The Minister on behalf of the President, condoled the government and the people of the State over the killings at Omoku.

Rivers State is important to the country, particularly when it comes to the issue of the nations economy.
Addressing journalists at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa after observing Jumaat prayers on Friday, January 5, 2018, Bello disclosed that "Kogi state has already endorsed President Buharis reelection in 2019."

He noted that the votes from Kogi state would be far more than that from President Buharis home state, Katsina.

Im sure you are following us as we are receiving decampees from the and all other political parties, Bello said.

And any time we hold any decamping rally in any local government area you will see the mammoth crowd that turns out.

So, Kogi State has already endorsed President Buhari for second term. We are just waiting for the time to come. You are going to see the votes that will come out of Kogi State. It will dwarf that of Katsina State I can assure you, he announced.

Is Kogi state owing workers salary?

The governor denied the allegation of him owing workers salaries.

His words: "In Kogi State today we are up to date as far as salary is concerned. In the month of December like Mr. President magnanimously assisted us with another tranche of Paris Club Refund, our own figure was N1.2 billion and some other change on top.

ALSO READ: Kogi Governor says 16b was used to clear salary arrears

We didnt just stop at that, we borrowed up to N10 billion and we added November/December allocation to our figures and we were able to clear four months at a stretch before Christmas and some left over were cleared before this January in Kogi State.

As you all know the salary was very bogus and according to the figure we had we were able to distribute it among these months.

Moving forward from this January, we have decided that we are going to make use of our clock-in device for every civil servant in Kogi State both at local and state levels. So that as you come to work and clock-in, that is exactly how your salary will end up being generated.

It is online; it is automated so nobody is going to cheat anybody. That is how we are going to go in the state so Kogi state civil servants and pensioners will be happy with this administration, he declared.
"The suspect whose initials are MH was arrested a few days ago in Cyprus following an international arrest warrant" from Pristina, Kosovan police spokesman Baki Kelani told AFP.

Harel has been hunted by the authorities for almost a decade for exploiting victims, often recruited from poor areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, by promising 15,000 euros ($18,000) for their organs.

Recipients, mainly Israelis, would pay up to 100,000 euros for the transplant.

The organ trafficking network came to light in 2008 after a Turkish man collapsed at Pristina airport after having a kidney removed.

Police raided the Medicus clinic, which shut following the scandal.

In 2013, an EU-led court in Kosovo sentenced five Kosovan doctors to up to eight years in prison for organ trafficking in the country.

Donors, whose organs were illegally removed, were left without proper medical care and treated "like waste," prosecutors said at the time of the trial.

The Supreme Court of Kosovo annulled the verdict in 2016 and ordered a new trial, which is ongoing.
It is "approximately two billion worth of equipment and coalition support funding that is in play," the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The source added that "all options are on the table" when it comes to further moves, including stripping Pakistan of its status as a "major non-NATO ally" or calling in vital IMF loans.

After more than a decade of simmering US anger at Islamabad's links with the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network -- a Taliban affiliate -- the Trump administration is trying to draw a line in the sand.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," Trump tweeted on New Year's Day.

"They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

On the hook is almost $1 billion of US military equipment that has allowed Pakistan access to advanced military technology, but also funding that is meant to pay Pakistan for helping to get US and NATO material into Afghanistan.

Analysts believe the United States is highly unlikely to freeze all that funding, which, according to the source, totals $1.9 billion.

US officials have already indicated that there could be "exemptions" for programs deemed vital to US national security -- likely including cash for keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons safe.

But nevertheless, the total figure of $1.9 billion is much higher than first indicated and is a signal of Washington's seriousness.

"We are still working with Pakistan and we would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us," said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Hackles in Islamabad

Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against homegrown Islamist groups, and says it has lost thousands of lives and spent billions of dollars in its long war on extremism.

But US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with groups that attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.

The White House believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

It also believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war in Afghanistan -- now entering its 17th year -- by weakening the Taliban militarily and forcing the organization to the negotiating table.

"Unless we deal with the Pakistan sanctuary issue, it will undermine all of our other efforts in Afghanistan," the senior official said. "We can no longer accept Pakistan's dual policies of fighting some terrorists while supporting others."

In September last year, the US suspended $255 million in funding to help Pakistan buy high-tech weaponry from American manufacturers.

Now, the Defense Department has been instructed to stop making payments from "coalition support funds" set aside to refund Pakistani spending on counter-terrorist operations.

The rhetoric has raised hackles in Islamabad and fears the row could undermine Pakistan's support for US operations in Afghanistan.

The announcement ignited some small protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan where several hundred people gathered to chant anti-US slogans.

"We don't need any type of aid. Almighty Allah is with us and he is giving us everything," protester Mohammad Saleem told AFP, adding that he had a message for President Donald Trump: "Don't threaten us."

But Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a cautious statement in which it said it was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

Without referring to the decision directly, it warned that "arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats."

Afghanistan welcomes move

US officials admit that Pakistan could make life difficult for Washington by closing land routes that are vital to supply US troops in Afghanistan. This year's fighting season will begin again within months.

But, the official said, it was "difficult but not impossible" to find other ways to get equipment in, and the US was also worried about its credibility if it continues to fund a country harboring America's enemies.

The move, which US officials had hinted at for months, was greeted optimistically in Afghanistan.

"We have been saying for years that neighboring Pakistan is providing safe haven to terrorist groups, and they were also funding the terrorist groups," Nasrat Rahim, deputy interior ministry spokesman, told reporters in Kabul.

On Thursday, the US State Department also tweeted that it has placed deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan on a special watch list for severe violations of religious freedom.
On Dec. 18, 2017, Amtrak 501, the first Cascades passenger train operating over the Point Defiance Bypass in Washington State, careened off the rails as it entered a 30-mph speed-restricted curve at 80 mph. The investigations into the accidents cause may take a year, even two.

Meanwhile, unless something changes, FRA Safety Advisory 2015-03, Operational and Signal Modifications for Compliance with Maximum Authorized Passenger Train Speed and Other Speed Restrictions, which is intended to prevent these kinds of incidents and save lives, remains as the latest line of defense put forward by the rail industrys regulator, the Federal Railroad Administration. Clearly, things went terribly wrong. However well-intended, SA 2015-03 failed to prevent yet another passenger train experiencing an overspeed derailment.

SA 2015-03 was issued following the overspeed derailment of Amtrak 188 on the Northeast Corridor at Frankford Curve in Philadelphia. Investigators will, eventually, determine what circumstances and factors caused 501 to derail. The question that should concern us all, in the meantime: If rail industry rules and practices following SA 2015-03 failed to prevent the derailment of 188 and 501, whats to prevent yet another fatal derailment?

The big problem with FRA Safety Advisories is that they simply recommend that railroads undertake safety-risk mitigation actions outline in the advisory. FRA has no statutory authority to force compliance. So, what did SA 2015-03 recommend, and how did the parties involved in this train service respond?

SA 2015-03 recommended that all passenger and host railroads (paraphrased here): 1) Review a previous FRA SA on the importance of compliance with maximum authorized speeds; 2) Review the circumstances surrounding the 188 derailment; 3) Identify all locations that require speed reductions of more than 20 mph; 4) Make sure that any on-board speed enforcement technology is operable and able to enforce speed restriction compliance; 5) If there are no on-board speed enforcement technologies, require a second qualified crew member in the cab of the controlling locomotive, or that there is constant communication between the engineer and another crewmember in the body of the train; 6) Install additional wayside signage to alert engineers and conductors of maximum authorized speeds.

We do not know with certainty that Amtrak and Sound Transit (owner of 14.5-mile Point Defiance Bypass, the former BNSF Lakeview Subdivision) complied with 1 and 2, in the context of this train service. It appears they complied with 3, because a wayside speed restriction sign was in place, in advance of the incident curve, as recommended in item 6. That leaves us with 4 and 5. Many, if not all, Amtrak passenger locomotives are equipped with some form of Automatic Train Control (ATC) equipment that functions much like Positive Train Control (PTC). If these Amtrak locomotives had operable ATC equipment, a small investment in track circuitry on the Point Defiance Bypass by Sound Transit would have triggered the ATC system, stopping the train and preventing the derailment.

Amtrak installed ATC track circuitry on Frankford Curve after the 188 derailment. Would it not have been prudent for all the parties involved in the Point Defiance Bypass project to consider the safety risk associated with failing to install ATC track circuitry on the incident curve, before revenue passenger service began? That leaves us with item 5. According to the NTSB, the second person in the cab of the controlling locomotive was a conductor who was not yet qualified on the territory. This is very important, because an unqualified second person in the control cab represents a threat, a distraction, rather than a train speed compliance asset.

An even more striking example of the inadequacy of rail industry practices and FRA Safety Advisories to prevent human-factor-caused train collisions and derailments is SA 2004-04, Effect of Sleep Disorders on Safety of Railroad Operations. In it, FRA recommended several measures railroads should undertake to prevent train collisions caused by untreated sleep apnea. That SA was preceded by three head-on freight train collisions, attributed to untreated sleep apnea, and followed by four others, to date. Ten engineers and conductors perished in those accidents; eight others suffered non-fatal injuries. And, in spite of that SA, the engineers at the controls of three different commuter trains that recently derailed in the New York metropolitan area (one each on Metro-North, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road), killing five and injuring more than 250, have all been diagnosed with severe OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) after the derailments occurred. NTSB has already determined that untreated OSA was the probable cause of one of these derailments, Metro-Norths Spuyten Duyvil Curve wreck, and will soon issue its findings on the other two.

Train crew fatigue and medical fitness-for-duty, including untreated OSA, have wrought death and destruction across the railroad industry for years. In recent years, at least 21 engineers and conductors working for freight railroads have lost their lives in train collisions caused by fatigue/OSA and other medical fitness-for-duty issues. Many more have suffered non-fatal injuries. Yet FRA has failed to take effective actions to address these well-known and well-documented safety risks. How is it, in light of all these deaths and injuries, that FRA has not taken action to impose medical fitness-for-duty standards, which would include fatigue and OSA, on the nations railroads? What more will it take?

In 2016, FRA took a small step forward on OSA when it joined the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) entitled Evaluation of Safety Sensitive Personnel for Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea. A year and a half later, in August of 2017, it published a notice in the Federal Register withdrawing that proposed rulemaking, stating as follows: The Agencies believe that current safety programs and FRAs rulemaking addressing fatigue risk management are the appropriate avenues to address OSA.

Really?

In that notice, FRA cites three things it has or will do to address safety risks associated with untreated OSA/medical fitness-for-duty problems:

 FRA had previously issued two Safety Advisories on OSA/medical fitness-for-duty. Many (most freight) railroads have failed to respond effectively to those advisories, and FRA has no statutory authority to compel them to do so.

 FRAs knowledge that several railroads are in the process of initiating OSA diagnostics and treatment programs and their intention to monitor those programs in search of best practices. This offers no immediate, or even timely, relief from the safety risks associated untreated OSA/medical fitness-for-duty issues.

 The Risk Reduction Plan (RRP) provisions in the 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA). Who are they kidding? According to the RSIA, RRPs were supposed to be submitted to the DOT Secretary/FRA by October 2012. Five years hence, not one single RRP has been submitted, much less approved and implemented. According to the FRA website, FRA hoped to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Risk Reduction Programs in early 2017. It has missed that self-imposed deadline as well.

Not to be presumptuous, but also not willing to go quietly into retirement, here are two viable options for FRA to undertake to address these safety risks:

 Re-open the rulemaking on OSA and move it through the regulatory process as fast as possible. This is a sub-optimal solution, since the public would remain at risk for whatever period of time is needed to complete and implement a regulatory solution.

 Should the NTSB find that sleep apnea was the probable cause of the NJ Transit Hoboken Terminal and/or the Long Island Rail Road Atlantic Terminal platform overruns, the timing would be right for FRA to issue an Emergency Order (EO) on OSA. Both the FAA and FMCSA have existing standards and protocols on OSA/medical fitness-for-duty that could serve as a pattern for an EO, protecting the public and railroad workers until a regulation is finalized and implemented.

There is recent precedence for such an action. Subsequent to the Metro-North Spuyten Duyvil derailment, FRA issue EO-29 ten days later on Dec. 11, 2013, stating in part,  FRA finds that the recent December 1, 2013, accident on Metro-North and the lack of overspeed protection in place on Metro-Norths system created an emergency situation involving a hazard of death  At the time that EO was issued, FRA did not know, nor had NTSB concluded, that the engineers untreated OSA was the probable cause of the derailment. EO-29 outlined several measures Metro-North must undertake immediately to address the lack of overspeed protection on its system. Had FRA known at the time it issued EO-29 that untreated OSA was the probable cause of the Spuyten Duyvil derailment, it could have, and should have, included OSA risk mitigation in the EO. Should NTSB find OSA to be the probable cause of one or both of the other commuter train derailments, an EO on OSA would be the optimal solution for mitigating the safety risks associated with untreated OSA, because risk mitigation measures could be implemented in a very short period of time.

Enough is enough. It is time for FRA to recognize that Safety Advisories are inadequate for protecting and public and rail worker safety. It must exercise its statutory authority to issue Emergency Orders, forcing the railroad industry to take measures to deal with speed restriction compliance and sleep apnea, unless and until adequate regulations can be finalized and implemented.
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'No one really knows whether it is somehow better to go raging and fighting into the dark night, or close one's eyes quietly and give in to fate.'

'But a funeral with music, tinsel and acceptance -- not unlike most New Year festivities -- seems like a better send-off than any other,' says Geetanjali Krishna.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

As 2017 drew to a close, social media recapped the year -- and people -- gone by. As I read about Shashi Kapoor, Tom Alter, Glen Campbell, Hugh Hefner and others who passed away last year, I am struck by how medical our reporting (and understanding) of death has become.

It is almost as if it weren't for cardiac arrest, cancer, or stroke, people would not die at all.

Modern medicine has somehow made us all think of death as being, in some way, a failure to survive, rather than an inevitable reality.

So amid reports of famous personalities who lost 'heroic battles' against a host of maladies, I find my mind straying to Rakesh Kumar's father, a small farmer in a small village in Madhya Pradesh.

When he died in early December at the ripe old age of 85 while visiting his son in Delhi, his funeral had the neighbours agog.

Kumar and his brothers had decorated his bier with streamers and tinsel, and hired a band to lead the funeral procession.

"Our neighbours here -- all migrants from across the country -- had never experienced a funeral like this, as you can imagine," said Kumar, who, as the eldest son, performed all the rituals and ceremonies.

They thought it was strange for a death to be celebrated in this fashion. But Kumar's family, who came to Delhi to pay their last respects to the departed soul, had a different take on this.

"When someone dies of natural causes in our family, we think of that person having completed his time on earth, as we all will someday," said he. "And especially when an old person who has discharged all his earthly duties dies, we believe that celebrations rather than mourning are in order."

Much to the mystification of the neighbours, used to more conventional funerary practices, Kumar and his family were melancholy, but not overtly so.

"We would all sit together till late at night, reminiscing about the old days, singing old songs and our neighbours commented that ours didn't seem like a house where a death had taken place," he said.

Kumar's philosophy did seem unusual, I commented. In his family, he rebutted, death, especially in old age, was accepted as a natural and inevitable part of life.

Perhaps till not so long ago, mortality rates were much higher than they are now, I said, so natural death due to old age was considered (and celebrated) as an achievement.

He rubbished this conjecture as well. "Nobody can escape death, even if he has access to the world's best medical facilities," said he.

"What's the use of crying over something that can't be avoided?" Kumar told me that many neighbours were also surprised when he said he hadn't found out the eventual cause of his father's death.

"We had taken him to hospital because he had developed fever and wasn't eating," he said. "Eventually, he died because his time had come -- the actual medical causes didn't really matter to us."

Consequently, today, although Kumar and his family are grieving the loss of their patriarch, their stoic acceptance of his death seems far removed from the battle modern science is waging against mortality.

No one really knows whether it is somehow better to go raging and fighting into the dark night, or close one's eyes quietly and give in to fate.

But a funeral with music, tinsel and acceptance -- not unlike the tempus fugit undertone of most New Year festivities -- seems like a better send-off than any other.
Police has denied permission for a public gathering to be addressed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Sindkhed Raja in Maharashtra's Buldhana on January 12, citing 'difficulty in crowd management', a senior police official said on Saturday.

Kejriwal was slated to address a public gathering during the 'Jijau Janmotsav Sohla' to be held at Sindkhed Raja in Buldhana district of Vidarbha.

"Earlier, Kejriwal was to have a 'darshan' of Jijamata on January 12. However, a public gathering to be addressed by him was scheduled at a particular place in Sindkhed Raja and the permission to hold it was rejected by the police," Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar Meena told PTI.

"The police declined permission for the public gathering citing difficulty in crowd management," he said.

Jijabai or Jijau is the mother of 17th century Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji and a function to mark her birth anniversary is held every year at Sidkhed Raja.

The event is organised every year on January 11 and 12 and lakhs of people throng to Sidhkhed Raja for a 'darshan' of Jijau.

Four to five lakh people are expected at Sidkhed Raja this year, the police official said.

Meena, however, said Kejriwal is permitted to take 'darshan' of Jijabai.

The public address of Kejriwal was organised by 'Samvidhan Morcha'.

"We had requested the organisers of Kejiwal's event to hold the programme away from the main venue in Sindhkhed Raja tehsil as the spot decided by them would have created problems for crowd management at the main venue (of 'Jijau Janmotsav Sohla')," the police official noted.
While the Pune police has registered a case against Jignesh Mevani for a 'provocative speech', Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the Gujarat MLA was not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district on January 1.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader, said there was tension in the area even prior to the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1.

Dalits visiting the war memorial at Bhima-Koregaon had reportedly come under attack on January 1.

Dalit leaders had blamed certain pro-Hindutva leaders, who were opposed to the anniversary celebrations, for the attacks, while the latter sought to blame Mevani's 'provocative speech', which was delivered a day earlier.

"Jignesh is not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon. There was tension in the area prior to January 1. I had visited the place and the tension had eased. So, I had returned to Delhi on December 31.

"On the same day, Jignesh had delivered his speech at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune. He had not gone to Bhima-Koregaon. Some groups had held a meeting at night and the violence took place on January 1," the Union minister of state for social justice said.

"I have congratulated Jignesh on his assembly election victory. It is good that a young, fresh Dalit face is emerging. My advice to him is that he should focus on uniting the society and not dividing it," said Athawale, who heads a faction of the Republican Party of India.

On Mevani's demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the January 1 anti-Dalit violence, Athawale said, "It is not necessary that the prime minister should comment on every development. After the Una incident (where Dalits were assaulted by cow vigilantes), Modi had criticised it."

Fadnavis had assured him that those responsible for the Bhima-Koregaon violence would be punished and accepted his demand of compensation for those whose properties were damaged, the Union minister said.

Athawale also said he was going to organise a 'social harmony conference' in Pune on January 13.

Referring to a demand put forward by some leaders of the Maratha community, he said he was open to a debate on the 'misuse' of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If Dalits and tribals were treated with respect, there would not be any need for such a law, Athawale said, while ruling out the possibility of its abolition at present.

The January 3 Maharashtra shutdown against the Bhima-Koregaon violence had put the Dalit community's strength in focus, the Union minister said.

"If Dalits can come together to voice their anger, the RPI factions can also do so to lend political strength to the community," he added.

He was ready to work under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar (who had called for the Maharashtra Bandh on January 3), Athawale said, adding, "United, we can decide if we should contest elections independently or align with the BJP or the Congress."

The Pune police has lodged an FIR against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged provocative speeches during the 'Elgar Parishad', organised in the city on December 31 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

The FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code section 153(a) (promoting enmity between two groups).

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory over the Peshwa's army at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces.

The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.

IMAGE: Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani arrives to address a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
India wants to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security and shared prosperity, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday as she called for a deeper economic integration with the dynamic Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.

Swaraj, who inaugurated the 5th Round Table of ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks in Jakarta, emphasised on enhancing maritime security, trade and investment, education and cultural heritage among the grouping.

"These are important markers in our engagement with South East Asia, in enhancing our strategic ties with ASEAN across 3 Cs. These 3Cs are commerce, connectivity and culture," she said.

Swaraj, who arrived in Jakarta on Friday from Thailand on the second leg of her three-nation tour, said both India and ASEAN countries are maritime nations, with a rich and glorious history of maritime trade.

We have energised our ancient links in a contemporary setting, to become a driving force in Asia's resurgence, she said.

As a mature and responsible nation, one of Indias foreign policy interests, is to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security, and shared prosperity, she said.

This was enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, in his vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region). It recognises the central role played by the seas and oceans around us in promoting sustainable economic progress in a secure and stable environment.

She said the Indo Pacific region is increasingly seen as a connectivity pathway -- much of the worlds trade passes through these oceans.

"These waters must not only get better connected, but remain free from traditional and non-traditional threats that impede free movement of people, goods and ideas. Respect for international law, notably UNCLOS, in ensuring this is, therefore imperative," she said.

She said India and ASEAN share a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain and New Delhi looks forward to working closely with the grouping in a range of activities.

She called for cooperation in blue economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She noted that a deeper economic integration with the dynamic ASEAN region, is an important aspect of India's Act East Policy.

ASEAN is India's 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of Indias total trade.

India is ASEAN's 7th largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 per cent increase in 2016-17, as compared to the previous year.

She said India wants to promote dialogue among ASEAN and Indian business and trade associations to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

She invited the scholars, academics and think tanks present at the round table to offer new ideas, for a greater integration of ASEAN Economic Community with India and identify collaborative opportunities in investment, trade and services sector.

Swaraj also held talks with ASEAN Secretary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi as India steps up efforts to strengthen engagements with the countries of the region under its 'Act East' policy.

New Delhi will host a commemorative summit on January 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and the ASEAN in which all the leaders of the grouping are expected to participate.

ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

She also addressed the Indian Community at a reception held in her honour in Jakarta.

Swaraj on Friday held talks with her Indonesian counterpart Marsudi and the two sides reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations.

Swaraj is now in Singapore where she will inaugurate the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) of ASEAN countries on Sunday.

Her three-nation visit is part of New Delhi's efforts to hold bilateral interactions in various sectors with countries of the South East Asian region within the framework of India's 'Act East' policy.

IMAGE: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj holds talks with ASEAN Secretary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, right, and her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, left, in Jakarta on Saturday. Photograph: Courtesy @MEAIndia/Twitter
The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) is asking individuals across the state to take part in this years largest national data collection event on homelessness, set for Tuesday, Jan. 23. The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is an important annual exercise to estimate the total number of homeless individuals on a given night across Connecticut and the country.

Volunteers participating in the Point-in-Time count have the opportunity to participate in the fight to end homelessness in a meaningful way. The PIT is required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop the data crucial to assessing the success of current programs, progress made nationally in the fight to end homelessness, and to determine future resource allocations for the upcoming year.

For those experiencing homelessness, the count offers a chance for them to connect with volunteer surveyors who can record their needs, and add them to community registries for housing resources and toward the services and supports that that can end their homelessness.

Connecticuts 2017 Point-in-Time Count showed substantial progress in efforts to end homelessness, with overall homelessness in Connecticut is down 24 percent compared to 2007 and chronic homelessness down by 11 percent from 2016.

This year the state will once again be using mobile technology for gathering PIT Data. Canton, MA based Simtech Solutions developed the Counting Us mobile app which volunteers can download for free from Google Play or the App Store. The app uses the built in GPS functionality found within most smart phones and tablets to identify the location of the interaction with a person or family experiencing homelessness.

The surveys within the app collect demographic information along with details on any circumstances that are making it difficult for them to find and maintain housing. The survey information is submitted throughout the night of the count to a regional command center. In previous years, we would make due on the night of the count using a small army of volunteers who are sent out into the streets with stacks of paper forms, said Brian Roccapriore, HMIS Director for CCEH which oversees the count. This is our third year using the mobile app, and we know from experience that it improves accuracy and timeliness of the data, as well as countless hours of data entry.

Volunteering to participate in the PIT allows peoppe to be part of Connecticuts historic progress built from the community support, great partnerships, and reliable up-to-date data that powers efforts to end homelessness. Connecticut was the second state to end veteran homelessness as of 2016.

This year the Point-in-Time Count will be followed by the 2018 CT Youth Count, a week-long event to count all of the sheltered and unsheltered homeless youth and young adults age 24 and below in the state on a given night. Volunteers can participate during the dates and times convenient to their schedule and be trained to administer the surveys in their communities.

The success of the Point-in-Time Count and 2018 CT Youth Count depends on the participation of volunteers. CCEH is asking individuals from across the state to join the effort Tuesday, January 23.

To learn more or to volunteer for the 2018 Point-In-Time count visit http://cceh.org/pit/ct-pit-2018/ or contact Jackie Janosko at jjanosko@cceh.org. To learn more about the 2018 Youth Count visit http://cceh.org/youth-count/.
Best Brexcity London confounds doom-mongers to be crowned Europes top tech investment city

Output in big boost



By Tracey Boles



WORKERS gave the economy a timely boost  with the biggest rise in output for six years.



Productivity in the UK increased 0.9 per cent during the third quarter of 2017, with manufacturing and financial services leading the way.



It is more good news for Chancellor Philip Hammond following a stronger than expected performance in the dominant services sector.

The capital had more technology money pour in than the rest of the top ten combined, including Paris, Dublin and BerlinBy Harry Cole, Westminster Correspondent6th January 2018The SunLONDON beat every other EU city to be crowned tech investment champion of 2017 despite the move to Brexit.The capital had more technology money pour in than the rest of the top ten combined, including Paris, Dublin and Berlin.Despite dire referendum warnings that they would leave, tech firms in London attracted 2.45billion in venture capital funding in 2017.This was almost 80 per cent of the 2.99billion invested in Britain as a whole, according to funding database PitchBook.British firms had almost four times the funding of German rivals. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called it further proof London is the undisputed tech capital of Europe and I am committed to ensuring we take over from Silicon Valley as the worlds leading tech hub.Digital Minister Matt Hancock said it was excellent news. He added: The UKs tech sector is leading the world, creating high value jobs, and that is something we should all celebrate.Eileen Burbidge, partner at investment firm Passion Capital, said it was no surprise to see London  and Britain  leading the pack.She said it has the talent and investor capital needed.Financial technology was the most popular sector for investors, attracting a record 1.34billion in venture capital, the data, compiled for London & Partners, showed.London investors Hoxton Ventures, who pumped money into hit app Deliveroo, said: London is the place where US and global investors come as their first port of call.
Outgoing Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, who underwent emergency heart surgery on Tuesday, is making tremendous progress in his recuperation at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, according to the speakers office.

He is awake, talking with family, and most importantly, making everyone laugh again, said Matthew Moran, a spokesman for Howell.

Doctors are providing positive reports and he expects to move out of the intensive care unit over the weekend. The speaker and Cessie, Howells wife of 50 years, would like to thank the entire team at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg for their professionalism and care, Moran said.

And though it will be a while longer before they receive guests, the speaker and Cessie are eternally grateful for the love, support, and prayers from across the commonwealth.

Howell, 74, had emergency heart surgery Tuesday night after suffering chest pains.

Howell announced in February that he would not seek re-election, but would retire this year after 30 years in the House. He served as House speaker for the past 15 years and is preparing to end his career as the second-longest-serving speaker in state history.

Republicans headed into the Nov. 7 election with a 66-34 majority, but Democrats flipped 15 House seats in a wave election, reducing the GOP edge to 51-49.

One of the closely fought contests was to succeed Howell in the 28th District. Republican Bob Thomas was certified as the victor over Democrat Joshua Cole by 73 votes, but nearly 150 voters cast ballots in the wrong district.

On Friday night in Alexandria, a federal judge refused to issue an injunction overturning Thomass victory, clearing the way for Thomas to be seated Wednesday and further solidifying the GOP majority.

House Republicans plan to elect Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, as the new speaker when the legislature convenes on Wednesday to begin a 60-day session.
The search for a pair of local men who went missing after setting out Wednesday across the James River for a duck blind continued this weekend. But the operation has shifted from rescue to recovery amid diminishing hopes that they could have survived the frigid weather that has gripped the area.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is leading the search for Brian Austin Savage, 20, of Henrico, and Kyle Englehart, 29, of Charles City County, who took a 16-foot jon boat out Wednesday night from the Jamestown Yacht Basin off the Colonial Parkway near Historic Jamestowne.

Savage is a maintenance worker at Varina High School, said Henrico County Public Schools spokesman Andy Jenks.

Austin is a valued member of the Varina High School maintenance team, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of both men as the search continues, Jenks said.

An overturned vessel that matched the description of their boat was found Thursday, said Lee Walker, a spokesman for the department, which is being assisted by the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and first responders from James City and York counties, among other agencies. The U.S. Coast Guard participated in the search until it shifted into a recovery phase Friday, Walker said.

As a winter storm bore down on the region last week, Walker said the men are believed to have set out to check on a duck blind.

This is being treated as a boating accident, not a hunting accident, Walker said. Duck hunters are used to some fairly heavy-duty weather. In this case it was obviously pretty rough out there.

Walker said ice on the river is hampering the search, though the departments boats are equipped with sophisticated sonar to help search below frozen portions of the surface.

According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the James River near Jamestown was about 36.4 degrees on Wednesday. At those temperatures, hypothermia can set in rapidly, Walker said.
Cass County deputies are investigating a possible armed road rage incident occurring Jan. 5 in Louisville.

According to a Cass County Sheriffs Office press release, the victims were driving south on Highway 50 near Riha Road in Sarpy County when a dark-colored vehicle drove up behind them and tried to pass in a no-passing zone. The driver of the other vehicle tailgated their car and started flashing the vehicles high beams at them and directing a green laser at the victims rearview mirror.

The suspects vehicle turned south onto Walnut Street in Louisville and the male driver of that vehicle displayed a handgun and yelled threatening comments before driving away. His vehicle was last seen driving south on Main Street.

The victim was only able to provide a partial license plate number.

No one was injured but the incident is still under investigation.
Joseph B. Richter, who was born in Richmond and later became the first non-Japanese president of home and car audio maker Kenwood USA Corp., has died.

Mr. Richter was 70 and died at his home in Newport Coast, Calif., on Dec. 30 after several years battling various respiratory issues.

Mr. Richter, a 1965 graduate of what is now Benedictine College Preparatory, spent 21 years with Kenwood, where he was president from 1993 to 2002. Kenwood USA is the U.S. sales and marketing arm of Japan-based Kenwood Corp. and is a leading seller of car stereos and home audio components.

He is someone who is eager to excel, William Kasuga, who helped found Kenwood in 1961, said about Mr. Richter in a 2000 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He has the insight and the vision.

Kasuga hired Mr. Richter as a sales representative in 1981. He rose through the ranks at Kenwood as national sales manager, director of sales and vice president before being named president.

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Arlington-based Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that puts on the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said Mr. Richter was an influential industry leader. Mr. Richter had served several years on the associations board of directors.

Joe was a great supporter of our association and a passionate advocate for audio technology, Shapiro said in a statement. Joe helped lead the consumer technology industry into the digital audio era, championing a quality audio experience while promoting the many benefits of digital. Joe also was a true gentleman and strong leader, always ready with a smile, a hearty laugh and a desire to find compromise among competing voices.

Mr. Richters daughter, Stephanie N. Richter of Los Angeles, said her father was a hard worker and was driven to success.

People thought he was larger than life. He was very charismatic and charming, she said about her father. He was such a great mentor. He affected a lot of peoples lives.

During his senior year at Benedictine, Mr. Richter became a captain in the corps of cadets, a position reserved for a handful of upperclassmen of the all-male military high school.

That was my first experience with leadership, Mr. Richter said in the 2000 article in The Times-Dispatch. I learned so much at Benedictine that I have always felt comfortable in a leadership position. Benedictine gave me the inspiration to go on and do all kinds of things.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966 and served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, being honorably discharged as a first lieutenant.

In 1969, Mr. Richter took a job at what later became Circuit City to support himself during his years while attending Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned a bachelors degree in marketing in 1974.

After leaving Kenwood in 2002, Mr. Richter was named president and CEO of the U.S. subsidiary of audio and video manufacturer Akai Electric Co. Two years later, he founded 3D Inc., a consumer electronics consulting firm.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife, Ellen Best-Richter of Newport Coast, Calif.; sons Joseph B. Joey Richter III of Seattle and Brandon S. Best of Newport Coast, Calif.; three sisters, Sandra R. Claytor of Chesterfield County, Sharon R. Williams of Richmond, and Susan R. Brooks of West Virginia; and a brother, Stephen K. Richter of Hanover County.
President Trump issued a remarkable National Security Strategy document before Christmas that gives guidance to his administration for the next three years. Its focus is on U.S. national interests in a dangerous world.

The strategy asserts that Four vital, national security interests  organized as the strategys four pillars  form the backbone of this commitment. They are: (1) Protect the homeland and its people. (2) Promote American prosperity and the free-market system. (3) Preserve peace through strength in the world. (4) Advance American influence and values. The paper adds: The NSS and its four themes are guided by a return to principled realism (emphasis added).

Donald Trump regularly proclaims an emphasis on America first in his foreign policy, and critics charge that hes promoting an isolationist view. The NSS argues that putting America first in dealings with other countries does not mean withdrawal from the world; instead, it asserts that for too long the United States let its concern about other countries views on international agreements, especially trade, cloud its vision of what is best for Americans.

If we acknowledge that these pillars of national interest guide Trumps decisions, how should we assess his performance during the first year? Lets review his two top priorities:

Protect the homeland and its people. Trumps willingness to confront North Koreas nuclear menace is a major change in U.S. policy. Neither Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, or Barack Obama faced up to the reality that North Korea expects recognition as a nuclear state in order to extract large concessions from Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Their policies included ending sanctions and withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea, and eventually from Japan. If we conclude that North Korean and Chinese leaders eventually want America to withdraw its military power from Northeast Asia, including from Japan, the danger to U.S. security commitments in Asia and the U.S. homeland is enormous.

Promote American prosperity. The most significant favorable trend for the U.S. is the accelerating pace of its economy. Many economists think the GDP will grow by nearly 3 percent this year and maybe more next year. This is much better than predictions a year ago, about 1.9 percent. A strong economy is a major plus for foreign policy because it gives the State Department and Treasury Department more credibility in persuading other countries that America is not in decline, as many believe. It provides Rex Tillerson with greater leverage in dealing with China and Russia, and it helps reassure Europeans that Washington will continue its leadership role, but with greater emphasis on U.S. interests.

Trumps decision to withdraw support from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was denounced by supporters of free trade. But the administration argued that the costs to U.S. workers and small business outweighed the gains. It said the agreement with 14 countries would further harm U.S. jobs and increase the trade deficit. That view is challenged by large corporations and business interests that benefit from globalization. However, the political reality is that Trumps view resonated with voters in key states that won him the 2016 election.

On the negative side of Trumps policies, cancellation of U.S. participation the Paris Climate Accord was a mistake because it alienates key allies and generates few benefits. Similarly, the presidents decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and move the U.S. embassy was a negative diplomatic move because it has generated few benefits. The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 against the U.S., and Arab governments declined Vice President Pences visit to explain the decision. As a self-proclaimed deal-maker, Trump got nothing in return from Benjamin Netanyahu for doing him a large favor.

Finally, Trumps threats to cancel NAFTA unless Canada and Mexico make major concessions to U.S. interests will leave a lasting negative legacy with two good neighbors and leading trading partners. Even though a revised NAFTA will likely emerge, Trumps performance was less than exemplary.

Early-morning presidential tweets confuse Americans and foreign leaders. They often are not consistent with Trumps cautious foreign policy, which emphasizes diplomacy while maintaining the military option. And a strengthening economy enables the president to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, Russia, and Iran that seem to be having a positive effect.

Preventing war and strengthening the economy are not inconsequential achievements in Trumps first year.
Editors note: In place of Charles Krauthammer, who is still on medical leave, we are substituting a column by E.J. Dionne, also with the Washington Post Writers Group.

WASHINGTON

Can our government function normally when President Trump tweets about his button being bigger than that of an armed adversary? Can there be business as usual when the word insane is being applied with increasing frequency to his actions, and when one of his most loyal supporters has called a meeting between Russian operatives and Trump campaign officials treasonous?

Only a few days into the new year, there is a striking disconnect in the nations capital between the ordinary and the mind-boggling  between the sorts of transactions politicians routinely make to keep the country running and displays of the irrational, the abusive, and the menacing emanating from the White House.

There has been an inclination over the past year in both politics and journalism to separate Trumps tweets and other outbursts from the realities of governing. The idea is that his eruptions are either (a) largely irrelevant forms of his letting off steam, or (b) signs of a brilliance beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. What looks to most of us like madness is cast as genius in setting up enemies, signaling his base, or distracting us from one thing or another.

But we are past the time when we can believe any of this. Trump is, without question, doing enormous damage to the United States standing in the world, and his strategy for political survival is rooted in a willingness to destroy our institutions.

While the news on Wednesday understandably focused on Steve Bannons treason comments in a new book by journalist Michael Wolff, 2018 has already produced two remarkable essays explaining the genuine threat the president poses to the nations foreign policy interests.

Susan Glasser, writing in Politico, offers frightening detail about how Trumps stunning lack of knowledge and his indifference to his own obliviousness have led diplomats to label him insane, catastrophic, terrifying, incompetent, and dangerous. Glasser concludes: When it comes to Trump and the world, its not better than you think. Its worse.

And Evan Osnos carefully reported and much-discussed article in The New Yorker demonstrates how Trumps policies but also his pathological focus on himself, his ignorance, and his astonishing susceptibility to flattery have profoundly weakened the U.S.s position in Asia and played into Chinese President Xi Jinpings reach for international power.

Osnos cites a Chinese think tanks observation that the Trump administration is a collection of hostile cliques, the most powerful of which is the Trump family clan. And its analysis uses a term from feudal China, jiatianxia, to define Trumps approach. It means to treat the state as your possession.

This insight cuts to the heart of the peril the president represents to our democracy and the rule of law.

On the second day of the year, Trump called on the Justice Department to finally act against Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide, and also against James Comey, the former FBI director he fired. And by referring not to the Justice Department, but to the Deep State Justice Dept, Trump continued to push back against all others investigating him, treating them as if they were a band of spies and traitors.

Directing the prosecution of political enemies is a habit of autocrats. As Benjamin Wittes, my Brookings Institution colleague, wrote recently, Trump is normalizing for an entire political movement the politicization and weaponization of law enforcement and intelligence. Is this the legacy the Republican Party wants?

In the midst of all this, Republicans and Democrats in Congress go about their business, trying to negotiate a budget agreement to avoid a shutdown and, in the Democrats case, trying to protect the Dreamers and the Childrens Health Insurance Program.

And, who knows, maybe we can manage with a kind of split-level politics. While we sit back and wait on special counsel Robert Mueller to issue his findings, we pray that regular governance will be possible because there is no other choice.

Yet doing so means continuing to absorb Trumps blows to our system and to our countrys influence around the globe. It also requires great faith in our capacity for restoration despite the readiness of the presidents allies to place his survival above the health of our polity.

The United States does have extraordinary gifts for self-correction. But we must face the fact that Trump is accelerating us toward the breaking point. No matter how confident we are in our resilience, we should not imagine otherwise. Not even Mueller has a button on his desk he can press to get us out of this without scars.
By Jack Berry, Robert Bobb, and Nelsie Birch

In the final days of the Civil War, the city of Petersburg was under siege. The series of battles known as the Siege of Petersburg lasted nine months and consisted of devastating trench warfare. It featured the largest concentration of African-American troops in the war, who suffered enormous casualties at the Battle of the Crater.

Some would say that Petersburg has been under siege ever since the Civil War, that there is a siege mentality in the city. Petersburg even has a Siege Museum.

But Petersburg has not always been under siege; it is not today, and it will not be tomorrow.

***

Once the second-largest city in Virginia, Petersburg was home to the largest number of free blacks in Virginia. It is home to two of the oldest black Baptist churches in the nation. Petersburg was a wealthy city, a major industrial center, and one of the largest rail hubs in the nation.

After the Civil War, the Petersburg-based Readjuster Party, a coalition of Africa-American and white, populist Republicans, controlled the state legislature, which led to the creation of two large public institutions in the region: Virginia State University and Central State Hospital. Later, Fort Lee became another major economic engine for the area.

In the 20th century, progress slowed as Jim Crow laws and Massive Resistance devastated the hopes and dreams of black citizens and fueled racial tensions. In 1985, one of the citys largest employers, Brown & Williamson Tobacco, shut down its Petersburg factory. Later, Southpark Mall was located north of the city, sucking retail sales out of Petersburg.

Gradually, the tax base weakened, schools declined, poverty levels increased and the center of gravity in the region moved north. A killer storm in 1993 devastated downtown, and the sense of siege returned.

Petersburg citizens are resilient, but they must have wondered, what could possibly happen to us next?

***

All of that adversity might have been overcome, but in 2016 Petersburg truly lost its way, and the city teetered on the brink of municipal bankruptcy. There was talk of relinquishing city status  and being subsumed by neighboring jurisdictions.

The problem this time was not the result of war, economics, or natural disaster. This time the wound was self-inflicted. A mismanaged city government ran itself into a ditch. It would take a campaign of trench warfare to dig the city out and avoid insolvency.

In July of 2016, the city faced $18 million in unpaid bills. The budget was $12 million out of balance. Petersburg had nearly run out of cash and was dipping into every available pot of money, regardless of restrictions, to pay bills. A botched water meter conversion project impacted utility billings, which made the cash situation even worse.

The commonwealth stepped in, because in Virginia localities are creatures of the state. A default by Petersburg would have had repercussions for debt issuers across the commonwealth.

A consulting team diagnosed the problems and made some painful recommendations, including 10 percent pay cuts for the entire city workforce. Many good employees fled.

Citizens kept the pressure on city officials. A grassroots group called Clean Sweep, while sometimes angry and divisive, came to every meeting and demanded accountability.

The City Council changed city managers twice and most of the executive team departed. The situation was desperate. In October, 2016, former Mayor Howard Meyers and the City Council turned to a new team to help it pull the city government out of the ditch.

***

The City Council hired the Robert Bobb Group, led by the former city manager of Richmond and nationally known turnaround specialist. Bobb recruited a retired Marine colonel, Tom Tyrrell, to take charge of the mission. He brought in Nelsie Birch, a municipal government expert living in Albemarle County, to become the interim CFO. A couple of months later, following the mayoral election in Richmond, Jack Berry joined the team.

A temporary office in the City Hall building where General Robert E. Lee met with officers during the Siege of Petersburg became our war room.

We dug in for the long haul, with Nelsie Birch leading efforts to peel back layers of the financial onion. We got a handle on cash flow, figured out the extent of the unpaid bills, found checks stashed in drawers, arranged short-term financing, crafted a new budget, dramatically cut spending, put pressure on the city treasurer to collect taxes, and revamped the decrepit utility system.

New financial policies were put in place; debt was restructured; water and sewer rates were increased to comply with debt covenants; the organization was right-sized; new managers were hired.

We teamed with Mayor Sam Parham and members of the City Council every step of the way. They endured endless briefings on every aspect of city government. They made the tough decisions and held our feet to the fire, even demanding monthly briefings on arcane topics like utility billing collection rates.

Key employees embraced the new approach and worked hard to implement many changes. Our strongest ally was the Governors Office, in particular, Virginia Secretary of Finance Ric Brown.

The result was a stunning turnaround, affirmed by the external auditors in November: The city reported a year-end surplus of $7.2 million. The report was on time. The auditors opinion was clean.

***

Petersburg now has a fresh start. The trench warfare is over. Petersburg has climbed out of the ditch. It still has a long way to go. Internal controls still are lacking. The non-existent fund balance reserve must be increased. Revenue collection rates must be enhanced. Spending must be tightly controlled. A sense of urgency is imperative.

But stability has been restored. Management has been strengthened. The budget has been balanced. The new city manager, Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, has assembled a team committed to fixing problems and normalizing operations.

Despite the remaining challenges and underlying economic problems, we believe the future is bright. Petersburg lies in the orbit of the booming Richmond region, which inevitably will bring growth and investment, as long as Petersburgs government remains stable. Petersburg has incredible historic assets, natural assets, and human assets.

Petersburg reminds us of Richmond 25 years ago. There were lots of cynics and few believers. The population was declining, crime rates were high, and there was little investment. But cynicism gave way to a new mojo, best exemplified by the pride infused in the RVA brand. The same thing can happen in Petersburg. It will happen.

The siege has ended.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe is using his final days in office to appeal to the most radical elements of his partys base  at the expense of Northern Virginia commuters.

In December, he made national headlines when he rolled out the highest per-mile tolls in the country on I-66, with tolls peaking at $44 for nine miles, and all eastbound tolls averaging just north of $10. This toll revenue will be used to fund transit projects exclusively, with no money going to roads.

And adding insult to injury, McAuliffes newly released plan to add funding to Washingtons ailing Metro system would raise regional taxes and raid cash from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA)  the regions largest road funding source.

If he runs for president in 2020, the McAuliffe legacy should be clear: higher tolls, higher taxes, and fewer roads.

McAuliffe is attempting to price drivers out of their cars and redistribute road money to transit.

His most recent plan to provide additional funding to Metro is in stark contrast to Rep. Barbara Comstocks bill, which would increase the federal contribution to Metro by 50 percent, while requiring significant labor reforms, especially to the pension program. Her bill drives the long-term cost curve down.

The region supports increased funding for Metro, but not without reform and not at the expense of cutting our road projects.

McAuliffes Metro plan is to raise regional taxes on hotels, gas, and real estate transactions by $65 million per year and to poach $85 million per year in funding currently allocated to NVTA for road and transit capital projects. While giving Metro more money, his plan requires no reforms to a system plagued by high labor costs, high fares, and long-deferred maintenance.

This $85 million per year constitutes almost 30 percent of NVTAs budget. NVTA is the primary regional funding body for local roads and highway projects, and the authority has already begun allocation of this funding to future and current projects.

Removing this funding means numerous road projects in my community could be delayed or cut  road projects that would relieve bottlenecks, complete missing links, and reduce congestion. Route 15 may not be widened; Shellhorn Road and other Greenway alternatives could be delayed; the Battlefield Parkway/Route 7 interchange could be pushed back.

These all have real consequences for our citizens, especially as many of them already pay huge tolls in our corridor. Many of my constituents pay $6 each way, every day, to use the Dulles Greenway, then pay $3.50 to use the Dulles Toll Road, and now face $20-to-$40 tolls on I-66.

McAuliffe has done nothing to help lower tolls for the first two roads, and is primarily responsible for the new I-66 tolls. Many were willing to pay some kind of tolls during rush hour to use I-66, which was previously HOV-restricted during rush hours.

However, Northern Virginians expect tolls to be reasonable, appropriate, and affordable  not highway robbery.

McAuliffe, Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne, and others sold this project to Northern Virginians under false pretenses. In 2015, they said the tolls would average between $7 and $9 for riders going the full nine miles eastbound; their allies said those of us who warned about $17 tolls were fear-mongering. Now, weve seen tolls more than double that.

Some would expect the governor to use this toll money to widen I-66, which bottlenecks into two lanes eastbound for the last seven miles heading into D.C. Some would even suspect he would use this significant toll funding to help pay for Metro.

Instead, hes using it for extra transit projects that primarily benefit inner suburbs in heavily Democratic areas. The money is distributed by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC)  and while my county benefited from the funding this year, the prospects in the future may not be so good.

These policies have real impacts on families. McAuliffes tolls add up to thousands of dollars per year for commuters, and his raiding of road funding will only lead to more congestion in our neighborhoods. Is this really a good platform to run for higher office?
By Stuart Malawer

It has been nearly one year since President Trump took office. He came to office riding a tide of anti-trade rhetoric as one of the most protectionist candidates ever to have won an election.

Trade was clearly a major issue, which is quite rare in presidential politics. So, in light of the recently concluded WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, which achieved no significant accomplishments, and the truly unsettling, acrimonious comments by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who left a day early, what can be said about U.S. trade policy after almost one year of the Trump administration?

******

First, consider some international highlights related to global trade and business during the first year of the Trump administration:

The U.S. withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and opposes granting market economy status to China. No new World Trade Organization case has been filed by the U.S. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development agreed on a global tax avoidance treaty  and the U.S. refused to sign it.

There was no U.S. withdrawal from the WTO or its dispute-resolution system. However, the Trump administration has made constant complaints about them. The administration has focused on protecting U.S. sovereignty and rejecting so-called expansive interpretations made by the WTO and, in particular, by its Appellate Body.

Second, consider some U.S. domestic highlights related to global trade and business:

The U.S. did not declare China to be a currency manipulator and did not impose a border tax on imports to the U.S. The U.S. trade representative is assessing Section 232 (national security) action against China for its domestic steel policies and those relating to mandatory transfer of intellectual property rights.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) is considering taking safeguard action against China under Section 201 concerning solar panels and washing machines. The Department of Commerce authorized countervailing duties on Canadian lumber.

******

Here are my observations:

Not much international action has taken place  as opposed to diffused proposals and extensive rhetoric  but significantly more domestic trade remedy proceedings against China have occurred.

No real significant action against the WTO or its dispute-resolution system has taken place. In fact, in recent cases, the U.S. continues to win as both a complainant and a respondent.

For example, in a case involving Boeing, the WTO reversed its state subsidies ruling in favor of the U.S. The WTO also upheld U.S. labeling regulations for tuna in a compliance case introduced by Mexico, and the U.S. won a WTO case brought against it by Indonesia concerning U.S. antidumping duties. Canada has recently filed a new case against the U.S contesting duties on lumber imports.

From 1995 through 2017, the U.S. has been a complainant in 115 cases and a respondent in 130 cases at the WTO. It has won a huge majority of them as complainant and a majority of all cases. The U.S. has been involved in nearly half of all WTO cases. Clearly, it is the greatest user of the dispute-resolution system.

******

NAFTA renegotiation is moving along bitterly.

Some actions on trade in the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission  such as Commerce Department subsidies rulings against Canadas Bombardier aviation company and Canadian lumber  have taken place.

Reliance on administrative trade remedies has increased significantly, including self-initiated actions by the Department of Commerce. These trade actions include a novel reliance on national security  and a 16-year high in private corporate actions, undoubtedly inspired by the administrations anti-trade rhetoric.

******

The grave decline in cases brought to the WTO compared to other presidential administrations is historic. (None have been brought by the Trump administration.) The review of trade practices by the U.S. trade representative has not yet resulted in any significant unilateral actions.

Congressional action concerning the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) seems imminent as well as implementation of the new tax rules concerning global taxation. Tightening foreign investment rules, especially those relating to Chinese investment, and taxing multinationals seems to be about right, but caution is needed; Europeans have already warned the U.S. that various tax provisions, such as an excise tax on purchases by U.S. firms from their subsidiaries, may violate WTO obligations.

The economic need for foreign direct investment for state economic development is great. States want foreign investment. CFIUS, an inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations, should not become a disincentive for foreign investors.

A growing divide already exists between the federal government and the states over such investment. State governors, including most Republican governors from agricultural exporting states, strongly support greater trade and foreign investment and consider it key to competing successfully in the global economy.

******

Whats the bottom line?

The administrations noise and tone are quite unsettling. The rhetoric and posturing (over national sovereignty, unilateral measures, bilateral trade deals, sanctions, and trade deficits) are already impacting trade flows and diminishing the standing of the U.S. in the global system. This is occurring even as domestic and global economies are rebounding.

Most distressing, however, is the administrations lack of leadership in negotiating newer trade rules and its opposition to litigating existing trade disputes.

Trade Representative Lighthizers recent commentary, which criticized the WTO as now being litigation-centered, at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires is truly baffling.

The U.S. was the country that pushed for a rules-based global system throughout the postwar era, and it was the principal architect of this system during the Uruguay Round in the early 1990s. The U.S. held the view that negotiated rules must be litigated and enforced when a dispute exists. Otherwise, what is the sense of negotiating them?

This was also one of the main reasons that the WTO was subsequently approved by Congress. Most important, why not litigate important trade issues today, especially when diplomatic negotiations of those issues are stalled?

The role for judicial determinations in the trade world should not be restricted because the negotiation of newer, more complex rules has been slowed; this is like telling the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary to stop deciding cases because Congress is unable to address newer issues. Indeed, this is precisely the time when judicial determinations are needed the most to resolve disputes over trade issues, even in light of the inability to formulate or legislate newer ones.

Lighthizer comes out of the old world of protecting legacy industries, such as steel and semiconductors, and does not have a sense of the importance of moving ahead with newer technological issues about trade, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Hes a captive of the old era and not an advocate for embracing the newer digital era and its future.

U.S. leadership in developing newer rules for global trade and in litigating existing concrete and complex cases cannot be abrogated. It should be one of the primary aims in current U.S. trade policy.

******

President Trumps well-known disregard of rules, stemming in part from his years of unrelenting real estate litigation, undoubtedly colors his administrations disdain for multilateral rules and institutions and its espousal of unilateral actions in global affairs.

The impact on the role of the U.S. in the postwar order seems most worrisome. China, Japan, and the European Union are the ones moving to fill the leadership gap. Most recently, Japan and the EU signed a huge bilateral trade agreement.

The U.S. is increasingly isolationist and parochial, reminding one of the 1930s in terms of the pre-Cordell Hull days of the Great Depression. Trumps revisionist view of U.S. national interests is different from other presidents since World War II. These views are moving away from active engagement and moving toward being more isolationist and more nationalist.

It abandons the American architecture of the postwar world and its leadership. It creates more uncertainty and promotes disorder. Thats not good.

The administrations recently released national security strategy merely restates President Trumps belligerent trade rhetoric. It moves trade to the center of national security policy. But this strategy otherwise breaks no new ground. There are the same trade complaints: unfair trade, violations of U.S. sovereignty, disparagement of multilateral institutions, and a need for greater trade enforcement.

President Trumps nihilistic efforts are those of an international cowboy, rebranding, unfortunately, the earlier stereotype of the Ugly American. Reflecting the views of his tribal and nativist base in the U.S., the traditional Republicans and their support of international trade have inexplicably fallen away and are complicit in the humiliation of Americas historical leadership and greatness.
The lowest point of this days-long deep freeze may take thermometers across central Virginia down to zero or slightly below it on Sunday morning, but a warming trend wont take long to arrive.

Sunday will be Richmonds eighth consecutive day with a low temperature below 20 degrees and the 14th day of a cold spell that began on Christmas.

Both of those streaks will end very soon, with a noticeable thaw in store on Monday.

But one more record low is expected to go by the wayside first.

If the morning reading is in the single digits at Richmond International Airport on Sunday, as predicted, it will be the coldest low for Jan. 7 by beating a 10-degree reading from 2014.

The low of 2 degrees on Saturday was the coldest so far this winter, but zero was the number to beat for the Jan. 6 record.

So far, weve tied Richmonds coldest low for Jan. 2 (10 degrees), set the coldest high temperature for Jan. 5 (now 25 degrees), and set the highest snowfall for Jan. 4 (2.4 inches).

The storm total was actually 3 inches because some snow started to fall late Wednesday evening.

Its one instance of record snow not being as dramatic as it sounds.

It has been bitter and blustery, indeed, but all of those daily records are actually among the easiest to achieve for this time of year: statistical low-hanging fruit.

The 2.4 inches on Thursday beat 1.6 inches from that date in 1980.

Only two days in January have smaller daily record snow amounts in Richmond. Most dates would require 5 or more inches of snow to enter the record books.

When it comes to daily record lows, 10 degrees is the highest for any date in January.

Most dates have made it to zero or below at some point in the past 120 years.

Knowing that doesnt diminish the misery of this current cold snap, but it shows that not all daily records are equal.

You can blame the snow for allowing us to get as cold as we have. Snow reflects more of the sunlight that would otherwise heat the ground, and it makes it easier for what little heat there is to flee at night.

Looking back through decades of Richmond history, about 75 percent of our single-digit lows occurred while there was some amount of snow cover.

Its nearly impossible to get to zero here without the presence of ice-covered turf.

***

After one more frigid night in the teens on Sunday night, the temperature will finally bounce back above 32 degrees on Monday afternoon and top out in the tropical-sounding 40s.

Monday evening could bring a sprinkle or two to central Virginia, but any soaking rain will stay to our west and the chance of any more ice or snow will miss us to the northwest and north.

Theres no bitter cold lurking in the workweek forecast.

Instead, well embark on a modest warming trend that should bring more seasonable lows in the upper 20s and lower 30s midweek, and highs in the 40s and 50s.

We may get as warm as the mid-60s on Friday, but that will depend on how cloudy it is.

The mild weather will come at the price of clouds and a chance of heavier late-week showers.

Itll be hard to keep that warmth going for long, because chilly air should make an abrupt comeback sometime next weekend.

***

The early December slush and last weeks powder added up to a season-to-date snowfall total of 6.1 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Compared to the average season-to-date pace of 2.8 inches, weve had a little more than twice what you might expect so far.

Arlington, Roanoke and Blacksburg are all cities that are climatologically a bit snowier than Richmond, yet each reports less than 4 inches for their season-to-date total.

Meanwhile, Norfolks 10.3-inch sum puts them way ahead of their typical 1.7-inch pace.

It all came down to the track of the two snowstorms  and storms later this season could balance things out for the mountains or continue to favor our side of the state.

Around the country, there are also some interesting haves and have-nots.

Many spots in the Great Plains and Southwest havent been as snowy as they usually are  either from too much dry air or too much warm air.

Take usually snowy Flagstaff, Ariz., which should have racked up 33 inches by now, according to the 30-year climatology, but has seen nothing so far.

As of Saturday, Richmond has seen more snow this winter than other cities that should have us beat, including Omaha, Neb.; Aberdeen, S.D.; Madison, Wis.; Charleston, W.Va.; Indianapolis; and Grand Junction, Colo.

There ought to be more chances for those places to catch up, but our snowfall dominance is interesting trivia for now.

Then there are some unlikely places that have seen more snow than we have.
Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus on Thursday introduced an imaginative, out-of-the box legislative proposal designed to attempt to spur major economic development in western Nebraska.

Schumacher's resolution (LR269CA) proposes a constitutional amendment that would allow the Legislature to delegate complete or partial sovereignty over a designated, limited and sparsely-settled area of the state for not to exceed 99 years.

That could tempt major enterprises that might be attracted by the prospect of no city or state taxes and no local or state regulations, Schumacher said.

"A major global company or coalition could have their own development in the center of the country," he said.

"If I were a major business, I would not want Omaha or Lincoln or Des Moines (Iowa) telling me what to do," he said.

Economic development opportunities in Nebraska outside of Omaha and Lincoln have become limited, Schumacher said, especially in smaller towns and sparsely-settled counties that are experiencing population and economic decline.

His proposal would confine the grant of sovereignty to one area of the state not to exceed 36 square miles in area and a population density of 10 persons per square mile.

Schumacher sees possibilities in western Nebraska, where there are nearby rail lines, transmission lines, fiber-optic cable connections, recreation sites and an array of transportation options.

"We're talking about Nebraska's future," he said.

"To build out here, you do not have to tear down something. And property is the ultimate economic tool."

This presents an opportunity, he said, to essentially "have your own state."

And, Schumacher said, "nobody else has done it."

If the Legislature approves the resolution, voters would decide whether to adopt the constitutional amendment.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A Papillion man was arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend after it was reported he was sitting in a parked vehicle outside her house on Thursday, according to the Fremont Police Department.

Authorities say that at approximately 11:15 p.m. Clinton M. Webb, 33, of Papillion was arrested and charged with stalking after it was reported he was sitting in a parked vehicle outside of an ex-girlfriends house in the 1600 block of east 3rd Street.

After officers made contact with the victim, it was learned that Webb had also been at her place of employment and had been sending the victim text messages.

Webb admitted to officers that he was in Fremont to attempt to talk to the victim and also admitted to being at her place of employment and attempting to contact her on the phone.
STAFFORD  A man who beat, choked and sexually assaulted a young woman over a two-hour period after intentionally crashing into her car early Oct. 31, 2016, was sentenced Friday to two life sentences plus 60 years in prison.

Roberto Carlos Flores Sibrian, an immigrant from El Salvador who was in the country illegally, was previously convicted in Stafford County Circuit Court of rape, abduction with the intent to defile, aggravated sexual battery and two counts of forcible sodomy.

Judge Charles Sharps sentence exceeded the recommended state sentencing guidelines, which called for a maximum penalty of 79 years in prison. He called Flores Sibrians actions chilling and the now 25-year-old victims testimony Friday about the incident heartbreaking.Sharp said it was one of the worst rape cases hed ever heard about in his 40 years in the criminal justice system.

Youve violated her in every way a person can be violated, Sharp said before pronouncing the sentence. It was an hours-long session in hell.

The incident began about 3 a.m. on State Route 3 near Sherwood Forest Farm Road in southern Stafford.

The victim testified that she was returning to her King George residence from a party when her vehicle was struck in the relatively isolated area.

The impact caused her vehicle to spin out of control The woman said she had not noticed the other vehicle nor the suspect prior to the collision.

The woman got out of her vehicle to check on the damage. She said she had taken only a few steps when she was grabbed and dragged to an embankment. I knew then that it wasnt an accident, she said.

The woman said she began yelling, kicking and punching in an attempt to get away from her attacker. At one point, she took off her shoe and tried to use the heel as a weapon, but Flores Sibrian took the shoe from her and hit her with it instead.

After a while, the woman said she was too weak to fight back any more.The woman said she was sexually assaulted on two different occasions. She said Flores Sibrian tried to get her into his car, but she managed to avoid doing so.

I knew that if I got in the car, he would drive off and Id never be seen again.

The only time Flores Sibrian showed even a shred of decency, according to the testimony, was when he gave the victim his shirt after she repeatedly complained about being cold. That shirt was later turned over to police.

Flores Sibrian finally got into his car alone and drove away alone. The woman returned to her own wrecked car and called police.

The victim and several of her family members said they were shocked by the extent of the victims injuries. The victim said that when she finally looked in a mirror at the hospital, she didnt recognize herself.
Authorities are investigating a hit and run incident after a teenager was reportedly injured following an accident in a local business parking lot on Thursday.

According to the Fremont Police Department, at approximately 6 p.m. a hit and run personal injury accident was reported in a business parking lot in the 3300 block of east 24th Street.

It was reported that a 13-year-old female was injured when a vehicle she was getting into was struck by another vehicle backing out of an adjacent parking lot.

The collision caused an open door on the victims vehicle to close on her, causing minor injuries to her leg. Following the collision the driver of the second vehicle then drove away.

The second vehicle was described as a silver 4-door sedan, possibly a Chevy Impala.

Anyone with information about the incident are asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 402-727-4002.
The tour begins with Delhi on 10 January, before heading to Guwahati the following day. IIT Madras will be the only college venue on the band's debut India tour. With the release of their sixth studio album less than three months ago, one can expect the band to unleash the new singles. Since their divergence from their deathcore sound, they have had several lineup changes and have released 6 hit albums.

Previous editions have seen crowds of over 6000 rocked by the likes of Opeth, Karnivool and Parikrama. Veil of Maya was founded by Mark Okubo, Sam Applebaum and Kris Higler. Their first four albums were Deathcore albums, with peaking at #1 in the US Heats. With the release of Matriarch, and several lineup changes, they diverged into metalcore, with elements of djent and deathcore. The band is known for their heavy and intricate guitar-laden sound. At their live shows, elements of death metal with theatrical samples that transition between each live song form the full-frontal assault of savage guitar work. Their progressiveaggressive take on modern metal delivers low bass tones and mystifying song structure. Their newest singles Overthrow and Doublespeak, from their sixth album False Idol are showing the new era of Veil of Maya, one of definite excitement.
Report: Army steps up attacks against Saudi military sites, their mercenaries in battles fronts



SANAA, Jan 6 (Saba)  The missile units of the army and popular forces stepped up attacks against Saudi military sites in the battle fronts over the past 24 hours, a military official told Saba on Saturday.



In border province of Najran, the army and popular forces fired a short-range ballistic missile on Saudi military Wajab camp.



Also in Najran, the artillery units of the army and popular forces hit military sites of al-Talah and off al-Khadhra crossing point.



Separately, in Jizan border province, the army in cooperation with popular forces fired a ballistic missile, Zilzal 2, on Saudi soldiers' groups in military site of al-Mousam, killing and injuring dozens.



Moreover, several of Saudi soldiers were killed and injured when the army and popular forces fired a ballistic missile, al-Sourkha, on al-Thawrain camp, while the artillery hit other groups in military site of Majaza.



In province of Taiz, the army and popular forces fired a ballistic missile, Qaher m2, upon gatherings of Saudi-paid mercenaries in western coast and al-Jahmalih district, killing and wounding dozens of them.



Meanwhile, the army and popular forces destroyed three military vehicles of Saudi-paid mercenaries, killing crewmembers, while the artillery shelled mercenary groups in al-Shabakah in al-Ma'afar district and al-Yasamin in Thubab district in Taiz province.



In the northern province of Jawf, the army and popular force foiled an attempt of Saudi-paid mercenaries to infiltrate towards Quaitah area, killing and injured dozens.



Also in Jawf, several mercenary commanders were killed and wounded when the army and popular forces waged an attack against the mercenaries' sites in Mazuih area of Maton, Khabu-WaSha'af district.



In Marib governorate, about 173 km north of the capital Sanaa, the army and popular forces killed and wounded dozens of mercenaries' gatherings in Serwah and Nehm districts.



In Lahj province, the army and popular forces hit gatherings of the mercenaries in al-Dhahi area of Karash district, killing and injured a number of them.



In governorate of Bayda, dozens of the mercenaries were killed and wounded when the army and popular forces repulsed their attempt to sneak up towards Thi Na'am district, the official said.







Ali Ahsan/zak

Saba

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[06/January/2018]
Continuing the tone of civility set on day one of the 2018 legislative session, Sen. Laura Ebke rose to address her colleagues and remind them of the original intent of the lawmaking body as outlined by George Norris more than eight decades ago.

I think that history is important for us to keep in mind as we move into the future, Ebke said.

She told a brief story about then-Sen. Norris, who advocated tirelessly for a unicameral system of government in the state before it was passed into law by a vote of the people in 1934, addressing the first session on Jan. 5, 1937.

Ebke distributed copies of Norris address on Friday morning, asking her colleagues to keep in mind what the citizens and the man who is viewed as the Father of the Unicameral had in mind when they voted to amend the constitution to make us a one-house system.

You are members of the first legislature of Nebraska to hold your positions without any partisan political obligation to any machine, to any boss, or to any alleged political leader, Ebke read from Norris speech.

Ebke split with the GOP last year after Gov. Pete Ricketts called out a number of Republican state senators by name who failed to support him or the party on issues before the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

The senator from Crete is seeking a second term as a Libertarian. Ricketts has backed her opponent, former National Family Alliance director Al Riskowski.

Noting Nebraskans do not expect perfection, Norris said the people of the state do expect absolute honesty, unlimited courage, and a reasonable degree of efficiency and wisdom.

Nor do Nebraskans expect to agree with each action taken by the Legislature, nor do they expect that their lawmakers will agree with one another all the time, Ebke said.

In fact, disagreement on things which are not fundamental is an evidence of courage and independence, the speech read. We expect an economical and efficient administration and, above all, an honest administration free from any partisan, bias, political prejudice, or improper motives.

Finishing the speech, Ebke implored her colleagues to think about Norris words as they proceed with the 60-day session.

I believe it is our duty as their successors to try to live up to those ideals and I hope that in this session youll join me, she said.

Many of the other senators on the floor applauded.
Residents from the city of Kherson took to the streets to celebrate Russia's retreat, scientists may have discovered why they keep finding mum
Four policemen were killed and several others injured on Saturday in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town.

The powerful IED explosion ripped through the Sopore market area, which was immediately cordoned off, police said. Separatists had called



for a protest shutdown and a march in the town on Saturday.





The injured were shifted to hospital. A search operation is underway, a police officer said.



Heavy deployment of security forces was already in place to maintain law and order situation in the wake of separatist-called protest shutdown in Sopore.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked the Centre for the economic slump in the country and described "GDP" as the "Gross Divisive Politics" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi targeted both Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the slowdown in investment, bank credit growth, job creation and agricultural growth.

"FM Jaitley's genius combines with Modi's Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India: New Investments: 13 year (low), Bank credit Growth: 63 year (low), Job creation: 8 year (low), Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7% (low) Fiscal Deficit: 8 year (high), Stalled Projects (high)," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Rahul also tweeted a news report in which the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has projected that economic growth rate for 2017-18 will be lower than the 7.1 per cent that was achieved in 2016-17.

Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and subsequent slowdown in the manufacturing sector was expected to drag down India's growth to 6.5 per cent in 2017-18, official data showed on Friday.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday commuted the death sentence of two convicts to life imprisonment in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case.

A division bench of Justice S. Murlidhar and Justice I.S. Mehta modified the death sentence awarded to Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla by the trial court and said they would serve life imprisonment.

The death row convicts had challenged the trial court's conviction and sentence.

The trial court had on July 14, 2016, held the two guilty of the murder of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh and other counts.

While sentencing the two to death, the trial court had said the 28-year-old woman was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and "brutally mauled to death".
Lets face it. For every beginning there is an end. And for every end there is a reward to be extended, the quality of which would depend entirely on how keenly persevering the attempt would be.

Still, now that Christmas is behind us, and another New Year is moving along steadily as we all knew it would, perhaps the time is right to get back to that rather eager grindstone, and lets start hacking away at those fretful scruples, one more time.

So lets begin with the story titled Parliament brings back Criminal Libel which Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, had for months been agonising over to the point where he literarily ended up making a fool of himself, to the delight of virtually everyone else.

Published in the Samoa Observer on 20 December 2017, the story said: Parliament yesterday endorsed the governments plan to re-introduce the Criminal Libel Act into the law books of Samoa.

Abolished by the ruling Human Rights Protection Party in 2013, Members of Parliament unanimously agreed to bring back the law, when Parliament reconvened for the last time this year at Tuanaimato yesterday, 21 December 2017.

Amazing!

The story went on to say: The bill passed the first, second and third reading, within less than an hour.

Wonderful!

It continued: Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Mailielegaoi, has been instrumental in bringing back the law, as part of a government-driven effort to clamp down on ghost writers such as Ole Palemia and others who use fake social media pages, to attack members of the public.

Now lets wait a second. Who were these so-called ghost writers that Prime Minister Tuilaepa was talking about back there? Indeed, who is the chap called Ole Palemia.

It appears that neither Prime Minister Tuilaepa nor anyone else knows!

In fact, the story doesnt say.

All it says is that: The Speaker of Parliament, Leaupepe Toleafoa Faafisi, said the re-introduction of the law was expedited due to the urgent nature of the issues it sets out to deal with.

Urgent? How urgent?

If the re-introduction of the law was urgent, why is it that the entire Police Force had not been activated with the idea of turning every stone upside down - pardon the pun - to ensure that this joker named O le Palemia whom it seems everyone is afraid of, is found and be thrown in jail where he rightly belongs?

Now wait.

Weve got the Minister of Justice and the Courts Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, joining the circus.

As the joker who introduced the Criminal Libel Bill in Parliament, he said: The law is not new. This amendment is in relation to defamation.

He went on to explain: Currently, there is a clause to have this case before the Court for a civil claim. The amendment today is to add on the criminal prosecution for defamation.

People have asked as to why we need to reinstate the criminal libel when the matter can be dealt with through civil.

Faaolesa also said: In a civil claim, there is a need for lawyers to represent your case and most of our people cannot afford a lawyer; whereas (with) Criminal Libel the matter can be prosecuted by the Police and you would not need a lawyer.

Now isnt that wonderful!

Is he saying that if you were O le Palemia, you could go on and accuse Samoas political leaders of all sorts of alleged criminal activities including being corrupt and fraudulent, and you would still not be prosecuted for doing so by the Police?

According to the Minister of Justice Faaolesa, the Law of Criminal Libel was abolished back in 2013 based on legal opinions of some lawyers.

However, the government sees the need to reinstate this law following requests by members of the public who want to pursue cases before the Court, but cannot afford a legal counsel.

He said: The Bill amends the Crimes Act 2013 with introduction of a new Part 9A for crimes against a persons reputation.

This Part is False statement causing harm to a persons reputation.

The rationale for introducing the offence is to address harm done to a persons reputation by another person who publishes false information about that person.

This is similar to defamatory libel and although civil proceedings for defamation are available to the public, the reality is, not all Samoans have access to these proceedings as not all are able to afford legal services required for such proceedings.

Hes probably right.

Whats undisputed though is that Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu had worked as a lawyer in American Samoa at one point in time. Later when he moved to Samoa, he entered Parliament and became the Minister of Justice.

Later still, on 8 May 2008, the Attorney General of the government of American Samoa, Fepuleai Authur Ripley, filed a claim in the District Court of American Samoa naming Katopau Ainuu, as the defendant in a criminal complaint.

Katopau was accused of having committed two crimes, one of Embezzlement and the other of Criminal Fraud. On the charge of Embezzlement, court documents showed that on 3 November 2006, the Defendant knowingly misappropriated funds which had been entrusted to him in violation of ASCA 46.4104, a class C felony punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years, a fine of up to double the amount gained by the crime, or both.

On the charge of Criminal Fraud, court documents showed that on 3 November 2006, the Defendant knowingly and wilfully obtained money by the use of a scheme to defraud by false pretences.

To that extend, the Defendant agreed to represent the victims(s) as an attorney, in a matai case; on that day, Defendant took payment from victim(s) as payment to represent victim(s) in a count case, while at the same time knowing that the Defendant was moving off-shore 

Now ten years later, in March 2016, Samoa held its general elections and the defendant, Katopau Ainuu, who was now holding the matai title of Faaolesa, ran for Parliament and he was elected.

Later, when Prime Minister Tuilapea chose his cabinet, he named Faaolesa the Minister of Justice, and shortly afterwards the ghosts of the past, having stirred into life, emerged to give both Faaolesa and Tuilaepa a hard time.

Asked for a comment on the reports, Tuilaepa said he was shocked by them. I have spoken with the Minister (concerned) who is (also) shocked (by them).

Tuilaepa revealed that Faaolesa has contacted his lawyer in American Samoa who is also shocked about it, and (from what hes been told) the matter had been resolved a long time ago but it has been dug up again.

Shocked?

The editorial that was published in the Samoa Observer at the time was titled: Prime Minister Tuilaepas gift from American Samoa.

What is the meaning of the word shock these two are talking about here? Please dont ask me to try and explain anything.

All I can say is that when this newspaper asked Faaolesa for a comment, he said he was unaware about the warrant; he then asked for a copy so that he could look at it before he could comment.

Copies of the warrant were sent to him but by press time that night he had not responded.

Over there in American Samoa at the time, the current Attorney General, Talauega Eleasalo Ale, said his office was conducting an investigation into the matter.

This is something that happened before I came into office, he said. (We) are definitely looking into it.

He also said all he knew was that the matter is still valid and apparently its still in the books of the Court, and therefore it is still outstanding.

Its a matter thats up to the law enforcement and the Police to enforce if the person is in our jurisdiction.

(As for) the background and reasons for the warrant, those facts are still out there. I dont know what happened.

He explained: The warrant is valid and if he is in American Samoan jurisdiction he can be arrested by the Police in pursuant to the Courts warrant.

Here in Samoa on the other hand, it appears that the embattled Minister of Justice, Courts and Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, is a worried man.

He is apparently seeking to quash the outstanding warrant of arrest made against him in American Samoa with the aid of his American Samoan lawyer, he revealed in a telephone interview.

My lawyer will make a motion to quash the warrant, he said. The delay is because they are trying to find the affidavit to support the warrant.

There was nothing at the Attorney Generals office and they are also looking for a copy from the Court.

Asked if he was going to American Samoa when the matter would be heard in Court, Faaolesa said no. Its being done by my lawyer, he said.

Once I get the results Ill call you for my official response. In the meantime, I cannot say anything more that might compromise my lawyers work.

To date, Faaolesa has not called.

As for Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, is it possible that he would one day soon, turn his back on his gift, from American Samoa.

Indeed, can the law of Criminal Libel be used to prosecute government officials, who are alleged to have committed fraud and embezzlement, in corrupt ridden Samoa?

Just a thought!

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa. God bless!
The nation was in mourning yesterday as they bid their final farewell to a woman widely known as the Florence Nightingale of nursing in Samoa.

The final memorial service for the President of the Samoa Nurses Association, Taulapapa Fesolai Talailelotu Faamanatu Faletoese Nielsen, was held at the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, at Moataa.

In attendance was The Head of State, His Highness Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, government representatives, family, friends and all those whose lives were touched by Taulapapa.

Born on 3 September 1933 to her parents the, late Rev. Kenape Tuuu Faletoese and Faapiomalo Asi Vatau, Taulapapa passed away peacefully at the Nurses Home, Motootua, on the 22nd of December 2017. She was 84.

Taulapapa married Fainuulelei Etuale Osasa Nielsen, in 1960 and is survived by him, her seven children, her 23 grand children and her four great grandchildren.

In the P.M.s eulogy, he described her as someone who has earned much respect by all during her time as a registered nurse.

He added the respect she has earned is one of the reasons she was presented the Head of States Order of Service award.

Taulapapa is a reliable and an honest person, Tuilaepa said.

She was always helping everywhere during her time as a registered nurse in the country. She was at Tuasivi (hospital), Salailua, Saanapu and other Pacific Islands countries just to serve and help those who are in need.

He added the recognition by the government, through the Head of States Order of Service award, suits Taulapapa very well and it is well deserved.

Because she served the country with honestly and loyalty, she deserves all the respect, Tuilaepa said.

She was honoured by many generations during her time as a nurse. From the government of Samoa with sorrow, we salute all the good works you have done. May your soul rest in peace.

He reassured those attending the service that Jesus declared he already made a house for his children in heaven.

Taulapapas daughter, Farrah Sarita Nielsen Lesa, represented the children with her eulogy where she described her mother as someone with a strong foundation in the Lord.

Our mother committed everything to the Lord, she said.

When she was called home on the 22nd December, it reminded us that it is time to prepare for the birth Jesus Christ, to renew our strength, spirit and soul.

Mother, we will try our best to follow your footsteps so that we could continue on with all the great things you have done - to help those in need.

Whats very important to our mother is serving people no matter how old or small, she always put people first. Shes also a strong prayer warrior in our family.

Taulapapas 84-year journey was an eventful one.

She attended Papauta College in 1950 before pursuing nursing school in 1953. She was officially registered as a nurse in 1956 and began working at the Salailua Hospital from 1958 to 1959.

But it didnt stop there.

She graduated with a midwifery degree from St. Helens, New Zealand, in 1967 and then quickly completed her Midwifery Postgraduate certificate from 1974 to 1975.

She graduated from community of nursing in 1984 all while working at Lalomanu Hospital from 1982 to 1989.

She then became the Assistant Treasurer of the Samoa Nursing Society (S.N.S.) from 1972 to 1974 before being appointed the treasurer of S.N.S. from 1974 to 1978.

In 1977 she traveled to Japan to register the S.N.S. in the World Nursing Association and then finally became the president of S.N.S. from 1978 until her passing.

Her body was laid to rest yesterday at her home in Moataa.
What delay?

That is the response from Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, when he was asked about why it has taken so long for Parliament to table and discuss Audit Reports from Controller and Chief Auditor, Fuimaono Camillo Afele, for the past seven years.

During an interview with the Sunday Samoan, Prime Minister Tuilaepa insisted there is no delay whatsoever.

Rather he said the Reports are being channeled through the usual Parliamentary process.

For instance, he said the Controller and Auditor General Fuimaono has been corresponding with the Ministries and government bodies concerned about the reports.

He then elaborated on the process when Audit Reports are submitted to Parliament.

Once its (audit reports) delivered to the respective Parliament Committees, they review it, he said.

Afterwards, the Auditor and government bodies are summoned to come before the Committee and discuss their Audit reports."

After the reviews of the Audit reports, an analysis is drafted with recommendations. It is then and there the Audit Reports are brought before Parliament for discussion.

According to the Prime Minister, the respective Committees have asked for more time to review the Audit Reports.

That is why time was extended for the committees to go through their reports, he said.

So what delayed reports?"

Audit reports cannot be drafted unless the Departments and Ministries reports for public accounts are submitted to the Auditor."

That is the process in Parliament, in terms of reports.

Tuilaepa said things have changed a lot in terms of the process.

Back in those days, there was not really any deliberation on the reports, he said.

That was 20 years ago. At that time there was only two committees and that has changed."

We have created more committees to review the Audit Reports and this has allowed them time to review it thoroughly.

Last month, Controller and Auditor General Fuimaono Camillo Afele wrote to the Constitutional Officers, Parliament Officers, Chief Executive Officers of Ministries and Chairpersons of Board advising them the Audit Office is compiling a Report to Parliament on audits and assessments conducted for the period of July 2016 to June 2017.

A copy of the letter obtained by the Sunday Samoan indicated that the audit work is near completion.

However normal practice that the relevant extracts are given to auditees for final comments and clarifications including an update on remedial and corrective actions taken.

Fuimaono in his letter pointed out the draft reports of the organizations and areas of responsibility and extracts, I believe, have been discussed with yourselves when the audits were completed."

We appreciate receiving comments/clarifications including an update on remedial and corrective actions taken by 5 January, 2018 to allow for translation, printing, final edits and submission to the Honorable Speaker by the end of March 2018.

In December 2017, Fuimaono wrote to the Samoa Observer saying he and his staff were called before the Finance and the Expenditure Committee (F.E.C.) of Parliament to assist with the Parliamentary examination and scrutiny of the Public Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2016.

For your information, the preparation and compilation of the Public Accounts is the responsibility of the Chief Executive and Ministry of Finance, he wrote.

It is the responsibility of the Audit Office to audit the Public Accounts."

All Public Accounts since my appointment in 2010 which is 7 years now have been audited up to financial year ended 30 June 2016."

The Public Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2017 are currently being audited to be completed by January 2018."

The submission of the Audited Public Accounts to Parliament through the Speaker of Parliament is the responsibility of the Minister of Finance."

The Public Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2016 was submitted by the Minister of Finance to the Honourable Speaker of Parliament on the 20th June 2017 and tabled by the Honourable Speaker in Parliament on the 13th November 2017, he pointed out."
The Ministry of Health has always entertained the idea of legalising marijuana for medical purposes in Samoa because there are cases that have been approved by the Narcotics Board.

However, there is not enough evidence indicating that marijuana can be extensively used as medicine.

That is the response of the Director of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri.

Its just hearsay and literally superficial evidence and like every other drug, there are pros and cons, he told the Sunday Samoan.

He was responding to the call by Senior Lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, to legalize marijuana for medical treatment.

In her view, it will help Samoas economy through the export of medicinal marijuana, especially coconut oil and marijuana fuse.

She also believes this will help reduce the number of inmates housed at Tafaigata Prison.

Furthermore it will save costs to Samoa when all those imprisoned for possession of marijuana etc. are no longer fed in jail, no longer accommodated in jail and there are no more criminal offenses relating to marijuana, she said.

For health reasons, those with cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, cancer, depression and other health problems can be treated with marijuana.

She told the Samoa Observer the government is wasting money and the Courts time.

But Leausa said Samoa needs to be careful.

Medical marijuana is for relief and yet other people use it to get high, he said.

Medical marijuana from a healths perspective is any part of the marijuana plant which you use to treat health problems."

And most people use it to get relief, not just to get high and that is the difference.

In Samoa, the current law permits the legalising of a specific dosage.

For narcotics such as marijuana, heroin or morphine, we take it case by case, he said.

The law has its acceptations, especially when its a matter of life and death and we look on the grounds that it does relieve pain especially with chronic pain."

We prescribe for specialised cases, but we are not saying that we will prescribe for everyone. Now that is not allowed.

He explained the process of how drugs or narcotics are used medically when necessary.

Right now we treat cases individually, an assessment is conducted, then we need opinions from two doctors and we write to the Narcotics Board to approve the use.

Leausa explained that the lengthy process is because this is drugs they are dealing with.

For instance, like heroine, if you look at heroine all over the world, its one of the best analgesics, its freely available on the streets, but its illegal to have it in the hospital."

Even the use of morphine, we have to be accountable for every single drop when used in the hospital."

This is nothing new, this is the process and that is how we control the drugs and there have been cases in the past where doctors have been deregistered and incarcerated because of the abuse, explained Leausa.

He then spoke of the pros and cons.

If you smoke marijuana, it will irritate your lungs just like someone who smokes cigarettes."

Although no study says that smoking marijuana will result in lung cancer."

For example for Samoa, speaking hypothetically there is about 30 percent of people smoking marijuana, casually not socially, unlike the other 70 percent who are smoking (cigarettes) every day."

Other issues that will occur is the indirect rate of your heart beat, they say when you intake marijuana, its up to three hours your heart rate will increase."

So if someone who has problems with the rhythm of his heart rate, it might be a risk factor.

The Director said there are States in America that have legalised cannabis use, but with conditions.

Not in a sense where its freely distributed to anyone."

Off island, if you are prescribed to use marijuana medically, you must have a medical card to show at border control.

Leausa made it clear that this medical card is not valid in Samoa.

We are an independent State and so these medical cards are not allowed here.

He said a cancer patient from off island requested to grow marijuana at their residence for pain relief.

Its impossible for us to allow that."

So we stick to what we can do and that is prescribe the medication and have it refilled.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has flatly rejected the call for marijuana to be legalised.
The Fremont Area Association of Retired School Personnel spends countless hours every year in service and volunteerism to our communities which are represented by our membership. As the year comes to an end, I would like to recognize and thank the members for the generosity and work with year ending projects. Countless hours were spent gathering necessary items and packing 200 Christmas bags for the 110 veterans in Fremont care centers. The other 90 bags were distributed to the four State Veterans Homes in Nebraska by the Disables American Veterans chapter in Fremont. Thanks guys for your service and help. As this is a very large project for us, this year we reached out to students at Grant, Howard and Washington elementary schools for part of the project. Our Christmas bags provide a bag of candy with all the other items. Students at these schools were asked if they would be willing to donate part of their Halloween candy to the veterans program. Because of the generosity of our members and these students, we were able to pack the 200 bags of candy needed for Christmas and another 425 bags for our upcoming veterans Valentine's Day project. We hope to invite the other schools to help honor our veterans with their participation for next years projects. Thank you again to all members of FAARSP for their support and dedication to our projects, community and great state. Also thank you to the students and administration of the three schools we worked with this year. All of you helped make many veterans very happy this season.
Out of the twenty recipients of the Samoa Stationery and Books Scholarship awards at the prize giving on Friday, four were also awarded scholarships by the Samoan government to further their studies at a university overseas.

The recipients were Joycemariella Toafa, Charles Salevao, Laila Stanley and Ronellah Taiatu Mose.

They spoke to the Sunday Samoan about their aspirations after pursuing higher education.

Demonstrating her diligence in maintaining high academic standards throughout her secondary education was Joycemariella.

In addition to her achievements this year, Joycemariella was also the inaugural recipient of S.S.A.B.s award in 2015 when it was first established.

Its a privilege and Im very grateful especially receiving the help from S.S.A.B., she said. Its been an amazing ride to be able to walk ahead and know that S.S.A.B. is right behind everything that I do."

They always try to highlight these programmes of giving back to the community because they think education can not only boost the economy of Samoa, but it can help in so many other ways like with our health system and the public sectors. Thats why S.S.A.B. is so supportive of education here in Samoa.

Joycemariella will be heading to Monash University in Australia where she intends to study a Bachelor of Commerce and Information technology hoping that it will lead to a career as an economist.

Showing an early understanding of what a successful enterprise looks like she added: I think thats part of their success because every business is supposed to be about profit, but at the same time S.S.A.B. is very passionate about the community, so they dont just care about the profit, they also have that heart about giving back to our community.

Charles will head to colder temperatures when he heads to Otago University to study medicine.

I will be studying medicine at Otago University, said Charles.

Ever since I was young, I dreamt to become a doctor because you get to save lives and help people in need and mainly because there is no other doctor in my family, so Ill become the first.

It means a lot to me to get this award and in my family, weve always been talking about getting scholarships so it feels so amazing and I feel so honoured because not only did I get one from the government, but also from S.S.A.B. and Ill do my best.

Laila was deeply grateful to be a recipient of both awards having not expected it.

I will be doing economics and management at Auckland University. Im just going to look for a job afterwards and help my family out. I feel blessed and honoured to get this award and I just want to say thank you to Fiti and S.S.A.B. management for this award, I really didnt expect it.

It was a point of pride for C.E.O. Fiti Leung Wai that two recipients were S.S.A.B. scholars. Joining Joycemariella was Ronellah who will head to Fiji to attend U.S.P.

Im going to be studying at U.S.P. in Fiji and hopefully Ill be studying software and accounting. Im very passionate about computers as well as money and Im excited to study those fields. Ill come back to Samoa and work for a few years because of the bond I have with the government and then move to New Zealand or Australia.

Ronellah also expressed her gratitude for S.S.A.B. and in particular their C.E.O. for their patronage over the years towards her education journey.

Fiti is a very great role model because I started at S.S.A.B. as a very negative person and a student. Fiti made me see the light in everything; shes helped me a lot."

It feels like a blessing from heaven, its amazing. Work hard and be yourself and also put God first because he is the only one to take you anywhere.
The village of Vailuutai welcomed 48 new holders of three different orator titles during a colourful and elaborate ceremony on Friday morning.

The three orator (tulafale) titles were Lio, Faaletaua and Atigiolauga.

The ceremony was held at the Maota o Tipolo.

Speaking to the Sunday Samoan, a representative of the family, Lio Fanaea Olai said their family has grown hence the need for new title holders.

As you can see, there are so many people, so it means the family is growing, he said.

The main purpose is that each family has someone to look after their family whether they are residing here or from overseas.

Its such a wonderful thing seeing the family come together.

This has been planned for some time now and we have decided to do it this time of the year because everyone had plans to come visit their families and friends and most especially spend the festive season with our families here in Samoa.

Rev. Mose Galuvao of the Vailuutai Congregational Christian Church conducted the service.

You have been chosen by your families to be leaders, he said.

A great leader leads by example and most especially with love. You are here to serve not to be served and always remember to put God first.

Love is the key to your calling.

If you show love, your family will love you back and they will support you all the way.

God bless the new chosen leaders of this family.
Road issues and water supply still continue to haunt the mainland villagers of Fasitoo-tai.

Village member, Eli Poutou, 56, said government water supply does not reach his place and families around the area.

Mr. Poutoa was working on his plantation yesterday afternoon when the Village Voice team met him.

Here at our area, we are not using the government water, he said.

The government water pipes only cover the families around the coastal area, but not in our area and thats the problem.

For some reason, families here in our area access water from our village stream.

So thats where our water is from and thats the water we are using up until now.

Mr. Poutoa mentioned the only problem they faced is collecting water.

The water we are using is fresh water; we just have to boil it before using it for health concerns.

The only problem we are facing with water is that it does not come straight to our tap, we collect it and we have to have enough area to store it and use it from there.

Mr. Poutoa also commented on the poor road condition in his village.

Our road is being damaged due to recent heavy rain and it really needs repairing so we can have good transportation from our area to the coastal area.

The other problem here with our road is that it is very narrow because it only has one lane.

Mr. Poutoa says the cost of goods is fair enough because we are buying imported goods from overseas.

To me personally, I think the cost of living is still fine, given that we are relying so much on exported goods from overseas.

So the businesses have every right to adjust the price the way they want to make up the money they invest bringing the goods to our shores.

Mr. Poutoa adds life in Samoa is good; however the government needs to address the daily struggles of families.
Many say legalizing marijuana is bad, but Laau Fomai of Saasaai, Savaii, thinks otherwise.

The 28-year-old says marijuana is the medicine for gout (gugu).

The father of four told the Village Voice team yesterday that legalizing marijuana is a good idea.

He says he is a living proof that marijuana cures gout.

I dont smoke or drink, but I took marijuana to cure my sickness, he said.

So you get the fresh leaves and then you boil it and then drink the juice.

The idea was from one of my friends who we worked together on fishing boats because that is what I do for a living.

I work on a fishing boat.

One day I couldnt get up because the sickness occurs during the rainy season, so when I get it, I am in so much pain and I could not walk, all I do is cry.

Yes, even at this age, I do cry when I get sick because I cannot handle the pain.

So one day my friend came to visit me and then he told me about the medicine.

I know its illegal, but I just wanted to be free from the pain I was feeling so I went and searched for anyone who has a fresh plant.

I found it and then I bought it, so I came home and boiled it and then I drank it and this was two years ago and look two years later I am free.

I can walk and go to work on rainy days and yes sometimes I can feel my feet tingling and thats it, but its not how it was before when I get it.

So yes the plant is a medicine to gout and I think if the government legalizes it, I think it would be good nothing wrong with it.

Mr. Fomai adds people blame marijuana for their actions, but the truth is its them not the plant.

I know a lot of rapists and murderers blame the plant, but I dont think so, he said.

They chose to take marijuana, so I think they are in control of their behaviors.

We are in control of our emotions and feelings not the other way around.

And I also think that if the government does legalize it, then the hospital has a part to play.

They have to prescribe the plant to the people who have gouts only; if the doctor does not prescribe it then it should not be used by anyone.

And the patient must also have proof that they do have gout and that is the work done by the doctors to prove that this person does have gout.

That is my opinion I only took it to cure my sickness, Im a working father of four and I am the breadwinner for my family.

The plant healed me so I am strong and providing for my family without worrying about any sickness, Mr. Fomai said.
Samoans have so much to appreciate instead of complaining.

Esera Lauano Apelu, 36, from the village of Vailuutai believes there is always a way to find money, apart from regular jobs.

Mr. Apelu told the Village Voice team yesterday that our land holds the key to our survival.

This land, he said, can be utilized as plantations to generate income for families.

For us and our country, we have land that we work on on to provide and support our family, Mr. Apelu said.

And the only thing for us to do is to work on it because the plantation can provide both food and finance at the same time for your family.

Mr. Apelu said the land addresses the struggles of dealing with the expensive cost of living.

The cost of living today in Samoa is really high and expensive, so the price of exported goods from overseas is definitely high.

So while exported goods are high and expensive, this is where our plantation comes in to be able to assist us, saving money from buying rice and other exported goods.

Mr. Apelu mentioned while he has a regular job to support his family, he still enjoys working on his plantation.

I have always enjoyed working on my plantation even though I have a regular job.

To me having a regular job only covers us for a short period of time because we work to pay the bills.

But to continue working the plantation together with your regular job, that contributes well enough to the welfare of the family.

Mr. Apelu adds while this festive season brings lot of families from overseas, this is the time we need to show them how good our plantations are.

I have families from overseas at our house at the moment, and I dont want them to come here and eat rice.

Let them eat rice when they leave, but when theyre here, they have to taste how good our crops can be, so they can go back and keep craving for more.

Our country is really expensive right now, we dont have to rely more on our regular jobs to support our families, lets use our plantation together with our jobs to make life easier for our families who are suffering already, Mr. Apelu said.
La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe continued to be the place for the most expensive home sales in San Diego County in 2017.

The most expensive house to sell in the county was a beach front property in La Jolla for $12 million.

Built in 1993, 6106 Camino de la Costa features panoramic ocean views and its own private sandpit on the water. Property records say it was purchased by Neil Smit, former CEO of Comcast.

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Real estate agent Russ Clark said the home is on a peninsula lot that maximized views of the ocean.

You had views of Point Loma and Mission Beach, he said, so at night you could see lights reflecting on the water.

The top five home sales in 2017 equaled $54.5 million. Thats down from $79.9 million total for the top five the previous year.

One of the most expensive homes to sell last year, 16568 La Gracia in Rancho Santa Fe, sold twice. Real estate agent Megan Luce said her clients bought the property in April but realized they werent there as much as their other properties so they decided to sell.

I couldnt believe they were selling so soon, she said. But, the property is breathtaking and I was excited to go into it again.

Luce did not want to give the buyers names, and it is unclear from property records who they were. The home was purchased by Florida-based limited liability company, Covenant RJC, in April for $10.6 million. It was then sold to the Greenfield Trust out of Washington state for $10.85 million in December.

Another home in Rancho Santa Fe made the top five most expensive sales. In June, 6883 Alydar Corte sold for $11 million. The 12,500-square-foot property was on the market for 258 days, the longest of any of the sales.

Another La Jolla home also made the list, 8470 El Paseo Grande, which sold for $10.1 million. It featured a private courtyard, guest house and ocean views throughout.

Rounding out the list was 106 13th St. in Del Mar that sold for $10 million. The 2,300-square-foot remodeled cottage on the bluffs of Del Mar has three bathrooms and two bedrooms and was built in 1948.

The most expensive homes to sell in 2017 were much less than the top sales in 2016. The top seller in 2016, an ocean front home in Del Mar, went for $18 million.

Clark, the agent that sold 2017s most expensive home, said the luxury market wasnt slowing down, but just had a lack of inventory last year. Like some other agents, he believes affluent buyers will have more money to spend on real estate in the new year following tax changes recently approved in Congress  despite caps on property tax deductions.

Their overall net income is going to go up dramatically under the new tax plan, Clark said.

On the other end of the housing market, the cheapest home to sell in 2017 was a 924-square-foot house in Jacumba for $27,000. Built in 1945, it was in severe disrepair and the buyer was warned they would responsible for the removal of unusable property. One room on the property included old laundry, broken computers and abandoned Christmas decorations.

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phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar

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The vanishing San Diego single-family home
Broadcom said Friday that it has begun reaching out to Qualcomm shareholders to secure their votes to replace the San Diego companys broad members, the latest maneuver in its hostile takeover attempt of the local smartphone chip maker.

The announcement means that the semiconductor company, led by Hock Tan, has officially filed its proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is in the process of mailing a letter and blue voting card to Qualcomm shareholders.

At Qualcomms Annual Meeting of Stockholders on March 6, 2018, you will have an important opportunity to influence the value of your investment by voting the BLUE proxy card for 11 independent and highly qualified individuals, Broadcom said in the letter.

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The letter follows a series of back-and-forth jabs between the two companies, which started in November when Broadcom made an unsolicited bid to buy Qualcomm for $70 a share. Qualcomms board rejected the buyout offer. The rebuff prompted Broadcom to challenge all 11 members of Qualcomms board with its own nominees.

In December, Qualcomm publicly spurned the proposed nominees, adding that it would not include ballots for the candidates in shareholder documents filed with the SEC.

Fridays formal communication with Qualcomm shareholders was the expected next step for Broadcom as it solicits votes ahead of the shareholder meeting.

Qualcomm also filed its definitive proxy materials on Friday, officially inviting shareholders to its annual meeting of stockholders at 8 a.m. on March 6.

The Board believes that (Broadcoms board) nominees are inherently conflicted and lack the skills and experience necessary to run a large capitalization, highly complex, and technology and innovation-driven global corporation like ours, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Business

jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin

UPDATES:

3:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, a routine rite at the start of many municipal meetings, has generated some soul-searching for Encinitas Traffic and Public Safety Commission members.

Two commissioners -- Darius Degher, a Leucadia musician and poet, and Christina Simokat, a New Encinitas resident who teaches environmental science at Cal State San Marcos -- threw a spotlight on the standard agenda item when they both chose not to say the pledge during the commissions Dec. 11 meeting and sat while the other commissioners recited it.

At the meetings end, the other commissioners reactions ranged from dismay to bewilderment when Degher asked if they could eliminate the pledge from all future agendas, or just do it once or twice a year.

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Instead, the commissioners informally agreed to emphasize at future meetings that reciting the pledge is voluntary.

Degher joined the seven-member board of unpaid volunteers last spring. He said Tuesday he has two main reasons for declining to participate. The first relates to the nations current political conditions. He said he believes that President Donald Trump, Trumps former chief strategist Stephen Bannon and members of the far right are fomenting a hyper-nationalist movement by appropriating national symbols for their own ends and using them to try to silence people who oppose them.

At this moment in which our democracy is being attacked from within, cheerfully standing for the pledge is like wearing bright colors in a funeral procession, he wrote in a statement that hes been giving out to people who ask about his decision to sit during the pledge.

Consequently, I would like to suggest that at this time, sitting through the Pledge of Allegiance is a statement of resistance patriotism, one aimed at raising the awareness of more Americans in order to effectively thwart the current attacks on our American ways, including attacks on our legal systems, our law enforcement agencies, our journalistic media, women, the LGBT community, and people of color.

Thats only half the reason he is declining to participate, he said later.

The second (reason) is I find the pledge itself objectionable, he said as he discussed the history of the pledge, the anti-immigrant views of its creator and the Hitler-style salute that children were originally encouraged to give as they recited the pledge.

While Degher details his concerns about the pledge and the countrys current political climate, Simokat has taken a different approach when asked why shes choosing to sit and remain silent.

She said shes not going to provide a reason because its important that people realize they dont have to give an explanation -- theres no law requiring them to say the pledge, or to stand and put their hands over their hearts, or even to remove their hats.

There is also no legal complusion to explain yourself -- no one should feel that they need to, she said in an interview Tuesday.

Degher and Simokat, who has sat out both recitations of the pledge since she joined the commission in October, are far from the only people whove taken a stand on the issue. A quick Internet search finds that everyone from liberal bloggers to a senior editor at the conservative Cato Institute recently have questioned the nations attachment to the vow. Many of them note that the pledge only exists today because of a clever marketing gimmick by a childrens magazine in the late 1800s.

The Youths Companion magazine, which gave away flags as rewards to people who sold lots of magazine subscriptions, produced and marketed the original version of the pledge as part of its flag-in-every-classroom campaign, historical accounts indicate. During the magazines big push to get schools to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovery of the New World with patriotic events and lots of flag decorations, the magazine paid avid socialist Francis Bellamy, a former Baptist minister whose views had recently cost him his job in the pulpit, to write the pledge.

Bellamys pledge, which he said at the time took him less than two hours to produce, has been modified since. The most significant revision occurred at the height of the nations anti-communism period in the 1950s when the words under God were added, a change thats been an additional source of conflict over the years.

There also has been debate about how to properly salute the flag. Just before America entered World War II, the original straight-arm-out salute -- a gesture known as the Bellamy Salute -- was dropped and replaced with the hand-over-the-heart gesture because the original salute looked a lot like what people were being required to do in Nazi Germany.

On Jan. 8 -- the Encinitas Traffic and Public Safety Commissions first meeting of the new year --- the commission will begin its session as usual with a recitation of the pledge, but the audience members will be invited to participate rather than being told to do so, Commission Chairman Charles Lisherness said Tuesday.

The Pledge of Allegiance will remain on the agenda and I will ask people to join me in the pledge, Lisherness said, adding, To remove it from the agenda would be a statement in itself .... I dont think we need to make a statement. Lets focus on our work at hand.

Lisherness said he wanted to be respectful both to the two commissioners who have decided not to participate and to people like fellow Commissioner Peter Kohl, who said during the December meeting that he found Deghers decision to sit and keep his hat on during the recitation of the pledge disrespectful.

If you dont want to say it, thats fine with me, but all Im asking is that you do show some respect for the people that do do it, Kohl, an immigrant and former serviceman who volunteers with the citys senior police patrol, told Degher.

Simokat suggested Lisherness compromise approach of telling the audience that they had the choice of participating. That suggestion was supported by Degher and all of the other commissioners, including those who said they didnt really have a strong opinion on the issue.

I dont really care ... Im just so used to doing (the pledge), I just do it, Commissioner Brian Grover told his fellow commissioners as they debated the topic.
A state of emergency was declared Saturday in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte as its police approached the third week of a strike that has led to a spike in violent crimes.

Civil and military police walked off the job Dec. 19 to demand back pay and better working conditions.

Officers havent been paid in full since November. They were told the rest of their salaries from two months ago would be issued this week, but the payday was again pushed back, this time to Monday. December paychecks and mandatory end-of-year bonuses have yet to be discussed.

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Last month, Rio Grande do Nortes state government asked the federal government for an extra 600 million reais ($185.8 million) to pay its public servants the salaries they were owed. The Ministry of Finance denied the request.

Talks between the police and the state government have stalled, despite the strike being declared illegal and the threat that officers who promote the walkout will be arrested. The next round of talks is expected on Wednesday.

A handful of military police officers have returned to work since they were threatened with arrest, and the civil police have been operating with a reduced number of officers, but the state remains on edge. Even when the full military force is patrolling the streets, there is a shortage of at least 5,000 officers. The state hasnt opened the selection process for new recruits since 2005.

Armed forces were sent to Rio Grande do Norte on Dec. 29, but the 2,800 federal troops havent been able to keep up. While security on the streets has improved since the first days of the strike, only 50% of 911 calls are being answered.

More than 100 people have been killed since police stopped patrolling the streets of the northeastern state, considered one of the deadliest places in the world long before the strike. The number of homicides in Rio Grande do Norte has been on the rise for years, jumping 232% between 2005 and 2015. According to a report from the Observatory of Intentional Lethal Violence, 2,408 people were killed last year, a record number of homicides for the state.

Much of the violence on the streets of Rio Grande do Norte is because of a longstanding turf war between local gang Familia do Norte and Sao Paulo-based gang Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC. The state is part of a much-desired drug-trafficking route that would be extremely profitable for the PCC, which has spread north in an attempt to overtake and control it.

The gang also has led several deadly prison riots in the last year in an attempt to assert itself across the country, officials said. At least 26 were killed last January at Alcacuz prison in Rio Grande do Nortes capital city of Natal after a two-day massacre attributed to the PCC. The most recent riot started by the gang was on the first day of the year at a prison in the state of Goias. Nine inmates were killed.

The emergency decree, which was published in the states official gazette and is valid for 180 days, allows the government of Rio Grande do Norte to pay for emergency services and sign contracts without a bidding process.

Public security is not the only crisis the state is facing. It declared a state of emergency in public health and in its prison system last year, both of which are still in effect. A drought also has left 153 municipalities in Rio Grande do Norte in a state of emergency since early last year.

Langlois is a special correspondent.
Daniel Ortiz Merino has a lot of good memories from his participation in programs with the Braille Institute, so when he learned about their Techspert program, he saw an opportunity to return to a place that had been so positive for him.

From the age of 7 and until I graduated high school, I participated in Braille Institutes youth program, from which I hold many incredible memories. When I heard about the Techspert opportunity, I was very excited about the prospect of a homecoming, of sorts, he says. I also felt like I had matured as an instructor and that this would be the perfect opportunity to help several people in a day.

The program trains visually impaired instructors to work one-on-one with visually impaired clients on using adaptive technology and devices. Merino, 31, lost his vision shortly after he was born due to a rare form of eye cancer. Today, he lives in La Mesa with his girlfriend, their two daughters and his guide dog and a pet Chihuahua. Hes been a Techspert since last summer and also works in the assistive technology field providing in-home consultations. He took some time to talk about his involvement in the program as an instructor, what hed like to see employers understand about hiring people who are visually impaired, and his memories of riding his bike as a boy despite his vision loss.

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Q: What do you do as a Techspert?

A: As a Techspert, I help people who have had vision loss from a young age  as well as adults who may have lost their vision because of age, disease, or trauma  through one-on-one consultations regarding assistive technology. These consultations include basic orientations to assistive software and devices, instruction on specific tasks (such as sending an email message on a smart phone), as well as demonstrations and assessments to find out which piece of technology is appropriate for a certain individual. I also lead group classes in the subjects of Jaws (one of the most popular screen-reading programs for the Windows platform), and Apples accessibility options. Occasionally, I help facilitate technology workshops for the community.

Q: You grew up in Mexico before moving to the U.S. as a young boy. What skills did you first learn in Mexico that helped you with your independence?

A: I have many fond memories of the school for the blind I attended in Mexico City. There, I learned to read Braille, use a cane, and also things that would help me survive in the sighted world, like signing my name, and writing a note if necessary. My family also was not afraid to include me in things like cooking, household chores, riding bikes and other experiences any child has.

Q: What was one of the first forms of assistive technology you ever used?

A: Other than the very rudimentary slate and stylus for writing Braille , my first piece of assistive equipment was a Perkins Brailler. A Perkins Brailler is essentially a Braille typewriter. Paper is fed through the rolls, and then the user presses a combination of the six keys to emboss the paper with Braille characters. This was much faster from the slate and stylus, which requires the user to punch each individual dot.

I immediately fell in love with it when I began using them in Mexico, but then I was ecstatic when I was provided one to take home when I came to San Diego. My appreciation lessened however, when it became the tool that facilitated hours of homework.

What I love about La Mesa ...

I like that La Mesa is close enough to the city, but still a little quieter and surrounded by a little more nature. There are also a lot of good places to dine and shop. I also really enjoy having the trolley nearby, as it really helps with my travel to and from work and fun.

Q: How has that particular form of technology evolved or improved over the years?

A: Braillers have evolved into Braille Notetakers, which are small Braille computers, and are mainly used by students and professionals to do anything from taking notes, as the name implies, to sending email and browsing the web. There are also electronic Braille displays that connect to computers and smart phones, so that one has Braille access to the screen, and that allow the user to manipulate the device with the Braille display itself. However, not everyone with vision loss learns Braille, so learning other forms of adaptive technology is vitally important to maintain ones independence.

Q: Whats your favorite assistive technology to use currently?

A: My favorite, and currently most used assistive technology is VoiceOver on my iPhone. VoiceOver is the built-in screen reader on Apple devices. In the case of the iPhone, it reads items on the screen, and allows me to manipulate my phone through a series of finger gestures, such as flicks and taps with one or more fingers.

I really like that mainstream tech companies, such as Apple, include this level of accessibility for their devices. This allows me to keep up with my sighted peers without having to purchase a separate, and likely very expensive, device or software.

Q: The American Foundation for the Blind reports that more than 40 percent of people of working age who have vision loss, are employed. Why do you think more employers arent hiring candidates who are visually impaired?

A: I think there is a significant lack of awareness of how visually impaired people live their lives. There is still the idea that the visually impaired need a great deal of assistance to complete daily tasks, much less to be productive in the workplace. With that idea, it would be cumbersome, inconvenient, and very expensive to accommodate a visually impaired employee. But the free programs offered by the Braille Institute enable persons with low vision or no vision to be independent and engaged in the community and, for some, the workplace.

Q: What would you like to see employers do to be more inclusive of visually impaired employees and in hiring more job candidates who have low vision or no vision?

A: I would love for employers to realize that, with the help of technology, it is no longer cumbersome, inconvenient, and definitely not expensive to accommodate a blind employee. Often, the technology is easily accessible through apps and software. There are a lot of intelligent, highly educated and qualified visually impaired people who are ready to join the workforce, and be a highly productive member of a team if given the chance. With that being said, the (current) statistic is an improvement from 10 and 20 years ago, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I would like to see employers open their minds, and maybe do a little research before turning down a job candidate who is visually impaired.

Q: Whats been challenging about your work in assistive technology?

A: Something I really enjoy about my work is that it is always challenging because of the variety of people and their needs. At times I find myself exploring apps or websites that I have never used, quickly learning my way around it, then instructing my student on how to navigate it on their own. It is especially challenging when there is not a lot of accessibility in the app or website due to unlabeled links or buttons, and then I have to figure out how to work around those issues.

Q: Whats been rewarding about that work?

A: There is nothing like having someone finish a session with a smile on their face, and feeling like they have accomplished something. I love the feeling of empowerment people get from their technology, especially when they were fearful or nervous to use it initially.

Q: What has it taught you about yourself?

A: Before working in the assistive technology field, I generally regarded myself as a very impatient person. Yet, throughout my work, I have gotten many compliments and thanks on my patience. I think if a student is not understanding a concept I am trying to explain, it is just my cue to find a better way to explain it.

Q: What is the best advice youve ever received?

A: My grandmother told me many times to always be aware of the way I talk and carry myself, because it would say a lot about me. To this day, this awareness has made me be able to communicate with people of different age groups, cultures and backgrounds. Because of this, I have been able to network and have the employment opportunities I have enjoyed.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: As a child, I used to ride my bike around the streets of Mexico City. I would use ambient noise for echolocation, in order to avoid crashing into people or obstacles. Of course, it came a lot more naturally then, and I would not dare do anything like that now, but I have a lot of fond memories from riding my bike.

Q: Describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: There is nothing like taking my little family out for a stroll around Balboa Park or the harbor, and end up at a delicious seafood restaurant, or a good spot to grab a California burrito.

Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @lisadeaderick
Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Michelle King, whose four-month medical leave for cancer treatment left a leadership gap at a school system facing challenges on numerous fronts, wont return to her position and plans to retire later this year, the district announced Friday.

Kings move means the new majority on the Board of Education, the first elected with substantial support from charter school backers, will immediately move to the job of selecting a leader for the nations second-largest school district.

Picking a leader is widely regarded as the most important task for a school board, and Kings exit occurs during a period of momentous challenge and change. The school system faces a long-term budget deficit, expired labor contracts and a rift between traditional educators and backers of charter schools, which are privately operated and growing in number. L.A. Unified already has more charters than any other school system.

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Charters and district schools compete directly for students and the funding that comes with them. The new board majority is attempting a delicate balancing act: strengthening traditional schools while also supporting the expansion of more charter schools. Kings replacement will be at the center of both priorities.

King was appointed by an earlier school board majority that at times had clashed with charter school advocates, and her longevity as superintendent after last years election had been an open question.

In a statement, King revealed she is undergoing treatment for undisclosed form of cancer.

With the progression of my illness, I have made the incredibly difficult decision to retire by June 30, King said. Until then, I will remain on medical leave.

I am very thankful for the outpouring of support I have received from the entire L.A. Unified family, our community partners and my colleagues across the nation, King added. As I aggressively fight this illness, I ask that you continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

In a joint statement, the Board of Education praised King as an exemplary educator, inspirational role model and steadfast leader.

Having dedicated her career to the district, it is now time for Dr. King to focus her incredible strength and energy on her health, the statement said. We wholeheartedly support her decision to retire, and will continue to keep her in our thoughts and prayers as she faces the challenges ahead.

Kings decision to step down came amid growing questions about when she would be returning and a growing clamor for the school district to be more forthcoming about her condition. Some, both inside and outside the district, expressed concern about the districts direction in her absence.

In the short term, the new leader will be the same person who has been in charge since mid-October, Acting Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Like King, Ekchian is a career insider who rose through the ranks.

Because senior officials have praised her performance, Ekchian is likely to be a candidate for the permanent job. Another name that has come up in discussions within and outside of the district is Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson. She has attracted support among some outside civic leaders. But the school board is almost certain to look extensively outside the system as well.

The Board of Education selected King in January 2016. A career L.A. Unified employee, she rose with consistently good reviews to the No. 2 leadership position but had never led a school district. She brought to the job strong internal support but a certain discomfort in the spotlight and a degree of inaccessibility, even before her ailment, that contrasted with her predecessors.

Kings major accomplishment was pushing the graduation rate to record levels by allowing students to quickly make up credits for failed classes. Her major initiative going forward has been to expand the number of schools with special programs to offset declining enrollment caused by the growth of independently operated charter schools.

King didnt have any home-run accomplishments, but she didnt have any disasters, either, said Tyrone Howard, a UCLA education professor and director of the schools Black Male Institute. There arent major controversies or disasters that fell in her lap or that she created, he said. She kept the ship steady.

Howard also praised Kings diplomacy regarding charter schools: She showed support for both sides in ways that I dont think was easy.

Last June, the school board voted 6 to 1 to extend Kings contract through June 2020. Board members cited her performance and a need for stability going forward. The action also limited the immediate effect of a new majority that was set to take control in July. It became more politically difficult for the new majority to oust King and to select their own choice.

She brought some stability back and it was important, said Pedro Noguera, a professor at UCLAs education school. Her leadership style is very comforting to people of all kinds. Even when they disagree, no one ever felt she was a mean or vindictive person.

The announcement by King, 56, ended much of the mystery that had shrouded her absence. King had difficulty moving about during her last board meeting Sept. 12. She was using a cane to move around and was in obvious discomfort. Its still not clear  based on the limited information provided  if her cancer was the underlying issue or if she had other health problems as well. Early on, there was an unofficial account that she had been injured in a zip-lining accident while on vacation with her family.

King has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since September. In her most recent public communication, in October, King had said she would return after the first of the year. She was more specific in a confidential December communication to the Board of Education, saying shed be back Jan. 22.

Earlier this week, the district was vague about when King would return. On Thursday, however, a spokeswoman said the superintendent was scheduled to return Jan. 22, based on the paperwork of her medical leave. It also was clear that district officials had doubts about whether King could keep to this schedule or even whether she would return at all.

It will fall to the districts next superintendent, Noguera said, both to improve local schools and build the publics confidence in them.

King wasnt there long enough to bring about the improvements that would lead to that strength, he said. Thats the work that the next person is going to have to take on.

howard.blume@latimes.com

joy.resmovits@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sonali Kohli contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

4:20 p.m.: This post was updated with more details throughout.

Originally posted at 2:50 p.m.
It keeps happening.

We all know that drinking and driving can be deadly. Weve seen the public service announcements. Weve read stories in the newspaper and on the internet.

Weve seen the destruction, real or otherwise, depicted on TV.

Weve participated in programs like Every 15 Minutes that use dramatizations on high school campuses to show the death and destruction one drunken driver can create.

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We may even have had this kind of senseless tragedy touch us personally.

But it keeps happening.

Last week, a suspected drunken driver caused a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 15 near Miramar Road that left two people dead and others injured. Because the defendant  Jeffrey Brian Levi  has a previous DUI conviction on his record, indicating he had been warned that getting behind the wheel while intoxicated has serious consequences, he has been charged with murder.

The legal theory in a second-degree murder case is that the defendant did something that was dangerous to human life, a fact that he or she was aware of, and did it anyway.

Is there anyone of legal driving age in the country, maybe even on the planet, who hasnt been warned about the dangers of drunken driving?

And still, it keeps happening.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimates that there are nearly 10,500 deaths per year in the United States that are DUI-related.

Over the New Years holiday weekend, the California Highway Patrol made 829 DUI arrests around the state  not including those made by law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions  up from 698 the year before, a nearly 19 percent increase. The CHP arrested 50 people on suspicion of DUI in San Diego County that weekend, from Friday evening to Monday morning.

Statewide, the CHP counted 29 fatalities during the same holiday weekend (although not all of those were DUI-related).

About a week earlier, on Christmas Eve, that agency lost one of its own when a suspected drunken driver ran into the back of a parked patrol car in the Bay Area, killing 33-year-old CHP Officer Andrew Camilleri and injuring his partner who was in the same vehicle.

The defendant in that case, Mohammed Abraar Ali of Hayward, allegedly admitted to the CHP after the crash that he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, specifically marijuana, according to The Mercury News.

He has been charged with murder.

Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright, who heads a unit within the San Diego County District Attorneys Office that focuses on prosecuting drunken-driving fatality cases, said the office filed charges in 25 cases in 2017.

Thats up from 16 the previous year  which is huge, Bright said in a brief phone conversation Friday, shortly after she had left the arraignment for Jeffrey Levi in San Diego Superior Court.

The District Attorneys DUI Homicide Unit filed 18 cases each year in 2015 and 2014, and 14 cases in 2013.

And next week, Bright will be back in court for the trial of Jason Riley King, who is accused of causing an alcohol-fueled, wrong-way crash on north state Route 163 near Interstate 8 that killed two UC San Diego medical students and injured three other people in May 2015.

Lawyers in that case are expected to deliver their opening statements in front of a jury Tuesday.

The fatal crash inspired a bill, authored by state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), that will require bartenders and other alcohol servers to go through training to help them serve alcohol responsibly and recognize when someone has had too much to drink.

Classmates of the medical students reportedly worked with Gonzalez Fletcher to develop the legislation.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law in October. Afterward, Gonzalez Fletcher said in a tweet that the new law would better prevent drunken driving.

But, of course, it keeps happening.

What more warning do we need?

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
When Jeffrey Brian Levi had a few drinks and got behind the wheel of his red Ford Mustang Tuesday night, he should have known it was dangerous, a prosecutor said in San Diego Superior Court Friday.

Levi had been convicted of drunken driving once before, in 2007. This week, he caused a chain-reaction fiery crash that killed two Riverside men, severely burned a woman and injured another motorist in a separate car, Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright said.

Bright said that three hours after the 11:45 p.m. collision on Interstate 15, Levis blood-alcohol level was in the range of 0.16 to 0.17 percent  twice the legal limit of .08 percent.

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He pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury, and two counts of hit-and-run.

Levi was charged with murder because of his prior DUI conviction, Bright said.

The defendant faces 40 years to life in prison if convicted on all counts.

Judge Jay Bloom ordered Levi held on $2 million in bail, saying the 37-year-old posed a danger to the public. The judge said if Levi did post bail, he must not drive.

The prosecutor said Levi was driving northbound when his Mustang hit the back of a Toyota Corolla near Miramar Road. Witnesses told the highway patrol he was going more than 100 mph.

The Toyota spun and stopped in the fast lane, where it was hit by an SUV driven by an off-duty San Diego police sergeant. The Toyota burst into flames.

Other drivers stopped and some hauled a female passenger out of the Toyota. Giovanna Dominguez, 18, suffered major fractures and burns over 75 percent of her body and remains hospitalized, Bright said.

Dominguezs boyfriend, Isaac Felix, 18, and her brother, David Dominguez, 33, died in the burning car.

Levi was unhurt and ran off, Bright said. A police helicopter crew found him 15 minutes later, walking toward his home. He was jailed that night.

My brother didnt deserve this, said Selena Felix after court, standing with her sisters, Karina and Denise Felix. He was a good individual. He was young, full of life.

She said Isaac had graduated from Alvord Alternative High School in Riverside, worked as a cashier at a Little Cesars pizza restaurant and wanted to go to college to become an architect.

David Dominguez leaves two children, ages 5 and 8.

Even though the Toyota caught fire after it was hit by the police sergeants SUV, not the Mustang, Bright said Levi is still accountable for the deaths and injury.

The defendant caused the whole course of conduct, Bright said, adding that the second driver does not appear culpable, based on the information she has now, while police are still investigating.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepard
The U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego and Imperial counties will be getting an extra prosecutor, one of 40 new positions being added nationwide by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fight against violent crime, the office announced Friday.

The positions are being funded by Congress under the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which is a nationwide initiative to reduce gun and gang crime using a variety of methods, including hiring more prosecutors, providing training, and promoting community outreach.

In a statement, Sessions said he is asking Congress for additional funding for the program for next year because I believe nothing will be more effective at reducing violent crime.

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The new positions this year are being made possible through a reallocation of resources, he said.

Under this program, I am asking a great deal of our United States Attorneys, Sessions said. I am both empowering them and holding them accountable for results.

Adam Braverman, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, said he was grateful for the additional resources.

In this district, we are inundated with border-related crimes, Braverman said in a statement. Adding a prosecutor to our roster who will focus solely on violent crime will allow us to pursue more of the cases that harm our residents and damage our neighborhoods the most, and that will translate to safer communities.

Of the 94 U.S. attorney offices in the country, 27 will get new prosecutors. Some jurisdictions are getting two, while the Chicago and Maryland offices are getting the most at three each.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
A California subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Rabobank announced this month it plans to plead guilty in connection with a long-running investigation into the banks anti-money laundering program.

The news comes just weeks after a former bank vice president admitted in San Diego federal court to turning a blind eye to suspected drug money flowing through Imperial Valley branches.

The case against George M. Martin, a vice president of Rabobank National Association and the banks anti-money laundering investigations manager, foreshadows the larger U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Rabobank and implicates other unnamed high-level personnel.

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The U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego has offered Martin a deferred prosecution agreement, meaning he wont be prosecuted with aiding and abetting violations of the Bank Secrecy Act so long as he continues to cooperate with the investigation into the bank. Martin, who lives in Texas, accepted the deal on Dec. 14.

Last week, Rabobank National Association announced to shareholders it has set aside $374 million in anticipation of settling DOJ investigations into its anti-money laundering compliance program. The announcement describes the expected upcoming guilty plea by the bank to be for a single offense related to former employees withholding of information from the U.S. Department of the Treasury nearly five years ago.

A Rabobank spokesman declined to discuss the case, saying in an email statement Friday: As is our standard practice, we do not comment on former or current employees.

Banks are required under the Bank Secrecy Act to help the government track and prevent money laundering, including filing reports called Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, to the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, when bank staff spot certain red flags in accounts.

Martin headed Rabobanks California unit that was supposed to ferret out illegal activity, but his deferred prosecution agreement lays out a pattern of policy and procedures at the bank from 2009 to 2012 that let high-risk account holders avoid proper investigation, in turn allowing them to funnel millions of dollars in suspicious cash and wire transactions through the banks Tecate and Calexico branches, prosecutors said.

One way of doing this was to add accounts to a verified activity list, meaning the account holders were supposedly already vetted and didnt require further scrutiny. In March 2012, Martin emailed his investigations staff stating that increasing the number on the verified activity list continues to be an area of interest for (Martin) as this will continue to reduce the amount of actual suspects we have to work, month after month, according to court documents.

There were fewer than 10 accounts on the verified activity list in 2009, a number that grew to more than 1,000 in 2012.

In February 2010, Martin and others were told about potential money-laundering activity in a Mexican-based business account at a Calexico branch, but they decided not to investigate further, or file a Suspicious Activity Report, because the banks staff wanted to solicit additional business from the customer, the deferred prosecution agreement says.

In August 2011, law enforcement seized those funds on suspicion the accounts were being used to move millions of dollars in drug proceeds  more than $10 million in suspicious cash and wire transactions passed through the account from 2009 to 2011. And even then, Martin and others didnt take action on the account until October 2012, the agreement states.

Also in February 2010, Martin and others ignored red flags in an account held by a Mexican-based business that made large sequential withdrawals in suspicious patterns and issued about 50 checks for $9,500 each, likely to avoid the $10,000 deposit threshold that triggers a currency transaction report by the bank. The checks were cashed by 12 people who each got about $484,500 total on the same day at different times at the banks Tecate branch.

The account holders and their related businesses had at least 25 prior Suspicious Activity Reports filed against them. But, according to the deferred prosecution agreement, Martin told employees not to file reports for these transactions, writing in an email: No more SARs for them!

The deferred prosecution agreement means Martin must cooperate with investigators and also complete 50 hours of community service. If he follows through, then the case will be dropped against him after two years.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
The state health department has fined UC San Diego Health $44,000 for a medical mistake that led to a patients death.

The penalty involves an incident in September 2015. It was among 10 citations totaling $549,555 handed down to nine hospitals across the state on Dec. 28.

The latest fine is the seventh for UC San Diego which, according to a list of all fines provided by the California Department of Public Health, has the third-most penalties since 2007, the year the Legislature created the public reprimands program to hold hospitals more accountable for preventable medical errors.

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According to a statement of deficiencies released by health officials, the latest incident involved an inactive cardiac monitor used to supervise a male patient who had undergone an angioplasty procedure at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest to open a clogged blood vessel and alleviate chest pain on Sept. 7, 2015.

According to the states report, the patient, who is not identified by name or age, became disconnected from the bedside electronic device about 5:44 a.m. on Sept. 8.

The states report says that a technician monitoring the heart signals of many patients on computer screens in another part of the hospital told investigators that he didnt notice the patients heart rate had flatlined because the screen showing this data was off to the side. I just didnt scan over that far.

The technician told investigators that he did not hear the alarms that bedside monitors make when they become disconnected, and his remote-monitoring console did not automatically sound an audible alarm.

A nurse assigned to the patient, who said he was able to hear the alarm for only about 10 to 15 feet in the hallway outside the patients room, didnt enter to check on the patient until 6:35 a.m. He quickly noticed that the man in the bed looked gray and unresponsive.

In its report, the state says that UC San Diego Medical Center did not have a robust-enough written procedure for monitoring technicians to follow and that the annual training assessment of the technician on duty that morning had not been verified, concluding that health providers efforts were informal, inconsistent and failed to ensure patient safety and well-being.

In a short written statement, UC San Diego said it immediately revised guidelines, enhanced staff education and instituted monitoring to ensure successful implementation of these corrective actions.

UC San Diego Healths commitment to the health and safety of its patients is absolute and on-going, the statement said.

The UC San Diego Medical Center was the only hospital in San Diego County issued a fine by the CDPH in late December, though three local facilities received fines in August totaling $233,650 for similar infractions deemed severe enough to put patients lives in immediate jeopardy of severe injury or death.

Fines under the program enacted in 2007 can reach $125,000 per incident depending on frequency and severity.

While UC San Diego has the third-most penalties since 2007, Southwest Healthcare System, which operates hospitals in Wildomar and Murieta, ranks first with 13 penalties, and UCSF Medical Center is second with nine. Sharp Memorial Hospital in Serra Mesa has six while Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego has five. Both Scripps Green Hospital in Torrey Pines and Palomar Medical Center in Escondido each have four penalties. Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside has three penalties.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
Border Patrol will not re-open doors in the border fence at Friendship Park this year, ending a series of events that allowed chosen families to reunite briefly on the line between the U.S. and Mexico.

The agency has cooperated with six door-opening events organized by local nonprofit Border Angels since 2013. A surprise marriage ceremony between a U.S. citizen man and a Mexican woman at Novembers opening placed the events under scrutiny after reports of the grooms criminal record surfaced.

Enrique Morones, founder and executive director of Border Angels, said that neither the wedding nor the grooms conviction were the reason behind the change.

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Morones said Rodney Scott, who was appointed chief of the San Diego Border Patrol sector in December, turned down Moroness request to hold similar events in the El Centro sector when he was chief there.

He was totally against it. He has that history, Morones said. What he told me yesterday was not totally surprising.

When groom Brian Houstons drug smuggling conviction emerged in the weeks after his abbreviated ceremony, Scott warned that the wedding could have repercussions.

This unauthorized event has now jeopardized future events and the continued opening of the border wall door, Scott said at the time.

An official statement from Scott on Friday ending the door openings did not mention the nuptials.

The maintenance gate being referred to is designed to allow safe, binational coordination between U.S. law enforcement personnel and our partners in Mexico, Scott said. Nationally, more than 320 official ports of entry have been federally designated as locations authorized to facilitate legitimate travel into and out of the United States. Many of those ports of entry are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The U.S. Border Patrol will continue to uphold its responsibility of protecting our borders between official ports of entry. Moving forward, the maintenance gate will be used for maintenance purposes only.

The Door of Hope events, as Border Angels called them, allowed family members who could not cross the border to reunite and hug for a couple of minutes.

Part of Border Field State Park in the southwest corner of San Diego County, Friendship Park is known for pinky kisses shared between family members separated by the fence.

In 2009, after the federal government added an additional layer of fencing, families had less access to interact with loved ones on the other side.

At the door opening in April 2013, a father and daughter hugged for the first time.

The gate openings had run smoothly until Houston and his bride Evelia Reyes arrived in November to the Door of Hope event dressed in suit and white gown. The process of vetting applicants to participate involved Morones distributing questionnaires to families who cannot cross the border legally and then passing them on to Border Patrol for background checks and approval.

Houston couldnt cross into Mexico to marry Reyes because he was awaiting sentencing for his conviction. In February, he was arrested after officials at the San Ysidro port of entry found 43 pounds of heroin, 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 43 pounds of cocaine in his Volkswagen Jetta, according to a court document.

The revelation about Houstons record left Border Patrol agents and Morones frustrated and blaming each other.

Joshua Wilson, vice president for the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, said that he doesnt trust Morones.

Enrique was not honest with any of us with the events that occurred that day, Wilson said. Quite frankly I dont know any agent out there that feels comfortable dealing with him.

Morones said the union has been saying things about him that werent true. He didnt know about Houstons situation or plan for the day, he said.

Morones contends that Border Patrol should be held accountable because the agency is responsible for conducting background checks on all of the people wanting to participate in Door of Hope events. On Friday night, he produced to the Union-Tribune a copy of Houstons application for participation and drivers license which he gave to Border Patrol prior to the November opening.

Thats serious stuff. How is it possible that the Border Patrol didnt catch that? Morones said. It was a big mistake, and they dont want to admit it.

Morones said he will continue pushing for similar events in other sectors of the border where local chiefs might be more amenable to opening gates. He will also host other events at Friendship Park.

He is still hopeful that Scott will allow an event to go forward in March that would unite children with disabilities with their parents at the border even if the door remains closed.

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Serving Nebraska during the last five years has been an honor, and as I begin 2018, I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of our great state and our great people. My staff, both in Washington and throughout Nebraska, work hard to ensure that Nebraskans receive the best representation and guidance when navigating federal bureaucracy, planning a trip to the nations capital, or looking for other services that my office can provide.

My offices in Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney, and Scottsbluff are always ready to help you. Whether working with the VA to help you with services you earned protecting our nation, getting an answer about Social Security benefits, or obtaining passports for your next trip out of the country, my Senate staff is committed to serving you.

Sometimes problems in foreign countries can become matters of freedom, or even life or death. In 1999, Marcel Pika moved his family to Lincoln following the start of a civil war in his native country of the Republic of Congo. In 2016, after becoming an American citizen, he was arrested while visiting the Congo following their election. He was never charged with a crime.

Working with the State Department and Congressman Fortenberry, my office helped to secure his release. When I met with the Pika family, I was touched by their incredible strength and courage. I was happy to join all Nebraskans in welcoming Marcel and his wife, Josephine, home and wishing them well as they reunite with their family.

My casework staff is also dedicated to dealing with issues closer to home. In March 2017, the conservator of Bert Crum, a 100 percent disabled Vietnam Veteran, contacted my office. He hoped to obtain the service medals Mr. Crum earned during Vietnam. A fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973 destroyed his records outlining his commendations. Working with the National Personnel Records Center, we checked battle reports and contacted archivists to find Mr. Crums service records. He had earned a Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, and Presidential Unit Citation, among other awards. In May, Mr. Crum received all of his medals from serving in the United States Marine Corps.

For those who want to meet in person with a member of my staff about any issue, we also hold mobile office hours in communities all across Nebraska. In 2017, our office held 93 of these meetings  one in each of our states counties. These mobile office hours act as a convenient place where you can ask questions and share concerns regarding the challenges you have encountered with the federal government. To find more information about upcoming office hours in 2018, check your community newspapers, my website and Facebook page, or my Twitter account.

Every year, thousands of Nebraskans visit our nations capital to experience our countrys rich history and tour some of our wonderful museums and monuments. I encourage you to use my Washington office as a resource as you plan your trip. Staff can schedule tours of the White House or U.S. Capitol. They also have information about many other attractions in Washington, D.C.

If you visit the nations capital, I also hope you consider attending a time-honored state tradition: the Nebraska Breakfast. Hosted in the Senates Dirksen Office Building, the Breakfast is open to all Nebraskans and attended by the entire Nebraska congressional delegation. This will mark the 75th year of the breakfast, which Senator Hugh Butler instituted in 1943. The Nebraska Breakfast is the longest-running meeting of its kind. More information regarding the Nebraska Breakfast can be found by visiting my website or contacting my office.

Serving Nebraska families is the most rewarding aspect of my job. Please contact me if you have concerns regarding your interaction with the federal bureaucracy, are planning to visit Washington, or want to voice your suggestions on important issues.

Happy New Year and thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
Rep. Duncan Hunter says the Department of Justice needs to make its move on the ongoing investigation into how some of his campaign finances were spent.

Its concerning that it has taken so long, Hunter, R-Alpine, said in a television interview broadcast on KUSI.

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I think that the Department of Justice is somewhat biased. There are individuals there, they like to make big cases, they like to do big things, it makes a name for them. I think that the longer they drag this out, the worse it is for me, and they know that. So lets just get it over with, Hunter said.

He said he cooperated with investigators and turned over information nearly a year ago, but hasnt heard anything since.

The FBI is investigating Hunters campaign funds after inquiries by the Federal Election Commission and The San Diego Union-Tribune revealed that contributions may have been spent improperly on video games, oral surgery, groceries, garage door repair, surfing equipment, dance recital trips, school lunches and other potentially personal expenses.

Hunter has reimbursed his campaign more than $60,000 amid the revelations. He has said honest mistakes were made, including mix-ups between campaign and personal credit cards that were the same color.

The longer the investigation takes, the darker the shadow over his re-election effort, Hunter told KUSI.

Despite the legal inquiry, Hunter said he believes things are going well for him in Congress.

I think were doing a good job, were fighting hard and standing up for the principles that I believe in and that the voters of my district believe in, he said. I think were rockin and rollin.

He acknowledged that the presidents party usually loses seats in the midterm election, but said he doesnt think Republicans will lose as much ground as some have predicted. Stock indexes are doing well, and employers will add jobs, he said.

Its the economy, stupid, Hunter said.

He also took a less hawkish stand on North Korea than his prior demands for a preemptive strike. He said the military should now try to intercept North Korean test missiles shortly after launch, a strategy that will stop engineers from assessing their technology and honing their capabilities.

Shoot them back down on Kim Jong Uns head as hes in the bleachers clapping as his rocket goes up in the air, Hunter said. Weve got to do it now because the window is closing.

Sanctions havent worked, and diplomacy was never a real option or proven effective, he said.

Previously: Hunter

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
A new lawsuit demands that San Diego release documents that it allegedly has showing a pattern of sexual assaults by adults on children at San Diego Junior Theatre, which is funded partly by city hotel tax revenue.

The lawsuit says San Diego hasnt properly complied with requests seeking such documents under the California Public Records Act, contending the city has illegally withheld some documents and too aggressively redacted information in others.

Attorneys for the city say in court filings that they have sound legal reasons for withholding some documents and redacting others, noting that city officials are still in the process of complying with the latest records request they received.

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The lawsuit, filed in late November on behalf of a man whose children were part of the theater until recently, says the city should err on the side of full disclosure if there is any ambiguity whether a document should be withheld.

The privacy interests of individuals, and any theoretical interest of the City or San Diego Junior Theatre in keeping attorney work product related to child abuse confidential, are vastly outweighed by a strong public interest in knowing whether government officials and their contractual agents have committed serious misconduct by abusing children in their charge or hiding, failing to report or preventing others from reporting child abuse, the lawsuit says.

The legal action was filed seven months after former Junior Theatre teacher Eric von Metzke pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in April and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Von Metzke, then 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of sex with a female under the age of 18.

The lawsuit includes a sentencing memo from the office of then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis that the suit says shows multiple people at Junior Theatre were aware von Metzke had inappropriate relationships with young girls, including a teacher who apparently didnt tell any superiors.

On that basis, the lawsuit contends there are no doubt many documents the city has failed to produce that could shed light on who knew about the abuse, when they knew and what they did or didnt do about it.

The lawsuit also suggests the theaters board was aware of misconduct and that it would be illegal for board members not to report such alleged incidents to law enforcement because they are mandated reporters under state penal code.

The suit focuses on multiple public records requests filed last year by local attorney Matt Valenti, who has been publicly lobbying for more disclosure by theater officials since the von Metzke misconduct was revealed.

The Junior Theatres contract to use city-owned facilities officially designates the city as the party responsible for handling records requests related to theater documents.

Valentis requests seek all records and documents since the beginning of 2012 related to child abuse or suspected child abuse at the theater, including investigative reports related to tips or warnings received by officials.

The requests also seek records or investigations related to improper student-teacher relationships, including sleepover parties and teachers socializing with students outside of programmed activities.

The city has provided some documents in response, but attorneys for the city say in court filings that many of the documents requested dont exist.

They say others are exempt from disclosure by government codes that protect either the privacy rights of theater personnel or that protect the legal advice received by theater officials. City officials rely on those same codes to justify redactions to some documents.

San Diego Junior Theatre is a 70-year-old nonprofit billed as the oldest continuously running childrens theater program in the country. It operates in city-owned facilities in Balboa Park and received nearly $100,000 in city hotel tax revenue as a subsidy this budget year.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A lawsuit filed by residents living near what many expect to be the last large project built in Mission Beach challenges the California Coastal Commissions approval in October of the 59-home development.

The litigation, filed on behalf of Mission Beach Residents for Responsible Development, says the approval violates the state Coastal Act and state environmental law.

The residents contend the 2-acre development a few blocks north of the resort communitys iconic roller coaster would be too intense for the area and that the project does not provide enough park land.

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The same group filed suit against the city of San Diego on similar grounds shortly after the City Council approved the project in a 6-2 vote in April 2016 after a four-hour hearing.

Residents had expressed hope back then that the Coastal Commission would reject the project, based partly on a letter from a commission analyst questioning the size and location of the project and the layout of a park it would include.

Instead of rejecting the project, the commission demanded concessions that the developer eventually agreed to make. They include shrinking the number of housing units from 63 to 59 and re-shaping and enlarging the projects park, which had been proposed as a narrow, linear green space along Mission Boulevard.

Those concessions have not convinced the residents to support the project, which would be built on the former site of Mission Beach Elementary.

Their lawsuit seeking to overturn the Coastal Commission approval contends the project still does not provide enough park space for the anticipated population and that the lot sizes have been artificially inflated to allow more density than the citys municipal code allows.

Heather Riley, an attorney for the developer, disputed those claims by telephone this week.

My clients are very confident that the City Council and the Coastal Commission did the right thing and that the permits were valid, she said.

A Feb. 16 hearing has been scheduled in the lawsuit against the city. No hearings in the lawsuit against the Coastal Commission have been scheduled.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A Honduran who turned himself in to U.S. Border Patrol agents and asked to be deported Wednesday may have had an ulterior motive for leaving the country.

The Border Patrol reported Friday that a 24-year-old man approached agents near Otay Mesa and said he and his parents had entered the country illegally in 2005 and he now wanted to be returned to Honduras.

A records check on the man revealed that he was out on bail and due in court in Los Angeles County the next day to face charges of assault with a deadly weapon and sexual battery.

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In another case earlier that day, agents in Tecate arrested a 38-year-old Nicaraguan man in the country illegally who had a previous conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. He also had a prior deportation record.

Agents on all-terrain vehicles discovered the man tucked between two large boulders just north of the international boundary after following footprints for several hundred yards.

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
A southeastern San Diego woman who had been missing since Dec. 28 has been found and reunited with her family.

The San Diego Police Department issued an alert Friday afternoon asking for the publics help in locating Miriam Ramirez Williamson, who had left her home on foot and had not returned.

SDPD issued a press release at about 8:50 p.m. saying she had been found.

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Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939

UPDATES:

9:00 p.m.: This article has been updated since originally published.
This month marks the return of one of Old Temeculas best-loved historical figures  nearly 100 years after he died.

Samuel Warren Hackett (a.k.a. O.T. Hackett), who from 1882 to 1886 carried mail a grueling 144 round trip miles from San Diego to Temecula, will appear at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22 at the Little Temecula History Center.

In actuality, the role of Hackett will be performed by Temecula Valley Historical Society member Gerry Nicholas.

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To Nicholas, Hackett seemed a man who balanced career and family life, adventure and reliability. He struck me, said Nicholas, as being a very dedicated individual.

Dressed in a tidy vest and bowtie that harken back to the Victorian West, Nicholas will regale audience members with tales of Hacketts adventures.

Born in Massachusetts in 1836, at 16, Hackett sailed to California on a whaling ship, spent time as a cattle rancher, a bee keeper and more, before delivering mail from San Diego to Temecula in a horse-drawn passenger wagon.

Nicholas will detail the trials and tribulations Hackett endured to provide a reliable mail service.

Like clockwork, Hackett would drive 72 miles to Temecula on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, stopping to change horses every 20 miles, spend the night in one of ten rooms attached to the Wolf Store Adobe, and then set out in the morning for the return trip to San Diego.

Hackett was so punctual, it was rumored you could set your watch by his deliveries. The nickname O.T. stood for On Time.

Like Hackett, Nicholas started out as a seafaring man. He served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy and retired after 20 years of service. I was stationed in many places, including San Diego but, fortunately, never saw combat. I was very lucky.

And like Hackett, Nicholas has enjoyed family life and many career adventures. He is, by his own account, an expert at retiring. Ive retired three times, he said. First, from the Navy. Then, from federal civil service and, finally, from substitute teaching.

Gerry Nicholas appearance as O.T. Hackett marks the first in a series of visits from local historical figures to be held at the Little Temecula History Center. Called Notable Men of Temecula, this new lecture/performance series follows on the heels of last years Notable Women of Temecula. Both programs are presented by the Temecula Valley Historical Society.

If you go:

What: Temecula Valley Historical Society meeting: Gerry Nicholas portrays Samuel Warren Hackett

When: 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22

Where: Little Temecula History Center (the red barn just west of Kohls), at Vail Headquarters, 32115 Temecula Parkway, Temecula.

Cost: Free; non-members are welcome.

Contact: Call for details (951) 395-0904 or visit www.temeculahistoricalsociety.org

temecula@sduniontribune.com
A San Diego County jail inmate who was supposed to be in protective custody was intentionally placed into a cell with a mainline detainee who later assaulted him, a citizens review board said.

According to the county Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board, which provides oversight of the Sheriffs and Probation departments, the inmate said he was targeted by deputies who held a grudge against him.

The complainant said that he was attacked by a mainline inmate and believed it was done on purpose by Deputy 2 and orchestrated by Deputy 4, because he had heard them bad-mouth him in the past, the review said.

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Neither the inmate nor the officers involved were identified in the report.

Allegations that the detainee was targeted on purpose were not sustained due to a lack of evidence, but the oversight board found that the inmate was wrongly placed into the general jail population.

The evidence showed that the complainants placement with a mainline inmate was improper and Deputy 4 was in violation of Detention Services Bureau Policy & Procedure and facility Green Sheets supporting the procedures, the report said. The evidence supported the allegation and the act or conduct was not justified.

The review board report does not explain how seriously the inmate was injured or identify the guards who were involved in the complaint. It operates as an independent panel and makes policy and disciplinary recommendations when its volunteers see fit.

Board members said their investigation of the inmates allegations yielded additional information that should be investigated further.

Actions of other sworn personnel not identified by the complainant may have played a contributing role in this situation and were referred back to the department for further review, the review board wrote.

The Sheriffs Department declined to comment on the finding or the referral to additional investigation in advance of a review board meeting set for Tuesday.

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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
San Diego labor leader Mickey Kasparian has settled one of several lawsuits filed against him by women accusing him of sexual harassment, court records show.

On Friday, a lawsuit filed by Isabel Vasquez, a former employee of United Food and Commercial Workers Union 135, settled, according to an entry in the docket for the case filed in San Diego Superior Court. The case was scheduled for dismissal in 45 days.

Kasparian is the president of the union and a local power broker in union and city politics.

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Terms and details of the settlement were not given in the one-line court entry. Lawyers for Kasparian and Vasquez did not respond late Friday evening to messages seeking comment.

Vasquez alleged in the lawsuit that she was pressured into a long term sexual relationship with Kasparian. She said it ran for more than 15 years, from her hiring in 2001 to her retirement in July 2016. She alleged he would occasionally demand oral sex in his office as well as sex in hotel rooms paid for by the union and in his car outside of union events, according to her lawsuit.

Kasparian denied the allegations. He has also been sued by another woman who accused him of sexual assault. A third lawsuit accused Kasparian of firing a woman in retaliation for a position her husbands rival union took against one of Local 135s interests.

Kasparian also heads the San Diego Working Families Council, a coalition of unions including local chapters of the Teamsters and Service Employees International Union.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
The 911 call was urgent. When San Diego sheriffs deputies arrived at the Imperial Beach apartment two years ago this month, they found a woman outside bleeding from what appeared to be multiple stab wounds.

They rushed the victim to safety and worked to establish contact with the primary suspect who was barricaded inside the Florence Street apartment  the womans husband.

Deputies attempted to ram through the front door but could not get inside. They tried to lure Aurelio Perez out of the home, and he never responded to their contacts. After a three-hour standoff, the SWAT team blew open the door.

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They sent in a robot equipped with a video camera and were able to see Perez lying on the hallway floor. Then they sent in a police dog to make sure he was dead.

The drama made headlines around San Diego County the day of the attack. The Sheriffs Department told reporters that deputies had been called to the home before but did not say when.

According to the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board, five deputies were dispatched to the home the previous day and neglected to summon a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, even though Perez was a danger to himself or others.

While Perezs actions and statements tended to indicate Perez was a danger to himself during the January 23, 2016, call for service, the option of taking a person into custody  was a permissive action, not a mandatory requirement, the review board wrote in justifying the action. There was no evidence to support an allegation of misconduct or negligence on the part of the Sheriffs Department sworn personnel.

The review board wants to make sure history does not repeat.

The volunteer panel is recommending that Sheriff Bill Gore revise his policy to require deputies to call in psychiatric help when they encounter suspects who present a danger to themselves or others.

The board also wants the department to require the consideration of calling in a Crisis Negotiations Team any time an individual threatens physical harm to himself or others and to document said consideration in dispatch entries or crime reports.

The San Diego Sheriffs Department said Thursday it was evaluating the recommendation but could not discuss the issue.

These are agenda items and not approved by the board yet so we will reserve comment until after the (review board) meeting on the 9th (of January) just to ensure nothing changes, Lt. Karen Stubkjaer said by email.

Five deputies were referenced in the review boards complaint, although they were unnamed. The review board examined seven allegations  six from Jan. 23, 2016, when the five deputies responded to the domestic disturbance call and the single death investigation the following day.

The actions of four deputies were justified due to the latitude they have in deciding when or whether to summon mental-health professionals. Complaints about the fifth deputys actions were dismissed because he is retired and the review board lacks jurisdiction.

The review board said emergency responders acted properly when they returned to the apartment Jan. 24, 2016.

A K-9 was deployed but Perez did not respond, the report said. Deputies entered and confirmed Perezs death without resuscitative efforts. Deputies expeditiously responded to this incident and despite their lawful and proper actions, Aurelio Perez took his own life.

Perezs wife, who was not identified in news reports because she was a victim of domestic violence, survived the 2016 stabbing.

The review board convenes Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the County Administration Center on Pacific Highway in San Diego. Its recommendations are not required to be implemented.

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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
San Diego paid $278,000 for overtime, supplies and services for city police tasked with patrolling the area where workers from six companies labored to build the prototypes for President Donald Trumps hoped-for border wall last fall.

City records show that the city paid $227,500 in overtime between Sept 26. and Oct. 26  the month-long period when the prototype structures ordered by Trump were constructed on a patch of ground near the border on Otay Mesa.

Additional costs included $5,778 for meals, $10,603 for audio equipment, $14,152 for tactical equipment and $19,817 for ammunition.

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The breakdown of costs, provided in response to a request under the California Public Records Act, push the known outlay by local agencies who patrolled the area to at least $389,000.

That includes $111,000 that the San Diego Sheriffs Department  which also provided patrols and other services  said earlier that it spent for miles of chain link fencing that ringed a vast area around the building site. The fencing blocked off large sections private lands and what the county said was sensitive wildlife habitat.

U-T Watchdog has requested an accounting of other costs from the county, similar to the information provided this week by the city.

In addition to the supplies and overtime, the city expended $548,446 in salaries and benefits for pay to officers who were already scheduled to be on duty and were reassigned to the security for the wall project, said city spokesman Jose Ysea.

Assuming the average police officer pay and benefits cost about $100,000 a year, that means the effort employed some 60 to 70 officers for a month.

An accounting that includes the cost of those officers  even though they would have been working anyway  would bring the total city expense on prototype protection to $826,000.

Details on some of the expenses  such as what kind and how much ammunition was purchased, what kind of audio equipment, and the meals expenses  were not provided.

San Diego City Council member Georgette Gomez, who sponsored a resolution condemning the wall project before construction began, sharply criticized the cost to the city for the wall that she called a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.

The city should not have spent a dime on protecting the prototypes when we face recruitment and retention problems and our communities are left vulnerable, she said by email. This is simply unacceptable.

The city likely wont be reimbursed by the government for the expenses it incurred, Ysea said.

There is no vehicle that we are aware of that would allow the San Diego Police Department to be reimbursed for these expenditures, however we are exploring our options, he said by email.

Local agencies were put on alert in the weeks before the project was to begin. A security memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of the potential for large-scale protests  potentially violent  from opponents of the wall and Trumps immigration crackdown.

Local law enforcement officials met with federal officials in advance of the start of construction. In the first few days after work began Sept. 26, police presence in the area was heavy.

The city and county also banned parking on streets in a business park that was the closest developed area to the site for a month. Officers were stationed at the lone entryway to the construction site.

All the preparations were for naught, however. No rallies, demonstrators, marchers or protest signs appeared during the four largely uneventful weeks of construction.

The most frequent visitors to the site were media crews  local, state and even international  who were shuttled out to the building site by Customs and Border Protection media officers nearly every day.

The eight walls  four made of concrete, and four of other materials  were selected from hundreds of companies that submitted designs to the government last year. Each wall cost between $300,000 and $500,000, meaning the total expense for the project the city and county provided security for was between $2.4 million and $4 million.

There was no local police presence in the area on Friday, though access to the site is still blocked by barriers and fencing. The walls are undergoing a series of tests to see how well they can deter climbing, tunneling and tampering by tools and machines. Results from those tests will help determine what works well and what does not. That and other criteria will then feed into a master design for future wall construction, officials have said.

Testing is expected to take up to two months. For now, the walls remain standing on Otay Mesa. The government has not said if the walls, each 30 feet long and up to 30 feet high, will remain at the site or be removed in the longterm.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
Last weekend, I was startled to hear that the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, a group of experts, doctors, lawyers and people living with HIV/AIDS, was abruptly disbanded by President Donald Trump, just in time for the New Year.

Their jobs were to advise the White House on how best to respond to this epidemic. I can speak today, not only as an advocate who works daily with survivors of HIV/AIDS but also as a woman living with HIV, that there is a great deal of work to be done in serving this community, and improving the way our country is responding.

It is estimated that 20,000 people in San Diego County are HIV positive. Many of them, approximately 6,400, know their positive status, but arent currently receiving treatment. This is one reason why my role at Christies Place, a local support center for women with HIV and AIDS, is so important. I come alongside the newly diagnosed and help them through the process of getting the treatment they need and the support they deserve in whatever way I can.

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My journey with my clients often begins with me sharing my story with them. I was diagnosed with AIDS in 1995.

For 27 years, my life revolved around my addiction. I sacrificed everything to satisfy it  my money, safety, relationships, security  nothing else was as important.

My wake-up call came from my niece, who made me realize that my actions were hurting not only myself, but my family as well. I changed my path, got clean, and have since dedicated my life to helping women living with HIV and AIDS.

Women are often the forgotten, sidelined victims of this epidemic, but our stories are vitally important for the country and the world to hear.

Now is not the time to hit pause on the work being done to help combat HIV/AIDS in our country, and we all have a part to play:

1. Know your status. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 90 percent of new infections come from people who are unaware they have the virus.

2. Volunteer. Learn more about the resources available to help the HIV/AIDS in San Diego, and in your community, and ask them how you can help.

3. Help break the stigma. HIV/AIDS affect both women and men from all backgrounds. They are our sisters, mothers, children and friends. Be a compassionate listener, give your support, and have an open heart.

4. Pledge to help groups combatting HIV/AIDS. An innovative crowdfunding site called CaringCrowd.org, makes finding heroic organizations that are fighting HIV/AIDS, like Christies Place, simpler than ever. Find a project to support and Johnson & Johnson will match pledges up to $250 per person, per project as funds last.

Blount is a peer navigator at Christies Place, a nonprofit social service organization in San Diego County that provides HIV/AIDS education, support and advocacy.
In San Diego, there are a lot of broken sidewalks. These broken sidewalks are dangerous; every year people trip and fall over them and are severely injured. Eventually, the city gets sued and often has to either pay to settle or pay damages if it loses. Meanwhile, the sidewalks remain broken, people continue to get injured and the city continues to refuse to take responsibility to fix them.

And the problem has only gotten worse. In 2015, the city did a comprehensive sidewalk assessment of all 4,580 miles of sidewalks. They found over 85,000 damaged sidewalk locations and 21,465 noncompliant curb ramps. Today, the funding backlog for sidewalk and curb ramp repairs is at least $38.8 million and will only grow as more sidewalks fall into disrepair.

So why does the city bureaucracy refuse to fix so many damaged sidewalks? In short, because they want you, the homeowner, to pay for it. The city claims that sidewalk repair is not its responsibility under Council Policy 200-12 passed in 1975. This policy places the main responsibility of sidewalk repair and maintenance on abutting property owners.

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Upon notification of a broken sidewalk, the city will mail the abutting property owner a notice of liability. The city offers a 50/50 cost share program, but even with this assistance, the average repair cost to the homeowner is over $3,000, which is simply too costly for many homeowners. As a result, very few residents pay to fix city sidewalks, and the backlog continues to grow, especially in low-income communities.

According to the current policy and state law, the city remains liable for injuries that result from broken sidewalks. In December 2017, a jury awarded $85,000 to Cynthia Hedgecock who was injured by tripping on a broken sidewalk in Pacific Beach. In March 2017, the city paid $4.8 million to settle litigation due to a severe accident caused by unsafe sidewalk conditions. According to a preliminary review of sidewalk related trip and fall cases by the City Attorneys Office, there have been at least 105 other cases against the city since 2013. Altogether, records show that the city has paid out at least $7 million since 2013 for litigation regarding damaged sidewalks. Instead of using these taxpayer dollars to pay out settlements related to injuries caused by broken sidewalks, the city could invest this money into proactively repairing many broken sidewalks before an injury occurs.

The current policy is simply unfair to taxpayers. rather than trying to blame homeowners for broken sidewalks, the city should just fix them. Thats why for the last two years I have proposed revising this policy to require the basic maintenance of sidewalks by the city, except in cases where the sidewalk was damaged by the abutting property owner or third parties. Fixing sidewalks the same way we fix streets shouldnt be controversial.

In October 2017, I presented these proposed revisions to the City Council Rules Committee. After City Attorney Mara Elliott raised concerns about shifting further costs onto the city, the proposal was referred to staff for further analysis. However, the city attorney and some council members have made it clear that they would rather explore the idea of shifting even more costs, responsibility and liability for sidewalks onto homeowners and away from the city. Essentially, this would be a new sidewalk tax on homeowners in that every time a broken sidewalk causes an injury, homeowners could be forced to pay thousands of dollars.

Doubling down on the wrong approach is not the solution. If you agree with me that the city should not blame homeowners for broken sidewalks and instead get to work fixing them, please contact your City Council member and City Attorney Elliott and let them know.

The first step in fixing our sidewalks is taking responsibility for all of them. We must do everything we can to fix them before the next major accident results in serious injury to a resident and costs the city millions of dollars in a settlement.

Alvarez represents District 8 on the San Diego City Council.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions just threw California and the seven other states that have approved recreational marijuana use into confusion by reversing an Obama administration policy and allowing local U.S. attorneys to enforce federal anti-cannabis laws at their discretion. But no one should believe Sessions is changing the arc of history when it comes to Americans accepting marijuana use. An October Gallup poll showed record support for marijuana legalization  64 percent  a massive change from 1996, when only 25 percent supported it.

Perhaps making marijuana legal wont increase its use because it is already so widely available from medical pot dispensaries and the black market. But legalizing recreational use normalizes cannabis and may make it both more acceptable and more common. Any increase, especially by inexperienced users, makes it crucial that the public be protected, in our car-crazy culture, from pot-impaired drivers.

After Colorado legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2014, traffic fatalities linked to marijuana use rose from 47 in 2013 to 115 in 2016. Thats troubling. Also, testing for marijuana is far more difficult than for alcohol impairment, which can be measured easily with breathalyzers. No such reliable quick, hard-science field tests are available to determine the presence of THC, marijuanas primary active ingredient, or other drugs that impair motor skills.

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Nearly a year ago, the San Diego Police Department obtained two Drager DrugTest 5000 machines, which test oral mouth swipes from drivers suspected of impairment for the presence of marijuana, cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, amphetamine, methadone and benzodiazepines. Drager asserts that its machines only test for the presence of the active THC compound that impairs a driver  not residual THC. If a driver field-tested by SDPD shows the compound, he or she must submit to blood tests to establish levels of impairment. The German company claims its machine worked in two California tests with 98.9 percent accuracy.

Yet scientific studies of the Drager method and similar tests dont back that up. In 2017, the journal of the Canadian Forensic Science Society suggested saliva tests could prove to be a valuable tool for law enforcement. The journal also noted researchers found relatively high levels of false positive results and unimpressive results in detecting cannabis use. It also noted that oral mouth swipes were better at detecting some drugs than others. These concerns about Dragerseffectiveness are shared by the Orange County District Attorneys Office.

In an interview with an editorial writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, Mark McCullough of the Police Departments Traffic Division said SDPD was comfortable with its use of the Drager machines and had not encountered any issues to date.

But he also said the department was open to better drug field tests, as UC San Diego is trying to find. Thats good to hear  because if Drager thinks its device is near perfect despite contrary evidence, it is unlikely to try to improve its performance.

For everyones safety, heres hoping intense research into improving drug field tests continues. In California, its never been more important to quickly and accurately identify stoned drivers.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

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Re Michael Smolens column on Darrell Issa (Issa takes on Hanoi Jane for donating to his challengers, Dec. 27): Attacking Jane Fonda for donating to his challengers is a phony baloney and a vain attempt to distract his constituents from his many failures.

For several years, Issa has mindlessly functioned as a partisan mouthpiece for his party and even supported Donald Trump, probably the most unqualified and unfit president ever elected.

As Issa witnessed, his cohorts brazenly enacted the tax bill that will add trillions to the federal deficit and hurt the middle class. Clearly, this tax package is his partys largesse to the coffers of large corporations and billionaires at the expense of California and a few other states that are the backbones of the U.S. economy.

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It is especially sad that Issa has been an accomplice in his partys assault on the middle class, including many who reside in his congressional district. As his constituent, I am terribly disappointed by his performance.

Suren G. Dutia

Del Mar

As a Vietnam veteran, I am once again angered and yet amused by Jane Fondas pathetic excuses for being manipulated by the North Vietnamese media during her visit to that country during war.

Her statement the buck stops here doesnt really address her betrayal of American G.I.s patriotic response to a war undone by celebrities like herself and politicians who had no exposure to the conflict.

Her statement I hardly even thought about where I was sitting is revealing. That pretty much sums it up. Fonda doesnt think before acting or speaking in real time or real world situations that have serious consequences. She was more than willing to direct and act in a traitorous scene as long as she was the star.

Brad Fox

Fallbrook

The San Francisco Examiner published an article in May 1998 detailing the conflicts between Issas public statements and public records when Darrell Issa was salivating to become a U.S. senator. Now we can use the same conflicting (fake) statements (especially about his military service) to defeat this pompous politician.

To Issa, I say: So what if Jane Fonda went to North Vietnam during the conflict? She has apologized for that act many times, and we should take her apology as genuine. It was a stupid war for France and for us.

If Vietnam and that recent war were so bad, why was the U.S. so quick to normalize relations and begin a brisk trade with that communist regime? I guess its the same reason (money and business) why Trump was cozying up to Russia until his minions got caught.

Both traitors to the truth.

G. Lance Johannsen

Carlsbad

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LAKE CITY, S.C.  Chartlytics, the Educational Foundation of Lower Florence County and the Aubrey Daniels Institute are starting a pilot project at Main Street Elementary School in Lake City that addresses student literacy.

Businesses, nonprofit groups, private individuals and a university are working with Florence County School District Three to bring science-based Precision Teaching to third-graders.

The program will come at no cost to taxpayers. Francis Marion University, the Educational Foundation of Lower Florence County and private individuals are bearing the cost. Chartlytics is donating the precision measurement and decision-making software to enable real-time analysis of student response to intervention.

Launching on Monday, the project addresses reading deficiencies to keep students on track. South Carolina state law mandates that third-grade students who fail reading are held back.

Aubrey Daniels Institute Executive Director Mary Sawyer will provide instruction via Fit Learning and data management via Chartlytics.

We're thrilled by the promise the Fit Learning Method and Precision Teaching holds for these students, Sawyer said. Our instructional methodology ensures all students succeed, and our sensitive measurement system keeps us accountable to that commitment.

The program will involve two third-grade cohorts. One cohort (six students) will receive after-school instruction with Francis Marion University students. The other cohort (six students) will be instructed by Sawyers Fit Learning staff via videoconferencing during the school day.

Partners include Florence County School District Superintendent Laura Hickson, Fit Learning Founding directors Donny and Kendra Newsome, Aubrey Daniels Institute President Aubrey Daniels, Chartlytics co-founder Rick Kubina, Educational Foundation of Lower Florence County Chairman James Daniels and many others.

Superintendent Ms. Laura Hickson and Principals Ms. Allana Prosser and Dr. Williams are visionary leaders, and I'm excited for their students to benefit from participation in this innovative pilot, Sawyer said. Additionally, we are delighted to have access to the expertise and support of Fit Learning and Chartlytics. To be engaged in such a collaborative initiative with truly remarkable leaders in the fields of education and behavior science is incredible.
FLORENCE, S.C.  The Compassion Experience has stopped in Florence this weekend to give community members a glimpse into lives of children from developing countries.

The Compassion Experience is a project by Compassion International, a Christian child-development organization that tackles global poverty in 25 of the worlds poorest countries.

According to Compassion International, The Compassion Experience will take visitors on a journey into the lives of Compassion-sponsored children living in Uganda, the Philippines and Dominican Republic. The event will be held at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Florence.

Through self-guided tours, people will use an iPod, headset and 1,700 square feet of interactive space to see the childrens homes, walk through schools and markets, and hear life-changing stories of hope from the perspective of a child whose life began in poverty, the agency said.

Mike Henderson, senior pastor at Highland Park, said visitors are able to experience the lives of three different children through the interactive space that is created from two 18-wheeler tractor trailers and a large canopy.

You enter in one (trailer) and its like youre in their house. And then you can see their village. And then you walk into the school or program that goes on with them, Henderson said. You hear their story from their words.

The interactive space features replicas of the homes and environments of real children who have grown up in extreme poverty, according to Compassion Internationals website. Experiencing the life of one child takes about 20 minutes, and visitors can experience all three.

Sometimes it can be pretty despairing, but you always end up with hope because of whats going on, Henderson said.

Members of Highland Park have been sponsoring children through Compassion International for several years. Henderson said hes been sponsoring children for 25 years. He recently went to Guatemala with Compassion International to see the organization's work.

I went down there, and Im real impressed with what they do, Henderson said. They help with kids from prenatal all the way up to young adulthood, help them break the cycle of poverty.

The goal of bringing The Compassion Experience to Florence is to educate people about the work of the organization and give community members the opportunity to become sponsors if they would like to. But Henderson said pressure is not placed on visitors to become sponsors.

Its hard for most people to understand what its like going to a developing country. But most people who go through this say, It was like I was there, Henderson said. Even though it is in these 18-wheelers, it is like youre in another country. You experience it so many different ways. Its like going to find about missions without leaving your hometown.

More than 2,400 people have already registered to participate in The Compassion Experience at Highland Park this weekend. Registration is not necessary. People who would like to reserve a time to visit The Compassion Experience can register by going to hpumc.net and clicking on The Compassion Experience.

The Compassion Experience is featured from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 1300 Second Loop Road. The event will be held in the Rutledge Avenue parking lot.
DES MOINES | New state laws and spending will be crafted over the next four months as legislators convene for the 2018 session of the Iowa Legislature, which begins Monday.

Here are a half-dozen key issues facing state lawmakers as they being their work.

Tax reform

Enacting some kind of tax reform, or tax cuts, remains one of the top priorities for statehouse Republicans who gained unfettered lawmaking control after the 2016 election. Senate President Jack Whitver, a Republican from Ankeny, called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Federal tax reform has provided the state with some extra revenue: an estimated $106 million in the state budget that will be crafted during the session, plus another $138 million in the ensuing budget year.

Multiple top statehouse Republicans have said that extra money should go back to state taxpayers in some form of tax relief. Although Rep. Pat Grassley, who leads the Houses budget committee, cautioned against treating the windfall like the state has won the lottery.

Republicans have given few details about what their tax reform plan will look like, but they promised a plan is coming.

In my opinion, this wont be a successful session unless we have a significant tax bill get accomplished, said Bill Dix, leader of the Senate Republicans.

One key challenge facing statehouse Republicans hoping for tax cuts is a tight state budget. According to numbers produced by Grassley, the state has little new money for the next state budget, and most of that has already been spoken for in automatic increases and department requests, although those can be tweaked or rejected.

Democrats in the minority say they are willing to support tax cuts, but not at the expense of busting the state budget or if the proposal benefits wealthy wage-earners more than middle-class and low-income workers.

Their tax packages that we have seen in the past have not been beneficial to everyday Iowans, said Janet Petersen, leader of the Senate Democrats. With the budget our state is facing, knowing that all of us will be coming back and Republicans will have to fix the budget mess were in, it seems like this is not a wise time to be cutting taxes when theyre busy cutting essential services that Iowans count on and our public education system.

State budget

Revenue coming into the state continues to increase, but at a rate lower than projected the past few years. As a result, for a second consecutive year, the governor and state lawmakers must make spending cuts in the middle of the budget year.

More than $30 million in adjustments must be made to the current state budget year, which runs through June 30.

And the state is already on the hook for more than $100 million to repay to its reserve accounts funds that were used to close a budget hole in the previous year.

Im expecting another tight year, said Charles Schneider, a Republican who leads the Senate budget committee.

Health care

Few issues facing the state are more polarizing than the privatized management of the states $4.7 billion Medicaid program for low-income Iowans and those with severe disabilities. Providers have complained that they are not being reimbursed sufficiently or in a timely fashion, and patients and caregivers say some services have been reduced or eliminated.

Republican leaders, including Gov. Reynolds and House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, said this week they are open to legislative solutions to improve the managed care program. But Reynolds remains steadfast that the program should not return to state management.

Weve made mistakes. The rollout was not perfect. But its the right thing to do, Reynolds said. While mistakes have been made, I believe we can work with the Legislature and I look forward to working with the legislature.

Medicaid reimbursement also figures into mental health care access, another issue statehouse leaders hope to address during the session.

The problem is that in many areas in the state, there are no services in the community to support their needs, said Rep. David Heaton, who leads the Houses health care budget committee. Theres no housing, theres no community services available.

The governor and a panel of lawmakers during the interim conducted separate examinations into how to address opioid addiction, a growing issue in Iowa. During the session, they will consider such measures as requiring physicians and prescribers to check a database to prevent addicts from getting addictive painkillers from multiple places, a Good Samaritan law that protects anyone who seeks help for an addict in crisis.

Public education

Another state budget year likely means a small increase in state funding for public K-through-12 school districts, if any increase at all.

K-12 public school funding increased by 3 percent or more just six times in the first 38 years under the states current funding formula; it has increased by that much only once in the past eight years.

Despite that, Iowa is bucking a national trend: only three states increased public school funding by a higher rate between 2008 and 2015, according to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Last years increase was 1.1 percent; this years may be in the same ballpark, or lower.

Were hearing everything from a 0 to 2 percent increase. Im anticipating more toward the zero end because of what were dealing with the budget, said Rep. Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City who serves on the House education committee.

Water quality

Legislators have spent the past few sessions trying to find new or redirected funding for programs and projects designed to improve the quality of the states rivers and lakes. Iowa is one of the biggest contributors of pollutants that are flowing down the Mississippi River and killing marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Senate and House each approved their own proposals in 2017, and leaders this week pitched their chambers as the best. Whether the two sides, both Republican-led, can agree on a compromise remains to be seen. And Gov. Reynolds, also a Republican, said she does not plan to express which proposal she prefers.

The Senate version would have appropriated $744 million split among several pots or silos for water quality, nutrient reduction and water and wastewater treatment, while the House plan called for $513 million and included a bonding feature designed to expand funding opportunities.

Workforce

Boosting the credentials of Iowas workers remains a top priority for Reynolds and legislative leaders as they continue their efforts to address the states skills gap: half of the jobs in Iowa require middle skills, but only a third of workers possess those middle schools, according to a 2012 state report.

Reynolds continues to promote her Future Ready Iowa program, which has the goal of 70 percent of the states workforce having post-high school education or training by 2025. She hopes to propose new funding for the program to support grants and apprenticeships, and promote more partnerships between educational institutions and businesses in need of workers.

The governors goal has bipartisan support among lawmakers, although the parties must find common ground in supporting programs designed to achieve the goal.
EAGLE GROVE | Construction for a $6 million, 13,200-square-foot addition to the Eagle Grove Elementary School has been underway since this fall, according to Superintendent Jess Toliver.

Toliver said ground was broken in August, and the project will add a much-needed fourth section to the school, since the incoming Prestage pork processing plant is expected to create a population increase in town.

It will include eight regular classrooms and two special education classrooms, and be located near the northwest corner of the school, between the swings and playground.

He said some of the new classrooms could sit empty when the next school year starts, but the project is for a long-term issue. Preliminary estimates suggest that the Prestage plant could add 200 kids to the district, 100 of which could be at the elementary school, according to Toliver.

"If you dont plan for it, and they show up, theres no place to put the kids," Toliver said.

Eagle Grove City Administrator Bryce Davis said the district is requesting $1 million for the project, to be used for "hard-construction costs." The Wright County Board of Supervisors are holding a public hearing and vote on that allocation of money this Monday, he added.

"If its a positive vote, then the board of supervisors and staff and other elected officials will base it on TIF financing," Davis said.

Typically, school districts finance building projects on their own, either through bonding, sales tax revenue or their physical plant and equipment levy. Tax increment financing, however, is a public financing method cities and counties use to subsidize redevelopment and infrastructure projects.

Toliver emphasized that the county can only give him the money since his district lies in the area where the Prestage plant will be located.

"The idea that the county is just giving us money is not correct," he said. "The county is already TIF-ing this land  were just requesting theyre TIF-ing our tax base so we can have prepare for the plant coming."

Rick Rasmussen, chair of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, said he would be in favor of an addition to the Eagle Grove elementary school, but wants to wait for Monday's public hearing to make an ultimate decision.

Davis said one of the main reasons for adding on to the elementary school is to also allow for space for much-needed amenities, alongside classroom areas.

Both Davis and Toliver said Eagle Grove Schools is close to operating at full-capacity.

"We are busting at the seams," Davis said. "Prestage changes the conversation to where were going to be in five years, to how we are going to add more space."

Ultimately, the addition is a good sign for Eagle Grove, Toliver said.

"Anytime you have growth, you have a positive sign," he said. "Were looking for ways to handle the growth as best as possible for our students, the community and taxpayers."
Press Release

January 6, 2018 De Lima readies for a slew of challenges in 2018 Mindful that the political persecution which she suffered for the past 313 days in detention can worsen this year, Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima said she has already prepared herself for a more difficult 2018 in terms of her personal and public life. De Lima, the first prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said should her Motion for Reconsideration lodged before the Supreme Court (SC) in connection with the trumped-up illegal drug trade charge the government filed against her be denied, the trials could take its toll on her physical and emotional wellbeing. "If my MR (motion for reconsideration) will be denied, the trial is expected to go on full swing. It will be physically and emotionally taxing because I intend to personally attend the hearings," she said in an interview inside her detention quarters at the Philippine National Police-Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. "It will be tough and difficult to repeatedly listen to perjured testimonies during those hearings. That's why as early as now, I should be able to psyche myself up to control my emotion when listening to lies because I expect to hear lies and more lies," she added. The bogus complaints against De Lima- which made use of manufactured evidence and perjured testimonies of mostly convicted felons during the Congressional hearings - focused on illegal drug trading allegedly committed while she served as DOJ Secretary. Last Oct. 10, the High Tribunal, voting 9-6, ruled against De Lima's petition to nullify the arrest warrant issued against her by Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 for the trumped-up charge of illegal drug trade she allegedly committed while in public office. In her 24-page MR on Nov. 3, De Lima said the High Tribunal should immediately rectify the continuing grave injustice committed against her because the majority of its members cannot even agree on the nature and cause of accusation against her. Confused about their theory of the case, the government prosecutors eventually filed a Motion to Amend Information, substituting the original accusation from drug trading to conspiracy to trade illegal drugs. De Lima said her family, friends, and her legislative staff are also expected to face a more challenging year ahead as they will in one way or the other be involved in this ordeal. "I know that my family members and friends are worried about my situation but they continue to stay strong for me. In fact, they have to contend with the constantly changing rules in the detention facility and adhere to strict visiting hours; just the thought of seeing me discuss things is already challenging because they have to adhere to visiting hours; "The same goes at the (Senate) office. A lot of adjustments have to be made once the trials start," she added. While she experiences a lot of challenges under the Duterte regime, De Lima said she tries to look at these harassments as ways to make her into a stronger person. "While freedom from this most unjust detention is impossible or next to impossible as long as the vindictive President remains in power, one thing is sure: I will emerge from this ordeal, in the end, much stronger," she said. "Vindication will come. (It's) sooner or later. I hold on to that and hope is one thing I cling to everyday," she added. De Lima, touted as a "prisoner of conscience," has since maintained that there is no proof linking her to the alleged illegal drug trade but a mere manufactured evidence and perjured testimonies from convicted felons.
For more than 20 years, farm and ranch groups, Congress, and Big Agbiz have used the phrase sound science like a sharp shovel to undermine agricultural policy they want to alter or bury.

Ask them to define sound science, however, and youll get no clear explanation. Thats because sound science is a political weapon, not a branch of knowledge. As such, sound science really is science that sounds good to them if it guts legislation or rules they oppose.

This savory device has an unsavory history, writes Christie Aschwanden, the lead science writer for the website FiveThirtyEight. The phrase was adopted by the tobacco industry in the 1990s to counteract mounting evidence linking secondhand smoke to cancer, she reports.

The strategy, Aschwanden explains in her Dec. 6 post, arose after the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the link in a 1992 report. Phillip Morris, a big player in Big Tobacco, responded with an initiative it called sound science, a program meant to discredit the EPA report, she writes, and proactively pass legislation to help their cause.

The linchpin, Aschwanden continues, was that the sound science tactic exploits a fundamental feature of the scientific process: Science does not produce absolute certainty. In fact, it cant because science is a process that can rarely answer more than one question at a time, and each new study usually raises a bunch of new questions in the process of answering old ones.

That basic truth of good science  that every answer is provisional and subject to change in the face of new evidence, one scientist tells Aschwanden  became the tobaccos industrys brilliant tactic...to turn this baked-in uncertainty against the scientific enterprise itself.

Brilliant, indeed, because While insisting that they merely wanted to ensure that public policy was based on sound science, tobacco companies defined the term in a way that ensured that no science could ever be sound enough. The only sound science was certain science, which is an impossible standard to achieve.

Or put more succinctly, Doubt is our product, wrote one Big Tobacco executive way back in 1969 because doubt is the best means of competing with the body of fact and establishing a controversy.

That clever move  creating doubt because the impossible standard of certain science is unattainable  is a political tactic that Stanford University historian Robert Proctor calls, interestingly, agnogenesis, reports Aschwanden, or the intentional manufacture of ignorance...deliberately created by agents who dont want you to know.

The goal, as one merchant of doubt tells FiveThirtyEight, is elegantly cynical: Were the negative force. Were just trying to stop stuff.

That confession  Were just trying to stop stuff  reveals an even more basic truth about the public fight between open science and sound science. These controversies are really about values, not scientific facts, writes Aschwanden, and acknowledging that would allow us to have more truthful and public debates.

But dont hold you breath for such debates anytime soon because the GOP-led Congress and the White House are busy taking sound science to never-explored heights.

For example, on March 29, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed what its sponsor, Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, calls the HONEST Act.

A more honest name for it would be the Dishonest Act because it institutionalizes Big Tobaccos ignorance-inspiring, doubt-producing sound science standard as the law the of the land. More specifically, the central part of the bill prevents EPA from developing rules, wrote Ed Yong for The Atlantic, unless all the information it used to write any rule was publicly available online in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results.

Thats a standard that Congress, your seed corn company, machinery company or farm group has never and will never meet. And thats the point  EPA will therefore not be able to develop any public policy rule.

As troubling as the proposed law  currently in the hands of the Senate  is, even more troubling is that 43 of the 46 members of the House Ag Committee voted for its anti-science sound science ignorance.

Shame, shame.
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As out-of-control flames moved into residential neighborhoods in the middle of the night in October, Sonoma County turned to a relatively new alert system to contact people in danger.

The thousands of warning calls made, however, mostly went unheard, a Chronicle review of recently released data shows.

During the first five hours of the wildfires that started late Oct. 8, when many were still unaware of the unfolding tragedy, Sonoma County placed nearly 50,000 calls to cell and landline phones issuing evacuation orders. Only 15 percent of those calls were answered, leaving some residents with little notice of the rapidly spreading conflagration.

In certain areas decimated by the blazes, an even smaller percentage of alerts were received.

As fires burned into the picturesque town of Kenwood, officials sent 770 recorded phone calls recommending people flee the area. Only 36 of those calls were picked up, adding to lingering questions about whether more could have been done to warn people in the fires path.

More than one-third of Kenwood, known for its wineries and resorts, was charred by the Nuns Fire. Across Sonoma County, 24 people died and thousands of structures were destroyed, making the firestorm one of the most devastating in California history.

When you have a countywide incident thats very fast paced, it obviously stressed the (notification) system, said Kenwood Fire Chief Daren Bellach. And it was something that I dont think we or anybody had been prepared for.

Local emergency managers said they used the tools they believed were most reliable to warn people about the fires. They also said the number of missed phone connections is misleading, because unsuccessful calls were redialed at least once.

Of the nearly 50,000 calls made, more than 13,800 were duplicates to the same phone number, county spokeswoman Jennifer Larocque said in an email. The records examined by The Chronicle did not identify redialed phone numbers. She also stressed that roughly 40 percent of the calls were either answered or went to voice mail, which the county considered to be a connection.

Still, the sparse level of warning in the most destructive and deadly hours of the blazes has drawn criticism from some Sonoma County residents, who say they were blindsided by the disaster. It has also prompted proposed legislation to standardize emergency notification systems in California and spurred long-sought upgrades to a federal system that can send Amber Alert-style warnings during a crisis.

Called Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEAs, those messages ping nearly all cell phones in a disaster zone, but also have the potential to reach many people not in immediate danger. County officials chose not to send such an alert in October, saying they feared causing panic and hampering first responders.

The decisions made in Sonoma County at the onset of the fires are being reviewed by state and local officials, and could contribute to far-reaching changes in how the public is warned about disasters in the future.

North Bay lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that would require all California counties to adopt and develop protocols for using the WEA system. One of the bills authors, state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said attempts at notification failed during the October fires.

You dont need to notify 100 percent of the people, but you need to get to a critical mass so people will start notifying each other, said Craig Fugate, who, as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Barack Obama, oversaw implementation of WEAs. If people dont know whats happening until its too late, they may run out of time to act.

Between 11:30 p.m. Oct. 8 and 4:30 a.m. Oct. 9, records show that Sonoma County officials made 49,858 calls through the SoCo Alert system, which focused on the small number of county residents who had signed up for the messages, as well as registered landline telephones in areas that needed to be evacuated.

Only 7,589 of the calls were answered; the rest either didnt connect, went to an answering machine, or hit a busy signal.

SoCo Alert sent an additional 3,450 texts and emails as secondary notifications, and tens of thousands of people were contacted through Nixle, a separate warning program used during the wildfires that residents also had to sign up for. Its unknown how many of the text and email messages were received, and there was probably overlap between the two.

Sonoma County Emergency Manager Christopher Helgren said officials did everything they could to warn people about the fires, but the speed and force of the flames, paired with their eruption late at night in many different locations, made it hard to contact everyone.

An uncontrolled, erratic, unprecedented wildfire is probably one of the most difficult situations we can do this type of notification in, Helgren said.

Power failures, congested phone networks and damage to cell towers and phone lines also made it impossible to contact some people. Nearly half of the warning calls sent during the first five hours of the fires could not be completed, which Helgren said was most likely because of impaired or overwhelmed telecommunication infrastructure.

Emergency notifications have reportedly failed to connect during many disasters, including a 2016 Tennessee wildfire that killed 14 and the blazes in Southern California that sparked last month.

Whether people pick up the phone, I dont have any control of that, Helgren said, adding that the county deployed a multipronged approach to reach residents. We had sirens, sheriffs deputies and firefighters going from door to door, we had neighbors notifying neighbors. The community really stepped up.

Many people in Sonoma County said they learned about the fires only after being awakened by the sound of sirens or contacted by friends, family or neighbors. Its a testament to the strength of the community, said Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Chris Rogers. But its a shortcoming of an alert system.

Sonoma County did not release specific addresses or phone numbers that received SoCo Alerts, citing confidentiality laws, but some areas decimated by the wildfires appear to have received little official notice.

At around 2 a.m., dispatchers recorded the first reports of fires on Coffey Lane, which runs through the middle of Coffey Park  a neighborhood that would be leveled by the Wine Country fires. Winds were quickly spreading embers and flames into trees, fields and homes, according to emergency dispatch records reviewed by The Chronicle.

Between 2:30 and 4 a.m., county officials sent 758 SoCo Alerts to residents on parts of the 3-mile-long street calling for immediate evacuations. Only 54 of those calls, fewer than 1 in 14, were answered.

Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle

On Pressley Road, east of Rohnert Park, vegetation fires were reported early on Oct. 9, followed by calls for help to fight the blaze and rescue people. Officials sent 73 SoCo Alerts to the largely rural street at around 3:30 a.m. Just nine were answered.

The lack of a widespread warning may have contributed to people being caught off guard by the fires.

Between 11 p.m. Oct. 8 and 5 a.m. Oct. 9, emergency personnel were sent to more than 70 locations to help evacuate trapped residents; many more rescues were carried out but not formally entered into dispatch logs.

Stephanie Huang, whose Fountaingrove home was destroyed early Oct. 9, decided to flee only after her two sons saw the nearby Paradise Ridge Winery engulfed in flames.

By the time officers had rushed the family out to safety, the neighborhood was already burning. I counted the number of houses standing on one hand, it looked like an atomic bomb went off, Huang said. The least they could have done is warn us. ... No phone call, no text message  nothing.

Huang didnt know about the SoCo Alert or Nixle warning systems before the fires. She had a landline phone, which the family kept in case of an emergency, and its possible the county tried to contact her but was unable to get through.

The street Huang lived on, Skyfarm Drive, received more than 150 warning calls on the first night of the fires, records show, but less than half rang and only 15 were answered.

One of the best predictors of whether people evacuate is if they believe theyve been told by officials that they need to, said Jay Baker, a professor emeritus at Florida State University and an expert on emergency management. Its surprising to me how many people say, We didnt hear we were supposed to leave.

To receive cell phone warnings through the SoCo Alert system, residents must enroll in the program.

In June, before the fires erupted, only 2 percent of Sonoma County residents had signed up. An additional database of landline telephone numbers had the potential to reach about half of the county, Larocque said.

Troy Harper, general manager of OnSolve  which provides the technology behind SoCo Alert, as well as thousands of other notification programs across the country  said they strive to have at least 10 percent of county residents signed up for similar opt-in systems.

But Sonoma County began offering SoCo Alert only one year before the fires struck and it didnt have time to build a robust database of phone numbers, Harper said. Last winters floods were the only other time the system was widely used.

State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said opt-in systems like SoCo Alert simply are not adequate to inform the public about a natural disaster. Considering its relatively low enrollment and the many failed calls during the first night of the fires, some have questioned why officials chose not to deploy the WEA system.

The federally administered program sends short messages, accompanied by a loud sound and vibration, to nearly all cell phones within reach of a cell tower. Wireless alerts are not affected by network congestion and are hard to miss because they sound off even if a device is muted. Only phones programmed to block the messages wont receive them.

In December, the California Governors Office of Emergency Services used the system to warn millions of people in Southern California about growing blazes threatening multiple counties.

Former FEMA administrator Fugate said the notifications were designed specifically for unpredictable events such as wildfires.

If I have a fast-moving, life-threatening event in the middle of the night, I want systems that are going to wake people up, Fugate said. If you just get people up, at least theyre aware of their surroundings, theyll seek out more information.

Sonoma County emergency manager Helgren said he chose not to send a WEA during the October fires because it probably would have reached many people that were not immediately threatened, potentially causing traffic jams and inundating 911 lines.

Our philosophy is we send the messages to those that are directly in danger, and without those assurances from WEA, I cant use that tool, he said.

County officials also said damaged cell towers could have impeded the warning system, but did not provide a timeline of when service in the area became compromised.

Emergency managers across the country have echoed Helgrens concerns about wireless alerts, complaining that the system was unable to reliably target specific areas and could send only short, 90-character messages.

In November, after Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and the Wine Country fires highlighted those flaws, long-planned upgrades to make the system more precise and increase text character length were put in place by the Federal Communications Commission.

Objections from the wireless industry had stalled the upgrades for more than a year.

The decision in Sonoma County to forgo a broader alert is one that local and state officials have pledged to examine in the coming months.

In late November, County Administrator Sheryl Bratton wrote to the California Office of Emergency Services requesting it review the local notification system. State officials confirmed that they are conducting the inquiry as part of a broader report on emergency notifications used during the October wildfires.

Last month, state lawmakers also held hearings on how to improve Californias emergency notifications, which set the stage for the newly proposed bill that lawmakers hope will strengthen the patchwork of warning systems used statewide and require every county to adopt WEA.

What were going to have to review is whether this was human error or a policy error, said Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Rogers, referring to the notifications in Sonoma County. And try and figure out how we correct that for the next time.

Joaquin Palomino is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino
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Legal recreational cannabis sales began in San Francisco on Saturday morning, drawing crowds to the first six retail stores in the city to sell weed to anyone over the age of 21 who wants it.

At the Apothecarium, a dispensary in the Castro that opened at 9 a.m., Dominic Rea, 48, was the first person in line. Hed arrived at 4:20 a.m because he anticipated a line and because the symbolism was too good to pass up. He was the first person there by hours, but his excitement hadnt waned.

I was so excited, I just decided to come over, Rea said. I think Im going to get a sativa joint, an indica joint and a couple of candy bars.

Though sales began in other parts of California on Jan. 1, Rea had decided to wait for legal sales to start in San Francisco, skipping the opening of dispensaries in Oakland, Berkeley and other cities. I live here, and I wanted to be here, he said.

On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded three memos from the Obama era that had outlined a policy of noninterference with state laws on marijuana, jeopardizing and confusing the status of legal weed. Still, San Franciscans were celebrating Californias new rules.

Now Playing: The sale of recreational marijuana is legal in California starting Jan. 1, 2018, but it may be a while before you see it being sold in your city. Why isn't it available everywhere? San Francisco Chronicle cannabis editor David Downs explains. Video: Alix Martichoux / SFGATE

Were not thinking too much about whats going on in Washington, said Eliot Dobris, a spokesman for The Apothecarium. Were focusing on this incredible milestone.

There was much pomp and circumstance at the dispensary; state Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Jeff Sheehy gave speeches and partook in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Wiener also had some words for Sessions.

Hes not going to know what hit him in terms of bipartisan support, he told The Chronicle. Wiener is co-sponsoring a bill to make California a sanctuary state for the marijuana industry.

In his speech, Sheehy spoke about the long history of activism for decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in the Castro. Weve had a movement that started really in San Francisco, took the state and then it moved across the nation, he said. Weve gone the next step now.

The co-founder of the dispensary, Ryan Hudson, recounted the down-to-the-wire circumstances of the opening day. While the dispensary had gotten its city license early Friday morning, the state license didnt come through until three minutes before the state office closed at 5 p.m. Then, he said, staff started scrambling for the 9 a.m. opening.

A line of about 25 people snaked down the block by opening time. A steady stream of people came into the dispensary throughout the morning, which has the vibe of a boutique hotel, replete with a chandelier and soft music. They sell weed that comes in flavors like Blue Frost and Harmony Rose. They sell cannabis tinctures, oils and waxesand even, for $29 or $39, dog treats made with cannabidiol (which, apparently, will relax them but not get them high).

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Wesley Hattan, 42, said that he planned to get some edibles and go to the movies to see The Shape of Water later in the afternoon. Im finally going to buy some recreational marijuana, Hattan said. Its a historic moment.

Saturday, the dispensary offered a 20 percent discount to anyone who brought in their mother. Thats our way of saying that this is a safe and respectable place where you can feel proud to bring your mom, Hudson said.
For more than five decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries, sex slavery was openly practiced in San Francisco.

Young women who had been kidnapped or purchased in their native China were shipped across the ocean and forced to become prostitutes in Chinatown. Broken by disease and despair, few survived more than five or six years of slavery. City officials knew about this appalling trade, but did little to stop it. It is one of the darkest chapters in San Francisco history.

The sex-slave trade came about because of several factors. The Chinese men who immigrated to California during the Gold Rush did not intend to stay: They planned to make their fortune and return home. As a result, although more than half of the Chinese immigrants were married, almost none of them brought their wives or families.

According to Judy Yung in Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco, in 1850 only seven of the 4,025 Chinese in San Francisco were women. Further discouraging women from emigrating was Confucian ideology, which had held sway in China for almost 2,000 years and dictated that women should be subordinate to men and should not leave the domestic sphere.

The absence of women created a market for prostitution. A few Chinese prostitutes at the start of the Gold Rush were independent agents, but the vast majority were slaves or indentured, which in practice amounted to the same thing. Procurers working for brothel owners in San Francisco scoured the Chinese countryside for young women, whom they kidnapped, lured, or purchased and shipped to San Francisco.

Because girls were considered inferior to boys, and could not carry on the ancestral line, families were willing to sell them, mortgage them, or simply kill them if economic circumstances dictated. As Lucie Cheng Hirata notes in Free, Indentured, Enslaved: Chinese Prostitutes in 19th Century America, an article that appeared in the autumn 1979 issue of the journal Signs, girls often accepted being sold out of filial loyalty. In any case, few were in a position to oppose their familys decision.

Others were lured by promises of gold, marriage, education or jobs. Hirata writes, Sometimes the victims were invited to see the big American steamer anchored at the docks, and while they were enjoying the tour, the boat would sail off to San Francisco. But generally such ruses werent necessary  the girls were simply kidnapped by force.

After being shipped to San Francisco, these young women and girls were taken to a barracoon  a temporary holding pen  on St. Louis Alley in Chinatown. If they had already been purchased, they were turned over to their owner; otherwise, they were stripped for inspection and sold to the highest bidder.

According to Herbert Asbury in The Barbary Coast, the highest price paid was $2,800 for a girl who was 14, the age widely considered then to be the best for prostitution. Little girls were also purchased and used as household slaves until old enough to become prostitutes or concubines. Since the young women were often acquired in China for as little as $50, the human trafficking was extremely lucrative.

The young women were forced to sign papers they did not understand, agreeing to become prostitutes for four to six years to pay off their passage. The most attractive women became the concubines of wealthy owners and were sometimes treated decently, although if they failed to please their masters they could be returned to the auction block. Others ended up in higher-class brothels reserved for Chinese men, where they also received somewhat better treatment. (Hirata notes that Chinese men believed that the most degrading thing a Chinese woman could do was have sex with a white man.)

But large numbers ended up in cribs, shacks frequented by sailors, teenage boys, laborers and drunks, Chinese and white alike, who paid 25 to 50 cents for their services. Subjected to dreadful treatment by both owners and customers, most of them contracted venereal diseases and were physically and mentally broken within a few years.

At this point, a dreadful ritual took place. The Chronicle reported in 1869, When any of the unfortunate harlots is no longer useful and a Chinese physician passes his opinion that her disease is incurable, she is notified that she must die. She was then carried to a so-called hospital, a dismal, windowless, unfurnished room in a back alley of Chinatown.

A cup of water, another of boiled rice, and a little metal lamp are placed by her side, The Chronicle reported. The proprietors of the hospital then locked the door. When the lamp had gone out, they entered and removed the woman, who was usually dead from starvation or by suicide.

But even if she was still alive, she was removed and disposed of: They come for a corpse, The Chronicle said, and they never go away without it.

In other cases, the sick prostitutes were simply put out on the street to die. In 1870, the Alta newspaper reported that the bodies of dead prostitutes littered the streets of Chinatown. Some chose to commit suicide by eating raw opium or jumping into the bay.

Hirata estimates that nearly all the Chinese women in San Francisco in 1860 were prostitutes, and that a decade later the total was still 70 percent. The sex trade was highly lucrative: A brothel owner could make $2,500 a year on each girl he owned, five times more than the $500 average income of other occupations open to Chinese.

Like the other major vice rackets in Chinatown, gambling and opium smoking, prostitution was controlled by the tongs, which had started out as legitimate associations but became criminalized secret societies. The Hip Yee Tong, which started the trafficking in 1852, imported 6,000 women and made an estimated $200,000 profit from it between 1852 and 1873.

San Francisco officials were well aware that the brothels of Chinatown were a moral outrage. But despite some efforts to fight the human trafficking, the city mostly looked the other way  and even at times worked with the tongs to ensure their human cargo was delivered to them. That story will be the subject of the next Portals.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com

Trivia time

The most recent trivia question: Why were the streets of 1849 San Francisco strewn with shirts?

Answer: It was cheaper to buy a new shirt than to launder a dirty one.

This weeks trivia question: What was the range of the 16-inch guns at Battery Davis in Fort Funston?

Editors note

Every corner in San Francisco has an astonishing story to tell. Gary Kamiyas Portals of the Past tells those lost stories, using a specific location to illuminate San Franciscos extraordinary history  from the days when giant mammoths wandered through what is now North Beach to the Gold Rush delirium, the dot-com madness and beyond. His column appears every other Saturday, alternating with Peter Hartlaubs OurSF.
The storm heading into the Bay Area on Monday should bring even more rain than previously expected, meteorologists say, as well as snow to higher elevations in the Sierra.

Weather forecasters expect 2 inches of rain in the greater Bay Area starting Monday morning and possibly lingering through to early Wednesday. Higher elevations along the coast, including in Marin and the Santa Cruz Mountains, could get up to 4 inches, said meteorologist Brian Mejia with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
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One of the Bay Areas most acclaimed architects has the chance to make a mark at a global scale.

Thats Mark Cavagnero, whose best-known local projects include the SFJazz Center and the makeover of the Oakland Museum of California. Now his firm is one of 16 selected by the State Department to be in a pool that for five years will be turned to for work abroad, from new embassies to the renovation of structures on military bases.

It can be anything and everything the State Department does overseas, said Cavagnero, whose firm near Telegraph Hill has 75 employees. We really didnt think wed made the cut.

Its especially impressive given that 136 firms responded to the request for submissions. The winners run the stylistic gamut from Morphosis, the designer of the San Francisco Federal Building, to Robert A.M. Stern Architects, whose Gothic-themed dormitories at Yale University opened last fall.

Also in the sweet 16 are such heavyweights as Diller Scofidio + Renfro, architect of the Berkeley Art Museum, and SHoP, a New York firm that designed the Uber headquarters rising in Mission Bay.

Not that Cavagnero and his peers will be cooking up foreign compounds anytime soon.

Each winner will go through security reviews for full clearance, a process that takes months. When all systems are go, the firms in the pool are on call until projects are assigned  they get the call to tackle whats needed right then.

In the meantime, Cavagnero and his employees wont be idle. The firm has several projects in the works, including a chapel for St. Marys College High School in Albany that opens this winter and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences that recently broke ground in Mission Bay.

Theres also his first housing complex, a 12-story building for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to be located half a block south of City Hall on Van Ness Avenue. Inside will be 113 apartments and three student recital halls, as well as 27 low-income units to replace those now on the site.

The citys Planning Commission will consider the conservatory project soon.

Going local: While Cavagnero prepares to go global, a celebrated national firm is establishing a San Francisco beachhead.

I refer to Studio Gang, based in Chicago and led by Jeanne Gang. Known for buildings that combine adventurous designs with imaginative approaches to sustainability, the firm has signed a lease in Dogpatchs massive but beguiling American Industrial Center.

Gang herself, whose honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, wont be moving west. The head of the office is Steve Wiesenthal, who served as UCSFs top architect from 2000 until 2008.

Theres great excitement about doing more work in a region where theres a strong interest in buildings that have a social and civic role, said Wiesenthal, who joined Studio Gang in 2016.

The firms first project here is 160 Folsom St., where a large hole in the ground recently sprouted a crane that will be followed by 40 floors of condominiums. Its also in the early stages of a master plan for California College of the Arts near Mission Bay, with goals that include retooling the growing campus to generate more energy than it consumes.

In addition, Studio Gang has been selected by San Mateo County to design a new administration building in downtown Redwood City near the historic courthouse that now holds the San Mateo County History Museum.

Considering Gangs knack for shape-shifting urban architecture  her Aqua tower in Chicago could be an eroded concrete cliff  Ill be fascinated to see her vision for a downtown best known for its arch proclaiming Climate Best by Government Test.

Evolution: For an eye-popping look at how cities grow, or go astray, stop by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts this month.

On display in the second-floor galleries is Space Brainz  Yerba Buena 3000. Jae Shin and Damon Rich put together a youth-friendly and proudly rabble-rousing dissection of the forces that shape the metropolitan terrain. Not just the tussle between, say, the desire for public spaces and the urge by owners or authorities to control them, but how scourges like housing foreclosures can hollow out neighborhoods.

Rich and Shin are partners at Hector, an urban design and civic arts studio based in Newark, N.J. Like Gang, Rich is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called genius grant that comes with a $625,000 stipend over five years.

The exhibition closes on Jan. 28, and includes a Jan. 22 gathering of youth and political leaders to debate how Yerba Buena and the city might best evolve in coming years. For more information, go to www.ybca.org.

Place is a weekly column by John King, The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
Major Silicon Valley companies are joining a legal fight to restore net neutrality.

The Internet Association, a Washington trade group representing prominent tech companies including Facebook, Google and Netflix, announced plans Friday to help sue the federal government over its decision to rescind Obama-era regulations that guaranteed equal access to the Internet.

This legal action comes nearly a month after the Federal Communications Commissions 3-2 vote on Dec. 14 to overturn the regulations under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The decision struck a particular chord in the Bay Area, where companies and politicians say the regulations helped preserve the freedom to tinker that spurs innovation in Silicon Valley.

The association is not expected to file its own lawsuit, but rather intervene in a suit that will be filed by other entities such as Etsy, the online crafts marketplace. The announcement followed the FCCs release of its rewritten rules Thursday night.

The final version of Chairman Pais rule, as expected, dismantles popular net neutrality protections for consumers, the Internet Association said. This rule defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open Internet.

Net neutrality ensures that Internet companies cannot favor certain content over others. While advocates say the regulations helped foster the growth of startups, major Internet providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T hailed the decision as one that removes a layer of unnecessary regulation.

The FCC declined to comment.

Pai has received sharp criticism since the vote, but defended his position by saying the rules were a heavy-handed approach to government regulation. Pai canceled a planned appearance at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas next week because of death threats, technology website Recode reported Friday. It is unclear whether the threats were connected to Pais net neutrality decision, which has drawn rancor on social media.

This week, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that requires telecommunications companies doing business in the state to guarantee equal Internet access. State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, is backing a similar bill. Efforts are also under way in New York and Washington state to write their own rules guaranteeing equal Internet access to consumers.

Salar Atrizadeh, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in Internet policy issues including net neutrality, said it is premature to determine how the legal efforts to restore net neutrality will fare.

But, he said, it will all come down to money.

Its a new argument thats never happened before, and the FCC has acted in a very cavalier manner, he said. They are going against the big dogs ... and it is a matter of dollars and cents, and who has the most evidence.

Noah Theran, an Internet Association spokesman, said open Internet rules helped level the playing field among companies, both small and large, in terms of their ability to reach people.

The best websites and apps should win in a competitive marketplace because consumers like and use them, not because an ISP is picking winners and losers online by speeding up, blocking, or throttling access to certain sites, Theran said in an email.

AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn said in a blog post after the December vote that the Internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has. He added that the company wont block, censor or slow traffic to websites based on content, nor unfairly discriminate in our treatment of Internet traffic.

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Verizon said it fully supports the open Internet, and we will continue to do so. Our customers demand it and our business depends on it.

But Internet streaming giant Netflix sharply criticized the December vote. Todays decision is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix will stand with innovators, large and small, to oppose this misguided FCC order, the Los Gatos company said in a statement.

Netflix, Facebook and Google did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.

Emmett Shear, CEO of the popular San Francisco video game streaming company Twitch, now owned by Amazon.com, said startups like his were able to succeed because of net neutrality.

Without it, we might not be here today, and our streamers might not be here tomorrow, Shear said in a blog post written in anticipation of the FCCs reversal.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
In a setback for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., a judge has ordered pretrial proceedings to be held in a single court, preferably in San Francisco, for more than 50 lawsuits accusing the utility of causing the Wine Country wildfires.

PG&E had sought to divide the proceedings among courts in five counties where the fires broke out, a move that might have improved the companys chances of getting some of the suits dismissed before trial. But San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow ruled late Thursday that the cases should be coordinated in one court, at the initial stages, because they have many things in common.

Each lawsuit blames deaths, injuries and property losses from one of the fires on PG&Es alleged lax maintenance and failure to prepare for a foreseeable weather event, Karnow said.

State investigators have not determined the cause of the October fires and have not set a date for announcing a cause.

Karnow said that although specific facts differ among the blazes, all of the fires started in the same region under the same or similar (high wind) conditions. The suits will also delve into PG&Es maintenance and training practices and its policies on keeping power lines energized during high winds, evidence common to all of the cases, Karnow said.

Handling the cases in a single court would also improve the chances of settling some of the suits, Karnow said. He noted that San Francisco is PG&Es hometown and said its courts, which accommodate electronic filing and have a department reserved for complex litigation, are best equipped to handle a coordinated proceeding.

A final decision on the location of the pretrial proceedings will be up to the state Judicial Council, the policymaking body for the courts. Karnow noted that plaintiffs can still seek to have their cases tried in the counties where they live.

The fires started Oct. 8 and 9 in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Yuba, Lake and Mendocino counties. They burned out of control for more than a week, consuming more than 245,000 acres, destroying nearly 9,000 homes and commercial buildings, and killing 44 people. Damage has been estimated at more than $9 billion.

Karnow cited 56 lawsuits filed so far, 36 of them in San Francisco, 16 in Sonoma County and four in Napa County. Attorney John Fiske, whose San Diego firm represents several hundred plaintiffs, said Friday that more than 900 individuals have joined the suits against PG&E and the number will soon be in the thousands.

Coordinating the cases in one court is both practical and fair to all parties, Fiske said. Somebody in Napa should be treated the same as someone in Mendocino, he said.

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After the pretrial proceedings, which include gathering evidence and sworn statements from opposing sides, hearings on admissibility of evidence and motions to dismiss individual cases, the suits should be ready for trial in 12 to 18 months, Fiske said.

PG&E declined to comment on the ruling and instead reissued an earlier statement: Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers and communities we serve. We're focused on doing everything we can to help these communities rebuild and recover.

While the lawsuits accuse PG&E of carelessness in the maintenance and operations of its power lines, the company could be required to reimburse property owners for economic damages if state investigators find that the power lines started the fires, regardless of whether any rules were violated.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@egelko
You could learn a lot about grassroots politics in Iowa by following John Stone around for a week or two.

He was as comfortable listening to concerns of area hog farmers as we was when he was entertaining the likes of John Kerry or Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

And oh, the stories he could tell -- and loved to tell.

Like the one about presidential candidate Kerry on Dec. 22, 2003 -- and Stone could always tell you the exact date of things.

As friend Randy Black said, "He had a mind that was a file cabinet of trivia. He remembered everything."

On Dec. 22, 2003, local Democrats planned a big rally for Kerry at the Rose Bowl in Mason City. The old bowling alley also had a restaurant and bar and was a familiar setting for Democratic events.

Stone said it was a bitter cold night, and yet, through his advance work and a little prodding, about 300 people showed up.

Kerry was due there at 9:30, after appearances in Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Charles City. Political junkies know that when a candidate is making his fifth stop of the day, he's going to be late. If he stays at each of his four other stops 15 minutes longer than scheduled, he's going to be an hour late to his last stop.

10 p.m. came, and still no Kerry. Stone and others did their best to hold the crowd. 10:30 came, and still no Kerry. Stone was about ready to break into a song and dance.

Finally at 11, Kerry arrived, gave a rousing speech and even took the time to bowl with some supporters.

In recounting the story years later, Stone said, "He left a little before 1 a.m, and I told people that guy is going to win the caucuses -- and he did."

One of his favorite stories about the 2004 elections occurred on the day of the caucus. Teresa Heinz Kerry, the candidate's wife, often campaigned in Iowa, with and without her husband.

She popped into the Democratic headquarters to say hello at about the time that Stone was talking with Jack Ryan, a Kerry volunteer from Boston. They were discussing various precincts in the county that might be trouble spots. Mrs. Kerry listened but did not interrupt them.

Weeks later, according to Stone, Ryan ran into Mrs. Kerry at a fundraiser in Arizona. Recognizing him, she said, "Say, how did we do in Swaledale?" Stone always chortled when he told that story.

Democrats in Iowa have a peculiar way of choosing their candidate on caucus night. Competing candidates must receive 15 percent approval in their caucus or they are eliminated -- "not viable."

Supporters of the remaining candidates then try to woo the support of those who backed the "non viable" ones. Then another vote is taken, the non-viable ones are weeded out, and the process continues until only the viable candidates remain and the order of finish is established.

Stone supervised caucuses for many years, and, in describing the process, he would tell his one-word directive to the participants when it was time for another vote: "Realign," he would say with gusto.

On election nights, he was often the first person at the courthouse to await the results and enjoyed the banter with the media and supporters of various candidates as they arrived.

Stone knew that in elections, you win some, you lose some and you harbor no ill feelings.

Those who knew him well can hear his voice clearly, saying "Onward and upward."
Three former Santa Clara County correctional deputies convicted in the 2015 fatal jail-cell beating of a mentally ill inmate each was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison by a judge Friday.

In June, a jury found Jereh Lubrin, 30, Matthew Farris, 28, and Rafael Rodriguez, 28, guilty of killing 31-year-old Michael Tyree, who was found dead in his cell, covered in vomit and feces.

We asked the court to give the maximum sentence because when these so-called guards broke Michael Tyrees body that night two years ago, they also broke the publics trust, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said.

During the trial, several inmates testified to hearing the guards beating Tyree and another inmate hours before his body was discovered.

Tyree was in jail on misdemeanor drug and theft charges and was housed on a floor for inmates with mental illness or other special needs. According to court documents, the violent encounter with the guards began when Tyree refused his medication.

In a statement to the court at the Friday sentencing, Shannon Tyree described her brother as a sweet and sensitive individual whose mental illness slowly took over parts of his life.

He believed doctors, hospitals and even his family were part of plots by the CIA and FBI that would endanger him, Shannon Tyree said, which prevented him from receiving the help he needed.

Just before their father died, Shannon Tyree said she made a promise to take care of Michael. But his illness made it impossible to communicate, she said, since Michael believed she was part of a plot to harm him.

I will never have a chance ... to tell him Im so sorry that I didnt understand that he was so afraid, Shannon Tyree said. Im accountable for failing Michael. These three men walked into his cell and beat him to death. And they are accountable for that.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Lubrin was called by a nurse when Tyree pocketed his pills instead of ingesting them, but he eventually took the medication without incident. During routine checks later that night, the three jailers allegedly beat another inmate, Juan Villa, before entering Tyrees cell.

Witnesses testified to hearing Tyree screaming for help as the three guards entered his cell and beat him. The county medical examiner concluded that he died of internal bleeding from severe damage to his liver and spleen.

The jury convicted the three guards of second-degree murder in the killing of Tyree, but did not reach a verdict on the attacks on Villa.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15
San Jose police have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting and robbing a teacher in her classroom at Harker Middle School in San Jose.

The suspect, Andrew Bracamonte, was identified by police as a San Jose resident who lived about a half-mile from the school.

Police Chief Eddie Garcia said that around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Bracamonte walked into the teachers classroom, locked the door and turned off the lights.

The suspect then sexually assaulted the victim and stole personal items before leaving the room, Garcia said. In addition, the suspect threatened to shoot the victim if she did not stay inside the classroom. Though she did not see a weapon, she feared for her life.

The teacher, who has not been identified, called the police immediately. Officers found video footage that showed Bracamonte before and after the assault. They found the victims cell phone and the suspects beanie cap in a nearby field, Garcia said, and a police dog traced the scent to a neighborhood where police later learned Bracamonte lived.

Police released a description of the suspect to the public. He was caught on video surveillance at a liquor store in Santa Clara and again outside a flower shop. Garcia said they were able to match the description to Bracamonte, using investigative techniques.

Though Bracamonte fled to San Francisco and cut his hair, San Jose police located him and arrested him without incident around 7:55 p.m. Thursday.

Garcia said that Bracamonte has a criminal history, including charges of sex with a minor and assault with a deadly weapon. He was not a registered sex offender, on parole or on probation at the time of this arrest.

Bracamonte has been booked into Santa Clara County Jail on felony charges, including forced oral copulation, robbery, false imprisonment and criminal threats.

Garcia emphasized the bravery of the victim after extreme trauma.

The strength of this victim in this case cant be forgotten, either, Garcia said. I dont think any of us can really imagine what the victim went through. Just to be able to cooperate with the police and give us a detailed segment of the horror that she must have felt was just ... I cant even put it into words.

Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney
Walking through the Tenderloin can be a dislocating experience. On the same block, you may see groups of homeless people sitting on the sidewalk and young folks sipping $5 almond milk lattes from craft coffee houses.

For many, the scene signifies how the neighborhood is becoming unaffordable and unwelcoming to its historically low-income population. Others, however, view this scene as a positive indicator of forthcoming neighborhood developments that may improve the quality of life for all residents.

While this vignette symbolizes a decadeslong concern for the neighborhood, San Francisco and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. are more concerned now than ever. With less federal financial support for affordable housing and planned market-rate development in the Tenderloin reaching unprecedented levels, we need to focus on making Tenderloin residents a priority. In San Francisco, development is inevitable, but it must be equitable.

The Tenderloin has always been a welcoming home for people struggling to make ends meet, a haven for immigrants and a community of color. However, the Tenderloin also is situated in one of the most valuable locations of San Francisco  within walking distance of Union Square, the Financial District, chic Hayes Valley, tony Nob Hill and Mid-Market with its growing tech presence. Even with one-third of the Tenderloins housing under community control, preserved for low-income people, there are another two-thirds left to consider. And those two-thirds have profound implications for the neighborhoods future.

Developers already have proposed adding 17 projects and more than 1,500 luxury market-rate housing units to the Tenderloin  more than weve seen in decades. Median studio rents are $2,003!

People are scared. They are worried that what happened in the Mission, how gentrification has forced people out or made it unaffordable to stay there, is going to happen here, said Curtis Bradford, a longtime TNDC tenant and board member. They are wondering if the nonprofits and services they rely on will be able to afford to stay here. Watching these new market-rate developments go up around us is causing a great deal of anxiety. I mean, how many of us can afford a $5 cup of coffee?

And there are reasons to worry about increases in both rent and eviction. Newly constructed luxury buildings can foster displacement by signaling that a previously undesirable neighborhood can now command higher rents. When tenants leave their rent-controlled apartments voluntarily, landlords elevate rents to market levels so that subsequent tenants are higher-income, which changes the demographics of the neighborhood over time. This form of displacement is especially harmful because its a subtle and drawn-out process. Moreover, it is in the economic interest of landlords to foster displacement through evictions as well: San Francisco Rent Board data have shown that evictions are rising faster in the Tenderloin than in San Franciscos other neighborhoods, with the number of the Tenderloins eviction notices second only to the Mission in 2016.

Neighborhood change also can be beneficial to residents. When more affluent people enter a neighborhood, the increased incomes may support local businesses, generate jobs and improve public services. Recent studies demonstrate that high opportunity neighborhoods raise lifetime earnings of children younger than 13, especially girls, who reside in them. Additionally, new housing supply may alleviate pressure on existing rent-controlled housing, helping prevent displacement of low-income residents.

But to foster these benefits and respect the very real concerns of residents, we must be proactive and diligent about the type of development that enters the Tenderloin. At TNDC, our approach to this dilemma is a yes/if approach to new projects: TNDC welcomes development if its accompanied by measures that:

(1) reduce the negative effects on Tenderloin residents, and

(2) ensure residents share in the benefits from the neighborhoods changes.

We have been working with others to protect and enhance the Tenderloins future with this equitable development approach. Market Street for the Masses, a coalition including TNDC and more than 30 other groups advocating for central city residents, has created the Tenderloin Development Without Displacement Plan. Following this yes/if approach, the plan recognizes that we cant halt the overwhelming forces of development, but we can blunt its worst effects and create a place where people with low incomes remain welcome, fostering a Tenderloin that is high-opportunity and diverse. Recent projects, such as 1066 Market St., for example, have met their affordable housing requirements by providing units with rent far lower than the law requires, within reach of Tenderloin residents. The project at 950 Market St. committed to having its ground-floor commercial space cater to existing residents rather than tourists.

This vision of greater mix of incomes while preserving the neighborhoods character is possible only because of earlier generations foresight to preserve one-third of the Tenderloins housing for low-income occupancy. This baseline of affordable housing distinguishes the Tenderloin from neighborhoods such as the Mission and South of Market.

But community groups alone cannot halt this seemingly inexorable march to gentrification. We all have a role to play: the city, the state and you  especially as the Trump administration has threatened to reduce federal funding to support people with low incomes. Maintaining the Tenderloin as a neighborhood for people struggling to make ends meet  and, as some would argue, helping maintain San Franciscos soul and its legacy as a diverse and welcoming city for all  requires that everyone in San Francisco take a stand.

Equity is including affordable homes as part of every new development.

Equity is businesses that serve existing residents.

Equity is inclusive and human-scaled architecture.

Equity is permanent jobs steered toward neighborhood residents.

Equity is more funding to build affordable housing that meets a neighborhoods residents where theyre at.

Truly equitable development holds the promise for a neighborhood and a city to continue to be a home for everyone.

Don Falk is CEO of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. TNDC recently published a history of affordable housing in San Francisco since 1981. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
The Trump administrations unprecedented threat to open most federal waters to oil and gas drilling is true to post-factual form. Amid record domestic energy production and a global consensus for reducing carbon emissions, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposes taking serious environmental risks opposed by most of the coastal population for the sake of extracting even more fossil fuels.

Set in motion by President Trumps reversal of former President Barack Obamas order blocking new energy leases along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, Zinkes draft plan envisions offering 47 new leases in offshore waters from Alaska to California and Maine to Florida starting next year. That could open unexploited areas in the federal portion of the continental shelf, which begins 3 miles offshore, along the central and northern coast of California as well as the East Coast.

Drilling off California is currently confined to the south. New energy leases have been prohibited in California waters since the states largest oil spill, off Santa Barbara in 1969, and no new federal leases have been sold since the 1980s.

But this isnt just another partisan controversy pitting California liberals against the Trump administration. The opposition to offshore drilling is widespread and bipartisan in coastal states, where a boon to energy companies is a threat not only to the environment and wildlife, but also to the countless businesses that depend on recreation and fishing. Among the prominent Republicans who have objected to expanded drilling are Southern California Rep. Darrell Issa, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Zinkes plan would be the latest in a series of administration gifts to the fossil fuel industry. It has also loosened safety measures required after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, opened the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling by signing Congress tax overhaul, pulled out of the Paris climate accord, and rescinded hydraulic fracturing regulations.

One might get the impression that the administration is contending with an energy crisis, but hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have in fact fueled a boom in oil and gas extraction from shale formations in the nations interior. The United States last year exported more fossil fuels than ever before, and oil prices have only recently risen enough to spur new shale drilling. They remain well short of justifying expanded offshore operations in most of the areas Zinke contemplates. Royal Dutch Shell, for instance, has given up most of its leases off Alaska.

Especially in the current market, additional offshore drilling would be attractive to energy companies in areas that already have the required infrastructure, which makes the prospects for drilling off Northern California and the East Coast merely theoretical for the time being. Zinkes plan faces a public comment period before it becomes final, while Congress and the courts would also have opportunities to review new oil and gas leases.

The plan should struggle to survive such scrutiny. Like many of the administrations signature initiatives, its a risky, reactionary solution to a problem that does not exist.

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.
Republican Doug Ose, a former Sacramento-area congressman, is joining the already packed field to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown.

I filed the papers this morning, Ose said in a telephone interview Friday. Ive been on the phone all day, making calls to raise money.

Ose, a successful developer, was elected to Congress in a suburban Sacramento district in 1998 and left office in 2005, making good on his promise to serve only three terms. He lost a primary battle to fellow Republican  and now congressman Tom McClintock in 2008 and in 2014 was beaten by less than a percentage point by Democrat Ami Bera in an attempt to regain his old seat.

With those years of political experience, Ose knows exactly what hes getting into with a run for governor in Democrat-friendly California.

There is absolutely no doubt that this is a big, big mountain to climb, he said. Im not sure a Republican can raise enough money to run for governor in California.

Ose said hes been thinking about getting into the governors race for about two months, looking at his prospects, talking to likely supporters and party leaders, studying issues that are important to him and making sure his family is on board with a potential campaign.

It will be a race for the future of California, he said.

Ive got a different vision from the rest of this group of candidates, Ose said. I want to rebuild the California dream, and I dont care who I have to work with to get that done.

As a candidate, Ose said, hell be talking about issues like homelessness, mental health, traffic congestion, housing costs and schools.

I want to know what our kids are going to do when you have to be a bazillionaire to live in California, Ose said. If the state doesnt fix its problems soon, then all we can do is go to a different state, and Im not willing to leave.

Ose will be the third GOP candidate for governor, joining San Diego-area businessman John Cox and Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin are the leading Democrats in the contest.

While Republicans around the state have been looking for alternatives to the little-known Cox and Allen, Ose insisted that had nothing to do with his decision to get in the race.

I dont know either of them, Ive never met them, Ive never talked to them, he said. I just decided this is something I had to do.

It will be a week or two before Ose officially opens his campaign, but the decision has already been made, he insisted.

I am serious about this, Ose said. Ive told my business lieutenants not to call me because Im going to be busy.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
For left-leaning Californians, theres a silver lining to the Trump administrations proposal to reopen the long-protected California coast to offshore oil drilling: They think it could help them win back Congress from the Republicans.

They hope the ensuing political blowback will make it easier to rally Democratic voters against seven GOP congressmen who represent districts that supported Hillary Clinton last year, especially in two districts along the Southern California coast. Democrats need to win 24 GOP-held seats nationwide to regain control of the House.

It just made part of my job a whole lot easier and part of it a lot harder, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, the nations largest environmental group, said Friday.

Brune is among those who believe the Trump administration is at war with California values, and in that war three more battlefronts intensified this week.

On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions urged the nations federal prosecutors to disregard state marijuana laws and file criminal charges in states, like California, where cannabis is legal. Also on Thursday, the administration said it would vastly increase the number of offshore drilling leases to boost the nations energy supply.

Earlier in the week, Thomas Homan, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, singled out California when he said government officials who support sanctuary city policies should be jailed.

Those positions may play well elsewhere in the country, but not in California, said Mark Baldassare, president of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, which has polled extensively on political issues for decades.

When youre looking at issues like cannabis or oil drilling or immigration, Californians opinion on these issues have been settled for many, many years, Baldassare said. Weve seen majority support for marijuana legalization, overwhelming opposition to oil drilling and overwhelming support for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

However, Baldassare said its too early to predict how the administrations recent initiatives will shape the states midterm elections, in which Democrats are targeting seven GOP-held House seats in districts that Clinton won. But his recent surveys show that more people are paying attention to and getting involved in politics.

But the administrations actions will likely affect who comes out to vote and how many people come out to vote. People want to express how they feel, he said.

Only 1 in 3 likely California voters approves of Trumps job performance, Baldassare said. That could be one reason that GOP leaders are urging incumbent Republicans to vote their district, said Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

These issues allow members to demonstrate their independence, said Pandol, noting that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa (Orange County), a longtime leading voice for marijuana legalization, criticized Sessions this week.

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte thinks the effect of this weeks developments will be minimal.

Voters distinguish between candidates and the policies of other elected officials, Brulte said Friday. The Republicans that the Democrats are targeting are all very well known in their districts.

Brulte said the idea that this weeks actions were the latest examples of a war between the Trump administration and California is kind of crazy.

Some Democrats have said that the GOP tax cut legislation that Trump signed was designed to punish high-tax states like California, New York and New Jersey, which overwhelmingly supported Clinton.

Most of the elements in this tax reform have been part of the Republican congressional agenda since before Donald Trump was a Republican, Brulte said.

Even though Proposition 64, which legalized recreational cannabis, passed with 57 percent of the vote in 2016, Democratic organizers say it is difficult to tell whether the threat to cannabis use in California will inspire a grassroots army to knock on doors in targeted congressional districts.

But as the stigma continues to decrease (around cannabis) you may find more people pulling out their checkbooks, if not marching in the streets, said Doug Linney, campaign manager for Flip the 14, a new organization seeking to replace Californias 14 Republican members of Congress.

Linney said the real effect of the administrations moves could be to awaken the sleeping giant of activists concerned about drilling off the coast. That could mean more headaches for Republicans representing coastal districts, which include Rohrabacher and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County). The nonpartisan analysts at Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rate Rohrabachers seat tilt Republican and Issas a toss-up.

Their environmental voting record ratings from the California League of Conservation Voters wont endear them to coastal preservationists, either. Issas 2016 score was 3 percent. Rohrabachers was zero percent.

Far from the coasts, the administrations moves this week on oil, cannabis and immigration have jolted progressive activists living in conservative inland districts, like Paul Smith, the founder of Sierra Nevada Revolution. The new grassroots organization hopes to replace longtime Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove (Sacramento County).

It fires us up, Smith said. Certainly there are days where its hard not to get discouraged. But people here are so pissed at Trump and so pissed at McClintock. We see replacing McClintock as a way of stopping Trumps agenda until we can replace him.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
Although 2015 VisionSF nominee PulpWorks continues to make a name for itself in the world of biodegradable packaging, Co-Founder and CEO Paul Tasner has found a new, unlikely platform as of late.

Since he was featured in the VisionSF spotlight last year, Tasner has had the opportunity to tell his powerful story via a TEDTalks video and residency. Since his video was posted in October, it has garnered over 1.2 million views  and Tasner's message is clear: it is never too late to reinvent yourself.

"I know my story resonated with people  because I get more mail than I can handle," Tasner said.

"People tell me how they lost their jobs in their 50s 60s and feel worthless  they feel like all their value was tied up in their jobs. The messages are heartwarming and heartbreaking."

In the TEDTalk, Tasner explains how he worked as an engineer for various consumer product companies for 40 years  until one fateful day when he was let go from his most recent employer. Retirement wasn't an option for Tasner, so he started work as a consultant. Then, at age 66, inspired by his concern for the environment, he got the idea to start PulpWorks.

Although he thought his great idea and decades of connections would translate into a seamless new start in the environmentally conscious Bay Area, it didn't quite happen so easily for Tasner and the team at PulpWorks.

"I can't tell you how demoralizing it was too look for investors five years ago -- it was downright humiliating. We were dismissed in favor of younger entrepreneurs, and the investment community wasn't excited about creating packages out of waste," Tasner explained about the ageism he encountered trying to get funding for his PulpWorks venture.

"We've got to change that balance. We've got to get older entrepreneurs to be taken a lot more seriously. (Seniors) have twice the success rate of younger entrepreneurs  so perhaps, all that experience pays off. Perhaps we are less risk averse. Either way, we have to be taken a lot more seriously," Tasner said.

"Young entrepreneurs are great, but you can't get everything from Google search  and so many of them depend on their relationship with the screen."

As a TedTalks Resident, Tasner was invited to spend 14 weeks with a cohort of 24 storytellers in New York City  all of them selected because they have a story to tell.

One of those fellow storytellers Tasner met was multi-media artist, filmmaker, educator and photographer Bayete Ross Smith, who was doing a residency for his own Ted video about breaking down stereotypes with art and media. Ross Smith was interested in PulpWorks' general mission to save the public from their overconsumption of plastic packaging and was inspired to incorporate it into his art.

"One day during a discussion with Paul and a curator I had brought to TED, he mentioned that PulpWorks has packaging that is made out of sugar cane and cotton. I thought that those materials could have conceptual significance as the major products that brought enslaved Africans to the Americas for the industries these products proliferated and the immense wealth they generated," Ross Smith said.

What followed was a plan to create boombox replicas out of PulpWorks' cotton and sugar cane fiber materials and use them to build installations based on Ross Smith's series of site-specific Boombox sculptures, entitled "Got The Power". In the past, Ross Smith's sculptures have been made out of vintage boomboxes and play soundtracks of comprised of the local community's favorite songs as oral histories. Although the location of the installations has yet to be decided, Ross Smith hopes his partnership with PulpWorks will continue to inspire others.

"What I hope my work does is cause people to self reflect and be truly introspective about their preconceived notions and perspective. I hope to provoke them to consider the validity of other perspectives on the world that may seem foreign to them or that they initially disagree with. I think this help us become aware of our shared humanity," Ross Smith said.

With an expanding global clientele, an exciting new platform to inspire senior entrepreneurs and an inspiring partnership in the art world, the possibilities for Tasner and PulpWorks are endless  and never to be taken for granted again.

"It's been a great year given what I can see on the horizon  and I'm going to keep preaching my message as long as they'll have me," Tasner said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

About the VisionSF Spotlight Series:

Although PulpWorks isn't nominated for a Visionary of the Year award, their vision, mission and work is a powerful example of Bay Area businesses working to drive social and economic change everyday.

About The Chronicle's VisionSF program and its 4th annual Visionary of the Year award:

Mission statement: "Visionary leaders are paradigm changers  individuals who strive to make the world a better place by employing new, innovative business models and practices. As the world faces an increasing number of widespread social and economic challenges, visionary leaders understand the broad impact of the business community and recognize its potential to drive great change."

How nominees are selected: A group of prominent Bay Area leaders is selected by The Chronicle to identify visionaries who are making a difference in their respective fields. Each of the nominees will be profiled in a series of stories, in the newspaper and on SFChronicle.com, beginning January 2018.

How winner is decided: Chronicle Publisher Jeff Johnson, Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and Editorial Page Editor John Diaz will select the winner from six finalists. The winner, who will receive a $25,000 grant, will be announced at the end of March 2018.

Past winners: Evan Marwell, founder of Education Superhighway (2015), Chase Adam founder of Watsi (2016), and Priscilla Chan co-founder of Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (2017).

Presenting Sponsor: Pacific Gas & Electric. For more information visit: www.pge.com

For more on VisionSF visit SFChronicle.com/VisionSF
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. (Mineral Mountain or the Company) (TSXV:MMV) is pleased to announce that subject to acceptance for filing of the final documentation by the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), it has closed the final tranche of its non-brokered unit (Unit) private placement (the Private Placement) announced previously on October 24th, 2017 and has issued 3,326,000 units of the Company (Units) at a price of C$0.20 per Unit to raise gross proceeds of C$665,200. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (a Warrant), with each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one common share of the Company (a Warrant Share) for a period of two (2) years from closing at an exercise price of C$0.35 per Warrant Share in the first year and C$0.50 per Warrant Share in the second year, subject to the following accelerated expiry provision: in the event that the Companys common shares trade for a period of at least 20 consecutive trading days at a closing price equal to or in excess of C$0.50 per share at any time after four months following closing of the Private Placement up to the end of the first year term of the Warrants, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders thereof and in such case, the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such notice is given by the Company.



A finders fee of 6% was paid to arms length third parties on a portion of the Private Placement.

The net proceeds raised from the Private Placement are intended to be used to expand the historic high grade Standby Mine gold deposit down plunge and prove the Homestake Mine model exists in the Rochford District, and, for corporate and general working capital purposes.

The securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to applicable statutory resale restrictions, including a hold period expiring on May 6, 2018 pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

MINERAL MOUNTAIN RESOURCES LTD.

Nelson W. Baker, President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Brad Baker, Vice-President Corporate Development & Director

(778) 383-3975 bbaker@mineralmtn.com

Or visit our website: www.mineralmtn.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward looking information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking information under Canadian securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, constitute forward looking-information. Forward looking information consists of statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words expects, plans, could or should occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such information does not constitute guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information. Factors that cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information include gold prices, results of exploration and development activities, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of materials and equipment, timeliness of government approvals, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The Company cautions the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on the Company's forward-looking information should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
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The As are moving to downtown Oakland.

At least the offices are.

The club said Friday that its previously announced plan to consolidate its offices at the Coliseum and Oracle Arena into a 40,000-square-foot space in Jack London Square will happen Monday.

None of this brings the As any closer to the new ballpark they desire, but the office move away from the Coliseum to downtown is symbolic.

The As announced the move around the time it proposed building a stadium at Laney College on land owned by the Peralta Community College District, but the district nixed the plan. That leaves two potential sites that also have been much-discussed, the Howard Terminal on the waterfront and the land on which the Coliseum and Oracle sit.

As president Dave Kaval touted the new offices in a news release as a way to evolve our office culture by allowing for more collaberation.

The As will maintain offices at the Coliseum for day-of-game operations.
A UC Berkeley student was arrested by Customs and Border Protection agents at an immigration checkpoint in San Diego County while driving home from a Christmas party east of Chula Vista with his girlfriend over the holidays, a move that drew rebuke and calls for his release in a fast-growing social media campaign.

Luis Mora, a 20-year-old junior who had just completed his first semester as a transfer student at Berkeley, ended up at the checkpoint near Jamul, about 20 miles north of the border, when he and his girlfriend made a wrong turn on Dec. 30.

Mora was arrested for overstaying a six-month visitor visa issued to him in 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said. He is being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, where his case will be decided by an immigration judge, Mack said.

Moras mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, brought him to California from Ecuador on a tourist visa when he was 11 years old and enrolled him in school here, said Prerna Lal, Moras attorney. She didnt expect to recover and planned for Mora to live with family friends once she died, Lal said.

Mora grew up in Chula Vista and graduated from Otay Ranch High School, eventually enrolling at Southwestern College before transferring to UC Berkeley. Meanwhile, his mothers cancer went into remission, and she legally re-entered the country multiple times on different visas to see her son, Lal said.

She returned to Ecuador permanently last year after customs officials found she had violated terms of one of her tourist visas, Lal said.

Lal expressed frustration with delays in Moras case. She said she was not allowed to see her client while he was held at a Customs and Border Protection holding facility before his transfer to Otay Mesa and ICE custody, and that he was held at that temporary site for days when stays there should be only a few hours.

Moras arrest and detainment drew a sharp backlash as word of his arrest spread. A #FreeLuis campaign was started on social media outlets, drawing the attention of Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Barbara Lee, who Lal said have all contacted ICE about Moras case.

Its infuriating to see another talented young person stripped from our community because of our nations morally-bankrupt immigration policies, Lee, whose district includes the East Bay, said on Twitter. Congress failure to fix our broken immigration system is destroying lives.

Lals next step is to secure a bond so Mora can be released from detention to return to school while the legal proceedings unfold. Mora does not meet the requirements for mandatory detainment, Lal said, which means he is entitled to a bond hearing.

All were asking for is to let him out to go to school, Lal said. Hell pay immediately, hell come to all court hearings, we can move it up to the Bay Area. It makes no sense to have him sit in a jail cell on taxpayer money.

UC Berkeley is aware that a student has been detained and is actively seeking to confirm all the facts of this distressing news, said Janet Gilmore, a campus spokeswoman.

Lal said the only time shes been able to see Mora was on Thursday. The outpouring of support, including calls and messages from strangers left for him at the detention center, have raised his spirits, she said. He even saw himself on the news on the detention centers televisions.

She plans on staying with Moras case for the long run  Lal said he qualifies for permanent residency under the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which grants amnesty for minors who have been left behind by their parents. Lal said Mora has not had contact with his father, who lives in Ecuador, since 2011.

Mora is under the age limit to be eligible for the special status, Lal said.

Spring 2019, Lal said. Hes gonna have a diploma in one hand and a green card in the other.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15
A Richmond police captain with more than two decades on the force was fired a day before Thanksgiving in connection with a misconduct investigation.

The termination of Capt. Mark Gagan on Nov. 22 reportedly came after Councilman Eduardo Martinez complained of a leaked police report that became the subject of an KGO-TV story questioning Martinezs sobriety during a reported robbery.

The television report in November 2016 said that a Richmond Police Department report suggested Martinez may have been under the influence of alcohol when he drove a city vehicle from the crime scene to a nearby hotel.

Martinez, who was coming from a Chamber of Commerce event, said in the TV report that while he drank alcohol the night he was robbed, he was not incoherent.

The councilman said he lost his phone during the incident and drove a city car to the nearest place to call police. Martinez did not return calls from The Chronicle.

The department investigated the alleged leak of the police report to the television station. Gagan was accused of lying during questioning.

I told the truth. Ive told the truth in all the interviews, and I have not lied, Gagan said Friday. For me to be accused of that is devastating. Im so sure that when this is reviewed by an objective body, it will be overturned.

Gagans attorney, Paul Bird, would not comment on the investigation so as not to jeopardize the appeals process, but said he and Gagan strongly deny any allegations that led to Gagans firing.

Hes a 23-year veteran. He loved his job, Bird said. Were going to fight to get his job back.

Bird said they will present their case to the city and appeal the termination decision.

Neither the city nor the Police Department would confirm the details or the origin of the investigation.

The investigation is still open, and due to the nature of it being a personnel matter, we cannot discuss it, Lt. Felix Tan, a department spokesman, wrote in an email.

The Chronicle obtained a copy of the citys termination letter sent to Gagan on Nov. 22.

Gagan and his attorney met with Police Chief Allwyn Brown Nov. 7 to present Gagans side, according to the letter.

Brown determined that the proposed termination of employment is appropriate, the letter read.

The robbery reportedly tied to the misconduct investigation occurred Oct. 26, 2016. Police initially reported a member of the Richmond City Council met with officers shortly after 9:45 p.m. after he was robbed by someone with a pistol.

Officers later tracked down the suspect, whose name was not released. He was charged in connection with the incident five days later.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
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The party scene in San Francisco will get a stimulating boost this weekend after the city approved recreational sales of marijuana at seven retail stores, marking the first time city retailers will be able to legally sell the drug to customers without doctors notes.

The California Bureau of Cannabis Control issued licenses to four of the medical dispensaries that the San Francisco Department of Public Health gave the go-ahead to Friday, and the others were expecting approvals before the end of the night.

The state licenses, which require local approval, allow retail sales to adults 21 or older to begin in the city Saturday morning.

I think its terrific. I am just thrilled to be a part of this monumental day in San Francisco cannabis history, said Marty Higgins, owner and chief executive officer at Harvest on Geary, a 2-year-old dispensary at 4811 Geary Blvd. that received its state license Friday afternoon and plans to open at 9 a.m. Saturday. Were expecting to be very busy and to have a very large turnout. Its going to be a festive atmosphere.

The move will make San Francisco one of the largest major cities in the state to allow residents and tourists to buy and possess dried plants, edibles, drinks, tinctures and salves infused with the aromatic herb.

Now Playing: The sale of recreational-use marijuana became legal in California on Monday. KCRA 3s Kevin Oliver breaks down what you need to know and what to expect in the upcoming months. Video: KCRA

The other shops that received state permits Friday are the Green Cross, at 4218 Mission St.; Grass Roots, at 1077 Post St.; and MediThrive, at 1933 Mission St. Those receiving local approval but still awaiting their state licenses Friday night are ReLeaf Herbal Cooperative, at 1284 Mission St.; Shambhala, at 2441 Mission St.; and the Apothecarium, at 2029 Market St.

Were definitely really excited but also really challenged trying to comply with all the regulations, said Kevin Reed, founder and president of the Green Cross, which has been selling edible products and smokable bud at its medical shop for 14 years. Weve been working diligently for months to prepare for this moment.

The launch wont be quite as rollicking as many had hoped, especially after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions decision Thursday to change Department of Justice policy and override state marijuana laws.

The decision to rescind an Obama administration order instructing prosecutors not to focus on cannabis businesses in states where the drug is legal allows U.S. attorneys to file criminal charges against cannabis peddlers and consumers.

It prompted angry responses from national, state and local officials, but the move by the attorney general isnt expected to change activities in California, where most experts believe cannabis retail is destined to become a multibillion-dollar market.

I think that California legalization is the first step toward federal legalization, so that more people can have access to this incredible plant, Higgins said.

The city licenses werent ready in time for the official start of the new marijuana market on New Years Day, when shops in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, San Jose, Sebastopol and Cotati kicked off sales in the Bay Area, a few of them throwing parties featuring food and live music.

Almost 100 storefronts and delivery services have opened for business from San Diego to Eureka. West Hollywood began sales Tuesday, but most of the Los Angeles operators remain sidelined while officials attempt to organize a regulatory system for the market.

In one of his final legislative acts, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signed legislation Dec. 6 that created a pathway for adult-use cannabis sales.

The process went into effect Friday. It allows temporary sales only after the shop owners have submitted a good neighbor policy and plans for security, and meet a variety of other requirements including proper labeling, childproof containers, safe-lock bags and leaflets warning of health risks.

Each shop must have an alarm and surveillance system and enough security to prevent loitering.

One of the rules Lee enacted requires marijuana businesses with 11 or more employees to show how they will hire people from underprivileged neighborhoods or with criminal records relating to pot sales. Such rules, designed to help those most impacted by the war on drugs, were first implemented in Oakland.

Reed said he had to renotify all neighbors within 300 feet of his shop about his plans to sell recreational marijuana, but he expects all the hassles to be worth it as customers arrive over the next few weeks.

I anticipate a 30 to 40 percent increase in business, and as much as a 75 percent increase in the first few weeks, he said. It is pretty exciting.

Peter Fimrite and David Downs are San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com, ddowns@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite, @davidrdowns
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Legal recreational cannabis sales began in San Francisco on Saturday morning, drawing crowds to the first six retail stores in the city to sell weed to anyone over the age of 21 who wants it.

At the Apothecarium, a dispensary in the Castro that opened at 9 a.m., Dominic Rea, 48, was the first person in line. Hed arrived at 4:20 a.m because he anticipated a line and because the symbolism was too good to pass up. He was the first person there by hours, but his excitement hadnt waned.

I was so excited, I just decided to come over, Rea said. I think Im going to get a sativa joint, an indica joint and a couple of candy bars.

Though sales began in other parts of California on Jan. 1, Rea had decided to wait for legal sales to start in San Francisco, skipping the opening of dispensaries in Oakland, Berkeley and other cities. I live here, and I wanted to be here, he said.

On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded three memos from the Obama era that had outlined a policy of noninterference with state laws on marijuana, jeopardizing and confusing the status of legal weed. Still, San Franciscans were celebrating Californias new rules.

Now Playing: The sale of recreational marijuana is legal in California starting Jan. 1, 2018, but it may be a while before you see it being sold in your city. Why isn't it available everywhere? San Francisco Chronicle cannabis editor David Downs explains. Video: Alix Martichoux / SFGATE

Were not thinking too much about whats going on in Washington, said Eliot Dobris, a spokesman for The Apothecarium. Were focusing on this incredible milestone.

There was much pomp and circumstance at the dispensary; state Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Jeff Sheehy gave speeches and partook in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. Wiener also had some words for Sessions.

Hes not going to know what hit him in terms of bipartisan support, he told The Chronicle. Wiener is co-sponsoring a bill to make California a sanctuary state for the marijuana industry.

In his speech, Sheehy spoke about the long history of activism for decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in the Castro. Weve had a movement that started really in San Francisco, took the state and then it moved across the nation, he said. Weve gone the next step now.

The co-founder of the dispensary, Ryan Hudson, recounted the down-to-the-wire circumstances of the opening day. While the dispensary had gotten its city license early Friday morning, the state license didnt come through until three minutes before the state office closed at 5 p.m. Then, he said, staff started scrambling for the 9 a.m. opening.

A line of about 25 people snaked down the block by opening time. A steady stream of people came into the dispensary throughout the morning, which has the vibe of a boutique hotel, replete with a chandelier and soft music. They sell weed that comes in flavors like Blue Frost and Harmony Rose. They sell cannabis tinctures, oils and waxesand even, for $29 or $39, dog treats made with cannabidiol (which, apparently, will relax them but not get them high).

Now Playing: Now that the sale of recreational marijuana is legal in California, you may want to try it for the first time or the first time in a long time. Here are some tips to help you navigate the overwhelming choices you'll find in a recreational marijuana shop. Video: Alix Martichoux / SFGATE

Wesley Hattan, 42, said that he planned to get some edibles and go to the movies to see The Shape of Water later in the afternoon. Im finally going to buy some recreational marijuana, Hattan said. Its a historic moment.

Saturday, the dispensary offered a 20 percent discount to anyone who brought in their mother. Thats our way of saying that this is a safe and respectable place where you can feel proud to bring your mom, Hudson said.
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North Bay lawmakers have introduced a bill to bolster the ability of emergency officials to contact residents who may be in harms way  a topic that has been scrutinized since last years devastating wildfires.

The legislation, introduced by multiple lawmakers, including state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, would create uniform statewide emergency notification protocols. It also would require all counties to develop and adopt guidelines for using Wireless Emergency Alerts, a federally administered system that can send Amber Alert-style messages to cell phones in a disaster area.

As The Chronicle and others have reported, many North Bay residents said they received no official warning and were blindsided by the rapidly spreading flames that sparked in multiple counties in October.

The size and scope of wild land fire events in California are only getting worse, McGuire said in a statement. Its clear there are shortcomings in our emergency alert system and residents deserve timely notifications and up-to-date information.

Some experts said that statewide systems can be useful for regional or large-scale disasters, but in smaller incidents notification decisions are often better left to local leaders.

They know their infrastructure the best, they know their resource and responsibility the best, said Troy Harper, the general manager of OnSolve, which provides the technology behind many emergency notification programs nationwide, including Sonoma Countys.

One of the bills authors, Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, said the legislation will establish notification standards and expectations  along with protocols for how to achieve them  but he expects there will be some flexibility for local emergency managers.

This bill is designed to make sure that every person in the state, regardless of where they are, gets notified in an adequate manner when theres a natural disaster, Dodd said.

California counties currently use a patchwork of systems during a disaster to warn people in imminent danger, which include calling landline or cell phones, sending text or email messages, or sounding physical sirens. Many of those systems require people to sign up to get a message on their cell phones or computers.

In Sonoma County, which bore the brunt of the damage during the October wildfires, only about 2 percent of county residents were enrolled in one of the primary warning systems four months prior to the blazes. An additional database of landline telephone numbers had the potential to reach about half the county, said Sonoma County spokeswoman Jennifer Larocque.

Many of the warning calls that went out in Sonoma County during the early and most destructive hours of the fires failed to reach people, a Chronicle review of county data found.

A Wireless Emergency Alert may have gotten to more people, but emergency managers in Sonoma County chose not to send one, fearing it would have pinged cell phones in areas that were not immediately threatened, potentially creating traffic jams and flooding 911 lines.

Officials across the country have expressed similar concerns, complaining that the system has been unable to reliably target specific areas and could send only short, 90-character messages. In Napa and Yuba counties, which were also hit by the October fires, officials had declined to even enroll in the system due to its limitations.

Recent upgrades implemented after the North Bay fires will make wireless alerts more precise and increase text character length.

With enhanced geo-targeting capabilities, the county welcomes the efforts of the California Legislature to standardize emergency alerts for the benefit of our communities and visitors, Larocque said. Any redundancy we can build into our alert system, whether that be alerts to cell phones, sirens, landlines, social media, radio and TV, will increase our ability to send critical information to our residents.

The proposed legislation would create standards for when counties should use the wireless alert system, and require that notifications be sent through multiple channels, including both landline and cell phones. Its unclear where the funding would come from.

Were always playing catch-up. There has to be a disaster before we really prioritize safety, notifications or any of these things, said one of the bills authors, Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo. This is an opportunity that we have to grasp and move forward on while the recognition of the inadequacy of the system is paramount in peoples minds.

Joaquin Palomino is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino
David Letterman has lined up former President Barack Obama as the first guest on his Netflix talk show, which debuts Friday. Later guests on the show, called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, are scheduled to include George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay Z, Tina Fey and Howard Stern. In each hour-long episode, Letterman will conduct a long-form conversation with a single guest and explore topics of his own outside the studio.

Number of the day

14 percent

Thats how much shares of Barnes & Noble fell Friday after the bookseller revealed some ugly holiday sales numbers. Comparable-store sales slid 6.4 percent during the crucial nine-week period ending Dec. 30. Even online sales, better for most retailers as they expand digital operations, dropped 4.5 percent.

Kalanick may hail some cash

Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick will sell 29 percent of his stake in the San Francisco ride-hailing service, a person briefed on the deal says. The sale is part of a transaction with investors that includes SoftBank Group and would bring Kalanick about $1.4 billion, according to the person, who asked not to be identified. Uber didnt respond to an email seeking comment.

From San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle
NEW YORK, Jan. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UBM Fashion will open 2018 in New York City as the leading marketplace that offers a one-stop shopping experience, beginning with their NY womens and childrens exhibition. Bringing forth a dynamic preview of ready-to-wear apparel, premium accessories and popularly-priced footwear across six shows - Accessories The Show, MODA, Intermezzo Collections, Accessorie Circuit, FAME and Childrens Club provides retailers with a 360 degree look into current and FW18 trends.

Among the highlights of the three-day event, VINTAGE@Intermezzo will return for the second installment that will grant the public an opportunity to shop unique and rare vintage apparel from much desired luxury brands like Givenchy, Moschino, Bob Mackie, Marc Jacob, Coogi and more. The curated section of vendors will feature twenty-one unique dealers including Brooklyn Archives Vintage, Morphew, Muneca Mullins, Selima Optique among others.

Katharine Zarrella, Vintage expert and founder of Fashion Unfiltered, the online destination for fashion news, commentary and criticism, will moderate a panel discussion entitled Modern Vintage Lovers and Extraordinary Wardrobes with authorities on the subject including Decades Founder & Fashion Director for H by Halston and H Halston Cameron Silver, Stylist & Author, Tales of Endearment: Modern Vintage Lovers and Their Extraordinary Wardrobes, fashion collector and stylist David Casavant and co-founder of Morphew, Bridgette Morphew. The talk will be held on Monday, January 8th at 10:00am.

FAME, UBM Fashions young womens and juniors contemporary show, will feature Bravo TV starlet Brandi Cyrus as a special guest DJ on January 8th and will feature new brands Vigoss, Cest Toi, Wild Honey, Vintage Havana, Chinese Laundry, and Blu Pepper. Other musical acts include American Idol alum Casey Abrams will perform live on the opening night of the event. For a complete schedule of events visit: http://www.ubmfashion.com/show/7693/schedule.

Looking into the childrens market, petitePARADE returns with petiteTALKS. The event will showcase the top childrens brands in a live presentation, while influencers discuss the evolving childrenswear market on Sunday, January 7th.

Other highlights include a book signing with Natalie Joos; purchase your own copy of her new book Tales of Endearment: Modern Vintage Lovers and Their Extraordinary Wardrobe and have it personally signed by author and vintage lover, Natalie Joos on Sunday, January 7th.

Additional show happenings include:

Accessorie Circuit showcases a comprehensive presentation of womens accessories, Accessorie Circuit features designer and contemporary jewelry, handbags, footwear, scares, belts and gift items



showcases a comprehensive presentation of womens accessories, Accessorie Circuit features designer and contemporary jewelry, handbags, footwear, scares, belts and gift items Intermezzo Collections is the perfect opportunity between major womens fashion markets to discover and shop the current trends, Intermezzo Collections features all ready-to-wear classifications contemporary, activewear, casual and denim hosting two neighborhoods; CANVAS and VINTAGE@Intermezzo



is the perfect opportunity between major womens fashion markets to discover and shop the current trends, Intermezzo Collections features all ready-to-wear classifications contemporary, activewear, casual and denim hosting two neighborhoods; CANVAS and VINTAGE@Intermezzo Childrens Club celebrates every category of children's clothing from newborn to age 12, layette items, fashion accessories, footwear, toys and gifts. Exhibiting brands reflect an eclectic base of established collections and new designers bursting onto the scene including, EMU Australia, Herschel Supply Company, NASHA, Appaman, and Diesel Kids



celebrates every category of children's clothing from newborn to age 12, layette items, fashion accessories, footwear, toys and gifts. Exhibiting brands reflect an eclectic base of established collections and new designers bursting onto the scene including, EMU Australia, Herschel Supply Company, NASHA, Appaman, and Diesel Kids Accessories the Show is a vibrant collection of fashion and lifestyle accessories from classic and trend-driven brands previewing immediates and spring summer accessories. New and noteworthy brands include Sock It To Me, America & Beyond, Blue Planet Eyewear, Echo designs, Betsey Johnson Handbags, and Pura Vida



is a vibrant collection of fashion and lifestyle accessories from classic and trend-driven brands previewing immediates and spring summer accessories. New and noteworthy brands include Sock It To Me, America & Beyond, Blue Planet Eyewear, Echo designs, Betsey Johnson Handbags, and Pura Vida MODA offers a mix of accessible ready-to-wear focusing on Spring/Summer collections with a strong fur assortment, including eveningwear

More show information can be found on: www.ubmfashion.com/shows/ny-womens-1



About UBM Fashion | Uniting the most influential fashion retail decision makers and the worlds top fashion brands, UBM Fashion serves the $1 trillion+ worldwide fashion industry through its comprehensive marketplaces in New York (NY Mens and Womens) and Las Vegas (MAGIC). UBM Fashion serves the industry by bringing together great brands and retailers in superbly merchandised shows while providing superior customer service and ultimately presenting end consumers with the best apparel, footwear, accessories, and fashion products.

Press Contact: PR Consulting | Jesse Smiley | jsmiley@prconsulting.net |
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December was the 87th consecutive month of U.S. job growth, an unparalleled stretch of good news for workers.

The Labor Department said Friday that 148,000 jobs were added, bringing the average over three months to 204,000. The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, the same as in November. And average hourly earnings grew by 9 cents, to $26.63, bringing the increase from 2016 to 2.5 percent.

The monthly jobs gain is below what the economy added for most of the year, but its still way ahead of what the economy needs to keep up with the new, slow rate of working-age population growth, said Jed Kolko, the chief economist for Indeed, a job-search site.

The number of people entering the labor force increased only slightly over the month, continuing the trend of participation rates that have not budged since 2015. Thats partly the effect of Baby Boomers heading into retirement, and the fact that the rate hasnt gone down is a sign of the labor markets continued appetite for new workers.

But it may also suggest that there are still people who havent come back into the workforce following the recession or that theyve tried but have been unsuccessful.

Whats curious is why employers who are screaming that they cant find people to hire arent pulling those people back in, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

2017 was a very strong year for the labor market, Kolko said.

At the same time, job growth for the year was slightly less robust than in 2016, under President Barack Obama. And most economists think presidents do not generally determine the course of the economy, although that has not stopped President Trump from taking credit.

The president pointed in a tweet Wednesday to the 4.1 percent unemployment rate as evidence that the economy is only getting better! When he took office last January, the rate was 4.8 percent.

It is too early to measure the hiring effects of the corporate tax cut passed last month, but Trumps agenda may be having a positive impact on the economy in other ways.

His push to dismantle regulations on businesses seems to have emboldened corporations to start pouring more money into machines and plants, which is the kind of spending that drives broad growth.

Perhaps the most closely watched number in the report was the change in wages from the previous December. Earnings increased by around 2.5 percent from 2016.

Workers in financial services and the leisure and hospitality sectors saw the biggest increases over the year, with wages in both industries ticking up by around 3.6 percent.

We dont see our clients being willing to commit to wage increases on a permanent basis, said Bill Ravenscroft, a senior vice president at Adecco Staffing USA.

The agency employs around 60,000 workers, hiring more during the holiday season, and places many in distribution centers and warehouses often used by e-commerce giants.

Those companies have increased pay for workers in hot warehouse markets, such as Memphis or the Inland Empire in Southern California, where they are competing with many other companies crowded into the same area, Ravenscroft said.

But instead of increasing salaries across the board, employers are vying for pickers, packers and shippers by offering new perks. Logistics companies have begun providing on-site child care, or reimbursing employees who need to put their children in day care while they work.

Some companies are entering workers in raffles every week to win laptops, televisions and tablets or are bringing food trucks to their warehouses and paying for employees lunches.

These types of benefits in the past, you associated them with Silicon Valley, startup companies, they werent synonymous with your traditional employers, Ravenscroft said. We arent seeing them saying we are going to take a long-term, universal approach to raising wages.

There are signs beneath the surface, though, that more widespread wage growth may be around the corner. In areas where unemployment has dipped below the national rate, pay has begun to accelerate.

Cities where joblessness is 3.5 percent or lower have also witnessed an impressive 4 percent annual increase in earnings, Shepherdson said.

Over the last few months, the industries that have been performing particularly well have been construction and manufacturing  middle-wage, middle-skill sectors that had been lagging. Following a disappointing 2016, manufacturing added 196,000 jobs last year. Construction payrolls increased by 210,000. Mining employers also posted solid gains throughout 2017, bucking a trend of job losses in recent years.

Manual-labor positions are the kinds of jobs that Trump has promised to bring back in droves, so the increase could be politically important.

The rest of the world is also in the midst of a strong recovery, helping to drive a U.S. rise in productive blue-collar work.

The manufacturing upturn story is a global story, Shepherdson said. Its happening everywhere. You cant take credit for the recovery in Europe and China.

Retail, on the other hand, finished the year in a slump. The industry  a huge employer across the country  has been struggling to contend with the rise of e-commerce and had a bad month in December, despite the rush of holiday shopping. The sector slashed 67,000 jobs over the year.

Natalie Kitroeff is a New York Times writer.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions decision Thursday to scrap an Obama administration policy that offered legal shelter for state-sanctioned marijuana sales does not necessarily mean a wave of federal drug busts. But it could crimp Californias marijuana industry in another way: cutting its already-tenuous access to the financial system.

Most banks and credit unions wont accept deposits from marijuana businesses, but the few that do have been relying on federal guidelines that state how they can accept deposits from those companies. Although those guidelines remain in effect for now, many expect they will have to change because they were underpinned by one of the policies just rescinded  a 2013 document known as the Cole memo.

Without that memo, and with the possibility of changes to the guidelines, some banks and credit unions that were considering working with cannabis companies will probably back down from those plans, said Joshua Schneiderman, a partner in the Los Angeles office of law firm Snell & Wilmer.

Ive talked to institutions in California looking to get into the industry, and I dont think theyre going to move forward at this point, he said. Banks are notoriously conservative, and the Cole memo was a critical underpinning of their decision to get into the cannabis space.

Ken Berke, president of PayQwick, a Calabasas (Los Angeles County) company that works with banks to offer payment-processing services for marijuana businesses, said its not clear that Thursdays announcement will cause a significant change, but he agreed that it will push some institutions to reconsider their plans.

If there are banks that are not serving the industry now but were thinking about it, this will have a chilling effect, he said. And if you already have cannabis clients, you may decide to wait 30 days or 60 days before opening any new accounts.

The Cole memo, written by James Cole, a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, said the Justice Department, in states where marijuana sales were legalized, should focus its marijuana-enforcement efforts on serious crimes such as sales to minors or sales involving drug cartels.

In 2014, in accordance with that memo, the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a Treasury Department bureau, issued guidelines for banks that want to serve cannabis businesses. The guidelines directed banks to file reports on their marijuana clients and to be on the lookout for the potential serious illegal activities spelled out in the Cole memo.

With that memo now rescinded, the guidelines may be scrapped or at least amended, said Julie Hill, a law professor at the University of Alabama who follows cannabis banking law.

The whole (report) filing system doesnt make any sense without clear enforcement priorities, Hill said. I dont know what you do about that. I think it was risky before, and its even more risky now.

Other bank regulators, not just FinCEN, could push banks to rein in or scrap their dealings with cannabis companies.

Neil Zick, chief executive of Twin City Bank, a Longview, Wash., institution that accepts deposits from cannabis businesses, said he worries that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will see cannabis businesses as riskier clients now that the Cole memo has been rescinded. That, in turn, could allow the FDIC to put so many conditions and requirements on the banks cannabis dealings that it would no longer be worth the banks while.

Theyll say, Well, you can do it, but you have to do this and this and this, Zick said. At some point, you say screw it, and it forces those businesses out of your institution.

Its unclear, however, whether Sessions decision to rescind the Cole memo and four other enforcement guidelines will lead to a federal crackdown on marijuana in states that have legalized it.

A key constraint is a 2014 federal budget amendment co-authored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa (Orange County), which prevents the Justice Department from spending money on prosecuting medical marijuana users or businesses if they are complying with state law.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over federal cases in California and eight other Western states, has interpreted that law to bar any prosecutions in medical pot cases.

However, Sessions issued his new guidance just days after the recreational sale and use of marijuana became legal. That is not explicitly covered by the Rohrabacher amendment.

Still, not everyone in the banking industry is convinced that the crackdown will result in locking out all marijuana-related businesses from the financial system.

Only about 400 banks and credit unions  out of more than 10,000 institutions in the country  openly work with cannabis businesses, according to FinCEN, and many cannabis businesses have accounts but dont disclose their business to their bank.

The reality is, there are very few banks that will openly bank cannabis, said Aaron Herzberg, a local cannabis business owner and attorney. So youre talking about things that are very theoretical. I dont think things are going to change for banks, or change for the industry.

James Rufus Koren is a Los Angeles Times writer.
If you're planning to take BART in San Francisco Sunday afternoon, prepare to be confronted by the sight of people who look like they have forgotten their pants. More of them than usual.

A group of scantily clad from the waist down people are planning to take over public transit in the city as part of the annual "No Pants BART Ride." Participants are planning to scatter around the city starting at 1 p.m., then board different trains all headed for Civic Center/UN Plaza Station.

ALSO READ: Where to get naked in the Bay Area  and not feel weird about it

At 2 p.m. they plan to disembark and coalesce at Civic Center before heading off to an afterparty, which yes, is also pants-less.

"This is not an exhibitionist thing, to be very clear," co-organizer Jay Zalowitz told SFGATE last year. "This is a spontaneous delight and meant to bring enjoyment out of people's day. We ran into some soldiers on the way back from Oakland Airport and you should have seen the smile this brought to their faces  and that alone makes something like this worth it."

Between 50 and 100 people participated in 2017, but Zalowitz thought turnout may have been lower than usual due to wet weather. More than 400 people have said they are interested in attending this year's event on Facebook.

MORE FROM LAST YEAR: Annual 'no pants' BART ride attracts participants despite huge storm

The only things required to participate are adequate BART fare and the ability to keep a straight face. The event page encourages pants-less participants to stay in character and deflect questions about their unconventional outfits by saying their pants were "getting uncomfortable" or they "forgot to wear pants."

The event was started in 2001 by New York City-based prank collective Improv Everywhere and has since spread to other metropolitan areas, including New York, Boston, Prague and Berlin.

More details on the No Pants BART Ride can be found on the Facebook event page.

SFGATE's Dianne de Guzman contributed to this report.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.
Theres a Black Panther party going on all around the country.

Superhero fans, movie fans and, especially, connoisseurs of black culture  American and African  are all eagerly awaiting the debut of Marvels Black Panther movie starring comic books first black superhero with an enthusiasm not often seen in American cinema.

Black Panther viewing parties are already being scheduled around the country for its February release, smack dab in the middle of Black History Month. There are lines of clothing based on the movies African style being prepared  the bright colors and Afrofuturism styles of Wakanda are in for the spring. And Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar was just named to produce the soundtrack.

People are already calling the yet-to-be seen movie one of the most important of 2018, despite the fact that the character that has only appeared once on the silver screen and, until now, has not occupied the same pantheon as comic book stalwarts like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man.

But for some fans, none of that matters because the Black Panther holds a unique position in the superhero world and especially in the African and black diaspora.

As the father of two little black boys Im super excited to have a superhero that looks like them on screen, said Glen Greezy of New York City, who, along with more than 900 of his friends on Facebook, plans to hit Times Square and see the movie on opening weekend. Other superheroes are great and I see their movies too, but something about having a black man as the main character in a superhero movie is extra appealing.

Black Panther, starring Chadwick Boseman as the eponymous superhero, opens on Feb. 16, picking up the adventures of the newly crowned African king and superhero who debuted in 2016s Captain America: Civil War. Existing in the same shared universe as Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man, the Panther is African royalty and his adventures center on his futuristic hidden homeland of Wakanda, considered to be the most technologically advanced nation on Marvels Earth. In the new movie, TChalla, the Black Panthers real name, must battle long-time adversaries with the aid of his all-female bodyguards and a CIA agent to maintain control of his country and prevent a world war.

Directed by the Bay Areas Ryan Coogler, it also has an All-Star cast including Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyongo, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira and Sterling K. Brown.

For many people, the Black Panther movie isnt just a movie; its a symbol of change.

Black Panther is just going to be really special. ... I dont plug into film anticipation. But I can feel it. A lot of my friends have asked me to go to the premiere! Everyone in my network is excited about it, and you can feel it when theyre not, said Daniel Kaluuya, the Get Out star who also is featured in Black Panther, said recently.

The Internet explodes each time a new trailer, poster or piece of artwork debuts from the movie, sparking hashtags like #BlackPantherSoLit and #WelcometoWakanda. Twitter declared that Black Panther was one of the most tweeted-about movies of 2017, and the only movie on the list that hadnt premiered yet.

Do we really have to wait until February! lamented Elwood Robinson, chancellor of Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, on Twitter, while sporting a Black Panther T-shirt.

Groups like Intentional Community Building Collective, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore and Malik Fraternity Inc., the first collegiate fraternity founded on the concept of African fraternalism, in Charlotte, N.C., are assembling discussion panels on the movies themes.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the minds behind Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other Marvel comics, the Black Panther holds a unique position in comic book history. While not the first black comic book hero  the first black character to headline his own comic book was Dell Comics Western hero and gunfighter Lobo in 1965  the Black Panther is considered the first black superhero, introduced as a supporting character in Fantastic Four in 1966 and later featured in his own book.

There has been a renaissance with black superheroes on television as well. Black Lightning debuts on the CW on Jan. 16, featuring an educator who gains electrical powers and becomes a superhero. Luke Cage, a television show about a former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin, premiered on Netflix in 2016 and will begin a second season later this year.

Cage debuted in a self-titled comic book Luke Cage, Hero for Hire in 1972 with an exaggerated Afro and the catchphrase Sweet Christmas! He was followed by Black Lightning in a DC comic book in 1977.

There have been other black superhero movies  Wesley Snipes starred as the vampire slayer Blade in one of the first Marvel movies, and Robert Townsend starred in a comedic parody of superheroes in Meteor Man  but their movies did not bring out the enthusiasm that Black Panther is seeing.

What is significant now, however, is that (in) this age of convergence of film franchises with social media, a black superhero movie with an almost all-black cast conveys power, that we have arrived. Its evolution, said Christopher Chambers, a Georgetown University media studies professor.

Jesse J. Holland is an Associated Press writer. AP film writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
NEW YORK  Not every actor suffered through lean times on their way up, but origin stories are full of tight-money moments.

Patrick Wilson said recently on the red carpet that he once scraped for change at the Lincoln Tunnel. Greta Gerwig said her bank account was nearly drained when she drove past a Los Angeles movie theater with her face on the marquee.

Rosamund Pike and Kate McKinnon can relate.

It was lentils every day. Lentils are a gorgeous staple. I still eat a lot of lentils, actually, said McKinnon, a Saturday Night Live cast member who voiced Lupe in Ferdinand.

Pike, in Hostiles with Christian Bale, remembered a particularly joyful money moment.

I lived in a house with about five boys when I started out and, yeah, I didnt have any money, never had taken a taxi, she said. Everything was walking, trying to save every penny you had, and I remember when I did get a job and suddenly I thought, I can afford a taxi. It was the most incredible feeling.

Timothee Chalamet is just 23, but the co-star of Call Me by Your Name struggled after a small role in Interstellar turned out not to be the big break he had expected.

The year I left college, I was living in the Bronx in New York, he said. I had done Homeland at that point but a lot of my acting money had gone toward tuition for school, so that was a scary time, and Interstellar was coming out. I figured thered be a lot of roles after that and there wasnt. That was the scariest time in my life. A first-world problem, but whatever.

Willem Dafoe, at 62, recalled working lots of jobs in the early years just to keep a roof over my head, but the lean times didnt last long. Besides, he had a safety net.

I had a family that I knew if I really got in trouble I could go to them, so it wasnt a real cycle of poverty, but Ive had a taste of what its like not to have money, said Dafoe, a star of The Florida Project.

Wilson, in the upcoming thriller The Commuter, was straight out of college and working the ensembles of musicals in Pittsburgh when he amassed about $1,500 for a move to New York City. He loaded up a rental truck with about $4 in cash to spare and off he went.

This was when the Lincoln Tunnel was about $4 if you were a car  $2 each additional axle, he explained. Thats important because my U-Haul truck had an additional axle and we only had $4, so we had to pull over to the little side there and go through change and had to give them change out of my backpack in order to be allowed into New York, so literally my first trip in New York I was scraping for change.

Gerwigs tight-money moment came after she appeared in the 2010 film Greenberg, a turning point.

I was staying in L.A. for auditions and I had no money. I had very little in my bank account and I had used the last of it to get a rental car, and I remember driving past a marquee in Los Feliz  theres a cinema there  and my face was on it and I didnt have a place to stay that night, Gerwig said.

Luckily, a family friend offered a place to stay, then I ended up getting two jobs and then it was fine, but it was that moment of, There I am! and Where am I gonna stay tonight?

Dermot Mulroney, star of the recent Hallmark holiday movie The Christmas Train, is among the lucky ones.

Mulroney always worked, starting with a paper route as a 13-year-old, but I got a hot start coming out of college and starting a career, so I didnt really spend grueling months trying to get a foothold or anything like that, he said.

His father pitched in, offering to pay his rent for a year. He only had to help for two months so, Mulroney smiled, Im gonna ask him about that: Are you still good for it?

Leanne Italie is an Associated Press writer. Associated Press writers Ryan Pearson, Jill Dobson and Brooke Lefferts contributed to this report.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wincash Resources, Inc. (OTC Markets:WCRI) announced today that it has recently acquired Fovea International Holdings Limited, including the Fovea brand of jewelry (www.fovea-jewellery.com), and is entering the retail jewelry business in Asia.

The Company will market the Fovea brand of jewelry in major retail department stores in key cities in Asia. In addition, the Company intends to open its own free-standing retail stores under the Fovea brand name.

The acquisition of the Fovea jewelry brand initiates a new business model and brings a well-known and respected product line to our Company, commented Jianmin Zhang, CEO of Wincash Resources, Inc. Mr. Zhang continued, Our new business model is more valuable and more important than ever and, with the Fovea brand, were in a position to bring significant value to the Company and its stockholders.

With this new business model and acquisition, the Company has discontinued its precious metal mining operations.

This news was announced by the company's CEO on 12/29/2017.

About Wincash Resources, Inc.:

Wincash Resources, Inc. is a holding company specializing in the retail jewelry business. For more information regarding the Company call (702) 505-4599, or email info@wincashresources.com.

Precautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of 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 the Company's disclosures or filings with the SEC.

Contact:

Wincash Resources, Inc.

Investor Relations

(702) 505-4599

info@wincashresources.com

Source: Wincash Resources, Inc.




Thomas Monson, who as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2008 enlarged the ranks of female missionaries, but rebuffed demands to ordain women as priests and refused to alter church opposition to same-sex marriage, died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 90.

His death was announced in a statement on the churchs website.

Facing vociferous demands to admit openly gay members to the church and to recognize same-sex marriage, and weathering demonstrations at church headquarters by Mormon women pleading for the right to be ordained as priests, Monson did not bend. Teachings holding homosexuality to be immoral, bans on sexual intercourse outside male-female marriages, and an all-male priesthood would remain unaltered.

Monson displayed a new openness to scholars of Mormonism, however, allowing them remarkable access to church records. But as rising numbers of church members and critics joined the Internets free-for-all culture of debate and expose, his church was confronted with troubling inconsistencies in Mormon history and Scripture. The church even found itself at odds with an old ally, the Boy Scouts of America, which admitted gay members and homosexual adults as Scout leaders.

On Monsons watch, the church enlarged its global missionary force to 69,200 from 52,000 and, in what students of church affairs called a major achievement of his tenure, doubled the number of young women in its missionary ranks, to 18,400, by lowering the minimum age for service, starting in 2012, to 18 from 19 for men and to 19 from 21 for unmarried women.

That sent shock waves through the church, Richard Lyman Bushman, a Mormon scholar and Columbia University historian, told the New York Times for this obituary. At 21, he said, many Mormon women were married and not free for missionary work, while lowering the age to 19 let them become missionaries soon after high school.

Despite persistent demands for change on another feminist issue, Monson  who as president was considered by adherents to be Gods prophet, seer and revelator  did not open the door to women in the priesthood, which, like the Mormon hierarchy, has been male since the church was founded in the early 19th century.

Thomas Spencer Monson was born in Salt Lake City on Aug. 21, 1927, the second of six children of George Spencer Monson and the former Gladys Condie.

He graduated from West High School in Salt Lake City in 1944. After starting at the University of Utah, he joined the Naval Reserve in 1945. World War II ended months later, and after stateside training, his tour of duty ended in 1946. He re-entered the University of Utah, graduating in 1948 with honors and a bachelors degree in marketing, and earned a masters degree in business administration from Brigham Young University in 1974.

In 1948, he married Frances Beverly Johnson. She died in 2013. His survivors include their three children, Thomas and Clark Monson and Ann Dibb; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

A printer by trade, he was an advertising executive with the Deseret News in the 1940s, and rose in the 1960s to general manager of the Deseret News Press, a church-affiliated printing firm. He was a longtime director and board chairman of the Deseret News Publishing Co.

He rose steadily in the church, too. In the 1950s, he was the bishop of a ward, akin to a parish, of 1,000 Mormons. From 1959 to 1962, he was president of the churchs Canada mission, covering Ontario and Quebec.

In 1963, he became a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the churchs second-highest governing body. The highest authority is the church president, followed by two counselors, positions based on seniority.

Awaiting his turn for the presidency, he embraced humanitarian causes with Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups supporting homeless shelters, food banks, nursing homes and disaster relief efforts in the United States and abroad.

Robert D. McFadden is a New York Times writer.
Three Bay Area insurance agents were sentenced to prison Friday for participating in a scheme involving fraudulent life insurance policies, federal authorities said.

Behnam Halali, 32, of San Jose, was sentenced to five years, Ernesto Magat, 35, of Hayward, was sentenced to four years, and Karen Gagarin, 32, of San Jose, was sentenced to three years, according to U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch. They were also ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution to the insurance company that employed them. The sentences were issued by Judge Susan Ilston in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
ALBANY, New York, Jan. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market features a markedly high level of competition, notes Transparency Market Research (TMR). The top players in the market include Verizon Communications, Virgin Group Ltd., and AT&T. These players are resorting to strategic mergers and acquisitions and entering into carefully through alliances across geographies, to consolidate their shares in various regions. Several small-sized vendors are considering it worthwhile to enter the market through the route of mutual partnerships and agreements. As small entrants look to gain a better foothold in the market, the competition in the market is likely to intensify in the coming years, observes TMR.

Several prominent players are anticipated to offer cutting-edge technologies and at competitive pricing to retain their dominance. For instance, leading players are finding it lucrative to expand their reach into niche and untapped segments, in order to stay ahead of their competitors. In a number of saturated markets, notably in developed regions, players are offering data-based services and value-added services in a bid to differentiate their offerings and boost their revenue earnings.

The global mobile virtual network operators market for mobile virtual network operators is projected to rise at a promising CAGR of 7.4% from 2015 to 2023, vis-a-vis revenue. The market was worth US$45.86 bn by the end of 2016 and is projected to reach a valuation of US$75.25 bn by the end of the forecast period.

The two primary subscriber bases of mobile virtual network operators are business and consumer; of these, individual consumers forms the leading segment currently. The dominance of this segment can be attributed to the vastly rising demand for low-cost data and voice-based services among a growing number of individual subscribers. Geographically, Europe is the leading market and is anticipated to hold the sway throughout the forecast period. The growth is driven by several key regulatory bodies supporting wide implementations of MVNOs and mobile network operators (MNOs). This regional market, though largely saturated, will benefit from the burgeoning development of low-cost differentiated value-added services. A promising rate of development in mobile virtual networks is also accentuating the growth of the Europe market.

Request a PDF Sample for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3261

Burgeoning Mobile Network Subscribers Stoking Demand for Data-Related and Value-Added Services

A burgeoning mobile network subscribers in various parts of the world and substantial leasing of significant part of 3G network bandwidth to MNOs and MVNOs are key factors driving the mobile virtual network operators market. The staggering rise in number of mobile network subscribers in various developed and developing nations is a notable factor bolstering the demand for data-related services or value-added services. The intensifying demand for low-cost data and voice services is a crucial factor accentuating the growth of the market. The rising demand for mobile network subscribers for establishing professional and secure applications among enterprises is a crucial factor boosting the market.

The rising delivery of customized services at affordable cost is a notable trend catalyzing the growth of the market. This can be attributed to less capital expenditure required for spectrum development and infrastructure. The advent of high-speed and reliable 4G networks in several developing and developed nations bodes well for the market. Coupled with constant infrastructural developments in developed nations, favorable governmental regulations are expected to accentuate the growth of the market.

Purchase this Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=3261<ype=S

Cannibalization Risk of MNO by MVNOs Likely to Hit Revenue Earnings

The growing number of mergers among MNOs and MVNOs in developed regions such as Europe is contributing to the overall growth of the market. However, the notable risk of market cannibalization of MNO by MVNOs is a crucial factor likely to cripple the growth of the market to an extent. Nevertheless, the availability of affordable data-based and voice services is a notable factor anticipated to provide a robust impetus to the market. Furthermore, the adoption of MVNO services among telecom players for establishing low-cost communications portals is likely to unlock exciting avenues in the market over the forecast period.

The study presented here is based on a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Market (Operational Model - Reseller MVNO, Service Operator MVNO, and Full-MVNO; By Types - Business, Discount, M2M, Media, Migrant, Retail, Roaming, and Telecom; Subscriber - Business and Consumer) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023.

About Us

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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.
NEW YORK, Jan. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against The Crypto Company (Crypto or the Company) (OTCMKTS:CRCW) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Central District of California, and docketed under 17-cv-09157, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Crypto securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Crypto securities between August 21, 2017, and December 18, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until February 20, 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]

The Crypto Company is engaged in the business of advising regarding, investing in, trading and developing proprietary source code for digital assets with diversified exposure to digital asset markets. The Companys core services include consulting and advising companies regarding investment and trading in the digital asset market and investing in a manner that diversifies exposure to the growing class of digital assets.

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) Crypto unlawfully engaged in a scheme to promote and manipulate the Companys stock; and (ii) as a result, Cryptos public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On December 19, 2017, the SEC temporarily suspended Crypto stock from trading due to concerns that the stock was being manipulated after the shares surged more than 17,000% in less than 3 months. The SEC said it was alarmed about the accuracy and adequacy of information relating to the compensation paid for promotion of its and statements in SEC filings about the plans of the Companys insiders to sell their stock. Crypto stock was trading at $575 per share at the time trading was suspended and the suspension will remain in effect until January 3, 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
CAIRO  The Iranian town of Doroud should be a prosperous place  nestled in a valley at the junction of two rivers in the Zagros Mountains, its in an area rich in metals to be mined and stone to be quarried. Last year, a military factory on the outskirts of town unveiled production of an advanced model of tanks.

Yet local officials have been pleading for months for the government to rescue its stagnant economy. Unemployment is around 30 percent, far above the official national rate of more than 12 percent. Young people graduate and find no work. The local steel and cement factories stopped production long ago and their workers havent been paid for months. The military factorys employees are mainly outsiders who live on its grounds, separate from the local economy.

Unemployment is on an upward path, Majid Kiyanpour, the local parliament representative for the town of 170,000, told Iranian media last summer. Unfortunately, the state is not paying attention.

Thats a major reason Doroud has been a front line in the protests that have flared across Iran over the past week. Several thousand residents have been shown in online videos marching down Dorouds main street, shouting, Death to the dictator! At night, young men set fires outside the gates of the mayors office and hurl stones at banks. At least two people have been killed, reportedly when security forces opened fire. Overall, at least 21 people have died nationwide in the unrest so far.

Anger and frustration over the economy have been the main fuel for the eruption of protests that began on Dec. 28. President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, had promised that the lifting of most international sanctions under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with the West would revive Irans long-suffering economy. But while the end of sanctions did provide a new influx of cash from increased oil exports, little has trickled down to the wider population. At the same time, Rouhani has enforced austerity policies that hit households hard.

Demonstrations have broken out mainly in dozens of smaller cities and towns like Doroud, where unemployment has been most painful and where many feel ignored.

The working classes have long been a base of support for Irans hard-liners. But protesters have turned their fury against the ruling clerics and the elite Revolutionary Guard, accusing them of monopolizing the economy and soaking up the countrys wealth. Many protests have seen a startlingly overt rejection of Irans system of government by Islamic clerics. Under Irans Islamic Republic, in place since the 1979 revolution, the cleric-led establishment has considerable power over elected bodies like parliament and the presidency. At the top stands Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state.

They make a man into a god and a nation into beggars! goes the cry heard in videos of several marches. Clerics with capital, give us our money back!

The initial spark for the protests was a sudden jump in food prices. It is believed that opponents of Rouhani instigated the first demonstrations in the conservative city of Mashhad in eastern Iran, trying to direct public anger at the president. But as protests spread from town to town, the backlash turned against the entire ruling class.

Further stoking the anger was the budget for the coming year that Rouhani unveiled in mid-December, calling for significant cuts in cash payouts established by Rouhanis predecessor, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a form of direct welfare. Since he came to office in 2013, Rouhani has been paring them back. The budget also envisaged a new jump in fuel prices.

But amid the cutbacks, the budget revealed large increases in funding for religious foundations that are a key part of the clerical state-above-the-state, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from public coffers. These foundations, including religious schools and charities, are tied closely to powerful clerics and often serve as machines for patronage and propaganda to build support for their authority.

Lee Keath is an Associated Press writer.
1 Jailed leader: Spains Supreme Court judges ruled Friday to keep Catalonias ousted vice president in jail while he is being investigated for rebellion and other charges stemming from the restive regions drive for independence from Spain. The judges said there was a risk that Oriol Junqueras might again commit crimes, as there was no sign that he intended to change his ways. Junqueras was one of several members of Catalonias pro-secession regional cabinet who were fired and jailed on provisional charges following a declaration of independence on Oct. 27. Other members of the Catalonia government, including ex-leader Carles Puigdemont, are fugitives in Brussels.

2 Georgia sentences ex-president: A court in the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Friday sentenced former President Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia to three years in prison for abusing his power in pardoning four policemen convicted of killing a banker. Saakashvili, who was president from 2004-13, left Georgia when his presidency ended and eventually went to Ukraine, where he was appointed governor of the Odessa region. He resigned from that post in 2016 and harshly criticized Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for not halting the official corruption that has crippled the country. The Ukrainian leader last year stripped Saakashvili of his citizenship while he was abroad. Saakashvili returned to Ukraine in September and has led a series of anticorruption protests against the government.
Montana's high school graduation rates nudged up in 2017.

The Office of Public Instruction released the rates this week.

Graduation rates have generally trended up this decade, rising from 82.2 percent to a peak of 86 percent in 2015. Rates dipped to 85.6 percent in 2016 before inching up to 85.8 percent in 2017.

Helena

In Helena, Capital High School reported a graduation rate of 87.2 percent, which dipped slightly from 88.7 percent in 2016. Capital's graduation rate was 93.5 percent in 2013 and has gone down slightly each year since then.

At Helena High School, the 2017 graduation rate was 84.5 percent, which is up slightly from 83.6 percent in 2016.

Montana's completion rate, which includes students outside the usual four-year high school track, increased to a five-year high of 86.6 percent. The completion rate has gone up each of the past five years.

Capital's completion rate, which has also gone down for five years, was at 88.6 percent in 2016. Helena High's increased from 82 percent in 2013 to 86.3 percent in 2017.

The state's dropout rate, measuring students who leave high school regardless of grade level, dropped 0.06 percent to 3.33 percent. The lower the rate, the fewer students drop out.

Dropout rates at Helena High and Capital went down, to 3.2 and 2.1 percent respectively.

In an emailed press release, Montana's Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen focused on funneling students to job opportunities.

It is crucial that Montana students have pathways to future success after they receive that high school diploma, Arntzen said. I am working with our partners in higher education and private sector industries to expand career pathways so that all Montana students can succeed after high school.

Achievement gaps

American Indian students saw a significant increase in 2017, improving more than 3 percent to a five-year high of 69.4 percent.

Montana has long-held achievement gaps between the overall student body and Native American students, which also often reflect economic status. The 18.9 percent gap in 2017 is the smallest it's been in five years.

"While looking at the achievement gaps it is important to consider factors of opportunity gaps, causes for students failing to thrive, and the supports that schools, communities, and partners can provide to remove barriers," a 2017 report on Montana American Indian student achievement notes.

The 2017 rate for African-American students was 80.1 percent. The rate for Hispanic students was 79.8 percent.

Students who qualify for free and reduced lunch  long used as a proxy for economic status  also typically have lower graduation rates and test scores than their wealthier peers.

In 2017, the graduation rate for students qualifying for free lunch was 76.6 percent, up about 0.2 percent from 2016. The rate for students not in the free lunch program was 94 percent, up about 0.4 percent.

The rate for special education students was 76.7 percent, compared to 87.1 percent for students not in special education programs.

The rate for homeless students dipped to 61.9 percent, down from about 66.3 percent and a five-year low.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Police are asking the public's assistance identifying an individual in connection with a grand larceny in the 121st Precinct.

It was reported to police on Friday, Dec. 29, 2017, at approximately 10:30 a.m., an unidentified man entered the Apple Store at the Staten Island Mall, located at 2655 Richmond Ave., New Springville.

The unidentified man removed thee iPhone Xs from the counter, valued at approximately $2,800, according to a report from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

The male fled on foot in an unknown direction, police said.

The male is described as Hispanic, 5 feet six inches tall and was last seen wearing a black jacket and white sneakers.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the

NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While experts agree that New York City is one of the most vulnerable areas when it comes to storm damage, there is some debate regarding how to best protect it.

"New York is third on the list in terms of storm vulnerability after New Orleans and Miami," said Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton University Coastal Research Center in New Jersey.

Because of New York's surrounding geography, it's an especially vulnerable area to superstorms. "What made Sandy so bad was the fact that Long Island and New Jersey create a funnel into which you have New York Harbor," Farrell said.

And Staten Island is dead center of that funnel.

Now, the state is planning to build the $60 million Staten Island Living Breakwaters by 2021 to protect the coast of the South Shore of Staten Island from similar storms in the future.

A separate but complementary project is the Tottenville Shoreline Protection plan -- a $9.3 million project funded by the state to create earthen berms, stone-core sand-capped dunes and an eco-revetment, a structure that slopes into the water, protecting the shoreline. Some living on the waterfront in Tottenville have expressed concerns about the raised pathway included in that plan.

In addition, they are concerned that the protection measures outlined in the Living Breakwaters project will not provide adequate protection.

THE WAVE DEBATE

"If you look out here right now, do you see any waves? There are no waves," resident Goody Halvorsen asked, pointing out his back windows to the beach along the Raritan Bay as he explained that there are no waves for the breakwaters to break -- since the water is so shallow.

Yet, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR) said that in designing the breakwaters, wave-monitoring equipment was placed in the bay and wave records from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were studied.

"This analysis has confirmed that while the waves that people see day-to-day may be small, equipment has confirmed that waves of over 3 feet are common during storm events," the spokesperson said. "This is also verified by the fact that the area is currently designated by FEMA as a Zone VE, meaning that it is a high flood risk area in a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring every year."

According to SCAPE, the landscape architecture studio that designed the project, the breakwaters will create up to a 4-foot reduction of wave height in some areas.

"A Hurricane Sandy type of event will build between 5- and 6-foot waves," Farrell said.

ARE GROINS THE ANSWER?

Still, Halvorsen, 54, is a third-generation Tottenville Beach resident. His grandfather came over from Italy and built a small brick home a few houses down from where Halvorsen now lives.

Back then, Tottenville -- known as "the town the oyster built" -- was a small fishing village made up of bungalows along the shore.

As a kid, Halvorsen remembers the beach being full of people swimming, fishing and boating. And it was a lot bigger -- Halvorsen estimates the beach has lost 6 feet of sand since the 1970s when the city bought the shoreline from residents who lived there.

He said he believes that the reason for the severe beach erosion is the loss of several groins.

"[Back then] everybody had them, everybody took care of them. Every storm, everybody would rebuild them," Halvorsen said. "You'd find planks on the beach, you'd drag them back by boat and redo them."

Today, only the remnants of the groins remain. Similar to jetties, groins are long structures composed of boulders, wood or other materials built perpendicular to the beach into the ocean. They're designed to interrupt and trap the longshore flow of sand.

South Beach and Midland Beach are lined with groins, and Halvorsen said he believes that building them back in Tottenville and replenishing the sand will better protect the shore than a breakwater -- as most of the damage from Hurricane Sandy came from storm surge rather than waves.

This groins would help create a larger beach that the surge would need to travel over during the next severe storm.

"My family and I stayed during Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012 and saw the disaster it caused. However, while here we noticed there were no real waves, just a rising tide," said John Gentile, a South Shore resident who has lived on the water for 15 years. "With that said, I truly don't believe the breakwaters that are being suggested would benefit us in the case of another storm."

Resident Ayman Farid, who is a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) for the project, also agrees. "We are there day and night. There are no waves."

He added, "We are not really doing anything at all to prevent rising floodwaters, which caused the damage."

EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Outside experts on marine geology dispute which method is best for storm protection and erosion prevention.

"Generally, groins have fallen out of favor of the more enlightened coastal people," said Carl Hobbs, a professor emeritus at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and author of "The Beach Book: Science of the Shore."

On breakwaters, he said "it is really site-specific to how well they work."

Farrell said, "[Breakwaters] work to reduce wave impacts, yes. They force the wave to break earlier, so there's less wave energy to impact the shoreline itself."

However, both Farrell and Hobbs said that neither a groin nor a breakwater will do anything to stop storm surge.

"The breakwaters are designed to reduce risk, but, like any measure, they cannot eliminate it entirely," the GOSR spokesperson said. "It is true that the living breakwaters will not 'keep the water out,' but by attenuating storm waves and preventing the protective beach from further eroding, they reduce storm risk to the area."

Despite this, the GOSR believes that breakwaters will prove more effective in preventing beach erosion than groins.

"The breakwaters will help to stabilize, slow and potentially even reverse the ongoing erosion that has been happening for 35-plus years at an average rate of 1 to 3 feet per year along the Tottenville shoreline," according to the GOSR and SCAPE.

While groins cause build-up of sand on one side, they cause erosion of sand on the other due to the way currents move sand in what's called longshore sediment transport. The GOSR said that this requires ongoing beach nourishment and costly maintenance, including replenishing sand.

According to Farrell -- though each has its flaws -- both groins and breakwaters will work to stop sand loss.

THE NEED FOR PROTECTION

Halvorsen said residents here would rather the money -- the projects are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants -- go to their neighbors east whose homes are at lower elevations.

While Halvorsen said he had only about a foot of water in his backyard during Sandy, a home a few blocks away on Yetman Avenue was washed off its foundation and a 13-year-old girl and her father lost their lives.

"From Sprauge Avenue heading east to Page Avenue, I'm telling you we're six to 14 feet higher than Sprague heading west," Halvorsen said. "I had friends over there, they had to run up to the second flood to get away from the water. So that's a big difference. Why are we not spending all this money to make sure they get the best protection we can give them?"
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The Career Training Institute in Helena kicked off a nine-month comprehensive program on Friday to prepare students to enter the workforce or complete their education.

The program, called YouthBuild, provides case management, education and construction training services while also teaching career readiness and community service. During a nine-month period, the students will build a single family home in partnership with Habitat For Humanity. At the end of the program, they will be prepared to enter the workforce or pursue secondary education.

YouthBuild Helena is the lone program of its kind in Montana and one of 70 such programs in the country. Lisa Newman, the program director at CTI, said it last received funding for YouthBuild in 2015. Now, with renewed funding, the program can support 31 students in both 2018 and 2019. Students must be aged 16 to 24, and a majority of the slots are held for students who have not completed high school or an equivalency.

Students will learn building trades, tool identification and use, and construction math while building a home for a Helena family in need. In addition to working on a Habitat home, they will participate in small construction projects in the community like building a shed or greenhouse. At the end of the program, students have the opportunity to receive a Carpentry Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate. The certificate will help them qualify for apprenticeship programs in the area that provide necessary training without taking a break from the workforce.

That certification can open a lot of doors for an apprenticeship program, Mark Lillrose, apprenticeship supervisor at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, said.

According to the Department of Labor, Montanas population of those 65 and older is expected to grow by approximately 7,000 people each year, while the typical working age population, people aged 16 to 64, is projected to grow by only 475 people each year. With an anticipated workforce shortage in the coming years, the state is working to provide steady career paths without requiring people to take a break from the workforce by going to college.

In addition to construction training, students will map out their educational or career goals and build life skills to accomplish them. Newman said students receive individualized instruction to prepare for the High School Equivalency Test and will learn computer literacy. Some students will choose another trade to pursue after graduating the program, or enroll in secondary education. An academic instructor will teach students how to complete financial aid forms or write a resume and cover letter.

This is a point of transformation, Jacob Kuntz, executive director of Helena Habitat for Humanity, said.

Newman said most students enrolled in the program have faced barriers to education and employment such as homelessness and a lack of transportation or access to childcare. A case manager will help overcome those obstacles by guiding students to available resources and services.

At the end of the program, students have experience with financial literacy building a resume, setting career goals, communicating and living independently.

They will be ready for the world of work, Newman said.

Students interested in pursuing a career in construction are guaranteed an interview with both Pentecost and Diamond Construction.

Dean Bjerke, CEO of Diamond Construction was at the Career Training Institute on Friday to welcome students into the program. He said he started doing construction with his dad when he was 16. Bjerke encouraged students to take advantage of the resources the program provides and find something theyre passionate about doing.

Every one of you in this room will choose your own path, he said.

After graduation, the Career Training Institute will follow students for a year. While not as intensive at the nine-month program, Newman said the organization can provide a different kind of support, like help with a broken down car or helping a student prepare to ask for a promotion.
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Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.

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There's a lot of talk these days about fake news, but what about fake views?

It is striking how wrong public perceptions are about key social trends and even the basic make up of our population.

Polls show public perceptions are often well off the mark Credit:iStock

An annual study by Ipsos called the Perils of Perception survey draws attention to public misconceptions.

In past years the survey has revealed Australians wildly overestimate our Muslim population while underestimating the share of Christians. We think more people are unemployed than is actually the case and we underestimate the share of adults that are overweight or obese.
Our politicians are still in holiday mode, apart from the occasional Turnbullian thought-bubble about another postal survey, this time on the republic. At this rate, the greatest achievement of his prime ministership will be saving Australia Post.

But our American cousins are back into the fray for 2018, courtesy of the juicy excerpts from Michael Wolff's new book, Fire and Fury  a title that could equally describe the response so far to Wolff's revelations from deep inside a White House apparently riven by infighting and dysfunction.

Illustration: Reg Lynch

He claims that Trump wanted to lose, and Melania cried when he won, while Ivanka's dead keen to be president. We also learned why POTUS is so fond of Big Macs  he thinks that constantly eating Macca's protects him from being poisoned, except via the slow, inexorable march of heart disease.

The Twitter insult comic-in-chief, whose skin is as thin as it is tangerine, has been apoplectic. He's tried to sue both the publishers and former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who's suing right back  I've ordered the book on my Kindle so I can read it before the lawyers get to it.
The Star Wars franchise's latest evil government, the First Order, seems carefully crafted to send a shiver down contemporary spines. Based on an alpine-looking ice planet, run by crisp functionaries in sharply tailored uniforms and armed with world-destroying weaponry, the First Order hearkens back to fascist regimes of the 20th century. But the most frightening thing about the First Order, as far as real-world audiences ought to be concerned, is the radical inequality festering in the society it aims to rule.

In the world depicted in The Last Jedi, the relationship between mass politics and the First Order is never made entirely clear; the regime seems to have manifested out of some dark energy conjured by its diabolical alien leader, and, this being a mass-market sci-fi flick, we can't fault it too much for that. (After the heat Attack of the Clones took for wasting time on mind-numbing political tick-tock, it's easy to understand why the writers behind The Last Jedi didn't want to make the same mistake.)

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'. Credit:John Wilson

But the film does linger on the shape of its characters' economy: upside-down, one gathers. Wealthy arms dealers and other rich characters decked in haute couture throw money down and drinks back in glittering casinos while dirty-faced children muck out stalls for alien beasts roughly akin to terrestrial racehorses. This inequality is adduced as a source of strength for the Resistance. At the film's conclusion, a child labourer is seen using the Force to summon a broom for his chores, glancing at a Resistance emblem and gazing up hopefully toward the stars. Things simply can't go on this way, we're meant to conclude; the oppression of the many by the few will eventually be righted via popular uprising. Resistance, to borrow a trope from another star-franchise, is not futile.

If only it were that easy: the bad guys openly callous and hostile to peace and prosperity, the good guys obviously and genuinely humane, and the citizenry alert and attuned to the difference. In reality, the economic conditions sketched in The Last Jedi are perfectly primed to give rise to the very sort of fascist regimes the film seems to think they're naturally antithetical to.
A western Sydney man is in a critical condition after he was pulled from the water by a passerby at Sandon Point Beach in the Illawarra on Saturday morning.

The man was seen swimming at the northern end of the beach, about 800 metres outside of the flags just before midday. About 10 minutes later a member of the public found him unconscious and unresponsive in the water, before pulling him to the shore and commencing CPR.

Surf Life Saving NSW are urging people to take extra care in the water and only swim in patrolled areas, as a weekend heatwave drives people to beaches. Credit:MARINA NEIL

Surf lifesavers and lifeguards took over CPR treatment of the man after being alerted by another member of the public. They also administered oxygen and applied a defibrillator for over 10 minutes while paramedics travelled to the scene.

NSW Ambulance paramedics stabilised the man, before he was transported to hospital for further treatment.
After their meeting with Pope Francis, the US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania visit the Sistine Chapel. Credit:ABACA Her office, which overlooks the Michelangelo-designed dome of St. Peter's Basilica, was filled with family pictures, a framed photograph of Francis, and the portrait bust of another predecessor: neoclassical sculptor, Antonio Canova, the first director of the papal museums. Jatta said art had played a big role in her family: Her mother and sister are art restorers; her grandmother, who was originally from Russia, was a painter; and her paternal ancestors founded an archaeological museum named after the family in Ruvo di Puglia, in southern Italy. The Last Judgement, by Michelangelo, inside the Sistine Chapel. Credit:Alamy Eike Schmidt, German director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, said Jatta's appointment was a positive sign. "Within the male-dominated Vatican, to give such a prominent role to a woman was very good news," he said, adding that he hoped the world of culture would soon "move beyond" gender considerations and "look at people for what they did and what they do".

One curator now working for Jatta, Maurizio Sannibale of the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, said he had known her since they were students in Rome. He described her as "affable, decisive and empathetic" and said that she "knows how to set challenges for herself". Barbara Jatta, the first female Director of the Vatican Museums. Credit:Vandeville Eric/ABACA Running the Vatican Museums is a colossal job. Jatta is responsible for preserving, displaying and sharing knowledge of the treasures accumulated by the popes over the centuries, including the vast Egyptian and Etruscan collections, the Laocoon sculpture from the first century BC, and Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century painting St. Jerome. In their breadth, history and calibre, the museums make the Palace of Versailles look like a flashy upstart. Whole sections of the museums are undergoing renovations ordered by Paolucci, a former culture minister who was director for nine years and who had previously led Florence's museums. The renovations include work on a 16th century public courtyard known as the Cortile della Pigna (one of many projects supported by the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums). Tourism is a lifeline not only of the museums, but of the Vatican as a whole. Of the 100 million ($153.4 million) in annual revenue generated by the museums, roughly half goes to the state, according to Paolucci.

That complicates any director's job. So does the fact that many of the museums' sites have both artistic and religious significance  starting with the Sistine Chapel. Six days a week, and on the last Sunday of each month, throngs of visitors scurry past masterpieces by Titian and Caravaggio and through a suite of rooms painted by Raphael to reach Michelangelo's chapel. On a recent afternoon, the sacred enclosure was full of adults gaping at the ceiling, babies in strollers and tour guides with flags on sticks. Guards periodically hushed the crowds, and stepped in to stop people taking photographs. The sweat and breath of millions of visitors, and the dust they bring in, endanger the chapel's frescoes, Vatican conservation teams have found. Paolucci once envisaged a virtual Sistine Chapel on the museum's premises: a full-size replica or a digital simulation that crowds could experience to limit congestion. He also announced that walk-in visits would end once numbers reached 6 million a year. From that point, he said, tickets would need to be purchased online in advance. But Paolucci left without introducing his plans. Jatta, who worked under Paolucci as deputy director and heir apparent starting in mid-2016, said she was against preventing walk-in access to the museums, even though 2017 totals look set to show another significant increase in the crowds, by about 10 per cent. "If you were a visitor wishing to see the Sistine Chapel and you got to Rome and were told that it couldn't be seen, what would you do?" she asked. "We are also a museum with moral and spiritual value. The Sistine Chapel is also a chapel, and that's something that cannot be forgotten."

As for a virtual Sistine Chapel, it would take up too much space and cost visitors more, she said. Instead, the Vatican Museums have advised on an immersive multimedia show (with a soundtrack by Sting) that is to open in March in an auditorium near the Vatican, illustrating the story of the Sistine Chapel. Jatta said she also planned a second entrance to the Vatican Museums that would offer alternative routes through "parts of the museums that are less visited", such as the Ethnological Museum. An institution close to Francis' heart, the Ethnological Museum will soon reopen with expanded displays of the 80,000 objects it holds, many of which were sent from around the world for an exhibition organised by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Jatta added that she was extending opening hours at other institutions such as the Etruscan Museum to bolster visits. Getting tourists to take more notice of other museums is difficult. And whatever route they take, visitors will still want to see the Sistine Chapel, as Jatta acknowledged. So how would a new entrance solve the problem? Jatta said the central objective was to alleviate congestion, as the Louvre Museum in Paris had done, through "a better distribution of tourists inside the museums".
One of Sydney's largest and oldest cemeteries is trying to squeeze more bodies per burial plot, in a bid to address Sydney's looming shortfall of burial spaces.

From next year, Sydney families will be able to bury their loved ones in specially-designed plots designed to hold as many as 11 remains on a single site, at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park in Matraville.

Graham Boyd, chief executive of Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust: "Some families will embrace it and others won't."

A 105-grave trial site will open next year incorporating a first-of-its-kind system, where bodies can be stacked and, once decomposed, packed into an ossuary and stored in a void space buried into the ground.

Graham Boyd, chief executive officer of Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, which operates the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, said he was inspired after speaking to members of the Greek Orthodox community, which had a long tradition of using ossuaries.
A three-metre python weighing about 15 kilograms has been found during a police raid in East Brisbane on Friday afternoon.

A two-metre albino python was also seized along with an improvised Taser, knuckledusters, drug utensils and a small amount of cannabis.

Police have seized an olive python almost three metres long and weighing about 15 kilograms. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Dutton Park police executed the search warrant at the Lytton Road residence after a tip-off from the public and found the reptiles, which are protected under the Nature and Conservation Act.

The animals were released into the care of the RSPCA and officials from the Department of Environment and Science.
A change in federal guidance on marijuana enforcement leaves questions about whether Montana's rebounding medical marijuana industry will be affected.

A memo released by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday rescinded Obama-era policies that guided federal drug enforcers away from people who use marijuana legally under state law.

The determination on how to carry out Sessions' guidance is up to the country's 94 U.S. attorneys.

Kurt Alme, U.S. Attorney for Montana, told The Gazette on Friday that his office will follow the laws set by Congress.

That includes a provision called the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which has for years been attached to budget bills and prevents the use of federal money to interfere with state medical marijuana programs.

However, the amendment has to be passed annually, and its future is uncertain. It hangs in the balance alongside federal budget negotiations, and the current deadline for a budget decision is Jan. 19.

Alme declined to comment on what might change if lawmakers fail to renew the amendment.

"We would cross that bridge when we get to it," he said.

In a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana, Alme said that marijuana enforcement would focus on the most serious offenders, but he didn't specifically address the medical industry.

"The United States Attorneys Office in Montana is guided by these principles in marijuana prosecutions  focusing in particular on identifying and prosecuting those who create the greatest safety threats to our citizens and communities," Alme said in the statement. "Consistent with the attorney generals latest guidance, we will continue to take this approach in all of our work with our law enforcement partners throughout Montana.

Twenty-nine states, including Montana, have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Eight of those states have legalized recreational use. This has created a clash with federal law, which bans the use of marijuana for any reason.

While a flourishing recreational marijuana industry has received the most focus in light of Sessions' memo, officials haven't differentiated between drug enforcement for recreational and medical producers.

Montanas medical marijuana industry saw a resurgence in 2017 after a successful ballot initiative removed some restrictions on the program. State legislators passed a regulatory bill in the spring, creating numerous new accountability rules for the growers.

The number of registered medical marijuana patients in Montana nearly tripled from November 2016 to November 2017. The latest count from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is 21,881 patients.

At times, federal prosecutors have stepped in with medical marijuana providers who are accused of stepping beyond the bounds of the Montana Medical Marijuana Act.

We certainly continue to see individuals who are distributing substantial amounts of marijuana well in excess of whats permitted by state law, Alme said.

The state took in $395,000 in tax revenue over the first three months of collection  part of the millions of dollars in gross revenue for medical marijuana providers. The deadline for the next collection quarter is Jan. 15.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement to The Gazette saying that it wont violate federal law to pursue marijuana-related activities, as it pertains to medical marijuana and specifically appropriations riders in Congress.

The comment seems to reference to the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which has protected medical marijuana from federal intervention but faces an uncertain future. U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, has kept the amendment in place since 2014.

The medical marijuana industry did receive a boost when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment in 2016. The circuit includes Montana.

A spokesman for Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said that the office would focus on enforcing state marijuana laws and that Sessions' memo "does not affect our treatment" of the state medical marijuana industry.

"We will continue working with local law enforcement agencies to enforce Montana laws governing marijuana," said Eric Sell, Montana DOJ spokesman. "Sessions action is a directive to federal officials, primarily the U.S. Attorneys office.

Both federal and Montana law makes it illegal to use marijuana outside of the medical program.

For its part, the state health department released a statement saying that its work is tied to state laws that allow the medical use of marijuana.

Montana citizens have twice made it clear how they feel about this issue through the citizens initiative process, said Jon Ebelt, health department spokesman. Our agency intends to follow state laws so that people with debilitating medical conditions can continue to access the medicine they need.
The Carrum Downs fire has been brought under control, and the emergency warning has been downgraded from a 'Watch an Act' to an 'Advice'.

That advice is: "There is currently no threat to communities, but you should continue to stay informed and monitor conditions."

CFA crews have been winning the fight against the fire for some time, and when the cool change blew through the area about 7pm it did not set back the firefighting effort. People were already beginning to return to their homes at that time.
Bangkok: An Australian woman born in Vietnam has been arrested at Phnom Penh's international airport with 1.8 kilograms of heroin allegedly hidden in a suitcase case .

Australian Federal Police played a key role in the arrest of 39 year-old Ve Thi Tran on Saturday morning as she was about to fly to Australia via Hong Kong.

Police arrest an Australian woman allegedly with 1.8 kilograms of heroin hidden in a suitcase.

Ms Tran, who was born in the Vietnamese city of Hue, faces years in Cambodia's notoriously harsh prison system if found guilty of drug trafficking.

Photos released by Cambodian authorities show Ms Tran standing in front of seven packets of a white product on a set of scales.
Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino at a Senate probe on the controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia last month. Credit:BULLIT MARQUEZ The government has assigned an independent panel of experts to investigate the deaths of the 14 children and report its findings within two weeks. Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters that at least four of the children died of dengue. Thomas Triomphe, Asia-Pacific head of Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer, prepares to take his seat at the Philippine Senate probe. Credit:BULLIT MARQUEZ "We need to watch out for 837,000 students who have been vaccinated and to us this is paramount," he said.

One death under investigation is that of 10-year-old Christine Mae de Guzman who suffered a throbbing headache one day after receiving a second dose of the vaccine. Protesters wear Guinea Pig masks to condemn the controversial mass immunisation of Filipino children with Dengvaxia. Credit:AARON FAVILA Within days she had died, succumbing to dengue fever. Christine's school in the province of Bataan, 100 kilometres north-west of Manila, was one of the first to take part in the vaccination drive. "Of course we approved of it," Christine's father Nelson de Guzman told reporters. "It was for health."

The government has said it will sue Sanofi, accusing the pharmaceutical giant of failing to comply with Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. It is also demanding a refund for $US70 million ($89 million) worth of unused Dengvaxia stock. Sanofi maintains the vaccine does not kill people and that the drug is still effective for people who have previously contracted dengue. The vaccinated children, aged nine or above, were not tested for previous dengue infection. The company said in a statement it has complied with local regulations and FDA requirements and that it will continue to cooperate in full transparency with Philippine authorities, and to comply with the country's laws and regulations.

Dr Su-Peing Ng, head of the company's vaccine division, told reporters "there is no cause for alarm" and "those vaccinated in high-exposure settings are much more protected than those who were not." Former president Aquino told a congressional hearing in December that the disease was a significant enough problem that he met with Sanofi executives twice before approving use of the vaccine. More than 200,000 people contracted dengue in the Philippines last year, many of them children. Doctors at the Philippine Department of Health had raised concerns over the lack of long-term safety data on its use before the program was launched. Duterte has welcomed the investigations.

"If there is a failure let them sort it out," he said. Dengvaxi has been introduced in 10 other countries but the Philippines is the only one to launch a mass immunisation drive. The Brazilian government has said it will continue a trial in Parana, a southern state hard-hit by dengue epidemics, for children aged older than 15 but it would follow Sanofi's recommendation to avoid vaccinating people who have never had dengue. The World Health Organisation, which published guidelines on how to use the vaccine in 2016, said it did not approve the mass vaccination program. "This is a decision for governments and governments alone," said Dr Gundo Weiler, the WHO's representative in the Philippines.

Leonila Dans, an epidemiologist and paediatrician at the University of the Philippines, has described the vaccination program as devastating for the country, one of Asia's poorest nations with a population of 100 million. "Even those who are not vaccinated are very emotional about it, because they feel for the kids who had the vaccine," she said. Michel De Wilde, a former senior vice president of research and development at Sanofi, who oversaw the vaccine's development until he left the company in 2013, told the New York Times the program was a "huge disappointment and big lesson in humility." The company spent decades developing the live-virus vaccine which is administered in three doses, taken six months apart. Loading
London: Hundreds of British jihadists who travelled to the Middle East to fight for Islamic State and other terrorist groups have fallen off the radar, the British security minister has admitted.

Ben Wallace said that around half of the estimated 850 people from the UK who went to Syria and Iraq have returned home, but ministers "don't know where" the rest of them have ended up. Up to one in five are thought to have been killed in the fighting, with a small number crossing the border into Turkey, but a "significant number" remain unaccounted for.

Video released by Islamic State militants in 2014, purported to show the British militant known as Jihadi John beheading prisoners. He was reported killed in 2015. Credit:UNCREDITED

IS lost much of its territory in Syria and Iraq last year, including Mosul, its stronghold in northern Iraq, and Raqqa, its Syrian headquarters.

The Syrian Defence Force, backed by a US-led coalition, has forced the terrorist group back into a strip of the Euphrates valley. Wallace denied that the authorities had "lost track" of the British jihadists. He said they had "dispersed".
New York: US Ambassador Nikki Haley called an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to focus on deadly protests in Iran, but the hearing didn't go as planned.

While most envoys criticised the violence of the past week and called on the Iranian government to show restraint with protesters, several - including American allies France and the UK - also used the opportunity to defend the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, an accord increasingly seen as under threat by the Trump administration.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, second from left, speaks to members of the American delegation before the meeting on Iran. Credit:MARY ALTAFFER

After criticiSing Iran's ballistic missile development and role in supporting Yemeni rebels, UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft added that "the UK remains fully committed to the JCPOA," an acronym for the nuclear accord. "We encourage all members states to uphold all their commitments. A prosperous, stable Iran is beneficial to all."

Ending the nuclear accord "would be a major setback for the entire international community," French envoy Francois Delattre said, adding that "the agreement is one of the cornerstones of stability in the Middle East as a whole."
PORT ST. MAARTEN:--- Holland America Line (HAL), is scheduled to return to the destination on Saturday, January 6 with the cruise ship ms Koningsdam. HAL is another cruise line that is showing its commitment to the destination by returning after St. Maarten demonstrated back in December that it is open for business.

Holland America Line plans to call in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, once more with Koningsdam on March 10, as well as six times with ms Eurodam and once with ms Nieuw Amsterdam this season. ms Eurodam begins calling at the destination on January 11 and ms Nieuw Amsterdam calls on February 21. ms Eurodam came into service in 2008 and has a passenger complement of 2,104. The ms Nieuw Amsterdam was launched in 2010 and has a passenger complement of 2,106.

The ms Koningsdam is part of HALs pinnacle class and came into service in April 2016. It has a gross tonnage of 99,500 and has a passenger complement of 2,650. The ship was constructed at the Fincantieri shipyards, and is the newest and largest ship to be built for HAL.

Port St. Maarten Management is elated to see the return of HAL which has been one of the countrys long-term partners prior to the September storms.

Port St. Maarten Management would like to remind all stakeholders and the populace to continue to welcome our cruise passengers with a warm St. Maarten smile, and remaining considerate and hospitable to all of the guests and crew while they are on the island.

Holland America Line is an American/Dutch owned cruise line which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originating from the Netherlands, the company is now based in Seattle, United States.

From 1873 to 1989, it was a Dutch shipping line, a passenger line, a cargo line and a cruise line operating primarily between the Netherlands and North America.

For more than 140 years, Holland America Line has been a recognized leader in cruising. HAL offers some of the most spacious and comfortable ships at sea, award-winning service, exquisite dining, extensive activities and enrichment programs and compelling worldwide itineraries.

HAL has a fleet of 14 modern classic ships that offers more than 500 sailings a year visiting all seven continents. Cruises include both popular and less-traveled ports in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Mexico, South America, the Panama Canal, Australia, New Zealand and Asia  as well as unique voyages to the Amazon, Antarctica and extended Grand Voyages.

Port St. Maarten Press Release
SIMPSON BAY:--- On Thursday, January 4th, 2018 at around 9.00 am, the police central dispatch received a call from the local coast guard, that an incident had taken place onboard a vessel anchored in the Simpson Bay Lagoon, that left at least one person seriously injured. Upon arrival of the patrols that were transported by one of the RHIBS to the anchored vessel, detectives found traces of blood and other signs indicating that violence was used throughout the vessel, along with a weapon. The captain with the initials E.K.A.B was found earlier by coast guard personnel, badly beaten and was transported to the Sint Maarten Medical Center for further treatment. The victim was in no condition to give a statement to officers at that time. This investigation is ongoing.

Police arrest robbery suspect.

PHILIPSBURG:--- A suspect with the initials J.M.H born in Jamaica, who has been sought by police for some time, was arrested last night during a routine traffic control. The suspect who managed to evade police dropped a firearm on the ground during a foot pursuit a few weeks ago. The suspect is a person of interest in several cases of armed robbery. The investigation is in full swing.

Police host farewell ceremony for Dutch colleagues.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Sint Maarten Police Force held a farewell ceremony for the first team Dutch colleagues on Thursday morning at the Philipsburg police station. This first team, most of whom were stationed on the island for 4 months since the passing of major Hurricane Irma, participated in the ceremony by marching and saluting our local officers. A second team who will replace the departing colleagues has already arrived on the island and will be sworn in within short. Words of gratitude and encouragement were expressed by Chief Commissioner Carl John and Dutch commander John van de Hering. At the end of the event, a symbolic exchange of uniform shirts between the two forces was done as a sign of cementing the brotherhood.

KPSM Police Report
PHILIPSBURG:--- The leaders of six political parties submitted their lists to the Electoral Council on Friday paving the way for them to contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections slated for February 26, 2018. They are SDM, SMCP, PPA, USP, NA and the UD.

The United People's Party and Democratic Party joined forces hoping to garner enough votes for a majority in Parliament. Based on the lists submitted, Maurice Lake who left the UPP returned to the folds and is the 23rd candidate on the UD slate, new in the political arena is Dr. Luc Mercelina who is also running on the UD slate. As for the USP there are few new faces on the list such as STB Director Rolando Brison, Minister of TEATT Mellissa Doncher Arrindell and Martin Wilson. On the NA slate Silveria Jacobs is heading the list while former leader William Marlin is the 23rd candidate on the list. The NA has at least seven new candidates on their slate, the youngest being 22 years old. The leader of the PPA Gracita Arrindell showed courage and postulated even though she was not in government for the past 3 years.

Leader of the SMCP Wycliffe Smith was not far from securing a seat during the Parliamentary Elections in 2016. Since then the SMCP leader has gained momentum as he is the only political leader who contested the 2016 Parliamentary Elections that stayed focus and on the forefront even though he was not elected to Parliament. On Monday the leaders of the new lists will be securing signatures that will make them eligible to contest the 2018 Parliamentary Elections.
GREAT FALLS  A Rocky Boy woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding a Montana tribe's construction company.

The Great Falls Tribune reports 37-year-old Georgie Elaine Russell pleaded guilty Thursday to theft from an Indian tribal government receiving federal grants and making false statements about federal funding. The plea agreement calls for her to pay over $61,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors alleged Russell embezzled from the Chippewa Cree Construction, where she worked, and from another company. She also overstated the construction corporation's cash-on-hand by more than $1 million in 2012 and 2013.

Tribal leaders and others are serving federal prison sentences for awarding or receiving high cost construction contracts using federal funding in exchange for kickbacks.

Prosecutors recommend that any sentence Russell receives for embezzlement in April should run concurrent to a 5-year sentence she received in a Washington state meth case.
Shaheed El-Hafed (Refugee Camps), January 6, 2018 (SPS) - The Polisario Front reiterated on Thursday its willingness to cooperate with the efforts of the United Nations for the decolonization of Western Sahara and the application of the provisions of the peace plan of the African Union-United Nations of 1991 aimed at organizing the referendum on self-determination so that the Saharawi people can decide their own future.

In a meeting under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, the Permanent Bureau of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front stressed the responsibility of the United Nations in the application of its Charter and its resolutions, in particular resolution 1514, on the granting of independence to colonial peoples and countries.

The Polisario Front highlighted that all the causes of tension and escalation were due to the invasion and illegal occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco and its flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement and Military Agreement no. 1 and its frequent disregard for the resolutions of international legitimacy, including the recent resolution 2153 of the UN Security Council.

It called on the Kingdom of Morocco to resort to international legitimacy and comply with the implementation of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and open a new page of coexistence in peace, cooperation and good neighborliness with the Saharawi Republic.

The Permanent Bureau underlined that the year of 2017 was a year of notable diplomatic victories, consolidation of the place of the Saharawi state in the African Union, opened more horizons in the battle of our people to protect their natural resources and defend their rights for freedom and independence. (SPS)

062/SPS/TRA




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EAST HARTFORD  An East Hartford native with a long military career but with little campaign experience is joining the lengthy list of candidates who want to call 990 Prospect Ave. in Hartford their next address.

Sean Connolly, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and a former commissioner of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, is expected to announce in Hebron on Tuesday that hell seek the Democratic nomination for governor.

Connolly, who now lives in Hebron, will be joining fellow Democrats Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and businessman Mark Stewart Greenstein, among others.

Some of the Republican hopefuls include former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Fairfield attorney Peter Lumaj and Joseph Visconti of West Hartford.

Connolly said hell answer questions from the media at the Hebron kick-off announcement. That will take place at noon in the American Legion Post 95 Hall, he said.

Ive been exploring this for the last three three months, he said. Were excited about taking the next step and weve been talking to people all over the state of Connecticut.

According to his website biography, Connolly is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was a prosecutor and brigade legal adviser with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as well as in Kuwait and Iraq.

In 2017, he graduated from the U.S. Army War College. His military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, three awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Connolly received his bachelors degree from Bryant University and his law degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced on April 13, that he wouldnt be seeking a third term.

jburgeson@ctpost.com
STAMFORD  A city man faces up to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a marijuana trafficking offense.

William Reyes  also known as Big Head  pleaded guilty Friday to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.

Court documents showed that in the summer of 2017 Reyes and John Koukouras were using a residence in the 40 block of Guernsey Hill Road in Lagrangeville, N.Y., to grow, process and distribute marijuana.

An investigation revealed Reyes, 36, was being supplied large quantities of marijuana by someone in New York City, the Department of Justice said. On July 21, 2017, the supplier in New York City gave Reyes 40 pounds of marijuana for about $80,000.

Police arrested Reyes on July 26, 2017.

When Reyes was taken into custody, police conducted court-authorized searches of Reyes Stamford and Lagrangeville residences.

The Stamford residence had 18 kilograms of marijuana, paraphernalia associated with narcotics distribution and $71,004 in cash, the DOJ said. The Lagrangeville residence had 140 marijuana plants and related equipment.

Reyes has been detained since his arrest. Hes scheduled to be sentenced on March 30.

The DOJ said Reyes forfeited the cash from his Stamford residence and his 2012 Toyota Camry.

Koukouras, of Eugene, Ore., awaits sentencing after he pleaded guilty to the same charge in November.
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STAMFORD  Toni Maldonado Packes is sitting on a comfy recliner in her living room, gently rocking her 5-pound newborn, whos staring up at her with big gray eyes.

All of 12 days old, Paul is as easygoing as babies come. He rarely cries and seems happiest when hes upright, taking in, as best he can, whats happening around him.

For this and other reasons, Toni calls Paul her miracle baby.

Its partly because Toni had a high-risk pregnancy, suffering from whats called an incompetent cervix, which can result in a premature birth or the loss of a pregnancy. Its also because her husband and Pauls father, Anthony Packes, died just days after their sons birth at age 36.

A lot of people say, just look into your sons eyes, that will keep you strong, said Toni, 35. I love my son, and Im going to do everything in my power to be strong. But I was a wife before I was a mother and I want my husband. I love my son, and Im so thankful for this miracle, but it doesnt replace him.

In the couples Belltown apartment, there are no signs yet Toni is about to leave and move in with family. Her husbands guitar is on a stand in the middle of the room. A skinny black cat pads by his half-full bottle of scotch whisky. This is where they built their life.

We never wanted to leave each others side, in good times and bad, said Toni, whose grief doesnt mask her brown eyes and glowing skin. He loved me like nobody ever loved me, and I loved him.

The couple met in late 2014 at, of all places, a shooting range in New York. He loved music and she loved writing him poems that he would frame.

They fell in love fast, talking early on about marriage and kids. They both wanted a big family and shared a desire for Toni to be a stay-at-home mother and Anthony to be their provider. Toni said she had never been in a relationship with anyone as kind as Anthony, making her wonder how she ever used to believe she didnt deserve that kind of love. They shared excitement about what the future held.

He was the rock in my life, the male I always needed, said Toni, who lost both of her parents years ago. He fed my spirit.

Then six months into their relationship, Anthony suffered a mysterious seizure during dinner one night.

It came out of nowhere, Toni said. This is a guy who never had a headache, never had any health issues.

After the seizure, Toni didnt think twice about dropping everything and moving from New Jersey to Stamford, where Anthony was a project manager for Life in Mobile, a marketing company. He also played with several bands that toured the tri-state area and Europe. His band Moonspank once opened for Don McLean at Alive@Five.

In March 2015, Anthony and Toni learned the seizure was caused by a brain tumor on his left temporal lobe and would require surgery followed by oral chemotherapy and radiation. The diagnosis was terrifying but Toni, who had worked in the medical field, helped Anthony choose the best doctors and supported him during treatment.

The couple was beyond relieved when he sailed into remission. Life could go on.

And it did. Shortly after Anthonys diagnosis, the couple got engaged. On Oct. 15, 2016, Anthony and Toni celebrated their wedding at the Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, N.Y., cancer more than a year behind them. Toni was welcomed into the family by her in-laws, John and Patricia Packes, of Hawthorne, N.Y., and brother-in-law John Jr., of Norwalk.

The couple, only two years into their relationship, vowed to enjoy life as newlyweds before having children. Why rush what they knew would happen anyway?

But with cancer still on their minds, they ended up trying for a child. Like everything else in their relationship, it happened fast. Toni learned in April she was pregnant.

She was in her second trimester when they got the news: Anthonys cancer had returned and would require another surgery. Toni recalled sitting with her husband in a diner after the doctors appointment. Anthony cried. He wanted to be the one caring for his wife, not the other way around. Toni assured him that one day he would.

That was in June. A few weeks after surgery, the tumor resurfaced again, this time as an aggressive glioblastoma, the most common form of malignant brain cancer and one of the most lethal cancers. Nearly 17,000 people died of malignant brain tumors like glioblastoma in 2017, according to an estimate from the National Brain Tumor Society. Anthonys family was told the tumor was inoperable.

The goal then became to prolong Anthonys quality of life. He consulted an expert in holistic medicine. As his speech and motor functions declined, Toni gave up her role as romantic partner to become Anthonys around-the-clock caretaker. She kept track of his appointments and medications, dressed him and helped him use the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Toni struggled with her high-risk pregnancy. Her doctor advised her to be on bed rest, but she found it difficult to stay still. Her husband needed help.

It was torture watching him like that, Toni said. Watching him decline and not being able to eat with his right hand. There were moments he would slam his left hand on the table he was so angry.

As she got further along in her pregnancy and her husbands condition worsened, Toni made a plan with her OB-GYN to induce labor at 37 weeks, putting her due date right after Christmas to give Anthony the best shot at meeting their son.

But lying in bed on Dec. 20, something didnt feel right. Toni had her sister help Anthony while she drove herself to the hospital. Doctors suspected there was an issue with the umbilical cord so her doctor decided to induce labor. Sixteen pushes and Paul was born the next morning, pink and wailing.

The promise Toni and Anthony made to each other weeks earlier, that Anthony make it long enough to hold his son against his bare skin, had been fulfilled.

Its the definition of bittersweet, Toni said. I hope, if anything, this will help people be kinder to one another and realize how short life is.

Toni and Paul returned home Christmas Eve. The next day Anthony was taken to the hospital, where he fell into a semi-coma. And on Dec. 30, wrapped in Tonis embrace, Anthony took his final breaths.

Friends of the Packes family have started a GoFundMe page for Toni and Paul that has raised more than $50,000. To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/friendsofpauliepackes.
GREENWICH  Greenwich police working with the Connecticut Human Trafficking Task Force discovered and liberated two under-aged girls from Greenwich who were being coerced into the sex trade in 2017 through a controversial website that advertises sexual services.

Greenwich Police Detective Charles Eible, who is a member of the task force, said investigators found the two Greenwich teenagers being used for sex on Backpage.com, a site that has been linked to the facilitation of illegal sex trafficking online.

Eible said the two young women had been preyed on and exploited, and kept in the sex trade through drugs and money.

These girls were completely taken advantage of. A history of past abuse. Coerced by older adults, the detective said.

Following police intervention, he said, theyve been removed from that situation and are no longer being forced to work as prostitutes.

Further information on the minors was not publicly available, nor was any information available on whether anyone was charged in their abuse.

The Backpage.com website has played a role in many regional cases of prostitution. Backpage - its a huge conglomerate, an unbelievable force weve been trying to work against, said the detective.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says the classified-ad website is involved in nearly three-quarters of all reports of online child sex trafficking. Multiple lawsuits, and efforts by state officials around the country, have been aimed at Backpage, but the site and others like it are still active. The websites legal representatives have argued it is hosting content, not creating it, and is protected from liability by federal law.

The frequency of potential trafficking cases has been rising through the years. According to data from the state Department of Children and Families, there were 201 unique referrals of domestic minor sex trafficking in Connecticut in 2016.

The Human Trafficking Task Force, composed of investigators from 16 different local departments across Connecticut, as well as state police and the F.B.I., was formed two years ago.

Its most recent involvement in Greenwich was in December, after Greenwich police raided a massage spa on upper Greenwich Avenue, arresting a man and two women on misdemeanor prostitution charges.

With the help of a Mandarin-speaking translator, the two women from Queens, N.Y., were interviewed to determine whether they had passports and the freedom to travel, and whether they were under someones control.

The spa was listed on Backpage, Eible noted.

Investigators concluded that the two women in that case were not being trafficked, but Eible said the task force has been busy with steady work that entails on-line monitoring, surveillance, interviews and inter-agency communications.

In some cases, under-aged women from the United States are drawn into sex work. In others, women from overseas are brought to the U.S. and forced into prostitution to pay off a debt owed to a criminal organization for bringing them here.

What we look for is whether or not someone is being held against their will, and possibly working off a payment, or something that brought them into United States, a debt they have to pay, said Eible.

Along with the law-enforcement component, a public awareness campaign has also been gaining ground.

An advocate for victims of the sex trade from Greenwich has been part of that effort.

Most people dont understand that this is a domestic issue, and how pervasive it is. People are shocked to know its happening in Greenwich, but it is, said Elizabeth Koldyke Boolbol, a former marketing and real estate professional who founded the Global Partnership to End Human Trafficking in 2015.

It is such a horrific crime, said Boolbol, who screened a film on the subject of human trafficking in Greenwich this fall. The downside of the Internet, its increased it so much.

Her organizations goal is to create a residential facility for victims of the sex trade in New England, one that offers job training as well as drug-treatment services and counseling.

If they dont have a place to go, theyll end up going right back on the streets, said Boolbol, who has traveled extensively with a Christian humanitarian group that exposed her to the evils of the sex trade. She said virtually all forms of prostitution have some form of trafficking or coercion driving them.

At almost every level, the person performing these services is not in control - its almost always someone else, 99 percent of the time, she said, even at a massage spa in the Connecticut suburbs.

I dont think any of these women are working for themselves, she said.

Over the past several years, prostitution arrests at spas in Fairfield County have been linked to human trafficking.

Of the younger women she has met who were forced into the sex trade, Boolbol said, Its just heart-breaking  you realize how quickly a life can be destroyed by these predators.

She said another goal of her organization is to make men take part in the elimination of the practice of sexual exploitation.

Out on Greenwich Avenue, the Green Energy health spa that drew law enforcement is still operating. One local merchant said it was well known on the Avenue as a place where sexual services were being sold, with men coming and going during nighttime hours.

The shop took down its signage after the arrests, but it is still open. Inside the store on a recent afternoon, the rates for massages were posted, starting at $40.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
STAMFORD  Linda Lyons never envisioned owning a gun. Shes never felt the need to, and her son, Mark, took his life with a shotgun last summer.

But Lyons, 69, recently received her permit and bought a .38-caliber revolver.

In a Democratic-controlled city in a blue state, gun ownership is a discreet status at best, a reviled one at worst. Newtown, where 20 Sandy Hook elementary school students were gunned down in 2012, is a short drive away.

In a year that saw two of the deadliest mass shootings in the nations history  at a concert in Las Vegas and a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas  the debate surrounding firearms in 2017 reached a fever pitch. Yet, the FBI still received a record number of background check requests  203,086  on Black Friday, known as the busiest retail day of the year.

However, Connecticuts 166,324 requests through the end of November were the least since 2008, according to the FBIS National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

In 2013, the year following the Sandy Hook massacre, background check requests spiked in the state by 60,000, suggesting a penchant to be armed  whether for safety concerns or in anticipation of stricter gun laws. Five years after Sandy Hook, that need has perhaps lessened.

In 2017, Stamford pistol permit applications fell to 393 from a record 636 the previous year.

In a city with a Democratic mayor and Democratic-controlled boards, for those who do own a gun or possess a permit, their reasons transcend blue and red. Some, like Lyons, own a gun for personal protection. Some only have a permit, but dont own a gun in their house. Others enjoy hunting or collecting.

The debate over gun control and the Second Amendment is mute; these residents arent fiercely passionate in either direction, and they arent bombastic about having a gun or a permit.

When detailing why she decided to seek her permit and buy a gun, Lyons was nonchalant. She simply had an epiphany one day. For her, its just a matter of feeling safe.

Its a good feeling to know that if someone breaks in, and the cops cant get there soon enough, its a feeling of security, she said.

For Lyons, her sons suicide is an entirely separate matter.

Ive gone through a lot of changes since Mark died, she said. I dont look at the gun and relate it to Mark at all.

Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said hes witnessed an increase in women applying for permits.

Were seeing a much larger percentage of women than before, he said. I think safety is a concern.

Conklin pointed to Stamford having zero homicides last year, a statistic he attributed to the police departments successful targeting of illegal guns and an overall decrease in shootings.

Weve been blessed, he said. Many of our sister cities with demographics much the same as ours, like Bridgeport and Hartford, their numbers are way up in shootings.

So why do some residents still feel the need to be protected?

I think the times are getting to the point where so many more people feel they need to take personal responsibility, Lyons said. Anything can happen anywhere.

Lyons said she carries the gun whenever possible to get used to how it feels.

I hope I never need it, she said. But if I do, I dont want to be uncomfortable with it.

In Connecticut, gun owners can carry openly, with exceptions, as long as they have their permit with them.

To acquire a permit in Stamford, there are several steps and the length of time it takes can vary: one must take a National Rifle Association (NRA) safety course with a certified instructor; be interviewed by Stamford police; get the required background checks; and get the appropriate paperwork signed by the instructor and police.

The state application fee is $70, plus additional charges for background checks and fingerprint processing. Conklin said some residents have applied for permits out of fear the fee will rise.

Aside from feeling safe, there are other reasons that point toward people wanting to own guns. Conklin said some families obtain their permits because they spend time together at firing ranges.

A Stamford woman, 31, who requested her name be withheld because she is a local teacher, said other reasons for owning guns or having a permit are overshadowed.

Her father, 62, is an avid hunter-turned-collector. He has more than 200 guns in his house, she said.

Trap shooting brought so much to my dads life and guns are a huge part of his life, she said. I dont know what hed do if he didnt have that right to own them.

She has a permit and owns a gun, but keeps it at her dads house. She got the permit out of respect for him; if something were to happen to him, she would inherit his firearms.

There are other reasons to own a gun besides security, she said. Sporting and collecting is overlooked.

Stamford Tactical, the lone gun shop in the city, declined to comment.

tclark@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2265; @TravClark2
For children in Baltimore classrooms, 2018 opened with buildings where temperatures never topped 40 degrees. An incensed teacher wondered why persevering in abominable conditions is something we only ask of black and brown children.

A new book by Cornell professor Noliwe Rooks, Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation and the End of Public Education, traces the history of separate and unequal education in America.

White Americas reaction to the prospect of educating children of color has ranged from outright and often violent opposition to promoting weak substitutes for adequately funded, integrated schools  substitutes that fail to ensure educational equity. Throughout U.S. history, these maneuvers have presented opportunities for hoarding resources for the white and affluent and even profiting at the expense of children of color  a phenomenon Rooks calls segrenomics.

From the earliest days of tax-supported public education, states found ways to deny African-American communities equal educational opportunity. One method was to simply refuse to fund African-American schools.

In 1914, South Carolina spent on average $15 per pupil for white schools but fewer than $2 per pupil for black schools. Appalled at the conditions in which African-American children were forced to learn, that states superintendent of education remarked: It is not a wonder that they do not learn more, but the real wonder is that they learn as much as they do.

As Rooks chronicles, officials in the South outlawed integration, double-taxed African-Americans, refused to build African-American schools and engaged in violence. Public money, even if raised by African-Americans, almost exclusively benefited white students.

Some white philanthropists resolved to help African-Americans  on their terms. They required poor African-American communities to front money for schools that the philanthropists would match. Determined African-American communities all over the South expended herculean efforts to raise the required money.

The philanthropists had a constricted vision of education for African-Americans. To them, it was a means to provide effective and subservient laborers to ensure the Souths economic health. As one organization put it, the goal was to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal life where they are.

Rooks illustrates how officials and reformers have virtually ignored successful models for education, such as: adequate funding, integration, and community-initiated reforms.

As she demonstrates, inequality, hoarding and profiting off the backs of poor children of color continue today. Schools have resegregated. States persistently underfund schools serving predominately children of color. They offer false solutions that hurt more than help  like charter schools.

Charters, concentrated in poor communities of color, are no better than public schools, increase segregation and often result in or benefit from closing neighborhood schools.

As Rooks notes, charters are cash cows for many operators, whether in the form of tax incentives; public funding; or the billions of dollars stolen by charter employees and operators. Charter expansion is a credit negative for poor communities, weakening their ability to raise money for public works. Authorities exact little oversight over this theft of public dollars.

Many affluent white communities hoard educational resources. Wealthy districts invest in investigating and prosecuting non-resident parents of color who attempt to enroll their children there. Strict oversight of wealthy district boundaries starkly contrasts the lax regulation of charters in communities of color.

Segrenomics continues to benefit the privileged at the expense of communities of color.

The same narrow view of education for children of color continues in many charter schools. Professor Pedro Noguera once confronted John King, then a charter principal, later U.S. Education Secretary, over the harsh discipline in his school.

Noguera asked Are you preparing these kids to be leaders or followers? Because leaders get to talk in the hall. They get to talk over lunch, they get to go to the bathroom, and people can trust them. They dont need surveillance and police officers in the bathroom. Kings response was that this the model that our kids need.

Rooks draws hope from communities of color mobilizing to protect their schools. As scholar Sally Nuamah observed, schools were the first public institution to which African-Americans gained access. Public schools are community anchors and a path to the middle class, providing stable employment. They are also a forum for organizing and speaking out.

Rooks cites groups such as the Student Unions in Philadelphia and Newark, who staged walkouts and sit-ins to call attention to the lack of resources; and the Chicago community that conducted a hunger strike to protest school closures. Rooks predicts that these engaged and organized communities may save us all.

Wendy Lecker is a columnist for the Hearst Connecticut Media Group and is senior attorney at the Education Law Center.
DECATUR  One of two men in an officer-involved shooting cased pleaded guilty Friday to unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, a Class 2 felony.

Dallas C. Vorties, 30, who is being held in the Macon County Jail on $200,000 bond, will be sentenced at a hearing Feb. 27. He faces 3-14 years in prison.

Vorties had previously pleaded not guilty to armed violence, possession of drugs with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

Police said Vorties was driving a car involved in a police traffic stop on May 31. Police said Donald L. Redmon, 34, a passenger in the car, was armed with a 9 mm handgun and was fleeing the scene in the 800 block of South Webster Street when he was shot.

Redmon has pleaded not guilty to charges that include armed violence, possession of drugs with intent to deliver, and being an armed habitual criminal. He has been in the Macon County Jail on $250,000 bond since recovering from his wounds.

At a hearing Friday, Redmon had his case scheduled for a Feb. 13 jury trial. He has a pretrial hearing set for Feb. 9.

The officer who fired the shots, detective Jeffrey Hockaday, was found to have acted justifiably by Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott, who announced his decision Aug. 8.

Scott reached his conclusion after reviewing an extensive investigation carried out by the Illinois State Police, court documents said.
DECATUR  The Decatur school board this month is expected to formalize a measure that addresses meeting a new state statute requiring private accommodations for teen moms who breastfeed. The rule also is meant to prevent nursing students from being penalized.

Maybe with the new law, the teens will say, 'I'm going to do this,' said Cindy Bardeleben, director of local programming for Baby Talk, a Decatur child development organization.

Gov. Bruce Rauner in August signed the legislation that requires public schools to have a safe and sanitary space for breastfeeding or pumping. Access to a refrigerator is required. The rule is similar to the 2011 Illinois Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act.

While many school districts already make accommodations, there was no statewide standard. Schools in the Decatur area say there hasnt been a great need, but they are ready  and have been  to provide that space to young mothers working toward their diploma.

It's only been a few students, but typically, the school nurse knows ahead of time, said Assistant Superintendent Michael Dugan, who oversees Decatur's secondary schools.

The district was already providing those students with needed accommodations before the law, he added. Students will have access to the same areas that staff uses.

The policy being considered calls for the student to use her lunch period if possible, but accommodations will be made if that cannot be done.

Meridian Superintendent Dan Brue said his district will offer students the area used for staff who are breastfeeding.

I wouldn't think this would be needed very often, but we will not have any problem providing the space for our students or staff when necessary, he said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests breastfeeding for the first six months and then with the introduction of solid foods until at least a year. But a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health found that most teens try breastfeeding but change to formula in the first few weeks more often than older mothers do. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, children born to adolescents are more likely to have poorer educational, behavioral and health outcomes throughout their lives compared with children born to older parents.

Bardeleben said there are more young moms who want to breastfeed their babies than one might think.

According to The World Health Organization, evidence is overwhelming that breastfeeding reduces child mortality and has health benefits that extend beyond infancy and into adulthood, and also benefits the mother's health and well-being. To breastfeed, however, the mother requires active support to establish and sustain the practice.

"The trend Baby TALK sees is the moms who are attending school are more likely to bottle feed," she said. "That said, many moms who attend school have done very well with breastfeeding their baby. Baby TALK staff support teens who choose to breastfeed by providing encouragement, education and strategies to promote this decision.

The provision of a dedicated space for mothers to pump or feed their baby in the school setting increases their likelihood for success.

Baby TALK, in cooperation with the Regional Office of Education, offers Foundations, a half-day program the girls can attend with their babies. Baby TALK Early Head Start can look after the babies if the girls prefer to keep attending MacArthur or Eisenhower High Schools or Futures Unlimited.

It's wide open as far as options, said Bardeleben. A nice option is that they can go half-time for, say, a year, until they can get child care in place, whether that's (a relative) at home or in Early Head Start, and can get their education completed.

There is a dedicated space for breastfeeding mothers to pump or feed their babies at Baby TALKs Family Literacy program and at the Foundations alternative education programs housed at Central Christian Church. These two-generation education programs allow the parent and child to receive education at the same location which is also a benefit to breastfeeding mothers and babies.

Overall, teen pregnancy rates in the United States have fallen dramatically since 1990, federal data shows. In 1990, almost 60 girls in 1,000 gave birth, and in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available, that number was only 24.2 girls per 1,000.

Teen births in Macon County were 49 per 1,000 births, according to the 2017 County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program used by the CDC. The state average is 30, according to the report.

Kristen Kendrick-Weikle, superintendent of Warrensburg-Latham schools, said the issue had not come up for quite a while, but theyll have options for when it happens again.

We already provide those accommodations for our staff in terms of those needs, said John Ahlemeyer, superintendent of Maroa-Forsyth School District. To comply with the law, we'll do the same thing for students, an adult-only bathroom in the office area.

The nurse's office has a power supply and a refrigerator, which students will also be able to use, he said.

It doesn't come up often, but it does come up from time to time, and we'll handle it like we do for staff, he said.

The breastfeeding rule was one of more than 200 laws that went into effect Jan. 1.
DECATUR  Local mechanics and auto shops are seeing a blizzard of customers since the first arctic blast came across Central Illinois more than a week ago, and the chill has hung on tightly.

Maintenance is the best course for your vehicle  especially tire pressure, batteries and coolant  local mechanics say.

Before the temperatures drops, get it checked out, said Matt French, manager for Tommy House Tire Co.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln forecast calls for a high of 13 degrees on Saturday with wind chills in Central Illinois as low as 16 below zero.

Sunday could be messy, with snow likely, possibly mixed with sleet before 2 p.m., then snow likely until 5 p.m. when rain will begin to dominate. After 5 p.m., a snow/rain mix is expected. The high will reach 33 degrees with wind gusts as high as 21 mph. The snow/sleet accumulation is predicted to be less than 1 inch.

American Automobile Association (AAA) agent Larry Bradley of Springfield said he has been receiving a constant stream of phone calls from stranded motorists.

The percentage is way up. The cars just wont start," Bradley said. They either fix the car or tow it."

French said his business has helped many customers with dead batteries throughout the week. He said drivers should check their car batteries before the cold weather hits.

Jason Fisher, owner of Fisher Auto Repair, said his staff has been extremely busy due to weather-related problems.

With the colder conditions, the auto shop has received phone calls from car owners experiencing flat tires, dead batteries and frozen coolant. Fisher said maintenance is key to keeping a car running.

You dont know when a cold spell will happen, he said.

One of the concerns drivers have when temperatures dip below freezing is whether the car will start at all. The key is turned, and for a dread-filled moment as the engine tries start, a motorist wonders if this is the day their car finally surrenders to the sub-zero temperatures.

Ross Howard, manager for Firestone Complete Auto Care, said if the battery needs to be jumped in the cold weather, it should be replaced.

But everybody procrastinates, he said.

Fisher said one of the problems usually comes from cars without the proper level of coolant in the radiator. He has seen cars using pure antifreeze.

That can be just as bad as water, because it gels up, he said.

Fisher recommended a coolant containing 60 percent antifreeze and 40 percent water.

They should have this coolant year-round, he said.

The coolant is important for the vehicles temperature regulation Without the proper coolant, an engine can overheat, even in arctic temperatures. Many vehicles are made with plastic and aluminum radiators, Fisher said.

The cold weather can make them split, then you lose the antifreeze. It can cause the car to overheat. You have coolant to run at the proper temperature, Fisher said.

Fisher said drivers should have the coolant level checked during oil changes.

Mechanics also recommend drivers dont wait for the bad weather to address the problems.

Check batteries in the fall, French said. And keep an eye on the tire pressure all the time.

Information on your cars ideal tire pressure should be located on the driver side door frame or in the owners manual, he said.

Standard vehicles should have a tire pressure of 32 pounds per square inch. According to the Firestone Auto Care website, tires will lose 1 pound of pressure for every 10-degree drop in temperature. The tire pressure will also rise with temperatures.

Mechanics suggested protecting vehicles from the harsh weather as much as possible if you don't have a garage.

Attempt to park out of direct wind, Fisher said. And it is a good idea to start the vehicle for 15 to 20 minutes a day.
One bill I believe Nebraska needs is LB 611. LB 611 is a carry-over bill from last year. Last year the bill advanced out of the Appropriations Committee, where it also became the committees priority bill. The bill currently sits on General File.

LB 611 would require annual reporting of federal funds received by state agencies participating in the states budgeting process. The report would require every state agency to create two operating plans; the first would go into effect once federal receipts drop by 10 percent and the second would be enacted once they drop by 25 percent. This kind of reporting is necessary so that the executive and legislative branches of the state government would be prepared to act in the best interests of Nebraskans should federal funding ever be reduced.

Because our countrys national debt has now surpassed $20,600,000,000, I believe this is now the next fiscally responsible step for our state to take. Because our national debt now surpasses our gross GDP, there are no longer any guarantees about the future status of federal grant monies.

Federal grants almost always come with strings attached. Whenever the federal government turns off the money spigot, the states are left holding the hose. So, federal grants put the state at the mercy of the federal government, where we are tied to their inconsistent whims.

Federal grants come with the potential to put the state into a spending crisis. In addition, states remain bound by the unintended consequences and extra costs associated with accepting federal dollars.

Besides suddenly turning off the money spigot, federal grants often incentivize unnecessary spending at the state and local level. Because some people view these federal grants as free money, it encourages impulsive and unchecked spending. Making matters worse, states are often unable to track how these federal dollars get spent.

LB 611 would provide state officials with the opportunity to see where all of their federal grant monies go. LB 611 would mandate an audit of all federal funds in the state, including a report of all the strings that are attached to these federal grants.

LB6 11 would also allow state officials to measure the impact of a future spending crisis. The bill would require a risk assessment to identify potential vulnerabilities so that state officials may make better decisions and plans about what to do in the event of a reduction in federal funds.

More than 30 percent of Nebraskas budget is currently being funded by federal grants. Ninety-one percent of Nebraskas Labor Department, for example, is funded by federal grants, while 85 percent of Nebraskas military spending comes from federal dollars. Because I sit on the HHS committee and the Education committee, it is important to report that $2.7 billion of the Department of Health and Human Services comes from federal grants, and $580 million of the University of Nebraskas budget comes from federal grants.

The bottom line is that LB 611 will help to ensure that Nebraska would be protected against Washingtons next federal funding crisis.
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Sunday, Dec. 31

Buffett is H&R Newsmaker of the Year

Howard Buffett is the oldest son of one of the wealthiest men on earth and head of a foundation that has provided millions of dollars to projects throughout Central Illinois.

Buffett, 63, for the past three months also has served as Macon County sheriff, taking over for Thomas Schneider, who retired in September.

Because of his many contributions to the community and his new role as sheriff, Buffett is the Herald & Reviews 2017 "Newsmaker of the Year," the person who had the biggest impact on the community this year.

Monday, Jan. 1

Decatur reaches for cold record

Decatur has likely broken the -11 degree record temperature for Jan. 1, according to the National Weather Service at Lincoln.

The record was set in 1974; the official weather record for Decatur is taken at the Decatur Sanitary District facilities on the citys west side, said meteorologist Chris Geelhart.

Meteorologist Scott Baker, but it was recorded at -13 degrees at Decatur Airport at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 2

Green Light: City OKs Chipotle development

City leaders said they hoped to bolster the citys rough financial position by approving a new shopping center and Chipotle Mexican Grill on Decatur's north side, despite neighbors passionate objections.

The Decatur City Council voted 5-2 to rezone 1.6 acres at the southwest corner of U.S. Business 51 and West Ash Avenue for the 10,400-square-foot development.

The decision upset the dozens of residents in attendance, who stressed concerns about traffic, safety, quality of life and property values.

Wednesday, Jan. 3

U.S. Rep. Davis touts tax law changes

Congressman Rodney Davis said the new tax law will create new opportunities for giving, despite concerns raised by local and national nonprofits that provisions in the new law will make giving to charities less beneficial.

Speaking to the Herald & Review Editorial Board on Wednesday, the Taylorville Republican said he believes that efforts to explain the law, passed late last year, will make people more aware of the ability to itemize charitable donations.

Republicans plan to promote charitable giving on a "postcard" to make people aware of their options under the new law. 

Thursday, Jan. 4

Decatur welcomes 10 police recruits

The Decatur Police Department welcomed 10 recruits  nine men and one woman  to its ranks on Thursday in a swearing-in ceremony in the city council chambers of the Decatur Civic Center.

Having already survived a battery of tests, physicals and extensive background checks, the new recruits, depending on their backgrounds, will undergo 14 weeks of intensive training at the new Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center in Decatur.

Thank you for committing to the best damn profession in the world, Police Chief Jim Getz, speaking to an audience packed with the recruits family and loved ones, as well as serving officers.

Friday, Jan. 5

Federal help proposed for Legionnaires outbreak

It's unlikely that the bacteria that led to the deaths of 13 military veterans from Legionnaires' disease since 2015 can be eliminated, federal health officials said Friday in a report on a continuing outbreak of the deadly malady at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its findings on an investigation of the facility's water supply on the same day that Sen. Dick Durbin toured the site, reversed his call for closing the 130-year-old home, and said he would do all he could to get federal support for continued remediation.
Whole Foods Markets is placing new limits on how products are sold in its stores and asking suppliers to help pay for the changes, riling some mom-and-pop vendors that have long depended on the grocer for visibility and shelf space.

The changes, outlined in an email recently sent to the companys suppliers, are intended to save on costs and centralize operations. They come as Whole Foods new owner, Amazon.com, pushes to reduce prices at the chains 473 stores.

Some small-business owners said they are already feeling the effect.

Valerie Gray, for instance, began selling her pasta sauce, Italian Hearts Gourmet Foods, to the Whole Foods store in Reno, Nev., four years ago. For years, she said, the grocer allowed her to display 108 bottles of pasta sauce at a time. A professional photograph of Gray and her husband hung from the ceiling, alongside a sign that read Made Locally.

But in the past month, that photo has come down, Gray said, and the shelves now accommodate just 36 bottles of sauce as the store makes room for national brands. Sales of Grays pasta sauce have dropped by 75 percent in the past month, she said.

It feels like that local, personal touch is going away, she said, adding that Whole Foods accounts for half of the companys sales. Its hard to set ourselves apart anymore in the sea of well-known national brands.

Previously, Whole Foods allowed suppliers like Gray to oversee their own merchandise or hire local firms to do so. But under the new rules, Whole Foods is requiring suppliers to work exclusively with Daymon, a Stamford, Conn.-based retail strategy firm, and its subsidiary, SAS Retail Services, to schedule in-store tastings, check inventory on shelves and create displays on their behalf.

For the last two years, we have been working to streamline our processes to ensure all our suppliers are supported and set up for success, Don Clark, general vice president of purchasing for nonperishables, said in a statement.

The changes to our in-store execution and demo programs are creating a consistent, high-quality experience that benefits both our suppliers and our customers.

In an email obtained by The Washington Post, Clark advised suppliers that they would be required to help fund the effort.

Suppliers that sell more than $300,000 of goods annually to Whole Foods will be required to discount their products by 3 percent (for groceries) or 5 percent (for health and beauty products) to fund the new program. Local suppliers will also have to pay $110 for each four-hour product demonstration by Daymon, while national suppliers will have to pay $165. Daymon did not respond to requests for comment.

To successfully run this program, we need your financial support, Clark wrote.

Some suppliers said the new policies put them at a disadvantage because they rely on regular three-hour demonstrations and tastings to introduce products that might be unfamiliar to shoppers.

Right now, you can set up your table and sample away, said Jenna Huntsberger, owner of Whisked, a Washington-based company that sells cookies, quiches and pies to area Whole Foods stores. So many small brands have gotten their start like that, and shoppers love that they can walk by and meet the person who made their food.

The changes are also likely to affect a cottage industry of companies that act as liaisons between local suppliers and sellers such as Whole Foods.

Sweet Leenie, a Baltimore-based firm founded by former Whole Foods employee Kathleen Overman, specializes in hosting product demonstrations for companies like gelato maker Dolcezza and Shenandoah Spice Company. Regular tastings at Whole Foods, Overman said, make up more than 80 percent of her business.

Whole Foods has done a great job of creating a community of local food producers and brands, she said. Our job has always been to advocate for those small businesses, but with these new rules, companies like mine will no longer be useful.

Since taking over the grocery chain in August, Amazon has looked for ways to combine the power of two well-known brands. Whole Foods stores now sell Amazon Echo devices, and Amazon has added more than 1,000 Whole Foods private-label products on its website.

It is also working to combines sales systems to eventually provide discounts to Amazon Prime members. There are already signs the efforts are paying off: Amazon sold $10 million in Whole Foods-branded products in the first four months following the merger, according to analytics firm One Click Retail.
Bill McClellan Bill McClellan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Bill McClellan Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

My mother, who never completely trusted me to do the right thing, gave me a diamond stick pin that had belonged to her uncle, who had worked in a Chicago speak-easy. Have this diamond put into a ring and give it to Mary, she said.

At the time, I was working on a newspaper in Phoenix, and Mary was in St. Louis attending dental school at Washington University. My mom gave me the stick pin in October or November, and my plan was to give Mary an engagement ring when she came back to Arizona at Christmas. But life got in the way. A friend got busted on a pot charge, and I used the diamond for his bail.

When Mary came to Phoenix for the holidays, I took her to Garcias Bail Bonds office and asked Mr. Garcia if I could have the stick pin for just a moment. Fortunately, he was a romantic. He got the pin out of the safe and put it on the counter. I told Mary I had intended to have the diamond put into a ring and that was still my intention  if that plan made any sense to her.

And so we got engaged.

I have always enjoyed the fact that we were linked to a great-uncle whom I had never met. He was one of my grandmothers brothers. I imagine a tough young man from Belfast. His face is probably in the box of photos I later inherited. I look at the photos and wonder: Who are these people?

A few months ago, Mary told me she was thinking of giving the diamond to our son, Jack. I am generally the last to know whats going on in the family, but I know a clue when I see one. Something was afoot. I liked the idea of passing along family history. I had never thought of diamonds in that way. Also, it gives my great-uncle a kind of immortality. If it werent for the diamond, we wouldnt even know enough to wonder about him.

Mary had not made her plans in a vacuum. Jack promptly gave the diamond to a young woman. He gave Laura the diamond while they were on a glass-bottom boat on the San Marcos River in Texas. In fact, when Jack told the tour operator he intended to propose on the boat, the operator offered a private ride. It seems to be our great fortune that we are always running into romantics. Now that diamonds history includes a speak-easy in Chicago, a bail-bond office in Phoenix and a glass-bottom boat in Texas. And my great-uncle lives on. Whoever he was.

Of course, that left Mary without a diamond. Christmas was around the corner.

Mary is difficult to shop for. Her taste is more refined than mine. She sometimes asks for my opinion on things  like what color tile we should put in the kitchen  and when I give my opinion, shell say, Thats interesting.

But I knew I could not go wrong with a diamond. A small diamond, of course. Nothing gaudy.

I am partial to downtown jewelry stores. When I got here in 1980, there were lots of them. Some were storefront operations, but many others were small shops hidden away in large buildings. They survived on customers recommendations. Theres an old guy on the eighth floor of the Paul Brown Building. Those places are all gone now.

Kessler Mroz Jewelry is at the corner of Eighth and Olive streets. It is not a bustling place. The owner, Michael Mroz, does most of his business online. You have to ring a buzzer to gain admission.

Downtown was a different place when Al Kessler opened his jewelry store in 1904. He eventually had 25 jewelers working for him. One of them was Joseph Mroz, who had started as an errand boy. Kessler never married and had no children. When he died, Mroz took over. Michael is his son.

I hunted through my wifes jewelry box and found an old ring that once held a stone. I took the ring to Mroz. Could it be cleaned up and carry the quarter-carat diamond I picked out? Yes, said Mroz. He shined the ring  12-carat gold  and mounted the diamond. I put it under the tree on Christmas Eve.

Mary told me the ring had belonged to her grandmother, her mothers mother. The family lives in Oregon. They first arrived by wagon train via the Oregon Trail.

Because the new diamond replaces the old one, the two will be forever linked in family lore. What will eventually happen to this second diamond?

Mary said it might make a fine present when our 7-year-old granddaughter, Evelyn Kathleen Sanchez, turns 15 and celebrates her quinceanera, a traditional coming-of-age party for Latina girls.

A speak-easy, a bail-bond office, a glass-bottom boat, the Oregon Trail and a quinceanera. Its the story of America. I like to think my great-uncle would be pleased. Whoever he was.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ill.  A 93-year-old man was fatally injured Friday in a hit-and-run crash on Interstate 64, the Illinois State Police said.

The victim, Ervin H. Goeden, was a passenger in a car driven by Eugene P. Tomasello, 56. Police said another passenger, Patricia A. Goeden, 81, had major injuries. Tomasello wasn't injured. All three were from Omaha.

Police said Tomasello's eastbound vehicle ran off the road and struck a tree after it was hit by another car moving at a high speed about 5 p.m.

The car, which police said may have been a Cadillac STS with a dark window tint, didn't stop and was last seen continuing eastbound on I-64. Police said the car may have some silver paint transfer on the middle or rear passenger side.

Police said the crash occurred when the vehicle with the window tint, traveling behind Tomasello's Toyota in the right lane, moved into the passing lane, then abruptly returned to the right lane and struck the driver's side of Tomasello's car.

Police said the crash took place at milepost 47 near Nashville, Ill.

Anyone with information on the crash should call state police district 13 at 618-542-2171, extension 1202.
ST. LOUIS  A school bus driver charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in University City nearly four years ago now faces an unrelated charge of trying to molest a 12-year-old girl.

Charles F. Laden, 42, of the 4100 block of North 22nd Street in St. Louis, was charged Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court with attempted child molestation and resisting arrest.

Charging documents say that on Dec. 9, Laden tried to slip his hand into the pants of a 12-year-old girl while she was in bed at a home in the 4200 block of Red Bud Avenue. She pushed his hand away, and someone called police.

Court documents say officers came and arrested Laden about a block away on Red Bud. Charges do not describe the connection between Laden and the girl.

Laden's pending statutory rape case says he drove a school bus in April 2014 and had sex with a 15-year-old student who rode his bus. Police said the student attended St. Louis Public Schools, that Laden befriended her during his route and had sex with her at a home in the 1000 block of North and South Road in University City.

Laden was charged in January 2015; a bail bondsman posted a $30,000 cash bail the following month, prompting his release from the St. Louis County Jail.

According to KTVI-TV Ch. 2, which reported the charges against Laden in January 2015, Laden worked for the First Student school bus company. It is not clear how Laden managed to get a job driving a school bus with his criminal record that included a 2005 federal felony conviction of possessing an illegal sawed-off shotgun.

A few months after his release from the St. Louis County Jail, he was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on a count of felon in possession with a firearm, pleaded guilty in December of that year and was released from prison in June 2016. That same month, St. Louis County Circuit Judge John D. Warner Jr. reinstated Laden's bail and released him from custody.

Laden was still not in custody Friday. His next court date in the statutory rape case is set for Feb. 26. His public defender could not be reached Friday.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  It's unlikely that the bacteria that led to the deaths of 13 military veterans from Legionnaires' disease since 2015 can be eliminated, federal health officials said Friday in a report on a continuing outbreak of the deadly malady at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its findings on an investigation of the facility's water supply on the same day that Sen. Dick Durbin toured the site, reversed his call for closing the 130-year-old home, and said he would do all he could to get federal support for continued remediation.

The CDC report notes that the risk of the severe pneumonia-like illness has been substantially reduced by veterans' home staff and the state's efforts to upgrade water purity, but found little cause to suggest it can be exterminated.

While Quincy's water-management plan is intended "to reduce risk for Legionnaires' disease, complete eradication of Legionella in any large, complex building water system may not be possible," the report said. "Therefore, some risk for Legionnaires' disease may remain in spite of a fully operational (water plan), especially for susceptible individuals exposed to building water that contains Legionella."

Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican who has been harshly criticized for his administration's response to the crisis since WBEZ Radio reported the continuing problems last month, spent his second full day at the home Friday after taking a room there Wednesday night. His spokeswoman said he wants a better understanding of the home's operations, but he has not spoken publicly since his arrival in Quincy, home to about 400 veterans and their spouses 311 miles (500 kilometers) west of Chicago.

Legionnaires' was blamed for the deaths of 12 residents in 2015, when dozens more were sickened. More became ill in 2016 and the sickness claimed another veteran's life last fall.

"It is a challenge to all of us, and it's a challenge we need to meet, to make sure the Quincy Veterans Home is in fact giving the best care and the safest care in the state," Durbin said after touring the site. "The fact that Legionnaires' disease recurred three straight years is a cause for concern to all of us, and certainly to the families of these veterans."

After the 2015 outbreak, the state spent more than $6 million upgrading the home's water system to minimize the risk from the Legionella bacterium, which flourishes in warm water systems and can infect people who inhale water or its vapor laced with it.

Recommendations in the CDC report include stricter protocols for diagnosing and reporting pneumonia-like symptoms, better education for all staff to recognize the signs, and tighter controls on regular flushing of faucets, such as conducting them only after residents are out of the rooms and in a way to minimize splashing.

It said the home should consider expanding the use of filters that have proven effective and halting the bacteria on showerheads, opting to put them on all faucets dispensing potable water.
The National Weather Service predicts freezing rain and ice this weekend before warmer temperatures arrive.

The metropolitan St. Louis area will continue to feel arctic temperatures of 3 to 5 degrees for the lows early Saturday and wind chills of 2 and 3 degrees below zero, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Walsh.

Expect Saturday's highs to be in the mid 20s, he said. Sunday morning's low is expected to be in the upper teens and then temperatures should rise to 34 or 35 degrees.

Precipitation will fall Sunday, starting as snow and then changing to freezing rain and rain as temperatures rise.

"It will have kind of a mix of freezing rain mixed with sleet on Sunday," Walsh said. "As temperatures warm the sleet will turn into rain."

Walsh said to expect a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation.

"It sounds like a fun Sunday," he said, laughing.

Shirley DeMay of DeMay Furs LTD at 2020 Cherokee Street, was busy on Friday running up and down her stairs retrieving stored furs for customers and selling fur coats off the rack.

DeMay said the cold weather is bringing customers to the store and "this year is putting the icing on the cake."

On Monday, the high is expected to hit 42 degrees.

"It looks like we are going to break out of this for at least a little while," Walsh said.
KIRKWOOD  Voters here will decide in April whether to move city workers from a 401k-style pension to tradition defined benefit plan.

The City Council on Thursday night voted 5-2 to put Proposition R on the April 3 ballot.

While 78 percent of firefighters oppose the change and had asked to have the option to be kept on the current plan, about 90 percent of police support the change, officials said.

Under the proposal, all employees would participate in the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, also known as LAGERS.

City officials said that defined-benefit pension plans are the most common retirement plans for public sector employees and that only a few municipalities in St. Louis County do not offer a such a pension plan.

If the plan is approved by voters, employees would contribute 4 percent toward their retirement benefit, with the city paying determined amounts for civilian, police, and fire employees.

During public comment on Thursday, employees speaking were split over the plan.

Mayor Tim Griffin said his support for the change is based on what's best for the citizens of Kirkwood in the long term, to retain and attract good employees, especially with the market becoming more competitive for public safety employees. He said the change has been studied for three years, so nothing's being done quickly or hastily.
Ive been a minor Orrin Hatch fan ever since I was writing about Ronald Reagan and Reagan sent a telegram endorsing Warren Hatch in Utahs 1976 Republican U.S. Senate primary. I felt sorry for Orrin/Warren; you get the Gippers endorsement but he gets your name wrong, raising questions about whether he has any idea who you are.

Now here were are, 42 years later. Reagan is no more, telegrams are no more and a year from now, Orrin Hatch will no more be in the U.S. Senate. For that matter, the Republican Party that Reagan and Hatch used to embody is no more, either.

On Tuesday, Hatchs office spurned Western Union and used Twitter to link to a video in which Hatch announced that he wouldnt seek an eighth term in this years election. At 83, hes lost a few feet off his fastball.

Hatchs seat is widely expected to be won by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a once and future Utah resident and the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. It says something about Hatchs charisma that everyones excited about Mitt Romney replacing him.

Hatch has been kind of a barometer of the changes that have occurred within the Republican Party in the past four decades. I wish I could say thats why I paid attention to him, but really, its the songs.

Hatch fancies himself as a songwriter, a lyricist mostly, and did pretty well at it, hawking his CDs on the Home Shopping Network and through the now-defunct website Hatchmusic.com. In 2006, after hed been at it 10 years, The New York Times reported that hed earned $39,000 in royalties the previous year. Lots of songwriters in Nashville dont do that well.

It seemed like such a normal hobby, though clearly as a U.S. senator he had entree to people in the music business that less exalted people dont. A devout Mormon, he leaned toward love songs and up-tempo spiritual and patriotic ballads, intended to be sung at maximum volume, a la the Mormon Tabernacle Choir doing The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Consider:

America rocks!

From its busy bustling cities

To its quiet country walks,

America rocks!

Its totally cool, its totally hot,

I mean its like right there at the top,

America rocks!

You can hear some of Hatchs music at Apple Music and Spotify, though I dont recommend it. Still, by his seventh term, Hatch had turned out to be a better songwriter than senator.

He caught the first wave of modern conservatism as Reagan turned the party to the right, but not so far right that he couldnt occasionally find common ground with a Boston liberal. Reagan had Tip ONeill and Hatch had Ted Kennedy.

Hatch and Kennedy became a trope, the example people in Washington cited to say: see, bipartisanship still exists. They were the odd couple, the abstemious former Mormon bishop and the hard-drinking heir to everything that went along with being a Kennedy.

Together they passed federal AIDS funding, the Americans with Disability Act, advertising regulation for prescription medication and the now-endangered Childrens Health Insurance Program for kids in working poor families.

A Utah Republican Convention in 1997 condemned the CHIP bill, but Hatch wouldnt fold. He had been raised in poverty, worked his way through law school and raised his family in a rehabbed chicken coop.

Ive gone hungry. Ive gone without, he said. When people cant help themselves but want to, government does have a role in helping them.

By the time he ran for re-election in 2012, the GOP had gone through its tea party phase and had committed itself to zero cooperation with President Barack Obama. Hatch caught that wave, too.

He turned on Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, whom he had once praised as a consensus nominee, going along with the Republicans successful effort to steal the seat.

In October, Hatchs Finance Committee finished work on a reauthorization of CHIP funding. By December, as Republicans prepared to pass a $1 trillion tax cut heavily weighted to wealthy taxpayers, Hatchs conversion to fundamentalist corporate conservatism was complete.

Nobody believes more in the CHIP program than I, he said, adding, The reason CHIPs having trouble is we dont have any money anymore.

This child of the Depression went on to say that he had a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of trillions of dollars to help people who wont help themselves, wont lift a finger, and expect the federal government to do everything.

Hatch knows thats not who federal safety net programs help, but he said it anyway. He should write a song about that.

Ive always fought for people who cant fight for themselves, he said in his announcement Tuesday. At one point that might have been true, but thanks to people like Hatch who sell out, America doesnt rock for everyone.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday called Democratic governor candidate Chris Kennedy's claim that the mayor is making Chicago "whiter" and wealthier a "hallucinatory" insult.

Emanuel said he's "looking forward to ideas, not insults" in his first public comments since Kennedy on Wednesday accused him of leading a "strategic gentrification plan" forcing African-American residents out of the city.

"It is easy to cast blame and point fingers," the mayor said. "Where are the ideas? Where are the solutions, real solutions to real challenges that make those challenges opportunities?"

Emanuel also quoted a Chicago Tribune editorial that was critical of Kennedy's comments. "As the Chicago Tribune referred to it today as imaginary, hallucinatory," he said. "I hope nobody ever describes any of my ideas that way."

On Friday, a Kennedy spokeswoman said in a statement that "he will use his voice to stand up for what is right even if it's calling out inconvenient truths that are hurting people of color in Chicago."

Federal census figures show that in 2010, a year before Emanuel was first elected mayor, Chicago's African-American population totaled 895,294, or 33.2 percent.

Census data released last year showed the number of black residents declining to 793,852, about 29.3 percent of the city's population. That continued a long-term decline in African-American population, as Chicago also lost 177,404 black residents between 2000 and 2010, census figures showed.

Emanuel on Friday said he was troubled by the city's black population decline and said the factors behind the drop can't be explained in brief television news segments. "Of course it troubles me, which is why we're making an investment in the neighborhoods across the city of Chicago. That's a longer discussion, that's going to take longer than standing here and get snipped and cut up later when it gets produced," he said.

Support among African-American Chicagoans remains a potential political weakness for Emanuel as he gears up for a 2019 re-election run.

Though he twice won the mayor's office with the strong support of black voters, much of that eroded in November 2015 after a judge ordered Emanuel to release dashcam video of the Laquan McDonald police shooting. White police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot the black teenager 16 times in the middle of a Southwest Side street in October 2014.

Since then, Emanuel has sought to rebuild support by making a series of changes to the Police Department, revising the city's policy on releasing police shooting videos and pursuing a plan to hire nearly 1,000 new officers.

On Friday, the mayor appeared before reporters at a factory in the heavily African-American South Austin neighborhood to talk about the city's move to install new street lights, starting in black neighborhoods on the South and West sides. He was surrounded by several African-American aldermen and employees at the made-for-TV event and talked about offering job opportunities to ex-offenders and other Chicago residents as the kind of idea Kennedy should be pushing.
URBANA  The present Carlos Mosley received for his 39th birthday wasn't on his list, but it turned out to be the gift of a lifetime.

He was busted for aggravated driving under the influence on Jan. 10, 2016.

"I fell asleep behind the wheel on drugs and alcohol. I was on a three-day binge. When I got caught, I had just got probation for another DUI in Kankakee. I knew I was going to the penitentiary, no question about it," he said.

He knew the drill, having been to the Department of Corrections before  five times, to be exact, for drugs, weapons and driving offenses.

So when the Chicago native's lawyer suggested drug court, Mosley agreed to be evaluated, not exactly knowing what he was getting himself into.

He did know he was tired. "Enough is enough. Do right or be a criminal."

Mosley now knows exactly what drug court is and has a clearer vision of what life is like without alcohol, cannabis, Molly and Ecstasy. After 17 months of sobriety, the 40-year-old husband and father is about to graduate from Champaign County's drug court program.

Although he hasn't had one setback since his clean date of June 26, 2016, Mosley is nervous about his future after graduation Wednesday.

"I tell the counselor, 'That's when my journey is going to begin  on the 29th.' That's when the real world is going to hit me," he said.

He's one of 11 graduates of the 37th class of the self-help court overseen since its inception by Judge Jeff Ford.

The proud papa boasts 277 graduates who have endured his tough love during the last 18 years.

"What really made me know Judge Ford wasn't playing was when I first went, I saw a guy get locked up for drinking a can of beer. I said, 'They lock you up for that?' And they might send you to the penitentiary," Mosley said. "Right then and there, I knew drug court wasn't nothin' to play with. I did inventory off the other knuckleheads."

A street-wise drug dealer who also enjoyed using drugs, Mosley admitted that the 25-year-old version of himself wouldn't have been ready for drug court.

"There was no time for Prairie Center four times a week. When I was selling drugs, I loved the money," he said.

But after crashing his car into a ditch while high on alcohol and Ecstasy on his birthday bender weekend, Mosley was ticked.

"When I woke up, I'm like: 'How could you do this?'" he said. "I was so upset with myself. I was almost home. I just wanted to eat and sleep.

"The police found me instead."

Ecstasy wasn't his first love. It was Molly. Both are forms of the synthetic drug MDMA, which alters mood and perception.

Mosley had been in prison for several years when he was released in 2013.

"Everybody coming in and out was telling me about Ecstasy and Molly and how they make you feel like Superman. I said: When I get out, I'm going to have to try that. I knew better because I hadn't done drugs in so long," he said.

Still, after his release from parole and with money in his pocket from a decent job, Mosley went from "moderate" weekend drinker to being a regular user of Molly.

"I loved it. I never felt that way in my whole life. It was a feeling out of this world. I was so relaxed and so comfortable with myself," he said, the opposite of his usual self-image.

"You could talk and be so friendly. You got $10,000 in your pocket. The next morning, you got nothing in your pocket because you gave it away being so nice.

"After that, I was off to the races chasing that same high I couldn't ever get from that first day," Mosley said.

Because it's a synthetic drug, Mosely said, "you don't know what you're getting.

"People are in the kitchen throwing up anything. You could buy a bottle of bath salts, and they would tell you it's Molly," he said.

A particularly bad experience with the drug changed his mind about Molly.

"I stayed in the basement three to four days. I couldn't move. I was just sitting there, not eating. After the third day, my wife took me to the ER. They shot me with morphine. That made me feel like me again. I went to sleep. No more Molly," he said.

But his next bad choice was Ecstasy, a drug he said made him feel much more aggressive.

"You can be in the mood to chill and party, then somebody might make you mad, and once you go there, you ain't coming back. I was violent most of the time," he said. "It would take 15 to 20 people to hold me down."

It was Ecstasy he was using when he crashed his car on U.S. 45, leading to his arrest and his eventual sobriety.

Mosley is now working through a temporary agency at a warehouse job, which he hopes will become permanent in a couple of months. He's also pursuing his life-long passion for music by starting up his own deejay business.

With the money he's not spending on drugs and alcohol, he bought a laptop computer, a mixer, microphones, lights and speakers. He's just getting started but has performed at a few events.

Recognizing that at special events with music, there is often drinking and drugs, Mosley plans to not book any holiday gigs.

In the meantime, he's trying to figure out how to be a father and a husband. His two children, 16 and 13, tease him about his current obsession with working out. Being fit, not drinking, eating right and getting proper sleep are a lot different from the binges of Ecstasy and Molly that kept him awake and not eating for days at a time.

As for his wife, she's a bit nervous and learning how to live with a new person making decisions for himself.

"I took my wife through a whole lot," Mosley said, noting he was in prison for a good chunk of their married life. "She knows I'm doing good. She is so used to me depending on her."

Mosley is also ready for others to depend on him. He's moving his elderly grandmother from Chicago to Champaign so he can take care of her.

"That's a big responsibility. She's like a newborn baby," he said. "That's going to help my recovery."
Bible prophecy on Jerusalem is eternal capital of Israel!

In the Holy Bible, in the book of Zechariah, chapter 1, verses 1-17, fulfilled when President Trump, alias Trump for God, recognized Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

12 U.S. presidents never went to the Wailing Wall of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, Israel, to pray or recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

President Trump, the first U.S. president to go to the Wailing Wall to pray and recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

This Bible prophecy has two-fold meaning. Also, it is for the Solomon's Temple, destroyed in Jerusalem, Israel, in 586 B.C. Then Jewish people were in captivity for 70 years in Babylon.

Key of David Bible verse in the Holy Bible, in the book of Zechariah, chapter 1, verse 12.

When President Trump declared Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel, it had been 70 years since Israel became a state in 1948.

The 12 U.S. Presidents before President Trump was like the 12 tribes of Israel.

As soon as President Trump declared Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel, the New World Order, One World Government, One World Religion and the United Nations took a vote against him. The United Nations wanted to divide Abraham's blessing for the Palestinian state. The U.N. General Assembly voted 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions, against President Trump's Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

President Trump will sound in the U.S. White House and the Trump of God will sound, then Jesus will return!

George Culley, Pinckneyville
Just over a year ago, Angie Warren-Clark wasnt even a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Now the former manager of Tauranga Womens Refuge is in parliament as one of five MPs from three parties based in Tauranga.

She says when she ran in the strongly-National seat of Bay of Plenty she didnt expect to get into parliament.

My plan was to run just to get known by the party, in preparation for 2020, she says.

So becoming an MP was a surprise  although when the list was finalised, I thought there could be a possibility.

Although she only joined the party formally in November 2016, Angie says the Labour Party has always resonated with her.

Refuge hadnt had a pay increase for nine years, despite a massive increase in clientele, she says, outlining one of the reasons she decided to run.

I was also forced to evict families from the safe house who had nowhere to stay due our housing crisis.

She initially ran against Merivale School principal Jan Tinetti for the Tauranga candidacy, which went to the former educator.

It was pretty intense, but I didnt feel like Id lost. Jan was the right person for that role, says Angie, who is now good friends with her other Tauranga-based caucus colleague.

Campaigning was difficult to begin with as Angie had to juggle her full-time job as manager of the refuge with electioneering. She took annual leave in the final weeks of the campaign so she could focus solely on politics.

It was great to get out in the community. We did a lot of door-knocking, and it helped to work so closely with Jan and Tamati Coffey [Labour candidate for Waiariki].

Her biggest success has been increasing the party vote for Labour in the Bay of Plenty electorate, up from 13 per cent in 2014 to 25 per cent in 2017  more than 10,000 votes.

Now, as an MP, shes sharing an office with Jan and Tamati, has a new executive assistant, and is looking to run mobile clinics around the Bay of Plenty electorate to meet with constituents.

Its been a steep learning curve, but thankfully Ive worked in government before, so I know the bureaucracy and structures to some extent, she says.

I have pretty diverse interests. Im on the health and environment select committees at the moment, and as a feminist woman Im interested in how health affects women and children. Living in Papamoa, Im also strongly interested in the environmental status of the sea.

Prior to becoming an MP, Angie worked for around 15 years in the field of domestic violence, first as an advisor for the Ministry of Justice, and then at Womens Refuge. Before that, she worked voluntarily in the sector.

She explains her interest as stemming from a childhood growing up with violence in her own family.

Theres an alternative though, she says. I believe families can transform and change, and everyone can raise children without violence.

At the moment she lives in Papamoa with her husband Blair, only a couple hundred metres from the beach. Their adult children live overseas in Australia, so this summer will be all about getting away.

Were planning on taking the boat down to the East Cape, out of cellphone coverage, says Angie.

Well do some camping, fishing, and diving  just a nice, relaxing time."
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The Trump administration is preparing to ask Congress for $18 billion to build President Donald Trump's envisioned "big, beautiful wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border.



Details of the request were in a document prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, obtained by ABC News and first reported by the Wall Street Journal.



Members of Congress involved in the immigration negotiations had requested the information from DHS, according to a DHS administration official. It's the first time the administration has put an estimated price tag on building of a wall.



The $18 billion would go toward the construction of more than 700 miles of new and replacement barriers. The request was based on a "rigorous assessment driven by input from Border Patrol agents in the field" and other operational data and analysis.



The administration's plan, per the document, is to nearly double the amount of fencing along the border, from 654 miles currently to around 1,000 in total.



In all, the administration is asking for $33 billion, with the rest of the funds going toward technology, new road construction and maintenance, and law enforcement staffing and training. The project is expected to unfold over the next decade.



The White House has demanded that funds to build the wall are included in any legislation meant to help DACA recipients. But members of Congress have not yet agreed to spending any money on the wall, and Mexico has repeatedly said it won't foot the bill.



With seven working days until a government shutdown, immigration remains the key sticking point in negotiations over a spending deal.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
SALINA, N.Y. -- A man was driving on snowy Interstate 81 north Friday evening when he lost control of his car and hit a concrete barrier in Salina.

The man's passenger, Adrienne Williams, stepped outside to brush snow off of the crashed car's rear window, deputies said. That's when she was hit by another car.

Williams was rushed to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse with "multiple" injuries, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, Onondaga County Sheriff's Office spokesman. She was listed in critical condition after the crash, he said.

The accident happened around 6:35 p.m. near the Mattydale exit. Blowing snow and freezing fog were reported in the area around the time of the crash.

Williams, 40, was riding in a 2014 Cadillac driven by Ralph Lowe, 49, Seeber said. Both Lowe and Williams are from Boynton Beach, Florida.

Two children were also riding in Lowe's car. They were not injured, Seeber said.

Jared Domer, 31, of Cicero, was driving the 2011 Chevrolet sedan that hit Williams, Seeber said. He was treated at Upstate for facial injuries.

Slippery roads and other weather-related conditions contributed to the initial crash, Seeber said. No tickets were issued.
Donations to Christmas Bureau brightened holiday for 2,400 families



To the Editor:



On behalf of The Salvation Army, we extend our deepest gratitude and appreciation to the countless individuals, organizations and community volunteers who supported our Christmas efforts through bell ringing, sponsorship of programs, kettles, Angel Trees, food drives and fundraising campaigns. Your contributions to our Christmas efforts -- and to our campaigns throughout the year - have always been critical to helping ensure that children, adults and families receive needed services that impact their lives every day.



In December, the Christmas Bureau was able to provide toys, books and food to 2,400 families, including over 6,000 children, thanks to a tremendous outpouring of support from the community and our Christmas Bureau partners.



As always, we are humbled by the extent to which you so generously support The Salvation Army and, in turn, the many children, adults and families we are able to serve all year long with your help. You inspire hope in all those who are recipients of your kindness and compassion.



With our sincere thanks, we wish you a joyous New Year!



Mark S. Mackneer, Major

General Secretary

Salvation Army Empire State Division

Syracuse Area Services

Director of County Operations

Syracuse





Sandy Creek-Lacona community made Red Kettle campaign a success



To the Editor:



The Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign in the Sandy Creek-Lacona area was extremely successful this year. We would like to thank Penny Archibee and the entire staff of Sandy Creek Tops for generously providing us with a location to set up our Red Kettle and for the awesome support they provided to our bell ringers.



Thank you also to the staff of NBT Bank, in Pulaski, for their patience in counting the many rolls of wrapped coins that we took in, and for graciously writing the checks to the Salvation Army for us for no fee. Their support was greatly appreciated.



We were fortunate to have many groups, as well as individuals and families, that provided bell-ringers for us. Thanks to the many, many individuals who donated their time, and money, to help the community during the Oswego County Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign.



The local Red Kettle Campaign greatly benefited this year from the funds raised by the 10 area businesses that hosted Salvation Army Counter Kettles: Dick's Auto Specialties, R&R One Stop, Ontario Health & Fitness, Nate's Barber Shop, Designs of Elegance, Woody's Tackle & Gifts, The Friendship Shoppe, The Gathering Place, the Orwell Village Cafe and Linda's Beauty Shop. The contributions from the counter kettles provided a significant portion of the total money raised for the Sandy Creek-Lacona community.



Special thanks to all of you who so generously reached into your pockets and your hearts with donations to help others in our local area. I feel fortunate to live in such a caring community.



Jackie Gregg

Red Kettle Coordinator

Sandy Creek-Lacona area





Chick-fil-A, others helped passengers stranded in Atlanta



To the Editor:



As one of the thousands of passengers stranded in the Atlanta airport Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017, I must give a heartfelt thank you to Chick-fil-A for their caring and generous donation. Most of us without lunch and dinner were treated to chicken sandwiches around 1 a.m. The number of sandwiches was between 2,000 to 4,000, I heard. Thank you, Chick-fil-A, for being there in an emergency for us.



Delta donated blankets and pillows as well as getting all the available water and snacks off the planes for us all day and night.



Diapers and formula were also donated from somewhere.



In another area, pizza was delivered but I didn't hear from where.



These donations made the ordeal a little easier. Thank you to all who helped for fast thinking in an emergency.



Marion Kalenak

Syracuse





'Angels' helped man who fell in grocery store parking lot



To the Editor:



On Jan. 3, I took a bloody spill in the dry parking lot of the DeWitt Wegmans store. Without the unselfish help of three young ladies who slowed the bleeding, got me to my feet and called 911, the outcome might have turned turned out much differently than the successful treatment I received at St. Joseph's Hospital.



My thanks to the three angels.



Ken Zanio

New Hartford
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump, portrayed in a new book as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of his office, took to Twitter on Saturday to defend his mental fitness and boast about his intelligence, saying he is "like, really smart" and "a very stable genius."

He posted a series of tweets from Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, a few hours before holding meetings on the 2018 legislative agenda with Republican congressional leaders and Cabinet members.

It was his latest pushback against author Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." The book draws a derogatory portrait of the 45th president as an undisciplined man-child who didn't actually want to win the White House, and who spends his evenings eating cheeseburgers in bed, watching television and talking on the telephone to old friends.

The book also quotes Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and other prominent advisers as questioning the president's competence.

Trump is having none of it.

....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

He tweeted that critics are "taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence." The president said "actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart."

Trump said going from successful businessman to reality TV star to president on his first try "would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!"

Reagan died in 2004, at age 93, from pneumonia complicated by the Alzheimer's disease that had progressively clouded his mind. At times when he was president, Reagan seemed forgetful and would lose his train of thought while talking.

Doctors, however, said Alzheimer's was not to blame, noting the disease was diagnosed years after he left office. Reagan announced his diagnosis in a letter to the American people in 1994, more than five years after leaving the White House.

Trump, now 71, was the oldest president ever when assuming office. Reagan was nearly eight months younger.

Chatter about Trump's mental fitness for office has intensified in recent months on cable news shows and among Democrats in Congress.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders this week called such suggestions "disgraceful and laughable."

"If he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen," she said, calling him "an incredibly strong and good leader."

In early December, the House voted overwhelmingly to kill a resolution from a liberal Democrat to impeach Trump. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, said Trump had associated his presidency with causes rooted in bigotry and racism.

To back his claim accusing Trump of high misdemeanors, Green cited incidents such as Trump's blaming both sides for violence at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his sharing of hateful, anti-Muslim videos posted online by a fringe British extremist group.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in a statement shortly before the vote that while "legitimate questions have been raised about his fitness to lead this nation," they argued "now is not the time to consider articles of impeachment."
NEW YORK -- A woman who claims she carried on a longtime affair with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer says she has the politician on tape berating and threatening her, and that the NYPD is investigating her claims.

Svetlana Zakharova Travis and her attorney met with New York Police Department detectives Friday to discuss the 18-second recording, according to police sources and her lawyer.

Travis -- who was accused of blackmailing Spitzer -- says she found the clip in October, after she was released from jail for defrauding another man.

In the sound snippet, a man -- identified as Spitzer by Travis' lawyer Joseph Murray -- is heard slamming the 27-year-old Russian woman.

"You f---ing b---h. You piece of s--t. And then you f---ing destroy my life!" a man's voice is heard seething.

"You know what's going to happen to you? You're going to be f---ing dead," he went on.

"You're going to die a slow painful death and your family is going to look at you and laugh because you're a f---ing b---h."

Police sources say the expletive-laced phone call from February 2016 came to their attention about a week ago and they're probing it as a possible aggravated harassment case.

"We met with these detectives today and they've assured us that we'll receive a full and fair investigation," Murray told the New York Daily News on Friday.

The NYPD is investigating a womans recording of Eliot Spitzers profanity-filled threats https://t.co/N00qTXpMmF pic.twitter.com/eJX4Bw55Yk  New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) January 6, 2018

The nasty sound bite was recorded days after Travis reported that the prostitute-paying ex-politician choked her at the Plaza Hotel on Feb. 13, 2016.

Authorities are now investigating the authenticity of the clip -- from a speaker-phone chat -- and the circumstances surrounding the recording.

The call allegedly transpired while Travis was in Russia.

Spitzer has repeatedly denied the claims and the Bronx District Attorney's office -- which took over the case when Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. recused himself -- declined to bring charges in the alleged hotel assault.

The investigation turned instead to Travis, who was accused of shaking down Spitzer.

The Daily News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the call.

"The original and full recording of Eliot Spitzer's death threat to my client is contained on my client's iPad, which has been in police custody since October of 2016," Murray told the Daily News.

The lawyer said similar deleted recordings may also exist and that Spitzer knew about them because Travis emailed him the files, demanding he stop making threats.

He said the DA's office refused to take Travis' repeated reports that Spitzer was abusive.

"The Bronx District Attorney's Office either knew, or reasonably should have known of its existence as well as other recorded death threats made by Eliot Spitzer, even before I entered the case to defend Ms. Travis."

Travis was pressured into signing a settlement agreement with Spitzer and agreed to "destroy any and all recordings of Mr. Spitzer," according to court records.

Murray said his client complied and trashed the iPad files but believes there is hope of reviving them.

The DA's office "either took no steps to recover these recordings, or they intentionally failed to disclose them," he added.

After Travis reported the alleged assault, Spitzer told investigators Travis was shaking him down for years.

Travis was arrested for grand larceny in October 2016 and took a misdemeanor plea deal to settle the $400,000 case last October.

She did not have to admit to the Spitzer theft, though, only to defrauding another man.

"This is a woman who has been extorting Mr. Spitzer and his family for years. The record in her criminal case speaks for itself," Spitzer's attorney Adam Kaufmann said.

Murray referred to Spitzer in his recent filing as his client's "long-time lover" and described the Democrat's penchant for kinky trysts with sex toys and role playing using leashes.

Spitzer resigned as New York governor in 2008 in the wake of a prostitution scandal.

-- By Shayna Jacobs, Rocco Parascandola and Andrew Keshner, New York Daily News
A Rensselaer County grand jury on Friday indicted two Schenectady men on 13 counts of murder and four other counts in the slaying of two women and two children the week before Christmas during the theft of video gaming equipment.

James W. White, 38, and Justin C. Mann, 24, were arraigned before County Court Judge Debra Young on nine counts of first-degree murder, four counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of second-degree robbery and two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

The indictments were handed up after the grand jury completed a second day of hearing testimony in the killings of Brandi Mells, 22; Shanta Myers, 36; Jeremiah Myers, 11, and Shanise Myers, 5, in their basement apartment at 158 Second Ave. in the city's Lansingburgh neighborhood.

The indictment accuses White and Mann of stealing an Xbox video game system and flat screen television from the apartment. Eight of the first-degree murder counts are related to the robbery and burglary charges.

The bodies of the women, who were a couple, and the children were discovered Dec. 26 when a property manager visited the basement apartment to check on the four who had not been heard from since before Christmas. The victims were bound and their throats were cut, authorities said. Police have not given a possible motive for the killings. Police have said the crimes occurred at about 9 p.m. Dec. 21.

White and Mann are being held in the county jail without bail.

The grand jury hand-up came within hours of a ruling by Judge Young that White should not be released on a writ of habeas corpus.

A grand jury indictment had been expected Wednesday, but it didn't materialize, setting off legal maneuvering by District Attorney Joel Abelove and police in Troy City Court. Abelove had presented no evidence at Thursday's hearing and City Court Judge Christopher Maier ordered the two defendants released. But the new first-degree murder charge against White immediately led to him being sent back to jail without bail. A parole hold placed on Mann also kept him in jail without bail.

Defense attorney Greg Cholakis said Abelove's move to keep White in jail violated the intent of state law that requires a defendant to be indicted or a preliminary hearing to be held.

"We do not hold a citizen in jail based on a piece of paper for more than six days," Cholakis said, referring to the new first-degree murder charge.

The six days Cholakis cited was the time permitted for evidence to be presented against a defendant. Cholakis said the district attorney could keep filing new charges one after another to continuously extend the time a defendant would be held without ever seeing any of the evidence against him.

In this instance, the new charge filed by the State Police Troop G Major Crimes Unit prompted the arrested White on a first-degree murder count for allegedly killing 11-year-old Jeremiah during a burglary.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jessica Hall on Friday renewed Abelove's argument from Thursday's City Court appearance that this was a new charge based on a new theory of the crime. This would start another six-day countdown. During her appearance, Hall said the grand jury was hearing new evidence, which police continue to develop.

Police have secured video that shows the two men on a CDTA bus, according to authority officials.

Mann was released from prison in June after being convicted in 2014 of an armed robbery in Queens. He is being represented by Joseph Ahearn.

White pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2001 for his part in the stabbing death of a Bronx man and served nearly nine years in prison before being paroled.

A memorial service will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Troy Middle School's auditorium for Myers and her two children. A fund has been established at McLoughlin and Mason funeral home for Myers' eldest son, Isiah Smith, who was not in the apartment at the time of the killings.

Mells' family has said they want to hold memorial services for her at various locations where she has lived, such as Syracuse and New Jersey.

- By Kenneth C. Crowe II, Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
CICERO, N.Y. -- A pedestrian was seriously injured Saturday morning after he was hit by a car on Interstate 81 in Cicero.

A man was hit around 4:40 a.m. on I-81 south at the Bartel Road overpass, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, Onondaga County Sheriff's Office spokesman. Deputies are investigating why the pedestrian was on the highway, he said,

The man was rushed by Brewerton Ambulance to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. He suffered life-threatening injuries, Seeber said.

The driver of the vehicle that struck the man is cooperating with investigators, Seeber said. The driver was not injured, he said.

I-81 south was closed for hours at Bartel Road. The highway fully reopened around 8:30 a.m.

The serious accident remains under investigation, Seeber said.

Members of the New York State Police, the Cicero Police Department and the Brewerton Fire Department also responded to the crash.
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Back in July, Microsoft together with Johnson Controls unveiled GLAS, a smart thermostat to be powered by digital assistant Cortana. More details about the smart home device have now surfaced.

First off, GLAS looks quite elegant. It features a translucent OLED glass display for controlling temperature, monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality, and checking the weather. It looks like something that would appear in a futuristic Black Mirror episode.

GLAS Smart Thermostat

The thermostat comes preloaded with Cortana, which is able to display information and respond to voice commands such as, "Hey Cortana, set the temperature to 68 degrees." Moreover, Cortana also helps manages a user's calendar, inform them about traffic information, and even answer questions, as would a typical smart speaker.

GLAS also adapts to its user's schedule so it saves energy by automatically turning heating or cooling systems off when the homeowners aren't around. Once they arrive home, the device kicks back into full gear and adjusts its settings to keep the space comfortable and energy efficient.

Users can access GLAS through different platforms, such as mobile, tablet, and even web browsers. A Windows 10 app is scheduled to arrive soon, according to Microsoft.

GLAS Smart Thermostat Pricing And Release Date

The GLAS' striking translucent display will definitely complement any room it's put in, but elegance and sleekness come at a price. Johnson Controls says the thermostat is now available for preorder at $319 and should start shipping by March. By contrast, the Alexa-powered Ecobee is significantly cheaper at $249, but it doesn't look as nice as GLAS. Customers willing to shell out the extra bucks to get that beautiful translucent display would have the honor of owning what's probably the best-designed thermostat thus far.

Again, the GLAS is powered by Cortana, a relatively untested assistant in the smart home landscape. That's not to say it wouldn't perform well, only that customers would probably seek either Google Assistant or Alexa first. Still, this is a huge deal for Microsoft because it wants to prove that Cortana is more than just a desktop assistant. So far, the company has been lagging in both smart home and mobile deployment, especially with the folding of Windows Phone. It needs every help it can get to get Cortana out there.

GLAS runs on Microsoft's Windows 10 IoT Core operating system and comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E chip, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It's supposed to be compatible with most 24VAC heating and cooling systems. Preorder information is available at the Johnson Controls website.

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The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket looks amazing as it towers over Cape Canaveral, but its debut may be delayed after the Falcon 9 launch with the mysterious Zuma payload was again pushed back.

The Zuma mission, which was initially scheduled to launch in November, is still keeping details a secret, raising various theories on what the Falcon 9 will send up to space.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Ready For Debut Launch

SpaceX recently uploaded a drone video on Twitter that shows off the Falcon Heavy rocket as it was raised on the historic Apollo mission launchpad, ahead of engine tests that are expected to start in days.

With more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff-equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft at full power-Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. https://t.co/NneqPRPr46 pic.twitter.com/oswCUreG6i  SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2018

Several Apollo launches originated from mission launchpad 39A, including the first manned moon mission, Apollo 11, in 1969. Falcon Heavy will not carry any men in its debut launch, but it will have a very special passenger: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster.

Musk initially said in December that he will send the luxury electric vehicle up in space while playing "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. He later backtracked on his statements, but recently revealed pictures that showed the Tesla Roadster being fitted onto the Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX will be conducting some tests on Falcon Heavy in preparation for its launch. There is no specified launch date yet, but it the rocket's debut may possibly be delayed because of the decision to again push back the launch of the Falcon 9's Zuma mission.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Zuma Mission Delayed Again

SpaceX will kick off 2018 with the secretive Zuma mission that will have the Falcon 9 deliver a mysterious payload to low-Earth orbit.

The launch was delayed from November last year to Jan. 4 due to undisclosed reasons, and then again delayed due to issues with the Falcon 9's nose. The target launch date for the first SpaceX rocket launch of the year is now Jan. 7, attributing the additional delay to extreme weather.

Not much is known about the Falcon 9 Zuma mission, which will blast off from launchpad 40. All that is known is that it is a national security mission, and the launch was requested by Northrop Grumman, a defense company, in behalf of the United States government.

The assumption is that the Zuma payload is a national security satellite, but the secrecy surrounding it is certainly intriguing.

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The number of teenagers in high school engaging in sexual activity has dropped remarkably in the past ten years, as per a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report also indicated that there was a marked decline in sexual initiation in younger students with Hispanic and African-American ethnicities.

Decline In Sexual Activity Among High School Teenagers

The decline has been especially steep over the last two years, according to CDC. The findings add to the proof about the progress that is going on in lowering risky behavior by teens who are using marijuana, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, becoming pregnant at a rate lower than teenagers from a decade ago.

The survey also found it encouraging that the rate of sexual activity had fallen among teenagers in 9th and 10th grades. The maximum majority of the decline took place between 2013 and 2015.

Early initiation of sexual activity is associated with having more sexual partners, not using condoms, sexually transmitted infection and pregnancy during adolescence, the report stated.

Though the researchers could not point toward any specific cause that could explain the trend, they suggested that factors like access to straightforward information in school and via the internet about contraception and sex had a part to play.

The principal researcher from the Guttmacher Institute, Laura Lindberg, added that it still had to be seen if the decline was in fact only a short-term occurrence or a long-term one. She also questioned the value of the survey because the drops seemed quite large in 2015.

Incidentally, another country-wide survey carried out in teenagers homes showed a different result, which indicated little change in teen sexual activity. The CDC report had cited The National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys that was conducted in schools.

Kathleen A. Ethier, one of the study authors, said that more research is required to comprehend which factors have attributed to the decline of sexual activity and pregnancy in teenagers.

Figures And Numbers

The report showed that 41.2 percent of teenagers in high schools had engaged in sexual activity in 2015, a number less than the 46.8 percent of 2013. The same rate was applicable for 2005.

The CDC report analyzed data collected from 29 U.S. states and observed some differences among them. However, only two states, namely North Dakota and Wyoming, showed no decline in the sexual activity of high school teenagers for over a decade.

Other reports indicate that smoking and teen pregnancy declined to an all-time low in 2016, with just 11 percent of teenagers reporting they had a cigarette in the previous month. There is also a decline in marijuana and alcohol consumption in the past few years, however, it is not a sharp fall.

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Meltdown and Spectre  these two CPU security flaws are stirring up the whole tech industry because of the severe damage they can cause.

Virtually any device out there is vulnerable to the pair, including but not limited to Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Android tablets and phones. Now the dangerous part is they can steal sensitive data by way of a side-channel analysis attack. That essentially means hackers can access info stored in the kernel memory, which is a protected area of the CPU that's supposedly secure.

Researcher Michael Schwarz demonstrated how Meltdown could steal passwords on a Linux machine, giving a good idea of how the flaws can be exploited.

Luckily, there are a couple of measures you can take to stay safe from Meltdown and Spectre, but on the other side of the coin, you can't really be invulnerable to them. In other words, you'll only be safer more or less, but needless to say, that's better than nothing.

Update Your Operating System

First things first, update your OS as soon as you can. That's because Intel processors "since 1995" are vulnerable to Meltdown, according to Google researchers. Out of the two flaws, Meltdown is worse, though it affects only Intel machines.

Now if you're on Windows, all you have to do is head on over to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and hit "Check for updates." You should see the KB4056892 patch there, but if you can't for some reason, you can download it manually from Microsoft's Update Catalog.

Make sure you download the right version, whether it's 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64). To check which version your PC needs, you can fire up File Explorer, right-click on This PC, and click on Properties. You should see the system type there. Alternatively, you can search for "system," open System Information, and look for your System Type there.

As for Mac users, your machine should have a first line of defense of sorts already since Apple rolled out countermeasures against Meltdown in macOS 10.13.2. You can make sure it's up-to-date via the App Store under Update. The Cupertino brand also launched iOS 11.2 and tvOS 11.2 alongside it and assured users that the Apple Watch isn't affected.

Meanwhile, Google launched Chrome OS 63 with protections in December, so Chromebooks should be safe as well.

Last but not least, Linux users can already download kernel fixes.

This comes at a cost, and the price to pay here is that updates will slow down computers. Still, it's arguably better to have a bogged-down PC rather than a compromised one.

Phones, tablets, and other mobile device users will have to check for an update through the settings if they haven't been prompted that a new patch is rarin' to go.

Update Your Browser

Another way to steer clear of the flaws is to update your browser.

The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Edge that came with the Windows 10 update should have mitigations against Spectre, and so does Firefox 57.

Google will launch a fix with Chrome 64 on Jan. 23, while Apple says it'll release a patch for Safari "in the coming days."

Update Your Firmware

Intel has been up and about in releasing firmware updates for its processors, rolling out a detection tool that can tell you whether you need an update or not.

"Intel has already issued updates for the majority of processor products introduced within the past five years. By the end of next week, Intel expects to have issued updates for more than 90 percent of processor products introduced within the past five years," the company said.

Take note that you'll likely need to get the firmware update from your machine's manufacturer, which could be Asus, Dell, or HP, to name three. Intel has a handy list of its partners to help you with that.

Make Sure Your Antivirus Is On

The last countermeasure you can take is to keep your antivirus software updated and on.

While Google researchers have said that it's unlikely to detect or block Meltdown and Spectre, "your antivirus may detect malware which uses the attacks by comparing binaries after they become known," so there's that.

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Humans are closely related to apes but findings of a new study have revealed that bonobos, one of our two closest relatives, have a preference for bullies, who harass, hinder, and steal from others.

Humans Prefer Nice People Over Mean Ones

Humans prefer nice people over mean ones. Earlier studies have shown that human infants, as young as three months old, prefer people they saw doing a good deed over those they have witnessed treating others badly. Findings of a new study, however, show that this isn't the case when it comes to bonobos.

Bonobos Prefer The Bad Guys

In the new study, Brian Hare, from Duke University, and Christopher Krupenye, from the University of St. Andrews, showed cartoon videos to a group of bonobos. The videos featured a circular figure attempting to climb a hill. A square character prevented the circle to reach the summit while a triangle character assisted with the climb.

The bonobos were then given the chance to choose one of two pieces of fruits that were either placed beneath a cutout of the good character or placed beneath the cutout of the bad character. The apes chose the fruit beneath the mean character.

In a second experiment, the bonobos watched a skit that featured human actors. The skit featured a person who tried to return a stuffed toy to its owner but another actor snatched the toy and then ran away. Just like with the first experiment, the bonobos were more willing to accept fruit from the character who stole the toy.

In the last experiment, the apes watched a cartoon character giving up the seat to another and another video that featured a cartoon character unwilling to give up the seat. The bonobos once again chose the less generous character.

"Right now, we can say we see that bonobos and human infants show opposite preferences," Krupenye said.

Why Bonobos Have Preference For Bullies

Researchers think that the bonobos behave this way, not because they prize poor behavior but because they perceive the mean characters as dominant. Researchers said that these animals still live in a society of dominance and this can help explain their preference to bad individuals.

"For them, dominance is really important," Krupenye said. "We think that they are seeing the hinderer as the dominant individual because the individual blocks someone else's goal."

The findings were published in the journal Current Biology on Jan. 4.

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HP is recalling 50,000 batteries from select laptop models and mobile workstations made in the past two years, as their batteries may pose safety hazards.

The company says that it received reports of the affected lithium-ion battery models charring, melting, or overheating in laptops and mobile workstations, so it's issuing a voluntary recall to replace the batteries free of charge. In one case, a faulty battery even caused a minor injury, and in three other cases, the batteries caused property damage worth $4,500 in total.

HP Laptop Battery Recall

The voluntary recall affects a number of devices in the HP ProBook, HP Envy, and HP ZBook series sold between December 2015 and December 2017. Not all models are affected, however, and HP has made validation tools available so that customers can check whether their device is affected.

If it is, HP will replace the faulty battery for free, with the help of an authorized technician. The batteries are not customer-replaceable as the power cells are internal. Customers are highly advised not to attempt to change the battery themselves but contact HP if they are affected by this recall.

HP Laptops And Workstations Affected By The Recall

"The batteries were shipped with or sold as accessories for HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series), HPx360 310 G2, HP Envy m6, HP Pavilion x360, HP 11, HP ZBook (17 G3, 17 G4, and Studio G3) Mobile Workstations," says HP.

Some of these faulty batteries were also available to purchase as replacement batteries or accessories for the HP ZBook Studio G4 mobile workstation, as well as for all of the aforementioned HP products.

The affected models were sold via a number of third-party retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy, as well as through HP's own website. Those who own an HP device included in this list are advised to download HP's Battery Validation Utility tool and check if their device's battery poses a safety hazard and needs to be replaced. Head over to HP's dedicated website for more details.

The validation process is simple and straightforward and should not take more than a minute. If the validation tool determines that the battery needs replacement, HP will send an authorized technician to take care of it.

Until the battery replacement, customers affected by this recall can keep using their devices if they install a special BIOS update from HP, which will put the device in "Battery Safety Mode." As long as it's enabled, this mode will deplete the battery and prevent it from charging again. This means that users will only be able to use their device while it's plugged in.

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Former Uber chief executive and co-founder Travis Kalanick left the company in disgrace last year and will now be selling one-third of the shares that he owns of Uber.

This will be the first time that Kalanick sells his own stocks. Kalanick still owns ten percent of the company.

The Rich Get Richer

Kalanick is already a billionaire, with the sale of his shares of Uber he stands to make an estimated $1.4 billion. He's reportedly selling his shares to SoftBank Group and a group of investors. Previously SoftBank along with other investors bought Uber shares at a discounted valuation of $48 billion at the end of last year.

Kalanick originally offered to sell as much as 50 percent of his shares but had to scale back the amount because of limits in the deal between the buyers and Uber.

Uber's valuation currently sits at $68.5 billion, the reason for the steep discount for the buyers stems from the recent issues that the company has been facing. In addition to the Kalanick sexual harassment allegations, government investigations into bribing officials in Asian countries and the use of software to dodge regulators, lawsuits regarding business practices, and problems with investors such as Benchmark and Alphabet.

Issues with Alphabet stem from a lawsuit regarding the theft of trade secrets, and Alphabet investing in the company's main competitor Lyft.

SoftBank Sale

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank announced a deal with Uber last week. A consortium that includes SoftBank, TPG Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group will purchase 17.5 percent of Uber and includes an investment of $1.25 billion.

A majority of the shares will go to SoftBank, which will now own 15 percent of Uber, with the rest of the consortium owning the rest of the shares in the purchase.

A restructuring of the board of directors is also part of the sale. Uber's board will go from 11 to 17 members. It will include four independent directors, will limit early shareholders' voting power, and will limit the control Kalanick has on the board. This may be one of the reasons why Kalanick is selling his shares despite sitting on the board of directors.

The investments come as other firms are divesting from Uber. Benchmark, a venture capital firm, announced that it would sell a portion of the 13 percent of shares it owns in Uber. Alphabet's GV venture capital firm offered to divest less than of its shares in Uber.

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, right, shakes hands after presenting a pen to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, left, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., second from left, watches after signing the final version of the GOP tax bill during a ceremony Dec. 21 at the Capitol in Washington.
A state judge is weighing arguments about whether to overturn a necessary permit for Bayou Bridge, the proposed crude oil pipeline that would connect Lake Charles to St. James Parish.

Environmental groups and St. James residents have appealed to the 23rd Judicial District Court to pull the coastal use permit for the 162-mile pipeline granted by the Department of Natural Resources and send it back for more study and consideration. Other agencies, including the parish government, state Department of Environmental Quality and the Army Corps of Engineers have also given the pipeline their blessing. The natural resources agency  which has jurisdiction over a small part of Bayou Bridge in the coastal zone around St. James issued their approval months ago, and their decision was the first to be appealed.

+5 St. James Parish Council narrowly approves land use needed for controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline VACHERIE  A split St. James Parish Council cleared the way Wednesday night for the controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline to move through the pa

This week, pipeline opponents represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic squared off with lawyers from the state and the pipeline company. Opponents told Judge Alvin Turner, Jr. that the Department of Natural Resources betrayed the public with an overly lax review that did not consider alternative routes.

Opponents file suit against state over permit granted to Bayou Bridge Pipeline Opponents of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline have sued the state for granting a permit needed to allow construction.

The state and company responded with disbelief. Pipelines are safer than transporting oil by truck and train, and Bayou Bridge underwent arduous vetting, said assistant attorney general Harry Vorhoff and pipeline attorney Jimmy Percy.

As Vorhoff discussed why it's desirable to bundle oil and gas pipelines, the judge broke in.

Turner didn't disagree, but remarked that the state's argument didn't sound great. It may be advantageous to build pipelines and storage facilities in concentrated areas so there aren't pipes and tanks strewn across Louisiana, but that's of little consolation to the people who live nearby and are subjected to higher emissions. History has also shown that when companies and regulators decide where to place the infrastructure, it disproportionately winds up in the backyards of African-American communities, he observed.

"The question is, 'When does it stop?'" Turner said.

But he also emphasized that he doesn't put decades of industrial development at the feet of Bayou Bridge, nor does he necessarily think it's his place to try to unilaterally reverse the trend.

+6 Bayou Bridge pipeline receives Corps, DEQ permits, closing in on construction start The Bayou Bridge pipeline, a controversial crude oil line proposed through the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin, cleared key permitting threshol

The Department of Natural Resources behaved "arbitrarily and capriciously" when they granted a permit without considering the cost to the community or investigate what would happen to the residents in the St. James community in the event of an explosion or spill, said Tulane student attorney Ryan Sundstrom.

"There is no plan in place that addresses oil spills. ... This jeopardizes public safety," added student attorney Talia Nimmer.

That's a specious argument, Percy said. The state's approval is contingent on getting a federally-enforced spill-response plan approved before operations can begin, he said. Bayou Bridge has already given a several-page overview to the state, Vorhoff remarked.

"This has been scrubbed in great detail," Percy said.

The Tulane lawyers also contended that the state didn't require Bayou Bridge to consider alternative routes.

Turner, the judge, asked Tulane attorney Elizabeth Calderon what she would have them do. It's not the public's job to come up with those contingencies, but the state should have demanded the company consider options outside of St. James, taking into account the costs to the people who live there, she said.

Vorhoff pushed back. Two-thirds of Bayou Bridge will be located along existing pipeline corridors because it's easier to add onto infrastructure that's already in place rather than building anew, like enlarging a landfill instead of building a new one, he said.

The remaining third of the pipeline will be on land leased by owners in mostly agricultural areas, he said.
School children cross Camp Street in front of Confederate Memorial Hall, Louisia's Civil War Museum, far right, and the Ogden Library of New Orleans, center.
Summernats might have dropped its beauty pageant from the running sheet this year but it appears a lot more needs to be done to improve the culture of the event.

There is no doubt that co-owner Andy Lopez and the rest of the Summernats team are doing their best to make the car festival more welcoming to women and families.

Measures implemented at the event - like the banning of the wet T-shirt competition - send a strong message to the community that such behaviour is no longer acceptable.

But although management is keen to change the perception of the festival and make it a safer environment by these moves it is another thing altogether to change a culture.
One of the most limiting aspects of partisan political debate is it forces you to see things in black and white terms that aren't up to the task of conveying the mess of reality. This can be seen in the current debate about violent African gangs in Victoria, in which apparently contradictory claims are true.

It's true that community fears around gang violence exist. It's true that in many cases they are legitimate, based on real experiences of violent criminal behaviour as reported in the media. It's also true that the level of gang activity is being overstated.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has blasted the Victorian government over street crime. Credit:Fairfax media

Perhaps the most significant truth, though, is that real fears are being manipulated for political gain. What we are seeing is the most shameless opportunism dressed up as leadership.

I know this for a fact because more than a year ago I was in Canberra and found myself in a private conversation with a senior minister in the Turnbull government. He said, out of the blue, that he was concerned about African violence in Victoria. He said people were terrified and the Andrews government was failing to handle the problem.
Gladys Berejiklian should lower the cost of a train fare to Sydney Airport.

One of the great advantages of not leaving Sydney over Christmas and New Year, for those who have not been able to make a break for it, is that it is a rare period of respite from the city's traffic.

Tom and Andrew, both from Poland, walking from Wolli Creek train station to Sydney International Airport  rather than pay the train fare. Credit:Louise Kennerley

A drive that might take an hour during the hustle of March may, in the heat of early January, take half that time. There are seats for the taking on trains and buses.

But we know this will not last. By the end of the month things will be back to normal. The traffic will, in many places and at many times, once again overwhelm.
Labor MP Michael Danby charged taxpayers $4574 for two newspaper advertisements attacking the ABC's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to documents released to blogger William Summers under freedom of information law, the sum spent by Mr Danby as part of his parliamentary communications allowance comprised $1650 for each of the half-page ads in The Australian Jewish News as well as graphic design costing $1274.

The MP for Melbourne Ports, an electorate with a large Jewish population, has long been outspoken in his defence of Israel and previously defended the advertisements criticising ABC journalist Sophie McNeill, saying he had spent a "small amount".

In its advice to Mr Danby on the first request, the Department of Finance said it complied with the rules, which required the spending be on "parliamentary or electorate purposes", but warned he might "need to publicly justify and defend the item if required".
Pardeeville American Legion Commander Tom Borgkvist, left, and Gary Edwards raise a new U.S. flag, along with the Wisconsin state flag, in the courtyard of the Angie Williams Cox Library.
Former Queensland Senator Larissa Waters will launch her political comeback attempt on Saturday as she seeks Greens preselection after being disqualified from office over her dual citizenship last year.

Nominations for Queensland Greens senate preselection will open on Saturday, with anti-Adani advocate and former party employee Ben Pennings announcing he would also run.

Former Queensland Senator Larissa Waters is seeking Greens preselection after being disqualified from office over her dual citizenship last year. Credit:Dan Peled

Ms Waters, who was born in Canada, was among five senators ruled ineligible by the High Court in October after it was revealed she held dual citizenship.

Her replacement, former senator Andrew Bartlett, who ran second on the Greens ticket, will also nominate.
Burnt out land in Carrum Downs on Saturday. Credit:AAP After peaking at 42 degrees on Saturday, temperatures dropped 15 degrees between 5:30 and 6:30pm and remaining relatively mild overnight with a low of 18. The mild weather will continue for Melbourne, staying below 26 degrees for the first half of the week until a warmer 34 degrees on Thursday. Temperatures will drop again on Friday with an expected rainy 30 degree day and a mild weekend. A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said that while the temperature was extreme it was not unusual for this time of year. "The most remarkable thing about it is it's the first day over 40 degrees since 13th January 2016," he said. "We didn't have a single day over 40 last summer, which is quite unusual for Melbourne." Meanwhile in Sydney, temperatures are expected to climb to 40 degrees on Sunday with areas in the west expected to experience temperatures into the mid-40s.

Forecasts for Western Sydney are ever higher, with an expected top of 45 predicted for Penrith and Richmond. Bushfires under control While some small bushfires are still burning around the state, a spokesperson for the State Control Centre says they are all under control. The spokesperson said that while conditions in the city and surrounding districts remain low to moderate, the north and northeastern areas of the state are still at risk.

The Mallee and Wimmera are expected to see temperatures in the high 30s on Sunday. The State Control Centre is also keeping a close eye on northeast Gippsland areas, which may be at risk. Fires in Serpentine, Smythesdale, Carrum Downs, Hastings and the Riverina are still burning but under control. Thousands of Victorian homes were left without power Thousands of Victorian homes were left without power on Saturday. Electricity supply has been restored to nearly 6000 homes across the western suburbs after outages across the Powercorp network left residents in Albanvale, Ardeer, Caroline Springs, Burnside, Cairnlea and Deer Park without light, fans or air conditioning on the hottest day for nearly two years. The cause of the outage is still being investigated.

Caroline Springs was hardest hit with a total of 2055 homes in the dark. Albanvale, Ardeer, Burnside, Cairnlea and Deer Park also had a high number of homes without power. Hundreds also lost power in in Yarraville and Williamstown, with the cause deemed weather related. Thankfully for Melburnians missing fans and air conditioners, a cool change saw the temperature drop by 10 degrees in three minutes at 5.50pm in Melbourne's CBD  from 41.4 degrees at 5.50pm to 31.4 degrees at 5.53pm. By Sunday morning distribution network were reporting no significant unscheduled outages anywhere in Victoria. Two men drown, toddler and woman rescued after weekend scorcher

Two men drowned off beaches in Melbourne's western suburbs and several people were rescued from beaches around the state on Saturday. The first man had got into trouble near the Altona boat ramp at Seaholme, 10 kilometres south-west of the city, about 4.30pm. Police said three men were swimming in water off the boat ramp when they began struggling. Passers-by on jet skis pulled the men to shore, and CPR was carried out on one of them. The man, who is yet to be identified, died at the scene, and police will prepare a report for the coroner. The second man, aged in his 40s, was swimming with a friend near the Timeball Tower in Williamstown when he got into trouble shortly after 6pm. His friend brought him to shore where members of the public tried to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene.
More than 400 cars were stolen from car yards in Victoria last year, with thieves targeting both new and used vehicles, the latest data shows.

But they are just a small sample of the more than 20,000 cars stolen in the past 12 months, with those parked outside homes or in the street still the most likely to be targeted.

More than 20,000 cars were stolen in Victoria in the 12 months to September last year.

Car thieves were breaking into dealerships at night to steal the keys or making off with vehicles during test drives, National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council executive director Ray Carroll said.

"Car yards are like a supermarket for car thieves. They choose their make and model, then work out a way to steal it," he said.
A proposal to crack down on African street gangs by deporting offenders as young as 16 would effectively condemn them to "death sentences", Sudanese community leaders have warned.

With Melbourne facing a recent outbreak of youth crime, Federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has said he is considering strengthening laws to automatically cancel the visas of criminals and boot out youth migrants who commit violent offences causing serious injury.

Community leader Richard Deng (right) wants the Turnbull government to stop playing politics. Credit:Joe Armao, Fairfax Media.

The changes were proposed by a parliamentary committee headed by Victorian Liberal MP Jason Wood, and have been backed by state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, whose election campaign against the Andrews Labor Government centres predominantly on law and order.

But African leaders have warned that such a crackdown is out of touch and dangerous, pointing out that many youth offenders were in fact born here, while those who are not Australian citizens would be returning to war-torn death zones if they were to be deported.
New York: Investigators have raided the office and the Manhattan home of billionaire Michael Steinhardt, carrying off several ancient works that prosecutors say were looted from Greece and Italy.

Steinhardt, a hedge-fund manager and philanthropist, has been collecting art from ancient Greece for three decades and has close ties to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where one of the galleries is named for him.

Several artifacts seized from the home of Michael Steinhardt, as part of an effort by the New York district attorney to return stolen antiquities to their countries of origin. Credit:Handout

In a telephone interview, Steinhardt, 77, declined to comment, "for now", on the seizure of at least nine pieces from his private collection at his Fifth Avenue apartment, a three-floor home that overlooks Central Park. The authorities also searched Steinhardt's office.

The seizures marked the latest action in an effort by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, to repatriate looted antiquities discovered in New York City to their countries of origin.
Job requests for Texas A&M's annual student-led day of service, The Big Event, are now open to the community as the university organization prepares for its March 24 undertaking.

Following a record-setting year that saw over 21,000 students fulfill more than 2,800 service projects on the event's 35th anniversary, the Big Event student organization's director, Trent Armstrong, said in addition to continuing the trend of growth, they also hope to re-emphasize the purpose behind the massive day of service -- giving back to the community.

"It's just a way for the college students to give back to the community, stepping out of the student zone and recognizing that the people who live here full-time sacrifice a lot to allow us to live here four to five years and invade their town," Armstrong said. "It's an opportunity to live out the spirit of selfless service at A&M and realize there's a lot more to life than just us."

City of College Station Neighborhood Services Coordinator Barbara Moore said efforts by the Texas A&M student body to give back are "appreciated by everyone from small businesses to the elderly."

"They have really just opened themselves up to serve the community in any way they can," Moore said. "I think it means a lot to the community to have them give back. ... I think most of the students recognize that this is their temporary home, and everybody loves that they want to do their part while they're here to make sure this community is a great community."

She said she has particularly appreciated the student organization's efforts to communicate and work with the cities of Bryan and College Station as they decide what projects to include in the community-wide service event -- including placing an emphasis on elderly communities by going door-to-door to sign up community members who may not be connected to the internet.

"It's so cool that they go the extra mile to help those people who traditionally wouldn't be able to access what they do," she said. "In working with both cities, if we see people that need some extra help, we can ask them to look into this neighborhood, and they're always willing to do whatever it is we ask. We thoroughly appreciate that, and I know the whole community does as well."

Armstrong said for him, the mission of service through The Big Event has become a become a major part of his life as a student at A&M. Now in his fourth year as a member of the student organization, he said he couldn't imagine not being a part of the initiative now that he has seen firsthand the real impact it has on the lives of students and community members alike.

"Big Event can actually change people's lives or just make their days," he said. "Even just little acts like raking some leaves or showing that we're there to help can really send waves of impact throughout the student body and throughout the community."

For more information on The Big Event or to submit a job request, visit bigevent.tamu.edu.
Three Houston-area men and a juvenile were arrested Thursday in Waller County after police say they robbed a College Station T-Mobile store at gunpoint.

According to College Station police, officers were dispatched to a T-Mobile store located off Texas 6 around 5:45 p.m. Thursday. Three men entered the store with what appeared to be a handgun and stole cash and several cellphones, authorities said. T-Mobile was able to track the stolen phones to a restaurant in Waller on Thursday evening and relayed that information to law enforcement. A Waller County deputy pulled over a car the four men were in and found wrapped boxes of Apple iPhones and other electronics, as well as a black airsoft gun that looked like a Beretta handgun, officials said.

Adrian Jackson, 19, and Cerell Williams, 17, both of Houston, and Trevion Kinchen, 23, of Conroe are charged with three counts of robbery, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. A juvenile also was arrested, but his identity was not released. Kinchen also faces a misdemeanor marijuana charge and is being held on a burglary of a habitation warrant out of Harris County. The three adults are being held in the Brazos County Jail. No bond has been set for Kinchen or Jackson, while Williams is being held on $33,000 bond.
November 22, 1931 - January 3, 2018

Betty A. Simmons passed from this life on January 3, 2018 at the age of 86. She had been a resident at River Oaks Assisted Living Coppell, TX for nearly four years.

Ms Simmons was born October 22, 1931 to William Henry Simmons and Bertie Brewer Simmons in Dallas TX. Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her life partner, Peggy Chambers, her brother, Harold Everett Simmons, and her nephew, Harold R. Simmons.

She is survived by her loving niece, Shirley Simmons Runnels; great-niece, Staci Runnels Alvarez; great-nephew, Bryan K. Simmons; two great-great-nephews, two great-great-nieces and two great-great-great-nieces.

Betty graduated from Methodist Dallas School of Nursing and received her Masters Degree from TCU. After working at Methodist Hospital Dallas, she joined the United States Navy Nurse Corp from which she retired in 1984 as Lt. Commander. Following retirement, she worked at St Joseph Hospital Bryan until retirement from there.

The service for Ms. Simmons will be at Hillier Funeral Home of Bryan on January 8, 2018, with visitation from 1:00pm to 2:00pm and the service following at 2:00pm. There will be no graveside service. Interment will be at Bryan City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Research Center at www.alz.org or The Wounded Warriors Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Please visit Betty's tribute page at www.hillierfuneralhome.com to share memories and stories.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for the position of Director of its Entrepreneur and Intellectual Property Clinic. The Clinic is one of 18 law clinic and externships offered by the School (see http://law.wustl.edu/clinicaled/pages.aspx?id=6835). The new Director will assume the position in summer 2018 in preparation for fall classes.

The Clinic, through its second and third-year law students, provides business and transactional legal advice and services to small and start-up business and nonprofit organizations. Clinic students typically assist clients in entity formation, tax structure, governance, contract negotiating and drafting, and other general corporate law matters while also assisting with intellectual property needs such as patentability opinions, copyright protections, and trademark registration.

The Director oversees all aspects of the Clinic, including the teaching of students (through one-on-one tutorials and a weekly seminar), supervision of and responsibility for student casework, identification and selection of clients, and administration of the office and staff. The Directors primary teaching and practice focus is on business and transactional matters while the Clinics Assistant Director primarily focuses on intellectual property issues. The Director will also teach non-clinic courses.
WASHINGTON  Connecticuts 8,000 or so DACA recipients have seen this movie before: The states Democratic delegation pushing with all its limited might to keep legal status for so-called Dreamers, only to run into President Donald Trumps wall  both political and physical.

Trump has dug in on his demand that any consideration for youthful immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children be conditioned on building his promised wall across the 2,000-mile length of the U.S. border.

And now he is topping it off with a further demand for ending chain migration  the practice of admitting relatives of foreign-born U.S. citizens or green-card holders.

Democrats are doing nothing for DACA  just interested in politics, Trump tweeted Tuesday. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.

Connecticut Democrats dispute that. At the urging of DACA recipients in the state, both Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy voted against the budget extension deal last month because it did not include language granting a reprieve to the nations 800,000 or so Dreamers.

In September, Trump canceled President Barack Obamas 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order, which set a deportation clock ticking.

On Wednesday, Senate and House leaders from both parties met with OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in House Speaker Paul Ryans office in an effort to negotiate a compromise.

They are working against the next government-funding deadline Jan. 19, which could result in a government shutdown if a deal is not struck. Whether that deal will include a DACA reprieve is anyones guess.

Some in Connecticut remain hopeful that a deal can indeed be struck.

If 2017 was the year of tax-cut success and Obamacare repeal-and-replace failure, 2018 should be the year of the deal, said Jim Campbell, a Westport real estate executive, former c hairman of the Greenwich Republican Town Committee and Trump supporter.
NEW CANAAN  The state Department of Transportation will hold a public information session regarding the proposed replacement of the Rose Brook bridge on at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 at New Canaan Town Hall.

The bridge, which crosses over the Rose Brook on Route 123, has been slated for replacement due to heavy rust and areas of complete section loss, according to the DOT.
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NORWALK  The multi-story apartment buildings springing up across Norwalk have alarms, sprinkler systems and other features aimed at preventing fires from spreading.

But like many single-family homes, theyre often largely built of wood and remain a pile of matchsticks full of combustible materials, no more impervious to flames than the Titanic was to icebergs.

Current state building codes allow up to four stories of apartment buildings to be built with materials such as wood that has not been treated to be fire retardant. Such construction, known as Type V, is typically wood-frame and is the least restrictive available in terms of fire safety (on the other end of the spectrum is Type I, which requires noncombustible materials designed to maintain structural integrity in a fire).

For comparison, New Jersey only allows three stories of apartment buildings to be Type V construction, and New York City doesnt allow any apartment buildings to be Type V.

In the aftermath of two fires in Norwalk, some residents have questioned whether the types of materials being used for construction has made buildings more susceptible to a blaze. For example, when it comes to vinyl siding, a petroleum-based product, Norwalk Chief Building Official Bill Ireland says, Its like putting gasoline on the building.

Connecticuts building codes, which include what materials are allowed for different types of construction, are currently under review, and the Department of Administrative Services is seeking public comment until Feb. 16. A public hearing for the proposed building, fire safety and fire prevention codes will also be held on Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. If all goes according to schedule, the new code will be adopted July 1.

Building codes often hold developments to a high standard, but at times, also allow materials that officials would prefer to see less of.

Ive seen places where I was so impressed at the construction of a building as it was being built, said Norwalk Deputy Fire Marshal Kirk McDonald. Every single piece, from the framework to the outside, had a fire rating to it. It was aluminum studs rather than wood. It was treated plywood because of the type of the occupancy that it was  it was required. But when it was all said and done, I went for the final inspection, I see vinyl siding on the outside.

On Dec. 11, a fire sparked by a carelessly discarded cigarette spread from the balcony to the interior of StoneWood Condominium, destroying part of the upper level of the 54-unit, four-story building at 100 Richards Ave. and leaving residents displaced weeks before Christmas. StoneWood residents are still unable to return to their homes. While the vinyl siding was hardly the sole factor in the spread of the blaze, it didnt help.

But its allowable, Ireland said. So if theyre allowed to do it, theres nothing we can do.

A survey of Connecticut building codes and interviews of Norwalk officials reveal that modern building methods both help and hinder the spread of fires.

The vinyl siding on StoneWood Condominium fed the fire, but fire-resistant interior walls prevented it from spreading horizontally to other parts of the building.

That fire, moving laterally, didnt go all of the way because of the firewalls, said Norwalk Fire Marshal Broderick Sawyer.

While the condominium complex was left uninhabitable for now because of smoke and water damage, the blaze itself was limited to the north end of the building, in and above the third-story balcony where it began.

Sawyer and McDonald, while praising alarms, sprinkler systems and firewalls, say todays fires burn hotter than those 20 years ago. Thats due to partly to personal belongings made of materials that burn more quickly, such as more Polyester and less cotton and partly to construction methods that keep that heat in, such as double-pane windows.

It keeps the heat in more, construction. It gets hotter and hotter and hotter, Sawyer said.

Such airtight, energy saving features, however, can also starve fires of oxygen.

Ive had a fire one time where the house was so tight, because of the environmental windows, that the fire didnt have enough oxygen to continue burning, McDonald said. There was soot all over the windows and it was just kind of a weird scenario how it played out but it put itself out.
RACINE  A teenage boy who pleaded guilty to the 2015 shooting death of his 14-year-old girlfriend requested new counsel Thursday  less than two months before his sentencing date.

The motion to withdraw as counsel was entered by attorney Melissa Frost, who has represented 16-year-old Keller G. McQuay since July.

My client has just given me permission to tell the court that he believes that I have not been acting in an effective manner for him and believes that there are some ineffective assistance of counsel issues, said Frost. He believes that I just simply am not working with him in a way that is beneficial to him.

With Frost as his attorney, McQuay pleaded guilty in October  two years after his arrest  to charges of first-degree reckless homicide, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a short-barreled rifle.

McQuay pleads guilty in 2015 shooting of girlfriend RACINE  Two years after his arrest, a teen pleaded guilty Wednesday in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend.

Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz questioned the reasoning behind the decision to change counsel, especially as McQuays sentencing date approaches.

Im preparing for a sentencing on a plea that was taken back in, I think, October ... and now what Im having here is, well, we are looking at ineffective assistance of counsel, Gasiorkiewicz said. What, in the preparation for the sentencing or in the totality of the claim?

The whole matter, your honor, Frost answered.

Gasiorkiewicz granted McQuays request for new counsel, asking Frost to provide the new public defender with all paperwork pertaining to the case as soon as possible.

Gasiorkiewicz also made it very clear that the Feb. 26 sentencing date will remain as scheduled. I am not, underscore not, adjourning this matter for scheduling, Gasiorkiewicz said. That remains a solid date.

A status conference is set for Jan. 11 to ensure a new public defender has been appointed.

Changes of counsel

This is not the first change of counsel that has occurred during McQuays case.

Last June, public defenders Katie Gutowski and Mindy Nolan filed a motion asking Gasiorkiewicz to allow them to withdraw from the case.

Gutowski explained that the two attorneys realized they could no longer represent McQuay after discovering that one of the witnesses the state planned to call in the case was one of Gutowskis clients.

McQuays next attorney, Frederick F. Klimetz, also withdrew from the case prior to Frost being appointed.

He has never requested a change of counsel in the past, Frost said. His previous attorneys had to withdraw because a conflict came about in the case.

Other charges

In addition to charges for the 2015 shooting death of McQuays then 14-year-old girlfriend, Vista Jackson, McQuay has other pending charges.

In October, McQuay also entered guilty pleas to charges of battery by prisoner and resisting and obstructing an officer.

The battery by prisoner charge stems from an Oct. 28 incident at the Racine Juvenile Detention Center, 1717 Taylor Ave., in which McQuay reportedly banged and kicked a door at the detention center, threw a cup of toilet water on two detention center workers, and spit in one of their faces, allegedly because he didnt want to go to an early court appearance.

At a May 16 hearing, Edward Kirchner, a case manager for the Racine County Human Services Department, testified that McQuay should remain in adult court, noting that the teens behavior was escalating.

In 2010, at age 10, McQuay caused damage to a car by jumping on it, netting a criminal damage to property charge, Kirchner said. In 2013, McQuay was involved in a fight at school and was back in the juvenile system for disorderly conduct, he said.

Right after that, McQuay faced two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child for molesting a 7-year-old and a 6-year-old, Kirchner said. The teen became a juvenile sex offender and was placed in a residential treatment center for about six months.
During the You Drink and Drive, You Lose campaign that concluded Jan. 1, the Nebraska State Patrol removed 67 people from roadways for drunk or drugged driving.

The special enforcement effort, which started Dec. 15, was held in conjunction with dozens of other law enforcement agencies in Nebraska and many more throughout the country. The focus was on removing drunk drivers from the road.

Troopers removed 63 drivers from the road for driving while intoxicated and four for driving under the influence of drugs. The campaign included vehicle checks, saturation patrols and specific enforcement zones.

Our troopers are dedicated to public safety and campaigns like this over the holiday season demonstrate that, Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, said in a statement. Removing drunk drivers from the road is an important part of keeping Nebraska roads safe.

In addition to the drunk and drugged driving arrests, the State Patrol made 102 arrests for drug possession and 28 for reckless driving. Troopers also issued 1,233 citations for speeding, 88 for driving under suspension, 70 for having no seatbelt, 63 for no proof of insurance, 25 for open container, 19 for having improper child safety restraint and 15 for minor in possession.

Troopers also assisted 730 motorists in need of help, many during the frigid temperatures of the final week of 2017.

The You Drink & Drive, You Lose enforcement was made possible thanks in part to a grant for $27,320 from the Nebraska Department of Transportations Highway Safety Office.
Dear Annie: Ive been estranged from my twin brother for two years, since our sister died after her short battle with a terminal illness.

When she was diagnosed, her family gave him power of attorney rights (property and health) during her remaining time. My brother managed her personal affairs and health care well, but unfortunately, he took his position of authority too seriously. Although our sister was in constant pain and requiring considerable medication, she was still able to listen, think and speak well enough to convey what she wanted. Her wishes did not agree with what our brother wanted her to do, and he expected the family and friends to support him. The rest of us felt that our sisters dying requests took precedence and that we would side with her.

Needless to say, this caused a lot of arguments. However, we swallowed our pride and did the best we could to appease him. When she passed and the funeral services were over, we were all relieved, but the quarreling had caused significant damage to our relationships.

Hes still blaming us for the problems we caused him. His behavior then and now exhibits traits of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and I feel that his immediate family should be aware of this and have him seek professional help. However, my family and friends say to just let it go and forget about it. What are your thoughts?

 In a Quandary in Illinois

Dear In a Quandary: Im sorry for the loss of your sister and the estrangement of your brother. Im sure that made the grieving process all the more difficult.

Its clear your twins well-being is weighing heavily on your mind; otherwise, you wouldnt be researching his possible mental health issues. Id encourage you to go directly to him with your concerns. Dont bring up the term obsessive-compulsive personality disorder; simply tell him that youre worried about him, that you love him and that you think he should get help. If he refuses to listen, at least youll have the peace of knowing you tried.

Dear Annie: I always enjoy your column. I would like to add to your answer to Desperately Need Help, who needs to separate from her husband.

I write based on my knowledge as a (retired) family law attorney in North Carolina. In North Carolina  and in most states, I suspect  a spouse who cant afford an attorney but needs spousal support can ask the judge to order the supporting spouse to pay for the legal fees that the dependent spouse had to incur. My experience was that most judges were ready to issue such an order, and Desperately Need Help could certainly get advice from an attorney about that, seeing as the attorney, too, will want the work and will know how to get paid for it.

In most states, a spouse who is in court to get a fair share of the property probably cannot get the judge to order the other side to pay the legal fees  because if theres property to be divided, then thats a source of money to pay the lawyer. This latter case probably describes one part of this readers situation, seeing as theres a 401(k) to be divided. Im not the advice columnist, but perhaps part of the recovery that Desperately Need Help needs is escaping a mindset of helplessness and recognizing that she does have the resources to get what she is owed.

 Retired N.C .Lawyer

Dear Retired N.C. Lawyer: And Im not the lawyer  so I always really appreciate hearing from one with regard to legal advice that might help my readers. Im printing your letter, as Im sure it will be of use to Desperately Need Help and many others. Thank you.

Annie Lane, a graduate of New York Law School and New York University, writes this column for Creators Syndicate. Email questions to dearannie@creators.com.
Residents from Hall County and surrounding counties were able to learn more about how to register people to vote at a training session Thursday night.

A total of 13 people came out to be certified as a deputy registrar at the first of three training sessions held by Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet at the Hall County Administration Building, 121 S. Pine St. A deputy registrar is a volunteer who works to register people to vote.

They can work in any county in Nebraska, not just in Hall County, Overstreet told those attending the training session. When you complete the training today, you could help in Adams County or Hamilton County if they were having a voter registration (drive) there.

Overstreet said deputy registrar training is required every three years by Nebraska Secretary of States office.

She added it also requires training be done when there is a substantive change to state statute. Overstreet said that in 2017, there was a change in the penalty for filling out voter registration forms and was part of the reason for Thursdays training session.

During the training session, Overstreet gave an overview of what a deputy registrar needs to do in order to conduct a voter registration event. She explained deputy registrars need to fill out a form provided in order to have a voter registration event in a county. Overstreet said the form requires the time, date and location of the voter registration event along with the names and party affiliations of the deputy registrars working the event.

The reason for this is the state requires registrations to be taken in teams of two and people cannot be of the same party, she said.

Overstreet emphasized the county election commissioner or county clerk gives the final approval to the voter registration event.

Overstreet said the voter registration site needs to be accessible to those with disabilities. She added if an individual needs assistance filling out the voter registration form, the deputy registrar can fill it out for them. Overstreet said the application provides a place at the bottom for the deputy registrar to put their name and address for reference.

Once a voter registration event is completed, Overstreet said deputy registrars need to bring the completed voter registration forms to the county election commissioner or county clerks office by the end of the following business day.

You are taking sensitive information from a voter, she said. The applications have their birth date and, in some cases, the last four digits of their Social Security number. These are things that could be used in identity theft. We want to be really careful with these documents. It is important that you are not driving around the next week with these in your car seat or sliding across the dash of your car.

Overstreet told those at Thursdays training session that they cannot register voters after 6 p.m. on the third Friday preceding an election.

This is not a last-minute thing that you do. This is something we want to have done in advance, Overstreet said.

She added the deadline for deputy registrars to register voters for the May 15 primary is April 27 and before Oct. 19 for the general election on Nov. 6.

LaEllen Haynes of Grand Island said she registered voters in the past and attended Thursdays training session as a refresher course.

Its been a long time since I went through a training, she said. I think Tracy is being a little more formal. It is a refresher and I learned some things I thought I knew that I didnt.

Haynes added she feels being a deputy registrar is important and is peoples civic duty to be registered to vote.

The more opportunities we can give people to do that, the better, she said.

Brian Whitecalf of Grand Island said he attended the deputy register training session because he feels it is important that people are registered to vote.

There are a lot of people who feel their vote does not matter. But weve seen elections where the votes were tied or close, Whitecalf said. I think it is important for more people to register to vote and do it correctly.

Whitecalf said he had participated in voter registration events prior to Thursdays training session.

It is all about encouraging people to get out to vote and make sure their address is correct, he said. Maybe they havent been getting information mailed to their new address so they know which candidates are running and what issues will be brought up.

Overstreet said, through 2017, Hall County had 44 deputy registrars. There were 13 people at Thursday nights training session who became deputy registrars, and Overstreet said six more people are registered for future training sessions.

Additional training sessions will be offered at noon Jan. 22 and at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 25 on the first floor of the Hall County Administration Building.

Those interested in becoming a deputy registrar should reserve a training spot by calling the Hall County Election Office at (308) 385-5085 or emailing Overstreet at tracyo@hallcountyne.gov.
State and federal funds that go to Hall County to help provide meals to senior citizens have been suspended for 30 days.

Midland Area Agency on Aging in Hastings oversees state and federal funds awarded to Hall, Adams, Clay, Hamilton, Howard, Merrick, Nuckolls and Webster counties for senior citizens. In Hall County, the funds trickle down to the area agency and then to the county, where a board addresses the needs of local people.

MAAA Director Casey Muzic said due to inconsistencies with the way Hall County programs are run, funding was suspended. At the end of the 30-day suspension, which was announced in a Dec. 22 letter, all deficiencies must be corrected and a written assurance must be provided with intent to perform. If Hall County still doesnt comply, according to MAAA, it will be viewed as a breach of the Sub Award agreement and the agreement will be terminated immediately.

Addressing deficiencies

Senior Citizens Industries, Inc. is the agency that oversees the Hall County meals on wheels programs. Senior Citizens Industries also oversees the Grand Generation Center, the Handi-Bus transportation program, Meals on Wheels, Adult Day Care and satellite senior centers in Wood River, Cairo and Doniphan.

According to a letter Senior Citizens Industries Inc., received on Dec. 22 from MAAA, deficiencies at Grandview and Chrysalis apartments were that home-delivered meals werent being delivered to the participants door and instead are being dropped off in the common area and are being left for the participant to come and pick up. It was shared by staff at both of these facilities that if the participant of the meal program does not pick up the meal it is put in the community or other participants refrigerator until the participant is able to pick up the meal.

Theresa Engelhardt, director of Senior Citizens Industries, said the meal in the refrigerator was put there because a resident had dialysis scheduled at the time the meals were delivered. To keep the meal from spoiling, a volunteer kept it in the fridge for the resident. Engelhardt said they werent notified in the past that it was an issue and the system has been in place for years. She said MAAA has never said anything about it before.

An assessment of the Grand Generation Center on Feb. 9, 2017, stated there were no recommendations for the meal site at that time.

Congregate meals site compliance

The letter from MAAA also stated that on Nov. 29, 2017, the congregate meals at Regency (Retirement Residence) had to be discontinued due to non-compliance of Older Americans Act guidelines with congregate meals sites. The letter states that, at a meeting on Nov. 30, Engelhardt told Regency the people who received the congregate meals could receive home-delivered meals. The letter to Senior Citizens Industries also says its required that a home visit and the eligibility intake be completed within five days of receipt of the first home-delivered meal. The letter alleges the forms werent completed on time, but when they were completed all the congregate meal recipients were eligible for home-delivered meals.

Engelhardt said Senior Citizens Industries have records of Regency being a congregate site, where the residents eat together and the food is delivered in bulk and served family style because of the convenience. The residents, she said, have told Regency staff they enjoy eating with each other and not alone. Engelhardt said MAAA knew of Regency being recorded as a congregate site and worked with them how to do that.

Engelhardt also addressed the five-day policy, which she said was from a 2009 policy that was later edited. According to MAAAs policy, the project/county coordinator or director shall make the final determination if the person shall be allowed to receive home-delivered meals.

Engelhardt said the residents at Regency do obviously qualify for the program. Richardson added most of the residents at Regency are over the age of 80 and do rely on the meal program.

A question of payment

Another complaint from the MAAAs letter was that multiple reports have been made that there is a requirement for a participant to purchase a ticket for congregate meals at Grand Generations Center. Engelhardt said people are provided a punch card and often give money as a free-will donation.

Dave Richardson, chair of Regencys board, said MAAA directly called residents to ask if they pay for their meals. Hall County Commissioner Pam Lancaster said at least in her mothers generation, people feel like they should pay their part, even if not required. Engelhardt said the recipients take pride that theyre giving money to the program to keep it going. Signs are posted for a suggested donation, but people are never required to pay.

Home delivery versus congregate meals

Another complaint from the MAAA on Regency was the meals were being taken to the dining area and the residents were going to the dining area to eat them. The meals, according to the letter from MAAA to Senior Citizens Industries, were not being delivered to the residents apartment. The letter also says that It was found in more than one instance that congregate meal participants were also receiving home-delivered meals without proof of eligibility for home-delivered meal services.

Engelhardt said the people are being penalized because they want to eat together, which isnt fair.

Eligibility visits

Lastly related to Regency, the letter states two visits were scheduled with residents at the Regency Apartments on Dec. 21 to verify their eligibility for the home-delivered meal program and provide nutritional information. Midland Area Agency on Aging staff was told that they were not allowed in the Regency Apartment building by the apartment manager.

Near the end, the letter states that, because MAAA wasnt able to monitor Regency the day they showed up, Regency wont be able to receive any meals. However, the letter states that though funding is suspended for Hall County, Senior Citizens Industries is still required to continue to provide home-delivered meal services to all participants that qualify for home-delivered meals during the 30-day suspension.

How do you do that (provide the meals) without funding? Lancaster asked.

Richardson said he was informed that two people from MAAA did come to Regency, but that visit was unexpected, not scheduled. He said they showed up during the busy lunch time and said they wanted to talk to residents about nutrition. He said he was informed the people didnt say where they were from, so the manager denied them access, as Regency is a private and secure place.

Were a secure facility. Were not going to let anybody in there whos peddling anything, Richardson said, referencing his point that the manager wasnt told the people were coming or where they were from.

Were just trying to protect them and help them with their nutrition needs, Richardson said about offering the meals to residents at Regency. And now were being locked out.

Not only have they (MAAA) told you youre doing everything wrong, theyve come out several times and told you youre doing everything right, Richardson said, referencing the assessments.

Other funding sources

At least a dozen Regency residents attended MAAAs board meeting on Thursday, Richardson said. Because they havent been able to get meals, Engelhardt said, some Regency residents have just been eating peanut butter sandwiches and Triscuits. Richardson said there was a motion at the meeting to restore funds to Hall County at least until the next meeting, but it was denied.

Muzic said state and federal funding is meant to be a supplement to the nutrition program.

They do have other sources of income available to use for this month that should get them through this, Muzic said, citing donations and private contributions as some sources. Were a part of the funding, were not all the funding. Muzic said with Regency, if the senior center wants to set up a separate agreement to provide meals, they can. They just cant do it under the Older Americans Act.

Its not that we dont want to provide that meal, its if we cant perform complete monitoring, were not able to oversee state and federal fund use, Muzic said.

Muzic said she is unaware if theres been any issues with Hall Countys program in the past. She said the rules have tightened up with stricter policies to receive funding.

We have to make sure that everyone is doing the same thing at every site, Muzic said.

Suspension given, not suggestions

Engelhardt said she hasnt received any corrective action from MAAA stating how they can fix the problem and the funding was suspended without much notice. She said the programs feed about 400 people in Hall County and that meal is usually the recipients biggest meal of the day, making the suspension troublesome.

Lancaster said Congressman Adrian Smith and Sen. Dan Quick have been supportive of the senior center. After a staff member at Regency called Sen. Quicks office about the funding issue, he contacted an ombudsman. The ombudsman later contacted Engelhardt and will investigate the situation. Lancaster said the ombudsman didnt make any determinations, but what he did say is this is not right.

We want to comply, but weve never been shown how Older American dollars are in jeopardy because of what weve done, Lancaster said. She added that theyd like to work with MAAA to resolve the issue, but it feels like they hit a brick wall when trying to do so.

She said Hall County prides itself on doing a good job at taking care of the elderly, so theres a lot at stake with this issue.

We want to make sure that continues, Lancaster said.

Muzic said Midland Area Agency on Aging is working with Senior Citizen Industries so their funding can be restored.
WASHINGTON  Though events in Iran are murky, their direction is historic.

The Iranian regime  which has made a project of destabilizing others through terrorism and regional adventurism  has been revealed as deeply unstable. Many Iranian citizens thought that the election of the moderate Hassan Rouhani as president would bring more sensible and effective governance. Those hopes have fizzled. Many Iranians thought that the nuclear deals sanctions relief and unfrozen assets would improve their lives. For the most part, they havent.

The result  put in terms President Trump would appreciate  has been a broad revolt against the Iranian political establishment. The Iranian governments problem is no longer a matter of performance but of legitimacy. Routine corruption, vicious oppression and economic mismanagement are increasingly seen as essential to the regime itself.

The breadth of this sentiment is what distinguishes the current revolt from the Green Movement of 2009. Instead of mainly involving the upper middle class, discontent has taken root in the lower middle class  in the labor movement and among the unemployed. Instead of being concentrated in Tehran and a few other cities, current unrest can be found across the country in smaller cities and rural areas. (If it comes to it, this would complicate the imposition of martial law, because the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps would need to be deployed more thinly.)

In 100 years, Iranian dissident Mohsen Sazegara told me, weve never had such a movement all around the country. The geographic and demographic scope of the protests is what makes them so remarkable  and so damaging to the long-term prospects of the regime.

The short-term prospects are a different matter. Those who hope that the Iranian national revolution will succeed in a single, big push  like the crowd turning against the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in Palace Square  are likely to be disappointed. In most civil resistance movements, the purpose of mass protest is not to overthrow the government directly. It is to convince observers  and especially elements of the police and army  that they can turn against the regime without imprisonment or death. Protests act as a signal to potential defectors that their risk is reasonable. If enough people join them, the chance of violence diminishes.

This depends on the protesters rejecting violence themselves. In a study of civil resistance campaigns between 1900 and 2006, researchers Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth found that nonviolent efforts succeeded 53 percent of the time, compared with 26 percent for violent campaigns. And nonviolent approaches generally succeeded in less than half the time (an average of about three years). Why this difference? Because violence reduces public participation, which makes defections less likely.

With this in mind, what should America be doing? U.S. policy has generally had two objectives: lengthen the Iranian regimes nuclear timeline and shorten Irans democratization timeline. Nuclear proliferation isnt particularly good anywhere. But such weapons are far less dangerous in the hands of democratic governments. For proof, just compare India to North Korea.

There is significant disagreement on the best way to lengthen the Iranian nuclear timeline. In the 2015 Iran nuclear framework, the Obama administration made huge concessions to buy some delay. But whatever your view on that agreement, the matter at hand is supporting democratic change. And since direct meddling in Iranian affairs by America is toxic, this task requires some creativity.

If the objective is to give the Iranian opposition the time and space to encourage recruits and defections, then the Trump administration needs to increase the cost to the regime of a comprehensive crackdown. This would need to be done in concert with the Europeans, making clear that repression will bring a return to economic isolation and sanctions. An effective U.S. response would also attempt to increase the access of Iranian citizens to the internet and social media  which is effectively blocked  through public pressure or (some have suggested) satellite internet access. This would permit the spread of information about the regime  how about better publicizing the cost of Iranian interventions in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza?  and reveal regime violence to the world in real time. In a struggle like this one, information is ammunition.

Implicit in all this is something often dismissed and completely undeniable: the strategic value of democracy promotion in a strong foreign policy. Much about the future of the Middle East, and the nature of the nuclear threat, now depends on it.
Imagine yourself in The Wizard of Oz having been asked to sing right after the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. They belt out songs about how they want a brain, a heart and some courage, respectively. With wit, courage and heart, youre suddenly under the spotlight, ready to launch into your own song. Naturally it begins with the signature phrase, If I only had a ...

Before you think about it too much, decide what word comes next. What is the it you believe will make you complete? What is your ineffable it?

What object, connection, accomplishment, physical attribute, personality trait or guarantee would make you feel as though the Wizard had heard your request? If you clicked your ruby slippers together, whats the one thing that youd make sure happened to you?

No world peace, by the way. This one has to be entirely personal even if it might have global implications. It can be a wish to be a mathematical genius allowing you to work on projects leading to treatments for disease or disaster, but you have to want something personally.

Writer Bonnie Jean Feldkamp wants an agent; Dartmouth friend Philip Odence wants an answer; my friend from the Erma Bombeck Writers Conference, Amy Hartl Sherman, wants a calmer mind. Desires range from the practical to the fanciful: My Facebook friend Martha Hardcastle Guthrie needs a break in Obamacare, which went to more than $700 a month, and pal Hope from Connecticut wants a pony but is steeling herself for yet another year of disappointment.

I never wanted a pony. But there was one lonely moment in my childhood when I was desperate for an unsuitable plastic parrot.

When we moved from Brooklyn to Long Island, I left all my friends behind, as if theyd been packed in a box we forgot to bring with us. When I was about 7, during a long silent walk with my equally solitary mother, I became fixated on a plastic parrot sitting askew on a branch in the window arrangement of a florists shop.

This was no toy. Blood red and army green, fitted with marbles for eyes, it stood about three feet tall and was made of some tough, scratched and unforgiving material. No doubt it had been passed from flower shop to flower shop for years. But in a flash, I was absolutely certain that if I owned that thing, Id never be lonesome again. If I could only have that huge, awful and ugly object in my room, my life would suddenly be rich and wonderful. It would be as if I had a friend to whom I could always tell my secrets.

For two weeks, I did extra household chores. I counted all the change in my bank. I walked the neighbors dachshund  even when it wanted to stay inside.

I dont know how I finally convinced my shy mother to talk to the man behind the counter but do I remember his reply. After a long pause, he said, Maam, that bird is for display only. And I remember that he looked at both of us as if we were nuts.

I started to cry. Please, I have five dollars. That was a lot of cash and the guy was no fool. Mom and I went home with the plastic parrot.

And my life did not change. Eventually my circumstances did, but it wasnt because of what I imagined.

You always remain you  and the plastic parrot of success often turns out to be a prop, and a pretty shabby one at that, as you realize once you get it home. You probably overpaid and you might have talked yourself into believing it would magically transform your universe when all you needed was to look more carefully at the real world.

Like Dorothy, many of us already possess what we need to be content. But for those who are financially insecure, who worry about their health and who never found true friends, the need for security, safety and community are real.

Perhaps the mathematical genius can help. And maybe the rest of us can not only click our heels together but also put our heads together and make compassion, not magic, part of our If I only ... .
The Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Chapter of Habitat for Humanity is beginning the search for the next family to move into a new home.

Todd Taplin, who is a member of the Family Selection Committee for the local chapter, said potential applicants need to attend one of two informational meetings.

They will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18, and 9 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Edwardsville Public Library.

Taplin said the selection process takes into account several factors such as need, financial stability, employment and a good track record of paying rent and monthly bills.

Because selected families are not given a free house, but are actually purchasing the home and making payments, credit history is important.

If we find that someone is admittedly bad at making monthly payments on bills or rent they are weeded out, Taplin said. We also factor in need, how crowded the house the family is living in is and the age of the family members. We balance all of the information and take the nominees to the full board for a decision.

Once a family is selected, each family member 18 years and older must commit to 200 hours of sweat equity during the build.

Additionally, a financial arrangement is created with Habitat for Humanity acting as the bank where it receives mortgage payments from the home recipients.

Since much of the labor is donated as well as many of the materials, Habitat for Humanity can sell the finished home for much less than the market value.

Since the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity was chartered in 2008, the organization has built six homes. The first house was built in 2007 in Edwardsville.

Since that time three homes have been built in Glen Carbon, one in Worden and a second in Edwardsville.

Anyone interested in applying for the project may call Greg Erspamer at (618) 978-7863 or email leadership@edglenhabitat.org.

Taplin said six families applied for the last home that was completed in 2015.

We are hoping to reach out to more families and are hoping to generate more interest from families in need, he said.

Habitat for Humanity was formed in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller in Americus Ga. That same year the construction of the first Habitat for Humanity Home began in San Antonio, Texas.

Since its founding, Habitat for Humanity has built, repaired or rehabilitated more than 800,000 homes.

Anyone interested in getting involved with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity is welcome to attend a monthly meeting. Meeting times, dates and locations can be found at www.edglenhabitat.org.
No sooner did Tailored Care Enterprises finish a 10-week program in the Madworks accelerator in Madison in December, but the young Madison company was accepted into the PULSE@MassChallenge digital health startup accelerator in Boston, starting later this month.

Tailored Care is one of 32 startups chosen from among more than 500 applicants from around the world.

"We're extremely excited," said Jessica Jacobs-Vechinski, co-founder and chief operating officer.

Tailored Care provides resources to help family caregivers take care of themselves.

Its product, TCARE, or Tailored Caregiver Assessment and Referral, is a cloud-based package of assessments and care planning tools that health care professionals can use to provide resources to the unpaid caregivers who are trying to keep family members out of assisted living or nursing home facilities.

TCARE was developed at the UW-Milwaukee starting in 2005 and Tailored Care Enterprises was founded in 2014, and has 400 care professionals in 17 states using the program.

To get accepted into PULSE@MassChallenge, at least one member of a prestigious pool of companies and organizations participating in the program had to choose a startup to work with over the next six months.

Tailored Care was chosen by two: Microsoft and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, Jacobs-Vechinski said.

"That's huge for us," she said.

She said the company expects to have a technology exchange partnership with Microsoft, and through the Massachusetts agency, will train social workers and family care specialists in that state.

Jacobs-Vechinski and Ari Ahmadi, co-founder and CEO, will head to Boston in a couple of weeks for a two-week session with the program, where they expect to find out more. They will have designated office space at the PULSE offices for the program's duration.

But even if the startup has to move to Boston for six months, Tailored Care's headquarters will be in Madison, Jacobs-Vechinski said.

The company is in discussions with Wisconsin investors aimed at raising its first funding round of $1 million, she said, and is working toward possible partnerships with health care organizations in Wisconsin.

If the money comes through, Tailored Care will be able to hire software developers and salespeople, raising the employee count from the two co-founders to a total staff of eight, within a few months.

PULSE@MassChallenge is a not-for-profit accelerator. Another Madison health technology startup, Redox, participated in the program a year ago. As a result, Redox forged a partnership with Brigham Health in Boston, using its platform to integrate other digital health applications with their patients' electronic health records.
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 08:00 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01b309 1 Lifestyle Robert-Walters,employment,workers,jobs,technology,fintech,supply-chain,logistics,job-seekers Free

A new year is usually welcomed with a list of resolutions to pave the way for a new and better life, which could also include career goals.

Those seeking to change jobs in 2018 may need to sharpen their digital and language skills, as recruitment firm Roberts Walters in its latest annual survey predicted a high demand for tech-savvy and local bilingual talent in Indonesia this year.

The global company's Salary Survey 2018, which looked into the Southeast Asian region, had shared predictions into the year that noted local candidates with strong technical skills, particularly in information technology (IT) and bilingual with international experience would be highly sought after.

Toby Fowlson, Robert Walters' Southeast Asia managing director, said in a statement that the digitalization trend that is sweeping the region has spurred many businesses to create online or mobile platforms, as companies seek to enhance their competitiveness and increase their market share.

"As a result of these transformations, many companies are looking to hire professionals with digital expertise, across both marketing and IT, especially those who are proficient in running back office digital infrastructure or with niche technology skills," Toby said.

Read also: EDITORIAL: Technology and job creation

In Indonesia, the survey noted that skilled job movers can normally expect a salary increase of between 15 and 30 percent, while for specialist roles in technology and compliance, an increase of up to 50 percent is not unrealistic.

"From a salary point of view, if they have a strong IT technical skill set in a particular area, they can sometimes get a 100 percent salary increase for changing jobs," Rob Bryson, Robert Walters' Indonesia country manager, told reporters during the recent survey launch in Jakarta.

However, the survey found that the region faces challenges in terms of attracting and retaining employees, citing reasons such as a talent shortage and high turnover rates.

The imbalance between the demand and supply of talent in Indonesia is expected to continue and potentially reach a capability gap as high as 50 to 60 percent by 2020.

Further, Indonesians educated domestically must compete with sought-after talent who received education abroad, as candidates with international experience would be in high demand to fill positions in fast expanding markets, such as technology, especially fintech companies, as well as in supply chain and logistics.

Read also: Number of unemployed rises to 7.04 million

With around 86 percent of Indonesians abroad returning to the country, according to the company, Robert Walters taps into the market with its "Pulang Kampung" (Homecoming) campaign, which places returning skilled workers with 100 percent success rate into highly covetable jobs.

The roles mostly include strategic and tech-type positions, as well as roles in multinational companies in Indonesia.

"We talk about unemployment in Indonesia, which is approximately seven percent, but we also talk about the talent shortage in Indonesia, and that's because unfortunately the unemployed don't fill the skills gap that exists in some areas. So, for example, the unemployment in Pulang Kampung is zero," Bryson said.

Robert Walters in Indonesia, which specializes in seven fields, found the top paying roles include those in the fields of sales and marketing, accounting and finance, as well as legal, with annual income for senior level roles ranging from Rp 1.5 billion (US$111,450) to Rp 2.925 billion per year. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 12:05 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01d67a 4 Art & Culture jababeka,#jababeka,art-exhibition,art,#art,exhibition,#exhibition Free

The inaugural Indonesian Art Exhibition is slated to run on Jan. 17-21 at the Jababeka Convention Center (JCC) in Cikarang, West Java.

The event will be hosted by publicly listed property developer Jababeka Tbk in collaboration with the National Gallery Singapore, according to tempo.co.

To be opened by President Joko Jokowi Widodo, the exhibit will showcase artworks from a range of Indonesian maestros, including Affandi, Kartika Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, Soedibio and H. Widayat.

Read also: For Melani Setiawan, fine art and friendship go hand in hand

It aims to inform the public about Indonesias strengths in the fields of art and design, Jababeka Group head Setyono Djuandi Darmono said during press conference on Thursday.

He referred to Indonesian arts and culture as capital that could improve the countrys competitiveness.

Darmono conceded that it would take time and effort to apply art and design in the branding of industrial products. However, the exhibition could be the opportunity to create awareness for stakeholders. (jes/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 11:08 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01c185 4 Lifestyle Nike,Converse,sneakers,Chinese-New-Year,shoes,#sneakers Free

Sneaker brands Nike and Converse are set to launch new collections with special designs to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Floral patterns decorate Nike's collection, with various designs for Air Jordan 6 and Kyrie 4 sneakers, according to kompas.com.

The Air Max 90 dons a simpler iteration of the design, which features red and yellow accents, taking after the colors of the Chinese flag. Red is used on the Swoosh branding, while yellow is emblazoned on the tongue tab and insole.

No specific release dates were revealed, although the new kicks are expected to be available at Nike Sportswear retailers in late January or early February, in time for Chinese New Year.

Read also: Converse launches waterproof nubuck high-tops

Converse, meanwhile, is welcoming the Chinese calendar's Year of the Earth Dog with two special 2018 collections, the Converse Solar Pack and Converse Lunar Pack.

Converse Solar Pack 2018 (Courtesy of Converse via Kompas.com/File)

The Solar Pack consists of two tonal designs on the Converse One Star, which is constructed out of nubuck and leather. The shoes feature a color gradation print to represent the eclipse, which are found on the tongue top, heel stay and Star logo.

Converse Lunar Pack 2018 (Courtesy of Converse via Kompas.com/File)

The Lunar Pack is featured on the Chuck Taylor All-Star, featuring premium suede uppers quipped with a debossed patterns quarter and clear oil print on the back of the shoe.

On the foxing tape of each pair's shoe, the number and letter codes on the Lunar eclipse are shown. The right foot rubber toecap boasts a debossed print of "1.316," which is the penumbral eclipse magnitude. The left foot hosts an interchangeable medial patch logo to be customized. (liz/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse)  Sat, January 6, 2018 09:03 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01b4c5 2 Art & Culture Picasso,exhibition,#exhibition,travel,destination Free

This year, the work of Pablo Picasso  one of the major figures of 20th-century art  will go on show in various European museums.

Here are six must-see Picasso exhibitions coming in 2018.

Y Fellini sono con Picasso (And Fellini Dreamed Picasso)

Where : Museo Picasso Malaga, Spain

When : Feb. 13 to May 13

In 1962, Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini got up one morning and described a dreamed encounter with Pablo Picasso in his The Book Of Dreams. Started in 1960, on the suggestion of his psychoanalyst, the book featured written and drawn accounts of what the filmmaker dreamed about. He dreamed about Picasso three times  in 1962, he dreamed that he and his wife were in Picassos kitchen; in 1967, he dreamed of Picasso as an elder brother and artistic father; and finally, in 1980, Picasso spoke to him as if to a friend and teacher. The exposition will feature a selection of drawings, films, photographs and other documents belonging to the Italian director, along with paintings, sculptures and drawings by Pablo Picasso, highlighting the two 20th-century artists shared sensibilities and obsessions.

Read also: Picasso's erotic etchings sell for US$ 2.2 million

De Calder a Koons, Bijoux dArtistes. La Collection Ideale de Diane Venet (From Calder To Koons, Artists Jewelry. The Ideal Collection Of Diane Venet)

Where : Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France

When : March 7 to July 1

Collector Diane Venet is sharing her collection of artists jewelry, built up over almost 30 years, in a show complemented by loans from galleries, collectors and artists families. The collection includes pieces from Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Louise Bourgeois and Pablo Picasso.

The EY Exhibition  Picasso 1932  Love, Fame, Tragedy

Where : Tate Modern, London

When : March 8 to Sept. 9

This will be the first solo exhibition of Picassos work ever held at Londons Tate Modern museum. The show will focus on the year 1932  a pivotal time in the artists career, as his work became more sensual and his celebrity status was cemented. The show features more than 100 paintings, sculptures and works on paper displayed by date of creation.

Guernica

Where : Musee National Picasso, Paris, France

When : March 27 to July 29

Marking the 80th anniversary of the artists famous Guernica painting, Musee National Picasso in Paris has joined forces with Madrids Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for an exposition exploring the history of the work and Picassos political engagement.

Read also: Online exhibit shows hidden depths of Picasso's 'Guernica'

Picasso, Voyages Imaginaires (Picasso, Imaginary Journeys)

Where : Centre de la Vieille Charite and Mucem, Marseille, France

When : Feb. 16 to June 24

Although Picasso didnt travel much beyond his journeys between Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany, his work is steeped in influences from many cultures other than his own. This will be explored through around 100 paintings, sculptures and drawings, shown alongside key works from the museums of Marseille and Mucem.

Picasso, Les Annees Vallauris (Picasso, The Vallauris years)

Where : Various locations in Vallauris, France

When : June 23 to Oct. 15

This exhibition focuses on the years that Picasso spent in Vallauris, from 1947 to 1955. During this time, Picasso was surrounded by his family, as well as various personalities from the worlds of art and literature, such as Paul Eluard, Jacques Prevert and Jean Cocteau. His artistic production was renewed, notably through ceramics but also sculpture. In 1949, the artist donated his Man With Ram sculpture to the town and painted his War And Peace murals in the towns chapel. The exhibition will offer an overview of these years, showing almost 200 works in different locations in the town, from the Musee National Pablo Picasso, to the Musee Magnelli and the Madoura Pottery.
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Linkedin (AFP) Srinagar, India  Sat, January 6, 2018 14:47 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c0204a7 2 World India,bomb-blast,police,kashmir Free

Four policemen were killed Saturday in a bomb blast set off by suspected Islamist militants in Indian Kashmir, police and reports said, marking a deadly start to the new year in the restive valley.

They were on patrol when the improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Sopore, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the main city of Srinagar.

"IED blast in Sopore. Four policemen martyred," Jammu and Kashmir police said on Twitter.

The bomb was planted by militants near a shop amid a strike called by separatists, the Press Trust of India and other local media said.

The latest incident comes during a spike in violence in the disputed region which is claimed in full by India and Pakistan.

Last week four Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by armed militants who stormed a paramilitary camp outside Srinagar.

Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule over the subcontinent in 1947.

Since 1989, rebel groups have been fighting roughly half a million Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, seeking independence for the former Himalayan kingdom or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

Last year 206 suspected militants, 57 civilians and 78 Indian security forces personnel were killed, making it the deadliest year in a decade.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sending militants across the disputed border in Kashmir to launch attacks on Indian forces.

Islamabad denies the allegations, saying it ony provides moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 13:56 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01e375 1 Politics spy,Budi-Gunawan,police,retirement Free

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian is re-assigning 32 retiring police officers, including State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Gen. Budi Gunawan.

Budi is set to retire as a high-ranking officer at the National Polices Security Intelligence Agency (Baintelkam), but will keep his post as BIN chief, according to a National Police statement released on Friday.

National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Muhammad Iqbal confirmed the reshuffle as part of the officers retirement.

Budi will be retiring as an active officer, but he will remain as BIN chief because [the BIN position] is not based on his position at the National Police, Iqbal said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.

Among the re-assigned officers are senior officer Brig. Gen Didik Purnomo, senior officer Brig. Gen. Suprayitno and Insp. Gen. Arief Dharmawan. (nmn/ahw)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6 2018

South Jakarta Police have arrested a man for alleged reckless driving that injured a pedestrian in Radio Dalam, South Jakarta, on Thursday night.

The head of the traffic accident unit of the South Jakarta Police, Comm. Adj. Sunar, said on Friday that the driver had been identified as 21-year-old Demas Dhandito Alwi.

The victim is a 27-year-old man named Irsan. He was crossing

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Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 15:19 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c0239f4 1 Business Masela-block,Pre-FEED,Inpex,shell Free

Oil and gas giants Inpex and Royal Dutch Shell have kicked off the preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) for the development of an onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Masela block in Arafura Sea, which is expected to go on stream by 2027.

The government approved the plan to develop the LNG plant, which has a capacity of 9.5 million tons per annum (mtpa) and 150 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas, according to the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas).

SKKMigas head Amien Sunaryadi said the pre-FEED would be crucial in determining the exact location of the onshore LNG plant and gas pipelines.

We hope the pre-FEED can be completed in the middle of this year. The results of the pre-FEED will be used [by Inpex and Shell] to finish their plan of development [POD] for Masela before the end of this year, Amien said on Friday in Jakarta.

After the POD is completed, the two companies will conduct a FEED study before starting the construction process. Hence, Masela might only be able to start production in 2027.

Inpex and Shell, which currently hold respective stakes of 65 and 35 percent in Masela, will see their contract at the block expire in 2028. The government, however, promised to give them a 20-year extension.

Masela is estimated to be able to produce 1,200 mmscfd of gas and 24,000 barrels of condensate per day for 24 years. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 19:47 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c026434 1 Politics azwar-anas,Hasto-Kristiyanto,PDI-P,East-Java Free

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto has met with party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri to discuss Azwar Anass decision to drop out of the East Java gubernatorial race.

Hasto said the party had officially accepted Azwars withdrawal but had not yet decided who would replace him as Saifullah Yusufs running mate in the election.

We have not discussed who will replace Azwar, said Hasto on Saturday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Meanwhile, PDI-P executive board chairman Andreas Hugo Pareira said the party would hold discussions on a new candidate to run alongside Saifullah very soon, considering that the registration of candidates would begin on Monday.

We have only just accepted Azwars withdrawal. [His replacement] is still being discussed, Andreas told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. Maybe in one or two days we will announce [the new candidate].

Azwar has officially withdrawn his candidacy from the East Java gubernatorial election following the circulation of photographs allegedly showing him with an unidentified woman. (nmn/ahw)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 18:57 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c025654 1 Politics azwar-anas,East-Java,RegionalElections,PDI-P Free

Banyuwangi Regent Azwar Anas has decided to drop out of the East Java gubernatorial race after photos allegedly showing him in a compromising position with an unidentified women went viral on social media.

Azwar, who had been running alongside gubernatorial candidate Saifullah Yusuf, has returned the mandate to run in the election to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

I hereby return the mandate to bid for the East Java deputy governor position to the party, Azwar said in a statement on Saturday. I offer my sincere gratitude to Megawati Soekarnoputri, the PDI-P family and the Nahdliyin [NU members] who put their faith in me.

In the statement, Azwar admitted that he had been facing challenges, such as intimidation and bribery attempts, while serving as Banyuwangi regent, but the tribulations as deputy gubernatorial candidate were harder yet.

During the process of preparing to run as deputy governor in the East Java election, there have been several parties that used many ways [to foil my candidacy] to the detriment of my familys dignity, the citizens of Banyuwangi and East Java and the ulemas who have been guiding me, he said.

Azwar said he would continue to serve as Banyuwangi regent.

I will keep striving together with the citizens of Banyuwangi to deliver prosperity to the region, as we have been doing for the last eight years, Azwar said.

The PDI-P and the PKB have yet to release an official statement regarding Azwars withdrawal.

According to circulated information, the PDI-P secretary-general is set to call a meeting today with party chairwoman Megawati to discuss the matter. (nmn/ahw)
The attorney for University of Wisconsin System executive Jessica Tormey said Tormey plans to plead guilty to first-offense drunken driving from an incident in Menomonie in October.

Tormey is the chief of staff to UW System President Ray Cross. She was stopped by police on the night of Oct. 5 in Menomonie, where she was attending a two-day Board of Regents meeting, The Journal Sentinel reported.

A police citation filed in Dunn County Circuit Court says Tormeys blood-alcohol content was 0.13 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Tormeys attorney, Matt Meyer, said the plea would require Tormey to pay a fine and lose her drivers license for six months.

UW System spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis referred all questions about Tormeys arrest and activities that night to Meyer.
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Linkedin (AFP) Riyadh  Sat, January 6, 2018 22:25 1776 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c027e8f 2 Politics Saudi-Arabia,Prince,politics,arrest Free

Saudi authorities have arrested 11 princes who protested against the kingdom's austerity measures and who could face trial, a news website close to the government reported on Saturday.

Sabq said the princes, who were not named, were protesting at a historical Riyadh royal palace, Qasr al-Hokm, against a government's decision to stop paying the water and electricity bills of royals.

They were also demanding "financial compensation" after one of their cousins had been sentenced for an unspecified crime.

The princes were transferred to the high-security Ha'ir prison in the capital "ahead of their trial", Sabq said, citing unnamed sources.

It said the princes "were informed of the error of their demands but they refused to leave Qasr al-Hokm", prompting the royal guards to intervene and arrest them.

Saudi officials contacted by AFP Saturday were not immediately reachable for comment.

Saudi Arabia has introduced a string of austerity measures over the past two years to boost revenues and cut spending as the global slump in oil prices led to ballooning budget deficits.

The kingdom's push to diversify its oil-dependent economy has been linked to the arrest of more than 200 princes in November in an anti-corruption purge spearheaded by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king's son and heir to the throne.

Most of those detained were held at the palatial Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, which has turned into a luxury prison.

King Salman on Saturday announced a boost in stipends and tax relief for Saudi citizens, particularly those employed in the military or public sector.

The International Labour Organization estimates that unemployment among Saudis aged 15 to 25 stood at 36.2 percent last year.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, January 6, 2018 13:28 1777 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c01de44 1 City #Tangerang,#child-molestation,sexual-abuse,#socialproblem Free

Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa has offered to provide psychosocial treatment to 41 children who were allegedly raped by a man arrested on Thursday in Sakem village, Tangerang, Banten.

The victims are likely suffering from trauma, Khofifah said in a statement released on Saturday, adding that the children would be treated at the ministrys shelter in Bambu Apus, East Jakarta.

Tangerang Police arrested on Thursday a man identified as WS for allegedly raping 25 children after receiving a report from one of his alleged victims parents.

The number of alleged victims, all of whom are boys between the ages of 11 and 15, has since risen to 41, police revealed.

WS, who works as contract teacher at an elementary school, confessed to having sexually assaulted children since April 2017, several months after his wife left the country to work in Malaysia.

The Social Affairs Ministry has deployed a team comprising social workers and counselors to provide the alleged victims with social assistance and medical and psychological treatment.

Khofifah encouraged the public to report cases of sexual violence against children and help the government prevent such crimes.

For parents, please do not think that it is disgraceful and hide [incidents of sexual violence], because it will hinder the psychosocial therapy of the victims. I encourage parents to learn more about technology because pedophiles also use technology to lure the victims. Monitor your childrens use of smartphones; assist and educate them about [the internet], Khofifah said. (wnd)
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Linkedin (AFP) New Delhi  Sat, January 6, 2018 21:32 1776 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c027aba 2 Politics India,corruption,politics Free

Key Indian opposition leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was jailed Saturday for three and a half years over his role in a multi-million dollar corruption case.

Yadav, 69, is a former railways minister and ex-chief minister of the impoverished eastern state of Bihar where he enjoys huge popular support for championing lower castes.

Last month the anti-corruption court found Yadav guilty of fraudulently withdrawing nearly $140,000 from the state treasury in a larger fraud dubbed the "fodder scam", which was worth about 10 billion rupees ($157 million).

Some 60 criminal cases were filed against dozens of politicians and public officials for colluding and defrauding the government in a scheme that was meant to help livestock farmers.

They are accused of inventing vast herds of livestock to obtain public money for fodder and medicines for them.

Yadav denies the allegations, calling them a "political vendetta" by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"We are confident that he (Lalu Yadav) will get bail. We have full faith in the judiciary. We are not going to be cowed down," Yadav's son Tej Pratap told reporters after the sentence.

Yadav, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was convicted in a first fodder scam case in 2013 and sentenced to five years in jail.

After spending two months in jail, he was granted bail. The conviction means he cannot contest an election and he faces at least one more case.

Topics : India corruption politics
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman this afternoon announced a settlement with the Allure Group after a lengthy investigation of the Rivington House debacle on the Lower East Side. It requires the for-profit nursing home company to open a new facility on the LES and to pay $1.25 million to Lower East Side non-profit groups.

Allure sold the former nursing home for AIDS patients in February of 2016 for $116 million after the city inexplicably lifted deed restrictions on the building at 45 Rivington St. The new owners are planning to convert the property into luxury condos.

The AGs investigation covered the closures of Rivington House, as well as the CABS Nursing Home in Brooklyn. In a statement, Schneiderman said:

The processes that led to the closure of Rivington House and CABS never should have happened  this settlement ensures they wont happen again, while addressing critical healthcare gaps in the impacted communities. Were requiring Allure to open new healthcare facilities in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side, and make major improvements to its Harlem facility, while also providing $1.25 million to non-profits serving vulnerable New Yorkers.

In a press release, this is how the attorney general described Allures new commitments on the Lower East Side:

The Allure Group will create a Lower East Side healthcare facility at a new location to fill healthcare gaps caused by the closure of Rivington House. Allure is required to fully fund a new skilled nursing facility or other healthcare facility primarily providing long-term care to the elderly or disabled; there will be a restriction on the future sale or closure of that facility for at least eight years from commencement of services. Pursuant to the agreement, Allure will also pay $1.25 million to Lower East Side non-profit organizations that provide healthcare services to vulnerable members of the community.

There were no details offered regarding the number of beds that must be included in a new facility, where it will be located or which local non-profits will be receiving funding. The settlement also requires Allure to pay $400,000 in penalties under the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law and $350,000 to cover investigative costs.

In a related settlement, three members of the Rivington House board of directors (Heshey Licht, Ben-zion Scharf and Aaron Porges) will be barred from serving on other boards for at least five years.

The attorney general is requiring the appointment of a new independent compliance consultant who will report to the New York State Department of Health. According to the AG, Allure will be required to inform the Department of Health about circumstances that might lead to the closure of any Allure Group facility.

UPDATE 5:21 p.m. Allures attorney, Andrew Lavander, provided the following statement to The Real Deal:

(Allure Group is) pleased that, following a careful review, both the New York Attorney General and the Department of Health have not only approved The Allure Groups acquisition of the Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, but are encouraging and supporting Allures future investments in healthcare facilities in the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.

Lavander noted that, in the settlement agreement, Allure did not admit or deny any of the allegations made by the attorney general.

UPDATE 6:16 p.m. Heres a statement from Neighbors to Save Rivington House, an organization advocating for the return of the building to the local community:

We are grateful for the rigorous work that the AGs Office undertook. Countless hours and much know-how was put to this effort to get long-range justice for some of New York States most vulnerable people. We are also grateful for the level of compensation that all of these affected low-income and/or of color communities will garner. And that the Allure Group will be under scrutiny due to past practices. And, importantly, it is problematic to invite Allure to run another facility  anywhere. But this is a systemic New York State-wide issue that allows a business like Allure to be endorsed as an organization with character and competence by the Public Health and Health Planning Council. That is the larger fight to end the preying upon vulnerable NYers for profit. We will continue to advocate for the meeting with the buyers Adam America, Slate Property Group, and China Vanke promised by the Mayor to our local Council Member. Because Allure was just one group of men who profited off of people who had little ability to fight back. Why? A longtime neighbor and community activist, who lives around the corner from Rivington House will likely be forced to move far from his network of friends this month. Hell end his days with few visits. It keeps the reality of the damage caused here fresh.

The settlement agreement summarizes the AGs investigation and spells out Allures commitments.

It refers to the citys decision to lift deed restrictions at 45 Rivington St. after Allure agreed to pay a $16 million fee:

As detailed in a report by the New York City Department of Investigation, City officials, including high-level officials at City Hall and DCAS, were aware of the deed restriction removal months in advance, yet raised no objection or took any step to ensure that the property would continue to serve the community or a public purpose.

Many people in the local community have hoped that the AG would be able to find a legal means of forcing Slate Property Group, the new majority owner of 45 Rivington St., to return the building. But the document from Schneidermans office states that Slates, title to the property as a bona fide purchaser is not subject to effective legal challenge. It then goes on to essentially make a case for the settlement agreement: The proceeds of the sale of the Rivington Street property are sufficient to fund projects in the public interest.

As part of the agreement, Allure has agreed to dissolve the non-profit board that was set up to acquire the former community facility. It will then transfer $1,250,000, to one or more charitable organizations, approved by the Attorney General, that provide healthcare services to low income residents of the Lower East Side.

Heres what the agreement says regarding the establishment of a new health care facility:
Juvenile justice experts cautioned Friday that while they see promise in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers dramatic plan to convert the troubled Lincoln Hills youth prison into an adult facility, its success largely depends on how well the changes are implemented.

Walker announced Thursday that he wants to spend $80 million on five new regional juvenile prisons and a larger mental health facility in Madison to house all female inmates. The plan calls for legislative approval in 2019, but in the wake of criticism from Democrats the Republican governor said hes open to moving faster.

Lincoln Hills has been under federal investigation for three years amid allegations of abuse of inmates by guards. Guards have also been assaulted by inmates and one teacher was knocked unconscious by a single punch from a youth last fall. In response to a class action lawsuit filed by a group of inmates, a federal judge in July ordered a reduction in the use of solitary confinement, hand and leg restraints and pepper spray.

Walker had steadfastly refused to close the prison amid calls from Democrats to shut it down. And as recently as November he insisted it was safe for both inmates and guards.

Walker made an about face on Thursday with the plan that would reshape the face of juvenile prisons in Wisconsin and help create new adult cells at Lincoln to ease crowding.

Missouri and other states have a similar regional approach to juvenile justice. Each of the five new prisons Walker proposed would house no more than 36 inmates. Lincoln Hills had 149 male inmates as of last week.

Nothing in the governors plan ensures that Wisconsin will have an effective approach to youth justice, cautioned Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Poor implementation and ineffective management can ruin the best of plans.

Walker said he wanted to take time between introducing the outline of the plan now and formally requesting $80 million in funding from the Legislature in 2019 to work out details, like where the new juvenile prisons would be located.

Republican Rep. Joel Kleefisch and Democratic Rep. David Bowen, members of the Assemblys Corrections Committee, issued a joint statement Friday calling for the Legislature to move more quickly than Walker proposed and pass bills enacting his plan this year.

We believe it could be accelerated so our shared vision for safety and rehabilitation is achieved more urgently, they said.

Democrats, including several of Walkers potential challengers for re-election in November, said the governor was moving too slowly especially given that hes known about problems at Lincoln Hills for at least six years. Some also accused Walker of only coming forward with a plan now because its an election year.

Butts, reacting to the outline of the plan Walker made public, saw reasons to be concerned as well.

To me, the prominence of mental health terms in the press release makes the governors plan sound like more a public relations tactic than a comprehensive strategy for building an effective youth justice system, he said.

Vincent Schiraldi is a senior research fellow at the Columbia Justice Lab who previously ran the juvenile corrections system in Washington, D.C. He testified in federal court last year on the side of the inmates suing the state over conditions at Lincoln Hills.

Schiraldi declined to be interviewed because of his role in the lawsuit, but he made a generally positive statement about Walkers proposal.

Placing young people who are in trouble with the law into community programs and, when they need to be confined, into small, rehabilitative programs close to their homes is better for public safety and youth outcomes, he said.

Butts said there is nothing magical about smaller facilities, but they can be more convenient for family visits. One of the knocks against Lincoln Hills has been its remote location in northern Wisconsin, about 215 miles from Milwaukee where many of the inmates are from.

Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Evan Goyke has been pushing for moving to a regional approach similar to what Walker announced that would place three of the regional prisons in southeast Wisconsin.
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For 14 years, the modest white house with black shutters near Capitol Square was a hotbed for community activism and liberal politics, a haven for local leaders in the fight for gay and lesbian rights and respect.

Now, 123 W. Gilman St. may become a local landmark, the most prominent recognition of a LGBT site in the citys history.

An era began when Carol and Rudi Wuennenberg bought the two-story house, just four blocks from the Square, in July 1973 for their college-age children and opened its doors to engaged young people.

Former Madison Ald. Jim Yeadon, the first openly gay elected official in Wisconsin and just the fourth in the nation, lived there when he was elected as an out candidate in 1977.

State Rep. David Clarenbach, D-Madison, bought the house in the fall of 1977 and lived there while winning passage of the states Gay Rights Bill of 1982  the first such legislation in the United States  and laying groundwork for the Consenting Adults Bill to decriminalize consenting sexual behaviors signed the next year.

When Clarenbach left the house in 1982, he rented it to officials active in the movement, including former Dane County Sups. Lynn Haanen, who helped pass a county gay rights ordinance, and Earl Bricker, a gay liaison for Gov. Anthony Earl.

Many more activists passed through its doors. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin held the first fundraiser of her political career there in late 1985 while running for County Board.

It was a comfortable starting-out point for politics and grass-roots activity, Clarenbach said. I dont know any of us recognized it at the time, but there was such an electricity then, a vitality and enthusiasm that you dont see today in politics.

The era ended when Clarenbach sold the house in June 1987.

But three decades later, a coalition has created the Clarenbach House Project to seek city landmark designation for the property.

If we fail to celebrate that time and forget to honor the hard work which went into expanding civil rights we are in danger of taking them for granted, and when we take something for granted we are exposed to the risk of losing it, project chairwoman Leslie Schroeder said.

Many histories

Whatever the nominations fate, its rare to see so many activists, political connections, and achievements tied to one house.

We call it the Clarenbach house, but there are many histories associated with it, said local historian Gary Tipler, who wrote the 19-page landmark nomination.

The Wuennenbergs moved to Madison from Wausau to be close to their children who would be attending UW-Madison, Tipler wrote. Eventually, they bought a Queen Ann style home at 504 Wisconsin Ave. that was once the residence of former Madison mayor and governor Albert Schmedeman. It became a salon for liberal friends, and Carol engaged in many civic matters, serving on the City Council from 1974 through 1977.

In 1973, wanting to create a similar environment for their children, the Wuennenbergs bought 123 W. Gilman St., which became a center for liberal, gay and lesbian activists, university students and their friends, the nomination says.

Their advocacy ranged from civil rights, to reorganizing the Brooks Street YMCA to a locally controlled entity, to building the Womens Transit Authority, a free nighttime rape prevention service for women, where volunteerism grew from 30 to about 150 volunteers while advocates lived at the house.

Before moving there, Yeadon, at the forefront of gay political activities in Madison, helped forge an Equal Opportunities Ordinance signed by Mayor Paul Soglin in 1975. He was appointed to the Equal Opportunities Commission and the City Council in 1976 and reelected as an out candidate the next year.

Then, a loss. After the assassination of gay San Francisco Sup. Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone on Nov. 27, 1978, Yeadon took the council floor, offered moving words and asked for a moment of silence. He resigned from the council a few weeks later and never sought elective office again.

Baldwin, after serving on the County Board, later won a state Assembly seat, was the first out LGBT non- incumbent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 2012 became the states first female U.S. senator and that bodys first openly gay member.

Coffee and politics

In many ways, Clarenbach was destined for a political life.

Born in St. Louis, he spent his kindergarten year in New York City before his parents moved to Madison, where his grandfather served in the state Assembly during the Progressive era. His mother, Kathryn, was a professor at UW-Madison, co-founder of the National Organization for Women, and national figure in the feminist movement. His father, Henry, was a delegate for Eugene McCarthy at the chaotic 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Still in high school, Clarenbach got involved in an effort to place student representatives on the Madison School Board, and in 1969, at age 16, he spent his spring break registering voters in rural Mississippi, where he was impacted by the poverty.

In the spring of 1972, Clarenbach won a County Board seat to become the states first 18-year-old elected official. Two years later, he also became an interim council member. That fall, at 21, he was elected to the state Assembly in the 78th District.

In 1975, Clarenbach began to collaborate with Rep. Lloyd Barbee, D-Milwaukee, then the lone African American in the Assembly, who unsuccessfully pushed legislation on same-sex marriage and other civil liberties issues. When Barbee left the Assembly in 1977, Clarenbach took on that mantle and was also active on health care and the environment.

That year, Clarenbach bought 123 W. Gilman St., the house continuing as a center of political activity and discourse, especially in the large front room. I referred to it as the bull pen, Clarenbach said. It was not like a fraternity drinking thing. It was coffee and politics.

At the house, Clarenbach and others forged strategies to pass the Gay Rights and Consenting Adults bills. The keys, he said, were creating a safe political environment for colleagues through building a network of religious support and keeping the legislation from becoming partisan.

David was a superb legislative tactician, said Dick Wagner, a longtime friend and mentor who served on the County Board for 14 years and has chaired three powerful city committees.

After Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus signed the Gay Rights Bill on Feb. 25, 1982, Clarenbach, his staff and Wagner went to my office and violated state law by opening a bottle of champagne.

On May 6, 1983, Democratic Gov. Anthony Earl signed the Consenting Adults Bill. Other legislation included a hate crimes bill, HIV confidentiality, and an AIDS bill of rights.

I felt like it validated my life and my work, Clarenbach said of the passage of the legislation. I felt like I was having an impact on real lives and real people.

Assembly colleagues elected Clarenbach Speaker Pro Tempre, a position he held for 10 years.

After Clarenbach moved due to redistricting, he rented his house to civil rights activists, their names and initiatives threading through local political history. I really wanted to maintain the spirit of the house, he said.

In 1990, Clarenbachs longtime hero, 32-year veteran U.S. Rep. Bob Kastenmeier, lost in an upset to moderate Republican Scott Klug. Two years later, Clarenbach skipped another Assembly race to challenge Klug but suffered a stunning primary loss to Ada Deer, a Native American woman.

The loss was devastating, leaving Clarenbach depressed and outside the legislative system that had defined his adult life. He couldnt walk through the Capitol for a decade. It was a shock to the system, he said.

Initially, he worked as a lobbyist and acting director of the Madison AIDS Support Network, but in 1995 he moved to Washington, D.C., for a stint as executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. He quietly returned to Madison in the mid-2000s.

Now 64, Clarenbach helps with fundraising at Outreach Inc., volunteers at the Wisconsin English Second Language Institute on Capitol Square, and is campaign treasurer for state Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, who holds his old Assembly seat.

Hes humbled by the landmark nomination. In the Midwest, youre not supposed to draw attention to yourself, he said. (But) its gratifying to have ones lifes work acknowledged.

City Council decision

The nomination comes as the city begins a two-year effort to create its first-ever Historic Preservation Plan, which features unprecedented outreach to the African American, Latino, LGBT and other historically underrepresented communities.

City historic preservation planner Amy Scanlon said she hasnt fully reviewed the nomination and declined comment, but she said a potential designation of a site associated with LGBT history certainly fits into the current historic preservation discussion.

The current owner has taken no position. We are still gathering facts about the nomination and what it will mean for the future, said Margaret Watson, CEO at Steve Brown Apartments.

Ald. Ledell Zellers, 2nd District, who represents the area, supports the nomination. This is a home with an incredible history related to progress for civil liberties, particularly for gay and lesbian people, she said. Mr. Tiplers nomination makes a very compelling case for the importance of what happened at this location.

If designated a landmark, the city provides a plaque to celebrate its significance and the property owner would need Landmarks Commission approval to make exterior alterations.

In coming weeks, Scanlon will finish her review and refer the nomination to the Landmarks Commission for a public hearing and recommendation to the City Council.
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This years Democratic gubernatorial primary is shaping up to be a drawn-out process with no clear front-runner, though many candidates are already trying to distinguish themselves.

There are 17 people who have either registered a campaign with the state or, in the case of Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, are about to do so. And while almost all of them have websites, only nine have hired staff.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-town of Vermont, said at this point there is no front-runner and its conceivable more candidates could emerge, though thats not because of weaknesses in the current field so much as the opportunity to ride what could be a Democratic wave election year.

The sprawling field is a reversal from four years ago when Madison School Board member Mary Burke faced nominal Democratic primary opposition before losing to Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the general election.

The dynamic makes it harder for the candidates to quickly raise large sums of money, which remains an important factor in elections. In 2014, Burkes campaign spent $15.4 million and Walkers spent $29.7 million.

The challenge is in a field of 17, how do you raise money? said Pocan, who does not plan to endorse a candidate. How do you reach out and make a case to voters?

Illustrating the challenge: At a forum in Eau Claire last month, the 12 Democratic candidates in attendance seated two deep on a crowded dais got to answer only three questions each.

Republicans have characterized the field as lacking a major Democratic figure  top state Democrats such as Reps. Ron Kind of La Crosse, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee and Pocan and legislative leaders Jennifer Shilling, the state Senate minority leader from La Crosse, and Gordon Hintz, the Assembly minority leader from Oshkosh, have ruled out a run. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers has won three statewide elections, though in nonpartisan spring elections.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairwoman Martha Laning said the large field is an indicator that voters are fed up with Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature. She said the party wont be endorsing a candidate, though it might host a candidate forum. She said its unclear whether every candidate would be able to participate or if there would be some qualifying criteria.

Who knows whats going to happen? A year ago people were saying you dont have any candidates, Laning said. Its important for us to watch how the candidates run their campaigns and see how the public is responding to their messaging.

She added the advantage of having so many candidates is there are more people talking to their neighbors. When you have one person, only one person can get to so many people.

Fundraising an indicator

The first major indicator of viability will come later this month when the campaigns report their 2017 fundraising totals. Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist who worked on Burkes campaign and is not now working for any candidate, said with the exception of those who announced late in the year campaigns should have at least $100,000 cash on hand if they want to remain competitive.

The strongest candidates are going to be the ones who have been able to establish that fundraising base, have cash on hand and have been around the state multiple times to build the relationships they can leverage going forward, Zepecki said.

Without any publicly available polling on the race so far, there are other indicators that could help clarify the field, Zepecki said, including whether campaigns have hired paid staff and established a following on social media. Endorsements will become increasingly important as well.

Candidates might also distinguish themselves by developing a message that appeals to grassroots voters, said Marina Dimitrijevic, executive director of the Wisconsin Working Families Party, a liberal group that has endorsed Democratic candidates.

Dimitrijevics Milwaukee-based group is working with the Bernie Sanders-affiliated Our Wisconsin Revolution to hold a series of 20 candidate forums around the state leading up to a joint endorsement.

She said the first one last month in Milwaukee resembled a speed-dating event: Candidates moved between tables to answer voters questions while attendees could keep score for each candidate on a bingo card listing various issues such as marijuana legalization and increasing the minimum wage.

Honestly at this point nobody really wants to sit through a 15-person debate or forum, Dimitrijevic said. This next three- to six-month period is an interesting incubation period.  This is less about the candidates right now and how people are trying to get excited and build a movement around someone.

More candidates possible

The current field could grow or shrink by June 1, when candidates have to file 2,000 nominating signatures and other paperwork.

Some who have registered campaigns, including former Rep. Brett Hulsey and Sheboygan businessman Kurt Kober, said they no longer plan to run for governor. Kober said he is interested in running for lieutenant governor.

So far, nine candidates have paid campaign staff  Evers (6), former state Democratic Party chairman Matt Flynn (4), Milwaukee-area businessman Andy Gronik (7), former Wisconsin Democracy Campaign executive director Mike McCabe (3), Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin president Mahlon Mitchell (4), former Rep. Kelda Roys of Madison (2), Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma (4) and Rep. Dana Wachs of Eau Claire, who didnt disclose the number of staff he has hired. Soglin also has hired a campaign manager.

Evers, Wachs and Roys have endorsements from Democratic legislators, with Evers also landing support from former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl and Wachs endorsed by former U.S. Rep. Dave Obey. Mitchell was endorsed by Moore, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney and two unions. Flynn was endorsed by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm. Gronik said he hasnt sought endorsements and Vinehout and McCabe said their endorsements are from the people of Wisconsin who encouraged them to run.

McCabe was the only candidate with paid staff who disclosed his fundraising total to the Wisconsin State Journal, saying he expects to report more than $100,000 raised from more than 1,000 donors. Others said they will reveal their totals in an upcoming filing with the state.

Other registered candidates Michele Doolan, Bob Harlow, Dave Heaster, Andrew Lust, Jeffrey Rumbaugh and Ramona Whiteaker reported hiring no staff so far.

Nicholas De Leon and Jared Landry have registered campaigns, but didnt respond to a request for comment.

In terms of social media presence among those with paid staff, Gronik has the most combined Twitter and Facebook followers with more than 25,000 as of Jan. 2, followed by Evers (14,865), Vinehout (8,492), Roys (8,312), Wachs (6,706), Flynn (3,962) and McCabe (3,724). Soglin has 11,174 followers combined on Twitter and for his mayoral campaign Facebook page. Among those without staff, Harlow has the most followers (24,750), including the most Twitter followers of any Democrat currently running (20,922).

Walkers combined Twitter and Facebook followers total more than 640,000.

I do think with this many folks in the field and this early, social media is maybe a more important indicator right now than in the past we might have thought of it being, said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, which will likely be in the field in February asking about the Democratic candidates. Were looking at a wide range of things that individually are fallible measures of how strong a candidates campaign is, but taken together  endorsements, getting to events, staff, social media presence  these are all tea leaves, and that might be the way to think about it.

GOP narrows focus

The Republican Party of Wisconsin provided an additional indicator of which candidates are making the biggest splash so far, offering specific critiques of eight of them.

GOP spokesman Alec Zimmerman knocked Wachs opposition to the $10 billion Foxconn plant being built in Racine County with $3 billion in state tax credits, noting 450 companies in the state have applied to be suppliers.

He noted Flynn represented the Archdiocese of Milwaukee during the priest abuse scandal, Gronik was sued by a business partner, and McCabes group was funded by an organization backed by liberal billionaire George Soros.

He hammered Evers for not doing more to revoke the license of a Middleton teacher who viewed pornography at school and Vinehout for writing a character letter defending a man found guilty of possessing child pornography.

He also criticized Mitchell for quoting a poem about the Holocaust in describing the struggles of public sector workers during Act 10 and noted Roys lost a 2012 Congressional primary to Pocan by 50 points.

Walker himself called out Soglin last week for honoring then-Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro with a key to the city in 1975, calling the act extremism even by Madison standards.
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos should call off their vendetta against the administrators of the Wisconsin Ethics and Elections commissions.

Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Vos, R-Rochester, have demanded the resignations of interim Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas and Ethics Commission Administrator Brian Bell. They have besmirched their reputations with false accusations against them. And now Fitzgerald says if they dont resign, he will try to remove them from office with an upcoming vote in the state Senate.

But Haas and Bell have done nothing wrong. Thats why they have the full support of the bipartisan commissioners who hired them.

On Dec. 5, Bell received an exceeds expectations grade in his performance review from the ethics commissioners. Republican commissioner and former state Sen. and Judge Mac Davis said Bell is being unfairly tarred. The Ethics Commission has asked for a public hearing in the Senate on this matter.

On Dec. 12, the elections commissioners issued a unanimous statement in support of Haas. On Dec. 21, commissioner and former Republican Rep. Dean Knudson issued a statement also calling for a public hearing and noted the commission reviewed his job performance as interim administrator and found no evidence to support his removal.

So why are Fitzgerald and Vos going after Haas and Bell?

Because the administrators both used to work at the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board, which participated in the investigation of alleged illegal activity by Gov. Scott Walker and some powerful outside groups in what became known as John Doe II. Bell and Haas had no role in the investigation.

But Attorney General Brad Schimels report last month on the John Doe II leak to the Guardian newspaper did not call for their dismissal. It named nine individuals for disciplinary action, and none of those were named Haas or Bell.

Our two organizations, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Common Cause in Wisconsin, have interacted with Haas and Bell and have always found them to be helpful, nonpartisan and highly professional. It concerns us greatly that powerful elected officials are trying to ruin the careers of these dedicated public servants. It also concerns us greatly that these attacks are coming during an important election year, when the public needs to have confidence in our system.

Wisconsin needs strong Elections and Ethics Commission administrators with the knowledge and expertise to protect the integrity of our electoral process. Replacing administrators risks fouling up the works and fueling the cynicism of the electorate at a time when citizens need reassurance their vote matters and will be counted accurately and impartially.

Fitzgerald and Vos should call off their scurrilous attacks on Haas, Bell and the commissions Haas and Bell lead.

We also echo the calls of the commissioners for a public hearing to afford Haas and Bell the opportunity to clear their names  and to offer members of the public an opportunity to be heard on this matter. We need openness and fairness for our democracy to function properly.
Highlighting on bilateral co-operation to promote and foster trade and multilateral relations between Canada and India, its envoy to India said trade between the two countries was up by 30 per cent.

High Commissioner Nadir Patel was speaking at an event where an MoU was signed between the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Indo Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) in order to further enhance bilateral co-operation to promote and foster trade and multilateral relations.

Patel said that bilateral relation is booming with two-way trade up by 30 per cent.

Canadian investment in India has also exceeded by $15 billion. While there are about 400 active Canadian companies in India, many more have serious plans of investing in India, he said.

While three non-stop flights are already plying between India and Canada, there has been a major boost to tourism and educational ties between the two countries, he said.

Patel also indicated that West Bengal has enormous potential for Canadian companies who are already operating in India and also for such companies who would like to set up base in India.
An engineer of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) was killed and eight others were reported missing after an avalanche hit Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district, police said on Saturday.

On Friday, the avalanche struck a cab at Sadhna Top in Tangdhar area.

Search teams rescued a child from the vehicle while six other passengers were missing.

A police official said that three BRO personnel were also in the area when the avalanche struck.

Engineer Mangla Prasad Singh was killed. His body has been recovered while rescue operation to locate the eight missing people continued, the official added.
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Punjab government intends to make available the jail diary of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, free of cost in all the schools of the state.

Stating this during the inspection of the expansion project of Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh museum at village KhatkarKalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, the tourism, cultural affairs and local government minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu said he would give Rs 25 lakh from his department for making it possible.

He said in order to make available the jail diary of Bhagat Singh free of cost in all the schools of the state, he is in touch with the nephew of the martyr, Abhay Singh Sandhu.

Bhagat Singhs jail diary has been published by Kulbir Singh Memorial Foundation. The book is available in Punjabi and Hindi translations. The published diary has all the original letters written by Bhagat Singh and several notes prepared by him in jail. It also has original pictures in it.

Born on September 28, 1907, Bhagat Singh was sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case, along with other freedom fighters Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Sidhu said the state government would observe the martyrdom day of celebrated freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on 23 March as the Youth Empowerment Day.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be requested to commemorate the 23 March as Youth Empowerment Day on national scale.

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Sidhu said since Bhagat Singh is a revered national hero, Punjab government considering him a youth icon, would institute  Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Award for Youth.

Handing over the cheque worth Rs 2 Crore, sent by the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for completing the expansion work of Bhagat Singh museum, the minister said he has also sought additional Rs 8 Crore from the Union government for the beautification of the surroundings of the museum.

Sidhu said the CM Amarinder would dedicate the museum to public on 23 March. The minister said that a cafeteria plus a toilet block would also come up at the Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh museum.

Directing the all four Municipal Councils of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district to reserve half percent cess each in their respective budgets for better maintenance of the Ancestral house of the martyr at KhatkarKalan, Park and Museum, said that this measure would ensure that no stone is left unturned in the proper maintenance of the places.
Three Naxals were on Saturday arrested and a 10 kg tiffin bomb was recovered from their possession in Chhattisgarhs Kondgaon district, police said.

The cadres were apprehended from the forest between Ranapal and Nawagaon villages under Mardapal police station limits when a joint team of security forces was out on duty to ensure security to the road construction work, Kondagaon Additional Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Nag told PTI.

The construction of the road is underway between Ranapal and Bayanar in Mardapal area, around 250 kms away from here.

The composite squad, involving 41st battalion of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and local police, was carrying out patrolling to provide security to the construction works when it spotted three ultras hiding in the forest between Ranapal and Nawagaon, following which they were apprehended, he said.

A 10-kg tiffin bomb, one bundle wire, one dry battery, Maoist literatures and a Naxal banner in the name of East Bastar Division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) were recovered from their possession, Nag said.

The arrested were identified as Laxminath Korram (28), Chandan Korram (19) and Jaitrm Korram (21), he said.

The trio admitted that they were possessing explosive to target security personnel involved in security of the under-construction road, he said.

They were booked under section 3 and 4 of Explosive Substances Act and relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the officer added.
A senior police officer and an assistant sub-inspector were severely injured after being attacked by a mob in West Bengals Howrah district, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon when a team from Howrahs Shaympur police station went to Bargram village to arrest a few miscreants.

Suman Das, the officer-in-charge and ASI T.K. Purkait were chased down and beaten up by a gang of miscreants when they tried to stop a clash over a land dispute. Das has sustained a severe head injury in the attack, an officer from Shaympur police station said.

Das has been admitted to Kolkatas Belle Vue Clinic while the ASI was taken to Uluberia hospital.

Seven persons have been arrested in the case so far on the charges of attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt and deterring public servant from duty. They would be presented in the court today, the officer added.
On former colleague and actor Om Puris first death anniversary on Saturday, veteran actors Anupam Kher and Paresh Rawal expressed their sadness on the loss of a great actor and human being.

After contributing to the world of cinema with projects like Aakrosh, Arohan, Ardh Satya, Wolf, Maachis, Mrityudand and A Death in the Gunj, Om Puri died at the age of 66 on January 6, 2017, due to heart attack at his residence in Andheri, here.

Remembering Om Puri on Saturday, Anupam tweeted: Miss you my friend.

Actor Paresh Rawal also posted: Remembering shri Om Puri on his first death anniversary. A great actor and a greater human being.

Remembering Shri Om Puri on his first death anniversary. A great actor and a greater human being .  Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) January 6, 2018

The National Award winning actor and recipient of Padma Shri, was also honoured at the 89th Academy Awards in memoriam segment for his contribution in Indian and world cinema.
Actors Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, who acted together in Haider, are returning to the big screen with each other in their next film, Batti Gul Meter Chalu.

The film is being directed by Toilet: Ek Prem Kathas director Shree Narayan Singh and will feature Shahid and Shraddha in the lead roles.

Earlier, it was revealed that Shahid has been cast as the lead actor in the film, when he shared an image on his Instagram making the announcement official.

As per reports, the recent progress to the film is that Shraddha has stepped in to essay Shahids love interest in the movie.

Confirming her entry in the film, producer Prernaa Arora told a tabloid: Shraddha was keen to come on-board because it is a career-defining role. The film is a love story at its core set in a small town. It is also socially relevant as it highlights the issues of electricity shortage that the common man faces.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is an upcoming film that will put a light on the topic of shortage of electricity in various places of India. The shooting for the film is scheduled to commence in February and will wrap up by May 2018.

With that being said, the latest buzz from B-town has surely got everyone excited about the upcoming film, as the lead pair had a fantastic chemistry in Haider.
A year ago, we lost a very talented and celebrated actor, Om Puri. It was a great loss for Bollywood industry as well as the Indian film audience. Om Puri was born on October 18, 1950, in Ambala, Haryana. He was an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and the National School of Drama (NSD).

He played fantastic roles, leaving an impact on us with each of them and did over 100 films during his career in Bollywood. Paying a tribute to the Padma Shri and National award-winning actor on his birthday, we present a list of his movies, where he showcased his craft so well that it would leave you astounded. Here is a list of Om Puris top five performances.

Arohan

Om Puri played the lead role in the movie besides Victor Banerjee. The film was released in 1982 and was directed by Shyam Benegal, a phenomenal director of all times. Om Puri won the national award for the movie.

Ardh Satya

Another movie for which the veteran won the national award for best actor. Amrish Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, and Smita Patil starred alongside Om Puri. This film is considered as among one of the best movies in the Indian Film industry. It won many National awards in the year 1980.

Aakrosh

The film released in 1980 and had three brilliant actors in the cast as leads, Om Puri, Amrish Puri and Naseeruddin Shah. It went to win the National Film Award for the best feature film.

City of Joy

The actor did not confine himself to just Bollywood. He appeared in Hollywood films too, among which City of Joy is the most critically acclaimed film. It is based on a novel of the same name.

Malamaal Weekly

Om Puri played few comic roles as well in his career, in which he totally did justice to the characters. Hera Pheri was also one of them but Singh is King gave a different spin to the actors image.

All these movies and much more that arent mentioned, prove that he was and will be one the most versatile actors that the industry ever had.
Sounding the poll bugle in Meghalaya, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday landed in the hill state to address a public meeting and meet office bearers of the party in the state.

Shah will address the public rally Tikrikilla in Garo hills, the stronghold of chief minister Mukul Sangma. He will then inaugurate a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state office in Shillong.

In the evening, he will meet the core group and the office bearers of the BJP in the state.

The BJP is aiming to wrest power from the Congress in the state and Shahs visit comes at a time when the ruling Congress is finding it tough to keep its flock together.

On January 4, five Congress MLAs resigned from the Meghalaya Assembly and joined BJP ally the National Peoples Party.

From Shillong, Shah will head to another poll-bound state Tripura on a two-day tour during which he will address two rallies in Ambassa and Udaipur and attend party meetings on Sunday and Monday.

BJP is going all out oust the ruling CPI (M) which has been in power in Tripura for the last 25 years and has emerged as a formidable opponent in alliance with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT).

Both Tripura and Meghalaya assemblies have 60 seats each and are likely to go to polls in February
The Central government on Friday defended, in the Supreme Court, its Haj policy under which a quota is allocated on the basis of the Muslim population in each state as it told the court that it was not discriminatory and based on objective criteria.

The government made its stand to a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud on a plea by the Kerala State Haj Committee which has questioned the allocation of Haj quota on the basis of Muslim population that deprives Muslims in smaller states including Kerala from undertaking the pilgrimages to Makkah and Madina.

Giving the government 10 days time to respond to the plea by Kerala, the bench gave a weeks time to Kerala Haj Committee to file rejoinder if any and directed the next hearing of the matter on January 30.

The court was told that Saudi Arabian government allows India to send 1.7 lakh Haj pilgrims which in turn are distributed to the states in proportion to their Muslim population.

Appearing for the Kerala Haj Committee, counsel Prashant Bhushan described the policy as arbitrary and discriminatory, saying that more people in Kerala are desirous to undertake the Haj pilgrimage than in Bihar.

Bhushan told the court that Bihar gets the quota of 12,000 pilgrims but only gets 6,900 applicants to go and Kerala get a share of 6,000 seats while there are 95,000 applicants.

As a result, every applicant in Bihar gets the opportunity to go for Haj. However, in Kerala, the situation is not so, he said.

However, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal defended the Haj policy saying that it was formulated by the Central Haj Committee after consulting 31 State Haj Committees.
As former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav braces for the fodder scam verdict, likely to be delivered in the afternoon, the RJD will on Saturday hold a crucial meeting to chalk out a plan for the path ahead in the absence of party patriarch.

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court hearing the fodder scam case is likely to announce the quantum f punishment to Lalu at 2 pm on Saturday via video conferencing.

Hearing over quantum of sentence for five accused, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, was completed at Ranchi special CBI court earlier on Friday.

On Friday, Lalu had moved an application before the court on health grounds and sought minimum punishment in the case.

In a plea filed in the court of Justice Shivpal Singh, Lalus lawyer has pleaded to the court have mercy on his client who is a heart patient and also has diabetes.

The plea further said that the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi, where Lalu is lodged at present doesnt have clean drinking water which could be harmful to Lalus health.

Moreover, theres no provision for any medical care in case of an emergency, the court was told.

Therefore, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief should be let off with minimum punishment.

The request comes a day after Lalu told the court that he felt very cold in the jail to which the judge replied play tabla.

Interestingly, the judge on Thursday revealed that he was getting phone calls from Lalus men about the case indicating that he was being threatened.

On 2 January, the former Bihar CMs lawyer had urged the court for minimum punishment owing to the RJD chiefs age.

Lalu is likely to get three to seven years punishment, as per reports. If he is awarded three years sentence, he will be able to get bail soon.

The fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

Meanwhile, top party leaders are expected to attend RJDs emergency meeting under the leadership of former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to plan the way forward in the absence of Lalu.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday expressed concern about the violation of peoples privacy and data security due to possible leaking of Aadhar details and urged the people to be more cautious prevent data theft.

Stating that there are reports of Aadhar cards being easily available from fictitious agencies against payment of small amounts, she said she feared that such cases would be huge infringement of individual privacy and data security.

From the very beginning, I have been voicing my serious concern over violation of privacy due to Aadhar and urging to ensure a foolproof mechanism to ensure security of data, she wrote on Twitter.

I would like to request all citizens of the country to be more alert and cautious to prevent data theft and violation of privacy, she added.
After a special CBI court on Saturday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to 3.5 years in jail and fined him Rs.5 lakh in a case of fodder scam, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi took to Twitter saying, Our charges against Lalu has been vindicated by Court.

Conviction is conviction.Either 3.5 yrs or 7 yrs .Our charges against Lalu has been vindicated by Court.  Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) January 6, 2018

CBI court verdict

Lalu Yadav was likely to get three to seven years punishment, as per reports and had he got a three year sentence, the process to get bail wouldve been easy. However, now the leader would have to approach the higher court to get the bail.

Minutes after the verdict, Lalus son, Tejashwi said he would be approaching the High Court.

The judiciary performed its duty. We will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail, Tejashwi said.

The RJD leader also hit out at the BJP for conspiring against his father and called it a political witch-hunting.

Earlier, Sushil Modi had taken a jibe at Lalu Prasad Yadav after his conviction by the CBI court in the fodder scam case, Modi had said, What you sow, so shall you reap.

He had also said that RJD chief Lalu Prasad is a habitual criminal, who will never get reformed.

Lalu Prasad aadatan apradhi aur jail yatri hai, jo kabhi sudharne wale nahi hai (Lalu Prasad is a habitual criminal and a frequent visitor to jail, who will never get reformed), Modi said here a day ahead of the pronouncement of quantum of punishment in a fodder scam case by a special CBI court in Ranchi.

Sushil Modi was one of the petitioners, on whose PIL the Patna High Court had, in 1996, ordered a CBI inquiry into the cases relating to the fodder scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday wished Himchal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on his 53rd birthday and prayed for his long and healthy life.

On his birthday, I convey my greetings to Himachal Pradeshs energetic Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur. May Almighty bless him with a long and healthy life, tweeted Modi.

On his birthday, I convey my greetings to Himachal Pradesh's energetic Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur. May Almighty bless him with a long and healthy life.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 6, 2018

Thakur, who turned 53 on Saturday, is five-time legislator was sworn in as the 13th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on December 27, 2016.

Hailing from the Rajput community with a significant presence in the hill state, Thakur won from Seraj constituency in the assembly polls where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrested power from the Congress, winning close to two thirds majority.

In the 68-member assembly, the BJP won 44 seats while the Congress bagged 21 seats.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) delegation led by Meng Xiangfeng and said it was a meaningful exchange of views.

Met with the CPC Delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, member of the CPC Central Committee for a meaningful exchange of views, tweeted Gandhi attaching a picture with CPC members and Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik.

The delegation also met and held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Friday.

This meeting comes against the backdrop of Doklam standoff and both the countries making efforts to improve ties post the impasse.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Singapore on Saturday after holding talks with ASEAN Secretary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta, as India steps up efforts to strengthen engagements with the countries of the region under its Act East policy.

EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in Singapore for the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations. pic.twitter.com/340pDM5MeP  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

The ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Swaraj also interacted with Indian diaspora in Jakarta during an event organised in her honor.

Connecting with the Indian diaspora, EAM @SushmaSwaraj addressing the Indian Community at a Reception held in her honour in Jakarta. #ActEastPolicy. pic.twitter.com/pp3BKdyxlV  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Taking ASEAN-India relationship in the commemorative year! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General, ASEAN and Ms. Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia. #ActEastPolicy. pic.twitter.com/CRDqfe3zcF  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

Swaraj, who arrived here from Thailand on the second leg of her three-nation tour, also inaugurated the 5th Round Table of ASEAN India Network of Think-Tank.

In the run up to the ASEAN India Commemorative Summit, an important event in Jakarta today, EAM @SushmaSwaraj inaugurates the 5th Round Table of ASEAN India Network of Think-Tank. In attendance are FM of Indonesia Retno Marsudi, Secretary Gen of ASEAN and DG RIS, Kumar tweeted.

In the run up to the ASEAN India Commemorative Summit, an important event in Jakarta today, EAM @SushmaSwaraj inaugurates the 5th Round Table of ASEAN India Network of Think-Tank. In attendance are FM of Indonesia Retno Marsudi, Secretary Gen of ASEAN and DG RIS. #ActEastPolicy. pic.twitter.com/jd27H7BmCd  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 6, 2018

Stating that both India and ASEAN shared a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain, Sushma Swaraj said that New Delhi looked forward to working closely with the regional bloc in a range of activities like developing a Blue Economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services, and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She also said that deeper economic integration with the Asean region was an important aspect of Indias Act East Policy.

Asean is Indias fourth largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of Indias total trade, she stated. India is Aseans seventh largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 per cent increase in 2016-17, as compared to the previous year.

Pointing out that investment flows have remained robust, Sushma Swaraj said that there have been continuous efforts to promote dialogue among Asean and Indian business and trade associations, to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

The establishment of a Project Development Fund will encourage Indian companies to develop manufacturing hubs in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam) countries, she stated.

Our offer of a $1 billion line of credit is another important initiative to enhance physical and digital connectivity.

New Delhi will host a commemorative summit on January 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and the ASEAN in which all the leaders of the grouping are expected to participate.
With the Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die on Friday, the controversial triple talaq bill was pushed to the budget session that begins on January 29.

Government sources ruled out any possibility of an ordinance on the bill, stuck in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill, already cleared by the Lok Sabha, could not be passed in the upper house due to a deadlock over oppositions demand seeking its reference to a Select Committee for close scrutiny.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said he hoped that the Congress and other opposition parties would agree on passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Marriage) Bill, 2017. The legislation proposes to criminalise instant triple talaq and suggests up to three years in jail as punishment for a Muslim husband who divorces his wife by uttering talaq thrice.

Asked about a possibility of bringing in an ordinance till the bill cleared, Ananth Kumar parried a direct reply and said: The dates for the budget session have already been announced.

We hope the Congress will understand the public opinion on the issue, reconsider their stand and pass it in the budget session. There is anger among people on this issue.

The minister slammed the Congress for stalling the bill. He said they were against the empowerment of Muslim women in India.

He said the government was committed to passing the legislation, also opposed by various Muslim groups.

The intention of the (Narendra) Modi government is clear. We want equality and respect for the Muslim women, and the Congress is opposing it. They have just shown their double standard.
China on Saturday implemented a ban on exports of steel and other metals to North Korea and placed limits on the supply of crude oil and petroleum products to the country in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

In a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce announced a complete ban on the sale of iron, steel and other metals, industrial machinery and transport vehicles to North Korea, reports Efe news.

It also said that crude oil exports to the country should not exceed four million barrels or 525,000 tonnes during any given 12-month period, while the sale of refined petroleum products would be stopped after reaching the imposed limit of 500,000 barrels for 2018.

China also banned imports of some products from North Korea, including cereal, soy, and other agricultural products, some minerals, wood and electrical equipment.

These measures were announced by China in order to implement Resolution 2397 of the Security Council, adopted in December in response to the latest ballistic missile testd by the Kim Jong-un regime.

This was the 10th resolution passed by the Security Council, where China is a permanent member, to harden sanctions against Pyongyang since 2006 when North Korea carried out its first nuclear test.
A Catholic diocese in Northern Ireland has suspended the sign of peace handshake in its masses due to the risk of infection from a strain of the flu first discovered in Australia, a media report said on Saturday.

At least 170,000 cases were confirmed at the end of the Australian winter, more than twice as many as in 2016. According to health officials, there 72 flu-related deaths, the Guardian report said.

The H3N2 virus, which is also referred to as Australian flu or Aussie flu, has spread across the UK and Ireland.

A statement form the office of Bishop Noel Treanor said: Having received medical advice concerning the increasing risk and impact of Australian flu, the diocese of Down and Connor has decided to reactivate precautionary measures originally established by the diocese in response to the swine flu epidemic in 2009.

The customary sign of peace handshake exchanged during mass is suspended until the risk of infection is significantly reduced Other provisions will be made for those who suffer from a coeliac condition, such as separate chalices.

The dioceses statement also paid tribute to those working within the medical field, acknowledging that hospitals across Northern Ireland are currently experiencing high numbers of patient admissions of those suffering from respiratory illnesses directly linked to the flu virus, reports the Guardian.

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the H3N2 virus is straining resources at the National Health Services (NHS).

Its too early to say whether we are going to experience what they experienced in Australia. But that has undoubtedly created extra pressures on the system.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has declared himself mystified by the US threats to cut off funding, saying that Washingtons financial assistance was very, very insignificant and that Islamabad was on the forefront of the war on terror.

In an interview with the Guardian, Abbasi said that reports about the US was considering cuts of up to $2 billion in security assistance were bewildering because of the total aid Pakistan  civilian and military  actually received was a tiny fraction of that amount.

I am not sure what US aid has been talked here, Abbasi said in his office in Islamabad.

The aid in the last five years at least has been less than $10 million a year. It is a very, very insignificant amount. So when I read in the paper that aid at the level of $250 million or 500 or 900 has been cut, we at least are not aware of that aid.

US President Donald Trump used his first tweet of 2018 to threaten to withhold aid to Pakistan because of what he called its lies and deceit over terrorism, claiming: They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. The President said that the US had foolishly given Pakistan $33 billion over the past 15 years.

According to the US Agency for International Development, the US gave $778 million to Pakistan in assistance in 2016, of which 35 per cent was military and the rest economic.

Abbasi rejected Trumps charge of duplicity over the fight against terrorism, calling his claim that Pakistan was harbouring terrorists a fallacy.

Pakistan is a sovereign country and it has always abided by international conventions, he said.

We are today fighting the largest war on terror in the world. We are fighting the worlds war on terror with our own resources That is something the world has to appreciate.

Today we are fighting terrorists. So if somebody says we are harbouring terrorists, there is no greater fallacy, Abbasi said.

We have engaged US at every level from President Trump down. We have explained to them  what Pakistan has done we have explained to the rest of the world also.
JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has served a Rs 100 million legal notice to Pakistans defence minister for defamation, days after the government banned the Jamaat-ud- Dawah from collecting donations following US President Donald Trumps outburst against Islamabads sheltering of terrorists.

I call upon you (minister Khurram Dastgir) to send a written apology to my client (Saeed) within 14 days and seek his forgiveness and promise to be careful in future, failing which criminal proceedings under section 500 of Pakistan Penal Code punishable for two years will initiated against you, said the notice by lawyer A K Dogar who served it on behalf of Mumbai attack mastermind Saeed.

Pakistan banned JuD and FIF and other organisations from collecting donations on Monday, after Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing safe haven to terrorists.

Dastgir had said that action against JuD, Falah-i- Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and other organisations had been taken so that terrorists cannot open fire on schoolchildren anymore.

Dogar claimed the JuD has no nexus with Lashkar-e-Taiba and the UN resolution against it is illegal.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Cloudy with snow showers developing for the afternoon. High 33F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low around 25F. Winds light and variable.
The March for Life Chicago leadership is speaking out about a bill Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law forcing Illinois taxpayers to fund abortions for low-income women and state employees.

CHICAGO - Conservative, pro-life Republicans in Illinois are being scolded all the time in online discussions by not-so-conservative party leadership for being stubborn and "one-issue" voters. They'll be just a little more frustrated with pro-lifers after next week's emphasis on Chicago's annual March for Life, it appears.

A lawsuit to stop the law that went into effect January 1st is being appealed to higher courts.

On behalf of the 6,000+ pro-life advocates expected to fill Chicagos Loop for the January 14 event, March for Life Chicago Board of Directors President Dawn Fitzpatrick expressed dismay over the law forcing Illinois state taxpayers to pay for tens of thousands of abortions in the New Year.

The March for Life Chicago expects lawmakers to respect all life and to follow the rules they themselves designed, not break them on the backs of the unborn, Fitzpatrick said in a statement, focusing on the allegations that the bill never went through the required legislative steps to become law.

All who will attend the March for Life Chicago, the Board of Directors, and our supporters from across the business and religious community, are vehemently opposed to this horrific law," she said. "We are appalled that Governor Rauner went against his word and his promise to veto this bill.

Fitzpatrick continued, It makes no sense that the Illinois General Assembly should support this. Not only will this law facilitate the death of thousands of additional babies in Illinois, but now we are all forced to pay for these abortions out of our taxes. This is an utterly heinous violation of our consciences, which tell us that every life is sacred.

The Thomas More Society, one of our March for Life Chicago sponsors, has filed a lawsuit against Illinois state officials over the improper procedures, lack of budgeted monies, and mandated taxpayer funding of abortion brought about by HB 40, added Fitzpatrick. We at the March for Life Chicago applaud their work on behalf of life.

Fitzpatrick remains optimistic, declaring, Despite the notorious image that HB 40 gives Illinois, we are heartened by the support shown for the March for Life Chicago by surrounding states, from which we expect hundreds of participants.

The 2018 March for Life Chicago is Sunday, January 14, 2018, beginning on Chicagos Federal Plaza at 2 p.m. (Central). Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, and the Chicago Bears co-owner Pat McCaskey are among the featured speakers at the annual event to proclaim the sanctity of human life and call for an end to abortion.
But the tribe has a long way to go
World Banks Ease of Doing Business Report 2018 showing Indias growth the biggest among 190 nations came in the fall of 2017, and almost immediately Bombay High Court upheld Corporate Ministrys forced merger of NSELs with 63 Moons Technologies, the biggest shock for corporate India.

On paper, Indias rank rising from 130th in 2017 to 100th in 2018 reads good, though it may not necessarily mean rapid rise in investment and economic growth in the worlds second most populous nation. And the Bombay High Court decision has been described by legal luminaries as disastrous for it will end the concept of limited liability in India.

Worse, the order  an executive fiat  will adversely impact the flow of FDIs and FIIs into equity of Indian companies.

The order means NSEL, which was engulfed in a payment default crisis of Rs 5600 crore, to merge with its parent 63 moons, without even waiting for any adjudication in the said matter. And that too at a time when the entire missing cash trail had been traced to the 24 entities that had collectively defaulted to the tune of Rs 5600 crore.

So how easy is to do business in India? Does World Bank rankings matter in the face of such adverse judgements? To further illustrate the issue, why not get realistic with figures. The World Bank says the time to start a business in India  in big cities like New Delhi and Mumbai  is purportedly around 30 days for almost three years whereas the enterprise-level survey conducted by NITI Aayog and IDFC Institute says the average time to start a business in India is thrice the time offered by World Bank. In short, the gap is as high as 110 days  more than three months. For startup firms, the time taken is 85 days as compared to the 30 day period suggested in the Doing Business reports. In short, the combined weight of the evidence suggests that the recent improvement in ease of doing business rankings may not mean much for India.

The World Bank has argued strongly in favour of India, describing it as a place now competing as the preferred place to do business globally. Annette Dixon, World Banks vice president for South Asia, told reporters that starting a business is now faster because New Delhi had strengthened access to credit system and made it easier to secure to procure construction permits.

Interestingly, the report excluded the impact of PM Narendra Modis shock withdrawal of high-value banknotes last year and the implementation of a nationwide multi-rate goods and services tax (GST), steps that affected businesses and dragged the economy to a three-year-low in the April-June quarter. Dixon said the World Bank would observe the GST for couple of years to see its full implementation

But for corporate India, the NSEL-63 Moons order continued to be a subject of intense debate. Corporate India feared the order seems to have been passed with an eye on the treasury of 63 Moons without any adjudication on either of the companies. It has been proved  time and again  that the perpetrators of the NSEL crisis deliberately created the payment default with the sole intention of throwing out 63 Moons and its founder, Jignesh Shah, from the exchange businesses.

Worse, it is for the first time in the history of corporate India that the corporate veil is being lifted by merging two private companies by way of an executive order on the basis of various unproven allegations without giving the companies concerned an opportunity so that all such allegations are heard in an evidentiary trial in a competent court and without even waiting for the outcome of the sub-judice cases in the Bombay High Court.

So, how important are 'rankings' when corporate India remains uncomfortable in doing business in such sticky situations? The ranking is rarely sustained over long. For the records, seven out of ten nations which improved their ranks between 2007 and 2009 now rank worse than 2009.

The World Bank argues that the ranks are not strictly comparable because methodology changes every now and then. In 2016, the ease of getting electricity included indicators on reliability of supply, price of electricity, and transparency of tariffs. Now, if there is an altered methodology in the future, there are high chances that India could slip in rankings without any material change in regulations.

Sustained improvement does not necessarily lead to higher economic growth or greater foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, an analysis of 10 major economies which saw large improvements in their ease of doing business rankings shows. Now, these economies are those with gross domestic product (GDP) worth at least $200 billion as of 2016 which saw the largest jumps in rank between the period 2007-09 and 2018. Improvement  for the records  is measured in terms of difference between the worst ranking between 2007 and 2009 and the latest rank.

Many economies listed in the Doing Business report have climbed several places in their ease of doing business rankings, yet they haven't witnessed much improvement in growth or FDI inflows. In countries like Egypt, Turkey and Russia, investor sentiment has substantially deteriorated. Standard & Poors recently included Turkey and Egypt in its list of fragile five economies along with Argentina, Pakistan and Qatar.

In short, factors beyond control of policymakers dampened the outlook on these economies. Political instability wrecked havoc in Egypt and Turkey while Russia had to tackle sanctions and the impact of falling oil prices. So, Doing Business reports and their much-exalted rankings seldom determine a countrys economic fortunes.

As it happened in the NSEL-63 Moons case, Mumbai is still debating what will happen if the corporate veil is lifted repeatedly at will by policymakers. Who will take India seriously and invest hard cash?

Doing Business reports will gain credence if de facto ground realities are captured, as argued recently by Matthew Lillehaugen and Milan Vaishnav, fellows at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The upcoming Northeast elections will set the tune of national politics, sensing that the BJP has decided to plunge into it with all strength. All the three states have 60 assembly seats each.

Band of leaders would campaign extensively in the three states, which are also among the marginalised states in Indias Northeast. It is part of the BJPs strategy to bring entire Northeastern part of India into its kitty. After Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, if BJP could get to hold on three states in 2018, it would be able to control 22 out of 25 parliamentary seats in Northeastern India.

Interestingly, the BJP is poised to reap benefits in each of the three states. In Nagaland, it is part of the alliance  Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN)  that runs the government. In Nagaland BJP has four MLAs, but more than that its BJP which strung together the two factions of Naga Peoples Front (NPF), one led by the present Chief Minister, T.R. Zeiland and the other by former chief minister, Suhrozeili Leizitsu, prominent Naga leader in Nagaland and the chief of DAN. In Meghalaya, BJP will have to test its popularity by going alone as none of the regional parties it had tried were ready to give more than expected seats to contest.

Nagaland: BJP's unbreachable fortress

The BJP-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland has been in power in Nagaland since 2003. Last year T.R. Zeilang, chief minister of Nagaland, had to quit the office after a public outrage over his decision to allow womens reservation in the state. Leizitsu took charge replacing him. But Leizetsu was held as an authoritarian by the Zeilang faction, for sidelining Zeilangs followers in the government, and he was removed from power few months back. The tug of war almost led to split in the party which was kept in abeyance just because of timely intervention of BJPs central leadership.

BJPs Nagaland president, V. Lhoungu said, It is good that before the assembly elections they decided to sort out their differences. In fact, we stand to get benefit because of NPFs internal disturbances.

The alliance with NPF in Nagaland for the BJP is a political necessity, more than ideological. NPF is known to be close to NSCN(IM), the surrendered Naga militant group in Nagaland, and the ongoing peace treaty between NSCN(IM) and central government is part of the long political stability in the once turbulent state in India.

But BJP is not losing any chance to fish in the troubled waters. It presently has four MLAs in Nagaland. But this time it would try to contest in as many as 40 seats.

After being part of the alliance in Nagaland we grew as a party. Now we are in a position to win more seats. Also we have been able to convince people that it is the BJP government at the Centre which is contributing to bringing peace in Nagaland by holding a fruitful dialogue with NSCN(IM). Also BJP is bringing development to Northeastern states, Lhoungu told THE WEEK.

So will there be any alliance with NPF?

The BJP state president said, Yes there will be a seat sharing. But in some seats there might be no agreement as both sides would demand they would win. So we would love to contest and fight the seats on our own. I think this time we will double our tally and will win the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

We will be back in power. And after election we will select the chief minister, said Leizitsu.

The feud in NPF has ignited hope for the Congress this time, which has vowed to engage dreaded Naga outfit NSCN(K) to the talk table.

Also Congress sees no hope for BJP in Nagaland, a state which has 8 lakhs Christian voters out of 11 lakhs total voters.

Why should Christians vote for BJP? The central government restricted funds for churches, NGOs and Theological Society of Youths of Nagaland. Due to BJP governments crackdown on foreign funds, even missionary hospitals are facing fund crunch. Many people could not get their treatment in these clinics which they used to get free of cost. People would not forgive BJP, K. Therie, Congress president of Nagaland, told THE WEEK.

I am sure people would give a befitting reply to the BJP government. Also it has incurred anti-incumbancy because of the alliance with NPF. They are an opportunistic front, added Therie.

However, if BJP gets non-Christian votes in massive scale and the Christian votes are shared by NPF and Congress, BJP is bound to get a good number of seats in Nagaland.

Therie, seems to be confident about Congress' chance and said that, I am sure Congress will come back to power this time. Congress has been rejuvenated after Gujarat election. 

Such religious imbroglio exists in another Christian dominated state in the Northeast, Meghalaya, which has around 81 per cent of Christian population.

Meghalaya: Sangma's home turf

Contrary to Nagaland, in Meghalaya BJP has not found any alliance despite many attempts. Last year in the Tura byelection, after demise of former Lok Sabha speaker, P.A. Sangma, BJP supported Sangmas son and president of Nationalist Peoples Party (NPP), Conard Sangma. Conard won the seat and became an MP who is now part of the NDA.

But in the assembly election, Conard refused to get into any alliance with BJP. He cited the Manipur strategy as a reason, where BJP and NPP had fought separately and won good number of seats and later formed government.

I think none of us know our potential. Manipur has showed us a new way of fighting election. Whoever has got bigger strength and wining potential, people have voted them and made them winner. So this time NPP will fight the election without any alliance, Sangma told THE WEEK.

Asked about the post poll situation, he said with a smile, The post poll action will be decided depending on the situation after election.

Though junior Sangma did not disclose why he chose not to go for an alliance with BJP, but political sources revealed that BJPs massive anti-Christian policy along with beef ban this year has made the local political parties, opposed to Congress, jittery.

Another main political party, United Democratic Party (UDP), which had earlier formed government with NPP, was also in talk with BJP initially. But UDP has also rejected the proposal of the BJP and would fight the election alone.

Shibyun Lyngdoh, BJP president in Meghalaya, admitted that his party was trying to stitch up an alliance with both NPP and UDP.

But as of now there has been no break through. It seems we will fight alone in the election, Lyngdoh told THE WEEK.

Asked about whether its realistic to see BJP as a wining force in Meghalaya, defeating a mammoth Congress party, the leader said, Even in Manipur people used to say the same thing. But we won the election.

What Lyngdoh did not say is that, Manipur is largely dominated by Hindus and thhe party was able to cash in the votes with Naga party  thanks to Naga peace talks and Sangmas NPP being part of NDA.

But Meghalaya is not Manipur where the Congress is a big force to reckon with. Also Hindu population is as low as 11 per cent in the state, which would not allow the saffron party to play the Hindu card.

I am not ruling out the post poll alliance. I am sure that all anti-Congress parties would come and join us, to form the government if we are short of few seats, said Lyndoh.

Realising the complex situation in the state, Amit Shah has made Alphons Kannanthanam, Union minister who hails from Kerala, as the man in charge of assembly elections in Meghalaya. Once the election is over Alphons would be busy holding major talks with the parties to try to form the first BJP government in the state.

Tripura: The Red fortress

What is not possible in Nagaland and Meghalaya is possible in Tripura, a Bengali dominated state in the Northeast. The fight in Tripura will be the toughest among the three. BJP and RSS leaders are leaving no stone unturned to win the state from the communists, which has been ruling the state for the last 20 years.

BJP's face of the election campaign is RSS pracharak turned BJP organisation man, Sunil Deodhar. Deodhar has been camping in Tripura for last one year and made the state as his home for sometime. Like in Manipur and Meghalaya, BJP did not have any organisational strength in Tripura. Only scores of Congress rebels turned-Trinamool Congress leaders, who joined the party recently became the leadership of the party. Not only Deodhar, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is also holding several meetings in Tripura to remove Manik Sarkar from power.

Needless to say because of its proximity with Bangladesh, Bhagwats religious rally and Deodhars campaign rallies are drawing huge crowd making the communists unnerved.

If we could win Tripura, then Bengal will be very easy to crack, said Deodhar.

Biplab Das, state BJP president and the chief ministerial candidate, told THE WEEK, We will definitely win this time. If you feel that BJP has never won a seat in Tripura, you are mistaken. BJP had not won a single seat before coming to power in Manipur last year. We are sure we are coming to power this time (in Tripura).

Unlike other two states in the Northeast, BJP has entered into an alliance with Indigenous National Party of Tripura (INPT) and Indigenous Peoples Front Tripura (IPFT). While IPFT has recently taken out a violent movement, in which one journalist was killed, for a separate state for the tribal people, INPT has been demanding Inner Line Permit (ILP) for people visiting the state. ILP is applicable in some of the Northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

What is surprising is that INPT leader B.K. Hrangkhawal said, We had talks with BJP in which they have agreed to grand us ILP which is known as mini visa.

BJP leadership has refused to talk about the deal it made with IPFT and INPT. But CPM said the 2018 election would be the most dangerous election for the people of Tripura.

We are not at all worried about our performance. We will win comfortably. But the most alarming thing is BJP is trying to divide the state and its people. For many decades tribals and Bengalis in Tripura live in the same state in peace. RSS and BJP is all here to break that, said Gautam Das, CPM state secretariat member.

Asked whether CPM thinks Congress as a force to reckon with in Tripura, Das replied, We dont consider BJP as a force. Our government is pro poor and bound to come back to power.

Even though the communists won last elections with a huge majority of 51 out of the 60 seats, this time they seem to be nervous despite the clean image of chief minister Manik Sarkar. A teacher recruitment scam, unemployment and lack of development threatens his government for the first time in last two decades.

The mask of clean image has come off. Manik Sarkar has been exposed after so many years of dictatorship in Tripura, said Deb.

Narendra Modi has understood the religious and social structure of the Northeast states. He would not let people decide on caste, religion or social base. Modi has been a Santa to Northeastern states so far.

On December 16, Modi did not visit the poll bound states but declared from Mizoram that Centre would spend Rs 2000 crore to uplift infrastructure in Northeastern states. He has done his bit by spending on railway projects and other power projects in the Northeast. He would be spending more.

It is yet to be seen whether his attempt will pay rich dividend for his party or not.
For the third time since the Narendra Modi government's assumption of office, dalits have come into conflict with the Hindutva brigade. The first time was in Una in Gujarat, where a group of dalits were thrashed by saffron activists for skinning a cow, a traditional occupation of the 'untouchables'.

The second time was in Hyderabad Central University where a standoff between members of the Ambedkar Students Association and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) student wing, led to the suicide of a dalit student, Rohith Vemula.

Now, perhaps the most serious of all these incidents has taken place in Maharashtra following the objections of Hindu rightwing organisations to the celebrations by dalits of an 1818 battle in the village of Koregaon on the banks of the Bhima river near Pune in which the 'untouchable' Mahar soldiers of a British army defeated the upper-caste Marathas.

Considering that these celebrations have been held for decades without the rest of the country noting it as an event of great significance even when B.R. Ambedkar participated in them in 1927, it is noteworthy that they should have led this time to a outbreak of violence, which spread from Pune to Mumbai and other Maharashtra towns.

Evidently, the Hindu right groups have been emboldened by the BJP's political ascendancy to decide to stop an instance of dalit assertion, not least because it targeted the upper-caste Peshwa rulers of the state of the 19th and earlier centuries.

The episode was a much larger version of the clash, which took place in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, between dalits and the Rajputs in May last year when the former objected to the processions taken out by the Rajputs to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap. A few weeks earlier, the latter had objected to the celebrations of Ambedkar's birth anniversary by the dalits.

What these episodes show is that unlike in the past, the dalits are unwilling to commemorate their days of pride in a low-key manner and are also ready to object to the noisy festivities of the upper castes.

The Bhima-Koregaon event may have kindled the ire of the Hindu right all the more because of the unapologetic participation of the dalit soldiers with the British army to defeat a Hindu ruler.

This is something that evidently riles the ultra-nationalists associated with the saffron brotherhood at a time when they are engaged in rewriting history to suit their own fads and prejudices as is evident in their objections to a yet-to-be-released film on a fabled Rajput queen.

In such a time of triumphal chauvinism, the dalit-East India Company collaboration is obviously unacceptable to the Hindu right, especially when Ambedkar had noted that the 'untouchable' Dusads had helped Robert Clive win the battle of Plassey in 1757, just as the 'untouchable' Mahars, a community to which Ambedkar himself belonged, had helped the 'foreigners' win in Koregaon.

Not surprisingly, Ambedkar had not been a favourite of the BJP till recently when the party changed its mind about him after realising the high political cost of alienating both the Muslims and dalits.

However, the party's mann ki baat, or speaking one's mind, about the dalits was succinctly expressed by Arun Shourie, who was a minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee's government, in his book, Worshipping False Gods, in which he said that "there is not one instance, not one single solitary instance, in which Ambedkar participated in any activity connected with the struggle to free the country.

Considering that there are not too many instances of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) participating in 'any activity' to free the country, Shourie's charge cannot be taken seriously. But it does underline the traditional Brahmin-Bania outlook of the Sangh Parivar towards the dalits and their foremost leader.

The objections voiced by the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, about the continuing reservations for dalits in government jobs and educational institutions also denote the saffron attitude, which is resented by the latter.

The BJP has tried to make amends by nominating a dalit, Ram Nath Kovind, as the country's president, but it is unlikely to make any difference to the long-standing antipathy of the community towards a party whose hardliners swear by the Manusmriti, an ancient book which was once 'ceremonially' burnt by Ambedkar along with hundreds of his followers for its anti-dalit pronouncements.

For the BJP, the latest confrontation with the dalits carries a disturbing message on the eve of elections in as many as eight states this year, including those where the party is expected to face the anti-incumbency factor.

While the BJP's success in winning 69 of the 85 reserved seats in Uttar Pradesh last summer showed that the party was gaining the support of the dalits, the trend was not in evidence in the recent Gujarat elections where, among other things, the victory of the previously unknown Jignesh Mevani, by a margin of 19,000 votes, pointed to the disaffection of the dalits with the saffron organisation. Mevani emerged from nowhere after the Una incident to become a well-known figure in today's politics.

There is little doubt that fairly large sections of the dalits, who make up 16.6 per cent of the population, as well as Muslims, who comprise 14.2 per cent, harbour reservations about the BJP, notwithstanding its attempt to placate at least Muslim women by bringing the triple talaq bill. The BJP cannot but be deeply worried, therefore, about the impact of their alienation on the forthcoming elections.

-IANS
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced to three-and-half years imprisonment by a CBI court in Ranchi on Saturday in a Fodder Scam case.

Special CBI judge Shivpal Singh pronounced the sentence, which also includes a fine of Rs 5 lakh. The court had found Yadav and 15 others guilty in the case on December 23.

In order to seek bail, Yadav would have to appeal to a higher court given the relatively longer prison term of three-and-half years.

Yadav and another former Bihar chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, had been accused along with 20 others of illegally withdrawing nearly Rs 90 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1991 and 1994. Mishra was acquitted in the case.

In October 2013, Yadav was convicted in another Fodder Scam case and was sentenced to five years in jail and disqualified from Parliament. However, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court later that year.

Rather than practising BJPs Simple Rule - Follow us or We will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality.  Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

Moments after his sentencing, a defiant Yadav tweeted that he would die for social justice and harmony.







(With agency inputs)
A special CBI court on Saturday sentenced RJD chief Lalu Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

The punishment was handed down to 69-year-old Prasad by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh. This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam.

The judge also imposed a fine totalling Rs 10 lakhs on him.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in a fodder scam case for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, and other sections under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Prasad was also given a jail term of three years and six months in the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

He was fined Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and the PCA, CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said, adding that failure to pay the fine would entail another six months in jail.

The sentences will run concurrently, he said.

Prasad, who was convicted in the second case on December 23, is at present lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail.

The judge conveyed the punishment to Prasad through videoconferencing.

The court had yesterday concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against Prasad in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

It had also heard arguments on the issue of punishment for 10 others convicted in the case.

Earlier today, the court concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against five other convicts.

Prasad was given a prison term of five years on September 30, 2013, in another fodder scam case. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after having remained in jail for over two-and-a-half months.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

In 1996, the Patna High Court had ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh Treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997.

Eleven of them died and three turned approvers, while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.

On September 30, 2013, Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and several others were convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s.

Prasad faces another three fodder scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.

Meanwhile, Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav said in Patna that they will move high court against his father's conviction.

"We will move high court against Lalu Prasad's conviction and appeal for bail after studying the court verdict," he said.
Jignesh Mevani, the independent Gujarat MLA and dalit activist, has announced that he will hold a Yuva Hunkar Rally for social justice in Delhi on January 9. He said he would also lead a team to the Prime Minister's Office, with a copy of the Manusmriti in one hand and a copy of the Constitution in the other, and ask the prime minister to choose one of them.

Mevani, a first-time MLA and one of the three young Turks who brought the BJP to a sub-100 seat tally in the recent Gujarat Assembly elections, was speaking at a press conference in the national capital on Friday.

He dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the hustings in 2019, and said it was his 'fear' that had made the government lodge a 'false' FIR against him. He also demanded an inquiry into the violence against dalits at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune.

Mevani said if an MLA is not allowed to have a rally, It speaks volumes about Modi.

Asserting that he was fighting for social justice, and there would be no compromise on that, Mevani said the prime minister has to clarify his commitment to dalits, and asked why the dalit was feeling insecure in the country.

We remember Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar for the Constitution, but his ultimate goal was a casteless society. We are exploring whether there is water on Mars, but here on earth, the insect called caste is alive.

The prime minister has to speak on this. Instead I am being targeted, the young legislator said, adding that as a lawyer and a lawmaker, he stood for the rule of law, and had said nothing inflammatory, had not visited Bhima Koregaon ever and did not participate in the recent Maharashtra bandh.

Instead of targetting me, the Centre should ask the Maharashtra government whether targetting Mevani would not offend dalits, he said, adding that if caste has to be abolished, the fight on the street and people's movements are as necessary as raising the issue in Parliament and legislature.

We are not against any caste, but we are against the caste system, he said.

If an MLA raising an issue legitimately is treated thus, I shudder to think of how the ordinary citizens raising their voice over issues that concern them will be treated. The Sangh Parivar and the BJP see in me a danger for themselves in the 2019 elections. And that is why they are targeting an established dalit leader on false and frivolous complaints, he said, appealing for peace and rule of the law in Maharashtra.

A large group of youth had gathered outside the Press Club of India where Mevani was holding forth. He wrapped up his press conference saying 'We the people' have become victims of the 'Gujarat Model'.
In yet another case of sexual harassment aboard flight, an India-born man has been arrested in the US.

Prabhu Ramamoorthy, 34, who was traveling from Las Vegas to Detroit on a Spirit Airlines flight on Tuesday night has been accused of sexual assault by a female passenger who sat next to him in the window seat.

The woman said that as she woke up, her shirt and trouser buttons were undone. To her shock, she saw the Ramamoorthy's hand resting in her trousers.

Ramamoorthy, who lives in the US on temporary, visa told the police that he had taken some tablet and was fast asleep. His wife who was sitting next to him in the aisle seat said the complainant had been sleeping with her head on her husband's knees.

Ramamoorthy, who was produced in a federal court in Michigan on Friday, was denied bail.

The flight attendants told the investigators that the complainant was in tears when she came to them following the incident. She asked them if she could move to some other seat and was given the back seat.

Ramamoorthy's wife claimed that they had asked a flight attendant to move the woman out of the seat next to them. But according to the airline, only the victim asked for a seat change.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected an authors accusations that he is mentally unfit for office and said his track record showed he is a stable genius.

Michael Wolff, who was granted unusually wide access to the White House during much of Trumps first year, has said in promoting his book, Fire and Fury - Inside the Trump White House, that Trump is unfit for the presidency.

Trump, in a series of extraordinary morning posts on Twitter, said his Democratic critics and the US news media were bringing up the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence since they have not been able to bring him down in other ways.

Reagan, a Republican who was the US president from 1981-1989, was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease in 1994 and died in 2004.

Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart, said Trump, a former reality TV star.

I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!

Trump, 71, issued the tweets from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where he was meeting Republican congressional leaders and many Cabinet secretaries about their legislative agenda for the year.

The tweets were another sign of Trumps frustration at what he views as unfair treatment by the news media of his presidency amid a federal investigation into whether he or his campaign aides colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, in which he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Wolffs book has proved to be another shock to the system for Trump and his top aides, coming just as he starts his second year in office.

Wolff told BBC Radio in an interview broadcast on Saturday that based on his interviews with the people around Trump that he believed the president was unfit for office.

He told NBC News on Friday that White House staff treated Trump like a child.

The one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common  they all say he is like a child, Wolff said. And what they mean by that, he has a need for immediate gratification. Its all about him. This man does not read, does not listen. Hes like a pinball, just shooting off the sides.

Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera told Fox and Friends on Saturday that he had spoken to Trump on Friday and that he was very, very frustrated that the issue of his mental fitness was getting traction.

Trump is to undergo the first physical examination of his presidency on Jan 12. The exam was announced on Dec 7 after questions arose about Trumps health when he slurred part of a speech announcing that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

White House officials and Trumps high-profile supporters have launched an effort to raise doubts about Wolffs credibility. White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said earlier in the week that the book includes mistake after mistake after mistake.

REUTERS
Up in smoke: All 14 victims of the 1Above pub fire (above) died of asphyxiation | PTI

On December 30, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) inspected 624 restaurants and bars. Half of them were illegal constructions, and were demolished on the same day. The inspection was triggered by the fatal fire at 1Above pub, in Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel. Fourteen had died and 21 were injured.

Prateek Thakur, a Dadar businessman, said: It was only when I raised the alarm that people saw the fire, panicked and ran towards the narrow exit. There was no fire exit. He suffered five per cent burns when he went back in to look for his wife; she had also escaped, but got separated. I am sure that the fire was started by a hookah, said Thakur, who is recuperating in a private hospital.

Unable to exit the building, some people ran into a washroom on the ground floor. One of them was Prateeks brother-in-law, Lokesh. Security guards said no one should leave the washroom, and they insisted that the door be kept closed, said Thakur. However, Lokesh and the DJ of 1Above managed to escape. All 14 who died11 women and three menwere stuck in the washroom. They died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Dr Harish Pathak, head of forensics at KEM Hospital, said, If there had been a proper evacuation plan, their lives could have been saved. The postmortems were done in KEM Hospital, and none of the deceased had suffered burns.

Among the three dead men were the Lalani brothersDhairya, 28, and Vishwa, 26. The US-based bravehearts had helped 12 people escape, by guiding them to the exit. Another victim was Khushboo Bhansali, 29, who was hosting her birthday dinner at 1Above. Her husband, Jayesh, and friend Neha Waghela survived; another friend Kinjal Shah died with her in the washroom.

Managers of 1Above, Kevin Bawa and Lisbon Lopez, were nabbed by officers from the N.M. Joshi Marg police station on January 1. Three of their relatives, too, were arrested by officers from the Byculla police station. Avinash Shingte, senior police inspector, Byculla police station said, These relatives had helped Bawa and Lopez hide from the police. All three were granted bail on January 1.

Ahmed Pathan, senior police inspector, N.M. Joshi Marg police station, said Bawa and Lopez were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and were remanded to police custody till January 9. Both of them ran away as soon as the fire broke out, instead of aiding evacuation, said Pathan.

This was the third mishap in central Mumbai in 2017. The stampede on the foot-bridge at Elphinstone Road railway station on September 29 saw 23 people dying. On August 29, Mumbai got 315mm rainfall, and Dr Deepak Amarapurkar died after falling into an open manhole. Shishir Joshi, former CEO of Mumbai First, a think tank that aims to improve Mumbais quality of life, said, Two years ago, we had extended private sector support to Mumbais fire brigade. The offer faded away because city officials were more interested in financial support, rather than knowledge and capacity building.

Stalin Dayanand of Vanshakti, an NGO, said the BMCs demolition drive was just an effort to soothe public anger. How were 18 restaurants allowed in one building by the civic body? he said. In this case, the BMC should be charged with criminal negligence. Last year, the fire in City Kinara hotel in Kurla claimed the lives of eight students. Nothing has changed.
It's a tradition beloved of Scots  but soon Canadians and even Singaporeans may be piping in Scottish-made haggis.

For those marking Burns Night, this years event may be an extra special one  thanks to the arrival of seven tons of haggis in Canada from Macsween of Edinburgh.

The meat firm has started to export to Canada, where there are believed to be 4.7 million people of Scottish heritage  starved of their national dish for 46 years.

MEAT TREAT: Piping in the haggis is a feature of Burns Night

Canada lifted its ban on red meat from Europe in 2015, but a block on offal remains.

So Macsween has had to create a new recipe without sheeps lung  which may upset purists.

Haggis is made from lambs kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs, mixed with beef, oats, onions and spice. But Macsween, which started as a butchers in 1953, now even offers a vegetarian haggis.

The firm has this winter also begun exporting to Asia, shipping more than a ton of haggis to Singapore so far.

The consignments arrived in time for January 25, when Scots the world over celebrate the life of national poet Robert Burns.

Managing director James Macsween is hoping the exports to Canada and Singapore will provide a 150,000 sales boost in the year to July 2018.

He told The Mail on Sunday: Weve got a history of selling haggis abroad. Weve still been exporting throughout the year to France, Germany and the Netherlands.

'But getting products further afield is certainly high on our agenda.

Macsween sells 1,400 tons of haggis across the UK and 10 tons to other European Union markets.

It is also hopes to export to the US, once regulations have been relaxed.
At this time of year were all trying to do better  and that might well entail a new job or house move.

Some of us want both, and increasing numbers hope to find it along the wild, dramatic coastline of Pembrokeshire, the county known as little England beyond Wales.

Pembrokeshire is booming, say local estate agents, with West Wales Properties estimating a 29 per cent increase in sales agreed compared with the same time last year. Morris Marshall and Poole reports increases of 10 per cent in the countys hotspots, as compared with 3.6 per cent in the rest of Wales.

Tenby harbour: Pembrokeshire has natural attractions that are tempting new comers

There was a considerable increase in numbers relocating from London and the south-east last year, says Carol Peett, of home search company, West Wales Property Finders.

Their stories are always the same: they are fed up with the overcrowding and frenetic pace of life in the Home Counties. They come here for a quieter lifestyle and the chance to buy more property for their money.

In terms of bricks and mortar, the attractions of the county are obvious.

You need to find 524,471 for a detached house in Padstow, Cornwall, while in Pembrokeshire the average price of a similar property is 239,420, says Rightmove.

How to make a living is the over-riding problem for incomers below retirement age who still need to work.

With land being comparatively cheap, hobby farming is a possibility. There are several courses run locally on everything from pig breeding to bee-keeping.

Some would-be artisans try their hands at cider and vinegar-making, while the more ambitious run small vineyards.

Letting holiday cottages is a popular way to earn a living. Tourism contributes 525million to the local economy. Pembrokeshire Tourism says the weaker pound has persuaded many holidaymakers to opt for staycations.

Visitors come for the award-winning coastal path, the quiet beaches and the pretty harbour towns.

Emma Salmon, 48, and her husband Richard, 41, moved from Warwickshire to the Preseli mountains earlier this year, buying a 17th-century longhouse and a single bedroom cottage standing in a ten-acre smallholding for 375,000.

Superfast broadband has enabled Emma to continue her work as a psychologist, from home. To bring in extra income they rent out the cottage for a minimum of 305 a week.

The Pembrokeshire coast path near Whitesands bay

We were fully booked between Easter and September, but moving here isnt about money, says Emma, whose mother also now plans to relocate to the county. Living in Pembrokeshire is like going back 50 years  people have time to talk, theres no traffic and the air is better.

One past criticism of Pembrokeshire was its lack of fine restaurants. That, too, is changing. Restaurants such as Coast in Saundersfoot, The Grove in Narberth and The Salt Cellar in Tenby have glowing reputations while the award-winning Cafe Mor, the street food pop-up at Freshwater West, delights foodies.

Peter Heard, who previously worked in the Bank of England, bagged a slice of the action when he moved to his 14th-century farmhouse, Tregynon, in the Gwaun Valley in 1980.

Peter, 74, started a diners club  catering for a dozen or so at a time, while taking paying guests in one of the main houses three bedrooms and letting his three-bedroom annexe and two-bedroom granary. But now he and his wife, Jane, plan to move to St Davids, a 45-minute drive away.

We have an alcohol licence so new owners could develop the restaurant, he says. Its for sale with Fine and Country for 749,950, fineandcountry.com.

And he adds: If you want to get away from the rat race, theres no better place than Pembrokeshire.
MOTSHANE  When the cat is away, the mice come out to play. This was the scenario at a Shongwe homestead where a woman was found with her lover inside her marital house by her in-laws, yesterday.



An unexpected visit by *Lenhles sister in-law in the morning opened the can of worms.

The sister-in-law is said to have noted that Lenhle had a male visitor inside the house and immediately called other family members to the homestead situated at White City, Motshane.



Lenhle has been widowed for the past six years as her husband passed on in 2011. The traditional mourning period for widows in the country is two years in which women are expected to be confined and not work.

She, however, continued to reside with her in-laws.



The Shongwe family could not believe their eyes when they found *Bongani relaxed inside the house.

The love-birds were assaulted with fists and also kicked by the more than 10 people, who included family members and neighbours.

When journalists arrived at the homestead, Lenhle was found packing her belongings while Bongani sat quietly outside.



Family and neighbours waited outside on the lawn for her to finish packing before loading the moveable property on to a truck.

In separate interviews, Lenhle and Bongani both confirmed that they were in a love relationship.

Lenhle, who had bruises on her face, stated that she had tried on numerous occasions to introduce her lover to the family but instead they allegedly asked if she would bear a child as her husband had passed on.



Im also a human being and I have feelings. The family never provided me with umngeni. However, my father in-law gave me a go-ahead to find someone to love, she said to giggles of some women who were following the interview.

A family member, Sihlenge Shongwe, confirmed that the couple was found inside the house.



They were found by my wife. She had come to ask Lenhle to accompany other family members to check on our ailing father. She was shocked to find a man in my brothers house, he said.



The visibly angry Sihlenge pointed out that this was not the first time they had allegedly caught Lenhle with a man inside the house.

After the first incident, he said she was strongly warned to refrain from bringing men to her marital home.



He went to state that his sister in-law was also told that she could visit her male friends but not to bring them over to the Shongwe compound.

On the latest incident, he said they had no alternative but to take her back to her parents at Hawane. According to Swazi Law and Custom, when a wife is found to have committed adultery, she is sent back to her parental home where she is expected to be cautioned.

Asked if they had assaulted the couple, Sihlenge said they had no option but to take the matter into their own hands.



The areas Umgijimi, Christopher Dlamini, also confirmed that they were called by the Shongwe family to come witness the drama.

To my knowledge, the family once reported her affair at the royal kraal. She was in the company of her mother, he alleged.

No decision has been taken by the traditional authorities relating to the allegations against the widow.

He explained that the Shongwe family was expected to make its own decisions on the matter.

Speaking as a traditionalist, Dlamini said the Shongwe family had the right to send her back to her parents.

She was assisted by the Shongwe family to load her belonging on to a truck.

Not their real names


MBABANE  It is no longer uncommon to experience dagga wars in peaceful Swaziland.



One of such wars was, however, averted when a group of men who had been robbed of the illegal drug were arrested after they allegedly hijacked a taxi because they did not want the said thieves to recognise them as they approached.



Before embarking on the trip, Stephen Gamedze (23) of Mpaka under Chief Ndlondlo and Celumusa Maziya (30) of Nhlambeni under Chief Matatazela, who were travelling with Mduduzi Dlamini and Ndumiso Sangweni were robbed of dagga by some men at KaNcesi in the Hhohho Region.



Gamedze said this was after they had purchased the dagga at E26 000. He stated that they had travelled only less than a kilometre when a group of men who were heavily armed demanded that they give them the dagga.

According to Gamedze, their two friends, Dlamini and Sangweni, were the ones who robbed the taxi man of his vehicle which they were travelling in when they were apprehended by the Big Bend police.



He said they were going to claim back their dagga from their alleged robbers. Gamedze alleged Dlamini and Sangweni fled when the police stopped them.



Gamedze said he and Maziya were not aware that their friends had hijacked and robbed the taxi man, German Mbokodvo Nzima, of his vehicle, a Toyota Cressida registered QSD 878 BH.



Maziya was allegedly hired at Nhlangano by Dlamini and Sangweni to fetch Gamedze and Maziya at Matsanjeni. Gamedze denied that he and Maziya committed the offence but admitted that they witnessed it.
FORT EDWARD  An 81-year-old driver backing up to off-load items for a food bank struck a woman, sending her to the hospital, Washington County sheriff's officials said.

Deputies were called to an accident in the parking lot near the county annex building off Route 4 in the town of Fort Edward Friday, Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said.
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Colonie

Something will be missing at Albany International Airport starting Monday.

The United Express turboprop aircraft that have ferried passengers to and from Newark and Washington Dulles airports are making their last scheduled trips Sunday.

On Monday, they'll be replaced by regional jets that are faster and can fly higher.

CommutAir, a United Express regional carrier, started operating the Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops more than a decade ago, when it used them to replace smaller 19-seat Beech 1900 aircraft.

Of the 21 Dash 8s operated by CommutAir, 16 could accommodate 37 passengers, while five could each hold 50.

The switch was a big deal. The pressurized Dash 8s had a lavatory, overhead bins and a flight attendant, all of which were lacking from the Beech aircraft.

And the seats were comfortable. Seat pitch was 31 inches, with 17.3 inches of width on the 37-seaters and 19 inches on the 50-seaters, according to seatguru.com.

But some travelers complained that the Dash 8s were loud. The engines were on the wing, right outside the middle of the fuselage.

They also did not fly very high. That meant weather could be an issue, with the aircraft bouncing around on windy days.

For Albany, the planes were also a job creator. When CommutAir relocated its maintenance base in 2014 to Albany International Airport from Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport, it brought 85 jobs.

While the airline previously had a maintenance base in Albany, it was for the smaller Beech 1900s. That base closed in 2005, when it moved to Cleveland.

At one time, CommutAir operated a hub at Albany for what was then Continental Airlines, providing nearly 50 flights a day to smaller airports throughout the Northeast.

Increased security following the Sept. 11 attacks put an end to the short flights  it became more convenient for many travelers to drive to their destination  and the hub operation ended.

United acquired Continental, which had a hub at Cleveland, and CommutAir began flying as United Express.

But when United decided to reduce the Cleveland hub, CommutAir returned to Albany, although its headquarters remains in North Olmsted, a Cleveland suburb.

Last August, CommutAir and United announced plans to replace the Dash 8s with 21 Embraer 145 regional jets.

Employment has since grown to more than 130 in Albany.

On Wednesday, Joel Raymond, CommutAir's chief operating officer, said the jet fleet had already grown to 23, with plans to expand to 60, roughly three times the size of the turboprop fleet.

While the Embraer seats are similar in size to those on the Dash 8, the planes "fly faster, farther, and over the weather," Raymond said.

The fleet growth has meant more jobs in Albany.

"The maintenance organization continues to grow across the system, but the primary focus is Albany," Raymond said.

The phase-out of turboprops means United, which owns 40 percent of CommutAir, will become a nearly pure-jet carrier.

But not quite, noted United spokesman Charles Hobart.

Cape Air, the Hyannis, Mass.-based airline, which has a maintenance base next to CommutAir's at Albany International Airport, operates three turboprops for United Express that fly local routes out of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

eanderson@timesunion.com  518-454-5323
Rotterdam

Town police said Saturday they are searching for a man who robbed Jewels at ViaPort on Friday afternoon.

At about 4 p.m., a man entered the store and when a clerk was not looking, he reached over the counter and stole four diamond rings from the counter. The suspect is described as black, about 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-9, who was wearing a yellow Patagonia jacket and matching yellow shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 518-355-7397. Jewels is offering a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. For a video of the incident, see http://www.timesunion.com.
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BROOKSHIRE, Texas - A dad in the Katy area is living a dream that started when he was just a kid - he has an airplane for a house.

Joe Axline of Brookshire loved watching the show "The Magician" as a child. In the show magician Bill Bixby lives in an airplane and flies around solving crimes.

Axline doesn't get to fly around, but he does have a fun living arrangement. He has been working on this project, which he calls Project Freedom, since he got divorced in 2011.

"I got tired of being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it," Axline said.

Now Playing: Latest Local And State News Video: Houston Chronicle

There are currently two plane front ends on his property, one 50 feet long and one 60 feet long. But only one, a Mcdonnell Douglas MD-80, is habitable so far. Axline renovated the inside, adding things like flooring, a water well and sewer system and waterproof electrical wiring.

The latest improvement is the addition of new living room furniture.

WHO NEEDS A KITCHEN ISLAND? Unusual homes around the world

The plane holds a living room, small office space, bathroom, master bedroom and a sleeping area for Axline's kids, 14-year-old Sabrina and 17-year-old Wesley. He said the teenagers have enjoyed the home-in-progress.

Axline officially moved into the plane in August 2012. He had slept inside it before the renovations, but since planes aren't insulated against cold, it wasn't such a nice place to stay on one 32-degree December night.

"It was freaking cold," Axline said. "I'm surprised I didn't die, actually."

Axline plans to put a theater, music, arts and craft room in the second plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9. His other plans for the property include an auxiliary building made to look like a control tower and the addition of airplane wings to enhance the experience.

The DC-9 has another cool feature - a completely renovated cockpit with all of the instruments and lighting. Axline said pilots have told him the cockpit is cleaner and better-looking than it was when it was in service.

The 50-foot DC-9 was purchased from Sawgrass Mills Mall in Florida, where it has served as a display. The 60-foot MD-80 was brought in from Arkansas.

Axline said the DC-9 was 65 feet long when he purchased it, but cutting off 5 feet dropped the transportation price from $10,000 to $5,000. He declined to comment on the price of Project Freedom as a whole.

Unique houses run in Axline's family, he said. One brother has an underground home, and another lives in a dome house.
By PTI: Jammu, Jan 6 (PTI) Ten drug smugglers and peddlers were arrested and around 7 kg of heroin worth Rs 7 crore in the international market was seized in Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said today.

A racket of drug traffickers was unearthed in the AkhnoorAborder beltAof Jammu with the arrest of five people and seizure of 7 kg of heroin smuggled from Pakistan, IGP (Jammu) SD Singh Jamwal said.

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A case was registered at the Akhnoor police station, he said.

Besides, Gandhi Nagar police apprehended four persons, including a former selection grade constable, in Jammu and another person in Samba district for peddling drugs.

Another drug peddler was arrested from the Vijaypur belt of Samba. 3 kg of poppy was seized from him. PTI AB GVS

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Albany

The mother of a developmentally disabled woman who was killed in a 2009 fire in a state-run group home has been awarded $4 million in damages.

Gloria Bonilla, who was 52, had spent the early part of her life in the states Willowbrook center in Staten Island. After Willowbrook was closed following revelations of abuse, Bonilla was moved upstate and eventually ended up in what was the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilitys Riverview residential center in the Hamilton County community of Wells.

The agency used to be known as the Office for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

The fire that erupted in the pre-dawn hours at the Riverview home killed a total of four disabled residents including Bonilla.

Evidence in the trial before Court of Claims Judge Diane Fitzpatrick in Utica found that Bonilla, who was essentially non-verbal and subject to seizures, survived for 3 1/2 hours in nearly unimaginable pain after the fire as rescue workers rushed her via ambulance and helicopter to Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville where she later died.

More for you Group home deaths faulted

There were no comparators to this case, said plaintiff lawyer Evan Foulke, of the Foulke Law Firm in Goshen. It was a really hideous and sorrowful fact pattern, he added.

The court found the state to be negligent in 2014 but the case was appealed. The appeal failed and went back to the Court of Claims where there was a week-long trial in early 2017.

Fitzpatricks decision was in October and it was entered into the record in December in Syracuse.

Briefs in the case revealed how Bonilla had suffered burns over much of her body including many third-degree burns and was found in a fetal position in the wreckage of the building after the blaze ran out of control.

Bonillas mother, Delia Davila, 82, lives in Puerto Rico but has previously lived in New York and is planning to return, said Foulke.

The Riverview fire was a watershed moment for OPWDD as subsequent investigations by state fire officials and the agency itself as well as a Hamilton County grand jury revealed serious lapses in training for the people who worked there, as well as questions about the adequacy of the sprinkler system.

Subsequently, there were also reports of falsified fire drills at other OPWDD residences. The agency runs dozens of small group homes across the state where disabled New Yorkers live.

The Riverview home, which was relatively new, also burned exceedingly fast and hot, according to court papers which described the fire as a rapidly moving inferno with melting and dripping vinyl siding, burning shingles and flames so hot that a door to the buildings mudroom melted.

Moreover, some of the residents, confused and disoriented, were believed to have been brought out by the workers only to wander back into the blaze.

OPWDD later overhauled many of their safety procedures and rules for fire drills.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
Washington

The Trump administration is working with key lawmakers on a legislative fix that could enable the United States to remain in the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

The changes to the U.S. law codifying America's participation the 2015 agreement could come as early as next week or shortly thereafter, Tillerson said. President Donald Trump faces a series of deadlines in the coming days about how to proceed with an accord he describes as terrible and too soft on Iran. While the talks involving administration officials and members of Congress wouldn't strengthen any restrictions on Iran's nuclear activity, as Trump also wants, they could result in face-saving measures that would persuade him to stay in the deal.

"The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it," Tillerson told the AP as he sat in front of a fireplace in his State Department office suite. "We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it."

In a wide-ranging interview, Tillerson also chastised the European Union for failing to voice support for protesters in Iran. On North Korea, the former Exxon Mobil CEO said rare talks next week between South Korea and the North about the Olympics could offer clues about Pyongyang's willingness to discuss broader issues, including its nuclear weapons.

Trump hasn't made a decision about what he'll do on Iran next week, when he must decide yet again whether to certify Tehran's compliance with the nuclear pact and continue granting its economy relief from years-old U.S. sanctions.

Tillerson said the administration was speaking with congressional leaders "on a very active basis" about a fix. He suggested Trump might be inclined to preserve the deal by waiving sanctions again on Jan. 12 if there were signs Congress would act in short order.

One option lawmakers are discussing with the White House is removing the requirement that Trump certify Iranian compliance. Another possibility is changing the law so certification occurs far less often, officials said.
Like many young people, I first read George Orwell's "1984" as a high school student, which for me was right in the midst of the social turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War in the late 1960s.

Even in those turbulent times, it was inconceivable to me that our country could ever approach anything like the thought control Orwell envisioned. Democracy would surely temper any tendency toward totalitarianism.

I may be proved wrong.

Political parties and politicians will always use language and rhetoric to shape attitudes, mobilize supporters and fan the flames of discontent.

In a democracy, one would expect the operations of government to remain somewhat insulated from this, and continue to function within more rational bounds  yet still reflecting the political philosophy of those elected to high office. But we have now come to the point where even empirical information and language is subject to (I cringe even using the term)  thought control.

How else are we to interpret the most recent reports from the Washington Post, in which science-oriented agencies are given orders prohibiting the use of certain words, and mandating euphemistic alternatives?

Our national Centers for Disease Control is now prohibited from using terms such as: science-based, evidence-based, fetus, and transgender, amongst others. The State Department now must use  sexual risk avoidance  instead of  abstinence only.

This is over and above the removal of scientific data, a matter widely reported earlier this winter  and that, after 11 months into his term, the president has yet to appoint a White House science advisor.

The availability of information today can feel overwhelming  most people in the industrialized world carry in their pockets access to information that exceeds the greatest libraries of history. Ironically, this easy access to vast troves of information can also lead to confusion  after all, who can keep up with the information overload?

Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter.

This information overload also makes us vulnerable to those tending toward demagogic and authoritarian ways. Sowing confusion weakens the electorate, and strengthens those wielding power and authority  and Donald Trump is nothing if not a master of sowing confusion in order to consolidate his authority.

The speed and complexity of the modern world drives us to seek honest brokers of information to sort the facts from the avalanche of information we face. Ideally, we would see this in our elected leadership and government, even amongst those of differing political philosophy.

We Americans will always be a contentious bunch, encompassing a wide range of political leanings and approaches to governing. But one would hope that at some level, facts actually matter, and can inform the complex operations of governing.

Lacking that, the electorate carries the responsibility of change. I just hope that our democracy is resilient enough to withstand the chaos and swing the pendulum back toward the government our founders envisioned.
The icy air and blowing snow that has been impacting the region will continue through the we
[January 05, 2018] CoinDesk Partners with Revcontent to Monetize 1000% Traffic Growth

This past year, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency took the world by storm when the value grew by over 1200 percent in just one year. As people scrambled to learn about this hot market, websites like CoinDesk provided dedicated content to help teach people how to profit. CoinDesk is the leading digital media, events and information services company for the digital asset and blockchain technology community. As the number of visitors to CoinDesk grew by over 1000 percent from 2016 to 2017, Jacob Donnelly, the director of marketing at CinDesk, was looking for ways to generate revenue off of the traffic they were bringing in.



CoinDesk looked to Revcontent for help. In late 2017, CoinDesk exclusively partnered with Revcontent to provide content recommendation and since have seen a dramatic impact on their revenue.

"We have actively been testing different partners for a native content unit for a while now and found that Revcontent has delivered 8x the RPM compared to other networks we have tried," said Donnelly. "Further, the team is available whenever there are questions. We're excited to work with Revcontent in 2018 and look forward to growing with them." Because of the exclusive partnership with CoinDesk, Revcontent advertisers are able to reach an audience of over 12 million unique visitors per month, a number that is sure to grow as the popularity of Bitcoin expands in 2018. "Revcontent is thrilled to partner with CoinDesk to deliver content recommendation through the Revcontent network," said John Lemp, CEO and Founder of Revcontent. "When we decide what types of publishers we want to work with, we are looking for media partners like CoinDesk who are the leaders in their industry with extremely loyal followings. We look forward to helping CoinDesk capitalize on their growth as we enter the new year." About Revcontent Revcontent is the world's largest content recommendation network, according to Quantcast (News - Alert), powering 250 billion content recommendations per month. Revcontent partners with the largest media brands in the world such as Newsweek, Fast Company, The Atlantic and more. Founded by John Lemp, Revcontent's headquarters lies in Sarasota, Florida with global offices including London, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Mumbai, Toronto, and more coming soon. Revcontent reaches 97% of US households, according to Quantcast, and has been featured in The Huffington Post (News - Alert), Fox News, and more. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005826/en/

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[January 05, 2018] LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE ALERT: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $100,000 In Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. To Contact The Firm

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, reminds investors in Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. ("Omega" or the "Company") (NYSE:OHI) of the January 16, 2018 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. If you invested in Omega stock or options between February 8, 2017, and October 31, 2017 and would like to discuss your legal rights, click here: www.faruqilaw.com/OHI. There is no cost or obligation to you. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all those who purchased Omega securities between February 8, 2017, and October 31, 2017 (the "Class Period"). The case, Gronich v. Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. et al, No. 1:17-cv-08983 was filed on November 16, 2017. The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose that: (1) financial and operating results of certain of the Company's operators were deteriorating; (2) certain of the Compay's operators were experiencing worsening liquidity issues that were significantly impacting the operators' ability to make timely rent payments; and (3) as a result, certain of the Company's direct financing leases were impaired and certain receivables were uncollectible.



Specifically, on July 26, 2017, the Company reported its second quarter 2017 financial results. During a conference call held the next day by the Company, Chief Operating Officer Daniel Booth stated that the Company continued "to see certain regional operators struggle with various operational pressures" and that two of the Company's top ten private operators had seen margins and coverages decline, which created liquidity concerns. On this news, the Company's share price declined from $33.45 on July 26, 2017, to $32.10 on July 27, 2017 - a $1.35 or a 4.04% drop.

Then, on October 30, 2017, Omega announced its third quarter 2017 financial results. The next day, the Company held a conference call to discuss its results, wherein Daniel Booth disclosed that the Company "[continued] to experience specific operator performance issues" in addition to issues with Signature Healthcare, due to "liquidity issues [that] are impacting the ability of these operators to pay rent on a timely basis." During the same call, Robert Stephenson, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, stated that the Company's decrease in operating revenue "was primarily a result of placing Orianna on a cash basis". Following the announcement, Omega's share price fell from $30.97 per share on October 30, 2017 to a closing price of $28.86 on October 31, 2017 - a $2.11 or a 6.81% drop. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Omega's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005832/en/

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By PTI: By K J M Varma

Beijing, Jan 6 (PTI) Thirteen people have been killed in heavy snowstorms in Chinas Anhui Province in the last three days as blue alert has been sounded for blizzards.

The worst snowstorms since 2008 have so far affected 1.06 million people in the province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The storms caused direct economic losses of 1.26 billion yuan (USD 190 million) and 790 million yuan (USD 122 million) of losses in agriculture.

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Nine cities, including capital Hefei, initiated emergency responses due to the snow.

At least 10 people were killed by the heavy snow in five provinces of central and eastern China since January 2, according to the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction.

Besides Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Shaanxi provinces have all suffered from heavy snow this week.

Also Chinas national observatory maintained a blue snowstorm alert for the next two days as heavy snow continues to hit the countrys central regions.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said it expects blizzards to dump 4 to 8 centimetres of snow in parts of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Hubei. Some areas could see more than 10 centimetres of fresh snow.

In the countrys four-tier warning system, red represents the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The observatory advised residents to stay indoors and urged local authorities to take precautions regarding roads, railways, electricity and telecommunications.

The first snow of the new year has hit large parts of northwestern, central and eastern China since Wednesday, which has brought up to 20 centimetres of snow cover to some regions.

It has also damaged houses, agriculture and power facilities, the report said.

The weather has affected about 13,100 hectares of farmland and destroyed over 900 hectares, causing direct economic losses of 510 million yuan (USD 78.6 million). PTI KJV AJR UZM

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[January 05, 2018] Meltdown and Spectre Show National Action is Needed on Hardware Cybersecurity

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- From the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies  The recently disclosed major hardware security vulnerabilities in microprocessor chips from INTEL, ARM, AMD and others should drive home the point that secure hardware is the critical element in Cybersecurity. The risk introduced by these flaws are not just to your phone and laptop  these chips are also used in critical infrastructure, defense and weapons systems. Action must be taken to address these hardware vulnerabilities, and to proactively prevent and protect against future compromise. Dozens of studies have been conducted on hardware vulnerabilities in defense systems. But policymakers have only recently begun to recognize that hardware security is a serious issue. There are a few policy steps that could significantly reduce the serious threat from this type of vulnerability: A Comprehensive Hardware Cyber Initiative is needed. The US government needs trusted and assured access to critical chips. Hardware Security Research should be prioritized.



. The recent disclosures of serious hardware vulnerabilities in widely used microelectronics chips should be a sobering wake up call to finally take decisive action on this issue. For years, policymakers have been waiting for a "Cyber Pearl Harbor" to make us take this problem seriously. "Meltdown" and "Spectre" show that this is happening now. We need to act now to make serious investments in hardware security to deal with this critical issue of national security.

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS) is an independent, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit public policy research institute. PIPS identifies and shepherds discussion on key science and technology issues facing society. From these discussions, PIPS develops meaningful policy options and ensures their implementation at the intersection of business and government. For further information see www.potomacinstitute.org. Media inquiries please contact: [email protected], 703-525-0770. Follow us on Twitter: @PotomacInst View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meltdown-and-spectre-show-national-action-is-needed-on-hardware-cybersecurity-300578495.html SOURCE Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

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[January 05, 2018] Get to Know the Revolutionary Medical Innovations Being Unleashed in Canada

Next week, leading Canadian health startups will be the ones to watch during J.P. Morgan's healthcare conference in San Francisco. More than two dozen health firms in MaRS' network, from fields including artificial intelligence (AI), digital health and robotics, will be in Silicon Valley for the week of conferences and events. Health investors are paying attention to Canada, particularly to Toronto's hot market. According to Thomson Reuters, venture capitalists (VCs) invested over $1.1 billion in Canadian life-science companies in 2016, the most on record in a single year and double the amount of VC funding in 2015. There were also a record number of deals in 2017, particularly in AI and healthcare. "Investors are beginning to take note of Toronto as an under-tapped market for health startups," says Salim Teja, president of MaRS Ventures Services. "VCs and large health corporates globally are drawn to our capacities in science and healthcare delivery. We have a strong network of hospitals and research institutes in a highly concentrated area. Toronto is on par with leading health clusters and innovation hubs globally." MaRS is the world's largest urban innovation hub, with 1.5 million square feet dedicated to supporting multidisciplinary discoveries in the heart of Canada's biggest city, next to the University of Toronto and dozens of research hospitals. "VCs look to invest in transformative innovations that can significantly improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease," says Brad Bolzon, managing director and chairman of the investment team at Versant Ventures. "In Canada, we've seen world-class science translated into startups that hold the promise of developing truly differentiated products for patients." Each year, hundreds of investors from around the world are drawn to Toronto for MaRS' annual health startup showcase. This year's Toronto Health Innovation Week, running from April 9 to 13, is expected to be the largest health investor gathering in Canada. Here are some of the Canadian health companies descending on San Francisco during J.P. Morgan's annual health conference. Artificial intelligence in healthcare

Toronto-based health ventures are leveraging big data to transform medicine with new tools for doctors, patients and consumers. Diverse talent, leading research hospitals and innovation platforms like MaRS and the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, along with vast troves of health data, are supporting Toronto's emergence as a world-leading market for AI and health innovation. The following companies are combining machine learning and life science to develop new therapies, diagnostics and preventative treatments. Atomwise invented the use of deep learning for rational drug design, and is working with leading pharmaceutical and agrochemical organizations on dozens of diseases.

invented the use of deep learning for rational drug design, and is working with leading pharmaceutical and agrochemical organizations on dozens of diseases. Cyclica has developed a cloud-based AI-assisted platform used by pharma to screen small-molecule drugs against all known human protein structurs in an effort to navigate the drug-discovery pipeline more efficiently.

has developed a cloud-based AI-assisted platform used by pharma to screen small-molecule drugs against all known human protein structurs in an effort to navigate the drug-discovery pipeline more efficiently. WinterLight Labs ' AI technology can quickly and accurately break down speech and language patterns to help detect and monitor cognitive and mental diseases like Alzheimer's.

' AI technology can quickly and accurately break down speech and language patterns to help detect and monitor cognitive and mental diseases like Alzheimer's. Swift Medical delivers an advanced mobile wound care management app for healthcare enterprise, completely streamlining clinical and administrative workflows from capture to claim.



Therapeutics, devices and robotics

From the foundations of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the discovery of insulin and stem cells, Toronto has a history of medical and scientific breakthroughs. Today, sixteen of the world's top 25 medical device makers call Toronto home. This includes Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and GE Healthcare , as well as more than half of Canada's estimated 1,100 medical device companies. The following innovators are developing products and therapies that will make a difference around the world.

BlueRock Therapeutics is pioneering cell therapies that replace dead, damaged, or dysfunctional cells to restore critical natural functions in the body. The company is initially targeting severe brain and heart conditions, two areas of critical unmet medical need.

is pioneering cell therapies that replace dead, damaged, or dysfunctional cells to restore critical natural functions in the body. The company is initially targeting severe brain and heart conditions, two areas of critical unmet medical need. Northern Biologics is developing a portfolio of antibody-based therapeutics based on relevant targets in the tumor microenvironment.

is developing a portfolio of antibody-based therapeutics based on relevant targets in the tumor microenvironment. eSight creates electronic glasses that enable the legally blind to actually see.

creates electronic glasses that enable the legally blind to actually see. Induce Biologics develops bioimplants to regenerate bones in a more cost-effective and less harmful way than traditional solutions.

develops bioimplants to regenerate bones in a more cost-effective and less harmful way than traditional solutions. Medella Health develops novel sensors, using machine learning to monitor health biomarkers for medical devices ranging from smart contact lenses to point-of-care solutions. Digital health and mobile medicine

Toronto is also a leading hub for digital health with innovators using technologies such as digital sensors and mobile medicine to empower patients and healthcare professionals. Here are a few of the companies with digital solutions that connect medical professionals, patients, records and research. Mavencare is a technology enabled homecare company dedicated to supporting seniors and their families to promote aging in place. The company operates in Toronto, New York City and Boston.

is a technology enabled homecare company dedicated to supporting seniors and their families to promote aging in place. The company operates in Toronto, New York City and Boston. Memotext offers a phone messaging service that sends reminders to patients about their medications and is adaptive to their individual behaviors to provide timely notifications that improve outcomes.

offers a phone messaging service that sends reminders to patients about their medications and is adaptive to their individual behaviors to provide timely notifications that improve outcomes. Mozzaz delivers mobile solutions for "high-need, high-cost" complex care patients and the teams that support them. Personalized, interactive care plans enable patients to engage in their care and stay connected to care teams for support.

delivers mobile solutions for "high-need, high-cost" complex care patients and the teams that support them. Personalized, interactive care plans enable patients to engage in their care and stay connected to care teams for support. Pulse Infoframe makes medical research more collaborative. Its platform allows pharmaceutical and medical device companies, researchers and patients to share key data insights, helping to advance the understanding and treatment of cancer and rare diseases. About MaRS Discovery District

MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) in Toronto is one of the world's largest urban innovation hubs. Our purpose is to help innovators change the world. MaRS supports promising ventures tackling key challenges in the health, cleantech, finance & commerce, and work & learning sectors as they start, grow and scale. In addition, the MaRS community fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration to drive breakthrough discoveries and new solutions to be adopted in Canada and beyond, growing our economy and delivering societal impact at scale. MaRS Health supports over 350 Canadian health technology startups with advisory support and connections to capital, talent, global partners and customers. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005844/en/

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[January 05, 2018] CES 2018 - DisplayLink Announces 'One-Size-Fits-All' Initiative to Address the Challenges of Hot Desking

On the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES (News - Alert)), DisplayLink, the leading provider of USB graphics technology, revealed a 'One-Size-Fits-All' initiative to simplify the creation of flexible office environments and address the challenges faced by IT and infrastructure managers when deploying hot desking solutions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005846/en/ DisplayLink (News - Alert) - Making Hot Desking Simple (Graphic: Business Wire) As companies endeavor to become more adaptable, the traditional view of an office is changing. Hot desking, a workspace sharing model where multiple employees use a single physical workstation at different times during the day, offers advantages for organizations looking to reduce building space and office costs. The model also promotes increased levels of communication and improved professional relationships within a company. With support for any computing device, any operating system and any processing architecture, DisplayLink's unique USB graphics technology simplifies hot desking scenarios for companies by eliminating compatibility and connectivity problems as employees move in and out of a workstation. The technology powers an extensive line-up of universal USB docks, monitors and adapters from globally-recognized brands.



"DisplayLink works closely with key industry partners, customers and Fortune 500 companies to ensure a seamless end-user hot desking experience," said John Cummins, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DisplayLink. "By offering a simple 'Plug and Display' experience across all of today's computing devices we strive to provide infrastructure managers and end-users with the confidence that when using DisplayLink solutions, it just works." DisplayLink's products uniquely allow IT managers and infrastructure planners the ability to bridge the transition between legacy notebooks / desktops and the very latest platforms. If it has a USB connection 'It just works'. DisplayLink universal docking solutions meet the needs of the entire organization with connectivity spanning USB-A through to USB-C with power to charge the notebooks, productivity is accelerated with the addition of multiple displays and their integrated LAN, Audio and USB ports ensure a centralized connectivity solution meeting a variety of use-cases across all departments.

Join DisplayLink at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Hall 3 (upper level), booth #31772 from January 9-12, 2018 to experience the ultimate in hot desking. About DisplayLink - Plug and Display Solutions DisplayLink (www.displaylink.com) develops hardware and software solutions to enable easy connectivity between monitors, virtual reality HMDs and computing devices over standard interfaces such as USB, Ethernet, and wireless networks. DisplayLink's enterprise technology increases productivity and ease-of-use in the multi-display workspace and is deployed to millions of users through globally branded PC products. DisplayLink's XR solution enables a fully immersive, cable-free experience for virtual reality users. Follow DisplayLink on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. DisplayLink and the DisplayLink logo are registered trademarks of DisplayLink Corp. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005846/en/

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Mumbai Police has pasted wanted posters outside the residences of 1Above pub owners, who have been absconding since the day of the Kamala Mills fire.

By India Today Web Desk: After announcing a reward of Rs 1 lakh to those who provide information about the whereabouts of the '1 Above' owners, the Mumbai Police today pasted wanted posters outside their residential buildings.

The pub owners, Kripesh Mansukhlal Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, have been absconding ever since a fire claimed 14 lives and injured over 30 others on December 29 at 1 Above pub in Kamala Mills.

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An offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304, 337, 338, 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the three at the N M Joshi Marg police station following the incident.

An official said that police teams are trying to track the three and a lookout notice had also been issued.

MOJO BISTRO OWNERS MENTIONED IN FIR

After fire tenders released a report stating that the fire that engulfed 1Above and other buildings in the Kamala Mills started from Mojo Bistro, the names of the owners have been added to the FIR.

Though, owners of Mojo Bistro Yug Pathak and Tulli find mention in the FIR, names of 1Above owners will not be removed.

1ABOVE OWNERS SEEK CBI PROBE

1Above owners had earlier written to PM Narendra Modi alleging that Mojo's Bistro - another restaurant in Kamla Mills - was responsible for the fire.

"We are innocent and we have done nothing and want you to investigate the matter thoroughly and arrest the real wrongdoers i.e. Mojo's Bistro," the owners - Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar - wrote.

They requested that the case be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation "for independent and unbiased investigation" and alleged that the owners of Mojo's Bistro were "controlling the press, the media etc. and [were] trying to portray that the fire has started at 1Above which is factually incorrect."

With inputs from Saurabh Vaktania

Watch: Over a dozen people killed in major fire in Mumbai's Kamala Mills

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I have followed this thread for sometime. I have now purchased a HDMI to HDMI plus audio (SPDIF +

L/R) converter. I am at the point where I feel like I need to just buy a new TV. I cannot get the home theatre to work with the newest android box that does not have an optical output but only SPDIF. I have even tried using the new converter with no luck. Can you be specific what I need to do? Right now I have HDMI from android box to tv. And optical cable from tv to Home theatre. I can only make the audio come oit of tv. When I switch the hts there is no audio. I have changed setting on tv to external speaker. Still no audio. I can not find anymore to come here and hook it up. And cant figure it out myself or by reading info on the web. Any advice or should I just give up tv.




The homicide happened around 11:15 a.m. in the 11100 block of College Ave.





When officers arrived, they found the woman's body.





She had sustained an apparent gunshot wound.





There have been a spate of shootings last night into this morning. Here's a compilation of news related to the latest KCMO murder . . .A man was found suffering from a gunshot wound near the scene of this killing.Links:Note, South KC residents hate their neighborhoods mentioned as high crime spots but this murder this did occur in the South part of the city as the 2018 homicide count starts all over again.Developing . . .
Provide Long-term Funding for CHIP

As a parent, when one my children was sick or had an emergency, my first thought was getting them to the doctor and making them better. Parents primary focus in those moments shouldnt be whether they can afford the treatment, doctor visit, or the immunization that their child needs.The Childrens Health Insurance Program, (CHIP) is intended to be a backstop for families, to ensure that children get the medical care they need. With the beginning of a new year, it Is time to push this issue to the forefront. CHIPs authorization ended on September 30th. Last fall states kept their programs afloat with grants from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services but some states were forced to start sending warning letters to families that they would stop new enrollments or terminate coverage if they did not receive federal funding by the end of January.In December, Congress provided temporary funding for CHIP that is only expected to last a couple months. It is past time for the majority to stop playing political games and provide long-term funding for CHIP and community health centers right away.CHIP helps parents who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but they still cant afford private insurance. CHIP is their safety net to make sure their children get the medical attention they need. That includes routine check-ups, immunizations, inpatient and outpatient care, etcCHIP is widely used in Missouri and covers the healthcare of 13,000 children in my district. It covers over 9 million children nationwide. The loss of dedicated funding was not a last-minute surprise; the majority knew that the programs funding expired September 30th, 2017. Instead of working across the aisle to find a workable long-term solution, they put it off until states were forced to start sending notices to families that the programs would likely be terminated soon. And the temporary funding the majority proposed was paid for by taking funding from the ACA Prevention Fund, which helps pay for immunizations and research into diabetes and Alzheimers.It was terrible to see such a popular and bipartisan program such as CHIP be swept under a rug and ignored these last few months while the majority concentrated on cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Instead of spending so much time on tax breaks for the wealthy, we should be fighting for children. I will do everything I can to ensure that Congress finds a long-term solution for CHIP and for the community health centers funding. This is too important of an issue to be swept under the rug for a second year.Warmly,Emanuel Cleaver, IIMember of Congress############
"Nick Haines, Micheal Mahoney, Colleen Nelson, Dave Helling and Eric Wesson discuss Sam Brownback's future, the upcoming Kansas and Missouri legislative sessions, Trump disbanding Kris Kobach's voter fraud panel, the 2017 KC homicide rate, the latest on KCI and the convention hotel, allegations against Visit KC's Ronnie Burt and JOCO commission's Steve Klika, KCK's fire department and Westport."
Kansas City man charged in fatal gas station stabbing of 51-year-old man KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 24-year-old man now faces charges in the fatal stabbing of a 51-year-old man outside a Kansas City bus, prosecutors say. Malliek D. Haynes has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Nov. 28 death of Alton Hughes, the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Follow-up regarding a recent local murder and realization that the local homicide surge won't be solved by way of gun control. Checkit:
"Luis Ramirez, 17, of Kansas City faces second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Prosecutors requested a bond of $250,000 cash.





"Jackson County authorities have also charged 18-year-old Tyler Gates in the shooting death of 17-year-old Matthew Haylock.





"According to court documents, Ramirez was charged in the murder of Haylock because he and Gates were attempting to rob Haylock when he was fatally shot.





"Ramirez told police Thursday that he and Gates conspired to commit a robbery and take Haylock's Glock 9 mm . . ."

Check the latest update in this shocking alleged metro murder plot that is quickly unraveling under investigation from Independence Police:Deets:Theas KCMO crime continues to spill over into neighboring communities.Developing . . .
The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a clarification stating that extra coating of the paint made the walls appear saffron, which is now being repainted in white.

By India Today Web Desk: The Haj House in Lucknow, which was painted saffron by the Yogi Adityanath government on Friday, is being repainted. The exterior walls of the building, used by Muslims as a transit place on their way to pilgrimage in Mecca, was initially green-and-white in colour.

The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a clarification stating that extra coating of the paint made the walls appear saffron, which is now being repainted in white. It will now take action the contractor as it was against the issued instructions.

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After the BJP government painted the Haj House in Uttar Pradesh's capital city yesterday, many Opposition parties and Muslims objected to the move.

State government's clarification on the saffron paint.

They had accused the government of a deliberate provocation by raising religious sentiments.The painting of the Haj House into saffron came two days after the Yogi government ordered the madrassas in his state to reduce the number of holidays on Muslim festivals, and remain closed on Hindu festivals too.

After assuming office in March last year, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath showed his fondness for the colour as the state government gave saffron tinge to covers of official booklets and background of official posters issued by the public relations department and ministries.

In October last year, 50 saffron-coloured buses of the UP State Road Transport Corporation, named Sankalp Seva, were launched to provide service in rural areas.

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Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide a $201-million grant to Oman for two development projects at the Port of Duqm in Oman, said a report.

The funding, to be provided by the Saudi Fund for Development, will finance a RO61-million ($158 million) fishing facility and a road project worth RO20 million aimed at linking it to ADuqm city, reported state-run Oman News Agency.

The funding is part of developing economic cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Oman and the joint programme for the development of GCC states, said the report citing the finance minister.

Darwish Al Balushi explained that the grants will help develop the Special Economic Zone in Duqm (SEZD) and increase the capacity of the fishing harbor.

The Port of Duqm is managed by Port Duqm Company, a joint venture between the Omani government and Belgiums Port of Antwerp.

Oman wants to develop Duqm into a major hub, and is building a 230,000-barrels-per-day oil refinery there with Kuwait.
Before heading to Meghalaya, Amit Shah held a closed door meeting with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat in Ujjain yesterday for about an hour. The meeting took place at the Madhav Sewa Nyas building near Mahakal temple in the city.

This was the first interaction between Amit Shah and Mohan Bhagwat after BJP's electoral wins in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and before the BJP launched its campaign in the poll-bound northeastern states.

With Amit Shah visiting Meghalaya, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma hit out at the BJP saying that the party is working on the divisive agenda of the RSS in the state. Mukul Sangma also claimed that the "ultimate aim" of the saffron brigade was to amend the Constitution and allow only one religion in the country while calling them "the agents of the devil".

Keeping up his vitriolic attack, Sangma said, "It is the RSS which dictates, it is the RSS which decides. The prime minister does not have the power to decide on his own and even as regards who should be a minister...This is how this NDA government is working, that is why you see what you see."

He also alleged that the RSS had started dividing the Garo people of Meghalaya by saying that their culture and tradition were different from those of the Christians and that they were like the members of the organisation.

"But how is it that our people (Garos) are like them (RSS members)? We are tribals, we are non-vegetarian and our people eat everything that moves," he said, in an oblique reference to the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation's proposed ban on the display of non-vegetarian food outside eateries.

The Meghalaya chief minister said he had to write to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh before Christmas, following requests by parents whose children were living in other parts of the country and allegedly facing threats.

Sangma also called on the pro-Inner Line Permit (ILP) activists in the state to protest against the BJP-RSS. "The ILP-walas should first stop these people (RSS) from coming to the state because they are already making social and cultural invasions to divide our people and it is dangerous for us," Sangma said as he took on the BJP on the eve of Amit Shah's Meghalaya visit.

From Shillong, Amit Shah will head to another poll-bound state Tripura on a two-day tour during which he will address two rallies and attend party meetings on Sunday and Monday.
Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

In a show of strength, 11 MC councillors, including four of the BJP, who were said to be among the 14 rebellion members, who visited the residence of former MP Satya Pal Jain this evening.

SAD councillor Hardeep Singh and Independent councillor Daldeep Sharma were also among them. They had come to congratulate SAD councillor Hardip Singh on his appointment as president of the Chandigarh unit of the SAD. But, it was clear that three days after a major rebellion in the local BJP, they had come to make a statement that they support the partys nominee. This will give a headache to the Sanjay Tandon camp.

Four councillors Gurpreet Singh Dhillon, Vinod Aggarwal, Raj Bala Malik and Maheshinder Singh Sidhu shared the dais with BJPs official Mayor nominee Davesh Moudgil and councillors of other BJP faction.

These four councillors among 14 had left the UT guest house where party affairs in-charge Prabhat Jha was holding a one-by-one meeting with councillors and announced Moudgil as the mayor nominee.

The rebel councillors had then later held a separate meeting at Sukhna Lake and filled nominations with outgoing Mayor Asha Kumari Jaswal contesting against Moudgil.

Jain today said: All councillors are together and the BJP nominee will win the mayoral polls by 23/27 votes. Other than the Congress votes, all votes will come in our side.

It seems due to party pressure councillors are gradually switching sides towards what the stand of the party is. However, they claim they stayed back at the guest house. They were said to be among those still indecisive.

Sources said other than these four councillors more from the rebel group have contacted the senior leadership expressing their desire to support Moudgil. However, it could prove risky for the saffron party as during the secret polling on January 9, the councillors, who are against Moudgil, may even vote for Congress nominee Devinder Singh Babla.

We will either be kingmaker or win the poll. We are watching the situation closely, said a Congress leader. Of the total 26 councillors, the Congress has just four members in the MC while the BJP has a stout majority with 20 councillors. One is Independent and one is from SAD.
Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

Three days after a rebellion in the local BJP unit, the partys central leadership was able to mollify the rebel outgoing Mayor Asha Kumari Jaswal during a meeting in Delhi today, stated Prabhat Jha, the partys Chandigarh affairs incharge. City BJP president Sanjay Tandon also attended the meeting.

The party leadership today told them to withdraw nominations, which they have agreed to. And they will make the announcement of withdrawing in a day or so, Jha told Chandigarh Tribune.

Sources said the party would hold an all-councillor meeting on Sunday when an announcement was likely to be made in this connection. The rebels are likely to withdraw their nominations on Monday.

Members of the rebel group said if withdrawal was announced during the all-councillors meeting on Sunday, there would be terms and conditions.

Sources said Jaswal, along with Tandon, met Ram Lal, the partys national general secretary (organisation). They wanted to meet the party president Amit Shah but he was away to Meghalaya. Lal is said to have clearly told the two leaders to take back the nominations.

It was also expected that action might have been taken against Jaswal and senior councillor Arun Sood by the party. The development is likely to have an effect on Tandons political career.

The city BJP president will hold a meeting of all councillors as a face-saving exercise where the possible withdrawal by Jaswal and two others from the nominations for the mayoral elections will be announced. The high command has told them to unite the party workers and take everyone in confidence.

Yesterday, local BJP leaders, including Davesh Moudgil, had met Jaswal at her residence where she had reportedly said that she would offer to withdraw after meeting the party high command.

While Jaswal did not take phone calls made to seek her comment, Tandon confirmed that a meeting was held in Delhi but refused to comment on the development.

After Jha declared Davesh Moudgil as the official BJP nominee for the post of Mayor, outgoing Mayor Asha Jaswal and councillors Ravi Kant Sharma and Vinod Aggarwal filed their nominations for the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 6

Kavita Jain, Urban Local Bodies Minister, today laid the foundation stone of a Rs 58-crore drinking water supply project in the town.

The project will cater to the need of the residents of 16 colonies in Sonepat town and 10 villages, included within the Municipal Corporation limit.

Speaking on the occasion, Jain said pipelines of around 190 km in length, including 118 km in the town area and 72 km in the villages, would be laid for carrying water supply.

There will be four boosting stations that will ensure uninterrupted water supply, she said. Jain said the project was likely to be completed within 15 months. She said after the completion of the project, every resident living in the areas under the corporation would get at least 135 litres of water.

Rajiv Jain, state media in-charge, BJP, said it was for the first time that Rs 250 crore was being spent for the development works in Sonepat, since it was upgraded as a district in 1972.

Later, the minister also laid the foundation stones of a community centre at old tehsil complex in the town and Balmiki chaupal in Lehrada village.
New Delhi, January 6

A Gurugram court will pronounce on Monday its order on the bail application of a 16-year-old student, accused of killing seven-year-old Pradhuman Thakur at Ryan International School.

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu reserved the order after hearing arguments of the counsel for the accused, the CBI and the complainant.

The defence counsel claimed the chargesheet in the matter was not filed within one month, as prescribed in the Juvenile Justice Act, and he was not given the required documents.

Opposing the contention, the CBI said the mandatory period for filing a chargesheet is 90 days under the CrPC provisions.

The counsel for the CBI said that circumstances have changed as the accused had been declared an adult by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB). Therefore, the chargesheet needed to be filed within three months.

Seeking dismissal of the bail plea, the CBI said the JJB order to try the accused as an adult spoke about his mental status and the fact that he committed a heinous crime.

Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for Pradhumans father Barun Thakur, questioned the maintainability of the application and said the accused should file a fresh bail plea before the court due to the changed circumstances.

On the contention of the accused that necessary documents were not provided to him, the CBI said the records had already been produced before the court and the accused never demanded any paper, nor any direction was passed by the court in this regard.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Pradhuman was found with his throat slit in the schools washroom on September 8 last year.

The Gurgaon police had claimed the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which was later refuted by the CBI.

The probe agency had claimed that the teenager had killed Pradhuman in a bid to get the school closed so that a parent- teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the accused against an order of the JJB denying him bail.

Tekriwal had said the appeal for bail was at a premature stage as the investigation was yet to be concluded.

The JJB had on December 20 held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurugram sessions court.

The JJB had noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions.

If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, it had said.

The board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 Ryan International School student.

It had set up a committee which included a psychologist from the PGI, Rohtak, for an expert opinion on the accused, who was taken in custody by the CBI in November 2017.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, lowers the age of juveniles from 18 to 16 for heinous crimes such as rape, murder and dacoity-cum-murder, which warrant at least seven years of imprisonment.

However, the JJB first decides whether the crime was child-like or was it committed in an adult frame of mind, following which it orders the accused to be tried as juvenile or adult. PTI
Legal Correspondent

Shimla, January 6

Taking cognisance of media reports that some trees had been cut in the Ramnagar area of the town, the High Court today directed the Divisional Forest Officer (Urban), Shimla, and the local councillor to appear before it on January 9.

The High Court took a serious note on the news item published in newspapers on January 5, 2018, regarding the felling of five more trees in Ramnagar, Shimla. During the hearing, the Additional Advocate General assured the court that the officer concerned would forthwith visit the spot and take appropriate action in accordance with law.

A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel passed the orders on a petition taken up suo moto on an application moved by the people of Ramnagar, who had alleged that they were fighting for saving the thick forest, but it was with the help of advanced technology that the trees were cut within a minute and thereafter taken away from the spot, leaving no proof behind. The petitioners had also alleged that on the midnight of July 13, 2017, some trees were cut, but when the complaint in this regard was made, forest officials intervened, thereby saving many trees. The petitioners had requested to issue directions to the Forest Department to take action against those involved in the illegal activity and also mark each and every tree in Ramnagar so that those could be saved.

Petitioners seek strict action
By PTI: (Eds: Repeating after correcting name in para 7)

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jan 6 (PTI) Donald Trump today said sacked White House chief strategist Steve Bannon "cried" when he fired him and begged for his job, reacting to claims in a new book about the US president that he has dismissed as being "full of lies".

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Trump said this in a tweet while ridiculing a new book in which Bannon is extensively quoted as being highly critical of him and his family, even going to the extent of claiming that the president was not interested in winning the presidential election and that first lady Melania wept after the election result because she did not want Trump to win.

The White House has described the book titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House as being full of "misinformation".

The book written by Michael Wolff hit bookstores yesterday, days ahead of its scheduled release after Trumps attorney sent a cease and desist letter to Bannon and initiated a move to prevent its publication.

"Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!" Trump tweeted.

In the last few days, many of the top supporters and funders of Bannon have deserted him after Trump in a strongly worded statement said that Bannon had "lost his mind" and that he had nothing to do with his presidency.

In an interview to National Public Radio, Wolff stood by the content of his book and his criticism of the president.

"When you write a book like this, people regret what they said to me. What they say to any reporter who they relax with and they forget who theyre talking to. I have sympathy for that and I think the natural response is to say oh my god I didnt say it. But I will tell you, they said it," he said.

Contrary to White House statements, Wolff claims that he had unhindered access to the White House and that his book is based on more than 200 interviews.

"I think the two fundamental issues were that Donald Trump doesnt read anything," he said when asked on what White House staff learned about Trumps personality.

"Let me accent that ? anything. Nothing. If youre working for the President of the United States, thats an odd position because how do you get information to him? Thats already a major hurdle. But then theres the second hurdle that not only does he not read, he doesnt listen," he said.

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"So it becomes from day one, the crisis of the presidency: you cant tell him anything. So on the first day of the presidency, when he announces that the inaugural crowds were three or four or five times larger than they actually were, you couldnt say to him Thats not true! You shouldnt have said it from the beginning, but now we have to fix it. He wouldnt read it and you couldnt tell him because he wont listen to you. It is entirely his reality," Wolff said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is one among top administration officials to have spent the most time with Wolff, however ridiculed any negative impression about Trumps mental health.

"Ive never questioned his mental fitness. I have no reason to question his mental fitness," Tillerson told CNN when asked about the contents of the book. PTI LKJ KUN

--- ENDS ---
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 6

A large number of people today turned up to wish Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on his 53rd birthday.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and others sent their wishes to the CM. He thanked everyone for their good wishes and blessings on his birthday.

A blood donation and a health check-up camp was organised by the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on the historic Ridge to commemorate the birthday of Jai Ram Thakur. Besides, he also participated in a plantation drive organised by the Municipal Corporation, Shimla, at Annandale accompanied by Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.

Many party workers and members of the BJYM donated blood on the occasion. The Chief Minister said there was no bigger service to mankind than saving precious lives by donating blood. We should reaffirm our pledge to raise greater awareness about the importance of blood donation, he said.

As many as 50 saplings of deodar were planted in over 500 square metres during the plantation drive. Trainees of Modern Nursing College, Annadale, welcomed the Chief Minister and actively took part in afforestation drive.

Later, the Chief Minister participated in a cleanliness drive under Swachhta Abhiyan in the Krishna Nagar ward. He exhorted people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's vision of clean India. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was a massive movement that sought to create a Clean India. He said Shimla was ranked 47th out of 434 cities in 2017 and this year they hoped to do better. He said 32 lakh had been spent on Shimla under this abhiyaan.
Srinagar, January 6

Eleven bodies had been recovered from a spot in north Kashmirs Kupwara district where a passenger vehicle was hit by a huge avalanche of snow, an official said on Saturday.

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A passenger vehicle was hit by a huge avalanche of snow at Khooni Nallah near Sadhan Top on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road on Friday.

Ten bodies were recovered today from the avalanche site, Deputy Commissioner Kupwara Khalid Jehangir told PTI.

The body of a Beacon officer was recovered last night after rescue operations were launched, Jehangir said, adding that a total of eleven people were killed in the avalanche.

Three people had been pulled out alive from the avalanche site, he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today expressed grief and sorrow over the incident, an official spokesman said.

The Chief Minister conveyed her sympathies to the bereaved families, he said.

The spokesman said the Chief Minister directed the Kupwara district administration to ensure all possible medical assistance to the injured.

Meanwhile, Minister for Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Floriculture, Javaid Mustafa Mir, today announced a compensation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the snow avalanche, an official spokesperson said.

The minister also announced a compensation of Rs 12,600 each to the injured, he said, adding that the minister expressed his deepest condolences to the bereaved families and assured them of every possible support from the state government.

Mir also issued directions to provide better medical facilities to the injured, the spokesman said. PTI
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 6

Four policemen on patrol duty were killed in a blast  the first improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Kashmir since 2015  at Sopore, 50 km from Srinagar, today.

Jaish-e-Mohammads Afzal Guru Squad claimed responsibility for the explosion that occurred in Sopores Gole Market where policemen from the 3rd Battalion of the Indian Reserve Police were on duty. The town was observing a bandh to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1993 killings when 50 persons were shot dead by the forces.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (North Kashmir) Vidhi Kumar Birdi said: There was commotion in a nearby lane. As the policemen on duty moved closer, a blast occurred, killing Assistant Sub-Inspector Irshad Ahmad of Doda and Constables Ghulam Nabi of Rohama Rafiabad, Parvaiz Ahmad of Handwara and Mohammad Amin of Sogam, Kupwara.

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The explosion created a huge crater. Several shops were damaged beyond repair.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah expressed grief at the deaths.

Additional DGP Munir Khan claimed, Post-2015, there were no IED blasts. We will now have to put our heads together to chalk out ways to prevent these. The IED was placed beneath the entrance of a shop, he added. He was in Sopore for the wreath-laying ceremony.

The JeM has stepped up activities in the Valley. Jaish militants had on New Year Eve killed five CRPF personnel, storming a camp at Lethpora in south Kashmir. The battle lasted 36 hours.

ASI Irshad Ahmad is survived by his elderly mother, wife, two sons and two daughters, while Constable Mohammad Amin leaves behind an aged mother, wife and a four-year-old son.

Constable Parvaiz Ahmad is survived by his father, wife, and a three-year-old son, while Constable Ghulam Nabi is survived by his parents, a pregnant wife and a four-year-old daughter.
New Delhi: The Congress onSaturday demanded answers from the PM on the continuing loss of lives of security personnel in Kashmir, saying the government should start taking action on the border rather than flaunting surgical strikes. Senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said New Year had brought sad news for the country of daily attacks on security forces, including policemen and paramilitary forces in Kashmir.

Constable Ghulam Nabi leaves behind aged parents, a pregnant wife, minor daughter Faheeqa Nabi (4) , two brothers and two sisters.

ASI Irshad Ahmad leaves behind an aged mother, wife, sons Nadeem Irshad (19) and Sahil Irshad (10) and daughters Fiza (16) and Toiba (13).

Constable Mohammad Amin is survived by his mother, wife, minor son Tajam-ul-Islam (4), a brother and three sisters.

Constable Parvaiz Ahmad is survived by his aged father, wife, minor son Mohammad Noman (3), a sister and three brothers.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 6

Four policemen died in an IED blast in north Kashmirs Sopore town on Saturday morning.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Kashmir, Vidhi Kumar Birdi, said the blast took place in the main market in Sopore.

Four of our policemen who were on duty died in the blast, Birdhi said.

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The identity of the slain policemen could not be established immediately.

Soon after the incident, security forces cordoned off the area and launched a hunt to trace the militants involved in the attack.

The attack took place on a day when Sopore town is observing a separatists-sponsored shutdown.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said she was pained by the news about the killing of four policemen in an IED explosion.

Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families, Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace. With PTI
Smita Sharma

The India-Maldives ties have been shaky over the past few months, specially since the Maldives signed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, the second country after Pakistan in the region to do so. In an interview with The Tribune, the countrys Ambassador to India, Ahmed Mohamed, claimed that contrary to media reports, New Delhi was not caught by surprise. And that there was no promise of a FTA first with India. He also stressed that India needed to hasten projects promised to neighbours. Extracts from the interview:

Where do you see the India-Maldives relationship at the moment ? What is the biggest challenge?

There are speculative interpretations of the relationship in the media. When the FTA with China was signed, the media claimed it had caught New Delhi by surprise. But this was a publicly announced process which was going on in the Maldives for the last two years and which was reported in the media too. Each embassy has its role to report to its headquarters about what is happening in the country. So India was not caught by surprise. This was media sensationalism. Engagements we have with India continue. In December last, I met the Indian Foreign Secretary twice. Hopefully, I will be meeting him this month as well.

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Considering the MEA reaction, it did seem the Indian Government was not kept in the loop about FTA. Also, the Maldives President had said the Indian FTA would happen first. Why the overnight ratification of FTA, bulldozing the Opposition?

It is a being repeatedly said in India that the Maldives should be sensitive to Indias security concerns, which is why we have India First policy. While we were having these negotiations in the public domain, the military exercises went on undisrupted. To put the record straight, there is no record or minutes in the communications and discussions promising that we would first sign FTA with India. Our President has reiterated we would like an FTA with India as well as other countries. We need FTAs to utilise our natural endowments  fisheries and tourism  to the extent that these are recognised as premium industries in the world. With China wanting a quick FTA, there was no reason we should have waited. Because we are talking of our own survival, our own drive to push our economic agenda forward.

What is holding up the FTA with India? Maldivian fisheries minister gave a statement in Colombo that an FTA with India was not working out.

I dont know the specifics.There are certain things that need to move faster, including FTA. On Infrastructure developments, we have requests with India pending since the 2014 visit of President Yameen. There are requests for which we need speedier processing. We sit right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We cannot move the natural boundaries. Why would we jeopardise or disrupt the Indian Ocean security balance? If there are sensitivities, Im sure India-Maldives friendship is mature enough for the countries to sit down and discuss those specific sensitivities. What we need to do is to increase visibility of engagements through exchange of high-level visits.

So Indians are losing out to Chinese investment because of slow delivery?

A There needs to be a strategic refocusing on certain actions that India takes in actually meeting the needs of its neighbours. Each of these neighbours have their own aspirations. All these are democratic countries, and when on a democratic platform people come to power, they make promises to the people.The popularity of any politician rests on how that person delivers on the promises.

China has base in Djibouti, Gwadar. It has the Hambantota port on lease and is possibly looking for a base around the Maldives. Three Chinese naval warships docked in Male in August. How should India view this?

When we had the Male water crisis, India was the first to respond. But among many other countries who were helping Maldives was China.There were Chinese naval ships and air force in the Maldives. One should see this as normal international practice. When we have bilateral ties with a country and the navy wants to make a port call, you do not say no. That August visit was a tour Chinese navy ships were making to some 25-30 countries. One of the port calls requested was in the Maldives. The relationship between Maldives and India is independent of the relationship we have with any other country. It should not be a sensitive issue because we are not giving a military base to any country.

Why were three local councillors of the Opposition suspended for meeting Indian Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra?

The notification was not for diplomats. It was the Local Government Authority (LGA) issuing a notice to its councillors that if they met diplomats, they should seek the Ministry of Home Affairs approval. Because foreign policy is a matter of the central government, as in India. These local governments form part of national government. When they meet with a foreign diplomat, we want to know beforehand what the agenda is, lest it had security implications.

The councillors say the LGA circular was issued after their meeting with the Indian envoy.

That is not true. The UK Ambassador had a meeting with a different set of councillors before the announcement. So there was no disciplinary action against them. In this case, ironically or co-incidentally it happened to be the Indian Ambassador whom they met after the announcement.

The Indian PM has even visited Pakistan but the Maldives is one neighbour he hasnt visited since he put off his visit in 2015. What does this say of the ties?

I do not want to speak on behalf of the Government of India (GOI) whose declared policy is Neighbourhood First. We would assume they will continue with the policy. Any time Prime Minister Modi wants to visit the Maldives, we will welcome him.

But Indias discomfort seems to be the treatment meted out to the Opposition and the way President Nasheed was arrested.

That has happened in the past. We have not been told that PM Modis visit did not happen because of that reason. It would have been better for the Neighbourhood First policy if PM Modi had visited us.

With the US asking India to play a more prominent role in the Indo-Pacific, and the revival of Quadrilateral, do you see it as a flashpoint for India and China?

When big powers have differing views and policies on geo-politics, smaller nations like us have to be very careful about what we say and do. Whatever is happening in the geopolitical sphere with regards to the Indian Ocean security, we will keep an eye and our moves and policy directions will be guided by what is happening in the region, particularly with regards to national security interest of the Maldives.

Is there a democracy in the Maldives today?

Of course there is a democracy. In the runup to the first multi-party elections in 2008, the Opposition was saying there would be no free and fair elections. But the moment the Opposition won, the elections were termed free and fair. This was noted by international observers. It was a similar situation in the 2014 parliamentary elections. In the runup to the local council elections in 2017, the Opposition made the same noises. It won more seats than the government and there was no noise after that. The 2018 Presidential elections will again be observed by the international community.They will be free to decide on the nature of the election process. Let us hear from them.
Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Ranchi, January 6

A special CBI court on Saturday sentenced RJD chief Lalu Prasad to three-and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in a fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

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The punishment was handed down to 69-year-old Prasad by CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh. This is the second time that he has been jailed in the fodder scam.

The judge also imposed a fine totalling Rs 10 lakh on him.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in a fodder scam case for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, and other sections under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Prasad was also given a jail term of three years and six months in the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

He was fined Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and the PCA, CBI counsel Rakesh Prasad said, adding that failure to pay the fine would entail another six months in jail.

The sentences will run concurrently, he said.

Prasad, who was convicted in the second case on December 23, is at present lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail.

The judge conveyed the punishment to Prasad through videoconferencing.

The court had yesterday concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against Prasad in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when he was the chief minister of Bihar.

It had also heard arguments on the issue of punishment for 10 others convicted in the case.

Earlier today, the court concluded arguments on the quantum of sentence against five other convicts.

Prasad was given a prison term of five years on September 30, 2013, in another fodder scam case. He was released on bail by the Supreme Court after having remained in jail for over two-and-a-half months.

The CBI special judge had on December 23 acquitted former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and five others in the case.

In 1996, the Patna High Court had ordered an inquiry into the fodder scam cases and a charge sheet in the Deogarh Treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997.

Eleven of them died and three turned approvers, while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07, a CBI official said.

On September 30, 2013, Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and several others were convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s.

Prasad faces another three fodder scam cases for illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.

Meanwhile, Prasads son Tejashwi Yadav said in Patna that they will move high court against his fathers conviction.

We will move high court against Lalu Prasads conviction and appeal for bail after studying the court verdict, he said. With PTI
New Delhi, January 6

Congress president Rahul Gandhi blamed Indias 63-year low bank credit growth and 8-year low in job creation on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "divisive politics".

In a tweet mocking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Gandhi wrote that the finance minister's "genius" combined with Modi's "Gross Divisive Politics (GDP)" had given a 13-year low in new investments.

FM Jaitleys genius combines with Mr Modis Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India:



New Investments: 13 year 

Bank credit Growth: 63 year 

Job creation: 8 year 

Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7%

Fiscal Deficit: 8 year

Stalled Projects https://t.co/bZdPnREYiE  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 6, 2018

In a tweet in which he posted a media report on the central governments estimated GDP growth on 6.5 per cent this year, he claimed that Jaitley and Modis policies had led to increased fiscal deficit, and caused projects to be stalled. PTI
Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Ranchi, January 6

The special CBI court in Ranchi, which last month had convicted RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in a second case related to the Rs 950-crore fodder scam, today sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined him Rs 10 lakh. The court of Shivpal Singh pronounced the punishment for Lalu Prasad and 15 others via video-conferencing. All convicts are lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail, Ranchi.

Lalus counsel said: We will move the High Court for bail. We had pleaded for minimum punishment in view of my clients ill-health as he has already turned 69.

In the same case, the special CBI court had on December 23, 2017, acquitted six persons, including former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra. They had been accused of fraudulently withdrawing Rs 89.27 lakh from Jharkhands Deoghar treasury between 1994 and 1996.

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The Rs 950-crore fodder scam came to light in 1996 when Lalu Prasad was CM of undivided Bihar (Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000). In Jharkhands five cases, Lalu Prasad has been convicted in two. He faces trial in three more  for fraudulently withdrawing Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda treasury. Besides, he is being tried for embezzlement in Bhagalpur, Bihar.

In the first fodder scam case, Lalu Prasad has already been sentenced to five years. The sentences awarded in the two cases will run concurrently. The RJD leader has been to jail seven times.

Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and Lalus younger son Tejaswi Prasad held a party meeting in Patna today. As he was briefing the media in Patna, the court was pronouncing punishment for his father.

NO ONE ABOVE THE LAW: BJP, JD(U)

The BJP and ally JD(U) said no one was above the law, while the RJD claimed its leader fell prey to a conspiracy by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party. Besides Lalu Yadav, former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Jagdish Sharma was sentenced to a prison term of seven years and fined Rs 20 lakh, while former IAS officers Beck Julius, Phoolchand Singh and Mahesh Prasad were given a prison term of three-and-a-half years each and a fine of Rs 5 lakh. PTI
New Delhi/Patna, January 6

No one is above the law, the BJP and its ally JD (U) said on Saturday after a special CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad to jail in a fodder scam case, while the RJD said its leader has fallen prey to a conspiracy by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the saffron party.

The special CBI court in Ranchi sentenced Lalu to three-and-a-half years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him in the fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the verdict shows the law is equal for all.

The court has done its job, and this is a message that if anyone robs the country of its wealth, however important, then the law is equal for all. This is justice for the people of Bihar because it was their money that was looted, Hussain told reporters.

Janata Dal (United) Secretary General K C Tyagi said a new political chapter has begun with the courts decision and it means politicians will be afraid of committing any such wrongdoing.

It will now be difficult to keep the RJD together and people in politics will be fearful, he said, when asked about the significance of the courts verdict.

This is the end of a chapter that started with Lalujis leadership, where there was politics of corruption, nepotism and non-governance, Tyagi told reporters.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Patna, Lalus son Tejashwi Yadav said the party would go to the people after makarsankranti to make them aware of the conspiracy hatched by Nitish Kumar and the BJP against the RJD chief.

Lalu is paying the price for his uncompromising stance against the BJP. Had he compromised, his detractors would have been comparing him to Raja Harishchandra, the former Deputy CM of Bihar said.

He dismissed suggestions the party may disintegrate with its top leader being behind the bars. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be the public support in our favour. Lalu resides in the peoples hearts.

He is in jail, yet everybody is being talking about him.

The only reason is that the people of Bihar are with us and this scares our opponents.

He also took pot-shots at the Bihars ruling JD(U)-BJP combine, saying, Let the double engine do something for the betterment of Bihar. They should set their own house in order instead of wasting their energy on the future of the RJD. PTI
National Investigative Agency (NIA) has called the murder of RSS member R Rudresh by PFI and SDPI a "clear act of terrorism" in a charge sheet filed to Special NIA Court.

By Ashish Pandey: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has called the murder of RSS member R Rudresh a "clear act of terrorism" in a charge sheet filed to Special NIA Court in Bengaluru.

The five accused members of Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliated political organization the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) planned to target two RSS workers in uniform, the charge sheet said, "to strike terror among the members of that organisation."

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The charge sheet further said that the indoctrination of the members was done to make them believe that the act of killing RSS members was part of Jihad by eliminating kafirs and establishing the Islamic Caliphate in India.

The investigation has revealed that eight to nine months prior to the incident, all the accused had attended indoctrination classes where videos of communal riots, especially Muzaffar-nagar and Dadri incidents, were shown to raise passions against RSS.

They even used examples of neighbouring states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu where PFI members were successful in killing RSS members.

On October 16, 2016, RSS member R Rudresh in uniform was murdered using a lethal weapon near Aksa Masjid and Chota Charminar in Bengaluru.

Recently, the Bhartiya Janta Party alleged that around 20 RSS activists have been killed in Karnataka by PFI activists.

--- ENDS ---
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 6

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has asked the Army to correct anomalies in the retirement age of Colonels and bring them on a par with similar ranks in the Air Force and the Navy.

The AFT Principal Bench, comprising Justice VK Shali and Lt Gen SK Singh (retd), said the anomalies needed to be removed. We strongly feel the anomalies in the retirement age of Colonels in the Army in relation to their counterparts in the Air Force and the Navy, which have got created due to recent judgments, need to be removed at the earliest by passing a comprehensive order increasing the age of retirement of Army Colonels, the order said.

Col Karunesh Kumar had moved the AFT to seek parity with IAF and Navy, where officers in the ranks of Group Captain and Captain (both equivalent to Colonel) serve till 56 years for age and not 54, as is the case with the Army.

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If the government does not come up with a policy on its own, it could open floodgates of litigation apart from making a particular level of officials in the Army perennially dissatisfied. Neither such dissatisfied officers would give their best, nor would respondents be able to extract optimum. Such a situation in the force that protects the nation and its sovereignty and integrity can be ill afforded, the Bench observed.

It directed the respondents (Union of India) to increase the retirement age by two years for Colonels to 56 years to bring them on a par with their counterparts in the other two services. The Navy issued a letter dated October 14, 2015, to correct the anomaly.

The Colonels who retired during pendency of their petitions be given consequential benefits, the Bench said, adding that the direction be enforced before April 30.
Jakarta, January 6

India wants to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security and shared prosperity, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday as she called for a deeper economic integration with the dynamic ASEAN region.

Swaraj, who inaugurated the 5th Round Table of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) India Network of Think Tanks here, emphasised on enhancing maritime security, trade and investment, education and cultural heritage among the grouping.

These are important markers in our engagement with South East Asia, in enhancing our strategic ties with ASEAN across 3 Cs. These 3Cs are commerce, connectivity and culture, she said.

Swaraj, who arrived here on Friday from Thailand on the second leg of her three-nation tour, said both India and ASEAN countries are maritime nations, with a rich and glorious history of maritime trade.

We have energised our ancient links in a contemporary setting, to become a driving force in Asias resurgence, she said.

As a mature and responsible nation, one of Indias foreign policy interests, is to evolve a regional architecture based on the twin principles of shared security, and shared prosperity, she said.

This was enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, in his vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region). It recognises the central role played by the seas and oceans around us in promoting sustainable economic progress in a secure and stable environment. She said the Indo Pacific region is increasingly seen as a connectivity pathway  much of the worlds trade passes through these oceans.

These waters must not only get better connected, but remain free from traditional and non-traditional threats, that impede free movement of people, goods and ideas. Respect for international law, notably UNCLOS, in ensuring this is, therefore imperative, she said.

She said India and ASEAN share a common vision for global commerce and maritime domain and New Delhi looks forward to working closely with the grouping in a range of activities.

She called for cooperation in blue economy, coastal surveillance, building off- shore patrolling capabilities, hydrographic services and information sharing for increased maritime domain awareness.

She noted that a deeper economic integration with the dynamic ASEAN region, is an important aspect of Indias Act East Policy.

ASEAN is Indias 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of Indias total trade.

India is ASEANs 7th largest trading partner. Trade is back on track and registered an 8 per cent increase in 2016- 17, as compared to the previous year.

She said India wants to promote dialogue among ASEAN and Indian business and trade associations to further enhance bilateral trade and investment.

She invited the scholars, academics and think tanks present at the round table to offer new ideas, for a greater integration of ASEAN Economic Community with India and identify collaborative opportunities in investment, trade and services sector.

Swaraj also held talks with ASEAN Secretary General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi as India steps up efforts to strengthen engagements with the countries of the region under its Act East policy.

New Delhi will host a commemorative summit on January 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dialogue Partnership between India and the ASEAN in which all the leaders of the grouping are expected to participate.

ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

She also addressed the Indian Community at a reception held in her honour in Jakarta.

Swaraj yesterday held talks with her Indonesian counterpart Marsudi and the two sides reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations.

Swaraj is now in Singapore where she will inaugurate the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) of ASEAN countries tomorrow.

Her three-nation visit is part of New Delhis efforts to hold bilateral interactions in various sectors with countries of the South East Asian region within the framework of Indias Act East policy. PTI
Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, January 6

Taking note of the objections over non-Hindus working in various service wings of Tirumala temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), an autonomous body managing the affairs of the countrys richest shrine, has decided to shift such employees to other governmental departments.

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal said, The temple board has identified 44 non-Hindus working at the hill shrine in Andhra Pradesh. All of them will be shifted to other departments in the same cadre.

According to the guidelines of the temple, non-Hindus cannot work in any of its services. However, non-Hindus can visit and have a darshan of Lord Venkateshwara after signing a register before entering the queue complex declaring that they have faith in the Hindu god. Nestled among a string of seven hills in Chittoor district, the shrine attracts 50,000 to one lakh pilgrims every day. The number goes up substantially during the festivals and on other special occasions.

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The temple board had issued notices to all 44 non-Hindu employees working in various wings, seeking an explanation from them. We will be sending them to other government departments in the equivalent cadres and scales, Singhal added. The state government has agreed to consider their deputation to other departments, he said.

The row over the presence of non-Hindus on the TTD payrolls had surfaced following a sting operation done by a local spiritual television channel on a senior female TTD official who regularly goes to churches in Tirupati, in her official vehicle. The media expose triggered strong protests from the local Hindu organisations.

There were also allegations in the past that religious conversions were going on unhindered in and around the hill shrine. Acting on the complaints, the TTD administration asked Chief Vigilance and Security Officer A Ravi Krishna to conduct an inquiry and identify the non-Hindus in the temple services. The inquiry revealed that the female officer had been appointed in the TTD in 1986, when there was no restriction on the appointment of non-Hindus, which was only following the rule of reservations.

Recruitment against rules
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News sERVICE

Gurdaspur, January 6

A Rs 4-crore pure grade heroin haul from a peon of the Gurdaspur Municipal Committee (MC) has shocked residents in this border district where such large-scale narcotic recoveries are often made near the wire fencing at the international border.

Peon Bharat Gill and his wife Anita Gill were nabbed around midnight after their car was searched at a check post on the Bariar bypass and the contraband recovered. The couple was coming from Amritsar.

SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar said the couple had been under the scanner for quite some time. DSP (Special branch) Gurbans Singh Bains was entrusted with the task of keeping a track on them after we received concrete information that they were bringing in a large consignment from Amritsar, said the SSP.

Bharat told the police that his brother Amit Gill, alias Gori, ran a smuggling racket from inside the Kapurthala jail and he (Bharat) was just a small player in it. Amit Gill is serving jail term in an NDPS case. DSP Bains, who was following the movements of the accused couple for the last fortnight, said Amit Gill kept a mobile phone with him through which he used to coordinate with his colleagues over smuggling activities.

The Kapurthala jail authorities have been alerted over the matter.

We are still investigating the extent of the smuggling racket run by the Gill family. Questioning of Bharat has revealed that he was bringing the consignment from Tarn Taran. As it happens in such cases, he was trying to dodge the police by taking a circuitous route to enter Gurdaspur. This is just a tip of the iceberg. We have indeed stumbled upon something big, the DSP added.

Cops were keeping tabs on duo

Peon Bharat Gill and his wife Anita Gill were nabbed late on Friday night after their car was searched at a check post on the Bariar bypass and the contraband recovered. The couple was coming from Amritsar. SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar said the couple was under the scanner for quite some time.
Ashis Ray

London, January 6

The Indian High Commission in Britain today defied a pompous ban on Indian diplomats entering gurdwaras issued by the pro-Khalistan Sikh Federation UK (SFUK). A minister at the mission visited a gurdwara in Southall in west London and met members of the Sikh community. Another visit to a gurdwara in the Midlands is planned for tomorrow.

Deputy High Commissioner Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik declared: A gurdwara is a place of worship, it should not be politicised.

The seniormost Indian origin MP in Britain, a former minister and Chair of the powerful Home Affairs select committee, Keith Vaz, condemned the SFUK announcement, stating, This is an extraordinary decision and one that is deeply concerning. I hope those who made it will reflect on what they have done and review it immediately. All places of worship in the UK should be open to all.

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The International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), which has effectively evolved into SFUK, was proscribed by the British Government in 2001 under the UKs Terrorism Act. This restraint was lifted in 2016 when Theresa May, now PM, was Home Secretary. The reason given in the House of Commons for lifting the proscription was: There is now not sufficient evidence to support a reasonable belief that the ISYF is currently concerned in terrorism as defined by Section 3(5) of the Terrorism Act 2000.

However, in 2012, Sikh extremists tried to assassinate Lt Gen KS Brar (retd) and his wife. In 1984, the officer had commanded Operation Bluestar to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Up to 20 per cent British Sikhs are estimated to have fissiparous tendencies, as reflected by their refusal to identify themselves as ethnically Indians in the last UK census.

In the past decade, there has been a systematic radicalisation of Sikh youths, with the British authorities paying scant attention to it.

SFUKs latest move was a copycat action. Sikh separatists in Canada had ordered the same earlier in the week. It claimed up to 70 gurdwaras were ready for the ban. In recent months, it has been agitated over the arrest of UK-based Jagtar Singh Johal, detained in Punjab on suspicion of being involved in targeted killings in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Khanna.

The SFUK, unnerved by a charm offensive by the Indian High Commission with celebrations of Guru Gobind Singhs 350th birthday and Baisakhi, has termed these as interference and anti-Sikh activities.

It is further unsettled by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singhs connect with your roots initiative launched in London in September 2017, aimed at countering the disinformation encountered by the younger generation of Sikhs in Britain.

Another grievance of the hardliners is the alleged lack of progress in granting amnesty to those who indulged in terrorism in Punjab, contrary to an assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to local Sikh leaders during his 2015 London visit.

When approached, the British Foreign Office passed the buck. The Home Office should be able to help you with your questions about the Terrorism Act and internal UK matters, a press officer indicated. But a key source in the Foreign Office said it was keeping an eye on the SFUK and would not allow its attention-grabbing tactics to spoil UKs bilateral ties with India.

Londons Metropolitan Police, better known as Scotland Yard, asked whether it would provide protection to Indian diplomats against potential terrorist threats in gurdwaras, responded: The police would only attend if a crime was committed or to prevent a breach of peace.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 6

Nine mobile phones and 10 cigarette packets have been found in the high security Amritsar Central Jail. The cigarettes were thrown on the premises from outside, said officials.

A jail inmate, Sandeep Singh, has been booked as he was found possessing a mobile phone. Two phones were found abandoned and the remaining six mobiles along with 10 packets of cigarettes were thrown from outside. This is not the first such incident.

The jail authorities have a number of times urged the Public Works Department to install a barbed fence outside the boundary wall of the newly constructed Amritsar Central Jail. It has also asked the authorities to construct a watchtower. As the distance between two towers, numbering four and five, is huge, it becomes difficult for the security personnel to see the movement of suspicious elements trying to throw prohibited material inside the jail. The police said two cases have been registered.

The new Kendri Sudhar Ghar (Amritsar Central Jail) is located in a densely populated area and the jail authorities have repeatedly expressed their concern over this.
Swati Rai

As they make their way to work, residents of Asalpha village in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, delight in art every day. Adorning what were once drab and dreary walls is street art that has treated the village like one big canvas, totally transforming this part of Maximum City.

The initiative called Chal Rang De is aimed at dusting away stereotypes with paint brushes. It is a collaboration of Fruit Bowl Digital with Mumbai Metro One, Snowcem Paints and Co.Lab.Oratory Asia. The idea was to change the perspective of urban slums by painting 120 walls of Asalpha village in different colours in a span of three days.

A social media call was sent out, to which more than 1,800 people responded. Very soon, the walls of the village were painted in bright hues. The event was a resounding success and left the residents and spectators amazed. In the second phase, the group has taken things one step further by bringing together professional artists with unique styles.

Fifteen artists have now converted the walls into canvases, with a vision to make them to speak directly to the people of Mumbai. They have turned the walls of the slum into portrayals of its people and their life. Asalpha village stands revamped into an outdoor art gallery that celebrates the bright future of Mumbai and its residents.

Dedeepya Reddy, founder of Chal Rang De, shares, It started as our aim to change peoples perception of the city slums while also spreading happiness through art and colour. Mumbai, as a whole, has so many tales to tell in so many different ways and we just wanted to provide a platform for the local talent to tell theirs, while also giving the community the attention and identity it so rightfully deserved.

The excitement of the volunteers could only be matched by that of the residents. They were more than eager to lend a helping hand and were nothing but appreciative of the end result, with some of them even extending special requests to the artists working in their lanes, says Reddy.

Choosing relevant themes and colours was another key aspect of the project. The colours were kept vibrant to resonate with the emotions that the project wanted to highlight and the styles and the designs complemented the neighbourhood.

The project, shares Reddy, intends to take the spirit of Chal Rang De across the city, and eventually to every corner of the country. The future surely looks colourful and, yes, participative.
Sujoy Dhar

Before Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were reduced by terrorist planes to a plume of mushroom smoke sucking in its vortex nearly 3,000 human lives and countless dreams of the dead and living left behind, it was the biggest tourist attraction of the Big Apple. Tourists would stand in a queue for hours to climb to the top. They would spend $13 and often three hours in a queue to see New York from the Top of the World observation deck on the 107th floor. The WTC towers are gone but there are several others standing tall across the world. No visit to Dubai, Toronto, Chicago, Taipei or Paris is complete without a climb to the top of the sky kissing towers and their observation decks in these cities.

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Come and discover the Eiffel Tower: the only trip to the top of its kind in Europe, one where emotions carry you away, says the website of Eiffel Tower.

Well, while towers and tall buildings have come up across the world in the past many decades surpassing the height of Eiffel Tower (324 m or 1,063 ft), a ride to the top of the tower is truly where emotions carry you away.

The views from the tower are breathtaking needless to say but riding this wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris (named after its genius engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed it) is indeed a whole series of emotions.

Eiffel Tower when it was built from 1887 to 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 Worlds Fair drew criticism from Frances leading artists and intellectuals for its design. But it went on to be the global cultural icon of France and visitors to Paris stand in long queues for their Been There Done That Moment at the most-visited paid monument in the world.

And you may not want to miss the sight and experience of the Eiffel Tower in evening when it is adorned with its golden covering and sparkles for five minutes every hour on the hour, while its beacon shines over Paris.

Willis Tower, Chicago

Now if you love heights and want a birds eye-view of Chicago and the vastness of Lake Michigan, do not miss climbing to the top of this bustling community of business, tourism and culture that is Willis Tower (earlier known as Sears Tower), which is much more than one of North Americas tallest buildings.

Tens of thousands of visitors enjoy the sweeping view of the skyscraper city, Lake Michigan and Chicago River from its top Skydeck. Once you reach the top of this black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass building, you can step out onto The Ledge, a collection of glass boxes that extend over 4 feet out from the side of the building, giving you the opportunity to stare over 1,300 feet straight down.

Willis Tower is home to more than 100 corporate houses. This iconic building is the tallest in the Western Hemisphere, encompassing more than 4.5 million square feet, including its Skydeck and 103rd floor glass viewing platform, The Ledge, attracting more than 1.7 million visitors every year. A thrilling experience for visitors since 1974, it is chilling indeed to stand on the top and see the city where Dhoom 3 was shot.

And yes, South Asians have a reason to be proud of this tower. Dhaka-born and Kolkata-educated Fazlur Rahman Khan, the architect who was known as the Einstein of structural engineering, had designed this building.

Willis Tower (then Sears) was completed in 1973 and building it was an engineering challenge that he overcame. At the tower you can see a sculpture of Khan which was unveiled in 1998 as a tribute to his contribution to architecture.

Tokyo Tower, Tokyo

This is one tower that was built way back in 1958. Indian cinegoers of the 1960s might remember a rollicking Joy Mukherjee serenading Asha Parekh in the 1966 movie Love in Tokyo against its backdrop, or even the final fight sequence in a helicopter hovering over Tokyo capturing this tower.

So this one is for a perfect birds eye-view of Tokyo from the 150m Main Observatory or the 250m Special Observatory  the two viewing platforms.

You have Cafe La Tour and Club333 Stage on the first floor of the Main Observatory. Here, you can just enjoy some beverages while gaping at skyscraper-infested Tokyo. You can also enjoy live music as a magnificent Tokyo night unfolds outside. And yes not to be missed is the thrill of standing on the glass floor called Lookdown Window.

Painted white and international orange, Tokyo Tower when built was a communications-cum-observation tower with a height of 332.9 m (1,092 ft) so that radio waves could be sent out to a large region of the Japanese capital.

Taipei 101, Taipei

Taipei 101 is the iconic skyscraper in Taiwans capital and many of us have seen this tower all lit up during the New Year celebrations every year, and it is a must climb if you are in Taipei.

Fireworks are launched from the lower to the upper sections of the Taipei 101 tower from pitch darkness. The dazzling fireworks show at Taipei 101 has been the climax of New Year Eves countdown parties in Taipei since the skyscraper was completed in 2004.

Taipei 101 is ranked first on the list of worlds 10 toughest buildings, as determined by Popular Mechanics. The BBC also named it one of the worlds eight most beautiful skyscrapers.

The Taipei 101 Observatorys elevators are Guinness Record-breaking high-speed pressurised elevators in 2004, with a speed of 1010 m per minute. It takes only 37 seconds to reach the 89th floor. On this floor 89F Indoor Observatory offers a commanding view of the city and Taipei Basin at all directions.

The Observatory is equipped with high-power binoculars, drinks bar, image services and souvenir shops. If you are lucky, you can also have a view of Taipei from the 91F Outdoor Observatory, which is only open on certain occasions and weather permitting.

CN Tower, Toronto

If in Toronto and you give riding to the top of CN Tower a miss, then you would miss something for sure. While the tower is famous for challenging you to try the scary EdgeWalk atop 116 storeys, it is also a must-visit to enjoy a meal at 360 The Restaurant or just enjoy a sweeping view of Toronto and Lake Ontario or just watch turboprop planes landing at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands. A tourist can ride to the LookOut Level at 1,136 feet in just 58 seconds in one of the many glass-fronted elevators or ride further up to Sky Pod at a thrilling 1,465ft height.

It is one of the highest observation platforms in the world with a unique and spectacular view like no other. Visitors board a separate elevator on the LookOut Level to travel through the core of the Tower  an incredible 33 additional storeys higher to SkyPod, featuring interpretive exhibits. Here you can learn what happens when the Tower is struck by lightning or watch a pendulum to see how the Tower moves in the wind!

But CN Tower is really famous for EdgeWalk, the most thrilling attraction and the first of its kind in North America. It is the worlds highest full circle hands-free walk on a 5 ft (1.5 m) wide ledge encircling the top of the Towers main pod. Trained EdgeWalk guides encourage participants to push their personal limits, allowing them to lean back over Toronto with nothing but air and breathtaking views of Lake Ontario beneath them.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Worlds tallest building. A living wonder. Stunning work of art. Incomparable feat of engineering. This is how Burj Khalifa promotes itself as the tallest tower of the world.

It is truly an iconic symbol of the amazing and prosperous Middle East now.

Well, many cinegoers can recall Tom Cruises death-defying stunt in the film Mission Impossible IV in Dubai, shot on top of Burj Khalifa at 2,717 feet. An adrenaline junkie that this Hollywood actor is, many of his admirers would be tempted to ride to the top of Burj Khalifa by the worlds fastest double deck elevators, cruising at 10m/s.

And once on the top, take a closer look at the world below through avant-garde, high-powered telescopes. You can also step out onto the public outdoor observation terrace overlooking the ever-growing skyline. At 456 m, Level 125 offers a spacious deck tastefully decorated in Arabic mashrabiya for stunning 360-degree views.

At more than 828 m (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 storeys, Burj Khalifa holds the following records: It is the tallest building in the world, the tallest free-standing structure in the world with highest number of storeys in the world and boasting of the highest occupied floor in the world. The elevator with the longest travel distance in the world is also the tallest service elevator in the world.
Harish Khare

Harish Khare

If this week I were to be asked to identify and show a true deshbhakt, my categorical answer will be: Bharat Bhushan Gupta, who operates a small business out of Rama Mandi in Jalandhar. No, he has not demonstrated any extraordinary courage in the face of enemy in the battlefield; instead, he saw a threat to national security and he tried to do something about it.

Let us make it very clear. Deshbhakti is a very noble sentiment, purest of all allegiances and loyalties a human being can feel.

Deshbhakti is not the prerogative of one community, even if that community happens to be in a majority; nor is it the monopoly of the person who happens to be in power or in a seat of authority.

Deshbhakti does not accrue by the simple act of putting on ochre robes; or by beating up the minorities; or by abusing Pakistan on television channels; or by coercing others to shout Vande Mataram. And, it is certainly not a party affair. Deshbhakti is the unalloyed concern for the countrys welfare, unity and security.

And, nobody personified deshbhakti better than Bharat Bhushan Gupta. The moment he realised that there was a gaping hole in the whole Aadhaar network and that this vulnerability could be exploited by anti-national elements, he decided to do something about it. He tried, as best as he could, to contact the authorities. But, as a general rule, the authorities have their own reasons and their own rhythm about when to act and when not to act. Gupta remained unattended and spurned. This is not a case of corruption, it is simple criminal negligence (for which there is no punishment in our official Blue Book).

Not content to let the matter be lost in governmental indifference and apathy, Gupta contacted The Tribune. My colleague Rachna Khaira did a diligent job of bringing out the possibilities of security breach in the Aadhaar data banks.

Sometimes a news story is much more than a journalistic exercise; it becomes an enterprise in national interest. Rachna Khairas story was in national service.

And, what was the governments response?

Deny. Reaffirm the inviolability of the data. File an FIR.

Arguably, the government does not want to admit and create any kind of panic. But the government also has a larger responsibility of assuring the concerned citizens that it is alive to the possibilities and consequences of data breach.

Technology comes with its own authoritative claims of infallibility. This belief in the supremacy of this or that particular technology has become the new religion of the modern age. No one wants to pause to ponder this simple fact: after all, a technology is designed and devised by some clever human brain  and, it is possible for another human brain, more devious and more mendacious, to crack the code. There is this whole enchanting world of cyber security that excites and invites the crooked minds across the globe.

The Aadhaar is not a misconceived project, but its security and impregnability are yet to be fully assured. The onus is on the deshbhakts.

******

After three terms totalling 18 years, Janardhan Dwivedi has said farewell to the Rajya Sabha as its member. Till a few years ago, he was one of the most influential voices in the Congress party. Alas, the party is in no position to have him elected for yet another term. His departure  and his partys inability to ensure his return  tell a story of the changed nature of Indian politics. Also, that the Sonia era is coming to an end.

Dwivedijee, as he was generally referred, must be one of the oldest functionaries to have operated out of 24, Akbar Road. When I first met him, he was just a joint secretary and used to work from a small, cramped space at the back of the main building that houses the AICC headquarters. Eventually, he made it to one of the spacious rooms allotted to the general secretaries. His long, steady rise in the Congress hierarchy reflects well on the established traditions of the grand old party. It could spot a talent, nurture dedication and reward loyalty.

He came to be known for his command over the Hindi language in a party that had an over-abundance of leaders well versed in the English language. But he also provided a link to socialist ideas and constituency.

He never really convinced the press gallery that he was a great parliamentarian, but a Rajya Sabha seat  thrice for him was the partys way to recognise his usefulness. He is credited with Sonia Gandhis famous jibe: Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a line that marked her coming of age.

I have known Dwivedijee for more than two decades. We began on a weary note because I thought  or, rather I was told  that he was part of a Brahmanical clique. I was wrongly informed. Over the years, we settled down to a relationship of mutual respect. I benefited from my interactions with him because he has a phenomenal memory of the institutional history and habits of the Congress party. I do wish he would find time  and, the inclination  to write his memoirs.

And, a question that needs to be asked: Is there a need for a Janardhan Dwivedi in Indian politics today? He belonged to and flourished in an age when our political narrative still consisted of nuanced conversations; today, we begin by shouting at our rivals. He will make a very poor guest at those meaningless nightly combats in television studios.

******

A most unusual incident took place early this week. The Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, was in Saharsa district, addressing a public meeting. Suddenly, a bunch of young men was seen as wanting to show black flags to the Chief Minister. The police personnel swung into action  as per their habit and reflex  and were about to pounce on the demonstrators.

The Chief Minister intervened and told the police to let the boys be. He told the police that the disrupters wanted to create an incident, so why provide them an excuse, why draw the medias attention to it. And, in good humour, he added there was nothing wrong with the black colour.

Dissent lends beauty to democracy, the Chief Minister of Bihar was reported to have observed. What a wise observation! Totally at variance with the absolute security cover that is provided to our new rulers whenever they step out of their comfort zone in Lutyens Delhi.

In the last two decades, our democracy has become comfortable with a new cult of security. The supposedly charismatic leaders no longer have the courage to walk alone.

******

We all know that after New Year, President Donald Trump came back to the White House and immediately took to Twitter, sending out offensive messages to foreign governments. His most threatening tweet was to the North Korean regime.

In the midst of all the excitement and recrimination that followed the American Presidents angry tweets, a legal question got raised: whether Mr Trumps account could be suspended because he had used it to make threats. According to a brief comment in the New Yorker, the company thought the American President was not exactly guilty because he had not make a specific threat.

Nitpickers, all.

******

Is there an elegant way to catch a cold? We have winter every year and a nasty weather to go with it. Before the onset of the wintry season every year, newspapers, magazines, television shows are full of pieces of advice as to what precautions to take in this weather. Yet year after year, we succumb, despite following the precautions and remedies at home.

A visit to the old reliable general physician could not be avoided. Of course, he prescribed the usual doze of antibiotics, but he insisted, most reassuringly: Do not stop drinking your coffee.

Anyone?
In a shocking incident, a 29-year-old Bihar engineer was allegedly kidnapped and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint in Patna's Pandarak area on 3rd December.

By India Today Web Desk: In a shocking incident, a 29-year-old Bihar engineer was allegedly kidnapped and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint in Patna's Pandarak area on 3rd December last year.

The man has been identified as Vinod Kumar, who works as an executive engineer in a Bokaro steel plant.

Kumar was going to attend a friend's marriage in Islampur, when he got a call from one Surinder Yadav, whom he had met earlier during his father's treatment, who asked him to come to Mokama.

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But, when Kumar reached Mokama, Surinder held him hostage and made him marry his brother-in-law, Madan Yadav's sister -- a video of which has gone viral on social media platforms. In the video, Vinod Kumar can be seen being thrashed and forced to marry the woman.

According to victim's brother Awadhesh, his friend Guddu was also held hostage and was kept in a separate room. He further said he tried to contact his brother that day but couldn't speak to him. Next day, he got a call from Madan Yadav who informed him that his brother has been married.

Victim's brother has lodged a complaint with Pandarak Police Station on 4th December, but even after one month there has been no arrest in the case.

WATCH: Video of man forcefully married off in Bihar goes viral

--- ENDS ---
K. Natwar Singh

By K. Natwar Singh

Earlier in the week, a benign exchange between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Shashi Tharoor was witnessed in the Lok Sabha. The External Affairs Minister was emphasising why Hindi should be included as one of the official languages at the United Nations. The other languages of the UN are English, French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish. Arabic was added in the 1980s.

The minister said Hindi was not confined to India only. It was also spoken in Suriname, Fiji (the combined population of Surinam and Fiji is less than 1 million) and Ghana, apart from 800 million Indians.

The facts go against the ministers claim. All Indians dont speak Hindi. Even our Constitution does not pronounce Hindi as the national language. Hindi is not the first language in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Kashmir, Eastern states, Punjab, Goa and Puducherry. It is the first language in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand (marginally), Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

What is even more telling is a unique phenomenon. Many chief ministers like that of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh cannot speak in Hindi. Even, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha and Dravidian veteran M Karunanidhi cannot converse in Hindi. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too uses interpreters to have meaningful conversations with the Tamil Nadu CM.

On what basis can the External Affairs Minister justify the inclusion of Hindi as one of the languages of the UN? Any attempt by the Sangh Parivar to force Hindi on the non-Hindi speaking states will divide India. We must not forget the agitation that followed the attempt to promote Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Tamil is the language of Tamil Nadu.

I come from Rajasthan. My mother tongue is Hindi plus Braj Bhasha. No conflict between the two. This applies to Hindi and Bhojpuri, Awadhi and so on in UP. This flexibility is our national pride. Thus, our overenthusiastic Hindi protagonists should be more realistic. Patriotism is no Indians monopoly. When Sushma-ji visits Chennai, I take it that she speaks in English to the CM.

******

Ten heads of states will be meeting in New Delhi on January 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) partnership. Incidentally, we did not join ASEAN when it was founded. Why? I would not go into that at the moment.

Those attending the meeting are: Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong (son of late Lee Kuan Yew), Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Darussalam (he is one of the richest men in the world), Cambodia PM Hun Sen (30 years ago, we helped him to become leader of his country), Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic PM Thongloun, Thailand PM General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Vietnam PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Indian PM Narendra Modi.

******

Incidentally, India was pre-dominantly Buddhist nation till AD 1000, Indonesia till the 15th century (even today the culture of Indonesia is almost Hindu plus Sanskaritic), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Burma remain Buddhist.

One of the sublime architectural wonders of the world is Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Borobudur is another such wonder in Indonesia. Both are said to have been constructed by Buddhist builders. It has been my good fortune to have spent time in these erstwhile Buddhist nations and the two architectural sublimities.

******

My standard of conduct is so vastly low that I feel I have a right to condemn those who dont come up to it. AE Houseman
Jaskaran Singh

Jaskaran Singh

Shadows were beginning to emerge; tall city buildings seemed struggling to stay visible against the evenings quiet descent. People were hurrying home or somewhere; cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes and cycles flitted about in a frenzied tumult of an approaching night. It was cold, very cold; its dullness blunted by shrillness of an exaggerated sense of living, and leaving a year behind  until one last ticking of time in the continuum of 2017. December 31 was to go anyway; the night had to be as dark as ever. Yet cities mark the absence of their sameness.

I hung out, as if backstage, near brightly lit revelers haunts being filled to their capacity, all in apparent desperation to touch the farthest end of the year, holding on to whatever they could: their wallets their prime possession. Party lounges where they strutted and splurged werent their homes. The pride was theirs, and mine too.

So, I allowed myself the luxury of measuring the brimful of the night. Dateline: December 31, 2017, time: 11pm, place: Chandigarh, Sector 7. A mouth-watering smell of food wafts across the shopping arcade. Food, all kinds of food, is there. Everybody is hungry, gluttonous and so full of noise that they dont mind eating anything. They are smartly turned out in their wintry best, they are in a hurry not to let go of the moment at hand. Some of them are drinking in a corner, the thirst for a kick overcoming their togetherness.

Here I find Kishori packing up for the night. Where would he go? Wherever I find space to sleep, he says without a hint of worry. I tag along, chatting up about his gruelling work of hauling goods to the big showrooms. We are going to Sector 12, PGI because I have every chance of sleeping peacefully there. I am amazed by his self-assurance. The PGI has three night shelters out of 11 in the city, he tells me. Would he mind if I go with him? Not at all, but I am not sure if you would find a place to sleep there, he says.

I ask the attendant to accommodate me for the night. No, the place is full, he tells me politely. Each water-proof shelter can accommodate 25 persons, at least. The number can go up to 40. Kishori looks tired, not dejected. We decide to take a chance at GMSH 16 shelter, but it is packed too, and the attendant is not even ready to listen.

Over to Sector 9, I try my best to find space, but Im refused again. The cold wind is piercing my bones, but Kishori is unfazed. Almost illiterate, he is from Saharanpur, western UP. He came to the city last year in search of work. The city needs hardy people. So here I am ready to be hired, he says, rubbing his palms and walking briskly. I realize he is wearing one pullover and a muffler. Walking recharges the body. I agree and offer him a ride on my cycle to Sector 19. The shelter attendant suggests we go towards Shiv Temple. No luck again. We head to the Sector 20 home near Hanuman Temple. It is 2 am and my mobile phone says the temperature is 8C. And yes, this time we make it! We have a place to sleep! I am overjoyed, but Kishori is unimpressed.

Krishan, the attendant, helps us in setting the mattress and quilts and offers water from a container. I thank him for his kindness. There are 14 more people already sleeping inside the shelter. I lie down and close my eyes. I didnt know when I fell asleep. The temple bell woke me up; the morning came so quickly! Yes, 2018 too has set in. It was 6 am, I looked around for Kishori. He wasnt there; he must have already left for work.

Only five persons remain inside the tent. I strike up a conversation. They are labourers staying in the shelter for the last fortnight or so. They are from distant places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and even West Bengal.

Rakesh Srivastava (31) is from Kolkata, he came to Chandigarh two months ago. A company based in Mohali had promised him a job. I noticed something wrong there after working for the company for 15 days. he says. So, he decided to leave.

I have been staying in this shelter for 13 days. Every day I go out in search of a job. There has been none so far. I go to Sai Temple in Sector 29 for food from the community kitchen. I bathed after five days at Sector 21 gurdwara. I have fallen in love with the city, the people are very helpful and kind, says Srivastava. Though the night shelter stay comes for free, there is an urgent need for toilet facilities. Also, there is a lack of discipline, says a migrant labourer.

Over the years, the number of homeless coming to the city has increased multifold. Nodal officer Kehar Singh from Department of Social Welfare says the government plans to set up more such homes. A letter for approval for mobile toilets has been sent to the municipal corporation. We have written to the DC that Red Crosss Annapurna van should also facilitate the needy with food at all the shelters for Rs 10 per plate once in a day, says Kehar.

Twice a week, three 108 number emergency vans with inspection teams keep a vigil at these shelters and for medical check-ups. Another team headed by an SDM is supposed to visit each shelter daily to check facilities at these shelters, says Kehar.
Sumayyah Qureshi

Sumayyah Qureshi in Chandigarh

The Kulbushan Jadhav case could be a tipping point in the India-Pakistan relations. There are allegations and vehement denials over Jadhavs credentials. Pakistan says that its security forces arrested Jadhav, alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, a serving Indian Navy officer, from Balochistan province on charges of espionage for Indias spy agency Research and Analysis Wing. India denies Pakistans version. It says that Jadhav had retired from the Navy and was abducted from Iran where he had business interests.

Pakistan sentenced Jadhav, arrested on March 3, 2016, to death in a Field General Court Martial on April 10, 2017, following which India approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May. The ICJ had halted the execution, pending its judgment.

After 21 month, Pakistan allowed Jadhavs family to meet him in Islamabad on December 25. The meeting was held from behind a glass partition as Jadhav and his wife and mother sat facing each other. The Indian media reacted strongly to the inhuman treatment meted out to Jadhavs wife and mother. The Ministry of External Affairs went all guns blazing, pulling up Pakistan for stage-managing what it called an exercise that lacked credibility.

Heres a peek into how Pakistani newspapers reported the issue, giving us an insight into what the other side thinks:

The Dawn ran an article headlined Kulbhushan Jadhav not alone. Writer Jawed Naqvi wrote: When the Indian Parliament was berating Pakistan for its omissions and commissions with the Jadhav meeting, and when Indian TV channels were going ballistic about the event, they were being blind to exactly how they approach their own prisoners. Naqvi talked of Indian prisoners Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru, who were executed in Tihar Jail without meeting their families.

The Express Tribune carried a story Kulbhushan Jadhav is face of Indian terrorism: FO An editorial: Engagement, the only option, in The Express Tribune wrote that Jadhav met his wife and mother amid media frenzy and unprecedented security. It lauded Pakistan for allowing the meeting and said that it was a reminder for the Indian PM that both countries should come together and solve their issues.

Without going into merits of the Jadhav case, Pakistans gesture allowing the Indian spy to have audience with his mother and wife must be applauded. Also the development should not be seen in isolation of overall bilateral ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. India may have its grievances, but Pakistan also has a long list of complaints, including RAWs involvement in abetting terrorism and creating unrest in Pakistan. The fact that despite simmering tensions, the two sides successfully worked out details of the meeting is a positive development. This is also a reminder for the Modi administration that no matter how intricate issues between Pakistan and India are, ultimately they have to sit across the table whether on the issue of Jadhav or perennial disputes such as J&K.

A Daily Times editorial Jadhav and the media circus said the meeting that should have been seen purely as a humanitarian gesture was anything but that. It berated Pakistan media and said it was undeserving of the title of the fourth pillar for heckling a couple of women. It further went on to say that Pakistani media was in its infancy, at least in terms of understanding what constitutes ethical reporting. Taking a neutral view, it said the Pakistan media should have been denied access to the meeting place.

One of Pakistans widely read newspapers The News International carried an editorial Goodwill and reciprocity. It said how the meeting had allowed an opportunity to show that Pakistan had treated Jadhav well.
London, January 6

The author of a book that is highly critical of Donald Trumps first year as US President said his revelations were likely to bring an end to Trumps time in the White House. Michael Wolff told BBC radio that his conclusion in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House  that Trump is not fit to do the jobwas becoming a widespread view.

I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect, Wolff said in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says he cant do his job, Wolff said.

Suddenly everywhere people are going oh my God, its true, he has no clothes. Thats the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency. Trump has dismissed the book as full of lies. It depicts a chaotic White House, a president who was ill-prepared to win the office in 2016, and Trump aides who scorned his abilities.

Trump took to Twitter late on Friday to renew his attacks on Wolff, and on his former top aide Steve Bannon who was quoted in the book.

Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book, Trump said. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!

Bannon, formerly Trumps chief strategist, is chairman of the so-called alt-right Breitbart News website. In his interview with the BBC, Wolff was asked if he believed that Bannon felt Trump was unfit to serve as President and would try to bring him down. Yes, Wolff replied.  Reuters

WH: book is full of misinformation

The White House has described the book titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House as being full of misinformation. The book hit bookstores on Friday, days ahead of its scheduled release after Trumps attorney initiated a move to prevent its publication

In an interview to National Public Radio, author Wolff stood by the content of his book and his criticism of the President. Contrary to White House statements, Wolff claims he had unhindered access to the White House

Haley has eye on presidency: Book
Washington, January 6

Unfazed by fierce criticism and fears over his mental health, US President Donald Trump on Saturday described himself as being a genius.

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Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence, Trump tweeted.

Identifying mental stability and being really smart as his two greatest assets, Trump in a series of tweets said that winning the presidential election on his first attempt qualifies him as a genius.

Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.

Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames, he said.

I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try), he said.

I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that! he tweeted.

Trumps tweets came in the wake of a new book titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, and his nuclear button comment on North Korea this week, following which political opponents raised questions over his mental stability and fitness.

Ive never questioned his mental fitness. I have no reason to question his mental fitness, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday when asked about Trumps mental fitness.

According to multiple media reports, about a dozen lawmakers from the House and Senate received a briefing from Yale psychiatrist Bandy X Lee on Capitol Hill about Trumps fitness to be President.

During the meeting in December, lawmakers said they were worried about his mental state.

Yale University has disassociated itself from Lees comments.

Lee had told CNN that Trump is showing signs of impairment that the average person could not see.

He is becoming very unstable very quickly. There is a need for neuropsychiatric evaluation that would demonstrate his capacity to serve, she claimed.

The White House has ridiculed such claims saying Trump is a strong leader.

Whats the Presidents reaction to the growing number of suggestions, both in this book and in the media, that hes mentally unfit to serve as president? White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked this week.

The same way we have when its been asked before: that its disgraceful and laughable, Sanders responded. PTI
United Nations, January 6

The world will be watching what you do, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has warned Iran during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in the Islamic nation which has faced a series of nationwide anti-government protests.

Durting the meeting, three members, France, Russia and China of the permanent five, joined Iran in asserting that this 15-member body was not an appropriate forum to discuss the current situation in Iran as it did not pose any threat to international peace and security.

Heated debate took place on the floor of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York after its 15 members were gathered at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran.

The people of Iran are rising up. They are asking for something that no government can legitimately deny them: their human rights and fundamental freedoms. They are calling out, Think of us. If the founding principles of this institution mean anything, we will not only hear their cry, we will finally answer it. The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do, Haley told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

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The meeting of the UN Security Council was convened at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran, where some 21 people have lost their lives in more than week-long anti-government protests across the country.

US President Donald Trump has come out in support of the protesters.

Every UN member state is sovereign, but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms, Haley said.

She called on all of her other colleagues in the Security Council to join her in amplifying the message of the Iranian people.

And I call on the Government of Iran to stop censoring the voice of the people and to restore the access to the internet. Because in the end, the Iranian people will determine their own destiny, she said.

And let there be no doubt whatsoever: The US stands unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call the protesters, puppets of foreign powers, will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth, Haley said.

Briefing the Security Council, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said the demonstrations taking place in Iran were a fundamental expression of human rights, and a powerful exhibition of brave people who were so fed up with their oppressive regime that they were willing to risk their lives in protest.

The Iranian regimes contempt of the rights of its people had been widely documented, she said.

Addressing the Security Council, the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Gholamali Khoshoroo, slammed the 15-member body to have allowed itself to be abused by the Trump Administration in holding a meeting that falls outside the scope of its mandate.

This is a mistake by the Security Council, he said.

This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the US administration to escape, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world, he said.

There is a long history of US bullying at the UN, and the case of the Iranian protest was a preposterous example of interference in the purely internal affairs of a nation.

Khoshoroo alleged that the US has a long history of intervening in the internal affairs of Iran, including a continuous pattern of disruption in the democratisation process in Iran.

British Ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, refuted the Iranian allegations and said that no one is forcing Iran onto their agenda.

The Security Council is perfectly empowered through Article 34 of the UN Charter, and I quote, to investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, he said.

However, the Russian representative Vassily A Nebenzia agreed with Iran and said the US is abusing the platform of the Security Council.

Iran should be allowed to deal with its own problems, he said, asserting that the Council should not be involved in destabilising Iran.

Following the current logic, it should have held a meeting after the events in Ferguson, Missouri. History is full of attempts to replace undesirable regimes, but people preferred not to remember that. The real reason to convene the meeting is a veiled attempt to use the current moment to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, he said.

Observing that the Councils primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security, Wu Haito of China said it should not be the venue for discussing the human rights situation of any country.

The Iranian situation did not pose a threat to international peace and security, and discussing its domestic situation is not part of the Councils responsibilities as outlined in the Charter, he said.

Joining Iran, Russia and China, the French Representative to the UN, Francois Delattre said it is up to the Iranians alone to pursue the path of peace.

However worrying the recent events were, they did not constitute a threat to international peace and security. Change in Iran would not come from the outside, it would come from the Iranian people themselves, he added.

Among the non-permanent members, representatives from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia sided with the Iranian argument that the Council was not the forum to discuss the current situation in Iran.

The meeting was chaired by Kairat Umarov, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UN. Speaking in his national capacity, he said his country considered the developments in Iran to be a domestic issue that did not fall under the mandate of the Security Council. PTI
Washington, January 6

The US is keeping all options on the table to deal with Pakistan if it did not take decisive action against the Taliban and the Haqqani network and dismantle their safe havens, the White House warned on Saturday.

The warning came after the US suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on terror groups.

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after President Donald Trump in a New Years Day tweet accused the country of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing safe haven to terrorists in return for the USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

The US does have a range of tools that were looking at beyond just the security assistance issue to deal with Pakistan and to try to convince it to crack down on the Taliban and Haqqani network, a senior Trump administration official told reporters.

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Certainly no one should doubt the US resolve to address this threat and all options I would say will be on the table, said the official, on condition of anonymity.

While some policymakers have been asking the White House to revoke the non-NATO ally status of Pakistan and put pressure on the country through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, Pentagon generals have indicated unilateral actions.

However, the official refrained from divulging any of the options that the administration is considering against Pakistan.

Im not able to comment on specific steps at this time. But nobody should doubt our resolve in trying to address these threats. Were looking at all options. We hope that we can cooperate with Pakistan. But we do have options that were considering, the official said.

The US wants action against the existing safe havens of the Taliban and the Haqqani network and demolish its ability to carry out strikes across the border in Afghanistan, the official said and expressed hope that Pakistan would take actions that the US was seeking.

....that will allow the relationship to return to a more positive trajectory, the official said.

In August, while unveiling his new South Asia strategy, 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.

Trumps new policy, the official said, is driven by his desire to have a successful strategy in Afghanistan.

We firmly believe that for the future of the region, Pakistan needs to crack down on these terrorist elements. Unless they take a comprehensive approach to the terrorism problem it is going to threaten US interests and everybodys interests including Pakistan's, the official said.

He said the announcement of the suspension of the security assistance to Pakistan clearly reflected the US frustration over Pakistans failure to crack down on all terrorists who find sheltered on its territory.

There has been ample time for Pakistan to show it is taking our request seriously. Unfortunately, we have not seen the kind of meaningful action that we were seeking, the White House official rued.

Responding to a question, the official said the US had a number of tools in its toolkit and could take unilateral steps. But at this time, the US preferred to cooperate with Pakistan and was hopeful about it, the official said.

And we want to indicate to Pakistan our seriousness about the issue of dealing with safe havens, the official said.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the US would restore the suspended security assistance to Pakistan if it took action against terrorist groups. We would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us, Mattis told reporters.

The US is still working with Pakistan, he said, but refrained from going into details.

The specific individual things were doing are best handled in private, to ensure that we can be most productive. And thats what were working now, he said.

Mattis had travelled to Pakistan last month for talks with the top Pakistani leadership.

Theres a campaign plan now that starts regionally. So we started thinking about India and Pakistan and Afghanistan. We reinforced some of our forces there, because we found some forces didnt have the American advisers they needed, and the ones with advisers seemed to always win. The ones without them did not fare so well, he said. PTI
United Nations: The US has failed to get the UN Security Council to act on the Iranian protests with most members questioning if it was even the right forum to take up internal affairs of a country while expressing support for the nuclear deal with Tehran that is opposed by President Trump. The protests against economic hardships began on December 28. PTI

11 Saudi princes held for palace protests

Dubai: A state-linked Saudi news website says 11 princes have been arrested and will be tried for staging a protest at one of the kings palaces and refusing orders to leave. The Sabq website reported on Saturday that a division of the National Guard, which is tasked with protecting the royal family, was ordered to arrest the princes. AP
Washington, January 6

Indian-American politician Nikki Haley is harbouring presidential ambitions and many in President Donald Trumps inner circle fear that she could be the heir to the presidency, Michael Wolffs new book about the White House has revealed.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

In the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House which hit the book stores on Friday, author Michael Wolff, claims that Haley has an eye on the presidency and Trump is seen to be grooming her for a national political future.

The move, however, was not liked by fired Steve Bannon, who once held the powerful position of White House Chief Strategist.

There was no immediate reaction from US Ambassador to the UN Haley, who according to the book by October concluded that Trump at the most was a one-time President.

Haley, 45, is the first-ever Indian-American appointed to a Cabinet-level position by any President.

She is currently US Ambassador to the United Nations, which is a Cabinet-level position.

In the last one year, the two-term Governor from South Carolina has emerged as a close confident of Trump and has been strongly pushing for Trumps foreign policy agenda at the United Nations, attracting frequent praise from Trump himself.

However, the book, which has been dismissed by Trump and the White House, but has dogged the media limelight for the past few days portrays Haley in a negative light says that the Indian-American has a presidential ambition and does not has a good view of the President.

By October, however, many on the Presidents staff took particular notice of one of the few remaining Trump opportunists: Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador, the book said.

Haleyas ambitious as Lucifer, in the characterisation of one member of the senior staffhad concluded that Trumps tenure would last, at best, a single term, and that she, with requisite submission, could be his heir apparent, Wolff writes. PTI
Washington, January 6

The East Coast in the US is shivering in a record-breaking freeze in the wake of a deadly "bomb cyclone" that dumped snow as far south as Florida. In parts of the US and Canada, temperatures were forecast to fall below -29 degrees Celsius, with wind chill making it feel more like -67 degrees Celsius on Friday night, the local media reported.

In Canada, high winds knocked out power for tens of thousands of residents in Nova Scotia. Thousands of snow ploughs were clearing roads across the US East Coast.

On Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted dangerously low temperatures moving into the weekend as frigid air lingering over the North Pole prowled towards the US mid-Atlantic region. The storm that delivered the wintry deluge has battered coastal communities in Massachusetts. Residents of Boston, which received over 30 centimetre of snowfall, were clearing the streets with shovels, a BBC report said.

In the beach town of Revere, near Boston, frozen floodwaters left an entire street full of parked cars trapped in ice, in images captured on video posted to social media.

It came just days after a phenomenon described as a "bomb cyclone" brought heavy snowfall to a wide area along the US East Coast, as well as hurricane-force winds.  IANS

13 killed in China snow storms

Beijing: Thirteen persons have been killed in heavy snowstorms in China's Anhui Province in the last three days as blue alert has been sounded for blizzards. The worst snowstorms since 2008 have so far affected 1.06 million people in the province. The storms caused direct economic losses of 1.26 billion yuan ($190 million) and 790 million yuan ($122 million) of losses in agriculture.
By PTI: Raipur, Jan 6 (PTI) AANaxalAwasAgunned down inAan encounter with security forcesAinAChhattisgarhs Bijapur district today, police said.

The exchange of fire took place around 3 pm inAthe forests of Karka village under Gangaloor police station limitsAinAwhichAoneAultra was killed, Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

A team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on a counter-insurgency operation in the interiors of Gangaloor, around 450 kms away from here, he said.

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When the forces were cordoning off jungles near Karka, they came under heavy firing from a group of rebels, leading to a brief gunfight, he said.

After the guns fell silent, security forces searched the area and recovered the body of aANaxal clad in "uniform" along with one muzzle loading gun and a country-made pistol, Garg said.

The identity of the killed ultra was yet to be ascertained, he said. PTI TKP NRB BAS

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LONDON, January 6

The author of a book that is highly critical of Donald Trump's first year as US president said his revelations were likely to bring an end to Trump's time in the White House.

Michael Wolff told BBC radio that his conclusion in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White Housethat Trump is not fit to do the jobwas becoming a widespread view.

"I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect," Wolff said in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

"The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says he cant do his job," Wolff said.

"Suddenly everywhere people are going 'oh my God, its true, he has no clothes'. That's the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency." Trump has dismissed the book as full of lies. It depicts a chaotic White House, a president who was ill-prepared to win the office in 2016, and Trump aides who scorned his abilities.

Trump took to Twitter late on Friday to renew his attacks on Wolff, and on his former top aide Steve Bannon who was quoted in the book.

"Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book," Trump said. "He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!"

Bannon, formerly Trump's chief strategist, is chairman of the so-called alt-right Breitbart News website In his interview with the BBC, Wolff was asked if he believed that Bannon felt Trump was unfit to serve as president and would try to bring him down. "Yes," Wolff replied.

He also hit back at claims that the book was untruthful.

"This is what's called reporting. This is how you do it," he said. "You ask people, you get as close as you can to the event, you interview the people who were privy to the event, you interview other people who were privy to the event, you come to know the circumstance as well as anybody and then you report it." Reuters
An unidentified driver died Friday night in a rollover accident in Bartlesville.

A vehicle was traveling northbound about 8 p.m. near the 1200 block of North Virginia Avenue when it veered off the east side of the road, hit a tree and rolled several times, according to the Bartlesville Police Department.

The driver, who was ejected from the vehicle, died at the scene of the crash, officers reported.

Police said the car was traveling at a high rate of speed.

The drivers identity is being withheld until notification of next of kin.
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By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said it has attached over 348 acres of land in Madhya Pradesh, valued at about Rs 4.53 crore, in connection with its money laundering probe in the coal blocks allocation scam.

A provisional order for attachment of the land in Narsinghpur district of the central Indian state has been issued by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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The land belongs to Ms BLA Industries Private Limited, it said.

The ED had registered a criminal case of money laundering against the firm, its managing director Anup Agarwal and unknown public servants, based on a CBI FIR, a few years back.

The agency, in a statement, said proceeds of the crime generated in this case were from illegal mining, and new share capital creation which was "layered through various bank accounts and finally integrated in the form of purchase of immovable properties" like the 348.34 acre land in Madhya Pradesh, has now been attached.

The land in question has been valued at over Rs 4.53 crore, the agency said.

"It was alleged (in the CBI FIR) that the Gotitoria East and Gotitoria West coal blocks located in Mohapani coal field of Narsinghpur district were allocated for captive use in power plant.

"The plant was not set up and the condition of captive use of coal was altered by public servants allowing Ms BLA Industries Private Limited to sell coal, thus giving undue favour to the company," the ED alleged.

An attachment order under the PMLA is aimed at depriving the accused from taking benefits of their alleged ill-gotten wealth, the agency said, adding such an order can be appealed by the affected party before the Adjudicating Authority of the Act in 180 days time. PTI NES SRY

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ED attaches 348 acres land of BLA Industries in connection with coal scam

New Delhi, Jan 6 (UNI) Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable properties of 348 acres , valued at Rs 4, 53,88,842/-, of M/s BLA Industries Pvt. Ltd in Narsinhpur district of Madhya Pradesh in connection with the coal block allocation scam, the agency said in its release here on Saturday.

In this case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered FIR against the company, its Managing Director Anup Agarwal and other unknown public servants.

It was alleged that the Gotitoria East and West coal blocks located in Mohapani Coal field in Narsinhpur were allocated for captive use in a power plant which had not been set up. Further, condition of captive use of coal was altered by public servants to allow M/s BLA Industries Private Limited to sell coal.
By Chayyanika Nigam: The party circuit in Delhi is high on heroin these days. As law enforcement agencies claim, the supply of Afghan heroin - considered a high grade drug - has increased in the national Capital because of its demand among youngsters.

Only few months ago, cocaine was their top choice. On Friday, the Delhi Police Special Cell busted an international narcotic drug cartel and arrested an African drug supplier with 2 kg high grade heroin.

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According to police, the seized heroin is worth more than Rs 8 crore in the international market. Meanwhile, West Delhi Police also arrested another African-origin drug peddler with heroin worth Rs. 5 lakh.

Revealing the modus operandi followed by most African nationals smuggling drugs, Sanjeev Yadav, DCP (Special Cell), said: "These African-origin drug peddlers visit India by air and bring heroin to Delhi through several means, including swallowing heroin-filled capsules in their stomach. Most of these peddlers reside in Delhi and supply the drugs in the city's party circuit. Apart from supplying Afghan heroin in Delhi, they supply it in UP, Haryana and Punjab. Not only this, they also send consignments to European, North American and African countries through courier companies."

Ezekiel Success Chinedu, who was arrested by the Special Cell on Friday, came to India in April last year on a three-month tourist visa. He stayed on even after his visa expired and started supplying drugs. On his arrival in Delhi, he stayed with a fellow Nigerian, Okaji Baju, who lured him into the trade. Initially, he worked as a carrier for Baju, but gradually developed his own network in Haryana and Punjab.

Police said for the last year, he has been independently supplying drugs in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. He also sends consignments of heroin to European, North American and African countries through courier companies. Further interrogation revealed that some other African-origin people visit India by air and bring heroin to Delhi.

Bengaluru horror: Woman seen crying, husband says she was molested by revelers

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US President Donald Trump has supported the move by his party's Senator Rand Paul to bring a bill in the US Congress to end all financial assistance to Pakistan.

By Santosh Chaubey: US President Donald Trump has supported the move by his party's Senator Rand Paul to bring a bill in the US Congress to end all financial assistance to Pakistan.

Trump, while retweeting Rand Paul's tweet this morning about bringing such a proposal, said it was a good idea.

Rand Paul, a Republican Senator had tweeted yesterday that he was going to introduce a bill to end all aid to Pakistan . Rand Paul posted a video message along with his tweet where he voiced concern over Pakistan's double-dealings and treachery saying the US should not give even a penny to Pakistan.

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He says the US should stop wasting taxpayers' hard-earned money on a country that prides in burning the American flag and chanting death to America. Instead, the money can put to better use here, in America, he adds. Rand Paul narrates how Pakistan has betrayed America, "Pakistan didn't help us even in finding Osama bin Laden even though he was living in one of their cities for years. Then they jailed the informant who helped us get bin Laden."

"They have allowed suspected terrorist to operate from their country. Some say Pakistani intelligence agents actually aid and abate terrorists," Paul added. 2018 has come as a shocker for US-Pakistan ties. On the New Year Day, Donald Trump announced on Twitter that from now onward no more US aid would be offered to Pakistan.

His blunt declaration called Pakistan a lying and deceitful country that had betrayed the American trust by sheltering the terrorists who harm US interests in Afghanistan in spite of receiving $33 Billion over the last 15 years. Trump's tweet began a rapid downward spiral in US-Pakistan ties that was already strained after Trump's inaugural as the President of America last year.

Trump has been a vocal Pakistan critic highlighting Pakistan's betrayals like housing Osama bin Laden, Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the terror groups on the radar of the US. Soon after Trump's New Year Day tweet, the US announced to withhold military financial assistance to Pakistan worth $255 Million and yesterday, it announced to suspend all aid to Pakistan, technological and financial, till Pakistan came out clean on its responsibility to wipe out all forms of terror emanating from its soil.

Since the New Year Day, the White House has released a formal statement demanding Pakistan to do more against terror and has handed over a list of 27 Haqqani Network terrorists against whom it wants action by 15 January.

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By PTI: Imphal, Jan 6 (PTI) In a major haul, police today seized WY drugs, worth Rs 3 crore in the international market, in Imphal West district of Manipur.

Acting on inputs from a reliable source, a mini truck was intercepted near NG College Gate in Imphal West by a team of police officers, Additional SP L Priyadarshini said.

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The truck, loaded with sandbags, had come from the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh.

"When the officers searched the truck, they found WY drug packets tucked between sandbags," Priyadarshini said.

Driver N Ranjit has been taken into custody, the senior police officer said.

Worlds Yours (WY) contains a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine. It is typically produced in a round pill form. PTI COR RMS SNP

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Big shot Hanoi buyers are looking to spread the wealth to the provinces

A range of real estate projects have been introduced to Hanois market from Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Danang and Nha Trang. The projects include The Charm, Sunrise City, Ocean Villas, Hyatt Regency, Olalani, Fusion Alya, Azura and Blooming Park.

Talking with VIR at a recent road show to introduce Sunrise City, located in Ho Chi Minh, in Hanoi, Novaland Joint Stock Company marketing deputy director Huynh Du An said many units were sold to Hanoians and those from northern provinces.

Meanwhile, a range of other central and southern projects have been rushing into Hanoi. Setia Becamex launched Binh Duong provinces Ecolakes My Phuoc in the capital late last week, a week before TD Group introduced the Costa Nha Trang to Hanoians. This week Singapores Guoco Lands Canary, located at the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Binh Duong province, will be unveiled to northern customers.

Bringing Ecolakes My Phuoc to Hanois market is one of our key marketing strategies. Hanoians are paying more attention to higher standards of living and are interested in ecological housing, said Khoo Teck Chong, general director of Setia Becamex.

VIR was told that for many projects in the central and southern parts, roughly 70 per cent of customers were from Hanoi and other northern provinces.

Matthew Koziora, sales director of VinaCapital - developer of the Azura in Danang, said the first 60 units, out of 225, were launched in Hanoi recently.

Out of the 40 units sold, 90 per cent of the buyers had come from Hanoi.

Hanoi has, according to Koziora, proven itself to be a key market for most new projects in Vietnam, given the demographics of these immediate catchments.

While condominium offerings will always be available in Hanoi due to previous pent-up demands, we can see that not all projects will enjoy a healthy sell-through, as was seen 12 months ago.

We do see, however, given the price differentials between house and land packages in Hanoi versus Ho Chi Minh City, that this market will be better received in the current marketplace and over the next six months as opposed to condominium project offerings at this time, Koziora said

Ngo Huu Truong, managing director of a real estate agency in Ho Chi Minh City, said many customers from Hanoi and Haiphong had come to Ho Chi Minh City to find out information about new projects there.

Demand is real and many projects investors have realised this trend and they are coming to Hanoi to promote their projects, Truong said.

He also said the jury was still out on how effective the promotions were.

I think that these developers [who bring their projects to Hanoi] have at least seen their target to raise their image and brand names in northern customers, Truong said.
Forced marriage is mainly carried out by poor families who cannot afford a dowry - still a widespread expectation in India. (Photo: AFP/Sam Panthaky)

Video footage apparently showing Vinod Kumar being forced to go through with a wedding by his bride's family sparked the probe, police in the eastern state of Bihar said Friday (Jan 5).

"Pakadua Vivah" (forced marriage) is a practice specific to Bihar and surrounding areas, and is mainly carried out by poor families who cannot afford a dowry - still a widespread expectation in India.

A video circulated on social media shows the engineer being manhandled and forced to dress for the wedding as he pleads for freedom.

"We are only performing your wedding, not hanging you," one man is heard to shout as Kumar begs to be released.

Another video shows Kumar sitting beside his bride crying while a woman, apparently an in-law, tries to console him.

Lalan Mohan Prasad, a local officer, told AFP police had contacted Kumar and offered their help but he had not formally complained.

Local media quoted the engineer as saying one of the bride's relatives had pointed a pistol at him after they met at a mutual friend's wedding and ordered him to marry her.

Since the incident, he has reportedly escaped and returned to his home in neighbouring Jharkhand state.

Bihar has a long-held reputation for lawlessness and gang violence, with families thought to enlist organised criminals to help them carry out abductions and forced marriages.

Local social scientist Saibal Gupta said such marriages enjoyed widespread acceptance and tended to endure, given the stigma of divorce.

"The frequency of such kidnappings has come down, but certainly not stopped. Poverty is still rampant," he told AFP.

Official figures show police received nearly 3,000 complaints of groom kidnapping in 2016. None of the marriages were annulled.
Melons are grown in a greenhouse in the southern province of Tay Ninh. - VNA/VNS Photo Le uc Hoanh

Located in the southern key economic zone, the proivnce has devoted more than 65 per cent of its total 270,000ha of land to agricultural production.

Other advantages for agricultural development in the province include soil suited to many types of crops and the largest irrigation system in the country, Dau Tieng, which can supply water to 47,000ha of farmland.

As for its potential for agricultural production, the province has sent its request to the Prime Minister and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to be the first in the country to pilot the national organic agricultural development project for the 2018-2025 term.

The PM has urged the ministry to complete the projects plan which includes guidelines for organic farming adaptation, and incentives and support measures for agricultural producers.

In the meantime, Tay Ninh has launched its own agricultural development plan which involves the use of technology in agricultural restructuring. It plans to set up clean agricultural production zones and offer incentives to attract big investors to clean and organic farming projects.

Some of the projects include a vegetable and fruit processing plant with a capacity of 500 tonnes per day, which will be put into operation by the end of 2018.

The province has also approved a list of agricultural projects that that need investment from 2017-2020.

Some of the projects include fruit and vegetable processing applying the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point management system. With this system, food safety is addressed via analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards, from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

Chili pepper salt - a Tay Ninh specialty  will be included in brand building.

Investors in these projects must ensure sufficient planting area of fruit and vegetables of at least 10ha and the use of Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP).

The province has also prioritised calling for investment in construction of livestock and poultry slaughterhouses and production of frozen meat products in Chau Thanh, Go Dau and Trang Bang districts.

Vo uc Trong, director of the provinces department of agriculture and rural development, said the restructuring of the provinces agricultural sector must start from the market, meaning that the province would now produce products based on market demand.

At the same time, it has to switch from low-yield crops to more competitive higher-yield and higher-value crops to export to foreign markets, he said.

The province has expanded large-scale production of high value-added crops, including pomelo, passion fruit, pineapple, and custard apple which can be used as inputs for processed products for exports.

It has learned lessons from Taiwan, Thailand and Brazil and taught local farmers how to increase production capacity and competitiveness.

According to chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, Pham Van Tan, this will not only result in high-quality products with more economic value but will also help farmers increase their income.

To expand organic agriculture, Tan said that the Government, ministries and agencies must adopt regulations and policies on prioritising clean agricultural production, special policies for clean farm product processing, and support measures for farmers and agricultural firms in studying new production models, marketing and branding.

He said the ministry should also help local governments invite international experts and provide assistance to large organic producers in clean farming techniques training, expertise and experience sharing, and calls for investment.

The ministry should also create a complete set of standards for producing, processing, assessing and monitoring organic products and disseminating information about organic agriculture to farmers so they can adopt good farming techniques, he added.

Thirty-three of the 63 provinces and cities in Viet Nam have developed organic farming models, but their scale is still small, about 76,000 ha in total.

Several agricultural firms have said that organic farming had brought them more challenges than successes. They cited several reasons, including strict standards for organic production; amount of time and money spent on land renovation; and lengthy and costly procedures in obtaining organic farming certificates.
Roy Moore accuser Tina Johnson devastated after her home burns down in possible arson attack
By PTI: Srinagar, Jan 6 (PTI) Five bodies were today recovered from a spot in north Kashmirs Kupwara district where a passenger vehicle was hit by a huge avalanche of snow, trapping seven persons.

A passenger vehicle was hit by a huge avalanche of snow at Khooni Nallah near Sadhan Top on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road yesterday.

"Five bodies were recovered from the avalanche site," deputy commissioner Kupwara Khalid Jehangir told PTI.

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He said that the total number of people killed in the avalanche has risen to six.

The body of a Beacon officer was recovered last night after the rescue operations were launched, Jehangir said.

Three people have been pulled out alive from the avalanche site, he said, adding that the rescue operations are underway. PTI SSBA KJ

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Tejashwi Yadav said that he would not get bogged down by the judgment, instead fight out his father's sentencing in high court.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Soon after RJD chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to three and half years in jail along with Rs 5 lakh fine in a fodder scam case, his son and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that he was a "sher ka beta" and would not get bogged down by the judgment, instead fight out his father's sentencing in the high court.

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He said that his party would soon move the high court to challenge the sentencing of Lalu. He said that his father would also apply for bail in the high court next week.

"I am sher ka beta (son of a lion), will not get scared with the judgment. We have our legal options open and will move the high court and challenge the decision of the special CBI court. I have complete faith in judiciary and confident that Lalu will get bail soon," said Tejashwi Yadav.

The quantum of punishment to Lalu was pronounced by special CBI judge Shivpal Singh. Lalu was convicted by the court on 23rd December in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89 lakh from Deoghar treasury.

Calling the decision against his father as a conspiracy of the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he said that his there was no chance of a possible split in the party following the court's verdict.

"There will be no impact of Lalu's sentencing on the RJD. The party is intact and we are ready to struggle. This is not the first time that my father has been sent to jail but the party has always remained firm," said the former deputy chief minister.

What was, however, interesting was that Tejashwi chose to remain undeterred with the court's decision and even thanked Nitish Kumar for the verdict.

"Thank you very much Nitish Kumar," tweeted Tejashwi after the sentencing of Lalu.

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In a first, FSSAI - a body under Union health ministry - is regulating all varieties of alcoholic products by permitting only prescribed percent of alcohol in your drink.

The Food Safety Standard & Authority of India (FSSAI) will regulate liquor content, besides prescribing a limit for every alcohol beverage.

By Priyanka Sharma: For Bacchus lovers, it's time to say cheers on a healthy note! For, next time you down a peg of your favourite wine or whiskey, be assured that its alcohol content would be within a safe and permissible limit - as per the standards fixed by Food Safety Standard & Authority of India (FSSAI).

In a first, FSSAI - a body under Union health ministry - is regulating all varieties of alcoholic products by permitting only prescribed percent of alcohol in your drink. All categories of hard drink such as beer, wine, brandy, country liquor, gin, rum, whisky, vodka and wine (red and white) have been regulated.

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FSSAI is also prescribing the limit of heavy metals in hard drinks. These heavy metals are found naturally in alcoholic beverages. There will also be an advisory on life safety - 'Be safe, do not drink & drive'. This will be in addition to the existing labelling that mentions 'Alcohol is injurious to health'.

Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of accidents and deaths in India. The World Health Organisation study also identifies drunk driving as one of the five key risk factors for road deaths.

According to the ministry of road transport and highways report, 2015, 6,777 individuals were killed because of drunk driving. In 2016, Delhi alone saw as many as 28,006 motorists prosecuted for driving under the influence of alcohol.

FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal told MAIL TODAY, "There was no regulation on alcohol in our country. It is for the first time FSSAI is regulating such beverages. We have been working on this for past two years to develop standards for alcohol limit. The final standards have been sent to the Union health ministry for health minister's approval and will be notified very soon. FSSAI is now moving along the lines of Bureau of Indian Standards and International Organisation of Vine and Wine."

"These regulations are made under the Food Product Safety & Standards (Alcoholic Beverages Standard) Regulations 2018," said Agarwal.

Another official said: "For the regulation of alcohol, the ministry has covered entire products containing alcohol. Any product with over 0.5 per cent of alcohol is called alcohol beverage. Now, these fixed standards for limiting alcoholic content would be applicable under FSSAI Act, 2006, to all domestic products as well as imported products."

Other countries have to follow new permissible limit for importing their alcohol beverage to India.

"The regulations are being made with the aim to control the market of alcohol manufacturers and also people should get a safe drink," he added.

FERA violation case: Vijay Mallya declared proclaimed offender by Delhi court

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Lindsay Lohan (Valerie Cherish?) Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Twitter, once a safe void in which to shout your random ideas, has now apparently become a place where those ideas snowball into something quite different. Yesterday, Billy Eichner suggested that The Comeback should, uh, return for a third season in which Valerie Cherish decides to get political and woke. Sure! Thats a funny joke (also even funnier when its a Debra Messing joke). But then, Lindsay Lohan, checking in from Dubai, announced that she was in for the idea. Does Lindsay want to play Valerie? Is she interested in playing some other, presumably woke character? Whatever, all that matters is that she is in.

I'll do it  Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) January 5, 2018

A few hours later, Lisa Kudrow, Valerie Cherish herself, decided that she does need to see that and chimed in to note that thats interesting  It is, I guess. Anyway, Sarah Paulson is also interested, so look forward to The Comeback season three with Lindsay Lohan sometime after we get that Rihanna-Lupita Twitter movie.
The youngest elite special force in the country is seeking more exposure to counter insurgency operations as they look to expand in numbers.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: Having tasted major success by eliminating around eight terrorists during their brief stint in Jammu and Kashmir, the Garud Special Forces of the Indian Air Force are raring to go and want to be given more exposure to direct counter terror operations in the state.

The youngest Special Force of the country, which encountered one of its first major operations during the Pathankot air base attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists, is also expanding its numbers to meet its requirements during peace and also war-time roles assigned to it.

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"Two of our teams are already in operation in Hajin area of Jammu and Kashmir and they would be replaced by two other units soon. This is going to help more and more of our troops get exposure to real action," a senior Garud officer told MAIL TODAY.

In the aftermath of Pathankot operations, the IAF and Army had agreed to give exposure to the Garuds in counter-terror ops in the Valley and two teams were attached to the 13 Rashtriya Rifles. After a few weeks, they started operating in close coordination with the Army, but also kept developing their own intelligence network.

In the first major operation in Rakh Hajin area of Bandipore in October, the Garuds tasted big success in a direct encounter against Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists. While tackling a team of six to seven terrorists who were trying to escape from a house even before the cordon could be established, Sergeant Milind Kishore and Corporal Nilesh Nain killed two of them before attaining martyrdom.

The injured terrorists managed to escape but the rattled Garuds started pursuing them. Gathering intelligence, the Special Forces traced a group of terrorists hiding in a house in Chandargeer area.

During the subsequent encounter, the Garuds eliminated six terrorists, majorly due to the bravery of Corporal JP Nirala who used his Negev LMG to kill three of them while pinning down the rest of the group.

"The troops are highly motivated by the acts of valour of our fallen buddies and want to be given more roles in counter-terror ops in Kashmir," another officer said.

"More than 30 per cent volunteers return within weeks of training. Most find it tough to survive the 16-18 hours-a-day life during which they are prepared both physically and mentally to earn their Garud badge," an officer said. A Garud instructor told MAIL TODAY that due to tough selection standards, only 26 officers from different branches have been able to join the elite force in the last 13 years of its existence.

Pulwama terror attack: Our attacks won't end, pledges 16-year-old fidayeen in video

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A 55-year-old German woman who met a couple online at a forum for people with strange sex preferences was tortured for several hours before she was killed.

By India Today Web Desk: The city of Berlin witnessed a gruesome murder ahead of Christmas. A murder where a 55-year-old German woman was tortured to death by a couple.

The vicious murder was likely committed during an eccentric 'sex game' by the couple who later tried to flee to Turkey, according to investigators.

A WOMAN, A COUPLE AND THE BIZARRE SEX GAME

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The 55-year-old German woman identified as Marianne M was likely tormented and killed by two suspects during the ghastly sex game, German media reported on Thursday citing investigation sources.

The couple identified as 36-year-old Taifun S and his 27-year-old companion Jasmin P reportedly met Marianne online at a forum for folks with deviant and strange sex preferences.

The couple apparently rented an apartment precisely for the sexual encounter. It was there the couple tortured Marianne for several hours before finally killing her, and soon they got rid of her body too.

Marianne's body was discovered wrapped in a blanket on December 23 by a passerby near dumpsters where the suspected couple had allegedly left it.

Initial police findings indicate Marianne died after being subjected to "massive violence".

BUSTED

Both Taifun and Jasmin were detained at the Berlin-Schoenefeld airport on December 29. The couple was about to leave the country for Turkey.

According to the police, the suspected couple is quite infamous and well known to the police. Both Taifun and Jasmin have notorious criminal records.

Taifun's previous offences reportedly include drug trafficking, dangerous bodily harm, weapons law violations and theft, according to an RT report.

On the other hand, Jasmin is also known to the police for theft and resisting arrest. The couple is currently in police custody.

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Moody Community Library, 612 Ave. D in Moody, will have an open house on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. People are invited to visit and see our new location. Refreshments will be served by members of the board of directors to those attending.

For more information, contact 853-2976.

Praise workshop

The Womens Ministry of New Hope Baptist Church, 915 N. Sixth St., will host its 10th annual Prayer and Praise Workshop Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

This years speakers are ministers Judith Hatter, Karen Hicks, Carroll Wells, and Emma Wilson. The keynote speaker is Pastor Tara Briscoe, Pastor of Mt. Zion AME Church of Italy, Texas.

Registration is $10, and lunch will be served. The public is invited to attend. For additional information, please call 254-744-5800.

BU Singing Seniors

Spring registration and the first rehearsal for the Baylor Singing Seniors is Monday, Jan. 8. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. at the Choir Suite at First Baptist Church of Woodway. The rehearsal begins at 9 a.m. For more information, visit www.baylorsingingseniors.org. An online registration form is available.

SCV meeting

The Sons of Confederate Veterans monthly meeting is Tuesday at Poppa Rollos Pizza, 703 N. Valley Mills Drive. The annual birthday dinner honoring Gens. Lee and Jackson will begin at 6 p.m.

The speaker is Markham Dossett. His topic will be the relationship between Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

For more information, call 254-772-1676.

Fall-prevention program

A Matter of Balance, a fall-prevention program with an exercise component, begins Tuesday at the Rapid Recover Center, 5801 Crosslake Parkway. The class is free, and meets from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. each Tuesday for eight weeks and is sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging.

For more information, call 292-1857.

Diabetes management

The Area Agency on Aging begins a six-week workshop on Type 2 diabetes management Wednesday at South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St. The course is free. It meets from 2 to 3:30 p.m. For more information, call 292-1857.
Former Waco day care owner Marian Fraser, who won a new trial in June in the Benadryl overdose death of a baby in her care, likely will be released from custody next week while the states highest criminal court reviews her case.

The Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin set a $50,000 bail bond for the 54-year-old Fraser on Thursday, and her attorney said Fraser will be released on bond next week after she is returned to McLennan County from the Murray prison unit in Gatesville.

Fraser was convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison in May 2015 in the death of Clara Felton. The 4-month-old died in March 2013 after being given a toxic amount of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, while at Frasers Spoiled Rotten Day Care on Hilltop Drive.

Trial testimony revealed that 15 other children from her day care tested positive for diphenhydramine.

Fraser, who operated the day care in her home for 25 years, testified she never gave Benadryl to the children in her care without their parents knowledge or consent. The Feltons and a dozen other parents whose children tested positive said they did not give Fraser permission to give their children Benadryl.

In June, the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo reversed Frasers conviction and awarded her a new trial after ruling that 19th State District Judge Ralph Strothers instructions to the jury regarding Frasers level of intent were not proper. The indictment against Fraser used the same language as the jury charge, and her trial attorney did not object to it.

According to the appeals courts opinion, the trial courts instructions improperly said Fraser could be convicted of murder if jurors found she acted recklessly or with criminal negligence. A conviction for felony murder requires that a defendant acts knowingly or intentionally, the appeals court ruled.

Tarrant County prosecutors Melinda Westmoreland and Dale Smith served as prosecutors in Frasers case. McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna recused his office because Reyna knows a number of parents whose children were entrusted to Fraser, including a former prosecutor in his office.

The Tarrant County prosecutors appealed the reversal in what is known as a state petition for discretionary review, and the court of Criminal Appeals agreed to consider it.

Frasers appellate attorney, Alan Bennett, filed a motion in October asking the Court of Criminal Appeals to grant her bail while her case is reviewed.

Strother said Friday he will impose a number of conditions on Frasers release should she make bail, including wearing a GPS ankle monitor and requirements that she remain in McLennan County and have no contact with children younger than 17.

Bennett said he is confident Fraser will be able to post bond and be released.

McLennan County Judge Scott Felton, Clara Feltons grandfather, declined comment Friday when asked about the likelihood Fraser will be released from custody.
The 18-foot Greek goddess of divine law that crowned the McLennan County Courthouse for the first time Saturday is following the precedent of her Austin counterpart.

The Goddess of Liberty topping the Capitol Dome has a similar backstory as Themis, Texas Historical Commission architect Brit Barr said.

Thats also a cast aluminum replica of the original zinc statue, Barr said. Much taller than this, much uglier, shes not ugly just to be ugly but her facial features are very pronounced so that you can actually see a face from 300 feet down on the ground.

The original statue at the Capitol is now at the Bob Bullock History Center so you can get right up close to it and really appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it. So thats the precedent, and we hope something similar can happen here and the original Themis will be on display somewhere here in Waco and people can go by and see it and marvel at the fact that she stood on top of that 170-foot-high dome for over 100 years.

The new Themis topping the courthouse may look the same, but shes made from a stronger cast aluminum material than the zinc original. Because of the material change, the new statue weighs in at about 1,700 pounds, 1,000 pounds more than the original.

The courthouse dome has sat bare since July when the original Themis was lowered from her lofty perch.

More than a dozen vehicles with crews from Montgomery Construction early Saturday used two cranes to load the new duplicate Themis onto a flatbed trailer to haul her from Lorena to downtown Waco as they prepared to hoist her onto the courthouse. Once propped up behind the courthouse, Themis scales of justice were passed to Barr, then to the countys facilities director, T.J. Jackson, then to James Lenart, assistant director of facilities, before County Judge Scott Felton lifted the scales to workers who installed them in the statues hand.

Shes a big ol gal, Felton said standing alongside her.

The scales of justice are fixed in the new statues hand, while the originals would twist and turn in the wind, Montgomery Construction general manager Mike Anderson said. The new left arm holding the scales is also a lot stouter to ensure it is not blown off the statue, as the last one was during a storm in 2015, after more than a century weathering the elements.

Its going to be up there a long time, Anderson said of the replacement.

The county awarded Montgomery Construction a contract to replace Themis for $428,388.19. Robinson Iron Co. in Alexander City, Alabama, duplicated the statue.

County commissioners agreed to have the statue replicated rather than repaired because of the originals fragility.

The original remains on two queen-size inflatable air mattresses in an 8-by-16-foot wooden crate awaiting her retirement.

Shes actually in good shape, Barr said. Shes been repaired. An original zinc statue, shes much more brittle than the cast aluminum. We hope it ends up in a public place so that people can see it close-up.

County leaders are seeking ideas on where to display the zinc statue with hopes of a community partnership. Montgomery Construction has offered to donate a display case for the cause.

Visitors of the Waco Downtown Farmers Market, set up across Washington Avenue from the courthouse, shielded their eyes from the sun as they looked up toward the crane lifting Themis far above the courthouse dome before lowering her into position.

The commissioners and county judge should be commended for their continued efforts to preserve our historic courthouse, said 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson, the countys resident historian.
The Tribune-Herald asked representatives of the Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to pick their top 10 ag-related stories for 2017, with emphasis on events that impacted farmers and ranchers statewide.

The list reflects the opinions of Department of Agriculture spokesman Mark Loeffler, Texas Farm Bureau spokesman Gene Hall, AgriLife Extension spokesman Blair Fannin, and Luis Ribera, an associate professor and director of AgriLifes Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University.

1. Panhandle wildfires claimed four lives, killed at least 2,500 head of cattle, and inflicted an estimated $21 million in damage to pastureland, fencing, buildings, corrals, and emergency hay and feed, according to AgriLife.

The people who died were honored at the Texas Agriculture Memorial Day, and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller approved financial assistance through the State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund.

2. Leaving cotton bales hanging from the top branches of trees, drowning livestock and swamping soybean and rice crops, Hurricane Harvey inflicted an estimated $200 million in damage to ag-related operations in 54 counties near the Gulf Coast, according to reports by AgriLife and Loeffler.

3. Feral swine continue to wreak havoc on cropland and public lands, and even pose a threat to humans. Loeffler said he recently posted a report on a fatal car crash caused by a wild hog.

Solutions have proved elusive. Miller approved using a warfarin-based bait called Kaput to poison the wild animals, but the public and Texas Legislature responded with outrage over unknowns related to the poison. The manufacturer pulled the product, and it was shelved indefinitely, Loeffler said.

A sodium-nitrate-based poison is now being field tested in West Texas, Loeffler said. The Texas Farm Bureau had endorsed the use of Kaput, Hall said.

4. For the first time since 2003, China agreed to accept beef exports from the United States, which is a huge success for Texas cattle ranchers, Loeffler said in an emal response to questions.

Beef cattle prices are very strong, and thats attributed to increased export demand, Ribera said.

5. Hall and Loeffler both applauded the federal governments decision to place a stake through the heart of the Waters of the U.S. rule.

Under President Donald Trumps direction, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a proposal to repeal the rule, which expanded the definition of waters that could be federally regulated.

6. Talk of the United States walking away from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which promotes the flow of goods between the United States, Mexico and Canada, prompted an outcry from voices in agriculture around the state who say the move would prove catastrophic.

Its a treaty signed in 1994, and it could stand improvement, but it has done what it was supposed to do, Ribera said. It has quadrupled exports to our neighbors to the north and south, and it means a year-round supply of fresh and safe products such as avocados, tomatoes, limes and other produce only grown seasonally in this country.

7. The appointment of former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue to oversee the U.S. Department of Agriculture received rave reviews and the endorsement of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Hell lead the fight on the next farm bill and has promised less regulation and more communication with ag industry, Loeffler said.

8. Cotton growers and wine producers continued their battle over the use of dicamba, a powerful weed-killer approved by the EPA but the target of complaints from farmers who say dicamba drift can damage crops.

There were advancements in new formulas intended to cut down on drift, but this will remain an issue, Loeffler said.

9. Landowners and the federal government reached a settlement over the use of land on the Texas side of the Red Rivers. Farmers and ranchers had worked the land for decades, but the federal Bureau of Land Management started surveying the acreage a few years ago and claimed agreements dating to the Louisiana Purchase gave the federal government control of the land.

10. The farm-to-table movement has continued to gain traction, as restaurants and commercial enterprises demand products directly from producers. Loeffler said farmers and ranchers are seeing benefits.
Two unrelated house fires in Robinson and Lacy Lakeview on Thursday night and early Friday morning kept fire crews busy and sent one man to the hospital.

Duplex residents noticed smoke filling their duplex in the 200 block of Kettler Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when they called 911, Robinson Volunteer Fire Chief Gerald Groppe said. Fire crews arrived quickly and learned the fire appeared to have started in the attic of the neighboring duplex that was vacant at the time.

"A firefighter actually lives across the street, so in this case, it was a really good thing," Groppe said. "It appears there was some kind of electrical short in the attic that was over the other side of the duplex and that caused the side of the duplex that was occupied to get smoky."

Firefighters extinguished the fire and inspected the entire structure for additional hot spots, Groppe said. The fire caused minor damage to the occupied duplex, but resident Becca Kinerd said she and her family of four stayed in a hotel Thursday night due to the strong smell of smoke.

"I do know that the police department showed up before we were even off the phone with dispatch," Kinerd said. "Both the police and fire departments are the reason we didn't lose everything and we are so thankful."

No injuries were reported.

In Lacy Lakeview, one man was taken to a local hospital after firefighters were called to the 300 block of Barbara Street shortly after 5:30 a.m. Friday on a separate house fire, Fire Chief Patty Byars-Faulkner said.

The man was able to get two children and another adult out of the house before fire crews arrived.

"Everyone got out of the house OK, but there were no smoke detectors, so they are very, very lucky that someone was awake when the fire happened," the fire chief said. "They also didn't have a fire extinguisher either, but smoke detectors are huge, because I've seen them save lives."

The man was taken to the hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation and may have other injuries. Byars-Faulkner said she was unaware of the man's status Friday afternoon.

The fire was under control within about an hour, but significant damage was done to the home. Byars-Faulkner said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but the fire does not appear to be intentional.
As higher education officials nationwide come to terms with the number of students who wonder where and when their next meal will come, Baylor University has joined the growing list of schools offering a free food pantry.

Known as The Store, the space sits in the basement of the Sid Richardson Building in the Paul L. Foster Success Center. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Store, which opened Dec. 1, is a response to Baylor research that reveals the severity of food insecurity on campuses, even a private, affluent one like Baylors.

According to survey answers returned by almost 300 students who were international, first-generation, fifth-year, transfer or Pell Grant-eligible, 63 percent were food insecure, said Cara Cliburn Allen, a Baylor doctoral candidate. People who are food insecure either cannot access nutritious food or eat one to two meals per day or less.

Follow-up interviews with survey participants shed brighter light on the problem.

We heard stories about students passing out in class because they hadnt eaten that day, said Nathan Alleman, an associate professor of higher education studies.

For students whose tuition is covered by scholarships or public aid, other college-related costs such as rent take precedence over food budgets, Alleman said. The unreliability of government-mandated college expense calculators also contribute to unstable food budgets.

We had one student who worked 40 hours per weekend, so you have almost no social life because youre either working or youre in class, Alleman said. So the kind of experience theyre getting from college is so very different than what we think of as the typical undergraduate experience, even though that, its in many ways the reason why they came. They want that typical undergraduate experience, but food is kind of the price they pay for trying to make it all work.

Those are the students welcome at The Store, where they can remain anonymous. Users fill out a form with their student ID numbers and feedback on how to improve the space.

More than 60 students have used The Store, said Michelle Cohenour, director of student success initiatives. Most students came during their days of taking final exams last month. Spring semester classes start Monday.

Students can take everything from microwaveable meals to canned food, granola bars and pasta. Peanut butter and jelly with a brand of bread that remains fresh for months is another popular item.

Toiletries and school supplies are also available.

A fall semester survey found that about 230 new students do not eat three meals per day. Armed with that knowledge and more input from Alleman and Cliburn Allen, Cohenour emailed friends and colleagues about donating to a Baylor food pantry.

It was a wonderful response, Cohenour said. It took a lot of faith for us to think, Lets jump in and do this. But people definitely responded.

The pantry is stocked mostly with food delivered to the Success Center, she said. People can also give money for The Store through Baylors website. Cohenour is studying whether departments across the university can sponsor the pantry each month. The researchers said top administrators embraced the initiative, which made it possible.

Cohenour also consulted with McLennan Community Colleges food pantry during the planning process. Research shows community colleges have become leaders in providing resources for food-insecure students because of their high populations of nontraditional students.

Even the name, The Store, was modeled after George Washington University and chosen to destigmatize the act of using the food pantry. Research on campus found that some students would be too embarrassed to use a food pantry if they needed food. Other food insecure participants indicated they would not use a food pantry because they believed others needed it more, Alleman said.

The students spoke about what its like to be on a relatively affluent campus and a selective institution and be struggling with hunger, he said.

It was a complex picture, he said. They loved Baylor, and yet they said, I dont understand why my experience has to be so different compared to what other students are. 

And though all first-year freshmen are required to have meal plans, which Cliburn Allen said decrease the rate of food insecurity, gaps remain on the weekends, often because of a lack of transportation.

The root cause is the steady, nationwide rise of college tuition and fees, Alleman said. Food pantries help with an immediate problem, but schools use of financial aid can become tied to students budget struggles.

As of last month, the College and University Food Bank Alliance had 573 members, including Baylor.

The Band-Aid is, how do we provide more food? Alleman said. And part of the response is food pantries, which have been a national phenomenon and have grown like crazy the last few years. Theyre a wonderful thing, but its not the solution. The solution is (realizing) college is really expensive, and if were going to make it available to everyone, we need to make it affordable to everyone.
HILLSBORO  Police in Central Texas say a 15-year-old girl was shot and killed by a family member in an accidental shooting as she played a video game.

Hillsboro police say Jayla Riggs was shot in the head Dec. 30 at her home and was taken to a hospital where she died.

Authorities say a 17-year-old relative told investigators he didn't know the gun was loaded when he was handling it in the living room of the home. Police did not specify how Riggs was related to the 17-year-old.

Police say they're interviewing others who were in the living room when the shooting occurred but left before first-responders arrived.

The investigation is ongoing.
Glass recycling is nothing new there, but a new program is giving the public more opportunities to take part, while directing some of the proceeds to the United Way.
Two women from Valle Nuevo, El Salvador, where thousands of fieldworkers fled a death squad armed with machine guns, will visit Waco in the coming weeks to share their experiences and discuss a book on the subject titled Companeros.

Authored by Waco residents Joe Gatlin, Nancy Gatlin and Joel H. Scott, the book tells the story of a 26-year relationship between Valle Nuevo and Shalom Mission Communities, a small association of churches in the United States, that meets locally at 1721 Sanger Ave. under the name Hope Fellowship of Waco, Nancy Gatlin said.

The book came out just before Christmas and is available on Amazon, said Gatlin, who will travel to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Sunday to pick up Heydi Noheli Lopez and Juana Rodriguez Lainez, two residents of Valle Nuevo who managed to secure visas for travel to the United States, which Gatlin said is a difficult process.

Gatlin said the writing of Companeros took about six years and is the culmination of almost three decades of bonding between Shalom Mission Communities and the residents of Valle Nuevo. The relationship has grown only stronger despite the economic, political and spiritual chasms that exist today, she said.

There are other books coming out that tell the stories of these women, but we felt led, and we checked with them about this, to write about this relationship together, Gatlin said. We view it as a gift, something that could not be orchestrated on our own, but something from God. There have been too many experiences along this road to think otherwise.

Gatlin said she and her husband travel to El Salvador every year, and their book describes these trips as opportunities for being present with one another, and not simply traditional mission trips.

The book is a collective, collaborative effort of storytelling and theological reflection, interweaving oral and written accounts of suffering, thanksgiving, sharing, remembering, and proclaiming the death of Christ until he comes again, according to a synopsis available online.

It includes a telling of an incident in 1981, when 4,000 fieldworkers began to flee a U.S. funded Salavadoran death squad. They stumbled down the rocky, overgrown side of a hill to the Lempa River, according to the synopsis. Some were mowed down by machine guns; others drowned as they were swept away by the river. The rest escaped to live the next eight years in UN refugee camps in Honduras.

In 1989 many of these refugees returned to El Salvador as the repatriated community of Valle Nuevo.

Their 158-page book, whose full title is Companeros: Two Communities in a Transnational Communion, was published by Wipf and Stock in November. Nancy Gatlin said she wants to offer a Spanish translation.

The public is invited to attend a celebration of Companeros at 3 p.m. Jan. 21 and the discussion with Lopez and Lainez, the visitors from Valle Nuevo, at 7 p.m. Friday. Other events will be at the Hope Fellowship meeting house, 1721 Morrow Ave.
Brian David Welch

Jan. 19, 1962 - Jan. 4, 2018

Brian David Welch, 55, of China Spring, passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with Leukemia on January 4, 2018, in China Spring. A celebration of Brian's life will be 1:00 p.m., Monday, January 8, 2018, at Lake Shore Funeral Home Chapel, with the Rev Dennis Larson officiating, burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park. Visitation will be held 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Sunday, January 7, at Lake Shore Funeral Home.

Brian was born on January 19, 1962, in Waco. He was a graduate of Waco High School in 1980. He married Cherita Dossey of Waco, on March 7, 1987. After attending McLennan Community College, he worked for Flowers Construction Company in the field of electrical line construction. Prior to his retirement in 2016, he served as a Project Manager for Building, Abatement, and Demolition Company Inc. in Liberty Hill.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Wade and Janice Welch; father-in-law, Sherman Daniel; grandparents, Herman "Buddy" and Evelyn Boehme, Ernest and Myrlene Welch; uncles, Bobby Joe Welch and David "Doc" Rainey of Pottsboro.

Brian is survived by his wife, Cherita D. Welch; son, Jared A. Welch of China Spring; mother-in-law, Shirley Daniel of Rotan; sister-in-law, Mary Denson and husband Randy of Stamford; uncle and aunt, Ron and Sue Berry of Waco; and aunt, Sue Welch Rainey of Pottsboro. He will be missed by numerous other relatives and friends.

The kind and thoughtful care tended by the McClinton Cancer Center of Waco and Baylor Scott & White Hospice of Waco is greatly appreciated by the family.

Thoughts and memories may be shared at www.LakeShoreFH.com.
By PTI: Ktaka

Panaji, Jan 6 (PTI) Goa is staring at a beef shortage with traders suspending import of the meat from neighbouring Karnataka alleging harassment by cow vigilantes.

An association of traders said its members have stopped procuring beef from Belagavi in Karnataka.

This will continue till the state government takes steps to stop harassment by cow vigilante groups, it said.

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"Harassment by these groups has increased in the state since Christmas. Traders have now decided not to import beef as trucks ferrying the meat are being stopped and confiscated in the name of illegality," Manna Bepari, President, All Goa Qureshi Meat Traders Association, told PTI.

Due to this, the state now faces a beef shortage, he said.

Bepari said around 25 tonnes of beef is brought from Belagavi every day. "There is no production of beef in Goa as its lone state-run abattoir is no longer operational."

Cow protection groups, including the Gau Raksha Abhiyaan, have alleged beef in Goa is brought from illegal slaughter houses in Karnataka, a charge denied by Bepari.

"We bring the stock from legal slaughter houses in Karnataka. If any group has any problem with those slaughter houses, they should go there and protest and not stop our trucks which cause losses of lakhs of rupees," he said.

Gau Raksha Abhiyaan leader Hanumant Parab claimed cattle were being slaughtered in abattoirs across the border without approval from authorities.

"Due to this we have undertaken stringent checks (on the Goa-Karnataka border) along with police," he said.

Bepari said traders want immediate intervention by the state government in the matter. Till then, they will not buy beef from the neighbouring state.

Beef sale has been banned in Maharashtra, which also borders Goa. PTI RPS RSY GVS

--- ENDS ---
Longtime civic leader and Trib contributor Wilton Lanning expressed shock upon opening his Tuesday Trib and laying eyes on a vintage photograph of Conery and Henrietta Miller, parents of Pearl Harbor war hero Doris Miller, on their farm in 1942. Im still shook, he told us, recalling his own boyhood encounter with Conery Miller. I live right on the bluff on Lake Shore Drive and, when the sun sets, Im looking out at where that actually happened. Tuesdays Trib story focused on release of Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement, in which historians T. Michael Parrish and Thomas Cutrer argue for Millers relevance in ending decades of segregation. By request, we here publish Lannings own May 24, 2009, column on his encounter with the Miller family.

I was born in 1936 in Waco. During the war years, my family lived in Texarkana while my father served as a captain in the U.S. Army at Red River Ordinance Depot.

After the war we returned to live in a cabin on the old Lake Waco, a life in the country.

Lake Waco, a constant-level lake built in 1930, was relatively small and shallow. A cotton field was visible across the way.

One day as I stood near the lake, I was fascinated by the scene of a large black man driving a team of two mules plowing that field. As he came close to where I stood, he called down, You want a ride?

This big black man reached down and set the sandy-haired white boy on the bench beside him. He said, Gee haw, and the mules moved forward.

Not much was said. After a couple of rounds in the 10-acre field, I thanked the big man who had told me he was Conery (Connie) Miller.

I told my folks about my adventure and my dad suggested we drive over to the Millers house in his 1936 Ford. It was across the highway, up on a hill. My dad said, I want you to meet Mr. Millers wife, Henrietta.

They lived in a small, wood-framed white house with a porch across the front. When we arrived they came out on the porch. While we were visiting I noticed a small flag with a gold star hanging in the window.

I dont remember exactly what was said, but I vividly recall the expressions of pride in the Millers faces  pride in their son, Doris.

I will never forget that day.

Their son, Doris Miller, was a true hero. He was one of the first men recognized from that day that will live in infamy, Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Doris received the Navy Cross from fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz for distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and a disregard for his own personal safety.

His picture was placed on recruiting posters across the country. He was sent on a tour to help sell war bonds as well. Later, while on duty on the USS Liscome Bay, the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese sub. The carrier escort vessel sank in 20 minutes. He and 645 other sailors perished.

Today, as I look out across Lake Waco I see a source of abundant water for this city not only for today but for many years to come. A new and much larger Lake Waco was completed in 1964 and it, too, has been raised an additional 7 feet.

But beneath the waters is the place in the country where my family lived so many years ago. It is also the place where Conery and Henrietta Miller lived as well.

Their place is gone. But memories of them and their son live on in my heart.
On Wednesday night, President Trump abruptly announced he was disbanding his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. This was the panel charged with finding proof of Trumps absurd claim of millions of illegal voters, and it went downhill from the beginning. But while the panel has vanished, its spurious arguments remain widespread. Claims of voter fraud still form the basis of efforts to suppress the vote across the country. Now can we call a stop to that effort, too?

First, lets marvel at the curious story of the commission. On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump warned supporters, The election is going to be rigged. Then as president-elect, he tweeted, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. He told startled members of Congress that 3 million to 5 million had cast illegal ballots.

This was widely recognized as false. Statistically, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit in-person voter fraud. Law enforcement officials, election administrators from both parties and scholars all agree voter fraud is incredibly rare.

Challenged to back up his spurious claim, Trump launched the voting commission. In contrast with similar earlier panels, which strove for bipartisanship, this one was chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and guided by vice chair Kris Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas, both Republicans. The panel was crammed with members, including Kobach, well known for spurious warnings of fraud.

Immediately the panel began to flail. It first asked states to provide voters individual data, including the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, illegal under the laws of many states. Twenty-one states declined to provide any data, citing legal restrictions, privacy concerns and uncertainty about how the information would be used.

Things only got worse. Voting rights groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice, which I lead, pelted the panel with lawsuits. Ahead of a session in New Hampshire, Kobach claimed voter fraud there because voters used out-of-state drivers licenses as IDs. In fact, many were likely college students voting legally. By November, Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, a commissioner, actually sued his own panel for violating open government rules and cutting him out of the flow of information. Perhaps the White Houses announcement was an act of mercy.

Its tempting to shake our heads and move on. But the ideas that undergirded the commission in the first place, unfortunately, still have malevolent potency.

Bogus claims of misconduct remain a campaign-trail staple. Roy Moore claimed voter fraud in refusing to accept his defeat in the recent U.S. Senate race in Alabama, filing a suit that was quickly tossed out of court. Cynical voters are prone to credit allegations. After the 2016 election, one poll found that 62 percent of Trump voters believed his claims.

Worse, states across the country still have laws that make it harder to vote specifically due to the supposed specter of voter fraud. In Wisconsin, the best recent study suggested that as many as 23,000 eligible voters could have been blocked by a harsh ID law that purported to deter fraud. Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case challenging Ohios practice of purging voters from the rolls who have not cast ballots in federal elections. One proffered rationale: to prevent fraud. The result, however, is blocking many eligible citizens who simply choose not to vote. Watchdogs worry that improper purges will be the method of choice to prune minority, poor and Democratic voters from the rolls, often without the highly visible controversy that attends state legislative action.

The panels overreaching may have had an unexpected positive consequence, though: State officials of both parties roundly denounced its premise.

Thats good, because real problems mar the way we run elections in the United States and those problems will need bipartisan solutions. Voter registration lists are, in fact, often rife with duplication and error, even as they omit tens of millions of eligible citizens. Happily, even amid partisan wrangling over voting, states have moved to enact automatic registration. In nine states and the District, the government will automatically register voters (unless they choose to opt out) when they interact with the departments of motor vehicles or (in some cases) other agencies. Most recently, such a measure passed the Illinois legislature unanimously and was signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Automatic registration adds citizens to the rolls, costs less and bolsters election security.

We also cannot forget Russias attempts to threaten the integrity of our elections. We now know that Moscows interference in 2016 went well beyond stealing campaign emails. Hackers probed state databases and voting-machine software companies. Theres no evidence that they switched tallies, but theres every reason to think Russia  or China, or North Korea, or a homegrown partisan  will be back in 2018. A bipartisan group of senators just introduced a bill to help states buy new secure machines and harden their systems from attack.

Yes, Trumps commission began as a tragedy and ended as a farce. But the voter fraud hoax really is not funny. The next federal effort should find ways to protect the right to vote, not spread scare stories.
Trib staff writer Carl Hoovers Dec. 29 story, headlined Approaching Branch Davidian anniversary brings out programs on Waco but clearly stressing in the text the raid and 51-day siege took place at the religious sects Mount Carmel complex near Elk, fired up folks about the location of the event. Some obviously read only the headline. A sampling of comments from the Trib Facebook page:

Melissa Dawn Rowell: Look, it happened. It had nothing to do with the citizens of Waco. This happens to be a tragic event that happened near Waco. Its not a reflection upon Waco and certainly theres no reason for anyone to feel it is. Waco is a great city. I live 30 miles south of it. I go there all the time. Wacoans, you have a city to be proud of. David Koresh made the decision to kill those children. You didnt. You dont have to live this down. Its not on you.

Darryl Wynn: More like Axtell than Waco.

Kirk Kuehl: The FBI did not help matters by attacking the compound when the wind was blowing 40 mph and all those little kids could not leave on their own. They were like hostages. Bad day!

Melissa Dawn Rowell: I agree a lot of mistakes were made by law enforcement. It shouldnt have happened the way it did. But thats not a reflection upon Waco or the people living there. They shouldnt feel as though its a stain upon their city. It wasnt even in their city and they had nothing to do with it. And theres nothing that can be done about it now.

Mary Lynn Hanna Shelton: Are we surprised by anything the FBI does anymore?

Amanda Williams: Didnt happen in Waco. Shame you cant get it right in 25 years.

Noey Meza: Actually Elk, if not mistaken, or close to Mart. Maybe Tradinghouse Creek.

Amanda Williams: Elk is correct.

Bill Miles: It was actually what used to be Mount Carmel Center. Its no longer called that. Its just down the road from the BSR cable park.

Kelly Owens: Its the same as the Dallas Cowboys, who arent technically in Dallas. Its OK. There are bigger fish to fry. By saying Waco, the non-locals and non-Texans get a general idea of the location. If someone really was that interested in details, they would just look it up themselves.

Steve Overman: The Branch Davidians were around long before David Koresh and lived off Lake Shore Drive at the Mount Carmel compound. Members built many homes in the area back in the 1950s.

Joyce Wilhite: Dont they have some tunnels around there too?

Lisa Easter Dragoo: The group near Lake Shore/Vanguard were Davidian Seventh Day Adventists and were night-and-day different from the Branch Davidians of David Koreshs group.

Misha Engelke: This is so weird. I was on the phone with a customer service rep today and I got the dreaded, So did you know David Koresh? line of questioning. I really thought we were past that. Arent we known for Magnolia nowadays? I mean, thats a little better.

Katt Cooke: We went to the Museum of Death and they had stuff there from that.

Matt DeZell: Waco stands for We aint coming out.

Charles Maskell Jr.: Bet yall miss Chip and Joanna now!
"This is beyond insane," said Jeremy Gardner, an investor who previously worked at the virtual currency hedge fund Blockchain Capital, which invested in Ripple. ripple cryptocurrency Credit:Ripple.com "There's absolutely nothing driving this rally except rampant FOMO, misinformation and speculation." Ripple, whose tokens are known as XRP, is far from the only virtual currency being fuelled by the hysteria. In 2017, there were 29 tokens - including Einsteinium and Byteball - that rose more than bitcoin's remarkable 1600 percent jump, according to OnChainFx, a data provider. Chris Larsen Credit:LinkedIn

Nearly 40 virtual currencies are worth more than $US1 billion - when all the outstanding tokens are counted at their current value - despite many of them not having been used in any sort of transaction other than speculative trading. Against this backdrop, Ripple could be considered a staid institution, though one with a colourful history. This is beyond insane. There's absolutely nothing driving this rally except rampant FOMO, misinformation and speculation. Investor Jeremy Gardner Ripple was invented in 2012 by Jed McCaleb, a programmer who had created Mt Gox, a bitcoin exchange that later dissolved in disgrace. McCaleb designed Ripple as a faster and more efficient version of bitcoin, without the mining process that bitcoin uses to distribute new coins and secure the network. Larsen joined McCaleb early on to create a company, also known as Ripple. The company helped develop an open source Ripple software that makes it possible to move money between digital wallets. The Ripple token is one of the currencies that can be transferred with the software.

Acrimonious split McCaleb later left Ripple in an acrimonious divorce, though he retained a sizeable number of Ripple tokens. His holdings were worth around $US20 billion at Thursday's prices, putting him close to 40th on the Forbes list. (The actual list is only published once a year, and no big virtual currency holders have been officially added.) McCaleb has since created a competitor to Ripple, known as Stellar. Stellar has risen even faster than Ripple in recent weeks, with all outstanding Stellar tokens - known as Lumens - worth around $US14 billion on Thursday, making it the seventh-largest virtual currency. In contrast, all the outstanding Ripple tokens were worth $US140 billion on Thursday, while all bitcoin were worth $US250 billion. Yet the fortunes of McCaleb and Larsen are not nearly as durable as those of other people on the Forbes list given that the value of virtual currencies fluctuates wildly. If Larsen wanted to access his wealth by selling Ripple tokens for dollars, it would likely drive down the value of Ripple tokens - and his riches.

McCaleb and Larsen did not respond to questions about the recent price increases. Larsen was Ripple's chief executive from 2012 until he stepped down last year to become the company's executive chairman. During his tenure, Ripple focused on helping banks use its software to shift money between different foreign currencies, something that most banks do through a cumbersome process involving separate accounts in every country where they operate. Ripple has said it has signed up more than 100 banks to use the company's technology, including American Express and Banco Santander. Ripple software But banks do not need to use Ripple tokens for Ripple's software to transfer dollars, euros and yen. That point appears to be lost on many small investors who are buying Ripple tokens.

Most of the buying and selling of Ripple tokens is happening in South Korea, according to data providers that track virtual currency exchanges, where ordinary investors have thrown money at a wide array of virtual currencies. Several virtual currency hedge fund investors said that they have talked to banks and heard about interest in Ripple's software, but not its tokens. "I'm not aware of banks using or planning to use the XRP token at the scale of tens of billions of dollars necessary to support XRP's valuation," said Ari Paul, a co-founder of the hedge fund BlockTower Capital. Ripple has so far announced that one company, a Mexican money-transfer business, is planning to use the Ripple token. Brad Garlinghouse, who took over as Ripple's chief executive last year, said in an interview this week that other institutions were also using - or looking at using - XRP, but the company could not name them because of confidentiality agreements.

Garlinghouse said he thought the rising value of Ripple tokens was justified, given the company's growth and the size of the foreign currency markets that Ripple wants to tackle. "It's clear that people increasingly understand that we are solving a very large problem," he said. 'Crack crypto cocaine' Ripple has attracted the ire of bitcoin fans because Ripple has a greater degree of centralised authority in Garlinghouse's company, even though the Ripple software is open source. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies were designed to operate without companies or governments in charge. But the company Ripple, if not the XRP token, has won a following among top figures in government and finance who are interested in bringing the ideas introduced by bitcoin into the traditional financial system. The company's board includes the former top financial regulator in New York state, Benjamin M. Lawsky, and Gene Sperling, who was the director of the National Economic Council under Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Stuff it. I'm not going to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, learn a new language or get my tax organised earlier this year. Why make resolutions I know I can't keep? Getting older is good like that. You can no longer fool yourself into believing there will be a new you to accompany the new year. I know my limitations and desires. Oh, and my love of a lax and loose life.

But, damn, there's a few aspects I'd like to change in others  and how. Because this time of year it is not a new slate in terms of tolerating annoyances. Oh no. I see it the other way  it's the ideal time to cease making me so bloody cranky, to ditch the sense of entitlement and self-obsession and consider that perhaps you are not the centre of the universe after all.

So, to those of you who have irritated the tooth enamel off me of late, here's some suggestions of how you can change for the better and stop me grizzling and gnashing in your wide-eyed wake.

1. Stop it with the phone obsession. I'm talking those of you who sit at tables in company while rudely chatting to others on line or, worse, stopping mid stride in public places to gaze mindlessly into your black mirrors. And do not think for one second it's kosher to talk loudly on those bloody things in confined places where others are present, unless you want said phone shoved in a confined place on your body that is.
A good CV paints a picture of you professionally. Credit:Jim Jurca The working-class area had been affected by the jobs squeeze as many highly experienced and educated people from the mining sector had moved into the metropolitan area in the past few years to find employment and were willing to work lower paid jobs than before. "Beginners' jobs were going to people with degrees, and people with experience," he said. Bridging the Gap also offers outreach services to schools and regional areas. "It's pushed out some of the local guys who didn't have that experience.

"We are also working with [Health minister and local member] Roger Cook to try to address all that." Credit: Emma Young Bridging the Gap staff could share simple tips that could help individuals, such as how to "grab" a Human Resources operator in a cover letter or email. "People sometimes put in dates of birth on their resumes, which gives people a reason to discriminate against them, whether they are a young person or an older person," he added. "Also we are seeing some people come in with eight or nine-page resumes. We recommend keeping it to two or three max, otherwise no HR person is going to go through it.

"If there are any gaps in your record, you should explain what you were doing in that time. Anything you can put down to explain that will help sell you  it could be something that makes you more attractive to an employer, even if it wasn't formal work. "There's usually an opportunity to add a cover letter [on Seek website] but maybe if the company doesn't want one, ID the company, ring the HR manager and maybe talk to them and ask if there's an email address you can send your resume to  it's personal touch and it's different from what they are used to, and it might help you break through." Through its program Empower Families, Bridge the Gap is also offering specific support to a niche group: City of Kwinana parents of children under 12, who get parenting benefits. This means they don't get the job service provider assistance associated with the unemployment benefit Newstart. But this does not mean they don't want part-time or casual work, Mr Reddick said. In fact, many did, but were struggling without assistance.

By the time they got on to Newstart and accessed these services they had been out of touch with their professional selves for a very long time and it was a hard road ahead. "There's potentially eight years where they haven't worked and it falls on the job service providers to explain that gap. You can put parenting and that's a good thing but employers are looking for something else, skills that can be transferred," Mr Reddick said. "So we are looking at early intervention. If their baby is young we can talk to them about training, volunteer work and so on, then by the time they get to the Centrelink job service provider they have some history they can put on their resume." The Empower Families program for City of Kwinana residents provides holistic support services employment help is only part of it. Call 6397 5508, email workforcecentre@bridgingthegap.org.au or visit the career centre at 56 Mandurah Terrace.
By PTI: Ahmedabad, Jan 6 (PTI) Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani is set to become the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Gujarat Assembly, with the state unit of party today electing him as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

Dhanani (41), who belongs to the Patidar community, won from Amreli constituency in Saurashtra for the third time, and was a front-runner for the post.

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Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel too had supported him for the post.

"A young, dynamic leader has been chosen by the party high command as the Leader of Opposition. He will take all Congress MLAs along and make the party stronger in the Assembly," state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki said.

"He has been chosen for the post considering his work as Congress secretary and experience as an MLA for two terms," he added.

"He is young, has experience as an MLA, and is committed to the party," said Congresss Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot, who announced Dhananis name for the post after getting a nod from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

"The decision has not been taken on the basis of caste or religion. He has been chosen after MLAs gave their opinions," Gehlot said.

Dhanani has also served as vice president of National Students Union of India, the partys student wing.

Senior Congress MLAs Kunvarji Bavaliya and Vikram Madam were also in the race during the meeting held here for electing the CLP leader.

The CLP leader would become the Leader of Opposition by default as the Congress, with 77 MLAs in the 182-member Assembly, is the largest opposition party.

Senior state Congress leaders Shaktisinh Gohil, Arjun Modhwadiya and Siddharth Patel were out of contention after losing the Assembly election.

Dhanani will replace 73-year-old Mohansinh Rathwa, a tribal leader who has won Assembly election for the tenth time now. Rathwa had been made the LoP ahead of the Assembly elections.

Dhanani is from Amreli, a farmer-dominated constituency where cotton is the main crop. With the prices of cotton dropping, Dhanani had effectively raised farmers issues. He is considered to have played a key role in the partys performance in Saurashtra where the Congress won 30 out of 54 seats, nearly doubling its tally from 2012. PTI KA PD KRK

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A Lake Illawarra woman is among the survivors of a fatal air balloon crash in Egypt.

The balloon's pilot lost control in high winds near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor after taking off around sunrise on Friday. The crash claimed the life of a South African man.

Vanessa Condran, 31, was among those aboard.

In a post to social media she reported: "I am alright - a few bumps and bruises. And probably will never set foot in another hot air balloon ever again. I feel lucky to have walked out of this traumatic experience, a scary freak accident."
By PTI: (Eds: Updating with details, reaction)

Srinagar, Jan 6 (PTI) Four policemen on patrol duty were killed today in an improvised explosive device blast by militants in a market in Sopore township, the first IED attack in Kashmir since 2015.

The four personnel belonging to Indian Reserve Police-3rd battalion were on law and order duty in the township in north Kashmir, 50 kms from here, when the IED planted by militants in the market, which was shut due to a separatist sponsored strike, went off, police said.

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Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit has taken responsibility for the attack, but the Kashmir police said it will have to verify the claim.

The slain personnel were identified as assistant sub- inspector (ASI) Irshad Ahmad - a resident of Doda, Constable Ghulam Nabi - a resident of Rohama Rafiaabad area of Baramulla, Constable Parvaiz Ahmad - a resident of Vilgam, Handwara and Constable Mohammad Amin - a resident of Sogam, Kupwara.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Munir Khan said the use of IEDs by militants had ended since 2015 and the security forces will have to chalk out a new strategy in the wake of the blast.

Denouncing the killings, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urged the people to work shoulder to shoulder to break the "vortex of violence" in the state.

These young policemen were killed when they were on duty to protect the people in the town. It is highly unfortunate, Mufti said.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace." A

J-K Congress chief GA Mir condemned the killing and claimed the incident had exposed the "tall claims" of the Mehbooba government about the Kashmir situation being normal.

Giving details of the incident, ADGP Munir Khan told reporters that shops were closed and vehicles were off roads due to the strike in Sopore when the militants ambushed the police team.

"Our normal law and order deployment reached the lane between ?Chotta Bazaar? and ?Bada Bazaar?. There was an IED blast in which four of our boys were martyred," said Khan, who was recently promoted as additional director general of police, but continues to hold the post of inspector general of police (IGP) Kashmir.

"The IED was placed beneath the entrance of a shop. It was a big IED, there has been a huge crater because of it. Six or seven shops have suffered damage as well," he said, adding "it was the first (IED) blast since 2015. Its use had almost ended."

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He said the security forces will have to think about it. "We will put our heads together and chalk out some new strategies to tackle this thing,? he said.

The JeM, in a statement to a local news agency here, claimed responsibility for the attack.

But Khan said, "We will have to verify how authentic the statement is. A mere statement does not mean that only they have done it. We will have to see other aspects also.?

A wreath laying ceremony was held at District Police Lines Sopore to pay homage to the slain personnel.

Khan led police officers and jawans in paying floral tributes to the martyrs, a police spokesman said here.

The spokesman said ASI Irshad Ahmad is survived by his elderly mother, wife, two sons and two daughters.

Constable Mohammad Amin leaves behind an aged mother, wife, four-year-old son Tajam-ul-Islam, a brother and three sisters, while constable Parvaiz Ahmad is survived by an elderly father, wife, three-year-old son Mohammad Noman, an unmarried sister and three brothers, the spokesman said.

He said constable Ghulam Nabi has aged parents, pregnant wife, four-year-old daughter Faheeqa Nabi, two brothers and two unmarried sisters. PTI SSB RT

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By PTI: Jakarta, Jan 5 (PTI) India and Indonesia today called on all countries to stop providing state sponsorship of terrorism and prevent their territories being used for establishing terrorist safe havens, in a pointed reference to Pakistan.

The two countries are "natural partners" in peace and prosperity, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here as she held talks with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.

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"We expressed our strong opposition to any selective approaches to deal with this global menace, and called upon all countries to stop providing state sponsorship of terrorism and prevent their territories being used for establishing terrorist safe havens.

"During our discussions, there was clear recognition that India and Indonesia, as two close maritime neighbours, are natural partners in peace and prosperity. We unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms, irrespective of its motivation and origin," Swaraj said after co-chairing the fifth meeting of the Joint Commission with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. PTI KUN AKJ KUN

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San Jose, Jan 5, 2018 (AFP) - Tropical Central America was on Friday feeling the chilly outer rim of the weather phenomenon that has plunged the eastern United States and Canada into a deep freeze. Unusually low temperatures were being recorded in the region -- though nowhere near as low as in North America. Costa Rica's capital San Jose saw the mercury plunge as low as 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts, far lower than the usual 25 degrees, according to the state meteorological service. Two homeless men reportedly died from hypothermia in San Jose. The cold front was a dampener for foreigners who were visiting Central America in its peak tourist period to escape the northern hemisphere's icy winter, leaving beaches lashed by windy gusts, overcast and rainy. The airline Avianca cancelled several flights leaving Central America for snowed-in New York. "The cold snap we are feeling from Guatemala to Costa Rica is a polar mass that is affecting the northeast coast of the United States. We are feeling the tail-end of it," Costa Rican state meteorologist Luis Diego Naranjo told AFP. He said the weather pattern would continue through Sunday, after which temperatures would climb back up toward normal.

mas/rmb/sst


Hyderabad-based Jamia Nizamiahas issued a fatwa asking Muslims to not eat prawns, crabs and shrimps as they do not fall under the category of fish items.

By Ashish Pandey: Hyderabad-based Jamia Nizamia has triggered a controversy by issuing a fatwa asking Muslims to not eat prawns, crabs and shrimps as it is a sin (Haram) in Islam.

The Jamia Nizamia which was established in 1876, is one of the oldest Islamic Seminaries of the country. It issued a fatwa or a decree on January 1 which labels prawns, shrimps and crabs as makruh tahrim as it does not fall under the category of fish.

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The fatwa was issued by the Chief Mufti of Jamia Nizamia, Mufti Mohammed Azeemuddin. It reads "Prawn is an arthropod and it doesn't belong to the fish community and so falls under 'markruh tahrim' category. It is strictly abominable for Muslims."

The Jamia last made news in 2016, when it issued a fatwa against Muslims chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Watch: Exclusive: Muslim girl who recited Gita answers Maulavi's question on fatwa

--- ENDS ---
By West Kentucky Star Staff/The Associated Press Jan. 05, 2018 | 07:20 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The Paducah City Commission has a vote scheduled for Tuesday night on changes to their anti-discrimination ordinance.The changes introduced at a meeting on December 19 added language to the ordinance to include age, sexual orientation and gender identity. It currently lists race, color, religion, familial status, handicap, sex or national origin as protected classes of people, as protected by state law.The ordinance also outlines the authority given to the Paducah Human Rights Commission, a board appointed by the Mayor. Procedures for how claims or grievances would take be handled have been amended to include the additional classes of people.A release from the gay-rights group the Fairness Campaign says Paducah would become the ninth city in Kentucky with those types of protections if the ordinance passes.The measure would prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.The Fairness Campaign said in a release on the upcoming vote that it has been working with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky to organize local supporters of the anti-discrimination ordinance. The organization's website and social media accounts are inviting supporters to come to the meeting and speak, and will be at the McCracken County Public Library from 3:30 - 5:00 pm Tuesday to provide help to anyone who needs it before the meeting.The Commonwealth Policy Center held a meeting Thursday in Paducah for opponents of the proposed ordinance, encouraging them to speak at the meeting. Richard Nelson of the CPC says inclusion of these special classes isn't necessary since there have been no discrimination claims to the Human Rights Commission. He cited cases in Kentucky and across the U.S. where Christians have faced fines and legal fees because local commissions said they discriminated by denying some services because of their religious convictions. Separate cases are currently before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Kentucky Supreme Court.The meeting is at 5:30 pm Tuesday at Paducah City Hall. The meeting's agenda and supporting documents can be found at the link below. Documents related to this topic begin at page 28 of the packet.

On the Net:
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jan. 05, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY; METROPOLIS, IL

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 05, 2018 | 05:55 PM | PADUCAH, KY; METROPOLIS, IL

If you see a legume-shaped vehicle on the street, don't worry. You're not going nuts.



The Planters Nutmobile is currently on its "East to West Nut-Cracking Fest," where it stops at a different city each week.



On Friday, the specialized vehicle was at Walmart, where folks could get a photo and a free sample from Planters.



On Saturday it will be a Big John's in Metropolis from 11 am to 5 pm. The store is at 1200 E. 5th Street.



Tanaja and Dakota are driving the Nutmobile on its tour. Dakota is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and Tanaja graduated from the University of Missouri. Dakota said they're having fun with fans.



"Showing people a nutty time, you know? Letting them take a picture with the Nutmobile, get some coupons, samples, stickers. Lots of fun stuff going on," Dakota said.



Both women told WestKentuckyStar their favorite Planters product is honey-roasted peanuts.



Tanaja said they are headed north from here.



She said, "After this we are going to Champaign, Illinois, so we leave here Monday and traveling back north, back to a little bit colder weather."




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By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 06, 2018 | 12:37 AM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY

A joint investigation between the Marshall County and McCracken County sheriffs offices led to the arrest of a Calvert City man on drug charges.

On Thursday, detectives executed a search warrant at a residence on Retirement Circle in Calvert City. During a search of the home, detectives located approximately seven grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, digital scales, packaging materials, drug paraphernalia and more than $2400 cash.

Rodney Freeman was arrested for an outstanding arrest warrant out of McCracken County for drug offenses. Freeman was also charged with trafficking meth, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, stemming from the search of his home.

He was lodged in the Marshall County Jail.
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By Sen. Danny Carroll

Jan. 05, 2018 | FRANKFORT, KY

By Sen. Danny Carroll Jan. 05, 2018 | 06:53 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Legislative Update from Senator Danny Carroll:



The first week of the 2018 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly is in the books, and pension reform is still a major priority for all of us in Frankfort. Along with passing a two-year budget and two-year road fund, pension reform must occur in order to put Kentuckys poorly-funded pension systems on the right path to solvency. We have listened to feedback from our constituents and believe we are close to having another draft of a pension reform bill to release to the public. This is a complex issue and although we would have liked to have resolved this matter earlier in 2017, the process ultimately determines when legislation is ready to be released and voted upon.



On the very first day of session we were pleased to welcome the 100th Army Band from Fort Knox to kick things off with the playing of the National Anthem and My Old Kentucky Home. We also had some procedural measures to take care of  one of them being to officially swear Senator Jimmy Higdon (R-Lebanon) in as the new Senate President Pro Tempore.



This weeks Senate activity was mostly procedural as we adopted Senate rules for the 2018 Session, swore in new Senate leadership, and confirmed new committee chairmen and members. New Senate bills and resolutions were introduced, many of which were assigned to committees for a public hearing. Bills must be presented at a public committee meeting and passed with a majority vote before heading back to the Senate to be voted on by the entire Senate body. Once the Senate approves a Senate bill, it heads to the Kentucky House where the same process occurs. The Senate has to agree to any changes the House makes to the bill before it is submitted to the Governor for his approval and is finally signed into law.



Besides passing a budget and pension reform, the Senate majority has several priority bills that we would like to see passed this session. Three of those bills are constitutional amendments: Senate Bill (SB) 2, tort reform, aims to cut down on frivolous lawsuits; Senate Bill 3, known as Marsys Law, outlines a crime victims bill of rights that ensures equal representation in the judicial system; and Senate Bill 4 would move statewide constitutional office elections to even-numbered years to increase voter participation and save taxpayer dollars. Senate Bill 5 will help independent pharmacists remain competitive by regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).



We will also likely examine legislation to raise the cigarette tax as a revenue-raising measure and a way to discourage unhealthy habits among Kentuckians, who continue to lead the nation in cancer and youth smoking rates. Adoption and foster care, criminal justice reform, and judicial redistricting will also likely be issues that will once again be examined by the General Assembly, but our main focus and priority will continue to be a budget and pension reform.



Some of the legislation I will be filing this session includes: A joint resolution that would create statewide access to peer network training for special education programs within our schools; a bill that would increase the penalty for sex crimes against those who are unable to give consent due to an intellectual disability; a bill that would make it easier for Paducah Power to sell excess electricity generated, while also lowering the cost of electricity for residents in Bardwell, Kentucky; a bill that would make it optional for a teacher in Kentucky to obtain a Masters Degree; a bill that would codify increases in KLEFPF funds paid to police officers, firefighters, and volunteer fire departments within the state and bring Fish and Wildlife officers into the fund; a DUI-E (Electronic) bill which would make it a violation to use any handheld electronic device while operating a motor vehicle; and a bill that would require every 911 Dispatcher in the state to be certified and to provide telephonic CPR instructions in situations involving the need for CPR.



If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at danny.carroll@lrc.ky.gov. You can also review the Legislatures work online at www.lrc.ky.gov.



Senator Danny Carroll (R-Paducah) represents the 2nd District encompassing Ballard, Carlisle, Marshall and McCracken counties. Senator Carroll serves as the chairman of the Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government, as well as the co-chair of the Program Review and Investigations Committee. He also serves as a member of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, the Education Committee, the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education, the Health and Welfare Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Medicaid Oversight Committee.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF HENDERSON COUNTY CELEBRATES 36 YEARS

AWARDING OVER $47 MILLION IN LOCAL GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Community Foundation of Henderson County (CFHC) is excited to celebrate its 36th birthday. The Foundation must, however, acknowledge its beginnings to properly celebrate where it is today. In January, 1982, in spite of discouragement from all corners, the fourteen founding board members boldly chartered and incorporated the Community Foundation of Henderson County. The founding board was told a foundation would not be successful here because the community was too rural, too small, too poor to thrive, says, McCray Benson, CFHC President/CEO, and, boy, have we proved the naysayers wrong!

The first fund was established in April, 1982 by The Henderson County Wildlife Club, and the second, the Charlie Renfrow (Of WHKP Radio) Scholarship followed in September. In 1984 the Foundation awarded its first scholarship and published its first annual report. For the next several years the Foundation continued to flourish and grow, managing 96 charitable funds by 1992 and distributing over $300,000 to the community that year. 1992 marked the first decade of Community Foundation of Henderson County and with it the first cumulative $1 million awarded. In 1997 the Foundation awarded more than $80,000 in scholarships from 35 funds, and in 1999 annual awards surpassed the $1 million mark.

WHKP's long-time "Old Good Morning Man", former president and general manager of WHKP, the late Kermit Edney, was one of the founders of the Community Foundation and he remained active in the mission of the Foundation until his death in 2000. Edney recruited the first presidet and CEO of the Foundation, Priscilla Cantrell, wife of the late Chamber of Commerce president Ray Cantrell.

2003 saw the Foundation turn 20, and in 2005 the Perry N. Rudnick Foundation created an advised endowment that became a permanent component of CFHC. Vintage Carolina started in 2006; in 2007 the Foundation was certified by the Council on Foundations after meeting rigorous national standards. In 2011 the Foundation awarded more than $2.4 million in grants and in 2012 celebrated its 30th anniversary.

At 36 years, the Foundation is rightly proud of its work, with over $3 million awarded in grants and scholarships in the most recent fiscal year, 526 established funds, 60 known bequests, 11 years of Vintage Carolina, and a cumulative award total of over $47 million. Our Foundation would not be what it is today without the dedication of our board members, both past and present, staff, and most of all the generosity of donors within our community. We are grateful for donors who recognize the importance of planning for the future and supporting needs and causes we cannot foresee, says Benson.

Since 1982, the Community Foundation of Henderson County has been helping people transform their philanthropic dreams into reality. Donors are able to make lasting contributions to causes close to their heart through a variety of giving methods. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Henderson at www.CFHCforever.org, on the Foundations Facebook page, or by calling (828) 697-6224.
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The deed is done. Everton have signed Cenk Tosun from Besiktas for the low, low price of just 27million.

The Toffees actually formally announced Tosuns arrival at half-time of last nights FA Cup third-round defeat against Liverpool, which is a little odd  but hey ho.

The 26-year-old Turkish striker has a four-and-a-half-year contract, binding him to the club until 2022.

Tosun has stuck away 41 goals in 96 Super Lig appearances for Besiktas since the start of the 2014/15 season, which is more than any other player in the same period, with Sam Allardyce branding him the best in Europe at the sub-30million price point.

We. Shall. See.
Four policemen were today killed in an IED blast in Baramulla's Sopore.

By India Today Web Desk: Four policemen killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Sopore of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Following the incident, Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Two policemen are also reported to have sustained severe injuries following the blast.

Militants had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the 'Chotta Bazaar' and 'Bada Bazaar' in Sopore.

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The policemen were patrolling the area in view of a separatist-sponsored strike there.

More #visuals from Baramulla where 4 Policemen have lost their lives after an IED blast by terrorists in Sopore #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/BLybHzhaFl- ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

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Welcome to The Independent Herald E-Edition! Check back each week on Tuesday to see our[Read More]
Ideaforge Technologies

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Mehta worked in Pune. Mehta and Vipul Joshi, who are friends, joined hands with Rahul Singh and Ashish Bhat to launch the company. While Joshi is an MBA, the others are technocrats

WORKING IN

Mumbai and Delhi

Similar interests and the habit of dabbling with ideas brought the four together. Initially, they produced mobile phone chargers and sold them in sizeable numbers, but they wanted to do something more impactful. The turning point came when they won the first place in a robotics competition held by the defence ministries of India and the US in 2008. It was a moment when the door of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) production was opened for them. They aimed to build technology from scratch and developed India's first micro UAV, which was later modified to the existing UAV Netra. Today, their drones are being used by all major security forces, including the army, navy, air force as well as the Natural Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to rescue people in situations of calamity.

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"Whenever there is a big security or rescue operation, I can say with conviction that our UAVs are involved in it," says Singh. Whether it is the manning of the Amarnath Yatra or locating terrorists' hideout in the Pathankot air base, their UAVs did a perfect job.

"Our UAVs have helped Uttarakhand's forest officials locate a killer tigress in a day," says Mehta. The UAVs can take off and land vertically on a small space like the terrace of a building. They can get close to a target 12.5 km away and have a maximum flying capacity of up to 2.5 hours. The founders will be happier seeing UAVs used for improving crop yield and managing public assets such as water pipelines and power grids.

WATER FOR ALL

Parag Agrawal, 47; Anurag Agrawal, 45

Janajal

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Parag was in the field of water management while brother Anurag was an investment banker in the US

WORK IN

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh

With a vast experience in water management, Parag was looking for a larger project that would also make a deep impact on society. One area of particular importance, he felt, was the huge gap in the demand and supply of safe drinking water. During his frequent travels between Pune and Mumbai, he used to see beggars asking for water besides money. "For them, water was more important than Rs 2 or Rs 5 we gave them. That established the need for safe drinking water," he says. He realised safe drinking water could be a social service as well as a good business.

Together with younger brother Anurag, he launched Janajal, a water supply company, in 2013. So far, the company has dispensed around 125 million litres of safe drinking water. They have set up around 400 water dispensing machines, popularly called 'water ATMs', which will be augmented by another thousand next year.

They say the challenge in safe drinking water is maintaining sustainability. For instance, water treatment plants are installed by many organisations or under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of various companies, but these are not maintained professionally. Janajal ensures that all filters, membranes and other parts of their water treatment plants are replaced from time to time to maintain quality of drinking water.

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There were people willing to invest capital but no one was willing to bear the cost on ongoing maintenance. Therefore, the brothers developed the water ATM concept. They say consumers are very happy to pay a nominal cost for the water as long as it is affordable.

They have national-level tie-up with pathology chain Thyrocare, which has a water treatment laboratory. All of Janajal's tests are done there following norms laid down for safe drinking water. They also have a real-time monitoring system to ensure the quality of all their devices, and their patented micro controllers.

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Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader refuted allegations that he made inflammatory speech at a program. His speech is being associated with Bhima-Koregaon violence. He has rubbished these claims.

By Arpan Rai: Under fire for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon, Gujarat Dalit MLA Jignesh Mevani has claimed that his speech was not inflammatory, saying he was being targeted and his image was being tarnished.

"Not a word in my speech is inflammatory. I did not even go to the spot of Bhima-Koregaon event. Despite being in Maharashtra, I did not participate in the bandh organised by the Dalits," Mevani said on the violence that gripped Maharashtra on Wednesday.

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In his response to the FIR filed against him for inciting violence in a "provocative speech", Mevani said his speech is available on social media and his speech contains a progressive take.

A bandh was called by various Dalit outfits in Maharashtra and other states on Wednesday after clashes broke out in an event organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon in Pune on December 31.

The protest took a violent turn and saw vandalism of cars and buses on roads. Mevani called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on whether the Dalits in the country had a right to carry out a peaceful procession.

"Why is PM Modi, who claims to be a follower of Ambedkar, quiet? PM and the government, especially Centre, should clear its position on whether there should be the annihilation of caste from India and whether they have any commitment towards ending atrocities being committed on Dalits in the country," he said.

PM Modi talks about making Digital India and even we want India to go digital but we also want a casteless society to prevail," Mevani said on Friday afternoon, adding, the country is talking about a possibility of water on moon and building colonies on Mars while grappling with the monster of caste and inequality," he said. "I am a lawmaker now and yet I am being targeted. If this is the treatment meted out to an established Dalit leader then one can imagine the condition of a common man who talks about the rights of farmers and labourers."

"Neither did I participate in the march led by students yesterday, nor was I present at the event to commemorate 200th anniversary. Then I do not understand how did I incite violence. This is a childish tactic to tarnish my image by BJP," Mevani said.

The MLA from Gujarat's Vadgam also asked his supporters to take to the streets if they are offended by the allegations levelled against him. He will organise a "Yuva Hunkar" rally in Delhi for social justice on January 9.

"After culminating the march, I will go to PMO at 4.30pm with Manusmriti and India's Constitution, and ask him which one would he pick," he concluded

Jignesh Mevani to India Today: PM Modi should practice constitutional methods, not Manusmriti

--- ENDS ---
ST. PAUL  The head of the Minnesota Senates transportation committee says he has lost confidence in the people running the states troubled vehicle licensing and registration system, and he wants them replaced.

Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, called for drastic changes Thursday at the end of a public hearing that provided no firm answer about when the system will be fixed.

I am frustrated in the extreme with what has transpired, Newman said.

Newman raised concerns about the project cost, which has already topped $93 million over 10 years. He also said he has lost faith in the ability of the two agencies in charge of the system, Minnesota IT Services and the Department of Public Safety, to finish the job.

I for one am going to be extremely reluctant to provide further funding, until the people who have been working on this thing over the years are no longer employed by the state of Minnesota, he said.

Newman and other senators asked state officials repeatedly when the systems remaining problems will be fixed. They did not get an answer, but were told that a road map for the fix will be ready by the end of the month.

Dana Bailey, executive director of projects and initiatives at Minnesota IT Services, said after the hearing that lawmakers will have an answer soon. Bailey said Newmans call for resignations would not be helpful.

Mass exodus of any fingerprints that have ever been on the project would be incredibly unfortunate, Bailey said.

You need that institutional knowledge about what was happening with the system and how it was built and what was happening in order to fix it.

The agency began making some staffing changes related to the system in November.

Problems with the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS) began with its launch last summer. Auto dealers, deputy registrars and others told members of the Senate transportation committee that many of those problems persist.

Scott Lambert, president of the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association, said his members are still dealing with lengthy delays for title transfers and other paperwork.

This is a core function of government that is simply not working, and its not getting better, and its not getting better fast enough. I think its safe to say our members have settled into a new reality of regular dysfunction when it comes to MNLARS.

The local offices that issue license tabs have also complained regularly about the system. But Jeff Orth, a deputy registrar from Rochester, said he has been seeing improvement.

I think were seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, and weve got, I think, systems in place to bring about the needed change.

Sen. Melisa Franzen said she also believes progress has been made. Franzen, DFL-Edina, told state agency officials during the hearing that she wants to work with them to fix the system.

We will be critical with every single dollar you ask of us next session, for sure, Franzen said. But I want to be a partner to make sure that this is resolved, because complaining about it and pointing fingers is not going to really fix it.

I for one am going to be extremely reluctant to provide further funding, until the people who have been working on this thing over the years are no longer employed by the state of Minnesota. Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson
Submit an event for Around Town by emailing calendar information to bnr-news@wiscnews.com at least three business days before the event date. For a complete listing of calendar events for the next week, visit baraboonewsrepublic.com.

Today

Storywalk: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Devils Lake State Park, Meet at the Nature Center. Hikers can read a nature-themed story while they walk the trails. Designed for beginning readers, the stories will appeal to all ages. For more information, call 608-356-8301.

Free movie: 11 a.m., Sauk Area Climate Awareness and Action, Bonham Theatre & Video, 564 Water St., Prairie du Sac. Free public screening of Renee Scheltemas documentary film Normal Is Over. Free and open to the public, concession sales will help offset costs. Those interested may stay for a brief guided discussion following the film. For more information, visit facebook.com/groups/337223953056846 or normalisoverthemovie.com.

Hike: 6-8 p.m., The Friends of the Park, Mirror Lake State Park. Candlelight Ski, Hike and Snowshoe event with two easy 1-mile torch-lit trails to hike, one for skiers. Food and beverages available for purchase. A 2018 Wisconsin State Park admission sticker is required. For more information, call 608-254-2333 or visit friendsofmirrorlake.org.

Monday

Fireside reading: 6:30 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Fireside Story Time for Adults will feature stories read aloud. Free event. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Wednesday

Support group: 2 p.m., Better Breathers Club, SSM HealthSt. Clare Hospital, Board room, first floor, 707 14th St., Baraboo. Support group for those living with a chronic lung disease like COPD, pulmonary fibrosis or lung cancer, consider joining us at this welcoming support group. Use main entrance. For more information, call Heather Alloway, RN at 608-355-1884.

Thursday

Hospice training: 1-5 p.m., Agrace Hospice and Palliative Care, 1670 South Blvd., Baraboo. Volunteers are needed to visit and provide companionship to local hospice patients. For more information, an application or to schedule orientation, call 608-327-7163.

Author visit: 6:30 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Debbie McKinney, author of Bringing Hope: A Disaster Relief Journey, will share her firsthand experiences as a disaster relief worker. The author will sign copies of her book, available for purchase, following presentation. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Presentation: 7 p.m., Badger History Group, The Museum of Badger Army Ammunition located at the former main gate to the plant on Highway 12. Brad Steinmetz will discuss the historical parallels between the Kickapoo Reserve and the Badger Army Ammunition Plant/Sauk Prairie Recreation Area.

Friday

Fish fry: 5-7 p.m., St. Joseph Parish, gym, 310 Second St., Baraboo. Menu includes all-you-can-eat baked or batter fried cod served family style, homemade rolls, potato, baked beans, coleslaw, applesauce and dessert. Cost is $11.50 for adults and $5 for kids ages 4-12. Kids menu and takeout available. Free delivery to local homebound; call 608-356-4773.

Book reading: 7:30 p.m., The Village Booksmith, 526 Oak St., Baraboo. Portage author Martha Greene Phillips shares her businessman fathers exploits on the boundary waters and northern rivers, recounted in her new book, Border Country, the Northwoods Canoe Journal of Howard Greene, 1906-1916. For more information, call 608-355-1001 or visit villagebooksmith.com.
A committee will consider Monday whether Sauk County voters should have a chance to express their opinions about partisan gerrymandering this spring.

The Sauk County Boards Executive and Legislative Committee will discuss a resolution that would allow an advisory referendum on redistricting reform to be included on April 3 election ballots.

If the committee approves the resolution Monday morning, it would then be forwarded to the full board for final consideration at its Jan. 16 meeting.

The resolution would require that Sauk County spring election ballots include the following question: Should the Wisconsin legislature create a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional redistricting plans?

Lawmakers redraw political district boundaries after each 10-year census. Current rules allow the majority party to draw district lines in a way that favor their candidates in future elections, a process known as gerrymandering.

The redistricting process that state Republicans undertook in 2011 has faced legal challenges, and a federal court ruled 2-1 in 2016 that the methods used were so partisan that they violated Democrats voting rights.

That decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on the case in October. A decision has not yet been announced.

The Sauk County ballot question was proposed by Supervisor Peter Vedro of Baraboo, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Wisconsin Assembly as a Democrat in 2014.

He said his intention is to make the county a testing ground for the nonbinding advisory referendum, and that other counties may follow suit in the fall election.

Sauk County Clerk Becky Evert said County Board Chair Marty Krueger, of Reedsburg, recently asked her to reach out to other county clerks in Wisconsin and find out if similar ballot questions have been proposed elsewhere.

All but two clerks who responded said no county board members in their areas had proposed measures similar to Vedros.

Lincoln County Clerk Chris Marlowe responded that he has heard rumblings about a ballot question there, but has not seen any action. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said that countys board approved an advisory referendum in the 2014 spring electoin.

Dane County voters were asked whether they supported legislation to require a nonpartisan system for redrawing Wisconsins legislative and congressional districts. About 82 percent of voters supported the idea.

A fiscal note attached to the Sauk County resolution that will be considered Monday says no special ballots would be required if the advisory referendum is allowed. Ballot layout costs are estimated to be less than $100.

Mondays meeting is open to the public, and will include an opportunity for anyone with an interest in the issue to speak to the committee.

I would encourage people to come and make their voices heard to end gerrymandering, which allows legislators to pick their voters rather than voters pick their legislators, Vedro said.
Efforts by area farmers to address water quality in Dodge County got a boost Friday with the announcement that a producer-led group landed grant funds to continue their work.

Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil-Healthy Water received $27,500 from Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grants. According to Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing of UW-Extension Dodge County, the funds will be used for workshops, field days, tours and on-farm trials.

The Dodge County Farmers group evolved from and works with the Dodge County Healthy Soil-Healthy Waters Alliance. The Alliance formed in 2015 under a different name and is made up of farmers, lake property owners and advisers from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, UW-Extension and the Dodge County Land and Water Conservation Department.

After an Alliance-sponsored workshop last February, Ortiz-Ribbing said Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil-Healthy Water formed the next month. The producer-led effort has held workshops and studied the methods that help reduce runoff and sediment in the Upper Rock River Watershed.

According to a press release from the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, the groups long-term goal is to increase cover crop use and decrease sediment and nutrient runoff. They intend to research what timing and planting methods work best for both spring and fall, and what grains produce good cover without harming yields of commodity crops. They will hold two winter workshops, a summer field day and an autumn tour for farmers, lake associations and the general public, and provide incentive payments to help farmers with costs including seed, equipment rental and soil testing.

The winter workshops are set for Feb. 7 and 8.

The Feb. 7 event at the Juneau Community Center will include The Soil Guy Ray Archuleta, who spoke in 2017, as well as Extension and USDA specialists and panel discussions.

The Feb. 8 event will be a Farm Shop that will focus on specific methods and results. Information for the workshops can be found at dodgecountyfarmers.com.

In the evening on Feb. 7, there will be a program sponsored by the Alliance that is geared to the general public. Information about that program will be available next week at bdlia.org.

The 2017 programs proved to be popular with more than 260 producers attending the February workshops and 90 taking part in a boat tour of Beaver Dam Lake. That is in addition to a town hall style meeting and field day also held last fall.

This is the third round of grant awards since the funding was made available in the 2015-17 state budget. The 2017-19 budget increased the maximum amount that groups could receive to $40,000, up from $20,000 previously.
The Mauston Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Mile Bluff medical center at approximately 6:30 pm Jan. 4.

Mauston Area Ambulance and the Mauston Police Department were also on scene.

Dr. Ann Hoffmann was working at the hospital when the alarms sounded. (We) heard the alarm and we thought, Wow is that real or not, Hoffmann said.

No fire was found and emergency personnel eventually dispersed. The Mile Bluff Medical Clinic is currently open.

Right now theres no cause, Mauston Fire Chief Kim Hale said. They have their own specialist coming in.

Hale said he was pleased with the emergency response to the call.
Yug had gone to NM Joshi police station to recording his statement when he was arrested. He will be produced in the court tomorrow.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade report said the fire possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying embers from a hookah. (Photo: Reuters)

By PTI, India Today Web Desk: Mumbai police today arrested Yug Pathak, son of retired IPS officer KK Pathak and an owner of Mojo's Bistro pub, in connection with the Kamala Mills fire case which claimed 14 lives.

Yug had gone to NM Joshi police station to recording his statement when he was arrested. He will be produced in the court tomorrow.

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The Mumbai Fire Brigade on Friday, in its preliminary probe report on the fire which had engulfed Mojo's Bistro and the adjacent 1 Above pub at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel on December 29, had said the fire possibly started at Mojo's due to the flying embers from a hookah.

The police earlier today booked Pathak and his partner, Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tulli, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions.

The police had recorded Pathak's statement in the case earlier.

"As of now, we have arrested Pathak, while his partner Tulli has been summoned as he is also wanted in the case," Ahmed Pathan, senior police inspector, attached to the NM Joshi Marg police station, said.

"We will produce Pathak before a court soon," he added.

Earlier, the police had arrested two managers of 1 Above in connection with the fire. The police have also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information about the three pub owners, who are on the run.

-With inputs from Mustafa Shaikh

ALSO WATCH | Flying embers from Mojo pub started Kamala Mills fire, owners booked

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Turkey might be the first food that comes to mind when you think about Thanksgiving, but plant-based diets are more popular than ever.
By India Today Web Desk: Karan Johar has made many a Bollywood star squirm with 'Rapid Fire' questions on his chat show, but this time, the roles were reversed. Karan, who is making his foray into radio, decided to be on the receiving end of the questions this time. Mumbai Mirror reports that the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil recorded a 'reverse rapid fire', with callers posing their own questions to him.

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Karan was at his candid best, and admitted to being guilty when a caller asked if he thought asking an actor or actress to lose weight for a film counted as body-shaming. Recounting an experience involving Alia Bhatt, who entered Bollywood with his film, Student Of The Year, he said, "I asked Alia to lose weight and now, when I see her hysterical about how she looks, I feel responsible," he said.

Karan said that before she made her debut, Alia was "pleasantly plump" but he asked her to get in shape to look convincing as a mainstream actress, and now, she is fixated with her weight. "She's in the gym every day and even if she puts on an extra kilo, she goes crazy. I think I am to blame for it. Now that I am a parent, I would never do this to Roohi and I would like to apologise to Alia," he said.

Incidentally, Karan has gone on record to say that he struggled with his own weight and even suffered from low self-esteem due to feeling "physically undesirable".

ALSO WATCH: Karan opens up on being the mother of his children, wanting to marry SRK

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The school refused make a comment saying they haven't got any official notice from the state government.

By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: The Kerala government has issued an order against Peace International School for allegedly propagating communal content. The Chief Minister's Office issued an order to the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) asking the latter to take necessary actions to shut down the institution.

"In order to prevent Muslims from joining IS activities, it is highly necessary to stop the operations of such institutions," read the letter.

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The school managed by Peace Education Trust had come under the scanner after reports emerged that the school was promoting and teaching communal content.

In 2016, the state police registered a case against the principal and other trustees of the school under Sections 153A and 34 of IPC.

A probe conducted by the Ernakulam district education officer revealed that the school was teaching no secular content.

Top sources in the Chief Minister's Office told India Today that "we cannot let anyone destroy the secular nature of this country. The school was not following any of the approved syllabi."

"The school was not affiliated to CBSE, NCERT or state syllabus board. The findings by the district collector were shocking as the school was trying to inject communal divide in young minds. We cannot let this happen in our country," said the top official, who wished to remain anonymous.

Even before this allegation, the school was in the eye of storm after two of its employees reportedly joined ISIS.

Abdul Rashid and his wife Merin Mariam were among the 21 people who went missing from Kerala and have reportedly joined ISIS. Abdul Rashid was working as the PRO and Merin was a teacher in the school. After marriage, Merin converted to Islam and embraced the name Mariam.

Based on the letter from the Chief Minister's Office, Directorate of Public Instruction will now issue a closure notice to the school.

However, the representatives of the school management refused make a comment in this issue, citing that they have not got any official confirmation from the state government.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala: ISIS audio clip urges Muslims to attack Kumbh Mela, Thrissur Pooram

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Martin Briggs, of Woonsocket, battles the frigid cold and wind while blowing snow in front of his house on Coe Street in the city Friday.
By PTI: Toronto, Jan 6 (PTI) Children suffering from chronic illness such as asthma, food allergy, epilepsy or diabetes are at an increased risk of developing mental health problems, a study warns.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada surveyed children between the ages of six and 16, and all within a month of their diagnosis with asthma, food allergy, epilepsy, diabetes or juvenile arthritis.

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According to parents responses to a standardised interview, 58 per cent of children screened positive for at least one mental disorder.

"These findings show that risk for mental disorder is relatively the same among children with different physical conditions," said Mark Ferro, from the University of Waterloo.

"Regardless of their condition, children with a physical and mental health problems experience a significant decline in their quality life within the first six months after receiving their diagnosis, indicating a need for mental health services early on," Ferro said.

Six months after diagnosis, the number of kids showing signs of a mental disorder dipped slightly to 42 per cent.

According to the study published in the journal BMJ Open, anxiety disorders were most common, including separation anxiety, generalised anxiety and phobias.

"It is possible that the number is higher very early because there is some uncertainty surrounding the prognosis, or unanswered questions about management and treatment," said Alexandra Butler, from the University of Waterloo.

"It is important to not only identify at-risk children early but to also have resources to support them," said Butler.

The researchers found that age and gender had no impact on the results. A subset of kids self-reported on their own mental health. Where 58 per cent of parents reported that their children presented signs of a mental health problem, only 18 per cent of kids reported it.

This result speaks to the need for health professionals to get multiple perspectives when assessing childrens mental health. PTI SNE SNE

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Welsh Ambulance Service celebrates launch of its Dementia Plan

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jan 6th, 2018

The Welsh Ambulance Service is celebrating the launch of its Dementia Plan for the next three years.

Dementia is set to be the 21st centurys biggest healthcare challenge, with the Alzheimers Society estimating that there are more than 45,000 people living with dementia in Wales.

Figures also show that approximately one in 14 people aged 65 or over will be affected by dementia

The plan, launched by the Welsh Ambulance Service, outlines the Trusts ambition to improve its service for people with dementia.

It also considers the impact it will have on the services workforce.

Alison Johnstone, of the Patient Experience and Community Involvement Team, said: In our plan, we highlight the role the Welsh Ambulance Service has to play and the work we will deliver over the next three years to improve the service we provide for people living with dementia.

The development of a national plan will help us to become an organisation that responds to the clinical and emotional needs of people living with dementia, their carers and families.

The Trust welcomed a range of partners and people living with dementia at the launch event for the plan, to celebrate its progress to date.

Among those in attendance was Sue Phelps MBE, Country Director for Alzheimers Society Cymru.

She said: We are thrilled to see the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust leading the way within the health and social care sector through the launch of their dementia plan for the next three years.

As a front-line service, the Welsh Ambulance Service plays a pivotal and direct role in helping to support people affected by dementia and supporting the creation of a dementia-friendly Wales.

The Trusts continuous commitment to working towards becoming a dementia-friendly community is to be commended.

Their Dementia Plan has been developed through engagement with Alzheimers Societys Service User Review Panel, the members of which all have dementia.

This illustrates the Trusts approach to listening to the views of people affected by dementia and meeting their needs and wants.

You can view the Welsh Ambulance Services Dementia Plan in full, here.
Following extreme weather patterns along the eastern coast of the US, a massive winter storm has claimed over 20 lives, according to various media reports.

While conditions have begun to improve across the northeastern US, the arctic surge is already underway accompanied by brisk winds at times, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned. Dangerously low wind chill temperatures are to be expected the next couple of days with some blowing snow possible.

The storm has wreaked havoc along the East Coast in the form of snowstorms, rising tides causing mass floods, and harsh cold. The NWS is predicting a record-breaking streak in low temperatures across the US.

Boston broke its high tide record, not seen since 1921, at 4.88 MHHW (Mean Higher High Water). Videos of floods posted by Boston residents went viral on social media Friday, showing firefighters trudging through partially frozen salt water, and home appliances swept away in the rising tidewaters. Some roads were blocked off as impassable. Suffolk County, Massachusetts reported at least 75 homes with flood damage to the first floor. One Arlington water department employee was found in a snow bank after suffering from cardiac arrest during storm cleanup.

School districts across the country remained closed through Friday, though many are expected to reopen on Monday.

The Department of Defense deployed 500 National Guard troops to the East Coast as an emergency response, with 200 going to New York. By Thursday afternoon, the Queens borough of New York City had reported 13 inches of snow.

Meanwhile, cold weather brutalized a huge swath of the US Midwest and South, with temperatures well below normal in most areas. Deaths attributed to the cold have been reported from a wide variety of causes, with the poorer and most vulnerable sections of the population the most harshly affected.

News sources report that across the state of Wisconsin nine people have died in cold-related incidents since the onset of the present weather pattern. Three occurred in the city of Milwaukee alone including a 60-year-old woman found dead in her garage and a 51-year-old man found frozen in a van. Three more people died in Dane County, which encompasses the state capital of Madison. In one case a 57-year-old man was found dead in a parking structure. In another an 84-year-old woman suffering from dementia was found outside.

In Chicago, a man was found unresponsive in the Palmer Woods neighborhood on Thursday. The 59-year-old man, who name has not been released, was found by paramedics responding to an emergency call. It was the sixth cold death since autumn in Cook County Illinois, which encompasses Chicago.

Meanwhile, homeless shelters report being overwhelmed by the outbreak of cold weather. On January 1, 2018 60,000 people slept in New York City shelters. At the same time, New York City police have been reported forcing homeless people out of subways, one of the few places it is possible to stay warm in the brutally cold weather.

The cold has been blamed for the deaths of at least three homeless men in Texas and North Carolina according to news reports. In another case a homeless man in Saint Louis was found frozen in a trash bin on Monday night.

Homelessness is on the rise across the United States, compounding the impact of the cold. According to federal survey data released last month 553,742 people were without shelter on a given night in 2017. Its really a matter of life and death, one shelter spokesperson in Boston told the Reuters news agency.

Some large cities have been largely unable to keep up with the needs of the most vulnerable sections of the population in the weather crisis. The city of Detroit is requesting donations for assistance after it opened up three additional emergency warming centers due to overcrowding at shelters. Working with local churches and religious groups, the centers are sending volunteers out over the weekend to locations where homeless communities congregate, in an effort to bring them to the various shelters. Most of the citys shelters are at capacity and are forced to turn away those seeking shelter who arrive late.

While homeless people are the worst affected by severe weather conditions, many need shelter due to insufficient heating in their apartments, or need somewhere warm to sleep if they cannot afford their heating bill.

In the early morning hours of New Years Day in Detroit, one homeless man was found dead presumably from the cold at Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church on the citys near east side. The Wayne County Medical Examiners Office confirmed his identity to the WSWS on Thursday. Dwayne Johnson, 50 years old, had apparently been turned away from another local emergency shelter due to lack of beds and had likely gone to the church seeking refuge from the cold.

On Wednesday night in Shelby Township, a northern suburb of Detroit, a 65-year-old woman suffering from dementia wandered from her home at some point in the night. Her husband noticed she was missing when he awoke at 6 am. According to police reports, she succumbed to the cold and was found dead on a nearby bike path in her slippers and robe later that day.

Also on Wednesday in Orion Township, another northern suburb of Detroit, a 63-year-old woman was discovered by her son and grandchildren face down in the snow in the driveway in front of her home. The cause of death was hypothermia, but it was unclear if she had fallen or if she suffered from other medical conditions previously.
Retired Major General Jim Molan is currently being promoted by the Murdoch media, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and other media outlets in order to emphasise the purported need for a massive increase in military spending and in the combat readiness of the armed forces and their supply chains.

Molan spent 40 years in the Australian Army. In 2004, a particularly bloody year in the US occupation of Iraq, he served as a commander in the main military operational command centre in Baghdad, working to integrate the Australian and US armed forces ever more closely. Since retiring, he has established himself as one of the most prominent media advocates for the US-Australia military alliance.

In the 2016 federal elections. Molan stood as part of the Liberal Party Senate slate, but was too far down on the list to be elected. He is now entering parliament as the replacement for Senator Fiona Nash, who was ousted by the High Court due to her dual citizenship with the United Kingdom.

In an opinion piece published by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian on January 3, the ex-general gave one over-riding justification for his call for a military build-up: the decline of American power. Molan catalogued what he labelled the deficiencies of the US Army, Navy and Air Force, and raised doubts as to the ability of the United States to win a war with North Korea or Iran, let alone with Russia or China.

Australian imperialism, he insisted, therefore had strong grounds to question its expectation that the US would, or could, come to its assistance in the event of an extreme scenariothat is, a major war. Australia, while remaining the staunchest of US allies, had to be able to defend its national interests independently.

Molan concluded: The best allies are highly self-reliant and Australia is one of the best of Americas plethora of allies.

The ex-general did not name what country or countries he believed could threaten Australia with an extreme scenario. This is, in no small part, due to the fact that what is being prepared is not the defence of Australia, but its involvement in offensive, US-led wars, far from the countrys shores. The necessity for developing a self-reliant Australia is the pretext for expanding the military, and making a greater contribution to the operations of its American ally.

The Australian made this clear in its January 5 editorial, which endorsed Molans views. It named Chinas unrelenting militarism in the South China Sea and tension on the Korean peninsula as the two most immediate potential triggers for drawing Australia into war.

It is now more than six years since Australia, under the Labor government of Julia Gillard, extended unconditional support to the anti-China pivot to Asia, initiated by the Obama administration in November 2011. At the diplomatic level, both the Labor government and the Liberal-National Coalition government that replaced it in 2013, have sided with Washington at every point as it ratchets up tensions with Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and through US threats to attack North Korea if its regime fails to abandon its weapons programs.

US military use of Australian air bases, ports and training facilities has been dramatically increased, as have joint exercises between American and Australian forces. The Australian military operates as the adjunct of its far larger American partner. The Australian continentand particularly a string of bases in the countrys northis openly described in US strategic documents as an American military sanctuary in the event of a major war in the Asia-Pacific region.

Canberras alignment with the US against China, Australias largest export market and trading partner, is the source of continuous friction and conflict within the Australian ruling class and its political establishment. However, the layer most preoccupied with the potential losses that Australian business interests could suffer, has been largely marginalised. The US is the guarantor of Australian strategic influence in Asia and around the world. Moreover, American corporations dominate the domestic economy and are the largest source of foreign investment, while Australian companies and the ultra-rich have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into US assets and stocks.

Rupert Murdoch, the ex-Australian billionaire, now US citizen and American-based media magnate, personifies this corporate relationship. For its part, the military relationship is constantly being reinforced through the virtual integration of the Australian armed forces, intelligence services and strategic think tanks with their American counterparts.

US politicians and military commanders have repeatedly implored Australian imperialismconsidered in Washington to be one of its most reliable and compliant partnersto contribute far more to the joint preparations for a confrontation with China.

To that end, Molan is calling for greater military spending, and the stockpiling of fuel and high-end weapons, such as missiles for aircraft and ships, to enable the armed forces to fight a protracted war. He also advocates that Australia should seek more stable security guaranteesan implicit call for military alliances with countries other than the United States, so they can also be drawn into any conflict with China.

The Australian backs such a policy. It praised the steps toward the formation of a Quadrilateral military relationship between the US, Japan, India and Australia, and advocated the forging of formal anti-China security alliances with other regional democracies such as India, Japan and South Korea.

As part of its commitment to stand with the US in a conflict with China, Australian imperialism is already undertaking a multi-billion dollar spending spree to acquire state-of-the-art ships, aircraft, and other military materiel. These include F-35 fighters, sophisticated naval frigates, and a $50 billion project to construct 12 conventional attack submarines.

Some $495 billion is slated to be squandered on defence between 2016 and 2026. To fulfill Molans agenda of self-reliancewhich, concretely, means a huge expansion in both the size and capability of the armed forceswould require this sum to be vastly increased.

The Australian editorial supported such an increase, unfavourably comparing the level of Australian military spending, at 2 percent of GDP, with the 3.5 percent being spent in the US. It also implied that increasing the current defence outlay of some $30 billion would require cuts to the $164 billion spent each year on social security, involving slashing the retirement pension and welfare benefits.

Under conditions where every national state is competing to attract investment by slashing taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy, the parallel preparations for war can only be financed through the further destruction of the living standards and social conditions of the working class.

Moreover, while neither Molan nor the Australian editorial raised the question, enlisting the required personnel for a major expansion of the armed forces would, more than likely, lead to the re-introduction of some form of compulsory military service, which was last introduced in Australia between 1964 and 1971 to conscript young men to fight and die in the Vietnam War.

The entire political establishment, which uniformly supports the war preparations, is nevertheless aware of the lack of any popular support for increased military spending at the expense of social services. That is why such concerted efforts are being made to develop a constituency for militarism, through the stoking of nationalism, patriotism and, above all, paranoia about alleged Chinese influence over Australian politics, universities and corporations.

Molans comments and the Australian editorial represent yet another component of the whipping up of anti-China propaganda. Like the Red Peril hysteria in the 1960s, aimed at justifying the US alliance at the time and Canberras complicity in the Vietnam War, the allocation of further social resources to the military will be increasingly justified on the basis that sacrifices on the part of every citizen are necessary to avoid a foreign invasion and even conquest.
US President Donald Trump has repeated his threats to end Washingtons financial support to the Palestinians. His actions undermine the Palestinian Authority (PA), undercutting the role it plays on behalf of the US, the European powers and Israel in policing the Palestinian people.

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations (UN), amplified Trumps tweet, stating that Washington might halt its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) until the Palestinians agreed to engage in US-led peace talks with Israel again.

Trump tweeted that the US gives them hundreds of millions of dollars, but gets no respect.  They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel.

Trump presented his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital as a positive gift to the Palestinians, denouncing them for opposing the move in the UN and making identical threats of financial sanctions to those he made to other countries protesting the action.

We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more, Trump claimed. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?

The shape of the ultimate deal that Trump promised on taking office, to be brokered by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, ardent supporters of an expansionist Israel, is clear. The Palestinian Authority must accept its role as security guard for Israel and US imperialism in the region, and settle the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israels terms: the abandonment of Jerusalem as the capital of any Palestinian statelet made up of non-contiguous towns and villages, and no right of return for the Palestinians who became refugees in 1947-48 and 1967.

Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital and move its embassy there from Tel Aviv marked the definitive end of the decades-long US policy, which formally upheld the position that the status of Jerusalem could only be determined through a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Washingtons European allies opposed Trumps decision, as it cut across their own geo-strategic interests in the region by exposing the fraud of a two-state solution. They supported the overwhelming vote in favour of a nonbinding resolution at the UN General Assembly last month affirming that the status of Jerusalemclaimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinianscan only be settled as an agreed final issue in a peace deal.

After the vote, Haley threatened that Washington would remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. The US then announced that its contribution to the UN budget would be slashed by over $285 million this year.

To make sure that the PA falls in line with Washingtons demands, Trump has now threatened to cut off its very limited funds. US funding for the Palestinians is made up of two elements.

It gives UNRWA about $368 million a year, about a quarter of the agencys $1.25 billion budget. UNRWA supports 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and provides essential health and educational services.

A cut to UNRWAs budget would have a devastating impact on the humanitarian crisis, particularly in Gaza where UNRWA funds are a major source of income for the besieged entity. With an unemployment rate of 40 percent, around 1 million of Gazas 2 million population depend on emergency food assistance from UNRWA. This number has risen sharply from 80,000 in 2000 as a result of Israels 10-year-long blockade and repeated military attacks that have destroyed Gazas economy.

Bereft of financial support from UNRWA, the host governments in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon would be unable to control their restive and destitute populations and would face collapse, further destabilising the region.

The second part of US aid includes direct funds to the Palestinians in the West Bank, following the implementation of the 1993 Oslo Accords. According to a Congressional report published in December 2016, Washington has provided about $400 million a year for the last 10 years. US aid increased after the factional split between Mahmud Abbas Fatah-led PA in the West Bank and the Hamas-led Gaza Strip in 2007.

The report makes clear that funding that goes to the PA in the West Bank, less than half the total, is channelled largely to the PAs security forces, the largest per capita in the world, which act as Israels subcontractor to suppress the impoverished Palestinian working classthereby protecting both Israel and the Palestinian bourgeoisie.

The funding was primarily in direct support of the PAs security, governance, development and reform programs in the West Bank under Abbas and intended in part to counter Hamas. The report adds that the US may also have provided covert fundingmeaning the CIA.

Most aid is channelled via the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as investments in the West Bank and in Gaza, whose ultimate beneficiaries are again the Palestinian bourgeoisie.

Much of this was already under threat from the proposed Taylor Force Act, seeking to make funding conditional on the PA ending financial support for Palestinians in Israeli jails convicted of terrorist offences.

While the US is the largest single contributor to UNRWA, the European states provide far more, both via the European Union ($160 million) and their own country budgets ($330 million). The EU provides an additional $218 million in aid to the Palestinians, about half of which defrays the costs of the PAs salaries, with the rest going towards social and economic projects in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. This is channelled via Palestinian businesses, with individual European states also granting aid from their own domestic budgets.

The European powers are concerned that any further cuts in funding, which has almost been halved since 2013, would threaten the collapse of the PA and the further destabilisation of the Middle East region. Moreover, Trumps aggressive measures against the Palestinians are bound up with Washingtons efforts to assert its control and dominance against its imperialist competitors through an anti-Iranian alliance in which Israel and Saudi Arabia are to play a key role, with the aim of preparing for possible war with Tehran.

Trumps attack on UNRWA is also an attack on the EU. Last July, the EU issued a statement describing the organisation as one of the pillars of its Middle East peace policy.

Trumps threats highlight the growing dangers to the Palestinians and the working class and oppressed masses throughout a region who face being plunged into war. They also underscore the impossibility of opposing these dangers without breaking free of the strangulating grip of the PA and waging a political struggle independent of the venal Palestinian bourgeoisie. Its perspective of establishing another small state in the Middle East with the help of one or other imperialist and regional powers has proved to be a disaster.

The only way to resolve the economic, social and political problems of the region and end the drive to war is the development of a political movement to unite workers and peasants, of all ethnicities and religions, in a common struggle against imperialism and its local agents, Arab and Israeli, for the building of a United Socialist States of the Middle East.
The year 2018 has opened with an international campaign to censor the Internet. Throughout the world, technology giants are responding to the political demands of governments by cracking down on freedom of speech, which is inscribed in the US Bill of Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and countless international agreements.

Bloomberg, the financial news service, published a blog post titled Welcome to 2018, the Year of Censored Social Media, which began with the observation, This year, dont count on the social networks to provide its core service: an uncensored platform for every imaginable view. The censorship has already begun, and itll only get heavier.

Developments over the past week include:

On January 1, the German government began implementation of its Network Enforcement Law, which threatens social media companies with fines of up to 50 million if they do not immediately remove content deemed objectionable. Both German trade groups and the United Nations have warned that the law will incentivize technology companies to ban protected speech.

On January 3, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to introduce a ban during election cycles on what he called fake news in a further crackdown on free speech on top of the draconian measures implemented under the state of emergency. The moves by France and Germany have led to renewed calls for a censorship law applying to the entire European Union.

On December 28, the New York Times reported that Facebook had deleted the account of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, nominally because he had been added to a US sanctions list. As the American Civil Liberties Union pointed out, this creates a precedent for giving the US government essentially free rein to block freedom of expression all over the world simply by putting individuals on an economic sanctions list.

This week, Iranian authorities blocked social media networks, including Instagram, which were being used to organize demonstrations against inequality and unemployment.

Facebook has continued its crackdown on Palestinian Facebook accounts, removing over 100 accounts at the request of Israeli officials.

These moves come in the wake of the decision by the Trump administration to abolish net neutrality, giving technology companies license to censor and block access to websites and services.

In July, the World Socialist Web Site first reported that Google was censoring left-wing, anti-war, and progressive websites. When it implemented changes to its search algorithms, Google claimed they were politically neutral, aimed only at elevating more authoritative content and demoting blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive or downright false information.

Now, no one can claim that the major technology giants are not carrying out a widespread and systematic campaign of online censorship, in close and active coordination with powerful states and intelligence agencies.

In the five months since the WSWS released its findings, Googles censorship of left-wing, anti-war, and progressive web sites has only intensified.

Even though the World Socialist Web Site's readership from direct entries and other websites has increased, Googles effort to isolate the WSWS through the systematic removal of its articles from search results has continued to depress its search traffic. Search traffic to the WSWS, which fell more than any other left-wing site, has continued to trend down, with a total reduction of 75 percent, compared to a 67 percent decline in August.

Alternet.orgs search traffic is now down 71 percent, compared to 63 percent in August. Consortium Newss search traffic is down 72 percent, compared to 47 percent in August. Other sites, including Global Research and Truthdig, continue to see significantly depressed levels of search traffic.

In its statement to commemorate the beginning of the new year, the World Socialist Web Site noted, The year 2018the bicentenary of Marxs birthwill be characterized, above all, by an immense intensification of class conflict around the world. This prediction has been confirmed in the form of mass demonstrations in Iran, the wildcat strike by auto workers in Romania and growing labour militancy throughout Europe and the Middle East.

The ruling elites all over the world are meeting this resurgence of class struggle with an attempt to stifle and suppress freedom of expression on the Internet, under the false pretence of fighting fake news and foreign propaganda.

The effort to muzzle social opposition by the working class must be resisted.

On January 16, 2018, the World Socialist Web Site will host a live video discussion on Internet censorship, featuring journalist and Truthdig contributor Chris Hedges and WSWS International Editorial Board Chairperson David North.

The discussion will explore the political context of the efforts to censor the Internet and abolish net neutrality, examine the pretexts used to justify the suppression of free speech (i.e., fake news), and discuss political strategies to defend democratic rights. Hedges and North will also field questions from on-line listeners.

We urge all of our readers to register to participate in this immensely important discussion, and to help publicize it to friends and co-workers.

The webinar will be streamed live by the WSWS on YouTube and Facebook on Tuesday, January 16 at 7:00 pm ( EST). For more information, time zone conversions and to register, click here.
Germany has not had an elected government for more than a hundred days. This surpasses the previous record in 2013, when 86 days elapsed between election day and the swearing in of the new government.

An end in the crisis is not in sight. Following a series of initial contact meetings, exploratory talks will begin next week between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) on the continuation of the grand coalition. An SPD party congress scheduled for January 21 will then decide whether to initiate formal coalition talks. Experts suggest it could take up to two months after this until a new coalition agreement is completed. But it is also possible that the talks could collapse.

The reason for the drawn-out crisis is not political differences between the three parties. They largely agree on all fundamental issues and are cooperating seamlessly in the acting government. The reason is that they are preparing a sharp shift to the right for which no support exists among the population.

This is fuelling sharp tensions. In the SPD in particular, the fear is growing that the party could implode like its sister parties in France, Greece and many other countries if it continues in the same government coalition following its worst electoral performance in 70 years.

Others are provoking the crisis in hopes of producing an atmosphere of impatience and frustration that can be exploited to carry out a fundamental political realignment. The voices calling for an end to the Merkel era are growing ever louder. After 12 years in power, they view the chancellor, notwithstanding her right-wing policies, as too willing to compromise and too weak. They look longingly at Austria, where 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz took over the conservative Austrian Peoples Party in a coup and led the party into a governing coalition with the far-right Freedom Party.

This was made particularly clear in a guest commentary by Alexander Dobrindt published in Thursdays edition of Die Welt. The chairman of the CSU parliamentary group is also the head of the CDU/CSU negotiating team for the exploratory talks. His comment could have just as easily appeared in the right-wing extremist Junge Freiheit newspaper or another Alternative for Germany-aligned (AfD) publication. He called for a conservative revolution and spared his readers none of the slogans from the AfD, Pegida or other far-right groups.

Dobrindt urged the defence of our Christian Western dominant culture, described home and fatherland as the roots of our identity, praised the national feeling as a gift to our country, and demanded the demarcation of our community of values from other world outlooks.

Combining this Calvinist and racist filth with appeals for a neoliberal economic policy and a strong state, Dobrindt insisted that self-responsibility is the driving force for achievement and the social state has the task of imposing incentives for achievement. He stated further, We want to strengthen private property.

We therefore want a strong state which protects the citizens freedom  we stand side by side with our police officers and armed forces, he wrote. For Dobrindt, freedom mainly means security.

Dobrindt, who studied sociology, knows what he is talking about. He did not accidentally employ the concept of a conservative revolution. The concept was developed by ideological tendencies during the Weimar Republic which advocated anti-liberal, anti-democratic and anti-egalitarian standpoints, and paved the way for the Nazis. Dobrindt believes the time has come to rehabilitate these positions. Following the left-wing revolution of 1968 50 years ago, Dobrindt wrote, left-wing activists and thinkers [have] secured key positions in the arts, culture, the media, and politics. It is now time for a bourgeois conservative turn.

He is not alone in calling for a return to the most reactionary German traditions. Former SPD leader and current Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel demanded in Der Spiegel three weeks ago that his party adopt the ideas of identity, dominant culture and home from the conservatives. And in the Left Party, the wing led by Sahra Wagenknecht and Oskar Lafontaine has long used similar arguments to advocate sealing off the borders against refugees.

With this shift to the right, the ruling class and its parties are preparing for bitter class struggles. The times when they could smother and maintain control over the class struggle with the aid of the SPD, Left Party and trade unions are over. The past 20 years, during which time the SPD has been responsible for labour and social affairs legislation apart from only one four-year interruption, have been characterised by rising poverty, an expanding low-wage sector, increasing stress, crumbling infrastructure, and the obscene enrichment of a tiny minority at the top of society. As a result, the SPDs share of the vote fell from 40 percent to 20 percent over the past two decades.

The Left Party, which has always seen itself as a potential coalition partner for the SPD and bears joint responsibility for the social attacks in the areas where it has participated in government, was unable to profit from this, losing 450,000 voters in the federal election to the AfD. This far-right party was able to partially exploit social anger. But the AfD advocates a pro-capitalist programme and serves to assist the ruling elite in shifting the entire political spectrum to the right.

The second reason for the political shift to the right is Germanys return to militarism and great power policies. Militarism, which is deeply despised in Germany following the horrors of two world wars, can only be enforced by means of a strengthening of the state apparatus, right-wing propaganda and domestic political repression.

The SPD is playing a leading role in this. Former foreign minister and current president Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) initiated the end of military restraint four years ago. Gabriel, who succeeded Steinmeier at the Foreign Ministry, called in a keynote foreign policy address in early December for a German great power policy which employs military methods and relies on sober political-strategic analyses rather than moral and normative imperatives.

Ever since, articles and analyses have been published with increased frequency calling for the rule of law, human rights, multilateralism, and adherence to global agreements to be curtailedi.e., a return to the criminal methods of the Nazi eraso as to achieve foreign policy goals  in Germanys interests ( Der Spiegel ).

This is why the talks on forming a new government are increasingly assuming the character of a political conspiracy. The political parties have vowed to keep all negotiations secret. Barely anything about the issues really at stakea major military build-up, foreign policy, a new round of cuts, social attacks and layoffsis being made public.

All parties, from the Left Party to the AfD, agree that new elections must be avoided. The Socialist Equality Party in Germany opposes these proceedings and demands new elections. The ruling elites cannot be allowed to resolve the political crisis and establish a new government among themselves. The result would be a right-wing, authoritarian regime beyond any democratic control and beholden to the interests of the capitalist state, we wrote in late November.

This has since been confirmed. New elections are, as we wrote at the time, Under present conditions  the only way in which the working class can intervene into political events, bring their interests to bear and combat the far-rights political offensive. The SGP would utilize the election campaign to fight for a programme that expresses the interests of the German and international working class, connecting the struggle against war with the fight against capitalism, and provide a socialist way out of the blind alley in which the current social order finds itself.

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The Socialist Equality Party in Germany demands new elections

[23 November 2017]
By PTI: Mumbai, Jan 6 (PTI) Maharashtra is moving towards "chaos and destruction" due to caste conflict, the Shiv Sena said today as it continued its attack on the Devendra Fadnavis government over the violence at Bhima?Koregaon village.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, a junior ally in the BJP-led government, bemoaned large-scale damage to property by protesters during the January 3 bandh in Maharashtra called by Dalit outfits to denounce the violence at Bhima?Koregaon in Pune district.

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"Dalits are calling for bandh and Hindutvawadi groups are taking out morchas. It looks like Maharashtra is moving towards chaos and destruction due to caste conflict instead of prosperity," read an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.

The Sena organ said if the bandh called by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) was peaceful, his stature as a leader would have risen.

"His followers have become directionless. In Kolhapur, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was desecrated," the Marathi daily said.

The editorial said the Shiv Sena was showing solidarity with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the time of caste conflict as it wanted to protect Maharashtras "asmita" (pride) and ensure law and order.

The newspaper said efforts are being made to incite caste violence in the state by exploiting the clashes which took place at Bhima?Koregaon on January 1.

None of the Dalit leaders tried to calm tempers of the community members, who, anyway, were in no mood to listen to them, the BJPs bickering ally lamented.

Violence during the state-wide bandh resulted in loss of property to the tune of crores of rupees, the publication claimed, adding the financially bleeding transport body MSRTC alone took a Rs 25-crore hit.

"This is not the time to analyse if the caste violence will benefit the BJP or any other party," the editorial read.

It said the recent events reflected poorly on the states home department, headed by Fadnavis.

On January 4, too, the Shiv Sena had attacked the Fadnavis government over its inept handling of the violence in Bhima-Koregaon and the subsequent incidents, alleging it had no work except to fight elections using the state machinery.

The violence erupted when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra.

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory as it is believed soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Companys forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness. PTI MR RSY GVS

--- ENDS ---
In September 2012, 26,000 Chicago teachers, in the nations third largest school district, mounted their first strike in 25 years. The teachers sought to reverse the ongoing destruction of public education in the city, raising issues of class sizes, high-stakes testing, lack of music and art in schools, teacher pay, benefits, paid prep time and job losses.

This strike pitted workers directly against the Democratic Party administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obamas former chief of staff. It occurred in the city where Obamas education secretary, Arne Duncan, first tested out his reactionary school reform agenda of dismantling public education.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) did everything to downplay the political issues at stake in the strike and to prevent it from becoming a catalyst for a broader movement of the working class against the Democratic Party. The CTU, headed by the nominally left Caucus of Radical Educators (CORE), had worked hard to prevent the strike, then did their best to end it quickly.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten made clear the national unions determination to wind down the strike in the interest of Obamas campaign, stating that although Emanuel wanted to make major changes in Chicago Public Schools  some changes we didnt agree with  we are all Democrats.

The strike evoked popular support among workers and young people looking for a fight.

Emanuel had overseen an explosion of social inequality, handing out tax breaks and other incentives to financial, real estate and other firms while starving the schools, public transit and other essential services of funding. The jobless rate for out-of-school 16-24-year-olds in the city was 70 percent.

The last thing the CTU, AFT and other city unions wanted was a broader mobilization of the working class. Instead, the CTU reached a deal behind the backs of teachers that capitulated to Emanuels most important demands, including extending the school day without compensation, expanding test-based evaluation systems, and giving broad authority to principals for hiring and firing.

Throughout, CTU President Karen Lewis and Vice President Jesse Sharkey, a leading member of the pseudo-left International Socialist Organization, downplayed Emanuels plans for mass closures of city schools.

After first failing to push through a return-to-work without revealing the content of the sellout, the CTU used a combination of intimidationaided by the mayors move to obtain a court injunctionand outright lies, to push through a second return-to-work vote. While admitting the union had agreed to an austerity contract, Lewis said the CTU would not negotiate anything better because of tough economic times. She pointed to state law barring strikes over class sizes and school closingsfailing to mention that the CTU had endorsed the very bill that stripped teachers of the right to strike over these issues.

The defeat cleared the way to escalate the attack on public education not only in Chicago, but nationally. Other pro-reform mayors, like Philadelphias Michael Nutter, crowed that the defeat of the strike would give them a free hand to dismantle teacher pensions, close public schools, and hand over the education system to private corporations.

Within a year of the strikes aftermath, 50 Chicago public schools were closed, 3,500 teachers and school workers laid off, and more programs slashed. As a reward for the betrayal of the strike, the unions were given access to organize the largest charter school business, giving the union the opportunity to collect dues from low-paid charter school teachers and make up for the loss of thousands of teachers jobs.

The Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site became a center of opposition, and fought for teachers to transform the strike into a powerful political movement of the working class to defend and vastly improve public education.

Summing up the lessons of the struggle, the WSWS wrote:

The defense of public education and every other basic social right requires a direct attack on the economic and political dictatorship of the banks and big business and a vast redistribution of wealth from the financial oligarchy to the needs of working people. To fight for this, the working class must free itself from the political domination of the Democrats, who defend the interests of the super-rich just as viciously as their Republican counterparts.

The next period will see the emergence of even more powerful class struggles. New organizations of struggle are required. Above all, the working class needs a new leadership that fights for its political independence from the two capitalist parties and in doing so fights for socialism.

Detroits sickouts

In 2015-16, Detroit teachers gained national attention by organizing a series of wildcat job actions to demand safe and sanitary schools, decent rates of pay and proper funding of the district ravaged by a decade of state-appointed emergency managers. Using social media, rank-and-file teachers organized sickouts, in defiance of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), and garnered support throughout the US, and even internationally.

The actions were a rebuff to the Obama administration, which touted Detroit as ground zero for its pro-corporate school reforms. Randi Weingarten, a member of the Democratic National Committee and a hit man for the Hillary Clinton campaign against supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, was determined to prevent the teachers militant actions from galvanizing opposition to the Democrats.

As Obama visited Detroit on January 20, 2016, teachers sickouts escalated in defiance of both the DFT and threats of court injunctions. The districts emergency manager, Darnell Earley, who had also overseen the lead poisoning of the city of Flint, attempted to drag militant teachers into court and threaten them with fines and prison. A judge rejected the bid, opting instead to rely on the DFT to wind down the protests, and pave the way for the restructuring of the school district.

Weingarten and Detroit Democrats did this by claiming they were fighting to regain local control of the school district from the state-appointed emergency manager. In a reactionary subterfuge, they injected racial politics by claiming that the majority African American residents of the city were facing a racist takeover by white Republicans, including Governor Rick Snyder.

The union and the Detroit Democrats then conspired with Snyder to dissolve the Detroit Public Schools district and bail out the Wall Street investors who held the districts bonds. While local Democrats regained control of the district, spending decisions were left in the hands of an unelected Financial Review Board that answered to Wall Street. The DFT put its full backing into the Snyder plan because it preserved the unions role as the bargaining agent and union dues collector.

Under the new Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) the rights of teachers continue to be savaged. The state legislature created a new financial entity, paying off all existing debtors except for the teachers, who had been blackmailed into loaning the DPS $10,000 each. The DPSCD continued the same overfilled classrooms and understaffing, while enacting new cuts to health care and pensions.

Throughout these struggles, educators demonstrated a high level of self-sacrifice and determination. Many teachers were justifiably proud that they had stood up in the face of myriad threats, and they received widespread support from working-class parents and students.

At the same time, the political weaknesses and illusions of teachers were exploited by the unions and the Democratic Party to isolate the struggle and ultimately defeat it. In the first stage of these battles many teachers believed it was enough to have their voices, so long suppressed, finally heard by the media and leading politicians.

As experience has demonstrated time and time again, the entire political establishmentwhether led by Democrats like Obama or Republicans like Trumpis not neutral, let alone pro-worker. While Democrats patronize teachers, praising to the sky their sense of civic duty and critical importance to society, the Democrats, no less than the Republicans, answer to the corporate and financial elite.

Under conditions of the long-standing decline of American capitalism and the explosive growth of social inequality, both political parties are hell bent on reversing all of the gains won over generations of struggle by the working class. They intend to loot everythingpensions, health care, quality education, decent housing, cultureso the super-rich can buy more mansions and yachts.

It is not possible to defend, let alone vastly improve, public education without attacking the massive fortunes of the super-rich and breaking their dictatorial grip over society. Three billionaires in the USJeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gatescontrol a mass of wealth equal to that controlled by half of the US population, or 150 million people.

The struggles in Wisconsin, Chicago and Detroit, along with battles by teachers in Mexico, Chile, Australia and other countries in the recent period, have demonstrated the strivings of educators to break free from the domination of the pro-capitalist unions and assert their social rights. This must now become a conscious process.

The World Socialist Web Site Teacher Newsletter calls on educators to form rank-and-file committees to take up the elemental responsibilities long ago abandoned by the AFT and NEA, and mobilize educators and the whole working class against layoffs, school closures, privatization, and to demand a vast increase in school funding.

As every teacher intimately knows, educational problems are inseparable from the social crisis. Students cannot learn if they are plagued with chronic poverty, homelessness, poor housing conditions, the opioid drug epidemic, and other social ills. To address this, trillions must be spent to rebuild urban and rural areas and to end unemployment and poverty once and for all.

If the collective wealth created by working people is to be used to raise the material and cultural level of the masses, instead of being squandered on bank bailouts, tax cuts and criminal wars, then the working class must organize itself as an independent political forceindependent of the Democrats and Republicansto take the economic levers of society in its own hands and redistribute the wealth.

The Socialist Equality Party is leading that fight and we call on teachers to contact the SEP, subscribe to the World Socialist Web Site Teacher Newsletter and take up the fight for socialism today.

Concluded
The release Friday of the damning book on Donald Trump and his inner circle, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, has brought the political crisis in Washington to a new pitch of intensity. The devastating picture by journalist Michael Wolff, based largely on interviews with Trumps former top aide Stephen Bannon, of chaos, incompetence and ignorance, centered in the figure of the president himself, has escalated the fracturing of the US political establishment.

The publisher, Henry Holt & Co., moved up the date of release to Friday after Trumps attorneys sent cease-and-desist letters to Holt, Wolff and Bannon in an attempt to block the books release, following the publication of excerpts in the press beginning on Wednesday. Bookstores sold out within minutes of opening, and the book immediately reached the top of national best-seller lists.

The book quotes Bannon and cites other top White House officials who describe Trump as infantile, erratic, barely literate, an idiot and a moron. In a particularly revealing passage, Wolff writes: He didnt process information in any conventional sense. He didnt read. He didnt really even skim. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-literate.

The book has received nonstop media coverage and provided new ammunition for those factions within the ruling class and the state that are pushing for Trumps removal from office, either by forcing him to resign, invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the removal of a president who can no longer serve, or by means of impeachment.

There are two main prongs to this offensive: the claim that Trump is mentally unfit to serve as president and charges that he colluded with Russia in its alleged meddling in the 2016 election and is guilty of obstruction of justice in connection with the Justice Departments Russia investigation.

Fueling the latter charge, Bannon is quoted in the Wolff book as calling the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials, including Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. and then-campaign head Paul Manafort, and various Russians treasonous and unpatriotic. Bannon adds that there is no chance Trump did not know of the meeting.

Trump has fiercely denounced Wolff and, above all, Bannon, effectively severing relations with his former top aide, at least for the present, and rallying support from within the Republican establishment, including among former backers of Bannon.

NBC News Today Show featured a friendly interview with Wolff Friday morning, in which the author made the case that Trump is unfit for his office. I will tell you, he said, the one description that everyone gave, everyone had in common: They all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is, he has a need for immediate gratification. It is all about him.

Wolff added that 100 percent of the people around Trump, senior advisors, family members, every single one of them, questions his intelligence and fitness for office. He singled out as a sign of mental decline that Trumps habit of repeating statements and phrases has grown noticeably more pronounced in the course of his year in office.

This followed a half-hour interview with former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday evenings PBS nightly news program, in which Biden was asked directly of Trump: Its been a year. Is he fit to be president?

Biden avoided a direct answer, but said that Trump undermines the office and our place in the world.

Asked if he agreed with the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who said on Sunday that the United States under Trump was closer than ever before to nuclear war, Biden replied, Yes, I do.

On Friday, the New York Times ran as its front-page lead story a report making the case for an obstruction of justice charge against Trump by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russias supposed intervention into the 2016 elections in opposition to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and possible collusion by the Trump campaign.

Featuring the sub-headline, Obstruction of Justice Is Viewed as Central to Muellers Scrutiny, the article cites unnamed sources, evidently from within the Mueller investigation, who say Trump ordered his White House counsel to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself in the Justice Departments Russia probe. When Sessions recused himself in March, Trump reacted with fury and threatened to fire him.

The article, also citing the Mueller investigation, claims that former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus turned over handwritten notes of conversations with Trump that corroborate the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey about improper efforts by Trump to pressure him into publicly declaring that Trump was not a target of his investigation. Trump fired Comey last May after he refused to end his investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The deputy attorney general then appointed former FBI Director Mueller as special counsel to head up the investigation.

The pro-Trump camp, for its part, has launched its own counteroffensive. On Thursday night, Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund billionaire and long-time Bannon backer Robert Mercer, released a statement backing Trump and disavowing Bannon. She added, I have a minority interest in Breitbart News and I remain committed to my support for themsuggesting she might move to push Bannon out. Questioned Thursday at her White House news briefing on the matter, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, I certainly think thats something they should look at and consider.

The Wall Street Journal published an editorial Friday praising Trump for breaking with Bannon. Alluding to last months passage of a multitrillion-dollar tax cut for the rich, the newspaper wrote: The Trump-Bannon divorce is therefore a political relief  The presidents successes have come when he has bursts of discipline while pursuing the more conventional conservative agenda on judges, tax reform, regulation and foreign policy.

Also on Friday, press reports emerged that the FBI has for months been investigating the Clinton Foundation, in accordance with repeated accusations by Trump and some Republicans that Hillary Clinton, while secretary of state, granted favors to foreign donors to the foundation.

And two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham, sent a referral to the Justice Department requesting that it open up a criminal investigation of Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the dossier on alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Steeles dossier was cited in last Januarys intelligence report claiming, without providing any real evidence, that Russia had hacked Democratic Party emails and otherwise meddled in the election in order to tip the campaign in favor of Trump.

Despite the intensity of the conflict within the political establishment and the state, it has not arisen because of disagreements with the reactionary political agenda of the Trump administration. Rather, it is rooted in a loss of confidence within sections of the ruling class that Trump is capable of carrying the agenda out.

Trump himself is not some alien aberration of an otherwise healthy social and political system. He is the ugly product of American bourgeois politics, the embodiment of all that is corrupt and backward after decades of political reaction, unending war and social counterrevolution. In his narcissism and single-minded concern for his own wealth and power, he personifies the American financial oligarchy, which, along with the military and the CIA, dominates his administration.

The United States in 2018 faces major geopolitical challenges, an extremely unstable financial situation and the prospect of growing opposition in the working class. Under these conditions, there is a sense in significant sections of the ruling class that Trump is neither intellectually nor politically up to the task of defending its interests. Hence the accelerating drive for a palace coup to replace him with a more effective and no less ruthless head of state.
GEORGIA (WTXL) - The Georgia State Patrol is looking for candidates for the 104th and 105th trooper school.

GSP will be hosting its Physical Assessment Training in Lowndes County tomorrow morning.

WALB's Damon Arnold spoke with a recruiting trooper about what the test will entail.

After the PT Test, applicants will take a polygraph test, then have a face-to-face interview, followed by psychological and medical exams.
By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken today sought rejection of the nomination of AAPs candidate for Rajya Sabha, N D Gupta, for allegedly holding an office of profit, even as the latter rejected the charges.

In his objection filed with the returning officer, Maken claimed that Gupta is "currently holding the office of a trustee of the National Pension System Trust. He was appointed on March 30".

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Maken also alleged that Gupta held the office of the chairman of the Audit Committee of the National Pension System Trust.

However, Returning Officer Nidhi Srivastava said that she would take decision in this regard on Monday.

A senior officer of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Office also said that a hearing was scheduled for both parties on Monday.

In his response to the returning officers notice on Makens objections, Gupta said he was appointed as a trustee of the NPS on March 30 last year but he resigned from the trust on December 29, way before the filing of his nomination.

"It is submitted that the National Pension System is not an office. The said trust is not an office under the government and also is not an office of profit under the government.

"In any event, as an abundant caution, the said trust is excluded in the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959," Gupta said.

He also said in view of these facts and circumstances and the position of law as it exists, there exists no impediment or disqualification to the candidacy to file the nomination for being a member of Parliament under Article 102 of the Constitution.

Earlier in the day, Maken filed his objection to the nomination of Gupta for Rajya Sabha seat at the returning officers office.

"N D Guptas nomination is liable to be rejected under Section 36 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 read with Article 102 of the Constitution," Maken claimed.

Meanwhile, the AAP claimed that Maken was trying to gain cheap publicity through frivolous objections as the law did not forbid trustees from contesting.

"Section 3, clause (L) of Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, gives exemption to trustee from disqualification under office of profit," AAP leader Raghav Chadha tweeted.

"Also, RO (returning officer) is not competent authority to adjudicate on OoP, the EC is. (These are) frivolous objections to gain cheap publicity by the Congress," he added. PTI VIT/SBR/KND BUN AAR

--- ENDS ---
HAVANA, Fla. (WTXL) - Students and teachers at Havana Magnet School will soon have a warm school to go back to after the heat went out this week.

Gadsden County Schools Superintendent Roger Milton says the elementary students were not affected because theyre in a newer part of the school.

Milton says about 600 students attend Havana Magnet.

He doesnt know the exact cost of the boiler repair, but it has been expensive. However, he says the repair has been a top priority for the district.

He says theyve worked quickly to fix the issue and make students and teachers as comfortable as possible.
JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - The Drug Task Force of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office is seeking information on the whereabouts of Neporah Trey Bowers.

Deputies are attempting to locate Bowers after he failed to appear for his jury trial. Bowers is a black male, 6 feet and 1 inch tall with medium to stocky build.

The task force concluded a June 2014 investigation near Greenwood, Fla., where Bowers was arrested for the sale of a substantial amount of cocaine.

After Bowers arrest, a search warrant was executed, which resulted in the recovery of a large quantity of controlled substance and several thousand dollars.

After numerous firearms were discovered in the search, Bowers was additionally charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He was also charged with Tampering with a Witness.

Bowers has contacts and past residences in Jackson County, south Alabama, south Georgia, and as well as south-central Florida. His case was recently adopted by the U.S. Marshal Task Force on behalf of the Sheriffs Office.

If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the Jackson County Sheriffs Office Fugitive Apprehension Division or the Jackson County Drug Task Force at 850 482-9624.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day is just around the corner. On Monday, our nation will say "thank you" to local law enforcement officers and first respondents. One local group found a special way to start the effort early.

On Saturday morning, F3 Tallahassee led an 8 and a half mile walk through town to honor men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty and to thank local officers and emergency personnel.

For the second year, F3 visited memorials at the Capitol, then laid wreaths at the Tallahassee Fire and Police Departments, as well as other law enforcement buildings. At each stop along the way, the group thanked the men and women for their service, and read the names of those who died in the line of duty.

Sarah Cooksey, with Tallahassee Fire, participated in the walk to recognize members of her department. Cooksey, Social Media Liaison at Tallahassee Fire Department says, "We honored several of our own, including Captain Brad Deanda, Engineer Chris Thurman, Engineer Jimmy Allen's daughter, Shelby Allen, as well as Jeffrey Atkinson."

A special service was held at the Fire Department for Jeffrey Atkinson, who passed away on December 15th. Atkinson was a 17 year veteran of the department. F3 surprised his widow and 5 year old daughter with a trip to Walt Disney World.

F3 Tallahassee is a free, participant-led boot camp that encourages community fellowship and leadership. Tim Templeton led the walk and says F3's motto is "no man left behind." Templeton of F3 Tallahassee says, "When the bell rings, when the phone calls, they set everything aside. It doesn't matter who is on the other end, they go to help people, help our families, help our community. So we just simply wanted to say thank you."

Templeton adds, F3 Tallahassee gets support from drivers honking their horns as they pass by these flags, but it is an emotional day as his group pays respect to fallen law enforcement officers and first respondents throughout the community.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 01:16:10|Editor: yan

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GAZA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians expressed on Friday deep concerns over stopping international aid and donations that United Nations for Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Far East (UNRWA) depends on.

Jamal al-Khudari, chairman of the Palestinian Popular Committee to Defeat the Siege said in an emailed press statement that cutting international aid and donations to UNRWA would risk the life of 75 percent of Palestinian refugees.

"More than a million Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip are living on humanitarian aid provided by UNRWA, therefore cutting the aid would endanger their life and would mean a real humanitarian disaster," he said.

Al-Khudari's remarks were made following United States threats that it would stop its financial aid to UNRWA in case the Palestinians refrain from returning to the negotiations table with Israel.

The Palestinian lawmaker called on the U.S. to regret its threats, warning that "this would get the Palestinian refugee camps and the refugees into a disastrous situation."

Palestinian leaders had repeatedly announced that the U.S. is not anymore a sponsor for the Middle East peace process in protest to U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Reports had earlier said that the U.S. threatened to stop paying financial donations to UNRWA if the Palestinians keep refusing to negotiate with Israel.

The U.S. donates every year 364 million dollars to UNRWA, which was found in 1949 and provides humanitarian services and aid to around 5 million refugees living in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 01:31:14|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Gas mileage of new vehicles sold in the U.S. was 25.2 miles per gallon (mpg) in 2017, unchanged from the figure in 2016, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

Fuel economy of new vehicles sold in Dec. dropped to 25.0 mpg, down 0.2 mpg from November and the lowest level of the year.

The value for December is up 4.9 mpg since October 2007, the first full month of monitoring by UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle, but down 0.5 mpg from the peak of 25.5 mpg in August 2014.

In addition to average fuel economy, the national Eco-Driving Index (EDI), a monthly update of the average monthly emissions generated by an individual U.S. driver designed by Sivak and Schoettle, held steady at 0.83 in October.

The index also shows overall emissions of greenhouse gases per driver of newly purchased vehicles are down 17 percent since October 2007, but five percentage points higher than the record low reached in November 2013.

The EDI takes into account both the fuel used per distance driven and the amount of driving.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 01:46:23|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's foreign exchange reserves increased by 21 percent in 2017, beating the official forecast, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Friday.

The reserves had increased to about 18.8 billion U.S. dollars last year compared with an estimated forecast of 18.6 billion U.S. dollars, the NBU said in a report.

The deposits have risen mainly because the government bought 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the interbank currency market and obtained one billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund, the report said.

The current level of the reserves can cover 3.6 months of the country's imports, and is sufficient to meet the obligations of the government and the central bank, it added.

In 2016, Ukraine's foreign currency deposits increased by 17 percent to about 15.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 07:24:54|Editor: Zhou Xin

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A Yemeni girl prepares to receive an anti-diphtheria vaccine at a treatment center in Ibb Governorate, Yemen, on Jan. 4, 2018. The war-torn Arab country has been suffering from a severe diphtheria outbreak since October 2017. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 07:17:35|Editor: Zhou Xin

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has approved 50 million U.S. dollars to meet the humanitarian needs in Yemen, said a UN spokesman on Friday.

The money is the largest ever allocation by the Central Emergency Response Fund, said Farhan Haq.

UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, who approved the allocation on Friday, said there must be reduction both in fighting on the ground and airstrikes, which have greatly intensified in recent weeks.

He also stressed the need to have all ports open without interruption so that humanitarian supplies can be shipped into Yemen, according to Haq.

Lowcock said he remained deeply concerned by the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the country although there has been progress in the past month in opening Yemen's critical Red Sea ports to commercial fuel and food shipments, as well as the resumption of humanitarian shipments and flights.

Lowcock stressed that the Yemeni people need an end to the conflict so that they can begin to rebuild their lives. For this to happen, the parties to the conflict must cease hostilities and engage meaningfully with the United Nations to achieve a lasting political settlement.

The Saudi-led military coalition, which is launching airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, sealed off Yemen after Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels toward the Saudi capital city of Riyadh in early November. The blockade was later partially lifted.

Yemen has been in civil war since 2015, pitting Houthi rebels against forces loyal to the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 07:22:35|Editor: Zhou Xin

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is concerned about the impact of fighting on civilians in northwestern Syria, said a spokesman of the world body on Friday.

"We continue to receive disturbing reports of ongoing fighting and airstrikes affecting the civilian population in northwest Syria," Farhan Haq told reporters.

On Wednesday, airstrikes reportedly struck a village in Idleb's southern countryside, killing five people. Also on Wednesday, airstrikes reportedly killed five people in a town, and rendered the a maternity and pediatric hospital out of service. This was the third time in less than a week the hospital had been damaged by an airstrike, said Haq.

"Such actions cause unnecessary suffering to civilians already living in dire humanitarian need. We would like to remind all parties of their obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as required by international humanitarian law and human rights law," said Haq.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 07:22:36|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A man living on the outskirts of Seattle on the U.S. west coast has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for killing his girlfriend in 2016, local media reported Friday.

The man, now 39, who was identified as John Robert Charlton, was convicted of strangling and dismembering his girlfriend, Ingrid Lyne, in a bathtub at her home in April 2016.

Charlton pleaded guilty last October to first-degree murder in the death of Lyne, a 40-year-old nurse and divorced mother of three girls.

Court records showed that Charlton met Lyne via social media and had dated for about one month.

The couple went to a bar on April 28, 2016, where Charlton got drunk and then returned to Lyne' s house in Renton city, 11 miles (about 18 km) away from downtown Seattle.

Lyne's former husband found her missing the next day when he was trying to drop off their daughters at her home and notified Lyne's mother.

The family called police for Lyne's missing, whose dismembered remains were found in a garbage bin, while more of her bodies were discovered somewhere else over the next few days.

Charlton was arrested on April 11, 2016.
By PTI: Udhampu (JK), Jan 6 (PTI) A crowded mini-bus today fell into a deep gorge here, leaving six passengers including four women dead and 26 injured, police said.

The private mini-bus skidded off a hilly road and fell into the 100-ftAgorge at Karowa near Pingla Mata mandir, about 30 kms from here, at around 1.30 pm, resulting in the death of six passengers and injuries to 26 others, a police spokesman said.

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A While four persons died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries at a hospital, the spokesman said.

The mini-bus was on its way to Ram Nagar from Udhampur, he said adding rescuers immediately swung into action after hearing about the accident. They managed to retrieve the bodies from the scene and helped the injured.

The condition of seven of the injured was stated to be critical, of whom four are undergoing treatment at Military Hospital.

Three others were referred to a hospital in Jammu for specialised treatment, he said.

A Earlier in the day, the spokesman said, a cab, travelling from Himachal Praesh to Udhampur, rammed into a tree at Paldai Majalta in the district at around 4.30 am, resulting in injuries to six passengers.

The injured were given initial treatment at Public Health Centre Majalta. Later, they were referred to Government Medical College Hospital Jammu, the spokesman said. PTI CORR TAS RT

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 08:07:41|Editor: Zhou Xin

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The unrest in Iran does not constitute a threat to international peace and security, said Francois Delattre, the French ambassador to the United Nations, on Friday.

"However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute, per se, a threat to international peace and security. We must react appropriately to what is going on," Delattre told the Security Council in a debate on the situation in Iran. "In other words, we must ensure that we remain watchful and we give proper vigilance to what is happening ... we must be aware of any attempts to exploit the crisis for personal ends."

"Change in Iran will not come from without, it will come from the Iranian people themselves."

It's up to the Iranians and to the Iranians alone to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue, a dialogue based on full respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Iranian people, he said.

The French envoy stressed the need to uphold an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program. "We must commit fully to upholding the nuclear agreement with Iran ... and to promoting its implementation."

The July 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- is one of the cornerstones of stability of the region of the Middle East as a whole, he said.

To lose this hard-won ground would be a major setback not just for the region, but also for the entire international community, and for the non-proliferation regime, he said. "The consequences and fallout might be very heavy."

He called for "realistic and robust dialogue" with Iran concerning Tehran's ballistic missile activities. He also asked countries to engage in frank and open discussions with Iran "so that with Tehran we can address the concerns pertaining to Iran's influence over the Middle East and its role in regional crises."

Despite sometimes deep divisions, dialogue with Iran is essential, said Delattre.

Swedish deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Irina Schoulgin Nyoni, also stressed the importance of retaining the Iran nuclear deal and of engaging in dialogue with Iran.

The unrest in Iran must be separated from the nuclear deal, she told the Security Council.

"Sweden and the European Union are very clear on our full support for the agreement. Its continued implementation is of crucial importance. The agreement is ensuring the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, which contributes to stability in the region and beyond. It significantly contributes to strengthening the global non-proliferation architecture."

On the unrest in Iran, she said her country has noted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's reaffirmation of the people's right to protest peacefully. "We expect the Iranian authorities to respond to protests in full compliance with Iran's obligations under international human rights law," she said.

"In this regard, continued and close dialogue with Iran is of outmost importance. Sweden has been in contact with the Iranian authorities on recent developments. In the spirit of frankness and respect, we have made clear that we expect all concerned to refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force and to ensure and respect freedom of expression, including on the internet."

She also expressed reservations on Friday's Security Council meeting called by the United States.

"The Security Council has an essential preventive function and we should constantly consider means to follow up on early warnings in the most suitable and constructive manner, no matter what country is affected or which situation is involved. We do, however, have our reservations on the format and timing of this meeting."

Russia said the issue should not have been discussed in the Security Council in the first place.

"Today we are witness once again how the United States is abusing the platform of the Security Council," Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council. "It's obvious for everyone that the topic chosen today does not fall within the prerogative established by the UN Charter for the Security Council."

He said the council should not include in its agenda any purely internal political issues.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 08:12:42|Editor: Liangyu

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LONDON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- English Premier League club Everton Friday night signed Turkey international Cenk Tosun in a deal worth 36.6 million U.S. dollars.

The signing was confirmed by the club as it met city rivals Liverpool in a crucial FA cup clash at Anfield.

Tosun, who has signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Everton, was described by the club's manager Sam Allardyce as the best in Europe at that price.

"This lad looks like he is strong mentally and has a good pedigree," said Allardyce.

Tosun, who has joined Everton from Besiktas, and has been capped 25 times for his country, said he is eager to be involved in Everton's next Premier League game, against London club Tottenham on January 13.

In an interview with EvertonTV, Tosun said: "It feels great to be an Everton player. I'm really happy to be here and happy that everything is done. I'm really excited to play for Everton as soon as possible. Everton is a great club with a big history and a big culture and I'm looking forward to showing the fans the kind of player I am."

Allardyce described the signing, his first as Everton manager, as a massive boost for the club.

"He is Turkey's number one striker and has scored goals in the Champions League and the Turkish League. I don't think you can look any more than we have done and, for the price, this is the best in Europe at the moment," said the manager.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 09:57:54|Editor: Zhou Xin

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department announced Friday that it was determined to approve a new military sale to Mexico.

The sale list included RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tactical missiles and MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes for an estimated cost of 98.4 million U.S. dollars.

The U.S. Congreenenss will be notified of the required certification of this possible sale later on Friday.

According to the State Department, the Mexican government has requested to buy six RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, 23 Block II RAM tactical missiles and six MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes, among others, as well as related elements of logistics and program support.

"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner," the State Department noted, adding that Mexico has been "a strong partner in combating organized crime and drug trafficking organizations."

It also said that the sale of these ship-based systems, provided from U.S. stocks, would "significantly increase and strengthen the Mexican maritime capabilities," as Mexico intended to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its existing naval and maritime support of national security requirements and efforts to combat criminal organizations.

The sale will not alter the basic military balance in the region, said the State Department.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 10:53:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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LIMA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The mere mention of its name, the "Devil's Curve," would strike fear into the hearts of those who travel along a particularly winding tract of coastal Panamerican Highway in northern Peru, where numerous vehicles have fallen off the edge and into the abyss.

"They should close down this cursed roadway!" This is the response you always get when asking Peruvians about the latest tragedy on Tuesday, when 52 people lost their lives as a passenger bus collided with a tractor trailer and plummeted 100 meters off the cliff down the rocky shore below.

Pedro Quispe, 45, a regular driver on this route, told Xinhua that he has seen many accidents on the highway, along the sides of which numerous crosses with the names of victims have been planted.

Known as "Pasamayo Serpentine," the 15-km stretch of the roadway has 22 curves, making it one of Peru's most dangerous transit points.

Quispe, who lives in Lima, said he is often scared to travel the narrow highway, especially during holidays when traffic is heavy. In addition to steep drops, visibility is often obscured by morning and afternoon fogs coming in from the ocean.

"Truthfully, whenever I travel North, I leave as if going off to war, because the 'Devil's Curve' is really scary. Buses travel along the edge of the cliff and if the drivers aren't careful, a tragedy occurs like the one that took place this week," said Quispe.

Before the accident, the 58 people on board, including the driver, were returning to Peru's capital city of Lima after celebrating the start of the new year with their families.

The bus collided with a tractor trailer not far from the capital, then plunged off the cliff, killing 52 people and injuring six, according to the official figure.

Peruvian prosecutors on Friday ordered the driver to remain in preventive custody for nine months. Passenger buses and tractor trailers have been temporarily banned from this stretch of road to prevent further tragedies.

When Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski heard of the tragedy, he called for an immediate expansion of an alternate highway that runs farther inland to "eliminate the use of the old and very dangerous roadway through Pasamayo."

Since 1990, the "Devil's Curve" has seen some 26 accidents of varying severity, many involving vehicles that plunged off the cliff. Peru's mountainous geography, studded with cities that rise between 2,000 and 3,000 meters above sea level, makes highway travel a challenge.

According to Peru's National Road Safety Council, highway accidents in 2017 claimed a total of 772 lives, slightly less than the 812 deaths registered in 2016.

The Transport and Communications Ministry of Peru reported 89,304 roadway accidents in 2016, with 86,307 taking place in urban centers, and 2,997 occurring on highways.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 11:18:03|Editor: Zhou Xin

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CANBERRA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's most renowned cherry growers has taken to social media to combat poor quality fakes being sold in Asia.

Tasmania's Reid Fruits, along with other top Australian growers, has been affected by counterfeit products being sold with their branding in Asia for years.

The culprits package low quality cherries in imitation Reid's boxes and sell them for up to 40 U.S. dollars per kilogram.

"The consumers are paying top dollar for our product, so it's obviously very disheartening for them when they open the box and the product doesn't meet their expectations," Reid Fruits Business Development Manager Lucy Gregg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Saturday.

Reid has taken to printing intricate stickers that are put on the genuine boxes and incorporating QR codes onto the cartons bound for Asia.

The company has encouraged consumers to get in touch on social media to query suspected knock-off fruits.

"Each carton comes with a unique QR code which they can scan and that actually tells them that it's an authentic product," Gregg said.

"We work really closely with our importers and we actually ask them every time they see a counterfeit product or if they pick up some advertising on...some (social) media site to actually send it to us so we can follow it up.

"We can actually go back to them and say, 'No, if it hasn't got the sticker, if it hasn't got the QR code, if it hasn't got the named bag liner then it's not our product'.

"We're actually seeing less examples so that's a positive - it means that it is working."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 11:53:08|Editor: Zhou Xin

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday condemned "in the strongest terms" Thursday's terrorist attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, which resulted in at least 20 deaths.

In a press statement, the council expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.

The council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, and urged all states to cooperate actively with the Afghan government and all other relevant authorities in this regard.

It iterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed, and that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

It reaffirmed the need for all states to combat by all means threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police checkpoint in a police district in Kabul Thursday night. The latest report said that at least 20 people, including 16 police officers, were killed and 30 others were wounded.

The Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 12:03:09|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Election for Nepal's National Assembly, also known as the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, will be held on Feb. 8, authorities have announced.

An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers presided over by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba made the decision as per the recommendation of the Election Commission, Commerce Minister Min Bishwakarma told the media.

The decision has come nearly a week after the country's President Bidya Devi Bhandari approved the National Assembly Act to pave way for holding the elections for the National Assembly, authorities said on Friday evening.

The National Assembly will have a total of 59 members. Of them, 56 will be elected by an electoral college comprising assembly members of the seven provinces and chiefs and deputy chiefs of municipalities and rural municipalities. Similarly, three will be nominated by the president as per the recommendation of the government.

The government's decision to hold the National Assembly elections has come after the Himalayan nation concluded elections to the House of Representatives, the lower house, and Provincial Assembly simultaneously in two phases on Nov. 26 and Dec. 7 last year.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 12:08:10|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Hunan Allonward Hydro-Generating Equipment Co. Ltd, a hydro-electric equipments manufacturer from China, started supplying its products to Nepal since 2009.

Starting to supply equipments for micro-hydro projects, the company's equipments have now already been used in over 35 hydropower projects ranging from smaller projects to mid capacity projects up to 54 Megawatt.

"As a large number of hydropower projects are under-construction in Nepal, sales of our equipments are also on the rise," Daniel Jiang, an engineer of the Chinese company who has been staying in Nepal for some years to provide installation and maintenance services, told Xinhua on Friday.

This company is one of the seven Chinese companies participating in the Himalayan Hydro Expo that kicked off in Kathmandu on Friday.

More than 100 domestic and foreign companies offering different products and services are participating in the three-day expo inaugurated by Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

According to Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal (IPPAN), the organizer, the expo has brought hydropower developers and equipment suppliers together providing platform for business deals.

Various equipments to be used in hydropower projects, safety equipments, new technologies, construction equipments and electric vehicles are among the materials are on display in the expo.

Guru Prasad Neupane, promoter of Arun Valley Hydropower Development Company, one of the prominent private sector power developers, told Xinhua that he saw the presence of a few new companies and the new technologies in the sector that he was not familiar with.

"With the information about many suppliers, the hydropower developers can get equipments competitive prices in the future," he said.

Nepal has so far been able to develop just 956MW of power in the 107 years of history in hydropower development in the country. Despite late entry in the sector, the private sector has emerged as the key player with around 3000MW projects under construction from the private sector, according to IPPAN.

IPPAN said additional 5000MW projects are waiting to sign power purchase agreement with Nepal Electricity Authority, the only power utility body, to ensure sales of power generated by these projects.

Nepali power developers say that despite political instability over the last decade, the private sectors poured money in hydropower developers which is worth 7 billion U.S. dollar.

"Hydropower development could take leap in Nepal as the country is likely head towards political stability after the recent elections in Nepal," IPPAN President Shailendra Guragain told Xinhua.

President Bhandari also stressed on the need for Nepali government's facilitation and the private sector's excitement for the hydropower development in the country.

"The availability of power will help infrastructure and industrial development of the country," she said addressing the inauguration session.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 12:18:12|Editor: Zhou Xin

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By Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- While U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed support for demonstrators in Iran and engaged in heightened rhetoric, the United States is likely to hang back and avoid direct involvement, U.S. experts said.

"The U.S. will probably limit its involvement mainly to moral support for the protestors," David Pollock, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Xinhua.

Protests erupted on Dec. 28, 2017, in Mashhad in north Iran, sparked by frustration over high prices of basic goods such as eggs, the price of which has recently soared by 40 percent, according to international media reports.

The unrest spread quickly over the next several days. Blue-collar Iranians also want a higher pay and a way to address the nation's widespread problem of unemployement, global media reported.

Trump took to social media earlier this week in support of the protesters, saying that Iran is "failing at every level" and that it is "time for change" in Iran.

Despite his pro-demonstrators tone, experts said the president is unlikely to go much further, with perhaps a few exceptions.

Pollock said Trump's rhetoric reflects the president's strong view of Iran as an enemy.

The protests were "not necessarily going to be historic in the grand scheme of things, and so maybe we don't want to get too carried away yet predicting what's going to happen next," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution,

Many observers are asking why protesters chose this period to demonstrate. "They want the Iranian government to turn its attention homeward," O'Hanlon gave one explanation.

Analysts argued that it would be unwise for the United States to directly involve itself in the protests.

"Given the history of past U.S. involvement in Iranian domestic politics, the best thing for the United States would be to continue to do little to intervene or directly support these protests," Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency, told Xinhua.

Iran has blasted back at the U.S. stance. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the U.S. government's attempts to intervene in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic, Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.

"In the past several days, the U.S. administration, led by the U.S. president, has stepped up its acts of intervention in a grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs under the pretext of providing support for sporadic protests" in the country, Khoshroo said in a Wednesday letter to the UN Security Council and to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Khoshroo added that Iran expects all states to condemn such dangerous statements and policies and urge the U.S. government to act responsibly and adhere to the UN Charter and international law.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:18:18|Editor: Yang Yi

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday announced the appointment of Dmitry Titov of Russia to lead a special investigation into recent attacks on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The investigation will include a focus on the Dec. 7 attack, in which 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed, 43 wounded and one remains missing, said the UN press service in a statement.

The probe will examine the circumstances surrounding attacks, evaluate the UN peacekeeping mission's overall preparedness and response to the events and provide recommendations on how to prevent such attacks from occurring in the future, or when they do occur, from having such lethal consequences, it said.

The investigation team will travel to the DRC in the next few days and will also visit relevant countries in the Great Lakes region, said the statement.

In addition to officials of the United Nations, the team will also include two military officers from Tanzania.
By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Nearly 1,000 flights to and from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) will be cancelled or rescheduled in the run-up to Republic Day parade as airspace over Delhi will remain closed for about two hours every day for over a week.

An estimated 500 domestic flights could be cancelled and as many international flights will be rescheduled due to the restrictions, an airport official said, adding it was being done due to increased traffic and capacity constraints this year.

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The airspace over Delhi remains shut for commercial flights due to rehearsals in the days leading to the Republic Day on January 26.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has issued a NOTAM or Notice to Airmen informing the airlines that no take-offs or landings would be allowed from or to Delhi airport from 10.35 am to 12.15 pm for nine days between January 18-26, according to airport sources.

IGI witnesses 67 air traffic movement (both take offs and landings) per hour between 8 am to 11 pm everyday. With airspace shut for 100 minutes for nine days, an estimated 1,000 flights will either be cancelled or rescheduled.

"On an average 100 flights will be affected every day. We will accommodate 40 international flights before or after the closure hours.

"Out of the remaining 60, we will try to reschedule some of the flights. So, we could see roughly 50 flights being cancelled each day," said an airport official.

The Delhi International Airport Limited, which operates IGI, says no international flights will be cancelled.

"Keeping in consideration the capacity constraints and to minimise inconvenience to the passengers, Airports Authority of India-Air Navigation Services, several major airlines and DIAL have consulted on various options and jointly agreed that the best and safest course of action is to cancel domestic flights scheduled during the NOTAM period.

"International carriers have been requested to re- schedule and not cancel their flights," said a DIAL spokesperson.

Airport officials say that while on earlier occasions they were able to reschedule most of the affected flights, severe capacity constraints at IGI mean that it cant be done anymore.

"Since we had spare capacity we were able to accommodate flights either before or after the closure hours. But because we dont have any spare capacity now, these flights have to be cancelled," said a source.

Also, the airspace closure has been extended by two days, as a result the restrictions are in place for nine days instead of seven days.

The airlines were asked to curtail operations for R-day on December 29, when the NOTAM was issued. PTI JC RT

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:28:20|Editor: Yang Yi

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's vehicle production increased 25.2 percent in 2017 compared with 2016, the first rise after three consecutive falls, the country's motor vehicle producers' association Anfavea said on Friday.

According to Anfavea, 2,699,672 vehicles were produced last year, up from 2,156,356 in 2016.

The rise was mostly due to Brazil's export of vehicles, which soared last year, said the association. In 2017, vehicle exports totaled 762,033 units, a 46.5-percent rise compared with 520,137 in 2016.

Anfavea President Antonio Megale celebrated the positive figures and stressed the importance of international trade for the sector of vehicle production.

"We are in a very positive phase for exports," he said. "Companies are concerned with exports and the country is devoted to signing trade agreements with other countries. The agreement with Colombia finally came true."

Domestic sales rose as well, but at a much lower rate of 9 percent. It was the first rise after four years of sales decrease.

The number of people employed in the automotive industry also registered a 4.6-percent growth to reach 126,696.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:33:20|Editor: Yang Yi

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked about the U.S. foreign policy when receiving a media interview on Friday, saying he will stay in his post for the whole year of 2018.

ON DPRK, Iran

In his interview with CNN, Tillerson said it was "too early to tell" the expected outcome of the talks between Pyongyang and Seoul next week.

"We had channels open to North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) for some time," he said, noting the U.S. pursuit of "the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" remains unchanged.

Speaking of the recent protests in Iran, Tillerson threatened that non-nuclear sanctions will be coming "in all likelihood, unless Iran alters its behavior."

ON RUSSIA

In Tillerson's eyes, the first year of the Trump administration's engagement with Russia was "difficult," "tough" and "strained" though Washington has maintained a constantly "active" engagement with Moscow.

"We have to be very open and candid and frank with one another," he said, noting the United States has "made it clear that the keystone is really Ukraine."

"We have to make progress in Ukraine," he said, adding the whole Russia investigation against the Trump administration "has had no impact" on the U.S. foreign policy, since "the rest of the world recognizes it is a domestic issue."

ON TRUMP

Speaking of his high-profile relations with Trump, Tillerson said it is a "developing one," announcing that he would stay in his job for the whole year and be looking forward to a very successful 2018.

"We have different management styles," he said, adding: "My role as Secretary of State is to provide him that full 360 visibility of what these decisions mean for our foreign affairs with allies, with partners, and with adversaries."

"I'm going to build on my ability to communicate with the president better, my ability to communicate with others better. As I've said, the thing I've had to learn is what is effective with this president. He is not typical of presidents of the past," he noted.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:38:21|Editor: Yang Yi

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NEW DELHI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Believe it or not, doctors in India have reportedly removed as many as 97 pellets from a 27-year-old man's chest in a rare surgery, nearly four years after he was shot from point-blank range.

The surgery on Aarif Hussain of Moradabad town in India's largest state of Uttar Pradesh, took place recently at the country's premier All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

In fact, it was a single bullet that got disintegrated into 97 pellets on impact and spread in and around the chest though it did not affect the heart or any other vital organ, after Hussain was shot while he was sleeping in his home in his native place over a property dispute.

Doctors said that they decided to remove the pellets, the size of papaya seeds, after four years as all of them have now become a source of potential infection.

"If he wasn't operated on soon, the infection would have spread to other organs. It's fatal," Dr. Biplab Mishra of AIIMS trauma centre, who headed a team of doctors that conducted the rare surgery, told a leading Indian newspaper.

The surgical team got the confidence only after Hussain expressed his willingness to take a chance though his life was at stake.

"Theoretically, it looked like an impossible task. I even told the patient that there was a likelihood of death on the table. But he was willing to take a chance, which gave me confidence to go ahead," Dr. Mishra said.

"We slowly, and very carefully, took each one out. The bullet case was also lying inside and was removed successfully," he added.

Hussain thanked the doctors for getting the new lease of life from almost being on the brink of death. "I am better now thanks to the AIIMS doctor. He has given me a new life and I want to make the most of it by working hard," he said.

The rare surgery has earned the doctors praise from fellow doctors as well. "It was a near impossible task, but Dr. Mishra proved that nothing is impossible. They saved the patient from a slow and painful death," said Dr. Pratip Chaudhury, a Delhi-based chest specialist.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:38:21|Editor: Yang Yi

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SHIJIAZHUANG, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Eight suspects have been arrested for smuggling about 20,000 tonnes of solid waste, said Shijiazhuang customs of north China's Hebei Province.

The customs said the suspects purchased waste plastics and scrap metal in the United States and Canada, and imported them using invalid permits via ports in Tianjin and Guangzhou before reselling to domestic buyers for profit starting in May 2016.

In December, Shijiazhuang customs sent 48 anti-smuggling police officials to several Chinese cities and arrested eight suspects, detaining about 20,000 tonnes of solid waste so far.

The customs seized a total of 2,362 tonnes of imported waste plastics and 2,225 tonnes of scrap metal in nine separate cases from January to November 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 13:58:24|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tech giant Google has said it will release security patches for its Chrome browser later this month to fix CPU flaws susceptible to hacking.

"Chrome's JavaScript engine, V8, will include mitigations starting with Chrome 64, which will be released on or around January 23 2018," Google said.

Future Chrome releases will include additional mitigations and hardening measures which will further reduce the impact of this class of attack, it added.

A Google research team announced Wednesday that it has discovered two hardware bugs, called Meltdown and Specter, which would exploit critical vulnerabilities in modern processors.

"CPU data cache timing can be abused to efficiently leak information out of mis-speculated execution, leading to (at worst) arbitrary virtual memory read vulnerabilities across local security boundaries in various contexts," the Google security team said.

Google said its browser users can remain protected against the two security bugs if they enable Site Isolation, an experimental feature which by default comes turned off in the stable versions of Chrome browser.

Other browser providers such as Microsoft and Mozilla have already shipped updates for their users to protect their browsers, Microsoft Edge and Fireforx, against the CPU flaws.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 14:03:26|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Up to 20 militants affiliated with Islamic State (IS) group were killed as the government forces planes targeted the hardliner group's hideouts in the eastern Laghman province Friday night, an army spokesman said Saturday.

"Acting upon intelligence report, the security forces launched airstrikes against IS rebels' hideouts in Nurlam valley of Alinegar district late Friday night, killing 20 insurgents including two commanders Mawlawi Turab and Musa Khan," Shirin Aqa Faqiri, an army spokesman in the eastern region, told Xinhua.

The official, however, declined to provide more details.

Islamic State group has yet to make comment on the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 14:18:30|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian government has agreed to an offer by a U.S. exploration company to resume the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on a "no cure, no fee" basis, Transportation Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Saturday.

The U.S. company, Ocean Infinity, said earlier this week that it was "hopeful of receiving the final contract award for the resumption of the search for MH370 over the coming days."

Liow told reporters on Saturday that the Malaysian government has agreed to resume the search. "Now we have approached Australia and China, and we are working together to resume the search for MH370," he said.

Liow confirmed that the search would be on "no cure, no fee" basis, adding that the contract would be finalized by next week.

Ocean Infinity said it was moving Seabed Constructor, the vessel that the company uses for the search, towards the vicinity of the possible search zone given that the weather window would be relatively narrow.

MH370, carrying 239 on board, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

The governments of Malaysia, Australia and China suspended the search operation in January 2017 after almost three years' efforts in a 120,000-square-km area in the Southern Indian Ocean failed to find any sign of the wreckage of the plane. But a report from the Australian Transport Safety Board released later in the year pointed to a new search area where the plane could be found.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 14:33:33|Editor: Liangyu

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PHNOM PENH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming official visit to Cambodia will be of great significance to Lancang-Mekong cooperation and China-Cambodia ties, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo said in a recent signed article.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia. Li's visit to Cambodia is significant in consolidating the two countries' traditional friendship, expanding pragmatic cooperation, comprehensively promoting the development of the Lancang-Mekong River Cooperation (LMC) mechanism and jointly building a community of shared future by China and its neighbors, the ambassador said.

The friendship that was forged and cultivated by Chinese and Cambodian leaders of previous generations has grown stronger, Xiong said, adding that the historical visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Cambodia in October 2016 opened a new era for the two countries to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Li will attend the second LMC leaders' meeting in Phnom Penh and pay an official visit to Cambodia from Jan. 10 to 11. The LMC comprises six countries -- Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Li's upcoming visit will inject impetus into the development of China-Cambodia ties in the new era, Xiong said.

China and Cambodia are highly complementary in their economies and share closely aligned development strategies, with great cooperation potential in the fields of global production capacity, trade and investment, infrastructure interconnectivity and energy resources, he said.

According to statistics, as of October 2017, China has been the biggest source of foreign investment for Cambodia, with the agreed investment amount to Cambodia standing at 12.57 billion U.S. dollars which accounts for 36.4 percent of the country's total foreign investment, Xiong said, while stressing China's contribution to the social and economic development of Cambodia.

China and Cambodia have maintained close cooperation on global and regional issues, understood and supported each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns, and jointly preserved regional peace, stability and development, he added.

The LMC mechanism has grown rapidly in less than two years and demonstrated strong vitality and robust development momentum under the political guidance of the leaders of the six countries, Xiong said.

China highly values Cambodia's contribution to the development of the LMC mechanism and is willing to build an economic development zone in the Lancang-Mekong region and promote the establishment of a community of shared future with related countries, the ambassador said.

Xiong said he expects that the upcoming LMC leaders' meeting will achieve fruitful results, chart the course for the future development of the mechanism and inject impetus, so as to benefit the people in the region.

The Communist Party of China successfully held its 19th National Congress in October 2017, identifying the direction and goal of China's foreign policy in the new era which is holding high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, promoting the establishment of a new type of international relations and a community of shared future for mankind, he said.

"We believe that, under the guidance of the leadership of China and Cambodia, as well as joint efforts of regional countries, the Chinese premier's visit will make new contributions to the further development of the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic partnership, and regional peace, stability and prosperity," Xiong said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 14:53:38|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Performers dance during a media preview of Chinese dance drama "Soaring Wings: Journey of the Crested Ibis" at Lincoln Center in New York, the United States, on Jan. 5, 2018. The Chinese dance drama performed by the Shanghai Dance Theater will make its American debut at Lincoln Center on Friday night. (Xinhua/Qin Lang)

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese dance drama "Soaring Wings: Journey of the Crested Ibis" premiered at the David H. Koch Theater in New York city's Lincoln Center.

The dance drama is produced by Shanghai Dance Theater. It explores the fate of crested ibises, beautiful and rare creatures that symbolize happiness and blessings in ancient China.

Centuries ago, human beings lived in harmony with these birds - reserved, elegant, sacred and noble, yet also sensitive, vulnerable and occasionally distant. Following modernization and urbanization, the living environment for crested ibises began to deteriorate and in the middle of the 20th Century, they became endangered species.

With traditional Chinese music, opulent costumes, and expressive choreography, the drama appeals to the audience to protect the environment.

"We establish the beauty of the bird and its habitat, destroy it and re-establish it in our drama in order to present to our audience the significance of protecting our Mother Earth," said Tong Ruirui, director and choreographer of the ballet drama.

She added that the crested ibis is a symbol, representing mankind's pursuit of harmonious coexistence with all other species.

The leading dancer Zhu Jiejing said the choreographic language in the drama is unique as it combines ballet techniques and body movements that are typical in classical Chinese dance, and also includes movements imitating crested ibises.

Members of the audience called the dancers' embodiment of the birds impressive.

"I like the dichotomy between the movement that is supposed to be human and the movement that is supposed to be bird, and the merging of the two together," said J.T.Horenstein, adding that the dance drama was unique as it merges contemporary ballet with Chinese traditional dance.

Since its premiere on October 7, 2014, Soaring Wings has presented nearly 200 performances in China and other Asian countries.

The dance drama will be performed on Saturday and Sunday at the Lincoln Center. On Jan. 11 and 12, it will be staged at Shubert Theater in the Boch Center, Boston.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 15:03:39|Editor: Chengcheng

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An Indian policeman inspects damaged shops after an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Sopore town of Baramulla district, about 50 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Jan. 6, 2018. At least four policemen were killed and two others wounded Saturday after militants triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least four policemen were killed and two others wounded Saturday after militants triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The IED blast targeted the policemen in Sopore town of Baramulla district, about 50 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Today militants triggered an IED blast here which resulted in killing of four policemen on spot, besides wounding two others," a police official posted in Sopore town told Xinhua. "The wounded policemen were immediately removed to hospital."

According to police, the militants had planted the IED beneath a shop in the marketplace to target the police party.

Officials said the impact of the blast also damaged four shops in the market, ripping apart their shutters.

Following the blast, contingents of police and army rushed to the spot to carry out searches for militants responsible for the attack.

Region's Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed sadness over the killing of policemen in the attack.

"Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families," Mufti wrote on twitter.

Last Sunday fidayeen (suicide attackers) militants in the region stormed a highly fortified paramilitary camp using heavy gunfire and grenades, while making their entry inside it.

The gunfight lasted for around two days during which five paramilitary troopers were killed and four wounded. Three militants who launched the attack were also killed fighting paramilitary.

Militants occasionally target police and paramilitary troopers in Indian-controlled Kashmir and try to snatch their rifles.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989.
By PTI: (Eds: Adds quotes and reactions)

Srinagar, Jan 6 (PTI) Denouncing the killing of four policemen in an IED blast in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today urged the people to work shoulder to shoulder to break the "vortex of violence" in the state.

These young policemen were killed when they were on duty to protect the people in the town. It is highly unfortunate to see, Mufti said here.

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"The vortex of violence in the state needs to be broken and for that every section of society has to work shoulder to shoulder," the chief minister said.

She wrote on Twitter: "Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families."

Four policemen on patrol duty were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants went off in Sopore in north Kashmir.

Militants had planted the IED near a shop in a lane between the Chotta Bazaar and Bada Bazaar in Sopore in Baramulla district and detonated it when policemen reached the scene, an official said.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace."

J-K Congress chief GA Mir condemned the killing and said the incident had exposed the tall claims of the Mehbooba government about the Kashmir situation being normal.

The central and J&K governments were engaged in concealing the truth, he alleged. PTI SSB GVS

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 15:58:52|Editor: Lifang

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COLOMBO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Over 268,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last year with China emerging as the second largest market, statistics from the Tourism Ministry showed here Saturday.

In December alone, over 19,000 Chinese tourists visited Sri Lanka, including the newly-weds who in the middle of December attended a mass wedding ceremony in Colombo, hosted by Sri Lankan Tourism Ministry along with the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development, to market the island country as an ideal wedding destination.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said the country is hoped to attract at least 1 million tourists from China per year by 2020 and China is a strong market for Sri Lanka.

According to the statement from the Tourism Ministry, tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka reached an all-time high of 2,116,407 in 2017 which represented a 3.2 percent growth compared to the previous year, with India continuing to be the top source market with 384,628 arrivals followed by China and Britain.

"The higher number of arrivals has been achieved despite serious set-backs to the tourism industry throughout 2017. The first setback was the partial closure of the country's main airport from January to April where many airlines either scaled down operation or completely halted flights to Colombo," the Ministry said.

However just weeks after the airport reopened in April, the southern half of the country experienced devastating floods that cut off access to many resort areas. Then, an unprecedented dengue epidemic centered around the capital Colombo broke out and lasted several months, the ministry said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 16:18:54|Editor: Chengcheng

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RIYADH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Saudi police have arrested 11 princes for protesting at the ruling palace in Riyadh and refusing to leave, sources confirmed to Sabq local online news on Saturday.

The princes protested over the decision of the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to stop the government from paying the power and water bills of princes and their demands to get compensation for the execution of a prince last year who was convicted in a murder case. They were referred to prison pending trial.

As part of the reforms the country is initiating, all citizens are equal and that was clear with the arrest of many princes and top officials last year in the biggest corruption case in the history of Saudi Arabia.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 16:54:00|Editor: Chengcheng

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BISHKEK, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has called for measures to prevent the spread of radicalism, according to his press service.

During a meeting Friday with Zayirbek Ergeshov, director of the State Commission for Religious Affairs, Jeenbekov instructed him to compile a list of religious organizations and educational institutions in Kyrgyzstan and strengthen control over their financial and other activities.

Jeenbekov said that in recent years the tendency to use the religious sphere to radicalize society and spread extremist and terrorist ideas has been intensifying in the world and remains dangerous for Kyrgyzstan.

According to Ergeshov, his organization held more than 500 training events, seminars and international conferences last year to tackle the issue.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 17:04:02|Editor: ZD

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HANGZHOU, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The east Chinese city of Yiwu, known as the "world supermarket" for its wholesale goods, saw steady growth in trade last year, the city's customs said Saturday.

Official data showed the city achieved a total trade volume of 211.3 billion yuan (32.6 billion U.S. dollars) from January to November, up 4.4 percent, with exports standing at 208.1 billion yuan, up 4.1 percent, and imports at 3.2 billion yuan, up 34.3 percent.

Yiwu exports over 20,000 types of Christmas items to more than 100 countries and regions every year, accounting for 60 percent of the world's market share. A merchant told Xinhua that her company alone sold 200,000 Christmas trees to countries including the United States, Argentina, Italy and Colombia last year.

According to Yiwu customs, the city exported 1.4 billion yuan of Christmas goods to countries such as Chile, the United States, the Philippines, Brazil and India from January to November.

Belt and Road countries have also become important export destinations, leading many merchants to add Arabic specifications to their products, in addition to Chinese and English.

The customs said India is the largest importer, with trade volume exceeding 13 billion yuan, while Hungary and Angola registered the highest year-on-year growth of 232 percent and 101 percent, respectively.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 17:29:04|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China Vanke, the country's top property developer, said it plans to issue up to 35 billion yuan (about 5.39 billion U.S. dollars) of direct debt financing instruments to boost liquidity or finance projects such as long-lease apartments.

In a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the company said its board has agreed to submit to the general meeting of shareholders to approve the issuance of direct debt financing instruments.

The proceeds raised from the issuance are expected to be used to meet the company's production and operation needs, to adjust its debt structure, and to replenish liquidity resources or investment projects such as long-lease apartments, said the statement.

The type of instruments to be issued will include corporate bonds, medium-term notes, short-term commercial papers, perpetual bonds and asset-backed bonds in the domestic and overseas markets, the company said.

China will move faster to put in place a housing system that ensures supply through multiple sources and encourages both housing purchases and rentals, according to the annual Central Economic Work Conference last month.

The country will develop its housing rental market, especially long-term leases, and support the development of professional and institutional housing rental enterprises.

China Vanke said earlier this week that its sales revenue reached 62.23 billion yuan in December, which brought the company's sales for 2017 to 529.88 billion yuan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 17:44:06|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese securities regulator approved three IPO applications this week, which will raise up to 2.2 billion yuan (about 340 million U.S. dollars) in the A-share market.

One company will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the other two on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The firms and their underwriters will confirm dates and publish prospectuses following discussions with the exchanges.

China has sought to normalize IPOs to improve financing efficiency and direct more money into the real economy since it suspended IPOs between July and November 2015.

New shares are subject to official approval under the current IPO system, which is moving to a more market-oriented system.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 17:54:08|Editor: ZD

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VIENTIANE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Construction of Nongkhang airport in Laos' northern Huaphan province has been resumed after a one-year delay following financial difficulties of Vietnamese contractor, local daily Vientiane Times report on Saturday.

The project was given the green light in June 2013 when the Lao government signed a contract with the Vietnamese Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAGL) worth more than 74 million U.S. dollars.

HAGL started construction of the airport at the end of 2014 but had to suspend work in 2015 when they ran out of money, said the report.

The airstrip, some 310 km northeastern of the Lao capital of Vientiane, was scheduled for completion after two years but came to a halt when the project was about 35 percent complete, the daily quoted Lao provincial authorities as saying.

The Lao government submitted the issue to the National Assembly in October 2017. Addressing the National Assembly, Lao Minister for Planning and Investment Souphanh Keomixay explained that HAGL promised it would continue and complete the project.

The Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport extended the agreement with the company from Dec. 20, 2017 to June 2019, an official in charge said.

HAGL has imported some machinery and construction equipment and is bringing in more equipment to the construction site. The ground is now being cleared in preparation for the construction, an official said.

When operational, Nongkhang airport will be able to accommodate aircraft with 70 to 100 seats, such as the ATR72.

Currently, only helicopters and small planes can land at the old airport in Huaphan, and occasionally there are charter flights by light aircraft making short landings.

When the planned longer runway is built, larger planes will be able to land there and carry more tourists to the province bordering Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 18:19:12|Editor: ZD

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NAIROBI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- After years of struggling growing various crops in vain due to low rainfall, farmers in semi-arid areas in Kenya have finally found a crop that is putting money in their pockets.

The crop is not only drought-tolerant but is highly valued both in Kenya and in the export market especially in Asia, making the farmers reap profits amid the negative effects of climate change, which has hit hard arid areas.

The green gram is also known as the mung bean, a small round bean similiar in shape to the field pea. The crop requires low rainfall hence performs well in semi-arid areas, is resistant to many pests and goes for up to 1.5 U.S. dollars a kilogram in the Kenyan market.

Sammy Mutunga, a farmer in the dry Kitui County, eastern Kenya, is among those who have embraced the crop reaping big from his once unproductive land.

Mutunga grows green grams on two acres and this is his third season, having started the farming in 2016.

"I was among the first people who embraced the crop when a non-state organization came in this area to promote it. They told us that it would perform better than the maize we were all struggling to grow. At first we doubted because they were selling the seeds but I gave it a try, starting with quarter acre," he recounted Friday.

The crop did unexpectedly well, said Mutunga, noting that he harvested a 90kg bag of green grams from the quarter acre.

"I was extremely happy. I could not believe that from a quarter acre, I would get a bag of green grams yet my two acres of maize only offered less than 10 bags," he said.

He sold the produce at 0.8 dollars a kilogram, earning some 60 dollars, which he had not even anticipated.

Since then, Mutunga and dozens of other farmers in the county have embraced the crop, ditching maize and others that were not performing well.

"I grow the crop on five acres after stopping the farming of cowpeas which I had done for years. This is my second season and I must say things are good. Last season, I harvested 20 bags (about 90kg) of green grams and sold a kilo at 1 dollar, earning some 1,747 dollars, money that I have never reaped before," said Elizabeth Muli, a farmer in Machakos County.

"I normally plant seeds in a spacing of 10cm from one crop to another and 60cm between the rows. One uses 4kg on an acre and plant with some DAP fertiliser," she offered.

Green grams take three months to mature and the pods are harvested just like beans, dried, threshed and winnowed.

"An acre produces at least 4 bags and one spends some 180 dollars per acre to grow the crop. Which means if they sell a kilo at 1 dollar, they end up with some 180 dollars profit. This is good money," said Muli.

Several kilometers away in Tharaka-Nithi County, another dry region in central Kenya, farmers growing the crop are exporting it to India, China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The farmers export the crop through an agent and in 2016, they earned some 194,174 dollars from export to Dubai.

"Green gram is ideal for dry areas because it requires little rainfall. Rains in arid areas last only about three weeks, which are enough for the crop to grow until they have four to six leaves and are ready for first weeding," said Bernard Moina, an agricultural officer.

He noted that green grams are a lucrative crop since in supermarkets, a kilo goes for up to 1.8 dollars while farmers sell on the farm for at least 1 dollar.

Kenya Red Cross Society, which has partnered with county governments in eastern Kenya to promote the crop, noted that its aim is to make it the cash crop. Secretary-general Abbas Gulet said the agency has set aside some 5 million dollars to buy produce from farmers mainly in Kitui to save them from exploitation by middlemen, adding the crop would save residents from perennial hunger that has dogged the region for years.
Photo shows the historic torching of ivory and rhino horns at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya, April 30, 2016. A total of 105 tons of elephant tusks and 1.3 tons of rhino horns were burned in a ceremony attended by conservation luminaries, business moguls and celebrities from around the globe. (Xinhua/Allan Mutiso)

NAIROBI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's government on Friday hailed China's landmark decision to ban domestic trade in ivory products and urged other countries to follow suit in order to save the remaining population of elephants.

Patrick Omondi, the Acting Director for Research in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, said the closure of domestic ivory market in China marked a new beginning in protection of elephants and other iconic species.

"As a government, we applaud China for closing the ivory market and the move will have a significant impact on wildlife conservation," Omondi remarked at a media briefing in Nairobi attended by wildlife campaigners.

China honors its commitment to ending commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017. The move affects 34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues, with all of them to close, in the world's once largest ivory market.

Kenyan officials and wildlife campaigners noted that China's decision to ban trade in ivory products served as a wakeup call for other countries to outlaw this practice and help save elephants.

"As a country we will be advocating for closure of all ivory markets globally. We have been calling for closure of domestic ivory market in countries like the United Kingdom, Thailand and Japan. We believe the domestic market is used as a window to launder ivory," he added.

Kenya is a member of the African Elephant Coalition that has lobbied for total ban on ivory trade to help save the giant mammals that roam the continent's vast jungles.

Omondi said that besides supporting ivory trade ban, Kenya has enacted sweeping legislation while adopting innovative measures to protect elephants from human predators.

"In the last three years, we have witnessed an 80 percent decline in poaching after enacting punitive legislation to contain the vice," Omondi said.

Meanwhile, Kenyan wildlife campaigners welcomed China's ivory trade ban, terming it a giant step towards eradicating poaching in the region.

Jim Nyamu, the Executive Director of Nairobi-based Elephants Neighbors Centre, said the closure of ivory market in China has inspired campaigners to reach out to grassroots communities and educate them on the need to conserve their wildlife heritage.
Photo taken on Jan. 4, 2018 shows the exterior view of Zambian Ministry of Health, in Lusaka, Zambia. Zambia has recorded 2,148 cases of cholera countrywide since October 2017, with Lusaka, the capital accounting for 2,091 of the cases. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun)

LUSAKA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Zambia should quickly put in place adequate measures to contain a cholera outbreak as prolonged outbreak may have negative implications on the country's economic prospects, analysts said on Friday.

Cholera, which broke out in October last year in Lusaka, the country's capital, has now been reported in other parts of the country.

According to figures from the Ministry of Health, cumulative cholera cases have now reached 2,148 countrywide, with the country's capital accounting for 2,091 of the cases and 51 deaths.

The government has responded swiftly by closing markets, banning street vending and suspending transportation of farm produce to the capital while some fast food outlets have also been affected.

Among the closed markets is Soweto Market, a leading farm-produce distribution center situated south of Lusaka's central business district.

Many traders involved in small businesses in the city have been affected as they are not allowed to trade in markets and along the streets of the central business district.

On Thursday, authorities closed several food outlets in Lusaka after investigations revealed that their food had traces of vibrio cholera.

While commending the government for the measures put in place, Yusuf Dodia, chairperson of the Private Sector Development Association, said the economic prospects may be affected if businesses remain closed over a long period of time.

"Of course this is not good for business because there is no trading and if this continues, obviously it has implications," he told Xinhua.

He added that already some neighboring countries have expressed concern on the cholera outbreak and have put stringent screening measures on Zambian traders involved in cross-border trade which was also not good for the country.

Chibamba Kanyama, a local economist, said the cholera outbreak should be treated as a real crisis that may result in an economic catastrophe.

"Very soon, the limiting of public gatherings will be extended to supermarkets. Should this happen, the impact on VAT collections by Zambia Revenue Authority will be lowest this month of January," he said in a posting on his Facebook page.

According to him, the economic implications of the outbreak could not be underrated as the government has been forced to divert financial resources from other planned projects to contain the outbreak.

"This is certainly not a small matter that has in the past been about statistics of how many new cases and deaths. It is affecting the country, including the once safe and unaffected upmarket communities. It is a matter that requires urgent, effective, collective and vigorous national response," he added.

For the Zambia National Farmers Union, an umbrella body of farmers, the closure of Soweto Market has impacted negatively on farmers whose livelihoods depend on daily sales of fresh produce.

Jervis Zimba, the association's president, said farmers have lost out in monetary gains as tons of their fresh produce has gone bad due to lack of sales following the closure of the popular market.

"We are asking the government to set up a wholesale market space exclusively to farmers that would enable them to sell their fresh produce from 06.00 a.m. to 2 p.m. to avoid further losses," he said in a statement.

While commending the government for the measures taken to contain the cholera outbreak, the farmers' body feels that the government should look into the plight of the farmers as their incomes have dwindled.

Some traders who depended on selling along the streets have also expressed concern over the banning of trading in markets and along the streets.

"The government must quickly tackle this cholera problem because we are going to die of hunger. Our families are affected because we are not selling," Amos Zimba who trades in second-hand clothes said.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Love Jihad case in Kerala has obtained permission from the NIA court to question two accused of suspected ISIS links to gather information on Hadiya's husband, Shafin Jahan.

By PS Krishnan, P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing Kerala's own 'love jihad' case of Hadiya or Akhila Ashokan is all set to tighten noose on her husband Shafin Jahan.

The investigation team obtained permission from the NIA court to question two accused who were arrested for suspected ISIS links. The NIA team had earlier arrested six men from Kanakamala in Kannur while holding a secret meeting to plot terror attack in Kerala.

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The investigation team will now question two men from this including Manseed who created a secret WhatsApp group. According to top sources in the NIA, Shafin Jahan was a member of the WhatsApp group which was propagating extremist content.

By questioning the kingpins of this module, more information could be gathered about Shafin Jahan's links with them. NIA court has given permission to question Manseed and Safwan at Viyoor Central Jail on Monday from 10 am to 5 pm.

ABOUT HADIYA/AKHILA CASE

Hadiya or Akhila Ashokan hit the headlines across the country after the 23-year old from a Hindu family converted to Islam and married Shafin Jahan in 2016.

Akhila, a BHMS student at a homeopathy college in Salem took the name Hadiya after conversion to Islam. Following this, the family and Hadiya engaged in a heated legal battle.

While her father Ashokan alleged that the girl was brainwashed and lured into Islam, Hadiya stood by her stand that she had converted on her own free will after she met him on a matrimonial website.

However, the Kerala High Court annulled this marriage and sent Hadiya with her father. The case then shifted to the apex court.

On November 27, the Supreme Court ordered that Hadiya can continue her studies but did not allow Shafin Jahan her custody.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala love jihad 'victim' Hadiya first time on camera: Forced conversion or choice?

--- ENDS ---
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa (R) meets with the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) leader and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (C) at Tsvangirai's home in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Jan. 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wanda)

HARARE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Friday he will not form a coalition government with the opposition MDC-T.

He spoke after visiting the ailing MDC-T leader and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at his Harare residence.

Tsvangirai disclosed in 2016 that he has colon cancer and has been receiving medical treatment from South Africa.

"He is fine. He is recuperating well and he says he will soon again go back for another medical check-up in South Africa," President Mnangagwa told reporters after the closed door meeting with Tsvangirai.

The president also said there was no need to form a coalition government with Tsvangirai's MDC-T.

"We are a democratic country. People can lobby for anything but currently there is no need," he said.

The meeting was also attended by one of Tsvangirai's three deputies, Nelson Chamisa, who praised Mnangagwa's gesture.

"It is a welcome thing. It's African to care for one another and it is very Zimbabwean," Chamisa said.

The former Prime Minister shared power with former president Robert Mugabe in a coalition government between 2009 and 2013.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 19:24:25|Editor: Chengcheng

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An Iraqi soldier stands on duty at a checkpoint in downtown Baghdad on Jan. 6, 2018, Iraqi Army Day. On Jan. 6, 1921, Iraq established its first battalion of the modern army by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Saturday reaffirmed his government's commitment to establishing a national army to protect the integrity of Iraq and the unity of its people.

"We confirm our continuation to build a strong national army that defends Iraq's land and its citizens without exception and preserves the sovereignty of the state," Abadi said in a statement marking the 97th anniversary of the Iraqi Army Day.

"We are building an army that belongs to a single and unified Iraq. It does not represent a certain party or a sect. Our heroic army fought a fierce war to save his people and his citizens and liberate his land from terrorism," the statement said.

The Iraqiya official television aired footage showing graduation ceremony on the anniversary for the Iraqi Collage of War in its military camp in Rustamiyah area southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

On Jan. 6, 1921, Iraq established its first battalion of the modern army by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I.

During the past three years, the Iraqi army with other security forces have fought fiercely against the Islamic State group and liberated all the Iraqi lands, which were seized by the extremist group in mid-2014 in northern and western Iraq.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 19:29:27|Editor: Chengcheng

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BELGRADE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- An armed man barricaded himself in an apartment building in the Serbian capital of Belgrade and threatened to blow the building up on Saturday morning, local media reported.

Heavy police forces and snipers, along with negotiators, are now on the scene in Rakovica, an urban municipality of Belgrade, and the traffic is being redirected to other streets.

Serbia's public broadcaster RTS said the situation is a "hostage crisis", saying that people are locked in the building with the armed kidnapper.

Police have not made an official announcement on the crisis yet, but N1 television quoted unofficial sources as saying that the man has a bulletproof vest, a pistol and an automatic rifle, and that a team of psychologists is trying to communicate with him.

It is yet known whether someone else is with the man in the apartment or not.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 19:54:32|Editor: Chengcheng

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KABUL, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said here on Saturday that his government encourages the private sector to invest in Afghanistan.

"The government is committed to encouraging and supporting investment by the private sector in the country," Ghani said in his remarks before cutting the ribbon and pressing the button of a newly-built steel plant, the Khan Steel, at the Pul-e-Charkhi in the eastern edge of Kabul.

Ghani also said that his administration would spare no efforts to change Afghanistan from an importer country into an exporter one to stand on its feet.

Established with a capital of 30 million U.S. dollars in 2015, the Khan Steel is the fifth steel factory in the war-torn Afghanistan.

The newly-inaugurated factory will have a daily production of 400 tons of steel rods out of scrap steel, according to owner Khan Mohammad Wardak. In the future, the company will use iron ore mines to produce steel.

The factory has also provided job opportunities for 500 people directly and for hundreds of thousands others indirectly.

Thousands and even millions of tons of scrap steel including destroyed military tanks, armored personnel carriers, military vehicles and even war planes have been left from over more than three decades of war and civil strife in Afghanistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 20:29:40|Editor: Chengcheng

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BELGRADE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Serbian police arrested an armed man who had barricaded himself in a building on Saturday morning in Belgrade's municipality of Rakovica, ending a two hour crisis, the ministry of interior confirmed.

Previously, media reported that the man had barricaded himself in the building armed with a pistol and an automatic rifle, threatening that he would blow up the building with a bomb.

The situation was quickly described as a "hostage crisis". Police special units, sniper teams and negotiators quickly rushed to the scene.

However, the release reveals that the 45-year-old man with the initials B.J. had surrendered to the police in the hallway after two hours of negotiations, while public broadcaster RTS reported that the suspect had not taken any hostages.

The ministry confirmed that the man was armed and that he was once sentenced to serve a prison term. It is so far unclear whether the sentencing has anything to do with the incident.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 20:29:41|Editor: Zhou Xin

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UN deputy envoy Maeen Sharim (C) arrives in Sanaa, Yemen, on Jan. 6, 2017. UN deputy envoy Maeen Sharim arrived in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday. This is Maeen Sharim's first visit to Yemen since his appointment to seek arrangements for holding talks planned by the United Nations between the Yemeni warring parties, the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed Sunni government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

SANAA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN deputy envoy Maeen Sharim arrived in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, a security official at Sanaa airport told Xinhua.

This is his first visit to Yemen since his appointment to seek arrangements for holding talks planned by the United Nations between the Yemeni warring parties, the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed Sunni government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Sharim told reporters at the airport that he would meet officials from Houthi movement to pave the way for planned talks that is set to be held in a neutral foreign country under the management and supervision of UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Sharim declined to reveal topics he would discuss with Houthi officials.

Previous attempts by the UN envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed had failed to reach a political settlement between the Yemeni rival forces.

The Saudi-led coalition has intervened in the Yemeni conflict since March 2015 to roll back the Houthi rebels and support the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was forced into exile by the Houthis.

The nearly three years into Yemen's civil war have killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children, and displaced 3 million others, creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The war between Houthis and the coalition-backed Hadi's government forces has recently intensified in the country's northern province of Jawf and the western Red Sea coasts.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 20:39:43|Editor: Chengcheng

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NAGOYA, Japan, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A three-day celebration for the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival kicked off Saturday in central Japanese city of Nagoya.

The celebration was held on Hisaya Square in downtown Nagoya, where red lanterns and flags were hung high and people cheered in a festival atmosphere.

A record high of 78 booths were set up around the square, selling traditional Chinese cuisine, including dumplings, sugar-coated haws and others.

A number of Chinese and Japanese artists performed on a spectacular stage set up at one end of the square, including face-changing stunt of Sichuan opera, acrobatics and lion dances.

"Spring Festival is a traditional holiday in China to celebrate the Lunar New Year. It is hoped that the festival celebrations here would promote mutual understanding and friendship between people in China and Japan," said Deng Wei, Chinese consul general in Nagoya.

He added that as 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan, the two countries could take this opportunity to further enhance communications and make new contributions to improvement of bilateral relations.

Ichiro Hirosawa, vice mayor of Nagoya city, said the Spring Festival celebrations here have attracted a large number of visitors from Nagoya and neighboring areas and provide good opportunities for Japanese people to get in touch with traditional Chinese culture.

As this year also marks the 40th anniversary for sister cities between Nagoya and China's Nanjing, friendship between the two sides could be further deepened at this significant juncture, he added.

Overseas Chinese have been holding Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Nagoya since 2007. The celebration has become an important platform for local people to learn more about Chinese culture and promote mutual understanding and cultural exchanges between central Japan and China.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 21:09:49|Editor: Lifang

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KUNMING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Police from China and Myanmar have jointly smashed several drug cases, seizing three suspects and 160 kilograms of drugs, drug control sources said.

The three suspects included two from China and one from Myanmar, according to the drug control bureau, the public security department of Yunnan Province on Friday.

On Dec. 19, Yunnan police received tip-offs that a batch of drugs would be transfered from Kokang in Myanmar into China. Local police contacted Myanmar police immediately.

On 5 p.m. the same day, Kokang police found six bags of methamphetamine with a total weight of 160 kilograms, in a sugarcane field. One Myanmar suspect was caught. The drugs have been handed over to Chinese police.

Myanmar police also helped police in China's Chongqing Municipality and Jiling Province seize two drug dealers who fled to Myanmar at the end of last year.

All cases are still under investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 21:14:51|Editor: Mengjie

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Containers carrying prefabricated houses are seen at the Myanmar Industrial Port in Yangon, on Jan. 6, 2018. China on Saturday handed over to Myanmar authorities about 100 prefabricated houses for displaced persons in Myanmar's western Rakhine state at the Myanmar Industrial Port. (Xinhua/U Aung)

YANGON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday handed over to Myanmar authorities about 100 prefabricated houses for displaced persons in Myanmar's western Rakhine state at the Myanmar Industrial Port.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang pledged to continue China's assistance to the conflict-displaced people in the region.

China is also willing to help develop the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone to boost the region's economy, he added.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists launched coordinated attacks on police outposts in Rakhine on Aug. 25, displacing residents in Maungtaw area.

Union Minister for Construction U Win Khaing expressed his thanks to China for providing aid to Myanmar people.

Each assembled-board house can accommodate 8 people and can be used for at least 20 years.

The houses can endure a 8.0-magnitude earthquake.

China also donated about 132 prefabricated houses for flood victims in the country in February 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 21:44:56|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's meteorological authority on Saturday issued a blue alert, the lowest level in a four-tier warning system, for heavy rain in some southern regions.

From Saturday to 8 p.m. Sunday, heavy rain is expected in southern China, including parts of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian and Guangdong, the National Meteorological Center said.

Some areas will see torrential rain of up to 120 millimeters within 24 hours.

NMC cautioned that local governments should take measures against storms, cut off outdoor power supplies in dangerous regions and prevent potential disasters, including mountain floods and landslides.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system for storms, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
The woman who made food sexy turns 58 today. Here's a look at her love affair with Indian food.

By India Today Web Desk: British chef Nigella Lawson can easily be credited with getting millions of people the world over hooked to cookery shows on the idiot box. In a time when cooking shows were all about measured ingredients and appealing presentations, Nigella Lawson came as a whiff of rose-fresh air, with her nonchalant, anything-goes approach and focus on comfort food.

Picture courtesy: Pinterest

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It wasn't too long before she became the goddess who made food sensual, and cooking sexy.

Today, this goddess turns 58 (unbelievable, isn't it?), and we, her googly-eyed fans in India, have decided to go through her affection for Indian food.

In case you didn't know already, Nigella was in India for the last week of 2017, and has been making us drool over all the delicious food she's been eating in Mumbai.

But here's what she's been cooking much before that awaited Indian trip happened for her in 2017. Hold onto your hearts:

Mughlai Chicken

Honestly, who really isn't in love with this rich, creamy variant of chicken? Here's Nigella's recipe for it:

Mughlai Chicken. Picture courtesy: nigella.com/James Merrell

Ingredients:

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled

4 cloves garlic, peeled

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes

4 tablespoons ground almonds

1/2 cup water

5 cardamom pods, bruised

1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

2 bay leaves

4 cloves

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 pounds boned chicken thighs, each cut into 2

2 onions, finely chopped

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup flaked almonds, toasted, to garnish

Also read: Birthday feast: 5 things only the queen of food porn, Nigella Lawson, can nail

Recipe:

Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili into a food processor, or into a mortar and pestle, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water and then blend again, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.

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Add the spices and turn them in the oil. Add the onions and cook them until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid sticking. Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to colour. Add the yogurt, half a cup at a time stirring it in to make a sauce, then stir in the stock, cream, and sultanas.

Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar, and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the meat is cooked through.

It's at this stage, that I like to take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool before reheating the next day.

So either now, or when you've reheated it, pour into a serving dish and scatter with the toasted flaked almonds.

Chicken Curry

This spicy version of a chicken curry is what Nigella calls the Hot Indian Curry, and likes to devour with boiled or steamed rice.

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Ingredients :

1 kilogram chicken

2 large onions (finely chopped)

1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons garam masala

Vegetable oil

Fresh coriander (finely chopped)

2 teaspoons red chilli powder

1 jar of mango chutney

1 packet frozen peas

Also read: The top three food books of 2015

Recipe :

Cook onions, garlic and salt until onions are soft and brown.

Slice chicken or meat into bite size portions and add to onions, also add chilli powder and garam masala, mix well.

Add BOILING water to pot about 2 pints. Reduce heat to simmer. Add peas. Add mango pickle from jar to suit taste.

When chicken or meat is cooked , add chopped coriander and serve.

Masala Omelette

Masala Omelette. Picture courtesy: nigella.com/Francesca Yorke

Ingredients :

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 spring onion (finely sliced)

1 - 2 fresh red chilli (or green), to taste

1 clove garlic (microplaned or finely chopped)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large eggs (beaten)

1 sprinkling of freshly chopped fresh coriander (to serve)

Recipe :

Preheat the grill.

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Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan 20-27 cm / 8-11 inches in diameter, and fry the spring onion, chilli, garlic and turmeric until soft. Add the other spices and fry for another minute, stirring occasionally, then add the beaten eggs, swirling the pan to help the eggs set underneath.

When the omelette is nearly set, flash it under the hot grill to finish it off, and serve with chapattis, and fresh coriander.

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 22:05:00|Editor: Chengcheng

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TRIPOLI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb exploded in the town of Salouq on the outskirts of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Saturday, according to a local source.

"A car bomb exploded at around 10:45 a.m. (08:45 GMT) near one of the main streets of Salouq without any casualties," a source of Benghazi security department told Xinhua.

The source suggested that the explosion might have been carried out remotely, where the car was seen earlier near the site.

"The car exploded near the house of Musa al-Nimr, an elder of the eastern region," the source added.

The Municipal Council of Salouq confirmed the bombing earlier in a post on its official Facebook page.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing so far.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of Gaddafi's regime in 2011. The North African nation is plagued with political division and escalating violence.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 22:35:10|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Supreme Court said Saturday that it has decided to reject an appeal by opposition leader Alexei Navalny and uphold a ban on his participation in the 2018 presidential election.

In February 2017, a Russian court found Navalny guilty of embezzlement at a timber company and gave him a five-year suspended sentence.

Last month, the Russian Central Election Commission denied Navalny the right to run for the presidency, citing his criminal conviction.

Under Russian legislation, if someone is found guilty of a crime, he or she will be ineligible to run for the presidency.

Navalny reasserted his claim of innocence, claiming that the sentence was politically motivated and was simply aimed at preventing him from continuing his political activities.

The 41-year-old lawyer announced his intention in late 2016 to take part in the presidential election slated for March 18 this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 23:00:15|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission (CMC) has issued a management regulation on military online media, which will take effect on February 1.

The regulation laid out the basic principles and overall requirements of the management of military online media.

It stipulates the qualification of military online media organization, the procedure of examination and approval, the requirement for confidentiality, the subject of responsibility and others.

Any military online media organizations which violate laws and regulations of the army and the country will be called to account, it added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-06 23:25:19|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) emergency meeting on Iran's recent unrests as a "foreign policy blunder" for Washington, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

"The UNSC rebuffed the U.S. naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA (Iran's nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another foreign policy blunder for the (U.S. President Donald) Trump administration," Zariff tweeted.

On Friday, the UNSC held an emergency meeting at the request of the United States to discuss the recent protests on the economic condition in Iran.

According to unconfirmed reports, at least 20 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in the riots and hundreds were arrested.

Iran has blamed United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia for inciting the violence in recent protests in Iran.

Besides, Iran's ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshroo on Friday condemned the UNSC's debate on the recent protests in Iran.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the U.S. administration to escape forward, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," Khoshroo said addressing the meeting session on Friday.
Iranian pro-government demonstrators set a makeshift U.S. flag on fire during a march after the weekly Muslim Friday prayers in Tehran on Jan. 5, 2018. (AFP photo)

TEHRAN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) emergency meeting on Iran's recent unrests as a "foreign policy blunder" for Washington, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

"The UNSC rebuffed the U.S. naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA (Iran's nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another foreign policy blunder for the (U.S. President Donald) Trump administration," Zariff tweeted.

On Friday, the UNSC held an emergency meeting at the request of the United States to discuss the recent protests on the economic condition in Iran.

According to unconfirmed reports, at least 20 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in the riots and hundreds were arrested.

Iran has blamed United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia for inciting the violence in recent protests in Iran.

Besides, Iran's ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshroo on Friday condemned the UNSC's debate on the recent protests in Iran.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the U.S. administration to escape forward, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," Khoshroo said addressing the meeting session on Friday.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 01:15:38|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KHARTOUM, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Saturday officially announced closure of its eastern border with Eritrea following deployment of thousands of Sudanese troops in Kassala State on the border with Eritrea, official SUNA news agency reported.

Kassala State Governor Adam Jamma issued the decision of closing all border crossings with Eritrea, attributing the reason to the state of emergency earlier declared in the state, the report said.

"The decision stipulates closing of all border crossings with Eritrea as of the evening of Jan. 5, 2018 until further instructions," it added.

The decision came hours after Sudanese government denied tension with Eritrea, saying the deployment of troops in Kassala State came within the framework of an emergency order and a decree relating to collecting arms and unlicensed vehicles, besides confronting human trafficking operations and smuggling of arms and commodities.

Thousands of soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces, an affiliate of the Sudanese army, recently arrived in the state.

On Dec. 30, 2017, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree declaring a state of emergency in North Kordofan State in western Sudan and Kassala State in eastern Sudan.

According to the decree, the state of emergency will last six months.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 01:25:40|Editor: yan

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YEREVAN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Unlike most Christians in the world who celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, Armenians wait about two weeks more to mark the most notable day in Christianity.

Founded in the early 4th century, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Christmas and the Epiphany on Jan. 6.

Saturday started in Armenia with a big mass delivered in Holy Etchmiadzin, by the Catholicos of all Armenians, Karekin II. The Etchmiadzin Cathedral, recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and arguably the oldest cathedral in the world, draws Armenians from all across the world every year as the main shrine of religious Armenians.

The city of Etchmiadzin is also home to a number of other medieval churches and the oldest university in modern Armenia - the Gevorkian Theological Seminary that was founded in 1874.

Armenians take a lot of pride in being the first nation to have adopted Christianity as their state religion in 301 AD. In 2001, Armenia celebrated the 1700th anniversary marking the adoption of Christianity as state religion.

Most popular dishes on a Christmas holiday table in Armenia traditionally include rice pilaf with raisins, and fish.
A picture of a Russian submarine is posted on the website of the Russian Defense Ministry.

MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Northern Fleet will prioritize the improvement of infrastructure in the Arctic in 2018 to maintain high combat readiness, the Defense Ministry said in a news release Saturday.

The Northern Fleet will continue voyages to the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean this year and develop new types of weapons and equipment, it said.

In 2018, the fleet will be testing the fourth and the first upgraded Borei-class nuclear submarine Prince Vladimir, which is capable of carrying up to 16 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Another Borei-class submarine, the Yuri Dolgoruky, is already serving the Northern Fleet.

Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry said Russian troops in the country's far north and the Arctic will be equipped with the Tor-M2DT autonomous short-range anti-aircraft missile system in 2018.

Russia is strengthening its defense forces in the Arctic while stepping up efforts to exploit resources in the region. They will also explore a new polar shipping route off its northern coast.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 02:05:45|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BERLIN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of Germany and Turkey on Saturday held meeting in the German city Goslar, in a bid to seek reconciliation after two years of tensions.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel welcomed his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to his hometown of Goslar in north Germany, Gabriel's hometown.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, Cavusoglu described Gabriel as a "personal friend," and Germany and Turkey as two "proud" nations, while the German top diplomat announced the revival of a joint economy commission which had been suspended amid the diplomatic spat.

Gabriel said the two officials intended to do everything possible to "find more common ground in the future."

Germany-Turkey ties are burdened after the aborted coup in Turkey in July 2016, with Ankara accusing Berlin of giving asylum to dissidents, while Berlin worrying about democratic backward in Turkey.

Erdogan had accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of "Nazi methods" in 2017 because several election campaign appearances of Turkish politicians in Germany had been banned before the constitutional referendum on the introduction of a presidential system in Turkey.

Germany was especially angry with the detainment of the Die Welt reporter Deniz Yucel, who has been held 10 months in jail without an indictment.

"I can only say that we talked about all topics, including the difficult ones," he said, answering a question on Yucel. "He is definitely one of them."

Gabriel also denied recent reports that Berlin was considering halting a delivery of military equipment to Turkey as a means to pressure Ankara to release its prisoners.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 02:10:46|Editor: yan

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NICOSIA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Cypriots will go to the polls on Sunday in an early election that may impact efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, one of the longest standing issues on the United Nations agenda.

Just over 190,000 Turkish Cypriots are eligible to vote for new deputies in a parliament of a breakaway state that is only recognized by Turkey, which partitioned the eastern Mediterranean in a military operation in 1974.

Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus, forcing Greek Cypriots out, in reaction to a coup organized by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

The 50 seats are contested by eight parties, but only 4 or 5 of them are expected to win over the 5-percent threshold which allows any party to attain a seat.

Though the number of voters who will cast ballot papers is expected to be much smaller than the total of registered voters, the chief election officer said the first results are not expected before Monday morning.

This is due to a new and complicated electoral process that will permit voters to choose candidates from different parties.

Most analysts expect a close sharing of seats between parties of the center-right and those of the left.

However, it is more difficult to make a guess as to the parties which will form a new Turkish Cypriot administration as small parties holding the balance may move either way.

A center-right administration on the track of the outgoing one will be considered as a strong indication that Turkish Cypriots move further away from an agreed solution for a federal Cypriot state that would again bring together Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who in his capacity as leader of the Greek Cypriot community is negotiating with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, said in an interview on Friday that a center-right administration will most likely try to impose its nationalist policies.

"Though the negotiations are being conducted by the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, it will be possible for a nationalist administration to try to influence his decisions," said Anastasiades.

Center-right parties oppose a federal solution and a joint government with Greek Cypriots and favor either a separate state or a loose association with Turkey.

Leftist parties oppose breaking away from the rest of Cyprus and support a federal system under which Greek and Turkish Cypriots would share power.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots came close to an agreement last summer, but the negotiations broke up in disarray.
Akash Sinha, 37

BOT NATION

FOUNDER

Omnipresent Robo Tech

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Robotics engineer with Lockheed Martin

WORKS IN

Delhi

With a formidable list of marquee clients from the Reliance Industries to the Department of Defence, Sinha, 37, is on a mission to build robots across industries and make them entirely in India. From about 50 drones a year, he is aiming to scale up to a thousand.

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His company, Omnipresent Tech, has made robots for the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Indian Space Research Organisation, for cleaning rivers and drones for all major refineries. Sinha hopes to contribute towards an army of robots that the Department of Defence is working on. Based out of Delhi, Omnipresent wants to be present everywhere-water, air, space, earth-hence the name. Barely five years old, the company is working with the Andhra Pradesh government, which has given them $2 million to indigenously manufacture drones. The firm's Ro-boat, a river robot to clean rivers, has already achieved fame. Fifty Ro-boats can clean a city-long stretch in five-six months. While they started without any financial support or prospective clients, the company has since received Rs 1 crore from the Department of Science and Technology. But they have not yet been able to implement the solution on a large-scale, primarily due to government delays in issuing tenders. The government had announced tenders but later cancelled them. Sinha is hopeful that the company that eventually gets the project will outsource the cleaning aspect of it to Omnipresent. The company prides itself on effective cash management and has big expansion plans. It is also training about a thousand people to maintain drones.

Prerna Mukharya, 31

Outline India

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

A master's in economics from Boston University, Mukharya worked as a research associate in Harvard and MIT, and later at the Centre for Policy Research

The young and erudite Prerna Mukharya spends her days traversing the many villages of India, conducting surveys. The data that she and her team painstakingly collect across days with detailed questionnaires either gauging the efficacy of a scheme or for a product, is later analysed to provide a detailed insight into what makes rural India work. "To design effective social schemes, you need good quality data. Research cannot always be numbers. You need qualitative research. For instance, if you are putting a water point in a village, you need to understand that it needs to be in a place where people from various castes and religion can access it. And that's the qualitative research that we do," says the feisty Mukharya with a distinct clarity of thought and purpose.

Her work stems from the realisation that she had upon moving to India, that quality of data in the development sector left a lot to be desired. This prompted her to set up an organisation focused on humanising data in the development sector. She bought the domain name on her 26th birthday and invested her savings of a little over Rs 1 lakh in her first and now successful social business. Outline India has travelled to 3,000 villages across 24 states. Its clients include think-tanks based in India, the US, the UK, universities and not-for-profit organisations. Within five years of its operation, Outline India is profitable and continues to be 'non-partisan', says Mukharya.

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FARM FRESH

FOUNDERS

Original Indian Table

PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE

Jhajharia is a former investor with Grassroots Business Fund and Mehta, a project manager with International Finance Corporation.

On a mission to reform the Indian palate and bring back the good old grain are Ishira Mehta and Puneet Jhajharia, co-founders at Original Indian Table. Both in their thirties, they have scoured the farmlands across the length and breadth of the country-20 states and 90,000 km-from a town in Himachal to a far hamlet in the northeast. In their travels, they discovered grains and cereals that farmers were giving up on because of no or low demand and growing those grains only for personal consumption. Never mind if these grains and cereals were better suited to the climatic conditions of the area and high in nutrition. "Local foods are easier for farmers to grow and healthier," says Mehta. The idea to market these products and set up Original Indian Table came in 2015, after some trial and error.

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Jhajharia and Mehta started out in 2013 with the idea of connecting farmers directly with the markets, without the middleman. This took the form of the Original Indian Table. Jhajharia and Mehta are equal shareholders and the firm is self-funded. They plan to establish their marketing channels, are looking at exporting and working with chefs to create awareness before raising external funding.

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 02:15:47|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SKOPJE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia exports soared 18.6 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2017 to reach 5.17 billion U.S. dollars, official data have revealed.

According to Macedonia's State Statistical Office, Macedonian exports were mainly driven by precious metal or precious metal compounds as the active substance, ignition wiring sets and other wiring sets of a kind used in vehicles, aircraft or ships, motor vehicles for the transport of 10 or more persons, including the driver, with compression-ignition internal combustion engine (diesel or semi-diesel) and clothes.

On the other hand, the total value of imported goods for the same period amounted to 6.98 billion U.S. dollar, registering a 13.8 growth compared to same period last year, statistics office said.

Imports' growth was mainly driven by products such as platinum and platinum alloys, petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude), other metals of the platinum group and alloys thereof, unwrought or in powder form and flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, not clad, plated or coated, not further worked than hot-rolled of a width of 600 mm or more, in coils.

Referring to statistical office data, Macedonia's trade deficit in period January-November 2017 was 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, with import coverage by export standing at the level of 74 percent.

Meanwhile, the most important trade partners of Macedonia for the eleven month period of 2017 were Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 02:25:48|Editor: yan

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BAQUBA, Iraq, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed Saturday in bombing attacks targeting an anti-IS tribal leader in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The attack took place in the evening when a booby-trapped car detonated near the guest house of Sheikh Haitham al-Houm, the leader of al-Nedah tribe in al-Nedah area, some 60 km east of Diyala's provincial capital Baquba," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Shortly after the car bombing, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at the guesthouse, the source said.

Al-Houm's wife and two of his relatives were killed, the source said, citing police reports.

The Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene and launched investigation into the incident, while the troops conducted search campaign looking for more possible attackers in the area, the source added.

The attack came a day after al-Houm hosted a gathering of local Sunni tribal leaders at his guesthouse to announce a campaign of paramilitary tribal fighters against remnant of Islamic State (IS) militants and their sleeper cells in their areas east of Baquba city, which located some 65 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Despite repeated military operations in Diyala Province, remnants of IS militants were still hiding in rugged areas near the border with Iran in eastern Diyala, as well as the sprawling areas extending from western part of the province to Himreen mountainous area.

Dozens of IS militants fled their former bases in Salahudin Province and Hawijah area west of Kirkuk after the Iraqi forces cleared these areas from the extremist militants during anti-IS offensives in the past few months.

On Dec. 9, 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.

However, small groups of IS militants resorted to deserts and rugged areas looking for safe havens but the security forces are hunting them down from time to time.
An employee takes granules of 99.99 percent pure gold before packing them at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia October 24, 2016. (REUTERS PHOTO)

MINSK, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Belarus' gold and foreign currency reserves reached 7.315 billion U.S. dollars as of Jan. 1, 2018, the country's central bank said on Friday.

In December 2017, the country's gold and foreign currency reserves fell by 1.3 percent to 98.4 million dollars after a growth in November 2017 of 18.4 million dollars (0.2 percent), the central bank said in a statement.

Over the year 2017, the increase in reserves amounted to 2.388 billion dollars, up 48.5 percent over the previous year, the central bank said.

The major factors in the growth of the gold and forex reserves in 2017 were revenues from selling government bonds nominated in foreign currency, export duties on oil and oil products, the purchase of foreign currency by the central bank, tranches of the financial loans, and an increased cost of the monetary gold, it said.

According to the country's main monetary guidelines for 2018, the volume of international reserve assets as of Jan. 1, 2019, should amount to no less than 6 billion dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 03:30:56|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TRIPOLI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Forces of the Libyan UN-backed government and the Municipal Council of the western Libyan city of Zuwara on Saturday reached an agreement to stop all military operations carried out by the government's Western Military Zone service in the area.

"An agreement was reached to freeze military operations in the area from Abi Kamash to the Tunsian border," Hafeth Ben-Sasi, dean of Zuwara Municipal Council, told Xinhua.

"The agreement also included a call for a meeting between the administration of the border, the Security Directorate of Zawara, and Mr. Osama Joueili, to discuss security arrangements of the region," Ben-Sasi added.

He also said that the Tunisian border was officially reopened "after it was closed on Friday due to military actions."

The Western Military Zone service, led by General Osama Joueili, launched a military operation on Friday in western Libya against insecurity and smuggling.

Joueili told Xinhua on Friday that orders have been issued to immediately close the Tunisian border, pending organization of security work at the border and the road leading to it.

Zuwara, some 120 km west the capital Tripoli, is a major smuggling point of fuel and illegal immigrants.

Libyan navy attacked smuggling networks at sea several times and destroyed fuel smuggling vessels and bulldozers off the coast of Zuwara in the west.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 03:30:56|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday voiced concern over increased tension in the Buffer Strip in Western Sahara and called for restraint.

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about recent increased tensions in the vicinity of Guerguerat in the Buffer Strip in southern Western Sahara between the Moroccan berm and the Mauritanian border," said Farhan Haq, Guterres' deputy spokesman, in a statement.

"The secretary-General underlines that the withdrawal of Frente Polisario elements from Guerguerat in April 2017, together with the earlier withdrawal of Moroccan elements from the area, was critical to creating an environment conducive to the resumption of dialogue under the auspices of his personal envoy Horst Kohler."

Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania at the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1976. Morocco has asserted administrative control over the whole territory since 1979, when Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion. Fighting broke out between Morocco and the Frente Polisario (Polisario Front), which is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara.

The secretary-general called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid escalating tensions. Regular civilian and commercial traffic should not be obstructed and no action should be taken that may constitute a change to the status quo of the Buffer Strip, said Haq.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 03:40:59|Editor: yan

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LONDON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A novel way of tackling the problem of sheep stealing on Scotland's remote Highland hillsides is to be piloted.

Laser beams shone on hillsides to be trialed in a bid to stop Britain's largest bird of prey, the white-tailed Sea Eagle, from grabbing lambs to feed their chicks. It has a wing span of 245 centimeters.

It follows complaints from shepherds and farmers who live in crofts in areas including the Isle of Skye and the Gairloch peninsula who have complained of the birds killing lambs and sheep up to 18 months old.

Conservation agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said trials using laser technology would be carefully monitored, with laser beams being shone on to the hills and not directly at the eagles.

New techniques being trialed include audio or light-based bird scaring devices, with other measures, including cutting down trees close to a lambing area, also planned in a bid to stop eagles nesting in them and preying on lambs.

Ross Lilley, SNH's sea eagle project manager, said the serious concerns of some farmers and crofters about the impact of sea eagles on livestock have been acknowledged.

He said: "At this point, no trials on laser-scaring deterrents for sea eagles have been undertaken. They are under consideration along with other options."

David Colthart, a farmer and member of the Argyll and Lochaber Sea Eagle Stakeholder Group, told media in Scotland that not all sea eagles were a problem but some did prey on lambs.

Colhart said if the laser trial is successful it could be rolled out under license to other areas where the birds cause problems.

A report in 2016 predicted the number of sea eagles was likely to reach around 220 pairs by 2025, with potential for a much larger population by 2040. Sea eagles became extinct in the UK in 1916, largely due to persecution. Sea eagles are one of Britain's most protected species.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the rare eagles are have been the subject since 1975 of a successful, but controversial, reintroduction program in different parts of Scotland, most recently on the east coast.

A spokesman for SNH, the conservation agency, said: "We are working hard with farmers, crofters and conservationists to minimize any impacts. We are collectively trying to devise means of reducing risks of lambs being taken live."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 03:46:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) speaks during a Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve mass at the new Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Egypt's new administrative capital, about 50km east of Cairo, Egypt, on Jan. 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

CAIRO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi attended on Saturday evening the Coptic Christmas Eve celebration held at a new, partly-opened cathedral in the country's new administrative capital city eastern Cairo.

"This partial opening of the cathedral is a very important message of peace and love not only to Egyptians but to the whole world," said the Egyptian president in his remarks at the cathedral aired on the state TV.

The new unfinished cathedral, named the Nativity of Christ, is said to be the largest in the Middle East region.

"We love you. We are one united people and no one can ever divide us," Sisi told the cheering Copts ahead of the Christmas Mass that is rarely held outside the main St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.

Copts constitute to about 10 percent of Egypt's 100-million population and most of Egypt's Copts belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

Sisi's remarks came amid a wave of anti-Coptic church terrorist attacks that killed over a hundred since late 2016, with most of them claimed by a Sinai-based terrorist group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) group.

In late 2017, a terrorist shootout outside a church southern Cairo killed at least 10 people, including a policeman and one of the two perpetrators.

In late May 2017, the IS claimed responsibility for shooting dead at least 30 Copts heading to visit a monastery on the desert highway in Upper Egypt's Minya Province.

Earlier in April 2017, the IS-claimed bombings at two churches in northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria killed at least 47 and wounded over 120.

A similar suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December 2016 killed at least 29 worshippers, mostly women and children.

Sisi told the attendees at the cathedral that "the people of evil" will not be able to harm Egypt as long as the Egyptians are united.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of soldiers and policemen were deployed across the country on Saturday to secure the Christians and their churches on the eve of Orthodox Christmas.

"The security patrols and joint combat groups have also intensified their deployment at the streets and main squares to deal with any law-breaking attempts and provide security and safety to all citizens nationwide," the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement Saturday.

The beefed up nationwide security comes as a precaution against any possible IS anti-Copt attacks.

Egypt has been suffering terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to the mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Terrorist attacks were centered in restive North Sinai province northeastern Cairo and targeted security forces before they gradually extended to other provinces and started to target dozens of the Coptic minority with church bombings.

Terrorism in Egypt did not stop at targeting security men and Copts, as a terrorist attack in late November 2017 against a mosque in a village of North Sinai's Arish city killed at least 310 Muslim worshippers and wounded over 120 others, marking the deadliest terror attack and the first against a Muslim mosque in Egypt's modern history.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, although fingers point at the Sinai-based IS affiliates.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested a similar number of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by President Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 03:46:02|Editor: Zhou Xin

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LONDON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A group of European politicians (MEPs) released a letter Saturday calling on Britain to remain a member of the single market.

Their intervention comes as the man who launched Britain's campaign to leave the European Union prepares to hold a face-to-face meeting Monday with the chief Brexit negotiator in Brussels, Michel Barnier.

Nigel Farage, who sits as an MEP, co-founded the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) over 20 years ago with the aim of campaigning for Britain to quit the bloc.

The two men will meet on Monday at the European Commission headquarters after Farage requested a meeting. His call came after Barnier met a group of British pro-remain politicians from Westminster.

James McGrory, executive director of the pro-EU group, Open Britain, said: "Sending Nigel Farage to Brussels to sort out Brexit is like sending an arsonist to put out a house fire. He has no answers to the costs and complexity of Brexit, other than to blithely say we should walk away with no deal, which would be an unmitigated disaster for our economy and our country.

"As it becomes clear that the Brexit that he and other leading Leave campaigners sold to the public is not deliverable, what is required is honesty and realism, neither of which are Nigel Farage's forte."

Farage has responded by saying Barnier had been listening to people who want to stop or delay Brexit, while he would represent the 17.4 million people in Britain who voted in the June, 2016 referendum to leave by a 52-48 margin.

The intensity of the war of words between leavers and remainers is expected to become heated in the coming months as crucial negotiations on a future trade deal between Britain and the EU gather pace.

Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted Britain will leave the EU in March, 2019, and at the same time will leave the EU single market and the customs union.

The Guardian newspaper reported in London Saturday that Theresa May is being urged by 20 British cross-party MEPs to change course and seek full membership of the European single market and customs.

In their letter the MEPs, including Conservative, Labor, Greens and Liberal Democrats, claim the case for staying in the internal market has become stronger since the referendum. They warn that crashing out of the economic grouping would make Britain poorer and suggest that voters should still be given a chance to rethink altogether.

A British government spokesman told the Guardian: "We will be leaving the single market and the customs union, taking control of our borders and ending the jurisdiction of the ECJ (European Court of Justice)."
A boy sits amid the rubble in the largely destroyed part of Aleppo city in northern Syria, Dec. 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government has allocated 60 billion Syrian pounds (roughly 138 million U.S. dollars) for the reconstruction of public service and the implementation of development projects in the northern city of Aleppo, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

The projects include rebuilding destroyed schools, clinics, and water and electricity networks as well as implementing agricultural projects, rebuilding soils and other infra-structure rehabilitation work.

Syria Prime Minister Imad Khamis, who is currently on a visit to Aleppo, said Saturday that the development and service projects have started in Aleppo a year ago, following the Syrian army's recapture of the former rebel-held part in eastern Aleppo, according to SANA, which said that the new budget is for completing the projects.

Khamis said that the government has a plan to accelerate the wheels of production in Aleppo, stressing keenness of his government to adhere to the demands of the merchants and industrialists in the city.

Khamis and other government members have visited Aleppo to check on the situation there, stressing that the Syrian government has started a new chapter in the process of rebuilding Aleppo.

The prime minister also declared the re-operation of the power station of Bustan al-Qasr in Aleppo with a capacity of 66/20 KV after the completion of rehabilitation work at a cost of 3 billion Syrian pounds.

Aleppo used to be Syria's economic powerhouse that has seen ferocious battles between the Syrian government forces and an array of militant groups, some of which were affiliated with the al-Qaida terror network.

In December of 2016, the Syrian army finished dislodging all the rebels in the eastern part of the city, which pushed some merchants and industrialists to resume their work, even though on a low scale.

The city needs a lot of work as the former rebel-held part and the industrial zones are largely in ruins.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 05:01:12|Editor: yan

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TRIPOLI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Commander of the Libyan eastern-based army, General Khalifa Haftar, on Saturday warned against preventing displaced people from returning to Benghazi.

"We warn that preventing the displaced people from returning to their homes without legal justifications is a criminal act," Hafter said in a statement.

Haftar stressed that "any attacks on homes, private or public properties will expose the perpetrators to the maximum penalties."

"The city of Benghazi is and will remain a city for all honorable patriots. We will stand firmly against those who dare to destroy the social fabric of this city," the statement said.

Haftar issued instructions to military, security and judicial authorities to "take necessary measures to ensure the return of displaced people to their homes."

Haftar's warning comes amid concerns that some displaced families, whose members have participated with armed groups in fighting against Haftar's army during the past few years, might be targeted by retaliatory actions, according to a military source.

"The army commander will not allow acts of vengeance outside the law and justice," the source told Xinhua.

The source said that Haftar's warning was "a strong message for those who dare to attack displaced families from Benghazi that want to return, a few days after liberation of the city."

The source said that an armed group affiliated to the army called "blood parents", whose members have family relatives killed by terrorists, is blamed for several attacks on homes and properties of terrorists in Benghazi. They are also accused of preventing families of extremists from returning to the city and threatening to kill them, the source said.

Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has witnessed a three-year war between the army and extremist militants.

In June, Haftar announced the takeover of the entire city of Benghazi and the defeat of rival armed groups. However, some militants have remained in the city, using landmines against his army.

The army recently announced taking control of the area of Sidi Ekhrebish in central Benghazi, the last terrorist stronghold in the city, after operations that had lasted more than five months.
By PTI: (Eds: Adding a para)

Tekanpur (MP), Jan 6 (PTI) Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said terror infrastructure in Pakistan continued to exist and the neighbouring country was leaving no stone unturned to instigate the youths of Jammu and Kashmir against India.

He also asked Indias top police brass to take strong action in cases of riots and desecration of religious places.

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Addressing the annual conference of the DGPs and IGPs here, Singh said terror infrastructure in the form of training camps, launch pads and communication stations continued to exist in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

He said the neighbouring country was leaving no stone unturned to provide all help, including financial, to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and that youths of the state were being instigated against India, sources privy to the home ministers speech said.

Singh said Pakistans encouragement to the separatist anti-India sentiment in Jammu and Kashmir often led to law and order problems.

Highlighting the appointment of a representative for initiating dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was a matter of satisfaction that security forces were successful in tackling the situation in the state to a great extent.

The home minister said the violence perpetrated by Naxals had come down to a great extent and assured that the government would encourage surrender policy for Naxals in the coming days.

Referring to the north-east, Singh said insurgency had come down in the region but camps and hideouts of underground outfits in Myanmar was a matter of concern.

The home minister said there was a slight increase in communal violence in the country and asked the top police officers to take strong action wherever such incidents and desecration of religious sites take place.

Singh also talked about growing incidents of cyber crime, use of Internet and social media by anti-social elements to create tension in the society and asked police officers to be vigilant.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the three-day conference tomorrow.

A tweet by the Home Ministers Office said three police stations were awarded by Singh at the conference. These were RS Puram Police Station (Coimbatore City), Panjagutta Police Station (Hyderabad) and Gudamba Police Station (Lucknow).

The conference of the DGPs and IGPs is an annual affair, where senior police officers of the states and Centre meet and discuss issues.

The Narendra Modi-led government has been organising the conference outsideAthe national capital since it came to power in 2014. The last three conferences were held in Guwahati, Rann of KutchAand Hyderabad. PTI ACB SKL ANB AAR

--- ENDS ---
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 05:11:15|Editor: Jiaxin

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A boy rides a bicycle in the war-ravaged city of Zabadani, northwestern countryside of Syria's Damascus near the Lebanese border, on Jan. 6, 2018. A total of 1,500 families have returned to the city of Zabadani in the northwestern countryside of the capital Damascus near the Lebanese border, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday. The returning families are part of 10,000 others that had fled Zabadani when the battles there were raging before the Syrian army retook it and nearby areas in April 2017, after a deal was struck for the evacuation of the rebels toward northwestern Syria. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,500 families have returned to the city of Zabadani in the northwestern countryside of the capital Damascus near the Lebanese border, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

The returning families are part of 10,000 others that had fled Zabadani when the battles there were raging before the Syrian army retook it and nearby areas in April 2017, after a deal was struck for the evacuation of the rebels toward northwestern Syria.

The governor of Damascus countryside, Alaa Ibrahim, said during a tour in the city on Saturday that contracts have been signed to complete the clearing of rubble and the wreckage from the city that had started more than seven months ago.

The city has sustained huge destruction due to the intensity of the battles that had raged there, as it was one of the first that fell to the armed militants in the northwestern countryside of Damascus in January 2012.

The city has a strategic importance due to its proximity to the Lebanese border, as the rebels had used it as a conduit to smuggle fighters and weapons between Syria and Lebanon.

The Lebanese Hezbollah group has had a big role in retrieving the city to protect areas of its influence on the Lebanese side of the border.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 05:21:16|Editor: Zhou Xin

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RABAT, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's foreign exchange reserves stood at 25.81 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2017, shrinking by 3.3 percent compared with last year, Morocco's Central Bank said on Saturday.

According to a statement by the central bank, the exchange reserves, however, increased 0.7 percent in the week between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3.

Morocco's dirham dropped 0.13 percent against euro and 0.21 percent against U.S. dollar.

The drop in Morocco's foreign reserves comes as the country plans to move to gradually float dirham.

The central bank had originally announced that the first step to float the currency would start in July.

However, the Moroccan government decided to delay the move, saying studies are being carried out to ensure enough time for the decision to take effect and to better understand "its impact on the economy and, in particular, on the purchasing power of citizens."

International Monetary Fund has vowed its backing to Morocco's move.

Currently, the dirham is fixed via a peg that is 60 percent weighted to euro and 40 percent to U.S. dollar.

The first stage will ease that peg to allow the currency to trade in a narrow range, which will expand gradually over a few years.
A man shouts slogans during a protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem, in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 11, 2017. Thousands of Iranians held a rally on Monday to condemn the U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision on Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- While U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed support for demonstrators in Iran and engaged in heightened rhetoric, the United States is likely to hang back and avoid direct involvement, U.S. experts said.

"The U.S. will probably limit its involvement mainly to moral support for the protestors," David Pollock, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Xinhua.

Protests erupted on Dec. 28, 2017, in Mashhad in north Iran, sparked by frustration over high prices of basic goods such as eggs, the price of which has recently soared by 40 percent, according to international media reports.

The unrest spread quickly over the next several days. Blue-collar Iranians also want a higher pay and a way to address the nation's widespread problem of unemployement, global media reported.

Trump took to social media earlier this week in support of the protesters, saying that Iran is "failing at every level" and that it is "time for change" in Iran.

Despite his pro-demonstrators tone, experts said the president is unlikely to go much further, with perhaps a few exceptions.

Pollock said Trump's rhetoric reflects the president's strong view of Iran as an enemy.

The protests were "not necessarily going to be historic in the grand scheme of things, and so maybe we don't want to get too carried away yet predicting what's going to happen next," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution,

Many observers are asking why protesters chose this period to demonstrate. "They want the Iranian government to turn its attention homeward," O'Hanlon gave one explanation.

Analysts argued that it would be unwise for the United States to directly involve itself in the protests.

"Given the history of past U.S. involvement in Iranian domestic politics, the best thing for the United States would be to continue to do little to intervene or directly support these protests," Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency, told Xinhua.

Iran has blasted back at the U.S. stance. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the U.S. government's attempts to intervene in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic, Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.

"In the past several days, the U.S. administration, led by the U.S. president, has stepped up its acts of intervention in a grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs under the pretext of providing support for sporadic protests" in the country, Khoshroo said in a Wednesday letter to the UN Security Council and to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Khoshroo added that Iran expects all states to condemn such dangerous statements and policies and urge the U.S. government to act responsibly and adhere to the UN Charter and international law.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 05:51:20|Editor: Zhou Xin

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HELSINKI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Finnish energy industry reacted strongly on Saturday against the envisioned governmental option to prohibit the use of coal in 2025 instead of 2030 set in the original plan.

Jukka Leskela, CEO of the national association of energy production, said on Saturday that the use of coal would decline on its own during the next ten years anyhow, but the move to speed up the process would increase the energy production costs, and either the customers or the tax payers would end up paying.

Kimmo Tiilikainen, Minister of the Environment, Energy and Housing, said on Friday the process to give up coal as an energy source should be accelerated and the use of natural gas be favored instead.

Tiilikainen made the announcement following recent negative news about the Finnish carbon footprint.

Statistics Finland confirmed late last year that Finnish greenhouse gas emissions had grown by six percent from 2015 to 2016. Figures for 2017 are not available.

The key reason for the growth of emissions was the increase in the burning of coal in facilities that produce both electricity and heating for housing.

A total of 1.2 million Finns rely on coal for their heating through district delivery services. Major cities including Helsinki are using coal as one of the main energy sources.

Most of the coal powered energy plants are in municipal ownership. There are no coal mines in Finland and it is all imported.

TURNING TO NATURAL GAS

Noting that the emission created from the burning of gas is 60 percent of the level created when burning coal, Tiilikainen said the government is investigating whether the use of coal would be stopped in 2025 instead of 2030 as earlier decided.

Tiilikainen said natural gas should be introduced as a replacement for coal for the short term. It would be followed later by biomass and biogas.

Local media said it would be a major policy reversal as the use of natural gas has declined in recent years and its taxation increased.

Tiilikainen said tax incentives should be in enacted in favor of natural gas in 2019.

NEW PIPELINE TO BE BUILT

Currently, Finland imports all the natural gas it uses from Russia. It arrives through a pipeline system built in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tiilikainen underlined on Friday that new delivery options of natural gas to Finland will open shortly. One of them is the Baltic Connector line between Finland and Estonia. Finland is also building terminals for tankers to bring in liquid gas.

Groundbreaking will take place in a few weeks in Inkoo, west of Helsinki, for the gas pipeline that will combine the Finnish gas network with that of the three Baltic countries.

When completed in 2020, the 77-kilometer pipeline will open the Finnish natural gas market for competition.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-07 06:16:23|Editor: Zhou Xin

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HAVANA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cuba inched closer to electing its future leader on Saturday, after the government announced elections for regional and national legislators will take place on March 11.

National legislators will in turn vote for Cuba's next president and successor to Raul Castro, who is set to step down in April.

More than 8 million Cubans will be eligible to vote for the members of their provincial assemblies and the National Assembly, according to a government statement published by local media.

In the lead-up to the March vote, recently-constituted municipal assemblies are to hold an extraordinary session on Jan. 21 to nominate the candidates for the regional and national assemblies.

As part of this second electoral stage, half of the candidates will be nominated on that date by the more than 12,000 municipal delegates who were elected in November.

The other half have already been chosen by a committee representing the country's main social organizations.

Once the approximately 600 members of the National Assembly have been elected, the new legislature will convene on April 19 to elect a new president of the State Council, the post Castro currently occupies.

"When the National Assembly is constituted, I will have concluded my second and last term leading the State and Government, and Cuba will have a new president," Castro said in a recent speech to lawmakers.

Raul Castro, 86, officially came to power in 2008, after his brother Fidel Castro was forced to retire for health reasons.

Raul Castro has since spearheaded numerous reforms to modernize the country's aging socialist system.
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In a series of tweets, the Payanam actress bashed a film critic for his comments on Pawan Kalyan.

By India Today Web Desk: Poonam Kaur, who has acted in both, the Tamil and Telugu film industries, raised eyebrows when she called a film critic 'fatso'. The actress, who is an ardent fan of Pawan Kalyan, while defending the Telugu star has resorted to name-calling in a series of tweets from her handle.

Poonam has not revealed the name of the person she was taking a dig at. She wrote, "Beggarsrbetter than people who rmaking money outta criticising others,okeyy suthi,change the man or the topic,I am bored 2c the same fatso! (sic)"

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However, people are speculating that Poonam is referring to Mahesh Kathi, a Telugu film critic, who has also acted in few films. It seems like opinions of Mahesh Kathi on the Agnyaathavasi actor didn't go down too well with Poonam, who has time and again batted for Pawan Kalyan.

When fans pointed out that calling someone 'fatso' is a personal attack and uncouth, Poonam tweeted, "don't tell mecommenting onbeing fat is personal,M worried abtmillions watchinngetting inspired,concerned aboutJanam physical nmental health! (sic)."

Here are the tweets:

Beggarsrbetter than people who rmaking money outta criticising others,okeyy suthi,change the man or the topic,I am bored 2c the same fatso!- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

Employment problems...papam...contribute trps it's a way of donating guys4 some1s ill health actually should pay4 weight reduction programme- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

One fatso got stuck in a pothole,it's like I want the chief minister to pick n save me as he gave permission to lay it ?????? funny fatso- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

don't tell mecommenting onbeing fat is personal,M worried abtmillions watchinngetting inspired,concerned aboutJanam physical nmental health!- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

don't tell mecommenting onbeing fat is personal,M worried abtmillions watchinngetting inspired,concerned aboutJanam physical nmental health!- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

Figure out the difference between a mans higher purpose and ulterior motive , staying in the pot hole coz u being paid is ulterior motive??- Poonam Kaur Lal (@poonamkaurlal) January 4, 2018

ALSO WATCH | Fan frenzy gone wrong: Pawan Kalyan visits Tirupati, consoles family

--- ENDS ---
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Last night,, shortly before 11:00 pm, a stove fire was reported at a home in the 3400 block of South Don Carlos Road. Yuma Fire Department personnel were also informed that the fire was now out. Firefighters were told that the resident had used a fire extinguisher. Firefighters arrived and confirmed the fire was out and had not extended into surrounding walls.

It was determined that the resident had been heating a pan of oil on the stove. He left the kitchen for a short time and returned to find the stove and cabinets on fire. He had a fire extinguisher available and was able to knock down the fire. Damage was contained to the stove, range hood, cabinets above the stove, and some damage to the ceiling. This was at least the second fire like this in the last few days. There were no injuries reported in this fire.

The most common place for fires to start in the home is in the kitchen. The most common place in the kitchen for fires to start is on the stove top and the most common reason is unattended cooking. Fires grow quickly and can double in size every minute. Fortunately this fire was caught early enough that a dry chemical extinguisher was able to be effective, however safety is always the first consideration. If not in the very early stages, with an extinguisher you know how to use close by, to avoid injury, exit the home and call 9-1-1.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Wednesday at 3:44 AM, the Yuma Police Department responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Circle K, 637 E. 32nd Street.

Through the initial investigation, officers learned 2 males entered the business and threatened the clerk with a hand gun and took an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspects fled the scene at a high rate of speed down Arizona Avenue and were seen going to an apartment complex located in the 1900 S. 2nd Avenue.

21 year old Anthony Robert Duran, 19 year old Victor Dominguez and 21 year old Gil Daniel Juarez were booked on armed robbery charges. There are no outstanding suspects in this case.

This case is still under investigation.

There have been no reported injuries reference to this case.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call the Yuma Police Department at 928-373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - On Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at approximately 5:06 a.m., officers responded to the 900 block of S. 1st Avenue reference to shots fired.

Upon arrival, officers located a 23 year old female with a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center in serious condition.

There are no suspects in custody at this time. The Yuma Police Department is still investigating the scene.

The victim in this case has been identified as 23 year old Keishawna Precious Rattler. On January 3, 2018 the Yuma Police Department received confirmation that Keishawna Precious Rattler succumbed to her injuries. Next of Kin has been notified.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call Yuma Police Department Detective Montana (928) 373-4782 or Detective Saenz (928) 373-6079 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous.
Punjab power minister Rana Gurjit Singh's family owned company Rana Sugars Limited is accused of raising Rs 1.14 lakh crore without informing SEBI and in violation FEMA.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Punjab power minister Rana Gurjit Singh's family owned company Rana Sugars Limited is accused of raising Rs 1.14 lakh crore by violating FEMA.

The issue came to light after SEBI informed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the money was raised without informing SEBI and was a clear violation of FEMA.

Rana Sugars Limited is also accused of extending bank guarantees for its foreign shareholders who allegedly raised loans from foreign banks to buy Rana Sugars Limited shares.

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Investigations have further revealed that the money raised by way of Global Depository Receipts and floating foreign shares was first kept in an offshore account in a Portugal bank in Madeira Island and then transferred to Rana Sugars Limited's bank account in India.

The company is accused of not seeking proper permissions for the same from SEBI and RBI.

Managing Director of Rana Sugars Limited and son of Rana Gurjit Singh, Rana Inder Pratap Singh, has, however, refuted the allegations.He further clarified that the company did not violate FEMA or any other law since no permission was required to float company shares in foreign countries.

Citing the department of economic affairs guidelines issued on January 19, 2000, Rana said that the money was raised by way of foreign currency convertible bonds and ordinary shares through depository receipt mechanism scheme.

Acting on the SEBI complaint and being unsatisfied with the company's defense, ED has asked Inder Pratap Singh to appear before ED on January 17 along with requisite documents. The notice was issued on January 2, 2018.

Last year, the minister faced allegations for getting a Rs 26 crore sand mine contract for his Nepalese-origin cook.

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Nashville Zoo recently announced the birth of a Giant Anteater pup on December 25, 2017.

A carnivore keeper and a docent walked into the Zoos Giant Anteater barn and were greeted with an adorable Christmas morning surprise.

They were elated to discover that the female Anteater, Consuela, had delivered a special Christmas gift, said Shawna Farrington, carnivore area supervisor. Curled under Consuela's hair and clinging tightly, was a new baby female Anteater.

The docent, Kerry Foth, has been volunteering with the Nashville Zoo in various departments since 2003, suggested the name Noel for the newest addition. Noel will stay with her mother for at least two years, until she is fully grown.

The Zoo shared that this is nine-year-old Consuelas third pup, and it is the fourth offspring for 14-year-old father, Carib. This is also Consuelas second female pup, and both mom and baby are reportedly doing well.

Photo Credits: Heather Robertson (Images 1,2) / Shawna Farrington (Image 3)

Since 2001, 18 Giant Anteaters have been born at Nashville Zoos off-exhibit breeding facility. These reproductive successes have been enhanced by research projects done at the Zoo that focus on the biology of Anteaters and their reproductive system.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Giant Anteater as Vulnerable, although it is considered extinct in areas of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Uruguay. Giant Anteaters are disappearing because of habitat destruction, hunting and road kills. Only about 5,000 Anteaters remain in the wild.

Nashville Zoo is paired with the conservation organization The Giant Armadillo Project and is recognized as a leader in caring for both Giant Anteaters and Tamanduas. The Zoos animal care and veterinary staff are currently working on an Anteater care manual, in conjunction with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Program, that will provide husbandry guidelines and veterinary issues associated with these species.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends a joint press conference after the Ukraine-EU summit in Kiev, Ukraine, July 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Junfeng)

KIEV, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's foreign exchange reserves increased by 21 percent in 2017, beating the official forecast, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Friday.

The reserves had increased to about 18.8 billion U.S. dollars last year compared with an estimated forecast of 18.6 billion U.S. dollars, the NBU said in a report.

The deposits have risen mainly because the government bought 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the interbank currency market and obtained one billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund, the report said.

The current level of the reserves can cover 3.6 months of the country's imports, and is sufficient to meet the obligations of the government and the central bank, it added.

In 2016, Ukraine's foreign currency deposits increased by 17 percent to about 15.5 billion U.S. dollars.
COLUMBIA: Waking up to recent allegations of being mentally unfit for office, US President Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant, calling himself "very smart" and "a stable genius"

Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!, tweeted the President of United States.

Trump's statement came after author Michael Wolff claimed in his explosive new book  'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House'  that his staff believed he was not fit to hold high office.

During Trump`s first year, Wolff was granted an unusually wide access to the White House.

Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

Following the publication of the book, Trump had a public rift with his former strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump made the comments from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where he was meeting Republican congressional leaders about their legislative agenda for the year.

With agency inputs
NEW DELHI: Trouble does not seem to end in near future for Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a chargesheet against the RJD supremo's daughter Misa Bharti and son-in-law in the Rs 8000 crore money laundering case.

This is the second chargesheet filed by ED against Misa and her husband.

Earlier on December 23, Misa, her husband and others have were named in the chargesheet filed in Patiala House Court in Delhi. The matter has been listed for consideration in the first week of January.

As per latest report, both chargesheets against Misa Bharti in the PMLA case will be considered on February 5.

The ED had in July also filed a supplementary chargesheet against Bharti's chartered accountant Rajesh Agrawal in connection with the case in which it named around 35 accused, including businessmen brothers Surendra Jain and Virendra Jain and some companies.

Agrawal was accused of converting black money into a legal source of income through dubious transactions with the help of Surendra Kumar Jain and his brother Virendra Jain -- known as Jain brothers.

The ED arrested the Jain brothers on March 20. In May, the ED filed its first chargesheeet in the case and thereafter, arrested Agrawal on May 22. Agrawal has also been accused of helping Bharti`s husband`s company, Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd "with some transactions".

Misa had also been questioned in connection with the case and also raided three premises in Delhi belonging to Bharti and her husband, including the farmhouses located in the high-class localities of Ghitorni, Bijwasan and Sainik Farms.

Lalu is at present lodged in Ranchi's central jail since his conviction on December 23 in connection with a fodder scam.

Meanwhile, a special CBI court in Ranchi will pronounce the quantum of sentence for Lalu and 15 other convicts in the fodder scam case on Saturday.

Special judge Shivpal Singh was scheduled to pronounce the quantum of sentence on Wednesday but deferred after condoling the death of two lawyers, who passed away recently.

Yesterday, Lalu appeared before the court of CBI special judge Shiv Pal Singh for the sentencing hearing through video conferencing from Birsa Munda central jail and in a written plea sought leniency due to his illness and old age, his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad said.

The court had convicted Lalu Prasad for offences of cheating with criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to legal experts, Lalu Prasad would be able to apply for bail immediately at the lower court itself if the quantum of sentence happens to be less than three years.

Earlier, he was awarded five years imprisonment in 2013 in a case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 33.61 crore from the Chaibasa treasury.

On the other hand, Lalu's wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi has called an emergency meeting of RJD leader before the sentencing of the party supremo.

The meeting, to be held at Rabri's official residence, 10 Circular Road, will see the attendance of all MPs, legislators, former MPs, MLAs and all district heads.

A former RJD MP, Jagadanand Singh said that the meeting will chalk out the strategy keeping in view the present situation of the party and will also discuss the party's plan of action for 2019 general elections.
NEW DELHI: In a suspected case of honour killing, a 32-year-old man and his 23-year-old girlfriend were attacked and stabbed by two men in Delhi's Mayur Vihar on Friday evening.

While the man, identified as Dinesh, died on the spot, the woman, who was severely injured, and is undergoing treatment at Delhi's Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital.

The woman is said to be in a critical state, said a report.

The couple were travelling in an app-based cab near Dallupura, in east Delhi, when they were stabbed dozens of times by the men. While the deceased, Dinesh, was stabbed 14 times, the women was attacked 11-12 times with a knife.

According to police, the accused are woman's uncle and brother by relation.

The woman, 23-year-old, reported eloped with the man, with whom she was in a relationship for some time. The duo was planning to get married, the police said adding despite that the couple were distantly related and were cousins.

The police further added that the man, 35, was already married and was living with his wife and three children in Seemapuri. The woman used to live with her family in east Delhi's Patparganj.

After the woman's family got to know about the relationship, they rebuked her and arranged a match for her. However, this did not go down with the couple and they decided to elope.

On Friday, the woman escaped from her house with some gold ornaments and cash. As per the two accused, she reportedly did this on the instructions of Dinesh.

The two accused, somehow, managed to track down the duo who were eloping in an app-based cab and started following them.

As soon as Dinesh stopped and stepped out of the cab, reportedly to relieve himself when the accused waylaid and stabbed him repeatedly till he fell on the ground. Later, they also attacked the woman who was sitting in the cab.

A home guard, who was posted in the nearby area, upon hearing the scream, rushed to her rescue where he caught hold both the accused.

The police arrested both the accused from the scene of the crime.

The murder is being seen as yet another example of honour killing.

During the interrogation, one of the accused told police that they decided to commit the crime to avenge the humiliation faced by the woman's family after her elopement with the man.
On Saturday, All India Rajini Fans, a prominent fan website changed its name to Rajini People Forum.

By Akshaya Nath: After superstar of Tamil cinema, Rajinikanth, made the big announcement about his plunge into politics on December 31, the actor's fans have begun extensive ground work to garner support for the launch of his independent party.

The actor had asked his fans to work for his party.

As a first step he had launched a website and mobile application for his fans to register and had also asked his fans' association to start involving more people especially from grassroots level.

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On Saturday, All India Rajini Fans, a prominent fan website changed its name to Rajini People Forum. This change is taking into account that the association is getting involved in the first step of the political activities.

"I don't want cadres, but guardians. Guardians of the society, who question the wrongs and stop corruption. I am not a leader but one amongst you. We are soldiers fighting for a better tomorrow," said Rajinikanth while announcing his decision.

Photo courtesy: RBSI - Rajini biggest superstar of India.

Inspired by the actor's speech, his fans are actively reaching out for the ground work. Youth have started visiting villages to spread awareness about the actor's entry into politics. The fans are getting more people to register on the renamed website.

Rajinikanth has announced that his party will contest the upcoming state elections.

Photo courtesy: RBSI - Rajini biggest superstar of India. Photo courtesy: RBSI - Rajini biggest superstar of India.

The state of Tamil Nadu has been facing huge political vacuum ever since the demise of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa and absence of Karunanidhi due to his ailing health.

This announcement by the superstar seems to have given a lot of hope for change among the masses.

--- ENDS ---
NEW DELHI: Water supply in most parts of Delhi will remain disrupted for next few days due to increased pollution in the Yamuna.

The Delhi Jal Board has informed that the pumping from Wazirabad and Chandrawal, and the Okhla plant is likely to be affected.

"Due to the increase in pollution, many areas, including North Delhi, Central Delhi, part of West Delhi, part of South Delhi, Delhi Cantt areas and NDMC areas, will remain affected and water supply will be available at low pressure," the board said.

The discharge of waste water through 15 drains between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage renders the Yamuna river, severely polluted.Residents of Delhi faced a similar problem on first two days of the New Year due to a spike in industrial pollutants as well as rising ammonia levels in Yamuna.
Panaji: Goa is staring at a beef shortage with traders suspending import of the meat from neighbouring Karnataka alleging harassment by cow vigilantes.

An association of traders said its members have stopped procuring beef from Belagavi in Karnataka.

This will continue till the state government takes steps to stop harassment by cow vigilante groups, it said.

"Harassment by these groups has increased in the state since Christmas. Traders have now decided not to import beef as trucks ferrying the meat are being stopped and confiscated in the name of illegality," Manna Bepari, President, All Goa Qureshi Meat Traders Association, told PTI.

Due to this, the state now faces a beef shortage, he said.

Bepari said around 25 tonnes of beef is brought from Belagavi every day. "There is no production of beef in Goa as its lone state-run abattoir is no longer operational."

Cow protection groups, including the Gau Raksha Abhiyaan, have alleged beef in Goa is brought from illegal slaughter houses in Karnataka, a charge denied by Bepari.

"We bring the stock from legal slaughter houses in Karnataka. If any group has any problem with those slaughter houses, they should go there and protest and not stop our trucks which cause losses of lakhs of rupees," he said.

Gau Raksha Abhiyaan leader Hanumant Parab claimed cattle were being slaughtered in abattoirs across the border without approval from authorities.

"Due to this we have undertaken stringent checks (on the Goa-Karnataka border) along with police," he said.

Bepari said traders want immediate intervention by the state government in the matter. Till then, they will not buy beef from the neighbouring state.

Beef sale has been banned in Maharashtra, which also borders Goa.
AHMEDABAD: Shopkeepers in Ahmedabad on Saturday expressed their displeasure over the nationwide ban on the procurement, sale and use of glass-coated 'manja', saying the legal prohibition should have been brought a year ago.

"Business will suffer a blow as a result of NGT's Public interest litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court to ban glass-coated kite-strings. If a ban had to be implemented, it should have been done a year ago and not days before the peak time of their business," a shopkeeper said.

Shopkeepers in Ahmedabad say their business will suffer a blow as a result of NGT's PIL in Supreme Court to ban glass-coated kite-strings. Say if a ban had to be implemented, it should have been done a year ago and not days before the peak time of their business. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/wjsH89opfL  ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2018

On Friday, the apex court had agreed to hear a plea seeking a nationwide ban on the procurement, sale and use of glass powder-coated 'manja'.

The top court had earlier asked petitioners, who in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) sought a ban on 'manja' as it resulted in more than 50 deaths in the last two years, to approach the NGT with their plea.

In December last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned the sale and use of glass coated thread in the entire country, including Chinese 'manja' until the next hearing on February 1, 2017.

In 2016, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India filed a petition urging the NGT to ban the use of 'manja' across the country.

As PETA India warns, 'manja' - which is often coated with glass, metal, or other sharp objects - poses a lethal threat to humans and animals alike.In July 2016, a man died in Ghaziabad after his throat was slashed by 'manja' while he was riding a motorbike.

In August 2015, a man in East Delhi died after his throat was slit by 'manja' while he was returning home on his motorbike.

Thousands of birds are also killed every year when they are cut or trapped by 'manja', which can get caught on trees or buildings for weeks.

A bird rescuer in Ahmedabad estimates that 2,000 birds including pigeons and endangered species such as vultures are injured every year during the Uttarayan festival, and 500 of them die from their injuries.

According to estimates, more than 300 birds were injured and over 100 died because of 'manja' during Makar Sankranti in Hyderabad in 2015.

According to Delhi power company BSES, a single incident involving a kite near an electrical establishment can affect up to 10,000 customers.

Several top power companies, such as Reliance Power and Tata Power, have time and again issued advisories urging people not to fly kites near electrical establishments.

Manja is made of synthetic material such as nylon and is also non-biodegradable - it litters the soil and chokes drainage lines, sewer systems, and natural waterways.

Citing the dangers 'manja' poses to humans, birds, and the environment, the High Courts of Rajasthan, Allahabad, and Jammu and Kashmir have already banned the use of 'manja' in their respective states.
A quick glance at the top news of the day:

1. Pakistan buckles under US pressure, blacklists Hafiz Saeed's JuD, 71 other terror groups

Under pressure from the United States, Pakistan on Saturday blacklisted terror outfit Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), headed by 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Read full report

2. Day after being coloured orange, Haj House repainted to original green-white colour

The boundary wall of Haj House, which was earlier painted saffron, has on Saturday been repainted to its original colour. Haj Samiti Secretary RP Singh has blamed the contractor for the incident. Read full report

3. China building bunkers, military infrastructure for Pakistan along border with India

As the presence of Chinese soldiers on Pakistani soil continues to grow, Islamabad is taking Beijing's help to rapidly ramp up its military infrastructure along its border with India along Rajasthan. Read full report

4. Fodder scam: Lalu Prasad Yadav sentenced to 3.5 years in jail, fined Rs 5 lakh

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for his role in the multi-million fodder scam case. This is the second jail term that Lalu has received in relation to the fodder scam. Read full report

5. 'Very stable genius': This is what Trump called himself over 'mental instability' charges

Waking up to recent allegations of being mentally unfit for office, US President Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant, calling himself "very smart" and "a stable genius". Read full report
RANCHI: Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for his role in the multi-million fodder scam case. This is the second jail term that Lalu has received in relation to the fodder scam.

The sentence was pronounced by video conferencing at a special CBI court in Ranchi on Saturday. The court also handed Lalu a fine of Rs 5 lakh, and said his jail term would be extended by six months if he fails to pay it.

The court handed the same sentence to the seven others convicted in the case - Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julious, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram.

This is the second case in the fodder scam that Lalu has been convicted in. He faces three more cases. The first conviction had come in September 2013, when the court handed a guilty verdict to Lalu and his predecessor, Jagannath Mishra.

Lalu had received a sentence of five years in the first case. This made him the first legislator in India to be ejected from elected office as a result of a conviction, under the then-new changes to the anti-corruption legislation.

The conviction in the second case had come on December 23. The court convicted Lalu and seven others, while acquitting Jagannath Mishra and five others. Lalu had been held at the Birsa Munda prison in Ranchi.

Lalu had on Friday filed a plea of leniency on the grounds of his age and health issues. "Lalu has diabetes, blood pressure; he almost fainted yesterday," his lawyer said on Friday. The leniency plea also included the rationale that he had no direct role in the scam.

The case pertains to the fraudulent overnight withdrawal of about Rs 90 lakh from government treasury in Deoghar, then in undivided Bihar.
NEW DELHI: Keeping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Congress President Rahul Gandhi blamed the Central government for 'losses' that the Indian economy has faced. He also termed GDP in Modi government as 'Gross Divisive Politics'.

He tweeted: "FM Jaitleys genius combines with Mr Modis Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India:

New Investments: 13 year (low)

Bank credit Growth: 63 year (low)

Job creation: 8 year (low)

Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7% (low)

Fiscal Deficit: 8 year (up)

Stalled Projects (up)."

He had earlier hit out at the Finance Minister referring to him as "Dear Mr Jaitlie" accusing the government of lying.

His Jait-lie comment had come after the minister in Parliament said that PM Modi never questioned Manmohan Singh's integrity in connection with the allegations of a meeting with Pakistan envoy to strategise for Gujarat elections.

Rahul had then said: "thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means."

The Congress President had earlier also said accused Jaitley for the 'poor condition of the economy'.

"Doctor Jaitley, note ban and GST have pushed the economy into the ICU. You say you are no less than anyone, but your medicine is not that effective," he had tweeted in October 2017.

While campaigning for Congress in Gujarat elections, Rahul had repeatedly termed GST as the 'Gabbar Singh Tax,' alleging that it was aimed at grabbing people's hard-earned money.
NEW DELHI: The HRD Ministry has identified around 80,000 "ghost" teachers in various colleges and universities across the country after the introduction of Aadhaar.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, however, clarified that none of these teachers are from any central universities.

"There are certain 'ghost' teachers which use proxy methods and are apparently teaching at multiple places full time. After the introduction of Aadhaar, 80,000 such teachers have been identified and action will be considered against them," Javadekar said at an event.

"The ghost teachers have not been identified in any central university but in some state universities and private ones," he said.

While the HRD Ministry has asked all universities to seek Aadhaar numbers from all employees and students to ensure there is no duplication, concerns have been raised about leakage of data.

"Sharing Aadhaar number is like sharing your mobile number or email id. Sharing your mobile number doesn't mean the person you give it to can see your text messages. Aadhaar works the same way. It is protected," he said.
NEW DELHI: Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Ranchi special CBI court sent him to jail for 3 and a half years in connection with the fodder scam.

Holding the BJP responsible for his sentencing, Lalu tweeted: "Rather than practicing BJPs Simple Rule - Follow us or We will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality."

In an attempt to strike an emotional chord, he also addressed a letter to the people of Bihar and shared it in a tweet. He reminded Biharis of the "long battle that he had fought against injustice and inequality" and told them what he has done over the years to bring the people of backward castes at par with others.

                   .. pic.twitter.com/Ob4utoMsBb  Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

He also urged people not to be upset with the verdict. "Your love gives me the strength, your worries make me worried. I am not scared. I have the support of the entire Bihar. You are my family," he wrote in the letter.

Lalu was on Saturday sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in the fodder scam case. CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted Prasad, along with 10 others on December 23, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him for two cases in the scam.

He was fined Rs 5 lakh for each case, failing which he would serve another six months in jail, a CBI counsel said.

The court had convicted Prasad for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The scam is related to withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deogarh Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar.

The 69-year-old RJD supremo had on Friday filed a plea seeking leniency from the CBI court citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad.

The RJD went into a huddle immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence.

This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been jailed.

He was sent to prison for five years on September 30, 2013. Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court after having spent over two-and-a-half months in jail.
Ranchi: A special CBI court in Ranchi is set to deliver on Saturday the quantum of sentence in connection with 1996 fodder scam case in which former Bihar chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and 15 others have been convicted. On December 23, 2017, the Special CBI court here had convicted Lalu in connection with the case following which the veteran Bihar politician was sent to Birsa Munda prison in Ranchi. The court, however, acquitted former chief minister of Bihar and Lalus predecessor Jagannath Mishra and six others in connection with the case.

The case was unearthed in 1996 after Amit Khare, Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa, conducted a raid at the Animal Husbandry Department. The infamous fodder scam case has haunted Bihar's most powerful political family for over two decades and expected to reach its logical conclusion.

Here are the key facts and timeline of the fodder scam case:-

January 1996: The scam surfaces after deputy commissioner Amit Khare raids the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department and seizes documents that showed siphoning of funds by non-existent companies in the name of supplying fodder

March 11, 1996: The Patna High Court directs the CBI to probe the scam. The Supreme Court upholds the order.

March 27, 1996: The CBI registers an FIR in the Chaibasa Treasury fraudulent withdrawal case.

June 23, 1997: The CBI files a chargesheet and names Lalu Prasad and 55 others as accused in the case. 63 cases were registered under IPC Sections 420 (forgery) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 13 (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

July 30, 1997: Lalu Prasad surrenders before a CBI court and sent to judicial custody.

April 5, 2000: Charges framed before the special CBI court. Rabri Devis name is included as a co-accused, but she is granted bail. Lalu Prasads bail plea rejected and he is remanded in judicial custody.

October 5, 2001: The Supreme Court transfers the scam cases to Jharkhand after the creation of the new state.

February 2002: Trial begins in the Ranchi special CBI court.

December 2006: Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi acquitted of charges in the disproportionate assets case filed by the CBI.

June 2007: The special CBI court in Ranchi sentences 58 persons, including two nephews of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, to jail terms ranging from two-and-a-half years to six years for fraudulently withdrawing Rs 48 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury in the 1990s.

March 2012: Six months after their appearance before the Special CBI court, charges are framed against Lalu Prasad and Mishra. The court charges the former with fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 47 lakh from the treasuries at Banka and Bhagalpur districts, wherein forged and fake bills were drawn by the Animal Husbandry Department in 1995-96 when he was the Chief Minister

August 13, 2013: The Supreme Court rejects Lalu Prasads plea seeking the transfer of the trial court judge hearing the case.

September 17, 2013: The Special CBI court reserves its judgement.

September 30, 2013: Lalu Prasad and Mishra along with 45 others are convicted by Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh. Lalu Prasad stands disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha following the verdict. The two cannot contest any election, including that of the Assembly/Council for six years from the date of their release from jail.

November 2014: The CBI challenges the order of the Jharkhand High Court quashing four pending fodder scam cases against Lalu Prasad on the grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidence. The court upholds the CBI plea to continue proceedings in the trial court against Lalu Prasad under two sections.

November 2016: The Supreme Court pulls up Mishra for allegedly dragging and delaying the appeal filed by the CBI, challenging the quashing of four pending fodder scam cases against him.

May 2017: The Supreme Court holds that Lalu Prasad and other accused persons, including Mishra, will be tried separately for corruption in a criminal case involving the withdrawal of Rs 84.53 lakh and falsification of records from the Deoghar Treasury in 1991-94.

December 13, 2017: Hearing of case number RC-64A/96 completed in the CBI court of Shivpal Singh.

December 23, 2017: The special CBI court convicts Lalu Prasad and 15 others in connection with the case. Lalu was taken into custody and sent to Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi.

January 6, 2018: Special court to pronounce the quantum of sentence in the case.
New Delhi: In a big setback to Indian Muslim women, the controversial triple talaq bill that seeks to criminalise instant talaq with a provision of stringent punishment for the accused husband, could not be tabled in Rajya Sabha, which was adjourned sine die on Friday.

With the bill stuck in Rajya Sabha, the government has no option but to introduce it during the budget session that begins on January 29.

In view of strong resistance to the bill by Congress-led Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, where the Narendra Modi-led government lacks numbers, the Centre may take the ordinance route on the bill.

However, the chances of it are grim as the government is keen on getting the bill passed with a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha.

IANS quoted highly placed government sources as saying that the possibility of an ordinance on the bill is unlikely.

The bill, already cleared by the Lok Sabha, could not be passed in the upper house due to a deadlock over Opposition's demand to send it to the Select Committee for close scrutiny.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, however, expressed hope that Congress and other opposition parties would agree on passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Marriage) Bill, 2017.

The legislation proposes to criminalise instant triple talaq and suggests up to three years in jail as punishment for a Muslim husband who divorces his wife by uttering "talaq" thrice.

Asked about a possibility of bringing in an ordinance till the bill cleared, Ananth Kumar parried a direct reply and said, "The dates for the budget session have already been announced.

"We hope the Congress will understand the public opinion on the issue, reconsider their stand and pass it in the budget session. There is anger among people on this issue."

The minister slammed the Congress for stalling the bill. He said they were against the empowerment of Muslim women in India.

"This winter session was very successful. People were saying that this winter session would be a `washout` but instead, their prediction proved to be a huge `washout`. Although, the triple talaq bill was expected to be passed in the Rajya Sabha, but the Opposition, especially the Congress party, gave several excuses to put a stop to it," he added.

He added that a total of 22 bills were passed in both - the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha - during the 13 working days of the winter session.

"Total productivity in Lok Sabha was 91 percent, more than any other winter session, while 56.29 percent in the Rajya Sabha.

He said the government was committed to passing the legislation, also opposed by various Muslim groups.

"The intention of the (Narendra) Modi government is clear. We want equality and respect for the Muslim women, and the Congress is opposing it. They have just shown their double standard.

The Congress hit back, saying BJP was responsible for the "impasse in Rajya Sabha" due to which triple talaq bill could not be discussed while alleging that the ruling party wanted to treat the Parliament as a "rubber stamp".

"They (BJP) are squarely responsible for this impasse in Rajya Sabha. For the first time, the Union Ministers and the MPs were seen standing in Rajya Sabha and stalling the House," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

(With Agency inputs)
By PTI: Mangaluru, Jan 6 (PTI) The family of Deepak Rao, theAHindu activist who was hacked to death near here onA January 3, has refused to accept Rs 5 lakh personal aidA offered by Congress MLA Mohiuddin Bava, family sources said.

Bava, who visited Raos family yesterday alongAwith Legislative Council Chief Whip Ivan DSouza, had to faceA criticism from the family for the alleged "secret operation" by the police in which the body was brought to the residence from the hospital.

advertisement

Bava represents Mangaluru North.

The MLA, who offered his condolences to Raos mother and members of his family, told them that he did not attend theAfuneral on the suggestion of the police in order to maintain law and order on the day of the funeral.

He also assured the family that he would do his bestA to get all the benefits from the government.

He alleged thatAthe Opposition BJP was trying to spread communal hatred ahead of the coming assembly polss.

Ivan DSouza also wanted the opposition to refrain from giving speeches instigating communal feelings for political gains.

Rao was hacked to death by four persons, all of whom were arrested within hours after the attack.

The BJP has blamed "jehadi forces" for the latest killing and accused the Siddaramaiah government of being "soft" towards them and claimed that, as a result, 22 Hindu activists have been murdered so far, a charge dismissed by the ruling Congress.PTI MVG RA BN

--- ENDS ---
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir government is set to launch a major welfare initiative for workers in the unorganised sector to provide them institutionalised socio- economic security.

The social security scheme would be launched by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh here on January 8.

Under the scheme, named "Muhafiz" (Guardian), around three lakh workers registered with the Jammu and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (JKBOCWWB) would be covered under accidental, life and disability insurance.

Their children would also be provided educational scholarships, Minister for Finance, Labour and Employment Haseeb Drabu said.

The scheme also envisages extending a micro credit facility to the workers and facilitating their registration through online and other modes, he said.

The total premium involved for these workers in the first instance would be about Rs 5 crore, Drabu said.

He said that the JKBOCWWB would be starting the credit facility with a limit of Rs 10,000 and the counter guarantee, which would be deposited by the board with the J&K Bank, would be about Rs 30 crore.

The board in the past three years has provided financial assistance of around Rs 275 crore to such workers under various components, including education, marriage, chronic diseases, the minister said.

Resources for socio-economic welfare of the workers would be generated through a cess levied under the Building and Other Construction Workers (RE&CS) Cess Act, he said.

The government is contemplating some more measures to ensure socio-economic security of workers in the unorganised sector, and facilitate them and their children to have adequate financial security, the minister said.

He said that the most labourers in the unorganised sector are from rural areas.

"In this sector wage-paid labour are largely non- unionised due to casual and seasonal nature of employment and scattered location of enterprises," Drabu said.

This sector was marked by low income, unstable and irregular employment, and lack of protection either from legislation or trade unions, the minister said.
NEW DELHI: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided and busted a sex racket operating out of a guest house in Kolkata's Burrabazar.

The raids were carried out by the police after a complaint from locals of flesh trade being carried out.

However, the accused Pramod Singhania escaped through a tunnel which he created to slip through during possibilities of police raids. Clothes were found covering the entrance of the wooden door of the tunnel.

As per police, the locals complained about an illegal sex racket being run by the owner of the building, Pramod Kumar Singhania, who is an alleged follower of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

One hidden tunnel was also found which police suspect the landlord used to escape from the scene.

As per the report, close to 25 wooden cabins of 10x10 dimension with beddings, wooden partitions were found in one of the floors o the residential building. The incident came to light on 25th December when locals spotted a couple in an objectionable position in one of the wooden cabins.

Angry locals then broke open the wooden cabins and confronted Singhania.

However, minutes before the police arrived, Singhania and other minor girls managed to escape from the tunnel.

"We went to the house and discovered that prostitution was being practised there. We also found minor boys and girls there. The landlord escaped through a secret tunnel after we got hold of him. Although it functioned as a guest house, it also floated flesh trade," a local said.

An enquiry revealed that Singhania had made some make-shift compartments in the premises and used to let these out to traders who came to Burrabazar for some business-related matters.

The police has registered the complaint and said an investigation was underway to nab the landlord and others involved.

Meanwhile, Singhania continues to be absconding.
BHOPAL: A day after five Delhi Public School (DPS) Indore students died in a road accident, police on Saturday arrested two people in connection with the incident.

The accident, which took place on Indore's Kanadia Road, also left the driver of the school bus dead, injuring eight other students and the conductor.

The incident happened when the DPS school bus carrying students collided with a truck.

Following this, the injured were rushed to Bombay Hospital and MY Hospital.

Offering condolence, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had ordered an inquiry into the matter and has sought a report within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the family of one of the students, identified as Kriti Agarwal, had donated her eyes and skin.
Mumbai: BrihanMumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has now come under the scanner for allegedly saying that he was under tremendous political pressure to "to go slow" on the probe into the devastating fire at two restro-bars in the Kamala Mills Compound on December 29 that killed 14.

Taking a serious note of the shocking disclosure made by the BMC commissioner, the Opposition parties on Saturday asked him to reveal who was pressurising him.

Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam lashed out at Mehta and challenged him to "reveal" and expose the politician who pressurised the civic body, ruled by the Shiv Sena.

Kamala Mills Compound fire: Here's what the probe report says

"Mehta should not talk like a politician, Don't make vague statements. Disclose the names of those who pressurised you to drag the probe," Nirupam said.

Nirupam, however, said that Mehta is responsible for the tragedy and he should be booked for it.

"I reiterate that he is responsible for the incident and must be booked for it," Nirupam was quoted as saying by the IANS.

He also asked the BMC chief to declare all the names of the owners of the 17-18 high-end pubs and bars functioning within the Kamala Mills Compound complex, which was the scene of the massive inferno last week that left another 55 injured.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande too demanded that Mehta should be made to undergo "narco-test" to get to the truth in the matter.

"Who called up Mehta to go slow on the action against illegal constructions in the Kamala Mills Compound - whether it's from the ruling (Shiv Sena) or the Opposition 'bhaiyyas' (Congress)," Deshpande asked.

Reacting to the issue, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, ''It has been days since Kamla Mills Fire incident but no arrest has been made till now. We need to see if there is any political pressure on the government (of Maharashtra) to not take action against the accused.''

However, BMC mayor has rejected all allegations and said that those found guilty will not be spared.

Mumbai: Whatever is illegal, whoever did wrong will be punished, no one will be spared. For us, life and safety of people is important: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar on contradictions between findings of police & BMC #KamalaMillsFire pic.twitter.com/7O4GdNwHpX  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

Stirring a controversy, Mehta late on Friday said that he was under pressure to go slow on the probe after Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) submitted its probe report into the pub blaze.

The MFB report has clearly confirmed that the blaze erupted in The Mojo's Bistro and quickly spread to the adjacent '1Above' and other premises, trapping an estimated 400-500 people present there that fateful night.

The BMC chief Mehta will submit the report to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis next week and it effectively corroborates the oft-made contentions of '1Above' pub in the matter that the cause of fire was in 'The Mojo's Bistro', which the latter has countered.

The Mumbai Police, which is investigating the tragic case, is likely to add more names to the list of accused in the FIRs filed in connection with the case.

According to ANI, the Mumbai Police is planning to include more names in the FIRs after it came to light the flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills Compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29.

More names to be added in FIR; 1 lakh reward for info on pub owners

The Mumbai Police is also mulling addition of some new sections of the Indian Penal Code against those accused in the case, said ANI.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary investigation report, had said that the fire probably started at Mojo's and spread to the adjacent rooftop pub "1 Above".

Inquiry Committee report, which was submitted to the Municipal Commissioner, concluded that fire started from the pub 'Mojo's Bistro' and not from '1Above' as believed earlier.

Most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation, the Mumbai Police had said earlier.

"It was revealed from most of the eyewitnesses that hookah was served at Mojo's restaurant at the time of fire... There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire," the report stated.

The report has clarified that none of the two restaurants - Mojo's and 1 Above - had permissions to serve liquor and hookah but still they served them.

Although there was an emergency exit, the pub staff seemed to be unaware of it, it said. Beer kegs near the exit path also blocked the escape and the kegs eventually exploded and escalated the fire, the report said.

Use of bamboo and cloth to make the roof led to the quick spreading of the fire, while wind velocity and direction were the major contributors too, it said.

Rs 1 lakh reward for info on pub owners

Mumbai Police has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to those providing information about the whereabouts of the owners of '1 Above' pub in the Kamala Mills Compound.

The pub owners, Kripesh Mansukhlal Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, have been absconding ever since a fire claimed 14 lives and injured over 30 others on December 29.

Also, posters of Sanghvi brothers, owners of '1 Above' restaurant and accused in Kamala Mills Fire Compound, have been pasted on their residential building gate in Mazgaon.

An offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304, 337, 338, 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the three at the NM Joshi Marg Police Station following the incident.

A senior Mumbai Police official said that police teams were trying to track the three and a lookout notice had also been issued.

(With PTI inputs)
Mumbai: The Mumbai Police, which is investigating the tragic fire at two restro-bars in Kamala Mills Compound on December 29, is likely to add more names to the list of accused in the FIRs filed in connection with the case.

According to ANI, the Mumbai Police is planning to include more names in the FIRs after it came to light the flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills Compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29.

Kamala Mills Compound fire: Here's what the probe report says

The Mumbai Police is also mulling addition of some new sections of the Indian Penal Code against those accused in the case, said ANI.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade, in its preliminary investigation report, had said that the fire probably started at Mojo's and spread to the adjacent rooftop pub "1 Above".

Inquiry Committee report, which was submitted to the Municipal Commissioner, concluded that fire started from the pub 'Mojo's Bistro' and not from '1Above' as believed earlier.

Most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation, the Mumbai Police had said earlier.

"It was revealed from most of the eyewitnesses that hookah was served at Mojo's restaurant at the time of fire... There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire," the report stated.

The report has clarified that none of the two restaurants - Mojo's and 1 Above - had permissions to serve liquor and hookah but still they served them.

Although there was an emergency exit, the pub staff seemed to be unaware of it, it said.

Beer kegs near the exit path also blocked the escape and the kegs eventually exploded and escalated the fire, the report said.

Use of bamboo and cloth to make the roof led to the quick spreading of the fire, while wind velocity and direction were the major contributors too, it said.

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the action against illegal alterations and constructions at commercial establishments will continue.

"We will start taking action across the city against all commercial restaurants and pubs and those who have illegal alterations. They have respite for 15 days so that they have time to remove the illegal constructions on their own without damaging their reputation," he said.

Rs 1 lakh reward for info on pub owners

Mumbai Police has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to those providing information about the whereabouts of the owners of '1 Above' pub in the Kamala Mills Compound.

The pub owners, Kripesh Mansukhlal Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, have been absconding ever since a fire claimed 14 lives and injured over 30 others on December 29.

Also, posters of Sanghvi brothers, owners of '1 Above' restaurant and accused in Kamala Mills Fire Compound, have been pasted on their residential building gate in Mazgaon.

Mumbai: Wanted posters of Sanghvi brothers, owners of '1 Above' restaurant & accused in #KamalaMillsFire, pasted on their residential building gate in Mazgaon pic.twitter.com/01U4PODjdg  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

An offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304, 337, 338, 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the three at the NM Joshi Marg Police Station following the incident.

A senior Mumbai Police official said that police teams were trying to track the three and a lookout notice had also been issued.

(With PTI inputs)
MUMBAI: One of the owners of Mojo's Bistro pub - Yug Pathak - has been arrested by the police on Saturday in the Kamala mills fire tragedy.

The other owner of the pub is yet to be arrested.

Earlier today, the Mumbai Police had booked two owners of the pub for culpable homicide.

The development came a day after authorities announced a reward to whosoever provides information about the whereabouts of three owners of 1Above pub in the Kamala Mills Compound  Kripesh Mansukhlal Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar. The trio is still absconding. A lookout notice has been issued against them.

On December 29, a deadly fire in Kamala Mills Compound claimed 14 lives and injured several others.

Mumbai's fire department in its report said that a lit charcoal used in a hookah at Mojo's Bistro Restaurant caused the blaze, which then spread to '1Above' pub.

The department further claimed that Mojo's Bistro pub could not produce the required documents required to run a pub.

On Monday, the police arrested two managers '1Above' pub - Kevin Bawa and Libson Lopez.

An offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304, 337, 338, 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the three '1Above' at the NM Joshi Marg police station following the incident.
Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today said the CBI court at Ranchi, by sentencing Lalu Prasad to jail in a fodder scam case, had upheld the charges he and others had levelled against the RJD supremo before the Patna High Court.

The senior BJP leader also rubbished the "conspiracy" allegation levelled by the RJD against his party in connection with Prasad's conviction by the court.

"In the PIL filed in the Patna High Court, Shivanand Tiwary, Lalan Singh and I had levelled the charges against Lalu Prasad with solid evidence. By awarding punishment to him, the court has upheld our charges," Modi said here in a statement.

The Patna High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the Rs 900-crore fodder scam in 1996. Among Modi's co-petitioners, Tiwary is now with the RJD while Singh is with Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

Modi also came down heavily on the RJD leaders for alleging that Prasad was a victim of conspiracy and vendetta politics, saying, "They should recall the political affiliations of former Bihar governor A R Kidwai, the then prime minister H D Deve Gowda and the then joint director of CBI U N Biswas."

"Kidwai, who gave the permission to lodge cases, was a staunch Congressman. Gowda owed his rise to the prime minister's position to Prasad's support. And Biswas, who took the investigation to its logical conclusion as a CBI officer, is now a senior leader of the Trinamool Congress," he added.

"When Prasad went to jail for the first time, his wife Rabri Devi was the chief minister. Who was conspiring against him at that time?" the BJP leader asked.

Prasad's wife was sworn-in as the chief minister, following the RJD chief's resignation from the post in 1997 when he had to step down in the wake of the CBI filing a chargesheet against him in the fodder scam case.

Modi also accused Prasad of having "come to power in the name of the poor" and later, betraying their trust by "looting public money" and added that "the judgment is a lesson for all those who try to justify their criminal acts by talking about the backwards, Dalits and minorities".
PATNA: Hours after a special CBI court sentenced Lalu Prasad Yadav to 3.5 years in prison in relation to the fodder scam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief took to Twitter to share his thoughts about the whole episode in an open letter.

In the letter, written in Hindi, Lalu says his conviction does not make him scared and that he'd never compromise with political ideologies of secularism and rights for Dalits and backward classes.

                   .. pic.twitter.com/PMTrOU8GB8  Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

The letter launches a scathing attack on BJP, RSS and 'Manuvadis'.

In a separate tweet, he accuses BJP of resorting to 'black magic' and 'witchcraft':

-  -                       ,      -     



    ??  Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

Rather than practising BJPs Simple Rule  Follow us or We will Fix you. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality, another tweet said.

Earlier today, the RJD supremo was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh by the special CBI court in the fodder scam case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury 21 years ago.

On December 23, Lalu had said that his Twitter handle will be operated by his office in consultation with his family while he's in jail.

Reacting to the sentencing, Lalu's family and party members hit out BJP and Janata Dal (United).

Lalu's younger son and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said they would appeal to the High Court countering the judgement.

"Lalu is not the name of a person but of an ideology. We, his followers, will not be cowed down," said Tejashwi.

He later tweeted:

Thank you very much Nitish Kumar  Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) January 6, 2018

Lalu's daughter also took to Twitter, questioning if Dalits and backward classes want justice.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Congress asserted that the RJD supremo's conviction will not have any impact on the party's ties with the RJD in the state.

"The special court's judgement to convict and sentence Lalu Prasad will not have impact on forces fighting for secularism and social justice. Congress-RJD alliance will continue in Bihar," Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee acting president Kaukab Qadri said.
New York: An international ban on ozone-destroying chlorine that contains manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) has led to less ozone depletion, NASA scientists have reported.



CFCs are long-living chemical compounds that eventually rise into the stratosphere, where they are broken apart by the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, releasing chlorine atoms that then go on to destroy ozone molecules.



"We see very clearly that chlorine from CFCs is going down in the ozone hole, and that less ozone depletion is occurring because of it," said lead author Susan Strahan, an atmospheric scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland.



The ban on the CFCs resulted in about 20 per cent less ozone depletion during the Antarctic winter from 2005 to 2016, while chlorine levels declined by an average 0.8 per cent annually, the scientists said.



Stratospheric ozone protects life on the planet by absorbing potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts, suppress immune systems and damage plant life.



The Antarctic ozone hole forms during September in the Southern Hemisphere's winter as the returning sun's rays catalyse ozone destruction cycles involving chlorine and bromine that come primarily from CFCs.



The change in ozone levels above Antarctica from the beginning to the end of southern winter -- early July to mid-September -- was computed daily from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite every year from 2005 to 2016.



When ozone destruction is ongoing, chlorine is found in many molecular forms, most of which are not measured. But after chlorine has destroyed nearly all the available ozone, it reacts instead with methane to form hydrochloric acid -- a gas measured by MLS.



The Antarctic ozone hole should continue to recover gradually as CFCs leave the atmosphere, but complete recovery will take decades, the researchers said, in the paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.



"CFCs have lifetimes from 50 to 100 years, so they linger in the atmosphere for a very long time," said Anne Douglass, a fellow atmospheric scientist at the Goddard Centre.



"As far as the ozone hole being gone, we're looking at 2060 or 2080. And even then there might still be a small hole."
Chennai: Scores of commuters have been left stranded in various parts of Tamil Nadu as the indefinite strike called by the transport workers' unions continued for the third day on Saturday.

Drivers and conductors of various state transport corporations are on strike demanding wage hike among other things.

The state government has appealed to the agitating members of the transport workers' unions to return to work.

''I appeal to employees to come back for duty. The honourable court has also asked them to come back. As compared to yesterday, more staff have reported for work today, we are also employing private drivers,'' MR Vijayabhaskar, the state Transport Minister said.

''The situation will improve soon,'' he added.

Appeal to employees to come back for duty, honorable court has also asked them to come back. As compared to y'day, more staff have reported for work today, we are also employing private drivers, situation will improve soon: MR Vijayabhaskar, TN Transport Minister on #BusStrike pic.twitter.com/Sx6IlPOeyB  ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2018

A large number of people were seen queued up waiting for the private buses at the different bus stops.

The strike began after the talks on wage revision and clearance of pending dues with Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar failed.

The members of the transport workers' unions began their indefinite strike from Thursday.

The workers of the transport department have been demanding for a pay scale revision to Rs 30,000.

However, the government has agreed to pay only Rs 24,400.

(With ANI inputs)
Many fans are going gaga over the tweet as the leader of another country has called their idol 'Thalaiva'.

By India Today Web Desk: Rajinikanth has a huge fan following throughout the world - especially in Malaysia, Japan, and Singapore. His bond with Malaysia grew stronger during his time in the country for the shooting of the film Kaala.

Now, the actor is currently in Malaysia for the film carnival, Natchathira Vizha, organised by the South Indian Artistes Association. The event is a fundraiser to construct a building for the association.

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During his stay, Rajinikanth met the Prime Minister of the country, Mohd Najib Tun Razak, who shared a picture of them both on his official Twitter handle. He also called him Thalaiva in the tweet and the fans cannot stop raving about it.

Here is the picture:

It was great to meet Thalaiva @superstarrajini again today, this time in Malaysia. Enjoy your time here! pic.twitter.com/2rjzEfJoIR- Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) January 5, 2018

Many fans are going gaga over the tweet as a leader of another country has called their idol 'Thalaiva'.

The superstar recently announced his political entry and has said he will soon come up with a party, and contest in all 234 constituencies during the 2019 Tamil Nadu election.

On the work front, Rajinikanth is awaiting the release of 2.0. The film is set to hit the screens in April. He also has another film with Pa Ranjith in the pipeline - Kaala.

ALSO WATCH: After announcing political entry, Rajinikanth launches website, party logo

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: The controversial reality game show Bigg Boss 11 is just a few days away from the grand finale and the excitement is only palpable.

The remaining six contestantsVikas Gupta, Shilpa Shinde, Hina Khan, Luv Tyagi, Puneesh Sharma and Akash Dadlani are already feeling the heat.

The nominated four inmatesVikas, Shilpa, Hina and Luv are told by Bigg Boss about the golden opportunity of going to a mall in Mumbai and meeting their fans who would then and there live vote for the favourite one.

But before that, the nominated contestants are asked to debate one by one and answer the volley of questions thrown at them by other inmates. We see how a fight ensues between friends Luv and Hina, where Vikas tries to play the peacemaker but with no success.

The nominated four are then taken to a Mumbai mall and what they witness there was sheer madness. Fan frenzy took over the place where a huge crowd gathered cheering and shouting their favourite ones name.

Vikas, Shilpa, Hina and Luv were safely escorted to the huge cage set up from where they could see and meet their crazy fan army. The crowd went literally berserk and the contestants had to be escorted out of the mall and the ballet voting took place after they left.

Once the inmates came back to the Bigg Boss 11 house, they narrated the amazing experience with Puneesh and Akash who were locked inside the house while others went out.

Then the Bigg Boss calls the four nominated contestants inside the confession room and tells them about the secret ballot voting boxinside which rested the fate of one inmate.

The eviction will take place tomorrow on Salman Khans Weekend Ka Vaar episode.

Keep reading this space for regular updates on Bigg Boss 11.
MEERUT: A woman from Meerut has alleged that she was abducted by her neighbour on gun-point who along with his relatives gang-raped her.

The victim, who is married, has alleged that her neighbour used to stalk and eve-tease her due to which their families had a tiff as well.

"Whenever I used to go to the market, my neighbour used to stalk and eve-tease me. I told his parents as well. Our families had a huge argument and he was beaten up by my family as well, but he did not listen," the victim said.

On the day of the incident, the victim claims, when she had to gone to drop off her children to their tuition classes, "he was waiting outside and abducted me at gunpoint. He took me to an unknown place. I was held captive for seven days and raped by them.

"The victim further alleges that she had complained about the stalking earlier but nothing was done by the police.

"When I went to them after the abduction, they did not file my complaint against them again," she added.However, Meerut`s Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Kumar said that the woman was brainwashed by the neighbour into eloping with him.

"We received the information about a case yesterday, where the husband of a woman said that a man, who is their neighbour, brainwashed his wife into eloping with him and dropped her home after three-four days. The woman alleges she was raped by the man and his relatives," SP Kumar told ANI.

He added that while a case was already registered against the neighbour, the probe is on into the matter.
Beijing: After Djibouti, China is planning to build its second foreign naval base in Pakistan, according to a South China Morning Post report.

The base is most likely to come up near Gwadar, according to Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming.

"China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port," the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted Chenming as saying.

"It's a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services," Chenming further told the SCMP.

Another source, which is close to the People's Liberation Army, has also confirmed the development.

"Gwadar port can't provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support," the source told the SCMP.

The SCMP story came after a report, which appeared on the Washington-based website The Daily Caller, a few days ago indicated the same.

US Army Reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin (retired) had stated that a consensus was reached in one of the meetings between Chinese and Pakistani military officers that a military base would come up on the Jiwani peninsula near Gwadar and close to the Iranian border.
NEW DELHI: As the presence of Chinese soldiers on Pakistani soil continues to grow, Islamabad is taking Beijing's help to rapidly ramp up its military infrastructure along its border with India along Rajasthan. Infrastructure works done for the Pakistani Army by the Chinese include the upgrade of a forward airbase, more than 350 stone bunkers, border outposts and road network.

Zee Media has visuals that suggest at least 350 stone bunkers have already been built on the sly. The construction sites have been camouflaged to reduce their visibility. The construction activity has also not been formally conveyed to the Indian side by the Pakistani security forces at their regular flag meetings.

The expansion of the road network, along with bunkers and canals in the border areas underscores Pakistan's paranoia over preventing a crushing conventional rout at the hands of Indian forces in the event of war.

Pakistan's Khairpur air force base has seen an uptick in the presence of Chinese troops over the past few months. The upgrade and expansion works at Khairpur, combined with the three other airstrips that are being built close to the India border.

Pakistan has said the airstrips and other infrastructure are meant to make it easier for the Chinese to transport the oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. The rationale provided says shipping the resources through Karachi is inconvenient due to congestion and distance.

The Khairpur air force base is just 25 km from the border with India.

China's infrastructure benevolence towards Pakistan in the region comes over speculation that Chinese companies have discovered significant oil deposits along the border in the Sindh Province.

Part of the justification for the rising presence of Chinese security personnel on Pakistani soil has centred around the threats to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Chinese citizens working on the projects. A number of attacks have been targeted at Chinese workers.
NEW DELHI: Under pressure from the United States, Pakistan on Saturday blacklisted terror outfit Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), headed by 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

The move comes days after the United States blocked $255 million military aid to Pakistan. The White House had also accused Pakistan of resorting to lies and deceit and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for $33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry also banned Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a subsidiary of JuD, and 70 other groups.

The ministry declared that aiding and abetting any of the mentioned blacklisted organisations, financially or otherwise would also be considered a crime, said a report in daily the Pakistan Today.

People should avoid giving them charity, and should instead report any suspicious activities on 1717, read a release issued by Pakistan Interior Ministry.

Islamabad police have so far registered three First Information Reports (FIRs) against those putting up FIF banners in the capital.

Earlier, an article published in the Pakistsn's leading daily Dawn claimed that bringing JuD into mainstream politics is against country's interests

'Pakistan appears to be making an effort of main-streaming various organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation politically in the hope of reining in their militant activities,' read the report.

Meanwhile, Saeed has gone ahead and opened the first political office of Milli Muslim League (MML) in Lahore district last week, ignoring all warnings from the Pakistan government.

Saeed, the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and chief of JuD, was freed by a Pakistan court after being under house arrest for 297 days. His release was met with global outcry, with the United States asking the Pakistan government to immediately re-arrest and prosecute him.
ALASKA: A United Airlines flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Alaska due to a crappy situation created by a passenger on board. On the Chicago-to-Hong Kong flight, a passenger smeared feces all over both the washrooms of the plane forcing crew members to ask for an unscheduled landing for maintenance.

As per reports, he also removed his shirt and tried to push it into a toilet.

The plane which was forced to land for thorough cleaning had to be ultimately canceled due to "operational difficulties".

The FBI agents and Alaska's Ted Stevens International Airport police questioned the passenger about the incident on the Boeing 777. He reportedly cooperated when he was quizzed upon landing.

"The man spread human waste in the lavatories before the flight was diverted to Anchorage," airport police Lt. Joe Gamache said.

He has not been arrested but sent to Providence Hospital for a mental health assessment. The passenger was shirtless when police officials met the flight in Alaska.

The man was carrying a Vietnamese passport and had a US permanent resident card. Police said that most of what the man said was unintelligible or did not make sense.

Other passengers were provided hotel accommodations while the Airline was working to get customers to their destinations 'as quickly as possible'. United Airlines spokesman Charlie Hobart said 245 passengers were on the flight.
Yangon division: Two Myanmar security officers and a driver were wounded by Rohingya rebels who ambushed their vehicle in northern Rakhine state, the army said Saturday, the first apparent insurgent attack to hit the violence-scarred region in weeks.

Rakhine was plunged into crisis last August after a series of militant raids that killed at least a dozen officials prompted a brutal military crackdown that sent some 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh.

While the army insists it only targeted Rohingya rebels, the UN has accused Myanmar troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the persecuted minority.

The insurgents, known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), have launched few attacks since the sweeping military reprisal sparked the mass exodus.

But on Friday morning, "about ten" Rohingya militants ambushed a car travelling through northern Rakhine state with hand-made mines and gunfire, the army chief`s office said in a statement.

"Two security personnel and a driver were injured," it said. "Security members shot back at them and the terrorists retreated."

Myanmar`s military, which denies carrying out any abuses against the Rohingya, has tightly controlled access to northern Rakhine by blocking independent reporting trips and a UN fact-finding mission.

The refugees massing in Bangladesh, however, have told consistent accounts of being driven from their homes by soldiers in a campaign of murder, mass rape and arson.

Any uptick in violence or fresh build-up of troops in Rakhine will deepen concerns about plans to begin repatriating refugees later this month.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement in November allowing for repatriations from January 23.

But many aid groups and diplomats have expressed doubt that fearful Rohingya will agree to return.

The Rohingya have been the target of decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which does not recognise the group as a genuine ethnicity and has stripped them of citizenship.
Washington: The US is keeping "all options" on the table apart from suspending about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan to put pressure on it to take decisive action against the Taliban and the Haqqani network and eliminate their safe havens, the White House warned.

The US had on Thursday suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan over its failure to crack down on terrorists.

The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after President Donald Trump in a New Year's Day tweet accused the country of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.

"The US does have a range of tools that we're looking at beyond just the security assistance issue to deal with Pakistan and to try to convince it to crack down on the Taliban and Haqqani network," a senior Trump administration official told reporters.

"Certainly no one should doubt the US resolve to address this threat and all options I would say will be on the table," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The suspended amount includes USD 255 million in the Foreign Military Funding (FMF) for the fiscal year 2016 as mandated by Congress.

It also includes USD 900 million in the Coalition Support Funds (CSF) money to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2017. In addition, the Department of Defence has suspended other unspent money from previous fiscal years.

While some policy makers have been asking the White House to revoke the non-NATO ally status of Pakistan and put pressure on the country through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, Pentagon generals have indicated unilateral actions.

However, the official refrained from divulging any of the options that the administration is considering against Pakistan.

"I'm not able to comment on specific steps at this time. But nobody should doubt our resolve in trying to address these threats. We're looking at all options. We hope that we can cooperate with Pakistan. But we do have options that we're considering," the official said.

The US wants action against the existing safe havens of the Taliban and the Haqqani network and demolish its ability to carry out strikes across the border in Afghanistan, the Official said and expressed hope that Pakistan would take actions that the US was seeking.

"....That will allow the relationship to return to a more positive trajectory," the official said.

In August, while unveiling his new South Asia strategy, 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's new policy, the official said, is driven by his desire to have a successful strategy in Afghanistan.

"We firmly believe that for the future of the region, Pakistan needs to crack down on these terrorist elements. Unless they take a comprehensive approach to the terrorism problem it is going to threaten US interests and everybody's interests including Pakistan?s," the official said.

He said the announcement of the suspension of the security assistance to Pakistan clearly reflected the US' frustration over Pakistan's failure to crack down on all terrorists who find shelter on its territory.

"There has been ample time for Pakistan to show it is taking our request seriously. Unfortunately, we have not seen the kind of meaningful action that we were seeking," the White House official rued.

Responding to a question, the official said US has "a number of tools in its toolkit" and can "take unilateral" steps.

But at this time, the US prefers to cooperate with Pakistan and is hopeful about it, the official said.

"And we want to indicate Pakistan our seriousness about the issue of dealing with safe havens," the official said.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the US would restore the suspended security assistance to Pakistan if it takes action against terrorist groups.

"We would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us," Mattis told reporters.

The US is still working with Pakistan, he said, but refrained from going into details.

"The specific individual things we're doing are best handled in private, to ensure that we can be most productive. And that's what we're working now," he said.

Mattis had travelled to Pakistan last month for talks with the top Pakistani leadership.

"There's a campaign plan now that starts regionally. So we started thinking about India and Pakistan and Afghanistan. We reinforced some of our forces there, because we found some forces didn't have the American advisers they needed, and the ones with advisers seemed to always win. The ones without them did not fare so well," he said.

The New York Times said Pakistan had played a double game by accepting American funding while backing militants who protect Pakistani interests in Afghanistan and Kashmir, but Trump administration cannot afford to walk away from the country.

"Mr Trump is not the first to call a spade a spade...But President Trump cannot afford to walk away from Pakistan, which has often provided vital intelligence and has the world's fastest-growing nuclear arsenal. Whether Pakistan will cooperate after the aid freeze remains to be seen," the paper said.

"...President Trump's bombast and the precipitous way the decision seems to have been made have led to doubts that Mr Trump has a serious plan for managing the ramifications of this move," New York Times said.


By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked collectors and officers-in-charge of 115 backward districts to come up with pioneering innovations to achieve visible results for development by April 14, the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar.

Addressing a conference on Transformation of Aspirational Districts at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre here, Modi said the governments schemes should match the aspirations of people.

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"The collectors of the 115 aspirational districts have the opportunity to earn lasting satisfaction by delivering on development objectives," the Prime Minister said.

The officials concerned should focus on "low hanging" fruits to show results and create an atmosphere of optimism and positivity, he said, adding success stories are needed to change the psyche of people.

"On April 14, we celebrate the jayanti of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Let us devote these coming three months to pioneering innovation in the less developed districts and transform the lives of the poor," he said.

Calling for a concerted effort to achieve visible results in three months, Modi said he would like to personally visit one such well-performing district in April, adding those 115 districts could become "the foundation for developing New India".

He also said that relative backwardness of some regions is an injustice to the people of those areas.

Modi added that this effort to develop 115 backward districts is in keeping with the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar who worked for the upliftment of the under-privileged.

Reiterating that the development of backward districts is imperative, the Prime Minister said that regional imbalances should not be allowed to increase indefinitely.

Asking the officials to adopt a positive attitude, he said success stories are vital to change the negative psyche and mindset in these areas.

The Prime Minister observed that top-down solutions do not yield results.

He also interacted with collectors and officials in charge of transformation of the districts.

Stressing that all round and inclusive development is essential, the Prime Minister said that even in the states with strong development indicators there would be areas which would need greater push.

"Once the people of India decide to do something, nothing is impossible," he said, and citied the example of millions of Jan Dhan accounts opened in a record time.

He further said that the system and officials showed that "it is possible to electrify villages at a record pace and it is possible to build toilets in our cities as well as villages at historic speed".

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The event was organised keeping in view Modis vision of creating a New India by 2022.

The Centre has embarked upon a major policy initiative for rapid transformation of districts that are lagging on specific development parameters.

Senior government officials of the rank of additional secretary and joint secretary have been designated as officers in-charge to coordinate the efforts of the Centre and states in addressing the specific developmental needs of these districts.

Six groups of officers made presentations on the themes of nutrition, education, basic infrastructure, agriculture and water resources, eradication of Left wing extremism and financial inclusion and skill development. PTI BKS NKD CS RKL ABM

--- ENDS ---
Leonardo is pleased to announce that the State Border Guard of Latvia has signed a contract for two AW119Kx single engine helicopters plus option for an additional unit, customised configuration and aircrew/maintenance technician training services.

The aircraft will be delivered from the Companys facility in Philadelphia in 2019 and will perform a wide range of missions including search and rescue (SAR), transport, firefighting and disaster relief; replacing two ageing AB206B JetRangers.



This order marks a further expansion of the State Border Guards fleet of Leonardo helicopters, adding to two AW109 Power light twins which have been successfully in service for the last ten years. The AW119Kx was chosen following a thorough assessment of competing types within the framework of the Ministry of the Interiors helicopter fleet modernisation programme. The combination of AW109 Power and AW119Kx helicopters will boost the State Border Guards mission capabilities and versatility for round-the-clock day/night operations.



The AW119Kx is a best in class single engine helicopter featuring a state-of-the-art avionics system for enhanced situational awareness, mission effectiveness and safety. The AW119Kx has a large cabin able to accommodate up to six passengers and redundancy of all critical systems that are typically available on twin engine aircraft, ensuring outstanding safety.



Nearly 300 AW119 helicopters have been ordered to date in almost 40 countries by over 120 customers.
The Art of Christmas: New Mexico Style

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!)
Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens.
Heated debate took place on the floor of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York after its 15 members were gathered at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran.

By PTI, Press Trust of India: "The world will be watching what you do," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has warned Iran during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in the Islamic nation which has faced a series of nationwide anti-government protests.

During the meeting, three members France, Russia and China of the permanent five, joined Iran in asserting that this 15-membered body was not an appropriate forum to discuss the current situation in Iran as it does not pose any threat to international peace and security.

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Heated debate took place on the floor of the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York after its 15 members were gathered at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran.

"The people of Iran are rising up. They are asking for something that no government can legitimately deny them: their human rights and fundamental freedoms. They are calling out, Think of us. If the founding principles of this institution mean anything, we will not only hear their cry, we will finally answer it. The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do," Haley told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

The meeting of the UN Security Council was convened at the request of the US to discuss the current situation in Iran, where some 21 people have lost their lives in more than week-long anti-government protests across the country.

TRUMP'S SUPPORT FOR PROTESTORS

US President Donald Trump has come out in support of the protestors.

Every UN member state is sovereign, but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms, Haley said.

She called on all of her other colleagues in the Security Council to join her in amplifying the message of the Iranian people.

"And I call on the Government of Iran to stop censoring the voice of the people and to restore the access to the internet. Because in the end, the Iranian people will determine their own destiny," she said.

"And let there be no doubt whatsoever: The US stands unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call the protestors, puppets of foreign powers, will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth," Haley said.

Briefing the Security Council, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said the demonstrations taking place in Iran were a fundamental expression of human rights, and a powerful exhibition of brave people who were so fed up with their oppressive regime that they were willing to risk their lives in protest.

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IRANIAN REGIME'S CONTEMPT

The Iranian regime's contempt of the rights of its people had been widely documented, she said.

Addressing the Security Council, the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Gholamali Khoshoroo slammed the 15-membered body to have allowed itself to be abused by the Trump Administration in holding a meeting that falls outside the scope of its mandate.

This is a mistake by the Security Council, he said.

"This is nothing but another desperate attempt by the US administration to escape, as it has lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world," he said.

There is a long history of US bullying at the UN, and the case of the Iranian protest was a preposterous example of interference in the purely internal affairs of a nation.

Khoshoroo alleged that the US has a long history of intervening in the internal affairs of Iran, including a continuous pattern of disruption in the democratisation process in Iran.

British Ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, refuted the Iranian allegations and said that no one is forcing Iran onto their agenda.

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"The Security Council is perfectly empowered through Article 34 of the UN Charter, and I quote, to investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security," he said.

US ABUSING PLATFORM

However, the Russian representative Vassily A Nebenzia agreed with Iran and said US is abusing the platform of the Security Council.

Iran should be allowed to deal with its own problems, he said asserting that the Council should not be involved in destabilising Iran.

"Following the current logic, it should have held a meeting after the events in Ferguson, Missouri. History is full of attempts to replace undesirable regimes, but people preferred not to remember that. The real reason to convene the meeting is a veiled attempt to use the current moment to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," he said.

Observing that the Councils primary responsibility is maintaining international peace and security, Wu Haito of China said that it should not be the venue for discussing the human rights situation of any country.

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"The Iranian situation did not pose a threat to international peace and security, and discussing its domestic situation is not part of the Councils responsibilities as outlined in the Charter," he said.

Joining Iran, Russia and China, the French Representative to the UN, Francois Delattre it is up to the Iranians alone to pursue the path of peace.

"However worrying the recent events were, they did not constitute a threat to international peace and security. Change in Iran would not come from the outside, it would come from the Iranian people themselves," he added.

Among the non-permanent members, representatives from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia sided with the Iranian argument that the Council was not the forum to discuss the current situation in Iran.

The meeting was chaired by Kairat Umarov, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UN. Speaking in his national capacity, he said his country considered the developments in Iran to be a domestic issue that did not fall under the mandate of the Security Council.

--- ENDS ---
LONDON, UKJust two weeks after her top deputy was hounded from office over a porn-at-work scandal, British Prime Minister Theresa May faces more pressure over another political appointee with a porn connection in his background. Education officials in the United Kingdom are demanding that May remove right-wing journalist Toby Young, a self-described porn addict, from his position on a national education oversight board.

On December 20, U.K. First Secretary of State Damian Green, a longtime friend and political ally of Mays, resigned after admitting that he had made false statements to May and others about porn on his government computer.

This week, though, Young joined the 15-member Office for Students, a governmental committee designed to insure that British students receive value for money in their educations. But May immediately heard protests from education professionals over what they called Youngs history of sexist and otherwise offensive writings and remarks.

Young, an editor and columnist at Britains venerable conservative Spectator magazine, is perhaps best known as the author of the 2001 memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which became a movie of the same title in 2008, starring popular British comic actor Simon Pegg as Young.

But also in 2001, Young published an article in The Spectator titled Confessions of a Porn Addict, in which he boasted of watching several thousand porn films, including the groundbreaking 1972 classic Deep Throat several times.

In the article, Young praised women who appear in porn films as completely liberated beings.

But Young has also made a series of crude remarks about women that have sparked the protests against his appointment to the U.K. education oversight board.

For example, on his Twitter account, he repeatedly remarked on the size of Top Chef host Padma Lakshmis breasts, and claimed that during photo shoot with Lakshmi, he had his dick up her arse. Young was a judge on two seasons of the cooking competition program.

He made a similar comment on Twitter about British TV presenter Claudia Winkelman, writing, What happened to Winkelmans breasts? Put on some weight, girlie.

In addition to his comments about women, Young has also made remarks in support of eugenics, and ridiculed people with disabilities.

Young has called his previous comments sophomoric and politically incorrect and reportedly deleted thousands of postings from his Twitter feed this week.

Britains National Education Union, which represents about 500,000 British teachers, wrote a letter to the U.K. education secretary calling Young sexist and homophobic.

It is surprising, given the very public nature of these comments, that [Young] was not ruled out as an unacceptable appointee in the first place. The general public would not expect politicians or teachers to hold these views and the same standards should apply to members of this important new body, wrote union leaders Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney.

Though a staunch conservative, Toby Young is the son of British sociologist and political reformer Michael Young (aka Lord Young of Dartington), who was a key Labor Party figure and a leading force in creating Britains post-World War II welfare state, and who is also known for coining the term meritocracy.

Pictured: Toby Young on the set of How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
PENNSAUKEN, N.J.Adult distributor Williams Trading Co. has relaunched Williams Trading University, its successful e-learning platform.

WTU officially relaunched with a newly created Sex Ed with Sunny channel for all adult wholesale dealers. This complete channel is live and available today for all brick-and-mortar dealers to be trained with Sunny Rodgers, certified clinical sexologist. This platform can be accessed with a PC, iPad, Android phone or any tablet 24/7. The channel is presented by Pipedream Products.

I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of William Trading Co.s renown e-learning program, said Sunny Rodgers. I truly believe that the information and education their program imparts is extremely valuable on many different levels and I am honored to be able to share my knowledge with their many online users.

This new custom e-learning channel features 10 free e-learning courses from Pipedreams Sunny Rodgers, their resident sexologist. This collaboration with Pipedream Products includes courses covering the following topics: Clitoral Stimulation with Jimmyjanes Form 2 and Ascend 2, Male Masturbation with PDX Elite Masturbators, Painful Sex, Prostate Toys, Pussy Pumps, Sex Without an Erection, Taking Care of your Pelvic Floor, Travel Tips, and Vibrating Cock Rings. You can view the complete Sex Ed with Sunny e-learning channel at WTULearn.com.

As an added benefit to this custom e-learning course, upon dealer certification of each course, a special one-time digital discount coupon is extended to the wholesale dealer for use on the next Pipedream Products order. We are the first e-learning platform within the adult channel, and now we are further enhancing this valuable resource by offering a one-time discount to all participants who earn a certification, said Scott D., sales and marketing director.

WTU is a free e-learning program available exclusively to existing and new Williams Trading Co. accounts. Online courses are available 24 hours/7 days per week accessed with a simple login account. Each course offers product benefits and features as well as a seminar that explains its importance to a customer, their needs, and well-being. To date, more than 60,000 course certifications have been completed across the domestic U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Upon completing a course, the user takes a quiz certifying their new found knowledge and is rewarded with a downloadable certificate. Free premiums, samples, and special offers are being offered by select participating vendors. This feature is an added benefit to the retailer as their employees can try a product, become a consumer and ultimately recommend it to their customers.

Williams Trading Co. is a full line adult wholesale Distributor with more than 40 years of excellence in the industry, carrying over 20,000 different items; with new products added weekly. Check out WilliamsTradingCo.com for its simple and effective online ordering system, backed by a knowledgeable sales staff.
News / Health

by Staff Reporter

THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has released $7.6 million to the Health Development Fund (HDF) to purchase essential medicines and equipment for Government health institutions countrywide.Managed by Unicef, the HDF has been the primary means through which donors have channelled their financial contributions to Zimbabwe's health sector.The Government's contribution comes from the recently-introduced Health Fund Levy through which five percent of the duty charged on airtime is ring-fenced to improve access to quality health care for all Zimbabweans.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Gerald Gwinji, said the Government appreciates support rendered by development partners to the country's health system."As Government of Zimbabwe we appreciate the continued support and contribution that development partners have made to the health sector through the HDF. They have asked us as Government to support this commitment by also investing appropriately into the health services provision."Here we take advantage of Unicef's procurement mechanism and economies of scale to utilise part of the Health Levy to purchase essential drugs and medicines," said Dr Gwinji.He said channelling of the funding by the Government through the HDF attests to the trust and benefit the government has derived through the HDF.In addition to this funding, Dr Gwinji added, the Government has met its 2017 co-financing obligation of $600 000 to improve the availability of vaccines through 2018."This is a great development for the Zimbabwe Expanded Programme on Immunisation which aims to drastically reduce vaccine preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles in children aged five and below," said Dr Gwinji.Unicef acting country representative Dr Jane Muita said the UN agency is committed to helping all Zimbabweans have access to health care."We share the Government's commitment to providing every Zimbabwean, especially women and children, with access to the highest quality of health care possible."To this end, we'll do everything possible to ensure that the medicines and equipment reach health facilities in the shortest possible time," said Dr Muita.Unicef will use its procurement systems to efficiently purchase the products while ensuring value-for-money and taking advantage of economies of scale.Distribution will be done through the National Pharmaceutical Company (Nat Pharm).Key contributors to the HDF include the Governments of the United Kingdom, which has so far contributed $68.4 million, Ireland $4 million and Sweden $20 million.Other contributors include the European Union $62,7 million and the Global Vaccine Alliance $14.2 million.Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa recently said infant mortality and maternal mortality had significantly dropped due to a number of strategies employed by the ministry and its development partners.Dr Parirenyatwa said new HIV infections have also dropped drastically with mother to child transmission dropping from 40 percent to 5.4 percent.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Calls have been made for Zapu leader and former Zpra intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa to write the Zimbabwe's liberation history before criminal and those bent on crediting themselves with what they never did write lies.Vimbai Mavherudze posted on Facebook that the request she have for this struggle stalwart Dabengwa is please help write the true Zimbabwe liberation struggle story before the criminals around Zimbabwe hijack it."From what I read and see on video evidence the Tongogaras, Dabengwas, Lookout Masukus, Tungamirais, Rex Nhongos, Chitepos, Umdala wethu, Rekai Tangwenas, were the people in the battle front."Yes avawo vaakuzviita varidzi veliberation vaivapowo ( and like hell they never missed a Kodak moment ) but most of their narration is full of self and justifying their sense of entitlement !!!! Vana Clemence," she said.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

An MDC official Chalton Hwende has said those who are now resorting to spinning President Emmerson Mnangagwa's visit to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai were out of order."I respect ED for the visit today to Pres Morgan Tsvangirai. He is recovering at home, Pres ED requested to see him and his family accepted the request, Pres MT even tweeted about the visit a few minutes before the arrival of the State President. Now those spinning the visit or questioning Pres ED's motive are clearly out of order," he said."I also would like to thank the Government if it's confirmed that they have finally approved his Government Pension as the Former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe."This is the right thing he is entitled even Mugabe who used to oppress us deserves a pension and rightly so the Government is giving him. Pres Tsvangirai has also previously said that if he feels that he is incapable of standing on behalf of the Party in 2018 he will inform the Party Leadership."We work with him and see him more often and we know that he is recovering. The Party is strong and is seized with 2018 Election Preparations," he said.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

There are reports that Zanu-PF Highfield legislator Psychology Maziwisa is facing arrest.According to The Independent, Maziwisa and television personality Oscar Pambuka are facing arrest by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).Yesterday two former ministers, former Foreign Affairs Minister Walter Mzembi and former Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge, were arrested by Zacc.Undenge is accused of ordering Zesa Holdings to hire Fruitful Communications, a firm linked to Zanu PF Highfield West MP Psychology Maziwisa and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Services presenter Oscar Pambuka, to carry out a media campaign despite the fact that Zesa has its own public relations department for that specific purpose.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is battling colon cancer, at his residence in Highlands yesterday where they held private discussions for close to an hour.Tsvangirai made public his health condition last year and ever since he has been in-and-out of hospital - a development that has triggered divisive succession talk in his party ahead of crucial elections this year.Accompanied by his deputy, General (Rtd) Constantino Chiwenga, Mnangagwa addressed the media soon after the meeting, saying the MDC leader was on the mend."He is fine and recuperating very well and he says he will soon be going back for further medical check-ups in South Africa," Mnangagwa said.He brushed aside speculation that he had gone there to discuss the possibility of an inclusive government, insisting the situation in the country did not call for such."What's the cause to form an inclusive government?" he asked. "You are allowed to lobby, it's a democratic country. People are allowed to lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need," he emphasised.The Daily News reports that the meeting was at the MDC leader's request.Tsvangirai had been eager to meet with Mnangagwa to discuss the way forward on elections and the worsening economic plight.Mnangagwa then seized on the request to also check on Tsvangirai's health, more so given that they are related.Highly-placed sources familiar with the visit said the meeting was conducted in a friendly atmosphere so much that one would have confused it for an engagement among brothers.They said Tsvangirai's visitors pledged to materially support the frail opposition leader in his battle with cancer, which has drained the family's savings.Mnangagwa also undertook to look into the MDC leader's long-standing grievances about his outstanding pension, accrued when he was prime minister in the inclusive government between 2009 and 2013.It will not be the first time that Tsvangirai has been assisted by his rivals in Zanu PF.Under Mugabe's regime, Tsvangirai received about $70 000 to pay for his medical expenses.Sources said Mnangagwa repeated his commitment during his meeting with Tsvangirai that the forthcoming polls would be free and fair, and even pledged to work closely with the opposition in the event that he is re-elected.Analysts were unanimous yesterday that by taking time to visit Tsvangirai, Mnangagwa scored key political points to boost his political ratings.They were, however, divided on whether the timing was right for the MDC leader to accept such a cunning gesture, considering it has a double-edged sword effect of showing Zimbabweans that Tsvangirai was too sick to be a factor going into the 2018 polls while at the same time projecting him as an empathetic leader.Piers Pigou, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said Mnangagwa has made an appropriate and powerful gesture but reckoned Tsvangirai was visibly unwell and needs to focus his energies on himself and his family.Pigou urged the MDC leader to get on with the business of facilitating the process for his succession."There will be understandably cynical interpretations of the photo opportunity this provides to the president, but much depends on how it is played. His visiting ... Tsvangirai, however, reflects a level of respect and political maturity rarely afforded an opposition figure; especially by the head of a party that had done its upmost to destroy Tsvangirai and his MDC," he observed.University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masunugure concurred saying the president has demonstrated a high level of statesmanship; that he is a national leader and not just head of Zanu PF.He said while his visit could well have been for other reasons, it was possible that he genuinely wanted to lend moral support to someone not feeling well."The fact that he was with his deputy also shows that Chiwenga too is moving in to assume the status of a national leader. So they have shown maturity and that is something that should be commended. They have shown Tsvangirai that he is not alone in his battle and that the nation empathises with his situation."It's also possible that ED wanted to lend financial support to a former prime minister in terms of his package that he so much deserves," said Masunungure.Professor of world politics at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, Stephen Chan, said there was a sense of seeking to offer Tsvangirai some place in the new government.Chan said Mnangagwa has sent a signal to foreign governments that his administration is looking at the opposition with respect unlike before."It may be rare in Zimbabwe, but in the United Kingdom, the prime minister and leader of the opposition often confer together," said Chan."Tsvangirai certainly looks frail. Cancer can be very difficult and he should release the clinical reports on his condition as a reassurance to his supporters. Again, that would be the usual step in the UK where ... (Theresa) May's diabetes condition is fully known by the voting public," he added.Gladys Hlatywayo, a political analyst and civil rights campaigner, said it was normal for leaders across the political divide to constantly dialogue and share ideas."In this respect, the meeting of the two leaders might be seen as an attempt to build a new political culture predicated on political tolerance and maturity. Nevertheless, the genuineness of the visit is now tainted by the pictures of the opposition leader that are now circulating. It now appears the visit was to score a political point more than anything," said Hlatywayo.Addressing the media after the meeting, Tsvangirai's deputy Nelson Chamisa described the development as positive."It's a welcome thing, it's African to care for one another; it's very Zimbabwean, it shows the spirit of Ubuntu is still in us," Chamisa said.He added: "This is the new politics we want to see, the politics of peace, the politics of working together, the politics of feeling for one another. This is the direction and we hope it is the kind of talk that will be walked and talk that will be sustained. Going forward, we want this to be cascaded to the communities so that as we go into elections, people don't fight each other especially when their leaders are able to sit down and converse like this".In a statement released after the meeting, Tsvangirai's spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said Mnangagwa's visit came just as Tsvangirai was about to leave the country for his routine medical check-up."We thank president Mnangagwa for his gesture to come and pay a visit to the former prime minister of the land. We thank him for his gesture, which is in keeping with our African culture," he said.Tamborinyoka said the two leaders discussed the current dire situation in the country, the plight of the people, the cash crisis afflicting the country, the urgency of free and fair elections to ensure a return to legitimacy as well as the need to engage the international community so that the country rejoins the family of nations.
News / National

by Ndou Paul

Self exiled former Zanu-PF spin doctor Professor Jonathan Moyo has criticised president Emmerson Mnangagwa's visit to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's residency on Friday saying it was intrusive.Prof Moyo said via Twitter: "This is no PR Coup & no history. It's ambulance-chasing propaganda for the optics of exploiting the poor health of a terminally ill political rival."He also said "the propaganda is cynical, crude, desperate and unAfrican."Moyo argues that the visit was intrusive and violates Tsvangirai's constitutionally protected right to privacy."It intrudes into & violates a constitutionally protected right to privacy," reads part of Moyo's tweet.However Daily News on Saturday reported that Tsvangirai had requested a meeting with president Mnangagwa.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

The late Deputy Director for Special Projects and Non-Traditional Threats in the President's Office, Nickson Chirinda who died in a car accident last week has been buried.Hundreds of mourners turned up at Rainfield Farm near Lions' Den to bid farewell to provincial hero.Mourners included diplomats, cabinet ministers, the Chief Advisor to the President Chris Mutsvangwa, Zanu PF Chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zanu PF National Political Commissar Lt. General Engelbert Rugeje and some service chiefs.In his graveside speech, the Minister of State for Mashonaland West, Webster Shamu described the late liberation war hero as an unwavering cadre whose history is consistent with the guiding principles of the struggle for independence.Cde Shamu also gave a citation of the late liberation war hero's biography.The Chirinda family spokesperson, Mr Stanley Bonyongwa described his late young brother as having been a generous man who also had the interests of family at heart.Farai, the late hero's son, hailed the support of the community and the ruling party during the time of bereavement.Chirinda died in Chinhoyi last week when his Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle rammed onto a trailer of a haulage truck that was turning right towards Chinhoyi central business district, along the Chinhoyi-Chirundu highway.His vehicle was trapped underneath the trailer due to the resultant impact and he died on the spot.He was 58.He leaves behind 4 children.
By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Two suspected criminals were arrested by Special Cell following a shootout, the police said today.

The accused were identified as Prempal (24) and Netrapal Singh (34). They were involved in supplying arms and ammunition to criminals in NCR.

Last November, two alleged ammunition suppliers Mahipal and Sandeep Yadav were arrested and they revealed that they were supplying arms to Prempal.

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Yesterday, it was learnt that Prempal would be passing through Kalindi Kunj- Meethapur road with his associate, the police said.

Their car was intercepted by a team of Special Cell and they were asked to surrender but they fired at the police.

The police team fired in response and the accused duo was overpowered, they said. PTI SLB ANB

--- ENDS ---
Opinion / Religion



1. The doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans in today's church of Smyrna

2. The doctrine of Jezebel in today's church of Thyatira

WORD OF GOD

REPENTANCE

CHRIST JESUS

REPENTANCE

CHRIST JESUS

REPENTANCE IN CHRIST JESUS

REPENT

CHRIST JESUS

LORD JESUS

LORD JESUS

LORD JESUS

LORD AND SAVIOUR

HOLY SPIRIT

Blessing.

LORD JESUS

LORD JESUS

JESUS

JESUS

HOLY SPIRIT

BOOK OF LIFE OF THE LAMB OF GOD

JESUS

There are occult storms raging against the children of God. Sadly, much of the occult storms of today are coming right from inside the church. In fact, right from the very pulpit. So beware! The bible warns us clearly of these occult churches and one must flee from them. Its no wonder there are so many sex scandals, the love of money, fake miracles (wonders) and apostasy in the church!Balaam was a high ranking sorcerer and magician and he was consulted by kings. His wicked counsel led Israel to sexually sin with the daughters of Moab, eat food sacrificed to idols and to worship an idol named Baal. Unfortunately the spirit of Balaam is still operating today, counselling the enemies of the church on how to defile her. In Zimbabwe such sorcerers are operating right at the pulpit of some of the popular churches.It is written,"Israel settled and remained in Shittim, and the people began to play the prostitute with the women of Moab [by being unfaithful to God]. For they invited the Israelites to the sacrifices of their gods, and the Israelites ate [food offered to idols] and bowed down to Moab's gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor [in worship]. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel." Numbers 25:1-3 (Amplified)Likewise, the church today has also played the prostitute, for it is written,"Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth." Revelation 2 verse 14 and 15.Notice clearly that the people casting the occult stumbling block are right in the church. How do they accomplish this? By enticing the church to commit sexual sin, eat food sacrificed to idols and bow down to idols. They also accomplish their wickedness by preaching an apostate gospel."Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." Revelation 2 verse 20.Notice clearly that this church is under the leadership of an idol worshipping occult queen named Jezebel who accomplishes her occult in three ways, i.e by claiming to be prophetic, by seducing the church to eat food sacrificed to idols and seducing the church to commit sexual sin. The bible says that this church refuses to repent,"And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not." Revelation 20 verse 21However, to those who have not leaned the occult practices of Jezebel thecommands you the following,"But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not explored and known the depths of Satan, as they call themI place no other burden on you, except to hold tightly to what you have until I come." Revelation 2 verse 24 and 25The only sure way out of the occult influences that are disturbing the church today isin. Let me repeat this. The only sure way out of the occult influences that are disturbing the church today isin. That is the one and only way out,So those who want to overcome the occult and have the victory of satan, let usinright away.Say,, I am a sinner. Forgive me of involvement in the occult, knowingly or unknowingly. I repent of heeding the false teaching of Balam, of the Nicolaitans of today. I repent of heeding the false teaching of the Jezebel prophets of today. I repent of eating food sacrificed to idols. I repent of sexual lust and all sexual sin.I pleas your precious blood over my life. Disconnect me from the power of the occult. Disconnect my family. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the wicked one.come into my heart and be my. Fill me with your precious. Annul any covenants I may have been a part of with the darkness. Today I receive you and I am born again. So help me JESUS. Amen., Bless all who have repented. Thank you for forgiving our sin. Thank you for your precious blood that was poured out for us., In your name I command all powers of wickedness that have been operating against those who repented here to seize in the name of. May the blood ofrest on their lives. Fill them with your. Write and keep their names in the. Lead them not into temptation, but deliver them from all wickedness. Thank you. Amen.Shalom.
FRIDAY, Jan. 5, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Could facial "yoga" be a new fountain of youth?

A new, small study suggests it's possible.

Investigators asked 27 middle-aged women (between 40 and 65) to embark on a 20-week facial exercise regimen. For the first half of the study, the women were asked to perform 32 specific facial exercises daily, for about a half hour in total. For the remainder of the study period, the exercise regimen was performed every other day.

Two dermatologists then compared photographs taken before the study began with photographs taken both halfway through and again at the end.

The result: By the study's end, participants appeared to have turned back the clock by an average of nearly three years.

"The scientists looking at appearance changes found that the upper and lower cheeks were full after the study," explained study author Dr. Murad Alam. He's vice chair in the department of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

"Patients themselves found even greater benefits, and noticed that 18 of the 20 areas and features of the face that were studied got better over the course of the study," Alam said.

"In general," he added, "the appearance benefit was that the contour of the face became smoother, fuller and firmer."

The investigators noted that skin elasticity tends to loosen over time, and fat "pads" located between the muscle and skin thin out.

The exercise experiment set out to combat that.

Participants first underwent two 90-minute training sessions.

Each exercise was one minute in duration, and included such movement-to-hold positions as smiling without showing teeth; pursing the lips; and smiling while forcing the cheek muscles upwards.

Before the study, age appearance was pegged at 50.8 years old, on average. Midway through the program that dropped to 49.6 years, finishing at 48.1 years by the end of the 20 weeks.

That said, not all the women stuck to the program, with 11 dropping out before the study ended.

But a survey of those who stuck with it suggested a high rate of satisfaction with the regimen and results.

The findings were published Jan. 3 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. Alam noted that none of the researchers had a financial interest in the facial yoga exercise program.

As for whether men or perhaps younger women might achieve a similar benefit, Alam said, "we would expect to see an effect. But until we study it we won't know if it is a little more or a little less."

Still, exercise alone may not be enough "to replace the tried-and-tested methods of improving facial appearance" that can be achieved with fillers, lasers and the like, Alam acknowledged. Instead, exercises might best serve to enhance such interventions, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Steve Xu, who also teaches dermatology at Northwestern University but was not involved in the study, cautioned that the study was small and 11 of the 27 patients dropped out.

"That's something to keep in mind," he said.

But Xu praised the study design while suggesting that facial exercise "makes a lot of intuitive sense."

Why? "Facial aging is so much more than just seeing more wrinkles on the face," said Xu. "It's a complex process, and includes thinning of the upper layers of the skin, loss of collagen and elastin in the deeper layers of the skin, and loss of fat and muscle.

"Oftentimes," Xu continued, "it's the loss of the fat and muscle that really adds years to a person's face. High cheekbones is a large component of an attractive face. When we age, this definition fades, leading the cheeks to lose their fullness pulling the face inward and downward. This then leads to the jaw becoming less defined as well.

"Strengthening facial muscles through exercise makes a lot of sense in helping reverse some of those changes, by allowing the muscles of the face to get bigger and provide more fullness to the overlying skin," he said.

More information

There's more on facial aging at Harvard Medical School.
 ,        : -      ,       
LINCOLN  Attorneys for Gov. Pete Ricketts argued Friday in court that he simply exercised his rights as a citizen when he participated in a referendum petition that restored Nebraskas death penalty in 2016.





Lawyers for the ACLU of Nebraska countered that as the states top executive, the governor doesnt get to make law, but when he led and helped fund the referendum petition drive to overturn the Legislatures death penalty repeal, the governor made law in violation of the Constitutions separation of powers clause.





Lancaster County District Judge John Colborn heard 50 minutes of legal debate Friday from six different lawyers in a lawsuit that could strike down the 2016 death penalty referendum vote.





The judge said he will consider the arguments along with written briefs before he issues a ruling. He could dismiss the case, remove some of the defendants or allow the lawsuit to proceed unchanged.





Lawyers for Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson, Treasurer Don Stenberg and several other defendants argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed now before engaging in further litigation.





J.L. Spray, who represents Stenberg and the three residents who sponsored the pro-death penalty petition drive, said it would be a ridiculous conclusion for the judge to say certain citizens could not participate in the process by virtue of holding elected office.





Just because youre a governor or state senator or a judge or an employee of the state, you dont lay down your constitutional rights, Spray argued.





Bill Trac, a lawyer for the ACLU, said no one is arguing that elected officials or judges cant vote on a ballot issue. But by organizing the petition drive, Trac said, Ricketts sought to defeat the death penalty repeal, something he could not accomplish even with the veto power of his office.





Thats really the fundamental argument in this case, Trac said. Had the executive not acted, there might not have even been a referendum on the ballot.





The lawsuit by the ACLU of Nebraska also argues that the Legislatures 2015 repeal took effect long enough to void the death sentences of the 11 men on death row.





Did this law go into effect and change our clients sentences to life in prison? We say yes, said Brian Stull, a lawyer with the ACLU.





Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post disagreed. He said that once petition organizers turned in sufficient signatures in the summer of 2015 to put the question on the ballot, the law was suspended until the election on Nov. 8, 2016.





The suit was filed in December in response to the Department of Corrections obtaining fresh supplies of lethal injection drugs. The department gave notice that it intended to use the drugs to execute Jose Sandoval, ringleader of a botched 2002 bank robbery in Norfolk that left five dead.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
The United States welcomes the urgent and long awaited medical evacuations that took place from Eastern Ghouta in Syria between December 27 to the 29th.

In a press statement released December 29th, U.S. Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said the U.S. also extend its gratitude to the humanitarian and medical professionals on the ground for their compassion and tireless work. Their dedication and efforts to save lives in the most difficult of environments illustrate the best in humanity.

Although the evacuation and treatment of 29 of the more than 600 critically ill patients is a step in the right direction, the United States remains extremely concerned about the dire situation in Eastern Ghouta and the continued ruthless siege by the Assad regime.

Hundreds in the besieged area still await medical evacuation, and many have died as they wait. It is a cruel reminder of the regimes unbridled brutality.

In Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian regime continues to deliberately use tactics to starve Syrian civilians, including women and children, block humanitarian aid and critically needed medical supplies, and bomb hospitals, medical personnel, and first responders, all to preserve its grasp on power.

No aid convoys were given access during the entire month of December. If proper medications and supplies were allowed, more than half of those needing medical evacuation could stay in Ghouta. Bashar al-Assad and his regime continue to regard the lives of the Syrian people as nothing more than bargaining chips. Katr Alnada, a critically ill six-month-old baby girl who ultimately died before being evacuated, is only one of many the heartbreaking examples.

We repeat our call on Russia to live up to its obligations to ensure that the Assad regime ends these barbaric attacks against civilians in Syria, said Spokesperson Nauert.The Syrian regime must allow all medical evacuations in the besieged area, as well as the flow of medical supplies and humanitarian aid.

Now, more than ever, Ms. Nauert said, Russia and the international community must vigorously support unhindered humanitarian access to all of Syria and pressure the Assad regime to credibly negotiate a lasting political resolution to the conflict through the UN-led Geneva process.
The Iranian governments response to the anti-government protests that have swept the country in recent days demonstrates the regimes blatant lack of respect for the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly: reports indicate that more than 20 people have been killed; at least 1000 arrested; and that at times portions of the internet and social media have been blocked.

The United States has made clear it stands with the Iranian peoples efforts to peacefully articulate their concerns over corruption and aspirations for freedom, as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has said: We support the right of the Iranian people to express themselves peacefully, she said. Their voices deserve to be heard. We encourage all parties to protect this fundamental right to peaceful expression and to avoid any actions that contribute to censorship.

On January 4, for the second time, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert issued a statement declaring U.S. solidarity with the Iranian people.

We continue to monitor closely the protests and violence in Iran, she said. The Iranian people have been expressing their desire for dignified treatment, an end to corruption, improved transparency and increased economic opportunitiesUnfortunately the government continues to imprison and kill those who are brave enough to venture into the street. It is limiting the flow of information into Iran, restricting free speech, and attempting to prevent the outside world from observing its own repression.

We support these legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people, she continued, and call on the government to allow the free exchange of ideas and information. All of us should be able to enjoy the same basic economic and political freedoms, including the right to peaceful demonstration. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the deaths to date and the arrests of at least one thousand Iranians.

Ms. Nauert noted that [w]e have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protestors, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran. Speaking directly to the regimes victims, Ms. Nauert added, You will not be forgotten.
Iranian authorities must ensure the right to peaceful protest, investigate reports that security forces have unlawfully used firearms against unarmed protesters and protect hundreds of detainees from torture and other ill-treatment, Amnesty International said on January 4, amid concerns that the crackdown against demonstrations that have spread across Iran in the past week is intensifying.

A day earlier, the top United Nations human rights official had urged the Iranian authorities to handle the protests that have taken place around the country with great care so as not to further inflame violence and unrest.

I am deeply disturbed by reports that more than 20 people, including an 11-year-old boy, have died and hundreds have been arrested during the recent wave of protests in Iran, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, in a separate statement that urged the authorities to investigate all deaths and serious injuries that have occurred so far.

According to UN News Center, he said the Iranian authorities must respect the rights of all demonstrators and detainees, including their right to life, and guarantee their safety and security.

Calling for thorough, independent and impartial investigations of all acts of violence that have taken place, the UN rights chief said there must be a concerted effort by the authorities to ensure that all security forces respond in a manner that is proportionate and strictly necessary, and fully in line with international law.

Mr. Zeid stressed that Iranian citizens who take to the streets to express their discontent have a right to be heard, and that the issues they raise should be resolved through dialogue, with full respect for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.

It is incumbent on the authorities that their actions do not provoke a downward spiral of violence, as occurred in 2009, he warned. The authorities must take all steps to ensure that this does not happen again.

The High Commissioner urged the authorities to release from detention any protestors who have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, or penalized in any way, for expressing their views and protesting in a peaceful manner. Peaceful protests must not be criminalized, he said. They are a legitimate part of the democratic process.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday deplored the loss of life in the wave of protests in Iran and said that further violence must be avoided.

A statement issued by a UN spokesperson said the Secretary-General is following with concern recent developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He urges respect for the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression and that any demonstrations take place in a peaceful manner. Further violence must be avoided, the statement said

Meanwhile, Philip Luther of Amnesty International said, Law enforcement officials have the right to defend themselves, and a duty to protect the safety of the public. However, reports of the use of firearms against unarmed protesters by security forces are deeply troubling and would contravene Irans human rights obligations under international law.

He called for an effective and independent investigation into killings of protesters and reports of excessive force.



At least 22 people have been killed in anti-establishment protests that broke out a week ago, on December 28.

Protesters have also chanted slogans against dictatorship and Tehrans highly costly extraterritorial military interventions, including meddling in wars in Syria and Yemen, overlooking the needs of the people of Iran.

The Islamic Republic has reiterated the protests have been instigated by foreign hostile governments, including US, U.K., Israel and Saudi Arabia.

However, many analysts, including outspoken political science professor at University of Tehran, Sadeq Zibakalam have urged the Islamic establishment to leave behind their imaginary enemies and seek a remedy for peoples unbearable pains.

Amnesty International accused Iranian authorities of aggressive rhetoric in their response to the protests and calls for a crackdown.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order to provide funding for construction of Saatli-Dede Gorgud-Ahmadbayli road in Saatli district.

Under the order, AZN 700,000 is allocated from the state budget for construction of the road connecting three residential areas with a total population of 4,000 people.
By PTI: New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Themed around Environment and Climate Change, the 26th New Delhi World Book Fair opened here today with a call for increased awareness and efforts to protect the environment.

The 9-day annual event was inaugurated by environmentalist Sunita Narain, European Union ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski, National Book Trust chairman Baldev Bhai Sharma and Madhu Ranjan Kumar, Joint Secy- Minister of Human Resource Development.

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Addressing the visitors through a video conference, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that climate change awareness is important as humans have exploited earth beyond limits.

"We have taken more from the earth than it could offer. It is about time we realised the importance of awareness, and it wont be possible without collective efforts by not wasting electricity, water; by taking bicycle to travel or by walking more instead of using petrol and diesel-run vehicles," the minister said.

Author-environmentalist Sunita Narain also spoke strongly about the effects of climate change and the need for awareness calling it the "biggest threat faced by the poorest of the poor".

"The western world is talking and negotiating about environment change, they are holding meetings while here in India we are witnessing climate change with extreme cold, extreme drought and extreme rains.

"It is no more an upcoming event, climate change is here. And the worst affected are the poorest people, the farmers, the marginalised. We dont need to be told about climate change, we are living it," she said.

The book fair has a dedicated theme pavillion in Hall 7 E with books in English, Hindi and other Indian languages on environment-related issues like climate change, global warming, water and air pollution.

Kozlowski also emphasised the role of books in spreading awareness about climate change.

"The most important aspect of a book fair is the participation for general public, and with the events theme of environment and climate change we hope to spread the message to as many people as possible.

"The fair has a very high reputation of creating awareness and bringing change in the society. It is a medium to develop cultural ties between India and the European countries," the ambassador said.

Over 20 European Union countries will participate with a delegation of publishers, editors and authors. The EU pavilion will also showcase some of the latest publications in English and other European languages along with panel discussions, talks, photo exhibits and cultural performances.

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Apart from the EU nations, more than 40 countries including Canada, China, Egypt, Pakistan and United Kingdom will participate in the book fair.

In authors corner, visitors can get to interact with some of the well-known writers like Ruskin Bond, Jerry Pinto, Michael Creighton, Paro Anand, Mridula Garg and Ranjit Lal among others.

The author interactions will be held at five Authors Corners in Reflections (Hall 11), Conversations (Hangar over lake), International Events Corner (Hall 7A), Lekhak Manch (Hall 12-12A), and Sahitya Manch (Hall 8). PTI MAH TRS

--- ENDS ---
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Ilhama Isabalayeva, Samir Ali - Trend:

As a result of a traffic accident involving a bus on Zigh Highway Baku, 15 people were taken to the City Clinical Hospital No.3, the hospital told Trend.

The health condition of two of them - Gurbanova Matanat (1960) and Hasanov Taleh is severe.

The children, who were hospitalized, have already been released for outpatient treatment, the hospital said.

19:29

As a result of a bus crash on the Zigh highway of Baku's Surakhani district, 12 people were injured, a source in City Clinical Hospital 3 told Trend.

The source said that three children were among the wounded.

Reportedly, the majority of victims are women.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Logistics is one of the priority areas for cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic, secretary for economic and commercial affairs at the Czech Embassy in Azerbaijan Jan Jindrich told Trend.

He added that the countries already successfully cooperate in energy and agricultural spheres.

"Our companies are interested in opportunities which North-South railway corridor may provide. At the same time, we see great potential for cooperation in the special economic zone in Azerbaijans Alat," said Jindrich.

The official stressed that joint projects in this zone currently remain under consideration, since the legal status of the zone has not yet been determined.

"I am confident that as soon as the Azerbaijani government approves the status of the zone, the Czech investors will start implementing their plans in this territory," said Jindrich.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic increased by more than 100 percent in January-October 2017, compared to the same period of the previous year.

The two countries trade turnover reached $924 million in 10 months of 2017, of which $846 million accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to the Czech Republic, while the import of the Czech products by Azerbaijan totaled $78 million.

Over the past 10 years, the Czech banks, both public and private, invested more than $2 billion in the Azerbaijani economy, which puts the Czech Republic in the list of top 10 investors in the economy of Azerbaijan, added Jindrich.

Subscribers of Trend News Agency can read this and other exclusive materials before they are published in open access.

More information on Trends news products can be found here.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 6

By Mamed Dashdemirov  Trend:

Since Jan. 1, 2018, business entities in Uzbekistan have been allowed to export goods worth up to $5,000 for showcasing at exhibitions and fairs abroad without concluding an export contract and without registering a cargo customs declaration, according to the decree of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

When exporting goods to exhibitions in foreign countries, entrepreneurs should inform the border customs checkpoints about the planned participation in a foreign exhibition (fair), the place, date and time of its holding, as well as exported goods (name, quantity and value).

The decree is aimed at further increasing the volume and expanding exports of domestic products.

In 2017, entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan, in order to find potential foreign partners and promote domestic products to foreign markets, took part in 88 international exhibitions and fairs held in 24 countries. As a result, export contracts and agreements for the supply of domestic products for a total of over $1.3 billion were concluded.

As part of ongoing work to increase the export volumes in 2018, domestic exporters are scheduled to participate in 123 international exhibitions and fairs held in 25 countries around the world.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will increase egg exports to Iran, Hasan Konya, head of the Turkish Union of Egg Producers (YUM-BIR), said, the countrys media reported.

He said the Iranian Embassy in Turkey appealed to YUM-BIR with a request to increase the exports of eggs to Iran.

Konya noted that Turkey sends 50 vans with eggs to Iran every week.

"Starting from next week, Turkey plans to send a total of 2,000 vans with eggs to Iran," Konya said.

It was earlier reported that prices for eggs in Iran grew 9 percent during the week from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22, 2017 compared to the previous week and by 53.7 percent compared to 2016, reaching 126,000-175,000 Iranian rials ($3-$4.1) for 30 eggs.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

An aluminum wheel plant in Kazakhstans Pavlodar special economic zone (SEZ) plans to produce up to one million aluminum wheels per year, said the head of KK Pavlodar LLP, Murat Beisekenov during a meeting with the members of the Kazakh parliament.

"We have special equipment which can produce up to 480,000 aluminum wheels per year. The manufactured goods will be exported to Russias Krasnoyarsk city for grinding and painting. We need 54,000 tons of aluminum per year to reach the full capacity," Beisekenov said.

The members of the parliament, in turn, stressed the importance of the plant for development of the country's economy.

"Production of aluminum wheels is a unique project for export. Local businessmen and the German companies working here have jointly launched the production, to not only meet domestic demand, but also to increase the export of local products. Attraction of investments is one of the most important tasks set by the president. Pavlodar is currently one of the leaders in this work," MP Meiram Pshembaev said.

The investments in the project amount to 6.7 billion tenge. The plant is expected to work at full capacity in 2020.

($1 = 330 tenge on Jan. 6)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Nigar Guliyeva -Trend:

The Uzbek Finance Ministry received about 800 applications for employment, including 490 candidates selected by the Youth Union, Gazeta.uz reports.

Since Dec. 22, 2017, some 3,100 young people, wishing to work in the financial system, have responded to announcements posted on the website of the Youth Union and in social networks. Of these, 490 people were selected, who were recommended to the Ministry of Finance.

"We were instructed to create a reserve of personnel for the ministry. We continue to receive applications. Now about 100 candidates have been recruited. Furthermore, 194 subdivisions of the Finance Ministry throughout the country received about 200 applications, in total 790-800 potential candidates. We have created special commission which will conduct interviews and decide on the issue of hiring, " the advisor to the Finance Minister for Youth Affairs ,Mirmukhson Sultanov, said.

The Ministry's Personnel Department reported that for the Ministry's employees the minimum monthly salary will be increased from 1.2 million to 2 million soums.

After the criticism of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 562 people were dismissed from the Ministry of Finance.

Also, 100 employees of the regional departments of state financial control were deprived of their posts. Of the treasury units, 65 employees were dismissed, including 12 managers, 100 employees from the Pension Fund system.

The official exchange rate for Jan.6 is 8136.67 UZS / USD.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

Trend:

Khagani Abdullayev, former deputy chairman of Azerbaijans Central Bank (CBA), told Trend that he has been appointed adviser to the minister of taxes.

He said he will start fulfilling his duties Jan. 8.

Abdullayev resigned as deputy chairman of the CBA at his own request last September. He held the post since April 2010.

At the end of last year, Jamal Gasimov was appointed another adviser to the minister of taxes.
The new book entitled Intangible cultural heritage of Tajikistan was published in Dushanbe. It is another achievement for the protection, development and presentation of the intangible cultural heritage of Tajiks, Khovar reports.

According to the press center of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tajikistan, the book was prepared and published in cooperation with the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Asia and the Pacific Region (ICHCAP). The books preface was compiled by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO in Tajikistan Shamsiddin Orumbekozoda and the Chairman of ICHCAP Kwon Hu.

The book incorporates the results of many years of research of scientists of the Research Institute of Culture and Information and a number of researchers of the countrys cultural institutions.

The compiler of this book is the well-known Tajik sociologist Dilshod Rahimov, and the editor  the Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Culture and Information, the candidate of pedagogical sciences Sharif Komilzoda. Also, other scientists of the republic and the well-known photographer Zaur Dahte made significant contribution to its compilation.

The book is published in a circulation of 700 copies in Tajik and 500 copies in English.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan. 6

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A draft Law on TV and Radio Broadcasting was adopted at a regular meeting of the Turkmen Parliament, the Turkmen government said in a message.

The law sets legal, organizational, economic and social bases for the TV and radio broadcasting in Turkmenistan, as well as regulates relations in the field of TV and radio broadcasting in the country.

Special attention in TV and radio should be paid to promotion of the rich historical and cultural heritage of the Turkmen people, says the 'Neutral Turkmenistan' newspaper Jan. 6.

The launch of TurkmenAlem 52 E, the first national communication satellite, has given a powerful impetus to development of telecommunication technologies in our country, allowing to expand the range of modern services in the broadcasting industry, in communications and the internet, Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 3

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Iran imported 26.595 million tons of goods worth $37.5 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017).

The figure indicates a 18.31 percent increase in terms of value compared to the same period of the preceding year, the Iranian Customs Administration said.

Increased volume of capital goods, imported car parts as well as some staple goods has led to an increase of Irans imports during the current fiscal year.

Car parts, worth $1.24 billion, topped the list of Iran's imported goods during the 9-month period.

Corn fodder ($1.115 billion), rice ($1.015 billion), soybean meal ($749 million) and cars with 1,500-2,000 cc engines ($660 million) were the other goods mainly imported to the Islamic Republic in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 22).

China was the main exporter of goods to Iran in the mentioned period. Iran imported $9.452 billion worth of goods from China in the 9-month period.

After China, the UAE ($6.657 billion), Turkey ($2.576 billion), South Korea ($2.563 billion) and Germany ($2.095 billion) were other four biggest exporters of goods to Iran.

The report unveils that 3900 companies shared over 90 percent of the countries imports in terms of value ($33.8 billion).

The companies, which are active in car manufacturing sector, stand at the top of the list, followed by staple goods companies, refineries and petrochemicals, steel, medicine and food sector companies.

In total, 17,000 legal and real individuals took part in the imports in the 9-month period.
World's hairiest girl suffers from a disease which only around 50 people in the world are known to have suffered from. But, now she has shaved her face to marry the love of her life.

By India Today Web Desk: Supatra "Nat" Susuphan is a 17-year-old girl hailing from Bangkok. Supatra has been once crowned the world's hairiest girl and has been nicknamed after Star Wars character 'Chewbacca'.

Not just Chewbacca but she has also been called names like 'Wolf Girl' and 'Monkey Face'. Supatra has excessive growth of hair from tip to toe.

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She is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome. Her condition is caused by a faulty chromosome and only around 50 people in the world are know to have suffered from Ambras Syndrome since the Middle Ages.

Supatra was 11 when she won the Guinness World Record of the hairiest girl on planet Earth in 2010.

Now, when she is 17, she has shaved her face to tie the knot with the love of her life.

Photo from Facebook

NAT FINDS LOVE

Supatra's father Samreng has confirmed that she still suffers from Ambras Syndrome, but started shaving her face and body after marrying the one who has become the love of her life, according to an RT report.

She has all amazing and lovely things to say about her husband. It was taken to Facebook where the caption of a photo read, "not just my first lover, you're the love of my life."

NAT'S ENTHUSIASM

Before the Ambras Syndrome was understood, sufferers were branded 'werewolves'. People often called her 'Wolf Girl' but that never stopped her from pouring out her enthusiasm to live and laugh.

While at the Guinness World Records ceremony in Rome in 2010, Supatra said she doesn't feel "any different to anyone else, and I've got lots of friends at school".

"Being hairy makes me special," she said. One of the most exciting moments of her life was the moment when she was crowned the hairiest girl on planet Earth.

Meeting Nat was one of the many highlights of the show for on-screen adjudicator, Marco Frigatti. "She's a remarkable little girl," Marco said.

"She's proud of who she is and wants to be treated just like everyone else. She's not the one with the problem - it's only those who treat her differently who've got the problem," he added.

Photo from Facebook

When Supatra was first born, she had to undergo two operation just so that she could breathe, according to a Daily Mail report.

She grew up to be a cheerful person in spite of her disease.

Supatra has also not given up on her education. In 2011, she told Daily Mail how much she liked mathematics. She told the news agency how she wanted to be a doctor and cure and help several people.

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It was difficult for the little girl to grow up in a world where bloated prejudices flow endlessly. She had difficult times when folks in school would distance themselves from her.

But Supatra never gave up on herself and gradually was embraced by her community. She became a popular and outgoing child and is now married to a person she loves a lot.

Not all tales have sad endings, and it's just the beginning for strong and lovely Supatra.

--- ENDS ---
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Iran, which holds the largest conventional gas reserves in the world, sees Georgia as a potential market for its gas exports.

While the country has increased its gas output significantly and targets an output of 1 bcm/d by the end of the current fiscal year (March 20, 2018), Turkey and Iraq remain the only destinations for the countrys gas export.

Tehran exports 30 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey and 14 million cubic meters to Iraq per day at the moment.

Irans deputy oil minister, Hamid Reza Araqi, told the ministrys official news agency on Jan. 6 that Tehran has the capacity to export gas to various countries, including Georgia, thanks to its geographical position.

Araqi, who heads the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said that gas export to Georgia is still on the agenda and the private sector would take part in the issue once agreements are finalized.

Iran needs to obtain Armenias agreement as well, because the gas will pass through that countrys territory, he said.

Araqi added that the private sector will buy gas from Iran and will transfer it to Georgia after paying swap costs.

The official further said that previously a private company took part in the issue, but no gas was exported.

Earlier in April 2017, Georgias Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Mariam Valishvili told Trend that delivery of gas from Iran to Georgia is theoretically possible, and there is necessary infrastructure for this, but such contracts were not concluded between state companies.

She also noted that Georgia prefers Azerbaijani gas, since it is the most optimal supplier of gas to Georgian market.

Azerbaijan has been the main exporter of gas to Georgia for many years. Moreover, in previous years, Georgia received from Russia 10 percent of Russian gas supply to Armenia as a payment for its transit. In April 2017, Georgia decided to abandon Russian gas and fully switch to purchasing Azerbaijani gas.

Valishvili said that it is theoretically possible to supply Iranian gas to Georgia through Azerbaijan  there are pipelines from Iran to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Georgia.

In July 2016, Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) Alireza Kameli said that Iran signed an agreement with the Georgian private company, Georgian International Energy Corporation, to pump 40 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia.

Meanwhile, Valishvili noted that Georgias pipeline system is in possession of the state, and private companies must present such contracts to the government in order to obtain services for transportation of purchased gas through the country.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend

Organizing international events in Iranian city of Tabriz and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic as well as the upcoming resumption of train trips create a unique chance for expansion of mutual cooperation between the two countries, a senior envoy believes.

"Considering common points between the two cities, in particular the cultural and tourism grounds, Tabriz as the capital of Islamic tourism and Nakhchivan as the Islamic Culture Capital are capable of benefiting Iran and Azerbaijan through further cooperation in 2018," Iranian Consul General to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Mansour Airom told Trend.

"Moreover, the Mashhad-Nakhchivan train is scheduled to resume operation as of January 11, which would definitely leave a positive impact on tourism between Iran and the autonomous republic," he stated.

The envoy added that international events would help the two cities introduce their capabilities in tourism sector, highlighting the opportunities for cooperation between Tabriz and Nakhchivan in experience exchange.

Airom further proposed that holding painting and photo exhibitions, organizing tours to natural areas and religious sites, holding Islamic conferences as well as mutual cultural events and the joint celebration of Nowruz would contribute to plans to deepen cooperation between the two cities.

A number of officials from Iran and Azerbaijan have attended a ceremony in Tabriz marking the inauguration of the Tabriz 2018 event.

Subscribers of Trend News Agency can read this and other exclusive materials before they are published in open access.

More information on Trends news products can be found here.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:

Irans envoy to the UN told a Security Council meeting on Friday that the move by the US to bring the domestic issues of his county to the council was an abuse of power.

The move by the United States to bring to this Council protests in Iran by some of our citizens for their legitimate grievances  some exacerbated by none other than the US itself in its dereliction of its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is an abuse of its power as a Permanent Member, and an abuse of the Council itself, Gholamali Khoshroo said.

Speaking about the recent protests in Iran he added that his government has hard evidence that recent protests in Iran were clearly directed from abroad.

In the meantime, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has described the US move as blunder.

The Friday meeting centered on Iran after the US requested an emergency session amid protests in the country.

"Human rights are not the gift of governments, they are the inalienable rights of the people themselves  The Iranian regime is now on notice, the world will be watching what you do," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said.

Over the past week, Iran saw turmoil and political unrests in several cities across the country which eventually took the lives of at least 21, including the law enforcement forces.

The unrests began after some groups joined demonstrations to protest against high prices, but the economic protests soon turned into anti-government demonstrations.

The government officials have urged people to refrain from participating in the illegal protests.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by foreign organizations doesnt have a tangible effect yet, since if there had been a result, the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia would have been peaceful, but we dont see such a result, Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network, told the CBC TV channel.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries are engaged in settlement of their relations instead of resolving the conflict, he said. The US is imposing new sanctions on Russia, and this strains relations between the countries; France is solving its own problems. International organizations, including the OSCE Minsk Group, can settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, however these organizations dont demonstrate active participation in this process.

He added that in this situation, Azerbaijan has chosen the best position, influencing the process of conflict resolution by economic, political and military means.

For example, Armenia, as a result of a multi-year conflict, has been isolated from transport and communication projects in the region, and this is the economic advantage of Azerbaijan, the expert noted. The world community is coming to a conclusion that the territorial integrity of countries, in particular Azerbaijan, is an element of great significance. The right of peoples to self-determination, in turn, doesnt have anything to do with the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Alasgarov added that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict wont be resolved overnight, but the most important thing, in his opinion, is that the process of conflict settlement has begun.

Summarizing the results of 2017, the expert noted that the policy of the Azerbaijani state had a tangible effect in the political, economic and military context.

I think that in 2018, all the processes favorable for our country will continue to develop thanks to new impulses, Alasgarov noted. Such big projects as the International North-South Transport Corridor will trigger further development of Azerbaijan.
Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and China has come into play on January 1, 2018, making Georgia the first country in the region to have such a deal with China, Agenda reports.

Starting from January 1, 2018 Georgian wine, mineral waters, honey, tea, fruit, vegetables and agricultural products will be exported to China and its market of 1.4 billion consumers, with zero tariffs, without additional customs fees and without any transition period.

Georgia and China began discussing the possibility of establishing a free trade regime back in September 2015, however, the Memorandum on finalising a Free Trade Agreement was signed in October 2016 and the agreement was finally signed in May 2017.

In recent years Georgia has forged strong ties with China through bilateral trade and economic cooperation; Georgian wine is one of the most promising exported products to China.

Last year, 7,585,407 bottles of Georgian wine were exported to China, says the Georgian National Wine Agency. This is a 43 percent increase compared to 2016. With these numbers, China takes third place as the largest importer of Georgian wine.
The United Nations has approved 50 million U.S. dollars to meet the humanitarian needs in Yemen, said a UN spokesman on Friday, Xinhua reported.

The money is the largest ever allocation by the Central Emergency Response Fund, said Farhan Haq.

UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, who approved the allocation on Friday, said there must be reduction both in fighting on the ground and airstrikes, which have greatly intensified in recent weeks.

He also stressed the need to have all ports open without interruption so that humanitarian supplies can be shipped into Yemen, according to Haq.

Lowcock said he remained deeply concerned by the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the country although there has been progress in the past month in opening Yemen's critical Red Sea ports to commercial fuel and food shipments, as well as the resumption of humanitarian shipments and flights.

Lowcock stressed that the Yemeni people need an end to the conflict so that they can begin to rebuild their lives. For this to happen, the parties to the conflict must cease hostilities and engage meaningfully with the United Nations to achieve a lasting political settlement.
Germany has completed work on the destruction of chemical weapons and toxic materials delivered from Libya, the German Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry said in a joint statement on Friday, Sputnik reported.

"Germany has been supporting the elimination of the last chemicals remaining from the Libyan chemical weapons program The costs have been defrayed by Germany and the United states. The German state-owned facility for the utilization of chemical warfare agents and remaining arms [GEKA] in Munster, that has long-standing experience, has terminated the destruction of the toxic materials," the statement said.

In July 2016, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution which allows states to receive, take away and destroy Libyan chemical weapons. The resolution refers to the second category of substances under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. The resolution aimed to prevent the chemical weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists.
The United Nations will investigate an attack in Congo last month that killed 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Friday, Reuters reported.

Dmitry Titov of Russia, a former U.N. assistant secretary-general, has been appointed to lead the probe, which will examine the circumstances surrounding the attack, evaluate the peacekeeping missions preparedness and provide recommendations for prevention of future attacks, the statement said.

In addition to U.N. officials, the investigation team will include two Tanzanian military officers, it said.

U.N. officials said they suspected Ugandan rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out the Dec. 7 assault on the base in the town of Semuliki in Congos North Kivu province. The ADF is an Islamist rebel group that has been active in the area.
Eleven people, including a two-year-old child and an engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), were killed as an avalanche hit north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Friday evening, officials said on Saturday, Hindustan Times reported.

In one incident the avalanche swept away twelve people -- including seven in a passenger vehicle -- while at another the BRO official MP Singh was hit while on duty on Friday evening, a senior police officer said. Both the incidents occurred near the Sadhna Top area of the district.

The search operation concluded Saturday evening and we have recovered ten bodies. A little girl, around two-year-old girl, is among the dead, SHO police station Kralpora, Waseem Ahmad, said.

Of those affected by the avalanche in the area, two people were saved. Led by the police and the army, locals also helped in the massive search operation in the snow-lined hilly terrain, officials said.

A passenger was pulled out of the snow in the early hours of Saturday morning, while a child was rescued soon after the accident last evening. The driver of a passenger vehicle affected by the avalanche had escaped unhurt, Kupwara deputy commissioner Khalid Jahangir told Hindustan Times.
Philippe Coutinho is set to fly to Barcelona to finalise his 160 million (142m) move to the Catalan giants after Liverpool finally agreed an extraordinary deal to sell the Brazil international, The Telegraph reports.

The fee is the biggest ever received by a British club - as well as the biggest ever paid by a Spanish one - and is the third-highest ever in the world after Neymars world record 222m (197m) move to Paris Saint-Germain and the 180m (160m) the French club are also paying for Kylian Mbappe.

Exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport, the deal was agreed on Saturday afternoon after months of delicate negotiations, with Barcelona paying a significant portion of the money up-front and then a number of guaranteed add-ons. Importantly, it means Liverpool will eventually receive the full 160m.
Gunmen shot dead 13 people and wounded seven others on Saturday in the forest of Senegals southern region of Casamance, the army said, according to Reuters.

It was not clear who was responsible or what the motive was for the attack on a group of civilians searching for firewood near the town of Borofaye and about 10 km (six miles) from the Guinea Bissau border, said army spokesman Abdoul Ndiaye.

The area is home to separatist rebels who in 1982 formed what is now one of Africas oldest rebellions in their search for independence from northern Senegal.

The Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance (MFDC) is active in the area of southern Senegal, which is separated from the more affluent north by Gambia.

The movement has been largely dormant since a ceasefire in 2014. However, many areas remain off-limits because of land mines and arms stockpiles.

President Macky Sall called in his New Year address for dialogue with the rebels and a lasting peace.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Turkish opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has called on the Turkish armed forces for decisive actions in the Syrian city of Afrin, Turkish media reported Jan. 6.

There are terrorists of the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and the PYD (Kurdish Democratic Union Party) in Afrin, and the Turkish armed forces must wipe them off the map, he said.

Bahceli also noted that the YPG and the PYD are a real threat for Turkey and the whole region.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the country doesnt rule out a new military operation against YPG and PYD in Afrin. On Oct. 25, 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a new military operation may be held in Afrin.

Turkey has been moving military equipment to its border with Syria since June 21, 2017. Military equipment is being deployed in Turkeys south-central province of Kilis, which borders Syrian territories controlled by the YPG and the PYD.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
At least 24 suspects were arrested in anti-drug operations across Turkey on Saturday, officials told Anadolu Agency.

In the southeastern Diyarbakir province, police seized 565 kilograms (1,245 pounds) of powdered marijuana in operations across the province.

Eight suspects were also arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, said a police officer who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.

In the eastern province of Van, police arrested two suspects after seizing more than 71 kg (156 lb.) of heroin at their residence.

Separately, police in Van arrested two other drug trafficking suspects. More than 38 kilograms of heroin was seized at their address.

In the southern province of Mersin, acting on a tip, security forces stopped a truck traveling from Iraq to Europe carrying fruits and vegetables. After over 56 kg of heroin was found hidden in the truck, the driver was arrested.

In the Aegean province of Izmir, police arrested five people and seized more than nearly two kg of marijuana.

Another five suspects were nabbed in Mudanya in the northwestern Bursa province.

In the southern province of Kahramanmaras, police arrested a suspect allegedly carrying 317 drug pills in the city center.

* Necat Hazar in Van, Sezgin Pancar in Mersin, Ahmet Bayram in Izmir, Omer Birlik in Bursa, Ismail Hakki Demir in Kahramanmaras contributed to this story.
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus logo is pictured during the delivery of the new Airbus A380 aircraft to Singapore Airlines at the French headquarters of aircraft company Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus <AIR.PA> Chief Executive Tom Enders signed a non-binding agreement with Turkish Airlines <THYAO.IS> on a potential order for 25 A350-900 aircraft, during an official visit by Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan in Paris on Friday.

Turkish Airlines, one of the world's fastest-growing carriers, is a major customer of both Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing.

State-owned Turkish Airlines is one of a handful of carriers whose dealings with plane-makers tend to accelerate around major diplomatic events.

In September, it signed a surprise provisional order for 40 Boeing 787-9 planes while Erdogan was in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The tentative Airbus deal was inked during a ceremony attended by Erdogan and his host, French President Emmanuel Macron. Turkish Airlines confirmed in a subsequent statement that it had begun negotiations with Airbus on the plane deal.

Airbus is also in negotiations to sell planes to China during a visit by Macron next week.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Writing by Laurence Frost; Editing by Ingrid Melander)
"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by author Michael Wolff

Amazon has learned an important lesson about trolls and fake reviewers.

Michael Wolffs explosive book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, comes out today. Amazon reviews for the book at time of writing were relatively civil, which is, unfortunately, surprising. Beneath the surface, Amazon is surely working hard to keep the trolls at bay.

Last September, fake reviewers came out en masse to leave one-star reviews for Hillary Clintons What Happened, her book about the 2016 US presidential election. The split between five-star reviews and one-star reviews was clearly unusual, with an uncommonly high percentage of reviews left by unverified purchasers. It took the company half a day, but Amazon ended up deleting at least 900 reviews it said violated its guidelines.

Wolffs book has been equally popular as Clintons. Following a cease-and-desist letter sent from Trumps lawyers to the author, Wolffs publisher decided to move the publication date up by four days. But for such a controversial and popular book, the Amazon review section has stayed surprisingly quiet.

This morning before the official 9am US eastern time release of the book, there were only four reviews, three of which were verified purchases. Between 8:20 and 8:40am, two reviews had disappeared from the page, both verified purchases.

A spokesperson from Amazon confirms that the site is deleting reviews that violate its guidelines as always. Deleting reviews retroactively, or preventing spurious reviews from appearing on the site at all, means Amazon can prevent trolls from posting reviews without paying to buy the book.

Its clear that Amazon is watching the page carefully, though not entirely consistently. Amazon has not returned request for comment on how many reviews were deleted or why. One review was originally posted as a non-verified purchase, then later switched to verified.

Story continues

Its clear that people with strong opinions are watching the page, and this is not simply a case of unusually quiet internet. That review, the earliest that still remains on the site, has 77 replies, written with exactly the kind of respect and level of discourse one would imagine on a 2018 message board. Thats about the same number of comments the book itself has, likely because Amazon is not reviewing responses to reviews.

At time of writing, there are no reviews from unverified purchases on the page, but there are plenty that are clearly not about the contents of the book.

Deleted

A real purchase, not a real review:

A real purchase, seemingly a real review:

Not deleted

A non-real purchase, seemingly a real review, later changed to a real purchase:

A real purchase, not a real review:

A real purchase, seemingly not a real review:

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Just two days after California began sales of legalized adult-use cannabis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to rescind the Justice Department's Cole Memorandum.This Obama-era document listed guidelines for states that legalized marijuana. Sessions decision, however is more bark than bite because it doesn't change the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment which cut off funds to the Justice Department to enforce laws that say marijuana is federally illegal.It also looks like Sessions will leave it up to state attorneys to choose whether they want to crack down or not.This will be welcome news for the state of California that began legal sales on January 1 of adult-use cannabis. Its state attorney general, Xavier Becerra, defends his state's law, with good reason. Legal marijuana is a major jobs creator and tax generator. The recently released Green Market Report predicts that legalization is going to create 160,000 new jobs. New government jobs, new retail jobs, new manufacturing jobs. Many of these jobs will pay well and that will be the best part of this green rush for the state of California. This is something that Sessions should be taking seriously when he considers curtailing legal weed. As of November 2017, California had a record low 4.6 percent unemploymen t rate. Still, compare this to Colorado's unemployment rate of 2.9 percent. In 2012 Colorado suffered from a whopping 8 percent unemployment rate . That was before legalization. Colorado has since reaped the job benefits of the marijuana industry. Its biggest problem now is managing the massive growth of Denver. Legalization brought high achieving scientists, chemists, retailers, horticulturalists and tech entrepreneurs to the state ready to solve the industries challenges. This should happen in California as well.While people outside California see the riches of Beverly Hills, the country's most expensive zip code in Santa Monica, and the outrageous housing costs of San Francisco, many towns in the state have never recovered from the 2008 financial crisis.There is a great deal of attention paid to the outsize salaries of Silicon Valley workers, but real Californians know that when you venture outside these specific areas the economy declines dramatically.In some areas, housing prices remained stagnant and employment fell by 15 percent. These depressed desert towns are welcoming the large cannabis cultivation facilities that cities like Los Angeles have no desire for. Desert Hot Springs declared a fiscal emergency in 2014. The median income was $33,000 in 2015 . It was one of the first cities to embrace legalizing marijuana cultivation. Land prices have now tripled in value. Not to be outdone, nearby Adelanto has issued 27 licensed permits for cultivation. Two years ago, this town also faced a fiscal emergency. It now boasts one million square feet of warehouse space ready to be used for marijuana.Weed jobs are also a boon to workers that other industries overlook. Older women, people with multiple visible tattoos and people that don't fit into the traditional corporate cubicle are welcome in the weed industry. Someone with a neck tattoo might not be the best choice for a bank job, but this industry doesn't bat an eye at neck ink or ear gauges.ICF International published a white paper last year saying they believe that these jobs would result in $3.57 billion to $4.52 billion in labor income. The ripple effect of all these new salaries is felt throughout the local economies. Then there are the secondary jobs  from security to construction jobs to build grow facilities and create new dispensaries that meet new local laws. California's current budget deficit is $1.6 billion. The state is projected by ICF to earn between $2.4 billion and $3 billion a year in tax receipts from sales of marijuana. This will essentially wipe out the state's deficit in one year.Not only will marijuana reset the state's financial health, it will foster a new wave of entrepreneurs and jobs that will revitalize depressed parts of the state. So, all those people lining up to buy Pineapple Express are creating a whole new industry for the state that will revitalize employment and the economy. Let Sessions put that in his pipe and smoke it. Commentary by Debra Borchardt, co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief at the Green Market Report, which focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Follow her on Twitter @ WallandBroad . For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow@CNBCopinionon Twitter. Just two days after California began sales of legalized adult-use cannabis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to rescind the Justice Department's Cole Memorandum. This Obama-era document listed guidelines for states that legalized marijuana. Sessions decision, however is more bark than bite because it doesn't change the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment which cut off funds to the Justice Department to enforce laws that say marijuana is federally illegal. It also looks like Sessions will leave it up to state attorneys to choose whether they want to crack down or not. This will be welcome news for the state of California that began legal sales on January 1 of adult-use cannabis. Its state attorney general, Xavier Becerra, defends his state's law, with good reason. Legal marijuana is a major jobs creator and tax generator. The recently released Green Market Report predicts that legalization is going to create 160,000 new jobs. New government jobs, new retail jobs, new manufacturing jobs. Many of these jobs will pay well and that will be the best part of this green rush for the state of California. This is something that Sessions should be taking seriously when he considers curtailing legal weed. As of November 2017, California had a record low 4.6 percent unemploymen t rate. Still, compare this to Colorado's unemployment rate of 2.9 percent. In 2012 Colorado suffered from a whopping 8 percent unemployment rate . That was before legalization. Colorado has since reaped the job benefits of the marijuana industry. Its biggest problem now is managing the massive growth of Denver. Legalization brought high achieving scientists, chemists, retailers, horticulturalists and tech entrepreneurs to the state ready to solve the industries challenges. This should happen in California as well. While people outside California see the riches of Beverly Hills, the country's most expensive zip code in Santa Monica, and the outrageous housing costs of San Francisco, many towns in the state have never recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. There is a great deal of attention paid to the outsize salaries of Silicon Valley workers, but real Californians know that when you venture outside these specific areas the economy declines dramatically. In some areas, housing prices remained stagnant and employment fell by 15 percent. These depressed desert towns are welcoming the large cannabis cultivation facilities that cities like Los Angeles have no desire for. Desert Hot Springs declared a fiscal emergency in 2014. The median income was $33,000 in 2015 . It was one of the first cities to embrace legalizing marijuana cultivation. Land prices have now tripled in value. Not to be outdone, nearby Adelanto has issued 27 licensed permits for cultivation. Two years ago, this town also faced a fiscal emergency. It now boasts one million square feet of warehouse space ready to be used for marijuana. Weed jobs are also a boon to workers that other industries overlook. Older women, people with multiple visible tattoos and people that don't fit into the traditional corporate cubicle are welcome in the weed industry. Someone with a neck tattoo might not be the best choice for a bank job, but this industry doesn't bat an eye at neck ink or ear gauges. ICF International published a white paper last year saying they believe that these jobs would result in $3.57 billion to $4.52 billion in labor income. The ripple effect of all these new salaries is felt throughout the local economies. Then there are the secondary jobs  from security to construction jobs to build grow facilities and create new dispensaries that meet new local laws. California's current budget deficit is $1.6 billion. The state is projected by ICF to earn between $2.4 billion and $3 billion a year in tax receipts from sales of marijuana. This will essentially wipe out the state's deficit in one year. Not only will marijuana reset the state's financial health, it will foster a new wave of entrepreneurs and jobs that will revitalize depressed parts of the state. So, all those people lining up to buy Pineapple Express are creating a whole new industry for the state that will revitalize employment and the economy. Let Sessions put that in his pipe and smoke it. Commentary by Debra Borchardt, co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief at the Green Market Report, which focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Follow her on Twitter @ WallandBroad . For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.



More From CNBC


Harry Potter fan Mallory Levy looks at Harry Potter novels at the Barnes & Noble bookstore before the midnight release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Barnes & Nobles shares plunged to new lows on Friday after the struggling retailer reported a major drop in sales for the holiday season.

The New York-based company, which is best known for selling books, said same-store sales fell more than 6% to $953 million in its most recent fiscal quarter. Barnes & Nobles digital business was an area of particular weakness, as sales dropped 4.5% even as more customers turn to e-commerce operations like Amazon to do their shopping.

Barnes & Nobles stock fell as much as 17% after the subpar report and was trading down roughly 15% at $5.55 per share as of Friday afternoon. Shares fell to their lowest level since the mid-1990s, according to Barrons.

Many traditional retailers are contending with declining foot traffic in stores amid the e-commerce boom. Digital-first companies like Amazon are producing record sales figures even as brick-and-mortar giants like Macys and J.C. Penney close store locations and lay off employees.

Retail bankruptcies hit a six-year high in 2017 and are expected to occur at a high rate again this year.

Barnes & Noble executives have touted a reorganization plan that includes a sharper focus on the digital and mobile shopping experience, as well as smaller, streamlined stores that will focus on successful product segments while shifting away from underperforming offerings.

Activist investors have proposed taking Barnes & Noble private or selling the company amid stiff competition in the retail space, according to multiple reports. However, no deal has materialized yet.

Related Articles
Investors are well aware of low P/E investing and its positives. The common investor perception is that the lower the P/E, the higher will be the value of the stock. This inference is drawn on the simple logic that a stocks current market price does not justify (or is not equivalent to) its higher earnings and therefore has room to run.

Naturally, there are very few investors who pay attention to stocks with an increasing P/E. But this often-overlooked trend can prove useful in finding great stocks. Lets dig a little deeper.

Why Stocks with Rising P/E Can be Equally Popular

Investors should note that stock prices move in line with earnings performance. If earnings come in stronger, the price of a stock shoots up. Solid quarterly earnings and a forward guidance in turn boost earnings forecasts, leading to stronger demand for the stock and an uptrend in its price.

So, if share price is rising steadily, it means that investors are assured of the stocks fundamental strength and expect some strong positives out of it. Also, studies have revealed that stocks have seen their P/E ratios jump over 100% from their breakout point in the cycle. So, if you can pick stocks early in their breakout cycle, you can end up seeing considerable gains.

The Winning Strategy

In order to shortlist stocks that are exhibiting an increasing P/E, we chose the following as our primary screening parameters.

EPS growth estimate for the current year is greater than or equal to last years actual growth

Percentage change in last year EPS should be greater than or equal to zero

(These two criteria point to flat earnings or a growth trend over the years.)

Percentage change in price over four weeks greater than the percentage change in price over 12 weeks

Percentage change in price over 12 weeks greater than percentage change in price over 24 weeks

(These two criteria show that price of the stock is increasing consistently over the said time frames.)

Story continues

Percentage price change for four weeks relative to the S&P 500 greater than the percentage price change for 12 weeks relative to the S&P 500

Percentage price change for 12 weeks relative to the S&P 500 greater than the percentage price change for 24 weeks relative to the S&P 500

(Here, the case for consistent price gains gets even stronger as it displays percentage price changes relative to the S&P 500.)

Percentage price change for 12 weeks is 20% higher than or equal to the percentage price change for 24 weeks, but it should not exceed 100%

(A 20% increase in the price of a stock from the breakout point gives cues of an impending uptrend. But a jump of over 100% indicates that there is limited scope for further upside and that the stock might be due for a reversal.)

In addition, we place a few other criteria that lead us to some likely outperformers.

Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2: Only companies with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) can get through.

Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.

Just these few factors narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just 20.

Here are five of 20 stocks that passed the screen:

Western Digital Corporation WDC: This company provides a portfolio of storage solutions. Its products are marketed under the HGST, SanDisk and WD brands to OEMs, distributors, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers. It belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 16% and carries a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Hecla Mining Company HL: This #1 ranked company is a growing gold producer with an operating mine in Quebec, Canada. It belongs to a Zacks Sector Rank in the top 25%.

Sphere 3D Corp. ANY: This is a virtualization technology solution provider. The company belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 40% and carries a Zacks Rank #1.

Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. ATNM: This biopharmaceutical company belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 42%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia Inc. SONA: This is a regional bank that belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 11%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.

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Chocolate is in crisis, and thats a big problem for some major companies. (Quartz)

If you havent heard, chocolate may be extinct by 2050, according to findings from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Now, this isnt the first time weve been alerted there could be serious chocolate shortage, but the recent news that cacao plants (the plants that produce cocoa which is then made into chocolate) could go by the wayside in less than 35 years is a stark realization thats not being taken lightly.

In fact Mars Inc., the company behind treats like Snickers and M&Ms, teamed up with researchers from the University of California Berkley to start to remedy the situation using gene-editing technology. The partnership, which sees Mars investing around $1 billion in its application, aims to save the future of cacao crops by using CRISPR technology. These molecular scissors are used to remove and replace (essentially tweak) strands of DNA, and although this method is used to help treat genetic diseases, scientists are confident it could be a way to tackle crops just the same, helping strengthen them so they can withstand the dryer, warmer climate, thus keeping us from a chocapocalypse as its been dubbed.

Were trying to go all in here, said Marss chief sustainability officer, Barry Parkin, to Business Insider. There are obviously commitments the world is leaning into but, frankly, we dont think were getting there fast enough collectively.

The NOAAs report says the current generation of cacao plants will not be affected, but rather, the next generation so the time to act is now. According to research from Mintel, provided to Yahoo Canada Finance, chocolate confectionary sales will hit US$20.7 billion by 2020. The International Cocoa Organization reported that cocoa butters price more than doubled between 2005 and 2015, and cost has been predicted to rise by 30 per cent by 2020. However, while prices may be predicted to rise, the reality as of late is cocoa prices are falling following a six-year high, farmers are being cut out and crops are being wasted.

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Doug Hawkins, from London-based research firm, Hardman Agribusiness, told the Daily Mail that  more than 90 per cent of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material. This, according to Hawkins, is an indicator that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years.

Whos fixing the problem

Back in 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with 17 other companies, funded a $40-million program (the Cocoa Livelihoods Program) for the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF). The initiative was set in place to help improve practices and lives of cacao farmers in West Africa and Central African countries. Reports suggest the program trained nearly 200,000 farmers, helping to improve quality of product, conditions and efficiency.

Then there are cacao breeders, who have been sought out thanks to Mars Inc. and the ARS (Agricultural Research Service), and can be found in places like Latin America and Asia, in addition to West Africa. Ensuring there are more breeders employing sustainable methods, while physically being able to monitor crops and see if cultivars may be carrying disease-ridden traits, could prevent wasted, dying crop.

Hershey Co. has tapped into programs like Cocoa Futures, and also recently forked out nearly $1.6 billion in order to acquire SkinnyPops parent, Amplify Snack Brands. The company also acquired Krave Pure Foods in 2015 and then barkTHINS in 2016, the latter posited as a healthier version of chocolate snacks. A shortage in cocoa production, however, could be detrimental to current and future mergers, and the World Cocoa Foundation reports that cacao employs up to 50 million people worldwide.

How  and where  it can be fixed

One environmental option suggested to help improve crop growth is to move the crops up the mountainsas in 1,000 feet uphillin order to receive fairer conditions, but this risks threatening local wildlife, says the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Another option is to move, expand or utilize production elsewhere, like Indonesia, which is another of the worlds biggest cocoa producers. The Brazilian method of cabruca, which sees additional trees planted to provide shade for cacao trees, is another practice that could prove to be useful moving forward.

Alternatives to chocolate could also be an avenue to invest more in. Wild mango butter, for example, is said to have similar properties to cocoa butter and could act as a replacement. Carob powder, which has been used for thousands of years, is a source often touted to be better than cocoa powder, offering its own host of health benefits (mainly that it doesnt contain caffeine or theobromine).

Cote dIvoire and Ghana may be the two most highly populated sources for the cacao plant, but with crop failure and ongoing demand for cocoa production, the output could continue to deplete.

Whether you believe climate change affects cacao plants or not, even thinking about a life full of modified chocolate products (or worse yet, no chocolate!), is enough to get hearts racing, maybe just enough to start some serious environmental and economical changes.

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(PMI)--the giant cigarette manufacturer operating in most countries excluding the U.S.--claims it wants a smoke-free future, placing advertisements in major United Kingdom newspapers earlier this week with a New Year's resolution: "We're trying to give up cigarettes."

These ads should have run on April Fools' Day instead.

It is the height of hypocrisy for PMI to proclaim that it is helping solve the tobacco problem while it aggressively markets cigarettes--especially in low- and middle-income countries--and fights proven policies to reduce tobacco use and save lives. This advertising campaign should be seen for what it is: an effort to divert attention from the fact that PMI remains a primary cause of the smoking problem, not the solution.

Not surprisingly, PMI set no deadline for actually giving up cigarettes. If the company is truly committed to a smoke-free future, it should actively support the proven policies to reduce smoking that are endorsed by an international public health treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. These include significant tobacco tax increases, comprehensive smoke-free laws, tobacco advertising bans, and graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. These policies apply equally to all tobacco companies, and supporting them would not put PMI at a competitive disadvantage.

Instead, the company has led the fight against these policies around the world. A 2017 investigative report by Reuters revealed a massive, secret PMI campaign aimed at "bringing to heel the world's tobacco control treaty." From Australia to Uruguay to Thailand, the corporation has filed expensive lawsuits that challenge strong tobacco control laws and seek to intimidate other countries into inaction.

In the same breath that it talks of a smoke-free future, PMI brags that Marlboro is "the number one global cigarette brand." Across the globe, Philip Morris promotes its cigarettes in ways that appeal to kids, introducing flavored cigarettes, conducting aggressive marketing near elementary schools, and sponsoring race cars and concerts. In 2016, a senior company executive touted PMI's efforts to "develop untapped markets" for cigarettes across Africa and the Middle East. That doesn't sound like a company that wants a smoke-free future.

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In its UK ad, PMI claims, "No cigarette company has done anything like this before." In fact, this is not the first time a tobacco company has claimed to fund "independent research" and pledged to solve the smoking problem. PMI itself did so in September, when it created its Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. Instead of advancing public health, tobacco companies have used such research to divert attention from real solutions and their own harmful actions.

Tobacco companies also have a long history of introducing supposedly safer products that turned out to be no safer at all, most notoriously their fraudulent promotion of light and low-tar cigarettes.

This is also not the first time Philip Morris has claimed that it would get out of the cigarette business. In 1954, a Philip Morris vice president stated, "[I]f we had any thought or knowledge that in any way we were selling a product harmful to our customers, we would stop business tomorrow." Yet tobacco industry scientists knew at the time that cigarettes were dangerous to health. In 1997, Philip Morris's CEO said in a deposition that the company would "shut [production] down instantly" if presented with evidence that smoking causes lung cancer. But that evidence had already been presented in a surgeon general report released more than 30 years earlier.

PMI's latest claims are no more credible. Until the company stops marketing cigarettes and fighting efforts to reduce smoking, its claimed commitment to a smoke-free future should be seen as another public relations stunt, not a serious effort to reduce the death and disease caused by its products.

Matthew L. Myers is the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Robin Koval is the CEO and president of the Truth Initiative.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Debenhams said it now expects profits of between 55m-65m - Clara Molden

Debenhams has been savaged by investors after the department store chain issued a shock profit warning following dismal Christmas sales and a failure to entice shoppers with cut-price goods.

The retailer blamed a volatile and highly competitive environment as it cut its full-year profit guidance to between 55m and 65m, sharply down from the 80m it previously forecast.

The company was forced to bring forward its bad news by a week in order to correct excessive optimism about retail fortunes following surprisingly upbeat sales from Next a day earlier.

As a result, shares in Debenhams plunged by as much as 20pc, wiping almost 70m off the value of the business and taking the retailer close to its record lows in 2008 when it was forced to turn to shareholders to address its ballooning debt pile.

Debenhams share price

Debenhams reported that UK like-for-like sales had fallen by 2.6pc in the 17 weeks to December 30. The lacklustre sales prompted Debenhams to aggressively slash prices in the run-up to Christmas, which pushed up like-for-like sales by 1.2pc in the last six weeks of the period.

However, as a result of the heavy promotions and a disappointing post-Christmas sale period, Debenhams profit margins slumped.

Chief executive Sergio Bucher blamed a weak performance in its gifting ranges, which were not distinctive enough from its rivals and meant that it missed out on the usual rush of present-buying shoppers.

The disappointing sales are surprising given that the category has been a strong driver of revenue for Debenhams for the past three years.

"The market has been challenging and particularly promotional in some of our key seasonal categories and we have responded in order to remain competitive for our customers, which has impacted our profit performance, Mr Bucher said. He promised a more innovative approach to gifts next year.

Debenhams has tried to ramp up its beauty halls with exclusive ranges by make-up artist Kat Von D

Eight months after launching his Debenhams Redesigned strategy, Sergio Bucher must be wondering what he has let himself in for by taking the job, as todays huge profit warning means it looks more like a case of Debenhams Undone, commented Russ Mould at AJ Bell.

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The Debenhams boss, who joined from Amazon Fashion last year, said that he was still confident in his strategy and optimistic about the future of department stores. Mr Bucher is working to ramp up the groups online business and focus on beauty and restaurant concessions to lure more shoppers into the store.

What I have learnt from the last three months is that we need to get there quicker because business as usual will not be what makes us successful in the future, said Mr Bucher. He revealed plans to cut a further 10m from costs - largely due to stripping out layers of management and property negotiations - to help shore up profits.

Debenhams has earmarked 10 shops for closure and already shut two loss-making sites.

The business is hamstrung in its ability to shut more stores due to its long lease commitments.

Chief financial officer Matt Smith did little to soothe fears about the future of Debenhams dividend saying that it was something well be clearly reviewing and discussing with our board at the half year in April.

Mr Bucher attempted to distinguish Debenhams from Next, which generates almost nine times as much profit, by arguing that over 50pc of our business model is outside of clothing, therefore the dynamics of our business are very different.
By Joseph White

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Former Toyota Motor Corp President Tatsuro Toyoda, who helped the Japanese automaker become a global industrial power in the early 1990s, has died at the age of 88, the company said on Saturday.

The son of the company's founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, he took a major role in Toyota's international expansion during the 1980s and 1990s and led the company from 1992 to 1995 as the automaker accelerated its global expansion.

He was the first president of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc, or NUMMI, plant in California in the mid-1980s, a joint venture with Detroit rival General Motors Co that demonstrated Toyota's highly efficient production system could be adapted to the culture of operations outside its home base of Japan.

NUMMI paved the way for Toyota's subsequent investments in its own U.S. assembly and component factories. Toyota now has 10 manufacturing operations in the United States.

Toyoda stepped down as company president in 1995. Toyota said in a short statement that Toyoda died of pneumonia on Dec. 30. He is survived by his wife, Ayako Toyoda. (Reporting By Joe White; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Uber's cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick is planning to sell $1.4 billion of stock in the company, or 29 percent of his stake, a source familiar with the arrangement told CNBC. Kalanick, who resigned as CEO last summer following controversy, would sell his shares as part of a tender offer between SoftBank and Uber that will value the company at $48 billion. As originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by CNBC's source, Kalanick had wanted to sell as much as half of his stake in the company, but had to limit that amount due to agreements between the company and its buyers. CNBC's source said that the sale was oversubscribed, so each party was only allowed to sell 58 percent of what they'd wanted. GV, the venture arm of Google parent company Alphabet, is selling "significantly less" than half its stake, according to Bloomberg's sources. Meanwhile, Uber and Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car company, are locked in a messy legal battle and CapitalG, a separate Alphabet venture firm, is leading a new investment in Uber-rival Lyft. Uber declined to comment on the report. GV also declined to comment. Uber's cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick is planning to sell $1.4 billion of stock in the company, or 29 percent of his stake, a source familiar with the arrangement told CNBC. Kalanick, who resigned as CEO last summer following controversy, would sell his shares as part of a tender offer between SoftBank and Uber that will value the company at $48 billion. As originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by CNBC's source, Kalanick had wanted to sell as much as half of his stake in the company, but had to limit that amount due to agreements between the company and its buyers. CNBC's source said that the sale was oversubscribed, so each party was only allowed to sell 58 percent of what they'd wanted. GV, the venture arm of Google parent company Alphabet, is selling "significantly less" than half its stake, according to Bloomberg's sources. Meanwhile, Uber and Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car company, are locked in a messy legal battle and CapitalG, a separate Alphabet venture firm, is leading a new investment in Uber-rival Lyft. Uber declined to comment on the report. GV also declined to comment.



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CEO Brian Krzanich sold half of his stock several months after learning there were security flaws in billions of microchips across the industry, raising questions about the timing of the sale and his confidence in the company.

Krzanich sold the most stock as allowed under corporate bylaws in November, reported the Motley Fool last month before the security flaws became public. He now holds only the minimum number of shares hes required to own.

Intel insists that Krzanichs stock sale is unrelated to the discovery of two security flaws in the majority of computer chips could leave computers, servers, and mobile devices open to an attack by hackers. Researchers found the flaws, named Meltdown and Spectre, are related to how the chips are designed.

Intel revealed Wednesday that most of the processors running the world's computers and smartphones have a security flaw that makes them vulnerable to attack. Intel says its working with rivals and partners on a fix. The flaw affected chips from Intel and mobile chip designer ARM Holdings.

Brian's sale is unrelated, and Intel spokeswoman said in an email. It was made pursuant to a pre-arranged stock sale plan (10b5-1) with an automated sale schedule. He continues to hold shares in-line with corporate guidelines."

The stock sale in late November occurred more than five months after Intel was alerted to flaws in its chips. Krzanich had scheduled those sales on October 30. The security flaws became public on Wednesday. Its common for a company dealing with security flaws to sit on the information in hopes of fixing the problem before hackers discover the vulnerabilities.

Krzanich sold shares 21 times during 2017, according to filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Intel said Thursday that it has developed and is now issuing updates for all types of Intel-based computer systems, including personal computers and servers that will render those systems immune from both exploits referred to as "Spectre" and "Meltdown."

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An internal memo, which CNBC received and reported on, suggests Krzanich is bullish on the companys future (stock sale aside). He noted in the memo that the biggest opportunities are in connected devices, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving--anything that produces data.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Its rare to see a Trump administration decision met with wide-spread praise, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcement reversing federal policy on states marijuana legalization is provoking particular wrath from lawmakers.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) led the charge with an impassioned speech against Sessions marijuana policy Thursday, criticizing Sessions for breaking a promise he made before his confirmation as attorney general.

Then-Sen. Sessions told me that marijuana simply wasnt going to be on President Trumps agenda. That it was something that they werent going to deal with, that it was something that President Trump simply wasnt going to focus on, Gardner said. That was back in the spring of 2016, and up until 8:58 this morning, that was the policy. One tweet later, one policy later, a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation.

Sen. Cory Gardner angrily responds to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' memo on marijuana policy. "One tweet later, one policy later, a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/J4RZmkVM8U  ABC News (@ABC) January 4, 2018

I am prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation.  Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

Sessions marijuana policy will direct federal prosecutors to enforce federal laws against the drug, even in states where voters and lawmakers have legalized recreational or medical use. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice declined to enforce federal drug law against the substance in states that had legalized any kind of marijuana use through a directive known as the Cole Memo.

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Sessions Justice Department called Thursdays decision a return to the rule of law.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) criticized Sessions decision on behalf of patients who rely on medical marijuana. Medical use is legal in New York, while recreational marijuana is not.

What Attorney General Sessions did today was nothing short of an attack on patients, she said in a video posted on Twitter.

Attorney General Sessions' decision to restrict states ability to legalize and decriminalize marijuana is either willfully ignorant of the medical science or an act of greed on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. In either case, it's an attack on patients, and it's wrong. pic.twitter.com/Kiw8nOmPb7  Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 4, 2018

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was another Republican lawmaker in a state with legalized marijuana to voice criticism of Sessions legal marijuana decision. Many critics of Sessions decision pointed to his support for states rights on other issues.

Todays announcement is disruptive to state regulatory regimes and regrettable, she said on Twitter.

This move by Sessions on marijuana came the same day Vermont representatives voted to legalize recreational marijuana, sending the proposal to the state senate and Republican governor. As Vermont takes steps to legalize weed, nearly, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) added to the chorus of voices opposing the federal announcement.

No, Attorney General Sessions. Marijuana is not the same as heroin. No one who has seriously studied the issue believes that. Quite the contrary. We should allow states the right to move toward the decriminalization of marijuana, not reverse the progress that has been made.  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 4, 2018

Meanwhile, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who introduced the Marijuana Justice Act in the Senate to legalize marijuana nationwide, said that we cant let this happen.

Jeff Sessions wants to open a new front on the failed war on drugs, Booker said in a video. I am furious right now. We are at a point in American history where most people understand this enforcement of marijuana laws has violated our principles and our ideals.
A simmering feud over Ripple, which in recent days has become the second most valuable digital currency after bitcoin, boiled over Thursday evening in bitter Twitter exchange involving the companys CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

The fight erupted after Nate Popper, a New York Times journalist and author of a popular book on bitcoin, suggested that Ripples currency (technically known as XRP) is simply a tool for speculation and has little purpose in the real world.

Popper backed this up by claiming that bankers are not using XRPa damning assertion, if true, since Ripple contends banks are embracing its currency as part of a larger shift away from the legacy money transfer system known as SWIFT. Heres what Popper said:

Over the last day Ive asked several people close to banks if banks are indeed planning to begin using Ripples token, XRP, in a serious way, which is what investors seem to assume when they buy in at the current XRP prices. This is a sampling of what I heard back: pic.twitter.com/zbfMqg4TpD  Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) January 5, 2018

Garlinghouse pounced in response, claiming that Popper had his facts wrong and listing a series of alleged rebuttals from others in the banking industry. He also accused Popper of journalistic malpractice by failing to speak to available sources who would allegedly have disproved his assertions:

Over the last few months Ive spoken with ACTUAL banks and payment providers. They are indeed planning to use xRapid (our XRP liquidity product) in a serious way. This is a sampling of what I heard: pic.twitter.com/y3TN8YRC34  Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 5, 2018

then why did you tweet this without doing the 2 interviews we arranged for you!!? You have those names.



I dont think you want to hear validation for XRP. The @NYTimes should be above spreading anonymous FUD. Do those calls and update your story.  Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 5, 2018

[Update: Popper replied on Friday, explaining he had not initially been able to reach the Ripple sources but has since done so].

Unsurprisingly, the rough-and-tumble world of crypto Twitter quickly piled on with a series of taunts and schoolyards GIFs aimed at Popper from Ripple partisans:

NY times @nytimes : Hey Nathan, did you research and follow up with those leads for your @Ripple article, it's due in an hour



Nathan @nathanielpopper : Yeah for sure, calling them now pic.twitter.com/youuy8Gmdh  Lord Crypto (@Lord_of_Crypto) January 5, 2018

Meanwhile, Ripples product manager for XRP also shot back at Popper, claiming that the company is about more than its blockchain software, which banks are using to record transactions:

Do you think I left #Bitcoin and joined @Ripple to build bank software? Think again. $XRP https://t.co/v9fwoTcOi6  Warren Paul Anderson (@warpaul) January 5, 2018

Not everyone sided with Ripple, though. A Twitter user in Canada responded by asking Garlinghouse to provide evidence, using the public blockchain ledger where XRP transactions are recorded, that banks are indeed using the currency.

Where are these transactions on your ledger? Can you point us to a single bank transaction on XRP? A URL is all we need.



Or are you going to continue to make forward looking statements while retail investors buy your unregistered security product?  Moe ???????? (@moeadham) January 5, 2018

The brouhaha on Twitter comes at a time of intense interest in Ripple and XRP, which has soared exponentially in recent weeks and made the companys co-founders one of the worlds richest men.

The controversy over XRP may also stem in part from a lack of familiarity, including among some in the cryptocurrency world, about the company and its products.

Unlike digital currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripples XRPs are not mined by a decentralized network of computers, but were instead created in a single 100 billion batch by the companya situation that has long engendered mistrust and contempt from longtime bitcoin backers.

Currently, there are around 40 billion XRP in circulation while Ripple has placed most of the rest in escrow and is releasing them in slow increments.

In an interview with Fortune last October, Garlinghouse said Ripple has provided some XRPs to hedge funds at a discount in order to increase overall liquidity in the currency. Meanwhile, the company has also licensed its blockchain technology to credit card giant American Express axp .

As for its relationship with banksmore than a hundred of which have signed on to use Ripples software productsit remains unclear to what extent these partnerships will involve the use of XRP.

Garlinghouse argues that XRP will be an integral part of the money transfer and market making process, while skeptics question whether the use of XRP is a superfluous and unnecessary step.
FILE PHOTO: Intel's logo is pictured during preparations at the CeBit computer fair, which will open its doors to the public on March 20, at the fairground in Hanover, Germany, March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

By Douglas Busvine and Stephen Nellis

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Security researchers on Wednesday disclosed a set of security flaws that they said could let hackers steal sensitive information from nearly every modern computing device containing chips from Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and ARM Holdings.

One of the bugs is specific to Intel but another affects laptops, desktop computers, smartphones, tablets and internet servers alike. Intel and ARM insisted that the issue was not a design flaw, but it will require users to download a patch and update their operating system to fix.

Phones, PCs, everything are going to have some impact, but itll vary from product to product, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in an interview with CNBC Wednesday afternoon.

Researchers with Alphabet Inc's Google Project Zero, in conjunction with academic and industry researchers from several countries, discovered two flaws.

The first, called Meltdown, affects Intel chips and lets hackers bypass the hardware barrier between applications run by users and the computer's memory, potentially letting hackers read a computer's memory and steal passwords. The second, called Spectre, affects chips from Intel, AMD and ARM and lets hackers potentially trick otherwise error-free applications into giving up secret information.

The researchers said Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp had patches ready for users for desktop computers affected by Meltdown. Microsoft declined to comment and Apple did not immediately return requests for comment.

Daniel Gruss, one of the researchers at Graz University of Technology who discovered Meltdown, called it "probably one of the worst CPU bugs ever found" in an interview with Reuters.

Gruss said Meltdown was the more serious problem in the short term but could be decisively stopped with software patches. Spectre, the broader bug that applies to nearly all computing devices, is harder for hackers to take advantage of but less easily patched and will be a bigger problem in the long term, he said.

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Speaking on CNBC, Intel's Krzanich said Google researchers told Intel of the flaws "a while ago" and that Intel had been testing fixes that device makers who use its chips will push out next week. Before the problems became public, Google on its blog said Intel and others planned to disclose the issues on Jan. 9. Google said it informed the affected companies about the "Spectre" flaw on June 1, 2017 and reported the "Meltdown" flaw after the first flaw but before July 28, 2017.

The flaws were first reported by tech publication The Register. It also reported that the updates to fix the problems could causes Intel chips to operate 5 percent to 30 percent more slowly. (http://bit.ly/2CsRxkj)

Intel denied that the patches would bog down computers based on Intel chips.

"Intel has begun providing software and firmware updates to mitigate these exploits," Intel said in a statement. "Contrary to some reports, any performance impacts are workload-dependent, and, for the average computer user, should not be significant and will be mitigated over time."

ARM spokesman Phil Hughes said that patches had already been shared with the companies' partners, which include many smartphone manufacturers.

"This method only works if a certain type of malicious code is already running on a device and could at worst result in small pieces of data being accessed from privileged memory," Hughes said in an email.

AMD chips are also affected by at least one variant of a set of security flaws but that it can be patched with a software update. The company said it believes there "is near zero risk to AMD products at this time."

Google said in a blog post that Android phones running the latest security updates are protected, as are its own Nexus and Pixel phones with the latest security updates. Gmail users do not need to take any additional action to protect themselves, but users of its Chromebooks, Chrome web browser and many of its Google Cloud services will need to install updates.

Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing service used by businesses, said that most of its internet servers were already patched and the rest were in the process of being patched.

The defect affects the so-called kernel memory on Intel x86 processor chips manufactured over the past decade, The Register reported citing unnamed programmers, allowing users of normal applications to discern the layout or content of protected areas on the chips.

That could make it possible for hackers to exploit other security bugs or, worse, expose secure information such as passwords, thus compromising individual computers or even entire server networks.

Dan Guido, chief executive of cyber security consulting firm Trail of Bits, said that businesses should quickly move to update vulnerable systems, saying he expects hackers to quickly develop code they can use to launch attacks that exploit the vulnerabilities. Exploits for these bugs will be added to hackers standard toolkits, said Guido.

Shares in Intel were down by 3.4 percent following the report but nudged back up 1.2 percent to $44.70 in after-hours trading while shares in AMD were up 1 percent to $11.77, shedding many of the gains they had made earlier in the day when reports suggested its chips were not affected.

It was not immediately clear whether Intel would face any significant financial liability arising from the reported flaw.

"The current Intel problem, if true, would likely not require CPU replacement in our opinion. However the situation is fluid," Hans Mosesmann of Rosenblatt Securities in New York said in a note, adding it could hurt the company's reputation.

(Reporting by Douglas Busvine in Frankfurt and Stephen Nellis and Salvador Rodriguez in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto and Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)
Three days after California legalized the use of recreational marijuana, Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday indicated he intends to reverse an Obama-era federal policy that discouraged federal prosecution of the drug in states where it was legal.

Lawmakers in states that have legalized the drug for medical and/or recreational purposes reacted negatively to the news, many of them calling out Sessions inconsistency on states rights.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), whose state legalized recreational use of the drug in 2012, called out the attorney general in a fiery speech on the Senate floor Thursday, claiming Sessions has gone back on a private assurance he gave before his confirmation at the Justice Department.

Gardner also railed against the Trump administrations habit of making drastic policy changes on a dime.

One tweet later, one policy later  a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation, he said. Without any notification, conversation or dialogue with Congress, completely reversed.

Sen. Cory Gardner angrily responds to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' memo on marijuana policy. "One tweet later, one policy later, a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/J4RZmkVM8U  ABC News (@ABC) January 4, 2018

This must be left up to the states, Gardner had tweeted earlier, adding that he is prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding up Justice Department nominees, until Sessions stands down.

This reported action directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states.  Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

I am prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation.  Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

Colorado has so far collected over half a billion dollars in cannabis tax revenue. The funds have become essential for lawmakers as they seek to patch holes in the state budget.

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Other lawmakers  Democrats, Republicans and independents alike  also reacted negatively to Thursdays news. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called Sessions act disruptive and regrettable:

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called it a direct attack on patients:

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This reported decision is a direct attack on patients. Parents should be able to give their kids the medicine they need without fear of prosecution. Veterans should be able to come home from combat and use the medicine they need without fear of prosecution. https://t.co/ra43TqWsQE  Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 4, 2018

This is about public health. You can join me in fighting back by calling for support for my bill, the CARERS Act, which keeps the federal government out of the way when doctors and patients decide that medical marijuana is the best treatment for them.  Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 4, 2018

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) pledged to vigorously defend our states laws against undue federal infringement:

Make no mistake: As we have told the Department of Justice ever since I-502 was passed in 2012, we will vigorously defend our states laws against undue federal infringement. https://t.co/R3jJrncN9X pic.twitter.com/uM48hVH26q  Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) January 4, 2018

In Massachusetts, which only recently legalized the drug, the states Cannabis Control Commission said its role of fulfilling the will of the voters remains the same.

.@MA_Cannabis statement regarding anticipated repeal of @TheJusticeDept Cole memo which has allowed cannabis industry to go forward despite federal laws against it. #mapoli pic.twitter.com/LQnQP2UeCM  Steve Brown (@WBURSteve) January 4, 2018

In Vermont, where the state legislature is expected to vote early this year to legalize the drug, lawmakers declined Thursday to delay that decision in spite of the news from Washington.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also called out Sessions on Twitter:

No, Attorney General Sessions. Marijuana is not the same as heroin. No one who has seriously studied the issue believes that. Quite the contrary. We should allow states the right to move toward the decriminalization of marijuana, not reverse the progress that has been made.  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 4, 2018

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) suggested the Trump administration would do better to focus on the opioid epidemic:

We have an opioids epidemic. But there is no such thing as a marijuana epidemic.  Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 4, 2018

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also angrily voiced his dissent.

Dear Attorney General Jeff Sessions and @TheJusticeDept: Let me give you a list of things more important for federal prosecutors and federal law enforcement to pursue other than marijuana:



1. Basically anything. https://t.co/ctyJui7g4c  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 4, 2018

AG Jeff Sessions apparently wants to take America back to the 1920s. Prohibition didn't work then and it will not work now. Congress needs to pass sensible laws to prevent a monumental waste of precious federal resources chasing Americans who use #cannabis. #thursdaythoughts https://t.co/GP3qPyKIve  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 4, 2018

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also called out President Donald Trump for breaking his promise to uphold states rights.

Trump promised to let states set marijuana policies. Now he's breaking that promise so Jeff Sessions can pursue his extremist anti-marijuana crusade. https://t.co/EhxfVdC3so  Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 4, 2018

Wydens colleague, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) went a step further, calling Sessions move perhaps one of the stupidest decisions the Attorney General has made and noting that it directly contradicts a Trump campaign promise:

This is outrageous. Going against the majority of Americansincluding a majority of Republican voterswho want the federal government to stay out of the way is perhaps one of the stupidest decisions the Attorney General has made. https://t.co/favJUDVBiA  Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) January 4, 2018

One wonders if Trump was consultedit is Jeff Sessions after allbecause this would violate his campaign promise not to interfere with state marijuana laws. Its time for ANYONE who cares about this issue to mobilize and push back strongly against this decision. https://t.co/S0neITlP5q  Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) January 4, 2018

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) also called out Sessions hypocrisy on states rights:

I will fight for businesses that are legally operating in states, contributing to tax bases, & creating jobs. We don't need a crackdown. We need to protect states' rights, respect the voice of voters, and pass laws to prevent this from happening again. https://t.co/0XBLrgf0iM  Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) January 4, 2018

As did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.):

The war on drugs didnt stop drug usage; it just ruined a lot of lives. Jeff Sessions is reviving it because he believes in using the criminal justice system as an instrument of racial and economic control of poor people and brown people. https://t.co/XRd8OldE2N  Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 4, 2018

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) used the moment to go on the offensive and push for the government to remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances.

RT if you think it's time Congress takes up my bill H.R. 1227, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act to remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances. https://t.co/SbJjFcz05n  Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) January 4, 2018

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also echoed the states rights line:

Statement from @RandPaul on Sessions rescinding Obama-era marijuana guidance to U.S. Attorneys: "I continue to believe that this is a states rights issue, and the federal government has better things to focus on."  CJ Ciaramella (@cjciaramella) January 4, 2018

As did Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.):

Sessions will end policy that allowed legalized marijuana to prosper https://t.co/Jrx50hRwme Sessions & Trump for states rights to secede and discriminate but not to innovate and be as Justice Brandeis said,the laboratories of democracy.

Opioid crisis and no action.Pot?Get real  Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) January 4, 2018

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) said he was taken aback that Sessions would make such a move after refusing multiple requests to meet with state officials there:

AG Ferguson response on reported action by US AG Jeff Sessions on federal marijuana policy. Read AG Ferguson and @GovInslee's letter to Sessions correcting Sessions' bad information on WA marijuana law here: https://t.co/z1DY0fbnsE pic.twitter.com/i68zhtHc9A  WA Attorney General (@AGOWA) January 4, 2018

And Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) reminded everyone that Sessions decision will ultimately hurt people of color the most:

Lets be clear: Trumps decision to prosecute marijuana use will hurt Black and Latino youth the most. Privileged kids who use these drugs in private schools rarely get prosecuted. This is a civil rights issue. Its not only bad policy. Its morally wrong. https://t.co/REIekeWCeY  Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) January 4, 2018

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Steve Bannon questioned Trump's mental fitness while serving as his top aide, new book suggests

The White House has denied suggestions raised in a new behind-the-scenes book that Donald Trump lacks the mental capacity to do his job.

Asked about insinuations in Michael Wolffs new tell-all work and more widely that Mr Trump was unfit to serve as President, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called them disgraceful and laughable.

If he was unfit, he probably wouldnt be sitting there and wouldnt have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen, Ms Sanders told reporters. This is an incredibly strong and good leader.

In Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Mr Wolff describes then-chief strategist Steve Bannon asking whether the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which lays out the procedure for removing a President deemed unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, might be invoked against Mr Trump, The Times reported.

Ms Sanders further described the work as sad and pathetic.

After Mr Trump unleashed a barrage of controversy with his equivocal response to an alleged white supremacist attack on demonstrators protesting a neo-Nazi rally, saying there was blame on both sides, Mr Bannon allegedly cited the 25th Amendment as the administration grappled with the fallout.

The debate, as Bannon put it, was not about whether the presidents situation was bad, but whether it was 25th-Amendment bad, Mr Wolff wrote.

Mr Bannon also discussed the possibility of Mr Trump not surviving his four-year term, noting the possibility of a threat by the cabinet to act on the 25th Amendment, according to The Times report.

Hes not going to make it, Mr Woolf quoted Mr Bannon as saying. Hes lost his stuff.

The release of excerpts from Mr Wolffs book blasted open a chasm between Mr Trump and Mr Bannon.

In a statement effectively excommunicating his Mr Bannon the President in turn questioned his former aides sanity, saying when Mr Bannon was pushed out of the White House he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.

Story continues

Opposition politicians have also mentioned the 25th Amendment while criticising Mr Trump.

Multiple Democratic members of Congress have couched their comments by invoking the measure, suggesting he was showing signs of mental instability and demanding that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation or be removed from office.

According to POLITICO, members of Congress last month summoned a psychiatry professor to come to Capitol Hill and brief them about Mr Trumps behaviour.
Analysts are bullish on these following companies: Goodbaby International Holdings, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, Li Ning. These companies are relatively strong financially, and have a great outlook in terms of profits and cash flow. Below Ive put together a list of great potential investments for you to consider adding to your portfolio if growth is a dimension you would like to firm up.

Goodbaby International Holdings Limited ( SEHK:1086 )

Goodbaby International Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, researches, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells durable juvenile products in Europe, North America, Mainland China, and internationally. Established in 1989, and run by CEO Martin Pos, the company employs 12,708 people and with the companys market capitalisation at HKD HK$7.34B, we can put it in the mid-cap stocks category.

1086s forecasted bottom line growth is an optimistic 39.29%, driven by the underlying 53.66% sales growth over the next few years. An affirming signal is when net income increase is supported by top-line growth. Since net income isnt artificially inflated by one-off initiatives such as cost-cutting, we know this profit growth is more likely to be sustainable. This prospective profitability should trickle down to shareholders, with analysts expecting the company to generate a positive return on equity of 12.48%. 1086s impressive outlook on all aspects makes it a worthy company to spend more time to understand. Considering 1086 as a potential investment? Check out its fundamental factors here.

SEHK:1086 Future Profit Jan 6th 18

Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Limited ( SEHK:1114 )

Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, manufactures and sells minibuses and automotive components in the Peoples Republic of China. Started in 1949, and currently headed by CEO Yumin Qi, the company provides employment to 7,150 people and with the stocks market cap sitting at HKD HK$105.19B, it comes under the large-cap stocks category.

1114s projected future profit growth is a robust 31.61%, with an underlying 12.87% growth from its revenues expected over the upcoming years. Profit growth, coupled with top-line expansion, is a positive indication. This is because net income isnt artificially inflated by unsustainable activities such as one-off cost-reductions expected in the future. This prospective profitability should trickle down to shareholders, with analysts expecting the company to generate a high double-digit return on equity of 24.59%. 1114s impressive outlook on all aspects makes it a worthy company to spend more time to understand. Should you add 1114 to your portfolio? Have a browse through its key fundamentals here.

SEHK:1114 Future Profit Jan 6th 18

Li Ning Company Limited ( SEHK:2331 )

Li Ning Company Limited engages in the research, development, design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and retail of sporting goods in the Peoples Republic of China. Started in 2004, and currently lead by Ning Li, the company now has 2,007 employees and with the companys market capitalisation at HKD HK$14.35B, we can put it in the large-cap group.

2331 is expected to deliver a buoyant earnings growth over the next couple of years of 34.98%, driven by a positive double-digit revenue growth of 25.30% and cost-cutting initiatives. An affirming signal is when net income increase is supported by top-line growth. Since net income isnt artificially inflated by one-off initiatives such as cost-cutting, we know this profit growth is more likely to be sustainable. This prospective profitability should trickle down to shareholders, with analysts expecting the company to generate a positive return on equity of 15.78%. 2331 ticks the boxes for robust growth generation on all levels of line items, which makes it an appealing stock to dig into deeper. A potential addition to your portfolio? I recommend researching its fundamentals here.

SEHK:2331 Future Profit Jan 6th 18

For more financially robust companies with high growth potential to enhance your portfolio, use our free platform to explore our interactive list of these stocks.

To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
Trump is trying to massively expand offshore drilling, and its scary any way you look at it

In yet another dangerous move for the environment, Donald Trump is trying to expand offshore drilling, which basically no one but him and oil companies want. Apart from being another sad attempt to roll back anything having to do with Barack Obamas environmental legacy, this move (if it comes to fruition) would be just flat-out irresponsible. The plan to reopen offshore drilling along every single coast will take about 18 months to go into effect, according to the New York Times. Already, coastal states are rallying against the proposed plan, which means there might be hope of convincing the Trump administration that sucking up to energy and oil companies is not their best look.

This is especially true since experts agree that the risk to the environment isnt worth any upside to such dramatic expansion of offshore oil drilling. And there might not even be much of a reward at all, according to CNBC, since many of the areas hes opening up have been off limits for decades, resulting in a major lack of infrastructure needed to start drilling anyway. John McNabb, former chairman and CEO of Willbros, which CNBC describes as one of the largest energy infrastructure contractors in the world, said that, You have to put in a huge amount of infrastructure, and the return of investment on such infrastructure is not there. The price of oil is too low.

So Trump will happily fail the oceans and American workers just to say he did something while in office and really stick it to Obama. Please, will someone take away his Sharpie and get him to stop signing things?

This plan has been in the works since last April, when Trump ordered the Interior Department to look into Obamas five-year offshore drilling plan, that banned new leases in the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans, which he signed just before leaving office and protected about 94 percent of the outer continental shelf.

Story continues

According to statements from the Interior Departments Ryan Zinke, this move has blocked billions of dollars in revenue for the country, according to Reuters. The new plan would open 25 of the 26 continental shelves, leaving only one in Alaska that President George Bush protected in an executive order. (His son tried to roll it back, but Congress stopped him.)

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced "the largest number of lease sales ever proposed" for offshore oil and gas, but drilling off California may prove difficult. Story: https://t.co/fJKPHxOpCL



Cartoon: @MarkFiore pic.twitter.com/JEOPsOyU5u  KQED News (@KQEDnews) January 5, 2018

The Interior Department is going to hold 47 lease sales between 2019 and 2024. A handful of those are in the Pacific Ocean off of California, which has been blocked to drilling since an oil spill in 1969. Other areas have been blocked off since the 1980s.

Theres a reason these areas are protected and drilling is banned in them, even if energy companies dont like it. Offshore drilling is *so*bad for the environment. Even people who dont believe in climate change know that much is true.

Governor Scotts Statement on Trump Administrations Plan on Offshore Oil Drilling: pic.twitter.com/iQqNU9afsQ  Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) January 4, 2018

Since it affects states on both coasts and on the Gulf of Mexico, legislators from sea to threatened sea are largely not thrilled. Dont get us wrong: Some of them are more worried about tourist dollars than wildlife, since an oil rig leak can completely wreck an otherwise booming tourist area, like when 4.9 billion barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf for three months when the Deepwater Horizon rig broke down. Such incidents also drive down coastal property values, since no one wants to live on contaminated land.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement that he would fight to get Florida off of Trumps list, since it puts the states natural resources and local economies in danger. Governor-elect Phil Murphy in New Jersey also pledged to fight the administration in the name of saving New Jerseys coastlines, as many New Jersey legislators have done in the past.

Murphy said in a statement, according to NJ.com What the President announced yesterday was nothing less than dropping a ticking time bomb off our coast. Legislators from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Oregon, Washington, and Delaware all also oppose Trumps move. Even guys who dont understand biology well enough to write abortion legislation understand that when it comes to offshore drilling, its not if theres a spill, its when.

Even when theres not a spill, drilling creates drilling muds which release toxic chemicals into the water. Theres also the dangers of produced water  when you drill, you bring up water thats locked underground and contains oil. Heres how the experts at Oceana explain it:

Produced waters usually have an oil content of 30 to 40 parts per million. As a result, the nearly 2 billion gallons of produced water released into the Cook Inlet in Alaska each year contain about 70,000 gallons of oil.

The rigs themselves disrupt wildlife, too. First, birds and fish are drawn to the rigs and just get killed, resulting in whole food chains and migration patterns getting messed up, which can lead to endangerment, according to Environment America. But then theres the fact that theres flaring on the rigs, which, in addition to attracting birds to a sudden death, involves burning fossil fuel that produces black carbon. This black carbon increases the mercury content in the fish. Its a disaster for wildlife and local ecosystems no matter how you look at it.

As if that werent enough, last month, the Interior Department rolled back the safety regulations on rigs that were put into place after the Deepwater Horizon spill. (No, seriously, you cant make this up.) So not only is Trump just opening the oceans for bidding from whatever oil company has enough cash and the patience to set up the infrastructure, they wont be highly regulated, potentially leading to more mistakes, leaks, and more chemicals than necessary flowing through our waters.

You know whats coming now: Its time to call your legislators, because Zinke himself said in his statement that this wasnt happening overnight, so theres still time to let them know that this unacceptable.
FILE PHOTO: Uber CEO Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at IIT campus in Mumbai FILE PHOTO: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Mumbai, India, January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

By Liana B. Baker and Heather Somerville

(Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc co-founder Travis Kalanick, who was ousted as chief executive in June, is selling nearly a third of his 10 percent stake in the ride-services company for about $1.4 billion, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Kalanick's sale is part of a deal struck by a consortium led by SoftBank Group Corp which is taking a 17.5 percent stake in Uber, mostly by buying shares from early investors and employees. SoftBank last week secured agreements from shareholders who were willing to sell, and the deal will close early this year, Uber said.

The SoftBank deal values Uber at $48 billion, about a 30 percent discount from its most recent valuation of $68 billion. However, the investor consortium is also making a $1.25 billion investment of fresh funding at the older, higher valuation.

Kalanick had offered to sell half of his total shares, but because there was a limit on how much SoftBank will buy, he will sell just 29 percent, according to the source. Other investors also did not get to unload as many shares as they had hoped because of such widespread interest to sell.

The former CEO owns 10 percent of the company, which means his sale will unload 2.9 percent of Uber shares and earn him about $1.4 billion, the source added.

A spokesman for Kalanick declined to comment. SoftBank and Uber could not be reached immediately for comment.

The sale would make the Uber co-founder a billionaire for the first time, not just on paper. Kalanick has never before sold shares of the company he ran for almost a decade, the source said.

The SoftBank deal offers investors and employees what could be their last chance to sell shares in a company-approved transaction before Uber's long awaited initial public offering, planned for 2019.

The transaction marks a victory for new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who helped broker the deal and who will benefit from a deep-pocketed investor like SoftBank.

Bloomberg first reported Kalanick's plans to sell part of his stake.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
[caption id="attachment_7410" align="aligncenter" width="620"]

Uttam Dhillon. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM.[/caption] White House lawyer Uttam Dhillon made headlines after a Thursday report claimed he misled President Donald Trump about whether he could fire former FBI Director James Comey.Dhillon, according to The New York Times, feared firing Comey, as Trump ultimately did last May, would put the presidency in danger. He told Trump the president needed cause to fire the FBI director. After a junior lawyer's researched concluded Trump could fire Comey for any reason, Dhillon never corrected the record, the Times report said.So who is Dhillon, the White House lawyer who tried to stop Trump? Turns out he's worked all over the federal government, including stints at the Justice Department, the Hill, the Department of Homeland Security and private practice. Here's what to know: Values executive oversight: As oversight counsel for the House Financial Services Committee in 2014, Dhillon told The National Law Journal his main mission was to help provide a check on the executive branch's authority. Oversight is a critical constitutional function, he said. Working closely under Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, Dhillon and his team of lawyers investigated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.Except when he doesn't: But, as part of Trump's White House "compliance team", Dhillon had a slightly different take on oversight. Dhillon reportedly told top officials at various federal agencies last spring that they don't need to respond to oversight requests for information from Democratic lawmakers. A White House spokeswoman told Politico the policy was that the White House would honor requests from committee chairs, regardless of political party. However, Democrats don't chair any committees since Republicans have the majority in both chambers.Government service: Dhillon has worked in the federal government on and off since 1990.In addition to serving as chief oversight counsel for the House Financial Services Committee, a job he held from 2013-2017, he also worked for the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Republican Policy Committee from 2002-2003, and the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight from 1997-1998. He was head of of Homeland Security's Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement under President George W. Bush from 2006-2009, and an associate deputy attorney general at the DOJ from 2003-2006. He also worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles from 1990-1997. Married to EEOC nominee: Dhillon's wife is on her way to joining her husband in federal government work. Trump nominated Janet Dhillon, the general counsel at Burlington Stores Inc., to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last June. Janet Dhillon's ethics agreement does not mention her husband's White House job. Worked for Comey: As Buzzfeed News' Chris Geidner reported, Uttam Dhillon actually worked for Comey during his time at the Justice Department, from 2003-2006. In his role as associate deputy attorney general, Dhillon worked right under Comey, who was deputy attorney general from 2003-2005. Private practice years: In between years in federal government, Dhillon also worked in private practice. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1987, he joined the firm Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye for a year, and then moved to Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Later, from 1998-2001, he worked at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Then, before returning to work on the Hill, Dhillon spent nearly four years at the Dallas firm Fitzpatrick Hagood Smith & Uhl, where he was a partner handling federal litigation, white-collar defense and federal appeals. Dhillon's financial disclosure form from last near noted the firm could still compensate him for past services, and that he would consult with the counsel's office before accepting payments.
B

' Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees'

'All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops'

C

'Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers'

'The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike '

carcass wrote:

In order to keep the competitive edge gained by our extensive research and innovative methods, information security must remain a high priority for our company. The information stored on our networks including everything from research data, to training materials, to company memos - could potentially be very valuable to competitors and foreign governments alike. All employees must work to protect company information, not only through passwords and data encryption, but also through the physical control of company assets, such as laptops.



If all of the above statements are true, which of the following statements can be most directly inferred?



A Passwords are often inadequate forms of security, leading to the need for "physical control" over data storage objects such as laptops.



not discussed



B Employees are not allowed to discuss their research with anyone other than fellow company employees.



the information must be keeped inside the company



C Company information carries a high monetary value, making the network attractive to hackers.



same as A



D The company is willing to go to great expense to protect its information.



sama as A



E Employees must attend classes to learn to use the latest security software



same as A



B wins

Hi Carcass,I have a doubt regarding this question. I was stuck between option B & C mainly for the below mentioned reasons.says thatbut the passage only states that. What I understood from this is that company information is valuable and each employee must protect that information strictly by any means. Do we infer from this that that an employee X can discuss the confidential information that is known to him only and may be to some top Mgmt but employee X can still discuss this info with employee Y who is also a fellow employee. Now what if Employee X may not be allowed to discuss this confidential info with employee Y?Whilesays that. Now the passage says that. Now if we can infer from option B that employees are allowed to discuss the company info with fellow employees, then from option C why can't we infer that the valuable info of the company makes the network attractive to hackers (who might help competitors and foreign governments)Please help me understand the above confusion. Thanks.
JonAdmissionado wrote:

AndyDufresne89 wrote: Hi there,



I am a 28y/o African male. Here are my stats



GMAT: 710 (expected)



BSc Mathematics in Africa (GPA 3.84/4, top university in E. Africa)

Msc Mathematics in London <<-- Full government sponsorship



Work Experience:

- One year in Africa as an analyst at a top pan-African investment firm

- Two years in London with a AUM $1.5bn boutique hedge fund. 12 employees founded by former GS MDs. I promotion to associate level.

- Under the above have travelled extensively to African and Asian nations on work assignments



MBA:

- Looking to complete an 2 year MBA program in the states that will help me transition to social impact private equity investing in Africa.



Which option for an MBA program do you think would be worth looking into?



Many thanks,

J



Dear J,

Given your background in pan-African finance, and the fact that you are an African candidate yourself with social impact goals I would say you have solid chances at Top 10 schools in the States.



Your GMAT may be a bit lower than the average, but given your social desires, and the fact that they don't get many African applications, I think that if you tell your story right, you could outperform your GMAT.



Other than that, if you'd like to get into detail, or if you have any further questions, feel free to drop a line.



Best, Dear J,Given your background in pan-African finance, and the fact that you are an African candidate yourself with social impact goals I would say you have solid chances at Top 10 schools in the States.Your GMAT may be a bit lower than the average, but given your social desires, and the fact that they don't get many African applications, I think that if you tell your story right, you could outperform your GMAT.Other than that, if you'd like to get into detail, or if you have any further questions, feel free to drop a line.Best,

Oxford, INSEAD, LBS, Kellogg, Yale, MIT, Columbia, HBS and Wharton

GMAT:

Educational Background:

Work Experience:

Failure

Successes

Extracurricular activities:

Future ambitions:

Social Impact Private Equity Investing

Hi there, prior to your response I was actually working on a much more detailed post. Please find it below. I would greatly appreciate your suggestions.**********************************************************************************************************************************Hi there,I am a 28y/o African male. I hope to apply to three MBA programmes from the following group of schools:. I intend to drop my applications in late 2018 which should be during R1.The reason that I am posting here is to find out whether it would be realistic to plan on attending any of the above schools given my profile and background. On top of this there are certain "doubts" which I have about myself. I would sincerely like to hear your thoughts on whether these "doubts" are warranted and would hinder my chances of getting admitted. These are doubts stem from: (1) The fact that I did my undergrad studies in Africa, (2) The fact that I have worked for strong regional brands rather than well known global brands such as PWC, McK etc (3) The fact that I did not perform as well as expected in my post grad studies. I graduated with an average score of 60/100.I have divided my profile into subsections below. Please have a look and let me know what you think.- I am currently studying for my GMAT. However, based on practice tests and the time which I have left to prepare, I believe that a 710 is achievable (may be more).- I won a number of mathematics awards during my high school years. In one instance I was the top performer in a regional mathematics competition featuring ~10 high schools. I was also a member of the boys scouts.- After high school, I graduated as the 6th top student in the country (A level equivalent exams) out of a national pool of about 500,000 students. This allowed me to gain a scholarship co-sponsored by the government and the largest bank in the country to study for my undergraduate studies. As part of the scholarship, I worked for a year at the bank prior to joining university.- I pursued a BSc course in Actuarial Mathematics and obtained a GPA of 3.84/4 from a top university in E. Africa. The course was highly selective and only admitted a class of 100 students each year. I topped my class consecutively during my first two years of study and got awarded for this. I concurrently studied for my ACCA (accounting) papers and Actuarial papers while studying for my undergrad course.- After undergrad, I worked for a year (see details below) and later won a full government scholarship to study for my masters in actuarial management at Cass Business School in the UK. Through my studies at Cass, I was able to gain exemptions from a number of the actuarial exams which I am meant to write before fully qualifying as an actuary.- As mentioned earlier, prior to my undergrad, I worked at a retail bank as a bank clerk for about a year. I was able to use this opportunity to develop a passion in the stock market. After about 6 months into the job, I requested a transfer to the brokerage department where we enabled clients to purchase and sell stocks on the stock exchange. This sparked a lifelong interest in the financial markets. My present job is a testament to this- During my undergrad, I interned with a leading insurance company whereby I developed actuarial pricing models for a Weather Index-Based Insurance Agricultural product in a project which was funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The project was the largest agricultural insurance program in Africa and the first agricultural insurance program worldwide to reach smallholders using mobile technologies (USSD applications). I was reporting directly to the group actuary during this time.- After my undergrad, I gained admission into the graduate scheme of one of the top pan-African investment firms in the continent with AUM ~$1.5Bn. The scheme comprised of 5 individuals from a pool of 3,000 applicants. The firm was small with only 30 staff, therefore junior staff were expected to wear many hats. I worked there for a year and during this period i was involved in various projects such as: (0) As an analyst, my primary research and stock recommendations generated returns of 50% to the firm during my period of employment. Hence from $2mn deployed in my ideas, $1mn in investment gains was generated for our public fund. Subsequently, I was the highest paid first year analyst (in bonus) due to this (1) I also worked with the PE team in conducting due diligence on a company which resulted in a US$ 25 mn hostile bid from our firm, which we eventually won (2) I worked with the c-suite management team to draft a 5 year strategy plan for a new asset management division (3) I also led a group of external consultants to have the new asset management division approved by regulatory authorities as well as structuring the country's first pan-African unit trust investment vehicles which sat under the new division (4) I was later awarded by the MD of the new asset management division for my efforts in getting the new division up and running. I later left the company to pursue my masters studies in the UK with an ambition of later gaining employment with a top global firm in the field of investment management- After my postgrad studies, I never quite broke into the ranks of Blackrock etc. However, after relentless networking I got an internship with an AUM $1.5bn boutique hedge fund. My previous employer actually did business with this fund and they had been my clients during that time. The fund comprises of 12 employees and was founded by former GS MDs. I got a full time offer 4 months after my internship. The partners at the firm were impressed with my work ethic as an intern that they paid off my scholarship to the government which meant that I could work for them full time rather than return back to my country.- I have been with the firm for 2.5 years now (3.5 years when I apply to B-school) and during this time I have had a number of successes and failures:- Early on at the firm, I was involved in a project whereby our company was to establish an infant nutrition start up in Bangladesh which would later be scaled to nearby countries and Africa. The team working on this project included: 2 partners, an EIR (entrepreneur in residence), 1 external investor, external consultants and myself who did a lot of the heavy lifting for our firm. I worked on the project for 6 months and during this time we were able to conduct preliminary market research (focus groups etc), formulated a recipe and came up with a product (inc packaging) based on our research finding. However, the project fell through after the EIR and the partners disagreed on the ownership split of the new venture as well as remuneration. 6 months of work went to waste and my future at the firm was in jeopardy given that this was the primary task that I had been hired to perform.- Following the failure (above), I put my best foot forward and pitched internally to get assigned to a new project. I was later assigned to a new project which involved setting up a new consumer health focused investment strategy & sub-fund. The partner leading the project selected me for this task based on the knowledge which I had gained from working on the failed start up venture i.e. I was capable of hitting the ground running and had gained much of the necessary skills. We worked as a team of 4: The partner, myself, our COO and an operations analyst. My role involved investment research, fund raising, and deployment of capital. I analysed stocks and private companies across a myriad of markets, with a focus on consumer staples and healthcare companies in Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, Southern and South-Eastern Asia. My work assignments took me to places such as: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, South Korea and Hong Kong where I was meeting with c-suite management of target companies.Long story short, we ended up successfully launching a US$ 50mn sub-fund after having raised capital from university endowments (top US schools), high net worth individuals etc. The investments we picked also did well for the fund. Up to date (6 months since inception), the fund has generated 8% in net returns as of Dec 2017. I was directly involved in picking, vetting and recommending the investments.- My parents run a primary school in Africa which has enrolled 500 students from underprivileged backgrounds. I have tutored mathematics at this school as well as led certain initiatives such as the implementation of an IT & accounting system.- I am a mentor to a participant in the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI). YALI was launched by former President of the United States Barack Obama as a signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders. As a YALI mentor, my role is to assist participant in breaking down barriers that they face (mental or real) in working to achieve their goals.- I also volunteer at a charity in the UK as a mentor to young people (11 - 18 years) from poor boroughs to help them reach their full potential and guide them as they start thinking about careers which they would like to pursueI intend to make use of a top MBA education to bring together my experience and use this to launch myself into a career in. at the moment, I could get into this field with the qualifications which I have. However, an MBA would allow me to join an impact investing firm at a level whereby I would be involved in the strategic decision making process. My long-term ambition would be to get involved in social-entrepreneurship, more so in the education or healthcare sectors.Thank you for reading and getting this far. I look forward to your feedback. As a final request, please recommend certain aspects of my background which you believe I should highlight during my application/interviews?Many thanks,
Sorry! The requested post has been removed or deleted by its author.
dmblitz23 wrote:

Hi



I'm a first time poster here. I'm looking to write the GMAT in three months from now. Took a test today (GMAT Prep) without any preparation and scored a 550(Q 43, V 23). My target score is 700+. What would be an ideal study plan and what material should I be studying from? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!



DM23

Hi dmblitz23,Welcome to GMATCLUB! 3 months is good enough to improve your score. Its a good thing you have taken your GMATPREP once. You now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for Three months, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider verbal online or the verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas.You can also try out the they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them.Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.Further, I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from detailing a 3 month study plan https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/ . You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs.Hope this helps. All the best.
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
New York, Jan 6 (JEN): In the wake of a recent flare-up of violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), the United Nations refugee agency said Friday that it is registering and assisting thousands of mostly women and children refugees arriving in Chad.

More than 5,000 refugees are estimated to have arrived in southern Chad since late December, escaping clashes between the armed groups Mouvement national pour la liberation de la Centrafrique (MNLC) and Revolution et Justice (RJ) in the town of Paoua, Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the regular press briefing in Geneva.

Located in CARs prefecture of Ouham-Pende, the town also has an additional 20,000 people displaced internally.

With our government partners in Chad, UNHCR has so far registered some 2,350 new refugees in the village of Odoumian, located some 15 kilometres from the CAR border, he added.

Many of the refugees trekked to Chad on foot. Local officials say some 5,600 have arrived since 27 December, when the recent fighting started. Over 1,000 new refugees are also reported to have arrived at existing camps near the town of Gore.

The influx is the largest movement of refugees from CAR, exceeding the total number for 2017, when about 2,000 fled into Chad, the spokesperson continued, adding that many are reporting widespread human rights abuses by armed groups in villages alongside the CAR-Chad border.

Although the border with CAR is officially closed, Baloch welcomed Chads humanitarian gesture in allowing the refugees to seek international protection inside its territory.

Host to over 75,000 Central Africans, UNHCR is helping Chadian authorities to register and aid the refugees.

With its partners, UNHCR is also providing medical check-ups for the many refugees arriving in poor health, some unable to walk, he elaborated.

Armed violence and attacks inside CAR, have resulted in the countrys highest-ever recorded number of refugees and internally displaced  almost one-fourth of the population of around 4.6 million.

UNHCR/Ezzat Habib Chami


Islamabad, Jan 6 (IBNS): Protesting against the US move to place it on a Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom", Pakistan has said it is firmly committed to the promotion and protection of human rights.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country said: " Pakistan rejects the US designation of Pakistan in the ''Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom.'''The report is not based on objective criteria. This placement on special watch list is a new categorization and we would be seeking clarification from the US regarding its rationale and implications."

Today @StateDept announces that the Secretary of State re-designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan as Countries of Particular Concern on Dec. 22, 2017. The Secretary placed Pakistan on a Special Watch List.  Department of State (@StateDept) January 4, 2018

The statement further said: "The designation overlooks the significant achievements of Pakistan in the area of human rights. Pakistan is firmly committed to the promotion and protection of human rights including the right of religious freedom, under its Constitution. Wide ranging legislative, institutional and administrative measures have been taken by the Government of Pakistan to ensure full implementation of guarantees afforded by the Constitution."

It said: "The international community is aware of the incremental steps being taken by Pakistan that have brought about positive changes on ground. It is surprising that countries that have a well known record of systematic persecution of religious minorities have not been included in the list. This reflects the double standards and political motives behind the listing and hence lacks credibility."

Pakistan further said it will continue to work with the international community to ensure that internationally agreed standards on religious freedom are observed in the country and the broader region.

The US on Thursday announced it was placing Pakistan in a 'Special Watch List'.

"Today, the Department of State announces that the Secretary of State re-designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as Countries of Particular Concern on December 22, 2017. The Secretary also placed Pakistan on a Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom," read a statement issued by the US State Department.

In recent developments in the relationship between US and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump gave a strong message to Pakistan when he said his nation 'foolishly' gave more than 33 billion dollars in aid for the past 15 years but the south Asian nation only provided safe heavens to terrorists.

He said Pakistan only gave 'lies and deceit' to the US in return to the aid.


Islamabad, Jan 6 (IBNS): Pakistan has claimed it has completely destroyed the sanctuary of the Haqqani network that were present in the country.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo News: "We do not totally reject that allegation. We say that there is no organised presence [of the Haqqani network] in our country. We have destroyed their entire organised presence, including their sanctuaries, safe havens or areas under their control, either in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Khyber, or Bajaur agency."

Asif made the claim amid allegation by the US over the presence of Haqqani network in the county.

Asif also asked US officials to visit Pakistan.

"They should come and visit. We will take them to these areas. We have destroyed (sanctuaries) but the possibility still remains of their unorganised presence," he told the news channel.

Meanwhile, US on Friday announced it was suspending the transfer of military equipment and security-related funds to Pakistan.

"Today we can confirm that we are suspending national security  or, excuse me, we are suspending security assistance, security assistance only, to Pakistan at this time until the Pakistani Government takes decisive action against groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. We consider them to be destabilizing the region and also targeting U.S. personnel. The United States will suspend that kind of security assistance to Pakistan," US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert announced during a press briefing on Friday.


The police said the move was made to avoid any untoward incident.

Dhaka's sky saw several lanterns flying on wee hours of Jan 1 to mark New Year.

The paper lanterns may cause fire incidents or any other security threats, said a press release signed by DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia as reported by The Daily Star.

A top DMP official, preferring anonymity, told The Daily Star that the decision was taken upon receiving complaints from some city dwellers that burning sky lanterns fell on their rooftop during the New Year celebration.

The police also warned that legal action will be taken against those who will not follow the rule imposed by the police.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
The outbreak of protests reflects widespread discontent over not only rising prices, government fraud and corruption, and the clerical regimes costly involvement in regional conflicts but also the nations deep-seated fury against the mullahs oppressive rule.

People are clearly demanding the overthrow of the clerical regime, vowing not to back down unless they gain their rightful demands for freedom and for a decent living. Everyone knows this will not happen without regime change and the ouster of the ruling mullahs. In their angry chants, protesters call the mullahs and the regimes leaders and officials thieves and blame them for the majority of the nations destitution.

Most remarkably, women are actively engaged everywhere, in every protest, confrontation and venture.

The nationwide uprising was sparked by a big demonstration against rising prices and corruption in Mashhad, Irans second largest city. Women were numerous, loud and active in this protest which spread to vast parts of the holy city. Eyewitnesses described womens role in the demonstration as admirably courageous.

A daring scenes caught on the videotape which happened just on the second day of the protests was created by a woman in the western Iranian city of Hamedan. While surrounded by security forces, she shouts death to Khamenei for the first time and then repeats it a couple more times before being whisked away by a friend.

The protesters in Mashhad had only gone so far as to chant death to Rouhani, the mullahs president, and death to the dictator, stopping short of openly addressing Khamenei, the mullahs supreme leader. But this courageous woman in Hamedan broke the spell, opening the way for other protests where the chants against Khamenei gathered steam.

From then on, people started to burn Khameneis huge portraits and tear them down in every demonstration in a show of rejection of the dictator.

Women were also very outspoken in defying the regimes security forces in the face. Short video clips hastily shot during hit-and-run clashes between demonstrators and security forces also show glimpses of young women disobeying security officers or engaged in clashes with anti-insurgency units in Isfahan, central Iran.

In Tehran, young women studying at Tehran University were actively engaged in confronting the universitys guards and in efforts to open the gates and march on to the streets. They were highly spirited, encouraging others to unite and not fear anything and leading the students with chants of death to the dictator and death to Khamenei.

In another picture going viral on the internet was of a young woman outside Tehran University covering her face and holding up her fist in the air as she runs from tear gas.

A young woman has been caught on the video tape while challenging security forces during the protests in Zanjan, northwest of Tehran.

We have also received a considerable number of video clips showing large presence of women in the demonstrations in all major capitals.

Some also show women talking to crowds of bystanders and urging them to join the protests. A woman in Qods city declares, You raised your fists and ruined our lives. Now we raise our fists. Be men, join us. I as a woman will stand in front and protect you. Come represent your country.

And of course, dozens of women have been brutalized and violently arrested by the regimes repressive forces and anti-riot units.

Of course, this is just the beginning. Women are going to play a greater role and have great impact on the anti-regime struggle and democratic movement.

Before the recent uprising begins, women also played an impressive role in the protests of various social sectors, as reported earlier by the Womens Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The world witnessed this to a certain extent and on a general level during the 2009 uprising. But the most vivid proof comes from the Iranian peoples organized Resistance movement where women hold leadership positions.

The women of the Iranian Resistance paid the price of freedom with utmost dedication and sacrifice in 1980s and proved their worth and competence during the dark era of vicious tortures, mass executions and the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

After earning their rightful place in the leadership of the Iranian Resistance, these women have preserved the movement and led it under the most difficult years and through the most complicated circumstances since 2003.

The women of Iran are resolved to turn the page of their countrys history in the 21st century and they deserve the support of all freedom-loving people of the world.

Having borne the brunt of repression for almost 40 years under the mullahs rule, Iranian women are the force for change, a compressed coil that is going to spring out even further as the spell of repression is removed.

Time to act is now! Do not let them down! Active support is vital now! Regime change will also be in advantage of our childrens future worldwide.
The State Department condemns deaths and arrests associated to the Iranian protests in the stoutest conceivable languages.

We have ample authorities to hold accountable, those who commit violence against protesters, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran.

To the regimes victims, we say: You will not be forgotten, the statement read.

Anti-government demonstrations erupted a week ago in Iran, and US President Donald Trump has expressed support for the protesters in a series of tweets, as has the White House through its press secretary as well as the State Department.

At least 21 people have died in the demonstrations, which began as protests against economic hardship. Irans army chief said on Thursday that police forces had quelled the unrest, but his troops were ready to intervene if needed.

In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal. He must decide in mid-January if he wants to continue to waive energy sanctions on Iran.

Trumps UN envoy, Ambassador Nikki Haley, has called for an emergency Security Council meeting on Iran, saying the UN needed to speak out in support of the protesters. As yet, no meeting has been scheduled.
The Regarding Wilayat al-Fakih, the protesters messages may have reached Iranian followers who continue to die in Syria on behalf of the supreme leaders regime.

The protests in Iran are significant, in that Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Baloch, Arabs, Shiites, Sunnis, and even clerics from Qom participated in demonstrations that involved around 50 cities. It seems clear that the regime no longer maintains popularity, and that Iran is no longer a fortress, but an open land to whoever wants to support these angry people.

Nasrallah and leaders of Shiite militias in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, as well as the leaders of extremist Shiite opposition in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Pakistan and other countries are frightened by the Iranian peoples uprising.

The Wilayat al-Fakih regime is said to represent the extremist Shiite ideology, and is believed to inspire the Sunni ISIS organizations ambition to build the extremist caliphate state.

Still, the international community collectively worked to fight ISIS and al-Qaeda, and many countries now understand that Irans threat is not confined to the Middle East  its become an international problem. So, the protests by the Iranian people serve to weaken the regime from inside, while international and regional powers seem to be isolating the country.

This weeks protest display that the Iranian people want their government to put an end to terrorist networks outside its borders and drain the Iranian peoples money. Iraqs Hezbollah, Lebanons Hezbollah, Ansar Allah in Yemen, Liwa Fatemiyoun in Afghanistan, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, the League of Righteous People, the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, Hezbollah Al-Hejaz in Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan and others are unwanted by ordinary Iranians. They are managed by the regime in Tehran, through the IRGC.

After the ongoing protests, now in their eighth day, we see an Iran that is different from the one weve known. The local unrest is far more dangerous than threats from the US or Saudi Arabia.
Visitors to the Amazon rain forest in South America face different rules for how they can interact with wild animals.

A new report issued by the animal rights group World Animal Protection says that animals suffer when they are kept in captivity so that tourists can touch and photograph them. The report is called A close up on cruelty: The harmful impacts of wildlife selfies in the Amazon.

The groups wildlife adviser, Neil DCruze, told the Associated Press, We want tourists visiting the Amazon to know that if they care about wildlife, they should not use animals as photo props on their vacation.

Animals presented to visitors for photographs are often taken from their natural environments and kept in poor conditions, DCruze says. He added that animals that are touched and handled by many visitors each day can be harmed and experience stress.

Educating for prevention

DCruze says a solution to the problem is to better educate travelers.

He supports programs like Instagrams new campaign against selfie photographs with wild animals. Instagram users that search for hashtags such as #slothselfie now see the warning: You are searching for a hashtag that may be associated with posts that encourage harmful behavior to animals or the environment.

The travel website TripAdvisor last year stopped organizing tours in which travelers have physical contact with captive or wild animals.

National Geographic reporter Natasha Daly traveled to the Amazon earlier this year. She found that officials in Manaus, Brazil, have been actively preventing the use of wildlife as props for tourists.

She said, By the time I was there in mid-August, a lot of tour operators had stopped going to locations where the animals are brought out.

But she found that such practices continue in Puerto Alegria, Peru. Tourists beginning their Amazon trips from nearby Leticia, Colombia, often spend time in Puerto Alegria. Daly said she saw 20 kinds of animals brought out for tourists there in three days.

Daly said visitors likely would not get a chance to see the Amazons famous, elusive wildlife without guides showing them captive animals. Day trips where sloths, snakes and other animals are presented to tourists for photos make it easier for visitors to see them.

But she said educating travelers about these issues may change their behaviors, especially among animal lovers who may not realize the harm in touching and photographing creatures.

As soon as an activity crosses the line from observation to interaction, its probably going to be bad for the animal.

Many national parks in the Brazilian Amazon have policies for how tourists and guides can interact with animals. For example, the Anavilhanas National Park has rules that limit contact with the areas famous freshwater dolphins.

Te Batista has been a guide on the Rio Negro, which passes through the park, for 20 years. He says he feels there is a difference between observing animals in the wild and in captivity.

When tourists tell me, I want to take the kinds of pictures Ive seen on social media, I tell them they have to understand that those were taken with animals in captivity, he said.

Sometimes, he said, he might pull a caiman crocodile out of the water for a few minutes to show it up close.

Within 10 minutes it will be back in the water, he said. Its a different thing if that caiman is in captivity.

A developing country with needs

Some Brazilian officials say outside organizations should not be able to tell local tourism organizations how to operate.

Vinicius Lummertz is president of Embratur, Brazils tourism board. He said it would be impossible to observe and control tourists contact with animals across such a large territory.

Brazil is larger than the mainland United States. The Amazon basin makes up about 60 percent of Brazils territory.

Lummertz said, This is a developing country that needs resources for education, health care, and then the world expects us to police the touching of a caiman on the head in an area about 60 percent [the] size of the United States? Its not possible.

Im Phil Dierking.

Peter Prengaman and Beth J. Harpaz originally wrote this story for the Associated Press. Phil Dierking adapted this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Do you think wildlife should be protected, or made available for people to see and touch? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. __________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

tourists - n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

captivity - n. the state of being kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage) and not being able to leave or be free

selfie - n. a picture that you take of yourself especially by using the camera on your smartphone

interact - v. to talk or do things with other people

prop - n. an object that is used by a performer or actor or that is used to create a desired effect in a scene on a stage, in a movie, etc.

encourage - v. to make (someone) more likely to do something

basin - n. the area of land around a large river and the small rivers that flow into it
Most college students in the United States choose their major, or main field of study for their degree, before or during their first year.

For Saskia Fagan, making that choice was not easy.

Fagan, who is now 31 years old, grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland. From an early age, she loved animals. So when she began studying at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland in 2004, she expected to become a dog trainer.

However, Frostburg State did not offer any degree programs related to dog training. Fagan chose to study psychology, instead. A few months later, she changed her major to biology.

But then she decided she did not want to spend her life working in a laboratory. In her second year, she changed majors to another field of interest: fine art.

After two years of studying fine art, however, Fagan felt that she preferred art as something she did for pleasure, not for work. So she made one final change into a field called liberal studies. That field let her design a major based around a mix of different subjects.

Fagan finally completed her degree program in 2011  seven years after she had started. The cost of adding extra time to earn a degree created some problems, she says. But, she adds, taking the time to find the perfect field also helped lead her to a career she has found very satisfying.

Fagan is now a map designer.

Its really important to know what you dont want to do, she told VOA. If anything, those are great learning experiences, too, whether thats a major that you tried and didnt like or job that you had for a year and you thought, This is not for me. If anything, those are just as valuable as knowing what path you want.

Changing majors in the U.S.

Fagans experience is common in American higher education. About one third of college students in the U.S. change majors at least once. And many who do so began in science, technology, engineering and math  in other words, STEM fields.

In December, the U.S. Department of Educations National Center for Education Statistics released a study on students who changed majors. The study looked at 25,000 college students who entered into degree programs for the first time in 2011.

By 2014, about one in three first-time students seeking bachelors degrees changed majors. One in ten changed majors more than once.

In addition, the study found that students in STEM fields are about 6 percent more likely to change majors than non-STEM students.

Tracy Hunt-White is one of the researchers who worked on the study. She points out that an earlier study found about one third of STEM students who changed majors left the STEM fields completely. They chose non-STEM related majors instead. The most recent study found that students who start in mathematics are the most likely to change, with 52 percent choosing another field.

Hunt-White says she could not comment on the reasons students make these changes. But National Science Teachers Association executive director David Evans says he might have some idea why. He says the reason may be, in large part, due to the differences in teaching styles of STEM educators at the high school and university levels.

High school math and science classes are often much smaller than they are at colleges and universities. So the students often feel they have a more personal connection to the subjects they are studying, and therefore their teachers as well, he says.

And, Evans says, many professors feel college-level STEM classes should be difficult enough to make some students want to leave those fields.

Theres sort of a historic culture, often times in university education, especially in science and math, to think of the early courses  as being screening courses where the idea is you find out which students are good enough to get through those courses, he told VOA. And so instead of being an educational regime that encourages students, its one that really filters.

Evans argues that as technology becomes a bigger part of everyday life, it is going to be only more important to understand STEM-related subjects. He says that, as a result, educators will have to learn to be more inclusive. Also, they will need to find ways to make the material they are teaching more relatable.

Another big difference between high school and college-level STEM education is the way material is covered, Evans says. Once students enter the college level in mathematics, for example, they face much more abstract ideas. Evans suggests that college professors do not always do the best job of explaining how students will use these ideas in real world situations.

Also, he says, many college STEM courses test students on how well they remember these complex ideas, not how well they understand them.

The National Science Teachers Association released a series of suggestions for STEM teachers five years ago. They are for teachers at every level and discuss how to address the issues that Evans suggests make STEM fields so discouraging.

Many STEM educators across the United States have begun to follow these suggestions, he says. The goal is to make sure that plenty of Americans stay in these fields throughout their entire education.

Theres no single thing that we could do, with one possible exception, he said. And that is, I think that if we could do something that would allow for  more time to be spent on STEM courses for elementary school children, that  might actually make a big difference.

Not everyone who majors in a STEM field in college goes on to work in that field. Yet Evans feels that if they start their STEM education early enough, that might keep students like Fagan interested as they progress. Then they can bring much-needed STEM knowledge along with them on whatever career path they take.

Im Pete Musto. And Im Alice Bryant

Pete Musto reported this for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. How common is it for college students in your country to change majors? How often to students leave STEM fields for other subjects? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

major  n. the main subject studied by a college or university student

bachelors degree(s)  n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after four years of study

course(s)  n. a series of classes about a particular subject in a school

screening  n. the act of examining people or things in order to decide if they are suitable for a particular purpose

regime  n. a system of management

encourage(s)  v. to make someone more determined, hopeful, or confident

filter(s)  v. to remove something unwanted

abstract  adj. relating to or involving general ideas or qualities rather than specific people, objects, or actions

allow for  p.v. to make something possible

elementary school  n. a school in the U.S. for young children
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Another year, another road test for my work gear. The Consumer Electronics Show officially kicks off on Tuesday, but Im currently on my way to Las Vegas because pre-show craziness kicks off on Sunday.

As usual, Im trying to keep my reporting kit pretty light-weight, since Ill be lugging it around in a backpack all day. I guess its a good thing that I write about small computers and practice what I preach.

So heres a look at whats in my gear bag this year. It looks a lot like last years kit, with one major upgrade: this year Ill have a phone with a better camera and better battery life since I traded in my Nexus 5X for a shiny new Pixel 2.

For the second year in a row Ill be packing this notebook with a 13.3 inch display, an Intel core i7-6500U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of solid state storage.

It weighs just 3 pounds, still gets around 5-6 hours of battery life on a good day, and features a matte touchscreen display and backlit keyboard, making the notebook easy to use in a variety of situations.

The biggest down-side to this laptop is probably its noisy fan, but thats not really an issue when using it at a show where Ill be surrounded by thousands of other journalists and conference attendees making their own noise.

Acer also ommitted an Ethernet jack on this laptop, but Ive got a USB adapter that I can use in a pinch if I need to plug in the laptop in locations where WiFi may not be the best option.

Im also packing a Microsoft Wireless Mouse 900 which Ill use whenever the laptop isnt on my lap, as I tend to prefer a mouse to touchscreen or touchpad input.

My smartphone has been my jack-of-all-trades tool at the show for the past few years. Thatll be more true than ever in 2018.

The Google Pixel 2 has one of the best smartphone cameras around, and Ill probably use it to take most of the still photos youll see in Liliputings CES coverage this year. Thats a change from previous years, when I used a dedicated camera for that. Ill probably still use a separate camera for video though, which Ill explain below.

Here are a few other things the Pixel 2 will be helping me with over the week:

Maps, navigation, ride hailing, general transportation aide

Appointments and reminders

Mobile hotspot when I cant get WiFi

Oh, and I guess its handy for communications. It is a phone, after all. I may also use it to take notes, but I usually pack an old-school paper notebook for jotting my nearly illegible notes quickly on the go.

While the Pixel 2 does a pretty good job with video thanks to optical and electronic image stabilization, Ive discovered that my old Canon PowerShot SX50 HS has a few advantages for shooting video of gadgets.

First, it does a better job of singling out my voice from crowd noise when Im behind the camera than the Pixel 2 does.

Second, the Pixel 2 has a habit of cropping videos when you use image stabilization, so I have to hold the camera further away from the laptop, tablet, or other gadget Im filming. Since I tend to hold the camera in one hand and the object Im filming in the other, that can get pretty awkward.

So while Id been hoping to leave the PowerShot camera at home, its going to be in my bag again this year primarily for video. Itll also come in handy if I need a superzoom. I dont expect to cover many press conferences this year, but thats where the 50X optical zoom is a nice feature.

And its always nice to have a spare camera in case my phone battery dies.

The Pixel 2 gets significantly better battery life than my old Nexus 5X, but heavy camera use does run down the battery pretty quickly.

RAVPower 6,700 mAh portable charger

Speaking of battery life, this portable charger will help me top off the phone in a hurry if I need a little extra juice during the day.

While I usually get all-day battery life from the Pixel 2, Im not usually running around town for 16-18 hours a day making heavy use of GPS and camera functions.

This battery supports 2.4A output for fast charging and I have a short USB Type-A to Type-C cable that lets me place my phone and the battery in my pocket and charge the phone while Im on the go.

There are plenty of newer batteries with dedicated USB Type-C ports, faster charging, and other features this model lacks. But it was cheap when I picked it up and it still does the trick. Ill probably hang onto it for another few years as long as it still holds a decent charge.

Odds and ends

My Kindle Paperwhite will be keeping me company on the 5 hour flights to and from Las Vegas, along with my Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (for watching videos if I get tired of reading).

Im also packing a new pair of Samsung Level On Bluetooth noise canceling on-ear headphones I picked up recently when they were on sale for $70. The audio quality is better than that on most lower-cost models Ive tested and the noise cancellation works well under the right conditions. It does a great job of filtering out background sounds like my refrigerators hum when Im at home. But when I tried using them on a recent bus trip they actually amplified some of the creaking noises the bus made in transit. Ill be curious to see how well they work at reducing airplane noise, which is what many active noise canceling products are really designed to do.

Im staying in downtown Las Vegas rather than on the strip this year, so I dont expect to spend a lot of time in my hotel room. But for any time I do spend writing before hitting the sack or heading out for the day, Ill have my UE Mini Boom Bluetooth speaker to keep me energized with music.

And Im packing my trusty portable humidifier in the hopes that itll keep me from waking up with bloody noses from the dry Las Vegas air.

Normally Las Vegas isnt all that much warmer than Philadelphia at this time of year, but Im flying out of Philadelphia on a day when the high temperature is forecast to be 16 degrees in my home city, and the high in Vegas is supposed to be 68. So thats kind of exciting.

That said, Ill also be packing one more thing: some sudafed. Often I catch a cold at CES. This year Im heading to Las Vegas after finally kicking one that I picked up just after Christmas. Im hoping I dont need to self medicate to get through the week, but its always good to be prepared.

Some history

Want to see how my reporting kit has changed over the years? You can see what I brought in the past. Here are write-up for my kits from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.

Yep, this is my 10th trip to CES. I dont know whats wrong with me.
January 6, 2018 14:35

A first-of-its kind genetic treatment for blindness will cost $850,000 per patient, making it one of the most expensive medicines in the world and raising questions about the affordability of a coming wave of similar gene-targeting therapies.

The injectable treatment from Spark Therapeutics can improve the eyesight of patients with a rare genetic mutation that affects just a few thousand people in the U.S. Previously there has been no treatment for the condition, which eventually causes complete blindness by adulthood.

Pricing questions have swirled around the treatment due to a number of unusual factors  it is intended to be a one-time treatment, it treats a very small number of patients and represents a medical breakthrough.

Previously, Spark suggested its therapy, Luxturna, could be worth more than $1 million. But the company said Wednesday it decided on the lower price after hearing concerns from health insurers about the affordability of the treatment.

Consternation over skyrocketing drug prices, especially in the U.S., has led to intense scrutiny from patients, politicians, insurers and hospitals.

We wanted to balance the value and the affordability concerns with a responsible price that would ensure access to patients, said CEO Jeffrey Marrazzo, in an interview with The Associated Press.

Luxturna is still significantly more expensive than nearly every other medicine on the global market, including two other gene therapies approved earlier last year in the U.S.

Pharmaceutical industry critics said the slightly lower cost is a distraction from the ongoing problem of unsustainable drug prices.

Approved last month, Luxturna, is the nations first gene therapy for an inherited disease. It requires a 45-minute operation in which a tiny needle delivers a replacement gene to the retina, tissue at the back of the eye that converts light into electric signals that produce vision. The therapy will cost $425,000 per injection. The price does not include the cost of the operation, which Spark estimates will cost between $4,000 and $5,000.

The treatment is part of an emerging field of medicine that could produce dozens of new gene-targeting medications in the next few years.

Like Luxturna, these therapies are generally intended to be taken once, a fact which drug developers argue sets them apart from traditional drugs taken for months or years. Even compared to other one-time gene therapies Luxturna is still an outlier. Two customized gene therapies for blood cancer approved last year are priced at $373,000 and $475,000.

Drug prices are not regulated in the U.S., as they are in many other countries, so drugmakers can price their goods like any other manufacturer. Drugmakers have historically offered little explanation for the prices they charge, other than to cite the high cost of developing a drug and the fact that so many drugs fail during trials and must be abandoned. However, some companies have begun to offer more detailed reasoning as the backlash against drug prices has grown more heated.

Spark Therapeutics, based in Philadelphia, has said that the cost for a lifetime of blindness  including lost earnings and caregiver wages  can easily exceed $1 million.

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(HealthDay)As temperatures plummet across the northern half of the United States this weekend, gas heating use goes up. So does the risk for accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

That's because carbon monoxide exposure is both highly toxic and very hard to detect. The gas is colorless, tasteless and odorless.

As a result, more than 20,000 Americans seek emergency care each year for carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 400 die.

To prevent carbon monoxide incidents, the experts from the Nebraska Regional Poison Center say you should:

Install carbon monoxide alarms on every floor of your home. This is the most important thing you can do.

Inspect all fuel-burning equipment every year. Make sure that all gas heaters are properly vented to the outside. Gas generators should be placed at a good distance from the home, not near a window, door or vent.

Don't use a gas range or oven to warm up your home.

Don't use a gas or charcoal grill indoors.

Never leave your vehicle running while parked in a garage attached to your home.

Have your vehicle's muffler and tailpipes checked on a regular basis.

Though carbon monoxide is a quiet killer, signs of actual poisoning are very noticeable, according to the Poison Center. They include sleepiness, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, vomiting, shortness of breath and convulsions.

Anyone experiencing such symptoms should be immediately pulled out into the open air. It's important to seek medical help right away: Call 911 or the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.

More information: The National Safety Council has more on The National Safety Council has more on carbon monoxide poisoning

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Tylenol 500 mg capsules. Credit: Wikipedia

Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may impair the future fertility of female offspring, according to a review published in Endocrine Connections. The article reviews three separate rodent studies that all report altered development in the reproductive systems of female offspring from mothers given paracetamol during pregnancy, which may impair their fertility in adulthood.

Paracetamol, or acetaminophen, is an over-the-counter treatment for pain relief that is commonly taken by pregnant women worldwide. Recent studies have linked paracetamol use during pregnancy with disruptions in the development of the male reproductive system but the effects on female offspring had not yet been investigated. In this article, Dr David Kristensen and colleagues from Copenhagen University Hospital, review the findings from three individual rodent studies that evaluated the effects of paracetamol taken during pregnancy on the development of the reproductive system in female offspring.

It is well known that exposure to some chemicals during pregnancy can cause developmental effects that may not manifest until much later in life. In rodents and humans, females are born with a finite number of eggs for reproduction in the future. In these reviewed studies, rodents given paracetamol during pregnancy, at doses equivalent to those that a pregnant woman may take for pain relief, produced female offspring with fewer eggs. This means that in adulthood, they have fewer eggs available for fertilisation, which may reduce their chances of successful reproduction, particularly as they get older.

Dr Kristensen comments, "Although this may not be a severe impairment to fertility, it is still of real concern since data from three different labs all independently found that paracetamol may disrupt female reproductive development in this way, which indicates further investigation is needed to establish how this affects human fertility."

Although there are parallels between rodent and human reproductive development, these findings have yet to be firmly established in humans. However, establishing a link between paracetamol taken by mothers during pregnancy and fertility problems much later in the adult life of the child will be difficult. Dr Kristensen recommends that an inter-disciplinary approach be taken to address this, "by combining epidemiological data from human studies with more experimental research on models, such as rodents, it may be possible to firmly establish this link and determine how it happens, so that pregnant women in pain can be successfully treated, without risk to their unborn children."

Dr Kristensen states, "As scientists, we are not in the positon to make any medical recommendations and we would urge pregnant women in pain to consult with their general practitioner, midwife or pharmacist for professional advice."

More information: The review "EDC IMPACT: Is exposure during pregnancy to acetaminophen/paracetamol disrupting female reproductive development?" will be published in Endocrine Connections on 6 January 2018.

Provided by Society for Endocrinology
(HealthDay)While there is no sure way to avoid lung cancer, there are steps you can take to reduce your risk.

Smoking contributes to 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, according to the American Lung Association.

Men who smoke have a 23 times increased risk of lung cancer. And exposure to secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers in the United States every year.

So, if you've never smoked, don't start. If you do smoke, try to quit. Talk to your doctor about methods and aids to help you quit. These include nicotine replacement products, medications and support groups, according to UPMC Pinnacle, part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center health care system.

To boost your stop-smoking resolve, the health care system recommends the following steps:

Set a quit date to solidify your commitment to quitting. Make it a significant date, such as a birthday or anniversary.

Prepare for your quit day by getting rid of all tobacco products from your home, car and workplace. Think about things you can do to take your mind off smoking during the first month, when your risk of relapse is high.

Give yourself daily reminders about why you want to quit.

Create a support system. Find a friend who also wants to quit smoking. If that's not possible, ask family and friends to help keep you on track. Support groups are another option.

If you're a nonsmoker, avoid secondhand smoke. If you live or work with smokers, encourage them to quit. If they can't quit, ask them to smoke outside. Avoid areas where people smoke and ask to be seated in the nonsmoking section when you go to restaurants and bars.

Have your home checked periodically for seepage of radon gas, especially if you live in an area where radon is a known problem. Your local public health department or local chapter of the American Lung Association can provide more information on radon testing.

Avoid known carcinogens. If you work around cancer-causing materials, take measures to protect yourself and follow your employer's posted precautions. For example, if you're given a face mask, wear it. It's also a good idea to talk to your doctor about how to protect yourself at work.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. That's far better than taking large doses of vitamin pills, which can do more harm than good.

Get regular exercise. If you haven't been active, start slowly.

Get lung cancer screenings. That's especially important if you're at high risk. That includes people ages 55-79 who have smoked the equivalent of one pack daily for 30 years. Also included: people 55-79 who have smoked the equivalent of one pack daily for 20 years and who have one additional risk factor, including radon or asbestos exposure, cancer history, strong family history of lung cancer, significant secondhand smoke exposure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or pulmonary fibrosis.

More information: The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on lung cancer

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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2017 was an exciting year in the world of smartphone design, with the two big players departing significantly from their familiar industrial design.

Samsung finally did away with the hardware buttons on the front of its devices, moving its fingerprint sensor to the rear of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 ranges.

Apple elected to do away with its TouchID sensor entirely on the iPhone X to make way for an all-screen design, focussing purely on facial recognition for biometric authentication.

2017 also saw the release of new Nokia and BlackBerry branded devices under license to Chinese companies  Nokia to HMD Global and BlackBerry to TCL, which also produces the Alcatel brand.

At the low end of the market there is huge competition, and South Africa saw a surprising contender at the front of the pack from our very own local brand  Mint.

Best overall: Samsung Galaxy S8+

Elsewhere in the world the iPhone may be king, but in South Africa there is no doubt that Samsung is top gun.

Even though it doesnt have a dual camera system, the Galaxy S8 still scored an excellent 88 on DxoMarks mobile camera rankings, putting it in the same league as the Google Pixel.

It should be noted that DxoMark has since overhauled its scoring system and has not re-rated the S8.

Samsung also built a desktop experience into the Galaxy S8, available through a docking device called DeX, which lets you use your smartphone as the brains of a more traditional keyboard-and-mouse desk computing environment.

Through its partnership with Facebook, Samsung also maintained its lead in the mobile VR space, though less platform-restricted systems are quickly catching up.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Dimensions 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0mm 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1mm Weight 155g 173g Operating system Android 7 Android 7 Display 5.8 quad HD+ (14402960) Super AMOLED 6.2 quad HD+ (14402960) Super AMOLED Rear camera 12MP f/1.7 dual pixel 12MP f/1.7 dual pixel Front camera 8MP f/1.7 8MP f/1.7 Storage, internal 64GB 64GB Storage, expandable microSD microSD RAM 4GB 4GB Processor Exynos 8895 octa-core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.7GHz Quad) Exynos 8895 octa-core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.7GHz Quad) Graphics ARM Mali G71 ARM Mali G71 Battery 3,000mAh

Qi and PMA wireless charging

Fast charge 3,500mAh

Qi and PMA wireless charging

Fast charge Cellular data LTE Cat. 16 (5CA) LTE Cat. 16 (5CA) SIM type Nano Nano Durability IP68 IP68 Biometrics Iris, face, fingerprint Iris, face, fingerprint

Runner-up: iPhone X

Apples commemorative tenth-anniversary smartphone seems like more of a concept device made real than a standard flagship release.

Reminiscent of the all-ceramic Mi Mix, which was sold only in China, the iPhone X is powerful and gorgeous.

It trades function for form, though some might argue that a near bezel-less device that maximises screen size allows for additional functionality.

The iPhone X also introduces a gesture-based control scheme seen on devices such as those based on BlackBerry 10.

Combined with the fact that the iPhones price in South Africa competes with high-end Android devices, it is a worthy runner-up.

Specifications iPhone X Maker Apple Dimensions 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm Weight 174g Operating system iOS 11 Display 5.8 Super Retina HD (11252436) OLED HDR Rear camera Dual 12MP:

f/1.8 wide-angle

f/2.4 telephoto Front camera 7MP f/2.2 TrueDepth Storage, internal 64GB / 256GB Storage, expandable  RAM 3GB Processor A11 Bionic Battery Up to 12 hours Internet use

Qi wireless charging

Fast charge Cellular data LTE-A Cat. 16 (4CA) SIM type Nano Durability IP67 under IEC standard 60529 Biometrics Face ID

Third runner-up: Huawei P10 Plus

Huawei is competing aggressively in South Africa, engaging in a price war with LG and stating that its ultimate goal is to unseat Samsung as the top brand in the country.

It offers an excellent balance of quality and price, which has allowed the brand to build a solid reputation among locals.

While Huawei only introduced its desktop experience with the Mate 10, it did include a dual camera system with separate monochrome and colour sensors.

Specifications Huawei P10 Huawei P10 Plus Dimensions 143.5 x 69.3 x 6.98 mm 153.5 x 74.2 x 6.98 mm Weight 145g 165g Operating system Android 7.0 EMUI 5.1 Android 7.0 EMUI 5.1 Display 5.1 FHD (10801920) 5.5 (14402560) Rear camera 20MP + 12MP 20MP + 12MP Front camera 8MP 8MP Storage, internal 64GB 128GB Storage, expandable microSD microSD RAM 4GB 6GB Processor Kirin 960  4x Cortex A73 2.4GHz + 4x Cortex A53 1.8GHz Kirin 960  4x Cortex A73 2.4GHz + 4x Cortex A53 1.8GHz Battery 3,200mAh 3,750mAh Cellular data LTE FDD, TD-LTE LTE FDD, TD-LTE SIM type Nano SIM Nano SIM Durability No rating No rating Biometrics Fingerprint Fingerprint

Best value: Nokia 8

HMD Global relaunched the Nokia brand with a bang last year through the introduction of a re-imagined Nokia 3310 feature phone.

It offers solid design and hardware, trading certain flagship features such as IP68 water- and dust-proofing and top-of-the-range LTE modems for more affordable prices.

Nokia has said that it has built a software platform that provides regular updates for Android without needing to go through costly operator compliance testing every time.

Nokia 8 OS Android 7.1.1 Dimensions 151.5 x 73.7 x 7.9 mm Display 5.3-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Octa-Core (4x 2.5GHz + 4x 1.8GHz) RAM 4GB Storage 64GB + microSD Main Camera 13MP (Colour + OIS) + 13MP (Mono) Front Camera 13MP Durability IP54 Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Type-C, headphone jack Network LTE Cat. 9 3CA Battery 3,090mAh Biometrics Fingerprint

Best hardware keyboard: BlackBerry KeyONE

Although its a bit of a one-horse race, if youre after a hardware keyboard, BlackBerry is the best in the business.

BlackBerry no longer makes its own devices, but said it will help maintain quality through partnerships.

Currently the only manufacturer with a license to build BlackBerry-branded devices is TCL. All BlackBerry devices built under this partnership have been based on Android.

BlackBerry KeyOne Maker TCL Communications Dimensions 149.3 x 72.5 x 9.4mm Weight 180g Operating system Android 7.1 Display 4.5-inch 1,080 x 1,620 IPS Rear camera 12MP Front camera 8MP Storage, internal 32GB Storage, expandable MicroSD RAM 3GB Processor 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 Graphics Adreno 506 Battery 3,505mAh Cellular data LTE Cat. 7 Biometrics Fingerprint

Top low-budget device: Mint Fox

South African smartphone brand Mint announced earlier this year that its R300 Android smartphone sold through MTN was the best-selling device for more than half of 2017  from February to August.

The device sold through retail groups such as Pep and Edcon, and came with 100MB of data for first three months after purchase.

Mint Fox Maker Mint Connect OS Android 6.0 Display 3.5 Processor Spreadtrum Quad-Core RAM 512MB Rear camera 2MP Front camera 0.3MP (VGA) Storage 8GB, MicroSD Cellular 3G Battery 1,400mAh

Honourable mention: Pixel 2 XL

Googles range of Pixel smartphones are excellent devices which would easily have made our podium.

However, they are not officially sold in South Africa and are therefore disqualified.

Specifications Pixel 2 Pixel 2 XL Display 5.0-inch 1,920 x 1,080 6.0-inch 2,880 x 1,440 Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 RAM 4GB 4GB Storage 64GB/128GB 64GB/128GB Camera 12.2MP Rear / 8MP Front 12.2MP Rear / 8MP Front Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 Ports USB Type-C USB Type-C Battery 2,700mAh 3,520mAh Dimensions 146 x 70 x 8 mm 158 x 77 x 8 mm Price 64GB  $649 / 128GB  $749 64GB  $849 / 128GB  $949

Now read: The most powerful smartphones of 2017
Macron hopes for resumption of talks between Ukraine and Russia

Prime Minister of India: Cryptocurrencies are used to finance and recruit terrorists

Macron: China plays an important role in the context of pressure on Russia

Garibashvili: If 'Ukrainian government allies' were in power in Georgia, they would 'turn country into training ground'

Jerusalem Post: Azerbaijan is the first state with a Shiite majority to open an embassy in Israel

Participation of GeoProMining in state subvention projects in Armenia reaches 1 billion 700 million drams

Azerbaijan to open embassy in Tel Aviv and office in Ramallah

Russia and China switch to settlements in national currencies for energy supplies

'Gazprom' begins supplying gas to Azerbaijan under new contract with SOCAR

Sweden: Explosions that damaged Nord Stream pipelines were caused by 'gross sabotage'

Macron calls US, China 'big elephants'

Azerbaijan carries out tactical maneuvers

Azerbaijani Armed Forces shell villager working in fields of Artsakh village of Hatsi

Erdogan and Putin discuss grain deal

Politico: Viktor Orban has taken the EU hostage

Kremlin confirms Putin's visit to Yerevan

Expert: Armenia becomes one of the main auto exporters to Russia

Turkish court arrests 17 suspects in connection with Istanbul street bombing

Mishustin and Aliyev meet in Baku

Nikol Pashinyan is questioned as witness

CSTO Collective Security Council to discuss joint assistance measures for Armenia

Republican congressmen introduce resolution calling for audit of funds sent to Ukraine

Biden caught using 'cheat sheet' with instructions on where to sit and when to speak

Armenia to receive loan of 100 million and $100 million to finance budget: Agreements are signed

Azerbaijan plans to open embassy in Israel

Cavusoglu accuses U.S. and EU of pressure and threats against members of TDT

Hungary: EU wants new sanctions to somehow justify its flawed decisions

RBC TV channel does not publish interview with Ruben Vardanyan because of Azeri threats

Armenian Central Election Commission representatives to monitor presidential election in Kazakhstan

Newspaper: Deputies from ruling party go on another 'voyage'

Cavusoglu calls incident in Poland 'accident'

Biden administration says Saudi prince has immunity in lawsuit over Khashoggi murder

Marukyan reminds Aliyev: The UN, OSCE and EU do not deal with the 'internal matter'

Azerbaijani MP demands 'serious conversation with adherents of Iranian influence in Azerbaijan'

Inflation in Japan accelerates to 40-year high

Seoul and Riyadh sign $30 billion investment agreements

North Korea launches intercontinental ballistic missile that lands near Japan

FBI: U.S. concerned about China 'setting up' unauthorized 'police stations' in U.S. cities

Prime Minister of Finland: Europe is now too reliant on Chinese technology

Turkey to require insurance from oil tankers when passing through its waters

EU to provide Ukraine with generators and kits to repair power grids

Turkey sentences sect founder to 8,658 years in prison

Xi Jinping urges world to abandon any Cold War mentality

Aliyev rules out talks with Artsakh State Minister

FP: Ukraine's appetite for weapons depletes Western stocks

Putin and Aliyev discuss energy cooperation

Armenian financial technologies to enter international market: VISA and Idram sign memorandum in Yerevan

Incident in Poland causes disagreement between Kyiv and West

Mark Milley urges Kyiv and Moscow to find political solution: Chances of military victory are unlikely

New NATO Secretary General to be announced at Vilnius summit in 2023

Finnish Defense Ministry announces largest batch of military aid to Ukraine

Pashinyan receives Ukrainian businessmen of Armenian origin

Armenian soldier wounded in Azerbaijani shooting

Erdogan: Turkey-Israel relations entered a new phase of development

Mishustin: Cooperation between Moscow and Baku has become truly strategic and allied

Igor Khovaev to visit Baku

Mishustin arrives in Baku

Russian Foreign Ministry: South Caucasus is a strategic transport hub for Eurasia

U.S. general lays flowers at eternal flame at Armenian Genocide memorial

Republicans stand for same-sex marriage rights

Pallone says US State Department should not hesitate to speak about Azerbaijani aggression

Aliyev refuses to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh and threatens Armenia with new aggression

Greek minister doesn't get off plane to meet head of Libya's presidential council

Sergey Lavrov to visit Yerevan

Lebanese parliament fails to elect president of country

Kremlin on Zelenskyy's proposal to hold 'public' talks

National Assembly Speaker: Armenia is extremely interested in establishing strategic relations with Georgia

Canada provides additional military aid to Ukraine

Representatives of defense agencies of CSTO countries discuss crisis response issues

Armenian Defense Minister and American General discuss defense cooperation

Tehran accuses Israel and West of trying to organize civil war in Iran

Oppositionist: No guarantees that war with Azerbaijan can be avoided

Issue of biometric passports to Armenian citizens is temporarily suspended

Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement to be signed till end of year? Pashinyan's associate voices conditions

Erdogan says Russia and US agreed to refrain from using nuclear weapons

Azerbaijani oppositionist complains of torture by police

Kyaram Sloyan and Andranik Zohrabyan posthumously bestowed 'Hero of Artsakh' title

UN Secretary General Guterres welcomes parties' agreement on renewal of food deal

Eurasian Development Bank: Armenia is the leader among EEU countries in terms of economic growth

Greece promises to continue military support to Ukraine

Number of appeals from Azerbaijan to ECHR is growing

Pashinyan: The wheel of processes related to confiscation of illegal property is spinning

Fire hits Baghdad airport

North Korea fires ballistic missile towards Sea of Japan

Istanbul agrees to extend 'grain initiative' for another 120 days

'Hayastan' Fund to build 6 residential houses in Nerkin Khndzoresk village

Vocal as Russophobic propaganda: Azerbaijani singer sings about 'disgusting peacekeepers'

Biden congratulates Republicans on winning majority in House of Representatives

14 freight cars derailed in Kazakhstan, train traffic suspended

Newspaper: Ruben Vardanyan does not hurry to make changes in composition of Karabakh government

Russia attacks Ukraine with missiles in morning: Explosions heard in Dnieper, air defense works in Kyiv region

U.S. National Security Council: It is clear that the party ultimately responsible for this tragic incident is Russia

Gold prices decline

Russian Trade Representative to Armenia: Situation at Upper Lars checkpoint is not related to geopolitical issues

Trade Representative of Russia: Trade turnover with Armenia sets new record

Copper falls in price

Gas explodes in Fatih district of Istanbul, 10 people injured

Oil prices go down

Meteorite that fell in Britain contains key information about how oceans and life formed on Earth

Gamer drinks 12 energy drinks in ten minutes and ends up in hospital
YEREVAN.  The situation around Karabakh is quite complicated, a researcher at Institute of World Economy and International Relations, political scientist Viktor Nadein-Raevsky told Armenian News- NEWS.am.

According to the political scientist, the situation of the Karabakh settlement is in limbo.

It's quite difficult to calculate what some of the Baku provocateurs would do next, said Viktor Nadein-Raevsky.

Azerbaijan continues to strive to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh people, or to occupy the territory, and squeeze out the peaceful Armenian population afterwards, noted expert.

And while there are such aspirations, actual aspirations to continue genocide, it is difficult to predict where the political and military goals can lead Azerbaijani regime, said the expert, adding that in 2016 the world public witnessed the Azerbaijani aggression.

He emphasized that Armenia understands perfectly: it is absolutely impossible to trust Baku.
I have a bit of a reputation among my friends of being that guy who goes from zero to 100 when it comes to be being obsessed with new things. And when I heard the loud click of the huge power button on my new 1989 Pioneer SX-1100 receiver powering my brand new NAD BEE model CD player, Springsteens Tenth Ave. Freeze Out blasting out of old Sony speakers salvaged from my deceased 1997 Sony stereo, I realized my long-dreamed-about FrankenStereo was born at last and in my joy I had to stop myself from going to eBay to buy more useless old tech crap.

With such things in mind I bring to you, from the July 2, 2001, Journal Gazette, this AP story about a sure-to-be comeback that never was: 8-Tracks, featuring collector Len Saaf peering smugly from behind a vintage 8-track player, the unmistakable blunt end of an 8-track cassette jutting out at you like a plastic tumor.

I scanned dozens of photos on Google Images trying to find anything that looked close to the model of 8-Track player I remember my dad owning. Im pretty sure it was from the fine folks at Realistic, a Radio Shack brand, something which I bring up only so I can mention Radio Shack again. But it was the player he had mounted under the dashboard of his old Chevy Silverado pickup that got the most play on Saturday afternoons. Thats how I learned everything I needed to know about the best of The Guess Who, as well as just how much fringy leather a band could possibly wear in their group photo.

8-track cassettes were clunky, flimsy pieces of plastic that you shoved into machines that made more clicking and whirring noises than they did music. But hey, you could take your music with you, right? And in the 70s, did you ever. At least until someone came up with smaller Compact Audio Cassettes, or just plain old cassettes to most people, and thereafter the dads of the '70s made sure the middle spot of their trucks bench seat was occupied by a beat up suitcase full of homemade Maxell cassette mixes, and their once top-of-the-line 8-track player was exiled to where all old stereo equipment wentthe workbench in your garage next to the bolt bins and Turtle Wax. Bet it still works though.

As for Len Saaf, his audio rack, and his growing 8-Track collection, the Donna Fargo My Second Album 8-Track thats wedged in that player is currently going for $2.97 on eBay. So yeah, Im guessing hes going to be spending a lot of time in the garage. It must be noted the website mentioned in the article, www.8trackheaven.com, is still operational, but abandoned. Seems fitting.

I was a child of the Compact Disc era. And because CDs are still on the outer distant edge of the they still make those tacky phase, we tend to forget the sheer convenience they offered at the time; you could play and program your own songs all with the touch of a button in a format so durable you could eat a breakfast scramble off a disc without causing any damage. Because of this, Ive always, despite the lectures from long-haired hipsters who lurk around whatever passes for a stereo store these days about how records have the superior sound, been resistant to get a record player again. I mean, records are kind of welldorky. Ive got to lift an arm and needle every time I want to hear a song over and over again?

And then my dad says hes got a turntable to donate to my FrankenStereo, which would be my first record player since my WKRP in Cincinnati turntable/DJ table I used to blow sound out of when I was a kid. And suddenly, right on schedule, I become that guy, eager to do what I said Id never do: rebuying music I already own except now in an entirely new old format sure to sound all scratchy unless I cradle it in my arms while tip-toeing back to its (ugh) sleeve. But just hear how warm that analog sound is, right?

But instead of re-buying anything, maybe it would be fun to just fill an old milk crate or two with whatever used records I might run into at yard sales, record stores or, if I had a time machine, at the Dec. 27, 1982, After-Christmas Music Sale at Walmart featuring Stax-O-Wax from popular artists such as Barry Manilow, which appears to have a song on it called I Want To Do It With You Memory (gross); a record from Bob Seger indistinguishable from his others except by that guy who empties the change machine at your favorite car wash; a second volume of greatest hits from the Eagles for those people who prefer I Cant Tell You Why over all that earlier stuff with the banjos; a Foreigner greatest hits record thats useless since it came out before I Want To Know What Love Is and Say You Will; the last Pat Benatar record anyone needed to own until The Legend of Billie Jean soundtrack came out; a Donald Fagen solo album Ill discreetly admit I already own on CD; Michael Jacksons Thriller, which I would have sworn was just issued to you back then thanks to an NEAA grant; and a Lionel Ritchie album where hes wearing a sweater.

So yeah, if youre somewhere in Mattoon and late one night you hear the faint sound of Donald Fagens The Nightfly playing through the walls or ceiling, Im sorry. Try to be content with the novelty that youre the only person in Coles County whos hearing the only person in Coles County (under the age of 50) still listening listen to a Donald Fagen solo record through a stereo receiver from 1989 so old that he has to actually get up and push a lever to control the volume. Ill try to keep the slider under 3 if I can.

Meanwhile, where in the world am I going to find empty milk crates?
The world faces the prospect of more tension with China over trade, security and human rights after Xi Jinping awarded himself another five-year term as leader of the ruling Communist Party and called for self-reliance in technology, a stronger military and protection of core interests abroad. At a party congress, Xi gave no sign of plans to change the "zero-COVID strategy that has frustrated Chinas public and disrupted business and trade. He called for faster military development and announced no change in policies that strain relations with Washington and Asian neighbors. Xi is tightening control at home and trying to use Chinas economic heft to increase its influence abroad.
lol what a mess



i want more stella gibson so i'm ok with her not returning to her shows

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THIS X 1000000.98%

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This sucks.

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Media was fucking flawless and she deserves awards for it. Her Bowie and Lucy in particular were fantastic.



Just Old Yeller this show, I can't bear it.







Edited at 2018-01-06 02:16 am (UTC) ppl want Hannibal instead.....ugh.Media was fucking flawless and she deserves awards for it. Her Bowie and Lucy in particular were fantastic.Just Old Yeller this show, I can't bear it.

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He's high maintenance. And I kind of agree in this case. AG does need the budget and idk why Starz is being so fucking cheap.



Edited at 2018-01-06 02:41 am (UTC)

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Aside from Outlander, they don't have many shows. They need to put their money and focus somewhere! IDGI

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fuck, what a mess :/

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I can imagine that Gillian has clout to sign on a season at at time, usually when people like her are signed on for multiple shows at one (X Files, The Fall) then it may be tricky schedulewise to commit to them all for multiple seasons. Her agent would have worked it so that if they really wanted her, theyd have to sign her a season at a time or include in her contract that should a creative person leave the show (e.g. Fuller) then she has the option to opt out of further seasons.



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idc, i've never gotten her appeal anyway

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same

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i guess she's like felicia day for the older generation? idk, not appealing to me

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with that flop in your icon? lol bye

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I wonder if that was s real erection or cgi?

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prosthetic, they confirmed it before the episode aired lol

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Girl .. take an educated guess ..?

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RIP seeing them reunited (given they were gonna change from the book in the future)

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but it was so good, i felt like bryan understood the world that gaiman created so well ugh



hopefully they get someone just as good

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God I hope not.

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God I hope not. [3]

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God I hope not. [4]

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God I hope not. [5]



Edited at 2018-01-06 02:51 am (UTC)

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From your mouth to god's ears.

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Bryan leaving just in time for the rights to be freed back up, the actors talking about it coming back, the DeLaurentiis Co having it 'in season' for months now and relentlessly stanning on their twitter, and now Gillian leaving AG too... it's happening.

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Does this mean we aren't getting the American Gods funko pops?



goddamnit Bryan, Gillian, and Kristin....

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sooooo who are the new showrunners then? i really liked season 1. this is a bummer.

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I feel like "YASS HBIC!" and also like "AWW I need them to reprise their roles!"



Also, the other actors are so good as the actor that plays Tech Boy, this is his first role; and the other actors like Ricky, Yetide, Pablo, Emily... ugh, all of them deserves this show! I feel like "YASS HBIC!" and also like "AWW I need them to reprise their roles!"Also, the other actors are so good as the actor that plays Tech Boy, this is his first role; and the other actors like Ricky, Yetide, Pablo, Emily... ugh, all of them deserves this show!

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The actor that played Tech Boy was horrible tho

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This year I want to read something real from you, sis, not just contrarian bs.

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I liked Tech Boy. He was appropriately hateable, I also love how the production love to play with his hair and costumes.

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just kill the show. i didn't even like her/media (you guys were so far up her snatch...) but like. at this point i feel like the rest of the cast is ready to go too. fuck this.

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Did you read the book? Because she basically dissected Gaiman's brain and portrayed her as he wrote her. The praises were deserved.

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mte she was amazing

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Nah

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i read the book. ya'll are blowing smoke up her ass.

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This so much.

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shit, GO INNNNNN

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Well, go off then, sis. Go. Awf.

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My jaw dropped!

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I gasped.

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I damn near fell out - I was not ready

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My jaw dropped [2]



Go in

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I wallow "nnnnnggggg".



But the good sis did not lie.

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I read that like 3 times because I couldn't believe it. She said that!

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she went ALL the way in

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Serious GASPathon tbh!

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ellen pompeo did THAT

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AHHH!!! lmfao get him!

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Yasss she went there

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For real tho.

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i just OH SHIT so loud with such conviction that my bf immediately dropped playing COD and came running lmao

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lmAO

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lmao this is so cute

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ikr? like, since when has Meredith Grey been trolling the ONTD comments?

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ikr. i truly gasp when i read that

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damn tho

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tell it ellen

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goddamn, I had no idea she was like this.

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Not one lie there.

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I still can't believe that Harvey had the nerve to only speak out against Lupita after being exposed by dozens of white women. Like, he doesn't care that we all know he's a fucking demon scum beast who can't keep his hands off women but God fucking forbid anyone think he would lower himself enough to assault a black woman. What kind of person do you think he is? Time to die.





Edited at 2018-01-06 04:02 pm (UTC)

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Or deny Salma Hayeks story

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I missed that he did that. Wow, he's really transparent.

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Yep. He ONLY came out to denounce the non-white women's claims. Obvious af.

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Right, Lupita and Salma were where he drew the fucking line apparently. Like not only is he a scumbag piece of shit sexual assaulter but he's also a racist?? Not that it's shocking but he wasn't even quiet about it what an idiot...

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Ashley Judd got it the worst tho. Yet some yall with agendas are forgetting that

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esp that tweet about Cosby and black women. I know the founder of NO LIES DETECTEDesp that tweet about Cosby and black women. I know the founder of #metoo is a black woman but if these revelations were exclusively about WOC, would there be such an outcry as there is now?

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You know there wouldnt

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Its like when a white women disappears and everyone is clutching their pearls. How many young black women go missing daily and not a fucking headline on the news?

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Exactly. Same thing with R Kelly. All his victims are black girls and no one seems to care. It's insane.

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I've been saying this for fucking YEARS!!!!! I love Shonda but her shows aren't as diverse as she likes to think. The majority of her characters are white as fuck. Not including her parents, Olivia is the only black person on Scandal, Huck is the only Latinx character ever. Other than Maggie all the new comers on Grey's are white af. Cristina is literally the only Asian character in Greys history. Same goes for Callie. She's doing a little better with HTGAWM but lets not act like anyone would know Laurel was Latinx if they didn't know her. They literally couldn't get more white looking Mexican woman if they tried.



It's like in Shonda's world Black and White are the only races that matter and all the others are miscellaneous.

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She also can't write LGBTQ people either

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Hospital shows are always lacking Asians, which is completely ridiculous when you think about it.

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Most Mexicans are technically white



Edited at 2018-01-06 06:59 pm (UTC)

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God I hate the word Latinx.

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mte. I've worked in health for 10 years. DOMINATED by asians and brown people.



Apart from imaging. for some reason imaging has always been majority white people.

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How are there no indian interns 

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for fucking real. and ofc the ONLY asian character she has is a cold go-getter that will do anything to be at the top. i liked cristina, but until she got more development she was nothing but an asian stereotype and honestly her legacy as a character is stemmed from such attitudes. and where the fuck is the eastern asian representation? i work in my local healthcare industry and a very large portion of our biggest/most prestigious physicians/researchers are asian or eastern indian. so it really drives me up a wall when shonda gets praised for her blind casting bs but she ain't shit when it comes to most ethnicities/cultures she doesn't have a personal interest in.

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I think this about Grey's all the time! It's like she's never been to a hospital at all.

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Damn, Meredith! Girls got some balls.

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She has the backing of Shonda Rhimes, she dont give a fuck.

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The best place to be

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also she is happy she is having her comfy job at greys she doesn't want anything more than that

living her life!!

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Wow, let it out! I'm glad that people slowly but surely seem to be coming for Woody Allen these days. I hope the trend continues and the backlash is enough to guarantee at least some consequences to his career.



But ugh if I don't have a knee-jerk reaction whenever someone says "Hispanics..."

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I hate that term.

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Look, y'all too fucking diverse with that heritage. Got people scurred in choosing the wrong terminology so they believe Hispanic encompasses it all.



It used to be just Mexican, but people got put up on some new game.



Is it Latinx? We don't know since Latin America is not where everyone is from.



Shyyyyyyt.

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Have you been drinking? Because I'm not sure your comment makes much sense and I can't tell if you're meaning to be racist, dumb or what is even going on in there.

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same. idk why latinos can't just be used. it's more all-encompassing.

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I love her

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LMAO she's our new black auntie!

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lmaooo stop this or she's gonna start using black emojis again and get dragged

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Lmao

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We as a collective need to give her a pass on the emojis and only the emojis!! Just let her have them, she's with us!

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lol i was gonna say, she's not always this on with her tweets

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Can we please stop giving props to white people for saying the most basic of things. She isn't our auntie and she isn't invited to the cookout.







Also, have you seen the new line of "invited to the cookout" t-shirts that a group of white people started. That's what you get when you keep giving props for the most basic of shit to white people. Lmaooo they ran with that shit.



Edited at 2018-01-06 04:38 pm (UTC)

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GO TF IN SIS. SMACK THEM WITH FACTS

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and suddenly I'm an Ellen Pompeo fan

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Republicans have Trumps back and its insane. Lindsey Grahams complete 180 has been baffling. All I can say is that Russians also hacked the RNC so I can only imagine what they have on them. Because backing a mentally unstable man makes no sense. You got your tax cuts so cut him loose. Pences staff has also been resigning left and right. Mueller is closing in on Trump and Co.



The SEC is also now investigating Jared Kushner.



Edited at 2018-01-06 04:49 pm (UTC)

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The #MuellerInvestigation is far from over, according to @businessinsider reporter @NatashaBertrand.



My sources tell me that this investigation could last well into 2018, and there is a very, very small chance it will wrap up before 2018 midterm elections." pic.twitter.com/nhRun9Woot  Alex Witt (@AlexWitt) January 6, 2018

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Yeah I laughed when Alex Witt found it to be surprising that the investigation may last all throughout 2018...like gurl you know these things take time, right?

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I hope it lasts until a new Congress is swear in (a more democrat one), otherwise any finding Muller shows will be ignored.

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he's gonna fire jeff sessions, though. i mean, the keebler elf is the only one who wasn't invited to camp david and they're already ramping it up with the marijuana criticism. i don't think mueller's gonna get to finish.

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i fucking hate Lindsay graham so much, what an infuriating old man



he needs to be brought down like kevin spacey, then go through an attempted late stage renaissance by coming out only to be outcast for good tbh

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Graham's 180 is clearly because he thinks Trump is close to invading Iran and North Korea, two things Graham (and all the neocon Hawks) have been itching to do for a long time.

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but really, nothing says stability like 7 am rage tweeting but really, nothing says stability like 7 am rage tweeting

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the "and being, like, really smart" part seriously reminded me of a mean girls line

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Torn between laughing and crying. I think I need a break from twitter today.

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For me, his presidency means a constant state of terror and disbelief with intermittent periods where there are jokes.



The jokes don't make it better, but at least, they're a slight change in tone.

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agreed

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Totally! I feel like the jokes are a little release so the valve doesn't blow lol



Edited at 2018-01-06 05:34 pm (UTC)

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you have to laugh because otherwise you'll start crying. lol

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Yep :(

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this is a good way to put it.

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I've uninstalled Twitter and Facebook. It's been a great reliever to my mental health at the moment.

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Take him back, Satan. TAKE HIM BACK!!!!!!

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satan doesn't want this shit.

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satan's not tryna deal w/ that, but i need him to take one for the team

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I can't believe trump basically did this pic.twitter.com/Y8MqoqPxE5  Don't Blame Me, I Voted for the Guillotine (@Criticlysm) January 6, 2018





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Crying

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Screaming.



And for some reason, laughing even harder at Robin in the background going full Jean Claude Van Damme back there.

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thats it, I'll die on this post

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omg i didn't even notice

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lmao

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OMG

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this is incredible

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sometimes I like to imagine what republicans reactions would have been if Obama pulled this shit

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There'd be one with their family's antique shotgun occupying the halls, and every time a news station would try to interview him, he'd shake his head and go "Ma'am, this is my civic duty."

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It would have been the quickest impeachment in history. And Fox "News" would still be talking about it.

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They were outraged because he ate Dijon mustard... They would have immediately got rid of him for any of the things Trump has done.

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Remember they were freaking out when he wore a tan suit?

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What? I don't even remember this.

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lol what was their reasoning behind that?

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and for wearing a tan-colored suit. those were the closest he got to any kind of personal "scandal" while in office. it's absurdly racist

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Wasn't there a whole thing about him liking arugula, too? Arugula is fucking delicious, okay, man has good taste, sorry he's not eating iceberg on a filet-o-fish.

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never 4get the tan suit or that time he held a coffee cup

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He would've already been impeached

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he wouldn't have gotten this far cause the democrats would have gotten rid of his ass tbh



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there was outrage when the girls rolled their eyes at Obama's dad jokes, I miss those simpler times

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They (& Fox News etc) wouldve declared it conclusive proof that having a black/ Muslim president was a failure and should never be attempted again.

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NEW: For the first known time, special counsel Robert Mueller's team is now investigating Ivanka Trump https://t.co/tQwiwc65U9  Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) January 6, 2018

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Now I'm really scared they will fire Mueller, Trump doesn't care about anything but money and her.

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A few weeks ago the indivisible chapter in my city had already organized protests in anticipation of him being fired. But it hasn't happened...yet :(

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I would like to think that he wouldn't do that because that would be going full-on Nixon and would basically be an admission that he's obstructing justice but then again we apparently live in some weird timeline where things don't mean anything. The Lester Holt interview (which was only in May, not a million years ago like it feels) would have immediately brought down any other president.

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I love this but hes gonna lose his shit now. He'll nuke us himself before she goes to prison

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Destroy ha

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From March 2017 through July 2017, Ivanka Trump made between $1 million and $5 million from her business, per her federal filing, VF reports. https://t.co/NWUrYm8FAc  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 6, 2018





I can't believe anyone buys her tacky shit lmao.



I will truly never tire of this fucking video sjafaf



Imagine being this white pic.twitter.com/2TcgNSxIvY   (@xcxmario) February 17, 2017



I can't believe anyone buys her tacky shit lmao.I will truly never tire of this fucking video sjafaf

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I want to see her and those damn veneers go down

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I feel like ivanka is going to come off clean but i would get my life if she didn't.

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THEY DON'T HAVE ROSE POPSICLES IN JAIL HEFFA

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I want them to find something on Ivanka so bad. I want to see Trump turn on her. Like if he was going to stick by anyone, it'd be her, but my fingers are crossed for a falling out.

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I think Vanks is involved in money laundering.

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I also *love* that the same man who questioned Obama's legitimacy with his racist birther bullshit is having a paranoid breakdown over a book. We all knew from day one he'd be incapable of taking criticism. This ugly orange bitch couldn't even face 1% of what Obama and his family faced. There is no silver lining to this presidency but knowing how paranoid, fragile angry, miserable and insecure he is does warm my cold dead heart. What really worries me is everyone around Trump knows he's unfit for office and unwell but don't give a fuck as long as they can enrich themselves and destroy the rest of us.



I was gonna say I need a drink and it's 5:00 somewhere and just remembered the other day when Trump tweeted "5:00 o'clock" asjfhafaf



i'm the good brain boy pic.twitter.com/3IJi6ilZYv  Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) January 6, 2018







Edited at 2018-01-06 04:52 pm (UTC) Ever morning I open twitter like "well lets see what awful shit Trump is getting himself into today." This is hell. I am long from being in denial about his presidency but I'll be in the middle of doing something or running some errand and be like "Donald Trump is president of the United States. Millions of people really elected this man."I also *love* that the same man who questioned Obama's legitimacy with his racist birther bullshit is having a paranoid breakdown over a book. We all knew from day one he'd be incapable of taking criticism. This ugly orange bitch couldn't even face 1% of what Obama and his family faced. There is no silver lining to this presidency but knowing how paranoid, fragile angry, miserable and insecure he is does warm my cold dead heart. What really worries me is everyone around Trump knows he's unfit for office and unwell but don't give a fuck as long as they can enrich themselves and destroy the rest of us.I was gonna say I need a drink and it's 5:00 somewhere and just remembered the other day when Trump tweeted "5:00 o'clock" asjfhafaf

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I'll be in the middle of doing something or running some errand and be like "Donald Trump is president of the United States. Millions of people really elected this man."



this still happens to me like all of the time. long car drives, in the grocery store, randomly sitting at my desk. it's such a weird feeling i can't even really describe it.

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Yep. Same here. Sometimes it just hits me and Im floored in that moment.

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I keep calling it "Wrong Timeline-vu" because it's the same sensation as deja-vu, it just makes me sick af.

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Seriously. Ill be mid-laugh about something stupid and then overcome by dread and sorrow.

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I was in line at the grocery store on Christmas Eve and there was some tabloid with a cover about Melania. And the lady behind me points to it and tells her family that Michelle was never treated as unfairly as they treat her. I wanted to punch her but I calmly turned around and told her that people literally called Michelle and her children monkeys. She pretended to act surprised and thank god I had to stop and pay because I would have gone even further in on her.

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I'll be in the middle of doing something or running some errand and be like "Donald Trump is president of the United States. Millions of people really elected this man.



this happens to me all the time. i suggested doing a presidents' day book display at work and everyone was like :| and i was like "oh. right."

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some news anchor will say "today president trump..." and i'll have to remind myself it's not a 30 rock episode.

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I have those moments too and I still kind of can't wrap my head around it. Donald Trump, the gaudy relic of 90's wealth, the dude who did the Apprentice, the dude last relevant when he was mentioned in the same breath as Bill Gates by Nelly in his 2000 hit Country Grammar, that dude is somehow president of the United States.



I really hope in 10 or 15 years we all just collectively think back on this time as when America was left home alone for 4 years and somehow didn't burn down the house.

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it doesn't warm my heart it makes me absolutely nervous, I feel like I am constantly waking up and bogged down by an increasing sense of dread every time I have flashbacks to election day. his paranoia has the potential to get us all killed.and tbh what did those of us who didn't vote for him do to deserve this.

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i'll be at the bank or whatever and this joker's mug will be on CP24 on a TV somewhere and i'm like oh right we're actually living in THAT particular reality

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 It is so scary that he has nuclear launch codes...

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But her emails....

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I just keep thinking that there is so much material for a film version of Trump: the Presidency



or perhaps a tv show

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a 10 episode miniseries

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Honestly, once this bullshit is over, I will watch the hell out of that.

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Don't give Ryan Murphy any ideas.

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Alexander Downer is certainly not someone i ever expected to see on ONTD wow

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I've met him several times lol

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Alexander "the salmon who jumps on the hook for you" Downer being some kind of hero in all this is just truly outre, I cant even??? Its like God is playing Cards Against Humanity because the combos that keep coming up are so wild.

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Alexander Downer having a role in this mess, honestly, can it get anymore wild?

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lol irl

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delete this

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he's just being miley

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I came in here hoping that someone would do this, thanks so much.

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mr. ed hew

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It took me a second haha

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I can't believe this is reality

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Every time Im on his Twitter I double-check to make sure it's not a parody account

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Who writes out "like" (as in "like, really smart")?!



I guess very stable geniuses do!

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Valley girls from the 80s who twirl their hair and let you know like how smart they are in movies

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I do, like, regularly lol. But only really on here.

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I realized after I posted it that people actually do write it out sometimes, lol! The difference is we're not the 71-year-old President of the US. The world is doomed.

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TBH, I'm guessing Dan Scavino. Not Trump.

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I do, lol. But like another user said I'm not the president of the United States.

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i do for ~effect sometimes, but definitely wouldn't be doing it in any kind of professional capacity, let alone as president

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i do all the time, but im also a dumbass and luckily im not president.

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I do, but of course only when I'm trying to sound conversational...

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I wanted to reply something which mentioned sterek, but it's almost bed time and I don't need that in my life.

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i got you girl.

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Yasss

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that first gif is really good, lol

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What really kills me about this ship is the dedication. Damn @ these gifs.

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Hahahaha

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this was the first thing i thought of when i saw his fans spreading this.

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What little self awareness.



I swear so many celebs just see a lot of other people discussing it and then jump on the bandwagon while being hypocritical.

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Hmmmmm. Did he give the stolen stuff back

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I feel he was trying to be interesting on a talk show, and made up something because hes kind of boring irl.

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Is chrissy teigen still coming to logan paul's defense in light of these new revelations??? XD

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She really wasnt coming to his defense. She was using him an example to make a bigger point and she admitted she used the wrong person as an example.

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I wanted us to be better. my thinking was around us trying to be kind, forgiving people. but oh my god. wrong. fucking. hill.  christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 5, 2018

lol. no! she had a change of heart!!!

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I hate y'all for making me aware of this Logan Paul's existence

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I thought he and his brother were the same person until ONTD told me otherwise. The knowledge that there are two of these assholes has made my world significantly darker

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Same. I thought they were both that dude from that Disney Channel show until a couple of days ago. They look like twins so its easy to see why people who didn't know who the fuck either of them were would get them confused lmao.

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When people showed me two of them I was like that skit when Dave Chapelle was like, THERES MORE?

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I hate Twitter for making it a stop story

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M F T E

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I blame Top Chef

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uh is this old news? also anyone getting a 500 error when loading a page??



Edited at 2018-01-06 10:14 pm (UTC)

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I have here and there when posting but i reload and the comment goes through still.

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Yes and yes.

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we are being hacked

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wouldn't be the first time lj was hacked lol

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i'm getting it occasionally. probably just server overload/outages.

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being seeing a lot of hypocrits around this lately, esp other racist youtubers lmao. keep your white guilt, we see u

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So he did it or not? o_O



And good for him for calling out that little shit, with his huge following, is good that people use their power for this. LP has too many fans...

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Well the investigation was by his own employers during a project that was for them. So I don't really trust what they have to say

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i think he was just playing into the whole "omg scary native american curse" as a ~funny story to tell on the maze runner pr circuit, but that he never actually stole anything. still a shitty racist joke/story to tell though ofc.

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I guess the ~native american spirits~ came for his lying ass anyway considering his accident. Or karma is just a bitch w/ some people like that.

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lbr, idiots like Dylan feel like "I wasn't doing anything racist or disrespectful to Native Americans. I mean ~they're Indians~, they're used to us fucking around with them & taking stuff. We take their land, they shoot some arrows at us, we take some more from them. It's not like I acted up overseas in front of the Queen, or in the middle of Harlem. It's friendly racism; they're in on the fun practically!" :P

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i thought he died?

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I wish. Maybe we need to take matters into our hands & use the Thomas Jay approach to getting rid of him

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He barely tweets at all, unless its promote something, so this is random af

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The place is so sacred, they rent it out for Hollywood movies. Lone Survivor nonetheless.

Talk about desecration.



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Yeah, OK, fucking with sacred artifacts is indeed bad, but the two cases are not remotely fucking comparable.

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I thought this too... and I thought Dylan was just being an ignorant dumbass making a "joke." It wasn't right to do that and it wasn't funny, but he didn't really take anything; just being stupid. Logan was knowingly racist, a dumbass, and a POS.

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Dylan was knowingly racist, a dumbass, and a POS as well.

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I agree with you, but I do still think he owes an apology for what he did. It doesn't even have to be anything fancy. Just "It was a stupid joke and I'm sorry because it wasn't even funny it was offensive and I'm embarrassed that I even said it."

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Mte. Some people make mistakes and feel bad and then there are people who are deliberate in the things they do. Laughing and pointing at a dead body and continuing to tape it like its nothing is some next level shit.

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he made an awful joke but jfc people are ridic with this comparison

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MATTOON (JG-TC) -- Police officers arrested a man Thursday who was wanted on a U.S. Marshals Service warrant.

A Mattoon Police Department press release reported that Marion E. Rush Jr., 50, homeless and formerly of Texas, was arrested at 4:04 p.m. at the Matttoon Area PADS homeless shelter, 2017 Broadway Ave. The U.S. Marshalls Service warrant of arrest was out of Lubbock, Texas, for Rush's alleged violation of his terms of supervised release.

Rush was originally sentenced to a term of 37 months incarceration in federal prison for threatening the U.S. president and for aiding and abetting. Rush was taken to the Coles County jail and held without bond, pending his release to the U.S. Marshals Service and return to Lubbock.
Wow BFlow looks A LOT hotter in motion...why have I never seen the Killers live before!!!

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Let the power of ONTD guide you to them someday! I swear, stewie_e's posts were at least 50% of the reason I was interested in going lol.

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if you're anywhere near Brooklyn my roommate and I have an extra ticket for Tuesday

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Unfortunately I'm a whole ocean away 

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Where has stewie_e been tho?

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Stalking them on tour? Idk idk. I need more of her posts in my life.

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I know it's been a while

But I'm glad you came

And I've been thinking 'bout

How you say my name







Bless you OP for holding it down while I'm not all there atm. It's been a rough past couple of weeks sadly.I know it's been a whileBut I'm glad you cameAnd I've been thinking 'boutHow you say my nameBless you OP for holding it down while I'm not all there atm.

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Sending you a big big abrazo. Espero las cosas mejoren.

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Aww sis, this makes me sad to read. Anyway, sending you good vibes and hopefully soon this storm will be over. *hugs* 

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I hope you're okay bb!

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im seeing them on tuesday and it still hasn't sunk in.

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I was v unphased after I bought tickets, it wasn't until the day of I threw on Sam's Town for old-time's sake and was like, holy crap this was my youth.

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"Brandon from Toronto" did a fantastic job! And Bflow and Ronnie were so great about guiding him through the song. Generous kings!

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I was so amazed by it all. At first I thought he was a plant, but I guess not! Ronnie on tambourine was everything.

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ia, i love when bands do this kind of stuff not to mention its amazing for the fans

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im going to see them for the first time tonight! im so excited!

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i saw them in nov and they were incredible. amazing setlist, gorgeous stage, so so good. hope you have an amazing time!

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Have fun!!

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I had a dream I forgot the date of their San Diego show, which I have tickets to 



Glad it was just a dream, but I may have to go alone :/

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Do it, bb! I do it all the time for movies/concerts. No one really cares/judges you. I've been lucky enough to be ignored each time lol.

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I feel like this is probably one of the coolest things a fan could experience.

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This genuinely put a smile on my face :). Im seeing them in April for the fourth time hahaha i love them so much

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i love videos like this :-')))

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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jndsfbhjsdfbhjsdfbhj KING 

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he did this in vancouver too! but with keyboards.

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i was there! they were so adorable (esp ronnie) and brandon from toronto did a really good job!



whoever was in charge of sound needed to get their ears checked tho cos you could barely hear BFlow over the music

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I never really thought much of Ronnie (too busy focusing on Brandon) but last night really made me like him!

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il ronnie and i'm almost certain he does the same schtick at the end of every show but i loved it anyway!



i was really surprised at how diverse (age-wise) the crowd was. I had a few over 50 couples near me and i had a seven year old girl with her family dancing in front of me and an 8 year old boy who was too cool for school behind me lol

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I noticed that the bass sounded non-existent.

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this isn't the first time they got an audience member up to play w them, right? seems like a sweet habit!



i'd like to join florence and the machine so i too can participate in this exorcism/dance party/g-rated orgy.







Edited at 2018-01-06 11:05 pm (UTC)

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i would literally pass out if i got to be onstage with florence omg

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The White House has outlined to lawmakers how it wants to at least start building the wall along the Mexican border and it isnt going to cheap. In a move that could imperil any hope of reaching a compromise to protect undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children, the administration wants $18 billion over the next decade to build the first phase of the border wall. The Washington Post breaks it down:

The money would pay for 316 miles of new fencing and reinforce another 407 miles where barriers are already in place, according to cost estimates sent to senators Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. If the work was completed, more than half of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico would have a wall or other physical structure by 2027.

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The request, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, was part of a demand for $33 billion to secure the border and marked the first time the White House laid out a plan to fulfill on the presidents key campaign promises. Of that total, $5.7 billion would go to technology, $1 billion for road construction and maintenance, and $8.5 billion to hire more Border Patrol agents and related immigration officers.

The Customs and Border Protection documents that were sent to lawmakers detail what a 2,026-mile border wall system would entailcomprising about 864 miles of new wall and about 1,163 miles of replacement or secondary walleven as administration officials and their allies insist they are not pursuing a wall from sea to shining sea, as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and her predecessor John Kelly have testified to Congress, notes CNN.

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Democrats in Congress immediately criticized the $18 billion request, describing it as a nonstarter that could imperil delicate budget negotiations and may very well assure a government shutdown later this month. President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Immigration subcommittee, said. Durbin went on to call it outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hard-line anti-immigrant billsplus an additional $18 billion in wall fundingon the backs of these young people.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi took to Twitter to tell the president that border wall funding you are asking for (again) could do so much more good in other places . #NoWall.

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THREAD: @realDonaldTrump, that border wall funding you are asking for (again) could do so much more good in other places. #NoWall  Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 5, 2018

An administration official confirmed to the Associated Press that funding for the wall and additional cash to secure the border must be included in any immigration package. Earlier in the week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had said wall funding would be first and foremost in any legislation that sought to protect the approximately 780,000 people who had been shielded from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.
Just when we thought we had lost the capacity to be surprised, President Donald Trumps Saturday morning tweetstorm proved the commander in chief can still shock us.

In an extraordinary series of tweets, the president of the United States vehemently defended his mental fitness and, why not?, showed off about his intelligence while he was at it. The tweets were part of his general pushback against Michael Wolffs book that broadly portrays him as a man who is woefully unprepared to hold the most powerful office in the world. Friday, Trump called Wolff a total loser who made up stories and retweeted a message from the GOP that cites several journalists who questioned the authors credibility.

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Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

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In a series of tweets, Trump said that the Russian collusion story has proven to be a total hoax so now his opponents are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.

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Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

But his ability to win the presidency (on his first try mind you) shows that he is a geniusand a very stable genius at that! In fact, the commander in chief said that his two greatest assets in life have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. In order to back up his claims, Trump charted his progress from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States.

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....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

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....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

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The presidents tweets also seemed to be in response to reports that a Yale psychiatrist briefed more than a dozen lawmakers in early December about Trump fitness to be president.

Earlier in the morning, Trump sent two other tweets, one praising news about the decreased unemployment rate among black Americans and another criticizing ABC News Brian Ross, who is now back at work but should have been fired!

The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, Trumps first year jobs numbers were very, very good.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

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The United States has at the very least delayed handing over around $125 million to the United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees. Axios reported Friday that the Trump administration had frozen the funding, but the State Department immediately denied the report, saying that no decision has been made on the payment just yet. Now a new report is making clear that the delay is at least in part due to tensions inside the administration as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is leading the effort to slash the funding but is facing backlash from the State and Defense departments.

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The approximately $125 million was scheduled to be paid on the first working day of January and Haley has told her counterparts at the United Nations that the money wont be coming unless Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agrees to sit down for peace talks, Foreign Policy reports. Haley is apparently telling ambassadors at the United Nations that President Trump sees the recent votes on resolutions condemning Washington for the decision to move the U.S.

embassy to Jerusalem as a personal affront.

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Trump had already said on Tuesday that he would push to withhold money from the Palestinians because they are no longer willing to talk peace.

...peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

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It seems though that Haley is in the minority within the administration amid concern that a slash in funding would only feed extremism. Only this White House would be so cynical and delusional to think after needlessly inciting the Palestinians outrage over Jerusalem, that cutting off aid for Palestinian refugees would force their leaders to negotiate a peace agreement, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Trumps administration doesnt even seem to have the full support of Israel for such a drastic move as to cut off aid completely. Even though Israel supports a cut in funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would apparently prefer that it happen gradually.
A family shows their constructions at the exhibition Bricklandia.

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Lego is a favourite Christmas present not only among children but also among adults, as evidenced by Zuzana Sabolova with her husband and six children. Their passion took form with thousands of building blocks and they construct whole cities and even countries, Korzar Kosice wrote.

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The passion started when my husband got his first pack of Lego blocks 30 years ago when he was ten. Then he grew up but his passion returned when we bought the first Lego set for our children, explained Zuzana Sabolova, as quoted by Korzar Kosice.

As the collection of Lego slowly spread, the family decided to show the scenes to others and organized the travelling exhibition Bricklandia. In each Lego scene something is happening and it is possible to find a story in each showcase, Korzar Kosice reported.

We have a Paris restaurant where two lovers sit and he has a wedding ring in his hand. Or there is an accident in town  a man riding a quad bike hit a street lamp and there are police and ambulance coming to help. On a construction site, there is a builder running to the toilet, continued Sabolova for Korzar Kosice, adding that everything they build ends up in the showcases.

The children can play with the construction for about week. Then we take it to the exhibition, although they protest a lot, explains Sabolova, as cited by Korzar Kosice.

Struggles with exhibition

Bricklandia has been shown at Hrebienok and Dobsinska Ice Cave, and now it is in Kosice. However, transporting of the exhibition is not easy, and family has to use the service of a lorry.

The exhibition spreads every year so we also bought a van and trailer, Sabolova added, as quoted by Korzar Kosice. The showcases are very expensive and, moreover, they are also fragile. As Sabolova mentioned, the hardest part was to get it to Hrebienok. Part of the exhibition went by cable car with workers during a gale, the second part with showcases were put in a van drawn up by snowcat.

The cable of the snowcat ripped seven times. When we unwrapped everything at Hrebienok, we found out that everything was so broken we had to postpone the opening of the exhibition, recalled Sabolova for Korzar Kosice.
Dearest Residents of Coles County, Illinois,

My name is Virginia Lee Williams. I am the youngest sister of Dianne Marie Riordan Small. You know her by the young woman in the Airtight Bridge Murder.

Last March her husband confessed to taking her life. Many of you know the story. I won't go over it here. That is not the reason I am writing.

When I received the call in February that my sister's cold case was reopened in 2013 I couldn't believe it. I immediately looked up a reference that was given me. I found the article written many years ago titled, The Airtight Bridge Murder. I had no idea that the article existed and for the first time I read details I had never heard before. You can imagine the shock I felt.

I also had no idea what the people of Coles County had been through for so many years. When I read about the concern the people had for her and the family I was touched very deeply in my heart. It brought me to tears to think that strangers would care so much for who my sister was and who did this to her. Strangers visited her grave and tended to her headstone. All of this before 1992 when I finally found her.

I can't express enough the gratitude I feel for the people of Coles County. My sister didn't deserve to die and then to be abandoned that way on cold wet ground far from home. She had a mental illness that left her alone in life. It helps my heart to know that she was tended to, prayed for and thought of by many of you. She has a proper headstone now, again because of the people in Coles County. I came to visit her at the end of August after meeting the detectives that solved the case. It was difficult and necessary. When I was a teenager, I witnessed Dianne ask God for His gift of salvation and I know she is in heaven with her Lord and family. My heart and mind are finally at peace. Again, thank you for being at her side.

Sincerely,

Virginia L. Williams
Even if you are someone who liked Zeman for being Zeman, that is not the guy running for president in 2018.

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With the Czech presidential election less than a week away, Milos Zeman is missing. While the other candidates are busy campaigning, appearing at debates and generally engaging with the public, he is nowhere to be found. When public television ran short pre-recorded statements from all the candidates on a recent evening, Mr. Zemans contribution was an old still photo plastered in front of a picture of Prague Castle. What conclusions can we draw other than he was physically incapable of recording a message, or that he is intentionally misleading the public so as to not show the weak, sick man that he is.

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I am not a voter next week, nor do I wish Mr. Zeman ill health. It probably comes as little surprise that if I were I would not vote for Mr. Zeman, nor would I have done so five years ago. No doubt Mr. Zemans supporters care little about my opinions  I am a foreigner residing in Prague after all, and thus muddying the pure waters of the Czech nation. Still, it was possible to understand how and why he appealed to enough people to win five years ago. That is not true now.
S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) Fintech Could Reshape Finance? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? Don't miss out on this report (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher Don't miss out on this report (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes

S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) Fintech Could Reshape Finance? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? Don't miss out on this report (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher Don't miss out on this report (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes

S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) Fintech Could Reshape Finance? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? Don't miss out on this report (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher Don't miss out on this report (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes
The plan was always for Nick Oertwich to come back to work on the family farm near Pilger after attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But following graduation, Oertwich stayed in Lincoln to work. Now, with the financial incentive that raising chickens for Costco promises, he plans to move back to the area to work on the family farm.

Nicks father, Doug, who serves on the Stanton County Planning Commission, found out about the opportunity when he was asked to serve on an advisory board for Lincoln Premium Poultry, the company that is building a large processing plant in Fremont that will provide broiler chickens for Costco. The board consists of one person from the six counties surrounding Dodge County, where the plant is located.

Lincoln Premium Poultry is managing the operations in Fremont, including recruiting farmers to sign contracts to raise poultry, overseeing construction of the processing facilities and recruiting employees for when the plant opens in about a year.

Doug Oertwich says a poultry operation adds diversification and makes his 700-acre corn and soybean farm less reliant on sagging grain markets. Although new to raising poultry, he isnt worried.

Ive worked with guys that raise hogs and cattle, and like any other animal, everything is in the details, Oertwich said.

Raising poultry will be a first for many of the 125 producers Lincoln Premium Poultry is hoping to sign to contracts. To help, the company plans on building a show house where producers and prospective producers can see how operators run the computers and equipment in poultry houses. The company also will send field technicians to help area farmers and make sure best practices are implemented and followed.

As of mid-December, Lincoln Premium Poultry was in the later stages of negotiations with 80 area farmers. The company anticipates it will be recruiting operators through the late spring and early summer.

One of the first formal applications, from a Valparaiso-area farmer, is going before the Saunders County Planning Commission on Monday.

Oertwich has traveled to Delaware, Maryland, Alabama and Georgia with other members of the advisory board to meet producers and hear about their experience raising birds.

We didnt meet anyone who said they wouldnt do it again, Oertwich said of the positive feedback he heard from producers around the country.

Despite the positive response from farmers, not everyone is eager for the poultry processing plant to open in Fremont.

John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said the organization has encouraged people to form a producers association so they will have negotiating power in the future if they need it. Hansen said the Farmers Union has not taken an official position on the processing plant since it has members that both support and oppose it.

The problem occurs when there is a disparity in level of power in a contract, Hansen said. How do you protect the smaller, less-powerful entity when the more-powerful party in the agreement is going to shape the contract for their benefit?

Hansen added that from what he knows of the contracts, they're better than most in the industry.

Its all relative, though, because the reputation of contracts in the poultry business is awful," he said. "So having a higher standard isnt in itself greater for the farmer."

Hansen cited the 15-year contract term as a positive sign, since farmers will be making $2 million to $2.5 million investments when they construct four poultry houses. Signing a longer contract mitigates risk by guaranteeing farmers 15 years of revenue.

Project manager Walt Shafer said the contracts being offered are some of the best in the country.

Nebraska farmers are making a sizable investment, and they are trusting in us to do the right thing by them, Shafer said. So we are working with Costco to put out a very, very fair contract that gives them every benefit of the doubt.

Costco recently added a square-footage incentive to producers for completing construction of poultry houses. If a farmer completes four poultry houses, he or she could receive a check for $120,000, while barns for laying hens may qualify for twice that amount.

Thats one way for the company to invest in these farmers up front," said Jessica Kolterman of Lincoln Premium Poultry. And it really helps offset costs on the front side.

This is the first vertically-integrated poultry operation Costco will be involved with, processing up to 2 million birds a week. In remarks at the groundbreaking for the project in June, Gov. Pete Ricketts said the plant is projected to have a $1.2 billion economic impact to the state, or about 1 percent of the states economy.

The processing plant will include the latest technology and advancements in automation, but the processing operation, hatchery and feed mill are estimated to have a labor force of 800 to 1,000 employees.

Kolterman is working with local career-training organizations and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to identify underemployed or unemployed populations to move into jobs at the poultry plant when it opens.

People come to work in these facilities from 30-60 miles away, Kolterman said.

Kolterman and Shafer said they've floated the idea of sharing transportation costs or lining up busing if there are large numbers of employees from the Lincoln or Omaha areas.
S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) 2023's Biggest Disruptor? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? GRAPHITE: "Essential for America's National Defense" (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher "We will NEVER sell out to China!" (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes

S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) 2023's Biggest Disruptor? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? GRAPHITE: "Essential for America's National Defense" (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher "We will NEVER sell out to China!" (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes

S&P 500 3,946.56 DOW 33,546.32 QQQ 284.81 The High Cost of Ignoring Your Software Developers' Experience in the Workplace (and How To Fix It) 2023's Biggest Disruptor? (Ad) Is Advance Auto Parts a Buy After its Earnings Crash? Does ASML's November Rally Have Staying Power? GRAPHITE: "Essential for America's National Defense" (Ad) The Latest | UN Climate Summit Stocks fall as Fed signals rates need to go still higher "We will NEVER sell out to China!" (Ad) Fed official suggests substantial rate hikes may be needed Elizabeth Holmes faces judgment day for her Theranos crimes
A Nebraska lawmaker introduced a bill Friday to restore rules preventing internet service providers from slowing your ability to binge television shows on Netflix or blocking search engines that aren't Google.

The Internet Neutrality Act (LB856), introduced by Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, would restore the federal rules at the state level, prohibiting broadband internet service providers from limiting or restricting access to web sites, applications, or content.

For me, this is an economic development and consumer protection bill, Morfeld said. The internet drives the economy now and its critical people have open and fair access to the internet.

Morfeld announced his intention to introduce the bill shortly after the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to repeal the Obama-era regulations on Dec. 14.

Along with lifting the regulations that made it illegal for internet service providers to block or slow access to websites they did not own, net neutrality also prevents those providers from charging extra fees to customers, a "pay-to-play" arrangement in order to connect to certain websites or use applications that eat up large amounts of internet bandwidth.

Morfeld said the idea of reintroducing net neutrality rules at the state level received support from across the political spectrum.

I knew I was passionate about it, but I was shocked at the support I received from Republicans, from Democrats and Libertarians, he said.

Other states are also considering legislation to re-enact net neutrality rules on a local basis while activists groups and several state attorneys general have sued the FCC to stop the repeal of the rule.

Washington state lawmakers, anticipating the repeal to net neutrality rules, hope to force broadband companies to disclose accurate information about the price and speed of their services, while also preventing those companies from creating so-called fast lanes for consumers who pay more.

In California, a bill was introduced earlier this week to regulate internet service providers as public utilities and to block them from using utility poles unless they agreed to comply with the net neutrality rules. The California bill also prohibits government agencies from contracting with internet service providers who do not uphold net neutrality commitments.

The state-by-state legislation being introduced could become the subject of a second net neutrality-related lawsuit. In the 539-page declaratory ruling by the FCC published on Jan. 4, the commission indicates that the federal rules pre-empt any local legislation passed into law by state governments.

(A)llowing state or local regulation of broadband Internet access service could impair the provision of such service by requiring each ISP to comply with a patchwork of separate and potentially conflicting requirements across all of the different jurisdictions in which it operates, the ruling states.

LB856 echoes parts of the Washington bill requiring broadband providers to publicly disclose accurate information regarding management practices, service performance and prices to users.

Morfeld's proposal also aims to prevent internet service providers from blocking or restricting content and applications on certain devices, while also preventing those companies from practicing paid prioritization, or providing better internet service to customers who pay more.

Those provisions of the bill include exemptions for reasonable network management based on technical abilities and not business practices.

The Nebraska Telecommunications Association, which said it would study Morfeld's bill before taking a position on it, circulated a white paper among its 30 member companies last year describing the 2015 rules as trying "to fit a square peg in a round hole."

"We need common rules of the road that apply evenly to all players in the internet ecosystem," the paper states, adding that the net neutrality rules only applied to retail broadband providers and not major companies like Google, Amazon or Facebook.
Testing methods have forced middle school teachers and students in Ho Chi Minh City to grapple with two English language programs despite knowing well that one of them is so boring and rigid.

Students are now allowed to choose between the standard 7-year and extended 10-year syllabi.

Learners start studying English in grade six for the former and grade three for the latter, with Vietnams basic educational system consisting of grades one to twelfth.

The first scheme is a product of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and has been in effect for decades.

The second is peculiar to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (HCMC DOET).

The bottom line is whether students opt for the first or second, they have to stick to the standard one over testing methods.

The end-of-term exams for all grades designed by the Bureau of Education and Training at district levels, and the admission test to high school written by HCMC DOET both cling tightly to the standard program.

How different are they?

The extended program is based on imported textbooks and places equal concentration on the development of all four language skills, namely reading, listening, speaking and writing.

T., a middle school teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, notes these textbooks help to brace students for international tests of English, like those administered by Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

The longstanding 7-year program is heavily grammar-based and is geared toward beginners.

Therefore, those familiar with the extended program tend to find the shorter one a piece of cake, and a boring task.

I have to use two kinds of textbooks, the foreign books and the MOET books, N.M., a 6th grader in District 7 who is involved in the extended program, said.

The foreign textbooks match our levels as they give us what we have not learnt. The MOET books are so dull as their content was all covered from first and second grades, she added.

In fact, she is a pre-intermediate speaker of English with a well-earned Cambridge Flyers Certificate.

However, she is supposed to learn basic phrases like Good morning, Whats your name? How are you? How old are you? as she quoted from the MOET 6th-grade English textbook.

Not just a students nightmare

Teachers have found the two programs much of an unnecessary burden.

No teacher of English enjoys doing two programs at a time, an English teacher at a middle school in District 3 said.

Students in the extended program actually demonstrate very fine speaking and writing skills. Forcing them to learn the old-school textbook is just a pain in the neck for both.

Commenting on the extended workload, a teacher in Tan Binh District said that the teacher all of a sudden has to shoulder double responsibility.

I am assigned, for example, to teach 8th and 9th graders, but I have to devise four sets of lesson plans, two for each program. This is twice as much work as needed, she complained.

HCMC DOET should provide detailed guidelines on the teaching of English in middle school, Vu Van Xuan, vice-principal of Le Quy Don Middle School in District 3, said.

Running two programs is putting both students and teachers at the end of their tethers.

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While Vietnamese cuisine has become increasingly popular with global diners, with two of the most delicious being pho (beef noodle soup) and banh mi (Vietnamese-style sandwiches), many foodies have said that Vietnam still has more stunning foods to taste.

One night in late 2017, Rachael Dickson and her younger sister Madeline Dickson were sitting on a bamboo chair at a restaurant in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

They were attentively listening to a tour guide explaining the components of bun bo Hue (spicy Hue-style beef noodle soup).

Eatable banana flowers

When the tour guide was twittering on the vegetables served with the soup, the two sisters could not conceal their surprise knowing sliced banana flowers were among the plants.

To these newcomers to Vietnam, everything seemed to be new, as what they had known about Vietnamese food were only pho and banh mi.

Madeline Dickson (L, 2nd) and her friends watch the process of making Vietnamese banh xeo at a small restaurant in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City on December 29, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

I even didnt know they put pate in banh mi and had also never had so much fish sauce in my life, Madeline Dickson excitedly told Tuoi Tre News.

Bun bo Hue was one of the stops of the food tour that the Dicksons and their friends from the U.S. were taking.

At the previous stop, the group rode pillion and were taken by their tour guides on motorbikes to a small restaurant which served specialties from Phan Rang, a small town in south-central Vietnam.

Zachary Devaney, a member of the group, said Vietnamese cuisine was way different from what he thought he knew.

I only knew about banh mi and pho, but after coming here I was stunned by the diversity of foods here, he said.

Chinese-American Jennifer Xue added that she learned a lot about local cuisine after she was told what were in her dishes.

"I like the combination of many flavors into a dish, like when we had banh xeo [Vietnamese sizzling pancakes] with many kinds of vegetables and fish sauce, she said.

According to Dao Xuan Thinh, a tour operator at Saigon Food Tour, which organized the food tour for the Dicksons and friends, his company places an emphasis on introducing dishes that have not been known very well in other countries.

The firms intention is to bring tourists a more diverse and authentic experience with Vietnamese cuisine, he added.

Foreigners learn to cook canh chua at M.O.M. Cooking Class in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on December 28, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, South Korean Kim Joon Ha has had the opportunity to try Vietnamese food after his two visits to Vietnam in recent years.

In his third time in December, Kim spent time visiting a local family to cook and enjoy a daily meal with them.

The kitchen of host Tran Thi Minh Thaos house in District 10 became more dynamic thanks to the appearance of Kim, who joined the Traditional Meal Tour organized by the Saigon Hotpot tourism club.

While learning how to cook some dishes that Vietnamese people often have daily, the man from the land of kimchi enthusiastically talked about the foods he tried in Vietnam, from mi Quang (Quang-style noodles) to pho bo, goi cuon (Vietnamese spring rolls) and more.

He was also stunned to learn that some Vietnamese people believe that eating balut (a boiled, fertilized egg) can help reverse their bad luck and agreed to try one.

Thao, who has been a friendly host of Saigon Hotpot for years, was not hesitant to go straight to the nearby market to buy some such eggs and boiled them for him.

Kim admitted he really loved the experience which allowed him to see the authentic way that Vietnamese people have their ordinary meals.

Vietnamese foods are very famous in Korea but people only know about pho. I also know some dishes but Im curious about what Vietnamese people truly have in their meals daily, Kim told Tuoi Tre News.

The sweet and sour soup

Many food lovers also want to try making the Vietnamese dishes they love.

Despite their short stay in Vietnam, they spent time in some cooking classes that make their dream come true.

Three rolls of cuon diep, a delicacy from northern Vietnam. Photo: Dong Nguyen/Tuoi Tre News

At a session to teach how to cook canh chua (sweet and sour soup), a kind of soup popular in southern Vietnam, by M.O.M. Cooking Class, Tennessee man Brad Howell and his wife carefully observed the chef when he was preparing such ingredients as garlic, tamarind sauce and all the herbs for the soup.

Is this a popular soup in Vietnam? Howell added, before to getting the answer that the soup as a favorite of southerners.

This is fantastic. We did not only learn how to cook but were also taken to a local market where we met local people, the man said.

Meanwhile, Kayla Lake from California said she got used to Vietnamese foods since she was young, as she has lived in a neighborhood with some Vietnamese people.

That is why she was eager to learn how to cook a Vietnamese dish.

However, the young woman was surprised when she came to Vietnam and discovered the diversity of foods after she were shown more than 10 different types of noodle.

Also joining the class, Korean Jay Park and his wife were impressed with the amount of vegetables, especially herbs, used for the canh chua.

This is the first time Ive cooked this and Ive realized that in only a short time, we could still make such a dish with rich flavors, Jay said.

M.O.M. Cooking Class founder Nguyen Dinh Le Hoa said besides explaining the ingredients that Vietnamese often use, his cooking classes also offer a modern version of each dish when showing his learners the way to replace some Vietnamese ingredients they might not find back home.

One of the oldest cooking classes for foreigners in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnam Cookery Center in District 1 was where American Miriam Guzman and her fiance came to learn to cook pho bo, cuon diep (mustard green rolls) and ga kho (stewed chicken).

Before carefully putting all the spices into her clay pot of chicken, Guzman and her fiance Gaurav Ajmani tried to tie their rolls with boiled scallions.

Gaurav Ajimani and Miriam Guzman from Chicago learn to make cuon diep at the Vietnam Cookery Center in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on December 28, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Guzman said food was one of the main reasons that urged the couple to visit Vietnam, adding that they love foodstuffs of diverse flavors and vegetables so Vietnamese dishes became their top choice.

According to Le Dang Khanh Linh, a representative of the Vietnam Cookery Center, the class menus are designed to showcase the diversity of Vietnamese cuisine through the foods from north to south.

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Senators are making another run at cracking the prison overcrowding problems in Nebraska with a stack of bills being introduced this week.

The justice system oversight committee report showed that while progress has been made in the Department of Correctional Services, more work needs to be done on significant overcrowding and understaffing, said Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz.

By law, prisons must declare a crowding emergency if prisons overall are not at or lower than 140 percent of capacity or lower by July 1, 2020. If the emergency is declared, the Parole Board must reconsider inmates for accelerated release until the population reaches 125 percent of capacity.

The Legislature has a duty to examine the issues and do everything it can to support correctional officers, reduce overcrowding and ensure senators are doing everything they can to address problems brought forward by an ACLU overcrowding lawsuit, Bolz said.

Several Lincoln senators have waded into the problem of crowded prisons because Lincoln has four major prisons including the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, Lincoln Correctional Center, the Nebraska State Penitentiary, and Community Corrections Center of Lincoln.

Omaha also has a couple of state prisons.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist said the money exists in the budget to fix many of the problems, but it would need to be reinvested in certain ways. States that, like Nebraska, have had the Council of State Governments advise them on justice reinvestment are doing well and shutting down prisons.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus also hopes that before term limits push him out of the Legislature he can help the department in some way to get off "dead center" on overcrowding problems.

"You talk and you talk. And you study and you study year after year, and you find out you're going to study some more," he said. "Because that seems to be the universal answer when you don't have money and are unwilling to finance what you know you have to do."

One of his contributions will be to amend a bill he has in the Judiciary Committee that addresses double bunking, he said. It was "absolutely unconscionable" last year to put a young man who was in prison for a fairly minor offense into a cell with an inmate who had "nothing to lose."

Terry Berry Jr. was killed last year after he was put in a double-bunked cell at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. Department Director Scott Frakes blamed Berry's death solely on his cellmate, Patrick Schroeder, who was serving life in prison for murder.

Frakes said in October he planned to continue double-bunking inmates in solitary confinement despite Inspector General for Corrections Doug Koebernick's call for him to suspend the practice out of concern it increases dangers for inmates and staff.

The Legislature owes the men and women working in the Nebraska Department of Corrections a "deep gratitude and respect" for working in one of the toughest jobs that help keep the community safe, said Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart.

She and her staff did major research on prison issues over the interim she said, and it is clear the Legislature must prioritize staff retention to address high turnover, increased costs of overtime and the health of employees.

Senators are also concerned that inmates are languishing in prison because of a lack of programming.

All kinds of ideas exist to help increase programming for inmates, said Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks. Think portable buildings like the schools use for classrooms, or the many volunteers in the community who are willing to help, she said.

"All of the bills we are talking about today are about preparation, planning and public safety," Pansing Brooks said. "Ninety-six to 98 percent of those inmates are coming back into our community. Do we want them safer or not?"
Society

-- Vietnams Internet connection to the world is very likely to be throttled this weekend, as two major cables, APG and AAG, that facilitate international connectivity will either be moved or maintained, local network operator VNPT has said.

-- It will be cold in northern Vietnam and rainy in many parts of the southern region next week, according to central forecasters.

-- A man died in an explosion at his home in Nghe An Province, located in north-central Vietnam, on Friday, police said, adding they were investigating the cause of the blast.

-- The Vietnamese government has asked the Ministry of Transport to consider plans to expand Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, using the land banks north and south of the terminal for the expansion.

-- National carrier Vietnam Airlines will operate direct flights from Vietnam to either San Francisco or Los Angeles in 2018, according to a flight plan approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Business

-- The Vietnamese government has just urged the Ministry of Justice and the State Bank of Vietnam to put forward a legal framework to regulate cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin, as the digital money has emerged as a new channel of investment in Vietnam.

Lifestyle

-- Dayan Mendoza, winner of the 2008 Miss Universe, arrived in Vietnam on Friday in order to sit on the board of judges in the finale of the 2017 Miss Universe Vietnam, organized in Nha Trang on Saturday night.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism will organize a street food festival at Le Van Tam Park in District 1 from January 11 to 14, featuring 100 booths and seven culinary sections.
Social media regulation, particularly relating to Facebook, was an agenda-topping item for various Vietnamese state agencies in 2017, highlighting the countrys apparent maneuvers to counter new threats in cyberspace.

With Vietnams tax authorities unable to develop a viable strategy to force Internet-based technology giants to pay taxes and the Ministry of Information and Communications concern that social media is providing an easily accessible place for publishing "toxic content," a Party-run agency has been created to focus on orienting content on certain platforms.

Social media as a medium for ideology sharing

At a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City late last year to recap its 2017 action plan, Vo Van Thuong, head of the Vietnamese Partys Central Commission for Propaganda and Education, spent a chunk of his speaking time focusing on issues related to social media content.

Thuong said social media can create profound impacts on public sentiment and make individuals more vulnerable.

To some extent, [social media] also makes people more senseless and heartless, he added.

The Central Commission for Propaganda and Education, an advisory organ for the Party, is in charge of articulating and developing the Party theory and ideology in such fields as publishing, culture, arts, and education.

Vo Van Thuong, head of the Vietnamese Partys Central Commission for Propaganda and Education, speaks at an event in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

While two people may never engage themselves in an aggressive quarrel in real life, social media seems to fuel their willingness to verbally attack one another on social media, using words and phrases even the rudest person is reluctant to say in the real world, Thuong underlined.

The official added that these newly emerged non-traditional threats to security and sovereignty, previously rare and isolated incidents in Vietnam, are now becoming considerably more visible in the Southeast Asian country.

Anybody can take part in or have a direct or indirect impact on these issues, but it is up to them whether to make it better or worse, he said.

Thuong elaborated that many Party members have complained that too much "negative information" is disseminated online, though he says they only have themselves to blame.

As Facebook and other social networks have algorithms designed to automatically show users content related to their browsing history, officials and Party members are likely seeking out negative news on their own, which then causes their newsfeeds to become dominated by additional negative information, Thuong explained.

As head of the propaganda and education body, Thuong expressed his belief that social media could well become a useful medium for "information orientation."

This caricature by Tuoi Tre depicts how mainstream media is losing to unverified news shared on social media in terms of the number of readers reached.

Vietnams position as the worlds 18th largest Internet market by users  with 60 million of its 90 million-strong population having access to the online world  makes these issues a matter of immediate concern, according to the official.

If only ten to 20 percent of these online users join the education and propaganda effort, well have much better results, he said.

For instance, if every official, Party member or Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union member uses social media to share a positive news report, video, or constructive comment on a daily basis, they will all contribute to enhancing the Partys education and propaganda effort.

Taxes and toxic content

Vietnam's regulatory agencies also spent a good chunk of 2017 scratching their heads over how to force Internet giants to pay taxes on income generated from their business activities in Vietnam.

The Southeast Asian country does apply a foreign contractor tax, but global Internet-based companies such as Google, Facebook, and Booking.com have all found ways to subvert those taxes.

Some of these companies put their tax burden on their Vietnamese partners  companies that run ads on Google or Facebook or hotels that sell rooms via Booking.com  while others avoid taxes by failing to report income accepted from international credit cards.

A woman browses Facebook in this photo taken in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In the meantime, the Ministry of Information and Communications has insisted that Facebook and YouTube remove accounts and videos that Vietnamese regulators deem "toxic" and inappropriate.

Following these requests, Facebook removed 159 accounts in 2017 whose posts were meant to defame Vietnamese leaders and spread anti-government propaganda, the ministry said in late December.

Google had also deactivated some 4,500 toxic YouTube videos, whose content was either fake news or anti-Vietnamese government.

Vietnam is among those countries whose requests have been well complied with by Google, Minister Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said at a meeting on December 22.

An illustration photo by Tuoi Tre

Online troops

On top of efforts to regulate content on social media, a Vietnamese general has revealed that the country had employed a cyber task force to fight the dissemination of false and derogatory information on the Internet.

Force 47 consists of more than 10,000 core fighters against hostile forces in cyberspace, according to Colonel General Nguyen Trong Nghia, deputy chairman of the General Political Department of the Peoples Army of Vietnam.

As forces and countries suggest using cyberspace to fuel real war, [Vietnam] should also stay vigilant against wrongful views in every second, minute, and hour, the three-star general said at a meeting on December 25.

With hostile forces having employed the Internet as a new medium for their effort to sabotage Vietnam, the countrys army has acknowledged that it should ready its forces for warfare in cyberspace alongside the conventional military, Nghia added.
Legendary TV actress Cornelia Frances has revealed she is battling cancer.

Frances, 76, known for a string of classic Aussie soaps, was diagnosed during a general check-up at Royal North Shore Hospital, which was a location for Albert Memorial Hospital in The Young Doctors.

I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat. Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes.

I swear I have had a hex placed on me for the past 12 months, she told News Corp.

She is not yet in remission but has high hopes for 2018 and perhaps a 30th season on Home and Away with her recurring guest role as Alfs sister Morag.

I would dearly love to go back to Summer Bay but havent heard anything as yet, she said.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Ms. Frances!
AIM-listed Swallowfield said full year profitability would be towards the upper end of expectations with overall revenues for the full year expected to show growth of 10% to approximately 54.4m.

The personal grooming and beauty products company said revenues had been bolstered by the strong performance of innovative new products introduced during the last financial year and our developing 'owned brands' portfolio.

This has also enabled us to show strong year-on-year growth in contribution margin, as well as to invest in commercial and technical resources to sustain future growth, the company said in a trading statement.

Our balance sheet continued to strengthen with improved control of working capital leading to a net debt position of 4.3m as at 25 June 2016, which is ahead of expectations, and compares favourably to the prior year at 5.4m. This figure is after absorbing growth related investments in capital equipment and inventory to support our owned brands.

Chief executive Chris How said the company was confident that it could deal with any macroeconomic uncertainty that may arise as a result of the UK's decision to leave the European Union.

The growth momentum in our core business along with our owned brands portfolio (now including the brands from Brand Architekts) has given us a more balanced and resilient business model going forward."
Going to university was a costly regret for 37% of UK graduates with just 156 spare to spend each month according to a report by Aviva.

The insurance company has released a report called Generation Regret on Wednesday, highlighting the finances of the millennial generation.

Of the those between the ages of 18-35, 49% believe they could have got to where they are today without their degrees. The research was published days before hundreds of thousands of A-level students find out whether they received the grades they require to get into university.

A third feel they have to carry more of a financial burden for higher education than older generations. University fees have tripled to 9000 compared to 3000 six years ago. Millennials between the ages of 18-24 estimated it will take them 12 years to pay off their student debt, with 18% are hoping it will be wiped out completely in future.

An overwhelming majority of graduates (72%) are relying on one-off events to help them financially at some point in the future. For 36%, this will be a new job or promotion, while 30% are relying on being given money either such as through a family inheritance, 12% expect to receive a financial gift and 17% are hoping to win the lottery. A total of 48% of millennials borrow money from their parents in order to cover living costs such as food shopping and rent.

The financial hangover from university has led many in this age group to question whether in hindsight they made the right decision and how much value it has brought to their current position. With relatively low disposable incomes and significant debt to tackle, millennials dont have it easy when managing their finances, said Avivas customer propositions director, Louise Colley.

Over one in three millennials feel their generation has been priced out of the property market with 40% of them renting a place to live and 52% living with family. Recent research by the Resolution foundation found that millennials will pay as much as 53,000 in rent before their 30th birthday. House prices have risen by more than a quarter from 166,606 in 2006 to 211,230 this year according to the UK house price index. Thus, 4% say that not being able to buy a house is their single biggest worry for the next five years.

The EU referendum has taken its toll too, leading to a spike in the number of those concerned about their financial futures to 48%, compared to 25% before the vote.

Millennials are plagued with uncertainty about the outlook for their financial futures, an issue which has not been helped by the uncertainty of todays economic and political climate said Colley

Colley gives advice on millennials financial woes can be dealt with in the short term.

Learning how to manage their money effectively and prioritising saving where possible  even if it is just small amounts  can help people to feel more confident and in control of their future prospects. Industry and government must also take steps to reduce the gap in financial confidence between young and older people with policies that help those struggling to achieve their goals said Colley.

The study was condemned by universities which cited the 86% satisfaction rate found by the annual national student survey covering the same period. They also argue that Avivas findings were based on a narrow survey of 2000 people aged 18-55 as part of its family finances report.

Official statistics from the governments 2015 Graduate labour market statistics show that graduates are more likely to be in work and earn much more than non-graduates over a working lifetime. The wage gap within the working population between graduates and non graduates is 9500 and within the younger population is 6000.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has condemned the governments policies on financing higher education. The 9,000 fees system is a failed experiment and has not driven up quality or sustainably funded institutions as promised. We urgently need to review this unsustainable funding system which will force students into a lifetime of debt said NUS president Sorana Vieru.
British banks could be hit hard if the country lost access to the European Union single market, as maintaining membership could add an extra 4% to the economy, the Institute of Fiscal Studies said on Wednesday.

Comparing benefits to be a member of the single market as part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and membership of the World Trade Organisation, the think-tank estimated that the benefits of the single market could be worth about 4% of gross domestic product (GDP).

IFS director Paul Johnson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that there was a difference between access to and membership of the single market as it is virtually a meaningless concept.

"We've heard a lot of people saying of course we'll have access if we leave the single market union. Broadly speaking, yes, we will, as every other country in the world does. You can export into the EU wherever you are from, but there are different sorts of barriers to doing so."

Since the UK voted to leave the EU in the referendum on 23 June, the country is yet to start form talks with the trading bloc about its future relationship and what it means about access to the single market.

IFS research associate and author of the report, Ian Mitchell said: "From an economic point of view we still face some very big choices indeed in terms of our future relationship with the EU.

"Membership is likely to offer significant economic benefits particularly for trade in services. But outside the EU, single market membership also comes at the cost of accepting future regulations designed in the EU without UK input. This may be seriously problematic for some parts of the financial services sector."

Access to the single market particularly impacts the financial sector as banks could lose passporting rights that allow direct access to clients in the EU. The IFS said that financial firms which do a large amount of business with EU companies could move elsewhere.

"Anything short of actually being in the single market would mean that passporting was forgone, and these firms would be likely to need an EU-based subsidiary to service EU customers. Without membership ... the UK would be likely to lose high-value economic activity and jobs."

However, keeping access to the single market by becoming a member of the EEA could come at a cost to the UK as they will no longer be able to shape regulation, merely be a servant of it.

Belonging to the EEA could also require the UK to comply to rules on the free movement of people and contributing about 8bn to the EU budget.

The IFS said the advantage of being a member of the EU was that the single market reduced or removed barriers to trading services, which was far more important that removing tariffs on the trade in goods.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said that because of the Brexit vote the country will leave the EU but must retain access to the single market for the financial services industry.
The impact of Brexit on recruitment in London was not as aggressive as expected, but it is too early to determine whether it is systemic, as the number of available jobs fell 27% in July.

Recruitment agency Morgan McKinley said new jobs on the market fell 12% in July compared to June and 27% compared to July 2015.

Last month, following the Brexit vote on 23 June, the recruiter found just 7,890 jobs, compared to 10,920 in 2015.

Putting a positive spin on it, the 12% month-on-month decline the recruiter said was a modest decline given the gravity of the referendum.

There was a 14% decrease in professionals seeking jobs in July, month-on-month and a 13% fall year-on-year.

Morgan McKinleys operations director Hakan Enver, said: Hiring slowed as institutions found themselves in a post-Brexit limbo, but the impact of the referendum was not as aggressive as we expected.

But the recruiter said the year-on-year decline was drastic but consistent with the overall flat climate of the first half of the year. The first half of the year was characterised by an ebbing of both jobs and professional seeking new employment, apart from slight rises in April and June.

Enver said: Jumping ship in a climate of uncertainty is particularly risky for employees. But were also seeing the usual seasonal factors playing out as people take their summer holidays causing a lull in the marketplace. We would expect a bump in the September figures.

In the the run-up to the European Union referendum leading banks such as JPMorgan and HSBC said Brexit could result in jobs moving from the UK to an EU country, and doubted London maintaining its status as a leading financial centre.

Enver attributed the midle employment backlash to decisive political leadership, in particular to the new London Mayor, who has campaigned since the referendum result that London is open for business.

The prompt formation of a new government was encouraging and London Mayor Sadiq Khan has emerged as a vocal champion of the City.

The recruiter said London will remain a leading financial hub as it was not logistically or financially feasible to move workers elsewhere.

An exodus would require individual businesses to potentially relocate thousands of employees, which simply isnt logistically or financially feasible. Up to a million Londoners work in the financial sector. Only a small portion of them have the flexibility to up and move to a new country, and no other region can compete with the quantity and calibre of financial professionals.

Morgan McKinley also found if you moved jobs in July you would likely have had a 16% pay rise, up from 13% in June, but below the 19% average the past 12 months.
The Bank of England said it would look to make up for the previous session's lacklustre results at a reverse auction to purchase 1.17bn of long-dated Gilts during the second half of its extended programme of quantitative easing.

In the previous session, which was just the second day of its second QE programme, the BoE received offers for just 1.17bn worth of Gilts maturing in at least 15 years time.

Tuesday's shortfall was interpreted by some observers as a first stumbling block in the monetary authority's attempt to convince investors to part with such instruments, although some analysts believed it was just the natural result of poor summer-induced liquidity conditions in the market.

Some institutional investors, such as pension funds or insurance companies, have been under intense pressure to find sufficiently safe long-term assets to match their very long-term liabilities.

To take note of, perhaps, some analysts highlighted how the BoE opted not to make up the shortfall on Wednesday, which might be a possible indication of caution on its part.

Details of the purchases would be unveiled on 3 November, the BoE said.

On 3 August, the Monetary Policy Committee decided to pursue another 60bn in Gilt purchases in order to forestall risks to the economy in the aftermath of the referendum vote.

As of 09:47 BST the yield on the benchmark 10-year Gilt was lower by five basis points to 0.536%, having hit an intra-session low at 0.528%.

In parallel, the yield on German Bunds of similar maturity was off by two basis points to 0.097% and that on the equivalent US Treasury note by another two basis point as well at 1.5315%.
Payments processor Worldpay  which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year  reported a rise in first-half underlying earnings and pre-tax profit amid strength in all its businesses, as it declared a maiden interim dividend of 0.65p per share.

For the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to 168.6m from 0.3m in the first half of 2015 as revenue jumped 10% to 2.14bn.

Net revenue was up 16% to 539.7m thanks to the expansion of business with existing customers, the roll-out of enhanced capabilities and innovation, and new customer wins. Meanwhile, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 19% higher at 217.9m.

Worldpay UK net revenue grew 12% and the group said it continues to increase customer numbers and product penetration through cross selling. It also benefited from the overall positive effect on product propositions and pricing following the reduction in interchange costs.

Chief executive officer Philip Jansen said: We delivered a strong first half performance, further enhancing our product propositions, and deepening our capabilities and presence, both by geography and across our divisions and verticals. We are well positioned to deliver a good performance in the second half of the year, and our medium-term guidance remains unchanged.

While the UK's vote to leave the EU has resulted in increased uncertainty, we do not expect it to have a material effect on Worldpay's trading performance. Our confidence in our prospects is reflected in further investment in capabilities to support sustainable growth over the medium-term, and the declaration of our maiden interim dividend."

Shore Capital said the results were "robust", with a weaker second half in prospect.

"We see Worldpay as a high quality business in a growth area of the market, coming into a crucial year with the rollout of the new platform to seek operational independence and expansion in payment processing."

At 1147 BST, shares were up 4.4% to 314.70p.
The FTSE 250 was in the green on Monday afternoon, as some positive post-Brexit UK data kept London's markets afloat.

Interserve advanced as the support services and construction group was awarded a two-year extension of its contract to provide security services to the BBC worth more than 20m.

The company has been providing the BBC with security services since 2014, when it was awarded the companys National Security Contract on a three-year deal.

It handles all manned guarding, close protection and control room operations at a variety of sites, including Broadcasting House in London, Pacific Quay in Glasgow and the Media City UK complex in Salford. The account extension will start in early 2017.

Tom Ward, director of operations for security at Interserve, said: "We have a strong working relationship and have built up a track record of delivering outstanding service across a large and diverse portfolio. We look forward to continuing our work with the Corporation for a further two years."

Meggitt was also soaring as it emerged that activist investor Elliott Capital Advisors has taken a stake in the FTSE 250 defence and aerospace engineer.

According to a regulatory filing, Elliott Capital has taken a 5.2% stake in Meggitt through contracts for difference.

Last week, Meggitt reported a drop in first-half pre-tax profit but lifted its interim dividend and confirmed its guidance for 2016.

For the six months to the end of June, statutory pre-tax profit fell 60% to 46.6m as revenue slipped 2% to 882.9m. The company said the statutory results were hit by 50.8m negative mark to market of its financial instruments, mostly as a result of the recent weakness in sterling following the Brexit vote.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Meggitt (MGGT) 446.70p 7.74%

Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 200.40p 5.47%

CYBG (CYBG) 263.10p 4.36%

Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 283.90p 4.26%

Aldermore Group (ALD) 145.10p 4.16%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 281.20p 4.07%

Vesuvius (VSVS) 379.50p 3.94%

Serco Group (SRP) 132.80p 3.59%

Clarkson (CKN) 1,964.00p 3.42%

Laird (LRD) 332.00p 3.20%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 197.10p -5.69%

McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 170.20p -5.34%

Vectura Group (VEC) 146.70p -2.72%

Restaurant Group (RTN) 359.90p -2.55%

Polypipe Group (PLP) 253.20p -2.43%

Homeserve (HSV) 569.00p -2.15%

Fidelity European Values (FEV) 174.90p -1.58%

Big Yellow Group (BYG) 732.00p -1.55%

Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,538.00p -1.44%

Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 363.70p -1.36%
A former Lincoln police officer accused of sexual assault will waive his arraignment and plead not guilty to the charge next week.

Gregory Cody, 54, had been set to go to court Friday for a preliminary hearing, but filed a written waiver, sending his case on to district court.

Codys attorney, John Ball, said Cody would plead not guilty next week by written waiver to the charge of first-degree sexual assault of a person mentally or physically incapable of resisting.

Cody hasn't yet been given a trial date and is out of jail on bond.

In November, the Lancaster County attorneys office filed a warrant for his arrest on the charge for allegedly using his position of authority to coerce a mentally ill woman into a sexual relationship that lasted more than a year.

In a nine-page affidavit, a Nebraska State Patrol investigator said Cody's accuser, a 30-year-old Lincoln woman, described more than a year's worth of interactions with Cody, including about 50 incidents of sexual encounters that she described as forced, most of which occurred while he was on duty.
Broker commentary was the main driver behind the jump observed at the end of the week in utility and home construction stocks.

Boosting the former, analysts at Credit Suisse reiterated a "positive" stance on stock in Drax while upgrading their recommendation on shares of Centrica from 'neutral' to 'outperform'.

The two shares carried the biggest risk discounts they said, following the roughly 35% punishment dished out by investors over the prior 18 months after Labor proposed "regaining" control of energy supply networks and to replace the country's "dysfunctional" water system.

Thus, investors had been left licking their wounds, although valuations for the sector had been brought into line with those in Europe, the Swiss broker explained.

So while Credit Suisse believed it was too early to buy regulated stocks due to the regulatory risk in 2018, in their judgement the regulated sector could avoid dividend cuts.

As for United Utilities, the shares were now changing hands at below fair value, the broker said.



Investors in home construction stocks meanwhile had Numis to thank for gains on their holdings come Friday.

Although the macvro profile in the UK was expected to "flatten" in 2018, they believed it should not be taken out of context.

"Government-driven initiatives in the new build housing and infrastructure markets will underpin volume growth in these areas and they remain a central theme to our stock selection," they said.

Among the companies in the sector which met their investment criteria were: Bellway, Redrow, Polypipe, Grafton, Balfour Beatty and Morgan Sindall.

Top performing sectors so far today

Electricity 7,786.36 +1.77%

Household Goods & Home Construction 18,655.26 +1.64%

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 5,177.94 +1.39%

Industrial Engineering 12,966.42 +1.38%

Food Producers & Processors 8,378.59 +1.26%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Banks 4,599.76 -0.52%

Forestry & Paper 20,772.56 -0.52%

Mining 18,846.44 -0.39%

Insurance (non-life) 3,137.09 -0.35%

Aerospace and Defence 4,911.31 -0.28%
The family of an autistic, 21-year-old man who died after being found face-down in a hot tub at the Fallbrook YMCA in March has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

In the complaint filed in Lancaster County District Court this week, Semira Osman alleges her son, Samson Goitom, died because of the YMCA's negligence.

Goitom, 21, died March 22, two days after suffering a medical episode at the YMCA as he sat in a hot tub, according to his family.

Osman's attorney, Vince Powers, blamed the design of the Fallbrook facility, where a slide in the pool's deep end blocks the view of the hot tub from the lifeguard's post.

"The location of the hot tub was such that a person could walk from the locker room and enter into the hot tub and ... no lifeguard would know that anyone was using the hot tub," he wrote in the complaint.

Further, Powers said, there had been complaints to YMCA staff about lifeguards using their laptops or cellphones rather than watching people in the pool and hot tub.

In March, Barb Bettin, CEO of the Lincoln YMCA, said an off-duty swim instructor was in the hot tub when Goitom was found face-down in the water. Lincoln police said the woman was looking in the other direction before Goitom was discovered. He was immediately taken out of the hot tub and was alive and responsive before being taken to a hospital.

He was taken off life support March 22.

In the lawsuit, Goitom's family is seeking health care and funeral expenses, plus compensation for the loss of his love, society, companionship and support and for Goitom's pain and suffering prior to his death.

Michael Moran, the attorney representing the YMCA, declined comment.
Lancaster County sheriff's investigators are involved in a rare, multistate probe into a Green Dot Moneypak scam where cons pretended to be a deputy sheriff and extorted victims in Lincoln and as many as a dozen states out of thousands of dollars.

The investigation involves two cases reported to the sheriff's office last summer and fall.

In one of the cases, the scammer tried to fool a Lancaster County judge, who didn't fall for it and promptly reported it, Investigator Curtis Reha said in a search warrant.

But in the other, a 67-year-old disabled veteran tricked into thinking he had a warrant for missing federal jury duty bought three $500 Green Dot Moneypaks and gave the numbers over the phone to a man claiming to be a captain.

"With these circumstances, (the victim) and his wife felt if what the (caller) stated was true, they needed to take care of it because (the victim) was in no condition to be incarcerated," Reha said.

By the time the couple contacted the sheriff's office, it was too late.

Both turned the phone number associated with the scam over to authorities, but rarely in these cases can investigators locate the extortionist, Reha said.

"We'll figure it out pretty quick, but (then) we'll hit the dead ends," Investigations Capt. Ben Houchin said.

These cases have existed for years, though prepaid credit cards such as Green Dot Moneypaks and gift cards have become popular scamming tools for criminals looking to dupe people and leave little evidence behind, Houchin said.

The cards are sold at convenience stores, among other places, and have a legitimate business purpose, Reha said.

But in the scam, the victim is instructed to load the card  generally with the maximum of $500  and then call the contact back to read the card's identification number.

Once the card's number is transferred, the money is lost.

Scammers often target the elderly, and generally prey on the fears of people who are supportive of law enforcement and don't want to be jailed, Houchin and Reha said.

"They don't want to be thought of as bad people," Reha said.

Other times the extortionist pretends to be a family member or attorney for a relative who needs bail money, he said.

In other cases, culprits pretend to be IRS agents, who in reality would never seek actual back taxes from someone via a telephone call, the investigators said.

Tracking down perpetrators can be difficult, as often they use so-called burner phones and immediately transfer their ill-gotten funds to another prepaid card.

In some cases, Reha discovered the culprits live in other countries.

One of the scammers even turned out to be someone duped themselves, he said. She believed that she was helping out her overseas beau, who then stopped contacting her after his scam succeeded.

These criminals are wise, using technology that spoofs local numbers, pretending to be actual people in the sheriff's office and concocting badge numbers and back stories, he said.

Occasionally, Reha will develop leads within the U.S., but pursuing that lead requires travel the sheriff's office can't afford, and authorities elsewhere won't take a small theft case.

But Reha and Houchin are hopeful that the multistate task force will bring culprits to justice, even if it's unlikely they're tried in Nebraska, they said.

In the meantime, Reha is still doing follow-up work on cases from last year.

Prevention is the key. Think through any call asking for money. Ask questions.

"We'll tell ya if you've got a warrant," Houchin said. "Just call us directly."

The sheriff's office telephone number is 402-441-6500.
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Jordan Co., APR Walden Solar 1 LLC, ARNIKA Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, AZ Solar I LLC, AZ Solar II LLC, AZ Solar Phase Zero LLC, AgCert Canada Co., AgCert Canada Holding Limited, AgCert Chile Servicios Ambientales Limitada, AgCert International Limited, AgCert Servicios Ambientales S.R.L., Agilion Energy Private Limited, Allis Medina Solar LLC, Altai Power Limited Liability Partnership, Alto Maipo SpA, Amaterasu LLC, Andes Solar SpA, Arizona B&GC Solar LLC, Assonet Solar 1 LLC, Atlantic Basin Services Ltd., B.A. Services S.R.L., Bakersfield Industrial PV 1 LLC, Bakersfield PV I LLC, Beals Medina Solar LLC, Boa Hora 1 Geradora De Energia Solar S.A., Boa Hora 2 Geradora de Energia Solar S.A., Boa Hora 3 Geradora De Energia Solar S.A., Bolton Solar I LLC, Brasiliana Participacoes S.A., Bridgeport Solar LLC, Buffalo Gap Holdings 2 LLC, Buffalo Gap Holdings 3 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Holdings LLC, Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 2 LLC, Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 3 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 4 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Wind Farm LLC, Bullock Freetown Solar 1 LLC, Bosforo de Responsabilidad Limitada de Capital Variable, CCS Telecarrier, CDEC-SING Ltda, CIA.TRANSMISORA DEL NORTE CHICO S.A., CO-CA Wholly Owned LLC, Camille Ltd., Camille Trust, Cavanal Minerals LLC, Cayman Energy Traders, Cemig II C.V., Centrais Eolicas Ametista S.A., Centrais Eolicas Borgo S.A., Centrais Eolicas Caetite S.A., Centrais Eolicas Dourados S.A., Centrais Eolicas Espigao S.A., Centrais Eolicas Maron S.A., Centrais Eolicas Morrao S.A., Centrais Eolicas Pelourinho S.A., Centrais Eolicas Piloes S.A., Centrais Eolicas Seraima S.A., Centrais Eolicas Serra do Espinhaco S.A., Centrais Eolicas Tanque S.A., Centrais Eolicas Ventos do Nordeste S.A., Centrais Eolicas da Prata S.A., Centrais Eolicas dos Aracas S.A., Central Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Limited, Central Termoelectrica Guillermo Brown S.A., Cerulean Properties LLC, Clean Wind Energy Ltd., Coastal Itabo Ltd., Colon LNG Marketing S. De R.L., Compania de Alumbrado Eletrico de San Salvador S.A. DE C.V., Compass Circle Solar LLC, Compania Transmisora Angamos SpA, Compania Transmisora La Cebada S.A., Compania Transmisora del Norte Grande SpA, Costa Norte LNG Terminal S. de R.L., Cronin Road Solar 1 LLC, DPL Capital Trust II, DPL Inc., Daggett Ridge Wind Farm LLC, Delano PV1 LLC, Diamond Development Inc., Distribuidora Electrica de Usulutan Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Domi Trading S.L., Dominican Power Partners, Dublin Solar I LLC, Dunstable Solar 1 LLC, EMLP Controladora S. de R.L. de C.V., ENERAB S. de R.L. de C.V., ENERGEN S.A., Eloy ESD Solar Holdings LLC, Empresa Electrica Angamos S.A., Empresa Electrica Campiche S.A., Empresa Electrica Cochrane II SpA, Empresa Electrica Cochrane S.A., Empresa Electrica Guacolda S.A., Empresa Electrica Ventanas S.A., Empresa Electrica de Oriente S.A. de C.V., Empresa Generadora De Electricidad Itabo S.A., EnerAB Cogeneracion I Laguna del Rey S. de R.L. de C.V., EnerAB Suministro Calificado S. de R.L. de C.V., EnerAB Tenedora S. de R.L., Energetica Argentina S.A., Energia Eolica Los Olmos SpA, Energia Eolica Mesamavida SpA, Energia Verde S.A., Energy Trade and Finance Corporation, Energia Eolica Curauma SpA, Energia Eolica Paposo SpA, Energia Natural del Este Enadom, Eolica Mesa La Paz S. de R.L. de C.V., FTP Power LLC, Finchville Solar LLC, Fluence Energy LLC, Founder's Homestead Farm Solar LLC, Fundacion AES Dominicana Inc., Fundacion AES Gener, GENERGIA S.A., GNRY Holdings & Investments Limited, Gas Natural Atlantico II S. de R.L., Gas Natural Atlantico S. De R.L., Gasoducto GasAndes Argentina S.A., Gasoducto GasAndes S.A., Gener Argentina S.A., Gener Blue Water Ltd., Genergia Power Ltd., Georgia Solar Holdings LLC, Georgia Solar Parent LLC, Global Energy Holdings C.V., Goller Enerji Uretim Ltd. Sti., Gray Springs Vista Solar LLC, Greenwich Solar 1 LLC, Guacolda Energy S.A., Guaimbe I Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe II Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe III Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe IV Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe Solar Holding S.A., Guaimbe V Parque Solar S.A., Health and Welfare Benefit Plans LLC, Hipotecaria San Miguel Limitada de Capital Variable, Hipotecaria Santa Ana Limitada de Capital Variable, INVERSIONES NUEVA VENTANAS S.A., IPALCO Enterprises Inc., Indianapolis Power & Light Company, Indimento Inversiones S.L., Instituto AES Brasil, InterAndes S.A., Inversiones Cachagua SpA, Inversiones Energia Renovable Limitada, Inversiones LK SpA, Inversiones Termoenergia de Chile Ltda., Inversiones Zapallar Limitada, Inversora de San Nicolas S.A., Itabo III S.R.L., Jemeiwaa KaI S.A.S., Johnstown Solar 1 LLC, KA Energy OOD, KMR Power Company, Kazincbarcikai Iparteruletfejleszt Kft., Kings Rooftop PV LLC, La Plata I Empreendimentos Ltda., La Plata II Ltd., La Plata III C.V., Lane Ave Solar LLC, Lemoore PV 1 LLC, MFP CO Holdings II LLC, MFP CO Holdings LLC, MFP CO I LLC, MFP CO II LLC, MFP CO III LLC, MFP CO Parent LLC, MM Solar Holdings I LLC, MM Solar Parent LLC, MSP Master Tenant I LLC, MSP Master Tenant II LLC, MacGregor Park Inc., Manteca PV 1 LLC, Maple Solar LLC, Maui 17-2 LLC, Mauka FIT Twenty LLC, Mercury Cayman Co II Ltda Agencia en Chile, Mercury Chile Co. II Ltd., Mercury Chile Holdco Ltd., Mercury Chile I Limitada, Mercury Chile II Limitada, Miami Valley Insurance Company, Miami Valley Lighting LLC, Mid-America Capital Resources Inc., Middletown Solar 1 LLC, Mong Duong Finance Holdings B.V., Motor EV LLC, Mountain Minerals LLC, Mountain View Power Partners IV LLC, Mountain View Power Partners LLC, Murcia Generation Holdings B.V., NY RNM Project1 LLC, NY RNM Project1A LLC, NY RNM Project2 LLC, NY RNM Project3 LLC, NY RNM Project4 LLC, Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC, New Caribbean Investments SRL, Norgener Inversiones SpA, Norgener Renovables SpA, Norgener S.A., Nova Energia Holding S.A., Novus Barre Town Solar LLC, Nurenergoservice LLP, Oahu SPE 101-14 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-19 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-2 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-33 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-4 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-9 LLC, Odisha Power Generation Corporation Limited, Omega SpA, PARQUE EOLICO NOLANA SpA, PARQUE EOLICO TOPOLOA SpA, Parque Eolico Beata SRL, Parque Eolico Litueche SpA, Parque Eolico Campo Lindo SpA, Parque Eolico Los Cururos SpA, Parque Eolico Victoria SpA, Punta del Sol SpA, Quebrada Seca SpA, RMR Solar LLC, RT52 Walden Solar 1 LLC, Ransomville Solar 1 LLC, Remittance Processing Services LLC, Rep Office of AES Silk Road in Almaty, Rep Office of AES Silk Road in Tajikstan Republic, Richmond Solar Power 1 LLC, River Street Solar 1 LLC, Riverside Canal Power Company, Rosamond Solar LLC, Ryan Road Solar LLC, SD Solar I LLC, SEPV Imperial LLC, San Bernardino Solar LLC, Scituate Solar I LLC, Scottsdale Solar Holdings LLC, SeaWest Asset Management Services LLC, SeaWest Energy Project Associates LLC, SeaWest Properties LLC, SeaWest Wyoming LLC, Shazia S.R.L., Simple Energy Inc., Solar Access America LLC, Solar Access CA LLC, Solar Access California LLC, Southern Electric Brazil Participacoes Ltda., Store Heat and Produce Energy Inc., Stow Solar I LLC, Sudbury Ervin GMC Solar LLC, SunE Solar XVII Project5 LLC, SunE SunHoldings4 LLC, T&T Power Holdings I SRL, T&T Power Holdings II Ltd., TEG Business Trust, TEG/TEP Management LLC, TEP Business Trust, Tau Power BV, Tecnoma Energia Solar S.L., TermoAndes S.A., Termoelectrica Penoles S. de R.L. de C.V., Termoelectrica del Golfo S. de R.L. de C.V., Terneuzen Cogen B.V., The AES Barry Foundation, The Dayton Power and Light Company, Thermo Fuels Company Inc., Tozer Road Solar LLC, USVI Solar I LLC, University Solar LLC, Vientos Neuquinos I S.A., Village of Waterbury Solar I LLC, W. Orange RD Solar LLC, West Brookfield Boston Post Road Solar LLC, West Street Solar 1 LLC, Western Solar Parent LLC, Wilbur Woods Solar LLC, Wildwood Trust, Williamsburg East Street Solar LLC, Winchendon Ash Street Solar 1 LLC, Winchendon Lincoln Avenue Solar 1 LLC, Winchendon Lincoln Avenue Solar 2 LLC, Your Energy Holdings Limited, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-001 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-003 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-006 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-007 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-008 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-011 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-014 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-017 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-023 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-024 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-038 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-044 LLC, sPower, and sPower OpCo A Blocker LLC.

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Effective Feb. 1, copays will increase for most Tricare beneficiaries who get their prescription drugs through Tricare Pharmacy Home Delivery or at retail pharmacies. Prescriptions filled at military pharmacies will continue to be free.



The increases will not apply to active-duty military members, survivors of those who died while on active duty, and medically retired service members and their dependents .



The copay increase was included in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and will continue to rise over the next decade, according to Tricare officials.



The higher copayments will affect military retirees the most, as they are more likely to use mail delivery and retail pharmacies to fill their prescriptions, according to Karen Ruedisueli, deputy director of government relations at the National Military Family Association (NMFA).



This year, under the home-delivery option, copays for a 90-day supply of generic drugs will go from zero dollars to $7, and copays for brand-name medications will jump from $20 to $24. What's more, copays will rise from $49 to $53 for prescription drugs not included on Tricares preferred list. These medications, known as nonformulary drugs, are generally available only through home delivery, and patients must get proof from their medical provider that they are necessary, according to Tricare officials.



Copays for a 30-day prescription filled at a retail pharmacy in 2018 will increase from $10 to $11 for generic drugs and from $24 to $28 for brand-name ones.



By 2027 the copayment for a 30-day prescription filled at a retail pharmacy will jump to $16 for generics and $48 for brand-name versions. Under the home-delivery option, the copay will be $14 for generics, $44 for brand-name drugs and $85 for nonformulary medications.



Some military advocacy groups have spoken out against the higher copayments. The increases are stark and not based on any index or known data, says Dan Merry, vice president for government relations at the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), which also expressed concern that some of the money saved by the increased costs to Tricare members will not be used for military health care. Under the NDAA, some of the savings will be allocated to the Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance, a $310 monthly survivors benefit for spouses of those who died while on active duty or spouses of retirees who died from service-connected illnesses.



The impact that the copay hikes will have on retirees over time is of particular concern to the NMFA, as they are occurring at the same time as the larger changes to the Tricare plan, including higher enrollment fees and copays for medical appointments, Ruedisueli says.
While it doesn't yet come in prints, nor any shade beyond a familiar soft blue, a new hospital gown design represents a major leap forward in patient dressing  and doesn't leave anyone's backside exposed.

The kimono-style option was created by students from Parsons School of Design as part of a design challenge in partnership with Care + Wear, a company specializing in healthwear. AARP contributed prize money for the participating students, sponsoring the work to help show how designers can be leaders in creating garments that encourage people to age with dignity and style, said Debra Whitman, AARP executive vice president and chief public policy officer.

The students, charged with designing a universal gown and having it mass-produced and on patient backs within six months, worked in conjunction with patients, nurses, doctors, hospital leaders and laundering experts to come up with their prototype. (Fashion designers Donna Karan and Kay Unger also visited the class to provide suggestions.) And their chief challenge was adding more coverage  top on the wish list of anyone who's ever worn the standard short-and-breezy hospital shift  while preserving easy access for clinicians. Their solution came by way of a large box pleat in the back, which resembles a giant skirt slit and which falls mercifully closed unless deliberately spread open during, say, a colonoscopy.



But backside coverage isnt the only improvement in the gown, which is being tested at a MedStar hospital in Olney, Md., before being potentially used throughout MedStar's 10-hospital system. Its longer length can be appreciated by anyone who needs to sit down while in a hospital, while snaps along the top can be undone to offer strategic, instead of blanket, access for things like chest or upper back exams. Four snaps along each wide-cut arm, meanwhile, allow for I.V. access and are MRI compatible.

The gown is also available at careandwear.com for $45.
To be sure, London-based Philip Morris, which has its U.S. headquarters in New York City, isnt giving up on smoking entirely. Not even close. And its not going to stop making and selling cigarettes. Rather, it says its aim is to slowly replace cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives such as e-cigarettes and inhaling heated tobacco, also known as vaping.

Critics of the new Philip Morris campaign  which also included the launch of a new website where smokers in Ireland and the U.K. can find information about quitting cigarettes or switching to alternative tobacco products  maintain that its simply a publicity stunt designed to curry favor with the British government. Last year, the government announced a Tobacco Control Plan aimed at drastically reducing the national smoking rate by 2022.

Critics claim its all window dressing in any case, and theres little evidence that e-cigarettes are any less harmful than their smoky predecessors. Though e-cigarettes dont contain certain carcinogens found in the old-fashioned variety, the World Health Organization has balked at claims by Philip Morris and other tobacco companies that such cigarette alternatives pose fewer health risks.

"The tobacco industry and its front groups have misled the public about the risks associated with other tobacco products," the World Health Organizations said in a September 2017 statement. "Such misleading conduct continues today with companies, including PMI, marketing tobacco products in ways that misleadingly suggest that some tobacco products are less harmful than others."

In the United States, the majority of smokers still smoke old-fashioned cigarettes. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one in five Americans between 54 and 64 smoke cigarettes, and more than 8 percent of all those 65 and over do so, as well. The CDC's lastest research found that 87 percent of the nations 49 million smokers in 2015 had used a combustible product such as cigarettes, cigars or pipes. Clearly, the move toward smoke-free products has been slow to gain momentum, though Philip Morris' New Years U.K. announcement may be the most visible step in that direction yet.

We believe we have an important role to play in helping the U.K. become smoke-free. The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal," Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris, said in a statement. "We recognize that never starting to smoke  or quitting altogether  are always the best option. But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK."
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People should avoid eating romaine lettuce until health officials can determine the cause of E. coli food infections that have been reported in 13 states and parts of Canada, Consumer Reports advises.

Fifty-eight people have gotten sick from the E. coli bacteria over the past seven weeks, possibly from eating romaine lettuce, the research and advocacy group reported.

One person has died and five others have been hospitalized in the U.S. because of infections, the group said. One infected person in Canada reportedly has died and 41 have become ill from the infection.
How to watch and what to know about Northern Iowa at South Dakota
FARMINGTON  Farmington police are investigating an alleged vehicle theft in which an officer fired his weapon once after locating the vehicle at an area gas station.

The suspect in the alleged vehicle theft is in Navajo police custody, and the Farmington Police Department is seeking an extradition warrant, according to a Farmington police press release.

Officers for the Farmington Police Department were dispatched around 4:51 a.m. today to a residence in the 700 block of West Arrington Street on a report of a stolen vehicle.

An officer located the vehicle parked at the Giant gas station at 1020 Bisti Highway and believed it was occupied. He activated his emergency lights and called for backup.

The vehicle started to back up, and the officer fired his weapon once, according to the press release.

The vehicle then pulled into the westbound lane of the Bisti Highway, and the officer followed, engaging in a high-speed pursuit. The officer discontinued the pursuit for safety reasons.

Farmington police spokeswoman Georgette Allen said the department isnt releasing additional details on the case, as it remains under investigation.

A passenger of the vehicle later was identified by detectives, who were able to identify the suspect with the information they learned.

Officers with the Farmington police gang unit located the vehicle this afternoon along U.S. Highway 491 near mile marker 55 in the area of Newcomb.

The suspect, whose name is not being released until charges have been filed, was found passed out inside the vehicle. Navajo police were called to the scene, and they took the suspect into custody.

No one was injured during the incident, according to Farmington police.



2018 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)

Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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The state has launched a new website intended to shed light on health care prices.

The website allows New Mexicans to compare average prices and quality statistics, such as readmission rates, for common, non-emergency procedures at each of the states 44 hospitals.

The average prices displayed are those paid by Medicaid for nine procedures. Medicaid currently covers about 45 percent of all New Mexicans, and pays for about 72 percent of all births in the state, according to Think New Mexico.

The website is managed by the state Department of Health and is the result of legislation passed in 2015 based on recommendations from Think New Mexico, according to a news release from that organization.
The ACLU of Nebraska argued in Lancaster County District Court on Friday against dismissal of its lawsuit filed on behalf of death-row inmates, including Jose Sandoval, who has been notified he could be the first person in the state to die by lethal injection.

ACLU attorneys, two of them from outside Nebraska, also argued that Gov. Pete Ricketts and others, including state Treasurer Don Stenberg, should remain as defendants in the case.

The lawsuit challenges the referendum that the group Nebraskans for the Death Penalty gathered signatures for during the summer of 2015. Earlier, the Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty and then to override Ricketts' veto of that repeal. The referendum passed and the death penalty was retained in Nebraska.

Death-row inmates Carey Dean Moore, Jeffrey Hessler and Arthur Gales were given the opportunity to participate in the lawsuit and to listen to Friday's proceedings by telephone from the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. But the court was notified the inmates refused to participate because they had no interest in the suit.

Hessler filed an affidavit in the case Dec. 19, stating he did not want his name associated with the ACLU and that he had never alleged he was personally suffering from "ongoing emotional and psychological harm" from the referendum that allowed for retention of the death penalty.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU alleges the pro-death penalty ballot initiative violated the state constitutions separation of powers and should be invalidated. It said Ricketts was the driving force behind the 2016 referendum, exploiting government staff, resources and his own elected position to raise money for the initiative and to persuade voters to support it.

The state argued that the time to raise procedural questions about the referendum was before votes were cast, that death-row inmates could file more proper motions for post-conviction relief in their criminal cases, and that seven of the 10 men on death row already had pending proceedings in state court or open appeals to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The ACLU said the inmates' sentences were effectively commuted by the Legislature's repeal of the death penalty. And it said Ricketts unconstitutionally used the referendum power reserved for the people of the state and violated the separation of powers act.

Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post argued in front of District Judge John Colburn against both of those allegations.

On the Ricketts question, the ACLU attorneys said that had the executive branch not acted, there might not have even been a referendum.

Attorney Bill Trac with O'Melveny & Myers in San Francisco, representing the ACLU, said Stenberg was in the same bucket as Ricketts, representing the executive branch. The other defendants should remain as parties to the case, and that as sponsors of the referendum, they failed to submit sworn statements as such as required by law.

Ricketts' attorney argued that the governor, acting in his individual and personal capacity, has no power.

No decision was made Friday. The judge will consider the arguments on dismissing the suit, and dismissing Ricketts and the other defendants  including Nebraskans for the Death Penalty board members Bob Evnen, Judy Glassburner and Aimee Melton, he said.
A federal judge imposed sanctions on an attorney representing the state bail bond association for filing frivolous claims seeking damages from the state Supreme Court justices and others while challenging the system of pretrial release that virtually did away with monetary bail bonds for criminal defendants.

While Plaintiffs counsel is entitled to express opinions regarding bail reform in New Mexico, plaintiffs are not entitled to file claims in a federal court without standing solely to achieve political objectives, Senior U.S. District Judge Robert A. Junell ruled late this week.

Junell ruled that attorney A. Blair Dunn will have to pay attorneys fees to the state Attorney Generals Office, which represented the members of the state Supreme Court, other state judges and court employees.

Dunn, who has said that he is running as a Libertarian for state Attorney General, has filed notice of an appeal of Junells ruling dismissing the original lawsuit and the ruling on sanctions.

The lawsuit was filed in July by the Bail Bond Association of New Mexico, a handful of state lawmakers, and a woman who spent five days at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The plaintiffs had sought an injunction to prevent courts from using the new Supreme Court rules, arguing that they were unconstitutional because the availability of bail is enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

The state Supreme Court adopted the rules in July to govern pretrial release and detention decisions.

The court rules carry out a constitutional amendment adopted by voters in 2016, which allows district court judges to lawfully hold felony defendants in jail before trial if they are shown to be too dangerous for release. The amendment also ensures that defendants who are not dangerous or a flight risk cannot be held in jail pretrial solely because they cannot afford a bail bond.

Although other attorneys names were attached to the civil lawsuit, only Dunn was singled out for sanctions and ordered to pay reasonable attorneys fees and court costs to the Attorney Generals Office.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska  President Donald Trumps plan to open Americas oceans to petroleum drilling drew condemnation from West Coast and Florida governors but was welcomed in the state where most lease sales could be held.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent facing re-election this year, embraced Interior Secretary Ryan Zinkes proposed 19 lease sales in the state, including six in the potentially oil rich but environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean waters.

The Department of Interiors draft five-year offshore leasing plan is an important step toward allowing Alaskans to responsibly develop our natural resources as we see fit, he said Thursday.

But the big question is whether oil companies will commit the substantial resources it would take to invest in a frontier area where the cost of drilling is extremely high compared to other regions  and simultaneously face the wrath of environmental groups fiercely opposed to Arctic offshore drilling.

Royal Dutch Shell spent $2.1 billion on Chukchi Sea leases in 2008, invested another $5 billion overall in U.S. Arctic waters, and pulled out after drilling a dry hole in 2015. Oil companies closely watched Shells experience, said Mark Barteau, director of the University of Michigan Energy Institute.

Theres lower hanging fruit elsewhere, Barteau said. Its all about going after the easy stuff first.

Shell has no current plans to pursue future offshore Alaska exploration, said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith in an email. It was too early to know how Trumps draft five-year plan would play into future portfolio decisions.

Given the desire to keep pace with natural field decline and the inherent uncertainty associated with exploration, more options are always preferable when it comes to potential lease acreage  both on and offshore, he said.

The Beaufort Sea, off Alaskas north coast, holds an estimated 8.9 billion barrels of oil, and the Chukchi, off Alaskas northwest coast, holds an estimated 15.4 billion barrels.

Arctic waters also provide habitat for threatened polar bears, walruses and bowhead whales and are the home of Inupiat villages. Hanging over any Arctic water sales is the question of whether spills  which drilling critics say are inevitable  can be cleaned up in ice-choked or ice-covered water along coastline with negligible infrastructure compared to the Gulf of Mexico and other drilling regions. Alaskas bitter cold, fierce storms and darkness in winter add to the challenge.

With an oil spill impossible to contain or clean up in these remote waters, todays decision needlessly places in harms way the wildlife, cultures and communities that have long called this region home, said Brad Ack, the World Wildlife Funds senior vice president for oceans.

Environmental groups delayed Shells exploratory drilling with successful lawsuits challenging the federal governments inadequate environmental review of Arctic waters preceding the 2008 sale. Two years later, after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, federal regulators negotiated strict Arctic operating rules to prevent a similar disaster off Alaska.

The requirements include a shortened drilling season, second drilling rigs stationed nearby that could drill relief wells after blowouts and an armada of support vessels ready to cap blowouts or clean up spills.

The aftermath of Shell drilling in 2012 gave critics another Alaska drilling problem to highlight. A Shell drilling barge, the Kulluk, broke loose from its towing vessel and ran aground near Kodiak Island. And the company Shell hired to drill at a second site paid $12.2 million after pleading guilty to eight maritime pollution and safety counts.

Shell finally completed an exploratory well in 2015 but it was dry. Citing the disappointing results, and challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment, the company abandoned drilling in U.S. Arctic waters.

The Trump administration could loosen Arctic drilling operating rules but bidders would still face environmental opposition. Protesters in 2015 boarded a Shell drilling rig as it crossed the Pacific Ocean and hung from a bridge in Portland, Oregon, to block a company vessel from leaving for Alaska. Companies drilling off northern Alaska could face similar public relations issues.

I suspect thats one of the things they would consider, Barteau said.

With Shells departure, former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell suspended additional planned Arctic lease sales and left them out of the Obama administration five-year drilling plan, citing a lack of interest.

Walker, overseeing an oil-dependent state desperate to find ways to refill the trans-Alaska pipeline that once transported 2.1 million barrels daily but averaged 527,000 in 2017, took hope from Zinkes announcement.

Walker said he looked forward to working with the federal government to unleash Alaskas energy potential while taking into account environmental and safety concerns.
RUIDOSO DOWNS  A monumental step forward for three-year-old quarter horse racing will occur this summer at Ruidoso Downs when the $1-million All American Triple Crown Derby Bonus is offered to the connections of any horse that can win the tracks three Grade 1 derbies.

Those three Grade 1 derbies are the $750,000 (est.) Ruidoso Derby at 400 yards, the $750,000 (est.) Rainbow Derby at 440 yards and the $1-million (est.) All American Derby at 440 yards.

Additionally, Ruidoso Downs will offer a $2-million All American Triple Crown Futurity Bonus for the connections of any horse that can win the Grade 1, $1-million (est.) Ruidoso Futurity, The Grade 1, $1-million (est.) Rainbow Futurity and the Grade 1, $3-million (est.) All American Futurity, quarter horse racings showcase event. The winners share from each race plus the bonus would total $4.3-million.

The new Triple Crown bonus program provides yet another incentive for all two- and three-year-olds to join the best horses at Ruidoso Downs each summer. The derby bonus is an effort to keep three-year-olds pointing at the lucrative purses in these iconic stakes, said Ruidoso Downs president and general manager Jeff True.

The Ruidoso, Rainbow and All American futurities and derbies will pay more than $7-million in total purses and this bonus program ups that ante to more than $10-million. We expect to continue this bonus program and hope to pay it to fortunate owners on multiple occasions.
Albuquerque Public Schools will redesign three low-performing elementary schools targeted for intervention by the state Public Education Department  and district administrators are seeking public input on the final plans.

In December, APS sent letters to PED selecting the reorganization option for Los Padillas, Whittier and Hawthorne elementary schools, rather than more drastic measures, such as closure or relaunching as a charter school.

Each school has received five or six consecutive F grades, the worst performance in the state, landing them on the PEDs list for more rigorous interventions (MRI).

Dulce Elementary, near the Colorado border, is also classified as MRI for earning five Fs.

The MRI schools were required to choose from turnaround options outlined in the states Every Student Succeeds Act plan by Jan. 9, and they must submit detailed plans for PEDs approval by Feb. 12.

Gabriella Blakey, APS associate superintendent for the southeast section of the district, including Whittier and Hawthorne, said the district sees an opportunity to scrutinize what is working well and what could be improved at its three MRI schools.

Parents, students and community leaders have already been part of the conversation, and Blakey said administrators are still accepting feedback.

On Thursday night, roughly 100 people packed Los Padillas Elementarys gymnasium to share their aspirations for the school. Similar meetings took place at Whittier and Hawthorne elementary schools in December.

The forums included facilitated small group discussions of school assets and needs, which were written in marker on large pieces of butcher paper.

At Los Padillas, participants cited the schools nearly 130-year history, strong South Valley community ties and caring teachers.

Jerry McCann, a 70-year-old grandfather, wrote that Los Padillas is the life of my whole family for four generations.

His wife, three children and eight grandchildren all attended the school.

I have my roots here, McCann told the Journal. Taking care of the school is one of my goals.

McCann said he worries that the tests PED uses to calculate school grades dont truly reflect what children are learning in the classroom and proposed that families be allowed to review the exams.

Other suggestions included offering a full-time nurse, family liaison and more bilingual education options.

APS will review the feedback and come up with new approaches that will go into effect for the 2018-19 school year.

Under the state ESSA plan, low-performing schools that opt for redesign must make significant changes. Options could include longer school days or new recruitment efforts to attract top-rated teachers. The district could also offer additional wrap-around services like health clinics or food banks.

PED Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski told the Journal that he will look for plans that dramatically transform the schools in every way.

If we are going to put the kids first, and if we are going to keep the kids front and center in these conversations, then I think we have to be honest with ourselves and say our kids deserve to be in schools that are earning As and Bs every year regardless of their ZIP code, he said. That is going to mean challenging old paradigms, challenging the traditional status quo, looking at arcane policies that have been in place for decades and suspending them or throwing them out.

Blakey told the Journal that staff at the three schools are feeling a lot of anxiety about the future.

Not only do teachers care about the school, but its also their livelihood, she added.

Teachers unions and some APS board members have criticized PEDs approach to low-performing schools, calling it blaming and shaming that does not adequately consider systemic issues like poverty.

At Thursdays community forum, Democratic Rep. G. Andres Romero, a Los Padillas graduate, said he doesnt think PED is good at listening to the community.

I was born and raised in this community, he said. I have a tremendous amount of pride, just like many of you, in this school and its community.
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Anyone remember when President Donald Trump declared Americas escalating epidemic of opioid addiction was a national health emergency that was ripping families apart? The announcement last October may have gotten lost given the sheer amount of Trump news, but that declaration allowed the government to designate federal funds to fight the deadliest drug crisis this country has ever seen.

More than 90 Americans die of drug overdoses every single day. For those under the age of 50, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death. In 2016, there were more than 64,000 drug deaths in the United States.

The New York Times headline at the time of the presidents announcement? Trump Declares Opioid Crisis a Health Emergency but Requests No Funds. Well, apparently the Department of Justice has found the money and manpower it needed to begin to tackle the problem.

Its not a panacea, but it sure makes me wonder why the DOJ had never done this before.

The department formed the Opioid Fraud and Detection Unit, which has tapped into a broad range of national databases and other drug-related resources  from Medicaid and Medicare to records from pharmacies, physicians offices and even coroners archives across the country  all with an eye toward putting together the mosaic of drug-death information. From that the unit was able to identify 12 regional hot spots in most need of help.

Among the information the Washington-based analytic team has now begun to share with federal prosecutors in those dozen areas: which doctors in a region seem to be prescribing suspicious amounts of opioids, the age of their patients, how far they traveled to see the physician and whether any died within two months of getting their opioid prescription. In addition, the new DOJ unit has been able to pass on clues about which pharmacies appear to be dispensing excessive amounts of opioids.

This type of wide-reaching computerized analytics means prosecutors in those areas dont have to rely on unpredictable informants or spend months trying to scrape together enough evidence to build a case against an overprescribing doctor or pill-pushing pharmacist. This new trove of information allows investigators to zero in on suspicious people and places and launch investigations right away. Indictments have already been issued.

The DOJ also has tapped into the workforce at the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services to help control the drug threat. HHS has already moved to strip licenses from hundreds of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and operators of pain clinics known to have engaged in drug diversion and pharmacy fraud schemes. Imagine, different departments of the government sharing information and working together to solve a problem!

This should now give the criminal element pause, especially in the earmarked regions of Alabama, California, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. And DOJ officials hope to expand this computerized crime-fighting work nationwide. The departments 2018 budget request to Congress asks for more than $1 billion to expand the anti-opioid program.

Yet, as positive as all this sounds, it really is only a drop in the drug-death bucket. When prescription drugs are no longer available, patients frequently turn to black-market drugs to ease their pain. We continue to have a massive problem of illegal street drugs flooding into the country and being manufactured right here at home.

Medical experts warn that law-abiding doctors who dispense opioids to truly needy patients might start abandoning them to avoid professional risk. Having nowhere else to go for relief, these patients could very well turn to the streets, or worse, commit suicide.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing told the Associated Press recently that prosecutors emphasis on drug-dealing doctors is warranted, but not enough to fight todays rampant opioid problem.

Its just not really going to have that much of an impact on an epidemic, Kolodny said. Change will only come, he said, if society pushes harder for anti-drug education and better treatment programs for addicts.

In addition, he said, They should go after the bigger fish  the legal narcotics distributors and wholesalers who have literally been getting away with mass manslaughter.

So, are you, like me, wondering why we  a superpower on earth  cannot do all these things? Why cant we crack down on greedy criminals who feed off the misery of others, teach citizens the real-life dangers of drugs and provide a place for redeemable addicts to become contributing members of the community?

The answer, of course, is that we could make huge progress toward that if we really put our minds to it.

Know a family that has been impacted by the drug crisis? Have them join you in writing to your member of Congress to demand more positive and innovative steps toward solving this paralyzing problem.

www.DianeDimond.com; e-mail to Diane@DianeDimond.com.
New Mexico is currently facing challenges like no other state in the United States. Every day now in the morning newspaper headlines and in the evening on the television news, we see how issues the state of New Mexico is facing have gotten out of control. Are 30 days enough for New Mexicos lawmakers in 2018 to address issues like out-of-control crime across the state, a suffering public education system, higher education challenges, access to health care, budget matters, economic growth and ethics reform in the Legislature?

Thirty days, thats it. (The Legislature is 60 days in odd-numbered years.)

Even worse for the state, in even-numbered years the Legislature is limited to dealing with budgetary matters, bills that deal with issues raised by special messages of the governor of New Mexico, and bills vetoed in the previous session by the governor. While vetoing bills the last few years has become a pattern, Gov. Susana Martinez says her priorities are: educating our children, ensuring transparency and ethics in government, and keeping New Mexicans safe. Salary for the governor in New Mexico is $110,000.

In the last 22 years, going back to 1995, the state of New Mexico has had 20 special legislative sessions with over half of those in even-numbered years. Odds are well be having a special session or two in 2018. Having a state Legislature with no salary, no support staff, that meets on such a limited basis  this current structure of our citizen legislature is holding New Mexico back.

We as a state need legislative reform.

Since 1912, when New Mexico entered the union as a sparsely populated frontier settlement, its state legislators have worked without a salary. Today, its the only state with an unsalaried legislature.

Lawmakers with less time to spare and no staff to guide them may rely more heavily on lobbyists to advise them about legislation. Political action committee growth and influence in New Mexico politics has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Low pay also puts limits on who can realistically serve in a legislature. In states like New Mexico that have short legislative sessions, lawmakers must leave their day jobs for several weeks every year and travel to the state capital  in addition to dealing with year-round demands from constituents.

The state of New Mexico should start paying the state legislators (and adopt) a hybrid state legislature meeting for most of the year that pays the legislators as full-time employees.

They can serve the constituents much better because of their extended time in office and ability to devote more time to each issue. The state can provide funding for a hybrid-legislature with a support staff and internship opportunities all for less than $7 million per year.

Providing funding for a paid legislature can be achieved from a legalized industrial hemp industry in conjunction with the utilization of green energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal energy. The state has on average 320-plus days of sunshine per year and with its expansive land, New Mexico already has many solar and wind energy projects which provide electricity to neighboring states such as Texas, Arizona and California.

Political science research shows that states with legislatures that meet for longer and give their legislators more resources, both in terms of staff and salary, are more efficient. They pass a greater percentage of bills overall and enact more bills per legislative day. This further allows more contact with constituents, and legislators are more attentive to constituent concerns. This also shows lawmakers to be more independent, both from party leadership and the governor, and even more likely to take on government reforms and enact complex and innovative policies.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.  Albert Einstein

New Mexico is currently facing challenges like no other state in the United States. Every day now in the morning newspaper headlines and in the evening on the television news, we see how issues the state of New Mexico is facing have gotten out of control. Are 30 days enough for New Mexicos lawmakers in 2018 to address issues like out-of-control crime across the state, a suffering public education system, higher education challenges, access to health care, budget matters, economic growth and ethics reform in the Legislature?

Thirty days, thats it. (The Legislature is 60 days in odd-numbered years.)

Even worse for the state, in even-numbered years the Legislature is limited to dealing with budgetary matters, bills that deal with issues raised by special messages of the governor of New Mexico, and bills vetoed in the previous session by the governor. While vetoing bills the last few years has become a pattern, Gov. Susana Martinez says her priorities are: educating our children, ensuring transparency and ethics in government, and keeping New Mexicans safe. Salary for the governor in New Mexico is $110,000.

In the last 22 years, going back to 1995, the state of New Mexico has had 20 special legislative sessions with over half of those in even-numbered years. Odds are well be having a special session or two in 2018. Having a state Legislature with no salary, no support staff, that meets on such a limited basis  this current structure of our citizen legislature is holding New Mexico back.

We as a state need legislative reform.

Since 1912, when New Mexico entered the union as a sparsely populated frontier settlement, its state legislators have worked without a salary. Today, its the only state with an unsalaried legislature.

Lawmakers with less time to spare and no staff to guide them may rely more heavily on lobbyists to advise them about legislation. Political action committee growth and influence in New Mexico politics has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Low pay also puts limits on who can realistically serve in a legislature. In states like New Mexico that have short legislative sessions, lawmakers must leave their day jobs for several weeks every year and travel to the state capital  in addition to dealing with year-round demands from constituents.

The state of New Mexico should start paying the state legislators (and adopt) a hybrid state legislature meeting for most of the year that pays the legislators as full-time employees.

They can serve the constituents much better because of their extended time in office and ability to devote more time to each issue. The state can provide funding for a hybrid-legislature with a support staff and internship opportunities all for less than $7 million per year.

Providing funding for a paid legislature can be achieved from a legalized industrial hemp industry in conjunction with the utilization of green energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal energy. The state has on average 320-plus days of sunshine per year and with its expansive land, New Mexico already has many solar and wind energy projects which provide electricity to neighboring states such as Texas, Arizona and California.

Political science research shows that states with legislatures that meet for longer and give their legislators more resources, both in terms of staff and salary, are more efficient. They pass a greater percentage of bills overall and enact more bills per legislative day. This further allows more contact with constituents, and legislators are more attentive to constituent concerns. This also shows lawmakers to be more independent, both from party leadership and the governor, and even more likely to take on government reforms and enact complex and innovative policies.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.  Albert Einstein
The return on investment for online charter schools in New Mexico is so dismal that if they were private enterprises, they would be facing receivership. In fact, thats where one charter is headed, and rightly so.

Its not for a lack of money. The state funds three online charter schools at the same per-pupil funding that bricks-and-mortar schools get, although there is no special funding to build, lease or maintain buildings because there arent any.

A study from two legislative agencies found that the three virtual charters arent delivering when it comes to student achievement. It said results for math and reading were lower than in classroom-based schools, even though the virtual schools did not enroll as many at-risk students. At one online school, only 1 in 10 students was proficient. It also found the online charters provided fewer instructors and counselors per student. Given the poor performances, it would seem more help for students  not less  is needed.

Meanwhile, the three schools together spent $7.5 million in fiscal 2017 with two out-of-state for-profit curriculum providers. That, without competitive bidding and in a state that prohibits for-profit schools.

The poor showing prompted state Sen. Craig Brandt, a Republican representing Rio Rancho, to note, Its costing us a lot of money to get very poor results.

Indeed, that return on taxpayers investment is unacceptable.

As a result of the pathetic academic performance and concerns about truancy (do the students just not log in for their lessons?), New Mexico education authorities recently started the process of de-authorizing and de-funding the largest of the online schools, Santa Fe-based New Mexico Connections Academy, which enrolled about 1,350 students in fourth-12th grades as of last year. The school can appeal the Public Education Commissions decision to the Secretary of Education (PED has given the school an F grade each of the past two years) or seek to reorganize under the authority of a local school district. Without a new or renewed charter, it will be forced to close.

The states action appears to be clearly warranted. But whats next for Connections students and other online students throughout the state who need options beyond multi-hour commutes and failing schools?

New Mexico is a poor and geographically large state  the fifth-largest in land mass in the nation  with many remote communities, so, like telemedicine, online schools should be a life saver, not a brick dragging students down.

State education authorities should exercise more oversight on the remaining online charters, which must commit to improving, and thoroughly vet any new charter that steps up to fill the need. Because students throughout the state deserve a chance at a good education, no matter where they live.

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.
Walking through the doors at PB&J Family Services is an experience not soon forgotten. We were captivated by the energy, sense of purpose and warmth from the employees and volunteers that permeated the entire building and grounds. That, coupled with the laughter and excitement of the children enjoying the colorful atmosphere, made it a wonderful experience.

PB&J has been around since 1972, helping at-risk children to grow and develop to their full potential within nurturing families, in supportive communities. This statement is so much more than pretty words on a piece of paper; it is truly the impetus behind everything PB&J does. And it does a lot.

Recently we visited with Susannah Burke, the executive director of PB&J, and were so impressed with the multitude of services PB&J provides to the community and the almost laser-like focus on creating the best environment for children from birth to five years old.

Because most of a persons development occurs between birth and five years of age, PB&J does everything it possibly can to help parents and families create a nurturing environment for their children. Their programs include a therapeutic preschool, pre-K extended day, juvenile community corrections, home visiting, supported living, pathways and family reunification programs.

These programs, according to Burke, are designed so the organization can do its best to live up to its goals of prevention of child maltreatment, preservation of the family, optimal child development, school readiness, and success in life. These programs serve a multitude of needs and help families overcome obstacles that get in the way of forming a nurturing environment for children to grow and flourish.

Founded in Albuquerques South Valley as a school for children whose mothers were being treated for mental illness, today PB&J is an interactive parenting program to prevent and treat child abuse. The organization serves more than 1,000 families every year with locations in the South Valley, the Town of Bernalillo and the Southeast Heights.

PB&J has grown over the years because the people who were involved identified more ways to become effective and found more needs that needed to be addressed. It always focused on children and families and how the organization could create a stronger environment for children who have adverse childhood experiences. The group understands that societys problems like mental illness, addiction, domestic violence and poverty impact children in ways the rest of us cant imagine. PB&J understands this impact and strives every day to make life better for children and families affected by these problems.

According to PB&J, annually it costs New Mexico more than $39,000 to house an inmate, $178,073 to house a juvenile in a detention center, and $35,000 for every child in foster care. By comparison, it costs PB&J approximately $6,000 to provide services for an entire family for one year. Wow. Prevention is significantly more cost-effective.

So much more could be said about the work PB&J does and the programs it operates that we could fill several more columns. They have our support, and we hope yours, also. PB&J always needs volunteers, but we can also look around us to see how we might help children and families that we know.

In the meantime, we are left with a memory and a heart-warming picture of a father and daughter sprawled on the floor of one of the rooms at PB&J, playing, laughing and enjoying each other. It bodes well for their future.

Contact the Ryans at ryan@abqjournal.com.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

A man who recently released a fox from a foot-hold trap near Placitas found himself in a bind after the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish learned about the incident.

Gary Miles, founder and owner of Placitas Animal Rescue, said a Game and Fish officer called him and told him that he could be arrested for being in possession of the fox.

He wanted to come and get (the fox), and I said no because he would not tell me what he was going to do with it, Miles said.

Miles was concerned the animal would be destroyed. The fox, which was found in the trap on Dec. 30, is once more free.

Officially, it escaped (on Tuesday),  Miles said. Its skin was broken (by the trap), but it healed up real nice. He ran up a hill on all fours. He was not limping or screeching.

Trapping, with certain restrictions, is legal on public lands in New Mexico if the trapper is licensed. Open season for trapping fox, badger, weasel, ringtail and bobcat is Nov. 1 to March 15.

It is illegal to possess live furbearers, such as foxes, in New Mexico. One reason for that, said Dan Williams, Game and Fish Department spokesman, is that wild animals, particularly foxes and raccoons, are subject to diseases such as rabies, parvo and distemper.

It is also illegal to release wildlife from a trap belonging to a licensed trapper. State law requires that legal traps be marked either with the trappers name and address or trapper ID number, but it is not known whether the trap that snared this fox was legal or illegal.

Because the trap site was disturbed and the trap destroyed, officers have no way of knowing the identity of the trapper, Williams said.

In response to a Journal inquiry, Game and Fish released the following statement:

The Department of Game and Fish is investigating an incident in which a grey fox reportedly was released from a foot-hold trap Dec. 30 in the Cibola National Forest south of Placitas. According to witnesses and conservation officers, a man released the fox, placed it in a crate and took it to a location he would not disclose. He reportedly refused to surrender the fox to a conservation officer, which is a violation of state law.

Hikers and others who use lands that are furbearer habitat should be aware that trapping is a legal and highly regulated activity in New Mexico. During trapping season, hikers and others should be aware of their surroundings and leash their pets. Anyone who discovers an animal in a trap they believe to be illegal should call the Department of Game and Fish.

This story started about 8 a.m. Dec. 30 as Placitas resident Lauri Dodge and a friend were running, as they do most weeks, in Las Huertas Canyon near Placitas.

Dodge said her two dogs, which were running ahead of her and her friend, started barking, and she heard screaming and a clanking sound.

At first, I was panicking, thinking my dogs were getting attacked by some animal, she said. But then we found the fox in the trap and I went into help-the-fox mode.

Dodge said the fox was much too agitated for her and her friend to risk releasing the animal, so she called Miles. Miles founded Placitas Animal Rescue in 1988. The organization specializes in rescuing stray and feral animals.

I had called Gary before for stray dogs up in the canyon and a wild horse that was sick, that sort of thing, Dodge said.

Miles, who told the Journal he has been trained in wildlife rescue, came to the site with a crate, blankets and gloves, and he managed to release the fox. He said he called a veterinarian noted for caring for injured wild animals. She told him state law required her to notify Game and Fish before treating such an animal.

I didnt expect to be treated as a criminal for rescuing a fox, Miles said. If I see an animal in a leg trap, even if it is a legal trap, I dont have a problem releasing it. I think that is just the cruelest thing. No one should be in fear for their security or their freedom just because they rescue an animal.
Washington County was created by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, which placed the county seat at Fort Calhoun. Four communities quickly formed in the county: Fontenelle, DeSoto, Cuming City and Fort Calhoun  the latter literally built over Fort Atkinson, which existed only from 1827 to 1833 when its troops were reassigned to Missouri.

With statehood and the coming of the railroads, a fifth, and soon-to-be largest city, Blair, came into being, while all but Fort Calhoun of the earliest towns faded away.

In 1855, brothers Alexander, Jacob and Thomas Carter settled at what would become Blair while a subscription-built cottonwood house at Fort Calhoun became the first Washington County courthouse. In 1858, the county seat was moved from DeSoto, but no actual courthouse existed.

The territorial legislature authorized the Northern Nebraska Air Line Railroad, which would run from DeSoto to Fremont, in 1864. Though it was organized, no track was ever laid.

Within a couple of years, John Insley Blair determined the logical place for a railroad to run from the Missouri River westward was through the land owned by the Carter brothers. To that end, Blair bought their land for $45,000 as well as three other tracts in what he called the Carter Valley. He then sold 1,075 acres of the acquired land to establish a city at an 1869 auction with deed restrictions requiring tree planting and no intoxicating liquor to be sold.

An added inducement allowed free return passage to anyone buying land at the auction, which brought $61,000, with the most expensive lots going for $350. A temporary rail line was then completed from DeSoto to a point named Blair in Carter Valley.

Meantime, the county seat was relocated from DeSoto back to Fort Calhoun.

John Blair then bought what existed of the Air Line Railroad, renaming it the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad, and built a depot, which also was part hotel and part restaurant, and a park opposite. Blair immediately built the S.C.&P. Railroad from the Missouri River east of Blair toward Fremont, where it would connect with the Union Pacific Railroad.

The depot and, hence, the town developed nearly two miles inland from the Missouri River and officially was platted by Blair in 1869 as the city of Blair, which immediately inherited the county seat from Fort Calhoun.

The first post office also opened in 1869 with John E. Lawton (or Charles E. Laughton) as postmaster. Blair was reincorporated as a city of second class in 1872 and four years later the town was referred to as The Magic City. It was predicted that a new suitable and commodious courthouse is doubtless a thing of the near future.

The 1880s brought continued prosperity as Blair reported having two newspapers, seven general stores, three hardware stores, three druggists, three grocers, three agricultural implement dealers, a flouring mill and more than 60 small successful businesses. In 1883, a Missouri River Railroad bridge linked Blair and Nebraska with Iowa. In 1884, Rev. A. M. Anderson created the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Seminary, which would later become Dana College.

The hoped-for new courthouse was built from plans drawn by architect O.H. Placey, who had submitted plans for Nebraska Wesleyan Universitys first building and completed the main building for Nebraska Christian University/Cotner University in Bethany. The old courthouse was then sold as salvage for $725.

Blair died at age 97 in 1899, when the city of Blair reported a population of 3,000. His obituary said that much of his business was carried on from his private railroad car, which often clocked more than 40,000 miles a year. He was said to have owned more miles of railroad than any other individual in the nation and was president or major owner of 20 railroads. Another obituary said he had loaned the federal government $1 million at the start of the Civil War, had established 80 towns, platted and owned 12 of them and was the largest owner of rail mileage in the world.

The city of Blair received a great deal of national publicity in 1930 when the toll-free Abraham Lincoln Bridge opened there, moving the route of the Lincoln Highway/U.S. 30 from Omaha to Blair. A Blair newspaper chided Omahas lament over losing the coveted route by editorializing come on Omaha, if you are going to be a suburb of Blair, do it gracefully.

Dana College, the jewel in Blairs crown, closed in 2010, but was leased to Midland College of Fremont in 2013. When that lifeline evaporated, Omahas Grace University announced in March 2017 that it would assume 30 of Danas 151 campus acres by fall 2018, which looked like yet another new lease on life. Then, just as suddenly, that offer, too, came into serious doubt in October 2017, leaving the schools campus again in peril.

Still, the city of Blair soldiers on, and the 2010 census showed its population at a respectable 7,990.
SANTA FE  Two Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Gov. Susana Martinez administrations recent decision to terminate a $20 million contract with a regional management entity that provides various services for roughly 70,000 elderly New Mexicans and their caregivers.

In separate letters, the legislators claim the Martinez administration did not follow federal and state regulations in ending the contract, and say the decision could put seniors at risk.

Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, said Friday that the situation is similar to the Martinezs administration move to freeze Medicaid payments to 15 behavioral health providers in 2013 due to suspected fraud. All of the providers were eventually cleared of wrongdoing by Attorney General Hector Balderas.

I will not be silent in the face of this latest, similar destructive action that harms and disrespects seniors in New Mexico, Morales said, while calling on the two-term GOP governor to backtrack on the decision to end the contract.

And Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, a former Cabinet head of the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, said current agency leaders should have held public hearings before terminating the contract.

Aging and Long-Term Services Acting Secretary KyKy Knowles announced last month that the department was severing its contract  effective Feb. 1  with the Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging, which operates throughout much of the state, but not in Bernalillo County.

The acting Cabinet secretary also asked state Auditor Wayne Johnson to investigate possible misuse of public funds on the part of the management entity, which is one of four such entities operating in New Mexico.

Specifically, Knowles claimed the management agency had overbilled the state by more than $450,000 by overcharging for administrative expenses and submitting inflated reimbursement requests.

In a Friday statement, agency spokesman Paul Rhien said the departments priorities are safeguarding taxpayer dollars and supporting the providers who offer home-delivered meals, transportation and job-finding assistance for thousands of seniors.

The Aging and Long-Term Services Department took this action for a singular reason: to ensure services to New Mexicos senior citizens are not disrupted by questionable finances, Rhien said. We are working with providers to make sure these services continue and we wont be distracted by politics.

The regional entity is run by the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District, whose board of directors includes legislators, business owners and other elected officials in eight northern New Mexico counties.

After the contract is officially severed, the state intends to take over the regional entitys day-to-day duties for up to six months, or until a new plan can be put in place.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Last summer, things were pretty hectic at Kirtland Air Force Bases 377th Medical Facility.

Several clinicians had left their positions and their replacements werent due for several months.

But nurse practitioner and family health flight commander Maj. Cindy Callisto led her team through the difficult months with notable enthusiasm, said her supervisor, Lt. Col. Johnathan Compton.

Even with staffing levels at 50 percent, patient satisfaction at the facility that summer was the highest in the major command.

They just kind of rose above that and got things done, and I think thats directly related to Maj. Callisto, Compton said.

Clinical staffing at the facility is now back to normal levels.

The incident was just one example that prompted Compton to nominate Callisto for a top Air Force nursing and leadership award, which she ultimately won.

I love what I do, Callisto said. I usually run late, because I like to take the time to fix everything I can for somebody in one visit.

Callisto, a Massachusetts native, joined the Air Force in 2000 as a registered nurse wanting an opportunity to see the world.

Her parents both served in the Army, but encouraged her to join the Navy or Air Force.

She became a nurse practitioner in 2012. Nurse practitioners can see patients on their own, diagnose and treat acute illnesses, and prescribe medications.

She has been at Kirtland since 2015 and was made flight commander last year.

Being a military nurse makes Callisto different from one found in a general hospital; she still has to be able to carry 40 pounds and know how to evade enemy gunfire.

Callisto agreed with Compton, calling herself a very positive person.

She tries to bring that positivity into the workplace.

I learn a lot from my mistakes. I think everyone should learn from their mistakes, but I dont like to dwell on mistakes, she said. Learn from it, move on from it and then highlight the good, because I dont think that happens enough.

Callisto accepted the award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in December, which she said was made extra special by her father, Dennis Curtis, attending in a brand new dress uniform.

He couldnt fit into his uniform anymore, because its been a few years since hes retired, she said, laughing. So he went and bought a whole new uniform at Fort Belvoir just to get our first and only photo of the two of us together in uniform at the ceremony.

Callisto hopes to someday become a chief nurse.
Police arrested a suspect after they say he gunned down a man midday Friday in Roswell.

Roswell Police Spokesman Todd Wildermuth said 19-year-old Ja-hmariay McDavid turned himself in hours after shooting Milton Hopkins, 37, to death. McDavid is charged with voluntary manslaughter.

He said the shooting happened, around 11:50 a.m., at a home in the 200 block of West Matthews. Hopkins was taken to the hospital where he died.

The domestic dispute that ended in the shooting involved relatives and boyfriend and girlfriends, Wildermuth said.

He said responding officers got the name and description of McDavid but could not find him.

It wasnt until the late afternoon that McDavid showed up to the Roswell Police Department accompanied by family, Wildermuth said.

He said McDavid was questioned before being booked into Chaves County Detention Center. McDavid is currently being held without bond.
A Roswell woman who went missing a month ago was found dead near Hagerman Friday.

According to the New Mexico State Police, 80-year-old Leotta Talberts body was found a few feet from her vehicle along the Pecos River at about 12:30 p.m.

Talberts body has been transported to the state Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque and no cause of death has yet been determined.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish were completing an aerial survey Thursday when Talberts vehicle was discovered in the rural area near the Pecos River. State Police were called to aid in the search that led to the discovery her body.

According to State Police, the Chaves County Sheriffs Office, Hagerman Police Department, Atoka Volunteer Fire Department and the U.S. Border Patrol assisted in the search.

A silver alert was issued for Talbert on Dec. 3, 2017, after Talbert reportedly left the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell.

She was not officially discharged at the time the missing persons report was filed. Talbert suffered from the onset of dementia.

The Roswell Police Department are the primary investigators for the case, said Officer Carl Christensen, public information officer with the New Mexico State Police.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla.  Florida authorities are sharing the details of an unusual 911 call on New Years Eve, from a man who said he wanted to report himself drunk-driving.

Polk County Sheriffs officials say the dispatcher kept him talking while directing officers to the scene.

When the dispatcher asked Michael Lester where he was, he said, Im too drunk. I dont know where Im at.

And when she asked what hed been doing all night, he said I dont know, driving around, trying to get pulled over, actually.

Im driving on the wrong side of the road, he said later.

The operator repeatedly urged him to park his truck and wait for officers to find him. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong spot.

Look, Im parked in the middle of the road, he said. Sirens could be heard in the background a short time later.

Deputies said Lester admitted drinking beers and swallowing methamphetamine. He also said hed barely slept for several days.

The sheriffs office Facebook post says Lesters criminal history includes DUI, aggravated battery, drug possession and hit-and-run.

Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a serious crime. Innocent people are too often injured or killed from impaired drivers. DUI is not a laughing matter, sheriffs officials wrote. However  in this particular incident, nobody was hurt, so we couldnt help but LOTO (that means we Laughed Our Tasers Off).
Valencia County deputies were in a shooting that left one man dead in Los Lunas midday Saturday, according to a post on the New Mexico State Police official Twitter page.

The statement said no deputies were injured in the shooting, which happened in El Cerro Mission.

The post did not give the exact time of the shooting or exact location. It also did not say the mans identity, how he was killed, if he was armed or what led to the shooting.
Business Today will host the 5th Edition of MindRush - India Today Groups annual flagship business event. The one-day conference will take place on 13th January 2018 at The St Regis, Mumbai.

The business conclave is designed as a thought exchange platform and brings together a galaxy of international thought leaders and industry captains. The objective of this integrated platform is to shape the industry agenda and engage business leaders, academicians, opinion makers and motivational speakers to collaborate to script breakthroughs.

This years edition will include detailed Master Classes by international domain experts like Eduardo Briceno - Mindset Master, Growth Mindset and Improvement Expert; Lisa Gill  Learning Disrupter; Mark Inglis - Incre dible Mountain Ranger; among many others.

The day-long event will have sessions targeting contemporary business problems like workforce management through discussions on How to Make Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials Work in One Frame by invited panellists including S.V. Nathan, Group HR Head, Deloitte; RajkamalVempatti, CHRO, Axis Bank; Sunil Lulla, Chairman & MD, Grey Group;Abhinav Chopra, CHRO, Viacom 18.

The second half of the event starts with a session on Life Post Demonetisation & GST by invited panellists Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group; R S Sodhi, MD & CEO, Amul; Nimesh Shah, MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential AMC; Saugata Gupta, CEO, Marico; Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economist, SBI.

The earlier editions of the conference have hosted international luminaries like Jimmy Wales, Ram Charan, John Kao, Peter Docker, Devdutt Pattanai k, Ashwin Sanghi, Jamling Tenz ing, Murali Doraiswamy, among others.

The delegates can log on to www. businesstodaymindrush.com and register for Business Today MindRush.
OMAHA  Police say one person has died after an overnight shooting in north Omaha.

Police say officers were called to the Reign Lounge on North 30th Street just before 2 a.m. Saturday on the report of a shooting. Officers found 27-year-old Kyle Leflore suffering from a gunshot wound. Police say Leflore was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests have been reported, and police are asking the public's help identifying the shooter.

A reward of up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
January 5, 2018

In light of Irans growing influence in the region, the Iranian protests are no longer seen as a domestic affair. What is happening will have repercussions on Irans allies and its rivals, especially in countries like Iraq, where Iran is engaged in a power struggle with rivals.

While these protests have put pro-Iranian Shiite parties in a critical position, they have created a glimmer of hope for those who are dissatisfied with Irans role in Iraq, especially Sunnis and Kurds.

Iran won an overwhelming victory determined by its own people under the leadership of the late Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini," said Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki in a Jan. 3 statement. "We are confident that the Iranian people and the wise leadership represented by the great Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei will curb all foreign plans [to undermine Iran].

Maliki tried to downplay the significance of the protests, labeling them a domestic affair while Irans enemies at home are trying to stir up confusion.

Following in the footsteps of Khamenei and other Iranian officials, Maliki blamed foreign parties such the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the ongoing protests, turning a blind eye to the domestic reasons that triggered them. The collaborators at home and Irans enemies abroad will fail, he said.

In a similar remark, Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a prominent leader in the Islamic Supreme Council, said Jan. 3 that the current Saudi, American and Israeli obsession in Iran led to rebellion in some of the corners of the country.

He added that these protests will not affect Iranian influence in the region, stressing that the Shiite tide is on the rise in the region and will continue to rise culturally and politically, leaving no chance for others.

Meanwhile, independent Shiite parties distanced themselves from the protests in Iran, considering it to be a domestic affair that would not affect their positions on Iraq's domestic affairs, regardless of the outcome of the protests.

The spokesman for prominent Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani did not address the protests in any statement. Similarly, Muqtada al-Sadr also remained silent on the events.

At the official level, the presidency and parliament did not make any statements to this effect, despite their different sectarian affiliation, in order to avoid being caught in the struggle between the major powers in Iraq, especially Iran, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

However, this did not stop Sunni parties from gloating in front of the Shiite parties allied with Iran.

What is happening in Iran will weigh heavily on the parties linked to the Iranian regime and that adopt the concept of the velayat-e faqih, said Atheel al-Nujaifi, former governor of Ninevah and a prominent Sunni leader, in reference to the Dawa Party, the Islamic Supreme Council and the Popular Mobilization Units.

Nujaifi called on Shiite parties to seize this opportunity to "recalculate their position and recognize that the Iraqi Sunnis are better [allies] to them than Iran.

He also described the Sunni parties that are close to Iran as opportunistic, expecting them to turn on Iran as soon as its role in Iraq is weakened. I am sure that the Sunnis who are after their personal interests by supporting the Iranian influence in Iraq will quickly change positions to this effect, he added.

The protests will not affect the situation in Iraq and will not make any major change in the near future because of the ongoing Iranian influence in Iraq through different mechanisms. However, what is happening in Iran will undermine the Iranian position and that of its allies in Iraq in the long run.

The pro-Iranian Shiite parties have always called on the people to vote for them in order to create a mode of the velayat-e faqih in Iraq at the economic, social and security levels.

One ought to mention that the recent protests blemished the bright image of Iran as a developed, ever-growing and powerful state in the eyes of Iraqi Shiites. The protests showed the peoples anger and discontent due to poverty, deprivation and resentment toward the Iranian intervention in the region at the expense of the well-being of Iranians.

Amer Ibrahim, an Iraqi journalist, told Al-Monitor, It is only normal that the escalation of the protests in Iran weakens the argument of the pro-Iranian camp in promoting the model of velayat-e faqih in Iraq, which is portrayed as a divine and shining example.

The protests also emerged following the publication of articles in the Iranian budget allocating funds to non-elected political and cultural parties, and in some cases to parties linked to non-Iranian institutions. Thus, it will be difficult for the Iranian regime to continue spending generous amounts on its allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, among others, which will affect the political influence and stability of pro-Iranian parties.

Ibrahim stated that the public outrage over the role the Iranian regime has been playing in the region will echo in Iraq, which affects pro-Iranian parties in Iraq as well as armed groups affiliated with religious parties. These protests may also affect the flow of financial and military support to these parties.

Although the protests are not expected to bring about radical change in Iran's influence over Iraq, this could be the beginning of the end for the ever-increasing Iranian influence since the fall of the former regime.
January 5, 2018

BAGHDAD  Ever since their old school was destroyed in 2004 by unknown armed groups, the children of al-Zuhoor in the province of Diwaniyah, southern Iraq, have had nowhere to go. A month ago, al-Nakheel Primary School in Diwaniyah province opened its doors to the delight of the entire village.

The village of al-Zuhoor, 180 kilometers (112 miles) south of Baghdad, is populated by Dom, the people commonly referred to as the Gypsies of Iraq. Domari, the Doms' language, belongs to the Indic language family, evidence that the Doms' ancestors originated in northwestern India and migrated east. The Dom settled in the Middle East, while others who traveled in other migration waves and settled in Europe are today's Roma or Romani.

Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights places the number of Dom there between 50,000 and 200,000. They often face discrimination and deprivation of basic rights. They lead mostly isolated lives, fearing persecution by religious conservatives. Some have left for nearby countries and Europe.

The school in the Dom village is the result of the efforts of a human rights group called I am Human with the help of UNICEF, which provided some of the books and teaching materials. Before the school's official opening, the group set up tents and distributed some educational materials. Some volunteers taught informal lessons in the tents.

The new school is made of four caravans, which will serve as classrooms for 60 children between the ages of 7 and 13. For some of them, this will be their first experience with formal education.

Mohammed Ali, 7, told Al-Monitor, I will be able to go to school, learn the alphabet, read and write like all children I see on TV. I will be able to read the words on the shops windows. I can only spell some words now, but once I am at school I will be able to read and write. I am thrilled.

In Iraq, the first six years of education, between the years of 7 and 13, is compulsory. Article 34 of the Iraqi Constitution obliges the state to guarantee free education for this age group. As there was no school in the village, some of the Dom children attempted to enroll in nearby schools, but the harassment and the bullying they faced forced most of them to drop out.

There are 100 children under the age 17 living in the village. Thirty of them have enrolled in the school and 30 will be enrolled later, Manar al-Zubaidi, a member of I am Human, told Al-Monitor.

She added that the school will only serve children under 9 the first year. A literacy center will serve about 25 older girls and boys. Opened under the approval of the Directorate of Education in Diwaniyah, it will be run by volunteer teachers and provide basic literacy for these kids, she said.

Although the caravan school was the result of a long mobilization, including a social media campaign proclaiming Gypsies are Human, many of the residents feel that the caravans do not create a suitable environment for education.

It is a bit premature to celebrate the new school in al-Zuhoor village in Diwaniyah. Education is a service guaranteed by the Iraqi Constitution. The Iraqi state is bound to do its duty and give Iraqis their rights, said Tahseen al-Zarkani, another human rights defender who helped organize the effort.

He noted that caravans are not a long-term solution, though the school will employ full-time teachers. The local administration and the Ministry of Education ought to build a regular school in al-Zuhoor just like in other villages and other areas, he told Al-Monitor.

The Iraqi government is not exclusively to blame for denying these villagers access to education. The negative image of the Dom in Iraqi society has created psychological and social barriers that prevent them from integrating with others. Faced with discrimination and harassment, the children drop out of school and the adults lead mostly insular lives.

A 23-year-old Iraqi Dom who asked to be identified as Mohammed told Al-Monitor in a phone conversation that he envies the children who will now be able to study. He has never learned to read or write since he was denied an education as a child. I hope we can obtain all our rights as Iraqi citizens. We have the right to health and education services and the right to work, but we are almost forbidden from exercising them. We cannot make ends meet and our children go begging in the streets, he said.

The new school in the village, despite its makeshift classrooms, is a small but important step in the right direction. Access to a basic education will increase their chances of finding employment and integrating into society.

At present, most of Iraqs Dom community has a low level of education, and few have attended university. This, combined with their social alienation and negative image in society, keeps them from finding good jobs, including in state institutions.

Mohammed says this new school has encouraged him to get married and to have children. He now knows his children will receive the education he was denied. But he still must get a job, so his future family can have a life better than his own.
January 5, 2018

As the Pentagon prepares to release its first strategy under the Donald Trump administration later this month, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said today that Iran has not succeeded in creating a so-called land bridge through Syria to the Mediterranean Sea.

Over the summer, Iranian-backed groups helped Syrias President Bashar al-Assad regain access to large oil fields near the Iraqi border and gave Tehran a chance to link up with Shiite militias in Iraq. The move stoked fears that Iran would use those gains to send more Shiite fighters into the region and establish a Shiite crescent all the way to Lebanon.

I dont think theres a land bridge right now, Mattis told reporters in an impromptu Pentagon press gathering.

Mattis said Irans progress in creating land links to Tehran had been stalled due to the ongoing fighting in the region against Islamic State (IS) remnants and other forces.

Theres still enough rough terrain, rough enemy units that havent been cleaned up, Mattis said. Plus, weve got the combination of the people were fighting and advising in Syria are abutting in some cases, Russian forces who are abetting the regime abutting the Turkish elements. I dont think theres a land bridge right now.

US forces are expected to remain in country as the United Nations attempts to resurrect political talks that stalled last month when pro-Assad groups refused to participate. Though the United States has 2,000 troops in Syria to advise forces fighting IS, Mattis has indicated that American units will not enter regime-held territory to defeat the militant group.

Mattis refused to signal whether American troops could be used to deal with Irans growing presence in the country. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster may give a policy speech early this year outlining a new US strategy in Syria.

While credible figures on Iranian-backed troops in Syria are hard to come by, the number of deaths of Shiite fighters in the country appears to have surged over the past year as Tehran has deepened its involvement. Speaking in December, McMaster indicated that Tehran helps provide as much as 80% of Assads fighting force. Last months National Security Strategy called Iran a rogue state and a primary competitor to Americas interests in the Middle East.

Yet its not clear that US efforts to deter Iran in Syria are connected to a broader regional strategy.

As the Trump administration faces several deadlines next week on whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, Mattis said the Pentagon would continue to call out signs of Iranian misbehavior in the Middle East, without going into detail. Concrete military steps may become more apparent with the January release of the National Defense Strategy, the Pentagons unclassified assessment of global military challenges that the United States faces.

Last month, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley held a press conference in front of what she said were segments of Iranian missile parts used in Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia from Yemen, as part of a concerted US effort to name and shame Iran.

We watch all the time for the indicators, Mattis said. So if anybody thinks theyre not exporting ballistic missiles or weapons or explosive boats down to Yemen, there it is. We all know what theyre doing in Syria. Weve seen what theyre doing in Bahrain and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. So it goes on, and my intent is to show that to the world.

But Mattis said that ongoing protests in Iran would not impact his advice to Trump on whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the nuclear deal.

My advice to the president, as always, I keep confidential, Mattis said. I owe that to him. I just dont think the protests will have any influence on my advice to the president one way or another, in either direction.
January 5, 2018

The mass anti-government demonstrations in Iran that flared in the last days of 2017 are being watched curiously in neighboring Turkey, as they are elsewhere in the world. As usual, many Turks chose to interpret the events based less on facts and more on their own ideological blueprints. And as usual, for the government and its supporters, this ideological blueprint involves something nefarious: an American-Zionist conspiracy to destabilize Iran.

This point of view was implied by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a statement to the press on Jan. 2. It is said that other forces are behind the events, the minister said. He added, One is [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the other one is [US President Donald] Trump. Meanwhile, the pro-government media  which now constitute the majority of Turkish media  had already mapped out the plot: The Iranian protesters were merely the tools of outside powers that were trying to bring a defiant Muslim nation to its knees.

Among the dozens of columns that conveyed this point of view, one was by Ibrahim Karagul, the editor-in-chief of daily Yeni Safak. Accordingly, Iran was being stirred up by America and Israel. Moreover, if these two forces succeed in taking over Iran, the next step would be none other than Turkey itself. Talking heads on the pro-government news channel A Haber repeated the same line. These protests were taking place because a new Middle East map" was being designed by the West. There seemed to be a "CIA-Mossad finger" behind the unrest. And if Iran did not stay robust, the Syrian scenario could well be repeated.

On Jan. 3, the daily Star, one of the staunchest pro-government newspapers, came out with a huge story that added more substance to the conspiracy theory. Titled Trumps puppets in Iran, the story listed four insurgent groups that fight the Iranian regime: the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, the Salafist-jihadi Ansar al-Furqan and the Kurdistan Free Life Party. While these American puppets, along with at least 400 spies, were igniting fitna, or sedition, Star also told us, the Iranian people were supporting their Islamic regime in solidarity with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Turkeys pro-government commentators seemed so certain about their interpretation of events in Iran that one of them criticized Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for being too naive to see the conspiracy. Accordingly, Rouhani had first made the mistake to see the protests as an opportunity for democratic reform. Only later did Rouhani come to his senses and vow to teach a lesson to these marginal looters.

Interestingly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself proved more moderate than such hawkish Erdoganists. In a most reasonable phone call to Rouhani on Jan. 3, Erdogan expressed Turkeys commitment to Irans stability, adding his support for Rouhanis leniency to peaceful demonstrations. Two days later, Erdogan told Turkish journalists that Rouhani's statement regarding the need to listen to grievances of protesters has calmed the tension.

Yet all the pro-Erdogan propaganda against the Iranian protests is really remarkable, and it highlights two important points.

The first point, which relates to foreign policy, is that the cold war between Turkey and Iran that began some six years ago because of the Syrian civil war is now passe. For years, the two countries had supported opposite sides during the Syrian conflict, and Irans pro-Assad stance really angered Turkeys ruling Sunni conservatives. It even led to some anti-Shiite biases, as I wrote in Al-Monitor about a year ago.

In the past year, however, Turkey clearly gave up on its regime change dreams in Syria, silently accepted to live with the Assad regime, and also got into a diplomatic process with Iran and Russia for a settlement in Syria. Meanwhile, Turkeys relations with the West, in particular the United States, turned bitter. As a result, Turkeys ruling elite began to realize that they share a lot in common with their counterparts in Moscow and Tehran.

One can see a silver lining in this Turkish thrust toward the East: that Turkey does not share the bitter sectarian divide in the region. The rapprochement with Iran, in other words, may be seen as an antidote to the Sunni-Shiite confrontation. On the other hand, however, the same rapprochement, especially on the basis of an anti-Western worldview, is a concern for those who value Turkeys ties with the West.

The second point highlighted by the Turkish view on Irans protests is domestic: By interpreting the anti-government demonstrations in Iran as a Western conspiracy against the Iranian people, the Turkish semi-official propaganda is further establishing a narrative that it has been using at home: that there is a great Western conspiracy against Turkey, and the outspoken opposition forces against Erdogan are traitors who serve this global scheme. This gives an idea on how any possible anti-government protests in Turkey in the future will be interpreted and handled.

Of course not everyone in Turkey agrees with this deeply conspiratorial view of the world. Opposition newspapers such as daily Cumhuriyet published articles that interpreted the protests as a result of real economic and political grievances in Iran. Mainstream newspapers such as Hurriyet or HaberTurk also had room for analyses based on Irans domestic troubles.

Even among religious conservatives who are broadly supportive of the government, there were some nuanced views. One of them came out in the typically conspiracy-obsessed daily Yeni Safak in the exceptional column of Taha Kilinc. The writer argued that there does not have to be a conspiracy for masses to go out in the streets, given Iran's ambitious foreign policy that has burdened its population and a regime that suppresses freedom and justifies corruption using religion.

An even more significant article came out in daily Karar, a new newspaper where those who long for the good old reformist days of the ruling party seem to have gathered. One of its columnists, Mehmet Ocaktan, who is also a former member of the parliament from the ruling Justice and Development Party, first told how Iran moved away from the promised ideals of the Islamic Republic and turned oppressive and corrupt. He noted that public anger against such regimes, which act in the name of Islam, would naturally turn against Islam itself. This was evident in the anti-Islamic slogans in the protests, Ocaktan argued, adding that it was a warning sign for all those who justified despotic rule with references to religion.

That is indeed the main lesson that Turkeys current ruling class should take from what is happening in Iran. Their similarity with their Persian neighbor lies not in the giant Anglo-Zionist conspiracies the two nations are supposedly battling with; rather, it lies in the authoritarian revolutionary path that Iran has pursued and that Turkey also now seems too willing to try.
Google today announced adoption of Google Assistant has grown steadily throughout 2017. In fact, the announcement goes on to note how there is now more than 400 million devices running the Assistant. While that number seems quite high for what is still a new feature to many people, this number does include virtually every Android and Google-related device you can think of, including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, Chromebooks, speakers, TVs, and even products that are less likely to be thought of as Assistant-enabled devices, such as headphones. In either case, surpassing the 400 million device mark does go to show how quickly Google Assistant is making its way into the lives of Android and Google-branded product owners.

Of course one of the most fundamental Assistant-enabled products is the companys line of smart speakers which come powered by the Assistant. With Google Home Mini being the most affordable option available, it stands to reason that it will be one of the easiest ways for the number of active devices to grow further. Which seems to have been the case as in the same announcement Google confirmed that since the Google Home Mini started shipping, Google has effectively sold a Google Home product every second. While the company did not specifically note how many units have been shipped, Google did state that tens of millions of Google devices for the home have been sold during the last year.

In addition to announcing the growth of sales of Google Home and Assistant-related devices, Google also did take the opportunity to recap on a number of the new features that have been added to these devices during 2017, with Voice Match, Broadcast, and Hands-Free Calling, listed as some of them. As well as confirming how the Google Assistant is now compatible with over 225 different brands, resulting in a further compatibility with more than 1,500 smart home devices in total. Adding to that, this is not just a US thing either with Google also confirming that during 2017 Google Assistant has become capable of understanding in 8 different languages, and accessible in 12 different countries. All in all, while these figures highlight a decent level of growth throughout last year, 2018 is only likely to further increase those stats. A point Google finished up its latest announcement by stating how there are more things in store for the Assistant during this years CES show  which is due to take place next week.
It is now being suggested that T-Mobile is either on the brink of, or has already surpassed AT&T in the total number of stores in the US. This is based on a recent research report from Wave7 Research, which suggests T-Mobile is quickly closing the gap with AT&T in this respect. To be clear, while the research is suggesting that T-Mobile is significantly increasing the number of stores it has, and at a fast rate, this is being seen more as a two-prong issue due to AT&T reportedly closing a number of stores at the same time. Therefore, the suggestion is while T-Mobile is organically catching up, AT&T is also lessening the gap between the two, albeit not quite to the same degree.

For example, Wave7 is quoted as noting how it is expected T-Mobile will have more than five thousand stores operational by the close of 2017. A number which is believed to see it surpass AT&T when taking into account the additional closures of AT&T stores. However, these numbers are not official and therefore are still open to adjustment. In either case it is clear that T-Mobile has been on an opening spree during 2017 and not one which has suddenly been bolstered within the last few months. As early as July of 2017 the uncarrier had already announced that it had opened almost 1,000 new stores by that point in 2017 alone. With the expectation another 500 stores would be opened before the year closed out  taking it to its expected five thousand number for the year end.

Of course, one of the reasons T-Mobile is investing heavily in greater store presence in the US is due to the expansion of its network in general. Compared to before where T-Mobile did not have as strong of a national network, there would have been less need for the company to expand to certain areas. However, as T-Mobile has expanded its customer reach, it seems keen on further being able to cater to those customers through opening physical stores. Which when taking into consideration, does not mean that the growth in T-Mobiles store number compared to AT&Ts number is an indication of anything other than the number of stores each carrier operates. As this is more representative of the balancing out of each carriers retail network based on their previous network, than necessarily one where comparison conclusions can be drawn.
The latest beta version of Android 8.0 Oreo for select Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus units ships with support for Dolby Atmos, as first spotted by one user of Samsungs 2017 flagship lineup who yesterday shared their discovery on Reddit. The proprietary audio standard created by Dolby Laboratories has been a hallmark of premium television sets for many years now and its mobile version is largely similar in the sense that its designed to revamp ones listening experience. The Android surround solution is only available on Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus models equipped with Qualcomms Snapdragon 835, i.e. the units sold in the United States and China. Its presently unclear whether the international variants of the two handsets powered by Samsungs own Exynos 8895 chip are also planned to receive the same functionality, though that seems like a probable scenario.

Besides Dolby Atmos support, the latest experimental build of Android 8.0 Oreo for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus also brings the January Android security patch whose contents Samsung detailed several days back but has yet to introduce it to any of its devices in the West as part of a stable software package. The Oreo beta program for the 2017 flagship duo is officially coming to an end on January 15th, whereas its final signups phase was already concluded yesterday. In total, the project encompassed nine countries and more than 10,000 testers, with Samsung already running it for two whole months without major issues, save for certain Snapdragon 835-equipped variants of the device which had signal issues with one of the earlier builds of the operating system. A stable version of Android 8.0 Oreo is expected to start hitting Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus units by February, which is also when the company should start an Oreo beta program for the Galaxy Note 8.

The Galaxy Note 8s Oreo beta test is unlikely to run nearly as long as the one for the Galaxy S8 lineup did, primarily due to the fact that the two series feature largely identical software and Samsungs phablet only has some extra functionalities related to its S Pen stylus. The first Samsung-made devices running Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box should be officially announced late next month in the form of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus which will reportedly be unveiled at MWC 2018.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus are, without a doubt, amongst the most anticipated smartphones of 2018, and some new info regarding these two phones just surfaced. According to a post that appeared on Weibo (Chinese social network), the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will ship in multiple RAM and storage variants, and those variants have actually been listed in the post itself, read on.

This info was published by Rookie Martian, and he is claiming that the info comes from the insider, presumably someone who works for Samsung. In any case, he claims that the Galaxy S9 will ship with 4GB of RAM, while it will be available in both 64GB and 128GB storage variants. As far as the Galaxy S9 Plus is concerned, all of its variants will include 6GB of RAM, while youll be able to grab the phone in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB storage flavors. The source also mentions that the company plans to push 512GB storage variants as well, though such variants of the Galaxy S9 will be available in specific markets only, and it is possible that only the Galaxy S9 Plus will be available with 512GB of storage, though we cannot confirm anything just now. It would also be wise to take this info with a grain of salt as it comes with a rather unknown source, so who knows how accurate the info is.

That being said, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus have been leaking for quite some time now, and it seems like the two devices will resemble their predecessors quite a bit, though the bottom bezel will be thinner than it was on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, at least if leaks are to be believed. The Galaxy S9 Plus front panel actually surfaced yesterday, and it was posing next to the Galaxy S8 Plus front panel, for comparisons sake. If that leak turns out to be accurate, the Galaxy S9 Plus display will be larger than the one on the Galaxy S8 Plus, which means that the device may arrive with a 6.3 or a 6.4-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will probably arrive during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona at the end of next month, though theres also a chance that Samsung may opt to announce those two phones at a later date in a separate event.
1868: Gov. David Butler and Secretary of State Thomas Kennard, commissioners for location and erection of the Capitol, arrived in Lincoln for the opening of bids. A Chicago builder was found to be the lowest bidder and got the $49,000 contract.

1878: The state was experiencing the greatest immigration in its short history. Only one building was reported vacant in Lincoln.

1888: Fremont was planning to build the largest canning factory in the state. The factory was to turn out 40,000 cases, or 1 million cans, of vegetables a year.

1898: The Nebraska Supreme Court reaffirmed the judgment of a lower court that sentenced ex-State Treasurer Joseph Bartley to 20 years in the penitentiary for embezzling $151,000 from the state.

1908: A legislative bill was introduced to regulate the use of publicly owned grazing lands and lease them to actual users.

1918: World War I was stirring public opinion. An organization called County Councils of Defense condemned expressions of sympathy for Germany or Germans. A German immigrant who fled his native land and service in the Kaiser's army in 1915 was hailed as he denounced autocracy on applying for U.S. citizenship.

1928: The U.S. Senate approved a resolution by Sen. George W. Norris, R-Neb., providing for a Public Lands Committee investigation of the leasing of Wyoming's Teapot Dome naval oil reserve to Harry Sinclair. Facts uncovered rocked the administration of President Calvin Coolidge.

1938: Sen. George W. Norris introduced a constitutional amendment in Congress providing a method for changing the U.S. Constitution. The proposal was for popular votes in each state upon amendments submitted by Congress, with favorable action by two-thirds of the states required. The old method was ratification by legislatures or conventions.

1948: Effects of a 6-inch New Year's Eve snowstorm were still being felt in the state. A million dollars in damage to telephone lines was estimated, and high winds were causing serious drifting.

1958: Nebraska had just completed its best oil year, with more new wells drilled and more barrels of crude pumped than in any other year.

1968: The Legislature adjourned its special session, passing a congressional redistricting law without a clause to make it effective for 1968. Democratic State Vice Chairman Jim Exon of Lincoln immediately asked the federal court to require at-large voting for House members in 1968.

1978: Three Nebraskans scheduled to die in the electric chair in January for separate murders were granted 90-day stays of execution by the state Supreme Court. Erwin Charles Simants, John Edward Rust and Richard Dean Holtan were granted stays pending appeals.

1988: More than 200 workers at Gooch Milling & Elevator Co., Gooch Foods and ADM Feed Co. went into their 11th week on strike without pay.

1998: The city's parks board endorsed a Parks and Recreation Department gun safety program for kids despite the fact it featured a controversial cartoon character sponsored by the National Rifle Association. The board criticized program opponents for failing to educate themselves about the Eddie Eagle safety curriculum.

2008: An arena planning committee has settled on a preferred site for a new arena  straight west of the downtown post office  as the city considers whether to spend $1.2 million on studies, services and other costs related to the proposed arena. The city is considering whether to build a new arena  at a cost of $200 to $300 million  to replace the 50-year-old Pershing Center.
I predicted in my previous post that the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums were likely to exert pushback against the Berkshire Museums deplorable deaccession plans. Now they have, after communicating with the errant museums leadership earlier today via teleconference.

This just in from AAM and AAMD. While theyve collaborated on other issues, this is, to my knowledge, the first time theyve joined forces for a joint statement [emphases added]:

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), an organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an organization representing 243 directors of North Americas leading art museums, are deeply opposed to the Berkshire Museums plans to sell works from its collection to provide funds for its endowment, to make capital investments, and to pay for daily operations. One of the most fundamental and long-standing principles of the museum field is that a collection is held in the public trust and must not be treated as a disposable financial asset. This prohibition is upheld by both AAMD and by AAM, which sets accreditation standards for art museums, science centers, natural history museums, and historical museums. AAM and AAMD are communities of museum professionals founded to support museums, large and small, and the diverse communities they serve. Actions such as those being proposed by the Berkshire Museum undermine the publics trust in the mission of nonprofit museumsand museums ability to collect, teach, study, and preserve works for their communities now and into the future. Two of the works the Museum is currently planning to sell are important paintings by Norman Rockwell, given by the artist to the people of Pittsfield. These works were entrusted by Rockwell to the Museum for safe-keeping and to share with the public. The other works proposed for sale are by many noted artists from America and around the world. If these works are indeed sold, it would be an irredeemable loss for the present and for generations to come. Selling from the collection for purposes such as capital projects or operating funds not only diminishes the core of works available to the public, it erodes the future fundraising ability of museums nationwide. Such a sale sends a message to existing and prospective donors that museums can raise funds by selling parts of their collection, thereby discouraging not only financial supporters, who may feel that their support isnt needed, but also donors of artworks and artifacts, who may fear that their cherished objects could be sold at any time to the highest bidder to make up for a museums budget shortfalls. That cuts to the heart not only of the Berkshire Museum, but every museum in the United States. The Berkshire Museum contends that in order to be a good steward of their institution they must be a poor steward of their collection. We believe those two responsibilities are not mutually exclusive. We are sympathetic to the financial challenges museums of all sizes may face. And we are heartened by the many creative solutions that museums across the country have developed to meet those challenges and uphold the professional standards of the field. We have been in communication with the Berkshire Museum leadership and we continue to hope that they will reconsider their decision. We stand ready to assist, in any way we are able, to find other solutions to the institutions needs without resorting to the selling of works that can never be recovered.

Whether the mouths from which these strong words issued will also prove to have teeth remains to be seen. The Berkshire Museum is a member of AAM, which could rescind that membership. But although the statement notes that AAM sets accreditation standards for art museums, science centers, natural history museums, and historical museums, the Berkshire Museum has not undergone the accreditation process. Therefore, AAM cannot use the threat of de-accreditation to persuade the museum to change course.

Although not a member of AAMD, that organization could theoretically subject the Berkshire Museum to the same punitive action that hobbled the National Academycalling on its member museums to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaborations on exhibitions with the renegade that in 2008 sold an important Church and Gifford to fund programs, operations, fundraising initiatives and gallery improvements. As we have seen, that expedient didnt solve the now homeless Academy Museums serious underlying problems.

The statement by AAM and AAMD cited the Berkshire Museums sale of its two artist-donated Rockwells as being particularly egregious. But in a tweet today, Kevin Murphy, American art curator at the Williams College Museum of Art, highlighted other works on the hit list that are of crucial importance to the region:

In many cases, incl. Bierstadt, Church, Peales, Dewing @BerkshireMuseum has only examples in Berkshires. Terrible blow to area #Americanart https://t.co/vmw873g3Gc  Kevin M. P. Murphy (@kmpmurphy) July 25, 2017

I have a query in to the Berkshire Museum about its reaction to the AAMD/AAM drubbing. But I suspect the Berkshire Eagle will (properly) get first call. If I know more, youll know more.
Its time for the Berkshire Museum to face reality: Its pursuit of easy money through art disposals has backfired, devolving into a litigation exhibition with no end date, costly to both its reputation and whats left of its financial wherewithal.

In a two-sentence notice filed today, Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Joseph Trainor disregarded the surprising request by the museums lawyers that proceedings to determine the legality of the museums planned art sales at Sothebys be allowed continue in the lower court, even while the Appeals Court injunction against sales remained in force. The injunction was intended to provide more time for the Attorney Generals Office to complete its investigation.

With these words, Judge Trainor unconditionally extended to Jan 29 the preliminary injunction to delay the museums planned art sales at Sothebys, which was to have expired Dec. 11:

The preliminary injunction and stay of the trial court proceedings entered on 11/10/17 are continued to Jan. 29, 2018. The Attorney Generals Office shall file a status report on, or before, Jan. 3, 2018, regarding the status of the investigation.

The Berkshire Museum responded with this statement:

We are disappointed proceedings have been delayed further, preventing this case from being resolved publicly and fairly. These delays benefit no one [except, perhaps, those members of the public who believe that the museum should retain for their benefit the cream of its art collection]. It is ironic that during this holiday season when the museum is visited and enjoyed by more families than ever, its future is placed in grave jeopardy [emphasis added].

Speaking of placing its future in grave jeopardy, I sent the museums spokesperson and its lawyer the following question this morning:

Is WilmerHale [the law firm handing the museums case] providing counsel to the museum on either a pro bono or a contingency basis? If not, do the litigation fees keep mounting?

The spokesperson replied that the statement she had already sent me was all I have for now.

The strategy of the museums lawyers seems to have been to throw every conceivable argument at the question of whether the art sales should be allowed, hoping that one or more will stick. Its time for the museum to close the spigot on this gush of legal verbiage and get down to the essential business of rebuilding its now tarnished reputation and putting its administrative house in order.

Nicholas ODonnell, an attorney who filed a complaint in court against the sale on behalf of two members and one ex-member of the museum, today issued a statement responding to Judge Trainors injunction extension. He echoed my own thoughts in the last sentence:

My clients remain pleased that the Appeals Court has paused the Berkshire Museums intended sale to allow the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation. My clients believe firmly that the proposed sale violates the museums charter, and applicable policies and fiduciary duties. As before, they hope that the museum will use this extended period to consider sustainable options [emphasis added].

Sothebys could help to realize that hope with some tough love, encouraging the museum to abandon its ill-fated deaccession gambit rather than persist in pushing for a disposal that has incurred strong opposition from museum professionals and the public. The last thing Sothebys needs is another reputation-damaging debacle like the Taubman sales, which were also orchestrated on CEO Tad Smiths watch.

Here he is, on the right, during a recent visit to the museum (from my Twitter feed):

This from @Sothebys CEO Tad Smiths Instagram. Hope he was visiting @BerkshireMuseum to let it out of its consignment contract (doubtful). I took a #roadtrip there too https://t.co/NyYbvlleZJ pic.twitter.com/SkkAXEgRdj  Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) December 1, 2017

As I previously wrote, the recently revealed auction consignment agreement appears to give both sides an easy out: It says there would be no fee for withdrawing works from sale if going ahead would subject Sothebys and/or the museum to liability, including objections raised by an Attorney General [emphasis added]. AG Maura Healey has now raised serious objections.

Although it would be unusual for an auction house to turn away potentially lucrative business from a museum, this 2007 comment to me by Marc Porter, then president of Christies (and now its chairman, Americas) suggests that its not unthinkable:

We would counsel museums about what could be a norm in the culture with respect to the way in which cultural property is managed. And I think were an important voice in this. We have told institutions that their proposed method of deaccessioning was not something that we would recommend, and we have decided not to participate.

That said, Christies had infamously enabled this deplorable deaccession.

While we await further developments, Save the Art, the activist group opposing the Berkshire Museums planned art sales, plans to hold an outdoor rally on Friday outside the Harvard University location where the American Alliance of Museums will lead a working meeting [scroll to bottom] for museum professionals desiring guidance on how to explore non-sale options to improve their finances.

Although registration for the AAM-organized meeting has closed, Im willing to bet that theyd make room at the table for the Berkshire Museums leadership.
More on this here and here.

La Salle Universitys website provides surprisingly scant information about its astonishing plan under a relatively new president to dispatch to Christies some 46 objects from its museums collection to raise funds for non-museum activities.

Heres the brief blurb about the planned disposal on the museums webpage:

In January 2018, La Salle University announced a decision by the Board of Trustees to deaccession 46 artworks. To see the full list of artworks, click here.

Thats it. Theres no press release from the museum or university providing basic information. So I shot off a series of questions to Jaine Lucas, the universitys chief marketing and communications officer, asking (among many other things) how the money from the art disposals would be spent.

Heres the beginning of her emailed reply:

A select group of artworks is being deaccessioned to provide funding for the Universitys ambitious and visionary five-year strategic plan, Momentum: 2022.

This gave me traumatic flashbacks to the Berkshire Museums reinvention initiativealso, in part, a rebranding gambit. In September 2016, La Salle launched its refreshed brand, marketing campaign and new tagline, Explorers are Never Lost.' This fall, it rolled back tuition from $40,400 to $28,800, after having instituted numerous campus enhancements, such as a beautiful green space on campus complete with lounge chairs, hammocks, and outdoor lighting, where students can gather and relax in community.

At a time when decreased proceeds from tuition may necessitate an urgent search for new sources of funds for campus enhancements (not to mention educational initiatives), Id argue that a commitment to retaining the museums art collection is a stronger institutional imperative than purchasing spiffy new furniture and fixtures.

As was the case with the Randolph College deaccessions (also orchestrated by Christies), the museums director and curator, Klare Scarborough, was not involved in the deaccession decisions, because they were made at the [university] Trustee level, according to Lucas. Scarborough did not respond to my emailed request for comment.

Lucas went on to say this about where the money will go:

Proceeds from the sale of artworks will ensure growth and sustainability for the University, but importantly will fund initiatives that enhance student experience, student outcomes, and further innovation and excellence in teaching and learning. One example is the De La Salle Institute for Advanced Teaching [which fosters excellence in teaching by providing workshops and seminars to promote and share pedagogical best practices and innovation, according to its description, here].

Here are more details from our emailed discussion:

ROSENBAUM: On what basis were the works to be deaccessioned chosen? Were they chosen for their high market value relative to other works in the collection? Any other factors? LUCAS: By request of the Board of Trustees, University staff worked in thoughtful consideration with Christies and others to develop a list of artworks that could be sold to reach the target consignment amount of $5 million approved by the Universitys Board of Trustees. [La Salles deaccession goal for 46 works is a pittance compared to the Berkshire Museums original target of about $50 million for 40 works.] The criteria included identifying what works would remain in the collection, and what their pedagogical value is to the University and the community. As an example, Henry Ossawa Tanners Mary, the piece used most frequently in faculty curricula and which has significant historical value to the City of Philadelphia, has been retained.

It seems to me that Thomas Eakins, under whom Tanner studied at Philadelphias Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, is also an artist of significant historical value to the City of Philadelphia. Nevertheless, his Mrs. Matilda Searight is to be removed and monetized:

Stephan Salisbury of the Inquirer of Philadelphia reported tonight that the museums former director, Caroline Wistar, had lamented to him that La Salle was jettisoning all of the very best thingsa Degas drawing, a Vuillard. This is major.

But back to my Q&A with Lucas:

ROSENBAUM: When will the Christies sales take place? LUCAS: The sales will occur between March 2018 and June 2018, depending on the category, and will be in NYC, London and online. ROSENBAUM: What is the low-to-high total estimate of the value of the deaccessioned works? What are the estimates for each individual work? LUCAS: Christies estimates the value of the 46 pieces to be between $4.8 and $7.3 million dollars, but they could sell for more. While artwork cannot be definitively valued until its sale, the following artworks are expected to sell for the highest amounts at auction: Elizabeth Frinks Walking Madonna, Jean-AugusteDominique Ingres Virgil Reading the Aeneid Before Augustus, Dorothea Tannings Temptation of Saint Anthony, Georges Rouaults Le Dernier Romantique, and Albert Gleizes Lhomme dans les Maisons. Christies has valued these artworks between $2.2 million and $3.45 million, but they could sell for more. ROSENBAUM: Was an appraisal done by Christies prior to your decision to auction? LUCAS: No. The Board of Trustees made the decision to deaccession, but the list was developed after the appraisals. ROSENBAUM: Was Sothebys also asked for an appraisal and a marketing plan? LUCAS: Yes. Both firms received an RFP [Request for Proposal] from La Salle. ROSENBAUM: Who made the decision to deaccession? Was it the universitys president and its board? LUCAS: The decision to deaccession the artworks was made by the Universitys Board of Trustees after many months of careful and thoughtful review of the Universitys assets [emphasis added]. [Note the comment about art-as-assets by Joseph Klem of the American Alliance of Museums, quoted below.] ROSENBAUM: As you probably know, deaccessioning for purposes other than acquisitions or direct care of the collection runs contrary to the guidelines of major professional organizations for art museums. What is your response to those who might oppose such sales as a violation of public trust and of your museums educational mission? LUCAS: While we greatly respect and appreciate the perspective of the art community, La Salle is first and foremost a University, and one fortunate enough to have an art museum. Our Board of Trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the University, and their decisions supersede those of the Art Museums advisory board as well as the guidelines established by museum trade associations. The robust and important pedagogical mission of our Art Museum will continue on January 8 when it reopens with refreshed galleries. [I assume refreshed is, in part, a euphemism for the closing of gaps left by the removed works.] ROSENBAUM: Is your museum a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the American Alliance of Museums or the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries? LUCAS: We are not members of the AAMD, we are a member of but not accredited by the AAM, and we are not members of the AAMG.

Heres what AAMs director of public relations, Joseph Klem, told me today about La Salles sales:

We are in touch with La Salle University to learn more about their plans. Its a longstanding principle of the museum field that a collection is held in the public trust and must not be treated as a disposable financial asset [emphasis added]. The Alliances Code of Ethics for Museums states that proceeds from the sale of nonliving collections are to be used consistent with the established standards of the museums discipline, but in no event shall they be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections.

Sounds like were headed for another showdown. Has anyone yet sought the opinion of this legal luminary? (Thats a likely subject for a future post.)
Best Online Dating Sites of 2022

Hinge has continued to impress since its creation, shifting from a platform that matched you exclusively with people you shared a mutual friend with to a space that encourages you to "delete the app"  once you've found your person, of course.

Here are the top 10 best rated sites and apps across the board; you can explore the menu bar to see the best in each individual category.

Depending on what exactly it is that you're looking for, you can narrow down your choices to a specific category of dating. There are all types of them out there, and there's bound to be at least one among the masses that truly caters to you and the people youre looking to date.

In the modern era, online dating is so normal that anyone choosing to date without the help of the internet is seen as the weird one. And honestly, given the degree to which technology has infiltrated every aspect of our lives (not to mention many peoples increasingly busy schedules), it makes sense. Turning to online options means being able to meet more potential partners than youd ever be able to otherwise!

How Online Dating Works

For the most part, the online dating experience can be broken down into three parts: signing up, creating a profile, and interacting with other members. Depending on the site or app youre looking into, the first two parts may take more or less time, but its important to note that the more accurately you answer the questionnaires and the more care you put into creating a profile that reflects who you are, the better chances you have of being matched with someone worth your while. When it comes to interacting, it can be as simple as sending someone a casual "wink" or liking their photo, or you can send them a more detailed message if you feel drawn to do so. Each site will have unique features to offer, all of which weve reviewed in detail for you.

While most sites require payment to access their full roster of features, we recommend starting with a free account. This way, youll get a taste for the service without committing to a monthly plan right off the bat.

The Shift Towards Online Dating

Online dating's popularity is right in line with how we conduct most of our business these days. We read our news online, watch TV and movies online, order food online -- why wouldn't we meet and flirt and look for relationships online, too? Not to mention: Where else could you go to meet so many singles ready to mingle? Sure, nothing beats meeting someone face-to-face and feeling the sparks fly, but theres really no guarantee of meeting anyone and getting to know them in most public spaces, especially nowadays. The fact remains that online dating sites are a unique and effective way of connecting with more people who share your intentions than would otherwise be physically possible.

How to Choose the Right Site for You

As you can imagine, there are a lot of different sites to choose from out there. From the mainstream ones to those of a more risque nature, its tremendously important to consider your options before spending the time and energy getting set up on one. While sites in the matchmaking category (such as eharmony.com and Match) focus on helping people find true love, adult sites (such as Passion.com, AdultFriendFinder.com) tend to serve the purpose of exploring ones sexuality and immediate gratification. Furthermore, niche dating sites like those in the religious, ethnic, wealthy or senior categories are really geared for people with a vested interest in those respective verticals.

Best Dating Sites of 2021

At AskMen, our team of editors has personally reviewed upwards of 110 dating sites in order to present you with the very best. We spent time browsing and testing features, as well as reading other customer reviews, with the goal of being able to provide honest and comprehensive insight into what differentiates a great service from one thats just OK. And although our opinions may be subjective, we did base all ratings on a standardized scale in an attempt to be fair.

Reviews will be updated periodically, so keep checking in for the latest and greatest.
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New year. Same old president.

2018 was only seven hours and 12 minutes old when President Trump launched his first verbal attack of the year on a foreign country.

His target: the unsuspecting nation of Pakistan, which, he charged, has "given us nothing but lies & deceit" and "safe haven to the terrorists."

Only 10 weeks earlier, Trump tweeted about a "much better relationship with Pakistan," saying, "I want to thank them for their cooperation on many fronts."

Before whiplashed Pakistanis could make sense of it all, Trump moved on. Thirty-two minutes later, he was attacking Iran for "failing at every level."

Trump has insulted, browbeaten or otherwise abused dozens of countries in his first year, and they are as likely to be allies such as Britain as foes such as North Korea (which, if you haven't heard, is run by a "short and fat" "madman" known as "Rocket Man"). The BBC has created an interactive feature on its website titled "What has President Trump said about your country?"

Early in his term, Trump turned his wrath on the great Scandinavian menace. "Look at what's happening last night in Sweden," he told a crowd, suggesting there had been immigrant violence in that peaceful land. Swedes were baffled: Nothing newsworthy had occurred the previous night.

Trump physically shoved aside the prime minister of Montenegro while making his way to the front of a group of NATO leaders for a photo. But his other assaults have been verbal.

Americans have barely had cross words with the Dutch since New York was New Amsterdam -- until now. Trump sent to the Hague an ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, who had said that the Netherlands' terrorism problem was so bad that there were "no go" areas. Hoekstra denied to a Dutch journalist that he had said that, and, when shown footage of him saying that, denied that he denied saying it.

That's minor compared with what Trump did to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull -- or, as the White House has called him, "Trumbull." A transcript leaked to The Washington Post showed Trump calling their conversation "the worst call by far" and an agreement between the countries "the worst deal ever."

Some insults come from ignorance. A White House news release identified the People's Republic of China as "the Republic of China" -- China's antagonist Taiwan. Trump has likewise invented a country called "Nambia," to the likely consternation of Namibia and Zambia.

Less excusable is Trump calling the mayor of London "pathetic" and telling Prime Minister Theresa May to mind her own business when she protested his retweeting of a British white-supremacist group.

Trump doesn't spare the weak, reportedly claiming all immigrants from Haiti "have AIDS." But he generally avoids insulting strongmen such as Russia's Vladimir Putin, the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, Egypt's Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and the Saudi rulers.

It's not unusual that he denounces Cuba and Venezuela. But he seems to take joy in poking the eyes of friends and neighbors, including Mexico ("one of the highest crime nations in the world"), Canada (trade practices a "disgrace"), France ("Paris is no longer Paris") and Germany (declining to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand).

Dissing friends is confusing business. Iraq is an ally -- but it was included in Trump's first travel ban. Chad is an ally, but it was included in a later travel ban -- because it didn't have the right kind of passport paper.

(Trump, by the way, has a "very good relationship" with China -- when it isn't "raping our country.")

Before he became president, Trump insulted Germany ("a total mess"), Merkel ("ruining Germany"), South Africa ("a crime ridden mess") and the United Nations ("so sad!").

Now he's threatening to cut U.N. funding and to punish nations that supported a General Assembly resolution denouncing Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley threatened that "the U.S. will be taking names."

Hope she brought a lot of paper. Fully 128 nations, including France and Britain, defied the Trump threats, while 56 others abstained or skipped the vote. Only eight supported the U.S. position, and those were mostly microstates in the south Pacific.

That's quite an achievement: After a year of insults, Trump can now count America's friends on the fingers of two hands.
Barack Obama with David Letterman on his former late-night show in May 2015. Photo: John Paul Filo / CBS via Getty Images

George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey, Barack Obama and Howard Stern  all people "whom Dave finds fascinating"  are also slated for interviews on the six-episode series, which airs Jan. 12, Netflix announced Friday.

Why it matters: The booking is a big win for Letterman and Netflix as it marks the former president's first television talk show appearance since leaving office. It is also the first talk show Letterman has hosted since retiring from his late-night role in May 2015.
The Trump administration has frozen $125 million in funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, according to three Western diplomats who were informed of the move. They said the funding, one third of the annual U.S. donations to the agency, was supposed to be transferred by Jan. 1 but was withheld.

Why it matters: A funding freeze could be seen as a slap against the organization  which the U.S. and Israel consider to be biased against Israel and too politicized  and an attempt to pressure the Palestinians to return to peace talks with Israel. But a State Department official said that the fact the money wasn't transferred on Jan. 1 doesn't mean it was frozen. "There are still deliberations taking place, and we have until mid January to decide what we are going to do, the official said.

The details: The diplomats, who asked to speak on conditions of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the funding was frozen until the Trump administration finishes its review of U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority.

The move comes after the Palestinian Authority suspended their contacts with the Trump administration in response to its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A senior White House official said no decision have been made yet, but confirmed that a review of the U.S. assistance to the Palestinians is underway "in light of the Palestinians' recent conduct."

The diplomats added that U.S. officials told U.N. officials in the last two days that President Trump is considering totally cutting the part of the funding which was frozen, and is even considering cutting up to $180 million, which amounts to half of the U.S. funding to UNRWA.

The impact: The Western diplomats said freezing or cutting of such a big part of the U.S. funding would be catastrophic for the organization, would hamper its work and might lead to negative consequences for the Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.

U.N. secretary general Antonio Guterres has spoken with senior U.S. official about the UNRWA funding and also consulted with foreign ministers from other donor countries, according to the diplomats.

The Israeli security establishment and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories  the Israeli organization that oversees government activities in the West Bank and Gaza  are concerned about possible freezing or cutting of U.S. funding to UNRWA, fearing the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is complicated enough and harming UNRWA funding will only make it more complicated," a senior Israeli security official told me.

What we're hearing: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not enthusiastic about the cutting of U.S. funding to UNRWA, but is politically pressed by conservative ministers in his cabinet and by the fact he can't be more dovish on the Palestinian issue than President Trump.

Officials in the prime minister's office told diplomats from several western countries that Israel does not object to the cutting of U.S. funding to the Palestinian Authority, but prefers that the U.S. doesn't cut funding to UNRWA due to the fact it also serves Israeli security interests.

A senior Israeli official told me Netanyahu is in touch with the White House on the UNRWA funding issue, and conveyed the message that Israel prefers gradual disengagement" with UNRWA by the U.S. and not a big funding cut.

The prime minister's office said in a statement: "Netanyahu supports President Trump's critical attitude towards UNRWA and believes practical steps need to be taken in order to change the fact that UNRWA is being used to entrench the Palestinian refugee problem instead of solving it."
A Vice deep-dive into data on police-involved shootings at America's largest police departments showed that shootings declined by an average of 29% when the federal government got involved. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rolling back Obama-era rules that increased federal oversight of local police departments, arguing it's not the government's place to step in.

Reproduced from Vice; Data: Police shooting analysis from Vice, and per capita rates calculated from Census Bureau population estimates for each city. Full data; Chart: Axios Visuals

Key takeaway: Whether departments willingly adopted reforms recommended by the DOJ or were compelled by a binding agreement (as demonstrated in the charts), federal intervention has led to fewer police-involved shootings across major departments by 2535%, according to Vice's analysis.

The facts

One element of federal intervention under the Obama administration was probing local departments and publishing public reports on officers' behavior. In January, the DOJ released a report detailing that Chicago police officers were "poorly trained and quick to use excessive and even deadly force without facing consequences," the Chicago Tribune reports.

under the Obama administration was probing local departments and publishing public reports on officers' behavior. In January, the DOJ released a report detailing that Chicago police officers were "poorly trained and quick to use excessive and even deadly force without facing consequences," the Chicago Tribune reports. Two months after that report was published, Sessions made a speech announcing his intent to "pull back" federal probes of local police departments. That promise came to fruition in September, with the Justice Department announcing it would direct the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services away from federal probes and limit its purview to providing technical assistance to local police, leaving investigations to the civil rights arm of the Justice Dept.

was published, Sessions made a speech announcing his intent to "pull back" federal probes of local police departments. That promise came to fruition in September, with the Justice Department announcing it would direct the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services away from federal probes and limit its purview to providing technical assistance to local police, leaving investigations to the civil rights arm of the Justice Dept. "This is a course correction to ensure that resources go to agencies that require assistance rather than expensive wide-ranging investigative assessments that go beyond the scope of technical assistance and support," Sessions said.

to ensure that resources go to agencies that require assistance rather than expensive wide-ranging investigative assessments that go beyond the scope of technical assistance and support," Sessions said. In August, the Trump administration also rolled back a ban on limiting the amount of surplus military equipment that went to local police.

What's next

The DOJ has pulled back federal investigations of local police, but continues to provide technical assistance, including, per a department official: Analyzing crime data Assisting in the development of a crime reduction plan Engaging local partners to reduce crime and increase public safety Providing successful recruiting, hiring, and retention strategies

federal investigations of local police, but continues to provide technical assistance, including, per a department official: Analyzing crime data Assisting in the development of a crime reduction plan Engaging local partners to reduce crime and increase public safety Providing successful recruiting, hiring, and retention strategies What to watch: Whether discontinuing federal investigations of local departments will lead to an increase in shootings.

Go deeper: A Washington Post investigative report revealed that the number of people shot by police has remained relatively consistent over the past three years.
President Trump is beginning to back off the idea of taking on welfare programs this year, per a new Washington Post report. Apparently he's heard from White House advisers and even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that it wouldn't be possible without Democratic support.

Why it matters: This could come as a disappointment to Republicans who want to reduce spending on programs like food stamps and housing, WaPo notes. But with other legislative items like immigration, infrastructure and government spending looming, advancing welfare reform could be difficult.
6 January 2018 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Zaki Laidi

The most recent World Trade Organization ministerial conference, held in December in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was a fiasco. Despite a limited agenda, the participants were unable to produce a joint statement. But not everyone was disappointed by that outcome: China maintained a diplomatic silence, while the United States seemed to celebrate the meetings failure. This is bad news for Europe, which was virtually alone in expressing its discontent.

It is often pointed out that, in the face of US President Donald Trumps blinkered protectionism, the European Union has an opportunity to assume a larger international leadership role, while strengthening its own position in global trade. The free-trade agreement recently signed with Japan will give the EU a clear advantage over the US in agriculture, and strengthening trade ties with Mexico could have a similar impact, as the US renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Some suggest that, to strengthen its position further, Europe should team up with China, which, despite its reticence at the WTO conference, has lately attempted to position itself as a champion of multilateralism. A Sino-European partnership could be a powerful force offsetting Americas negative impact on international trade and cooperation.

Yet such a partnership is far from certain. Yes, Europe and China converge on a positive overall view of globalization and multilateralism. But whereas Europe supports a kind of offensive multilateralism that seeks to beef up existing institutions rules and enforcement mechanisms, China resists changes to existing standards, especially if they strengthen enforcement of rules that might constrain its ability to maximize its own advantages.

Europes desire to force China to adhere to common rules aligns its interests more closely with the US, with which it shares many of the same grievances, from Chinas continued subsidization of private enterprises to the persistence of barriers to market access. According to one recent study, market access barriers erected by China have taken a high toll on the growth of EU exports.

But the US and the EU do not have the same vision for how to address these grievances. In order to limit abuse of WTO rules by China, Europes leaders want to be able to negotiate new, clearer rules, either through the framework of a bilateral investment agreement or through a plurilateral agreement on public procurement.

Trump does not want to reform the system; he wants to sink it. In fact, with Trump seeking to use bilateral deals to secure reductions in Americas trade deficit, the possibility that the US will leave the WTO altogether  a nightmare scenario for the EU, which advocates shared norms over force  cannot be excluded.

Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, had his own solution. New multilateral frameworks  the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with Asia and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the EU  would circumscribe Chinas room for maneuver. As such frameworks brought about regulatory convergence, the US and the EU would be able to define the standards of the emerging new global economy, forcing China either to accept those standards or be left behind.

But this project has now been fatally undermined. Obamas effort to finalize both agreements before the end of his presidency, though understandable, bred serious concerns about hastiness. Europeans recognized that full regulatory convergence between the US and the EU would, in reality, take at least a decade. So, under pressure from their citizens, European leaders began to express concern about what the TTIP was lacking in terms of, say, environmental and sanitary regulations and transparency.

Given their shared interest in regulatory convergence, particularly to strengthen their position vis-a-vis China, the US, and the EU will eventually have to resume cooperation toward that end. But, as long as Trump is in power, advocating bilateral reciprocity over multilateralism, such an effort will probably be impossible.

Instead, Trumps America will most likely continue to take advantage of its far-reaching commercial influence to secure strategic or political gains. On this front, Europe is at a significant disadvantage. The EU is, after all, not a state, and it does not speak on international matters with one voice. It is not out of the question that the Chinese, who speak the language of realpolitik fluently, would prefer to meet the ad hoc demands of the Americans over the multilateral conditions of the Europeans.

In this context, the EUs top priority should be to unify the positions of its member states, with the goal of overcoming the barriers erected by the US and creating shared systems for constraining China. But that is easier said than done. As it stands, many EU countries resist the introduction of any trade restrictions, whether owing to an excessive commitment to liberal economic ideals or fear of jeopardizing their own interests in China by, say, establishing an EU mechanism for managing foreign investment.

The emergence of illiberal governments in Central and Eastern Europe complicates matters further for the EU. These governments have no interest in any form of multilateralism, as they have embraced a narrow view of their interests. They often seem fascinated by the logic of realpolitik espoused by Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moreover, these countries pursuit of their commercial interests could come at the expense of EU procurement rules. And they are not alone within the EU. Greece, for example, has accepted large amounts of Chinese investment. The EU then refused to mention China explicitly in a resolution on the conflict in the South China Sea.

To be sure, European countries are not wrong to welcome Chinese investment. But China should be reciprocating, offering European investment in China a warmer welcome. That is why the EU and China should work to complete the bilateral investment treaty that they have been negotiating for years, with limited progress. Such a treaty should rely on reciprocal rules, including the dismantling of barriers to Chinas market.

French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to advance offensive multilateralism. But unless the EU as a whole embraces the cause, Europe  caught between China, which has a very conservative but outdated interpretation of multilateralism, and Trump, who wants to get rid of it  risks becoming a casualty.

Copyright: Project Syndicate: Europe between Trump and Xi

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
6 January 2018 11:11 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Twenty-four years have passed since the Azerbaijani army successfully completed the Horadiz operation.

As a result of the operation, which started December 1993 and ended Jan. 6, 1994, being held under the command of Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev, the Horadiz city, 20 villages in the Fizuli district and the Jojug Marjanli village of the Jabrayil district were liberated.

In December 1993, the Armenian armed forces attempted to advance east of Fizuli city, but met strong resistance and were forced to retreat. After that, the Azerbaijani army launched a counteroffensive. On Dec. 15, Azerbaijani soldiers advanced in five directions - Fizuli, Khojavand, Aghdam, Aghdere and Kalbajar. The main strikes of the Azerbaijani military units on Horadiz were carried out from the Beylagan district located southeast of Nagorno-Karabakh. In early January 1994, Azerbaijani servicemen seized 40 kilometers of land along the border between 11 settlements and the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.

On Jan. 5, the 702nd brigade, which took part in the Horadiz operation, in one day seized three tanks, one self-propelled antitank complex Sturm-C, six cannons, about 10 vehicles, a large number of weapons and ammunition. The enemy suffered heavy losses and retreated, leaving the bodies of the dead on the battlefield.

On Jan. 6, the 702nd regiment, breaking the enemys resistance, entered Horadiz, located west of the Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan districts at the intersection of important roads leading to Fizuli. Azerbaijani army captured a village, the Horadiz railway station and strategically important Khudaferin bridges across the Araz River. The flag of Azerbaijan was raised in Horadiz.

The Horadiz operation is the most successful operation of the Azerbaijani army conducted in the winter of 1994. For their heroism during the operation, eight people were awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan.

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6 January 2018 16:23 (UTC+04:00)

Trend:

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the territory of the former Kanop plant in Kuyichirchik district during his trip to the Tashkent region, the press service of the head of state reported.

The president was informed on the readiness of agricultural machinery for seasonal irrigation, land reclamation, and agrotechnical activities planned for 2018-2019.

Plans to grow industrial hemp were also presented there. Hemp is widely used in the light industry, the automotive industry, as well as in construction. It is also a powerful antiseptic.

In addition, the president familiarized himself with plans for processing rice, storing and packaging fruit and vegetable products, organizing cotton-textile clusters and other promising projects.

Projects on provision of population with high-quality meat, establishment of horse breeding, livestock breeding, fish farming and poultry farming were also presented there.

The head of state noted the need for rational use of land, so that no one of its span remains ownerless.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
6 January 2018 15:30 (UTC+04:00)

Trend:

Turkey signed an agreement with France to purchase Aster-30 Block 1NT long-range missiles during the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to France, Turkish media reported Jan. 5.

The agreement was signed between ASELSAN, the largest defense electronics company of Turkey, and the Eurosam consortium.

The Aster-30 Block 1NT long-range missiles will be also integrated into the NATO system.

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Physician search company The Medicus Firm is rolling out a new division dedicated to physician executive recruitment, called the Physician Leadership Division.

The firm has been helping staff physicians since 2001, and on a smaller scale has recruited physician executives by request over the last several years. With a new division dedicated to physician executive search, The Medicus Firm will now offer this service to clients nationwide.

"We are adding decades of experience to our executive recruiting team, and we have attracted some of the most tenured executive recruiters to this division," Steve Marsh, co-founder of The Medicus Firm and lead of the new division, said in a press release. "We plan to grow this division in the same manner we grew our clinical recruiting business, by providing unrivaled results, and helping our clients hire the physician leaders they need to meet their goals."

The division will assist with recruitment of positions such as chairs and chiefs of academic departments, CMOs, chief quality officers, CMIOs and service line medical directors. "Physician executive searches require identification of unique soft skillsets and culture fit, making sure our physician executive candidates are truly the kind of leaders our clients need to fit their organization's leadership team," Mr. Marsh said.

Note: This article was updated Jan. 8, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. CT to include the official name of the new divsion.

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Drew Angerer/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley offered fierce criticism of Iran at the Security Council Friday afternoon, blasting the regime for ignoring its own people and instead spreading conflict and instability far and wide.



The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do, Haley said.



The strong words come as Iran continues to blame the U.S. for fomenting the protests amid the Trump administration's tougher line on the country  from President Donald Trump's refusal to certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal to a couple waves of sanctions on Iranian officials over Iran's ballistic missile program and human rights abuses.



Less than a year ago Trump's then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn also put Iran on notice for Tehrans malign actionsincluding weapons transfers, support for terrorism, and other violations of international norms, he said on February 1, 2017.



With Iran's representative to the U.N. body positioned mere feet away, Haley dismissed the regime's dishonest attempt to call the protesters puppets of foreign powers and emphasized that the protests are a spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights, with Iranians acting of their own will on their own behalf for their own future.



The Iranian government accused the CIA of orchestrating the protests, according to state-run media, with intelligence support from Israel and financial backing from Saudi Arabia, Iran's two greatest regional enemies.



Protests have rocked the Middle Eastern country for over eight days now, hitting 79 cities or towns in total, according to Haley. They are the largest protests since the disputed presidential election in 2009  a revolt against a stagnant economy, money spent abroad, and a corrupt government, according to protesters.



The Iranian government has responded with a firm hand, arresting hundreds. Multiple deaths have been reported as state-run media have instead showcased a wave of pro-government protests and repeatedly played nationalistic songs.



In particular, Haley said the U.S. calls on Irans government to stop censoring social media outlets and to restore Internet access - and on the international community to do more than issue statements of support, saying, We cannot allow the ongoing crackdown on protesters to happen.



The Trump administration announced new sanctions against four Iranian entities Thursday for their involvement in the ballistic missile program  but tried to tie the announcement to the protests as well.



These sanctions target key entities involved in Irans ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement with the announcement. As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC fund foreign militants, terrorist groups, and human rights abuses.



It's unclear if the U.S. is preparing for any actual actions against the Iranian government for their crackdown on the protests, either at the U.N. or unilaterally. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that more sanctions will be coming in an interview with CNN.



Haley was one of the only representatives to issue such a full-throated statement of condemnation of the regime. While allies like the United Kingdom and France censured the government as well, they also went out of their way to note Irans compliance with the nuclear deal  and called on all parties to uphold their commitments to it.



That was a warning as much for the U.S. as Iran.



Americas antagonists on the Security Council had harsh words for why the session was even called, arguing the issue is not one of international security, but rather domestic politics.



The situation is not an issue that belongs on the agenda of the Security Council, the representative from Bolivia said, saying it will run the risk of the Security Council becoming a political tool exploited for each members ends.



To that criticism, Haley preemptively pushed back, arguing, Freedom and human dignity cannot be separated from security.



Every UN member state is sovereign, but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny people human rights and fundamental freedoms, she added.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
In 1964, after demonstrations and sit-ins led by the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of California at Berkeley, the academic senate of the university passed a resolution declaring that the content of speech or advocacy shall not be restricted by the University.

In addition, the Regents supported the senate with the following resolution: Henceforth, University regulations will not go beyond the purview of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

These resolutions were won in a long, hard-fought struggle by the Free Speech Movement. The university recognized that the right of free speech included the right of political advocacy, which, at times, can be rude and disrespectful.

More recently in 2014, the chancellor at Berkeley, Nicholas Dirks, sent an email message to the university community in which he attempted to combine the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement with a request for civility.

In his message, Dirks stated that we can only exercise our right to free speech insofar as we feel safe and respected in doing so, and this in turn requires that people treat each other with civility. Simply put, courteousness and respect in words and deeds are basic preconditions to any meaningful exchange of ideas.

In response, the Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives and the 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee sent a letter to Dirks stating that he seemed to have missed the point of the Free Speech Movement and reminded the chancellor: The struggle of the FSM was all about the right to political advocacy on campus.

A similar situation now exists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in relation to an August incident, involving Kaitlyn Mullen, who set up a recruitment table for Turning Point USA near the Nebraska Union.

Mullen, a UNL student, was acting as a representative of Turning Point USA. A professor of English and a graduate teaching assistant have been falsely accused of harassing and intimidating Mullen with the intent of suppressing her intellectual freedom.

No one was trying to suppress her intellectual freedom. Yes, some rude comments were addressed to her; yes, the graduate teaching assistant gave the camera the middle finger.

These expressions, however, are political expressions of advocacy and are protected by academic freedom and the First Amendment. Again, there was no intent to suppress Mullens intellectual freedom. It is precisely this kind of political advocacy that the Free Speech Movement fought for and won. Free speech can be rude and disrespectful at times.

On Dec. 8, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nationally recognized organization that defends free speech in education, wrote a letter to UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green stating emphatically that the middle finger was free speech protected by the Constitution. In the letter, FIRE outlined the strong legal basis for their position.

In addition, FIRE requested that Green reinstate the graduate teaching assistant who flipped the finger and lost her teaching assistantship because of political pressure. It is clear that political pressure on NU President Hank Bounds and Chancellor Green eliminated due process for Lawton and resulted in the loss of her teaching assistantship.

On December 17, David Moshman, representing the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska (AFCON), sent a letter to Chancellor Green not only in support of FIRE's Dec. 8 letter but also addressing other free speech issues that FIRE had brought up to the university in previous letters.

Ronald Reagan, famously or infamously, gave student protesters the middle finger at a UC Regents' meeting. When Reagan became governor of California, he fired Clark Kerr, the president of the University of California, in 1967 because he was allegedly too soft on student protests.

Do Nebraskans really want to fight this fight all over again? Of course, we should strive for and teach civility, but we should also support the constitutional right of free speech that includes political advocacy -- even if, at times, it is rude and disrespectful.
Medical device industry group AdvaMed on Friday launched a television ad campaign, urging Congress to kill the ACA's device tax, which took effect Jan. 1 after a two-year suspension, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Here are four things to know.

1. While the device tax has long been opposed by device companies and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the 2.3 percent levy was included in the GOP's tax legislation signed by President Donald Trump last month.

2. Device companies must supply their first device tax payment to the IRS by Jan. 29. Lobbyists hope they can get Congress to suspend or reveal the tax before this date.

3. The ads will initially run in several states, including Texas and New York, which are the home states of Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, respectively, according to The Washington Times.

4. AdvaMed said it plans to spend millions of dollars on the campaign, eventually rolling out digital and print ads.

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Here are three key thoughts from Kern Singh, MD, co-director of the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute at Rush in Chicago about the most important trends in 2018.

1. 2018 will be the year of the robot in spine surgery. Almost every major spine company will have released their next-generation robot. Look for robots to do more than just help place pedicle screws. Navigation, surgical assistance and even help with the surgical decompressions are on the horizon.

2. EHR will continue to take a toll on small or individual practices. The cost to keep these systems up-to-date, the numerous government mandated requirements and the loss in clinical productivity will continue to challenge small orthopedic and neurosurgical groups forcing them into further consolidation with large health consortiums.

3. Social media continues to be a relatively untapped, low-cost, high-yield marketing strategy for spine surgeons. The ability to make announcements, updates and provide patient education in real time can be very effective for spine surgical practices.
The cast of Beauty Queen And Single (from left) Karen Montague, Ashleigh Coyle, Orlaith McAllister, Gemma Garrett, Rebecca Maguire and Amira Graham

The beauty queens are back, and they're on a mission to find romance.

But there is a catch - they are not allowed any of the flawless make-up or glamorous clothing they are best known for.

Last year former Miss Great Britain Gemma Garrett bravely pared back her usual style to find Mr Right, and showed viewers her natural beauty.

In the pilot programme for Beauty Queen And Single, the east Belfast-born beautician make-up artist admitted she would previously never have considered going on a date without being fully made-up.

But she proceeded to go on five back-to-back dates, and chose one lucky man to meet again for a second time.

There was added comedy as some of her beauty queen friends watched on and gave a frank commentary on their thoughts during the dates.

Fans were left disappointed when just one episode was shown, but now the girls are back for a six-part series starting on BBC 1 Northern Ireland on Monday, January 15.

Gemma will be joined by ex-Miss Irelands Rebecca Maguire and Karen Montague, former Miss Derry and Big Brother star Ashleigh Coyle, and ex-Miss Belfast Orlaith McAllister, who appeared in Big Brother, too.

Also there will be a former Miss Earth Northern Ireland Amira Graham.

The BBC's official blurb for the show describes how "six bare-faced beauty queens strip off the make-up, shake off the stilettos and go au naturel to see if beauty is just skin deep when it comes to finding the perfect partner".

Last year Gemma hit back at some of the negative comments about the programme posted online by both men and women, including about how the ladies looked.

She responded: "To see some of the comments - mostly from men but a few woman also - about our looks and appearance only confirms the message and what the programme is all about."
Hillary Clinton being presented with the sculpture by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness

New figures have revealed that almost a quarter of the Executive's spending on gifts for foreign dignitaries went on a sculpture given to Hillary Clinton.

The bronze designed by internationally renowned sculptor Maurice Harron - known for his Hands Across the Divide statue in Londonderry - was given to Mrs Clinton during a visit in December 2012.

Figures released to the Belfast Telegraph following a Freedom of Information request show gifts given out by the Executive between its establishment in 2007 and collapse in January of 2017.

During the visit the US Secretary of State met the then First Minister and Deputy First Minister Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness.

Mr Robinson noted at the time: "Northern Ireland has undergone a remarkable transformation since her first visit in 1995, much of which is in no small way the result of her dedication and commitment to building a dynamic economy."

The bespoke artwork, entitled 'Agreement', consists of a sculpture of two women and one man and was given to Secretary Clinton for her "exceptional contribution and continued support for our communities".

At a cost of 2,900, the piece is almost 20 times as expensive as the second most expensive gift given during the period - a print of the Dark Hedges costing 150 given on separate occasions to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in 2016 and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in 2015.

During this time the maximum spend on gifts works out at 12.259.56, meaning the presentation for Mrs Clinton accounted for just under a quarter of all spending on gifts.

Exact figures are given for many of the presents listed.

But for others the Executive simply lists estimated value ranges. The maximum spend figure is reached by taking the maximum estimated figure for each gift.

The Executive Office said: "The exchanging of gifts with visiting government dignitaries is established diplomatic practice across the world and is universally accepted as an acknowledgement of welcome and goodwill. Gifts from the Executive Office are sourced locally where possible."

In total, gift bundles were given on 179 occasions.

The figures show presents were given more frequently to representatives of China than any other country, including a number of items given out by the Northern Ireland Bureau in China.

The Executive Office added: "We have welcomed many senior dignitaries from China in the past three years and, in Chinese culture, the giving and receiving of gifts is particularly important and is hugely symbolic in defining relations."

The gift given most frequently was the book The House On The Hill, while other presentations included 35 pieces of Tyrone cut glass, more than 15 bottles of whiskey, mostly Bushmills, and 13 prints of Derry's Peace Bridge.
The inside of the church after the start of the demolition / Credit: Matthew Gilbert

Outside of the church this morning / Credit: Matthew Gilbert

Last-minute intervention from local residents has halted the demolition of a church in a Co Antrim village.

On Saturday morning a number of protesters blocked demolition trucks from entering the grounds of Straid Congregational Church.

The building was due to be demolished to allow for a new church to be built.

The BBC reports the church pastor supports the demolition, and attended the scene with a small number of supporters.

Following the intervention by protesters, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council issued a temporary building preservation notice which will last for six months.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, local resident and protester Tom Gilbert said he felt the destruction of the church was "vandalism", but said the pastor of the church had "logical reasons" for wanting to knock it down.

Mr Gilbert added he believed money for a new building would be better spent upgrading the current structure.

The UUP's Steve Aiken, former Alliance party leader David Ford, and DUP MP Paul Girvan were all in attendance at Saturday's protest.

Straid Congregational Church was built in 1856.

Documents dating from September last year released following a freedom of information show an email exchange between an official in the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and an architect in the Historic Environment Division (HED) of the Department for Communities which focused on the building's listed status.

In the exchange, the architect from the HED states that as part of the Second Survey - a process to review Northern Ireland's building stock to improve the list of buildings of historical or architectural interest - a survey of the building had been carried out, but its record had not been completed.

The architect from the HED states a visit to the site had been carried out in the past week, and the building's record was in the process of being completed.
Stephen McKinney appears at Omagh Court on charged with the murder of wife Lu Na McKinney. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press 04/12/2017

A man charged with murdering his wife on a family boating holiday allegedly subjected her to "controlling, degrading and manipulating" treatment, the High Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutors claimed Stephen McKinney had verbally abused 35-year-old Lu Na McKinney about their sex life before her death at Devenish Island on Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh last April.

A judge was also told the 41-year-old accused provided varying recollections of how his wife fell into the water while checking their mooring and after taking sleeping pills.

According to a pharmacology expert she couldn't have functioned as described due to the "hypnotic-sedative effect" of the drugs in her system.

It was further alleged that she had once spoke about a case where another woman went missing from a cruise ship and stated that if anything should happen to her "it would be Stephen".

McKinney, originally from Strabane but with an address at The Flax Fields in Lifford, Co Donegal, denies murder, insisting he tried in vain to rescue her.

Adjourning his application for bail, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan indicated he was minded to release the defendant if a suitable address can be found.

Mrs McKinney, a Chinese national, was initially believed to have died in a boating accident.

But based on statements from staff at the marina where the family hired the cruiser, expert witnesses, work colleagues of the deceased and telecommunications evidence, police launched a murder inquiry.

The court heard that after marrying in 2003 the couple moved between the Republic of Ireland and China, returning to Donegal in 2016.

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In a statement to police McKinney said he had taught English to students online and hoped to find further work in the same field.

He described his wife as "a beautiful woman who couldn't cook", said they were happy together and added that she looked after the family's finances as he had no concept of money.

According to his account they hired the boat to go on a two-night Easter break with their two children, aged 14 and 11.

He confirmed there were only two life jackets on the cruiser, used by his son and daughter, and claimed they had set off without two more being provided because of the excitement of the trip.

On the night his wife died McKinney claimed she took possibly two sleeping tablets the couple had previously purchased on the internet.

Crown lawyer Kate McKay set out how the accused told police he was later woken by Mrs McKinney standing beside him fully dressed, saying she thought the boat was moving and was going out to check the ropes.

McKinney claimed he followed his wife out onto the deck, saw her fall overboard and possibly shout for help.

He said that he immediately jumped into the Lough and managed to get hold of her.

But she couldn't swim and was struggling, pulling him down and grabbing his necklace, the court heard.

McKinney claimed that after he lost grip of his wife she was "gone".

He recalled pulling himself back onto the boat and using the torch function on his mobile phone to search for her before calling 999 for help.

The two children remained asleep throughout the incident, according to his statement.

However, Mrs McKay disclosed a pharmacology expert's opinion that it would not have been possible for Mrs McKinney to function as described by her husband due to the level of drugs in her system.

"Optimum effects would leave Lu Na experiencing a hypnotic-sedative effect," the prosecutor said.

Setting out further details of the circumstantial case against the accused, she contended:

:: Staff at the marina told McKinney to go to the office to obtain two more life jackets.

:: He allegedly refused to accept being told by his wife that she didn't want to go on the boat trip.

:: He gave different reasons for the family trip, ranging from an Easter holiday, early wedding anniversary, surprise for the children, and celebration of a new job.

:: McKinney allegedly provided varying accounts of how his wife came to be in the water - seeing her fall in, and hearing a splash before discovering her in the Lough.

:: He had allegedly been advised to moor at a different jetty on Devenish Island.

The court also heard that mobile phones and computers seized from McKinney led to the recovery skype chats, sex videos and sexual images involving the defendant, his wife and other unknown individuals.

One chat log from 2014 included more than 1,000 entries and took place while McKinney was wither separated from or loving away from his family, Mrs McKay said.

She claimed they depicted him as being verbally abusive towards his wife about their sex life, blaming her for their separation and then encouraging her to take part in activities.

"This is eventually agreed by Lu Na, saying she will change and do whatever McKinney wishes if he will come back to the family," the barrister continued.

"From reading the entirety of this chat it can be said that McKinney is displaying controlling, degrading treatment toward Lu Na, and manipulating Lu Na to the extent that regardless how she answers or agrees to McKinney's request the goalposts are continually moved."

Defence counsel Martin McCann countered that witness evidence against his client involved "second or third-hand hearsay".

He insisted: "The situation, as described by Mr McKinney to the emergency services and ultimately to the police is that this was an accident.

"He attempted to save his wife's life and he failed."

Disputing that a prima facie circumstantial case had been established against his client, Mr McCann added: "The circumstances appear to consist of rumour and innuendo."

But with detectives still to speak to the accused's children, Sir Declan confirmed McKinney will not be allowed out of custody to live close to them.

Adjourning the case, he said: "I'm minded in principle to releasing this man on bail when a suitable bail address has been found."
Lincoln has yet to report a murder in the first five days of 2018. Or all 365 days in 2017, for that matter.

That number is astonishing for a booming city accelerating toward 300,000 residents. Its indicative of a city that takes its public safety duties seriously and a community that wants to ensure it lives up to the states unofficial slogan of the Good Life  a trend worth embracing.

Public safety officials admit the absence of a confirmed homicide is an anomaly that the city hadnt seen in 26 years. Theyre right in that zero isnt a reasonable forecast to expect every year and that murder rates dont represent the fullest picture of how safe or unsafe residents are.

Still, its indicative of how Lincoln has long prided itself on being a safe city in which to raise a family, regardless of zip code, a place where violent crime has been the exception rather than the expectation.

Lincoln compares favorably to Omaha, too. Though the capital city is about two-thirds the size of Nebraskas most populous city, Lincoln reports far fewer shootings and homicides per capita.

Even in 2016, which Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister classified the citys 11 murders and 31 shootings as anomalous highs, Omaha reported nearly three times as many homicides and four times as many shootings.

Beyond Nebraskas borders, only one city similar in size to Lincoln  Fremont, California  reported zero homicides in 2016, the most recent year with FBI data available. This affluent suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area, though, has little in common with the principal city of a Midwestern metropolitan area that abuts no neighboring suburbs.

Credit can be handed out all around. First responders defuse dangerous situations. Paramedics ensure shooting victims receive appropriate medical care as soon as possible. Emergency room doctors and nurses provide life-saving treatment as needed.

But, when fewer people are shot  again, only five gunshot injuries were reported last year  Lincoln is a safer place for all. And thats on Lincolnites.

Still, it must be noted that Lincolns zero figure for 2017 could very well change in the coming weeks and months. Investigators believe Lincoln resident Sydney Loofe, whose body was found some 100 miles away in Clay County, died of foul play. The cause of the house explosion that killed Jeanne Jasa and critically injured her husband, Jim Jasa, has yet to be determined.

A few other deaths could possibly be classified later as homicides as investigations continue and outside experts provide new information.

By no means was 2017 a perfect year in Lincoln. But the stunningly low number of shootings  and lack of any murder charges being filed thus far  presents a vision of how safe Lincoln can be, particularly in comparison to its peer cities.
The long-awaited 800m-plus upgrade of the A5 is facing another legal roadblock as campaigners against the development launch a new court challenge.

Already, more than 80m has been spent on legal wrangling over the controversial road plan, which has been stuck in the slow lane for a decade.

Yesterday, the Belfast Telegraph learned that a senior official at the Department for Infrastructure has confirmed that a fresh legal challenge on the notice to proceed for the A5 Western Transport Corridor (A% CWT) has been received.

It's understood the new legal action has been launched by the Alternative A5 Alliance - the group behind previous attempts to block the multi-million pound scheme.

The A5 Western Transport Corridor (WTC) project was originally given the go-ahead by the Northern Ireland Executive back in 2007.

The plan envisages the A5 being upgraded to a dual carriageway from the border near Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone, via Omagh and Strabane, and on to Londonderry.

But for 10 years the project has been in limbo amid legal wrangles and funding issues - and all the time the bill has spiralled upwards.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan - a passionate advocate of the A5 scheme - slammed the new legal move to stymie the A5 upgrade.

"This is yet another stall tactic by a group that has no support across this area," Mr McCrossan told the Belfast Telegraph last night.

"Instead of believing in better for our citizens, they are dragging people back into the past.

"The A5 WTC is absolutely critical for the future of the North West and west of this province - as it has the potential to both transform and to save lives.

"It will bring necessary investment and increase connectivity, which creates more jobs for people.

"It will also save the lives of many people, especially young people, as the current road is one of the most dangerous in Ireland," he said.

"Too many people have lost their lives so far.

"I have every confidence that the department, under the stewardship of Peter May, will succeed in quashing this application for judicial review.

"I have kept in close contact with the department in recent months - and they have assured me that they've done all that is necessary to ensure this scheme proceeds.

"The A5 will be built and has support across the island - this small group will not succeed in preventing the necessary investment or the protection of human life."

Mr McCrossan added: "The west has waited long enough for this vital project. They will not succeed."

Legal challenges have dogged the A5 project since it got the initial green light from the Northern Ireland Executive more than 10 years ago.

It was estimated that the 58.2 mile-long dual carriageway would cost between 650m and 850m, and was to attract funding from the Irish Government.

But in 2013, a High Court ruling brought the landmark project juddering to a halt.

Revised plans were drawn up and put forward, and - after a second legal challenge failed in late 2016 - the first phase of the scheme had been expected to get underway last year.
Initiative: Pastor Jack McKee has called on paramilitary groups to make NI a 'better place'

A north Belfast pastor has called on paramilitary groups to stop their intimidation, threats, punishment beatings and exclusions for 40 days.

Pastor Jack McKee of New Life City Church launched its 39+1 days of positive activities campaign on social media yesterday morning.

He has urged all terrorist organisations as well as drug dealers across Northern Ireland to desist "all negative activities" from February 19 to Good Friday on March 30.

The pastor will be leading Cross walks, Cross vigils and praying for people in a prayer tent between the peace wall gates on Northumberland Street.

He denied his call was naive, saying he hoped the paramilitaries will surprise people by taking part.

"Someone said: 'You're daft for believing that paramilitaries and drug dealers will agree to this'. But we respond by saying: 'No, we're not that daft to believe they will, but we're bold enough to at least ask'! Maybe they will prove us all wrong," he said.

Last month the Belfast Telegraph revealed that the number of paramilitary attacks had risen dramatically in the last four years.

According to figures released following a Freedom of Information Act request to the PSNI, the number of assaults rose from 36 between November 1, 2012 and October 31, 2013 to 71 between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017.

In the same period the number of shootings remained in the mid-20s each year.

Overall, the number of attacks rose from 62 to 95 in the last five years.

Yesterday morning's call for paramilitaries and drug dealers to make Northern Ireland a "better place" was issued via social media, and Pastor McKee said he has already received lots of positive feedback from the wider community. "39+1 calls on all paramilitary groups and members, where it applies, to desist from all negative activity.

"Desist from any intimidation, threats, punishment beatings & exclusions, etc," the message says.

It also addresses drug dealers: "39+1 calls on all drug dealers to stop dealing the hand of death to our young people and others, and to stop selling drugs during 39+1 and beyond.

"I know it's crazy to make such a request, but we're asking nonetheless!"

For more information on the 39+1 campaign, visit the 39+1 page on Facebook.
A quirky star of the Harry Potter films has told Americans that people in Northern Ireland are the most generous in the world

A big TV audience watched as award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes became Ulster's most unexpected champion.

The ringing endorsement of our largesse came out of the blue in the opening episode of the new BBC One series, Miriam's Big American Adventure.

Cameras followed the 76-year-old star, who played Professor Pomona Sprout in the hugely successful wizard movies, as she went on a road trip through middle America talking to a huge range of people.

One of her interviewees was a man who came to the States from Africa and was filmed at a party to celebrate him becoming an American citizen.

At one point the man claimed that America was the best country on Earth and its people were the most caring in the world, but Margolyes countered: "I challenge you.

"The most generous nation in the world per head of the population are the Northern Irish."

She didn't say what evidence she had for her claim about people from the province and she didn't quote any sources.

But Ms Margolyes has been criticised on Twitter for her TV comments.

One poster EimearE said her remark was "ridiculous and incorrect" adding: "It's simply THE Irish."

Miriam's Big American Adventure is a three-part series, with two more episodes to be shown chronicling her journey across the United States from Chicago to New Orleans.

Along the way she meets the people whose voices and votes are reshaping the nation.

The most recent World Giving survey from the Charities Aid Foundation said the people of war-ravaged Myanmar are the most generous people in the world. The people of Iraq and Libya were also featured in the top five, with Ireland being listed in the top 10 at number nine.

Another report from the Charities Aid Foundation said its research found that people in Northern Ireland were more likely to donate to charity than people who lived in other parts of the UK.

Last year the province came out top in a National Lottery survey to find the friendliest region in the UK.

And Fermanagh emerged as the friendliest county.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will wed in May

More than 33,000 people have signed a petition opposing rough sleepers being cleared from Windsor before the royal wedding.

Tory council leader Simon Dudley said beggars could present the town in a sadly unfavourable light when Prince Harry marries American actress Meghan Markle in May.

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In a letter to police, he complained about aggressive begging and intimidation, and bags and detritus on the streets.

A petition to stop rough sleepers being taken off the streets attracted more than 33,300 signatures by Saturday evening.

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Holly Fishwick, who launched the campaign on change.org, wrote: Im calling for this demand on the local police force to be withdrawn, and for people who are homeless not to be removed.

Instead the council and local authorities should offer a suitable long-term solution for these people, including safe and secure accommodation and health advice and support.

She added that Mr Dudleys view actually goes against the philanthropic ethos of the couple whose wedding is being celebrated.

Both Harry and Ms Markle have done charity work in the past, with the Prince focusing specifically on mental health and homeless issues.

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In a series of twitter posts Mr Dudley, Windsor and Maidenhead council leader, claimed rough sleepers had made a commercial life choice to prey on others.

He said police should use their powers under the 1824 Vagrancy Act and the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to protect residents and tourists.

His comments also attracted criticism from homeless charities and Prime Minister Theresa May said she disagreed with his assessment.
Kyle Hudson was found dead outside a property in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton (Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

Police are seeking the publics help to trace the movements of a man whose body was found on New Years Eve.

Kyle Hudson, 28, was found dead outside a property on Darby Way, in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, Somerset at 10.20am.

Avon and Somerset Police said a post-mortem examination has been carried out and Mr Hudsons death was not being treated as suspicious at this time.

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Officers wish to speak to anyone who saw Mr Hudson in the hours before his body was found.

Detective Inspector Angela Burtonwood said: Kyles family are being fully supported and kept updated on the progress of our inquiry. Our thoughts continue to be with them during this difficult time.

Were releasing a photograph of Kyle in the hope that someone recognises him and remembers seeing him early on December 31.

Were you in Bishops Lydeard that morning? Did you see or speak to Kyle?

Kyles phone is also missing and is something wed like to trace. If you found a black iPhone 7 in the vicinity of Darby Way, or remember seeing one discarded please get in touch.
William Etherton and Roland Spreer hold a camera on the island of Suederoog, Germany (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

A British 10-year-old has been reunited in Germany with a video camera he lost four months ago on the other side of the North Sea.

The camera was handed back to William Etherton, from Hull, on Saturday, the German news agency dpa reported.

He has been reunited with it on Suederoog, a small island off Germanys western coast.

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The camera was carried off by a wave on September 1 in Thornwick Bay in Yorkshire.

It drifted for about two months before washing up in Germany.

Resident Roland Spreer found it on November 2.

It was still functional thanks to waterproof casing, and Mr Spreers son posted footage from the day the camera was washed away on Facebook.

Reports on the video eventually attracted the attention of the boys father.
Court artist sketch by of Kasim Lewis (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

A man accused of the Christmas murder of a pub worker will face trial in June.

Kasim Lewis, 31, allegedly killed 22-year-old Iuliana Tudos between December 24 and December 27.

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Ms Tudos, who also called herself Julie, disappeared after finishing her Christmas Eve shift at the Worlds End pub in Camden.

She was found dead in Finsbury Park, near her north London home, on December 27 after her friends became concerned and retraced her steps.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the abdomen and a head injury.

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Lewis, of Friern Barnet, appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from Wandsworth prison.

A trial date of June 11 was set with a plea and case management hearing on March 23.

Lewis was remanded in custody by Judge Richard Marks QC.
A man has been arrested over a string of cat killings in Northampton as police continue to investigate whether the attacks are linked to the so-called Croydon cat killer.

The 31-year-old was held after five cats were found dead and mutilated in the town between August and November last year.

Northamptonshire Police said the suspect, who was arrested in connection with arson attacks and cat mutilations in the Duston and Kingsley Park areas, has been released under investigation.

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The force confirmed it is working closely with the Metropolitan Police probe into a number of animal deaths, known as Operation Takahe.

But it said that although the offences are similar to attacks in the London area, officers cannot be sure they were carried out by the same person.

The co-founder of a group which has been cataloguing the deaths and helping police with the investigation has said it does not believe that the person arrested was behind the killings.

South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (Snarl) believes up to 400 cats and other small animals may have been slaughtered across the country by at least one culprit, who has also been dubbed the M25 cat killer and the UK animal killer.

Snarl co-founder Boudicca Rising is warning pet owners their animals are still not safe as she told the Press Association: The killer has not been caught.

Her comments come following a string of reported attacks over the festive period in south London, north London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

Ms Rising believes the most recent cat deaths could hold the key to catching the killer.

What is really clear from the timeline over Christmas is that he was in south London and then started travelling again, she said.

We have always thought he is a south London resident.

He seemed at ease with getting around and the killings seemed more confident.

The attacker was first dubbed the Croydon cat killer, because it is believed the killings started in the south London area in around October 2015.

But small animals, including rabbits and foxes, have since been found dead and mutilated across the country.

The Met has been working with the RSPCA and Snarl, while a 10,000 reward has been offered to anyone who provides information that could lead to the arrest of the killer.
The United Nations Security Council meets on the situation in Iran at United Nations headquarters (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A UN Security Council emergency meeting on the protests in Iran showed Tehran "the world will be watching" its actions, the US ambassador has said.

The US called the meeting after giving moral support to the anti-government protesters in a week of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations.

US president Donald Trump and members of his administration have praised the anti-government demonstrators as people standing up to a repressive and corrupt regime that is trying to silence them.

But Russia and some other countries said the UN's most powerful body had no business weighing in on the demonstrations.

"The world should applaud their courage" and amplify their message, said Ambassador Nikki Haley, portraying the protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: The world will be watching what you do."

But Russia and Iran complained the US was dragging a council focused on international security into what they called a domestic matter.

"The United States is abusing the platform of the Security Council," said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country has close ties to Iran, adding: "Let Iran deal with its own problems."

Envoys from several other countries, from China to newcomer Equatorial Guinea, expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

The UN charter empowers to the council to "investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction," and the US was not alone in thinking the Iranian protests qualified.

"It is right and proper - indeed, our responsibility ... to assess whether a situation like this could become a threat to international peace and security," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said before the meeting.

Dutch Ambassador Karel van Oosterom said his country hoped the meeting could "work as a preventive measure to avoid further escalation of violence".

He called on the Iranian government to set up a process to address any serious human rights violations and hold accountable anyone involved.

At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested amid the anti-government protests and unrest over the country's economic woes.

Up to 42,000 people took part in the protests, according to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, who has said the clerically overseen government exhibited "tolerance" toward the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have attended pro-government rallies in recent days. Authorities say the anti-government protests are waning.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre urged the council to react carefully, "with all the vigilance required ... but guarding against any exploitation of this crisis, which would only reinforce the extremes."

Iran's prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, alleged on Thursday that an American CIA official was the "main designer" of the demonstrations.

Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo - whose country isn't a Security Council member but was invited to participate on Friday - said the protests had received "direct encouragement by foreign forces including by the president of the United States."

The Trump administration has denied having any hand in the demonstrations, saying they arose completely spontaneously. The CIA declined to comment.

AP
Nebraska's 23,000 teachers have on average 14 years of teaching experience, and 53 percent have master's or doctoral degrees. Their importance is massive for the future of our state and nation, both as educators and as role models.

Yet we treat them terribly. We underpay and overwork them, and we slander them by blaming societys problems on them. In Nebraska, while we allow teacher unions to bargain with local school districts, we do not allow teachers to strike.

However, teachers have options that fortunately they have not yet exercised in Nebraska:

* All 23,000 teachers in Nebraska can take political action. Each can study the candidates for school boards and the Unicameral and note those who are pro-teacher and who are not. They can forward these notes to family and friends and ask for their support. Each teacher can influence many votes. This should be decisive.

* Retired teachers can run for school boards and the Unicameral. Most would make ideal candidates and excellent policymakers, as teachers do their homework.

* Teachers can also take more direct steps, such as being seen in Florida, and abide by their contract strictly. There, teachers are protesting by coming in and going home exactly as the contract calls for: no after-school grading or work and bare classrooms.

* When pushed to the wall, there is the blue flu. With substitute teacher shortages and both parents of most students working, this is decisive.

Teachers have a powerful voice. It may be time to listen.

Bert Peterson, Hastings
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RACINE COUNTY  Last year was the biggest year for local business news that I have ever seen. With this column I finish my list of my top 10, with my nos. 6-10.

Part one of my list ran last Sunday, Dec. 31, when I named 2017s biggest stories from Foxconn Technology Group at No. 1 (what else?) to Racines new White Box Program at No. 5. So, lets resume with 

No. 6  Goodbye to Nelsons

Many in the community were crestfallen last January when Nelsons Variety Stores owner Jeff Nelson announced he would close his two stores  one at 3223 Washington Ave. in West Racine and another at 4636 Douglas Ave. in Caledonia  as soon as all merchandise was sold off. The end came at 5 p.m. April 1.

The founders opened their first store the year before America entered World War II. That made 2017 the 77th, and last, year of Nelsons selling its extensive collection of everyday and hard-to-find merchandise. Nelson estimated his stores carried 30,000 to 40,000 different items he acquired from 40 to 50 or more distributors. His often-used slogan was, We sell anything from aspirin to zippers.

The West Racine store in particular was cherished by many people for its old-time ambience with shopping baskets the Nelsons bought in about the 1940s and creaky, tongue-and-groove wooden floors.

But that iconic space should have some type of future; Johnsons Home Furnishings co-owner Jim Spangenberg bought the building and used a White Box Program grant to help refurbish the entire interior. Hell either place a tenant inside or expand his adjacent store, at 3219 Washington Ave., into the old Nelsons.(tncms-asset)7a222662-ebf6-11e7-9abf-00163ec2aa77[0](/tncms-asset)

No. 7  Business or parkland?

In January, when Fischer USA asked to buy three-quarters of an acre of the adjacent Pierce Woods Park for a 12,000-square-foot expansion, the request set off a passionate attempt by some people to preserve the city parks integrity.

On the other side of the debate and fairly lengthy deliberation process were those who wanted to support a long-time local employer that planned to make a $3 million capital investment and create 20 additional manufacturing and engineering support jobs. Ryan Brath, president and chief operating officer for Fischer, 3715 Blue River Ave., said the company had considered several options including relocation, and expanding in place best fit its needs. Fischer also promised to replace all the trees that would have to be sacrificed.

After about a month of debate at various city meetings, the climactic City Council meeting drew more than 100 people and spawned 90 minutes of public comment. An expansion opponent submitted a petition with 620 signatures of people who didnt want the company expansion. But the City Council voted unanimously to allow the parkland purchase and expansion.

No. 8  Highway 11 tussle ends

Last summer brought the end of a long-simmering dispute between Racine County and the Village of Sturtevant over four vacant properties along Highway 11, setting up the possibility of their development along the villages Main Street.

The properties, which the village had declared blighted, lie along the north side of Durand Avenue and across Highway 11 from Blains Farm & Fleet, 8401 Durand Ave. Racine County took the four parcels, which had become part of the failed Cobble Court condominium development, in November 2015 in a mass tax foreclosure.

But Sturtevant had struggled mightily, since the previous year, to acquire those 13 acres from the county  including having a $275,000 purchase offer rejected. Nor did county officials seem to want to donate the land to the village.

When the county ultimately reversed that position and donated the properties to Sturtevant, it opened the door to a Highway 11 corridor upgrade. All four parcels are now for sale  for the right project, right price.

No. 9  Hot corner

It took tons of persistence and about $8 million, but last year Willkomm brothers Mike and Jim built their multipart development at the southeastern corner of Highway 31 and Spring Street in Mount Pleasant. So far it consists of a Mobil gas station and convenience store, Rocket Wash car wash, independent restaurant called The Dish and a Dunkin Donuts.

The Willkomms also plan to add another building for commercial tenants on the property in the future.

Not insignificantly, because the brothers donated part of their acquired corner to the state, the Department of Transportation used the gift to partially reconstruct and improve the busy intersection  although the construction project was one of this years biggest headaches for drivers.

No. 10  Racine Automotive Group

This is the third story in my top 10 for 2017 involving unscrupulous behavior by a business, and/or business decisions causing people to suffer.

One sign of potential trouble for the business at 6940 Washington Ave., Mount Pleasant, appeared last spring when the Wisconsin Department of Revenue filed tax warrants totaling about $100,000 against Racine Automotive.

After the business closed in August, we discovered and reported about a disturbing pattern that involved some Racine Automotive customers who traded in vehicles that hadnt yet been paid off. They described delays of weeks or months between when they traded in their vehicles and the dealership paying off the lien holders.

In the meantime, those buyers remained responsible for the loans and payments on vehicles they no longer owned  and which Racine Automotive had already sold, in some cases. Those customers complained of never being able to reach Racine Automotive Managing Partner Chuck Harvey about their problems.

Harvey blamed the delays on the process dealers must follow and on slow lender processing of payoff checks. But that seemed a dubious explanation considering that the Wisconsin Automobile and Truck Dealers Association did not agree. Sue Miller, the associations vice president for services, said, I have never had a dealer tell me theres a flaw in the process.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 06/01/2018 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man struggling with a serious methamphetamine addiction was once again before the courts on Thursday, facing multiple charges including theft and possession of crystal meth.

Harley David Andrew Jordan, 23, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court for theft under $5,000, possession and failing to comply with court orders.

The string of charges started almost immediately after Jordan was released from jail, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said, when he failed to report to his probation officer.

The breach followed previous convictions such as taking a motor vehicle without consent, theft and forgery.

On Nov. 11, Portage la Prairie RCMP received a call from the Subway in Austin, reporting a man had entered the employee lounge and stolen a 16-year-old employees backpack, Mathu said.

A still photo taken from surveillance video allowed officers to identify Jordan, and showed him entering the lounge and immediately leaving the store with the backpack, which contained several items worth approximately $460 overall.

RCMP located and arrested Jordan, who admitted he had taken the backpack and that he was high on methamphetamine at the time, Mathu said.

Then on Nov. 23, Brandon police attended to a home after getting a tip from an anonymous caller stating there was violence in the home.

Over the course of their investigation, they located Jordan at the home who was known to have a warrant out for his arrest, Mathu said.

Upon searching him while under arrest, officers found a small baggie of crystal methamphetamine in his front pocket.

(Jordan) does have numerous entries on his record, Mathu said. Its certainly disappointing that he was just sentenced for failing to comply with probation, he was given a sentence of time served, and then he promptly turns around and blows off his probation officer.

Aside from a wilful defiance of the probation order he was placed on, Mathu said, Jordans brazen theft of a teenagers backpack was equally concerning.

Methamphetamine use is a huge problem in our community, and a strong message needs to be given to the public and the accused that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, Mathu said.

Defence counsel Ellen McCarville told the court Jordan neglected to report to his probation officer because he was homeless immediately after being released from custody and was focused on that.

Jordan is in a contemplative state in regards to his addiction, McCarville said, and he has been attending programming while in custody.

This is the longest time hes spent in custody, McCarville said. Hes told me this is a real wake-up call. He doesnt want to come back here.

Judge John Combs sentenced Jordan to 65 days time served, followed by a period of probation.

For a young person youre accumulating a terrible record, and its disturbing to hear that youre now getting involved with methamphetamine, Combs said. Theres no way youre going to stay out of trouble if youre using methamphetamine.

 edebooy@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @erindebooy
Preservation Racine Inc. is a private nonprofit organization whose purpose is to encourage preservation of buildings, sites, and districts in the Racine community that have historical, architectural and cultural value. Here is a recap of our 2017 events:

In February, Chris and Mark Flynn, owners of D.P. Wigley, were our hosts, giving us a brief history of the building and allowing us to tour it. Situated next to the Root River, it complimented our speaker, Keith Kohlmann, as he presented The past is still with us, an Illustrated History of the Root River, from the Dam to the Lake 1840 to the Present. The talk traced the history of the Root River from the Horlick Dam to the Lake Michigan Harbor.

In March at Memorial Hall, built in memory of those who lost their lives in World War I, Ed OBrien was the guest speaker, portraying John Joseph Black Jack Pershing. Pershing led the American Expeditionary Forces victory over Germany in World War I, 1917-1918. He also fought in the Indian wars, the Spanish American War and the Philippines insurrection.

Preservation Hall (formerly the Womens Club) and now owned by the Maresh-Meredith Funeral Home, hosted our April meeting. Jacki Mekemson and Bev Schumacher presented a program on razed buildings that once existed along Main Street and Lake Avenue.

National Preservation Month was celebrated in May at the DeKoven Center. The Century Buildings program honored 11 properties that are well preserved and/or restored by their owners.

Our June meeting was held at Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha. We learned the history of this southeastern Wisconsin manufacturing company, which was founded in 1920. We toured the museum and participated in a silent auction of Snap-on products.

Preservation Racine and the Racine Heritage Museum jointly sponsored the July meeting held at Christ Church United Methodist. Local historian Stan Timm presented the story of the Johnson Smith Co., headquartered in Racine from 1923-1935, and the seller of the whoopee cushion, joy buzzers and more.

In August we had the pleasure of visiting Gerald Karwowskis Oak Clearing Farm. He is an author, collector and local historian who shared his experience of being featured on the History Channels American Pickers last year.

On Sept. 24, Preservation Racine presented its 42nd annual Tour of Historic Places, Expanding Westward-Looking Upward, featuring the Manree Park Neighborhood in West Racine.

In November the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread hosted the evening, focusing on Frank Lloyd Wright. Local historian, author and Preservation Racine member Mark Hertzberg presented an illustrated talk about Wrights Penwern.

Our final meeting for the year was held at the Racine Yacht Club on Dec. 4. It was a perfect setting for Rochelle Pennington, author and lecturer, to tell the story of the historic Christmas Tree Ship. Loaded with Christmas trees to be delivered to Chicago citizens, it was caught in the Great Storm of 1912 and sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Preservation Racine donated two signs that were installed in May at Mound Cemetery. They are located at the corner of Kinzie Avenue and West Boulevard, and at the corner of Washington Avenue and West Boulevard.

We invite our members and the community to lend their support through membership and charitable gifts. The new year is a fitting time to honor the memory of loved ones with a gift that continues their legacy while preserving the history of a community they held dear. If you are interested in making a gift, send them to Preservation Racine Inc., P.O. Box 383, Racine WI 53401.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/01/2018 (1778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government recently announced that it would not be signing on to an agreement between Ottawa and the provinces on the sharing of tax revenues from the sale of marijuana, once pot becomes legalized next summer. This agreement, which will see the provinces and the federal government split revenues on a 75/25 basis, represents a big win for the provinces, which had initially been offered a 50/50 deal by the feds.

As part of the deal, the Trudeau government also agreed to cap its portion of tax revenues at $100 million a year, with any dollars collected above this amount to be shared by the provinces.

In refusing to sign on, Manitoba remains the lone holdout on the revenue-sharing agreement. Explaining Manitobas position,

Jason Halstead/Winnipeg Free Press Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen, from left, Premier Brian Pallister, Justice Minister Heather Stefanson and Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen hold a pre-budget consultation press conference at the legislature in October. Kelly Saunders says the Progressive Conservatives in-your-face refusal to work with the federal government  on such issues as the sharing of marijuana tax revenues, the carbon tax and health-care funding  is not a smart default position.

Finance Minister Cameron Friesendeclared that while the two levels of government agree on broad principles, Manitoba needs more time to decide whether it would be better off under the federal framework or whether it should create its own framework.

Manitobas decision to walk away from this agreement, which all the other provinces see as a good deal, does not make sense. The Progressive Conservatives may disagree all they want with the Trudeau governments plan to legalize marijuana, but the fact is, its going to happen whether Premier Brian Pallister likes it or not. The federal government has the constitutional authority to do this  never mind the political mandate, given that the Liberals did, after all, win a majority government in the last election on a platform that included their intention to legalize pot.

For a provincial government so concerned with fiscal matters to turn its back on a plan that will generate additional revenues, in order to continue fighting a losing battle over ideology, is hardly in the best interests of Manitobans.

The showdown over marijuana is only the latest in a long line of scraps the Manitoba Tories have had with the Trudeau government. In October, Pallister announced that the province would also go it alone with a made in Manitoba carbon tax plan, that, on the face of it, doesnt make much sense, either.

As part of its national climate change strategy, Ottawa has instructed the provinces to implement either a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax that would start at $10 a tonne in 2018 and ramp up to $50 a tonne by 2022, with the key proviso that tax monies collected by the feds would be returned to the provinces. While all the other provinces minus Saskatchewan have agreed to the federal plan, Manitoba instead announced that it would introduce a flat carbon tax of $25 a tonne per year.

Critics on the right have criticized the premier for imposing higher start-up taxes than necessary on Manitobans, while environmental think tanks have said that the Manitoba plan, anticipated to add about five cents a litre to the price of gasoline, does not go far enough to meet federal targets for carbon emission reductions. And if this happens, Ottawa retains the right to impose its own tax on Manitoba, as Pallisters own legal advisers have affirmed.

As if this wasnt bad enough, by not signing on to the federal plan, Manitoba risks losing out of an estimated $55 million for environmental retrofits as part of the national climate change strategy.

And lets not forget the drawn-out fights over health care, which also saw Manitoba as the sole provincial holdout on a new agreement with Ottawa. While the province eventually signed on, it jeopardized in the process $400 million in new money for such vital areas as home care, mental health services and addictions treatment  ironic, given the cuts to ER services and personal care homes underway in the province.

To be sure, intergovernmental relations in Canada are often tense, necessitating at times hardball negotiations to ensure that the needs and concerns of provinces are heard in Ottawa. This is especially so for smaller provinces like Manitoba that can be drowned out by the more powerful voices coming from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. And, in the case of the health-care accord, Manitobas stalling tactics did manage to squeeze an additional $5 million from Trudeau to fight kidney disease and opioid use.

While some tension can be positive, however, this continual, in-your-face refusal to work with the federal government (as well as the other provinces) on finding comprehensive solutions to public policy problems is not a smart default position for the provincial Tories. Pallister must learn to pick his battles carefully, and to recognize that his perennial inability to play well with others can hurt us in the long run.

As premier, his first priority should be the meeting the needs of Manitobans, rather than constantly picking fights with others he disagrees with politically. That means accepting Ottawa has the right to implement laws in its area of constitutional jurisdiction, recognizing the limited clout that Manitoba has on the national stage, and admitting that compromise isnt a bad thing, especially if it leads to net gains over the long run.

This doesnt mean we roll over without a fight. But as any good poker player will tell you, sometimes you need to know when to fold them.

 Kelly Saunders is an associate professor with the department of political science at Brandon University.
The commander of a German paramilitary unit which ended the 1977 hijacking of a plane by Palestinian militants has died aged 88.

Ulrich Wegener was the first commander of the GSG-9 unit, created in response to German security services' failure to prevent the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is "seriously tired" of waiting for the European Union to decide if it wants his country as a member.

Mr Erdogan was in Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, part of efforts to improve his government's strained relationship with Europe.

Mr Macron confirmed that Turkey's wait for EU membership was far from over, and suggested a partnership in the meantime.

The current process "does not allow for an outcome in the coming years," Mr Macron said during a joint news conference with Mr Erdogan, adding that stringing Turkey along was hypocritical.

Mr Erdogan made it plain that Turkey would not wait forever.

"One cannot permanently implore and wait to be finally included," he said, adding that frustration might tempt Ankara to turn its back to Europe.

Ties between Turkey and Europe worsened last year amid mass arrests and firings carried out by Mr Erdogan's government following a July 2016 coup attempt.

Relations deteriorated further after authorities in several countries prevented Turkish ministers from holding political rallies to court expatriates' votes in a referendum to expand the president's powers.

Mr Erdogan unleashed a series of insults at Nato allies, accusing European officials of racism, harbouring terrorists and behaving like Nazis.

The Turkish president was less bombastic, but just as emphatic, today while discussing his country's decades-long pursuit of Europe's acceptance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron arrives for a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris today

"Unfortunately, we did the first steps in 1963. And it's now been 54 years that Turkey has been waiting in the antechamber of the EU," Mr Erdogan said.

Mr Macron said the two leaders held "frank" talks on Turkey's bid for EU membership and the human rights situation in Turkey - a major sticking point.

"We should... see if we cannot rethink this relationship, not in the framework of the (EU) integration process, but perhaps a cooperation, a partnership," he said, adding the main goal must be to keep Turkey - a Nato member - "anchored" in Europe and its "future... built looking towards Europe and with Europe".

Mr Macron and Mr Erdogan also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against terror and the war in Syria.

France and Turkish officials also signed defence, banking and commercial deals, including the planned sale of 25 Airbus A330s to Turkish Airlines.

The trip was Mr Erdogan's first to France since his government strongly cracked down on suspected opponents following the failed coup.

About 50,000 people have been arrested and 110,000 others removed from public sector jobs in Turkey. Many have protested they are innocent.

While Mr Erdogan travelled to Paris, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is scheduled to meet with German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday.

AP
More than 40 people a month are receiving compensation as a result of being a victim of crime in the ACT, new figures show.

Since July 1, 2017, there have been 205 compensation claims by Canberra crime victims, more than double the number of claims during the entire 2016-2017 financial year.

Acting victims of crime commissioner Helen Watchirs says more people will be able to access compensation under the revamped scheme. Credit:Jay Cronan

The increase in pay-outs follows an overhaul of the victims of crime scheme in July 2016.The current financial year is the first since the changes came into effect.

Under the previous scheme, compensation was only awarded to those who suffered serious injuries or were sexually abused.
South coast surf lifesavers have welcomed news of additional federal government funding for clubs, ahead of a busy summer season.

The government announced earlier this week an extra $3 million in funding for Australia's 310 surf lifesaving clubs, on top of the $15 million already spent over the past five years.

Surf lifesaving clubs are set to get an extra $3 million in federal funding. Credit:Jamila Toderas

President of the Batemans Bay Surf Lifesaving Club Colin Knight said the money would go towards vital equipment used by lifeguards in the surf and on the beach.

"We need to update some of the stuff that we have, like defibrillators and first-aid kits, as well as spinal collars and spinal boards," he said.
The family of pilot Gareth Morgan have thanked emergency services for their help, after he and five others were killed in a seaplane crash on New Year's Eve.

Mr Morgan's family touched down in Sydney after a flight from Canada just before 11am on Friday.

In a statement, they said his loss was "devastating".

"We would like to thank the police and emergency services for their great diligence at this tragic time," they said.
An estimated 96,000 people visited patrolled Queensland beaches on Saturday and while the attendance figures are not a record, the fact that lifesavers and lifeguards were only called into action once is noteworthy.

The hotspots were Noosa, which attracted about 7400 beachgoers, Mooloolaba Spit, which drew roughly 4250 people, Burleigh Heads, which hosted 3380 visitors, and Moreton Island with 3280.

Crowds flock to North Burleigh beach, following the trend from across the state on Saturday. Credit:Surf Life Saving Queensland

The sole rescue for the day, as of 4pm, took place at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast, where lifesavers helped a 32-year-old woman back to shore after she got into trouble while swimming more than one kilometre outside of the flags.

Otherwise, lifesavers and lifeguards were only required for minor duties, including 109 first-aid treatments, which included 59 bluebottle stings, as well as 3100 preventative measures to safeguard swimmers against getting into trouble.
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A car has slammed into a north Brisbane home during the early hours of Saturday, with residents hearing loud "wheel-screeching" and "revving" before the impact.

Emergency services were called to the house on Braun Street in Deagon about 3am after reports a car had lost control and gone into the house.

The car caused significant damaged when it crashed into the Deagon home during the early hours of Saturday. Credit:7 News Brisbane - Twitter

When police arrived the driver had fled the scene in his car.

"You could just hear this almighty wheel-screeching and this car just like revving and then it just hit and there was a big cloud of dust and light," one resident told 7 News Brisbane.
Just before New Year's eve, a terrorist armed with a gun roamed the streets of Helwan, an industrial suburban hub south of Cairo, and killed 10 people at the entrance of St Mary & St Mina Coptic Orthodox Cathedral and two at a nearby shop. The victims included 10 Coptic Christians.

The gunman was immediately subdued by local residents and worshippers who locked the gates of the church to prevent a bigger massacre. A Muslim resident tackled him to the ground as he was about to reload his AK-47 rifle. Islamic State, which has a strong base in the Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The church will prevail with its love over any weapon: Bishop Daniel. Credit:Brook Mitchell

The event, and the all too familiar scenario of attacks on Coptics Christians in Egypt, is vivid in the minds of Australian Copts as they celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Sunday. On this day, the Middle East's largest minority collectively holds its breath fearing church attacks.

Benjamin Morkos, 64, an accountant living in Australia, was anxious about his sister and niece who live in Helwan when he saw news of last month's attack .
Chinas banking regulator has revealed new bank shareholding rules which include toughened-up punishments for violators, including life-time banking investment bans in extreme cases.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) published rules on the ownership of commercial banks on Friday, its latest effort to curb financial risks caused by regulation-dodging major shareholders.

A major shareholder is defined as an investor who holds a stake of more than 5% in a bank, or who holds less than a 5% stake but has a significant influence on business operations, according to the rules.

An example of significant influence is the right to appoint directors, supervisors or senior managers.

The regulator requires major shareholding entities to explain their reason for investing in a bank and to disclose their ownership structures and the identities of their actual controllers. The rules demonstrate the CBRCs determination to crack down on speculators who try to illegally obtain control of banks through proxy shareholders or conduct illicit connected-party transactions.

Hengfeng Bank, a national commercial lender whose top executives sought to use proxy companies to obscure their control of the bank through complex shareholding structures, was fined 15.6 million yuan ($2.4 million) by the CBRC last December. This case was described by a CBRC official as a typical instance of a bank with flaws in its corporate governance, Caixin learned.

The regulator reiterated that any investor, along with its related parties, can hold more than a 5% stake or major voting power in no more than two commercial banks. An investor can own a controlling stake in only one bank.

The aim of the new rules is not to restrict investments in banks, but to prevent the misconduct of major shareholders from harming other shareholders interests, another CBRC official said.

Those who break bank shareholding rules, especially those who are warned but refuse to correct their wrongdoings, will face punishments ranging from public criticism or condemnation to being barred from investing in banks for a period of time or even life, according to the rules.

The regulator has adopted a case-by-case approach and set transition periods for investors who have already crossed the red line to clean up irregularities, and some banks shareholders have begun selling their stakes to other investors, sources who requested anonymity told Caixin.

Contact reporter Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com)
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YORKVILLE  With big changes ahead due to the planned construction of the Foxconn manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, the Town of Yorkville is looking to be ready for the spread of related developments.

In the near future, Yorkville is looking to amend its comprehensive plan, as well as to incorporate as a village. Yorkville voters will decide via an April referendum whether the town will become a village  a change thats possible due to Foxconn-related legislation.

Updating our comprehensive plan will assist our long-term planning efforts and provide our residents with control over what happens to our land, said Yorkville Town Board Chairman Peter Hansen in a press release. The proposed amendment, along with the towns plans to incorporate into a village, will best position Yorkville to benefit from the development happening around us as a result of Foxconn.

Yorkville is located just across Interstate 94 from where the Foxconn manufacturing campus is planned in neighboring Mount Pleasant.

The town has joined with Racine County, the City of Racine and Mount Pleasant to apply to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for permission to supply Lake Michigan water to the Foxconn campus, as well as to portions of Yorkville. Yorkville will be responsible for the $30,000 cost of being added to the application, which the entities plan to submit later this month.

Participating in the application with our neighbors enables Yorkville to complete this process faster and with less expense than if we did it on our own, Hansen said in the release.

Some changes in Yorkvilles amended comprehensive land use plan  specifically, the addition of more space slated for residential development  make it more likely that the application will be accepted, Hansen said during a Dec. 11 Plan Commission meeting.

The proposed amendment

The amendment to the comprehensive plan proposes the designation of an area within two miles of Interstate 94, between Highway KR and Braun Road, as medium-density residential. Another change is the designation of land near I-94, between Braun Road and south of Highway C, as urban reserve territory.

While the proposed urban reserve areas might have future urban uses, they are designated as such since they could prove difficult to develop. Challenges to development include limited highway access and the cost of providing sanitary sewer service. No matter what types of urban development might be proposed in these areas, the comprehensive plan recommends that development should occur only with the provision of public sanitary sewer service.

Hansen said that any developments in these areas wont happen overnight. Even after the comprehensive plan is updated, potential developers will still have to go through several steps before any construction begins.

Those things are not happening today, theyre not happening tomorrow, theyre not happening next year, but we have to think about whats coming in the very distant future, he said.

Even if the amendment to the comprehensive plan is approved, land along the interstate that might prove attractive for developers would have to be sold to an interested investor and be rezoned before any development takes place.

The meetings

In order to inform the public of the change proposals, the town has scheduled an informational meeting from 6-8 p.m. on Jan. 11 in the first-floor community room at the Union Grove Municipal Center, 925 15th Ave., Union Grove. The meeting is to have an open-house format to help locals learn more about the proposed comprehensive plan amendments. A short presentation is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.

Once the presentation has concluded, participants will be able to review several exhibits and converse with subject-matter experts regarding the proposed comprehensive plan amendment, Hansen said. Town staff and elected officials will be available to help explain both the challenges as well as opportunities the town will be facing over the next several decades.

A joint Yorkville Plan Commission and Town Board public hearing on the comprehensive plan amendment is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 17 in the Town Board Room, also at the Municipal Center.

In December, town officials issued letters to residents who live within the areas affected by the land designation changes and invited them to the two meetings.
The tax system overhaul passed just before Christmas hit an unexpected bump just hours after House lawmakers finished celebrating their historic vote. Several items ran afoul of Senate procedural rules and had to be pulled from the bill before final approval. One of those directly affected homeschooling families.

Under the bill, lawmakers expanded 529 educational savings accounts to include private K-12 schooling. They also attempted to include homeschool expenses, a tax benefit the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has lobbied for since 2000.

We were an inch away from victory, said William Estrada, HSLDAs director of federal relations.

Although a procedural hiccup ultimately killed the provision, the vote put every single Democrat in the Senate on record of opposing a tax break for homeschoolers, Estrada said. That squelches hope for getting the measure passed anytime in the near future. Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., plans to submit a bill in the House, something hes done every year, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has offered to sponsor a measure in the upper chamber. But getting something passed will be a tough row to hoe, Estrada said, mostly because of the Senates 60-vote threshold.

While homeschoolers eagerly anticipated the tax advantages 529 plans offer, not all school choice advocates support expanding the accounts to cover K-12 education. The benefits only apply to families who have large chunks of money to set aside, making the 529 expansion primarily a gift to the wealthy. Parents able to set aside small amounts of money each month to save for college can still do that, and reap the benefits over time. But because interest accrues slowly, any gains from small, regular savings would be wiped away if parents pull money out of the accounts to pay for anything before college.

Expanding the 529 plans could also backfire in two big ways. First, private schools could look at the tax savings as found money and raise tuition to take a pieceor allof those funds. Wealthy families might be able to pay more, but families who sacrifice to set aside enough money each month for tuition payments could be priced out. Families diligently saving for college whose children get some form of financial assistance to attend private school also could see those scholarships cut now that schools can take a piece of an established 529 account, even if the parents dont want to use that money now.

Another unintended consequence: Skewing 529s to benefit wealthy families could make them a target for a future Democratic administration. President Barack Obama tried to limit the tax benefits for 529 plans in 2015, but because they helped parents across all but the lowest income brackets, he couldnt whip enough support. That might change once families start using the plans to pay for private school. One 529 administrator told The New York Times she now considered the plans a sitting duck for lawmakers eager to strip government benefits from wealthy taxpayers.

Courtesy: WORLD News Service

Photo courtesy: Flickr.com

Publication date: January 5, 2018
Parents Welcome Triplets Who Would've Been Forcibly Aborted in China Forced abortion still remains a significant factor under the so-called "Two-Child Policy" currently in effect in China.

Even at first glance, it'd be hard not to fall in love with Landon, Winston and Audentriplets born Dec. 22 in Miami. The more you find out about the boys' remarkable journey into the world, however, the more lovable they become.

Currently recovering in a Miami neonatal intensive care unit, baby Landon was born at just over two pounds, while his brothers each weighed in at three pounds, five ounces at birth.

While the boys and their parents face a prolonged stay in the hospital to start their life outside the womb, the fact the boys were born at all is no small miracle.

That's because the boys' parents, Mensheng, and her husband, Zhang, were in the process of relocating from their home in China to the United States when they got pregnant, and didn't realize they were expecting until shortly after they arrived in Miami.

Had the couple stayed a few monthsor even a few weekslonger in China, Mensheng and the boys would've been prime targets for a totalitarian regime that has aborted over 400 million babies since it instituted its One-Child Policy in 1979.

While the government announced a change to the radical policy in late 2015, forced abortion still remains a significant factor under the so-called "Two-Child Policy" currently in effect.

The fact that Mensheng and Zhang were in the U.S. before finding out they were pregnant was an act of God, says Martha Avila, president of Heartbeat of Miamia group of five locations, including four pro-life medical clinics offering free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, peer counseling, post-abortive support and material aid.

"The Lord rescued these babies even though they were conceived in China," Avila said. "God allowed them to come here in time so that these babies could live. They were fearful about being alone. They had no one at all in the States, but they found love and support at our clinic and they saw the love of Jesus in action."

In June 2015, Avila traveled to China along with Rev. John Ensorwho founded Heartbeat of Miami and has since gone on to start PassionLife Ministries, an international agency focused on training and equipping the church for pro-life work in China and Cuba, as well as other current and former communist nations.

On her trip to China, Avila was shocked to see the continued fallout of the country's decades-long oppression of women and families through forced abortion. That trip served as an eye-opener for Avila, who has served as Heartbeat of Miami's president since it first opened in 2007.

"These triplets from this Chinese couple really hit my heart," Avila said. "I was in awe to see how women were being forced to abort their second baby. Yet most, if not all, do not want to abortthey are forced to. Then I have the opportunity to see how the Lord rescued these babies even though they were conceived in China. We are rejoicing in God's grace over these triplets."

Since it began serving women in 2007, Heartbeat of Miami has seen well over 35,000 women choose life for their babies in one of the most abortion-heavy cities in the U.S.

When the organization first opened, it was the first known pregnancy center in Miami-Dade County, compared with 37 abortion businesses. Today, Heartbeat of Miami occupies two closed abortion businesses among its five total locations.

Newly arrived from China and with no family in town, Mensheng and Zhang reached out to Heartbeat of Miami for help in mid-2017. There, they met a woman named Lourdes Ponce who connected them with the material help and relational support the center offers.

It's actually the second set of triplets Heartbeat of Miami has welcomed in the past three years. The first setwhose mother was 47 and was set on abortion before finding out she was expecting not one, but three babieswill turn three-years-old in March.

"What an awesome opportunity for Lourdes to show them the love of Christ Jesus our Lord," Avila said. "God's mercy allowed these babies to be born here in the United States even though they were conceived in China. Mensheng and Zhang are not alone. They have all of us."
What Is the Restored Family Portrait? If we are open to a greater alternative, we can behold the bigger and complete portrait that God has already perfectly pieced together for our lives.

Growing up as a child, a favorite hobby of mine was putting together puzzles. What I found comforting about the activity knew that after I had exerted maximum effort in fitting all the pieces together, I could rest in the satisfaction that my picture would be complete.

But life is nowhere like that, as I would come to see in later years. With every major change in my life  whether it was a new school, relationship or home  though I physically had moved on, pieces of me were always left behind. When my parents divorced in 2006, I lost an even greater part of myself; my identity and everything I had ever come to know.

My parents' divorce happened at a tumultuous time in my life. I was in my last year of high school, and struggling emotionally and academically. With the split of the two people I had loved dear, in addition to the closure of some friendships, it seemed as if brokenness was a running theme in my life. The more prevalent it became, the more I desperately longed to fill in the gaps of my incomplete life portrait.

Although we were a pretty small family  it was just me, my parents and my, then 12-year-old, sister  in my eyes, we were the wholesome Huxtable family straight from the set of "The Cosby Show." No, we weren't perfect (after all, we had our challenges like any other family), but ultimately, I still had the highest regard for every member.

Divorce can do some pretty scary things to a family. And for the kid looking up, the view can at times be rather daunting. Half of American children will witness the breakup of a parent's marriage in our world today. Yet, despite the trauma this may unleash on unsuspecting children, we can't dismiss the possibilities this could open up for us as believers to communicate God's restorative love and everything this can come to mean for these tender ones.

In such cases, if we look hard enough, we may see a different yet no less beautiful family portrait, one filled with stepmothers, grandmothers, aunts and individuals outside of blood family (teachers, mentors and church leaders) who assume the caretaker role, in the absence of the second parent. In my own example, I have two homes and two mothers (my dad has since remarried, and the home I now live in with my mother has grown to include family members whom I am not related to by blood.)

When we can recognize the true value of connection that expands beyond just those within our immediate family circle, we tap into something greater than ourselves. Truth be told, we only ever have a chance to witness this on a deeper level, in the aftermath of great loss.

This is a lesson that Christ sought to teach us, when He proclaimed these words in Matthew 12, after being told that his mother and brothers were waiting to talk with him: "Who is my mother and who are my brethren?...For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother" (verses 48,50). It is the kind of community where members seek each other's uttermost well-being, beyond their own needs and interests: This is family.

Though hardest to see in North-American countries (our busy, work-consumed cultures tend to drive out the interdependence that true community calls for), it is still entirely possible because of Christ's example.

Just the other day, I was looking at photos in one of my family albums. I was young in the photos, probably about five. I am garbed in dresses with vivid colors and hair clips to match. The brightness in my apparel accompanies child-like features, which dazzle with glee. In one of the photos, I am literally looking up  my body turned sideways to face him  as he stares directly at the camera. This simple display of mine as a child, suggested an inherent awe and respect for my father.

The longer my adult self stared at the photo, the more it dawned on me that the little girl in the photo would have thought the world I am in now, to be some ulterior universe. She wouldn't for a moment ever fathom the idea of a world where her parents live apart from each other.

Amid the missing pieces of my incomplete life portrait, it had become easy to zone in on the brokenness that had appeared most prevalent. Yet, as my own portrait continues to evolve, I have come to realize that we can miss out on so much, when we focus on all of the conundrum, the awkwardness and the shattered remains. If we are open to a greater alternative, we can behold the bigger and complete portrait that God has already perfectly pieced together for our lives. We just have to open our eyes and our hearts a little wider to see it.
SpaceX news: Set to launch its mysterious Zuma mission

Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to once again launch its mysterious Zuma mission Jan. 5, after it was pushed back last November.

The U.S. Air Force has confirmed that SpaceX will be launching the highly confidential Zuma satellite, which will enter into a low orbit around Earth.

According to reports, the satellite will be used by a certain U.S. organization to send messages and take photos. But as to who will man it and for what purpose it will serve, those information still remain a secret.

The satellite will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from the private company's recently renovated pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, Jan. 5, between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

That is a move from the nearby NASA-owned Kennedy Space Center, where the launch was originally planned in November. It was postponed to allow SpaceX to analyze data from a previous launch.

The Zuma mission was first revealed to the public in October, when NASA reported that SpaceX has requested authorization for the mysterious "Mission 1390." While this would not be the first time for SpaceX to launch a mission to space, with some also being confidential, this is the first time that even its client is unknown.

Among the few concrete details, however, is the launch's contractor, Northrop Grumman, who was selected by the U.S. government to find a rocket for the launch, hence the use of Falcon 9.

"Northrop Grumman realizes that this is monumental responsibility and have taken great care to ensure the most affordable and lowest risk scenario for Zuma," Lon Rains, communications director for Northrop Grumman's Space Systems Division, said in an official statement.

It is a big month for Musk's space exploration company. Apart from the Zuma mission this week, SpaceX is set to attempt a first launch for its Falcon Heavy rocket by the end of January, with a hold-down test fire scheduled next week.
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Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

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Cramer's game plan: Feeding the beast

Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, attends a Strategic and Policy Forum meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, not pictured, in the State Dining room of the White House in Washington, D.C. last February. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

S&P 500 winners

Getty Images

After one of the best years for the stock market that Cramer can remember, he wanted to get a better snapshot of the gains (and see what's ahead) by looking at the . One of Wall Street's most relied-upon indexes, the S&P helps shed light on last year and, if analyzed properly, can make investors money in 2018, the "Mad Money" host said. So Cramer went over the S&P's top performers for 2017 to see what they reveal about this year's layout, starting with the best of the best.

S&P 500 losers

An employee of General Electric works on a gas turbine at the GE plant in Belfort, France. Sebastien Bozon | AFP | Getty Images

Cramer knows that looking back on a strong year for the markets shouldn't only include analyzing the best performers. That's why the "Mad Money" host paired his analysis of the S&P 500's cream of the crop with a look at the index's worst-performing stocks, many of which could still recover in 2018. "In a bull market, it's not that easy to be a real cellar dweller," Cramer said. "You have to commit some pretty grievous sins to end up on this list. But remember, this is an incredibly forgiving market, so it's important not to get too judgmental lest we miss some real opportunities."

Constellation Brands CEO on cannabis boom

The rise of the cannabis industry has taken world markets by storm, so much so that Constellation Brands CEO Rob Sands felt his company should prepare to take part in the trend. "In the U.S., [marijuana is] not legal at the current time, but obviously numerous states are legalizing it for recreational purposes. Canada is going to legalize it for recreational purposes at the beginning of this coming summer," Sands told Cramer on Friday. "It's clear-cut that it's going to be a big market, and we think that it only makes sense to position ourselves to participate in that in the beverage end of the business." Sands, who runs a massive alcohol distributor that owns ubiquitous brands like Corona, Modelo and Svedka, said his company wouldn't be able to participate in the U.S. market until cannabis becomes legal on a federal level. But the CEO had some interesting prospects in his company's liquor segment that he hoped would continue to drive gains in the meantime, he told Cramer. "Premium rum is a category that we think is ready to take off," Sands said. "We thought that this was a good opportunity to participate in that category with a great brand called The Real McCoy. And I'd say the same thing for high-end brandy."

Wyndham Worldwide: Breaking up for the better?

Cramer loves a good breakup, and the latest one he focused on was Wyndham Worldwide's plan to spin off its hotel business to become a pure play on timeshares and vacation rentals. The "Mad Money" host likened the breakup to Marriott's move in 2011, when the company spun off its vacation rentals division. Both halves of that split are up big, making Cramer wonder whether Wyndham could see similar results. "If you don't already own Wyndham Worldwide, you might want to wait for the breakup so that you can add to your position if we get a much-needed post-spin-off pullback in the timeshare division," Cramer said. "Here's the bottom line: Wyndham Worldwide has been on fire, but with the spin-off of its hotel biz coming up next quarter, I think it's got more room to charge," he continued. "If Wyndham follows in the footsteps of the Marriott breakup, even a little bit, then Chapter 2: The Breakup could be just as good as Chapter 1: The Marriage."

Lightning Round: Outlook on oils
In wake of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' repeal of Obama era guidance on legal marijuana, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is more worried about the marijuana business than he is about a law enforcement crackdown on weed.

"When we see an industry, that is dependent upon investors, people who are putting their hard-earned money into the industry, this sort of move does not help whatsoever," Hancock, a Democrat, said Friday on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "All this move does is demonstrate how out of step the attorney general sessions is and the administration is with the rest of the country."

Sessions, a longtime opponent of marijuana legalization, on Thursday moved to rescind the Cole Memo, a document which de-prioritized the use of federal funds to enforce cannabis prohibition. The memo effectively handed control of marijuana enforcement and regulation to the states, except in certain circumstances.

Sessions' decision sent pot stocks tumbling Thursday, fueling fears it would damage burgeoning marijuana industries in many states.

"We've already had conversations with our attorney general, as well as our acting U.S. attorney, who clearly have said they're not going to change anything with regards to the industry here in Colorado," Hanckock said.

Colorado, where recreational cannabis has been legal since 2012 and medical for much longer, has a lot more to lose than some states. In 2016, the state topped $1 billion in legal weed revenues, allowing the government to bring in more than $193 million in fees and tax revenues, according to Department of Revenue data.

Hancock said Denver reaps about $18 million to $20 million in tax revenue just from recreational marijuana. That money goes toward implementing marijuana regulation, including inspections, law enforcement and public education, all of which Hancock worries might disappear following Sessions' decision.

"Cities also fall into this uncertain category, when you have the attorney general acting as irresponsible as he has acted with regards to the memo," Hancock said.

Investment and taxes aside, the ground-level industry is very cash heavy. Even with the Cole Memo, banks and credit unions operating under federal charters had little incentive to help cannabis businesses, which are still federally illegal, according to a representative from the Colorado Bankers Association.

"What we would hope our attorney general would do to work with Congress, begin the process of working on a pathway to banking for this industry," Hancock said.

Hancock is part of a growing chorus of prominent voices against Sessions' decision. On Thursday, Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner vowed to hold up Justice Department nominations until Sessions changes his marijuana policy.
Visa ended its relationship with a large cryptocurrency card provider on Friday, causing thousands of people's transactions to be declined and scrambling to figure out how to access their money.

The card provider, WaveCrest, confirmed in an email to CNBC that it was required "to immediately close all Visa cards."

"As a licensed E-Money Institution, WaveCrest is required to safeguard funds to cover all of its issued electronic money and we can confirm that these funds are safe and available for redemption through other channels," the statement read.

Visa said in a statement that "it recently terminated a single prepaid card issuer in Europe from our network for violating Visa's operating regulations. That issuer, WaveCrest, was required to close its Visa card products, some of which were linked to cryptocurrency wallets."

Wavecrest provided its services to a number of crypto-card companies, including Bitwala, Cryptopay, Wirex and TenX. These companies convert people's cryptocurrencies into cash that is loaded on to a prepaid card, allowing people to use the currency for everyday transactions.

Now these cards are invalid.

Dmitry Lazarichev, co-founder of cryptocurrency card company Wirex, said he's received thousands of calls from frantic customers. He said his company has issued some 500,000 cryptocurrency debit cards to people across the world, although not in the United States.

"All the cards were shut down in one second," Lazarichev said, adding that WaveCrest hasn't been responsive. "We asked for more information, but they haven't provided any."

TenX, another cryptocurrency card company affected, tried to reassure users.

Tweet 2

Cardholders took to social media for answers.

Tweet 1

Alexander T., the man in the above tweet, who declined to give his last name, said he uses his cryptocurrency card to book hotels and pay for groceries. Thursday, he had been traveling from Spain to Switzerland, when he stopped in at a bar. His card was declined.

He's afraid he'll lose the money on his card.

"The problem is, I went on vacation," he said. "I put a lot of money on this card."

He also worries that this mainstream way of using bitcoin will vanish.

"For all people who use bitcoin for their day-to-day expenses, it was the only way to do that," he said.

"Our actions were not specific to cryptocurrency," Visa said in the statement, "but rather reflect the issuer's failure to comply with Visa's policies that ensure the safety and integrity of our payment system."

(Update: This story has been updated to include comment from Visa.)

More from Personal Finance:

Advisors: Here's what you need to know before investing in bitcoin

Bitcoin is too risky to treat as a 'serious' investment, financial advisers say

Start the new year with a financial plan
Here's a roundup of the most important deals in venture capital from the past week.

Apple & Google moves

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., waves after speaking during an event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple is acquiring Vancouver-based Buddybuild for an undisclosed sum, the start-up announced on Tuesday. Buddybuild makes tools that help programmers avoid and fix bugs in their software, and to generally keep each other apprised about changes made to code they're working on together. Prior to the acquisition, Buddybuild had raised $8.8 million in venture funding from investors including Amplify Partners, Bloomberg Beta, First Round Capital, Kleiner Perkins and others. Buddybuild's founders, Dennis Pilarinos and Christopher Stott, previously worked for Amazon. Google is investing $120 million into Chushou, a Chinese competitor to Amazon-owned Twitch. Chushou's mobile TV platform allows gamers to livestream mobile games as they play to compete before spectators. Mobile games like Honor of Kings by Tencent and Onmyoji by Netase are wildly popular in China, a nation with more than 500 million mobile gamers, according to estimates from Research and Markets. Other investors in Chushou: GGV Capital, Shunwei Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Feidian Capital.

Wealthfront, a "robo-advisor" for financial advice, raised $75 million in a new round of venture funding led by Tiger Global Management and joined by the company's earlier backers: Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital and Spark Capital Growth. Wealthfront CEO Andy Rachleff was a co-founder of Benchmark Capital. With lower fees than traditional wealth management firms, robo-advisors like Wealthfront, Betterment and Wealthsimple are thriving. Juniper Research predicts that automated wealth management will generate some $25 billion in revenue annually by 2022, up from $1.7 billion in 2017.

Aimotive is developing self-driving vehicle technology using off-the-shelf cameras, rather than lidar sensors.

Cisco Investments, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Robert Bosch Venture Capital are among investors in Aimotive, a Budapest-based start-up developing self-driving car systems. The company announced Thursday it raised a $38 million series C round of venture funding led by B Capital Group and Prime Ventures. Like Tesla, Aimotive believes that radar and lidar sensors are not necessary to make cars safely autonomous. Instead, the start-up says it's using "off-the-shelf camera sensors and artificial intelligence-based vision processing." The company said it is testing vehicle fleets in Hungary, France and the U.S., and working with automotive manufacturers including Groupe PSA, SAIC, and Volvo. Despite the failures of several start-ups making smart kitchen appliances  like Juicero, Teaforia and The Orange Chef  investors are still placing bets on companies in food tech. The latest to attract a venture round, Drop Kitchen, makes an internet-connect kitchen scale that works in conjunction with its recipe app. According to an SEC filing, Dublin-based Drop Kitchen raised $7.3 million from Alsop Louie Partners. Additional investors in Drop Kitchen include Frontline Ventures, WI Harper, Sinovation Ventures, PCH, and Irish star chef Ross Lewis. Founded in 2011, the company in more recent years has billed itself as a developer of an operating system for smart kitchen devices made by top manufacturers.

Coinify raised a $4.8 million bridge round from Nordic Eye for blockchain payment technology. Founded in 2014 in Copenhagen, Coinify makes it easy for retailers and other consumer-facing companies to accept payments in bitcoin or more than a dozen other cryptocurrencies. The start-up also operates a "coin-agnostic" trading platform, says CEO Mark Hojgaard. Nordic Eye's general partner told CNBC his firm backed Coinify because it's a smart, enterprise tech company that is not tied to the success or regulatory approval of any digital currency. "We aren't putting our money into the currencies themselves. But there is tremendous potential for the blockchain to enable unbanked people, living in nations without a stable government or currency, to send and receive money safely."

Preemadonna is developing the Nailbot, a robotic manicurist.

Halogen Ventures is backing Preemadonna, a Menlo Park, California, start-up developing a robotic manicurist called the Nailbot. The Nailbot, which is not yet commercially available, "prints" lacquer and intricate designs onto the user's fingernails. Halogen Ventures focuses on tech companies built by women. The firm was founded by Jesse Draper, daughter of DFJ and Draper Associates founder Tim Draper. Supermeat, an Israeli biotech start-up, has raised $3 million in seed funding, according to TechCrunch. The company aims to develop a lab-made alternative to poultry that feels and tastes exactly like the real thing. For years, venture capitalists have been investing in companies such as Impossible Burger, Memphis Meats and Hampton Creek trying to develop plant-based and "clean meat" alternatives to meat derived from livestock. Consumers and businesses spent more than $1 trillion on meat in 2016, according to estimates from the North American Meat Institute.

Funds and firms
As the U.S. East Coast recovers from a weather system that dumped several inches of snow across the region earlier this week, bone-chilling temperatures are expected to drive the mercury to record lows this weekend.

Meanwhile, the big freeze that's gripped much of the country is having another chilling effectone that costs money.

"The entire Eastern half of the country is frozen right now, and with that the economy sort of slows down ," Paul Walsh, a business weather analyst and meteorologist told CNBC's "On the Money" in an interview.

"It doesn't grind to a complete halt, but you can imagine that people are not out," Walsh explained. "They're not doing, or spending the same kind of money on the same kinds of things." That aspect is important, given that businesses normally see brisk traffic immediately following the holiday season.

"People are basically hunkered down in their homes and not 'out and about," Walsh added. "If it happens for an extended period of time, it can have a direct impact on the ebb and flow of economic activity. It impacts the entire economy."

The unusually cold weather has even impacted the normally balmy South. This week, it was so cold in Orlando, Florida that water theme parksincluding Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and Sea World's Aquaticaclosed amid temperatures hitting the 40's.

"They're going to be losing a lot of revenue in the times they're shut down," Walsh told CNBC, meaning that spending at places "like restaurants and travel, a lot of those are lost forever."



Walsh, who is director of weather strategy at IBM Global Business Services, describes his niche as the "intersection of weather and consumer behavior." IBM sells weather data directly to business clients, including major airlines and retailers.

"We now have the capability to not only predict the weather, but also to be able to sense how it's going to impact consumers," he said.

And weather means big money, particularly in the wake of a brutal hurricane season that saw catastrophic storms batter Texas, Florida and the Caribbean. The unpredictable nature of storm season means businesses have to find ways to calculate the associated risks.

"The interesting thing that's happening now is that more and more companies are able to take the weather data, and use analytics and even actually use artificial intelligence and sort of define from that data how the weather is likely going to be impacting what you and I are going to be needing," Walsh said.

The next step is that data is being "pulled into retailers' replenishment and forecasting systems," he added. That information is then used to help select inventory, by estimating and anticipating future consumer buying demand.

"Retailers have been using weather data forever, but they've not really been doing it in a way that's integrated and built into systems," Walsh said. "That's changing now in a really, really big way."

On the Money airs on CNBC Saturdays at 5:30 am ET, or check listings for air times in local markets.
URL option is used to to set a specific url to POST something to it. The URL option is there so you could specify a full string URL and not just an ASP.NET MVC Controller/Action format thing. So typically in ASP.NET MVC, you could just do:



HTML @using (Ajax.BeginForm("YourAction", "YourController")



to POST to an MVC action. To POST to a URL specific route, you could do:



HTML @using (Ajax.BeginForm(new AjaxOptions { Url = "http://www.somedomain.com/foo" }



i have editor which external user will use to create page. now wicked person can inject something malicious. so tell me how to prevent it?



i will allow user to upload any string data but how could i show it in page as a result html will display nicely but if there js code that will not be executed....just display html.



how to exclude script section from html data when displaying in page. thanks



AngleSharp[^] to parse the content, and strip out any tags or attributes that aren't explicitly allowed.



You'll probably also want to set up a Content Security Policy[^] to block inline scripts and third-party scripts that your site doesn't use.

NB: Some older browsers don't support CSP, so you can't solely rely on this to block XSS.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer









http://www.dotnet-programming.com/post/2015/04/12/How-to-Handle-Cross-Site-Scripting-in-ASPNET-MVC-Application.aspx

https://www.codeguru.com/csharp/.net/net_asp/preventing-cross-site-scripting-attacks-in-asp.net-mvc-4.htm



they saying to use AntiXSS library. can i use in production? is it robus?



guide me. thanks







However, that will completely encode the output. From your original post, it doesn't sound like that's what you're trying to do.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Please let me know the step which is created for an MVC project with angular 4 in vs 2013 or give any reference link



suppose i have a interface from where user insert data to database. database is running in USA pc. user may enter data from USA,UK,Germany and India. so their timezone is different.



so do i need to store date and time as utc format ?



how to send timezone info of user to sql server store procedure and in sql server store procedure convert utc date and time to supplied timezone?



how to capture user timezone id or name which i will use to convert utc date and time to specific user time timezone info ?



i need to develop a application which show data entered by user from different country and data will be stored in USA pc.



please guide me detail.



hi please give me a code i want to prevent my website from csrf by using csrf-token, i want not to show page url or generate a random code in my url that expires every new time that we click on the link how can i do it?



We know when a user request a website first time then a session cookie dropped in user pc. If browser cookie is disabled then how session cookie is dropped at client side?



if browser cookie is disabled then session cookie is append at the end of url as query string?

please tell me what happen for session cookie when browser cookie is disabled in asp.net MVC.







if browser cookie is disabled then session id will be append with url like cookie less session ?



if we configure cookie less session then session id is added with url. so if browser cookie is disabled then session id will be added with url?



thanks







when session id will be thrown away by the browser then error screen will be displayed?



Hello, I would like to see the page in my gridview but I am not working what I am seeing on the internet, should I use a data source?

here I leave my code



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3 more die of viral fever in Jajarkot, toll reaches 9

The death toll caused by viral fever in Jajarkot district has reached nine in the past two weeks following death of three more persons.
It is becoming an established feature of the Brexit negotiations that they are full of twists and turns which, whilst exciting enough for those plugged into the drama, probably dont signify very much in the long term.

This weeks likely entry into this category is the news that the Government is leaving itself legislative wriggle-room to effectively replicate the Customs Union with the EU, even if were not a member. Much of the blame for this is being pinned on Philip Hammond, who having lost his battle to save our membership of the Customs Union has apparently decided to settle for a customs union.

Yet it seems unlikely that the Prime Minister is really abandoning one of the central pillars of her vision of a clean Brexit.

For starters, it isnt as big a shift in policy as it might initially appear. Back at Lancaster House, one of Theresa Mays punchier speeches on the subject, she said:

Whether that means we must reach a completely new customs agreement, become an associate member of the Customs Union in some way, or remain a signatory to some elements of it, I hold no preconceived position. I have an open mind on how we do it. It is not the means that matter, but the ends.

This was in the same speech that contained this passage:

Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out. We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave.

So the ambition for some sort of customs relationship with Europe has always been part of the Governments strategy, provided that it can be reconciled with the freedom to strike new trade deals with other countries.

May put her full weight behind the push for such freedoms when she set up the Department for International Trade. She will also be aware of the strength of feeling amongst party members on the subject and, perhaps most importantly, of the critical role that Brexiteer MPs  especially the well-organised European Research Group  are playing in keeping her administration afloat.

A final indicator of which way the wind is blowing is that ambitious men like Gavin Williamson and Jeremy Hunt, who probably have as good a read on the Governments position as any, are choosing to send Brexiteer signals. In light of all that, this latest row over the Customs Union looks more like a Treasury rearguard action than a Government u-turn.
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State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier announced Wednesday she is not seeking re-election to the office she first won in 1998, leaving her with exactly one year left in a remarkable run of activism and reform, with some pretty good financial returns.

Ive reached the conclusion that its time. Its time, the 66-year-old Democrat said after delivering a lengthy statement about her tenure. I dont think I have to convince people that its time for new blood. Its time for someone that is well qualified with fresh ideas to take the reins and move this office forward in the manner that I did.

Nappiers decision throws wide open a race that already includes some people in both parties considering a run for the powerful office, which controls pension funds now valued at more than $34 billion.

Three Democrats likely to run are Arunan Arulampalam, a Hartford lawyer and former lobbyist; John Blankley, a Greenwich business executive and town official; and Shawn Wooden, a Hartford lawyer who was president of the city council.

Arulampalam and Blankley have both formed exploratory committees and issued statements Wednesday praising Nappier. Wooden has told people he intended to explore a run if Nappier did not seek re-election, according to numerous sources.

In January 1999, Nappier inherited a state Treasury that would soon be wracked by an investigation leading to a guilty plea in a kickback scheme and federal prison time for Paul Silvester, the predecessor she defeated.

In her second year, she helped push through reforms that included creating a chief investment officer and boosting the role of the investment advisory committee.

Nineteen years and four re-elections later, she oversees an office that has hit its investment targets, for the most part; launched or dramatically enlarged programs such as the states college savings vehicle and financial literacy; and made a national name for itself  herself  as a shareholder activist on corporate governance.

Over the years, Nappier waved a flag for the state to address its dangerously underfunded pensions. As recently as a few months ago, she railed against a change in the teachers pension system that will leave it slightly less funded.

Nappier showed some bitterness Wednesday that, for years, people didnt listen to her warnings about an admittedly dry topic. The Legislature didnt think it was all that significant, she said.

And from the start, Nappier made the office one of the nations most prominent shareholder advocates for corporate governance reforms  leading the call at many publicly traded companies for up-or-down votes on executive pay, for separating the roles of chairman and CEO, for requiring that auditors are not also doing lucrative consulting work at the companies they audit, and against corporate investments in nations that commit or sanction genocide.

In another strain of her activism, Nappier has crusaded for policies on greenhouse gas emissions to address global warming. She co-founded the Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations, which by 2016 grew to more than 100 institutional investors with $13 trillion in assets.

Numerous companies have come under fire from Nappier, including The Walt Disney Co., Mattel, Office Depot, McDonalds, General Electric, Caterpillar, Stanley Black & Decker, and many energy companies as part of her climate work.

Shareholder activism for a state treasurer was the road less traveled in the early years, Nappier said.

Nearly 20 years later, that road is crowded and active, she said, proudly citing a fellow state treasurer who claimed he was using the Nappier Playbook.

That playbook has earned sharp barbs for Nappier from some business groups who say she overreaches. Nappier, in response, insists her efforts are part of smart investing  making sure the companies whose stocks were held by the state pension funds were well run and more likely to be profitable with rising stock values.

In one example, Nappier in 2002 wrote to board members at Stanley, then The Stanley Works, urging them to reject an ill-conceived corporate headquarters move to Bermuda, known as an inversion, because, she said, the move would leave shareholders less protected by governance rules  and create ill will among customers. She also fought layoffs in Connecticut at MetLife.

Amid harsh public criticism of companies, Nappier has also quietly negotiated reforms with management, using leverage as one of the most powerful fiduciaries in the country. Connecticut law does not require approval of investment decisions by a board or by other public officials.

Nappier was the first African-American woman elected as a state treasurer anywhere, and the first elected to statewide office in Connecticut. In 2006, she was named one of the 100 most powerful people in finance by Treasury & Risk Management magazine.

Despite her activism and testimony at the Capitol, Nappier has generally maintained a low profile when it comes to speaking engagements, including on the campaign trail.

In 2011, Hartford police issued Nappier a summons charging her with misusing license plates and operating an unregistered vehicle that lacked insurance after questioning her in the parking lot of a Hartford housing project. They towed her state car and she walked three miles to her West End home. Six days later, the Hartford states attorney said the car, in the state fleet, had been registered and that the summons was unwarranted.

Nappier told the Hartford Courant she suspected her race was a factor in how police handled the incident.

In the last election, in 2014, she narrowly beat Republican Tim Herbst, then the Trumbull first selectman, now a candidate for governor. Herbst criticized Nappier in part because the pension funds are underfunded. She countered that returns under her watch generally beat benchmarks.

The Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds stood at a record $32.4 billion on June 30 after a year with 14.2 percent returns, one of the best among states. Five months later the fund had grown to $34.2 billion.

The yearly performance she mentioned on Wednesday? Fiscal 2009, when the fund was down more than 17 percent  but still outperformed its benchmarks.

Nappier will be the fourth statewide constitutional officer to declare shes not seeking another term in 2018, after Attorney General George Jepsen, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy  who hailed Nappier for fighting for racial and gender parity in corporations.

Nappier said her decision was not due to any sense that the fund is in for rocky times again, though we all know the boom market cant last forever. She asked, Who wouldnt want to go out on top?

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
Chill to continue for some days: Meteorologist

The Kathmandu Valley is to see further decline in the temperature.
BRIDGEPORT - Local political activist and former NAACP leader Carolyn Nah has filed a $1 million lawsuit against a Trumbull health care facility after she claims she was sexually assaulted while a patient there.

In her lawsuit, filed in Superior Court against the Maefair Health Care Center, Nah claims she was sexually assaulted by a male patient while she was recovering from knee surgery.

The facts of this case are very disturbing and should be alarming for anyone who entrusts their care or that of a loved one in a facility only to be assaulted by anyone allowed to roam freely and unsupervised, said Nahs lawyer, Thomas Ganim.

Although it is the policy of Hearst Connecticut Media not to use the names of sexual assault victims, Nah and her lawyer asked that her name be used.

Nah served as executive director for the Greater Bridgeport NAACP for more than a dozen years and also worked for the citys Board of Education. She recently retired as a bail bondsman.

Officials of the health care facility declined comment on the lawsuit.

The police report of the incident, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, states that on July 12, Trumbull police were dispatched to the health center on Maefair Court for a complaint of a sexual assault.

The 72-year-old Nah told officers she had been asleep in her room at the health center following surgery when a male patient put his hand under her bed sheet and touched her genital area, the police report states. Nah woke up and the man, who was in a wheelchair, left the room.

The police report states that Lisa McDougall, the centers director, told officers that the man is very religious and likes to place rosary beads on new patients.

Police stated that McDougall subsequently had Nah transferred to another part of the center where she would no longer have contact with the male patient. Police said the male patient, who had very limited use of his hands and arms, was not arrested.

The lawsuit asserts that the health care facility was careless and negligent in its standard of care to its patients and that the facility failed to provide security to patients while they were asleep in their rooms.

Because of the defendants carelessness and negligence, the plaintiff has suffered severe, traumatic, physical and emotional effects from this assault upon her body while helplessly asleep in her room, the suit states.
STRATFORD  Police said a woman that had been missing from Iowa since New Years Eve was found in a local inn and that, despite being bound by tape, she had not been abducted.

On Wednesday, Stratford cops responded to the Honeyspot Motor Inn on Honeyspot Road for a call of a possible abduction, Police Capt. Frank Eannotti said. During their investigation, police found a woman bound with duct tape in a motel room. Police said officers learned the woman was reported missing from Iowa on New Years Eve.
What's going on in and around Somerset County?
The violent Dalit protests across Maharashtra was not a spontaneous reaction to the attacks on the community members on January 1 at Bhima Koregaon near Pune, it has emerged. It was the fallout of a trap systematically laid by the extreme left wing organisations in which both the Dalits and the Marathas were caught unaware.

According to a top official with the home department, the signs of trouble were first noticed on December 22 when some people erected a flex at the tomb of one Ganpat Gaikwad, a Dalit, at the nearby village of Vadhu, announcing that he was the person who had cremated Chhatrapati Sambhaji. Mughal emperor Aurangazeb had killed the Maratha king after inhuman physical torture for nine days in 1688 at the same place. A group of Marathas took objection to the flex, arguing that two families in the village, the Vechale and the Shivale, had actually done the cremation.

Originally, their surname was Patil, which got changed to Vechale and Shivale after they collected (Vechale) and stitched (Shivale) parts of Chhatrapati Sambhajis body before they cremated him.

On December 29, the flex at the tomb was found damaged, leading to tension in the area. Miscreants spread mischievous messages on social media, speculating that the Dalits who would gather at Koregaon Bhima on January 1 might try to damage the tomb of Chhatrapati Sambhaji as a reaction to damaging the flex. The atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion led to the clashes.

The police suspect that extreme left wing workers were instrumental in erecting the flex at Gaikwads tomb, which was constructed only four years ago. It was seen as an attempt to instigate the Marathas by neglecting their contribution in maintaining the dignity of their beloved king.

Minister of state for social justice, Dileep Kamble, who witnessed the attacks on Dalits, told Mail Today that the attack was a work of outsiders. He did not name anyone but pointed fingers at the left wing workers. The village didnt have a history of caste-based riots in the last 200 years. Someone is spoiling the minds of the people with vested political interests.

The Maharashtra bandh on January 3 received a good response in urban areas. The Dalits in rural areas mainly stayed away from it as they are entirely dependent on the Marathas for their daily earnings right from farm labour or employment in local factories.
The BJP-led NDA governs 19 of Indias 29 states. Youd think 2018, with eight Assembly elections slated to be held this year, would build on that total.

Youd be wrong.

The BJP could win one of the four northeastern states on offer (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) but could well lose at least one of the three big states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) going to the polls later this year. Karnataka, in April 2018, is a toss-up.

But the real worry for the BJP is 2019. In 2014, along with its NDA allies, it won 191 out of 208 Lok Sabha seats in five key states  Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. That tally will not be repeated.

The problem is the BJPs wobbly economic, foreign and social policies as it enters the last year of its term. The government is in office, but not in power.

In contrast, the Congress-led UPA Opposition often seems to be out of office but in power. Its former lawyer-ministers strut around as if they were in government. In parliament, the Congress with just 45 MPs sets the agenda for debates. BJP MPs (with few exceptions like MJ Akbar, Smriti Irani and Arun Jaitley) seem defensive, even apologetic.

The Congress, the progenitor of serial scams, hasnt been able to pin a single scam on the NDA government. It doesnt need to. The government gives the impression of being under pressure all the time  from the Opposition, the media, NGOs, and activists. The media, whose role by definition must obviously be adversarial to the government in power, is packed with Left leaning ideologues who loathe the BJP.

The Modi government has done some excellent things in its tenure. It has, among other achievements, legislated an insolvency and bankruptcy bill, massively expanded financial inclusion, electrified large swathes of villages that had had never seen electricity before, empowered small entrepreneurs through Mudra Bank, begun recapitalising PSU banks, scrapped hundreds of colonial-era laws and launched dozens of schemes ranging from Make in India to Swachh India. Some have worked. Others havent. Many are works in progress. Outcomes are awaited.

So why does the Modi government seem more vulnerable than it is? To be effective, power has to be projected. The Congress has plenty of experience in doing this. The BJP has relatively little.

For the first time in 500 years, India is being governed by Bharat rather than India. Bharat isnt used to exercising power. For centuries it has obeyed while others ruled. The Mughals were feudal. The British were feudal. The Congress is feudal. The BJP has its faults but feudal it isnt.

The Mughals ruled India through an elaborate system of elite Indian durbaris. The British upgraded the system, making educated Indians their subaltern administrators and the poor their sepoys. The structure though remained much the same as in the time of the Mughals: the narrow top of the pyramid comprising the British elite and its Indian retainers lorded over a broad base of the deprived, the poor and the dispossessed.

The Congress after Independence borrowed Britains clothes. It didnt change colonial-era laws designed to keep Indians under British subjugation. It didnt reform the ICS except to change one alphabet letter in it. The IAS ruled; it did not serve. The Congress didnt democratise the party; instead, it feudalised it further under one family. India was for decades a democracy run by a feudal-minded, undemocratic party.

Subjugated for 500 years by the Mughals and the British, the Congress found it easy to be feudal, elitist and undemocratic. Indians were used to being subjugated. It allowed Congressmen to believe, as the British and Mughals had believed before them, that they were born to rule. The advent of janata politics finally challenged this zamindari attitude. The first experiment under Morarji Desai, following Indira Gandhis subversive Emergency, failed. The six Vajpayee years two decades later were relatively anodyne. Vajpayee was cut in a Nehruvian mould and loath to upset the old order.

That would happen only in 2014 with the arrival of Narendra Modi. He didnt have Vajpayees Lakhnawi tehzeeb or Morarji Desais moneyed Mumbai background. He was truly different. The poor, finally, had their man.

Their masters though werent happy. Chaiwala, neech and other epithets showed their contempt for this usurper, the interloper who had dared to challenge their power. He must not be allowed to succeed. India was used to being ruled by people who spoke nice English, had good table manners and arrogated to themselves the permanent right to govern.

The corrupt bureaucracy, the gnarled Lutyens media, and India-hating NGOs were quickly co-opted. Discrediting Modi and eroding his credibility were put into operation as soon as the shock of the 2014 defeat had faded.

Modi has meanwhile fallen into a trap of his own making. He has not promoted technocratic talent into his cabinet. He has relied on bureaucrats who behind his back have subverted much of his agenda.

In permanent campaigning mode, Modi has outsourced governance to these bureaucrats who cant wait for the return of the Congress which happily abets their graft. The tax department, ED, DRI and CBI, instead of taking UPA-era corruption cases to their logical conclusion, engage in petty harassment of honest taxpayers.

Conflict of interest abounds everywhere. Mukul Rohatgi, for example, should never been appointed Attorney-General. He represented some of the 2G accused. Such cavalier disregard for propriety has given the Opposition legitmate grounds to attack the Modi government across several fronts.

New Delhis Pakistan policy, for example, has been incoherent. Even as NSA Ajit Doval met his Pakistan counterpart Lt General Nasser Khan Janjua under the radar in Bangkok in late December 2017, Pakistan terrorists were killing Indian soldiers. This hot-and-cold approach to Pakistan has failed as mounting Indian casualties along the LoC attest.

US President Donald Trump through his tweet on January 1, 2018, virtually declared Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. India, the victim of Pakistani terrorism, however, continues to grant it most favoured nation (MFN) status, allows the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) to go ahead unchecked even where IWT rules permit restrictions on water flow to Pakistan, and refuses to allow the tabling of a parliamentary resolution to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism while asking other countries to do so.

India used nuanced toughness to deal successfully with China over Doklam. Dealing with Pakistan requires an entirely different strategy based on imposing an unaffordable cost on the Pakistan army for abetting terrorism.

The armed forces, neglected for a decade by the last UPA government, have been slow to receive modern equipment even under the NDA. The bureaucracy in the ministries of defence and finance has not been tamed.

When Modi took office in May 2014, almost the first thing he did was summon over 70 key bureaucrats for a pep talk. The bureaucrats were initially worried: their kingdom was under threat by a prime minister who seemed to mean business. They are breathing much easier today. They were wrong.

In 2014, the question was: will Modi change the system or will the system change Modi?
The recent incursion of Chinese road builders in Arunachal Pradesh and the build-up across the McMahon Line are indicative of the earlier major standoff in Doklam not being a one-off incident. We need to be watchful of some endearing statements professing friendship that have recently emanated from China, as also the contrarian ones like that of the Chinese foreign minister after the recent Delhi RIC summit which categorically stated that the Doklam incident was caused by Indian troops' illegal crossing of India-China boundary.

Wily China

These represent a wily China, used to riding roughshod over others by virtue of its economic and military power  and with the guile of a fox that thinks long term. So while the argument of "avenging" a "century of humiliation" is advanced as a rationale for its expansionism now that its economic graph is on the upswing, the same antagonism was not visible three decades earlier when the Japanese were welcomed for their investments and the South Koreans wooed to get technology for heavy industry.

The Doklam euphoria, therefore, needs to be tempered with cold logic, especially since reports confirm a large Chinese build-up of soldiers and military equipment across the Chumbi Valley and the construction of semi-permanent structures indicates a long-term cross-winter deployment.

Did India prevail in Doklam? Tactically yes, but in the long term a higher level of commitment of troops and material from our side would be required round the year. This does not imply that Chinese designs to build the controversial road should not have been pre-empted. India had the first movers advantage in the issue. So, to push out Indian troops the onus of using violence and starting a conflict fell on the Chinese; India was placed higher on the escalation ladder and won the war of perceptions when Beijing blinked.

Stratfor, the worlds leading geopolitical intelligence platform, wrote that its possible Modi used the threat of his absence (from the BRICS summit that was to follow) as a bargaining chip to goad China into an agreement, while the Indian media went into raptures on the "tough stand" taken.

The dragon, however, does not forget easily and the next round could be different; it may not be a Doklam but a repeat of Chumar and Depsang incidents where the Chinese had come in first and established camp, putting India in the unenviable position of negotiating to push them out  the escalation ladder would kick-in again and India would be in the difficult position of having to decide whether to take the opprobrium of being the first to use force and start a war.

Four steps

Four steps, two each in the short and long term, need to be taken to avoid getting into this trap. First, relations with our neighbours need to be nurtured to offset Chinese largesse; it is crunch time for Indias diplomatic corps now. Second, the Indian tendency to get euphoric at having temporarily addressed an emergency, a la Chamberlain who bought a transitory piece with Hitler by agreeing to look the other way while the latter annexed Sudtenland, can only have long-term deleterious results. Hence, it should be made known to Beijing its incursions do not augur well for peace and Indias resolve shown earlier was not a flash in the pan. The media could be a conduit for conveying a message about our own preparedness.

Third, for the long term, the tough posture that we hereafter adopt in any transgression needs to be backed by the rapid development of the indigenous capability to manufacture arms. If there is no political bickering in the field of nuclear and space affairs, as they are considered symbols of national prestige, shouldnt defence acquisitions be placed at the same high pedestal? In geopolitics, loss of credibility need not require reversal in a full-fledged war; India is fighting a hybrid war, in which small skirmishes modulate perceptions and the reporting of even minor tactical setbacks are enough to dent the strategic standing of a country.

Long borders

Doklam, where we had the advantage of a favourable lay of land, raised our standing; but the terrain along our long borders is not favourable everywhere. It would be Indias military capability that would deter an adversary and its indigenous development needs to be a bi-partisan goal for our political class.
The triple talaq bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha. That is a victory for women, democracy, as well as secularism, but not many people see it that way yet.

Let us consider the plight of the average woman in the world today, with US President Donald Trump also being charged with sexual assault in a lot of anecdotal references. Let us also consider the plight of the average Muslim in India, and now consider the plight of women in this light. There is no case one can argue in favour of the men, the husbands of the country, with regard to an issue of their wives rights, especially in the case of a right that is well known to be necessary for any human being, not just a Muslim woman.

In the 1980s, when Rajiv Gandhi interfered in the famous Shah Bano case, there were protests that the interference was setting up a dangerous precedent. Thirty years later, the politics of polarisation has resulted in a short, but dangerous history of demolitions, riots, burning of trains, and attacks on non-vegetarians. Now that the government in power, which may well have benefited from the said bloody history, is trying to undo the damage, people (mostly men) are protesting against the new law. They cite that it would be contrary to the prescriptive morals of their way of life. And from their point of view, they may even be right. But the fact remains that a large number of women suffer and have suffered due to the obvious disproportionate distribution of rights between men and women when it comes to the subject of breaking marriages.

Some would even say that divorce should be outlawed in Hindu societies, which is also symptomatic of the lack of rights women share globally. The other extreme would say that divorce is fine, but that only men have exclusive rights with regard to divorce. How on earth can one justify the ending of a marriage so arbitrarily when even relationships are seemingly impossible to let go of in an arbitrary fashion?

The question of the legitimacy of the bill to criminalise triple talaq is not even relevant here. An appeal to ones most basic shred of a conscience is enough to justify the legitimacy of womens rights. Have we all disrespected women so strongly for so long that one has to argue that women and men should have equal rights to say the least? Whether this new policy and corresponding law of the Hindu-majority government will be beneficial in the practical sphere or not is subject to the tides of time, but the sheer legitimacy of this law is unquestionable in most commonly held views on ethics. The rest is our choice, sociological or ideological.

Secularism implies non-interference in social matters pertaining to religion. However, womens rights along with many other rights ordinarily considered fundamental to democratic societies are more important for the larger sake of secularism itself. How can it be that through non-interference in social laws the government can protect social rights?

Interference of any sort in the metaphysical sphere of things in understandable, but Lord Benedicts arguments for criminalising Sati a few centuries in the past under the influence of Raja Rammohan Roy, one of Indias premier intellectuals, is as valid today as it was then.

If one sees exploitation occurring around them, the first reaction should be to interfere, as positively as possible, to curb that exploitation. The BJP government may hold allegations of inhumanity against them, but a step towards egalitarianism is far more human than burning women alive for dowry, arbitrarily breaking marriages which are alleged to be made in heaven, or forcing girls into child labour. The very fact that the Opposition is not opposing this bill severely is enough proof that even our liberally hated politicians of Delhi are synergistically showing signs of reform.

When the Congress majority government of the 1950s decided to implement a uniform codification of all personal law with respect to Hindu law, the then right wing had decided to oppose such change. Now, it is believed that the right-wing government in power may be stepping further towards a uniform civil code for all. Uniformity of social policing notwithstanding, the fate of women is an issue in its own right, globally, and should not be denigrated to a low-key fight for communal compartmentalising.

Demonetisation may have allegedly been a failure. However, politically it benefitted Modi, on account of the divide that it created between the rich and poor of our nation. Triple Talaq may be a failure in reality, but it has added to the divide between Muslim women and men.

If men do not wish for militaristic feminism in the manner of communist militarism between haves and have-nots, they should tread this line further, namely that of the middle path, protecting women rights without allowing rogue elements to twist the debate in their patriarchal favour.
Gas plants shut down over safety violations

The Bureau of Standards and Metrology has shut down two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plants in Kavrepalanchok, Surya Gas and Chandeshwori Gas, for violating safety regulations.
In the past few days I have realised that very few non-Dalits, or I can say almost nobody, had any idea about the "Bhima Koregaon battle". A legend which was limited to a few parts of Maharashtra, and among the politically aware Dalits elsewhere, is now a national news.

Many have discussed about what happened in 1818 at Bhima Koregaon, while others are arguing about what, or who, triggered the violence this year. No doubt the role of Hindutva organisations in the violence against Dalits should be talked about. But what is more important is to look for answers to why did the rightwing outfits trigger such large-scale violence this time.

Also, why did a section of the media bought by them [Hindutva forces] is reporting it with such devotion? What will be the impact, according to the Sangh, of this event on the Indian politics in the longer run?

To get the answers, one must rewind to the Babri Masjid episode. Babri Masjid situated in Ayodhya was a local issue for a long time, at least since 1948. People closely following the issue and locals knew about the claim that Lord Rama was born there. Moving away from Ayodhya, awareness about the Babri Masjid issue started fading gradually and almost diminished beyond Faizabad (the district of which Ayodhya is a town). But in August 1984 in its first "Dharm Sansad (Religious Parliament)", the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) passed a resolution that "temples should be built at Shri Ram Janmbhoomi, Kashi Vishwnath and Krishna Janmasthan".

The Mahar memorial at Bhima Koregaon. (Credit: Wikipedia)

The VHP started a Ramjanmbhoomi Mukti Yatra from Sitamarhi in Bihar on September 25, 1984, and reached Lucknow via Ayodhya. The national media covered the news as around three lakh people gathered in Lucknow on October 9, 1984.

This yatra, even though had to be stopped after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, successfully brought the mandir-masjid issue to the national discourse. Politicians and the public was in general started talking about Ayodhya.

For the Sangh Parivar, any discussion on the topic was a perfect setting to tell people that Muslims are "outsiders". They are the "invaders" who plundered and demolished the temples. Even as scholars and historians refuted those claims, the Sangh branded Muslims as agents of the "western" and "Muslim" powers. The Sangh gradually succeeded in demonising the whole Mughal rule and "made" Muslims the "enemy within".

Although this process of othering the Muslims through symbols like Ayodhya and bringing it to public discourse is more complex, in a nutshell, Ayodhya paved the way for a new kind of othering of Muslims. While earlier Muslims had to prove that they are loyal to India, and not Pakistan, after Ayodhya all Muslims became "Babar ki aulad" and hence invaders who should be treated as outsiders. This completed the Sangh's othering project.

Coming back to Bhima Koregoan violence, the anniversary of the battle was celebrated every year in Maharashtra, but almost nobody knew about it in other parts of the country. Of course, people who have interest in Dalit politics knew about it, but for the masses it had little relevance. This year, as a group of extremist Hindutva outfits attacked the a peacful procession and Dalit groups later retaliated, it made major headlines. A biased media too started insinuating that "Dalits were celebrating the defeat of an Indian army by the British". Then it was also insinuated that the British army, which conquered Indian territories during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, had high percentage of Dalit soldiers. This is exactly the narrative that the Sangh wanted - the foundation of another project, othering of Dalit communities, has been laid.

Now everybody, especially the upper caste, is discussing the role that Dalit soldiers played in the consolidation of British East India Companys rule in the subcontinent. In a way British occupation of India, and hence the colonial exploitation, can now be blamed on the Dalits. It has already been done to the Muslims. By invoking the legend of "demolition of a temple where Babri Masjid stood", the Sangh has othered the whole Muslim community.

Years ago with slogans like "Babar ki aulad", today the Sangh have "established" that all Muslims are the heirs of invaders and hence do not belong to India. In other words, India belongs only to Hindus (not to forget the fact that Sikhs were branded terrorists in mid-1990s). Now with this new alt-truth dominating the public discourse, the definition of India has been shrunk even further. Now, Dalits have also been excluded from the Sangh's idea of "Hindu rashtra".

Since it was difficult to call them "outsiders", unlike Muslims, this whole new controversy has made them "collaborators" of the "outsiders" [British]. A few media outlets have already started branding the issue as Dalit versus Hindu violence. Thus, excluding Dalits from Hindus in their narrative.
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Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH.

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Govt not to name state HQs sans consensus

In a tactical move aimed at putting pressure on the left alliance, the government is unlikely to name the temporary capitals of the seven provinces without consensus among the major parties.
Hospitals found collecting billions in service charges

Private hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley are estimated to have raked in Rs2-2.5 billion in illegal service charges alone in the last fiscal year, the Department of Supplies Management said.
Citigroup Inc. is one of the worlds largest financial institutions. It is the 13th largest bank globally by assets and 8th by market cap with operations in consumer and institutional banking. In the US, Citigroup is the 3rd largest bank by assets and one of the Big Four deemed systemically important and too big to fail.

Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. The bank was run by Samuel Osgood who led the company with success for many years, even throughout the War of 1812. The bank was later renamed the National City Bank of New York in 1865 and by 1895 is the largest bank in the US. In 1913 it was the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a few years later it began to expand into overseas territories.

The bank became the First National City Bank of New York after another merger in 1955 and then later, the New York part was dropped off as part of the 150th-anniversary celebration. By 1974 the company is known as Citicorp which is still the operational branch of the business and a global banking powerhouse. A merger with Travelers insurance group in 1998 resulted in the name Citigroup but the joint venture did not last. By 2002 Travelers was publicly traded once again but Citigroup retained the new name.

Today, the company is headquartered in New York, New York but boasts more than 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries worldwide. As of mid-2022, it operated 2,649 branches in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. The company reports nearly 725 branches in the US and 1499 in Mexico with the rest scattered throughout its territory. Total annual revenue topped $75 billion in 2022.

Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that owns Citicorp among other assets. The companys mission is to serve as a trusted partner providing responsible financial solutions to its clients. Citigroup provides financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. The company operates in two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG).

The GCB segment offers traditional banking services including deposit and saving accounts, credit cards, personal loans, home loans, and investment services. This segment operates through local branches and digital means. The ICG segment offers wholesale banking products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients.
Locals try to obstruct Araniko Highway after tipper kills girl

A girl died after a tipper hit a scooter that she was riding on in Pulbazaar of Banepa on Saturday.
Exxon Mobil Corporation is the largest direct descendent of John D. Rockefellers Standard Oil and one of the worlds largest companies. Its earliest roots lie with Vacuum Oil which got its start in the 1860s. Vacuum Oils primary product was kerosene, an important advancement for heating and lighting in rural America. Vacuum Oil was later merged with Standard Oil of New Jersey which was the parent operation of the Standard Oil empire prior to its breakup. Standard Oil of New Jersey would merge with other independent operators over the next few years until settling on the brand Exxon for most of its operations.

Meanwhile, Standard Oil of New York was operating under much the same impetus, merging and growing, until it became known as Mobil. Then, in 1999, the two giants became one with a merger of equals that on paper had Exxon buying Mobil. Now, the combined company operates under the Exxon, Mobil, and Esso brands as an international vertically integrated energy and petrochemical business.

Today, the company explores and produces crude oil and natural gas and their derivative products globally. As of 2022, it was ranked 6th on Forbes Fortune 500 list and 12th on the Global 500 list but it has held positions from #1 to #10 over the years. In terms of its operations, it is the worlds second-largest oil refiner and the largest refiner outside of China. In terms of reserves, ExxonMobil claimed about 18.5 million barrels of oil and oil equivalents at the end of 2021 and was ranked 15th globally.

ExxonMobil operates through three segments that are the Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores for and produces oil and oil equivalents and represents roughly 70% of the income. The Downstream segment gathers, receives, stores, transports and refines oil and equivalents and their derivatives. The Downstream segment also markets and delivers fuel products to consumers and businesses. The Chemicals segment produces the full range of petrochemicals including plastics, resins and synthetic rubber.

ExxonMobil is committed to advancing sustainable and carbon-free energy solutions. The company is targeting 2050 for net-zero emissions and its 2030 interim targets are in alignment with the Paris Accord, the EU's Global Methane Pledge, and US Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan. The companys plans include investing $15 billion into reducing greenhouse emissions by 2028.






GE is a multi-national conglomerate that was originally incorporated in 1892. The company was founded by Thomas Edison as the Edison General Electric Company and shortened its name to General Electric following a merger with two other early electric pioneers. The name was later shortened again to GE. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts but has operations on a global scale. One of the original 12 Dow stocks, the company was a component of the index for 122 years until its ousting in 2018.

Originally intended to make and market Edisons incandescent lamp and following products, the company grew over the years through mergers, acquisitions, and natural expansion into newly created fields. Among the many early accomplishments is the creation of RCA and NBC which will both become forces of their own. Other major innovations include the worlds first turbine superchargers, industrial gas turbine engines, and the first jet engine. In the field of computing, General Electric Company is credited as being one of the 8 major computer companies of the 1960s and shares responsibility for todays digital world. In regard to its employees, two were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work with the company.

Today GE operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through four segments including Power, Renewables, Aerospace, and Healthcare although there are plans in the works to split the company into three separate entities. The three new companies would be GE Vernova (power and renewables), GE Health, and GE Aerospace. The spin-offs are expected to be completed by 2025.

The Power segment offers a variety of turbine engines for power production as well as the full range of services from plant construction to retrofit and refit. The Renewables segment is focused on solutions for renewable energy including wind and hydro and the technology to operate them. The Aviation segment manufactures aircraft engines of all varieties and the Healthcare segment offers technology for imaging, monitoring, diagnostics, and drug discovery to health and medical facilities.

General Electric is committed to helping the world transition to a greener way of life and is exiting the new-build coal-fired power industry. Instead, its advancements in wind, grid efficiency, and natural gas are being deployed around the world helping to reduce emissions and generate cleaner energy for businesses, industry, and communities. The company is targeting 2030 for its own carbon neutrality and 2050 for net zero emissions.
The following companies are subsidiares of Community Health Systems: AF-CH-HH LLC, ARMC L.P., ASC JV Holdings LLC, Abilene Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Abilene Hospital LLC, Abilene Merger LLC, Access Center Services LLC, Affinity Cardio-Thoracic Specialists LLC, Affinity Cardiovascular Specialists LLC, Affinity Gastroenterology ASC LLC, Affinity Health Systems LLC, Affinity Hospital LLC, Affinity Orthopedic Specialists LLC, Affinity Physician Services LLC, Affinity Radiation Therapy Services LLC, Affinity Skilled Nursing LLC, Alabama HMA Physician Management LLC, Alaska Physician Services LLC, Alice Regional Hospital Community Alliance Inc., Alliance Health Partners LLC, Ambulance Services of Dyersburg Inc., Ambulance Services of McNairy Inc., Amory HMA LLC, Amory HMA Physician Management LLC, Angelo Community Healthcare Services Inc., Anniston HMA LLC, Arizona ASC Management Inc., Arizona DH LLC, Arizona Medco LLC, Arkansas HMA Regional Service Center LLC, Arkansas Medical Imaging JV LLC, BH Trans Company LLC, Bartow HMA LLC, Bartow HMA Physician Management LLC, Batesville HMA Development LLC, Batesville HMA Medical Group LLC, Bayfront Ambulatory Surgical Center LLC, Bayfront HMA Convenient Care LLC, Bayfront HMA Healthcare Holdings LLC, Bayfront HMA Investments LLC, Bayfront HMA Medical Center LLC, Bayfront HMA Physician Management LLC, Bayfront HMA Real Estate Holdings LLC, Bayfront HMA Wellness Center LLC, Bayfront Health Imaging Center LLC, Beauco LLC, Beaumont Regional LLC, Biloxi H.M.A. LLC, Biloxi HMA Physician Management LLC, Biloxi Health System LLC, Birmingham Holdings II LLC, Birmingham Holdings LLC, Birmingham Home Care Services LLC, Blackwell HMA LLC, Blackwell HMPN LLC, Blackwell Home Health & Hospice LLC, Bluefield Holdings LLC, Bluffton Health System LLC, Bluffton Physician Services LLC, Brandon HMA LLC, Brandon Physician Management LLC, Brandywine Hospital Malpractice Assistance Fund Inc., Bravera Urgent Care LLC, Brazos Valley Surgical Center LLC, Brevard HMA ALF LLC, Brevard HMA APO LLC, Brevard HMA ASC LLC, Brevard HMA Diagnostic Imaging LLC, Brevard HMA HME LLC, Brevard HMA Holdings LLC, Brevard HMA Hospitals LLC, Brevard HMA Investment Properties LLC, Brevard HMA Nursing Home LLC, Brooksville HMA Physician Management LLC, Brownsville Clinic Corp., Brownsville Hospital Corporation, Brownwood Asset Holding Company LLC, Brownwood Hospital L.P., Brownwood Medical Center LLC, Bullhead City Clinic Corp., Bullhead City Hospital Corporation, Bullhead City Hospital Investment Corporation, Bullhead City Imaging Corporation, Bullhead Medical Pl, Bullhead Medical Plaza Ltd., CDI JV LLC, CHHS, CHHS Holdings LLC, CHHS Hospital Company LLC, CHS Kentucky Holdings LLC, CHS PSO LLC, CHS Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, CHS Realty Holdings I Inc., CHS Realty Holdings II Inc., CHS Realty Holdings III LLC, CHS Realty Holdings Joint Venture, CHS Receivables Funding LLC, CHS Tennessee Holdings LLC, CHS Virginia Holdings LLC, CHS Washington Holdings LLC, CHS-ASC LLC, CHS/Community Health Systems Inc., CHS/Community Health Systems Inc. Political Action Committ, CHSPSC ACO 1 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 10 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 11 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 12 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 13 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 14 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 15 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 16 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 17 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 18 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 19 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 2 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 20 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 21 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 22 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 23 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 24 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 25 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 26 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 27 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 28 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 29 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 3 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 30 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 4 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 5 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 6 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 7 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 8 LLC, CHSPSC ACO 9 LLC, CHSPSC ACO Holdings LLC, CHSPSC LLC, CHSPSC Leasing Inc., CP Hospital GP LLC, CP Premier Urgent Care JV LLC, CPLP LLC, CSMC LLC, Cadence Solutions Inc., Cahaba Orthopedics LLC, Campbell County HMA LLC, Cardiology Associates of Spokane LLC, Carlisle HMA LLC, Carlisle HMA Physician Management LLC, Carlisle HMA Surgery Center LLC, Carlisle Medical Group LLC, Carlsbad Medical Center LLC, Carolinas Holdings LLC, Carolinas JV Holdings General LLC, Carolinas JV Holdings II LLC, Carolinas JV Holdings L.P., Carolinas Medical Alliance Inc., Cedar Park Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Cedar Park Health System L.P., Cedar Park Surgery Center L.L.P., Cedar Park Surgery Center LLC, Center for Adult Healthcare LLC, Center for Medical Interoperability Inc. D, Center for Pain Management LLC, Central Florida HMA Holdings LLC, Central Polk LLC, Central States HMA Holdings LLC, Champion Sports Medicine Birmingham LLC, Chester HMA LLC, Chester HMA Physician Management LLC, Chester Medical Group LLC, Chester PPM LLC, Chesterton Surgery Center LLC, Chestnut Hill Health System LLC, Citrus HMA LLC, Clarksdale HMA LLC, Clarksdale HMA Physician Management LLC, Clarksville Endoscopy Center LLC, Clarksville Health System G.P., Clarksville Holdings II LLC, Clarksville Holdings LLC, Clarksville Home Care Services LLC, Clarksville Imaging Center LLC, Clarksville Physician Services G.P., Clarksville Surgicenter LLC, Cleveland ASC Holdings LLC, Cleveland Home Care Services LLC, Cleveland Hospital Company LLC, Cleveland Medical Clinic Inc., Cleveland PHO Inc., Cleveland Tennessee Hospital Company LLC, Clinton HMA LLC, Clinton HMPN LLC, Clinton Home Health & Hospice LLC, Coast Imaging LLC, Coatesville Hospital Corporation, Cocke County HMA LLC, Coffee Hospital Management Associates Inc., College Station Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, College Station Diagnostic Clinic, College Station Hospital L.P., College Station Medical Center LLC, College Station Merger LLC, College Station RHC Company LLC, Collier Boulevard HMA Physician Management LLC, Collier HMA Facility Based Physician Management LLC, Collier HMA Neurological Vascular Medical Group LLC, Collier HMA Physician Management LLC, Commonwealth Health Cancer Network LLC, Commonwealth Health Clinically Integrated Network LLC, Commonwealth Health IDTF LLC, Commonwealth Physician Network LLC, Community GP Corp., Community Health Investment Company LLC, Community Health Physicians Operations Holding Company LLC, Community Health Systems Foundation, Community Health Systems Inc., Community Information Network In, Community Insurance Group SPC LTD. Cayman Islan, Community LP Corp., Compass Imaging LLC, Credentialing Verification Services LLC, Crestview Hospital Corporation, Crestview Professional Condominiums Association Inc., Crestview Surgery Center L.P., Crestwood Clinic Services LLC, Crestwood Healthcare L.P., Crestwood Hospital LLC, Crestwood Hospital LP LLC, Crestwood Occupational Medicine/Convenient Care LLC, Crestwood Physician Services LLC, Crestwood Surgery Center LLC, Crossgates HMA Medical Group LLC, Crystal River HMA Physician Management LLC, DCF, DFW Physerv LLC, DH Cardiology LLC, DHFW Holdings LLC, Dallas Phy Service LLC, Dallas Physician Practice L.P., Deaconess Health System LLC, Deaconess Holdings LLC, Deaconess Hospital Holdings LLC, Deaconess Metropolitan Physicians LLC, Deaconess Physician Services LLC, Deming Home Care Services LLC, Desert Hospital Holdings LLC, Detar Hospital LLC, Detar/USP Surgery Center LLC, Diagnostic Imaging Centers of NE, Diagnostic Imaging Management of Brandywine Valley LLC, Diagnostic Imaging of Brandywine Valley LP, Dukes Health System LLC, Dukes Physician Services LLC, Dupont Bus, Dupont Hospital LLC, Durant H.M.A. LLC, Durant HMA Home Health LLC, Durant HMA Physician Management LLC, Dyersburg Clinic Corp., Dyersburg HBP Medical Group LLC, Dyersburg Hospital Company LLC, EGF LLC, EL MED LLC, East Georgia HMA Physician Management LLC, East Georgia Regional Medical Center LLC, East Tennessee Clinic Corp., Easton Hospital Malpractice Assistance Fund Inc., El Dorado Home Care Services LLC, El Dorado Surgery Center L.P., Eligibility Screening Services LLC, Empire Health Services, Emporia Clinic Corp., Emporia Hospital Corporation, Enterprise Clinic LLC, FMG PrimeCare LLC, FSED Management of Northwest Arkansas LLC, FSED Management of West Florida LLC, FWBH LLC, Fallbrook Hospital Corporation, First Choice Health Plan of Mississippi LLC, Firstcare , Florida Endoscopy and Surgery Center LLC, Florida HMA Holdings LLC, Florida HMA Regional Service Center LLC, Florida West Coast Health Alliance LLC, Flowood Mississippi Imaging LLC, Flowood River Oaks HMA Medical Group LLC, Foley Clinic Corp., Foley Hospit, Fort Smith HMA LLC, Fort Smith HMA PBC Management LLC, Fort Smith HMA Physician Management LLC, Forum Health, Frankfort Health Partner , Franklin Clinic Corp., Franklin Hospital Corporation, GRB Real Estate LLC, GRMC Holdings LLC, Gads, Gadsden HMA Physician Management LLC, Gadsden Region, Gadsden Surgery Center Ltd., Gaffney Clinic Company LLC, Gaffney H.M.A. LLC, Gaffney HMA Physician Management LLC, Gateway Medical Services Inc., Granbury Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Granbury Hospital Corporation, Granbury Mammography JV LLC, Grandview Medical Group Research LLC, Greenbrier VMC LLC, Greenbrier Valley Anesthesia LLC, Greenbrier Valley Emergency Physicians LLC, Gulf Coast HMA Physician Management LLC, Gulf South Surgery Center LLC, Gulfmed Inc., HIM Central Services LLC, HMA, HMA ASC Holdings LLC, HMA ASCOA Holdings LLC, HMA Bay, HMA CAT LLC, HMA Employee Disaster Relief Fund Inc., HMA Fentress County General Hospital LLC, HMA Hospital Holdings LP, HMA Lake Shore Inc., HMA MRI LLC, HMA Professional Services Group LP, HMA Santa Rosa Medical Center LLC, HMA Services GP LLC, HMA-TRI Holdings LLC, HMA/Solantic Joint Venture LLC, HOF ASC Holdings LLC, HP LRHS Land LLC, HTI Tucson Rehabilitation Inc., Haines City HMA LLC, Haines City HMA Physician Management LLC, Haines City HMA Urgent Care LLC, Hallmark Healthcare Company LLC, Harrison HMA LLC, Harton Clinic Company LLC, Hartsville ENT LLC, Hartsville HMA Physician Management LLC, Hattiesburg Home Care Services LLC, Health Education Services LLC, Health Management Associates, Health Management Associates LLC, Health Management Associates LP, Health Management General Partner I LLC, Health Management General Partner LLC, Health Management Information Technology LLC, Health Management Intellectual Properties LLC, Health Management Physician Associates LLC, HealthTrust Purchasing Group L.P., Healthwest Holdings Inc., Heritage Healthcare Innovation Fund II LP, Heritage Healthcare Innovation Fund III LP, Hernando HMA LLC, Highland Health Systems Inc., Highway 90 Development LLC, Hill Country ASC Partners L.L.C., Hill Regional Clinic Corp., Hobbs Medco LLC, Hood Medical Group, Hood Medical Services Inc., Hospital Laundry Services , Hospital Management Associates LLC, Hospital Management Services of, Hospital of Fulton Inc., Hospital of Morristown LLC, Hot Springs Outpatient Surgery Center G.P., INACTCO Inc., IOM Health System L.P., Imaging JV Holdings LLC, Intermountain Medical Group Inc., Jackson HMA LLC, Jackson HMA North Medical Office Building LLC, Jackson Home Care Services LLC, Jackson Hospital Corporation, Jackson Tennessee Hospital Company LLC, Jamestown HMA Physician Management LLC, Jefferson ASC Holdings LLC, Jefferson ASC LLC, Jefferson County HMA LLC, Jennersville Regional Hospital Malpractice Assistance Fund Inc., Jourdanton Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Jourdanton Hospital Corporation, Kay County, Kay County Clinic Company LLC, Kay County Hospital Corporation, Kennett HMA LLC, Kennett HMA Physician Management LLC, Key West HMA LLC, Key West HMA Physician Management LLC, Key West Home Health LLC, Key West Private Care LLC, Keystone HMA Property Management LLC, Kirksville Academic Medicine LLC, Kirksville Clinic Corp., Kirksville Home Care Services LLC, Kirksville Hospital Company LLC, Kirksville Missouri Hospital Company LLC, Kirksville Physical Therapy Services LLC, Knox Hospital Company LLC, Knoxville Center for Behavioral Medicine LLC, Knoxville HMA Cardiology PPM LLC, Knoxville HMA Development LLC, Knoxville HMA Family Services LLC, Knoxville HMA Holdings LLC, Knoxville HMA Homecare DME & Hospice LLC, Knoxville HMA JV Holdings LLC, Knoxville HMA Mission Services LLC, Knoxville HMA Physician Management LLC, Knoxville HMA Wellness Center LLC, Knoxville Home Care Services LLC, Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital LLC, Knoxville Tennessee Turkey Creek MOB LLC, Kosciusko Ambulance Services LLC, Kosciusko Medical Group LLC, LHT Knoxville Properties LLC, LRH LLC, La Porte Clinic Company LLC, La Porte Health System LLC, La Porte Home Care Services LLC, La Porte Hospital Company LLC, La Porte Occupational Health Services LLC, La Porte and Starke EMS LLC, Lake Shore HMA LLC, Lake Shore HMA Medical Group LLC, Lake Wales Clinic Corp., Lake Wales Hospital Corporation, Lake Wales Hospital Investment Corporation, Lake Wales Imaging Center LLC, Lakeway Hospital Company LLC, Lancaster Clinic Corp., Lancaster HMA LLC, Lancaster HMA Physician Management LLC, Lancaster Hospital Corporation, Lancaster Imaging Center LLC, Lancaster Medical Group HMA LLC, Lancaster Medical Group LLC, Lancaster Out, Langtree Endoscopy Center LLC, Laredo Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Laredo Texas Hospital Company L.P., Las Cruces ASC-GP LLC, Las Cruces Home Care Services LLC, Las Cruces Medical Center LLC, Las Cruces Physician Services LLC, Las Cruces Surgery Center L.P., Las Cruces Surgery Center  Telshor LLC, Lea Regional Hospital LLC, Lebanon HMA LLC, Lebanon HMA Physician Management LLC, Lebanon HMA Surgery Center LLC, Lehigh HMA LLC, Lehigh HMA Physician Management LLC, Little Rock HMA Inc., Live Oak HMA LLC, Live Oak HMA Medical Group LLC, Lone Star HMA L.P., Lone Star HMA Physician Management Inc., Longview Clinic Operations Company LLC, Longview Medical Center L.P., Longview Merger LLC, Louisburg HMA Physician Management LLC, Lower, Lufkin Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Lutheran Health Imaging LLC, Lutheran Health Network Investors LLC, Lutheran Health Network of Indiana LLC, Lutheran Health Quality Alliance LLC, Lutheran Medical Group LLC, Lutheran Medical Office Park Phase II Property Owners Association , Lutheran Medical Office Park Property Owners Association , Lutheran Musculoskeletal Center LLC, Lutheran/TRMA Network LLC, MCSA L.L.C., MDSave Inc., MEDSTAT LLC, Madison Clinic Corp., Madison HMA LLC, Madison HMA Physician Management LLC, Madison Health System LLC, Marion Physician Services LLC, Marion Regional Healthcare System, Marshall County HMA LLC, Marshall County HMPN LLC, Martin Clinic Corp., Martin Hospital Company LLC, Mary Black Health System LLC, Mary Black HealthNetwork Inc., Mary Black MOB II Limited Partnership, Mary Black Medical Office Building Limited Partnership, Mary Black Physician Services LLC, Mary Black Physicians Group LLC, Mat-Su Regional ASC GP LLC, Mat-Su Regional Surgery Center L.P., Mat-Su Valley II LLC, Mat-Su Valley III LLC, Mat-Su Valley Medical Center LLC, Mayes County HMA LLC, Mayes County HMPN LLC, McKenna Court Homes LLC, McNairy Clinic Corp., McNairy Hospital Corporation, Medical Center of Brownwood LLC, Melbourne HMA LLC, Melbourne HMA Medical Group LLC, Mercy Cardiovascular Cath Lab LLC, Merger Legacy Holdings LLC, Mesquite HMA General LLC, Metro Knoxville HMA LLC, Michigan City MOB LLC, Middlebrook ASC LLC, Middlebrook Property Partners LLC, Midwest City HMA Physician Management LLC, Midwest Regional Medical Center LLC, Mississippi HMA Holdings I LLC, Mississippi HMA Holdings II LLC, Mississippi HMA Hospitalists LLC, Moberly Hospital Company LLC, Moberly Medical Clinics Inc., Moberly Physicians Corp., Mooresville HMA Investors LLC, Mooresville HMA Physician Management LLC, Mooresville Home Care Services LLC, Mooresville Hospital Management Associates LLC, Mooresville PPM LLC, Morristown Clinic Corp., Morristown Surgery Center LLC, Munroe HMA HMPN LLC, Munroe HMA Holdings LLC, Munroe HMA Hospital LLC, NC-DSH LLC, NOV Holdings LLC, NRH LLC, Naples HMA LLC, Natchez Clinic Company LLC, Natchez HBP Services LLC, Natchez Hospital Company LLC, National Healthcare of Leesville Inc., National Healthcare of Newport Inc., Navarro Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Navarro Hospital L.P., Navarro Regional LLC, New Cedar Lake Surgery Center LLC, Newport Physician Clinics Inc., North Okaloosa Clinic Corp., North Okaloosa Home Health LLC, North Okaloosa Medical Corp., North Okaloosa Surgery Venture Corp., Northampton Cardiology Clinic LLC, Northampton Clinic Company LLC, Northampton Hospital Company LLC, Northampton Physician Services Corp., Northampton Urgent Care LLC, Northern, Northwest Allied Physicians LLC, Northwest Arkansas Employees LLC, Northwest Arkansas HBP Services LLC, Northwest Arkansas Hospitals LLC, Northwest Arkansas Paramed Transfer LLC, Northwest Benton County Physician Services LLC, Northwest Cardiology LLC, Northwest HBP Medical Services LLC, Northwest Hospital Cardiac Diagnostics L.P., Northwest Hospital LLC, Northwest Imaging Associates LLC, Northwest Indiana Health System LLC, Northwest Physicians LLC, Northwest Sahuarita Hospital LLC, Northwest Urgent Care LLC, Northwest-Sparks Quality Alliance LLC, OPS Dupont LLC, Oak Hill Clinic Corp., Oak Hill Hospital Corporation, Oklahoma City ASC-GP LLC, Olive Branch Clinic Corp., Olive Branch Hospital Inc., One Boyertown Properties L.P., Open Air of MSLOU L.L.C., Oro Valley Hospital LLC, Osler HMA Medical Group LLC, PBEC HMA Inc., Pacific Group ASC Division Inc., Pacific Physicians Services LLC, Palmer-Wasilla Health System LLC, Palmetto Tri-County Medical Specialists LLC, Parkway Regional Medical Clinic Inc., Pasco Hernando HMA Physician Management LLC, Pasco Regional Medical Center LLC, Payson Healthcare Management Inc., Payson Hospital Corporation, Peckville Hospital Company LLC, Pecos Valley of New Mexico LLC, Pennsylvania Hospital Company LLC, Personal Home Health Care LLC, Petersburg Clinic Company LLC, Petersburg Hospital Company LLC, Phoenixville Hospital Company LLC, Phoenixville Hospital Malpractice Assistance Fund Inc., Physician Practice Support LLC, Piedmont Surgical Center of Excellence LLC, Piney Woods Healthcare System L.P., Polk Medical Services Inc., Ponca City Home Care Services LLC, Poplar Bluff Physician Management LLC, Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center LLC, Port Charlotte HBP Services LLC, Port Charlotte HMA LLC, Port Charlotte HMA Physician Management LLC, Porter Health Services LLC, Porter Hospital LLC, Porter Physician Services LLC, Pottstown Hospital Company LLC, Pottstown Hospital Corporation, Pottstown Imaging Company LLC, Pottstown Memorial Malpractice Assistance Fund Inc., Preferential Health Network Inc., Premier Care Super PHO LLC, PremierC, Professional Account Services Inc., Punta Gorda HMA LLC, Punta Gorda HMA Physician Management LLC, Punta Gorda Medical Arts Center Association Inc., QHG Georgia Holdings II LLC, QHG Georgia Holdings Inc., QHG Georgia LP, QHG of, QHG of Barberton Inc., QHG of Bluffton Company LLC, QHG of Cl, QHG of Enterprise Inc., QHG of Forrest County Inc., QHG of Fort Wayne Company LLC, QHG of Hattiesburg Inc., QHG of South Carolina Inc., QHG of Spartanburg Inc., QHG of Springdale Inc., QHG of Texas Inc., QHG of Warsaw Company LLC, ROH LLC, Rankin Cardiology Center LLC, Regional Cardiology Group LLC, Regional Clinics of Longview, Regional Employee Assistance Program, Regional Hospital of Longview LLC, Rehab Hospital of Fort Wayne General Partnership, Revenue Cycle Service Center LLC, River Oaks Hospital LLC, River Oaks Management Company LLC, River Oaks Medical Office Building LLC, River Region Medical Corporation, Riverview Regional Medical Center LLC, Rockledge HMA Convenient Care LLC, Rockledge HMA LLC, Rockledge HMA Medical Group LLC, Rockledge HMA Urgent Care LLC, Rockwood Clinic Real Estate Holdings LLC, Ronceverte Physician Group LLC, Rose City HMA LLC, Rose City HMA Medical Group LLC, Roswell Clinic Corp., Roswell Hospital Corporation, Russell County Clinic Corp., Russell County Medical Center Inc., Ruston Clinic Company LLC, Ruston Hospital Corporation, Ruston Louisiana Hospital Company LLC, SACMC LLC, SEPA Integrated Provi, SJ Home Care LLC, SS ParentCo. LLC, Salem Clinic Corp., Salem Home Care Holdings LLC, Salem Home Care Services LLC, Salem Hospital Corporation, Salem Medical Professionals Inc., Samaritan Surgicenters of Arizona II LLC, San Angelo Community Medical Center LLC, San Angelo Hospital L.P., San Angelo Medical LLC, Santa Rosa HMA Physician Management LLC, Santa Rosa HMA Urgent Care LLC, Scott County HMA LLC, Scranton Cardiovascular Physician Services LLC, Scranton Clinic Company LLC, Scranton Emergency Physician Services LLC, Scranton GP Holdings LLC, Scranton Holdings LLC, Scranton Hospital Company LLC, Scranton Hospitalist Physician Services LLC, Scranton Quincy Ambulance LLC, Scranton Quincy Clinic Company LLC, Scranton Quincy Holdings LLC, Scranton Quincy Home Care Services LLC, Scranton Quincy Hospital Company LLC, Scranton Quincy QRFS LLC, Sebastian HMA Physician Management LLC, Sebastian Home Care Services LLC, Sebastian Hospital LLC, Sebastopol LLC, Sebring HMA Physician Management LLC, Sebring Hospital Management Associates LLC, Select Specialty Hospital - Tucson LLC, Select Tucson Holdings LLC, Seminole HMA LLC, Seminole HMPN LLC, Seven Hills Community Medical Center Condominium Association Inc., Sharon Clinic Company LLC, Sharon Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, Sharon Pennsylvania Hospital Company LLC, Sharon Regional HBP Medical Group LLC, Shelby Alabama Real Estate LLC, Shelbyville Clinic Corp., Shelbyville Home Care Services LLC, Shelbyville Hospital Company LLC, Siloam Springs Arkansas Hospital Company LLC, Siloam Springs Clinic Company LLC, Siloam Springs Holdings LLC, Silver Creek MRI LLC, SkyRidge Clinical Associates LLC, Solis Mammography at Navarro Regional Hospital LLC, South Abilene Radiology LLC, South Arkansas Physician Services LLC, SouthCrest L.L.C., Southeast, Southeast HMA Holdings LLC, Southern Health Network Inc., Southern Texas Medical Center LLC, Southsi, Southwest Florida HMA Holdings LLC, Southwest Physicians Risk Retention Group Inc., Sparks PremierC, Spokane Valley Washington Hospital Company LLC, Spokane Washington Hospital Company LLC, Spring Hill HMA Medical Group LLC, Springdale Home Care Services LLC, Sprocket Medical Management LLC, St. Joseph Health System LLC, Starke HMA LLC, Starke HMA Medical Group LLC, Statesboro HMA Medical Group LLC, Statesboro HMA Physician Management LLC, Statesville HMA LLC, Statesville HMA Medical Group LLC, StrokeCareNow LLC, Summit Surgical Suites LLC, Supply Chain Shared Service Center LLC, Surgi, Surgical Center of Carlsbad LLC, Surgicare Outpatient Center of, Surgicare of Clarksville LLC, Surgicare of Independence Inc., Surgicare of Sherman Inc., Surgicenters of America Inc., Susitna ASC Holdings LLC, Susitna Surgery Center LLC, Tennessee HMA Holdings LP, Tennessee HMA Regional Service Center LLC, Tennova Medical Park Property Owners Association Inc., Tennyson Holdings LLC, Terrell Medical Center LLC, Texas Bay Area Clinical Services Inc., The Sleep Disorder Center of Wyoming Valley LLC, The Surgery Center LLC, The Vicksburg Clinic LLC, Timberland Medical Group, Tomball Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Tomball Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Tomball Texas Holdings LLC, Tomball Texas Hospital Company LLC, Tomball Texas Ventures LLC, Tri-Irish Inc., Triad Healthcare LLC, Triad Holdings III LLC, Triad Holdings IV LLC, Triad Holdings V LLC, Triad Hospitals, Triad Indiana Holdings LLC, Triad Nevada Holdings LLC, Triad of Alabama LLC, Triad of Arizona L.P. Inc., Triad of Phoenix Inc., Triad-, Triad-ARMC LLC, Triad-Arizona I Inc., Triad-El Dorado Inc., Triad-Navarro Regional Hospital Subsidiary LLC, Triad-South Tulsa Hospital Company Inc., Tucson Home Care Services LLC, Tug Valley Healthcare Alliance Inc., Tullahoma HMA LLC, Tullahoma HMA Physician Management LLC, Utilization Review Services LLC, VHC Medical LLC, Valley Advanced Imag, Valley Advanced MRI LLC, ValleyCare Cardiology Group LLC, Valparaiso Home Care Services LLC, Van Buren H.M.A. LLC, Van Buren HMA Central Business Office LLC, Vanderbilt-Gateway Cancer Center G.P., Venice HMA LLC, Venice Home Care Services LLC, Vero Beach Florida ASC LLC, Vicksburg Healthcare LLC, Victoria Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Victoria Clinic Asset Holding Company LLC, Victoria Hospital LLC, Victoria Texas Home Care Services LLC, Victoria of Texas L.P., Virginia Care Company LLC, Virginia Hospital Company LLC, VirtualHealthConnect LLC, WA-SPOK DH CRNA LLC, WA-SPOK DH Urgent Care LLC, WA-SPOK Kidney Care LLC, WA-SPOK Medical Care LLC, WA-SPOK Primary Care LLC, WA-SPOK Pulmonary & Critical Care LLC, WA-SPOK VH CRNA LLC, WA-SPOK VH Urgent Care LLC, WHMC LLC, Warren Ohio Hospital Company LLC, Warren Ohio Physician Services LLC, Warren Ohio Rehab Hospital Company LLC, Warsaw Health System LLC, Washington Clinic Corp., Washington Hospital Corporation, Washington Physician Corp., Weatherford Hospital Corporation, Weatherford Texas Hospital Company LLC, Webb County Texas Home Care Services LLC, Webb Hospital Corporation, Webb Hospital Holdings LLC, Wesley Health System LLC, Wesley HealthTrust Inc., Wesley Physician Services LLC, West Grove Hospital Company LLC, Western Arizona Regional Home Health and Hospice LLC, Wilkes-Barre Aca, Wilkes-Barre Behavioral Hospital Company LLC, Wilkes-Barre Behavioral Ventures LLC, Wilkes-Barre Clinic Company LLC, Wilkes-Barre Community Resi, Wilkes-Barre Holdings LLC, Wilkes-Barre Home Care Services LLC, Wilkes-Barre Hospital Company LLC, Wilkes-Barre Intermountain Clinic LLC, Wilkes-Barre Personal Care Services LLC, Wilkes-Barre Radiation Oncology LLC, Wiregrass Clinic LLC, Women & Childrens Hospital LLC, Womens He, Womens Health Partners LLC, Womens Health Specialists of Carlisle LLC, Woodland Heights Medical Center LLC, Woodward Clinic Company LLC, Woodward Health System LLC, Woodward Home Care Services LLC, Yakima HMA LLC, Yakima HMA Physician Management LLC, York Anesthesiology Physician Services LLC, York Clinic Company LLC, York Pathology Physician Services LLC, York Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, York Pennsylvania Hospital Company LLC, Youngstown Ohio Hospital Company LLC, Youngstown Ohio Laboratory Services Company LLC, Youngstown Ohio Outpatient Services Company LLC, Youngstown Ohio PSC LLC, and Youngstown Ohio Physician Services Company LLC.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited.

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Nepals first biogas plant starts producing CNG

Envipower Energy and Fertilisers Pvt Ltd, Nepals first-ever biogas plant commercially producing bottled compressed natural gas (CNG) has begun operations. The CNG can be used as an alternative to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)popularly known as cooking gas.
The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: 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 Premier Plan MMAI Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Illinois Inc., Aetna Better Health of Indiana Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas 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 Tennessee 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 (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Insurance Company of New York, 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 (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Ex Pat LLC, Aetna International LLC, Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators 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 Health Plan Inc., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., 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., 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 Cabot Holdings Inc., CVS Cabot Holdings Inc.  Coram Clinical Trials Inc. 99.72%/Aetna Inc. .28%, 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 Applications LLC, CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Health Ventures Fund GP LLC, CVS Health Ventures Fund LP, CVS Health Ventures Management 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 Management Support 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 Pharmacy Overseas Online LLC, CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS Shaw Holdings Inc., CVS Shaw Holdings Inc.  Coram Clinical Trials Inc. 99.72%/Aetna Inc. .28%, CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Austin LLC, CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Los Angeles LLC, CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Philadelphia LLC, CVS-SHC Renal Holdings LLC, 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, 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 Clinical Trials Inc.  CVS Pharmacy Inc. 75%/Aetna Life Insurance Company 25%, 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 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 Transplant Network Inc., Credentials Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, 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 LLC, Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., First Choice of the Midwest LLC, First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, 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., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., 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 Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Main Street Pharmacy L.L.C., 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, Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arkansas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Colorado 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, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services of Texas Association, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky LLC, 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 Pharmacy Services LLC, 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 Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare LLC, Omnicare LLC  Aetna Inc 0.28%/CVS Cabot Holdings Inc. 49.86%/CVS Shaw Holdings Inc. 49.86%, 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 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., 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, 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 LLC, 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.

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New skin for the new year

There is perhaps no other activity that is as decidedly human as the obsession over the passage of time, pigeon-holed into days and months and years. No animal marks time so stringently as the human, to paraphrase Mitch Albom.
Oli to meet Dahal ahead of Jan 10 Bangkok trip

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to visit Bangkok for medical examinations on January 10.
President bemoans slow pace of hydro development

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has expressed concern at the slow pace of hydropower development in the country despite its century-long history of generating hydroelectricity.
Protests for state capital continue

People continued their protests demanding that their hometowns should be declared the state capitals in Dhankuta, Doti and Parsa districts on Friday as well.
The H-1B scheme offers temporary US visas that allow firms to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers.

Washington: Some US lawmakers and advocacy groups have criticised the Trump administrations reported plan to curb H-1B visa extensions that could result in self- deportation of an estimated 5-7.5 lakh Indian Americans, saying the move would drain US of talent.

The proposal, which was part of President Donald Trumps Buy American, Hire American initiative that he vowed to launch on the campaign trail, is being drafted by Department of Homeland Security leaders, according to reports.

The H-1B scheme offers temporary US visas that allow firms to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers.

But since taking office last January, the Trump administration has been cracking down on the scheme.

Influential Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said: Imposing these draconian restrictions on H-1B visa holders will tear families apart, drain our society of talent and expertise, and damage our relationship with an important partner, India. This proposal could lead to the deportation of an estimated 5-7.5 lakh Indian H-1B visa holders, many of whom are small business owners and job creators who are helping to build and strengthen our US economy. This brain drain will stifle innovation and decrease our ability to compete in the global 21st century economy, Ms Gabbard said.

In a statement the Hindu American Foundation sounded alarm over the Trump administrations proposal to deny extensions of H-1B visas to green card applicants and leaving them with no choice but to return to the country of origin or be deported.

Indo-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said while priority must continue to be improving advanced training for domestic workforce, ending H-1B visa extensions would kneecap American economy and encourage companies to further offshore jobs, instead of making those investments here.

I hope the administration immediately rejects this proposal, he said.

Congressman Ro Khanna said the proposal was anti- immigrant.

My parents came here on green cards. So did @sundarpichai, @elonmusk, @satyanadella. Trump is saying to immigrants and their kids we dont have a place in America. Its not just wrong. Its dumb. Mr President, would America really be greater without us? he asked in a tweet.
Deepika, turns 32 today and was in Vienna over the Christmas and New Year weekend, and flew down to Colombo to ring in the New Year with Ranveer, who joined her.

Is this it? After Virushka, a Deepveer or should that be a Ranvika? After Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli's destination wedding at a plush vineyard in the Tuscany valley, it seems the will-they-won't-they ball has passed to A-list Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Could this be THE wedding of 2018? Well, the rumour mill is abuzz that Ranveer will pop the question on Deepika's birthday, January 5, in Sri Lanka.

Except, the actress' close circle of friends in Bengaluru have responded to DC's queries by saying "I don't know why everyone thinks so." !! Deepika, turns 32 today and was in Vienna over the Christmas and New Year weekend, and flew down to Colombo to ring in the New Year with Ranveer, who joined her. Sources told Deccan Chronicle that the much-loved couple rang in the New Year in Sri Lanka snorkeling together, adding " Sri Lanka is a country that lets people be and doesn't intrude. So, they will be able to spend quality time with each other." Deepika and Ranveer star in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversial film Padmavati, which also stars Shahid Kapoor.
When the girl did not follow the steps, the angry master beat her, resulting in injuries on her cheeks. Other girls too were beaten. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: The dance master and the principal of Sri Chaitanya School at Kothapet under Saroornagar police station limits were booked for allegedly beating a Class IV student for not doing well in dance rehearsals.

A case under Section 323 of IPC (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act were registered.

Meanwhile, child rights activists demanded that such teachers and schools should be weeded out from the education system.

On Friday, the girl along with a few others were practising dance in the school under dance master Prabhaker.

When the girl did not follow the steps, the angry master beat her, resulting in injuries on her cheeks. Other girls too were beaten.

The girls maternal uncle who learnt about the incident came to the school to enquire about it, but did not get any response from the management.

Parents of other students too arrived, staged a dharna and later lodged a complaint with the police. The complaint of the girls uncle said dance master Prabhaker beat the girl severely and injured her and school principal Shobha was supporting him and took no action.
The BJP government paint the outer wall of the UP State Haj Committee office in saffron, at Lucknow on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

Lucknow: UP State Haj Committee office in Lucknow has shed its green colour and taken on the shade of saffron. The Haj committee supervises the Mecca pilgrimage and is used by Muslims as a transit point while on their way to pilgrimage in Mecca.

The green-and-white exterior wall of the Haj House is now being painted sa-ffron and Opposition parties have accused the Yogi government of deliberately provoking the minority community by fanning religious sentiments.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been pursuing his saffron agenda ever since he took over as Chief Minister, ten months ago.

From books to diaries to his office, the upholstery on the furniture, towels, buses, school buildings and electric poles have taken on a saffron hue.

Congress spokesman Surendra Rajput said, The painting of the Haj house in saffron colour is a deliberate attempt to annoy Muslims. If Hindus are using saffron, Muslims should also be permitted to use green. Every individual should be allowed to enjoy his religious freedom.

SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary also accused the state government of trying to impose its choices on minorities. The BJP is creating a dangerous situation in the state with such steps, he said.

Mr Mohsin Raza, the lone Muslim minister in the UP government, said that saffron was a colour that gave positive energy and there was no harm is using it.
Inquiries revealed that the textbooks at the Peace Foundation International School, were aimed at the propagation of ideas contradicting the country's secular policies. (Photo: Facebook/Peace International School)

Thiruvanathapuram: The Kerala government has ordered the closure of a private school at Kochi for having contents in its syllabus that go against the country's secular policies.

The order for the school's closure, issued on Thursday, said it was highly necessary to stop the operation of such institutions "to prevent the Muslims from joining ISIS (Islamic State) activities."

Inquiries revealed that the textbooks at the Peace Foundation International School, were aimed at the propagation of ideas contradicting the country's secular policies besides trying to spread propaganda which was against the country's policies, an order said.

"Hence in order to prevent the Muslims from joining IS activities, it is highly necessary to stop the operation of such institutions," the order said.

It also said the government has not issued a no objection certificate (NOC) to the school and that it has no Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board affiliation.

The school at Thammanam in Ernakulam came under the scanner in October 2016 after the district educational officer filed a complaint against the school on the contents of the textbooks.

The Education Secretary to the Director of Public Instruction issued the order under the Right to Education Act to close the school and transfer students to neighbourhood schools.
Bengaluru: With an increase in communal violence and moral policing incidents, Mangaluru has become the testing ground for two major political parties  Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  in the forthcoming Assembly elections. But for the Popular Front of India (PFI), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), BajrangDal (BD) and Hindu Jagran Vedike (HJV), communal unrest and the killings are recruitment drives of the infantry in the extremely polarised camps of the tworeligious communities.

Karnatakas coastline has always been polarised, but of late, a lot of unemployed youth are joining these organisations, more in search of an extremist religious identity. They prey upon members of the other community to prove their calibre and intent to their recruiters, who assign them with hardened crimes once they sharpen their skills. The new recruits are provided with training in handling weapons, organisational protection and free legal assistance in case they are arrested and monetary and other support to their families if they are killed. It is alarming to see the extent of their motivation, said an official source.

PFI is an old, well-layered and cadre-based organisation with sound monetary, logistic and manpower support from their patrons in Kerala and outside the country. The fund and manpower flow may have increased in the recent past. It has very a strong political wing at the grassroots level. Their agenda is to gain political legitimacy in South India. BD and HJV are also equally motivated and organised Right wing outfits with a lot of support from fringe Hindutva groups, he said.

Even inside the prisons theres danger of communal violence. Sources told this newspaper that it is difficult and dangerous to lodge convicts of either camp in Mangaluru Central prison and undertrial prisoners in Bantwal sub-jail. Prison officers have to keep a very close watch on the convicts and UTs in these prisons. Bantwal prison is a bigger problem. The undertrial prisoners here cannot be transferred to another prison, because they have to appear before the jurisdictional court where their case is registered, said a prison officer.

There are socio-economic and political reasons behind the growing fundamentalism in Karnatakas coastal belt. The law enforcement agencies should have their ears to the ground and keep a close watch on any untoward movement, said former IPS officer Gopal Hosur.
Rupandehi bandh to protest murder of trader Basanta Paudel

Youth and student wing affiliated to CPN-UML have enforced an indefinite general strike in Rupandehi district on Saturday to protest the murder of trader Basanta Paudel aka Balu.
Srinagar: Four policemen were killed when militants detonated a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) planted beneath the front of a closed shop in Sopore town, 48-km northwest of summer capital Srinagar, on Saturday.

Jaish-e-Muhammad, a UN-designated terrorist group active mainly in Jammu and Kashmir, has claimed responsibility. It said that its Shaheed Afzal Guru Squad carried out the attack, killing five cops and injuring several others.

Guru, the Parliament attack convict hanged to death in Delhis Tihar jail on February 9, 2013, was a resident of Doabgah suburb of Sopore.

Responding to the JeT claim, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Munir Ahmad Khan, said that the police had to verify its authenticity. We will have to see other aspects also and see which of the claims are true.

Khan while speaking to reporters at the wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen cops of the Indian Reserve Police (IRP) held at the district police lines said that there was a new hand in Saturdays IED blast which has made the security forces to rethink their strategy in tackling the challenge. Elaborating, he said that it was for the first time since 2015 that the militants have used an IED to target the security forces. The IED blasts had almost stopped. It seems there is a new hand who is an expert in this (IED planting). We will have to think about how to deal with it and chalk out some new strategy. We will put our heads together and think, he said.

The deadly blast took place on the day when Sopore which has Asia's second largest fruit mandi and is also known as the Apple Town was shut to commemorate the massacre of 57 residents allegedly by Border Security Force (BSF). On January 1993, the BSF troops had in reprisal to a sneak attack by militants raided the centre of the town and allegedly shot civilians and torched properties. Sopore has been a hotbed of militancy and all along a stronghold of pro-Pakistani political parties and groups like Jamaat-e-Islami.

The police said that the security across the town and its neighbourhood had been beefed up ahead of one-day strike called by local traders and endorsed by an alliance of key separatist leaders called Joint Resistance Leadership. The militants detonated the remote-controlled IED when the policemen reached the scene while doing their rounds, the police officials said. The IED went off near a lane between 'Chotta Bazaar' and 'Bada Bazaar' of the town and it destroyed three shops and caused damage to three more and some other nearby structures.

The slain policemen were ASI Irshad Ahmad and Constables Ghulam Nabi, Parvaiz Ahmad and Mohammad Amin, all J&K residents. After the ceremony, their bodies were handed over to their families for last rites in their respective native villages.

Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said that she was pained to hear about the death of cops in the IED blast. She wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.com Pained to hear that four policeman have been killed in an IED explosion in Sopore. My deepest condolences to their families.

Later, the Chief Minister in a statement said it was highly unfortunate to see these young cops being killed when they were in the line of duty in the town. She said, The vortex of violence in the State needs to be broken and for that every section of society has to work shoulder to shoulder. Mufti conveyed her heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls.

Her predecessor and opposition National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah, tweeted, "Very sad news from #Sopore. May the four brave J&K police personnel killed in the line of duty today rest in peace."

This was second deadly attack carried out by JeM since one of its top commanders Noor Muhammad Tantray alias Noor Trali was killed by the security forces during an operation in Samboora, Pampore area of southern Pulwama on December 26.

On December 31, three JeM fidayeen had launched a post-midnight attack at the camp of the CRPFs 185 battalion at Lethpora in Pulwama. One officer and four jawans were killed before the militants could be killed in counter actions. Among the slain militants was 16-year-old Fardeen Ahmad Khanday, the son of a policeman, who was found carrying 24 grenades and a video message that asked young men in Kashmir to join the JeM.
Jaipur: Minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj has won many hearts for helping many Indians in times of trouble. Once again, her rescuing act has saved a young talented girl's dream of studying in the United States. Her intervention helped 17-year-old Bhanupriya to get US visa.

Bhanupriya Haritwal of Jalalpur village in Sikar Rajasthan had won a state government scholarship of Rs 1 crore to study abroad for getting into the top three in the merit list for class X. She had cleared the entrance test to study a four-year engineering degree programme from California State University.

However, even after clearing the entrance test, Haritwal was denied visa twice due to unknown reasons. Her dream of studying abroad were crashed after she learnt that her visa has been denied again. Haritwal, whose father Sohan Lal is a teacher at a private college in Sikar district, had applied for the visa, but the embassy rejected it twice. Her family then approached Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand who approached Ms Swaraj for help.

After Ms Swaraj's intervention, the US embassy granted visa to the girl who did her schooling in Hindi medium. Soon after her class XII exams, she had prepared for Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and IELTS. She secured good scores which paved way for her admission.

The scholarship programme for top three girls from government schools in the merit list was initiated by Ashok Gehlot in 2011. However, only four girls have availed its benefits.
Apple recently came up with a battery replacement program, which reduces the price of iPhone battery repairs from around $79 to $29 after it was accused of deliberately slowing down its older devices.

According to a report of The Investor, an official battery manufacturer has reportedly revealed that Apple charges twice as much as Samsung for battery repairs. The source also claims that the former overcharges its customers even though the technology and the complexity of the process is almost the same.

The battery manufacturer was quoted saying, All flagship phones from Samsung, LG and Apple have the most advanced batteries in the market. There is no reason for the price difference. Battery replacement for an iPhone may be trickier considering its use of unique parts like black pouch and tape. Still, it is difficult to understand why the cost is so high.

The report also quoted an official of a smartphone manufacturer who said, Apple is saying they are reducing the price for consumers but the price is never a discount considering parts and labor costs.

The iPhone batteries are known to have a smaller capacity than those used in the flagship phones which Samsung has. iPhone 7, which is the latest model under the replacement program, features a 1,960 mAh battery unit, while in contrast, Samsungs Galaxy S8 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery.

While Apple hasnt commented on the cost of a battery replacement, and with the program being underway, the customers are allowed to request the repairs at the discounted price in any Apple Store.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
The storm was powered by a rapid plunge in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis, or a bomb cyclone. (Photo: AP)

Boston/New York: A powerful blizzard battered the US Northeast on Thursday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of people and snarling travel amid a cold snap that has gripped much of the United States for over a week and killed more than a dozen people.

Thousands of flights were cancelled, firefighters scrambled to rescue motorists from flooded streets in Boston, National Guard troops were mobilized in the Northeast and New York City's two main airports halted flights because of whiteout conditions.

"Today, I thought Manhattan was going to have the streets cleaned up, but I see not," said Valentine Williams, who usually operates an electric scooter to deliver food in New York City.

The snow forced Williams, 28, to make deliveries on foot. No customers complained that he was slower than usual. "They're just surprised that I'm out here," he added.

Officials feared fast-dropping temperatures after the storm passed would turn snow on roadways to ice.

Ahead of that threat, snow plows and salt trucks were dispatched along streets and highways, and schools were closed through much of the region. In Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh said schools would remain closed on Friday.

Blizzard warnings were in effect along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine. The US National Weather Service measured wind gusts of more than 70 miles per hour (113 kph), which downed power lines.

Almost 80,000 homes and businesses in the Northeast and Southeast, where the storm struck on Wednesday, were without power.

The Boston area received 12 inches of snow, with more on the way, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of New Jersey were buried under nearly a foot and a half of powder.

The storm was powered by a rapid plunge in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis, or a "bomb cyclone." It brought high winds and swift, heavy snowfall.

The wintry weather has been blamed for at least 14 deaths in the past few days, including four in North Carolina traffic accidents and three in Texas because of the cold.

Nearly 500 members of the National Guard were activated along the East Coast to assist with emergency response, including 200 in New York state, the US Department of Defense said in a statement.

Travel woes

More than 5,000 US airline flights were cancelled. At New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia airports, all flights were temporarily halted because of whiteout conditions, the Federal Aviation Administration said. LaGuardia on Thursday evening announced on Twitter that the suspension had been lifted. But the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said flights at JFK would not resume until 7 am Friday.

Passenger train operator Amtrak ran reduced service in the Northeast. Sporadic delays were reported on transit systems, including New York's Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter lines, as well as the Boston area's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority system.

"Years of Band-Aid solutions create nightmare situations when storm damage occurs," said Joseph Schwieterman, a professor of public policy and specialist in transportation systems at DePaul University in Chicago. "Replacement parts are tough to find and maintenance process turns into major headache."

In New York's Fort Greene neighbourhood, Mohammed Farid Khan said his morning commute took three times as long as usual because of train woes.

"There were only local trains, no express," Khan, 30, said as he hunched with an electric drill trying to fix the handle of his snow shovel inside the convenience store where he works.

Icy rescues

A 3-foot (0.9-metre) tidal surge flooded the area around Boston's historic Long Wharf with icy seawater. Firefighters used an inflatable raft to rescue one motorist from a car submerged in water up to its door handles, Boston Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn told reporters.

The flooding tied a 40-year record, the National Weather Service said.

Boston officials briefly thought they would need to evacuate a shelter near the flooded areas, Walsh said.

Officials reported traffic accidents throughout the Northeast and the storm's reach extended to eastern Canada.
Haley received a considerable amount of grooming from the president in a 'notable amount of private time' on Air Force One, Wolff claims. (Photo: File)

Washington: The controversies plaguing the White House after Michael Wolff's new book on Trump, found fresh momentum as US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley came up.

The book says, Haley considers herself next of kin toTrump and is regarded as ambitious and much smarter than Trump, The New York Times reported.

Haleys prowess worried a top Trump aide while others sought to protect Trumpism from the US envoy, who is regarded as a moderate Republican, the book says.

The White House has rubbished the claims made in Wolffs Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House.

US lawmakers pushed to suppress the release of the book on Friday, as Trump lambasted ex-top aide Steve Bannon for statements that appeared in the book.

According to excerpts in the New York Times, Wolff says Haley decided by October 2017 that "Trump's tenure would last, at best, a single term." and thought she could be his heir apparent something the president's inner circle saw as a danger given her relatively moderate views. Being seen as a challenge to Trump is sufficient for anyone to get fired by the mercurial President, the Times of India reported.

Haley, born as Nimrata Randhawa to Sikh parents previously served as governor of South Carolina.

Haley befriended Ivanka Trump hoping to find a way into the inner family circle and received a considerable amount of grooming from the president in a "notable amount of private time" on Air Force One, Wolff claims.

The author who has claimed that his book could bring the President down writes about Trumps initial decision appoint Haley as secretary of state  a decision feared by Bannon, who later pushed for CIA director Mike Pompeo when rumours of Rex Tillersons possible resignation were afloat. "This was all part of the next stage of Trumpism  to protect it from Trump," Wolff writes.

Trump called the book phony claiming that he turned down Wolff many times and never spoke to the author, who he says had "zero access to White House."

"Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist. Look at this guy's past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!" Trump tweeted following the row with Bannon for his alleged cooperation with Wolff in the book.

"Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!" the President tweeted.
Trader shot dead in Rupandehi

A trader was shot dead at Dhekabar of Devdaha Municipality in Rupandehi district on Friday.
The biometric card will allow users to make both chip and contactless payments using their fingerprints instead of a PIN. Gemalto says that the fingerprint template captured during the enrolment process is stored only on the card.

Gemalto and Bank of Cyprus have teamed up to offer biometric EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) cards for the latters customers. The cards will use fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code for both chip and contactless payments. The biometric sensor card is powered by the payment terminal and doesnt require an embedded battery.

Read the complete press release below

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, has been selected by Bank of Cyprus to supply the world's first EMV biometric dual interface payment card for both chip and contactless payments. Using fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code to authenticate the cardholder, the card is compatible with existing payment terminals already installed in the country. When customers place their fingerprint on the sensor, a comparison is performed between the scanned fingerprint and the reference biometric data securely stored in the card.

The biometric sensor card is powered by the payment terminal and does not require an embedded battery; this means there is no limit from battery life nor on the number of transactions.

A biometric solution and enrolment process designed to ensure optimal user privacy

Gemalto's biometric sensor payment card is based on the principle that biometric data should always remain in the hands of end users. Bank of Cyprus' customers will complete the swift enrolment process at the bank's branches, using Gemalto's tablet designed for the solution. The biometric personalization and card activation process is designed to avoid transmission of biometric data over the air to ensure that users' data privacy is protected. The fingerprint template captured during the enrolment process is stored only on the card.

"Bank of Cyprus customers will be first in the world to enjoy biometric convenience on a contactless payment card. Gemalto's biometric sensor payment card is designed to provide maximum security and data privacy" said Bertrand Knopf, Gemalto's executive vice president Banking and Payment. "Using biometrics for contactless payments is a natural move as it fits in naturally with the gesture used to pay. It allows a better user experience, enabling higher transaction amounts without entering a PIN while benefiting from the convenience of contactless"

"In order to bring seamless authentication to the banking sector, Gemalto has leveraged its extensive expertise from secure government documents and leadership in biometric applications", said Stelios Trachonitis, Card Centre Manager from BOC "Our customers will benefit from this innovative payment solution with the peace of mind that their biometric data never leaves their hands"
Sony Bravia OLED A1 detailed review

With two of the top three TV makers selling OLED televisions, the technology has officially arrived in India. While the Sony Bravia A1 is still expensive, its considerably cheaper than LGs Signature E series OLED televisions. We are yet to test the 2017 OLED E7 from LG, so we cant proclaim the Sony television as the best just yet, but, the Sony Bravia A1 is certainly the best we have tested so far.





That said, Sonys television is not without its faults, and its high pricing puts it out of reach for most of us. Nevertheless, heres hoping OLED technology makes it to more affordable prices in years to come. The OLED A1 is expensive right now, but its a testament to what televisions should be in the near enough future.

Build and Design

As far as design is concerned, the Bravia A1 has a simplistic facade. But, that probably makes it the most stylish television out there, even more so than Samsungs curved panels. From the front, the A1 is almost literally all screen, and its tilted backwards by about five degrees, to present a canvas like feel. The TV is supported by a kickstand behind it, that is only visible from the sides and the back. If youre buying this TV, dont wall mount it. It looks best on top of a table.

The kickstand also houses all the ports for this television. You will have to remove the net-like cover to get to them first, and theyre all downwards facing, making them tough to reach. The Bravia A1 is designed to have devices attached to it permanently. Theres a single USB port facing outwards on the left of the kickstand. This is the only port thats easy to reach. The kickstand cover is open from the bottom, and it hides wires to some extent. Again, if youre buying this television, showing a mess of wires would truly be blasphemous.

From the front, the Bravia A1 has a thin lining running around it, but its all screen for all intents and purposes. The 65-inch facade looks pretty and immersive. The kickstand rests firmly on desks and theres no wobble in the entire unit. Simply put, the Bravia A1 may be the simplest, but best looking television on the market today, at least in our opinion.

Ports

HDMI: 4

USB: 3

Digital Audio Out: 1

Component: 0

Composite: 1

LAN: 1

While the Bravia A1 has ample ports (at least by industry standards), the only real complaint is how theyre placed. They would have been much simpler to reach had they been on either side of the kickstand. Instead, Sony has made them bottom facing, making things quite difficult and frustrating.

Picture Quality

Sony is sourcing OLED panels from LG for the Bravia A1, although the companys X1 Extreme processor plays an important role in picture processing. This is the same processor Sony used on its flagship television last year, and the Z9D was certainly our favourite then. The A1 supports both HDR and Dolby Vision technologies.

All that comes together for innovative picture quality. I usually start watching HD and FHD content on these televisions, to check the upscaling engine. Sony does that extremely well, although Id warn users against turning on the motion effects on the TV (which are turned on by default). Picture looks unnaturally smooth when this is turned on, although colours, contrast and even brightness are simply spot on. That, despite the fact that the Bravia A1 seems somewhat dimmer (in bright lighting) compared to the QLED Q8C from Samsung, although Sony does promise 1000 nits brightness on this panel. Our contrast ratio tests returned results of over 180,000:1 on 50% brightness, which is over double of the LG OLED E6, which held the best TV title on our lists so far. Of course, high contrast is no surprise coming from an OLED television.

Samsungs QLED technology is aimed at enhancing colour space, but truth be told, Sonys television looks more natural. The OLED A1 presents vibrant, yet natural colours, that are pleasing to the eyes. If you can bring HDR or UHD content, this television will do justice to it. HD content doesnt work overtly well with this TV, but anything above that should do well. The A1 is especially good at denoting closely matched colours, and shadow details are very well presented, even on standard dynamic range.

Watching Game of Thrones in FHD, Daenerys dragons seem much more lethal, real and defined on the OLED A1, than they did on others. Picture is quite sharp, which is often something televisions lack. To get the best picture quality out of this TV, Id suggest dimming the lights in your room. Also, if youre not calibrating the display, the preset cinema mode on the television should suit most users viewing needs.

Audio Quality

Sony is using two comparatively new technologies on this television. OLED is of course the first, while how the TV produces sound is the second. The company has put tiny transducers behind the screen, which vibrate the entire screen to produce audio. Theres also a sub-woofer in the kickstand, that handles low frequencies. Sony calls this Acoustic Surface technology, and it actually works.

Granted that the A1 isnt as loud as some other TVs, including Sonys own X9350D, but it makes up for the same through richer audio output. Explosions will sound more real on this television, dialogue is crisp and it even suits listening to music to some extent. Its loud enough for a medium sized room.

Android

Sony was the first to jump onto the AndroidTV bandwagon, and it has stuck through the evolution of the platform. Today, AndroidTV is much easier to use and faster, but I must still complain that its not fast enough. You have to see the loading circle one too many times, which makes for a somewhat sub-par experience. I would also question Sonys choice of weaving the AndroidTV remote into its own and not providing touchpad-based systems for its flagship TV. Typing is irritating, as is navigating at times. App support is fine, giving you access to essential apps, but not a huge collection to be sure.

Bottomline

Barring some minor flaws, the Sony Bravia OLED A1 is almost certainly the best television in the market today. It combines excellent picture quality with good audio and a premium, sleek and beautiful design. When moneys no bar, this is the television you should buy. Period.
Commodities were unwanted at the end of the week, amid heavy selling in the energy and agricultural space, as analysts eye the downside risks for crude oil futures from current levels.

In the former, the February 2018 natural gas futures contract on NYMEX came down noticeably, erasing 2.95% to trade at $2.80/MMBtu, even after spot prices in the northeastern US reportedly surpassed $100/MMBtu as a result of the ongoing winter blizzard conditions.

That came alongside roughly one percentage point drops for similarly-dated heating oil and gasoline contracts on the same exchange.

West Texas Intermediate also gave back some of its weekly gains, trading down by 0.92% to $61.44 a barrel after having hit a three-year high during the previous session.

For the week, WTI was ahead by 1.7%.

To take note of, CME reduced the margin requirement for trading WTI for prompt month delivery from $2,100 to $1,950.

Commenting on the outlook for WTI, analysts at Barclays said: "Recent oil market strength has been driven by a multitude of factors including supply disruptions, heightened geopolitical risks, strong economic growth, and more recently, colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere and technical buying.

These factors are a perfect storm of events that have pushed oil prices to multi-year highs. And there are still several tail risks, including a Venezuela crisis and renewed Iranian sanctions that could take prices higher. Yet we think risks for oil are skewed to the downside from here as fundamentals on the horizon suggest a reversal is in order."

Among soft commodities, live cattle futures for next month delivery on the CME were the weakest segment of the market, falling by 2.45% to $1.1925/lb..

ICE-traded cotton futures were also walloped, losing 1.56% to $0.7801 a pound.

Three-month copper futures also ended lower, as did most base metals, slipping from $7,199 per metric tonne to $7,121 by the end of trading.

Tin was the exception in LME trade, risingfrom $19,925 per tonne to $19,975.

Precious metals on the other hand did manage to hold onto recent gains, for the most part, with February 2018 COMEX gold up by 0.05% to $1,322.30/oz..

From a bird's eye view, the US dollar spot index managed a small bounce, adding 0.10% to 91.94, albeit amid a good dose of intra-day volatility, yet the Bloomberg commodity index dropped sharply, retreating 0.74% to 87.92.
Upper house vote on Feb 7

Election for the National Assembly will be held on February 7, a day earlier than the date suggested by the Election Commission, the government decided on Friday.
Recommended Video Bangalore Bike Accident At Chikkaballapur Near Nandi Upachar - DriveSpark

Now, Financial Express reports that Peugeot is considering the revival of Ambassador brand in the country. Previously, a PSA spokesperson had stated that the company might be adding Ambassador as a brand of PSA, as Peugeot is not so popular in the country.

Peugeot has not confirmed about the revival of the Ambassador brand, but a huge investment in acquiring the brand itself suggests that a brand name or a car based on the Ambassador could be in the cards for the Indian market.

Peugeot has already formed a joint venture with CK Birla Group to manufacture cars in the country. The company will make use of Hindustan Motors production facility situated in Tamil Nadu. The company has also invested Rs 700 crore in developing powertrains and manufacturing vehicles in India.

Picture credit: Wiki Commons

Initially, the plant will have an annual capacity of two lakh units and the production will be increased in the future with incremental investments. The manufacturing facility is expected to be operational by 2019 and will produce engines and gearboxes which will be also exported to foreign markets.

PSA Group was keen to enter the Indian market with the Peugeot brand, and finally, the French automaker will launch its first car in the country in 2019. A previous report from BW Businessworld states that the first product for India is expected to be the 208 hatchback, which will rival the Maruti Swift and Hyundai i20. The hatchback has been spotted in India bearing local registration number.

Peugeot is also working on a mid-size sedan and a compact SUV which are being developed for emerging markets like India. Expect the first Peugeot car to be rolled out from the company's plant by the end of 2019. Instead of launching several cars at a time, Peugeot will introduce new products in a phased manner.

DriveSpark Thinks!

The Ambassador has been a very popular car in the 1960s and 1970s in the country. Now, Peugeot is mulling the revival of the iconic brand. It might be an all-new car or a brand name. Apart from that, Peugeot will also be launching a hatchback, sedan and a compact SUV in India. Will the new Ambassador repeat the success of its older sibling? Only time will tell.

Picture credit: Wiki Commons
As consumers turn to online purchasing, e-businesses face a greater danger of being hit by complaints or negative online reviews on social media sites.

Of the 535 respondents to an online survey ReportLinker conducted last year,

78 percent believed online surveys were somewhat reliable;

59 percent believed online reviews were as trustworthy as reviews provided by friends;

58 percent considered the number of reviews on a site; and

42 percent felt the authors credibility was important.

Following are five ways e-businesses can diminish the impact of negative comments on social media.

1. Be Proactive

The most important thing an SMB can do  is be proactive and ready to help [customers] right at the moment they need it, said Linda Crawford, CEO of Helpshift.

Companies must streamline support systems to resolve issues faster and more efficiently, she told the E-Commerce Times. An up-to-date knowledge base enables instant self-service, but SMBs must also offer channels for customers to communicate directly with support agents to cover all bases.

SMBs should offer robust omnichannel options and prioritize user-friendly channel support, Crawford suggested. These channels should include self-service and messaging.

2. Make Sure You Respond

The worst thing a brand can do is not respond at all, cautioned Joshua March, CEO of Conversocial.

Whether its because [you] lack the technology or the strategy, the effect is the same, he said. Customers will leave.

A non-response means 78 percent of customers will bail on a current transaction or not make an intended purchase, March told the E-Commerce Times, and 52 percent of customers will switch providers.

The public nature of social media makes it critical for e-commerce SMBs to address their customer issues head on, he pointed out.

3. Manage Social Media Traffic

Use automation to prioritize traffic, March recommended. With some channels, like Twitter, you can use a dispatcher-like functionality  like Twitter Direct Message  to qualify in-bound issues to resolve simple inquiries, and only pass more complex queries on to an agent.

Also, e-commerce businesses should prepare for a possible spike in advance by training a new set of dedicated agents or shifting trained agents over from traditional channels, he suggested.

4. Go Offline if You Can

Once a complaint is received, try and take the conversation offline  to get the full details, recommended Aaron Weissberger, VP client success and operations at PriceSpider.

Doing so can prove to be the most effective and personalized approach to properly communicate with aggravated or angry customers, he told the E-Commerce Times. A back-and-forth online with a customer will do more damage than posting a way for the customer to reach a dedicated support person.

Then return online to complete the story with a summary of resolving the situation positively for all parties involved, Weissberger said.

5. Deal With Fraud

Theres always a chance of bad actors looking to falsely accuse companies for monetary gain, Weissberger noted. Diligent managing of social accounts is the easiest way to avoid false claims spiraling out of control.

Dont provide too many details about a situation, he said  and if worst comes to worst, delete the comment on social media or block the commenter.
By Emilie Karrick Surrusco

Jody Meche and his family have harvested crawfish from Louisianas Atchafalaya Basin for generations. When he set his first trap in the 1980s, he hauled in an abundant catch. These days, his traps come back full of dead crawfish.

Meche holds the oil and gas industry responsible for the steady destruction of a way of life that depends on the bounty of our nations largest river swamp. The industry dodged regulations and built hundreds of pipelines throughout the basin. The construction left behind mounds of dirtknown as spoil banksthat have systematically destroyed the water quality and created so much sediment that crawfish and other living organisms suffocate.



The Atchafalaya Basin is located in southern Louisiana. The proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline would connect the Dakota Access pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico.

Energy Transfer Partners, a company with a dismal record of protecting the environment, aims to build a new 162-mile pipeline across the basin to connect its controversial Dakota Access pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico. Earthjustice attorneys are representing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their legal challenges against that pipeline.

Meche and others are speaking out against the proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline, which would cross 700 bodies of water and impact 600 acres of wetlands. The Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit on Dec. 14 for the project. Earthjustice plans to challenge that decision. Meche shared his thoughts as the fight to protect the Atchafalaya Basin from the Bayou Bridge pipeline headed toward a new stage.

What is special about the Atchafalaya Basin?

The Atchafalaya Basin is unique to the whole world. Theres nowhere else like it. Its home to hundreds of species of migratory birdstheres bald eagles, so many bald eaglesand alligators, fish and so much more. It provides subsistence for the Cajun people.

Weve made our living from the basin for over a century, it gives us food for our families. For me, its my way of life. Its where I grew up. Its what I know, its what Ive learned.



Crawfish, like this one held up by Jody Meche, are having trouble surviving due to pipeline infrastructure. Emily Kasik

How has oil and gas development affected the basin?

They created these pipeline right-of-ways, and instead of flattening out the dirt they excavated, they left it. They interrupted the water flow. And every year, the ecosystem has been on the decline. The crawfish are to the point where they wont live in our crawfish traps unless we let the traps stick out above the top of the water so they can come up for air. The water quality is so poor they cant get enough oxygen out of the water.

When I first started fishing, you hardly had any problems with crawfish dying. You could set your traps on the bottom, five or six feet in the water, and the crawfish would all be alive.

Now you go back, and all the crawfish are dead underwater.

How could additional oil and gas development in the basin affect the regions ability to fight flooding and other types of damage during hurricane season?

Its unbelievable how much these pipelines have caused the bottom to fill up with sand. The bottom used to be below sea level in a lot of areas, and now its 20 to 30 feet above sea level. In the springtime when you see all these rivers and all these houses flooding all up and down the Mississippi Valley, the Ohio River Valley, the basin is supposed to be able to receive a lot of that water and flow it through to the Gulf of Mexico. They know it cantso they flirt with disaster every year.



Oil and gas infrastructure in the basin, where hundreds of pipelines have been built. Emily Kasik

Why dont you trust Energy Transfer Partners to do the right thing?

It would be a hell of a feat to gain my trust. These companies dont hold up to their end of the bargain. They dont abide by the permits. They dont abide by the regulations. And nobody has held them accountable.

Im not opposed to oil and gas. We have a needwe have a tremendous dependence. But with the amount of money these companies make, theres no excuse for them to destroy our Earth the way they have. They have to go back and fix the problems theyve caused for the environment.

Ive worked in the oil and gas industry. I know they can do a better job than the way its been done.

Why did you reach out to Earthjustice for help on this issue?

It seemed like our only hope. Weve tried everything. Weve met with governors, weve met with legislators, weve met with colonels with the Army Corps of Engineers, with state agencies, federal agenciesweve met with everybody. We cant hold these people accountable. The state of Louisiana is so controlled by the oil and gas industry, you cant get anything done. It seemed like we had to go outside the state, to someone who cares about our natural world.

What keeps you going in this fight?

My love for the world I live in. I believe its my God thats guiding me. Hes working through human beingsIm one of the human beings that hes working through so I cant give up the fight.

Our natural resources out there, our natural environment and our ecosystems, Ive got to give a voice to them and try to scream foul for what has taken place over so many decades. They cant speak for themselves. They cant defend themselves. The trees and the fish and the water and the animals and the birds, somebody has to speak for them.

Around the world, a powerful shift away from fossil fuels toward clean energy is underwaybut change wont come fast enough without a concerted fight.

Alongside communities in states across the country, Earthjustice attorneys are fighting pipelines like Bayou Bridge, export terminals and other major fossil fuel infrastructure projects that would seek to lock us into a fossil fuel-fired future.

The challenges we face are not insurmountable. The path to a clean energy transformation is rapidly emergingand we can all play a role in clearing that path in time to limit temperature rise and guarantee our future. Stay updated on this fight.
Amazon has been granted the license to sell locally made food items. India granted 100 % FDI into the food retailing in 2016. The move was to help farmers and local businesses. Allowing FDI will bring more jobs and growth in the earnings of the farmers as envisioned by the policymakers.

The current competitor in the food retailing sector is Big Basket and Grofers, who have a considerable market share in India. While Grofers sale mostly grocery items including food and vegetables, big basket mainly focuses on the food and vegetables. Both the companies are foreign-funded yet they operate on a smooth scale in India. While Walmart did not wish to be involved in the market citing that market is not viable as it wishes to sell non-food items too.

The FDI

It has invested 500 million $ into this food space which will be 100 $ subsidiary of Amazon Retail India. Currently, it operates an online marketplace in India, as it is believed that this investment will further push amazons position in the startup market.

The big investment made also depict the confidence in the Indian market as the consumption increases in India. With a deep pocket of the company, this amount may sound small, but it is enough to send right signals to the competitors in the food retailing sector that it is ready for the battle. As it did in the e-commerce space since last few years battling a tough fight with Amazon and Snapdeal.

Though the government has given the license, it has asked the company to keep both of its businesses in Indian separate. Amazon seller service private and Amazon retail India private should be treated as two different business having a different board of directors and staffs. Media reports that Govt. may allow food retail ventures to sell non-food items limited to 25% of their Total online sales.

The Food Retail Market and FDI

India is one of the largest food producers in the world yet the people producing it are always the sufferers. To improve their condition in the technologically advancing times, the government allowed the 100% FDI subject to locally produced and locally package food. It was a decision which was taken in the best interest of the farmers.

The foreign companies had to invest in the local industry to generate their business and Profit. But, many top retailers have shied away from investing in such a kind of scenario. There were reports in media that earlier Amazon was looking to buy a few of the Food startups in India, such as big basket but that failed talk lead Amazon to apply for its separate food retail venture.

It is reported that Flipkart is also looking to open its grocery market soon but, with this move by Amazon, it seems they are far behind in the market. we will see how the market performs once Amazon enters the Food retail market, but we do hope to see tough competition as we see in todays e-commerce space in India.
King scallop changes delayed by a week

Changes to the way fishing vessels declare their king scallop catches have been delayed by a week.

The Government had planned to make it a licence condition that all vessels had to report into Manx ports for possible catch inspections from Monday.

However, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, which is responsible for the Island's fisheries, will hold further talks with the Scottish Government to discuss the issue.

DEFA insists the Island is committed to rigorously enforcing daily catch limits, and that there have been concerns over the accuracy of catch reporting since the king scallop season opened in November.

It's estimated that the king scallop industry is worth 12m to the Manx economy.
Manx Government did respond to Indian authorities

The Manx Government insists it did respond to a request for information from Indian authorities investigating a case of corruption and bribery.

It had been reported in the Indian media that the Isle of Man was one of a number of jurisdictions not to respond to a request for assistance.

However, the Government claims the Attorney General's Chambers provided all the evidence it had, and responded to a supplementary letter from the authorities in India.

The AG has now written to Indian authorities to remind them of the assistance the Island provided.

The Government says the Island is fully committed to assisting other countries in tackling financial crime, and that requests for information will always receive a response.
Friday, January 5, 2018

With the cold snap taking hold of so much of the country, and a spate of more-than-usual news mayhem in Washington, D.C., this is a good time to run this Bizarro Death Cartoon about cryogenics.

The man in the white lab coat with Chilltech Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc. tells the prospective customer, Sorry, but were full up. After the election, there was a rush of people wanting to be frozen for four years. A year later, I wonder if they have any additional capacity by now.

This winters freezing temperatures wont put you in a cryogenic state, but they will kill you if youre not careful outside. Bundle up if you must venture forth.



And if you want to have some freezing good fun in March, check out the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Nederland, Colorado. Its taking place March 9-11, 2018, and yours truly, The Doyenne of Death, will be there conducting The Newly-Dead Game and showing Grandpas in the TUFF Shed, the strange but true story of how the Frozen Dead Guy and the festival came to be.

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DiUlus's BEST & WORST ONLINE SCHOOLS 2018

The 2018 Edition of Best & Worst Online Schools eBook revealing its top 20 online colleges/universities in the world along with the ratings of 480 other online program provider schools is being released on January 15th by Global Academy (Online) and Amazon/Kindle Books. The release comes seven days after US NEWS releases its ratings of 1500 individual degree programs offered by US colleges and universities.

According to the originator of the rating service Dr. Fred DiUlus, online higher education has finally bloomed. It has been accepted by all US Dept. of Education approved accrediting agencies, most academics and 70% of the students who have experienced both a classroom and an online course. Almost all universities now recognize it as a legitimate and viable means of acquiring a credible education - anytime, and literally anywhere in the world. The dynamic of education finds online education being cemented into the fabric of the ongoing public revolution in higher education  a fact long predicted, says DiUlus, by the late Peter Drucker, the Father of Modern Management.

Dr. DiUlus advocates that online education and its many variations are the logical choice for individuals who need to up their skills level and improve their potential income prospects. Younger students, he notes, are also attracted to it because they are the most versatile tech-savvy generation and extremely comfortable in accepting the advantages of a cyber education. They are far more adept at it than any previous generation including those working adults who were the original prime target market. As the experience becomes more sophisticated, DiUlus predicts the totally immersive, 3D, game-type reality simulations will lure students away in droves from traditional classrooms. Such advanced online learning is not in the future, he points out, "It is already here"

Best & Worst Online Schools has been accumulating data on institutions offering complete online degree programs since 2002 when slightly more than 20 colleges in the entire US offered accredited online degree programs. The number escalated as the years went by spreading to the mainstream higher education institutions.

Ratings of schools in the Best & Worst Online Schools look at the entire university and its value as an online education provider. Random programs are not considered. Instead of rating 1500 education degrees, DiUlus's eBook is the only online school rating service that concentrates exclusively on the college, their online faculty, and the perceived value the school places on their online programs in relation to the whole institution. In other words, Dr. DiUlus wants to know how invested is an individual college or university in offering their online degrees? Further he probes as to whether or not they attempt to hide the online programs as some separate virus on the school and isolate their programs as separate and less than equal to their classroom offerings.

Dr. DiUlus is a strong critic of institution who promote what he calls propaganda and prejudice against online learning. For the past two decades of exponential growth of online learning programs, the majority of nonprofit college administrations and faculty have shamelessly failed to mention or recognize that both online and classroom based accredited programs must meet the same high standards of US Department of Education approved accrediting agencies. Now, many of these same schools are becoming painfully aware of the economic value they lost by not extending their own universe to online education while witnessing their own classroom enrollments as Druker predicted, decline.

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Above-average rainfall is needed in the south east of England to avoid a summer drought, and now the Environment Agency is actively working with farmers to balance water needs.

Some areas of the UK are on flood alert after recent storms drenched the UK, but other parts face a warning of a summer drought.

In the south east of England, groundwater and some reservoir levels are below normal, and only above-average rainfall in the next three months will refill them, the Environment Agency warned on Friday (5 January).

Stuart Sampson, Environment Agency water manager, said: Despite the recent wet weather at the end of December, we had a dry end to the autumn with rainfall much lower than average in the south east of England. Last winter saw low rainfall in the south east which means that groundwater and some reservoirs are below normal levels.

Above-average rainfall is now needed in parts of this region over the winter months to replenish groundwater supplies for 2018.

He added: The Environment Agency is actively working with water companies, businesses and farmers to balance the needs of water users and our teams are ready to respond to potential impacts of dry weather on people, the environment and wildlife.

Water companies will be advising their customers to use water wisely and considering action to preserve and enhance water supplies.

'Key resource'

The warning follows news of Southern Water applying to the Environment Agency for a precautionary drought permit at Bewl Water reservoir.

A permit will help to recharge the reservoir in preparation for next summer when water demand will increase.

Bewl Water, in Lamberhurst, Kent, is currently only 44 per cent full, when normally at this time of year it would be nearer 75 per cent.

In December the reservoir was less than 33 per cent full  an exceptionally low level.

In a statement, the company said: "We are applying to the EA for powers to help refill it, allowing us to take more water from the River Medway under certain conditions."

Dr Alison Hoyle, director of compliance and asset resilience at Southern Water said: The dry winter last year left Bewl depleted when it would normally be full. Summer rains helped slightly but a very dry autumn and early winter makes it important that we use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Bewl refills over the winter.

The reservoir is a key resource. As well as supplying our customers in the Medway towns, Thanet and Hastings, it is also used by South East Water.

"It is vital that we can put more water into it and we would like to see it reach levels of 75 per cent before the end of March."

Water scarcity

The government has been urged to recognise the role that water plays in farming, being a vital ingredient in food production and essential to the economic performance of the agri-food sector.

The Water for Food Group says increasing water demands from other sectors, and a greater risk of water scarcity caused by droughts and climate change, already threaten the farming industrys ability to sustain and increase efficient, high quality food production at affordable prices.

Growers of high value fruit and vegetables are particularly reliant on access to secure supplies of water.

The group wants water for food production to be designated as an essential water need, alongside water for people and for energy, and prioritised accordingly by the Government particularly in its proposals to reform water abstraction.

NFU Vice President Guy Smith said all farmers and growers depend on secure supplies of water to grow food.

However, he said many of them are "increasingly vulnerable" to water shortages as a result of dry weather and strict regulations.

With Government currently reviewing the system of how to allocate water between different users when there isnt enough to meet everybodys needs, it is timely for us to ask for a fair share of water to grow the nations food, Mr Smith said.

Given the importance of food as essential for life, many people may be surprised that water for food isnt already acknowledged as a priority use.
Retailers to blame for ongoing egg shortages, NFU Scotland says
The Dutt biopic, titled Sanju, is of the most talked about films of 2017. While we have seen the stark resemblance that Ranbir, in get up and gait, has with Sanjay Dutt, we were excited to see some of the other actors from the sets too.Just as the cast and crew of the biopic finished its final schedule in Cape Town, a few pictures started to surface on the internet. All smiles, Ranbir Kapoor and Raju Hirani posed with the cast and crew. But what caught our eye the most was Manisha Koirala who was dressed up like Nargis Dutt.Sanju is set to release on June 29th this year and will be an important film for Ranbir after the failure of Jagga Jasoos. The film also stars Paresh Rawal who plays Sanjay Dutts father Sunil Dutt.Manisha Koirala and Nargis DuttThe cast and crew of the Dutt biopic wraps up their final schedule in Cape Town.
Can You Guess The Actor?

"Yes, I was made to feel (outcast). I remember while doing a two-hero film, my three-four films didn't work, but his (the other hero) did. We were having an equal role but he gets a suite room and I get a single room."

Akshay Makes A Shocking Revelation

"He gets an amazing car, but I get that 'you come in the bus,' yes it really happens," Akshay further added in a media interaction.

How Things Changed For Akshay Post Giving Hit Films

The actor said the moment his films started working, his equations with a lot of people in the industry changed.

"If my films work, I would get a bigger room. Sometimes from business class I was shifted to the first class when my films were running. When my films were doing exceptionally well I would get a private jet as well," he added.

However, Akshay Never Gave A Damn To Failure

Akshay said in his 27 and a half years long career he has had low phases three to four times' but failures did not bother him.

"Never take lull or success seriously. They will come and go. It (the ups and down) is bound to happen."

Currently, Akshay Is Gearing Up For Padman

The actor is now geared up for the release of his first film of the year, Padman, scheduled to hit the screens on January 25.

The film, directed by R Balki, chronicles the inspiring story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created affordable sanitary pads.

Akshay Says Sanitary Pads Should Be Made Free

On government's decision to levy GST on sanitary pads, Akshay said they should be made free.

"People ask me what do you feel about GST (on sanitary pads). I say, why should there be a GST? It should be free! There are countries which give it for free, there's no GST on it. It's an essential thing to make the women strong. I feel it should be free for women.
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Salman Khan gets Death Threat from GANGSTER in Jodhpur; Here's Why | FilmiBeat

As surprising as it sounds but a notorious Rajasthan gangster Lawrence Bishnoi on Thursday issued a death threat to Superstar Salman Khan, saying the Bollywood actor will be killed in Jodhpur.

If you're wondering his death threat has to do something with Salman's alleged connection with the underworld figures in the past, then you're wrong!

Bishnoi's death threat to Khan is being linked to the black buck hunting case of 1998 during the shoot of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

Reportedly, Lawrence Bishnoi has more than twenty cases of attempt to murder, carjacking, extortion, snatching and under Arms Act in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Rajasthan.

The gangster claimed that he had been framed in false cases and that to date, not even a single witness had deposed in the court to prove the charges.

Bishnoi told media persons, "Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur... Then he will come to know about our real identity," adding that, "Now, if police want me to do some major crime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur."

However, some onlookers believe that the gangster talked of killing Khan simply to create a sensation.

On the work front, Salman Khan's latest fim, Tiger Zinda is going strong at the box-office and moviegoers are loving his fiery chemistry with Katrina Kaif in the film.

Collection wise, the film is all set to enter Rs 300 crore club!
LG Wallet app hits Google Play Store; listed to work only on LG G7 News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu

Update: The LG Wallet app has been removed from the Google Play Store now.

LG is highly anticipated to launch its next-generation flagship smartphone - the LG G7 at the MWC 2018 tech show. Now, the company has released a new Android app called LG Wallet on the Google Play Store but it remains nonfunctional.

According to a report by Android Police, the LG Wallet is listed as a secure mobile payment application for LG's premium mobile handsets. The interesting aspect of this application is that the description shows that the app can be used only on the unannounced LG G7. Recent media reports have tipped that LG will be rebranding its G series and that the LG G7 will be released under a different name.

Apparently, we can either expect the description of the LG Wallet app to be updated soon or the app to be pulled from the Play Store and launched after the flagship device's unveiling. Though the listing of the LG Wallet app is found in the Play Store, the app remains nonfunctional. You can still install the app on smartphones such as LG V30. The app also appears to be compatible to function with a range of non-LG smartphones too such as Nexus 6, Nextbit Robin, Pixel XL and some OnePlus smartphones.

From the listing, it looks like the LG Wallet app will replace the already existing LG Pay service. Notably, the icon of the latest app on the Play Store reads LG Pay and not LG Wallet. What's confusing is that the app's listing and in-app header show LG Wallet but the icon, boot animation and screenshots show LG Pay. This confusion could be due to the dead links and errors in the description.

Back in 2017, LG made it clear that the company is in plans to enter the mobile payments market segment. In June last year, the company implemented its plan by releasing the LG Pay service on the flagship smartphone - LG G6 at that time.

While the LG Wallet is yet to be announced officially, the curious users can download the same on their device either via the Google Play store or sideload the app via APK Mirror and use it to know how it actually functions. Here's the LG Wallet Google Play Store link for you to try out the application.

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Samsung Electronics has overtaken Intel as world's biggest maker of semi-conductors : Gartner News oi -Priyanka Second-placed Intel grew its revenue 6.7 percent in 2017, driven by 6 percent growth in data center processor revenue due to demand from cloud and communications service providers.

According to a study by Gartner, Samsung Electronics has overtaken US rival Intel as the world's biggest maker of semi-conductors as sales, while worldwide semiconductor revenue totalled $419.7 billion in 2017, a 22.2 percent increase from 2016.

"The largest memory supplier, Samsung Electronics, gained the most market share and took the No. 1 position from Intel - the first time Intel has been toppled since 1992," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner.

He said, "Memory accounted for more than two-thirds of all semiconductor revenue growth in 2017, and became the largest semiconductor category."

The report said that second-placed Intel grew its revenue 6.7 percent in 2017, driven by 6 percent growth in data center processor revenue due to demand from cloud and communications service providers.

Intel's PC processor revenue grew more slowly at 1.9 percent, but average PC prices are on the rise again after years of decline following the market's shift from traditional desktops toward two-in-one and ultramobile devices.

The key driver behind the booming memory revenue were higher prices due to a supply shortage, the study said.

NAND flash prices increased year-on-year for the first time ever, up 17 percent, while DRAM prices rose 44 percent.

Gartner pointed out that, the current rankings may not last long, however, "Samsung's lead is literally built on sand, in the form of memory silicon," said Norwood. "Memory pricing will weaken in 2018, initially for NAND flash and then DRAM in 2019 as China increases its memory production capacity. We then expect Samsung to lose a lot of the revenue gains it has made."

"2017 was a relatively quiet year for mergers and acquisitions. Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP was one big deal that was expected to close in 2017, but did not. Qualcomm still plans to complete the deal in 2018, but this has now been complicated by Broadcom's attempted takeover of Qualcomm," Gartner further said.

"The combined revenues of Broadcom, Qualcomm and NXP were $41.2 billion in 2017 - a total beaten only by Samsung and Intel," said Norwood. "If Broadcom can finalize this double acquisition and Samsung's memory revenue falls as forecast, then Samsung could slip to third place during the next memory downturn in 2019."

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Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus users to get stable Android Oreo update soon News oi -Chandrika Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus users should receive the stable Android Oreo update by the end of January.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus users have been facing a lot of problems lately. From being unable to charge their phones once their battery reaches zero percent to random display wake up issues, the past week has been a hard one for the users.

However, things are about to change soon as we have good news for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus owners. First reported by The Android Soul, the company seems to be prepping to roll out the stable Android 8.0 Oreo update to a number of S8 and S8 Plus devices. Multiple variants of the Galaxy S8 duo with Android Oreo have been certified on the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The models that were spotted on the website are SM-G950F, SM-G955F, SM-G950FD, SM-G955FD, SM-G950N, SM-G955N, SM-G950X, SM-G955X, SM-G950XN, SM-G955XN, SM-G950XC.

In case you are confused, these are the European, Asian (India and Singapore), Korean, and Global versions of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. This means, users of the smartphones in these regions will finally receive the stable version of Android 8.0 Oreo operating system by the end of January.

Even previous reports had suggested that the official update would be rolled out in late January. Samsung has been running an Android Oreo Beta program for the Galaxy S8 duo for quite a while now. The eligible Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus recently received the fifth Oreo beta patch, which included the fixes for both major and minor bugs.

With the arrival of Android Oreo, Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus users will be able to experience some exciting features such as 'Parallel Apps' or split screen style feature, Picture-in-Picture mode, Auto-fill, smart text selection and more. The new update will also bring in a revamped quick settings design.

In addition, the latest iteration of Google's mobile operating system comes with some under the hood improvements. The overall device performance and user experience will improve as well.

How to save Instagram photos without taking screenshots - GIZBOT

We expect Samsung to release a statement regarding the Android Oreo rollout to its flagships soon. In any case, it should not be long before the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus users get the taste of Oreo.

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Samsung to launch 'Galaxy On7 Prime' on Amazon.in next week News oi -Samden Sherpa With the new "Galaxy On7 Prime", Samsung will look to strengthen its mid-range segment where it has witnessed strong competition from Chinese brands.

Within the last couple of days, we have been hearing that Samsung is set to refresh its Galaxy "On" series in India with the launch of a new smartphone. Details about the phone have been scarce till now, be it the name of the device, features or specs, well, everything was a mystery.

But the situation is changing. The name as well some of the key features of this upcoming smartphone has just been leaked. According to reports, Samsung is bringing "Galaxy On7 Prime" in the second week of January and this device will be exclusively available on Amazon.in.

Further, Samsung "Galaxy On7 Prime" will be priced at around Rs. 15,000 -- a key mid-price segment in the highly-competitive Indian market. The new smartphone will be available in two versions -- 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage and 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant.

Industry sources have also told IANS that the smartphone will come with a 13MP front and 13MP primary camera with an aperture of f/1.9. The device will sport a 5.5-inch full-HD display and an 8-mm metal unibody design, the sources added. And that all we know about the device right now. Quite interestingly, reports have also stated that some of the features and specs of the new device could bear great similarity to Samsung Galaxy On Max which was launched last year at Rs. 16,900.

Meanwhile with the new "Galaxy On7 Prime", Samsung will look to strengthen its mid-range segment where it has witnessed strong competition from Chinese brands.

According to last year's results, Samsung registered over a 27 percent growth in mobile business revenue for the financial year 2016-17, touching a mammoth Rs 34,300 crore. Samsung also became the undisputed leader in the highly competitive and price-sensitive domestic smartphone market.

With this kind of growth, Samsung did eclipse the sales of key Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Lenovo and even the Cupertino-based giant Apple. But the company is aiming for more.

The South Korean giant had 60 percent market share (by value) in the premium segment for the August-September-October period, according to German market research firm GfK. For the overall smartphone market, Samsung had over 45 percent market share (by value) from October to December 2017.

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Samsung Gear S4 watch straps to have integrated battery, suggests patent News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu

It looks like Samsung is in plans to enhance the quality of its smartwatch lineup tipping that the company is not going to give up on the wearable market segment for now.

A set of patents filed by Samsung in December 2017 have hit the web via LetsGoDigital that also come up with a set of patents filed for the use of a double-sided display on future smartphones. The patents filed last month show some of the interesting features that Samsung is in plans to introduce in some of the upcoming smartwatches including the Gear S4.

Of these new features, the most important one appears to be the improved battery life that will make the smartwatch users rejoice. Samsung could be in plans to see watch straps those are integrated with a battery. The batteries those will be used by the company should be flexible and very thin in order to be housed within the straps.

The patent application points out at the possibility of including not one but two batteries positioned on one on each side of the watch strap. With the addition of two batteries, the watch straps will not be limited to just a few materials. Eventually, the customers can choose from various types of strap materials such as leather, rubber, polymer or fiber.

As the battery will be moved from the smartwatch to the watch strap, there will be room for the company to include other components. And, Samsung is expected to add a camera, proximity sensor, heart rate sensor, infrared sensor, and a fingerprint or lighting sensor.

The other new feature to expect in the upcoming Samsung Gear S4 and other Samsung smartwatches is the inclusion of a rotating bezel with sub-display. Whenever a user rotates it, the user can gain access to a different menu.

The features seen on the latest patents filed by Samsung appear to be very interesting but we are yet to see if all these features will get to see the light of the day in the upcoming smartwatch models. It will be quite interesting to see how many of these new features will be included in the Gear S4 that will be launched by the company in the near future.

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Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 5, 2018  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria between Dec. 29, 2017, and yesterday, conducting 58 strikes consisting of 84 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the most recent strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

On Jan. 4, near Abu Kamal in Syria, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS target, destroying an ISIS supply route, a fighting position and a vehicle-borne bomb.

On Jan. 3, near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 12 engagements against ISIS targets, destroying two ISIS lines of communication, a heavy weapon, four fighting positions, an ISIS vehicle, a logistics center and an ISIS supply route.

On Jan. 2, near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets, destroying an ISIS supply route, an indirect fire weapon, two fighting positions, two heavy machine guns, two unmanned aerial vehicles and an ISIS line of communication.

On Jan. 1, near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of six engagements against ISIS targets, destroying an ISIS command-and-control center, two fighting positions, an ISIS vehicle, two heavy machine guns and three ISIS tunnel entrances.

On Dec. 31, near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of eight engagements against ISIS targets, destroying a heavy weapon, an ISIS headquarters, eight ISIS supply routes, a fighting position and two ISIS-held buildings.

On Dec. 30, near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 17 engagements against ISIS targets, destroying two ISIS command-and-control centers, a fighting position, an ISIS headquarters and two ISIS vehicles.

On Dec. 29 near Abu Kamal, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 15 engagements against ISIS targets, destroying nine ISIS fighting positions and two logistics centers.

Strikes in Iraq

There were no reported strikes conducted in Iraq Jan. 1-4.

On Dec. 31, near Beiji, coalition military forces conducted a strike consisting of four engagements against ISIS targets, destroying an ISIS fighting position.

On Dec. 30, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of seven engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS tunnel system.

-- Near Mosul, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed five ISIS fighting positions, two tunnel entrances and a weapons cache.

There were no reported strikes conducted in Iraq Dec. 29, 2017.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

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Mexico - Harpoon Block II Missiles, RAM Missiles and MK 54 Torpedoes

Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov

Transmittal No: 17-63

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2018 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Mexico of RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tactical missiles and MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes for an estimated cost of $98.4 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

The Government of Mexico has requested to buy six (6) RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, twenty-three (23) Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tactical missiles and six (6) MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes. Also included are eight (8) MK 825 Mod 0 RAM Guided Missile Round Packs (GMRP) tri-pack shipping and storage containers; RAM Block 2 MK 44 Mod 4 Guided Missile Round Pack (GMRP); two (2) MK 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes (SVTT) triple tube launchers; two hundred and fifty (250) rounds of AA98 25 mm high explosive and semi-armor piercing ammunition; seven hundred and fifty (750) rounds A976 25mm target practice and tracer ammunition; four hundred and eighty (480) rounds of BA22 57mm high explosive programmable fuze ammunition; nine hundred and sixty (960) rounds of BA23 57mm practice ammunition; containers; spare and repair parts; support and test equipment; publications and technical documentation; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor representatives' technical assistance; engineering and logistics support services; installation services; associated electronics and hardware to control the launch of torpedoes; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated cost is $98.4 million.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner. Mexico has been a strong partner in combating organized crime and drug trafficking organizations. The sale of these ship-based systems to Mexico will significantly increase and strengthen its maritime capabilities. Mexico intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its existing naval and maritime support of national security requirements and in its efforts to combat criminal organizations.

Mexico intends to use the weapon systems on its Mexican Navy Sigma 10514 Class ship. The systems will provide enhanced capabilities in effective defense of critical sea lanes. The proposed sale of these systems and support will increase the Mexican Navy's maritime partnership potential and align its capabilities with existing regional navies. Mexico has not purchased these systems previously. Mexico will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The equipment will be provided from U.S. stocks. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require annual trips to Mexico involving U.S. Government personnel and contractor representatives for technical reviews, support, and oversight for approximately two years.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

-30-

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Israel approves construction of over 2,200 new settler units in occupied West Bank

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 01:08PM

Israeli officials have approved plans for the construction of more than 2,200 new settler units in the occupied West Bank irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime's land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in Palestinian lands.

Israel's minister of military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, has agreed to settlement expansion activities in Palestinian territories, and Israeli authorities are going to issue permits for the construction of 900 housing units at Ariel settlement in the central West Bank, Israel's Hebrew-language Channel 10 television network reported.

The report added that the so-called Supreme Planning Council of the Civil Administration will hold a session next week, in which it is supposed to grant the necessary permits to start building 225 units.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem" al-Quds.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

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.

This as there have been regular anti-US protests by Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since December 6, when Trump declared that Washington recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and was moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. Many say Trump's move has effectively killed any chances of further negotiations.

The dramatic shift in Washington's Jerusalem al-Quds policy drew fierce criticism from the international community, including Washington's Western allies, and triggered protests against the US and Israel worldwide.

The United Nations General Assembly later voted by a resounding majority to reject Trump's Jerusalem al-Quds move.

Israel lays claim to the whole of Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the ancient city's eastern sector as occupied land and the Palestinians consider it their future capital.

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Georgian Court Sentences Saakashvili In Absentia

RFE/RL's Georgian Service, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service January 05, 2018

The Tbilisi city court has found former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili guilty of abuse of power in connection with a 2006 murder case and sentenced him in absentia to three years in prison.

Judge Giorgi Arevadze on January 5 announced the verdict against Saakashvili, Georgia's president from 2004 until 2013, convicting him of abusing his presidential powers by trying to cover up evidence about the murder of Georgian banker Sandro Girgvliani, and issuing pardons for four men who were convicted of the killing.

Saakashvili, who rejects the charges as politically motivated, said on January 5 that his conviction was the result of pressure from one of his major political opponents in Georgia, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who Saakashvili linked to Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.

"The so-called 'ruling' against me by a Georgian court that is fully under control of Gazprom-shareholder Ivanishvili is absolutely illegal and contradicts all international and domestic regulations and common sense," Saakashvili wrote on Facebook from Ukraine, where he currently resides and is an opposition politician.

"The trial of a president for using his right to pardon, which is not limited by any means, shows that the case is fully politically motivated," Saakashvili said. "It also shows that Georgian authorities have not been able to find anything against me in the last five years -- neither facts of corruption nor other violations of the law."

Saakashvili said a simultaneous court hearing against him in Kyiv showed that "oligarchic authorities in Ukraine and Georgia are operating in synchronicity and in full coordination with each other" against him because he is "the leader of a battle against corruption, oligarchs, and the robbery of the people."

Saakashvili said the world knew that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been demanding both Georgian and Ukrainian authorities to implement repressive measures" against him.

Putin "repeated that in his recent press conference," the 50-year-old Saakashvili said, claiming that talks aimed at "neutralizing" him were conducted between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ivanishvili in Georgia several days before Poroshenko issued an order to strip him of his Ukrainian citizenship last summer.

"According to my sources, [the issue was also discussed] by Poroshenko and Putin in a telephone conversation on December 29, 2017," Saakashvili wrote.

Saakashvili's government-appointed lawyer, Sofio Goglichidze, said after the ruling that the court violated "a number of legal provisions and the constitution" in convicting former Georgian president.

"It is obvious that political persecution is going against Mikheil Saakashvili. It was impossible to deliver a guilty verdict in the case in accordance with the law," Goglichidze said.

Girgvliani, who headed the foreign department of United Georgian Bank, was found dead in January 2006 outside of Tbilisi with multiple injuries after he was seen arguing in a bar with high-ranking Interior Ministry officials.

Saakashvili was the president of Georgia when Girgvliani was killed and issued presidential pardons for four Georgian men who were convicted of murder in the case in 2006.

In November 2014, when Saakashvili was no longer the Georgian president, prosecutors charged him and other former Georgian officials of being accomplices in the falsification of evidence presented in the murder trial.

Khatia Dekanoidze, a member of Saakashvili's United National Movement party in Georgia, said the January 5 verdict in Tbilisi might help Ukrainian authorities extradite Saakashvili to Georgia.

"Nobody doubts that the charge was motivated and ordered," said Dekanoidze, who served as the head of the Ukrainian National Police when Saakashvili was governor of Ukraine's Odesa region in 2015-16.

"I do not exclude Mikheil Saakashvili's extradition [to Georgia] because the administrative resources of the two countries are working together" against him, Dekanoidze said in Tbilisi.

But Saakashvili's lawyer in Ukraine, Ruslan Chornolutskiy, told RFE/RL on January 5 that his clients legal status should prevent his extradition to Georgia.

"According to Ukrainian laws, a person who was a Ukrainian citizen and for the last several years resided in Ukraine cannot be extradited," Chornolutskiy told RFE/RL. "That is what the law says on foreigners and individuals without citizenship, as well as the international convention that Ukraine has ratified."

In Ukraine, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko has accused Saakashvili of abetting an alleged "criminal group" led by Ukraine's pro-Russia former president. Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his ouster in February 2014.

Ukrainian authorities also claim that protests led by Saakashvili in Ukraine are part of a Russian plot against the government in Kyiv.

Saakashvili on January 3 accused Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) of being involved in the fabrication evidence presented against him by Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv's ongoing criminal trial against him.

He did not provide evidence to back up the assertion.

With reporting by Apsny.ge and Newsgeorgia.ge

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-saakashvili-sentenced-in- absentia-abuse-power/28956309.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Houthis Launch Ballistic Missile at Saudi Arabian Army Target - Reports

Sputnik News

14:13 05.01.2018(updated 15:44 05.01.2018)

SANAA (Sputnik) - Yemen's Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, has announced the launch of a ballistic short-range missile at a target in Saudi Arabia, Houthi-controlled Al Masirah TV channel reported.

According to the channel, Houthi missile troop movements undertook on Friday a test launch of a ballistic short-range missile at the barracks of the Saudi army in the area of Najran.

A source in the west of Yemen told Sputnik that the army headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, supported by the Saudi-led coalition, had launched a ballistic missile at the Houthis' positions.

However, Saudi anti-ballistic missile defense systems intercepted a missile launched by the Houthi rebels from Yemeni territory, the Al Arabiya broadcaster reported citing the Saudi-led coalition.

According to the coalition, the missiles targeted the civilian-populated areas.

Tensions in Yemen and in Sanaa, in particular, escalated in November 2017, when former allied Houthis and units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh started clashing. Soon after the alliance was announced to be over by Saleh on December 4, they killed him.

The country has been engulfed in a military conflict since 2015, with the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fighting against the Houthi rebels, backed by Saleh army units. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf Arab countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen under Hadi's request.

 Sputnik

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Tbilisi Court Sentences Georgian Ex-President Saakashvili to 3 Years in Absentia

Sputnik News

13:43 05.01.2018(updated 14:09 05.01.2018)

MOSCOW(Sputnik) - A court in Tbilisi on Friday sentenced former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia to three years in prison for abusing his power, within the framework of a murder case.

"The city court of Tbilisi has brought in the verdict of guilty in the case on abuse of power as for Mikheil Saakashvili and set four years in custody as a punishment measure that have been reduced by one quarter within the framework of the amnesty law and finally the [punishment measure] will stand at three years in custody," the statement published on the court's website said.

The court added that Saakashvili had pardoned high-ranking officials involved in the Girgvliani murder as a result relieving them of responsibility that violated the rights of the bank official's family and the state's interests.

Commenting on the court's decision, Mikheil Saakashvili said that the decision of the court was "illegal" and violated the international law.

"The 'decision' by a Georgian court regarding me is completely illegal and contradicts all the relevant international and national legal norms as well as common sense. To judge a president for using his right to pardon, which I applied to 133 former military service personnel and which is not limited in any way, testifies to the completely political character of this process," Saakashvili said on his Facebook account.

In 2014, Georgian prosecution pressed criminal charges against Saakashvili in absentia, accusing the former leader of the republic of involvement in a number of criminal cases, including in the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani, who worked in the United Georgian Bank.

Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013, after Giorgi Margvelashvili became the country's president and eventually went to Ukraine, where he served as the governor of the Odessa Region. Currently, Saakashvili is involved in organizing anti-government protests in Ukraine.

 Sputnik

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WHO: Yemen Children Dying from Rapid Spread of Diphtheria

By Lisa Schlein January 05, 2018

The World Health Organization warns that children in Yemen are dying as diphtheria, a preventable disease, spreads rapidly throughout the country.

Forty-six of the more than 470 people with clinically diagnosed diphtheria in Yemen  or nearly 10 percent  have died in less than four months, according to WHO.

"Diphtheria is a highly infectious but vaccine-preventable disease," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. "It can be treated with antitoxins and antibiotics, both of which are in short supply in Yemen. The diphtheria vaccine is normally administered as a part of routine immunization programs for children around the world.

"The rapid spread of diphtheria in Yemen highlights major gaps in routine vaccination and also means the health system is under severe strain."

Sixty-eight percent of suspected diphtheria cases are children under 15 years old, Jasarevic said.

WHO has deployed Rapid Response Teams throughout affected parts of the country to ensure proper case detection, contact tracing and follow up, as well as health education.

WHO has delivered $200,000 worth of antibiotics and 1,000 vials of diphtheria antitoxins, Jasarevic said. The medication can help stop the spread of the bacterium to vital organs in patients already infected with diphtheria.

However, prevention remains the best way to contain the spread of the disease. In preparation for a nationwide immunization campaign, the U.N. children's fund imported 5.5 million doses of anti-diphtheria vaccines into the country December 20.

The final decision on when the campaign will kick off rests with Yemeni health authorities, who have not yet given the go-ahead.

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Turkey Gives Weapons to Somali Soldiers

By Harun Maruf January 05, 2018

Somali State Minister for Defense Mohamed Ali Haga has confirmed to VOA Somali for the first time that the Turkish government has recently supplied weapons to the Somali army.

In an interview with VOA Somali, Haga said the Turkish government has equipped a company-sized Somali army unit which graduated from the Turkish military training camp in Mogadishu two weeks ago.

Haga said just over 400 soldiers were supplied with small weapons and machine guns allowed under a partial UN embargo on Somalia. Somalia cannot import certain heavy weaponry.

Turkish media report that the weapons exported to Somalia are the MPT-76, a Turkish-made rifle. Haga confirmed this to VOA Somali.

"They have been equipped with Turkish-made rifles," he said. "When the soldiers were coming for the training they did not have weapons, Turkey equipped them, and Turkey promised to equip every soldier who is being trained at the camp."

Big boost

The pledge by Turkey to arm Somali troops will be seen as a massive boost in Mogadishu at a time when the Somali army is in a difficult transitional period - struggling to get trained, preparing to take over from African Union forces, working to protect the government and fighting Al-Shabab, all at the same time.

A recent "Operational Readiness Assessment" conducted by the Somali government found that approximately 30 percent of the soldiers in the bases do not have weapons. The same assessment also found that some of the weapons used by government troops are privately owned by clans. The evaluators said some units also lack medium and heavy weaponry, and some units are "undermanned."

The Turkish military base in Mogadishu was opened on September 30. Turkey plans to train as many as 10,000 soldiers according to Somali officials.

The first company to receive the training was selected from current members of the army and graduated on December 23. The second company is to start training soon.

In addition, military officers are also given training on command control and leadership skills, Haga said.

"Turkey military is advanced, their training is NATO training," Haga said. "This is a brotherly country which came to help Somalia at time of need in terms of humanitarian assistance as well as military."

Weapons from other countries

Apart from Turkey, several other countries have provided training to Somali soldiers. The United States has trained a 500-strong special forces known as Danab or "lightening", and the United Arab Emirates. UK, EU, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda have also provided training over the years.

Somali officials say training at Turkish training base in Mogadishu will harmonize all the training given to Somali soldiers to produce an organized force.

Haga, who also chairs the army integration committee, says the training provided at the Turkish base is also part of the army integrating process for soldiers who were selected from different divisions and regions.

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UN Gives Record-setting Emergency Aid Funds to Yemen

By VOA News January 05, 2018

The United Nations says it is giving its largest emergency relief allocation ever, $50 million, to Yemen to help the more than 22 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Mark Lowcock, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, said in a statement Friday that he remains "deeply concerned" by the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Yemen. He said the situation has been made worse by recent increases in fighting and airstrikes.

Lowcock said for the "unfolding catastrophe" to be quelled, three things must happen: There must be a reduction in fighting, both on the ground and in terms of airstrikes; ports must remain open for transport of humanitarian supplies; and donor financing must come faster and in greater amounts.

He said many people in Yemen are now completely reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. He said the new funding will go toward the most vulnerable people in 27 districts at risk of famine, and to other areas where conflict has recently escalated.

Finally, Lowcock called for an end to fighting in Yemen, facilitated by a cease to hostilities and meaningful engagement with the United Nations to achieve "a lasting political settlement."

Earlier Friday, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi said the rebels in Yemen must immediately stop all crimes committed against politicians and civilians. He also said, in comments to Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, that the rebels who seized the capital in 2014 must release all detainees, stop launching missiles, and allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians.

Ballistic missile

Also on Friday, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile near the kingdom's border with Yemen, above the southwestern province of Najran.

Shiite rebels in Yemen, known as Houthis, have previously aimed missiles at Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of backing the Houthis.

The Houthi rebels seized Yemen's capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the country's internationally recognized president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to temporarily flee to Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition responded in March 2015 by launching airstrikes against the Houthis on behalf of Hadi's government. The airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians and wiped out entire neighborhoods, including hospitals.

The conflict is now widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia  which backs the government  and Iran  which backs the Houthi rebels.

Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly called attention to the effect the conflict has had on civilians in Yemen, where the United Nations says 3 million people have been forced from their homes.

The International Red Cross said there are one million suspected cases of cholera in Yemen, and more than 80 percent of Yemenis lack food, fuel, clean water and access to health care.

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Daesh declares war on Palestine's Hamas resistance movement

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 11:31AM

The Egyptian wing of Daesh Takfiri terrorists has released a new execution video, declaring war on the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement based in Gaza.

The video, released Wednesday, purports to show the execution of a man who Daesh claims cooperated with Hamas' armed wing.

"Never surrender to them. Use explosives, silenced pistols and sticky bombs. Bomb their courts and their security locations, for these are the pillars of tyranny that prop up its throne," said one of the militants in the video.

The Egyptian wing of Daesh, known as the Sinai Province, is notorious for its brutal massacres, including the Sinai 2015 plane crash which killed 224 passengers and mass killing of over 300 people at a Sufi mosque in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the deadliest attack in modern Egyptian history.

The video comes as Hamas has been cooperating with Egyptian security forces to restore stability to Sinai, which borders Gaza.

In October, the Palestinian resistance movement arrested four senior Daesh terrorists in Sinai.

In July 2015, Daesh released a video saying that it would overthrow Hamas "tyrants" for their perceived lack of religious rulings in Gaza.

Takfiri groups such as Daesh have never attacked Israel despite operating close to Syria's borders with the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel is widely believed to be supporting terrorists in Syria by launching airstrikes against various targets there from time to time.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies, which have been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria, have repeatedly been accused of providing logistic support and air cover for Daesh terrorists.

Daesh, however, lost all the territory under its control in Syria and Iraq late last year.

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'Always be prepared for war,' China's Xi tells military

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 07:45AM

China's President Xi Jinping has called on the country's military  the largest and among the most disciplined in the world  to be prepared for war at all times.

On an inspection at the Central Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in northern Hebei Province on Wednesday, President Xi told the country's military forces to "neither fear hardship nor death."

As head of the ruling Communist Party's Central Military Commission, Xi is commander-in-chief of China's more than two-million-strong armed forces, which is the largest standing military force in the world.

During his visit to the military command, Xi was seen in military attire inspecting troops, tanks, sniper training, and peering down the sights of an automatic rifle.

Be "always ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win," he was quoted as saying by Chinese media on Thursday.

He also reportedly paid a visit to an exhibit detailing the PLA's history battling US-led forces during the Korean War.

Since assuming office in 2012, Xi has aimed to modernize the Chinese military even as the country has adopted a policy of a peaceful rise to power.

In October last year, the Chinese president urged a "world-class" Chinese military by 2050 and called for the upgrading of its arsenal with increasing sophisticated weaponry.

China has been involved in a territorial dispute with a number of other countries, including over the resource-rich East and South China Seas.

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'We Need Stronger Spirit': China's Xi Wants Superior Hi-Tech Army

Sputnik News

12:31 05.01.2018(updated 12:32 05.01.2018)

The Chinese president made the statement during his recent inspection of a Ground Force division from the Central Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a call to build up a high-tech military, including the development of an elite fighting force that would use digital technologies, according to the China Daily.

Xi said that the PLA should fully engage new technologies and innovations and unleash its scientific potential, transforming its technological achievement into combat advantages.

In particular, the Chinese president urged the military to expand digitized warfare research and databases, show more creativity in implementing military doctrines, use more technologies and increase the science education of troops.

"Our military has always fought with a great spirit. In the past, we had more spirit than steel. Now we have plenty of equipment, so we need an even tougher and stronger spirit to wield it," Xi was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The president also said that special attention should be paid to combat readiness training, with an emphasis on realistic combat training.

In recent years, the Chinese military has been undergoing a large-scale military reform aimed at improving its combat capabilities and command and coordination efficiency. By the end of 2017, it was expected to reduce the number of the PLA by 300,000 troops to 2 million.

China has also invested a lot in technological modernization of all branches of its military. The reform is powered by the national defense industry capable of developing and manufacturing weapons of nearly all types, including the most advanced.

Many analysts note that the buildup of the Chinese military is dictated by the new geopolitical challenges, including tensions in the South China Sea and the North Korean crisis, and by Beijing's intention to expand its global political role but that China is not really preparing for war.

On the 90th anniversary of the PLA in July, Xi said that the Chinese military must "focus on war preparedness, and forge an elite and powerful force that is always ready for fight, capable of combat, and sure to win."

 Sputnik

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China Begins Construction of Third Domestically Made Aircraft Carrier

Sputnik News

03:50 05.01.2018(updated 03:52 05.01.2018)

Less than one year after Chinese shipyard workers completed the nation's first domestically made aircraft carrier, workers were already toiling away on what will one day become China's third homemade carrier.

The three carriers built by China exclude the Liaoning, a decades-old Soviet ship Beijing bought from Ukraine and refurbished to practice carrier operations.

Beijing's Type 001A carrier took to the open seas for testing last April, while the Type 002 is slated to hit the waters within months, the Global Times reported Friday. "For sure, the speed is impressive, as it has only taken 10 months after the drydock was flooded for the first time in April till the builder's trial and acceptance trial at sea, to be conducted in February 2018," a military expert told the news outlet. The Type 002 is reportedly very similar to the Liaoning and features an upward ramp at the bow to help aircraft take off.

The new Type 003 plans to push the boundaries of Chinese naval aviation. "Building the new carrier will be more complicated and challenging than the other two ships," a military source told the South China Morning Post. Construction on the Type 003 is taking place in the Shanghai Jiangnan shipyard, the South China Morning Post reports.

"The shipyard is still working on the carrier's hull, which is expected to take about two years," the official told the Post.

One goal for the Type 003 is to use an electromagnetic launch system, a system the US Navy has spent years perfecting. The US Navy completed its first successful test of an F/A-18 Super Hornet taking off with electromagnetic propulsion  versus a ski-jump ramp or steam propulsion  just last year.

China's ambition is to have four carrier groups operating with the People's Liberation Army-Navy by 2030. The Liaoning is currently the only carrier in the fleet, but the Type 001A is expected to go into full service by the end of 2018.

 Sputnik

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China places tougher limits on trade with North Korea

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 03:08PM

China has imposed tighter trade limits on North Korea to increase pressure on its neighbor over its weapons program.

Beijing said on Friday it would limit exports of crude oil, refined petroleum, steel and other goods to North Korea starting January 6 to meet a recent resolution of the United Nations Security Council.

China, which views Pyongyang's missile tests and aggressive rhetoric as 'reckless behavior' and voted in favor of imposing the new sanctions on North Korea following its latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, accounts for nearly all of North Korea's foreign trade.

Despite the economic pressure caused by numerous rounds of international sanctions on the impoverished nation, North Korea has relentlessly continued with its missile and nuclear program.

Pyongyang says its weapons are defensive in nature and a necessary deterrent against Washington's hostility.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Friday applauded news of a renewed communication line and upcoming talks between the governments of the two Koreas.

The cross-border telephone hotline between North and South Korea was reopened and representatives from the two countries are now set to meet on January 9 in Panmunjom, the truce village located within the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

In a related development, Washington agreed to temporarily cease joint military exercises with its regional allies. The joint military drill between the United States, South Korea and Japan, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an invasion and a threat, has been a main source of tension on the Korean Peninsula.

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Russia, China welcome agreement to resume Korean talks

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 10:46AM

Russia and China have welcomed an agreement by North and South Koreas to resume dialog after two years.

A Russian Foreign Ministry source was cited by RIA news agency on Friday as saying that Moscow hopes "this positive trend will be underpinned by concrete agreements aiming at a settlement in the Korean Peninsula."

China's Foreign Ministry also acknowledged the concrete efforts to improve ties on the Korean Peninsula. A ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that the talks scheduled for next week would be conducive to improving the situation on the peninsula.

North Korea on Friday agreed to an offer by South Korea to hold high-level talks on January 9.

The two Koreas have long had strained ties. The last high-level talks between the two neighbors was held in December 2015 to ease border tensions but ended without any agreement. Tensions recently skyrocketed with repeated North Korean missile and nuclear tests and increased South Korean joint military action with the United States.

However, a series of overtures between the two Koreas began when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used his annual New Year address to express interest in dialog with the South as well as in North Korean participation in the Winter Olympic Games, to be held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang from February 9 to 25. South Korea quickly responded by proposing the high-level talks.

Officials from the two countries will now meet in Panmunjom, the truce village located within the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula, on the scheduled date.

Kim later also ordered that a cross-border telephone hotline with South Korea be reopened.

The United States and South Korea have, meanwhile, agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the Winter Olympics.

Such joint maneuvers have been a main cause of tensions between the two Koreas.

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North Korea agrees to high-level talks: South

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 03:16AM

North Korea has agreed to hold high-level talks with South Korea next week, Seoul says, increasing hopes of a peaceful end to a long-running military standoff that also involves the United States.

The South Korean Unification Ministry, which oversees relations with the North, said Friday that Pyongyang had officially informed Seoul of the decision.

"North Korea this morning faxed a message to our side, saying it accepts the South's proposal for talks on January 9," a ministry official told AFP.

Officials from the two countries will meet in Panmunjom, the truce village located within the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-Hyun told journalists that the agenda would include the Winter Olympics "and the issue of improving inter-Korean relations."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had indicated in his New Year message that while there was always a nuclear button on his desk, Pyongyang was ready to make a fresh start and send a team to the upcoming Winter Olympics, which will be held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang on February 9.

Seoul responded by offering to hold talks. As a result of the tentative rapprochement, the hotline between the two sides was restored after almost two years of simmering tensions between the neighbors.

The tensions peaked last year, when the South held a number of military drills off Korean waters in response to the North's ballistic missile launches and its sixth atomic test, which was also its most powerful to date.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last Thursday that he had asked his American counterpart Donald Trump to delay new joint military drills -- which the North condemned as "invasion rehearsals" -- until after the Pyeongchang games.

Trump does not think highly of a diplomatic solution and is bent on resolving differences with Kim through economic pressure in the form of UN sanctions or even military confrontation.

Earlier on Thursday, he said in a tweet that it was his tough stance that pushed Pyongyang and Seoul towards talks.

In response to the North Korean leader's nuclear button remarks, Trump had said his nuclear button "is a much bigger and more powerful one."

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China Fully Suspends Exports of Iron, Industrial Equipment to N Korea

Sputnik News

15:03 05.01.2018(updated 17:05 05.01.2018)

North Korean trade volume with China, the country's biggest trade partner, slumped this year amid several rounds of sanctions imposed by the United Nations in response to Pyongyang's multiple missile and nuclear tests.

China will curb exports of oil and will completely stop exporting metals, industrial equipment, as well as transportation means to North Korea in line with UNSC resolution 2397, the country's Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

"As part of the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2397, since the publication of this decree, the export of iron, steel and other metals, as well as industrial equipment and vehicles, to North Korea will be completely stopped," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the exports of raw and refined oil will be reduced to volumes allowed by the resolution.

At the same time, China has fully halted imports of grain, agricultural products and timber from North Korea within the framework of the implementation of the resolution, the statement added.

"Since this decree's entry into force, imports of grain and agricultural products, alumina, building stone, timber and electrical equipment from North Korea will be fully ceased," the document, released on the ministry's website, read.

The ministry noted that imports of the above-mentioned goods could be allowed if relevant trade agreements had been signed before December 23, 2017, when the UN Security Council resolution had been adopted, adding that all customs procedures should be completed until January 22, 2018.

Starting January 23, 2018, any customs procedures on imports of these goods will be halted, and they will be added to the list of goods banned for imports, according to the ministry.

"From December 23, 2017 to December 22, 2018, within the 12 months, the export of oil of each UN member state should not exceed 4 million barrels or 525,000 tonnes of oil," the statement said.

The latest UN sanctions were introduced last month in response to North Korea's recent missile launch, limiting North Korea's oil dealings to 4 billion barrels per year and making oil product exporters working with the country to report on their deliveries to the UN Security Council.

Following the adoption of the UNSC resolution on North Korea, China called on all the parties concerned to show restraint and undertake joint efforts in order to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula.

 Sputnik

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Cyberweapons Now A 'Core Tool' Of Iranian Statecraft

RFE/RL January 05, 2018

WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Carnegie Endowment says Iran's cyberoperations have become increasingly sophisticated and damaging to its adversaries and are now a prime policy tool for its security agencies.

The report, released on January 4, said Tehran has used offensive cyberoperations to influence regional affairs, thwart opponents and rivals like Saudi Arabia and the United States, and conduct espionage.

"Iran has demonstrated how militarily weaker countries can use [cybertools] to contend with more advanced adversaries," the report said.

Much of Iran's cybercapability is homegrown, the report said, and is frequently guided by the country's main security organizations: the Ministry of Intelligence and the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"Tehran has become increasingly adept at conducting cyberespionage and disruptive attacks against opponents at home and abroad, ranging from Iranian civil society organizations to governmental and commercial institutions in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States," the report said.

Over the past decade, offensive cyberoperations have become a core tool of Iranian statecraft, for the purposes of "espionage, signaling, and coercion," it said.

Iranian intelligence and security agencies have also used hackers and malicious cybertools to go after civil society activists and antigovernment organizations, the report said.

For example, a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army between 2009 and 2013 targeted websites associated with political opposition groups, as well as Israeli businesses and independent Persian-language media, defacing the sites and posting pro-government messages.

The recent outbreak of antigovernment protests nationwide has also highlighted Iranian authorities' efforts to control or limit information and independent media in cyberspace and social-media platforms.

The government blocked popular social-media application Instagram and a widely used messaging app in Iran called Telegram, both of which are popular among Iranians, used to help set up gathering points for demonstrators.

Known formally as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank specializes in foreign policy issues. Founded by the late American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the center now receives funding from private and governmental sources.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/carnegie-report-iran-cyberweapons -core-tool-statecraft/28957033.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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'US Is Watching What You Do,' Iran Told at UN

By Jeff Seldin January 05, 2018

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations praised anti-government protesters in Iran at an emergency meeting Friday of the Security Council, while Russia criticized the United States for what it said was meddling in Iran's domestic affairs.

The United States called Friday's emergency meeting to discuss the protests in Iran, which have left 22 people dead and led to the arrests of more than 1,000 others.

Competing pro- and anti-government demonstrations have been taking place in Iran's major cities for the past week.

"The U.S. is watching what you do," Ambassador Nikki Haley said to Iran in her statement in Friday's meeting. She called the protests a "spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights" and a "powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are wiling to risk their lives in protests."

Haley called on the Iranian government to stop censoring the voice of the Iranian public and to restore its citizens' access to the internet.

She also said the international community should do more to support the anti-government demonstrators. U.S. President Donald Trump has also tweeted his support for the protesters.

But critics of the U.S. position, including Russia and Iran itself, have said the protests are not the business of the international community.

Iran's ambassador, Gholamali Khoshroo, attended the meeting at the invitation of the Security Council. Speaking last, he said it was a "discredit" to the Security Council to hold such a meeting on Iran in the face of the conflicts taking place in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, criticized the U.S. push to hold Friday's meeting as an intrusion into Iranian affairs.

Government advocates

Meanwhile, thousands of government advocates rallied for a third straight day in dozens of locations around Tehran and several cities after Tehran's prayer leader urged authorities to deal "firmly" with those responsible for sparking more than a week of anti-government rallies.

Iranian officials say a plot by the Central Intelligence Agency, Israel and Saudi Arabia is responsible for the unrest amid escalating tensions with the neighboring countries since Trump won the U.S. presidency.

In an interview with VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland cautioned that the the U.S. must walk a "delicate line" in response to allegations of provocation.

"We don't want to give them any ammunition for what they're saying. We know that the Iranians don't tell the truth about what is happening. Their people know that," Cardin said.

Cardin added: "I think it's important for us to keep a spotlight on the protesters and do everything we can to keep them safe and to take action against Iran if they violate basic human rights. I think the seeds for protest will remain unless the Iranian leaders change their course and allow the people basic human rights and basic economic freedoms."

The U.S. is promising support for anti-government protesters. A White House official Thursday said the U.S. would look for "actionable information" and seek to impose new sanctions against those responsible for stifling the protests.

The State Department also said it would not stand by idly.

"We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protesters, contribute to censorship or steal from the people of Iran," it said in a statement. "To the regime's victims, we say: You will not be forgotten."

New U.S. sanctions

Though the action was not tied directly to the protests, the U.S. on Thursday sanctioned five Iranian companies linked to Tehran's ballistic missile program.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, which the Iranian regime prioritizes over the economic well-being of the Iranian people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"As the Iranian people suffer, their government and the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] fund foreign militants, terrorist groups and human rights abuses," Mnuchin added.

Ahead of Friday's U.N. meeting, four U.N. human rights experts called on Iranian authorities to respect the right of protesters and said they were "extremely concerned" about the deaths and arrests that had occurred during the protests.

The experts also expressed concern that the government had reportedly blocked the internet on mobile networks and shut down social media platforms in an effort to suppress the anti-government protests.

"Communication blackouts constitute a serious violation of fundamental rights," they said.

Iranian public's discontent

The protests, which seemed to erupt spontaneously on December 28, have spread to many of Iran's smaller cities, towns and rural areas, with protesters focused on economic hardships and government corruption.

But Iranian officials on Thursday insisted the wave of anti-government protests had waned.

General Abdolrahim Mousavin, the head of the army, thanked security forces for "putting out the fire of sedition."

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said only 42,000 people had taken part in the protests. And an official with the country's elite Revolutionary Guards force said the number of "troublemakers" was fewer than 15,000.

Instead, state television Thursday showed huge crowds marching in support of Iranian leaders in several major cities, including Isfahan, Ardebil and Mashhad, where the protests started.

Still, U.S. intelligence officials warned that Tehran was at a crossroads, noting the protests were the biggest outpouring of public discontent since Iranians took to the streets in 2009 following a disputed presidential election.

"The protests are symptomatic of long-standing grievances that have been left to fester," an intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity. "Will it address the legitimate concerns of its people or suppress the voices of its own populace?

"What is clear is that these concerns are not going away," the official said.

Critics of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, pointing to rising prices for key commodities like fuel, bread and eggs, say he has abandoned the poor.

And even Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency, "The people's main demand now is for the government and officials to deal with the economic problems."

Growing US pressure on Iran?

In the meantime, Iran could face additional economic pressure from Washington.

Trump is set to decide next week whether to continue to waive sanctions against Iran that were suspended under the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran's nuclear weapons development. The U.S. president has repeatedly attacked the agreement and assailed Tehran's military actions in Syria, Iran and Yemen.

But some analysts warn the administration runs a risk of taking too harsh a line on Iran and seeing it backfire.

"There's really no reason for us to not waive the nuclear sanctions now," said Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"Don't pull out of JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal], because that will redirect the attention of the Iranian people from the regime's inability to solve their financial problems to us," Eisenstadt said. "We shouldn't make the United States the issue here."

Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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Did Iran's Hardliners Orchestrate Start of Iranian Protests?

By Jamie Dettmer January 05, 2018

Iranian authorities have accused the West and the country's regional enemies of fomenting the street protests that have roiled Iran for a week, but reformists question whether some of their domestic conservative foes had a hand in orchestrating the demonstrations in the first place  suspecting they did so to weaken the government of President Hassan Rouhani.

Media outlets funded by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) this week aired interviews with protesters angry about rising food prices and critical of Rouhani's stewardship of the economy, blaming him for price hikes in basic commodities and failing to deliver economic improvements he promised.

Some of the social media-based outlets, among them Avant TV, were only launched recently  reminiscent of the sudden rash of pro-regime media sites that emerged during and after the 2009 pro-democracy agitation.

The IRGC patronage of Avant TV, which presents itself as an independent internet broadcaster, was first revealed by the news site Al Monitor. Avant TV's coverage has focused on criticism of Rouhani and the seething discontent about economic conditions. It also has been careful to avoid broadcasting anything critical of the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

`Origins in Mashhad

The nationwide protests were first triggered by a rally in Mashhad, hardly a hotbed of liberal anti-regime sentiments.

A conservative Shiite holy city, Mashhad is home to two hardliners who ran earlier this year against Rouhani in the presidential elections. One of them is Ali Raisi. His 73-year-old father-in-law reportedly has been instructed to appear before Iran's National Security Council to explain what role he played in the original economic protest in Mashhad last Thursday that triggered unrest across the country.

Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, Raisi's father-in-law, has denied reports of the summons. A member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, he's a firm upholder of clerical rule, and he accused the 2009 pro-democracy agitators of being members of the party of Satan.

The hard-liners' exploitation of widespread economic disgruntlement in the wake of price hikes was hinted at in a speech last Friday by Rouhani's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, who told a conference in Tehran: "The ones who trigger political moves in the streets may not be the ones who will put an end to it, since others may ride the wave they have started, and they must know that their action will backfire on them."

The country's former hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has also been mentioned by Rouhani loyalists as having had a hand in the unrest. They argue that the hard-liners were likely surprised by how fast the economic protests spread and hadn't anticipated that a wider set of political grievances would quickly be voiced by the demonstrators.

"That the protests originated on 28 December in Mashhad, a bastion of Rouhani's opponents and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's hometown, is highly significant," according to Ali Vaez, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, a policy research organization based in New York and Brussels. "Hardliners and conservatives initially welcomed the unrest in the holy city, showcasing the way that elite factionalism has worsened to the point that some of Rouhani's opponents favor instability over siding with his political agenda," he added.

`Role of reform

Vaez says Rouhani could seize the opportunity to turn the tables on his hard-line opponents  if he's able to pivot away from being the target of the protesters and "addresses head-on the drivers of the protests and pursue popular reform."

And it is reform that worries conservative mullahs and the hard-liners in the IRGC. Some regime opponents argue the timing of the original protest in Mashhad is interesting. It came on the back of publication of the government's budget plans, which highlighted the enormous funds going to conservative cultural and religious institutions.

Presenting his budget plans to parliament, Rouhani criticized institutions controlled by hardliners and clerics, and for the first time shed some light on the enormous sums  billions of dollars of state money  being directed their way.

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Pakistan denounces US decision to suspend security aid

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 03:42PM

Pakistan has denounced as "counterproductive" Washington's decision to suspend millions of dollars in security aid to Islamabad.

"Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said Islamabad was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

The statement stressed the importance of cooperation now more than ever amid emerging threats such as the growing presence of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region.

The statement comes a day after US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistan would be suspended until the government in Islamabad addressed the issue of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups. She declined to put a figure on exactly how much aid would be suspended.

Washington will also continue to suspend $255 million in foreign military financing that has been held up since last year.

The United States has long accused Islamabad of allowing the Haqqani network, which is an affiliate of the Taliban militant group, to operate relatively freely in Pakistan's porous border regions to carry out operations in Afghanistan. Islamabad denies the accusation, saying Washington is overlooking Pakistan's sacrifices in its fight against terrorism.

Washington's decision sparked protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the country's two main border crossings with Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people took part in the protests, chanting anti-US slogans.

"We don't need any type of aid. Almighty Allah is with us and he is giving us everything," Mohammad Saleem, one of the demonstrators, said. He added that he had a message for Donald Trump, "Don't threaten us."

The relations between the US and Pakistan soured after US President Donald Trump said in his first tweet of 2018 that Washington had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years."

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US Warns Pakistan Weakness on Terror Could Cost Country $1.9B

By Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul January 05, 2018

The United States said its decision to suspend military aid to Pakistan will cost Islamabad just under $2 billion, as top officials from both countries engaged in a war of words Friday over differences in how to fight terrorism.

"There has been ample time for Pakistan to show that it is taking our requests seriously," a senior U.S. administration official said. "We have made very clear what our expectations are. Unfortunately, we have not seen the type of meaningful action we are seeking."

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it was freezing military aid to Pakistan and said it would remain frozen until Islamabad took "decisive action" against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The funding freeze affects $1 billion for military equipment and another $900 million in payments to defray the cost of counterterrorism operations, officials said Friday.

Pakistan: US move undermines cooperation

But Pakistan's military dismissed the U.S. action as a meaningless deterrent that would serve only to undermine security cooperation and regional peace efforts.

"Pakistan never fought for money but for peace," army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told VOA.

Ghafoor also denied U.S. allegations that Pakistan was giving either the Taliban or the Haqqanis any sort of safe haven from which they can attack U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Military-led counterterrorism operations, Ghafoor said, have targeted terrorists "indiscriminately," including the Haqqani network at a "heavy cost of blood and treasure." He insisted there were no more "organized" terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

"Casting doubts on our will is not good to our common objective of moving toward enduring peace and stability. Pakistan shall continue its sincere efforts in [the] best interest of Pakistan and peace," the army spokesman said.

In a separate statement Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. for "arbitrary deadlines" and "unilateral pronouncements." It asserted that Islamabad has fought the anti-terrorism war "largely" from its own financial resources.

"Emergence of new and more deadly groups such as Daesh in Afghanistan call for enhancing international cooperation," the Pakistani statement said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

And the ministry called U.S. pressure "counterproductive in addressing common threats."

Trump tweet

The war of words between the two allies was triggered Monday when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slash funding for Pakistan, accusing it on Twitter of providing a haven to terrorists and playing U.S. leaders for "fools."

In his Twitter comments, Trump said Washington had received "nothing but lies and deceits" in return for giving Pakistan more than $33 billion in the last 15 years.

Pakistani officials say they have received $14 billion and that Washington still owes the country $9 billion.

Both the U.S. action and Trump's remarks have upset many in Pakistan.

A leading opposition politician, Imran Khan, on Friday demanded that the government categorically refuse to accept any future U.S. assistance in the wake of Trump's remarks.

"Despite Pakistan clearing up North Waziristan, still half of Afghanistan is in Taliban hands. So, who is responsible for this?" Khan asked. "To make Pakistan the scapegoat of a failed strategy in Afghanistan is not just a travesty of justice, it is deeply insulting and humiliating."

`Wavering ties?

Despite the tough talk, some U.S. officials are hopeful Washington and Islamabad can resolve their differences.

"We are still working with Pakistan and we will restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters Friday.

Senior U.S. officials also said some of the suspended funding could be made available on a case-by-case basis in order to protect U.S. national security interests.

A senior U.S. official warned, however, that the government in Islamabad had pushed Trump's patience past its limits.

"He's monitoring Pakistan and how Pakistan has responded to our requests," the official said. "It was a matter of frustration. The kinds of information that were coming to him were not satisfying."

Pakistan's reluctance to undertake counterterrorism operations, specifically in the Waziristan region, has been a major irritant in relations with the U.S., which sees the area as a training ground for Taliban and Haqqani militants.

U.S. officials say such safe havens remain intact, allowing the Taliban and Haqqani to conduct attacks in Afghanistan, such as a May 31, 2017, bombing that ripped through Kabul's diplomatic quarter, killing more than 150 people.

Still, the Trump administration's hard line with Pakistan is not without risk.

"For all the talk of how the U.S. may finally be taking its pressure to a new level to get the results it wants, pushing harder could backfire in a big way," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, a Washington foreign policy think tank.

"If Pakistan feels sufficiently provoked by tough U.S. measures, it could retaliate in ways that damage U.S. interests in South Asia," Kugelman said. "The most likely scenario is that Pakistan could shut down NATO supply routes on its soil, which would make America's difficult war effort in Afghanistan all the more challenging."

Risk acknowledged

The Pentagon sought Friday to downplay such concerns, but Trump administration officials admit that is a risk, and say there have been some preliminary talks with other allies in the region about providing lethal aid to coalition forces.

"I'm not saying it would be impossible, but it would not be easy," the senior administration official said.

The U.S. has been forced to find alternate supply routes before.

In 2011, Pakistan shut down U.S. supply routes through its territory and airspace for months after U.S. airstrikes that mistakenly hit and killed 24 Pakistani border forces.

"We haven't exactly entered uncharted territory in U.S.-Pakistan relations," Kugelman said, noting both countries have found ways to forge ahead in the past. "There's a good chance that if the screws start to tighten on Pakistan, then Pakistan may be compelled to take some modest measures to appease the U.S. in the short term."

For now, though, it's the frustration that has come to the fore.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, in an interview with Geo News television, said the U.S. was "now neither a friend nor ally but a friend who always betrays." He said Islamabad would have to review its ties to Washington and to strengthen relations with key regional players, including China, Iran and Russia.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.

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Syrian army makes significant advancements in Idlib: Observatory

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 08:53AM

Syrian army forces have made significant advancements against Takfiri terrorists in the northwestern province of Idlib, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

According to the report, the Syrian military forces have managed to force out the terrorist groups, including the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist alliance from the southeastern areas of the province.

The Syrian army has liberated 77 villages and districts in the area since October 22, the group said.

The Syrian forces are now approaching the strategic district of Sinjar east of the provincial capital city of Idlib, where the government forces will launch their operations to liberate the suburban areas of the city.

Meanwhile, Syrian army, backed by the Russian air force, has launched a major operation since Tuesday to rid the Takfiri terrorists of their last stronghold on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

The push began in Harasta District in Eastern Ghouta, where terrorists with the Ahrar al-Sham outfit have gone on rampage over the past days.

The focus of the army operation is the Military Vehicles Administration Army base, which has been besieged by the terrorists in Harasta. At least 200 Syrian troops are believed to be trapped within the premises.

Damascus-based Sama TV television network said combined Syrian military operations and Russian aerial backup had killed more than 200 gunmen in the area on Tuesday.

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Chinese aircraft carrier monitored as it travels near Taiwan: MND

ROC Central News Agency

2018/01/05 21:31:54

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) A Chinese aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Friday without showing any abnormal activity, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed in a southwest direction along the Taiwan Strait's median line and is expected to leave Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) at 9 p.m. Friday, the MND said.

The Liaoning was accompanied by a number of other combat ships after sailing from its home port of Qingdao in Shandong province and was expected to conduct a cross-regional ocean voyage, according to the MND, which said it was closely monitoring the situation.

The last time the Liaoning was seen in the Taiwan Strait was in July 2017 heading in a northeast direction after attending the 20th anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China.

The Liaoning is China's first aircraft carrier and is named after one of its northeastern provinces. The 300-meter-long ship was refurbished and upgraded from an unfinished Soviet carrier and was commissioned in 2012.

(By Liu Lee-jung and William Yen)

Enditem/ls

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Italian-French group, Turkish firms awarded missile system study

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 04:40PM

Turkey has awarded a contract for a study into the development and production of a long-range air and missile system to a European manufacturer of anti-air missiles as well as two major Turkish weapons manufacturers and contractors.

Turkey gave the 18-month contract to the Franco-Italian Eurosam consortium, and its Turkish partners Aselsan and Roketsan, Eurosam said in statement released on Friday.

The three-country missile program, which announced on the sidelines of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's official visit to Paris and meeting his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, is scheduled to be ready by the middle of the next decade, and aims to defend against threats from stealth aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles as well as missiles.

"The joint development activity is expected to support Turkey's indigenous air and missile development program in addition to opening up prospects for exports and longer-term co-operation of Turkey, Italy and France," Eurosam stated.

Eurosam is the industrial prime contractor and system design authority for the development, production, marketing and sales of the Aster missile-based range of medium and long range naval and ground-launched air defense systems.

It is made up of European missile maker MBDA  itself a joint venture between Airbus and Italy's Leonardo and Britain's BAE Systems  and French defense contractor Thales, whose main shareholders are the French state and fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation.

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isk announced on July 14, 2017 that his country had signed an agreement with Italian-French consortium Eurosam to develop its national missile defense system.

According to the deal, Turkish companies and Eurosam will work together to produce SAMP/T Aster 30 missile systems, which is already in use in several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries.

The minister described the move as one of the most concrete developments of Turkey's alliance within the defense industry.

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US hatching chain of plots against Turkey: Erdogan

Iran Press TV

Fri Jan 5, 2018 09:42AM

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the United States for the conviction of a top Turkish banker in a US trial, saying Washington is hatching a "chain of plots" against Ankara.

A US federal court on Wednesday convicted an executive of Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank  Mehmet Hakan Atilla  for allegedly evading sanctions imposed against Iran.

"If this is the US understanding of justice, then the world is doomed. There can be no such understanding of justice," Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul on Friday, reacting to the conviction.

The Turkish president called Hakan Atilla's case "full of contradictions."

The Turkish government says the case is based on fabricated evidence and influenced by US-based Turkish cleric and Erdogan's political foe Fethullah Gulen.

In his Friday remarks, President Erdogan said the American plots against Turkey went beyond legal ones.

"The United States is carrying out ... a chain of plots, and these are not just legal but also economic plots," Erdogan said.

The Turkish government, which accuses Gulen of having masterminded a failed coup in Turkey in 2016, has repeatedly requested his extradition from the US. But the governments of former US president Barack Obama and incumbent Donald Trump have refused.

"Well then what are the international and bilateral legal agreements doing? They are becoming obsolete. I am saddened to say this but after this, the process will work like that," Erdogan said.

Referring to the apparent safety and comfort Gulen enjoys in the US, Erdogan said, "Those who are attempting a coup against us in my country... live like pashas in 400 acres of land," using the title of former senior officials in the Ottoman times.

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Turkey Seeks Reset With EU

By Dorian Jones January 05, 2018

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of two senior Turkish officials who have made or are making trips to European Union countries in what analysts say is a diplomatic offensive to reset relations with the 28-member bloc.

The EU is Turkey's No. 1 import and export partner. Relations between Ankara and the EU, however, have been strained in part over human rights in Turkey, a controversial referendum last year to extend his powers, refugee migration and Turkey's quest for visa-free travel for its citizens across the EU.

Erdogan met Friday in France with counterpart Emmanuel Macron for talks on Syria and trade, and he signed a series of contracts. The two presidents also witnessed the signing of an agreement in which Turkish Airlines will purchase 25 jets from Airbus.

In a recent interview, Macron confirmed he regularly speaks with Erdogan, conversations that analysts say the Turkish president values. "The steps we have taken until now with Mr. Macron are all in the right direction and I have a lot of hopes in Mr. Macron," Erdogan said to reporters before leaving for Paris.

Message from Kalin

Turkey has been seeking to join the European Union but cannot do so unless certain criteria required for membership have been met. Ahead of the Paris visit, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, speaking to the France 24 news channel, sent a message to the EU: "As Turkey, we see EU membership as a strategic aim; however, in recent years, not much progress has been made in this regard, due to several reasons. We want to overcome these troubles."

Ankara's ongoing crackdown following a failed coup in 2016 has resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and the jailing of dozens of people, including journalists. The crackdown threatens the collapse of the troubled relations with the EU.

Ahead of Erdogan's visit, Macron offered thinly veiled criticism of Turkey. "Freedom of the press is not only being damaged in dictatorships but also in some democratic European states as well," he told reporters.

Human rights concerns are set to be an even bigger obstacle to Ankara's bid to smooth over relations with Europe's other major powerhouse, Germany. German-Turkish relations all but collapsed last year over Ankara's accusations that Berlin was harboring hundreds of people linked to a 2016 coup attempt. Berlin, meanwhile, has likened the arrest and jailing of a number of its citizens, including two journalists and a human rights activist, to hostage taking.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is scheduled to visit his German counterpart, Sigma Gabriel, on Saturday in Goslar, Germany.

"Both sides have an interest in a new start in the bilateral relationship as we live in a time full of challenges," Cavusoglu wrote this week in an op-ed piece for a German newspaper. "It is not the time for bullhorn diplomacy."

Following a surprise meeting between the Turkish and German foreign ministers in November at the Turkish Mediterranean Sea resort of Antalya, both sides have started to take tentative steps to ease tensions. Three Germans being detained have been released. Deniz Yucel, a journalist for German newspaper Die Welt, remains incarcerated, although his conditions have improved with the ending of months of solitary confinement.

'Very difficult' path ahead

Despite such steps, experts warn Ankara faces a protracted process in improving relations with the EU.

"It will be very difficult to bring normalcy to Turkish-German relations," said international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul's Kadir Has University.

The release of Yucel is seen by analysts as key by Berlin to any substantive progress. Erdogan has previously said that as long as he remains in power, Yucel will never be free.

Given its growing isolation, however, Turkey could be set to make more gestures to Europe.

Turkey faces a similar situation with its other key Western ally, the United States. Until now, Ankara has been happy to look to Moscow to send the message that Ankara can do without its traditional allies. But growing dependence on Moscow is coming at an increasing cost.

"Russia is the leading engine, and Turkey is the wagon of the Russian policy," said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara's Middle East Technical University. "Unfortunately at the moment, Turkey is just doing and repeating what Russia is saying. So Turkey is very strongly under the influence of Russia, which has never been the case in the last 25 years."

While Ankara has found some common ground with Moscow in the region, the countries are historical rivals, as is the case with Iran, another country with whom Turkey has started to develop warming relations.

"Turkey and Iran have issues that could flare up anytime," said political columnist Semih Idiz of the Al Monitor website.

Observers say Ankara now could be realizing the precarious situation it is facing and a realization of the need for a more balanced diplomatic approach. They say the cost could be high, with European countries expected to press for an easing up on the crackdown.

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Defence Secretary praises UK efforts as RAF operations against Daesh continue

In a visit to Kuwait, Iraq and Cyprus, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson commended UK personnel deployed in the fight against Daesh.

5 January 2018

In his first visit to Iraq, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson praised UK service personnel as British airstrikes continue to wipe out Daesh.

RAF aircraft flew on operations against the terrorist group every day over the Christmas period, striking terrorist compounds, trucks, mortars and pockets of fighters engaged in close quarter, street fighting with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

"The dangers we face are changing and are intensifying rapidly. Eliminating the threat from terrorism is critical to our security at home and abroad. Our brave Armed Forces are working tirelessly, day and night, to defeat Daesh after helping to recover significant territory in Iraq."

"Only by defeating this evil and barbaric group for good will we reduce the deadly threat they pose to us, which is why we won't stop until their global network is destroyed."

RAF aircraft have carried out over 1,700 strikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria since 2014 and in his first visit to Cyprus, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson also met the crews who are playing a vital role in the coalition campaign to totally defeat Daesh.

Fast jets flying out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and remotely piloted Reaper aircraft continue to provide support to the SDF on the ground who are clearing the last remaining pockets of Daesh terrorists in Eastern Syria.

Typhoons, Tornados and Reapers worked closely with coalition partners, offering vital intelligence and close air support throughout December, destroying Daesh targets near Abu Kamal, Abu Hardub and Abu Hammam.

He also visited UK personnel in Taji and Baghdad, as well as Kuwait, praising their efforts as part of the UK's contribution to the global coalition fight Daesh.

In Kuwait, he met with US Lieutenant General Paul Funk the Commanding General of the global coalition as well as Major General Felix Gedney, Deputy Commander-Strategy and Support and the most senior UK officer in the military campaign against Daesh.

They discussed the success of the military campaign in both Iraq and Syria, but also reflected that Daesh have not yet been defeated as pockets of fighters still remain and will continue to pose a threat at home and abroad.

In Baghdad, Mr Williamson met with the Iraqi Defence Minister and visited the Iraqi National Security Agency, commending the efforts of the Iraqi Security Forces and reiterating the UK's commitment to the long-term security and stability of Iraq. This follows from the Prime Minister's pledge in her recent visit to address the evolving threat from Daesh and countering the dispersal of foreign fighters as Daesh is squeezed out of the battlefield in Syria and Iraq

He also visited UK troops stationed in Taji who, along with over 600 British soldiers on the ground in Iraq, are helping to train that country's forces. UK troops have so far helped train around 60,000 Iraqi Security Forces in battle-winning infantry, counter-IED, engineering and combat medical skills. In addition to personnel on the ground in Iraq, the UK has provided over 1,400 military personnel from all three Services as part of its three year involvement.

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Oreo for HTC U11 started rolling out mid-November last year. The update first arrived in the company's home country of Taiwan, with units in the US getting it around a couple of weeks later.

However, Europe hasn't been lucky as units in the region are yet to receive the new OS. Now, the company has publicly apologized over the delay. HTC UK's Twitter account issued an apology yesterday.

Were sorry for the delay in delivering your Oreo update for the HTC U11. We have started to roll out the update globally but have had some complexities that have caused a delay to our release in Europe. Please bear with us and well let you know more as soon as we can.  HTC UK (@HTC_UK) January 5, 2018

While the Tweet didn't reveal what kind of problems the update ran into in Europe, we hope the issues get resolved soon, and the roll out begins in the near future.

Source
A new app from LG has been released on the Google Play Store. It's a mobile payments application, but confusingly, it carriers not one, but two monikers: LG Wallet and LG Pay.

As you can see in the screenshot above, for me, the listing says the app isn't compatible with any of my devices. That's because the app description on Google Play says you need to have a G7 to install it.

Yes, a G7, which - for first - is an unreleased device, and secondly, from what we've heard recently, it's reasonable to say there'll not be an LG phone with that name at-least for a foreseeable future.

While the listing says more handsets will be available in the future, reports note the app is set to be compatible with some non-LG devices, including the Pixel XL, Nextbit Robin, Nexus 6, and some OnePlus phones.

Those who managed to install the app on their device say it's broken - the app launches, asks for permissions, plays a Korean video, and then hangs.

So considering the facts that LG Wallet/Pay is only compatible with a yet to be announced device (we can assume not everybody in the company is currently aware of the plans for naming the next G-series phone, hence the listing says G7) and contains Korean intro video, it's reasonable to assume the app is not yet ready for prime time.

For those who aren't aware, LG jumped into the mobile payments market back in June last year with the introduction of LG Pay. The service is currently only available in South Korea, and the LG G6 is currently the only device on which it works - though there are plans to add more handsets to that list.

Source | Via
Published on 2018/01/05 | Source

Do Kyung-soo looks as charismatic as ever in this first still for "Swing Kids", the story of a tapper from north of the DMZ who is held prisoner during the Korean war. This is a juicy mix of art and brutal history that I'm looking forward to watching develop.

-Yours, Lisa, who was a tapper for fifteen years

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Directed by Kang Hyeong-cheol

With Do Kyung-soo, Park Hye-soo, Jared Grimes, Oh Jung-se, Kim Min-ho, Park Jin-joo,...

Started filming : 2017/10/18

Synopsis

The story of Ro Gi-soo, a tap dancing North Korean soldier who was held captive in the Geoje prison camp during the upcoming Korean War.

Release date in Korea : 2018
Published on 2018/01/06 | Source

Added episode 10 captures for the Korean drama "Black Knight" (2017)

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Directed by Han Sang-woo

Written by Kim In-yeong

Network : KBS

With Kim Rae-won, Shin Se-kyung, Seo Ji-hye, Chang Mi-hee, Kim Hyun-joon, Hwang Jung-min-I,...

16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

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In this supernatural romance drama, a businessman with a pure heart braves danger for his love, a travel agent who has never traveled abroad. It is a love story that spans over two hundred years.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/12/06

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Published on 2018/01/06 | Source

Added episode 12 captures for the Korean drama "Prison Playbook" (2017)

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Directed by Sin Won-ho

Written by Jeong Bo-hoon-I, Lee Woo-jeong-I

Network : tvN

With Park Hae-soo, Jung Kyung-ho, Sung Dong-il, Kim Sung-cheol, Jung Jae-sung, Lee Ho-cheol,...

16 episodes - Wed, Thu 21:30

Also known as "Wise Prison Life"

Synopsis

Set in a prison, this is a drama about the lives of the prisoners and prison staff.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/11/22

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Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has blasted RTE for not structuring the sale of lands it owned in Montrose to give some to the local authority for homes.

Last June, the national broadcaster sold part of its campus for 107.5m, more than 40pc above the guide price.

Owner Cairn Homes is planning to build more than 500 units, and while the council will be entitled to 10pc for social housing, they will come at a premium.

The site cost alone per unit will be 200,000, meaning the cost of homes will be well in excess of this sum.

"I was disappointed that RTE, as a public body, wouldn't structure the sale," he said.

"Before you build anything, the site cost is 200,000. We'll get our 10pc of social housing but for a body berating the State for lack of action in this area, I felt they could have done more.

"It will be very challenging to pay for that 10pc. We may have to get it off-site, which won't give us the tenure balance we're looking for."

Problem

In an interview with the Herald, Mr Keegan said that many new homes coming on to the market were aimed at those on high incomes, making them too expensive for many workers.

"Clearly it is a problem," he said.

"I'd be hard pushed to identify anyone in this building [the civic offices] on a single income who could afford to buy in the Docklands.

"Some are being bought by businesses and FDI companies. There needs to be a more broad-based recovery. It has initially been focused on the higher end of the market."

Mr Keegan also said that measures introduced by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to reduce the cost of building apartments, such as removing the need for car parking spaces and not imposing an upper height limit, were welcome.

He revealed that he can see a time when developers buy entire traditional housing estates with a view to razing them and building high-density units.

Mr Keegan also said that around 90 people were presenting as homeless every month, which was a "disappointing" figure, and it was difficult to say why the numbers remained so high.

He said that family hubs, aimed at removing the need to provide emergency B&B and hotel accommodation, have been delivered "very quickly" and families were moving on to permanent homes.

"There's a huge amount of activity. There's a lot of work being done to keep people in their homes but disappointingly, we're getting 90 families a month," Mr Keegan said.

"New housing supply has to be the answer."
A soldier who fraudulently withdrew more than 13,000 when Ulster Bank experienced a software failure more than five years ago will be left without a conviction if he makes a contribution to charity.

Thomas Brannigan (32) made 45 cash withdrawals from an Ulster Bank ATM in Tallaght on one day in June 2012.

Due to a glitch in the bank's computer system, he was able to take a total of 13,250 from his account even though he only had 500 in it.

A court heard that Brannigan had since repaid all the money.

Judge John Lindsay said he would leave Brannigan without a conviction if he donated 500 to the Irish Handicapped Children's Pilgrim Trust.

The defendant, of Parkhill Close, Tallaght, had admitted before Tallaght District Court to more than 40 counts of theft.

Garda Keith Gorman previously said Brannigan stole the money from Ulster Bank on June 22, 2012, when a computer system failure meant customers could withdraw cash even if their accounts did not have sufficient funds in them.

Gda Gorman said Brannigan used his ATM card to withdraw small amounts of cash, from 250 to 300.

The withdrawals all took place at the ATM machine at Dunnes Stores, Kilnamanagh Shopping Centre.

Repaid

The court heard Brannigan had never been in trouble before and defence solicitor Michael Hennessy said all the money had been repaid.

Mr Hennessy said Brannigan had served for more than 12 years in the Irish Army and had the rank of corporal.

He added the defendant hadn't been in trouble before or since the incident, which he described as "opportunistic".

He also said Brannigan had made full admissions and pleaded guilty at an early stage.

Mr Hennessy said Brannigan was gambling at the time and it seemed the bank was "giving out free money".

The court heard the defendant had since attended Gamblers Anonymous.
Diverting current traffic from College Green will be among a number of options considered in order to ensure the new, longer Luas trams can run smoothly - but there will be no delay to their introduction.

The NTA has said it is working with Dublin City Council (DCC) to come up with a plan before the 55-metre Luas Cross City trams are put into operation by the end of February.

Making adjustments to the current traffic management system is one option being looked at, along with potentially "moving traffic in a different direction", according to an NTA spokesman.

He said that alterations around traffic signalling will also be looked at - but both the NTA and Luas operators Transdev have insisted that demand means that there will be no delays to the introduction of the longer trams.

"There's absolutely no question about that going ahead [on time]. It is badly needed," the spokesman said.

Seven new 55-metre trams are due to be put in place in late February or early March.

Error

A transport source told the Herald that new traffic plans were necessary, irrespective of the length of the trams.

"There's too many forms of movement and traffic interaction in one area, that's why DCC have applied to An Bord Pleanala for a plaza at College Green," the source said.

An oral hearing into DCC's proposal for a College Green Plaza was delayed due to an EU directive error. A newspaper advert in November only gave notice of a 21-day public consultation period, nine days less than the minimum.

It is now expected the hearing will take place in mid-February.

The council sees the plaza as a necessity to ensure the Luas runs smoothly across the city.

On Thursday, DCC chief executive Owen Keegan said the council will have to review the current traffic plan to allay any further issues.

Speaking to the Herald, he added that only banning cars and buses from the area would alleviate the situation.

"We've had to intervene to keep it [Luas] operating. It has settled but there are a series of interventions needed to keep it rolling on," he said.

"Pedestrian priority has been curtailed, and it's taking longer to cross. [Waiting times] could have doubled. It's gone up substantially.

"We're very confident that trying to maintain east-west traffic on College Green is not sustainable. We're going to need to give that back to pedestrians."

Mr Keegan said there was not sufficient road space to cater for all modes of transport through College Green, and that buses and cars would have to be removed to allow the Luas to run.

He added that more frequent services and the longer trams would present additional problems.

A DCC spokesman said that no decision on possible changes in traffic management had yet been made.

"It is too early to say what, if any, measures will have to be taken," the spokesman said.
1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities.

2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion.

3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact.

4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance.

Vote

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Boonsboro cheerleaders make Washington County history

The Warriors became the first county champions in cheerleading, and then the first county cheerleaders to advance to both regions and states
Beijing : US President Donald Trumps recent outburst on Pakistan will further boost economic and defence ties between Beijing and Islamabad, including China acquiring a Pakistani military base close to Irans Chabahar port, an official media report said on Friday.

Trumps January 1 Twitter attack against Pakistan where he accused it of providing safe havens to terrorists appears to be helping boost already close ties between Pakistan and China, a report in the state-run Global Times said. It attributed Islamabads decision to allow Chinese currency in bilateral trade and financing transactions as China has stepped up its investments in the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The report quoted a Washington Times report that China is in talks with Pakistan to build its second overseas military base as part of a push for greater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes.

The facility could be built at Jiwani, a port near Irans Chabahar close to the border in the Gulf of Oman, and is located a short distance from Gwadar in Balochistan province which is currently being developed by Chabahar port being jointly developed by Iran, India and Afghanistan to ensure a trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan.

On China establishing a military base at Jiwani, a South Asian studies expert said both Beijing and Islamabad have the ability to build a joint naval and air facility in Pakistan, but it is unnecessary at this time.

China has established its first overseas military base in Djibouti , in the Horn of Africa in Indian Ocean. However, China officially states that it is only a logistics base to service its naval personnel deployed for anti-piracy operations.

Besides Djibouti, China has also acquired the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease.

Source : TOI
Back in August, news broke that David Letterman would be returning to the small-screen to host an all-new Netflix original series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. While it wouldnt be the traditional late night format, the basic premise would remain the same, only without the traditional brevity of his usual interviews. This time around, the episodes are set to be one hour conversations, giving ample room for Daves interviewing prowess to really shine. Plus, the episodes will take place both in and out of the studio setting, with the pair spending time in a location chosen by the subject. Even if youre more of a Conan guy, you might still want to tune into Lettermans latest upon hearing the official guest list.

My Next Guest has been confirmed to feature appearances from Jay-Z, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Howard Stern, and Tina Fey. As you can see, its quite the eclectic band of personalities. Seeing as youre currently perusing a hip-hop focused website, it stands to reason that Jay-Zs appearance will be a notable highlight. Hov is no stranger to the Letterman show, but this will be his longest interview since his New York Times cover story with David Baquet. If an hour of Jay-Z isnt enough to pique your interest, catching up with Barack Obama should be interesting, given whats transpired since he left office.

Unlike the average Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will not be released all at once, much to the annoyance of habitual binge-watchers. Instead, episodes will be released monthly. Stay tuned for more Dave Letterman, hitting Netflix on January 12th, 2018.

David Letterman, Jay-Z
While fans have been patiently awaiting news on Donald Glovers critically acclaimed series Atlanta, FX have finally come through with the official premiere date: March 1st at 10 p.m. In case you missed it, star LaKeith Stanfield, who plays starring character Darrius in the series, originally revealed a February release date, before trolling fans with all manner of wild dates like FEBRUARY 2020. Suffice it to say, the wait will not be that agonizing, and well be able to catch the next chapter soon enough.

Apparently, Stanfields claims that the second season will be titled Atlanta Robbin Season is indeed correct, but other than that, any new information is rather scarce. Variety, who broke the news, confirms that Glovers Earn and Brian Tyree Henrys Paper Boi will continue their ascent to hip-hops upper mobility, which isnt exactly groundbreaking news. Still, it stands to reason that fans can expect more of the surreal vibes that helped elevate Donald Glovers brainchild into something else entirely.

In the same press release, FX also revealed the release date for the new season of The Americans, should you be interested in that series. If so, be sure to tune in on March 28th. In the meantime, stay patient for Atlantas return by reading up on our latest Gambino feature, exploring the need for a new album from the talented Mr. Glover. Luckily, all signs point to Childish Gambino releasing another album  its only a matter of when. Ultimately, 2018 is shaping up to be a massive year for the rapper slash actor slash writer.

Donald Glover
Lil Xan, Lil Pump, Lil Skies, Lil Wop, Lil Yachty. So many musicians in the diminutive that J. Cole felt impelled to check that rising tide, deriding the amateur eight-week rapper/ Lil whatever just another short bus rapper.

Cole is a traditionalist, and his diss was predictably reactionary; nonetheless, when you look past the vitriol it is hard to disagree with his underlying observation: rap seems saturated with musicians who, in name and age, are quite young.

Theres Rich Chigga (now Brian), a homeschooled Indonesian teen proving hip-hops global reach, Lil Peep who conveyed the claustrophobia of simply being, Lil Yachty oozing cartoon joy, and Lil Pump who might be a living cartoon. Add to their ranks YBN Nahmir, Tay K, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Jaden Smith, Ski Mask the Slump God and Trippie Redd. Lils of every variety, whether or not its taken literally.

This isnt a confirmation bias. Just over 20 percent of the songs currently on Spotifys RapCaviar, the sites second most popular playlist, come from or feature rappers under the age of twenty-one. If criteria is loosened to include any of the Lils mentioned above, that value increases to 30 percent. And when measuring off of their Most Necessary playlist, composed of songs from rising rappers, dreams of stardom look bleak for anyone remotely near their mid-twenties. We also have to consider SoundCloud, a site with at least 35 million more visitors per months than Spotify of their most popular songs site-wide, over 60 percent feature rappers who are twenty-one or younger. This is all to say that, yes, this moment is indeed populated by a lot of young voices.

The question that follows is why, where did they come from? One hypothesis focuses on demographic shifts. Rappers are getting younger, some decry (as though that is inherently bad). Its the fans who are getting younger, others say, maybe the youth have been conquered by rap music, and maybe that mom sobbing over Vince Staples was right to be worried.

Because rap music long functioned under a shadow economy, an empirically-informed rebuttal is elusive. Samples werent given legal clearance, mixtapes were pressed and sold out of garages. Under these conditions, who was concerned with polling consumers and musicians? However, for those same reasons it is difficult to prove that rap was ever anything but a young persons game. Rather than interpolating trends, this question invites that we engage with it largely (though not solely) through anecdote and example. Rap is a tradition of narrative and anecdote, so what does its own history say?

Rappers that are as young as YBN Nahmir and Lil Pump arent new. Remember, large parts of Illmatic were written when Nas was seventeen. Drake released his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, when he was nineteen. Kendricks first mixtape was released when he was sixteen. Odd Future was once comprised of a bunch of high-school kids. Lil B was just under twenty when Vans blew up. And Chance the Rappers Acid Rap, released at age twenty, remains one of the most downloaded mixtapes ever on DatPiff. Then there are all the people who never achieved fame, the young people making music alongside these big names. If youre asking why rappers are young now, youre asking the wrong question. We arent faced with a generations abrupt maturation into rap prodigies. These voices are, firstly, just being heard more, and getting attention that older generations might never enjoyed at such an early point in their careers more on that to come. Secondly, these voices are seemingly young by design. Theyre oozing youthfulness simply because of how playful and simplistic (or perhaps, fun) their music tends to be. Whereas we expected nitty-gritty, matured rhymes from Nas even if he was just 17, we dont expect as much from someone like Lil Pump. Thats not his avenue, nor does it seem to be his desire, and many of his colleagues are similarly-minded.

Going beyond just the artists own style and pursuits  what is it about Yung Lean that has him doing better numbers on a throwaway than Jay-Z gets for Hard Knock Life? It sounds reductive, but it is a matter of technology.

To understand that, start by considering the SoundCloud business and community model. Unlike Apple Music, YouTube, or Spotify, which host label-owned music, SoundCloud tends to host new releases by undiscovered musicians. Its your homie who raps on the weekends, or the DJ/ cashier at Walmart. SoundCloud is home to the unsigned casual artist, J. Coles amateur eight-week rapper. These musicians can easily upload their music without label or aggregator representatives, like they would need to for Spotify or Apple Music, and without the associated fees. For young, poor musicians just looking to build a fanbase, SoundCloud is the perfect platform. And when they are capable of monetizing their projects, labels are waiting with open arms.

This paradigm exists as part of broader takeover by streaming services. After Billboard modified their algorithms to account for streaming music, the strength of physical album sales as a determinant for chart placement has dramatically diminished. Cardi Bs hit Bodak Yellow was propelled into the number-one spot by streams on Apple Music, YouTube, and Spotify (due to certain regulations, only some artists have streams from SoundCloud count toward their chart placement). Cardi Bs story also brings us back to hip hops place in this brave new world of streaming. 2017 was the year of hip-hop. The genre accounted for 25.1 percent of music consumption across all mediums and 30.3 percent of all on-demand audio stream. Rock, the number-two genre only shared 18.1 percent of streams. Add to this the demographics of streaming sites. The last time either site released statistics, over 50 percent of Spotify and SoundCloud users were people age 25 or younger. With usage doubling across those platforms in the last two years, and that growth being driven by younger people, that share has likely ballooned. The data is finally showing what rap fans have known for years, that hip-hop is this generations most ubiquitous and influential genre.

That doesnt quite satisfy J. Cole though, and it doesnt quite satisfy our line of inquiry. Theres still the Yung Lean versus Jay-Z question. The Lil Pump versus Bishop Nehru question. Trippie Redd versus Joey Bada$$. You can reframe the dichotomy a dozen ways. These cartoon rappers, these Lil Whatevers. Why are they popular now?

The answer might be two-pronged, a mixture of the deliberate style pursued by the artist as we discussed earlier, and the streaming phenomenon, converging into one happy place. The technological shift has changed our expectations of music. Videos, songs, news, and the Internet generation is conditioned to seek abbreviated content and information something that is bright and sharp on the first go. Try scrolling through XXXTentacions SoundCloud page and youll see a list of tracks that load into infinity. It helps, then, when you can blast a track that runs under two minutes and quickly switches to the next. If there has been some major shift in rap consumption, its toward that, an aesthetic of instantaneity. You can see it in other aspects of these SoundCloud rappers music. Many of their music videos seem impromptu, shot and edited with effects that were selected flippantly because they seemed cool. This isnt a coincidence, they really are produced under these conditions. Cole Bennett, one of SoundClouds favorite music video directors, is notorious for rushing to any rappers shoot, equipment ready, on 30 minutes notice. Hes churned out music videos in a single night, mastering a kind of guerrilla editing that plays with colorful effects and inelegant transitions that look ripped from PowerPoint. Then theres Ronny J, SoundClouds producer du jour, who specializes in matching rapid-fire, two-verse lyrics to blasted-out bass and synths.

Lastly, streaming sites have gone from passive platforms to influencers in themselves with their greatest tool the curated playlist. Tuma Basa, Spotifys global programming head of hip-hop, isnt shy about discussing his role in Lil Uzi Verts ascent. After identifying XO Tour Llif3, as a potential hit, he moved it to the RapCaviar playlist and helped boost the song to over 1 billion listens. Cardi B got a similar boost from Apple Music. After Bodak Yellow was put on Apple Musics A-List Hip-Hop playlist, it saw a 124 percent increase in streams in the first week alone. And so theres a feedback: music platforms identify songs that are perfect for our streaming-age taste, share it with a wider audience, and the popularity amplifies. You might find Gucci Gang nauseating, but everything about it is streaming gold. Its just over 2 minutes long, has a simple hook, barely more than two verses, and can get slipped into a playlist without doing much harm to your afternoon listen.

If the idea of corporate forces influencing music is unsettling (especially if that music is Lil Pumps), consider that another shift is on the way. Beginning this year, Billboard will modify their algorithms again to weight paid-only streaming services and the paid-tier of hybrid streaming platforms more than the non-paid options. As an example, music played on Apple Music or paid SoundCloud accounts will be weighted more than free SoundCloud and Spotify accounts when determining chart positions. Where will this skew the data? There might be another apparent demographic shift away from young people. Since the teenagers that listen to Lil Pump on SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify tend not to have the money to pay for full subscriptions, their listens wont count as much toward their favorite artists chart position. Then, all these young rappers might start disappearing. Especially if streaming services dont want to boost up popular artists that arent popular on the charts, that arent making money. And if not, will the Lil phenomenon live on?

And, what about time itself? Will the teenaged fans grow up with this new music? Thats a question we can save for another thinkpiece, or, the commenters.
There was a lot of crazy things that popped off in 2017 but one thing that was particular problematic was the FCCs repeal over Net Neutrality laws. With the newly passed law, the Federal Communications Commission has much more control over how we, the public, use the Internet. Of course, this not only upset consumers but Internet based companies as well. Many of them have made a stand against the FCCs decision and now, it looks like some major Internet sites are looking to take their decision to court.

Netflix was one of the many companies to vocally take a stand against the FCCs decision to repeal Net Neutrality. Today, they announced on Twitter their plans to take them to court. In 2018, the Internet is united in defense of #NetNeutrality. As for the FCC, we will see you in court., they tweeted from their account.

The tweet was in response to the Internet Associations tweet announcing their plans to intervene in judicial action to preserve net neutrality protections. The Internet Association is the biggest lobbyist for some of the most prominent Internet companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, among others. In a statement, the President and CEO of Internet Association, Michael Beckerman, said, This rule defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet. IA intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution.

However, IA wont be filing the lawsuits themselves, according to Recode. Instead, they will help other companies in their battle against the FCCs decision. As of now, lawsuits that are getting ready to challenge the FCCs repeal of net neutrality must wait until Chairman Ajit Pais registers their decision in the Federal Register.
In this series, well be making the case for specific rappers to be included in greatest of all-time discussions. The more obvious choices (such as Andre 3000, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie, 2Pac) will be ignored in favor of artists who tend to get overlooked these days, for one reason or another. Previously, our writers have made cases for Pusha T, Ice Cube, DJ Quik, Big Boi, DMX, Ghostface Killah, Scarface, Lloyd Banks, and Three 6 Mafia. Today, were going to bat for GZA.

Part I: Protect Ya Neck

Why do the greats seem to dwindle so severely? Their silence and missteps fester in the most critical minds until we avoid talking about anything but what they were, like decline is something to be embarrassed about. Dont worry, Im not leading into a hit-piece on the Genius (and neither am I about to argue that hes had a flawless career), I just want to start by establishing that theres something powerful in constructing singular cultural moments. So lets say it outright: the greats dwindle, and this truth doesnt need to be embarrassing. Next, Ill propose that its amazing in its own way that an artist can create such inimitable perfection, heights that escape even their future self.

GZA is on par with Nas in his capacity to deliver urgent, immediate depictions of experience, real or imagined. He does this through lush lyricism. Through narrative. GZA is a rapper who creates whole worlds. Thats something we cant even talk about without bringing up the Wu-Tang Clan (a GOAT group if there ever was one). Collectively they channeled the boundless creative energy of New Yorks underground; individually, GZA showed that creative spirit married to serious, intellectual aspirations.

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was one of those rare moments when pop musics periphery displaces the center. It is a dense, unpolished masterpiece that should have stayed underground but couldnt be contained. We got hints of this with Wu Tangs breakout single, Protect Ya Neck. It is aggressive and dizzying, classic New York grit, while simultaneously esoteric and challenging. Who were these people talking about Shaolin style and the Wu? And who was this so-called genius that closed them out by dissing major record labels?

Those who werent indoctrinated in the ways of ninja movies or Staten Islands underground quickly learned. The Wu-Tang Clan introduced imagination and playacts to hip-hop without compromising the authenticity of their message. Think about every rapper thereafter who invoked the image of Scarface, or consider the whole mafioso subgenre that sprung up (reincarnated) in the late nineties. All of this is in part attributable to something as ridiculous-sounding as pretending to be ninjas and samurai. And then theres the actual music. Harsh, technical lyricism in an era dominated by Californias sun-kissed nonchalance. RZAs ninja movies and jazz samples and low-fi recordings. The nine MC personalities, and the harmony that arises from that chaos.

Being part of the best hip-hop group ever doesnt itself merit inclusion on the longlist of individual GOATs. It puts him in the discussion for sure, but its not until you parse through GZAs contributions to the Clan (as best we can), that it becomes apparent how much of a driver he was behind their sound and style, and how much individual praise he deserves as a result.

It didnt take critics or fans even on their seminal debut, the other Wu-Tang members took a moment to acknowledge GZAs greatness. The interlude-skit following Can It Be All So Simple has them variously describing GZA as a Genius MC and the backbone of the whole shit. If their group were Voltron, he would be the head (Method Mans analogy, not mine). Lets not forget, GZA was one of only two members to have released a solo album before Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). And his rhymes exude the maturity and thoughtfulness of a spiritual guru in one of those old ninja movies they loved so much. They werent wrong to call him the head on the debut he plays the Clans wise, cerebral observer, offering commentary on religion, politics, and corporate control in music.

Returning to their single, Protect Your Neck, its impossible to ignore the significance of RZAs arrangement that he mixed the song so that GZA would close it out. The worlds first introduction to the Clan ends on a verse that reads like a declaration of war (and wasnt it?) by the groups strongest, smartest rapper. It was a tacit acknowledgment of his superiority, it said: if any one member speaks for us, here is that man.

GZA is one of two members given a track entirely to himself on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and even then it feels like the song cuts off with so much left unsaid. Clan In Da Front is a powerhouse that weaves jagged beats and clanking piano keys with the communal turn-up of a fish fry. Its some good, old-fashioned our squad is better than you and yours dissing but heres the kicker, GZAs repping the whole Wu-Tang Clan, no backup. In yet another acknowledgment of his leadership. GZA is entrusted to hold up their entire style on his own.

The last few decades have seen a Wu-Tang in slow collapse, with in-fighting and weird publicity moves (like their Martin Shkreli-owned album) creating more buzz than their music. Through it all, GZA has remained as central to their sound as RZAs production. And in the rare moments that theyve achieved heights comparable to their debut, his fingerprints havent been difficult to lift from their work.

Part II: Cold World

I could leave the argument to rest, satisfied with unknotting GZAs position as the brain beneath Wu-Tangs ferocity, and the lyrical lead behind one of hip-hops greatest albums. But he didnt leave it to rest there. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was followed by a ruthless takeover. In less than five years, the Clan members delivered a series of solo albums, of which GZAs is undeniably the best.

Listen to Liquid Swords and youll experience the high-water mark of the Wu-Tang Era. While his bandmates explored albums that recast the Wu aesthetic in palettes colored by their individual personalities for example, Ol Dirty Bastards grime and weirdness GZAs was a sharp, clean distillation of everything Wu. That observation isnt meant to suggest a lack of creativity, rather, its meant to point out (again) how much of the original classics were molded by his ambitions. Chess, ninja movies, vicious New York winters with Liquid Swords, GZA sharpened these motifs to a razor edge.

GZAs New York is a distorted, surreal reflection of the actual one. Formed of richly detailed scenes of street hustling and Five-Percenter-inspired parables, the ambiance creeps around you like a fever dream in the dead of winter. Consider one of the more underrated songs on the album: Swordsman. Above an ominous chime (likely sampled from a ninja film) GZA spits a complex philosophical inquisition. Hes talking about slave ships and religion, dense topics on their own, except its not what hes saying thats so fascinating, but how he draws the connections. He doesnt fall back on conventional morality or Christian theology he threw those out in the first verse. Instead, he situates these issues in a larger cosmic network, something I dont pretend to fully understand. This is the recurring challenge and beauty of Liquid Swords, and much of GZAs discography. That we get glimpses of ideas that exist so much as the product of a single-minded genius. You walk away feeling like you got something, but not all of it so youll come back and study his wisdom some more.

Liquid Swords isnt so heavy on philosophy that it is inaccessible. Without qualification, its still some dope-ass music. Songs like Shadowboxin and Cold World deliver that rare gift of a song that both slaps and makes you think. All across this album, GZA builds complex internal rhymes and extended metaphors that are as impressive as the stories and beats. Every listen is another puzzle. Theres something to be said for this type of weirdness. This album, more than Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) gave hip-hop permission to be odd and experimental. I find it hard to imagine Madvillainy, Kanye West, or anything Indigo in a world without GZA.

His genius has traveled beyond hip-hop as well, to some of the most prestigious universities in the country to lecture on music and to discuss quantum physics with professors. RZA hoped that Liquid Swords would bolster Wu-Tangs popularity among college students, and he saw it as a rejoinder to Cuban Linx and its overdone gangster cliches. It was a prescient observationGZA is responsible for expanding the audience and intellectual esteem of hip-hop, to the point that the most esteemed publications discussing it (e.g., Pitchfork, The Fader) treat it with serious critical contemplation (sometimes to the point of alienating its readers and over theorization).

I opened by commenting on GZAs depiction of immediacy and experience. I think thats the ultimate appeal to his brand of GOAT. He isnt what he used to be, because he built a monument to a moment and a vision. Thin, infinitesimally sharp it is the personal offered without pretense. So how could he ever repeat it? How can he take us back into the warped world of 1995 New York, when no one knew where the music or culture would go? His early projects didnt chase anything down, they were a snapshot of a cold world, so frozen and set that anyone can come along, twenty years later, and find the same story.
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Cupid's arrow struck U.S. Army Capt. David Van Vranken through Facebook. Six years ago, the photo of an arresting redhead popped into his newsfeed - besotted, he wasted no time asking mutual friends for an introduction.

"It's a very funny, modern story," says Layne Lynch, the former mystery woman and now David's wife. The newlyweds tied the knot in November.

Aside from that initial love at first "like," a scripted version of their courtship would read more period-piece than rom-com.

Layne, 29, describes herself as extremely analytical and a bit old-fashioned. Under normal circumstances, David's boldness might have scared her off; but she was open to meeting someone, and he was about to deploy.

The relationship developed slowly. Every so often, her uniformed suitor would telephone to check-in from Afghanistan.

"I was out and dating other people," she admits. "But he would write me these letters, which was such an old-school thing that I always dreamed of."

Her grandfather had written to her grandmother during World War II. Those letters, Layne says, are what kept their romance alive.

After a full year of transatlantic correspondence and phone calls, David finally returned to Texas. The evening before Layne drove to Austin for their first face-to-face meeting, she and her mother, Mary Lynch, attended a tasting and booked a room downtown at Hotel Icon. Their giddy sleepover - mostly spent chatting about Layne's upcoming big date - is one of the mother-daughter duo's favorite memories.

"I could tell right away that he was a fit for me," Layne recalls of the moment she entered Botticelli's on South Congress. "He stood up and pulled out my chair - it was natural, and not a forced thing. I could tell that this was not like anything else."

Conversation flowed easily. They're both of Irish ancestry and have a thing for words. David, 28, writes creatively in his spare time; Layne is an executive assistant who also freelances for Texas Monthly. And they love dining out.

"As a food writer, people always rely on me for restaurant recommendations, so it was really refreshing to have someone else take the lead," she says. "David suggested places that I would never think of going. That's one of the things I loved about him."

Lucy's Fried Chicken, Foreign & Domestic and the now-shuttered Olivia became their go-to haunts whenever Layne was in town.

Her new beau had thoughtful - albeit unorthodox - gift ideas, too. Once, David presented his girlfriend with a 4-foot ladder because he didn't want her changing light bulbs on some wobbly chair.

That was the moment she knew he was "the one." "It's just this idea that he's looking to take care of me and drove to Home Depot  he bought me a ladder, and it was incredible."

There was talk of marriage, but someone would have to move. After two years of dating long-distance, the couple decided to take command of their own story. David, a Dallas-born native, became an official Houstonian in 2013.

With another deployment looming, they postponed the engagement until 2015. Layne knew first-hand of military marriages that crumbled after too much time apart, and she wanted to make sure their commitment could weather the storm. It was equally important to David that his father and future bride meet; he and Layne rented an old, rickety Impala and road-tripped to Florida.

Like many vacations, everything that could go wrong, did. Layne acknowledges that the mishaps only confirmed how right they were for each other.

"I hate the beach, and I hate Disney World," she confesses. "Getting engaged on the beach was my worst nightmare. I always said, 'If he proposes at Disney, I'll say no. And if he asks me on the beach, I'll definitely say no.' "

Sure enough, David popped the question oceanside.

"It was actually really sweet- there just happened to be sand," Layne adds, laughing. "I said 'yes!' "

Her excitement turned to sadness when her new fiance deployed again shortly after the proposal. She emailed Rachel Starnes, author of "The War at Home: A Wife's Search for Peace (And Other Missions Impossible)," for guidance. To Layne's surprise, Starnes responded quickly, and encouraged her to lean on loved ones for support.

The bride-to-be took Starnes' advice and passed the time planning the wedding with her mother or sending Pinterest-researched care packages to David. Letters, of course, were exchanged, too.

"He's one of those guys who wants to get married but doesn't necessarily want to handle all of the details," Layne says. She and Mary, on the other hand, are very detail-oriented.

Mother and daughter settled on a vintage theme with subtle, personalized touches. One friend hand-drew save-the-date cards and formal invitations, another brewed a custom Van Vranken wedding ale for the reception dinner. Amber Ben Dance Shoes designed velvet, emerald kitten heels to complement Layne's royally influenced lace gown.

"I wanted something like Kate Middleton's gorgeous Alexander McQueen dress, which revived the long sleeve, but with a lower cut," she explains. The inspiration for her cathedral veil sprang from the big screen. "In 'The Sound of Music,' there's that scene where Maria's walking down the aisle, and the shot from above is really elegant and classic."

Overall, her vision for their "I dos" came together nicely. Then Hurricane Harvey made landfall, and floodwater devastated several buildings downtown, including the couple's reception venue.

"I thought that Magnolia Ballroom would be fine, but my dad said that if the Wortham (Center) flooded, we should check Magnolia," Layne says. Unfortunately, her father's hunch proved correct, and she had 90 days to find a new space. "Everyone kind of laughed when I asked if they had availability. Then my mother suggested that we look at Hotel Icon."

On Nov. 18, following an intimate ceremony at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, that's where 75 guests toasted the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Van Vranken.

"I'd been to weddings with 400 people and thought, 'There's no way you know everyone here well enough to have them witness the most important day of your life,' " the bride says. "And it all seemed very fitting to come back to the Icon; I really love that I stayed there the night before I met David."

The morning of her wedding, the bridal party primped in Layne's apartment. It had long been her dream to get ready at home.

Later, the father of the bride performed all of the readings, including a notable homily that emphasized the sanctity of marriage and working as a team.

Shortly after she and David were pronounced husband and wife, Layne heard a gasp on their way up the aisle. "My veil caught on one of the lanterns, I thought it was on fire! Thankfully, it wasn't, but that was our one little hiccup that reminded us that this isn't a fairytale - it's reality."

Butter & Co. caterers created a Thanksgiving-inspired wedding feast complete with turkey meatloaf, rolled Texas steak, Brussels sprouts, jalapeno pumpkin muffins and 12 different pies from Red Dessert Dive.

Their first dance was a last-minute change to "Nothing Can Change This Love" by Sam Cooke.

"We were originally going to do a Leon Bridges song but didn't want to look like we were performing," Layne explains. "So we danced the way we would in our living room."

Come spring, the Van Vrankens plan to spend 10 days honeymooning through Ireland; coincidentally, their wedding photographer will be in Dublin around the same time and promises to capture their vacation on film.

Must be that Irish luck - because as David knows, a great photo can change everything.
Watch: Dog Clears Way for Herd of Cattle in Snow Storm, Internet Can't Contain Emotions
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The Netherlands has a highly ambitious renewable-energy plan in the works.

The country hopes to build the world's largest offshore wind farm by 2027, along with a 2.3-square-mile artificial island to support it.

As The Guardian notes, the farm would sit at Dogger Bank, a windy and shallow site 78 miles off the East Yorkshire coast. It would deliver power to the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and later Belgium, Germany, and Denmark.

Offshore wind farms typically use expensive underwater cables that convert the turbines' electric current into a type that electricity grids can use. TenneT's island, however, would house equipment that would perform this conversion on-site, thereby allowing the farm to send electricity directly to the UK and Netherlands via less pricey cables.

According to TenneT, the Dutch electric company spearheading the project, putting additional equipment on the island would also allow the team to operate more turbines at a lower cost  and thus generate more power  than a traditional offshore wind farm.

Though the cost of offshore wind power is often higher than onshore (without subsidies), the approach can be advantageous, since winds tend to blow harder and more consistently in the ocean.

The Dutch wind farm would be capable of producing 30 gigawatts of power  more than double the amount of offshore wind power installed across Europe today.

The London Array, which can produce 630 megawatts of power over 47 square miles, is currently the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The world's largest onshore wind farm, China's Gansu Wind Farm, could generate over 6,000 megawatts (6 gigawatts) as of 2012 (the most recent data available), and has a goal of 20,000 megawatts (20 gigawatts) by 2020. However, according to a 2017 report from The New York Times, a number of Gansu's turbines are still sitting idle.

The potential for offshore wind energy in the US is massive. If the country were to build turbines in all of its available ocean space, the winds above coastal waters could provide more than 4,000 gigawatts per year. That's more than four times the nations current annual generation capacity.

Several American offshore wind projects are underway. North America's first offshore wind farm, called the Block Island Wind Farm, started delivering power to the New England grid in May 2017, and effectively helped shut down a diesel plant that previously provided electricity to Rhode Island. In 2018, Deepwater Wind also plans to install 15 turbines approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, New York.

 Man who studied rich people found 3 etiquette aspects they never shirk

 11 horrible body language habits that are hard to quit

 How the ancient Greeks proved Earth was round over 2,000 years ago

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Plans for a 120,000 sq ft office block and landmark 193- bedroom hotel in Cork have been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

Permission for the development being undertaken by BAM was provisionally granted by Cork City Council in November.

BAM intends to develop the project on the site of a former Revenue Commissioner's premises on Sullivan's Quay. The hotel will feature a 12-storey cylindrical tower.

Among the submissions received regarding the proposed development was one from Deirdre Condon. She owns The Arch building beside the planned hotel, and the property is operated as a Griffith College premises.

She demanded assurances last summer that the on-going operation of the college would not be impacted by either the development works or the operation of the hotel.

She has now appealed the decision to grant permission for the development to An Bord Pleanala. The planning watchdog will make a determination regarding the development in coming months.

BAM Property has previously indicated that it has secured a premium hotel brand to operate the new premises, which will be one of Cork's largest hotels when it's constructed.

There have been plans for a hotel on the Sullivan Quay site for a number of years, but they were shelved during the downturn.

A number of hotel projects are underway in Cork. Ireland's biggest hotel group, Dalata, has recently embarked on the construction of a 164-room Maldron Hotel at South Mall in the city.

Kerry-born developers Kevin and Donal O'Sullivan are vying to build an up to 40-storey building in Cork's docklands that would include a hotel, offices and possibly apartments.

There are also plans for a floating hotel, which would see a ship moored at Penrose Quay.

There are currently just under 3,000 rooms available in the city., with the number expected to rise significantly.
Ireland is close to becoming the first major EU country to secure beef access to China, where consumers' appetite for the meat is growing strongly, according to Bord Bia.

The food marketing agency signalled it was "optimistic" about securing market access to the growing Asian powerhouse, which is already the world's second-biggest beef importer.

Bord Bia's Shanghai-based trade marketing specialist Conor O'Sullivan said that with rising incomes and urbanisation, the appetite for beef among Chinese consumers is growing faster than any other protein.

Mr O'Sullivan told the Bord Bia meat marketing seminar how Chinese consumers often do not trust home produce, with 40pc of rivers and a significant portion of arable land now polluted.

"Already China imports around 15pc of the beef it eats, and in three years it will be 20pc. That is really just the start as China is currently not a big beef eater," said Mr O'Sullivan, adding that it was realistic to say consumption would grow to mirror other Asian countries such as Japan and Korea.

"That is really important as for every extra kilogram Chinese consumers eat, that means they will have to find nearly 1.4 million tonnes of beef."

Unlike the traditional shop retail format, Mr O'Sullivan signalled that they see the opportunity for Irish beef in restaurant chains and through e-commerce channels where consumers are ordering for online deliveries. He pointed out that technology companies were already moving to take over the traditional shop chains as online buying begins to take hold in the food sector.

Sinead McPhillips, assistant secretary general at the Department of Agriculture, said they recently received a translation of a Chinese audit carried out at Irish meat plants. She signalled there was "good progress" made, with a number of issues remaining for discussion which hopefully could be progressed "as soon as possible".

It comes in a year where Bord Bia has reported the strongest year on record for meat exports in 2017, despite uncertainty over Brexit and currencies fluctuations.

Irish meat exports were worth 3.8bn last year and accounted for 30pc of Irish food and drink exports as they concentrated strongly on diversification of markets.

Beef exports grew by 5pc to 2.5bn, while poultry rose 3pc to 295m, pigmeat took a sharp rise of 14pc in value to 712m and lamb exports rose 12pc to 274m.

Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy said population growth, growing consumer affluence and greater demand for meat were creating long-term opportunities. Ms McCarthy pointed out that continental Europe had performed strongly, as had the UK despite the slippage in sterling since 2016.

However, with a rise in interest in Meat Free Mondays, veganism and flexitarianism - eating predominantly, but not strictly, vegetarian - among millennials, Ms McCarthy said there were trends happening in every single marketplace and they could not be "comfortable" with the challenges meat might face.

"It is facing it in more mature markets than it is in the emerging markets," she said.

"While beef particularly has been called out as the king of proteins or the king of meats, it can't rest on its laurels in that space," said Ms McCarthy, adding that the industry needs to put together a team to act as spokespeople to pro-actively defend the benefits of eating meat.
With employees setting back into work after the festive period, the new year is a prime opportunity for staff to consider their career options for 2018.

Understanding which employers are recruiting and where the opportunities lie is essential for any jobseeker.

In 2018 nearly three-quarters of Irish employers are planning on recruiting staff, 75pc of whom say that they expect finding candidates with the right skills to be the most challenging aspect of the hiring process, according to a survey of almost 1,700 employers and employees by recruitment firm Hays Ireland.

The survey also found that most employees  58pc  are dissatisfied with their current salaries, and just over one in two say that they expect to move jobs within the next 12 months.

As part of its research, Hays has revealed the top roles that employers are looking for in 2018, based on jobs with high market demand.

In a sign that the economy is booming again, topping the list of roles that employers are looking for are jobs in the building sector, with quantity surveyors, building services engineers, and architectural technicians making-up the top three.

Newly qualified accountants are set to be the fourth most sought after employees in 2018, while medical devices research and developers/design engineers complete the top five.

"Its clear from looking at our top ten that professionals working within the digital technology, finance and construction industries can expect a good 2018 in terms of salaries and job opportunities," Maureen Lynch, director at Hays Ireland, said.

"Were seeing continued investment in these areas across Ireland. High on employers wish-lists are candidates with experience in these areas, a willingness to work hard, and the ability get some great results."

The remaining positions in the top ten roles that employers are looking for in 2018 comprise of microbiologists, multi-lingual specialists, java developers, data analysts, and risk analysts.

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According to Hays, these roles are commanding significant salary increases because of a shortage of suitably qualified and experienced candidates in these areas.

"2018 should see a steady growth in job creation and salaries across multiple sectors. Salary increases are particularly apparent in technology, engineering, pharma, and banking and finance and we would expect this trend to continue over the coming 12 months," Ms Lynch said.

Speaking to Independent.ie Ms Lynch went on to say that many of the countrys more progressive employers are looking to differentiate themselves from the competition through more creative means in response to the growing competition for in-demand skills.

"This includes investing in professional development opportunities, and taking a more holistic approach to creating flexible workplace environments more conducive to long term employee productivity and job satisfaction."

On the matter of Brexit and the Irish employment market, Ms Lynch told Independent.ie that there was still not a clear understanding on its long-term impact on the employment market or on local salaries.
Oisin Fanning, who heads up oil and gas exploration company San Leon

Oil and gas exploration firm San Leon has said takeover talks for the company with two parties have been terminated - but talks with another potential suitor are continuing.

China Great United Petroleum and Geron Energy Investment had been circling the company, headed by former Smart Telecom boss Oisin Fanning, for an extended period.

Geron Energy Investment first signalled in December 2016 that it was interested in making an offer to buy San Leon. China Great United Petroleum stepped into the fray in June last year.

AIM-listed San Leon said yesterday that both those companies have now confirmed that they do not intend to make an offer for the exploration firm.

San Leon had indicated last summer that China Great United Petroleum had made an indicative takeover offer for the company at a substantial premium to the share price.

That indicative offer was between 60p and 76p per share, compared to the 30p that San Leon shares were changing hands for at the time.

It said during the summer that the Chinese company hoped to be able to make a formal offer within 45 days.

That offer period elapsed, however, without a formal offer being made. But San Leon had remained in dialogue with China Great United Petroleum.

San Leon added yesterday that Midwestern, which made an approach last month, remains in discussions about a possible transaction.

If that deal happens, it would constitute a reverse takeover under AIM rules.

"These discussions may or may not lead to a transaction being completed between San Leon and Midwestern," said San Leon.

Trading in San Leon's shares remains suspended.

San Leon is active in a number of countries, but its 9.7pc stake in the OML18 concession in Nigeria arguably offers the most potential.

Midwestern is a partner in the Nigerian concession.

Located in the southern Niger River delta, the concession covers 1,035 sq km and contains nine existing fields.

Combined, those fields have produced a total of more than one billion barrels of oil or condensate, and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Last month, San Leon paid off a debt owed to Avobone, a former partner in a Polish asset with whom relations deteriorated.

The 11m (12.3m) loan was provided by Toscafund, a London-based hedge fund run by Martin 'The Rottweiler' Hughes - one of the best-known fund managers in the City of London.

Toscafund owns around 60pc of San Leon.
Dublin-headquartered private investment firm Broadlake has sold its majority stake in Irish skincare and self-tan company Vita Liberata to US-based Crown Laboratories.

The deal is set to be worth in the region of $30m (25m), according to market sources.

"We backed an ambitious team in 2012 and over the last five years have supported them during a period of phenomenal growth. Over this time the company has successfully developed its product ranges, brands, channels and international reach," Pete Smyth, founder and CEO of Broadlake, said.

Founded in 2003 by EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist Alyson Hogg, Vita Liberata markets itself as the first completely non-toxic tanning brand.

Ms Hogg will stay on as president of consumer brands for Crown Laboratories, a speciality pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology, which has the backing of US private investment firm Hildred Capital Partners.

"Crown and Hildred have a genuine understanding of the sun care market and a very impressive vision for the Vita Liberata brand. We are thrilled to partner with them to leverage Crown's strong positioning within the dermatology space and advance our mission of making self-tanning a viable alternative to sun exposure for all," Alyson Hogg said.

While Broadlake has not disclosed the amount it invested in the company, it typically invests between 2m and 10m in established and growing businesses.

The aim of its investment in Vita Liberata in 2012 was to accelerate the international growth of the business, supporting its successful expansion into the North American market.

Already Vita Liberata's products are sold in premium retailers across the US and Europe.

This is Broadlake's second major deal in a little over two months. In November last year it sold its stake in shower enclosures company Merlyn Industries to the UK-based Norcros.

The Kilkenny-based firm, which employs people in the UK and Asia as well as Ireland, was acquired on a debt-free, cash-free basis, subject to certain adjustments, from its shareholders the Hoyne family and Broadlake for 60m (68m).
Jack Teeling, right, with brother Stephen outside the Teeling Whiskey distillery in Dublin, which was the citys first in more than 125 years

With whiskey distilling in his blood and industry experience under his belt, Jack Teeling has managed to transform a personal ambition into a lucrative global empire.

Five years ago, after working in the family business since he finished college - his father John Teeling was behind the Cooley Distillery - Jack teamed up with his brother Stephen to establish Teeling Whiskey.

In this short period, the company has gone on to success both in Ireland and internationally, and Jack himself has been recognised for his ambition, reaching the finals in this year's EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

Furthermore, the company was the first to open a new distillery in Dublin - Teeling Whiskey Distillery, which opened in 2015 - in over 125 years.

But it hasn't been an easy journey, Jack tells Independent.ie.

"Did I know if I could make it [Teelings Whiskey] work? No, I said this is what Im going to do, there is a lot of new whiskey projects out there, I doubt a lot of them will actually follow through and do what they say they are going to do, but this was very important to me because I have been a producer all my life," he said.

"It took longer and was a lot more complicated than I thought, I was a bit naive in planning and challenges, and architects and all that stuff."

Reflecting on the past 12 months, Jack said that it has been an incredible year for the company,

"Asian sales are up around 40pc, the US took a small step back with the change in distribution, but in every other market we have grown, and we have aggressive plans for next year," he said.

To improve the companys distribution in the US market the company brought in international drinks company Bacardi, who took a minority stake in Teelings.

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As Jack explains: "The US is the largest market in the world for Irish whiskey, its our number one market.

"Bacardi like what we do and they want us to keep developing the brand and to drive the marketing side of things, but in the US the market is so dominated by the big brands and you need to have a strong partner, it is where all the Irish whiskey growth has happened in the last 20 years. We did well but we didnt match the level of success we saw in other markets."

In addition to the companys growth in Ireland and overseas, Jack says that the distillery, based in Dublins Liberties, is exceeding expectations with visitor numbers.

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This year alone they are looking at 120,000 visitors and they have had to convert extra space and spend more money on the attraction.

With full-priced tickets for the tour starting at 15, Jack reveals that "for every full price ticket that we sell in the distillery we put a percentage into a fund that we give back to charities, I dont like to make a big deal out of it, its just something that we do."

In terms of expansion going forwards, Jack highlights the US as being a big opportunity for the company.

Currently Teelings has nine brand ambassadors based in the US, who's focus is in bars, working, training, and supporting bartenders there.

"Now we have more whiskey available we have to be able to sell more whiskey and scale our business a little bit further and one area where I thought we were a little bit weak was in the US. We brought on board Bacardi which has involved them taking an equity stake in the company and for us to hopefully make a success in that key market."

However Jack also says that there are also "great opportunities for Irish whiskey in the likes of China, the Philippines, and Korea. I feel the taste profile of Irish whiskey is very suitable to the pallet of consumers."

"The challenge for Irish whiskey is education on what Irish whiskey is, really about Ireland and the history behind it."

"We are getting good support from Enterprise Ireland and the Chambers to do this and Bord Bia, our business development officer in Hong Kong is co-founded by Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland, as I think they are trying to encourage companies to look outside of the UK, and really for me I think Asia is that opportunity."

"We have very good partners in different parts of Asia, our partner in China has got us in what all the five-star Marriott hotels in China, so we are focusing a lot of education of bartenders and doing a lot of things to be visible."

"We [also] did a partnership with a high-end Chinese winery called the Silk Road Collection, which was again using a premium local brand with an international brand and bringing it together."

As part of the partnership Teelings were given the wine barrels, which Teelings finished their whiskey in and bottled it up using Chinese symbols that represent the Teelings brand.

Teelings Distillery offers guided tours every 20 minutes, with full-priced tickets starting at 15. In addition, the Distillery is available for private functions.
Concerns have been expressed over the lack of supervision of a notorious paedophile former priest whom the Catholic Bishop of Waterford and Lismore has warned is "extremely dangerous" and is "actively seeking victims".

Clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins paid tribute to Bishop Phonsie Cullinan for a letter he sent to priests and schools in his diocese just before Christmas about convicted paedophile Oliver O'Grady, who is living in Waterford city.

In the letter, Dr Cullinan attached a photo of the former cleric who served in the US and said he had informed gardai of his recent activities in the locality.

He asked the letter's recipients to advise all parish groups, especially those working in any way with children, to be "aware that this man continues to be an evil menace to innocent children".

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Ms Collins, a survivor of clerical abuse and former member of the Vatican's Commission for the Protection of Minors, commended Bishop Cullinan.

"While it is good to see the bishop issuing this warning and passing on his concerns to gardai, I would ask who is monitoring this very dangerous paedophile? As Mr O'Grady is no longer a priest, it is not likely that responsibility would lie with the Church. Are the civil authorities taking any action to ensure the children of the area are being properly safeguarded?" she queried.

Ms Collins also expressed concern about the "many other men who have abused children, served their sentence and now live among us".

A spokesman for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore told the Irish Independent that Dr Cullinan sent the letter to the catholic primary schools, as well as the clergy of the diocese, as patron of the Catholic schools in Waterford and Lismore, "for whom he has a duty of care, especially for the children".

According to Fr Liam Power, as a child safeguarding matter, it was immediately referred to gardai and Tusla when the Bishop became aware of it.

O'Grady (71) served seven years of a 14-year sentence in the US following his conviction for the sexual abuse of two brothers over a 10-year period when one was as young as three.

He was deported to Ireland in 2001 and in 2010 he was discovered volunteering under a pseudonym 'Brother Francis' at a Catholic parish in Rotterdam.

That same year his laptop was discovered with sexual abuse images of children as young as two. He was handed a three-year sentence by the courts in 2012.
Conor Skehan has been reappointed chair of the Housing Agency until the end of the year.

The move comes after he was roundly criticised this week for suggesting that some people were "gaming the system" by declaring themselves as homeless in order to secure a home ahead of others on council waiting lists.

The appointment was confirmed in a notice published in State gazette, 'Iris Oifigiuil', but it will only be on a temporary basis.

Last year, the Public Appointments Service advertised the position of chair, and it is understood that 17 people applied. Of these, two were selected as possible candidates, but they later withdrew from the process.

Sources said that the position has to be re-advertised as they begin a new recruitment process. The incoming chair must appear before the Dail housing committee before being approved, and it is understood a decision was made to reappoint Mr Skehan pending selection of a new candidate. It is understood he requested it be on a temporary basis.

Dr Skehan has already served as chair since July 2013, and his term of office was due to expire last month. While entitled to an annual stipend of 11,970, it is understood he did not claim the payment.

The notice in 'Iris Oifigiuil' said that Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy had made six appointments to the board of the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency (Housing Agency). "The minister has also reappointed Conor Skehan as chair of the agency for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018," it added.

The Housing Agency said he had been reappointed by the minister "pending the appointment of a new chair". The chair's term of office is normally five years.

The move was criticised by Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin who said it was "hard to understand".

"Conor Skehan has significant expertise in housing policy and he has contributed positively to our ongoing housing policy debate. However, his recent comments about homeless families 'gaming the system' crossed an important line. To reappoint Conor Skehan to the chair of the Government's housing policy advice body is a bad decision that will undermine the public credibility of the Housing Agency," he said.

A senior lecturer in housing at DIT, Mr Skehan is acknowledged as being an authority on housing matters. A chartered architect, he is a fellow of DIT's Future's Academy and is also a former director of Bord na Mona and former chair of the Peatlands Council.

The Housing Agency was established on a statutory basis in 2012 and is tasked with advising the Government on housing policy. However, recent comments by Dr Skehan have resulted in some controversy.

This week he was subject to widespread criticism after he referenced a measure introduced in January 2015, but since dropped, where half of all social homes in Dublin were to be allocated to homeless people. He suggested this may have led people to "game the system", or declare themselves as homeless, to jump the queue for a home.

Dr Skehan, who could not be reached for comment, has also been criticised for saying while homelessness was a "dreadful thing," Ireland's homelessness problem was low by international standards.
Catholics have been urged to speak out against abortion by Archbishop Eamon Martin.

Dr Martin used his New Year pastoral message to say that he feels the unborn must be protected as he called abortion "evil."

As we prepare to vote on whether to keep or repeal the Eight Amendment - which gives equal rights to the mother and foetus - the Primate of All Ireland used his New Year pastoral message to make his stance on the issue clear.

He said today: "The innate dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death, is a value for the whole of society, rooted in reason as well as in faith.

"The Catholic Church, in common with many other people of goodwill, teaches that ending the life of an unborn child, like the taking of any other innocent human life, is always evil and can never be justified."

Dr Martin called on people to speak to their loved ones and public representatives about the divisive issue.

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"Brothers and sisters I encourage you to be missionaries for the cause of life. Remember those words of Pope Francis: 'To serve human life is to serve God.'

"Speak to your families, your children and grandchildren, friends and colleagues about cherishing the precious gift of life at all times from conception to natural death. Speak the truth about life, and speak it with love.

"Despite the strong pressures to remain silent, do not be afraid to witness to the equality of all life in private conversations and public discussions in the coming months.

"As citizens committed to the Common Good, you have a democratic right to make your views known, respectfully, to our public representatives."

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Dr Martin said that under Catholic teaching medical intervention that may put a foetus at risk is acceptable when the mother is seriously ill and only when every effort has been made to save both her and her baby.

He said: "Both lives deserve protection from the tragedy and irreversible decision of abortion.

"It is falsely claimed that wide access to abortion will mark Ireland out as a 'modern' country, placing the needs of women 'at the centre'.

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"Abortion ends the human life of an unborn girl or boy. It deceives women - and men - by creating a culture where the decision to end the life of an unborn child is portrayed as simply a matter of individual 'choice'."

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He also said that more must be done to improve our maternity services and to support pregnant women.

He said: "We should focus our energies and resources on making Ireland the most welcoming country in the world for a woman and her baby in the womb.

"Our doctors, nurses, midwives and other care professionals have already helped to earn Irelands place as one of the safest countries in the world for mothers and their babies during pregnancy.

"Ireland now has an opportunity to give even stronger witness that: we value all life equally; we care for the weakest and smallest, the strongest and healthiest, the youngest, the oldest, and the whole wonderful and beautiful spectrum of life in-between."
An Irish teacher who suffered a near-fatal blood clot in Dubai is "taking big steps" and her family are confident about her recovery after she was able to to return to Ireland this week.

Aisling Brady's boyfriend Kristian Mansfield said himself and her family are "blown away" after a fundraiser to cover her medical evacuation and rehabilitation costs raised over 142,000.

Aisling (26), who is from Trim in Co Meath, was rushed to hospital in November after she fainted and hit her head, she then suffered three seizures, three cardiac arrests and a stroke as a result of a blood clot, otherwise known as a pulmonary embolism.

She was flown from Dubai to Dublin on Friday morning and will now continue her recovery in Dublin's Mater Hospital.

Kristian told Independent.ie that he is over the moon with her progress.

He said: "She is doing really well, she's taking big steps - she has some movement in her limbs, her left side is a little stronger than her right and she can almost lift her left arm and leg, so that makes us confident about her long-term recovery mobility-wise.

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"She is also fully aware, she turns her head when she hears someone she knows talking and she knows who we are, she has a good memory.

"We're out of the acute stage of her recovery now, her heart and brain are strong and we're all about the rehabilitation now.

"She has a tracheotomy for a few more weeks so she can't talk yet but she is making some noises.

"She's had a big few days, on Wednesday her physiotherapist helped her to sit in a chair, it was her first time out of bed in five and a half weeks.

"We know it's a long road ahead and it could be up to a two year journey to get her back, we're aiming for a 100 per cent recovery and we're feeling confident in the long-term."

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He said that he is delighted that she will now be cared for in the Mater Hospital.

"The Mater Hospital is the best we could have hoped for, they are specialists in cases like hers so we are really happy, it's a top hospital.

"A couple of their specialists have taken her on and we're so thankful for that.

"Every day really counts now, every day without physiotherapy could set back her long-term recovery," he explained.

Kristian continued to say that he could not believe how much the public backed Aisling, raising almost 150,000 in just 24 days.

"We're thankful for the media attention as it helped highlight what happened to Aisling and we received a lot of support from the general public, people really wanted to help.

"It's been amazing, it made me see that the Irish community is so tight-knit and supportive, it's amazing because the majority of people who donated are complete strangers who just want to help.

"It really blew me away and it really blew her family away."

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He said that the money will really help with physics and maths teacher Aisling's recovery.

Kristian said: "The GoFundMe has alleviated a lot of stress, we thought we might get a bit of help but we never expected anything like this, to have everything covered by it is amazing.

"Now we can start looking towards specialist rehabilitation and we are hopeful looking towards the future that we will get the old Aisling back to the best that she can be.

"I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for your generosity and support."
A father-of-two who bravely fought against an aggressive form of brain cancer has passed away.

David McClean's family were left heartbroken when he was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma in September 2016, just two years after having a tumour removed from his leg.

He was told by doctors in Belfast that his brain tumours were inoperable and he was given 12 months to live, but he refused to accept the bleak prognosis.

David, who was from Ballymena in Co Antrim, travelled to University College London Hospital, where he underwent a seven-and-a-half hour operation.

But the building contractor was then told that the tumours would start growing back immediately.

He knew his only chance was to receive immunotherapy treatment, which costs more than 40,000 per session.

After a crowdfunding campaign and generous help from friends and family, he began treatment last February.

He was able to return to work in June.

However, his family took to social media to reveal the news that David had died in the early hours of yesterday. They said: "It's with great sadness that we have had to announce that our beloved David passed away in the early hours of this morning, being held by his family and being told how much he was loved.

"David retained his sunny personality until the end, always smiling and telling the nurses they were too kind and that he was giving them a lot of bother.

"He was described by everyone, including medical staff, as a true gentleman.

"David you will be forever in our hearts, always loved and sorely missed, Your loving wife Dawn, and children Charlotte & Christopher. xx"

Dawn said: "My darling David you have gone too soon. I will always love you and will see you in heaven. Till then I know you will be watching over all of us. Love you forever."
THE fact that a man has been charged with murder following Wednesdays shocking attacks in Dundalk prohibits any further reportage about the specific incident or the accused.

As the due process of justice kicks in, the matter is now sub judice because Mohamed Morei (18) is entitled to the presumption of innocence and all the rights and procedures of a fair and egalitarian legal system.

However, this incident has given rise to considerable, and perfectly legitimate, concerns about the States capacity to adequately protect its borders, and police the thorny issue of immigration.

The main focus of the Garda investigation now taking place is retracing the steps taken by Mr Morei in the days, weeks and months before last Wednesday morning.

Fianna Fail justice spokesperson Jim OCallaghan was one of the first to raise these concerns when he said it was worrying that the authorities appeared unable to determine when exactly the accused entered the State, and where he had been in the interim.

As of yet we, the public, are none the wiser as to this mans status in the country, or how he had come to be here in the first place.

What we have been able to find out is very little.

While we know there was contact between this man and gardai working in immigration on New Years Day, we remain none the wiser as to when he crossed the Border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.

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After contact was made by gardai, Mr Morei was instructed to attend Hatch Hall, a direct-provision centre for asylum seekers in Dublins city centre.

We do not know what happened here  all we know is that this man was back in Dundalk two days later, when Wednesdays attack unfolded. We do not know if he was processed at Hatch Hall, and whether any supports or services were offered to him.

Gardai have stated that this incident was not what could be characterised as a lone wolf terrorist attack.

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However, the questions raised as a result of this incident do reinforce serious concerns being expressed privately by those on the frontline: that the States border security regime and immigration control is not up to scratch, and that is putting it mildly.

Never before has it been so crucially important for the State to put in place a fully-integrated, sophisticated, functional immigration system so that the authorities know who is entering the country, and can then monitor their movements until such time as they have cleared a rigorous security screening and granted permission to stay.

There is nothing draconian, or indeed unfair, in such a system which finds balance between human rights and national security. In fact, it is the least the citizens of the State deserve.
The young Japanese man randomly stabbed to death in Dundalk on Wednesday had decided to take a different route home from work for the first time when he was attacked.

Yosuke Sasaki (24) was making his way from his night shift at the National Pen building on Dublin Road when he was attacked at 9am on Avenue Road.

However, in a tragic twist of fate, a colleague has said Mr Sasaki had told them just before he left work that morning that he had to pick up a package that day. As a result, he had decided to take an alternative route home.

Package

"I have to go to the post office now to receive a package," was the last thing he told colleagues before leaving the plant at 8.30am.

His colleague said: "Reports that he was killed on the way to his workplace are wrong. He was on the way home.

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"There's a nine-hour time difference between Ireland and Japan, so Japanese workers in the plant work from night to morning, adjusting for Japanese customers' working time."

The colleague said Mr Sasaki had never used Avenue Road before as a way to go back home after work.

Mr Sasaki lived in an apartment with his British girlfriend in Dundalk town, and always walked to and from home and work.

The most direct route from his workplace would be to follow the R132 into Dundalk town centre and then out to Bridge Street. However, on the day he was killed, Mr Sasaki either deviated from the R132 close to the town centre and turned right on to Avenue Road, or he followed the N52 from his workplace, taking him east of the town, before turning left into Avenue Road.

Paying tribute this week, the chief executive of the National Pen company said Mr Sasaki had only joined the firm last August but during his relatively short time with the contact centre he had become a valued member of staff and had made a positive impact.

"It is with deep regret and profound sadness that we confirm the death of our colleague in Wednesday's incident in Dundalk," said Peter Kelly from the company, which specialises in personalised marketing merchandise.

Condolences

"Senior management and wider colleagues extend their sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, and have been liaising directly with the Japanese Embassy.

"This is a time of profound sadness for management and staff. We will do everything possible to assist the family at this tragic time," he added.

Meanwhile, a candlelight vigil is to be held in memory of Mr Sasaki at the Maid of Eireann statue outside Dundalk courthouse on Monday, between 7pm and 8pm.

Councillor John McGahon, chairman of Dundalk Municipal District, confirmed that a representative from the Japanese Embassy will be in attendance and will speak.

"This is a joint event that has been organised by all members of the district to show our unity with Yosuke and his family," he said.

Books of condolence will also be open at the offices of the council in Dundalk, Drogheda and Ardee on Monday.

Ollie Morgan, a former councillor in Dundalk, has set up a GoFundMe page towards the repatriation of Mr Sasaki's body and to show solidarity with his family.

The GoFundMe campaign currently stands at 13,179 - well over the original target of 2,000.

Some 864 people donated on the site since it was created.

This is a chance to show our solidarity with the family Mr Morgan said.

Shocked residents offered tributes this week at the spot where Mr Sasaki was killed, as it became a growing shrine of flowers and gifts to the tragic Japanese man.

"Life taken too early, under such tragic circumstances," said a message on one of the bouquets.

A small can of tinned coffee from Japan was also left at the scene, possibly a favourite drink of the man his pals will never see again.

Eighteen-year-old Mohamed Morei appeared in court charged with the murder of Mr Sasaki at a special sitting of Dundalk District Court on Thursday evening.

Defence solicitor Barry Callan asked that his client receive "appropriate medical treatment while in custody".

The judge directed that all appropriate psychological and medical treatment be provided to Mr Morei.

The judge remanded Mr Morei in custody until next Thursday at 10am at Cloverhill District Court.

There was no application for bail.
A woman who was suffering from undiagnosed endometriosis was dismissed as having period pains and fired from two jobs as a result.

Sinead Smythe visited A&E over 200 times due to the immense pain she was experiencing.

She was initially diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease before doctors realised the real reason why she was enduring so much agony.

Smythe wants to raise awareness for endometriosis and support other women suffering with the condition, which is why shes set up a blog detailing her experiences.

On Christmas Day the young woman from Brighton posted a photo on Instagram that had been taken at the beginning of the year showing her in a hospital bed.

My start to 2017 was horrendous (as you can see in the photo - I was hospital bound), she wrote in the caption.

I cant even put into words what I had to go through physically and mentally.

I know its hard but look for something positive in each day - even if its getting out of bed in the morning ladies. Keep your heads high!

Previous articles have stated that Smythe believed that her pain could be due to an STI. However, Smythe took to Facebook to explain that this wasnt the case at all.

She wrote that these claims were "very incorrect information.

I never feared over an STI as I was diagnosed with PID (pelvic inflammation disease).

Also they stated The now 20-year-old visited a sexual health clinic, fearing an undiagnosed STI could be causing her symptoms.

I visited a sexual health clinic because they treat pelvic inflammation disease and they actually moved me into seeing a consultant which then found my endometriosis!

Although doctors have suggested undergoing a hysterectomy, Smythe has explained that theres no guarantee that this would make any difference.

It has come across as if it says a hysterectomy is a cure for endometriosis but it is NOT, she wrote on Facebook in regard to previous articles.

Women go through with this and still find themselves in the same situation as before.

IF your doctor or anyone tells you a hysterectomy is a cure DO NOT LISTEN.

Endometriosis is a condition in which cells similar to those in the uterus can be found in other parts of a womans body, Endometriosis UK explained on their website.

Each month these cells react in the same way to those in the womb, building up and then breaking down and bleeding, their website states.

Unlike the cells in the womb that leave the body as a period, this blood has no way of escape.

Endometriosis UK has clarified that there is currently no cure for endometriosis and estimates that around 1.5 million women in the UK currently suffer from the condition.

However, there are treatments available that can help ease the symptoms.
One venue that was guaranteed to be packed to capacity on New Year's Eve had to be Brubakers where the crowds were queueing from early on to get in.

I wasn't too long in the door when I had the pleasure of meeting up with Oonagh Murray from Point Road who was there with Jagger Murray from Drogheda from the band Black Swan, they were enjoying the night with Niamh Donegan from Kingswood, Ven Gorham from Roden Place, Anne McGarrell from Blackrock who is home from Perth for the festive holiday and was up for making the best of the night with all her mates.

Heading for another table I then got a word with Ryan Kelly from Ravensdale, Tadhg Leahy from Cooley, Aidan Ruddy from New End and Jade Murphy from Cooley who were all set for making the night an epic.

Seated close by I then met up with Damien Babington who told me he was with Giddy Gilsenan from Dromiskin and Maria Hoey from McSwiney Street and they were definitely there for the night.

Making my way over to another table I caught up with Chris Skehan from Blackrock who was out with Alison Grimes from Muirhevnamor and they were looking forward to a major night of fun and celebrations.

After this I headed over for a chat with Mark McDonnell from Avenue Road, Emma and Sinead McCarthy both from Haggardstown who were delighted to be in and told me it was going to be a fantastic night there.

I then headed for a table where I got talking to Ciaran McConnon from Manydown Close and Michelle McEneaney from Castlebellingham who were in great form and said it was going to be a fantastic night.

I then headed for an adjacent table where I met up with Ronan Sharkey from Dromiskin, Paddy McEntegart from Point Road, Regina McEvoy from Dromiskin, Elaine Fitzsimons from Inniskeen, Caitriona and Conor Derry from Lurgan who told me they were overseas visitors and there to party with their friends.

One couple who had come from Newry because they knew it was going to be a brilliant night in Brubakers were Thomas and Julie Morgan.

Meanwhile up where the band usually set up I got a word with Ursula and Jade Christodoulides from Saltown and Glenwood who told me that Bru's was the only place to be on new year's eve.

Also up there but getting ready to move upstairs were Robert Ivancea from Waterville Crescent, A.J. from College Manor, Stephen G. from Dublin and Claudiu Valentine from College Manor who were ready for a major party night.

Just in the door and looking for somewhere to enjoy the night from were Peter Ward and Lauren Myles both from Louth Village who were Amy and Brian Hourigan from Shercock and told me that it was going to be an epic night.

I then headed for the bar where I got talking to Darren Harmon from Aghameen Park and Jason Quigley from Clontigora Court who were ready for a major celebration.

Finally, before I departed I got a word with Conor Bradley from Cooley Park and Vanessa Handorf from Germany who were there for the night and were going to party the night away.
'One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words,' advised the great German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It's a good starting point for a New Year's resolution with a difference.

New Year resolutions can feel daunting as they're often all about the sort of self improvement that involves sacrifice. Giving up tasty calories or spending hours declining foreign verbs is no one's idea of fun. So what about a New Year resolution that is enjoyable, helps you broaden your horizons and allows you to have a good time as well? As regular readers of these pages will know, the arts scene in Dundalk is thriving at the moment, so what not make it your New Year resolution to get out there and support it? Go see a play, a concert, a gig. Visit an art exhibition or sign up for a class which will help you develop your own creativity.

There's lots to choose from in An Tain Arts Centre programme for the coming months, so the only difficulty is decided what events to go to - or you could, of course, go to them all!

And to make it easier on your pocket, An Tain is now offering packages, offering discounts if you buy tickets for two events at the same time.

Highlights of the music programme for the coming season include Dundalk's own Zoe Conway (currently touring China with the RTE Concert Orchestra) in ZoDoMo with Donal Lunny and Maritin O'Connor, The Irish Guitar Quartet, and 8strings2abow featuring Elizabeth Cooney and Gerard Peregrine.

There's a strong theatrical offering with Encore Theatre bringing their ambitious production of The Tempest to the big stage while '100 More Like These: The Story of the San Patricio' featuring Irish actor Stephen Jones recalls the story of the Irish soldiers who fought with the Mexicans against the Americans in the 1846-48 War. An Tain's theatre company is residence, Quintessence are staging their new play 'Some of Our Children' which looks at the Irish care system. Kabosh Theatre return with 'Lives in Translation', tracing the journey of a female Somalian refugee, The Nth Degree Theatre bring their exploration of domestic abuse in 'The Words are There', while Michael Judd brings Micheal MacLiammoir's 'The Importance of Being Oscar' to the Studio Theatre

There's plenty of comedy too with 'The Six Marys' by Jean Farrell, Jon Kenny and Mary McEvoy in 'The Successful TD' by John B Keane, while Paddy Cullivan of Callan's Kicks presents 'The 10 Dark Secrets of the Irish Revolution'. The Dirtbirds are back on April 6th after two previous sold out shows.

The film society has some tempting screenings including Jim Sheridan's adaptation of Sebastian Barry's award winning novel 'The Secret Scripture', 'Lost in Paris' and 'Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool', as well as a baby friendly screening of La La Land.

Forthcoming exhibitions in The Basement Gallery include paintings by Dundalk-based artist Mark Bourke, a mixed media show by Lisa Fingleton, and Dundalk Photographic Society's annual exhibition.

Comedy and tribute acts remain very popular at The Spirit Store with some 2018 gigs already sold out. However, tickets remain for Jason Byrne, David O'Doherty, Chris Kent, Neil Delamar and David McSavage, while those who like to see musicians performing their own original music should check out gigs by The Pale, Wyverno Lingo, Mick Flannery, Luka Bloom and The Outcasts among others.

The Oriel Centre in Dundalk's Old Gaol has gigs by story teller Eddie Lenihan and Charlie McGettigan in early Spring.

If you fancy developing your own creative talents, sign up for a class or course at Creative Spark, Bridge Street Studios, and The Crafty Rock, while aspiring writers should check out Dundalk Writers Group, which meets in The Spirit Store. There are also Social Dancing classes in An Tain Arts Centre which might help in that other great New Year resolution of getting fit and active!
It's going to be a big year for the North Louth Artists as the group plan a number of events to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

The group was formed in 1968 when a number of prominent artists got together to address the lack of opportunities for artists in the county to exhibit their work.

'This was at a time when there was no arts officer, no supports for visual artists, and nowhere for anyone to show their work,' says Irene Woods. 'Back then, if artists wanted to show their work they had to go to Dublin or Belfast if they wanted it to be seen by serious collectors.'

Founder members of the North Louth Painters, as the group was originally called, included noted artists Bea Orpen and Nano Reid, as well as Cecil Barrow, Doreen Babe, Ernest McDowell, John Haugh and Maureen McManus O'Dowd.

'They held their first exhibition in Ballymascanlon Hotel and the late Mrs Irene Quinn was a great supporter of their work,' continues Irene. The group later began to exhibit during the Maytime Festival, first in the old Tempest Building and more recently in the County Museum and Basement Gallery.

The group has expanded to include artists working in different media including ceramics, metal and glass. A major exhibition to mark their 50th anniversary will be held in The Basement Gallery in May while the group is also planning to launch a website during the year.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) have issued their gratitude to the 389 donors who attended the recently held clinic in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and Clan Na Gaels GAA Centre.

The clinic welcomed 19 first time donors and 13 former donors back.

A spokesperson for the IBTS explained how vital blood donations are, with approximately 3,000 donations needed for over 1000 patients in Irish hospitals every week.

'One in four' people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their lives. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda required 2,466 units alone in 2016.'
It was a 'lightbulb' moment which led Louth woman Lorraine McCarthy to a new career as a family celebrant.

The Ardee native is set to appear on RTE Nationwide next week as the lead celebrant at a wedding in the Woodside Chapel, Castlebellingham.

'Nationwide came to film a ceremony in the beautiful surroundings at Woodside Chapel for a special programme they are broadcasting next week.'

The bride and groom just happened to be Lorraine's sister Eimear and her new husband Kieran, who had already had a church wedding in Spain.

'I always had an interest in the wedding world, and even thought about working as a wedding planner,' Lorraine told the Argus.

'But our son was still very young, and needed help with his schooling, so I put my dream job on hold for years.

'My light bulb moment happened whilst on a road trip with my husband when I heard a guy on the radio mention that he was a wedding celebrant,' she recalls.

'It just happened that the timing was perfect - our son was in his final year at school, and I would have the opportunity to go for it.'

'I researched the different options available and enrolled the following week to do an interview for the course in Dublin and the rest as they say is history!'

Now fully accredited as a commendation civil celebrant and a member of the Irish Celebrants Association, Lorraine says her work takes her to the 'very heart of a couple's special day.'

'I always says that I have the best seat in the house! There is so much joy and love, as each couple can design their day exactly the way they want it.'

Lorraine also works as a celebrant for funerals and cremation ceremonies, and life landmarks such as 'coming of age' events, and other family gatherings.

For further information and bookings contact Lorraine through her website www.celebrantireland.ie or her facebook page 'Celebrant Ireland'

Lorraine will appear on RTE 1 Nationwide on Wednesday next, January 3rd at 7pm.
Three third year DkIT nursing students each received 1,500 to support their nursing studies with a scholarship award provided by Servisource.

Students, Roisin Lavery, BSc (Hons) in Psychiatric Nursing, Ciara Murtagh, BSc (Hons) in General Nursing and Linda Mahon, BSc (Hons) in Intellectual Disability Nursing this week received the DkIT-Servisource Scholarship which was launched in 2016.

The students were presented with a cheque for 1,500 euros from Aileen McCann, Permanent Recruitment Manager, Servisource, which will support them as they the complete their nursing degrees at DkIT.

The scholarship programme is aimed at providing additional motivation and resources to nursing and midwifery students as they enter the third year of their degree, a critical point in their undergraduate studies. As part of the assessment process, students were asked to submit a 2,000 word scholarship assignment in which they reflected on their clinical experience to date and demonstrated their understanding of the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Nurses & Midwives in Ireland.

Dr Myles Hackett, Head of Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Studies at DkIT said "This award focuses on encouraging our students to reflect on a crucially important aspect of nursing and midwifery, which is to act with kindness and compassion while delivering safe, high quality care. Each of the winning students produced exceptional assignments and demonstrated a robust understanding of the topic. This is a fantastic achievement which will help enhance their CVs and will support them as they progress with their careers.

Aileen McCann added: 'Servisource are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with DkIT because we want to be associated with high standards, quality and to support the nursing profession.'
The investigation into the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe is expected to result in an arrest over the coming months, it was reported last week.

It is almost five years since the Dundalk based detective was shot and killed during a botched raid of Lordship Credit Union on January 25th 2013.

He was providing an armed escort with his colleague Gda. Joseph Ryan when their car was blocked in by a Volkswagen Passat.

Det. Garda Donohoe, 41, was shot dead when he got out of his patrol car to investigate.

Now it has been reported that sufficient evidence has been garnered to bring charges against a suspect at some point in 2018.

A report in the Irish edition of the 'Sunday Times' last week claimed that Garda sources have identified all the members of the gang involved, including the man they believe fired the fatal shot.

The suspect, who is from Co Armagh, is serving a sentence for an unrelated offence. Two other suspects were reported to be living in Massachusetts in the USA, and a fourth is said to be living between Newry and Dundalk.

The report claimed that detectives investigating the murder are consulting the director of public prosecutions on what charges can be brought against the suspect, and others who helped him,.

'Garda intelligence suggests the gang imploded after the murder, in part because some of those involved and their families were overwhelmed by remorse,' according to reporter John Mooney.

The murder weapon - a sawn-off shotgun - has never been found but searches have been carried out just across the border after reports it was buried on farmland near a cottage in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland searched the area last September as part of the murder investigation but failed to locate the weapon.

As the fifth anniversary of the Detective Garda's death approaches questions continue about where the investigation currently stands

Det.Gda Donohoe was posthumously awarded a gold Scott Medal for exceptional courage and bravery at a ceremony in 2016.
Part of the very large attendance at the Ecumenical Service of Remembrance in Dundalk Grammar School to commemorate the 100th anniversary to the day of the death, at the age of 22, of past pupil 2nd Lt. James Samuel Emerson VC, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

To commemorate the 100th anniversary to the day of the death, at the age of 22, of past pupil 2nd Lt James Samuel Emerson VC, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Dundalk Grammar School held a special whole-school Remembrance Service.

Lieutenant 'Jim' Emerson, was remembered for his repeated acts of heroism and bravery during the First World War. He was killed in action at Cambrai having recently survived the Battle of the Somme.

The Chairperson of the schools' Board of Governors, Ms Alison Bothwell, welcomed The Most Reverend Richard L. Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh, clergy of many denominations, invited guests, as well as representatives from the Irish Army, An Garda Siochana, The Royal British Legion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and members of the Emerson family living in Ireland and Canada.

The Service of Remembrance was led by the school Chaplain Mr. Ian Moore. The Headmaster Mr. Jonathan Graham concluded the afternoon by thanking everybody who had been involved in organising this special event and was particularly grateful to Rural Dean, Canon Joyce Moore for her significant input to the event.

During a moving Commemorative Service, School Governor, Tristan Swan, spoke to the assembly about Jim Emerson's family background, and short life, drawing attention to the fact that this past pupil was little older than the school's current Leaving Certificate students when he died of bullet wounds.

Undoubtedly, when he enlisted it was for a big adventure with his friends that was to be over by Christmas. Instead by '6th December 1917 'he had been fighting for three years' and 'had earlier seen his battalion annihilated'. For us that are left, making a number's comparison between the school and his battalion of roughly the same size, it was a catastrophe equivalent to every single teacher being killed and just 150 students being left alive.
Officials from the British government were proposing a physical 'hard' border at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, it was revealed in declassified state papers released last week under the 30 year rule.

Given the current debate over Ireland's post Brexit border arrangements, the papers shed some light on how the border, just a few miles north of Dundalk, has historically been a thorny issue.

The declassified documents revealed how in a 1987 meeting British officials raised the prospect of erecting a physical border along the entire frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

At a meeting between officials of both governments, the British said the idea of erecting a physical border along the lines of that which at the time separated East and West Germany was being considered.

The proposal, which would have seen posts erected across a 500 km distance, was contained in records made public by the National Archives the 30 year rule governing the release of State papers.

The records indicated that Irish officials at the meeting responded strongly against the suggestion urging the British to drop it immediately.

In a memo dated January 20th 1987, Belfast-based Irish official Noel Ryan records a meeting between a Department of Foreign Affairs delegation and a British team headed by Brian Blackwell of the law and order division of the Northern Ireland Office.

The main topic for discussion was cross-border incursions by the British army and the continuing IRA activity along the Border.

'We reminded the other side of the degree of seriousness with which incursions were regarded in the South and their capacity for generating political controversy,' the memo read.

The British responded by saying that incursions were 'always regrettable.'

They argued, however, that 'their best efforts might not be sufficient to reduce significantly the occurrence of incursions, given the nature of the terrorist threat, the intensive security operation required to meet it, and the lack of clear physical delineation along the lengthy border.'

The British went on to say they were toying with two ideas which might impact on the number of incursions, including 'the possibility of physically delineating the Border along its full length.'

Other papers released under the 30 year rule gave some background to Louth beef baron Larry Goodman's dealings with the government at the time.

The beef processing group, which was founded by Mr Goodman in 1961, had become one of Europe's largest beef exporters.

The confidential cabinet papers released revealed that the government had made amendments to legislation which in turn benefitted the Goodman International Group.

In 1991 a tribunal was established to examine serious irregularities in the Irish beef processing industry with a particular focus on Mr Goodman's businesses.
There was widespread condemnation of the dumping of more than 1,000 tyres on the Cooley mountains. Image: Argus

Thousands of used tyres have been dumped in remote mountain areas in some of the most scenic parts of the country in recent weeks leading to calls for a cross- border criminal investigation to target those responsible.

Huge quantities of tyres have been dumped on bog land close to the mountain road to Clermont Carm appeared on social media over the weekend, and there are also reports of similar incidents of tyres being dumped at Edentubber, on Coillte owned lands at Feede Mountain, and at Slieve Gullion in South Armagh. A quantity of used tyres was also dumped at the old Newry Road in the weeks before Christmas.

'A criminal investigation needs to be carried out on both sides of the border,' said Cllr Mark Dearey. 'It seems like someone is emptying an entire site of used types across parts of North Louth and South Armagh.'

He said that the 'cynical operators' had taken advantage of the Christmas holiday period when local authority workers were on holidays to dump the tyres in remote areas.

While the tyres were 'unsightly', he said they didn't represent hazardous waste but the local authority and Coillte would be left having to foot the bill for removing them from these remote locations.

'Just how low can people sink to do this in an area recognised for its scenic beauty?' asked Cllr John McGahon. 'This is illegal dumping on an industrial scale.'

Cllr Peter Savage said that the incident was mostly likely the result of someone being paid to collect tyres and then dumping them and called for investigators to contact local garages and see if they had paid anyone to dispose of tyres.
The Curtlestown Wren Boys brought music, dancing, poetry, and outrageous costumes to Enniskerry last Tuesday, St Stephen's Day.

The group gathered for the annual tradition at Shop River, and raised a wonderful 2,121.94 for the Charabanc organisation.

Charabanc is a caring charity for the elderly in Enniskerry and the surrounding areas. It was formed after a parish forum in May 1998 which identified a need for the improvement of care for isolated people and elderly living at home. The vision was to enhance their quality of life by providing a social outlet with organised activities, with a bus, and Friday afternoon sessions in the Enniskerry Parochial Hall. Charabanc is also an approved housing body. There was plenty of support and a great turnout for a most enjoyable afternoon of performance and fun.

The 'president' and his wife even made an appearance, played expertly by Joe Wilson and Domhnaill Finch.

Traditionally, the festive occasion included the hunting of wrens. These days no wrens are hunted or killed but the pre-Christian tradition lives on in the playing of music at local spots and collecting for charity. The musicians wear raggy clothes and straw hats as is tradition in the post Christmas wren hunt and play Irish jigs, reels and the Wren Song. In fact, a bird feeder was even put out to let the feathered friends know they were not at risk.
Paul Maher and Mike McEvoy at the Arklow Twinning Association Christmas social in the Bridge Hotel

Members and friends of Arklow Twinning Association had an enjoyable get-together before Christmas.

Two new members were made very welcome at the occasion which took place in The Bridge Hotel. The group reflected on a successful year and noted that 25 people from Arklow's Twin Towns of Chateaudun, France and Aberystwyth, Wales will visit from May 17 to 21 this year. Full details of the visit will be announced in January.

Arklow Twinning Association has wished its members and friends Happy New Year, Bonne Annee Nouvelle, Blwyddwyn Newydd dda and Athbhliain faoi Mhaise!
The Oxfam shop in Bray has generated over 127,000 from sales on donated items in 2017. Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken thanked the people of the town for their generosity.

He said that for millions of people around the globe, their basic survival rather than happiness or contentment are immediate priorities for the next 12 months. 'One group of people for whom 2018 starts with great uncertainty and insecurity are the Rohingya refugees,' Mr Clarken said in a letter.

'Currently, close to one million Rohingya people have fled violence in Myanmar to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh, with over 620,000 arriving since August alone.'

He said that many have arrived with just the clothes on their backs. 'They are in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.

'Those who survive the treacherous journey are living in makeshift tents in hugely overcrowded settlements.

'Conditions in the camps are woefully inadequate and unhealthy, with overflowing latrines and contaminated water. They're largely unlit and dangerous at night, making women, girls and children particularly vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and trafficking,' said Mr Clarken.

Oxfam is there providing life-saving water and sanitation, drilling wells and installing water points, toilets and showers to help prevent the spread of disease.

They have distributed emergency food, including rice, biscuits and sugar and have recruited 248 volunteers from local Bangladeshi communities to help raise awareness about the importance of handwashing and hygiene in staying healthy and safe in crowded camps.

'Please donate to our Rohingya Emergency Appeal, either in-store or at oxfam.ie. Please consider helping us so we can ensure that 2018 is a year that starts to bring hope and possibility for Rohingya refugees,' said Mr Clarken.
It has long been a tradition in Loreto Bray to support the Society of St Vincent de Paul at Christmas time. In previous years, the students collected items to make hampers.

However, recently it was felt that a monetary contribution would be more beneficial. So, on the last Friday before the Christmas holidays a Christmas themed non-uniform day was held. Students had the option of dressing in Christmas fancy dress or of wearing their Christmas jumper. This important day signalled the start of Christmas in the school community and staff and students alike participated, with an impressive array of jumpers always on display.

Three enterprising students from sixth year - Ciara Murphy, Emma Nolan and photographer Andrea Farrelly - set up a photo booth to further enhance the day and their innovative Christmas grotto drew many students, who were delighted for the opportunity to capture on camera memories of a happy day at Loreto.

At the end of the day, a massive 1,900 had been raised for those in need in our community.

'Loreto Bray staff and students feel privileged to be able to help others in our local community at this special time of year,' said a spokeswoman for the school.
A collection of colourful short stories from the pen of Macroom author Adrienne Acton has been given the seal of approval by none other than Hollywood actor Patrick Bergin.

While a work of fiction 'The Black Prism and Other Stories', Adrienne's third book, was inspired by a very real event that took place in 2017 when she testified in court against what she described as "one of the most evil people that ever stood on two legs."

"It was a very difficult thing to do but when it was all over, and I had caught my breath again, there were two things that really stood out about people's reactions to my story," Adrienne told The Corkman.

Firstly the fact that she was neither angry or bitter for having to keep her "horrendous truth" for more than three decades and secondly that people were full of praise for her going public with her story.

"There had been a sense that I should be afraid to tell my tale. I found this odd, as it involved the sins of others, not mine and it struck me that behind every person there is a story," said Adrienne. "It may not be obvious from the outside, but each of us has a tale to tell that differs from the persona we display to the world. That was the basis for the book."

It contains a compilation of 19 stories that are about, in Adrienne's own words, "you, me and the neighbours." These include the story of a lady who has taken an overdose and explains why she is killing herself, a priest who questions the churches use of celibacy as a form of control, a fisherman who has a near-death experience and a criminal that gets his just desserts.

"These are stories about how we want to know everything about our neighbours without asking them directly. It's about the abused child's path to adulthood, the fun and folly of the Irish stud and the lies we tell about the recently departed at a funeral," said Adrienne.

While she admitted many the stories were "a little on the dark side", Adrienne said they were also about the men and women that live amongst us and "eventually become legends in our localities."

"I loved writing the book. I learned so much about the strengths that lie within all of us when we are pushed too far and too hard. The book allowed me to understand that change can happen and we can inspire people to be at their best when we bare our souls for the greater good of others," said Adrienne.

Patrick Bergin, a self professed fan of Adrienne's books, described her latest collection as "wonderful and a must read for those with an interest in gaining a deeper understanding of the human psyche".

The 'Black Prism and Other Stories' is available to buy online at www.eprint.ie, at the Bigger Picture in Macroom and Cork and at An Gadai Dubh Books in Ballymakeera.
A New Year's Day tradition was maintained in Millstreet after hardy souls enjoyed a quick dip on the river Blackwater.

Heavy showers failed to dampen the enthusiasm as swimmers and supporters made their way to the famous Boeing near Millstreet for the ninth annual staging. Despite a swollen river from heavy overnight rain, there was no stopping willing volunteers.

The new year dip is now a popular event on the calendar at a historic location - the Boeing is associated with the epic march of O'Sullivan Bere from West Cork to Leitrim more than 410 years ago. Those participating supported the beneficiaries from the staging, the Irish Guide Dogs For the Blind, as a festive atmosphere surrounded the event with a hardy group of volunteers taking the dip in chilly waters.

Organisers ensured there was plenty of mulled wine, hot drinks and refreshments for one and all. Super Valu in Millstreet helped to sponsor the event as did the Bush Bar, Malpaso Bar and Liam Flynn.

Co-ordinator Eileen Tarrant was on hand to present souvenir tee shirts to those volunteers who took the plunge. The generous contributions of the public ensured the venture was an outstanding success for what's become a permanent event on the calendar fixture over the past decade.

Eileen expressed delight at the turnout and spoke of the Irish Guide Dogs as a worthy beneficiary. "Every cent raised will go to the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, this is an invaluable charity which does so much for people. Every year since we began we have picked local charities and we felt that the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind would be our choice in 2018", said Eileen.

"For insurance purposes we needed an ambulance to be in attendance, and thanks to Jerry McAuliffe, a volunteer with the Irish Red Cross Millstreet-Kanturk division, who very kindly turned up to support the charity event", she added.
The Muskerry Local History Society will present an interesting lecture given by Marie McCarthy about Flora Sandes on Monday, January 15 at 8pm in the Ballincollig Rugby Club.

Although English born Sandes' family were Irish. She served in WW I, as a nursing assistant in Serbia before being recruited into the Royal Serbian Army Forces as a soldier.

She was promoted to Sergeant-Major and won Serbia's highest military honour.
As any parent of an aspiring musician will tell you, buying instruments can be quite a costly business. It is even more frustrating to see expensive instruments and musical equipment lying idle and gathering dust in attics after people realise that leaning to play the guitar is not for them.

With this in mind Cork County Council is looking at introducing a pilot scheme where unwanted instruments can be donated to their library section and then loaned out to the public.

"This would allow people to road test their musical skills before investing in a costly piece of equipment themselves," said a council spokesperson.

"To get this pilot off the ground we are seeking donations of portable instruments no longer in use by their owners and in good condition."

Any one who may be interested in donating instruments can contact the cork County Library and Arts Service on 021 454 6499 or email corkcountylibrary@corkcoco.ie.

However, do note: for health and safety reasons the council is unable to accept any wind instruments.
The past year saw Millstreet maintain a positive image with numerous highlights and in the first of a three part series, an appraisal of January, February, March and April is undertaken this week.

JANUARY

Favourable weathers adds to appeal of New Year's Day charity swim at the Boeing in aid of Mallow Rescue. Breifne Earley crosses river Blackwater as part of his 500km walk through the Beara Breifne Way.

One of the social calendar highlights sees ladies celebrate Womens Little Christmas in the Wallis Arms Hotel. Coursing Club hosts two day meeting.

Millstreet Community School qualify for the BT Young Scientist Exhibition on a staging in the RDS Dublin. Aubane Social Club take time to acknowledge a fund raising venture from one of its familiar hostings, the club's annual climb to the summit of Mushera Mountain applauded for support of Reach Out Cancer Support Group.

Spring Farm Machinery Show hosted in Green Glens. The Marian Players annual pantomime is a firm fixture in the calendar for those residing either side of the Cork/Kerry county bounds. Their staging of "Sleeping Beauty" added to its reputation in 30th hosting.

There is much regret at the death of Fr. Joe Murphy. Sportsman John Coleman inducted into Cork GAA Hall of Fame by 96/c103FM.

FEBRUARY

Millstreet Town Park Committee AGM hosted in the Canon O'Donovan Centre. Country Park issues press release indicating closure for 2017 season to public.

Juvenile GAA applauded the achievements of its sporting heroes at two celebration functions. Win for Dan O'Donoughue bred dog A Bunch of Tools at Nationsal Coursing Meeting.

Sli Gaeltacht Mhuscrai (Muskerry Gaeltacht Way) Ultra Trail Race from Kealkil finishes in Millstreet. Aubane Social Club makes a presentation to retired postman Noel Keating.

Munster glory for Millstreet Taekwondo. Honduran coffee producer speaks at Millstreet school on fair trade.

MARCH

Storm Ewan disrupts traditional old Horse Fair. Youth Amenity, GAA and Youth Amenity Lotto Fund Group report another very successful year. The Lotto is 24 years old and all monies raised have been ploughed back into the community.

Millstreet AC send a large contingent to the last staging of Ballycotton 10 Roadrace and creditable performances emerge amongst the 1,800 strong finishers.

TY students present John B Keane comedy "The Buds of Ballybunion. Millstreet's late afternoon Parade on St. Patrick's Day proved another winner as hundreds lined the pavements wearing sprigs of shamrock and the national colours with Eily Buckley as Grand Marshal.

Cullen and District Friends of the Handicapped annual Weigh In reaches successful conclusion. Mothers Day celebrated. Coffee morning supports Daffodil Day.

APRIL

Millstreet Comhalthas Ceolteoiri Eireann host 36th Annual Feile Cheoil and inaugural Trad Festival. FF Table Quiz in McCarthy's Bar supports Millstreet Hospital.

Millstreet NS Parents Association host Table Quiz. Spring Horse Show convenes at Green Glens.

The Irish Mountain Running Association commence their 2017 programme of activity on a visit to Clara Mountain. Team Millstreet Clean Up begins.

TY students enjoy sleepout. Presentation NS receive New Health Promotion Flag.

Vintage Club welcome Blue Force Coastline Tractor Challenge of UK and Ireland. Aubane Social Club host Easter Table Quiz and Black and White Themed Party.

Official opening of new Millstreet Post Office. The annual Easter Commemoration takes place at themonument situated in the Town Square, the 90th anniversary of the commemoration with address by Ryle Dwyer.

Vintage Club feature on RTE TV Nationwide as part of Ford Centenary. Ballydaly's Tim Kiely presented with Hall of Fame by Irish Holstein Freisan Association.
Since the venue and date for the All Ireland Intermediate hurling semi-final was announced, with Kanturk facing a trip to Newbridge, Co. Kildare to face Middletown Na Fianna (Armagh) on Sunday, January 21 with a 2pm start, preparations are under way to ensure all supporters will be able to make the trip to Newbridge.

To ensure this, Kanturk GAA Club intend to run a bus for supporters if the demand exists. The cost will be: adult 30 and student/OAP's 20. If interested, please direct enquiries and bookings to Geraldine at 087-6724962. Final bookings along with payment in full by Sunday, 14th January.

In an ironic twist of fate, Kanturk hosted the Middletown Na Fianna Club in U14 hurling Feile Na Gael in 2006, when Feile was last hosted by Cork.

2017 Munster Hurling Champions Fundraiser:

A limited supply of hurleys signed by the Kanturk team on this historic season for the club are now available to buy.

These will be a great souvenir and a collector's item in the future.

Hurleys costing 50 are available to order: contact Tom at 087-2492809, Kieran at 086-6063765 or Joe at 087-2902598.
Farmers who feel like getting out the cheque book to ring in the new year can do so at the Millstreet Farm Machinery Show later this month.

The Q8 Oils Spring Farm Machinery Show is returning to Millstreet and is spread across three large halls and will have over 200 exhibitors.

Farmers, contractors and other rural businesses looking to increase their sales will have an opportunity to quiz manufactures and suppliers of farm machinery equipment and agricultural services when the show returns to the Green Glens on January 17 and 18.

The show has become a staple for both Agri businesses and communities to attend, with exhibition space selling out before the end of the year.

This show attracts thousands of visitors from across Ireland and the UK who will get to see the latest products, innovations and developments from leaders with the industry with an unrivalled array of machinery on display.

Each of the stalls are fully heated with hot food and drinks on sale a that venue and ample free parking available.

The show will be open daily from 12 noon until 10pm at the Green Glens Arena.
From archaeological sites to contemporary architecture, from medieval castles to folklore traditions and arts, Europe's cultural heritage is at the very heart of the collective identity of European citizens.

With more than 220,000 people in Ireland employed in the cultural heritage and tourism sector, Ireland South MEP, Deirdre Clune, welcomed the EU designation of 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Back in 2005, when Cork was the European City Capital of Culture, she was its Lord Mayor.

"As well as wishing everyone a Happy New Year, I am particularly delighted to recognise our connected European cultural heritage and welcome the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018. When Cork was designated the European Capital of Culture in 2005, I was Lord Mayor of Cork city, and I saw firsthand the enormous value and enjoyment of our citizens in celebrating the special cultural heritage of Cork," she said.

It was her view that this year of celebrations across Europe will be a wonderful opportunity "to encourage us all to explore Europe's rich cultural diversity and to reflect on the place that cultural heritage occupies in all our lives".

The purpose of the European Year of Cultural Heritage is to raise awareness of the social and economic importance of cultural heritage.

Initiatives and events across Ireland and other countries in Europe will engage citizens from all backgrounds reaching out to the widest possible audience to promote a common sense of cultural ownership.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, eight out of 10 Europeans think cultural heritage is not only important to them personally, but also to their community, region, country and the European Union as a whole.

More than seven in 10 Europeans agree that cultural heritage can improve their quality of life.

The survey also shows that nine out of 10 people think cultural heritage should be taught in schools. Three quarters of Europeans think primarily Member States and the EU should allocate more resources to protecting Europe's cultural heritage.

Ireland's Heritage Council has launched a programme of grant support to enable community groups throughout the country to develop heritage initiatives that will have a long-lasting impact on the preservation and sustainability of our cultural heritage.
A lotto player in Blarney has started the New Year in style after scooping 100,000 in the Christmas Millionaire Raffle.

The draw took place on New Year's Eve in the National Lottery offices in Dublin and in total 5,056 players won prizes between 500 and 1 million. However, the top prize of 1 million was won in Wexford.

The ticket in Blarney was bought at the Centra Filling Station, Shean Lower and the number is 99666.

Players in Cavan, Meath and Dublin are also celebrating the kickstart to 2018 having landed top tier prizes of 250,000 and 100,000 in the raffle.

The Christmas Millionaire Raffle ticket number 54239 won the top prize of 1 million and the golden winning ticket was sold at Flanagan's Centra in Castlebridge, Co. Wexford on Thursday, December 14.

National Lottery CEO Dermot Griffin said today: "Congratulations to all our winners - what a way to start off 2018. We urge all those who bought a Christmas Millionaire raffle ticket to check their numbers on our website www.lottery.ie. With more than 5,000 prizes the odds of winning this year were increased."

All Christmas Millionaire Raffle ticket holders have 90 days from the day of the draw to collect their prizes. The top six prizes can only be collected in National Lottery offices in Dublin.
Mallow was praised for its strong performance on the final 2017 IBLA Anti-Litter League, with Thomas Davis Square receiving a special mention from judges. Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald.

Following its inclusion last year's Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Anti-Litter League for the first time since 2011, the town of Mallow has finished in a creditable joint 22nd place on the final table for 2017.

While the town has slipped down by three places on its standing on last September's table, its latest standing is a considerable improvement on its final 2011 position when the town finished the year in 40th position and was labelled by competition judges as being "littered".

Mallow's final 2017 position has once again shown the hard work undertaken locally by groups including Mallow Tidy Towns and Cork County Council over the intervening years has paid dividends, with the town retaining the coveted 'Clean to European Norms' designation it received three months ago.

Of the four areas in Cork included on the latests rankings only Cork City in 21st place finished above Mallow, with Mahon finishing in 35th place with a "Moderately Littered" designation and a "Littered" Cork North City finishing in 36th out of 40 areas surveyed.

The team of An Taisce judges that surveyed Mallow on behalf of IBAL praised the overall strong performance by the town, which saw six of the 10 areas around the town they visited receiving the top 'Grade A' status, three areas given 'Grade B' status and one (Tip O'Neill Park) branded 'Grade C'.

"This was a strong performance by Mallow, with one heavily littered site letting the town down," read the judges citation.

The panel said the N72 Navigation Road "presented well" creating a "clean and bright impression of the town. Mallow Train Station, The Mallow Community Campus/Family Resource Centre and Thomas Davis Square also came in for special mention, with judges saying the latter looked "very well" following the recent renewal of the area.

"With a little care and attention, Lidl could easily get a higher grade - it was let down by a variety of food related litter in the trolley bay and cigarette butts at the shop entrance," said the judges.

"The most heavily littered site surveyed in Mallow was at Tip O'Neill Park. The presence of such high levels of litter takes away from the excellent paving, seats and bins," they added.

Overall, the results of the 2017 IBAL survey saw falls in the prevalence of fast food wrappers, plastic bottles and dog fouling. However, chewing gums, cigarette butts and cans continue to be major sources of litter.

In general, the survey identified an increase in letter levels along road connecting towns, with the majority, including the Cork-Mallow Road, described as being 'Moderately Littered'.

Niall O'Keeffe, the chair of Mallow Tidy Towns, said he was very pleased with the towns final standings on the IBAL table for 2017.

"It is a reflection of the hard work done by all stakeholders including County Council, the Avondhu/Blackwater Partnership through their Tus workers and the Tidy Towns volunteers who give up their time on a regular basis," said Mr O'Keeffe.

"Hopefully, this showing will encourage more people to show a greater pride in their town and join us in helping make a difference to Mallow and its environs."

Mr O'Keeffe said that Mallow Tidy Towns had already put in place a concerted plan of action for 2018, with the target of winning a medal in the national Tidy Towns competition.

"The comments of the IBAL judges have been hugely encouraging and while there is much work still to be done, particularly in the areas of biodiversity and waste management, we do not feel this target is in any way out of reach," he said. "I also believe that with groups working together in the way that they have, there is no reason why we could not climb further up the IBAL table in 2018."

What the IBAL judges said about Mallow

N72 Navigation Road (approach from the west) - Grade A.

"This road created a welcoming, clean and bright impression of the town of Mallow. The road and footpath surface were in excellent order and there was a complete absence of litter throughout the area surveyed".

Mallow Train Station - Grade A.

"The Train Station at Mallow was immaculately maintained. The whole area was spotless throughout, including the main station areas and bicycle shelter.

Beecher Street - Grade A.

"This road is primarily made up of small, single storey terraced houses which are generally well presented. There was the occasional derelict site but none of these harboured any litter. The overall impression, was a good one".

Mallow Community Campus/Family Resource Centre - Grade A.

"This campus is a local amenity centre, providing a range of services. No litter was reported.

Thomas Davis Square - Grade A.

"A relatively recently renewed town square environment which has blended new and old buildings. Paving and street furniture were in excellent order. The whole area was devoid of litter".

Lidl - Grade B.

"Food related litter (plastic bottles, coffee cups and sweet papers) and cigarette butts at the entrance and next to the trolley bay brought down what was an otherwise very well presented site".

Ballydeheen - Grade B.

"There was a wide variety of food related litter in this area, much of it was located at the large derelict site on the town side of the street. It was noticeable the high number of 'energy' drinks container. Weeds and graffiti were also a feature".

Thomas Davis Street - Grade A.

"The area was attractively decorated with Christmas decorations at time of IBAL litter survey. Chewing gum was pronounced on the footpath, especially on one side of the street, from Thomas Davis Square up to and including the area near Centra".

Tip O'Neil Park - Grade C.

"There was a very definite litter presence at Tip O'Neill Park. Much of the litter was in the water feature (plastic bottles) as well as a mix of other types of litter throughout the venue. The presence of such high levels of litter takes away from the excellent paving, seats and bins".

N20 Cork/Mallow Road - Grade B.

"This route was littered (a wide variety of food related litter) at many of the exits (e.g. Blarney and Killeen) and approximately 5km south of Mallow. The stretch of road near Rathduff was cleaner than other parts".
Two laryngoscopes and five bedside care trolleys purchased for the Mercy University Hospital through funds raised by the Banteer Family Fun Walk are now in place in the ICU.

The Banteer Family Fun Walk, which took place on January 2 in 2017, in memory of the late Pat Murphy RIP, raised 18,713.80 for the purchase of this new equipment.

The family fun walk was organised by Pat's wife, Eileen, along with his family and friends and Banteer Lyre GAA Clubs. Pat passed away at the Mercy Hospital on Sunday, May 29, 2016, so it was fitting that funds raised go to the Mercy. Two laryngoscopes were purchased with funds raised through the walk.

Dr. Donall O'Croinin, Consultant Anaesthetist at the Mercy University Hospital, said: "People who are having surgery or who are critically ill may need to be have a breathing tube put into their trachea (windpipe). There are some people in whom it is very difficult to get the breathing tube into the correct position. The new laryngoscopes are potentially lifesaving pieces of equipment that will help me and my colleagues to deliver the best standards of care possible for our patients"

The money raised was also used to purchase the five bedside care trolleys that will be used at the point of delivery of care in the ICU, replacing trolleys which are no longer fit for purpose.

Funds raised enabled the ICU to purchase a unit with a specification that will allow all a patient's bedside needs to be met at the bed space.

Speaking about the new trolleys, Elaine Hanna, CNM2 ICU at the Mercy University Hospital, said: "The ICU environment can be challenging for families and patients and so it is important that we have a space to store personal belongings such as gowns, slippers and their own personal toiletries, so that when we start to mobilise and rehabilitate the patient we have everything they need to hand.

"In addition, an essential need is the increased efficiency within the department, as when an emergency occurs, lifesaving equipment is readily available at the bed space in these high spec trollies."

Eileen Murphy recently visited the ICU Unit in The Mercy to see the new equipment in situ. Micheal Sheridan, CEO of the Mercy Hospital Foundation said: "Our mission is to inspire people to support advancements in research, diagnosis, treatments and care of patients at The Mercy University Hospital, the People's Hospital. This is only possible through the help of supporters and donors like Eileen, and Pat's family, friends and supporters from Banteer Lyre GAA Clubs that stepped out on January 2, honouring Pat's memory."
The Fianna Fail spokesman on health, Cork TD Billy Kelleher, has urged his government counterpart Simon Harris to ensure resources are put in place to deal with a possible spike in the numbers of the so called 'Aussie Flu' cases.

His call has come after fears that a surge in the number of people being admitted to hospital with the condition may put already overstretched hospital accident and emergency departments under even more pressure.

The HSE has confirmed that the strain of the disease, also known as H3N2, has already claimed the lives of "less that 10 people" in Ireland.

It is understood that since Aussie Flu first appeared in Ireland it has led to more than 70 hospitalisations this winter, with almost 20 of those in the last week of December alone.

Dr Kevin Kelleher of the HSE confirmed to independent.ie that a number of deaths have been recorded in Ireland as the stain sweeps across the country.

"There have been a few deaths already. I don't give specific numbers, which is less than 10, because people could be identified," said Dr Kelleher.

He said it was not too late for people to be vaccinated against the flu.

There are three main types of flu virus - A, B and C - and hundreds of different subtypes. The H3N2 flu, a subtype on influenza A, has triggered a huge rise in the number of cases in Australia, earning it the nickname 'Aussie Flu'. Health experts have predicted that the latest flu outbreak has the potential to be the worst in half a century. This is based on the recent Australian epidemic, which saw twice as many reported cases and deaths as there were in the previous year.

It is understood that some of Australia's emergency units had standing room only after being swamped by those with the H2N2 strain.

Deputy Kelleher reiterated the HSE's call for people to get the flu vaccine, especially those within high risk groups, saying the fact that a number of deaths have now been recorded in Ireland was "particularly worrying."

"Older people, children, and people with underlying health conditions are at particular risk and it's feared that the number of cases here could rise dramatically over the coming weeks," he said. Deputy Kelleher said he was concerned that any further significant increase in case could pose a threat to the "already overburdened hospital system".

"In the majority of cases, this flu, while serious, can be treated at home. However, there will always be more severe cases, which will need acute medical intervention. There are a number of hospitals whose emergency departments are at breaking point and if the predicted surge in serious flu cases comes to pass, these departments will struggle to cope," he said. "I am calling for assurances from Minister Harris and the HSE that we are fully prepared to deal with any possible outbreak, and that a management plan and resources are in place to properly control the situation."

What are the symptoms and who is most at risk?

The symptoms of Aussie flu strain are similar to those caused by regular flu but can be more severe or contagious than others.

Symptoms can include:

Sore throat and cough.

Sudden fever, runny nose and sneezing.

Head and muscle aches.

Fatigue.

Nausea.

Aussie Flu can lead to pneumonia and other potentially fatal complications.

People usually recover from flu within a week so, although the cough and fatigue may last longer. If the flu persists it's a good indication to seek medical help.

Vaccination is the best protection against the flu, with the HSE saying that people within the at risk groups can get the flu vaccine for free (people without medical or GP visit cards may be charged an administration fee).

The HSE have said that high-risk groups are:
The latest in a series of fundraising events for the Rickie Healy Appeal has helped raise more than 30,000 for his ongoing treatment.

The Cork Racecourse in Mallow donated all of the proceeds from one of its October race days to the appeal, which was established to support the young Ballyclough man's recovery after he suffered life-changing injuries during a holiday accident last July.

Handing over a cheque for 33,000, Cork Racecourse manager Andrew Hogan said they were delighted to be able to help the appeal.

"It was wonderful to see such a strong outpouring of support from the local community on the race day," said Mr Hogan.

Further fundraising events have been planned under the auspices of the appeal over the coming weeks, including the 'Rearing for Rickie' project at the Kanturk Marts.

More than 50 weanling's have been donated to the project, with the Mart set to host a charity auction of them on Friday, March 23.

A Cheltenham preview night will also take place at the Aches Bar in Mallow on Thursday, March 1, with top trainers Jessica Harrington, John 'Shark' Hanlon and Ted Walsh already lined up to take part.

Appeal spokesperson Pat Coleman said organisers were grateful to everyone who has gotten involved in various fundraising events over the past number of months. "The amount of goodwill and support has been amazing and has given Rickie great strength." For more information and to get updates on future events check out the Rickie Healy Appeal on Facebook.
Rcokmill Ltd has been granted permission for an 80 space surface car park accessed via a roundabout in the existing Southgate Shopping Development access road off the R132 (Dublin Road).

The development also provides for associated site development works including surface water drainage, street lighting, boundary fencing, road signage and markings, footpaths and landscaping at Colpe Cross, Colpe West.

COPD meeting

The Drogheda COPD support group will host its monthly meeting on Friday January 5 at 2.30pm in the conference centre of the Cottage Hospital. All welcome for a chat and refreshments and new members welcome. Details from Pauline at 0860733469.
A 63-year-old grandfather has had a charge of careless driving dismissed.

Joe Mulligan, Portrane, Co. Dublin, had denied the accusation which arose following an incident after he picked up his grand-daughter from Donacarney National School.

It was alleged at Drogheda Court that the retired psychiatric nurse reversed into a pedestrian who was standing on a footpath outside the school, on 11 May, 2016.

Lisa Plunkett gave evidence that she went to the school to collect her daughter, aged 10 at the time.

She was standing on the kerb when 'my legs started to go from under me.'

She turned around, and saw a silver Toyota Avensis reversing into her. She banged on the boot to stop the vehicle, but the driver 'looked at me, and shrugged his shoulders.'

Ms. Plunkett continued she went to talk to the man behind the wheel, who she picked out in court as the defendant, but didn't say anything when she realised he had a child in the car with him.

The witness added this happened on a Wednesday, and by the following Saturday her left leg and lower back were very sore.

She saw a doctor on Monday, who prescribed painkillers and anti-inflammatories.

She also attended for physiotherapy which ultimately didn't help.

Lisa Plunkett told defence counsel, Irene Sands, the car was still reversing when she turned, so she banged on the boot.

She was hit mid-thigh and able to continue to work.

It was put to her, what she was alleging simply didn't happen. Ms. Plunkett replied it did.

Joe Mulligan testified his grand-daughter was seated in the car, and he had to back 'a foot or two' to get out.

The first he knew of anything was when the lady thumped on the car.

Judge Coughlan, who read statements made by the parties involved, said he found both witnesses very honest.

He accepted an accident happened, and luckily no child was injured.

The judge continued he would make no comment on the extent of the injuries.

'I see no conflict in the two statements. Both are very decent people, in my view.

'I will dismiss the matter, and leave it to civil law.'
The fact that elected representatives did not attend a meeting between Fergus O'Dowd TD, members of the Julianstown community group and Meath CC departments has been deemed a 'slight on the municipal council' of the Laytown/Bettystown area.

The TD met with various people recently, including the environmental and water services of the council. But Cllr Tom Kelly asked what was the outcome of the meeting and why was the cathaoirleach of the area not there.

Cllr Paddy Meade however stated that he was sent an email but couldn't attend.

'In fact, I'm glad TDs and senators are taking an interest in the area. They are meant to represent the people here', he stated.

Director of Services Fiona Lawless said she mentioned the meeting at the last council gathering and 'didn't stop anyone from attending.'

Addressing the last council meeting of the year, Cllr Kelly said it was 'imperative' that councillors were invited to these meetings and that 'it was a slight' on the municipal that they were not in attendance.

Cllr Wayne Harding felt it wasn't a slight on the district but if an Oireachtas member wanted a meeting then the local cathaoirleach should chair it. 'I don't mind if everyone goes!", Ms Lawless remarked.
I was impressed by the Dog's Trust decision to suspend pet adoptions over Christmas to avoid a large number animals being abandoned in January.

This is an increasing problem and the old adage of 'a dog is for life and not just for Christmas' has never been more appropriate.

So many people dream of the joy of introducing a new pet to the family during the festive season but do they really look beyond the cute puppy dog eyes peeping out from a cardboard box?

After last year, Dog's Trust reported that a whopping 756 people contacted the charity to hand over their new furry Christmas presents within three months.

This is a shocking level and it doesn't even include the many creatures who were probably dumped out on roads or neglected by their so-called loving new owners.

The charity is also urging people not to buy a pet at Christmas and to carefully consider the long-term responsibility of being a pet owner.

The myth that a dog is the perfect Christmas present has to be dispelled and Dog's Trust is doing a good job in highlighting the problem.

Last week, an awareness campaign also highlighted the strange trend of people buying pugs almost a fashion accessory.

Apparently, their squished little faces have propelled them to stardom and their images can be found on everything from department store gift cards to mugs to towels and shopping bags.

They are 'the' dog for any aspiring pup owner and concern has been raised that they are now the most popular breed of dog born in Ireland and the UK as a result of marketing campaigns.

It's a case of - if you want to flog an item, then put a picture of a pug on it and it will sell, which is utterly ridiculous but an issue of concern nonetheless.

In reality we are talking about living, breathing creatures and some people really will not look past Christmas Day when they decide to bring home a new pup or gift it to a young child who has no capability of looking after it. Just last week there were two separate high-profile new stories which broke in relation to severe animal neglect and cruelty.

These highlight the exactly plight that pets could face if they are bought along with the video games and boxes of chocolates.
Wexford County Council headquarters threw out the red carpet for a group of Enniscorthy Vocational College students who might just have a career in local government ahead of them. Elsa Tsang, Whitney O'Sullivan and Chloe Giltrap-Denton all received an A grade in their 2017 Junior Cert CSPE exam and as a reward, they were brought to check out council HQ by their class tutor Mrs Kelly and deputy principal Ms Kennedy.

The group were welcomed by county secretary Pat Collins who gave them a guided tour of the buildings, finishing up in the canteen where they enjoyed some lunch. After lunch, they were brought into the council chambers and got to witness a council meeting in progress. They met with former principal of Enniscorthy Vocational College Cllr Tony Dempsey, as well as Cllr Barbara Anne Murphy who is on the school's board of management. Council chairman Cllr John Hegarty, a teacher himself, welcomed the group into the chambers and congratulated them on their excellent results. Among the topics discussed at the meeting were electoral polling stations, data protection and housing and it gave the students a wonderful insight into how local politics works.
Fans of Fingal band, Delorentos can look forward to a new album from the group very soon. It's a busy time for the local band as they gear up for the release of a new album, early this year.

In December, the band released a single ahead of that new album release called 'In Darkness We Feel Our Way' which was recorded with Tommy McLaughlin and Richie Egan at the Attica Studios in Donegal.

New Year's Eve saw the boys play Whelan's, an iconic Dublin venue that will see the band return later in the year, in April, once the new album is released.

The New Year's Eve gig was something of an anniversary for the band as they played Whelan's on New Year's Eve, ten years before. The band said about that show ten years ago: 'We can still remember it. It feels both a million years ago and like yesterday, and it preceded an amazing and busy year, which we're thinking this year is going to be to.'

Of their new music, the Fingal band said: 'After having been away recording and writing for the past while we're looking forward to playing you new music. In Darkness We Feel Our Way is the first single from our new recordings and was released worldwide on December 1. We will be releasing a new album in early 2018 - in the meantime keep an eye on us for more.'

The Fingal band draws its members from Skerries, Portrane and Malahide.
An artwork by eight-year old Fingal student Emmy Aherne, from St. Marnock's National School, Portmarnock, has been chosen to illustrate the 2018 Texaco Children's Art Calendar.

One of 13 chosen to illustrate the publication, Emmy's piece, entitled 'Peek-A-Boo-Panda', will appear during the month of April and will be seen in thousands of homes throughout Ireland in 2018.

Winning a Special Merit Award in the 7-8 years age category of the 2017 competition, it was one of a number said by a competition adjudicator to perfectly reflect the incredible talent and imagination of children and the essential role played by schools who encourage and inspire their students through art education.

Calendars are currently available through a select number of Texaco service stations countrywide.
Silence descended upon the 200 auctioneers and guests at IPAV's Charity lunch when Fingal native and special guest, Stephen Cluskey, CEO of Mobility Mojo and disability advocate told his personal story of triumph over adversity.

The graphic and compelling story of how a simple game of play among bales of hay in a field in his native Cloghran in North County Dublin on a sunny August bank holiday weekend in 2002 resulted in the then 18 year old suffering catastrophic life changing injuries that would leave him paralysed from the neck down, held the audience spellbound.

Before he took a spontaneous standing ovation from the entire room at the Westbury Hotel, the entrepreneur indicated that his desire to help others may involve him in getting into 'politics in some way'.

Delivering a strong message of triumph over adversity Stephen reminded the audience that 'kites rise highest against the wind',

Host and IPAV President, Brian Dempsey, Partner at DNG Stillorgan who has known Stephen for many years said it was an honour to host the event.

'This Charity lunch is a way our members and guests have of giving something back and we're delighted to help in a small way with this vital work,' he said.

He said this, IPAV's 5th annual President's lunch, had brought the organisation's charity contribution to 50,000 since its inception.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell has welcomed the allocation of 5,000 for Fingal SPCA in Portrane and 2,000 for Royal Dog Rescue in Balbriggan from the Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Scheme.

He said: 'I am pleased that Fingal SPCA in Portrane has been awarded 5,000 and Royal Dog Rescue in Balbriggan has been granted 2,000 from the Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Scheme.

'Funding for animal welfare organisations is essential in terms of supporting the hard work the volunteers and staff involved in providing animals in need with the care they require.

'The work undertaken by Fingal SPCE and Royal Dog Rescue, and so many other organisations is of the utmost importance. Their commitment to caring for, rehabilitating and rehoming injured animals, as well as promoting responsible pet ownership is vital for animal welfare in our local communities and across the country. 'I hope that this funding will help Fingal SPCA and Royal Dog Rescue in their work, and assist them with providing care for animals in need.'
A Swords-born wildlife campaigner is busy battling poachers and combating the ivory trade in Malawi where local wildlife including the majestic African elephant are being saved by the efforts of the organisation she heads.

Lynn Clifford is from Swords but has spent years in Africa protecting wildlife.

She heads an organisation called Wildlife Action Group (WAG) which is dedicated to protecting wildlife from poachers, particularly in Malawi.

Explaining her work, Lynn said: 'Protected areas and the wildlife are under serious pressure from the human population for land use and the wildlife living here are under even more pressure, elephants in particular have being targeted due to the increasing demand for ivory.

'WAG works tirelessly to try protect these free living animals, especially our gentle giants, through patrolling, arresting, awareness campaigns, and animal welfare.'

L0oking back at the organisation's achievements in the past year, Lynn said: 'The year has been quiet extraordinary, with really great results. WAG is working closely with Government and other Conservation NGO's to enforce the laws and protect the habitat, bring awareness of the new Wildlife Act (in Malawi), and increasing the engagement of local people through awareness, and opportunities to improve their lives.

'We are committed as ever to combat the illegal wildlife trade with the aim of ensuring a long term survival of these areas and the wildlife that live here. One important aspect of this is through working closely with our local populations. Those living close to the reserves are most affected in positive and negative ways and it is these same people who will be most likely to commit a crime and be arrested for doing so. And therefore these are the ones who should be helped most.'

Lynn said that WAG is scoring successes: 'We conducted our third animal count in Nov and are delighted to be able to announce an increase in all the animal populations, which with your help we hope to continue.

'Some of the highlights this year have been seeing a dramatic decrease in charcoal burning over on the western side of Thuma Forest, bringing an awareness of the changes in the Wildlife Act ensuring our local population is aware of the laws of Malawi, darting of a bull who was suffering with a snare wound, arresting a well known and very active poacher, increasing our patrols and man hours (boots on the ground), conducting a forestry inventory, many successful court cases, conducting our third animal count, educating over 7500 children, planting over 8000 trees with our local communities and setting up many income generating activities including irrigation projects, and beehive projects.'

Lynn thanked all her supporters and well-wishers back home and said: 'Thank you for helping save Africa's wildlife and wild spaces.'
A local councillor says that a so-called 'People's Bank' in Germany who wants to expand into Ireland, will be a good fit for Fingal.

The prospect of German community bank, Sparkasse setting up in Fingal was discussed at a recent council meeting where Cllr Tom O'Leary called on the council to enter into discussions with the institution.

Cllr O'Leary said he is maintaining 'ongoing discussions' with the bank is 'very impressed' with their successful banking model.

The Fine Gaell councillor said: 'There is a need for serious competition in the retail banking sector. The current players in the retail banking sector are shrinking services to customers, and charging them more because they can.'

Outlining how the model might work in Fingal, he said: 'The Sparkasse Bank would be owned by the Community in trust by Fingal County Council with a directors board from the community and a professional banking management board to oversee the operations of the bank.'

He added: 'All profits are reinvested in the local community ie Fingal or reinvested in the bank to provide more loans to local customers at discount rates to the current commercial banks.'

Cllr O'Leary sees a potential partnership arrangement between the bank and Irish credit unions and said the model could be a 'win, win' proposition for both.

Cllr O'Leary said that following his recent motion at the council: 'Fingal County Council will investigate this community model of banking and invite Sparkasse to meet the councillors and officials at the Ecominic Development SPC Committee chaired by Cllr Kieran Dennison Fine Gael.'

At the national level, he said: 'The Government will shortly issue a report on the Sparkasse proposal.' He added: 'I understand that Sparkassen will make a presentation to the Dail Finance Committee in October this year and I hope that their proposal will achieve cross party support.'

Cllr O'Leary concluded: 'It's time our Government stepped up to the plate and actually encouraged and facilitated the entry of Sparkassen Community Bank into the Irish market so that we never see a repeat of anything like the tracker mortgage scandal.'
Some 435,000 in LEADER funding was distributed to projects mostly in Fingal by the Dublin Rural Local Action Group in 2017.

Some 435,000 was approved to fund a diverse range of projects across enterprise development, rural tourism, social inclusion and the environment by the Dublin Rural Local Action Group (LAG) in 2017.

Led by the Fingal Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) the LAG was established to deliver the LEADER element of the Rural Development Programme for the period 2016-2021.

The 435,000 comes from a fund of 4.83 million. Grants ranging from 3,000 to 200,000 were given to 17 projects.

Examples include a feasibility study for Ardgillan Castle under the Economic Development theme as well as expansion of Paws Cafe, under the Social Inclusion theme. Significant projects also included approval of funding of 200,000 awarded for the relocation and fit out of the Remember Us Special Needs Centre.

The LCDC led Dublin Rural Local Action Group, appointed Fingal Leader Partnership (FLP) at the end of 2016 as the on-the-ground-implementing partner, FLP have made significant progress assisting potential project promoters to develop applications for approvals by the LCDC led LAG. Approvals began in June 2017 and are projected to rise significantly in 2018 to approximately 1.5million.

The Dublin Rural Area has a population of over 66,000 people of which Fingal makes up approximately 70 per cent of the eligible local areas.

Commenting on the funding, Fingal County Council Chief Executive, Mr Paul Reid, said: 'LEADER funding has the potential to have a transformative impact on the economy and quality of life in Rural Dublin. From a Fingal perspective, it is very much welcome, especially considering the size and importance of the agricultural sector in the county. As Financial Partner for the Programme, Fingal County Council will continue to work closely with the LCDC led Dublin Rural Local Action Group, the Fingal Leader Partnership, and our counterparts in the other local authorities to ensure that we maximize the benefits that will accrue from this funding.'

Dr Pat O'Connor, Chair of the LCDC led Dublin Rural Local Action Group, commented: 'LAG members have accomplished a great deal this year from establishing the governing structure to beginning the process of approvals. Next year is set to be more significant again with the volume and value of approvals set to triple, I look forward to working alongside LAG colleagues in achieving this.'
Some of Fingal's most brilliant student entrepreneurs gathered at County Hall recently for some words of wisdom and inspiration from a business tycoon and two local sporting greats as they gathered for the Fingal Youth Enterprise Market.

Fingal Youth Enterprise Market was buzzing with atmosphere as Dragon's Den Gavin Duffy and two sporting heroes, Dubs star, Paddy Andrews and former Irish rugby international and Fingal woman, Lynn Cantwell, arrived at County Hall to share their experiences with the young entrepreneurs.

Fingal's innovative secondary school entrepreneurs gathered at the event, are eager participants in the National Student Enterprise Programme.

The savvy students are running actual businesses, having researched, resourced and now trading services and products, with the guidance of business mentors.

They learnt from the best at an audience with Gavin Duffy of Dragons Den and two sporting heroes to inspire and motivate them on their journey.

In conjunction with Bank of Ireland, this enterprise packed morning with an excellent speaker line-up focused on and promoted entrepreneurship amongst our savvy young business tycoons.

There are 31 Local Enterprise Offices nationwide and Fingal LEO co-ordinates and presents the largest number of participants every year. Now in its sixteenth year, over 2,500 secondary school students from Fingal are competing for a place in the County Finals in March 2018. Category winners will then advance to the National Final in May 2018. This year sees 22,000 students enter nationally.

The Christmas period is a key opportunity for the young entrepreneurs to drive sales and grow their businesses. As with all enterprises, their choice of business model and the challenges they face, will test them to their core. This experience will equip them with a real life business skill set and understanding that they will use in future employment or entrepreneurial ventures.

The secondary schools programme is sponsored, for the seventh consecutive year, by the Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board.

Oisin Geoghegan, Head of Enterprise, Fingal County Council said: 'Hosting the largest programme in the country, we are proud to say we have seen many successes in the National Finals. We have seen phenomenal growth and this year we are delighted with the record numbers of students, from primary and secondary schools across the region setting up and running their own businesses. The schools, our mentors, local businesses and the sponsors are more than encouraging and every year we can see that students continue on their entrepreneurial journey and indeed set up successful enterprises in post school years.'

Paul Reid, Chief Executive, Fingal County Council added: 'What they gain from this programme is an invaluable insight into the roots of business and a taste of experience in a safe environment. The lessons they learn on this programme will help set them on an entrepreneurial path from a young age.'
The family of Pauline Finlay (49), who went missing 24 years ago near Cahore, will finally lay her to rest as remains were found to be those belonging to her after an exhumation took place at a cemetery in Wales last week.

North West Wales senior coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said DNA confirmed the body was of Pauline Finlay of Gorey, county Wexford. Sadly her husband Joe will not see her being brought home to be buried as he passed away last August.

Mr Pritchard-Jones issued the exhumation earlier last month after waiting more than a year for The High Court in London to overturn the verdict of the original inquest into the unidentified body of a woman who washed up along the Welsh coastline on October 31, 1994. He said the remains were sent to Dublin last Monday and the tragedy was in the hands of Irish coroners.

Dublin natives Pauline and Joe had a mobile home at Old Bawn near Cahore and were very well-known in the locality. Pauline disappeared on March 25 in 1994 while walking her two dogs on Old Bawn beach.

Extensive searches were carried for days and weeks out on the water and along the coastline after she went missing but no trace was ever found.

However, it was believed that the unidentified remains of a woman who washed up on Cable Bay beach in Wales eight months later may have been those of Mrs Finlay.

Last year, police in north Wales launched a fresh effort to try and give names to 17 bodies that they have on their records and contacted the Garda Siochana for details on unsolved missing persons cases.

It emerged in the joint investigation that the Cable Bay remains were likely to be those of Mrs Finlay.

Mr Pritchard-Jones said his predecessor and police at the time failed to identify the remains and they were buried, being cared for by local people.

Meanwhile, a grave of an unnamed man lies in St Michael's Cemetery in Gorey after his body washed up on Courtown beach on October 23, 1999, and remains unidentified. The identity of the body of a woman who washed up at Ballinamona beach on December 12, 1995, is still unknown. Her remains lie in Crosstown Cemetery in Wexford.
Leanne Naughter with her son Jake at the Cahore Inshore Rescue swim

Alan and Viv Conlon with their daughter Evie at the Tara Vale Swimmers swim in Ballymoney

Hundreds of volunteers braved the icy waters on New Years Day in North Wexford for two charity swims.

The Tara Vale Swimmers dived head first at Ballymoney beach in front of a great crowd to raise funds for the Jack & Jill Foundation, North Wexford Hospice Homecare, St Patrick's Special School in Enniscorthy and Courtown RNLI.

Seventy hardy swimmers took to the water in Cahore for the annual swim in aid of Cahore Inshore Rescue Service. Gerry O'Loughlin Hon secretary from Cahore Inshore Rescue said they had a massive crowd to support the participants.

Since starting the Cahore swim in 1995, Gerry said they have raised thousands of money for the Rescue Service.

Meanwhile, Eamonn O'Connor from the Tara Vale Swimmers said they were 'extremely lucky' as the weather was very fine for the hour they swam. 'This was our 12th year,' said Eamonn. 'Since we started in 2006 we have raised over 140,000 for numerous charities.'
It looks like it could be another year before the M11 Service Station at Ballyellen, Gorey, will open its doors.

An official from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) responded to Cllr Malcolm Byrne's ongoing queries suggesting 'works would commence on-site around the middle of 2018, allowing for the Design Period' after contracts are signed by TII and construction 'would be expected to be completed within three to four months'.

A challenge in the commercial courts has delayed the station's opening, but negotiations with TII and the preferred bidder have now resumed after the dispute over the Gorey site was settled in May of last year.

'The building has been left as a white elephant for years and Transport Infrastructure Ireland have been paying thousands per month to provide security,' said Cllr Byrne. 'I hope the negotiations finish promptly.'

Sean O'Neill, PRO for TII, said legal action has delayed it all, 'but the preferred bidder is now going through the process award of tender, so everything is back to normal'.

'I can't give an exact timeline,' said Mr O'Neill. 'I will only know early in the New Year around the end of January.'

Building work was completed on site in May 2015 and Topaz submitted the preferred tender to run it. In August that year it was challenged in the courts by the SuperStop 2 Consortium, involving Applegreen and Tedcastles Oil Products.

The official from TII reported to Cllr Byrne 'TII is working with the preferred bidder on all documentation which is required to close this contract'.

Meanwhile, TII spend almost 500,000 on security and lighting at three unopened motorway service sites, which included Ballyellen in Gorey, Kilcullen in county Kildare and Moate in county Westmeath.

The largest portion of these costs are at Gorey, where the unopened station has constant security and a lighting system since 2015.

The Oireachtas Transport Committee is planning to call in TII to explain the spend, which is rising by 15,000 a month, and it is expected senior officials will appear before the committee early next year.
More than 200 children below the age of 18 have been waiting more than a year for an appointment with a psychologist in County Wexford.

The distressingly large figure for the county - almost 10 per cent of the national figure - is one of the largest for a single county.

The alarming figures, released by Social Democrat Deputy Roisin Shortall, show that 2,500 children are waiting for appointments with psychologists.

Wexford is included in an HSE area which also takes in Carlow/Kilkenny, South Tipperary and Waterford, which shows that 281 children were waiting for appointments, 209 of them in Wexford alone.

'That almost 2,500 vulnerable people could be left waiting over a year for such a basic service is nothing short of a scandal,' Shortall said.

The HSE figures show that of this number, 1,895 are children aged between five and 17. There are 130 children aged between zero and four waiting over a year for an appointment.

By contrast with the figures for Wexford, in area six, which includes Dublin south east, Dun Laoghaire and Wicklow, there are just four people in this age group waiting over a year for an appointment, the lowest across the country.

The HSE said that it is currently recruiting 20 additional psychologists and 114 assistant psychologists post for primary care in 2018.

Meanwhile, Deputy James Browne said children being turned away from mental health services because of staff shortages.

There are currently only 55 staff working in the service, despite a recommendation that 116 be employed.

Deputy Browne made the comments after obtaining new information from the HSE which shows that Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services are understaffed right across the country, with an additional 460 staff needed to meet the criteria set out in the government's own 'Vision for Change' mental health policy.

'I am growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress being made in improving mental health services for children in the South East. The situation appears to be getting worse instead of better, said Deputy Browne. 'The staff who work in the CAMHS service are fantastic. They go above and beyond what is expected of them. The problem is the fact that they are working under extremely pressurised conditions.

'The service is under so much pressure that it is now a regular occurrence for young adolescents and children to be sent to Emergency Departments as they cannot access the mental health services. 'At the moment GPs are being forced to refer young people to the Emergency Department, which is a completely unsuitable environment for them. In many cases, they are sent back home, which causes additional stress,' he said.
Innovative and creative, the youthful team behind Wexford's Yellowbelly Beer is riding the crest of a wave into 2018, exploring new export markets and underpinning their position as one of the top and fastest-growing breweries in Ireland.

'None of us know everything, but collectively we know a lot,' said director Nicky Lambert, who started the brewery with his brother Simon and then-barman Danny Trappe in the basement at Simon Lambert and Sons in Wexford town two years ago with a 'home-made brew kit'.

The mark II version of the kit is now part of Yellowbelly history and sits at the new brewery, dwarfed by two, 6,000 litre stainless steel fermenters - four more are on the way, and serves as a reminder of how the 200 litre brewery grew to a 6,000 litre brewery in little over a year.

Since its early days, Yellowbelly has grown incrementally and is now based in a 9,500 square feet brewery at Whiterock Hill, in Pembrokestown, where it produces its award-winning beers.

Not content with that, the Yellowbelly team is planning a tap room restaurant and a visitor centre as part of a wider drive to draw attention to its products and to keep tourists in town and county. Food-based tourism is seen as a growth sector at the moment and Yellowbelly is well positioned to add value to the Wexford tourism product.

Yellowbelly is very much a Wexford product and of the 12 people directly employed, 11 were born within 10 miles of the brewery, something that is a great source of pride to all the team.

None of them had any brewing experience when they began their venture, with their craft honed over the past two years of sometimes frenetic work and many long hours of experimentation.

'Every one of us is self-taught,' said Nicky.

'We're very proud of what we've achieved over the last couple of years,' he said, adding that Leader and council-backing was important for the development of the product.

To go from obscurity to not far short of being a household name in such a short time is no small achievement, helped in no small way by creative director Paul Reck's wonderfully distinctive artwork and Yellowbelly comics which can be specifically tailored for foreign consumption.

But the product has to be good as the packaging. A suite of awards over the past year prove the brewery is in a class of its own. Recently Yellowbelly's Citra Pale Ale won the accolade of being one of the Best Beers in the World, the latest in a number of awards for its products.

With a saturated home market, Yellowbelly is keen to export more, with a recent success in Italy facilitated by former mayor Cllr George Lawlor - a Yellowbelly fan - during a recent visit to Wexford's twin town of Lugo. Paul Reck's Italianate adaptions, by the way, went down very well, as did the beer.

'When we contact a potential importer the first thing they ask is how are you doing in your home market and if you're not doing well, there's no point in trying to export. Fortunately we are doing very well, both locally and nationally and have great support,' said Nicky.

2017 has been a hectic year for Yellow Belly: The opening of the new brewery, the installation of the new brewhouse, once owned by Scottish craft beer legends BrewDog; the addition of a state-of-the-art Wild Goose canning line, and the commencement of YellowBelly Beer exports to Northern Ireland, UK and Italy.

Among plans a little further down the line are a collaboration with a major Scottish brewery and in February a collaboration with a major player based in London.

Danny Trappe, who takes care of the exports, is also looking to new markets to a range of countries in Europe, including Finland, Holland and Germany.

Head Brewer Declan Nixon releases a new small batch beer per week and one new limited edition 330ml can a month, continuously evolving their product range and offering beer consumers something new.

Having its own water source and the ability to strip back and refine the water to suit different beers, means Yellowbelly can tailor tastes to different markets.

The latest innovation at Yellowbelly is a Beer Club that gives members access to exclusive member-only beers carefully curated by Declan Nixon and Paul Reck.

'As part of our commitment to constant innovation and creativity, these beers will be our most experimental yet. We've ripped up the recipe books and brand guidelines - we're treating each beer as a blank canvas,' said marketing manager Seamus Redmond.

'We look on the beer as a living product.. we don't pasteurise,' said Nicky, adding that the brewery's green credentials are impeccable with little and in some cases no waste, with Bord Bia Origin Green certification.

Wexford has had a long association with the brewing industry, although its last brewery, Wickhams, closed its doors more than a century ago.

A contemporary article, while Wickhams was still in business, comments that searches around local hostelries at the time, revealed that none stocked the Wexford's company's brews, preferring instead the mainstream products produced in Dublin and further afield.

How times have changed - local craft beers are widely available and popular.

Using their skills and innovation, the team at Yellowbelly have revived and revitalised a long-lost Wexford tradition with a firm eye on the future, both at home and abroad.
AN all-island organisation responsible for the promotion of business angel investment says that investors in its South East Business Angel Network (SEBAN) plan to invest 10 million in start-ups from the region over the next three years.

A joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network's) South East-based syndicate has a strong track record of investing and over the last decade, has invested more than 6 million in a total of 38 deals.

The syndicate has invested across companies in the ICT, manufacturing and food sectors, with a focus on, but not restricted to companies located in, or connected to, the South East.

SEBAN is part of the National HBAN network, and one of the benefits of joining the syndicate is the access to the best investment opportunities from across the island and in a wide range of sectors. The syndicate has only five angel investor places left for its regular investor forums and pitching events.

SEBAN is looking to recruit successful business people and entrepreneurs with the knowledge, expertise and insight to enable local start-ups to grow and scale their businesses, and achieve national and international success. It is inviting interested parties to attend one of its regular investor forums and pitching events.

Aidan Shine, HBAN Coordinator for South East Region, said: 'Among other HBAN syndicates, we have a strong track-record of investing in local companies, with more than 6 million invested to date, and plan to invest a further 10 million in South East-based businesses. 'A key part of our success is the fact that companies that pitch for investment to our angels have been vetted, prepared and confirmed as investor-ready, high potential start-ups by HBAN. We are looking for new members to join SEBAN and access the unique opportunities that HBAN offers its network of angels,' he said.
Members of the 1916 Enniscorthy Re-enactment Historical Society paid tribute to Wexford's most famous soldier, Major Willie Redmond, with a march from the Bull Ring and a wreath-laying at Redmond Park.

Dressed in period Royal Irish Regiment uniforms, and led by member Ray Murphy bearing an RIR standard, the re-enactors honoured Major Willie and the other soldiers from Wexford who fell in World War One. At the memorial in the park, re-enactor Graham Cadogan read the emotive and stirring poem 'In Flanders Fields', by John McCrea and a brief history of Major Willie was delivered to the small crowd who turned out.

The parade reversed arms in tribute to Wexford's fallen soldiers, while a laurel and poppy wreath was laid by Bridget Murphy dressed as a nurse in period uniform.

Major Willie was killed at the Battle of Messines on June 7 1917. Almost every newspaper in Britain and Ireland, both local and national carried notice of his death.
A special cheque presentation was made by Paddy O'Sullivan from Kilcummin for 66,000 to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust at Kilcummin GAA Club recently.

The money was raised following the death of Paddy's son, Anthony (33), who died suddenly in his sleep in Australia on November 5, 2017. In the days after Anthony's death his friends rallied together to set up a 'Go Fund Me' page to cover his repatriation and burial costs.

The fund quickly surpassed its target of 30,000 within days and Paddy said he was 'overwhelmed' at the generosity and support received by so many people.

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust is a charity that helps to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the remains of loved ones who have died abroad in sudden or tragic circumstances.

Anthony was a well-known DJ in his time and worked in the Grand Hotel in Killarney and at weddings throughout Kerry.

He worked at The Coogee Bay Hotel in Australia where in the days after his death a gathering of over 300 friends organised a walk along the famous trail from Coogee to Bondi in his memory.

Speaking to The Kerryman, Paddy said: "I have no words to describe the support that Anthony's friends in Australia and at home have given him."

Anthony was buried with his mother Sheila.
Dingle Oceanworld is exhibiting and studying jellyfish in big numbers - the better to figure out ways to halt their rapid increase in the wild.

The new research project is also making for a stunning display as the miniature 'jelly babies' are quickly becoming a big hit with the general public.

"They make for a wonderful spectacle and we've had a great reaction from visitors in our first week exhibiting the specimens," Dingle Oceanworld director Kevin Flannery said.

The research project can't come soon enough as the jellyfish population off our coast explodes - of particular worry given the rising presence of the highly-dangerous Portuguese Man o' War.

With little known about the life-cycle of jellyfish, the Dingle Oceanworld project is expected to contribute hugely to our understanding of the creatures.

"There's been a phenomenal increase in their numbers in our waters. Jellyfish wiped out an entire fish farm on Rathlin Island recently, by burning the salmon with their stingers," Kevin said.

"With the help of students at the IT and a number of other colleges we are carrying out a very careful study of these common 'moon' jellyfish, to figure out ways their life cycle can be disrupted in order to better protect the public and important commercial ventures like fish farms," Kevin added.
In the latest instalment of their Last Jedi related Wild Atlantic Way advertising blitzkrieg, Tourism Ireland have released a new clip in which the cast and crew of the latest Star Wars film gush about the beauty of Kerry's coast.

The crew of the blockbuster science fiction film - which is already well on course to rake in at least a billion dollars worldwide - spent two days filming on Skellig Michael in 2015.

They returned to Kerry in May 2016 where they spent a week filming in and around a replica of the Skellig's world famous monastery that was constructed at Ceann Sibeal.

In the new Tourism Ireland clip - which was made for the tourism promotion body by the filmmakers Disney Lucasfilm - franchise star Mark Hamill, who plays hermit Jedi Luke Skywalker - describes the Skelligs and west Kerry as being like something from a fairy tale.

"It's like a fairy-tale world  you just can't believe your eyes," says Hamill. Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was equally enthusiastic.

"It's a gorgeous place. I feel very, very lucky to be able to get it on film," Johnson says in the behind the scene's clip.

The clip also features new Star Wars hero Daisy Ridley who said Kerry had been "great" to the Star Wars team.

The clip - which contains a large amount of previously unseen footage from the film's Skellig shoot in September 2015 - is the third phase of Tourism Ireland's Last Jedi themed promotional campaign.

The campaign also saw a Wild Atlantic Way advertising poster, featuring Skellig Michael, sent into space.

You can find the new clip on the Discover Ireland YouTube page.
Dr William Sheehan, Conference Organiser; Prof Ursula Kilkelly, Dean of Law at UCC and Micheal Martin TD, Fianna Fail leader pictured at the launch of the inaugural Killarney Economic Conference which takes place this month

DUP leader Arlene Foster, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and influential Scottish Government Minister, Michael Russell, will be part of a high-powered gathering of politicians and business leaders at a major conference in Kerry this month focusing on the impact of Brexit on Ireland, the UK and the European Union.

The Killarney Economic Conference will take place on January 12 and 13 next and it will concentrate on Brexit, the challenges it poses for business, the legal issues that will arise, how it will shape future politics and the impact it will have on daily life.

Matthew O'Toole, the former chief press officer at Number 10 Downing Street, has already been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the conference.

One of the conference organisers, Simon Kingston, said Brexit will have an influence on virtually every aspect of relations between Britain and Ireland and it makes the choice of topics and the timing of the conference particularly apt.

"We are delighted that such a broad cross-section of political leadership and opinion is represented. To have the leaders of the DUP and Fianna Fail present, alongside senior colleagues from other parties on both islands, is a great privilege," he said.

"We are looking forward to hearing their different perspectives, as well as their reiteration of a shared interest in the prosperity of both the UK and Ireland," he said.
The air quality in New Ross was worse than Beijing in mid-December - leading to urgent calls for a text alert system for the town's 9,000 residents to protect their health.

Air pollution kills around 1,300 Irish people annually and arising from the dangerously high readings in New Ross, the Government has sanctioned funding to monitor other towns in the county, starting with Bunclody and Gorey, and moving on to Wexford and Enniscorthy.

Senior Executive Scientist with Wexford County Council Brendan Cooney said New Ross town's geographical position in a valley means smoke from coal fires does not dissipate leading to the high readings.

'Everything settles down, (all the particulates) and the town is not designated a smokeless zone,' he said.

Combined with cold weather and little to no wind lately, the results are plain to see with residents complaining of shortness of breath from 4 p.m. many winter days.

'On foot of the results we got in New Ross the department have decided to make the whole country smokeless. Three weeks ago there was such poor air quality that a UCC professor noted that New Ross had worse air quality than Beijing in 2008 when there were fears athletes would not be able to compete in the smog.'

The Air Quality Monitoring system in Ard Mhicil estate on Thursday showed a reading of 55 pm10 particles and over 90 total particles.

Mr Cooney said particulates the size of a fraction of a width of hair are measured from a pole erected in Ard Mhicil every 15 minutes and can be viewed on the council's website. 'We are the first in the country to do this,' Mr Cooney said, adding that a text alert is planned for New Ross residents on days when the air quality exceeds a certain limit and is dangerously poor, subject to approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr Cooney said the Department of the Environment was only receiving daily averages from most urban areas, but has been getting 15 minute updates from New Ross. 'From 4 or 5 p.m. the readings start going up as people come home from work and at 10 p.m. they go back down again. This has been communicated to the department and to the minister. People don't realise the dangers. Air pollution kills 1,300 Irish people every year. People don't realise it; they might have asthma and get an asthma attack, or people with pulmonary or heart disease die because the particulates get into the bloodstream.'

The county's four other urban centres will be getting air quality monitoring stations following the council's work in New Ross. 'They are not expensive to run, you just have the electricity costs and they need to be taken off for calibration once a year.'
'Unbelievable!' This was how Campile festive charity tractor run organiser John Hearn described the event which lit up south west Wexford on a beautiful winter's evening in mid-December, raising around 3,000 in the process for Wexford Hospice Homecare.

This was the first year the event was held and with 87 tractors decorated from the wheels to the cab in bright lights, it was one to remember.

Crowds saw the fantastic tractorcade off, cheering as it departed for Dunmain, where over 100 people had gathered outside Rosie's pub, and on to Ballycullane, Saltmills, Fethard-on-Sea, Ramsgrange and Duncannon, receiving rapturous responses everywhere it went, before finishing in Arthurstown.

John got the idea from a similar charity festive rioad run which was held in Clonmel last year and from the Whitechurch road run through New Ross earlier in December.

'I thought we could do something to raise money in an enjoyable way,' the Campile family man said.

He decided to raise money for Wexford Hospice Homecare as his mother-in-law and sister-in-law benefited greatly from its services. 'Each and every family has been affected by cancer. I thought it was a simple thing to do. I got in touch with Ann Somers in New Ross who is involved in the Hospice.'

A cheque for around 3,000 is being presented to Ms Somers this week at the King's Bay Inn in Arthurstown, where the drivers and their passengers were all treated to complimentary bowls of Irish stew for their efforts by its owner Mary Sutton.

John thanked Mary. 'She's unbelievable. When I mentioned my idea bout the festive road run to her in the summer she immediately came on board. It would put a tear in your eye to see the crowds in all the villages. The children loved it. We were lucky as it was a bright day and it wasn't too cold.'

John thanked the drivers who drove from Taghmon and the Hook and across the district to volunteer their time, having already spent time wonderfully decorating their vehicles for the road run.

'I sent out 75 text messages to people involved in vintage road runs and everyone came on board. It was all worthwhile as people said they enver saw anything like it. It was a privilege to be part of.'

The next Campile festive road run will be held on Sunday, December 16, 2018, continuing what is a fantastic, new Christmas tradition in the south west Wexford area.
Mari Cahalane, at the helm of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

Mari Cahalane's Christmas and New Year are busier than most.

The Ard Lios, Gorey resident is Head of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and as a result only enjoys a two-day festive break in the lead-up to this most popular of national competitions.

Mari, who has been heading up the event for 10 years, said it is such a pity Wexford has one of the lowest entry rates for the competition.

'I don't see why as there are plenty of opportunities for students in Wexford,' said Mari. 'They have Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology on their doorsteps.'

The 2018 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, which opens to the public from Thursday, January 11, features projects from five County Wexford schools.

'Meanscoil Garman have two projects,' said Mari. 'Then the others just have one, which includes FCJ in Bunclody, Loreto Secondary School and St Peter's College in Wexford, and Creagh College in Gorey.'

During the year, Mari spends a great deal of time working from home but in the run-up to the exhibition she commutes daily to Dublin.

'I don't mind the travel,' said Mari. 'I look forward to coming home after a hard day's work as I think Gorey is a great town and nice to live in.'

When Mari first worked for BT in event management, she was based in the UK Headquarters but she returned to Ireland in the late 90s.

She became involved the BT Young Scientist event on her return. She had no experience with science or technology but did have a good track record in organising events.

'Event management is strongly needed when organising something like this'.

'The only thing we do not do is the judging,' added Mari.

Mari said she has been involved with the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for 18 years, and at the helm for 10 years.

She said the event has been running for 54 years and that the competition has seen a huge increase in both entries and visitors in recent years.

'Eighteen years ago we had 666 projects and about 10,000 visitors,' said Mari. 'Last year we had more than 2,000 projects and over 65,000 visitors.'

She said the event now commands major interest nationally. 'The whole country gets behind it, even if people do not go to the event, they tune into RTE to see who the winner is'.

For the Christmas holidays Mari travelled to West Cork for a big family reunion and a two-day break. She said once the event is over in January they look at what can be done to improve it for the following year.

'It is a continuous cycle,' said Mari.

 The 2018 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition takes place at the RDS in Dublin from January 11 to 13.
A man who was convicted of kidnapping a child in London has been jailed for the abuse and rape of a teenage boy in Dublin the mid-90s.

The 42-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the victim, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape and sexual assault of the boy at a location in Dublin on dates between June and September 1994.

The victim was aged 13 at the time and the man was 19.

The court heard that the man, who has a former address in County Wexford, was abused himself as a child and later went on to work as a 'rent boy'.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed a sentence of seven years imprisonment. He also ordered that the man be subject to five years of post release supervision.

He said he was taking the man's guilty plea and genuine remorse into consideration.

The man has 28 previous convictions including a conviction at the Old Bailey in London for kidnapping a male under the age of 14.

Detective Garda Gabriel Duffy told Patrick McGrath SC, prosecuting, that the accused moved into the same house as the boy and became friends with the boy's mother.

During a visit by the boy to the man's room he molested the boy, gave him money and warned him not to tell anyone what happened.

The man raped the boy twice during two subsequent incidents. He threatened to tell his mother that the child was smoking hash if he reported the abuse.

During the third attack the boy protested and the man punched him in the head.

While this evidence was given in court the man shouted: 'I talked him into it, there was no violence used.' He repeated several times that there had not been any violence.

Justice Patrick McCarthy said that the fact that he found himself working as a prostitute was a matter of great sadness, the Irish Independent reports.

He was arrested for the offences after the victim made a complaint to gardai. He initially denied all allegations but he later showed genuine remorse for his actions, the court heard.

In a victim impact statement, the boy said that the emotional trauma of the event had plagued him throughout his life. He said he was unable to be a father figure to his own children and had given up on life.

Sean Gillane SC, defending, said that his client had been 'effectively homeless' since his teenage years and had suffered from chronic alcoholism.

Mr Justice McCarthy said that the fact that the man was a victim of child abuse himself did not excuse his actions but it was a factor in assessing his moral culpability. He said the abuse he suffered may have dulled his understanding.

He ordered the man be registered as a sex offender.
Members of the New Ross and District Pipe Band and the Edmund Rice Primary School choir were absolutely stunned over Christmas when the version of 'The Little Drummer Boy' they performed at the Parish Carol Service on Thursday, December 21 went viral on Facebook.

Between December 21 and January 2, the short video clip was viewed 255,500 times all around the world. It was shared around 4,000 times and has reached more than 600,000 people.

Both the pipe band and the school choir were invited by parish priest Mgr Joe McGrath to perform at the parish carol service. Retired school principal Brian MacMahon, who trains the junior members of the pipe band, suggested to assistant school principal Michele Quinlivan, who trains the school choir, that it would be nice to perform a number together.

'Little Drummer Boy' was settled on and Brian and Michele engaged the assistance of guitarist and piper Des O'Callaghan and keyboard player Tomas Kavanagh. One short rehearsal later, they were performing in the Parish Church, New Ross.

A number of parents made videos on the night and posted them on Facebook. By Friday morning, the video had been seen by 20,000 people around the globe and it has continued to be shared and viewed.

Brian said: 'It seems to have really struck a chord with the Irish and Scottish diasporas around the world featuring, as it does, the youngest members of the pipe band and the primary school choir.'

The pipe band features the band's youngest piper, Jodi Fanthom (10) and its youngest drummer Daragh Doyle (14).

The video can be viewed on the Parish Primary School's Facebook page, the New Ross and District Pipe Band Facebook page or YouTube through the following link: http://alturl.com/ypkam/.

Brian said the band and choir are looking forward to a repeat performance at next year's carol service and they intend submitting the item for next year's Late Late Toy Show.

A sample of the 400-plus comments on Facebook include: 'Absolutely beautiful music. Such talent. Thanks for sharing. This beautiful sound brings tears to my eyes and stirs my soul!!' (Atlanta, Georgia); 'These kids are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!! This made my Christmas! Thank you so very much for sharing it with us!' (USA); 'Drummer Boy wonderful, but so impressed by that whole string of young ladies playing the bagpipes. A super performance.' (Cape Town); 'Beautifully played, made me feel homesick. Sharing in Melbourne Australia.'; 'Awesome. Hail out from Trinidad & Tobago.'; Loved this! Good job. You made my day (Utah, USA); 'That was wonderful. I loved seeing their anxious enthusiasm for the start of their part in the musical arrangement. I was nervous for them. They were brilliant!!' (Disneyland, Florida); 'Whouaaa: c'est vraiment magnifique, meme sublime!!!!! J'adore!!!!!! Belle interpretation!!!!' (France); 'Beautiful!! You all succeeded in giving me goosebumps!!' (California); 'So lovely to see these young people playing the instruments and the choir was beautiful, well done to all the children, Merry Christmas to all (Brisbane, Australia; 'I played that over and over. Congratulations that was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes, you children are awesome.' (New South Wales, Australia).
People who use the Sligo Centre for Independent Living can look forward to a more active social life in the New Year.

It's thanks to the funds they've received from the local Tesco Blue Token campaign.

The Sligo CIL was awarded 477 after one of their leaders persuaded Tesco to include them in the local campaign.

"Sligo CIL leaders have been asked how they would like this money to be used and they would like it spent on social activities for the most part," said Community Employment Supervisor with Sligo CIL Maria Pereira.

"We at CIL would like to thank Tesco for their generous donation and all the Tesco customers who picked up a blue token and put it in the CIL box," she said.

The centre was founded in 1996 by wheelchair users Tom Cunningham, Eugene O'Brien, the late Sean Brennan and Gerry McEvoy, inspired by the civil rights movement for people with disabilities.
A general election is unlikely to take place this year, according to two Sligo/Leitrim TDs.

Deputy Tony McLoughlin told The Sligo Champion: "In my opinion I don't see an election in 2018 as I don't believe the people want one. There will be a presidential election, and a number of important referendums to face the people and I think these issues will dominate the year. Although were one to arise I am ready to face it head on," he said.

Deputy Eamon Scanlon feels likewise: " I don't think there will (be an election) you know. Micheal Martin has committed to the third budget," he said. He also believes the outcome of any referendum on the Eight Amendment will also impact an election.

"I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year, that's the most important thing," he added.

"I'd like to see more jobs for Sligo, a big jobs announcement or a decentralised office here," he said.

2017 was also busy year for Deputy McLoughlin with the highlight being his Bill to ban fracking in Ireland being enacted into Law in June, making him the first Government TD to have a Private Members Bill enacted since the 1980s.

"Next year I am hopeful for major developments on a number of issues in Sligo including the N4, the Technological University status for IT Sligo and the classification of Sligo as a growth centre in the new National Planning Strategy," he said.

"All of these issues are vital to help Sligo to grow into the future. I want to wish all my constituents a very Happy New Year. I hope that it bring joy, health and happiness to you, your friends and your family. I look forward to working for you again in 2018," he added.

Deputy Marc MacSharry has several hopes for the New Year.

"In no particular order" he'd like to see Sligo designated as regional capital under the National Planning Framework "with appropriate resources to help us perform to our potential."

"I'm also hoping for a significant job announcement from the IDA for Sligo and North West, less talk and more building of houses for the homeless and border counties to be given a package of one off structural funds from EU for improved infrastructure along the border and border counties to improve connectivity to deal with Brexit," he told The Sligo Champion.

On the personal front, Marc wants this year to "give up smoking, Rovers to win the league, Sligo GAA to win Connaught and Mona Mc Sharry to keep on winning."

Sinn Fein TD for Sligo Leitrim Martin Kenny says the biggest thing that the region needs in 2018 is "better employment and better employment opportunities."

"People need better opportunities to gain employment and improve their incomes," he told this newspaper.

He said the current housing crisis had a "huge impact" on everyone, not just those in urban areas. "It's not just about building houses, it's about building people's lives. A lot of people can't even afford to rent. Infrastructure is also very important - we need Broadband in rural areas and the N4 - that needs to be developed," he said.

As for an election Martin said he "honestly doesn't know."

"It's very difficult to say. I don't think anyone has a clue. It was so close to an election before Christmas it put everyone off. No one wants to be the group who calls an election.

"Yet the recovery hasn't hit here yet and there's little sign of it hitting here, particularly in the health services. People of the North West feel very left behind. The notion is that people don't want an election yet they do want change.

"They want their lives to improve and that's not happening yet. Maybe an election is the only way to bring that about," he added.

On the personal front, Martin doesn't believe in New Year's resolutions in January. "You should have a New Year's resolution every day. It's each day as it comes. Make the most of that day," he said.
What do you wish for 2018? It's a question we posed to several people in Sligo as the New Year dawned this week:

Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Cllr Seamus Kilgannon

"Sligo has the potential for major progress in 2018. While we have come through very difficult times both at local and national level, I think there are very real grounds for optimism as we plan for 2018.

"I firmly believe Sligo is well positioned to meet the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities, particularly in relation to the local economy. Sligo is the acknowledged centre for economic growth in the Northwest, and the key drivers of economic growth are enterprise and tourism.

Transport infrastructure

"But another major priority for our Council is the development of our road network, and in this context the news that Sligo County Council will receive a major allocation for its 2018 Roads programme is to be welcomed. The upgrading of our transport infrastructure is hugely significant for Sligo and the Northwest, particularly in terms of enterprise and tourism.'

Regional development

"To achieve progress we have to look beyond a strictly local context and work with our neighbouring counties to advocate effective regional development. There is an expected 40 per cent population growth target in the lifetime of the National Planning Framework (2040).

In order to ensure that positive outcomes arising from national growth can be shared by people throughout Ireland, the potential of all areas will need to be realised for sustainable development.

Partnership

"If there is one over-riding factor that exemplifies Sligo's sense of purpose and direction, it is 'partnership', and this operates at many levels. In recent months, Sligo County Council has developed a number of strategic partnerships focused on fostering enterprise, generating jobs and attracting tourists.

We have joined with six other Local Authorities in supporting Ireland West Airport Knock, a key strategic , regional asset in terms of business and tourism.

"Sligo has much to gain from the active and dynamic engagement between Sligo County Council and the communities we serve, and this partnership augurs well for the future of our county.

"Looking ahead at a personal level, I hope to be more physically active in 2018, and my New Year resolution will be to fit in more walking and exercise into my daily schedule, and intend exploring some of our county's wonderful scenic walkways and trails.

"I wish your readers a happy (and healthy) 2018."

President of IT Sligo Brendan McCormack

"We've developed a 5-Year Strategic Plan to grow the college student numbers from 6,000 to 10,000, so we'll be working on that in 2018," said Brendan.

"We currently have about 1,500 students a year graduating so we're looking to increase that to 3,000. We're putting more graduates into the local economy to help the region grow.

"Our third goal is to achieve Technological University Status by five years time. From that backdrop of the five year plan, we'd certainly like to grow our student population in 2018. It's also good for the town," he told The Sligo Champion.

"We have 6,000 students at the moment, about 4,000 of those on campus so if we can grow our student population on campus that is also good for the town.

"On the online side, we do a lot of courses for companies for people who don't have the time to go back to college. We had 2,400 such students this year so there's big online demand for such courses.

"Regarding our goal of becoming a Technological University, we would like to grow and develop the goodwill and outspoken support for IT Sligo to become a Technological University from companies and employers and the business community in the North West.

"From a student point of view, a University qualification is a bigger brand for them. While our technological qualification is very highly regarded, a university qualification would have a better brand image and attract more companies to Sligo - the IDA tells us it would have a better brand for the region and bring economic benefits with it," he said.

Continuing his theme beyond education, Brendan said he would like to see more companies re-locating to Sligo in the New Year.

"Dublin is overcrowded, space is not available. There's a real opportunity to go after that business and persuade people to come to Sligo. There are many people who have moved back to the North West but the lowering population is one of our fundamental concerns - that's not going to help us grow the economy," he said.

He would also like IT Sligo to be part of the development of the National Planning Framework and "ensure Sligo gets its fair share as a Regional city."

"Sligo will be the only Regional city north of the Dublin - Galway line," he said. "We will continue to collaborate with the Regional Assembly and the Western Development Commission on that front," he added.

On a personal note, Brendan is recovering from a fall on 10 December in which he broke his leg.

"My other New Year's resolution is to recover and be able to walk again!" he said. "And to be able to lead IT Sligo and continue to be a very successful IT as it now and in the future."

Acting Director of the Model Emer McGarry

In the local arts scene, the Model Niland has an exciting line up of events programmed for the New Year.

Acting Director Emer McGarry told this newspaper that it "balances the best of exhibition opportunities for local artists and bringing the best of international art to the North West."

"We have a really exciting line up for 2018. If we had one resolution for the New Year it would be to welcome more and more first time visitors to the Model," she told The Sligo Champion.

"We welcome between 90,000-95,000 visitors a year, of which 60 per cent are local so we would love to grow that number and show people what we do at the Model," said Emer.

"We cater for all different levels of interest, from people who have never been inside the model to people who have a good level of expertise," she said.

"We want in 2018 to be an art gallery that people can be really, really proud of and feel at ease to visit," she said.

Personally, Emer had a good year of health changes in 2017 and "would like to keep that up". "Luckily the Model cafe serves a great array of healthy salads and soups to help on that front!" she added.
A man who drove at an "outrageous" speed of 189kph on the N4 just outside Castlebaldwin last September has admitted he did so out of pure selfishness.

Christopher McDevitt (27) of Cruckakeehan, Annagry, Donegal, overtook a Garda car in his Toyota Corolla at 6.55pm 22nd September 2017 doing 189kph on the Dublin side of Castlebaldwin.

He was charged with dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving at Sligo District Court on 21st December last.

Inspector Paul Kilcoyne told Judge Kevin Kilrane that the incident happened on a Friday evening between 1-2km from the village of Castlebaldwin.

Defence solicitor Mr Gerard McGovern told the judge that the Gardai activated their blue light when McDevitt overtook them but he co-operated "1000%" with them afterwards.

He said his client was a hard worker and had never been in court before in his life.

"He's working in Cork and travelled up to meet this offence," said Mr McGovern, asking the judge not to disqualify McDevitt as he needed his licence for work.

"There was no other traffic in jeopardy. Unfortunately he was driving too hard.

"It was still going far too fast. This man tells me he has learned a lesson and values his licence," he added.

Judge Kilrane said the aggravating factors in the case were that it was a Friday evening when the traffic would be normally quite heavy with people coming and going from Dublin and Sligo.

Also, he said the N4 at that location was still just a two-lane carriageway, "not a dual carriageway."

He added that there were "deceiving bends" on that road.

"The speed is quite outrageous, 189kph, which is about 110 miles per hour," the judge told McDevitt.

"Do you know how many yards you'd travel in a second?" He asked the defendant, who replied he didn't know.

"Approximately 50 yards. In four seconds you'd cover 120-130 yards.

"That's a shocking speed, why were you going so fast?" He asked McDevitt.

"I was travelling over from England. It was just pure selfish what I was doing," replied McDevitt.

Judge Kilrane remarked that the car would have been "ready to take off" he was driving so fast.

"I'll reduce it to careless driving - it does amount to dangerous driving, but it'll cost you," he told McDevitt. He convicted McDevitt of careless driving and fined him 750.
Deputy Pat Casey has lambasted An Post's for failing to respond to local submissions regarding Laragh Post Office following its closure a year ago.

He also said that the Government's announcement of a 30 million loan to An Post contains nothing that will secure the medium-term future of Wicklow's post office network.

'It's now nearly a year since Laragh and Kilmacanogue Post Offices closed their doors. In Laragh's case, several credible business plans were put forward, in conjunction with a very vocal and effective campaign by the community and the response from An Post is not a letter, not a post card, no response at all. They never even had the courtesy of acknowledging the local submissions that were made,' said Deputy Casey.

'The Glendalough District Association lodged a business plan about setting up a community post office at the Brockagh Resource Centre. They got no response either. It was a big, local campaign and got plenty of national media attention, yet we have heard nothing from An Post,' he said.

'They haven't made any official announcement about Laragh post office but it is a year on now so we all assume it won't be reopening. But like I said, we have heard nothing.'

When contacted by this newspaper, a spokesperson for An Post said the closure remained temporary until a national review of the post office network was complete.

The Fianna Fail TD believes that the 30 million package announced by the Government will be spent on redundancies in the postal delivery side of the business and on retirement packages for postmasters.

'The pensioning off of postmasters will leave vast swathes of rural areas without a post office unless the Government changes its views on rural Ireland.'

Deputy Casey maintains that the recent announcement is nothing but a short-term fix and doesn't deal with any long term challenges facing the industry.

'What's needed is an operational plan that delivers a range of services for customers thereby making the post office a more viable proposition. There is fear across the county over the potential for further post offices to shut. I know there have been concerns expressed in Baltinglass and Avoca.

'The post office network is much more than a business. Post offices are community hubs that encourage and promote the retention and development of services generally in rural Wicklow. Post offices should be seen in terms of a public service and as such, central government should provide, where necessary, a public service obligation payment to An Post to maintain the existing network.'
The family of the late Lenny Hughes, who sadly drowned in November 2016, presenting a cheque for over 7,500 to Arklow RNLI in August

It was a very busy 2017 for Arklow RNLI's volunteer crew as, throughout the past 12 months, they dropped what they were doing in their own lives to go and assist or save people whose lives were in peril at sea or in and around the Avoca River.

During 2017, the oldest lifeboat station in the country was far busier than previous years and, in total, Arklow RNLI launched RNLB Ger Tigchelaar 22 times and assisted or saved over 50 people in rescues at sea and in the harbour area.

Unfortunately, the Arklow crew and their colleagues from neighbouring stations around the coast have also spent long hours at sea this year conducting searches for missing persons and crew, to no avail. Their thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those lost around the coast this year.

According to Arklow RNLI press officer Mark Corcoran, the lifeboat isn't just used for rescues, but also for a variety of other community events.

'We have provided safety boat cover for large and small water based events like the Celtic Challenge and will continue to do so in the future. We were also out providing cover at various swims over Christmas and New Year,' he said.

He said that maintaining a good relationship with the other emergency services is crucial.

'Last year, our volunteer crew was involved in an even larger number of river-based rescues, which may not have involved the launch of our all-weather lifeboat. We have continued to build relationships and have worked very closely with the gardai, fire services, ambulance, Civil Defence and Coast Guard and the working links with all emergency services have resulted in many other rescues from the river and other areas using smaller rescue craft which are not counted in the numbers above.'

As all RNLI services throughout Ireland are completely voluntary, fundraising is relied upon to keep crews operational.

'Our volunteer fundraisers have had a very busy year,they have continued to raise the much-needed funds to assist in the running of our station and service. A real highlight of the fundraising year was Arklow Maritime Festival, which was one of the biggest ever to date,' said Mark.

Fundraising efforts continue into 2018 with the annual 'Hurry to the Curry' night at the Arklow Bay Hotel on January 27. Tickets are on sale now at the station or through the Facebook page.

Water safety education is a large part the Arklow RNLI operation as they work tirelessly to educate people in the hope of reducing emergencies and tragedies at sea.

'Our Community Safety Team has continued the work of promoting water safety with life jacket clinics, water safety talks and forging links with private and public bodies who are involved in this area. This work will ramp up significantly over 2018 where we will continue work towards our goal of halving accidental drowning by 2024.'

Mr Corcoran urged people to 'Respect the Water' and take all necessary precautions at this time of the year when 'blow out the cobwebs' events are common and people embrace healthy changes as the new year begins.

Arklow RNLI has extended its thanks to everyone in Arklow and Wicklow for their continued support and look forward to seeing them all again in 2018.

Anyone seeking information about water safety or Arklow RNLI can contact Mark on 086 8260439 or by email at mark@aslsafety.com
A driver was robbed in the middle of the Sally Gap after three men blocked his vehicle with their car, forcing him to stop suddenly.

The victim, who lives in rural Wicklow, was travelling through the Wicklow Mountains on Friday, December 22, at 6.30 p.m. as he headed home for the evening.

A car suddenly drove up in front of him and stopped without warning, forcing him to pull his car onto the side of the road.

Three men exited the car and approached his vehicle, screaming threats in his direction and demanding that he hand over whatever money he had.

The man took out his wallet and passed over its contents, understood to be a relatively low sum of cash.

The three men then got back into their vehicle and drove off in the direction of Dublin.

The injured party was completely shocked and wasn't able to provide a detailed account or description of the perpetrators. It is suspected they may have been travelling in a dark coloured BMW.

Anyone driving or passing through the Sally Gap at the time of the robbery who may have noticed some suspect behaviour on the evening in question should contact Wicklow Garda Station on (0404) 67107.
Donald Trump has responded to claims made in a new book that he doesnt understand the weight of his office by tweeting that he is really smart and a very stable genius.

The US president took to Twitter in response to his portrayal in journalist Michael Wolffs Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House.

He claimed the Fake News Mainstream Media are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence  to which he added that two of his greatest assets were mental stability and being, like, really smart, pointing to his success as a businessman, TV star and winning the presidential election.

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Trumps statements on his mental capabilities have of course drawn a huge amount of attention and had a big reaction online.

Aside from picking Trumps words apart, some decided they seemed like they were lines from film or television rather than real life.

Such as The Simpsons.

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Or alternately comedy films such as Step Brothers, Zoolander and Mean Girls.

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Meanwhile, some with a sillier approach to things thought all this talk of being stable carried a different meaning.

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Wolffs book claimed Trump never intended to enter the Oval Office and his staff believed he was not fit to hold high office.

The publication of the book has already provoked a very public rift with his former strategist, Steve Bannon, who was one of the main sources of the book  which has shot to the top of the online bestsellers lists in the US.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed claims of a dysfunctional presidency, saying on US television on Friday that Wolff never interviewed Trump despite having repeatedly begged to see the president.

Wolff however insisted that he absolutely spoke to the president, adding whether he realised it was an interview or not, I dont know, but it was certainly not off the record.
North Korea agreed yesterday to hold official talks with the South next week, the first in more than two years, hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

South Korea said the North had sent its consent for the talks to be held on Tuesday.

The last time the two Koreas engaged in official talks was in December 2015.

The meeting will take place at the border truce village of Panmunjom, where officials from both sides are expected to discuss the Winter Olympics, to be held in the South next month, and other inter-Korean relations, South Korean unification ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters.

North Korea asked for further negotiations about the meeting to be carried out via documented exchanges, Mr Baik said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un opened the way for talks with South Korea in a New Year's Day speech in which he called for reduced tensions and flagged the North's possible participation in the Winter Olympics.

But Mr Kim remained steadfast on the issue of nuclear weapons.

He said that the North would mass produce nuclear missiles for operational deployment, and again warned that he would launch a nuclear strike if his country was threatened.

US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in announced on Thursday that annual large-scale military drills would now take place after the Olympics.

The North sees these drills as preparations for invasion and just cause for its weapons programmes that it conducts in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

South Korea and the United States are technically still at war with North Korea, after the 1950 to 1953 Korean conflict had ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

Mr Trump had earlier called the proposed inter-Korean talks a "good thing" and said that he would send a high-level delegation, including members of his family, to the Olympics, according to South Korea's presidential office.

In a tweet, Mr Trump, who hurled fresh insults at the North Korean leader this week, took credit for any dialogue that takes place.

"Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total 'might' against the North?" Mr Trump tweeted.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy the United States and its two key Asia allies, Japan and South Korea.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang welcomed North and South Korea "taking positive steps to improve ties".
The terrifying moment that skiers were stuck in a chairlift swinging violently because of strong winds brought on by Storm Eleanor, has been captured on video.

Shot at the Silvretta Montafon ski resort in Austria, staff attempted to climb up the lift system to free the stranded people, but they were forced to cling on as high winds and the snow storm hindered them.

No one was injured in the incident and the chairlift's managing director Martin Oberhammer told the Voralberg ORF radio station that the skiers had never been in danger.

"The guests were always safe, the safety bars and bubble were always closed," he said.

Storm Eleanor has swept across northern Europe, killing at least four people and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes.

A skier died after being hit by a falling tree in the French Alps, where dangerous conditions have led to the closure of several resorts.

Firefighters in the region also said a woman in her 90s had died of a heart attack in Crets-en-Belledonne after her home was engulfed by flood waters.

Two people were also killed on the Basque coast in northern Spains when they were swept away by a wave.

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, eight people were injured when strong winds overturned a railway carriage.

The storm has also caused widespread damage to buildings in Germany and the Netherlands.
Slightly fewer than half as many migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 than the previous year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said yesterday, with curbs finally cutting traffic on the deadly route from Libya to Italy.

Two years after more than a million people entered the EU, mostly fleeing war in the Middle East and poverty in Africa, the IOM recorded 171,635 arrivals by boat in 2017. The 2016 figure was 363,504.

The biggest influx of refugees and migrants in Europe since World War II caused a political and humanitarian crisis two years ago.

Since then, the main Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece has largely been shut by a deal between the EU and Ankara.

Reducing traffic has been slower on the other main route, across the central Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy, where thousands of people have died at sea. But numbers finally started coming down sharply in the second half of last year.

Arrivals by boat in Italy accounted for most of the 2017 arrivals: 119,310 in total, down by a third compared to the previous year, the Italian Interior Ministry said.

"We can tell you with confidence that the numbers from North Africa to Italy this year are under 120,000. That's the lowest in the last four years for arrivals in Italy," IOM spokesman Joel Millman said.

"The same can be said for the arrivals in Greece with 29,595 for 2017, absolutely the lowest in the four years we have been keeping numbers on Greece."

In 2016, some 173,614 migrants arrived by sea in Greece, according to IOM figures.

Some 21,663 migrants arrived in Spain as of December 28 last year, while 1,067 landed in Cyprus, preliminary figures show. More patrols and rescues off the coast of Libya, as well as fighting between smuggling groups, contributed to the overall drop, Mr Millman said.

The number of migrant deaths at sea has not been finalised, but stands at 3,116, compared to 5,143 recorded in 2016. He added. "We think of those as extremely positive developments."

African migrants in Libya continue to depart for Europe from the coast, where the IOM is monitoring rescues, Mr Millman said, adding: "Boats are still rescuing in the hundreds sub-Saharan Africans who have come through Libya."

Nearly 20,000 Africans went home last year under IOM's voluntary repatriation programme from Libya, including 7,000 since an African Union-European Union agreement was reached in Abidjan on November 29, Mr Millman said.

The United Nations agency aims to repatriate a further 15,000 migrants from Libya by the end of January.
Does much of the unrest over the past week in Iran come down to the price of eggs? The cost of such a basic foodstuff has rocketed recently, with the country's Mehr news agency reporting last week that eggs were 50pc more expensive than usual. But the price of eggs is just one manifestation of Iran's economic travails, with the country's citizens feeling increasingly pinched and its youth struggling with unemployment rates of 40pc.

The demonstrations that began in the northern city of Mashhad - Iran's second largest city and an important religious site - on December 28 appear to have been largely driven by anger over economic grievances and corruption within official circles.

They have now spread to cities and towns across the country and at least 21 people have been killed in clashes. As the protests gained momentum, those taking part began chanting slogans that were not just about the economy but also against the whole system underpinning the Islamic Republic itself, and its supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Not a call for reforms, but a rejection of the ruling order. Some protesters have yelled "Death to the dictator" - a reference to Khamenei.

This is one of the key aspects that makes what is happening in Iran right now different to the last wave of protests the country experienced in 2009. That year, a contested presidential election that returned the incumbent hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered protests that collectively became known as the "Green Movement". The response of the Iranian authorities then was swift and brutal: on the streets of Tehran, I watched the Basij - essentially a militia offshoot of the elite Revolutionary Guard - show no mercy. Dozens were killed in the Iranian capital and other major cities, hundreds more were jailed and tortured. The Green Movement's leadership - which had called for reform but not the toppling of the entire cleric-led system essentially in place since the 1979 revolution - was put under house arrest. Supporters of the Green Movement insisted to me again and again that they wanted reforms, not a sharp shock to the existing order, fearing the consequences of the latter. Many of them are watching what has been unfolding across the country over the past week with surprise and some wariness. Most have steered clear of participating as they scramble to understand this new dynamic.

Unlike 2009, there is no central movement or leadership behind the current unrest. Its supporters on social media refer to it as "Tazahorat-e Sarasari", which translates as "protests everywhere", and even veteran opposition activists have been taken aback by its spontaneous nature. The fact that protests have erupted in smaller cities - which often tend to be more conservative - that were relatively untouched by the Green Movement in 2009 (at the time the regime tried to discredit those rallies as the sole preserve of an out of touch "westernised" elite in Tehran) has intrigued many. One Iranian activist I know was surprised to see demonstrations in her hometown which up to now had not experienced much dissident activity.

In many ways, this unrest appears to be fuelled by the rage of what might be called "Middle Iran" - the impoverished denizens of provincial cities and towns where the economic crisis has bitten hard. The demonstrations - which appear to be dominated by angry young men - came after a budget proposal from the government of reformist president Hassan Rouhani, outlining cuts to subsidies for the poor and a hike in fuel prices, was made public.

Three years ago, it was estimated between 20pc and 35pc of Iranians lived below the poverty line - a definition the government set at $720 (598) a month for a family of four.

The rage over such privations stems also from a growing perception of Iran's ruling elite - a combination of clerics and politicians buttressed by the Revolutionary Guard - as corrupt, with accusations of embezzlement and cronyism common. A 2013 investigation by Reuters showed that some of the organisations Ayatollah Khamenei controls - reportedly without oversight - have allowed him to accrue great wealth. Unsurprisingly, Khamenei and other senior officials have blamed the US and other "external agitators" for the unrest - a claim they also made in 2009. State media has reported pro-government rallies in Tehran, drawing thousands chanting "Death to America" to show support.

As protests continue, two scenarios could be game-changers. One is if the authorities decide to crackdown even further and more deaths occur, causing an escalation of the demonstrations and possibly more violence. The other is if middle class Iranians from the country's reformist current - those who formed the backbone of protests in 2009 - abandon what appears to be an ambivalent stance on the rudderless demonstrations so far and take to the streets with their poorer compatriots. That would be a shock to the system.

Que nus, conecullore cor sandipsant, quae volut la veliquatur, sequias solest opta
Donald Trump and his cronies, blustering about the Russian investigation, do not see what is heading their way, Steve Bannon wanted to stress. "They are sitting on a beach trying to stop a Category Five." The gathering storm is likely to be even fiercer after the US president's spectacular falling out with his former chief strategist and close ally.

In Michael Wolff's book, 'Fire and Fury', about this most extraordinary of presidencies, Bannon has a clear view of the direction special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Trump's Moscow connections is taking. "This is about money laundering. Mueller chose Weissmann and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to f***ing Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner ... It's as plain as a hair on your face ... They're going to crack Don Jr like an egg on national TV."

Those who have been following the work by Mueller's team would agree with that analysis. An increasingly prevalent view is that, like Al Capone, Trump will be got on money. The investigators are looking deep into allegations of funds from Russian-organised crime being used by the Trump organisation, focusing on individual suspects, and on specific projects. There is also, of course, the strand of the investigation looking at whether Trump was the "Muscovite Candidate" in the presidential election, and the Russians helped him to get to the White House. Three people, including Trump's former campaign manager, have already been charged and, in Bannon's view, others are likely to follow, including the president's son and his son-in-law.

The former chief strategist to Trump has described a meeting in Trump Tower, New York, between Donald Jr, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer, with ties to the Kremlin, as "treasonous and unpatriotic". Significantly, he made a point of stressing there was "zero chance" Donald Jr did not tell his father about the meeting - which directly contradicts the president's claim that he knew nothing about it.

Expand Close Copies of the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by author Michael Wolff on sale at the Book Culture book store in New York. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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Collusion

The scale of collusion between the Trump camp and the Russians, and Donald Trump's own involvement, is at the centre of the Mueller investigation, and the special counsel would undoubtedly be keen to talk to the former White House chief strategist about what he knows.

The possibility of Bannon being questioned by Mueller has already been raised. He worked in the White House when Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, left after his links with Moscow were revealed. Flynn subsequently pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is now co-operating on the Russia probe. Bannon had discussed the firing of FBI director James Comey with Trump, although he was later to say it was "one of the worst mistakes in modern political history" as it brought in Mueller with the extensive powers of special counsel.

Former Justice Department prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said: "Post-election, there's a story every day about some other bombshell and Bannon would have had a conversation with Trump about it. It doesn't mean Bannon has violated any law, but there's no way this investigation gets done without him being interviewed thoroughly, the chance of him not being interviewed is zero per cent."

It's not just Mueller's team that wants to talk to Bannon. Congressman Adam Schiff, on the House Intelligence Committee, carrying out its own inquiry into Russia and Trump, said: "It will be very important at an appropriate time to bring him before the committee. There are a whole range of issues we need to talk to him about."

Bannon appears to have been following the investigation closely. The Weissman he mentions is Andrew Weissmann, who has joined Mueller's team. Nineteen years ago, as a prosecutor, he cut a deal with Felix Sater (aka Felix Sheferovsky) a Russian-born criminal being prosecuted for his role in a $40m (33m)organised crime scam which targeted the elderly, some of them Holocaust survivors.

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Mafia

Sater became an informer, avoiding a possible prison sentence of 20 years and a $5m (4.1m) fine (he paid $25,000 instead) and went on to provide information on Russian organised crime, American mafia families, Isil and foreign intelligence services, according to recently unsealed Justice Department papers.

Afterwards, Sater became a business associate of Trump.

He was working for a real estate firm called Bayrock, which had a suite of offices two floors beneath the Trump organisation's headquarters in Trump Tower.

The two men appeared at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for joint projects and went on business trips together. Sater used Trump organisation business cards.

Bayrock went into partnership with Trump over a hotel project, the Trump SoHo in New York. Trump SoHo is now part of the Mueller investigation over sources of funding from Russia and Kazakhstan.

Sater is back helping federal authorities into alleged money laundering by Viktor Khrapunov, Kazakhstan's former energy minister, whose family invested 3.1m (3.5m) in Trump SoHo properties.

It is not known if any of the money went to Donald Trump.

Three months ago a joint investigation by the publications 'ProPublica', 'WNYC' and 'The New Yorker' found that Manhattan District Attorney's office had, in the past, dropped a criminal case for fraud against Ivanka Trump and Donald Jr, after Donald Trump's long-term personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, made a personal contribution to the District Attorney's campaign. Kasowitz has been representing Donald Trump in the Russia investigation.

Michael Wolff's book recounts a conversation between Bannon and Roger Ailes in which the former Fox News head asks what Trump had "gotten into with the Russians". Bannon replied: "Mostly he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet Putin. But Putin couldn't give a s*** about him. So he's kept trying."

Sater told his friend Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer and a former vice-president of the Trump organisation, that Putin would help Trump get to the White House. "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it... I will get Putin on this programme and we will get Trump elected."

Sater could not engineer a meeting between Trump and Putin, despite trying. But he was not without influence; he managed to arrange for Ivanka to sit on Putin's chair when Trump asked him to squire her and Donald Jr on a trip to Moscow. Ivanka recalls a "tour around the Kremlin" and this "may have" involved sitting at Putin's desk.

Bannon, who has regularly disparaged Donald Jr, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, appears to believe that Donald Jr and Kushner at least will not escape the Russia inquiry unscathed. What secret Bannon himself holds and how much of it emerges is likely to depend on how the feud between Trump and the man who used to be described as the "shadow president" unfolds in the coming days.

Almost the entire senior staff at the White House at the start of the Trump presidency, with the exception of Ivanka and Jared Kushner, have now gone. As well as Bannon, this includes Michael Flynn, Katie Walsh, Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Dina Powell, Rick Dearborn and even longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller. Some of these people too may end up talking to Mueller's team.

"Steven Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency, when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," said Trump. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee called Wolff's book "a trashy tabloid fiction filled with false and misleading account from individuals." (Independent News Service)
The woman is being held at a secure unit

A woman has been arrested for allegedly suffocating her eight-month-old son in a Vienna hospital.

Police said the suffocation took place on Wednesday in a room at the hospital where the 37-year-old mother and her baby had been admitted.

A police statement said the mother then fled before trying to kill herself.

The statement from Vienna police said the "obviously mentally ill" woman was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a secure psychiatric unit.
Image: twitter.com/narendramodi

New Delhi, Jan 6 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on the latter's birthday.

"On his birthday, I convey my greetings to Himachal Pradesh's energetic Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur. May Almighty bless him with a long and healthy life," the Prime Minister's tweet read.

Thakur, who turned 53 on Saturday, was sworn in as the 13th Chief Minister of the state last month.

In the recently concluded assembly polls, the BJP won 44 of the state's 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh.

Image: twitter.com/narendramodi
Delhi murder: Aftab Ameen Poonawala burnt Shraddha Walkar's face after killing her, says report | Massive fire breaks out at SSKM hospital's CT scan building, no casualty so far | 'Don't tarnish Jharkhand's image with sensational statements on illegal mining case': Hemant Soren's letter to ED | India using technology as weapon in war against poverty: PM Modi | After PM Modi-Rishi Sunak meet, UK gives go-ahead to 3,000 annual visas for Indians
Indore, Jan 6 (IBNS) : Five students of Delhi Public School, Indore, were killed and four others injured after their school bus collided with a truck in Indore city on Friday afternoon, media reports said.

The bus driver was also killed in the accident.

According to reports, the accident took place as the steering of the bus jammed and the driver failed to control the vehicle and rammed it into the truck on bypass road close to Bicholi Hapsi Bridge in the city.

The five kids and the driver died on the spot.

A teacher also got trapped and was extricated.

The injured have been rushed to Bombay hospital.

Home minister Bhupendra Singh has ordered a probe into the accident.
Ranchi Jan 6 (IBNS) : A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Saturday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to three-and-a-half years' jail in the fodder scam case, reports said.

In addition to the jail term, Lalu Prasad has also been fined Rs. five lakh.

The court on December 23 had convicted Lalu Prasad and five others and kept pending the quantum of punishment.

The case pertains to their alleged withdrawal of Rs. 89.27 lakh from Deoghar district treasury between 1994 and 1996.

Former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, who was among the other co-accused in the fodder scam case, was acquitted.

Out of 22 accused, 16 have been convicted.

It was earlier supposed to be pronounced on 3 January but has repeatedly been getting rescheduled. The Special CBI Court Judge Shivpal Singh had told PTI on 4 January that he was getting phone calls from Lalus men.

Lalu Prasad has already been convicted by trial court and sentenced to five years jail term in Chaibasa treasury withdrawal case connected to the fodder scam.

For him he conviction in 2013 invited a ban on running for office.


Shillong, Jan 6 (IBNS) : After Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Saturday blew the poll bugle in Meghalaya by saying the saffron party will form the next government in the state.

While addressing a public rally held at Tikrikilla in West Garo hills district of the north eastern Indian state, Shah termed the present Mukul Sangma-led Congress government in Meghalaya as the most corrupt.

Shah said: People of Meghalaya is all set to leave Congress from the state and wanted a change of development, corruption free state."

The most corrupt government in the past five years is Mukul Sangma-led government. During the Congress rule in centre, Meghalaya was accorded Rs 5817 crore in the 13th Finance Commission, but Modis rule, the state was given Rs 25413 crore in the 14th Finance Commission. Where is this fund and where is development in the state. Actually, Mukul Sangma-led government looted whole development fund, the BJP President said.

Shah said that the state has been deprived from development during the last 15 years Congress tenure.

If BJP to make next government, Meghalaya to become a model state in development, he said.

The Centre has asked the Meghalaya government to submit project completion certificates, but the government is failed to submit it as no development projects are being properly implemented, Shah said.

The BJP President also inaugurated the state party office in Shillong and discussed with the party office bearers and members ahead of assembly poll likely to be held in March.

Earlier on Saturday morning, Shah visited Maa Kamakhya temple in Guwahati to offer prayers.

The BJP President arrived in Guwahati on Friday night.

Shah will visit Tripura on Sunday where he will address two public rallies in the poll bound state.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, Jan 6 (IBNS) : Kazakhstan Ambassador to India Bulat Sarsenbayev on Saturday called on Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi at the latters office in Raj Bhavan in Guwahati.

The Ambassador who is on a tour to Assam met Governor Prof. Mukhi and the two discussed areas of mutual interests particularly sectors pertaining to tourism, power and bi-lateral trade.

Kazakh Ambassador Sarsenbayev informed the Governor that Kazakhstan consume 75 per cent of Assams tea as the tea of the state claims high demand in his country.

He also hailed the tourism potential of Assam more particularly the tourism stemmed from tea and wildlife.

Governor Prof. Mukhi, drawing the attention of Kazakh Ambassador about the ensuing Global Investors Summit to be held in Guwahati on Feb 3-4, requested Sarsenbayev to ensure Kazakhstans participation in the Summit.

He also requested the Ambassador to send a business delegation to Assam during the investors summit to witness business and investor friendly climate brewing in the state.

The two also discussed that based on the cultural and historical affinity of the two nations, the relations between the two geographical entities should be enhanced in the spirit of friendship and partnership.

Ambassador Sarsenbayev also assured the Governor that needful will be done from Kazakhstan to ensure his countrys participation in the first ever Global Investors Summit tagged as Advantage Assam in February.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Mumbai, Jan 6 (IBNS): A massive fire broke out at Cinevista studio in east central Mumbai on Saturday evening, media reports said.

Seven fire engines and four water tankers have been rushed to the studio to control the fire.

The studio is located at Kajurmarg in Mumbai where two TV serials were being shot- Bepanaah and Haasil- at that time.

According to reports, the fire started at a generator in the studio.

The fire department received the call at 8:07 pm.

No reports of casualty have been received yet.
New York, Jan 6 (JEN): Amid ongoing political tension in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), violent actions by the security forces during recent protests in Kinshasa and other cities suggest deliberate intention to suppress civil and political rights, the United Nations human rights office reported on Friday.

From the latest information we have managed to gather, at least five people are known to have been killed and 92 injured, Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters at the regular news briefing in Geneva.

In addition, some 180 people were arrested  most have now been released.

The security forces allegedly fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas grenades, in some cases at point blank range, she added.

At the same time, Throssell said OHCHR believes the casualty figures from the 31 December demonstrations may be higher.

Our colleagues on the ground were denied access to morgues, hospitals and detention centres. They were sent away from these sites by defence and security forces, and so were unable to fully conduct their human rights monitoring work, she elaborated.

Security forces were also reported to have fired tear gas inside churches, stopped people attending religious services and stolen their personal property.

This is an alarming development that impinges on freedom of religion or belief, she underscored, adding: We call on the authorities to ensure that the security forces do not resort to excessive force when policing demonstrations, and that protests are handled in line with international standards.

Pointing out that necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination and accountability are key principles that underpin the use of force for the management of peaceful assemblies, Throssell maintained that the DRC Government must ensure that everyone is able to exercise their right to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly, opinion and expression.

There should also be credible and independent investigations into alleged use of excessive force, and those responsible for human rights violations should be brought to justice.

We once again urge the authorities to engage in a constructive dialogue with the opposition and to ensure that the right of all Congolese to participate in the public affairs of their country are respected, she concluded.

Photo: MONUSCO
Kabul, Jan 6 (IBNS): Militants have abducted at least seven passengers from the Farah-Herat highway in western Farah province of Afghanistan on Saturday, media reports said.

Esmatullah, a passenger and eyewitness, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the Taliban stopped a passenger vehicle and took hostage seven people in the Kenisk area of Bala Baluk district.

He told the news agency that the militants stopped the passenger bus and took the abductees to an unknown location.

More details are awaited.
Wikimedia Commons

Islamabad, Jan 6 (IBNS): Amid mounting pressure by the United States, Pakistan's interior ministry on Saturday blacklisted 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and several other terror organizations, media reports said.

This comes a day after the US suspended about $2 billion in security aid to Pakistan.

The Donald Trump administration suspended the aid for failing to act against he Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups.

US President Donald Trump on Jan 1 gave a strong message to Pakistan when he said his nation 'foolishly' gave more than 33 billion dollars in aid for the past 15 years but the south Asian nation only provided safe heavens to terrorists.



He had said Pakistan only gave 'lies and deceit' to the US in return to the aid.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more," Trump had tweeted.


Toronto, Jan 6 (IBNS): Two airlines collided in Toronto Pearson International Airport tarmac on Friday night leading to the injury of one in one of the planes, media reports said.

Sunwing aircraft, which had no passengers and crew members, backed in the airport and collided with WestJet Flight 2425.

WestJet, which was coming from Cancun, had 168 passengers and six crew on board.

Representative for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, Beverly Macdonald, said an investigation is underway.

Though no one was injured in WestJet Flight, one members of the Toronto Pearson Fire and Emergency Service received an injury. The injured person was immediately taken to a hospital.

The collision occurred at a time the temperature in Toronto is ranging between -20 and -26 degree overnight. The low temperature turned out to be challenging for the operation of the airlines at the present moment.

The airport authority told CBC News that the operations have not largely been affected by the collision.

(Reporting by Suman Das)
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In 2014, the Supreme Court pronounced a landmark judgement, recognising transgender people as the third gender. Since then we as a society have come a long way. But even after these constitutional guarantees, the struggle is all too real for the transgenders in our society. However, there are always be a handful who dare to defy these stigmas and set an example for the rest.

Here are a few success stories, from 2017 - of transgender people who made it big.

Aarav Appukuttan, who was born Bindu, met Sukanyeah Krishnan, (born Chandu) at a hospital in Mumbai where he had gone for gender reassignment. Both hail from Kerala and were waiting at the hospital for consultation when Sukanyeah got a call from a relative, to whom she spoke in Malayalam. Realising that they both spoke the same language, they began a conversation. Before they left the hospital, they exchanged phone numbers and promised to be in touch. Later they began talking over the phone, mostly about their surgery and treatment details and ultimately decided to tie the knot.

Her popularity rose after the tear-jerking Vicks ad that went viral on the Internet. The ad revolved around the powerful real-life story of a trans woman and how she is seen raising her daughter. Gauri who featured as a mother in the commercial, partnered with crowdfunding website Milaap to raise funds for building a dream home for kids of sex-workers.

Joyita Mondal from West Bengal made history on July 8, 2017, when she became the first transgender judge to attend a Lok Adalat at Islampur in North Dinjapur district of the state. Beginning her journey as a social worker, Mondal worked for the betterment of her community. "If transgenders start getting government jobs, then their condition will become better, as due to the social discrimination, they are forced to run away from their homes and indulge in age-old hijra activities in India, like dancing in marriages or becoming sex workers," Mondal had said after being appointed a Lok Adalat judge.

K Prithika Yashini made history when she became the first transgender person in India to assume the post of a sub-inspector in Tamil Nadu state police. It was right after completing her undergraduate degree that Prithika, who was born Pradeep, underwent a sex change surgery and decided to pursue her dream of becoming a police officer.

26-year old Nitasha Biswas from Kolkata made history after she became the first trans-woman to bag Miss Transqueen India 2017 title at a beauty pageant in Gurgaon.

Sridevi became the first person in the history of the University of Mumbai, to officially enroll as a transgender student. She had initially enrolled at Medical Laboratory Technology (DMLT) but had to drop out due to the fact that she couldnt fund herself after a while. She went on to pursue Bachelor of Arts, in Psychology, Literature and Sociology.

7. Kajal

Kajal, who was biologically male, suffered from the deep distress of gender dysphoria at a young age. After finding no family or community support, she left Mandya at the age of 10 and came to Mumbai and settled in its suburb Malad. Following many years of struggle and social alienation, Kajal found a mentor in MGM college lecturer Manjunath Kamath, who connected her to Spandana Channels Avinash Kamath who trained her for two months to compere shows. One thing lead to another and today she is the first transgender radio jockey of Coastal Karnataka and her show Shubamangala, which kicked off on 21st November, airs on the community radio every Tuesday from 5-6 pm.

8. Ganga Kumari

Ganga Kumari struggled after she applied for the post of state police force of Rajasthan when officials refused to recognise her Gender. But she fought back and stood her ground to don the uniform and serve the nation in the state police force and on 13 November 2017.

9. Mona Varonica Campbell

Andhra Pradesh's Mona Varonica Campbell became India's first and only plus-size transgender model. Her first big break came when she walked for designer Wendell Rodricks at the Lakme Fashion Week 2017, as the showstopper.

10. Zara Sheikha

27-year-old Zara Sheikha became the first transgender person in the state to get a job in an MNC. After years of hiding and struggling with her identity, it was one of Zaras friends from the HR field, who helped her land the job.

Kerala's Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. deployed 23 transgender people in May to push for the welfare of the marginalised and neglected community. They are also planning to deploy 60 more transgender employees in the next two years.
A lucky US woman found that she was the only person on a commercial flight back to her hometown after she was accidentally moved to a plane that was only meant for crew.

The woman, who identified herself only as Beth, uploaded a photo of herself on the empty plane on Reddit on Tuesday morning.

This Spencerport woman landed an entire flight to herself flying from #ROC to DC. How it happened on @13WHAM at 5:50 today. pic.twitter.com/MsKee2PsOH  Matt Molloy (@mattmolloy) 5 January 2018

23-year-old Beth Ver Steegs original flight was cancelled, so she was booked on a flight later that evening.

She was flying from Rochester, New York, to Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. and the only people with her on the 70-minute flight were the two pilots and a flight attendant.

Also Read: Magazines Turn Into Umbrellas As Water Drips Onto Passengers During Delta Flight

On Reddit, Beth states that she realised something was wrong when she was the only one in the waiting room 45 minutes before take off.

Reddit

An airport agent then came up to her and asked her if that was the flight she was waiting for. The agent then said, I knew this would happen.

Beth has been quoted saying, When my flight was cancelled about 8 hours earlier a confused agent gave me and half the passengers a seat for the plane in the pic before another agent realized everyone could go on an earlier flight.

By the time they made the announcement, Beth had left for her parents house nearby.

She reveals that despite being the only passenger, the flight crew still announced the safety measures and asked if she would like any food or drink.

Also Read : This Pilot Is Winning Hearts For Helping A Mother Feed Her Babies During A Flight
To be honest, year-enders are quite fun! While some people make life-altering decisions, others pull of life-changing strings of things. Well, we are sure even you have some dirt on you from the new year's eve. Don't you?

Also read: Drunk Driving Cases In Delhi Worse Than Last Year, 1,753 Fined On New Year's Eve

But hey, whatever you have, it won't be as cool as this Norwegian lad. A drunk guy from Norway took a cab after he got shit drunk and crossed 3 countries. He racked up a bill of $2,000, roughly Rs 1.2 lakh.

GoogleMaps

He was partying with his friends in Copenhagen on December 31st when he had a sudden urge to go home. He then booked a cab from Copenhagen back to his home in Oslo, Norway, which was 600 km away.

Also read: Drunken Selfies Caused Delay In Evacuation During Fire At Kamala Mills

It took him six hours to cross three countries, starting from Denmark, moving to Sweden and then Norway.

Drunk and unable to make any sane choice, when he reached his home, he did not pay the taxi driver his fee and went straight to bed. The driver then called the Oslo Police for help and they documented the event.

Also read: First Date Disaster! Drunk Woman Destroys Artwork Worth Whopping Rs 9.5 Crore In A Fit Of Rage

The drunk was then woken up by the police and he paid the driver 18,000 Norwegian kroner.
In yet another shocking incident of sexual assault, an Indian man traveling from Las Vegas to Detroit was arrested after his co-passenger accused him of sexual assault during the flight.

The worst part is that the man had the audacity to attempt a sexual assault with his wife beside him.

The man identified as Prabhu Ramamoorthy, 34, who is in the United States on a temporary visa, was arrested at the Wayne County Airport Authority and charged with aggravated sexual abuse.

Photo by Wayne County Sheriff

He was accused of abusing a 22-year-old woman seated by the window next to him while his wife was on his other side on a Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit early on 3 January.

Ramamoorthy, who prosecutors said was an Indian national living in the US on a temporary visa, was charged with aggravated sexual abuse and held without bail after an appearance in federal court in Michigan on Thursday, the Washington Post reported.

The victim told investigators that she woke up to discover the fellow passenger shoving his fingers inside her pants and "vigorously moving them", according to a federal criminal complaint. She said her shirt was also "unbuttoned".

Picture for representation

Federal prosecutor Amanda Jawad said Ramamoorthy stopped after the victim opened her eyes and then the shaken woman immediately alerted flight attendants.

The woman was offered a different seat and Ramamoorthy was arrested after the plane landed, the court documents stated. According to the prosecutor, Ramamoorthy said in a written statement that he had taken a pill and fallen into deep sleep.

He said he hadn't done anything besides learning from his wife that "the woman was sleeping on his knees".

His wife told officials a similar version and said that they had called the flight attendants to try to change seats. But the prosecutor said that "flight attendants did not report that anyone asked them to change seats other than the victim". According to a news report, Ramamoorthy later altered his story and told an FBI agent that he might have unclasped the sleeping woman's bra "while playing with it".

The court filing stated that Ramamoorthy also admitted that he "unzipped the woman's pants part-way and put his finger inside". Prosecutor Jawad said Ramamoorthy gave "conflicting reports" about what happened with the victim.

Magistrate Judge R Steven Whalen ordered Ramamoorthy to be held pending trial. Stephen Schuler, a spokesman for Spirit, said they were cooperating with law enforcement on the incident. Ramamoorthy has meawhile made a request to contact the Indian consulate regarding his case.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to lift its ban on persons with disabilities from applying for the pilgrimage. Minority Affairs Minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said the restrictions were in place for more than 60 years, and assured that they will be lifted from this year.

BCCL/ File

Naqvi said this after meeting with a delegation of disability rights groups who met the minister to seek the lifting of the ban. According to the existing Haj guidelines, persons whose legs are amputated, who are crippled, handicapped, lunatic or otherwise physically/ mentally incapacitated cannot apply for Haj.

The minority affairs ministry has written to the Haj Committee of India, to align its 2018-2022 guidelines in keeping with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

BCCL/ File

News 18 reported that the ministry has also taken down the controversial clause from its website.

Last week the National Platform for Rights of Disabled (NPRD), which claims to represent a large number of physically- challenged people, meet the minister saying some provisions are "blatantly discriminate" against persons with disabilities and were in violation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

BCCL/ File

Those affected with polio, tuberculosis, congestive cardiac and respiratory ailment, acute coronary insufficiency, coronary thrombosis, mental disorder, infectious leprosy, AIDS or any other communicable disease or disability also cannot take undertake Haj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca -- the holiest city for Muslims.

"These provisions virtually bar any disabled person from undertaking the Haj are in violation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which has equality and non- discrimination as its guiding principle," NPRD General Secretary Muralidharan had said.
Since the beginning of this month, the red beacons - a privilege which has been used and misused by VIPs in India has gone for good. While some gave it up voluntarily others did it reluctantly, but most of them had the red beacons on their cars removed.

But one person, it seems is not in any mood to give up his 'privilege' despite the fact that he doesn't hold any official position.

ANI

Maulana Nurur Rehman Imam Barkati, the Shahi Imam of Kolkata's Tipu Sultan mosque says he will continue to use the red beacon on his car despite the ban. He said permission to use the red beacon was granted by the erstwhile British Government so only it can stop him.

"I will remove red beacon once everyone does the same. I will continue to use as I have got permission from British government," Barkati said.

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When the reporters pointed out that Indian government and not the British government had passed the order, Imam Barkati said: "The Indian government first needs to make its own law, they have not formulated any laws."

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Imam Barkati has been regularly in the news for his fatwas, against PM Narendra Modi, BJP and RSS. The controversial imam is also known for his proximity to West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee who, Barkati claims is like his sister.
A CBI court in Ranchi has sentenced former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav along with five others to 3.5 years imprisonment in the fodder scam case. Additionally there is a fine of Rs 5 lakhs each on all the accused.

The CBI judge who convicted the former Bihar strongman on last Saturday had differed the pronouncement of the sentence three times. Read more

Four Cops Killed In Jammu and Kashmir Terror Attack

At least four policemen have been killed and one was seriously injured in an IED blast set off by terrorists in Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district. Police said the powerful IED explosion ripped through the Sopore market area on Saturday morning causing the fatalities.

The blast came on a day when the separatist had called for a shutdown to protest the killing of over 50 civilians on this day in 1993. Read more

Govt Has Just Lifted Ban On Disabled People Going To Saudi Arabia For Haj Pilgrimage

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to lift its ban on persons with disabilities from applying for the pilgrimage. Minority Affairs Minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said the restrictions were in place for more than 60 years, and assured that they will be lifted from this year.

Naqvi said this after meeting with a delegation of disability rights groups who met the minister to seek the lifting of the ban. Read more

With Red Beacons Gone, Even President & VP's Cars Will Now Have Number Plates

Acting upon a Delhi High Court order the government may soon introduce number plates for vehicles used by the President of India, Vice President, Governors and Lieutenant Governors.

Currently, these vehicles, along with those used by the protocol division of the ministry of external affairs to transport foreign dignitaries, display only the state emblem of India. Read more

Tamil Nadu Has The Highest Enrollment Rate In Higher Education, Bihar Has The Lowest, In 7 States Girls Outnumber Boys

With an impressive Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 46.9% in higher education, Tamil Nadu has emerged as the leading state when it comes to higher education.

According to the All India Survey on Higher Education report (2106-2017), released by Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and Odisha posted low GERs of 14.4%, 17.2%, 18.5% and 21% respectively. Uttar Pradesh fared marginally better at 24.9%, close to the national average. Read more

Jet Airways To Revoke Licence Of The Pilot Who Was Grounded After Slapping A Female Commander In Mid-Air

Jet Airways "copilot" who allegedly slapped his lady commander on a London-Mumbai flight on New Year's day could lose his flying licence with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation taking a serious view of the episode.

While a probe is on, a top official said the alleged action of the co-pilot  actually Jet's senior-most Boeing 777 commander who was acting as copilot on that particular flight  called for "extreme measures"  a euphemism for cancellation of licence. Read more
While Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision of removal of red beacon to eradicate the VIP culture has drawn a positive response from the masses, the MLAs seem to have a tough time as now they dont get privileges they used to enjoy earlier.

Life seems to have changed for MLAs especially for the first time lawmakers who dreamed of demi-god like treatment, they have been seeing MLAs getting for years. But now they have to wait for several minutes at a toll booth and the people at the tool counter also could not recognise them.

According to the story published in The Indian Express, a first-time Congress MLA isnt pleased with the decision.

I spent Rs 2,500. Now the beacon is lying at home. I look at it every day and laugh at myself. Why have I become an MLA? To go to my constituency, collect piles of files and bring it to the ministers? he was quoted in The Indian Express.

Punjab CM Captain Amarinder too banned red beacons and MLAs in Punjab are too not happy with the ban. MLA from Fatehgarh sahib, Kuljit Singh Nagra while going back to Chandigarh from Delhi had to wait on toll booth as the cashier didnt get that car belongs to MLA and asked for IDs.
The West Bengal government has found an innovative way to beat PM Modi's beacon ban for government vehicles. It has notified a scheme under which senior officials of the state can use different types of flags on their official vehicles.

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According to "flag scheme", three types of flags rectangular, swallow-tailed and triangular  have been notified depending on the rank of the official for use on the bonnet of their designated vehicles.

These will be in use only when the officer concerned is on official duty. The notification said the scheme is for officials of the Indian Administrative Service, who represent the government at various levels.

Also Read: MLAs Not Loving Life After Red Beacons, Upset With Waiting At Toll Booths, Being Asked For IDs

The personnel and administrative department of the state issued the notification on Monday. It says,

"In view of the significant rise in the level of interaction with various international and national level authorities, it is felt that a flag for use on vehicles being used by senior officials of the state government shall convey a greater sense of government's intent and enable smoother interactions without compromising protocol."

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The department has said that the use of any other flag other than the National Flag is not restricted by any regulation under Central/ State Motor Vehicles Act or Rules. It adds,

"High ranking officials/ dignitaries of various organisations/ non-uniformed services, such as high courts, universities and various services of the Union of India have been using the flag representing the institution that they represent."

The Centre has banned used of any beacon by VIPs and all dignitaries since May 1.

Also Read: PM Modi Finally Ends The Era Of VIP Culture, Bans 'Lal Batti' On Vehicles

Many states and organisations, including West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, had objected to the blanket ban on beacons.

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There are still instances of a large number of vehicles of VIPs, officials and unauthorised persons sporting blue beacons in West Bengal.

Also Read: The Laal Batti Is Dead, But It'll Take More Than That To Kill India's VIP Culture

Maulana Nurur Rehman Imam Barkati, the former Shahi Imam of Kolkata's Tipu Sultan mosque was one of those who was not willing to give up his VIP privilege, claiming that the permission was given by the British and only the queen had the power to take it back.
Potatoes were hurled from a truck at various prominent places in Lucknow as a protest by farmers against a low purchase price of the produce, even as the state government dismissed the incident as the work of miscreants.

"There was a truck which had sacks of potato and it started throwing potatoes in various parts of the city early this morning. Now, whether this has been done by the farmers or by someone else is yet to be ascertained. So far, no farmers group has claimed any responsibility for this act, Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

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The roads were then cleaned by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, the soil was also put on the smashed potatoes so that motorcyclists and other two-wheeler riders do not skid off the road. The fire brigade was also roped in to get some roads adjoining the Vidhan Bhawan building washed so that the road does not become slippery.

This seems to be the work of anti-social elements. It is not very clear whether this is a work of farmers or any farmer organisationWe are probing all possible angles, Sharma added. When contacted, a state government spokesman said, This was not done by farmers, but by miscreants.

twitter/ani

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Kisan Manch has slammed the state government over the incident. The groups President Shekhar Dixit said, There is difference in the words and actions of the government. I am not pointing fingers at the Narendra Modi government or Yogi Adityanath government. But this has been the situation even during the regime of SP and BSP.

Today it is the potato farmers who have thrown potatoes on the streets of Lucknow, tomorrow it may be the sugarcane farmers, the wheat and paddy farmersif the situation does not improve, he added.

twitter/ani

Speaking to reporters, Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said, This was a pre-planned act, as the potato which was thrown on the streets of Lucknow was partly or completely rotten, and rejected in the mandi (market). It is a deliberate attempt to malign the image of the Yogi Adityanath government.
The VIP culture is here to stay. It doesn't seem to end, come what may. So, despite ban on the much-cherished red beacon, the VIPs are not ready to give up their status symbol. Now they have sirens to distinguish themselves with the rest of the people.

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Such incidents have been reported from at least in two states, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. In Madhya Pradesh, while some politicians of the ruling BJP grudgingly followed CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's example and removed the beacon, others planted hooters on their cars as the new VIP symbol.

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The Central Motor Vehicle Rules do not provide for use of siren or hooter in any vehicle. Under Section 119 of the CMVR, exceptions are made for ambulances, fire brigades and construction equipment vehicles besides those used by police.

The noise of the hooters upset citizens who had welcomed the beacon ban. "Beacons are gone, but what about hooters and sirens? It's irritating when vehicles blaring sirens tailgate you and try to overtake even on narrow roads. Sirens have no use, apart from emergency vehicles, and only add to noise pollution," said Vineet Sharma, a private firm employee.

In Hyderabad, motorists travelling towards Panjagutta from Khairatabad were in for a rude shock as a vehicle with siren kept on honking.

"Initially, I thought it was an ambulance trying to make way and I swerved towards the left, but soon I realised it was actually a politician's car. The beacon was not flashing, but the driver kept the siren on," an eyewitness said.

The blaring siren went on for five minutes before the car eventually sped away at the signal towards Ameerpet.

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Many VIPs were also seen using sirens near road junctions, extracting "green channel" from the traffic police posted there at the expense of common motorists. Hyderabad joint commissioner of police (Traffic) V Ravinder said pilot vehicles of VIPs generally use siren only near junctions and not otherwise.

"It amounts to noise pollution and we do not allow its extensive usage."

Other states, like Maharashtra, are exploring options that can be exercised by VIPs without flouting the new rules. Minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar has written to the state DGP to look for other options, which do not violate the new rules.

Also Read: PM Modi Finally Ends The Era Of VIP Culture, Bans 'Lal Batti' On Vehicles

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Kesarkar said when a VIP like a minister is travelling, there should be something to distinguish his car from other vehicles for the purpose of security.

Also Read: The Laal Batti Is Dead, But It'll Take More Than That To Kill India's VIP Culture

Meanwhile, a minister in Karnataka is still defiant and continues to use the red beacon on his car.

BCCL/ File

Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies U T Khader defended his move claiming that I am not moving around with the red beacon light placed on my head. It is installed on my car.

He also said that since the car was given to him by the state government, he will remove the red beacon only if chief minister Siddaramaiah asks him to do so.
Guys like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren't born with a lottery ticket. They had to work hard to build their tech empires, all of which had very humble beginnings.

All of them had an idea, an ingenious gut feeling for business, and a great determination to do whatever it took to start off ahead of everyone else.

Bezos started Amazon.com / FORTUNE

1) Amazon

Jeff Bezos deposed Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world in 2017, and now his personal net worth is well over $100 billion. Little did he imagine this day back in 1995, when Amazon.com began out of his home in Bellevue, Washington, where he started the online bookstore in his home garage. There was barely enough room in there to store, package and ship books to customers all over the world. Now Amazon sells pretty much everything!

2) SpaceX

When Elon Musk started SpaceX in 2002, he had a grand vision of colonizing Mars and saving humanity -- but he still didn't have the means to do it himself. He was inspired by one Tom Mueller, a frustrated engineer at SpaceX, who was building a rocket engine for fun in his garage. This happened to be the largest liquid-fueled rocket engine ever to have been built by an an amateur, and the earliest version of the Merlin, which powers SpaceXs rockets. A rocket that took SpaceX to space was literally built in someone's garage!

Zuckerberg working on Facebook at Harvard

No prizes for guessing where the world's most popular social media website, which attracts over 2 billion registered users daily, came into life. It was inside the Harvard dorm room of pimple-faced teenage genius Mark Zuckerberg, of course. The year was 2004, it was 14 years ago! Right now Mark Zuckerberg has a personal wealth of $74 billion, behind only Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

4) Apple

Back in 1976, Steve Jobs wanted to start a PC business with his friend Steve Wozniak -- the original geek -- who was building computers for fun. A year ago, Wozniak began developing the Apple I -- the personal computer which would usher in a revolution and put Apple on the map. But in order to complete his ambitious design, he needed lots of cash and room to work in peace. So he raised $1,300 and assembled the circuit boards of the computer in Steve Jobs' very own garage. The rest, as they say, is history.

Google began in a garage

5) Google

The largest search engine in the world began as a Stanford school project, believe it or not. In 1998, two Stanford students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented a garage belonging to Susan Wojcicki -- their colleague at the time. You'd be surprised to know but for the next five months, this garage was Google's headquarters, where Page and Brin developed their algorithms to start indexing websites on the. But very soon, Google outgrew the garage and took Susan Wojcicki in -- she's now the CEO of YouTube.

6) Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Known as a giant of the PC world, Hewlett-Packard or HP began in 1938 as a company that made a whole host of electrical devices. Very quickly they started to get a reputation for building audio oscillators with a streamlined technology that made it more affordable. This attracted the attention of Walt Disney at the time, who purchased eight of Hewlett-Packards Model 200B oscillators for his upcoming musical film, Fantasia. And Hewlett-Packard literally built these pieces of equipment in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, CA -- a place that's been declared as a historical site.

7) Dell

Another major force of the computer world is Dell, company named after its founder Michael Dell. The story goes such that in 1984, Dell began building and selling computers from his off-campus dorm housing while attending the University of Texas at Austin. Business was so good that he dropped out of school to focus full-time on the venture. He was still running the company from his garage, building PCs which began selling under his name from 1985 onwards. He grossed more than $73 million that very year.

A very very young Bill Gates

8) Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, began Microsoft in a garage in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What they didn't have in the way of office space, was compensated by a great deal of determination, grit, and raw talent, all of which helped propel Microsoft to the pinnacle of technological innovation for the greater part of three decades.

Popular micro-blogging and breaking news website, Twitter began as a day-long brainstorming session in 2006 at a small office on South Park Avenue, San Francisco. The idea began as an SMS service that people could participate in as groups. It was called Twttr, initially, and later on corrected to its current version at SxSW in 2007.

10) Sony

You'd be surprised to know that Sony began as a company named Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, in a small bomb-damaged Shirokiya department store building in Tokyo. The following year when its operation moved to a leaky warehouse in Shinagawa, only then was the company sign erected and its earliest products were developed. Even though the first Sony landmark was torn down in the 1960s, the company continued to be headquartered from there until 2007.

11) Samsung

Samsung's first office was a 16.5 square metre office with a telephone and a noodle machine, located in Ingyo-dong, Daegu, South Korea. That was back in 1938, of course. By the late 1960s, Samsung pivoted into an electronics company. And now, it's a consumer electronics behemoth that spans across the globe!
You might remember Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence. A lot of people contemplate over whether hes a patriot or a traitor, but the truth can only be found in his deeds.

The US government charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised invasion of communication, and wilful communication of classified information privy to the government. Hes known for acting uptight on the right to information, and thats exactly what he did recently.

During the Athens Democracy Forum at the National Library in Athens, Edward warned people and asked them not to use Googles Allo- an instant mobile messaging app.

Snowden claims that it allows the company to read and see everything that you share.

What is #Allo? A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request. https://t.co/EdPRC0G7Py  Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016

On May 18, Google announced the app and on September 21, 2016, it launched it for Apple and Android users. This app could act as an alternative for WhatsApp.

The app comes with a robot that observes and stores everything that is written or shared and then keeps the data for future analysis to improve the app.

However, according to Google, they are only aiming at improvising the app and making it a better experience for users. The app can read through conversations and try and work out how people talk  it can then use that data to suggest what they might want to say to their friends.

In seriousness, this is a complex question for which there is no one right answer. But relative to #Allo, Signal is safer for normal users.  Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016

Furthermore, just like your Gmail, Google might use the data to feature ads in the future. Since the personal chat may have specific keywords or sensitive data, it will be easier for Google to place ads accordingly.

optimaitalia

And this is what differentiates it from other services like iMessage or WhatsApp. Conversations on Allo will be read and stored, thus theres a fair chance of them being accessible by law.

Snowden had already called Allo "dangerous" after it was revealed at Google's I/O conference earlier this year.
Friday Starting Red in Cotton Market Barchart - 1 hour ago Morning quotes show the cotton board in the red with 15 to 30 point losses; but the front months have been bouncing form 70-80 point losses. Cotton futures closed off their lows on Thursday, but still... CTZ22 : 85.98 (-1.22%) CTH23 : 84.01 (-1.49%) CTK23 : 83.07 (-1.56%)

NASS to Gift CoF after the Close Barchart - 1 hour ago Front month feeder cattle futures finished the day with $0.95 to $1.17 gains. Cash trade picked up on Thursday; the USDA confirmed $148 to $156 sales on Thursday, citing $152 as the bulk of business in... LEZ22 : 152.750s (+0.63%) LEG23 : 155.400s (+0.75%) LEJ23 : 158.900s (+0.74%) GFF23 : 179.975s (+1.41%) GFH23 : 182.500s (+1.25%)

Friday Hogs Look to Cap-Off the Week Barchart - 1 hour ago The lean hog market continued to work higher through the Thursday session, save for the Dec contract which gave back 60 cents. The other nearbys added 5 to 12 cents to the move. The USDA National Average... HEZ22 : 84.975s (-0.70%) HEJ23 : 96.000s (+0.39%) KMZ22 : 95.500s (-0.42%)

Morning Gains in Wheat Market Barchart - 1 hour ago Overnight wheat markets stayed within a 10 cent range of mostly upward action in Dec SRW. Futures are currently fractionally to 6 cents higher into the last trade day of week. Domestic wheat prices ended... ZWZ22 : 809-6 (+0.37%) ZWH23 : 828-2 (+0.39%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.4398 (+0.39%) KEZ22 : 937-2 (unch) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9557 (-2.00%) MWZ22 : 953-2 (unch)

Soy Futures Rallying for Friday Barchart - 1 hour ago Preliminary OI data confirmed yesterdays soybean weakness was net new selling, rising 5,433 contracts. Futures are currently back up by 4 to 8 cents into Fridays AM session. Meal prices are $1.90... ZSF23 : 1419-2 (+0.16%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.9406 (+0.16%) ZSH23 : 1424-0 (+0.12%) ZSK23 : 1430-2 (+0.12%)

Corn Near Highs for Friday (day) Market Barchart - 1 hour ago Morning corn quotes show the board is just 2 cents off the highs working with 1 to 3 1/2 gains into the day session. Futures were up by 6 cents overnight. After trading lower through midday on Thursday,... ZCZ22 : 668-2 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7164 (+0.13%) ZCH23 : 669-6 (unch) ZCK23 : 668-4 (+0.19%)

Chart of the Day: Tejon Ranch - Diversified Real Estate Barchart - 1 hour ago The Chart of the Day belongs to the diversified real estate development and agribusiness company Tejon Ranch (TRC). I found the stock by sorting the Russell 3000 Index stocks first by the most frequent... TRC : 18.69 (+1.08%)

Downside Continues... Market Tea Leaves - 1 hour ago Yesterday we gave the markets a Neutral bias and it continue lower. What will happen today?
It has been reported last week that a group of backpackers will be facing hefty medical bills for drug overdose, reminding brokers to advise clients on what not to do to stay covered by their travel insurance policy.Tuesday night, nine foreign nationals, all in their 20s, were rushed to three separate hospitals in Perth after overdosing on a substance which included the pharmaceutical drug hyoscine.Eight of the group will be facing medical bills potentially amounting to thousands of dollars, which may include the full cost of their public hospital visits, any medications supplied, and the fee for treatments in the Australian Medical Association medical service list, ABC reported.At the Royal Perth Hospital  where two French men remain, one in a critical condition and one stable  costs start at $275 for an emergency visit and $2,586 for overnight hospital admission, excluding the bill for medicines.Six of the group had already been released, while a German woman remains in a critical but stable condition at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.A spokesman for the WA Department of Health told ABC that all patients presented at emergency departments are first provided treatment according to clinical need before their capacity to pay was considered. He also said the department was unable to place an approximate cost on drug overdose as each case was different.Meanwhile, despite the visa requirement that overseas students in Australia should have insurance, it is unknown whether the group was insured. Campbell Fuller , general communications manager at the Insurance Council of Australia , said claims relating to excessive alcohol or drug taking would not generally be paid out.The rule of thumb for insurers is that insurance is about covering the unexpected and unknown, Fuller told ABC. Theres an expectation by the insurer the traveller will do his or her best to not get into trouble  therefore insurers have very strong exclusions around the use or overuse of alcohol, and the use of illicit, illegal or misuse of prescription drugs.
A property and construction specialist with 25 years of experience in the insurance industry has been appointed to a new role within XL Catlin's Asia-Pacific business.Todd Wilhelm took on the role of regional product leader for energy, property, and construction for Asia Pacific, in charge of growing the firm's energy, property, and construction book and leading the team to foster stronger relationships with key brokers and clients in the region. He will be based in Singapore.Wilhelm joined XL Catlin from QBE Insurance, where he was most recently chief underwriting operations officer and head of property and engineering for emerging markets. Before that, he worked at ACE Insurance and FM Global Ian France, head of international property underwriting for XL Catlin's insurance business, said Wilhelm is ideally positioned to look at opportunities and solutions that will make a difference to our clients in the region given his considerable underwriting experience across multi-lines in Asia Pacific.Craig Langham, chief executive for XL Catlin's insurance business in the Asia Pacific, said Wilhelm has the right expertise to support their clients in the region.Growth in Asia is still expected to outpace the anticipated growth in other regions, Langham said. In particular, Chinas US$4trn 'Belt and Road Initiative' economic initiative will bring about tremendous opportunities across Eurasia. Projects such as construction, utilities, and infrastructure are growing in size and complexity, with risks that are very much interconnected. When taking on these projects, companies are increasingly looking to work with insurance partners to address and manage their risks. Its therefore crucial to have the right expertise in place to tailor solutions for these clients.
If you think illegal activity and other shenanigans by brokers and other investment professionals ended with the last Great Recession, you could be making a costly assumption.

Although Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and "Wolf of Wall Street" Jordan Belfort have been sent to prison for the financial crimes, wrongdoing by brokers and others continues unabated and undetected. Thats why its important to check out brokers or investment advisors and their firms before doing business with them.

Key Takeaways While investing has become safe, low-cost, and efficient for ordinary investors, some instances of brokerage fraud still do take place to fleece unsuspecting or greedy investors.

There are several ways to check and see if your broker is legit. Always do your homework beforehand.

Check the background of the firm and broker or planner for any disciplinary problems in the past, beware of cold calls, and check your statements for funny business.

When in doubt, there are several routes to file complaints and seek restitution.

FINRA is the best resource to use when checking on a broker's status.

Examples of Brokerage Fraud

Here are just two examples of the continuing problems in the industry.

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against a Massachusetts-based registered investment advisory firm and its owner. The agency accused Family Endowment Partners and its owner, Lee Dana Weiss of, among other irregularities, advising clients to make certain investments without disclosing that Weiss would pocket half of the profits. The SEC also charged that clients were urged to invest $40 million in securities issued by companies in which Weiss had financial interests and from which Weiss received payments.

In another case, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it had permanently barred from the securities industry a former registered representative of Caldwell International Securities Corp. after charging him with numerous securities violations, including churning customer accounts. Richard Adams excessive trading in two customer accounts from July 2013 to June 2014, FINRA said, generated more than $57,000 in commission while costing the customers more than $37,000 in losses.

By taking these six steps, you can protect yourself from doing business with an unscrupulous broker or other financial professional:

1. Beware of Cold Contacts

Be wary of any broker or investment advisor who contacts you unsolicited from a company with which you've never done business. The contact could take the form of a phone call, email, or letter. Dont get sucked in by invitations to investment seminars that promise free lunches or other gifts aimed at getting to you lower your guard and invest blindly.

And be especially suspicious of callers who use high-pressure sales tactics, tout once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, or refuse to send written information about an investment, advises the SEC.

2. Have a Conversation

Whether youre looking for a broker or a financial advisor, you need to be comfortable with the people who'll be providing you with advice, products, and services. Ask lots of questions about what the company offers and its experience with clients who have similar needs to your own.

Also, find out what relationship youll have with the professional. Under a so-called fiduciary standard, financial professionals must put their clients interests above their own when, for example, recommending investments. Thats a higher level than the so-called suitability standard, in which the professional is required only to make recommendations that are consistent with the clients best interests. While investment advisors always must follow the fiduciary standard, thats not the case for broker-dealersthough you may be able to find a broker-dealer willing to adhere to the fiduciary standard.

If you cant get straight answers or the individual seems rushed or otherwise unwilling to provide you with full and clear information, go elsewhere. Dont forget to ask about rates, fees, and commissions. Registered investment advisors should also provide you with both parts of Form ADV.

3. Do Some Research

The first thing worth trying when researching a financial professional is a simple web search with the broker and firm name. That might bring up new releases or media reports of alleged wrongdoing or disciplinary actions, client conversations on online forums, background information, and other details. For instance, typing Lee Dana Weiss into a search engine brings up hundreds of thousands of results, including a link to the news release about the SEC complaint again him and his firm.

Then try searching the regulatory agencies directly. Financial professionals and their firms are legally required to be registered with federal and state securities regulators. And that registration information, along with the details of disciplinary actions taken against the individuals or firms, is available to the public.

Keep in mind that the agencies sometimes have overlapping enforcement jurisdictions and may provide similar information. Still, its worth checking them all because they may have different policies about the details they include and how long the data remain available.

Here is a list:

State securities regulators: The regulators in your state likely have information on licensing, registration, and disciplinary actions about brokers and brokerage firms, as well as on registered investment advisors. Also check any advice your state offers for researching a broker or investment advisor, such as the investor education materials offered by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.

The regulators in your state likely have information on licensing, registration, and disciplinary actions about brokers and brokerage firms, as well as on registered investment advisors. Also check any advice your state offers for researching a broker or investment advisor, such as the investor education materials offered by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. FINRA: Another good source of information about brokers and their firms is the BrokerCheck website operated by FINRA, an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect investors. Some states refer visitors to the FINRA for broker information. But even if your states site has a lot of information of its own, BrokerCheck is worth visiting just to see whether there are any additional details.

Another good source of information about brokers and their firms is the BrokerCheck website operated by FINRA, an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect investors. Some states refer visitors to the FINRA for broker information. But even if your states site has a lot of information of its own, BrokerCheck is worth visiting just to see whether there are any additional details. SEC: Along with many state regulatory agencies, a primary source of information about registered financial advisors is the SECs Investment Advisor Public Disclosure (IAPD) website. There you can find the registration and reporting form ADV that most investment advisors and investment advisor firms are required to file with the commission or states. The form contains a lot of details about an advisors business. Under part 2 of the form, advisors are required to produce a plain-English brochure that lists, among other things, the advisors services, fee schedule, disciplinary information, conflicts of interest, and the education and business background of key staff. The investment advisor should provide that brochure to you, with periodic updates. But you also can find it on the IAPD website. Never hire an investment advisor without reading the entire form, advises the SEC.

4. Verify SIPC Membership

You also should verify that a brokerage firm is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), a non-profit corporation that protects investors for up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for cash) if a firm goes out of business, in much the same way that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protects bank customers. When investing, always make checks out to the SIPC member firm and not to an individual broker.

5. Check Your Statements Regularly

The worst thing you can do is put your investments on autopilot. Checking your statements carefullywhether you receive them online or in printcan help you detect wrongdoing, or even mistakes, early on. Ask questions if your investment returns arent what you expected or if there are surprise changes in your portfolio. Dont accept complicated assurances you really dont understand. If you cant get straight answers, ask to speak to someone higher up. Never fear that youll look ignorant or be viewed as a nuisance.

6. When in Doubt, Withdraw Funds and Complain

If you suspect wrongdoing, remove your funds from the investment advisor. Then, file complaints with the same state, federal and private regulators whose sites you visited when you checked out the financial professional to start with.

If you think that you have a legitimate dispute with your broker or advisor, there are a couple of steps you can take. If your complaint is against a stockbroker, you need to file a dispute with either the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or FINRA.

Many financial professionals are members of a charter organization (you can usually tell by the abbreviations after their name). These organizations also have standards and codes of ethics, so it's worth lodging a complaint with them as well. For example, if your complaint is against a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), you can file with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. If it is against a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), you can contact the Association of Investment and Research.

Contacting your state or provincial securities commission is another avenue to take. Each state or province has a division that handles complaints against brokers, advisors, and financial planners. If these options don't work, your final course of action is to hire an attorney.

Can You Trust a Broker? Because there are so many ways to check brokers, it is actually a bit rare to see a working broker who isn't licensed. However, a licensed broker could persuade you to make investments that benefit them or their firm more than you as a client. They could also use your money that is in their accounts for their own purposes, such as for obtaining margin or shoring up their own financial books.

How Do I Know If a Forex Broker Is Legit? You can ask the broker for their Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) number. You can also check with the National Futures Association or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Don't forget to simply search their name online, as those who have been taken advantage of in the past rarely stay quiet about such things, and you might see a post or page reviewing the company.

How Do I Find Out If a Broker Is Registered? Most people use BrokerCheck when they want to see if their broker is registered and legitimate. It will tell you the investment advisors in the firm and what securities they are allowed to deal in. There is also a list of those that have been barred by FINRA from practicing.

Can Brokers Steal Your Money? Brokers can absolutely steal your money, although it isn't common. What tends to happen more often is brokers will steer you into investments that benefit them or into investments they wouldn't themselves make. Essentially, they gamble with your money. This is why it is so important to make sure you are combing your statements regularly to ensure nothing seems off.

The Bottom Line

The Great Recession may be over, but wrongdoing by brokers and investment advisors continues. So do thorough research before you hand over your money to a financial professional, then closely monitor your accounts. Investments may not do as well as expected for legitimate reasons. But don't be reluctant to pull out your money if you become uncomfortable about your returns or have other concerns that the advisor doesn't respond to quickly and appropriately.
Our information-based society is often plagued with excess. There are many areas of everyday life in which information overload prevails, but the investment sector may well be where the consequences are the most serious. And the less financial knowledge and understanding people have, the worse they cope.

An important investigation on this very issue by Julie Agnew and Lisa Szykman (both professors at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary in Virginia), published in the Journal of Behavioral Finance in 2005, reveals that people with a low level of financial knowledge suffer particularly from overload, which leads them to take the path of least resistance, the "default option" in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. Many are simply overwhelmed and cannot cope at all.

Use Investment Information Effectively

For a lot of people, financial security and peace of mind depend on making the right financial decisions now and in the future. Yet, there is growing evidence that far too many individuals make very poor decisions, and many cannot be described as making decisions at all.

While some investors inevitably have too little information, others have too much, which leads to panic and either bad decisions or trusting the wrong people. When people are exposed to too much information, they tend to withdraw from the decision-making process and reduce their efforts. (A lack of information, which one could call "underload" can have the same result, by the way, and is certainly just as dangerous).

In other words, simply providing people with information about investment options, may not be enough to produce rational and sound decisions. Investment information needs not only to be sufficient without being overwhelming, it also needs to be easy to use, and actually be used. This is a very real problem with potentially dire consequences.

The Specific Causes of Overload

Agnew and Szykman tell us that there are three main causes of information overload. One is pure quantity. The second is having too many options (although too few is also bad), and the third factor is option similarity. If everything seems the same, differentiating one alternative from another is confusing and difficult. We'll use their findings to extend to general investors rather than simply DC plan contributors.

Also important in the use of information is the investor's level of financial knowledgethat is, knowledge that is directly relevant to the investment process. Theoretical economic or general business knowledge may be no help at all, being too removed from the nuts and bolts of money management. We are talking here about an awareness of how investment should be done in practice, what works, and what does not.

The research indicates that many investors don't even have a basic understanding of financial concepts. This applies more to those who earn less. Not surprisingly, people who have never had much money have had little practice in investing it. For this reason, someone who suddenly wins the lottery or inherits is often at a lossinitially, in a metaphorical sense, and then, not uncommonly, literally.

Consequences of Overload

Floundering in a maze of information opens people up to missellingnamely, getting really lousy, unsuitable investments foisted on them. These may be too risky, too conservative, or insufficiently undiversified, to name just three of the classic horrors. In short, investors land up with investments that are lucrative only for the seller, or which are simply easy to sell and no trouble to manage.

In their experiment, Agnew and Szykman found that people who were not coping with the investment information just went for the "default option," which was easiest to do. They did not bother to find out what is really best for them. In the real world of investment, this is truly dangerous. An investment that is totally devoid of riskcash, for instancereally does not pay off in the long run. This option may lead to an inadequate retirement fund, and almost everyone should have some equities.

By contrast, having too many stocks or weird, exotic funds, assets, and certificates is extremely volatile and can win or lose you a fortune. Most investors do not want such risks, and are often unaware that they are taking themuntil disaster strikes. This kind of portfolio can lead to wealth, if you are luckyand poverty if you are not. For most people, it is not worth the gamble, neither psychologically nor financially.

Coping With Information Overload

This can be done from both sides of the market. Brokers, banks, and so on need to ensure that they only provide investors with what they really need to know, and it must be simple to understand. The point is that the average investor needs to be informed sufficiently (but no more) on what will help them make the right decisions. There is a clear optimum, beyond which dysfunctional overload occurs, and of course, too little is just as bad. It is also absolutely essential for the sell side to ensure that the information is understood and converted into the appropriate investment decisions.

If investors themselves find they are being swamped with information, and truly do not have the skills or time to figure it out and use it, they need to go back to the seller and ask for concise information that they can use. If this fails to be provided, it is probably best to take one's money and business elsewhere.

Investors themselves do need to make an effort to find out what is appropriate for them. As indicated above, this can be daunting, but for this reason, sellers and regulators need to get the message across that the more they learn and the more they know, the safer the investment process.

There are inevitably some people who just cannot or will not understand the information and use it. This may be due to a lack of education or a phobia about money, and some people are just not prepared to bother with their money. Such individuals do then need some sort of independent advisor whom they can trust.

The Bottom Line

An important research project from the Mason School of Business informs us of the very serious problem of information overload (or the converse of "underload") in the financial services industry. Ensuring that investors have an optimal amount of information that they can (and do) understand, and really use as a basis for decision making, is easier said than done. But it must be done; both the industry and investors themselves need to be proactive in solving the problem. The variety of potential investments, and the evolving nature of the relevant markets means that an ongoing, reciprocal, and productive process of information provision and utilization is absolutely fundamental to people's financial future and peace of mind.
A credit analyst is responsible for assessing a loan applicant's ability to repay the loan and recommending that it be approved or denied. Credit analysts are employed by commercial and investment banks, credit card companies, credit rating agencies, and investment companies. They may also work in the credit departments of a wide range of companies.

What Does a Credit Analyst Do?

A credit analyst gathers and reviews financial data about loan applicants, including their payment habits and history, earnings and savings, and spending patterns. The credit analyst then recommends approval or denial of the loan.

Key Takeaways Credit analysts determine the creditworthiness of loan applicants.

An undergraduate degree in business, accounting, or finance and familiarity with spreadsheet software are typically required.

Credit analysis can be a pathway to other jobs in banking and finance.

The analyst may also be involved in reviewing problem accounts. For example, a credit analyst working at a bank that issues credit cards may review data about clients who have defaulted on their payments. The analyst might recommend closing the card or reducing the credit line.

Alternatively, an analyst might recommend that credit line extensions be given to customers with strong payment histories.

Educational Requirements

The minimum educational requirement for the position of credit analyst is usually an associate or bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, or a related field. Applicants should be familiar with basic accounting and finance, statistics, ratio analysis, calculus, economics, industry assessment, and financial statement analysis.

An understanding of all of these subjects is necessary for anyone working in a job that requires risk assessment.

Some banks and companies provide on-the-job training in credit analysis to candidates who do not have finance-related degrees. They still may require work experience in an accounting or finance-related field or a graduate degree in a business-related field.

Many specialized industries need credit analysts. Do some homework in advance if you've got an interview at one of them.

Depending on the level of the job, a company might require that a candidate have a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Other Required Skills

Some other skills that a credit analyst must possess include the following:

Diligence : The job requires great attention to detail. As a credit analyst, any missing piece of information may lead to an incorrect analysis of a customer and a costly problem for the company.

: The job requires great attention to detail. As a credit analyst, any missing piece of information may lead to an incorrect analysis of a customer and a costly problem for the company. Quantitative analysis skills : A credit analyst has to be able to review or create a set of numbers and understand what they mean.

: A credit analyst has to be able to review or create a set of numbers and understand what they mean. Written and oral communication skills : A credit analyst must be able to effectively report results and decisions orally or in writing.

: A credit analyst must be able to effectively report results and decisions orally or in writing. Industry knowledge : For some jobs, a credit analyst may need specialized knowledge of a particular industry. If you line up an interview with a retail giant or an automaker, do some research in advance so that you can talk intelligently about the industry and its challenges.

: For some jobs, a credit analyst may need specialized knowledge of a particular industry. If you line up an interview with a retail giant or an automaker, do some research in advance so that you can talk intelligently about the industry and its challenges. Multitasking and prioritization skills : A credit analyst needs to be able to work on multiple projects at the same time and prioritize them properly. This will be expected on the job.

: A credit analyst needs to be able to work on multiple projects at the same time and prioritize them properly. This will be expected on the job. Experience with financial software: A credit analyst has to be comfortable using Microsoft Excel or similar software used to analyze numerical data.

Benefits of Being a Credit Analyst

Credit analysts are in demand in a wide range of businesses in addition to banks and credit rating agencies. Auto manufacturers, retail store chains, and even utilities and energy companies extend credit to their customers and hire credit analysts to help them do it.

The job can be a pathway to a career as an investment banker, portfolio manager, or loan and trust manager.

The average salary for a credit analyst as of May 2020 was $86,170, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Being a credit analyst can be a stressful job. It means you decide whether a person or a company can make a purchase, and at what interest rate. It's a big responsibility and should not be taken lightly.
What Is a Voluntary Export Restraint (VER)?

A voluntary export restraint (VER) is a trade restriction on the quantity of a good that an exporting country is allowed to export to another country. This limit is self-imposed by the exporting country.

VERs came about in the 1930s and gained a lot of popularity in the 1980s when Japan used one to limit auto exports to the U.S. In 1994, World Trade Organization (WTO) members agreed not to implement any new VERs and to phase out existing ones.

Key Takeaways A voluntary export restraint (VER) is a self-imposed limit on the quantity of a good that an exporting country is allowed to export.

VERs are considered non-tariff barriers, which are restrictive trade barrierssuch as quotas and embargoes.

They are related to a voluntary import expansion (VIE), which is meant to allow for more imports, and can include lowering tariffs or dropping quotas.

How a Voluntary Export Restraint (VER) Works

Voluntary export restraints (VERs) fall under the broad category of non-tariff barriers, which are restrictive trade barriers, such as quotas, sanctions, levies, embargoes, and other restrictions. Typically, VERs are a result of requests made by the importing country to provide a measure of protection for its domestic businesses that produce competing goods, though these agreements can be reached at the industry level, as well.

VERs are often created because the exporting countries would prefer to impose their own restrictions than risk sustaining worse terms from tariffs or quotas. They've been in use since the 1930s, applied by large, developed economies to a wide range of products, from textiles to footwear, steel, and automobiles, and became a popular form of protectionism in the 1980s.

After the Uruguay Round and the updating of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994, WTO members agreed not to implement any new VERs, and to phase out any existing ones within one year, with some exceptions.

Limitations of a Voluntary Export Restraint (VER)

There are ways in which a company can avoid a VER. For example, the exporting country's company can always build a manufacturing plant in the country to which exports would be directed. By doing so, the company will no longer need to export goods, and should not be bound by the country's VER.

The option to build manufacturing facilities overseas and bypass exporting rules is one of the main reasons why VERs have historically been ineffective in protecting domestic producers.

Voluntary Export Restraint (VER) vs. Voluntary Import Expansion (VIE)

Related to voluntary export restraint (VER) is a voluntary import expansion (VIE), which is a change in a country's economic and trade policy to allow for more imports by lowering tariffs or dropping quotas. Often VIEs are part of trade agreements with another country or the result of international pressure.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Voluntary Export Restraint (VER)

With functioning VERs, producers in the importing country experience an increase in well-being as there is decreased competition, which should result in higher prices, profits, and employment.

These benefits to producers and the labor market, however, come with some notable caveats. VERs reduce national welfare by creating negative trade effects, negative consumption distortions, and negative production distortions.

Example of a Voluntary Export Restraint (VER)

The most notable example is when Japan imposed a VER on its auto exports into the U.S. as a result of American pressure in the 1980s. The VER subsequently gave the U.S. auto industry some protection against a flood of foreign competition.

This relief was short-lived though, as it ultimately resulted in a rise in exports of higher-priced Japanese vehicles and a proliferation of Japanese assembly plants in North America.
The CEO of Cork University Hospital has taken issue with the INMOs trolley figures and says there needs to be a more honest national debate on the issue.

In a blog published on the CUH website, Tony McNamara also said many patients are appropriately on trolleys in Assessment Units in our hospitals awaiting a decision as to whether they require admission or not.

His querying of the INMO figures brought a withering response from its general secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, who said: I would prefer if the CEO of CUH refocussed his attention from shooting the messenger to working with us to solve the problem.

Yesterday the INMO said it had recorded a record total of 2,408 patient on trolleys during the first week of this year  an increase of 10% compared with the same week in 2017.

Both Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris have apologised this week for the crisis, but in his blog Mr McNamara said any inference that all of these patients were in emergency departments is factually misplaced.

In the blog post, entitled Emergency Departments  In Pursuit of an Honest National Debate, he referenced INMO figures showing the daily trolley count had exceeded 600 in the past week. He said 460 patients were actually on trolleys in EDs, similar to the HSE figure of 457 patients.

Many patients are appropriately on trolleys in Assessment Units in our hospitals awaiting a decision as to whether they require admission or not, he wrote, adding The INMO count includes patients [on] trolleys in hospitals such as Bantry and Ennis General Hospitals that do not actually have Emergency Departments.

However, Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the INMO counts people in EDs and inappropriately placed on wards, and from next week would also be counting those in pediatric units. She said the HSE did not dispute the INMOs figures and added: If the INMO were not counting figures since 2004 you can be sure the HSE would not be publishing their figures at all.

Mr McNamara wrote there was no denying the actual number of people on ED trolleys was unacceptable but said tens of millions of euro has been allocated to tackling the issue and the contention that more resources will substantially resolve the problem in EDs needs to be challenged.

He said more work is needed to create an improved, integrated (if not symbiotic) collective approach to the flow of patients in to and out of our hospitals.

He referenced the situation in CUH on Christmas Day 2017: There were 138 patients in the Hospital for over 14 days while the average length of stay is six days. Astonishingly of this number (138) there were 28 patients who were medically discharged and should have been in alternative settings in the community and this is despite a weekly meeting which I chair as CEO with our community colleagues at which we discuss every patient who is in the hospital over 14 days.

Finally of note on Christmas Day there were 12 patients in our hospital who were there for over 100 days and 3 patients were over 300 days in CUH. I do accept that there are a very small number of very complex discharges who for social reasons pose particular challenges for community services.
Recently, Mr Byrne called on the Government to consider selling more of the bank to private investors following the sale of 28.75% of the bank last year for 3.4bn.

Mr Byrne said the total value of cash received plus the 71% of the market value actually equates to the 20.8bn the state invested in AIB.

I cant tell you what will happen next in terms of valuations, so I would encourage people to look at selling down at this point in time, he said.

The comments have drawn a sharp response from the finance minister who said such decisions are for him to make and not Mr Byrne.

Mr Donohoe, in an exclusive interview with the Irish Examiner, has said while he heard his comments the sale of the bank is solely a matter for him as the shareholder.

In a strong slapdown of Mr Byrne who called for the State to sell more of its stake in the banks in the short run, Mr Donohoe said it is a matter first and foremost for the shareholder which is me.

I heard his comments. That is a matter for me and the Government, he said.

That is a matter for me and I will take a recommendation to Cabinet, he said.

That is a matter for me as the person who manages the shareholding within government and for the Irish taxpayer in particular.

He was asked a question and gave an answer but it is a matter for the shareholder. His views, it is always important to hear them, but first and foremost any further sale is a matter for the shareholder, and the shareholder is the Irish Government and taxpayer.

If there are going to be any further sales in the future, I will take a recommendation to Government, Mr Donohoe said.

Mr Donohoe also said that the state will not see any return to the 32bn sunk into the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank but that the State should get all of its money back from the other banks.

If that is realised, the net cost of the 2008 banking crash could be reduced from 64bn to 32bn.

I think the money, alas, that was sunk into Anglo because of the liquidation, we wont be getting a return for the Irish taxpayer on that.

It was very important, the agreement in relation to the promissory notes. Beyond that, in relation to the other banks, BOI, AIB and PTSB.

I remain confident that we will get all of our money back from those banks. We will get it back. But timing around if and when we sell will be critical in doing all of that, he said.
Lawyers acting for British security researcher Marcus Hutchins have filed a motion seeking additional information on a number of aspects surrounding his arrest in order to prepare for a trial that is expected to take place this year.

Hutchins is in Milwaukee in the US state of Wisconsin, awaiting trial on charges that he wrote and helped distribute a banking trojan known as Kronos.

He was arrested by the FBI in Las Vegas on 2 August after he had boarded a plane to leave the US after attending the annual DEFCON security conference.

Hutchins gained the attention of the world when he stopped the spread of the WannaCry ransomware by accident in May last year.

Theagainst him said he had written and helped distribute Kronos along with an unnamed co-conspirator.

His legal team  Brian Klein, Daniel Stiller and Marcia Hoffman  filed the motion on Friday seeking:

all materials and communications relating to Hutchins' arrest;

similar information about the unnamed co-defendant;

similar information about "Randy", the pseudonym for a government co-operator; and

portions of the grand jury transcripts dealing with legal instructions for crimes mentioned in the pending indictment.

The legal team asked for information on whether the US Government had been tracking Hutchins before his arrest. They pointed out that though the agents who arrested him claimed to have read him his rights, there was no audio record of them having done so.

My assessment: DOJ is trying to figure out how to dig out of a ginormous hole they've created for themselves. But withholding all this ain't gonna cut it.  emptywheel (@emptywheel) 5 January 2018

They said that they intended to argue that Hutchins' statements made after his arrest were involuntary and in violation of his Miranda rights.

"The defence intends to argue that the government coerced Hutchins, who was sleep-deprived and intoxicated, to talk. As such, his decision to speak with the agents was not knowing, intelligent, and made in full awareness of the nature of the right given up and the consequences of giving up that right, as the law requires," the motion said.

Seeking information on the unnamed co-defendant, with whom Hutchins is alleged to have worked to create and distribute the banking trojan Kronos, the motion pointed out that only one of six counts in the indictment related to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse.

The other five counts all claimed Hutchins and the unnamed co-defendant were acting in concert, the motion said, adding that despite this the government had produced only limited materials about the co-defendant that it had obtained through a request made under the mutual legal assistance treaty between the US and the UK.

It said the defence was entitled to information that was material to preparing its case. Additionally, the government could be well holding back information that could exonerate Hutchins.

With regard to "Randy", the co-operating witness, the motion said the defence had only received a heavily redacted FBI document of an interview with this individual. "But the government refuses to produce anything more, including 'Randy's' real identity, or even the name of his or her attorney, claiming such information is protected by the confidential informant privilege. The government is wrong."

The legal team sought the legal instructions provided to the grand jury to ensure that the latter had received the right instructions. This, it claimed, was because the government had shown a fundamental misunderstand of the laws that surrounded the indictment.
Illinois Wesleyan to Host a Year with The Saint Johns Bible

Jan. 5, 2018

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. A Heritage Edition of the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey since the invention of the printing press more than 500 years ago  The Saint Johns Bible  will be displayed at Illinois Wesleyan University for a year, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 17.

Made possible by a grant from Evelyn Chapel's Multifaith Fund, the Heritage Edition of the New Testaments four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles will be available for the public to view at The Ames Library throughout 2018.

In 1998, Saint Johns University in Collegeville, Minnesota, commissioned world-renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson, senior scribe to Her Majesty the Queens Crown Office at the House of Lords in London, England, to lead a team of scribes and artists to originally create The Saint Johns Bible, which was completed in 2011.

Under Jacksons direction, the seven volumes of the Heritage Edition of The Saint Johns Bible are true to the scale, beauty and artistic intent of original manuscript. IWU will have access to two of these volumes during the course of the year: Gospels and Acts and The Pentateuch.

The University will host four events to launch A Year with The Saint Johns Bible, all of which are free and open to the public. Tim Ternes, the director of The Saint Johns Bible at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, will offer his expertise during the kick-off events.

Docent Training and Lunch

Wednesday, Jan. 17  11 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

Evelyn Chapel (1301 N. Park St., Bloomington)

Open to students, community members, faculty and staff who are interested in serving as docents of and ambassadors for The Heritage Edition as it is brought into the community for various special events.

Ecumenical and Blessing of The Heritage Edition

Thursday, Jan. 18  11 - 11:45 a.m., Evelyn Chapel

Local clergy, as well as the Prioress from St. Marys Monastery, will participate in a service celebrating the beginning of the communitys Year with The Saint Johns Bible.

The Interfaith Power of The Saint Johns Bible

Thursday, Jan. 18  4 - 5 p.m., Evelyn Chapel

Tim Ternes will discuss the ways the Bible was informed by multifaith conversation at ReligiosiTEA, IWUs weekly gathering for interfaith dialogue.

A Revolution in Illumination and Imagination: Introducing The Saint Johns Bible

Thursday, Jan. 18  6:30 - 8 p.m.

Presser Hall, Westbrook Auditorium (1210 N. Park St., Bloomington)

Guests will be introduced to the story behind the creation of The Saint Johns Bible through video, projected imagery, dynamic reproductions and engaging discussions.

For more information about Illinois Wesleyans events involving The Saint Johns Bible, please contact University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger: enelsonw@iwu.edu. More information about The Saint Johns Bible and the Heritage Edition can be found at www.saintjohnsbible.org.

By John Twork
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By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) |  

He left Air Force Two behind and, unannounced, shrouded in secrecy, flew on an unmarked C-17 transport plane into Bagram Air Base, the largest American garrison in Afghanistan. All news of his visit was embargoed until an hour before he was to depart the country.

More than 16 years after an American invasion liberated Afghanistan, he was there to offer some good news to a U.S. troop contingent once again on the rise. Before a 40-foot American flag, addressing 500 American troops, Vice President Mike Pence praised them as the worlds greatest force for good, boasted that American air strikes had recently been dramatically increased, swore that their country was here to stay, and insisted that victory is closer than ever before. As an observer noted, however, the response of his audience was subdued. (Several troops stood with their arms crossed or their hands folded behind their backs and listened, but did not applaud.)

Think of this as but the latest episode in an upside down geopolitical fairy tale, a grim, rather than Grimm, story for our age that might begin: Once upon a time  in October 2001, to be exact  Washington launched its war on terror. There was then just one country targeted, the very one where, a little more than a decade earlier, the U.S. had ended a long proxy waragainst the Soviet Union during which it had financed, armed, or backed an extreme set of Islamic fundamentalist groups, including a rich young Saudi by the name of Osama bin Laden.

By 2001, in the wake of that war, which helped send the Soviet Union down the path to implosion, Afghanistan was largely (but not completely) ruled by the Taliban. Osama bin Laden was there, too, with a relatively modest crew of cohorts. By early 2002, he had fled to Pakistan, leaving many of his companions dead and his organization, al-Qaeda, in a state of disarray. The Taliban, defeated, were pleading to be allowed to put down their arms and go back to their villages, an abortive process that Anand Gopal vividly described in his book, No Good Men Among the Living.

It was, it seemed, all over but the cheering and, of course, the planning for yet greater exploits across the region. The top officials in the administration of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were geopolitical dreamersof the first order who couldnt have had more expansive ideas about how to extend such success to  as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld indicated only days after the 9/11 attacks  terror or insurgent groups in more than 60 countries. It was a point President Bush would reemphasize nine months later in a triumphalist graduation speech at West Point. At that moment, the struggle they had quickly, if immodestly, dubbed the Global War on Terror was still a one-country affair. They were, however, already deep into preparations to extend it in ways more radical and devastating than they could ever have imagined with the invasion and occupation of Saddam Husseins Iraq and the dominationof the oil heartlands of the planet that they were sure would follow. (In a comment that caught the moment exactly, Newsweek quoted a British official close to the Bush team as saying, Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.)

So many years later, perhaps it wont surprise you  as it probably wouldnt have surprised the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out in the streets of American cities and towns in early 2003 to oppose the invasion of Iraq  that this was one of those stories to which the adage be careful what you wish for applies.

Seeing War

And its a tale thats not over yet. Not by a long shot. As a start, in the Trump era, the longest war in American history, the one in Afghanistan, is only getting longer. There are those U.S. troop levels on the rise; those air strikes ramping up; the Taliban in control of significant sections of the country; an Islamic State-branded terror group spreading ever more successfully in its eastern regions; and, according to the latest report from the Pentagon, more than 20 terrorist or insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Think about that: 20 groups. In other words, so many years later, the war on terror should be seen as an endless exercise in the use of multiplication tables  and not just in Afghanistan either. More than a decade and a half after an American president spoke of 60 or more countries as potential targets, thanks to the invaluable work of a single dedicated group, the Costs of War Project at Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, we finally have a visual representation of the true extent of the war on terror. That weve had to wait so long should tell us something about the nature of this era of permanent war.

Americas war on terror across the globe (from the Costs of War Project).

The Costs of War Project has produced not just a map of the war on terror, 2015-2017 (released at TomDispatch with this article), but the first map of its kind ever. It offers an astounding vision of Washingtons counterterror wars across the globe: their spread, the deployment of U.S. forces, the expanding missions to train foreign counterterror forces, the American bases that make them possible, the drone and other air strikes that are essential to them, and the U.S. combat troops helping to fight them. (Terror groups have, of course, morphed and expanded riotously as part and parcel of the same process.)

A glance at the map tells you that the war on terror, an increasingly complex set of intertwined conflicts, is now a remarkably global phenomenon. It stretches from the Philippines (with its own ISIS-branded group that just fought an almost five-month-long campaign that devastated Marawi, a city of 300,000) through South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and deep into West Africa where, only recently, four Green Berets died in an ambush in Niger.

No less stunning are the number of countries Washingtons war on terror has touched in some fashion. Once, of course, there was only one (or, if you want to include the United States, two). Now, the Costs of War Project identifies no less than 76 countries, 39% of those on the planet, as involved in that global conflict. That means places like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya where U.S. drone or other air strikes are the norm and U.S. ground troops (often Special Operations forces) have been either directly or indirectly engaged in combat. It also means countries where U.S. advisers are training local militaries or even militias in counterterror tactics and those with bases crucial to this expanding set of conflicts. As the map makes clear, these categories often overlap.

Who could be surprised that such a war has been eating American taxpayer dollars at a rate that should stagger the imagination in a country whose infrastructure is now visibly crumbling? In a separate study, released in November, the Costs of War Project estimated that the price tag on the war on terror (with some future expenses included) had already reached an astronomical $5.6 trillion. Only recently, however, President Trump, now escalating those conflicts, tweeted an even more staggering figure: After having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country! (This figure, too, seems to have come in some fashion from the Costs of War estimate that future interest payments on borrowing for the wars will likely add more than $7.9 trillion to the national debt by mid-century.)

It couldnt have been a rarer comment from an American politician, as in these years assessments of both the monetary and human costs of war have largely been left to small groups of scholars and activists. The war on terror has, in fact, spread in the fashion todays map lays out with almost no serious debate in this country about its costs or results. If the document produced by the Costs of War project is, in fact, a map from hell, it is also, I believe, the first full-scale map of this war ever produced.

Think about that for a moment. For the last 16 years, we, the American people, funding this complex set of conflicts to the tune of trillions of dollars, have lacked a single map of the war Washington has been fighting. Not one. Yes, parts of that morphing, spreading set of conflicts have been somewhere in the news regularly, though seldom (except when there were lone wolf terror attacks in the United States or Western Europe) in the headlines. In all those years, however, no American could see an image of this strange, perpetual conflict whose end is nowhere in sight.

Part of this can be explained by the nature of that war. There are no fronts, no armies advancing on Berlin, no armadas bearing down on the Japanese homeland. There hasnt been, as in Korea in the early 1950s, even a parallel to cross or fight your way back to. In this war, there have been no obvious retreats and, after the triumphal entry into Baghdad in 2003, few advances either.

It was hard even to map its component parts and when you did  as in an August New York Times map of territories controlled by the Taliban in Afghanistan  the imagery was complex and of limited impact. Generally, however, we, the people, have been demobilized in almost every imaginable way in these years, even when it comes to simply following the endless set of wars and conflicts that go under the rubric of the war on terror.

Mapping 2018 and Beyond

Let me repeat this mantra: once, almost seventeen years ago, there was one; now, the count is 76 and rising. Meanwhile, great cities have been turned into rubble; tens of millions of human beings have been displaced from their homes; refugees by the millions continue to cross borders, unsettling ever more lands; terror groups have become brand names across significant parts of the planet; and our American world continues to be militarized.

This should be thought of as an entirely new kind of perpetual global war. So take one more look at that map. Click on it and then enlarge it to consider the map in full-screen mode. Its important to try to imagine whats been happening visually, since were facing a new kind of disaster, a planetary militarization of a sort weve never truly seen before. No matter the successes in Washingtons war, ranging from that invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to the taking of Baghdad in 2003 to the recent destruction of the Islamic States caliphate in Syria and Iraq (or most of it anyway, since at this moment American planes are still droppingbombs and firing missiles in parts of Syria), the conflicts only seem to morph and tumble on.

We are now in an era in which the U.S. military is the leading edge  often the only edge  of what used to be called American foreign policy and the State Department is being radically downsized. American Special Operations forces were deployed to 149 countries in 2017 alone and the U.S. has so many troops on so many bases in so many places on Earth that the Pentagon cant even account for the whereabouts of 44,000 of them. There may, in fact, be no way to truly map all of this, though the Costs of War Projects illustration is a triumph of what can be seen.

Looking into the future, lets pray for one thing: that the folks at that project have plenty of stamina, since its a given that, in the Trump years (and possibly well beyond), the costs of war will only rise. The first Pentagon budget of the Trump era, passed with bipartisan unanimity by Congress and signed by the president, is a staggering $700 billion. Meanwhile, Americas leading military men and the president, while escalating the countrys conflicts from Niger to Yemen, Somalia to Afghanistan, seem eternally in search of yet more wars to launch.

Pointing to Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, for instance, Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller recently told U.S. troops in Norway to expect a bigass fight in the future, adding, I hope Im wrong, but theres a war coming. In December, National Security Adviser Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster similarly suggested that the possibility of a war (conceivably nuclear in nature) with Kim Jong-uns North Korea was increasing every day. Meanwhile, in an administration packed with Iranophobes, President Trump seems to be preparing to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, possibly as early as this month.

In other words, in 2018 and beyond, maps of many creative kinds may be needed simply to begin to take in the latest in Americas wars. Consider, for instance, a recent report in the New York Times that about 2,000 employees of the Department of Homeland Security are already deployed to more than 70 countries around the world, largely to prevent terror attacks. And so it goes in the twenty-first century.

So welcome to 2018, another year of unending war, and while were on the subject, a small warning to our leaders: given the last 16 years, be careful what you wish for.

Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs TomDispatch.com. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. The map in this piece was produced by the Costs of War Project at Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Alfred McCoys In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, as well as John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Copyright 2018 Tom Engelhardt

Via Tomdispatch.com
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TeleSur |  

On Wednesday U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the U.S. would withhold US$255 million in assistance to Pakistan.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced Thursday it would freeze nearly all security aid to Pakistan until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against terrorist groups.

Although Nauert did not specify an amount, the freeze can be estimated in hundreds of millions given that a day prior U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the Washington would withhold US$255 million in assistance to Pakistan.

The announcement come days after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Pakistans fight against terrorism tweeting on Jan. 1 that the United States had foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid in the last years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit.

The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!



https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/947802588174577664

In response Pakistans Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif reminded Trump: You carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan from our bases, your forces were supplied arms and explosives through our soil, thousands of our civilians and soldiers became victims of the war initiated by you. Pakistan also summoned U.S. Ambassador David Hale to discuss the statement and lodged a strongly-worded protest.

The diplomatic crisis was unleashed by President Trump less than a week after China, Pakistan and Afghanistan launched a trilateral cooperation mechanism designed to advance Chinas proposed global trade route, the One Belt, One Road initiative, which passes through Pakistan and will potentially include Afghanistan.

In the past months the U.S. government has publicly threatened nations and institutions that do not comply with its policies and interests, using the financial aid it provides.

After the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the U.S. unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital on Dec. 21, Haley said the U.S. would remember the vote when we are called upon to once again make the worlds largest contribution to the U.N. Prior to the vote Trump had warned: let them vote against us  Well save a lot.

Via TeleSur

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Trump and Pakistan: Why the US is taking aim at an ally  BBC News
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In the emergency room, the stress is palpable. The hairs on your neck rise up as you enter the resuscitation bay where the next unconscious patient has just arrived. You can almost feel death as it circulates through the air, like a vulture in the sky. The air tastes sterile, and you hear the crash cart and ultrasound being rolled over to the patients bed.

The patient was fine 20 minutes ago, a healthy middle-aged woman who collapsed at home while preparing dinner with her husband. He now stands in the corner, face flushed and dampened by tears. You avoid making eye contact with him at first, until that empty feeling in your stomach recedes. Meanwhile, you examine the patient as the trauma team is preparing to intubate. Her eyes are disfigured, locked in opposite-facing directions like a broken doll. When you lift her arms, it feels as if all life were drained from them as they rest limp in your hands. After her neck is twisted backward and a rigid tube forced into her airway, she is shuttled off for a CT scan. But you already know what to expect. Its a horrible stroke. The situation is devastating. You begin to counsel the husband about what you might see in her brain, and what you can do about it. And that there may be a way to save her.

Later that night when Ive retreated to my home and sat down to dinner, Im interrupted by the pager. A remote hospitals emergency room is reaching out for help. An older man is suddenly paralyzed on the right side of his body and he is unable to speak. I walk over to my desk, unfold my notebook computer, and log in. On the other end of the line, in the emergency room, a nurse escorts a 5-foot mobile computer into the patients room. My face appears before the nurse on an 8-inch iPad screen. On my end, as I sit down on my living room sofa, I can see the patients sister is sitting in the chair next to the gurney. Her head is folded softly into her hands. I cannot hear the muffled sound of her crying. I cannot sense the weight of the air that fills the patients room. I select the icon for the left arrow and rotate the computers camera inch by inch until the patient comes into view. It is horribly slow. My chin rests in my free hand as I let out a short sigh, clicking my way across the patients room. I zoom in on him and watch as the nurse is measuring his blood pressure. In the midst of this emergency, I cant help but feel reminded of The Sims. His life-threatening situation has been reduced to a shoddy video game.

I correct my posture and speak into the microphone, like I used to during my Xbox days in high school. There is no response. I toggle the volume icon and adjust the microphone settings. The woman in the chair looks up and the nurse faces me. Or at least my face on the mobile monitor. Hello. My name is Dr. Siegler. Im a neurology consultant from Philadelphia. May I get your name?

The woman in the chair responds with her name. Mia.

And to the nurse in the room, I say, May I get your name?

Alex, she says.

Nice to meet you, I reply, perfunctorily. Mia, can you tell me what happened? And so my line of questioning begins. I listen carefully to Mias story. But I cant help but notice the smell of my dogs peanut butter chew toy or the pumpkin spice candle burning at my living room table. My neighbor and his daughter are playing in our shared backyard space, and I hear them laughing.

Alex, would you be able to help me examine the patient? I ask. She complies. Lets start with how attentive he is  And so on.

Alex does an excellent job as we navigate through a routine assessment for stroke. Meanwhile, I check off boxes on the computer interface: vital signs reviewed, lethargic, non-verbal, weakness present, and risks and benefits of treatment discussed. This limited assessment is hardly acceptable by my own standards, but its the best we can do for now.

Despite the crudeness of these clinical encounters, I am optimistic that electronic consultations are helpful to patients. And we seem to be making a difference in their lives. But, as telestroke providers, were only as useful as the help we receive on the other end. While Im relaxing comfortably on my living room sofa, ignoring scented candles and puppy sounds, the nurse is at the vanguard. Where I know Im supposed to be. And no audio recording of patients gratitude is going to fix the emptiness Im left with once I close the consult window.

I recognize the need to have a digital doctor on call, the value of an e-specialist. And there is a lot that telemedicine providers can offer over the phone. Telestroke is here to stay, and it should continue to improve. But rest assured, no iPad will replace a personal encounter.

James E. Siegler is a neurologist and is an editorial board member, resident and fellow section, Neurology.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Ben diverts his eyes and wipes away tears, his typical stoicism and iron-willed suppression of emotion giving way to a sea of churning thoughts, feelings and memories. While visiting as his hospice social worker, wed been talking about his impending death, walking it through in our minds from the time the funeral home arrived until hes planted in the ground. Wed talked about death before, and hed always been cool as steel. But this time something is different.

Reading his face, his wife Patsy leaves us alone. I wait for him to speak.

Its not right, he whispers, staring into space.

Whats not right? I ask.

He shakes his head as if gauging how much to say. Im not surprised when the Vietnam War comes up again. Theres something about dying and the way it invites us to look back on the life we have lived that often frees repressed and unspoken images of war. Ive worked with many dying veterans who, even among those who expressed pride and who found meaning and friendships amidst the terrors of combat, have shared heartbreaking sadness and painful memories which had long been unspoken.

In some ways dying  facing a mortal threat, losing control, feeling unsafe, sudden shifts in assumptions about the future  can mirror distant experiences of those who once went to war. Moreover, terminal illness and medical care are replete with potential triggers and trauma reminders  physical pain, shortness of breath, feeling states like fear and anger  that can intensify and bring to the surface symptoms of posttraumatic stress, undigested grief as well as hidden moral, spiritual and existential pain.

Its not right, Ben continues, that Ive had a long life and get a fancy send-off when so many of my buddies got killed when they were kids and had what was left of their bodies packed into bags and shipped home in cargo holds.

His hands are shaking. Suspecting theres more, I let him know Im listening and wait.

War turns people mean, he says as if speaking in a trance, making no eye contact. It turns good men on both sides into sadists, animals.

His respirations are quick and shallow, forehead beading sweat, signs of a ramped up nervous system. I ask if he wants to say more, making it clear the ball is in his court. No pressure. When he nods, I encourage him to take it slow, in small pieces.

He tells me about things forever seared into his mind: The smell of burning human flesh; the sound of a friend screaming for help just before dying; corpses of women and children bleeding into a packed dirt trail; the image of a young Vietnamese soldier whose dead body he had desecrated in a fit of rage-fueled revenge.

Why do I get a funeral when all that poor Viet Cong soldier got was, he searches for words and finds none.

Some have attempted to find language for the deep wounds that can occur to ones moral identity when faced with the kind of horrors Ben was describing and the personal responsibility he felt. In his book on working with Vietnam combat veterans, War and the Soul, Ed Tick goes so far as to assert that such pain undergirds all combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to him, PTSD is not best understood or treated as a stress disorder, as it is now characterized. Rather, it is best understood as an identity disorder and soul wound. Deborah Grassman, who specializes in working with terminally ill veterans, has found that this kind of pain often emerges at the end of life as big questions arise amidst the gathering twilight. The source of soul injury, she believes, is unmourned grief and unforgiven guilt and shame over things we think we should or should not have done.

Having worked with hundreds of combat veterans  including the much vaunted survivors of World War II, many of whom were traumatized in ways only immediate family would ever know  Ive learned not to use platitudes like quickly thanking a veteran for his or her service, or using words like heroes or freedom. For patients like Ben, such euphemisms and automatic phrases can ring hollow and may telegraph that we are not interested in letting them define for themselves the meaning and truth of their experience.

Such phrases may convey that we are not prepared to hear things which collide with simplistic, morally sanitized preconceptions we may have about the nature of war. Clinically, they often shut down the difficult but potentially therapeutic conversation Ben and I were having. And such conversations may be the last chance to move in the direction of healing or forgiveness before death.

Ben looks out the window and talks in a far-away voice. Ive been seeing that Vietnamese soldier. He visits me.

You talking about in dreams, nightmares?

No, I mean when Im wide awake. I see him clear as day. Ben looks me hard in the eye. Started happening after I got sick. You think Im crazy?

No. Inwardly, prepare myself for a long visit. It takes however long it takes.

We sit in silence for a while. Ben fidgets with his oxygen cannula and clears his throat. I ask if the soldier has a message for him and he shakes his head.

What does he do when he comes?

Tears well in the corners of Bens eyes, He just stares at me, asking the same question over and over. Why?

Scott Janssen is a social worker.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
(Corrects to central bank selling, not buying, euros)

BELGRADE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Serbian central bank sold an unspecified amount of euros on the local interbank market on Thursday to bolster the dinar, dealers said.

The bank which keeps the dinar in a managed float against the euro, stepped in as the dinar traded at 118.95 to the euro or 0.08 percent stronger from the previous close.

So far this week the bank sold a total 60 million euros to stabilise the dinar exchange rate. After the intervention the dinar firmed further to 118.7 to the euro, Reuters data showed.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
The Atlantic reports:

In early August, 33-year-old Phoenix Feeley began a 16-day jail sentence in New Jersey for refusing to pay fines from 2008 when she was arrested for sunbathing topless at a Spring Lake beach. She spent nine days on a hunger strike before being released early from Monmouth County Jail on August 14. Feeley is part of Go Topless, an organization that advocates for womens right to go topless on the basis of gender equality. The group says its objective is not to push for a world where everyone goes sans shirt, but rather to push back against what they see as an infringement of womens constitutional right not to be discriminated against on the basis of gender. The question is: Why should women be barred from going topless where men are not? Its a question that quickly takes its debaters from an analysis of legality to the subtleties of how men and women are treated by the law and society. The incident in New Jersey wasnt Feeleys first legal squabble over the issue of public toplessness. In 2005, the activist successfully sued the NYPD after being arrested for walking shirtless down a New York City street, where it is officially legal for women to do so. She was awarded a settlement of $29,000, in addition to bringing attention to the often vague or inconsistently enforced toplessness laws in the US.

As I understand it, NZ laws are non-specific as to what has to be worn in public. Weve had topless women in parades, and I think the naked jogger even escaped conviction.

The idea that female toplessness is somehow different from male toplessness is clearly deeply embedded in our collective social psyche. This argument, in fact, came up in a landmark case in 1986, when nine women were arrested in Rochester, New York, for being topless in an isolated park, at a time when the state had a law forbidding female toplessness. Judge Herman Walz, one of the first to hear the case, which took six years before being settled finally by the New York State Court of Appeals, wrote in his decision that the statutes objective is to protect the public from invasions of its sensibilities, and merely reflects current community standards as to what constitutes nudity. The objective itself is not based on stereotyped notions, therefore it is not illegitimate. He also wrote that community standards do not deem the exposure of males breasts offensive, therefore the state does not have an interest in preventing exposure of the males breasts.

I dont really consider any nudity offensive (except my own!) but fair to say you tend to be more surprised if a woman is topless than a guy.

One of the curiosities of the debate, then, is that both sides argue that they are combatting objectification. Those opposed to public female toplessness say it is the exposure of breasts that will sexualize the women baring them. The question, finally, has much to do with how you think laws should relate to society: Is it more advisable to use laws to protect women (and the public) in a society that already views their bodies as sexual? Or should laws challenge preconceptions and foster an evolution in the perception of female bodies? Given that in the US, there are over 200,000 occurrences of sexual assault annually, with 9 out of 10 victims being women, both sides understandably feel that the sexualization of the female body is a high-stakes issue. Advocates like Phoenix Feeley and Go Topless, though, would argue in favor of the more progressive second approach: using law as a tool for change. Pro-topless equality supporters claim that if state and local governments facilitate the normalizing of female bodies, people will begin to see women less as sex objects for the taking, a mental shift which could feed a decline in, among other problems, assault. They claim they are pushing for equal laws in an effort not only to gain legal fairness, but to change the overall view of women in American society. Legal thought in the U.S. seems to be shifting, slowly, in their favor. Only time will tell whether their social predictions, too, will be borne out.

I really cant see a change of social acceptability, regardless of the legal situation.

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By Ko Dong-hwan







Thais prefer South Korea as the best place to work overseas illegally, but for many Korea has become "a false promise land" for aliens and sex workers from the Southeast Asian country.







Thailand's employment department said more than 1,100 Thais tried to enter Korea without a valid visa last year, according to the Bangkok Post, Friday.

Most did not acquire a legal working visa as recommended by the Thai government, but instead turned to employment agencies.







The next most-popular countries for illegal Thai workers were Malaysia, Bahrain, Russia and Qatar, employment department chief Anurak Tossarat said Thursday.







Thai ambassador to South Korea Saran Charoensuwan revealed last year that the number of Thai workers coming to Korea had doubled in the previous three years. He said the Thais were "attracted by high salaries that can amount to 30,000 baht ($930) a month."







Most Thais also chose South Korea because the punishment for working illegally is not severe. Illegal workers are merely sent home and blacklisted in Korea.







Charoensuwan said about half of the 100,000 Thais living in Korea were working illegally, mostly on farms.







Thailand's department of special investigation also said many Thai women had been forced into prostitution in Korea. The department said criminal rings lured the women with promises of high pay, welfare benefits and accommodation in return for offering "traditional" Thai massage.






A hospital in Bangkok recently experienced a massive surge in popularity for an unorthodox cosmetic procedure: penis lightening.

A video posted to Facebook earlier this week by the Lelux Hospital appeared to show a medical technician servicing the nether regions of a male patient lying on a table. The post racked up over 4 million views and garnered more than 10,000 comments by Jan. 4, Newsweek reported. (The post, however, has since been deleted.)

The penis-lightening procedure uses lasers  "the same pigmentation laser equipment employed in other skin treatments"  to break down melanin in skin cells, Popol Tansakul, Lelux's marketing manager, told German news agency DPA International. [8 Wild Facts About the Penis]

Laser skin lightening works by destroying melanocytes  cells that produce the skin pigment melanin  without damaging the surface of the skin, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The technique is often used to treat age spots or other isolated patches of darkened skin, and has few side effects other than increased sensitivity to sunlight, the Mayo Clinic says. However, applying this technique to highly sensitive genital areas may come with risks, including "irritation, allergies and inflammation," Dr. Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn, deputy director-general of Thailand's Health Service Support Department, said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Health.

Many prospective patients who visit Lelux travel to the clinic from Hong Kong, Cambodia and Myanmar, seeking a brighter future for their genitalia, the BBC reported.

"We get around 100 clients a month, three to four clients a day," Bunthita Wattanasiri, a manager in the hospital's skin and laser department, told the Agence France-Presse.

The newly inflated popularity of the clinic's penis lightening was preceded several months earlier by the introduction of cosmetic labia lightening, according to the BBC. Hospital officials subsequently received so many requests for penis lightening that they began offering the service about one month later, charging $650 for five sessions.

The popularity of cosmetic skin lightening in Thailand  and in other countries  is generally associated with social conventions and pressures that favor lighter skin tones over darker ones; lighter skin is linked to elevated social status, the BBC reported. Lelux Hospital representatives estimated that about 50 percent of its clients visit the hospital for skin-lightening treatments, according to the BBC.

Original article on Live Science.
A woman at Belle Vitta, a lifestyle re-education center, reaches into the refrigerator for coffee so she can fill her enema bottle.

Colon cleansers have landed people in the hospital, but that hasn't stopped actress Gwyneth Paltrow from touting one  known as the Implant O'Rama System  on her lifestyle website, goop.

In a new detox guide, goop describes the Implant O'Rama as an "at-home coffee enema," which claims to relieve people from "depression, confusion, general nervous tension, many allergy related symptoms and, most importantly, relief from severe pain," according to the product's web page.

But doctors beg to differ. [25 Medical Myths That Just Won't Go Away]

Colon cleansing "is not wise  particularly if you have a history of gastrointestinal disease (including diverticulitis, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis) or a history of colon surgery, severe hemorrhoids, kidney disease, or heart disease," as these conditions can increase the risk of adverse effects, according to a 2011 report in The Journal of Family Practice.

The colon, also called the large intestine, helps rid the body of food waste after all the nutrients have been extracted from the digested food. This waste is then stored in the sigmoid colon (the last part of the colon before the rectum), where it is kept until the body is ready for a bowel movement.

Given that the colon processes waste, it's not that surprising that colon cleansing has been practiced since ancient times, when it was believed that intestinal waste in the colon could poison the body, according to the 2011 report. The procedure was revived in the early 1900s, but it fell out of favor after a 1919 paper by the American Medical Association condemned the practice. However, the popularity of colon cleansing has rebounded in recent years, the researchers said.

But the practice can be dangerous, whether or not coffee is involved. The report reviews two case reports, including a 31-year-old woman with Crohn's disease who came to the emergency department with symptoms of weakness, fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The woman reported she had gone to a cleansing center for a colonic cleansing two days prior, but stopped 15 minutes into the procedure after developing diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, the researchers said.

In another case, a 49-year-old man who used a colon cleanser developed symptoms that included dizziness, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea. A colonoscopy showed that he had chronic and acute inflammation, prompting a gastroenterologist to diagnose him with "herbal intoxication," the researchers said.

How it works

Colonic cleansing, also known as colonic irrigation or colonic hydrotherapy, works like an enema.

"The patient generally lies on a table and water (with or without additional herbs or compounds) is pumped through the rectum via a tube," the researchers wrote in the report. "Unlike enemas, for which a small amount of fluid is used, however, colon cleansing calls for a large volume of fluid  up to 60 liters [15 gallons]  to be introduced into the rectum [not all at once, but over the course of the procedure]. Fluids and waste are expelled through another tube. The procedure may be repeated several times."

However, despite claims that this cleansing can aid in "detoxification," boost the immune and circulatory systems and enhance cognitive ability, evidence shows otherwise. [7 Embarrassing Health Problems]

"Despite colon cleansing's long history and current popularity, the literature does not support its purported benefits," the researchers wrote in the report.

Colon cleansing can cause mild side effects, such as cramping, abdominal pain and nausea, or serious problems, including renal failure and electrolyte imbalance, the researchers said. Moreover, the devices used in the cleansing are not approved for colon cleansing by the Food and Drug Administration.

It's important to note that colon cleansing practitioners are not licensed by a scientifically based organization, the researchers said. "Rather, practitioners have undergone a training process structured by an organization that is attempting to institute its own certification and licensing requirement," they wrote.

Paltrow has already landed in hot water for encouraging "vaginal steaming" (which isn't necessary, because the vagina can clean itself) and selling jade eggs, telling readers to insert them into the vagina as a way to boost reproductive health. (There's no evidence that the eggs work, and they may alter the bacteria in the vagina and its pH.)

Original article on Live Science.
Lalu Prasad Yadav Biography

The darling of the masses and the favourite whipping-boy of the media, Lalu Prasad Yadav is one person who defies stereotypes. Born in a poor peasant family in Phulwaria in Gopalganj district of Bihar on June 11, 1948, he is the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, former UPA minister of railways and former member of Parliament of the 15th Lok Sabha. Lalu also served as the Chief Minister of Bihar for seven years from 1990 to 1997.

He tied the nuptial knot with Rabri Devi on June 1, 1973. Lalu became involved in politics during his student days at the Patna University and was subsequently elected to the 6th Lok Sabha in 1977, at the age of only 29 years, becoming one of its youngest members.

He was a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1989. He had to resign from the post of Chief Minister of Bihar after being accused in the Fodder Scam in 1996. Thereafter, his wife became the Chief Minister. He founded the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, breaking ranks from the parent Janata Dal. Elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from the Chhapra and Madhepura seats of Bihar, he became the railway minister in the present UPA coalition government.

His most notable achievement has been the financial turnaround of the Indian Railways. When Lalu took over the mantle of the Railway Minister, the Indian Railways was in bankruptcy and experts had predicted that its losses would only mount in the coming years. It is to the credit of Lalu Prasad that he was successful in leading the Indian Railways from being mired in losses to posting a surplus of nearly Rs 20,000 crores. This has become the subject of study at many management institutes in India and abroad, with Lalu being invited to give lectures. Lalu has been immensely popular with the masses, with many books written about him and songs being composed in his honour. Occasionally, Lalu-brand dolls, tobacco, chocolate, cosmetics have hit the markets.

He has had his share of infamy and has been sent to jail many times. His brother-in-law has been in the news too for all the wrong reasons. He has been very popular in Bollywood and the small screen with many actors mimicking him. He played a cameo role in the 2004 Hindi movie, Padamshree Laloo Prasad Yadav.
On Twitter, Donald Trump rivals the most malicious trolls and purveyors of misinformation. Yet his status as a world leader makes him immune to the social networks posting policies.

Albeit indirectly, that was the message from Twitter on Friday, as the company faces mounting public pressure to stop broadcasting Trumps endless stream of personal attacks, provocations and disinformation.

Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society, Twitter notes in a new statement. Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate.

advertisement advertisement

Among other displays of outrage over Trumps provocations and threats of nuclear war, protestors projected the phrase @jack is #complicit onto the walls of Twitters San Francisco offices this week.

The message, of course, refers to Twitters second-time CEO Jack Dorsey.

Officially, Twitter says it does review tweets by world leaders within the political context that defines them, and then enforces its rules accordingly.

In its Friday statement, Twitter also insisted that business decisions dont factor into its unwillingness to interrupt the accounts of powerful users. No one persons account drives Twitters growth, or influences these decisions, it stressed.

Addressing one of Trumps more notorious tweets, Twitter was recently forced to explain its decision not to police his threats against North Korea. While the taunts would normally have triggered Twitters anti-aggression policy, Twitter explained that their newsworthiness made them acceptable.

More broadly, CEO Jack Dorsey and other Twitter executives have recently been forced to admit they could be doing a better job of communicating its content-policing policies to users.

In November, Twitter published a clearer version of its content policing policies. This latest set of rules were short on concrete changes, but long on additional rationale for controversial policies and enforcement methods.

That included updating Twitters media policy Help Center page to include expectation-setting examples of the types of content covered by the policy.

While world leaders may get a pass, Twitter has been trying to clean up its network.

Last month, for instance, it began cracking down on what it considers to be hateful content.
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MIDDLETOWN  A small, thin, bronze plaque shaped like a police badge with a significant wrinkle may not look like much alone, but it is one of the showpieces of long-lost history that will be displayed at the nearly-built Greater Middletown Military Museum at Veterans Park.

It fits as snugly as a puzzle piece into the two halves of a tree stump that museum president and founder Ron Organek explained was embedded in one of 32 trees on Veterans Memorial Green on Washington Street. They were dedicated in the 1920s to Middletown residents who died during World War I.

Memorial Tree, World War, 1917-1918, Earl R. Clark, killed in action, registered with the American Forestry Association, Washington, D.C., it reads.

A crew cutting down dead trees made the discovery.

They started cutting them up and they found the plaque inside one  the tree had grown around it, said Organek, who knows of one other recovered plaque.

Judy Johnson of Cromwell donated her great-uncles plaque to the Connecticut Historical Society, where she works, Organek said.

The city didnt maintain the memorial in the 1920s, said Organek, who was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968 and served with the 14th Armored Calvery in Germany. It wasnt until the 30s and 40s  they had forgotten about the tree.

Precious artifacts like these, which have made their way to museum officers over the past 15 years, will be part of an extensive collection of memorabilia housed at the new facility expected to open by the end of the month on Walnut Grove Road.

Organek cant help but be a patient man when it comes to his 15-year dream: a single home for the thousands of military memorabilia hes been collecting and storing in various locations.

Among them: Iraqi most wanted playing cards, a Major Gen. Maurice Rose Memorial Bridge sign from Route 9, bayonets, a flag commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, MREs, uniforms  including one worn during the Revolutionary War  diaries, letters, knives, books, DVDs and maps.

The 5,000-square-foot structure was designed by Steve Nelson of Wethersfield-based Moser Pilon Nelson Architects and built by J.A. Rosa Construction of Wolcott. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of the month.

It sits next to the Connecticut Trees of Honor, at the Walnut Grove Road park, where the 65 soldiers from the state who lost their lives in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 attacks are commemorated with a tree and granite plaque, and a tranquil pond.

It is important to have the military museum situated next to the Trees of Honor, so when someone visits, her or she will not miss out on either tribute to those who fought for our freedoms, said Jerry Augustine, building committee member.

Situated in the center of the state, 3.5 miles away from the State Veterans Cemetery on Bow Lane, Augustine said the museum will be a highlight of Middletowns heritage.

The total cost is just shy of $900,000, said Chris Holden, deputy director of public works. It was paid for with a $300,000 state grant, $300,000 in bonding as part of the senior center project, and last spring, the Common Council approved an additional $300,000.

The military museum will be responsible for everything in the interior and is charged with raising an additional $200,000 for items like displays, library bookcases and electricity, Holden said.

All that remains to be done is water and sewer and electrical lines, which might be delayed a bit because of the recent deep freeze.

A UH-1 Huey helicopter donated by the town of Southington will be displayed on a pedestal close to the building.

Although its being called a museum, Organek said education and research are the facilitys primary focus.

When the temporary museum building was outside the senior center, Organek said a Wesleyan student and a few others stopped by to do research.

We even got an email from someone Belgium that wanted information on the Sage family  Gen. Comfort Sage, who served in Revolutionary War and lived in the Upper Houses of Middletown, now Cromwell, he said.

He is buried in the cemetery behind the firehouse on Main Street.

We want to work very closely with the schools in the area, said Organek

We go to the schools a few times a year and we tell the kids we served in Germany, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan, said Philip Cacciola, building committee member. I say, Go back to your teachers. Have them show you where these places are on a map because seventh- and eighth-graders have no conception of how far away Vietnam was from the U.S., Iraq, even Germany. Its part of the education process.

I dont think kids know everything that we did, Organek said.

He was excited to recently receive a sizeable monetary donation to the project. With just $5,000 of $200,000 needed to pay for electricity and interior items like displays and bookcases, Organek said the fundraising committee has begun selling engraved brick pavers for $100 each.

It pains him that many items related to Middletowns military history have been lost over the years.

Weve seen a lot of stuff being thrown on the landfill, he said. A lot of the stuff is actual history.

Ken McClellan, vice chairman of the building committee, placed his U.S. Army jacket from the Iraq War next to what museum members think might be an officers jacket from the 1700s.

Thats the period were covering  the Revolutionary War to Iraq and beyond, said.

He hopes to have as much as possible digitized to make it easy for people to research, in addition to what members have on DVD, such as the Stars and Stripes newspapers from WWI and II.

We do want to have a lot of artifacts, including my personal interest, bayonets from different periods and militaries, he said, looking at one. The German Brownshirts carried these, he said, removing it from its sheath, referring to the political, nonmilitary wing of the Nazi party.

Norm Way, Alexander Czajka, Leo Kania, Bob Brown and Angelo Bartolotta are among the 46 Middletown residents that comprised Battery B of the 110th Anti Aircraft Artillery. The front page of the book, 110th AAA: Driving Hitlers Crawlin Coffin by Lonnie R. Speer, is signed by all five, although Bartolotta is the only one left alive, McClellan said.

For more information, see gmvmm.com.

Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com.
Officials say the device was known as an "unexploded ordnance," or an explosive weapon that did not explode and still posed a...
A Navy team of deep water salvage experts located a C-2A Greyhound aircraft last week that crashed into the Philippine Sea, en route to the USS Ronald Reagan on Nov. 22.

The Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) deployed the team to Japan in December to embark on a contracted salvage vessel and proceed to the crash site at sea. Once on station, operators searched for the aircraft's emergency relocation pinger with a towed pinger locator (TPL) system. The TPL uses passive sensors to listen for the pingers frequency.

Initially delayed by poor weather conditions, the team deployed the TPL to optimal search depths of 3,000 feet above the ocean floor on Dec. 29. After marking the aircrafts location, the search team returned to port.

The C-2A rests at a depth of about 18,500 feet, making the salvage phase of this operation the deepest recovery attempt of an aircraft to date. In the coming weeks, the team will return to the site with a side-scan-sonar (SSS) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to map the debris field and attach heavy lines for lifting the aircraft to the surface.

"Despite very challenging conditions, every effort will be made to recover the aircraft and our fallen sailors," the Navy said in a Jan. 5 press release.

Assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC 30) forward-deployed to Japan, the C-2A Greyhound was carrying 11 crew and passengers when it crashed.

Eight personnel were recovered immediately by Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 12. For the next three days, the Ronald Reagan and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force conducted search and rescue operations for the three missing sailors, covering nearly 1,000 square nautical miles before ending the search.

An investigation is in progress.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sidestepped the furor Friday over the new tell-all book on White House infighting that depicts a feud between since-ousted aide Steve Bannon and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser.

Mattis said he had been told that his name pops up several times in the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," by journalist Michael Wolff. But when asked whether he would read it, he said, "No, I'm a little busy these days."

At an informal session with Pentagon reporters, Mattis joked that he would leave the reading of the book to the "more literate" members of the press corps.

The book depicts President Donald Trump's White House as riven by constant feuds between rival political factions, with former chief White House strategist Bannon as a main character in the backbiting.

In the book, Bannon suggested that a meeting at Trump Tower in New York between Trump's son, Donald Jr., and a Russian lawyer may have been "treasonous."

Mattis' name comes up in the book in the context of Bannon's alleged conniving to get rid of McMaster, a Silver Star veteran of the Gulf War.

Bannon tried to convince Trump to promote McMaster to four-star rank and make him the commander in Afghanistan to get him out of the White House, Wolff wrote.

"Bannon believed McMaster would be out by [last] August. He was sure he had the president's word on this, done deal," Wolff wrote. "In Bannon's scenario, Trump would give McMaster a fourth star and 'promote' him to top military commander in Afghanistan."

Wolff wrote that Bannon boasted: "McMaster wants to send more troops to Afghanistan, so we're going to send him."

Instead, it was Bannon who left the White House. Also in August, Trump approved sending an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan. McMaster is still on the job.

Before leaving, Bannon also clashed with McMaster on the conduct of the war in Afghanistan.

It's a matter of record, but the book also notes that Bannon backed a scheme put forward by Erik Prince, founder of the now-defunct Blackwater security firm and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, to replace U.S. troops in Afghanistan with mercenaries.

Bannon arranged for Prince to meet Mattis at the Pentagon on a Saturday. At the time, Pentagon officials, speaking on grounds of anonymity, said Mattis listened "politely" to Prince and sent him on his way.

At an earlier session with reporters, Mattis said Bannon failed to make much of an impression on him. He could recall only two meetings on defense issues where Bannon was present and, if Bannon said anything, the defense secretary couldn't remember what it was.

"My responsibility is to the president," Mattis said. Bannon "was at two meetings that I recall, here.  I don't recall him -- I'm almost certain he never said a word in either one of those meetings."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
The U.S. military is poised to launch a secret payload, code-name Zuma, this weekend on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, if the weather doesn't get in the way.

California-based SpaceX, headed by Elon Musk, announced via Twitter the launch -- which has been repeatedly delayed since November -- has been pushed back to Jan. 7.

"Team at the Cape completed additional propellant loading tests today. Extreme weather slowed operations but Falcon 9 and the Zuma spacecraft are healthy and go for launch -- now targeting January 7 from Pad 40 in Florida," the company tweeted Thursday, referencing Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The mission, Zuma, remains shrouded in mystery. The payload is some sort of "spacecraft" that will conduct a low-Earth orbit, according to the mission's press release. Indeed, it's not even clear which government agency is responsible for the effort.

Related content:

In September, the U.S. Air Force's covert X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle hitched a ride for the first time aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, marking the fifth mission for the experimental craft.

The company also is planning to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket soon.

The heavy-lift booster rocket will make its operational, maiden flight sometime this month. Musk intends to send his 2008 Tesla Roadster deep into space atop of the rocket, the CEO announced Thursday via Instagram.

If the launch of the Falcon Heavy is successful, it will make the rocket the most powerful in the world thanks to its 27 Merlin engines, which produce roughly 5.1 million pounds of thrust.

That is "equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit," according to SpaceX.

Falcon Heavy is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center's launch complex 39A, originally built for the historic Apollo missions.

-- Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office was responsible for the mission. The story was updated to correct this reference.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
"Don't tell them anything. There's nothing they can do about it, and hearing about problems at home will stress them out and distract them."

"Tell them everything, just like you would if they were home. They'll feel lied to if you don't, and married couples are supposed to endure together these burdens together."

These are the most dominant schools of thought for couples when one is away from home for an extended period of time. I can speak only to the military experience, but military spouses definitely get told not to overshare.

Personally, I'm a tell-it-all person. I wouldn't be in the writing-things-for-the-world-to-read profession if keeping things to myself was my strong suit. It's just not in my nature.

I'm perfectly capable of keeping a real secret, but I've never kept anything, good or bad, from my husband. Not when he's home, not when he's gone, not on a boat, not with a goat.

I do not like secrets. I do not like them, Sam I Am.

There have been plenty of things that have happened while my husband was gone that he couldn't do one thing about. Everything from the house flooding to a kid in the hospital to all the little work dramas and stresses. Some people would say I shouldn't have burdened him with all that information, but (to quote Al Jarreau -- sorry/not sorry for the ear worm) we're in this love together, even when we're not together.

But I get the other viewpoint too. I think this is a relationship-by-relationship issue. What works for one couple may not work for another. On every deployment and every other trip, my husband has been able to call me nearly every day, often twice or more a day, and we Skype or Facetime too. If I held things back, I'd very quickly run out of things to say.

Plus, because we talk so much, I'm able to update him on the outcomes of all the problems. He spends very little time wondering and worrying. And, as an individual, my husband wouldn't like thinking that I was keeping secrets from him -- even humdrum daily life drama secrets. He wants to know every detail.

Finally, my husband is deployed a lot. And when he's not deployed, he's often traveling. If I didn't keep him posted on what was happening in our life at home, he would miss everything.

He wants to know about the little dramas our kids have with other kids on the school bus. He wants to know when my work isn't going well. He wants to have a proverbial seat at the dinner table, even -- and especially -- when he can't have an actual seat there.

But if he had had only one deployment, or had only the occasional work trip, or wasn't able to call home daily for updates, would we handle it differently? Probably.

Telling everything or not telling everything aren't the only options, though. Others find success in taking a hybrid approach -- telling some, but not all.

Someone who follows this philosophy might tell her spouse about the ER visit and the cast on Junior's arm, but not tell about the ongoing fight with the electric company over mistakes on the bill.

The rationale for this approach is that the Must-Do spouse probably can't help with the electric company fight, but will want to know about his child's injury. (And the kid is likely to show Dad the cast the next time they FaceTime anyway.)

Or the same idea but different priorities: Tell him about the electric bill because you just need to vent, but don't tell him about the ER visit because you don't want him to think that you're a bad parent or that the kids are at risk.

Likely, you already have an idea of which approach will work best for you. Maybe you've already settled into a habit that works.

The only wrong approach is one on which you both don't agree. If the Must-Do spouse wants to know everything that's happening and you hold things back, especially big things, you're going to have problems when the Must-Do gets home and finds out about all the secrets.

And if the Must-Do spouse feels overwhelmed by the daily dramas at home, both the big ones and the small ones, but you keep unloading everything on him or her, it won't be long until the calls start coming less frequently and troubles start brewing.

So talk about it. Find an approach that works best for both of you, and then try to respect that.

And never be afraid to revisit that method if and when it doesn't seem to be working anymore.

Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life

For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox.
The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with right-hander Steven Wright, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Wright is slated to earn a $1.1MM salary in his first season of eligibility.

That payday slots in just below the $1.2MM that MLBTR had projected Wright to earn. The knuckler seems to be the odds-on favorite to earn the fifth starters role for the Red Sox, barring a surprise outside acquisition.

First, though, hell have to show hes healthy and back in form. Wrights 2017 season was cut short by knee issues that ultimately required surgery. He ended up taking the ball only five times on the year.

Quite different concerns arose earlier in the offseason when Wright was arrested following a domestic dispute (though theres no indication it ever became physical). While the league is still investigating the incident, the legal matter has been retired.

Boston will hope that Wright can return to something approach the quality he showed in 2016, when a breakout first half earned him an All-Star bid. In 156 2/3 innings over 24 starts that year, Wright worked to a 3.33 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.
Popular Ghanaian Actress Benedicta Gafah founder of Benedicta Gaffah Foundation donated food and items to the aged and widows in Kumasi.

Benedicta Gafah just like a true believer believes that giving is far better than receiving just as the good old book preaches.

The celebrated actress who does the donation more often revealed to AttractiveMustaphacom , that the impact of losing ones husband is a very painful experience.

below is the pictures of her donation.
The Ghana Immigration Service has stated that the relaxed entry requirements for recruitment into the Service this year resulted in the sharp rise in the number of applications submitted as compared to previous years.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, Director of Public Affairs at Ghana Immigration Service, Superintendent Amoako Atta also attributed the fact that thousands of forms were purchased to the love of Ghanaians for public sector jobs.

For this particular recruitment, because we reduced some of the requirements, a lot were able to get in to apply as compared to the previous requirements. And yearly too, recruitment numbers have been increasing depending on the number of graduates that enter into the system. Last year we had about 34,000 applicants, he added.

Regional breakdown of the application for the Immigration Service job

The Immigration Service received about 80,000 applications from people seeking to be enlisted into the service after it announced the commencement of the recruitment exercise in the last quarter of 2017.

This represents a rise of well over 100 percent from the previous year, which saw 34, 000 people apply.

About 47,000 were, however, shortlisted for screening on Thursday, January 4, 2017.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Service has stated that it will recruit only 500 people out of the enormous number of applications received.

When asked whether the huge numbers are unusual and a security threat, Superintendent Amoako Atta said he could not categorically say it was but added that looking at the figures one may be pushed to say so.

Despite the suggestions that the large numbers which gathered at the various screening centres indicate a worrying unemployment problem, Mr. Amoako Atta was of the view that because other security agencies including Police and Fire Services are also currently recruiting he was hopeful that a lot more will gain employment in the other agencies.

The Immigration Service Public Affairs Director further appealed to private companies to employ more Ghanaians in a bid to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

It looks like a lot of attention is on public sector employment. There are a lot of opening in the private sector but it looks like everyone wants to get employed in the public sector. So definitely recruitment drive in these areas is always on the high. So that will account for people pushing to the public sector or government employing them and government will certainly not employ all of these numbers looking at the wage bill. So if private sector will also open up and take up some of these numbers, it will balance the recruitment drive on the public side, he added.

Thousands of job seekers queue for screening

Thousands of potential recruits queued at various allotted centers across the country on Thursday to take part in the screening exercise within the Immigration Service recruitment process.

In the Volta Region for instance, 0ut of the total number of 3,928 applicants from the region, 521 applied as graduates, 372 as Higher National Diploma Holders, and the rest are WASSCE Certificate Holders.
Ghana Private Car Owners Association, GAPCO, has called on the Transport Ministry to direct the DVLA board to refund the purchase price of the compulsory first aid kit to any vehicle owner who so wishes to return the kit.

GAPCO is also calling for investigations into the whole saga. We are demanding that proper investigations be carried out and the individual or group of people be named as well as appropriate sanctions applied to serve as a deterrent to others who may be nursing to implement similar exploitations.

A press statement signed by the Associations acting president, Ernest .B. Boateng, said it is scandalized and disgusted by the development involving the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, DVLA.

The Ghana Association of Private Car Owners (GAPCO) has followed the outcry of Ghanaian Car/Vehicle Owners who were forced by the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) during the registration of their vehicles to compulsorily acquire from them a first aid kit for their vehicles. As an upcoming Association that seeks to protect and promote the interest of all Ghanaians who owns private cars for their private use, we are scandalized & disgusted by this development the statement said.

Read the full statement below:

The Ghana Association of Private Car Owners (GAPCO) has followed the outcry of Ghanaian Car/Vehicle Owners who were forced by the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) during the registration of their vehicles to compulsorily acquire from them a first aid kit for their vehicles. As an upcoming Association that seeks to protect and promote the interest of all Ghanaians who owns private cars for their private use, we are scandalized & disgusted by this development for the following reasons:

1. The DVLA is not a market place where all sort of items a driver or car owner must have in his/her vehicle must be sold to the motoring public. We believe what the DVLA must do is to come and tell all Ghanaians as to what a standard first aid kit box must contain so that car owners would go to the open market to procure them for their vehicles.

The DVLA has no business procuring and compulsorily selling first aid kits to Ghanaian Car Owners at that exorbitant price to say the least. We were in this Country when the DVLA together with some stakeholders such as the NRSC and Police MTTD wanted to push down our throats this Compulsory Vehicle Towing Levy which Ghanaians rejected and our Government listened. I

f care is not taken, at the rate that the DVLA is going, very soon they will be compulsorily selling vehicle spare parts to Ghanaian Car Owners. These exploitations of Ghanaian Car Owners by the DVLA must stop.

2. Whiles we welcome the indefinate suspension of this compulsory first aid kit purchase by Ghanaian Car Owners by the Board of the DVLA as well as the Transport Ministry, we believe the mere suspension and apology is not enough.

The Transport Ministry and DVLA Board claims they were unaware of this compulsory selling of the first aid kit to Car Owners but somebody within the DVLA authorized the compulsory sale of these first aid kits to Ghanaians. We are demanding that proper investigations be carried out and the individual or group of people be named as well as appropraite sanctions applied to serve as a deterrent to others who may be nursing to implement similar exploitations.

3. We know that a good number of Ghanaian Car Owners as at the time of suspending this compulsory purchase have already bought these first aid kits against their will. We are demanding that any Ghanaian who purchased this first aid kit and wants to return it for a refund of his money ought to be given that opportunity. It is definitely not enough to just apologize, suspend it and leave it there.

We are calling on the Transport Ministry to direct the DVLA Board to refund the purchase price of the compulsory first aid kit to any vehicle owner who so wish to return the kit for his/her money.

4. Lastly, we would like to remind the DVLA Board and Management that they are there to serve the interest of all Ghanaian Car/Vehicle Owners and not to serve the interest of private pockets. They should desist from policies and programs that clearly seeks to exploit and extort money from Ghanaian Car/Vehicle Owners.

There is this general notion that if you own a private car for your own private use in Ghana, then you are rich and so every opportunity to extort money from you is justified. Our inefficient and sometimes non existent proper public transportation system is what forces most Ghanaians to save towards acquiring their own cars.

We acknowledge efforts being made by Government to improve our public transportation system so we can all park our cars and join same in the future but obviously vehicle ownership in this country is not a ticket for exploitation by the DVLA and other State Agencies. This must stop.

Signed

Ernest .B.Boateng (CEPM, Civil Rights Activist)

(Ag.National President-GAPCO)
North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has made a last-minute appeal to the Majority, urging it to rally behind an urgent motion that is seeking a full-scale investigation into the alleged sale of presidential seats to expatriates.

The former Deputy Education Minister said the Trades Ministrys action clearly breaches various sections of the new Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) that requires Parliaments attention.

He told his colleagues Friday, the probe will bolster public confidence in the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and address the many inconsistencies in the public on the matter.

This cash-for-seat scandal, which has engaged the nations attention meets the criteria of public importance, he said.

An emergency sitting has been summoned following a motion filed by Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak on the cash-for-seat saga.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the evidence provided him on the matter by Trades Minister, Alan Kyerematen indicates nothing untoward was done.

But the Minority has disputed the presidents conclusion, saying it has documents that point to some wrongdoings.

Riding on the calls by anti-graft agencies like the Ghana Integrity Initiative for a public inquiry, Mr Ablakwa said the action of the Minority has the support of Ghanaians.

This is a matter that very significant section of the society has called for investigations, he said, imploring Parliament not to disappoint the citizens.

But Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has urged the House to discontinue discussions of the motion, citing the absence of some signatures on the petition filed.

" So clearly, what we have before us is a very incompetent motion which shall not be entertained in this house," he said.
There were heated arguments on the floor of Parliament today [Friday], from both sides of the chamber over a motion filed by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, for a special committee to be set up to investigate claims that the Trade Ministry extorted between $25,000 and $100,000 from expatriates to allow them sit close to the President during the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards held in the country.

Members of Parliament were recalled from recess for todays special sitting over the matter, upon the request of the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak.

Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka,Member of Parliament for Asawase and Minority Chief Whip

Muntaka is asking the House to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the matter, adding that It is important that these matters are investigated properlyI believe that as a House, we will do what we think is right.

The heated argument came about after the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, described the motion filed by Muntaka as incompetent.

The Majority Leader had argued that, the motion calling for the special sitting and an ad-hoc committee, was not properly done and thus constitutes a gross abuse of the processes of the House, a claim Haruna Iddrisu vehemently rejected.

Muntaka's name not in motion for special sitting

Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu disclosed that, Muntaka's name was not part of MPs who signed the letter accompanying the memorandum, adding that 28 of the MPs who were said to have appended their signatures did not do so, but only had their names captured on the letter.

He described it as a clear case of misrepresentation because the letter said the under listed have appended their signatures.

Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu

Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu noted that, some of the Minority MPs including Collins Daudu, Eric Opoku, Oko Vanderpuije, Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings, Inusah Fuseini, Alban Bagbin among others, have all not appended their signatures to the memo.

There are many more names listed, and we are being told they have appended their signatures but they have not.

Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu further described the motion as incompetent and thus called for it to be rejected by the Speaker of Parliament.

So the issue that I raised has to do with misrepresentation and it will be a gross abuse of the processes to come and pray. The second item is that, we should come and correct votes and proceedings. Mr. Speaker, the young indeed shall grow. On the allegations, we have heard the claims put in the public domain. Today, we are witnessing a shift of goal post. The motion before us has nothing to do with extortion.

Mr. Speaker, you will notice that I have not attempted to respond to the issueI've not gone into what they are sayingbecause the motion itself does not talk about that. This is incompetence. They should learn the procedures of this house. Their motion has very wobbly legs. This is a very incompetent motion that has been submitted. So I will urge and pray that you dismiss this. When they come properly even today, we are ready to debate them, he added.

Muntaka fights back

Unhappy with the claims by the Majority Leader, Muntaka insisted that the motion was competent, adding that it is most shocking and very disingenuous for the Majority Leader to even imagine that what was done was wrong.

My colleague the Majority Leader thinks he is smart. He should read the laws well. The request is in the memo and that is where my signature is, he argued.

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, also joined the argument, saying the motion in his possession had enough signatures to fulfill the requirement for such motions.

Speaker of Parliament rules

In his ruling, the Speaker of Parliament described the issues raised on the motion as procedural irregularities and suspended the House for 30 minutes in order to have the issues rectified.

Those applicants cannot determine the agenda for the House. The business of the house is done by the Executive. When you say I'm forwarding this on behalf of the applicants herein, and the application is attached, it is a procedural irregularity. This matter is a matter of grave importance. The procedural irregularities are being stated so that it must not be repeated. I will therefore direct the House to break for 30 minutes for the procedural irregularities to be corrected. As for those who did not sign it, it is neither here nor there. As far as the number of people required sign, it is so signed. We will suspend the House for 30 minutes and deal with the composition of the actual committee.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

A few snow showers scattered about the area this morning, otherwise a good deal of clouds. High 28F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 17F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has described as incompetent a motion brought by the Minority requesting for an inquiry into the cash for seat saga.

He said although it was the duty of Parliament to oversee executive performance, the motion brought before the House by the Minority amounts to a gross abuse of the processes.

He said the prime mover of the motion, Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak and all those who claim to be signatories to the application did not append their signature on the application presented before the House.

A situation which is against Parliamentary practices, therefore the motion should be thrown out. He was quick to add however that if the Minority were to come properly before the House, they are willing and ready to debate the matter before the close of day.

And the subject matter is request to the Speaker of Parliament under Article 112 (3) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and order 38 (1) of the standing orders of the Parliament of Ghana.

Mr Kyei Mensah Bonsu also noted that per the order paper presented, the summon is a gross abuse of the processes of the House.

He noted that the motion itself is full of inaccuracies because the Minority seems to be changing goal posts because the "motion before us has nothing to do with extortion.

"So Mr Speaker what we have before us is a very incomepetent motion which cannot be entertained by this House...so i will urge and pray that you dismiss this and let them come properly," he added.

He invited the Speaker to rule on the matter.

But Mr Muntaka in responding to the Majority Leader expressed shock at the claims made by Mr Kyei Mensah Bonsu.

'"It is most disingenuous for the Majority Leader to even imagine that what was done was wrong."

He said his signature is in a memo presented to the House and the 15 percent number of members required to request a meeting has been met.

He therefore finds it unexplainable that the Majority Leader is calling for the motion to be thrown out.

Ruling

The Speaker Prof Mike Ocquaye agreed in part with the argument of the Majority but says given the important nature of the matter at hand he will not completely dismiss the case.

He has given the Minority 30 minutes to rectify the "procedural irregularity" and return to the House for proceedings to continue.
Hundreds of supporters and sympathizers of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have poured onto the streets of Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region to participate in the partys 5th Walk.

The walk, which is being led by former president John Dramani Mahama saw the partys members file through principal streets within the main Techiman township.

The Saturday morning exercise forms part of the NDCs efforts towards fostering unity within the party, and healing it after its humiliating defeat in the December 2016 election.

The Sunyani walk comes after previous ones held in Cape Coast, Tarkwa, Tamale, and Accra.

They are expected to converge at the Zongo School Park for a rally which will be addressed by the former president.

NDC flagbearership

Former President John Mahamas active participation in the recent unity walks as well as some of his recent public utterances have led to suggestions that he plans to lead the party again into the 2020 presidential elections.

While some leaders of the party have kicked against the anticipated move, others have said he is the best bet for the party going into the next elections.

Meanwhile, others such as Dr. Ekow Spio Garbah, a former Trade and Industry Minister under the John Mahama government, has also indicated that he will contest the party's flagbearership elections to hopefully lead the party in the country's next polls in 2020.

At a recent media interaction where he said he had gained enough experience to lead the country, he was endorsed by former National Security Coordinator Brig. General Nunoo Mensah as the best bet for the countrys future.

Former Vice Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi has also declared his intentions to contest the party's presidential primaries.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

I was elated to read the news item in which a Chinese-owned tomato-processing plant was ordered to cease and desist from its illegal activities in the Kuntunse township of the Greater-Accra Region by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister of the Environment, Science and Technology. I was elated because we learn that the proprietor and operatives of the factory had put their business and economic interests ahead of the health concerns of the residents of the area. When I think of Kuntunse, I think of the Hilla Babini LimannAdministration and the installation of the first satellite communications system in Ghana and, perhaps, the globally fabled wedding between Prince Charles and Princess Diana, late. That was in 1979 or 1980, or thereabouts.

As well, we are told that as far back as August of last year, the operators of the aforesaid tomato factory had been fined GH 15,000 and ordered to halt their activities (See Chinese Tomato Factory at Kuntunse to Be Shut Down Citifmonline.com / Modernghana.com 1/5/18). Such recalcitrance or adamancy and flagrant disrespect of our laws and bylaws, obviously have a lot to do with the nihilistic nose-thumbing policies of the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and before the latter, the Atta-Mills-led regime of the National Democratic Congress. This reckless state of affairs is very disturbing because the last time that I checked, the country was supposed to have industrial zoning laws vis-a-vis the siting of factories and manufacturing plants.

That the operators of the Chinese-owned tomato factory would defy the order of the Environmental Protection Agency to cease and desist, says a lot about the abject extent to which Ghanaians have ceased being a nation of self-respecting citizens. Matters are not abated by allegation that the Municipal Chief Executive Officer (MCE) of the Ga-West Municipality has actually been in cahoots with these expatriate scofflaws. It is imperative for the Greater-Accra Regional Minister, working in concert with the EST Minister, to investigate this matter and take the appropriate disciplinary action with promptness, including the possible removal of the MCE, if the strength of the evidence points in such direction, of course.

By all means, let us heartily welcome all entrepreneurs who are interested in helping our country develop economically, no matter where they may come from; for there can be no gainsaying the fact that we are in dire need of jobs as a nation. But equally important is the fact that the provision of such jobs must come with sensitivity to the health and well-being of the inhabitants and residents of the host nation. I am here making an exception of Chinese entrepreneurs in the caption of this column, because the Chinese have gained notoriety in the environmentally destructive activities of Galamsey or illegal mining. I am quite certain that there are other non-Chinese expatriate entrepreneurs who are also flouting our laws and regulations with impunity.

And, by the way, speaking of wrongly sited tomato factories, this story set me thinking about one of my own ancestral townships, Nsawam-Adoagyiri where, for some time now, Chairman Jerry John Rawlings and his wife and Ghanas longtime First Lady, Nana KonaduAgyeman-Rawlings, have been illegally occupying the prime landed properties of some of my relatives and making life a living hell for these poor and defenseless inhabitants. I wish the Akufo-Addo government could promptly investigate this matter and let justice prevail. The primitive and benighted era of Social Darwinism must be swept behind us and into the forgotten past.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
He ought to be aware of the fact that other than his handful of fanatics, former President John Dramani Mahama does not amuse the overwhelming majority of Ghanaian citizens with his monthly street-walking, political-pimping antics and tirades of uncouth insults targeted at the man who massively trounced him at the polls in December 2016 (See Ayisi-Boateng Ignored Mahama in SA  Nketia Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 1/4/18). The General-Secretary of he main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, claims that the former President was in South Africa recently on an official duty, but that Ghanas High Commissioner to that country, Mr. George Ayisi-Boateng, either failed or refused to welcome him.

This is obviously a great lie mischievously planted in the media and aimed at cadging sympathy for a man who ought to be serving a long prison term for wantonly and deliberately running the economy, culture and moral fabric of the country aground. It is a great lie because as a former President, Mr. Mahama had absolutely no official duties to perform in South Africa, because there is absolutely no evidence, at least as of this writing, that he had been assigned any official duties or mission in either Pretoria or any other city to perform inside South Africa by President Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo.

What is very likely to have taken the former President to South Africa was the recent impeachment of President Jacob Zuma. He most likely went there to commiserate with his well-known avuncular buddy and perhaps get President-In-Waiting Cyril Ramaphosa to issue Mr. Zuma a pardon, which had absolutely nothing significant to do with anybody in Ghana, except the traveler himself and his cronies and associates. Then also, who knows what businesses this Dubai Boy owns in South Africa?

At any rate, even as I have written quite extensively on the subject, what Mr. Asiedu-Nketia ought to be discussing is not whether, indeed, Mr. Ayisi-Boateng ignored the man whom General Mosquito (as Mr. Asiedu-Nketia is popularly known) publicly claimed had not won the 2012 Presidential Election but, rather, the question of whether, indeed, the Atta-Mills Doctrine exists, and what the latter means in terms of Fourth Republican Ghanaian political culture. You know, actions have consequences, and it is simply scandalous for the cynical likes of Mr. Asiedu-Nketia to facilely presume that, somehow, the operatives of the National Democratic Congress are above the laws of the land.

Then also needs to be highlighted the fact that career politicians like Mr. Asiedu-Nketia have a track-record of being unconscionable liars. There is, for instance, absolutely no evidence that, indeed, the former President had written to High Commissioner Ayisi-Boateng ahead of his alleged trip to South Africa, except Mr. Asiedu-Nketias most untrustworthy claim that he had been informed to that effect by the unnamed secretary of the former President. And even if, indeed, the former President had written to inform Mr. Ayisi-Boateng ahead of his alleged visit to South Africa, there is no evidence that, indeed, Nana Akufo-Addos diplomatic point man in Pretoria had received the letter prior to the arrival of Mr. Mahama.

We are also not told about the nature of Mr. Mahamas official visit that necessitated the presence of Ambassador Ayisi-Boateng, either at the airport or the venue of such official visit. As far as can be critically surmised, this is just another of the routine annoyances concocted by the pesky mosquito to get undeserved public attention and sympathy, and to make Mr. Ayisi-Boateng, a gentleman and a diplomatic operative of noble repute, feel bad. It is also clearly aimed at making it appear as if in refusing to cave in to grossly misguided pressure to fire Ambassador Ayisi-Boateng, Nana Akufo-Addo committed a serious error in judgment. Nothing could be farther from the truth and reality.

Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
06.01.2018 LISTEN

I couldnt stop my sides from splitting with laughter, when I came across the news article in which the General-Secretary of the so-called Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) was reported to have said that the Akufo-Addo government had woefully underperformed throughout 2017, because of cronyism, nepotism and outright[sic] incompetence (See Akufo-Addos Government Mastered Stealing Legally in 2017  PPP Claims 3News.com / Ghanaweb.com 1/2/18). For a party whose megalomaniacal founder-proprietor, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has amply demonstrated time and time again, and well beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt, that he lacks the ability to unify ideological factions within the same party, to be accusing President Akufo-Addo of gross administrative incompetence, says much more about the critic and his cheaply bought-and-paid-for followers and minions than his target of abuse.

But what is even more pathetic about this Convention Peoples Party (CPP) splinter group is that its phenomenally successful proprietor and serial Presidential Candidate has yet to learn how to accurately file the partys election registration forms. You see, you can be a very successful businessman, if all it takes is the primitive acquisitive obsession with money and property, and yet be a complete illiterate when it comes to the very elementary process of filing election nomination forms. I am also quite certain that when auditors of the Office of the Independent Special Public Prosecutor begin to meticulously comb up the seamy underbellies of vainglorious business operatives like Dr. Nduom, they are likely to rake up more than a few ticks and lice. I am obstreperously amused to hear a man who wanted his own son to replace him as the Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Peoples Party virulently and cynically accuse the Akufo-Addo Administration of nepotism. It makes one wonder whether the operatives of the so-called Groupe Nduom really appreciate what it takes for any individual or group of people to be described as progressive.

But what intrigued yours truly more than anything else, was to hear PPP General-Secretary Murtala Mohammed farcically claim that the Akufo-Addo Administration did not achieve a single of its electioneering campaign promises throughout 2017. I am quite certain that people like Mr. Mohammed think that the distribution of cheap sanitary pads, or tampons, to teenage high schoolgirls is a far more significant policy initiative than the bold, creative and progressive implementation of a fee-free Senior High School System. Such is the scandalous extent of the petty-mindedness of opportunistic politicians like Mr. Murtala Mohammed. Even assuming, hypothetically, that the operatives of the countrys two major political parties were clueless about how to progressively develop a country, the stark fact still remains that the PPPs operatives are even more clueless about the simple and very basic process of winning an election. Even as I write, and I stand to be corrected, the Progressive Peoples Party does not have a single seat in Ghanas Parliament.

You see, talk is cheap when you are a serial loser and like Kwaku Ananse (the fabled spider), you believe that you are the most deserving presidential candidate material in the country, merely because you are heavily invested in the fortunes of a country into whose treasury you pay very little or absolutely no taxes. But what fascinates me even more about the PPP leader and his slavish laborers  they actually believe that they are bona fide members and shareholders of Groupe Nduomis their grossly mistaken belief that they can buy Ghanaian voters by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, with a couple of dollars and cedis. I mean, these are blood-sucking capitalists of the most satanic breed preaching populism and faux-Nkrumaism, in hopes of deceiving enough unsuspecting Ghana voters into putting them inside the Flagstaff House, so as to enable them to literally put the entire country on the auction block. Groupe Nduom, indeed!

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
The President-elect needs the support of all - Dormaahene

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), Jan. 2, GNA - Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang-Badu, the Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area, this day appealed to all Ghanaians to support Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President-elect for Ghana's development and progress.

While commending President John Dramani Mahama for magnanimously conceding defeat in the Election 2016, he urged Ghanaians to avoid the politics of insults.

Osagyefo Agyemang-Badu made the appeal when he addressed an annual get-together for the divisional, sub-chiefs and their elders of the Dormaa Traditional Area.

President Mahama conducts Nana Akuffo Addo round Flagstaff House

Accra, Jan 4, GNA - It was a delightful scene to watch; and a plus to Ghana's democracy, when President John Dramani Mahama conducted President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, round the Flagstaff House, as part of the transition exercise.

The meeting at the Presidency was at the behest of President Mahama, whose objective was to introduce his successor to the various Departments and Offices at the Flagstaff House, the seat of Government, at Kanda.

President Mahama addresses Parliament on State of the Nation

Accra, Jan. 5, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama, Thursday, expressed gratitude to God for the grace to govern, and to the good people of Ghana for the opportunity given him to serve the country in the highest office as President.

He also thanked the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah Arthur, the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, and all Members of Parliament for their co-operation and solidarity during his tenure as President, as he delivered his last State of the Nation Address to Parliament.

Thousands throng the inauguration of President Nana Akufo Addo

Accra, Jan. 7, GNA - Thousands of Ghanaians thronged the Black Star Square to witness the inauguration of the President elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo as the fifth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

Dressed mainly in the National colours of red, gold, green and black, as well as the New Patriotic Party's colours of blue, white and red, the celebrants expressed their joy of living to witness this all important occasion.

Nana Akufo Addo sworn in as Ghana's new President

Accra, Jan. 7, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo was at 1100 hours on Saturday, January 7, sworn in as the fifth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, taking over from the National Democratic Congress' John Dramani Mahama.

'I Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, having been elected to the high office of President of the Republic of Ghana do in the name of the Almighty God, swear that I will be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana;

'I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana and to do right to all manner of persons,' he swore the oath, administered by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.

Dr Alhaji Bawumia sworn in as Ghana's new Vice President

Accra, Jan. 07, GNA - Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, was on Saturday, sworn in as the Vice President of Ghana of the Republic of Ghana at 1055hrs, succeeding Dr Paa Kwesi Amissah- Arthur, who served with President John Dramani Mahama.

'I Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia having been elected to the Office of Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana, do in the name of the Almighty God swear that I will be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana,' pledged

Professor Ocquaye sworn into office as Speaker

Accra, Jan. 07, GNA - Parliament, on Saturday morning, endorsed the election of Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, a former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, as Speaker of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

He subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and Speaker's Oath, administered by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.

President Akufo-Addo receives interim transition report on first day at work

Accra, Jan. 9, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on his first working day at the Flagstaff House, was presented an interim transition report by the Government's side of the transition team.

The report, covering 24 sectors of the economy, was an Executive Summary of matters that the transition team dealt with in the course of their work.

Former President Mahama in Abuja to discuss Gambia's impasse

Accra, Jan. 9, GNA - Former President John Dramani Mahama on Monday left Accra to Abuja, Nigeria to attend an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting on the situation in The Gambia.

The Former Ghanaian President, who handed over power to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Saturday, January 7, had been asked to continue his mediation role in the effort to resolve The Gambian political crisis.

ECOWAS mediators to meet Jammeh again

Accra, Jan. 10, GNA - ECOWAS Mediators in the political situation in The Gambia, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Co-Mediator, former President John Dramani Mahama, were scheduled to meet and hold another round of talks with President Yahya Jammeh.

Information available to the Ghana News Agency indicated that the decision was announced by Nigeria's Foreign Minister at the end of a day's meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday.

NPP leader scolds rampaging supporters

Ejisu (Ash), Jan. 11, GNA - A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Kwaku Ntim Twumasi, scolded supporters of the party acting outside the law, describing their conduct as 'completely unjustified and tasteless.'

Ghana, he said, needed to work for everybody and that nobody must be made to feel harassed or persecuted.

President Akufo-Addo rallies prayers of Ghanaians for success

Accra, Jan. 16, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, thanked God for His sustenance for the nation, rallying the prayers of Ghanaians to ensure the success of government to fulfil its promises.

Extolling the virtues of patience and the benefits of waiting confidently on God, President Akufo-Addo referred to the bible, saying: "The Lord is good to those who wait on Him, to the soul who seeks Him, it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord", as he joined the congregation of the Ridge Church, in a Thanksgiving Service, in Accra.

Morocco's King Mohammed visit to Ghana announced

Accra, Jan. 17, GNA - The Government announced that King Mohammed VI, of the Kingdom of Morocco would begin an official visit to Ghana from Wednesday, January 18.

A statement issued in Accra, on Tuesday, by the Office of the President, and signed by Mr Eugene Arhin, Acting Communications Director, said the visit was aimed at deepening cordial relations between Ghana and Morocco.

Vetting of Ministers to begin on January 20

Accra, Jan.19, GNA  Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo; the Senior Minister-nominee, Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister-nominee for National Security, Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister-nominee for Finance, and Dominic Nitiwul, Minister-nominee for Defence were scheduled to on Friday, January 20, appear before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting.

Ghana deploys troops to support ECOWAS mission in Gambia

Accra, Jan. 19, GNA - Ghana deployed troops to support the ECOWAS mission to the Gambia, seeking to enforce the mandate of that county's December 1, 2016 elections, as defiant President Yahya Jammeh refused to cede power after losing at the polls.

A statement issued by the Office of the President in Accra, on Wednesday, said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had approved and authorised the deployment of a combat team of two 205 troops, backed with the appropriate logistical equipment, to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia as part of the ECOWAS Mission in that country.

ECOWAS; AU must go to the Gambia's rescue - Survey

Accra, Jan. 21, GNA - The tempestuous aftermaths of the elections in The Gambia resulted in uncertainty among some Ghanaians amidst calls on the African Union and ECOWAS to intervene.

The ex-leader, Yahya Jammeh's adamant insistence on holding onto, even after the President-elect, Adama Barrow, had been sworn-in, caused many to doubt the ability of the country to sustain the peace; thus the general call on the leaders of the continental and Sub-regional bodies to help normalise the situation.

Government kick-starts National Identification project

Accra, Jan. 25, GNA - The Government Wednesday started the process of implementing a comprehensive National Identification Project.

This was in furtherance of the New Patriotic Party (NPP's) long-held campaign pledge to build a database of Ghanaians and other nationals resident in Ghana.

At a broad consultative meeting, chaired by the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in Accra, all the major stakeholders underscored the need to have a single national database to aid policy planning and implementation.

President inaugurates [email protected] Planning Committee

Accra, Jan. 26, GNA - President Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, January 26, inaugurated a 30-member Committee to plan for the celebration of Ghana's 60th Independence Anniversary, on March 6.

The Committee, which had just six weeks to plan the event, was chaired by Mr Ken Amankwah, a media and public relations consultant, and a former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

President Akufo-Addo swears-in 12 new Ministers

Accra, Jan. 27, GNA- President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, January 27, admonished Ministers of State to provide leadership that would ensure good governance, public accountability, progress of the nation and improved living standards for Ghanaians.

At a ceremony to swear in 12 Ministers of States, the President said: 'The Ghanaian people want honest governance, they want a government that will protect the public purse and ensure value for money in all public transactionsWe cannot fail themwe must not fail them.'

AU Commission elects Ghana's Kwesi Quartey Vice Chair

Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - The African Union (AU) Commission, on Monday, January 30, elected Mr Kwesi Quartey, the immediate past Secretary to former President John Dramani Mahama, as the Vice Chairperson of the continental body.

Mr Quartey, with the backing of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was elected to that position at the Ordinary Session of the 28th Assembly of the African Union at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

President urges UN Secretary-General to lead UN reforms

Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, called on the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, AntAnio Guterres, to champion reforms at the UN that would promote and deepen international cooperation.

President Akufo-Addo said it was important that during Mr Guterres's tenure of office, he ensured the implementation of reforms of the UN Security Council and all other organs of the international body.

President Akufo-Addo urges African Leaders to leave better legacies

Accra, Jan. 31, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Tuesday, asked African leaders to leave better legacies than their forebears, saying: 'our generation must be at the measure of Africa's history.'

He said the African Union's (AU) theme for 2017: 'Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in the Youth is essentially a pact leaders on the Continent have made with both the present and future generations, to leave them a better legacy than we inherited from our forebears'.

NPP grateful to God for Election Victory

Effia (W/R), Jan. 31, GNA - The Acting Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay, said God was on the side of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Ado to make him one of the best presidents that a nation could ever have.

'Some people in this country never believed that Nana Addo could become the President, but God has proven them wrong and I still believe that the battle ahead has been won already by the help of God," he said.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

The National Investment Bank (NIB) has expressed its commitment to further provide support for the capitalisation of indigenous companies.

This, according to the bank, would enhance job creation and make them viable in their respective industries.

Speaking at a customer appreciation cocktail organised by the bank in Accra, Togbe Afede XIV, Board Chairman of the bank, said the NIB was also positioning itself to meet government's expectation.

The Customer Appreciation Week was instituted to thank customers for the support and patronage of the bank's products and services over the years.

'Government's expectation is to see financial institutions such as NIB undertake a lot of financial intermediation in the country.

The government, for instance, expects a repositioning of the bank to support its entire developmental agenda like 'One District One Factory', 'Planting for Food and Jobs', 'Free SHS', etc,' he added.

The Board Chairman said the bank was also keen on deepening its support for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

'The SME sector is very important to every economy and Ghana is not an exception. The sector has the potential to help create jobs, and also solve the unemployment challenge the country is faced with. SMEs also have the potential to grow into corporate entities that can propel the economy,' he said.

This sector, Togbe Afede said, had been under-utilised and access to finance is strenuous for players in the sector, adding that, 'We at NIB have increased our appetite for risk and always engage them to understand the nature of their business and always able to support them.'

He therefore, urged SMEs to improve their management skills and knowledge in book-keeping and basic accounting to enable them to conduct their businesses professionally.

Togbe Afede said the bank, in 2017, continued to pursue its aggressive strategic plan, which aimed at expanding our service delivery points in order to increase its market share and maximise shareholders wealth.

'I can assure you that our branch expansion strategy towards deepening financial inclusion and to bring our products and services to the doorstep of our valued customers is on course. In line with this we opened six new branches last year. This has increased our branch network to 52 as of today,' he said.

The bank used the occasion to launch its Fastlink Service which would enable customers perform banking services on the mobile phone.

Togbe Afede XIV said the service enables all customers to transfer funds from one NIB account to another, transfer funds from an NIB account to accounts with other banks, buy airtime, pay bills, among others.

The bank also re-launched its internet banking service which offers banking convenience to customers.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

Polling Station officers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ejisu Constituency have called for the immediate removal of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Beatrice Serwaah-Derkyi, from office for non-performance and pettiness.

They said she 'has left nobody in doubt that she does not have what it takes to lead and bring development to the people, as she cannot lay claim to a single achievement'.

A press statement signed by 20 of the polling station executives also accused the MCE of consistent political misjudgment and being divisive and said these were a huge bother.

'It does not look good as many are increasingly becoming upset and disappointed.'

They added that the woman was ungenerous in trifling things, threatening public officers with transfers and behaving like the assembly and the party were her private business.

They made reference to her locking up of the municipal office of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) just because 'she claims the man appointed as Project Assistant opposed her nomination to the MCE position'.

She had continued to remain obstinate and would not unlock the office despite interventions by the Ashanti Regional Minister and the YEA National Coordinator.

'We find it deeply troubling her unswerving push to undermine the structures of the constituency party - the elected officers, by running parallel party structures.

They said they were of the firm conviction that appointment to any public office, more importantly, should be about performance and service.

'Madam Serwaah-Derkyi is not the only person, who has been loyal to the NPP and we do not want to be lectured on what she did or did not do to bring the party to where it is today.'

'There are many people out there who fought in the trenches with the Most Reverend Dr. Samuel Asante-Antwi, the late Attakora Gyimah and others - regularly met at the K.O. Methodist School, to plan and nurture the political organization called the NPP but have not been rewarded with any political appointment.'

They insisted that 'every member or supporter comes to the party with their own unique contributions'.

The contribution of the 'small flies' - foot soldiers, often at the 'receiving end of savage beatings, who suffer cuts and broken bones during the time of elections, should not either be discounted or underestimated and they should not be disrespected'.

Madam Serwaah-Derkyi would not respond to the accusations and directed the reporter of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to talk to her Secretary.
The pathologist who conducted autopsy on Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, J. B. Danquah-Adu on Thursday said he could not produce a full report on the deceased, because he was burgled.

Appearing at a District court after three subpoenas had been issued to Dr Lawrence Edusei, the pathologist who is currently on retirement said due to the burglary he had lost about one thousand reports.

However, Dr Edusei said when he procures the photographs and other vital materials he could recollect and put together the report on the later MP.

'Writing the report would demand additional work to be done. I need to get access to the pictures, take my time and recollect what I saw and put same into writing,' the pathologist said.

According to Dr Edusei, he was however uncertain as to when to produce the report.

The court presided over by Ms Aret Nsemoah earlier asked Dr Edusei, whether he had the report on the deceased and he replied in the negative.

Court: Do you have the post mortem report?

Dr Edusei: 'No. I have lost quite a number of reports and therefore cannot recall the post mortem report. I don't know the date of the said report. I am talking about 1,000 reports.

My house was ransacked in September last year. I have lost a number of reports in my house. I put together the cases I attend to on my computer. I reported the matter to the Korle-Bu Police Station'.

Dr Edusei lamented how he has not been paid over the past 15 years by the Judicial Service over various coroner reports.

He told the court that following the non-payment of the various reports, he resolved five years ago, not to produce any coroner report to the Judicial Service.

The court adjourned the matter to January 18, this year and further ordered him to submit copies of the report to the Court's Registrar.

The District Court on three occasions subpoenaed the pathologist who conducted autopsy on the deceased Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, J.B Danquah-Adu to furnish it with the full report of the deceased.

This was after the pathologist had failed to appear in court to explain why he had failed to furnish the court the full report on the later MP.

According to the court, it was doing that 'for the benefit of doubt' since the subpoena had not been personally served on Dr Lawrence Edusie of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

The Prosecution recounted difficulties in accessing the pathology report of the victim, hence the delay in prosecuting the matter.

J.B Danquah Adu was murdered in his apartment in 2016 at Shiashie.

Two suspects, Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Bosso, were subsequently arrested and charged with murder following the incident. Their pleas have not been taken and they have been remanded into Prison custody.

The facts of the case, as presented by DSP Amegah, were that the deceased MP lived with his family in a one-storey house at Shiashie, near East Legon, a suburb of Accra, whilst Asiedu and Bosso lived at Agbogbloshie, also in Accra.

About 23:40 hours on February 8, 2016, the MP arrived home in his private car driven by his driver.

The driver had handed over the ignition keys of the car to Danquah-Adu and left for home, after which the MP retired to bed in a room located on the first floor of his house.

At about 0100 hours on the same night, Asiedu and Bosso, armed with a catapult, a cutter and a sharp knife, went to the legislator's house.

Bosso is said to have assisted Asiedu to enter the house by scaling the fence wall on the blind side of a security man who was fast asleep.

On entering the house, Asiedu picked a ladder and climbed onto a porch on the top floor and entered the MP's bedroom through a window, whilst Mr. Danquah-Adu was sleeping.

Whilst Asiedu was searching the room, the MP woke up and held him. There ensued a struggle, during which Asiedu stabbed the MP in the right chest above the breast.

The MP consequently held the knife, and Asiedu pulled it through the MP's hand, making a deep cut in his palm.

The legislator, who bled profusely, fell by his bed, after which Asiedu stabbed him several times on his right chest and neck.

On realizing that the MP was dying, Asiedu left the room and took with his three iPhone smart phones.

Meanwhile, the struggle between the MP and Asiedu had drawn the attention of the security man in the house, who alerted other security men in the neighbourhood.

Having been alerted of an impending danger, Bosso took to his heels, leaving Asiedu behind.

However, Asiedu managed to descend from the top of the house and jumped over the electric fencing on the walls of the house into an adjoining house and escaped.
Some Television patrons in Accra on Thursday expressed divergent views on the payment of television (TV) licence fees.

While some did not understand the mode of collection, others wondered why they should pay to Ghana Television of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, when they were not watching any of their channels.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), some individuals called for more education on the fees for Television owners to understand the whole idea of the fees.

Mr Kwame Paul, a business man, said if the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) wants to receive TV license fees, then they should monitor the people who watch their channels and demand the fees from them instead of making it general.

Madam Philipa Asare, a banker, also told the GNA that ''I do not watch GTV but I always watch other TV channels and why should I pay for a service GTV is rendering.''

She said the channels she watched were not associated with GTV and wondered why she should pay the TV license fees. To them.

Miss Monica Djabah, a trader said it was unfair for her to pay for programmes she was not watching and urged authorities to come out with better explanations.

'More education and explanation on the fees will help a lot of people to understand as the controversies were growing by the day.'

Mr Peter Mensah, a Television Repairer, said he did not know why he should pay huge money for tv license, when he was not making that much in his work.

He said ''I only switch on the TV for my client to know whether the set is working or not and therefore do not understand why I should be paying that much.''.

The domestic TV users are to pay between GH36 and GH60 for one or more TV sets in a household, while TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between GH60 to GH240.

The commercial TV operators are to pay GH36 per annum for each TV set.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Trade in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, has asked the media to partner him as he prepares to contest the flagbearership of the Party and recapture power in 2020.

At a media interaction in Accra on Wednesday evening, Dr Spio-Garbrah launched his 'Forward Agenda,' which echoes his intention to contest the elections to aid him seek the highest office of the land.

'This really is not a time of campaigning - it is simply a time to share our message of partnership, stewardship, service, commitment, nationalism and patriotism of sacrifice with all of you.

''And to pray that even as you examine us thoroughly in terms of all the things we have done well and the things we have not done so well, when you conclude with your examinations of those who wish to stand before you and offer themselves for leadership of our country through various political parties, you may, hopefully, come to the conclusion that Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is a man who may deserve the support of most Ghanaians to attain the highest office of this land in order to bring us to where we all will like to reach,' he said.

He said the Forward Agenda was a grand plan to mobilise the grassroots to enable him to win the race this time, after his initial attempt in 1993 was unsuccessful.

Dr Spio-Garbrah said his Forward Agenda conveyed a message of sacrifice and commitment towards developing Ghana.

The Agenda, he said; "Is not one that can be led by just anybody. It is not just a matter of your talents, it is not a matter of the nature of your educational attainments or your financial capacity, it is the motivation in your spirit, which is very difficult to measure."

He said the primary focus of public services or politics was not about making money or amassing wealth for oneself or for one's family but about service, and that was why Ghanaians were often seen rejecting all those public servants in their electoral decisions.

'So I'm just saying that this Forward Agenda that has been established to carry the message of sacrifice, of stewardship, of partnerships with many stakeholders and with commitment to the development of Ghana and Africa is not one that can be led by just anybody.

'My exposure, experience and reputation in various capacities, both locally and internationally, makes me a better person to lead this Party and subsequently lead the country in the future and lift up the nation to a level that had never been attained, but is attainable.

'It is for this knowledge that I have been privilege to experience and to observe and to see at first hand that should you wish to give me the opportunity to lead this party and hopefully to lead this country, that I know what it takes and what to do to solve most of the problems we talk about in Ghana,' he said.

Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo Mensah, a Former National Security Adviser under the Mahama Government, urged the media to be truthful in their reportage and also ensure that they informed the people about the real happenings to enable them to make the right decisions and choices in life.

Dr Kwame Amporful, the Former Chief Executive Officer of Tema Oil Refinery, urged the media to rally behind the Forward Agenda to promote democracy.

Mr Ransford Tetteh, the Managing Director of Graphic Communication Group Limited, urged journalists to be fair, accurate and objective in their professional practice even when they believe in a certain course or conviction.

Meanwhile the NDC has started a reorganisation drive following their defeat in the 2016 Election.

The Party has indicated that it would elect its presidential candidate for the 2020 Election by the close of 2018 as the NDC Constitution stipulates that a flagbearer should be elected two years ahead of elections while the Party is in opposition.
Emmanuel Odoye, Circuit Supervisor of the Ghana Education Service, Tema, has congratulated the founders of Saint Nicholas Preparatory School at Tema Manhean, for working hard to tackle poverty in the community, through the provision of education.

Mr Odoye admonished parents to support their wards' education, though Saint Nicholas Charity was doing its best to provide free education to the beneficiaries.

He said this during the anniversary celebration of 'Five Years of Quality Education'. The event was held in December, 2017 at the School's premises at Tema Manhean.

'As parents, we have to do our best to provide the basic things that will push our children to a brighter future. Let us guide them with their homework, and if the child will be bright, it begins at home. The child should feel comfortable to learn,' he stated.

Mr Odoye called on the teachers not to rest on their oars, but consistently provide the children with quality and holistic education.

That, he said, would go a long way to properly mould the children as future leaders.

Madam Deborah Eleazar, Co-Founder of Saint Nicholas Preparatory School, thanked the teaching and non-teaching staff for their immense sacrifice over the years, urging them to continue delivering quality education to the children in the community.

She paid homage to the school's Co-Founder, Captain Kappas, for his immense role in the formation of the School.

She said: 'I have to say that none of these would be possible without his extraordinary input, and I'm truly appreciative that I had somebody wonderful beside me in doing this'.

The fifth Anniversary of Saint Nicholas Preparatory School was marked with a naval cadet parade and cultural display by the pupils.

Additionally, honours and awards were bestowed on various individuals and corporations, who, have, over the years, contributed to the school's success.

Saint Nicholas Preparatory School was founded in February 2012, with the aim of breaking the vicious cycle of poverty within the Tema New Town community.

It received, and has continued to receive, immense donations and support from the Tsakos Group of Companies and Maria Tsakos Foundation, in order to make the school run.

Over a five-year period, the school has developed from a two classroom Nursery and Kindergarten to a Primary School, with a 12-classroom annex, library, ICT laboratory, as well as a cadet corps, trained by the Ghana Navy.

The school is run entirely on voluntary donations. The Sailors Society of the United Kingdom (UK) helped with a donation to support the new school building and the Navy Cadet Corps and some students. They were represented at the event by Reverend Yankey.

During the event, a new sponsor, Metka Ghana, a construction firm, offered to assist in building a kitchen and canteen for the School. Additionally, it donated towards the Christmas party for the children.

Tema Manhean is one of the closest towns to the Tema Fishing Harbour, where most of the indigenes lack proper education. And so, for parents in the community, Saint Nicholas Preparatory School has been an oasis of hope.

It has the support and blessing of the Paramount Chief of Tema, Dr Osongaa Nii Adjei Kraku ll, and the Tema Traditional Council.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

The Vice President, Dr Bawumia has dismissed claims that the Free Senior High School (SHS) Programme could collapse due to lack of finances and gave the assurance that there was enough money for its long term implementation.

He said the over GH1.2 billion allocated to the implementation of the free programme this year, was a clear indication of the Government's commitment to ensure its sustainability.

According to him, the free SHS remained a top priority of the government and as such would continue to channel enough resources to address its challenges as and when they appear.

Speaking at the opening of the Fifth Quadrennial and 52nd National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at Cape Coast on Thursday, the Vice President emphasised that "we can afford the free SHS".

He said the free SHS coupled with the restoration of nurses and teacher trainee allowances as well as 100 per cent increment in the Capitation Grant was a further demonstration of the Government's commitment to education.

Dr Bawumia further disclosed that the Ministry of Finance had released GH14,172,313.23 for the payment of outstanding transfer grants, allowances and salary arrears for validated teachers engaged between January 2013 and December 2016.

He noted that issues of validation and arrears of teachers had been a major challenge in the educational sector for years, with newly engaged teachers bemoaning the long delays they had to endure before receiving their salaries.

He, therefore, gave assurance that the Government would do everything humanly possible within its power to better the lives of teachers adding that, a motivated teacher was key to delivering on the vision of the President and the Government to ensure quality education.

Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education said ensuring quality education was a collective responsibility of all stakeholders and advised parents to play their respective roles to make the government's free SHS beneficial to their children.

Madam Philippa Larsen, the acting National President of GNAT expressed the fear that the issue of accumulating salary arrears and its attendant challenges on the national budget was gradually creeping into the pay administration system of the country.

She therefore appealed to the government to critically assess the situation with the aim of correcting it without any further delay because it demoralised workers' enthusiasm.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

An ultra-modern $200,000 US-dollar Intensive Care Unit with Medical equipment has been established in the Yendi Municipal Hospital of Northern Region.

The project is funded by Ghana and Global Missions Resources Centre, Yendi to step up the activities of the hospital.

Reverend Emmanuel Kwabena Mustapha, Founder and Executive Director of Global Missions Resources Centre, Yendi announced this when he conducted Dr. Braimah Abubakari, Deputy Director for Clinical Care for Northern Region around the facility.

Rev. Mustapha indicated that Yendi Municipal Hospital served as the only referral hospital apart from the Tamale Teaching Hospital which is 73kilometres from Yendi.

He said in times of emergencies, people from the eastern part of the region depended on the Tamale Teaching Hospital, which was too far for some of the districts and now that the facility was provided at the Yendi hospital, critical cases from Tatale, Zabzugu, Saboba, Chereponi, Bimbilla, Wulensi among other districts could be sent there because of the proximity.

He said although the hospital was now having an Intensive CareUnit, bad roads and weak hospital Ambulance were issues that needed immediate attention and appealed for the upgrading of Yendi Hospital to a Teaching Hospital with more Doctors and Midwives.

Rev. Mustapha announced that 53 Medical Doctors and Nurses from United States of America (USA) were in the Yendi Hospital carrying out surgical exercise on over 200 patients with hernia, goitre, fibroid among others from all over the region.

He said apart from funding the facility, government and Global Missions Resources Centre, Yendi have also drilled five boreholes for four communities and a school in Yendi Municipality at the cost of $15,000 US dollars.

Dr Braimah Abubakari, Deputy Director for Clinical Care for Northern Region who received the Intensive Care Unit and the Medical equipment promised to put the facility into good use.

Meanwhile, Mr. Anthony Sopaal, Regional Training Coordinator said they were training 50 Doctors, Midwives and Nurses on Maternal Health Care delivery with participants drawn from Yendi, Tamale Central Hospital, Tamale West Hospital, Saboba, Mion, Zabzugu, Tatale, Nanumba North, Nanumba South and Gushegu Health facilities all geared towards quality maternal health care delivery in the region.

Dr Ayuba Abudulai, the Yendi Municipal Hospital Medical Superintendent said over the years most pregnant women died through bleeding during pregnancy due to lack of transport and had to resort to use of motorbikes to health Centres.

Dr. Ayuba explained that the training programme would help them to address some of the challenges they faced in the past and expressed gratitude to Global Missions Resources Centre and their counterparts and Joe Nogalski from USA.

He urged the participants to share whatever they had learnt with their colleagues when they go back to their communities.

The participants were taken through overview of maternal deaths in Northern Region, saving mothers post-partum bleeding, advance care and referral, fluid resuscitation, among other critical areas of health delivery.

GNA
06.01.2018 LISTEN

Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an experienced Researcher and Consultant on International Relations, says the Government has performed creditably in the first year in office.

He expressed optimism that some key policies and programmes initiated by the Government within the period would yield the needed results in the ensuing years.

He commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for constituting his government immediately after the inauguration, while all his appointees had equally performed to expectation, saying; 'None of the ministers has shown mediocrity in the discharge of his or her duties''.

Dr Antwi-Danso, who is also the Acting Executive Director of the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, to express his thoughts on the Government's performance during the year under review.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government would chalk one year in office on Sunday, January 7, 2018 when the then President-Elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia were sworn into office.

Commenting on whether the President's actions and inactions had improved the rule of law in the country, Dr Antwi-Danso said it was not the President alone who was supposed to promote the rule of law, but the democratic institutions, the media and the structures put in place must work collectively to enhance it.

He noted that the President inherited an undisciplined society, which permeated through various governance institutions and structures.

He cited political vigilantism by members of the Invincible Forces, a group affiliated to the ruling NPP, which invaded court rooms and forcefully ejected appointed personalities and individuals from office.

'There is too much indiscipline in society with even some school kids attacking their teachers, some police personnel and some religious leaders engaging in various acts of indiscipline, among others, and these things must stop,'' Dr Antwi-Danso said.

He noted that as long as indiscipline was pervasive in the society, it was a constant reminder that, the President, the media and all stakeholders were supposed to play their respective roles to help dib it in the bud.

Touching on some foreign dignitaries that visited the country during the year under review, Dr Antwi-Danso said it was a clear indication that Ghana was on the right track and a force to reckon with in the international arena.

'I believe that it will translate into Foreign Direct Investments with businesses coming here to transact business with us,' he said.

Some very important personalities that visited Ghana last year included the Prime Minister of Italy, Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and the King of the Kingdom of Morocco, His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
Spokesperson to former president, John Mahama says the recent resignation of the 2nd Deputy Governor at the Bank of Ghana was forced.

Joyce Bawa Mogtaris comment follows a press release and subsequent revelation by lawyers of Dr Johnson Asiama that their client was compelled to resign from his position.

According to one of the lawyers, Victor Adawudu, some persons at the BoG made their clients stay in office difficult and it was, therefore, reasonable for him to resign in the interest of his family and country.

Speaking on Joy FMs news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday, Mrs Bawa Mogtari said per the press release and comments made by the former deputy governors lawyers, there is no doubt there are underhand dealings which forced Dr Asiama to resign.

This is tantamount to constructive dismissal of a man whose record is otherwise untarnished, a man who is very well qualified for the job, very well respected in the industry, she said.

She said the former governors resignation, as well as the current deputy governors resignation cumulatively, is not only disappointing but worrying.

She advised that individuals who are lacing their boots and those who wait to take up these appointments when these individuals are forcibly pushed out that the same way that your predecessor left, recall your successor will be planning your demise and exit as well.

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who also contributed to the discussion said not only is the unexplained resignations at the BoG is worrying, revelations in the wake of the current deputy governors resignation speak volumes of attempts by unknown persons to hound them out.

He said the press statement by lawyers of Dr Asiama indicated clearly that something went wrong and it leads everyone to believe that this is not a voluntary resignation. Clearly, it is not.

Mr Ablakwa also expressed worry that the country and the taxpayer are now going to spend more to pay for two former governors and two former deputy governors who resigned even before their time was due.

He also questioned why the governors and deputy governors who resigned rather decide to succumb to pressure rather than stand up to principle and test the law.

It appears to me that, well they dont mind, okay government is powerful, let me just take my entitlements and that's it.

If Ghana was your company will you run it that way? That is the problem I have, financial loss to the state and waste of resources, we dont need that, he said.

In his view, the governors who feel unfairly treated should go to court and challenge the decision.

But a Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah denies that government has a hand in the resignation.

He said the BoG is a semi-autonomous institution and is one of the institutions with the richest administrative structures which cannot be influenced by the state.

He stated that government has no hand in the resignation and is disappointed by the allegations being made by the lawyers.

The allegations notwithstanding, however, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said there is the need to find out from the Bank of Ghana what circumstances have occasioned his resignation.

If the man has quit his job, if he seeks to explain his reasons, there must be some facts to back it, but if you say he was relegated, impediments were put in his way and it appears to be politically motivated and the BoG is not here to speak for itself, we are left in a fix, he added.

He urged anyone who has information about the said unfair treatment to put it out.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not scared of the Office of the Special Prosecutor despite the threats by some political commentators that the office will jail many appointees of the former government for allegedly indulging in corruption-related activities.

We the members of NDC are not scared whether Special Prosecutor, Attorney General or state Attorney, we are not scared, he said during a Unity Walk hosted by the NDC at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region on Saturday.

President Akufo-Addo last week signed into law the bill setting up the Special Prosecutor office after it was approved by Parliament in November 2017.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor marks the fulfillment of a major campaign promise of Nana Akufo-Addo in the run-up to the 2016 elections aimed at fighting corruption.

But members of the opposition NDC have complained that the office, which the president is yet to name someone to head, cannot be independent since the Special Prosecutor will certainly be appointed by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Speaking at the Unity Walk, Mahama further reiterated his call on NDC members to support his appointees who are hauled before the Special Prosecutor.

He also advised NDC members not to pass premature judgment on their colleagues who are arraigned before the Special Prosecutor.

I said at Ho that we are the apostles and disciples of probity and accountability. So if we are out of government and you want to subject us to probity and accountability, we don't have a problem but we must make sure that all our colleagues, ex-appointees who are accused of any wrongdoing go through the right process and are convicted by a competent judge.

We the NDC members should not pass judgment on our colleagues because they are deemed innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction. So as long as they have not been proven guilty it is our duty to show them some solidarity and make sure that at least they have proper legal representation, he added.

Not even Nana Addo can control Special Prosecutor  Freddie Blay

Acting Chairman of the governing NPP, Freddie Blay had earlier allayed fears that the Special Prosecutor will not be independent saying not even the President will be able to meddle in the affairs of the office.

It will not be subject to any control by anybody, not even the president's office, and that is what the president has decided to happen, he added.



By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Were not scared of Special Prosecutor  Mahama appeared first on Ghana News .
06.01.2018 LISTEN

Apparently, a lot of unfortunate incidents have been happening of late in the country that cannot be allowed to pass without commenting.

I bet, Ghana, your country, my country, will never see any meaningful progress, unless you and I, learn how to be accountable,and more importantly, hold our incompliant public officials accountable at all times without fear or favour.

I am afraid, it would appear that some people who have been given the opportunity to serve in the current NPP administration are regrettably taking things for granted, judging from the unfortunate, albeit avoidable happenings at their work settings.

Much as some of the allegations are mere flimsy work of the lousy opposition, the appointees cannot and must not keep opening themselves to obdurate tattletales, who are ever ready to pounce on insubstantial issues.

Perhaps, more than anything else, the appointing authority may have to put its foot down and do the unthinkable in the Ghanaian political landscape by dismissing the incompliant appointees.

Indeed, I am of the firm conviction that the right curative for a possible attitudinal and behavioural change is to resort to stringent disciplinary measures.

Why must an unrepentant appointee hold on to his/her position despite an admissible evidence of gross misconduct?

By way of a brief digression, albeit pertinent to the topic under discussion, in a desperate attempt to quell the unrelenting impishness of their wayward children in most advanced countries, more specifically, the United Kingdom, where I have long-standing passing acquaintance, most parents often resort to the ineffective admonishing tool such as stop it. Certainly, it wont work on an impenitently naughty child.

The apparent Labyrinth of rules and laws have invariably tied the hands of the usual disciplinarian African parent.

And in contrast to the teachings of the holy book, parents have rather been instructed to spare the rod and spoil their children.

Personally, I do not accept the notion that a naughty child can only be reformed through corporal punishment. Other disciplinary measures such as carrots and sticks (rewards and sanctions) can be used to discipline unrepentant brats.

In a great scheme of things, the appointing authority must not and cannot continue to spare the rod and thereby jeopardising the bigger political project.

Let us be honest, though, some appointees are unfortunately refusing to accept the fact that the NPP government does not have absolute right to remain in power. Indeed, President Akufo-Addo and his appointees have to work towards their re-election.

Discerning Ghanaians, so to speak, voted the NDC government out of power in the 2016 general election largely due to the presence of arrogance of power, wanton corruption and sheer negligence.

Thus, we could conclude that discerning Ghanaians will not forgive the NPP government if they failed to perform exceedingly better than the erstwhile NDC government.

And what is more, the few lucky NPP appointees must not turn away from their brassbound party loyalists, many of whom worked their socks off to ensure the electoral victory in the 2016 election.

Make no mistake, dearest reader, indeed, one cannot be far from right for asserting that during the 2016 electioneering campaign, the vast majority of the supporters at the lower end of the ladder worked extremely hard than most of the people who have landed government appointments.

So, let the NPP government appointees look down upon the ordinary hardworking and selfless men and women at their own peril.

Even though the vast majority of the supporters knew very well that theyll never in a million years get appointment in government, they persevered and worked strenuously to ensure victory in the 2016 election.

They are indeed the real patriots, who want nothing but the prosperity of Ghana. I, for one, will ever admire their unparalleled patriotism and altruism.

To me, the best the NPP appointees could do for those party loyalists and the millions of discerning Ghanaians who rightly brought the party into power is to stay focus and hit the ground running so as to ameliorate their lives.

Indeed, the good people of Ghana found in NPP, a redeemer, in whom they trusted to set them free from the NDC governments economic bondage.

Thus, President Nana Akufo-Addo and his appointees must not and cannot disappoint discerning Ghanaians, whose invaluable efforts brought about the needed change.

K. Badu, UK.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

For some reasons this academic and policy discourse paradigm-probing question intruded into my thinking for some weeks now, after having attended the Legal Academics Conference at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology under the headline theme; The Future of Legal Education in Ghana. I couldnt stop thinking, until I finally had to..

In the era instantaneously after independence, there was a significant scholarship on the need, process, and character of Legal Education in Ghana. Policy makers, politicians, and academicians all saw the need for training legal professionals who could assist in the transformation of Ghanas Legal Systems and aid in the development of Ghana. They made various inquiries into the state of Ghanas Legal Education. More importantly, they recognized the pressing need for adequate legal training.Many viewed law as a critical instrument in Ghanas development, and the training of legal professionals formed a cornerstone in the scholarship in Ghana. Thus, Ghanas Legal Education developed dramatically immediately after independence. And the number of Law faculties have grown steadily over the years.

Fast forward, there was a shift in the attention of the significance of Legal Education in Ghana. This shift in attention led to the current paucity of scholarly discussion on the role of law and lawyers in the Ghanaian Society. Not much inquiry has been made into the adequacy of Ghanas current legal framework or the training of its lawyers. The hope of this article is to initiate a discussion on the complex issues surrounding Ghanas legal education reform and to also make a general argument for Legal Education reform in Ghana. And to also provide a broad framework for understanding the development and needs of Ghanas Legal Education and to also set a two-pronged reform agenda.

I must state emphatically without any equivocation that, our reform agenda must consider two crucial issues which is, what calibre of Lawyer does Ghana need? And, do these institutions or Law faculties that we have produce the calibre of Lawyer Ghana need? Without answers to those central questions, the reform agenda goals might be cheated at a richer discussion.

The legal training in Ghana was structured according to suggestions provided by the Denning committee in 1961. The Denning Committees recommendations were largely adopted and have influenced the system of legal education in Ghana. Of particular significance was the proposal that the normal pattern of legal education in the African territories should be a degree in law at an African university followed by one year of practical training at a school of law. This recommendation formed the basis for Ghanas two-tiered legal education system: academic legal education in a universitys law faculty for a Bachelor of Laws degree andsubsequent professional legal training in a law school for a call to the Bar (a Barrister/Solicitors Certificate).

Of what significance is the 1961 Denning Committee recommendations that formed the basis for our two-tiered legal education system relevant in this era? Can we innovate and be creative? Andalso understand that unusual times call for creativity, modernization and innovation? We cannot start solving our problems if we accept the current out-dated model as binding constraint.

According to Grady Jessup: The law courses of early curricular design did not reflect the needs of the society, and the training of lawyers was based on doctrinaire teaching geared to an adversary setting catering to litigation for the fortunate few at the cost of social injustice to the deprived many.

One of the problems that Ghanas Legal Education system is faced with, that isnt given much attention is curricular weaknesses. Curricular weakness in Ghanas legal education includes lack of legal clinics to teach skills and sensitize students to local needs and aspirations, limited course offerings, over-reliance on lecture, scarce legal aid support services, and a lack of perspectives on Ghanaian juridical and philosophical value systems as they relate to the global legal system. Also, law faculties lack adequate learning resources, such as well-stocked libraries, electronic information retrieval databases, information and communications technology, and computers.

Other factors that negatively impact the curricula is the overcrowding and disproportionate student-faculty ratios which might impede effective teaching. Inadequate remuneration for faculty might compel moonlighting in second or third jobs and, thereby, affect faculty preparation and delivery. Dysfunctional institutions, corruption, poverty, lack of facilities, and scarce resources are all challenges confronting Ghanas legal education curricula reform.

In addition to these broad challenges, is the Statutory Curricula: another Systemic Weakness in Ghanas Legal System. The 1960 Legal Profession Act which has not seen any significant changes since its introduction and has fallen behind current trends whichmandated the General Legal Council to make arrangements for the establishment of a system of legal education, including courses of instruction for students to obtain practical experience in law. The course structure of the Ghana School of Law, has been set out in the Professional Law Course Regulation restricting law school curricula to subjects specified by statute limits professional legal education. It might, however, be argued that these statutes are permissive and set broad guidelines only. In which case, introducing new courses, such as clinical legal education courses, might be a question of statutory interpretation since these statutes do not necessarily forbid new or additional subjects.

Truth be told, the challenges facing Ghanas legal education are multi-faceted and will require a broad reform framework involving all stakeholders such as students, policymakers, law deans, and legal professionals.

First, Ghanaian lawyers are not trained to deal with local realities. Clinical legal education, for example, might teach practical lawyering skills and train lawyers to be more sensitive and responsive to local needs and aspirations.It might also make legal services more accessible. Yet, most Ghanaian law school curricula have no clinical programs and continue to rely heavily on the lecture pedagogy. Change is needed. Ghana should put a premium on practical legal training and reform law school curricula. Besides traditional classes, Ghana law schools could introduce simulation and clinical programs that teach law students practical skills such as working directly with clients in community legal services, trial and appellate advocacy, drafting, public interest law, and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Law clinics might also improve systemic problems such as court delays, undue adjournments, high costs of representation, complex procedures, legal aid services, and access to justice.

Second, Ghanas legal education reform might have to focus on local challenges, beginning with extensive reform of domestic law schools, curricula, and administration. Any reform should meet domestic development needs, stimulate vibrant interest in perspectives on Ghana law as it relates to the global legal order. A reform of the law curricula must necessarily confront these issues and address structural problems in the legal profession, the relationship between law schools and the legal profession, a consensus on the needs, cost, and methods for legal education, and the type of lawyer Ghana needs.

Third, a lawyers job is largely seen as litigation. However, a legal profession that sees litigation as its mainstay invariably misconceives the function of the lawyer. With very few exceptions, the law as applied in Ghana focuses on the rules of the litigation game and not the ordering of norms for social life. A legal profession that sheds the law of its value-content and finds solace in litigation is a failed model of law and legal practice.

As Gower said, African countries ought to convert the legal profession from one that regards litigation as its objective rather than its failure.Our law curricula might have to consider inculcating a better sense of public interest services among lawyers. The private practice approach to our legal education seems to be an elitist policy perpetuating the colonial legacy of protecting markets, receipts of revenues, and the interests of businessmen and traders. However, in a developing country like Ghana, any system of legal education should aim at producing the lawyers Ghana needs: well-trained lawyers who have the highest levels of competence and responsibility, who are alive to thedemands of globalization with a globally competitive posture, and who are in touch with local realities, needs, and aspirations.

Finally, Ghanas legal education should produce the different types of lawyers Africa needs. This calls for specialization and cultivation of substantive and practical legal skills in various areas of law. Ghana needs experts in mediation, arbitration, health, environment, natural resources, joint ventures, and project finance. Ghana law schools need rich curricula for students to sample a wide array of course and clinic options. Students can then design a program of study that fits their individual interests, expertise, or career plans.

I will like to recommend that Ghana needs a legal education process that is driven by a pragmatic jurisprudence based on core Ghanaian value systems, examples, and models, and is primarily concerned with the practical problems of using law as a tool of socioeconomic engineering. Legal education might have to realign, reform, and apply Ghanaian values to problems of modernity, dispute resolution, institution building, etc. Sensitivity to Public Service Responsibilities The legal professions fixation with private practice is compromising its ability to use the law as a tool for socio-economic engineering. Absent a change of focus, the legal profession will confront growing public cynicism and outright disrespect. In training lawyers in Ghana, a critical focus must be the development of lawyering skills that are necessary to practice within the context of social justice. Because there is a need for lawyers who are sensitive to their public service responsibilities, legal training institutions must introduce programs and courses that expose prospective lawyers to the legal needs and problems frequently encountered by the poor. It is imperative for the legal education process to pay attention to the social engineering needs and the policy demands and to socialize lawyers to use the legal system to serve underrepresented clients interests, as well as the interests of corporate and other paying clients.

Specialization in Lawis also critical for Ghana legal professionals to have the opportunity to specialize in legal areas such as complex joint venture transactions, privatization, debt management, international arbitration, commercial negotiations, international finance, intellectual property and technology transfer agreements, health, administrative justice, the environment, and natural and water resources. Globalization and the present information economy necessitate training for current geopolitical, business, trade, and information technology needs. Though lawyers may well-serve the community as general practitioners, there is an urgent need for hard-core specialist lawyers. Legal training institutions need to consider critically the current lack of opportunities for specialization and institute programs that will produce the different types of lawyers Ghana needs. Obviously, the establishment of such programs requires human, financial, and material resources. Ghanas legal training institutions have to explore innovative means of mobilizing resources to undertake graduate and specialize.

Building a Consensus among Key Stakeholders is needed among key stakeholders in the legal education process, particularly deans, policymakers, and the legal profession, as to the reform needs of our legal education. Clearly, a vibrant coalition of law deans and administrators would be able to spearhead such a consensus-building effort and, thereby, court governmental policy recognition of the issues and win the committed support of the legal profession. An active commitment by deans, policymakers, and the legal profession to the development of African legal education might even induce foundations, governments, and other domestic and foreign institutions to be more forthcoming in providing additional funds and support for African legal education.

Strengthening of relations, the Legal Profession and Legal Training Institutions in the search for an appropriate paradigm of legal education, the disjoint between legal training institutions and the legal profession needs urgent review. The legal profession, and many other governmental and non-governmental organizations already exist in most African countries that could facilitate the process of legal education, particularly in the area of clinical legal education. The infrastructure that should exist between the legal profession and the legal education process needs to be considered.

Considering the weaknesses and challenges facing Ghanas legal education, some questions seem to present themselves: Is it not time to change, or at least re-examine, the law curricula model?Innovate and be creative? And also understand that unusual times call for creativity, modernization and innovation?Given the need to train Ghanaian lawyers to confront transnational challenges and local needs, the Ghanaian legal education system must deal with crucial policy issues regarding curricula reform.

So I ask again, will our anchor hold as law students, lecturers, legal practitioners and legal luminaries in the call for a new paradigm and urgent arrest of our Legal Education?

Joshua Batsa Narh

(Central University)
Nigeria is to speed up repatriating its citizens from Libya which has been accused of exploiting and ill-treating migrants, its foreign minister said in Tripoli on Saturday.

Geoffrey Onyeama told a news conference Nigeria was chartering two aircraft to repatriate over the next few days 800 of its citizens who wanted to go home.

Onyeama said he had visited two migrant detention centres in Libya and met a number of his compatriots.

"The reality is that a large number of these Nigerians here have suffered greatly and have gone through an extreme traumatic experience," he told reporters.

"The main objective is to get these Nigerians back home as quickly as possible."

Onyeama admitted there had been difficulties in identifying the number of Nigerians in Libya, as many were undocumented or in detention centres not controlled by the authorities.

Nigeria had already pledged to repatriate 250 migrants a week, following a CNN report on a slave trade targeting illegal migrants from west Africa in Libya.

Nigerians make up the majority of undocumented migrants trying to make the treacherous crossing via the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Almost 1,300 Nigerian migrants were brought home from Libya last November -- nearly twice as many as in the previous month, the head of Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said in December.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

In 1956 Ghana, the then Gold Coast gained internal independence. In 1957, Ghana gained total independence and was free from internal and external suppression. Among the four countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Gambia) that were colonized by the British, Ghana was the first country to gain independence. In West Africa, Ghana was the first country that gained independence. She even helped Guinea to gain independence. So why is Ghana still behind development? This is very pathetic. Isn't it?

Ghana is blessed with many natural resources such as gold, diamond, bauxite, timber and many others. It is currently the second largest producer of cocoa in the world. Not only that but also the second largest miner of gold in Africa. But why is Ghana still a developing country? Why is she still dependent on other countries? High rate of unemployment, high child mortality rate, hunger, poverty, and many others are the challenges we are still bedeviled with. Why mother Ghana?

It was last night they announced of his coming. A lot of people have left their daily activities to see him. Yes, their 'Messiah'. Wow, what a flashy car! Look at the number of cars and his entourage. What a handsome man!Look at the way he has dressed. Like he is from a different planet. His hair is cut and brushed nicely. What a neatness! His coat is well ironed and very neat. His shoes are well polished that one can use as a mirror.

Look at the way he speaks. He can really rattle the queen's language with ease. Everybody wants to hear him talk. Yes. This is how I want my child to be like. I wish I were him. I wish he were my child. I wish he were my relative. But did you know how this man become who he is? Every day and night we are exposed to new things. Aren't we?

This means we have to always learn to cope with the present environment. That is why no one can say that he/she is done with learning. Learning is a lifelong process. It is from generation to generation; very essential in every country since each country's progress is premised on education. No wonder Nelson Mandela ever said it is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

Education has been in Ghana since time immemorial but it was rather informal (where a person was taught outside the classroom without any structured curriculum) and non-formal (where a father could teach his children how to farm or tell them a story about the past). Indeed, knowledge was imparted to the Ghanaian child orally and through apprenticeships. Now, Ghana's education system is killing creativity, it is too bookish, responsible for unemployment and doesn't teach the Ghanaian child to be self-reliant.

The bookish nature of Ghana's education system compels the Ghanaian child to memorize what is in the textbooks. It is based on mastering the principles and theory of dead people. But why should we spend much time still learning the principles and theorems of dead people? Can't we instead do more to what is already being done? As an educationist, one thing I have noticed among many students is that they memorize words that they neither understand or could pronounce them well. This is really sickening. Isn't it?

I remember I could define what matter was for my teacher to say that I was intelligent. I memorized the definition for exam's sake but the truth is I didn't know what it really meant. Funny right? In subjects like Mathematics which I know my colleagues in other schools did same, I had no option than to memorize most of the formulas I didn't know what they meant. Interestingly, the people who have the ability to memorize are considered 'the intelligent. How?

Students who have the ability to memorize past questions are seen as brilliant students whilst the unfortunate ones who don't get past questions to memorize are seen as weak students. The Ghanaian child reads nothing else apart from the books given to them. Seriously if the students who got aggregate 6 in the Wassce are to write those same papers again, I promise you most of them would not be able to even get aggregate 10. why? 'Chew and pour', 'past and forget'.

Our education system kills creativity. Is the Ghanaian child receiving a quality education? Are they being taught to be critical thinkers so that they can be creative and solve problems? Can they compete with students from other countries? Unlike the saying by Jean Piaget "the goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities of a child to invent or discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things", Ghana's education system is based on producing what is being taught in the class.

This has made the Ghanaian child part of those who cannot think outside the box. Apart from what is being taught in the class, the Ghanaian child does not bother to learn things outside the course they study. Those that are creative are still struggling, re-writing failed papers to better them. An example is Yvonne Nelson who re-wrote failed papers several times to better them but looks at where she is now because of creativity. What baffles me is that these people are made by their teachers, friends, and relatives to feel that their contributions outside the classroom is worthless.

In the BECE and WASSCE, students are compelled to produce precisely what is in the textbook. Credit is not given for creative thinking, think outside the box rather penalizes the Ghanaian child.

The education system is responsible for the never-ending unemployment in the country.

'The true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers', said William Deresiewic. The notion implanted in the minds of the Ghanaian students is that they will go to school, get a job, marry, retire and enjoy their pension pay. An irony in itself. There is a subject that has attracted so much public attention which is the high rate of graduate unemployment. This has been a major problem for Ghana for decades.

Government goes and government comes but no government has been able to solve this unending problem as expected. People enter the tertiary institutions and become less creative because they focus only on books and do not even read outside their courses.

There is a big difference between academia and industry but our education system only focuses on producing academicians.This makes graduates become more than the jobs available. It makes it difficult for the Ghanaian graduate to get a job. A lot of graduates are still in the house searching for jobs.The fortunate ones who get jobs are unable to do it effectively because they are not practically oriented.

Also, business students whose field is concerned with marketing are never bothered to sell because they see selling as the work for the uneducated. Yes. They think educated persons must only work in offices. They would want to work in the cities. They would want to search for jobs with good working conditions and remuneration so that they can be rich within the shortest possible time, forgetting that all the anointed ones started as churchgoers.

The system doesn't teach the Ghanaian child to be self-sufficient. What kind of education is the Ghanaian child acquiring from the school? Unlike the informal education which is more into the practicals, formal education delves less into the practical aspect.

For instance, a science student can give the functions of burette, pipette, measuring cylinder and many others but if he is sent outside the classroom to select burette from many scientific apparatus they cannot. Why? Could you believe that at the end of some lessons, most students might not have seen computers and scientific apparatus. Astonishing right? It baffles me why the Ghanaian child would be taught ICT in class without ICT tools. The Ghanaian teacher would teach students what the mouse is when the child has not seen mouse before. Is the child educated well here?

In conclusion, education, as we all know, is very important for the development of every country hence there is the need for us to restructure our education system to commensurate the ever emerging technological growth in the world.

We must place priority on the gifted and technical education in order to lessen the bookish nature of our system of education so that Mother Ghana can also beat its chest in competing with other already developed countries. The Ghanaian child who can use their hands to manipulate materials and bring out something meaningful but cannot pass exams should be made to feel worthwhile and not the other way round.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

In this special coverage of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we focus on SDG 10, which is Reduced inequality within and among countries. The aim of SDG 10 is for countries to adopt policies that promote the three dimensions of sustainable development  economic, social and environmental. We look at Africas progress in inclusive economic growth, education, trade and womens empowerment.

Nelson Mandela, shortly after becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa, spoke to both his countrymen and womenindeed, for Africans everywherewhen he declared, We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and power in our society.

As he spoke those words in 1996, South Africa was just emerging from a racist apartheid past in which non-whites, more than three-quarters of the population, were not only denied the vote but also denied land ownership, skilled jobs, and most basic services.

The countrys poverty rate, after a brief decline, has been on the rebound since 2015. While millions of South Africans have improved their educational and job prospects, overall income inequality in the country remains stubbornly entrenched.

According to a new study by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), South Africa has the highest recorded level of income inequality in the world. And in this, South Africa is not unusual among African nations. Of the 19 most unequal countries in the world, 10 are in Africa, according to the UNDPs Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa, a report released in New York during the opening week of the UN General Assembly this past September.

While many countries in the region, such as Cote dIvoire, Mauritius and Rwanda have registered remarkable economic performance over the past decade and a half, lifting millions out of extreme poverty and making schooling and health care available to larger shares of their populations, others have lagged.

One obstacle to higher incomes for all has been the regions entrenched economic and social inequalities. The contrast between the visible wealth of elites and the daily misery of most ordinary people makes the disparities seem unjust, driving popular anger and contributing to protest and rebellion.

As President Hage Geingob of Namibiaa country that inherited the highest levels of income inequality in Africa when it gained independence from apartheid-era South Africa in 1990told the UN General Assembly, As long as the wealth of the country is disproportionately in the hands of a few, we cannot have lasting peace and stability.

Radical shift

Until recently, income inequality received only sporadic attention from development practitioners and policy makers. Before the 1990s they focused mainly on stimulating economic growth. It eventually became clearer that growing markets alone does not necessarily benefit the poor and that excessive liberalization can in fact hurt them.

When the international community adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, their focus shifted more towards anti-poverty measures and improvements in social well-being.

Poverty subsequently fell in many African countries experiencing economic growth. Yet despite generally robust growth, nearly half the continents people still live on less than $1.25 a day. Studies have shown that where there is less inequality, the benefits of growth reach wider sectors of the population. In more unequal nations, however, the rich garner the biggest share and the poor get little.

That realization underlay the 2015 negotiations over the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global goals call not only for ending poverty, but also for reducing inequalities within and among nations. The UNDP terms this a radical shift intended to address the last mile of exclusion that prevents many people from improving their lives.

In analyzing income inequality in Africa, the UNDP report focuses on 29 sub-Saharan countries (which account for 80% of Africas population) for which there is adequate data on household consumption. It shows that between 1991 and 2011, 17 of those countries managed to reduce their degree of income inequality. But the remaining dozen registered an increase in income inequality over the same period.

That divergence reflects the historical, economic, social and political factors affecting income inequality in each country.

Countries with higherand risingincome inequality are mainly in Southern and Central Africa; they have capital-intensive oil and mining sectors with limited employment or are former settler societies that still have large landholdings.

Countries with declining income inequality, most of which are in West Africa, generally started out with lower levels of inequality and have predominantly smallholder agricultural sectors in which many people stand to benefit from improvements in productivity.

Causes of inequalities

Income inequalities in different countries differ by degree, but the more important distinction is the factors that shape them. The root causes of inequality are rarely the same from country to country and may include restricted access to land, capital and markets; inequitable tax systems; excessive vulnerability to unfavourable global markets; rampant corruption; and the patrimonial allocation of public resources.

Although gender inequalities exist in all countries and are particularly severe in Africa, they are generally underestimated in most standard measures, which rely on household income or consumption data. Such estimates tend to assume equal spending powers among all family members.

While some countries have seen efforts to reduce economic disparities, others have been marked by opposition to such efforts by incumbent elites, according to researchers cited in the report.

The marginalization of certain geographical regions or the social and political exclusion of minority ethnic and religious groups can bring especially explosive consequences, the new UNDP report says, contributing to unrest and even armed conflict.

No single solution

Because of the complex, multidimensional factors influencing inequality, There is no one silver bullet to address its challenge, observes Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, UNDPs assistant administrator and director of its Africa bureau. Multiple responses are required.

In this issue of Africa Renewal, we examine many existing responses to income inequalities, including inequalities in education, those affecting a vulnerable group (albinos), those relating to business leadership, and those affecting Africas trade with other regions.

Whatever a countrys specific history and circumstances, a number of measures have proven especially fruitful in reducing inequalities across the region: increasing productivity among small-scale farmers, ensuring womens access to land, reversing urban favouritism in services and economic opportunities, promoting labour-intensive industries, setting minimum wages, strengthening capacities to keep the wealthy from evading taxes, introducing strong social protection programmes and ending all forms of exclusion.

Ultimately, such efforts are intended to ensure that all Africans are able to live productive and fulfilling lives and to uphold the SDGs pledge to leave no one behind.
From Africa Reeling to Africa Rising, theres a new narrative for the African continent, now showing promising signs of sustainable growth under more stable governments.

McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, predicts that Africas combined GDP will be $2.6 trillion by 2020 and that Africas consumer spending by 128 million households with discretionary income is expected to be around $1.4 trillion.

Among the countries attracting investors are Cote dIvoire, Benin, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Togo.

But a new report from the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) finds that Africas new wealth is increasingly concentrated in a few hands. Disappointingly, 10 of the worlds 19 most unequal countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Economic inequality, sometimes referred to as income inequality, is the unequal distribution of a countrys wealth. In highly unequal societies, such as South Africa, most people live in poverty while a minority amasses enormous wealth.

South Africa, the continents most developed economy, is also the worlds most unequal. Botswana, Namibia and Zambia are also among the top 19.

While Ethiopias economy is growing at 8%, it is impossible to miss its impoverished citizens in the streets of its capital, pulling on donkeys to transport goods while the rich and famous drive around in luxury cars.

In Nigeria the scale of inequality has reached extreme levels, reports Oxfam, a UK-based charity, in a study published in May 2017. Five of Nigerias wealthiest people, including Africas richest man, Aliko Dangote, have a combined wealth of $29.9 billionmore than the countrys entire 2017 budget. About 60% of Nigerians live on less than $1.25 a day, the threshold for absolute poverty.

Everything [in South Africa is] was skewed raciallyeducation, access to finance, and access to land, maintains Haroon Bhorat, an economics professor at the University of Cape Town.

Inequality drivers

Several factors drive inequality in Africa, according to the group of economists who authored the UNDP report Income Inequality Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, Determinants and Consequences.

First, under Africas two-track economic structure, growth often occurs in sectors characterized by low absorption of unskilled labour, high earnings inequality and high capital share in total income. The authors note that growth in those sectors may spur GDP headline growth but will also exacerbate inequality. Its a rising tide that doesnt lift all boats.

Second, infrastructure, human labour and land are highly concentrated in Eastern and Southern Africa. Third, authors of the report make reference to the natural resource curse, an urban bias of public policy and ethnic and gender inequalities. It appears, they note, that countries with abundant natural resources, such as Botswana and Zambia, are also some of the most unequal.

Inequality also results from regressive taxes [tax rate decreases when taxable income increases], unresponsive wage structures and inadequate investments in education, health and social protection for vulnerable and marginalized groups.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many African countries buckled under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Western nations to implement structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), which led to cuts in subsidies for health, education, transportation and other sectors that help poor citizens.

Some historians and economists now say those cuts fostered inequality. Under the influence of Western donors, austerity became African leaders default coping mechanism for periods of economic stress, writes Nicholas William Stephenson Smith, a freelance researcher and historian.

Social unrest

For many countries SAPs widened the wealth gap rather than providing macroeconomic stability, argues Said Adejumobi, director of Southern Africas subregional office for the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Mr. Adejumobi adds that structural adjustment stalled mobility, frayed communities and sharpened divisions along socioeconomic lines. Currently a tiny group of 4% captures a large chunk of the income and wealth in Africas changing tide of capitalist progress, he says.

Inequality now threatens social cohesion on the continent. In recent months thousands of Ethiopians have been on the streets protesting harsh economic conditions, forcing factories, hospitals and public transportation to shut down operations.

Economic inequality is fueling conflicts in the Central African Republic, Libya, Nigeria and South Sudan, says Mr. Adejumobi. The warped motive of Boko Haram insurgency may not relate to inequality butignorance and deprivation are two factors that may have made it possible for the terrorist group to recruit young people to kill and maim their fellow citizens.

Expect deprived people to push back against inequality at some point, says renowned French economist Thomas Piketty, because the rich will always try to protect the status quo and resist efforts to achieve an egalitarian society.

Mr. Pikettys book Capital in the Twenty-First Century makes a moral argument against excessive wealth accumulation, describing it as unfair and unjust and something to be resisted.

Countries adopted the Millennium Development Goals (20002015) to, among other targets, halve the number of people living in absolute poverty. Globally, after 15 years, some 50% of participating countries had met that target, 30% had made progress and 20%, mostly developing countries, had not made significant progress. The Gambia and Ghana met the target, but Ethiopia was among the countries that did not.

The authors of Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa argued that poverty reduction efforts do not necessarily bridge the inequality gap, which was a conceptual underpinning of the MDGs.

To achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an offshoot of the MDGs, experts hope countries will embrace a range of policies that tackle various forms of inequalities, not just poverty.

Policies that help reduce poverty are not necessarily the same as those that help reduce income inequality, writes Abdoulaye Dieye, director of UNDPs regional bureau for Africa, in the preface to the report.

Closing the gap

Quality education may dent poverty but will not close the inequality gap unless accompanied by progressive taxation [tax rate increases with increases in taxable amount] and well-targeted social protection, Mr. Dieye further explains.

Also, countries need to focus on growth pattern rather than growth rate, because inequality falls when growth is in labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, and it rises when growth is in sectors high in capital and the use of skilled labour, such as mining, finance, insurance and real estate, according to the UNDP economists.

Currently most African countries allocate a significant share of their national budgets to recurrent overheads and/or debts, leaving little or nothing for other projects.

Corruption, mismanagement and illicit financial flows (IFFs) also deplete state coffers.

According to a 2015 report by a high-level African Union panel on IFFs headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, Africa loses up to $50 billion annually to illicit financial flows. Mr. Mbeki urges countries to punish multinational companies that are overinvoicing, underpricing or funneling money to tax havens.

Empowering women

Gender inequality is costing sub-Saharan Africa on average $US95 billion a year, peaking at US$105 billion in 2014or six percent of the regions GDPjeopardizing the continents efforts for inclusive human development and economic growth, according to the UNDP publication Africa Human Development Report 2016: Advancing Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment in Africa.

The authors of the UNDP report highlight that in sub-Saharan Africa, household income disproportionately favours adult males and gender discrimination is acute and endemic.

The UNDP correlates gender equality with human development. Mauritius and Tunisia Mauritius have low levels of gender equality and high levels of human development. Conversely, Chad, Mali and Niger have high levels of gender inequality but low levels of human development.

Former vice president of the World Banks Africa division ObiageliEzekwesili said last November that men are mostly to blame for Africas economic problems. When many more women are at the decision-making level, there is less corruption. Nobody does any favour to women by involving them in governance.

Mr. AyodeleOdusola, the lead author of the UNDP report, maintains that no single solution can address inequalities on the continent. You have to take countries context into consideration, he says, advising countries to adopt progressive taxation, invest in education and agriculture, increase direct taxation and institute efficient tax administration.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

CNN African Voices sponsored by Globacom, l this week profiled the artistic exploits of three young Africans who are deploying their crafts ingeniously and creatively to project their countries.

In the vignette of the programme, CNN noted that some artists use art to express whats within, while others use it to express an outside experience. The programme zeroes in on the poetic exploits of Chief Moomen, a versatile creative writer from Ghana who is showcasing the countrys rich cultural offerings.

He regaled viewers with his trajectory to becoming a poet, how he is tapping into the wisdom of old to inspire the journey of tomorrow and his hobbies as well as what makes him tick as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Theatre Arts of the University of Ghana.

It also featured a Nigerian graffiti artist, 34 year-old Osa Okunkpolor, popularly known as Osa Seven currently making waves through the utilization of graffiti to enhance the beauty of Lagos and at the same time communicating the history of the people of Lagos.

The University of Lagos graduate talks about the makeover of streets of Lagos in the #EKOTAG campaign which is the first of its kind and his other work like portraits of iconic characters to scenic images, brand designs, abstract art and tribal art designs.

The third guest, Zemba Luzamba, who originally hails from Democratic Republic of Congo but finds home in Cape Town, South Africa, introduced viewers to his paintings which chronicle the hardships experienced by African migrants including himself, who left his country when it was boiling in war to find peace in South Africa.

These interesting African artists told their compelling stories on CNN African Voices on CNN at 9.30 a.m. on Friday. Repeat editions will be broadcast at 3.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on Saturday and 11.30 a.m and 6.30 p.m. on Sunday. Further repeats will be broadcast at 10.30 a.m. on Monday and 4.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

Professor Richard Mulwa knows his way around scientifically modified seedsalso known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In his laboratory at Egerton University in Kenya, the professor, who has genetically modified grapes, is currently researching ways to curtail naturally occurring cyanide in cassava grown in the cooler temperatures of Kenyas highlands.

If we can isolate the genetic pathway in the plant responsible for producing the poison, we can also develop edible cassava for higher altitudes, he told Africa Renewal in an interview.

That could open a whole new range of possibilities for farmers in the highlands, the professor explained in the sedate atmosphere of his laboratory, which contrasted sharply with the streets clogged with the noisy minibuses known as matatus outside the university gates.

Maize is Kenyas most important staple, but frequent droughts resulting from climate change are affecting production. An increase in the production of cassava, a second staple, could prove a lifesaver. Cassava is a good crop to have because it survives very well in dry circumstances, Professor Mulwa says.

GMOs were introduced in 1996 by the American chemical giant Monsanto, which had managed to make maize seeds resistant to pests and soybeans resistant to a weed killer called glyphosate. Glyphosate killed all weeds in farmlands sown with the treated soy. Within a decade global GMO acreage increased a hundredfold. But consumers began to get worried about genetic tinkering with their food. And farmers planting in neighbouring fields saw their crops die as sun-dried glyphosate blew over from treated farms to untreated ones.

Professor Mulwas efforts to genetically modify cassava were hindered by a 2012 Kenyan government ban on GMOs after consumers raised concerns. We just finished our research in the lab and want to continue testing it in the field. Our work has stalled, complained Professor Mulwa. Earlier in 2017, Kenyas National Biosafety Authority had announced field trials for GMO crops, defying the health ministry. The task force formed by the government to investigate the safety of GMOs would like the ban lifted on a case-by-case basis.

Green Revolution

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), which assesses climate science, notes that climate change effects in the coming decades could be worsened by exponential population growth. Africas population of approximately one billion is expected to double by 2050, according to UN figures. By 2040, for example, Kenyas population alone is forecast to increase from 45 million to 80 million. A growing population requires greater agricultural output.

To address an anticipated shortfall in agricultural productivity, African leaders committed in 2003through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a continental master planto invest 10% of national budgets in the agricultural sector. Countries agreed to spend more money on rural development, reliable electricity systems in the countryside, better irrigation, storage facilities and quality infrastructure to connect farmers to local markets.

But more than a decade after adopting CAADP, only nine of Africas 54 countries have lived up to their commitments. The failure to invest in agriculture creates an opportunity for companies such as Monsanto, Bayer and others, argues Stephen Greenberg, a research coordinator at the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Biodiversity (ACBio).

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2016, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates suggested that GMO technology could kick-start an agricultural revolution in Africa.

However, developing GMOs is a highly specialized and costly business. Currently a handful of multinational companies (Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, DuPont and BASF) monopolise the industry. Referred to as the big six, these companies are beginning to make inroads into developing countries, including in Africa.

The first major effort to introduce GMOs in Africa took place in the year 2000. A showcase project led by a Monsanto-trained Kenyan biotechnologist, Florence Wambugu, was initiated by the World Bank, the US government and Monsanto itself. The goal was to develop a virus-resistant sweet potato. After three years of field trials the genetically modified potatoes proved no less vulnerable to viruses than the untreated ones.

Adding insult to injury, a conventional breeding program in Uganda yielded virus-resistant sweet potatoes much faster and for far less money. In early 2004 the UK-based journal New Scientist dubbed the effort a Monsanto failure.

After several years of experimenting, the next big African GMO project was announced in 2008 in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Under the moniker WEMA (Water Efficient Maize for Africa), several international scientists teamed up with national research institutes in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. WEMA helps develop drought- and insect -resistant genetically modified maize suited for East African conditions.

Monsanto donated the genetic material, and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), a Nairobi-based NGO funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, Syngenta and PepsiCo, coordinated the project. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also invested $85 million in the development of WEMA.

Kenya sees up to $90 million in postharvest losses each year, says WEMA project manager Sylvester Oikeh, adding, Making WEMA maize widely available is our answer to African farmers calling for innovative solutions to these issues.

Currently, GMOs are being grown in only four African countries: Burkina Faso, Egypt, South Africa and Sudan.

In 2015 ACBio published a critical report on WEMA. Its researchers concluded that the drought-resistant maize Monsanto had donated to the project had delivered no meaningful results in North America, where it is sold under the name DroughtGard.

Adopting hybrid maize varieties (the conventional drought-tolerant maize and the GM variety) is a good idea, but farmers must lead the way, experts advise. Many answers are to be found in farmers knowledge of, for example, how to create healthy soils that store more water under drought conditions, notes Lim Li Ching, a senior researcher for Third World Network, an international network of organisations that produces and analyzes policies on ecological sustainability.

Simultaneously, the insect-resistant trait Monsanto also donated to WEMA underperformed so heavily in South Africa that it was silently withdrawn from the market.

South African farmers have been cultivating GMO maize for two decades now, Mr. Greenberg explained. Currently almost 90% of all maize grown in the country is genetically modified. Farmers are running into trouble because insects become immune to the GMOs. But the market has become so monopolized over the years, the farmers have no option left besides waiting for Monsanto to develop a new GMO.

Behemoths

The first batch of experimental WEMA maize was harvested in Mozambique in August 2017. The pressure to introduce standardized GMO crops in the huge and largely unserved African food market will not lessen now that the big biotechnology companies are merging into global behemoths, ACBio fears. Already Monsanto and the German chemical giant Bayer are exploring a $63.5 billion merger.

Taking a leaf from the merger activities of the big six, the Chinese conglomerate ChemChina announced in 2016 the acquisition of the Swiss company Syngenta, and DuPont and Dow Chemical have also begun merger talks. It is an unprecedented wave of consolidation that both EU and American regulators are scrutinizing.

In February 2017 ACBio released a study on the Monsanto-Bayer merger to highlight possible consequences for African farmers. If smallholders collectively switch to generic GMO maize, African agriculture and biodiversity will suffer, and [it will] eventually limit farmers options because of the strong market dominance of a few big players, maintained Mr. Greenberg.

Especially when seed prices start to rise, that will heavily affect small farmers while failing to address the underlying problems of rural poverty. But Monsanto can make a lot of money by selling this kind of high-technology agriculture to as many farmers as possible.

Unfounded fears

Professor Mulwa says that while consumer fears about GMOs may be unfounded, there is room for criticism of the approach of the GMO tech giants.

GMO technology should be strategically embedded in local agriculture, he advises. I am of course pro-GMO. From a scientific perspective, farmers have a lot to gain from GMO technology. But as a scientist, I am bound by ethical standards, not corporate interests. I go out into the field and talk to farmers. I want to solve problems by using biotechnology, says Professor Mulwa.

The adoption of GMO technology in Africa may therefore depend on whether the tech companies are in for profits without regard to Africas food security.

That is an important distinction. I think GMO development should be taken out of the hands of those powerful companies. As most things in life, GMOs can be used for good or for bad, concludes Professor Mulwa.
06.01.2018 LISTEN

There is no doubt in our minds that Dr. Kofi Boahene has a clear conscience about his grand vision for the interactive workings of diversity, and the implications of this line of progressive thinking for improving race relations and the human condition, for advancing the moral agency of his own social standing in the center of the universe of human complexity. This should be commended.

Then again the Ghanaian-born Dr. Boahene, we should add, is an enlightened, keen and intelligent observer of the moral fallibility of human intentions, and therefore on account of this acknowledgement he does not take his perceived understanding of the cosmic reach of human behavior for granted. Our close reading of However Far the Stream Flows, naturally does not point to a Dr. Boahene who conventionally matches the designation of a classic essentialist critic of the many aberrations we have come to find in the galaxy of human character. He explains the concept this way (Boahene, p. 86):

like most Africans I had learned the challenges of social acceptance and personal safety. I had studied and seen the effects of tribal and colonial persecution in Africa, I had seen and heard about the treatment of Africans in Moscow, and now I was learning about the treatment of black people in parts of America.

He notes elsewhere (Boahene, p. 210):

In the early years of my career it was not uncommon for patients to cancel appointments when they found out that their specialist was black or from Africa, or just had a weird tongue-twister of a name. This came from both white and black patients, except one elderly African American man who, startled upon meeting me for his first appointment, declared, If they let you in here, you must be good.

Prejudice, expressed and acted out, was familiar to me after so many years, first in Russia and then in the US. I had learned to shrug it off. Besides the color of my skin

Dr. Ben Carsons Gifted Hands, likewise, offers a summary vista of the prejudicial designs of the mother of a patienta childwho had wanted to scheme her way around his technical expertise and global fame with a view to creating an undisclosed disastrous problem for him, possibly to undermine his hard-won expertise, and to disgrace him in the process, but for the timely intervention of one of his proactive nurses who had known the said woman as, one who moved from one hospital to another hospital, harboring an insidious intention of creating unnecessary problems for providers.

We should point out that, whether Dr. Carsons race factored into or influenced the womans hidden agenda is not an explicit giveaway in his memoir, Gifted Hands, but it is easy and even tempting to settle for this inference given the unpredictable nature of race relations in America. This does not in any way imply our ruling out any possible direct correlation between the two variables.

DR. KOFI BOAHENES ENCOUNTER WITH RACISM

Dr. Boahene recalls an embarrassing encounter with the long arm of racism when he, together with his American-born Indian friend and classmate, Lahar Mehta, whose parents were born and raised in East Africa, and later immigrated to the US, stepped out to purchase ice cream in one of the most affluent Nashville neighborhoods. He writes that other customers stared at them when they communicated their order to the salespersons. The real surprise however came when, after he had paid for his order, the cashier dropped his change on the counter rather than in his outstretched palm.

On another occasion, he maintains, he and Mehta went to a shop and were browsing for clothes when he noticed he was being closely followed around and furtively eyed by a store clerk (Boahene, p. 128). He then concludes his unfortunate narrative: They dont do it with the others, I said. Watch. Lehar was shocked.

It is sad and morally objectionable to try to link criminality to race and ethnicity on the basis of mere suspicion, without the benefit of the incriminating indictment of proven or provable forensic evidence. We cannot but accept the fact that dysconscious racism, unconscious bias, ignorance, and institutional racism are to blame for most of these remarkable instances of outrageous acts, excluding the fact that racists and ethnic chauvinists destroy life while humanistic and philanthropic human beingslike Drs. Boahene and Carsonsave and preserve life.

Yet we are quick to ignore the idea that racism (and ethnic chauvinism) is costly in economic terms, an excellent reason to fight it by making a concerted effort to realize this extremely difficult undertaking. Research findings indicate that racism costs the US a whopping $1.9 trillion annually while it cost the Australian economy $ 44.9 billion annuallyfrom 2001 to 2011 (McCray, 2016).

Unfortunately there is no universally accepted consensus on how to approach the fight against racism. Frantz Fanon (2008) and Albert Memmi (1991) may have conceptualized the liberation of the colonizer and the colonized to benefit both parties. However, Dr. Boahene sees whites and blacks coming together in the spirit of solidarity against racism. This is how elegantly he frames up his assimilationist methodologycourtesy of Cindy, his American mother, so-called (Boahene, 148):

There we were, Cindy said later. Im white and all dressed up like I was African. Dereks mother, black as ebony, was wearing a beautiful Western dress, all white

Dr. Boahene is sounding more like the American-educated philosopher and theologian from the Gold Coast, Renaissance man Kwegyr Aggrey who was widely reported to have said the best cheerful sound from a piano only comes about if the white keys and the black keys are played together.

It looks as if Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney are here with their classic hit singleEbony and Ivory.

We are, nevertheless, trapped between the tactical and strategic dilemmas of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. in how exactly we should approach or confront the ever-present Frankenstein monster called racism. Interestingly, Afrocentric cultural nationalists and Afrocentric theorists and their legion of admirers tend to lean on the uncompromising, radical shoulder of Malcolm X, and of course there are no lingering illusions about this policy statement, a settled matter with some continuing theoretical and practical revisions in the rhetoric and strategy of confrontation in the public space (Asante, 1993), if you will, while Dr. Boahene's rather convoluted assimilationist or supposedly non-color-blind accommodationist proclivity surely tends to fall within the pretentious domain of strategic unclarityquite unlike the straightforward language of another intellectual on similar social-political questions (Cashin, 2005).

It is not too clear though, if he really wants his ambiguous, and in some cases his tendentious, posturing and interspersed intratextual moralizing to approximate what, perhaps, in the deepest recesses of his mind, one can usefully call a post-racial society, a still-undiscovered universe.

Therefore Dr. Boahene is the ultimate Esu Elegbara in the sphere of race relations!

THE PARADIGM OF HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

This brings us to the question of historical consciousness. What is it? Historical consciousness is a painstaking process, a continuous education, and not something one acquires in a fit of serendipitous momentariness. Historical consciousness is an endless journey toward a continuously evolving destination of heightened self-awareness. Historical consciousness is a heightened state of mind in that it imbues human dignity with a proactive sense of agency and location in a relativized existence borne out of the Sisyphean weight of cultural globalization.

To wit, historical consciousness is a self-correcting and self-regulating immunity mechanism against the virulent pugilistic feints of cultural imperialism. Historical consciousness is therefore a precondition for the optimal actualization, and hence attainment, of cultural and social justice in a confused world of self-perpetuating moral and ethical errancy. Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is right when he suggested that we shift the focus of public discourse from overemphasis on social justice to the paradigm of cultural justice in race relations, pedagogy and critical theory (Asante, 2017).

Dr. Asante is not however saying we cannot pursue both. We hope to see Dr. Boahene take up this challenge in his subsequent publicationsthe challenge of developing a more formidable historical consciousness as he extends the already-expanding sphere of his humanism and medical expertise to race relations. This comes with a better understanding of social and cultural justice.

Finally, pursuing the aims of historical consciousness means that he must become culturally sensitive to the language of public discourse and academic socialization (Asante, 2003; Allimadi, 2003). Some aspects of his auctorial language make him look and sound like a pampered apologist of colonialism and cultural imperialism. Here are a few notable examples, some paraphrased, others verbatim: Ashanti instead of Asante, tribal jungle village, black mark, "tribe," British colonialism was relatively benevolent, one positive aspect of British colonial rule, sub-Saharan Africa, and tribalism. For instance, However Far the Stream Flows does not tell us the European Slave Trade, to borrow Dr. Asantes phraseology, forcibly drove many Africans into Dr. Boahenes peculiar inventionthe jungle!

The derogatory tone of his otherwise remarkable memoir is deeply worrying since, in one sense, it perpetuates the racist, Eurocentric stereotyping of Africa and its people. His is the type of problematic language that even contemporary Western anthropology is trying so hard to distance itself from, thanks to the sound activist scholarship which Dr. Asante and others represent. Thus his writing exemplifies the elitist bias of Eurocentric paternalism. Dr. Boahene has to take a close look at Chinua Achebes brilliant essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. He may also want to read Ayi Kwei Armahs Osiris Rising for a change if, indeed, he has not done so already.

Sadly, Dr. Boahene is still imprisoned in the firm grip of the slowly dying Mesozoic era of Tarzan filmography. Perhaps he needs some grounding in postcolonial criticism and Afrocentric theory. He also needs to study the political history of the Gold Coast and Ghana, and of the African world at large, very closely. We have a strong sense he has not done this yet given our close reading of his memoir.

DR. KOFI BOAHENES MORAL AND HISTORICAL DILEMMA

We are at pains to conceptualize the character of Dr. Boahene as one that is seriously conflicted. Our close reading of However Far the Stream Flows offers a striking detour into this possibility of his being seriously conflicted, one way or the other, once we noticed that his auctorial pen had attempted to rewrite or rearrange the terms of the historiography of race relations, quite apart from the underlying psychopathology of certain human behaviors. This questionable instance of historiographic schizophrenia is uncharacteristic of a rather progressive and visionary thinker and leader such as Dr. Boahene. The following statement underscores our point (Boahene, p. 87):

I do not mention this history, and the sense of danger at the time, not to denigrate any people or communities, nor am I ignoring that things have gotten better in the past two decades. I bring it up because African American history meant something to me personally. I had grown up keenly aware that the region I come from was a slave-trading center and embarkation point to the Americas (our emphasis).

What do we make of this internally conflicted statement? Our view is that the statement should not dissolve into a question of standing by the African-American community or by the White-American communityper se. It is rather standing by the moral weight and conscience of history that one is certain to enjoy the guarantee of absolute freedom from the demoralizing constraints of ignorance given that true, correct history does not need mortal defense of any kind before it can exert the influence of its moral conscience over the cosmic soup of human behavior. Mortals, we should add, do not write historyas a matter of fact. It is the moral conscience of humanism and social justice that we can say epitomize the true authorship of history. And the moral weight and conscience of history outlives mortals for all we care to know!

We are not, however, implying that Dr. Boahene is ignorantlest we are misunderstood, for we have made a repeated claim that he is not the kind of public intellectual that one can convincingly say is trapped in a revolving loop of endarkenmentthereby cementing his moral authority, academic credibility, and important contributions to medical knowledge. Granted, what do we make of the line the largest single market in West Africa (Boahene, p. 55) which also appears verbatim in the entry for the Kejetia Market in the pages of Wikipedia? Perhaps, and this is very important, we are constrained in our efforts to understand him fully or to plumb the depths of his historical consciousness by the mischievous obscurantism of his authorial erudition and medicalese.

But, why was he being naively apologetic about what is supposed to be irrefutable facts of history, though it is our understanding that one does not denigrate any community by stating the obvious? What is more, being unnecessarily apologetic about an obvious historic truth makes him look like a sneaky intellectual, although, once again, he manages to gather enough courage to fault some communities through his subtle language of diplomacyin parts of his memoir. In this sense there appears to exist a trace of hesitant neutrality in his critical tone, and how he employs that critical tone in his critique of social and historical injustices. Dr. Boahene is one to carry the big stick of Malcolm X and the carrot of Martin Luther King, Jr. Both were critics of the establishmentthe American state and of its arbitrary deployment of the instruments of state power against defenseless citizens!

And what should we make of his slave-trading center reference, a reference thrown about without the benefit of a quantifying mechanism duly expressed as a function of his overt apologetic bias? A nostalgic or romantic allusion to ancestral brotherhood? Perhaps. Here he is absolutely correct in his claims to Pan-African solidarity, unless of course he is scandalously towing the questionable claims of authorial subjectivity conceptualized as a normative methodology of revisionist negationism (Gyasi, 2007; Asante, 2010; Appiah, 1993). How difficult it is to accept the fact that an 18th-century Dutch-educated gentleman from the Gold Coast, now Ghana, Jacobus Captein, would use his hard-won education to support slavery, making specious arguments that Christian principles did not contradict the institution of slavery (Captein, 1999)!

It is therefore our impression that Dr. Boahene appears to have an unsettledor unresolvedconscience on the basis of his schizophrenic approach to the troubling historiography of race relations in America. Certainly, he is torn between the lasting generosity and moral genuineness of some of his benefactors and the undeniable facts, moral weight and conscience of history (Asante, 2011). Dr. Boahene therefore faces a serious moral dilemma. It is clear also which community he does not want to denigrate. In this case he is being merely economical with the historical truth with his mischievous revisionist twist of historical facts and contemporary eventsand his tactical failure to reveal the anonymous identity of this community which, we are afraid, could be his prized target niche audience. Let us snatch a glimpse of what he actually meant by the phrase this history (Boahene, p. 86):

Marshall is in a remote, backwood-sy pocket of the country that, during the early 1900s, had been ethnically cleansed of African-Americans by anti-black race riots, lynchings, and the destruction or seizure of black-owned properties. In Harrison, anti-black harassment and violence between 1905 and 1909 drove all but one of its black residents out of town and out of that part of the state

What has happened to his location and agency? Then he writes(Boahene, p. 68):Cindy wondered how big a problem the color of my skin might be in a town associated with the most virulently racist group in America, the Ku Klux Klan. Dr. Boahene is clearly caught between the deadly fangs of Rudyard Kiplings The White Mans Burden and Edward Morels The Black Mans Burden. Dr. Boahenes skeptical optimism aboutand subtle language of temperate response to entrenched problems of race relationscertainly makes for his cautious yet defensive avoidance of difficult social problems. It is the larger society, but mostly the African American community, that loses in the end.

Our impression is that it is likely he prefers to sit on the fence, although our reading of this indispensable aspect of his memoir could still be wrong, rather than wallow in the stenchy mud of race relations. But that is not how it should be! Privileged persons of his caliber should be bold to use their position of authority and social influence to help reset the dial of a national conscience that has gone askew, to, as a matter of fact, benefit the larger society irrespective of creed, religion, race, and gender, and to promote humanism as well. Not too ago, for instance, the Ku Klux Klan chased one of Americas and the worlds most vibrant and promising mathematicians, Dr. Jonathan Farley, from Tennessee, even though Vanderbilt University had tenured him in 2005. Harvards Prof. Samuel Allen Counter, Jr., late, had this to say about Dr. Farley (Jet Magazine, 2004):

Jonathan Farley is one of the worlds most impressive young mathematiciansHe is a model of excellence for young people of all backgrounds, but especially African-Americans who may see their intellectual potential in him. Harvard is proud to honor his achievements and acknowledge his fine example.

SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR INTERNATIONAL READERS

Readers should watch Dr. Boahenes CNN interview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_8kt6kCnLk

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Brown, T. (2015). The shift: one nurse, twelve hours, four patients lives. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Captein, J.E.J. (1999). The agony of Asar: a thesis on slavery by the former slave, Jacobus Elisa Johannes Capitein, 1717-1747. 231 Nassau Street Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers.

Cashin, S. (2005). The failures on integration: how race and class are undermining the American Dream. N.Y., N.Y.: PublicAffairs.

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06.01.2018 LISTEN

Regent and Acting President of the Dagbon Traditional Council, Kampakuya Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani has denied accusations that the Traditional Council is frustrating efforts by government to divide the Northern Region, saying that it is only against the division of the Dagbon kingdom.

He said government can carve a new region from the Northern Region for Gonjaland or Mamprugu, but Dagbon should remain one.

I did not say government should not divide the Northern Region; we said government should not divide Dagbon into two. There can be a new [region] for our brothers, the Gonjas or for the Mamprusis, but Dagbon should remain one and not split he said in his New Year message.

Kampakuya Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani explained that a new region will restrict the powers of the Yaa Naa, insisting that no land of Dagbon will be ceded for the creation of the Eastern corridor region.

A kingdom divided cannot stand. We want full Dagbon and not half Dagbon, the Regent noted.

His comments come after some youth of Yendi calling themselves Coalition of Eastern Corridor Youth on Monday staged a street protest against the Councils decision to kick against the creation of a new region which will spilt Dagbon into Western and Eastern fronts and displace at least a million Dagombas.

He was delivering a New Year message to another sect of youth of the town who had concurrently paid a courtesy call, at the Gbewa Palace, where he warned the youth not to respond to any provocations and aggressions.

The Regent downplayed the significance of Mondays demonstration and said it was borne out of misinformation.

He reiterated the Councils resolve to block the creation of an Eastern Corridor Region from the current Northern Region, declaring that he would aggressively protect the territorial integrity of Dagbon lands.

He told the youth to be law abiding, desist from acts and decisions that could harm peace and security in the area and learn to control themselves even in the face of extreme provocations.

Source: Ghana360news.com
The National Nasara Coordinator of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kamal-Deen Abdulai has revealed that the various Nasara Coordinators of the party will serve as the coordinators of the Zongo Development Fund which was assented into law by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

He stated that the coordinators of the fund will be the supervisors of all projects which shall be undertaken with the fund as well as manage the funds that will be disbursed to the various Regions, Metropolitans, Municipal and District Assemblies.

The Zongo Development Fund was one of the campaign promises of the NPP prior to the 2016 General election.

Before 2016, the party already had plans for the Zongo Communities in their 2012 Manifesto.

Speaking at the first ever Nasara Conference held at Kumasi on Saturday, January 30, 2016, then candidate Akufo-Addo stated in the 2012 campaign, I announced to the country that if, God willing I was elected to lead our country, I would do something never done before in our history to tackle the deprived nature of the Zongos.

I said Akufo-Addo government would established a special fund called the Zongo Development Fund. This fund will be aimed at enhancing infrastructural development in Zongo Communities, in order to improve the lives of their residents. I am going to repeat that commitment in our 2016 manifesto and let me go a step further and assure you that, in office, I will carry out this pledge to the letter.

After winning power, the NPP government started the processes leading to the establishment of the fund.

A special Ministry under the office of the President for Zongo Development was created to tackle issues of the Zongo.

On Friday, 10th November, 2017, the Zongo Development fund Bill was passed by Parliament.

In the 2018 Adwuma Budget, the government allocated GHC150million to the fund.

Speaking about the fund on Asempa Fms Current affairs and News analysis show Ekosii Sen on Friday, January 5, 2018, Kamal-Deen who is also aspiring to become the ruling partys next National Youth Organiser thanked the President for paying heed to his words and giving recognition to the Zongos.

He stated that the Zongo Development Fund will create jobs for the many teeming youth of the Zongos as well as developing the Zongos.

He also added that part of the fund will be used to sponsor young people who want to further their education.

Kamal-Deen also used the opportunity to thank all party leaders who supported the idea when it was initially mooted by himself and expressed profound gratitude to the Vice President Dr. Bawumia for forcefully pushing for it implementation.
On Jan. 12 the public is invited to join the National Park Service (NPS) and park partners to celebrate the one year anniversary of the creation of Reconstruction Era National Monument in South Carolinas Lowcountry.
Economic hardship not the outcome of ...
California artist Jack Cassinetto View Photos

Sonora, CA  The Mother Lode has lost prolific California painter and native Sonoran Jack Cassinetto, who suddenly passed away in his sleep early Thursday.

An oil painter all his adult life, Cassinettos work earned national acclaim and coverage by art publications such as American Art Review and Southwest Art. The 73-year-old was particularly known for his tonalist studio and plein air landscapes of mainly Northern California scenes, which he often finished with unique antique or personally handcrafted frames. Christopher Queen Galleries in Sonoma County and New Masters Gallery in Carmel along with Ventana/The Annex Galleries in downtown Sonora all represent his works and art sales.

In an interview with Clarke Broadcasting his wife and partner of 35 years Connie, a noteworthy art photographer, says her husband was her best friend and that Cassinettos art was literally, his life. Jack painted every day, seven days a week and created a tremendous inventory  you cannot even walk in his studio, she confides. Brightening at the thought that California art history books would remember her husband as one of the finest artists of his time and genre, she comments, He will look back down [at us] and like that. To view a slideshow of a few works, click into the image box.

After Jack was diagnosed with cancer back in 2008, the couple spent several years dealing with treatments, related health issues and repercussions. While he gradually regained a somewhat even keel and was relatively healthy, she says they were both dealing with a bout of the crud going around and that he was feeling under the weather in the hours before his passing.

In tandem through much of his art career Cassinetto was a 30-year educator until retiring from that vocation in 1999. Through those years he held various positions teaching multiple subjects, including art and English; having earned a BA in Art and English from Sacramento State University in 1966 and an MA in Art at the University of Colorado in 1972. Connie shares that among his favorite teaching roles was working with Sonoras Ted Bird High alternative ed students.

Besides his wife, Cassinetto is survived by his son Paul and daughter-in-law Aileene. According to the family his memorial service is set for Thursday, Jan. 11, beginning at 1 p.m. at St. Patricks Catholic Church (127 W. Jackson St.) in Sonora.
INDIANAPOLIS  Four Trine University students have been nominated for the Intern of the Year award to be presented at the 12th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon on Feb. 7.

Trine students in the running for the award are:

Carly Osinski, a senior from Noblesville majoring in marketing who interned with Ambassador Enterprises in Fort Wayne;

Anndi Wood, a senior from Danville majoring in chemical engineering who interned with Energy Improvement Matters in Indianapolis;

Andrew Hauersperger, a senior from South Bend majoring in civil engineering who interned with Lawson-Fisher Associates in South Bend; and

Daniel Barzycki, a senior from Hebron majoring in chemical engineering who interned with Will Webb Associates Inc. in Valparaiso.

Hosted by Indiana INTERNnet, a free internship-matching program managed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the awards luncheon is an annual celebration of internship excellence. Awards are presented for Intern of the Year, Employer of the Year and Career Development Professional of the Year, with Intern of the Year awards given in high school, college and non-traditional student categories.

Nominations are submitted by the public and winners are chosen by a group of impartial judges, most of whom are Indiana INTERNnet Board Members. Individuals and organizations are nominated for their leadership, hard work and ingenuity in their internships and intern programs.

Winners will receive an engraved award and a digital badge to display on websites, marketing materials, social media sites, etc. Winners also will be featured in a press release, blog posts, nominations web page, newsletter and BizVoice Magazine.

The event is sponsored by Ivy Tech Community College and will be held in the Ivy Tech Corporate College and Culinary Center in Indianapolis.

Chris Heeter, award-winning speaker and founder of The Wild Institute, will deliver the keynote address, Guiding the Team to Success.
Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News

Though the circumstances remain unclear, a 60-year-old New Braunfels man found dead at the Padre Island National Seashore died of a gunshot wound, according to a Corpus Christi Caller-Times report.

Kevin Francis O'Toole, 60, was discovered Friday by visitors who saw his body floating in the surf south of the Malaquite Beach Visitor Center, according to the report. His truck was also found nearby.
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday visited MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is battling colon cancer, at his residence in Highlands suburb in Harare.

The President, who was accompanied by Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga (Retired), was met on arrival by Mr Tsvangirais wife, Elizabeth, MDC-T deputy president Mr Nelson Chamisa and Mr Murisi Zwizwai, the partys director of elections.

Addressing the media soon after meeting the MDC-T leader, President Mnangagwa said Mr Tsvangirai was recovering well.

He is fine and recuperating very well and he says he will soon be going back for further medical check-ups in South Africa, President Mnangagwa said.

He shot down media speculation that the visit was an overture for the formation of a Government of National Unity, saying there was no need for a power-sharing arrangement.

Whats the cause (to form a GNU)? he said.

You are allowed to lobby; its a democratic country, people are allowed to lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need (for a GNU), he added.

Mr Chamisa said President Mnangagwas visit represented a new politics the opposition wants to continue.

Its a welcome thing, its African to care for one another, its very Zimbabwean, said Mr Chamisa.

This is the new politics we want to see: the politics of peace, the politics of working together, the politics of feeling for one another. This is the direction and we hope it is the kind of talk that will be walked and talk that will be sustained, he said.

Going forward, we want to see a peaceful election in Zimbabwe and we are very appreciative.

Mr Tsvangirai was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 and has made several visits to South Africa for chemotherapy ever since.

He was rushed to South Africa in September last year after he collapsed at a party workshop in Kadoma when his condition deteriorated.

His worsening health condition has also fuelled fighting in his party, with growing calls for him to step down by party bigwigs who believe his condition makes it difficult for him to endure the rigours of an election campaign.

He has insisted, however, that he will be fit enough to fight it out at the election.

Zimbabwe is scheduled to go to the polls by mid-year.

In his inauguration speech on November 24 last year, President Mnangagwa called for unity and tolerance among Zimbabweans irrespective of their

political differences.

President Mnangagwa also urged Zimbabweans to find strength in their diversity and act in a manner beneficial to the generality of the people, adding that the toxic and polarising politics of the past should be discarded.

Mr Tsvangirai was among several opposition leaders that attended President Mnangagwas swearing-in ceremony on November 24 last year to replace former President Robert Mugabe.

 Herald

Breaking News via Email
(Natural News) Imagine youre a book publisher and youve put substantial resources in what youve been led to believe is a major tell-all tome involving key figures in a new presidential administration that appears to be pin-balling from one scandal to the next.

Youve been told by the books author, who has spent months getting unprecedented access to that same administration, that the book will contain bombshell allegations of misdeeds, loads of palace intrigue, and no small amount of new scandal.

Youd probably be pretty excited to get that book into publication, expecting it to do very well among a segment of the electorate that is no fan of the administration in question, wouldnt you?

Now imagine how youd react if you learned after days of putting that blockbuster new expose on store shelves that the author cant verify very much at all of what hes written.

Would you be more excited about the books prospects  or less?

Im betting its the latter.

In recent days a stir was created around the upcoming book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff, when excerpts of it were highlighted by The Guardian.

Among other things, Wolff quoted former top Trump political strategist Steve Bannon as saying that Donald Trump Jr.s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016 as being treasonous. In addition, he predicted that Mueller is focusing on money laundering involving former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Don Jr., and Kushner, The National Sentinel reported.

Neither is Trump spared in the book, The Guardian reported. Wolff writes that Thomas Barrack Jr, a billionaire who is one of the presidents oldest associates, allegedly told a friend: Hes not only crazy, hes stupid. (Related: Trump UNLOADS on former advisor Steve Bannon: He LOST his mind.)

But is any of that true? Maybe. And maybe not.

Thats according to the author himself.

Wolff explains in an authors note within the book that he was not certain all the allegations, accusations and statements in the book were true, which of course is now casting significant doubt on the entirety of the books contents.

He says that he knows some of his sources were flatly lying to him. Others said things that were completely contradictory in nature.

And yet, many of those sources and what they had to say were nevertheless included in the book. Why would that be, given this tome isnt supposed to be a work of fiction?

In his authors note, Wolff explained that he and the publisher are including them, allowing the reader to judge whether the sources claims are true.

Oh. Well, then.

Many of the accounts of what has happened in the Trump White House are in conflict with one another; many, in Trumpian fashion, are baldly untrue. These conflicts, and that looseness with the truth, if not with reality itself, are an elemental thread of the book, he wrote.

Sometimes I have let the players offer their versions, in turn allowing the reader to judge them. In other instances I have, through a consistency in the accounts and through sources I have come to trust, settled on a version of events I believe to be true, he continued.

But several sources of the book are now openly refuting portions of it that pertain to them. Trump tweeted, I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve! he wrote, the last part being a jab at Bannon.

Barrack has also denied the quote Wolff attributed to him. Also, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied a quote Wolff attributed to him.

Given what others have said and what Wolff himself admits to, its quite clear no one can really believe anything hes written. See more examples of popular lies at the website LIES.news.

J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

TheGuardian.com
San Francisco police say they have arrested their Bad Santa.

Earlier this week, officers released video showing a man wearing a Santa hat and walking down Eddy Street in the city's Tenderloin District. The man pulls out a handgun and starts shooting at a car.

Do you recognize the suspect in the Santa Hat ? On 12/27/17 he was armed with a handgun and fired at the occupants of a vehicle on Eddy Street. Please contact the SFPD Tip line at (415) 575-4444 or email us at sfpdtenderloinstation@sfgov.org. Reference case 180 006 421 pic.twitter.com/7CrXwUluAM  SFPD Tenderloin (@SFPDTenderloin) January 3, 2018

The car sped away.

Police say they have identified the shooter as 27-year-old Xavier Watson from Fairfield. Officers arrested the suspect Thursday in the Bayview District.

Officers originally did not know who was inside the car, but now say they have identified the target as well. That person was not injured.
San Jose police arrested a man suspected of robbing and sexually assaulting a female teacher inside a middle school classroom Tuesday morning, police Chief Eddie Garcia said Friday.

Andrew Bracamonte, 23, of San Jose was arrested Thursday at about 7:55 p.m. in San Francisco.

"We know we have our man for this case," Garcia said.

At about 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Bracamonte allegedly walked into a classroom at Harker Middle School at 3800 Blackford Ave., where the victim was alone. He then locked the door, turned off the lights, sexually assaulted the victim and stole some personal items from her, according to Garcia.

Bracamonte threatened to shoot the victim if she did not stay in the classroom, but the victim did not see a weapon.

Garcia said officers discovered school video surveillance footage of the suspect before and after the alleged assault. Additionally, officers also found the victim's cellphone and the suspect's beanie in a field near the school.

A K-9 then tracked the scent to a nearby neighborhood and police found that Bracamonte lives about a half a mile from the school.

Bracamonte was also allegedly involved in another recent crime at a liquor store in Santa Clara. Officers found surveillance video from the liquor store showing a person similar to Bracamonte, according to Garcia.

Thursday, police obtained a warrant for Bracamonte's arrest and they also received a call from someone saying Bracamonte wanted to surrender.

Police said the caller told them Bracamonte wanted to wait until Friday at 10 a.m. but police said investigators weren't going to allow Bracamonte dictate how they took him into custody.

Bracamonte allegedly left home Thursday and someone drove him to San Francisco where San Jose police arrested him. Garcia said Bracamonte tried to alter his appearance by cutting his hair.

Bracamonte was booked into Santa Clara County's Main Jail on suspicion of robbery, false imprisonment, making criminal threats, forced oral copulation and assault with intent to commit sexual assault during the commission of a burglary. He's being held on $500,000 bail, according to jail records.

He was not on parole or probation and is not a registered sex offender.

Bracamonte is set to appear in court Tuesday, according to jail records.

Anyone with more information about the case is asked to call Detective Sgt. Samantha Huynh or Detective Jennifer Majors of the Police Department's sexual assault investigations unit at 408-277-4102.
Senator Dick Durbin issued a challenge to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday as he visited a veterans' home following a string of outbreaks of Legionnaires disease.

Ive challenged him, Ive invited him to come up with a new plan and let us help you pay for the funding for that, he said. I think the fact that the governor has visited and is now staying overnight here shows that this is high on his priority list.

Durbin visited the facility on Friday, and he met with Rauner, who has been staying at the hospital to investigate the steps that are being taken to protect the residents and staff of the building.

Ive spent my time on campus eating, sleeping, and visiting with our residents, learning about the culture of the Quincy Veterans Home, Rauner said in a statement. The work that is being done here to look after residents in the skilled care unit where I am staying is so impressive, so caring, so full of honor and respect for our American heroes.

Over the last three years, a series of Legionnaires outbreaks have led to the deaths of 13 people at the facility, according to reports by WBEZ and the Chicago Tribune. The deaths have prompted an investigation by state officials, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday to address the crisis.

Durbin promised that the federal government would step up to help the state as they deal with the issues at the facility.

We stand ready to help. They are entitled to help from our government. We promised to stand by them, he said.

According to the senator, the CDC also offered recommendations in combating future outbreaks. The agency recommended a new written protocol to address Legionnaires disease, testing samples taken from patients and staff more quickly, and finding new ways to flush the plumbing to help combat the disease were all listed as steps.

Durbin had initially floated the idea of closing the facility to deal with the problem, but now says that after meeting with the governor and other officials that he believes the facility should remain open.

I dont believe that is necessary as long as we have a plan to move ahead and make this place safer, he said.

Dr. Nirav Shaw, Director of the Department of Public Health, agrees with the senator, saying that moving residents wouldn't necessarily protect their health.

The risk of healthcare infections doesnt change just because you move people," he said. "We could have moved them to Northwestern Hospital, which has cases of Legionnaires disease.

Durbins comments come on the heels of a new CDC report released Thursday said that detailed steps the state is taking to combat issues at the home, but also said that complete eradication of Legionella in any large, complex building water system may not be possible.

In 2017, there were 300 reported cases of the disease in Illinois, and the incidence of the disease is rising across the U.S., according to the CDC.

Even with the obstacles, both funding and scientific, facing state agencies as they deal with the outbreaks, Durbin is adamant that solutions be found.

The number one priority in this visit is veterans, to make sure that we give them continued quality care, Durbin said. It is a challenge to all of us, and its a challenge we need to meet, to make sure the Quincy Veterans Home is giving the best care and the safest care in the state.

Rauner, who attended a town hall meeting with residents Friday, will remain at the home until next week, with his wife First Lady Diana Rauner joining him over the weekend.
A Chicago-area family was stranded in another country for several days after their flight crew became sick, enduring two cancellations before embarking on their long journey home.

Julie and David Ramsay, plus their 16-year-old son, traveled to Auckland, New Zealand, for the holidays to visit with family.

They should have been back in their southwest suburban home Friday, but instead they were stuck in a hotel in New Zealand and unsure until Sunday morning when they would be able to return home.

The vacation started as a dream trip, the family said.

"We had a great time," David Ramsay said via FaceTime. "New Zealand is a fantastic place, I had a wonderful time with cousins I hadn't seen in close to 20 years."

But while they were at the airport waiting to board their American Airlines flight that would eventually take them home to Chicago, they were first told the flight was delayed. Then, they found out it wasn't taking off that day at all.

"Eventually we heard a PA announcement that the flight was canceled because six of the 13 crew members were sick," David Ramsay recalled.

The Ramsays received notice from American Airlines that their flight, originally scheduled to depart Friday at 3:20 p.m. (19 hours ahead of Chicago time), was canceled and rebooked after nearly half the crew fell ill.

They were put up in a hotel by American Airlines until they could get another flight - which was then canceled once again, and this time, with no explanation.

"For me its the lack of communication," said Julie Ramsay. "Not knowing why it was cancelled, when were gonna get back. Thats the frustrating part."

"Were both experienced travelers and so cancelled flights are not a new thing to us," David Ramsay added. "Canceled flights without any information and being stuck overseas with a major American airline is not something were used to."

A spokesman for American Airlines said in a statement Saturday that their team was "in the process of rebooking passengers on alternative flights from the New Zealand to the United States," adding, "Once this process is complete, we will reach out to the Ramsay family with their updated itinerary."

"We never want to disrupt our customers travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused," the statement continued.

The airline then reached out again to confirm that they were able to put the Ramsays on a flight departing Auckland Sunday, flying to Los Angeles via Sydney, Australia, then home to Chicago  with hopes of eventually bringing the familys travel ordeal to an end.
A Windham woman was seriously injured when she was ejected from the car in a crash on Plains Road Saturday.

Connecticut State Police said the 18-year-old woman was driving west on Plains Road around 12:45 a.m. when her car went off the road and crashed into a snow bank. The car continued moving and went up a snow embankment, came down, and crashed into a tree in the area of 338 Plains Road.

The car rolled over and the driver was ejected. She was airlifted to Hartford Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. Her condition Saturday morning was not immediately clear.

The crash remains under investigation.
A state panel has warned a county official in South Texas to change his conduct after he made controversial statements, including that he should get a human hunting permit so he could shoot a county official.

The Victoria Advocate reports that Goliad County Judge Pat Calhoun acknowledges he received a private warning from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Calhoun is the county's top administrator.

Calhoun said the warning was downgraded from a private reprimand after he visited the commission in Austin last month.

The county treasurer alleged last year that Calhoun made threatening and unprofessional comments to her. A county commissioner also alleges Calhoun told him he might seek a hunting license that'd allow him to kill the commissioner.

Calhoun says the comments were jokes but understands he shouldn't have made them.
Three students were riding on an East Noble School Corp. bus when it was rear-ended by a car at the Main Street railroad tracks in Kendallville Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported in the accident.

Steve Garbacz
WEATHER IS ON THE WAY, as in the sort of weather that produces snowflakes in mountainous locations, but the ski resorts of Southern California have already been schussing along this drier winter, thanks to the magic (read: science) of modern-day snow-making. But with a storm sweeping through in the days ahead, and accumulation at higher elevations pretty much a certainty, a board buff or devoted skier can really begin to think about hitting their favorite hill, all to leave the stresses of the daily world behind (and to get some superb runs in, natch). Big Bear is a favorite spot for many hill-happy people around the region, and many of those same ski-loving people happen to serve their community in the important role of first responder. If that's you, and you do love some time on the slopes, know that there are a few money-saving...

UNIFORM DAYS... just ahead at Big Bear Mountain Resort. In fact, for two days each month, in January, February, and March 2018, Big Bear will shave 50% off a lift ticket for "law enforcement, fire fighters, military, and EMS." Those still-to-come dates include Jan. 10 and 11 (only a few days after the big snowstorm is expected), Feb. 7 and 8, and March 7 and 8. The discounted cost for that lift ticket? It's $42. Can you schuss at Snow Summit as well as Bear Mountain? You got it. It's all to say...

THANK YOU... for all you do, from the people at Big Bear Mountain Resort. If a day with the poles and the gloves and the skis sounds pretty nice just about now, get details on getting there, what's happening, what's to eat, hours, and so forth, and keep those Uniform Days dates in mind if you want to enjoy that sweet 50% lift savings.
What to Know Wind chills below zero in much of the tri-state will make the cleanup process after the vicious snowstorm much more difficult

Meteorologists are forecasting brutally cold wind chills through the weekend with no temperatures above freezing until at least Monday

Alternate-side parking is suspended in New York City through Wednesday, though meter rules remain in effect

The vicious winter storm called a bomb cyclone by many now has a new name: New York City's first blizzard of 2018.

The National Weather Service said Thursday's storm met the qualifications for a blizzard on Long Island and in parts of New York City, the lower Hudson Valley and southern Connecticut.

The distinction comes as the region is feeling a dangerous, bone-chilling cold. A wind chill advisory is in effect for the entire tri-state until 8 a.m. Sunday. The wind chill is expected to stay below zero all Saturday.

Record low temperatures are expected overnight Saturday into Sunday, falling into the lower single digits to 10 degrees below zero, according to Storm Team 4.

The bitter cold follows a snow storm on Thursday that dumped as much as 13 inches of snow in some parts of New York City. Check the latest snow totals in your neighborhood here.

Blizzard conditions include: sustained winds or frequent gusts of at least 35 mph; considerable falling or blowing snow; visibility frequently reduced to less than a quarter mile; lasts for three hours or more.

Among the locations that experienced a blizzard on Thursday were these airports: JFK, LaGuardia, Long Island MacArthur, Republic in Farmingdale, Brookhaven, Gabreski in the Hamptons, Westchester County, Sikorsky in Bridgeport, Danbury and Groton-New London.

Near-blizzard conditions were reported in Central Park and Newark airport, among other places.

On Saturday, there was a winter weather advisory for western Ulster and eastern Dutchess counties until 6 p.m. for blowing and drifting snow.

A wind chill warning was in effect for Pike, Sussex, western Ulster and eastern Dutchess counties until 7 a.m. Monday.

The Department of Sanitation warned residents that treated streets in the city may not show blacktop just yet and driving conditions may still be difficult after the storm. Alternate-side parking is suspended in the city through Wednesday, though meter rules remain in effect.

Mayor de Blasio says the city is in need of daily temporary workers to shovel, especially in Queens. The rate of pay is $15 an hour, and people can sign up at nyc.gov.

Relief from the colder, snowy conditions may not come until at least Monday when the teeth-shattering cold eases a bit and the tri-state will see temperatures rise above the freezing mark for the first time in at least 12 days.
A large gas leak at a Jersey Shore township forced the evacuation of 50 homes, police said.

A homeowner reported the smell of natural gas in the Lake Riviera neighborhood of Brick Township, New Jersey Natural Gas spokesman Michael Kinney said.

The high levels of natural gas forced the evacuations of a few dozen homes, police said. The homes were on Tennessee Avenue, Hudson Avenue and Georgia Drive.



Gas crews turned off service to 40 homes as they worked to find the source of the leak, Kinney said.

The leak was discovered to be in the roadway on Tennessee Avenue and the gas had reached dangerously high levels in storm drains, according to police.

Residents were allowed back in their homes after service was shut off. The utility company hopes to have service restored to the 40 homes Saturday night, Kinney said.

There were no reports of injuries and no explosions.
UPDATE: Funeral services for Lt. LeTourneau have been announced.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel paused briefly Saturday before delivering the devastating news. Lt. Matthew LeTourneau, an 11-year veteran of the department, had died in the line of duty at the age of 42.

All of the men and women of the Philadelphia Fire Department are heroes," Thiel said. "From the day they take the oath of service to this city, they are heroes. Among those heroes, there is the pantheon of men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to others. Today, tragically, Lieutenant Matt LeTourneau of Engine Company 45, joins that host of heroes. And our hearts are breaking.

Lt. LeTourneau was one of 100 firefighters who responded to a two-alarm rowhome fire on the 2200 block of North Colorado Street, a side street off West Susquehanna Avenue near 17th Street in North Philly, at 8:51 a.m. Saturday. The responding firefighters removed a resident from the home. That resident, who has not yet been identified, was later pronounced dead. Neighbors described him as a former high school basketball star and fixture of the community.



During the fire, a structure inside the home collapsed while Lt. LeTourneau was inside, trapping him underneath debris. His colleagues tried desperately to get him out.

"Due to the degree of the structural collapse and that he was pinned under the debris, that effort [to rescue him] took about 30 minutes," Thiel said. "He was never alone. The rescue started almost immediately."

After being removed from the home, LeTourneau was taken to Temple University Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:07 a.m.

Sunday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf sent his condolences on Twitter. "Please keep his family and his fire dept. family in your thoughts. His sacrifice for his fellow citizens will not be forgotten," Wolf said.

During the chaotic scene, frigid temperatures made it difficult for the firefighters and medics.

"The frozen hydrants, difficult to get access with snow on the ground," said Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Jesse Wilson. "It's difficult to advance hose lines. It's difficult to throw ladders."

Two other firefighters as well as a neighbor were injured during the blaze. As responders tried to load the victims into the ambulance, one of the stretchers tipped over.

"Me and a bunch of other gentlemen had run over and lifted him up and carried him down the block," said Dennis Cumiskey, one of the witnesses who helped first responders.



The fire was placed under control at 10:49 a.m. Investigators have not yet determined a cause.

The block where the deadly fire occurred has a somber recent history. Philadelphia police Sgt. Patrick McDonald was gunned down there in 2008 while giving chase to an armed suspect.



Along with Commissioner Thiel, Mayor Jim Kenney, the son of a city firefighter, also spoke outside Temple University hospital following LeTourneau's death, noting that every firefighter "on every shift puts themselves in harm's way for us."

"We are saddened and our hearts are broken," Kenney said.

LeTourneau was a member of Engine 45. He previously served at Engine 43 and Engine 57. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2015. He received a unit citation in 2010 and a letter of commendation for his service during the World Meeting of Families in 2015.

He graduated from Cardinal OHara High School in Springfield in 1993 and held an associates degree in fire science from Delaware County Community College. He became a volunteer firefighter when he was a teenager and also served as an instructor at multiple fire academies around the area.



He lived in Springfield and is survived by his mother, other relatives and friends.

"To say that Matt died doing what he loved is hard but I'm also very proud of that," said Timothy Bryce, the Director of Emergency Services in Springfield. "He led people and today he led a group of firefighters trying to save someone's life."



Philadelphia Mourns Philly Fire Lieutenant Who Died in North Philly Blaze

All City of Philadelphia flags will be flown at half-staff for 30 days in LeTourneau's honor. A procession for LeTourneau also took place Saturday afternoon as his body was taken from Philadelphia to the O'Leary Funeral Home in his hometown of Springfield. Outside the home, members of several area fire companies, loved ones and neighbors gathered to pay their respects.

"All we can do is honor them through coming out and just showing our respect and gratitude for all they do for us," said Mary Lynskey, a Springfield resident.

LeTourneau died a day before he was supposed to celebrate the anniversary of his fire academy graduation. LeTourneau planned the event and his classmates will still attend. This time in his memory.


A Florida man called 911 on New Year's Eve to report a drunken driver: himself.

Michael Lester, 39, was arrested on a DUI charge after authorities in Polk County say he called to request that he be pulled over.

"I'm too drunk. I don't know where I'm at," Lester told a 911 operator who was trying to determine his location, according to a 911 call.

Lester, of Winter Haven, told the dispatcher that he was driving on the wrong side of the road, officials said. The dispatcher repeatedly asked him to pull over and at one point asked where he'd been all night.

"Driving around, trying to get pulled over actually," he replied.

Authorities say Lester was stopped before anyone got hurt. He told a deputy he'd had only two beers, then said he'd had more like three or four, then added that he'd swallowed meth earlier, officials said.

Lester was taken into custody and charged with DUI, and cited for driving on the wrong side of the road, improper use of the center lane and no seat belt.

"Please folks, let this be a lesson to you that DUI is bad-bad-bad, because unfortunately, Michael is having a hard time learning this lesson," the sheriff's office wrote in a Facebook post. "He has a criminal history which includes a previous DUI, as well as aggravated battery, drug possession, disorderly conduct, resisting, and hit & run."
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has announced a package of initiatives to help victims of rape, human trafficking, domestic violence and other crimes.

Hogan said Friday he is committed to working with legislators to pass a bill to enable rape victims who conceive a child to terminate the parental rights of the person who raped them. Legislative leaders have made the measure, titled the Rape Survivor - Family Protection Act, a priority this session.

No rapist should be allowed to maintain their rights as a parent, and no victim should ever be forced to interact with their attacker, Hogan said.



Another proposal would allow courts to admit evidence of a criminal defendant's prior history of sexual crimes or abuse, if he or she is prosecuted for subsequent sex offenses.

The governor also is proposing a bill strengthening an address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence.

The sad reality is that becoming a victim of a crime often shatters a persons sense of security, Hogan said. It can feel as if his or her entire world has been turned upside down, and  much too often  it can leave wounds that are unseen and which sometimes never truly or fully heal."

Another bill, the Felony Human Trafficking Act of 2018, would classify felony human trafficking as a violent crime. The classification would ensure that offenders serve more time in prison, according to Hogan's administration.

He also called on lawmakers to sustain his veto of legislation prohibiting colleges from using an admissions application with questions about a prospective student's prior criminal history.


NBC4's new sister station Telemundo Washington will hold a community phone bank on Jan. 8-9 to answer questions about the Temporary Protected Status program.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has ended TPS for about 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador, as it recently did for Nicaraguans and Haitians.



People who have questions about their TPS case can call 202-885-4949 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. Telemundo Washington will provide information, advice and resources in partnership with the Consulate General of El Salvador and community organizations CASA and CARECEN.

This community phone bank is being held as part of Telemundo Washington's "Working For You" commitment.
A senior Pakistani senator expressed disappointment Friday at the U.S. decision to suspend military aid, saying it will be detrimental to bilateral relations, while the government itself said it was too early to gauge the effects of the decision.

Nuzhat Sadiq, the chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, said Islamabad can manage without the United States as it did in the 1990s, but would prefer to move the troubled relationship forward.

"What the U.S. is doing now is not good for its policy against terrorism and for a lasting peace in this region," she said, adding that Pakistan has always "played a vital role in the war on terror."

The State Department's declaration on Thursday lambasted Pakistan for failing to take "decisive action" against Taliban militants targeting U.S. personnel in neighboring Afghanistan. U.S. officials have long complained that Pakistan tolerates or even encourages extremists, charges denied by Islamabad.

A statement issued by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry nearly 24 hours after the announced suspension of military aid said it's too early to tell what impact the U.S. decision will have on counter-terrorism initiatives in the region. But it said the war on terror, which is entering its 17th year, has cost Pakistan over $120 billion.

The statement said Pakistan's cooperation had helped "decimate" al-Qaida and drive other militant groups out of the lawless regions along the border.

Pakistan has recently begun constructing dozens of security posts along the border with Afghanistan as well as a fence to curtail cross-border movement. Afghanistan, which does not recognize the international border between the two countries, has objected to those moves.

The Foreign Ministry statement blamed Afghanistan for much of the unrest, saying it should accelerate efforts to repatriate the more than 1 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and curb the runaway opium production that finances the Taliban and other armed groups.

Mohammed Amir Rana, director of the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, said that both Pakistan and the United States "need to realistically review their relationship and scale down expectation of each other."

"Pakistan cannot put all its eggs in the China basket," he added, referring to the billions of dollars China is investing in Pakistan on a major transportation and power grid.

Rana said the U.S. needs Pakistan if it wants to find a peaceful end to decades of turmoil, and if it wants to navigate the changing circumstances in neighboring Iran. The U.S. mission in Afghanistan is heavily reliant on supply corridors that run through Pakistan.
Twitter said Friday that it will not block world leaders or any of their controversial Tweets in the interest of advancing the global, public conversation.

In a brief blog post that does not mention any specific Twitter users by name, the company said it was responding to recent discussion surrounding the issue of world leaders and political figures using its platform.

President Donald Trump has built a huge following on the platform, which he has used for years to express opinions on a wide variety of subjects. He most recently stirred widespread controversy and fear with a taunting Tweet directed at the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that appeared to threaten a possible nuclear attack.

On Tuesday, the U.S. president Tweeted about his nuclear button, saying his is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works! While there is no such thing as a nuclear button in the U.S., the provocative jab stoked fear in many across the country that the presidents Twitter use was pushing the country toward an international conflict.

"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company's statement said. "It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions."

It went on to assure readers that "no one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind."
Snow falls gently on the farm. Its the light, fluffy snow that comes when its very cold.

Weve seen bitter temperatures to end the year. Like many, the cold caused its share of problems on our farm. I was reminded to appreciate running water when our well pump went out Christmas Eve. When an electric waterer failed, we carried buckets of water to our horses.

Bitter cold weather and a dwindling supply of propane caused Wisconsin to declare a state of energy emergency related to intermittent propane supplies. For the 250,000 Wisconsinites that depend on propane for heat, a shortage can be a big deal.

After the relative calm of the holiday season, I expect the activities of the Legislature to heat up quickly in January. No one quite knows when will be the last day to pass a bill. This uncertainty is causing a great deal of urgency among lawmakers.

What causes the uncertainty is the tension and game playing between the Senate and Assembly leaders. As usual, both leaders have bantered about when each body will adjourn for the campaign season. The banter somewhat resembles the school yard game of chicken.

Members of the Legislature will soon meet the voters. Many lawmakers ponder their promises made but not-yet-kept. They work with staff to put the final touches on bills they hope to pass.

Year 2018 will be the year of many campaigns. Special elections in January, a nonpartisan primary in February, a Supreme Court race and local nonpartisan elections  including every county board member in the state  in April.

Candidates who want to run for partisan-elected office will begin collecting nomination signatures in mid-April. Fun begins in June when all partisan races will be set. June 1 is the deadline for turning in signatures for all partisan races. August brings us two big partisan primaries: the GOP U.S. Senate race and the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Nov. 6 is the general election date.

Mid-March is likely the time both legislative chambers will have their final days to meet as the full Senate and Assembly. But this does not mean the work of the state is finished.

The Finance and the Audit Committees meet all year, every year. Special study committees will be formed with members of the public adding their voices to help lawmakers address complex problems.

We will see new issues arise in the next few months. I expect to see at least some discussion of how to fix big problems. Woefully inadequate broadband, a broken system of school funding and the rising problems related to addiction, especially opioid abuse, are major problems many constituents want addressed.

Many Democrats, including myself, will continue to push for real changes to improve health care access and affordability. A great beginning is to create a state marketplace for health care  a bill Ive written to give Wisconsin the flexibility we need to fix health care.

Also on the agenda in 2018 is taking a good look at whats happening with our justice system. We have roughly double the number of people in prison compared to Minnesota. Even though we have a similar crime rate and similar population. Late in 2017, GOP leaders pushed through several bills to increase the minimum required penalties on some crimes and changed rules related to probation.

The bills would cost the state more and add to already overcrowded prisons. But leaders did not have any way to pay for the increased costs. Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) recently told the Wheeler Report we need to figure out, probably, a way to build a new state prisonI think that is something we will probably do this spring, but probably putting either revenues or bonding into upgrading our prisons.

Borrowing to build a new prison is going to cause controversy when our neighbor to the west already has a corrections system that costs less and reduces crime.

Looking forward, 2018 will be an exciting year of change.

The New Year is a great time for resolutions. I encourage everyone to resolve to be active in our great democracy, and be involved in the direction of this change.

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!


Hunstanton pastors walk for orphaned Indian children Hunstanton pastors walk for orphaned Indian children

Pastor Daniel Holland of The Way Christian Fellowship in Hunstanton is planning to walk 30 kilometers along the North Norfolk Coastal Path to raise money for 30 children living in an orphanage in Hyderabad, ahead of his trip to India in April.
VMware has been shipping its vSAN (virtual storage area network) software for years, and the latest version ups the ante with improved hyper-convergence functionality and in-place encryption.

What vSAN does is access available storage in physical servers and create a shared storage pool that supports VMware virtual machines. vSAN takes advantage of existing 10GBE links in the servers, eliminating the need for iSCSI or proprietary third-party software to serve as intermediaries between disk subsystems and VMs. In this latest version, VMs can be encrypted in place, anywhere in the vSAN.

+See how VMware's vSAN can be the storage component in hyper-converged data centers+

Upsides of vSAN

We found vSAN to be very flexible, with only a few hindrances. And the speed of VM live movement among storage hosts was approximately the same as using an iSCSI SAN. If youd like to de-couple storage from the host upon which the workload is running, this might be your ticket  if you do the necessary homework.

The benefit of vSAN done properly is comparatively barrier-less storage, reduced dependence on host/storage stacks, and progress towards the ultimate goal of hyper-convergence, in which compute, storage, networking and virtualization are totally integrated.

Also, we find the VM encryption-in-place capability to be valuable, as the disassociated components of a hyper-converged workload are encrypted together. This represents another strong layer of security thats especially useful in establishing multi-tenancy trust.

Requirements and considerations

A number of start-ups are offering hyper-convergence through pre-configured appliances. VMware, now owned by Dell, has gone to almost extreme lengths to be hardware-agnostic with vSAN. You can use hardware from HPE, Dell, Lenovo, SuperMicro and more, as long as the specific systems and components are on VMwares pre-approved list.

We used VMware-recommended Lenovo server hardware, along with Lenovo high-speed SSD drives (see how we tested) to perform our tests.

You give up about 10% of your host CPU overhead to run vSAN 6.6, but this is the price of extreme automation and the benefits of the hyper-converged flexibility. Hosts need at least 32GB of memory for a fully operational vSAN. No scrimping. More is better. And hosts need to have 10GBE adapters. Indeed, if a cluster uses flash, NVRAM or SSDs, then 10GB is a must. The faster the drive the better, and dedicating at least one adapter per host to vSAN traffic is a wise investment, because large VM movements will drag down something like a 4-GBE host.

If you have two separate VMware host clusters, they can't work together, but must be used as a single cluster. And vSAN does not support vSphere Distributed Power Management (DPM), Storage I/O control, SCSI reservations, RDM, VMFS (i.e. can't use VMFS as file system for vSAN storage), or diagnostic partition. You must disable vSphere High Availability (HA) before you enable vSAN on the cluster. Then you can re-enable it.

Youll need at least three (four are recommended) similarly configured servers, with supported hardware on VMwares compatibility list or a vSAN ready-node server. The servers must be running vSphere 6.5 as well be connected to a vCenter configured in a cluster before vSAN can be enabled and configured. More servers can be added later to increase capacity, but three are required to start. (see the vSAN ReadyNode Configurator and the VMware Compatibility guide.)

Unfortunately, none of the vSAN options are able to be configured, monitored or otherwise manipulated in the HTML5 vSphere client. You still need to use the old Flash-based client, which at times can be quite slow.

Costs of vSAN 6.6

A license of vSAN 6.6 is not inexpensive, coming in three varieties: Standard at $2,495 per CPU, Advanced at $3,995 and Enterprise at $5,495. Thats in addition to whatever vSphere licenses you need.

So, is vSAN less expensive than the alternatives? We found a link that actually helps with this, because its a complex question with so many components involved. VMware has a capacity calculator that might help in the cost analysis, one for hybrid deployments and one for flash deployments. We found it pretty realistic.

Heres a cost-saving tip: Adding storage is done by adding extra disks to your current vSAN cluster host servers or adding an entire host with its requisite additional storage. However, adding a host requires additional licensing for the new CPUs. The best tactic, we found, is finding hosts that can accommodate the largest number of hot-pluggable SSD drives per chassis. Adding storage to existing servers will likely be more cost-effective until you need more hardware for additional VMs. With vSAN 6.6, dense storage is cost effective.
A new Chinese policy going into effect next week, will have profound impact on businesses relying on Internet VPN or SD-WAN access within China.

According to a notice from China Telecom obtained by SD-WAN Experts, the Chinese Government will require commercial Chinese ISPs to block TCP ports 80, 8080, and 443 by January 11, 2018. Port 80 is of course the TCP port commonly used for carrying HTTP traffic; 8080 and 443 are used for carrying HTTPS traffic. Commercial ISP customers interested in maintaining access to those ports must register or apply to re-open the port through their local ISP.

The news, first reported by Bloomberg July, was expected to be implemented by February, 2018. This is the first time a specific date has been provided for the action.

Millions of Internet users relied on virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent the Chinese censorship system, dubbed the Great Firewall of China. In the past, VPNs have worked intermittently but were invariably blocked, forcing users to jump to another VPN. The new regulations will block VPN access to unregistered services.

Crackdowns on accessing the Internet beyond the Great Firewall  the worlds most sophisticated state-censorship operation, employs at least 2 million online censors. But this news highlights how the worlds second largest economy is struggling to balance authoritarianism with its business leadership aspirations. In addition, a strict new cybersecurity law came into effect in June. In July China Telecom, the nations biggest Internet service provider, sent a letter to corporate clients that said in future, VPNs would only be allowed to connect to a companys headquarters abroad.

For SD-WAN users, the regulations could have significant impact. Site-to-site connectivity across MPLS or private line will be unaffected, but site-to-site VPNs will be affected, if businesses do not register with their ISPs. This means hybrid WANs, for example, will work fine for those applications running across the private data service, but will be disrupted when failing over to the Internet or sending traffic across the encrypted Internet tunnel as the primary traffic driver. There are many SD-WAN and meshed VPN installations in China today that leverage the lower internet costs within China, using a lesser number of MPLS circuits to reach data centers outside of the country. These circuits will fail to pass traffic on January 10th, unless the enterprise register with their local ISPs.

All SD-WAN service providers will most likely to be impacted by these changes. If the customer uses the Internet, then theyll be blocked. If they use MPLS they wont be impacted.

Heres a translation of the text from Chinese government describing the policy:

-

Electronics Co., Ltd.

Hello, Annex is not opened 80 8080 port fixed IP line list, if your company to use the 443 port, please January 2018 January 10 to complete the relevant filing, so as not to be closed 443 port, thank you.

-

China Telecom Xiamen FTA division of corporate customers

Tel: 0592-5512875 phone: 18059800252

Mailing Address: Lake Avenue 15, Building 102 telecommunications complex

Business please mail before the 25th of each month, thank you!

And the original Chinese:



80 8080IP4432018110443

As noted in Bloomberg:

This seems to impact individuals most immediately, said Jake Parker, Beijing-based vice president of the US-China Business Council. VPNs are incredibly important for companies trying to access global services outside of China, he said. In the past, any effort to cut off internal corporate VPNs has been enough to make a company think about closing or reducing operations in China. Its that big a deal, he added.

The take-away from this story: if you have facilities in China, be sure you address this VPN registration issue, if it hasnt been addressed already.
GWR launch new trains with an extra 8,000 seats

IN the week when train fares rose by 3.6 per cent  the highest rise since 2013  Great Western Railway (GWR) launched new trains providing 8,000 extra seats.

The introduction of new rolling stock promises 10 per cent more seats  a total of 4,800  in and out of Paddington and an extra 20 per cent, totalling 3,000 more seats, through Bristol Temple Meads during peak periods.

The GWR fleet of 45 Electrostar trains replaced the majority of the 25-year-old fleet operating in the region.

The new trains will run in eight and 12-carriage formations, providing up to 30 per cent more seats on key journeys.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: January 2 marks a massive step towards delivering the capacity improvements we have promised and the most significant series of improvements for rail passengers in a generation.

Electric trains will run under the wires between Didcot and London for the first time, delivering real improvements for our passengers in London and the Thames Valley and enabling us to make further improvements throughout our network, supporting the communities we serve.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank our passengers for their patience during the Christmas period, as Network Rail continue Crossrail works, and its programme to modernise the Great Western.

This improvement in capacity coincides with a 3.6-per-cent fare hike, which sees a yearly season ticket from Newbury to London Paddington increase from 4,676 to 4,844  a rise of 168.

Train companies justified this hike by pointing to improvements to the service, such as the electrification of the railway and the new Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

The rail delivery group, which acts on behalf of train companies, also emphasise that 97 per cent of money from fares goes back into improving and running the railway with only three pence in the pound as profit.

Former train driver and independent rail commentator for the Thames Valley Hugh Jaeger said: Im concerned that people are being priced off the railway.

Passenger numbers have grown at pretty much every station on the Kennet Valley line.

But theres been a shift in growth in passengers to the west away from London.

They just cant afford to live where they work, so behind the figures of growing passengers, theres this social exclusion forcing people further out.

Network Rail Western Route managing director Mark Langman said: This is another major step forward in the biggest-ever transformation on the Great Western Mainline as we deliver more trains, more seats and better journeys for communities across the route.
Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients, who are robbed of their memories, their dignity, and their lives. It's financially devastating as well: care for Alzheimer's patients is predicted to top $1 trillion by about the time children born today are having children of their own.

Alzheimer's begins its destruction decades before there are outward signs of memory loss, so some recent scientific effort has focused on recognizing the earliest signs that portend disease onset. Those telltale signs, called biomarkers, would enable patients to receive treatment for Alzheimer's sooner, thereby delaying the disease's devastating progress or stopping it altogether.

The biomarker treasure hunt has been difficult thus far. There's been little to no progress towards finding one that is a "triple threat:" noninvasive, inexpensive, and easily translatable to community populations. So, the National Institutes of Health called for research proposals to find new ways to diagnose Alzheimer's disease and predict its progression.

Among the grant applicants: a group of scientists from four different institutions, each with a specific scientific skillset that when put together had the resources to test the presence and reliability of one such biomarker.

"When I first saw the call for applications, I was really excited," said Dr. Olivier Thibault at the University of Kentucky's Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Science. "I remembered some interesting work that came out of Dr. Bruce Berkowitz's lab at Wayne State University and thought it might be the cornerstone of a project that met the grant's parameters."

That cornerstone is called Quest MRI, a unique and dynamic process that is able to pinpoint levels of oxidative stress in specific regions of the brain over time, and in living subjects. The technique is noninvasive and in most hospitals doesn't require expensive modifications to existing equipment.

"Almost everyone with a television set has heard about the benefits of antioxidant-rich vitamins like A, C, and E, and superfoods like blueberries, green tea, and dark chocolate," Thibault said.

"Well, antioxidants are the body's defense against something called free radicals. Free radicals are natural byproducts of chemical processes in the body, and in a healthy state free radical production is offset by the work of antioxidants. But when there are too many free radicals, the balance is disrupted, and the resulting oxidative stress can increase risk for diseases like AD."

People write off the times when they can't remember where they left their keys, but realizing they don't know how to get home from the grocery store they've been visiting for years is a wake-up call that something is terribly wrong. The scientific term is "spatial disorientation," and it's a critical hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

The capacity for spatial orientation lies in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. Berkowitz and Thibault hypothesized that using Quest MRI to measure oxidative stress in the hippocampus of a live animal and compare it to that animal's ability to remember how to navigate a maze could be proof of the existence of a biomarker for AD that met the NIH criteria of cheap, easy, and scalable. Even better: the process uses inexpensive drugs that are already FDA approved, making Quest MRI easily translatable to the general population.

The NIH was impressed, and awarded the foursome $2.8 million over five years to test the hypothesis.

Rounding out the project are Dr. Geoffry Murphy at The University of Michigan and Dr. Brian Bennett at Queen's University (Canada). Bennett has developed a mouse genetically predisposed to high levels of oxidative stress, and Murphy's mice are already afflicted with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Thus begins a roughly 850-mile circuit of testing where Bennett's oxidative stress mice are flown from Ontario to Ann Arbor, where Murphy puts them - and his own AD mice -- through a maze to assess spatial navigation. Murphy himself then drives the mice to Detroit, where Berkowitz uses his Quest MRI to determine free radical production in the hippocampus. Ultimately, the mice end up in Thibault's lab, which uses calcium imaging techniques to measure how neurons are affected over time, thereby measuring the relationship between free radical production, oxidative stress, and behavioral changes in the same animal. Some of the mice actually make more than one circuit to assess cognitive and corresponding biochemical changes over time.

"The entire process provides a deeply characterized analysis of mice that may well affirm Quest MRI's ability to identify the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease," Thibault said.

Even better, says Thibault, the group foresees a bonus aspect of their research: they will also be able to test the efficacy of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic methods to reduce free radical production in the hippocampus. Advantageous data would point to the possibility of reducing free radical production using either an antioxidant "cocktail" or a light therapy called photobiomodulation.

Either option, said Thibault, would be "the cherry on the cake."

The project is in the early planning stages, and the mice don't begin their journey until later this month, but Thibault and his colleagues are energized at the prospect of joining the hunt for a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

"To be able to identify or even predict Alzheimer's disease using Quest MRI, and then also be able to intervene using antioxidants or photobiomodulation, would be a one-two winning punch," Thibault said.
Tobacco shops, also known as smoke shops, may represent potential "nuisance properties" in urban communities of color, a study led by a researcher at the University of California, Riverside has found. Nuisance properties are properties where unsafe activities affecting public health and safety occur repeatedly.

Past research has shown that alcohol outlets such as liquor or corner stores may promote nuisance activities like robberies, drug use, or other crimes in urban communities, rendering them unsafe for residents to walk by or visit. Other examples of nuisance properties are motels, payday lenders, and vacant homes and lots. Add to this list now tobacco shops.

"We know alcohol outlets can be associated with unsafe nuisance activities in urban areas, but this study appears to be the first to suggest U.S. tobacco shops may also impact public health," said Andrew Subica, Ph.D., an assistant professor of social medicine, population, and public health in the School of Medicine, who led the study that focused on South Los Angeles, Calif. "Our analyses show that in South Los Angeles tobacco shops as well as liquor stores were associated with high levels of violent and property crime around their locations. This finding is important because tobacco shops are common in many cities, but until this study have not been viewed as possible public health threats. "

The study, which appears in Preventive Medicine, focused on 2014 violent and property crime data from South Los Angeles, a large urban community containing Los Angeles County's highest concentration of African Americans, adults without high school education, and residents living in poverty. Residents also experience high rates of adult and childhood obesity, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and mortality from diabetes, coronary disease, and cerebrovascular disease. The area's homicide rate is nearly four times the national rate.

Subica and his colleagues chose to use data from South Los Angeles because residents informed the researchers that not just liquor stores but also tobacco shops were proving to be dangerous.

"The community calling smoke shops dangerous came as a surprise to us, and it sparked our interest in doing the study," Subica said. "After reviewing the research literature, we found no one in the U.S. seemed to have studied these shops' relationship to crime before."

The study also looked for associations between medical marijuana dispensaries and crime in South Los Angeles, a timely topic given the recent legalization of recreational marijuana use in California.

"Our research indicated that dispensaries were not linked to greater violent crime around their locations," Subica said, "likely for several reasons including that they often appear and disappear quickly in these communities while liquor and tobacco stores stay at one location for many years. Many dispensaries also have property safeguards like security guards and cameras to deter crime that liquor and tobacco stores may not."

Next, the research team will study how the potential negative health impact of tobacco shops and liquor stores can be mitigated in South Los Angeles through community action and policy change. Subica believes strategies developed by South Los Angeles organizers and policy makers to reduce crime and violence around these properties may carry over to other large cities throughout the U.S., which also possess high numbers of tobacco shops and liquor stores.

"When residents and children cannot walk in certain areas in their neighborhoods for fear of being harmed, this poses a public health problem," Subica said. "For example, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles residents living in areas with many nuisance properties will find it harder to do healthy activities that other communities take for granted like walking and exercising outdoors or letting their kids play in public parks.

"Even though tobacco shops have rarely been targeted by the police or community for intervention," he added, "based on our data, we believe tobacco shops in urban communities of color should be regulated to improve community health in the same way as alcohol outlets and other public nuisances."
An old drug supercharged by University of Queensland researchers has emerged as a new antibiotic that could destroy some of the world's most dangerous superbugs.

The supercharge technique , led by Dr Mark Blaskovich and Professor Matt Cooper from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), potentially could revitalize other antibiotics.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria - superbugs - cause 700,000 deaths worldwide each year, and a UK government review has predicted this could rise to 10 million by 2050.

Dr Blaskovich said the old drug, vancomycin, was still widely used to treat extremely dangerous bacterial infections, but bacteria were becoming increasingly resistant to it.

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"The rise of vancomycin-resistant bacteria, and the number of patients dying from resistant infections that cannot be successfully treated, stimulated our team to look at ways to revitalize old antibiotics," Dr Blaskovich said.

"We did this by modifying vancomycin's membrane-binding properties to selectively bind to bacterial membranes rather than those of human cells, creating a series of supercharged vancomycin derivatives called vancapticins."

The rebooted vancomycin has the potential to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE).

Professor Cooper said pharmaceutical companies had departed the antibiotic discovery field because new antibiotics were difficult to find and were not as lucrative as cholesterol-lowering medications or cancer treatments.

"Hence many scientists are re-engineering existing drugs to overcome bacterial resistance, rather than searching for new drugs," he said.

"Drug development is normally focused on improving binding to a biological target, and rarely focuses on assessing membrane-binding properties.

"This approach worked with the vancapticins, and the question now is whether it can be used to revitalize other antibiotics that have lost effectiveness against resistant bacteria.

"Given the alarming rise of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the length of time it takes to develop a new antibiotic, we need to look at any solution that could fix the antibiotic drug discovery pipeline now," Professor Cooper said.
China may build a military base near Iran's Chabahar port

New Delhi : With the United States taking tough action against Pakistan, China is looking to make the most of the situation. There are reports claiming that China will be acquiring a Pakistani military base close to Iran's Chabahar port.

Donald Trump's tweet on January 1 accusing Pakistan of providing safe heavens to the terrorists appears to be the ignitor in boosting Pakistan ties with China.

A report quoted a 'Washington Times' report that China is in talks with Pakistan to build its second overseas military base as part of a push for greater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes.

The new military base is proposed at Jiwani, a port near Iran's Chabahar close to the border in the Gulf of Oman, and is located a short distance from Gwadar in Balochistan province.

Currently, China has one international military base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in Indian Ocean.

Besides Djibouti, China has also acquired the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease.
North Korea and Iran have large underground facilties where they have their nuclear weapons and other operations. DARPA is looking at breakthroughs for dealing with tunnels and underground cities.

Underground is the new frontier for military and security action. Although tunnels were already extensively used in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. Tunnels are more and more of a problem in Mexico and Middle East.

Vietnam now gives tourists visits to the tunnel complexes used in the Vietnam war.

North Korea had and probably has invasion tunnels into South Korea

Advances in robotics, autonomy, and even biological systems could rapid exploration and exploitation of underground environments that are too dangerous for humans.

The goal of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge is to discover innovative solutions to rapidly and remotely map, navigate, and search complex underground environments, including human-made tunnel systems, urban and municipal underground infrastructure, and/or natural cave networks. The representative backdrop for the competition events is a disaster-related search and rescue response to a developing and time-sensitive situation with an unknown layout. The DARPA Subterranean Challenge seeks to advance technologies through both Systems and Virtual competitions that will dramatically outperform current approaches of manually and laboriously mapping and searching subterranean environments.

The DARPA Subterranean Challenge envisions multi-disciplinary teams competing.

SOURCES- DARPA, Vietnam archive photos, Vietnam tourist photos
Irans leadership will not be able to just use the tool of oppression to maintain power in the longer term.

China and other countries have shown that there can be a relatively stable authoritarian system with a more limited sharing of political power if the vast majority of people are seeing economic gains or have economic hope.

Iran is adding 400,000-500,000 angry and under-employed young men every year. Nextbigfuture does not think Iran will be able to fix all of its economic problems or create the political and societal pressure release valves to prevent an eventual overthrow of the current regime.

Note: IF there is successful counter-revolution in Iran, then the USA will have to help deal with the Iranian economy to fix it and get a lot of jobs for the millions of angry and under-employed people in Iran.

Young people, rural areas, workers are angry

The recent demonstrations shows that areas of the country that the regime depicted as their base  small-towns, conservative communities  are in fact very angry and very anti-regime according to Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. There is a lot of anger among young people who are children of the working class and went to university but still find themselves unable to rise in Iranian society.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps is responding by cracking down.

Demonstrations and arrests are continuing. The near future of the protest movement may depend on whether a broader coalition forms that is capable of withstanding the oppression.

90 percent of those detained across the country in recent days are under 25 years old.

Economic Problems

Irans current system is clearly fragile. If there is no mechanism for change or flexibility then pressures will build until the leaders are overthrown.

The unemployment rate among those aged 15 to 29 is well over 24% according to official statistics. Its even higher among urban youth and women.

Science minister Reza Faraji Dana was quoted in 2014 as saying that 150,000 educated Iranians were leaving the country every year.

The government proposed slashing subsidies on basic goods, including food, and services for the poor and increasing fuel prices by as much as 50%. At the same time, religious institutions would be spared the austerity.

President Rouhani raised expectations about economic growth with the lifting of sanctions. Oil revenues have soared, and some sectors  such as tourism  have benefited. But aside from a few big agreements in energy, there has not been a windfall in foreign investment in the past two years. Non-oil growth, where most jobs are created, remains far lower because of red tape, corruption, and other structural issues, wrote Kupchan in a research note.

Economics and Demographics and Revolution

Irans government can clamp down but they have to fix the economy and make it worth investing in beyond any oil. Oil prices are not likely to go up with the global shift to electric cars over the next 15-25 years. Oil prices could crater.

Iran has to fix regulations and corruption and get foreign investment.

Irans population is 82 million in 2018 and is growing at about 1 million people every year.

Another 8 million people will enter the workforce by 2028. 4 million more young men over ten years.

Too many enemies

Irans regime has international enemies in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States. The USA and Saudi Arabia will present resistance to Iran trying to cut economic deals to fix its problems.

The elite in Iran is split as seen by the Green Movement in 2009. Currently the alternative elite has not united with the workers.
NEW HAVEN  Connecticut State Police are seeking information about an anti-police banner found hanging on the northbound side of Wilbur Cross Parkway near the West Rock tunnel, which is also known as Heroes Tunnel.

State police received numerous calls Wednesday about the banner, which, according to an image posted on Facebook, stated, abolish the police, revolutionary justice for Daniel Shaver, Jayson Negron, Zoe Dowdell and all victims of police terrorism.

New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell said officers were made aware of the banner in case there were any spontaneous protests or incidents during a motor vehicle stop, adding that some of the departments crime suppression patrol officers had doubled up.

Im very grateful that we still live in a democratic society where people can express their feelings, whether they are pro-police or anti-police. We support peoples rights to be able to express themselves, Campbell said. It was nonviolent and they have the right to express themselves in that way. Of course, we believe we support all members of the community, whether they are for us or not. We support their right to speak out against what they may view as something they dont agree with.

Luther Dee White, 70, a former New Haven resident, said he believes the people behind the sign are expressing their frustration with a system that is predicated on making sure everybody stays in their place. He said he is a product of apartheid and marched on Washington, D.C., in 1963, and is aware of both the advances and frustrations of the black community.

The police by themselves arent doing anything wrong. Theyre being mandated to do what theyre doing, White said. Because of all the other influences in the inner city, whether were talking about mass incarceration or drug enforcement or lack of education or lack of opportunities and jobs, whatever the fundamental underlying cause is, for these young black males, their structured discipline life ends at 18.

Marshall Segar, attorney for the New Haven police union, said the union doesnt have an opinion on what was done, but he disagrees with the message expressed.

I mean, the police officers protect everyones rights, and if somebody chooses to utilize their free speech to hang a banner and protest the police, they have a right to do so, but we dont agree with their sentiments, he said.

Campbell said the New Haven Police Department will continue to monitor the situation, making sure the entirety of the public is kept safe at all times.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Connecticut State Police Troop I in Bethany at 203-393-4200.

jessica.lerner@hearstmediact.com; @jesslerner on Twitter
Tethered to a breathing machine at a Manhattan hospital, 21-year-old Miriam Holman would die without a lung transplant. But her odds of finding a suitable organ were especially low in New York, where waiting times are among the longest in the country.

Just across the Hudson River in New Jersey, patients in far better condition routinely receive lungs much more quickly. Pockets of the South and Midwest also have dramatically shorter waiting times.

The disparities stem from a principle that has always guided the national transplant system: local first. Most organs stay in the areas where they are donated, even if sicker patients are waiting elsewhere.

But a federal judges recent emergency order in a lawsuit by Holman is threatening to upend decades of organ transplant policy and force places with a relative abundance of organs to start sharing more of them.

With too few donors to meet the demand  last year there were 33,610 transplants while 12,412 patients died on waiting lists or were removed from consideration because they were deemed too sick to survive surgery  transplant centers have long fought over how to allocate organs. California and New York, which have the most severe shortages, have been on the losing side of that battle.

Holmans lawsuit against the federal government has opened a door to change that. The order issued in October by Robert Katzmann, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, spurred the government to immediately broaden access to lungs for many patients across the country. Now, the same legal arguments used in that case are being waged on behalf of liver patients.

As soon as we had some success on the lung side, my phone started ringing on the liver side, said Holmans attorney, Motty Shulman. Nobody should be getting a preference based on where they live.

For transplant purposes, the U.S. is divided into 11 regions, which include 58 territories known as donation service areas. In general, each area has first crack at the organs collected there, with the sickest patients there first in line. Only when an organ is deemed unsuitable for all the patients in that area is it made available to patients elsewhere  first within the region, then nationwide.

Waiting times vary by donation service area because organ supply and demand are not spread evenly across the country. One area may be flush with organs because it has lots of fatal motorcycle accidents and transplant programs that dont accept the most gravely ill patients. Another may face severe shortages because it has a large minority population  minorities tend to donate less  and high rates of liver or kidney disease.

The bottom line: How quickly a patient gets a transplant, and sometimes whether a patient gets a transplant at all, depend largely on where they are being treated.

At the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center  which added more liver patients to its waiting list than any other hospital in the country last year  the average wait for a liver is more than three years. At the Ochsner Medical Center outside New Orleans, it is just over two months. The national average is just over 14 months.

The local-first policy dates back to the early days of transplants, when pioneering hospitals created local networks to look for donors, and technology to preserve harvested organs for long transports was limited. The policy persists even though kidneys, livers, lungs and hearts can now be flown across large swaths of the country.

Tom Mone, chief executive of One Legacy, the nonprofit contracted to coordinate allocation in the donation service area that includes Los Angeles, says he has fought for years to bring more organs to Southern California but has been rebuffed by the parochial self-interest of transplant centers seeking to preserve short waiting times for their patients.

As in politics, we seem to be more tribal than ever, he said.

Defenders of the local-first policy say it allows more transplant centers to stay in business and provide the life-saving procedure to a wider swath of the U.S. population. Without such protections, the worry is that crowded, big-city centers would suck up all available organs.

In Charleston, S.C., the Medical University of South Carolina advertises

The success of transplants is based on a gift from the local community, he said. Taking away organs from South Carolinians is unfair.

ansplant surgeon at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, says allowing bigger centers to compete for organs donated in Kentucky would mean his patients would have to become sicker before receiving transplants  if they could hang on that long.

Many come from impoverished Appalachia and have other serious health problems that he said increase their risk of death without a transplant.

Its a challenge to take care of these patients already, he said.

A series of reforms over the years have allowed the sickest patients to compete for hearts and livers beyond their own territories. Those changes usually came after years of debate.

The Holman lawsuit changed the lung policy in five days.

Holman suffers from a rare form of pulmonary hypertension  high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs  that killed her sister 13 years ago. She entered intensive care at Columbia University Medical Center in late September. Her rare AB blood type added to the difficulty of finding lungs.

Family members, who declined to be interviewed, filed suit after learning how the rules limited her chance for a transplant.

Her surgeon, Dr. Joshua Sonett, had co-written a 2013 analysis

Wed been trying to change policy through scientific papers and standard petitioning, Sonnet said. If it takes a little policing from the outside to force us to change, thats OK.

Holmans lawyers argued that allocating organs using arbitrary boundaries violated the federal law that set up the national transplant system in 1984. The law was updated in 2000 to say that medical need and not accidents of geography should be the primary factor in determining how long a patient waits for a transplant.

On Nov. 20, a U.S. District Court judge rejected an emergency motion to give Holman access to lungs outside her donation service area. But two days later Katzmann issued an order giving the government three days to report back on a rapid review of its lung policy.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services went further and on Nov. 25 established a new system for lung allocation that no longer relies on the 58 donation service areas. Instead, effective immediately, when lungs become available, they are offered first to the sickest patient within 250 nautical miles (slightly farther than a standard mile) of the hospital where they were donated.

The new policy will be kept in place for a year and then re-evaluated, officials said.

It will be felt most strongly in the Northeast, where donation service areas are small and densely populated and their boundaries created the most glaring disparities. Patients in New York can now compete for lungs across the state line in New Jersey and as far away as Boston and Washington, D.C. Patients in those places will also be able to claim organs from New York, but the change is expected to reduce the gap in waiting times.

Dr. Christian Bermudez, the head of lung transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania, predicted that the policy would hurt smaller East Coast transplant centers that until now had been able to perform transplants in healthier patients and lacked the ability to keep large numbers of very sick patients alive as they waited to rise to the top of the list.

The effect in the West is expected to be smaller. Most donation service areas are much larger, so the 250 miles generally doesnt stretch into other areas with more plentiful organ supplies.

Still, the case has sent shockwaves throughout the transplant system, with many wondering whether it ultimately will affect the territorial allocation system for other organs.

In a Dec. 1 letter to federal transplant officials, Holmans lawyer demanded similar changes in the allocation of livers on behalf of a new client with liver failure in New York.

The letter came three days before the board of the United Network for Organ Sharing, the contractor that administers the national transplant system, was scheduled to vote on a new liver scheme.

The liver plan it adopted builds on a 2013 policy change that gave the sickest patients  those scoring at least 35 on a 40-point scale used to assess liver condition and rank transplant candidates  priority not just within their donor service areas but throughout their regions.

The new scheme drops the threshold to 32 and adds patients outside the region if they are within 150 nautical miles of the donor hospital. As a counterweight to those changes, it also gives the nearest patients a small boost up the waiting list.

Officials said the policy would take effect late in 2018.

As with the new lung policy, it is expected to reduce the disparities in waiting times in the densely populated Northeast but do little for California.

This plan is not even a half-measure, said Sommer Gentry, a mathematician at the U.S. Naval Academy who studies geographic inequities in the system.

Some patients have beaten the system by temporarily relocating to places with better organ supplies  an option that Gentry said undermines public trust because it is only available to people with means.

Shulman says he is talking with several potential clients about challenging the new liver rules because they still use donation service areas and do little to improve access to organs for patients in vast Western states.

In her lawsuit over lungs, Holman had asked for an allocation zone of 500 miles, not 250. Still, the federal governments new plan has improved her chances.

She remains on life support, waiting.
Onalaska native John Bina might be labeled  and rightfully so  The Music Man, but any similarity to the charlatan in Meredith Wilsons 1957 Broadway musical ends right there.

Bina acknowledges taking advantage of people, but in a good way, saying, I was lucky enough to grow up at a time when western Wisconsin was a great area for musical education and teachers.

Bina has reached a national pinnacle as a music teacher/band director by capitalizing on what he learned from the likes of Onalaska music/band teachers Edward Davig and Cory Groves at Irving Pertzsch Elementary and Onalaska middle and high schools  as well as being the son of former Viroqua High School band director Tom Bina and the nephew of Logan High School band director Steve Bina.

My dad carted me all over as Viroqua band director, Bina said, adding, Those girls at Viroqua High School were my baby sitters.

Tom Bina is spending his retirement years as patriarch of the familys Christmas Tree Farm near Mindoro.

Top-notch program at Logan

Meanwhile, Steve Bina and Gerry Gleason built a top-notch program on the North Side at Logan. They were very generous with their time and expertise frequently visiting my classroom and showing me what a successful band program should look like, Bina said.

Saluting John Binas own top-notch career, the national John Philip Sousa Foundation recently honored him as one of only eight band directors each year inducted into the Bandworld Legion of Honor.

Bina, who is 55  born in the same year as the release of the 1962 movie that Wilsons play inspired  also credits Frank Italiano with his development as a young musician.

Italiano taught and inspired a generation of Coulee Region student musicians. I spent six years under his direction as a member of the La Crosse Youth Symphony, Bina said.

They were all pretty influential for me, he said of the teachers.

The John Philip Sousa Legion of Honor Award recognizes directors who have nurtured excellent band programs, as determined by a committee of high school and university band directors from around the country.

Bina, who has been instrumental music teacher/band director for six years at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minn., has a bachelors degree in music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a masters in music education from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

After teaching for a year at Roncalli High School in Manitowoc, Wis., he took his baton to Tomah High School, where he taught for seven years. Tomah Highs student council picked him as teacher of the year in 1991.

Not one to be attracted to a job for adulation, Bina said, I happen to think I have the best job in the world. I get to see students as they were, what they are and what they will become.

Those views come from the fact that, in high school settings, he has had a conductors-eye view of student progress over four years. At St. Thomas Academy, a college preparatory military school of more than 600 students in seventh grade through high school, he enjoys even more development, said Bina, who chairs the schools fine art department.

Its remarkable, said Bina, noting that fine arts participation is a growing experience with increasing popularity among students and their parents.

Now that brain research is showing the connection between fine arts and academic achievement, its an easier sell, he said.

Hook students early

Hooking students on music early is the key to keeping them interested, he said.

From their first connection here, they tend not to leave, he said, counting that as his main satisfaction with his teaching role.

His second favorite thing is the number of students who go on to participate in college in marching, concert and jazz bands, Bina said.

As an alumnus of the UW marching band, he confesses to a bias in favor of the Badger band, although he laughingly confesses, I think the band is better, and it marches better than when I was there  and its probably more well-behaved.

A trombone player himself, Bina also has a guitar class at St. Thomas and plays a variety of other instruments.

I can demonstrate and play well enough to keep up with the beginners, he said.

Bina and his wife, Dawn, have two children  Katie, a UW-Madison student who has followed his marching steps to become a member of the Badgers band, and Peter, a junior at St. Thomas Academy, where Bina teaches him.

Bina, whose roles as a member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association include being president from 2012 to 2014, leads bi-annual learning trips to provide historical and global context for St. Thomas Academy students. Past trips have included performances in Italy, France, England and Germany. Several of his students each year are selected to participate in the All-Conference Band.

Also elected Teacher of the Term at Woodbury (Minn.) High School in 2003 and selected as a WCCO-TV Excellent Educator in 2015, Bina attributes his success to the atmosphere in which he was raised.

I was lucky growing up in western Wisconsin, he said. Im not sure people realize how strong the music education there is. Maybe they take it for granted.
Several months ago, a team of men ascended the Greater Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. They led horses loaded with electrical wire, solar panels, batteries, toolboxes and drills powerful enough to grind through rock.

With jagged ridgelines above and shadowed valleys below, the men were on a quest to bring the internet to one of the worlds most remote places: Tusheti, a rural province on the Russian border.

Tushetis clean air, crisp blue skies and mountain-studded landscape already attract some tourists, but government officials think there is potential for many more. Access to the internet will make it easier for travelers to book reservations online, but it will also stir e-commerce and local business development, and give a lift to health care and education services in the area.

For now, though, Tusheti has little electricity, and maybe more sheep than people.

For centuries, Tushetis rugged terrain has encouraged a nomadic lifestyle that continues to this day. Shepherds roam the mountainsides with their flocks in the summer, and then move down to more temperate pastures for the rest of the year.

Many people who arent shepherds do the same. For much of the year, they live in lowland communities near Tusheti that have schools, hospitals and, yes, internet service. Come summer, they return to the rocky slopes.

Tusheti spans about 370 square miles  an area a bit larger than Berlin  but only about 50 people stay through the winter. Temperatures can drop to near zero Fahrenheit, and snow covers the main roads for up to six months.

In Shenako, one of several dozen villages in the region, only one couple stays through the winter. As the weeks pass, other people arrive by helicopter, hitching a ride on the Georgian Border Polices monthly trips to change crews at border outposts.

For the workers on the internet mission, time could feel short.

Dusk was coming on fast when the crew reached Bochorna, a tiny hamlet whose 7,700-foot elevation makes it the highest continuously inhabited village in Europe, according to the Georgian government. The workers chief focus: establishing an internet connection for the lone year-round resident, Irakli Khvedaguridze, a 76-year-old doctor.

When winter arrives, the government pays Dr. Khvedaguridze to buy medical supplies; if he runs out of anything, a border police helicopter delivers what he needs.

He spends the winter treating the sick in nearby communities, reading medical journals and listening to the radio. When he needs company, he goes into Omalo, one of Tushetis larger villages, on his homemade skis.

Although he had no computer or smartphone, he was curious about how it all worked. His first thought: people without cell coverage would now be able to call him in the winter if they were sick or injured.

It will be easier to get in touch now, he said.

Financed largely through a $40,000 grant from the Internet Society, a global nonprofit, the workers came from local organizations: the Tusheti Development Fund, the Small and Medium Telecommunications Operators Association and Freenet, a local internet service provider. They offered materials or services for free, or at little cost. They all felt a connection of some kind to the Tusheti mountains.

I am originally from the mountains, said Ucha Seturi, a lawyer and engineer who is coordinating the project. The mountain people are a little bit separate from the rest of society. They are not developing. So for me its really important to create real points of connection with the rest of society so they can develop.

Many people in nearby communities are quite familiar with the allure of the internet. Temuri Babulaidze, whose father helped start the Tusheti Development Fund, enjoys playing online video games at the familys home in Kvemo Alvani, a town where many Tushetians live in the winter.

In addition to the residents of 26 villages in Tusheti who will now be able to log on to the internet, dozens of hostels and small hotels will benefit from the service.

Tourism is a beacon of hope for us, said Ia Buchaidze, who owns a local bakery, and the internet is very important for that.

Not everyone is happy with the change.

It's not good, said Yochanan Herman, an Israeli traveler who was hiking the mountains, because there are not many places in the world without Internet.

The long days in the mountains can be hazardous for the entire crew, including the horses. The men watched helplessly one day as a packhorse stumbled and plunged off the trail, rolling down like a barrel and scattering its load as it tumbled.

The horse eventually righted itself, but it was bleeding beneath its saddle blanket. It would be O.K., the workers learned. They combed the hillside for its load. Two toolboxes were smashed; among the other casualties was a power inverter. That was a major problem: Without it, the heavy drill wouldnt work.

The masts holding internet antennas were not the only towers visible on the mountainsides. There were also skeletal memorials to the Communist era: pylons that carried electricity across the border from the Soviet Union into Tusheti and the rest of Georgia.

The towers remain, but the power lines are gone, pulled down after the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There were other reminders of that era: villages abandoned after, some residents say, the Soviets forced people off the mountains.

The internet network is helping stir a turnaround for Tusheti. In the past year, a new, 100-bed hotel was proposed for Omalo. There is talk of a major ski resort and a new roadway.
Why Punjab farmers burn stubble at this scale when others do not

30 per cent down: How Haryana aced the decrease in stubble burning

Angry farmers dump tonnes of potatoes outside CM Yogis home

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Angry farmers on Saturday brought tonnes of potatoes loaded in trucks and dumped them on roads, right in front of the CM House and UP State Assembly, for failing to get adequate price for their produce.

The Yogi Adityanath government had fixed Rs 487 a quintal as the minimum support price for potato but farmers are demanding Rs 10 a kg, which amounts to Rs 1,000 a quintal.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow Deepak Kumar said the vehicles of the farmers, who were involved in throwing potatoes have been identified and that they would be acted upon.

"We are getting Rs. 3-4 per quintal from the 'mandis' while we want Rs. 10 per quintal. What else do we do when our pleas are falling on deaf ears," a farmer told IANS.

Chief minister Adityanath promised to look into their grievances, saying a group of ministers could be formed to examine and resolve farm problems.

He had also reached out to the central government and asked Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to ask other states to procure potato from UP.

Adityanath also wanted potato crop from the state to get prominence for procurement in the Centre's E-National Agricultural Mart.

Meanwhile, 4 policemen, including a Sub Inspector were suspended in connection with potatoes dumped outside Uttar Pradesh Assembly building by farmers in protest against low prices.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 22:26 [IST]
Explained: Why did the ECI freeze the symbol of the Shiv Sena

Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Bhima Koregaon violence: Its 'chaos and destruction' in Maharashtra, says Sena

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, Jan 6: Escalating its attack on the Devendra Fadnavis-led goverment over the Bhima-Koregaon violence, the Shiv Sena has said Maharashtra is moving towards "chaos and destruction" due to caste conflict.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, an ally in the BJP-led NDA government, bemoaned large-scale damage to property by protesters during the January 3 bandh in Maharashtra called by Dalit outfits to denounce the violence at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district.

"Dalits are calling for bandh and Hindutvawadi groups are taking out morchas. It looks like Maharashtra is moving towards chaos and destruction due to caste conflict instead of prosperity," read an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Sena organ said if the bandh called by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) was peaceful, his stature as a leader would have risen.

"His followers have become directionless. In Kolhapur, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was desecrated," the Marathi daily said.

The editorial said the Shiv Sena was showing solidarity with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the time of caste conflict as it wanted to protect Maharashtra's "asmita" (pride) and ensure law and order. The newspaper said efforts are being made to incite caste violence in the state by exploiting the clashes which took place at Bhima Koregaon on January 1. None of the Dalit leaders tried to calm tempers of the community members, who, anyway, were in no mood to listen to them, the BJP's bickering ally lamented.

Violence during the state-wide bandh resulted in loss of property to the tune of crores of rupees, the publication claimed, adding the financially bleeding transport body MSRTC alone took a Rs 25-crore hit.

"This is not the time to analyse if the caste violence will benefit the BJP or any other party," the editorial read.

It said the recent events reflected poorly on the state's home department, headed by Fadnavis. On January 4, too, the Shiv Sena had attacked the Fadnavis government over its inept handling of the violence in Bhima-Koregaon and the subsequent incidents, alleging it had no work except to fight elections using the state machinery.

The violence erupted when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra. Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory as it is believed soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.

PTI
One by one they will resign: Athawale on Maharashtra ministers

Bhima-Koregaon violence: Mevani not responsible, find out real culprits, says Athawale

India

pti-PTI

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the Gujarat MLA was not responsible for the violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district on January 1.

Speaking to reporters here after meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Athawale, a prominent Dalit leader, said there was tension in the area even prior to the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle on January 1.

Dalits visiting the war memorial at Bhima-Koregaon had reportedly come under attack on January 1. Dalit leaders had blamed certain pro-Hindutva leaders, who were opposed to the anniversary celebrations, for the attacks, while the latter sought to blame Mevani's "provocative speech", which was delivered a day earlier.

"Jignesh is not responsible for the violence at Bhima- Koregaon. There was tension in the area prior to January 1. I had visited the place and the tension had eased. So, I had returned to Delhi on December 31. On the same day, Jignesh had delivered his speech at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune. He had not gone to Bhima-Koregaon. Some groups had held a meeting at night and the violence took place on January 1," the Union minister of state for social justice said.

"I have congratulated Jignesh on his Assembly election victory. It is good that a young, fresh Dalit face is emerging. My advice to him is that he should focus on uniting the society and not dividing it," said Athawale, who heads a faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

On Mevani's demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the January 1 anti-Dalit violence, Athawale said, "It is not necessary that the prime minister should comment on every development. After the Una incident (where Dalits were assaulted by cow vigilantes), Modi had criticised it."

Fadnavis had assured him that those responsible for the Bhima-Koregaon violence would be punished and accepted his demand of compensation for those whose properties were damaged, the Union minister said.

Athawale also said he was going to organise a "social harmony conference" in Pune on January 13.

Referring to a demand put forward by some leaders of the Maratha community, he said he was open to a debate on the "misuse" of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

If Dalits and tribals were treated with respect, there would not be any need for such a law, Athawale said, while ruling out the possibility of its abolition at present.

The January 3 Maharashtra shutdown against the Bhima- Koregaon violence had put the Dalit community's strength in focus, the Union minister said.

"If Dalits can come together to voice their anger, the RPI factions can also do so to lend political strength to the community," he added.

He was ready to work under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar (who had called for the Maharashtra Bandh on January 3), Athawale said, adding, "United, we can decide if we should contest elections independently or align with the BJP or the Congress."

The Pune police has lodged an FIR against Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged provocative speeches during the "Elgar Parishad", organised in the city on December 31 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

The FIR was registered under IPC section 153(a) (promoting enmity between two groups).

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory over the Peshwa's army at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company's forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins and the victory is seen as a symbol of Dalit assertiveness.

PTI
Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Bihar engineer kidnapped and forced to marry at gunpoint

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

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Bihar engineer kidnapped and married at gunpoint, Watch video | Oneindia News

A video of a man being forced to marry at gunpoint in Mokama, Bihar, has gone viral. 29-year-old Vinod Kumar can be seen crying as the bride's family members force him to marry her.

It can be seen in the video that a group of women, allegedly from the woman's family, are trying to convince him to cooperate as he begs to be released.

"We are only performing your wedding, not hanging you," bride's relatives are heard saying in the video.

Vinod Kumar's family have alleged that the bride's brother behind the abduction.

"My brother boarded Hatia-Patna express from Bokaro as he had to attend a wedding function near Patna on December 3. Surendra Yadav, the woman's brother, persuaded him to come to Mokama. He was abducted there and taken to Pandarak where my brother was forced to marry the woman," News 18 quoted Vinod Kumar's brother Sanjay Kumar as saying.

Vinod was also kept in captivity Mokama after marriage and was freed only after Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj intervened in the matter.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 12:09 [IST]
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Chennai RSS HQ bombing: Prime accused nabbed after 24 years

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

It took a little over two decades for the police to arrest an accused in the bombing of the RSS Chennai headquarters in which 11 persons were killed. The incident dates back to 1993 and the police had said that the main accused in the case was Mushtaq Ahmed.

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Ahmed, who had eluded the CBI for 24 years, was arrested on Friday morning from the outskirts of Chennai, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said in Delhi. The blast on August 8, 1993 was triggered using RDX.

It brought down the multi-storeyed RSS office at Chetput in Chennai, claiming 11 lives.

Ahmed had allegedly procured the explosive material for assembling the bomb and provided shelter to the other accused, officials said.

The agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for providing credible information about Ahmed, one of the main accused in the case.

The agency was entrusted with the probe in 1993 and filed a chargesheet against 18 persons under the stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Explosive Substances Act and Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

In 2007, a TADA court in Chennai in 2007 convicted 11 persons and awarded life terms to three after a 12-year trial.

The agency continued its hunt for Ahmed -- who did not face trial as he could not be arrested -- right through.

After the trial in 2007, the special court acquitted four persons, including S A Basha, founder of the banned Al Umma, for lack of evidence against them.

Immam Ali, a suspected ISI agent who had escaped from custody in Madurai, was gunned down in Bangalore in an encounter with the police on September 29, 2002.

Another accused, Jihad Committee founder Palani Baba, was hacked to death by suspected RSS sympathisers on January 28, 1997.

Of the 431 witnesses, 224 were examined during the course of the trial which commenced on August 7, 1995. The chargesheet was filed on June 8, 1994.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 5:25 [IST]
Congress accuses AAP's RS candidate of holding office of profit

India

oi-Shreya

The Delhi Congress led by Ajay Maken on January 6 filed a complaint against ND Gupta, AAP's one of the three candidates for Rajya Sabha nomination and sought his rejection for holding office of profit.

The Congress sought his rejection under Section 36 of the Representation of People act, read-with Article 102 of the Indian Constitution for holding an office of profit for holding the office of a Trustee of the National Pension System Trust (NPS Trust). Gupta was appointed on 30.3.2015 and continues to hold the position.

In Maken's letter to the Rerurning Officer of Dariyagunj, Delhi, he pointed out that the office of Trustee enjoyes remuneration, emoluments, perks, and by virtue of these, Gupta holds an office of profit and his nomination is liable to be rejected.

Here is the letter by Maken:

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WASHINGTON (TNS)  Progressive activists adore her, her campaign cash is piling up, and she is celebrated by liberals as a key leader of the resistance to Donald Trump.

But no one relishes the prospect of an Elizabeth Warren presidential bid quite like Republicans do.

Ill be glad to donate, joked Ron Kaufman, the Republican National Committeeman from Massachusetts who has watched Warrens career closely. I think shes probably unelectable as president.

Added Brian Ballard, a longtime Florida lobbyist and top fundraiser for Trump, As a fan of the presidents, I hope that Elizabeth Warren is the Democratic nominee. That would be a dream come true for us.

To make that matchup a reality, the Massachusetts senator and liberal icon would have to survive what will undoubtedly be a competitive Democratic primary, should she run. But she already has laid some groundwork for a possible presidential campaign against Trump, as Politico reported this week.

That thrills Trumps supporters, who say a Warren challenge would unite Republicans behind the polarizing president in a way that the more moderate Hillary Clinton  even with her years of baked-in baggage with Republicans  could not in 2016.

Youd have thought Hillary Clinton would have done that, but certainly, Elizabeth Warren or (Vermont independent Sen.) Bernie Sanders, youve got to believe, would solidify our party like nothing ever before, Ballard said. Im rooting for her. I wish her the best. Good luck in the primary.

Warren, who led the charge in establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has carved out an image as a fiery liberal populist and a sharp and frequent Trump critic. She delights progressives who want to see Trump rebuked at every turn, and she energizes an already activated and angry Democratic base.

But her hard-left posture, which makes her so popular among liberals  and could make her formidable in a Democratic primary  gives Republicans reason to think she would scare disillusioned Republicans who might be looking for an alternative to the historically unpopular president.

She is quite possibly the only candidate who could convince some of the Republicans who have been hesitant to support Trump to vote for him, said Ryan Williams, who served as a longtime aide to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. Theres no question she would rally the Democratic base, but shed alienate swing voters and moderate Republicans who have not exactly warmed to Trump. She has the ability to convince some middle-of-the-road Republicans who are wary of Trump to pull the lever for him because shes so divisive and radical.

In her 2012 Senate race, Warren was also painted as extreme, even for deep blue Massachusetts. Republicans seized on past comments, such as, I have thrown rocks at people I think are in the wrong. Republicans still bring such remarks up today to cast Warren as a truculent class warrior.

Who does Elizabeth Warren find in the wrong? asked one ad at the time, from the Massachusetts GOP. Employers. Businesspeople. Risk takers. Job creators.

That didnt work in Boston. But a broad presidential battlefield is another story, said Colin Reed, who served as communications director for former Sen. Scott Brown, Warrens 2012 opponent.

People wanted to run against her in the (last) Senate race in Massachusetts because they viewed her, correctly, as a polarizing, divisive figure, but obviously underestimated her ability to raise money, inspire her base, inflame passions on the left in a way that can mobilize money and support, Reed said. A presidential race is different. I dont think she can run the race she ran last time, or run the campaign-in-waiting shes running now, and be able to appeal to people who might otherwise be unhappy with the current occupant of the White House and in the direction the country is going.

Warrens team declined to comment.

To Warrens supporters, its not that shes needlessly combative. The senator, who is running for reelection this year, is simply a passionate champion of issues such as reducing income inequality  and now, is an effective voice against Trumps message, with a willingness to resist that fits the infuriated mood of Trumps many detractors.

Many, many voters see her as authentic and real and someone who absolutely cares about the things shes fighting for, said Doug Rubin, a senior strategist on Warrens 2012 campaign, who stressed that he was speaking broadly  not about 2020. Shes a fierce advocate for the issues she cares about, shes incredibly smart and very credible on these issues. A lot of people are fired up to go fight with her.

Republicans are wary of making predictions in this unusual political environment so far ahead of 2020, and realize that they should be careful what they wish for: In 2016, there were plenty of Democrats who were eager to run against Trump, expecting a cakewalk. But he successfully tapped into populist fervor, with a message that played much better in Rust Belt states than the more traditional free trade-focused positions typically served up by Republican candidates.

Warren, her supporters say, would cut into Trumps ability to make that case. She is well-positioned, they argue, to win back voters who typically vote Democrat but drifted Republican last cycle in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth Warrens core message of fighting for the little guy against powerful entrenched interests is exactly where the center of the country is, said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal grass-roots organization that is encouraging Warren to run. Part of our problem was, we didnt have the ideal messenger for delivering that very popular, pro-little guy message. Who could be better than Elizabeth Warren, whos made that her entire lifes work, and made economic populism issues central to her time in the Senate?

For Republicans who dislike Trump, the idea of choosing between him and Warren spurs talk of third-party bids, wishful speculation about whether Trump will even run again, and shuddering at what they see as the most unpalatable choice they can imagine. For Republicans who do like Trump, that idea is met with glee.

Yet as much as Warren is loudly reviled on the right, some of her Senate Republican colleagues have used gentler language in discussing her recently, as she has worked in a bipartisan fashion on issues from combating opioid addiction to fighting human trafficking to supporting the military.

Elizabeth Warren and I are on the same page when it comes to protecting our men and women in uniform and our veterans, said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, in a video he tweeted out recently in which he relayed a good discussion the two had at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Now we just had that bipartisan discussion, then I go sit in the chair and she goes on the (Senate) floor and spends 15 minutes just absolutely ravaging Republicans and conservatives, he said. So the public eye would say that we dont get along. But just a few minutes before, were talking about good things were doing for military families, for men and women in uniform, and for veterans. Bipartisanship does happen here.

But for many Republicans, bipartisanship is not a word they associate with Warren today.

I just dont think this country is going to vote for an ultra-liberal candidate for president, Kaufman said. This country is far too right-centrist for that to happen. I hope she runs.
Economic situation 'grim', govt has no roadmap: Congress

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Congress party on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Centre over the state of economy, saying the BJP-led government has no roadmap for recovery. Congress leader Anand Sharma was commenting on the estimate of India's GDP growth rate, which is pegged at 6.5%, slowest in four years.

"State of the economy is a matter of great concern.All the parameters are going down.National investment rate has also fallen..Manufacturing has come down. The situation is grim and the government has no roadmap for recovery," Sharma said.

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday said that the growth in GDP during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5% as compared to growth rate of 7.1% in 2016-17. The reasons for decline in the growth rate could be attributed to demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The government estimated that gross value added (GVA), which is GDP minus net taxes, will grow at 6.1 percent in 2017-18.

Meanwhile, the CSO also projected that the manufacturing sector will grow at 4.6 percent in 2017-18, compared to 7.9 percent in 2016-17. The farm sector is set to grow at 2.1 percent against 4.9 percent last year while mining and quarrying will grow at 2.9 percent compared to 1.8 percent last year.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram slammed the BJP-led government over the GDP estimate and said, "The worst fears of an imminent economic slowdown have come true. Modi Government's tall claims of India growing at a 'robust' growth rate have evaporated in thin air. No amount of sugar coating, false bravado and rhetoric along with headlines management can conceal the stark reality."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects India's GDP to grow at 6.7 per cent in 2017-18. The RBI estimates the economy to grow at 6.7 per cent in terms of gross value added (GVA), which is GDP minus taxes.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 14:21 [IST]
In Karnataka BJP workers murder, a money trail under scanner

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

A money trail is under the scanner of the police who are probing the murder of Karnataka BJP worker, Deepak Rao. The police say that the money received by Pinki Nawaz, the main accused in the case is under the scanner.

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It is not clear why he had received that sum, but we suspect it could have been a contract hit, an officer part of the probe informed.

It was found that after Nawaz had received the money, he had shared with the other accused in the case- Rizwan, Mohammad Naushad and Mohammad Irshan. All four were arrested within hours of the murder taking place.

Ban PFI and now is the right time

Cracking the money trail would help the police understand the motive behind the murder. There is already a slugfest in Karnataka over the murder. The BJP has cried foul and accused the state government of not doing enough to protect Hindus.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 5:16 [IST]
Kamala Mills Fire tragedy: Wanted posters of '1 Above' pub owners put up in Mumbai

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

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Wanted posters of Sanghvi brothers, owners of '1 Above' restaurant and accused in Kamala Mills Fire, have been pasted on their residential building gate in Mazgaon in Mumbai. The pub owners, Kripesh Mansukhlal Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, have been absconding ever since the fire tragedy claimed 14 lives and injured over 30 others on December 29.

Also, the Mumbai Police has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to those providing information about the whereabouts of the owners of '1Above' pub in the Kamala Mills Compound.

The massive fire had broken out from the '1Above' rooftop restaurant and later spread to the entire area on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in December last week. The adjoining Mojo's Bistro pub was also gutted in the fire.

A week after the deadly fire at the pub, the preliminary investigation report conducted by the Mumbai fire brigade revealed that the blaze started from a hookah at Mojo's Bistro and then spread to '1 Above'.

Kevin Bawa and Libson Lopez - who worked as managers at '1 Above' pub- have been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). Both the managers have been sent to Police custody until 9 January by Mumbai's Bhoiwada Court.

In the wake of the fire incident, police registered three cases against mall and pub owners in the city on charges of illegal construction. Also, BMC personnel went on the demolition of illegally constructed eateries in the Kamala Mills compound following the fire incident.

OneIndia News
Karnataka Assembly Elections: A SWOT analysis, booth management on Congress agenda

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

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The next big battleground for Rahul Gandhi would be Karnataka. There are two things that are in focus for the Gandhi scion who will look to ensure that his party retains the state.

At 12 Tughlak Lane, Rahul Gandhi and his core team chart out a strategy. The focus is multi-fold, but the prime focus remains on a SWOT analysis and booth management.

SWOT Analysis or Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats is something that the Congress has been carrying out for the past 4 months now. It is a key aspect to the Congress campaign considering they would look to beat anti-incumbency in the state.

Another aspect that the Congress is looking at is booth management. A post Gujarat analysis suggested that the Congress was unable to snatch victory from the BJP due to poor booth management.

The Congress has now built an army of booth level workers. At least 8 lakh booth level workers would be unleashed into the arena. There are at 54,200 booth committees. There are 15 members in each committee who would work at the booth level.

K C Venugopal of the Congress has made several visits to the state already. Currently he is in the process of preparing a sketch for the campaign by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress president will campaign extensively in the state.

On the other hand the Congress MP, Dr Shashi Tharoor too would hold public meetings. He would also meet with several professionals as part of the Congress campaign.

Communication too would be a core focus for the Congress. The convenor of the Congress Communication department, Priyanka Chaturvedi would set up a camp in Bengaluru. Her job would be to strengthen the communication mechanism and also identify voices to take the party forward.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 9:56 [IST]
Karnataka Assembly Elections: AIMIM to contest 60 seats, eat into Congress votes

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

All set to contest in at least 60 seats in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections, Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) may just be Congress' new headache. While Owaisi had announced his intentions of venturing into Karnataka politics in 2017, the party has now officially begun the process of identifying constituencies and shortlisting candidates.

"We have already identified 28 constituencies in North Karnataka where our candidates will contest. We are in the process of identifying constituencies in South Karnataka. Our candidates have already been shortlisted. Final name list will be drawn soon, In all, we will contest in 60 seats," said Usman Ghani, the Karnataka Unit chief of AIMIM.

The AIMIM will contest in Muslim-majority constituencies- ideally seats that are Congress-leaning. AIMIM's entry is sure to eat into Congress' vote bank that depends heavily on Muslims. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) combination of votes has worked wonders for the Congress in Karnataka. According to unofficial numbers from the caste census carried out by the Social Welfare Department, Muslims constitute about 12 per cent of the total population in Karnataka- only second to Dalits, who form the largest chunk of the population at around 24 per cent.

The AIMIM's venture into electoral politics in Karnataka will eat into this 12 per cent Muslim votes that the Congress has been vying for. Leaders of the MIM, however, maintain that their agenda is to fight for the cause of minorities and Dalits and not to divide votes on caste or religious basis. "Congress has done nothing for minorities but only wants to pain a secular picture of itself. Minorities and Dalits have not received any help from either the BJP or the Congress. Our focus is to win the seats that we contest. It doesn't matter who gains or loses in the bargain. Are Muslims the sole property of the Congress," asked Ghani.

"The fact that the Congress supported the Triple Talaq bill in Lok Sabha shows it really does not care for minorities. We will step in for the welfare of our youth, women and children," he added.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 13:51 [IST]
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Karnataka not transparent in renewable energy projects: Piyush Goyal

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

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Karnataka is not following the transparency system in developing renewable energy projects, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in Parliament.

Goyal was replying to K H Muniyappa of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. He was asked whether the Karnataka Power Minister (D K Shivakumar) repeatedly requested the Centre to solve the coal problem in the state.

"Minister of Power from Karnataka usually meets me only for renewable energy and to get guidelines fixed up so that more and more PPAs (Power Purchase Agreement) in terms of renewable energy could be signed by the state. Unfortunately, they were not being done through a transparent process and were done through the contractual arrangements. Therefore, probably, the regulator was creating a problem and thus he had to come to me," Goyal said.

It may be recalled that when Goyal was Power Minister, he had flagged the Karnataka government over its eagerness in setting up the new and renewable power projects through PPA instead of competitive bidding.

The Centre has been insisting the states to select private companies for developing renewable energy projects through competitive bidding as it ensured low tariff instead of PPA mode or contractual agreement.

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'Laluji neither scared nor kneel', says Tejashwi

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Former Bihar Minister Tejashwi Yadav, son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, said they would appeal in High Court after studying the sentence and apply for bail. The Ranchi Special CBI Court sentenced former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav to 3.5 years in jail and imposed Rs 5 lakh fine in fodder scam case. Other convicts Phool Chand, Mahesh Prasad, Bake Julius, Sunil Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Sudhir Kumar and Raja Ram were also sentenced to 3.5 years in jail and fined Rs 5 lakh each.

Tejashwi Yadav, said, "People who were creating a scene that Lalu Ji will be scared can now see that he will neither be scared nor kneel or turn away from his ideology."

"The judiciary performed its duty. We will go to the High Court after studying the sentence and apply for a bail," he said.

Lalu's second son, Tej Pratap Yadav, said the His family and party supporters are confident that Lalu Yadav would get bail. "We have full faith on the judiciary. We are not going to be cowed down," Tej Pratap said.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was sentenced in the fodder scam case 21 years after it had surfaced while acquitting six others including another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra. The sentencing was heard via video conference.

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Parliamentary panel for cap on air fares, minister says move will backfire

India

oi-PTI

Capping air fares will push up ticket costs, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Friday after a parliamentary panel recommended "fixing an upper limit" for air tickets and restricting cancellation charges to 50 per cent of the base fare.

The report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture noted that "airlines are charging more than ten times of the advance booking fare" and that "deregulatory environment does not mean unlimited freedom of exploitation", while urging the government to intervene.

"The ministry of civil aviation, though aware of the rampant exploitation is not showing any proactive role in regulating the air fares.

"The committee therefore recommends that ministry of civil aviation to consider fixing an upper limit of the air ticket for every sector," says the report which was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The aviation minister told reporters that there were only 1.7 per cent of cases where fares were higher than normal, and putting a cap on them will result in pushing up fares for 98 per cent of the cases.

"We did an analyses and we took up ticketing of an entire year and we realised 1.7 per cent of the ticketing was a matter of concern and that was mostly on certain sectors. If we go into floors and caps, we will be pushing up the cost for 98 per cent to reduce the cost for less than 2 per cent," Raju told reporters outside Parliament.

Junior avaiation minister Jayant Sinha said that dynamic pricing practiced by Indian airlines is a global practice.

"Dynamic pricing in our country is a global practice and we have not seen that our airlines are doing anything apart from global practices," he said.

He added that if anyone had a complaint they could approach the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Competition Commission of India.

The parliamentary panel has said that "pricing mechanisms applicable in the developed countries may not be suitable for India", adding that despite a fall in ATF prices, airlines have not passed on the benefits to the passengers.

The report has also highlighted "arbitrary" cancellation charges.

"There is no uniformity or minimum standards to impose charges for rescheduling, cancellation and no-show. Attractive offers by private airlines veil the fact that passengers are charged the entire ticket amount if they want to cancel the tickets.

"The airlines must be restricted to charging not more than 50 per cent of the base fare as cancellation charges," said the report titled "Issues related to improving consumer satisfaction of airlines".

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 5:00 [IST]
Privilege notice to Rahul Gandhi for misspelling 'Jaitlie' in tweet

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has sent a privilege notice against Congress President Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha speaker for apparently misspelling Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's name in his tweet. Naidu sent the notice to the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan for further action as Gandhi is a member of the Lower House.

"Dear Mr Jaitlie - thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means," read Rahul Gandhi's Tweet. Rahul posted the tweet along with a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election speech made during election

Dear Mr Jaitlie - thank you for reminding India that our PM never means what he says or says what he means. #BJPLies pic.twitter.com/I7n1f07GaX  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 27, 2017

BJP alleged that the Rahul Gandhi had "deliberately twisted" the spelling of Jaitley's surname to 'Jaitlie', which was "highly derogatory". Rajya Sabha member Bhupinder Yadav said the Congress president has deliberately misinterpreted the proceedings of Rajya Sabha in order to "malign the government, which constitutes an affront to the dignity of the House".

A complaint against Gandhi is already pending before the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, chaired by BJP veteran L K Advani after the speaker forwarded the same to it

A privilege notice can be issued by either a member of the House of a state legislature or Parliament against those accused of breach of privilege. These privileges are mainly rights and immunities endowed to MPs, MLAs and MLCs both individually and collectively to effectively discharge their duties.

(With agency inputs)
Yatra's impact not in Himachal, Guj polls but in 2024: Congress

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Reasons behind economic slowdown: Jaitleys genius, Modis Gross Divisive Politics, says Rahul

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

New Delhi, Jan 6: Move over to Modinomics, welcome to Rahulnomics.

Remember, recently during the Gujarat election campaign, Congress president Rahul Gandhi rechristened the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by calling it Gabbar Singh Tax to attack the Narendra Modi government for giving tough times to Indians, especially traders and businessmen, because of the hasty decision to impose the "cumbersome" indirect tax.

For the uninitiated, Gabbar Singh is the famous villain from the cult Bollywood film, Sholay. The role was brilliantly played by late actor Amjad Khan.

In the common parlance, anyone with a villainous streak is addressed as Gabbar Singh. Thus, Rahul by renaming the GST as Gabbar Singh Tax indirectly called the Modi government a villain.

A day after a report indicated that the country's economic growth is expected to slow to a four-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2017-18, the lowest under the Modi-led government, Rahul decided to attack the Prime Minister with good dose of sarcasm, once again, on Saturday.

The Congress president blamed finance minister Arun Jaitley and Modi for the current state of country's economy. He also rechristened Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the main indicator of the country's economic health, by calling it Modi's Gross Divisive Politics.

In a way, Rahul blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) alleged "divisive politics" behind India's economic slowdown.

"FM Jaitley's genius combines with Mr Modi's Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India: New Investments: 13 year 

Bank credit Growth: 63 year 

Job creation: 8 year 

Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7%

Fiscal Deficit: 8 year

Stalled Projects ," Rahul tweeted.

FM Jaitleys genius combines with Mr Modis Gross Divisive Politics (GDP) to give India:



New Investments: 13 year 

Bank credit Growth: 63 year 

Job creation: 8 year 

Agriculture GVA growth: 1.7%

Fiscal Deficit: 8 year

Stalled Projects https://t.co/bZdPnREYiE  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 6, 2018

As per the government report, the GDP was 7.1 per cent in 2016-17 and 8 per cent in the preceding year. It was 7.5 per cent in 2014-15.

The Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had assumed office in May 2014.

"The growth in GDP during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2016- 17," said the Central Statistics Office (CSO) while announcing the first advance estimates of National Income 2017-18.

Rahul's latest tweet is also accompanied by a news report of NDTV titled-- "GDP Growth Seen Slowing To 6.5% In 2017-18, From 7.1% In 2016-17".

His tweet got at least 3,800 retweets and 7,000 likes till the filing of this report.

While some of his followers agreed to Rahul's analysis of the economy, others blamed the previous Congress government for the country's bad economic health.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 13:29 [IST]
The Rajinikanth factor in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The move by Rajinikanth to enter the political foray is likely to be capitalised on by the Bharatiya Janata Party. While there is a long way to go for the Tamil Nadu elections, the star may play a role in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018.

Sources say that feelers have been sent to the star to associate himself with the BJP for the Karnataka campaign. It would also be a way for Rajinikanth to test the waters before he contests the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

For now nothing has materialised, a BJP leaders said. He also said that it is a plan that we have been thinking about, but nothing concrete has emerged so far.

While Rajini will not be a factor state-wide, he still could play an important role in some pockets of Karnataka. He would be able to charm the voters in the Tamil speaking pockets of Mysuru, Bengaluru, Kolar and Raichur.

Although Rajini has kept his cards close to his chest, there are murmurs that he may have had the backing of the BJP before he announced his decision to contest all seats in the next Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

In the run up to the elections in Karnataka, there is likely to be a lot of star power on display. The likes of Upendra have floated a party. The Congress too is likely to rope in some stars to add colour to its campaign.

It may be recalled that following Rajini's recent decision several politicians in Karnataka had welcomed his decision. Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah had said that great personalities entering politics is a good thing. Congress leader, Dinesh Gundu Rao had said that the move was expected, but would have no impact in Karnataka.

The BJP was relatively guarded in its response. Union Minister D Sadananda Gowda said that Rajinikanth acknowledged the political stand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We wish him the best, he also said. The BJP's Shobha Karandlaje said that it is better for Rajini to join hands with the BJP in the country's interest.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 10:17 [IST]
Explained: What the SC said and how is Talaq-e-Hasan different from triple talaq

Triple talaq bill: BJP questions Congress dilly-dallying in Parliament

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

New Delhi, Jan 6: It's rare to see the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on the same page on any issue.

However, once in a while it does happen to the utter astonishment of all. Recently, we saw the Congress and the BJP condemning Pakistan together for ill-treating mother and wife of Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is facing death sentence in the neighbouring country for alleged spying.

Again recently, the Congress voted in support of the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha, like the BJP.

Anyway, the bill would have passed in the Lower House of Parliament without the Congress' support as the BJP enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha. Earlier, in the Lok Sabha the Congress said it was in favour of the bill and urged the government to refer it to the standing committee so its flaws can be rectified.

"We can sit together and sort out in a time-bound manner," said Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had tabled the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, welcomed Kharge's statement and said the government would listen to the opposition party's suggestions and incorporate them in the law. "I thank Kharge ji for supporting the government," Prasad said.

However, things took a turn when the Congress and other opposition parties vehemently opposed the bill in the Rajya Sabha because of which the BJP failed to pass it in the Winter Session of Parliament which ended on Friday. The Opposition is mostly protesting against the criminalisation of triple talaq.

In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP does not enjoy a majority and thus need the support of the opposition parties for the passage of any bill. Now, the BJP wants to know why the Congress had two different stands on the bill in Parliament.

"The Congress should just answer why it supported the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha and opposed it in the Rajya Sabha," the Union law minister told ANI.

Congress should just answer why it supported #TripleTalaqBill in Lok Sabha and opposed in Rajya Sabha: Ravi Shankar Prasad,Law Minister pic.twitter.com/md8OofXuze  ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2018

Prasad on Friday accused the Congress of pursuing vote bank politics and not gender justice, saying it has followed the same politics from Shah Bano case in 1986 to that of Shayara Bano in 2017.

The senior BJP leader said the Congress could have made its suggestions on the bill in Parliament during a debate but it saw to this that no meaningful debate occur as it was driven by vote bank politics.

The Congress needs to explain why it took one stand in the Lok Sabha and another in the Rajya Sabha as it "fully supported" the bill in the former and did not press even for division on amendments, he said.

"The Congress has followed the same politics from Shah Bano in 1986 to Shayara Bano in 2017. We were open for discussion and keen that debate must happen in Parliament. Let the whole country see the Congress' behaviour," he told PTI.

To the demand of the Congress that the bill be sent to a select committee, Prasad said the committee was designed to make it ineffective.

Hundreds of instant triple talaq have happened even after the Supreme Court order, he said, adding that it happened even today. "The Congress wanted to decriminalise it (instant triple talaq). It is continuing unabated despite the Supreme Court order and we need to have a special deterrence," he said.

The government wanted a debate but the Congress interrupted him even when he was making initial observations while introducing the bill, he said.

Prasad attacked the Congress after it held the BJP responsible for the impasse in the Rajya Sabha, accusing the ruling party of trying to use Parliament as a "rubber stamp". Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed that ministers stalled proceedings, leading to an impasse for three days.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, however, asserted that the government was committed to the bill, which seeks up to three years of imprisonment for Muslim men convicted of instant triple talaq. The government will press for its passage in the Budget Session starting from January 29.

Now, it needs to be seen whether the BJP will be able to convince the Congress to pass the bill in the upcoming session of Parliament. Or will it be stalled again in the Budget Session too? That means the BJP will be able to pass the bill once the party gets majority in the Rajya Sabha too, which is likely to happen soon.

OneIndia News
Explained: What the SC said and how is Talaq-e-Hasan different from triple talaq

UP man working in Saudi gives triple talaq through SMS

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A man from Nandauli, working in Saudi Arabia, gave triple talaq to his wife through SMS in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur. The incidents of triple talaq occur even after the Supreme Court suspended the practice for six months in its historic judgement.

The victim was harassed by in-laws and her husband demanding dowry. She was thrown out of the house for not fulfilling their demand.

The victim, said, "My in-laws used to harass me demanding for a vehicle, my husband ill-treated me as well. I received a message from him, where he gave me the divorce. I have a son and somehow want us to survive.This is my house now and I will not move away from here."

My in-laws used to harass me demanding for a vehicle, my husband ill-treated me as well. I received a message from him, where he gave me divorce. I have a son and somehow want us to survive.This is my house now and I will not move away from here: Victim pic.twitter.com/lgZ60U0vcC  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 6, 2018

Her father is yet to file a complaint with the police. He said, "Things were fine for 2 years. Then they started harassing her. Her in-laws threw her out of the house later. Then one day her husband gave her divorce through SMS. We haven't informed the police. For us the divorce process is complete."

The incident comes a day after Winter Session of the Parliament ended without the passing of Triple Talaq Bill which criminalises the practice of instant talaq.

The triple talaq bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, but the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was united in its stand to send the Bill to a Select Committee for a review. This led to an impasse in the House, with the government refusing to accede to the Opposition's demand. The Bill will be re-introduced in the Budget Session.

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Whats the connection between terrorist Hafiz Saeed and militant Hindus? A lot, says Dalit leader

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Bhopal, Jan 6: At a time when the issue of atrocities against the Dalits has once again come to the forefront in the aftermath of violence in Maharashtra over the 200th anniversary celebrations of the battle of Bhima-Koregoan, a senior Dalit leader has warned that India should not encourage the rise of Hindu version of Hafiz Saeed, the dreaded terrorist from Pakistan and Mumbai terror attack mastermind.

The politics of religion, if not checked, could give rise to "many Hafiz Saeeds" among Hindus, Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar said in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on Friday.

"The politics of religion can become uncontrollable if it is not checked and it can give rise to many Hafiz Saeeds among the Hindus," he said, referring to the Pakistan-based co-founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"This new order, in the name of religion, that is coming into existence is like Hitler-shahi (Hitler's rule)," Ambedkar said, addressing the gathering at a programme, organised to mark the birth anniversary of former Satna MP, late Sukhlal Kushwaha.

Referring to the recent violence in Maharashtra over the 200th anniversary celebrations of the battle of Bhima- Koregaon, Ambedkar, who had subsequently called for a bandh which brought life in Mumbai and elsewhere in the state to a halt, said, "People belonging to Hindutva organisations attacked those from the backward classes.

"We are demanding that the (Maharashtra) government arrest those who were involved, but the government appears to be helpless. It is the government's responsibility to act and if not checked immediately, it (violence against Dalits) may spread to the other states." He urged the backward class communities to recognise their electoral strength and vote only for backward class, Dalit and tribal candidates, so that they could control the reins of power.

Referring to the BJP-led government at the Centre, Ambedkar said, "If it comes to power again, even the right to speak, which we are enjoying now, will be taken away.

Therefore, we have to fight to save this right and the Constitution." The former MP, who is the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, urged the Congress to declare backward class leader and the president of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit, Arun Yadav, its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state Assembly election.

"If the Congress fails to do so, we will have to choose our own way," he said.

Arun Yadav and former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav were also present at the meeting.

Even the Congress is maintaining a wait and watch policy over the protests by Dalits since the beginning of the year after the community members were allegedly attacked by members of the right-wing groups near Pune during the anniversary celebrations of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon.

Except for Congress president Rahul Gandhi calling the BJP and the RSS fascists, the party did not do anything concrete to show its solidarity to the Dalits.

"Nobody wants to miff the upper caste Hindus. After the BJP's militant Hindutva, the Congress is slowly adopting to soft Hindutva and that is a dangerous signal for the nation and minority communities like Dalits, Muslims and tribals," said another Dalit leader.

OneIndia News
He not only wears saffron, but also represents it: Yogis office hits back at Priyanka

Yogi Adityanath ji, Indias colour is definitely not saffron

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

New Delhi, Jan 6: If Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to flaunt multi-coloured Modi jackets, his predecessor Manmohan Singh is always associated with the blue-coloured turban.

Talk about the "next generation" of Indian politicians, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is often seen in white khadi kurta and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's robe is always saffron.

It's not just women (in general), who are accused of being particular about colours, our male politicians (as we have stated above) too are "colour conscious". There is nothing wrong in it, till our politicians restrict their love for a particular colour to their respective sartorial choices.

Problem arises when they start imposing their favourite colours on voters as we have seen in the recent times in Uttar Pradesh.

Yogi's love for colour saffron has now become a hot political debate in the nation. First, saffron is not just any other (non-political and innocuous) colour like say yellow or pink. Saffron is the colour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and all right-wing groups. It is also the colour that represents the Hindu religion.

So when the Yogi government gets busy painting buildings in saffron colour in Uttar Pradesh, it is not only an aesthetic blunder (who likes to paint their houses in saffron when we have eye-pleasing colours like white, buttery yellow, sky blue or moody gray to attarct envious looks from neighbours), but also a wrong political message to send signaling further imposition of Hindutva ideology on one and all.

After assuming power in March last year, CM Yogi has pursued the BJP's "saffron" agenda, quite literally. First, he got the Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan in Lucknow, his office, painted in saffron.

Now, the Haj House in Lucknow, used by Muslims as a transit place on their way to pilgrimage in Mecca, is also painted in saffron. Earlier the building had a green-and-white exterior.

The latest saffronisation agenda of Yogi by painting Uttar Pradesh in colour saffron has been vehemently opposed by opposition parties and various Muslim groups.

The priest-turned-politician has taken the BJP's saffronisation mission to another level. Under the 45-year-old's regime, even the official booklets and posters issued by the government's public relations department and ministries have elements of saffron on its pages.

In fact, the towels on the chairs he sits for meetings or conferences are also saffron.

As one building after another in Uttar Pradesh is fast turning saffron, the opposition Samajwadi Party accused the BJP government of indulging in "blatant saffronisation".

"The BJP is a party known for changing colours. It is indulging in these antics only to hide its faults and failures. If the BJP really considers saffron colour as sacrosanct, it should not indulge in politicisation of the colour and blatant saffronisation," SP spokesman Sunil Singh Sajan said.

All India Shia Personal Law Board spokesperson Yasoob Abbas also criticised the move. "What is this? The BJP will paint it saffron, the SP will choose green and the BSP blue...This is politics of colour and should be avoided," he said.

In reply to the barrage of criticism, the BJP stated that painting buildings in saffron is actually a "nationalistic" (another favourite term of the ruling party to fan passion among voters) step, as the Tricolour also has saffron colour in it.

Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mohsin Raza on Friday asked if those opposed to the colour were also opposed to the Tricolour, which also has saffron in it.

"While the decision has been taken by officers, I do not see why it should be opposed... Saffron is a gift of God. It is a colour of happiness. It is the colour of sunrise, which gives light to the whole world," Raza, the lone Muslim member in the Adityanath government, said.

He added, "I have just one thing to say to those who are opposing the colour... would they oppose the National Flag too, which has the same colour?"

To legitimise the government's move, the minister recalled that the Hazratganj market was painted pink and the signboards black during Mayawati's regime. "It is a government office and has been painted in a colour which the officers and staff decided," he added.

In order to douse the controversy, a senior government official said that the Haj House was painted in saffron as painters took inspiration from the adjoining buildings.

"The move was not intentional. The building is being whitewashed. Since our office is situated near the Vidhan Sabha, Lok Bhavan and the Annex, painters were instructed to take inspiration from adjoining buildings and try to match the colour of the outer boundary wall with them," said Haj Committee Secretary RP Singh.

If Yogi's dream of turning Uttar Pradesh into a saffron state materialises, a day is not far away when the ruling BJP will instruct all buildings to have saffron paint across the country.

Maharaj ji (as Yogi is also known as) and the BJP are forgetting that India is a diverse country where people love all colours, cultures, castes, religions, sexuality and people.

Our country is definitely not saffron, as Kamal Haasan had famously said a few months ago, "My colour is definitely not saffron", when he was asked about his political affiliation before he announced his political plunge.

By stating his "colour" (in Haasan's case what is not his preferred colour), the Tamil superstar wanted to convey the message that he is in no way associated with the BJP, which since long has been identified with saffron.

Like Haasan, many Indians also don't associate themselves with saffron. So, it holds no meaning to wash Uttar Pradesh in colour saffron by the BJP government.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 12:20 [IST]
China's second foreign naval base to come up in Pakistan, mounting worries for India

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

After China setup its first foreign naval base in Djibouti last year, Beijing is reportedly planning to build its second offshore naval base in Pakistan. This new base would be setup close to Gwadar port which is in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

A report published in South China Morning Post said that Gwadar is a civilian port and not fully equipped to cater to the needs of warships. "Warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services," the report quoted Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming as saying.

This development comes at a time when the United States - Pakistan relations have hit nadir and it is being seen than China could now emerge as Islamabad's main ally. When the US criticised Pakistan's action against terrorism, China immediately backed Islamabad and praised it.

Concern for India:

This proposed new port makes it clear that China want to encircle India. If Sri Lanka handing over Hambantotta port to China made New Delhi uncomfortable, then this new proposed naval base in Pakistan should send alarm bells ringing. Chinese ships patrolling the Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea is certainly not going to make India comfortable.

China's first naval base in Djibouti and its strategic implications:

China's Djibouti base is is a cause of concern for India not only from military and defence point of view but also in terms of trade with Africa, which has become a bone of contention for both India and China.

The naval base is strategically located on the eastern edge of Africa, which means that movement of Chinese ships will increase in the Indian Ocean region. China has ramped up investment in Africa, as well as rapidly modernised its military in recent years.

[China setting up naval base in Djibouti, a concern for India]

In terms of trade, China, at a major summit with African nations in 2015, pledged to invest $60bn in Africa's development. It has started to invest heavily in Africa, especially in infrastructure projects like railways and improving connectivity. China's keen interest in Africa is due to the fact that it has abundance of natural resources. China is not only eying to tap African market but also looking at it as a supplier of minerals and energy.

['No Chinese military base at Gwadar', says Pakistan]

India, on the other hand, has been a little late in approaching Africa for trade. Although, Indian companies have presence in Africa, New Delhi's push for furthering relations has been somewhat delayed.

In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya with a focus on on deepening cooperation in hydrocarbons, maritime security, trade and investment, agriculture and food.

In May 2017, Modi pitched for an "Asia-Africa growth corridor" supported by Japan and India which was seen as an move to counter China's OBOR (One Belt, One Road) initiative.

OneIndia News
India to become 'vishwa guru', Lord Ramas ideals to take country to new heights: Gadkari

Indian ports set to generate a profit of Rs 7,000 crore this year: Gadkari

International

pti-PTI

Singapore, Jan 6: Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said Indian ports are expected to generate a profit of Rs 7,000 crore this year.

Addressing some 3,000 delegates at the Asean-India Pravasi Bhartiya Divas here, he highlighted the profitability of investments in Indian projects, and underlined the potential of a wide range of projects.

"For this year, we are expecting a profit of Rs 7000 crore from port operations (as) all ports are making profits," said Gadkari, pointing out that it would be more than double from Rs 3,000 crore three years ago.

Six new port projects were being planned, said Gadkari, who inaugurated the gathering where over nine sessions are being held on all aspects of business opportunities in India. He invited Asean investors to participate in Indian infrastructure projects, as the pace of development is accelerated. He pointed out the 28 km per day of road completion, up significantly about three years ago.

The target is to complete 40 km per day, added Gadkari. He also gave a progress update on projects, saying 60-70 per cent of work has already started on India's road connection to Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The Mumbai special economic zone has attracted 40 companies, including one from Taiwan which has offered Rs 6,000 crore investment.

Gadkari has also appealed to the Indian diaspora community to donate as well as participate in the Clean Ganga Project. He shared with delegates the strong support received from London-based diaspora, who have pledged 3,000 crore for 155 Ganga projects.

PTI
Imran Khan discharged from hospital, to resume long march from same point where he was shot

Pakistan would chose Haqqani, Taliban over US: Experts

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The aid cut to Pakistan is the talk of the town and it is being debated how much of an effect the move by US President Donald Trump would have. Can Pakistan survive the aid cut or will it give up its loyalties towards the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network?

OneIndia spoke with two experts from the US on the latest move by Trump. Find out what they had to say.

Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South and Southeast Asia

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC says, "Here's the bad news: A US aid cut off will do little to change Pakistan's links to the terrorists that threaten Americans in Afghanistan--or, for that matter, the terrorists that threaten Indians. Pakistan believes it has a very strong interest in maintaining ties to the likes of the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban because they push back against India's influence in Afghanistan."

Kugelman adds, for Pakistan, the interests that compel it to maintain ties to these militants are practically immutable. Pressure from the US, including aid cuts, won't change that equation.

US suspends security assistance to Pakistan, forces action on Islamists

Another reason why Pakistan won't change its behavior after this aid cut is that Pakistan can easily survive an aid cut. It's faced aid cuts before and survived, and it will now too. It can simply turn to its close allies Saudi Arabia and China, Kugelman further states.

Stephen Tankel, assistant professor at the School of International Service at American University says that Trump's move may not exactly serve the purpose.

"What Pakistan stands to lose, in terms of security assistance, pales in comparison, to what the [Pakistani] security establishment thinks it would lose by turning on the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, which it perceives as instrumental to accomplishing its objectives in Afghanistan. So no, this will not be enough to convince Pakistan to turn on them. It's been planning for the day when US assistance ends, and I suspect it will muddle through," Tankel says.

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Story first published: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 5:11 [IST]
Sikh group plans to ban Indian officials from entering Gurudwaras in London

International

pti-PTI

London, Jan 6: A prominent Sikh group in the UK alleged that Indian officials are "interfering" in the internal matters of the Sikh community and want to ban them from entering Gurudwaras.

"Sikhs in the diaspora are fed up with Indian Government officials and their agents increasingly interfere in our institutions and Sikh affairs, undermining of Sikh campaigns for greater rights and internal matters for the Sikh community," said Bhai Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK).

Indian authorities also target Sikhs from the diaspora when they visit India, Singh said, citing the case of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who was arrested for his alleged role in targeted killings in Punjab. Johal, who got married last month, was apprehended from Jalandhar in connection with the target killing.

The draft declaration by the UK's Sikh Federation being considered states that anyone in their personal capacity can pay their respects to the Sikh Holy Scriptures.

PTI
Blacklisting Mahmood blocked by China: The man who raised funds under garb of religion in India

US warns Iran at UN: 'The world will be watching what you do'

International

pti-PTI

United Nations, Jan 6: As Tehran responds to anti-government protests the world is watching Iranian authorities, US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned on Saturday.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Islamic republic.

The United States called the meeting despite fierce criticism from Russia, which accused Washington of interfering in Iran's internal affairs. "The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley told the council.

"It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."

Haley accused the government of funding a pro-regime military campaign in Syria, backing Shiite militias in Iraq and supporting a crony elite while ordinary Iranians struggle.

The Iranian people are telling their government to "stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars," said Haley.

A total of 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested since December 28 as protests over economic woes turned against the Iranian regime, with attacks on government buildings and police stations.

Pro-regime rallies were held in Tehran after Friday prayers, the third straight day of marches in support of the government, which has declared the unrest over.

Diplomats had expected Russia to call a procedural vote to try to block the meeting, but in the end, Moscow's envoy did not make that request. Heading into the council chamber, Haley gave reporters a thumbs-up and answered "yes" when asked if she had the nine votes needed for the meeting to go ahead.

Over the past days, the United States has lobbied hard to win support for the Security Council meeting, especially from the six new non-permanent council members, diplomats said.

At least nine of the 15 council members must support holding the meeting for a new agenda item to be discussed at the Security Council. No vetoes apply.

PTI
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By mid-January Tomahs VIP Realty will have a new home on Superior Avenue.

Isaac Wissestad, VIPs new co-owner with brother-in-law Jeff Steele, said the change in location was to refresh the business look.

V.I.P has been at 800 Superior its entire existence I believe, he said. This opportunity ... was really to give the company a new, fresh look, and its at a great location.

Steele and Wissestad bought the building before they closed on the business in late November. They were approached by former V.I.P. owner Wayne Stockwell.

Jeff and I have been involved with real estate investing for about 20 years, and the opportunity (to purchase) came a little over a year ago, he said. (Stockwell) was looking at selling out and ... both Jeff and I have been involved in investing for some time and (real estate has) been a passion of ours, so the opportunity to make it a full-time gig was a pretty exciting thing.

The new location at 1600 Superior Ave. is in the process of a complete renovation, Wissestad said, but the business remains on target to open the second or third week of January.

Were installing new offices  it needed new flooring, and were completely updating the interior to make people really feel like the location is professional, he said. Sheet rocking is being done as we speak and (this) week; were putting in carpet and trimming and the final touches.

Wissestad is a native of Sparta, graduating from Sparta High School in 1999. Following high school he attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in business administration. He lives in Sparta with his wife Rebecca and daughters Lauryn, Josephine and Lillian.

Jeff Steele is a native of Sparta, graduating from Sparta High School in 2000. After high school he attended Western Technical College, where he graduated in 2005 with an associate degree in marketing. He lives in Sparta with his wife Megan and four children, Nora, Ellie, Debbie and Jacob.

Wissestads enthusiastic about taking over V.I.P. because its established in the community. Hes looking forward to continuing to build on the companys reputation.

The big thing we heard from people is that they know someone is always available at V.I.P, he said. There can be a lot of emotion when selling or buying and ... we know how difficult and exciting it can be ... so we want to make sure that someone is always going to be available to our customers. Thats a big deal in this business  sometimes (people) have concerns and it can create a lot of undue nervousness if someone is not answering their phone.

Steele also excited about taking over.

It has been a long process, but were finally ready to get things rolling, he said.

Despite the new location and owners, much is going to stay the same, Wissestad said. The business is keeping the staff and the same hours.

Some things, however, will change.

Were updating the website and some marketing and advertising models, he said. We want to make sure were cutting-edge.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's writings on the "bottom-up" revolution have real potential to show people that they can hold power accountable and improve justice. A book on this subject could help to repair the economic, legal, social, and political fabric of the United States."



Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Scripps Howard News Service.
A new year brings us each the opportunity to set goals, make plans and seek opportunities to grow. Whether you are planning to live healthier, travel more, finish a major project or make a change in your life, you have likely thought about how you would like 2018 to unfold.

Like you, I have spent time this week setting my goals, making my plans and studying my calendar to design the first three months of the year. The Wisconsin legislature is likely to complete our legislative session by the end of March, before the Easter holiday. As a result, we have a lot of work to do in three short months.

I am proud to report that nine bills I authored have already been signed by Gov. Scott Walker this session. I have another 23 bills that I am working through the legislative process, including two that have already passed the Senate and will, hopefully, be passed by the Assembly soon. These two bills were initiated by local residents. Senate Bill 420, initiated by the Eberle family at the Mixing Bowl Bakery, makes changes to law to allow children of any age to work in their parents business. SB 360, initiated by Brent Brown from Boscobel, will waive the specialty license plate fee for volunteer Emergency Service Providers who choose special license plates for their personal vehicles.

In addition to these two bills, I have 21 additional pieces of legislation that are at various stages of the legislative process. I will be working diligently to move them along the process. Some of these bills will get all of the way through, while others will be revived in the next legislative session in 2019.

Of the 21 bills, the following are particularly relevant and/or interesting to residents of the 17th Senate District:

Telecommuter forward certification. It creates a certification program for communities to certify as being telecommuter friendly. The intent is to give communities with strong broadband and other assets an opportunity to recruit and promote themselves to individuals and companies that allow telecommuting. We have great places to live  and people who can work anywhere should live and work here!

Agricultural producer security modernization bill. This bill makes several changes to laws related to agricultural production to reflect current and preferred business practices.

EMT licensing renewal extension. It extends EMT licensing from a two-year renewal cycle to a three-year renewal cycle. This small extension will relieve some of the burden on our community EMTs, while maintaining requirements that ensure up-to-date training and preparation.

GAAP constitutional amendment. It requires the use of generally accepted accounting principles for state finances, just like businesses, school districts, counties, town, cities and villages budget.

Medical provider reciprocity for collegiate and professional sports teams. It allows out-of-state athletic team medical staff to be able to treat players on their team while in Wisconsin although they may not be licensed in Wisconsin.

Fingerprinting and background checks for federal tax access service providers. It requires fingerprinting and background checks for all state employees who access the federal tax information system as a function of their job.

Physical Therapist Licensing Compact. Similar to the recently signed Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact, this bill allows Wisconsin to join other states that are members of the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact to create portability and opportunities for physical therapists in Wisconsin and organizations that employ physical therapists in Wisconsin.

In addition to legislation, I am also working on several initiatives and ideas that are important to the residents of the 17th Senate District such as rural broadband expansion, rural emergency medical services and school funding reform.

Rural broadband expansion is one of my top areas of focus. Our communities are working hard to ensure that residents and businesses have access to high-speed broadband technology. As your state Senator, I am working to clear the way, encourage investment and support new technologies. A relatively new opportunity is to potentially use cable television white space  or unused channels  to deploy broadband in a new way.

As I understand it, these channels operate at lower frequencies than the fixed wireless broadband many of us try to use. The lower frequencies may be able to overcome and go through obstacles like trees, hills and more. I am working with my colleagues to influence the Federal Communications Commission to commit to leaving white space open so that telecommunications companies will invest in this new technology.

I am also working with the Public Service Commission to continue promoting the Rural Broadband Expansion Grant program. The current application period closes this month, but a new round of grants will open later this spring. Stay tuned for more details.

Rural emergency medical services are very important to our communities. This spring, I will continue studying the challenges and opportunities our local rescue teams are managing. I will be scheduling a series of summits with leaders and volunteers to learn directly from those who work hard to keep us safe.

Last month, I attended the first meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding Reform. The commission is planning listening sessions throughout the state and will be crafting recommendations in advance of the next budget cycle. I look forward to the work of this commission.

Finally, I have had more than 50 invitations and ideas for the Hire Howard for the Day project. I look forward to shadowing people in many different jobs and industries throughout the 17th Senate District. From farmers to teachers, doctors to snow plow drivers, small businesses to large manufacturers, I have received many terrific invitations and cant wait to learn directly from those who work hard every day!

As I continue my work on your behalf, I encourage you to connect with me! Please visit my website http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/17/marklein. Every press release, column and E-Update is archived here for you. I would also encourage you to subscribe to my weekly E-Update by sending an email to Sen.Marklein@legis.wisconsin.gov. Do not hesitate to call 800-978-8008 if you have input, ideas or need assistance with any state-related matters.
From WSWS

A new round of political warfare has been ignited in Washington by the impending publication of a behind-the-scenes tell-all volume written by journalist Michael Wolff, based largely on interviews with former Trump counselor Stephen Bannon.

Several anti-Trump media outlets carried excerpts of the book, Fire and Fury:Inside the Trump White House, in advance of its planned publication next week. The Guardian highlighted Bannon's comment that the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between top campaign aides and a Russian delegation was "treasonous" and "unpatriotic," as well as monumentally stupid.

New York magazine published a full chapter of the book, detailing the shock felt by Trump, his wife and closest aides on election night when the Republican ticket unexpectedly prevailed over the heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton. Fully expecting to lose, Trump hoped to profit from his increased celebrity to launch a new television network. Top aides had their own next ventures in the planning stages, not anticipating the debacle of the Democratic campaign.

The response of the White House to the publication of Fire and Fury was full-on hysteria. Trump personally denounced Bannon as having "lost his mind," while declaring that his former campaign chairman and White House counselor had rarely even been in one-on-one meetings with him.

Attorneys for Trump sent "cease-and-desist" letters to Bannon and to the book's publisher, Henry Holt & Co. The letter to Bannon demanded that he stop violating the confidentiality agreement he signed when he became an employee of the Trump campaign in August 2016. The clear implication of such a demand, however, is that Bannon is telling the truth in the comments quoted by Wolff.

The letter to Holt demanded that the book -- already printed and sent to bookstores -- should not be made available for sale. In response, the publisher moved up the date for general sale from January 9 to this morning, Friday, January 5. The book is already number one in presale orders in the US market, according to Amazon, and Trump's public attacks assure it wide circulation.

Bannon responded in a conciliatory fashion to Trump's diatribe, praising Trump's political record during an appearance on his Breitbart News radio program, and telling a caller that he continued to support the president. Despite such reassurances, there is no question that the new book has dealt a significant political blow to the White House, which Trump may not survive.

Opponents of Trump among congressional Democrats and Republicans and in the bulk of the corporate-controlled media seized on the book to give a new blast of publicity to the Russia investigation, which is largely driven by foreign policy differences within the US ruling elite.

Congressional opponents also cited the portrait of the president given by Wolff throughout the volume to support claims that Trump is mentally unfit and could be subject to removal from office, either through impeachment or use of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

Such suggestions have nothing in common with the deep-seated opposition to the policies of the Trump administration in the working class, and among youth and immigrants. They reflect concerns in sections of the ruling elite, including both Democrats and a growing number of leading Republicans, that Trump's erratic and provocative conduct will trigger a mass popular movement that would threaten the bourgeois order as a whole.

Bannon's opposition to Trump has a somewhat different character from other factions of the ruling elite. He has long been identified with the project of building a mass fascist movement in the United States, and for a number of years has focused his efforts on transforming the Republican Party into an ultra-right nationalistic organization on the model of the French National Front or the Alternative for Germany.

Bannon was ousted from the White House as part of its reorganization under retired General John Kelly, brought in as chief of staff in July to impose greater control by the military over the crisis-ridden administration. Since then, Bannon has openly denounced the Republican congressional leadership and backed a series of ultra-right challengers to sitting Republican senators, most notably Roy Moore in Alabama, who was defeated December 12 in a special election by Democrat Doug Jones.

In service of the creation of an ultra-right "populist" movement, Bannon has advocated a combination of racist and anti-immigrant provocations, like the Charlottesville riot and widespread deportations, with demagogic sallies against the "Eastern establishment" and even Wall Street (although Bannon is himself a veteran of Goldman Sachs and the principal backer of his Breitbart News is hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer).

Trump has rebuffed Bannon's approach in favor of a full-scale embrace of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and even cuts in the estate tax, while offering nothing to working people and targeting popular social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for budget cuts.

It is noteworthy that the Wolff book, for which Bannon was the principal source, has gone to press only days after Trump signed the tax cut legislation into law.

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From Thom Hartmann Blog



Donald Trump

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The thing that you are not going to hear so much about in the corporate media is how we got to here. How is it that we have this man as our president?



And it turns out if you do a deep dive into this, if you look at the research and the reporting that's been done on on Robert and Rebecca Mercer's company Cambridge Analytica and the incredibly good work that they did on behalf of the Trump campaign slicing, dicing and parsing information, we'll find out to what extent that they were using that information for micro targeting individual consumers at the level typically of Facebook, among other things.



But I think to some extent this is going to come out in the Mueller investigations, whether and who it was who was buying these Facebook ads and whether the Russian troll farms are being paid for by the Russian government or by Paul Manafort and all that other stuff.





And then once the oligarchs get their oligarch -- in this case Donald Trump -- they're going to do everything they can to defend him and keep him in place unless he's no longer useful to the oligarchs.



Throughout last year I kept saying the Republicans are going to throw Donald Trump under the bus as soon as they get their tax breaks, because the oligarchs who own the Republican Party are interested in only one thing: money.





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The National Intelligence Organization (Turkish: Milli degreesstihbarat Teskilat, MdegreesT) is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service.





The two senior officers of Turkish MIT was assigned the mission to kill PKK leadership in Kurdistan and overseas. But PKK counter-intelligence services tracked them and arrested them in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) area under the control of Mafia families of Jalal Talabani, the former President of Iraq.





It is disclosed after the arrest of these two high-ranking MIT officials that President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the killing of PKK leaders. President Erdogan ordered Hakan Fidan, the Head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), to kill Kurdish leader Sakine Cansiz. The Head of Turkey's MIT ordered the killing of Sakine Cansiz and her other two Kurdish PKK members in Paris France on January 9, 2013, while the Turkish government of President Erdogan was negotiating peace with the Kurdish people leader Abdullah Ocalan.

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[Republished from The Real News Network]

Following more belligerence from President Trump's Twitter account, North and South Korea have announced their first direct talks in years. It's a big step towards rapprochement, says journalist Tim Shorrock, but the U.S. could be a major obstacle.

Tim Shorrock is a Washington-based journalist who spent part of his youth in South Korea and has been writing about North and South Korea since the late 1970s. He just returned from a two month stay in Gwangju, South Korea, where during the Korean president campaign he interviewed South Korea-s President Moon Jae-In. He writes about US-Korea relations for The Nation and the Korea Center for Investigative Reporting.

AARON MATE: It's The Real News, I'm Aaron Mate'. President Trump's Twitter account, again, made global headlines this week, when he bragged that his nuclear button is much bigger and more powerful than North Korea's.

Trump made that comment in response to a New Year's Day speech from North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Un's address included an overture to South Korea, that is now seeing results. First, North and South Korea reopened a border hotline that had been frozen for nearly two years. Just today, the two sides announced that next week, they will hold direct talks for the first time since December 2016.

Despite Trump's bellicose talk, he's even shown signs of backing off. On Thursday, the U.S. and South Korea agreed to delay their planned joint military games that were set for the end of next month. Is all this a sign of warming relations on the Korean peninsula?

Well, joining me is Tim Shorrock, a journalist who has covered North and South Korea for decades. Tim, welcome. What is your reaction to all that we've seen this week? Does even today's news, especially of direct talks between the two sides, signal a shift in how things have been going?

TIM SHORROCK: Well, they definitely signal a shift between North and South Korea. The problem is, I don't think the United States is very happy about this development at all, although they have postponed the military maneuvers, the military training that's going to happen, that's still going to happen after the Olympics.

It's a very good sign. It's a very good sign that North and South Korea have opened this communication line and then on Tuesday, they're going to talk because North Korea has, you know, that Kim Jong-un said in his January 1st speech, that North Korea would be interested in sending a delegation to the Olympics, which are going to happen in February in South Korea.

They're going to talk about that and hopefully, it will lead to some other kinds of negotiations between the two sides. I think it's very hopeful, but I don't think the United States has much to do with it. If you read the official line on this in the New York Times and the mainstream press, and you read these quotes they bring up from Republican and Democratic foreign policy people, there's a lot of disinterest in this. There's a thinking that South Korea is sort of operating on its own, as if it's not a real independent country. That's a real danger here.

AARON MATE: Well, Tim, one of those quotes, I'm going to read to you is from Daniel Russel, speaking to the New York Times. He was a former assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration. He says, "It is fine for the South Koreans to take the lead, but if they don't have the U.S. behind them, they won't get far with North Korea. If the South Koreans are viewed as running off the leash, it will exacerbate tensions within the alliance."

That's not Trump's Twitter account, that is a former Obama administration official, talking about South Koreans as "running off the leash." What is he referring to there?

TIM SHORROCK: Well, he and most other national security people in Washington, whether they're Republican or Democrat, basically see South Korea as an appendage of the United States. And South Korea is on a tight leash, the U.S. basically, controls South Korea. It's a very illuminating comment I think. Extremely arrogant. It just underscores the arrogance of America towards both Koreas since 1945.

Daniel Russel, of course, he's also the same guy who, during the Obama administration, said if Kim Jong-un obtains super weapons, he will die instantly. Obama and his people made similar threats against North Korea. They just didn't do it quite as loudly, like on Twitter, that Trump has done.

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From Greg Palast Website

Don't be fooled by news of Trump's Executive Order dissolving the so-called Commission on Election Integrity. Trump is not ending the Kris Kobach scheme to attack, he's moving it into Homeland Security as per Kobach's original plan.

Kobach gloats that Homeland Security is exempt from Freedom of Information Act demands and public hearings -- that was part of his original plan given to Trump.

Kobach claims Homeland Security can REQUIRE states to turn over voter records and can secretly gather lists of "double" or "alien" voters -- this is Kobach's "Crosscheck" on steroids.

The one Democrat on Kobach's committee, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, warns: "Homeland Security operates very much in the dark...and I think people should be, frankly, frightened by that."

Kobach will be advising Homeland Security and that's MORE dangerous than operating through an open committee.



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This is not a win for progressives -- it's a brilliant chess move by KKK (Kris Kobach of Kansas).

For more on Kobach and Crosscheck get the updated, post-election edition of our hit film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Case Of The Stolen Election.
From Alternet

White nationalist vice-chair Kris Kobach wants Homeland Security to vet new voters, despite its incomplete citizenship database.

Anyone who favors expanding voting rights should be relieved by Wednesday's demise of President Trump's so-called Election Integrity Commission. But the panel's right-wing agenda to rig the voting process to benefit the GOP will continue.

There's plenty to cheer about when white nationalists like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the vice-chair, and voter suppressors like the Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky were discredited by a panel run in a secretive, conspiratorial and clownish manner. But these Republicans are not giving up on their plan to create new barriers to eligible voters.

"Amid many challenges for the institutions of American democracy, this was a rousing win," said Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice. "No doubt, there is fallout to come... The commission has vanished, but its pernicious objectives persist. The White House has asked the Department of Homeland Security to take up the commission's work -- a dangerous and appalling idea. Earlier this morning, the president took to Twitter to renew calls for voting restrictions."

Indeed, Kobach signaled his next move to Politico, which noted, "The Kansas official said he expects officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and political appointees overseeing that agency to take over the commission's work and begin efforts to match state voter rolls to federal databases of noncitizens. He insisted he was not disappointed with the president's decision."

"It's the right move," Kobach said. "It's a shifting in tactics from having the investigation be done by a federal commission to having it be done by a federal agency. The agency has a greater ability to move quickly to get the investigation done."

The GOP Strategy Unmasked

Kobach is referring to a strategy employed by the most fervent partisan Republicans to position red-run states to keep new registrants from voting and do mass purges of infrequent but otherwise legal voters from their rolls. In short, it draws on intentionally sloppy data-mining to create thousands of false positives that are then used to stymie voters. That porous data has been used in recent cycles in Georgia to delay approving new registrations and to accelerate mass purges of voter rolls. But it's not just Georgia.

In 2014, Florida's top election official proposed using DHS's problematic citizenship data to purge voter rolls. In response, county election supervisors rebelled and blocked it -- because they still felt the sting of the 2000 election, when Secretary of State Katherine Harris used sloppy data-mining (seeking former felons who could not vote under that state's laws) to purge tens of thousands of eligible voters before that year's presidential election.

If Kobach has his way, the contours of that sordid history will repeat itself, including using a DHS database that was never designed to be an authoritative list of every U.S. citizen. But in the years since Harris' Florida purge, the right-wing strategy has become clear.

Republicans like Kobach strategically target weak points in the voting process. They pinpoint areas in the process that are ambiguous, or where there's no authoritative national data to counter their claims of purported illegal activity.

For example, there is no federal agency that tracks so-called voter fraud, which these right-wingers define as someone impersonating someone else at the polls to vote more than once, and has become the go-to justification for red-run states to erect new barriers to voting century. Since there's no single federal agency that tracks so-called voter fraud, it becomes a useful propaganda tool for Republicans because it's left to academics and the media to debunk it, which these partisans routinely ignore.

The latest high-profile example of this narrative is Trump's thoroughly debunked claim that millions of Democrats illegally voted more than once to deprive him of 2016's popular vote majority. But that lie, recited again by Trump's press office when announcing the commission's demise, resonates among supporters who want to believe all Democrats are crooks despite vast documentation by academics and the press that voter fraud barely exists. In the absence of an authoritative federal accounting, it becomes an easy pretext for red states to pass laws to, as they purport, police the process' integrity. In reality, they thwart Democratic voters.

Not surprisingly, on Thursday, Kobach spewed that same line to -- where else? -- Steve Bannon's Breitbart News. "They [Democrats] have absolutely no interest in stopping voter fraud," Kobach told Breitbart. "It's truly extraordinary that one party in our system has made clear that they don't care... Some people on the Left were getting uncomfortable about how much we were finding out."

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"The most effective ways to create a more inclusive, fair-for-all future will be from the bottom up. Rob Kall's book lays out how that would look with a hopeful, pragmatic vision that will change the way you see the world."



Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, a columnist for The Progressive, and the author of eight books on the politics of sports, including What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States and A People's History of Spo
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Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing.



To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here.
From Strategic Culture



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Users of social media have been increasingly reporting that their accounts have been either censored, blocked or suspended during the past year. Initially, some believed that the incidents might be technical in nature, with overloaded servers struggling to keep up with the large and growing number of accounts, but it eventually emerged that the interference was deliberate and was focused on individuals and groups that were involved in political or social activities considered to be controversial.

At the end of last year a number of Russian accounts on Facebook and elsewhere were suspended over the allegations that social media had been used to spread so-called false news that had possibly materially affected the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Even though it proved impossible to demonstrate that the relatively innocuous Russian efforts had any impact in comparison to the huge investment in advertising and propaganda engaged in by the two major parties, social media quickly responded to the negative publicity.

Now it has been learned that major social media and internet service providers have, throughout the past year, been meeting secretly with the United States and Israeli governments to remove content as well as ban account holders from their sites. The United States and Israel have no legal right to tell private companies what to do but it is clearly understood that the two governments can make things very difficult for those service providers that do not fall in line. Israel has threatened to limit access to sites like Facebook or to ban it altogether while the U.S. Justice Department can use terrorist legislation, even if implausible, to force compliance. Washington recently forced Facebook to cancel the account of the Chechen Republic's leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin loyalist that the White House has recently "sanctioned."

Israel is not surprisingly most active in patrolling the Internet as it is keen to keep out any material sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or critical of Israeli treatment of Arabs. Its security services scan the stories being surfaced and go to the service providers to ask that material be deleted or blocked based on the questionable proposition that it constitutes "incitement" to violence. Facebook reportedly cooperates 95% of the time to delete material or shut down accounts. Palestinian groups, which use social networking on the internet to communicate, have been especially hard hit, with 10 leading administrators' accounts being removed in 2017. Israeli accounts including material threatening to kill Arabs are not censored.

Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are all also under pressure to cooperate with pro-Israel private groups in the United States, to include the powerful Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL seeks "to engineer new solutions to stop cyberhate" by blocking "hate language," which includes any criticism of Israel that might even implausibly be construed as anti-Semitism. Expanding restrictions on what is being defined as "hate speech" will undoubtedly become common in social media and more generally all across the internet in 2018.

The internet, widely seen as a highway where everyone could communicate and share ideas freely, is actually a toll road that is increasingly managed by a group of very large corporations that, when acting in unison, control what is seen and not seen. Search engines already are set up to prioritize information from paid "sponsors," which come up prominently but often have nothing to do with what material is most relevant. And the role of intrusive governments in dictating to Facebook and other sites who will be heard and who will be silenced should also be troubling, as it means that information that would benefit the public might never be seen, particularly if it is embarrassing to powerful interests. And speaking of powerful interests, groups like the ADL with partisan agendas will undoubtedly be able to dictate norms of behavior to the service providers, leading to still more loss of content and relevancy for those who are looking for information.

All things considered, the year 2018 will be a rough one for those who are struggling to maintain the internet as a source of relatively free information. Governments and interest groups have seen the threat posed by such liberty and are reacting to it. They will do their best to bring it under control.
By Hamma Mirwaisi

Army Forces of Iran is divided into forces as follows: 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a branch of Iran's Armed Forces founded after 1979 Revolution (It is well trained Militia forces of the Islamic Shi'a fanatic ready to kill Iranian people. They are similar to the ISIS or ISIL Islamic terrorist forces of the Islamic Sunni in Syria, Iraq, and the world at large). Whereas the regular Iranian military (or Artesh) defends Iran's borders and maintains internal order.

According to the Iranian Islamic constitution, The Revolutionary Guards state that their role in protecting the Islamic system is preventing foreign interference as well as coups by the military or "deviant movements". Indeed, they are well trained in Islamic Shi'a teaching to kill the unarmed civilian who oppose Islamic Shi'a laws in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebonan, and Yemen now. Major General Qasem Soleimani is leading Islamic terrorist forces of Islamic Shi'a in the world.

Iranian Government is supporting the Islamic Shi'a Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). And Turkish Government is supporting Islamic Sunni of ISIS or ISIL. Both Islamic Shi'a and Islamic Sunni are Islamic extremist killers terrifying the Islamic countries and world at large.

KODAR: The East Kurdistan Democratic and Free Society (KODAR), of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) are well trained and experience forces to defeat the Islamic Shi'a Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran. YPG and YPJ of PYD party in Syria defeated ISIS Islamic Sunni terrorist forces in Syria. KODAR is similar to YPG and YPJ, these forces are using Abdullah Ocalan teaching. They are believing their causes more than the Islamic Shi'a and Sunni terrorist forces.

The Shah of Iran son supporters group and the People's Mujahedin of Iran group are not capable to defeat killing machine of Iran (the Islamic Shi'a Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)). The Islamic Republic of Iran is different from Shah of Iran Government. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was coward to fight Islamist of Iran and so is his son. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's son wishing that the US Government will go to war with Iran and install him as Shah of Iran in the similar way his father was re-installed by the CIA in the year 1953.

President Donald Trump is wishing to do such things. But the US Government is not ready to wage war against North Korea, Iran, Russia, and China simultaneously.

World War III is very dangerous for humanity. Smart leaders will avoid such wars.

References

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guard_Corps

KODAR

.kodar.info/english


Seahorse Free Stock Photo - Public Domain Pictures615 -- 461 - 35k - jpg

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A seahorse thought,

A very small wave



Followed by another.

And way down below,



Its counterpart,

The seahorse . . .



And maybe deeper,

Some quiet resolve



To explore vast spaces

Of eternal quietude beneath oceans



That seem to never end. And yet,

Someday we wind up in the sunlight on a shore



As beautiful as any place imaginable

With no plastic



Nor any trace of war,

And there, to make peace with the memory



That we made it through

By simply being kind.

(Article changed on January 6, 2018 at 18:20)
Anything to distract from the big picture: Putin's attack on the US and Trump-Russia contacts.

Christopher Steele is not the issue. Yet the former British intelligence official who wrote a series of unconfirmed reports on Trump-Russia connections during the 2016 campaign seems to have become the main target of congressional Republicans. On Friday, two Republican senators -- Charles Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- released a letter they had sent the previous day to the Justice Department and the FBI requesting a criminal investigation of Steele. There have been no other known congressional criminal referrals related to the Russian attack on the 2016 presidential election or to interactions between Trump associates and Russians during the campaign.

In recent weeks, Capitol Hill Republicans have intensified both their attack on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation and their call for a quick end to the congressional inquiries. And with this move, Grassley and Graham are trying to bolster the Republicans' Trump-saving counter-narrative: the real scandal is the Steele dossier.

Pause for a moment and ponder this. The US intelligence community has concluded that Vladimir Putin ordered a clandestine act of information warfare against the United States to harm Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump during the election. And during that race, Trump's camp had a series of contacts with Russians or suspected cut-outs. Also throughout the time Putin's operation was underway, Trump and his lieutenants kept denying this assault was happening -- even after his top campaign aides were informed that Moscow wanted to secretly assist Trump and after Trump was briefed by US intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the hack-and-dump assaults targeting Clinton and the Democrats. That is, the public now knows that the United States was attacked by Putin, that Trump associates were interacting with Russians during this period, and that Trump and his crew, intentionally or not, provided cover for Moscow by insisting no such operation was occurring.

Yet what now draws the ire of congressional Republicans the most is Steele and his reports.

Go to Mother Jones to read the rest of this article.
This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

The external expressions of Western-orchestrated Regime Change War are now surfacing in Iran. None of this is surprising since the war plans have been publicly available for years.[1]

Peaceful protests are being co-opted, and now displaced by violent actors. No doubt Western intelligence agencies and their operatives are "destabilizing" the protests. We've seen this before, most recently in Syria and the Ukraine. Snipers will shoot both security personnel and protestors to create chaos and mayhem. Reportedly, "protestors" have already killed a police officer -- and a number of protestors have also been killed.[2]

Already propaganda outlets are at work. Ken Roth of the discredited Human Rights Watch is playing the very fraudulent "democracy and freedom" card.

Source: Tim Anderson

We can expect more violence and Iranian government atrocity stories soon. Fake news outlets (ie CNN and all Western media) will soon be screaming that the "brutal Iranian dictator is killing his own people". It's a time-honored formula, no sense reinventing the wheel. Fake pretexts of "going after terrorists" will soon be evoked, and the propagandists will start selling the notion that Western bombing campaigns are necessary for humanitarian reasons. The will of the Iranian people will be displaced by Western terrorism, just like Syria.

Weapons shipments are likely already on site, and sectarian mercenary terrorists are likely on the sidelines, well-paid and ready to go.

Once the destabilization escalates, the Western-created and sustained holocaust will deepen.

Western populations have yet to realize that they too are being victimized by the warmongers and their agencies.

We can hope that Western populations will awaken from their state of mass indoctrination and mass political infantilization. But this is not likely.

Notes

[1] Prof Michel Chossudovsky, "Global Warfare. Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran." Global Research. 1 August, 2010. (https://www.globalresearch.ca/preparing-for-world-war-iii-targeting-iran/20403). Accessed 1 January, 2018.

[2] Paul Antonopoulos,"Breaking!!! "Protesters" shoot dead Iranian police officer, injure another 3." Fort Russ News

1 January, 2018. (http://www.fort-russ.com/2018/01/breaking-protesters-shoot-dead-iranian.html?m=1) Accessed 1 January, 2018.

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright Mark Taliano, Global Research, 2018

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From Truthdig



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Imagine yourself in early 2019. The Democrats, despite never articulating a political vision other than not being Donald Trump and refusing to roll back Republican legislation such as the 2017 tax bill, have regained the House of Representatives by a slim majority. They vote articles of impeachment. The Senate Republicans, pressured by many within their own party to abandon Trump because of his ineptitude, increasingly erratic behavior and corruption, call on the president to resign. Trump refuses. He uses the megaphone of his office to incite violence by his small, fanatic base. The military, whose deployment as a domestic police force is authorized by Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act, is called into the streets to quell unrest. The United States, by the time the violence is snuffed out, is a de facto military dictatorship.

That such a scenario is plausible to public figures such as Ralph Nader is a sign of the deep decay of democratic institutions. The two major political parties lack a coherent vision. They are subservient to corporate power. They have abandoned the common good. They have turned politics into burlesque. They have rendered the citizenry impotent. The press, especially the electronic press, has transformed news into a grotesque reality show filled with trivia, gossip and conjecture. The elites in both parties, along with the rich and corporations, profit from a naked kleptocracy. Everything is for sale, from public lands to public education. And the juggernaut of corporate power impoverishes the people as it willfully destroys the facade of the hollowed-out democratic state.

"There is no democracy," Nader said when I reached him by phone in Connecticut. "The only democracy left in this country is they don't haul you to jail for speaking out. What's left of democracy is a significant due process, habeas corpus, freedom of speech and probable cause, and that's violated when there's a terrorist attack and people are rounded up, like Muslim Americans.

"Can there be a democracy when you don't have a competitive electoral system?" he asked. "No. Can there be a democracy when people who come in second win the election? No. Can there be a democracy when it's tougher to get on the ballot than in any other Western country in the world by an order of magnitude? No. Can there be a democracy when money rules? And not just the money that politicians raise, but the third-party money. No. Can there be a democracy when people have no influence on the military budget? No. It's not subjected to hearings. It's ratified on the floor of the House and Senate, but it doesn't go through the appropriations process. It's subject to the most anemic, pathetic, servile questioning you can imagine. The Congress has destroyed any kind of democratic participation ... in the military and foreign policy. The Congress is [supposed to be] invested in the sovereignty of the people. They [those in Congress] do not comply with the Constitution and the declaration of war authority. They don't comply with the appropriations process. They have increasingly less public hearings. They are cocooned on Capitol Hill with a force field of money, militarism and materialism. Self-interests block the American people, who can hardly call their member of Congress [because the calls are diverted to voicemail]. This is the latest racket.

"Trump is playing rope-a-dope with the Democrats," Nader continued. "He's such an inviting target -- all the lies, the stupidity, the outrage, the racism, the misogyny -- they can't resist. As a result, they're weakening themselves by not having an affirmative agenda. They're still talking about how they can learn how to connect with the average person. Can you imagine? It's now the end of 2017. They're trying to figure out a message."

House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Nader noted, has adopted the mantra "money, message, and mobilization" for the party. "If you start with money, what kind of a message are you going to have?" he asked. "If you don't have a message, what are you going to mobilize around? So here it is. They still haven't learned because they will never learn. The party will always be weak, flabby, indentured and dialing for the same commercial dollars as long as the four-time losers continue to run the party.... The country is spinning into the abyss."

The Democrats have never called for an audit of the Pentagon's massive and bloated military budget. They do not address corporate crime, champion consumer protection, promote the rights of workers or demand a living wage or full Medicare for all. And because they stand for nothing other than the politesse of identity politics and high-blown liberal rhetoric they have been unable to protect the country from the worst generation of the Republican Party in the nation's history.

"They don't even know how to have sonorous political language," Nader said. "They're stealing from you -- my fellow Americans. A handful of corporate, greedy bosses controlling your government on this national stage and local level, gouging out whole communities, sending industries to fascist communist regimes abroad. They have no loyalties to this country. They have no allegiance to communities other than to exploit them, abandon them. They rose to power on the backs of you, the workers. They were subsidized by Washington and state capitals, by you the taxpayer. The Marines bailed them out when they got into hot water, palling around with dictators and monarchs. Why do you allow them to rule you?"

Nader said the ruling elites have "lost the fear of the people." This has given rise to "a multifaceted dictatorial government indentured to the plutocratic class symbolized by Wall Street."

Corporations, enjoying a new tax code that reduces corporate income taxes to 21 percent while individuals pay up to 37 percent, have been awarded the constitutional rights of individuals while individuals have been stripped of their rights.

"The Constitution is increasingly a dead letter," Nader said.

Corporate media companies view the news division as a revenue stream. They collude with Trump in the daily Gong Show that masquerades as news.

"Trump took the press from profanity to obscenity," Nader said. "He learned some lessons from 'The Apprentice.' He realized the media, with a few exceptions, will do anything for ratings and money. What does he do? He goes down the sensuality ladder. He starts talking openly about racism, rapists and sex, grab them wherever you want and get away with it. They [the media] go wild. That destroyed all the opponents in the Republican primary. Knocked them out day after day, as the press went after sensuality. The coarseness, the brutishness. There's always a novel attack. He kept them catching up with him. One day he goes after [Sen. Marco] Rubio. Another day, he goes after Hillary. Another day, a veteran family.

"When The New York Times has two pages of tiny print of Trump's lies, what impact does it have unless there are remedies and mobilizations that use that material to strengthen the opposition to replace him?" Nader asked. "After a while, people just shrug their shoulders and go back to playing video games. The margin for the defeat of the Democrats by the Republicans can be attributed sufficiently to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and all these creeps. They have a massive soliloquy, day after day after day with no rebuttal. And they've got the blue-collar worker that way. What kind of a population on the left of center would have allowed that to happen? Using our public airwaves for free."

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Analytics as a Service Market to Register Substantial Expansion by 2021: Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Future Trends, Competitive Strategies

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Analysis has evolved from IT activities into core business activities, gaining strategic excellence that impacts a variety of business functions such as marketing, R & D, etc. This solution is used to deliver improved customer-focused products through large business processes. Data and machine learning are leading the growth of the analytical market.Analytics as a Service market estimated to grow at impressive CAGR of +39% during the forecast period.A complete analysis of the Analytics as a Service market is been done in this intelligence report. It includes the investigations done of the past progress, present ongoing market scenarios and future prospects. In this particular market report an accurate data, strategies and market shares of leading companies are mentioned clearly.Get Sample copy of this Report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, IBM , Oracle Corporation , Computer Science Corporation (CSC), Hewlett-Packard Enterprise , Google Incorporation , SAS Institute, Amazon Web Services , EMC, Gooddata , and Microsoft CorporationAn interesting trend gaining momentum in the market is the development of IT infrastructure for education. Several governments across the world are promoting the benefits of digital content and various modern teaching methods in the education system. Factors such as government initiatives in digitizing education and collaboration of vendors with schools and institutions to provide required hardware and software will help students to utilize Analytics as a Service increasingly for educational purposes in the coming years.Get Discount on this Report @:The stages of development of Analytics as a Service market with respect to many geographic regions have also been presented thoroughly. This information which is provided helps the emerging players gain up-to-date information which can help them take perfect business decisions. In similar way, many other segments and sub segments are mentioned in Analytics as a Service market helping in conveying impeccable data to the users.The report thoroughly analyzes the most crucial details of the Global Analytics as a Service Market with the help of an in-depth and professional analysis. Described in a precise manner, the report also presents complete overview of the market based on the factors that are projected to have a considerable and measurable impact on the markets developmental prospects over the forecast period.Access Complete Report @:Reason to Access Analytics as a Service Market Research Report:Analytics as a Service Market is segmented on the basis of various parameters. The factors which are impacting the markets growth are studied in detail. The report also presents an overall weaknesses which companies operating in the market must avoid in order to enjoy sustainable growth through the course of the forecast period. Besides this, profiles of some of the leading players operating and encouraging in the growth of the global Analytics as a Service market are included in the study. Additionally, using SWOT analysis, markets weaknesses and strengths are analyzed. It also helps the report provide insights into the opportunities and threats that these companies may face during the forecast period.Table of ContentsGlobal Analytics as a Service Market Research ReportChapter 1 Analytics as a Service Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Analytics as a Service Market ForecastAbout 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
Subscriber Identity Module Market 2022 Analysis with Inputs from Industry Experts and Focusing On Top Key Players Gemalto, G&D, Oberthur, Morpho (Safran)

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A subscriber identity module or subscriber identity module (SIM) is an integrated circuit for securely storing an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number and associated keys, such as a mobile phone device.The report on Subscriber Identity Module market is a source of expansive ideas, statistical data, and detailed information, which has the potency to ensure profit of an enterprises. It gives a basic overview of the industry which includes definition, applications, classifications, and industry chain structure. Extensive development plans and policies are discussed meticulously. There also exists a cost study and manufacturing structures with perfect explanation.Get Sample copy of this Report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, Gemalto, G&D, Oberthur, Morpho (Safran), VALID, Eastcompeace, Wuhan Tianyu, DATANG, KONA I, CPI Card Group, Watchdata, HENGBAOThis report defines the specifications, applications, classifications of Subscriber Identity Module market and explains the industrial chain structure in detail. Recent policies and developments are researched in depth to help enhance this report. A detailed cost structure is examined and prices are coated by labors, raw material supplier and others. An insight about demand supply chain is also mentioned in detail.Early Buyers will get 20% Discount on this Report @:Microeconomic and macroeconomic factors which affect the Subscriber Identity Module market and its growth, both positive and negative, are also studied. The report features the impact of these factors on the ongoing market throughout the mentioned forecast period. The upcoming changing trends, factors driving as well as restricting the growth of the market are mentioned.Initially, the Subscriber Identity Module producing an analysis of the most important trade players based on their company profiles, annual revenue, sales margin, growth aspects is additionally lined during this report, which is able to facilitate alternative Subscriber Identity Module market players in driving business insights.Access Complete Report @:This research report analyzes the global Subscriber Identity Module market in a detailed manner by explaining the key aspects of the market that are expected to have a quantifiable influence on its developmental prospects over the forecast period. The report analyzes the entire demand and supply chain in the global market and further studies the various components. Also, a number of analysis tools such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis have been employed to provide a precise understanding of this market to the readers.Table of ContentsGlobal Subscriber Identity Module Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Subscriber Identity Module Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Subscriber Identity Module Market ForecastAbout 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
Carcinoid Syndrome Diarrhea Treatment Market to Observe Strong Development By 2025

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Carcinoid syndrome is a group of symptoms that can occur in patients suffering from carcinoid tumors which also called as metastatic neuroendocrine tumors. Carcinoid tumors are rare and these are slow growing tumors. Most of the tumors occur in gastrointestinal tract. According to FDA, carcinoid syndrome occurs in less than 10 percent of people suffering from carcinoid tumors, mostly after the tumor has spread to the liver. This syndrome causes overproduction of serotonin hormone which results in chronic diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea leads to malnutrition, weight loss, electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. Carcinoid syndrome diarrhea can be managed either by blocking action of serotonin or by reducing the production of serotonin hormone.Request Report for TOC @Carcinoid Syndrome Diarrhea Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsCarcinoid syndrome diarrhea is a rare condition. Treatment available for this condition are expected to get orphan drug status. Government and regulatory body support for development of orphan drug and incentives are expected to drive carcinoid syndrome treatment market. Government allow companies to set high price for the orphan drug and which in turn will generate high revenue. Ineffectiveness of diarrhea controlling agents in case of carcinoid syndromes diarrhea will also drive the growth of this market. Lower adoption of carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment in developing nations can restrict the market growth.Carcinoid Syndrome Diarrhea Treatment Market: OverviewDiarrhea is the second most common symptom of carcinoid syndrome after flushing. It often occurs with flushing but can occur alone also. Carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period. As currently there is no specific treatment available for the carcinoid syndrome diarrhea except for the recent FDA approved drug telotristat ethyl. Regulatory approval in the other parts of the world expected to be factor for the growth of overall carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment market. As carcinoid syndrome diarrhea cannot be treated but can only be managed so this factor is also expected be a reason for the high revenue generation by the companies.Request To Sample of Report @Carcinoid Syndrome Diarrhea Treatment Market: Region Wise OutlookGeographically, global carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to be most attractive market for the carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment. Regulatory approval and better reimbursement policies are expected to be factor driving the growth. Even though carcinoid tumor is a rare condition but its prevalence is more in US. This is also one of the factor for the growth of carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment market in this region. Europe market is also expected to grow significantly due to the regulatory body facilitation in the development and authorization of orphan drugs. Asia Pacific especially is also expected to show significant growth as cases of carcinoid syndrome diarrhea are increasing in this region.Carcinoid Syndrome Diarrhea Treatment Market: Key PlayersMarket participants in the global carcinoid syndrome diarrhea treatment market are Ipsen and Novartis AG. These companies are developing drug which are either treat carcinoid tumor or specifically target carcinoid syndrome diarrhea.Pre Book Full Report @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:
Smart Elevator Automation System Market will reach at a Double Digit CAGR from 2017 to 2027

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Increasing population is resulting in the increasing heights of the buildings, every passing day. Therefore elevators are now become an essential factor in day todays life as they enable people to rush quickly between floors of a skyscraper. It is used in daily routine, as these are installed in hospitals, offices, universities or any other skyscraper. Several developments in the elevators are leading them to become a smart elevator technology.Request For Report Sample:A smart elevator automation system reflects the utilization of cutting edge technology to improve proper management and efficacy of traffic of the vertical movement of elevators in very tall buildings. Growing deployment of improved, high-speed destination dispatch services, as well as energy efficient resolutions for providing consumers with developed vertical transportation has led to the huge adoption of smart elevator system. This system is called as smart owing to their increasing usages for security purpose with the help of newest digital security measures such as destination dispatch and touch screens, biometrics and access control systems, apart from regular use of vertical transportation. Efficient management of automation and energy properties of the smart elevators provides them identity of highly advanced lifts than conventional lifts.Factors Impacting Market DynamicsThe global market for smart elevators is estimated to increase at CAGR of double-digit throughout the assessment period (2015-2025). Increasing demand for efficient management of energy in commercial as well as public buildings is likely to propel demand for smart elevators. Several other factors that are responsible for the growth of the market are growing investment in infrastructure projects and structures, rising urbanization in developing economies and rising population across the world. Moreover, manufacturers of this system are aiming on executing number of research and development activities to enlarge enhanced features in the elevator system to improve its customer base. Leading companies in the market are inclined towards developing more improved destination dispatch services and connectivity, which is cloud based as well as makes utilisation of IOT. Other than this, several other trends in the global smart elevation automation system market such as introduction of cutting technologies in the elevator system, launch of eco-friendly or green elevators as well as high-tech destination dispatch services, gush in the strategic business activities like joint ventures, mergers and acquisition and partnerships along with the growth of outsourcing operations.Key SegmentationsThe global smart elevator automation system has been segmented on the basis of maintenance, equipment installation, modernization and repair. Among these aforementioned, the equipment installation services segment retained its dominance in the global market for previous few years and is forecasted to maintain its position over the foreseeable period.Motors and Automation System, Sensors to Remain Dominant through 2025The system comprises of various components such as biometric, card reader, security & control system, motors & automation system, sensors, touch screen & keypad. From these segments, motors & automation system, sensors were remained dominant in the year 2014 and projected to retain its dominance throughout the assessment period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Regional Analysis of MarketGeographically, the market has been segmented into several key region such as Western Europe, North America, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Japan. Among these, the market in APEJ retained its dominance in the year 2014, procuring nearly one-third share of the global smart elevator automation system market. The APEJ is likely to be followed by Western Europe, according to the forecasts offered by the report. Moreover, the market in APEJ is estimated to exhibit highest growth rates compared to the other regions throughout the assessment period.You can now buy a single user license of the report :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 Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Mobile Water Treatment Market to grow at a CAGR of 11.75% during 2017-2021 - Aquatech International, Evoqua Water Technologies, Pall, Veolia

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Mobile water treatment products and services provide highly purified water for critical industrial applications. These services are fast, reliable, and cost-effective, which make them an ideal choice in critical situations. This form of treatment is used in various industries like electronics, chemical, and mining industries. Owing to the development and growth of these industries, demand is more for mobile water treatment systems in times of emergencies. The techniques used in the treatment mainly include membrane filters, ion-exchange resins system, and filters. These techniques can also be altered by the vendors, depending on the needs of the clients.The global mobile water treatment market to grow at a CAGR of 11.75% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global mobile water treatment market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the new installations and rental market and excludes aftermarket.Click to get Sample PDF:The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEATechnavio's report, Global Mobile Water Treatment Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key vendors- Aquatech International- Evoqua Water Technologies- GE Water and Process Technologies- Pall- VeoliaOther prominent vendors- Ampac USA- Applied Membranes- Aqualyng- AVANTech- BakerCorp- Cabot- Conteno- CST Wastewater Solutions- SUEZ- Ecolutia Services- EMWG- EWT- iWATERGROUP- Lenntech- Maxymillian TechnologiesKey questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Pest Control Services Market to expand at a CAGR of 5.1% by 2027

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With a robust CAGR of 5.1%, the global pest control services market will expand speedily in the years to come. According to the new report titled, Pest Control Services Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (20172027), although APAC accounts for relatively small market share in the global pest control services market, the markets in APAC, MEA and Japan regions are expected to witness rapid growth over the forecast period. Pest control service providers are concentrating on replacing toxic pesticides with bio-based pesticides to offer eco-friendly pest control services in order to ensure adherence to stringent government regulations. Revenue from the global pest control services market was valued US$ 16.72 Bn in 2016. By the end of 2027, global pest control services market is expected to reach a value of US$ 28.85 Bn expanding at a CAGR of 5.1% over the forecast period i.e. 20172027.Request For Report Sample:Global Pest Control Services Market: DriversGrowing urbanisation and increasing consumer awareness about health and hygiene are factors expected to increase uptake of pest control services over the forecast period.Escalating urban population across the globe has resulted in increase in food sources and conducive living habitats for various pests such as cockroaches, rodents and mosquitoes. This has led to strong demand for pest control services worldwide. Moreover, rapid migration from rural to urban areas, particularly in countries such as China, India and Indonesia, is expected to drive demand for pest control services over the forecast period.In developed as well as developing countries, end users, especially from residential and commercial sectors are becoming health-conscious and sensitive about maintaining good health and hygiene. This, in turn, is leading to rise the adoption rate of pest control services in these sectorsConducive weather conditions for propagation of pests is leading to further increase in pest population across the globeGlobal Pest Control Services Market: Forecast by Service TypeOn the basis of service type, the global pest control services market is segmented into chemical control services, mechanical control services and others. Chemical control services is further sub-segmented into organic and synthetic. Mechanical control segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period, due to increasing need for bird control in the agricultural end user segment in developed regions. On the other hand chemical control service is anticipated to remain the most dominant service segment in the market over the forecast period.Global Pest Control Services Market: Forecast by End UseOn the basis of end use, the global pest control services market is segmented into residential, commercial, industrial and agriculture. In terms of value, residential segment projected to be the attractive in the global pest control services market during the forecast period and is anticipated to register CAGR of 5.5% in terms of value over the forecast period. While, the commercial segment is estimated to account for relatively high value share of 38.6% by 2017 end, and is anticipated to register CAGR of 5.2% in terms of value over the forecast period.Global Pest Control Services Market: Forecast by ApplicationApplication segment includes rodent control, insect control, other wildlife control and others. Insect control is further sub-segmented into cockroaches, ants, bed bugs, termite, mosquitoes, Wasps, and flies. While, other wildlife control is sub-segmented into birds, fleas, and others. Insect control segment is estimated to account for relatively high value share of 66.1% by 2017 end, and is anticipated to register CAGR of 5.0% in terms of value over the forecast period.Global Pest Control Services Market: Forecast by RegionSeven regions namely, North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, APEJ, Japan and MEA were covered in this report. North America is expected to be the most dominant market amongst all the regions and is expected to account for 47.3% market share of the global pest control services market by 2027 end. On the other hand, growing urbanization and industrialization in APEJ and Latin America is expected to fuel the growth of the market over the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Pest Control Services Market: Key PlayersEnvironnemental Pest Services, LLC, Bulwark Exterminating, Pepcopp Pest Control Services Pvt Ltd., Environnemental Pest Services, LLC, Pest Control (India) Pvt Ltd., Truly Nolen Inc., Clark Pest Control, Home Paramount Pest Control, Assured Environments, Anticimex, Bluechip Exterminating, National Exterminating, Ecolab, Inc, Rollins, Inc, Rentokil Initial Plc, Service Master Global Holdings, Inc. (Terminix), Massey Services Inc, Arrow Exterminators Inc, Sanix Incorporated, and Asante Inc. are some of the key companies that are operating in this market.You can now buy a single user license of the report :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 Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) And Prostate Treatment Market Industry Trends and Developments 2016-2026

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Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy or benign prostatic obstruction. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a health condition in men in which the prostate gland size is enlarged than a normal. In a men whole life, prostate grows in two phases, first phase is occurs in early stage of puberty, second phase starts at the age of twenty five and it continues most of persons life. BPH occurs in second phase of growth and it is very general problem in a men who are above age 50. In 2010, 14 Mn men in the U.S. diagnosed with BPH. However, BPH may occurs in before age 40 and the chances of BPH will increase with age.If prostate gland enlarges than its normal size, the gland presses in between pinches and the urethra. As a result, the bladder wall become thicker and lose the ability to empty the bladder completely. Symptoms of BPH include urinary frequency, nocturia and urinary incontinence. BPH may causes urinary tract infections, bladder damage, and kidney damage in an acute stage.To treat BPH, medications, minimally invasive procedures and surgeries are available. Medications are used to shrink the prostate gland and reduce the symptoms of BPH, minimally invasive procedures and surgeries performed when medication is ineffective.Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsBenign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) treatment market driven by increasing ageing population around world. Increasing incidence rates of BPH also expected to drive the overall benign prostatic hyperplasia market.Availability of different treatment procedures to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate treatment also expected to drive the BPH market during the forecast period.Request Report Sample@Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market: SegmentationBenign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market is segmented into following typesBy TreatmentMedicationAlpha blockersPhosphodiesterase-5 inhibitorsCombination medicationsMinimally invasive surgeriesTransurethral Needle AblationTransurethral Microwave ThermotherapyHigh-Intensity Focused UltrasoundTransurethral ElectrovaporizationWater-Induced ThermotherapyProstatic Stent InsertionSurgeriesBy End UserHospitalsAmbulatory Surgery CentersHospital PharmaciesRetail StoresBenign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market: OverviewIncreasing healthcare awareness among mass population along with rise in prevalence rate of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is expected to propel the overall demand for (BPH) and prostate treatment market. The market is expected to witness a healthy growth over the forecast period (2016-2026)Visit For TOC@Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market: Region- wise OutlooKDepending on geographic regions, the global benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate treatment market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.BPH market is mainly depend on the ageing population. Among all regions, Europe and Asia Pacific are expected to witness a high growth rate over the forecast period owing to the large number of ageing population in these regions. North America and Latin America also expected to witness a healthy growth rate during the forecast period.Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Treatment Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in this market areSanofi AventisSandoz IncWatson Laboratories IncLabopharm IncTeva Pharmaceuticals Usa IncPfizer IncABOUT 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:
Current and Projected Website Builder Tool Market size in terms of volume and value 2017 to 2027

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Recent trends of going online in nearly every phase of life may it be communicating with your closed ones to buying anything has been the major growth driver for Website Builder Tool market. As the importance of going online continues to grow markets like Website Builder Tool will continue to proliferate. Anyone from a single individual to giant corporates can find the Website Builder Tool useful for them but the Website Builder Tool is a perfectly fits into the requirements of small businesses which just have started like wedding planners and individuals who want to get famous like writers, musicians, artists, and photographers. These are potential users who are trying to reach people to publish their content and offer their services online. But these individuals and enterprises have budget constraints to reach at their potential readers, viewers and customers. Therefore, they are using website builder tool to develop their own website to provide their content and services with low cost. These Website Builder Tools are cost effective as it allows enterprises to use customizable templates for their required websites without recruiting any technical resource.Request For Report Sample:Website Builder Tool Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe rising importance of having a strong online presence for any business is driving the Website Builder Tool market. The cost effective feature of these tools is also one of the most important driver for Website Builder Tool market growth. Apart from this, not everyone prefers to hire an avid programmer or wants to pay high amounts of money to companies to design a website for them, knowing the fact that using a Website Builder Tool requires no level of technical expertise or knowledge of coding with minimal charges. All this leads to healthy growth in market numbers. Also, Website Builder Tool offers many features like hosted services, domain registration, search engine optimization capabilities, responsive web design, and e-commerce integration with extremely user-friendly templates and high flexibility provided by plenty of customization options. Others features include robust integration with a wide array of third-party services like calendars and Instagram feeds and maps. Such features captivate the people into building their website using the Website Builder Tool for their business to increase their online presence and target customers.However, giant enterprises need differentiating strategies for their websites to pursue serious online growth and therefore require significantly higher amounts of flexibility and customization which cannot be fulfilled by Website Builder Tool. These are some of the factors that can restrain the growth of global Website Builder Tool market.Website Builder Tool Market: SegmentationSegmentation of Website Builder Tool market on the basis of type:PC Website BuildersThese tools help create a website on personal computersMobile Website BuildersMobile Website Builders are the builders which provide functionalities to build a mobile friendly version of a websiteSegmentation of Website Builder Tool market on the basis of Application:Personal WebsiteSchool or College WebsitesBusiness WebsiteOthersRegional OverviewThe Website Builder Tool market is sub-segmented into 7 key regions- North America, Latin America, East Europe, West Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.The APAC region is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the Website Builder Tools market. The major reason being the increasing number of startups and small business due to developing state of numerous countries in the region. While North America, an early adopter of the technology exhibited a significant growth with the introduction of Website Builder Tools, the trend expected to continue over the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Competitive landscapeWix.com, Inc, Automattic Inc., Open Source Matters, Inc., Weebly, Inc. , Webs, Duda and Doodlebit, LLC are some of the key players in the Website Builder Tool market. Other emerging players in the Website Builder Tool market include: Yola Inc, IM CREATOR, SQUARESPACE, Sitey, JIMDO and WebStarts.com. New product launches and product innovations by adding new templates and features is the key strategy followed by major market vendors to gain competitive edge.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 Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Smart Pulse Oximeters Market Growth, Demand and Key Players to 2016-2026

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Smart pulse oximeter is one of the fastest growing product type in the vital sign monitoring devices segment. Smart pulse oximeter is a non-invasive medical device used to measure the oxygen saturation level and heart rate in human. Smart pulse oximeter is a clip like device also known as a probe and is placed on body parts such as fingertip or ear lobe to measure the heart rate and oxygen level. It uses infrared light to measure the oxygen level and heart rate. The measurement of oxygen level and heart rate are very important while performing surgeries and injecting the anaesthesia, because the changes in the oxygen level in such a conditions may cause life threatening effects. Smart pulse oximeter also used to check the human health with a conditions such as heart attack, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), anaemia, lung cancer and asthma. However, the readings of smart pulse oximeter may not accurate in peripheral vascular diseases. Smart pulse oximeters products market is segmented into handheld pulse oximeters, finger pulse oximeters, paediatric pulse oximeters and wrist pulse oximeters.. Hand held smart pulse oximeters are useful for pilots to check the oxygen level when they are operating at above 10,000 feet. These devices are also useful to the mountaineers and athletes to check the oxygen level. Paediatric pulse oximeters mainly used in the hospitals and these devices are separately designed to measure the oxygen saturation level and heart rate in the infants.Smart pulse oximeter market has been segmented on the basis of product type, and end userSmart Pulse Oximeter Market, by Product TypeFinger Pulse OximeterHandheld Pulse OximeterPaediatric Pulse OximeterWrist Pulse OximeterSmart Pulse Oximeter Market, by End UserHospitalAmbulatory surgical centresHome Care SettingRequest Report Sample@The use of pulse oximeter in the home care settings has expanded over the last few years and is expected to register a healthy growth rate during the forecast periodOver the past few years, leading players in the vital sign monitoring devices segment are manufacturing devices with new technology such as Bluetooth which displays the readings in the smartphone. Moreover, the availability of cost effective smart pulse oximeters are the factors driving growth of overall smart pulse oximeter market., World Health Organization (WHO) started safety pulse oximetry project to improve the health in middle-income countries also expected to boost the smart pulse oximeter market. Increasing incidence rates of trauma conditions and increasing prevalence of heart related diseases are also expected to drive the smart pulse oximeter market. However, availability of high end devices to measure the heart rate is expected to hamper the overall market.Visit For TOC@Depending on geographic region, Smart Pulse Oximeter Market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to contribute maximum revenue share in the global market of smart pulse oximeter followed by Europe. Asia Pacific regions are expected to grow at a higher growth rate owing to high occurrence of chronic disease. Middle East & Africa is expected to show a healthy growth rate during forecast period.Smart Pulse Oximeters Market: Key PlayersKey players of smart pulse oximeter market are Nonin Medical Inc, Shenzhen Creative Industry Co.,Ltd, iHealth Labs Inc. Indiegogo, Inc., Technocare Medisystems, Contec Medical Systems Co.,Ltd., and MasimoABOUT 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:
Fungicide Active Ingredients Market Key Growth Factors and Industry Analysis 2016-2026

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Fungicides are first found chemical compounds utilized by people to preserve the plants from infections and pollutions. This chemical compound reduces the fungal growth in crops and thus plays a significant role in protection of crops. It has been observed that, diseases are the key source for damage of crop and plant that can be caused by number of organisms. Fungi is the topmost cause for infection of plants all across the globe. Apart from this, other diseases that hamper the growth of crops include nematodes, bacteria and viruses. Fungicides have become a significant component for the management of plant diseases for agrarian crops. Fungicides are utilized both in agriculture as well as to kill fungal infections in animals. Fungicides are utilized as a formulated product comprising of an active ingredient and as well as inert ingredients that enhance the functioning of the product. The global fungicide active ingredients market has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years and is anticipated to expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period.Global Fungicide Active Ingredients: Market SegmentationGlobal Fungicide Active Ingredients market is segmented on the basis of type of active ingredients such as azoxystrobin, boscalid, chlorothalonil, cyazofamid, etridiazole (ethazole), fenarimol, fludioxonil, fluoxastrobin, flutolanil, fosetyl-Al, iprodione, mancozeb, mefenoxam, metconazole, myclobutanil, PCNB (quintozene), phosphites, polyoxin D zinc, propamocarb, propiconazole, pyraclostrobin, tebuconazole, thiophanate-methyl, triadimefon, trifloxystrobin, triticonazole and vinclozolin. The global fungicide active ingredients can also be bifurcated on the basis of application in crops such as cereals, grains, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits and others.Request Report Sample@Global Fungicide Active Ingredients Market: Growth DriversRising population leading to increase in food production which encourages the farmers to adopt optimum type fungicide for protection of crop in order to maximize the production and to minimize the risk related to crop infections. This is anticipated to expand the growth of global fungicide active ingredients market over the forecast period. Apart from this, robust demand for fungicides in major applications such as vegetable and fruit crops and in ornamental and turf grass is also likely to foster the growth of worldwide fungicide active ingredients market from 2016-2026. Expansion in population especially in developing countries such as India and China is expected to impel food related security concerns in the region which is likely to fuel the growth of global fungicide active ingredients market during the forecast period.Global Fungicide Active Ingredients Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global Fungicide Active Ingredients industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Europe captured the maximum market share in the total revenue of global fungicide active ingredients market in 2015. Rising population along with increasing the education level in developing countries is anticipated to bolster the growth of Asia Pacific fungicide active ingredients market over the forecast period. Besides this, Latin American fungicide active ingredients market is also expected to observe robust growth during the next few years.Visit For TOC@Global Fungicide Active Ingredients Market: PlayersSome of the leading players identified across the value chain of the global Fungicide Active Ingredients market include BASF, Bayer Cropscience, DuPont, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta and Monsanto. In 2015, BASF marked the highest market share in terms of revenue in global fungicide active ingredients market. Most of players also function regional research and testing centers across all the geographic locations in order to keep the product market oriented as per the need. The companies are entering into widening their product portfolio and focusing on merger and acquisition in order to gain the competitive edge in global fungicide active ingredients market. Significant investment in research and development activities is expected by the companies over the coming few years in order to maintain the dominance in global fungicide active ingredients market in future.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:
Atrial Fibrillation Device Market Industry Trends and Developments 2016-2026

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Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmias refers to as an irregular heart rhythm of the upper chamber of the heart i.e. erratically change of normal sequence electrical impulses. Atrial fibrillation is treated with medications by slowing the heart rate to the rhythm control stage. Atrial fibrillation may lead to blood cloth, heart failure, strokes and other heart related problems. If atrial fibrillation disease remains untreated it will double the risk of patients death. Valvular heart disease and hypertension are the most common alterablerisk factor of atrial fibrillation disease. In 2014, according to centers for disease control and prevention, around 6 Mn people in the U.S were suffering from atrial fibrillation disease and the number was estimated to increase in near future. According to MRI Interventions, Inc. research report, around 2 to 4 Mn new patients are diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in the U.S annually and the incidence rate of atrial fibrillation disease will increase. Technological advancement in the field of surgical catheter ablation along with rising occurrence of disease due to changes lifestyle habits like drinking and smoking will drive the growth of global atrial fibrillation device market in forecast period.Atrial Fibrillation Device Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncrease in the prevalence of obesity and hypertension among aging population, reduce mortality rate and favorable outcomes of the atrial fibrillation device are the factors expected to drive the growth of global atrial fibrillation device market. Moreover, atrial fibrillation device is an alternative to long term oral anticoagulants among non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients, eliminate the use of long term warfarin and reduce the risk of heart bleeding and strokes are some other factors expected to fuel the growth of global atrial fibrillation device market. However, alternative to atrial fibrillation device such as drug therapy, catheter related complications and high cost of minimally invasive ablation procedures are proving a major challenge for overall growth of atrial fibrillation device market.Request Report Sample@Atrial Fibrillation Device Market: SegmentationThe global atrial fibrillation device market has been classified on the basis of surgical type, non-surgical and end user.Based on surgical type, the global atrial fibrillation device market is divided into following:Catheter AblationMaze SurgeryBased on non-surgical, the global atrial fibrillation device market is divided into following:Pharmacological DrugsDiagnostic devicesElectric CardioversionRecording SystemsAccess DevicesCardiac MonitorsClosure DevicesLeft Atrial AppendageBased on end user, the global atrial fibrillation device market is divided into following:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersCardiac Catheterization LaboratoriesVisit For TOC@Atrial Fibrillation Device Market: OverviewBased on surgical type, global atrial fibrillation device market is sub segmented into catheter ablation and diagnostic device, of which catheter ablation segment is expected to grow fastest over the forecast period. Increasing patient awareness, improved healthcare infrastructure and rising demand for non-pharmacological treatments are some of the factors which are driving the growth of catheter ablation segment. Pharmacological drug segment is expected to have highest market share in the forecast period. Low prices of pharmacological drugs along with increasing use of anti-coagulant therapy is driving the demand of pharmacological drugs segment.Atrial Fibrillation Device Market: Regional OverviewDepending on geographic region, atrial fibrillation device market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America held largest share in the atrial fibrillation device market followed by Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific owing to high prevalence of atrial fibrillation, awareness among population, reimbursement policies,and healthcare infrastructure. The developing nations in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential for growth in the atrial fibrillation device market due to increase in geriatric population, improved healthcare expenditure along with increased per capita income. Also, growth in public and private hospitals, pharmacies & drug stores will drive the growth ofatrial fibrillation device market in this region.Atrial Fibrillation Device Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global atrial fibrillation device market are Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott, Biosense Webster, Inc., St. Jude Medical, Inc., Siemens Healthcare, Medtronic plc, Koninklijke Philips N.V. and AtriCure, Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Industry Friendly Innovative Design in Gable Top Cartons Fuels Demand

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Prominent players in the global gable top caps and closures market are BERICAP GmbH & Co. KG, Evergreen Packaging Inc., UNITED CAPS LUXEMBOURG S.A, Tetra Pak, International S.A., Elopak Inc., Silgan Plastic Closure Solutions, Closure Systems International, Inc., Berry Global, Inc., and O. Berk.Request Sample:In order to grow their shares in the global gable top caps and closures market, most companies are banking on collaborations, acquisitions, and an enhanced product portfolio. Berry Global, Inc., for example, is not just trying to bolster sales through a diverse product portfolio but through collaborations and acquisitions, especially in the relatively untapped Asia Pacific market. Similarly Amcor Limited has been augmenting its market presence through both organic and inorganic route. It has increased its manufacturing capacity to offer a wide array of products and has been focused on acquisitions in the rigid plastic segment to tap into a larger customer pool.As per a report by Transparency Market Research, the global gable top caps and closures market will likely expand at a 5.7% CAGR from 2017 to 2025 to become worth US$79.1 mn in 2025 from US$48.5 mn in 2016.Beverages Segment to Create Maximum Opportunity in Leading Asia Pacific MarketDepending upon the type of product, the global gable top caps and closures market can be split into screw caps and flip caps, among others. Of the two, the segment of screw caps holds a majority of the share in the market and rising at a 5.9% CAGR between 2017 and 2025 is slated to grow its market share in the near future.Browse Our Report:Based on geography, the global gable top caps and closures market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific, of them, is a key market that accounts for a dominant share. The region grossed an overall revenue of US$19.4 mn by the end of 2016. The application segment of beverages is primarily driving the growth in the market in the region.Industry Friendly Innovative Design in Gable Top Cartons Fuels DemandMajorly fuelling the global gable top caps and closures market is the industry friendly innovative design in gable top cartons. The innovative design on gable top cartons has made it easy to print different product and brand related information on it. The gable top cartons provide large surface compared to other liquid packaging solutions such as bottles and cans. This coupled with their visually appealing characteristics goes a long way in drawing the attention of consumers. This is driving the demand for gable top cartons, which in turn is predicted to have a positive impact on the global gable top caps and closures market, explains the lead analyst of the TMR report.Buy This Report:A major drawback for the global gable top caps and closure market is the volatile petroleum products prices. Since caps and closures are manufactured from plastics such as PP, PE, etc., which in turn is extracted from petroleum products, price fluctuation of the latter impacts the overall production costs.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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 Office90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Energy Portfolio Management Market Volume Forecast and Value Chain Analysis 2017 - 2027

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Energy Portfolio Management Market: IntroductionEnergy Portfolio Management enables a complete offering related to the advisory, software applications, and information, which assists in energy market associated vendors to measure infrastructure investments, for instance, transmission lines and new power stations and also provide important data, which is relevant running energy systems operations.Request For Report Sample:Energy Portfolio Management Market: Drivers and RestraintsOwing to increasing awareness about energy management, coupled with the company are focussing on gaining carbon credits, which is together anticipated to drive the demand for Energy Portfolio Management solution. Further owing to strict government regulation on limiting the wastage of energy and to promote efficient energy management is the drivers piloting the growth of the market, during the forecast period.The need for reduce the excessive consumption of energy, energy management and monitoring are the two major factor, which are into consideration by government, with increasing demand for energy monitoring system at industrial and residential sector are crucial factors driving the growth of noise monitoring device market. However, the lack enforcement of proper law implementation in emerging economies are the major factor restraining the growth of the energy portfolio management market.Global Energy Portfolio Management Market: Market SegmentationGlobal Energy Portfolio Management Market can be divided into three segments, on the basis of end-user, deployment, and region.Segmentation on the basis of the end-user for Energy Portfolio Management Market as:-The major segments of Energy Portfolio Management Market on the basis of the end-user include Residential, Industrial and Commercial.Segmentation on the basis of the deployment for Energy Portfolio Management Market as:-The major segments of Energy Portfolio Management Market on the basis of the deployment include deployment On cloud and On-premises.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Energy Portfolio Management Market: Competitive LandscapeThe major player operating in Energy Portfolio Management Market includes Eaton Corporation PLC, ABB Ltd., Siemens AG, Schneider Electric, International Business Machines Corporation, C.A Technologies, SAP SE, Emerson Electric Co., and Honeywell International Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Wheat Seed Market Challenges & Industry Analysis by 2017-2023

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Wheat Seed Industry 2017 Deep Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.QYResearchReports.com has added a new report covering the global Wheat Seed market to its vast database. The research report studies the global Wheat Seed market to analyze the factors impacting it. The report has been divided into several chapters that discuss the global Wheat Seed market in absolute detail. The report begins with the discussion of the industry overview, which includes definitions and specifications of Wheat Seed. It also explains the classification of Wheat Seed, its applications, the industry chain structure, the status of the major regional segments of the global Wheat Seed market, industry policies, and recent news.The report gives an analysis of the manufacturing cost structure with the help of data about raw material suppliers and price analysis. This chapter also offers an explanation of the analysis carried out for equipment suppliers and prices. Furthermore, the chapter includes an analysis of labor costs, other costs, and manufacturing process analysis.Get Free Report Sample and Customization:The report explains the role of end users in regions such as Europe, China, and Japan, along with sharing the details regarding the segmentation of the global Wheat Seed market. The comprehensive report also explains the governmental policies acting on the global Wheat Seed market and studies the market in the context of the political scenario, economic condition, social dynamics, technological advancements, legal implications, and environmental demands and regulations.The research report on the global Wheat Seed gives a clear picture of the competitive landscape of the market. The report offers an insight into the financial overview and details about sales, revenue, and price concerning the leading vendors operating in the global Wheat Seed market. It also provides a SWOT analysis and Porters five forces analysis of the important players in the market.Table of Contents1 Wheat Seed Market Overview11.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wheat Seed11.2 Wheat Seed Segment by Types11.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Wheat Seed by Types in 201521.2.2 Hard Red Winter Wheat3To Browse a Full Report with TOC:2 Global Wheat Seed Market Competition by Manufacturers92.1 Global Wheat Seed Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)92.2 Global Wheat Seed Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2011-2016)122.3 Global Wheat Seed Average Price by Manufacturers (2011-2016)132.4 Manufacturers Wheat Seed Manufacturing Base Distribution and Commercial Production Date162.5 Wheat Seed Market Competitive Situation and Trends172.5.1 Wheat Seed Market Concentration Rate173 Global Wheat Seed Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Regions (2011-2016)213.1 Global Wheat Seed Capacity and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)213.2 Global Wheat Seed Production and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)223.3 Global Wheat Seed Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)243.4 Global Wheat Seed Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)253.5 North America Wheat Seed Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)26Get discount copy @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Wheat Seed1Table Classification of Wheat Seed2Figure Global Production Market Share of Wheat Seed by Types in 20162Figure Europe Wheat Seed Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2011-2021)6Figure India Wheat Seed Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2011-2021)7Figure India Wheat Seed Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2011-2021)7Figure Global Wheat Seed Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2011-2021)8Table Global Wheat Seed Capacity of Key Manufacturers (2011-2016)9About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comBlog:
Rigid Packaging Market is likely to register a CAGR of 3.2%

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The global rigid packaging market features a highly fragmented vendor landscape, wherein the leading players cumulatively account for a nominal share of the overall market and small- and medium-scale unorganized players across regional pockets pose a huge threat to the growth prospects of big companies, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. Leading vendors such as Crown Holdings, Ball Corporation, ALPLA Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG, Reynolds Group, and Tetra Pak have focused their strengths and resources on consolidating the market by acquiring small and strong players in key regional markets. Material and design innovation also receive much focus from companies wishing to establish their stronghold in the highly competitive market.Request Sample:Transparency Market Research states that the global rigid packaging market will exhibit a moderate CAGR of 3.2% over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from a valuation of US$589.1 bn in 2016 to a revenue opportunity of US$755.9 bn by the end of 2024.Asia Pacific to Remain Most Promising Regional MarketIn terms of the materials used to manufacture rigid packaging products such as boxes, trays, containers, and jars, products made from paper and paperboard are currently responsible for the dominant share of revenue of the global market. Products made from paper and paperboard accounted for over 72% of the overall market in 2015 and are expected to remain the most popular as well as the most lucrative over the reports forecast period.In terms of geography, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to account for the dominant share of the global rigid packaging market in 2015. The region is also expected to remain the most promising market for rigid packaging, registering a 3.8% CAGR over the reports forecast period. A massive rise in the convenience food industry and the presence of several large and small players are the prime factors expected to keep Asia Pacific at the top of the global rigid packaging market over the reports forecast period.Browse Our Report:Promising Demand from Pharmaceutical and Food and Beverage Industries to Drive GrowthIn the past few years, the market for rigid packaging has massively expanded owing to the rising demand for a variety of rigid packaging products around industries such as pharmaceuticals and packaged foods and beverages. In emerging economies, especially, the massive rise in urban populations, busy lifestyles, changing consumption habits, and increased disposable incomes have popularized packaged foods and beverages. For the busy population prioritizing convenience of easting above all, products made from rigid packaging such as boxes, trays, and cans, which allow eating directly out of them, have become highly popular. This trend is expected to prove beneficial to the overall development of the rigid packaging market.The pharmaceutical industry also continues to demand a vast variety of rigid packaging products so as to safeguard medicines during transportation and storage. With promising growth avenues ahead of the global pharmaceutical sector, the demand dynamics of rigid packaging is also expected to benefit.Buy This Report:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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 Office90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Smart Water Grid Market Projected to Reach US$ 52,212.3 mn Revenue by the end of 2026

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As per the latest study by Future Market Insights (FMI), the global smart water grid market is likely to witness robust growth during the forecast period. Registering 18.8% CAGR, the market is projected to reach US$ 52,212.3 million revenue by the end of 2026. Key priorities including carbon footprint reduction and financial savings are driving water utilities to optimize operations by deploying advanced analytical software, automation, control, design and other services. Increasing focus on integrating smart water grid with information and communication technologies is leading to the remote maintenance, monitoring, and tracking.Various advanced features in smart water grid that are expected to drive the market are demand prediction, real time sensing, quality monitoring, ease of detecting leak and burst, supporting planning and operations and helping in reducing water loss. Increasing emphasis on improving water management and supply, developing accurate billing method, reconstruction of old water infrastructure are some of the factors contributing to the growth of the smart water grid market. Municipalities across various countries are focusing on implementing smart water grid technology that can offer information and communication technologies at the same time in a single smart water management scheme, thus increasing efficiency. Increasing investment in repairing old water infrastructure and improvement in water distribution systems are also driving the market for smart water grid.Request for Sample @Key Highlights on the Global Smart Water Grid MarketThe global market for smart water grid is segmented on the basis of application, technology, and region. On the basis of region, North America is expected to remain dominant in the global market for smart water grid throughout the forecast period 2017-2026. Owing to the advancement in technologies, increasing initiatives by the government to improve water infrastructure and stringent regulations, North America is witnessing a significant growth in the smart water grid market.Meanwhile, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) and Europe are also likely to witness the growth in the market during 2017-2026. Due to the increasing demand for new installations for water supply, and the increasing awareness about using smart water grid in order to conserve the limited fresh water are fueling the growth in APEJ. While, Europe is witnessing rise in the water infrastructure development and strong government support, thereby resulting in the increasing deployment of smart water grid.On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into design & engineering, ICT & analytical software, smart infrastructure, and control & automation. Among these, smart infrastructure is expected to witness the highest growth in the global market for smart water grid. By the end of 2026, smart infrastructure is projected to exceed US$ 2,200 million revenue.Based on the application, the market segment consists of commercial, residential, and utility. Smart water grid is expected to find the largest application in the utility segment. By 2026 end, utility is estimated to bring in nearly US$ 24,900 million revenue. Meanwhile, commercial segment is also likely to witness robust growth in the global market for smart water grid.Request for Table of Contents @Key Players Competing to Sustain in the MarketSiemens AG, Itron Inc., Sensus Worldwide Holdings Ltd., Badger Meter, Inc., Neptune Technology Group Inc., Schneider Electric, Toshiba Corporation, The Whitmore Group Arqiva, Wetsus, ABB Group, ICT, co., Ltd., Prezi Inc., and Xinapse Systems Ltd., are some of the key players operating in the global smart water grid market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Metallic Stearates Market Projected to Witness a Single-Digit CAGR During 2017-2027

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Metallic stearates are long chain fatty acid compounds with metals of different valencies. Metallic stearates can be used for a wide range of applications, owing to their versatile properties, such as lubrication, separating properties, water repellence, gelling, stabilising, foam inhibition, and others. Metallic stearates have high melting points and are thermostable in nature. They are mostly derived from animal or plant based fatty acid sources. Aluminium and magnesium stearates are widely being used as stabilizing agents in many suspensions. Metallic stearates are used as lubricating agents in the plastics processing industry. They provide excellent resistant to colour degradation at elevated temperatures. Moreover, Zinc stearates are used as mould release agents in a number of applications.Global Metallic Stearates Market: DynamicsDrivers:The global metallic stearate market is driven by the increasing demand for PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) and other polymers, which use metallic stearates in various types of processing. The use of metallic stearates in the manufacturing of different polymers, such as phenolic resins, polyolefin, polystyrene, and others is expected to drive the global metallic stearates market.Request For Report Sample@Moreover, there has been an increase in the use of metallic stearates in the manufacture of soaps and detergents, due to their hydrophilic properties that prevent particles from absorbing moisture and thus, prevent agglomeration.Restraints:A major factor that acts as a challenge for the growth of the global metallic stearate market is the problem of filterability of chemicals by the use of these stearates. Another problem faced by the addition of metal stearates is that of corrosion.Trends:Manufacturers are focusing on the development of tailored solutions. Special customised metallic stearates are being manufactured as per requirement. Based on specific needs, such as water repellence, stabilising properties, acid scavenging, and others, different types of metallic stearates are being manufactured.Global Metallic Stearates Market: SegmentationThe global metallic stearates market can be segmented in a number of ways. Some of the prominent classifications being on the basis of product type, end use industry, and form.On the basis of product type, the global metallic stearates market can be segmented as:Zinc stearateMagnesium stearateCalcium stearateAluminium stearateOthers (Nickel, Copper, Lithium, etc.)On the basis of end use industry, the global metallic stearate market can be segmented as:Building and constructionPharmaceuticalCosmetics and personal careLubricantsPaints and coatingsPolymer and rubber industryPaper and pulp IndustryMining and metallurgyFood and beverage IndustryOn the basis of form, the global metallic stearate market can be segmented as:Fine powerFlakesPellet/granularAqueous stearate dispersionsGlobal Metallic Stearates Market: Regional OutlookAsia Pacific is anticipated to hold a major share in the global metallic stearate market and the region is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. There has been an increase in the demand for metallic stearates in Asia Pacific, owning to an increase in the number of major end use industries, such as polymers and rubber, and building and construction, among others. China is a major market for metallic stearates, followed by India. Europe and North America are also anticipated to hold a significant share in the global metallic stearates market. This can be attributed to a large base of manufacturing industries in the region that require metallic stearates for various applications. The Middle East and Africa region is anticipated to show relatively sluggish growth over the forecast period and the region is expected to remain a relatively small market for metallic stearates. Japan is projected to expand at a moderate CAGR over the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Metallic Stearates Market: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global metallic stearates market include Baerlocher GmbH, Dover Chemical Corporation, Brenntag Specialities Inc., PMC Group Inc., Valtris Specialty Chemicals, James M. Brown Ltd., Faci S.p.A, Hallstar, Peter Greven GmbH & Co. KG.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:
Carpet Chemicals Market to receive overwhelming hike in Revenues by 2026

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Carpet Chemicals are used while making carpets and later while cleaning it. The maximum industrially produced carpets contain a series of chemical extracts. Chemicals are permeated during the production of the carpet fiber or are introduced externally as topical actions on the final product. One of the projected purpose of use of the carpet chemicals is to protect against bacteria, dust mites, fungi and molds. The chemicals used in the carpet also helps to act as flame retardant, anti-slip and anti-allergic agent. Some of the chemicals used for anti-microbial are silver sodium hydrogen zirconium phosphate, zinc pyrithione and triclosan where as some of the chemicals such as formaldehyde is used as preservative and brominated flame retardants may be added as fire retardant chemicals.Some Carpet Chemicals are used for removing the stains relatively while some highly intense chemicals can help in deep cleaning of the dirt as well. Citafresh, odoban, sensation carpet spotter and grease release spotter are the type of chemicals used for cleaning the carpets and removing stains from it. However, carpet chemicals are very hazardous in nature as they contain high levels of volatile organic compound (VOC). Therefore, nowadays, each carpet is tested four times a year for four categories of emissions such as styrene, volatile organic compounds, 4-PC and formaldehyde in order to reduce air pollution through the carpet chemicals.Request Report For TOC @The market of global Carpet Chemicals is anticipated to be driven by the growth of construction and refurbishment industry. The Increased number of residential buildings as well as commercial buildings such as hospitals, hotels, schools, offices, etc. is driving the demand for the carpets, thus also benefitting the carpet chemicals end use market.However, due to high level of VOC present in carpets has called for stringent regulations for carpet manufacturing and installation based procedures, which has prompted the use of alternate flooring systems such as wood laminate flooring, ceramic tiles, vinyl, linoleum floors, etc. decreases the demand of carpet and therefore, impacting the growth of global Carpet Chemicals market.The chemicals currently used in the manufacture of carpet and cleaning are complying the mandatory norms for being environmentally friendly products.Request to Sample of Report @The global Carpet Chemicals market is segmented on the basis of product type such as binders, moisture barriers and antioxidants. On the basis of application, global carpet chemicals market is segmented into residential use and commercial use. Residential use includes houses, apartments, etc. where as commercial use includes schools, offices, healthcare, retail, banks, commercial property managers, funeral parlors, churches, hospitality, hotels and others.The major players identified across the value chain of global Carpet Chemicals market include Devan Chemicals, The Rug Cleaning Company, Omnova Solutions Inc., Amtech UK, Rotovac Corporation, American Textile LLC., Daycon Products Co. Inc., Altret Industries Pvt. Ltd., Dynamic Speciality Chemicals Ltd., Chemical Specialities Manufacturing Corporation, Jon-Don Inc., Namco Manufacturing, Stepan Company and many others. The companies are emphasizing on research and development and new product development in order to maintain the competitive advantage in global carpet chemicals market during the forecast period. The companies are also focusing on different strategies in order to keep on developing the market share in the global carpet chemicals market.Pre Book Full Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Paraffin Inhibitors Market Revenue Growth Predicted by 2017-2027

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Paraffin inhibitors are polymers used to prevent the precipitation of paraffin from oil. Crude oil paraffin inhibitors alter the shape and size of wax crystals, thereby keeping them dispersed and preventing them from adhering to the surface. Deposition of paraffin, which happens naturally in crude oil, can pose serious challenges during production, transportation and storage. A number of factors affect the precipitation of paraffin, some of them include temperature, cooling rate of the storage tanks and pipelines, etc. Paraffin inhibitors are essentially chemicals that prevent the deposition of paraffin in storage tanks and pipelines and prevent paraffin induced blockage. Paraffin inhibitors can be used for different varieties of crude oil. The particles remain dispersed and are flown back into the oil. The wastage, thus, is minimized and the additional waste disposal cost is also saved. It is because all of these benefits that paraffin inhibitors offer, it is anticipated that the paraffin inhibitors market will expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period.Global Paraffin Inhibitors Market DynamicsGlobal Paraffin Inhibitors Market DriversThere is an increasing need to improve the flow of crude oil flow preventing blockages and reducing the wastage of oil caused due to deposition of paraffin from oil and this is one of the prime factors driving the paraffin inhibitors market. Moreover, the downtime for the flow of oil can also be reduced with the help of these inhibitors. With increase in oil exploration and production activities worldwide, the global paraffin inhibitors market is foreseen to remain lucrative over the span of next 10 years. The use of paraffin inhibitors has led to decrease in energy costs and has also managed to reduce the wear and tear of equipment. Moreover, paraffin inhibitors also prevent the deposition of sludge at the bottom of the tank. Thus, the use of paraffin inhibitors reduces operational issues and maximizes hydrocarbon production. All of these factors are expected to affect the market positively in years to come.Request For Report Sample@Global Paraffin Inhibitors Market RestraintsThe time of application of paraffin inhibitors plays a very crucial role. If paraffin inhibitors are added before the oil is cooled to a particular temperature, the paraffin inhibitors induce the formation of agglomerates as the stability of the colloidal solution is disturbed. Thus, due to technicalities and complexities associated with application, the market is growing at a steady rate. Moreover, in regions such as Asia Pacific, the lack of awareness is a major factor restraining the growth of the market in the regionGlobal Paraffin Inhibitors Market TrendsThe manufacturers have managed to develop such paraffin inhibitors that can work at low temperature conditions like subsea umbilical and cold climates. Efforts are being made to produce such paraffin inhibitors that can prevent deposition under extreme environmental conditions.Global Paraffin Inhibitors Market SegmentationThe global market for paraffin inhibitors can be segmented on the basis of application and region.On the basis of application the global paraffin inhibitors market can be segmented into:Exploration and drillingStorageTransportation(Pipelines)Global Paraffin Inhibitors Market Regional OutlookNorth America holds a major share in the global paraffin inhibitors market and is anticipated to remain dominant over the forecast period, 2016-2026. This can be attributed to increasing technological advancements and development of unconventional methods for the production of oil which has shown rising demand for paraffin inhibitors. Western Europe also holds a significant share in the global paraffin inhibitors market. Asia Pacific and Japan are anticipated to expand at a moderate CAGR over the forecast period. Middle East and Africa is expected to expand at a significant CAGR owing to the large oil and petrochemical base industries in the region.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Paraffin Inhibitors Market ParticipantsSome of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global paraffin inhibitors market are: BASF SE, NALCO, Halliburton, Evonik Industries AG, Croda International Plc, Schlumberger Limited, Baker Hughes Incorporated, GE Corporation, Clariant, AkzoNobel N.V, Zirax Limited, Refinery Specialties, Inc., Dorf ketal Chemicals.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:
Depth Research of Fleet Management Solution Market in Global Industry 2018 to 2025

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Albany, NY, 6th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Fleet Management Solution Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.This report on the global Fleet Management Solution market provides analysis for the period 20152025, wherein 2016 is the base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Data for 2015 has been included as historical information. The report covers market dynamics including drivers, restraints opportunities, and trends expected to influence the global Fleet Management Solution market growth during the said period. Technologies that are playing a major role in driving the global Fleet Management Solution market have also been covered in the study. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of value estimates (in US$ Bn), across different geographies.Global Fleet Management Solution Market: SegmentationThe Fleet Management Solution market has been segmented on the basis of deployment, type, end-use industry and geography. Based on deployment, the market has been divided into cloud and on-premise. Based on the solution type, the market has been divided into vehicle management, driver management and operations management. Based on the end-use industry the market has been divided into Transportation & Logistics, Automotive, Retail, Government and Shipping.Cloud based deployment could be defined as delivery of hosted services over the internet. Cloud based deployment model can include Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud whereas On-Premise deployment model would refer to the computation that is located within the physical confines of an organization.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Vehicle Management Solutions would refer to a system that provides management functions which allow organizations to manage vehicles fuel consumption, services etc. while Driver Management Solutions would refer to a system that provides management functions which allow organizations to manage drivers behavior, driving habits etc. to ensure safety. Moreover, Operations Management Solutions would refer to a system that provides management functions which allow organizations to the operations of the fleet. These solutions are necessary as organizations try to cut the costs of the operations while complying with the regulations.On the basis of end-use industry the global fleet management solution market can be segmented into Transportation & Logistics, Automotive, Retail, Government and Shipping.Geographically, the report classifies the global Fleet Management Solution market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of market revenue. Furthermore, region wise prominent countries covered in the report include the following - the U.S, Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., China, India, Japan, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Argentina.Global Fleet Management Solution Market: Scope of the ReportThe report also includes key developments in the Fleet Management Solution market. Porter Five Force analysis is also included in the report. The report also covers segment wise comparison matrix, market attractiveness analysis and market share analysis for all regions covered in the scope of study.Comparison matrix includes segment growth matrix, 2015 - 2025 (%), segment value share contribution, 2015 - 2025 (%), and segment compounded growth matrix (CAGR %). Market attractiveness identifies and compares segments market attractiveness on the basis of CAGR and market share index.Global Fleet Management Solution Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report also includes competition landscape which include competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global Fleet Management Solution market based on their projected value share, and business profiling of major players. The Competition Matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities and future outlook are attributed to companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.Company profiling includes company overview, major business strategies adopted and SWOT analysis. Major players in the Fleet Management Solution Market include Trimble Inc., Element Fleet Management Corp., Daimler Fleet Management GmbH, JDA Software Group, Inc., Wheels, Inc., MiX Telematics Ltd., TomTom Telematics BV. , Magellan Navigation, Inc., Emkay, Inc. And Telogis, Inc.The global Fleet Management Solution Market is segmented as below:Global Fleet Management Solution Market, By DeploymentCloudOn-PremiseGlobal Fleet Management Solution Market, By TypeVehicle ManagementDriver ManagementOperations ManagementGlobal Fleet Management Solution Market, By End-Use IndustryTransportation & LogisticsAutomotiveRetailGovernmentShippingGlobal Fleet Management Solution Market, By GeographyNorth AmericaThe U.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeThe U.KGermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)IndiaJapanChinaRest of APACMiddle East and Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaBrowse Report @UAESouth AfricaRest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on :
Hometech Textiles Market Set to Surge Significantly by 2026

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A textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes is called a technical textile. A technical textile used in home furnishing and clothing is called hometech textile. The hometech textiles market comprises a strong part of the technical textile market including upholstered furniture industry. Household textiles and furnishings. Hometech textiles range from filter products used in vacuum cleaners to fiber fills in mattresses and pillows. Hometech products are made of both synthetic and natural fibers. Hometech textiles are widely utilized in furniture & interior decoration, sun protection, cushion materials, carpeting, fireproofing, wall coverings, flooring and textile reinforced fittings etc. Hometech textiles ranks 4th largest in sales of all the other technical textiles. Western Economies account for the biggest market share of hometech textiles followed by Asia Pacific. Hometech Textile products are in continuous use by household as well as commercial sectors.The global hometech textiles market can be segmented on the basis of Geography, applications and end use types. On the basis of geography, the global hometech textiles market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Japan. On account of applications the global hometech textiles market can be segmented into commercial and household. Hometech textiles are widely used in commercial sector like offices and business organizations as well as domestic and household purposes. Considering end use types, the global hometech textiles market can be segmented into fiberfill, mattress and pillow components, carpet backing cloth, stuffed toys, blinds, HVAC filters, vacuum cleaner filter cloth, non-woven wipes, mosquito nets and furniture fabrics.Request Report For TOC @The robust increment in office and commercial construction is a main factor aiding in driving the global hometech textiles market. With growing population worldwide, the demand for hometech textiles is growing proportionally. Rising disposable incomes & customer spending and increasing purchasing power of customers in developing countries is driving the growth of the global hometech textiles market. With rapid industrialization and increasing demand of technical textiles in industries is another factor leading the global hometech textiles market to grow.The major challenge faced by the global hometech textiles market is frequent changes in raw material prices. The rise and degradation in raw material prices is affecting the imbalance in prices of the global hometech textiles market. Moreover, low degree of consumer preference towards the technical textiles, specially hometech textiles is a major reason posing as a restraint to the global hometech textiles market. In addition, less requirement of luxurious needs such as hometech textile products is again a critical challenge to the global hometech textiles market.Request to Sample of Report @Due to population explosion in the continent, Asia Pacific accounts for the maximum share of the global hometech textiles market. North America holds the second largest share of the total hometech textiles market across the globe. Latin America follows North America as the third largest consumer of hometech textiles worldwide. Europe accounts for a huge number of nations involved in importing, manufacturing and exporting hometech textiles. Western Europe holds a larger share than the Eastern Europe. MEA is a growing market for hometech textiles followed by Japan.The major companies involved in the manufacture and production of hometech textiles are Polymer Group Inc., Freudenberg and Co., TWE Group, Ahlstrom Corporation, Dupont Chemicals Company, Aadinath Hometech etc.Pre Book Full Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Market Recent upcoming trend for the forecast period 2018-2023 profiling key players Among others

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The report systematically analyzes the most essential details of the Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market with the help of an in-depth and specialized analysis. Defined in a ground-up manner, the report presents a comprehensive synopsis of the market based on the factors that are predictable to have a considerable and determinate impact on the markets developmental prospects over the prognosis period. Obtaining market-related data is not a very problematic task. It is a task of filtering out the unnecessary parts and compiling pertinent information that actually matters or can solve a business issue at hand. Lack of out-and-out resources for undertaking focused research that results in gathering of the most fruitful data is one of the most common limitations of inbound research activities.Get Sample PDF using the below link now @Major Key Players:3M Company (US), Arkema Group (France), Bridgestone Corporation (Japan), dnpSolar (Denmark), E. I. du Pont De Nemours and Company (US), Encapsulantes de Valor Anadido S.A. (Spain), Hangzhou First PV Material Co., Ltd. (China), ISOVOLTAIC AG (Austria), Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Japan), Lucent CleanEnergy (India), Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc. (Japan), Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello, Inc. (Japan), Renewsys India Private Ltd. (India), STR Holdings, Inc. (US), The Dow Chemical Company (US), TPI All Seasons Company Limited (Thailand), Wacker Chemie AG (Germany), Wuxi Fuhua Plastic Industry Co., Ltd. (China)This report of Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market studies Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market in Global and Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in Global and Global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer.With this report, organizations can have easy access to the details that will have the most substantial bearing on the overall development of the Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Industry or the sectors that matter the most to organizations. The report is assembled with the intent of providing necessary market information to vendors operating in the Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market. Thus, it makes for a resourceful data collection that can help decision makers devise most effective business strategies. The report includes a thorough overview of the competitive landscape and regulatory framework of the Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market. This will offer clients a strong understanding of the current state of competition, threats, major opportunities, and the major rules, regulations, plans, & policies impacting the market.Table of Contents1 Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Overview2 Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Sales (Volume) and Revenue (Value) by Type (2013-2017)4 Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Sales (Volume) by Application (2013-2017)5 Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis6 Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Manufacturing Cost Analysis6.1 Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Key Raw Materials Analysis7 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers8 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders9 Market Effect Factors Analysis10 Global Single Crystalline Silicon Cell Market Forecast (2018-2023)11 Research Findings and ConclusionAbout 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
Aerospace Aviation Fuels Market Estimated to Soar Higher During 2017-2027

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Aerospace aviation fuels are specialized fuels based on petroleum that are utilized to power aircrafts. Aerospace aviation fuels are generally of higher quality as compared to fuels used in road transport or heating applications. Earlier, conventional fuels such as jet fuels and aviation gasoline, etc. were the most commonly utilized aviation fuels. However, nowadays, the focus is shifting towards the utilization of cleaner and green fuels, such as biofuel, etc. Reduction of carbon emissions is one of the major concerns for the aviation industry. Since the aviation industry contributes significantly to the greenhouse gas emission, it is important for the aerospace aviation industry to move towards green and clean fuels such as Biofuels. Biofuel are renewable fuels derived from biomass which help in the reduction of emissions and also ensure energy security for the sector.Global Aerospace Aviation Fuels Market: SegmentationGlobally, the Aerospace Aviation Fuels market can be segmented on the basis of type and application.Based on type, the aerospace aviation fuels market can be segmented into:Conventional FuelsAviation GasolineJet FuelNon-ConventionalBiofuelsOthers (CNG, etc.)Request For Report Sample@Based on the application, the global aerospace aviation fuels market can be segmented into:Commercial AircraftsMilitary AircraftsGlobal Aerospace Aviation Fuels Market: DynamicsWith the expansion of the aerospace industry, there is increasing competition among aircraft fuel manufacturers. Nowadays, a large proportion of people opt for aeroplanes as a convenient way of transportation owing to its comfortness and affordability. Governments of various countries are focussing on the development of the aerospace aviation industry and thus, there has been a rise in demand for aerospace aviation fuels from military as well as commercial sectors. There has been significant growth in air traffic in the last two decades and there is an indication that the traffic will continue to expand over the next decade. Rising demand for bio-based fuels along with the rise in international trade is also expected to boost the aerospace aviation fuels demand. The aforementioned factors are expected to drive the global aerospace aviation fuels market in near future.The key challenge identified in the global aerospace aviation fuels market for the manufacturers is to produce fuels with lower carbon emissions. Further, due to fluctuating price of crude oil, aircraft manufacturers are striving to reduce dependency on conventional fuels that are capable of impacting their profit margins. Aviation aerospace fuels account for a significant cost within the airline industry.Traditionally, jet fuels which are extracted from crude oil under stringent regulations were utilized by the aviation sector. The rising air traffic is responsible for a significant amount of total energy consumption globally. Among the various conventional and non-conventional fuels available today, the most suitable and advanced substitute available is biofuel  it is a popular choice owing to its higher energy content. Utilization of biofuels is one of the key trends identified in the global aerospace aviation fuels market.Global Aerospace Aviation Fuels Market: Region-wise OutlookAs far as regions are concerned, the aerospace industry is one of the most matured industries in developed regions, such as North America and Europe, which also represent a significant share in the global aerospace aviation fuels market. Aerospace aviation fuels contribute a significant share to the U.S. and Germany economies as the aerospace industry is the key contributor to the GDP of these countries. Further, developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, such as India and China are expected to expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period owing to the rise in infrastructural investments.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Aerospace Aviation Fuels Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the examples of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global Aerospace Aviation Fuels market include Exxon Mobil Corporation, Air BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corporation, Gazprom Neft P JSC, RED ROCK BIOFUELS, KFS Biodiesel GmbH & Co. KG, Archers Daniels Midland Company.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:
Allyl Alcohol Market to Register Substantial Expansion by 2026

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Allyl alcohol is a lucid, colorless liquid which emits a mustard-like odor. Allyl alcohol is less dense than water but the vapors are heavier than air. Allyl alcohol is toxic by inhalation and ingestion. Harmful effects of inhalation and exposure to even low concentrations or short exposure to high concentrations may have adverse health effects. There are various methods of manufacturing allyl alcohol .Allyl alcohol can be obtained by hydrolyzing allyl chloride with sodium hydroxide solution, this process yields high concentration allyl alcohol. Increasing commercial interest to obtain better yields has replaced the hydrolysis method with catalytic rearrangement of propene oxide. In this method propene oxide vapor is passed over lithium phosphate catalyst. Other method of obtaining allyl alcohol include catalytic hydrogenation of acrolein in vapor phase. Allyl alcohol is used as a precursor to many specialized compounds such as drying oils, flame resistant materials and plasticizers. In addition allyl alcohol is also used as a feedstock for the production of glycerol. Due to high toxicity, extreme flammability and high reactivity there is high regard for the handling of allyl alcohol.Request Report For TOC @The demands in allyl alcohol market is primarily dependent on the demand and consumption characteristics of chemical and plastic industries which also help in boosting the allyl alcohol market. There is an extensive demand of Allyl alcohol for the manufacture of safety glass, CRT screens, paints & coatings, silane coupling agents, optical resins and polymer crosslinking agents. The demand of allyl alcohol is anticipated to rise significantly during the forecast period owing to its high demand in the production of glycerol and a wide variety of polymerizable esters. The market for allyl alcohol is restrained due to stringent environmental laws and regulations present in regions such as North America and Europe. The allyl alcohol market can be segmented on the basis of its application in the industries.Request to Sample of Report @The allyl alcohol market can also be segmented on the basis of regions such as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan and Middle East & and Africa. In terms of allyl alcohol production and consumption Western Europe and North America spearhead the allyl alcohol market due to extensive demand for production of various chemical intermediates and polymer products. Although the market share of Western Europe and North America is large, the growth in these regions is modest and this trend is anticipated to continue for the forecast period. Significant development of chemical, plastics and polymer manufacturing industries in allyl alcohol market from APEJ specifically from regions of China, India and South Korea have majorly influenced the global allyl market scenario. APEJ followed by Japan are anticipated to exhibit strong growth in the allyl market. Followed by Japan, Eastern Europe and Middle East & Africa are anticipated to be key geographies for the allyl alcohol market during the forecast period.Allyl alcohol market is identified by various regional and international players, some of the key players identified in the report are include Sigma Aldrich, LyondellBasell, Showa Denko K.K., Dow Chemical Co., Dairen Chemical, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mingxingchem among many others in the allyl alcohol market.Pre Book Full Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Worldwide Technology of Offshore Wind Turbines Market in Global Industry 2018-2025

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Albany, NY, 6th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Offshore Wind Turbines Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.The offshore wind turbines technologically advanced, and include a number of engineering and mechanical innovations to help maximize efficiency and increase the production of electricity.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The energy produced from turbines in deep waters in the North Sea alone could meet the EUs electricity consumption four times over. Deep offshore designs are competitive in terms of the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) with bottom fixed foundations in more than 5Om water depth. Wind energy has been utilized by humans for more than two thousand years. For example, windmills were often used by farmers and ranchers for pumping water or grinding grain. In modern times, wind energy is mainly used to generate electricity, primarily through the use of wind turbines. Developing economies such as India are now focusing on renewable sources of energy for power generation. India has set targets of electricity generations by wind energy and solar energy. Exploration of offshore sites is being carried out in order to enhance profitability of power generation from wind. Unlike onshore sites, offshore sites generally have uninterrupted winds throughout the year.Global Offshore Wind Turbines Market: Research MethodologiesPrimary research represented the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, statistical data from government websites and trade associations/agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Secondary research sources which were typically referred to include but are not limited to: company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, SEC filings, internal and external proprietary databases as well as relevant patent and regulatory database, national government documents, statistical databases, market reports, news articles, press releases, industry magazines, webcasts specific to companies operating in the market, Platts Global, IEA (International Energy Agency), Lloyds Register, International modules for STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping), ICS (International Chamber of Shipping), MARPOL (Marine Pollution), UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), BP Statistical Review of the World (2014), IACS (International Association of Classification Societies) and regulatory databases such as ICIS, Hoovers, oneSOURCE, Factiva and Bloomberg, national government documents, statistical databases, market reports, news articles, press releases, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and webcasts specific to companies operating in the marine fuel management market.We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators to validate data and analysis. These help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. These also help develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:The report comprises profiles of major players operating in the offshore wind turbine market include Enercon GmbH, Siemens Wind Power, Guodian United Power Technology Company Ltd, Gamesa Corporacion Technologica S.A., Nordex S.E., Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Suzlon Group, Upwind Solutions Inc., GE Wind Energy, and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technologies Co. LtdThe Small Hydropower Market for Africa has been segmented as follows:Global Offshore Wind Turbines Market: by Foundation TypeMono PileJacketTripodFloating & OthersGlobal Offshore Wind Turbines Market: by ApplicationShallow WaterTransient WaterDeep WaterGlobal Offshore Wind Turbines Market: by CapacityUpto 1 MW1-3 MW3-5 MW5 MW and AboveGlobal Offshore Wind Turbines Market: by RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaEuropeFranceGermanyItalyRussiaU.K.Rest of EuropeAsia PacificSouth KoreaBrowse Report @ChinaJapanRest of Asia PacificMiddle East & AfricaGCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on :
Wafer Level Packaging Market Size, Analysis, and Forecast Report 2016-2026

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Packaging industry has made strides in terms of design incorporating functionality into the mix. Innovations in packaging have become key to keeping up with the changing needs of the consumers as well as the manufacturers. Packaging has encompassed almost all the industries in the world and they have individually experienced a shift in their packaging designs. One of the most interesting industries to incorporate packaging innovation into their operations is the semiconductor and technology industry.Semiconductor and technology industry utilizes packaging not only in the overall packaging of the product, but also during the manufacturing of the product on the shop floor. One of these techniques is the wafer based packaging. Wafer based package being the same size as the die allows the wafer fabrication, packaging, testing and the burn-in during the manufacturing process till the shipment.Request For Report Sample @Wafer level packaging Market- Market Segmentation:Based on the end use, the wafer level packaging market is segmented into:Mobile and wireless communicationsInternet of thingsAutomotiveConsumer electronicsAerospaceHealthcareBased on the type, the wafer level packaging market is segmented into:Fan-Out Wafer Level PackageFan-in Wafer Level PackageFan-in Wafer Level Chip Scale Packageflip chip3DFOWLPWafer level packaging Market- Market Dynamics:With the rise in the demand for smaller and faster consumer electronics, we can expect the wafer level packaging market to experience a positive impact. Wafer level packaging allows for greater flexibility and integration providing a small, thin package giving us an active interposer. By decreasing the die size and increasing the wafer size, wafer level packaging is more cost effective compared to the conventional method of production of integrated circuits. With the rising demand for longer battery life and smaller designs in smart phones, we will find wafer level packaging to perfectly fit the bill. The open source appropriate technology allows for collaboration among different players in the market to produce a superior product that will keep redefining the technology and semiconductor sector. The wide use of wafer level packaging in radar technology has allowed it to become an essential art in the self-driving cars. Also, the healthcare medical devices sector and wearable devices market will heavily utilize wafer level packaging market. The boost in these sectors will positively impact the wafer level packaging market. The wafer level packaging is prone to chipping during the process of production and shipping.Request For Table Of Content @Wafer level packaging Market- Regional Outlook:In terms of geography, the wafer level packagingmarket has been divided in to five key regions; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The wafer level packaging market is expected to exhibit an above average CAGR during the forecast period. Asia Pacific region will continue to show a rise in demand for wafer level packaging due to the rising disposable incomes in the market. The growing adoption of smartphones in India will permit the wafer level packagingmarket to experience a tumultuous rise in demand. The production of wafer level packagingwill be focused more in the APEJ region.Wafer level packaging Market- Major Players:Some of the key players in the wafer level packaging market are Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG, KLA-Tencor Corration, China Wafer Level CSP Co. Ltd., Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Siliconware Precision Industries, Deca Technologies, Nanium SA, STATS ChipPAC Ltd.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.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:
Dust Proof Material Market to Witness a Pronounce Growth by 2026

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A dust proof material is a microfiber unwoven fabric which has excellent efficiency of dust prevention. A dust proof material is produced from woven (knitted) fabrics consisting of synthetic filament or unwoven fabric which are bounded by chemical, mechanical or solvent treatment. In order to prevent the generation of unwanted dust particle in most of the industries and laboratories, dust free material are used. Dust proof materials make use of antistatic treatment to prevent the adhesion of the dust particle on the surface of the material. Globally, the demand for dust proof material is expected to increase steadily due to the upsurge in research and development activities by manufactures of dust proof materials. Dust proof material is mostly preferred where clean environment is required like in the biological lab, clinical room, food processing area, industrial research laboratory, etc.Request Report For TOC @Owing to its unique characteristic and properties such as resistance to dust, resilience, liquid repellence, absorbency, softness and strength, dust proof materials are gaining traction since the past few years. Industrial operations where special care is taken regarding environment along with the growth in medical and hygiene industry, the demand for the dust proof material is anticipated to increase over the forecast period. Moreover, with increasing awareness among the consumer regarding hygiene, cleanliness and safety is further expected to boost the demand for global dust proof materials throughout the forecast period. Growth of pharmaceutical, food packaging, textile industries, coupled along with rising awareness about hygiene amongst consumers, is expected to drive the demand of global dust proof material market. Beside this, high cost of manufacturing dust proof material is one of the major restrain hindering the growth of the global dust proof material market.Request to Sample of Report @Geographically, the global dust proofs material market are divided into seven major regions which include North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Middle East &Africa. North America followed by Western Europe are the major region for dust proof material and is anticipated to account for significant share of the global dust proof material market. The global dust proofs material market is expected to register a stable CAGR during the forecast period. In Asia Pacific region, emerging countries such as China and India are expected to represent significant opportunity in terms of revenue for dust proof materials and is further expected to exhibit healthy growth rate over the forecast period. The demand for dust proof material Asia Pacific region is increasing due to the rapidly growing manufacturing sector.Some of the key player in global dust proof material markets are Tex-Cel Shanghai Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Nanqixing Nonwoven Co. Ltd., Freudenberg Performance Materials, John Cotton Ltd, IMS Nonwoven, Toray Industries, MOLNLYCKE HEALTH CARE AB Co.Ltd, Mogul Co.Ltd, First Quality, Pantex International Co. Ltd, Fibertex Nonwovens Co.Ltd, CHA Technologies Group, Texbond S.P.A., DNT SA and Kimberly-Clark.Pre Book Full Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Social Media Monitoring Tools Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate During 2025

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Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: IntroductionExpanding social media content volume is the key factor contributing to the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools s market. Social Media Monitoring Tools is a software equipped with various functionalities for tracking, listening, and gathering relevant content across various social media networks. Social Media Monitoring Tools s are used by marketing, and communications team of organizations across various industries to identify the trends, track competitors, understand customer behaviour, and also to map sentiments. Social Media Monitoring Tools s are developed to understand social media presence, demographic data, and to improve a brands reputation. Social Media Monitoring Tools s helps to identify thought leaders & influencers, specific mentions about a product/company/ individual, and trending topics or phrases across the social media.Request Report for TOC @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Market DynamicsExpanding social media users coupled with increasing amount of time people spend on social media is the prominent factor drives the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market. Increasing investments on digital advertising, rising dependency on social media advertising tools to reach customers, increasing focus on understanding customer preference on particular products, and growing trend on delivering personalized content based on current trends accelerates the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market. Additionally, increasing number of smartphone users and growing trend towards accessing social media content through mobile devices fuels the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market.However, constraints on lack of proper insights to identify the return on interment Social Media Monitoring Tools s is identified as restraints likely to deter the progression of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market.Request to Sample of Report @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of regions, the Social Media Monitoring Tools market can be segmented across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among all regions, Social Media Monitoring Tools market in the North American region is expected to dominate the market due to increasing investment on digital advertising solutions. North America is expected to be followed by Western Europe in the Social Media Monitoring Tools market, during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is projected be the fastest growing Social Media Monitoring Tools market due expanding social media users, and increasing preference for market intelligence solutions.Pre Book Full Report @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the prominent vendors in the global Social Media Monitoring Tools market include salesforce.com, Inc. (Radian6), Oracle (Collective Intellect), Lithium Technologies Inc., Hootsuite Inc., Sysomos Inc., Union Metrics, Klout, BuzzSumo, Webtrends, and Zoho Corporation Pvt. 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:
Dental Implant Abutment Systems Market : Stock/prefabricated to Cross US$ 711 Mn in 2017

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The global dental implant abutment systems market is divided into various segments. The segmentation is done on the basis of product type, application, end user and region.By product type, stock/prefabricated abutment systems is the dominating segment in terms of market size with a market value of around US$ 711 Mn in 2017. However the custom abutment systems segment is expected to take over the global market with a higher growth rate, registering a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period.In terms of application, pre-mill is the leading segment with a market share of over US$ 790 Mn in 2017. However, CAD/CAM segment is ahead of pre-mill in terms of a higher CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period.By end user, the dental clinics segment is expected to be the largest with a market value of US$ 788 Mn in 2017 and is estimated to reflect a valuation of more than US$ 1,500 Mn by 2027 end, growing at the highest CAGR of 7.0% during the period of forecast.On the basis of region, North America is ahead of all the other regions with the maximum market value of US$ 400 Mn in 2017, which is expected to cross US$ 705 Mn by the end of 2027. The region in the second position is Western Europe, which is expected to reach a market value of around US$ 407 Mn by the end of 2027.Global Dental Implant Abutment Systems Market Research Report Overview @Dental implant abutment systems is related to the dental implants that take place after finishing the recuperating procedure. These are used to join a crown or bridge to the embedded fixtures. Pre-assembled or stock implants are fabricated in different sizes and shapes and are typically provided by manufacturing organizations along with the implants. A new research report by Persistence Market Research titled Dental Implant Abutment Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) and Forecast (2017  2027) gives a brief overview of the global dental implant abutment systems market. This exhaustive research report delivers data analytics, analysis on key trends, drivers and restraints of the market along with the revenue forecast for the 10 year period 2017-2027. The report highlights the macroeconomic factors that are responsible for the growth of the market and presents the market size during the forecast period. According to the report estimations, the global dental implant abutment systems market is projected to be valued at more than US$ 1,000 Mn in 2017, and this is expected to reach a value above US$ 1,900 Mn by the end of 2027, growing at a robust CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period.Several factors are responsible for the growth of the global dental implant abutment systems market. One major driver of the markets growth is the increase in incidences of dental disorders. Also, the CAD/CAM technology is advancing at a fast pace, which has led to its growing adoption for implants. This technology is considered a relatively simple and cost-efficient solution in the implant procedure. Recent production improvements have made the technology cheaper than other technologies currently available in the market.Request Sample Report@However there are also a few factors that may hamper the markets revenue growth. Mostly it is seen that manufacturers are unable to meet the increasing market demand. This, along with increasing reimbursements and restrictions in dental treatments by regulatory boards is likely to hamper revenue growth of the market over the forecast period.The research report includes brief profiles of the key players in the global dental implant abutment systems market. Some of the companies mentioned in the report are Zest Anchors, Friadent GmbH, Zimmer Dental, Ditron Dental, Nobel Biocare Services AG, Institut Straumann AG, Dynamic Abutment Solutions etc.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @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:
Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market : Opportunity Assessment Study 2025

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Global Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: SnapshotConcerns regarding the rising levels of pollution and looming threat of global warming have escalated in the recent past and a number of countries, developed or developing, have come together to reduce these concerns. One of the primary reason of environmental damage is the poor compliance of regulatory by various companies, and governments are now bringing in stricter regulations, which in turn is encouraging companies to implement advanced processes of environmental health and safety (EHS) software and services, providing a thrust to the market for the same.The demand in the global environmental health and safety market is expected to increment at a strong CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025, owing to a number of factors such as government initiatives to protect the environment, incremented investment by end users, and reduced cost of environmental compliance software, which is leading to its adoption across small and medium businesses. On the other hand, there is still a vast population base that is unaware of the availability of the EHS software and are still depending on traditional methods. This factor is obstructing the market from attaining its true potential.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The competitive landscape of the global environmental health and safety market is highly dependent on product innovation, as there is strong need for products that can work efficiently and can be installed in different business setups of diverse companies. The EHS market is primarily used by industries pertaining to energy and mining, chemical and petrochemical, construction, manufacturing, telecom and IT, and healthcare. While a number of companies are also focused on strategic mergers and acquisitions in order to expand their geographical presence, satisfaction of the stakeholders, preservation of their brands, and development of solutions are also at the forefront for the key companies to maintain their strong hold.Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: OverviewA variety of chemicals have become unavoidable in our everyday lives. From computers, to medicines, cosmetic creams to paints and coatings. The chemical industry is one of the worlds largest industries, with products manufactured in the range of billions of tonnes every year. The industry and countries with established chemical industries therefore have a huge responsibility to ensure the safe usage and production of chemicals so that the associated activities do not pose harm to the human resources working in close proximity and the environment.Request TOC of the Report @Environment health and safety (EHS) tools allow companies to keep track of and properly manage activities that related to the production or usage of chemicals, especially the ones that are known to pose harm to health of living organisms and the environment, such as mercury or CFCs. Companies operating in sectors such as power production, mining, and construction also frequently use EHS tools to ensure that production and operation sites to adhere to environmental norms and regulations concerning occupational and environmental health and safety.Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe increasingly stringent health, safety, and environment laws, regulations, guidelines, and processes instigated in the past few years across leading chemical producing countries is the key factor driving the increased implementation of EHS tools across the industrial sector. Companies diligently adhering to environment- and resource-friendly manufacturing practices are increasingly investing in the deployment of effective EHS tools.Request Discount of the Report @In developing economies such as India, China, South Africa, and the UAE, the thriving industrial sector is encouraging the increased adoption of EHS tools. However, certain factors, such as the high costs involved in auditing complex production sites and the highly expensive services and solutions required to comply with EHS regulations are expected to hinder the overall rate of adoption of EHS tools to a certain extent.Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: Market PotentialChina is one of the largest producers of a number of chemicals and has immense scope for the implementation of EHS tools across companies involved in the production of a number of high-risk chemicals. Recent incidences of leakage of hazardous chemicals (the series of explosions on the Port of Tianjin in August 2015), leading to the death of hundreds of people and serious injuries to many more, have highlighted the pressing need for effective management of chemical production and storage sites. Post this incidence, the government has been paying more attention to the strict implementation of EHS rules and regulations.Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: Regional OverviewThe EHS market holds immense promise of growth in Asia Pacific owing to the established chemical industry and burgeoning construction and energy and mining sectors. The rate of implementation, however, is presently low in the region owing to high costs and is expected to increase in the future years owing to initiation of stringent EHS regulations in countries such as India, China, and Japan.The high costs of EHS tools largely restrict their overall adoption to developed economies across regions such as North America and Europe. North America presently accounts for the dominant share in the global implementation EHS software and services. The region is also expected to retain dominance owing to the stringent EHS regulations and policies and steady pace of development of the chemical and energy industries.Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Market: Competitive LandscapeThe market for EHS tools and services features a large number of companies, pointing towards a largely fragmented vendor landscape. The market features some of the worlds leading software development companies and several non-profit consulting organizations. Some of the leading vendors in the market are 3E Company, International Finance Corporation, IHS Inc., UL LLC, SAP SE, Medgate Inc., and Enablon North America 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
Fast Food Market Research Report and Outlook by 2025

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Global Fast Food Market : SnapshotGlobal fast food market is exhibiting a few trends that augur very well for the players venturing in this market. With increased disposable income, consumers are now opting to dine out more frequently than ever before. Changing lifestyle is leaving little time for proper homely meals and thereby augmenting the demand in the market for fast food, which are significantly quicker in terms preparation and consequently to deliver. Not only that, consumer preference for online food ordering owing to the ubiquity of smartphones has also escalated exponential in past decade. With technological advancements, consumers are now able to order and receive food in comfort of their homes and can also make the payments. Via extended and interactive menu, fast food vendors can now entice engagement and increment sales.Another important trend in the global fast food market is the emergence of new competitors who themselves may not be official restaurant themselves but involve a third-party delivery platform, recipe box delivery, meal delivery subscription services, and kitchen sharing apps. The global fast food market is also expected to gain from the penetration of high speed internet not only in the developed countries but also in emerging economies, competitive pricing, purpose-built cuisines, combination offers, automation and robot helped delivery, and technology aiding in do-it-yourself (DIY) functionality and enhanced expansion. As a result of all these new trends and drivers, the players in the global fast food market are opening to new opportunities and gaining ground over their competitors.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Fast Food Market: OverviewFast foods, as the name indicates, refer to mass-produced food products that can be easily prepared and quickly served. High on the taste and relatively low on the nutritional quotient, fast foods have become an important segment of the global food and beverages industry owing to their rising demand from people with busy lifestyles in the past few years. The market has witnessed significant expansion in developed as well as developing economies with bustling urban establishments.In the next few years as well, the market is expected to embark upon a healthy growth path, with demand mostly driven by the rising population of busy, urban people with high disposable incomes. However, the market dynamics is expected to see a significant transformation in terms of markets growth prospects across key regional markets; developed regions such as North America and Europe, which were previously considered high-growth markets, are expected to show slow growth and Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the one with the most promise.Request TOC of the Report @Global Fast Food Market: Market PotentialThe North America market for fast food products, despite witnessing growth at an exponential rate in the fast food markets early years, still remains large and lucrative. However, an evident shift in consumer preferences is swiftly weakening the overall promise of the fast food market in the region. In the next few years, Asia Pacific is expected to be the key driver of the global fast food market. A rapidly rising population of consumers with busy lifestyles, high disposable incomes, and keenness to explore world cuisines are some of the factors leading to ample growth opportunities for the fast food industry in the region.Several global fast food giants are keen to enter into this densely populated and highly opportune market, which also happens to be one of the most active regions in the world when it comes to expansion of international franchises. Owing to factors such as regional integration and the ever-rising scale of globalization, many fast food franchises have been observing immense success. In the next few years as well, the fast food market will be driven in the region on the back of a rapidly rising young population with immensely busy lifestyles, high disposable incomes, and changing food preferences.Request Discount of the Report @Global Fast Food Market: Regional AnalysisFrom a geographical perspective, the global fast food market is presently dominated by North America and Asia Pacific. These two regions collectively command a massive share in the global market in terms of overall consumption and production of fast food products. While the market in North America is expected to witness a downturn in terms of demand in the next few years, the Asia Pacific market is expected to witness expansion at an immense pace in the next few years. The Europe market, similar to North America, is expected to witness growth at a slow pace owing to the increased focus on consumption of natural and home-made foods.Global Fast Food Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market for fast food products features a highly competitive, dynamic, and fragmented vendor landscape. In a bid to win back consumers in developed economies, companies are switching to natural ingredients, organic produce, and naturally-grown meats to increase the health quotient of popular fast food varieties. To establish businesses in developing economies, strategies such as quick-fire international expansion, product innovations, and upgrades in dining experience are being employed by leading companies. Some of the key players operating in the global fast food market are Wendys International Inc., Jack in the Box Inc., McDonalds Corporation, Doctors Associates Inc., Dominos Pizza Inc., Burger King Worldwide Inc., and Yum! Brands 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
Biochar Market : Research Report Production, Revenue, Status and Outlook 2017-2025

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Global Biochar Market: SnapshotThe global biochar market is observing a significantly high rise in its valuation, thanks to the increasing preference for organic food among consumers across the world. The ability of biochar to improve the fertility of soil and enhance the growth of plants has surfaced as the main factor behind the growth of this market. Currently, synthetic and several other bio-based fertilizers are dominating the agricultural scenario, globally. However, the awareness about the benefits of biochar is spreading gradually among farmers and agriculturists, thereby, creating massive opportunities for further growth of this market in the coming years.The global market for biochar includes both organized and unorganized manufacturers of biochar. Emerging countries, such as Japan, Brazil, China, and Mexico report of a prominent amount of biochar production from the unorganized sector, primarily manufactured by villagers in association with research institutes and various non-governmental support groups. However, the number of the organized players is anticipated to increase substantially in these countries over the next few years, thanks to the escalating demand for organic food, worldwide.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The full potential of biochar is yet to be realized in the agricultural sector and is projected to surface as a particularly important factor in the overall progression of the food sector in the near future. Water treatment is projected to emerge as an important application area of biochar in the years to come, especially in developing economies.Global Biochar Market: OverviewBiochar is a time-honored soil amendment practice and also a fine solution to climate change effects. Regions with insufficient supply of chemical fertilizers, organic resources, and water can significantly benefit from this highly porous and fine-grained charcoal. Along with bioenergy, it can displace fossil fuel usage and sequester carbon in well-balanced soil carbon pools to tackle climate change. Biochar has won worldwide appreciation for its unique soil enhancing properties with the widespread prominence of the Amazons biochar-rich dark lands.Global Biochar Market: Key TrendsWith a substantial rise in population size, organic food has drew in a lot of demand, owing to which the biochar market is expected to invite a handsome growth. The credit for this growth could be given to biochars propensity for improving plant development and soil fertility. The improving agricultural industry in different nations such as Australia, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. is anticipated to aggravate the demand for biochar. As a result, the global market is predicted to record a healthy growth over the coming years.Request TOC of the Report @Large-scale gasification projects receiving support from Europe and North America governments and the increasing performance of organic farming are projected to put the world biochar market is a good position. The rise in meat consumption and growing significance of biochar in livestock farming benefiting with key nutrients are forecasted to set the tone for the market.The growth in the global biochar market could be impeded on account of technological and financial barriers. Besides this, the ignorance of consumers on the part of biochars long-term advantages is foretold to delay the market growth. Howbeit, a considerable expansion of the market is expected to occur as organic food and farming open up new opportunities.Global Biochar Market: Market PotentialBiochar possesses a massive potential to reduce the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, in fact, virtually every greenhouse emission. This could be an epic breakthrough in the elimination of climate-warming black carbon. Capable of enduring the test of time for survival, this super charcoal can sequester carbon dioxide many times longer than trees. For producers which operate in areas where labor cost is economical but maintenance expenditure is large, biochar production could be ideal. This is because of the simple and low-priced equipment required to convert soy hay and other wastes into biochar. In a way, the biochar market is deemed to be a great medium to minimize the gap between smart business and smart environmentalism.Request Discount of the Report @Global Biochar Market: Regional OutlookThe biochar sector is envisaged to be developed at a telling rate on the back of regions such as Europe and North America, registering an elevating rise in the count of small and medium scale manufacturers. A steady progress is foreseen to be witnessed by Australia as the awareness about the advantages and benefits of biochar escalates across the country. Followed by Europe, North America is prognosticated to record a dominant share in the global biochar market. Producers of biochar can also find opportunities in other markets such as Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.Global Biochar Market: Competitive LandscapePlayers in the biochar market receive support from companies supplying pyrolysis technology and wood pellets and residue. Phoenix Energy, Cool Planet Energy Systems Inc., Pacific Pyrolysis, and 3R ENVIRO TECH Group are some of the top firms involved in the pyrolysis technology business. Wood pellets and residue are primarily provided by timber businesses such as West Fraser, Georgia-Pacific, and Weyerhaeuser. Out of the prominent biochar players in the international market, Biochar Supreme, LLC is prophesied to make the cut. The analysts anticipate the market to own a fragmented character.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 Mobile Robot Platforms Market Sees Promising Growth in 2018

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Mobile Robot Platforms Market Professional Survey Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Mobile Robot Platforms has been analyzed in great details in a newly added market report. It provides an in-depth peek into the factors providing headwinds and tailwinds to the market. It also studies the trends shaping its contours.The report divides the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms by various relevant criteria and studies each segment in details to furnish a thorough overview of the market. The different regional segments of the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms have been studied in great details using both historical and recent figures. This data has been studied with the different growth driver and deterrents, to unravel the trajectory of the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms.For more information on this report, fill the Free Sample form @The report banks upon popular analytical tools, namely SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis to offer a quantitative and qualitative overview of the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms. Data accumulated using such tools has been then scrutinized by leading experts in the industry to discover important opportunities and trends in the market.In order to prepare the report on the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms, industry pundits have been interviewed for their viewpoint on the market. This serves to make the report an authoritative guide to the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms.The report sheds light on the leading players in the global market for Mobile Robot Platforms. It examines their products, key strategies, sales and revenues, standing in the market, and prospects going forward.Some of the important questions the report seeks to provide an answer for are:Which are the factors that are shaping the growth in the market?Which factors are serving to crimp growth in the market?Where is the market headed vis-a-vis growth rate in the foreseeable future?Who are some of the major players in the market?What are the main products of the prominent companies?Check Discount @List of Tables and FiguresTable Major Consumers in OtherFigure Market Share of Mobile Robot Platforms by RegionsFigure North America Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure China Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Europe Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Southeast Asia Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Japan Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure India Mobile Robot Platforms Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Table Mobile Robot Platforms Raw Material and SuppliersTable Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Mobile Robot Platforms in 2016Figure Manufacturing Process Analysis of Mobile Robot PlatformsFigure Industry Chain Structure of Mobile Robot PlatformsAbout USQYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.Contact US1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Sugar Spheres Market Analysis by Technology, Products, Application, Segments, Verticals, Geography, Company Profiles, Equipment & Forecast to 2022

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Sugar spheres are a widely used excipient for sustained-release pellet formulations.The report on the Global Sugar Spheres Market is a comprehensive overview of the market, covering various aspects such as product definition, segmentation based on various parameters, distribution channel, supply chain analysis, and the prevailing vendor landscape. An in-depth regional classification of the market is also included herein. The report also presents a round-up of vulnerabilities which companies operating in the market must avoid in order to enjoy sustainable growth through the course of the forecast period.The market study, Global Sugar Spheres Industry 2017, has been compiled by industry experts and is based on a comprehensive analysis of this market in the world. The geographical distribution and various segments of the market are extensively studied in this report. The report also examines the market on the basis of the products. The pricing of products, production volume, supply chain dynamics, revenue generated as well as the policies influencing production are all described in this market study.Download Sample Copy:A market study based on the Sugar Spheres across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Sugar Spheres Market 2017. The Research report is a market-oriented, technical, and commercial research analysis of this market. Primary sources included for the analysis include preferred suppliers, industry experts from core and associated industries, manufacturers, service providers, distributors, and organizations allied to the entire segments of the industry supply chain.The analysis is completed using a wide range of secondary sources, databases and directories in order to identify and assemble market data. After the basic information, the Sugar Spheres Market report sheds light on the production. Production plants, their capacities, Global production and revenue are studied. Also, the Sugar Spheres Industry growth in various regions and R&D status are also covered.Top Manufacturers covered in this report: The Top Players including Colorcon, Zhuhai Rundu Pharmaceutical Co, Pharm-a-spheres, Pharmatrans Sanaq AG, M. B. Sugars & Pharmaceuticals Limited, Emilio Castelli, Nanjing JoyfulchemFor more Information:Further in the Sugar Spheres Industry Analysis report, this Market is examined for price, cost and gross. These three points are analyzed for types, companies and regions. In continuation with this data sale price is for various types, applications and region is also included. The Market consumption for major regions is given. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption figures are also given.Major Region includes:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaIn this Market report analysis, traders and distributors analysis is given along with contact details. For material and equipment suppliers also, contact details are given. New investment feasibility analysis and Sugar Spheres Industry growth is included in the report.To provide information on competitive landscape, this report includes detailed profiles of Sugar Spheres Market key players. For each player, product details, capacity, price, cost, gross and revenue numbers are given. Their contact information is provided for better understanding.Complete Report:About 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:Jones John(Sales Manager)QYReports+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.com
Global Artemisinin Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts, 2017 To 2022

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This report presents a 360-degree overview of the competitive scenario of the Global Artemisinin market. The report includes massive data relating to the recent product and technological developments observed in the market, complete with an analysis of the impact of these advancements on the markets future development. The research report analyzes the global Artemisinin market in a detailed manner by explaining the key aspects of the market that are expected to have a quantifiable influence on its developmental prospects over the forecast period.This research report on Artemisinin provides detailed analysis on the main growth prospects and challenges in the market. This research study is expected to guide the new and existing key players in the market in making current business decisions in order to sustain in the rigid competition of the global Artemisinin market. The report sheds light on the main product portfolios, geographical segments, key applications, and the competitive landscape of the global Artemisinin market that have been mentioned in the study.Get Sample Copy of this Report:Key Players:Sanofi, KPC Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Guangxi xiancaotang pharmaceutical Co., LTD, Guilin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Kerui nanhai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Shanghai Natural Bio-engineering Co., Ltd, PIDI Standard, Novanat Bioresource Co., Ltd, CATKHANH CO., Ltd, Botanical Extracts EPZ Ltd, BIONEXXThe report starts with an overview of the existing market, presents an exhaustive analysis of various dynamics such as drivers, trends, restraints, and opportunities. It also provides valuation and prospects of various segments, and finishes off with a view of the competitive landscape by profiling a number of players who are currently holding a position of strength in the global Artemisinin market.A detailed evaluation of the competitive landscape of the global Artemisinin market has also been presented in this market study. Researchers have reviewed the profiles of the leading companies functional in this market in a bid to assess their growth prospects and the key strategies they have adopted for the development of their businesses.Avail Discount up to 30% on this report now at:The research report makes use of industry-centric tools for market analysis to gauge the scope of the competitive landscape of the global Artemisinin market in current as well as future market scenarios. The competition in the global market is evaluated on the basis of key market player operating at both regional as well as global. The report also discusses the associations and business partnerships among the key players operating in the market.Further, the study offers an analysis of the current performance of the key regional markets, namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The analysis is based on the manufacturing volume, production capacity, pricing strategy, the dynamics of demand, supply, and sales, return on investments (RoI), and the growth rate of the global Artemisinin market in each of the regions.Get Complete Report@:About 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
Media Preview and soft opening took place on National Spaghetti Day,

with special guests Mickey and Minnie Mouse.



LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (January 5, 2018)  Patina Restaurant Group (PRG) yesterday opened the doors for a media preview and soft opening that showcased the stunning new Italian restaurant located at the reimagined Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort  Maria & Enzos Ristorante.

The new dining destination brings to Disney Springs the warmth of Italy and the dreamiest Italian cuisine this side of the Atlantic, courtesy of Executive Chef Theo Schoenegger. The restaurant will officially begin serving dinner to the public on January 5. Lunch and brunch service will begin later this month (updated hours and special events available on the restaurants Facebook page).

Fittingly, the media sneak peek on January 4 coincided with National Spaghetti Day, providing the perfect Italian backdrop for the occasion. A dedication ceremony featured Italian ambassadors, chefs, executives from Patina Restaurant Group, Delaware North (Patina Restaurant Groups parent company), Disney; and very special guests Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

Disney restaurants often have a backstory, part of the companys tradition of immersive storytelling. Mirroring that tradition, Patina Restaurant Group collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering to create the story for Maria & Enzos.

The story behind Maria and Enzo is one of travel, food, love and friendship, all steeped in Italian tradition, said Valenti, referring to the backstory of Maria and Enzo, an Italian couple that immigrated to Central Florida in the 1920s. Their story is set in a long-forgotten sea-plane air terminal that became the setting for the restaurant.

We couldnt be happier to have a chef as talented as Theo Schoenegger, Valenti continued. A native Italian with an incredible repertoire, his cooking has a delicious authenticity that brings the story to life.

Following the dedication, media and special guests enjoyed the food and hospitality at Maria & Enzos Ristorante, where Chef Schoenegger presented a variety of signature dishes including, of course, spaghetti in honor of National Spaghetti Day.

Maria & Enzos Ristorante

An intimate Italian trattoria set in the once-abandoned Disney Springs airline terminal from the 1930s, now transformed into a restaurant. The dining room is open and airy, featuring 50-foot ceilings with views of Lake Buena Vista. The restaurant interiors showcase artifacts that recall air travel of the time, with brightly illustrated pictographs, reimagined air terminal boarding gates and a First Class Lounge where randomly selected guests are upgraded upon arrival. The menu, created by Michelin star-rated Chef Theo Schoenegger, features a variety of handmade pastas including Busiate con Granchio (spiral pasta with crab), Rigatoni all Norma (eggplant, chile, tomato, ricotta salata) and Ncasciata al Forno (Sicilian baked pasta)  served tableside. Other highlights include Braciola di Maiale (Berkshire pork chop, plum mostarda), Nodino di Vitello (grilled veal chop) and Tonno (grilled ahi tuna steak, pistachio pesto) all served with rosemary potatoes and tempura fried vegetables. The spectacular wine list of more than 100 bottles is  lovingly  primarily Italian. The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to 12 midnight daily, with weekend brunch coming soon.

The backstory is that the restaurant was the dream of Maria and Enzo who met in Italy before moving to Florida and wanted to introduce Italian cuisine to the townfolk of the bustling Disney Springs. An airline pilot, Enzo was drawn to an abandoned airline terminal, which became the spacious setting for the restaurant.

Enzos Hideaway Tunnel Bar

A speakeasy inspired by Roman aperitivo bars, located in the storied rum-runner tunnels that adjoin Maria & Enzos. Inspired by Floridas true history of rum running, Enzos Hideaway pours Prohibition-era cocktails and serves a casual menu of hearty Roman dishes, such as the citys legendary Bucatini alla Carbonara (hollow spaghetti with creamy egg and pancetta sauce) and Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe (square-cut spaghetti with pecorino and black pepper). In honor of the weekly dinners Enzo hosted for family and friends, the tunnel bar hosts Sunday Supper, a family-style meal each week. Enzos Hideaway Tunnel Bar is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily.

The backstory tells the tale of Enzo and Maria discovering a long-hidden cavern below the terminal that connected to abandoned sections of the next-door power plant (which today is called The Edison). To Enzos astonishment, he came across a Prohibition-era hideaway where a team of flying rum-runners once gathered. Evidence of smuggler activity was everywhere, untouched for decades. Bottles and casks of rum were found along with a roster of flying operatives and their code names. It was a fascinating glimpse at an unknown chapter of the towns past. Enzo shared his discovery with the local historical society and also decided that the space might make an irresistible spot for dining and socializing. Now it is a cozy gem of a hideaway for Enzo to highlight the family recipes he grew up on, featuring specialties from Rome and nearby regions.

Pizza Ponte

A fast-casual concept and the perfect place for a quick bite serving pastries, pizza, Italian sandwiches, and espresso. Pastry specialties include Bomboloni (Italian doughnuts) Sfoglia di Riso (pastry with rice cream) and Tiramisu. Savory items include signature Triangolo (stuffed pizza bread) sandwiches, Porchetta (roast pork) and Pizza al Taglio, Sicilian-style pizza by the slice. Pizza Ponte is open from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight daily.

The backstory reveals that Maria began a simple cafe inside the lobby of what was once the bustling Disney Springs air terminal. Pastries and pasta were the initial offerings, but eventually the family was able to install wood-fired pizza ovens that helped make them even more successful. Pizza Ponte is accessed from the entrance beneath the air terminals old Control Tower. Within this entrance, guests can view family photos from Maria and Enzos many cousins, uncles, aunts and others who began to arrive as their business began to thrive. An elegant wraparound window anchors the space and catches a lot of attention from pedestrians crossing the bridge from the Disney Springs West Side. Offerings reflect many of the most popular foods from both Marias roots in Southern Italy and Enzos favorites from the region around Rome.

For more information on these Patina Restaurant Group restaurants, visit www.patinagroup.com or visit the restaurants on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @MariaAndEnzos, @EnzosHideaway and @PizzaPonteFla.

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New Report inspects Copper Gluconate Market Trends, Drivers, Strategies, Segmentation Application, Technology & Market Analysis Research Report to 2021

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This report presents a 360-degree overview of the competitive scenario of the Global Copper Gluconate market. The report includes massive data relating to the recent product and technological developments observed in the market, complete with an analysis of the impact of these advancements on the markets future development. The research report analyzes the global Copper Gluconate market in a detailed manner by explaining the key aspects of the market that are expected to have a quantifiable influence on its developmental prospects over the forecast period.This research report on Copper Gluconate provides detailed analysis on the main growth prospects and challenges in the market. This research study is expected to guide the new and existing key players in the market in making current business decisions in order to sustain in the rigid competition of the global Copper Gluconate market. The report sheds light on the main product portfolios, geographical segments, key applications, and the competitive landscape of the global Copper Gluconate market that have been mentioned in the study.Get Sample Copy of this Report:Key Players:Jost Chemical, Salvi Chemical Industries Limited, Zygosome, Shanpar, Global Calcium, Kelatron, Novotech, Tomita Pharmaceutical, Fuso Chemical Company, Xinhong Pharmaceutical, Xingzhou Medicine Foods, Ruipu Biological, Fuqiang Food Chemical, Tianyi Food AdditivesThe report starts with an overview of the existing market, presents an exhaustive analysis of various dynamics such as drivers, trends, restraints, and opportunities. It also provides valuation and prospects of various segments, and finishes off with a view of the competitive landscape by profiling a number of players who are currently holding a position of strength in the global Copper Gluconate market.A detailed evaluation of the competitive landscape of the global Copper Gluconate market has also been presented in this market study. Researchers have reviewed the profiles of the leading companies functional in this market in a bid to assess their growth prospects and the key strategies they have adopted for the development of their businesses.Avail Discount up to 30% on this report now at:The research report makes use of industry-centric tools for market analysis to gauge the scope of the competitive landscape of the global Copper Gluconate market in current as well as future market scenarios. The competition in the global market is evaluated on the basis of key market player operating at both regional as well as global. The report also discusses the associations and business partnerships among the key players operating in the market.Further, the study offers an analysis of the current performance of the key regional markets, namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The analysis is based on the manufacturing volume, production capacity, pricing strategy, the dynamics of demand, supply, and sales, return on investments (RoI), and the growth rate of the global Copper Gluconate market in each of the regions.Get Complete Report@:About 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
Global Virtual Schools Market 2017 Overview by Key Finding, Scope, Top Impacting Factors, Investment Pockets, Drivers and Restraints

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The report offers an insightful overview of the Global Virtual Schools Market. The global market is dynamic with a number of factors impacting the growth of the market. Hence, it is difficult for organizations to analyze the market scenario. Addressing this issue, the report analyzes historical data regarding the markets growth with the help of primary and secondary research methods. The key factors governing the growth of the global market have been studied and the size and valuation of the market in the coming years have been projected in the reportThe regions which have been examined thoroughly are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. This helps achieve better idea about the blowout of this specific market in particular regions. A list of leading industrialists has been given major value to ensure their approaches are understood in this specific market.Get Sample Copy of this Report:Key Companies Profile :Connections EducationK12 IncMosaica EducationWhite Hat ManagementThis research report helps provide insights into innovations, opportunities and new development in the Virtual Schools and its connected industries. It includes vital trends and dynamics of the market at regional as well as global level for the given forecast period. For a pervasive understanding of the market, business strategies and latest developments of the vital players accompanied with co-development deals and market size have also been enclosed. Briefly citing, their revenue share, contact information and meticulous SWOT analysis is available.This report defines the specifications, applications, classifications of Virtual Schools market and explains the industrial chain structure in detail. Recent policies and developments are researched in depth to help enhance this report. A detailed cost structure is examined and prices are coated by labors, raw material supplier and others. An insight about demand supply chain is also mentioned in detail.Avail Discount up to 30% on this report now at:This report includes data collected from market leaders across the value chain and has been evaluated in detail. Considering various sections of the report, information on the growth of this particular market during the mentioned forecast period is stated in detail. Drivers, constraints, trends, impact and development are one of the many key parts of the report.Analysis tools such as SWOT analysis and Porters five force model have been inculcated in order to present a perfect in-depth knowledge about Virtual Schools market. Ample graphs, tables, charts are added to help have an accurate understanding of this market. The Virtual Schools market is also been analyzed in terms of value chain analysis and regulatory analysis.For more information/ Ask your queries:A major chunk of the report talks about the technologies that are and will influence the growth of the Virtual Schools market. Forecasts for these technology sectors are presented in the report. Integration is the key to advancement in technology in the global Virtual Schools market. Companies that offers the latest integrated technologies at an affordable cost are expected to thrive in the Virtual Schools market. The dominating technologies in the Virtual Schools market along with the upcoming technologies that are expected to revolutionize the market are explained in the reportThe report also elaborates on the opportunities the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America offer. Furthermore, the cost of raw materials in these nations is low, while the availability is high. This has turned the heads of several major international companies to the emerging countries of Asia Pacific.Get Complete Report@:About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact us:Mr. Sunny DenisContact No. +1-888-631-6977sales@researchnreports.com(ResearchnReports)
New Research on Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Industry Global Market Trend, Share, Profit, Growth and Key Manufacturers Analysis Report 2018

Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market

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ITaaS is an IT operating method that provides the amount of hardware, software, and support your organization needs. Today, not limited to cloud computing technology models such as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, companies are increasingly using virtualization with the ITaaS model. The various benefits associated with the ITaaS model include both simplicity and standardization of the products and services offered by the IT department, reduced consumption costs, improved IT efficiency, and improved financial transparency, thereby enhancing business agility and flexibility.With all the information congregated and examined using SWOT analysis, there is a vivacious picture of the competitive landscape of the Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market. Openings for the future market development were revealed and preoccupied competitive dangers likewise textured. The drifts and inclinations of this market were considered and it demonstrates that there was an illustrious strategic direction observed. By the grasping market foundation and using the determined standards, methodologies, and inclinations of other driving markets for references, market data was understood.Companies Profiled In This Report:Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, HP, IBM, MicrosoftAccess Sample Copy:By Regions, this report covers North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, IndiaA deeper knowledge of the Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market could be attained through this report as the researchers have attempted to unveil important distributors and traders and vital factors such as market positioning and marketing channel. Readers have been offered with an intelligent analysis of marketing strategy for the sales while focusing on elements such as target client, brand strategy, and pricing strategy. With a view to helping understand the concept of a marketing channel for glass beads sales, the researchers have exposed some of the significant trends of marketing channel development, indirect marketing, and direct marketing.The report also looks into influential external factors likely to affect the development of the Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market in the coming years. These include the technological framework of the industry and likely advances expected in the coming years, consumer preference patterns, economic environment, and the demand for alternative technologies and devices. The report presents studied 2018-2023 forecasts for the Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market.Access to Remarkable Discount & Benefits on This Report:In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the market have been presented. These manufacturers have been analyzed in terms of their manufacturing base, basic information, and competitors. In addition, the technology and product type introduced by each of these manufacturers also form a key part of this section of the report. The recent developments that took place in the Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market and their impact on the future growth of the market have also been presented through this study.For More Information:Table of Contents:Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1: Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Global IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) Market ForecastIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Access This Report Now: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
Global Personal Cloud Market Research Report to 2022 Profiling key players like Amazon, Apple, Google, Seagate, Box, Microsoft, Dropbox, Engyte, Buffalo Technology and Sygarsync

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The Global Private / Pesonal Cloud Market is a storage platform that allows customers to access, synchronize and share stored data on a variety of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In the digital age, the need to store and share personal and professional data is growing. Due to the rapidly growing technology-savvy population, demand for cloud computing services has increased significantly in recent years. With the increasing use of camera-equipped devices such as smartphones and tablets, the need for a secure platform for storing digital content has increased. Personal cloud services facilitate the storage and sharing of files between employees and businesses that adopt the BYOD trend.The personal cloud service enhances the storage, accessibility, and sharing of user data with enhanced security. They have set a new standard for individuals to take advantage of cloud computing services by providing a better user experience and ease of use. The number of social media sites on smartphones and broadband connections has surged and soared, driving the growth of personal cloud services. The most prevalent application compared to other applications is the use of a day service that stores photos, videos, contacts, and other important files between individuals. With multiple devices, you can quickly adopt a personal cloud solution between individuals. In the future, these services will increase the adoption of private cloud services as the need for a data storage platform is expected to generate widespread demand for individual and corporate customers.For Sample Copy of this report:The personal cloud service value chain consists of three main components. Developers, cloud service providers and end users. The value chain in the personal cloud market begins with application developers who develop applications to use personal cloud services on computers, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile handheld devices. Cloud service providers provide cloud hosting services to customers known as provider hosting through data centers.The global personal cloud market is categorized by deployment type, revenue type, and hosting type. Deployment types fall into the following categories: individual customers, small businesses, and medium businesses. The hosting type divides the market into user hosting and hosting providers. Revenue types divide the market into direct and indirect revenue. Geographically, markets are categorized as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Llama (Latin America, Middle East and Africa).Avail Discount;he dramatic increase in digital content, the need to store and access data anytime and anywhere, the optimal control and security of stored data; We are promoting the adoption of personal clouds among small businesses as well as individual consumers. The increasing use of camera-equipped smartphones and tablet PCs for personal use has driven the demand for personal cloud services, while the use of personal devices at work (commonly known as BOD (Your Bring Your Own Device) Provides personal cloud services. Individuals were the highest type of distribution that generated sales worldwide in 2016. However, small business placement types constitute the fastest CAGR during the forecast period of 2017-2022.A personal cloud can set storage space in the data center of the service provider as well as the user's home and can be accessed over the Internet. This will help users to view and stream documents from an Internet-connected device such as a smartphone, laptop, or tablet.As the demand for solutions that can provide real-time access to employees while keeping documents secure increases, organizations can implement personal cloud services within their businesses. As more and more employees were required to have their offices in different locations and require real-time access, personal cloud service providers had to offer a variety of personal cloud offerings, including applications, technologies and devices.Buy Complete report now at USD 2900 :Under changing scenarios, companies are demanding advanced solutions to expand their markets and improve profit margins. Personal cloud applications, developed by application developers at low cost, are leading the market for personal cloud. Digital accident and disaster recovery plans and growing data generation activities are creating a personal cloud marketplace in all regions.The personal cloud market consists of major players such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Seagate, Box, Microsoft, Dropbox, Engyte, Buffalo Technology and Sygarsync.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
Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market Analysis, Industrial Growth, future Outlook, Supply, Market Demand, Market strategy, Cost Structure, and SWOT Analysis, Price Trend by major Companies players

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Our analysts forecast the Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market to grow at a CAGR of +21% during the period.Commenting on the report, an analyst from the research team said: Increased adoption of cloud analytics will be a key trend for market growth. Cloud analytic services among SMBs have gained significant recognition in recent years. The adoption of cloud analytics services has increased among SMBs to get meaningful insights from structured data. Big data and analytics services are playing an important role in the business development of SMBs. The earlier majority of the SMBs were using on-premise cloud analytics solutions, but now approximately 52% of the SMBs are using cloud-based analytics solutions.Get Sample Report @The market is characterized by the presence of several cloud computing companies providing cloud computing solutions for SMBs and as a result, the competitive environment in the market is quite fierce. Vendors usually compete on the basis of product features and competitive pricing. To cater the specific needs of the customers, vendors have started investing in developing customized cloud-based solutions. The Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market is a remarkably classified, specialty market with the presence of a predetermined number of merchants.Key Players Profiled in this Report:AWS, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, AT&T, Birst, CA Technologies, Canto, HPE, RackSpace, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, VMware.Regions Covered:United States, North America, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and RoW.Leading players in the Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market are profiled in the report to understand their role in the market and their upcoming strategies. The manufacturing base of each key player and their share in the market for each product and application segment of the Cloud Spending by SMBs market have been described in the report. Various marketing channels and strategies likely to bear fruit in the 2017-2022 period have been described in the report to help readers formulate winning strategies.Get Reasonable Discount on this Report:The research report tries to understand the innovative approaches taken by vendors in the global Cloud Spending by SMBs market to offer product differentiation through Porters five forces analysis. It also points out the ways in which these companies can strengthen their stand in the market and increase their revenues in the coming years. Ongoing technological advancements and the unstoppable penetration of Internet in the remote corners of the world are also responsible for the remarkable growth of the global market.Some of the factors posing a challenge and restricting the growth of the Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market include changing regulatory compliances, dynamic business activities, and volatile economic conditions. Lack of knowledge about energy consumption and capacity limitation will be other factors inhibiting the growth of this market to the fullest potential.For More Information:Table of ContentsGlobal Cloud Spending by SMBs Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Global Cloud Spending by SMBs Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Cloud Spending By SMBs Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisCloud Spending by SMBs market is also explained to the clients as a holistic snapshot of a competitive landscape within the given competitive forecast period. A comparative analysis of regional players and segmentations, which helps readers get a better understanding of the areas and resources with better understanding.About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin  77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com,
Marin County, California, is often credited as being the birthplace of mountain biking, but even though it's been nearly 50 years since those early pioneers first put tires to dirt, the area is still embroiled in controversy about exactly where mountain bikes are allowed to ride. The recent arrest of two cyclists for riding on Marin open space land continues the saga.According to an article in the Marin Independent Journal, Dr. Paul Cameron and Dr. David Carbonell were spotted riding on a trail that's closed to mountain bikers, and rode away when a deputy tried to stop them. Both were later apprehended and charged with riding their bikes illegally, along with resisting arrest. Dr. Carbonell is the co-founder of the New Trails Paradigm Group, an organization that has publicly expressed its frustration with the exclusion of mountain bikers from trails in the Marin area.The article describing the incident states, "Marin County Park and Open Space Superintendent Ari Golan said the fine for riding illegally on open space land is $45 for a first offense. Golan said additional court costs, however, increase the total cost to $199. The fine for a second offense is $100, which amounts to a total cost of $410. All violations after that carry a fine of $150, which actually adds up to $615, Golan said. The charge of resisting arrest carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and imprisonment in a county jail for up to a year."The turmoil and frustration surrounding mountain biking in Marin is no secret - Vernon Felton's op-ed , which was inspired by the announcement that radar guns were going to be used to enforce bicycle speed limits, did an excellent job of illustrating exactly what the situations is like, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if it's going to change any time soon. As Vernon so aptly put it, "Marin County has been an absolutely horrid place to actually ride a mountain bike since, oh, about 1983."
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure dates all of the way back to 2004 when Gus Hansen won the inaugural PCA Main Event on the Voyager of the Seas cruise ship. The following year the series moved to the Atlantis Casino and Resort in Nassau where it has remained ever since, with the PCA name for the series returning in 2018.

This week the PCA is back, and PokerNews is returning to the Bahamas as well for coverage of all of the marquee events, including the $10,300 Main Event.

As a way to relive the exciting finishes to the most recent Main Events in the Bahamas, below find eight multiple-choice questions concerning odds and outs for the final hands of each.

Get six of eight right to pass the quiz, and when you finish check the "Top results" to see how you finished versus others. If logged in here at PokerNews, your username will appear. Need an account? Click here.
On January 2, the official Twitter account of the American National WWII Museum tweeted an announcement about an upcoming historical tour dedicated to the topic of the Baltic region prior to and during the Second World War.

The tour, entitled Tyranny on Two Fronts, purported to explore the tangled web of alliances along the Baltic Sea coast during World War II and to trace the complicated decisions the Baltic nations faced as wartime pressure mounted on them to collaborate with either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

Nikolai Lakhonin, press secretary of the Russian Embassy in the U.S., retweeted the announcement.

While some content mentioned by the press secretary is not untrue, per se, his Tweet has a number of problems.

The first and most obvious is that the United States and Soviet Union were not allies during 1939-1940, the period when the Baltic States were absorbed into the Soviet Union and Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union in what would become known as the Winter War. The U.S. allied with the USSR after June 22, 1941, when the Axis powers invaded the latter.

Prior to that invasion, in August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, which entailed a considerable amount of economic and political cooperation. Under a secret protocol to that pact, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, among other territories in Eastern Europe, were assigned to the sphere of the USSR, thus providing for the later annexation of those territories.

In fact, the Russian press secretarys comment about how Lithuania got its modern capital of Vilnius is a reference to another event that took place thanks to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact -- the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 16-17, 1939. Prior to the invasion, Vilnius was part of the Polish Second Republic and known as Wilno. After the Soviet invasion, the Polish-occupied territories of Western Belarus, part of Lithuania, and the Western Ukrainian territories of Galicia and Volyn were joined to their respective Soviet republics.

Russias official account of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact has been controversial in recent years. Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the pact, stating that the USSR only entered the agreement after it had failed to secure an anti-Hitler coalition with Great Britain and France. While there is some truth to this argument, it also ignores the wealth of crucial material aid (particularly oil, grain, and raw materials) the Soviet Union provided Nazi Germany, including during the latters war with the Allied powers right up until the night of the German invasion of the USSR. In fact, Soviet material aid to Germany actually made the invasion of the USSR militarily and economically feasible.

The topic of Molotov-Ribbentrop is so controversial in contemporary Russia that deviating from official history can have legal consequences. In one such case, a court in the city of Perm sentenced a blogger to pay a 200,000 ruble fine for sharing an article which mentioned the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.

It is not clear to what extent the Holocaust in the Baltic region is covered by the American National WWII Museums tour, but based on the description, it appears that the topic of collaboration with the German occupation forces is covered. Such collaboration occurred in virtually every occupied nation during World War II, including Russia. Russian collaborationist units included the so-called Russian Liberation Army, the 29th Waffen SS Brigade, the SS Druzhina Brigade, and various Cossack units, among others.
The author of this piece is a new resident of 'Leisure Land', the setting of Alexander Payne's new film "Downsizing", starring Matt Damon, out now in theaters. He tells us his storya firsthand account of the decline of society and mass genocide that occurred after the movie timeline concluded.

by Anonymous Downsized Person

At first, Leisure Land seemed great.

When shrinking to 0.06% mass became a pop culture craze, I thought why not? Career middle-managers and lonely elderly folks were already doing it. Matt Damon's character did it, and so did Jason Sudekis', and Christoph Waltz'. After all, it was a win-win, they told me: restart my life anew, become a millionaire, and save the planet along the way.

The whole place is made out like a doll house village. Amusement parks, trimmed lawns and perfectly paved roadsit's like Connecticut the 1950's, except littler. I was driven right to the front door of my own mansion, fitted with marble floors and a golden duvet. I even got my own team of maids. All government-subsidized.

But things quickly started to turn. Here's the truth; the story of what happened after Matt Damon helped the poor people and found himself along the way. Here's the story they wouldn't put on camera...

When I arrived for my first day at my new job, I found I couldn't do the work. It was the strangest thing: writing, reading, simple arithmeticeverything that came so easily to me before now seemed utterly impossible. It's like my brain was...smaller.... When I went to check WebMD, I couldn't find any computers. It turns out mobile computing isn't possible in Leisure Land, since Moore's Law prevents high-speed devices from functioning properly on a small enough scale to accommodate the downsized.

I got more accustomed to things after those first few days. I tried dating but it didn't quite stickit seems a transformation of body and lifestyle tends to not attract the most beautiful and well-balanced of normal-sized people. I became lonely, so I started buying little-on-big dirty magazines. Most of the headlines in the daily newspaper were about accidental deathslacerations from grass blades, death by pebble, etc...

And then, there came the extreme weather: rain.

After the first event, half the town's residencies had been flooded by puddles. Roofs caved in from the raindrop bombs, and all low-lying areas ceased to exist. We tried picking up the pieces through a community rebuilding effort, which only revealed a larger issue: Leisure Land was functionally bankrupt.

Yes, it turns out that an economy composed only of the super rich can't actually function that way long-term. When historians write of this time, they'll note how an insufficient working-class meant lots of rich people were asking for things that nobody was available to make. There was a disenfranchised minority population to exploit, but they were simply too small in relative numbers to sustain the hungry and outsize bourgeois class. All of a sudden the roads didn't seem so pristine. The (small) dollar imploded.

Giphy

It was at this point that I and many of the others decided we needed our voices to be heard in Washington. We couldn't march (being all so small), so we sent a formal decree for basic rights of small communities to Congress. The font was too tiny, so Congress didn't bother reading it.

And that was only the beginning. During the following election cycle, Congress passed an informal resolution to count small communities as "territories" without voting rights, on account of smaller people requiring "less of a say" in the motions of government. There was nothing left to do but revolt. I joined a radical political clan called "The Napoleon Complex" and we set a very tiny fire outside the walls of our town, which then became a gradually bigger fire, until it was about the size of a fireplace and someone came to pour a bottle of water to wipe it out. The U.S. federal government, in response to our subordination, is now instituting a radical new approach to dealing with small populations: lightly stepping on us until we're smushed to death.

The takeaway from all this: think twice before committing to Downsizing. It's a fun but poorly thought-out concept with logical holes, and probably not worth the price of admission.

POP DUST | Read More



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Hannah Alani is a reporter at The Post and Courier covering race, immigration and rural life across the Palmetto State. Before graduating from Indiana University and moving to Charleston in 2017, her byline appeared in The New York Times.
Watchdog and Public Service reporter

Thad Moore is a reporter on The Post and Couriers Watchdog and Public Service team and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. To share tips securely, reach Moore via ProtonMail at thadmoore@protonmail.com or on Signal at 843-214-6576.
Straight No Chaser is celebrating its silver anniversary with a three-month tour that would exact a physical toll on any performer  vocalists especially. Yet despite the grueling schedule (they are almost exactly in the middle of more than 60 performances), SNC performed an outstanding show Nov. 13 at the Charleston Gaillard Center. Read moreReview: Straight No Chaser delights young and old on a cappella tour
The trial for Russell Laffitte, a former top executive for Palmetto State Bank, continues this week in Charleston's U.S. District Court. He stands accused of helping Alex Murdaugh defraud his former law clients, while using money from his family's bank to prop up the disbarred attorney's shaky finances. Read moreFinal witnesses to testify in fraud trial for Murdaugh banker Russell Laffitte
A load of salt being transferred from the Genco Ocean, in port at Pier J in North Charleston. Some of the salt shipment, which arrived a day before Winter Storm Grayson, was used to support road-clearing efforts. Carver Companies trucking manager Nick Martin is in the cab, with foreman Chris Clarke beside the truck. Provided
I was so intrigued by Robert Behres Oct. 17 column and the newspaper's strong editorial Nov. 10 in support of a park being developed in the former SCE&G lot between Meeting and King streets that I decided to investigate further. Read moreCommentary: Proposed downtown Charleston park would provide a richer future
There was a combination of superlative hysteria and political opportunism behind the warnings about the end of democracy leading up to last weeks elections, but it wasnt inconceivable that wed have flare-ups of violence and intimidation, that people who embrace the fantasy that the 2020 e Read moreEditorial: Election 2022 gave everybody something to celebrate
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the attack on her husband, Paul, by an intruder in their family home made her think about staying on as the House Democratic leader. She says she almost thought about being leader again because she couldnt give them that satisfaction of intimidating her out of politics. Pelosi spoke to reporters Thursday at the Capitol after announcing she would step aside for a new generation of leaders. She will remain the congresswoman from California. Pelosi says shes not sad about her choice to step aside but feels balanced in her decision. She has no plans to endorse a successor and no desire to meddle with the new leadership's vision. Read morePelosi's big decision: 'Theres a life out there, right?'
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Perhaps its because of a recent visit there, but Palau has been on my mind quite a bit lately. So please let me introduce you to the island g Read moreMeet Palau
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Great Atlantic Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:GR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Great Atlantic Clarifies Technical DisclosuresTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Great Atlantic Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Great Atlantic Resources Corp.Source: Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture: GR, FWB: PH01, WKN: A1JZ4T, ISIN: CA3900871045)Date: January 05, 2018Time: 5:59 PM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Great Atlantic Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Ximen Mining Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX Venture:XIM). has issued a press release with the following headline:Ximen Mining Corp. Announces Effective Date for 5:1 Share ConsolidationTo 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 Ximen Mining 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/Ximen Mining Corp.Source: Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX Venture: XIM, WKN: A1W2EG, ISIN: CA98420B1013)Date: January 05, 2018Time: 5:27 PM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Ximen Mining 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.)
Russias state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, has continued its march towards launching multi-billion dollar nuclear power plants in Nigeria despite concerns about poor quality control and safety, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

Operating in over 40 countries with projects worth an estimated $133 billion, Rosatom has a history of non-transparent procedures, insufficient resources, and on-site accidents, a 2017 report by Greenpeace, an independent global campaigning organisation, highlighted.

The report, Rosatom Risks: Exposing the Troubled History of Russias State Nuclear Corporation, highlights a string of sharp practices as well as accidents on the sites of Rosatom projects in four European countries.

For instance, at its Leningrad 2 construction site in Russia in July 2015, a sling snapped during the lifting of 70 tonne protective pipes and the pipes fell from 20 metres height into a spent fuel pool. The accident resulted in a six-month delay of the project.

At a meeting in Abu Dhabi in October, 2017, Russia signed an agreement with Nigeria to build and operate a nuclear power plant, the first of its kind on the continent, as well as a research centre that would house a nuclear research reactor.

The agreement was a furtherance of a memorandum of understanding signed last year between the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, and Rosatom for the construction of four nuclear power plants at the cost $20 billion (more than N6 trillion). The four plants will have a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts by 2035.

Anton Moskvin, Vice President for Marketing and Business Development, Rosatom Overseas (a subsidiary of Rosatom), and Simon Mallam, Chairman of NAEC, signed the agreement on behalf of Rosatom and Nigeria respectively.

The development of nuclear technologies will allow Nigeria to strengthen its position as one of the leading countries of the African continent, Mr. Moskvin said at the ceremony.

These are the projects of a large scale and strategic importance, that will determine the relationship between our two countries in the long term.

GOING NUCLEAR

Nigeria has been a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency since 1964, more than a decade before it established its atomic energy commission aimed at promoting and developing its nuclear technology.

But its nuclear relationship with Russia did not begin until 2009 when both countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of the peaceful usage of nuclear technologies. Shortly after, another agreement was signed on cooperation in design, construction, operation and decommissioning of the Nuclear Power Plant and the Nuclear Research Centre housing a multi-purpose nuclear research reactor.

In 2013, Nigeria signed its Country Programme Framework (CPF), a five-year medium-term planning of technical cooperation between a member state and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that identifies priority areas where the transfer of nuclear technology and technical cooperation resources will be directed to support national development goals.

The IAEA is an international organisation that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and prevents its use for any military purpose such as nuclear weapons.

In June 2015, the Nigerian government invited five IAEA experts to review the countrys emergency preparedness to nuclear and radiological accidents as it begins to ramp up its efforts to add nuclear electricity to the energy mix.

Nigeria clearly showed that it understands the importance of being well prepared to respond to nuclear or radiological issues when it requested this EPREV (Emergency Preparedness Review) mission, said Denis Flory, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of its Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, at the end of the 10-day inspection.

This is a cornerstone of nuclear safety. The IAEA is very pleased to assist Nigeria in identifying strengths and opportunities for improvements in a spirit of transparency.

Nigeria uses radiation sources extensively in medical and industrial applications as well as in science and research, but the government has decided to introduce nuclear power by 2025, according to the IAEA.

In May 2016, the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission signed an agreement with the Russian government for cooperation in the construction of a centre for nuclear science and technology in the country.

Nuclear acquisition has come to stay, Erepano Osaisai, chief executive of NAEC, said at the event.

It is well known that it contributes quite a chunk of global electricity. Although Nigeria does have other sources of energy, but this is about a balanced and diversified energy basket. Nuclear happens to be the one we considered.

The preference is because it is environmentally friendly and leads to a better conservation of other resources.

Over the past few years, the Nigerian government has heightened its resolve to explore nuclear energy as an additional source of electricity.

The 2017 budget proposal had N633 million allocated to nuclear power plant planning, site characterization, and selection projects while the proposal for 2018 had N400 million budgeted for the ongoing planning and development of nuclear power plant infrastructure. The budget for the same projects in 2015 was N26 million.

Furthermore, in the 2018 budget proposal, there is a further N150 million proposed for the completion and equipping of low/intermediate level radioactive waste management facility at the Nuclear Technology Centre at Sheda.

A SECRET AGREEMENT

Rosatom is the Ministry for Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation which in 2007 was transformed to a non-profit Russian state corporation. The company engages in uranium extraction and production, nuclear power generation, nuclear fuel, and nuclear weapons. It also engages in nuclear power plant design, engineering, and construction.

The companys nuclear business though widely claimed as successful is heavily subsidised by the Russian taxpayers by as much as 2 billion, according to the Greenpeace report.

But the companys continued federal support could take a hit due to Russias worsening budget deficit  from 4.4 billion in 2014 to 31.5 billion in 2016, and a projected 43.2 billion in 2017.

Last March, Alexey Likhachev, Rosatoms new director, announced that state support for the company would end in 2020.

In Nigeria, civil society activists accuse the government of ramping up its efforts to introduce nuclear energy and getting in bed with Rosatom without carrying her citizens along.

For instance, their efforts to know the details of the agreement signed with Rosatom had been futile, they said.

How was the choice of Rosatom arrived at? Philip Jakpor, Spokesperson at the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), asked.

Where will the funds to build the $20 billion nuclear plant come from?

In February 2008, a team of nuclear safety experts from the IAEA deployed to the country, at the request of the Nigerian government, to help secure and transport potentially hazardous radioactive sources encountered challenges such as vehicle breakdowns, equipment delays, and traffic jams. At one recovery mission, the team had to complete its task under the dark of night due to an unforeseen equipment delay.

Such basic infrastructural deficits are some of the reasons environmentalists cite when alluding to Nigerias unpreparedness for nuclear technology.

First thing that comes to mind when nuclear is mentioned is radioactive wastes, our concern is, judging by the experience in fossil fuels, that we might be heading towards an environmental disaster, said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Deputy Director at ERA/FoEN.

We dont have confidence in using nuclear energy to solve our energy needs, there are safer alternatives like solar and wind.

Another concern is the secrecy with which everything is carried out. No media or civil society consultation on this project. From the little research we have done, even Rosatom have a very bad safety record.

On November 27 2017, the Centre for Social Change and Citizenship Education (CENSOCHANGE) in partnership with the Journalists Initiative for Sustainable Environment (JISE) held a one-day workshop in Lagos on Connecting Local Outrage to Global Campaigns Against Nuclear Plants in Lagos. Participants drawn from the civil society, media, community-based organisations and pro-democracy groups observed that the Nigerian government had not been forthcoming on details of the MOU and recent agreement signed with Russia on the construction of nuclear reactors.

Participants further observed a lack of community and civil society consultation in the plans to build nuclear plants in Akwa Ibom and Kogi states as well as that Rosatoms global track record in relation to safety standards is fraught with questionable procedures including not carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment in some countries.

They noted the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in which, at least, 30 people died from acute radiation poisoning and the Fukushima, Japan, incident in 2011 which led to the evacuation of about 100,000 people from their homes till date.

In 2015, the NAEC selected Itu, Akwa Ibom State, and Geregu, Kogi State, as sites for two nuclear plants with a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts.

We visited Itu early this year (2017) and I can assure you that there has not been any consultation with the community, Mr. Jakpor said.

lia Simes, a Finnish journalist, said Nigerias electricity challenges could pose a problem for the nuclear reactor.

Nuclear power plants need good electricity grid  they cannot use the electricity they produce, but they need a lot of external electricity and so you have to constantly  non-stop  feed electricity to the reactor, said Ms. Simes, who worked for Greenpeace Finland.

It is risky, dirty and expensive. Nobody knows how the wastes will be managed in the future.

Rosatom abroad

In Africa, in addition to Nigeria, Rosatom is also eyeing nuclear power plant constructions in Ghana and South Africa.

But in April this year, a Western Cape High Court in South Africa ruled that the governments initial agreements with three countries, including Russia, to help it build nuclear power plants were invalid and unconstitutional.

Judge Lee Bozalek held that the government flouted due process by not first debating in parliament  or consulting the public  its decision to procure 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power.

In 2010, Rosatom signed a bilateral agreement with Turkey to Build-Own-Operate (BOO) the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, to be owned by Akkuyu NGS Electricity Generation Joint Stock Company.

The four-unit 4,800 megawatts plants have a lifespan of 60 years.

Out of the five shareholders of Akkuyu NGS, three Russian companies  all subsidiaries of Rosatom  own 100 percent of the shares and according to the bilateral agreement; Rosatoms shares cannot be lowered below 51 per cent.

In 2016, Akkuyu NGS announced it had decided to sell part of its shares to Cengiz Insaat, a controversial company accused of unlawful practices in coal power and mining investments.

Greenpeace Turkey exposed ongoing construction work in the field without the relevant administrative permits, such as Environmental Impact Assessments and licence.

The Greenpeace report quoted the Turkish Minister of Environment and Urbanism, Idris Gulluce, as approving the EIA report while the process was still ongoing by saying: What is the problem if we make a gesture to Putin by confirming the EIA Report? during a Vladimir Putin visit to Turkey.

That gesture by the minister resulted in, at least, 13 lawsuits against the EIA approval.

In the context of one of these lawsuits, a field visit by the court was conducted in the Akkuyu project area on 5 December 2016, the report stated.

During this excursion, a representative of Rosatom explicitly stated that because Rosatom does not have experience in the construction of a nuclear power station on a coastal site, Rosatom created the plan in line with French legislation.

The Akkuyu EIA report did not address the issue of decommissioning of the power station, the report noted.

Prior to the 2015 accident at Leningrad 2 accident, a near-fatal incident had occurred four years earlier. A strong wind had caused a 14-metre high reinforcement structure to collapse at the Unit 1 of the construction site but a foreman managed to evacuate workers just on time.

Five months later, defects were discovered in the containment structure of the reactors and in July 2011, the 600-800 tonne reinforcement cage of the containment building fell on its concrete frame. There were no casualties in the incident because the workers had left the site for lunch shortly before the collapse.

The weight of the cage caused the concrete frame to crack and the entire structure had to be replaced, leading to significantly increased costs and almost a year-long delay in the project.

In the spring of 2016, yet another scandal erupted at the Leningrad 2 site, with help from the Russian environmental NGO Green World, according to the Greenpeace report.

A whistle-blower working for the main construction contractor Titan 2 published a 49-page-long report describing serious problems at the site.

According to the report, issues included falsifications of the documents regarding the heat treatment methods for primary circuit pipeline welds. Such behaviour indicates an unacceptably lax safety culture and oversight failure.

The whistle-blower subsequently fled Russia out of concern for his safety. Rosatom and Titan 2 denied the allegations.

In Bulgaria, the government in 2012 cancelled the Belene nuclear project for which Rosatom was the vendor and the company dragged the country before the Paris Arbitration Court demanding roughly 1 billion in compensation for breach of contract and material already prepared. In 2016, the court awarded the company 620 million as compensation for material already prepared.

Despite this, the BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) and the Bulgarian nuclear lobby continues to doggedly pursue the restart of the Belene construction project, now using the argument that the country already paid for equipment that otherwise would go wasted, Greenpeace stated.

Attempts to sell the two already manufactured pressure vessels and a heat exchanger to Iran and India were fruitless.

Because construction costs still are too high to make sense for Bulgaria, restart of the project is extremely unlikely.

Rosatom owned 34 percent of Fennovoima, the Finnish-Russian nuclear power company in Finland. In August last year, it emerged that a Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority STUK safety audit flagged several severe shortcomings in the company.

According to the STUK audit report, some workers interviewed for the audit claimed to have been put under pressure, sidelined, or even smoked out for drawing attention to safety concerns or questionable practices.

Email to the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority was not responded to.

But in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Simon Mallam, the chairman of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, waved aside any safety concerns regarding the project. He, however, admitted a shortage of funding has affected the agencys capacity to function optimally.

For instance, our overhead cost (received) in the last two, three years is less than N12 million monthly, for all the headquarters and all these (various nuclear) centres, you have to manage it, said Mr. Mallam, whose agencys last major news and events update on their official website is a signing of an MOU between NAEC and SMEDAN on food preservation in Nigeria in 2009.

Last year we had an overhead of only eight months, this year we have had only six months. So there is no magic we can do.

The issue is not that they (radiation) are dangerous to workers or people living there, radiation sources will not fly, but the key thing is to keep the source in its particular condition. We are gradually improving and we are hoping that with releases of more funds, well be able to do one or two things.

The agency also told PREMIUM TIMES that the government had recently signed another agreement on nuclear technology with China and would compare it with the one with Russia to know which would be more beneficial to the country.
The Controller General of Nigeria Prisons Service, NPS, Jaffaru Ahmed, has disclosed that 28 inmates of Ikot Ekpene Prisons that escaped during jailbreak on December 27, 2017 were still at large.

Mr. Ahmed disclosed this to journalists after an inspection of facilities in Ikot Ekpene Prisons on Friday.

The controller general, who described the facilities in Ikot Ekpene Prisons as well fortified, attributed the jailbreak to lapses on the part of prison staff.

About 40 inmates found their way out of Ikot Ekpene Prisons in a broad daylight around 11.45 a.m.

They took on the lapses that they saw, perhaps they have been planning it for a very long time and actualised it on December 27, 2017 when they saw the opportunity.

The 28 that are at large are very hardened criminals; some of them are kidnappers awaiting trials, some are facing capital offences and therefore it is something to worry, Mr. Ahmed said.

He lamented that those still at large supposed to be in custody to allow the other members of the society to live in peace.

He assured Akwa Ibom people and the entire nation that the fleeing inmates would soon be recaptured to face their trials.

He added that any staff found wanting would have to face the full wrath of the law.

The controller general debunked insinuations from some quarters that the jailbreak was due to infringement on the fundamental rights of the inmates.

He said, These prisoners were not rioting because there was maladministration in the prison system, but they organised it in order to get freedom illegally. That is what actually happened.

It was not that they were not being fed or given medical attention or not taken to court.

Any insinuation anywhere, I state that investigation I have here before me, that there was nothing than they took lapses on the part of staff and organised to escape.

Mr. Ahmed commended the Akwa Ibom Government for the support given to the Nigeria Prisons Service and appealed for more.

He thanked other sister security agencies for their cooperation and sought for more to enable the service to recaptured the fleeing inmates, to ensure peace and tranquillity in the state.

(NAN)
At least three communities were on Friday evening attacked in Lau Local Government area of Taraba by unknown assailants, police said.

The attack forced residents of Katibu, Donada, Mayo-Lope and Abbare border areas of Taraba and Adamawa States to flee to neighbouring towns just as anti-riot police deployed to the area.

The state chairman of Miyetti Allah in Taraba, Sahabi Tukur, said the attack was carried out by militias of the Bachama ethnic group, and was targeted at Fulani residents.

The Bachama militias have attacked Bujum, Didango, Donada, Katibu and two other Fulani settlements, and they they killed over 13 with many injured, they were assisted by Yandamawa, he said.

Over 400 cows were rustled by these marauding militias.

We want the government to take this matter seriously and investigate.Why should Bachama leave their state, Adamawa and attack us; we are living peacefully here.

Already some corpses and injured were taken to Jalingo the state capital for treatment and burials, said he.

One resident of Katibu, Bello Manu, said seven people were killed.

The killed at least seven people instantly including my uncle who is also the (Dagaci), village head Jauro Buba, some were burnt to ashes, he said.

Bachama denies.

But a leader of the Bachama ethnic group denied the allegation.

This is big lie, they (Fulani) first attacked us before turning back to Taraba. Some communities in Taraba were not also spared by the marauding Fulani; they also burned villages and killed people  not Bachama at all! said Euphraimu Turaki, a Bachama youth leader.

Earlier Friday,over 300 herdsmen launched the attack on our community in Bwam during which five people were killed. So, why are they now crying wolf!

Let government be serious if not more lives will be lost.

The police spokesman, David Misal, said the attackers would be caught and punished.

The attackers that crossed over from the neighbouring Adamawa were said to have come in numbers killing and burning houses, he said.

Though, no arrest was made, however, security were deployed to track them. And for now four people were killed six others injured.

As I am talking to you now, the state police deputy commissioner is on his way to Abbare to ascertain the situation.
The police say they have deployed additional five units to Benue and Rivers States, days after dozens of people were killed in the two states.

At least 20 people died in two Benue communities when herdsmen raided the towns, while 17 people were shot dead in Rivers by gunmen on New Years eve.

A police statement on Saturday said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has approved the deployment of five additional units to the affected areas.

They include mobile police special forces, police aerial surveillance helicopters and special police joint intelligence and investigation teams.

The statement signed by the police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, said the commissioners of police and police personnel in the affected states were placed on alert.

Mr. Moshood said the deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations was dispatched to Benue to coordinate and supervise the implementation of the new security strategies put in place by the force.

The spokesman said that conventional police personnel, Counter Terrorism Unit, Police Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD) teams were also deployed to Benue and Rivers to work with the personnel on the ground.

He said the deployments were to bring new energy to the efforts to end attacks in those states.

He said that eight suspected gunmen arrested at the scene of the killings in Benue were being prosecuted.

The other two suspects arrested at a different scenes of crime were being arraigned in court.

He said the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 4, Makurdi, and Zone 6, Calabar, were mandated by the IGP to convene meetings in the affected states.

Mr. Moshood said they were also to supervise police investigation and intelligence teams, and other police special squads deployed to the two states.

The Force implores the people to be vigilant and security conscious. They should promptly report suspicious acts or persons to the nearest police detachment or station for prompt action to avert untoward incidents, he said.

(NAN)
Different reports have emerged concerning the fire incident that gutted customs warehouse and destroyed goods and properties worth millions in Lagos.

On Thursday, at about 2 p.m., fire gutted the customs federal operations unit, zone A annex warehouse where several cars and trucks were reported destroyed.

Reports on cause of fire and number of vehicles destroyed was shrouded in secrecy as the customs tried to downplay on cause and extent of damage.

Jerry Attah, PRO of the customs command, told PREMIUM TIMES that four rickety vehicles were involved in the inferno.

Yes, fire gut a section of our warehouse annex, which was called mechanical workshop. It is a place where some seized vehicles were warehoused.

One of the trucks that was parked there over a long period of time, the gas cylinder attached to it, because of heat, exploded. It was the explosion that led to the fire. Fortunately enough for us, with the assistance of Lagos State Fire Service and LASEMA, the fire was put off on time.

Two trucks and four vehicles were affected. The vehicles burnt were such used for smuggling turkey from the borders. They are long seized. They have been here for the past three years. They are rickety vehicles used for smuggling.

The two trucks burnt came in here since last year. One of the trucks was even carrying 600 bags of smuggled rice. Because our warehouse was filled to the brim, so we kept the rice in the truck and cover it for safety.

Some part of the rice was destroyed before the fire was put off. So as I speak to you, they are doing evacuation, sorting it out to know the quantity of rice that was damaged.

Contrary to customs submission, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu gave a different report.

LASEMA report showed that the fire started from a burning bush within same warehouse the vehicles were parked.

Distress calls were received regarding fire outbreak at Nigerian Custom Service Office, Ikeja on Thursday 4th January, 2018 regarding the fire outbreak. This prompted the immediate activation of the Agencys Response Team to the scene of incident, who arrived at the incident scene.

On arrival at the scene of the incident, it was discovered that several vehicles (12 cars and 6 trucks) gutted by fire.

Further investigation carried out revealed that fire started due to bush burning activity within the axis the vehicles are parked.

No loss of lives nor injury sustained.

The Lagos Fire Service and NPF were responders at the scene of the incident. The fire was being put out by the Lagos Fire Service and the LASEMA Response Team Fire Unit, Mr Adesina submitted.

When contacted, the spokesman for the Nigerian Police Force, Lagos Command, Chike Oti, said he had not been briefed on the fire.

I am not officially aware of the fire incident at the customs office. I only heard of it in the news. So I cannot give you any figure concerning that, he said.
Former Vice President and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has described as disheartening a statement credited to the chairman of the Arewa Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, that he is a sponsor of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.

Mr. Abubakars reaction comes amidst outrage over recent killings in Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

In a statement by his spokesman, Paul Ibe, the former Vice President expressed his disappointment at what he described as Mr. Unongos desperately sad and false allegations which he said came in this period of intense grief in Benue State.

Mr. Unongo had in an interview with PUNCH Newspaper accused Mr. Abubakar of being the chief financier and most influential member of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the largest body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.

He reportedly said I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I dont know. There are so many possibilities.

The altercation comes a few days after suspected Fulani herdsmen invaded a community in Benue state and killed at least 20 persons, though the police put the figure at 10, over grazing rights.

The former vice presidents statement read: Yes, Waziri Atiku Abubakar is a Fulani and proud to be one and has never hidden that fact. However, the Waziri is a thoroughly detribalised Nigerian that would never favour one ethnic group over another.

It added that in 2017 during the massive flood in Benue State which affected over 100,000 families, the vice president, who holds the Tiv traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv, donated cash to the Benue State Government for the care of the victims.

This is fitting for a man whose Tiv traditional title means the biggest shade of the Tiv people. Not only did the Zege Mule U Tiv make a financial donation, he also called on the Federal Government to do more to assist the flood ravaged communities, the statement said.

The statement also cleared the air on Mr. Abubakars membership of the fulani sociocultural association.

Let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is a Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member. He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo.

The vice president also called on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the killings in Benue, and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law.

The Fulani herders and farmers have clashed for decades over access to land and resources, particularly in the North-central states.

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, recently signed the Open Grazing Prohibition Bill 2017, which prescribes a five-year jail term for herdsmen or pastoralists caught engaging in open grazing of animals in the state, into law. This has not gone down well with the herdsmen.
The Nigerian Army on Saturday said 1,050 insurgents had surrendered to troops in Lake Chad and Monguno general area of operations.

The army also said many insurgents were on the run, and warned communities to watch out for the fleeing Boko Haram insurgents as their enclaves in Lake Chad region came under intense onslaught.

Onyema Nwachukwu, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Operation Lafiya Dole, made the disclosure in a statement in Maiduguri.

Mr. Nwachukwu, a colonel, said 250 fighters of the Al Barnawi-led faction of the insurgents had surrendered to Nigerian Army, following artillery and aerial bombardments by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole of their enclaves in Lake Chad basin.

He added that 700 insurgents also surrendered to troops at Monguno in an ongoing clearance operation.

Mr. Nwachukwu said that Mamman Nur, a factional leader of the insurgents sustained fatal injuries while one of his wives was killed in the operation.

The army had on Friday announced Mr. Nur was fatally injured, but gave no further details.

The army spokesman said some of the insurgents fleeing from the ongoing offensive were senior and junior commanders of the Al Barnawi faction.

The insurgents are attempting to melt into communities in and around Kano, Geidam and Gashua axis unnoticed. One of such fleeing commanders is Bana Bafui, he said.

Members of the general public, particularly in Kano, Geidam, Gashua, Hadejia and northern part of Jigawa State are therefore enjoined to be vigilant, watch out for strange faces in their communities and report same to security agencies.

Mr. Nwachukwu called on the insurgents to surrender, adding that the Federal Government had provided a window through the Operation Safe Corridor to encourage the insurgents voluntary surrender.

He revealed that about 300 insurgents were currently undergoing de-radicalisation process for possible integration into the society.

We call on Boko Haram insurgents to abandon the futile struggle; take advantage of the Safe Corridor programme and surrender to troops in any location nearest to them.

We guarantee their safety and incorporation into the programme for de-radicalisation and rehabilitation.

(NAN)
The Nigerian military on Saturday said the wife of Mamman Nur, the factional leader of Boko Haram, was among those killed when troops attacked the groups location in the Lake Chad region.

The announcement came hours after the military declared Mr. Nur had been fatally injured during an operation.

The military did not explain how Mr. Nur was identified.

The State Security Services, SSS, had in September 2011 placed a N25 million bounty on Mr. Nur, blaming him for a car suicide bombing at the UN building in Abuja that year.

Since then, Mr. Nur has continued to evade the Nigerian security while still being active in the command hierarchy of the Boko Haram.

In 2014, Mr. Nur broke away from the Abubakar Shekau command and midwifed the formation of AbuMussab Albarnawi faction of the Boko Haram group.

Mr. Albarnawi is said to be the surviving son of Boko Harams spiritual founder, Muhammed Yusuf, who was extra-judicially killed by the security forces after he was arrested for leading his group to wage a bloody war against the Nigerian security forces in August 2009.

The spokesman of the Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command in Maiduguri, Onyema Nwachukwu, said about 250 Boko Haram fighters on the side of Mamman Nur (Albarnawi camp) surrendered.

The statement also warned residents of Kano, Yobe and Jigawa states to be vigilant as some of the dislodged Boko Haram fighters are currently fleeing towards their border villages with an attempt to, diffuse into the local communities.

Mr. Onyema said the new feat of victory was achieved following the sustained onslaught on Boko Haram terrorists enclaves in the Lake Chad region where a factional leader of the group Mamman Nur has suffered grave injury, while one of his wives has been killed in the battle.

Moreso about 250 foot soldiers from the Albarnawy camp have surrendered to Nigerien Authorities due to the devastating artillery and aerial bombardments by Operation Lafiya Dole troops.

Many of the insurgents who fled the onslaught are now taking advantage of the AMNESTY offered by the Nigerien government by surrendering to Nigerien Forces, he said.

The military also said among the insurgents fleeing from the ongoing offensive are senior and junior commanders in the Albarnawy faction who are now attempting to melt into other communities in and around Kano, Geidam and Gashua axis unnoticed.

The statement indicated that one of the identified junior commanders was known as Bana Bafur.

Members of the general public, particularly in Kano, Geidam, Gashua, Hadeja and the northern part of Jigawa are therefore enjoined to be vigilant and watch out for strange faces suddenly appearing in their communities and promptly report same to security agencies, the statement warned.

Mr. Onyema added that about 700 insurgents have also surrendered to troops in the general area of Monguno following troops clearance operations.

He said the ongoing onslaught will be tenaciously sustained.

The statement recalled that the Federal Government of Nigeria has since provided a window of opportunity through the Operation SAFE CORRIDOR program to insurgents who surrender willingly to be deradicalised and rehabilitated.

About 300 insurgents who willingly surrendered are currently benefiting from this programme, he said.

We call on all Boko Haram insurgents to abandon the futile struggle and take advantage of the Safe Corridor program by surrendering willingly to troops in any location nearest to them. We guarantee their safety and incorporation into the programme for deradicalisation and rehabilitation, Mr. Nwachukwu, who is also Deputy Director Army Public Relations at Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole.
The Borno State Government on Friday announced the extension of curfew in Maiduguri for another seven days from 8:00 p.m. to 6: 00 a.m.

The government on Monday rescheduled the curfew hitherto observed between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. to run between January 2 and 6.

A statement by Muhammad Bulama, the Commissioner for Information, said the curfew was extended to Jan. 12.

Mr. Bulama said that the curfew was based on strong advice of the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole.

The state government hereby announces the extension of the rescheduled curfew time earlier announced 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day by another one week.

In other words, the prevailing curfew regime is to now last until Friday, 12th January, 2018.

Mr. Bulama explained that the action was to avail the Armed Forces sufficient time to complete the ongoing special operation against Boko Haram terrorists and consolidate on the success so far recorded.

He noted that the state government deeply regretted the inconveniences and difficulties caused to the people by the action.

Mr. Bulama stressed that the decision was taken to safeguard the collective security and overall wellbeing of the people.

Government therefore urges all indigenes and residents of Borno State to see this temporary measure as part of necessary sacrifices we all have to make in the interest of peace, stability, development and progress of not only our dear state, but Nigeria as a whole.

The understanding, support and cooperation of the general public is highly solicited in the observance of the curfew, he said.

(NAN)
Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue has called for harmony among the diverse ethnic groups in the state to put an end to attacks by herdsmen on communities.

Mr. Ortom said this on Saturday in Makurdi.

The governor said he would henceforth give priority attention to safeguarding the lives and the property of his people.

He called on the people to put aside their political and ethnic differences and work toward addressing the security challenges before them.

He vowed to ensure the incessant attacks by herdsmen became things of the past.

Mr. Ortom, who expressed regret that a significant number of lives had been destroyed by Fulani marauders since 2012, put the estimated cost of the property lost since then at N95 billion.

The Catholic Bishop of Gboko Diocese, William Avenya, said the incessant attacks on Benue communities by herdsmen, was a sensitisation to the people of Benue to the need to unite and forge a common front.

The cleric further said the attacks were providing an opportunity for the people to come together and reflect on their common challenges particularly, insecurity.

He called all Benue people to help address the situation.

Also, the Catholic Bishop of Otukpo Diocese, Michael Apochi, said they would continue to pray for the state to enable it surmount its security challenges.

The convener, Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, said that herdsmen were committing murder with impunity.

He, however, said the dastardly act needed to stop forthwith.

Mr. Unongo said there was no land for grazing in Benue and that the anti-open grazing law would not be reversed or repealed no matter the circumstances. (NAN)
A month after Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, was forced to close due to the strike by non-teaching workers embarked upon in December, lectures officially began in the institution on Friday.

Our correspondent who visited the university saw students go to their various classes.

CHM102 held today and were told to start preparing for exam. Exam may be starting this month according to my lecturer, student Demola Ayinde told our correspondent.

Another student who identified herself as Bimbo said: I attended Yoruba class today.

The Dean of Student Affairs, Isiska Aransi confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the second semester examination for 2016/2017 session would begin on January 29, following approval of the senate.

The calendar has been reviewed, he said.

As at the time of filing this report, electricity and water supplies had been restored to halls of residence. Both the health centre and the library opened.

Before Friday, these services had been cut by the striking non-teaching workers.

It is not immediately how the management was able to restore the services, after the Non-Academic Staff Union, the body of workers responsible for them, vowed not to resume work unless their grievances over the sharing of the earned allowances are addressed.
LEXINGTON  A Lexington woman has reached an official record of donating 21 gallons of blood, but 91-year-old Reva Jean Krings-Hatfield knows she has actually given more.

The first time Reva Jean Krings-Hatfield donated blood was when she was 24. It was for her mother, who lived in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, but was in the hospital in Omaha.

Krings-Hatfield had traveled from Lexington to Omaha to see her mother. Because her mother needed blood, Krings-Hatfield was tested to determine her blood type. She was told she was a match, so she donated.

"It was given directly to her," said Krings-Hatfield, noting that was the way blood donations worked in those days.

She donated for the sake of specific people at other times after that too, she said. She recalled an occasion years ago when she went in to Sixth Street Pharmacy to pick up a prescription, the pharmacist asked about her blood type, mentioning that she was looking for blood donors for her son who required transfusions. Krings-Hatfield went to the hospital in Kearney to make the donation and the blood was sent out of state to a childrens hospital where the boy was being treated. He grew up to become a doctor.

On Tuesday, Krings-Hatfield was recognized for donating 21 gallons of blood to the American Red Cross. "I have given other times," Hatfield said, thinking back through the years, noting how recording keeping has changed over time.

Tuesday also marked Krings-Hatfields last blood donation. She said she wasnt told she cant give anymore, but she made the decision to quit. "I have to rest after I give now, so I think its time to stop," she said.

"If I qualify, I give," said Krings-Hatfield of how often she used to donate, noting there were exclusions during birth of each of her five children and times when she underwent surgery.

She said she encourages those who are eligible to donate blood, especially a granddaughter with O Negative blood because it can be given to anybody.

Krings-Hatfield said the bloodmobiles conducted at the First United Church in Lexington made it easy to contribute regularly. "That is a wonderful place with lots of room and lots of parking, a kitchen to serve the food from. Its good all the way around," she said.

Mag Fagot, the Lexington bloodmobile coordinator, said Tuesdays goal was to collect 66 pints and the goal was met. She thanked all those who contributed and the many volunteers who worked during the event.

Fagot said the Jan. 3 bloodmobile was the third she has arranged since taking over as coordinator in August.

The next bloodmobile is scheduled for March 6, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Those interested in donating can call Fagot at 308-320-3280 to make an appointment.
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.




Family event aims to connect veterans and their dependents with needed services

By: Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida

Media Contact

Susan Hegarty

***@goodwillswfl.org

239.271.5200 Susan Hegarty239.271.5200

End

-- Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida will be one of dozens of vendors and service providers Jan. 6, 2018 who will provide free services to Collier County military veterans and their families.The First Annual Collier County Veteran and Dependents Expo is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at New Hope Ministries, 7675 Davis Blvd. in Naples. Veterans are invited to bring their families to the event, which will feature employment services, flu shots and housing assistance, in addition to consultations for VA benefits."This is the first expo in Collier County and Lee County vendors are assisting in this inaugural effort to serve those who served their country," said Goodwill's Dwight Powell, Job-Link and Veterans Outreach Manager.Goodwill's Mobile Job-Link Unit will be on-site to assist with job applications and providing information about free tax service and the Affordable Care Act insurance."Veterans in Collier County were some of the hardest hurt by Hurricane Irma. More than 50 service providers want to give these men and women a hand up in appreciation for their service," Powell said.Events include a Hero's Welcome, a complimentary brunch and Guest Speaker John Randall Kington, author of his autobiography,Kington joined the Marine Corps in 1964 and was sent to the jungles of Vietnam within 10 months. A rifleman and platoon radio operator with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, Kington was shot in the neck and lost all feeling in his body. His life since his injury is summed up in the title of his book.Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties. The agency's mission is to help people with disabilities and disadvantages by offering life-changing opportunities to achieve independence. Goodwill's programs in Southwest Florida include Pathways to Opportunity and Pathways to Work, Job-Link resource centers, MicroEnterprise Institute small business training classes, High School High Tech career exploration, veterans' services, disability-accessible housing, and more.For more information about Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, please visit www.goodwillswfl.org or call (239) 995-2106.
Three-time participating as the only Chinese automaker in the NAIAS has gained widespread interest for GAC Motor and has also allowed it to be more familiar to local consumers as well as to better understand their needs. GAC Motor's exhibition at 2018 NAIAS will feature high-end models including the GA8, GS8 and GM8, which provided safe and reliable service for attendees at the Fortune Global Forum 2017 as the event's official service vehicles. Most notably, GAC Motor will debut the GA4, an all-new signature sedan at 2018 NAIAS. This GA4 is a mainstream sedan model built on GAC Motor's own A-Class sedan platform, which is designed and positioned as a family sedan of quality and charm. Also, GAC is to release its first compact new-energy concept SUV designed for the North American market, called the Enverge, to unfold the company's cutting-edge technologies and tremendous potential in the fields of vehicle electrification, networking and intelligent system. The new cars are widely expected by the industry professionals, trade media and consumers.

As GAC Motor releases its new vehicles, the brand's product lineup is more comprehensive than ever, paving a path for GAC Motor to further explore global markets while demonstrating the company's advanced and upgraded capabilities in R&D, manufacturing and quality. By focusing on building high-end models and elevating travel experience, GAC Motor aims to define future mobility with products of supreme quality and personalized design.

"GAC Motor is proud to unveil our bold additions to the fields of SUVs, sedans and minivans at NAIAS," said Yu Jun, President of GAC Motor. "As we execute on our strategy of becoming an automaker with a global reach, we will continue to design products that will meet the different needs of customers worldwide."

In 2017, GAC motor met its target of annual sales volume of 500,000 for the year in China, with a 37.2% year-on-year increase, blazing a path of high-quality and sustainable development. As a highly-trusted brand, GAC Motor has received top quality ratings from JD Power for five consecutive years. This honor is recognition of its efforts to redefine and reimagine what Made-in-China means. The company's presentation of its complete product lineup at 2018 NAIAIS will be a showcase for its strength as an international automaker.

"GAC Motor will present an update to its strategy in the US market around brand, marketing as well as product at the NAIAS, offering a new blueprint as the company moves towards officially entering the market in 2019," said Yu. "The American market has the strictest standards, laws and regulations, so entering it is a challenge as well as test for GAC Motor's quality, technology and R&D capabilities. We believe that entering the North American market will drive GAC Motor to improve its R&D, product quality, brand influence and business management, while enabling us to integrate global resources in developed markets and further facilitate internationalization."

It is also worth noting that GAC Motor is to hold an on-campus recruitment fair and a social recruitment fair. Information as shown below:

Campus Recruitment

13:30 January 12, 2018(Friday)

Conference & Event Services-Pendleton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Add: Michigan Union, 530 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

To apply: [email protected]

Social Recruitment

13:30 January 13, 2018 (Saturday)

Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center

Add:400 Renaissance Dr, Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI 48243

To apply: [email protected]

For full details: https://event.liepin.com/t/1514435513775/

About GAC Motor

Founded in 2008, Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor CO., LTD (GAC Motor) is a subsidiary of GAC Group which ranks 238th among the Fortune Global 500 companies. The company develops and manufactures premium quality vehicles, engines, components and auto accessories. GAC Motor achieved a 37.2% year-on-year increase in 2017, and now it ranks the first among all Chinese brands for five consecutive years in J.D. Power Asia Pacific's 2017 China Initial Quality Study SM (IQS). The company built a production and sales volume of 500,000 vehicles in 2017 and aims to reach 1,000,000 vehicles by 2020.

For more information, please visit:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GACMotor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gac_motor

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/gac_motor

Media Contact:

Sukie Wong

+86-186-8058-2829

[email protected]

SOURCE GAC Motor
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to AP reports, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinding the Cole Memo, which was the Obama administration's protection of state-compliant cannabis businesses that allowed for the legal cannabis industry to flourish across the country.

"Given the immediate and extensive backlash from politicians across both parties, the fact that over 70% of the country is in favor of legalized marijuana and that this action only gives the Federal government discretion to prosecute, we do not see any adverse material impact to our core businesses. It's full steam ahead for Med-X." states Med-X, Inc. Founder and President Matthew Mills.

The recent Sessions memo states that the "Memorandum is intended solely as a guide." Thus, it is not a directive and simply allows U.S. prosecutors considerable leeway in their enforcement decisions. According to Mills, Med-X firmly believes that the likelihood of widespread federal prosecutions against marijuana companies operating legally in their State is minimal. "In fact, Federal prosecuting of individuals and companies operating outside the bounds of State law is very likely to lead to higher levels of compliance and accountability within the industry, which will be beneficial to everyone in the long haul."

According to Mills, "At this time Med-X's core business consists of an ancillary cultivation products supplier, an information network with The Marijuana Times. and completing a merger with an affiliated company with non-cannabis revenue. We do not cultivate or distribute marijuana at the present time."

Recently Med-X announce its plan to acquire Pacific Shore Holdings, Inc. which positions Med-X with two new revenue generating divisions. The Nature-Cide division is in the fast paced all natural "Green" pest control arena with pest control services and products. "Currently Nature-Cide products are distributed and positioned nationally through Target Specialty Products distribution centers. The highly effective all-natural Nature-Cide product line is utilized by licensed pest control operators nationally for residential and commercial applications in places like hotels, school districts, hospitals, zoos and various other applications, where using traditional chemical pest control applications is just not acceptable anymore," states Mills.

The second revenue source will be the Thermal-Aid division, which consists of pain relief products which are distributed by Independence Medical and Cardinal Health distribution venues and are supported by national programs such as Flexible Spending Accounts for patients nationally. In addition, there are other products on the horizon.

As explained by Med-X, Inc. Chief Executive Officer, Dr. David Toomey, "As we have been working to perfect our work in blending essential oils for natural pest control applications for the last couple of years, no one realizes that these same blending techniques have been utilized in our Pain Management product development. This has allowed Med-X to create Hemp oil derived blends for products to combat such issues as migraine headaches as well as joint and muscle pain. The first pain relief cream product was created for the clinically proven Thermal-Aid Headache Relief System and has morphed into a proprietary essential oil blend which includes Hemp oil pain relief cream product, that we expect to release in the second quarter of 2018."

"Overall, in spite of Attorney General Sessions recent actions, we are very optimistic about the cannabis sector and Med-X's current and future revenue streams." stated Mills.

Med-X, Inc. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

There may be statements in this communication that are, or could be, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, therefore, subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Med-X, Inc. or the combined company's future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, capital expenditures or debt levels are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "should," "forecast," "project" or "plan" or terms of similar meaning are also generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Med-X, Inc. cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Med-X, Inc.'s control, that could cause Med-X, Inc. or the combined company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. To learn more about the Risk factors, please review Med-X, Inc.'s Regulation A+ Offering Circular.

Contact Information: Med-X, Inc. 8236 Remmet Ave, Canoga Park, California 91304

(818) 349-2870

Investors: [email protected]

Media: [email protected]

SOURCE Med-X, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.medx-rx.com


Bordering the Jordan River Preserve in Lehi, River Park offers close proximity to Silicon Slopes, Olympic Park, Thanksgiving Point and I-15. The neighborhood includes ranch and two-story homes from the low $400s, with half-acre home sites, standard 3-car garages and sought-after options for personalization, including gourmet kitchens, sunrooms, RV garages and much more. River Park showcases five versatile floor plans with 3 to 7 bedrooms, 2 to 5 bathrooms and approximately 1,960 to 3,050 square feet.

GRAND OPENING

The River Park Grand Opening is on February 3, 2018. Attendees will enjoy complimentary pizza while they tour the popular Dillon model in this desirable new community.

To learn more about this new community, call 801.545.3429 or visit RichmondAmerican.com.

About M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.

Operating under the name Richmond American Homes, MDC's homebuilding subsidiaries have built more than 190,000 homes since 1977. Among the nation's largest homebuilders, MDC's subsidiary companies have operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Mortgage lending, plus insurance and title services are offered by the following MDC subsidiaries, respectively: HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC." For more information, visit MDCHoldings.com.

SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.richmondamerican.com


Doubleday Wins Lombardos Hotly Contested Debut

After a nine-publisher auction, Lee Boudreaux at Doubleday acquired North American rights to Claire Lombardos debut novel, The Year We Were Born. Lombardo, a recent Iowa Writers Workshop graduate, was represented by Ellen Levine and Alexa Stark at Trident Media Group. Set in the upper-crust suburbs surrounding Chicago, the book, which spans four decades, follows a married couple and their four daughters. It explores, Doubleday elaborated, the convoluted joys and burdens of love, the fraught tethers of parenthood and sisterhood, and the baffling mixture of affection, abhorrence, resistance, and submission that follows us from infancy through adulthood. Lombardo, who graduated from Iowa in 2017, has had her short fiction published in, among other publications, Barrelhouse Magazine and Little Fiction.

Atria Nabs Swedish Kickstarter Book

Simon Stalenhag, a Swedish writer and artist, sold a book called The Electric State to Michael Braff and Jhanteigh Kupihea at Atrias Skybound Books imprint. The publisher described the book, which follows a girl traveling through an alternate 1997 with her robot, as a narrative art book filled with incredible sci-fi vistas and looming danger. Braff bought U.S. and Canadian rights to the novel in a preempt from Julia Angelin at the Salomonsson Agency. The project was initially pitched by Stalenhag on Kickstarter in July 2017, and wound up generating more than $350,000 in funding; it was recently optioned for film by the Russo brothers (Ant-Man).

Penguin Visits Frieds Metropolis

In a world rights acquisition, Penguins Sam Raim bought Seth Frieds novel, Metropolis. Fried was represented by Stacia Decker at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, who called Metropolis a smart, funny, and thrilling debut speculative novel in the vein of Charles Yu and Jonathan Lethem. In the book, a transit inspector partners with a cheeky AI to, as Decker put it, stop a mysterious terrorist plot and save the city of Metropolis. Fried, a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, published his first book, the short story collection The Great Frustration (Soft Skull), in 2011.

Albert Closes Double at Flatiron

Melissa Albert signed a two-title North American rights deal with Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books. The first title under the agreement, set for fall 2019, will be a follow-up to her forthcoming YA fantasy, The Hazel Woodwhich is coming from Flatiron later this month, has been named an IndieNext Pick for winter 2018, and has been optioned for film. The second book in the agreement, a short story collection set in the same world called Tales from the Hinterland, is tentatively slated for fall 2020. Albert was represented by Faye Bender at the Book Group.

Tobeys Game Goes to Wednesday

In a preempt, Sara Goodman at Macmillans Wednesday Books imprint bought world English rights to The God Game by Danny Tobey. Jodi Reamer at Writers House negotiated the deal with Goodman. The publisher said the book is about a group of friends in a high school computer club who get sucked into an underground hackers game run by a mysterious AI that thinks its God.

Correction: An earlier version of this article did not include the name of Jhanteigh Kupihea who, along with Michael Braff, is one of the acquiring editors of The Electric State at Skybound Books.
Power Up

Naomi Alderman won the U.K.s Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction in June 2017 with The Power, a work of speculative fiction in which young women discover the ability to release powerful electrical currents from their fingers. The premise resonated with U.S. readers when the title pubbed here in October (our review praised its stirring and mind-bending vision) and the book has seen steady sales, boosted by its inclusion on numerous best-of-2017 lists. The week before Christmas, the Washington Post noted that demand had exceeded supply, which led to a sales dip, but a subsequent reprint helped the title debut on our fiction list at #21.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

Movie Watch

Publicity preceding the November 2017 big-screen release of Call Me by Your Name, adapted from Andre Acimans novel, boosted sales of the conventional trade paper edition of the book throughout the year: it sold 21K print copies in 2017, or about 42% of total sales since its 2008 release. The movie tie-in edition pubbed in October, and print unit sales continued to climb in the weeks after the movie opened; it debuts on our trade paper list at #17.

Relax and Reassess

The last week of 2017 saw two new year, new you booksone aimed at soothing the spirit and the other at taking financial controldebut on our hardcover nonfiction list. At #16, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics is, our review said, an entertaining and useful guide by ABC News correspondent Dan Harris and meditation teacher Jeff Warren. Harriss 2014 memoir, 10% Happier, has sold 308K print copies.

Former CPA Jesse Mecham, founder of the budgeting software company YNAB, lands at #22 with You Need a Budget. Mecham makes it seem simple and his tone is encouraging, our review said, citing the especially helpful cheat sheet reminders that close each chapter.

New & Notable

The Last Black Unicorn

Tiffany Haddish

#23 Hardcover Nonfiction

Essays by the actress-comedian give a warts-and-all (literally) view of her route from a troubled childhood in South Central Los Angeles to success in Hollywood. Haddish starred alongside Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, and Jada Pinkett Smith in 2017s Girls Trip and in November became the first African-American female standup comic to host Saturday Night Live.

Pillow Thoughts

Courtney Peppernell

#18 Trade Paper

Australian writer Peppernells collection of poetry and prose, divided into themes including If you are missing someone and If you are soul-searching, could sit comfortably on a shelf alongside the works of Rupi Kaur (#2 and #4 in the U.S.), with whom she shares a publisher.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units 1 Dog Man and Cat Kid (Dog Man #4) Dav Pilkey Graphix 71,460 2 The Sun and Her Flowers Rupi Kaur Andrews McMeel 35,002 3 The Getaway Jeff Kinney Amulet 29,085 4 Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur Andrews McMeel 25,722 5 Origin Dan Brown Doubleday 24,496 6 The Rooster Bar John Grisham Doubleday 21,167 7 Darker E.L. James Vintage 20,033 8 Wonder R.J. Palacio Knopf 19,926 9 Turtles All the Way Down John Green Dutton 16,732 10 Leonardo da Vinci Walter Isaacson Simon & Schuster 16,688

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
Psychologist Thomas Lickona has been championing character development for four decades, and today, he says, his message may be more important than ever. Raising children of character is increasingly countercultural, says Lickona, whose books include Educating for Character (Bantam, 1991) and Character Matters (Touchstone, 2004). In How to Raise Kind Kids (Penguin Books, Apr.), he identifies a number of outside forces hostile to childrens emotional development, including what he calls the toxic political conversation and the sexualization of popular culture.

Kindness, Lickona says, begins at home: if children dont respect the ethical boundaries their parents set and are not held accountable for their actions, then they cant learn to be kind. A lot of parents dont have a clear sense of their own moral authority, he notes. Parenting becomes 10 times harder if children dont get it in their heads that they have an obligation to obey mom or dad.

Lickonas book is among the many forthcoming parenting titles that advocate traditional values, both at home and in school, as an antidote to modern woes.

Be Kind, Rewire

Fostering kindness not only makes for a more peaceful home life but also changes the way a childs brain develops, says Erin Clabough, a neurobiologist and Psychology Today contributor. In Second Nature (Sounds True, Nov.), she shows how repeated empathetic behaviorimagining what a friend might want as a gift, or analyzing a school bullys emotionsreinforces neural pathways in the growing brain. Children who practice empathy the way they would any other skill, Clabough says, grow into adults who are more adept at reading others emotions and better at resolving interpersonal conflict.

Those conflicts arise much earlier than they used to, according to Katie Hurley, a child and adolescent psychotherapist. In No More Mean Girls (TarcherPerigee, Jan.), aimed at parents of girls ages three to 13, she helps parents recognize signs of relational aggression, or behavior intended to cause harm by affecting the targets relationships with others. PWs review praised the books user-friendly layout and compassionate advice on age-old issues such as peer pressure and their newer iterations, such as cyberbullying.

In an era when so many young people derive their sense of self-worthor lack thereoffrom social media, says Tim Bono, a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, it can be a struggle to find real meaning, connection, and happiness. Social comparison is perhaps the single strongest barrier to happiness and well-being, he notes. Every day, were confronted with an unending stream of images, videos, and posts about other peoples happiness. Bonos book, When Likes Arent Enough (Grand Central, Mar.), which grew out of the college course he teaches on the science of happiness, details strategies for leading a more fulfilling life.

In The Art of Screen Time (Public Affairs, Jan.), Anya Kamenetz, NPRs lead education blogger, encourages parents to take an active role in managing their childrens relationships with technology by participating in digital experiences together. (For our q&a with Kamenetz, see The Importance of Sharing Media.)

Angela C. Santomero, co-creator of Blues Clues and creator of Daniel Tigers Neighborhood, is an advocate for educational media but also encourages time away from screens. Her forthcoming book Preschool Clues (Touchstone, Apr.), cowritten with Deborah Reber, a Blues Clues veteran and advocate for neuroatypical kids, helps parents of preschoolers understand how to use media effectively and age appropriately, PWs review said, calling the book wise and enthusiastic.

True Grit

At the same time that some experts are urging parents to monitor and participate in their childrens consumption of media, recent research suggests that a more laissez-faire approach may be beneficial in another areanamely, when it comes to kids getting their hands dirty.

There are microbes that actually are good for you, says Jena Pincott, a science writer and former Random House editor, citing research that gut microbes may reduce stress and help kids manage emotions. In Wits Guts Grit (Chicago Review, Apr.), she makes the case for allowing kids to play with animals, dig in the dirt, and eat foods teeming with microbial life.

In a yearlong series of experiments, Pincott, along with her then-five-year-old and infant daughters, made simple changes such as eating more blueberries, making homemade yogurt, and, yes, digging in the dirt, and found these led to an increase in beneficial microbes, higher performance on memory tests, and an improved ability to bounce back from stress.

Architecture and design critic Alexandra Lange, in The Design of Childhood (Bloomsbury, Jun.), encourages parents to examine how childrens physical worldstheir toys and schoolyards and playgroundsaffect their development. She contrasts, for instance, cushioned, protected play spaces designed to minimize the potential for injury with adventure playgrounds, where children romp with near-complete autonomy. Her view: we should return to open play environments and cultivate a greater sense of independence in children, emulating playground and school designs from more permissive, less panicked eras.

Curiosity and courage are key concerns of the authors of The Yes Brain (Bantam, Jan.)Daniel J. Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, and Tina Payne Bryson, a pediatric and adolescent psychotherapist. The coauthors, whose previous books together include 2011s The Whole-Brain Child (Delacorte; 263,000 print copies sold), explain how parents can nurture in childrens minds a receptive state that enables curiosity and creativity and fosters resilience. Siegel and Bryson have taken a high-level concept and broken it down into an approach that is easy to understand and implement, PWs review said, citing among other elements the explanatory cartoons that conclude each chapter, which are meant to be shared with children.

Going Old School

Ken Robinson, a former arts education professor in the U.K. who advises governments, nonprofits, and other groups on creativity and the education system, says that parents can work within the school system to foster beneficial mind-sets and encourage creative approaches. There are all sorts of ways in which schools can be more open and flexible in the range of experiences they offer children, says Robinson, whose 2006 TED talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity?, has racked up more than 13.8 million views on YouTube. He cowrote You, Your Child, and School (Viking, Mar.) with Lou Aronica, who was also his coauthor on the 2009 creativity title The Element (Viking; 142,000 print copies sold).

Robinson says parents should work alongside teachers to make school a more creative environmenta goal that stands in contrast to the teach-to-the-test style of education that prevails. He highlights, by way of example, a Texas school that made headlines by offering recess four times a day. The extraordinary thing is that weve got a television crew in the playground at that school, reporting there as if theyre embedded in some foreign military action, Robinson says.  Children seen playing in Texas! When did we lose our minds like this?

This lament may be shared by parents concerned about the focus on test prep at the expense of physical education, outdoor play, and creativity. The international Forest School model bucks that trend: classes are hosted outdoors, often in woodland areas, and teachers tailor offerings to individual students interests, rather than to standardized evaluations. In A Year of Forest School (Watkins, May), Forest School leaders Jane Worroll and Peter Houghton share stories of their classroom experiences, detailing a selection of outdoor-oriented games and crafts they used with students, projects that parents can initiate at home.

An Alternate Path

Some families address education concerns by harking back to an earlier era when children were taught at home, but with the benefit of a network of like-minded fellow parents and educators.

Susan Wise Bauer has been a resource for homeschooling parents since 1999s The Well-Trained Mind (Norton), which she coauthored with her mother, Jessie Wise; the books fourth edition pubbed in 2016. In Rethinking School (Norton, Jan.), Bauer turns to mainstream education, which, she says, is biologically opposed to the way that living creatures grow. In her new book, which PWs review called highly opinionated but eminently practical, she discusses how children often develop out of sync with their grade levels and shows parents how to intervene before such issues derail a childs education.

We grow unevenly and we develop competencies in some areas long before others, but the system itself really resists being flexed, Bauer says. Its super common to have a mismatch between a childs biological age and the grade level at which theyre working. She offers suggestions for working within the educational system, for taking a hybrid homeschool approach (e.g., independent study or a gap year), and for transitioning to homeschooling or unschooling full-time.

Deborah Reber, in Differently Wired (Workman, June), writes about the decision she and her husband made to homeschool, after frustrating experiences at three mainstream elementary schools. Their sons unsatisfying diagnosis in second grade: autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and disruptive behavior disorders not otherwise specified, a clinical diagnosis for patients who fall between diagnostic categories.

Reber, who launched the podcast Tilt Parenting in 2016 as a resource for parents of atypical kids, cites research showing that 20% of school-aged children could be labeled neuroatypical, a concept that reclassifies ADHD, autism, and other conditions as variations along the spectrum of human experience, rather than disorders that needs to be cured. In her book, she suggests that readers make an effort to connect with fellow parents through local support groups and offers advice on building a secure environment for unique childreneven when it means taking steps outside the school system.

Below, more on the subject of parenting books.

The Importance of Sharing Media: PW Talks with Anya Kamenetz

In The Art of Screen Time, the NPR education reporter looks at the divisive topic of devices.

Meet the Parents: Parenting Books 2018

Forthcoming titles address childrearing in all its imperfect glory.
When TV producer Joy Thomas Moore found herself raising three children on her own in the 1980s, she had few role models. Even today, she says, solo parents can be unfairly stigmatized.

We need to change the narrative around single parentingto be supportive of each other, as opposed to blaming all the ills of the world on single moms, Moore says. In Septembers The Power of Presence, she shares her experience as well as advice from other solo mothers.

As their stories show, there are as many approaches to parenthood as there are people with children. Parents have to be comfortable with the fact that theres no uniform solution to anything, says Janelle Hanchett, whose forthcoming Im Just Happy to Be Here discusses parenting while recovering from addiction. There just isnt some silver bullet to doing it right.

Moore and Hanchetts books are among several forthcoming titles that address parenthood in all its imperfect glory.

Amateur Hour by Kimberly Harrington (Harper Perennial, May)

In a 2015 satirical essay for McSweeneys Internet Tendency, Is There a Parenting Expert on This Plane?, Harrington parodied modern parenting culture in the voice of a beleaguered, fictional airline captain: Is there a Tiger Mom in the house? Anyone raise their kid in France? Essays in the book continue the gentle ribbing, taking aim at pregnancy, school bake sales, and more.

And Now We Have Everything by Meaghan OConnell (Little, Brown, Apr.)

OConnell was living the millennial dreamshe worked at Kickstarter and Tumblrwhen an unplanned pregnancy at age 28 catapulted her into motherhood. The experience was far from what she saw portrayed on mommy blogs and Instagram, and in her memoir, she confronts those realities: losing control of her body, feeling like an imposter, and accepting her ambivalence about being a parent.

Bounceback Parenting by Alissa Marquess (TarcherPerigee, Apr.)

Marquess, a blogger and mother of three, assigns her readers what she calls secret missionssimple activities to engage with family members, such as Ask your child to teach you something about their world. She also offers journal writing prompts and worksheets that aim to reinforce resilience in the face of family problems.

Im Just Happy to Be Here by Janelle Hanchett (Hachette, May)

Since 2011, Hanchett has published profanity-laced essays about parenthood at her Renegade Mothering website, ending a selection of her favorite posts with the phrase fuck helpful parenting advice. Hanchett crashed into parenthood unexpectedly at age 21, and in her memoir she describes her 10-year battle to get clean from drug and alcohol addiction while raising four kids.

One Day Youll Thank Me by David McGlynn (Counterpoint, Jun.)

In this compilation of essays that originally appeared in the New York Times, Parents, and elsewhere, McGlynn, an associate professor of English at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, shares his idiosyncratic parenting solutions: repurposing a shower curtain rod as a tool to keep an energetic toddler in his room, for instance, or torching a Christmas list to restore a kindergartners faith in Santa.

The Power of Presence by Joy Thomas Moore (Grand Central, Sept.)

A Peabody Awardwinning radio and TV producer shares her story of raising three children as a solo parent and profiles other single mothers who juggled parenthood and careers, among them a teacher, a magazine editor, and an entrepreneur.

Small Animals by Kim Brooks (Flatiron, Aug.)

After leaving her four-year-old son in the car for a few minutes while running an errand, Brooks faced legal trouble and found herself at the center of a national debate about responsible parenting. Her book blends personal reflections on her ordeal with a journalistic look at the culture of fear that causes parents to overcompensate, asserting that society has reached a point of what she calls peak parenthood.

Return to the main feature.
LEXINGTON  A fire discovered in the early morning Friday has destroyed a Lexington home and displaced a man who recently moved here from Texas.

Lexington Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dahlas Holbein said firefighters were called to 600 W. 7 th St. at about 3:15 a.m. The house is on the southwest corner of 7th and Johnson streets.

Holbein said when firefighters arrived there was no one in the home. He said the renter, who was the one who reported the fire, had recently returned home from work and found the fire. The renter smelled smoke, found more smoke when he opened the door from the garage to the house, closed the door and called 911.

Holbein said there were 25 firefighters who worked in the cold to get the fire under control and extinguished. He said they were on the scene until about 9 a.m.

They were assisted by the Lexington Police Department, Dawson County Sheriffs Office, Nebraska Public Power District and Black Hills Energy.

Holbein said the cold weather made the fire more difficult to fight, along with it being an older home with additions.

"Otherwise, the outcome was good because no one was home," said Holbein.

Holbein didnt have an estimate of the amount of damage, but said the house is likely a total loss.

Cody Maxey, 23, said he hadnt lived in the house for very long and did not have renters insurance. He moved to Lexington about a month ago to work at Tyson.

He said he left for work at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday and arrived back home again shortly after 3 a.m. He said it smelled like something was burning when he pulled up to the house, but didnt know the source. "As soon as I walked in, I noticed something on fire. I got down low to see where it was coming from, but the smoke was too much so I left right away," he said.

Maxey is receiving assistance from the Red Cross, staying at a local motel while he looks for another place to live. He said some of his clothes may be ok, but otherwise he lost everything and will be starting over.

"Ive never actually seen this happen firsthand so I dont know what to think about it," he said.

Holbein said an investigator with the state fire marshal office was called to help determine the cause of the fire. It appears that the fire started where a wall mounted radiant heater was located near a bathroom and the wall to the living room. He said wires were melted together and the heaviest burn section was by the floor. He said the melted wiring had tripped several breakers in the house.

"Were glad no one was in the home at the time the fire started, and no one was hurt," said Holbein.

A fundraiser has been started to help Maxey recover from the fire.

Donations can be made at:
For the French, the shock of the terrorist attacks of 2015 came not just from the horror of the events but also from the realization that their nation was indeed, as then-President Francois Hollande told them, at war with ISIL. Of course, France had been fighting Islamist groups on several fronts for a while. It rushed a brigade to Mali in 2013 to fight al-Qaeda affiliates, prompting Le Figaro to note that for once the French government was using the g-word, i.e. guerre (war), rather than resorting to euphemisms. The next year, France extended its mission in Mali to the entire Sahel region (Operation Barkhane), and commenced operations in Iraq and Syria against ISIL (Operation Chammall). France had also been waging a clandestine war against al-Qaeda affiliates in the Horn of Africa for several years, and French forces fought and died alongside American troops in Afghanistan. The attacks of 2015 brought war home, not just because of the carnage on French soil, but because the government deployed, as part of Operation Sentinelle, roughly 10,000 soldiers charged with protecting sensitive places including airports and tourist attractions, kosher restaurants, and synagogues.

To come to terms with being at war, the French have turned not just to the usual public intellectuals and commentators, but also to a relatively rare breed in France: what might be called national security pundits. A number of these are associated with France's small but healthy ecosystem of think tanks, which benefit from government support, and whose researchers sometimes slip back and forth between their institutional homes and government service. There are two thinkers, however, who stand out both because of their public prominence but also because they marry the best of France's intellectual traditions with serious military credentials. Gen. Vincent Desportes and Col. Michel Goya draw on careers focused on the study and practice of war and share a grimmer and more Hobbesian vision than what one normally encounters in French public debates. This in and of itself makes them appealing guides to the dark world in which the French now find themselves. Desportes and Goya are also unusual in a country in which military officers are expected not to speak in public or share their views openly, a legacy of the Algiers Putsch of 1961. After some army officers attempted to overthrow President Charles de Gaulle and establish a military junta, all sides thought it best if the military said as little as possible....

The remainder of this commentary is available on warontherocks.com.

Michael Shurkin is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on War on the Rocks on January 5, 2018. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
There's a new acronym that has taken hold across the Department of Defense over the last two years or so: TMM. It stands for trans-regional, multi-functional, and multi-domain; and, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, has made it a core element of the Joint Staff's work. According to Dunford, the department's current planning and organizational construct is flawed, impeding the secretary of defense's ability to make decisions. To fight and win 21st century wars, the department should find a way to globally integrate below the secretary of defense. But to do so, the chairman's role needs to evolve considerably. As Dunford explained to the Senate Armed Service Committee a few months ago, the chairman needs limited authority for the worldwide reallocation of a limited number of military assets  on a short-term basis ( PDF ). This authority builds on the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act ( PDF ) that allows the chairman to advise the secretary on the allocation and transfer of forces for transregional, multi-functional and multi-domain operations. So, are these arcane developments of interest to a few pentagon staffers, or are they indicative of something more fundamental happening?

First things first: What does trans-regional, multi-functional, and multi-domain mean? According to the Joint Staff ( PDF ), it includes crises and contingencies that cut across multiple combatant commands; cut across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace; and involve conventional, special operations, ballistic missile, strike, cyber, and space capabilities. At a glance, it seems sensible to ask the chairman to adjudicate the competing demands among the combatant commands and the services. After all, the global security landscape is increasingly complicated and competitive. Just some of the vexing problems associated with national defense challenges that stretch beyond borders and domains include: gray zone conflict being waged across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, to cyber sabotage emanating from Russia, China, and North Korea; North Korea's accelerated nuclear program and its burgeoning threat to Northeast Asia and the United States; Russian and Chinese military modernization to include China's aggressive moves to dominate artificial intelligence; violent extremist organizations in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia; Iranian meddling and misbehavior across the Middle East; and continued U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and Iraq in unstable regions....

The remainder of this commentary is available on warontherocks.com.

Paula G. Thornhill is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. Mara Karlin is Associate Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

This commentary originally appeared on War on the Rocks on January 5, 2018. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Movistar has started delivering Wyplay-powered, open source IPTV set-top boxes across some of its key markets in Latin America.

Following an agreement signed over a year ago, the telco has now announced the deployment of its new IPTV solution based on Frog Source software from Wyplay.Thus, the open solution becomes part of the ecosystem of middleware components providers for (Movistar's parent company) Telefonica IPTV STB. The agreement doesnt affect the ongoing deals Telefonica has with other vendors and providers, such as Arris According to the French company, thanks to Wyplays middleware, Telefonica has the flexibility to adapt new video services to different technologies, such as over-the-top (OTT), and different markets in a more simple and agile way.Since the Spanish telco selected the Wyplay Frog Source solution , in December 2016, the software provider has worked closely with Telefonica, providing professional support, training and development to customise the final product.With a small team of highly productive engineers, an operator can deploy a solution in less than one year, said Jacques Bourgninaud, Wyplay CEO. This first successful Telefonica project deployment confirms our Frog Source strategy.
Atresmedias Nova is to premiere the hit series Fatmagul in Spain, following the success of the Turkish soap opera in Latin America.

Through this move, the media group takes the first Turkey-produced telenovela to Spain, betting on an industry that has grown over the last years, releasing several hits to the world.In fact, Fatmagul, originally filmed in 2010-2012, achieved great audience success in Latin America, where it was entitled Que culpa tiene Fatmagul? During the last years, Turkish soap operas have been gaining ground throughout the region of telenovelas Ratings were especially high in Peru and Chile, where it was broadcast by the leading free-to-air (FTA) channel Mega, becoming the most-watched soap opera in 2014 and 2015.Produced by Kanal D, the telenovela has had an estimated worldwide audience of 80 million viewers, having aired across 40 countries, including the UK, France, Greece, most of LATAM, India, Pakistan and north Africa.In Spain, Fatmagul will premiere next Monday (8 January) aiming to conquer Novas prime time slot through its 80 episodes, divided into two seasons.The soap opera tells the story of Fatmagul, a young woman who is raped by four rich men the night before her wedding. The plot follows the stories after the terrible event, talking about classical soap opera topics such as love, guilt and revenge.
Nima Najafzadeh/Tasnim News Agency via AP

Nima Najafzadeh/Tasnim News Agency via AP

Every great powers foreign policy is calculated with respect to every other big powers foreign policy. What happens one country ripple throughout the region or even the world. Situations change, strategies are reviewed, tactics are adapted.

The growing tumult in Iran is of major significance. Not only in Iran itself the ramifications are being felt more widely. Not the least important effect involves the strategy to move Israeli-Palestinian relations out of deadlock.

For a few months we have known that a new American-Saudi proposal for the Middle East is to be rolled out early this year, perhaps sponsored by other governments as well. Saudi Arabias de facto leader, the young Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman known in international circles by the handle MSB  is going to be a game changer.

The loosening of the rigid rules of daily life within Saudi Arabia  allowing women to drive, opening cinemas and the like  is the opening move of MSBs drive to liberalize the Saudi government and society in general. He wants to turn Saudi Islam  or to return it, as he insists  to a less rigid, more open and tolerant way of life.

Saudi foreign policy is also changing. Riyadh is overcoming its lethargy, taking the initiative and seeking solutions rather than seeking simply to manage instability. The strategy shared by Trump and MBS is to break through the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock by forcing it into a wider, regional plan. When a problem seems intractable, enlarging the scope of the solution sometimes offers a way forward.

Direct negotiations between the two parties  or the lack of them  will no longer determine whether there is movement or not. The two-state solution, conceived as a full Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security, will be reviewed with a critical eye even by those who have long endorsed it as the only just outcome. The question will be posed whether the Palestinians as a people would really be better off with a full state, whether they should have one, or whether, given past performance, they really deserve one. In other words the question is whether the so-called peace process in fact offers a roadmap to peace.

The regional approach implies an outside imposition of a realistic view of what is possible on Palestinian leaders who have failed for decades to develop one by themselves. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone on too long and for too long it has damaged other causes  causes equally worthy or more so. The Palestinian cause has worn out its welcome, even among its once ardent supporters in the West.

This approach became public with U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem officially as Israels capital. It is now clear that this decision was not a one-off operation or some idiosyncratic gesture. It signals a new strategy, one that moves beyond the peace process concept. It is a strategy of movement, unilaterally taking contentious issues off the table, preparing a region-wide plan. Trumps announcement that American aid to the Palestinians might be cut off if they dont adapt is another threat to force compliance. In the flurry of current events it has passed almost without notice that the Jerusalem decision has been processed throughout the region and that the Saudis not only dont oppose it, they are privately in favor. Trump is also endorsing Israels redefinition of Jerusalems boundaries.

The protest movement in Iran, however, has shifted the geopolitical terrain. Iranian rebellion against the theocracy in Tehran is shaking the mullahs regime  and the effects are rippling out across the region.

With respect to resolving Israeli-Palestinian deadlock, the implication is clear.

Success for the U.S.-Saudi strategy depends on leveraging Sunni Arab government alarm over Irans aggressive regional policy to win support for an imposed Israeli-Palestinian deal. Tehrans expansionism gives Sunni Arabs a common enemy, thus sufficient reason to endorse an imposed solution. Israeli destruction of Iranian military facilities being built in Syria appears as being in everyones interest. Weakening Tehrans ability to bolster Hezbollah and Bashar al Assad is a shared objective.

Thus an aggressive Iran incites movement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An Iranian regime now forced by popular protests to change its ways would be good news for the Iranian people  if it does not turn into a bloodbath  but much more ambiguous is its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock.

No matter which outcome one thinks is more important, you cant have both. What happens on the Iranian street is key to the next phase.
How many steps will it take to walk off Thanksgiving dinner?
The AroundTown section of the Clipper-Herald is to notify the public of upcoming events and to publicize pertinent information from individuals, groups or organizations that are not for profit.

PEOPLE

The family of Tim and Carol Boyle suggest a card shower to help them celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on Dec. 31. Cards may be sent to Tim and Carol Boyle, 42956 Hwy 283, Elwood, NE 68937.

HAPPENINGS

Miller Dances: All Dances start at 7 p.m. Bring finger food and snacks. Questions? Call 308-325-2909. Jan. 6: "Judy and the Troubadours," Jan. 13: "Diamonds and Dust" - Free Dance for Roberta Lammers 75th birthday, Jan. 20: "Lead Me Home," Jan. 27: "Classic Country," - Free dance for Nadine Winzs 80th birthday.

Bonneville Chapter DAR will meet Jan. 9, 2018 in the meeting room at the Great Western Bank Drive-in, 6th and Lincoln. There will be a 6 p.m. social time and 6:30 p.m. meeting. The program on "Essential Oils," will be given by Stephanie Ringenberg.

The Auxiliary of VFW Post 5136 will have its meeting Jan. 9, 2018 at 9:15 a.m. in the Pinnacle Bank meeting room.

There will be NO Coffee with Carol at the Dawson County Museum in January and February. The museum will resume Coffee with Carol on the first Wednesday of the month in March 2018.

A free parenting class, provided by Dawson County Rooted in Relationships will be given Saturday afternoons Jan. 13 - March 3, 2018 from 12 - 2 p.m. at Lexington Public Library. To register call Maricela Novoa at 308-324-1841.

Lexington Area Christian Womens Connection luncheon will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at noon at Kirks Restaurant. Cost for meal is $6.75 inclusive. Theme is Beauty Tips. Speakers will be Dave and Patti Thorell of Loomis. The couple will talk about "Waiting on God." Special feature talk will be given by Teresa Marquez with Teresas Bakery in Lexington. Reservations and cancellations by noon on Monday, Jan. 15. Call Sheri Giesbrecht at 308-320-0952 or Teresa Lanman at 308-324-8386.

Lexington Regional Health Center Auxiliary will meet Jan. 17 at 12:30 p.m. for a salad luncheon at the LRHC. Bring a salad. Program will be "Young Living and Essential Oil" benefits by Stephanie Scherr.

WIC sites for Dawson County for January, February and March are: Lexington - Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska building, 931 West 7th, Tuesday thru Thursday, first four full weeks for each month. Call 308-324-6212 for an appointment. Cozad - Parkview Building, 120 E. 9th, Mondays, Jan. 15, Feb. 5, March 12. Gothenburg - American Lutheran Church, 1512 Ave. G, Monday, Jan. 8, Friday, Feb. 2, Monday, March 5.

The Plum Creek Community Players will once again be bringing the Missoula Childrens Theater to Lexington. Please save the dates on your calendar from Feb. 19-24, 2018. The selected production is "Gullivers Travels." More information will be coming as the audition date of Feb. 19 approaches.

Events at the Lexington Grand Generation Center - Public Bingo on Mondays at 7 p.m. Must be 18 to play. For questions call 308-324-2498. Homemade Pretzel Baking on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. Cost to purchase pretzels is .50/pretzel, $6.00/dozen. Purchase and/or come help roll.

RYDE Transit - Public Transportation is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To schedule a ride in Dawson County or Lexington call 308-324-3670. Public Transportation is easy to ride and open to everyone.

AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Wilson Public Library in Cozad is sponsoring a Winter Reading Challenge for children in grade 5 and younger. Patrons are invited to pick up a challenge form at the librarys front desk, located at 910 Meridian Avenue in Cozad. Participants should complete five of the challenges and return the sheet, no later than Feb. 1, 2018, for the chance to win a prize.

This is your chance to learn something new! The Lexington Public Library will be offering an "Introduction to Leather Tooling" class on Saturday, January 20 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Robert Thompson will guide us through the process of leather tooling and provide us the chance to try it ourselves. This class is limited to 8 adult and teen participants. To register, visit the Lexington Public Library or call 308-324-2140.

Novel Stitchers meets on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. If you enjoy stitching--knitting, crocheting, quilting, cross stitch, needlepoint, or have another portable stitching project--join us at the library for two hours of stitching and visiting. We will meet on Tuesdays, January 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Lexington Public Library Board Room. We would love to have you join us.

Story Time meets on Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. Children and their caregivers are invited to join us at the Lexington Public Library for stories, activities, and music. Make time to join us for this fun and social program.

MARKED DOWN! Drop by the Lexington Public Librarys Gently Used Book Sale. Check out the tremendous variety of books and choose some for gifts or treat yourself to some books! Hard back books are now $1.00 a piece; everything else is $0.50 per item or 3 for $1.00. Take advantage of the Gently Used Book Sale to stock up on books for your winter reading and support the Lexington Public Library.

LEXINGTON GRAND GENERATION CENTER

Exercise room is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Every Sunday the Center is available for rent.

Monday

9 a.m. - Tai Chi

9 a.m. - Massage

10 a.m. - FROG

12:45 p.m. - Ive Got It

3 p.m. - Strength Training

7 p.m. - Public Bingo

Tuesday

9 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Massage

1 p.m. - "Rocking Snowman Project"

Wednesday

9:15 a.m. - Go4Life

9:30 a.m. - Coffee/Crafts

9:30 a.m. - Pool T. - Lexington

10:45 a.m. - Overton Health Clinic

11 a.m. - 5-in-a-Row

12:45 p.m. - Cards

1:30 p.m. - FROG

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. - Hot cookies

3 p.m. - Strength Training

LEXINGTON GRAND GENERATION CENTER MENU

Homemade bread everyday. Choice of skim, 2% or chocolate milk. No reservations needed except for large groups. Serving time: 11:30 a.m.

Monday

Sweet and sour chicken, mac and cheese, roasted brussel sprouts, sliced apples

Tuesday

Ham balls, baby bakers, stewed tomatoes, OJ cups

Wednesday

Beef and veggie soup, cheese cubes, potato salad, pickled beets, apricots

ORGANIZATIONS

AA/NA: open meeting Friday nights at 7 p.m. at Plum Creek Mall at Two Bridges Counseling, 513 N. Grant St., Suite 3a, Lexington.

Westside Group: AA/NA open meeting on Monday and Wednesday nights at separate locations at 8 p.m. Monday night meetings at First Christian Church, 1206 N. Erie St. in Lexington. Wednesday nights at Community Health Center (west of hospital) 1600 W. 13th St. in Lexington.

AA Elwood: at 8 p.m. on Sundays at United Methodist Church, 601 Rush in Elwood. Contact: 785-3567 (Tom).

Al-Anon meets Mondays, 8 p.m. at the LexChristian Church, 13th & Erie; Wednesdays, 8 p.m. at Lexington Regional Health Center Board room, use east entrance; Thursdays, noon at Grace Lutheran Church, 105 E. 17th, use office door. For more information call 308-651-0143.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, non-smoking: at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at St. Anns Catholic Church basement, 301 E. Sixth St.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, non-smoking - Smithfield: At 8 p.m. on Thursdays at Hope Lutheran Church, 74098 Road 436 in Smithfield. Call 785-3567 or 472-3376.

American Legion in Lexington meets the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles.

Celebrate Recovery: a 12-step, anonymous program helping participants overcome any hurts, habits, addictions or hang-ups. Meets at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays at Parkview Baptist Churchs Refuge (Parkview South Campus), 1105 Park St.. Contact: 308-324-4410.

Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska Public Immunization Clinic, 1st & 3rd Mondays every month: Open 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. by appointment at 931 West 7th St., Lexington. Clinics serve ages 2 months - 18 years. Children must be accompanied by an adult, previous vaccination records required. Contact 308-865-1352 ext. 143.

Dawson/Gosper County CASA: seeking Volunteers. CASA Volunteers are everyday people from all walks of life, who advocate through the court system in the interests of children. Contact 324-7364.

Grupo Lexington AA (Spanish Speaking) open meeting Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 11 p.m., at 114 West 6th St. in Lexington.

Lexington Area Grief Support Group: meets at 4:30 p.m. on the first Mondays of each month at Fitness Center, 1600 W. 13th Street. Open to anyone experiencing the death of a loved one. Contact Lexington Regional Health Center Home Health office, 324-8300.

Lexington Rotary Club meets the first and third Wednesday of the month at Lexington Public Library at noon. For more information or to join call 308-325-7006.

Love in Action Outreach, 907 West 8th St., Lexington, is open Monday through Thursday, 12:30  4 p.m. For assistance go to 909 West 8th St. Donations of clothes, furniture and other items any time back of store or contact 308-651-0925 for further assistance. Monetary donations are accepted as well.

Parkinsons Disease Support Group Meetings are held the second Thursday each month at 2 p.m. in the education room at the Community Health & Fitness Center (1600 W. 13th, Lexington) For more information contact Dixie Menke at 308-325-5350 or 308-784-4022 or Brenda Bierman at 308-324-2523 or 308-325-9216.

Survivors of Suicide Support Group meets every second Monday of the month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 1616 W. 39th St., in Kearney. For more information contact Carol Rowedder at 308-237-2635.
Support for a drinking water company owned by Prime Minister Hun Sens daughter is drying up after the firm provided elderly residents of Cambodias Kampong Thom province with free coffins and other funeral supplies, leading social media users to label the stunt disrespectful.



On Thursday, Hun Manas Vital Premium Water Company distributed drinking water to Kampong Thoms Prasath Balaing district, as well as more than 20 coffins, white cloth for covering the deceased, and other funerary items.



Members of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodiawhich is directed by Hun Manas brother, Hun Manywere on hand to deliver the gifts, saying they had been requested by elderly residents and that there was no ill will meant in the gesture.



Photos taken at the event of bewildered-looking villagers sitting in plastic chairs next to coffins soon made the rounds on local media websites, as well as on social media sites such as Facebook, where they drew condemnation from netizens who called the gifts inappropriate and offensive.



Commenters suggested that a better gesture might have involved donations of medicine or the construction of senior centers to help improve the lives of the elderly.



A staff member who answered the phone at the Vital Premium Water Company refused to comment when asked for clarification about the event by RFAs Khmer Service on Friday.



Luon Savath, an award-winning rights activist known as the multimedia monk, told RFA that the gifts had frightened residents of Prasath Balaing instead of bringing them comfort, noting that Hun Sen has previously issued threats against villagers there who have opposed his rule.



No one wants to diethey dont want coffins when they are still alive, the monk said.



People need to live with dignity. They need food, shelter, employment, land for farming, access to free medical care and rights, and other basic needs, he said.



We need to help to people to live as long as they can. We should not encourage them to die.



More appropriate gifts could include medicine, cash donations, clothing or food, Luon Savath said, adding that keeping a coffin at ones home is unpleasant and scary for young people.



A July 2016 report by London-based Global Witness found that Hun Sens family members are amassing vast personal fortunes in Cambodias private sector, and wield significant control across most of its lucrative industries, with links to major international brands including Apple, Nokia, Visa, Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Honda.



Hun Sens family has a combined wealth estimated to total between U.S. $500 million and U.S. $1 billion, the report said, while 40 percent of Cambodians still live below or close to the poverty line.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen (C) speaks to the press after a meeting to discuss the high-speed rail link that will connect the city to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, at the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong, Aug. 3, 2017.

Hong Kong's justice secretary Rimsky Yuen resigned on Friday, four years ahead of term amid ongoing tensions between the former British colony and Beijing over the rule of law and judicial independence.

"The Central People's Government has accepted my resignation," Yuen told reporters. "Today is my last day as secretary for justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government."

Yuen's time in office was marked by a series of hands-on interventions in the city's political life by China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, one of which led to the expulsion of six pro-democracy lawmakers from the Legislative Council (LegCo).

That intervention, in the form of a legal interpretation of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, by the NPC standing committee, sparked public protest by 2,000 members of the city's legal profession.

Yuen, 53, is also believed to have order the re-sentencing of three former student leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy Central movement, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, overriding a court decision that handed down non-custodial sentences on public order charges.

However, he was tight-lipped on the reasons behind the timing of his departure, which comes just one year in to a second, five-year term.

"Making the decision not to continue ... was not an easy one, but I believe that at different stages of life, one should do different things," Yuen said.

"We understand that people would have perhaps very divergent views, and I think in my post my belief has been all along that we have to stick to ... legal principles, even though we know that some people might not like them," he said.

Separate legal jurisdiction

Yuen's successor, senior counsel Teresa Cheng, said that the "prime mission" of the secretary for justice is to uphold the rule of law in the city's separate legal jurisdiction.

"Hong Kong has returned to the mainland for 20 years now," Cheng, 59, told journalists on accepting the post. "One country, two systems, is the most favorable and appropriate arrangement for Hong Kong."

Under the terms of its 1997 handover to Chinese rule, Hong Kong was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the "one country, two systems" model, including the continuation of its existing freedoms of speech, association and publication, and its separate and independent legal system.

But the city's Bar Association has hit out at a decree last month by the NPC standing committee that part of a high-speed railway station linking Hong Kong to mainland China's high-speed rail network will be subject to its laws.

The decree will extend Beijing's authority to parts of the high-speed rail terminus to enable a streamlined process for passengers boarding the trains in Hong Kong, despite of the city's status as a separate immigration, policing, and customs jurisdiction.

The "co-location" arrangement has already been criticized as unconstitutional as a violation of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

The Bar Association called the move "the most retrograde step to date [that] severely undermines public confidence in one country, two systems and the rule of law."

Cheng appeared unwilling to get into the specifics of the legal argument on Friday.

"There have been situations whereby some unprecedented legal challenges have arisen," she said. But she claimed that the use of "objective and rational analysis based on legal principles" would result in the convergence of all opinions on the subject.

Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said he already has doubts about Cheng's thinking on the Basic Law.

"She may not take the position of Hong Kong in the highest priority in order to uphold the Basic Law, as a result that may hurt the core value of one country, two systems," Wu told reporters.

"The things she says could very easily mean that she will say the NPC standing committee's decision on the West Kowloon rail terminus is totally constitutional," he said. "I don't think that is an appropriate attitude for a justice secretary towards ... our judicial system, not according to my understanding of the Basic Law."

Rule of individual officers

University of Hong Kong legal scholar Eric Cheung said Yuen had already failed to protect Hong Kong's status as a separate legal jurisdiction, however.

"The Hong Kong government went ahead and did something which they knew very well was in breach of the Basic Law," Cheung said. "Now, all the power lies with the NPC standing committee, whose word is law, and actions that were once in breach of the Basic Law are no longer in breach of it [according to them]."

"This isn't the rule of law, it's the rule of individual officials," he said.

Opposition lawmaker and barrister Tanya Chan, who heads a group protesting the rail terminus plan, said Yuen had left the destruction of the rule of law as his parting gift to Hong Kong, leaving Cheng with something of a poisoned chalice.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who represents the legal profession in LegCo, said the justice secretary should be able to say no to Beijing.

"They shouldn't be making decisions for political reasons, or under political pressure," Kwok said. "That will destroy the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people, as well as one country, two systems and the Basic Law."

Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Kachin Independence Army soldiers move towards the frontline near Laiza in northern Myanmar's Kachin state during two days of fighting with the Myanmar military, Oct. 11, 2016.

In an attack using heavy weapons, the Myanmar military on Thursday captured several hillside camps operated by an ethnic armed group and killed an unspecified number of enemy soldiers during hostilities in the countrys northernmost Kachin state.

The army said it killed some Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers in the attack and seized arms and ammunition, according to a Facebook post on Friday by the office of Myanmar's commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The government army seized 22 outposts, four main camps, and 18 small camps belonging to the KIA between Nov. 13, 2017, and Jan. 3, and cut off a popular route that it says the rebel group had been using to smuggle timber to China.

Government soldiers conducting the military operation, which began about 25 miles southwest of the town of Namkham, found and seized camps where the KIA was engaging in smuggling natural resources, including timber, to China, the army said.

The Myanmar army confiscated buildings, vouchers used in the collection of extorted money, and small arms and ammunition at the scene, it said.

A main route which passes illegally through Momeik and Mabein townships and is used to smuggle Myanmars precious natural resources and timber to [China] could be closed and placed under [Myanmar army] control, the Facebook post said.

The Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] columns are in hot pursuit of fleeing terrorist insurgents and continue to expose main points [of activity], including other illegal routes, it said.

KIA soldiers from Mangan village in Manweingyi village-tract attempted to shoot down a helicopter used by government forces for administrative affairs on Nov. 27, damaging it slightly, the Facebook post said.

Colonel Naw Bu, spokesman of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the KIAs political wing, downplayed the Myanmar militarys account of the attacks.

We dont have that many camps in this area, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. They [the Myanmar army] got some small posts not by fighting, but because we left them.

Naw Bu also denied the KIAs involvement in smuggling timber to China

The army has talked about how the KIA is smuggling timber to other countries, and it is just to damage the KIAs image, he said. We dont have any forests in Kachin state. The timber they spoke of is coming from Mandalay and Sagaing region.

As far as we know, businessmen, forest officials, and [Myanmar] military officials are engaged in this business, he said, adding that the government army has not tried to stop timber smuggling in the other two areas where businessmen cut down trees, though they do so in Kachin state.

Naw Bu also siad that the fighting between the KIA and government military would not end any time soon.

Because the government army has been conducting offensive attacks, there will be more fighting as long as it doesnt retreat.

Clashes since 2011

The KIA, which controls large swathes of northeastern Kachin state, has regularly engaged in clashes with the Myanmar army since a 17-year bilateral cease-fire agreement collapsed in 2011, forcing about 100,000 residents to flee to safety over the years.

Its territory includes Tanaing townships gold and amber mining region, on whose natural resources it depends as a source of income through the levying of a five-percent tax on mine operators.

Some of the KIAs most recent hostilities with the Myanmar military have occurred in Tanaing and in neighboring northern Shan state.

The KIA is one of several militias with which the Myanmar government is trying to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars and forge peace in the country through a series of peace negotiations launched in August 2016 by de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Earlier this week, the KIO reshuffled its top leadership, replacing departing officers with a younger generation of leaders as hostilities between the group's armed wing and government forces continued to flare up.

Reported by Wai Mar Tun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Myanmar soldiers walk away from a helicopter that took them to Maungdaw in western Myanmar's Rakhine state to track down attackers who staged deadly raids on border posts, Oct. 10, 2016.

Six Myanmar army soldiers and a civilian driver were injured in an ambush on a military vehicle near Taungbyo in northern Rakhine state on Friday, underscoring ongoing instability in the area in the wake of a brutal military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, local residents said.

A truck from Infantry No. 124 hit a landmine near Tarein, an ethnic Rakhine village in Maungdaw township, as it traveled to Taungbyo, sources said.

A border police officer told the online journal The Irrawaddy that the soldiers were escorting a sick army officer in a civilian vehicle to Maungdaw for medical treatment. The ill officer was not injured in the explosion.

Around 9:20 a.m., a landmine explosion hit the tire on a military truck, said Eain Sor Maung, the head of Tarein village south of Taunbyo. When the truck stopped, a group shot at the truck, and seven people, including the driver and a major, were injured.

The injured were taken to a hospital in neighboring Buthidaung township, sources said.

The military is checking and clearing this area now, he said.

The blast was followed by about 15 minutes of gunfire by the group from a nearby hill, though no one suffered further injury, The Irrawaddy said.

The government military accused the militant Muslim group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of carrying out the attack, though ARSA has not made any statement confirming it.

ARSA conducted deadly raids on border guard stations in October 2016 and on police outposts in August 2017 in northern Rakhine state.

The attacks sparked two military crackdowns targeting the Rohingya, who endured indiscriminant killings, rape, torture, and arson. About 655,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence that the United Nations and other Western countries say amount to ethnic cleansing.

Muslim militants have also been accused of attacking Hindu villages in northern Rakhine state and planning and carrying out further armed assaults against security forces, usually at night.

The border police officer who spoke to The Irrawaddy speculated that an ethnic Rakhine armed group had ambushed the vehicle and soldiers, because the attack occurred near a Rakhine village during the daytime.

On Dec. 8, four Myanmar army soldiers were injured when their convoy hit three mines in Myebon township just an hour after Rakhine's Chief-Minister Nyi Pu and government officials traveled through the same area. It was not known who may have planted the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or what their motive may have been.

Though Myanmar plans to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh during the crackdowns later this month, rights groups have warned that the untenable situation on the ground and continued discrimination against the group may not bode well for those who voluntarily return.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A Vietnamese democracy advocate was taken into custody in Hanoi on Thursday by police who charged him with disorderly conduct after they broke up a lunch meeting held with friends at a local restaurant, sources said.



Vu Hung, a former political prisoner and school teacher, was taken first to a local police station and then transferred to a district station, and was beaten in detention, his wife Ly Thi Tuyet Mai told RFAs Vietnamese Service on Friday while waiting to visit her husband in jail.



Hung was arrested by the police yesterday afternoon, and after that they took him to the Thanh Xuan Bac ward police station, Mai said, adding, Now hes here at the Thanh Xuan district station.



Im waiting for the investigator to send in some personal things that I brought, including clothing and food, but the investigator said that hes busy right now and will let me in when hes done.



Hung was having lunch with friends at a local restaurant on Thursday while a lot of policemen stood watch outside, Mai said.



While they were still eating, the restaurant owner suddenly told them to pay their bill and leave, she said.



Police told Mai later that Hung had quarreled with two people after leaving the restaurant, leading to his arrest.



But when I came to see him at around 10:00 p.m. he told me he is innocent, and that they had slandered him and had beaten him in custody, she said.



Phone calls to the Thanh Xuan District police station and to police investigator Kim Minh Duc, the officer in charge of Hungs case, rang unanswered on Friday.



Belonged to banned group



In a Jan. 5 statement, the rights group Defend the Defenders identified Hung as a member of the banned online advocacy group Brotherhood For Democracy.



The restaurant meeting of the Chu Van An Teachers Association he had attended on Thursday was disrupted as the restaurant owner under district police pressure asked the participants [to leave in] the middle of the event, the rights group said.



Arrested in 2008 for hanging banners calling for multiparty democracy in Vietnam, Hung was handed a three-year prison term for spreading propaganda against the state and later launched a month-long hunger strike to protest authorities treatment of the prisoners where he was held.



Hungs current arrest comes amid an ongoing crackdown on political dissent in Vietnam, with at least 46 activists jailed in 2017 for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly, according to a Jan. 5 statement by the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR).



The crackdown accelerated in late December 2017, when 15 activists were sentenced to prison terms, VCHR said.



At least 130 political prisoners remain behind bars in jails across the country, the rights group said.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Richard Finney.
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In Masjed Soleiman, amateur video purports to show a large crowd on January 5 mourning the deaths of two protesters killed in recent days, shouting anti-government slogans. The city is in Khuzestan Povince, the center of oil production in Iran.
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A handful of picketers gathered outside the Kyiv offices of the 1+1 TV station on January 4 to voice their anger over a Pinocchio parody that activists say was homophobic and deeply insulting to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he's not worried about Islamabad retaliating against Washington over its suspension of as much as $2 billion in military aid this week.

"I'm not concerned, no," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on January 5, when asked about concerns that the U.S. move might push Pakistan closer to China or prompt it to cut off the principal supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which runs through Pakistan.

During a period of high tension between Washington and Pakistan six years ago, Islamabad closed overland routes into Afghanistan for several months.

Even before this week's suspension of military aid, Pakistan was developing closer ties with China, which has sold Islamabad military hardware and is financing major infrastructure projects in the country as part of Beijing's "Silk Road" initiative.

But Mattis dismissed those concerns, saying he got no indication from Pakistan that it might cut off the supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan when he visited Pakistan last month.

"We're still working with Pakistan, and we would restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much a threat against Pakistan as they are to us."

U.S. officials have said the United States is prepared to withhold as much as $2 billion in military assistance and counterterrorism aid until Pakistan takes "decisive action" against Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network militants residing within its borders.

The Pakistani reaction to the suspension of aid so far been limited primarily to harsh rhetoric and some street demonstrations.

Some small protests broke out in Pakistan on January 5, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan, where several hundred people gathered to chant slogans against the United States.

Pakistan's Foreign Office early on January 5 warned the United States that arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements, and shifting goalposts are counterproductive.

The ministry also sought to minimize the impact of the aid cut, saying Pakistan has spent more than $120 billion during the past 15 years on counterterrorism, largely from its own resources.

We are determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region, the Foreign Office said.

A senior U.S. official briefing reporters in Washington on the condition of anonymity said on January 5 that "approximately $2 billion worth of equipment and coalition support funding is in play" in the aid suspension.

This official said Washington is also considering taking other measures to pressure Pakistan to go after militants, such as stripping Pakistan of its status as a "major non-NATO ally" or withdrawing U.S. support for International Monetary Fund financing for Pakistan.

The senior official acknowledged that Islamabad could make life difficult for the United States by cutting of its military supply routes to Afghanistan.

But he insisted that "unless we deal with the Pakistan sanctuary issue, it will undermine all of our other efforts in Afghanistan...We can no longer accept Pakistan's dual policies of fighting some terrorists while supporting others."

With reporting by AP, AFP, Radio Mashaal, and Reuters


The Russian Supreme Court has upheld its decision to reject an appeal by opposition leader Aleksei Navalny against a decision to bar him from running in Russia's 2018 presidential election.

The court said on January 6 that its decision on December 30 to uphold a ruling five days earlier by Russia's Central Election Commission that the anticorruption crusader isn't eligible to run "remains without change, and the appellate complaint of the administrative plaintiff, without satisfaction."

The court said the decision by the Central Election Commission fully conforms to law.

A lawyer for Navalny said the politician will appeal to the presidium of the Supreme Court and could take the case on to the Constitutional Court if need be.

Previously, Navalny's lawyers have said he would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Navalny is barred from running for office because of a conviction in a fraud case, which has been viewed as political retribution.

Following his disqualification, Navalny called on his supporters to boycott the March 18 presidential vote.

He has also announced plans to hold protests across Russia on January 28 to press home his call for a boycott of the election.

The Kremlin has said such boycott calls should be reviewed by officials to see whether they break the law.

President Vladimir Putin is set to easily win a fourth term in office in the election, with his approval ratings topping 80 percent.

Putin, who has been president or prime minister since 1999, is seeking a new six-year term in the election.

Over the past year, Navalny has mounted a grassroots campaign across Russia.

Presidential campaigning officially started in Russia on December 18.

More than 20 people have declared their intention to run in the March election, including liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, business ombudsman Boris Titov, and journalist and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak.

While none of the candidates poses a serious challenge to Putin, analysts say the Kremlin is worried about voter apathy and has focused on ways to boost turnout to make Putin's expected victory as impressive as possible.
A court in the Netherlands has convicted and sentenced to life in prison two Russians and one pro-Moscow Ukrainian separatist in the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

The three men, who were tried in absentia along with a fourth suspect, were convicted of murder by the Dutch court for their role in the shooting down of the passenger plane. The court acquitted the fourth suspect for lack of evidence as it issued its long-awaited ruling on November 17.

Ukraine welcomed the ruling, while Moscow called it "scandalous" and said it would not extradite its citizens.

The downing of flight MH17 in July 2014 killed all 283 passengers and 15 crew members onboard the flight, which had taken off from Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam. The victims came from more than a dozen countries, although more than two-thirds of them were Dutch citizens.

WATCH: We take a look at what investigators say actually happened over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

"Only the most severe punishment is fitting to retaliate for what the suspects have done, which has caused so much suffering to so many victims and so many surviving relatives," presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said, reading a summary of the ruling.

The three men convicted were former Russian intelligence agents Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinskiy, and Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian separatist leader. Russian Oleg Pulatov, the only suspect represented by defense lawyers at the trial, was acquitted.

The three men, who are believed to be in Russia, were all found to have helped to arrange the transport into Ukraine of the Russian military BUK missile system that was used to shoot down the plane. Prosecutors said the convicted men have two weeks to file an appeal.

The ruling also said the missile that shot down flight MH17 was a Russian-made BUK missile supplied from Russia and fired from a field near Pervomaisk. Steenhuis said the court believed Russia had overall control at the time of the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

The court also awarded damages to the families of more than 16 million euros ($16.5 million), but it is unclear just who would pay that sum.

The verdict comes more than eight years after the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky. The midair explosion and crash on July 17, 2014, happened amid a conflict between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter that holding the "masterminds" accountable was also crucial "as the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes." Punishment for all of Russia's atrocities then and now is inevitable, he added.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters earlier the ruling sent a strong signal that "every war crime committed by the Russians will be documented, investigated, and brought to a conclusion no matter how much time it takes."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the verdict as "a solid step" toward justice, but he said more work lies ahead to hold those responsible to account.

The verdict "reflects the Netherlands' firm commitment to establish the truth and pursue accountability in this case," he said in a statement.

Russia called the ruling politically motivated and said the court was under "unprecedented pressure" from Dutch politicians, prosecutors, and media.

"We deeply regret that the District Court of The Hague has neglected the principles of impartial justice for the sake of the current political situation, thus inflicting a serious blow to the reputation of the entire judicial system of the Netherlands," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow said the trial in the Netherlands could go down in history as "one of the most scandalous in the history of legal proceedings with its extensive list of oddities, inconsistencies, and dubious arguments of the prosecution."

With reporting by Current Time, Reuters, AFP, and AP
A popular Ukrainian TV station and the creators of a raunchy New Year's skit have been forced to apologize and delete the holiday program from its archives after they were called out for its lewd mocking of sexual minorities.

A handful of picketers gathered outside the Kyiv offices of the 1+1 TV station on January 4 to voice their anger over a Pinocchio parody that activists say was homophobic and deeply insulting to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

The sketch, made by Quarter 95 studios and broadcast on 1+1 on December 31, depicted a Pinocchio-like character -- known by post-Soviet audiences as Buratino -- as transgender and leveled crude jokes about it.

Both 1+1 and Quarter 95 apologized on Facebook. 1+1 added that it had deleted all links to the controversial program from its website and archives and was prepared to provide a platform to discuss transgender issues with other media groups.

The troupe that performed the Buratino bit is led by Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a leading Ukrainian actor whose name has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. Zelenskiy had avoided commenting on the controversy as of January 4.

WATCH: LGBT Activists Protest Raunchy 'Pinocchio' Parody (in Ukrainian)

In the skit, titled The Carved Buratino 'Coming Out' In The Children's Theater, an animated wooden character seemingly reminiscent of Disney's iconic marionette who dreams of becoming "a real boy" announces that it identifies as a girl and wants to be called by the feminized Buratina. The name Buratino is also scrambled to spell a Russian profanity for sexual intercourse, and a well-known song from Buratino is altered to closely echo a Russian derogatory term for a homosexual. The skit also mocks the rainbow flag of the LGBT community and the letters L, G, B, and T.

The sketch also shows Buratina being rejected by its dog and father and insinuates that the character is likely to commit suicide.

The January 4 protest was organized via Facebook by Sofiia Lapina and attracted 10 people.

Lapina posted a list of demands of 1+1, including a public commitment to "prevent homophobic, transphobic, misogynous, racist, sexist, and any xenophobic content that devalues the dignity and honor of Ukrainians and fuels enmity." She also asked for a public apology from Zelenskiy.

Lapina told the TV station that a transcript of the Buratino program would be sent to international human rights organizations so that "they can also enjoy your humor."

Opinion polls in Ukraine suggest a majority of people view homosexuality as a "perversion" or "mental disease," Amnesty International has noted. The same group suggested in 2015 that Ukrainian officials had "softened their anti-LGBT rhetoric" in the interest of appeasing Brussels but had "resisted EU recommendations to officially adopt legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation" and "the threat of anti-LGBT violence remains real in post-Maidan Ukraine."

In its World Report 2017, Human Rights Watch (HRW) argued that "the government has introduced several progressive policies supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, but anti-LGBT sentiment remains strong among high-level government officials and the public."

Written by Pete Baumgartner based on reporting by RFE/RL Ukrainian Service correspondent Victoria Zhuhan
Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking Chinas resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. Im RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish.

Before we get started, a few announcements: The newsletter is now biweekly, rather than going out only on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. To subscribe, click here.

And I will also be launching Talking China In Eurasia, a new podcast. Im joined by the Royal United Services Institutes Raffaello Pantucci to talk about Xi and Putin. Listen to the first episode here or below.

Xi Gets Pragmatic About Russia At The G20

It was light on optimism, but U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping injected a healthy dose of pragmatism back into the U.S.-China relationship with their meeting in Bali at a time when global anxiety is rising over Russias war against Ukraine.

Finding Perspective: The meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit was far from a breakthrough, but it did repair some damage from the recent backslide in relations between both countries and send some signals that the world isnt necessarily destined for Cold War 2.0.

The more than three-hour talks saw some blunt exchanges over contentious issues like Taiwan and North Korea, but the two leaders also pledged more frequent communications and decided that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing for follow-up talks in 2023.

Of particular note, Biden raised Russias invasion of Ukraine and threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons. Both leaders reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought, according to a White House readout.

While far from a sea change for Chinese policy, thats notable. The credibility of Beijings claims to be neutral on the Ukraine war continue to come under scrutiny, and China has shown discomfort of late with the Kremlins nuclear saber-rattling.

Xi made similar comments after a November 4 summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and during another G20 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the French readout.

Why It Matters: Xi is not abandoning Putin, but this marks the latest shift for Beijings balancing act over Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Four Chinese officials briefed on the February 4 meeting between Xi and Putin, where they declared a no-limits partnership, told the Financial Times that Putin didnt tell Xi the truth about the invasion and that Beijing was caught off guard by it.

What Xi knew about Putins war plans has been a topic of debate, and there is evidence to support both the idea that Xi was aware and that he was caught off guard.

Many analysts are of the opinion that Xi knew about Putin's decision to invade but expected a quick victory, which perhaps was what Putin believed at the time.

Others point to a steady stream of dismissals from Chinese officials and experts about the likelihood of an invasion in February and the fact that Beijing did not evacuate its citizens from Ukraine  like Western nations did  as evidence that China was not expecting a war.

China certainly has its own interests in keeping a distance from Moscows war and using that space to do some upkeep with the West. But perhaps the most important point here is that even if Putin did blindside Xi, China has stuck with Russia despite its battlefield failures, political isolation, and the atrocities its troops are accused of committing.

Again, this is pragmatism more than anything else. As Chinese experts often say, even if Russia is looking unattractive these days, why would Beijing abandon its main anti-Western partner as China continues to be in the crosshairs of rising American pressure?

Read More

 Want to hear more about Russia and Chinas complex relationship amid the Ukraine war? Then tune in to the debut of Talking China In Eurasia today at 2 p.m. CET/ 8 a.m. EST. You can listen live here and find the episode on RFE/RLs website and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

 Condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine and its global fallout is shaping up to be the key theme of the G20, with the Financial Times reporting that a joint communique from the summit takes aim at Moscow.

Expert Corner: The Future Of The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Readers asked: Did Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs recent trip to Beijing breathe new life into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)? How do Islamabad and Beijing really feel about the project after all these years?

To find out more, I asked Filippo Boni, an expert on China-Pakistan relations at the Open University in Britain:

Shehbaz Sharif's visit to China was high on symbolism and relatively low on substance. While the two sides were keen to reaffirm and emphasize the strength of their strategic partnership, no significant new commitment was made. Apart from a few memorandums of understanding and attempts from the Pakistanis in the run-up to the trip to address some of CPECs issues  including payments to Chinese independent power producers  nothing major came from the visit. This is despite Sharif's attempts at revitalizing CPEC since April and the very close ties he enjoys with the Chinese leadership.

The outcome of this visit is not entirely surprising, especially if interpreted against the backdrop of Pakistan's current domestic predicaments. The security situation for Chinese nationals has deteriorated, the economy is struggling, and political instability is at one of its highest points in recent years. All these dynamics, coupled with the global scaling down of Belt and Road Initiative financing, have likely impacted Beijing's lack of commitment to new projects.

After almost 10 years and $25 billion worth of projects, there seems to be a general consensus on both sides that the first phase of CPEC  the one focused primarily on energy projects  was largely successful. The same cannot be said for the second phase, including the slow progress on the development of Special Economic Zones, and for the port of Gwadar, where little progress has been made for the ports full commercial functioning.

Do you have a question about Chinas growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and Ill get it answered by leading experts and policymakers.

Three More Stories From Eurasia

1. 'Sweep It Under The Rug'

Recent allegations of China operating 54 overseas police stations have fueled controversy around the world and sparked investigations, but in Hungary and Serbia the new findings are being met with swift denials by authorities, despite growing evidence.

The Details: My colleagues Akos Keller-Alant from RFE/RLs Hungarian Service, Mila Durdevic from RFE/RLs Balkan Service, and I reported on the fallout from these revelations and the slew of probes launched in many European countries recently.

The stations are overseas operations of the public security bureaus from two Chinese provinces and are used to persuade citizens to return to China, including through pressure on family members at home. While most of those involved appear to be suspected of crimes such as telecommunications fraud or corruption, dissidents have also reported that the stations have been used to monitor and threaten them.

Fourteen governments have already launched investigations into the overseas police stations, and the Dutch and Irish governments have ordered China to shut down the facilities in their countries.

But in Hungary and Serbia  two countries where Beijing is said to operate such facilities and whose governments prize their warming political and economic ties with China  officials appear to be trying to sweep it under the rug, as one analyst characterized it, despite growing scrutiny from opposition lawmakers in each country.

2. Global Ripples Hit Central Asia

Political and economic shocks from Moscows war in Ukraine, coupled with added strains from tensions between Beijing and Washington, are taking their toll around the world, especially in Central Asia, where countries in the region are closely tied to both China and Russia.

What It Means: As RFE/RLs Uzbek Service reported, Vladimir Norov, the countrys foreign minister, warned about geopolitical tensions affecting stability in the region and beyond while addressing his counterparts at an Organization of Turkic States meeting in Samarkand.

The breakdown in global cooperation is felt particularly strong in Central Asia. While some economies have been able to benefit by becoming a new home for businesses and capital relocated from Russia, others are seeing investment dry up and their economies coming under strain.

World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde recently warned that Uzbekistan needs to continue with its market reforms in order to withstand the global economic shocks that are to come.

RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service also reported that the countrys government is trying to court more investment but that questions remain from investors about Kyrgyzstans stability and investment climate. According to official statistics from January to June of this year, China is the leading source of foreign investment, with $129 million during that span.

3. The Tech In Moscows Iranian Drones

A new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, looked into electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 drone, which Russia has used in its war in Ukraine, and found that theyre far from homegrown.

What You Need To Know: The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The investigation also found drone components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm.

The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.

The international tech in the drone not only highlights the complex ecosystem that allows firms and buyers to circumvent sanctions slapped on both Iran and Russia, but also the close networks between Chinese and Western tech companies that still exist, despite a recent push to break some of those linkages.

Across The Supercontinent

On The Mainland: The watchdog group Freedom House recently launched a new project called the China Dissent Monitor, which tracks protests and other forms of dissent inside China. Read it here.

Censored: Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by European Council President Charles Michel that was set to criticize Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and call for reduced European dependency on China, Reuters reported.

Backtracking: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has softened his countrys stance toward China, moving away from his predecessor Liz Trusss decision to label it a threat.

One Thing To Watch

How long will Chinas stringent COVID policies stay in place?

New infections are rising as a winter wave hits and popular frustration continues to boil over inside the country as investor confidence stays dented over the measures. New footage also showed crowds of residents in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou escaping a compulsory lockdown and clashing with police.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have.

Until next time,

Reid Standish

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your in-box on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.
Royal Enfield Himalayan with FI was launched in India a few months ago. Priced from INR 1.84 lakh on road in Chennai, today RE announced the launch an accessory loaded variant called Sleet. It is priced from Rs 2.12 lakh, on road Chennai. The word Sleet means  rain containing some ice, as when snow melts as it falls.

Royal Enfield Himalayan Sleet is purpose built for those who want to go on those long road trips, without the worry of how the road ahead would be. The colour, is inspired by the snow-capped Himalayas.

In addition to the new colour, you also get official Royal Enfield accessories package which include aluminium panniers, aluminium handlebar with cross brace, pannier mounting rails and large engine guard. Only the first 500 buyers will get this accessory pack. Bookings are only accepted only, via Royal Enfields official site.

Royal Enfield President Rudratej Singh said, The new Himalayan Sleet is inspired by the terrain of Royal Enfields spiritual home  the Himalayas, its craggy land, the gorges, edgy peaks all brought together in the colours of the sleet.

The new Royal Enfield Himalayan Sleet is powered by the companys new BS4 engine and is based on the newly launched Himalayan, which RE has said is free of any issues.

Named after the mighty Himalayas of India, Royal Enfield Himalayan features a relaxed seating postion, which proves to be a boon on long rides, especially the ones with bad raods. Long suspension travel with off-road tyres give the bike a very rugged appeal. Instrument panel consists of analog as well as digital meters. Powered by a new 410 cc single cylinder engine, Royal Enfield Himalayan is an entry level adventure tourer. The engine is rated to deliver 25 PS and 32 Nm torque via a 5-speed gearbox.

News Release
Renault has emerged as the front runner in exploring the Iranian market after the strict economic sanctions imposed on the country were withdrawn in 2016. Considering that Iran is the largest auto market in the Middle-East region and automotive industry is the largest non-oil industry there, there is a lot of potential to tap.

In August 2017, Renault entered into a joint venture with IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran) and Parto Negin Naseh, an importer of Renault cars into Iran, to locally produce cars for the market. Meanwhile, Renault has announced that it will continue its existing Iranian partnership with SAIPA to produce Tondar (Logan), Tondar pick-up, Sandero and Sandero Stepway independently of the new JV.

Interestingly, a fully camouflaged test mule carrying SAIPA badge has been spotted on a flatbed truck near Chennai, strongly suggest that RNTBCI (Renault-Nissan Technology and Business Center India) could be leading the development of Renaults new range of products for Iran. While existing Renault-SAPIA products carry Renault badges, this one carries SAIPA badge, perhaps to differentiate itself from the products coming out of the French makers new JV.

The prototype features a new front fascia with elliptical grille and peeled-back headlamps. The sheet metal design of the vehicle is consistent with the latest iteration of Renault Symbol, a sedan for low-cost markets. Interestingly, Renault has announced that Symbol and Duster will be the first products to be produced by the new JV with IDRO and Parto Negin Naseh.

With the Kwid, RNTBCI has established itself as the go-to organisation within Renault-Nissan empire for developing low-cost models. So, it is not really a surprise that the Indian R&D wing is playing a key role in Renaults Iran-spec products.

As for the model itself, we dont have much to go by as of now except suspecting it to be a rebadged version of Symbol.
Because they carry multiple passengers, ride-hailed cars contribute fewer miles per person to traffic than personal cars making equivalent trips, according to a report released Thursday. Thats true even after accounting for the miles that ride-hailed drivers spend waiting for fares and going to pick up passengers, it said.

The big takeaway is that (ride-hailing cars) are at least as efficient, if not more so, than personally owned vehicles, said study co-author E.J. Klock-McCook, manager of the mobility transformation program at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

The energy think tank said its motivation for the study is to give cities reliable ways to assess ride-hailed cars impact on congestion, convenience, mobility cost, and carbon emissions. The impact of Lyft and Uber on traffic has become a flash point in many cities, including the companies hometown of San Francisco. Some 45,000 Lyft and Uber drivers work throughout the Bay Area.

The report used a years worth of trip data provided by Lyft for San Francisco, New York and Chicago, covering Nov. 1, 2016, to Oct. 31, 2017. Lyft did not financially back the study. Using Lyfts data, Klock-McCook said, sets this report apart from studies that rely on rider surveys or other indirect ways of getting information.

In San Francisco, the city where Lyft has operated the longest, Lyft trips were 24 percent more efficient than those in personal cars, according to Klock-McCook. The difference was modest in the two other cities, with Lyft rides calculated as 6 percent more efficient than personal cars in Chicago and 2 percent more efficient in New York.

Heres how the study worked: For each ride, it added up the number of miles a Lyft car spent waiting for ride orders, driving to pick up passengers, and then actually giving the ride. It assumed that each regular Lyft ride held an average of 1.67 riders, based on previous studies. For Lyft Line rides, the companys carpool option, it assumed that each averaged 2.67 passengers when a match occurred. (Some riders who request Lyft Line rides are not matched with other passengers. In San Francisco, close to half of all rides are Lyft Line, and about half of those have matches. In New York and Chicago, about a third of rides are Lyft Line; the company would not disclose how many are matched.)

The study then compared the miles per Lyft rider to the miles per rider for the same trip in a personal car. It used the Census Bureaus American Community Survey data to assume that the personal vehicles largely had just one occupant. In San Francisco, it assumed the personal vehicles had 1.1 occupants; in New York, 1.11; and in Chicago, 1.08.

That difference in how many people were in the cars meant that the miles per person were lower in the Lyft cars.

The study confirms what we believe: ride-sharing can help with some of the congestion problems we see, said Joseph Okpaku, Lyft vice president of public policy. In fact, the company was founded to address the issues of people driving alone in personal cars, he said.

The study did not consider how long the personal cars might spend seeking parking, which would have shown them being even less efficient. It also didnt account for the fact that some of the drivers miles with no passengers may have been for their personal transport.

Nor did it look at the critical question of how Lyft passengers would have gotten to their destination in the absence of ride-hailing  whether they would have walked, biked, taken public transit or driven. The Rocky Mountain Institute said future studies would look at this issue, as well as the traffic impact of driver loading/unloading practices (which has sparked many complaints about double-parking in San Francisco and elsewhere).

Other researchers have drawn different conclusions about how Lyft and Uber cars affect traffic. A major study in New York last year found that ride-hailed cars averaged 11 minutes with no passengers between rides, and said this contributed to city congestion.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority led a study last year that used special software to calculate Lyft and Ubers impact, finding that their cars rack up more than half a million vehicle miles a day within city bounds, and account for a fifth of all vehicles miles for trips that start and end within the city.

San Francisco went to court last year to force both companies to produce details on their San Francisco rides to help the city understand their impact. Andrea Guzman, a spokeswoman for the city attorneys office, said it is negotiating with Lyft over the release of its data and expects that to happen at a yet-to-be-determined time. The city has obtained a court order compelling Uber to provide most of its data by Feb. 14.

Both Lyft and Uber share data with their regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission, but said they wanted to shield it for privacy and competitive reasons.

The city has broad investigatory powers, which include the power to obtain information from third parties, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn wrote in the Uber court order. That power is a prerequisite to the adequate enforcement of law.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Contrary to his recent crowing about long-standing airline safety improvements, President Trump might not be single-handedly responsible for keeping the nations planes aloft. But if he wants to take credit for a travel trend that does appear to be linked to his administration, it could be keeping more potential foreign tourists on the ground.

Trumps virulent xenophobia appears to be mutual: He is presiding over a bust in foreign travel to the United States that has grown grim enough to send the tourism trade scrambling to reverse course. True, the travel industrys Trump slump is hardly the weightiest consequence of the administrations Fortress America footing, but it does point to a striking alteration of the nations image around the world.

About 1.7 million fewer foreign visitors entered the country in the first seven months of last year than during the same period of 2016, a 4 percent decline, according to the latest counts available from the Department of Commerces National Travel and Tourism Office. Having climbed steadily since early in the Obama administration, foreign tourism began falling in the second quarter of 2016 and dropped more steadily last year.

California experienced a concurrent 5 percent drop in foreign tourists arriving at its airports through the first five months of the year, according to federal data compiled by Visit California, whose All Dreams Welcome campaign is one of a number of regional efforts to reassure international tourists.

Canada, in contrast, was expected to enjoy a 7 percent increase in overseas tourism compared with the previous year.

U.S. Travel Association Chief Executive Roger Dow has called the government data deeply concerning ... to anyone who cares about the economic well-being of the United States and said correcting this troubling trend needs to become a national priority. A new industry coalition, Visit U.S., is planning to highlight the contributions of foreign tourists, who according to the trade group generated $246 billion in spending in 2016 and directly support 1.2 million jobs.

Dow and others have noted that foreign travel faces headwinds unrelated to the administration, including a strong dollar, which makes the country more expensive for international visitors, a slowing global economy, more affordable airfares to other destinations, and natural disasters in California and the Caribbean. But Trumps rhetoric and policies probably have played a major role.

His impact can be seen not only in the timing of the tourism decline  coinciding with the rise of his candidacy and accelerating under his administration  but also its composition. Reflecting his anti-Muslim rhetoric and travel restrictions, the steepest regional decline was in visits from the Middle East, which were down 32 percent through July 2017 compared with the same period of 2016. Latin America also figured heavily, with sharp decreases in visitors from Argentina (19.1 percent), Brazil (12.5 percent) and Colombia (10.6 percent). The first half of 2017 also saw an 8.5 percent decline in visits from Mexicans, who account for about a quarter of Americas foreign tourists and have been excoriated by Trump since the first day of his campaign.

Even beyond his infamous vows to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border and shut down Muslim immigration, Trump has hardly missed an opportunity to signal hostility to the world. He has disparaged international alliances, threatened multilateral agreements, and gone so far as to propose eliminating Brand USA, the organization that promotes the United States as a tourist destination abroad, suggesting the traveler fees that support it should be redirected to border security. The administration has further discouraged foreign tourism by cracking down on visas and imposing additional restrictions on some air travelers.

That helps explain the diverse nature of the global souring on America, which encompasses substantial declines in tourism not only from south of the border and the Muslim world, but also from Europe and Asia. Trumps America First message has justifiably inspired worldwide revulsion.

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.
San Francisco acting Mayor London Breed signaled her intent to become an official mayoral candidate in the June election, pulling her nomination papers at the citys Department of Elections on Friday.

After attending a community cleanup event at Reservoir Playground in the Outer Sunset, Breed put an end to speculation about her candidacy, saying that after careful consideration, she intended to enter the race.

Clutching an umbrella against the morning drizzle, Breed said her lifes trajectory  from growing up in an impoverished family to becoming acting mayor  had given her a unique perspective on how to make government work better for the citys most vulnerable.

Breed said she is uniquely qualified to address the citys homeless crisis and quality-of- life issues on the streets but she offered few specifics.

Being one of the few elected officials who actually grew up in poverty in this city who understands what it feels like to be neglected, to be left out, to not feel supported ... I have a unique experience to bring to the table, Breed said. I want to make sure that I am not the only one coming from a situation of poverty and doing well in life.

As president of the Board of Supervisors, Breed became acting mayor after the unexpected death of Ed Lee from a heart attack last month. Occupying multiple roles  she is also the supervisor for District Five  has raised the question of the board appointing a neutral, caretaker mayor who would not run in the June 5 election, preserving the separation of legislative and executive powers.

Having Breed step out of the role of acting mayor as she conducts her campaign would also prevent her from capitalizing on her incumbency in the mayors office.

Breed said Friday she would support any decision by the board to appoint an interim mayor.

I want my colleagues to do what they think is best, she said. What Ive made clear in some of the conversations Ive had with my colleagues  I dont want this to change how we work together. Our actions will demonstrate that for us in the months to come.

Breeds allies have begun an aggressive campaign  reminiscent of the Run, Ed, Run strategy that helped persuade Lee to run for the office while he was serving as interim mayor to fill out the term of Gavin Newsom  to keep Breed in the citys top job.

Last month, Breeds most prominent backer, former Mayor Willie Brown, dismissed in his Chronicle column the idea of a caretaker mayor. It was followed Tuesday by an opinion piece written by Christine Pelosi and BART board member Lateefah Simon that painted Breed, who would be the citys first female African American mayor, as a symbol of the national #MeToo reckoning on sexual harassment.

The opinion piece spread on social media, with a boost from Los Angeles comedian Chelsea Handler, who tweeted about it Thursday evening.

Also Thursday, Breeds supporters held a rally on the steps of City Hall. Several attendees carried signs, some with the slogan Girl Power and others with messages about fair and transparent government.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

While pressure is building on the Board of Supervisors to decide on a caretaker mayor, the issue is not on the agenda for its next meeting Tuesday.

Last week, a group called the San Francisco Progressive Alliance inundated the supervisors and their aides with emails, urging them to pick an interim mayor who would not run in June.

 Dominic Fracassa

and Rachel Swan

Dominic Fracassa and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, dfracassa@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @dominicfracassa, @rachelswan
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An Alameda County court commissioner ordered a Berkeley middle school teacher and activist to pay $11,100 in legal fees to the former head of the Berkeley College Republicans after the teacher dropped a demand for a restraining order against the ex-leader of the GOP group.

The tentative court order requires Yvette Felarca, national organizer for By Any Means Necessary, a group that led protests against conservative speakers at UC Berkeley in 2017, to pay the attorney and court fees for Troy Worden, whose group promoted the speakers events.

Felarca filed for a civil harassment restraining order against Worden in September, claiming he was stalking her by following her around on the UC Berkeley campus, taking a selfie with her and appearing at By Any Means Necessarys events. Worden denied any wrongdoing.

Felarca was granted a temporary restraining order. She then dropped the request for a permanent order at the end of October, prompting Wordens attorneys to seek legal fees.

In his order Thursday, Commissioner Thomas Rasch ruled that Felarcas request for a restraining order was not brought in good faith. He denied a request for sanctions against Felarcas attorney for taking frivolous legal action.

The order evoked strong and sharply differing responses.

Wordens attorney Mark Meuser said he hoped the ruling would send a strong signal (to Felarca) that she cannot abuse the court system to silence speech. Another of Wordens attorneys, Harmeet Dhillon, accused Felarca of abusing the courts to achieve her anarchistic ends.

Shanta Driver, Felarcas attorney, said she would appeal the ruling, saying it sends a message to women that they face a financial risk for seeking protection from harassment through a restraining order. She said Felarca had dropped the request for a permanent restraining order because Worden stopped stalking her after the temporary order was issued.

This says to every woman out there that if you file for a restraining order, and dont pursue the case, you are subject to these court fees, Driver said. We cant have this message given to women, especially now when there are the beginnings of a period where women feel they can go forward against men harassing them, stalking them, using their power over women.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Thanksgiving dining, carryout options are still available in Michiana

Want to take a break from the kitchen on Thanksgiving? We have some options and a reminder to support local businesses on Nov. 26.
The Stafford Air & Space Museum in Oklahoma is marking its 25th year with an expansion campaign.

Twenty-five years after it was founded, an astronaut's hometown museum is looking to expand  just in time to mark a half century since its namesake's historic flight to the moon.

The Stafford Air & Space Museum, named for Gemini and Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford, has announced its "Legacy Campaign," a major fund-raising effort to grow its facilities by more than 18,000 square feet (1,670 sq. meters). The museum, located in Weatherford, Oklahoma, aims to have the first phase of the expansion completed in time to host a celebration for the 50th anniversary of Stafford's Apollo 10 mission in May 2019.

"It is important to do this campaign while General Stafford can actively participate and enjoy firsthand the excitement and impact this expansion brings to the public," stated Jeff DeFehr, chair of the Legacy Campaign for the museum. [Best Vacation Ideas for Space Lovers]

Founded in 1993 when a small display at the local airport grew to fill a two-room exhibition, the Stafford Air & Space Museum today encompasses over an acre of aviation and space installations. Among the artifacts showcased by the Smithsonian affiliate are a ten-story Titan II rocket and an extensive collection of rocket engines, including a Saturn V F-1 engine and a flown space shuttle main engine.

The new $3 million expansion  of which $1.4 million has been pledged to date  will increase the museum footprint to almost 60,000 sq. feet (5,600 sq. meters). It will provide the space for more artifacts to be put on display, including NASA's fixed-base simulator used to train all of the shuttle crews and fragments of the original Wright Flyer that were carried to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission.

The Stafford Legacy Campaign, along with the cooperation of NASA, the Smithsonian and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, will also make possible the world's most extensive exhibit of artifacts from the Gemini program. Stafford made his first two spaceflights on board the fifth and seventh Gemini missions, Gemini 6A and 9A, in 1965 and 1966, respectively.

Architectural concept for the expansion (at top) of the Stafford Air & Space Museum, compared to its current facility (at bottom). (Image credit: Stafford Air & Space Museum)

In addition, the expansion will provide the resources for the commission of a full-size replica of "Snoopy," the first lunar lander to be flown in orbit around the moon by Stafford and his Apollo 10 crewmate, Gene Cernan, in May 1969. The Apollo 10 mission served as a dress rehearsal for the first crewed landing on the moon just two months later.

"When humans first left the safety of the Earth to venture into the skies and the moon beyond, these were two of mankind's greatest achievements," said Max Ary, director of the Stafford Air & Space Museum. "We must keep that spirit of exploration alive in this country, and remind current and future generations what this nation can accomplish when it puts its collective hearts and minds to a common goal."

"The museum stands witness to when America was at its best," said Ary.

The Legacy Campaign will further upgrade the museum's existing exhibits with immersive, interactive and high-tech features to help bring history and the artifacts to life. The expansion will provide more room for the museum to host events, temporary exhibits and the museum's gift shop, as well as a facility to restore artifacts, such as the cockpit of a Boeing B-52 "Stratofortress" aircraft that is waiting repair and conservation.

The Stafford Air & Space Museum's mission is to not only preserve Thomas Stafford's legacy, but to also inspire and educate future generations to dare themselves to be great.

"This museum is not about me!" stressed Stafford, who is now 87. "It is dedicated to the American spirit of dreaming the impossible and making those dreams happen."

"I grew up in a small western Oklahoma town during the Dust Bowl and Depression, and I flew to the moon," added Stafford. "I'm living proof that nothing is impossible!"

For more information about the Legacy Campaign, see the Stafford Air & Space Museum's website at staffordmuseum.com.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2017 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Gemini 3 pilot John Young seen through the hatch window of his spacecraft prior to launch in 1965.

Astronaut John Young

NASA

Astronaut John Young, a veteran of six space missions, died Jan. 5, 2018 due to complications with pneumonia. See his storied career, which took Young to the moon and back, then on NASA shuttles, in photos here. In this image, Young is seen during training for his Apollo 16 moon landing mission, which he commanded, in 1971.

John Young

NASA

John Young, the ninth man to walk on the moon, flew on three NASA programs: Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle.

Gemini 3 Mission

NASA/MSFC archives

On March 23, 1965, astronauts Virgil I. Gus Grissom and John W. Young participated in the first crewed Gemini flight, Gemini III. The flight of the Molly Brown, which was named after the Broadway musical and was a reference to Grissoms previous Mercury craft, the Liberty Bell 7, which sank shortly after splashdown, was intended to test the new maneuverable Gemini spacecraft. The mission was considered a success despite a few thruster issues and the sudden appearance of a contraband corned beef sandwich. This photo was taken of the two pilots in the spacecraft simulator at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Missouri.

Gemini Water Egress Training

NASA

Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom are pictured during water egress training in a large indoor pool at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, in this image from 1965. Young is seated on top of the Gemini capsule while Grissom is in the water with a life raft.

Gemini 3 Liftoff

NASA

Gemini 3 lifts off atop a Titan rocket from Cape Canaveral's Pad 19 in Florida at 9:24 a.m. EST on March 23, 1965.

Apollo 10: Command Module Pilot

NASA

Astronaut John W. Young, in this official NASA photo, was chosen as the prime crew command module pilot for the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission.

Practice for Success

NASA

During an April 3, 1969 simulation, astronaut John W. Young, Apollo 10 prime crew command module pilot, trains in the Apollo Mission Simulator at Kennedy Space Center.

How to Exit a Spacecraft

NASA

In an August 1968 training, the three prime crewmembers of the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission participate in a water egress simulation in a Building 260 tank at the Manned Spacecraft Center. Astronaut John W. Young waits in the life raft as Eugene A. Cernan exits the Apollo Command Module and Thomas P. Stafford waits inside the craft with a trainer.

John Young's Apollo 10

NASA

Before the May 18, 1969 launch of the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission, technicians complete some final tests and fittings for the spacesuit while astronaut John W. Young, command module pilot, waits. Following the firings, Young joins astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander, and Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot, in the transfer van from Kennedy Space Center's Manned Spacecraft Operations Building to Launch Complex 39, Pad B where the Apollo 10 spacecraft was ready for launch.

Tight Spaces

NASA

On January 15, 1968, the prime crew for the Apollo 10 lunar orbital mission, participates in a simulation inside the Command Module Simulator. Astronaut John W. Young, command module pilot, is seen here in the training in Building 5.

Off to the Races

NASA

On May 18, 1969, the prime crew for the Apollo 10 lunar orbital mission - from right to left, astronaut John W. Young, command module pilot, followed by astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander; and Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot  enter the transfer van and head to Launch Complex 39, Pad B at Kennedy Space Center for launch.
NCIS - Double Down - Review



15.11 - "High Tide"

Directed by Tony Wharmby

Written by David J. North and Steven D. Binder

Reviewed by KathM



We open at the Civilian Marina port in Norfolk near the base with an elegant yacht sitting alone at the dock.



Cue Dork.



Hes on the phone with a friend all excited because its his birthday and hes ordered a little something. He wishes his friend could be there (not like that!) to see how awesome the yacht he rented is and blah blah blah.



Someone knocks, and the dork hangs up his phone, swallows a mint and asks whoever it is to come in. Close-up of a woman's incredibly high heels and then the camera pans all the way up her shapely legs to her sinfully short, black skirt past her tiny waist and up to her face where we find...Bishop. Wait, what? Yes, it's Ellie Bishop, resplendent in a short, body-hugging black dress, more makeup than usual and huge hoop earrings. Her eyes are focused directly on Dork Boy; it's not a come-hither look, it's much more frighteningly intense than that. Kind of a mine look. The dork is stunned as he murmurs, Happy Birthday to me, which it would be if Bishop were a call-girl who would normally cost him a year's salary or more.



But Bishop drops sultry and goes for all business as she stalks across the room, tossing her purse onto the couch and asking, You call for a date? She reminds him that he only gets an hour and its cash up front before they even get around to talking about his birthday. Dork Boy doesn't see it that way, he wants to party first and pay later. He roughly pulls Bishop to him and she deflects him by insisting on a drink first. But dork-boy has been drinking all day, he whines. He could, however, use a massage. Bishop gives him an, Of course you would, look. Suddenly Torres bursts into the room, acting all boyfriendy and possessive and jealous. Ah, undercover op! Bishop and Torres establish themselves as Charlie, a possible call girl but maybe just someone looking to make some extra cash and Luis, her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, depending on who you ask. Torres/Luis and Dork Boy get into an argument which was definitely not in the ad Dork Boy replied to, be we dont care because what Torres/Luis is really doing is creating a cover for Bishop/Charlie to clone Dorky's cell phone. I do not know the name of the device, so Ill just call it Cloner. When finishes downloading all the info from the Dorklets phone, Bishop/Charlie slips cloner back into her purse, ready to roll. Scared because Torres/Luis threatened to beat him up, Dorky tosses a large number of bills on the table and instructs them to get out. Which they do, Bishop/Charlie storming out with Torres/Luis is hot on her heels, shouting her name and trying to catch up with her. Shot of a relieved Dork Boy as Torres and Bishop make their way along the dock. Torres is playfully telling Charlie that he can't live without her as Bishop holds up the Cloner and smiles. They have what they need! They climb into a large van where they upload Turner's cell phone info (Dork Boys name is Turner, we learn) to McGee in MTAC. Gibbs asks if everything went okay and Torres says yes, although Bishop nearly ruined it because she slapped Turner/Dork Boy's hand away from her and she shouldn't have. Bishop informs him that she doesn't give away free samples and gives Torres a back story about Charlie (three kids to feed and a sick Nana with shingles down in Boca) that impresses him. The Cloner worked, and has allowed McGee to mirror the phone so they'll be able to monitor everything that happens.



But Vance, also in MTAC, is not impressed. He thought they were going to bring Turner in for questioning. There are 1,000 grams of fentanyl being smuggled into the base every month, and he wants is stopped before more lives are destroyed. Torres tells him that Turner is just a street dealer, and they the better move is to follow him to see where he goes and what he does. Gibbs just wants to know where the drugs came from, because he's a bottom-line kind of guy. All they know so far is that the drugs are being smuggled in from the Norfolk Civilian Marina, Bishop tells him. But wait, McGee can see via the cell mirror that Turner is getting a text from a burner phone right now! It says, you know who says they're coming to cop a fifty pack. put a bullet in their head instead. Torres seems confused about whether to intervene, because if they do then they'll blow their cover. Spoken just like a guy who's been on deep undercover ops where they just let everything play out and stay in character regardless. Vance reminds them that they can't just sit by while a murder happens, and Bishop and Torres get out of the car and approach the boat. Bishop wants to know how they'll do this; one of them at the stern and one at the bow? Oh no my lovelies, Torres wants to use the Torres Triple Play! He has a thing, y'all! Just like Gibbs has his Rules. While they walk down the dock toward the boat Torres begins to give us the origin story of the Triple Play while McGee tries to run a trace on the burner phone so...then the boat explodes and there are other things on everyones mind.





The next day Gibbs, McGee, and Reeves are looking over the wreckage at the marina. Im so happy Reeves is there! Dont see him nearly enough. He picks up a long, thin black piece of something that Gibbs identifies as the heel of a womans shoe. Turns out that even though they don't think Bishop and Torres were close enough to the boat for anything to happen to them, nobody has heard from either one of them since the explosion. Oh. The Coast Guard find a body and pull it out of the water, then ferry it over to the dock for Gibbs and Co. to possibly identify. Drum roll...it's Dork Boy Turner, RIP. Reeves calls Palmer to come and fetch Turner while Gibbs and McGee note that besides being close to the center of the explosion, Turner was shot point-blank in the head. But wait, I thought Turner was supposed to be the one doing the hit. Now we're all baffled.The boys are pulled from their reverie by the arrival of the owner of the boat, an annoying man who says he owns not one but four boats at the marina. Three, McGee reminds him. He admits to renting out the boat to Turner, whose money was as green as anyone else's. Once he sees Turner's body he also says that he was a nice enough kid. McGee gets a text from Bishop that they're okay, and more things are right with the world.Is We're Okay a code phrase? Because next thing you know Gibbs is sitting at his diner with a cup of coffee waiting for Bishop and Torres to arrive. When they do Torres tells Gibbs that despite knowing that protocol dictates that they should have reported in immediately, he also says that when an op goes sideways like that you stay down until you know which way is up. This is known as the Torres Two-Step. Then Vance arrives, and you know there's the potential for someone being grounded. He's looking for a Sit-Rep, and since the mountain that is Bishop and Torres won't come to Mohammad, Vance decides to go to them. They tell Gibbs (and by extension, Vance) that the explosion was near enough to them to knock them on their asses but that was it. They then snuck away and spent the night messing with the clone of Turner's cell. Torres says that they now know where the drugs are coming from, and the he and Bishop need to get back undercover to continue the op. They didn't spend two weeks establishing their characters just to go to the hospital and get checked out like Gibbs ordered them to do. Vance said they could already been made and had their covers blown and Torres laughs at him. Laughs. At Leon. It wasn't a big 'ol belly laugh or anything but still. Once he realizes that Vance is serious, Torres apologizes and tells him (with all due respect) that he does not get made. Vance backs up Gibbs' order to go and get themselves checked out at the hospital.Back in the Bull Pen McGee and Reeves update Gibbs on their part in the search for the fentanyl dealers. Turner was getting his drugs from Young Young, who owns a boat and supply store at the civilian marina. Months of texts provide more than enough evidence for Gibbs and McGee to head out to pick him up. He isn't the leader of the pack, but he's higher up than Turner so he'll do. They get to the marina but before they can even get out of the car they see Torres amble into the store. Torres, who was supposed to be at the hospital. Torres, who defied a direct order from Gibbs. This better be good.When Luis enters the store, he sees Young sarcastically testing the knowledge two young women by asking them the capital of the state their obviously fake ids tell him they're from. They leave, defeated, and Torres/Luis steps up with the right answer (the fake ID was from Maine, whos capital is Augusta). He insinuates himself with a suspicious Young by giving him the Cloner, claiming that he and his girlfriend have been playing an identity-theft scam for years. She plays the escort, then her boyfriend comes in and argues with the Mark/Idiot while Charlie clones their phone and now they now have access to all kind of information ripe for using to become someone else. Theyre doing good, but not as well as Young. And don't worry, Torres/Luis isn't going to blackmail you, Young, so put the gun you have your hands on under the counter away. Torres/Luis wants a job.But before you take that pretend job, Nicky, you need to go see Daddy and Papa about your actual one. Vance is furious, reminding Torres that he disobeyed a direct order, which it seems Torres misinterpreted as a suggestion. Ouch! He's defensive and blase, telling them that he got Bishop and himself jobs on Young's crew. Great, Leon shouts, two of his best agents are going to be wandering around the pier selling drugs. Better than masquerading as a pimp and a prostitute, Torres shrugs. He wants Gibbs and Vance to know that he and Bishop are moving up the food chain and getting closer to the dealer. His risk was worth it, even though it potentially put he and Bishop in danger. He can close this, he knows he can. We don't have a lot of leads, says Torres. Divers just recovered the gun, says Vance. It has no serial number, Gibbs reminds him. It suddenly comes to Vance that Gibbs knew that Torres was going to wander off and do his own thing. Gibbs smirks. I have no idea. Vance tells Torres that the insubordination conversation will be taking place later, but for now Torres should continue his undercover op. As they leave Torres asks Gibbs if he knew that Torres would go off on his own like that. Gibbs smirks, and I have no idea whether he know or not. But I think he had an inkling.I do not ship Vance/Gibbs. I see them both as strong leaders who advocate for and protect their agents to the best of their ability. They're like bears with their cubs (or possibly birds of prey, although I prefer mammals), watching over them and snarling at anyone who might harm them. The cubs need to pay attention to their parents, though, and not wander off to do whatever. And yes, I get the bear analogy, but leave me alone. Do you know how much snow Ive shoveled in the last 48 hours??In the lab, Abby and Bishop are getting test slugs for the gun by firing into one of those thingies that fires the bullets through water or something and embeds them in a thing so they can see if the bullet patterns match the inside of the gun. If someone else can explain this more succinctly, that would be great. Bishop is working her anger out by shooting bullets into the device, while complaining to an increasingly nervous Abby about Torres. And then, he left me, BANG, BANG! Alone in the hospital, BANG! BANG! Got it? Good. Abby gently takes the gun away from Bishop while telling her that she already has enough bullets to confirm that the gun they got out of the water was the murder weapon, and Bishop apologies. No worries, says Abby, she's sure that Torres feels bad about what he did. No, not really. Not if the way Torres saunters into the room declaring himself The Man says anything He wants to tell her they have permission to continue the op, and she wants to remind him that they're supposedly a team. But that isn't always how it works, Torres tells her, and then tells her about life under cover. Things move fast, you may be forced to do things you don't think are right, but it feels right. you're in the zone, it's how you stay alive. While Bishop and Torres stand looking at one another Abby takes their picture, apropos of nothing. Except, it would seem, to capture the moment. Abby then goes on to explain that the gun found in the water is the gun used in the shooting (duh!). But even though the gun's serial number was filed off, Abby was able to use a new technique called electron backscatter diffraction (which is a thing) to get the serial number. Thanks, Abby! The owner is Denise Mancuso, who is a science teacher on the base. Abby sends the information to McGee because Bishop and Torres have to go push dope at the marina.Sloane, kitted out in some kind of black dress with leather bits here and there that Emma Peel would adore, is tossing darts at her dartboard when Vance comes in. She's going out later so she's using the dart board instead of the punching bag to clear her mind because she'd prefer to get sweaty that night in another way. Go on, woman! As long as you stay away from Gibbs, you can sweat with whomever you like.Sloan thinks he's looking for her thoughts on Denise, but Vance wants to talk about Torres. He understands that Torres was trained to use his instincts and follow what his gut tells him in order to survive undercover, but he's worried that Bishop might end up as collateral damage. Huh. Taking risks and following your gut, who does that remind you of? Gibbs. That's all I need is two of 'em, Vance laments. Sloane lets him pick out his own lollypop and Vance says he'll see her later. The whole purpose of this scene was to tell anyone who wasn't paying attention that Gibbs and Torres have some similar traits, and apparently a lolly will make Vance feel better about that.Does anyone else notice that Vance still wears his wedding ring? It makes me sad and I wish he could meet someone and begin to move on with that part of his life. Not with someone like Congresswoman Flemming, which I think was more strategic flirting, but someone he could maybe settle down with, or at least have some fun. The kids are getting older and will be out of the house soon (do not get me started on how they could possibly continue to live there), and it's going to be lonely.Lane, the owner of the boat that exploded at the beginning of the episode, is complaining to Donnie, Youngs's assistant, about only getting comp'd two scuba tanks from his million-dollar yacht. He wants to talk to Young, but he's out until 4:30 on a dive. Well, that's when Lane will be coming back, then. He doesn't scare me in the least. Bishop/Charlie and Torres/Luis enter during Lane's little tantrum and want to know where Young really is. He's in the back, Donnie tells them, but he only wants to see Bishop/Charlie because Torres/Luis already had his interview. No worries, says Bishop/Charlie; Torres/Luis can pick out a new bathing suit for her while he waits. Then she kisses him. No, really. Bishop kissed Torres. It was an undercover kiss, and more like a long peck, but still. Torres/Luis is completely confused about what just happened as Donnie approaches him and says it's time to get to work. Which ends up being loading scuba tanks into a truck, so they can be tested for something. No easy access to the drugs for Torres/Luis; at least, not yet.Back at NCIS Denise Mancuso is waiting in interrogation. She was picked up at her school's science fair, where she was baking cookies in a solar oven. Mint chip. But while Denise comes off like a squeaky-clean PTA mom at first glance, she has a lot of random things to justify when she meets up with Gibbs and McGee. First, she has no idea why she's there, so she begins confessing to all the borderline shady things she's done. The fake ID for one of her students? It was for a joke and she's really good at Photoshop. It was a prank, really. Not why you're here, Gibbs tells her. The cannabis in the school greenhouse? She has a card! Nope. It's about the gun, silly. McGee shows he pictures of Turner, dead and alive, then ask her if she's the one who snuck onto the boat, killed Turner, then blew up the boat. McGee shows her a picture of the gun; which Denise claims was stolen a year ago. This is about the normal amount of time characters on various shows say a gun was lost/stolen. But this gun was stolen by her crazy sister-in-law, Frankie Mancuso, who wears inappropriate t-shirts to Christmas gatherings but is still family. And you don't rat out family.Young is on the phone in his back office talking with someone about moving more than his normal one kilo a month onto the base. Bishop/Charlie knocks on the door impatiently, using the incredibly poor Long Island/maybe New Jersey accent she keeps dropping. How people are buying her character, if that's where she's supposed to be from, is beyond me. I'm guessing it's her short skirt. He tells Bishop/Charlie that Luis/Torres has already had his interview and passed because he returned Youngs stolen property, but he needs to see what she's made of. Young has two truths about his crew: he's 100% loyal to his crew, and he expects the same in return. While he's telling Bishop/Charlie this he walks over to a person sitting generally behind Bishop/Charlie that she couldn't possible have missed and pulls off her hood. It's Frankie the flaky sister-in-law! Turns out she's the one who shot Turner; she was looking for a fix but Turner (Young's best earner) turned a gun on her so she shot him first. This is not okay, with Young, who thinks that Frankie should have just died, too, and since she didn't, he'd like Bishop/Charlie to shoot her. He hands her a gun, telling her to hurry because there's only one bullet so she'd better not miss. Bishop/Charlie aims the gun at Frankie when an alarm goes off and Torre/Luis comes in, telling Young and Bishop/Charlie that some kid pulled the fire alarm, so they need to get out of there. He's appalled to find Frankie there and Bishop/Charlie ready to kill her, so he deflects the shot and tries to convince Young to be smart and not get caught with a dead body. Bishop/Charlie says they should stick her in the van, drive off somewhere, then shoot Frankie and dump her body, which is not really the plan Torres/Luis had in mind. Looks like Bishop/Charlie may be putting her toe just a bit over the line.In the Bull Pen Reeves is telling Gibbs they're still looking everywhere for Frankie when Bishop calls and tells them she has her. Gibbs is a bit worried about her, as Bishop seems excited about the rush of undercover work and dropping bodies. Frankie's all, I can hear you, you know that, right? But Frankie was always safe because Bishop and Torres used the Torres Trick, which involves pulling a fire alarm and then deflecting the shot your undercover partner has to take to try and kill someone for his undercover character to be convincing to whomever asked your partner to kill someone. Your life was never in danger, Bishop assures her. It was a little in danger. Frankie points out.The thing is, Bishop/Charlie still has to kill her, so she heads over to the Navy Yard to see what Abby can come up with. Abby gussies Frankie up to look convincingly dead, then McGee takes some pictures to send to Young. Now Frankie needs to tell them everything about the drug operation, which she refuses to do. Bishop looks to Sloane for help, who decides that instead of using the Carrot and the Stick with Frankie, that she'll go full-on stick. This scene made me like Sloane, who I haven't had any warmth for all season. But when she takes a picture Frankie wearing a Snitch sign and then asks her which picture she'd like them to send to Young (dead Frankie or snitch Frankie)? Fabulous.Meanwhile, Torres/Luis is still schlepping scuba tanks. He's in a little warehouse with Donnie unloading the tanks they have and getting ready to go back and get more. Torres/Luis will then move on to inventory and cleaning out the bait freezer. After that, Young will finally give him some product to see if Torres/Luis can earn his keep. Donnie gets a picture of dead Frankie and Torres/Luis takes a look at it. Is this what happens when you don't earn your keep? he asks Donnie. Nah, Donnie tells him. Frankie wasn't crew, she was just a harmless customer who got in too deep financially and became a liability.Torres/Luis remarks that this is the life they chose, but Donnie tells him that this life chose him. When he was younger, maybe being a fireman or a teacher, even a cop. Then his mom got sick and Young's world was the fastest way to make money for her bills. (She had no insurance.) His mother eventually died. Torres/Luis tells him that it's never too late to be a teacher, and Im thinking that he's a bit too attached to Donnie right now.While they're talking Lane arrives looking for Young. He's unhappy to not find Young waiting for him, and Donnie says he'll go get him down at the docks. Lane wants Torres/Luis to know that he isn't anyone to screw with, and shows Torres/Luis his gun.Back in the Bull Pen, Frankie is being taken away in handcuffs. They can protect her, Bishop promises. The name she gave up is Richard Lane, the man currently insisting he won't be screwed over at Youngs shop. He has a Cayman account filled with money that couldn't possibly all be made from renting out his four yachts (now three). Gibbs tells them to issue a BOLO, but Torres just texted them saying that Lane is at the marina and it looks like something might be going down. Gibbs has everyone gab their gear and he and McGee quickly follow Bishop to the elevator.Young's store is dark and looks unoccupied as McGee works the lock free and he and Gibbs go inside. Bishop is watching the front, to her chagrin. They find some blood stains and Torres/Luis' burner phone on the ground, and it looks like it's been shot or stepped on. Suddenly they hear a noise and Young comes in from the back office, mop and bucket at the ready. He does the whole, Um, hi, who are you? What's going on? I just work here, I don't see any blood. Suddenly Bishop/Charlie comes through the front door, gun at the ready, and tells Gibbs and McGee that she doesn't see any blood, either. She proceeds to take their guns and she and Young tie them up in the back office. Young is on the phone with his boss, telling him that he didn't know where the Feds came from or how they found out about them. Meanwhile, Bishop is deliberately doing a crap job on the ropes and she tells Gibbs that he has no idea if what she's doing will work, but that it feels right. Oh good, it's contagious. Young says his boss wants him and Bishop/Charlie to take Gibbs and McGee out and shoot them, then they can bury the three bodies together. Im sorry, three? And I, like Bishop/Charlie, suddenly want to know where Torres/Luis is. When Young leaves the room for a minute Gibbs asks for the plan, which Bishop doesnt really have completely solidified in her mind. But she thinks the only way that theyll find Torres is to follow along with the pretending to take Gibbs and McGee out and kill them front. Gibbs says he trusts her decision.Meanwhile, Torres/Luis is driving along the highway with Donnie. Donnie, who has been shot in the arm by Lane. Torres/Luis wants to take him to the hospital, but Donnie wont have it. Too many questions. They can go to the safe house; the crew has one outside of Baltimore where they can hide out. But Torres isnt having it, theres no way its safe now that Lane is dead (oopsspoiler!) and they have to lay low for a while, which puts them out of business for the foreseeable future and makes their territory open to loads of other drug gangs who no doubt wants them dead, so they can keep it. So, Donnie wants to know what theyre going to do, and Torres pulls off the road. Crap, this isnt good. Because its not Torres/Luis pulling off the road, its TORRES. Who also wanted to be a fireman when he was a kid, too. Who wanted to be a lot of things back then (kid Torres as cowboy, anyone?). And now he has something he wants to tell Donnie. Just, no.Young is ready to go back at the marina, but Bishop/Charlie is having none of it. Where is Torres/Luis? Young assures her Torres/Luis is fine, but McGee wants to put some doubt out there to unnerve Bishop/Charlie, and Gibbs just says that her boyfriend is dead. This makes Young hit Gibbs, which I dont think is something you should do. Because Gibbs is something of a fan of hitting back. Just wait. Young is sure Torres/Luis and Donnie are on their way to the safe house in Baltimore, but Bishop/Charlie wants the whole story. In between grabbing a few large wads of cash out of a safe and displaying a dead Lane in what I think it the bait freezer that Torres/Luis and Donnie were supposed to clean, Young explains that Lane got in the way and was all loud and pulled a gun on him, so Young shot him. Because, if you havent noticed, Youngs coping skills are virtually nonexistent. Someone annoys you? Shoot em! Gibbs wants to know if Young killed Lane as a play to take over the business, which makes Young laugh. Which is not good, because Lane wasnt the boss, he was a tool. And tools cant be bosses. He just supplied the boats, so people could rent them and visit exotic locations where they inadvertently become drug mules. The crew used part of the scuba tanks to hide the fentanyl inside and smuggle it into the country. Well, Gibbs has heard enough; time to untie himself and knock Young unconscious with some kind of paperweight. What did I say, Young? You dont hit Gibbs.But, wait. If Lane isnt the boss, and Young isnt the boss, whoTorres is spilling all to Donnie in the car, which strikes me as completely out of character for someone who worked undercover for so many years. You just dont pull over to the side of the road and tell some random guy that you and Bishop/Charlie are really Bishop and Torres, federal agents. Maybe he saw some of himself in Donnie, an innocent part hed lost along the way. Torres thinks Donnie is a good person who got into a bad situation. Gonna tell that to a judge? Donnie wants to know. Torres tells him that theyre looking for his boss, and that if Donnie rolls over on that person and testifies against him, then hell be protected. Man, they are really stretching this out. Poor Torres, this is going to be ugly when Donnie reveals himself as the boss. Which he does, with a gun to Torress head and everything. He instructs Torres to get driving, which he does. Down the highway and into the night.On the way down the hall to Interrogation Reeves tells Gibbs that while they cant find the Baltimore safe house, they do manage to get Donnies car registration and have put out a BOLO. The car was sighted in Wilton, but it got away. Where in hell is Wilton? Gibbs gets to the Interrogation room just as Sloane exits, with a cheery Young thanking her for playing and wishing her better luck next time. He wont break, Sloane tells Gibbs. Bishop is right, hed really rather go to prison then give up the location of the safe house.Gibbs disagrees, and wants a crack at Young. Sloane wants to watch in the observation room, but Gibbs isnt having any of that. He just grins his Gibbs grin and tells her she can go back to her office, hes got this. Yeah, he does! Sloane pretends to walk away, then slips into the observation room.In the car Donnie decides that the time is right to offer Torres a job. He was impressed with Torres Luis performance, but he should have known something was up right away because Bishop? Way out of Torres league. A hot 10 to Torres seven. No, seven? Id put him at least a nine. Still, any man who could look at Bishop the way he did after their kiss in the shop? Donnie thinks Torres deserves an Oscar. The desk isnt for Torres, Donnie tells him. Torres wants to prowl. Lets go to the safe house and you can tell me about what NCIS knows about his business. Then he can join Donnies crew and forget about that pesky desk. Torres looks like hes wavering, but continues to deny Donnies assertions.I think theres a lot of truth in what Donnie is saying, and now that Torres has been back undercover you can see how comfortable he is with that life, and how its still a big part of him. He was deep undercover for years, constantly having to make his own decisions both to survive as his character and keep himself in touch with NCIS, which was his real job. He came back to Washington to be with his sister and niece after his brother-in-law was killed as a message to Torres by his former employer when his cover was blown. He didnt want to come in from undercover; he even asked Vance to let him resign so he could take care of the situation with his characters former employer himself. But Gibbs like what he saw and wanted Torres on his team. So Torres stayed, working at a job where he has to be himself all the time, and follow rules and guidelines and where his actions are more restricted than they were when he was out there undercover, making his own rules and depending solely on his own skills. That part of Torres' character really interests me, and Ive always wondered what Torres undercover would be like, since weve only seen Agent Torres up until this point. I like what I saw, and it made me understand him a bit more. And I do wonder whether or not life as Special Agent Torres will be enough for him in the long run.In Interrogation Young is finding Gibbs amusing. If youre going to find Gibbs amusing, this is the last place youd want to do it. Young wants to know if Gibbs is trying to scare him, telling Gibbs will have to do more than just stand behind him and look menacing. Okay, Gibbs replies, all smiles, as he cuts the audio and video feeds and pulls a curtain over the viewing window, so nobody (Sloane) outside can see how well Gibbs can scare Young. Love it.Donnie has a new idea! If Torres wants to stay at NICS its no problem; he can be Donnies man on the inside. He thinks Torres is a great investment, despite being a soft seven. Torres tells Donnie he knows Donnie is just stringing him along until they get to the safe house, where Donnie will have his crew kill him. Yep, Donnie replies. As soon as he knows what he needs about NICS, its a bullet in the head for Torres.They approach the safe house, which looks more like a safe warehouse. Donnie tells Torres to slow down as they come closer, but instead hes speeding up. A lot. Faster and faster until he hits what looks like some kind of tractor. And since Donnie wasnt bright enough to have his seat belt on, he goes flying through the window and onto the pavement. Ow! Hes hurt bad, but Torres seems in pretty decent shape, aside from the pain that might have come from the impact and his seat belt. He gets out of the jeep and kicks Donnie around for a bit, then hides behind the tractor-thing with Donnies gun because Donnie tells him there are three big guys inside the warehouse who are going to kill him.Three big guys who are being led out of the warehouse by Gibbs, Bishop, and McGee, you mean! Of course Young gave up the location of the safe house, did you ever doubt it? Torres is so happy and relieved he told Gibbs he was going to kiss him, which earned him a bemused and challenging look from Gibbs.Back in the Bull Pen Vance, Bishop, Torres, and Gibbs are closing up the case and trying to figure out who knew that Donnie was the real boss. Only his top guys, it would seem. Thats how Torres would do it, although he denies that hed ever do something like that almost as soon as it comes out of his mouth. Vance tells him that its nice to know theres a limit to his insubordination, and that he thinks Torres can handle moving the 50 additional scuba tanks they have into evidence. He then praises Bishop for a job well done and he and Gibbs head off to dinner.Bishop teases Torres about rescuing him at the end of the op, and Torres reminds her that he launched Donnie into orbit, which as to count for something. He praises Bishop about how she did on the job, and she reminds Torres that she had a good teacher. Cue flirting. Torres says that she taught him a few things too. Like when you make out with your partner dont eat garlic pasta. Also, he though Bishop was a little toothy, which I think means they need more practice.Their jobs are weird, they agree, but what would they do without them? Bishop wants to go and do something, something other than going home and watching a movie like Torres suggests. She wants to go to the gun range, something exciting. Sadly, Torres has to heft a bunch of scuba tanks into evidence, so hes out. As she enters the elevator and Torres walks around the corner Bishop wishes Luis a good night. He wishes Charlie one, too. As they go their separate ways they both look wistful. Wistful is good.- how very much I loved this episode! We have Undercover Torrres/Bishop, Reeves, and more info about Torres character that may inform future episodes. I have seen the light, bring on Torres/Bishop. They are very different people from very different places, but I think they could work, at least short term. For all of her intelligence there seems to me to be a bit of innocence and naivete inside Bishop. Would Torres be too much for her emotionally? If they get together it wont be a slow burn like Tony and Ziva; it will burn fast and bright and I have no idea what will happen after that.Loved seeing Torres undercover and the possible impact it had on Bishop as well. This was Torres life for years, and it seems that Bishop liked it and wants more. Im not sure if Danger!Bishop will last, or if it was just a plot device. Gibbs seems to be amused by Torres, and I do think he sees a lot of himself in him. But what I hope Gibbs also realizes is that Torres is very different animal; Gibbs has followed rules for the most part overall in his career, but in this episode, you could see Torres regressing into someone hed been programmed to be. As Sloane says, he was trained to be what he is. I hope they continue to explore Torres, because I think theres a lot there were getting yet.




Georgina Haig has been cast in a series regular role in ABC's upcoming drama "The Crossing", SpoilerTV has learned.



The Crossing revolves around refugees from a war-torn country who start showing up to seek asylum in an American town. But the country these people are from is America, and the war they are fleeing is 250 years in the future.



Haig will play virologist Dr. Sophie Forbin, a vital member of the government team, who is inquisitive, driven and has her own personal reasons for researching the Apex phenomenon and what it could mean to the future of science.


I n an age where presidents allegedly talk about "grabbing women by the p**sy", the fight for women's rights is still very much needed.

But it was 100 years ago this year that the women's rights movement in the UK finally got a bit of traction.

On February 6, 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which gave women the vote.

However, women still did not have the same rights as men. The act allowed any man over the age of 21 to vote regardless of his property qualification but women could only vote if they were over the age of 30 and met minimum property qualifications.

It wasnt until 1928 that the vote was also given to all women aged over 21.

One of the biggest influencers of the 1918 bill were the Suffragettes  members of womens organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which advocated the right for women to be able to vote in public elections.

The term Suffragette is particularly associated with women who were part of the Womens Social and Political Union, which was led by Emmeline Pankhurst.

The Suffragettes used radical tactics like hunger strikes to get their message across and approximately 1,000 Suffragettes were imprisoned during the early 20th century until the first world war - Emmelines daughter Christobel Pankhurst was among the first of the Suffragettes to be imprisoned in 1905.

Women continued to rally during the first world war until they were granted conditional votes in 1918.

Thousands attend Women's March on London protest against Trump

Last January, we saw close to 100,000 people take to the streets of London in the Women's March, opposing Donald Trump's presidency and women in October women in Hollywood spoke up against men who had sexually harassed them. Women's voices are getting louder each day and on the centenary year of women getting the vote, we can't wait to see what 2018 will bring.

Click through the gallery above to see rallies and protests of the Suffragettes from the early 1900s.
W ere embracing blues this January but not in the way you might think.

All over the world there are plenty of colourful cities and sites - from Cape Towns Bo-Kaap district, where houses are neon, to Londons pastel Notting Hill - but blue is a hue that almost always makes an appearance in any vibrant location.

The colour of the sky and the sea - its often thought to symbolise loyalty, serenity and stability and has been used throughout history to do so.

From Iceland to India, below weve charted the worlds most beautiful blue locations whether theyre urban or rural.

Where would you visit?

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Motamid2006 / Pixabay

Known as the blue pearl of Morocco, Chefchaouen is a city in the north of the country filled with chalk blue buildings. There are various theories about why the city is coloured - some say Jewish settlers painted it after escaping Hitler, others say its to reflect the sea and some believe its merely a practical effort to keep mosquitoes away.

Smaller and more remote than the likes of Marrakesh and Casablanca, the city is really a place to just unwind in. You can visit some of the small museums, shop at the markets, be scrubbed to within an inch of your life at traditional hammams and eat delicious food in one of the many restaurants located down the back alleys.

Iceland

( Davide Cantelli / Unsplash) / Davide Cantelli / Unsplash

Its no surprise Iceland makes the list of blue locations and were not just focusing on the famous geothermal spa, the Blue Lagoon. If youre the adventurous type, going ice cave exploring will be nothing short of exhilarating. Theres no end of tour guides that will take you through ice tunnels and caves all over the country.

Blue Lagoon, Malta

Shutterstock / Littleaom

Yes, Malta is also home to a Blue Lagoon but its not a spa. Instead, its a stretch of dazzling-bright water off the island of Comino at the tip of Italys boot. Neon and surely spottable from any plane above, its some of the most turquoise stretches of water in the Mediterranean.

Jodhpur, India

Shutterstock / Nila Newsom

Indias Jaipur may be pink and Jaisalmer may be golden but Jodhpur is all unmistakable blue. There are no official reasons why, but as its known as Sun City, many presumer the old towns houses were painted in this colour to reflect the merciless heat.

As the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, large numbers of tourists descend on its streets every year hoping to capture the vivid cobalt architecture in all its glory.

Glow-in-the-dark beaches in the Maldives

Shutterstock / PawelG Photo

Yes, really. Head out to the beach after nightfall in the Maldives and you really could experience something youd only imagine in a Sci-fi film.

This photo was taken by Doug Perrine during a visit to Vaadhoo, one of the Raa Atoll islands in the Maldives, in 2012 but it's not as much of a once-in-a-lifetime shot as you may think.

The effect is caused by a chemical reaction called bioluminescence, which occurs when a micro-organism in sea water is disturbed by oxygen and it's actually not that uncommon. It's been said that "glow-in-the-dark" beaches also occur in the likes of Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Santorini

Russell_Yan / Pixabay

Santorini might not be totally blue, but youd be hard pressed to find more iconic roofed churches. The Greek island is made up of whitewashed houses with instantly recognisable blue accents. The domes of the chapels take centre stage with vibrant blue roofs and in the rest of the town - youll see the same colour painted on window panes, doors and gate trims.

Great Blue Hole, Belize

Shutterstock / Wollertz

Theres no denying interest in Belize as a travel destination is on the rise. Only this year National Geographic named it one of the top winter destinations to travel to in 2018.

Why? Well, aside from its sunny climate, varying landscapes and location by the Caribbean sea - its also home to one of the best diving spots in the world - the Great Blue Hole. Part of the Barrier Reef ecosystem, visitors who dive the waters can expect to see the likes of turtles, sharks, tropical fish including parrotfish, angelfish, and butterfly fish as well as species that wouldn't look out place in Blue Planet.
A senior member of the British Transport Police has warned of the dangers of sex attackers targeting lone women falling asleep on the Night Tube.

Vulnerable women who go out drinking with friends before dozing off on the 24-hour services are being targeted by predators, Chief Inspector John Loveless told the Standard.

Speaking after a mass operation to tackle crime on the capitals transport network over the festive period, Chief Insp Loveless said working to protect potential victims of crime was as important as catching perpetrators.

What we do works in three ways, he said.

Protecting and advising possible victims of crime is an important part of that. What we see, especially when people are out partying more over the holidays and at weekends is opportunists preying on what they see as easy targets.

Obviously, it could happen to anyone but sex offences against women travelling alone is a particular worry. These are people who have gone out and enjoyed an evening with friends or may have been working and have been targeted on quiet Tube carriages.

"The Night Tube is a great thing for the capital's night time economy and for London as a whole but it does present more opportunity for criminal activity.

Police issued a warning over lone people being targeted on the Tube (file photo) / PA Wire/PA Images

We want victims to come forward and report this but we also want to stop it happening. We would encourage people to stay in the busiest parts of public transport if possible and try to avoid falling asleep. If someone is acting suspiciously, tell someone.

The senior officer also warned of opportunist thieves snatching smartphones and bags from sleeping travellers.

He said: We see it more and more often, someone has maybe had a few too many drinks, drops off and wakes up with their device missing.

Rail dangers warning for Christmas partygoers

The people doing this arent professionals, theyre just taking a chance.

The warnings came after BTP and Network Rail launched a campaign encouraging festive revellers to look after themselves following nights out.

Harrowing footage showed risk-takers cut across train lines and showed others fall onto tracks appearing to have had a heavy night of drinking.

Chief Insp Loveless said people cutting across tracks at suburban stations including Harrow-on-the-Hill, in north London, was becoming increasingly more common.

He said: We see it a lot, people are wanting to get home and have maybe had a few drinks so are feeling less cautious and they nip across the train lines.

This could easily go so badly wrong and affects so many people. From our officers having to scrape someone up off the line, the driver seeing someone on the tracks as they pull in to a station, the passengers on that train.

Anyone cutting across tracks also risks hurting themselves if they slip and knock their heads, they are left in such a vulnerable position stuck on those tracks.

Network Rail figures showed passengers boarding and alighting trains were involved in 469 alcohol-related accidents in the last five years, the rail organisation added.

Overall more than 7,400 booze-fuelled incidents were recorded on or around Britains railways last year.
A man has been arrested following a spate of cat killings in Northampton as police probe whether the attacks are linked to the 'Croydon cat killer'.

The 31-year-old was held after five cats were found mutilated and killed in the Duston and Kingsley Park areas between August and November 2017.

The deaths were being treated as part of a Met Police investigation into a number of animal deaths, known as Operation Takahe.

Northamptonshire Police said the man, who was also arrested in connection with arson attacks, has been released under investigation.

But it said that although the offences are similar to attacks in the London area, officers cannot be sure they were carried out by the same person.

Scotland Yard launched an investigation after a series of gruesome cat killings, which are believed to have begun in the Croydon area around October 2015.

Animal rescue charity South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (Snarl), which has been working with police investigating the killings, believes up to 400 cats and other small animals may have been slaughtered across the country by at least one culprit.

However, Snarl co-founder Boudicca Rising told the Press Association: "The killer has not been caught."

Her comments come following a string of reported attacks over the festive period in south London, north London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

Ms Rising believes the most recent cat deaths could hold the key to catching the killer.

"What is really clear from the timeline over Christmas is that he was in south London and then started travelling again," she said.

"We have always thought he is a south London resident. He seemed at ease with getting around and the killings seemed more confident."

While the attacker targeted cats initially, small animals, including rabbits and foxes, have since been found dead and mutilated across the country.

The Met has also been working with the RSPCA, while a 10,000 reward has been offered to anyone who provides information that could lead to the arrest of the killer.
T he NUS has been forced to apologise after it omitted Judaism from a survey on religion... just months after it made the same mistake on an earlier questionnaire.

In a survey sent out across the UK, students were asked to choose their faith from a list of options, but the country's fifth-largest faith was missing.

It sparked outrage online, with many people on Twitter accusing the union of "forgetting Jewish students again", as it emerged the organisation made the same omission six months previously.

Students complained after a survey in July did not feature the religion, and NUS president Shakira Martin said the issue would be resolved.

But she made an emotional apology to Jewish students on Friday after a Jewish student alerted the NUS to a second omission.

In a video on Twitter "to all Jewish students", Ms Martin said it was "unacceptable" and that she was "so angry" with the omission.

She said: "The first time it happened, I could tweet and say sorry.

"But the second time... It's unacceptable, and I just want to reassure the whole Jewish community that I will be dealing with this.

Im pi**ed. Im so frickin pi**ed, Im not going to lie. And Im not scared to say sorry. People know that Im a person that if I do something wrong, Ill be the first one to say sorry, and Im hoping that people out there will know that Im being genuine.

Im so angry. Being president and being accountable sometimes can be really difficult.

She added: I sincerely apologise. I think thats whats wrong with politicians and student politicians  people are scared to say sorry. Im sorry. Im sorry if anyone felt like they werent welcomed or that they were pushed out  genuinely that is not my intention, across the whole organisation.

She stressed her desire to rebuild relationships and trust among all our membership, but Jewish students in particular and added "this will not happen again".

The omission sparked fury online, with many calling the incident "shocking".

John Bailey wrote: "The NUS turns in to a bigger and bigger joke every year shocking organisation when will it be stopped."

While Paul Watts added: "I'm absolutely shocked at this. Waiting to see how NUS try to squirm out of it."

The NUS previously faced allegations of antisemitism as former president Malia Bouattia came under fire by MPs in 2016.

A cross-party report published by the Home Affairs Select Committee accused Ms Bouattia of failing to address a growing culture of antisemitism on campuses.
D onald Trump has called bombshell author Michael Wolff a total loser amid the fierce war of words over highly controversial new book Fire and Fury.

The US President tweeted the explosive book was boring and untruthful and criticised former aide sloppy Steve Bannon, whose quotes featured in the text.

Late on Friday night in the US, Mr Trump said on Twitter: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book.

He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!

Mr Wolff, a media critic and columnist, carried out hundreds of interviews for Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which went on sale in the US earlier this week despite the US leaders attempts to stop it being published.

Among the books claims is the suggestion Mr Trump trusts women more than men, his confusion over the Klu Klux Klans beliefs and his preference of eating McDonalds amid fears of being poisoned.

Fire and Fury: the sensational behind-closed-doors account of life in the West Wing

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson jumped to the US leaders defence over Mr Wolffs allegation that White House staff believed Mr Trumps mental powers were slipping.

Mr Tillerson said he never doubted his boss mental health, telling CNN: "I have no reason to question his mental fitness and added Mr Trump was not typical of presidents in the past.

President Trumps has attempted to discredit the book. / AFP

On Friday, author Mr Wolff appeared on NBCs Today show to hit back at Mr Trumps claims the book was full of lies.

Mr Wolff said: Not only is he helping me sell books, but hes helping me prove the point of the book.

Michael Wolff claims he was a 'constant interloper' in the Trump White House / Getty Images

I mean, this is extraordinary that a president of the United States would try to stop the publication of a book. This doesnt happen, has not happened from other presidents, would not even happen from the CEO of a mid-sized company.

Mr Trump's lawyers had tried to block publication of the book, which caused a political firestorm within the White House, alleging that it contained many falsehoods.

Trump: Explosive claims made by new book

Its publisher instead brought forward the release date to Friday.

Mr Trump previously attacked the authors reporting, claiming Mr Wolff ha zero access to the White House  but Mr Wolff claims he met and spoke to the president.

The book was published in the US early on Friday. / EPA

The US President wrote on Twitter: I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist.

The White House has repeatedly dismissed the new release as tabloid gossip and pathetic.

In the UK, booksellers were predicting it would be one of the fastest selling books of the year.

Kate Skipper, Waterstones Buying Director, said: The excitement is spreading across the Atlantic and Fire and Fury is set to be the biggest political book of the year in the UK. Its fantastic to see a physical book driving headlines across the world and customers responding accordingly.
D onald Trump is seeking $18 billion from the US government to build his big, beautiful border wall with Mexico by 2027.

Detailed plans for the US Presidents highly controversial border plan have been seen by media in the US ahead of the blueprints officially being made public.

The documents reveal Mr Trumps administration is reportedly seeking a total of $33 billion (24bn) for work on a strengthened border including $18 billion (13bn) to build the wall and an extra $15 billion (11bn) to secure it with patrol guards, inspectors and technology.

The reinforced border wall was one of Mr Trumps most-publicised pledges of his 2016 election campaign.

Donald Trump made the promised wall along the US-Mexico border one of his most-reiterated campaign pledges. / EPA

Until now, details had been kept largely under wraps except in October last year when eight prototypes were installed for testing.

The samples were all between 18ft and 30ft high and had to withstand an hour-long attack from a sledgehammer, pick axe, torch, chisel and power tools.

Donald Trump says the Mexico border wall will be made up of solar panels

According to the proposal by the Customs and Border Protection which was released on Friday, the US administration is calling for an extra 316 miles of extra barrier by September 2027, meaning the wall would cover 970 miles or nearly half the entire US-Mexican border.

The plan also calls for 407 miles of extra barrier to replace or provide a second layer to current border fencing.

Prototypes put up near the US-Mexican border in October last year. / REUTERS

As well as the $18 billion to be spent on the wall, $5.7 billion will go on technology gear, $1 billion for road construction and maintenance and $8.5 billion for 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, 2,500 border inspectors and other personnel, a US official told Associated Press.

The wall will be built over the next 10 years.

Mr Trumps administration reportedly asked for $1.6 billion this year to build or replace 74 miles of fencing in Texas and California, and officials have said they also will seek $1.6 billion next year.

The 10-year plan, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, resulted from discussions with senators who asked the agency what it would take to secure the border, the official said.

According to an administration official, funding for the wall and extra security must be part of any legislative package on immigration.

Mexico has steadfastly rejected Trump's demand that it pay for the wall and many people expect it will be US taxpayers who foot the bill if the wall is built.
A passenger plane was forced to land thousands of miles from its destination after a man smeared poo on the walls of the toilets.

The United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was diverted to Alaska after flight crew reported that a man on board had vandalised two in-flight bathrooms, airport police said.

Anchorage Airport Police Lieutenant Joe Gamache said by telephone: "We received a report of a passenger who had messed up the bathrooms with his own faeces."

The man, a 22-year-old Vietnamese passport holder with US residency, was escorted off the plane in handcuffs on Thursday night and met by police officers in the terminal, Lt Gamache said.

He was interviewed by authorities through a translator and transported to a hospital in Anchorage for psychiatric evaluation.

The man made no threats and did not try to interfere with the flight crew, Gamache said, adding that no charges have been filed.

United Airlines said there were 245 people on board the plane and hotel accommodation was provided for its customers.
D onald Trump has claimed that his two greatest assets are mental stability and being, like, really smart in a bizarre Twitter rant.

In a series of early-morning tweets the US President hit out at accusations about his intelligence following the publication of author Michael Wolffs explosive new book Fire and Fury.

Among the claims made in the book was that White House staff believed Mr Trump's mental powers were slipping.

And Mr Trump, who has already described Mr Wolff as a total loser, lashed out again on Saturday, calling himself a "very stable genius".

Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence," he wrote.

He added: Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.

"Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames.

I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius and a very stable genius at that!

It comes hours after Mr Wolff spoke to the BBC's Today programme.

I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect," he told the show.

He said: The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in a way that it says he can't do his job.

Suddenly everywhere people are going, 'Oh my God, it's true, he has no clothes.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House went on sale in the US earlier this week despite Mr Trump's attempts to stop it being published.

The US leader has already tweeted the controversial book was "boring and untruthful" and criticised former aide "sloppy Steve Bannon", whose quotes are featured in the text.

On Friday, author Mr Wolff appeared on NBCs Today show to hit back at Mr Trumps claims it was full of lies.

The media critic and columnist, who carried out hundreds of interviews while researching the book, said: Not only is he helping me sell books, but hes helping me prove the point of the book.

I mean, this is extraordinary that a president of the United States would try to stop the publication of a book. This doesnt happen, has not happened from other presidents, would not even happen from the CEO of a mid-sized company.

Mr Trump's lawyers had tried to block publication of the book, which caused a political firestorm within the White House, alleging that it contained many falsehoods.

Its publisher instead brought forward the release date to Friday.

Mr Trump's Saturday morning rant also came as Twitter explained why it would not block world leaders or remove "controversial tweets" after an outcry over US President use of the platform.

The US President wrote a tweet about North Korea earlier this week, which prompted to calls for him to be banned from the site.
P arts of the US woke up to brutally cold conditions as temperatures that could feel as low as -100F (-73C) followed a deadly bomb cyclone.

Wind chill warnings have been issued from Virginia to Vermont on the East Coast with bitterly cold weather expected to last most of the weekend.

Temperatures were in the single digits from Philadelphia to Boston on Saturday morning and expected to fall closer to zero on Saturday night, but wind chills were making it feel like -10F (-23C) to -20F (-28C).

In Burlington, Vermont, the temperature was -1F (-18C), with a wind chill of -30F (-34C).

It was 8F (-13C) in Philadelphia and New York City, with wind chills ranging from -9F (-22C) to -11F (-24C).

These locations, however, are expected to have nothing on the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Mount Washington Observatory, on its website, has predicted the mountain's highest summits could see wind chills of -100F (-73C) on Saturday.

Central Park lies under a blanket of snow in New York City / Getty Images

More temperate areas won't escape the cold either, with the mercury dipping into the single digits in Baltimore and Washington, DC, during the weekend  about 20F below normal for this time of year.

The National Weather Service said on Friday that temperatures in the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts could seem like a frosty -35F (-37C), parts of New Hampshire and Maine could experience -45F (-42C), and Vermont's mountain regions could feel like -50F (-45C).

A woman carries a shovel full of snow down the street while digging her car out in south Boston / AP

Dan Hofmann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Baltimore said: "It's definitely cold and the type of bone-chilling cold that happens every few years."

He added that the last time such extreme cold occurred was in February 2015.

The weather service issued wind chill warnings for various days this weekend for parts of Vermont, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Maine and New Hampshire.

Fast forward to early next week, though, and more seasonable weather is expected to return with temperatures in the high 30s and near 40s.

It comes after a massive blizzard clobbered the region, bring more than a foot of snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding.

Wind gusts hit more than 70mph and as much as 18 inches of snow fell in some places.

The extreme weather has been linked to as many as 19 deaths in the US and two in Canada, according to reports.
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NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS

January 1, 2018: A North Korean soldier who recently defected to South Korea was found to have Anthrax anti-bodies in his blood. This came at about the same time as rumors of North Korea planning to equip its long range ballistic missiles with warheads containing Anthrax. The reality is that Anthrax does not make a very effective biological weapon, but it is an easy one to obtain and hardy enough to survive delivery via ballistic missile. Moreover, Anthrax is not contagious but it does occur naturally in many parts of the world and many people acquire immunity by surviving exposure (not uncommon) or receiving a vaccination (less common). North Korea could not afford to vaccinate the entire population against Anthrax, or even all its troops. Only those assigned to guard facilities storing Anthrax filled bombs, shells or warheads, or manufacturing facilities would need the vaccination. If used in a combat zone troops moving into the contaminated area would need vaccination.

What was not reported was any more details of the North Korean soldier with the Anthrax anti-bodies. That was done to prevent North Korea from figuring out what South Korea knew of their biological and radiological weapons programs. It is known that South Korea gives defectors thorough physical exams including world class analysis of blood and tissue samples. Over 30,000 North Korean have managed to reach South Korea, most of them in the last twenty years and all have been thoroughly examined. All South Korea will reveal is that the data has been very useful, not only in treating the defectors for the many infections and maladies they have, but also it getting idea of what, so to speak, is in the air, water and soil up there over time and where.

One bit of information that was recently released involved recent defectors who showed signs of radiation poisoning. Since they came from the area where North Korea tests its nuclear weapons (underground) it indicates that rumors of massive radiation leaks are true. The Chinese certainly believed it and ran TV and print ads warning citizens near the border to get checked if they showed certain symptoms. There were also illustrations on how to clean oneself to avoid accumulating enough exposure to get infected.

Meanwhile there was a North Korea biological weapon scare in 2015 when a PR video of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting a recently refurbished North Korean Pyongyang Biotechnical Institute became available. Western analysts noted in the background there were some industrial equipment for making large quantities of new biological agents. North Korea said it was doing some research on biological pesticides for some local crops. But that expensive equipment could make biological weapons like militarized Anthrax. North Korea denies that is the case but it was noted that sanctions never banned pesticides or medicine and North Korea could always have large quantities of some new pesticide made in China much more cheaply than doing it themselves. Then again, a lot of what North Korea does makes no economic sense and they keep doing it anyway. That is likely the case with this Anthrax scare. Then again, there is some danger.

For thousands of years Anthrax was known as a livestock pest, regularly killing animals that grazed on land infested with Anthrax spores. The animals breathed in the spores as they pulled up grass and released the spores from the soil. Humans could get infected as well, usually by getting spores on a cut. This skin (cutaneous) form of Anthrax is fatal in up to 20 percent of the victims, depending on how potent the Anthrax strain was and how many spores got into the sore. People who worked with sheep's wool also got cutaneous Anthrax, as did those working with the hides of animals that grazed in areas containing Anthrax. In the 1970s, imported wool from an Anthrax area, improperly cleaned, infected a number of Americans.

Anthrax has long been pitched as an effective bio-warfare weapon. Britain developed a military form of Anthrax during World War II. At the time it was seen as an effective weapon because the Germans didn't have antibiotics (only the Allies had this then-new medication that cured Anthrax infections). Since then, work has continued on militarized Anthrax, developing more potent strains (so less of it was needed to kill) and making Anthrax resistant to antibiotics (difficult to do, although current genetic engineering techniques make this easier to do if you have the qualified scientists and engineers).

The major problem with Anthrax-as-a-weapon is delivering it. The spores, in their natural form, don't travel well in the air. "Militarizing" Anthrax consists of processing the spores so they don't clump together and thus can more easily float away in a breeze. But sunlight and heat can kill the spores, and even if they float through the air they can disperse so that anyone breathing them in will not get a fatal dose (10,000 to 50,000 spores). All this created the need for militarized Anthrax to be grown from more powerful strains.

Naturally occurring Anthrax (which exists in most parts of the world) varies in its potency. Wealthier nations, like the United States, give animals in Anthrax ridden areas a vaccine that protects them. There have long been vaccines for humans as well, to protect farmers and veterinarians. Agricultural researchers have collected many strains of Anthrax, and the more potent ones are kept and cultured to provide material to test new vaccines.

Even the most potent militarized Anthrax isn't that powerful. We know this from a military Anthrax accident in 1979. A Russian biological warfare plant outside the city of Sverdlosk accidentally released some militarized Anthrax. Thousands of people in the area were infected. But fewer than a hundred died. What was particularly discouraging to Russian military bioweapon scientists was that only one of the dead was of military age and he was already ill from other ailments. All of those that died from the Anthrax were old and usually sick. All the victims had weakened immune systems. Many had lung ailments. The Russians initially denied that there was an accident and did not treat the locals for Anthrax. Later they said the deaths were caused by people eating meat infected with Anthrax (a common way for people to die from Anthrax). It was only after the Soviet Union fell apart that Western researchers were able to get into the area and interview survivors and discover that people with normal immune systems were able to fight off an Anthrax infection.

In mid-2016 there was another outbreak of Anthrax in northern Siberia. This one made at least 40 people sick but so far none have died. What is unusual about this outbreak is that it was apparently caused by dead reindeer from the last outbreak in the area, back in 1968. Whats the connection? Most of the victims in 1968 were reindeer and many froze during an early freeze, before they could decompose. These corpses were buried in ground that is normally frozen year round (permafrost) and only thaws every few decades (or longer) when another incidence of unusually warm weather occurred. In 2016 it was hot enough long enough (35 degrees C/96 Fahrenheit) to defrost some of the reindeer and reactivate the Anthrax. This is a reminder that Anthrax still remains a favorite deliberate, or accidently, biological weapon.

Anthrax outbreaks are not common in Siberia and Central Asia but they do occur every few years. During mid-2012 a rural area of southern Siberia had an Anthrax outbreak in which several people were infected and one of them died. Further south in there was an outbreak 20 kilometers from a Russian airbase in Kyrgyzstan. Anthrax is a bacteria and some people and animals can fight off infections and even develop an immunity. But there are usually some fatalities during a major outbreak and Russian troops in Kyrgyzstan are unlikely to have any natural immunity. Russia leases space at the Kant Airbase in Kyrgyzstan and reported that it had disinfected many areas of the base and vaccinated personnel against Anthrax. Kyrgyzstan public health officials admitted that there had been numerous people infected in the area.

The Kant Airbase incident brought back memories of Russian efforts to militarize (weaponize) Anthrax during the Cold War. Back then, when Kyrgyzstan was part of Russia (then called the Soviet Union) it was believed that weaponized Anthrax was tested in remote areas like Kyrgyzstan. But the Anthrax threat, as a biological weapon, turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

The 2001 Anthrax attacks in the United States, delivered by letter, killed one and infected less than a dozen others. A form of natural Anthrax was used. More will die and get ill but not from Anthrax. Millions of people are taking powerful antibiotics just in case they were infected. This massive use of antibiotics will cause other bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics and the resulting "super bugs" will kill a lot of people (a trend that has been noted over the last decade or so). The problem with Anthrax as a weapon is that you have to use it in secret and get a lot of people to breathe in the spores. While the less lethal cutaneous form announces itself with an ugly sore (which can then be treated with antibiotics), the pulmonary (breathed in) form announces itself with flu like symptoms a few days after the infection. By then it is too late and death almost always follows. But if you know you have breathed it in (and a test can confirm this), you can be treated with antibiotics. So far, Anthrax has not really made the jump from livestock pest to biological warfare weapon.
In 2017 the ASSF (Afghan Special Security Forces) were carrying out an average of 105 operations a week during the last six months of the year. As was noted in 2016 American SOCOM (Special Operations Command) troops in Afghanistan accompany their Afghan counterparts on about ten percent of combat missions and also help plan or support most of the other 90 percent. In 2017 ASSF were able to carry out 17 percent of their operations without any assistance from foreign forces. Thats up from about ten percent in 2016. The ASSF is also in the process of doubling its strength, from two brigades (about 11,000 Afghan personnel) to four brigades (23,000 Afghans). The Afghan government wants to accomplish this this by 2020 but the foreign advisors (mainly from SOCOM) believe 2025 is a more realistic date. Moreover to make ASSF work you need a lot of support troops (about one for every two special operations soldiers) plus additional foreign aid to hire more foreign support specialists as well. The Afghans want more ASSF troops because they are the most competent and reliable Afghanistan has. The rest of the Afghan Army, by comparison, is hobbled by a shortage of trained officers and NCOS as well as constant pressure from the drug gangs and their Taliban enforcers to take bribes or desert. In contrast the higher standards and longer training for the ASSF attracts Afghans who are looking for a more professional environment. As a result some 80 percent of offensive operations by the Afghan Army are carried out by the ASSF. The main function of ASSF is not commando (direct action) operations or even the more mundane (but just as important) intelligence collecting but rather to provide an example of Afghan troops, from dozens of different tribes, working together in jobs that require international standards for skills mastered and put to use. This is a big deal in a country like Afghanistan. While some Afghans have become physicians, pilots, scientists and the like ASSF enables a wider range of Afghans to demonstrate high standards of skill and performance. Moreover ASSF provides accurate intelligence on what is going on in the country so the senior leaders cannot say they didnt know. Moreover the ASSF are relatively incorruptible and the best Afghan combat troops in in Afghanistan. In the largely warrior culture of tribal Afghanistan that is a big deal. So the Western nations that fund and train ASSF are going along with the Afghan plan to double the size of ASSF.

SOCOM personnel now in Afghanistan are supposed to be concentrating on training ASSF operators (troops) s while also helping with planning and preparation for missions. Sometimes that involves SOCOM operators going along mainly to observe and provide backup. In addition commandos from other NATO nations also get actively involved in some ASSF missions. However on 80 percent of their missions the ASSF troops go out by themselves although not without some help from foreign advisors. U.S. and NATO special operations troops generally are not involved in combat but often provide armed backup and battlefield advice and assistance (calling in air strikes or receiving intel from American and NATO UAVs and intel troops back at a base and passing it on).

One of the less publicized changes in the Afghan military has been the slow, but steady, development of Afghan special operations capabilities. These specialists are used, like their American counterparts, for collecting intelligence on the ground, developing working relationships with local armed groups and carrying out raids on key targets. By 2016 the Afghan special operations troops proved capable of doing it all. This meant collecting accurate information on where key Islamic terrorist, especially Taliban, bases and leaders where, merging that with American intel from satellite and UAV surveillance and electronic monitoring. The American intel specialists helped, but the ASSF operators knew the ground and the people and they were able to plan raids or UAV strikes on key Islamic terrorist personnel and that has done more damage to the Taliban than any amount of patrols and attacks using police and regular army units.

The Afghan commandos had the element of surprise and better information on where the enemy was and what they were capable of. These efforts were so successful that the United States allowed, for the first time, UAVs to make attacks on Taliban leaders in southwest Pakistan, a Taliban sanctuary that the Pakistanis had long insisted didnt exist and was off limits to American UAVs. But it was not off-limits to satellite surveillance and electronic monitoring. So the Americans compiled more and more very detailed evidence of how the Taliban had been using their sanctuary for over a decade.

Creating Afghan special operations forces was first proposed in 2002. But it took several years before recruiting and training could get started. Progress was slow, but steady. In late 2010 Afghanistan deployed its first Special Forces teams, and they were an immediate success. Many Afghans were familiar with American Special Forces, but while these foreign troops spoke the language and knew the culture, they weren't Afghan. Despite that, the American Special Forces often established rapport with the Afghan villagers, and were usually very successful. But the Afghan Special Forces take that rapport to a new level. Afghan villagers admired the skills of the American Special Forces, both as warriors and experts in many other areas. But now they see Afghans doing the same things. This makes a big impression, and the Afghan Special Forces get even more cooperation and trust.

The Afghan Special Forces aren't the only elite military unit the Afghans formed early on. In 2007, the Afghan Army formed its first commando battalion, trained by U.S. Marines. By 2010 2,400 carefully selected Afghan infantrymen have been sent to Jordan for commando and special operations training. The sergeants among this group, served as trainers during the formation of additional commando battalions. In 2007 U.S. Army Special Forces were involved in the forming of five commando battalions, so that each of the five army corps has one of these special operations units. By the end of 2010 there were 7,000 troops in the Afghan Commando Brigade. By 2012 it was 9,000 and by 2015 there were 10,000 Afghan Special Operations troops in nine battalions plus some support units. About ten percent of the Afghan Special Operations personnel were commandos in the Western sense, capable of carrying out quickly, but carefully planned raids night or day and in any weather. By the time foreign combat units left Afghanistan at the end of 2014 the various Afghan special operations units (army, air force, police) had been reorganized as the ASSF and support units (increasing ASSF personnel another 50 percent or so) were added. More importantly the Americans kept enough SOCOM troops in Afghanistan to help maintain the high standards ASSF had achieved.

All this was done in a nation where over 60 percent of the population is illiterate, and the military traditions are more tribal warrior than professional. The tribal culture makes it difficult for soldiers from different tribes to work together. But there are always those who have the desire to do something different, and these are the men who made the cut in the special operations forces. What the ASSF lacked were the specialized aviation, intelligence and support units that are standard with their Western counterparts.

The U.S. Special Forces assisted the Afghans in creating Special Forces units similar to the American ones, where each unit specializes in working with specific ethnic groups, or tribal coalitions. The goal was a force of four Afghan Special Forces battalions, each with 18 A-Teams. Given the success of American Special Forces, that are trained to understand Afghan culture and speak the language, it was believed that Afghans doing the same thing, would perform even better, and more than double the number of Special Forces troops, specialized in dealing with Afghanistan, available. Moreover, this means that Afghanistan will still have a Special Forces capability once U.S. forces depart. Afghanistan is the kind of country (four major ethnic groups, hundreds of tribes and clans) that needs Special Forces long term.

The problem with this approach is that it means picking apart current Afghan special operations units. Especially damaging will be the use of the best Afghan commando officers and NCOs for building the Special Forces units. But this was not a large, or a long term, problem. Initially, all the Special Forces candidates came from the Commando Brigade, and only required ten weeks of training. After that, Special Forces recruiting will be conducted throughout the army, and initial Special Forces training will be 15 weeks.

The initial selection involved taking the 145 commandos who volunteered, putting them through a one week qualification process (similar to the one used in the United States), and finding, as in the U.S., that only about half (69) passed. These men formed the first four A-Teams (of 15 men each). Some of those who passed the training are being used to help American Special Forces troops train the next class. The members of the new A-Teams underwent 26 weeks of on-the-job training, before being considered mission capable.

There were some unique problems in training the Afghan Special Forces candidates. Unlike the United States, there is a much wider social gulf between officers and NCOs in Afghanistan. But for Special Forces to work, there has to be very close cooperation between officers and NCOs. The Special Forces training appears to have solved this, even if it was done by convincing the Afghan officers that this kind of closeness was a special technique unique to Special Forces operations, and essential for A-Teams to succeed. But ten officer candidates dropped out because this kind of relationship with NCOs was too much for them to handle.

There were ethnic problems as well. Most of the Afghan Special Forces will be needed in the south, where the Taliban come from and where Pushtuns (40 percent of the population and historically the dominant group) are the majority. Many of the minorities in Afghanistan (Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and Turkmen) have long been united in their opposition to Pushtun domination. The Tajik are 25 percent of the population and the Hazara (Mongols, a reminder of the medieval Mongolian invasions) 19 percent. The remainder are mostly various Turkic groups (Uzbeks and Turkmen). All of these groups are wary of the Pushtuns, but will work with them if they do not feel threatened. Because of the war with the Taliban, fewer Pushtuns join the army, and many more Hazara (who have long been persecuted by the other groups) do. Thus there were twice as many Hazara as Pushtuns in the first Afghan A-Teams. But the Hazara are much better educated than the Pushtuns, and make better soldiers. It's expected they will make superior Special Forces operators (as Special Forces troops are called) as well, and be able to work well with Pushtuns. So far they do, but not as well as Pushtun operators.

The original Afghan commandos are more similar to U.S. Army Rangers, although they also serve as a special response unit for emergencies. The Afghan commandos are used for operations where additional skill and reliability are required. The Afghan commandos also carry out raids, and some have been given additional training, so they can operate closely with foreign commando units.

The Afghans take well to commando training, and respect commandos in general. The Russian Spetsnaz commandos were feared and respected by Afghans during the 1980s war, and U.S. Special Forces, and various contingents of foreign commandos, have also impressed the Afghans. While a warrior culture, the Afghans never developed the systematic training that makes soldiers much more effective. Most Afghans realize that it's this training that creates the formidable foreign commando warriors. So, when given an opportunity to get this kind of training, there are plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. Now that Afghan Special Forces have proved that they can do the job, recruiting is easier. Talented young men can aspire to something besides becoming a warlord or leader of a drug gang. There is one potential problem, however; corruption. Tribal loyalty is so strong that it encourages corruption when it is at the expense of some other tribe and enriches your own. While few American Special Forces operators have been involved in corruption, the number of Afghans may, based on the local culture, be higher. There is also the experience in other poor countries, where special operations troops are lured away, by higher pay, to criminal enterprises. So far, none of this is a problem. But based on past experience, it's only a matter of time.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries account for over 60 percent of the world's total gross domestic product. | Read More
64-Year-Old Grandfather Found Frozen to Death on Porch

A 64-year-old man from Ohio froze to death on the front porch of his home earlier this week, according to authorities.

The body of Darnell Wilson was found next to his wheelchair. A Mobile Meals worker discovered the body at his home located on second avenue SW, <a href=http://fox61.com/2018/01/05/64-year-old-found-frozen-to-death-on-porch/>FOX61</a> reported.

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The worker, 28-year-old Sara Henson, was nearing the end of her mobile meal route when she pulled into his driveway. She has worked in the company for about one year, sometimes even delivering food for up to 60 people per day.

I was kind of nervous walking onto the porch because I just knew something was wrong, Henson told the <a href=https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/local/akron-shut-in-found-frozen-to-death-on-his-front-porch-in-middlebury>Akron Beacon Journal</a>.

She said she then called 911.

An 64-year old man was found here on his porch on Tuesday. He had frozen to death. We have the latest information on the first cold-related death in Akron this year on @wkyc at 6. pic.twitter.com/5BnktYKnjD  Dorsena Drakeford (@dorsena_news) January 4, 2018

I dont know whether hes breathing or not, Henson told the dispatcher Tuesday, according to the Journal. Im freaking out.

The Summit County Medical Examiners said that Wilson died from hypothermia, ruling the death was an accident, according to <a href=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/akron-canton-news/64-year-old-man-found-frozen-to-death-on-akron-porch-by-mobile-meals-worker>ABC affiliate News 5.</a>

Officials said he lived at his home with a family friend, according to News 5. That friend was not at home at the time of his death.

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Wilsons daughter told News 5 that her father was loving and outgoing.

She said that her father had a total of three children and six grandchildren.

Darnell Wilson was lying next to his wheelchair when a Mobile Meals worker found him. https://t.co/7oC8JB2psL  WNEM TV5 (@WNEMTV5news) January 5, 2018

Wilson did not always rely on his wheelchair. His daughter said that he was also able to walk on his own with a cane.

Mobile Meals worker Henson told the Journal Wilson will be missed. I always looked forward to our visits and I really think he looked forward to seeing me, too.

Bowen Xiao Reporter Follow Bowen Xiao is a New York-based reporter at The Epoch Times. He covers national security, human trafficking and U.S. politics.

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California Man Leads Cops on 118-mph Chasewith Mothers Corpse in Back Seat

On New Years day, a South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper spotted a Honda CRV traveling east down I-90 at over 100 mph. The officer gave chase from Spearfish to Rapid City, hitting 118 mph at some points.

Up ahead, South Dakota Highway Patrol and Rapid City Police laid down two sets of spike strips. The fleeing car crossed one, ruptured its tires, and came to a halt in a ditch.

The driver exited the car and tried to flee, according to Rapid City Journal, but he was caught by two troopers as he tried to climb a chain-link fence. The officers said he smelled strongly of alcohol.

The driver was identified via his license as 30-year-old Tosten David Walsh Lommen of Santa Cruz, California.

Police examining the front seats of the car found several prescription pill bottles and a large empty beer bottle, KESQ reported.

In the back seat, wrapped in a blanket, they found a corpse.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced in a press release on Jan. 4 that the body was that of 58-year-old Michelle Nanette Walsh of Palm Springs, CaliforniaWalshs mother.

An autopsy was performed on Jan. 3, but the results have not yet been released.

The car was registered in the mothers name, and some of her credit cards were found on the front seat, according to Rapid City Journal.

Lommen had a blood alcohol level of .142, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08. His California license had been suspended following a drunk-driving arrest in 2015, though he did have a permit that allowed him to drive to work.

Lommen was charged in Pennington County with aggravated eluding, drunken driving, reckless driving, and resisting arrest and is being held on $2.5 million bond.

Aggravated eluding carries a maximum two-year sentence, while the other charges are misdemeanors, each with a maximum of one year.

The bond is unusually high because the cause of death has not been determined.

The death of his mother is currently considered suspicious. Seventh Circuit Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue said it is possible that the court cannot take a homicide charge off the realm of possibility, the Journal reported.

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A photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan space center shows the Tiangong-1 module via a camera in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft before a docking on July 18, 2012. (STR/AFP/GettyImages)

Chinas Out of Control 19,000-pound Space Station Crashing to Earth in March

A 19,000-pound space station that the Chinese regime admits to having lost control of in 2016 will crash land somewhere on Earth this March, experts predicted.

The Tiangong-1 space station was launched in September 2011. It is Chinas first space station. It hosted manned space missions twice in its lifetime. Chinese taikonauts, in the six years since the station was sent into orbit, have spent a total of 24 days aboard, according to data from Aerospace.

Aerospace also reported that the last time scientists were able to raise the altitude of the space station before its current ongoing descent was in December 2015, and that it has been orbiting uncontrollably since at least June 2016.

Aerospace made the prediction on Jan. 3 that the space station would re-enter Earths atmosphere mid-March, give or take two weeks. About two-thirds of the Earths surface area is likely to be struck by what is left of Tiangong-1 once it goes through Earths atmosphere.

Although debris orbiting Earth falls back to Earth often, it is usually much smaller and rarely a danger, often disintegrating before landing. But because of its size, even after Tiangong-1 breaks up during re-entry, debris that remains held together could weigh thousands of pounds, according to The Verge.

The space station will likely see a rapid drop in altitude starting in February. Aerospace wrote that it is unlikely the space station will hit a person or damage property, but much is hard to predict about an object that has yet to fall into Earths atmosphere.

Aerospace advises not to touch any debris from the space station after it crashes, because of the toxic substance, hydrazine, that could survive re-entry. The vapors from the substance are also toxic, and precautions should be taken not to inhale them.

The problem, as mentioned to Newsweek by European Space Agency researcher Tim Flohrer, is that nobody knows how much of the toxic chemical to expect. That information is kept private, along with other details that could prepare the public for the crash, including the design of the ship.

I am not aware of any released information addressing these points, Flohrer told Newsweek.

The Chinese National Space Administration doesnt release such details, even when they are a global safety hazard. In 2007, the Chinese regimes space agency shot down one of its own satellites from space. Although U.S. officials detected the incident on Jan. 11 of that year, officials from the Chinese regime waited 12 days before admitting responsibility after first refusing to speak on it.

Space.com wrote that The satellites destruction is now being viewed as the most prolific and severe fragmentation in the course of five decades of space operations. It resulted in a huge cloud of space debris, a threat to other satellites and to space flight. The International Space Station and those on board were also put at risk from the debris cloud.

The incident was also taken as a military threat. The Chinese regimes space program is run by its military. The regimes willingness to cause this kind of destruction in space without warning was seen as a threat to satellites belonging to countries around the globe, The Washington Post reported.

Its unfortunate that China is going down this path, said a U.S. official after the incident, via the Post. No one has done this in over 20 years, and in that time, international cooperation in space has come so far. It is a bustling commercial, scientific and research arena. This sort of thing is such a throwback to the Cold War.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping (C) and President Donald Trump (R) greet each other as they attend a state dinner, along with Xi's wife, Peng Liyuan (L), and First Lady Melania Trump (2nd L), in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. (Thomas Peter/Pool/Getty Images)

Chinas Unfair and Dangerous E-Payments Policy

President Donald Trumps Asia trip highlighted the difficulty in reducing barriers to entry for American companies to key Chinese sectors. American innovation in the electronic payment services sector, for example, places the United States leading finance companies on the cusp of a breakthrough into the coveted Chinese marketplace.

But Chinas unfair trading practices threaten to turn an enormous growth opportunity into a costly economic problem for U.S. companies and a probable security problem for American consumers.

The global payment cards market now totals 14 billion cards, with a billion new cards issued last year alone. The fastest growth is in the Asia-Pacific region, with China contributing disproportionately to the rise in card holders.

Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay, a Chinese company, account for 80 percent of all cards. According to RBRs study Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts to 2022, the rapid expansion of the Chinese cards market has helped UnionPay to increase its share of cards globally to 43 percent in 2016, and to extend its lead over Visa and Mastercard.

More formally, and ominously, the Chinese regime requires the likes of Mastercard to submit to a national security review.

Not only have Visa and Mastercard lost global market share to UnionPay, but UnionPay is consolidating its position as market leader by exploiting Chinese access to external, including Western, markets. UnionPay is positioning itself as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard in a number of foreign markets, especially Russia and several Asia-Pacific nations.

UnionPay is seeking external markets in anticipation of domestic competition from the likes of Visa and Mastercard, once these American companies obtain domestic licenses to operate in China. But UnionPays concerns about counteracting competition in its home market are overblown, as the Chinese government remains committed to securing the best of both worlds for Chinese payments companies.

China is the prime example of a national government seeking to slow down the global growth in the payments sector. They are doing this, principally, by erecting barriers to American companies entry into the Chinese marketplace.

The fact that China has not played by international rules regarding electronic payments is well documented. China permits only a Chinese entity (i.e., UnionPay) to supply electronic payment services in China for payment card transactions denominated and paid in renminbi. Other service suppliers can only supply these services for payment card transactions paid in foreign currency. China also requires that all payment card processing devices be compatible with UnionPays system and that payment cards bear UnionPays logo.

The United States has longstanding objections to these Chinese restrictions and requirements pertaining to electronic payment services for payment card transactions and the suppliers of those services.

Following a formal American complaint filed in 2010 with the World Trade Organization, on July 16, 2012, the WTO issued its report in the dispute over Chinese measures affecting electronic payment services. The WTO required China to open up its payments industry to foreign competition.

Yet China is still not playing by international rules. China has not yet opened her domestic market.

Allegedly, that will change. The Chinese government regulator recently announced that it will allow, belatedly, American entry into Chinas payments marketplace. However, the Chinese have supplemented their apparent lowering of protectionist barriers with significant regulatory caveats.

Regulatory guidelines allowing American companies to begin the licensing process suggest the Chinese do not intend to permit full and prompt market access anytime soon. American companies may submit an application for a license, but they cannot begin operating in the Chinese market.

Furthermore, companies such as Visa and Mastercard will be forced to build new data centers in China. All these companies data processing for the Chinese marketplace must be performed on the Chinese mainland.

Compliance with such onerous regulatory demands will result in a huge increase in Visa and Mastercards annual overheads. This increase in costs will come at the expense of new jobs for would-be additional Visa and Mastercard employees back in America.

But Chinas over-regulation of its domestic payments market is not simply an economic problem for American companies and workers. Unfair treatment of American payment companies by the Chinese could have other, far more damaging results for the American people.

For example, Mastercards global payments network and research operate via central switches. If the companys data-processing center begins operating in mainland China, it could become prey to cyberattacks either by, or at the behest of, the Chinese regime.

There would be enormous security concerns related to the Chinese being given the veritable keys to Mastercards payments kingdom. With unfettered access, the Chinese government potentially could see all of Mastercards customer data, including the confidential financial records of untold millions of Americans.

More formally, and ominously, the Chinese regime requires the likes of Mastercard to submit to a national security review. This security vulnerability was heightened by the new e-commerce treaty signed this summer between China and Iran.

Hopefully, Trump administration officials impressed upon their Chinese counterparts that the payments sector, a uniquely American innovation, can be a win-win for both nations economies if U.S. companies are greeted by a rational Chinese regulatory environment.

Patrick Basham is founding director of the Democracy Institute, a Washington- and London-based, politically independent research organization.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
DNC Deputy Chair Tweets Photo of Himself With Domestic Terrorist Antifa Handbook

Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted an image of himself holding the book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook on Jan. 3, stating he just found the book that strike fear in the heart of President Donald Trump. Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization, rooted in communism.

At @MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/r81nYoeqpL  Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 3, 2018

Antifa is a communist movement with several anarchist members, that brands itself as anti-fascist, and uses violence as a tool for suppression and intimidation of its political enemies.

The movement originated as a United Front program of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Russia in the early 1920s, under the name Antifaschistische Aktion (Antifascist Action). It was used as a tool of the Communist Party of Germany to label its political rivals as fascists and mark them for attack, with its targets even including the democratic socialists.

Branches of Antifa have begun a resurgence in the United States, and have worked to attack conservatives and silence conservative events. Several politicians, mainly Democrats, and many legacy news outlets, such as the New York Times, have supported the organization and its use of violence for political suppression.

The FBI is currently investigating Antifa extremists, and branches of Antifa have been listed as domestic terrorist organizations.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a Nov. 30 hearing that Antifa operates across the U.S. in ways that involve at least potentially criminal interstate activities, such as inciting a riot and conspiracy to incite riot, as well as behavior.

We are investigating a number of what we would call anarchist-extremist investigations, where we would have properly predicated subjects of people who are motivated to commit violent criminal activity on kind of an Antifa ideology, he said.

Wray added, We have a number of active investigations in that space all around the country.

Users on Twitter were quick to criticize Ellison for sharing the image of himself with the Antifa book, and noted that the organization has roots in communism, attacks free speech, and engages in domestic terrorism.

So you support fascism? Because antifa is nothing more than fascism disguised as anti-fascism. Why don't you just say you hate the Constitution and individual civil liberties such as "dissenting" free speech? You might as well be dressed in an SS uniform.  Bobby Guajardo (@guajardo_bobby) January 3, 2018

@POTUS @TheJusticeDept VICE CHAIR OF THE DNC @keithellison is publicly showing support & encouaging insurrectionist group #Antifa that 1) Was revealed in an @FBI report to have trained with ISIS 2) Is designated by @DHS as committing domestic terrorismhttps://t.co/0fciAWIUqH pic.twitter.com/bAa02Nvbuh  #AntiLiberalist Dan (@DoesAnyoneGetIt) January 4, 2018

Antifa was classified as a domestic terrorist organization by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, according to leaked documents obtained by Politico on Sept. 1.

The documents state that Antifa engages in domestic terrorist violence, and is the primary instigators of violence at public rallies against a range of targets.

The organization is also categorized under the domestic terrorism section on the website of The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. It describes them as anarchist extremists.

Ed Klein, former editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine, published FBI documents in his book, All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump, which state that Antifa is colluding with the terrorist organizations including ISIS.

Klein explained the FBI documents in an interview with investigative website USA Watchdog, stating that Antifa groups traveled to Europe and met with representatives from al-Qaeda and ISIS.

They also went to Syria and got bomb-making instructions and toxic chemical instructions, he stated, adding that These left-wing groups, like Antifa, represent the greatest threat to law enforcement since the 1970s and the Weather Underground.
Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman (2nd L) takes his seat to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his delegation on April 19, 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

Eleven Saudi Princes Detained Following Protest

RIYADHSaudi authorities have detained 11 princes after they gathered at a royal palace in Riyadh in a rare protest against austerity measures that included suspending payment of their utility bills, Saudi media reported on Saturday.

Saudi officials did not respond immediately to a request for a comment on the report.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter, has introduced reforms that included cutting subsidies, introducing value added tax (VAT) and cutting perks to royal family members to try to cope with a drop in crude prices that has caused a budget deficit estimated at 195 billion riyals in 2018.

11 princes were detained in #Saudi for protesting against higher utility prices. They were all sent to Al Haer prison ahead of trial https://t.co/F7zrQnKrj4  Ziad Daoud (@ZiadMDaoud) January 6, 2018

Online news website sabq.org said the princes had gathered at the Qasr a-Hokm, a historic royal palace, demanding the cancellation of a royal decree that stopped state payment of water and electricity bills for royal family members.

They were also demanding compensation for a death sentence issued against a relative, Sabq.org said.

They were informed of the error of their demands, but they refused to leave Qasr al-Hokm, Sabq said, quoting unidentified sources. A royal order was issued to the royal guards  to intervene and they were detained and put into al-Hayer prison in preparation to put them on trial.

It gave no details on the identity of the princes but said the leader of the group had been identified by the initials S.A.S.

Everybody is equal before the law and anyone who does not implement regulations and instructions will be held accountable, no matter who he is, the website added.

Arabic-language Okaz daily carried a similar report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Saudi Arabia last year rounded up dozens of royal family members, current and former senior officials in a crackdown on corruption that has also strengthened the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

They were held at the five-star Ritz Hotel in the capital Riyadh while government officials negotiated financial settlements.

Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Potter

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A woman uses a mobile phone to record footage as a propaganda troupe perform a flag-waving routine outside the central railway station in Pyongyang on Sept. 27, 2017. (ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)

Elite North Koreans Seeking Out Forbidden Fortune Tellers Amid Turbulent Times

Strict information control in North Korea prohibits residents from getting information from anything but official sources.

While South Korean dramas are a particularly sought-after indulgence, some cadres worried about getting caught up in one of Kim Jong Uns purges or falling out of favor amid interparty jockeying are looking for reassurance from an unlikely illicit sourcefortune tellers.

The new fad has picked up as those offering to foresee the future for anxious comrades offer home visits, according to Daily NK, a news site that specializes in getting information from sources inside North Korea.

According to sources inside the communist state, more residents are seeking out fortune tellers despite the service being banned. To avoid the punishment, they are meeting their clairvoyants clandestinely.

According to Daily NK, residents are worried about oppressive policies and economic uncertainty arising from international sanctions. North Korea was subject to another round of United Nations Security Council sanctions in December, and North Korean state media have continued to tell residents that war could come at any time.

But authorities dont want citizens getting information from unregulated sources, making fortune telling a dangerous profession.

Recently, the authorities have been trying to rid the country of superstition by making examples of fortune tellers and face-readers, sending them to labor camps, a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK via telephone on Dec. 29.

However, people are always interested to know what fortunes the new year will bring them, so theyre asking around to try to find undercover fortune tellers.

According to the source, fortune tellers are being sought out by Party cadres and donju, the wealthy elite who have emerged in recent years out of a combination of official corruption and free enterprise.

Some donju will pick up fortune tellers in their cars, bring them home, and have them read the fortunes of friends and family before dropping them back off, said the source.

Practicing or promoting superstitious practices is illegal in North Korea, reports Daily NK, citing article 256 of the North Korean Constitution: Those who receive money or goods in exchange for performing superstitious practices on multiple occasions will be sentenced to a punishment of a maximum of one year of labor [] Those who teach multiple people about superstitious practices or bring about severe results through such practices will be sentenced to a maximum of three years of labor. In extreme cases, the penalty of labor will be from three to seven years.

Officials have tried to crack down on the practice through arrests, but widespread uncertainty will continue to fuel demand, said the source. For North Koreans distrustful of the Kim regime and worried about the future, fortune tellers provide a source of comfort, reports Daily NK.

A separate source in North Pyongan Province told the news site that arresting fortune tellers would do little to curb the practice.

Instead of trying to solve the fundamental problems like providing food for everyone, the authorities are focusing on catching fortune tellers. This is driving up dissatisfaction.

Despite the harsh punishment, fortune telling by face reading and birthdate has grown in popularity since the late 90s. Fortune tellers can earn between 5,000 and 50,000 KPW (North Korean dollars). One kilogram of rice costs 5,000 KPW.

Getting ones fortune read is a way of seeking stability and affirmation, so it tends to be popular with those who face uncertainty, like Party cadres, said the source. So it seems inevitable that the fortune tellers will continue to visit their homes.

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Fishing Tournament in Florida Canceled After Angler Vanishes

Multiple agencies in Florida are searching for an angler who went missing on the first day of a fishing competition on Thursday, Jan. 4, after his boat capsized on Lake Okeechobee, TCPalm reported.

Organizers initially delayed the three-day Okeechobee Costa Series when a boat did not return after the first day of the tournament. That vessel belonged to Bill Kisiah and Nik Kayler.

Kisiah was found at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday along with the boat, but Kayler was not with him. Authorities searched overnight and on Friday.

Fishing League Worldwide then canceled the competition in order to concentrate all efforts on the ongoing search for co-angler Nik Kayler.

Kaylers boat had been in an accident before it was found.

The boat was recovered in Pahokee around 1130 hours last night at a boat ramp with Bill Kisiah, the Clewiston Police Department wrote in a Facebook post. It was then learned that the boat capsized.

The Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) said it was assisting in the search efforts.

At this time, air search and recovery operations are still being conducted under the guidance of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and local authorities, the company stated in a press release.

Kisiah was in serious condition at the Belle Glade Hospital on Friday morning.

Bill Kisiah is from Slidell, Louisiana, and Nik Kayler is from Apopka, Florida. The pair were in a dark-colored Ranger Z521 boat with a red Evinrude G2 outboard motor, according to FLW. They planned to head to the South Bay area of the lake on end Thursday.

Kisiah competed in FLW competitions for nine years, while Kayler competed in 61 FLW events as a co-angler.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWS) officials said that the conditions on the lake overnight on Thursday were similar to the ocean.

There is a lot of wind and a lot of movement, Carol Lyn Parrish, of FWC, told TCPalm.

Clewiston Police wrote on Facebook that Kayler could be anywhere within a 30-mile stretch between Clewiston and Pahokee. TCPalm described the area as stretch of water dotted with grass islands and partially submerged obstructions. 

The National Weather Service reported the temperature on the lake overnight at 36 degrees.

A factor complicating the search is Lake Okeechobees sheer size. It is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the United States. It is 40 miles across at its broadest point and covers a total area of 730 square miles.

A total of 500 anglers in 250 boats were participating in the competition before it was canceled.

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An NYPD Sergeant at prayer in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Brooklyn, NYC, June 26, 2017. A memorial mass was held honoring NYPD Transit Bureau officers who died in the line of duty. The names of 36 fallen officers were read during the mass as attendees prayed for their families. All of the most recent officers being recognized died due to illnesses contracted while working at Ground Zero. (Courtesy NYPD news)

Honoring Our Fallen Police, Firefighters, Military

America must forever honor all of our fallen police, firefighters, and military.

These individuals who have offered the ultimate sacrifice protecting our communities and our nation deserve our eternal respect.

The clarion call of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg must be seared into the soul of each person privileged to call America home.

The Gettysburg address, written for the fallen military during the Civil War, is eternally applicable to all who protect and serve America:

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Americas Fallen Police: A Deadly 2017

According to statistics memorialized on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) the perils of law enforcement service continues.

Preliminary data compiled by the NLEOMF as of Dec. 28, 2017, cite 128 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2017.

Texas led the list of fatalities with 14, followed by New York and Florida, both with 9, and California with 7.

Forty-seven officers were killed in traffic-related incidents. Firearms-related fatalities were the second-leading cause with 44 officers shot and killed.

The remaining officers died as a result of causes including job-related cardiac events, drownings, being beaten to death, a helicopter crash, and as a result of an illness contracted during 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts.

Let us pause to solemnly honor some who have offered the ultimate sacrifice:

Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Camilleri, California Highway Patrol, End of Watch (EOW): 12/24/2017: Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Camilleri was killed when his patrol car was struck from behind by an impaired driver.

California Highway Patrol, End of Watch (EOW): Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Camilleri was killed when his patrol car was struck from behind by an impaired driver. Police Officer Marcus McNeil, New Orleans Police Department, EOW: 10/13/2017: Police Officer Marcus McNeil was shot while investigating suspicious activity.

New Orleans Police Department, EOW: 10/13/2017: Police Officer Marcus McNeil was shot while investigating suspicious activity. Sergeant Meggan Lee Callahan, North Carolina Dept. of Public Safety-Division of Prisons EOW: 4/26/2017: Sergeant Meggan Lee Callahan was assaulted and killed by an inmate serving a life sentence for a previous murder.

National Fallen Firefighters Memorial

The dangers of serving Americas communities as a firefighter are enshrined on a wall of honor at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmetsburg, Maryland.

Read More Americas Fallen Military Deserve Eternal Honor

At this memorial is an eternal flame symbolizing the spirit of firefighters.

Plaques encircle the monument with the names of fallen firefighters.

The U.S. Fire Administration website documents the names of ninety-three firefighters killed in the line of duty in 2017.

One recent tragedy was Cory Iverson who died from burns and smoke on Dec. 16, 2017.

Iverson, a member of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protections San Diego unit was fighting the Thomas Fire, one of the largest in California history.

This heroic firefighter is survived by his wife, a 2-year-old daughter, and another daughter on the way this spring.

Iversons tragedy is mystically connected with every fallen firefighter.

Read More National Police Week: Honoring Ethical Protectors

Aside from the tragedies such as Iversons inflicted upon the firefighter community, honor must be eternal for all involved with the 9/11 tragedy.

Although 343 firefighters died on that fateful day, the FDNY has lost over 150 additional firefighters.

These fallen bravest of the brave have died due to illnesses associated with fighting the fires and rescue operations at ground zero.

It is estimated that over 1,000 firefighters are now suffering from illnesses associated with 9/11.

Americas Fallen Military Heroes

Each year America honors our fallen military heroes on Memorial Day.

But the honor due to all fallen members of our armed forces must be forever seared into the soul of every American.

According to the Military Times website, some of our recently fallen military personnel, who along with fallen law enforcement and firefighters, represent the best of our nation, include the following:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Stephen B. Cribben: Died Nov. 4, 2017, while serving During Operation Freedoms Sentinel. Cribben, 33, of Simi Valley, California, died Nov. 4 in Logar Province, Afghanistan, as a result of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group.

Died Nov. 4, 2017, while serving During Operation Freedoms Sentinel. Cribben, 33, of Simi Valley, California, died Nov. 4 in Logar Province, Afghanistan, as a result of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group. Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson : Died Oct. 4, 2017, while serving During U.S. Africa Command Operations. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, died Oct. 4 in southwest Niger, as a result of enemy fire. He was assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The incident is under investigation.

: Died Oct. 4, 2017, while serving During U.S. Africa Command Operations. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, died Oct. 4 in southwest Niger, as a result of enemy fire. He was assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The incident is under investigation. Army Staff Sgt. Aaron R. Butler, Died Aug. 16, 2017, while serving During Operation Freedoms Sentinel: Butler, 27, of Monticello, Utah, died Aug. 16 in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Camp Williams, Utah. The incident is under investigation.

Final Reflections

Americas heart must eternally reflect compassion, respect, and honor for all our fallen.

The call to serve America as an ethical protector through the sacrosanct police, firefighter, and military professions deserves our nations perpetual honor.

Read More Gold Star Families: Honoring Those Who Make the Ultimate Sacrifice

There is a mystical unity with all who have offered the ultimate sacrifice for America, and all who honor their memory in their souls.

All who serve America, and especially those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice represent the character of our great nation.

May all of our fallen be eternally honored for each of them epitomize the immortal words that there is no greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

Vincent J. Bove, CPP, is a national speaker and author on issues critical to America. Bove is a recipient of the FBI Directors Community Leadership Award for combating crime and violence and is a former confidant of the New York Yankees. His newest book is Listen to Their Cries. For more information, see www.vincentbove.com

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
L: A photo of murder victim Kate Steinle (R) on an easel during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. immigration enforcement policies, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2015. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo); R: Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. (San Francisco Police Department/Handout via Reuters)

Illegal Alien Felon Who Fired Shot That Killed Kate Steinle Wont Serve Any More Time in State Custody

Seven-time felon and illegal alien Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday, Jan. 1, after being acquitted of murder charges in the 2015 fatal shooting of Kate Steinle, FoxNews Reported.

But Garcia Zarate wont serve any time in state custody because his sentence was reduced by the time he already served since being arrested.

He will be on parole for 48 months and remain in custody to face new federal charges filed against him on Dec. 5, shortly after his acquittal.

Garcia Zarate was convicted of felony possession of a firearm. The jury decided that was not responsible for the bullet he fired which ricocheted from the ground and fatally struck Steinle while she was strolling on the boardwalk with her father.

Garcia Zarate smiled prior to the sentencing as shook the hands of his lawyers. His attorneys demanded a new trial, but the judge denied the motion. The defense lawyer plan to appeal the judges ruling

U.S. Marshalls are expected to take Garcia Zarate into custody to face the new charges filed by a federal grand jury. He is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm.

The public defender assigned to Garcia Zarate told Fox News that the charges are discriminatory and have been filed on behalf of officials upset with the acquittal.

Garcia Zarate faces another 10 years in prison if he is convicted of the new federal charges. He could be arraigned as early as next week. Immigration officials said that they plan to deport him for the sixth time.

Kate Steinles killing raised a national discussion about illegal immigration and sanctuary city policies. President Donald Trump blamed Steinles death on San Franciscos sanctuary city policies.

The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court. His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017

Garcia Zarate was deported five times before firing the shot that killed Kate Steinle. Before Steinles death, a San Francisco jail released him instead of handing him over to immigration authorities for deportation, Mercury News reported.

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Ivan Pentchoukov Follow Ivan is the national editor of The Epoch Times. He has reported for The Epoch Times on a variety of topics since 2011.

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L: Michael Lester. (Polk County Sheriff's Office); R: The approximate location from where Lester reported a DUI in Winter Haven, Fla., on Dec. 31, 2017. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

Man Calls 911 to Report Very Unexpected Drunk Driver

Michael Lester of Winter Haven, Florida, had a really strange New Years Eve 2017.

We catch him calling a 911 dispatcher and reporting a DUI. But when the dispatcher asks for more details, Lesters answer comes as a bit of a surprise.

Heres how the conversation went:

Dispatcher: Nine-one-one. Whats the address of your emergency?

Lester: Ehm All over Winter Haven.

Dispatcher: Whats the address of your emergency right now?

Lester: [Cough.]

Dispatcher: Sir?

Lester: Ehm

Dispatcher: Hello?

Lester: Eh I dont know. Im too drunk. I dont know where Im at.

Dispatcher: Ok. What is it that youre trying to report sir?

Lester: Eee Just drunk driving.

Dispatcher: Youre drunk driving right now?

Lester: Yea. All night.

Dispatcher: Ok. Well, can you pull ov-

Lester: Im actually right in front of police [inaudible] right now [belch].

Dispatcher: Where are you right now?

Lester: I dont know. Im too drunk.

Dispatcher: Ok. Well, you need to pull over. Can you pull over for me? Can you pull over for me so I can get an officer to make contact with you? Im showing that youre near 140 2nd Street Northwest. Can you look around and see for a sign? What color is your vehicle?

Lester: Yea. Thats right past the police department. But no ones there, so

Dispatcher: Sir, what color is your vehicle?

Lester: It is red.

Dispatcher: What kind is it?

Lester: Oh, its [inaudible].

Dispatcher: Ok. And where have you pulled over to?

Lester: I dont know which street this is here but its ehm right past the police station in Winter Haven. Let me ask you a question: Is this the local 911?

Dispatcher: Ok. Sir, I have officers down- No this is Polk County Sheriffs Office. We dispatch for Winter Haven. And we have a unit coming out to you right now. What is your last name? Your last name sir?

Lester: Ehm I think Im going to go get something to eat. They can catch up with me.

Dispatcher: Yea. Sir, what is your last name?

Lester: Is it Is it Is it helpful?

Dispatcher: It is very helpful. Yes sir, it is. Where have you been all night?

Lester: Ehm Driving around. Trying to get pulled over, actually.

Dispatcher: Sir, what-is-your-last-name?

Lester: Ehm, no. I dont feel like giving that to your right now.

Dispatcher: Ok. You called because you wanted assistance. Are you driving now or did you pull over?

Lester: Nah, I pulled over.

Dispatcher: Ok. What are you next to? Can you look out there and see what youre near? A landmark? What do you see?

Lester: Its like silver manor [inaudible].

Dispatcher: Do you need EMS or paramedics?

Lester: No. I need the police department.

Dispatcher: Ok. Well thats what Im trying to get to you. So if you can do me a favor and look out. What do you see? Do you see a McDonalds? Do you see a bank? What do you see?

Lester: I see the Publix?

Dispatcher: Youre near Publix? Are you in a parking lot?

Lester: No, Im driving on the wrong side of the road.

Dispatcher: Now youre driving on the wrong side of the road in which direction?

Lester: [Inaudible.]

Dispatcher: Sir, where are you? You really dont want to hurt-

Lester: All right. Well, you have a nice night.

Dispatcher: Sir? Sir?

Lester: All right. Have a good night.

Dispatcher: Sir? Officers are looking for you right now. I need you to pull over right now.

Lester: I am pulled over. You dont need to tell me what to do.

Dispatcher: Sir, you called for help. Im trying to help you. And youre on the wrong side of the street. You may hurt somebody or yourself.

Lester: Look, Im parking in the middle of the road.

Dispatcher: No, I dont want you to park in the middle of the road. I want you to pull into a lot.

Lester: You know what? You dont have to do this. Either theyre going to do it or not.

Dispatcher: Sir, sir, theyre going to do what or not?

Lester: [Inaudible.] All right. Thank you. [Inaudible.]

Fortunately, Michael was stopped before anyone got hurt, the Polk County Sheriffs Office stated on Facebook. Michael first told the deputy he had only two beers [standard drunk answer]. Then he changed it to three or four [slightly more accurate]. He also mentioned that he had only slept four hours in the past four days. Oh, and he also said that he had swallowed meth earlier, instead of smoking it.

It turned out Lester had quite a rap sheet, including a previous DUI, as well as aggravated battery, drug possession, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and a hit-and-run.

Please folks, let this be a lesson to you that DUI is bad-bad-bad, because unfortunately, Michael is having a hard time learning this lesson, the sheriffs office stated.

Heres the recording of the 911 call.

Listen to what the sheriff had to say:
Military Veteran Fights to Fly American and Marine Corps Flags at Texas Home

A Marine Corps veteran and his wife were outraged when their homeowners association told them they couldnt fly their American and Marine Corps flags outside their home in Rosenberg, Texas, KPRC reported.

The couple moved into their home two months ago but were notified of the homeowner associations rule against flying flags until just a few a days ago.

If theyre going to take them down, its going to be a fight to take them down, and no one fights harder than a veteran combat Marine, Cpl. Michael Pereira told KPRC.

Pereira served three tours in Iraq from 2002 to 2009, Fox News reported.

The couple put up the flags as soon as they moved into their home in the Kingdom Heights subdivision in Rosenberg.

They represent this county. They represent a brotherhood I was a part of, Pereira said. They show respect for all the people I went to war with and the ones that didnt come back.

Pereira would raise the flags every morning and lower them every night. There was never a problem until now.

Im guessing somebody didnt like it or someone reported it or something because I got a call from the property manager who works for the homeowners association asking me to take them down, he said.

The former Marine asked for the association rules to be modified. The association responded by having him fill out a construction modification request. Pereira is still waiting to hear back.

If they dont get those rules changed, Im going to start a petition to get the rules changed, he said.

An attorney for Kingdom Heights told Fox News that the associations issue was not with the flag but with the flag poles.

In this particular case Pereira installed two 20 foot-long flag poles [sic] on both sides of his driveway [one on each side] without first submitting the plans or seeking approval, Sears told Fox News. The problem is that one of the poles is in a utility easement, both poles are within the 25 feet building setback line and the restrictions [and Texas Property Code] only allow for the installation of one flagpole.

We have already reached out to the veteran to let him know that the issue is not the flags and are awaiting a response, Sears said. We are certainly willing to continue to work with this veteran in relocating one of his poles and would be remise [sic] if we did not take this opportunity to thank him for his personal sacrifice and service to our Country.

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This picture taken on Sept. 3, 2017 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un attending a meeting with a committee of the Workers' Party of Korea about the test of a hydrogen bomb. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Office 39: Raising Cash for Kim Jong-Uns Ultimate Slush Fund

Evading United Nations sanctions was easy thanks to China, said a North Korean defector who once worked in Office 39, a shady money-making department dedicated to the North Korean leadership.

An anonymous defector told the ABC how part of his job was to sell North Korean gold overseas. To do that, he said it was smuggled into China where it was then sold into international markets as Chinese gold.

The man said evading U.N. sanctions was easy and China played a central role.

You just change company names and have branches in other countries, the man explained.

Its easy to operate in China. The border is a thousand kilometers and is wide open, so its easy to smuggle anything across.

This was part of the anonymous defectors interview with the ABC arranged with the permission of South Korean National Security. It is one example of how Office 39 made foreign currencyboth legally and illegallyfor Kim Jong Un and those close to him.

Office 39 is an organization to get foreign currency for the leader, the defector explained.

In North Korea we called it the revolutionary fund.

We exported whatever we couldgold, jewelry, farming goodseverything we sold to get money for him.

The defector said he worked for Office 39 for five years in various locations across Asia.

Office 39 just took anything that made money in North Korea. If it made money they took it, monopolized it, the defector said.

Id estimate it accounted for 30 to 40 per cent of the total economy, all going to the top leadership while the people lived in poverty.

Office 39 manages a worldwide network of companies that make an estimated $500 million to $2 billion a year for the North Korean regime, reported ABC. Office 39 is understood to have interests in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Amid global sanctions designed to cripple Kim Jong Uns regime, Office 39s operations are unquestionably critical to keeping him in power.

Office 39 has been accused of counterfeiting, narcotics sales, arms sales, and cybercrime in order to raise money. The defector said he had no knowledge how these activities operated but understood they were becoming more difficult because they were being exposed by the international community.

Speaking to the ABC in an earlier interview, defense analyst Andrea Berger said that Office 39 operates as a kind of royal slush fund.

On paper Office 39 is just another department in the Korean Workers Party, but in practice Office 39 is the ultimate slush fund, Berger said.

It mixes both illicit and licit activity and creates that kind of support internally in North Korea to keep the leadership and the elite happy, she said.

Many have the view that North Koreas actually extremely, extremely isolated from the international community, that it doesnt have trade relations with the outside world, bar China, but the truth couldnt be further from that, she continued.

North Korea is very sophisticated in concealing the fact that it is, indeed, doing business overseas. Its good at hiding in plain sight.

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One Dead, 41 Sickened by Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in New Jersey Apartment Building

Carbon Monoxide killed a 13-year-old girl and sickened 41 other residents in a Perth Amboy, New Jersey, apartment building on the night of Dec. 4, police say.

Three relatives of the girl who dieda man in his 40s, a 21-year-old woman, and a 14-year-old girlwere hospitalized and remain in critical condition.

Perth Amboy Police Chief Roman McKeon told CBS News that when officers responded to a 911 call Thursday afternoon, They entered the building and found people unconscious in the hallway, started CPR and got occupants out of the building.

Police got a 911 call from the three-story building at 185 Fayette Street at around 4 p.m. on Dec 4, and were at the scene within 60 seconds, CBS News reported.

We proceeded to evacuate the entire building which required them to kick in several doors, Chief McKeon later told ABC7, theres 12 apartments in the building,

Six unconscious people were pulled out of the multi-family dwelling and taken to the hospital.

Among those made ill by the fumes were 27 police officers.

We immediately knew it was some kind of toxin that was taking everybody over. We knew that if we went in there we would put ourselves in danger, Deputy Police Chief Lawrence Cattano told ABC7, but thats our jobs. Thats what we need to do to get the people out to be able to do what we need to do and attempt to save their lives.

Due to the schools temporary closure on account of the Bomb Cyclone snowstorm that hit the area on Jan. 4, almost all the buildings residents were at home in their apartments.

Maravalla Morales, a mother of five who lived in the building, told CBS News through an interpreter that she came out of her apartment and saw half a dozen of her neighbors unconscious on the hallway floor at around 4 p.m.

All the police were knocking very hard on the doors, telling people they had to evacuate; had to get out; couldnt be another minute there, she said.

I heard the doorbell ring and it was the police and they just went quickly upstairs, building resident Joshua Coria told ABC7. Then I heard screaming. There was a knock at the door and they told everybody to get out.

Investigators say that a space heater in the primary victims apartment seems to have been the source of the lethal gas.

When its cold, temperatures like this, people will use space heaters and alternative methods to stay warm if theyre heating systems arent working, Perth Amboy Fire Chief Edward Mullen told CBS News. [Its] important to have carbon monoxide alarms in every apartment.

The Middlesex County Prosecutors office has started a criminal investigation, because, while there were multiple carbon monoxide detectors in the building, none of them worked.

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NORWALK  After nearly two years in the making, a group of students and teachers at Brien McMahon High School will take the trip of a lifetime next month.

BMHS AP Art History teacher Diana White will travel with 12 students to Peru, where theyll see first-hand the places and art they study in the classroom.

Its going to to be an amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity for these students, White said. In 2015 I was given an opportunity through Fund for Teachers and the Dalio Foundation to pursue my interests, and I was also given an opportunity to go to Italy and share my excitement with my students when I got back, and that rubbed off on them. The students said, When can we do a field trip like that? And from that conversation, we talked about where they would want to go. We talked about the importance of getting out of the classroom and learning through experience.

The students will visit Lima, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and more on the guided trip through Education First Tours, which provides comprehensive trip planning and support for educators.

They provide such a piece of mind, White said. They offered a training tour, so Ill be going to Panama in two weeks to learn how to be an international group leader for a field trip like this. Its really an amazing opportunity for myself and for the kids. Its exciting and nerve-wracking, so Im happy that theyre preparing me with training.

Now, White and the students are working to raise money to cover expenses associated with the trip. Though its entirely self-funded by the students and their families, and mostly paid for already  the trip is $3,435 per student, including the flight  there are a few expenses not included in that price, White said.

More Information To learn more about the trip, or to donate, visit www.youcaring.com/bmhshighschoolstudents-989531 See More Collapse

Transportation to and from the airport will be about $1,000, White said, and tips for tour guides are not included in the price. Additionally, though breakfast and dinner are provided, students will have to pay for their own lunch.

The group recently hosted a fundraiser at Chipotle, are in the process of planning a bake sale for later this month, and have set up a YouCaring site for people to donate directly. So far, they have raised $450 of a $2,000 goal.

White is also hopeful that if enough money is raised shell be able to offer a partial scholarship to a student on next years trip.

We want to help defray the costs as much as possible, White said.

White said the trip provides an opportunity for international travel many students dont get. Though the Center for Global Studies is housed within Brien McMahon High School, only the students enrolled in the program have the opportunity to travel. CGS students can go on the trip to Peru even though it is not organized through CGS.

I just think its really amazing because McMahon students havent had as many opportunities for travel as our counterparts in CGS, White said.

CGS junior Olive Fengel, who just returned from Japan, will also go on the trip to Peru. She said shes always been interested in art and is excited to learn about the history in a place she studies in the classroom.

I think that its a really great idea to have trips like this or just out of the classroom in general because you spend so much time looking at textbooks and this delves into the learning youve done in class, Fengel said. I think this trip is important because Ive been looking at the itinerary and it seems like were visiting a mixture of different places that will really help us get a good view of Peru in nine days.

kkrasselt@scni.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
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Audi is tipped to offer a preview of its upcoming Q2 small crossover at this weeks Paris Motor Show.

According to UK mag Autocar, sources within Audi have suggested that the future model will be hinted at with a concept known as the Crosslane Coupe.

The report suggests the model will have an overall length of 4250mm, positioning it between new three-door A3 hatch and the existing Q3 SUV.

The mooted Coupe nameplate suggests the concept may employ a three-door bodystyle, whereas the production Q2 is expected to use a more conventional five-door layout, with an X6-like coupe roofline.

A range-extended hybrid drivetrain is also expected for the concept, using a 1.5 litre three cylinder combustion engine and 87kW electric motor, with a reported 128km all-electric range.

The production Q2 is expected to launch with more conventional petrol and diesel Volkswagen Group engines, but the concepts hybrid drivetrain could be a firm sign of whats to come for future small Volkswagen Group models.

Platform wise, the Crosslane Coupe is expected to use a version of Volkswagen's MQB architecture.

A production Q2 is not expected until 2015, but keep an eye on TMR for any updates from the Audi stand in Paris.
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Bahais host Prayers for All

TWIN FALLS  The public is invited to Prayers for All at 10 a.m. this Saturday at Max Newlins home, 328 Seventh Ave. E., Twin Falls. Service to Humanity is this months theme.

Prayers from Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist Scripture, Christian Scripture, Jewish Scripture, the Quran and Bahai Prayers will be read. Discussion will follow without proselytizing and with respect for all viewpoints.

More information: call Max Newlin at 208-221-8621.

Ascension holds Epiphany party

TWIN FALLS  On Epiphany, Christians gather to celebrate the manifestation of Christ to the world. Ascension Episcopal Church will celebrate this day  also known as Twelfth Night or Three Kings Day  at 6 p.m. this Saturday in the parish hall, 371 Eastland Dr. N. There will be a chili supper with hot dogs and baked potatoes, but no bonfire due to environmental concerns. Everyone is welcome.

Sunday worship of Holy Communion will be held at 9 a.m., with the Rev. Canon Lucinda Ashby presiding. Nursery care for children younger than seven years will be available from 8:45 a.m. until after the worship service. A fellowship coffee hour will follow the service.

On Wednesdays, Knit-Us-Together  the handwork group  meets from 1 to 3 pm.

All are welcome for worship, study and fellowship at Ascension Episcopal Church. It is handicapped-accessible. More information: call 208-733-1248 or go to www.episcopaltwinfalls.org.

Paul Congregationalists host German sausage supper

PAUL  The Paul Congregational Church will hold its 56th annual German Sausage Supper from 5 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the church, 121 N. Second W., Paul. The menu will include all-you-can-eat German sausage, pancakes, eggs, peaches and coffee. Sausage will also be sold by-the-pound at the event.

See all your friends at this community gathering. More information: call 208-438-5657.
RUPERT  A Paul man serving a life sentence for kidnapping and raping a bar-owners wife in 1984 wants a Minidoka County court to let him out of prison, saying hes done his time.

Melvin Dean Hanks, 74, filed a post-conviction relief proceeding in 2016 with Minidoka County District Court. He was brought to the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center in mid-December so he can attend the court hearings in the case. Now he claims his sentencing judge said hed get out after 30 years.

A Minidoka County jury convicted Hanks after a five-day trial on charges of first-degree kidnapping, attempted rape, aggravated battery and two counts of a charge called crime against nature for oral and anal rape, court records say.

He was sentenced in October 1984.

Hanks petitioned the court in 1985 for a reduction of his sentence because his life sentence precluded him getting treatment in prison. The request was denied in 1986 by Judge Ronald Bruce, the same judge who sentenced him.

His current request before the court says his sentencing document has a typed note that says the judge said in court that he would serve a fixed-life sentence not to exceed 30 years.

Hanks said he was told the same by his attorney, who said hed get out then.

The sentences on the other charges  15 years each for rape and aggravated battery and 5 years for each crime against nature  were to run concurrent with the life sentence.

Hanks said in hand-written court documents that the Idaho Department of Correction interprets a fixed life sentence as the natural life of the prisoner.

He wrote on the form that he wants to be let out of prison immediately, if not sooner.

Hankss public defender wrote that his case is unusual, but not frivolous.

According to the 1984 case file, the womans husband, who owned a bar in Minidoka County, told police that Hanks had been drunk in the bar that night and made a sexually suggestive comment toward his wife as she left the bar.

The husband said Hanks left immediately after his wife did.

Later, the bar owner found his wifes car in the road with its lights on and the engine running.

Police stopped Hanks for a traffic violation and questioned the victim, who was still in the car with blood on her clothing and had been obviously beaten.

The woman told police Hanks was flashing his headlights at her as he followed her in his car after she left the bar. She stopped her car thinking it must be her husband, and he yanked her out of her car and forced her into his. In his car he held her down and struck her multiple times.

She said he took her to his home, put duct tape on her eyes and sexually assaulted her.

The woman said he threatened to kill her, and he agreed to drop her off in town if she was nice to him.

He didnt take the tape off until he forced her back into his car.

At the time of the 1984 crimes, Hanks had two previous felonies, one for forcible rape in 1966 and fourth-degree arson in 1979.

A court trial in the post-conviction relief case is scheduled for March 22 in Minidoka County District Court in front of Judge Jonathan Brody.
PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.Auld Lang Syne had only barely stopped chiming when it had begun again: the familiar squall of Awards Season.

Day 2 of the baby-new calendar. The mythic desert crux of Palm Springs. Destination: the always star-agog gala for the annual Palm Springs Film Fest, an event that Ive come to see as a warm-up act for the Golden Globes and also as the start of the push to the final Oscar finishing line.

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The upside of Hollywood scandals

Like bees pollinating the air, they came: the newly famous and the over-photographed, me setting up shop for the view. Hey, its Armie Hammer, in a mocha tuxedo jacket! Yo, Gal Gadot, looking like a tall glass of Wonder Woman mimosa in her sunny getup. Greetings, Mary J. Blige (does anyone just call you Mary?); Allison Janney, were not worthy. Mr. Oldman, hello. Having long looked to this back-to-school gala as a useful exercise in tracking the ground games of the various movies in contention (its a battlefield) and also to check in on what are the messages that are being tweaked by hopefuls (an Oscar narrative always needs sharpening), I was taking notes, all right. Here, some:

Shape of a race

Does a genre-bending hybrid-monster-love story have what it takes to take the big prize, come Oscar night on March 4? A few months ago  despite the obvious gravitas of director Guillermo del Toro and the movies popularity  I wasnt sure. Theres not really a precedent. But as he and his Shape of Water cast appeared before us onstage here at one point  Sally Hawkins, et al  to accept an ensemble award, the filmmaker had me almost convinced.

Putting enough subtext on his fantastical movie to merit serious consideration  a plea that Academy Awards voters need to hear, as Oscar ballots went out this week  del Toro spoke passionately about the political anxiety right now, both in the U.S. and the globe as a whole. I wonder every day what is going to become of us, he said. And this is where film and fairy tales can help restore some of the faith we have lost.

And though, yes, hes spoken previously about how the film serves as a metaphor for the treatment of undocumented immigrants, it was one other sentence in his spiel that really hit a palpable chord in the room: Emotion, del Toro said, is the new punk.

Operation fashion

My favourite run-in at the gala? When Saoirse (rhymes with inertia) Ronan zipped by me, her shoes in her hands, mid-dinner at the Palm Springs Convention Centre. As a metaphor for the endurance test that is Awards Season, it was a gift. Did I mention how terrific Lady Bird looked? The two-time Oscar nominee (going to be three, for sure) was the nights fashion winner, dressed in a pink and orange-hued Gucci number  sorta edgy, but also a kind of elegant Chinese-style qipao in style.

Evidence of how far the Irish lovely has blossomed in that realm since when she broke out in her early teens in Atonement, it also crystallized for me the job that her stylist, Elizabeth Saltzman  one of the best in the biz  is doing. After all, the swing into Awards Season is not only an exercise in actorly persuasion, its an optics battle on the red carpet.

With red carpet fashion being big business  the carpets effectively act as giant billboards  the looks themselves help to cement the pecking order and images of celebrities, and can do as much as anything to cement the Oscar narrative, especially for a younger starlet. (In recent years, think of victors like Lupita Nyongo and Alicia Vikander as examples.) For Saltzman, it is definitely more strategic than just picking out a beautiful dress, as she explained in an interview about her process not long ago: What are they trying to say at that moment? Is there a possibility of a brand campaign if we put someone new in front of their face? Given that contracts with fashion and beauty houses can mean huge sums of money, for both the actresses and the stylists who broker the deals, you can see why.

Hanks a lot

One thing keeping up prognosticators at night these days: will Tom Hanks break his 17-year streak? It was a topic I ran into a couple of times during the post-party held at the Parker Palms. Though not present at the gala, but very much on the mind  Hanks was actually set to join Meryl Streep the next night at the big-deal Palm Springs preem of their film The Post  Mr. Nice Guy has become known for something else peculiar lately: he hasnt been up for an Oscar since Cast Away in 2001! Famously, in the 90s, of course, he grabbed a pair back to back for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, but then . . . nothing. Overlooked for a slew of performances  they range from Catch Me If You Can to Charlie Wilsons War  it got crazier still when he was denied a nomination for his career-best in Captain Phillips, in my opinion (a role that did earn him a Globes nom, as well as a nod from SAG).

What gives? Well, in the words of veteran Oscar-watcher Tom ONeil from the L.A. Times: My theory is . . . that familiarity breeds neglect. As for his latest screen turn, playing the legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, my money is on him slipping in, primarily because this years actors Oscar lineup is much less jam-packed than the actress category (an unusually big pool). But who knows?

A post-Harvey season

As those on the hustings wrestled with the seismic polar-shift thats hit their industry when it comes to sexual misconduct and gender parity, the mood  a trial balloon for more of what will indubitably come at the Globes  was best summed up by Jessica Chastain, who has been particularly outspoken via social media. Major change is coming, the Mollys Game honouree said from the podium, going the inspirational route.

Change is good. Change is needed. We are all in this together. Each one of us is diminished by flawed systems. . . . We must be better and we will. Trying a more positive tack that also played well, Chastain also said, We have sadly heard a lot about the bad boys of Hollywood, but I would like to send some deserved love to a few of the good guys with whom Ive had the pleasure of working, as she went on to give nods to the likes of Christopher Nolan, Terrence Malick and Al Pacino.

Proving, meanwhile, that selective levity can also go a long way, Salma Hayek  one of the most eloquent of Weinstein detractors  demonstrated as much as she appeared before us to present an award, accidentally tripping over the word victim in her remarks. Ive been using it so much lately, she quipped to knowing laughter in the room.

OK . . . what else can I tell you? As cutlery clinked and scuttlebutt was traded, there was much to take on at this gala, presented by American Express. Timothee Chalamet, there to receive the Rising Star Award for his turn in Call Me by Your Name, was, I noted, still banking on his role as Hollywoods latest, ahem, mangenue, clearly playing from the same charm template put down by Eddie Redmayne a few Oscar rounds ago. Holly Hunter, playing the role of Hollywood survivor  a trope that every Awards Season brings  was quietly devastating receiving a Career Achievement Award, which elicited one of the best moments of the night when her Big Sick co-star Kumail Nanjiani quipped that it was his career achievement, ironically, to give her the trophy.

Its all downhill from here, said Nanjiani.

Leave it to Aaron Sorkin to strike a relatable wry note when, addressing the sea of tuxedos from the stage, he apologized for his mere suit-and-tie. I was told its black-tie optional, he explained. Apparently, Im the only person in the entire building who took that instruction. Its a confusing instruction. Every day is black-tie optional.

Ah, the toils of Awards Season.

Ill wrap things up, though, with the way Willem Dafoe wrapped things on his end when receiving the so-called Icon Award from his pal Peter Fonda. Its been a nice evening, Dafoe told the Palm Springs throng. Long, but nice.

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Environment Canada says a cold air mass is settling in over Atlantic Canada as parts of the region continue to battle the remnants of a fierce winter storm.

The agency has issued extreme cold warnings for much of New Brunswick, while P.E.I. and swaths of western Nova Scotia have been advised to brace for wind chills below -30 C this weekend.

Forecasters say storm surge will pound Newfoundlands coasts, while brawny winds will develop on Saturday around Burgeo, Port aux Basques and the Avalon and Burin peninsulas before dying down in the evening.

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Bitter cold disrupts life on Canadian, U.S. east coast after winter storm brought snow, hurricane-force winds

Frozen iguanas falling from trees in freak Florida cold spell

No, Niagara Falls hasnt stopped falling, it just looks that way

The Churchill Falls area in Labrador is expected to see blizzardlike conditions, and snow squall alerts have been issued for parts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

In Nova Scotia, crews are still working to restore power to thousands of residents who were blacked out after a so-called weather bomb blasted the East Coast on Thursday and early Friday.

In the U.S., about 100 million people were affected the deep freeze, topped Saturday by a wind chill close to -73 C on New Hampshires Mount Washington that vied for worlds coldest place.

Jaw-clenching temperatures to start the weekend throughout the Northeast hit Burlington, Vermont, at -18 C and a wind chill of -34 C. Both Philadelphia and New York were shivering at -13 C, with wind chills of -24 C in Philadelphia and -23 C in New York.

And in Hartford, Connecticut, a brutal cold of -12 C yielded a wind chill of -28 C. The coldest high for Hartford  -13 C  was set in 1912.

These locations, however, had nothing on the White Mountains in New Hampshire. On Saturday, winds of more than 145 km/h swirled Mount Washington, the Northeasts highest peak, at a temperature of -38 C and a wind chill of -69 C. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ont., as the coldest spot in the world.

Boston, at a relatively balmy -11 C, was wrangling with a different kind of challenge: a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

Even more southern locations didnt escape the cold; the mercury dipped well below freezing in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., during the weekend, about 20 degrees below normal for this time of year.

Fast forward to early next week, though, and more seasonable weather across the region is expected to return.

Monday is expected to be the first day above freezing since last month. In New York City, according to the National Weather Bureau, temperatures should reach 4 C next week.

The National Weather Service said Friday that temperatures in the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts could seem like a frosty -37 C degrees, parts of New Hampshire and Maine could experience -42 C and Vermonts mountain regions could feel like -45 C.

With files from The Associated Press

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Before his catastrophic head injury from an ATV accident, Kim Kevin Hunt was a Muskoka landscaper and horse aficionado with boundless energy for hiking and fishing.

In October 2011, three days after leaving hospital with what doctors described as a wasted, shrunken brain, the 50-year-old was spirited away by a former girlfriend for a secret wedding, giving her legal rights to his future wealth, such as his growing landscape business and home value, as well as access to his expected $1-million personal injury settlement. Kathleen Anne Worrod (also known as Katheleena) could not be reached for comment.

Hunt never lived with Worrod after the marriage. Police found him near Blue Mountain in Collingwood, at a motel where the wedding had taken place only hours earlier. Hunt was immediately reunited with his two sons, living with them at his house in Novar, 10 minutes north of Huntsville.

Now, six years later, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward J. Koke has declared the marriage void  a decision lawyers say will give fragile or elderly people increased protections from predatory marriage.

This case is an example of predatory marriage where a vulnerable person is taken advantage of by an opportunist, says Andrea McEwan, of Torontos Whaley Estate Litigation Partners, who was hired by Hunts family.

Older people are often targeted, which makes this type of marriage an increasing problem in our society because of our aging population.

In his written decision filed last month, Justice Koke rejected in its entirety testimony from Hunts former girlfriend, Worrod, and her relatives. Worrod had testified that Hunt was a healthy and willing groom, although her uncle had to be dispatched to bring him to the wedding.

Before the accident, Hunt had an on-again-off-again relationship with Worrod.

As laid out in the judgment, they met online in mid-2009 and Hunt later acted as a surety for her impaired-driving charges, although police reports noted that she violated the conditions on her court order by continuing to drink. Hunt and Worrod bought the Novar house together in April of 2010 but their relationship quickly deteriorated. Within eight months, in December 2010, they signed a property settlement agreement and Hunt paid Worrod for her share of the house, becoming the sole owner.

Worrod put her belongings in storage but stayed in the house, with Hunt as her surety, until June 4, 2011  when she was arrested for breach of bail conditions related to drinking. Police reports said she had been living in a guest room, and after the arrest, she lived with her daughters in Barrie, according to her bail conditions.

The judge accepted that Hunt had bought her out of the house and officially ended the relationship before his June 18, 2011, accident.

In my view, Koke wrote, the evidence overwhelmingly supports a finding that Mr. Hunt had not only made up his mind not to marry Ms. Worrod prior to the accident but also that he did not have the requisite mental capacity to marry Ms. Worrod following the accident. (The italics are Kokes.)

Hunts accident was brutal. He was turning a corner on an ATV, hit a ditch and flew through the air, smashing his head into a tree, his son Justin said. Hunt was airlifted to a Sudbury hospital and placed on life support.

Immediately after the accident, Hunts sons, Justin and Brad, rushed to the hospital (a three-hour drive) while Worrod and her daughter drove to Hunts house when she knew Brad and Justin would not be present, the judgment said. When Hunts sons returned, Worrod refused to allow them entry and declared that the house belonged to her.

It took police involvement to remove her, Koke noted.

After the crash, Hunt spent 18 days in a coma. He slowly emerged and four months later was released into the care of his sons, with the expectation of a $1-million personal injury settlement. His mobility and balance were so bad that Brad slept in his fathers bed to stop him from falling.

At the time of the wedding, three days after leaving the hospital, Hunts vulnerability was undisputed. Seven medical experts, plus hospital staff reports, all described him as intellectually devastated, with serious physical issues, according to the decision.

One psychiatrist said much or most of Mr. Hunts brain had lost tissue and shrank. The doctor also said Hunt was increasingly malleable and easily influenced using cuing and emotional stimulation, including sexual relations.

On Oct. 24, 2011, the day of the wedding, Hunts panicked sons couldnt find their father but tracked him to the motel through charges to his credit card, the judgment said. The boys called police, who found him, but Hunt was already married. The ceremony had taken place just hours before, at the motel.

At the time of the wedding, a clinical psychologist testified, Hunt was extremely vulnerable, especially to reinjuring the brain and putting himself in unsafe positions.

The agreement of the medical experts made it clear that Hunt did not have the capacity to marry.

In his decision, Koke issued an order prohibiting contact between Worrod and Hunt. He cited constant telephone calls from Worrod to Hunt, including a 2015 call that Justin recorded. The judgment described the call, saying Worrod repeatedly attempted to convince Mr. Hunt that his sons were simply motivated by self-interest, and were trying to take away his business and his house. If they were her kids, she said, she would have hog tied them and kicked their ass all the way down the f---ing street by now.

The decision to void the marriage is notable because Ontarios Marriage Act allows almost anyone who is not under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or any other reason to marry. The rules are loose, leaving little to stop vulnerable people, often the elderly with dementia, from being pressured to marry.

McEwan, the Hunt family lawyer, says the decision to void the marriage shows that courts are recognizing the rights of a vulnerable person. Her law firm, founded by lawyer Kimberly Whaley, has long pushed for updates to estate and capacity-to-marry laws.

In his decision, Koke relied on a recent British Columbia judgment (another predatory marriage case) that concluded an individual must be able to control their personal care  and property  to have the capacity to marry. Previous case law only required an individual have control over their personal care.

I think it certainly moves the law forward, McEwan says. It gives hope to lawyers and families alike that these marriages can be found to be void  which I think is excellent.

Hunts case is unusual because most predatory brides and grooms target elderly people who are lonely or fragile because marriage immediately revokes an existing legal will. After death, the new bride or groom gets the first $200,000 and must split the rest with surviving children  although some burn through the money.

Ontario protections are lagging behind provinces like Alberta and British Columbia, which updated estate laws so that marriage doesnt immediately revoke a will. Quebec doesnt revoke wills nor do most American states.

Its a caution for families, particularly when an estimated $1 trillion in inheritance is expected to be passed through generations over the next 20 years.

Graham Webb, a lawyer with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, says todays aging society is sitting on huge wealth, mostly from real estate, so theres a lot of incentive for people to prey on cognitively impaired older adults.

Hunt is now 56 and living with his son, Justin, 31, in the same home in the town of Novar. Brad, 27, lives nearby with his wife and baby daughter.

The brothers run Hunts company, Camel Lake Bobcat and Landscaping, while the insurance money pays for Hunts care, from physiotherapists to personal support workers.

The Hunt brothers managed to keep their fathers five horses, including two thoroughbreds, former racehorses from Toronto. One of Hunts favourite therapies is horseback riding, says Justin.

While Hunt testified in court, he doesnt fully understand the outcome of the case. But his sons do.

Its a relief, says Justin. Nothing was worse than worrying about something for over six years, every day and night. Its been nice not to have to worry about Dad losing his house, or not having a decent life.

Moira Welsh

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Torontonians love complaining about the cold. It seems as though the weather is almost all we talk about during the winter. These past few weeks have been bitterly cold, a number of alerts about extreme cold weather have been issued and temperature records have been shattered. But this winter isnt the only one where Mother Nature has given Toronto the cold shoulder.

Headlines today about record-setting temperatures are quite similar to those in 1917, although the temperatures were reported in Fahrenheit then. The Toronto Star ran the headline Mercury hits 17 below, colder yet is probable and it was reported on Dec. 29 that the official weather gauge at the Observatory recorded -17 C (which was the coldest day since Jan. 13, 1914 when it was -22 C).

On Feb. 5, 1918, the Star reported that the thermometer read -20 F, but some parts of Toronto felt closer to -30 F. Railway officials said trains were up to 12 hours delayed and warned that other trips might be cancelled if the weather didnt let up. Coal was being delivered to residences until the emergency supply ran out. With the thermometer still abnormally low, many Toronto citizens are without coal. Rich and poor alike are suffering, reported the Star.

It was as cold as -20 C in the Toronto area and -34 C near Peterborough on Dec. 3 1976. The Star reported that the cab and transit companies were in favour of the chill because they received more business customers who didnt want to walk outside. A TTC control officer told the Star that a greater number of people took the transit system because their cars didnt start. It was reported that stalled vehicles lined main highways causing drivers to wait at least two hours for help from the Ontario Motor League.

Almost a month later, the Star ran the headline, Dont complain  it was five degrees colder in 1857. It was -23 C and Torontonians were expecting five to 10 centimetres of snow, bringing the total to over 100 centimetres with about two more months of winter to go. The Star reported that at the lowest temperature ever recorded in Toronto was -33C on Jan. 10, 1859.

While there were some TTC mishaps the year prior due to the cold, nothing was quite like 1981 when 16 people fainted on a packed subway when it froze in its tracks. People waited pushed up against each other for over an hour and the paramedics said the fainters experienced hysteria and claustrophobia. Other frozen subway cars caused major delays. Call this the rush hour? said one angry commuter to the Star, I call it the crush hour.

Two years later, the Stars Kathy English wrote on Dec. 20, 1983 that the temperature dropped to -18 C which was tied with the lowest temperature recorded on Jan. 18 when TTC overhead wires froze and snapped. English reported that the Ontario Motor League received more than 2,000 calls for stalled vehicles, which, at the time, was a total twice the size for an average winters day.

At -30C, the coldest day was Jan. 18, 1976. The Stars Harold Levy compared that record to the slightly warmer  24.6C that January 1997. Levy reported that in 1996, it was a balmy 12 C. He said so far that year, one person had died from weather-related injuries and one person had to have limbs amputated and another a foot removed due to frost bite. The Canadian Automobile Association received about 6,000 calls in a day, about double the average as motorists slid on black ice or couldnt get their car started.

Ah, 2015 . . . . The Star ran the headline Entering the deep freeze on the first page of the GTA section along with a photo of a man walking in Humber Bay Park on Jan. 8. It was Torontos coldest day so far that winter at  30 C with the wind chill.

Now another record has been set for the coldest Jan. 5 in Toronto at -22 C in 2018.

It looks as though we are on a slippery slope . . . .

Correction  January 11, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the temperatures in Toronto on February 5, 1918 in Celsius. In fact, the temperatures reported in the Star in 1918 were in Fahrenheit. As well, the article did not make clear that the temperature referred to in the Toronto Star headline in 1917, Mercury hits 17 below, colder yet is probable, was also in Fahrenheit. In fact,Canada switched to metric on April 1, 1975.

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WENDELL  Two Magic Valley schools with high poverty rates and low student test scores will get extra help this school year.

Wendell Middle School and Mt. Harrison Junior/Senior High School, an alternative school in Heyburn, are voluntarily participating in a new, one-year state pilot project aimed at turning around struggling schools.

The purpose of the project  led by the Idaho State Department of Education  is to help seven schools create an improvement plan and find them the support they need to help their students.

Its bringing everyone together as a large group to say, How are we going to fix this school? said Tyson Carter, coordinator for school improvement/educator effectiveness for the Idaho State Department of Education.

The State Technical Assistance Team project came up Dec. 20 during an Idaho State Board of Education meeting at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

Each participating school  which is in the bottom 5 percent in Idaho for student achievement  has a technical assistance team, made up of state education leaders, school and school district employees.

Its a relationship-building effort, Carter said, rather than a gotcha or punitive effort by the state. Were not the enforcer. Were not the ones telling them theyre right or wrong.

Wendell School District Superintendent Greg Lowe said hes excited about the opportunity and funding that comes with it. We do have some needs with school improvement, and we definitely always want to be getting better.

After receiving a phone call from the state with an invitation to participate, he talked about the opportunity with Brian Jadwin, Wendell Middle Schools new principal who started this year. They decided to participate.

They went to an informational session in October in Boise. Were 110 percent on board, Lowe said.

Jadwin said hes emphasizing with this staff that the project isnt punitive. The state is trying to help us find ways we can help ourselves, he said. Its a good opportunity for us to take a hard look at what were doing well and what we can improve upon.

A total of $500,000 will be distributed to participating schools. Wendell will receive $73,208, and Mt. Harrison will get $61,824.

The amount of money is very helpful, Lowe said.

Each technical assistance team is individualized to each participating schools needs. For example, if a school is struggling with helping students who are English language learners or in math, the state will bring in specialists in those areas.

Kelly Arritt, principal at Mt. Harrison Junior/Senior High School, said the team is working to identify needs at his school. The team is looking at graduation rates, test scores and other areas such as community involvement. The plan will break down those areas into more specifics.

Were glad to have some help with that, Arritt said.

The bottom line, he added, is the school is trying hard to do the right thing for kids and sees the opportunity to participate in the pilot project as a positive thing.

In Wendell, Jadwin said obstacles include math performance and about 24 percent of its student body having limited English proficiency.

Many math programs are available, but theyre online. With a lack of computers for students to use at school, thats problematic.

Teachers have been utilizing the online programs, but wed like to use them more effectively and efficiently, Jadwin said.

Wendell Middle School has only one computer lab open to classes on a regular basis, while the other is often tied up with Idaho Digital Learning Academy classes.

The IDLA classes are fantastic, Lowe said, but it limits technology availability.

To help bring more online math programs to students, Were looking at purchasing a set of computer devices for each grade level to ease the burden, Jadwin said.

The seven Idaho schools participating in the states project were previously identified as needing improvement through the No Child Left Behind Act and Idahos star rating system for schools. Each of the schools already qualify for Title 1-A federal funding to provide extra academic help to students due to a large percentage of the student body living in poverty. Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act  which was signed into law in 2015  Idaho has its own plan, but it hasn't been finalized yet. Its required to provide some sort of technical assistance to struggling schools.

As the technical assistance project moves forward, the state hopes to get feedback from schools on whats working well and what isnt.

Its been a huge learning curve for us, Carter said. We expect (schools) to be a partner in this.

*Editor's note: This story was updated Jan. 8 to correct details about when schools are participating and about the Every Student Succeeds Act.
About 22 per cent of the surface of the Great Lakes is covered in ice thanks to a lengthy cold snap. Thats a vast increase on the typical ice coverage in early January of five per cent.

The unusual ice coverage is a testament to the freezing temperatures that have broken records, caused deaths and led the city to open more centres for the homeless.

In an average winter, we would expect to get about 40 per cent of the Great Lakes covered in ice, said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, who explained that the peak ice coverage occurs in early March.

So its pretty dramatic difference to see on this chart, that already we have 22 per cent ice coverage across the Great Lakes this early in the winter.

Ontario faces cold snaps every winter, Coulson said, but the current one, which began around Christmas, is particularly noteworthy, due to the consistency of the cold.

Lake Erie, the shallowest Great Lake, freezes over more regularly. By late winter, Georgian Bay is also often covered in ice.

But it would take a very, very cold winter to get total ice coverage on Lake Ontario or Lake Huron, Coulson said.

The thickest ice would be near the shoreline, because it forms the earliest, Coulson said. And then the ice builds out towards the middle of the lake where the waters deeper. And so it can take longer to freeze the deeper parts of the lakes . . . .

As Lake Ontario gets icy, authorities are saying to stay off the ice.

Water is constantly moving underneath ice in the Toronto Harbour, due to the Don and Humber Rivers and the lake circulation currents.

These currents lead to variations in ice thickness and can compromise ice that might look safe to walk on, said PortsTorontos Harbour Master Angus Armstrong in an email.

Additionally, ice thickness is not monitored in the harbour, so there is no way to determine if conditions are safe for the public.

Const. Ricardo Gomez, who has been with the Marine Unit for six-and-a-half years, said anyone on the ice is in extreme danger.

You havent heard about anything happening in a few years, because the harbour hasnt frozen over, he said.

Armstrong said ice-breaking vessels maintain routes throughout the winter for the three Toronto Island ferries, Great Lakes freighters and emergency response vessels.

Individuals who wander onto the ice may suddenly fall through a spot where a vessel has recently cleared ice, Armstrong said.

Gomez called people going out onto the ice a life-or-death venture.

People think, in general, that, if you break through the ice, its hypothermia thats the danger. But its not; its actually cold-shock response.

Cold-shock response, Gomez explained, happens when you break through the ice and have an involuntary inhalation or gasp of air from the shock of cold water.

If you inhale that water, what happens is it potentially goes right into your lungs. You dont swallow; it goes into your lungs. Your neck spasms, your trachea seals and you cant breathe. Potentially, in the first second, you can black out.

With files from Vjosa Isai

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BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIAThe Great Barrier Reef is literally being eaten alive.

Deadly starfish are feasting on parts of the worlds largest reef system, which is already threatened by rising ocean temperatures, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said Friday.

Crown-of-thorns starfish, a native species whose numbers occasionally grow so out of control they endanger the reef, have been detected on 37 sections of the southerly Swain Reef, more than 96 kilometres offshore, according to the park authority.

Whenever coral in any location in the Great Barrier Reef is threatened or stressed, it is of concern, said Fred Nucifora, a spokesperson for the authority.

The reef is one of the planets largest living structures  big enough to be seen from space  and is home to thousands of species, including sharks, turtles and whales. Australia relies on it for about 70,000 jobs and billions of dollars annually in tourism revenue.

Normally, the starfish contribute to the reefs diversity by eating faster-growing coral species, which allow for slower-growing species to thrive. But at outbreak levels, the starfish are able to eat coral  a polyp that builds the limestone reefs on which they communally live  faster than the coral can reproduce.

To eat the hard coral, the starfish has an extrudable stomach that wraps around the coral and ingests it. A starfish can eat its body diameter in coral every night.

Since the inception of a control program in 2012, the marine park authority has culled more than 600,000 starfish from the northern and central reef areas, Nucifora said.

One study found that between 1985 and 2012, the reef lost an average 50 per cent of its coral cover. Starfish predation was responsible for almost half that decline, along with tropical cyclones and bleaching.

The cause of the outbreak is unknown. One hypothesis is that currents are bringing nutrient-rich water from the deep sea up into the shelf, which correlates with starfish larvae growth.

The new outbreak comes as scientists warn that coral bleaching  death caused by the stress of rising ocean temperatures  is straining the reefs ecosystem. According to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, the frequency of coral bleaching has increased to the point that reefs no longer have sufficient recovery time between severe episodes.

Nucifora said two control vessels with divers travel to the reef 250 days a year to cull the crown-of-thorns population.

Active control of the starfish is the most feasible and scalable action that we can take at this point in time, he said.

The divers inject the starfish with a solution of bile salts or white vinegar, which kill the starfish without hurting other marine life.

Last year, the Australian government committed 14.4 million Australian dollars ($14 million) to finance a third control vessel for the marine park authority.

Since the control program began in 2012, Nucifora said, the government has committed 34.4 million Australian dollars to the problem through 2020.

Coral reefs are constantly undergoing change, and they follow a cycle of death and renewal, said Hugh Sweatman, a scientist from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences.

The critical question, Sweatman said, is how long will they get to recover?

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AKRON, OHIOAn Ohio man who reportedly believed Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak instructed him to kill his elderly mother has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports a judge made the ruling Thursday in the murder case against 48-year-old Derrick Williams.

Defence attorney Brian Pierce says Williams believed he was getting messages from the TV game show when he heard his hometown mentioned. He thought Sajak was telling him to kill his mother when Sajak said, Do it.

Pierce says Williams was off his medication and clearly was psychotic.

Williams sister called 911 after discovering her mothers body in December 2016 and told dispatchers her brother was mentally ill and likely responsible.

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WASHINGTONLegendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, NASA said Saturday. Young was 87.

The space agency said Young died Friday night at home in Houston following complications from pneumonia.

NASA called Young one of its pioneers  the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.

Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement. John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nations first great achievements in space.

Young was the only astronaut to span NASAs Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times. Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, his blast-off tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.

He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during NASAs Apollo program, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.

His NASA career lasted 42 years, longer than any other astronauts, and he was revered among his peers for his dogged dedication to keeping crews safe  and his outspokenness in challenging the space agencys status quo.

Chastened by the 1967 Apollo launch pad fire that killed three astronauts, Young spoke up after the 1986 shuttle Challenger launch accident. His hard scrutiny continued well past shuttle Columbias disintegration during re-entry in 2003.

Whenever and wherever I found a potential safety issue, I always did my utmost to make some noise about it, by memo or whatever means might best bring attention to it, Young wrote in his 2012 memoir, Forever Young.

He said he wrote a mountain of memos between the two shuttle accidents to hit people over the head. Such practice bordered on heresy at NASA.

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon in 1969 as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked its surface, considered Young the memo-writing champion of the astronaut office. Young kept working at Johnson Space Center in Houston long after his compatriots had been put out to pasture or discovered other green fields, Collins wrote in the foreword of Forever Young.

Indeed, Young remained an active astronaut into his early 70s, long after all his peers had left, and held on to his role as NASAs conscience until his retirement in 2004.

You dont want to be politically correct, he said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press. You want to be right.

Young was in NASAs second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell.

Young was the first of his group to fly in space: He and Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom made the first manned Gemini mission in 1965. Unknown to NASA, Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich on board, given to him by Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra. When it came time to test NASAs official space food, Young handed Grissom the sandwich as a joke.

The ensuing scandal over that corned beef on rye  two silly minutes of an otherwise triumphant five-hour flight  always amazed Young. Sandwiches already had flown in space, Young said in his book, but NASA brass and Congress considered this one a multimillion-dollar embarrassment and outlawed corned beef sandwiches in space forever after.

Two years later, with Gemini over and Apollo looming, Young asked Grissom why he didnt say something about the bad wiring in the new Apollo 1 spacecraft. Grissom feared doing so would get him fired, Young said. A few weeks later, on Jan. 27, 1967, those wires contributed to the fire that killed Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee in a countdown practice on their Cape Canaveral launch pad.

It was the safety measures put in place after the fire that got 12 men, Young included, safely to the surface of the moon and back.

I can assure you if we had not had that fire and rebuilt the command module ... we could not have done the Apollo program successfully, Young said in 2007. So we owe a lot to Gus, and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible.

Young orbited the moon on Apollo 10 in May 1969 in preparation for the Apollo 11 moon landing that was to follow in a couple months. He commanded Apollo 16 three years later, the next-to-last manned lunar voyage, and walked on the moon.

He hung on for the space shuttle, commanding Columbias successful maiden voyage in 1981 with co-pilot Robert Crippen by his side. It was a risky endeavour: Never before had NASA launched people on a rocket ship that had not first been tested in space. Young pumped his fists in jubilation after emerging from Columbia on the California runway, following the two-day flight.

Crippen called flying with Young a real treat.

Anybody who ever flew in space admired John, said Crippen, a close friend who last spoke to him a few months ago.

Young made his final trek into orbit aboard Columbia two years later, again as its skipper.

Youngs reputation continued to grow, even after he stopped launching. He spoke out on safety measures, even before the Challenger debacle.

By whatever management methods it takes, we must make Flight Safety first. If we do not consider Flight Safety first all the time at all levels of NASA, this machinery and this program will NOT make it, he warned colleagues.

As then chief of the astronaut corps, Young was flying a shuttle training aircraft high above Kennedy Space Center when Challenger ruptured. He took pictures of the nosediving crew cabin. The seven Challenger astronauts never knew of all the dangerous O-ring seal trouble leading up to their flight. If I had known these things, I would have made them aware, thats for damn sure, Young wrote in his book.

Young noted that even his friends at NASA considered him doom and gloom, and that a shuttle launch always scared me more than it thrilled me.

He always thought the probability was there for a space shuttle accident, he observed in his autobiography, given that it was such an incredibly complex machine.

It wasnt pessimism. It was just being realistic, he wrote.

Yet Young maintained that NASA and the nation should accept an occasional space flight failure, saying its worth the risk.

I really believe we should be operating (the shuttle), flying it right now, because theres just not a lot we can do to make it any better, Young said in 2004, a year after the Columbia tragedy. Another year passed before shuttle flights resumed.

Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Young maintained the United States should be doing two to three times the amount of space exploration that it was doing. NASA should be developing massive rockets to lift payloads to the moon to industrialize it, he said, and building space systems for detecting and deflecting comets or asteroids that could threaten Earth.

The country needs it. The world needs it. Civilization needs it, Young said in 2000, adding with a chuckle, I dont need it. Im not going to be here that long.

In his book, Young noted that his relentless stream of memos about volcanic super-eruptions and killer asteroids was aimed at scaring and educating at the same time. Humans need to start living off the planet in order to save the species, he stressed again and again, pointing to the moon. Some folks surely regarded me as a crackpot, he wrote. But that didnt stop me.

Young spent his last 17 years at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004, seven months shy of NASAs return to space following the Columbia accident.

Young was born Sept. 24, 1930 and grew up in Orlando, Fla. He became interested early on in aviation, making model planes. He spent his last high school summer working on a surveying team. The job took him to Titusville due east of Orlando; he never imagined that one day he would be sitting on rockets across the Indian River, blasting off for the moon.

He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952 and went on to join the Navy and serve in Korea as a gunnery officer. He eventually became a Navy fighter pilot and test pilot.

Young received more than 100 major accolades in his lifetime, including the prestigious Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1981.

Even after leaving NASA, he worked to keep the space flame alive, noting in his official NASA biography that he was continuing to advocate the development of technologies that will allow us to live and work on the moon and Mars.

Those technologies over the long (or short) haul will save civilization on Earth, he warned in his NASA bio, almost as a parting shot.

This story has been corrected to clarify that Robert Lightfoot is acting NASA administrator.

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TEHRAN, IRANIrans state TV on Saturday showed government supporters rallying a day after the foreign minister said a U.S. move to call an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss anti-government protests was another Trump administration blunder.

The state broadcaster showed pro-government rallies in several cities, starting with Amol, in the northern province of Mazandaram, with hundreds of people waving the Iranian flag and chanting slogans against the U.S. and Israel.

State TV described the rally as a response to rioters and supporters of the riots.

Read more:

Hard-line cleric in Iran blames social media, U.S. for protests, unrest

Iran protests put spotlight on militarys vast and shadowy war in Syria

Iran blames CIA official for anti-government protests, U.S. denies role in unrest

Other pro-government demonstrations were held in Shahin Dezh, in West Azarbaijan province bordering Turkey; the city of Semnan, in the northern Semnan Province; and Shadegan, in the southern Khouzestan Province near Iraq.

The rallies are meant to be a show of force against anti-government protests that broke out in Mashhad, Irans second largest city, on Dec. 28 and have since spread to several other cities and towns. The protests were sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment. Some demonstrators have called for the governments overthrow.

At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested. Large pro-government rallies have been held in response, and officials have blamed the anti-government unrest on foreign meddling.

Lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi said that around 90 university students  58 of them in the capital Tehran  have been detained since protests broke out, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported Saturday. Sadeghi said the whereabouts and circumstances of around 10 of those students is unclear, meaning its not known which security body arrested them, where they are being held or what charges they face.

Some of those detained, he said, had not participated in protests and for unclear reasons were arrested at home.

On Saturday, Iranians could access the photo-sharing site Instagram again after it was blocked for the past week. The government has suspended access to the messaging app Telegram, which was being used to publicize the protests. Twitter and Facebook were already banned.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced encouragement for the anti-government protesters. The U.S. called the U.N. meeting on Friday, portraying the protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the emergency session put Iran on notice that the world will be watching its actions.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter after the session that the Security Council rebuffed the U.S. naked attempt to hijack its mandate.

He said the majority emphasized the need to fully implement the 2015 nuclear deal and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration, he wrote.

Russia portrayed the Security Council meeting as a U.S. attempt to violate Irans sovereignty. Envoys from several other countries, from China to newcomer Equatorial Guinea, expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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HAVANARepublican Sen. Jeff Flake says the U.S. has found no evidence that diplomats in Havana were the victims of attacks with an unknown weapon.

Flake, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member and a longtime leading advocate of detente with Cuba, met Friday with high-ranking Cuban officials including Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and officials from the Interior Ministry, which oversees domestic security and works with foreign law-enforcement agencies.

The Cubans told Flake the FBI has told them that, after four trips to Cuba, its agents have found no evidence that mysterious illnesses suffered by U.S. diplomats were the result of attacks.

Read more:

Doctors discover brain abnormalities in U.S. victims of mysterious invisible attacks in Cuba

Canada sent doctor to Cuba to examine diplomats after sound attacks, records show

The sound in Havana: What Americans heard in Cuba attacks

Flake told The Associated Press on Saturday morning that classified briefings from U.S. officials have left him with no reason to doubt the Cuban account, although he declined to discuss the contents of those briefings.

Cuban and FBI officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

Washington says 24 U.S. government officials and spouses fell ill in Havana in their homes and some hotels starting in 2016.

The Canadian government sent a doctor to Cuba to examine Canadian diplomats who suffered everything from nosebleeds to short-term memory loss amid concern about mysterious acoustic attacks, declassified memos have shown.

The June visit to Havana by Dr. Jeffrey Chernin of Health Canada revealed symptoms similar to those experienced by U.S. personnel in Cuba, the internal Global Affairs Canada notes say.

In August, Ottawa acknowledged that an unspecified number of Canadians in Cuba had been affected, but Global Affairs has said little about the events.

Canadian officials were puzzled about who or what might have been behind the purported attacks.

There are no answers, diplomat Karen Foss wrote in a May 28 email. We are left to (sift through) what we know about ... the targets and possible suspects.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said hes convinced these were targeted attacks, but the U.S. doesnt know whos behind them. The U.S. has withdrawn most of its diplomats from Havana, citing a health risk, and forced many Cuban diplomats to leave Washington.

Cuba has decried the reductions as an unjustified blow to U.S.-Cuban relations that were restored under President Barack Obama.

The Cuban Interior Ministry is saying the FBI has told them there is no evidence of a sonic attack, even though that term is being used, attack, there is no evidence of it, Flake told the AP. Theres no evidence that somebody purposefully tried to harm somebody. Nobody is saying that these people didnt experience some event, but theres no evidence that that was a deliberate attack by somebody, either the Cubans or anybody else.

As I said, I wont talk about what I have seen in a classified setting, but nothing is inconsistent with what the Cubans have said, and I think the FBI would say that.

Flake, one of U.S. President Donald Trumps toughest Republican critics, announced last year that he would not seek re-election as Senator from Arizona. He has not ruled out running against Trump in 2020.

Several of the 24 U.S. diplomats and spouses reported hearing loud, mysterious sounds followed by hearing loss and ear-ringing, leading some U.S. officials to describe the incidents as sonic attacks. But officials are now carefully avoiding that term.

Medical testing has revealed that some embassy workers had apparent abnormalities in their white matter tracts that let different parts of the brain communicate, several U.S. officials said, and acoustic waves have never been shown to alter those tracts.

All Canadian personnel experiencing symptoms have undergone testing in Canada or the U.S., Global Affairs spokesperson Sujata Raisinghani said on Jan. 4.

However, she declined to say how many diplomats and family members have been affected.

With files from The Canadian Press

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More beds needed now, Editorial, Jan. 3

As someone who works with clients who are homeless and sleeping outside, I am extremely grateful to (street nurse) Cathy Crowe and her colleagues for their successful persistent advocacy. As the Stars editorial board, several columnists and op-ed contributors have written, winter in Canada is cold and if people sleep outside, some will die.

The need for beds is predictable. However, the increased number of homeless people is not the result of a lack of apartments. People end up homeless because they are poor and most receive support from either Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Neither OW nor ODSP provide enough rent money to rent anything anywhere in Toronto.

OW provides $384 and ODSP provides $489 for rent, while the average one-bedroom apartment costs $1,600. A single room in shared accommodation starts at $600. The gap between the rent money in both systems and the actual cost of rent has been growing for at least a decade and has dramatically increased in the past four years. Benefit recipients are forbidden from having any other income.

Ontario homelessness will increase until the provincial government increases the amount allocated for rent in both OW and ODSP.

Sarah Shartal, Toronto

The recent dangerously cold weather only highlights a much more prevalent problem with housing for our vulnerable population.

I am a volunteer at the Adelaide Resource Centre for Women and I have also been to Sistering on Bloor St. I have seen the womens drop-in shelters at Sistering and Fred Victor and the conditions there are inhumane.

The women sleep on chairs; a few lucky ones get a reclining chair. There is nowhere for them to store their belongings and very little as far as shower and toilet facilities. It is noisy and crowded, which is detrimental for people already suffering from mental illness. This might have started as a solution for women in need for one night but, in reality, many stay there for many months, since there is nowhere else for them to go except the streets.

I find the constant debate on the percentages of shelter occupancy futile, since none of them meet the threshold of 90 per cent the city has set. This is a very real crisis and should be declared an emergency.

Smadar Carmon, Toronto

Mayor John Torys big failure as a civic leader seems to be the fact hes unable to reconsider his position on the fly. He just doubles down on a bad idea. He did it with the Gardiner Expressway. Hes doing it with the Scarborough LRT. And he did it again by initially refusing to get the homeless access to Torontos armouries during this cold snap. Meet the new Mr. Dithers. Same as the old one.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

Why can our governments at all levels find adequate accommodation and support systems for 15,000 illegal, undocumented and unscreened border crossers from the U.S., but are so willing to abandon our homeless to the cold Canadian streets? We treat animals better than the homeless, many of whom are suffering from drug-addiction and mental-health issues.

It is time to deal with the homeless more humanely. If the rising number of homeless people in Colorado after pot legalization is any indication, then our governments must urgently develop a plan to deal with the homeless here. Churches and other organizations can only do so much with limited funds.

Larry Comeau, Ottawa

I am ashamed of our mayor and his cohorts who initially refused to consider opening the armouries to the homeless. I am ashamed of their so-called experts who fuelled this refusal with inadequate data and empty excuses. I have lost faith in their promises of future services.

New Years celebrations were cancelled because of the dangerous cold. The Calgary Zoo took vulnerable penguins inside to protect them from the cold. But Torontos policy-makers and politicians offer our homeless neighbours no such protection. The issue is being framed as a communications gap but is really a fundamental policy and practice gap. We are governed by people who have lost their moral and ethical ground in their efforts to shore up inhuman policies.

Laura Sky, Toronto

It is a terrible injustice that so many of Torontos citizens must scramble to find a warm and safe place to sleep at night. I applaud the city for opening several emergency shelters in this frigid weather and hope it can get this system working much better as soon as possible. More effective communication is needed.

However, the call to open the armouries to the homeless is not appropriate. The armouries are not empty buildings. They house units of Canadas Armed Forces Reserve and are used every night by these units and their associated cadet organizations.

Who belongs to these reserve units? Mostly young people, largely high school and post-secondary students and many of them from neighbourhoods surrounding the armouries.

These young reserves get stable, well-paying, part-time jobs serving their country and also have the opportunity for summer work. The teenage cadets participate in free skill- and character-building activities after school and on weekends. So the armouries contribute in positive, concrete ways to employment and youth activities in their high-needs downtown neighbourhoods.

Having served in the Reserves many years ago, I know that homeless shelters and evening training activities cant go on at the same time. When the Fort York Armouries were used to house the homeless, our training was paused. Also, the armouries are not designed for overnight accommodation, so sufficient showers and washrooms are not available, particularly for women.

The effect of opening the armouries to the homeless will be to close the armouries to the surrounding community  taking from one group to give to another.

Heather McClory, Toronto

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BOISE  Idahos highest ranking elected officials offered hints of what this years legislative session might look like at the Associated Presss annual legislative preview event Friday morning, touching on topics including education, health care, and criminal justice reform.

Each of those areas will be affected by Idahos status as the fastest-growing state in the country.

House and Senate leaders addressed concerns about Idahos crowded prison system, an issue the Magic Valley has increasingly felt the effects of over the past year. As state prisons reach capacity and beyond, more inmates are staying in the Twin Falls County Jail for longer periods of time, contributing to a crowding crisis.

We will experience growing pains in each of these areas, because the prison population is always going to be a percentage of the overall number, said House Speaker Scott Bedke, a Republican from Oakley.

Legislators will likely defer to the executive branch on the question of whether to build a new prison to house the overflow, Senate Pro Tem Brent Hill said, but noted that he planned to meet soon with Department of Correction Director Henry Atencio.

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, a Democrat from Ketchum, cited an ongoing bipartisan effort to rethink mandatory minimum sentences in an attempt to reduce the number of state inmates. Mandatory minimum sentences in Idaho range from one to 15 years in prison for drug crimes involving marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin.

Also present at the preview was Gov. Butch Otter, who used the opportunity to announce a new executive order restoring choice in health insurance for Idahoans.

In his remarks at the event, Otter said education would once again be a priority for him in his last year in office. The comments came one day after the governor announced that he plans to push for a chief education officer position to streamline functions in the states higher education system.

When was the last time you heard robust debate on an education bill in the state? he asked the crowd, suggesting that momentum on education legislation had slowed since the state adopted its five-year Career Ladder plan in 2015.

Otter then turned to health care, introducing an executive order that would let insurance companies create new health care plans that dont have all the requirements of the Affordable Health Care Act.

The Department of Insurance hasnt yet decided which requirements to drop, according to Director Dean Cameron, but Otter estimated that the new guidelines would lower the cost of some plans by as much as 50 percent.

Seven requirements will remain, Cameron said, but its unknown what those requirements might be.
The GOP income tax cut that Sen. Jim Risch supported last month enriched the Idaho Republican.

So said the International Business Times.

What drew IBTs attention to Risch and 14 other GOP senators was a last-minute change to the tax package that allowed pass-through entities with few or no employees to get extra breaks. Its of particular benefit to people with large real estate holdings.

It became an issue because the one Republican who opposed the first draft of the tax bill without the real estate provision  Tennessees Bob Corker  voted for the final version that included it.

Corkers real estate holdings, it turns out, are estimated at between $8.6 million and $41.3 million. Presumably Corker will be able to keep more of his real estate earnings, which amounted to between $1.2 million and $7 million in 2016.

Risch isnt too far behind. His holdings are valued somewhere between $1.35 million and $5.75 million, which IBT says in 2016 generated an income between $35,000 and $115,000.

Overall, Rischs net worth is somewhere between $20 million and $89 million.

How does IBT know that?

Because Risch and every other member of Congress is required to file a financial disclosure report. Its not precise. Members of Congress list assets and liabilities within broad categories  hence the range.

Asked about it, Risch told the Huffington Post he doesnt discuss his personal finances. Just the same, he had to reveal how the tax laws he was about to impose on the rest of us would affect him.

That stands in stark contrast to what happened during Rischs short run as governor.

Back in 2006, he pushed through a massive Idaho tax shift package. During one day in August, Risch convened a special legislative session. He then passed his plan to repeal a statewide property tax levy supporting schools and replace it with a 1-cent increase in the sales tax.

No amendments or alternatives were considered.

Debate was minimal.

By reducing property taxes, Risch helped corporations and people who owned a great deal of valuable holdings.

By raising the sales tax, he pinched lower- and middle-income Idahoans, especially those who did not own their homes. At the time, it was estimated that anyone earning less than $135,000 a year got a tax hike. Only later in the midst of the 2006 election campaign did it emerge that Rischs tax shift saved him about $4,000. It would have been many times that amount had Risch not already claimed a tax break granted to owners of agricultural land.

But getting that number was not as easy as poring over Rischs federal financial disclosure statement. Thats because there was no financial disclosure statement to review.

Idaho and Michigan are the two states that do not require elected officials to tell voters how they make their money. So even now, nobody knows how many of the lawmakers who voted for Rischs tax shift personally gained from that measure.

Its hard to believe a measly four grand would motivate a man as wealthy as Risch. But knowing in advance of the Legislatures action that the governor was one of the few people in Idaho who stood to gain from his own tax bill certainly would have changed the conversation. The contrast between then and now is worth considering as Idaho lawmakers  led by House State Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona  attempt to pass what would be a modest financial transparency bill this year.
What do Albany's South End and Sheridan Hollow communities have in common? They are communities of color and the poor, yes. Most glaring is that at a time of environmental scholarship, grassroots advocacy, and the global climate change agendas these communities are the last to realize any advances toward environmental justice.

The Capital District's environmental hotspots have again become a center of controversy. In the South End, interstate trucks spew exhaust onto streets and into homes. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing reopening Sheridan Hollow's old ANSWERS plant to burn fracked gas piped in from Pennsylvania to heat, cool, and provide energy to the Empire State Plaza complex across town.

Targeting black, brown, and poor communities for toxic dumps and processing facilities is a practice that has been identified as environmental racism by Robert Bullard, a professor and father of the environmental justice movement.

Charlene Benton an activist, resident and former president of the Ezra Prentice Tenants Association, died battling cancer in May of 2017. Since 2011, Benson and Willie White, executive director of AVillage, along with coalitions of environmental groups, have organized to ask Albany's municipalities to intercede with the federal government to stop local company Global Partners from transporting the lighter but more explosive North Dakota Bakken crude oil to their South End of Albany refinery. A pending 2016 lawsuit was filed by Benson and a coalition of environmental groups against Global Partners. The lawsuit states that Global Partners violated the Clean Air Act with increased train shipments, which also amounts to an increase in the emission of toxic chemicals like benzene, methane, toluene, and xylene. Ezra Prentice residents report an inordinate amount of cases of asthma and other respiratory ailments, as well as cancer.

The environmental injustices to Ezra Prentice residents also include interstate trucks spewing exhaust with no relief. The onslaught of noise from trucks and trains along with toxic emissions amounts to abusive and dangerous living conditions for this community. This is environmental racism at its worst.

Across town, Sheridan Hollow is reliving a 1994 ANSWERS plant nightmare that the community believes was responsible for parents, children, and other family members dying of cancer. Former Gov. Mario Cuomo's decided to close the refuse-to-fuel processing plant after two days of black soot covered the Capitol.

The Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy coalition, which consists of over 100 environmental and community groups, launched their campaign for a clean renewable energy solution this summer. According to geothermal expert Jay Egg, a geothermal solution would accommodate the need to heat, cool, and provide energy to the Empire State Plaza. Geothermal solutions are already in use at facilities such as St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, a heavily populated urban metropolis. The geothermal solution would afford clean air to the Sheridan Hollow and its neighbor Arbor Hill, two communities greatly impacted by the operations at the ANSWERS facility in the past.

Communities of color and the poor continue to hope that the next bomb train will not derail in their neighborhood, spilling its toxic cargo near homes and playgroundsas has happened in Virginia, North Dakota, and Canada. They ask that the emissions from interstate trucks and the energy needs of Empire State Plaza will not exacerbate their asthma, COPD, leukemia, bronchitis, and cancers. And that they will not die a premature death, leaving their children and families to fend for themselves.

Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter.

It begs the question, "Is anyone listening?"

Rita Ogburn-McCall is a member of Citizen Action New York.
How many steps will it take to walk off Thanksgiving dinner?

lafayette
Above all else, the First Amendment is a barrier to prior restraints  injunctions and licensing requirements aimed at preventing speech from entering the public domain at all.

Just as a new Steven Spielberg film, The Post, is celebrating the vindication of that principle in the Pentagon Papers case, President Donald Trumps lawyers have formally demanded that a publisher cease publication of a new book.

William Blackstone, the English jurist who was a great influence on Americas founding generation, insisted that liberty of the press consists in laying no previous restraints upon publication. In his view, free people have the right to put their sentiments before the public: to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press.

The founders agreed. In general, they believed that government could not subject speakers and publishers to licensing schemes, or enjoin speech before it ever reached the public.

The Pentagon Papers case, officially called New York Times Co. v. United States, severely tested the limits of this principle. The Washington Post and the New York Times sought to publish material relating to the Vietnam War, leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, that contained secret and classified information.

The government argued that publication should be prohibited. In its view, publishing the papers would put soldiers lives at risk, destroy alliances and impair Americas ability to negotiate with its enemies.

Because national security was involved, and because the consequences of publication could have turned out to be horrific, the governments claims were hardly frivolous. The court ended up siding with the newspapers, but only by a 6-3 margin.

In rejecting the governments claims, the majority pointed to one principle above all: the heavy presumption against prior restraints. Quoting a 1931 defamation case, Near v. Minnesota, Justice William Brennan emphasized that the chief purpose of the First Amendment is to prevent previous restraints upon publication.

In some circumstances, courts do allow damages or subsequent punishment for speech (as in cases of libel)  but outside of the most extreme situations, prior restraints are impermissible.

In this light, turn to the bizarre letter sent this week by Trumps lawyers to Steve Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt and Co. The letter complains that a new book, Michael Wolffs Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, includes material that defames the president and members of his family. With respect to Trump himself, the lawyers object that parts of the book amount to false light invasion of privacy, by arranging otherwise true information in a way to give a false impression.

The letter threatens to seek substantial monetary damages and punitive damages. It adds, Mr. Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the Book, the Article, or any excerpts or summaries of either of them, to any person or entity.

Despite the unambiguous demand to cease and desist from releasing the book, the letter does not say that Trump will go to court to enjoin further publication and dissemination. His lawyers may be aware that after Near v. Minnesota and the Pentagon Papers case, such an effort would inevitably lose.

The book might contain inaccuracies and falsehoods. But what remains astonishing, and much worse than ugly, is that the president of the United States  who took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States  is threatening a publisher with a costly defamation action, and making a demand on him not to publish a book that purports to discuss the inside story of his presidency.

James Madison, the principal author of First Amendment, had something to say about such threats and demands. In Madisons words, an effort to restrict speech, more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm. The reason is that it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon.

In a phrase that should resonate in any self-governing society, and that every president should know, Madison ended with the claim, at once bold and true, that this right has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right.
We are in need of some assistance. We're trying to plan a destination wedding. We've gone from Mexico to Bahamas and now I think we've decided on DR. Has anyone had their destination wedding in the Punta Cana? If so what was your experience? Where did you stay? As much information as possible would be great. There are so many nice places and its becoming a difficult decision to make. Haha...

Thank you.
Hello everyone,

We are planning to leave Australia next month and Monday I have the appointment with the doctor for the vaccinations we need.

I did some research and is very personal what people choose to do,I want an advice or any experience from you please :)

The one I know I have to do for sure are hepatitis A+B typhoid diphtheria tetanus and polio,

Im very confuse with rabies I dont know what to do?!

Thank you very much!!

Valentina
We stayed in Manzanillo (Congo Bongo) and in Cahuita on S. Caribbean.

We did not rent a car.

We combined Cahuita and Arenal on our recent trip. It took us over 6 hrs from Cahuita to Arenal Observatory Lodge, with shared shuttle from Interbus, US$54 pp, but it included 2 stops and the AOL is located outside of La Fortuna by about 25-30 min., otherwise it would have taken less.

For transportation from SJO to Congo Bongo, there are choices: https://www.puertoviejosatellite.com/transport-to-puerto-viejo.php .

We took a private ride arranged by the owner once, as our flight was landing in the afternoon and we arrived to Congo Bongo in the dark (with 1 stop for groceries in Puerto Viejo). It took about 5.5 hrs or so. But the driver was going fast, overpassing vehicles in a way I am not sure you would be doing. So yes, it is not close to SJ.

We also used shared shuttles, Interbus and PleasyreRider, to get to/from S. Caribbean (Cahuita is where we also stayed a couple of times, to be closer to the national park), there is also Caribeshuttle. For up to 3 ppl travelling together we thought the shared shuttles were a good option. On the way, we did not gave to worry about Driving, directions, road conditions or weather, just relaxed, looked around, took pictures, sent e-mails (not all shuttles offer WiFi, some did), napped or chatted with other travellers, if there were any. One time, with PleasureRiderCR, we were the only passengers all the way, so it was like a private transfer, for much less $, which was great!

Make sure you read the reviews of Congo Bongo. We liked it, but I can see how may not be for everyone. It is open concept jungle living. Your sitting room and kitchen are on the open terrace, under a roof. There are bugs. We needed to spray repellent at all times, day and night. There are ceiling fans on the terrace, which help with heat, humidity and keeping bugs away, somewhat. Only the bedroom/bathroom area has sliding wooden doors which lock. You cannot leave anything edible outside, animals will get to it. If you are cooking and, say, a drop of your food lands on the tiled counter before you notice it, a short time later it will have a trail of ants all over it. They give you a locked plastic box to keep your food in, plus there is a big fridge outside. The houses are surrounded by beautiful vegetation, flowers, gigantic trees, you can see wildlife on the property (the sloth photo in my avatar was taken from our terrace there), but if sleeping under mosquito bed nets, seeing an occasional house gecko or a beautiful, but huge spider that appear overnight, yelling howler monkeys and loud birds wake you up every morning super early, before 5 am - it these things freak you out, think carefully if this is for you.

There is a path made of raised old tires, filled with gravel, leading through the property, to the beach. The beach was usually empty. Dark sand, waves, beautiful. But there is no beach furniture. They provide beach towels. There were a couple of old wooden benches on the beach when we were there in 2016. I think some houses had a folding chair one can take to the beach, we did not, but we did not care. The only shade on the beach, depending on where the sun is, comes from the palm trees and the near by vegetation along the sand.

CB is remote, because there is nothing right near by. You need to walk for about 5 min to the left of the entrance to reach the near by tiny tiny store. If you keep walking, along the Rd or along the beach, for about 15 min., you come to Manzanillo village. It is a small fishing village with a few sodas and 1 restaurant.

Behind the restaurant, along the beach, the road leads to the entrance to the Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge. It is recommended to hire a guide for hiking there. See the reviews: . We hiked there with a guide, but it started raining heavily after we began the tour, so we did not see a lot of animals, as monkeys and sloths hide in the rain.

For Turtle Calendar in CR, see https://costa-rica-guide.com/nature/wildlife/turtle-nesting/ .

Tortuguero info: https://costa-rica-guide.com/nature/national-parks/tortuguero/ .
"...only deals in PRIVATE APPROVAL LETTERS - far safer for tourists."

And just about every other agent will offer private letters if it's something that worries you.

And some will do it for the same cost as that particular agent.

Scott
The Letters of Thanks column will publish letters of up to 200 words from:

Organizations thanking contributors or supporters.

Individuals thanking public agencies and businesses for extraordinary service.

Send letters to letters@magicvalley.com. If you would like to purchase a classified ad to express gratitude of a personal rather than public nature, call the Times-News Customer Service department.
Firstly if you get into Hanoi on the 9th then you can enter visa free (15 days max including the date that you enter and the date that you leave). Second for Hanoi what to do in 2 days. There is loads to do and see. If your interest is the American war there is the Hoa Lo prison where quite a few of the American pilots that where shot down in Northern Vietnam were kept . The military history museum, the temple of literature, the women's museum, etc, etc. Third, Hoi An is a beautiful town with plenty of culture to satisfy anyone. I can recommend Hoi An Holiday Villa hotel. We have stayed there and are going back in March 18. It is a small hotel about 10 rooms and a sma andll pool. The place is number 2 or 3 on tripadvisor I think. They can't do enough for you, if you are on honeymoon then wow you will get looked after. It is situated halfway between the old town and the beach so you have the best of both worlds. They also have push bikes that you can borrow to cycle to the town or beach.There are loads of restaurants around, to many to mention and your wife will almost certainly have something made or buy an item of clothing. It is a very old town. and you now pay to enter, I think that it is about 120000 VND (about 4) each that wlil include about 5 entrance tickets to certain old buildings and the entrance to the old town for the duration of your stay. Fourth, Ho Chi Minh City, then again it is like Hanoi with loads of things to do. You have mentioned the tunnels at Cu Chi, you could make a day of it and include a trip to the Cao Dai temple in the morning and the tunnels in the afternoon. There is loads to see and do in Ho Chi Minh City just google it and then take you pick on what comes up. You can also do an overnight trip to the Mekong Delta to see the floating market at Cai Rang + other sites and experiences.No matter what you choose have a good trip. uniblue
the entire drive can be done in a day if you wanted but if you like to explore along the way I would spend a day in mystic there is a great aquarium and seaport there and then I would spend the night in that area and visit the casinos if you have any interest. The next day I would go over to newport and spend the day checking out the mansions there well worth touring some of those. Then you could head into boston. Mystic to Newport to Boston are not very long drives. If none of these things float your boat then maybe drive up north of new haven go past hartford and if you like aviation you could stop off at the aviation museum in windsor locks. Then when you get to mass you can head east towards boston. About an hour west of boston is sturbridge village which makes for an excellent day trip if you want to see a living museum and how life was lived in the early days of the US. Other nearby places you can check out includes Salem Mass which is nice to visit for a few hours. If you want to explore a bit more then just north of boston you can visit cape ann with rockport and gloucester. They are on the ocean though so may still be a bit cold depending on the time in may you go. The later is a fishing village the prior is good for shopping etc.
How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

What To Do During Layovers?

Vacation Apartment Rentals Violate NYC Laws

Hotels: Kitchenettes and kitchens in 100+ Manhattan Hotels

Hotels: Two queen beds plus a kitchen/kitchenette

Hotels: Guests under 21 years old (but at least 18)

Hotels: Which ones charge an additional Resort or Facilities Fee

Hotels: When is the best time to go for cheaper rates?

What are the Must-See's and Must-Do's?

How Do I Ride the Subway (UPDATED)?

Tips, Hint and Suggestions for First Timers

SCAMS to avoid in NYC

What Will the Weather Be Like During My Trip?

Any Good Websites for Researching My Trip?

How Safe is New York?

Where to Eat in NYC

Where to eat in NYC - Part 2

Celiac in the City? (gluten free)

Which Area Should I Stay In?

Is There Cheaper Lodging Outside Manhattan?

How Much Do I Tip People?

Are the New York Pass, Explorer Pass or CityPass worth it?

How Do I Hail a Taxi?

Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO?

Where are the best areas for shopping?

How do I find Discount Tickets for Broadway Shows?

What are the NYC Halloween events for 2021?

Thanksgiving 2021 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

Christmastime in NYC 2021: Dates for the Trees-Windows-Markets-Ice Skating+MORE!

Christmas Day 2021 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

What Should I Do on New Year's Eve?

How Will I Survive the Cold Weather?

Where are the Farmers Markets and Street Fairs?

What is there to see and do near WTC/SOL/Brooklyn Bridge/SI ferry?

What should I know about visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum?

What Is There to See and Do in Brooklyn?

How Do I Get to the Brooklyn Bridge?

What Is There to See and Do in Queens?

Exploring neighborhoods - where should I go and what should I see?

Which is the best? ESB or TOTR or OWO?

Which are the significant churches in Manhattan?

Hidden Gems in the city - not so touristy

How do I get from NYC to the Meadowlands and back?

I'm Getting Married in NYC...what do I need to do?

Should I Buy Knock-Off Purses?

What to Do with Kids and How to Do It?

What should we do at night -- especially with kids or under 21's?

Places to eat (and drink) with a view

Where is the Old FAQ?

Trip Reports: Families with Young Kids - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Groups of Friends - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Couples - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Families with Teenagers - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Solo Travelers - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Families of Adults - Add yours!
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- Ugandans have been urged to boycott next general election after president Yoweri Museveni signed into law controversial age limit laws

- Opposition leader Kizza Besigye accused Museveni of planning to remain in power for the whole of his life

Uganda's opposition chief Kizza Besigye has called on his supporters to boycott elections after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law controversial changes to the country's Constitution removing age limits for all political positions.

According to Besigye, the move by Museveni confirmed that the president had all intentions to remain in power for the whole of his life.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: KNUT vows to frustrate new principals transferred to Bungoma schools

Besigye was quoted by the Daily Monitor as having said that change in the Est African state will not only come through elections but also through struggle.

Ugandan Opposition leader Kizza Besigye who has called for elections boycott. Photo: Daily Monitor

He called on Ugandans opposed to Museveni's rule to unite under his struggle movement to kick out the president in a nonviolent revolution instead of preparing to go to the next polls when winners have already been predetermined.

READ ALSO: Uhuru kicks out cabinet secretaries as he announces new names

But the Presidency through senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama dismissed Besigye and called on Ugandans to ignore him.

Wanyama said the new laws do not talk about life presidency saying Besigye had only realised that there was no way he could beat Museveni in polls.

Kenyans accuse NTSA of incompetence and corruption and want it disbanded - on TUKO TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Extradition proceedings are free to begin in the case of former FIFA vice President, businessman and politician, Jack Warner.

Five law lords of the Privy Council delivered a unanimous judgement this morning.
The worst of Hurricane Harveys flooding started on Sunday, August 27th around 4 AM. Some Friendswood, TX residents thought theyd be able to wait out the rain. That quickly became untenable. By 7 AM, those residents were marching through waist deep water towards rescue boats. Hours later, one third of the homes in Friendswood were underwater.

In this new reality, the line between city official and citizen blurred a bit. The residents of Friendswood and the City of Friendswood banded together to rebound from a hurricane while in the middle of one.

This is how they did it.

The Flood



As soon as the flooding started, the City began its unenviable task of triaging emergencies, and quickly found itself stretched thin.

The Citys Emergency Department focused on water rescues. With a limited supply of boats they put the call out for backup. Neighbors answered and piloted their fishing boats and even kayaks to assist.

Where the City needed assistance, residents quickly volunteered to help. But the Emergency Department struggled to field and respond to the volume of phone calls they received. City phone lines were slammed with requests for help and requests to help out.

Days after the hurricane hit, local Friendswood church groups joined forces to ask the City how they could serve recovery efforts. The City had a clear ask  build us a new emergency call center and find volunteers to run it.

The church groups answered the call and reached out to a local software engineer named Joshua Lyman to help build a call center.

Building a Disaster Dispatch Hotline

Time was the biggest constraint, says Joshua. Luckily, Joshua didnt have to build the call center from scratch.

On August 31st, Joshua reached out on Twitter for help getting the call center off the ground. Less than 24 hours later, he had it a Twilio-powered prototype finished. This proved to be good timing, as the City asked Joshua to expedite development and launch the call center the following day.



[Check out the code Josh used to power the contact center here]



Launch Day...and Mucking Out Week



On September 2nd, the Friendswood Area Disaster Help Center went live, and the City sent out a text to all Friendswood, TX residents directing them to the Help Center if they needed support. Joshua showed volunteers how to log in to the new Emergency Call Center in their browser, how to share information with other volunteers via chat while still on a call with someone in need, and how to register new volunteers. Newbies became veterans in the span of a few minutes.

It was awesome to have pulled it together that fast. The volunteers came together incredibly fast, said Joshua.

The volunteers worked tirelessly to help people who needed help mucking out their homes. Mucking out a home is one of the most labor and time-sensitive processes in flood recovery.

Most homes were flooded up from two to four feet. Everything that the water touches is contaminated and needs to be removed. So, ten or so people would go into a house with crowbars and sledgehammers. Theyd make cuts up to the water level, then pull out the dry wall, carpet, insulation  anything beneath that line, Joshua explained. Youd have these massive piles of garbage and drywall on the sides of the street. It was surreal.

Over the next week, volunteers mucked out over 200 houses, fielding requests that came in via using Joshuas new dispatch system.

In Case of Emergency...



The areas affected by Hurricane Harvey are on a long road back. Just because the water rescues are over, doesnt mean theres room to relax. The City of Friendswood told Joshua and the team that assisted the volunteer efforts that theyd like him to keep the call center live as a precautionary measure.

The server running Joshuas call center is still online. It represents a remarkable effort from the the City of Friendswood, its residents and neighbors in the wake of a tragedy. Heres hoping they dont have to use it anytime soon.
Russian-backed militants continued to launch attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas in last day despite the agreements of the Trilateral Contact Group on ceasefire during the New Year and Christmas holidays.

One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded as a result of the enemy shelling. He was immediately taken to a hospital and provided with the necessary medical care, the ATO Headquarters press center reported.

As noted, in Luhansk direction, militants fired 120mm mortars on Ukrainian strongholds outside Svitlodarsk (55km north-west of Donetsk) and Luhanske (59km north-east of Donetsk).

In Donetsk direction, ATO troops came under grenade launcher, small arms and 82mm mortar fire outside Butovka coal mine (11.4km north-west of Donetsk).

Ukrainian troops did not return fire.

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No Ukrainian soldiers were killed in hostilities in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a press briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Fortunately, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed as a result of hostilities over the past day. But one serviceman was wounded as a result of the enemy shelling near Butovka coal mine (11.4km north-west of Donetsk). He was taken to a military hospital where he received the necessary medical assistance, he said.

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Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov signed a decree on the closure of the Consulate General of Belarus in Odesa.

This was reported by the press service of the Government of Belarus.

"To close the Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in the city of Odesa (Ukraine) until February 23, 2018," the decree says.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry was instructed to take appropriate measures to close the diplomatic mission.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is firmly convinced that Ukraine will become a member of the European Union and NATO, although he admits that this will happen in the longer term.

The Head of State wrote about this in the article for the joint project of the Novoye Vremia and The Economist.

"Membership in the European Union, as well as joining NATO, certainly remains our strategic goal. Since this prospect is clearly not for 2018, and it is not up to us, as the Scripture says, to know the times and terms, I can only say that I firmly believe that this will happen," Poroshenko wrote.

In his opinion, 2017 year, unlike the previous one, will remain in our history with positive results, one of which is the introduction of visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens to the EU countries. And the Association Agreement is a road map for further fundamental changes that will bring Ukraine closer to the Copenhagen criteria for membership in the prestigious union of the world, the President added.

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Arab foreign ministers met in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Saturday to discuss the ongoing dispute over President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Arab news channels interrupted their usual coverage to focus on the Arab foreign ministers' press conference in the Jordanian capital, which is the latest development in the ongoing controversy over the Trump administrations controversial move.

Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit told journalists that the guiding principle of Arab diplomacy regarding the Jerusalem controversy, in his view, was to preserve the legal status quo.

He said that no final decision has been reached about what to do, but the main goal of Arab diplomacy is to reduce any Palestinian losses or endorse any Israeli victories resulting from the U.S. decision.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who hosted the gathering of the Egyptian, Saudi, Jordanian and Moroccan foreign ministers, told journalists that the position of Jordan is to push for international recognition of a Palestinian state.

He said that the Jordanian position is to seek an international political decision to recognize a Palestinian state within the borders prior to June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital. He added that all efforts will be made, as well, to prevent other countries from following the U.S. example and moving their embassies to Jerusalem.

Safadi, in response to a journalist's question, later insisted that his country was not contemplating canceling its peace accord with Israel over the matter. He stressed that the "best way to resolve the conflict is to pressure the international community to block the U.S. decision and to push for a two-state solution entailing the recognition of a Palestinian state."

Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told journalists that he and his fellow foreign ministers had discussed what collective action to take to support the Palestinians in rebutting the U.S. decision and ultimately resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Jubeir also said that Arab foreign ministers discussed the ongoing regional conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Libya, along with Iranian meddling in the region.

In other regional developments, Saudi Arabia offered financial incentives to a number of groups, including government workers and the military, following recent price increases on fuel and certain staples, according to Saudi Culture and Information Minister Awwad al-Awwad.

The Saudi daily newspaper al-Okaz reported that 11 princes from the ruling Saud family were arrested for protesting a government decision to stop paying their electricity bills.
Emergency authorities in Australia have released a virtual reality program recreating potentially catastrophic bushfire scenarios. The project aims to encourage residents in the state of Victoria to prepare for extreme danger.

This emergency warning is being issued for Hare Creek. There is a bushfire at Hare Creek that is out of control. The bushfire is traveling in a north-westerly direction towards Upper Hare Creek, says the programs warning.

The virtual reality programs have three different scenarios. They show how residents who leave it too late to respond to an advancing bushfire can face disastrous consequences.

Officials say the technology allows Australians to get a taste of the type of hostile conditions they might face and helps them make better decisions. The simulation urges homeowners to decide early whether to leave, seek shelter, or stay and defend their property.

South-eastern Australia, one of the worlds most fire-prone regions, has been preparing for a scorching weekend with temperatures forecast as high as 45 degrees Celsius.

Victoria state Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, says the bushfire risk in some areas will be extreme.

Obviously it is about heat, it is about fire. We are going to see a fire today that is going to be hot, dry and windy, and with a wind change late in the day that if we had fires running in the afternoon the wind change will change the direction of the fires and traditionally that is where we lose most of our property after the wind change. So it is one of those days that has got everything in it. Look after yourself, your neighbors, your family, your friends, Lapsley said.

Australia's most deadly bushfire killed 173 people in Victoria in 2009. However, Australias deadliest natural hazard is extreme heat. More than twice as many victims lost their lives in the heatwave that preceded the so-called Black Saturday blazes. It is the very young, the infirm, and those over the age of 75 who are most risk from searing temperatures. Heat-related illness, which can occur when body temperature exceeds 37.8Celsius, includes dehydration, cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The consequences can be catastrophic, resulting in heart attacks, brain damage and death.

Firefighters have been predicting one of the worst fire seasons on record. They say warmer conditions have been coupled with a very dry winter.
U.S. authorities in Alabama say they are investigating as arson a fire at the home of one of the women who accused failed Senate candidate Roy Moore of inappropriate sexual contact.

Officials say, however, that there is no indication the blaze was related to the allegations.

Tina Johnson said she lost her home and all of her possessions in the fire on Wednesday. No one was hurt in the blaze.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said an arson task force was investigating the blaze. Investigators are speaking to a person of interest, he said in a statement.

The ongoing investigation does not lead us to believe that the fire is any way related to Roy Moore or allegations made against him, Entrekin said.

Johnson accused Moore of sexual misconduct, one of several women who publicly accused the politician. Johnson said Moore groped her in his law office in 1991, when she was in her late 20s.

Moore has denied any wrongdoing. He lost the Alabama Senate race to Democrat Doug Jones in December following several weeks of reports about the sexual misconduct allegations.
Chances that a fix to a major microchip security flaw may slow down or crash some computer systems are leading some businesses to hold off installing software patches, fearing the cure may be worse than the original problem.

Researchers this week revealed security problems with chips from Intel Corp and many of its rivals, sending businesses, governments and consumers scrambling to understand the extent of the threat and the cost of fixes.

Rather than rushing to put on patches, a costly and time-intensive endeavor for major systems, some businesses are testing the fix, leaving their machines vulnerable.

"If you start applying patches across your whole fleet without doing proper testing, you could cause systems to crash, essentially putting all of your employees out of work," said Ben Johnson, co-founder of cyber-security startup Obsidian.

Flaws not 'critical'

Banks and other financial institutions spent much of the week studying the vulnerabilities, said Greg Temm, chief information risk officer with the Financial Services Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry group that shares data on emerging cyber threats.

The flaws affect virtually all computers and mobile devices, but are not considered "critical" because there is no evidence that hackers have figured out how to exploit them, said Temm, whose group works with many of the world's largest banks.

"It's like getting a diagnosis of high blood pressure, but not having a cardiac arrest," Temm said. "We're taking it seriously, but it's not something that is killing us."

Testing the patches

Banks are testing the patches to see if they slow operations and, if so, what changes need to be made, Temm said. For instance, computers could be added to networks to make up for the lack of processor speed in individual machines, he added.

Some popular antivirus software programs are incompatible with the software updates, causing desktop and laptop computers to freeze up and show a "blue screen of death," researcher Johnson said.

Antivirus software makers responded by rolling out fixes to make their products compatible with the updated operating systems, he said. In a blog posting Friday, Microsoft Corp said it would only offer security patches to Windows customers whose antivirus software suppliers had confirmed with Microsoft that the patch would not crash the customer's machine.

"If you have not been offered the security update, you may be running incompatible antivirus software, and you should consult the software vendor," Microsoft advised in the blog post.

Government agencies also are watching. The Ohio Attorney General's office is monitoring the situation, a spokesman said by email.

"Intel continues to believe that the performance impact of these updates is highly workload-dependent and, for the average computer user, should not be significant and will be mitigated over time," the world's No. 1 chipmaker said on Thursday in a release.

No significant patch impact

It cited Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's and Microsoft as saying that most users had seen no significant impact on performance after installing the patches.

The cloud vendors are among a group of firms that quickly patched their technology to mitigate against the threat from one of those vulnerabilities, dubbed Meltdown, which only affects machines running Intel chips.

Major software makers have not issued patches to protect against the second vulnerability, dubbed Spectre, which affects nearly all computer chips made in the last decade, including those from Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, and ARM-architecture manufacturers, including Qualcomm Inc.

However, Google, Firefox and Microsoft have implemented measures in most web browsers to stop hackers from launching remote attacks using Spectre.

Governments and security experts say they have seen no cyber attacks seeking to exploit either vulnerability, though they expect attempts by hackers as they digest technical data about the security flaws.

One key risk is that hackers will develop code that can infect the personal computers of people visiting malicious websites, said Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer of cyber security firm Veracode.

He advised PC owners to install the patches to protect against such potential attacks. Computer servers at large enterprises are less at risk, he said, because those systems are not used to surf the web and can only be infected in a Meltdown attack if a hacker has breached that network.

Operating system protection

Microsoft has issued a patch for its Windows operating system, and Apple desktop users with the most recent operating system are protected. Google has said most of its Chromebook laptops are already protected and that the rest would be soon.

Apple said it planned to release a patch to its Safari web browser within coming days to protect Mac and iOS users from Spectre.

While third-party browsers from Google and others can protect Mac users from Spectre, all major web browsers for Apple's iOS devices depend on receiving a patch from Apple.

Until then, hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users will be exposed to potential Spectre attacks while browsing the web.
Months of bipartisan negotiations in the U.S. Senate over the fate of young, undocumented immigrants turned angry Friday, with the lead Democratic negotiator blasting the White House for making hard-line anti-immigrant demands.

President Donald Trump in September ordered that an Obama-era program that prevented young immigrants from being deported should end in six months. The program is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Saving these immigrants from deportation is a high priority for Democrats, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers have struggled to reach a bipartisan deal.

GOP demands rejected once

Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the White House on Friday submitted a list of demands it wanted in order to agree to a deal. The demands, he said, were simply a repeat of a document it sent to Congress in early October. Democratic leaders rejected those demands at the time.

Further inflaming the negotiations, Durbin said, was an added White House demand for $18 billion to fund the construction of a wall along the southwestern border with Mexico, despite staunch Democratic opposition.

On Saturday, congressional Republican leaders are scheduled to huddle with Trump at Camp David, the presidential mountain retreat, to discuss 2018 legislative priorities.

Republican and Democratic leaders are also scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to talk about immigration legislation.

Durbin said the latest White House move, coming as Congress also struggles to pass a bill by Jan. 19 to fund the government through September, could push federal agencies closer to a shutdown.

Deal downplayed

Earlier, some congressional Republicans downplayed the likelihood of a deal with Democrats on legislation to protect the Dreamers, about 700,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Republican Senator John Cornyn accused Democrats in a tweet of trying to force a deal on DACA by doing a slow walk on efforts to approve critical disaster aid and defense spending.

Two other Republicans late Thursday said the sides remained far apart.

Our discussions on border security and enforcement with Democrats are much further apart, and that is key to getting a bipartisan deal on DACA, Senators Thom Tillis and James Lankford said in a statement.

Demands include wall, agents

On Oct. 8, the White House released a list of immigration principles Trump wanted in return for giving DACA recipients legislative protection from deportation.

Besides the border wall, it included the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 300 federal prosecutors.

Immigration advocacy groups fear the hiring expansion would be part of an attempt to round up the adult relatives of Dreamers to ship them to their native countries.

Resubmitting the demands that were dismissed by Democrats three months ago, Durbin said, was outrageous. But he added that bipartisan negotiations continue among senators.

Democrats have said they are open to tying DACA to additional funding for border security technology. But they oppose Trumps wall, which government estimates have said could cost more than $21 billion.

Republican lawmakers met with Trump at the White House on Thursday and initially emerged saying they were optimistic that they could find a legislative fix for DACA.

Both parties need a win

The struggle over the Dreamers carries political weight for both parties heading into the November 2018 midterm congressional elections. Most of the DACA recipients came from Mexico and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats.

Cornyn, in an interview on Fox News on Friday, said Trump would demand that an immigration deal address the visa lottery system and migration that unites family members.

Those are things that hes insisted upon, and Democrats would have to embrace them along with border security, Cornyn said.
The FBI is investigating whether the Clinton Foundation accepted donations in exchange for political favors while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, two people familiar with the probe confirmed Friday. The revelation comes as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have been urging the Justice Department to look into corruption allegations involving the foundation.



It is unclear when or why the probe began, but the sources told The Associated Press it has been ongoing for several months, with prosecutors and FBI agents taking the lead from their offices in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation has offices. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Hill newspaper first reported the probe.



Critics have accused the Clinton family of using the foundation to enrich themselves and give donors special access to the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. But public corruption prosecutors in Washington expressed disinterest in working with the FBI on a Clinton Foundation-related investigation in 2016, saying they had concerns about the strength of the FBI's evidence.



A spokesman for the foundation, Craig Minassian, said it had been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have proven false.



Trump has repeatedly called for an investigation into Clinton, her aides and the foundation, harping on Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not taking action. Democrats say Trump is trying to steer attention away from investigations examining whether his campaign was involved with Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.



Sessions in November directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate a number of Republican grievances and determine whether a special counsel should be appointed to look into allegations that the Clinton Foundation benefited from an Obama-era uranium transaction involving a Russian state company. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said the prosecutors would also make recommendations into whether any matters currently under investigation need additional resources.
The number of hate crimes in major U.S. cities rose for the third consecutive year last year, driven by attacks on Jews, Muslims, blacks and LGBT people, preliminary police data exclusively provided to VOA show.

At least 1,056 hate crimes were committed in nine of nations largest cities in 2017, an increase of 18 percent from 2016 levels, according to police data compiled by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.

Several major metropolitan areas, such as Washington, Philadelphia, Seattle and Phoenix, reported double-digit increases in hate-based crimes, extending a trend that started in 2015 and accelerated during the contentious presidential election campaign in 2016.

Among the nations five largest cities, the overall increase in hate crimes was smaller; however, the number of reported incidents rose to 719 from 664, an uptick of 8 percent.

Two declines

The slower rate of increase in those five cities was attributable to two notable declines.

New York City, the nations largest city, reported 339 hate crimes, a notch lower than 2016 levels, while Chicago, the third largest U.S. city, recorded 50 hate crimes through the first three-quarters of the year, a decline of 7 percent from the same period in 2016.

But the trajectory of hate crimes remains pointed upward, with 2017 likely to show another moderate rise after similar increases the past two years.

Whether you have increases or declines, a lot of these cities are at or near multiyear highs, said Brian Levin, director of the center for the study of hate and extremism.

Hate crime data are notoriously unreliable. The FBI publishes annual hate crime stats collected from thousands of police departments, but reporting is voluntary and most agencies dont report any incidents.

The FBIs report also lags by about a year. Its most recent report, released in November, showed there were 6,121 hate crimes in 2016, up 4.6 percent from 5,850 in 2015.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense motivated by the victims race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or gender identity.

Historically, race has been by far the biggest motivator of hate crime in the United States, with blacks accounting for more than half the victims of race-based offenses.

Religion and sexual orientation are the next two drivers, although in recent years religion-based hate crimes have grown, with crimes targeting Muslims nearly doubling between 2014 and 2016.

In 2017, Jews and the LGBT community accounted for more than half of hate crime victims in the cities surveyed by Levins center. Blacks, nationally the most frequent target of hate crime, ranked No. 3, while Muslims, who account for 1 percent of the U.S. population, were at No. 4.

Homicides

The year was one of the deadliest for victims of hate crimes in more than a decade. At least 12 people were killed in nine separate suspected hate crimes, according to an unofficial tally by the San Bernardino center, although Levin stressed the actual number could turn out to be much higher.

The FBI reported five hate crime killings in 2016 and 19 in 2015, when white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The victims of the 2017 murders included four blacks, three whites, three Middle Easterners/Muslims, one gay man, and one transgender person.

Levin said there was an alarming increase in fatal attacks on transgender people. The rights group Human Rights Campaign noted a record 28 transgender murders in 2017, but only one has been labeled a hate crime.

Anti-LGBT crimes

Gay-friendly cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Washington have become magnets for violent homophobes.

In Washington, nearly one-third of all hate crimes in 2017 were directed at gays, while in Seattle more than a quarter of hate crime victims were gay. San Francisco data were not available.

Anti-Semitic bias

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization, recorded 1,299 anti-Semitic incidents during the first three-quarters of last year, an increase of 67 percent from the same period in 2016.

The figure included 168 bomb threats made against Jewish community centers and other organizations. In March, a U.S.-Israeli teen, accused of making most of the threats, was arrested in Israel.

The bomb threats were an incredibly traumatic event for Jews across the country, said Aryeh Tuchman, associate director of ADLs center on extremism.

Among the incidents recorded by ADL were 703 incidents of harassment, 584 instances of vandalism, and 12 physical assaults.

States with the largest Jewish populations reported the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents. New York state led with a total of 267 incidents, followed by California with 197 incidents.

But not everything recorded by ADL was a hate crime, Tuchman said.

Levin said, The prominence of anti-Semitic incidents in big cities is attributable to multiple factors far beyond the actions of a couple of offenders.

Anti-Muslim hate crimes

There were 195 anti-Muslim hate crimes through the first nine months of 2017, a 20 percent increase from the same period in 2016, according to the rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations.

California led the nation with 73 incidents, followed by New York with 20 hate crimes, Florida with 11 incidents and Texas with nine hate incidents, according to CAIR. All four states have large Muslim populations.

Zainab Arain, research and advocacy coordinator for CAIR, attributed the relatively large number of incidents recorded in California and New York to the groups large footprint and advocacy in those states.

There is a likelihood of cases being reported more frequently in California and New York, Arain said.

Property damage and physical assault were the most common hate crimes committed against Muslims.

The FBI reported in November that hate crimes against Muslims rose by nearly 20 percent in 2016 after jumping 67 percent in 2015.

Attacks against Muslims tend to be more violent than those against Jews, Levin said. That is partly because Muslims are more identifiable when in religious attire and have a much higher degree of prejudice directed towards them, he said.

In April, for example, a hijab-wearing woman was assaulted by a white man in downtown Los Angeles. A suspect was arrested.

In August, a Somali-American mosque was bombed in Bloomington, Minnesota. No one was hurt.
1/6/218 6:04 p.m. -- Several hundred people protested against the Iranian government in Berlin on Saturday, gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate and calling for regime change.

The rally, organized by the German wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, followed more than a week of unrest across Iran that has seen more than 20 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials. The anti-government protests have been the largest in the past decade.

1/6/2018 4:43 p.m. -- Tehran University has set up a committee to track students who had been arrested during the recent anti-government protests, university Vice President Majid Sarsangi told ISNA, according to a Reuters report.

"Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time," Sarsangi told ISNA.

A member of parliament told Reuters that about 90 students had been detained during demonstrations -- 10 of the students have not yet been accounted for.

1/6/2018 3:13 p.m. -- This amateur video appears to show anti-government protests continuing on Friday in the capital, Tehran, where security forces were reportedly out in large numbers to prevent the gatherings from turning into a larger rally. The video was published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Saturday.

Anti-government protesters in Tabriz late Friday purportedly chanted the name of Soltan, the 26-year-old philosophy student and protester who was gunned down during the bloody government crackdown on demonstrators during the 2009 mass rallies. They also said they missed Neda, a young female student who was shot dead during those same rallies and became an icon for the Green Revolution.

Another video reportedly shows thousands of fans at a soccer game in Tabriz, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province, a predominately ethnic Azeri region, chanting anti-leadership slogans.

1/6/2018 2:05 p.m. -- Demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Saturday, in a show of support for anti-government protests taking place in Iran. VOA Farsi Instagram posted these photos. The gathering, at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, was organized by the Organization of the Iranian American Communities. It was held in solidarity with those demonstrating in Iran.

1/6/2018 1:49 p.m. -- Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami, during his Friday prayers, called on Iran to create its own indigenous social media apps, blaming them for the unrest that followed days of protest in the Islamic Republic over its economy.

1/6/2018 10:59 a.m.  Thousands of pro-government supporters rally Saturday across Iran for the fourth consecutive day  one day after Iran's foreign minister said a United Nations meeting was a "blunder" by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

State television showed demonstrators in the cities of Amol, Semnam and Shadegan wielding Iranian flags and chanting slogans against the U.S., Israel and Britain. Rallies also were held in the provinces of Khuzestan, Semnan and West Azerbaijan.

1/6/2018 4:08 a.m.  Irans foreign minister says a U.S. move to call an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on protests in country marks another foreign policy blunder for the Trump administration.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter late Friday that the Security Council rebuffed the U.S. naked attempt to hijack its mandate.

He says the majority emphasized the need to fully implement the nuclear deal and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced encouragement for anti-government demonstrations that have broken out in Iran. The U.S. called the U.N. meeting on Friday, portraying the protests that began last week as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

On Saturday, Irans state TV showed several hundred government supporters rallying a day after Zarif's comment.

The state broadcaster showed the pro-government rally in the city of Amol, in the northern province of Mazandaram, with hundreds of people waving the Iranian flag and chanting slogans against the U.S. and Israel. State TV described the rally as a response to rioters and supporters of the riots.

1/6/2018 2:38 a.m.  U.S.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview that he is working with key lawmakers to find a legislative way to enable to keep the United States in the Iran nuclear deal.

He also expressed some disappointment that the European Union has not taken "a more definitive stance in supporting" the protesters in Iran.

1/6/2018 12:26 a.m.  RFE/RL reports that Iranian authorities have blocked social media and messaging apps to foil would-be organizers and quell ongoing antigovernment protests.

But in one minor regard, state officials appear to have decided that if they can't beat 'em, they'll join 'em.

The country's state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), used the banned messaging app Telegram to hail the authorities' ban on that very same app.

1/6/2018 12:26 a.m.  (From RFE/RL) Some credit Roohollah Zam with providing a crucial information platform for Iranian protesters as they take on the Iranian regime. Tehran, however, accuses him of inciting violence and spreading fake news.

Whichever way you see it, there is no doubting that Zam, a former journalist turned exile, has become someone for the Iranian authorities to reckon with. Making use of the encrypted safety of the messaging app Telegram and the information agency he runs from abroad, Zam takes on all members of the establishment in Iran in an effort to bring the system down.

SATURDAY EVENTS 1/6/2018

*Some information for this report provided by AP.

More live blogs:

VOA Persian Service coverage of Iran Protests in Farsi



Follow @VOAIran breaking news coverage in Farsi on Twitter
Russia's Supreme Court has upheld a ruling barring opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running in the March presidential election.

The high court upheld the Central Election Commission's decision banning Navalny from running because of his conviction on criminal charges.

Navalny and his followers say those charges were politically motivated.

Navalny has called for demonstrations across Russia on January 28 to protest the country's upcoming presidential vote.

Polls say that incumbent President Vladimir Putin will likely win another six-year term when the election is held on March 18.

Navalny contends that Putin, who has spent the last 17 years as either president or prime minister, has been in power too long. The opposition leader says Putin's popularity is largely due to biased state media and an electoral system that excludes legitimate opponents.

Putin, a former KGB officer, is running as an independent, a decision some observers believe would enhance his image as a leader of a nation instead of a party political figure.

Allies have praised Putin for restoring national pride and enhancing Russia's position as a global leader with military interventions in Syria and Ukraine.


Ex-Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili is vowing to fight the Georgian government if Ukrainian officials move to extradite him to Georgia in light of his conviction by a Tbilisi court Friday.

The court tried and convicted Saakashvili in absentia of abusing his pardon powers while in office. Georgias prosecutor says Saakashvili, who was in office from 2004-2013, tried to cover up evidence in the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani. The 28-year-old banker was found dead outside of Tbilisi with multiple injuries after he was seen arguing in a bar with high-ranking Interior Ministry officials.

In 2008 Saakashvili pardoned four Georgian law enforcement officers convicted in Girgvlianis murder. Georgian prosecutors claim the pardons failed to follow the procedures of a parliamentary commission on pardons and that the pardons were ultimately part of a deal to cover up evidence in an investigation of the bankers death.

Saakashvili: Pardons were no cover-up

In an exclusive interview with VOAs Georgian Service, Saakashvili again denied that the 2008 pardons were part of a cover-up.

Of course [that] did not happen, but even if it had happened it would not have been a crime, he said, describing presidential power of pardon as unlimited, one of the very few powers that are totally unlimited for any president in the world.

Presidential pardons, the power to absolve a convict of their conviction, while common, vary by country according to constitutional statues.

Saakashvili also called Fridays sentencing a politically motivated conspiracy that has nothing to do with legality.

Nobody ever has tried a former president for using right to pardon, he said. What we see is a joint effort by the Ukrainian and Georgian oligarchs. President Poroshenko went to Tbilisi last summer, [and since] he thinks that I am his main problem, he asked them to speed up the cases against me. And thats when they came up with this case.

It is not known whether Poroshenko and his Georgian counterparts ever discussed Saakashvilis case. Shortly after Poroshenkos July 2017 visit to Tbilisi, however, Kyiv officials stripped Saakashvili, who was on U.S. soil at the time, of his Ukrainian citizenship.

In August he flew to Poland before marching across the Ukrainian border surrounded by a throng of his political supporters who moved border guards aside and ultimately transported him to Kyiv, where he now lives as the worlds only stateless ex-president.

Renewed extradition dialogue

While Saakashvilis legal turmoil has followed him from his native Georgia to his adopted home country of Ukraine, Fridays ruling represents his first prison sentence. Ukrainian officials on Friday said they would consider Georgias extradition request, though legal procedures would have to be followed.

According to Saakashvilis government-appointed lawyer, Sofio Goglichidze, the ruling violates a number of legal provisions and the constitution.

It is obvious that political persecution is going against Mikheil Saakashvili, Goglichidze said in an interview with RFE/RL. It was impossible to deliver a guilty verdict in the case in accordance with the law.

Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian prosecutor general, told Reuters by phone: [Ukrainian] prosecutors are in the process of arranging a date for Saakashvilis questioning due to Georgias request to extradite him.

But Saakashvilis lawyer in Ukraine, Ruslan Chornolutskiy, told RFE/RL that his clients legal status should prevent his extradition to Georgia.

According to Ukrainian laws, a person who was a Ukrainian citizen and for the last several years resided in Ukraine cannot be extradited, Chornolutskiy told RFE/RL. That is what the law says on foreigners and individuals without citizenship, as well as the international convention that Ukraine has ratified.

If extradited to Georgia, Saakashvili says he will start a peaceful fight to remove the government of billionaire and former prime minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili from power.

Ivanishvili is very reluctant to get me in Georgia because I am not going to sit quietly in a prison cell, he told VOA. For Gods sake, I am a founding father of modern Georgia. I have huge support among the populous there and also among a majority of law-enforcement and armed services. I am going to call for getting rid of Ivanishvilis government if they extradite me there. I will do it. I am saying it openly. We will do it peacefully, but we will do it.

I am not going to allow them to execute the wish of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin by punishing me through the hands of the Georgian jail administration and law-enforcement, he said.

As Georgias president, Saakashvili lost a five-day war in which Russian forces drove deep into Georgia in 2008. He has since referred to himself as Putins biggest enemy in the post-Soviet space.

Since Saakashvilis September return to Ukraine, he has led a number of anti-corruption protests against the government.

This story originated in VOAs Georgian Service.
Saturday marks a grim time in Sierra Leones history.

On Jan. 6, 1999, civil war officially arrived on the doorsteps of Freetown, Sierra Leones capital. Rebels invaded the city and began to torture, rape, amputate limbs and massacre the citys residents.

Sierra Leones civil war originally broke out in 1991 but had been fought only in rural areas of the country. The rebels wanted to overthrow the All Peoples Congress government at the time.

After weeks of fighting in Freetown, the rebels were driven out of Freetown by members of Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).

Memories still fresh

For Zainab Kamara, the memories of that time are still fresh in her mind.

It was devastating, it was horrible, she said, machine guns (were going)  it was like hell  you couldnt see anybody, everyone was indoors.

Several days after the invasion, as fighting ensued, she was standing just outside the back door of her home when she was hit by a snipers bullet, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. She was 14 years old at the time and has had to use an electric wheelchair since. To this day, she does not know who shot her or why. She kept the bullet that was removed by a doctor.

I actually wanted to see the thing that caused me this pain, this terror, she said. I just looked at it and held it closely to myself, since then I have not parted with the bullet, because there are times when I find things difficult, when things become tough, I look at the bullet and tell myself if I survive this bullet, I can survive anything.

50,000 dead

The countrys civil war, officially declared over in 2002, left at least 50,000 people dead and thousands more displaced.

As this anniversary unfolds, others in Sierra Leone are reflecting on what happened.

Frank Coker remembers going out to try to find food after being in his home for several days after the invasion.

When I came out from my house, he said, I saw people carrying dead bodies around  taking them from one point to another, they (government soldiers) could kill someone and say you are a rebel, because everyone was panicking, there was no trust.

Help healing needed

Sierra Leones Ministry of Social Welfare and Gender and Childrens Affairs acknowledges that Jan. 6 is significant and people should not forget what happened.

Department Minister Isata Kabia says the ministry is planning psycho-social counseling specifically for those affected by the war. She says that many believe people who endured the violence are OK and have moved on from the civil war, but that is not always the case. People are still traumatized, and the ministry is working to put in place a program for group therapy sessions. It will start as early as next week, she said.

We have to help souls heal, because without individual souls healing, the nation will still be fragile, she said. Its our responsibility and this, I think was a missed opportunity after the war, but its never too late.

As for Kamara, she says despite what happened to her, she will keep moving forward. She has already started an organization that advocates for those with disabilities, who often face discrimination, she said.

There are times I think about those who died, thank God Im alive, Im here to see this day and commemorate this day, she said.

A thought perhaps many will have on this Jan. 6 anniversary.
A South Sudanese Anglican bishop said the government of South Sudan is not serious about apprehending soldiers who rape women and girls in the country.

The Archbishop of the Internal Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Reverend Paul Yugusuk, said his office has reported a case of a pregnant women who was raped at gunpoint this week by a member of the South Sudan army stationed at Aru conjunction post on the Juba Nimule highway.

Yugusuk told VOA's South Sudan In Focus that military authorities have not yet arrested the accused soldier, who remains at large and might continue raping women in Aru at gunpoint.

The bishop said the woman and her husband were held at gun point by soldiers manning the Aru conjunction."The woman was threatened by gun. The husband was also threatened. One soldier raped the woman.The woman is now in the hospital. She has been in a critical situation.A (police case) has been opened at the Aru conjunction Police post against the SPLA," he said.

Yugusuk said his office is in contact with authorities of Jubek states to apprehend soldiers who commit atrocities against civilians.

In February 2017, President Salva Kiir ordered the country's defense minister and his army chief of staff to execute soldiers who commit murder or rape against civilians in Yei River State.

The bishop said military authorities are shielding such soldiers from facing justice.

"When the case goes up (to military authorities), this is where it also dies. So it encourages the soldiers to do what they want to do because they will not be held accountable," Yugusuk said.

The SPLA issued formal charges in June 2017 against 12 soldiers facing trial in the General Court Martial (GCM) for raping aid workers and murdering a journalist during the renewed July 2016 clash in Juba. The trial of the 12 soldiers is still ongoing.

Since the outbreak of the December 2013 conflict in South Sudan, both government and opposition troops have committed atrocities, including war crimes, extrajudicial killings, abductions and looting, and women and girls have been raped en masse.

Last year, Yugusuk was vocal about an incident where soldiers raped teenage girls in a village in South Sudan.

He said the four soldiers accused of committing the sexual crimes have not yet been charged in a court of law.

"We are still keeping the survivors [rape victims] waiting for court for one year. We don't know whether they [four soldiers] are in custody or not. You cannot ask them [military authorities]."

President Kiir warned South Sudanese not to send messages that will tarnish the image of South Sudan during his New Year message.

"You [President Kiir] cannot tell me that messages should not be sent out when our people are being raped. So we keep quiet?" the bishop inquired.
U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated Saturday that he would not support legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants from deportation unless it included funding for a border wall and eliminates the visa lottery program and extended-family-based immigration.

"We all want DACA to happen, but we also want great security for our country," Trump said of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which expires in March.

The administration has a 10-year, $18 billion plan to build a wall, something deeply unpopular with Democrats, especially when tied to DACA.

We hope that were going to be able to work out an arrangement with the Democrats, he said said Saturday. Its something, certainly, that Id like to see happen.

Trump spoke as he met with Republican lawmakers and members of his Cabinet to establish the administration's 2018 legislative priorities and to devise a strategy for midterm elections in November. They were gathered at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

"We went into DACA and how we're going to do it, and we hope that we're going be able to work out an arrangement with the Democrats. I think it's something that they'd like to see happen," Trump told reporters.

In September, Trump rescinded DACA, which was instituted by former President Barack Obama. It protected nearly 800,000 immigrants from deportation, allowing them to legally live and work in the United States.

Trump gave Congress until March 5 to agree on legislation that would allow equivalent protections to those offered under DACA, provided the measure included funding for a wall along the border with Mexico, ended the visa lottery program, and ended extended-family-based immigration, in which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to specific U.S. cities or neighborhoods.

Trump also said the drug crisis in America had reached unprecedented levels and vowed his administration would make a "big dent" in resolving the problem this year.

"One of the things we are discussing very powerfully is drugs pouring into this country and how to stop it, because it's at a point over the last number of years ... it's never been like this," he said.

Trump said the drug problem is less difficult to deal with in countries that "take it very seriously, and they're very harsh"  an apparent signal the U.S. is preparing to take a much tougher approach.

"We are going to be working on that very, very hard this year, and I think we're going make a big dent into the drug problem," he said.

Trump said the Republican leaders also discussed the nation's infrastructure needs and a variety of military issues.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was among those in attendance, did not elaborate on priorities for the the new year. But he told reporters 2017 would be "a tough year to top" and added, "If you are like those of us here at the podium, you'd like to see America be a right-of-center country."

House Speaker Paul Ryan said rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and bolstering the military would be priorities this year, as well as ensuring "that everyone enjoys the economic growth that's to come."

Republican legislative priorities also will include the budget, welfare reform and the midterm elections.

Trump appeared Saturday to back away from efforts to overhaul the welfare system. McConnell had argued that welfare reform was a no-go given Democratic opposition. And Trump appeared to have come around.

Additionally, Republicans have been eager to cut benefit programs like welfare and food stamps.

Congress must work quickly, however, to approve a funding plan by January 19 to avoid a government shutdown.

Republican priorities could be stopped in their tracks if the Democrats are successful during the midterm elections.

Trump has been facing increasing criticism about his presidential style. He begins the new year with the release of a bombshell book, Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, that describes the president as being like a child and in need of psychiatric help.

It remains to be seen how the book and other accounts of Trump's mental status will affect the upcoming elections.

All 435 members of the House and one-third of the 100 members of the Senate will be up for re-election in 2018.
Social media giant Twitter has reiterated its stance that accounts belonging to world leaders have special status, pushing back against calls from some users for the company to ban U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a blog post Friday, Twitter said it would not block the accounts of world leaders even if their statements were controversial because of a need to promote discussions about public policy.

Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate, Twitter said.

It said such a move would also not silence a world leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.

Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society, the post said.

The company has previously said that it considers whether a post is newsworthy and of public interest before deciding whether to remove it.

Twitter did not specifically mention Trump in its statement. The debate over Trump's tweets grew on Wednesday, when he tweeted that he had a much bigger nuclear button than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Critics said the tweet violated Twitter's ban against threats of violence.

Last month, Twitter began enforcing new rules to remove hateful content on the network, including posts that promote violence.

The company said Friday that it reviews all tweets, including those of world leaders. We review tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly, the statement said.

A White House spokeswoman said she did not expect there to be any White House comment on the Twitter statement.

Pete Heinlein at the White House contributed to this report.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights deplores the recent execution in Egypt of 20 men on alleged terrorist-related charges.

Five men were hanged in Alexandria on January 2. One week earlier, on December 26, 15 men reportedly were hanged in two prisons in the restive Sinai region. All were tried in military courts and found guilty of acts of terrorism.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, says her office is deeply shocked by these executions. She says it is unlikely these men received a fair trial as military courts typically deny defendants rights accorded in civilian courts.

In cases of capital punishment, trials must meet the highest standards of fairness and due process. Reports also indicate that the prisoners who were executed may have been subjected to initial enforced disappearance and torture before being tried. Despite the security challenges facing Egypt - in particular in Sinai -executions should not be used as a means to combat terrorism, Throssell said.

Four of the men executed in Alexandria were convicted in relation to an explosion near a stadium in 2015 that killed three military recruits and injured two others. The 15 men hanged on December 26 were found guilty by a military court of killing several soldiers in Sinai in 2013.

Throssell says civilians should be tried in military or special courts only in exceptional cases. Under these circumstances, she says defendants must receive a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. She says everyone charged with a criminal offense must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

She adds these guarantees appear to have been denied to the 20 men recently executed by Egyptian authorities.
The United Nations says it will open a special investigation into an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo last month that left 15 U.N. peacekeepers dead.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement Friday that he has appointed Dmitry Titov of Russia, a former U.N. assistant secretary-general, to lead the investigation.

The attack in Congos North Kivu province on Dec. 7 left 14 Tanzanian peacekeepers and five Congolese soldiers dead. The United Nations said 43 other peacekeepers were wounded in the attack and one remains missing.

The United Nations said Friday the investigation will examine the circumstances surrounding the attack, evaluate the preparedness of the peacekeeping mission in Congo, and provide recommendations to prevent future attacks.

It said the investigation team, which in addition to the officials from the United Nations will also include two military officers from Tanzania, will travel to Congo in early January and will also visit relevant countries in the Great Lakes region.

Following the December attack, a U.N. official told VOA that a Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is suspected to be behind the violence. The group is an Islamist rebel group that has been active in North Kivu.

The U.N. Security Council said the attack was the worst on U.N. peacekeepers in recent years and said in a statement last month that incident was a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by these brave women and men every day.
U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be ratcheting up the pressure on Pakistan, suggesting he would be in favor of cutting all aid to Islamabad over the governments refusal to take more decisive action against terrorism.

The president tweeted late Friday that ending U.S. assistance to Pakistan would be a Good Idea, in response to a tweet from U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

Im introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days, Paul said in his Tweet. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home.

The suggestion of cutting all funding to Pakistan, a long-time ally with a history of uneasy relations with the U.S., runs counter to the message White House officials were putting out earlier in the day.

I just want to be clear that its been suspended. Nothing has been reappropriated, a senior administration official said of the $1.9 billion in aid. Were hopeful that we can lift the suspension and the aid will be able to go forward.

'A matter of frustration'



But the official also warned, that the Pakistani government had pushed President Trumps patience past its limits.



Hes monitoring Pakistan and how Pakistan has responded to our requests," the official said. "It was a matter of frustration. The kinds of information that were coming to him were not satisfying."

There has been ample time for Pakistan to show that it is taking our requests seriously, the official added, calling the U.S. requests very clear. Unfortunately,we have not seen the type of meaningful action we are seeking.



The Trump administration announced its decision to suspend the aid Thursday, saying it would remain frozen until Islamabad takes "decisive action" against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The funding freeze affects $1 billion for military equipment and another $900 million in payments to defray the cost of counterterrorism operations, officials said Friday.

There has been ample time for Pakistan to show that it is taking our requests seriously, a senior U.S. administration official said Friday.

We have made very clear what our expectations are, the official said. Unfortunately, we have not seen the type of meaningful action we are seeking.

Pakistan: US move undermines cooperation

But Pakistans military dismissed the U.S. action as a meaningless deterrent that would serve only to undermine security cooperation and regional peace efforts.

Pakistan never fought for money but for peace, army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor told VOA.

Ghafoor also denied U.S. allegations that Pakistan was giving either the Taliban or the Haqqanis any sort of safe haven from which they can attack U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Military-led counterterrorism operations, Ghafoor said, have targeted terrorists indiscriminately, including the Haqqani network at a heavy cost of blood and treasure. He insisted there are no more organized terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

Casting doubts on our will is not good to our common objective of moving toward enduring peace and stability. Pakistan shall continue its sincere efforts in [the] best interest of Pakistan and peace, the army spokesman said.

In a separate statement Friday, Pakistans foreign ministry criticized the U.S. for arbitrary deadlines and unilateral pronouncements. It asserted that Islamabad has fought the anti-terrorism war largely from its own financial resources.

Emergence of new and more deadly groups such as Daesh in Afghanistan call for enhancing international cooperation, the Pakistani statement said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

And the ministry called U.S. pressure counterproductive in addressing common threats.

Trump tweet

The war of words between the two allies was triggered Monday, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slash funding for Pakistan, accusing it on Twitter of providing a haven to terrorists and playing U.S. leaders for fools.

In his Twitter comments, Trump said Washington has received nothing but lies and deceits in return for giving Pakistan more than $33 billion in the last 15 years.

Pakistani officials say they have received $14 billion and that Washington still owes the country $9 billion.

Both the U.S. action and Trumps remarks have upset many in Pakistan.

A leading opposition politician, Imran Khan, on Friday demanded the government categorically refuse to accept any future U.S. assistance in the wake of Trumps remarks.

Despite Pakistan clearing up North Waziristan, still half of Afghanistan is in Taliban hands. So, who is responsible for this? Khan asked. To make Pakistan the scapegoat of a failed strategy in Afghanistan is not just a travesty of justice, it is deeply insulting and humiliating.

Wavering ties?

Despite the tough talk, some U.S. officials are hopeful Washington and Islamabad can resolve their differences.

We are still working with Pakistan and we will restore the aid if we see decisive movements against the terrorists, who are as much of a threat against Pakistan as they are against us, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters Friday.

Senior U.S. officials also said some of the suspended funding could be made available on a case-by-case basis in order to protect U.S. national security interests.

A senior U.S. official warned, however, that the government in Islamabad had pushed President Trumps patience past its limits.

Hes monitoring Pakistan and how Pakistan has responded to our requests, the official said. It was a matter of frustration. The kinds of information that were coming to him were not satisfying.

Pakistans reluctance to undertake counterterrorism operations, specifically in the Waziristan region, has been a major irritant in relations with the U.S., which sees the area as a training ground for Taliban and Haqqani militants.

U.S. officials say such safe havens remain intact, allowing the Taliban and Haqqani to conduct attacks in Afghanistan, such as a May 31, 2017 bombing that ripped through Kabuls diplomatic quarter, killing more than 150 people.

Still, the Trump administrations hard line with Pakistan is not without risk.

For all the talk of how the U.S. may finally be taking its pressure to a new level to get the results it wants, pushing harder could backfire in a big way, cautioned Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based foreign policy think tank.

If Pakistan feels sufficiently provoked by tough U.S. measures, it could retaliate in ways that damage U.S. interests in South Asia, Kugelman said. The most likely scenario is that Pakistan could shut down NATO supply routes on its soil, which would make Americas difficult war effort in Afghanistan all the more challenging.

Risk acknowledged

The Pentagon sought Friday to downplay such concerns, but Trump administration officials admit that is a risk, and say there have been some preliminary talks with other allies in the region about providing lethal aid to coalition forces.

Im not saying it would be impossible, but it would not be easy, the senior administration official said.

The U.S. has been forced to find alternate supply routes before.

In 2011, Pakistan shut down U.S. supply routes through its territory and airspace for months after U.S. airstrikes that mistakenly hit and killed 24 Pakistani border forces.

We havent exactly entered uncharted territory in U.S.-Pakistan relations, Kugelman said, noting both countries have found ways to forge ahead in the past. Theres a good chance that if the screws start to tighten on Pakistan, then Pakistan may be compelled to take some modest measures to appease the U.S. in the short term.

For now, though, its the frustration that has come to the fore.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, in an interview with the local Geo News television, said the U.S. was now neither a friend nor ally but a friend who always betrays. He went on to say that Islamabad will have to review its ties to Washington and to strengthen relations with key regional patterns, including China, Iran and Russia.

VOA's Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, the conservative former attorney general of Oklahoma, is interested in replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions if that job becomes available, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

President Donald Trump has openly criticized Sessions for months, provoking speculation that the attorney general might resign or be fired. The EPA chief would likely accept the position if it were offered by Trump, a source close to Pruitt told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Jahan Wilcox, an EPA spokesman, in an email denied that Pruitt was interested in serving as attorney general. This is not true, Wilcox said.

Administrator Pruitt is solely focused on implementing President Trump's agenda to protect the environment, Wilcox added.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

As EPA chief, Pruitt has worked to overturn a number of environmental policies put in place under Republican Trumps Democratic predecessor Barack Obama and was instrumental in the U.S. decision to walk away from the 2015 Paris global climate change accord.

Pruitt was the runner-up to Sessions for the attorney general post when Trump was first assembling his Cabinet, according to the source.

Another source said Pruitt felt that serving as attorney general  the top U.S. law enforcement post  would be a better fit for him than his current job or running either for governor or senator in his home state.

News organization Politico first reported Pruitt's interest in the attorney general job.

Trump has been at odds with Sessions since the attorney general recused himself in March from the federal investigation into potential collusion between the Trumps presidential campaign and Russia in the 2016 U.S. election. Pressure on Sessions has been rising, and some conservative Republican lawmakers have called on him to resign.

The White House said Pruitt will attend a weekend meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland with Trump, other Cabinet members and Republican congressional leaders to lay out legislative priorities for the year and discuss a strategy for the November congressional elections. Sessions will not attend, his office said.

Pruitt served as Oklahomas attorney general prior to taking the EPA job, suing the EPA 14 times, each time taking the side of industry. As EPA chief, he has spearheaded an aggressive de-regulatory agenda that has begun to unwind Obama administration policies on climate change, air pollution and water pollution.

Environmental activists expressed alarm over the potential of Pruitt as attorney general.

If Scott Pruitt becomes attorney general, hed go from tearing down public health protections at EPA at the behest of polluters, to looking the other way at the Justice Department when they break the law, Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the shutdown of all air and sea links to three island nations for three days, citing illegal trafficking of goods and resources.

Maduro made the declaration late Friday in a televised appearance. He said the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao had been running black markets by taking gold, diamonds, copper and food products from Venezuela and selling them illegally.

He said organized crime rings were "waging war on our electricity. They steal our copper and they sell it illegally."

The Caribbean islands, known as the "ABC islands" because of their first initials, are a short distance from Venezuela's northern coast. They are a popular landing site for Venezuelans fleeing the country's food shortages.

This is not the first time Maduro has closed borders during times when the nation is under duress. He shut the border with Colombia in 2015 and again in 2016, alleging Colombian mobsters were hoarding Venezuelan currency.

Critics of Maduro's border closures say they do little to stop illegal trade, but are effective at keeping Venezuelans from leaving the country to buy supplies during shortages.
Former First Lady Grace Mugabe faces a corruption probe following a formal complaint filed by lecturers at the University of Zimbabwes Sociology Department over the manner in which she attained her doctorate.

According to the privately-owned Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, Mrs. Mugabe, who fell from grace when her attempts to succeed her husband Robert Mugabe were thwarted by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and then sacked Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in November last year, may face corruption charges as all faculty members have distanced themselves from supervising her research.

The newspaper reports that two senior UZ officials, vice chancellor Levi Nyagura and senior lecturer Professor Claude Mararike, who was supposedly one of Graces supervisors, may be arrested within the next few days as the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is handling the case.

The Zimbabwe Independents sources claim that staff members never handled Mrs. Mugabes research proposal as she only allegedly surfaced on graduation day when she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy Degree on the same day former Vice President Joice Mujuru attained her doctorate.

Lecturers and students are complaining that the awarding of the doctorate to Mrs. Mugabe has undermined the status of the University of Zimbabwe.

The newspaper reports that the awarding of the doctorate to the former first lady allegedly violated certain provisions of the university charter and Zimbabwes constitution.

The fuming academics are demanding a formal investigation to determine whether Graces degree and other administrative practices do not violate Chapter 9, sections 194, 196-198 of the Constitution in relation to the governing of the UZ as a public institution, writes the newspaper, which quoted authoritative ZACC sources.

Mrs. Mugabe was not reachable for comment.

Meanwhile, the newspaper also reports that Mrs. Mugabes sons Bellarmine Chatunga and Robert Junior, stepson Russell Goreraza and son-in-law Simba Chikore and several former state officials are facing arrest.

ZACC is said to be investigating them for engaging in serious corruption activities ranging from illegal gold deals to corruption and murder.
Appeal to save Rome's oldest coffee bar which opened in 1760.

Caffe Greco, the historic bar on Via dei Condotti near the Spanish Steps, faces closure after more than 250 years in business unless its management company pays more than the current 18,000 monthly rent.

The Antico Caffe Greco Srl company has until 20 March to come to a new agreement with the property's owners, Rome's Israelite hospital which has three medical facilities in the city, including its base on Tiber Island.

The bar's threatened closure has prompted an appeal by Italia Nostra, the organisation dedicated to the protection of Italy's heritage, to UNESCO as well as requesting intervention from the Italian culture ministry and Rome's mayor Virginia Raggi.

However the management company's president Carlo Pellegrini told Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that he hopes to reach a deal with the owners before the eviction notice takes effect, even if it means buying the property.

Antico Caffe Greco has been in business since 1760.

Over the centuries the bar has provided a refuge for an eclectic range of intellectuals and characters - many of them foreign - such as Hans Christian Anderson, Byron, Buffalo Bill, Casanova, Goethe, Gogol, Ibsen, Henry James, Keats, Shelley, Stendhal, Mark Twain and Orson Welles.

Caffe Greco was also frequented regularly by Italian artists including Giorgio de Chirico, whose house-museum is located nearby, and Renato Guttuso who immortalised the bar in a celebrated 1976 painting (pictured in cover image), today in the collection of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.

Memorabilia and mementos of its illustrious clientele cover the walls of the bar which remains on the cultural tourist trail but whose prices don't come cheap.
Museums in Rome free on first Sunday of every month.

Italy's state-run museums and archaeological sites are open free of charge on the first Sunday of every month, with the next edition of Domenica al Museo taking place on 7 January.

Rome's civic-run museums are also free on 7 January - for residents of the capital - for information see Musei in Comune website
Some businesses are holding off on installing the fix for a massive security bug in microchips exposing nearly every computer and smartphone to hacking, fearing the solution is worse than the problem. (Video: Reuters)

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Security experts scrambled on Friday to try to reassure computer users worldwide that a newly discovered type of security flaw can be managed  though not eliminated  through the simple act of updating software with patches that technology companies have been frantically developing for months. Make your technology a force for good. Sign up for The Tech Friend newsletter with Shira Ovide. ArrowRight But this relatively soothing message comes against a backdrop of alarm within the technology industry, which has been stunned to discover that the microchips powering nearly every computer and smartphone have for years carried fundamental flaws that can be exploited by hackers and yet cannot be entirely fixed.

The flaws, announced this week and dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, flow from designs that allowed computers to operate more quickly and efficiently. Though it's not clear whether hackers have exploited these flaws, security experts say attacks would be relatively easy to develop and could allow the theft of private information such as passwords, credit card numbers, private corporate data and other information stored in computers or smartphones. Such attacks, the experts add, would likely not leave any trace that could be detected.

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"This is the most significant security news we've had in the last 10 years," said Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University specializing in health-care security. "Some of the mitigations are going to be extremely expensive. I think this is the real deal."

Though the patches issued in recent days and weeks should largely protect users against Meltdown  which exploits a flaw mainly in Intel microchips  companies have long struggled to successfully distribute such fixes to all of their users. The patches, meanwhile, are likely to cause computers, smartphones and other devices from Apple, Dell and other PC makers to operate more slowly, though it's not clear whether the difference will be noticeable to users.

Experts consider Spectre  which affects AMD, Arm and Intel chips  more difficult for hackers to exploit but also harder to fix through software patches.

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For both flaws, a total fix will require the redesign, production and distribution of new computer chips  a process that experts say is likely to take many years to complete.

Security experts said it was impossible to know whether hackers had used the two software flaws to steal data, though it's possible given that rumors of the flaws had been circulating for several months within the security community.

"It gave lots of people time to do things with it," said Jake Williams, president of Rendition InfoSec and a former National Security Agency employee. "I'm not worried about NSA. I'm worried about everybody else."

Current and former U.S. officials also said the NSA did not know about or use Meltdown or Spectre to enable electronic surveillance on targets overseas. The agency often uses computer flaws to break into targeted machines, but it also has a mandate to warn companies about particularly dangerous or widespread flaws so that they can be fixed.

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Rob Joyce, White House cybersecurity coordinator, said, "NSA did not know about the flaw, has not exploited it and certainly the U.S. government would never put a major company like Intel in a position of risk like this to try to hold open a vulnerability."

Joyce, who used to run the NSA's elite hacking division, recently made public the rules by which the government decides to disclose or keep secret software and hardware flaws that can be exploited by hackers, including NSA personnel. He said the vulnerabilities equities process, known as VEP, "is very responsible."

The bigger risk may be criminal hackers. Cybersecurity researcher Matt Tait said he first learned about Meltdown last week. With about a day of work, he was able to develop a functioning example of how the vulnerability could work. He said it's impossible to know whether malicious hackers have deployed Meltdown because the flaw creates no record of the intrusion.

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"The reality is we don't know," said Tait, a senior cybersecurity fellow at the Robert S. Strauss Center at the University of Texas at Austin. "Now that the vulnerability has been made public, we should expect this being exploited in the wild in the next few days."

It's common for researchers to withhold public disclosure of a security flaw until companies can create patches to protect users. But the delay for Meltdown and Spectre was unusually long because of the difficulty of trying to remedy hardware problems and the complexity of working across affected companies.

"It's been annoying because the kinds of changes that this all causes for system software are really nasty to write and test . . . So there's a lot of reasons why it's not the 'fun' kind of challenge," said Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, in an email reply to questions from The Washington Post.

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He added, "For most people, get your system updates and not doing stupid things ('don't run random software from people you don't trust') and you're fine."

Of particular concern, however, are the risks to cloud servers, which often carry the information of multiple customers on a single machine, making them potentially vulnerable to attacks such as Meltdown.

Dozens of large companies have moved volumes of data from company-owned data centers into remote computers that are owned and managed by Amazon.com, Microsoft, Google and other technology companies. Amazon is the largest player in the cloud computing industry. (Amazon's owner, Jeffrey P. Bezos, owns The Washington Post.)

In the last year alone, Costco, Hulu, General Electric, Kohl's and PayPal are among the companies that have signed on with major cloud providers. Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has said growing his company's cloud computing service is among his top priorities.

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While companies, particularly banks and health-care institutions, have long expressed concern about letting other companies house their most sensitive data, many have warmed to the idea. Some have said that technology companies are actually better equipped to make major investments in security and in enhancing the performance of data-processing software, but news of major security flaws threatens to make companies reconsider.

Experts say that for ordinary computer and smartphone users, the main priority should be keeping their software updated.

Buying new computers without the hardware flaw is impractical and expensive, even for deep-pocketed companies and government agencies.

"The costs alone are insane," said Tony Cole, vice president and global government chief technology officer at FireEye. He estimated that a global overhaul would amount to trillions of dollars in new expenses. "It would be mind-boggling if everyone tried."

Follow The Post's tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect.

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High on a hill in South America's largest slum, Samantha Almeida started at the latest volley of gunfire. It was close. Too close. She knew she had to get her girls moving. The shootout had woken them an hour before. Killings in Rocinha, once the showcase shantytown in Brazil's showcase city, had quadrupled in less than a year. In recent weeks, it had taken on the feel of a war zone as drug traffickers battled with police.

Suddenly, the bullets were buzzing just above the roof. The family members had started sleeping in one room because they felt safer together, and Samantha, a 33-year old who sold coffee in a park, had drilled her girls on an escape plan. When she gave the sign, they would move fast, keeping low, to a windowless, bunkerlike terrace.

Another shot rang out, and Samantha rose, telling the girls to follow, she later recalled. Eight-year-old Natasha moved quickly. But Nicolly, her painfully shy 16-year-old, was still struggling to her feet when they heard the window crack.

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And then blood was seeping through Nicolly's pink tank top.

"Mama," the girl said before slumping. "I've been shot."

'These are bad times'

Rocinha, Rio's largest favela  or hillside shantytown  was once ascendant, a symbol of rising fortunes in a nation that finally seemed on the fast track to greatness. But a little more than a year after Rio hosted the Olympic Games, that optimism is disappearing in a wave of urban violence.

Across Rio, at least 120 police officers were killed in 2017. Through December, 6,590 people were slain  the highest rate in nearly a decade. Crippled by corruption scandals and economic woes, the "Marvelous City" is floundering. Its police force is broken.

In Rocinha, residents are using cellphone apps to track shootouts. Schools have closed or shortened their hours because of the violence. In September, the army was called in to help pacify the streets. In November, students were trapped inside their homes by gunfire, unable to take their equivalent of the SATs.

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The mayhem in the favela of nearly 200,000 people reflects a national plague. Brazil suffered a record 61,000 violent deaths in 2016, a figure greater than the estimated loss of life that year in Syria's civil war. While the numbers are not directly comparable  Brazil has 10 times more people than Syria  the carnage is still extraordinary.

For Rocinha, it amounts to a painful reversal of fortune. As Brazil's economy boomed in recent years, the green shoots of a middle class had sprouted. Bank branches and jewelry stores opened amid Rocinha's ramshackle huts. Fast-food chains moved in  even sushi bars. Fashion designers came from Paris and New York to draw inspiration from its urban verve. Its hivelike streets were portrayed in the animated Hollywood movie "Rio." Property values for Rocinha's shacks  some with million-dollar views of the Christ the Redeemer statue on Mount Corcovado  soared.

The streets were far safer, thanks in part to the city's pacification police program, which sought to drive out the drug traffickers who had propelled homicide rates to deadly highs in the 1990s and were still ubiquitous.

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For many like Samantha, the current crime wave is even worse than Rocinha's earlier years of violence.

"It was nothing like this before," she said. "Nobody locked their doors. In the middle of the night, if you needed something, you'd go out and get it at the pharmacy. You'd go to the cafe if you were hungry . . . at any hour. [But] these are bad times."

A hospital in a war zone

Nicolly was unconscious when her stepfather carried her into Miguel Couto Municipal Hospital, the closest to Rocinha. He was covered in her blood by then. Medical personnel quickly determined she had a bullet lodged just above her left shoulder blade and wheeled her into surgery.

As her stunned mother waited, one gunshot patient after another was rushed in. "Things were on fire," Samantha would later recall.

Such scenes are increasingly common in Rio's hospitals. Doctors say they are struggling to cope not only with a surge in gunshot wounds but also shrapnel from grenades.

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"We're dealing with weapons of war being used in an urban area," said Ricardo Vassallo, chief of general surgery at Miguel Couto. He keeps a reference book on his desk  "War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"I know doctors, nurses who are afraid to come to work now," he said. "Those who can are thinking about leaving Rio."

Rio's ravaged budget

The outbreak of violence in Rocinha was ostensibly triggered by the execution of three top traffickers by rivals in August. But the bigger culprit, observers say, is the erosion of the state in a nation whipsawed by economic crisis and corruption.

Brazil puts the B in the BRICs, an elite club of economies including Russia, India and China once seen as emerging powerhouses. But Latin America's largest country has been weakened by political and economic crises, and its fragility is extending to places such as Rocinha.

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A financial scandal cost then-President Dilma Rousseff her job in 2016. Her replacement, Michel Temer, spent the past year fighting corruption allegations. In the Rio state, former governor Sergio Cabral was sentenced in June to 14 years in prison for his part in the massive corruption and bribery scandal known as Lava Jato, or "Car Wash." Authorities say he received more than 224 million reais, or about $67.6 million, related to construction projects, including one involving the government-controlled oil giant Petrobras. The broader Car Wash scandal has rocked Petrobras, causing it to lose billions of dollars and slash spending.

The turmoil has ravaged the budget of Rio, which relies heavily on royalties from Petrobras. Rio state was so close to financial disaster before the Olympics that it needed a bailout from the federal government. The price was deep spending cuts, which are taking a severe toll.

Rodrigo Alves, undersecretary of Rio state's security services, said 50 percent of the vehicles belonging to its major police forces don't work. Officers are no longer being paid overtime, and most are owed back wages. The force has lost 2,000 officers in the past year  more than three times the normal attrition rate.

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"We don't even have gas for our helicopters," Alves said.

The financial squeeze has made Rio police officers  notorious for bribe-taking  even more susceptible to temptation. In May, evidence surfaced that officers in northern Rio had "rented" an armored vehicle to drug traffickers for the equivalent of roughly $300,000. In October, four officers, including a unit commander, were arrested after investigators found an illegal cache of marijuana and cocaine and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition for high-caliber guns at their station.

"The political and economic crisis, together with austerity measures, have had a dramatic impact on police operations and morale," said Robert Muggah, research director of the Rio-based Igarape Institute, which studies violence.

In Rocinha, gang warfare became so bad that the state called in the army for a week in September. Since then, heavily armed special police forces have patrolled the favela. On a recent afternoon, their black jeeps careened around a corner as tense officers trained machine guns on the hillside. A few streets away, several men  apparently drug traffickers  stood in the shadows, one of them clutching a pistol. Rocinha's neighborhood association insists that at least some of the police are on the payroll of one gang. With no single group solidly in command, and the police struggling to regain control, a crime wave has broken out. Homes are being burgled, businesses robbed.

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Residents of the favela are distraught.

"You watch the battles in the Middle East on TV. Here, it's worse," said Marcos Alfredo Guedes de Oliveira, whose Rocinha butcher shop was robbed at gunpoint recently for the first time in its 20-year history.

"Rocinha is at war."

Rocinha's new reality

Samantha was born and raised in Rocinha. While the favela was long home to drug gangs, they were relatively benevolent to most residents, training their ire on rival groups, informants and police.

For years, Samantha had a good job as a teacher's aide at a private preschool in Rocinha. But as security eroded and the economy crumbled, she noticed fewer kids in the school.

She was laid off in December 2016. Her husband, a mototaxi driver in Rocinha, saw his receipts drop, too. After months without work, Samantha had recently landed a job  standing for eight hours a day behind a coffee cart in a local park.

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She wanted better for her girls. But on that October morning, as she waited in the emergency room, she wasn't even sure Nicolly would survive.

Within hours of the shooting, a message went viral on the favela's social media networks: Nicolly Almeida was dead.

But she wasn't.

The rumor was false. In fact, a few hours after treatment, Nicolly was speaking again, "almost normally," her mother recalled.

The teenager came home a week later. One month after the shooting, she sat in the family home, barely speaking. She was startled by every loud noise. When fireworks went off  a method scouts use to notify traffickers of approaching police  she hit the floor.

Samantha wants to stay in Rocinha; it's what she knows. Nicolly doesn't.

Asked whether she felt safe, the teen said: "No, not anymore."

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Washington braves the cold weather Share Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn MailSolid Email this link View Photos View Photos Next Image WASHINGTON, DC -DEC 29: A group of homeless folks catches the eye of a pedestrian on the 1300 block of K street NW. One of the sleepers is Dion Druz (center of frame, gray blanket) who opts for the streets because he once got bed bug bites at the shelter. -For a variety of reasons, some homeless folks on the streets of Washington, D.C. opt to stay on the streets in the fierce cold weather rather than stay in a homeless shelter. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) What little fun could be had from the inch or so of snow that fell overnight Thursday was over. Friday was a day for reckoning. Water mains broke. Lunch trucks stayed in. Rock salt was dumped on streets and sidewalks, melded into a bleak crust. The National Weather Service felt compelled to remind the public exactly what hypothermia looks like.

Temperatures plunged to lows  13 degrees at Reagan National Airport, 10 degrees at Dulles  that forced meteorologists to reach back to the 19th century for comparisons on that date. Lighthearted discussions of the term "bomb cyclone" turned to more serious discussions of "explosive bombogenesis."

As low as temperatures were, according to Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow, they didn't tell the whole story. The length of this cold snap was more remarkable, with temperatures below 35 degrees since the day after Christmas. And as it so often is, wind chill was the culprit, reaching as low as negative 10.

"It's cold enough to cause frostbite in 30 minutes," Samenow said.

No deaths have been reported  but the cold snap isn't expected to break until next week. In Prince George's County, 65-year-old Daniel DeHaven, who is nonverbal and has dementia, was reported missing Tuesday. On Friday afternoon, despite searches by helicopters and bloodhounds, he was still missing.

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"It's only gotten worse with the weather," Prince George's County Police Deputy Chief Sammy Patel said. "Every day that goes by, it gets more and more dire."

The homeless were, of course, also vulnerable. A spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Health said 1,900 people and 733 families were in emergency shelters Thursday night. Almost 100 people chose to sleep outside, according to DOH estimates, and are checked on nightly, the spokeswoman said.

Education also took a hit. In the District's suburbs, Thursday's ill-timed snow day came just after the new year stretched into Friday, pushing some parents to the limit.

Amanda Ponzar, who has a kindergartner and a fourth-grader in Fairfax County Public Schools, pointed out that her children were off 17 days for winter break, then back for two days before being off for two more. She was shocked by the decision to close schools for a small amount of snow on Thursday and then again for wind chill on Friday.

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"I'm sorry  it's windy?" she said. "You don't close school for 'windy.' "

But all suburban districts did close, or at least began two hours late. (No snow day for you, D.C. Public Schools students.)

If the traffic volume was light as a result of children kept home, commutes were complicated by water main breaks  enough for 40 crews to stay busy, according to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. One, at Virginia Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway near the entrance to Interstate 66, left a sheet of ice over a major intersection.

Nor was every highway clear. Early Friday, icy patches of snow covered parts of U.S. 50 in Maryland as drivers traveled 40 mph through a landscape perhaps best compared to Green Bay, Wis. Even worse: In Easton, Md., bingo night was canceled in one community.

A massive winter storm known as a bomb cyclone" crawled up the East Coast on Jan. 4 with blizzard conditions. (Video: WUSA9)

Meanwhile, reporters asking people on the street about the weather had the ink in their pens freeze.

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At the corner of Vermont Avenue and K Street NW, Wang Show faced a conundrum. As anyone who walked by the table she'd minded for a quarter-century could see, she sold hats, gloves and scarves. And Friday, if nothing else, was great hat-glove-and-scarf-selling weather.

"It's a good chance for me," she said. "It's cold; come buy!"

Yet the temperatures that might give a body the notion to buy a hat also kept people off the streets.

As Wang herself remarked moments before a woman haggled the price of an $8 pair of gloves down to $5: "There are not many people, so business is so-so."

On the Mall, Melanie Perez stood on the frozen Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool where, despite officials' concerns, visitors walked and even skated on the ice. She had come to Washington for a reason some might find hard to fathom this week: "Just to get away from Miami," she said.

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Though frozen iguanas are falling from the trees in Florida, temperatures there were at least hovering around the balmy 40-degree mark. Still, Perez was excited to be here, in the great north.

"If I want to be warm, I can go back to the hotel," she said.

Other out-of-towners were not so game. In front of the White House, Martha Garcia and Aaron Flores, both from Southern California, shivered in unfamiliar parkas.

"I did my research," Garcia said. "I packed well."

For Flores, however, no amount of preparation was enough.

"This is climate shock," he said.

Susan Hogan, Peter Jamison, Lynh Bui and Perry Stein contributed to this report.

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Pitting herself against good-government advocates and members of the D.C. Council, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Friday that she will not fund a public finance program for local elections. The council plans to vote Tuesday on a bill to create the program, which would allow qualified candidates for local offices to receive a base sum that varies by contest, with a maximum of $160,000 for mayor. Candidates could also be eligible for a 5-to-1 match on small donations.

Nine of the council's 13 members co-introduced the bill, which is also supported by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine and a coalition of advocates who say it would increase the power of small donors and open the field to candidates not backed by big campaign contributors.

Bowser, whose critics say she is too closely linked with developers and other corporate donors, thinks taxpayer dollars should go toward the "many pressing needs" of residents instead of a public finance program, Bowser spokeswoman LaToya Foster said. Bowser's position was first reported by WAMU-FM (88.5).

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"It is not prudent to divert tax dollars from hiring more police, investing in housing or fixing our roads to paying for candidate robo-calls, pole signs or donor receptions," Foster told The Washington Post.

The public finance program, if passed by the council, would not be in place until 2020. It would cost taxpayers about $5 million per year  a tiny fraction of the city's $13.8 billion budget.

D.C. Council Member David Grosso (I-At-Large), who authored the bill, said if Bowser does not support the program, it could "leave a bad taste in the mouths of voters and advocates" as she campaigns for reelection this year.

If Bowser does not choose to fund the bill in her budget, the council can allocate money for the program, he said.

"But there is still time for her to come around," said Grosso, who added that Bowser has made efforts to end the perception of a pay-to-play culture that has long plagued the Wilson Building.

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But a Washington Post poll this summer showed District residents rate Bowser negatively on her efforts to curb the influence of wealthy political donors by a margin of 48 percent to 31 percent.

In June, Bowser's campaign committee was ordered to pay $13,000 in fines for taking campaign donations in excess of legal limits, including thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from developers and contractors during her run for office in 2014. She has raised more than $1.4 million since she announced her reelection bid in late September.

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at the nonprofit group Public Citizen, said Bowser's position on the public finance program "is going to backfire on her."

"She has now staked out very unpopular territory," said Holman, who added that he thought Bowser might "at least remain neutral" because Racine and council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), who were considered possible challengers to her reelection, support reforms.

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But because Gray has not announced whether he will challenge Bowser, and Racine has said he will seek reelection as attorney general, Bowser "may feel comfortable enough in this race that she is expressing what she really feels," said Holman, who helped draft a campaign-finance reform bill for Gray when he was mayor.

Both Racine and Gray have introduced bills to ban political contributions from donors seeking contracts with the city.

Those efforts are largely seen as a response to a PAC set up by Bowser associates after her 2014 mayoral victory that sought contributions of $10,000 or more from individuals and companies, including some seeking contracts with the city. Bowser's supporters closed the PAC under pressure, after developers and executives who had made donations accompanied the mayor on a trip to China.

Racine said his office and the majority of council members have been "clear and consistent" in supporting laws that "seek to eliminate or reduce the perception of pay-to-play politics in the District of Columbia."

"It is clear that voters are sick and tired of having to be concerned about instances where contractors win contracts and happen to be extremely large donors," Racine said.

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Abdi Osman came to the United States from Somalia eight years ago, looking for prosperity in the country he thought was "number one in the world." What he found was chronic homelessness interwoven with short stretches of low-paid manual labor. On Friday afternoon, as he warmed himself inside Miriam's Kitchen, the nonprofit in Foggy Bottom that helps homeless people, he described what it had been like to sleep outside the previous night as wind-chill temperatures dropped below zero in Washington.

"It's very, very, very, very, very, very bad," Osman said, smiling grimly.

D.C. government officials have made progress over the past three years in their efforts to reduce the city's extraordinarily high rate of homelessness. But that progress has not been even, and those who have arguably benefited least are those whose plight has been most visible as frigid weather has gripped the nation's capital: single adults like Osman who sleep outside.

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Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who campaigned on promises to improve the city's homeless services, has helped thousands of individual homeless people find permanent housing and pushed ahead with a sweeping  and politically risky  plan to close the aging shelter for families at the site of the former D.C. General Hospital, replacing it with smaller family shelters designed to be cleaner, safer and spread throughout the city. Most of those shelters are scheduled to open over the next two years.

But a parallel effort has not advanced for the District's shelters that cater to single men and women who otherwise would be on the street. Those facilities  particularly large ones for men such as the New York Avenue and 801 East shelters, which have hundreds of beds  remain forbidding places for the homeless, who say they avoid them because of complaints ranging from bedbugs to the risk of theft or fights.

"On families, we just did the big shelter redevelopment, which took a lot of political will and money," said Kate Coventry, a senior policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. "We haven't done a similar thing on the singles side on shelters."

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Coventry said the city has devoted resources to securing long-term housing for single homeless people. But when it comes to the urgent circumstances of those sleeping on the street, she said, "there's general agreement . . . that our large shelters don't meet the needs of folks experiencing homelessness."

Such concerns are reflected in city officials' strategic plan for reducing homelessness, which describes D.C.'s shelters for single adults as plagued by "crumbling infrastructure" and "simply too large to provide appropriate programming in a safe, healthy environment for clients." The plan envisions smaller, neighborhood-based shelters that cater to the needs of specific groups, such as senior citizens or those who don't speak English well.

Kristy Greenwalt, director of D.C.'s Interagency Council on Homelessness, said that though the redevelopment of the family shelter network has been prioritized over shelters for individuals, those individuals have meanwhile benefited from extensive funding in recent budgets for so-called permanent supportive housing  long-term housing for the chronically homeless that often includes services like mental health counseling.

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Since adopting its strategic plan in 2015, Greenwalt said, the city has housed more than 3,300 single adults who had been homeless.

When it comes to emergency shelters for those who sleep outside, she said, "We have more work to do before we get to the place of redeveloping that system, but it's definitely something that we're thinking about."

D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), who chairs the human services committee, said the political challenges of replacing large shelters for individuals  who, more than homeless families, have often been on the street for years coping with mental illness or addiction  with smaller ones throughout the city could be substantial.

Nadeau said she was "open to a conversation about whether we want to revamp the singles system," but that the need for a large shelter network for individuals could also be addressed with more investment in permanent housing that moves people off the street for good. "We don't have to have a robust singles shelter system if we can invest in the long-term solutions, like permanent supportive housing," she said.

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The unsheltered represent a small portion of those who are homeless in the District, which guarantees all people access to shelter during spells of dangerously cold weather.

Last year, at the time of the annual homeless count in January, an estimated 897 people were sleeping on the street rather than in a shelter or transitional housing. City officials and homeless advocates say that count was probably unreliable, however, because of unseasonably warm weather that discouraged people from seeking shelter.

In 2016, an estimated 318 people were found sleeping on the street; the year before that, 544. Such fluctuations make it difficult to determine the size of the city's unsheltered population. But Christine Elwell, director of outreach for Pathways to Housing D.C., said the ground-level experience of outreach teams has been of a persistent level of street homelessness.

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"For all the progress we've made in housing chronically homeless individuals, we really haven't made a dent in the number of people living on the street," Elwell said. "For every person we put in housing, there's a person arriving on the street behind them."

Greenwalt said city outreach teams are trying hard to persuade street dwellers to come inside during the bout of extreme cold, and performing regular safety checks on those who refuse such entreaties and choose to stay outside.

Johnny Queen, 58, a self-described street minister who has been homeless on and off since 1998, is among those who make that choice. Queen, taking a break from coloring pictures of frogs at Miriam's Kitchen on Friday, said many of those he knows on the street avoid large shelters because they don't want to deal with a regimented schedule and worry about catching lice, bedbugs or diseases from other homeless people.

But speaking for himself, he said he wouldn't find a smaller, cleaner shelter much more appealing than a huge and dirty one. With temperatures expected to reach record lows overnight, Queen was planning to sleep outside a nearby church.

"I'm happier when I'm out here, to be honest," he said. "I think it's the clean air."

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Florence Lin had little experience as a cook when she arrived in the United States in 1947 from her native China, where her exploits had included joining Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist army in the struggle against Japanese invaders. She was a young wife and mother, married to a New York stockbroker, and was hungry for the flavors of home.

Mrs. Lin taught herself the art of Chinese cooking, sometimes with improvised tools and ingredients  sauerkraut instead of pickled cabbage, Tabasco sauce in place of chiles  and went on to play a seminal role in introducing the cuisine to Americans as a celebrated cookbook author and cooking instructor. She died Dec. 27 at age 97 at her home in Jamesville, N.Y. The cause was congestive heart failure, said her daughter Flora L. Lee.

By the time of her death, Mrs. Lin was regarded as a doyenne of Chinese cooks in the United States  one who helped expand the American palate beyond chop suey and sweet-and-sour pork to include the tastes and aromas of steamed bread, Peking duck and fresh lotus root salad.

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She was not the first to present her country's genuine flavors to Americans. The cookbook author Buwei Yang Chao, for example, had published the volume "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese" in 1945. Grace Zia Chu, the author of "The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking" (1962), and Cecilia Chiang, the longtime proprietor of the Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco, also were important influences.

But Mrs. Lin's "recipes had a level of authenticity, sophistication and detail" not previously seen by American cooks, Grace Young, an authority on Chinese cooking and the author of books including "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge," wrote in an email.

The daughter of a prosperous silk merchant, Mrs. Lin refined her taste buds while accompanying her father on business meals when she was a girl. She learned the essentials of cooking by observing the women of her family and their staff members working over the wok at their country home, washing vegetables in the river and feeding rice stalks into the fire for fuel, she told Young.

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Notable deaths in 2017 Share Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn MailSolid Email this link View Photos View Photos Next Image WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 24: Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, the first woman player in the Negro baseball league, who pitched for the Indianapolis Clowns, poses at the new ball field named for her Wednesday April 24, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

When she settled in the United States, Mrs. Lin, like other Chinese immigrant women, sought to re-create her favorite dishes. She began cooking for her husband's business colleagues, developing a reputation for her sumptuous curry puffs.

By 1960, she had begun teaching Chinese cooking at the China Institute in Manhattan, where she established herself as a revered instructor. Interest in Chinese cooking was growing, Young said, and would boom with Richard M. Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China, where the American president dined at a banquet with chopsticks.

Mrs. Lin welcomed all students, trained and untrained, with Chinese heritage or without. Among her pupils over the years was Julia Child.

"We had five cooking lessons," Mrs. Lin told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2013. "We'd start from the beginning  what's a stir-fry. Here, people eat raw food, but in China, we cook our produce. Then you add a little by little, sweet and sour tastes. You divided them into groups, and you had to show them how to cut things, because we all used big knives, cleavers, that they didn't know even how to hold."

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With her growing reputation as a cook and teacher, Mrs. Lin was selected as the chief contributor to "The Cooking of China," a 1968 installment in the Time-Life "Foods of the World" series. Her first independent cookbook was "Florence Lin's Chinese Regional Cookbook" (1975), in which she presented the lighter fare of imperial Peking, the hotter Szechuan and Hunan cuisine, the soy-sauce-inflected flavors of Shanghai, and the stir fry of Canton.

"In the last forty years only a few cookbooks tracing remote or little-known Chinese culinary byways have opened up any frontiers not touched on in Lin's book," author Anne Mendelson wrote of Mrs. Lin's regional guide in the volume "Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey." "It is still the single best collection of regional dishes."

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Mrs. Lin was born Shen Han Ju in 1920 in Hankou, in southeastern China, and spent part of her childhood in Ningbo, near Shanghai.

"As a child I loved to be in the kitchen with our cook, observing all the activities," she told Young for Young's book "The Breath of a Wok." "My cooking was influenced by my desire to duplicate the foods I'd grown up eating in China."

Her life was thrown into turmoil when Japan invaded China in 1931. Over her family's objections, she joined the youth army under Chiang Kai-shek, surviving bombings in which she was later assigned to count the bodies of the dead, according to information provided by her family.

After the war, Mrs. Lin took a job at an accounting office, where she met and became engaged to Lin Kuo Yung. They were married in the United States, where they settled in part through the assistance of his uncle, the noted Chinese writer Lin Yutang. In America Mrs. Lin adopted the first name Florence.

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She conceded that the fast-paced American lifestyle did not always lend itself to the preparation of multiple dishes for a single meal, as was common in China when she grew up. She valued practicality, allowing her students to make substitutions, such as white bread for steamed buns, when needed. She insisted, however, that chopsticks  more than Western-style forks and knives  enhanced the flavor of Chinese meals.

Despite having perfected English only when she came to the United States, Mrs. Lin became a regular contributor to publications including the New York Times and received numerous culinary awards.

Her husband died in 1976 after 29 years of marriage. Survivors include two daughters, Flora L. Lee of Lake Oswego, Ore., and Kay S. Lin of Fayetteville, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.

In her culinary commentary, Mrs. Lin sought to weave in flashes of Chinese culture, to expose readers not only to Chinese ways in the kitchen but also Chinese ways of life.

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"There are no gifts except food," she told the New York Times in 1986, recalling her hometown tradition of offering relatives live chickens, yellow fish, ham or yellow rice wine at the new year. A chicken, she said, may make the rounds among givers and receivers of gifts during the holidays.

"That poor chicken," she quipped. "Sometimes it goes around so much it gets dizzy."

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Police said Robert Leach, who lived in Silver Spring, had fled the country after the abuse allegations were made in 2014. After he was found in England, he was extradited and charged Friday, police said.

The alleged abuse took place between 2011 and 2013 at various locations throughout the District, police said. Authorities did not identify the charter school by name, but said it was located on the 2000 block of 13th Street in Northwest Washington. A check of online records indicated that Meridian Public Charter School is located at 2120 13th Street NW. The current head of the school, Candice Bobo, did not respond to calls and emails, but according to the school's 2011-2012 annual report, a man named Robert Leach was listed as a mathematics teacher in the middle school. Leach is also listed as a staff member in a 2013-2014 report by the school.
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A Maryland man who based his career on his love of children  working with them in schools, camps and church; writing books and lesson plans for them; reviewing television shows and making videos for them  was arrested Friday on charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Sean Kelley, 30, was caring for children in at least three paid positions last year  in Montgomery County public elementary schools and a Burtonsville church  when he became the subject of a pornography investigation.

School and church officials say the children in the sexually explicit images that Kelley downloaded and distributed were neither Montgomery students nor members of the church.

Still, the arrest of a man who worked with children for more than a decade sent waves of alarm through his school and faith communities.

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"These charges are extremely upsetting and distressing," Cloverly Elementary School Principal Melissa Brunson wrote in a letter to parents Friday, after Kelley was arrested by Maryland State Police.

Police said that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children picked up on suspected distribution of child pornography from a computer at Kelley's home in Silver Spring in July. Police began investigating and told Kelley's employers about the ongoing investigation in September.

At that point, Montgomery County school district spokesman Derek Turner said, Kelley was placed on administrative leave from his job as a lunch aide at Cloverly Elementary, where he had worked since October 2016.

He was dismissed from the Kids After Hours day-care program at Cannon Road Elementary, where he had worked for four days, day-care owner Bob Sickels said in a letter to parents Friday.

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Sickels said his program had conducted a criminal-background check, using an FBI database, and found that Kelley had a clean record.

Liberty Grove United Methodist Church also put Kelley on leave in September and terminated his employment upon his arrest.

He had worked as a volunteer in 2001 and a staff member in 2006, according to his biography on the church website.

He planned and led activities for children on Sunday mornings at the church he has attended since he was a kindergartner.

"Providing a safe environment for everyone at our church, especially children, is our highest priority," Karen Engle, the chair of the staff parish relations committee at the church, wrote in a letter to congregants Saturday.

Engle added: "As a Church, we pray for Sean and his family. We seek compassion, justice, and healing for Sean."

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After obtaining a warrant, police searched Kelley's home at 7 a.m. Friday.

There, they found evidence to charge Kelley with seven counts of possessing images of a child under 16 engaging in sexual conduct and three counts of distributing images of minors engaged in sexual conduct.

His church biography said he has worked in Fairfax County schools as well as in Montgomery County.

A Fairfax County Public Schools spokesman could not immediately confirm whether Kelley had worked in the school system.

He also worked at camps, including Camp Sonshine, a Christian summer camp in Silver Spring where fellow staff members said they found his behavior inappropriate.

Courtney Ferracane, who said she worked with Kelley at the camp from 2010 to 2013, said she worried about Kelley's interactions with young girls.

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She and other staff members wrote up incident reports when they saw Kelley with young female campers sitting on his lap, a violation of camp policy, she said.

Another former camp employee, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the charges, shared a letter he wrote in 2013 urging camp leaders not to hire Kelley again.

"I have made firsthand observations of Sean R. Kelley . . . These observations cause me to have concerns about Sean's interactions with children, particularly younger female minors. These concerns include social media interactions and posts that demonstrate what appears to be an out of the ordinary interest in particular female minors," he wrote at the time.

The camp's current executive director Kirk Carey said that after Kelley was warned not to let girls sit on his lap and repeated the behavior, he was fired.

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Kelley also created a website in which he calls himself "Captain Sean" and offers episode-by-episode reviews of children's TV shows, including "Girl Meets World" and "Andi Mack."

He self-published several books for young people. One features a grieving child and a grieving teacher who form a relationship to, in Kelley's words, "help each other through the crazy ride known as 'life'."

Kelley's hand-drawn illustration on the book cover shows the small girl holding her teacher's hand on a roller coaster.

On his blog, he wrote letters at the end of each school year sharing his best wishes for his students.

"But seriously, I miss you all so much," he wrote to one departing class of students. "We spent over 900 hours in the same room together . . . You all just kept getting more intelligent, kind, and beautiful with each passing day. All I could do was love you all more as time went by."

He was being held without bond after his arrest Friday.

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Kelley said he received a degree in elementary education at the University of Maryland. The university says he did not.

Donna St. George contributed to this report.

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Opponents of a proposal to build a high-speed train line that could make the trip between Washington and Baltimore in 15 minutes are asking state and federal officials to kill the project. Northeast Maglev, the Washington-based company behind the project, says the 40-mile "superconducting magnetic levitation train system," commonly called a maglev, would be the first leg of a line between Washington and New York  a trip that could be done in an hour.

Proponents say the project would ease travel in the congested Interstate 95 corridor, but many residents are concerned about the environmental impact and the homes that would be taken to make way for the line.

And, with limited public funding available for transportation projects, opponents say, any taxpayer money that would be used for the maglev would be better spent improving the existing rail infrastructure.

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"We don't believe it is economically viable. We don't see the ridership. We don't see the revenue," said Dennis Brady, a Bowie resident who has organized a grass-roots group against the project.

"We are concerned that they will end up coming to the state and the feds for subsidies and it will be a pocketbook issue for taxpayers," Brady said.

Supporters counter that the Maryland maglev project, estimated to cost $10 billion to $12 billion, will create jobs, spur economic development and provide a fast, green and innovative "transportation solution" using a proven technology.

The system, in use in Japan, harnesses powerful magnetic forces that lift and propel trains four inches above a U-shaped guideway at speeds of up to 375 mph.

"It is going to be three times as fast as anything we have now," said Wayne Rogers, chief executive of Northeast Maglev. The train would travel at 311 mph, he said.

Amtrak's fastest service, the Acela Express, makes the trip from Washington to Baltimore in 32 minutes, and to New York's Penn Station in just under three hours. Acela trains run at speeds up to 135 mph, but more than half of Amtrak trains operate at top speeds of 100 mph.

'Transformational' plan

Known as the world's fastest train, the maglev is faster than Japan's famous bullet trains, which travel at about 200 mph, and some of Europe's high-speed trains that travel at up to 186 mph.

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Discussion of a maglev system for the Washington region goes back at least two decades. The Federal Railroad Administration studied a German version of the maglev technology in the early 2000s. Interest in the project waned as the region  and country  braced for the economic recession, but picked up again with the success of the Japanese system.

Japan is one of the first countries to develop and adopt maglev trains.

Supporters tout the Maryland project as "transformational" for American travelers who often face delays on the country's aging rails, gridlocked roads, and in outdated airports. The Northeast Corridor, the country's busiest rail network, would benefit from additional capacity, they say.

The project has the backing of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), and the state has received a $28 million federal grant to cover impact studies. If things go as planned, construction could begin as soon as 2019, with service starting in 2027, officials said.

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But critics aren't convinced the system is needed or economically feasible.

Some residents and elected officials of communities in the proposed path of the line are concerned about the homes and businesses that would be displaced through eminent domain. They also contend the service would target the "elite business traveler" and be out of reach of most citizens, with high ticket prices and limited access to stations. More than 1,300 people have signed a petition to be presented to Hogan and the FRA asking the project be killed.

Project leaders say the maglev line is planned to run about 60 percent underground; the aboveground portion would be built on less developed areas of the corridor, reducing impact on residential communities.

They also say ticket prices probably would be slightly more than an Acela fare. The one-way adult business-class fare between Washington and Baltimore costs about $46.

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Plans call for three stops: one in each city and at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.

The project is in the early stages of a multiyear environmental study required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Led by the FRA and the Maryland Department of Transportation, the study will analyze impacts on communities and the environment and ultimately determine a preferred construction alternative. The impact study began last summer and is expected to be completed in 2019.

As part of the process, officials have narrowed the project's potential routes to three, eliminating in recent months some of those that would have necessitated the leveling of hundreds of homes. Two of the proposed routes parallel the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. A third option, the one that raises the most concerns, runs along Amtrak's Penn Line, a heavily-developed corridor.

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Maryland and Northeast Maglev officials say they expect that option will be left off the final list. MDOT spokeswoman Erin Henson said the agency is working with the FRA "to eliminate the Amtrak route outright and will continue to closely examine remaining potential routes to guard against any possible harm to local communities."

'Train to nowhere'?

Hogan and Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn promised to bring maglev technology to Maryland after they rode Japan's 27-mile Yamanashi maglev line during a 2015 trade mission.

Maryland has since pursued grants for the project and has looked at other initiatives that could bring a high-speed transportation system to the state. Maryland recently gave conditional approval for construction of a tunnel from Baltimore to Washington as part of entrepreneur Elon Musk's plans to build a super-high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop. Musk's Boring Co. envisions tunnels that will cart goods and people underneath major cities in vacuum-sealed tubes at high speeds.

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Maglev proponents say while the Hyperloop remains a concept, maglev is a proven technology already carrying passengers. "We are talking about bringing a train that already exists, it's already been designed. It's already something that you can ride on," Rogers said. And it has financing commitments.

Japanese media have reported that the nation's government has offered $5 billion in financial backing for the Maryland line, while Central Japan Railway, the train operator, has said it will not charge any licensing fees for the technology. Northeast Maglev would have to raise the remainder from public and private sources, company officials said. Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pitched the Washington-to-New York maglev as an opportunity to invest in infrastructure at a White House visit last February.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D), a proponent of the project, has called it a stimulator for growth and economic development and a generator of jobs with potential to transform neighborhoods and communities.

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"I am excited about being able to travel to D.C. in 15 minutes," Pugh said at a recent announcement of a labor agreement for the project. North America's Building Trades Unions are backing the effort.

Chanda Washington, a spokeswoman for the D.C. deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said the District is engaged in the environmental review process for the project but has not committed to it.

"It is premature to speculate on the District's position overall, but we are interested in the project," Washington said. "We are always interested in transit options that will provide opportunities for our residents and businesses."

State Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George's) said most people agree the focus moving forward should be on narrowing the route options to one that has minimal impact on communities.

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In a Dec. 19 letter to Rahn, Rosapepe and six other lawmakers from Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties asked the state to drop the Amtrak route and urged the state to "identify and mitigate any community impacts of underground routes."

In northern Prince George's County, Laurel officials, including Mayor Craig Moe (D), are among those who say money should instead be spent on fixing existing infrastructure, including Metro.

"I have repeatedly heard that this is a train to nowhere!" Moe wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to Hogan. "I share that thought and believe that taxpayers need better infrastructure and upgraded services, and not the commitment of funds for another system that serves no one in the greater Laurel area.

"Our sparse transportation dollars are needed to fund projects that will truly serve all of the constituents in this region in a cost effective manner," he wrote.

Community activists, meanwhile, are mobilizing to distribute hundreds of "Stop the maglev train" yard signs, and get residents to project meetings. A Facebook page, "Citizens Against SCMaglev," is available for residents to voice their concerns.

"Now that they seem to be lining up the money, we are more concerned," Brady, the Bowie resident, said.

Proponents say they understand the residents' fears. They say they hope to settle on a route that most people can agree on.

"Our infrastructure is old and straining. The car traffic is terrible. The rail infrastructure is 100 years old. And the airports are overcrowded. So we got to do something about it," Rogers said. "We have to move on this today."

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This Kaiser Health News story can be republished for free (details). Some states are facing a mid-January loss of funding for their Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) despite spending approved by Congress in late December that was expected to keep the program running for three months, federal health officials said Friday.

The $2.85 billion was supposed to fund states' CHIP programs through March 31. But some states will start running out of money after Jan. 19, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS did not say which states are likely to be affected first.

The latest estimates for when federal funding runs out could cause states to soon freeze enrollment and alert parents that the program could soon shut down.

The CHIP program provides health coverage to 9 million children from lower-income households that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Its federal authorization ended Oct. 1, and states were then forced to use unspent funds to carry them over while the House and Senate try to agree on a way to continue funding.

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Congress extended funding on Dec. 21 and touted that states would have money to last while Congress worked on a long-term funding solution. But CMS said Friday it could only guarantee that the appropriation will be enough to fund all states through Jan. 19.

CMS said the agency is in discussions with states to help deal with the funding shortfall.

"The funding  should carry all the states through January 19th based upon best estimates of state expenditures to date," said CMS spokesman Johnathan Monroe. "However, due to a number of variables relating to state expenditure rates and reporting, we are unable to say with certainty whether there is enough funding for every state to continue its CHIP program through March 31, 2018."

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"States need to know whether they will need to find additional funding for children covered under the Medicaid CHIP program at a much lower federal matching rate, send letters to families, and re-program their eligibility systems," said Lisa Dubay, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. "Of course, the implications for families with CHIP-eligible children cannot be understated: Parents are worried that their children will lose coverage. And they should be."

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Although the program enjoys bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have for months been unable to agree on how to continue funding CHIP, which began in 1997.

The House plan includes a controversial funding provision  opposed by Democrats  that takes millions of dollars from the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund and increases Medicare premiums for some higher-earning beneficiaries.

The Senate Finance Committee reached an agreement to extend the program for five years but did not unite around a plan on funding.

Before the CHIP funding extension on Dec. 21, Alabama said it would freeze enrollment Jan. 1 and shut down the program Jan. 31. Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia sent letters to CHIP families warning that the program could soon end.

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After the funding extension, Alabama put a hold on shutting down CHIP.

"Some states will begin exhausting all available funding earlier than others," a CMS official said Friday. "But the exact timing of when states will exhaust their funding is a moving target."

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a child advocacy group, said Congress should have known its short-term funding plan was not enough.

"The math never worked on the patch, as it only bought a few weeks," he said. "Congress must get this finalized before Jan. 19."

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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It's not every day that scientists observe a new species emerging in real time. Charles Darwin believed that speciation probably took place over hundreds if not thousands of generations, advancing far too gradually to be detected directly. The biologists who followed him have generally defaulted to a similar understanding and have relied on indirect clues, gleaned from genomes and fossils, to infer complex organisms' evolutionary histories.

Some of those clues suggest that interbreeding plays a larger role in the formation of new species than previously thought. But the issue remains contentious: Hybridization has been definitively shown to cause widespread speciation only in plants. When it comes to animals, it has remained a hypothesis (albeit one that's gaining increasing support) about events that typically occurred in the distant, unseen past.

Until now. In a paper published recently in Science, researchers reported that a new animal species had evolved by hybridization  and that it had occurred before their eyes in the span of merely two generations. The breakneck pace of that speciation event turned heads both in the scientific community and in the media. The mechanism by which it occurred is just as noteworthy, however, because of what it suggests about the undervalued role of hybrids in evolution.

Eyewitnesses to speciation

In 1981, Peter and Rosemary Grant, the famous husband-and-wife team of evolutionary biologists at Princeton University, had already been studying Darwin's finches on the small Galapagos island Daphne Major for nearly a decade. So when they spotted a male bird that looked and sounded different from the three species residing on the island, they immediately knew he didn't belong. Genetic analysis showed he was a large cactus finch (Geospiza conirostris) from another island, either Espanola or Gardner, more than 60 miles away  too great a distance for the bird to fly home.

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Tracking the marooned male bird's activity, the Grants observed him as he mated with two female medium ground finches (G. fortis) on Daphne and produced hybrid offspring. Such interbreeding by isolated animals in the wild is not uncommon, though biologists have usually dismissed it as irrelevant to evolution because the hybrids often cannot reproduce, or fail to compete effectively against established species and quickly go extinct. Even when the hybrids are fertile and fit, they frequently get reabsorbed into the original species by mating with their parent populations.

But something different happened with the hybrids on Daphne: When they matured, they became a population distinct from Daphne's other bird species by inbreeding extensively and exclusively  siblings mating with siblings, and parents mating with their offspring.

In short, an incipient hybrid species, which the researchers dubbed the Big Bird lineage, had emerged within two generations. As of today, there have been six generations, and the island is home to around 30 Big Bird finches. "If you were a biologist none the wiser to what had happened," said Leif Andersson, a geneticist at Uppsala University in Sweden and one of the study's co-authors, "and you started studying these birds, you'd think there were four different species on the island."

Where hybrids thrive

On Daphne, the conditions may have been just right for hybrid speciation. "It shows what is possible, given the right circumstances," Peter Grant said, and it sends "a valuable message about the importance of rare and unpredictable events in evolution. These have probably been underestimated."

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The Big Bird lineage became reproductively isolated so quickly because those birds could not successfully attract mates among the island's resident species, which preferred their own kind. Big Bird finches couldn't pass muster: They had relatively large beaks for their body size, and they boasted a unique song. These differences prevented gene flow between the hybrids and the native medium ground finches from which they had descended, leading to a distinct hybrid population. (In their Science paper, the Grants and their colleagues noted that the species status of Big Bird finches is still unofficial because no one has yet tested whether the birds will breed with their ancestral finches on Espanola and Gardner. But they cited reasons to suspect that the Big Bird lineage is reproductively isolated from them as well.)

The physical differences in the hybrid lineage, though, also made them competitive. The size and shape of the Big Birds' beaks placed them squarely in their own ecological niche, allowing them to eat certain types of seeds that their competitors could not. "The data is consistent with [evolutionary] selection having taken place," Andersson said.

The fact that this niche was available for Big Bird to occupy is probably a result of the particularly young, isolated and often extreme environment of the Galapagos. "Conditions on the islands really help drive the speciation process," said Scott Edwards, an ornithologist at Harvard University.

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The same might be said for small and isolated environments elsewhere, such as mountaintops or ponds. By contrast, speciation isn't likely to occur this way in less isolated regions, said Trevor Price, an ecologist at the University of Chicago. In those areas, where competition for resources is already fierce, a new hybrid species like Big Bird would find no niche for itself.

But hybrid species may have had more widespread opportunities to establish themselves in the past. Perhaps, Price suggested, this rapid production of species could have occurred in the aftermath of the meteorite impact that caused mass extinction on Earth millions of years ago. At that time, there were resources and potential niches, and not enough species to fill them.

Some experts think that even today hybrid speciation may be far from rare.

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But very fast hybrid speciation events like the one the Grants saw on Daphne may often occur in bursts  only to end with the new species dying out before we have time to observe it. "Speciation is common. It's happening all around us," said James Mallet, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University. "It's just that usually we don't recognize the divergent lineages that are appearing as separate species."

And just because many hybrids go extinct  a fate that is still very likely to befall the Big Bird lineage, according to Mallet  that doesn't mean that hybridization is not a real source of new species in nature.

Peter Grant said he thinks there will now be growing awareness of hybrids as a powerful agent of evolution. "I think this paper really increases that signal," Edwards said. "Researchers like me are going to be looking for it much more regularly."

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Cepelewicz is a staff writer for the online magazine Quanta, from which this is excerpted.

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PORTLAND, Ore.  The simplest question among pot smokers  is this stuff legal?  doesn't have a crystal-clear answer anywhere in America. In many places it is now simultaneously legal and illegal, the same way physicists will tell you (shifting here to a 3 a.m. dorm-room discussion) that light is both a particle and a wave.

Eight states have legalized recreational marijuana for people age 21 and older, with California joining that group Jan. 1. Other states allow the cultivation and distribution of pot for medicinal use, and many have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana possession.

But under the federal Controlled Substances Act, it's the same weed it's always been, a "Schedule 1" drug that is illegal to possess, much less grow or distribute.

And the situation just became a whole lot foggier.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week took on the marijuana industry by rescinding enforcement guidelines that had been issued by the Obama administration. Those guidelines had finessed the state-federal conflict by saying, in effect, that federal prosecutors wouldn't go after people who complied with state laws, but would instead concentrate on drug cartels, money laundering and other high-priority targets.

In canceling the Obama-era policies, Sessions gave U.S. attorneys across the country full discretion to pursue criminal cases involving marijuana. In a memo, he said the federal pot statutes "reflect Congress's determination that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that marijuana activity is a serious crime."

But proprietors, activists and consumers said such words aren't going to shut down the burgeoning marijuana industry.

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In Portland, Ore., sales manager Kevin Yearout of Stone Age Farmacy  where the marijuana sells for $10 a gram and you can buy pot-infused gummies, caramels, jellies, lemonades, taffy, chocolate and cakeballs with "cannabutter"  said he smells corporate influence behind the Sessions announcement.

"It goes back to pharmaceuticals," he said. "They want people to take pills and they can make money."

Nearby, at Five Zero Trees  a pun invoking Oregon's first area code  the manager, Josh Sisco, proudly showed off some of the store's most popular strains, including Cherry Kush and Mt. Hood Magic Durban Poison. He said Sessions's decision will boost sales.

"It's like back when people said Obama was coming for everyone's guns, and gun sales spiked," he said.

In Los Angeles, at New Amsterdam Naturals, a licensed medical marijuana shop, the management declined a request for comment. But customer Deborah Harrison was happy to opine on Sessions as she entered the store.

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"I could care less what he thinks," Harrison said. "This is California, and we are going to do what we do here. He can push it if he wants to, and we can secede from the union."

Tom Miller, a pipe layer in the natural gas industry, spent part of Friday morning at Boulder Botanics in Colorado, examining canisters of cannabis with strains named Gorilla Glue, Big Bubba Diesel and Dawg's Waltz. The weed sells for $150 to $250 an ounce, and Miller said he wanted to try it all. He had just arrived in the state, which has embraced legal sales.

"It helps more than opioids," he said, citing his home state of West Virginia's struggle with opioid abuse. "They could use this instead of being hooked on opioids. Everyone's on pills."

Marijuana is legal in much of the West, as well as in Massachusetts and Maine. In the District of Columbia, people 21 and older can grow, possess or give away modest amounts of it, and smoke it legally at home. Medical marijuana is legal and strictly regulated in the District, but selling pot for recreational use is still illegal. It also remains illegal on federal property.

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State laws vary, with some treating marijuana as if it were no more a drug than alcohol. There are still major kinks in the law for marijuana entrepreneurs, who struggle to find banks willing to take their money  and wind up carrying brown paper bags of cash to pay their utility bills, said Jonathan Robbins, an attorney with Akerman LLP, where he is chair of the Cannabis Practice Group.

Robbins emphasized that the decision by Sessions does not change any of the nation's marijuana laws; this was purely a policy change at the Justice Department.

"There certainly is less clarity," Robbins said. "We don't know as we sit here today what the practical effect of Mr. Sessions's pronouncement is going to be."

His legal advice to marijuana growers and distributors: "It's very, very important that any folks who are operating in this space go to great lengths to make sure they are fully compliant with the laws of the states in which they operate."

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Patrick Moen, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who is now general counsel for Privateer Holdings, which invests in the legal cannabis industry, said the Sessions move is largely symbolic, noting that the Justice Department did not send out a directive to crack down on marijuana. Moen does not think the DEA will ramp up marijuana enforcement, particularly given how closely the federal agents rely on their local and state partnerships in drug task forces.

"I would be shocked if there is anyone at the agency that is interested in prioritizing cannabis investigations," Moen said. "It is not an effective use of time and resources. And it's fraught with political peril."

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, asked Friday whether marijuana use is legal in his state despite the federal law, was emphatic: "In the state of California, it is legal."

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But what about the federal statutes?

"The federal government is not the state of California," he said.

Becerra said he has reached out to the four U.S. attorneys in California, hoping to discuss the issue and to seek ways to work together to focus on black-market marijuana operators and people who do not abide by the state's laws, which made recreational marijuana legal this week. "There's no need for us to butt heads," he said.

Speaking by phone from Steamboat Springs, Colo., Serge Chistov, an investor in northwest Colorado's Honest Marijuana Co., said the three local marijuana dispensaries had opened for business and no one seemed to fear being raided by federal agents.

Chistov said of the Sessions announcement: "This is nothing but a bark. Genie's out of the bottle. Ain't going back in the bottle. Too much money."

Blakemore reported from Boulder, Colo., and Achenbach reported from Washington. Rob Kuznia in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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MILTON, Vt.  It's only the beginning of January, and Todd Alexander has already blown through much of the kerosene used to heat his blue trailer here, where one wall is made only of old insulation and frigid wind gusts through the pink fiberglass. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight This stretch of extreme cold has taken a toll on much of the Eastern United States, bursting water mains, fracturing pipes, rendering car batteries useless. The frigid weather has turned tragic with news reports of weather-related deaths from South Carolina to North Dakota, in a storm that led to rare snow in Florida and record coastal flooding in New England. Temperatures in Vermont fell below zero during the day Friday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Maureen Hastings, and were expected to bottom out at 25 to 30 below zero in parts of the state Saturday night, with wind chills 10 to 15 degrees colder.

It was so cold Friday that a tow bar froze to a plane at the Burlington airport. People waddled, stuffed with layers, even when indoors. A bicyclist rode down the street covered from head to toe, only eyes peeking out.

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The cold has been especially hard on people like Alexander, who have fixed incomes or live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford higher than normal utility bills.

Even with low-income heating assistance, weather like the stretch residents are enduring now has the capacity to throw the working poor over the financial edge. Heat must constantly be running to survive. Furnaces can break down. Fuel will run out more quickly than anticipated. The cold costs money.

The problem is particularly acute in New England this year, where temperatures have been well below freezing since before Christmas  frigid and unusual even for a region where people are so accustomed to winter that the roads are barely plowed. Making matters worse, New England has a major shortage of affordable housing and a housing stock that is old and, in some cases, poorly insulated.

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Advocates who provide federal and state fuel assistance said many need it earlier than usual this year. Fuel companies are often backed up for days at a time because there is such a demand  federal work rules were waived for the end of December and beginning of January to allow fuel companies to deliver product around the clock.

Betsey Andrews Parker, CEO of the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County in New Hampshire, said on Thursday the group found fuel for 10 households that ran out and did not have heat as a blizzard bore down on the area. Her staff went into the woods this week to find homeless people and bring them to shelters.

They have also been fielding calls from people whose landlords have not fixed heating units  one family was using space heaters and the oven to warm their apartment, she said.

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"A lot of people say, 'It's New England, you should plan for the cold,' " she said. "The clients we have do plan for the cold. They bundle up, they have sweaters. They keep their house at 65 to make their fuel dollars stretch. When it is 0 degrees outside your furnace will go constantly to keep it at 65 and it burns through all of your assistance."

Here in Vermont, at least 20,000 households qualify for fuel assistance under LIHEAP, a federal program the Trump administration proposed eliminating, but was funded in the budget. Even more are eligible for one-time help from the state should they run out of fuel.

In Vermont's rural Northeast Kingdom, where the forecast high is 7 degrees below zero on Saturday, people are already maxing out their fuel assistance, said Joe Patrissi, executive director of Northeast Kingdom Community Action. He said many of his clients pay 60 percent of their income in rent, and they will fall behind should they have to pay for fuel.

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"People have got to stay warm and the rent's the first thing that doesn't get paid," he said. "You have to keep the car going and have to keep food on the table and you have to keep warm."

There is concern here in Vermont about the state's high number of elderly residents. Sara Wool, director of communications at Age Well, which helps seniors in Northwest Vermont, said the agency had to dip into its emergency fund to help people obtain firewood and other fuel.

Howard Jerome, 83, makes about $1,300 a month through a combination of social security and pension from a calcium graining plant where he was a foreman. He received about $400 for fuel assistance this year, but had to spend $290 this week on wood pellets to keep his home warm.

"I've never spent this much before" on fuel, he said.

Travis Poulin, director of Chittenden Community Action, which distributes heating assistance, said many people are taking matters into their own hands: buying kerosene themselves and pouring it into tanks because fuel companies are so backed up with deliveries. He said donations to an emergency fuel fund are up $10,000 this year.

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Low-income and homeless people in places that don't usually get that cold are also facing challenges.

In Atlanta, where temperature dipped well below freezing Thursday afternoon, George Chidi, social impact director for Central Atlanta Progress, posted a photo on Facebook of "the overflow to the overflow shelter," a recreational center converted at the last minute as the first three centers, totaling a capacity around 375 people, filled up. That's in addition to the capacity opened up at the city's few emergency shelters due to the freezing temperatures.

And in Little Rock, where temperatures had fallen as low as 10 degrees on New Year's Day morning, David Hall Sr., 66, and his wife, Iola, woke up on New Year's Day to find that their water wasn't running, despite leaving taps on. A plumber couldn't come back until the temperature rose above freezing and, on Thursday, diagnosed seven breaks in pipes. The estimated repair cost is $500 to $600, Hall said.

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"It's kind of tough, cause on a fixed income, you're living from day to day," Hall said.

The Halls have been eating food provided by the Watershed Family Resource Center, a social services organization.

In Vermont, the thermometer outside Alexander's trailer read 4 degrees below zero, and beach balls optimistically dangled from his snow-filled porch. Alexander has worked as a tile layer, a contractor and a painter, and was injured in a boating accident a few years ago. He hasn't been able to work since.

"I'm on a fixed income. I'm disabled," he said as he sat on his couch with his pit bull, Skipper.

He gets his kerosene through a program for low-income residents, but is worried that if the weather stays frigid and the cost of fuel goes up, he'll use his allotment and be unable to heat his trailer. He's a native Vermonter and said the last winter he remembers it being this cold was nearly 40 years ago.

"It's horrible. This year has been horrible," he said. "It's just been cold."

Camille Pendley in Atlanta, Doug Pardue in Charleston and Knowles Adkisson in Little Rock contributed reporting.

Correction: A previous version of this story included incorrect information about the low temperature in Little Rock, which fell as low as 10 degrees on New Year's Day morning.

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Report pans managers and regulators of dam Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight "Long-term and systemic failures" by California dam managers and regulators to recognize inherent construction and design flaws at the tallest U.S. dam caused last year's near-disaster there, an independent panel of dam safety experts said Friday, calling it a wake-up call for dam operators around the country. Members of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials and the U.S. Society on Dams carried out an independent investigation into the human and technical problems that caused the crisis at California's Oroville Dam. The experts issued their report Friday.

Both spillways at the half-century-old dam gave way in February 2017, forcing 200,000 people downstream to be evacuated. The feared uncontrolled release of massive amounts of water over the top did not happen, and residents were allowed to return home days later.

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The independent panel of safety experts said the dam had been badly built from the start in the 1960s. The main designer of the spillway had just completed postgraduate work, had no engineering employment beyond two summer stints, and had never designed a spillway before, the dam-safety experts were told.

The crisis started when massive chunks of the dam's main concrete spillway suddenly began washing away.

The report faults California's Department of Water Resources, which owns and operates the dam, an anchor of California's water system, and dam regulators for allegedly failing to recognize and address problems in the 770-foot structure over decades of inspections and reviews.

The state has said repairs to the structure will cost more than $500 million.

 Associated Press

Man gets 10 years in killing of ailing parents

A South Carolina man who says he killed his ailing parents because they asked him to has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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Stephen Belcher, 40, of Boiling Springs, pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter in his 69-year-old parents' deaths, the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported.

Belcher said his parents had asked him to kill them because of their health problems.

Belcher initially was charged with murder in the shooting deaths of Henrietta Green Belcher and William Edward Belcher. Their bodies were found Nov. 15, 2016. Investigators said they had been killed 10 days earlier.

Belcher's wife, Vonda Belcher, said the couple moved from Georgia to the area to take better care of his parents.

"I ask for mercy. He felt like he was helping them," Vonda Belcher said in court.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette says the lesser charge was part of a plea deal. Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole gave Belcher a 10-year prison sentence.

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Deborah Belcher, Stephen's sister, said he was better able to care for their parents than she could. He carried his mother when necessary, helping her get around the family's house, something Deborah could not do.

Stephen Belcher's older brother, David, also testified for him before the sentencing.

"My brother was guilty of loving my parents to a tragic end," David Belcher said. "I don't want Stephen to spend the rest of his life in prison."

 Associated Press

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Army presses Idlib province offensive Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Rapid advances by the Syrian army into rebels' largest remaining stronghold, Idlib province, have brought it closer to a key insurgent-held military airport and displaced tens of thousands of people struggling to find shelter in winter. Supported by Iran-backed militias and Russian air power, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have taken territory in northeastern Hama and southern Idlib provinces since beginning an offensive in late October.

The fighting and airstrikes have forced more than 60,000 people to leave their homes since Nov. 1, according to the United Nations.

In recent days, the offensive has escalated, with forces progressing toward the strategic Abu al-Duhur military airport, to which rebels laid siege in 2012 before completely ousting Assad's forces in September 2015.

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 Reuters

Macron urges Erdogan to respect rule of law

French President Emmanuel Macron told Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday that democratic countries must respect the rule of law in their fight against terrorism as he voiced concerns about the fate of students, teachers and journalists detained by Ankara.

Macron also said after his talks with the Turkish president at the Elysee presidential palace that they had disagreed about human rights.

"Our democracies must be strong standing up to terrorism. . . . But at the same time, our democracies must completely protect the rule of law," Macron said in a joint news conference.

Macron said recent developments in Turkey did not allow for progress in Ankara's decades-long push to join the European Union.

The E.U. has expressed concern over Turkey's crackdown on suspected supporters of an abortive 2016 coup that has seen some 50,000 people arrested pending trial and 150,000, including teachers, journalists and judges, fired or suspended from their jobs.

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 Associated Press

New leader urges a united opposition

Venezuela's congress has selected a new leader who is urging the nation's fractious opposition to unite and press for a fair vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Lawmakers swore in Omar Barboza, 73, as National Assembly president Friday. The body is a rare opposition-controlled entity amid a federal government dominated by President Nicolas Maduro's allies.

The assembly's laws are routinely declared unconstitutional by the government-stacked Supreme Court, and an all-powerful Constitutional Assembly elected last year has essentially taken over its legislative authority.

 Associated Press

Clashes break out near South Sudanese capital: Clashes broke out near South Sudan's capital, Juba, between government troops and rebels, officials said Friday, the latest violation of a cease-fire signed last month. The deal reached in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between the government of President Salva Kiir and myriad opposition groups had aimed to end a four-year-old war in which tens of thousands of people have been killed. But several violations have since taken place, for which all sides have been blamed. On Friday, army'spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said several people were killed after rebel troops attempted to seize a military outpost west of Juba held by Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Army.

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Hot air balloon crashes over Luxor, killing tourist: A hot-air balloon carrying foreign tourists over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor crash-landed Friday, killing a tourist from South Africa and injuring at least 12 others, Egyptian officials said. Strong winds forced the balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists, off course above the southern city, home to some of Egypt's most famous Pharaonic temples and tombs. The pilot lost control over a mountainous area, the officials said, adding that the pilot was also injured.

Police open manslaughter case in South Africa train crash: South African police say a truck driver could be charged with manslaughter after his vehicle collided with a train, killing 18 people and injuring about 260 others. Police official Motantsi Makhele said Friday that "a case of culpable homicide has been opened" following the crash Thursday in Free State province. Authorities say the truck driver erred by allegedly trying to cross the tracks just ahead of the oncoming train. Part of the train burst into flames after the collision, trapping some passengers in carriages. Makhele said a final death toll cannot be announced until a forensic investigation, including DNA testing, has been completed.

 From news services

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David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United, was deputy campaign manager of the Trump campaign and deputy executive director of the Trump presidential transition team. At about 2:20 a.m. the morning after Election Day, Kellyanne Conway's cellphone rang. It was the Associated Press calling the 2016 presidential election for the ultimate political outsider, Donald J. Trump. When the call came there were about a dozen of us, senior campaign staff, along with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), his wife and the Trump family in the residence atop Trump Tower. I remember standing near Melania Trump after Conway shared the news. Mrs. Trump was ecstatic that her husband had just been elected the 45th president of the United States. All of us were. I don't remember Michael Wolff being in the room.

This week's effort to undermine President Trump and his administration comes in the form of Wolff's trashy, headline-grabbing book, "Fire and Fury," which first lady Melania Trump correctly said belongs in the "bargain fiction section." The explosive allegations in the book attributed to former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon are disappointing to many, including me. Bannon must have realized the distraction that such inflammatory rhetoric would do to the momentum of the Trump agenda that's finally being achieved for the American people. It is inexcusable.

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In our own recent book, "Let Trump Be Trump," Corey Lewandowski and I offered a firsthand account of a campaign the likes of which this country had never seen. From the Mobile, Ala., "Trumpmania" event in August 2015 to our last stop in Grand Rapids, Mich., early on Election Day, Trump's rallies were the driving force of his campaign. Millions of people packed arenas around the country, often standing in line for hours, to see their candidate.

And their candidate did not disappoint. Candidate Trump traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, visiting more than 200 cities over the course of the campaign. He worked 18-hour days, seven-day weeks, for months. At 71 years old, he is a machine. If you couldn't keep up with him, he'd leave you standing on the tarmac. Trump was motivated, driven and focused on one goal  defeat "Crooked Hillary" and "Make America Great Again." The idea that he didn't think he could win, or never wanted to become president, an assertion made by Wolff in his book, is ludicrous on its face. I know because I was there.

By the end of October, our data and poll numbers showed us pulling even with Hillary Clinton. We also knew we had the momentum. Anything can happen on Election Day  we knew that, too  but to say we were shocked by the outcome is nonsense. This is a narrative the mainstream media continues to push in an obvious attempt to delegitimize Trump's election and his 304 electoral votes.

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By the time Bannon, Conway and I took leadership roles in the campaign in mid-to-late August 2016, the president had already steamrolled through his primary opposition and secured the Republican nomination. While we worked incredibly hard for him, no one won the election but him. The truth is, Trump, through sheer will and hard work, was responsible for 99.9 percent of his victory; the rest of the campaign team together accounted for something like 0.1 percent.

Eugene Robinson counterpoint Trump wont fade away. The GOP will have to get rid of him. Though the president often confronts fake news, of which there is plenty, he now has to contend with a fake book that reads like the National Enquirer on steroids. In the introduction to "Fire and Fury," Wolff concedes that many of the accounts in the book "are in conflict with one another" and that many "are baldly untrue." Respectable journalists don't take liberties like these. Lewandowski and I certainly made sure we took no liberties in our book. We didn't need to. The facts of Trump's rise to the presidency are compelling enough without them.

While I can't know for sure whether Bannon said all of the outrageous things that Wolff alleges, he publicly stated this week that he wants Trump and his "America first" agenda to succeed.

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Make no mistake, from the beginning, long before the campaign officially began, Trump himself decided on the agenda to Make America Great Again and he has worked to make his agenda a reality.

That goal is shared by all of us who work for and support Trump and by the 60-million-plus Americans who voted for him. Over the past year, Trump has enacted historic reforms that are making America safe and prosperous again. Bannon should clear the air so that we can all get back to the business of Making America Great Again.

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The Dec. 24 front-page article "Warfare over grouse hunting erupts on Britain's heather moors" described the grouse as a "darting, jinxing flier." Yes, the birds probably wish that they could jinx the hunters, but the term is "jinking," which means a sudden change of direction to avoid something  in this case, a cloud of shotgun shot.
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I'm almost beginning to feel sorry for him. President Trump, that is. Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up. ArrowRight Having previously posited that it's wrong to make fun of the mentally deficient, I'm reluctant to further highlight recent revelations from author Michael Wolff, whose new book, "Fire and Fury," reports on what can only be described as insanity at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Then again, Trump is the president and, therefore, rules of civility take a back seat to the nation's health and security. Besides, even a saint would be tempted to mutter, Toldja.

The thing is, countless people  and not just Democrats  have been trying all last year, and before, to convey that Trump wasn't up to the job. Even his inner circle concluded as much after a brief romance with the fantasy that they could make him into a useful president. His behavior, language, outbursts, impulsiveness  all suggested that he is "like a child," as Wolff put it Friday on NBC's "Today." Worse, given those very characteristics, that he's quite possibly not mentally competent to perform his duties.

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One needn't look far for evidence. Most recent is Trump's taunt to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that his nuclear button is bigger than Kim's. This was Trump's response after Kim said that his nuclear button was always at the ready. What is it about certain men who must always resort to measurements? That's a rhetorical question.

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Other interesting tidbits include that members of Trump's Cabinet have called him an "idiot" and a "dope" behind his back. Would the two people in the back of the room who have not used these words to describe the president please raise your hand? We're so glad you were able to join us before returning to the asylum today.

More serious than gossipy is that, according to a report this last week from the New York Times's Michael S. Schmidt, Trump ordered White House counsel Donald McGahn to try to convince Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Trump apparently thought this was entirely appropriate, fresh as he was in the job, but surely his legal counsel knew better? Sessions, who actually does know something about the law and the Constitution, did, of course, recuse himself.

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What Wolff has accomplished through more than 200 interviews and his nearly free access to the White House and the president's inner circle has been to document through notes and recordings what has long been obvious. Commentators may have insight  though not much was needed to appraise this president  but Wolff has tapes.

That Trump quickly responded by seeking a cease-and-desist order to prohibit the book's publication is consistent with the behavioral tendencies mentioned above. Past presidents, many of whom have suffered various indictments and humiliations at the fingertips of authors, have never sought to stop a book's publication. What explains this commander in chief's impulse to quash a book's release? Either he fears what's therein, or, as is customary for him, his first impulse is to destroy what and whom he doesn't like. Said Wolff on "Today": "He has to be satisfied in the moment."

Other gleanings from Wolff's reporting: The president doesn't read and instead watches a lot of TV, preferably on one of the three screens in his bedroom, where he often retires by 6:30 p.m. to eat his dinner and make calls. He doesn't listen, easily becomes bored and seems unable to pay attention. He repeats the same three stories within minutes of having just told them, and his memory loss is apparently becoming more pronounced.

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Even during the campaign, when some say Trump was sharper, he was easily distracted and bored. Wolff tells of campaign adviser Sam Nunberg trying to teach Trump about the U.S. Constitution. "I got as far as the Fourth Amendment, before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head," says Nunberg in the book. (That amendment is the one about people being safe from unreasonable search and seizure. Perhaps Trump, rather than being disinterested in the presentation, was expressing his opinion of the amendment.)

If some of the anecdotes are new, the news isn't: Donald Trump, who never wanted the job, isn't up to the presidency. His narcissism  as expressed while either playing red-button roulette with a nuclear clown or trying to kill a book  poses a danger to the country and the world.

The truth will out, we keep telling ourselves. But will people believe it? That is the question.

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correction This piece incorrectly suggested that data drawn from Christopher Faricys book Welfare for the Wealthy were from 2016. The figures, on federal Medicaid spending, employer-based health insurance, and Pell grants and college-related tax deductions, were from 2012.

The argument over which poor people deserve aid has begun anew thanks to incipient Republican efforts to harshen work requirements attached to welfare programs. For conservatives and thus-inclined Democrats, work requirements are about making sure that people who receive federal aid aren't lazy loafers living off the dole  "welfare queens" in Reaganite parlance.

It's a badly mistaken point of view. Built into the claim that it's only fair that poor people should be made to work for welfare are a few troubling assumptions: that poor people don't or won't work; that only compensated, market labor is real work; that society (and the state) always require work to precede income; and that each person is due to receive simply what they earn. Each of those is false.

According to 2013 congressional testimony from Lawrence Mead, who supplied much of the intellectual groundwork for our last round of welfare reform, "by requiring and promoting work, [welfare reform] integrated [recipients] into mainstream American life as never before." In fact, though, the number of impoverished people who could work but are neither working nor seeking work is already vanishingly small. As the leftist think tank People's Policy Project has shown, able-bodied adults who elected not to work or seek work in 2016 made up a scant 1.6 to 2.3 percent of America's poor. (Disclosure: My husband, Matt Bruenig, is founder of the think tank.) A recent study likewise found that 87 percent of able-bodied adults covered by the Medicaid expansion are already working, in school or seeking work, and that about 75 percent of those not working are full-time caregivers.

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The lion's share of poor people are elderly, children or disabled persons; another chunk are caregivers. And while caregiving isn't compensated as market labor, parents looking after children and people caring for elderly or sick family members are hardly shiftless layabouts. Being both a mother and a writer, I am well aware that the less compensated of my two jobs is the more demanding one.

But what about that small number of people who could work but, for whatever reason, don't? Shouldn't they have to? Well, before deciding whether it's morally right for them to receive income without working, consider a far larger group that takes in far more money without toil: the idle rich. They soak up plenty of unearned money from the economy, in the form of rent, dividends and capital income. Salaries and wages  that is, money paid for work  only make up about 15 percent of the income of Americans making $10 million per year or more; the rest is capital income from simply owning assets.

And yet rarely do politicians inveigh against the laziness of the well-off. In fact, the government shells out huge sums of money to the rich every year through tax breaks and subsidies. As Syracuse University professor Christopher Faricy points out in his book "Welfare for the Wealthy," the federal government is hardly generous with the poor alone. In 2016, for instance, Social Security kept 26.1 million people out of poverty to the tune of $911.4 billion paid out in disability and old-age pensions; during that same year, federal tax subsidies for the pensions of the more affluent totaled $179.9 billion . Faricy observes that the same pattern holds in health care and education: While the government spent some $200 billion on Medicaid in 2012, it also spent $120 billion subsidizing employer-based health insurance; and while students whose families make under $20,000 per year are the main beneficiaries of federal Pell grants, households that earn between $100,000 and $200,000 receive roughly 50 percent of the benefits of college tuition-and-fee tax deductions.

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In other words, the well-to-do already do what workfare advocates seem so nervous about: rake in money they haven't earned through market labor and thrive off the government's largesse. Perhaps that itself is unfair  so why duplicate it on the other end of the economy? Put simply, it seems ludicrous at best and sadistic at most to start one's fairness policing from the bottom up. If we mean to transform our economy into one in which people earn precisely what they work for and no more, and receive nothing from the government lest their work ethic wither, it would be best to start from the top down, where nobody runs any risk of starvation or homelessness if they lose their benefits.

In fact, none of us live entirely on what we earn. We rely on the infrastructure, knowledge and technology developed by those who have come before us, and those contemporaneous with us. Instead of trying to mince each person's life's work into careful calculations of contribution and merit, it seems more sensible to pursue a fairer economy overall: one that directs its excesses not to the already rich, but to those who have the greatest need; one that recognizes in its distributive structure that every person is immeasurably valuable, deserving of life and dignity.

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PRESIDENT TRUMP rode a claim of out-of-control crime  to be fought with "law and order"  to victory in 2016. He reinforced the message in his inaugural address about "American carnage." So it's no surprise that Attorney General Jeff Sessions harps on the same theme, most recently on Wednesday, when he issued a statement describing this as a "time of rising violent crime [and] a staggering increase in homicides." As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, Mr. Sessions can and should use his bully pulpit to raise justified concern about crime and violence; his latest remarks, however, constituted a misuse of that power. Currently available data do not support his alarmism.

The most recent FBI national crime reports do indeed show that both murder and violent offenses generally rose in 2015 and 2016. The murder rate had risen from at least a 54-year low of 4.4 per 100,000 people in 2014 to 5.3 at the end of 2016. This reversal of a long and positive trend in American society cries out for thoughtful analysis and response. We're still waiting for the 2017 FBI data, which won't be out until later this year.

Meanwhile, private sources have been crunching the 2017 numbers reported by the police of the largest cities  generally indicative of the national total, since homicide is overwhelmingly an urban phenomenon. The basic picture is that homicide probably dipped slightly last year. Through Dec. 16, the total number of homicides in the nation's 30 largest cities was 4.4 percent below what it was at the same point in 2016, according to the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice. The Brennan Center is a liberal nonprofit that frequently criticizes the Trump administration, but its numbers come from police agencies and city reports, and its findings agree with those of independent crime analyst Jeff Asher of FiveThirtyEight. His study of public data from 54 cities with 250,000 or more residents showed that murder is down 2.75 percent over 2016.

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Mr. Sessions's dire portrayal may apply to Charlotte, San Francisco or Columbus, Ohio, which recorded double-digit percentage increases in homicide in 2017. And perhaps those are the numbers that were going through his mind on Wednesday. Still, why emphasize those over the numerous good news stories: Houston (down 27 percent), Detroit (down 11 percent) and the District (down 15 percent)? Even Chicago, scene of a horrific increase in shooting deaths in recent years, turned an early-year upward trend into a 13 percent end-of-year decrease in overall murders, from 765 to 664. That is still far too many, but obviously Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), his citizenry and the Chicago police are doing something right.

Mr. Sessions's statement came in the context of his announcement of new interim U.S. attorneys, including for Manhattan and Brooklyn. Yet the nation's largest city recorded only 290 homicides in 2017  a decline of nearly 90 percent over the past quarter century. Mr. Sessions could just as easily have taken the opportunity to send the Big Apple and the other improving cities his congratulations.

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IN THE more than three months since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, a lot of excuses have been offered to explain the failure to restore power and provide other critical services to American citizens who live on the island. Like the enormity of the devastation. Or the complexity of the work. Or the difficulty of getting workers and supplies to a place surrounded by water. Yadda yadda yadda.

The real reasons for the deplorable response to conditions in Puerto Rico are clear: the island's lack of political muscle and the mainland's lack of political will. As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico has no U.S. senator, no vote in the House and no electoral votes in presidential elections  and so it is all too easy for the White House and Congress to turn a blind eye to the needs of its vulnerable population.

More than 100 days after Maria swept the island on Sept. 20, nearly half of its residents  more than 1.5 million people  remain in the dark, and officials are now saying it will take to the end of February to restore most power. Hard-to-reach rural areas will not get power until the end of May  "just in time," the New York Times noted, "for the 2018 hurricane season." Lack of power is seen as a major factor in the higher death rates that occurred after the storm passed, and it continues to pose a danger as Puerto Rico struggles with limited resources, strained health-care services and the worsening of an already-poor economy.

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If this were happening in any state  including another group of islands, Hawaii  there would be uninterrupted media attention and demands for action. As Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) put it following a visit this week to Puerto Rico: "If this were happening in Connecticut, there would be riots in the streets."

Some of the blame for the prolonged power outage  which energy experts say is unprecedented in modern U.S. history  falls on the island's electric power authority and its questionable decision to entrust restoration work to a tiny Montana company. That, though, does not let the federal government off the hook for a delayed response, bungled coordination and insufficient resources. Adding insult to injury was Congress's enactment of a sweeping tax plan that punishes Puerto Rico with new business taxes even as a stalemate developed over disaster relief.

It is time to stop shortchanging Puerto Rico. President Trump needs to acknowledge that more needs to be done and done sooner. Congress needs to allocate the resources sufficient to help Puerto Rico get back on its feet, including ensuring Medicaid costs will be covered. If not, there will be a further exodus of Puerto Ricans from the ravaged island to the mainland, where  need we remind the White House and lawmakers  their votes will count.

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It is almost a law of our political physics: Those who choose to leave Congress thereby demonstrate qualities that make one wish they would linger here longer. After seven terms in the House of Representatives, which followed eight years in Pennsylvania's House and six in the state Senate, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is moving on without knowing his destination.

He smilingly says he does not want to jeopardize his 13-0 win-loss record in elections, but that does not explain what is, in Washington's mentality, inexplicable: He is leaving even though he is one of the 12 House "cardinals" who hold coveted chairmanships of Appropriations Committee subcommittees. Another eccentricity is that he is not angry about anyone or anything, not even the Senate, where so many House-passed measures go to die, victims of, among other things, the need to get 60 votes for almost anything more consequential than naming a post office. This, and Congress's dysfunctional budget process, devalues the status of cardinal.

Dent, 57, has been a leader of the Tuesday Group, approximately 50 "moderate" Republicans, many of whom, including Dent, would thank you for not affixing to them that libelous label. (Dent likes "center-right.") He comes by his Republican politics of (don't-say) moderation by family tradition: His father's sister, who was born in Allentown, Pa., was Mary Dent Crisp (1923-2007). She became co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee in 1977, but was replaced in 1980 when she dissented from the Republican platform's strong opposition to abortion, and to the Equal Rights Amendment, which Republican platforms had supported since 1940.

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In 2016, Donald Trump's supporters voted, Dent thinks, for "an attitude." He says, "If I set myself on fire over an issue, some of these people would complain that the temperature of the flame is not hot enough." Trump won Dent's district with 51.8 percent of the vote; Dent won 58.4 percent . This will be one of the districts Democrats target in their quest to gain 24 seats and reinstall House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as speaker.

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The Lehigh Valley district includes the city that might have been happier if Billy Joel had not immortalized it in his 1982 hit song:

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Well we're living here in Allentown

And they're closing all the factories down

Out in Bethlehem they're killing time

Filling out forms

Standing in line

  

Well we're waiting here in Allentown

For the Pennsylvania we never found

  

So the graduations hang on the wall

But they never really helped us at all

This was 34 years before the presidential election in which Pennsylvania was the most important of the three states (the others were Wisconsin and Michigan) that had voted Democratic in eight consecutive presidential contests but changed. Thirty-four years before the nation became fixated on the working-class distress caused by deindustrialization.

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This revolution will be available very soon and must be considered. The cost savings of a bus with no driver are astounding and can be used to slash fares and increase coverage, making government-owned mass transportation more attractive. Consider that a bus route running from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. needs a driver for 16 hours. At Metro's average labor rate of $56 per hour, plus additional overhead expenses of training, management and human resources, the savings for such a route with no driver could approach $400,000 per year. A self-driving bus would also be more efficient, saving even more money.
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Why was President Trump so frantic to ensure that his attorney general would shield him against the inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election? For all the unsettling questions swirling about Trump in recent days, this may turn out to be the most important and, for the president, the most ominous. The more information that emerges about Trump's mania to keep Jeff Sessions in control of the investigation and his fury when the attorney general chose to step aside, the more perilous the president's legal situation appears.

In that sense, a report by the New York Times's Michael S. Schmidt may end up being more damaging for Trump than his portrayal in Michael Wolff's new book. If Schmidt's reporting is accurate, three consequences follow:

First, White House counsel Donald McGahn must go, because, at Trump's direction, he improperly pressured Sessions not to step aside from the Russia probe. That Sessions resisted McGahn's lobbying is laudable but irrelevant. The White House counsel represents the office of the presidency. He isn't the president's personal pit bull  his "Roy Cohn," in Trump's reported lament. Leaning on the attorney general to remain in charge of a criminal investigation that touches on the president is not part of the White House counsel's job description.

Here are some of the most striking quotes from the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

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Second, Sessions may need to go, because he oversaw or directed a public smear campaign against the sitting FBI director, James B. Comey. Schmidt writes that Sessions "wanted one negative article a day in the news media about Mr. Comey, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting" between a congressional staffer and a Sessions aide seeking dirt on Comey. The Justice Department flatly denies this account. But if it turns out to be true, that conduct is far beyond what is appropriate for the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

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Third, the Schmidt report edges Trump himself even closer to having obstructed justice. Whether special counsel Robert S. Mueller III would bring a criminal case on those grounds, there is no doubt that obstructing justice can be the basis for impeachment.

Let's back up. There are two possible explanations for Trump's persistent refusal to acknowledge the reality of Russian meddling and his anger over the resulting criminal investigation. The more benign is that he is so insecure that he cannot tolerate any insinuation that his victory is tainted and his presidency illegitimate. The more worrisome is that Trump knows he or those around him have something to hide.

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Schmidt's depiction puts another thumb on the scale of that interpretation. As Schmidt writes, after Sessions's recusal, "the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. Mr. Trump said he had expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him the way he believed Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, had done for his brother John F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr. had for Barack Obama."

Which raises the question: Protect him from what?

Perhaps merely the stain of an ongoing criminal investigation; see explanation one, above. Some support for this interpretation comes in the form of Trump's evident disdain for the proper boundaries between a president and his Justice Department. In the most charitable interpretation, Trump felt aggrieved at being investigated for "made-up problems like Russian collusion" and counted on Sessions to make that go away.

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But the more persuasive interpretation, based on the totality of the amassed evidence and the new revelations, is that Trump understood Mueller's investigation as an existential threat. The ferocity of his opposition, as underscored by the new report of ordering McGahn to help keep Sessions in place, lends credence to this view. So do other aspects of Trump's conduct: demanding Comey's loyalty; asking him, on the investigation of fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, to "let this go"; drafting a misleading statement about the purpose of Donald Trump Jr.'s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer peddling dirt on Hillary Clinton.

And, of course, firing Comey, based on the laughable justification that his public statements during the campaign were unfair to Hillary Clinton. Now, with Schmidt's story, we learn that the initial letter that Trump drafted to justify Comey's firing  notwithstanding previous denials by the White House  began by explicitly pointing to the "fabricated and politically motivated" Russian investigation.

The lengths to which Trump seems willing to go to shut down this probe and to hide his tracks suggest that something more than his fragile ego is at stake here.

Read more on this topic:

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The Dec. 29 Metro article " In Baltimore, dogs help children with lessons in reading and compassion " was a wonderful reminder that even though this country seems to be a churning mass of political upheaval, there are little pieces of optimism to cling to. The article and accompanying photograph simply melted my heart: a dog lying on a fuzzy rug, children holding books, cheerfully read stories permeating the calm classroom atmosphere.

With the risk of sounding like a misguided and ancient adult, I say children these days need to read more. I wave my cane in the air and scream at them to get off their phones. But the words ring with more truth than most are willing to admit. A Pew Research Center survey in 2016 found that 26 percent of American adults hadn't read a book in the past year. Perhaps these students' experiences in elementary and middle school with their four-legged friends will encourage them to read more later in life.
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As a member of the group of people "in their 60s, 70s and older" addressed in Laura L. Carstensen's Dec. 30 op-ed, " 'Geezers,' 'coots' or 'the elderly': What we call 'old,' " I was amused by her effort to identify that group with an acceptable term. Despite her best intentions, I am not confident that calling these folks "perennials" will take root. I produce a classical music program on the Arlington community radio station WERA-LP and prefer the very simple term that its "Aging Matters" show uses: "older adults."

Dennis Siebert, Arlington

The director of the Stanford Center on Longevity wrote in her Dec. 30 op-ed that she's been unable to find anyone who wants to be called "old" and suggested that "perennials" might be just perfect in "a culture that supports long life."

As someone who is old, I would suggest that we don't need to worry about new monikers, especially one that means "lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time," according to Oxford Dictionaries.

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What we need is a cultural change so that we educate and encourage people (including doctors and psychologists) to honestly accept that all life has its ending  it is not infinite. Better, a new culture that supports a good life for all of us  young, middle-aged, old  in the limited time that is our due.

A. Jo Procter, Chevy Chase

Yes, language matters, and Laura L. Carstensen's op-ed clarified how I feel about naming generations. I was born in 1940 as part of a generation without a name. We just minded our business, did what we were told and were allowed to journey through life. That used to bother me.

As I considered Carstensen's message, I appreciated the fact that no one gave us a label. What a gift! And I would like it to stay that way.

You see, as time passes, we are all on a journey of aging. We have days when we realize that our lives are profoundly changing as our bodies and minds age. We have days when we take off on adventures feeling blessed and excited to still explore new places, meet new friends and enjoy long relationships. And we have days when we wonder how we will handle the inevitable days in our future, days that will be long and lonely.

So please, if you have to give people like me a name, call me a child of God who is continuing on my journey of life in this place. And call me blessed.

Marla Marthens, Annapolis

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In his Dec. 31 Local Opinions essay, "Getting teachers in classrooms should be Northam's No. 1 priority," Robert C. Pianta affirmed the need to address Virginia's teacher shortage. Gov. Terry McAuliffe's (D) directive to allow state institutions to create four-year education degrees is a first step. Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up. ArrowRight But the problem of attracting strong candidates is salary. Public schools are largely funded by localities; poorer parts of the state have small tax bases, limiting their ability to fund schools and pay teachers. The state should step in with more funding.

We also need smaller class sizes. Classes at the high school where I taught have topped 30 students. Teachers are burning out over the hours spent during the evenings, weekends and holidays planning for and assessing student work. They are leaving teaching for jobs that pay more and require fewer hours.

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Retired teachers are an excellent answer to long-term substitute situations. Unfortunately, I pay a woman to clean my house more per hour than the going rate for retired teacher subs. My retired colleagues and I are not particularly inclined to go back for that kind of money.

Education is not different from other fields. You get what you pay for. Fairfax County voters turned down the meal tax in 2016, a shortsighted decision that has long-term consequences for the schools. Mr. Pianta was correct that the situation is dire and that Gov.-elect Ralph Northam (D) needs to "develop long-term strategies that will reduce classroom vacancies."

Lisa B. Green, Arlington

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection released aerial footage shot on Oct. 17 of the eight prototype border walls near the U.S.-Mexico border. (Video: US Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs)

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The Democrat-controlled Senate was nearing a make-or-break vote on a comprehensive immigration bill in June 2013 when a pair of Republican senators swooped in with an 11th-hour amendment aimed at clinching enough GOP support to avoid a filibuster. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A key provision: doubling the length of a new border "fence" between the United States and Mexico from 350 miles to 700 miles.

Democrats didn't think such a barrier was necessary. Neither did the Obama White House. To them, the proposal seemed arbitrary  a random doubling of the size at the last minute for political purposes. In the end, though, all 54 Democrats in the Senate supported the provision in hopes of realizing a bigger goal  providing a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

This month, President Trump is ratcheting up demands that Congress include his border wall in a package to provide legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. The administration is preparing to ask for $18 billion over a decade to renovate and build 700 miles of wall along the southwest border, according to a memo from the Department of Homeland Security.

At a news conference Jan. 6, President Trump gave his priorities on immigration, including ending the practice of giving priority to immigrants' relatives. (Video: The Washington Post)

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"We want a wall," Trump declared on Saturday after meeting with Republican leaders at Camp David in Maryland. "A wall must happen or we will not have" a deal.

Lawmakers face a March 5 deadline, set by Trump, after which work permits for the undocumented "dreamers" provided by former president Barack Obama under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will begin to expire at a rate of nearly 1,000 per day.

But the debate illustrates how the political stakes have shifted since Trump took office.

Democrats, under pressure from immigrant rights groups, have strenuously opposed including Trump's wall in the negotiations. They call it a waste of taxpayer money, but they also have signaled that the political price for helping the president make good on his prime campaign promise is far too high.

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Trump, through his anti-illegal-immigrant rhetoric and policies, including a travel ban aimed at Muslim-majority countries, has made the wall a metaphor to many Democrats of an administration whose crackdown on immigration they say has overtones of xenophobia or racism.

"The debate over a wall goes back decades. The notion of a wall is a giant symbol that is not based on analysis in any way of whether we should do something about the border," said Cecilia Munoz, a longtime immigrant rights advocate who served as Obama's domestic policy adviser. "The fact is, having elevated the notion of a wall in his campaign the way he did, the president made it an even bigger symbol than it already was  and that makes it much harder to accomplish."

In a letter to colleagues Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the Trump administration's request for wall funding "alarming" and said her caucus "must all speak out."

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On the other side of the debate, wall proponents are perplexed why Democrats are voicing such vociferous opposition.

In 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Secure Fence Act, a bill that authorized the construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the border. That legislation was approved with broad bipartisan support, including, in the Senate, by such Democratic luminaries as Barack Obama (Ill.), Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Joe Biden (Del.) and Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), now the Senate minority leader.

"Where I don't understand the pushback is, in 2013 if everybody was for the 700 miles of double fencing, but now they're not for it because Trump calls it a wall  to me that does not make sense," said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for the Border Patrol agents. "Whether we call it a fence or call it a wall, it acts as the exact same thing  a physical barrier that makes it more difficult to enter the United States illegally. I don't understand the whole fight over this."

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In a statement, Schumer said, "We'd be glad to do comprehensive immigration reform, like the Senate bill from 2013, that has more of what both sides want, but that will take time. There is an immediate need to protect the DACA recipients, so the deal will be more narrow than that."

It's not just the wall that has scrambled the debate. Trump also is demanding changes to the nation's legal immigration system, including curbing what the president calls "chain migration"  the practice of immigrants petitioning for extended family members to enter the country  and terminating a diversity visa lottery that provides 55,000 green cards to people from countries with low immigration rates to the United States.

The 2013 immigration bill approved by the Senate  with 14 Republicans joining the 54 Democrats  included provisions to end that lottery and to eliminate the ability of brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens to enter the country on family reunification visas. That bill also created a new category of "merit-based" visas in which prospective immigrants were awarded points for education levels and work expertise  another concept Trump has championed.

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Democrats insist it is not fair to compare the 2013 debate to the current one. Five years ago, the negotiations were aimed at a far more sweeping comprehensive bill to fix an immigration system both parties agreed was broken. That legislation included changes to worker visas, cleared lengthy backlogs in legal immigration waiting lists, and offered a path to citizenship for all of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

This year, the debate centers on the fate of a far smaller group. Nearly 700,000 dreamers were enrolled in the DACA program, started by Obama in 2012, when Trump terminated it in September. Not all dreamers had applied for the program, however, and all told, depending on how the group is defined, there could be a total of more than 1.5 million dreamers in the country, according to experts.

Democrats have eyed a Jan. 19 deadline for lawmakers to approve a must-pass spending bill as leverage to forge a narrow deal for some portion or all of this group.

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Trump signaled last fall that, although he was adamant that lawmakers beef up border security, funding for a wall did not have to be tied to the dreamer issue. In recent months, however, the president has emphasized that any DACA legislation "must secure the border with a wall," as he reiterated Thursday.

Lawmakers remain uncertain about exactly what Trump is asking for. During the campaign, he called for a contiguous wall along 2,000 miles of the border, something even the Border Patrol union does not think is necessary.

After meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday, Republican senators said such talk is misguided

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said that despite the president's past campaign rhetoric, "he's listened to border security" experts and now believes "there's a need for walls and barriers in a number of places and the use of technology and personnel in others."

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Ultimately, Tillis said, Republicans are hoping for "a net increase of 600 miles of wall. That will be varying barriers based on where you are along the border, but that's the long-term view."

Democrats said privately that they need to hear directly from the White House just what Trump is proposing. Illegal crossings into the United States at the Mexican border have plummeted under Trump, making the need for a wall even less urgent in the mind of many lawmakers.

"If they're really thinking that to give dreamers relief . . . that we're going to give them significant monies towards a border wall," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters last month, "I can't see that."

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), whose Harlem-area district is home to approximately 2,700 constituents protected by DACA, called a wall a "nonstarter" in the dreamer negotiations.

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Caving on a wall or on curbs to legal immigration in order to protect the dreamers is a wildly lopsided trade-off in favor of immigration hawks, Democrats said. Polls show that upward of 80 percent of the public favors a solution to allow dreamers to remain in the country, and some Republican lawmakers have said they support a deal  highlighting the complex politics for the GOP in a midterm-election year.

"This is a crisis they've created," said Lorella Praeli, a former dreamer who became a U.S. citizen in 2015 and served as campaign adviser to Hillary Clinton. She now works as the ACLU's director of immigration and campaigns.

Praeli said the Democratic strategy of supporting the border fence in 2013 in hopes that it would give the comprehensive immigration bill a better chance at becoming law was a mistake. The bill also would have spent $40 billion on border security, including nearly doubling the number of Border Patrol agents to 40,000 and adding high-tech surveillance equipment.

Although the Senate approved the bill by a vote of 68 to 32, it died in the Republican-controlled House where immigration hard-liners  opposed to granting "amnesty" to undocumented immigrants  forced then-Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) into shelving the legislation.

"They did the best they could under the context and politics at the time, but immigration politics have changed," Praeli said. "There is a robust movement and accountability on Republicans and Democrats. Given the support on this issue and our constituency, we do not want to end up being in a situation where we say, 'Sure, take what you need to give us a solution' " on the dreamers.

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Here are some of the most striking quotes from the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

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Author Michael Wolff remained defiant Friday in the face of personal attacks from the White House and threats of legal action from President Trump's lawyers over his tell-all book on the West Wing. Hardly bowed by the full-on assault from Trump's team, Wolff appeared to revel in the attention that has helped drive his book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," to be a likely bestseller after his publisher, Henry Holt, sped up publication several days to early Friday.

The book paints Trump as unprepared for the presidency and his aides as concerned about his fitness for office.

"Where do I send the box of chocolates?" Wolff asked in jest during an interview on NBC's "Today" show when asked about Trump's vitriol.

Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, spoke to the Today show Jan. 5, following President Trumps legal efforts to st (Video: Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)

Trump's attention and attacks, he added, are "not only helping me sell books, but he's helping me prove the point of the book. This is extraordinary that a president of the United States would try to stop the publication of a book. This doesn't happen  has not happened from other presidents."

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Wolff also dismissed attacks from Trump and his allies over the author's credibility. Some sources for the book have disputed specific quotes and characterizations of their actions, while others have pointed to inconsistencies in the book and errors in Wolff's past reporting to suggest that his account cannot be trusted.

Trump bashed Wolff, former senior White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon and the book again in a late-night tweet on Friday: "Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!"

"Liar and phony," read an email from the Republican National Committee featuring Wolff's picture and selected quotes from other journalists criticizing his work.

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But Wolff, a New York media columnist who has written for New York magazine, Vanity Fair, USA Today and the Guardian, said he had broad access to Trump, Bannon and other senior officials.

"I work like every journalist works," he said. "I have recordings. I have notes. I am, in absolutely every way, comfortable with everything released in this book. My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who walked on Earth at this point."

Wolff added that he has written "millions upon millions of words," but "I don't think there's been any corrections."

Trump's personal lawyers sent a letter to Wolff and his publisher early Friday threatening legal action and demanding that they cease publication, which did not happen. A revealing and embarrassing excerpt of the book was published Wednesday in New York magazine.

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"Your publication of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel," the lawyers wrote.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump spoke to Wolff only once for about "five to seven minutes," and not specifically about the book. But the author said on "Today" that he had a full interview with the president.

"What was I doing there if he didn't want me to be there?" Wolff said. "I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I don't know. It certainly wasn't off the record. I spoke to him after the inauguration, yes."

All told, he said, "I've spent about three hours with the president over the course of the campaign and in the White House. My window into Donald Trump is pretty significant."

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Trump has attacked Wolff and Bannon, who served as a key source and disparaged other aides, as well as Trump's son Donald Jr., in on-the-record statements. Among other things, Bannon referred to a 2016 meeting between Donald Jr. and a Russian lawyer, which has become part of a special counsel probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians during the election, as "treasonous."

Though Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Bannon had "lost his mind," the Breitbart News chief has since attempted to ratchet down tensions with his former boss, calling him a "great man" who maintains his full support.

Wolff said his visits to the White House and his discussions with staffers left him with the impression that "100 percent" of Trump's aides, including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers, had come to doubt the president's capacity for the job.

But the author also seemed to reveal that he had used a bit of deception to gain the trust of the very aides who looked foolish or disingenuous in the book.

"I'm a nice guy," Wolff said. But "I certainly said whatever was necessary to get the story."

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President Trump's taunting tweet this week raising the specter of nuclear war with North Korea sparked fresh concerns in the Pentagon, at the State Department and even in the White House about whether a carefully calibrated strategy to compel the rogue state into negotiations can survive the impulses of both countries' leaders.

The presidential pronouncement, as most of his tweets do, caught West Wing aides by surprise, as well as allies in Asia, who wondered whether it was merely an unscripted musing or a sign of a growing rift between the United States and South Korea.

U.S. policymakers had assured their counterparts in Seoul that they would tamp down bellicose rhetoric in the run-up to next month's Winter Olympics, hosted by South Korea in PyeongChang. Was the United States suddenly shifting course?

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North Korea said it would reopen a border hotline with South Korea Jan. 3, hours after President Trump said he has a bigger" nuclear button than Kim Jong Un. (Video: Reuters)

But Trump administration officials said that there has been no shift and that the president's language simply reinforces the government's strategy of "maximum pressure" to address the rising threat from North Korea. As part of that plan, U.S. military commanders have been readying potential actions against North Korea, short of preventive war, that might communicate the United States' resolve.

The latest episode began Monday, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un proclaimed in his annual New Year's Day speech that he kept a nuclear button on his desk and that his arsenal of weapons could hit the entire United States.

Then Tuesday evening, one of Trump's favorite retired generals, Jack Keane, analyzed Kim's button boast on the Fox News Channel, the television network Trump regularly watches. Roughly 10 minutes later, Trump  who advisers have said is sensitive to appearing weak and relishes having the last word  weighed in by declaring his button to be "much bigger & more powerful" than Kim's.

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Trump concluded his tweet with this: "And my Button works!"

The exchange of playground-style taunts exposed the pitfalls and the promise of Trump's improvisational involvement in arguably the most dire foreign policy problem his administration faces.

"It's a reckless, awful thing for any president to say, but of course it's not real," said Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert at the Center for a New American Security. Cronin added that national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the senior U.S. commander in Seoul, "are not going to let that kind of attitude determine U.S. actions. They can prevent the rhetoric from becoming a reality."

Democratic leaders  as well as some Republicans in the national security establishment  condemned Trump's tweet as dangerously belligerent and cavalier. "This is not a game," former vice president Joe Biden told CNN in a rare public criticism of Trump. "This is not about, you know, can I puff my chest out."

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Trump administration officials said the president's tweet, however colorful, was in keeping with the administration's "maximum pressure" policy, which emerged from a rigorous process involving top officials from the Pentagon, the State Department and intelligence agencies.

"We are leading an international pressure campaign using diplomacy and sanctions," said one senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "The door is open to engagement, but North Korea has to earn it. Missile tests and nuclear tests are not a way of earning it. Each new outrage only makes it worse for North Korea."

Administration officials have pushed to tighten U.N. sanctions on North Korea and pressed the U.S. military to come up with unilateral actions short of war to dissuade Pyongyang from intimidating or blackmailing U.S. allies.

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In the immediate term, those measures include regular use of U.S. stealth aircraft that can penetrate North Korean air defenses in military exercises and increased interdiction of ships violating U.N. resolutions. More-aggressive measures in the future could include shutting down North Korea's Internet or firing at North Korean vessels that are harassing fishing boats, according to people familiar with the planning.

The president's tweets  which are rarely drafted with staff and were not part of the administration's 2017 policy review  have been a persistent wild card in an otherwise conventional U.S. strategy toward Pyongyang. Some foreign affairs experts said the overall message is similar to what other presidents have conveyed.

"We've always said, 'My button's bigger,' though obviously not with that gross double entendre," said Michael R. Auslin, an Asia expert with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. "We've always warned every country that our military force is stronger, our nuclear force is stronger, so don't test us."

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But Trump's critics view the tweets as the product of a thin-skinned and impulsive commander in chief.

"He can't help himself when he gets news from cable TV," said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "He feels the need to respond to every perceived slight or one-upmanship."

With tensions on the Korean Peninsula rising and the Olympics only a few weeks away, the tweets' impact  for good or ill  has been a subject of intense debate in Washington, Seoul and the West Wing, where top advisers often learn about the president's latest salvo for the first time when it pops up in their Twitter feeds.

Some officials sought to put a positive spin on the president's messages, saying they have deterred the North Korean regime and its unpredictable leader from threatening moves that could trigger an all-out war. White House officials point to Trump's vow in August to rain down "fire and fury like the world has never seen" on North Korea if it launched missiles at the United States or territories such as Guam.

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"I think the press has underestimated the strategic benefits of some of the rhetoric, or at least should acknowledge that sometimes it's a double-edged tweet," the senior administration official said. "Some partners have expressed thanks for the 'fire and fury' comment."

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said foreign officials he interacts with are increasingly tuning out Trump's Twitter blasts.

"If you're a leader in the region, on a scale of one to 10, it's about a 1.5," Bremmer said. "They respond to Trump pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. They respond to Trump pulling out of [the] Paris [climate accords]. That matters. But what Trump's tweets do is they just reinforce the inconsistency and lack of reliability. Trump's tweets bear no relationship to policy."

The impact of the tweets is felt most acutely in South Korea, where officials are terrified at the prospect of war and struggle to get clear direction on U.S. policy from senior officials in Washington.

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Nearly a year into his tenure, Trump still has not formally nominated an ambassador to Seoul, leaving South Korean officials without an on-the-ground emissary who could help decode the president's statements. In the absence of an ambassador, senior officials in Washington have attempted to pick up the slack with more-frequent calls to their counterparts in Seoul.

Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke Thursday and agreed to continue the "maximum pressure" strategy, while delaying joint military exercises until after the Olympics to focus on the event's safety, according to the White House.

Trump plans to send an official delegation to the PyeongChang Games, including high-level current and former government officials, that will be announced in coming days, aides said.

Kim wants to send a North Korean delegation to the Olympics, and there is speculation in the region that he might dispatch his sister, Kim Yo Jong, to lead it. North and South Korean officials are due on Tuesday to hold their first talks in more than two years and plan to discuss the North's participation in the Olympics.

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Earlier this week, Trump cited the talks as proof that his tweets were working.

"With all of the failed 'experts' weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total 'might' against the North," he tweeted Thursday. "Fools, but talks are a good thing!"

But even Trump's staunchest backers acknowledge that the tweets provide a potential opening for North Korea's leadership, which is determined to exploit divisions between Washington and Seoul. These officials note that the North Koreans seldom talk to the Americans and the South Koreans at the same time.

"One of the clear goals of Kim's New Year's Day message is to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea," said the senior administration official. "It's very clear. It's part of their playbook, and that's what they were attempting."

One argument against Trump's saber rattling is that it provides exactly that opening.

"You don't hear Jim Mattis or Rex Tillerson making this argument," said Michael J. Green, an Asia expert in the George W. Bush White House. Instead, he said, the two officials have seemed to advocate more of a "containment strategy."

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President Trump may have killed his panel probing allegations of widespread voter fraud, but the controversy surrounding its mission appears destined to continue. Upon issuing an executive order last week terminating the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity  which met only twice and faced a flood of lawsuits  Trump said he had asked the Department of Homeland Security to take a look at the panel's work and "determine next courses of action."

Boosters of the commission, including its vice chairman and driving force, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), are pushing for the DHS to focus on using data that the department collects on citizenship to ferret out illegal voters on state voting rolls.

In theory, such a massive undertaking could bolster the unproven  and widely derided  claim by Trump that launched the commission: that millions of illegally cast ballots cost him the popular vote against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

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Critics of the panel  including some of its Democratic members  say such an exercise remains misguided regardless of who conducts it.

"This is just another wild goose chase and a bad idea," said Alan King, a probate judge in Alabama who was one of the more outspoken Democrats on the 11-member commission, whose work he characterized as aimed at voter suppression.

"There's an ideology that they only want people to vote who look like they do and think like they do," King said of his Republican colleagues on the now-defunct panel.

In an interview, Kobach lamented the end of the commission, which he blamed on uncooperative Democrats and paralyzing lawsuits, but said shifting its work to the DHS is a "natural handoff."

Kobach  who has aggressively sought to prosecute alleged voter fraud in Kansas, where he is running for governor  said he plans to advise both the White House and the DHS on how to proceed. "The Trump administration still wants to put the facts on the table," he said. One of the commission's unfilled tasks was delivering a report to Trump.

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It remains unclear how broadly the DHS sees its mission and how much input it plans to take from Kobach.

"Mr. Kobach is not advising the Department on this matter," DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton said in a statement Friday.

While the DHS's role could evolve, Houlton said its main focus now is continuing its work supporting state governments "against those who seek to undermine the election system or its integrity." In October, the DHS convened a meeting to coordinate with states about keeping election machines and other "critical infrastructure" secure.

Civil rights groups and other critics of the commission applauded Trump's announcement Wednesday that he was disbanding the panel, which had nominally been led by Vice President Pence.

But in the days since, several groups said they plan to closely monitor what happens in the DHS and other areas of the administration on voting issues.

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"With or without the commission, the president remains fixated on the lie about massive voter fraud," California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) said. "We need to remain vigilant. . . . There's a lot they could do that we would find troubling."

To that end, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund last week filed a Freedom of Information request with the DHS aimed at discovering what communications have taken place between department officials and commission leaders.

"I think it's very hard to know what to expect because there has been such a lack of respect for the transparency of the process," said Sam Spital, the organization's director of litigation.

The commission proved a magnet for controversy since its inception and sparked an uproar when it made a sweeping request for voter data from states that even some Republican officials said raise privacy concerns.

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Kobach and others have said the controversy was overblown, given the commission was seeking only data that is already public. Part of the aim was to determine how many people registered and voted in multiple states.

The request sparked several of the lawsuits that the White House cited as a rationale for shutting down the commission. The panel was also sued by Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of its own members, who claimed he and other Democrats were being kept in the dark about Republican deliberations.

Kobach said that moving the commission's work into the DHS should allow it to proceed unfettered by lawsuits from outside organizations.

"It's hard for an outside organization to stop an agency from doing its work," he said.

Kobach said he is optimistic that the DHS could move more quickly in particular on comparing citizenship data to state voter rolls.

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It remains unclear whether the commission will transfer the data it has already collected from the states  about half have complied, at least in part  or whether the DHS would have to begin that process anew.

On Friday, representatives of nearly a dozen organizations that have taken legal action against the commission wrote to DHS in objection to the transfer of the data, saying the commission had no legal authority to do so.

Vanita Gupta, the former head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department during the Obama administration, said it is possible that the DHS could launch deportation proceedings against noncitizens it discovers have voted. Or such cases could be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution, she said.

But the process of matching data would probably provoke renewed controversy from the states and could run into resistance in Congress, she said.

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"It's not without significant complication," said Gupta, now president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Dale Ho, director of the Voting Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said previous attempts by states to tap DHS citizenship data have been fraught with problems, including rampant "false positives" in matching names.

He pointed to the experience of Florida, where in 2012 officials launched a campaign to remove noncitizens from the state's voter rolls using a DHS database.

Florida officials initially said that "nearly 200,000 registered voters may not be U.S. citizens." That number was later revised downward dramatically and led to the secretary of state's office sending a list of 2,700 possible noncitizens to county election supervisors for verification. Ultimately, only 85 citizens were removed from the rolls, according to PolitiFact.

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Ho and others say Hispanics and Asians, who have more common surnames, are more likely to be falsely identified as noncitizens. An analysis conducted by the Miami Herald on Florida's efforts indicated that 87 percent of those identified by the state as noncitizens on the rolls were minorities and 58 percent were Hispanic.

Kobach played down such concerns, saying that many past problems  partly a result from lags in updates to DHS data  have been solved.

King, one of the Democrats on the commission, said it defies logic to think that noncitizen voting is widespread.

Those who are in the country legally are not likely to risk their potential for becoming a citizen, he said. And those who are undocumented are not likely to call attention to themselves by trying to vote.

"These folks want to fly under the radar," King said. "Are they really going to hold themselves out as U.S. citizens to go vote?"

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J. Christian Adams, a Republican on the commission, has sought to disprove such notions during his career.

He leads an organization whose work includes a report titled "Alien Invasion II," which details the presence of noncitizens on the voter rolls in Virginia.

In a statement, Adams said moving the commission's work into the DHS  without participation from Democrats  was a positive step.

"Foes of election integrity lost their seat at the table," he said. "Now the important work of improving the integrity of the election process will be done by people who believe in election integrity, not by those who seek to preserve vulnerabilities in the system. . . . Before long they'll realize that advocates of election integrity have more stamina, support and perseverance than they realize."

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Long before voters decide in November who will control the House, the Senate and 36 governor's seats across the country, the most wide-open primary season in decades will plunge the nation's two major political parties into historic battles over who they are. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The long-anticipated 2018 midterm elections are rapidly approaching  a referendum on President Trump and the GOP majority, and a gauge of Americans' expectations of government. But first the parties and their voters must chart a course through their nominating contests.

Between March 6 in Texas and Sept. 18 in Massachusetts, thousands of contenders, Republican and Democrat, will compete at every level of elected office below the presidency for the chance to appear on the ballot in November.

Races that Democrats once left uncontested are now brimming with candidates. Races in which Republicans had hoped to clear the field have grown crowded. And the power of national parties on both sides to moderate the conflicts remains low, as populist passions roil both the liberal and conservative grass roots.

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On the Republican side, contests will test the power of the establishment over a restless base, with conservative disrupters and donors seeking to upset the current balance of power within the party  and with Trump serving as an erratic referee. Some races that give Republicans the best chance to pick up seats have become GOP mud fights, while in others, the threat of incumbent defeats could complicate the party's ability to retain its majorities in the fall.

Democrats are mired in their own conflicts. How, if at all, should they campaign against Trump? How do they balance the liberal agenda of the party's base  on health care, impeachment or the minimum wage, for instance  against the clamor among some Democrats to figure out how to connect with voters who supported Trump?

The sheer, historic volume of candidates, particularly among Democrats, tells part of the tale. The surge is most apparent in contests for the House of Representatives, where, through the end of September, 455 Democratic challengers had already registered with the Federal Election Commission  more than twice as many than at any other point in the last 15 years, according to an analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute. By comparison, only 111 Republican challengers had filed to raise money.

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The outcome of these contests, a warm-up for a general election that will decide control of the House and Senate as well as statehouses, will help define the priorities and leaders of both parties in advance of the 2020 presidential campaign. And over the next eight months, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent to winnow the fields.

"We've been raring for this fight for a long, long time," said Dan Cantor, the national director of the Working Families Party, which is trying to nominate liberals in Democratic primaries. "Democrats have been nominating people one degree better than the Republican, then acting surprised when people don't turn out. People need to run on a progressive agenda, then govern on that agenda."

Several Republican races  in Arizona, Nevada and an expected contest in Mississippi  have become proxy fights for the battle between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and conservative activists, including former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

Other races have attracted multiple credible candidates, with some contests shaping up as ideological clashes and others featuring a jumble of infighting that has left some Republicans wondering whether the eventual nominees will emerge stronger or weaker in the general election.

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Three major candidates, for instance, are running to take on Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), including former coal executive Don Blankenship.

A prime Senate pickup opportunity in Indiana, meanwhile, has turned into a Republican brawl, with the campaigns of Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita exchanging epithets such as "unhinged," attacks on the lucrative municipal legal consulting contract of one candidate's wife, and mocking jabs over an eight-page memo with instructions about how to chauffeur the other candidate around the district, with tips about black coffee and avoiding "sudden acceleration." Complicating matters is a self-funded businessman, Mike Braun, who has loaned his own campaign $850,000 and has been courting the support of anti-establishment leaders.

Democrats have looked on with glee. "Whoever emerges will not only enter the general election badly damaged but also have to explain to voters why they supported a tax increase on the middle class and spiked health-care costs," said Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

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The involvement of wealthy Republican contributors, not to mention Trump, has also complicated some races. In Wisconsin, the Democrat-turned-conservative-Republican Kevin Nicholson has received support from Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein, who also gave to a super PAC that supported the failed Senate campaign in Alabama for former state judge Roy Moore.

Trump, meanwhile, has thrown his support behind incumbents such as Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), while also weighing into early primaries. The president's fierce criticism of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) helped force him into retirement, and Trump has publicly predicted that his longtime supporter Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) "is going to win big" in his competitive Senate primary in that state.

Neither party is anointing candidates as it used to. White House intervention has had mixed results in recruiting Senate candidates; in nine of 10 Trump-won states where a Democratic senator is up for reelection, Republicans are facing free-for-alls with no obvious front-runners. (The exception is Missouri, where Attorney General Josh Hawley is favored to beat three insurgent challengers.)

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Democrats are handling even larger scrums, especially in states where they're desperate to break Republican power ahead of the next round of congressional redistricting. In Iowa's gubernatorial race, seven Democrats are fighting it out to challenge former lieutenant governor Kim Reynolds (R). Seventeen Democrats have declared in Wisconsin, where the winner will take on an entrenched Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).

Six Democrats are facing off in the race for Illinois governor, where billionaire J.B. Pritzker won over the party establishment but few of his challengers backed off; seven Democrats are in the hunt for the nomination in Maryland, with liberals trying to elevate former NAACP chairman Ben Jealous.

Both parties are facing competitive primaries in the Midwest and South as well as in some of the largest swing states. In Florida, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) won Trump's backing in a gubernatorial primary against Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. A race that Republicans hoped could serve as a coronation for Putnam has been scrambled as Las Vegas Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, hedge fund heiress Rebekah Mercer and Wyoming investor Foster Friess piled in behind DeSantis.

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In Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, Republicans who had hoped to run as successors to incumbent GOP governors are facing challenges from insurgent candidates. The same is true in Iowa, where Reynolds got a head start on competitors by taking over the top job after her predecessor became ambassador to China  a promotion that did not scare off two primary challengers.

So far, the Democrats' House primaries have not become ideological slugfests. A high-profile campaign to replace conservative Democrats, launched in early 2017 by a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, was eventually folded into a similar campaign called Justice Democrats, which has backed a variety of liberal incumbents and challengers.

Opposition to Trump has smoothed over some of the Democrats' differences, but the debate over whether to seek impeachment of Trump is likely to grow as an issue as Election Day approaches  and it has not yet defined the early Democratic primary battles. In the most wide-open primaries, at least one candidate favors a Sanders-style agenda of universal Medicare and a $15 minimum wage, and a candidate who favors a more center-left agenda.

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To further that goal, liberal activists have decided to target incumbent Democrats. Outside of Chicago, the antiabortion Democrat Rep. Daniel Lipinski has been targeted by several groups, including NARAL and MoveOn.org, who are backing Marie Newman, a liberal who founded an anti-bullying effort for grade schools. In California, liberals are hoping that state Sen. Kevin de Leon will mount a credible challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has been in office since 1992.

"The top-line goal is getting paid family leave, Medicare for All, and free college front and center," said Neil Sroka, a spokesman for Democracy for America, which supports de Leon.

Republicans have argued that the candidate glut will end up hurting Democrats. In some of the districts won by Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, but represented by Republicans, Democrats are embroiled in pricey seven- or eight-way primaries. There are more Republican-held districts with eight Democratic challengers than districts with just one, and Republicans expect the primaries to drive the eventual nominees to the left.

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"Hey, we have seven candidates, let's see who can hate the president the most," joked Corry Bliss, executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). "That's how those primaries are going to go."

Democrats acknowledge that they're not clearing the field as they have in midterms past. In once case, Virginia's increasingly blue 10th District in the sububrs of Washington, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has touted a candidate who was out-fundraised by challengers.

"No party has ever lost an election because of too much energy or too much momentum," said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), who leads the House Democratic election effort. "It's a challenge, but it's a challenge that we welcome."

In other races, the crowds are notable not just for their size, but for the resumes and fundraising of the contenders. Democrats are arguing less about policy than about who has the strongest biography to present against the incumbent.

In New York's 19th District, a competitive slice of the Hudson Valley held by Rep. John Faso (R-N.Y.), six Democrats are running, including two graduates of Harvard Law School, an Iraq War veteran who graduated from Georgetown and the U.S. Military Academy, a former CIA officer who became a schoolteacher, and a wealthy businessman who has loaned his campaign $500,000.

Three of them boast of supporting Medicare for All on their campaign websites; two have raised more money than the incumbent.

Bliss said his super PAC would invest in several races, with the goal of helping the most left-wing Democrats win their nominations.

"It's going to be the most fun project for us," said Bliss. "Our donors love the idea  they're calling us and asking, 'What about this primary, what about that primary?' "

But Sanders (I-Vt.) pointed out that expanded Medicare and higher minimum wages poll well in most of the country  and argued that a robust ideological debate in the primaries will strengthen the party.

"I would have thought that Republicans would be more concerned about whether to support Trump Republicans, Bannon Republicans or establishment Republicans," he said.

Correction: This story originally misstated the number of districts where candidates touted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee trailed Democratic rivals in fundraising.

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LONDON  Ben Abdi sent his sister in Iran two messages on Tuesday and by the weekend hadn't heard a peep back. "How's dad?" Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight "What's happening?" He sent the messages over the messaging service WhatsApp, but by Friday evening the checks next to the messages hadn't even switched blue, meaning they were still unread.

Was she okay? Why hadn't she read them? Where was she?

Anti-government protests spurred by economic woes hit Iran Share Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn MailSolid Email this link View Photos View Photos Next Image A pro-government demonstrator stands under an Iranian flag during a march in Irans southwestern city of Ahvaz. (Morteza Jaberian)

For many Iranians living in exile, the past nine days have been a mix of emotions  fear, foreboding, hope  as they intently watch, as best they can, the deadly unrest unfolding in their native land.

The demonstrations, which began Dec. 28 in Mashhad before rippling quickly and spontaneously across Iran, have resulted in at least 20 deaths and hundreds of arrests. Many of those taking to the streets are young and working-class, rallying against high youth unemployment, rising prices and poor wages.

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For some Iranians living in Britain, which has one of the largest diasporas in Europe, it has been a struggle to stay in touch with family and keep abreast of events back home because of restrictions placed on social media tools.

"If you send 10 messages, one will get through," said Abdi, a 45-year-old Iranian who runs a Persian restaurant in north London, festooned with ancient Iranian artifacts and seasonal decorations, including a Christmas tree with a red star. He said his sister's Telegram channel has been worryingly inactive. She's a beautician and normally posts a couple of photos of her clients' hairdos on the Internet messaging service every day. She hasn't posted any for about six days, he said.

Analysts say Iranian authorities have tried to crack down on the unrest by restricting access to the Internet and trying to control social media  sometimes blocking information, sometimes using social media to peddle their own messages.

Sanam Vakil, an Iran expert at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said the Iranian government has been "really sophisticated in using social media to police society and groups. They very quickly started doing that, sending messages using social media to warn people not to join protests."

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She also stressed that the restrictions, including on Internet access in some areas, have been "patchy" rather than a total blackout.

Within days of the protests starting, authorities started restricting some social media tools, including Telegram, which is wildly popular in Iran.

Many Iranians in Britain interviewed for this article said they were still receiving social media messages, including on Telegram, but fewer and less frequently than normal. Several people said they began to have connectivity issues around Tuesday.

"Oh, I just had a reply to a Telegram message  that's the beep you heard," said Shadi, 42, during a phone interview. "I messaged them two hours ago," she said, noting that normally she would have received a reply instantly.

Shadi, who asked that her surname and job title not be used, works for a company that imports heavy machinery into Iran.

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Like many Iranians who live overseas, she's eagerly following the unfolding events, watching videos uploaded to her Facebook and Instagram feeds, some of which featured protesters saying the date the video was recorded, so she could tell whether there was a delay.

"It's scary this time," she said, comparing the unrest to protests in 2009 prompted by the outcome of national elections in Iran. She said hearing protesters chant "death to this, death to that" sends "a chill down my spine. To hear people in Iran say it as openly as they are saying it is scary, because this regime is brutal."

As traditional Persian music played in the background at Abdi's restaurant in north London, Iranians were discussing the art of talking about the demonstrations with people inside Iran without mentioning the demonstrations.

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Maryam, 37, said she chose to stop using Telegram. "It's too dangerous. It's too controlled," she said. She still communicates daily with her sister in Iran but uses WhatsApp and Tango, she said, and even then, "We are afraid to say something about them, so we say just, 'Hi, how are you?' "

"In any contact from Iran to another country, we assume they are listening to everything," said Nader Shamoo, 46, who added that when it comes to topics like the demonstrations, he talks to his 73-year-old mother in Iran in "coded" language. He did not elaborate.

"Instead of saying, 'Have you seen the protests?' you might say, 'Have you gone out for shopping?' " interjected a man sitting across the table from him, which prompted a slight smile and nod.

When asked whether they are keeping abreast of the latest developments inside Iran, the two men whipped out their smartphones and began scrolling through about a dozen videos of protests on their Facebook and Instagram feeds that had been uploaded Friday evening.

In one video, a bus pulled up and the crowd scattered. "They have come to kill the people," said Shamoo, pointing at the bus, which he believed was transporting security forces.

The Iranian government is like the "mafia," he said, adding that the economic pressures on working-class people were severe. "Iran is a rich country, and yet there is so much pressure on normal people, wages, food, money  everything."

Will the current protests change things?

"We hope so," he said, scrolling through his Facebook feed. "We hope so."

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The fate of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's job is on the line as she enters another round of negotiations to form a coalition and stay in power. (Video: Reuters)

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BERLIN  For a dozen years, Angela Merkel seemingly floated above the laws of political gravity, making her calm and consensual leadership style as much a part of the German landscape as fairy-tale castles, precision engineering and beer-saturated Octobers. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight But the early days of her 13th year as chancellor have been marked by a bracing return to Earth. Every political career ends, and Merkel's finale may be coming faster than just about anyone had predicted. Her rapidly diminishing political stock threatens to leave a void not only in Germany but also across the West, just as she had emerged as the most robust internationalist counterpoint to Trump-style nativism.

Merkel's troubles started with a bitterly disappointing election result in September. They grew when her first attempt at forging a new government collapsed in November. And they have been compounded in recent days, as polls have shown German voters tiring of her leadership.

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Merkel now has what many regard as a last shot to cobble together a coalition and ward off an embarrassing electoral do-over that could see her lose her grip on power.

"Time is running out," said Stefan Kornelius, a Merkel biographer. "She is under immense pressure to somehow make this happen."

But even if she succeeds, significant damage has already been done. Once regarded as invincible, Merkel is suddenly vulnerable in a way that has shifted the German political conversation to a topic long whispered about but rarely publicly debated before: Who should come next?

There are many contenders, their names bandied about in German newspapers and magazines in recent days. But Merkel's saving grace  for now, at least  may be that there is no obvious successor.

There's certainly no one who could immediately fill the outsize role that Merkel has played in global affairs. Though not always willingly, the low-key East German with a PhD in quantum chemistry has become de facto leader of Europe and keeper of the flame for those who regard President Trump's brand of politics as a threat to core Western values.

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"The world is engulfed by Trumpism and populism and vulgarianism," said Kornelius, a journalist with Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The alternative is not even visible anymore. Merkel has to prove that the alternative can still exist."

She might not have the chance.

Over her dozen years in office, Merkel has guided Germany to robust economic health, with strong GDP growth and low unemployment. Her decision to welcome more than 1 million asylum seekers in 2015-2016 galvanized the far right but was supported by the political mainstream. She has navigated a series of European crises, from the war in Ukraine to Greek debt.

Before the September elections, political observers had widely assumed that Merkel would once again coast to victory, with a clear shot at matching the record 16-year tenure of her onetime mentor, Helmut Kohl.

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Instead, her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered its worst result since 1949, including the loss of a million of its voters to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

While the CDU still came out on top of a fractured field, Merkel was forced to pursue an unwieldy deal among her own conservative bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens.

When the Free Democrats unexpectedly backed out, Merkel had to go to plan B: a revival of the grand coalition between the center-right and the center-left that has governed Europe's largest economy for the past four years.

Substantive talks are only now getting underway, with a deal not expected before April, if one comes at all. It's already the longest that postwar Germany has ever gone after an election without a government.

Although voters didn't initially appear to blame Merkel, polls suggest she has increasingly become the target of frustration with the very un-German gridlock and dysfunction.

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A survey published by the Bild newspaper in late December showed that nearly half the country did not want her to complete a fourth term. A poll released days later by Die Welt had even worse news for Merkel: Nearly half the country would like her to step down right away.

"She is tasked with putting together a government, and she hasn't done it," said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund and a former presidential adviser. "There's a failure on her side that the constitution attributes to her and that the people seem to attribute to her."

More than that, Kleine-Brockhoff said, Merkel's core argument for staying in power may be fraying. The 63-year-old has long positioned herself as the guarantor of stability for a country that highly prizes that quality.

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Yet, in the current talks, he said, her presence may be destabilizing.

The Social Democrats, the government's would-be junior partner, are desperate to get rid of Merkel. Her tenure has corresponded with a free-fall in the party's popularity as the chancellor has shifted to the center and co-opted the Social Democrats' core issues. The party's rank and file will have to approve any deal, which could prove a hurdle.

Even Merkel's own party, which has long been disciplined in supporting her, may have a reason to see her go early, since it will want to ensure an orderly transition to her successor.

"We will be seeing the last period of government for Angela Merkel, and it will be heavily influenced by, if not overshadowed by, the question of succession," Kleine-Brockhoff said.

Although leading politicians from the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have generally been circumspect about their desire for the top job, that's beginning to change.

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Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old who is considered a rising star on the CDU's right flank, has urged Merkel not to give an inch in talks with the Social Democrats and for the CDU and CSU to form a government on their own if negotiations fail.

But there may be some self-interest in that advice: Without a stable coalition government, Germany could be forced to hold new elections far earlier than planned, perhaps as soon as this year. And it's unclear whether Merkel would lead her party in another vote.

"That's a secret that's hidden in her heart," said Jurgen Hardt, a veteran CDU member of Parliament and the party's spokesman on foreign affairs.

Hardt said there is no question that Merkel should remain as chancellor and have the opportunity to lead a new coalition government.

"There's no one else who is able to get so much support from the Bundestag and from the public," Hardt said, referring to the German Parliament.

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But Hardt also said it was time for Merkel to promote possible successors and to allow a younger generation to prove itself.

"There are too few new faces on the political scene in Germany," said the 54-year-old Hardt. "The CDU and the CSU have to be aware that, sometimes, politics is about presenting something new."

It has been a long time since Germany has done that. Of the world leaders who have stuck around as long as Merkel, most are autocrats who resort to iron-fisted tactics.

Merkel, if anything, has positioned herself as the anti-autocrat  a defender of traditional democratic values at a time when those are seeming evermore outdated.

If she leaves, said Jurgen Falter, a politics professor at the University of Mainz, "it would weaken the European Union, and it would weaken those who want the West to be led in a more rational way than Trump is able to do."

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Already, Merkel's voice has been more muted on major European matters, including Britain's European Union exit and euro-zone reforms initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron. Although she continues to lead a caretaker government, it cannot make any significant moves until the parties reach a coalition deal.

With months of talks probably still ahead, Merkel has struggled not to show impatience with a process that she surely knows is sapping German influence, and her own, by the day.

"The world," she told the nation in her traditional New Year's Eve address, "will not wait for us."

Rick Noack contributed to this report.

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There's a Russian candidate for president who is wildly popular on YouTube, where he slams the policies of President Vladimir Putin. He has a nationwide political machine and a constituency of millions who are fed up with the current Kremlin occupant and his oligarch friends. Although Putin is overwhelmingly favored to win a new six-year term March 18, this contender has as good a chance as anyone to come in second.

And no, his name is not Alexei Navalny.

It's Pavel Grudinin, the surprise nominee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, named last month to replace Gennady Zyuganov, the party's 73-year-old leader and four-time presidential runner-up.

Grudinin, 57, has steered a formerly state-run produce farm outside Moscow into a flourishing business he markets as a showcase for the socialism he says he would bring back to Russia.

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Like Navalny, the 41-year-old anti-corruption activist excluded from the ballot by Russia's election commission last month, Grudinin appeals to Russians tired of Putin after his 18 years in power. In well-watched videos with titles like "Grudinin told it like it is! And the State Duma fell silent," Grudinin openly ridicules Putin's reliance on "people everyone knows should've been in prison long ago," and promises to repatriate billions from offshore accounts maintained by Russian elites.

As Navalny has done in the past, Grudinin addresses Russian nationalists  both men have spoken out against economic migrants from Central Asia. Both also express umbrage that Russians don't live as well as people in the West.

"I think Russian people should live better than the people we defeated in the war," Grudinin declared last month on the popular "Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov" political talk show, referring to Germany.

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Grudinin also appeals to Russians who regret the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union  58 percent, according to a recent poll. Grudinin can show them something neither Navalny nor Putin can: the Lenin Sovkhoz, a former Soviet collective farm he has built into a "socialist oasis in the capitalist jungle of suburban Moscow," as he put it recently.

The Lenin Sovkhoz provides fruit and vegetables to Moscow's upscale supermarkets, which cater round-the-clock to people willing to pay a premium for fresh produce. Grudinin, who told Solovyov that his income this year was 20 million rubles, or about $351,000, says his workers make about $1,370 per month, more than double the Russian average, and are guaranteed medical care, children's education and housing.

Meet one of the presidential candidates running against Vladimir Putin in Russia. (Video: David Filipov, Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post, Photo: SERGEI KARPUKHIN/The Washington Post)

Putin, addressing the United Russia political party congress that nominated him last month, vowed to fight corruption, offer greater incentives for business and spend to build up Russia's badly underfunded health-care and education systems, the Associated Press reported.

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"But making new promises is risky for the president, because what was he doing for 18 years?" Russian journalist Andrei Pertsev wrote in a recent analysis for the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank. "Grudinin fills a need for promises of a better life and criticism of those currently in power."

Now, if you're reading about Grudinin for the first time, don't blame yourself. Outside Russia, coverage of the presidential campaign has focused on Navalny, whose political odyssey has captured the Western fascination with the guy who stands up to the Kremlin. We in the news media have tried to explain Navalny with misleading labels, such as Putin's "biggest rival" and Russia's "opposition leader." I know I've done it.

Navalny doesn't lead any particular united opposition other than his own campaign organization, admirably assembled though it may be, and under very adverse conditions. Polls suggest that his ability to organize nationwide anti-corruption protests has not translated into political popularity.

Navalny has remained prominent primarily because he campaigned throughout 2017 while most other candidates waited for Putin to announce his intention to run. Russian election officials' decision to ban Navalny over a criminal conviction he decries as politically motivated, and his subsequent calls for a boycott, have kept him in the news.

Meanwhile, Grudinin has been making the circuit on the same state-run TV channels that are closed to Navalny, the medium where most Russians get their news. He has yet to show up in polls, which predict a sweeping victory for the incumbent, but the more he gets his message out, the more his recognition is likely to grow.

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Still, how far will that take him?

Russia's political system under Putin includes the Communists, along with the ultranationalist (and also misleadingly labeled) Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, led by another perennial presidential candidate, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as part of something called "the systemic opposition."

These parties technically provide voters with alternatives to Putin and United Russia, but their leaders rarely, if ever, try to block Kremlin policy.

Zyuganov thundered against President Boris Yeltsin in 1996 and won 41 percent of the vote. (It's worth mentioning, in the era of the U.S. investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in its election, that American political advisers took credit for helping the Kremlin incumbent pull out that victory.)

But I can't remember the last time I heard either Zhirinovsky or Zyuganov say it's time for Putin to step aside, even as they purport to campaign against him.

So when Grudinin showed up, sounding as if he truly wants to replace Putin, the questions were: How sincere is he? And how much runway will the Kremlin allow him?

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Russian analysts assume Grudinin's candidacy is part of a Kremlin project to raise voter turnout by offering lots of loyalist alternatives to Putin (including Zhirinovsky for nationalists and television personality Ksenia Sobchak for Westernizing liberals.)

"The Communist Party is a pro-government party integrated in the state political system, so no one should consider its campaign decision to be a stunt unexpected by the authorities," political analyst Evgeny Minchenko commented in a Facebook post.

In this system, "the communist nominee gets his 15 percent plus or minus," Pertsev wrote. "But this scenario only plays out if the candidate plays by the systemic rules."

That is, he added, if Grudinin doesn't garner more than his allotted share by taking full advantage of his appeal to "liberals as a successful businessman, supporters of the U.S.S.R. as a 'red director,' and to others as an opposition politician."

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Is there a chance of that? Who knows?

But at least now you have a reason besides Navalny to pay attention to Russia's election campaign.

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Nearly a year into President Trump's administration, the Justice Department lacks Senate-confirmed appointees in leadership posts running the national security, criminal, civil rights and other key divisions. And the problem shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight On Thursday, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed he was implementing new guidance to make it easier for federal prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases in states where the substance is legal, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) accused the Justice Department of trampling the will of Colorado voters and said he would "take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation."

Already, the department had a dearth of Senate confirmed nominees in leadership positions. While the top three posts are filled, the National Security Division, Criminal Division, Civil Rights Division, Tax Division, the Drug Enforcement Administration and others lack confirmed presidential appointees. A Justice Department official said the delays have been frustrating, particularly in the criminal and national security divisions.

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"We desperately need them; we desperately need those two in particular," the official said. "We need them here, like, yesterday."

Some nominations have languished for months  even as Trump's party controls Congress. Justice Department veterans from both political parties say that void prevents the department from fully implementing its policy goals.

"To me, what's happening is reprehensible, not only in the Department [of Justice] but throughout government," said William Barr, who was the attorney general under President George H.W. Bush. "This is unprecedented. Anyone who has worked in an administration knows how damaging it is."

Trump has nominated people to fill several Justice Department spots, including the civil, criminal, national security and civil rights divisions, and many have already had confirmation hearings. They have yet to be put up for a vote by the full Senate, though. Trump also has nominated 58 U.S. attorneys, 46 of whom have been confirmed, and Sessions recently picked 17 more to serve in interim posts.

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Legal analysts say the delays are more significant than others in recent memory. President Barack Obama's National Security Division head, for instance, was confirmed two months after he took office. His Criminal Division head followed the month after that.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has blamed Democrats for using procedural delays to create a backlog of nominees across government. A spokesman asked for comment on this story pointed to McConnell's previous public statements on the matter.

"If this trend continues, it will take us more than 11 years to confirm the remaining presidential appointments," McConnell said in July. "Let me repeat that. More than 11 years. A presidential term lasts four."

Democrats say they are delaying nominees because of substantive concerns, and they argue that Republicans, too, have thrown up roadblocks.

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"Given that it is the fount of the judicial system and the sensitivity of its mission, there is no department that needs more scrutiny than DOJ," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Democrat. "There is bipartisan opposition to many of the nominees due to the lack of independence that many of the nominees and appointees have demonstrated."

Gardner is the latest Republican to raise concerns, though he himself had previously criticized Democratic obstruction of nominees. The Daily Beast reported that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was holding up the confirmation of Boeing assistant general counsel John Demers to lead the National Security Division over concerns about his support for a government surveillance law.

Asked about that report, the senator's office responded: "Senator Rand Paul remains highly critical of warrantless domestic surveillance, and will use every tool available to him to push for much needed reform."

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The Justice Department has assigned people to lead each division on an acting basis while waiting for permanent appointees. And Sessions has been one of Trump's most effective cabinet secretaries in implementing the president's agenda, imposing sweeping change at the department in a number of different areas.

Matt Axelrod, a former high-ranking official in the Obama Justice Department who is now at the firm Linklaters, said that while those in acting roles perform admirably, "everyone knows they're temporary, and that means that they don't have the same heft internally or externally as the Senate-confirmed heads will." He said the delay in approving Trump's nominees was particularly unusual because Republicans control Congress, and many of his nominees have been "mainstream Republican picks."

Demers, the National Security Division nominee, was a deputy assistant attorney general before joining Boeing. Brian Benczkowski, the Criminal Division nominee, is a white-collar lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis who had served in a variety of Justice Department roles and as staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Democrats have raised questions about his representation of a Russian bank.) Jody Hunt, the Civil Division nominee, is a Justice Department veteran who served as Sessions's chief of staff.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection released aerial footage shot on Oct. 17 of the eight prototype border walls near the U.S.-Mexico border. (Video: US Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs)

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The Trump administration has told lawmakers that it wants $18 billion over the next decade for the initial phase of a Mexico border wall, laying out for the first time a detailed financial blueprint for the president's signature campaign promise. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The money would pay for 316 miles of new fencing and reinforce another 407 miles where barriers are already in place, according to cost estimates sent to senators Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. If the work was completed, more than half of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico would have a wall or other physical structure by 2027.

Democratic lawmakers blasted the $18 billion request, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and it arrived in the middle of delicate budget negotiations that include the risk of a government shutdown Jan. 20 if no deal is reached.

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The Washington Posts Ed OKeefe looks at President Trumps demands in the negotiation over a program shielding young undocumented immigrants from deportation. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

"President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Immigration subcommittee.

CBP provided the funding outline at the request of Durbin and other senators preparing to launch negotiations this month on several contentious immigration issues, including a potential deal to protect the hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who will be subject to deportation when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program expires, beginning in March.

With their votes needed to keep the government open, Democrats are looking to use their leverage in the spending talks to force the Republicans who control Congress to reach a deal on DACA.

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Photos of border wall prototypes erected near San Diego Share Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn MailSolid Email this link View Photos View Photos Next Image People pass border wall prototypes near San Diego, close to the border with Tijuana, Mexico. Companies face an Oct. 26 deadline to finish eight prototypes of President Trump's proposed U.S.-Mexico barrier. (Gregory Bull)

Though Trump ran for office on a promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall, the spending plan indicates American taxpayers would fund it for at least the foreseeable future.

Trump has told Democrats he's unwilling to reach an agreement unless they fund his wall plan, among other measures, but the CBP document is the first time his administration has sketched out what that might cost.

In addition to the $18 billion in wall funding, the CBP also requested $8 billion for additional personnel and training, $5 billion for new border technology and at least $1 billion to build more access roads. The final price tag for the CBP spending plan would exceed $33 billion over the next decade, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post.

The $33 billion would not include what are likely to be additional funding requests for the other Department of Homeland Security agencies central to Trump's plans for an immigration overhaul, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is looking to add 10,000 more officers and dramatically expand the number of beds it has available for immigration detention.

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Benjamin L. Cassidy, the DHS assistant secretary for legislative affairs, said in a letter to Durbin that the funding requests "were developed through a rigorous assessment and are derived directly from the experience and insight of U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the field, supported by operational data and analysis."

"It is essential to note that this submission represents only one element of the President's overall immigration priorities," Cassidy wrote. "Effective border security will not be successful unless we close dangerous legal loopholes that enable illegal immigration and visa overstays. If these loopholes are not closed, and enforcement capabilities are not enhanced, our immigration system and border cannot be secured."

Democrats have repeatedly said they will not pay for a wall. Even though on a year-over-year basis the CBP request would not represent a dramatic funding increase over current border spending levels, it would represent a long-term commitment to a physical structure that Trump would be able to claim as a political trophy.

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Democrats and immigration activists have recoiled at the administration's other enforcement plans, including proposals to expedite the deportation of unaccompanied minors, tighten asylum standards and crack down on so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not allow local police officers to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

"Trump can have a shutdown fight over his stupid wall that pleases the nativists in his base, or he can have a breakthrough that pairs the Dream Act and border security so he can brag he did something Obama couldn't get done. He can't have both," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigrant advocacy group. "This move by the White House does not bode well."

Republican reaction was muted Friday. Even many Republicans have deemed a physical wall along the entire border unnecessary and impractical, saying that more effective border security could be achieved through other means, including better surveillance and technology.

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CBP said it would like to add more than 2,000 miles of what it called a "total Border wall system" that would eventually encompass 864 miles of new primary wall on land where no barrier currently exists. It would add 1,163 miles of replacement wall or secondary wall, which DHS officials said could consist of a wall backed by a fence or two fences.

Some of the new barriers would have to be installed along the winding banks of the Rio Grande, where landowners have protested construction of new fencing on their ranches and farms.

The $18 billion would cover only the initial phase of the CBP plan. About 650 miles of the border with Mexico currently has some form of physical obstacle, from vehicle barriers to taller steel fencing designed to prevent people from climbing over.

CBP is evaluating several prototypes, all of which are significantly taller, but the funding request sent to senators does not specify what type of barrier would be used.

Trump has said he may travel to San Diego to inspect the prototypes, which range in height from 18 to 30 feet and combine different formulations of see-through steel bars, concrete slabs and metal spikes.

Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 06/01/2018 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A few hours after 1882 Fruit-based Hot Sauce made its official debut at a downtown farmers market in early November, owner Patrick Michalishyn posted a self-mocking message on his businesss Facebook page that read, three products, no banner, salesman with a head shaped like a milk jug still a success.

Yeah, to say I wasnt totally ready for that first sale would be putting it mildly, Michalishyn says, seated in a Portage Avenue nightspot, a few days after Christmas. Most of the people who sell at these markets are totally organized, with these elaborate setups and tasting booths that look super-professional. And there was me, with a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked haphazardly and a piece of loose-leaf taped to my table, with my prices scrawled across it in black marker.

Michalishyn, whose venture is named for the year the Winnipeg Fire Department was founded (hot sauce, fire, get it?), laughs as he recalls how a customer eventually took pity on his shambolic self, after she purchased a couple bottles from him.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

She works in the same building as where the market was, and the first thing she did when she got back to her office was throw together this great-looking sign for me on her computer, he says, pointing out each of his flavours boasts a black-and-white photograph of a different, yester-year Winnipeg fire hall on its label. She came rushing back downstairs holding it up saying, Here, use this instead, which was cool, because now Im totally legit.

  

If you had asked Michalishyn about hot sauce at this time last year, he might have told you he enjoyed Tabasco sauce on fajitas or Franks RedHot on scrambled eggs. But that would have been pretty much it, conversation-wise. Last spring, however, the 31-year-old, volunteer host of the CKUW radio program The Wonderful and Frightening World of Patrick Michalishyn got totally into hot sauce after catching episodes of Hot Ones, an online web series that features famous athletes, actors and musicians discussing their everyday lives, while chowing down on increasingly more fiery chicken wings.

They have 10 wings in front of them, and have to eat them in ascending order of heat till they get to ridiculous-hot, Michalishyn says, mentioning Breaking Bads Bryan Cranston and rapper B.o.B. as some of the celebs hes watched torch their taste buds. Its hilarious, and because of that show, I started buying all these crazy, unique (hot) sauces.

Heres the catch; in August 2017, Michalishyn, who also runs the 18-month-old, punk rock music label Sounds Escaping, quit his full-time job stocking shelves at a warehouse-style, big-box store  a move that led him to wonder how he was going to continue feeding his hot-sauce habit, while he was looking for work.

Figuring it would be cheaper in the long run to simply make his own sauces, he began spending his idle time researching recipes on the internet. While most of what he read recommended using pureed vegetables such as onions and carrots as a primary ingredient, he opted for fruit instead, largely in order to, in his words, stand out from the crowd.

Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press Patrick Michalishyn produces fruit-based hot sauces, which he sells at farmers markets around the city (even in the winter).

The first sauce he came up with was a mango-habanero blend. He kept it in a mason jar in his fridge, and when friends came over for pizza or tacos or whatever, he fetched it out and spooned a bit over everybodys portion. One evening, after giving it a shot for the first time, one of his buddies remarked, You know, if you ever bottle this and sell it, I will 100 per cent buy it.

This is the thing, Michalishyn says, speaking loud enough to be heard over the bars in-house stereo system. Im my own worst critic and any time somebody is excited or impressed by something I do, well it just feels a little weird to me. But after more and more people started telling me my sauces were amazing, and that I should get my food handlers licence and pursue this for real, I was like, OK, maybe I am onto something here.

In mid-October, Michalishyn announced via Facebook that his three varieties of hot sauce  by then, he had added raspberry scotch bonnet and blueberry ghost pepper to the mix  were available for purchase at $7 per five-ounce bottle, or $20 for a set of all three. Within 24 hours he was sold out. Encouraged by that response, he quadrupled his production a few days later and was amazed when every last bottle was scooped up almost immediately, yet again.

By the time he showed up for that first farmers market  hes since attended a half-dozen more, as far away as Lac du Bonnet  he was turning out 200 to 300 bottles of hot sauce per cook, and had already been approached by a number of retail store managers, who were interested in carrying his products in their locales. (Michalishyn says his sauces have a shelf-life of about 10 months, owing to the fact theres enough vinegar in there to preserve a small animal.)

With farmers markets, Im allowed to cook at home. But what Ive learned is that in order to grow the business, and get my sauces into places like DeLucas or Millers (Meats), Im going to need to move into a commercial kitchen, he says, pausing to inform his bartender, whos about to try some of his latest creation, a pineapple-jalapeno sauce, on her kale salad, that its not only gluten-free but vegan-friendly, to boot. So the current plan is to begin renting space out by the airport by the end of January, in order to take that next step.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Michalishyn produces four hot-sauce flavours, including this mango-habanero blend.

In the meantime, Michalishyn will attempt to get through a trip to the grocery store without parking his cart in the produce section to ponder what sort of sauce he could make with plums or limes or figs.

Last night I had trouble falling asleep, because I was thinking so much about golden pear and chipotle, he says, adding hes already looking ahead to next Christmas, when he hopes to unveil a mandarin-orange-based hot sauce hes been brainstorming, lately. Honestly, there are so many sauces I could do, even with something like olives, which, technically, are a fruit.

So what I think would be fun down the line is to make some random, seasonal ones, kind of like how Half Pints comes out with special beers at Halloween or whenever. My problem is Im super-anal about making sure each flavour features a picture of a different Winnipeg fire hall so yeah, it might be a case of running out of old photos, before I run out of ideas.

Oh, by the way, you know that burning sensation you get if you absent-mindedly rub your eyes while handling hot peppers? Well, Michalishyn learned the hard way that he should be wearing specially-made, rubber-nitrate gloves, at all times, when preparing his sauces.

I havent hurt my eyes, yet, knock on wood, he says, but it seems no matter how many times you wash your hands, some of the oil stays on your fingers. And if youre a guy, and you inevitably have to go the bathroom to perform a function that requires, uh, aiming lets just say Ive had accidents, and it isnt pretty.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Michalishyn's blueberry ghost pepper sauce.

Michalishyn will be a vendor at the Downtown Farmers Market at cityplace from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 18. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/1882HotSauce.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 06/01/2018 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Enough is enough. Its time for Canadian farmers to stop hating A&W.

For more than four years now, farmers have tweeted angry tweets. Theyve written nasty letters. Theyve called on all of us to boycott the burger chain since it started serving beef produced with no added hormones, eggs produced from vegetarian hens and chicken raised without antibiotics  and more significantly, marketing the fact.

Farmers beef against A&W is twofold. First, they argue the claim its burgers are better isnt science-based. Gosh, if every claim in marketing had to be science-based, wed all be driving the same kind of car, using the same shampoo and eating the same yogurt. There are places in the world that are like that and they are not places most of us would choose to live.

Second, the chain is accused of being disloyal to Canadian producers because it sources an unknown quantity of its hormone-free beef from outside the country. Apparently the disgruntled farm community is also boycotting the commercials that profile Canadian ranchers in Alberta and Saskatchewan who also supply the fast-food chain.

Beyond that, Canada has set its sights on being a food superstore to the world. Its red meat, grains and oilseeds sectors are hugely dependent on customers in other parts of the world eating what they produce.

The Canadian industry and governments have spent countless millions fighting efforts elsewhere to enforce local consumption over imports, including the European Unions (EU) ban on meat produced using artificial hormones and the U.S. country-of-origin labelling legislation.

Those legal battles were won, but whereas the U.S. changed its policy, the EU opted instead to pay the penalties rather than import hormone-treated beef.

Expecting Canadians to only eat Canadian-sourced is a dichotomy that has no place in an industry aiming to be a global supplier.

Use of growth implants in cattle production has been scientifically validated as a sound and safe practice. Cattle grow faster and more efficiently, which produces more beef with fewer resources.

There is data floating around that spells out how many more cattle would be needed to produce the same amount of beef, or how much prices would have to rise to compensate farmers for not using the technology. But those calculations presume that it is every consumers goal to eat as much beef as possible, for the least cost.

Market trends suggest otherwise. Consumers are choosing to eat meat less often, but willing to pay more for it when they do.

A&W took a big gamble when it decided to target its marketing on food qualities that might appeal to the millennial generation  a demographic that is reshaping the entire food chain because of its penchant for convenience and its values-based approach to food choices.

The campaign has by all accounts been successful, credited for increasing sales as much as eight per cent at a time when some of its competitors have seen a decline in sales. To the extent that some of these customers are new, the beef sector should be grateful rather than growly.

That said, A&W clearly didnt anticipate the farm backlash and it has gone out of its way to make amends.

It is a member of the national roundtable on sustainable beef, which brings all members of the beef value chain into a discussion on how best to measure and verify sustainable practices.

Most recently, it made a whopping $5-million contribution in December to the University of Saskatchewans Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, a $36-million project under construction just outside of Saskatoon.

What little reaction that came from the farming community perpetuated the petulance. Some have suggested the University of Saskatchewan should have refused A&Ws money, while others have said the money was only given because A&W needed to repair its relationship with producers. Really?

At a time when farmers make up less than two per cent of the Canadian population, and with no shortage of suppliers willing to meet its specifications, this boycott matters little to a largely urban burger chains bottom line.

Continuing efforts to punish A&W are about as productive as throwing pebbles at a freight train. Its time to build bridges, not dig moats.

Laura Rance is editorial director at Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at 204-792-4382 or laura@fbcpublishing.com
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/01/2018 (1778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The completion of the Diagnostic Centre of Excellence may be five years late and $14 million over budget, but the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it will offer all services as originally planned.

Although some of the William Avenue buildings units have been in operation for a while now, and its pediatric diagnostic imaging programs are slated to open Tuesday, full project completion isnt expected until sometime in 2019.

A big part of the delay was due to a 2013 fire on site, said the regions interim chief executive officer, Real Cloutier. The fire, coupled with flooding, pushed the planned $61-million project over budget by $3.7 million, plus a hike to the provincial sales tax added $2.5 million on top of that.

The Diagnostic Centre of Excellence at the Health Sciences Centre is delayed and over budget in part due to a fire in 2013. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press files)

The delays forced the WRHA to reconsider plans to move some old equipment into the new building on the Health Sciences Centre campus, Cloutier said, which adds an additional $8 million for new gear.

What was old but workable in 2014 wont be by 2019, he said. It makes no sense to spend the money to move old equipment. It was the absolute right decision.

But the extra $14 million raised concerns early Friday perhaps the province wouldnt agree to the new costs and some of the services that have yet to migrate into the Centre  an operating room angiography suite, as well as a cardiac catheterization laboratory  simply wouldnt.

Our concern is that the government isnt interested in opening up all the services because they dont plan to provide those services, said NDP health critic Andrew Swan. Theres no explanation as to why were now, 30 months later, with big question marks about whats even going to be contained (in the building).

But Friday afternoon, Cloutier said it is absolutely the plan to offer all services.

While its as yet unclear what will happen with the added costs from the fire and PST hike or how the WRHA might adjust if the province fails to cover them, Cloutier isnt worried the Manitoba government will say no to the millions for new equipment. The region gets a yearly allocation for new equipment, and he expects 2018 will be no different.

Take the building out of the equation, he said. We cant afford for that equipment to go down, so thats the basis (on which) we would say funding will be forthcoming.

Cloutier said the WRHA is in talks with Manitoba Health to figure out the shortfall.

The department is currently reviewing the file, provincial Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen wrote in an emailed statement. It wont approve the additional funds until it goes through the governments standard budgetary approval process.

Goertzen called NDP insinuations the government is deliberately delaying completion of the diagnostic centre both misinformed and reckless, noting the project was already 26 months behind at the time the Progressive Conservatives came to power in spring 2016.

Construction on the massive project was announced by then-health minister Theresa Oswald in November 2011, with a spring 2014 end date. She billed it as an exciting new facility that would help reduce wait times while improving patient care.

A pediatric MRI opened on level 1 of the 91,000-square-foot centre last summer, and a CT scanner became operational last fall. Two digital radiography suites also opened late last year, one of which was not accounted for in the projects original budget.

Its levels 2 and 3 that await completion. For now, there is no plan for floors 4 through 6 of the building. Although the WRHA didnt have a need for that many floors when it was initially announced, the plan was to build taller in order to accommodate a helipad, which opened in 2016.

Given the height requirements for a helipad and the ever-growing needs of the Health Sciences Centre, Cloutier said the region felt the extra floors would be prudent.

It will find a purpose, he said, we dont know what that is yet.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 06/01/2018 (1777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For most Winnipeggers, January is a shared test of Prairie mettle and something to collectively complain about.

But for someone without a home, its potentially lethal.

Finding a safe place to spend the night is a challenge at the best of times, but for homeless people with substance-abuse issues  which often go hand in hand  the odds are even longer. Their one refuge is Main Street Project.

It is Winnipegs only low-barrier shelter, which means people do not need to be clean and sober to access its facilities. But its more than that: an entire multifaceted network of front-line programs and services working together to serve the citys most vulnerable.

Main Street Project operates a van patrol to pick up people who need help, from emergency services to detox and addiction support to assistance finding housing. And the people who work there do it with compassion and without judgment. The Free Press spent two nights with them this week.

  

It can get a little rowdy in here, cautions support worker Samuel Kamara.

Its 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and the staff in the drop-in shelter at Main Street Projects Martha Street facility are preparing for yet another bitterly cold night; its going to be busy.

Ian and Isabella are on the schedule tonight. Some of the staff prefer not to provide last names for safety reasons, but its a first-name-basis kind of place, anyway. Ian and Isabella know almost everyone who walks in the door. They are firm but friendly, giving clients what they need, which might be a mat to crash on for the night or clean needles (Main Street Project operates under a harm-reduction model).

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press - Safe and warm with a hot meal waiting, a homeless man plays a video game while laying on his bed at the Winnipeg Project's shelter.

Theyre well-acquainted with the citys meth epidemic; the number of people hooked on the powerful, destructive stimulant have now surpassed alcohol abusers among detox-seekers. Our needles are averaging about 4,000 to 5,000 a month, says Main Street Project executive director Rick Lees. I can tell you that three years ago, the number of needles given out collectively in the city of Winnipeg was about 500,000, and last year it topped 1.5 million. So were 50 or 60,000 of that a year.

Space is an issue, especially when its cold. Main Street Project is funded for 65 mats during evening crash, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Were always over that, Lees says. And typically during the day we have about 25 mats in use for people who have been up all night. Were not funded for that at all, but we open up the back area because its a necessity.

Dinner is served at 8 p.m. By 7:23 p.m. Wednesday, the shelter is full. There are 75 people are taking refuge from the bitter cold. Theres a line for the shower. Its close-quarters, and tempers occasionally flare. An argument between two men briefly gets physical, but the staff de-escalates it quickly. Its often fellow community members who intervene, Ian notes.

They can wrap someone in a hug and calm them down, he says. I cant do that, but they can.

The dinner line forms. Tonight, its chicken and vegetables. Given the numbers, staff has to stretch food, supplementing the menu with bags of dinner rolls. Ian asks if there are any requests for dining music. If ya play Here Comes the Night, Ill tip ya, chuckles a man with a rumble of a voice near the front of the line. After a few clicks at the computer, the music of Van Morrison and Them fills the shelter. The man smiles in appreciation.

Here, care can mean providing a warm shower, a hot meal, a safe place to sleep, clean needles. But it can also mean playing someones favourite song.

  

Next door at the Mainstay Residence, the vibe is completely different. A bingo game in the common area is in progress.

Mainstay is a transitional place for people to live while they work out their next step. There are 30 residents at the moment; the youngest is 27, the oldest 72. It is staffed 24/7, and workers help clients develop housing plans and set goals, as well as provide access to community programs.

The Mainstay Residence and the Bell Hotel Supportive Housing Project are two examples of Main Street Projects housing-first approach. Housing first is a model that originated in New York City and is based on the idea that people need stable, safe homes before they can address other issues.

If you provide people with housing who are dealing with addiction and mental-health and other primary health-care issues, you can then stabilize them to deal with those other things, Lees says. If youre on the street, youre so busy just looking for the next place to get warm and safe. You have little time to really deal with your addiction or other issues.

As vital as it is, housing is not  by itself  the solution for the Main Street Projects clients, who need the wraparound supports it offers, as well.

Thats not putting down housing, Lees says. You hear lots of people out there now talking about tiny homes and different types of housing  and those are great for what we call the healthy homeless. But for someone who has fetal alcohol syndrome or has chronic damage as the result of years of addiction, the typical housing you and I might think of isnt an option.

Mainstays residents are folks who are looking for a change. Theyll say, Im sick of living on the mats, but Im having trouble getting ahead while still being on them, says Adam Haddad, a residential support worker who works evenings.

Haddad has been working in various areas at Main Street Project since 2010, and Mainstay is his favourite.

I like being (at Mainstay) because I get to develop long-term relationships  and see long-term progress, he says. But you get the good with the bad. A lot of the experiences they go through are very saddening, and you feel that a bit with them. This is where Im happy to be. This is where you see the client making that change for themselves.

You see the side of them that gets hidden by homelessness, that gets hidden by addiction and marginalization.

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press Ian walks through sleeping homeless at the Winnipeg Project offering doughnuts after a late night visitor left a large boxful for the shelter.

Some people spend months living at Mainstay; others are there for years.

If somebody comes in here and theyre here for two months and theyve found the next step and were able to make whatever changes they wanted to make, we will help them move on as soon as theyre ready to do so, Haddad says. If somebody needed more time  sometimes health reasons can change someones ability to transition and if they liked having the supports, wed keep them longer.

So is the case with Brian Ellis. Hes been living here since November 2016 after he split up with his partner. It was supposed to be a short-term stay, but that changed in September when he was hit by a motorcycle, leaving him with extensive injuries to his right leg and a smashed right wrist. Hes in a wheelchair.

The 54-year-old is awaiting some good news tonight. His daughter, who lives in Steinbach, is having her second baby anytime now. He enjoys discussing politics, current events and civic issues, including homelessness.

I hear a lot of politicians talk about homeless people, but they dont really do nothing about it, he says. I dont see any big changes. What it boils down to is money.

Ellis wants people to start acknowledging the systemic causes of homelessness and addiction, particularly colonialism and institutionalized racism. He is Dene, born in Churchill in 1963 and a child of the 60s Scoop. He ended up in Minnesota, and lived with multiple families. And he has never met his younger brother and sister, who are twins.

I know a lot of people here went through that, he says, gesturing around. Its not an easy thing. What a place like this needs is a spiritual adviser  someone that can get you back on track. Not just people who go to university and get a degree and say, Im a mental-health worker now. Someone who has been through all the crap and have turned their life over.

Thats what Ellis hopes to do, turn his life around. I could be in a worse condition in a rooming house with gangsters and drug addicts, he says. Ive been through that, too. These slum hotels all down Main, Ive been in a few of them. I know what its like.

I call this the homeless retirement home.

Whats the plan when he transitions out of Mainstay?

Freedom 55, he says with a chuckle. Oh, I dont know. I want to heal my leg. Im a computer tech, by the way. I graduated a couple years ago. I thought it was going to get me places.

Ellis, like many of the people here, has spent time behind bars. And like so many people here, theres much more to his story than what his fading prison tattoos tell. But people make assumptions, he says, and hes struggled to find work.

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press - "Double D" aka Dominic Vincent shaves a beard off of Rob Nicholas' face in the laundry room at the Main Street Project's Mainstay Residence

Dominic Lariviere can relate. Ive got 38 tattoos now and I regret every one of them, he says.

The 47-year-old Metis man from Saskatchewan has been living at Mainstay for three weeks. Hes been in detox three times, and is headed to treatment later this month.

Lariviere is a self-described neat freak and often does odd jobs around the facility  laundry, shovelling snow, sweeping, tidying. Hes even a pretty good barber, in a pinch. As he folds an afghan, he talks about his past. He was sexually abused as a child, and he doesnt like to discuss it because it makes him angry. He lost his mother to a drug overdose when she was the same age he is now. Hes been in and out of prison and struggles with alcohol.

If I dont keep my mind occupied, Id be out there drinking right now, he says. Thats how I cope with my sexual abuse. I drink everything, I dont care what it is. But I want to change that life around.

Lariviere says that of the support staff, Haddad, in particular, has been kind to him.

Hes like my little brother, calls me bro and all that, he says. I dont know how to read, but my buddy Adam here is going to hook me up with schooling so I can learn to read and write.

When he completes treatment, hed like to go to school.

I want to have an education and talk to my twin boys  theyre five years old, he says. I miss them so much.

He keeps some of their blankets and toys by his bedside.

I look at them every night, he says, eyes welling up. Sometimes, I feel like giving up on life. But this place here, when you want to give up on life, they talk to you.

Talking is, indeed, a big part of the job, Kamara says.

Most of them just want to be heard, they dont want that much, he says. They just want to talk and have someone listen. So we give them that. Its all about building relationships. The more you build the relationships, the better it is for you as staff and the better it is for them as a client. I just think it doesnt matter how someones life is  they need that relationship.

Support workers hear, in often vivid and horrible detail, about the lowest points in peoples lives. How do they remain hopeful?

Just keep doing the good work, thats all, Kamara says. Am I going to tell you its the easiest place to work? No. But not everyone can do what we do. Those of us who have the hearts to do it do it joyfully.

  

Hi baby, Im home.

Its Thursday night, and police cadets have just brought in an intoxicated man they picked up in Winnipeg Square. Isabella has come from the shelter side to do intake in the IPDA  Intoxicated Persons Detention Area.

Hi Jeff, she responds, like theyre old friends.

There are regulars in this part of Main Street Project, too. Im going to quit, he tells her.

Its an unusually quiet night at the detention centre, but it likely wont stay that way. Capacity is 20. Intoxicated people usually stay between four and eight hours to get sober. When theyre released they get a cup of coffee and something to eat, or bus tickets if they need. Some of them go directly into one of Main Street Projects two detox centres. The mens centre is located at the Martha Street facility, the womens is at the Riverpoint Centre on Magnus Avenue.

An estimated 1,800 clients went through detox in 2017.

We have some issues around capacity because we have 22 beds for women and 25 for men, and were trying to hold people longer to get them to treatment because weve found theres a gap between leaving detox and getting a bed date in treatment of about 30 days, Lees explains. Thats problematic because very few people can last 30 days outside of detox.

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press Cadets escort an intoxicated man past a pile of donated winter boots to a cell to be monitored until he sobers up at the Winnipeg Project's shelter.

People who are released after 10 days have a lower tolerance, so the risk for overdose increases. Were trying to sacrifice volume for quality.

While there have been some upgrades to Main Street Project over the past few years  from the Bell Hotel residence to the womens detox facility  theres always more to do and more ways to help. Lees says a priority is expanding the detox facility and connecting it to pre-treatment, beds that would fill the gap between detox and long-term treatment. They are working on adding opiate-replacement therapy to the detox program.

Were also working to try to build a primary-care team with the WRHA and other funders because the medical care of people who are homeless is almost a specialty practice, he says.

Addiction treatment, he notes, goes beyond getting people off drugs.

I think theres a simplistic view in the general public that youve just got to get people to stop using drugs and everything will be fine, he says. But the fact is, the drugs are a symptom of a deeper problem: its trauma, its family breakdowns. In the Aboriginal community, its the continuing impact of residential schools. Until we dig deep and understand that stuff, youre not going to solve addiction.

Meanwhile, its fairly quiet on the shelter front, likely because Pulp Fiction is on. There are a few movies that have that effect, Ian says, and Quentin Tarantinos 1994 black comedy is one of them. Someone drops off a huge box of doughnuts, an unexpected after-dinner treat. A few people are watching the movie, others are already asleep on the mats. Its a far cry from a slumber party but, for now at least, its peaceful.

For now, its home.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/01/2018 (1778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A trial has been set for January 2019 for three men accused of killing Jeanenne Fontaine, whose body was found in her burned-out Aberdeen Avenue home in March.

The 29-year-old had been shot in the head. The homicide is believed to be connected to the citys meth trade.

Fontaine, a mother of two who struggled with addiction, was the cousin of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, whose 2014 slaying sparked calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

FACEBOOK Jeanenne Fontaines body was found in her burned-out Aberdeen Avenue home.

Manitobas Crown prosecution office ordered a direct indictment in the case  just as it did in the murder trial of the man accused of killing Tina. It means the accused will go directly to trial, without a preliminary hearing being held.

Malcolm Miles Mitchell, 25, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting. Christopher Matthew Brass, 35, and Jason Michael Meilleur, 39, are charged with manslaughter. All three men have criminal records and other charges before the court. Brass also is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Bryer James Prysiazniuk-Settee, who died after being shot on Feb. 8, 2017. The men were arrested in connection with Jeanennes death in May.

Jeanenne was born in Sagkeeng, raised in Selkirk and lived in Winnipegs North End most of her life. According to a pre-sentence report filed in court in 2016, she was close to Tina, and her cousins homicide traumatized her.

After Tina died, I felt like no one cared; (I) gave up on everything, gave (my) son away to CFS (and) was addicted to drugs, Jeanenne told a probation officer, according to the report.

A jury will begin hearing evidence against Tinas accused killer on Jan. 29. Raymond Cormier, 55, is charged with second-degree murder. He has claimed police fabricated evidence against him using a Mr. Big sting, culminating in his arrest in Vancouver in December 2015.

Tinas body was pulled from the Red River on Aug. 17, 2014, after she ran away from her foster home in Winnipeg. Cormier launched a Law Enforcement Review Agency complaint against police, but later dropped it.
Another billion dollars will be handed from the state of Wisconsin to the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to build its plant in Racine County in southeastern Wisconsin. The original $3 billion incentive package, put together in July 2017 when Foxconn officially announced it plans, now stands at over $4 billion.

Foxconn, notorious for its brutal working conditions in China where workers build iPhones and other electronic devices and parts, will construct a 20-million-square-foot factory that will produce LCD panels for TVs and other consumer electronics. It is expected to break ground in the coming months.

The recently added incentives will partially cover payments, originally to be paid for by Foxconn, for infrastructure projects such highways, sewers and power lines.

Under the 29-page contract between Foxconn and the state of Wisconsin, the rest of the multi-billion-dollar incentive will come in tax credits. Foxconn will be given up to $1.35 billion in construction-related tax credits if it creates and fills 8,450 jobs by 2025. It will receive an additional $1.5 billion in tax credits if it creates a total of 13,000 jobs by 2022 and maintains that total through 2032.

However, after 2032, Foxconn will have the ability to cut jobs and lay off as many workers as it likes without any monetary repercussions. Additionally, there are no binding agreements to guarantee any jobs.

After 2032, Foxconn, with plans likely already in place, will seek to lay off as many workers as possible and hire on new workers at lower pay and replace the rest with a robotic workforce. Accordingly, Wisconsins Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated the public funds handed to Foxconn will not be recouped until at least 2043.

In 2016, Foxconn took in approximately $135 billion in net profit, as much as the GDP of Kazakhstan in the same year and 1.7 times Wisconsins state budget for 2018. The companys enormous profits make strikingly clear that Foxconn does not need, by any measure, any money to help build its plant, which will only add to its profits.

The Wisconsin plant will have a virtual city built around it complete with company housing and stores, transforming the region into an American version of the special economic zones existing in third world countries.

Decades of deindustrialization in areas such as Racine County, a former hub for the auto industry, which have left it starved for jobs and money, have created unprecedented levels of social inequality, poverty and unemployment in which corporations like Foxconn can exploit workers desperate for jobs and extract major concessions from local and state governments.

Amazon, the online retail giant whose CEO Jeff Bezos ranks amongst the richest three people in the United States, built a warehouse several miles from the future home of Foxconn in 2015. Today, Amazon warehouse workers make on average nearly $3.40 per hour less than the average local warehouse worker and over $4 less than the local hourly living wage of $16.50.

Near the Amazon facility and the soon-to-be Foxconn factory sat former auto factories employing 16,000 workers during the 1950s and 1960s that paid some of the highest wages in the country and offered pensions for workers to comfortably retire on. But no such conditions exist today.

The US Census reports 22.4 percent of residents of Racine, the largest city in Racine County, nearly a quarter of all residents, lived in poverty in 2014. Presently, 21.5 percent of residents in nearby Kenosha live below the official poverty line, with more than a quarter of children living in poverty.

The often-heard cynical and hypocritical comments of Wisconsins Republican Governor Scott Walker, President Trump and Democratic senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren about the necessity to bring back Americans jobs conceal the fact that the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the auto, steel and other industries were lost with the full backing of both parties in support of the corporations which scour the earth for cheaper labor from which to extract even greater profits.
An Iranian foreign correspondent for the government-backed PressTV, Ramin Mazaheri, has written a lengthy diatribe that accuses the World Socialist Web Site of betraying its socialist principles and aiding imperialism. This is because the WSWS has highlighted the significance of the current working-class unrest in Iran and opposed its suppression by the bourgeois state under the pretext of combatting US imperialist-sponsored subversion.

Mazaheri claims to be an avid reader of the WSWS, which he calls a darn great site, exceptional in most every way, perhaps the most-widely visited truly leftist web site and adored in the Third World. He clearly is deeply concerned about the impact of the WSWSs analysis inside Iran and beyond.

Mazaheri takes exception to our characterization of the Iranian working class as brutally exploited. He also accuses the WSWS of jumping on Iran at a time of crisis. Objecting to the WSWSs references to the history of the Iranian workers movement, Mazaheri claims that we exaggerate the influence of revolutionary socialism. He also rejects the emphasis placed by the WSWS on the dominant role of the Stalinist Tudeh Party in the decades that preceded the 1979 revolution. Mazaheri sneers at the WSWS and Trotskyism for seeking ideological purity and advocating universal revolution rather than supporting a working socialist country. (His full letter can be found here.)

To be blunt, Mazaheri is an apologist for the Iranian government. Nevertheless, his blog merits rebuttal because it falsifies crucial issues of revolutionary perspective relating to the struggle against imperialism, misrepresents the character and outcome of the 1979 revolution, and slanders the WSWS and the Iranian working class.

The Islamic Republic is a bourgeois nationalist regime. It maneuvers on the world stage to advance the interests of Irans capitalist ruling elite, while balancing between different social forces within Iran, including the direct and indirect influence of foreign capital and the working class. The WSWSs attitude toward the Islamic Republic is based on two fundamental factors: Irans character as an historically oppressed country that must be defended against the predations of imperialism, and the antagonistic relationship between the Iranian bourgeoisie and working class.

It is now admitted by all but unabashed defenders of the Iranian government and bourgeoisie that the protests that rocked Iran for five days beginning December 28 were an elemental expression of working-class anger against mass joblessness, poverty, ever-widening social inequality, and the Rouhani governments brutal austerity measures. Unemployed youth in provincial towns and other especially oppressed layers predominated. The sudden flare-up of antigovernment protests had been preceded by months of growing working-class unrest, including numerous protests and strikes over unpaid wages and job cuts.

The social character of the emerging opposition in Iran is fundamentally different from that of the 2009 Green Movement, which, as Mazaheri concedes, the WSWS steadfastly opposed and polemicized against. The Greens challenge to the 2009 presidential election result was a long-planned operation that closely followed the script of previous US-orchestrated color revolutions. It was aimed at bringing to power the faction of the clerical political establishment and Iranian bourgeoisie most eager for a rapprochement with Washington and the European imperialist powers. It drew its popular support almost exclusively from the upper-middle class in Tehran, which was mobilized on the basis of selfish, Thatcherite denunciations of President Ahmadinejads wasteful social spending and grievances over the Islamic regimes reactionary social mores.

The current movement in Iran is directed against austerity and social inequality. That in its initial stages it is politically confused, with monarchist and other ultra-right-wing elements seeking to latch onto and pervert it, is not the fault of the working class. The Islamic Republic has for decades ruthlessly suppressed all forms of working-class self-organization.

Yet Mazaheri would have us believe Iran is a haven for democracy. He lectures the WSWS that Rouhani must be supported and his neoliberal policies accepted because he was elected in a pseudo-democratic system that gives the Shia ulema (clergy) vast political privileges, prohibits all un-Islamic candidates, and is capped by an autocratic Supreme Leader.

The Tudeh Party, the working class and the 1979 Revolution

In typical nationalist vein, Mazaheri wonder(s) how much the WSWS knows about Iranian society. But it is he who reveals his ignorance, when he sneers at our assertion that the Stalinist Tudeh Party had deep roots in the working class and argues that Islam had super, mega-deep, core-embedding roots in the working class.

Mazaheri appears to know nothing of the events in Iran between 1946 and 1953.

In the years following World War II, the Tudeh Party galvanized mass popular support and wielded decisive political influence over the working class. However, in a tragic foreshadowing of the role it would play in the revolutionary storm of 1978-81, it held fast to the Menshevik-Stalinist two-stage theory of revolution, claiming that the national bourgeoisie would lead the struggle against imperialism. It was the turn of the nationalist prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, to repress the Tudeh Party, under pressure from the US, that opened the door for the August 1953 CIA coup that returned the Shah to power.

In these events, the Islamic clergy played a marginal and reactionary role, openly aligning with the Shah, the landlords and imperialism.

The Ayatollah Khomeini was himself keenly aware and afraid of socialisms powerful appeal among the masses. That is why, in the early 1970s, drawing on the writings of the Paris-educated sociologist Ali Shariati, he sought to recast traditional Shia theology by incorporating pseudo-socialist phrases and iconography.

Exploiting the longstanding connections between the clergy and the bazaar, the stronghold of the traditional Iranian bourgeoisie, and the network of Shia religious institutions, Khomeini and his supporters were able to gain mass support from Irans urban and rural poor as the Shahs regime plunged into mounting crisis after 1975. The mullahs benefited from the fact that the Shahs massive, CIA-trained security apparatus was principally directed against the left and the working class.

But it was the politics of Stalinism, not the super, mega-deep roots of Islam in the working class, that, above all, opened the door for the rise of the Shia populist clerics and the ultimate derailing of the massive, working class-led social explosion that toppled the Shah.

The Tudeh Party, which continued to have widespread influence within the industrial working class, oriented for decades to the impotent traditional bourgeois-democratic opposition to the Shah. Then, as the masses erupted onto the scene in 1978-79, it swung round to providing uncritical support to Khomeini and his project of creating an Islamic Republic, anointing him the leader of the national revolution that would supposedly clear the path for Irans independent bourgeois-democratic development.

Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the Shahs overthrow in February 1979, the working class did strive to assert its independent interests, seizing factories and forming workers councils to run them.

But with the working class politically neutralized by the Stalinists, Khomeini, not without crisis and upheavals, was able to divert the mass movement and ever more boldly mobilize the capitalist state apparatus to bloodily suppress the working class and snuff out all forms of working-class self-organization.

The bazaar merchants, for their part, clung tenaciously to Khomeini as the guarantor of their property. But it was not only the Iranian bourgeoisie that turned to Khomeini to forestall social revolution. The French government had given him exile and allowed him to mount his oppositional activities largely unimpeded. With the Shahs regime disintegrating, Washington supported his return to Iran in early February 1979.

Ultimately, when the Khomeini regime, having used the Stalinists support to politically confuse the working class, turned on the Tudeh Party in 1983, arresting and later executing many of its leaders and cadres, it did so using lists supplied by the CIA.

Mazaheri spells out his own support for the Islamic Republics consolidation through the ruthless suppression of the working class, declaring, Socialism ran second fiddle in the Islamic Revolution, and thankfully so, when the alternative is to be influenced by imperialist capitalism.

The Islamic Republic and imperialism

The Iranian regime is not anti-imperialist. Rather, from the beginning its aim has been to establish greater freedom of action for the Iranian bourgeoisie within world capitalism, including by seeking closer economic ties to European and Japanese imperialism.

To be sure, over the past four decades American imperialism has mounted a relentless drive against Iran, under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, imposing punishing economic sanctions and exerting massive military pressure.

But the leaders of the Islamic Republic have made repeated overtures to Washingtonfar too many to document here. As early as the fall of 1980, Tehran made a secret deal with the Reagan-led US Republican Party not to release the US embassy hostages until the American presidential election had been held. In 2001, Tehran provided support for the US invasion of Afghanistan, and shortly after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq made a secret grand bargain offer to Washington, in which it would recognize Israel and cut off all military aid to Hamas and Hezbollah, in exchange for a pledge that the US would forgo regime change.

The WSWS recognizes the essentially defensive character of the Iranian regimes intervention in Syria and Lebanon. But the Islamic Republic, like the Shahs regime before it, seeks to realize the regional great power ambitions of the Iranian bourgeoisie and denies full equality to the Kurds and other minorities within Iran.

A key element in the dissipation of the revolutionary energy that erupted in 1978-79 was the eight-year 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Undoubtedly, the Baathist regime In Iraq played a foul role, seeking to win Washingtons support by attacking Iran. That said, a major factor in precipitating the war was the Khomeini regimes determination to uphold the reactionary settlement of the Shatt-al-Arab dispute, which the Shah, with Washingtons backing, had imposed on Iraq. And while Iran was initially thrown on the defensive, after gaining the initiative, the Islamic Republic perpetuated the war for years. This was because it hoped to extract reparations and other mercenary concessions from Iraq, but also because of the wars value in justifying, in the name of national unity, the suppression of all political opposition.

If nationalist slogans akin to those raised during the Green Movement, such as Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I give my life for Iran, can find any resonance in the current working-class protests in Iran, it is because the burdens of countering the imperialist drive against Iran are distributed according to the class dynamics of Iranmeaning they fall overwhelming on the working class and toilers. Meanwhile, cronies of the regime have made vast fortunes from sanctions-busting.

It should come as no surprise that Mazaheri supports the Iran-US nuclear deal. This deal is itself intimately bound up with the assault on the working class. To woo foreign investment, the Rouhani administration has intensified the neoliberal policies of privatization and social spending cuts pursued by Tehran since 1989, and rewritten the laws governing oil concessions.

The past century has demonstrated conclusively that the Iranian and Arab bourgeoisie are incapable of freeing the region from the grip of imperialism. Fearful for their own property, they suppress the working class and rely on nationalist, sectarian and communal appeals that divide the masses and strengthen imperialist reaction.

The only force that can mobilize the revolutionary energy needed to defeat imperialism is the working class, mobilizing the regions toilers on a socialist program to secure social rights and social equality for all.

It is an elementary duty of the WSWS, one it fulfills daily, to oppose the aggression, war plans and wars of imperialism. Workers across the world must demand hands off Iran as part of the fight to develop a global movement against war and imperialism.

But we will not allow the Iranian bourgeoisie and political flunkies like Mazaheri to intimidate the working class, and those wide sections of the middle class who would be inclined to support it, by labeling the emergence of working-class opposition to the Islamic Republic as sedition.

We will instead fight to arm this movement with an understanding of its political tasks: the working class must oppose imperialism, forge its independence from all factions of the Iranian bourgeoisie, and rally the toilers behind it in the fight for a Workers Republic and, in unity with Arab, Jewish, Kurdish and Turkish workers, a Socialist Federation of the Middle East.
Asia

India: Private health care doctors hold national strike

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), representing 290,000 doctors throughout India, called a nationwide suspension of private healthcare services for 12 hours on Tuesday to oppose the National Commission Bill being debated in parliament. Outpatient services in private hospitals ceased while some government hospitals were affected when government doctors in several states joined the protest.

The bill seeks to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body, the National Medical Commission (NMC). Doctors claim that it will lead to further privatisation of medicine and increase medical fees. The IMA labelled the bill as anti-poor and anti-people. They also opposed the inclusion of non-scientific treatments such as allopathy in the medical profession saying it would lead to quackery and corruption in health care.

The IMA suspended the strike after eight hours when parliament decided to refer the bill to a standing committee.

Sanitation workers protest across India

Contract sanitation workers held nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday to demand minimum pay on par with permanent workers in their respective local bodies.

Hundreds of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board sanitation workers demonstrated in the city demanding equal work for equal pay. While regular sewage treatment workers are paid between 40,000 and 50,000 rupees a month, contract workers doing the same job are only paid 7,200 rupees ($US113) per month.

Punjab power plant workers protest over shutdown

Five hundred contract workers from the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, began an indefinite sit-down protest outside the District Administration Complex in Bathinda on Monday to oppose closure of the plants. They denounced the government, which previously claimed the facilities would remain fully operational.

Both plants were shut down on January 1 with the government falsely promising that workers would be transferred to other state utilities, or at least a government job would be made available for one member from each family affected. Protesting workers are being supported by the village farmers and surrounding shopkeepers with food, financial resources and moral support.

Karnataka ship building workers on strike

Over 100 workers at Tebma Shipyards in Maple Fisheries Harbour downed tools on December 26 and occupied the facility demanding immediate payment of six months outstanding salaries. A striking administrative worker said the company had not paid the Provident Fund and Employee State Insurance for the last three months, making it difficult for families to access healthcare facilities.

The workers said they would continue their occupation and not allow any work at the shipyard until the overdue wages are paid.

Bangladesh: Teachers and workers from non-government schools protest

Hundreds of teachers and other employees from non-government schools, colleges and technical institutions have been demonstrating outside the National Press Club in Dhaka since December 26. The Non-MPO Educational Institutions Teachers and Employees Federation, which has 80,000 members in over 5,000 registered non-government educational institutions, is demanding inclusion in the governments Monthly Pay Order (MPO) for salaries and other benefits.

Many of the protesters are on a fast unto death protest. By Wednesday, 87 hunger strikers had fallen sick and 24 hospitalised. The teachers have vowed to remain until their demand is met.

Pakistan: Lady Health Workers in FATA protest

Lady Health Workers (LHW) program employees at Ghalanai in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistans northwest protested over the non-payment of salaries on December 28. They have not been paid for six months. A protest march was held from Mohmand Press Club to the LHW headquarters in Ghalanai.

While the LHW program plays a crucial role throughout Pakistan where health facilities are extremely inadequate, the situation in war-torn FATA is significantly worse. LHW workers are mostly paid minimal wages and in many cases kept as contract workers denying them even the meagre benefits permanent government sector workers would receive. Wages are frequently withheld for months.

Islamabad teachers boycott classes

As part of a long running campaign, teachers serving on a daily wage basis in government-run model educational institutes in the Islamabad Capital Territory boycotted classes as the schools reopened on Monday after the winter break. Teachers are demanding to be made permanent. At least 2,200 daily waged teachers are employed by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). The teachers demonstrated in October against the governments continued failure to pay wages on time.

The latest protest was called by the Young Teachers Association after the government advertised to recruit 230 new teachers. Pakistan is plagued by lack of properly maintained educational institutions as well as overcrowding of classrooms and poverty wages.

Karachi school teachers continue protest after police attack

After being brutally attacked by the police on December 25, government school teachers in Sindh province are continuing their protest outside the Karachi Press Club. Members of the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association (ASPTA), Primary Teachers Association (PTA) and New Teachers Action Committee (NTAC) came from all parts of the province to rally in Karachi on December 25 over several demands. The three bodies represent close to 70,000 teachers.

ASPTA members want permanency for contract teachers and teachers who have been evaluated prior to being appointed to primary, secondary and high schools. They have rejected the governments offer to re-evaluate these teachers by the National Testing Service (NTS) saying they are already qualified. PTA members want the government to honour a promise given in 2014 to grant promotions into scale 16.

NTAC members want payment of overdue wages for teachers appointed in 2012. These teachers said they received their appointments in 2012 but salary payments ceased after 16 months. The teachers, who are still working, alleged that they were told by the treasury department that there were discrepancies in their appointments that had to be resolved before salary payments were resumed.

The protests were temporarily called off last week during negotiations with government representatives but resumed when the government failed to make a concrete commitment to represent their grievances to cabinet.

Sri Lankan postal workers protest

Postal workers have begun a national campaign against wage cuts, reduced promotions and poor working conditions. Their demands include solving salary anomalies and introduction of a separate service constitution for the postal service to make it a closed service.

Workers complained that management had reduced the basic starting salary of a postal worker from 16,640 rupees ($US108) to 15,005 rupees, and extended the promotions scheme from seven to ten years.

The campaign began with a demonstration outside post offices in Matara, Galle, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matale, Polonnaruwa and Jaffna on December 27. It followed a demonstration on December 18 in central Colombo. The campaign is organised by a collective of 27 postal service unions.

Cambodian garment workers strike

Around 300 workers from the Korean-owned Gawon Apparel factory in Takhmao were ordered by the Kandal provincial court on December 27 to end several months of protests and return to work within 48 hours. Workers followed the order but walked out again on Tuesday. Several workers are holding a 24-hour vigil outside the factory to prevent the owner removing equipment. The dispute is over irregular payment of monthly wages.

In May, factory workers walked out and refused to return to work after they were paid between $20 and $50 of their $150 April monthly salary. They walked out again in November after management failed to pay wages in full. Managers distributed $US50 to $100 to workers, claiming they would pay the rest later.

Cambodian garment workers block highway

Nearly 7,000 workers from the Taieasy International garment factory in Pursat provinces Krakor district blocked National Road 5 on the evening of December 30 demanding improved working conditions and the right to form a union.

Workers said they had 12 demands, which included leniency over employee absences in cases where workers have family problems, to be treated as human beings, the end to firing anyone without reason and to not cut bonuses.

Hong Kong housing estate cleaners protest

Dozens of contract cleaners from a West Kowloon public housing estate demonstrated outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on December 29 over severance pay. The former employees of the Man Shun Hong Kong and Kowloon Cleaning Company alleged that they had been denied severance payments after being forced to sign voluntary resignation agreements in October, when the companys contract at Cheung Sha Wans Hoi Lai Estate ended.

They were told that if they refused to resign they would be assigned to work in other areas around the city, incurring costly transportation fees every day. The workers were then re-employed by a new cleaning contractor, Hong Kong Commercial Cleaning, which refused to honour long service payments for their tenure with the Man Shun. Workers have since learnt that Man Shun and the new cleaning company share the same office.

A spokesman from the Confederation of Trade Unions claimed that Man Shun could owe the workers up to $1 million ($US128,000).

South Korea: Airline cleaners at Incheon International Airport on strike

Around 380 outsourced workers from EK Manpower contracted by Korea Airport Service (KAS) to clean 130 planes at Incheon International Airport walked off the job on December 30 to demand a pay rise. KAS has recruited 170 people in an attempt to break the strike.

Workers said they are forced to work at least 12 hours a day, plus extended hours, without holidays due to daily plane schedules. When flights are delayed, workers are tied up at the airport for 24 hours, working without time for rest, one worker said. Others said gender discrimination exists in pay, as only male workers receive a certain form of bonus.

Hyundai Motor workers resume strike action

Unionised workers at Hyundai Motors car assembly plants in Ulsan, south of Seoul, resumed strike action on Thursday in an attempt to push the company to offer an improved wage package. The companys 51,000-member union planned to strike for eight to 12 hours for four consecutive days.

On December 22, Hyundai Motor workers rejected a tentative pay deal negotiated by the union. The deal followed 39 rounds of negotiations and several weeks of strike action.

Management had offered to increase workers basic monthly salary by 58,000 won ($53) and give bonuses worth 300 percent of basic pay plus 3 million won in extra compensation. Workers opposed the deal, saying the increases offered were lower than last year. Last year, the base pay was lifted by 72,000 won, together with bonuses worth 350 percent of basic pay and 3.3 million won in extra compensation.

Australia and the Pacific

Queensland: Lockout at Glencore coal mine continues

Multinational mining giant Glencore is continuing its lockout of 190 Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) members at its Oaky North underground coal mine in Central Queensland. CFMEU members have been locked out since June 9, following limited industrial action in May over an enterprise agreement.

Glencore has hired a replacement, contract-based workforce and used staff employees to maintain production. Workers fear that Glencores ultimate aim is to casualise its entire workforce.

According to the CFMEU, Glencore wants to axe 50 percent of existing conditions in return for annual pay increases of 2 percent. A union spokesman said management told employees that they would not be allowed to return to work until they accept the companys demands. The CFMEU wants 3 percent per annum pay increases but indicated it would accept a two-year pay freeze if the current enterprise agreement was rolled over.

The CFMEU has kept the Oaky North dispute isolated and policed the picket line outside the mine, ensuring that scabs hired to keep the mine operating can move in and out without hindrance. The union has blocked any active industrial support for the miners by the 19,000 workers that it covers across the coal industry and production continues unhindered at Glencores other coal mining operations in the Central Queenslands Bowen Basin.

Fiji: Nadi airport lockout in third week

About 250 workers from the government-owned Air Terminal Services (ATS) at Fijis main international airport in Nadi have been locked out since December 16. Management is demanding they sign a declaration saying that a walkout to attend a shareholders meeting was wrong and to apologise and accept disciplinary action.

About 20 workers signed the declaration after management said they would not be victimised, however, on returning to work they were told that they will not be given any pay rise or promotions.

ATS provides catering, baggage-handling and engineering services at the airport with a workforce of 640. ATS workers hold a 49 percent stake in the company but have no input into its operations. They oppose the way the company is run and its treatment of staff. ATS has begun recruiting a scab workforce of 150 on three-month contracts.

Mediation talks involving the Fiji employment minister, ATS management, the Federated Airline Staff Association, the Fiji Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of Public Sector Unions were ongoing until Wednesday when the government refused to budge and walked away.

New Zealand meat industry maintenance workers strike

Following a year of failed negotiations for a pay increase, 19 maintenance workers at the meat processing plant of Silver Fern Farms at Takapau, in New Zealands North Island walked out on strike on Wednesday.

Their union, the E tu, said workers rejected the companys last pay increase offer of 1.5 percent as back pay for nine months, followed by a 2 percent increase at the time of settlement. The company responded to the strike by suspending the workers and withdrawing the back pay offer.

A union spokesperson said the workers needed a pay rise that reflects the 4.8 percent increase in the minimum wage that comes into effect on April 1. She added that the workers pay has fallen behind by about 10 percent of what other companies are paying their maintenance employees.
In a column Friday in the New York Times, Publicly, We Say #MeToo. Privately, We Have Misgivings, critic and novelist Daphne Merkin acknowledges there is considerable opposition to the current sexual misconduct witch-hunt even within its target demographic. The columnist lands a number of telling blows.

The starting point for Merkins piece is the Golden Globes awards ceremony on Sunday, at which, she predicts, Hollywood celebrities, not exactly known for their independent thinking, will turn the red carpet into a #MeToo moment replete with designer duds... The rest of us will diligently follow along on Twitter, sharing hashtags and suitably pious opprobrium.

Merkin notes, however, that many of us will be rolling our eyes, having had it with the reflexive and unnuanced sense of outrage that has accompanied this cause from its inception, turning a bona fide moment of moral accountability into a series of ad hoc and sometimes unproven accusations.

She suggests that the discussion of the issue that has been going on in private about this reckoning is radically different from the public one. Various women the columnist knows say the right things, [while] expressing approval and joining in the chorus of voices that applaud the current wave of allegations and takedowns.

In private its a different story. Grow up, this is real life, I hear these same feminist friends say. What ever happened to flirting? and What about the women who are the predators? Some women, including random people I talk to in supermarket lines, have gone so far as to call it an outright witch-hunt.

Leaving aside Merkins individual history and motives, the appearance of the column with its acknowledgement of considerable hostility among middle-class women to the sexual misconduct campaign is a serious admission, if not a backpedaling, on the part of the Times itself. For months now, the newspapers editorial board, which has dedicated considerable resources to digging up dirt on various celebrities, and the rest of the American media have rolled out one headline and article after another asserting that the population is universally infuriated by the allegations.

In reality, the campaign has left substantial sections of the population, female and male, beset by economic woes and struggling to keep their heads above water, largely unaffected. The most intense indignation has been felt by a layer of female professionals. Merkin reveals that even here there is substantial consternation.

The article pointedly refers to a number of phenomena we have discussed on the WSWS, including the return to a victimology paradigm for young women, in particular, in which they are perceived to beand perceive themselves to beas frail as Victorian housewives. Furthermore, the columnist rightly characterizes the campaign to remove a painting by Polish-French artist Balthus from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as the kind of censorship practiced by religious zealots.

Merkin notes a disturbing lack of clarity about terms such as harassment, assault and inappropriate conduct. She observes, moreover, that expressing sexual interest is inherently messy and, frankly, nonconsensualone person, typically the man, bites the bullet by expressing interest in the other, typically the womanwhether it happens at work or at a bar. Some are now suggesting that come-ons need to be constricted to a repressive degree... We are witnessing the re-moralization of sex, not via the Judeo-Christian ethos but via a legalistic, corporate consensus... There is an inquisitorial whiff in the air, and my particular fear is that in true American fashion, all subtlety and reflection is being lost. Next well be torching people for the content of their fantasies.

Merkins arguments have undoubtedly struck a chord. Close to 2,000 comments follow her column, many of them expressing agreement and even relief. On the other hand, numerous correspondents register anger at the lid being lifted on the repressive character of the current campaign.

The article reflects an objective reality, that increasing numbers of people are disgusted with the self-pitying, self-absorbed pronouncements of Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Salma Hayek and company, millionaires all, who would have us believe they have suffered the tortures of hell. In some cases, the sexual misconduct campaign has opened up new career and economic possibilities.

To be brutally frank, there is a great difference between the situation facing a working class woman, on the one hand, for whom acquiescing to sexual pressures in a factory or office may be virtually a life-and-death issue, and the choices open to an entertainer or performer, on the other, who plays along in the interests of advancing a career. Merkin herself asks rhetorically, What happened to womens agency? Thats what I find myself wondering as I hear story after story of adult women who helplessly acquiesce to sexual demands.

However, where Merkins column falls down terribly is in its acceptance of too many of the assumptions of the sexual misconduct campaign (despite her recognition that in the current climate to be accused is to be convicted and that due process is nowhere to be found) and her failure to examine the broader, political implications.

She writes at one point, It goes without saying that no one is coming to the defense of heinous sorts, like Kevin Spacey and Matt Lauer. Heinous sorts? Are we talking about Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini? Neither Spacey nor Lauer has been charged or found guilty of a crime. Spacey, one of Americas most gifted actors and the two-time winner of an Academy Award, has been turned into a non-person primarily on the basis of an allegation about a sexual encounter that may have occurred more than 30 years ago. The statute of limitations, which exists for a reason, has been reached in many cases. Individuals can be guilty of loutish, boorish or inappropriate actions, and conduct that one generally disapproves of, but there are no grounds for this kind of personal demonization. It simply fuels the witch-hunt.

Truly heinous sorts run the US government and military-intelligence apparatus, the corporations and banks. The American ruling elite and its propagandists, including front and center the New York Times, are guilty of vast and horrible crimes against humanity in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. The financial oligarchy does not lose any sleep over social atrocities at home either, the communities destroyed by factory closures, the poverty and homelessness, lowered life expectancy, tens of thousands of drug deaths and the social misery of a larger and larger portion of the population.

Merkins article largely sidesteps the enormous legal and democratic issues involved. There has been nothing like the current drive since the McCarthyite period. In some ways, there is even less of an attempt today to dress up the destruction of lives and careersoften on the basis of anonymous and flimsy accusationsin pseudo-legal guise than there was in the early 1950s. How has this large-scale effort, which the columnist herself argues may pose the danger of people being torched for their thoughts, gained such traction?

Sexual harassment and assault are emotive and very real issues. But portions of the American establishment have not taken up these questions because they suddenly feel deeply about abuse and injustice. They feel nothing about such matters. This is a coldly calculated political operation directed by the Democratic Party and its media orbit, including the Times.

It is one element of the reaction of the Democrats to their defeat in 2016. They hope to leverage this, the sexual misconduct/assault issue, into electoral and political success. At the same time, they want to muddy the waters and divert attention from the conditions of life for millions and the malignant social polarization.

This campaign falls into the same fraudulent category as the fake news censorship drive and the hysterical Russophobia that has gripped considerable layers of the upper-middle class.

People are being led by the noseand many of them quite willinglyinto supporting a campaign that will facilitate outright political repression. The present crusade has as much to do with sex as the anti-Russian campaign has to do with protecting American democracy.
The first official meeting between the two Koreas in more than two years is scheduled for Tuesday after North Korea formally accepted a South Korean offer of talks yesterday. Both sides will convene at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea made the offer this week after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used his New Years address to call for talks as soon as possible to discuss North Koreas participation in the Winter Olympics, scheduled for South Korea in February. More broadly Kim declared: North and South must work together to alleviate the tensions and work together as a people of the same heritage to find peace and stability.

Early yesterday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to delay the major Foal Eagle and Key Resolve joint military drills until after the Winter Olympics. Trump declared it would be a good thing if the meeting went ahead. These annual war games have always raised tensions with Pyongyang. They amount to a rehearsal for war with North Korea and last year involved more than 300,000 American and South Korean troops.

Within hours of the postponement of the war games, the North-South meeting was announced. Seouls unification ministry said it received a fax from Ri Son-gwon, head of the Norths Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea, saying Pyongyang would participate in the talks. North and South Korea also reopened their cross-border hotline on Wednesday for the first time in months.

The meeting will take place under conditions of extreme tension on the Korean Peninsula as a result of the Trump administrations campaign of maximum pressure to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs. Faced with the prospect of the US taking military action against North Korea, the UN Security Council has imposed a series of crippling sanctions on the Pyongyang regime, which have been supplemented by even harsher unilateral US sanctions.

Earlier this week, Trump issued a belligerent tweet in response to North Korean leader Kim, who warned Washington his country had nuclear missiles capable of reaching any part of the United States and the nuclear button was always on his desk. In an open threat of nuclear conflict, Trump bragged that his nuclear button was a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

Trump boasted on Thursday that his aggressive stance had brought about the prospect of talks. Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North, he tweeted on Thursday.

Speaking to CNN yesterday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended Trumps provocative comments and warned that efforts to secure a diplomatic solution to the standoff with North Korea were backed by a strong military option. If the North Koreans continued their missile and nuclear tests, they have to understand that the penalties to them will continue and will only grow more severe.

Tillerson reiterated that the US would accept nothing less than the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This means the dismantling of North Koreas nuclear and missile programs and imposition of an ever-more intrusive inspection regime into its military and industrial infrastructure. Tillerson also made clear that North Korea needed to signal its willingness to denuclearize before negotiations with the US could begin.

North Korea has repeatedly declared that it will not give up its nuclear weapons without security guarantees from the United States and its allies. Successive US administrations have refused to offer such pledges or end the state of war and economic blockade that has continued since in the end of the 195053 Korean War.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis played down the decision to delay the joint military exercises, saying they would resume after the March 918 Paralympics. Referring to Pyongyangs willingness to speak to Seoul, he said: I wouldnt read too much into it because we dont know if its a genuine olive branch.

In part, Mattiss remarks are aimed at heading off any suggestion that the US accepted Chinas proposal of a halt to joint US-South Korean military exercises, in return for a North Korean freeze on missile and nuclear testing, as a means for starting negotiations. Mattis claimed that the postponement was for practical not political reasons, citing the importance of the Olympics to South Korea.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has backed Trumps militarist approach to North Korea, accused North Korea on Thursday of unacceptable provocations and vowed to strengthen Japans military. Abe exploited the alleged North Korean threat to boost defence spending to a record level last month. He declared that the security environment surrounding Japan is at its severest since World War II and reiterated his intention to amend the constitution to lift restraints on the military.

The prospect of any significant breakthrough at Tuesdays meeting is slim. Even North Koreas participation in the Winter Olympics is severely constrained by US and UN sanctions. Talks could break down quickly if North Korea attempts to send a blacklisted official to the meeting or the Olympics, or requests financial assistance to participate.

Yesterday President Moon declared he would take a tough line in talks and pledged to strengthen South Koreas military. Speaking to leaders of the conservative Korean Senior Citizens Association, he said: I wont be weak-kneed or just focus on dialogue, as we did in the past. I will push for dialogue and pursue peace, but will do so based on a strong national defense capability.

At the same time, 28,500 US military personnel in South Korea remain on a high state of alert. Vincent Brooks, commander of US Forces Korea, stressed the importance of combat readiness and unity with US regional alliesSouth Korea and Japan in particular. American troops in South Korea operate on the basis of being ready to Fight Tonight, a stance reinforced by major joint war games throughout 2016.
The US State Department announced Thursday that it is suspending virtually all security aid to Pakistan. The move will impact an estimated $1 billion annually, including hundreds of millions of dollars in Afghan War Coalition payments.

The decision will exacerbate geopolitical tensions throughout the already highly volatile South Asian region, which has become increasingly polarized between the rival India-US and China-Pakistan military-strategic alliances.

The Trump administration has justified the aid cut by citing Islamabads alleged continued ties to elements of the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The latter is a militant Islamist group that is allied with the Taliban, reportedly enjoys a safe haven in parts of Pakistans Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and has carried out some of the most deadly attacks on US-led coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

In a tweet three days prior to the announcement, Trump wrote, The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!

Thursdays decision is part of the implementation of the strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia that Trump announced in August. In a speech delivered to a military audience, the US president vowed to maintain an indefinite, i.e., permanent, US occupation of Afghanistan and untie the hands of the military to wage an even more brutal neocolonial war against the Taliban and other resistance groups.

Trump also put Pakistan on notice that if it didnt fall into line with the US strategy, Washington would move to curtail ties between the two countries. In background briefings, aides said Pakistan could lose its status as a Major Non-NATO partner of the US and even be labeled a state sponsor of terrorism.

The 16-year-old Afghan war has already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

The August strategy shift played a major part in tripling the number of bombs dropped by the US Air Force on the country last year. Trump gave military commanders a free hand to escalate the conflict, with air strikes no longer having to be approved by the White House.

In 2002, in the immediate aftermath of the launching of the Afghan war, US security aid to Pakistan amounted to $1.6 billion annually, but this has since dropped. The State Department has said that monies the US pays to fund Pakistans participation in military operations in Afghanistan will be reinstated if Islamabad takes steps to clamp down on terrorist groups. Reports suggest that the US could continue to transfer some aid on a conditions-based approach for identifiable purposes.

The provocative character of the State Departments announcement was underscored by comments made by Trumps national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, on Wednesday. US-Pakistan relations can no longer bear the weight of contradictions, declared McMaster, adding that Trump was frustrated with Pakistans behavior of supporting terrorist groups.

In a barely disguised threat that Washington is ready to dramatically ratchet up tensions with Islamabad and even confront it militarily, McMaster continued, Pakistan could be on a path to increased security and prosperity, or it could be on a path to replicating North Korea. I think thats an easy choice for Pakistani leaders.

The accusation of support for terrorist groups is particularly hypocritical coming from Washington. It was the US that enlisted Pakistani intelligence to help organize the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the 1980s to overthrow the Soviet-backed government in Kabul, and it did so while providing staunch support to Pakistani dictator General Zia-ul-Haq and his reactionary Islamization drive. Moreover, Washington has time and again used Islamist militia as shock troops in its regime-change drives in the Middle East, including in Libya and Syria.

Pakistans maintenance of covert relations with the Taliban and the Haqqani Network is above all the result of US imperialisms aggressive moves to reorder the entire South Asian region, as it seeks to build new alliances capable of economically and militarily confronting its chief rival, China. To this end, over the course of the past decade and a half, Washington drastically downgraded Pakistans status as its main ally in the region and instead partnered with India, Islamabads arch-nemesis.

First under George W. Bush and then under Barack Obama and his pivot to Asia, which aimed to strategically, economically and militarily isolate and encircle China, Washington singled out India for special attention.

New Delhi has been the recipient of numerous military and strategic favors from the US. In return, India has thrown open its ports and military bases to US warplanes and battleships; shares intelligence with the Pentagon about Chinese ship and submarine movements in the Indian Ocean; and parrots the provocative US stances on the South China Sea dispute and North Korea.

Under Trump, the US has pledged to take strategic ties with India to a new level. As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put it in October during a visit to Afghanistan, Our view of the relationship with India is one thats of strategic importance, not just for this specific region, but for a free and open Indo-Pacific region stretching all the way from Japan to India.

The Trump administration has now declared it a priority to integrate India into the so-called Quad, a US-led military and strategic partnership aimed at combating rising Chinese influence, which, in addition to New Delhi, includes US imperialisms foremost Indo-Pacific allies, Japan and Australia.

This has not only inflamed tensions between China and India, who fought an undeclared war in 1962 and faced off over the remote Doklam Plateau for two and a half months in 2017. It is also encouraging India in its belligerence against Pakistan.

The two nuclear rivals, who have engaged in four wars and numerous lower-intensity conflicts since the ethnic partition of the subcontinent in 1947, confront each other with ever greater hostility as their regional rivalry becomes entangled with US imperialisms aggressive war drive against China.

Pakistan has reacted to the cooling of relations with Washington by developing closer ties with its longtime ally China. Beijing has pledged to invest $57 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major project aimed at building transportation infrastructure between the two countries to establish Chinese access to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.

From Beijings standpoint, the CPEC is critical to enabling the Chinese regime to counteract US plans to economically strangle the country in the event of war by seizing chokepoints in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea so as to impose an economic blockade.

The CPEC is part of Chinas more comprehensive One Belt, One Road (OBOR) strategy, which seeks to expand Chinese economic ties with Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This represents a direct challenge to US global hegemony and is viewed as intolerable by the US ruling elite, which has increasingly resorted to military force over the past quarter-century in a desperate bid to offset its protracted economic decline. In recent months, the US has joined India and Japan in publicly opposing the OBOR.

The Pakistani ruling elite has denounced the Trump administrations move to suspend security aid. Arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goal posts are counterproductive in addressing common threats, Pakistans Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declared in a Thursday interview that the US is no longer a friend or ally, but a friend who always betrays.

Opposition leader Imran Khan took a harder line, urging Pakistan to cut supply lines used by the US to transport equipment to its 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan blocked the supply lines during 2011 and 2012 for several months, following the secret US operation to kill Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil and the bombing by the US of a Pakistani army post, killing over 20 soldiers.

Chinas Foreign Ministry reacted to the stepped-up criticism of Pakistan by the Trump administration in a statement by spokesman Geng Shuang, who said Pakistan had made great efforts and sacrifices in combating terrorism. The government-aligned Global Times described the China-Pakistan relationship as an all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation.

The deepening of US-Pakistan tensions thus has major regional and global implications. It will further inflame Pakistan-India and India-China antagonisms, and, in so doing, those between China and the US. All are nuclear powers.

The shaky ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region collapsed after the Indian military staged surgical strikes inside Pakistan in September 2016. Ever since there have been regular exchanges of cross-border fire, including in the last days of December, when four Indian and three Pakistani soldiers were killed.

India has applauded Washingtons denunciations of Pakistani support for terrorism, which provide grist for its mill in the escalation of border clashes with its neighbor and the whipping up of nationalism to divert mounting social tensions at home.
On Nov. 9, officers responded to a welfare check at the Utah home of Timothy Griffith after he failed to show up for work, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.

Neighbors had grown concerned when they realized they had not seen any movement at the home despite two vehicles being parked in the driveway. After multiple attempts to contact the family, detectives from the Mapleton Utah Police Department entered the home and discovered a horrific scene.

Timothy Griffith, 45, was found lying on his bedroom floor with a shotgun between his legs, according to the affidavit, which was obtained by TV station KUTV. His wife Jessica Griffith, 43, was found dead underneath a pile of blankets in their bed.

Jessicas teen daughter Samantha Badel was found dead in her bedroom lying next to her five-year old brother Alexandre Griffith, who was also deceased.

For nearly two months, investigators have tried to figure out why a father would kill his family, including the familys dog, and then himself. In the affidavit, clues began to emerge.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

During the investigation, I located several messages indicating Jessica Griffith was sick and may not have had much longer to live, according to a search warrant written by Det. Michael McCoy. I also found Google searches for ovarian cancer.

The affidavit floats the possibility that the murder-suicide had been planned by the couple, who moved from Switzerland months earlier.

I learned that Jessica has suffered with depression. I also learned that Jessica and Timothy have been messaging about when this tragic incident would take place, McCoy stated in the affidavit. I have also learned from family that Timothy Griffith was a violent person and may have also been suffering from mental illness.

But hours later, the fourth district court issued a response stating there was no prescription history for Jessica Griffith or Timothy Griffith for the past 10 years.

Story continues

 For more compelling true crime coverage, follow our Crime magazine on Flipboard.

For now, Police Chief John Jackson tells PEOPLE that the department is waiting for toxicology reports from the medical examiners office, which are expected in the next few weeks.

Were hoping it will provide more details as to why this happened, he says.

If you or someone you know is showing warning signs of suicide, consider contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK, texting the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or seeking help from a professional.
Lara Spencer is engaged!

The Good Morning America co-hosts beau of two years, tech entrepreneur Rick McVey, popped the question  and she said yes, Spencers publicist confirms to PEOPLE.

Lara Spencer and Rick McVey attend the 33rd Annual Calvary Hospital Awards Gala at the Pierre Hotel in NYC on Nov. 14, 2016 in New York City. (Photo: Victor Hugo/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Spencer, who is the creator, producer and host of HGTVs Flea Market Flip, first met McVey  the founder, chairman and CEO of MarketAxess, a publicly traded and successful financial technology company  after being set up on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend.

She has shared multiple photos on social media of herself with McVey, including a trip to Paris last year.

A post shared by Lara Spencer (@laraspencerabc) on Dec 13, 2017 at 5:27pm PST

The first 3 attempts at this selfie had the #eiffeltower coming out of my head like a single antenna #smallvictory #paris, Spencer, 48, captioned a smiling selfie of the pair in front of the Eiffel Tower in July.

This will be the second marriage for Spencer, who was previously wed to real estate broker and former reporter David Haffenreffer, with whom she shares two teenage children: daughter Katharine and son Duff.

After 15 years together, Spencer announced in March 2015 that she and Haffenreffer were amicably divorcing.

Despite their split, Spencer and Haffenreffer have remained committed to raising their children together. In August, she shared a photo of Haffenreffer with their two kids in a birthday tribute post.

[David] Happy Happy big 5-0 to the best dad our kids could ever ask for. she wrote.

A post shared by Lara Spencer (@laraspencerabc) on Dec 13, 2017 at 5:27pm PST

McVey is also a divorce and the father of three grown daughters.

Good Morning America airs weekdays (79 a.m. ET) on ABC.
WASHINGTON  The lobbying group representing major internet players like Amazon, Netflix, and Google said it plans to join the legal battle over the FCCs move last month to repeal net neutrality.

The Internet Association said it would act as an intervenor in expected litigation over the FCCs action. What that means is that the group wouldnt be filing its own lawsuit, but would join a legal action filed by others. Public interest groups and some state attorneys general have said they intend to challenge the repeal in court.

The final version of Chairman Pais rule, as expected, dismantles popular net neutrality protections for consumers, Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of the Internet Association, said in a statement. This rule defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet. IA intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution.

The FCC, in a 3-2 party-line vote, repealed rules that ban internet providers from blocking or throttling content, or from creating fast lanes that would be for sale to sites that want speedier access to consumers. They left in place rules that require that ISPs disclose how they handle internet traffic.

The FCC posted the final text version of its action earlier this week, and it is expected to enter the Federal Register in the coming weeks.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who said the repeal of the rules will free ISPs from regulatory burdens that harm investment, was scheduled to speak at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, but canceled. He had received threats in the lead up to the FCCs vote, and Recode reported on Thursday that the cancellation was in response to security concerns.

Story continues

Meanwhile, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is seeking to secure the votes that would force a vote to reverse the FCCs action and restore the rules, via the Congressional Review Act. The move would be somewhat symbolic, as many Republicans support the FCCs decision and President Donald Trump would be expected to veto such an action, if it were ever to reach his desk.

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Steven Spielbergs The Post, about a newspaper President Trump has repeatedly slammed as fake news, may soon be coming to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The White House has asked that the drama, about The Washington Posts fight for freedom of the press in the 1970s, be screened at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as well as Camp David, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The White Houses request was also corroborated to TheWrap by a source with knowledge of the situation.

The move comes just days after the president announced he would soon be handing out awards for the most dishonest & corrupt publications of the year. More recently, the president has tried to block the publication of a damning new tell-all book by author and Michael Wolff, which has triggered criticism from free speech advocates.

Also Read: Trump Becomes First President to Unveil 'Dishonest Media Awards'

The White House did not immediately responded to TheWraps requests for comment on Friday. But the decision to request the movie seems ironic, considering the drama centers around the Posts publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, which led to a Supreme Court decision that was a major victory for the press in its battle against censorship by the government.

The Trump administrations request is equally confounding, considering Meryl Streep  who stars in The Post as the papers legendary publisher  made headlines for her eloquent takedown of the president at last years Golden Globes ceremony. Trump then fired back on Twitter, calling the actress overrated.

Its star Tom Hanks  who plays former Post editor, Ben Bradlee  said earlier this month that he would probably not accept an invitation to see the movie at the White House in the event he received one.

When it comes to White House screenings, TheWrap learned of another new movie Trumps camp requested, arguably more apropos of his administration: circus-themed musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman.

Story continues

Meriah Doty contributed to this report.

Watch: 'The Post' on whether they think Trump will see the movie:

Related stories from TheWrap:
Everyone is talking about Emma Watsons new baby bangs, but the focus should be on the book shes holding

Today Emma Watson took to Instagram with a selfie to display her fiercest look yet: her wokeness. The 27-year-old Harry Potter actress shared a photo of herself holding the book Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race by British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge.

Watson has spoken extensively about her views on gender equality and activism in the past, and she was appointed the United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014. And while Emma Watson was garnering headlines on the internet today, it was for hernew bangs. Do a quick Emma Watson Google search, and the first results will be her bangs.

Really? Okay.

Yes, theyre adorable! She looks great. But perhaps the fact that her adorable bangs are the ultimate takeaway from her post reinforces a larger issue at hand. In her photo, she captioned:

Have you had a chance to pick up a copy of @oursharedshelfJan/Feb book choice, Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race by @renieddolodge ?! #oursharedshelf

Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race, which originally came to life in a blog post by Eddo-Lodge, examines how race relations are discussed by individuals unaffected by racism  intertwining ideas of white privilege, black history, and intersectional feminism. See the Instagram here:

Its been a tumultuous time for race relations in the U.S., with the resurgence of white supremacists in Charlottesville, police brutality and the cultivation of the Black Lives Matter movement, and political atrocities in the form of unconstitutional travel bans. So when a public figure like Watson tries to springboard the conversation but is met with commentary on her cute new bangs  its a bit of a slap in the face. A stub of a toe on a bed frame. A paper cut soaked in lemonade.

Perhaps the next biggest beauty trend of 2018 should be social justice.
A male passenger who was accused of touching a female flight attendants buttocks was escorted off the flight and consequently banned from flying Alaska Airlines.

But he is claiming the incident is evidence of reverse discrimination against men.

After the incident on Dec. 26, San Diego resident Mike Timon said: For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. Im blowing up... Its unnecessary. Its discrimination toward me.

Related: Your Flight Attendant Probably Likes You Better Than the First Class Passengers

According to a male flight attendant, Timon had been cut off from being served alcohol on the flight. Timon, however, claims he was 100 percent sober.

As for the female flight attendant he allegedly groped, Timon claims he only politely patted her on the back in order to order a drink. Apparently, he was not served.

According to the Union-Tribune, no charges have been filed against Timon. In the meantime, Alaska Airlines said it will be updating its policies on training personnel on handling incidents of sexual harassment and assault on flights.

Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members, and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue, Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Johnson told the Union-Tribune.

Sexual harassment against flight attendants is rampant in the airline industry, according to Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, who called the situation an epidemic.

Related: Why Cant Flight Attendants Accept Tips?

Currently, many airlines lack clear-cut policies and training to prevent and handle situations of harassment and assault on flights, especially for flight attendants who dont want to put their jobs in jeopardy. According to one flight attendant who spoke to HuffPost, Theyre not going to stop the plane. And then everyones going to be mad at you; youre not a team player, youre difficult.

At the moment, Timon is contemplating filing a lawsuit against the airline. What about us guys? I cant tap a flight attendant on her back to politely ask for something, yet I get accused of something? Its out of control and I am pissed, he said.
An attorney for New York firm Maverick Apparel LLC has sent a cease-and-desist letter to vlogger Logan Paul for, among other things, trademark infringement.

Paul, who operates his own YouTube channel, has been the target of outrage the past several days after he posted a video of himself in Japans Aokigahara forest, a place thats seen a high rate of suicides. Pauls YouTube video, which has since been removed, includes footage of himself reacting to what appears to be a victim of suicide. Paul, who commands a subscriber base of 15.4 million through the video-sharing platform, has since publicly apologized for his actions.

Pauls behavior and use of Maverick is now the subject of a demand letter sent Thursday by Maverick Apparel LLC, which has no affiliation to Maverick by Logan Paul merchandise.

Maverick Apparel, founded in 2005, sells juniors and childrens apparel in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company alleges in its letter that its business has taken a hit from confusion in the market by some who believe the two businesses are related.

The letter was sent to Paul and his counsel along with Maverick Media of Beverly Hills. YouTube chief executive officer Susan Wojcicki was also included in the list of recipients.

Paul could not be reached, while his legal counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Robert Garson, an attorney for Maverick Apparel, told WWD his client began looking into trademark issues and complaints about Pauls business over roughly the past six months. Damages to the business have racked up to the tune of some $4 million.

Over these past months, Maverick Apparel has noticed a rapid and significant decline in its sales, reputation and goodwill of the Maverick Apparel brand as a direct result of your repulsive, abhorrent and mutton-headed conduct, the letter sent Thursday reads. In choosing to promulgate yourself and your maw-wallop across social media and champion yourself as an object of ridicule, hatred and contempt, you have simultaneously infected and injured the good name of Maverick Apparel.

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Part of the issue, Garson said, is even with Pauls lines name being Maverick by Logan Paul, Maverick Apparel is embedded into his sites domain and Twitter meta tags.

People think Maverick Apparel is [Logan Paul]; its basic confusion, Garson said.

The attorney added he has not yet heard from representatives for Paul or his businesses.

The letter asks Paul to immediately stop use of the Maverick trademark in addition to providing information on revenue generated from the Maverick by Logan Paul brand as well as advertising revenue from the recent video shot in Japan. The company is threatening legal action if such action is not taken within seven days.

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Photo credit: Getty

From Woman's Day

Meghan Markle may have relinquished her career as an actress for life as a full-time philanthropic royal, but James Bond film producers had her down as a fierce Bond Girl before her romance with Prince Harry became so public.

The team behind the 25th James Bond film reportedly shortlisted the 36-year-old star for the Spectre follow-up, after being impressed by her role as Rachel Zane in hit legal drama Suits.

Markle reportedly caught the eye of Bond execs who were interested in casting a 'glamorous' American or Canadian star, according to The Sun.

Photo credit: Getty

And it's claimed she made the list alongside 32-year-old Baywatch star Ilfenesh Hadera, who has since been cast as Daniel Craig's love interest in the 2019 film.

'Meghan fits the role of a Bond girl perfectly,' an insider told the newspaper.

'The role more recently has gone to actresses deemed to be rising stars, and Meghan certainly was seen as that before her relationship with Harry became public.

Photo credit: Getty

'The brief was to find a glamorous rising star, specifically someone American or Canadian.'

But producers thought the possibility was no longer feasible when Prince Harry and Markle announced their engagement, after which Markle confirmed during the couple's joint interview that she would no longer continue with her acting career.

'I just see it as a change It's a new chapter, right?' she said in the BBC interview. 'And also keep in mind I've been working on my show for seven years.

'So we were very, very fortunate to be able to have that sort of longevity on a series, and for me once we hit the 100 episode marker I thought, you know what, I have - I have ticked this box and I feel really proud of the work I have done there and now it's time to, as you said work - work as a team with - with you.'

Photo credit: Getty

Meanwhile, Markle previously spoke out about refusing to take part in 'gratuitous' scenes in Suits after becoming frustrated with too many semi-naked scenes involving her character Rachel.

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'This season - every script seemed to begin with, "Rachel enters the room wearing a towel", and I thought, "Nope, I'm not doing it anymore",' Markle explained at the One You World Summit.

'I called the creator and said "it's just gratuitous" - you've already seen it once so at a certain point you feel empowered enough to just say no.'

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A lot of news happened this week, and if youve spent the past few days following the drama around journalist Michael Wolffs new book on the Trump White House, you might have missed some of it. But never fear: Weve got you.

Wolffs book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House  which had some people lining up at midnight on Thursday for its release, and which has since shot to the top of Amazons best-seller list  promised a candid look into President Donald Trumps administration. The book has been making waves for days: Excerpts published earlier this week included explosive comments from former chief strategist Steve Bannon on Trump, his family and Russia. Trump, for his part, has dismissed the book as phony, and his lawyers tried unsuccessfully to stop its release.

Its all added up to a major media frenzy (which, uh, HuffPost has not abstained from). But if the imbroglio has taken up all your attention this week, heres a guide to a few of the other major events that happened.

1. Trump cut aid to Pakistan, and threatened aid to Palestinians

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Jan. 2, 2018. (Photo: Lucas Jackson / Reuters)

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced that the U.S. would be cutting $255 million in aid to Pakistan, a key ally in the fight against terrorism. Haley told reporters the U.S. expected more support from Pakistan in counterterrorism.

Later that day, Trump took to Twitter to threaten aid to Palestinians, blaming Palestinians reluctance to negotiate a peace treaty with Israel. This was almost exactly a month after Trump roiled the peace deals himself by officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and saying the U.S. would move its embassy there, provoking anger among Palestinians and disappointment from U.S. allies.

Its not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, Trump tweeted Tuesday. We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect.

It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

Read more about Trumps Palestine comments here.

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2. The Trump administration proposed opening up Americas coasts to offshore drilling

(Photo: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed a new offshore drilling plan that would open up nearly all U.S. waters to oil exploration.

Environmental groups were not thrilled about the proposal, which would allow oil and gas companies to drill on the Atlantic coast for the first time since the 1980s. Perhaps surprisingly, Republican legislators in some coastal states werent happy either.

I have already asked to immediately meet with Secretary Zinke to discuss the concerns I have with this plan and the crucial need to remove Florida from consideration, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), a close Trump ally, said in a statement Thursday. My top priority is to ensure that Floridas natural resources are protected.

Read more about the offshore drilling proposal here.

3. Jeff Sessions changed policy, threatening the weed legalization movement

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seen during a news conference, Dec. 15, 2017. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a change in policy on Thursday, allowing the nations top federal prosecutors to decide how to handle marijuana cases in states where the drug has been legalized. Because federal law still regards marijuana as illegal, the decision spread uncertainty in the nascent legal marijuana industries in states like Colorado and California.

Representatives from legal-marijuana states on both sides of the aisle denounced the decision.

We'll give Jeff Sessions our legal pot when he pries it from our warm, extremely interesting to look at hands. https://t.co/LF0RpdCiHG  Colorado Senate Dems (@COSenDem) January 4, 2018

This reported action directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states.  Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) January 4, 2018

Read more about Sessions announcement on marijuana here.

4. North and South Korea made a plan to talk  despite Trumps tweets

(Photo: KCNA KCNA / Reuters)

On Thursday, North Korea agreed to hold official talks with South Korea next week, for the first time in over two years.

After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un indicated he was open to dialogue in a New Years address, South Korea offered talks on Tuesday, after discussions with the U.S.

Later on Tuesday  in response to Kim mentioning the nuclear button on the desk in my office  Trump taunted Kim on Twitter, writing: I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

On Thursday, Trump took credit for the dialogue between North and South Korea.

Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North, the president tweeted. Fools, but talks are a good thing!

5. An earthquake shook Californias Bay Area residents awake

Early Thursday morning, an earthquake centered near Berkeley, California, shook many Bay Area residents awake. The 4.4-magnitude quake at 2:39 a.m. local time affected an estimated 9.8 million people around the San Francisco Bay, with some reporting feeling shakes for up to 10 seconds  though no significant damage was reported as a result of the quake.

Residents took to Twitter in the middle of the night to check if others felt it too:

Ok.... that just woke me up. A heavy rolling #earthquake few seconds long. Anyone else in #Marin feel that?  Tyler Florence (@TylerFlorence) January 4, 2018

Felt a big jolt and rolling. Picture frames, etc, fell down. We are standing outside because the fire alarm went off. SFPD & SFFD is here now. #earthquake pic.twitter.com/8dMu58spUt  Riya (@loislane28) January 4, 2018

I cant remember the last time an #earthquake woke me from a deep sleep, which means it had to be 4+ and on the Hayward fault.

No damage, no car alarms, no dogs barking, kids still asleep. Just a quick shake, rattle and roll  Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) January 4, 2018

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Beirut (AFP) - Regime and Russian air strikes on a rebel-held enclave near the Syrian capital killed at least 17 civilians on Saturday, a war monitor said.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in the country, is the target of near-daily air raids.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday's deadliest strikes had hit the Hammuriyeh district, killing 12 civilians including four children.

An AFP reporter in Hammuriyeh saw residential buildings with their facades blown open, collapsing into streets strewn with rubble.

Residents including members of the White Helmets rescue group rushed to rescue the wounded.

Running past a burning car, one man held a crying boy in his arms, while another carried the apparently lifeless body of a child through the streets.

"I was with other people when a projectile fell nearby," said 33-year-old Mustafa Abu Badr, who was slightly wounded in the head.

"The blast threw me five metres (yards). There were seven wounded and one dead," he said.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Syrian and Russian aircraft had "continued their intense bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, targeting several residential areas".

He said those killed also included two people in the district of Madira and three in Erbin, and that 35 people were wounded in the three areas.

The Britain-based monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

At the start of the week, a coalition of rebels and jihadists including a former Al-Qaeda affiliate surrounded the only regime base in Eastern Ghouta, which lies east of Damascus and has been under a crippling regime siege since 2013.

The blockade has caused serious food and medicine shortages for the enclave's estimated 400,000 inhabitants.

Rebels in Eastern Ghouta respond to air strikes by firing shells and rockets at Damascus. On Saturday, shellfire killed a civilian, Syrian state television reported.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
Yesterday, CES announced that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai would no longer be appearing at the trade show where he was scheduled to take part in a conversation with FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen. At the time, neither FCC nor the show organizers gave a reason for the sudden change in plans, but Recode now reports that the cancellation is due to Pai receiving death threats. Two FCC sources added that law enforcement is now involved.

Pai has come under fire for a number of the decisions he's made since taking over as chairman, but none have garnered as much negative attention as his rollback of net neutrality protections. Pai has stated that he and his family have been threatened both in public and online and he and the rest of the FCC were forced to briefly suspend their December 14th vote on the net neutrality rollbacks after a bomb threat was issued. The person claiming responsibility for that threat was also allegedly responsible for a swatting hoax last week that ended in the death of a Kansas man. A congressman also received a death threat regarding the net neutrality decision.

A spokesperson for Pai told Recode, "We do not comment on security measures or concerns." FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly will still speak at CES and Chairman Ohlhausen is now scheduled to appear alongside Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.
Watch World News Tonight on Yahoo View.

What does Trump think? Does Trump think? Does it matter? Theyre questions you might hope a book about his presidency so far will answer  but its one more occupied with the looming black hole that appears to be enveloping the Oval Office.

That black hole isnt simply Trump, but the very idea of Trumpism. For a book that aims to tell the story of the most important man and building in the world, Michael Wolffs explosive new work is about fighting, not thinking; its a book that has at its centre a giant void  the one inside Trumps head.

This isnt really a book about Trump at all, but the people who try to fill up that black hole. Its a book mostly about Bannon; it begins with his attachment to Trump and his remarkable prescience in spotting his potential, and it ends with him suggesting that he has cleared the way for his own presidential bid.

In between, even the moments where Bannon isnt present are seen through his eyes. But is Bannonism really a force in how Trump is now ruling, as opposed to how he won the contest to rule?

You can see the Breitbart mans hand in decisions like the Muslim ban  but that was a dramatic failure when it was first rolled out, especially when compared to some of the more quiet decisions and orders, many of which go unexplored in this book.

Thats because Trump is depicted only as a flapping orange windsock, pulled around by the winds of Bannon, as well as other handlers like his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka.

Trump doesnt seem to make decisions, but rather have them made for them  if he does anything, it is simply as a judge of how well his various advisers have made their points, or even who has managed to speak to him last. Decision making is depicted like an episode of The Apprentice when each candidate battles it out at the end.

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Trump isnt simply a void, though. Sometimes, snatches of light escape the black hole  but the book, terrifyingly, doesnt have an explanation for them.

Nobody seems to have suggested that Trump blame both sides for the death of an anti-fascist protester at the hands of white supremacists, for instance; but he did it anyway. The decision to launch missile strikes at Syria is told as a victory for PowerPoint presentations and touching pictures of dying children, but there must be some reason that Trump opted for intervention then and not in other cases. His approach to North Korea, for instance, takes up barely a page despite having given the book its title  perhaps because its a question of policy and thought, not about tittle-tattle.

This is, ultimately, neither an intellectual criticism of Trumpism or a political history of its rise. It is a gossip book, written for a President who generates more of it than any before, and who found fame through his gift for reality shows.

And theres plenty of reality, sometimes told in excruciating and prurient detail. Does it matter that the Trumps sleep in different beds, for instance, or that the President asked for another television in his bedroom?

Much has been made of the explosive parts of the book, which reveal the strange machinations behind the walls of the White House. But just as shocking and entertaining is the experience of re-reading the events of the last few months, which can be forgotten in the swirl of the news. Remember when Trump stood next to a load of potentially empty envelopes and rabbited on about being a germophobe? That was only a year ago. Its easy to feel like there has been decades of news in the meantime.

Wolff at one point suggests that its partly true that Trump is covered differently than any other president before him, and that he has some right to feel aggrieved by that. But its our interest in Trumps sex life and eating habits that led the US to elect its most corporeal president ever; it surely wont be his body or his bed that brings him down, but his brain  or lack thereof.

In the meantime, the administration appears to have switched its strategy from intentionally riling people up about its policies to slipping them into law quietly without a fuss. This has been helped by the cover Trump can provide, with the President generating entire news cycles with single tweets. Even Wolffs book itself served as cover for some of its most radical decisions yet. In the week it was released, Trump unveiled a plan to vastly expand offshore drilling, cut aid to Pakistan, and begun the process of reversing legal marijuana. The book makes a great and compelling case that the President is a clown  but its worth remembering that clowns and their circuses can still wield a mesmerising power over their audiences.

Theres nothing in this book that really outlines Trumps strengths or weaknesses in any strategic way. Practically speaking that makes it a mostly useless book for both those opposing and supporting his presidency. You finish the book no more clear about how to make him do what you want, or what he might want to do.

Trump appears to be holding on to his position with far more tenacity than hes ever been credited with, but why? Bannon suggests at the end theres only a 33 per cent chance the President will see out the remaining three years of his term  but is there anything that his opponents could do to make that happen? This book, supposedly a deep and intimate portrait of the mans flaws, offers less than nothing.

Wolff is very interested in Trump and his campaign as losers. In his telling, the presidential run was never intended to be successful, at least not in normal terms; it was a publicity campaign, not an election one. But the fact is that Trump is a winner, at least on some measure, and theres very little effort to try and understand why that happened, and why its still happening.

Here is the most terrifying thing about the void that Trumpism represents, at least in this book: does it appear that theres no plan simply because Wolff didnt want to write about it, or couldnt? Or is there simply no plan at all?

The book offers consolation in the fact that we can understand the Trump presidency via his advisors, whether its Bannon or Javanka, and that decisions are made by successfully pushing him one way or another. Which is only important so long as he has those advisors. When Trump is on his own, late at night, eating McDonalds and watching TV, is it all quite as stupid and chaotic as it sounds?
Dispensary owners and cannabis growers may suddenly be sleeping more restlessly.

Though setting up a pot shop has always been an uncertain business, memos issued by the Department of Justice under President Obama gave people in the industry some assurance that if they were abiding by state laws, they were at small risk of federal prosecution. But on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded those memos, allowing federal prosecutors to enforce federal marijuana laws more aggressively and sending ripples of unease throughout the burgeoning industry.

A lot of folks in the business and broader society didnt realize how tenuous the Obama Administrations safe space was, says the California Growers Associations Hezekiah Allen, who represents hundreds of cannabis farmers in a state where recreational pot went on sale for the first time just four days ago. As more states have legalized marijuana and more people have publicly set up marijuana businesses, Allen says, there is much more exposure to risk than there ever has been.

Nearly 30 states have legalized medical marijuana. Eight states  which represent about a quarter of Americas population  have legalized recreational marijuana, allowing adults to consume it much like they consume alcohol. But cannabis remains a dangerous drug in the eyes of the federal government. Sessions himself has said the substance is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized. And in announcing the changes, the Justice Department emphasized in a press release that there would be a return to the rule of law. Yet the disconnect between federal and state laws on the issue remains unchanged.

Sam Kamin, a marijuana law expert at the University of Denver, says that the changes may essentially give U.S. attorneys around the country unfettered discretion to bring cases, but that its not clear how those U.S. attorneys would exercise that discretion. Michael Vitiello, a criminal law expert at the University of the Pacific, emphasizes that Justice Department resources remain limited and believes that issues like immigration and opioid misuse will remain higher priorities.

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Right now, its chaotic, Vitiello says of marijuana markets, and this just adds a lot more uncertainty.

California is still getting its recreational market up and running, and Allen says that some cannabis growers are suddenly reconsidering their applications for state licenses  thinking that staying in the gray or black markets might be the safer course after all. Even if vigorous enforcement and raids never materialize, the Justice Department changes are likely going to slow investment in the so-called green rush and dissuade some people from setting up new marijuana businesses.

Investments are less secure, says Vitiello. They were insecure anyway, but potential forfeiture of assets and criminal prosecutions all make legitimate business more difficult. When cannabis producers exit the black market and do all the paperwork required to participate in legal state markets, he adds, what theyre saying is Here I am.' And while federal drug enforcement agents might be in limited supply, it takes few resources to send chilling cease-and-desist letters, he says.

Recreational marijuana may be more at risk than medical marijuana. For the last several years, a federal budget provision has prevented the Justice Department from using funds to disrupt medical marijuana markets that have been legalized by states. As Congress inches toward passing a budget for 2018, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing for that provision to be renewed. And some advocates for marijuana reform believe that rescinding the memos may actually make it easier for their side to win support. It is a galvanizing moment, says Grant Smith of the Drug Policy Alliance.

On a conference call Thursday afternoon, several members of the congressional Cannabis Caucus criticized the move by Sessions and argued that the changes only underscore the need for reform at the federal level that will clearly leave this issue up to states and local governments. The lawmakers said that people rely on medical marijuana to treat debilitating conditions, and that tens of thousands of individuals now rely on legal sales of cannabis to make a living. Were not going to allow the clock to be turned back, said California Rep. Barbara Lee, noting that minorities have been disproportionately affected by the enforcement of drug laws.

Also on the call was Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, who has introduced a provision that would also prohibit Justice Department funds from being used to disrupt recreational markets. So far, the measure has found little traction in a Republican-controlled Congress.

Working against broad reform are advocacy groups that oppose legalization, like Smart Approaches to Marijuana. On Thursday, their leader Kevin Sabet applauded Justice Departments decision, telling the New York Times that It puts the industry on notice in these states who thought they had cover from the states and the feds.

The law firm of Vicente Sederberg, which counsels clients who run marijuana businesses in Colorado, was fielding calls on Thursday from people wondering about what might come next. Mason Tvert, who has long advocated for the reform of marijuana laws and handles media relations for the firm, says they have been emphasizing that it remains to be seen if there will actually be any changes in enforcement. The changes are causing confusion, he says, but we dont expect to see any full-blown rollback of the system.

Lawmakers from states that have legalized the substance have suggested that a crackdown could prove unpopular, going against the decisions of voters in places from Oregon to Nevada. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in [Colorado] and other states, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner said in a tweet condemning Sessions move. Support for legalization has been growing in recent years, reaching a record high of 64% in October, according to Gallup. Last year was the first time that a majority of Republicans  51%  expressed approval.

The potential for profits may also prove to be a buffer, especially under an administration that is resoundingly pro-business. While Sessions has criticized legalization, as has Trumps chief of staff John Kelly, the President has said previously that the issue should be left to the states. Remember that the money is not red money or blue money, Vitiello says of investments in the space. It is green money. States have also been seeing windfalls from tax revenue. According to one research firm, Colorado has raked in more than $500 million since starting legal sales in 2014.

If nothing else, Sessions has issued a strong reminder that marijuana remains controversial, even if the first sales of recreational marijuana in California were met with a rather blase attitude on New Years Day. Laws such as the Controlled Substances Act, the Attorney General said in his memo, reflect Congress determination that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that marijuana activity is a serious crime.
(BATON ROUGE, La.)  A house fire killed two children and one woman and critically injured two other people early Friday in Louisianas capital, one of several deadly blazes that have erupted amid a blast of frigid weather.

A neighbor said he heard children screaming for help from the burning home in Baton Rouge and watched in horror as a young woman ran from the house with her clothes on fire. Firefighters found three bodies inside the house after the flames were extinguished.

A 19-year-old woman and a 5-year-old boy were taken to a hospital and were in very critical condition after the pre-dawn fire, Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman Curt Monte told The Associated Press.

Officials didnt immediately determine the cause of the fire but were investigating whether heating equipment may have ignited it.

It certainly could be weather-related. They have no reason to suspect foul play at this point in time, Monte said.

Reginald Howard, 54, who lives across the street from the charred home, said his dogs barking awoke him before dawn. When he looked outside, he saw the young woman running out the front door in her burning clothes and collapsing onto a neighbors porch. Neighbors put out the fire on her, he said.

Howard approached the home and heard children screaming inside, he recalled. Howard, another neighbor and a police officer pried open a metal door at the rear of the home, but the smoke and flames were too intense for them to enter.

To hear those kids hollering, and you cant get to them  that really hurts, he said.

Officials initially told news outlets that four people had died inside the home, but later reduced the number to three.

Elaine Williams, a grandmother of three children who lived in the home, bent over and sobbed as she watched investigators from behind police tape. She believed two of her grandchildren died inside the house and the third was flown to a hospital.

They were good kids, she said. They brought home good grades. They came from two good parents.

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Louisiana is in the midst of a recent surge in fire-related deaths  some of which are likely due to the recent spate of cold weather. The state fire marshals office said in a statement Thursday that investigators believe four recent deaths may have been caused by the use of space heaters.

In East Baton Rouge Parish alone, nine people have now died in four separate fires since Tuesday, according to Monte.

Its the most any of us have ever seen this close together, Monte said.
New York (AFP) - The eastern United States and Canada shivered under record-breaking low temperatures Saturday as Arctic blasts followed a deadly winter storm that left airports struggling to cope with the backlog of flights.

In Canada, temperatures approaching minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit) were forecast in northern Ontario and Quebec.

Arctic air and dangerously cold wind chills could bring temperatures that feel as low as minus 45 Fahrenheit across much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States, with the risk of frostbite to exposed skin within 10 minutes, authorities warned.

The big chill follows a winter storm, dubbed a "bomb cyclone" by forecasters, which has been blamed for at least 19 deaths in the United States, from Texas to Wisconsin, US media reported.

The storm raked the East Coast with heavy snowfall, glacial temperatures and high winds, forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights and causing thousands more delays.

On Saturday, more than 2,250 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed, with New York's John F. Kennedy airport and the international airport in South Carolina's Charleston most affected.

Although most flights have resumed after the storm's passage, passengers on Air China 989 from Beijing were forced to wait seven hours to deplane at JFK, flight tracking site Flightradar24 tweeted.

Passengers complained of being stranded on the tarmac for hours and then facing lengthy delays in baggage claim that made traveling, particularly with babies or the elderly, a misery.

"Been stuck on tarmac for over 3 hours at JFK Alitalia flight 8604. Multiple passengers seeking medical attention. Staff not communicating," tweeted passenger Chris Mendez overnight. "Babies literally crying from hunger and people calling police from the plane."

At least two flights bound for New York -- OS87 from Vienna and LH400 from Frankfurt -- had to turn back over Britain and Ireland due to "capacity limit at JFK," Flightradar24 said.

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- Frostbite in minutes -

The Port Authority, which runs New York-area airports, acknowledged the problem, saying it was working to limit JFK flight arrivals until there were "gates available to handle the backlog."

Adding to the chaos, a China Southern Airlines and Kuwait Airways jet clipped each other's wings at JFK's Terminal 4 late Friday, causing damage to both aircraft but no injuries, officials said.

The US National Weather Service warned that below normal temperatures are likely to continue into early next week, forecasting freezing rain from Kansas to Tennessee, and said that ice could complicate road transport.

In the Midwest and Northeast, the highest temperatures were likely to be 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average, potentially breaking a number of daily records, forecasters warned.

"It will be a brutally cold weekend but some relief is in sight heading into early next week," the weather service said.

Mount Washington, New Hampshire recorded the second-coldest temperature on earth early Saturday, minus 36 Fahrenheit.

The temperature in New York, the US financial capital and home to 8.5 million, hovered Saturday around 14 Fahrenheit, with the Hudson River along the west side of Manhattan partially frozen.

In eastern Canada, which has suffered through extreme cold for two weeks, there were further flight delays and cancellations at the Montreal and Toronto airports, and some communities along the Quebec coast faced flooding.

"Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill -- and keep emergency supplies in your vehicle," the Canadian weather service warned.

burs/jm/bbk
Tripoli (AFP) - Armed groups clashed Friday in western Libya, forcing the closure of a key border crossing with Tunisia, an official and a military commander said.

The clashes took place near the Ras Jedir border post, the main crossing between western Libya and southeastern Tunisia.

The crossing has been controlled by militias from the western port city of Zuwara since the fall of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 in a NATO-backed revolt.

On Friday, a force set up by the country's United Nations-backed unity government to stabilise Libya's west attacked in a bid to seize the crossing, said an official from Zuwara who asked to remain anonymous.

The unity government force's commander Osama Jouili, who served as Libya's defence minister after Kadhafi's fall, confirmed the offensive had taken place Friday.

Speaking to Libya's 218TV, he argued his forces had a mandate from the unity government to secure the region, but did not specify whether the operation was coordinated with authorities in Tripoli or not.

The border post was closed temporarily to "ensure the safety of travellers", he said.

Libya has been wracked by violence since Kadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

The unity government has struggled to impose its rule in a country where hundreds of militias hold sway.

Successive transitional authorities have failed to create regular police and army forces capable of restoring order in Libya.

The western border region is highly dependent on cross-border trade, both legal and illegal.

The Zuwara forces who controlled the border post also nominally support the unity government.

They have been accused of involvement in smuggling a vast network smuggling contraband and fuel to Tunisia and Malta.
By Scott Malone and Gina Cherelus BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Street crews dug out snow-clogged roads across the U.S. Northeast on Friday after a powerful blizzard, as temperatures plunged during a brutal cold spell that has already killed at least 18 people. Extreme cold will reach from New England to the Midwest and down to the Carolinas, forecasters warned. Temperatures were expected to be 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average across the northeastern United States for the next several days. From Baltimore to Caribou, Maine, workers battled to clear snow and ice as wind chills were forecast to fall as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in some areas after sundown, according to the National Weather Service. In the latest fatality blamed on the harsh conditions, a driver slid off an icy road, killing a pedestrian, early on Friday in North Charleston, South Carolina, city officials said. The 17-year-old driver was arrested on charges including going too fast for the conditions, they said. "THE DANGERS ARE REAL," the officials warned in a Twitter message. "Huge patches of ice all over the city. Stay at home." In much of New England on Friday, the highs reached only into the single digits or teens Fahrenheit, but wind chills made it feel below zero in many places. "It can be very dangerous," said Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist with private forecasting service AccuWeather. "Any kind of exposed skin can freeze in a couple of minutes." There were noticeably fewer tourists on Friday afternoon in New York City's Times Square, which is usually thronged with visitors. Arjun Shah, a 22-year-old Briton, studies in Indiana but had never visited the U.S. East Coast. He flew in to New York City, where temperatures have been below freezing since Christmas Day, just 24 hours before the blizzard struck. "Oh it's so bad! It's not this bad in London," Shah said, shivering while taking a break from snapping photos of Times Square. FROZEN MONUMENTS In Washington, bundled-up tourists ventured onto the frozen Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial before being shooed away by a National Park Service ranger. The memorial, also normally busy with visitors, was mostly vacant with temperatures in the teens and bone-chilling winds that sent American flags whipping straight out from their poles. "I don't think I've felt this cold, ever," said Zoie Irwin, a 19-year-old student from San Francisco State University as she huddled with friends. At the nearby National World War II Memorial, Varun Solipuram, a 31-year-old native of Hyderabad, India, who studies in California, said he was taken aback by snow in the bright winter sun. "It's really beautiful," Solipuram said. The storm that swept in on Thursday with gusts of more than 70 miles per hour (113 km per hour), dumped 22 inches (56 cms) of snow in parts of Maine and 17 inches (43 cm) in parts of Massachusetts, before ending on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The storm was powered by a rapid drop in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis, or a "bomb cyclone." Cities from Houston to Boston have stepped up efforts to bring the homeless to shelters. Authorities said that three homeless people in Texas died from exposure to the cold. Canada's largest city, Toronto, scrambled to find emergency shelter for the homeless as temperatures dropped to record lows after the sweeping storm knocked out power to tens of thousands in eastern provinces and destroyed coastal roads. Numbing temperatures have also had some unusual effects: cold-shocked iguanas fell out of trees in Florida and wildlife officials in the state said they had rescued more than 200 stunned sea turtles from freezing waters. Schools in New York were open, while children in Boston and Baltimore enjoyed a second day of canceled classes. Schools in Newark, New Jersey, opened two hours later than usual. Commuters riding railways serving New York and Boston's suburbs endured extensive delays as crews worked to repair frozen equipment and clear snow-covered tracks. New York's John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports resumed flights on Friday after closing during whiteout conditions the day before. More than 1,500 flights at U.S. East Coast airports had been canceled by Friday evening, most at the New York area's three major airports and Boston Logan International Airport. Nearly 500 members of the National Guard were activated to assist with the emergency response along the East Coast, including 200 in New York state, authorities said. (Additonal reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Jonathan Allen and Scott DiSavino in New York, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ian Simpson in Washington and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Toni Reinhold)
By Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian police have requested that President Michel Temer answers 50 questions as part of an investigation into alleged corruption involving a decree regulating the country's ports, a government spokesman said on Friday. Police are investigating whether Temer took bribes in exchange for shaping the decree in a way that would benefit logistics firm Rodrimar SA, which operates some services in the Port of Santos, Latin America's busiest container port. The decree, published in May, lengthened the deadline for contracts governing port concessions, benefiting current operators. The investigation adds to several graft allegations that have hammered Temer's presidency, though he has so far managed to avoid a trial with the backing of Congress. Temer has denied any role in the corruption scandals. Temer's attorney Antonio Mariz told Reuters on Friday he would answer the questions even though he is not legally obliged to do so. The spokesman declined to expand on the content of the list of questions. According to local magazine Epoca, police have asked whether Temer was offered campaign donations by representatives from the Port of Santos in exchange for fulfilling their demands, among other questions. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito; Writing by Bruno Federowski; editing by Diane Craft)
Donald Trumps public attack on his former confidante Steve Bannon, has reportedly led his current employer to consider his position.

Board members on the right wing Breitbart News Network, where Mr Bannon is executive chairman, met earlier this week to discuss whether to sack him, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In a rare statement, Rebekah Mercer, a billionaire and key funder of the news outlet, directly criticised the former White House strategist.

I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected, she said. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.

Mr Bannon is reportedly considering a defamation lawsuit against Mr Trump, who said he had lost his mind after he was sacked from his White House role.

The US president also insisted that Mr Bannon had very little to do with his election victory.

It followed claims in an explosive new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, that Mr Bannon said that a meeting between Mr Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin, during the presidential campaign was treasonous.

Mr Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was charged last October with conspiring to defraud the US in his dealings with Ukraine, also attended the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, after she promised them dirt on Hillary Clinton.

The books author Michael Wolff, wrote that Mr Bannon told him: The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor  with no lawyers. They didnt have any lawyers.

Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad sh*t, and I happen to think its all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.

Story continues

Mr Trump then took to Twitter to lash out at the author and his one time adviser.

He wrote: Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!

I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018

He had earlier denounced his former adviser in a statement through the White House, saying that Mr Bannon had nothing to do with me or my presidency.

He added: When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also claimed the book was filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence with the White House.

The book also alleges that Mr Trump boasted about having sex with his friends wives, that he ate McDonalds food to avoid being poisoned and that most of his aides believed he was unfit to be president.

Mr Bannons reaction to the controversy has been muted. In interviews with Breitbart News he called the President a great man and pledged his continued support for the Trump agenda.

Mr Trumps lawyer, Charles J Harder, said he is pursuing possible libel charges against Mr Wolff. In a letter to the books publisher, he asked it to immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book.

Breitbart News has been contacted for comment.
By Scott Malone and Gina Cherelus BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A shroud of bone-chilling arctic air covered the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Saturday, creating dangerous conditions as tens of millions of people struggled to clean up from a blizzard that dumped deep, drifting snow in many areas earlier this week. Wind chill and freeze warnings stretched from New England to Ohio and Pennsylvania, while the National Weather Service warned of freezing rain in Missouri and areas to the northeast. In some of those places, exposed skin could freeze within 30 minutes, said meteorologist Dan Petersen of the National Weather Service's Maryland-based Weather Prediction Center. At the Whoopie Pie Cafe in Bangor, Maine, business was slow because of the cold, cashier and waiter Liz Gallagher, 58, said by phone. "Nobody goes out when it's really cold, at least I wouldn't," said the life-long Bangor resident. The cold snap complicated efforts by crews to clear snow and ice from roadways after the blizzard, which clobbered the Northeast after sprinkling snow in areas as far south as Savannah, Georgia and Tallahassee, Florida. In New England and the Middle Atlantic states, the storm forced hundreds of schools to close and commuter rail services to suspend or reduce service. Cold and snowy weather was blamed for at least 18 deaths in the past few days, including four in North Carolina traffic accidents and three in Texas. "The magnitude of the cold and the area of coverage of the cold is really what's impressive to me," said meteorologist Ed Vallee, owner of Vallee Weather Consulting. Killington, the famous Vermont ski resort, closed on Saturday even though snow conditions were excellent, saying wind chill on the slopes was at least minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 46 degrees Celsius). "It's just too cold to put folks out there," the resort said on its website. In neighboring New Hampshire, the ambient air temperature on Mount Washington plunged to -36 F (minus 38C), two degrees short of a record low for Jan. 6. But sustained winds of 99 miles per hour (159 km/h) and gusts of up to 112 mph (180 km/h) atop the 6,200-foot (1,990-metre) peak made it feel more like minus 92 F (minus 69 Celsius), the NWS said. The brutal cold in parts of the East Coast and Midwest shows no sign of abating this weekend, but a thaw should begin on Monday, said meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center. Before then, conditions will probably worsen. Overnight, more than 30 cities from New England to the mid-Atlantic states could experience record cold, Petersen said. New York and Boston are among the big cities where records could fall. Among the coldest places in the country on Saturday afternoon were the small Minnesota towns of Cotton and Embarrass, where the mercury plummeted to minus 39F (minus 39C), the NWS said. "The air hurt my face," Charlie Jessen, 25, an employee at the Superamerica gas station in Cotton, 36 miles (58 km) northwest of Duluth, said by phone. Even so, temperatures for those hamlets in the northeastern corner of Minnesota fell short of a record low for the area, where sub-zero readings are not unusual in January. In the more populous Northeast, New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport set an all-time low for Jan. 6 at 8 F (minus 13C), Oravec said. The airport had closed from Thursday to Friday morning when snow created white-out conditions. Some passengers endured more delays on Saturday after the wing of a China Southern plane clipped the tail of a Kuwait Airlines jet on the tarmac. The East Coast's first snowstorm of 2018 was energized by a rapid drop in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters called a bombogenesis, or a "bomb cyclone." The phenomenon gave rise to gusts of more than 70 mph (113 km/h) and produced snowfall totals of 22 inches (56 cm) in parts of Maine and 17 inches (43 cm) in parts of Massachusetts, the NWS said. (Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Harriet McLeod in Charleston, South Carolina; Editing by Frank McGurty and Meredith Mazzilli)
By Alison Bevege SYDNEY (Reuters) - Bushfires in Australia destroyed buildings and threatened lives on Saturday as a heatwave in three states brought temperatures strong enough to melt the bitumen on a highway. A fire raging out of control set several structures ablaze on the outskirts of Melbourne, the country's second largest city, and the capital of the southeastern state of Victoria. The state's emergency management commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said hot temperatures had combined with dry weather, strong winds and a wind change to create dangerous conditions. "It's exactly what the forecast indicated and when we have fires running that's obviously a problem for us," he told a news conference. About 400 homes lost power and 50 fires were reported across Victoria on Saturday, although many were small and were extinguished. Emergency warnings were issued both in Victoria and in the nearby state of South Australia, where authorities advised residents of a rural area to seek shelter in buildings from an out-of-control fire. Experts consider such a move to be safer than running the risk of getting trapped in the open if the fire suddenly changes direction. Total fire bans took effect from midnight as Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania braced for dangerous fire conditions caused by temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104F). The heat was strong enough to melt the bitumen on a 10-km (6-mile) stretch of freeway in Victoria, national broadcaster ABC News reported. Australia is prone to deadly blazes, thanks to its combination of remote terrain, high summer temperatures and flammable eucalyptus bush. In 2009, the worst bushfires on record destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria, killing 173 people and injuring 414 on a day the media dubbed "Black Saturday". (Reporting by Alison Bevege; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A Nigerian schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram has been found almost four years since the extremist militant groups mass kidnapping from a boarding school in Borno states Chibok.

Salomi Pogu was found in near Pulka village in Borno with another young woman and her child, according to a statement from Nigerian military official, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu. the Associated Press reports.

Her name was on a government list of girls who were kidnapped in the town of Chibok, the Associated Press reports.

In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from the Chibok Government Secondary School. The kidnapping sparked international outcry, launching the #BringBackOurGirls campaign and drawing attention to the thousands held captive by the militant group, which is based in northeastern Nigeria.

While 82 girls were freed last year and others have managed to escape on their own, more than 100 girls remain captive.

Many of the girls were raped, forced to marry militant fighters, and had children, according to testimonies from those who have escaped.

Read More: Boko Harams Other Victims

Madu Usman, a Chibok community leader, expressed happiness over the rescue of Pogu, but said efforts must continue to liberate all those still in captivity.

Boko Haram, which means Western education is forbidden, launched an insurgency in 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The group has been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions of people as it wages a campaign using suicide bombings, gun attacks and abductions.
By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - In the common room of Boston's Pine Street Inn homeless shelter, dozens of blue vinyl pads and folded-up cots stood ready on Friday for another night's rush of people fleeing the deadly cold that has gripped the region for almost two weeks. The four-story building, whose 160-foot (49-meter) Tuscan-style tower is an icon of the Boston skyline, is filled with enough beds to sleep close to 500 people. But they are not enough: Pine Street has packed in up to 100 extra people each night since Christmas, as harsh subfreezing temperatures gripped New England and much of the rest of the eastern United States. The cold snap has been blamed for the death of at least three homeless men, in Texas and North Carolina, according to officials and local news media. It has provided a vivid illustration of a nationwide problem, as homelessness in United States rose in 2017 for the first time in seven years. Pine Street staff members normally ask healthy guests to clear out during the daytime. But temperatures in Boston have remained below freezing for 11 days straight, and are forecast to dip below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17.8 degrees Celsius) over the weekend, prompting the shelter to allow people to stay inside throughout the bitter cold and a powerful blizzard that struck on Thursday. "We don't want anyone to die in the street," said shelter spokeswoman Barbara Trevisan. "It's really a matter of life and death." U.S. HOMELESSNESS ON RISE Homelessness is on the rise in the United States, according to federal survey data released last month, which said 553,742 people lacked homes on a given night in 2017. That figure was up 1 percent from 2016, an increase that reflects rising housing prices in cities from New York to San Francisco. Amid the brutal cold, officials in Boston, New York and other major cities are stepping up their efforts to find homeless people on the streets and encourage them into shelters. Homelessness has surged to a record high in New York, with more than 130,000 people finding themselves homeless at some point in 2017, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy and service group. In the face of that rise, the city is stepping up its response, planning to add another 450 beds for homeless people from its current 1,100, in a mix of private and public shelters, said Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the city's Department of Homeless Services. During the current cold snap it has doubled the number of people trying to persuade homeless people on the street to come in to shelters. "We're currently at record homelessness levels, so capacity is tight and that is definitely a concern," said Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition. In Boston, dozens lined up in the Pine Street Inn on Friday for a lunch of soup and sandwiches, some of the 2,500 meals the facility is serving each day during this period of high demand, 500 more than usual. The cost of food for extra meals, doubling staff levels during the day and sending out more crews to find people sleeping on the streets, has caused the facility to overrun its budget by about 25 percent during the past two weeks, said shelter manager Josh O'Brien. "It's a big strain," said O'Brien, who said he has not experienced a period of intense cold this long in the 25 years he has run homeless shelters. Tom Smith, 55, who is has been staying at Pine Street since being released from prison in August, credits the shelter with keeping him alive during the cold snap. During a prior period of homelessness, he had lived in a tent that likely would not have survived this week's blizzard. "With the weight of the snow, the tent would have collapsed, I couldn't have started a fire," Smith said. "Having a facility like this is the best thing you can have. It's a lifesaver." (Reporting by Scott Malone; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Amr Alfiky in New York)
A Syrian rebel shelling destroyed at least seven planes in the Russian Hmeymim air base in western Syria, the Russian daily Kommersant reported.

The loss was not acknowledged by the Russian defense ministry, which only admits to have lost two soldiers in shelling by rebels on New Years Eve.

If confirmed, the attack would mark the single biggest loss of military hardware for Russia since it launched airstrikes in Syria in autumn 2015

At least four Su-24 bombers, two Su-35S fighters and an An-72 transport plane, as well as an ammunition depot, were destroyed by the shelling, Kommersant said on its website, citing two military-diplomatic sources.

Last month, Russia began establishing a permanent presence at Hmeymim and a naval base at Tartous although President Vladimir Putin has ordered a significant withdrawal of his military from Syria, declaring their work largely done.
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Months of bipartisan negotiations in the U.S. Senate over the fate of young, undocumented immigrants known as 'Dreamers' turned angry on Friday, with the lead Democratic negotiator blasting the White House for making "hardline anti-immigrant" demands. President Donald Trump in September ordered that an Obama-era program that prevented young immigrants from being deported should end in six months. The program is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Saving the Dreamers from deportation is a high priority for Democrats, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers have struggled to reach a bipartisan deal. Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the White House on Friday had submitted a list of demands it wanted in order to agree a deal that were simply a repeat of a document it sent to Congress in early October. Democratic leaders rejected those demands at the time. Further inflaming the negotiations, Durbin said, was an added White House demand for $18 billion to fund the construction of a wall along the southwestern border with Mexico, despite staunch Democratic opposition. On Saturday, congressional Republican leaders are due to huddle with Trump at Camp David, the presidential mountain retreat, to discuss 2018 legislative priorities. Republican and Democratic leaders are also scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to talk about immigration legislation. Durbin said the latest White House move, coming as Congress also struggles to pass a bill by Jan. 19 to fund the government through September, could push federal agencies closer to a shutdown. Earlier, some congressional Republicans downplayed the likelihood of a deal with Democrats on legislation to protect the Dreamers - some 700,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Republican Senator John Cornyn accused Democrats in a tweet of trying to force a deal on Dreamers by doing a "slow walk" on efforts to approve critical disaster aid and defense spending. Two other Republicans late on Thursday said the sides remained far apart. "Our discussions on border security and enforcement with Democrats are much further apart, and that is key to getting a bipartisan deal on DACA," senators Thom Tillis and James Lankford said in a statement. On Oct. 8, the White House released a list of immigration "principles" Trump wanted in return for giving Dreamers legislative protection from deportation. Besides the border wall, it included the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 300 federal prosecutors. Immigration advocacy groups fear the hiring expansion would be part of an attempt to round up the adult relatives of Dreamers to ship them to their native countries. Resubmitting the demands that were dismissed by Democrats three months ago, Durbin said, was "outrageous." But he added that bipartisan negotiations continue among senators. Democrats have said they are open to tying DACA to additional funding for border security technology. But they oppose Trump's wall, which government estimates have said could cost over $21 billion. Republican lawmakers met with Trump at the White House on Thursday and initially emerged saying they were optimistic that they could find a legislative fix for DACA. The struggle over the Dreamers carries political weight for both parties heading into the November 2018 midterm congressional elections. Most of the Dreamers came from Mexico and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats. Cornyn, in an interview on Fox News on Friday, said Trump would demand that an immigration deal address the visa lottery system and chain migration that unites family members. "Those are things that he's insisted upon," and Democrats would have to embrace them along with border security, said Cornyn. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Makini Brice and Susan Heavey; Editing by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O'Brien)
Donald Trump sits with Jeff Sessions - REUTERS

Donald Trump attempted to stop his attorney general from recusing himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, it has been reported.

Mr Trump told a White House lawyer to stop Jeff Sessions, the attorney general and a key political ally, from ceding control over the inquiry into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, according to official sources.

The claim that Mr Trump attempted to keep a close associate involved in the investigation is controversial because the US president has already faced claims of obstruction of justice - one of the grounds for impeachment - over his sacking of FBI director James Comey.

Mr Sessions recused himself from involvement in the Russia probe in early March, stating that he should not oversee any investigation into a campaign for which he was an active and vocal supporter.

The announcement also followed the revelation that Mr Sessions himself had failed to disclosed two interactions during the 2016 campaign with the Russian ambassador.

Mr Sessions' recusal has been a sore spot with Mr Trump for months, with the president publicly deriding the move and lamenting his decision to make him the attorney general.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifying on his Russian contacts during the campaign Credit: AP

In an interview in July, Mr Trump said: "Well, Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else."

The president was furious when he learned his attempt to keep Mr Sessions overseeing the investigation had failed, telling staff he needed his attorney general to protect him, the New York Times reported.

Mr Trump said he had expected Mr Sessions to safeguard him in the way he believed president John F Kennedy's brother Robert F. Kennedy had done for him as attorney general.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading up the Russia investigation, is thought to be aware of the conversation between Mr Sessions and Mr Trump's lawyer and is looking into whether Mr Trump's actions amount to an attempt to obstruct the inquiry.

Story continues

Robert Mueller Credit: AP

Investigators are believed to have recently carried out a round of interviews with current and former White House officials, including Donald McGahn, the White House's top lawyer, and former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Four people, including Mr Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and national security adviser Michael Flynn, have been charged so far in the investigation.

Mr Trump has claimed the investigation is politically motivated, calling it a "witch hunt".

Donald Trump and the Russian connections

The presidents lawyers have said Mr Trump has fully cooperated with Mr Mueller and his team and have predicted that the inquiry will soon be coming to a close.

It is also claimed that Mr Trump attempted to get Mr Comey, the then FBI director, to publicly state that the president himself was not under investigation.

Mr Trump later later fired him and it is alleged that White House aides searched for damaging stories to undermine Mr Comey before he was sacked.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment on the reports.

The Donald Trump campaigns Russia connections
President Donald Trump hit back at critics who have questioned his mental stability by branding himself a very stable genius on Saturday morning.

In a series of tweets, Trump said that throughout his life his two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. He also bragged about going from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star... to President of the United States (on my first try).

Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

Trumps comment about his mental stability appeared to reference reporters questioning the presidents mental fitness during a White House press briefing this week.

Democratic lawmakers have also previously called for Trump to undergo a psychological evaluation, and Michael Wolff alleges in his new book, Fire and Fury, that White House aides openly question the presidents mental health.

Story continues

Trump is set to undergo a medical examination with White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson next Friday, although it will likely focus more on his physical health.

Walter Shaub, who quit as head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in July, said the tweets themselves might be enough to lead the board of any corporation to call an emergency meeting on its CEOs mental status.

Well, youll show em. Nothing says stable like a midnight tweet about Sloppy Steve followed by a 7:00 a.m. tweet calling hoax on an investigation that has already led to charges against 4 people. Except maybe maniacal laughter. Try some of that too. https://t.co/X7c8LOhR30  Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 6, 2018

Forget the book. This might be enough to lead the board of any corporation to call an emergency meeting on its CEOs mental status: my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart . . . not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 6, 2018

Other Twitter users seemed like they couldnt quite believe the posts:

No but seriously WHY would you put the "like" before "really smart" unless you were writing a comedy bit? It's just so... Zoolander  very stable genius (@flashboy) January 6, 2018

"A very stable genius, at that!" is the definition of a self-refuting tweet.  James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) January 6, 2018

Earth... January 6, 2018: The President of the United States says he is like, really smart and a very stable genius.  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 6, 2018

The President of the United States calling himself a stable genius is one for the history books. What a dangerous buffoon. https://t.co/OvvLuOXZUk  Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 6, 2018

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Shanghai (AFP) - President Xi Jinping has issued a blunt call for China's military to be ready for war and unafraid to die defending the country, as geopolitical tensions mount in Asia.

Xi's exhortation to the world's largest fighting force, parts of which were revealed only late Thursday, came during what state media characterised as a rare address by the Chinese leader to the country's entire military.

Xi cemented his status as China's most powerful leader in decades during an October Communist Party congress, and this week's rhetoric and images of massed soldiers and tanks seemed designed to back up his new strongman image.

China's military personnel should "neither fear hardship nor death," Xi told thousands of military personnel during an inspection visit Wednesday to the People's Liberation Army's Central Theater Command in northern Hebei province, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Xi also called for the military, a once-backward force whose rapid modernisation over recent years has raised alarm in Asia and Washington, to continue upgrading.

He urged the PLA to step up research into high-tech means of warfare and engage in "real combat training", Xinhua said.

"Create an elite and powerful force that is always ready for the fight, capable of combat and sure to win in order to fulfil the tasks bestowed by the Party and the people in the new era," he was quoted saying.

As head of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, Xi is commander-in-chief of China's more than two-million-strong armed forces.

Xinhua called Xi's address to the troops "the first time for the commission to hold a mobilisation meeting for the whole armed forces."

Other media reports said thousands of troops elsewhere in the country assembled at their installations to hear his speech.

Since taking office in 2012, Xi has pushed for a muscular China, including calls in October to develop a "world-class" Chinese army by 2050.

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China's neighbours have watched warily as the PLA has upgraded its arsenal with increasing sophisticated weaponry and sought to create a more effective and professional fighting force.

Analysts say Xi is very unlikely to risk putting China's still-untested new prowess into an outright military confrontation.

But concerns have grown as Beijing has imposed increasingly assertive claims to vast expanses of the contested South China Sea, while engaging in confrontations with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea, and with India over Himalayan regions.

Temperatures also have risen over North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un thumbing his nose at the world by repeatedly testing his country's banned nuclear weapons and missiles, while exchanging tit-for-tat threats with US President Donald Trump.

During his visit to the military command, Xi was shown in combat fatigues inspecting troops, tanks, sniper training, and peering down the sights of an automatic rifle.

State media also said he paid a visit to an exhibit detailing the PLA's experience battling American-led forces during the Korean War.
One minute, an 8-pound bichon frise named Zoey was romping in her snowy backyard. The next, she was hanging from the talons of an eagle, soaring away from her Pennsylvania home.

Owner Monica Newhard was inconsolable when her brother, Felipe Rodriguez, told her the majestic bird had taken away one of the family's four dogs. Rodriguez, who was visiting his sister, was the only one home during the dive-bomb kidnapping.

Newhard told InsideEdition.com Thursday that she automatically assumed her 7-year-old, fluffy white lap dog was dead. "I went looking for my dog's remains, to be honest," she said.

Newhard combed the area around her home, as well as the woods and an area where she had observed an eagle nest months ago.

"Never in our wildest dreams did we think she would come back to us," she said of her beloved canine.

But return she did. A little worse for wear, but still her friendly, energetic self.

Here's what happened. While Newhard was posting photos of her beloved Zoey on Facebook and lamenting her loss, a bus driver and her aide stopped to investigate a while lump that appeared to be moving in the middle of snow-packed road.

The spot was four miles from Newhard's house.

Helper Christina Hartman got out to investigate and discovered a frozen, but alive, Zoey.

Hartman wrapped the pooch in blankets and took her home. She and her family warmed and dried the dog, fed her two bowls of warm soup, and tucked her in for the night. Zoey appeared disoriented, but slowly regained her bearings.

The next day, Hartman's daughter stayed home with dog, scouring the internet for any word of a tiny white dog that had gone missing.

She found Newhard's Facebook post. And after some to-and-fro on the Messenger app, a connection was made and Newhard drove over to pick up her dog.

"They were angels," Newhard said. "That's all I can say. They were angels."

She thinks Zoey must have gotten too heavy, and the eagle eventually dropped her. Zoey is a house dog and would have had no idea how to get home, Newhard said.

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The pup is limping a bit, has some marks and bruises and lost a few toenails. But she is fully her old self and was running around in Thursday's snowfall.

Newhard said she won't let Zoey out alone again. She and her family live along the Lehigh River and hawks and eagles are common sights, she said. But she's never seen them attack a pet.

"I've seen hawks and eagles grab fish out of the water," she said. "But the river is frozen now, so it's only natural that they would be looking for other sources of food.

"Unfortunately, this time they chose my yard."

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CAIRO (Reuters) - The public prosecutor in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor ordered the detention of four men pending an investigation into a hot air balloon crash that killed a South African tourist and injured several others, state news agency MENA said on Saturday. State media blamed Friday's crash, near Luxor, on poor weather conditions. High winds and sandstorms swept the country on Friday, clouding the skies at Cairo's main airport and forcing the closure of a number of Red Sea ports. MENA did not say if charges had been brought against the four men, who include the pilot. Judicial sources said an initial investigation suggested that negligence could have contributed to the crash. A South African man died and an Argentinian and two French tourists were being treated in hospital. A number of other tourists were also taken to Luxor International Hospital but released after a few hours. Luxor, a city surrounded by ancient tombs and other historic sites, is one of the main focuses of Egypt's tourism industry - a key revenue-earner that the government has been trying to revive after years of political turmoil. Nineteen people, most of them Asian and European tourists, died near Luxor in 2013 when a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed after a mid-air gas explosion. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem and Mohamed Abdellah; Writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Ros Russell)
CAIRO (Reuters) - The head of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, led midnight mass in the cathedral of Egypt's new administrative capital on Saturday, a service attended by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi. The mass, on the eve of Coptic Christmas which is celebrated on Jan. 7, was the first to be held in the newly-built cathedral and took place amid tight security. Sisi was cheered by worshippers as he entered the building. The new Egyptian capital, announced in March 2015, is intended partly to reduce crowding in Cairo. Some 45 km (28 miles) east of Cairo, the city, which has not yet been given a name, will be home to government ministries, housing and an airport. The celebrations were held days after attacks on a Coptic church and another Christian-owned shop that left more than 10 people dead. Egypt's large Christian minority has increasingly been targeted in recent years by Islamist militants including Islamic State, which is waging an insurgency in the north of the remote Sinai Peninsula. (Reporting by Ahmed Fahmy; Editing by Adrian Croft)
Sydney (AFP) - Usman Khawaja plundered a big century as Australia roasted England's bowlers on Saturday to open up a 133-run lead with two days to play in the final Ashes Test in Sydney.

Khawaja topscored with 171 while Shaun Marsh finished unbeaten on 98 after Steve Smith fell for 83 as Australia built a substantial lead with more runs to come and intense 40 Celsius (104 F) heat forecast for Sunday's fourth day.

Australia have already regained the Ashes with an unassailable 3-0 lead and are looking to close out the series 4-0 after last week's fourth test in Melbourne was drawn.

At the close of play on a dispiriting third day for the tourists, who took just two wickets, brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh were making merry in an unbroken 104-run partnership as Australia cruised to 479 for four.

Mitchell Marsh clubbed Moeen Ali for two sixes in three balls to be 63 not out off 87 balls at stumps after surviving a leg before wicket review in the final overs.

Khawaja batted for 515 minutes off 381 balls with 18 fours and a six for his maiden Ashes Test hundred.

"You don't get to celebrate Test centuries too much unless you're Steve Smith. Youve got to enjoy them when they come," Khawaja said.

It was the Pakistan-born Khawaja's sixth Test hundred and first in Sydney and came at a time when some former players were calling for his sacking despite scoring two half-centuries earlier in the series.

"It's disappointing," Khawaja said of the criticism.

"When I am scoring runs, I'm elegant and when I'm not scoring runs I'm lazy. Can't seem to win, when things aren't going well.

"I've had that throughout my career. It's disappointing to hear but it's something I have dealt with throughout my career."

He fell three runs short of his highest Test score of 174 scored against New Zealand in Brisbane in 2015.

Debutant Mason Crane ended Khawaja's epic innings to capture his first Test wicket when he had him stumped by Jonny Bairstow with a sharp turner that left the Australian No.3 stranded out of his ground.

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It was due reward for the Hampshire leg spinner, who endured the heartbreak of having a leg before wicket review rubbed out for a borderline no-ball when Khawaja was on 132 earlier in the day.

Crane, who at 20 is the youngest specialist spinner to play for England in 90 years, showed plenty of heart to keep plugging away without much luck until dismissing Khawaja.

Crane finished a challenging day with one wicket for 135 off 39 overs.

"It was a pretty tough day," Bairstow said. "We're 150 overs into the innings so there's going to be a few tired bodies out there.

"I thought the way the guys toiled out there and really worked hard was impressive and that's really good to see for us as a side going forward."

Shaun Marsh reached his fourth half-century of the series and survived a review on 22 for a catch behind off Joe Root after the "Snicko" and "Hot Spot" technology could not find supporting evidence.

England earlier claimed Smith's prized wicket before lunch when Ali caught and bowled the Australian skipper when he seemed set to make his fourth century of the series.

Smith, who looked untroubled batting patiently through the morning session, left the field shaking his head after batting for 253 minutes and facing 158 balls.

Smith and Khawaja seized the momentum for Australia with a 188-run stand as England chase a face-saving win after surrendering the Ashes after just three matches.

The skipper has been one of the key differences between the two sides in the series, amassing 687 runs at an average of 137.40 with a top score of 239, his Test best.

There was drama in the final over before lunch when Khawaja survived a review for leg before wicket but only after Crane had been found to have just overstepped for a no-ball.
Tbilisi (AFP) - A court in Georgia sentenced on Friday the country's former president Mikheil Saakashvili to three years in prison in absentia for abuse of power.

Saakashvili, who was president from 2004 to 2013, was found guilty of illegally pardoning four men who were convicted of the high profile murder of Georgian banker Sandro Girgvliani in 2006.

Girgvliani was found dead outside of the capital Tbilisi with multiple injuries after arguing in a bar with high-ranking interior ministry officials.

According to the judge, Saakashvili promised the then chief of Georgia's Constitutional Security Department to give the men pardons.

Saakashvili, who is now a politician in Ukraine, has called the case politically motivated and questioned the independence of the court.

"This is a revenge against me," he said at a press conference in Kiev.

Saakashvili accused Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, a former ally turned political foe, of orchestrating the case.

"I have not a single doubt that the decision of the Tbilisi court was dictated from Kiev to the Georgian authorities," he said. "I have no doubt that Poroshenko made a deal with (billionaire and former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina) Ivanishvili."

Last month Saakashvili also faced legal problems in Ukraine when police rearrested him in Kiev after an earlier attempt to detain him failed because supporters swarmed the van he was held in.

Saakashvili was released by a court after denying charges of trying to stage a coup sponsored by Russia, although he is still under investigation.

He has since continued leading protests outside parliament demanding Poroshenko's impeachment over his failure to fight high-level corruption.
The UN Security Council was the theater of a fierce debate reflecting deep rifts between the US and Russia over the anti-government protests in Iran.

The emergency Security Council meeting, which was convened by the US, was described by Russia as a meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

Russias envoy Vassily Nebenzia said involving the council in an internal affair damaged the top UN body.

Russia claimed the US intended to use what it regarded as largely economic protests directed against austerity inside Iran as a means both to challenge the Iranian governments authority and to undermine the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015.

The US was also at odds with its European partners, who used the subsequent debate to reject American efforts to make the protests an excuse for ditching the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Frances ambassador to the UN said the protests do not threaten international peace and security, in what may be an implicit criticism of the United States.

Demonstrations erupted in Iran over a week ago after the government announced plans to raise fuel prices and cut monthly cash handouts to lower-income Iranians. The unrest spread over to 80 cities and towns and resulted in 22 deaths and more than 1,000 arrests, according to Iranian officials.
Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' was specifically calculated to upset people, according to a shocking new book.

The President's advisor Steve Bannon purposefully published the controversial order on a Friday so that it would cause the maximum possible disruption, according to the new Fire and Fury book detailing journalist Michael Wolff's time in the White House.

The immigration order, which excluded people from a range of Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, was signed just a week into Mr Trump's presidency. It was intended as a way of implementing his promise to shut down Muslim immigration because of the then presidential candidate's claim that it was contributing to terror attacks.

But the new book suggests that it was specifically decided it would be signed on a Friday so that it would cause the most possible disruption at airports. The order was hastily signed in such a way that it even affected people who were flying into the country  who were then detained as they arrived, with little clarity on what would happen to them, on one of the most popular days for travelling.

Signing the order late before the weekend also meant that there would be the maximum number of people available to come and protest. Immediately after the order went into affect, activists flooded airports including New York's JFK, in scenes that would become defining of Trump's early presidency.

That was specifically calculated by Mr Bannon, the book suggests. Amid that fallout, people both within and outside the White House asked why he had decided to have the order signed at a time that increased confusion within airports, the government and the US at large.

"Errr ... that's why," Mr Wolff reports him as saying. "So the snowflakes would show up at the airports and riot." Mr Wolff says it was designed as a way to "crush the liberals" by "mak[ing] them crazy and drag[ging] them to the left".

Story continues

Doing so also helped Mr Bannon divide the US into two Americas  Trump's and liberals'  Mr Wolff writes. And it also helped make clear the distinction between his White House and those who were not yet committed to his vision to "burn the place down".

It also suggests that the wording of the order  which has since been successfully challenged in court  was written in a rush by Mr Bannon and other Trump advisors. Stephen Miller was encouraged to research the ban on the internet so that Mr Bannon could arrive at the White House with a "back-of-the-envelope" draft of the travel ban, the book claims.

The order was slightly diluted, partly because of urging from senior Republic Reince Preibus. That took it down to something that would be perceived as "merely Draconian", the book notes.
(Reuters) - The home of an Alabama woman who accused Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her has been destroyed by a fire, but the local sheriff said on Friday the blaze does not appear to be linked to the case.

"The ongoing investigation does not lead us to believe that the fire is in any way related to Roy Moore or allegations made against him," the Etowah County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

It added the office is speaking to a person of interest in the blaze that took place on Wednesday and arrest warrants have not yet been obtained.

The home in Gadsden belonged to Tina Johnson, who told AL.com, an Alabama news site, that Moore had groped her while she was in his Alabama law office on legal business in 1991.

Johnson, who was 28 at the time, said she visited Moore's office with her mother, who had hired Moore in a custody case involving Johnson's 12-year-old son.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the allegations, and Moore has denied any wrongdoing.

Five other women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct or of dating them when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers.

Johnson was not immediately available for comment on the fire. She was quoted by Al.com on Friday as saying that she and her husband were at work at the time of the blaze and they lost everything they owned.

"I am devastated, just devastated," she was quoted as saying.

Moore, the conservative Christian Republican whose campaign was tainted by accusations that he pursued teenaged girls while in his 30s, was defeated in Alabama's special election for the U.S. Senate last month.

Doug Jones became the first Democrat sent to the Senate from Republican stronghold Alabama in a quarter century.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
A survey has found the countries with the worst outlook on the EU (Getty Images)

Five countries in the European Union have a more negative view of the bloc than the UK, a new report has found.

It comes as former Prime Minister Tony Blair warned that more countries could leave the EU following Britains split from Brussels.

The Standard Eurobarometer 88 report asked residents of the 28 current member countries whether the EU conjured up a very positive, fairly positive, neutral, fairly negative or very negative image.

The UK was the sixth from bottom in terms of positive outlook on the EU, despite being the only country ever to trigger Article 50 and leave the union.

The Czech Republic, Greece, Austria, Latvia and Hungary were all found to have an even dimmer view of the organisation.

EU residents were asked their outlook on the future of the bloc

Dan OBrien, Chief Economist, Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), said that for some of the countries with very negative views, weak economic performance was to blame.

Greece is the lowest and reflects its economic depression over almost a decade and being in a bailout since 2010. Many greeks blame the EU and other outside forces for what has happened, he told Yahoo News UK.

Croatia is also mostly about economics. The economy has been one of the worst performing in the EU over a protracted period.

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Elsewhere however, the political climate and a move towards euroscepticism in mainstream politics was behind the gloomy attitude.

Mr OBrien said: The Czech Republic is very different as it has a solid enough economy but strong eurosceptic elements in national politics.

The push for an EU-wide refugee sharing scheme has been strongly opposed by those elements. The refugee issue and how it has been handled at EU is likely to account for a decline in positive feelings for the EU there.

Story continues

The UK had a more positive outlook on the EU than five other member states (Getty Images)

The report also found that trust in the EU has plummeted over the past 10 years.

In 2006, 57% of EU citizens said they trusted the Union, compared to 41% in 2017. It hit a low of 31% in 2013 in the midst of the financial crisis.

Mr OBrien explained: Trust in the EU has collapsed spectacularly over the past 10 years and Italians are now among the most Eurosceptic peoples in the EU.

As one of the biggest members by population it has a substantial weighting in over figures.

A third and more recent factor was the migration crisis in 2015. This pushed trust down in the many of the countries affected.

Emmanuel Macron today warned against splits within Europe during the Brexit negotiations, urging leaders to stay focused on their collective interests.
HARARE (Reuters) - Two former Zimbabwean cabinet ministers who served under ex-president Robert Mugabe have been charged with corruption, their lawyers said on Saturday, the latest sign of a crackdown on officials loyal to Mugabe. Mugabe, 93, stood down in November after 37 years in power following a de facto military coup, making way for his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over. When the military seized power they arrested key allies of Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who was vying with Mnangagwa to succeed her husband. Former foreign minister Walter Mzembi and ex-energy minister Samuel Undenge were charged on Friday with "criminal abuse of office", their lawyers said. They both deny wrongdoing. Undenge is accused of issuing a $12,650 contract without due tender to a company that did no work, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters. Mzembi and Undenge were both granted bail on Saturday, asked to surrender their passports and remanded until Jan. 22 when their cases will be heard. "We are going to make an application for an exception to the charge because the charges that my client is facing are ridiculous," Job Sikhala, Mzembi's lawyer, told reporters outside the court. Undenge's lawyer Alex Muchadehama described the case against his client as a "circus". Former finance minister Ignatius Chombo is on bail after being charged in November over accusations he tried to defraud the central bank over a decade ago. Chombo denies wrongdoing. (Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Ros Russell)
(Photo: HuffPost)

(Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

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NEW QUESTIONS OVER POTENTIAL OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE A bombshell New York Times report suggests President Donald Trump personally attempted to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia probe. According to the report, a White House lawyer also attempted to mislead the president in order to prevent him from firing then-FBI Director James Comey. [HuffPost] [Tweet | Share on Facebook]

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO REQUEST $18 BILLION OVER NEXT DECADE FOR 700 MORE MILES OF NEW AND REPLACEMENT BORDER WALL The request, if granted, would be a major expansion from the 654 miles of barrier now, bringing the total to nearly 1,000 milesabout half of the entire southwest border. [WSJ | Paywall]

AFTER PRESIDENTS LAWYER TRIED TO STOP RELEASE OF EXPLOSIVE TRUMPWORLD BOOK, THE PUBLISHER PUSHED THE DATE TO MIDNIGHT Washington political nerds were lining up like it was a Harry Potter release to snag a copy of Michael Wolffs bombshell work, following a cease-and-desist letter from Trumps attorneys. And the Bannon fallout continues, with top billionaire backer Rebekah Mercer siding with Trump. Bannons role guiding Breitbart is in jeopardy, and he now has a newly assigned nickname courtesy of the president  Sloppy Steve. [HuffPost]

JEFF SESSIONS IS UNLEASHING FEDERAL PROSECUTORS ON LEGAL MARIJUANA In a rollback of Obama-era policies. And Democrats arent sure about whether they should make it an election issue. [HuffPost]

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES MASSIVE EXPANSION OF OFFSHORE DRILLING Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed a sweeping new offshore drilling plan aimed at opening huge swaths of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil exploration as part of the Trump administrations plan to transform the United States into a fossil fuel juggernaut. [HuffPost]

THOUSANDS OF FLIGHTS CANCELED AMID WINTER VORTEX Up and down the East Coast, authorities declared states of emergency. Take a look at how much the bomb cyclone blasted the East. And dogs left out in the cold died frozen solid. [HuffPost]

Story continues

WISCONSIN IS QUIETLY BECOMING THE 2018 SENATE RACE TO WATCH Amanda Terkel dissects how Sen. Tammy Baldwin is battling more outside spending by conservative groups than all of her Democratic colleagues combined. [HuffPost]

NORTH KOREA ACCEPTS OFFER OF DIALOGUE FROM SOUTH KOREA The talks will be held at the border truce village of Panmunjom and officials from both sides are expected to discuss the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the improvement of inter-Korean relations, ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a regular briefing. [Reuters]

AND TRUMP OFTEN TALKS ABOUT WAR WITH NORTH KOREA Heres how horrific that would be. [HuffPost]

WHATS BREWING

TOP TALENT AGENCY CUTS TIES WITH DANNY MASTERSON AMID RAPE ALLEGATIONS A month after Netflix fired him from The Ranch. [HuffPost]

MUSLIMS MAY BECOME AMERICAS SECOND-LARGEST RELIGIOUS GROUP According to Pew Research Center, they could outnumber Jews by 2040. [HuffPost]

LAY OFF THE ROMAINE We know youre trying to load up on salad with those resolutions and all, but turns out the leafy green is behind a E. Coli outbreak in the U.S. [Time]

WINTER MAY BE HERE But new episodes of Game of Thrones are definitely not coming until 2019. [HuffPost]

YES, THE GOLDEN GLOBES ARE THIS WEEKEND We didnt have any idea either, but in preparation, heres what they looked like in 1998. Boy, how things have changed. [HuffPost]

THIS PHOTO OF DOUG JONES GAY SON GIVING MIKE PENCE SIDE-EYE Is giving the internet life. [HuffPost]

SINCE PRINCE HARRY IS OFF THE MARKET Here are 10 royals you can still marry. [HuffPost]

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By Scott DiSavino and Jarrett Renshaw NEW YORK (Reuters) - A severe winter storm in the U.S. Northeast brought plunging temperatures on Friday, driving regional natural gas prices to all-time highs, disrupting refinery operations and causing electrical outages. From Baltimore to Caribou, Maine, efforts were under way to clear roadways from Thursday's snowfall. Temperatures were expected to be 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below the average for this time of year and could set records, according to the National Weather Service. Power outages fell to 123,000 from the 235,000 knocked out by the storm over the past couple of days and were largely concentrated in Canada, with 85,100 in Nova Scotia, 16,600 in New Brunswick and 5,100 in Quebec. Refiners in the Philadelphia region were battling severe cold that has slowed crude deliveries and forced the largest plant on the U.S. Coast to significantly cut production. Natural gas prices in the U.S. Northeast were at an all-time record on the back of heating demand. Benchmark U.S. heating oil futures were near their highest in almost three years. Estimated U.S. natural gas demand soared on Monday, surpassing the previous single-day record set in 2014, according to estimates from Reuters. The increase came on the back of the low temperatures, higher consumption in the electric power and industrial sectors, and greater export demand. U.S. demand for natural gas, which is the major heating fuel in the Northeast and is also widely used by power plants, was expected to remain near record highs this week. Next-day gas prices in New York City jumped to a record $140.25 per million British thermal units, according to data from brokerage firm SNL going back to 1992. The prior high was $120.75 set during the polar vortex in January 2014. Spot gas in New England soared to a record $82.75 per mmBtu, according to data going back to 1995. The prior high was $77.60, also in January 2014. In 2017, next-day gas prices averaged $3.08 per mmBtu in New York and $3.80 in New England. The only nuclear plant in Massachusetts remained shut on Friday after halting operations on Thursday afternoon due to the failure of a line that connects the reactor to the power grid. Entergy Corp , which operates the Pilgrim Station, said it had not identified the cause of the line problem. ISO New England, which operates the region's power grid, attributed the shutdown to blizzard conditions. The New England grid operator said it expected the region to have sufficient generating resources to meet the peak demand of 20,450 megawatts and reserve requirements of 2,128 MW on Friday but would only have a surplus of about 500 MW if it must use all of its reserves. Pilgrim's capacity is about 688 MW. The average U.S. home heating oil price rose 5.4 percent to $3.078 a gallon in the seven days through Jan. 1 from a week earlier, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On the East Coast, the price increased 5.4 percent to $3.085. Prices for the 2017-18 period are well above the 2016-17 levels, the data showed. Next-day power prices in New England and PJM , which covers much of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Midwest region, rose to their highest since January 2014 due to a spike for local natural gas. There are concerns that a significant disruption could lead to a heating oil shortage as distillate inventories in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions are at their lowest levels for this time of year since 2015. Supply worries have spurred tankers carrying diesel and heating oil to set out from Europe for the United States, reversing a traditional trade route. Icebreakers have been used in ports of Boston, New York and Philadelphia to keep shipping lanes clear, but delays are expected, and the Coast Guard said late on Wednesday that those ships would remain at shore until the storm had passed. Reliance on heating oil is highest in the Northeast, with about 21 percent of households using it for space heating. Most northern U.S. refiners are not reporting significant problems, but the extreme cold still poses threats. Philadelphia Energy Solutions has cut rates by 40 percent at its 335,000 bpd refinery complex in Philadelphia due to a winter storm slowing crude deliveries, a source familiar with the plant's operations told Reuters on Friday. It's the largest refinery on the U.S. East Coast. The company also postponed planned work at its 335,000 barrel-per-day refinery complex in Philadelphia until after the storm. Ridgebury Pioneer, which was carrying 1.9 million barrels of heavy crude into PBF Energy's East Coast refineries, has been delayed by the storm, according to Reuters Eikon shipping data and two sources familiar with the delivery. VLCCs, or Very Large Crude Carriers, are uncommon in the Philadelphia region. Monroe Energy was forced to shut its plant in September when a hurricane slowed deliveries. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar, Jarrett Renshaw, Jessica Resnick-Ault and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn AND sUSAN tHOMAS)
America accused of preposterous bullying by Iran as heated discussion lays bare deep rifts over Middle Easts future

British representative Matthew Rycroft speaks during the UN security council session over the ongoing protests in Iran. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The US successfully fought off a Russian-led attempt on Friday to block a UN security council discussion over the past weeks Iranian protests. But it immediately found itself at odds with its European partners, who used the subsequent debate to reject American efforts to make the protests an excuse for ditching the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Russia had tried to stop the UN discussion on the grounds that it would represent an inappropriate interference in Irans internal affairs. But the US countered by finding the required votes on the 15-strong security council to press for a debate.

Russia claimed the US intended to use what it regarded as largely economic protests directed against austerity inside Iran as a means both to challenge the Iranian governments authority and to undermine the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015.

In an often bitter discussion laying bare the deep ideological rifts over the future of the Middle East, Irans UN ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo added he had hard evidence that recent protests in Iran were very clearly directed from abroad.

Khoshroo joined Russia in saying the US had abused its power as a permanent member of the security council by calling for a meeting to discuss the protests.

It is unfortunate that despite the resistance on the part of some of its members, this council has allowed itself to be abused by the current US administration in holding a meeting on an issue that falls outside the scope of its mandate, Khoshroo said. He accused the US of preposterous bullying and searching for every possible straw to keep itself afloat.

Irans foreign minister Javad Zarif later tweeted that the episode was another US foreign policy blunder, saying the majority of the security council had emphasised the need to fully implement the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others.

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During the debate the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned the Iranian authorities that the world was watching as Tehran responded to anti-government protests. The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do, she said.

The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country. It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest.

She said Iranians were telling their government to stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars.

But the UNs French representative distanced his country from the tone of the US strategy towards the protests. In an implicit rebuke to the US for calling the debate, Francois Delattre said: However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security. We must be wary of any attempts to exploit this crisis for personal ends, which would have the diametrically opposed outcome to that which is wished. The nuclear deal was a cornerstone for stability in the Middle East, he added.

The UKs representative Matthew Rycoft said Britain remained fully committed to the JCPOA [the nuclear deal], describing it as one of the great diplomatic successes of recent memory. He added: We encourage all member states to uphold all their commitments. A prosperous, stable Iran is beneficial to all.

He urged Iran to allow peaceful protests and said too often the countrys legitimate security interests were pursued in ways that endangered others and undermined the Iranian economy.
The officials said the incident was caused by strong winds that forced the balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists, off its course above the ancient city, home to some of Egypts most remarkable pharaonic temples and tombs.

The balloon took off shortly before sunrise and flew about 45 minutes at an altitude of 450 meters (1,476 feet) before the pilot lost control due to strong wind that forced a crash landing in a mountainous area, the officials said.

The officials said the killed tourist was South African. No details were immediately available on the nationalities of the other victims. The remaining 12 tourists were unhurt.

Other balloons had taken off around the same time but landed safely, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Earlier in the day, Egypts meteorological service had warned of strong winds across the country mainly in the Nile River delta and northern Egypt.

Hot air balloon incidents have occurred in the past over ancient Luxor. The deadliest took place in 2013 when a balloon flying over the city caught fire and plunged about 305 meters (1,000 feet) to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists.

In 2016, Egypt temporarily halted balloon flights after 22 Chinese tourists suffered minor injuries in a crash landing of their hot air balloon.

Over the years, Egypt has tightened safety rules for balloon rides, which are now monitored by cameras and banned from flying above 2,000 meters (6,562 feet).

Hot air balloon flights above Luxor are famous among tourists for because of the spectacular views of the ancient Karnak and the temples of Luxor. Such flights usually start before sunrise and pass over green fields leading to the Valley of the Kings  the burial site of famous boy king Tutankhamun and other pharaohs.

Egypts vital but ailing tourism industry, partially driven by sightseeing, has been hit hard by extremist attacks and political turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

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In 2015, tourism was dealt a blow when the Islamic State groups affiliate in Egypt downed a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard. Egypt never officially said what caused the downing of the Russian plane but IS said it blew up the plane with a bomb smuggled on board.

After that bombing, Russia imposed a ban on all flights to Egypt and Egypts national carrier is still barred from flying to Russia. Flights between Moscow and Cairo are planned to be resumed in February, after more than a two-year hiatus.

The Egyptian government has been trying to draw tourists back to the country by announcing ancient discoveries and tightening security measures around tourist sites.
Equatorial Guineas ministry of Security on Wednesday confirmed that it had thwarted a coup detat last week, mounted by mercenaries who wanted to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

According to the Security Minister Nicolas Obama Nchama the mercenaries were recruited by Equatorial Guinean militants from certain radical opposition parties with the sort of certain powers.

In his words, the operation to arrest the mercenaries was carried out by Equatorial Guinea defence forces in collaboration with the Cameroon security services.

Troops in Equatorial Guinea shot dead a mercenary during clashes on Wednesday near the border with Cameroon, as reported by TVGE, Equatorial Guinea statuppe television.

Last week, Cameroon arrested 38 heavily-armed men on the border with the central African oil-rich nation..

This is the second failed coup detat against Malabo. In 2004, mercenaries attempted to overthrow Obiang in a coup thought to be largely funded by British financiers.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africas longest-serving leader, took power in a coup on August 3, 1979, ousting his own uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema. He has been president for more than 38 years and re-elected to a fifth seven-year term in 2016.

Note that Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Saharan Africas biggest oil producers, but much of its population still lives in poverty.
By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - An illegal immigrant acquitted in a fatal San Francisco shooting, in a verdict condemned by President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison on a lesser gun charge on Friday.

The 45-year-old Mexican national, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, has been held behind bars since his arrest in the July 2015 shooting death of Kate Steinle, and was fully credited for the three-year sentence, a spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney's office said.

The San Francisco Sheriff's Department handed Garcia Zarate over to U.S. Marshals on Friday on warrants stemming from federal gun charged related to the Steinle incident, sheriff's department spokeswoman Nancy Crowley said.

The completion of the three-year sentence, handed down by a San Francisco judge, reflected both the time Garcia Zarate has been held since his arrest and certain credits, the spokesman for the district attorney's office, Alex Bastian, said.

A San Francisco Superior Court jury had found Garcia Zarate not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges in connection with Steinle's death. Jurors found him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Garcia Zarate had found the gun that killed Steinle. It accidentally discharged, with the bullet ricocheting off the ground at a crowded pier before striking the 32-year-old woman, his defense attorneys have said.

Prosecutors claimed Garcia Zarate intentionally fired the gun, but they said they accepted the jury's verdict.

Trump, who used the Steinle case as a rallying cry against the policies of so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants during his successful run for the presidency, has called the jury's verdict "disgraceful."

Just days after he was acquitted in San Francisco, Garcia Zarate was indicted on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm.

The latest criminal counts against Zarate would not violate the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, which prohibits being tried twice on the same charges, because they differed legally from the state court charges, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman said last month.

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A representative for the Office of the Federal Public Defender could not immediately be reached for comment.

Garcia Zarate faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge if convicted.

Immigration agents have vowed to eventually deport Garcia Zarate, who first came to the United States as a juvenile and was deported multiple times.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Brown and Leslie Adler)
By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - An illegal immigrant acquitted in a fatal San Francisco shooting, in a verdict condemned by President Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison on a lesser gun charge on Friday but credited for time already served behind bars, authorities said.

A San Francisco Superior Court jury on Nov. 30 found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges in connection with the July 1, 2015, shooting death of Kate Steinle. Jurors found him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

A San Francisco judge on Friday sentenced Garcia Zarate to three years in prison on the firearms charge, said San Francisco District Attorney's Office spokesman Alex Bastian.

Garcia Zarate, a Mexican national, has been behind bars since his 2015 arrest, so his sentence has been completed after factoring in credits, Bastian said.

Garcia Zarate had found the gun that killed Steinle. It accidentally discharged, with the bullet ricocheting off the ground at a crowded pier before striking the 32-year-old woman, his defense attorneys have said.

Prosecutors claimed Garcia Zarate intentionally fired the gun, but they said they accepted the jury's verdict.

Trump, who used the Steinle case as a rallying cry against the policies of so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants during his successful run for the presidency, has called the jury's verdict "disgraceful."

On Dec. 5, just days after he was acquitted in San Francisco, Garcia Zarate was indicted on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm.

He remains in the custody of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department and will be handed over to U.S. Marshals on warrants stemming from the federal charges, said sheriff's department spokeswoman Nancy Crowley.

The latest criminal counts against Zarate would not violate the constitutional protection against so-called double jeopardy, which prohibits a person from being tried twice on the same charges, because they differed legally from the state court charges, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman said last month.

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A representative for the Office of the Federal Public Defender could not immediately be reached for comment.

Garcia Zarate faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge if convicted.

Immigration agents have vowed to eventually deport Garcia Zarate, who first came to the United States as a juvenile and was deported multiple times.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Brown)
A man was reportedly kidnapped and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint in India.

Video clips circulating online show a man identified as 29-year-old Vinod Kumar appearing to be forced to perform wedding rituals in the Indian state of Bihar.

According to the Daily Mail, Kumar, a steel engineer, was abducted while attending his friend's wedding. During the ceremony, a group of men reportedly seized Kumar and hauled him away before pointing a gun at his head shortly after.

In the video, relatives could be heard saying: "We are only performing your wedding, not hanging you. Why are you crying loudly?"

RELATED: India snake charmers struggle to save dying tradition



Kumar reportedly said earlier in the video that he was not cooperating because did not have his parents' consent. Seconds later, a gun was held to his head.

Kumar is quoted as saying: "They (the girl's family) befriended me during the wedding and asked me to step out. They kidnapped me and took me to a home where I was forced to put vermillion in the hair of a girl. I had never seen her and I don't know who she is."

Forcible marriage, a ritual known as "Pakudua Vivah," is reportedly common in Bihar, according to Gulf News. It usually is carried out by families reportedly looking for suitable grooms but unable to afford heavy dowry costs.

Local police have reportedly launched a probe into the incident.

RELATED: Human trafficking in India


Tehran (AFP) - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ridiculed US President Donald Trump on Saturday over what he called the foreign policy "blunder" of trying to raise its recent protests at the UN Security Council.

The Security Council "rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate", Zarif wrote on Twitter.

"Majority emphasised the need to fully implement the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."

It came as an Iranian politician said some 90 students were arrested in Tehran during last week's unrest.

"According to the figures and information obtained by officials at the Ministry of Higher Education, the majority of those arrested were basically not involved in the protests and most were arrested outside the university," Mahmoud Sadeghi, an outspoken member of parliament, told the reformist ILNA news agency.

"Some were arrested in front of the doors of their houses," he added.

Saturday saw a fourth straight day of pro-government rallies in smaller cities as the regime sought to emphasise the end of five days of unrest that claimed 21 lives and saw hundreds arrested around the country.

The protests began on December 28 as protests over economic hardship and quickly turned against the regime as a whole.

Protests in Tehran were focused around the university but were relatively small compared to other towns and cities, with only a few hundred taking part.

A police spokesman said most of those arrested "had been duped" into joining the protests and had now been freed under caution, according to state news agency IRNA.

"However, the leaders of the troubles are in the hands of the judiciary and in prison," he added.

- 'A waste of time' -

At the United Nations, Washington saw allies and rivals push back against the Security Council meeting it had called to discuss the unrest in Iran.

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US Ambassador Nikki Haley argued that the unrest could escalate into full-blown conflict and drew a comparison with Syria.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley warned.

But Russia's envoy shot back that if the US view holds, the council should have also discussed the 2014 unrest in the US suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, over the police shooting of a black teenager or the US crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Britain and France reiterated that Iran must respect the rights of protesters, but French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the "events of the past days do not constitute a threat to peace and international security".

China also described the meeting as meddling in Iran's affairs, while Ethiopia, Kuwait and Sweden expressed reservations about the discussion.

Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the meeting as a "farce" and a "waste of time", and said the council should instead focus on addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Yemen.

Iran signed a nuclear deal with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in 2015, easing sanctions in exchange for curbs to the country's nuclear programme.

Trump has fiercely opposed the deal, but the other signatories remain firmly behind it.

He must decide every few months whether to continue waiving nuclear sanctions, with the next deadline due on Friday.

Analysts say there is a chance he may use the latest unrest as a pretext to reimpose sanctions.
By Parisa Hafezi

ANKARA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of government supporters rallied across Iran on Friday, swearing allegiance to the clerical establishment and accusing arch-enemy the United States of instigating the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade, state TV reported.

Tehran's Friday prayer leader called on authorities to deal "firmly" with those responsible for igniting over a week of demonstrations, in which 22 people have died and more than 1,000 have been arrested, according to Iranian officials.

"But those ordinary Iranians who were deceived by these American-backed rioters should be dealt with based on Islamic clemency," cleric Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran university, TV reported.

Khatami also called on the government to "pay more attention to people's economic problems."

Protests erupted on Dec. 28 in the holy Shi'ite city of Mashhad after the government announced plans to raise fuel prices and cut monthly cash handouts to lower-income Iranians.

Unrest spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Some 42,000 people took part in the unrest across the country, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying by state TV.

To try to allay tensions, the government suspended its planned fuel price hikes and cash handout cuts. Ali Rabiei, Iran's minister of cooperatives, labour and social welfare, said the government had plans to create over 900,000 jobs by March 2019, the state news agency IRNA reported on Friday.

Iranian officials said the protests were the result of foreign instigation and mocked U.S. President Donald Trump's support of protesters against what he called a brutal and corrupt establishment.

The authorities have produced no evidence of any U.S. role in the demonstrations, which have lacked a unifying leader.

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GUARDS QUELLED UNREST

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran's statements that external influences fomented the unrest were not groundless and that Washington used any possible method to destabilise governments it disliked.

He added that U.S. calls for an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the turmoil in Iran interfered with the country's sovereignty, news agency Interfax said. The Council met on Friday to discuss Iran.

Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo told the U.N. Security Council meeting that the United States had abused its power as a permanent member of the Council by calling for a meeting on the turmoil in Iran.

He added that Iran had hard evidence that recent protests in Iran were very clearly directed from abroad.

But U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Nikki Haley said the United States stood "unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation".

"We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call protesters 'puppets of foreign powers' will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth," she told the U.N. meeting on Iran.

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on his Twitter account that the meeting was "another foreign policy blunder of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration".

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities said the protests had shown sign of abating since Thursday, after the establishment intensified a crackdown on the protesters by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

Iran's elite Guards and its affiliated Basij militia suppressed the country's 2009 unrest over alleged election fraud, in which dozens of pro-reform Iranians were killed.

UNITED FRONT

On Friday rallies, protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", carrying pictures of Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and waved Iranian flags.

Television footage of rallies in several cities showed people chanting "We support Imam Khamenei ... We will not leave him alone in his fight against enemies".

"Demonstrators demand the punishment of those behind foreign-linked riots which insulted religion and our authorities," state television reported, referring to unrest in which social media footage showed protesters tearing down pictures of Khamenei.

Hardliner Khatami said the government should take more notice of Iranians' economic problems.

"There are workers who say they have not received their salaries for months ... These problems should be resolved," Khatami said, according to state TV.

Fearing that further unrest could undermine the Islamic republic altogether, Iran's faction-ridden political elite has displayed a united front.

But Khamenei and his hardline allies have criticised Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for failing to revive the economy after most sanctions on Iran were lifted in 2016 under a deal reached between Tehran and major powers aimed at curbing the country's nuclear programme.

Rouhani secured the deal in 2015, raising hopes of better economic times among many Iranians, but discontent has since risen over the lack of broad improvement in living standards.

(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Washington; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by James Dalgleish)
(FRANKFORT, Ky.)  The political fate of Kentuckys Republican House speaker will rest in the hands of four women and two men who must decide whether to recommend expelling him, after he signed a secret sexual harassment settlement with a woman in his office.

Eight Republican lawmakers filed formal disciplinary charges against Jeff Hoover on Wednesday, alleging he sexually harassed a woman in his office and then used taxpayer resources to cover it up. They asked a special committee to recommend expelling Hoover from the House.

House rules require the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House to appoint six people to a special committee to investigate. Democrats appointed Reps. Sannie Overly, Joni Jenkins and Chris Harris. Republicans appointed Reps. Donna Mayfield, Diane St. Onge and Jason Petrie.

Republican state Rep. Jerry Miller will chair the committee, but will only vote to break a tie.

Overly, Harris, Petrie and St. Onge are attorneys, chosen for their legal expertise in conducting an investigation. Jenkins, a House member since 1995, has been a longtime advocate for preventing violence against women. Mayfield is retired from the U.S. Marshals.

Overly was House Majority Caucus chairwoman in 2013 when some female state workers sued then-Democratic lawmaker John Arnold, alleging sexual harassment. Overly was scheduled to give a deposition in the case in 2015 while she was a candidate for lieutenant governor. She sought to have that deposition sealed, fearing it would be used against her for political purposes. But the case ended up settling for $400,000 and her deposition was not taken.

Overly did not return a phone call seeking comment. House Democratic Caucus spokesman Brian Wilkerson said none of the Democratic members of the committee would comment.

Hoover told The Associated Press he believes the complaint is motivated by politics. Signers of the complaint include Republican Rep. Phil Moffett, who Hoover said has wanted to be speaker since he got here. Hoover has denied sexual harassment allegations, but said he sent inappropriate yet consensual text messages to a woman who once worked for the House Republican Caucus.

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Moffett declined to respond to Hoovers comments, but said we have a duty and a responsibility to discipline our members.

In November, Hoover announced he would resign as speaker but keep his seat in the legislature. But Tuesday, Hoover said he was only temporarily stepping aside as speaker until further notice.

The settlement signed by Hoover and three other Republican lawmakers was handled outside of court and paid for with private money to avoid publicity. But the Courier Journal exposed the settlement, creating an uproar in a state that was transitioning to Republican rule after decades of dominance by Democrats.

The complaint was signed by Moffett and fellow Republican state Reps. Addia Wuchner, Kim King, Russell Webber, Stan Lee, Robert Benvenuti, Tim Moore and Joe Fischer. It says Hoover sent text messages to the woman requesting photos of her in a black lace g string, saying they were for my eyes only and promising to delete them.

It also says Hoover created a hostile work environment by using his office to conduct interviews and intimidate witnesses (who) had knowledge of his illicit relationship.

Hoover and the other Republican lawmakers who signed the settlement say a confidentiality clause prevents them from discussing it publicly. House GOP leaders have asked the Legislative Ethics Commission to use its subpoena power to determine if lawmakers used money from political donors or registered lobbyists to pay the settlement, which could violate state law.

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has previously called for Hoover to step down.

In a speech Thursday night in Lexington, Bevin never mentioned Hoover by name, but addressed the issue indirectly. When discussing his hopes for the new legislative session he said there have been some distractions.

You know what they are, he said. We dont need to reiterate them. But I again would ask of you  expect of us that we will hold a high standard on all fronts. That we will have a high moral standard, high integrity. That we will exercise good judgment. You should expect nothing less of us.
Amnesty International has condemned the use of excessive force by the Algerian authorities to disperse a sit-in organised by resident medical practitioners in Algiers to protest poor working conditions.

Footage and photos posted on social media show the faces of Algerian junior doctors covered with blood due to violent quelling of protesters at CHU Mustapha Bacha, a university hospital.

We denounce the repression of the protest said Amnesty International, calling for the respect of the right to free expression and peaceful protest guaranteed by the Algerian constitution.

Local press reports say several doctors were injured in the violence, while videos shared on Facebook showed police, dressed in riot gear and shields, beating protesters with batons.

The resident medical doctors want a pay rise and better work conditions, saying the situation is especially difficult when they are posted in remote areas where they lack adequate housing, transportation and necessary equipment & supplies to carry out their medical duties.

The doctors of the city Oran endure the same dire situation and are planning a walkout next week, while The National union of medical doctors, researchers at university hospitals and the National union of public health practitioners also slammed the Algerian police repression of junior doctors.

In its annual report 2016-17 on the state of human rights in the world, Amnesty International denounced the continued restrictions imposed by Algerian authorities on the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and religion.

According to several international rights watchdogs, the Algerian security services tightly restrict freedom of assembly, maintaining a ban on all demonstrations in the capital, Algiers, under a decree from 2001, and arresting and prosecuting peaceful protesters.

For AI, the unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, rape and other torture acts committed by the security forces, as well as some abuses committed by armed groups, may amount to crimes against humanity.
The U.S. Department of Justice decision to rescind Obama-era guidance on marijuana enforcement elicited furious statements from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave federal prosecutors the green light to enforce federal marijuana laws in states where cannabis has been legalized in some form. In a statement, Sessions  a longtime opponent of legalization  said the Obama-era memos that directed prosecutors not to interfere with state activities when it came to legal pot undermined the rule of law.

Responses from Senators on Capitol Hill came swiftly. At least one Senator, Republican Cory Gardner of Colorado, threatened to hold up judicial nominations until the decision was reversed. Another questioned how the Justice Department could justify allocating resources to go after legal users when there are other pressing issues to address. And at least one expressed hope that this action would push Congress to ultimately legalize cannabis.

Gardner was among the Senators who were most alarmed by the Attorney Generals actions, since recreational marijuana has been sold legally in Colorado since 2014. He told reporters he was blindsided by the move on his way to deliver a blistering speech on the Senate floor.

Perhaps the Department of Justice didnt think this would be a big deal, Gardner said on the floor. I believe what happened today was a trampling of Colorados rights, its voters.

Gardner has made clear that he did not support legalization, but he does respect the will of Colorados voters who chose to permit the sale and use of marijuana for recreational purposes in 2012. He said Thursday that before voting to confirm Sessions he had been assured that as Attorney General he would not make marijuana a priority. On the floor of the Senate, Gardner called on Sessions to explain his decision making and to reverse the Thursday decision.

Until that happens, I think I am obligated by the people of Colorado to take all steps necessary to protect the state of Colorado and their rights, Gardner said. And thats why I will be putting today a hold on every single nomination from the Department of Justice.

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Vermont Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has repeatedly pressed Sessions about marijuana policy. On Thursday, he offered a sarcastic assessment of the decision in response to a question from TIME.

Well, you know, its interesting. The Justice Department doesnt have enough people to go after the opioid crisis thats killing people. We dont have enough people to go after Russian hackers and Korean hackers, Leahy said. But, by golly, you got some grandmother smoking a marijuana cigarette in a state where its legal, weve got to go after that.

While Thursdays decision came as a shock to some, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has lucidly expressed opposition to marijuana throughout his career. He reportedly said that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was okay until I found out they smoked pot, back when he was a U.S. Attorney. At a hearing in April 2016, when he was still a Senator, Sessions said cannabis is a very real danger and that good people do not smoke marijuana. Speaking to law enforcement in March, the Attorney General said that marijuana is only slightly less awful than heroin.

I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store, Sessions said at the time. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.

President Donald Trumps stance on legal pot is more of a mystery, but he did tell a Colorado television station that he thinks the issue should be left up to the states during the 2016 campaign, according to the Denver Post.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Thursday that Sessions move shows how out-of-step the administration is when compared to red and blue states across the country. For folks who always advocated states rights and the 10th amendment, it seems pretty counter to that core belief, he said.

In 29 states and D.C., marijuana is legal in some form, including California where recreational use was officially legalized on New Years Day. In Colorado, marijuana is big business. The state reported over $1 billion in medical and recreational marijuana sales in both 2016 and 2017.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, where legal pot shops have been open for business since summer 2017, called on the Department of Justice to work with his state on the issue.

Knowing Attorney General Sessions deference to states rights, I strongly encourage the DOJ to meet with Governor Sandoval and Attorney General Laxalt to discuss the implications of changes to federal marijuana enforcement policy, Heller said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. I also urge the DOJ to work with the congressional delegations from states like Nevada that have legalized marijuana as they review and navigate the new policy.

Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, said he wasnt surprised by the Thursday move given Sessions history and his efforts to block him from becoming Attorney General. Still, in an interview outside of his Senate office, he called Sessionss actions outrage and an attempt to restart the War on Drugs that has cost the country trillions of dollars, so many lives, and economic devastation.

This is why you see lots of states, red and blue states, moving on legalization of medical marijuana or legalization of recreational marijuana, to stop this craven injustice in our country, he said.

Booker said he hopes the action pushes his colleagues to support legislation hes introduced that would legalize marijuana.

For us to have this crisis now is, to me, really forcing a moment where this country has to decide where were going to go, he said. We have the power here in Congress to stop this Attorney General from what I believe is a rogue throwback to a failed war on drugs thats going to endanger many, many Americans, families, and communities.
CHILPANCINGO, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican authorities said on Friday that they were investigating local police in the capital of Guerrero state after the dismembered bodies of two young men were found inside plastic bags outside the beach resort of Acapulco. State prosecutor Javier Olea said the young men had been arrested by Chilpancingo police last Saturday after a brawl at a Christmas fair and officers were suspected of later murdering them. Their bodies were found on Thursday. At least one other young man has disappeared. State and federal police and military forces took over security operations in Chilpancingo on Thursday after more than 100 local police officers were suspended and put under investigation in the case, a state police spokesman said on Friday. A growing number of criminal groups in Guerrero are battling over territory used to grow opium poppies for heroin production. Guerrero is one of the most violent states in Mexico. It is not uncommon for state, federal and military forces to replace local security forces suspected of corruption and ties to Mexico's powerful gangs. On Thursday, protests were held against local police and relatives of two missing youths told reporters they suspected police were involved in their disappearance. In the nearby city of Iguala in 2014, 43 Mexican students were rounded up by corrupt police, who handed them over to a gang that burnt them in a nearby dump, according to a federal investigation. Clashes between rival drug gangs contributed to a record high number of murders in Mexico last year. President Enrique Pena Nieto has pledged to get violence under control ahead of national elections this summer. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City)
Logan Paul told his fans he wasn't expecting forgiveness after he published a video of an apparent suicide victim to millions of viewers. "I'm simply here to apologise," he says. But, despite his egregious and irresponsible actions, forgiveness has been granted by scores of his dedicated teen fans, some of whom believe he did nothing wrong.

SEE ALSO: Here's why Logan Paul's video showing suicide is so dangerous

The 22-year-old vlogger was heavily criticised after uploading a YouTube video entitled "We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest" on Jan. 1. In the video which was subsequently removed from the sitegraphic footage is shown of a man who died by suicide in Aokigahara forest, Japan. Paul, who was seen laughing in response to the deceased man, has been criticised for appearing to mock people who've died by suicide. It's worth noting, too, that viewers were not warned about the footage showing a dead body. No resources or helplines were included for viewers who might be experiencing suicidal thoughts.

But despite this, the loyalty of Paul's fanbase the "Logang"has scarcely wavered. With over 15 million YouTube subscribers under his belt, Paul's mentions on social media are rife with in-fighting among fanssome of whom are ready to forgive and forget.

A Twitter search of the hashtag #LOGANG4LIFE reveal hundreds of tweets by fans expressing their undeterred devotion and love for the vlogger. Mixed in among these tweets are posts by Paul's critics expressing disgust at his behaviour, and shock that his fanswho they call "deluded"are still behind him.

(Editor's note: Mashable has blurred the avatars and usernames in the screenshots below as some of the individuals identified may be minors)

Dominick Negron, 17, told Mashable he feels the backlash "from all the media" has been "a little harsh." He believes that Paul's laughter in the video was "how he copes with things;" a viewpoint echoed by many fans using the hashtag.

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"If you watch some of his other videos and see what hes does when something happens, he laughs," says Negron. "Thats how he copes with things."

Negron says that "despite all the negativity coming from everyone" Paul is still one of his idols. He says if he could talk to him, he'd tell him to "stay positive" and that he'll "always be a fan." "'Cause 1) everyone makes mistakes 2) ik how it is to be under all this heat/pressure 3) laughing is a way to cope with things and people dont understand that," he says.

A 22-year-old fan, who chose not to give his name, told Mashable that he's "very sad" about the backlash. "I thought he did nothing wrong," he says, adding that he believes people are "overreacting heavily." "He shouldn't worry cuz he's a maverick and he can do anything in the world. #Logang4life," he continued. The fan conceded that Paul didn't think about "the consequences" of the video, but said that "it doesn't really matter cuz he's a maverick."

A 19-year-old fan, who asked not to be named, said he felt very conflicted and he's not sure whether to feel sorry for him. He says he's "against" Paul's actions in the video. "I just really hate what he did," he says and thinks that no one should film someone who's died by suicide. "He messed up big time. Something like that shouldnt be easy to forgive."

"He has helped me with so much. I have anxiety and when I watched his vlogs, I would escape reality and feel happy for just that little time," he says. "Logan Paul has helped me through so much. One can say he deserves it which he does. I just feel bad that hes getting all the hate," he says.

"Imagine half the world hating you. Hate is not solution." He believes that Paul should "try to redeem himself" by donating to a charity and filming an extended video featuring experts on suicide.

It's a watershed moment for the fiercely devoted fans of Logan Paul. But, irrespective of his irresponsible and downright dangerous actions, Paul's fans remain resolutely by his side.

2018 could be the year we discover that YouTubers, in the eyes of their fans, can literally do no wrong. What a troubling reality to be faced with.

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.

For recommendations on reporting on suicide, visit reportingonsuicide.org.
A man with ties to white supremacist groups has been charged with terrorism after he allegedly tried to derail an Amtrak train, according to newly unsealed court documents.

Federal authorities say Taylor Michael Wilson, 26, suddenly sent a Missouri-bound Amtrak passenger train hurtling to a halt in rural Nebraska on Oct. 22, 2017 when he breached a restricted area and trigged the emergency brakes about 2 a.m.

The suspect from St. Charles had ties to white supremacy groups and an interest in killing black people, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Wednesday. Its unclear if those activities had anything to do with his attempted train attack.

At the time of the Amtrak incident, he was armed with multiple weapons, including handguns, a knife and a hammer, authorities said.

FBI: Suspect had a loaded .38-caliber handgun in his waistband, speed loader in his pocket and National Socialist Movement business card on him when arrested. His backpack had 3 more speed loaders, box of ammo, knife, tin snips, scissors, ventilation mask. https://t.co/lz4egNjaKC pic.twitter.com/KQOXRhzw7e  Lincoln Journal Star (@JournalStarNews) January 5, 2018

Witnesses told investigators Wilson was erratic and insisted he was in charge. Im the conductor, bh, Wilson allegedly said, according to the affidavit.

Amtrak employees were able to detain Wilson until authorities arrived. The Amtrak train was en route from Sacramento, California when it stopped in Furnas County near Oxford, Nebraska. There were about 175 people on board, according to the Associated Press.

Wilson has been charged with terrorism attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems.

Authorities say Wilson has no prior criminal history. Its unclear whether Wilson retained an attorney to represent him in the case. The FBIs Omaha field office did not provide further comment Friday.
In what is Mark Zuckerberg's now-traditional New Year speech, the Facebook supremo pledged to fix the social network's many problems which bubbled up in 2017. Perhaps understandably, that admission hogged the headlines but Zuckerberg also said he plans to study encryption and the blockchain "see how best to use them in our services."

That statement comes amid a period of crypto frenzy, with the cryptocurrencies themselves rising in value significancy, and it's already prompting some people to speculate on what companies Facebook should buy. It marks a rare time that the CEO of a major global tech company has committed to even exploring the blockchain.

It's really is a no-brainer for Facebook to look into these technologies since there is serious potential to advance the current tech status quo in meaningful ways.

In his post, Zuckerberg makes mention of international censorship and, in theory, a decentralized service could circumvent such measures -- such China's blocking of Facebook and Twitter, or Iran's recent clamp down on Instagram and Telegram.

We know that appeals to Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder has long believed his company's mission is to connect the world -- to the point that he still makes much-mocked efforts to woo the Chinese government -- and the blockchain is a technology that, if utilized correctly, could give Facebook a platform to beat censors worldwide, even in China.

For example, Steemit is a Reddit-like decentralized social network that operates on the blockchain. Beyond a more robust position against censors, the service rewards its users for good content with small amount of cryptocurrency and has penalties for spam and fake content. It's an early effort with a small community that has struggled to gain widespread adoption, but it might give Zuckerberg some early clues.

But censorship is just one of many areas where Facebook could utilize the blockchain and a decentralized network. It has invested heavily in peer-to-peer payments -- perhaps in the hope of emulating the high level of user engagement WeChat sees in China -- and fintech is a hotbed for blockchain-focused technology and startups. Beyond launching its own project or buying another, Facebook could also piggyback any number of decentralized payment platforms that are currently in development and aimed at making global payments cheaper (free?) and faster.

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Others less obvious areas relevant to Facebook that others are attacking with decentralized projects including transparent online advertising platforms, local discovery platforms, artificial intelligence platforms, music/video streaming platforms and more.

Zuckerberg's past New Year's resolutions have focused on his own challenges such as learning Mandarin, making his own AI, and visiting all American states, but this time around it could impact Facebook's tech and products.

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch.

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It's not hyperbole to say that Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities are a disaster. They affect pretty much every processor used over the past two decades and practically every device. In the right hands, they could reveal things like passwords and other secure information. While many companies have rushed to patch against Meltdown, which specifically affects Intel chips and lets hackers access the memory of apps being used by an operating system, Spectre is more stubborn. It won't be fully resolved until chip makers move to new architectures -- a process that could take years.

While these are some of the most critical exploits the computing world has seen, their existence has made it clear that, in extreme cases like this, technology companies have to work together. That's not exactly news to the collaboration-focused security research community, which initially discovered the vulnerabilities and alerted affected companies. But now, even major competitors are being forced to tackle this issue together to avoid a potential computing apocalypse.

"The chip companies and the OS vendors are doing a pretty good job of handling this," Jack Gold, president of the strategic consulting firm J. Gold Associates, told Engadget. "The fact that Intel, AMD and ARM were all working in unison on this, which they never really do, bodes well for the industry as everyone tries to mitigate this potential threat."

Both exploits rely on the use of "speculative execution" in modern chip architecture, which is one way manufacturers speed up performance. The technique lets processors perform some potential work ahead of time, giving them the leg up in case that's something you need them to do. They could be used to access memory locations, which we previously thought were protected, and get any potentially secure information that they hold.

Notably, though, they don't let hackers access information on storage devices like hard drives. And, as Gold notes in a report, it might also be tough for them to access the on-memory data in the first place, since "it requires understanding the relationship between data locations which are highly variable and actual data content, and requires a good amount of processing/decoding." Basically, while these exploits are potentially serious, it's currently tough for someone to use them easily.

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By next week, Intel says it'll have patched 90 percent of its affected CPUs released within the past five years. ARM has released patches for several of its chips affected by Spectre, and AMD says there is "near zero risk" to its products at the moment. Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Linux community have also released patches to protect against Meltdown. There could be a potential performance hit for Intel users, but the company says it will be "highly workload dependent" and not noticeable to typical users. Researchers, meanwhile, speculate the patches could reduce CPU speeds by up to 20 to 30 percent, something that could severely cut into your rendering time or game performance.

Paul Kocher, an independent researcher who worked with the teams at Google Project Zero and Rambus, which initially found the exploits, told the New York Times that Spectre is an example of how the technology industry is emphasizing speed over security. But Gold rejects that assertion:

"It was an issue of designing an architecture into the chips that no one foresaw could be exploited effectively," he said. "Both the chip and OS took pains to try and make the kernel memory protected and secure, but in this case, others found a way around that. The fact that there are no known cases of this exploit in the wild means that for many years, this was assumed to be a secure implementation. Don't forget that Intel and others have been using this same basic architecture for decades, and it's just now coming to light that there may be a problem. It means that this is a pretty hard, esoteric vulnerability to discover."

As long as you update your personal devices, you likely won't have to worry about these exploits much. The situation is tougher for cloud computing providers like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, since a hacker could conceivably use Meltdown to access information from other clients on a shared server. Google says it's already deployed two techniques against the exploit on its servers, and so far it's seen a "negligible" performance impact. Microsoft has patched its Azure servers, though some users in Western Europe are now reporting issues with their virtual machines. And Amazon Web Services was also quick to secure its systems, but some of its customers are also reporting slowdowns.

True to its name, Spectre will haunt the technology world for years. Cloud providers, in particular, will have to remain vigilant against potential attacks. At this point, almost every consumer service relies on the cloud in some form -- it's simply too expensive and inconvenient to manage your own server hardware. Instead of rushing to deliver the fastest chips possible, the next race for Intel, AMD and ARM is to come up with new architecture that will bust Spectre for good.
A group of activists began broadcasting messages on Twitters San Francisco headquarters Tuesday evening, calling on the site to ban President Donald Trump just hours after he threatened North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the size of his nuclear button.

The group, Resistance SF, continued to display those messages Wednesday, with some reading Be a hero: Ban Trump, Endangers the world and Trumps dog whistle with an arrow pointing to the companys logo.

Another reading Trump or @jack must go appeared to call for the resignation of the companys CEO, Jack Dorsey.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, has enabled @realDonaldTrump from his first dog whistles in the birther movement to his latest nuclear pissing contest, the group wrote on a Facebook event for the action on Wednesday. Twitter is endangering the world and breaking its own terms of service to do it. Trump or Jack must go.

The group also launched a campaign using the hashtag #JackIsComplicit.

HuffPost has reached out to Twitter for comment.

Twitter on Wednesday responded to an outcry over Trumps North Korea tweet, in which the president taunted Kim and said the United States had a Nuclear Button that was much bigger & more powerful than Kims.

The company told The Hill that Trumps tweet did not violate its terms of service because it was not a specific threat. Twitters policy bans specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people.

The company also defended a similar Trump tweet in September in which the president first called Kim Little Rocket Man, with Twitter saying it considered newsworthiness and whether a Tweet is of public interest before taking it down. Dorsey himself has said that all Twitter users are held to the same rules, but he told Wired last year that it was important to maintain open channels to our leaders, whether we like what theyre saying or not.

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The group organizing this weeks protest didnt appear to appreciate that explanation.

Twitter had the audacity to say Trumps escalation with North Korea didnt violate their policies because it [wants] a threat, the group wrote Wednesday evening. If you dont think teetering toward World War III is a threat then youre probably named Jack Dorsey.

As BuzzFeeds Alex Kantrowitz noted, the nights messages also included projections reading History is watching and A tweet starts WWIII?

Heres what theyre projecting on Twitter HQ tonight: A Tweet Starts WWIII? pic.twitter.com/mUG9dKDAgp  Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) January 4, 2018

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Michael Wolff is seen on the set of NBC's 'Today' show prior to an interview about his book: Reuters

Michael Wolffs book delving behind the scenes of the Trump administration has dominated the news this week.

In reporting Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Mr Wolff spent some year-and-a-half interviewing key administration figures, according to a publishers note, and then conducted some 200 additional interviews. The note says there were no ground rules placed on his access to the White House and that Mr Wolff became a constant interloper with something like a semi-permanent seat on a couch in the West Wing.

The White House has blasted Mr Wolffs book as fiction and Donald Trump has denied ever speaking to Mr Wolff (the author claimed Mr Trump gave him the go-ahead, paraphrasing being told to knock yourself out). But the astonishing claims in the book  not to mention the vehement official response  have catapulted its author into the spotlight.

A longtime fixture of the New York media scene, Mr Wolffs resume includes a long list of publications that include USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and New York Magazine.

He became well-known for writing that explored the lives of the rich and powerful, often written with colourful and bombastic language. His New York Magazine column, This Media Life, explored a world of which he was very much a part  he has surfaced periodically in the New York Posts Page Six, a gossip hub for the city.

His work earned him a pair of National Magazine Awards in 2002 and 2004 for columns exploring media figures like Andrew Sullivan, Bill OReilly and Tim Russert and coverage of the Iraq war. Topics of his books have included media moguls like Rupert Murdoch, the television industry and his experience steering a media company during the dotcom boom.

While he achieved prominence and visibility with his work, Mr Wolff is not necessarily beloved by his compatriots in the media world. And he has embraced that, as shown by a past book featuring blurbs that excoriated him as toxic.

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Far less circumspect  and sometimes more vicious  than the other journalists, The New York Times is quoted as saying.

Possibly the bitchiest media bigfoot writing today, suggested The New Republic.

The blurbs for Michael Wolffs new book pic.twitter.com/PHERgmsUeD  Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) May 29, 2015

In a 2004 profile for The New Republic, Michelle Cottle described that notoriety as Mr Wolffs willingness to say absolutely anything about anybody. And she noted that his unconventional reporting style, which entailed placing himself at the centre of the story, exposed him to criticism from other reporters.

Much to the annoyance of his critics, columns arent recreated so much as created  springing from Wolffs imagination rather than from actual knowledge of events. Even Wolff acknowledges that conventional reporting isnt his bag. Rather, he absorbs the atmosphere and gossip swirling around him at cocktail parties, on the street, and especially during those long lunches at Michaels, a glittering Manhattan restaurant, she wrote.

That type of scepticism has bubbled up again in some corners of the media as some reporters have questioned the elaborate detail in some of Mr Wolffs accounts of the Trump administration.

This Wolff excerpt has a 500-word-long chunk of recreated verbatim dialogue between Bannon and Ailes, The New York Times Nick Confessore wrote. Come on.

This Wolff excerpt has a 500-word-long chunk of recreated verbatim dialogue between Bannon and Ailes.

Come on.  Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) January 3, 2018

But other reporters have defended him, with The Hollywood Reporters part-owner saying she attended a dinner party detailed in the book and every word Ive seen from the book about it is absolutely accurate.

So I was one of the 6 guests at the Bannon-Ailes dinner party in January 2017 and every word Ive seen from the book about it is absolutely accurate. It was an astonishing night... pic.twitter.com/I4vgOrHOYb  Janice Min (@janicemin) January 4, 2018

It was an astonishing night she added.
The author of the controversial tell-all book on Donald Trumps presidency claims he did not pursue the book to take down the president. Instead, journalist Michael Wolff insisted on Friday, he was willing to be proved wrong about Trumps nefarious reputation  though that didnt happen.

In an interview with NPRs All Things Considered, Wolff said his intention for Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was to report everything he saw under the Trump administration.

Im becoming the poster boy for taking down Donald Trump. That was never my intention, the journalist told NPRs Kelly McEvers.

I am not a hit man, Wolff said.

My intention was to go into the White House and report what I saw and what I heard, he said. I thought this was going to be an extraordinary story in whatever way it went. I had no way of knowing what way it would go.

Asked by McEvers whether he still stands by his book, despite Trump and the White House disputing it, Wolff said: When you write a book like this, people regret what they said to me. What they say to any reporter who they relax with and they forget who theyre talking to, I have sympathy for that, and I think the natural response is to say, Oh, my God, I didnt say it. But I will tell you, they said it.

Michael Wolff told NPR he spent three hours with Donald Trump, spanning his campaign and presidency, for his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. (Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images)

Wolffs explosive book, which was released early Friday morning, provides a behind-the-scenes look into Trumps presidential campaign and administration and his reputation within the White House.

Wolff told NPR he spent at least three hours with Trump over the course of his campaign and in the White House. The book includes unsavory anecdotes about Trump, including references to the presidents aversion to reading, administration officials incessant leaking to the press and an episode of former chief strategist Steve Bannon calling Donald Trump Jr.s 2016 meeting with Russian operatives treasonous.

But the two main issues tackled in the book, Wolff said, were that Trump wont read anything and Trump wont listen to anyone.

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The two fundamental issues [in the book] were that Donald Trump doesnt read anything, said Wolff. Let me accent that  anything, nothing.

Not only does he not read, he doesnt listen, he added. It becomes, from day one, the crisis of the presidency: You cant tell him anything.

Trump tried to stop Fire and Fury from being released by having his attorney send a cease-and-desist letter to Wolffs publisher on Thursday. That move spurred Wolff to publish the book four days earlier on Friday instead of its intended release date of Jan. 9.

In an attempt to discredit Wolff as a journalist, Trump tweeted Friday that the book was filled with lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist.

I authorized Zero access to the White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book, Trump wrote. I never spoke to him for book.

Wolff defended himself on NBCs Today on Friday: I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I dont know, but it certainly was not off the record.

I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018

Speaking to NPR, Wolff said he approached this book with an open mind about Trump.

In many ways, from the beginning, this has felt like a train wreck, and, as it happened, the train just kept going on but the wall was still out there, he said. Eventually it will hit that wall.

I was certainly willing to be convinced to think differently, willing to think that this unusual figure had a new way to approach things and, what the heck, maybe it would work, he added.

His finished project, however, proved his initial instincts right.

I feel that that is not the case now, Wolff said. I saw and learned that everyone around him feels thats not the case. The train will hit the wall.

Also on HuffPost

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Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Rico residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan on Oct. 3.

Trump reacts as he sits in a truck on March 23 while welcoming truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting at the White House regarding health care.

Trump registers his surprise as he realizes other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 13.

Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, put their hands on an illuminated globe during the inauguration ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21.

Trump looks up toward the solar eclipse while standing on the Truman Balcony at the White House on Aug. 21.

Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May are pictured ahead of a photo opportunity of leaders as they arrive for a NATO summit meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing, China, on Nov. 10.

Trump holds up a pen after signing the HBCU executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 28.

Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait for reporters to enter the room before their meeting in the Oval Office on March 17.

Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.

Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio to the White House on Sept. 15. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the White House lawn, was invited to work for a day along the National Park Service staff.

Trump and Putin shake hands as they take part in a family photo at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 10.

Trump jokes with French President Emmanuel Macron about their handshakes at the start of the NATO summit at their new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump holds a mechanical tool as he attends a Made in America roundtable in the East Room of the White House on July 19.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Michael Wolffs new book chronicling dysfunction within the Trump Administration was released Friday morning, drawing Harry Potter-style crowds at Washington, D.C. bookstores and ire from the White House.

Heres what to know about the author of the news-making expose.

Who is Michael Wolff?

Wolff, 64, has been a columnist for Vanity Fair and a contributor to the Hollywood Reporter and other news outlets, including Newsweek and USA Today, covering the media industry. He has also written several books, including Autumn of the Moguls, Burn Rate and Television is the New Television.

Perhaps most famously, Wolff profiled media mogul Rupert Murdoch in his 2010 book The Man Who Owns the News. Murdoch raised objections about the biography before it was published.

Wolff, the former editorial director of AdWeek, began his career in journalism as a copy boy for the New York Times. In 2007, he founded newser.com, an aggregation site.

What is Fire and Fury?

Wolffs latest book, released ahead of schedule on Friday, is titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. It became the top-selling book on Amazon on Thursday after published excerpts alleged shocking details and quotes from White House aides.

The White House has heavily criticized the content of the book and downplayed Wolffs access to the White House. This is a guy who made up a lot of stories to try to sell books, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News on Friday.

Sanders said Wolff never interviewed the President. But Wolff, in an interview with the TODAY show on Friday, said he spent about three hours with Trump during the course of his campaign and his presidency. I absolutely spoke to the President. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I dont know. But it certainly was not off the record, Wolff said, adding that he spoke to Trump after his inauguration.

Wolff said the book is based on 200 interviews, including those with people who work closely with Trump on a daily basis.

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Why is Michael Wolff controversial?

President Trump has unsurprisingly been a vocal critic of the book and its author. I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist, Trump tweeted on Thursday. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!

Wolff, meanwhile, said Trumps criticism is merely helping him sell books. But other journalists have spoken out this week, some to question Wolffs credibility and others to defend his work.

Wolffs book on Murdoch fueled similar questions about his reporting practices. Like the man he writes about, Wolff is a gossip who is very skilled at extracting information and sensing weakness, the late media writer David Carr wrote in a New York Times review of the book in 2008.

But Wolff dismissed questions about his credibility on Friday and said he stands by everything in Fire and Fury. My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who has ever walked on Earth at this point, Wolff said in the TODAY interview.

When asked if he flattered his way into the White House, Wolff said, I certainly said what was ever necessary to get the story.
By Hani Amara TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Nigeria is starting flights to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Libya which will continue until all those wanting to return home have done so, its foreign minister said on Saturday. Nigerians have recently been the largest national group among African migrants traveling to Libya and trying to cross from there to Italy by sea. Since local armed factions and Libya's coastguard began blocking more migrants from leaving in July last year, large numbers have been trapped in Libya, where they often face dire conditions and abuse, including forced labor. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has in recent months accelerated a "voluntary returns" program to repatriate migrants from a number of countries. Nigeria now joins Niger in organizing bilateral returns. "The main objective, and we're very focused on that objective, is to get these Nigerian citizens back home as quickly as possible," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyema told reporters during a visit to Tripoli. "Our president has made available all the resources necessary to repatriate all the Nigerians here. "We have two planes arriving today and God willing we are hoping to evacuate anything up to 800 Nigerians today." Nigeria had been expecting to fly back about 5,500 migrants, Onyema said, but the situation on the ground made the actual number hard to ascertain. "Some of the difficulties with getting precise numbers is that some are within the control of the central government in camps, some are clearly outside the camps, some are also in less accessible areas where there might not be full central government control and authority," he said. Facilitating voluntary returns could also be complicated by lack of access, Onyema said. Criminals involved in smuggling and trafficking migrants "also (have) an interest that a number of them should not be repatriated, because these represent economic assets for them". Libya has been in turmoil since a 2011 uprising, with rival governments and armed factions vying for power. Onyema was hosted by the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, which has struggled to assert its authority on the ground. Slightly fewer than half as many migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 than 2016, the IOM said on Friday, largely due to a drop in numbers crossing from Libya. (Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, started her diplomatic career as a champion for Palestinian refugees, visiting refugee camps and assuring her U.N. colleagues that she would protect the nearly $300 million in U.S. funding each year that provides schooling for half a million Palestinian children.

Today, she is championing the White House drive to sever the Palestinians most vital economic lifeline unless they participate in U.S.-mediated peace talks. The reversal reflects White House resentment over the Palestinians decision to put forward resolutions before the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly denouncing President Donald Trump for his Dec. 6 decision to move the U.S. Embassy to the disputed capital of Jerusalem.

Both of those resolutions passed overwhelmingly, reflecting widespread international opposition to the White House decision and personally embarrassing the president. This week, the State Department decided to put on hold more than $100 million in funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that was scheduled to be paid on the first working day of January, according to two diplomatic sources.

Haley, meanwhile, told other U.N. ambassadors that the money will not be forthcoming unless Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas  who said Trumps move on Jerusalem disqualifies the United States as neutral mediator  reverses course and comes to the peace table. She has also fumed about what she described as a hateful speech by the Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour, before the U.N. General Assembly.

The president, she said, considers the two U.N. votes a personal affront.

Haley argued internally in favor of moving ahead and conditioning humanitarian aid on the Palestinian Authoritys willingness to engage in peace talks, according to well-placed sources. She reasoned it would provide her with additional leverage in her future dealings with countries that voted in the General Assembly against the United States over Jerusalem.

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Since that vote, Haley has sought to assure the more than 60 countries that didnt vote in favor of the Palestinian resolution (eight voted alongside the United States, 35 abstained, and 21 did not vote) that they would receive special treatment from the United States. She started with an invitation to a Jan. 3 friendship reception at the U.S. mission to the United Nations. But Haleys campaign to cut off all financial assistance to the Palestinians is feeding anxiety among other top members of the presidents national security team, who have begun to push back on Haleys threats.

There is concern that the move against the Palestinians could backfire, feeding greater extremism in the region.

But Haley found dwindling support for her position at an interagency meeting of the National Security Council in Washington Friday, according to a congressional aide. Representatives for the State Departments Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the Defense Department, and the intelligence community argued for keeping the aid flowing. A representative for Haley was the lone holdout. Lacking consensus, a decision was taken to send the matter back to New York for Haley to reconsider her position. In a peculiar twist, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who supported funding for UNRWA, rejected a request from the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration to release the more than $100 million authorized for UNRWA, the aide said.

But it remains unclear whether Trump and Haley would be prepared to climb down.

Haley has previously told reporters that Trump doesnt want to give any additional funding until the Palestinians agree to come back to the negotiation table.

U.N.-based diplomats were uncertain at the time about what portion of the more than $700 million the United States gives to the Palestinians, including $300 million for UNRWA and hundreds of millions more in development aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development. In subsequent exchanges, Haley informed the diplomats that all of the funds were in jeopardy.

Only this White House would be so cynical and delusional to think after needlessly inciting the Palestinians outrage over Jerusalem, that cutting off aid for Palestinian refugees would force their leaders to negotiate a peace agreement, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Leahy contends that the Israeli military opposes what he characterized as the White Houses shortsighted bullying tactics.

UNRWA, he added, has been consistently supported by Democratic and Republican administrations, provides healthcare, education, and other basic services to vulnerable refugees  men, women, and children, many of them hosted by Jordan and other U.S. allies  whose alternative is joining extremist groups like ISIS.

UNRWA was created nearly 70 years ago, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, to assist the more than 700,000 Palestinians displaced by the conflict. Today, it provides food, education, and other services for more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, including a corps of more than 30,000 school teachers who serve more than half a million children.

Last year, Haley assured UNRWA that the United States would maintain current levels of funding for its operations. On Aug. 1, Thomas Shannon, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, wrote to several wealthy donors, including Canada and the Persian Gulf states, and appealed for more than $100 million to meet a gap in the agencys funding.

As late as last month, Haley was still touting Washingtons support for the agency. On Dec. 18, she cited Washingtons generosity to UNRWA in a Security Council speech defending her veto of a Palestinian-backed resolution that called on the White House to rescind its decision move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States, she noted, voluntarily contributes more than 30 percent of the organizations budget to operate schools and medical facilities throughout the Middle East.

I have been to the Palestinian refugee camps the United States supports with their contributions, she said. I have met with men, women, and children. I have advocated on their behalf.

For years, the relief agency has enjoyed bipartisan political support from key congressional leaders, and Israeli security officials have viewed it as a necessary, if not always beloved, provider of services for Palestinians. Israel, which grants visas and permits to UNRWA workers, has taken no steps to shutter the agencys operations.

The relief agency, however, has been the target of growing criticism by pro-Israel conservatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who considers it too sympathetic to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. In remarks to Likud ministers in the summer, Netanyahu said he had advised Nikki Haley that its time to dismantle UNRWA.

Ilan Goldenberg, a top advisor to former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said this is not the first time that funding has been put on hold. In the past, he recalled, pro-Israel critics would stall the funds to protest some action by the Palestinian side.

But inevitably, over time, things would calm down and the Israelis would come to the Americans and say, You know, it would be a really good idea if you just gave them the money.

The Trump administration is different, he added. And Nikki Haley is fairly on a bender on this one.

This story has been updated.
By Christine Kim and David Brunnstrom SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with South Korea next week, the first in more than two years, hours after Washington and Seoul delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told U.S. media it was too early to tell if the inter-Korea meeting could open the way for future talks involving the United States, but he stressed that if such talks came about they would have to be aimed at North Korean denuclearization. South Korea said North Korea had sent its consent for the talks to be held next Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The last time the two Koreas engaged in official talks was in December 2015. The two sides are expected to discuss the Winter Olympics, to be held in South Korea next month, and inter-Korean relations, South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters. North Korea asked for further negotiations about the meeting to be carried out via documented exchanges, Baik said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened the way for talks with South Korea in a New Year's Day speech in which he called for reduced tensions and flagged the North's possible participation in the Winter Olympics. But Kim remained steadfast on the issue of nuclear weapons, saying the North would mass-produce nuclear missiles for operational deployment and warned he would launch a nuclear strike if his country was threatened. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called the proposed inter-Korean talks a "good thing," and he and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in announced that annual large-scale military drills would now take place after the Olympics. The North sees the drills as preparations for invasion and justification for its weapons programs that it conducts in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. South Korea and the United States are technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. Trump, who hurled fresh insults at the North Korean leader this week, took credit for any dialogue that takes place. "Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total 'might' against the North," Trump tweeted. TILLERSON WARNING Speaking to CNN, Tillerson made clear that Washington was also open to talks with North Korea, but warned that while it aimed to resolve the crisis diplomatically, "those diplomatic efforts are backed by a strong military option if necessary." Tillerson said future talks involving the United States could allow North Korea to "chart a way for themselves to a more secure future, a more prosperous future." He added: "They do know how to reach us if and when they are ready to engage with us as well." Tillerson said how such talks might begin had yet to be determined, but North Korea would have to signal it understood that they would be aimed at "final, full denuclearization." He told the Associated Press it remained to be seen whether the North Koreans would want to talk about more than the Olympics next week. The meeting could be a vehicle through which they would like to tell us that they would like to have some discussions, the AP quoted Tillerson as saying. It could be meaningful, it could be important. It could be a meeting about the Olympics and nothing else happens. North Korea says its weapons are necessary to counter U.S. aggression, and it regularly threatens to destroy the United States and its two key Asia allies, Japan and South Korea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang welcomed North and South Korea "taking positive steps to improve ties," and said the postponement of the exercises was "without doubt a good thing." China's Commerce Ministry said it would limit exports of crude oil, refined oil products, steel and other metals to North Korea, in line with tough new sanctions imposed by the United Nations. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera sounded a note of caution about the proposed talks. "I think what is important is to maintain a firm defense posture," he told reporters. "North Korea goes through phases of apparent dialogue and provocation, but either way, North Korea is continuing its nuclear and missile development. We have no intention of weakening our warning and surveillance." Earlier this week, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington had heard reports that Pyongyang might be preparing to fire another missile. South Korea's Defence Ministry has said it had yet to see any evidence of an imminent missile launch. Analysts with the website 38 North, which tracks North Korea, reported Pyongyang may be preparing to test a rocket engine at a facility in Sohae, North Pyongan province, where all of the North's satellite launches have taken place since 2012. Commercial satellite imagery from Dec. 25 showed a rail-mounted environment shelter had been moved away from a test stand, indicating that an engine test may be in the near future, the website said, rather than a new rocket launch suspected in recent media reports. (Reporting by Christine Kim in Seoul and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith in Seoul, Olivier Fabre in Tokyo, Philip Wen in Beijing, Denis Pinchuk in Moscow and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler)
The "2nd Wednesday: Sound, Soup & Sanctuary" concert series at the University Congregational Church will be presented by Rocky Shoals.

The group, including members Barclay Nickel, Terry Cady and Dan Comstock, focuses on Sea Chanties, as well as emphasizing historically informed performances of a wide range of music including Early American Music from the folk tradition.

Rocky Shoals regularly performs across Western Montana and monthly for retirement communities and assisted living facilities throughout Missoula.

The 20-minute concert is scheduled to begin at 12:10 p.m. Following the concert there will be a soup-and-bread luncheon in the Fireside Room of the church. A free-will offering will be accepted to help defray costs.

The church is located at 405 University Ave. Call 406-543-6952 for information.
Tehran (AFP) - More than 2,000 Afghans deployed by Iran have been killed fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, an official in the volunteer force told Iranian media.

The Fatemiyoun Brigade of Afghan "volunteer" recruits has been fighting in Syria for five years, said Zohair Mojahed, a cultural official in the brigade.

"This brigade has given more than 2,000 martyrs and 8,000 wounded for Islam," he said in an interview with the reformist Shargh newspaper published Saturday.

Iran rarely provides figures on the numbers fighting and killed in its operations in Syria and Iraq.

The last toll was provided by the veterans organisation in March, which said 2,100 volunteers had died without specifying how many were foreign recruits.

Iran denies sending professional troops to fight in the region, saying it has only provided military advisors and organised brigades made up of volunteers from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Fatemiyoun is reportedly the biggest military unit deployed by Iran in Iraq and Syria, made up of recruits from Afghanistan's Shiite minority.

Iran has backed Afghan forces in the past against the Taliban in their own country, as well as mobilising them against Saddam Hussein's forces in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.

Some 3,000 Afghans died fighting Iraq in the 1980s, Mojahed said.

Tehran offers Iranian citizenship to the families of those foreign fighters "martyred" in the conflicts of Syria and Iraq.

Iranian media has reported on the funerals of volunteer "martyrs" and aired television features about their presence in Syria.
Bethlehem (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinians protesting church land sales to Israelis scuffled with Palestinian police in Bethlehem Saturday as they tried to block the arrival of the Holy Land's Greek Orthodox patriarch for Christmas celebrations.

Demonstrators scuffled with club-wielding Palestinian security forces and banged on the sides of police escort vehicles but patriarch Theophilos III passed safely in his black limousine to the Church of the Nativity for the traditional Orthodox Christmas eve observance.

"Today we stand here to prevent the entry of the traitor Theophilos," Salama Shaheen, an activist of the Arab Orthodox Youth movement, told AFP in Arabic.

"We do not want this man. This man must be brought to trial because he betrayed the homeland, betrayed the church and betrayed every human principle," he added.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Theophilos joined heads of the Syrian and Coptic Orthodox churches in the ancient church, which Christians believe marks the birthplace of Jesus.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's office told AFP he would attend midnight mass celebrated by Theophilos at the church on Saturday and present him with a model of Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre church as a Christmas gift.

Most Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, while those in the West observe it on December 25 because of differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

- Traditional parade -

The Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala municipalities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had called for the boycott over the Greek Orthodox church allegedly allowing controversial sales of its property in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem to groups aiding Jewish settlement there.

They had urged the public to stay away, but it was not immediately known if there was a significant drop in attendance compared to previous days or what effect driving rain in Bethlehem may have had.

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The traditional parade of boy and girl scout marching bands went ahead, and performers in santa and clown costumes staged a children's show in the square next to the church.

At least some official invitees were at the church to welcome Theophilos, WAFA said on its English-language website.

"He was received by Palestinian officials, including the governor of Bethlehem Jibrin Bakri and Minister of Tourism Rola Mayaya among others," it wrote.

The mayor of the Christian town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, earlier said he wanted Theophilos removed from his post over the controversial land sales.

"Our move today is a protest against the patriarch over the sale of land of the Orthodox," mayor Nicola Khamis told AFP.

The church elected Theophilos in 2005 after dismissing his predecessor Irineos over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land to Jewish buyers.

But Khamis says the practice continues.

"Theophilos ignored all the demands and continued selling this land even if the (Christian) majority is against it," he said.

"Today we are taking a stand to say the patriarch must stop the selling of the land."

- Wealthiest church -

Property transactions with Jewish buyers anger Palestinians, who see Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

In August, Theophilos himself denounced an Israeli court ruling upholding deals made before his appointment between the church and Israeli pro-settlement organisation Ateret Cohanim for two hotel properties near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of east Jerusalem.

He said the church would appeal to Israel's supreme court over the ruling.

According to Israeli media, the 2004 agreements were for 99-year leases on hotel properties near Jaffa Gate.

The church went to court against Ateret Cohanim, claiming the deals were signed illegally and without its authorisation.

The Greek Orthodox Church is the largest and wealthiest Christian Church in the Holy Land.

Its Jerusalem patriarchate commands massive wealth, largely in land portfolios in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jordan.

Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported in October that the church was also selling off vast swathes of real estate in west Jerusalem and across Israel.

"In recent years the patriarchate has been quietly selling off its properties in various parts of the country to companies hidden in tax shelters, for sums so low one wonders whether the church is trying to get rid of its assets at any cost," it wrote.

"All the purchasers are foreign companies registered in tax shelters, so it is impossible to obtain information about their owners," it added.
The enormous demand for author Michael Wolffs expose on President Trumps White House, Fire and Fury, has created a scramble for copies as online and physical retailers struggle to supply their customers. The crowded market has led some antsy readers to look in their local libraries instead, but they wont find much luck there either at the moment.

The New York Public Library, the second-largest public library system in the U.S. behind only the Library of Congress, had 1,174 holds (and rising) on 49 copies of the #1 Amazon best seller, NYPL spokeswoman Ayofemi Kirby told TIME. She said that the library has a two-week checkout period for new books, meaning it will take weeks  maybe months  for patrons to get their hands on Fire and Fury. In response, the library ordered 450 more rush copies, Kirby said.

Washington, D.C. Public Library spokesman George Williams said the system was ordering 65 copies in addition to the 31 it already has in order to keep up with the demand.

At this particular point in time, everyone who is waiting to borrow the physical books will likely have their hands on it within six weeks, he said. Williams added that the library also had 20 electronic copies of the book, but those readers would have to wait even longer than six weeks because its more expensive for libraries to carry e-books rather than physical editions.

The situation is mirrored in cities all over the country. In Portland, Ore., the Multnomah County Library tweeted that it had over 700 holds, prompting the system to order 150 copies. Both Boston and San Francisco library officials told TIME that patrons could have to wait up to three months to check out a copy.

We do indeed have the book everybody's been talking about, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House although it already has nearly 700 holds, we have 150 copies on order and available soon. https://t.co/j9K5y4UCck pic.twitter.com/OrarV2ezDu  Multnomah County Lib (@MultCoLib) January 5, 2018

The demand for this book is huge, said Peter Persic of the Los Angeles Public Library. Its comparable to the first day sales of the Harry Potter books back in their heyday.

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What makes it especially unusual is [that its] a nonfiction, Persic added. Usually bestsellers of this type are fiction books. Its probably our biggest nonfiction bestseller in years, since anyone can remember.

Interest in Wolffs title exploded earlier this week when The Guardian and New York magazine published excerpts from the book detailing explosive details from within the White House over the course of Trumps first year in office. Among the most astonishing revelations was that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon described Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushners 2016 meeting with Russian officials as treasonous, prompting Trump to release a statement Wednesday saying that Bannon had lost his mind.

On Thursday, Trumps lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Wolff and his books publisher, Henry Holt and Co., in order to halt the publication. Instead, Henry Holt and Co. opted to move up the release date to the following day, Friday, citing unprecedented demand.

My understanding is that three days ago, there was one hold in place. Yesterday it was 200, said Chicago Public Library spokesperson Patrick Molloy. Now its at 564. Its going to be a while.
A file photo of a United Airlines flight, which: Getty

A passenger plane was forced to land in Anchorage on its way to Hong Kong after a man smeared his feces on the walls of the in-flight bathroom, airports officials said.

United Flight 895, which originated out of Chicago was diverted to Anchorage and grounded Thursday night due to a passenger smearing feces everywhere, Ted Stevens, of the International Airport Police, told a local CBS station.

Airport Police say that the alleged excrement-smearer hit at least two of the bathrooms on the plane, and took off his shirt at some point and tried to stuff it into the toilet.

By the time the plane landed, the man was cooperative with the flight crew and seate.d

The plane, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com, landed at the Anchorage airport at around 6.20 p.m. local time

No charges have so far been filed in relation to the excrement smearing, but the man was reportedly taken to a nearby hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was met at the airport by FBI agents and the Airport Police, both of which interviewed him about his actions and intent.

The FBI has indicated they are investigating the incident, alongside the Airport Police.

The Boeing 777 that was taking passengers to Hong Kong did not immediately take off again, and was grounded over night. It was scheduled to take off again at roughly 2 p.m. Friday local time.
The Trump administration is proposing to open almost all U.S. coastal waters to oil drilling, including those off California and Florida where activists have fought for decades to spare delicate ecosystems from oil spills.

The proposal being released Thursday will go far beyond President Donald Trumps April order directing the Interior Department to consider auctioning oil and gas leases in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead, the Interior Department is proposing 47 possible auctions of drilling rights in more than 90 percent of the U.S. outer continental shelf, including Pacific waters near California and Atlantic waters near Maine. The draft plan opens the door to selling leases in 25 of the nations 26 offshore planning areas.

Under President Trump, we are going to become the strongest energy superpower this world has ever known, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters.

The draft proposal illustrates the Trump administrations commitment to expanding domestic energy development beyond the Gulf of Mexico. Both Trump and Zinke have celebrated American energy dominance, and the president has vowed to unleash the vast energy wealth of the U.S.

The Obama-era plan Trump is aiming to replace forces drillers to focus on the central and western Gulf of Mexico; only one of the existing programs 11 sales is of territory elsewhere, a 2021 auction of acreage in Alaskas Cook Inlet.

The new proposal will ignite a clash with environmentalists and coastal residents who have fought offshore drilling that they say poses too great a risk of oil spills befouling beaches, harming marine life and jeopardizing tourism.

This radical offshore drilling free-for-all is a clear example of politics over people, ignoring widespread local and state opposition, said Diane Hoskins, a campaign director for the marine conservation group Oceana. The Trump administrations plan not only ignores the risky nature of dirty and dangerous drilling, but also the people and coastal businesses who would be most affected.

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All three governors on the U.S. West Coast oppose expanded offshore drilling, and on the East Coast, more than 140 municipalities have lodged their opposition. The governors of North Carolina and Virginia also expressly asked the Trump administration to leave their states out of any new plan, and Floridas governor announced his opposition Thursday.

The administrations backward-looking approach puts oil and gas profits first  and will place our coastal communities and all they support at risk of the next BP-style disaster, said Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh, referring to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Well stand with leaders of vision, business owners and fishing families on every coast to protect our oceans and shores.

The Interior Departments draft is just an initial step in a process of assembling a new five-year schedule for selling offshore oil leases from 2019 to 2024, replacing Obamas plan that spanned 2017 to 2022. The process for assembling that blueprint begins broadly, with the number of potential sales and the available acreage generally whittled down as regulators move from an initial draft to a proposal and ultimately, the final program.

For instance, the Obama administration originally proposed selling drilling rights in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans before ultimately abandoning the idea.

The administration could finalize a sale schedule by the end of the year, after multiple rounds of environmental analysis and public comment.

Oil industry advocates argue companies need new options beyond the Gulf of Mexico, where drilling has been ongoing for decades.

We should keep as many options on the table for our future oil and gas and energy needs, said Erik Milito, a director with the American Petroleum Institute. The decisions that are being made now are really decisions about five, 10 and 15 years down the line. We dont want to prematurely take areas off the table that may be critically important for our energy and national security down the road.

It is not clear how much oil and gas exists under Atlantic waters off the East Coast, because existing data stems largely from decades-old geological surveys and more than four-dozen wells drilled in the 1970s and 1980s. Some petroleum geologists examining the location of continents before they drifted apart point to discoveries and development in other parts of the Atlantic Ocean as illustrating potential oil deposits along the U.S. East Coast.

Oil is still being produced from wells off southern Californias coast, even though the government last sold leases in the area in 1984.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States and Russia clashed over Iran at the UN Security Council on Friday as a third straight day of pro-regime rallies were held following a wave of deadly protests.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley pushed for the meeting of the top UN body, arguing the unrest could escalate into full-blown conflict and drawing a comparison with Syria.

"The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do," Haley warned.

Russia opposed the US push for Iran to be discussed at the Security Council, arguing the protests pose no threat to international peace and security.

But Moscow stopped short of seeking to block the meeting.

A total of 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested since December 28 as protests over economic woes turned against the regime as a whole, with attacks on government buildings and police stations.

Pro-regime rallies were held around Tehran Friday for the third day running with authorities seeking to put a lid on the violence. There were some reports of small anti-government demonstrations in provincial towns, but these could not be verified.

"We obviously regret the loss of life as the result of demonstrations that weren't so peaceful," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council.

"However, let Iran deal with its own problems," he said.

Iranian officials have blamed a plot by the CIA, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the unrest that convulsed much of the country for five days -- part of the increasing tensions playing out between Iran and its neighbors since President Donald Trump came to power.

The United States has meanwhile piled pressure on Iran, with Trump pledging to help Iranians "take back" their government.

- A threat to peace ? -

Washington has imposed unilateral sanctions on five Iranian companies linked to Tehran's ballistic missile program.

"The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley told the council.

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"It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."

Russia's envoy shot back that if the US view holds, the council should have also discussed the 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri over the police shooting of a black teenager or the US crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

China also described the meeting as meddling in Iran's affairs, while Ethiopia, Kuwait and Sweden expressed reservations about the discussion.

Britain and France reiterated that Iran must respect the rights of protesters, but French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the "events of the past days do not constitute a threat to peace and international security."

Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo slammed the meeting as a "farce" and a "waste of time" and said the council should instead focus on addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Yemen.

- 'CIA plot' -

It remains difficult to gauge who was involved in the anti-government unrest.

President Hassan Rouhani's supporters have blamed conservative rivals for stoking anger over economic issues, which quickly spiralled out of control.

The conservatives deny the accusations and say Rouhani must do more to help the poor.

Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri blamed the unrest on a plot dating back four years by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, while also claiming there were efforts to infiltrate the Islamic State group into the country.

Many officials have nonetheless recognized the genuine economic grievances of many Iranians, particularly a jobless rate at close to 30 percent for young people.

Iran's economic growth rebounded to more than 12 percent last year after sanctions were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, but analysts say much of the windfall has come from renewed oil sales that generate few jobs.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said 42,000 people had taken part in the unrest nationwide.

It was higher than a previous figure of 15,000 given by the head of the Revolutionary Guards, but still far below the hundreds of thousands that took to the streets during the last major protest movement in 2009.

- Nuclear waivers -

Trump must decide next week whether to continue waiving nuclear-related sanctions suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Under the deal, Trump must actively lift certain sanctions every few months and the next deadline falls on January 12.

Trump's repeated tweets backing protesters during Iran's unrest was rebuffed by marchers on Friday.

"Mr Trump passed laws against Iranians such as the immigration ban, and he called Iranians 'savages'... and suddenly he is sympathizing and supporting Iranians and it is ridiculous," said Khalili, a government worker in Tehran.
(SEOUL)  After one of the most fraught years on the Korean Peninsula in recent memory  threats of war amid North Koreas strongest-ever nuclear bomb test and repeated missile launches  an unexpected, very tentative interest in peace seems to have broken out.

In rapid succession: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un floats the idea in a New Years speech of better ties with his southern rival. Maybe, he says, hell even send a delegation to next months Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Seoul quickly offers to meet and talk. And on Wednesday, the North announces that Kim views the Souths offer positively and the two sides begin preliminary contact on a newly reopened cross-border communication channel.

Is it an elaborate ruse by the North? Wishful thinking in the South?

Some answers to questions about what it may all mean:

How likely is it that the two sides will actually meet?

Theres a pretty good chance, though meeting is the easy part.

South Korean President  has favored better ties with North Korea for years, and he campaigned on pledges to take a softer line than his conservative predecessors.

Moon was a top aide for a previous liberal president who maintained a so-called Sunshine Policy toward Pyongyang, with large amounts of aid shipped to the North and the two sides pursuing cooperative tourism and business programs.

Although Moon, who took office in May, has been pushed into a hard-line stance by the Norths repeated missile and nuclear tests, he would clearly like dialogue.

The Norths Kim, on the other hand, has shown little interest in pursuing peace since taking power in late 2011. That said, he has made repeated suggestions about improving ties in past New Years speeches. Skeptics will point out that he mixed his peace overtures with threats of war and has conducted weapons tests within weeks of past speeches.

Theres also suspicion that Kim will use any talks as cover to continue perfecting an arsenal of nukes that can reliably hit the U.S. mainland, and that his overture is mainly meant to disrupt ties between Seoul and Washington so he can weaken international pressure and sanctions.

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Why is it so difficult for the Koreas to make peace?

Seven decades of simmering animosity and bloodshed is the short answer.

The Koreas were divided in 1945 at the end of World War II into a U.S.-controlled southern side and a Soviet-controlled north. Three years later, the division became formal with the founding of the opposing republics. Two years after that, the North launched a surprise invasion and the Koreas fought, with the help of the United States, the United Nations and China, one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century.

Since then, there has been steady bloodshed, though mostly from the North, including assassinations, kidnappings and, in 2010, attacks blamed on North Korea that killed 50 South Koreans.

When the history is this bloody, and the two sides are squared off across the most heavily armed border in the world, every detail is usually contested.

Even if they meet, is there any chance for a breakthrough?

Any time the Koreas talk its a victory of sorts, especially after the misery of last year.

Still, the rivals have done this dance many times before, and their talks dont have the best track record when it comes to results, often blowing up before anything really gets done.

If there are talks, the first round will likely be lower-level discussions meant to set up a higher-level meeting. Previous such talks have bogged down on matters of protocol, for instance, with one side objecting to the rank of a proposed participant.

If a next round is decided upon, the actual negotiations of what to do about Olympic cooperation would begin. But with decades of accrued animosity between them, nothing is guaranteed.

What about President Donald Trumps nuclear button tweet?

For the time being, both Koreas are ignoring it.

Trumps tweets worried South Koreans at first, but they are becoming used to them. President Moon will likely prefer to focus on the rare signs of rapprochement with the North.

The North, however, rarely lets an insult pass, though theres a chance it could keep its outrage against Trump separate from whatever its intentions are with the South.

Foster Klug is the APs bureau chief in Seoul and has covered the Koreas since 2005.
Boomer is a more established, older gentleman that enjoys the finer things in life, such as naps and cuddles. Boomer has learned a lot in his 8 years of life, and after his recent surgery, he is ready to retire. While recovering from surgery, Boomer lived in a foster house and was the perfect guest. He was sweet and friendly to everyone and LOVED to snuggle with his people. If you are looking for a gentle and loving companion to care for, Boomer is the guy for you. He absolutely loves to spend time with his people and other dogs. He is super smart and focused, and would be great for small adventures. If this handsome gentleman is the guy for you, come visit him at the Humane Society of Western Montana during our open hours, Wednesday-Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from noon-5 p.m. Boomer would also like to thank the generous Missoula community for all of their support during the holiday season. He was very appreciative of all of the generous donations that helped him have a happy holiday season. Happy New Year from Boomer, his resolution is to find a new home.
YANGON (Reuters) - Rohingya Muslim insurgents ambushed a military vehicle in Myanmar's Rakhine State, wounding five members of the security forces, state media and officials said, and the rebels claimed responsibility for the rare attack. A wave of raids by the insurgents on security force posts on Aug. 25 sparked sweeping army counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of the state that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 650,000 Rohingya villagers to neighbouring Bangladesh. The United Nations condemned the Myanmar military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejected that. But since Aug. 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents, who claimed responsibility for the coordinated raids on 30 security posts, have mounted only a few sporadic attacks. The military said "extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA" carried out the Friday attack on a truck taking someone to hospital. "A vehicle ... was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms," the government said. The military said there were about 10 attackers. An ARSA spokesman said his group had carried out the attack. "Yes, ARSA takes responsibility for the latest military movement," the spokesman told Reuters through a messaging service. He said further details may be revealed later. The ARSA dismisses any links to Islamist militant groups and says it is fighting to end the oppression of the Rohingya people. The Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine quoted a resident of a nearby village as saying sporadic gunfire had been heard at the time of the ambush. A state-run newspaper reported on Saturday that fighting continued after the ambush. The area is largely off-limits to reporters. Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the Rohingya refugees but more insecurity in Myanmar is likely to raise doubts about how quickly that might take place. (Reporting by Shoon Naing, additional reporting by Andrew Marshall; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Moscow (AFP) - Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Friday said Washington is "looking for reasons" to pressure Iran on its nuclear programme.

Ryabkov was responding to US Vice President Mike Pence who this week said Washington will "not remain silent on Iran" and called for a replacement to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

"If (the US) is looking for reasons to increase pressure on Iran that have nothing to do with the (nuclear) deal, and that's how it looks like from what we see, then this is an unworthy method that should not be used by a great power," Ryabkov said.

The 2015 Iran deal gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

"We see no reason whatsoever to change the Iran deal," he added.

Earlier this week Ryabkov warned Washington against interfering in Iran's "internal affairs" after US President Donald Trump pledged to help Iranians "take back" their government following protests.

US President Donald Trump tried to ramp up pressure on what he called a "brutal and corrupt regime" in Iran amid anti-government protests in the country this week.

Much of Trump's response has focused on playing up perceived errors in foreign policy by the Obama administration, including the 2015 Iran deal.

On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on five Iranian companies it alleges are working on part of the Islamic republic's illegal ballistic missile program.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin linked the measure to recent anti-government protests, arguing that Iran ought to spend more on public welfare than on banned weapons.

Protests over economic problems broke out in Iran's second largest city Mashhad on December 28 and quickly spread across the country, turning against the regime as a whole.

Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in several cities on Wednesday for pro-regime rallies.
Pro-government demonstrators hold banners during a march in the central Iranian city of Isfahan: AFP/Getty

Russia has warned the United States not to interfere in what Moscow calls Irans domestic affairs.

Donald Trump has pledged great support for Iranian protesters, who have been staging rallies across Iran over the past week against the countrys clerical leadership.

Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government, the US President tweeted. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!

Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

We warn the US against attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister said in an interview with state news agency TASS.

Mr Ryabkov also said Washington is tempted to use the moment to raise new issues with regard to the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that limits Irans nuclear programme, including restrictions on uranium enrichment for 10 years.

At least 21 people have been killed in the demonstrations, which are the largest to strike Iran since its disputed 2009 presidential election.

It is not immediately clear if the drop in reports of new demonstrations means the protests are subsiding or whether the authorities blocking of social media apps has stopped protesters from offering new images of rallies.

Irans army chief said police forces had already quelled anti-government unrest, but his troops were ready to intervene if needed as thousands took to the streets in support of the government in new state-sponsored rallies.

Although this blind sedition was so small that a portion of the police force was able to nip it in the bud... you can rest assured that your comrades in the Islamic Republics army would be ready to confront the dupes of the Great Satan [United States], state media quoted Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi as saying.

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Following six days of demonstrations, the Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday it had deployed forces to quell unrest in three provinces where most of the trouble had occurred, in the clearest sign authorities were taking the protests seriously.

The Revolutionary Guard were instrumental in suppressing an uprising over alleged election fraud in 2009 in which dozens were killed.

In a letter to United Nations officials, the Iranian ambassador, Gholamali Khoshroo, complained Washington was intervening in a grotesque way in Irans internal affairs.

He said Mr Trump and his Vice President, Mike Pence, were personally stirring up trouble. The President and Vice President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts, the ambassador wrote.

Mr Trumps UN envoy, Nikki Haley, has called for an emergency Security Council meeting on Iran, saying the UN needed to speak out in support of the protesters. A meeting is yet to be scheduled.

Russia considers the proposal for an extraordinary meeting as harmful and destructive, Mr Ryabkov said in separate comments to Russias RIA news agency.

We see no role for the United Nations Security Council in this issue, he said.
Moscow (AFP) - Russia's Supreme Court on Saturday turned down an appeal by opposition politician Alexei Navalny to overturn a controversial ruling barring him from running in the March presidential election against Vladimir Putin.

On December 31, the Supreme Court upheld the Central Election Commission's decision that Navalny cannot register as a candidate due to an embezzlement conviction which the opposition politician says is politically motivated.

Opposed only by token candidates, Putin is widely expected to win a fourth presidential term in the March election, making him he longest serving Russian leader since dictator Josef Stalin.

Russian agencies said Navalny's campaign team will continue to seek a reversal of the ban.

"We will appeal today's Supreme Court ruling at the Presidium but also at Russia's Constitutional Court," Navalny's representative Ivan Zhdanov told Interfax news agency.

"In theory, Navalny still has a chance of taking part in the election, but in reality they are negligible," he added.

Navalny, who has campaigned across Russia in recent months, argued earlier in front of the Central Election Commission banning him from participation would make the election illegitimate.

The ban prompted the 41 year-old protest leader to call for a poll boycott.

Navalny, who has built a sizeable campaign through his blog and YouTube on an anti-corruption platform, has called several mass rallies across Russia last year that saw a high number of young people participate.

He has called on his supporters to take to the streets again on January 28.

Putin and other top Russian officials to not refer to Navalny by name.
Apparently, around 2 million Americans can't work because of tinnitus, and it's also the most common service-connected disability in veterans. The condition doesn't have a cure yet, but those suffering from it might not have to endure all the phantom ringing, clicking and hissing for life, thanks to a device developed by researchers from the University of Michigan. Their creation treats tinnitus by using precisely timed sounds and weak electrical pulses designed to persuade damaged nerves in the region of the brainstem called dorsal cochlear nucleus into working correctly again.

Team leader and U-M Medical School professor Susan Shore explained:

"When the main neurons in [the dorsal cochlear nucleus], called fusiform cells, become hyperactive and synchronize with one another, the phantom signal is transmitted into other centers where perception occurs. If we can stop these signals, we can stop tinnitus. That is what our approach attempts to do..."

The team tested the small, box-like device on guinea pigs first before testing it on 20 tinnitus patients who used it 30 minutes every day for four weeks. It played a sound into the ears and alternated it with precisely timed, mild electrical pulses to the cheek or neck for half the patients. The other half only received sounds. They found that the loudness of the phantom sounds decreased by 12 decibels in some of the patients who received both sounds and electrical pulses. A couple of subjects even said their tinnitus disappeared completely. However, those who only received sounds didn't report a change in their condition.

Due to the way their device works, it can only treat somatic tinnitus. People who have this variant can modulate the phantom ringing/hissing they hear by pressing a part of their face and forehead or clenching their jaw. Thankfully, studies say two-thirds of tinnitus patients suffer from somatic forms of the condition, making their device a promising treatment for most people. The researchers are trying to find a way to make it work just as well for nonsomatic patients, though. They're also conducting more studies and tests to figure out how to make its effects last longer, since the testers' symptoms came back after a couple of weeks.

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Shore said:
By Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said on Thursday she opposed the possible nomination of Manhattan's interim top federal prosecutor, Geoffrey Berman, to permanently fill the post, citing concerns over his independence from President Donald Trump. Gillibrand, the junior U.S. senator from New York, said in an emailed statement to Reuters that she found "deeply disturbing" reports the president personally interviewed Berman for the post of Manhattan U.S. attorney, whose jurisdiction includes Trump's home, offices and real estate holdings in New York. "If this meeting took place it shows a lack of judgment that (Gillibrand) believes her colleagues should view as disqualifying as a nominee," the statement said. Gillibrand said it was especially troubling in light of reports that Trump had asked former FBI director James Comey for a pledge of loyalty in a one-on-one meeting. Politico and other media outlets reported in October that Berman and at least two other candidates for U.S. attorney were personally interviewed by Trump. Presidents have not typically met with U.S. attorney nominees, and some Democrats have suggested it was inappropriate from Trump to do so, especially for the Manhattan position. The Manhattan U.S. attorney is one of the nation's top law enforcement posts, well known for terrorism cases and prosecutions of Wall Street financial crimes and government corruption The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has not denied that the interviews took place. Other former government lawyers from both parties have said they would not have been improper on their face. Berman, who was a member of Trump's transition team, was sworn in on Thursday as one of 17 interim U.S. attorneys appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to serve in jurisdictions around the country. The interim posts are for 120 days unless those holding them are re-appointed by a court or officially nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate. The statement from Gillibrand is potentially significant because she could try to block Berman's nomination through the "blue slip" process by which senators have traditionally held veto power over nominees in their home state. Chuck Schumer, the senior senator from New York and also a Democrat, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Berman, who was an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from 1990 to 1994, was a partner at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, another supporter of Trump's presidential run in 2016, practices at the same firm. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, tweeted his disapproval of Berman on Tuesday. "Trump's appointment of a prosecutor - after a personal interview - who may well be prosecuting him is absolutely abhorrent to the rule of law," he wrote. New York lawyer Robert Fiske, who served as Manhattan U.S. attorney from 1976 to 1980 and worked with Berman early in Berman's career, called the concerns about the meeting a "red herring" and said the president was entitled to meet with someone he was going to nominate. (Reporting by Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington.; Editing by Andrew Hay and Leslie Adler)
Videos from the wedding show the groom being forced to place a ring on - CEN/Youtube

Indian police are investigating after a groom says he was abducted and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint.

Dubbed a literal shotgun wedding, the nuptials took place in the eastern state of Bihar, according to police and video clips that surfaced online on Friday.

The family of Vinod Kumar, an engineer at the steel plant in the town of Bokaro, claim he was abducted and coerced into the pakadua vivah, or forced wedding, in Bihar.

The case is unusual even for a relatively volatile state like Bihar as the protagonists are from middle-class, urban, high caste families. Typically forced marriage cases involve lower caste, rural families and more often than not the abductee is a bride, not a groom.

Although cases are rare, grooms are known to be coerced into marriage to force them to enter legal agreements over property or business with the brides family, or simply so the womans relatives do not have to put up an expensive dowry to attract a suitor.

Police say Mr Kumars relatives approached them a few weeks after the incident for protection, as they feared reprisals from a local underworld chief. Mr Kumars brother also said one of the brides family was holding a gun during the ceremony.

Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj. from Patna, the state capital, then ordered officers to free Kumar from the village where he was kept after the marriage. The groom is currently under police protection and the bride and her relatives are said to be on the run, local media reported.

The saga came to light when video clips of the marriage ceremony surfaced this week, showing a distraught Kumar being coerced into performing traditional Hindu wedding rituals.

When the 29-year-old engineer refused to put vermillion, the traditional red dye used in Hindu weddings, on the brides forehead, members of her family are heard saying in the local language of Bhojpuri: Are you being hanged? We are solemnising your wedding only. Which mountain is being placed on your head?.

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Kumars brother Sanjay alleges Surendra Yadav, described as a gangster by local media, orchestrated the events at the behest of the brides family.

News18 interviewed the brides brother, Umesh Prasad, who denied that it was a forced marriage and said it was a normal wedding. However, he became irritable when asked about the video clips that surfaced on the web, in which the groom was seen being manhandled. I do not know about any video. He is now opposing this marriage at the behest of his brother. I wish they live a happy married life, said Mr Prasad.

Mr Kumar added that local police were unhelpful, which is why he went to the police in Patna. Mr Kumar hinted that they were in cahoots with the local strongman Mr Yadav, who in the past has been linked to the disgraced former chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, (no relation).

Superintendent Amarkesh of Patna Police, in charge of Mr Kumars protective detail, said: We are looking into it and will take action against the culprits. We are also probing the role of the local police.

Forced marriage remains a major problem for India, various estimates put the number of kidnaps related to marriage between 2,800-3,000 last year, and several websites and phone hotlines are available for potential victims.
A swath of snow, ice and rain is forecast to develop and spread over a large portion of the central United States as arctic air retreats into early Monday.

A weak storm will move out of the Rockies and grab moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, while a weak storm drops southeastward from the Canada Prairies.

Even though the air temperature is forecast to climb to or above the 32-degree Fahrenheit mark from the central Plains to much of the Midwest, the ground will remain below freezing in many areas during the first part of the week.

Rain fell and came into contact with a cold ground on Sunday across parts of Missouri, Illinois, northern Arkansas and southeastern Iowa. Some surfaces became icy as a result.

The same conditions are spreading into Indiana, Michigan and Ohio into early Monday.



Wintry storm 1.7 PM

Just enough freezing rain or drizzle is likely from Interstate 80, southward to part of the I-64 corridor to raise the risk of dangerous black ice.

Untreated roads, sidewalks and other cold surfaces may become icy in St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri; Chicago, Quincy and Mount Vernon, Illinois; Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana; Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio; Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky; and Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mostly snow or a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain is forecast north of I-80.

Snowfall will tend to be light, with a coating to an inch or two in most cases.

Airline delays related to deicing activities and slippery runways are possible at the major hubs in Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati.

As the storm moves farther east, the area of snow and ice will follow suit.

Areas from around the southern Appalachians to the mid-Atlantic can expect a period of freezing rain for a time into Monday.

The storm will bring some much-needed moisture to parts of the Plains and lower Mississippi Valley.

Much of this swath has been experiencing increasing dryness or building drought conditions.

Widespread heavy rainfall is not expected from the storm.

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Another round if ice may occur at midweek, but farther to the north over parts of the Great Lakes on Tuesday night and Wednesday.



Static US Midweek

This will precede an even stronger push of mild air, while a snowstorm ramps up over parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest.
LOLO  Stephen Small Salmon returns Saturday to tell traditional stories and kick off the 2018 Montana State Parks Winter Storytelling series at Travelers Rest State Park.

Each Saturday through the end of February features a program starting at 11 a.m., celebrating the Salish tradition of sharing stories during the long, dark winter. Coffee and refreshments are available at 10:30 a.m.

Cost of each program is $5, or free for Travelers Rest Preservation & Heritage Association (TRPHA) members. For more information call 406-273-4253 or visit: travelersrest.org/winter-storytelling.html.

The 2018 schedule:

Jan. 6  Stephen Small Salmon, Traditional Stories

Jan. 13  Jennifer Finley, My Hands Have VertigoBruce Mihelish  Ponies and Passes; January 20

Jan. 27  Beth Judy, Bold Women In Montana History

Feb. 3  Mary Jane Bradbury, Martha & Me: Dora Dufran Speaks about Calamity Jane

Feb. 10  William Marcus, Back Roads of Montana

Feb. 17  Judy Wright, Write Your Family Story

Feb. 24  Joseph Grady, The Cultural Significance of Storytelling
Manila (AFP) - A former Philippine official charged with the murder of a prominent environmentalist has been freed after a court voided the case against him, his lawyer said Saturday.

Joel Reyes, the ex-governor of the western island of Palawan, was arrested in 2015 for the killing of Gerry Ortega, a prominent campaigner and radio host who frequently accused Reyes of massive corruption.

Demetrio Custodio said his client was released late Friday after the court decision.

Ortega was shot dead while shopping in the capital of Palawan, one of the Philippines' biggest islands and a popular tourist destination, famed for its lush forests and pristine landscapes.

But it has also suffered from illegal logging, mining and fishing. Ortega had accused Reyes of corruption linked to alleged environmental crimes on the island.

While there have been many cases of environmental activists and journalists being murdered, the brazen killing of Ortega shocked the Philippines.

Reyes and his brother Mario, who was also implicated, went missing in 2012 after an arrest warrant was issued for them.

They were caught in Thailand in 2015.

Custodio said Saturday an appellate court upheld a petition to void the arrest warrant against Reyes, challenging the testimony of a key witness in the case.

The court said the testimony linking Reyes to the killing was "riddled with inconsistencies," according to Custodio..

"On that basis, the finding of probable cause and the issuance of a warrant of arrest was wrong," the lawyer cited the court ruling as saying.

A spokesmen of the appellate court could not be reached for comment.

Mario Reyes was freed on bail in 2016. Custodio said the latest ruling -- which effectively dismisses the case -- would also apply to him.

Reviving the case would be difficult unless the matter is taken to the Supreme Court or if the prosecutor finds new evidence, he added.

"Our family is still recovering from the shock of (Friday's) news," Ortega's family said in a statement, asking supporters to "remain vigilant".

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The Philippines has long been criticised for a "culture of impunity" in which powerful figures like politicians and government officials can commit crimes -- including murder -- without fear of punishment.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in mid-2016, has further reinforced this impression, openly urging policemen to kill suspected criminals and vowing to protect them from prosecution.

Nearly 4,000 suspects have been killed by security forces under Duterte, according to government figures, while thousands more have died under mysterious circumstances.
A Taiwanese businessman is under investigation on suspicion of selling oil to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions, prosecutors said Thursday, reportedly in connection to a ship seized by South Korea.

Seoul said last week it had detained a Hong Kong-registered ship in November suspected of transferring oil products to a North Korean vessel, contravening bans imposed over Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programme.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the man, surnamed Chen, had falsely declared that a ship he chartered was bound for Hong Kong when it actually sailed to international waters to sell oil.

"We take this case very seriously and have immediately formed a taskforce to investigate this," said the district prosecutor's office in the southern city of Kaohsiung, where Chen runs a fishery company.

They did not comment on reports that Chen's ship was the Lighthouse Winmore, which was impounded in November by South Korean authorities after it allegedly transferred 600 tonnes of oil to a North Korean vessel.

The ship had visited South Korea's port of Yeosu on October 11 and loaded up on some 14,000 tonnes of Japanese refined oil before heading towards its purported destination in Taiwan, customs officials have said.

South Korean authorities said that the vessel, chartered by the Taiwanese firm Billions Bunker Group Corp., made the transfer to the North's Sam Jong 2 in international waters off China before returning to Yeosu.

Chinese-language daily The Liberty Times said Chen sold oil products through "a Chinese middleman" and had told prosecutors he did not know they were bound for a North Korean vessel.

He has been released on bail and barred from leaving the island pending further investigation.

The UN Security Council imposed three sets of sanctions on North Korea last year.

The first was made on August 5, targeting the iron, coal and fishing industries, with another set on September 11 aimed at textiles and oil. The most recent on December 22 focused on refined petroleum products.

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A Panama-flagged ship was also detained by the South two weeks ago over alleged ship-to-ship oil transfers, Yonhap news agency said on Sunday.

The US had asked the Security Council to blacklist 10 ships -- including the Lighthouse Winmore -- for violating sanctions against the North.

However China objected to the proposal and only agreed to blacklist four vessels.

The Taiwanese government has said the Billions Bunker Group is not incorporated in Taiwan but in the Marshall Islands, and that it would "continue to fully comply" with UN sanctions against North Korea.
A Tibetan activist has been put on trial in China under charges of inciting separatism that could see him imprisoned for more than a decade after he appeared in a 2015 documentary produced by The New York Times.

Tashi Wangchuk pleaded not guilty to the charges at a trial that lasted just four hours on Thursday in the western Chinese city of Yushu, the Times reports. Tashi, who has been in detention for the past two years, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

In the nine-minute video, Tashi advocates for wider use of the Tibetan language in local classrooms, where most students are ethnically Tibetan but classes are conducted in Mandarin. He travels to Beijing in an unsuccessful attempt to sue Yushu officials.

Rights groups have criticized his detention, with Amnesty International slamming the trial as ludicrously unjust and a sham.

Read More: Yushu: A Tibetan Town Rebuilt in Beijings Image

It is appalling that Tashi Wangchuk could face up to 15 years imprisonment simply for expressing his views in media interviews. These are blatantly trumped up charges and he should be immediately and unconditionally released, said Amnesty International East Asia Research Director, Roseann Rife.

The prosecutions case relies heavily on the video, Tashis lawyers said. At the trial, the judge said he would announce the verdict at a later date. Chinas ruling Communist Party controls the judicial system, which nearly always convicts defendants.

Tibet is governed as an autonomous region of China, but critics say Beijing authorities have long stifled any dissent and pursued policies there that threaten Tibetan culture, religion and language. Beijing denies human rights abuses in the region and says Tibet has developed economically under its rule.
Mr Sessions says he wants to be heavily involved in cutting down on the backlog facing immigration courts: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing an judicial policy that could potentially reshape the way immigration courts work and thrust thousands of peoples legal status into question.

Mr Sessions is questioning whether he should revoke judges ability to conduct administrative closures of immigration proceedings, which allow judges to close the cases without a decision.

The announced review comes after Mr Sessions intervened Friday in the case of immigrant Reynaldo Castro-Tum, and could yield results that impact every immigration judge in the federal system.

The review asks whether he should revoke the administrative closures policy, but also asks where there are other mechanisms to address the concerns. He also wants to know if his Justice Department thinks that the 350,000 cases that are currently closed under the policy should be reviewed.

Administrative closures are seen as a lifeline to immigrants in the country as they apply for citizenship, visas, or permanent residency. The closures shield the immigrants from deportation as their other petitions are considered, but have been criticised for allowing immigrants to stay in the country too long.

While there are roughly 350,000 such closures, a majority of those were handed down during just four years of President Barack Obamas tenure. During those four years, roughly 180,000 administrative closures were granted.

Mr Sessions review could have significant impacts on the judges and employees of the Justice Department tasked with reviewing immigration cases. All of those individuals serve the Justice Departments Executive Office for Immigration Review, which would give Mr Sessions considerable oversight over their actions even if they chose to assert independence.

The potential change comes as the Trump administration considers how to close a hefty backlog of immigration cases that have tied up American immigration courts. There are roughly 650,000 cases waiting to be decided, and Mr Sessions announced last year that he would play a heavy role in figuring out how to reduce that number.

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In a memo sent to about 350 immigration judges and their staff in December, Mr Sessions bristled at the notion that reducing that backlog is an untenable goal, and said that the department must work to find legal ways to expedite the processing.

While we continue to hire additional immigration judges, and support personnel to address these challenges, we must all work to identify and adopt  consistent with the law  additional procedures and techniques that will increase efficiencies, and ensure the timely and proper administration of justice, he wrote.

President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to deport undocumented immigrants, and to erect a wall that would keep future immigrants from crossing the US-Mexico border into the United States.

Since taking office, the President and Mr Sessions have overseen an increase in immigrant arrests within the United States compared to his predecessor, Mr Obama, but a decrease in the overall number of deportations. The immigrant arrests have been criticized by immigration advocates who say that, in a break from Obama-era policy, the arrests have been indiscriminate, and have frequently picked up non-violent immigrants or those without criminal backgrounds.

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Supporters of Pakistani religious groups rally against US President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan 2 January 2018: AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary

The US State Department announced it is suspending security assistance and aid to Pakistan until Islamabad takes action against the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network terror groups after President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of "deceit and lies" when working with the US.

The total amount withheld from the country that has been an important logistical stop for US troops fighting in Afghanistan - America's longest war - is approximately $255m (188m).

"Today we can confirm that we are suspending ... security assistance only to Pakistan at this time until the Pakistani government takes decisive action against groups including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network. We consider them to be destabilizing the region and also targeting U.S. personnel," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said during a briefing.

Ms Nauert said some aid could be let through should Islamabad demonstrate taking "decisive action" against these groups, but she did not elaborate as to what kind of action that should be or if any of the currently-withheld security assistance money could be used for it.

For now, military equipment will not be transferred nor any security-related funds, but it is unclear what "exceptions" will be made, which Ms Nauert mentioned.

A State Department representative has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Mr Trump had tweeted for the first time in 2018 that the US has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit."

The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018

Mr Trump also tweeted that Pakistan give[s] safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.

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The Pakistani Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment, but Minister Khawaja Asif had said about Mr Trump on the local GeoTV station: He has tweeted against us and Iran for his domestic consumption.

He is again and again displacing his frustrations on Pakistan over failures in Afghanistan as they are trapped in dead-end street in Afghanistan, Mr Asif said.

Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan responded via Twitter as well, writing that Pakistan is an anti-terror ally of the US and as such has provided the American military with land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda since 2001 when the war started as a response to the September 11th attacks.

The minister did not mention that terrorist Osama bin Laden was living in the garrison town of Abbotabad for several years before he was killed in a special forces raid during the previous administration of Barack Obama in 2011.

He tweeted that the US has given us nothing but invective & mistrust.

Mr Dastgir-Khan also accused the US of ignoring cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis had already delayed a military-specific aid package of $50m (37m) in July over concerns Pakistan was not doing enough to tamp down on the Haqqani Network or Taliban terror groups - both priorities for the US across the border in Afghanistan.

Though Pakistan is considered a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) ally of the US, it still needs the annual certification which Mr Mattis stalled in order to get the yearly aid package.

Agencies have contributed to this report.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded an Obama-era policy that eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws, in a move that critics say is the latest example of Trump administration policies that could hurt communities of colour who have historically been targeted by anti-drug directives.

An official at the Justice Department said that the policies put in place by the administration of President Barack Obama to ease federal enforcement of recreational marijuana distributors abiding by state laws "created a safe harbour for the marijuana industry to operate in these states and... there is a belief that that is inconsistent with what the federal law says."

Federal prosecutors have now been instructed to disregard that Obama policy, and have been instructed to approach recreational marijuana dispensaries operating in accordance to state law in the same way that they would any other case.

"It was interpreted as a safe harbour for individuals," Mr Sessions said of the Obama-era policies. "This memo does not have safe harbours in it."

During the Obama era, several states moved to pass recreational marijuana laws, including Colorado and Washington states. And, just days ago, California opened up its recreational marijuana market -- the largest state in the country so far to do it.

Critics of the new Department of Justice directive point out that America's so-called war on drugs has resulted in skyrocketing incarceration rates in the country, predominantly among populations of black and brown Americans. The arrests and imprisonment that has resulted from those drug policies, including those surrounding marijuana, have damaged communities, disenfranchised would-be voters, and denied basic services to those who have been swept up, they say. But, this latest policy is in-line with previous anti-drug sentiments Mr Sessions has expressed, they say, including a memo earlier sent this last year to federal prosecutors pulling back a different Obama-era policy that allowed them to pursue lighter sentencing for crime suspects in certain circumstances (including drug violations).

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"Sessions has not proven himself to be someone who cares about these communities," Maria Mcfarland Sanchez-Moreno, the executive director at the Drug Policy Alliance, told The Independent. "This is more proof about the callousness that he has, and the willingness, and interest, in pursuing policies that will harm, overwhelmingly, people of colour."

There were roughly eight million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, according to an estimate by the American Civil Liberties Union, accounting to roughly one bust every 37 seconds. That level of enforcement resulted in an estimated $3.6 billion a year spent on policing the drug, that study found, even though the availability of the drug remained largely unchanged. Of the arrests that resulted from those busts, black people were disproportionately impacted, and were 3.73 times more likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession.

But, as California, Colorado, and Washington State -- among other states-- illustrate, the push for legalisation has been gaining momentum. All told, seven states and the District of Columbia have legalised recreational marijuana in some form of another, wielding a staggering windfall of extra tax dollars counted into the hundreds of millions a year.

Republicans and Democrats alike reacted to Mr Sessions' change in policy with frustration. Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, vowed to protect his state laws against "federal infringement". Meanwhile, Colorado's Republican Senator Cory Gardner said that he was blind sided by the new policy.

"I am prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation," Mr Gardner wrote on Twitter.

Representative Dana Rohrbacher, a Republican from California, framed the decision as a "gift" to drug cartels.

"The attorney general of the United States has just delivered an extravagant holiday gift to the drug cartels. By attacking the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly favour marijuana legalisation, Jeff Sessions has shown a preference for allowing all commerce in marijuana to take place in the black market," Mr Rohrbacher wrote in a statement, " which will inevitably bring the spike in violence he mistakenly attributes to marijuana itself."

It is not clear what will happen now that the new marching orders have been handed down by the Department of Justice. The new policy doesn't explicitly order any district attorneys to focus on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that have legalised the drug for recreational uses, leaving open the possibility that states with legalised marijuana could see a patchwork of enforcement efforts, depending on the district. Congress has the opportunity to act later this month as well, should it choose to, and could extend budget restrictions on federal enforcement of medical marijuana dispensaries, should enough of an appetite exist to rebuke the attorney general.

"In terms of the merit of what this means, it's one of those situations where time will only tell if this actually changes the situation on the ground," Alex Kreit, an expert on federal drug policy at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, told The Independent.

One federal law enforcement official said his approach would not change. US Attorney Bob Troyer, who oversees Colorado, said in a statement that the Department of Justice had directed prosecutors to follow principles that have long governed all of our prosecution decisions.

The United States Attorneys Office in Colorado has already been guided by these principles in marijuana prosecutions  focusing in particular on identifying and prosecuting those who create the greatest safety threats to our communities around the state, Mr Troyer said. We will, consistent with the Attorney Generals latest guidance, continue to take this approach in all of our work with our law enforcement partners throughout Colorado.

Mr Kreit noted that differing enforcement standards would leave citizens with a bizarre legal landscape to navigate.

"I would not be surprised if at least a couple US attorneys offices decide to interfere with these state laws," Mr Kreit said, noting that more liberal districts might not ramp up enforcement. "That would result, just from the perspective of the aerage person on the ground, in very strange circumstances."
Details revealed of financial blueprint for US presidents election campaign promise, which would fund 316 miles of new barriers and bolster existing ones

The border fence between Mexico and the US. Washington is gearing up for a fraught battle over the proposal. Photograph: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration is seeking nearly $18bn from Congress over the next decade to start extending and reinforcing a border wall with Mexico, the first financial blueprint for the presidents election campaign promise.



Details of the plan revealed on Friday would fund 316 miles of new barriers and bolster an additional 407 miles of existing barriers, adding up to a significant expansion of walls and fencing along the southwestern border.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a branch of homeland security, submitted the details to Congress. Democrats and Republicans in Washington are gearing up for a fraught battle over the proposed wall and the status of young undocumented migrants, two issues that have become entangled and risk triggering a government shutdown on 20 January if no deal is reached.

Donald Trump electrified supporters during the 2016 election by promising to build a big, beautiful wall along the 2000 mile border with Mexico to keep out criminals and undocumented immigrants.

Currently there are about 650 miles of man-made physical barriers. CBP relies on sensors, cameras, patrols and natural barriers, such as rivers, to control the rest.

The administrations proposal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would extend man-made barriers to cover half of the frontier by 2027.

AP reported that the document, which has not been made public, envisaged $5.7bn for towers, surveillance equipment and other technology; $1bn over five years for road construction and maintenance; and $8.5bn over seven years for 5,000 new border patrol agents, 2,500 border inspectors and other personnel. Barrier prototypes are being tested near San Diego.

Dreamers are young immigrants who would qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (Daca) program, enacted under Barack Obama in 2012. Most people in the program entered the US as children and have lived in the US for years undocumented. Daca gave them temporary protection from deportation and work permits. Daca was only available to people younger than 31 on 15 June 2012, who arrived in the US before turning 16 and lived there continuously since June 2007. Most Dreamers are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and the largest numbers live in California, Texas, Florida and New York. Donald Trump cancelled the program in September but has also said repeatedly he wants Congress to develop a program to help the population.

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The request complicated negotiations in Congress to grant legal status to about 700,000 young people known as Dreamers who were temporarily shielded from deportation under an Obama-era programme, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Trump pulled the plug on Daca last year but gave Congress until March to come up with a deal to resolve the Dreamers status. Democrats have vowed to protect them from deportation  potentially giving Trump leverage to get Democratic support for the border wall.

However Richard Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate immigration subcommittee, excoriated the administrations proposed border plan.

President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction, Durbin said in a statement.

Ive been clear from the beginning that Senate Democrats will consider reasonable border security measures in order to pass the Dream Act into law. The Trump administration set this crisis in motion when it ended Daca four months ago. Its outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hardline anti-immigrant bills  plus an additional $18bn in wall funding  on the backs of these young people.

The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, also oppose any immigration legislation or government funding plan that includes funding for a wall.

However, Democrats are under mounting pressure to pass legislation to shield Dreamers from deportation. Some immigration advocates and liberal groups have vowed to retaliate against Democrats who supported any spending bill to keep the federal government open that does not address the Dreamers issue.

Homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told the Associated Press earlier this week that the wall would be first and foremost in any package that protected Dreamers. She also said the administration wanted to close loopholes on the handling of asylum claims and local police forces cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Earlier this week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), another branch of homeland security which detains undocumented migrants in the US interior, promised to significantly increase the number of deportation officers in California in response to the Democratic controlled states new sanctuary state law, which is meant to protect immigrants. California better hold on tight, acting Ice director Thomas Homan told Fox News.
Only a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un essentially threatened the United States with a nuclear attack, the government of South Korea on Tuesday agreed to talks between the two Koreas. Ostensibly the meeting proposed for Jan. 9 will be about cooperation on next month's Winter Olympics, but it also could signal a larger and more consequential dialogue between North and South.

The Trump administration is understandably wary of Kim's interest in talks with the South, concerned, not without reason, that he may be attempting to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its ally. But that hardly explains President Trump's intemperate response. After initially responding cautiously to the news  suggesting that North-South talks might be "good news"  Trump on Thursday evening was back in a belligerent mood. Belatedly addressing Kim's reckless claim that he had a nuclear button on his desk, Trump answered with some recklessness of his own: "I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

We can only hope that Trump's advisers will talk him back from this latest outburst. They should tell him that more engagement and more talk are generally good things. Negotiations between North and South Korea could serve to de-escalate tensions that have been elevated by the North's recent testing binge and exacerbated by presidential tweets like this one and Trump's reckless talk of "fire and fury."

It's also possible  though the odds are long  that talks between the two Koreas could pave the way for a resumption of negotiations that would include U.S. participation. These could be either bilateral talks or a return to the so-called six-party talks that also involved representatives from China, Japan and Russia. Those negotiations collapsed in 2009.

The Trump administration has sent maddeningly mixed signals about the conditions under which the U.S. would return to the table; at one point Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. would have a meeting "without preconditions"; later he said that North Korea would have to earn the right to talks by ceasing nuclear and missile tests. Trump has insisted that the U.S. would discuss a "brighter path for North Korea" only "if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program."

While it is certainly true that North Korea has been a frustrating negotiating partner in the past, and that its nuclear weapons program continues to move forward despite years of diplomacy, those are not persuasive arguments against further efforts to engage.

Perhaps the best argument for allowing South Korea some room for diplomatic maneuver is the fact that its population is the most at risk from North Korea. So long as it keeps Washington apprised of its discussions with the North, it should be encouraged to make the effort.
President Trump's lawyers have sent cease-and-desist letters to the author and publisher of the new White House tell-all,  Fire and Fury, which has made a number of explosive claims about life in America's most famous address.

"Mr. Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book," the 11-page letter to the publisher reads, "and that you issue a full and complete retraction and apology to my client."

Brian Stelter, the host of CNN's Reliable Sources, spoke to Inside Edition about the letter.

"We are really in uncharted territory here. To see the president of the United States demand that book not be published, this certainly could have an effect in the media business but on the other hand, I think it is going to actually spur even more sales of the book," he said.

Also getting a cease-and-desist letter is former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who's quoted in the book calling first daughter Ivanka Trump "dumb as a brick."

Bannon is not denying the accuracy of the quotes, but he wants everyone to know he's still behind the president's political agenda.

"Nothing will ever come between us and President Trump and his agenda," he told a caller on Breitbart's SiriusXM station Thursday morning.

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci launched his own media blitz, encouraging Bannon to back down.

"At the end of the day, what I said, taking out the expletives, he's for Steve, he said on CNN's New Day Thursday. "We're for the president."

On Good Morning America Thursday, Scaramucci told Bannon to get on the air and take back the comment.

The firestorm sent the book, written by Michael Wolff, soaring to No. 1 on Amazon. It wasn't due to hit bookstores until next Tuesday, but the publisher is speeding up the publicity campaign.

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Donald Trump did not know what Brexit was a fortnight before the EU referendum, the author of a sensational new book about the US President has claimed.

Michael Wolff said Mr Trump repeatedly failed to recognise the accepted term for the landmark British vote, when the pair discussed it just two weeks before it was staged in June 2016.

He also predicted that his books revelations  including that the Presidents aides all believe he is childlike and unfit for office  would eventually force him out of the White House.

The claims came as the President again hit back at the author, tweeting: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Mr Wolff said: I interviewed Trump two weeks before the Brexit vote and he didnt know what Brexit was.

The author explained that he had asked the then-Republican candidate how he compared himself with the populist movements in Europe, especially with the Brexit vote coming up.

And he said what?, Mr Wolff said. I said Brexit. He repeated what? Then I said, the movement in the UK to leave the European Union and then he kind of said oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Im for that.

That is the entire exchange  make of it what you will.

The publication of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House has triggered a political firestorm in America, sparking renewed speculation about the Presidents future.

In the interview, Mr Wolff stated his belief that Steve Bannon, the hardline nationalist who played a key role in putting Mr Trump in the White House, was now determined to see the President removed from office.

Asked if the boss of the far-right website Breitbart viewed him as unfit and will do what he can to stop him being president, the author replied: Yes.

He said the President hardly has a staff as most people have left the White House and that If there is an emergency would you trust Donald Trump with that? I dont know.

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His almost inexplicable election had exposed the weaknesses in the US political system but, Mr Wolff added: It also exposes Donald Trump himself  he has no clothes.

On Brexit, although Mr Trump may not have recognised the term, he did  in the run-up to the referendum  say the UK would be better off outside the EU, even predicting a Leave victory.

The President has claimed he never spoke with Mr Wolff for his phony book, tweeting on Thursday: Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist.

But Mr Wolff has stood by his account and said Mr Trump's threat of legal action to stop publication was only boosting his sales.

His central and most damning allegation is that all of the Presidents aides consider him to be like a child because of his need for immediate gratification.

The author said he spent about three hours with Mr Trump during the election campaign and in the White House, as well as interviewing people who spoke with him on a daily basis.

The President has gone to his Camp David retreat, hoping to steady the ship by concentrating on policy and looming elections in talks with congressional leaders.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday shut down a presidential commission charged with looking into allegations of electoral fraud during the 2016 election, after many states refused to provide it with data, the White House said. "Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action," Trump said in a statement. The panel, headed by Vice President Mike Pence, was established in May last year to look into voter fraud but met with resistance from many states. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., noted in July that the commission was an advisory body that lacked legal authority to compel states to hand over data. Trump, a Republican, has said that fraud may have accounted for his loss nationwide in the popular vote to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Most state officials who oversee elections and election law experts say that voter fraud is rare in the United States. (Corrects month in paragraph four) (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Sandra Maler)
President Trump, in Camp David for a weekend of meetings with Republican leaders and Cabinet members, was up early Saturday to fire off a series of tweets boasting about his intelligence and mental stability.

Not only is the president a genius, according to him, but a very stable genius at that.

After warming up with an attack on ABC News reporter Brian Ross, Trump in three tweets over 11 minutes took on the Democrats and  the Fake News Mainstream Media who are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.

Actually, he continued, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.  I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius.and a very stable genius at that!

A provocative new book by journalist Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury, paints a picture of Trump as disengaged from the presidency, confused by his job, unable to absorb new information and given to childish demands and tantrums. The White House has disputed the book and charged that former adviser Steve Bannon, one of Wolffs main sources, lost his mind when he was fired last summer.

Similar questions were raised about Reagan in his second term, especially after he admitted in a 1987 speech that his mind and best intentions on the IranContra arms-for-hostages deal were contradicted by the facts and the evidence.

In 1994, five years after leaving office, Reagan announced he had Alzheimers disease. His son Ron later said he saw signs of dementia in his father while he was in office, although that was disputed by his doctors.

In claiming he won the presidency on his first try, Trump appears to have forgotten that he had run once before, in 2000, when he was briefly a candidate for the Reform Party nomination. He dropped out of the race after a few months with poll support of around 7 percent.

Read more from Yahoo News:
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected an author's accusations that he is mentally unfit for office and said his business career and election victory showed he is "a very stable genius." Michael Wolff, who was granted unusually wide access to the White House during much of Trump's first year, has said in promoting his book that Trump is unfit for the presidency. He told BBC Radio in an interview broadcast on Saturday that his book is creating "the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency." Trump battled back in a series of extraordinary morning posts on Twitter, which appeared to catch some in his inner circle off guard. Trump said Democratic critics and the U.S. news media were bringing up the "old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence" since they have not been able to bring him down in other ways. Reagan, a Republican who was the U.S. president from 1981-1989, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994 and died in 2004. "Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart," said Trump, a former reality TV star and developer. "I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star ... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius ... and a very stable genius at that!" Trump, 71, sent the tweets from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where he discussed a legislative agenda for the year with Republican congressional leaders and many Cabinet secretaries. Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury - Inside the Trump White House," portrays Trump as unfocused, unprepared and petty while presiding over a chaotic White House. Trump, answering questions from reporters at Camp David after the meeting, called Wolff a "fraud" and said the book is "a complete work of fiction." "I think it's a disgrace," he said. ACCESS QUESTION Trump said he never granted Wolff an interview for the book and blamed former adviser Steve Bannon, who he called "Sloppy Steve," for granting Wolff access at the White House. Wolff has said he spoke to Trump but that the president may not have known he was being interviewed. The tweets were another sign of Trump's frustration at what he views as unfair treatment by the news media of his presidency amid a federal investigation into whether he or his campaign aides colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, in which he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters at Camp David that he had not been aware of Trump's morning tweets. Kelly said Trump did not seem angry and on Friday night had watched a new movie, "The Greatest Showman" about legendary circus promoter P.T. Barnum, with the lawmakers. Trump, asked about a New York Times report that his aides had pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, said: "Everything I've done has been 100 percent proper." Trump, who has often criticized Sessions of his performance as attorney general, said he nonetheless supports him. Sessions had not been invited to the weekend retreat. Wolff's book has proved to be another shock to the system for Trump and his top aides, coming just as he starts his second year in office. Wolff told NBC News on Friday that White House staff treated Trump like a child. The one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common  they all say he is like a child," Wolff said. "And what they mean by that, he has a need for immediate gratification. Its all about him. "This man does not read, does not listen. Hes like a pinball, just shooting off the sides." Trump is to undergo the first physical examination of his presidency on Jan. 12. The exam was announced on Dec. 7 after questions arose about Trump's health when he slurred part of a speech announcing that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. White House officials and Trump's high-profile supporters have launched an effort to raise doubts about Wolff's credibility. White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said earlier in the week that the book includes "mistake after mistake after mistake." (Additional reporting by James Oliphant in Camp David, Maryland; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Bill Trott)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned that bilateral legal accords with the United States were "losing validity", lashing out at Washington over the conviction of a Turkish banker in a U.S. trial. A jury in a U.S. federal court on Wednesday convicted an executive of Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank for evading Iran sanctions in a case Erdogan has cast as a political attack against his government. "If this is the U.S. understanding of justice, then the world is doomed," Erdogan told a news conference before his departure to France for an official visit, in his first public comments since the verdict. "The United States should excuse us, but the laws in our bilateral ties and the bilateral accords between us are losing their validity. I am saddened to say this, but this is how it will be from now on." He did not say to which accords he was referring. Turkey's foreign ministry on Thursday condemned the conviction as unprecedented meddling in its internal affairs. The Halkbank executive, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was convicted on five of six counts, including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions law. The case was based on the testimony of a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to charges of leading a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. In his testimony Zarrab implicated top Turkish politicians, including Erdogan. Zarrab said Erdogan personally authorized two Turkish banks to join the scheme when he was prime minister. Turkey says the case was based on fabricated evidence and has accused U.S. court officials of ties to the cleric blamed for a 2016 coup attempt. "The United States is carrying out ... a chain of plots, and these are not just legal but also economic plots," Erdogan said at the news conference. (Reporting by Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan)
Just days after President Trump's tweets antagonized a foreign adversary over who would be first to start nuclear war, Twitter has addressed calls for the company to ban the chatty, often bellicose U.S. president.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

In a vague post called "World Leaders on Twitter," Twitter awkwardly sidestepped the controversy over whether Trump's Twitter account violates its terms of service altogether, instead asserting that it doesn't matter if a world leader violates its terms of service  they should have a home on the platform nonetheless. The post never names Trump.

Their words:

Theres been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance. Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society. Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions. We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly. No one person's account drives Twitters growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind. We are working to make Twitter the best place to see and freely discuss everything that matters. We believe thats the best way to help our society make progress.

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Whether Trump has in fact violated Twitter's policies on user behavior is an open debate. Most users can't back up their casual threats with a nuclear arsenal, so it's safe to say that the Trump Twitter situation poses some uniquely weighty questions. Some even argue that Trump's Twitter threats are an exercise in nuclear deterrence and can be categorized more as bizarrely articulated military policy than the kind of tweet that might violate Twitter's rules banning "specific threats of violence."

While plenty of Trump's older tweets dabble in online harassment, it sounds like anything goes for world leaders so long as they're elected. But lots of despots are "elected." Would Rodrigo Duterte get the same pass were he to threaten state-sponsored brutality in specific terms? Would Kim Jong-un? According to this, it sounds like yes.

If you're still using Twitter, you probably won't be surprised by the fact that the company retains its right to impose its own rules selectively  after all, it's been doing so for years. Calling for Twitter to take an ideological stand in order to prevent a social media-spurred international nuclear conflict is a nice thought, but considering how deeply committed tech companies are to the illusion of neutrality  which happens to dovetail nicely with the spineless art of self-preservation  it's not a very realistic one.
President Donald Trump's first tweet of 2018, directed at Pakistan, was predictably clumsy and combative. "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit," Trump huffed. "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

As is often the case, the tweet is fact-challenged  $14 billion of that money was actually post-9/11 reimbursements to Pakistan for its support of U.S. anti-terrorism initiatives and operations in Afghanistan. Nevertheless the spirit of Trump's remarks is on the mark.

For years, Pakistan has played a double game with its anti-terrorism efforts. At times, it has been helpful in ferreting out al-Qaida operatives, and has launched military offensives against its homegrown threat, the Pakistani Taliban. But Washington for years has accused Pakistan of a policy of covertly backing militant groups that target U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan  namely, the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban.

That coziness with extremist groups continues to confound American military commanders. Haqqani and Afghan Taliban militants launch ambushes and bombings on U.S.-allied forces in Afghanistan, then slip back over the border into the badlands of northwest Pakistan, insulated from retaliation by American and Afghan forces. Pakistani leaders issue boilerplate denials that they provide militants safe haven, yet continue the tacit support.

Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, was just as vexed. In August 2016, Obama withheld $300 million in military assistance to Pakistan because of Islamabad's support for the Afghan Taliban and its ally, the Haqqani network. Last summer, the Trump administration signaled its displeasure with Islamabad by putting on hold $255 million in military aid to Pakistan. Administration officials said on Monday that the aid will not be sent to Pakistan.

Obama was right to withhold the money, and so is Trump.

It may not be enough of a cudgel to get Pakistan to change its ways. It certainly hasn't been in the past. But it's hard to justify sending hundreds of millions of dollars in anti-terrorism aid to a country that continues to give shelter to terrorist groups. Assistance to Pakistan has always been framed as incentive for Pakistan to do more in the fight on terror. But the right way to frame the rationale is to flip it around. Aid to Pakistan should be contingent on the country's earnest cooperation in battling terrorists, regardless of their affiliation.

The war in Afghanistan, America's longest ever, is far from over. Afghan Taliban militants control a large chunk of the country, the most since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Last year, Trump beefed up the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. They aren't a combat force. Instead, they focus on counterterrorism missions and advising Afghan officers who battle Taliban militants.

Without their presence, Kabul's dysfunctional government likely wouldn't be able to reverse Taliban momentum. But just as critical to the mission in Afghanistan is Pakistan's cooperation.

Pakistan's long-standing under-the-table policy of drawing distinctions between terrorists to target and terrorists to coddle is bad policy for the simple reason that terrorism under any banner is wrong and lethal to innocents. In Afghanistan, terrorism equals instability on Pakistan's doorstep. That's not good for the U.S. and the rest of the West, but it's also not good for Pakistan and its wrecked economy. Doling out more U.S. money to Pakistan year after year hasn't made its leaders realize that. Freezing the aid sends a stronger message.
Facing renewed calls for presidents removal from service after his latest tweets on North Korea, company says move would hamper discussion

Twitter has been urged to remove Donald Trumps account following his taunts targeting Kim Jong-un. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Just days after Donald Trumps Twitter taunting of Kim Jong-Un over nuclear war reignited calls for the company to ban the president from its platform, the social media company obliquely addressed the controversy in a statement defending its decision not to to censor world leaders.

Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate, the company wrote in a blogpost published Friday. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.

The statement does not name Trump or state any new policy, but instead offers a defense of the companys current practice, which takes into account whether a tweet that might otherwise violate the companys rules is newsworthy or in the public interest.

We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly, the company wrote. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.

Twitters defense of its treatment of world leaders comes at a time when its rival social media platform Facebook is facing criticism for a lack of transparency and coherence around its own treatment of political figures.

In December, Facebook deleted the social media accounts of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic. The company told the New York Times that the deletions were due to the US governments imposition of economic sanctions on Kadyrov, but other world leaders named on US sanctions lists, such as the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and Syrias Bashar al-Assad, have not been banned from Facebook.

Trumps frequent and reckless use of Twitter defined him as a presidential candidate, but has elicited increased concern since his inauguration. From the White House, Trump has continued his use of the platform to attack political opponents (and allies) and journalists, and also to threaten North Korea and share anti-Muslim videos posted by a leader of a far-right British hate group.

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Many Trump critics have called for the president to be banned from the website  both because his tweets can often be construed as violating the platforms rules and out of fear that his outbursts could actually spark a war. In August, the former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson launched an unsuccessful effort to crowdfund the purchase of Twitter in order to ban Trump.

In November, Trumps personal account was briefly deactivated. The company attributed the outage to the actions of a contractor on his final day of work, and the contractor later claimed that he had made a mistake.

Some critics have suggested that Twitters reluctance to censor Trumps Tweets stems from its understanding that Trumps predilection for the platform provides outsize importance to a company that has failed to achieve the popularity of social media behemoths such as Facebook and YouTube.

But the company appeared to dismiss that criticism in the statement, writing: No one persons account drives Twitters growth, or influences these decisions.
Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen are all headed to the Olympics after medaling at nationals, but Ashley Wagner is still making headlines. (AP Photo)

Following the results of Friday nights national competition, U.S. Figure Skating has named the trio it will send to the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang next month.

Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen are the latest representatives of the United States heading to the global stage. Olympic team veteran Ashely Wagner was named first alternate with Mariah Bell and Angela Wang as second and third, respectively.

For both Tennell and Chen, 2018 marks the first time either has been named to the Olympic team. Nagasu previously competed for the U.S. in the 2010 games in Vancouver, finishing fourth.

At only 18 years old, Chen is also the youngest member of the team. The Fremont, California native placed third at nationals on Friday behind Tennell, 18, and Nagasu, 24.

The competition in San Jose wasnt without controversy, however. Following a fourth-place finish, Wagner ripped the judges at nationals while speaking to reporters. The 25-year-old was looking to make back-to-back Olympic appearances after taking home the bronze medal in Sochi back in 2014.

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Figure Skating gets under way early on in PyeongChang with the first events scheduled for Friday, February 9th at 9:30a.m. EST and can be seen on the NBC family of channels.

     

Blake Schuster is a writer for Fourth-Place Medal on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday proposed opening nearly all U.S. offshore waters to oil and gas drilling, a move aimed at boosting domestic energy production that sparked protests from coastal states, environmentalists and the tourism industry. The effort to open previously off-limits acreage in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans comes less than eight years after BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - the largest in American history. The disaster caused billions of dollars in economic damage and led former President Barack Obama's to increase regulation of the industry. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Thursday the department's draft National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019 to 2024 would make over 90 percent of the outer continental shelfs total acreage available for leasing to drillers, a national record. That would reverse the Obama administration order placing 94 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf off limits to drillers. Obama's 2017-2022 plan would be replaced by the new program when it is finalized. "We want to grow our nations offshore energy industry, instead of slowly surrendering it to foreign shores," Zinke said in prepared remarks. He said 25 of 26 planning areas on the Outer Continental Shelf will be considered for leasing, covering all U.S. coastlines. Proposed sales include 19 off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Pacific, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico and nine in the Atlantic Region. The last offshore lease sales for the East and West coasts were in the 1980s. Alaska's North Aleutian Basin/Bristol Bay will be exempted after drilling was barred there by a previous executive order. Zinke said the proposal was just the start of a dialogue with local stakeholders and the plan was not final. The draft will be subject to a 60-day comment period. The proposal marks a huge shift from previous policy. Weeks before leaving office, Obama banned new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, protecting 115 million acres (46.5 million hectares) of waters off Alaska and 3.8 million acres (1.5 million hectares)in the Atlantic from New England to the Chesapeake Bay. Trump in April ordered the Interior Department to overhaul the leasing schedule to promote increased drilling. At the time, low oil prices and soaring onshore production were curtailing demand for offshore leases, raising questions about the benefits of the move. Oil prices have since risen to around three-year highs. Industry groups welcomed Thursday's announcement. "Expanding access to additional offshore reserves allows the United States to better understand where production potential exists and where capital should be invested," said Independent Petroleum Association of America senior vice president Dan Naatz. OCEANS TO OIL FIELDS But lawmakers from both parties, environmental groups, governors and local business leaders said they were opposed to any effort to open coastlines to drilling rigs, citing environmental risks and threats to lucrative tourism industries. Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott said he is aggressively fighting to plan. "I have already asked to immediately meet with Secretary Zinke to discuss the concerns I have with this plan and the crucial need to remove Florida from consideration," he said. Environmental groups described the plan as dangerous. Trumps trying to turn our oceans into oilfields. His reckless plan would expose more wildlife and coastal communities to devastating oil spills, said Kristen Monsell, ocean program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Coastal tourism business groups were girding for a long fight against the proposal, which comes as the Gulf Coast recovers from the Deepwater spill. The plan would open the California coast where drilling opposition has been fierce since a major oil spill in the 1960s soiled popular beaches. Frank Knapp, founder of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, accused the federal agency of favoring the oil and gas sector over the tourism sector. "What part of the business sector are they listening to? Its certainly not small or coastal businesses, Knapp said. The Defense Department has also raised concerns about opening drilling that had been banned off the eastern Gulf of Mexico, where military exercises are held. (Reporting By Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Cynthia Osterman)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned by a spike in tensions in a buffer zone in disputed Western Sahara, his spokesman said Saturday.

Morocco has accused the Algerian-backed Polisario Front of carrying out incursions in the buffer zone near Guerguerat, an area in southern Western Sahara near the Mauritanian border.

The UN chief "is deeply concerned about recent increased tensions in the vicinity of Guerguerat in the Buffer Strip in southern Western Sahara between the Moroccan berm and the Mauritanian border," said a UN statement.

Guterres "calls on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid escalating tensions."

"Regular civilian and commercial traffic should not be obstructed and no action should be taken, which may constitute a change to the status quo of the buffer strip," it added.

A previous incursion of the Polisario at Guerguerat last year prompted the United Nations to intervene to force both Morocco and the Polisario to withdraw.

The spike in tensions come as new UN envoy Horst Kohler is working to restart talks between Morocco and the Polisario on ending the decades-old conflict.

Morocco and the Polisario fought for control of Western Sahara from 1974 to 1991, with Rabat taking over the desert territory before a UN-brokered ceasefire in the former Spanish colony.

Rabat considers Western Sahara an integral part of Morocco and proposes autonomy for the resource-rich territory, but the Polisario Front insists on a UN referendum on independence.
By Hyonhee Shin and Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) - The two sides sit within shouting distance, but when North and South Korea this week arranged the first official talks in more than two years, liaison officials spoke using desktop telephone consoles each the size of a small refrigerator.

The inter-Korean Liaison Office at the heart of this new spurt of dialogue between the two sides, sits at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom, the only spot along the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea where troops from both sides stand face to face.

If the telephone operators wanted to, they could step out of their office and talk to their counterparts only 80 meters (260 feet) away in a separate building across the demarcation line.

"Like what happened today (Friday), we mostly exchange what we call a 'telephone notice,' which basically means that a liaison officer calls the other side and reads a document carrying a proposal or official position on the other's proposal," said a senior official with South Korea's Ministry of Unification, which mans the phone and fax lines at the office.

"But other times, say, if you need to deliver a document with official seals, you would call them to arrange a face-to-face meeting at a certain time on the demarcation line."

That happened on a regular basis in the past, when relations were better, the official said, and now Seoul is hoping that these new high-level talks, scheduled for January 9, may bring back an era of more cordial relations between the two Koreas.

"A VERY DELICATE JOB"

North Korean officials had effectively not answered the phone at Panmunjom since February 2016. During that time, South Korean officials would sometimes use a bull horn to shout messages across the border.

For the first time in nearly two years, the hotline was used on Wednesday. On the orders of leader Kim Jong Un, a North Korean official called the South in a preliminary step to a formal dialogue.

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Officials have released few details of that conversation and several others that have since occurred, although some were decidedly anticlimactic.

After several calls on Wednesday, a North Korean official called to check the line. When the South's officer asked if the North had anything new to say, the official on the other end of the line said "no" and hung up, according to the Ministry of Unification.

But by Friday, the conversations paid off, officials said, with North Korea officially accepting the South's invitation for formal, face-to-face talks next week on North Korean participation at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month.

The phone line used to arrange the talks dates to the 1970s, with the current phone installed in 2009, the ministry said.

Photos of the phone show a large, wood-panelled console set into a desktop.

The system features a computer screen, disk drives, and USB ports, as well as two telephone handsets, one red and one green.

No other numbers can be called - the phones use a dedicated line between rooms on the two sides.

"The red phone is for incoming calls from North Korea and South Korea uses the green phone to make outgoing calls to the North," a unification ministry spokeswoman said. "We have installed two phones just in case one breaks or something."

The Unification Ministry employees who man the phones on the South side are experts in diplomatic protocol and have in the past played roles in face-to-face talks as well.

"At first sight it may seem a very simple job," the senior ministry official said. "But actually its a very delicate job because they are not only in charge of the Panmunjom line but when inter-Korean meetings are held, they are also dispatched to the venue as a contact point between the two sides."

While the phone operators are discouraged from making any jokes about official issues during their conversations, they have in the past built a personal relationship with their counterparts during periods of close communication.

"As they man the position for a long time, they would talk to each other frequently and therefore naturally foster some personal rapport," the official said.

Less is known about the North Koreans on the other end of the line. A South Korean liaison officer who engaged in some of the recent conversations said he has never seen his counterparts' office on the other side, and referred further questions to the Unification Ministry.

(Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's decision to freeze aid to Pakistan could affect almost two billion dollars' worth of assistance, a senior administration official said on Friday -- substantially more than first thought.

After an announcement designed to force Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus to cut support for the Taliban and other Islamist groups, the official said that both US military assistance and Afghanistan coalition funding to Islamabad could be suspended.

It is "approximately two billion worth of equipment and coalition support funding that is in play," the official said on condition of anonymity.

After more than a decade of simmering US anger at links between Islamabad and the Taliban and the Haqqani network -- a Taliban affiliate -- President Donald Trump is trying to draw a line in the sand.

On the hook is almost $1 billion of US military equipment that has allowed Pakistan access to advanced military technology, but also funding that is meant to pay Pakistan for helping get US and NATO materiel into Afghanistan.

Analysts believe the United States is highly unlikely to freeze all that funding, which totals $1.9 billion, according to the source.

US officials have already indicated that there could be "exemptions" for programs deemed vital to US national security -- likely including cash for keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons safe.

But nevertheless, the total figure of $1.9 billion is much higher than first indicated and is a signal of Washington's seriousness.

The senior administration official said "all options are on the table" when it comes to further moves, including stripping Pakistan of its status as a "major non-NATO ally" or calling in vital IMF loans.

The White House is demanding Pakistan crack down on Taliban elements and other groups that raise funds and take refuge in the border areas with Afghanistan.

It believes that a Pakistani crackdown could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war in Afghanistan -- entering its 17th year -- by weakening the Taliban militarily and forcing the organization to the negotiating table.

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US officials believe that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban for ideological reasons, but also to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

Islamabad denies those allegations and has called Trump's decision to threaten funding "counterproductive."

Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a cautious statement in which it said it was "engaged" with US officials and awaiting further details.

Without referring to the decision directly, it warned that "arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats."

The announcement ignited some small protests in Pakistan on Friday, including in Chaman, one of the two main crossings on the border with Afghanistan where several hundred people gathered to chant anti-US slogans.

US officials admit that Pakistan could make life difficult for Washington by closing land routes that are vital to supply US troops in Afghanistan. But, the official said, it was "difficult but not impossible" to find other ways to get equipment in.
Washington (AFP) - The United States added bite to its increasingly public spat with Pakistan over militant safe havens Thursday, suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance.

President Donald Trump's administration has expressed deep frustration at its South Asian ally's failure to crack down on the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani group bases.

Pakistan has pushed back strongly at Trump's intemperate language, raising concerns that to row could undermine Islamabad's support for US operations in Afghanistan.

But on Thursday, the State Department announced a dramatic freeze in deliveries of military equipment and security funding until Pakistan cracks down on the militants.

Officials confirmed that in September last year State had already suspended $255 million in funding to help Pakistan buy high-tech weaponry from US manufacturers.

- 'Decisive action' -

Now, the Defense Department has been instructed to stop making payments from "coalition support funds" set aside to refund Pakistani spending on counter-terrorist operations.

Exemptions will be made in cases of "critical national security" and officials refused to put a figure on how much Pakistan will lose out on if it fails to cooperate.

But the National Defense Authorization Act permits the US military to spend up to $900 million in the 2017 financial year and $700 million in financial 2018.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the security spending would be suspended until Pakistan takes "decisive action" against the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network.

Pakistan has fought fierce campaigns against some Pakistani militant Islamist groups that threatened its own security.

But US officials accuse Pakistani officials of ignoring or even collaborating with groups that launch operations into Afghanistan from safe havens along the countries' border.

These groups threaten the US-backed Afghan government and have attacked and killed many of the American troops that were sent there after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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US frustration has boiled over before.

Trump's predecessor Barack Obama authorized drone strikes on Pakistani safe havens and sent US commandos to kill jihadist king-pin Osama Bin Laden in his Abbottabad hideout.

But Trump's aggressive language -- first in a speech last August and most recently in his first tweet of the New Year -- has angered Pakistani officials.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," Trump wrote.

"They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

Pakistani leaders disputed the $33 billion figure, insisting that around half of the money relates to reimbursements. The prime minister's office accused him of ignoring the great sacrifices the country has made to fight extremism.

Pakistan says it has lost more than 62,000 lives and $123 billion in the conflict since 2003, and the military insists it has now eradicated militant safe havens.

Privately US diplomats insist that the relationship is not in crisis, pointing to recent visits to Pakistan by secretaries of state and defense Tillerson and Mattis.

They say Pakistan is not refusing to fight the Haqqani network, but that the two capitals disagree about the facts on the ground, with US intelligence still seeing militants operating freely.

- 'Aggressively confront' -

Nauert was at pains to point out that the frozen funds had not been cancelled, and would be ready to be disbursed if Pakistan takes action to prove its commitment to the fight.

"The United States stands ready to work with Pakistan in combating all terrorists, without distinction," Nauert said.

"And we hope to be able to renew and deepen our bilateral security relationship when Pakistan demonstrates its willingness to aggressively confront the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network and other terrorists and militant groups that operate from within its country.

"So we will not deliver military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan unless it is required by law," she said.
Border Patrol agents are seen through the border fence detaining a person at the Border Field Park in Playas de Tijuana in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico - AFP

The White House is asking for $18 billion (13 billion) from Capitol Hill to fund the US-Mexico border wall, Donald Trump's signature campaign promise.

If granted, the money would pay for 316 miles of new fencing and reinforce another 407 miles where barriers are already in place. The entire border stretches almost 2,000 miles, although much of it is already impassable.

The request forms part of a $33 billion, 10-year package to tighten up homeland security with the remaining $15 billion going to fund critical physical border security requirements" such as technology, personnel and roads.

According to reports, the blueprint allocates $8.5 billion over seven years for 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and other officials; $5.7bn for towers, surveillance equipment and other technology; $1bn for road construction and maintenance.

In return for the cash, the Trump administration will be expected to discuss a way forward for the so-called dreamers - illegal immigrants who were brought to the US by their parents and know no other country.

Protesters supporting the so-called Dreamers outside the White House in September 2017 Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Under the Obama presidency, they were given protection from repatriation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, known as DACA.

Mr Trump announced the end of that programme last year and has said he will not sign a fix granting "amnesty" to DACA recipients without action to secure the border first.

Negotiations over the wall's funding will form part of broader budget negotiations in the coming weeks that if not resolved could see a government shutdown.

Sen Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Immigration subcommittee, said in a statement: President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall. With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction.

"Ive been clear from the beginning that Senate Democrats will consider reasonable border security measures in order to pass the Dream Act into law.

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"The Trump Administration set this crisis in motion when it ended DACA four months ago. Its outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hardline anti-immigrant bills - plus an additional $18 billion in wall funding - on the backs of these young people."

During the presidential campaign, Mr Trump promised his base he would build a "big beautiful wall" and that "Mexico would pay for it." The chant of "build that wall" became a popular slogan among his supporters.

At the time, he estimated the construction would cost $10 billion and cover the entire 2,000-mile border.

So far, the Trump administration has struggled to secure funding to cover just 72 miles of priority areas along the border, which have been identified near San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley.

Mexico has steadfastly refused to contribute and the spending plan indicates American taxpayers would fund it for at least the foreseeable future.
Butte-Silver Bow is actively enforcing an ordinance strengthened in 2014 that requires sidewalks to be shoveled and cleared of snow, ice and slush.

They havent fined anyone yet, although that day might come.

We are taking it as an educational approach right now but thats not saying we arent going to (fine). If it comes to last-ditch efforts, we are going to write tickets, said John Moodry, assistant director of the Community Enrichment Department.

We are not trying to be the heavy hand of the law and out to write tickets, he said, but the county has taken enforcement another level up.

Safety concerns are behind the new emphasis, he said.

The county has long required that sidewalks be shoveled, but commissioners added fines to the local law in June 2014 at the urging of then-Chief Executive Matt Vincent and Public Works officials. They said the ordinance needed teeth.

Public Works was responsible for enforcement the past few years, but Community Enrichment  which oversees building and code enforcement, among other things  has taken it on this winter.

Public Works has no background in enforcement, Moodry said, so they usually only responded to complaints by reminding individuals and businesses about the ordinance.

Devin McCarthy, a county code enforcement officer, has been doing the same thing in response to complaints since snow started flying last fall.

But hes also been noting unshoveled walks himself, especially those in front of businesses and along primary streets such as Harrison, Front and Park, to name a few. Attention also have been given to areas around schools.

I usually find out who owns the business and walk in and talk to the manager or owner and explain the ordinance, he said. Usually after you ask them to shovel, its done that night or first thing the next morning. Everyone has been easy to get along with and its done pretty quickly.

They have monitored areas around schools more closely, too, but they are handling most residential areas on a complaint-driven basis for now, Moodry said.

The ordinance requires owners or tenants to keep walks clear of snow, ice, slush, mud or other impediments. People have 24 hours following the end of new snowfalls to have walks cleared.

Officials will issue written warnings first, with first violations after that carrying a $50 fine, $100 for a second offense and $150 for each subsequent offense.

McCarthy said he is talking to people first and because of cooperation so far, he hasnt even issued any formal warnings.

Under the ordinance, people aged 65 or older or those with a documented disability are exempt from clearing walks if their income is 150 percent of the federal poverty level or less. For an individual, that means anyone making $18,090 or less. It is $36,900 for a family of four.

For those who qualify, the county is responsible for finding volunteers to clear their walks. It is up to homeowners, business owners or tenants, however, to inform the county if their walks are still not cleared.

Anyone with questions can call McCarthy at 406-497-6474.
Taylor Michael Wilson is believed to have attended the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville with members of a neo-Nazi group: Getty Images

A white man accused of attempting to commit a terror attack in Nebraska last year has links to far-right neo-Nazi groups and expressed an interest in 'killing black people', the FBI says.

Police say Taylor Michael Wilson was armed when he was found in the engine room of an Amtrack train, last October, after bringing the train to a sudden halt.

He was subdued by the train's conductor and others, according to The Lincoln Journal Star, arrested, and has now been charged in US District Court in Lincoln, Nebraska, with "terrorism attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems".

According to court documents unsealed on Wednesday, Mr Wilson, of St Charles in Missouri, had videos and PDF files on his phone of a white supremacist banner, other alt-right postings and documents detailing how to kill people - including a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook.

In an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, FBI Special Agent Monte Czaplewski said an acquaintance of Mr Wilson's contacted by the FBI said he had joined an "alt-right" neo-Nazi group that he found while researching white supremacy forums online.

26-year-old Taylor Wilson is being accused of a terror attack from incident on Amtrak train last October. https://t.co/YVgIkQt9Nc pic.twitter.com/QAxqsIiryW  Megan Conway (@MConwayKLKN) January 5, 2018

Czaplewski also said the FBI believed Mr Wilson had travelled with members of the group to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last year, where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed and 19 people injured when counter-protesters clashed with white supremacists, nationalists and neo-Nazis.

An informant is also said to have told the FBI that the 26-year-old had expressed an interest in "killing black people" and other non-white people, according to the affidavit, with Czaplewski adding they suspected Mr Wilson was responsible for a road rage incident in 2016 when a man pointed a gun at a black woman for no apparent reason.

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The unsealed court documents also said Mr Wilson was carrying a loaded .38-calibre handgun, a speed loader and a National Socialist Movement business card on him when he was arrested.

The National Socialist Movement is one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the US.

Despite having a permit in Missouri to carry a handgun, Mr Wilson also had a backpack containing three more speed loaders, a box of ammunition, a knife, tin snips, scissors and a ventilation mask.

Mr Wilson's $100,000 bond was posted on 11 December and he was released, but two days later FBI agents searched his Missouri home where they found a handmade shield, tactical body armour, 15 firearms - including a fully-automatic rifle - hundreds of rounds of ammunition, gunpowder, white supremacy documents and several handgun and rifle magazines.

He was arrested again on 23 December and The Lincoln Journal Star reports he remains in federal custody.
WASHINGTON  Journalist Michael Wolffs book Fire and Fury drew outsize attention this week, when excerpts were released that featured members of President Donald Trumps administration openly questioning his mental stability, as well as explosive comments from his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

Trump and the White House unleashed attacks against Bannon and threatened legal action against Wolff and his publisher. The book ended up being released on Friday, four days ahead of its scheduled publication date.

Here are some especially notable claims from the book to hold you over until you read the full thing.

(Photo: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)

Trump told former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes that son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner would work out the Russia issue.

According to Wolff, Ailes warned Trump about potentially damaging material coming up about the ties between his campaign and Russian officials.

Shortly after the election, his friend Ailes told him, with some urgency, Youve got to get right on Russia. Even exiled from Fox News, Ailes still maintained a fabled intelligence network. He warned Trump of potentially damaging material coming his way. You need to take this seriously, Donald. Jared has this, said a happy Trump. Its all worked out.

Kushner, who has been assigned a rather large array of tasks as a White House senior adviser, has faced plenty of scrutiny in the multiple investigations into whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russia last year.

Bannon told top Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller to use the internet as he drafted the administrations famous immigration executive order.

The book paints an unflattering picture of Miller, who is responsible for shaping much of Trumps platform  particularly his anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy proposals. Miller knew little about policy or military matters, the book says.

Bannon sent him to the Internet to learn about and to try to draft the [executive order], according to Wolff.

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Trumps daughter Ivanka told her friends about the secrets of her fathers hair.

She treated her father with some lightness, even irony, and in at least one television interview she made fun of his comb-over. She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean patea contained island after scalp reduction surgerysurrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray. The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Menthe longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trumps orange-blond hair color.

Trump has a conspiratorial reason for his frequent consumption of McDonalds food.

He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonalds  nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade.

Trump is a post-literate TV junkie.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that a busy schedule and strong work ethic keeps him from watching much television. Primarily because of documents, he told reporters aboard Air Force One in November. Im reading documents. A lot. And different things. I actually read much more  I read you people much more than I watch television.

According to Wolffs book, Trump has three TVs in his White House bedroom, hardly reads and struggles to process information.

Trump didnt read. He didnt really even skim. If it was print, it might as well not exist. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semiliterate. (There was some argument about this, because he could read headlines and articles about himself, or at least headlines on articles about himself, and the gossip squibs on the New York Posts Page Six.) Some thought him dyslexic; certainly his comprehension was limited. Others concluded that he didnt read because he just didnt have to, and that in fact this was one of his key attributes as a populist. He was postliteratetotal television.

As Bannon told Wolff: [Trumps] a guy who really hated school  And hes not going to start liking it now.

Everybody was a leaker: former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Bannon, Kushner  even Trump.

In their efforts to influence the president and undermine one another, Bannon, Priebus and Kushner created a kind of paralysis within the White House that led each of the advisers to turn to the media, Wolff writes.

The constant leaking was often blamed on lower minions and permanent executive branch staff, culminating in late February with an all-hands meeting of staffers called by Sean Spicercell phones surrendered at the doorduring which the press secretary issued threats of random phone checks and admonitions about the use of encrypted texting apps. Everybody was a potential leaker; everybody was accusing everybody else of being a leaker. Everybody was a leaker.

At least some of the information about the inner workings of the White House came directly from Trump, Wolff writes.

Trump accusing the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower was a turning point for White House staff.

In a series of tweets on March 4, 2017, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of surveilling him, offering no evidence to support the claim. This is McCarthyism! Trump wrote, adding that Obama was a Bad (or sick) guy!

It was a turning point. Until now, Trumps inner circle had been mostly game to defend him. But after the wiretap tweets, everybody, save perhaps Hope Hicks, moved into a state of queasy sheepishness, if not constant incredulity. Sean Spicer, for one, kept repeating his daily, if not hourly, mantra: You cant make this shit up.

Trump had no interest in repealing Obamacare  or health care in general. A man of many phobias, however, he once lied so as not to be pegged obese.

Trump had little or no interest in the central Republican goal of repealing Obamacare. An overweight seventy-year-old man with various physical phobias (for instance, he lied about his height to keep from having a body mass index that would label him as obese), he personally found health care and medical treatments of all kinds a distasteful subject. The details of the contested legislation were, to him, particularly boring; his attention would begin wandering from the first words of a policy discussion.

During one particular health care discussion, Trump reportedly asked of his aides: Why cant Medicare simply cover everybody?

Privately, Kellyanne Conway rolls her eyes at Trumps antics.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway  arguably Trumps most loyal defender  has what Wolff describes in the book as a convenient On-Off toggle.

In private, in the Off position, she seemed to regard Trump as a figure of exhausting exaggeration or even absurdityor, at least, if you regarded him that way, she seemed to suggest that she might, too. She illustrated her opinion of her boss with a whole series of facial expressions: eyes rolling, mouth agape, head snapping back. But in the On position, she metamorphosed into believer, protector, defender, and handler.

Trump has multiple theories that former President Richard M. Nixon was framed for the Watergate scandal.

Trump was reportedly reminded of the famous wiretapping scandal as the FBIs Russia probe unfolded, and compared James Comey to John Dean, who was instrumental in unraveling the Nixon administrations cover-up.

The president has several revisionist theories about Watergate and how Nixon was framed, the book says.

After a perceived win against Ivanka Trump over the Paris climate agreement, Bannon declared, The bitch is dead.

Wolff says the presidents plan to back out of the Paris agreement, announced in early June, was the move Ivanka Trump had campaigned hardest against in the White House. Bannon, who had fought repeatedly against Kushner and Ivanka Trumps White House influence, had supported the withdrawal.

Score, Bannon said. The bitch is dead.

Bannon called Donald Trump Jr.s meeting with Russian operatives treasonous, and suggested Trump himself met with the foreign officials on the same day.

Wolff outlines four imagined scenarios justifying the meeting in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, ranging from outright plotting by the Trump campaign to mere amusement at the prospect of playing dirty campaign tricks on Hillary Clinton. Regardless of the reason, Wolff states that practically nobody doubted Trump himself was aware of the meeting.

The chance that Don Jr. did not walk these jumos up to his fathers office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero, Bannon said, according to Wolff. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think its all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.

Trumps presidency might end with impeachment, according to Bannon.

Bannon said it just brings the impeachment closer if Trump were to fire Mueller.

Theres a 33.3 percent chance that the Mueller investigation would lead to the impeachment of the president, a 33.3 percent chance that Trump would resign, perhaps in the wake of a threat by the cabinet to act on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (by which the cabinet can remove the president in the event of his incapacitation), and a 33.3 percent chance that he would limp to the end of his term, the former adviser said.

Bannon said he certainly doesnt believe Trump will last eight years.

Hes not going to make it, he said. Hes lost his stuff.

Also on HuffPost

Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Rico residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan on Oct. 3.

Trump reacts as he sits in a truck on March 23 while welcoming truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting at the White House regarding health care.

Trump registers his surprise as he realizes other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 13.

Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, put their hands on an illuminated globe during the inauguration ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21.

Trump looks up toward the solar eclipse while standing on the Truman Balcony at the White House on Aug. 21.

Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May are pictured ahead of a photo opportunity of leaders as they arrive for a NATO summit meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing, China, on Nov. 10.

Trump holds up a pen after signing the HBCU executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 28.

Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait for reporters to enter the room before their meeting in the Oval Office on March 17.

Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.

Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio to the White House on Sept. 15. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the White House lawn, was invited to work for a day along the National Park Service staff.

Trump and Putin shake hands as they take part in a family photo at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 10.

Trump jokes with French President Emmanuel Macron about their handshakes at the start of the NATO summit at their new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump holds a mechanical tool as he attends a Made in America roundtable in the East Room of the White House on July 19.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Jakarta (AFP) - Rare images of the "world's ugliest pig" have been captured in Indonesia, researchers said Friday, offering a window into a little-known species believed to be on the brink of extinction.

The number of endangered Javan warty pigs -- males are distinguished by large warts on their faces -- has plunged since the early 1980s due to hunting and forest habitat loss, according to the UK-based Chester Zoo.

British and Indonesian researchers laid camera traps in the forests of the Southeast Asian nation's Java island in the hopes of capturing images of the elusive creature.

Their goal was to get a clearer sense of population levels and find ways to boost conservation of a "highly threatened species".

"It was even feared that many, if not all, populations had become extinct until their existence was confirmed by the zoo's cameras," the zoo said as it released the images.

The research "could eventually be used to establish new protection laws for the species as, currently, they are not protected by Indonesian law", it added.

The pigs -- which are only found on Java -- are similar in size to European wild boars but are more slender and have longer heads, the zoo said.

"Males have three pairs of enormous warts on their faces," said Johanna Rode-Margono, Chester Zoo's Southeast Asia field programme coordinator.

"It is these characteristics that have led to them being affectionately labelled as 'the world's ugliest pig' but, certainly to us and our researchers, they are rather beautiful and impressive."
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa made a home visit on Friday to the leader of the country's main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been battling cancer.

The visit, which analysts said was highly symbolic, comes as Zimbabwe's political parties prepare to begin campaigning for elections due later this year.

It will be the first ballot since former president Robert Mugabe stood down on November 21 following a brief military takeover.

Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, the former army chief who led November's takeover, said Tsvangirai was "recuperating very well" following his colon cancer diagnosis two years ago.

An image of the meeting showed Tsvangirai looking frail and wearing slippers as he sat on a couch holding a hand out to Mnangagwa, who appeared relaxed and wore a smart suit.

"He is fine. He is recuperating very well. Very soon he will be going back again for further medical check-ups in South Africa," Mnangagwa said as he left Tsvangirai's home.

Asked whether Zimbabwe required a coalition government to bring together the ruling ZANU-PF and other parties, Mnangagwa said "there is no need".

"What's the cause? You are allowed to lobby -- it's a democratic country. People are allowed to lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need," he said.

Tsvangirai's deputy in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party Nelson Chamisa said that Mnangagwa's gesture was "the politics we want to see".

"The politics of peace, the politics of working together, the politics of caring for each other," he said.

Piers Pigou, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that the visit could mark the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe's politics.

"He's clearly very sick, visibly so. That fact that (Mnangagwa) is visiting Tsvangirai is an indication of that more than it was of the possibility of some kind of political configuration," he said, playing down the possibility of a coalition between the two men's parties.

Story continues

"It's an important gesture. It perhaps reflects the beginnings of the maturity of a new politics."

Tsvangirai is a former prime minister and a veteran political figure who is hoping to lead a unified opposition bloc against Mnangagwa and his all-powerful ZANU-PF party.

Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first-round of the 2008 presidential election in which he faced off against Mugabe -- but it was not enough to avoid a run-off against Mugabe.

As Mugabe loyalists unleashed a wave of violence against MDC supporters, Tsvangirai pulled out of the race and later entered negotiations with the government.

He subsequently became prime minister in a power-sharing government in which he was widely seen as being out-foxed by Mugabe.
San Francisco (AFP) - Known for annual personal goals ranging from killing his own food to learning Mandarin, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's stated mission for this year is to 'fix' the social network.

Zuckerberg began taking on New Year's challenges in 2009, when he wore a neck tie every day as a reminder of the importance of making Facebook profitable despite global financial woes.

"Today feels a lot like that first year," Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook page.

"The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do."

His list of targets at the social network included abuse and hate; interference by nation states, and, making sure visiting Facebook was time well spent.

"My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues," Zuckerberg said.

"We won't prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools."

He planned to gather experts to delve into topics such as politics, civics, media, and technology in pursuit of his goal.

Facebook has been striving to stymie use of its platform to spread bogus information.

Google, Twitter and Facebook have come under fire for allowing the spread of bogus news -- some of which was directed by Russia -- ahead of the 2016 US election and in other countries.

"A lot of us got into technology because we believe it can be a decentralizing force that puts more power in people's hands," Zuckerberg said in his post.

"With the rise of a small number of big tech companies -- and governments using technology to watch their citizens -- many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it."

He cited encryption and digital currency as important trends with the potential to put power back in people's hands, and said he would explore how best to use them at Facebook services.
By David Ingram

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc <FB.O> Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday his goal for 2018 was to put the business he co-founded on a more solid footing, a break with his longstanding practice of setting a purely personal annual goal.

"The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do," Zuckerberg, at 33 one of the world's wealthiest people, wrote in a post on the No. 1 social media network. In past years, his New Year's resolutions have included learning Mandarin, reading two books a month and traveling to U.S. states he had not yet visited.

This year, his post described Facebook as standing at a crossroads that required his attention. He cited the spread of hate speech on social media, use of Facebook by Russia and other countries to disseminate propaganda and criticism that the platform can be an addictive waste of time.

A new law in Germany requires social networks such as Facebook and Twitter Inc <TWTR.N> to remove online hate speech or face fines. In the United States, lawmakers have criticized Facebook for failing to prevent Russian operatives from using its platform to meddle in the 2016 U.S. elections.

In addition, ex-Facebook executives have publicly questioned whether using the network leads to unhealthy behaviors.

Zuckerberg said his "personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues." He added that the pledge "may not seem like a personal challenge on its face," but that he would learn a lot. He did not say what he would do.

"We won't prevent all mistakes or abuse," he wrote, "but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools."

The issues Zuckerberg mentioned have created public relations and regulatory challenges, but have not made much of a dent on Facebook's bottom line. The social network reported $16 billion in net income on $36 billion in sales during the 12 months that ended on Sept. 30.

Shares on Thursday traded at $184.94, up 0.1 percent.

(Additional reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)
The Niruch family, an Arab-Israeli family residing in Herzliya, awoke late Thursday to find the door to the home was torched by unknown parties. According to the family's patriarch Ayman, the arson was racially-motivated.

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Ayman, a married father of three, settled in Herzliya 15 years ago, moving from Jerusalem. In the past two years the family has been residing in the Shaviv neighborhood.

The burned door to the Niruch family's home

Footage of the alleged arson's aftermath

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Fire teams arrived to the scene and put the fire out. A Magen David Adom team of paramedics also arrived to the family's home and examined Ayman's three daughters. His brother, who happened to be visiting, was taken to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba for smoke inhalation. Several hours later, Ayman took his wife and daughters to the hospital as well for examinations.

Ayman's brother was hospitalized due to smoke inhalation

"We've always maintained good relations and have no enemies or conflicts," Ayman claimed. "Unfortunately, some racists don't want us in the neighborhood simply because we're Arabs. We've harmed no one. This is a very serious incident and we now fear for our lives."

The Niruch family went back to Jerusalem

The Niruch family decided to take no chances, and left Herzliya for Jerusalem, where it will remain at least for the time being. "I don't want anyone to hurt us. Just like they torched the entrance door, they could well have murdered us so we decided to leave. My daughters are traumatized. My eldest is afraid all the time and told me she didn't want us to be burned," Ayman said.

Police said an investigation was underway.
Iran's UN ambassador says the Security Council's emergency meeting on protests in his country is "a preposterous example" of "US bullying."

Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said Friday that "it is a discredit for the Security Council" to discuss what he called a purely domestic matter.

He went on to list protests in the US, from the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 to demonstrations outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

The US called the meeting after giving moral support to Iran's anti-government protesters. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the session put Iran on notice that "the world will be watching" its actions.

At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested amid anti-government rallies and unrest that began last week. Iran has also seen three days of large pro-government demonstrations.
The United States has frozen $125 million in funding for a UN agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees, Axios news site reported on Friday, but a State Department official said no decision had been made on the payment.

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Days after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold future aid payments to Palestinians, Axios said the funding was frozen until the US government finishes its review of aid to the Palestinian Authority.

The sum, a third of the annual US donation to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, was supposed to be delivered by Jan. 1, Axios said, citing three unidentified Western diplomats.

PA President Abbas (Photo: Reuters)

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: That (Axios) story is very misleading. Just because they were expecting the money on the first, and they did not get it at that time, does not mean it was suspended or canceled. Deliberations are ongoing, and we have until mid-January to make a final decision.

Asked if any preliminary decision had been made, the official replied: No. And reports to that effect are false.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the agency had not been informed directly of a formal decision either way by the US administration.

Trump said on Tuesday he would withhold money from the Palestinians, accusing them of being no longer willing to talk peace with Israel.

We pay HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel ... with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them? Trump said on Twitter.

US President Trump (R) (Photo: AFP)

Commenting on Trump's tweets, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "Jerusalem is not for sale, neither for gold nor for silver."

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, said in response: "We will not be blackmailed."

The Gaza terror organization Hamas dismissed Trump's threats, calling it "cheap political blackmail that reflects the barbaric American behavior."

The United States is the largest donor to the agency, with a pledge of nearly $370 million as of 2016, according to UNRWAs website.
The United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley hosted a special reception Thursday for ambassadors of the 64 countries that objected to the UN General Assembly's resolution to disavow President Donald Trump's decision recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

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The invitation was sent to the eight ambassadors of the countries who voted against the resolutionincluding Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danonthe 35 ambassadors of countries that abstained and, lastly, to the 21 ambassadors of countries who were not present during the vote.

(Photo: Nikki Haley's Twitter account)

"It's easy for friends to be with you in the good times, but it's the friends who are with you during the challenging times that will never be forgotten. Thank you to the 64," Haley said, adding, "President Trump and I have a list of the countries that supported us in a drawer."

Trump himself provided a personal welcoming message to the reception's attendees, screened during the event. "We greatly appreciate your support," the president said. "The US has retained its commitment to long-lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace, and there's no reason for that peace not to be attained. We'll continue working with partners such as yourselves to promote a future of peace and prosperity for the region, its people and the world. Thank you."

Ambassador Danon said, "Israel has no better friend than the United States and the US has no more loyal ally than Israel. We thank the US and Ambassador Haley on their strident stance alongside us, and historical truth The leadership the US has shown has once again exposed the hypocrisy of Palestinian leadership, which talks peace while doing everything in its power to avoid negotiations."
An Israeli citizen accused of involvement in a human organ trafficking scandal in Kosovo a decade ago has been arrested in Cyprus and the authorities in Kosovar capital of Pristina have requested his extradition to face trial, police said on Friday.

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A European Union prosecutor announced in 2011 that the Israeli, Moshe Harel, and a Turkish doctor named Yusuf Sonmez were accused of performing illegal medical procedures and involvement in organized crime in the southeastern European country. The pair is also wanted Interpol and international warrant for their arrest has been issued.

Moshe Harel (Photo: AP)

Harel was arrested and questioned in 2008, but refused authorization to leave Kosovo and return to Israel, pending the investigation's requirements. Kosovo authorities also stated Sonmez's current whereabouts were unknown.

Harel and Sonmez's network was exposed in 2008, when Kosovar police raided the clinic in which the operations were performed following suspicions that a Turkish man had sold his kidney to an Israeli citizen. He was found after the operation in the Pristina airport when he attempted to board a plane to Turkey, and was hospitalized.

Police accuse Harel of seeking out people in need of kidney transplants and of luring donors to Kosovo from Turkey and the ex-Soviet Union with the promise of up to 12,000 euros ($14,500) in payment.

Recipients, mainly Israelis but also some in Canada and Poland, paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euros for the organs. Some donors never received any money.

"Based on an international arrest warrant the suspect M.H. was arrested a few days ago in Cyprus. He has been a wanted person since 2010," police spokesman Baki Kelani told Reuters.

The arrest warrant filed to Interpol against Harel in 2008

Russia has also issued an international arrest warrant for Harel, who was arrested in Israel in 2012 in connection with a parallel investigation, but was not extradited to Kosovo, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

The director of the clinic where the operations were performed, urologist Lutfi Dervishi, was sentenced to eight years in jail for organized crime and human trafficking and his son Arban for seven years in 2013, though both men went into hiding and have not served their sentences.

In 2016 a Kosovo court ordered a retrial of doctors and officials convicted of involvement in the case and that trial is still ongoing. They have all denied any wrongdoing.

Police said Lutfi Dervishi had been recaptured last year and was among those now being retried. His son and Turkish doctor Sonmez are still at large.
Irans state TV on Saturday showed several hundred government supporters rallying a day after the foreign minister said a US move to call an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss anti-government protests was another Trump administration blunder.

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The state broadcaster showed the pro-government rally in the city of Amol, in the northern province of Mazandaram, with hundreds of people waving the Iranian flag and chanting slogans against the US and Israel. State TV described the rally as a response to rioters and supporters of the riots.

Iranian pro-government demonstrators burning a US flag, Friday (Photo: AFP)

Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Ali Jafari previously claimed the protest was quelled , and that seemed to be the case in the streets Friday. With the usual chants of "Death to America, death to Israel", so often heard in the Islamic country, demonstrators waved photos of Khamenei and hoisted Iranian flags.

"We support Khamenei. We will never abandon him in his fight against the Islamic republic's enemies," said one pro-regime protester.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told students at Tehran University that the regime was determined to deal with anyone wishing to destabilize Iran, which has been hard hit by rampant unemployment.

"But those ordinary Iranians who were deceived by these American-backed rioters should be dealt with based on Islamic clemency," senior cleric Khatami told worshippers at Tehran university, TV reported.

Khatami also called on the government to "pay more attention to people's economic problems."

Along those lines, Rouhani's government has decided to temporarily shelve a program to cut social benefits and raise gas prices. "Some employees have not been paid in months. This problem has to be solved first," Khatami said.

Ayatollah Khatami (Photo: EPA)

Anti-government protests broke out in Mashhad, Irans second largest city, on Dec. 28 and have since spread to several other cities and towns. The protests were sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment. Some demonstrators have called for the governments overthrow.

At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested. Large pro-government rallies have been held in response, and officials have blamed the anti-government unrest on foreign meddling.

US President Donald Trump has voiced encouragement for the anti-government protesters. The US called the UN meeting on Friday, portraying the protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the emergency session put Iran on notice that the world will be watching its actions.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter after the session that the Security Council rebuffed the US naked attempt to hijack its mandate.

He said the majority emphasized the need to fully implement the 2015 nuclear deal and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries. Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration, he wrote.

Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Jafari (L) with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif (Photo: Reuters)

Russia portrayed the Security Council meeting as a US attempt to violate Irans sovereignty. Envoys from several other countries, from China to newcomer Equatorial Guinea, expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

Unhelpful support

Support for the anti-regime protests came from an unexpected direction Friday, when the Islamic State declared support for the anti-government protests.

In its latest weekly publication, Al Nabaa, the extremists describe the protests as a "revolution against the regime" and an uprising against Wilayat al-Faqih, or Iran's system of governance by clerics.

Friday's statement also says the messages sent through the protesters to their rulers are "highly important" and that they should continue.

Following the hard-line terror organization's support of the protests, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did not miss an opportunity to point a finger at the USwho he said supported the Islamic Statein blame.

"Eternal bedfellows (Saudi Arabia) and #ISISfollowing Trump's leadall endorse violence, death and destruction in Iran. Why are we not surprised?" Zarif tweeted.
A new book published Friday detailing a fly-on-the-wall account of Donald Trump's first year as US President unveils his former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon drafted a plan in which Jordan and Egypt would annex territories currently under Palestinian control to start off Middle East peace negotiations.

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The Book, titled "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," was written by author and journalist Michael Wolff. It contains salacious and unflattering details about Trump and his associates, knowledge of which Wolff says he has thanks to his White House access.

Said access, he claimed, was given to him by Trump himself, who did so because he "liked an article Wolff wrote about him in 2016."

Former Chief Strategist Bannon said Jordan would annex the West Bank while Egypt would retake Gaza (Photo: AFP)

Aside from more personal details about his habits and relationship with his wife, the book contains minutes from conversations Trump and his associates had about issues that are still hotly debated.

One such item is the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. , son-in-law Jared Kushner , former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer named Natalia Veselnitskaya, which former Chief Strategist Bannon dubbed "treasonous and unpatriotic," according to the book.

The new book, 'Fire and Fury,' detailed Trump's first year in the White House (Photo: Reuters)

On another matter also involving Bannon, the beginning of "Fire and Fury" describes that immediately after Trump won the election, but before his inauguration, Bannonwho was then his confidant and considered the architect of the election winattended a Manhattan dinner, also attended by Roger Ailes, the disgraced former president of Fox News who was forced to step down amid a flurry of sexual harassment accusations.

WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refutes book's assertions

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In that same dinner, Bannon presented the White House's plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Trump is working on the plan, it's his plan," Bannon told the dinner's six guests, one of which was Wolff. "Day one we're moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Netanyahu's all in. Sheldon Adelson is all in. we know where we're going."

Ailes, a longtime friend of Trump who passed away this past May, asked, "Does Donald know?"

"He knows, or he knows what he knows," Bannon replied with a wink.

Bannon later reportedly went into the details of the American administration's plan, saying, "Let Jordan take the West Bank, let Egypt take Gaza. Let them deal with it. Or sink trying."

"The Saudis are on the brink, Egyptians are on brink, all scared to death of Persia, and of what's going to happen in Yemen, Sinai and Libya. That's why Russia is so key. Is Russia that bad? They're bad guys. But the world is full of bad guys," Bannon said.

Ailes then remarked, "It's good to know they're the bad guys. The question is whether Donald knows ."

'The Kushners know all the crooks in Israel,' President Trump reportedly said (Photo: Saban Forum)

Finding a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was entrusted in the hands of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The book mentions that Trump "gleefully told" multiple people Kushner would be able to untangle an issue as difficult as the years' long conflict because "The Kushners knew all the crooks in Israel."

Trump continued his assault on Bannon and on the book's author Saturday, remarking "Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!"
Norway's justice minister said Saturday that an Iraqi-born cleric suspected of enticing recruits to fight in Iraq and Syria will be extradited if a court in Italy convicts him.

The Muslim cleric, Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, is scheduled to go on trial in Italy Wednesday without him being physically present in court, Norwegian daily newspaper Nettavisen reported. Ahmad is known as Mullah Krekar in Norway, where he has lived since 1991.

Italian prosecutors allege that Krekar is behind Rawti Shax, a European network aimed at violently overthrowing the government in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and replacing it with a radical caliphate. Rawti Shax ultimately was to join the Islamic State group, Nettavisen said.

The prosecutors claim Rawti Shax built up a network of operative cells "to carry out violent actions on European soil or against Western interests to create fear in the population or put pressure on governments and international organizations," according to the newspaper.

Krekar has denied the allegations.
Germany and Turkey's foreign ministers on Saturday agreed to pull out all the stops to improve ties that have soured due to disputes over Ankara's post-coup crackdown and the arrests of German citizens in Turkey, but they stressed differences remain.

Meeting in an ornate imperial palace in central Germany, the pair said they were keen to make amends after falling out as Ankara rounded up suspected supporters of a failed 2016 coup, a comedian mocked Turkey's president and a German-Turkish journalist was detained without charge.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel pointed to historic links between the countries including the role Turkish guest workers played in rebuilding Germany after World War Two, Turkey's hospitality in taking in German refugees during the Nazi era and the 3 million-strong Turkish community here.

"We've both made it our business to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been in German-Turkish relations and to find more common ground in the future by remembering everything that binds us together," Gabriel said.
Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay said that he believed there will be elections this coming November and that he will be elected prime minister. Gabbay made the comments Saturday at a cultural event in Modi'in adding that the current government is occupied only with its own survival and not with the good of the people.

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Gabbay also commented on the controversy surrounding the security provided for the prime minister's children. This week, Director of the Shin Bet Yoram Cohen revealed that he recommended the children not receive a permanent security detail. "In my case, I would heed the advice of the Shin Bet and in any case, I dont think my kids want security," Gabbay said.

Zionist Union Chairman Gabbay

Gabbay also expressed opposition to the Supermarkets Billscheduled to be voted on this coming week in the Knesset. "I oppose religious coercion and maintain that each city should decide for itself according to the makeup of the population, whether and how many shops should be open on Shabbat," he declared.

The Zionist Union leader then went on to attack the government, saying, "In recent weeks, the coalition has been preoccupied with providing news headlines for its members instead of being immersed in the lives of Israel's citizens and the issues that truly bother them."

"I travel the country and hear what is bothering people and I can say with certainty that there is no connection between most of what is going on in Knesset sessions recently and the things that are really bothering people," the Zionist Union chief claimed.

During a similar cultural event in Be'er Sheva, former head of the investigation and intelligence unit of the police and current MK Yoav Segalovich (Yesh Atid) criticized the coalition in light of the investigation into the affairs of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The difference between the current investigation and the past (investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmerted) is the silence, the absolute silence of the coalition members. In the past, there were those, even members of the party of that prime minister, who said: 'Enough!' Today's reality is of a state of dwarves," he said.

He added: "It is not the Likud itself which is under investigation but rather the prime minister. (But) nobody stands up to declare: 'Enough!' I do not expect Gilad Erdan, Yisrael Katz or Gideon Sa'ar to say 'Submit an indictment,' but to at least say that this behavior is problematic and damaging to the state."
Several Jerusalem residents scattered trash around the house and street of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat Friday night in protest of disruption in municipal sanitation services, which have been halted as part of Barkat's struggle against Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon surrounding the " capital grant ."

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The Jerusalem municipality receives an increment to its budget every year dubbed the "capital grant." While other local authorities in Israel receive grants for balanced budgets, Jerusalem receives a grant stemming from its special status and needs as capital and yet of the country's poorest cities, influenced by the large incidence of poor Haredim and Arab residents.

Employees of the Jerusalem municipality announced a general strike Thursday, set to commence Saturday night following the municipality announcing 2,150 employees will be laid off.

Residents piled trash outside Barkat's home in Jerusalem (Photo: Mooli Goldberg)

Sanitation workers began disruption in their work the same day, with piles of garbage stacking up in the Mahane Yehuda Market. Employees who have already received letters of dismissal, meanwhile, blocked the entrance the municipality director-general's offices Thursday.

Disgruntled residents scatter trash outside capital home of Mayor Barkat (:  )

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The layoffs were a strategic move on Barkat's part, announcing them as a part of his claims of discrimination on the Finance Ministry and Minister Kahlon's part, regarding not increasing the city's annual "capital grant"despite the fact the grant ballooned these past few years.

In 2017, for example, the grant was NIS 700 million, an increase of more than NIS 200 million compared to the grant the Jerusalem municipality received in 2016.

Jerusalem Mayor Barkat is feuding with Finance Minister Kahlon over the city's annual 'capital grant' (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Barkat's campaign took on a more aggressive tone with the publication of billboards around the city blasting the finance minister. Last weekend, Barkat took out newspaper ads against Kahlon, which he paid for out of pocket, and earlier last week he was assisted by the municipality's sanitation workers, who blocked the entrance to the Jerusalem offices of the Ministry of Finance with piles of trash and garbage trucks.

Some of the city's ordinary residents, however, had decided they had had enough with the struggle they said was being waged at their expense, prompting the decision to scatter trash around Barkat's home.

Sanitation workers piled trash in the Mahane Yehuda Market (Photo: Yael Freidson)

"Nir Barkat is being vulgar. It started with last year's strikes and scattering trash around the city. Now not only is the trash not being collected, but Barkat also gave word to intentionally throw it around the market and sully the city," one of the protesters said.

"Beyond his intention to dismiss more than 2,000 people, which he announced before even meeting with the finance minister, in the meantime he's flexing his muscles and causing real harm to Jerusalem residents. Stop using the city's populace as hostages for his mess with the Finance Ministry," the protester demanded.
Jordan's foreign minister says Arab states will push for international recognition of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, after President Donald Trump last month recognized the contested city as Israel's capital.

Ayman Safadi spoke after hosting five Arab foreign ministers and the head of the Arab League on Saturday, to decide on a joint Arab response to Trump.

Safadi says the Arab world would pursue a "global political decision to recognize the Palestinian state ... with east Jerusalem as its capital."

In 2012, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly recognized a state of Palestine in lands Israel captured in 1967, including east Jerusalem, as an observer state, but many Western countries stopped short of bilateral recognition.
For the 59th week in a row, a protest over government corruption was held in Tel Aviv Saturday night against what demonstrators say are delays in the investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, instead of a march through the city's Rothschild Boulevard, participants will be marching from the Bima Square plaza to the Tel Aviv Government Quarter, near the Azrieli Towers.

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Some 1,500 people congregated in Habima Square, once again waving signs saying "Crime minister" and called on Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to resign alleging his mishandling of Netanyahu's investigations.

The weekly Tel Aviv protest drew some 1,500 people despite inclement weather (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Protesters also cried out the usual chants of "Corrupted, go home!" and "Capital and government equal underworld."

"You're here to call on the corrupt to abdicate their positions," said Meni Naftali, a former caretaker at the Prime Minister's Residence. "You watch the prime minister's children on the news, but we don't care about that. We care about the prime minister himself and Mandelblit. We're all fighting for the same thing."

Motti Ashkenazi, who led anti-government protests in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, also attended the rally and said, "Where the government is corrupt no social justice can exist. It's a shame on democracy. It's time to embark on a new age, in which social justice will be attainable, in which corruption will no longer exist. We'll change our futureand that of our grandchildrenwith our own hands."

Prof. Uzi Arad, a former advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu and head of the National Security Council, who also spoke at last week's protest, said regarding the submarine affair, "Gentlemen, it's time for the prime minister to either be questioned or provide testimony on Case 3000. There are irregularities in something the prime minister was directly involved inforfeiting tenders on ships to protect oil rigs to benefit (German firm) ThyssenKrupp."

(Photo: Yuval Hen)

Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism Rabbi Gilad Kariv said, "These rallies are a testament to many Israelis' concern for the future of their country. Seventy years ago, not far from here the Declaration of Independence was signed, and its signatories never could have imagined the false prophets whispering in the king's ear whatever he wishes to hear.

"Corruption does not harm only government, but the moral lives of us all. We should know our public officials are forthright in their dealings and do not look after the interests of sycophants."

Avi Arazi, presented as the person who blew the whistle on the Rishon LeZion municipality corruption affair, said, "Netanyahu has built investigation dummies all around him, and we won't be slaves to that game. We'll demand the feeling of belonging, we'll trace our own future, clean local authoritieswe can only succeed by acting together."

Saturday's protest was the sixth consecutive rally to be held in the country's second largest city. Last week, however, the protest turned especially vitriolic with signs calling Netanyahu a traitor.

(Photo: Yuval Hen)

The Tel Aviv District Police's permit for this week's protest said, therefore, that "No signs, posters or speeches will be displayed or made that include incitement, sedition or goading to committing violent or otherwise unlawful acts."

Earlier Saturday, one of the protests' organizers Eldad Yaniv sent a message to protesters on social media saying, "To all those who are depressed and think that nothing's happening, attend the protest because we'll have speeches from people who have been through worse."

"We mustn't despair, we're here for the long haul and we'll win. Some of us have been on the streets for a year. We'll march on the Government Quarter to awaken Tel Aviv because this is a fight for the country. It's war.

"Investigations are getting closer. Remember (former coalition chairman who was forced to step down amid corruption allegations) David Bitan. Just as Bitan toppled, so will Bibi," Yaniv vowed.

Commenting on recent protests, where a sign calling Netanyahu a traitor was waved and a model guillotine displayed, Yaniv said, "Don't get overworked over people's dumb signs. We have to ignore background noises."

A 'deluge of corruption' in Haifa (Photo: Dudi Mibloom)

Simultaneous to the main Tel Aviv protest, demonstrations also took place elsewhere in the country. In the Haifa Auditorium's plaza some 100 people protested corruption by holding white umbrellas emblazoned with "A deluge of corruption." In Karkur Junction, meanwhile, 200 people protested.
Israel supports a cut in US funding for a UN agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugeesa possibility raised by President Donald Trumpbut prefers it be carried out gradually, a senior Israeli official said Saturday.

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Trump threatened earlier this week to withhold future aid payments to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over what he called the Palestinians' unwillingness to talk peace with Israel.

The idea, condemned as blackmail by Palestinians, was initially met with mixed reactions in Israel, with some officials warning of the dangers in cutting off financial assistance to the Palestinians.

An UNRWA facility. Israel said it now supported gradual defunding of the agency (Photo: AFP)

"Prime Minister ( Benjamin Netanyahu ) supports a gradual cut to UNRWA," said the senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu at his Sunday weekly Cabinet meeting also reiterated support for Trump's threat to cut aid to Palestinians, saying he "completely agrees" with Trump's decision.

The Axios news website reported on Friday that the United States had frozen $125 million in funding for UNRWA, but a State Department official said no decision had been made.

Netanyahu's office said in a brief statement that the premier "supports President Trump's critical approach and believes that practical steps should be taken to change the situation in which UNRWA is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem rather than resolving it."

UNRWA supports much of the population in the Gaza Strip and a cut to its budget could ramp up tensions with Israel, a main conduit for aid into the territory.

The United States is the largest donor to the agency, with a pledge of nearly $370 million as of 2016, according to UNRWA's website.
The workers committee for the Jerusalem Municipality has declared a general strike Sunday affecting all city services except schools.

The strike was called after the firing of 2,150 city workers due to the Finance Ministry withholding funds from the city. Mayor Nir Barakat called on the union head to avoid a strike, especially of education and sanitation.
Police have arrested a 19 year old man from Hebron on suspicion of murder after a body was found at the Hiriya landfill.

The suspect works at the landfill and was found to be using the victim's phone. A Tel Aviv court has remanded him till Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held seven meetings in his Jerusalem residence with Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch over the course of two years, with three of the meetings taking place during Netanyahu's time as communications ministerwho oversees the telecommunications giantdespite not reporting his ties to Elovitch when assuming the position.

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The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was forced to publish the itinerary of Netanyahu's meetings with Elovitch Thursday, as documented in the PMO's log from January 1, 2013 to November 17, 2015.

The disclosure came in the wake of Jerusalem District Court Judge Amnon Darel, who ruled in favor of a petition to disclose the dates of the meetings on a freedom of information request.

Bezeq majority shareholder Elovitch (L) and PM Netanyahu met 7 times over the course of 2 years (:  ,  , ")

Netanyahu vehemently objected to the publication of the meetings' details citing injury to privacy, but his claim was rejected by the court. The State Attorney's Office also reversed position following a High Court verdict on a petition submitted by a Channel 10 journalist, which forced Netanyahu to disclose dates of phone conversations he had had with Israel Hayom publisher Sheldon Adelson and former editor Amos Regev.

Netanyahu had admitted previously that he and Elovitch maintained years' long friendly ties. In a deposition submitted to the court in November 2016, the prime minister wrote that "Elovitch has been my friend and companion for 20 years. We have a cordial relationship and maintain it by meeting from time to time."

The pair's first four meetings at the prime minister's official residence took place when Gilad Erdan served as communication minister. A meeting taking place on March 24, 2014, was held merely two days before Israel's Anti-trust Authority approved under conditions Bezeq's merger deal with satellite television provider yes.

On November 5, a single day after Erdan's resignation from the Communication Ministry, Netanyahu took on the mantle of minister and three weeks later met with Elovitch again. Netanyahu did not at the time report his ties with the business magnate to anyone.

PM Netanyahu replaced Gilad Erdan as communication minister, and then met with Elovitch 3 weeks later (Photo: Amit Shabi)

During his tenure as communication minister, Netanyahu convened with Elovitch on three separate occasions, in meeting held in the midst of a general election campaign.

Due to criticism the prime minister was hit with in a State Comptroller's report on carrying out activities related to Bezeq despite his ties to Elovitchwho has a majority stake in the companyNetanyahu was forced to step down and in February 2017 appointed Tzachi Hanegbi as acting communication minister for a three-month period, and then later appointed Ayoob Kara to a permanent position in the ministry.

Shlomo Filber , a Netanyahu confidant who also served a stint as the Communication Ministry's director-general, had declared his recusal, with the Israel Securities Authority recommending he be indicted due to his conduct in the Bezeq affair.

'The PM allegedly committed breach of trust'

Attorney Shachar Ben Meir, who submitted the original petition, said he now intended to demand the details of Netanyahu's phone conversations with Elovitch citing freedom of information, and should the prime minister refuse he will once again take him to court.

"On a strict legal level, as soon as Netanyahu appointed himself communication minister he had to report his friendship with Elovitch and recuse himself from making decisions on Bezeq, and certainly not meet Elovitch," Ben Meir said.

"The dates of the meetings give credence to the conclusion he had allegedly committed a breach of trust offense and I can only wonder why the attorney general has yet to act on the matter," the attorney said.

The PMO said on behalf of Netanyahu, "Seven meetings took place over the course of two years. Contrary to publications, and in light of policy handed down by the High Court recently, the prime minister did not object to publicizing the dates of meetings.

"The meetings did not deal with the Bezeq-yes merger. Decisions and authorizations in that regard were made by professional ranks, including in the Israel Anti-trust Authority. The prime minister in no way intervened with the Authority's decision or the work of professional committees, whose recommendations he approved. Any attempt to tie him to the Bezeq-yes deal is absurd and unfounded."

Anti-trust Authority Commissioner David Gilo approved the Bezeq-yes merger

Shaul Elovitch's representation said, "There's nothing new about this publication, since Shaul Elovitch and the prime minister had already confirmed the meetingsstrictly social in naturetook place in the past.

"It should be stressed that Elovitch agreed to publicizing the meetings' dates and confirmed that they had taken place, with seven meetings spanning three years, contravening the original impression in the media as if the meetings took place often.

"An attempt to link one such meeting, taking place two days before the approval of the Bezeq-yes merger by the Anti-trust Authority, to the merger is baseless. As is well known, the aforementioned merger was a complex process drawn out over a period of five years, in addition to the five-month-long public hearing process before the merger was approved.

"It is completely unfounded and detached from reality to assume that a meeting taking place two days before the approval could have in any way influenced the decision, even more so as it's well known the prime minister carries no influence over the Anti-trust Authority's decisions."
The picnic tables were filled early at Gotts Roadside in St. Helena on Sat., Dec. 30 as a group of dedicated, self-described foodies gathered at 10 a.m. in a meet up with food-blogger and @nocrumbsleft social media superstar Teri Turner.

The event was orchestrated and sponsored by the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce.

The goal of the meet up was a digital savvy way to bring business to Main Street to help support our shops. Nearly 40 people  from as far away as St. Louis and San Diego  descended in the early morning cold to hear Turner talk about her experiences with becoming a celebrity in the social media realm.

Turner, who lives in Chicago, said that when friends started asking her for her recipes, some also wondered why she hadnt started a blog.

I began this (@nocrumbsleft Instagram site) just three years ago, Turner said.

At first I didnt want to do that. I resisted, she recalled. But my kids encouraged me. Now its about sharing my love and excitement about cooking.

Turner, whose blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram postings today have a loyal base of readers, said her following is nearly 700,000 foodies.

But the heart the story she told at the meet up was her love of food and how it binds people together. And her success with social media has now created opportunities for her to travel the world to meet chefs, to create projects, to attend meet ups and industry-sponsored food events.

But the heart of the meet up for Turners followers was the opportunity to ask her questions about cooking.

Do you use an Instant Pot? one woman asked.

No, said Turner.

I know a lot of chefs who do. Or some sort of hot pot. But I dont use one in our kitchen. I prefer to slow cook on the burner and I think the perfect gift for anyone is a good Dutch oven.

Turner attributed her success as a food blogger to the busy lifestyle of people today.

Many people  especially younger people  dont have any real experience in the kitchen. They dont know what to do, and they just dont have the time. So the Instagram blog lets them see whats possible, and the recipes let me share my excitement about cooking.

Joy Shahbaz was one of Turners followers, who had come up with her boyfriend Mauro Colabianchi for a family holiday visit to Petaluma.

An hours trip to St. Helena to meet up with Turner was something they had planned together. As they huddled under the heaters in the food-pickup area of Gotts, Shahbazs excitement at the meet up seemed to be echoed by others in the group.

I started following Teri a while back, and when I heard there would be a meet up in St. Helena while we were up here, I thought it would be fun to come.

Shahbaz said shed never been to St. Helena before, though Colabianchi said that growing up in Petaluma hed passed through several times.

It looks like a wonderful town, Shahbaz said. Asked if they would be shopping after the meet up, she said, Definitely.

Snacks had been provided by Gotts Roadside, and there were plenty of giveaways at the Chambers event.

Marcus Marquez, general manager of Brasswood Estate, signed copies of his book 100 Things to Do in the Napa Valley Before You Die. Another popular book, A Perfect Score: The Art, Soul, and Business of a 21st-Century Winery by Kathryn and Craig Hall was provided by the Chamber.

At the end of the meet up, the group was organized to hold up cards to spell out No Crumbs Left. Lets go! for a boomerang gif that was to be used on the @nocrumbsleft social media site.

Then it was off for a tour down Main Streets shops as the group engaged their cellphones to document their end-of-the-year 2017 experience in St. Helena.
Bro. Dominic (John) Aquinas Berardelli, F.S.C. died at the age of 79 on Thursday, December 28, 2017 at Mont La Salles Holy Family Community after a bravely fought battle with numerous illnesses. Brother Dominic was born in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1938, where he attended Holy Rosary Grammar School, and Central District Catholic High School. He entered the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Ammendale, Maryland and received the Religious Habit in 1955. His tour of duty, beginning with the Scholasticate in Elkins Park, Philadelphia and later, Bishop OConnell High School in Arlington, Virginia was both lengthy and impressive, serving in the Missions, particularly the Philippine Islands starting in 1960. He taught and held various posts at LaSalle High School, Pasadena, where he also was Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Orange, and later at De La Salle North Catholic, Portland He also was part the leadership team of the Mother House in Rome, where he served for a number of years. His duties there took him to Africa, to Australia, and to Asia, as well. Later, he served as Director of Education and Treasurer for the San Francisco District. Brother Dominic especially enjoyed being at Saint Marys College of Moraga, where he was loved, honored, and well-respected. His cheerful disposition and engaging smile were the hallmarks of his approach to life and to his many duties over the years.
Marlin (Lynn) Odell Forthun, 90 years old, passed away Christmas morning 2017 in his home in Napa California, surrounded by the ones he loved. Upon finding out he was ill, he was able to spend the last few months of his life with his family by his side.

Marlin, or Lynn as most knew him, was born to Lisa and Melvin Forthun amidst a blizzard on a farm in Columbus North Dakota. He later moved to Vallejo California during WWII and resided there for 17 years. During that time Lynn married Janet Forthun (Costa) in January 1956 and they welcomed their first child Cheryl Murray (Forthun) in December that same year. They later welcomed their son Jeffery Forthun in 1959. The family moved to Napa California in 1960 where they have all remained.

Marlin worked at the Mare Island Shipyard for 41 years. He started as an electrician and later moved to scheduling, retiring from the production control branch in 1984. Marlin served in the US Navy in 1945 and 1946. He was very involved and deeply committed to the San Pablo Odd Fellows Lodge #43 and was a member there for almost 70 years. He served as a very thorough secretary for the lodge for many years and served as a Noble Grand. He helped to see the lodge through some hard times with declining membership by going to the lodge in Vallejo every week to keep the lodge running until a new generation was able to come forth.

Marlin is known to all for his kindness and is often referred to as the nicest man in the world. He would strike up a conversation with anyone and would put a smile on everyones face. He loved his coffee and always made sure to enjoy every cup. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was a truly wonderful man and will be sorely missed.

Marlin was preceded in death by his parents Melvin and Lisa Forthun, and sisters Helen Dewing and Lyla Rollofson.

Marlin is survived by his wife Janet Forthun (Costa), brothers and sister- in-law Lydell Forthun, Vernell Forthun, and Donna Forthun. His children and spouses Jeff Forthun, Cheryl Murray (Forthun) and Sean Murray, grandchildren and spouses Brandon Forthun, Shayla Newman (Murray) and Abe Newman, great-granddaughter Addison Newman, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family will be holding a private burial but request your presence at a Celebration of Life on January 13, 2018 at his daughters house 1311 Thomas drive Napa ca 94558 from 1:00pm-3:00pm.
Almost a year after it began, archaeologists continue excavating a large site in downtown Napa  one that could have been home to Native Americans as long as 2,000 years ago.

Located at the corner of First Street and Silverado Trail, the 11-acre parcel is the planned home of a 351-room luxury hotel and resort estimated to cost $200 million.

Because the dig is occurring at a heavily traveled intersection on the edge of downtown Napa, the project has provoked considerable public interest.

Kevin Teague, a local attorney counseling the site owner, Palm Hill Inc., said excavation was going well.

The team is almost complete with the required excavation work, which must be completed before the owners can proceed with construction of the hotel, he wrote in an email statement on Friday.

This portion of the site was identified years ago, well before the original hotel was approved, as an archaeological site, Teague noted. Because of this, our federal and other permits required the work you see out there to be completed prior to the excavation work for the parking and utilities.

While the property is secured by locked chain link fencing and other security measures, images taken in December above the area by a drone reveal an extensive grouping of pits and trenches.

After reviewing the drone photographs, Christopher D. Dore, a registered professional archaeologist with Heritage Business International, described the excavation work as extensive.

This is a major project, said Dore.

Dore, who lives in Arizona, is not working on the Napa excavation, but he agreed to share some observations about what is likely happening at the property.

Here you have a large archaeological site that is on the banks of the Napa River, he said. Its probably a village site or habitation site, so archaeologists would expect to find remains of fireplaces or hearths, and possibly human remains.

This is an important, significant site, Dore said.

Dore estimated 10 to 30 archaeologists could be working on the site, in addition to one or more Native American monitors.

Based on tire tracks used by machinery and the tools seen at the site, Dore believes the archaeologists on the property are removing a lot of dirt over a very large area.

I have no idea what they are finding, he said. But, from the scale of it  and because workers have been on the site since April  Its not your average project.

This is not a small site, said Alexandra Greenwald, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Evolution and Medicine at Arizona State University, who also reviewed the drone images.

Greenwald, who is not associated with this project, said it would not be surprising to find evidence of artifacts and occupation in such an area.

People lived there, including Native Americans, and for the same reasons Napans live there now, she said. It was a nice place.

According to Greenwald, artifacts typically found at such a site in Napa Valley could include animal bones, shells or byproducts of people making stone or other tools.

Greenwald said the materials that stone tools were made of can help illuminate the trade relationships residents had. Shaking dirt through screens can reveal the kind of foods people ate. Rocks cracked from being used for cooking in hearths are also common artifacts.

Teague explained that any artifact identification will occur following completion of the excavation work.

It would not be appropriate for me or ownership as to speculate on what may have been there until the professionals have completed their analytical work, the agencies complete their reviews and the Mishewal-Wappo Tribe is in agreement, he said. This is all normal course for this type of project.

During a phone call on Thursday, Scott Gabaldon, chairman of the Mishewal-Wappo Tribe, declined to be interviewed for this story. The Mishewal-Wappo are an indigenous people of Napa Valley and Northern California.

To keep track of where artifacts are found, holes are typically dug in one-meter square increments using a grid system, said Greenwald.

The long trenches seen in the photos represent a common way to sample an area. If it is too time- or labor-intensive to excavate huge squares of earth, long trenches can be used to test larger areas instead, she said.

Trenching might also be done because these archaeologists have been informed where a road or building will be created, so therefore that space would need to be excavated for any artifacts that might be affected by the development.

The company doing the archaeology in Napa has not been identified, but there are approximately 1,300 such companies in the U.S., and hundreds in California that do such work, Dore noted.

Security is a typical concern at a project like this, said the archaeologists.

To prevent looting or disturbing the Napa site, security fencing and no trespassing signs have been installed.

Its important not to interfere with archaeology sites, the archaeologists or the Native American descendants who are working there, Greenwald said. These are trained professionals who are doing their jobs.

Dore said while the artifacts that are eventually identified may seem mundane to the average person, securing that and keeping people from looting is important.

The archaeologist explained that the information gained from the excavation doesnt come directly from the artifact. It really comes from the relationship of that artifact to other artifacts and the setting where it was found.

Its a huge puzzle for us, said Dore.

If that setting is disturbed, the context is lost.

Cultural sensitivity is another key element of such a project.

For many native groups it is a horrible thing if their ancestors remains are being exhumed, noted Greenwald.

Even if remains are not identified, Its important to respect the wishes and beliefs of the Native American community you are working with. Such work shouldnt become a public spectacle, she said.

This excavation could be very personal and sensitive, Dore said.

In addition, everyone involved at the excavation has a different interest, he noted. That includes the developer, archaeologists, the scientific community and Native American representatives.

Often times those interests can conflict, or become emotional, he pointed out.

According to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, several state and federal laws protect Native American historic and cultural resources from vandalism and looting.

The Californias Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) stipulates that when developers assess the environmental impact of their projects, they must consider historical resources as an aspect of the environment in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines.

These cultural features can include Native American graves and artifacts; traditional cultural landscapes; natural resources used for food, ceremonies or traditional crafts; and places that have special significance.

When projects are proposed in areas where Native American cultural features are likely to be affected, one way to avoid damaging them is to have a Native American monitor present.

If Native American artifacts are found and are believed to be burial items, the NAHC or local law enforcement should be contacted. If remains are found, the county coroner would be contacted.

Im not aware theyve found any human remains there, Capt. Steve Blower of the Napa County Sheriffs Office said Friday.

While some people may feel the site should remain undisturbed, the reality is that it is private property, said Dore. Even though artifacts may have been found, once the landowner fulfills CEQA and other requirements, such developments typically go forward.

Dore said that sometimes archaeologists involved with such a project are asked by the developer not to discuss the work with outsiders.

After the excavation and study is done, a report will be deposited in the California Historical Resources Information System which is an information management system run by the state. However, There are probably thousands of hours of analysis and writing that will need to be done, he estimated. The report itself could take months or even years to file.

The city first approved the luxury hotel in 2008, clearing the way for a five-star lodging with a restaurant, spa, boutique shopping and underground valet parking. The project was to have been a Ritz-Carlton.

But the Great Recession cut off financing and stalled the project, which has passed through several ownership changes since.

Palm Hill, the current owner, acquired the property in 2013 from River House Land Co.

Dore said that this kind of excavation and dig may seem unusual to Napans, but archaeology isnt just big pyramids in Egypt.

In fact, theres a good chance that artifacts can be found on the property of anyone who lives in the area, he said.

There is a very rich archaeological record in our area, Dore said.

Its underneath peoples feet every day. The evidence of our past is pretty much everywhere.

As to the next steps for the hotel development, Teague said, We hope to complete our infrastructure permits with the city and various agencies so the major portion of the hotel construction can get started this spring.
Recreational marijuana is legal now in California, but what does this mean for law enforcement officials? Will there be more motorists driving under the influence of marijuana? Will there be more wrecks? Will weed be more accessible to minors?

It depends on who you ask.

On the law enforcement side, Napa Police Traffic Sgt. Kristofer Jenny doesnt think the new laws will make things on the street that much different.

Under Proposition 64, which was passed by voters in November 2016, adults 21 and older may possess and use up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and up to 8 grams of concentrated cannabis in addition to having up to six living marijuana plants and the marijuana produced by those plants.

You still cant smoke it in public or while driving or riding in a vehicle. And, just like alcohol, marijuana in your vehicle has to be in a sealed container or out of reach in the trunk.

The new laws didnt come as a surprise, Jenny said. Two years ago people were predicting marijuana was going to be legalized, so law enforcement has been ready.

We havent really increased our awareness to marijuana DUIs because these laws have passed, Jenny said. Theres always been a presence with marijuana  its probably going to be a little more frequent now.

Although there is some immediate training officers will have to go through, he said, its mostly to get updated on the code changes. Otherwise, officers have already been trained on how to tell if someone is driving under the influence, whether its under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or another drug doesnt necessarily change the process.

Impairment is going to be impairment, Jenny said. Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) show impairment regardless of what someone is under the influence of.

The only difference, he said, is that there isnt a clear indicator of how high someone is compared with how drunk someone is.

Someone suspected of drunk driving will take a breathalyzer test and if their blood alcohol content tests as .08 percent or higher, then they are driving under the influence. There is no equivalent yet for marijuana.

There is no easy answer, says American Canyon Police Chief Oscar Ortiz. Theres nothing forensic to say theyre impaired.

To combat the challenge of not having a chemical test, Ortiz says that DUI investigations are going to have to be a lot more thorough since they will mostly rely on FSTs.

Its really just a DUI investigation on steroids, Ortiz said.

Ortiz, who took over as a police chief in November, has been taking the lead at the American Canyon Police Department and the Napa County Sheriffs Office researching marijuana impairment and best practices for marijuana DUI enforcement.

Ive been worried since the election and before the election, Ortiz said. Medical marijuana has been around since 1997  the challenges have been there since then (theyre just) far more mainstream now.

Theres a whole generation coming into adulthood that grew up with marijuana being legal in some form, Ortiz said. Theyve known about it for their entire lives, he said.

There is definitely some concern that the presence and access to minors has already increased, Jenny said. Most likely, he said, those concerns are valid. I think its easy to predict that its probably going to happen.

The other major concern for law enforcement is the potential increase in traffic collisions related to people driving under the influence of marijuana.

If past performance is any indication, people are going to drive, Ortiz said. Certainly, we can learn from the other vices we have that are legal, like alcohol, he said.

Look at Colorado, Ortiz said. That states accident fatalities have gone up since recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012. He expects the same or worse for California, a state known for marijuana.

In 2013, Colorado drivers tested positive for marijuana in about 10 percent of all fatal crashes; by 2016, that number increased to 20 percent, according to a report by The Denver Post.

We expect an increase in marijuana DUIs, hit and run and vehicle related crimes, said Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero. Driving while under the influence of marijuana is extremely dangerous and still illegal.

There were 187 DUIs where the driver had an over .08 percent BAC in 2017  down from 310 in 2016 and 380 in 2015  and 23 DUIs where the person was under the influence of drugs only. Information about how many of those drug DUIs were related to marijuana was not available.

There were about 70 DUIs in total in American Canyon last year, only six of which were non-alcohol and only two were exclusively for marijuana, Ortiz said.

It means either, A, people are not driving when theyre high on marijuana or, B, were not catching them, he said. He thinks its the latter.

Ortiz and other officers can smell it even when theyre off duty, he said, but it can be difficult to tell which vehicle its coming from.

I think were missing it  we want to educate our cops not to miss it, he said.

Once there is a pool of well-trained people specializing in spotting marijuana impairment, Ortiz said that the department will be doing some special operations. Those special operations might not be until late spring or early summer.

Jenny doesnt expect to get any funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a special marijuana related operation this year, but, he said, he does anticipate adding 420 to the departments saturation patrol schedule.

Napa Police currently have saturation patrols on major drinking holidays like New Years Eve and St. Patricks Day. April 20, or 4/20, is the marijuana smokers (unofficial) holiday.

In order to get marijuana, though, many Napa County residents will have to leave the county. For now, the closest place to get medical cannabis is most likely in Vallejo and for recreational cannabis, Sonoma County or Oakland.

Napa County and its cities are all in the process of coming up with policies now that Prop. 64 allows local jurisdictions to permit recreational sales and manufacturing.
For the first time since 1972 the number of people behind bars in American prisons and jails in 2015 declined slightly to 2.2 million, down from 2.4 million in 2010. Thats the good news.

Fordham Law School professor John F. Pfaff, however, warns in his new book, Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform, that continued decline in prison populations will not come easily.

While he credits a decrease in the number of people in prison for drug crimes for the recent inmate decline, Pfaff stresses that focusing on drugs will only work in the short run.

He argues that the drug war, contrary to popular belief, is not the primary cause of prison growth. About 200,000 people in state prisons and another 100,000 in federal institutions are serving time for drug crimes[and] Freeing every single person who is in a state prison on a drug charge would only cut state prison populations back to where they were in 1996-1997, well into the mass incarceration period. That reduction would be a big improvement, but it does not go far enough.

If ending the drug war will not, by itself, end mass incarceration, what will? We first need to acknowledge that mass incarceration is primarily a state and local, not a federal challenge. The burden is mainly on state and local officials to put into place reforms restricting the growth of prison and jail admissions.

The real culprit behind our out-of-control prison populations is our 2,000-plus out-of-control state and local prosecutorsincluding local district attorneys in Californiawho are able to coerce plea bargains and avoid trials in more than 95% of all cases they decide to prosecute.

Prosecutors, Pfaff tells us, have been and remain the engines driving mass incarceration. Acting with wide discretion and little oversight, they are largely responsible for the staggering rise in admissions since the early 1990s [and]  no major piece of state-level reform legislation has directly challenged prosecutorial power.

Pfaff suggests a number of needed changes while admitting that they are a hard sell.

Toughen the Defense. Too few public defenders and other counsel for the indigent are available to properly represent defendants. Ensuring that all persons charged with a crime are well-defended will level the legal playing field somewhat and limit the wide discretion prosecutors now enjoy in handling cases.

Better Data. There is too little available data to allow the public to meaningfully assess the performance of prosecutors. Are prosecutors, for example, using pleas when a dismissal is warranted or offering weak pleas to avoid an acquittal? These, and many more questions, need answers.

Appoint Prosecutors. In all but three states (Alaska, Connecticut and New Jersey), prosecutors are elected to office. How can voters cast informed ballots in the absence of public information concerning the performance of incumbent prosecutors running for reelection. Appointing prosecutors will both add professional accountability and lessen pressures on prosecutors to cater to suburban voters calling for aggressive prosecution of inner city crimesoften with adverse impacts on targeted neighborhoods.

Guidance. Well-designed state guidelines are needed to restrain decisions that drive up prison admissions. Such guidelines could inform prosecutors when they ought to press charges and risk sending the defendant to prison, or diverting the accused to probationary treatment, or other options. New Jersey alone has imposed such guidelines on prosecutors.

Ultimately, ending mass incarceration will depend on a cultural shift in America to an alternate view of how we, as a society, deal with crime. Instead of branding persons convicted of a crimeeven a violent crimewith an ever-lasting offender stigma, Pfaff suggests that states experiment with pilot programs seeking a better set of options, including graduated-release programs and early release for inmates over the age of 40 or who have served more than 15 years of a sentence.

By showing the transitory nature of violent behavior, and by showing released people not acting like they did when they were younger, Pfaff hopes that, graduated release programs could subtly shift the publics attitude about the permanence of violence.

The author ends on this hopeful note: The movement against mass incarceration had no option but to start where it did, focusing on drugs and other non-violent crimes. But he maintains it is time to move on to the harder cases, and the time to start making that move is now.
Articles for International Contest for Visual Communication of China Story

I Guideline

The contest, with the theme of "Tell the Chinese Story", is aimed at collecting all kinds of short films from both domestic and foreign universities and social sectors. It aims to build a new model of "the international communication of China 's discourse system", promote the international communication capacity, and present a real, three-dimensional and comprehensive China .

II Organization

1. Guiding organizations: Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art, Publicity Department of Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, International Communication Office of Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, Guangzhou Association of Social Sciences

2. Organizers: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China.com.cn, Radio, Film & TV Administration of Guangdong Province

3. Executing organizations: School of Journalism and Communication, GDUFS, Specialized Committee for Film & TV International Communication, Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art, Youth League, GDUFS, Guangzhou Center for Innovative Communication in International Cities, Institute for International Education, GDUFS, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Research and Services, Guandong TV (IPTV- Guangdong)

4. Co-organizers: GDTV, Huanqiu.com

5. Supporting Media: xinhuanet.com, Nanfangplus, Yangcheng Evening News, GZTV, southcn.com, Tencent, Nanfang Law, ycwb.com, toutiao.com, dahe.cn

III Theme

Tell the Chinese Story & Spread the Chinese Voice

. Participants

1. People from all walks of life including college teachers and students are welcomed to submit theme-related short, creative films (in either Chinese or other foreign languages).

2. The production teams are to be divided into domestic and international categories, with the former category further divided into college and social groups. Members in the college groups (including directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers and editors) should be enrolled college students (including junior college students, undergraduates, postgraduates and non-degree students). Overseas students and their productions will be separately reviewed for awards.

. Production Types and Format

1. Production Types

A. Stories

Fictional, adapted short films or narrative productions based on true characters or stories within 15 minutes.

B. Documentaries

Short films within 15 minutes in the form of documentaries, in-depth news reports, street interviews or narratives reconstructing real events.

C. Advertisements

Various short films or videos within 15 minutes including publicity videos and commercial films.

D. Animations

Animated films within 15 minutes. Stop-motion animations include hand-drawn, object and photographic productions.

E. Talk shows

Productions of various forms within 15 minutes. Both videos and electronic documents of the speeches are to be submitted.

F. Narrative photographic works

Productions with no less than 10 photos which combine to tell a story. Music instead of text is optional.

G. Music videos

Productions within 15 minutes. The music should be original and may include raps.

2. Special Category: Productions of various forms within 15 minutes which feature telling a Guangzhou story.

3. Form and Format

Participants should submit their production together with a Word document of application form (which includes a production description). All productions shall refrain from applying the templates directly.

Please go to http://weibo.com/dvnewscar2011 to download the application form and letter of agreement, and fill in them with complete and truthful information. (In submission, please indicate on the envelope the production type, producers or production team, name and duration of production, and enclose student certificates of the team members with an official seal.) Participants who receive further notice should provide material required by the organizing committee.

Those who fail to submit material as required may be disqualified from the competition.

A. Videos:

The format should be AVI, MPEG, DIVX, MOV or MP4, with image resolution of no less than 1280720 pixels.

All productions should be recorded in video DVDs (to ensure a fair competition, please do not label them). The dialogue or voiceover within should be subtitled (in simplified Chinese or English). A data DVD is also required for every submission, which should at least include a poster (a JPG picture the size of 420mm*297mm, no less than 600dpi and no smaller than 500k), a photo of the team and a trailer within 20 seconds (for publicity purposes by the organizing committee).

B. Photos: The format should be JPG, with image resolution of eight million pixels and above.

. Requirements

1. The productions should be relevant to the theme.

2. Participants should abide by the national laws, rules and regulations and must not create pornographic or violent contents or those in violation of social morality, individual privacy as well as national laws, rules and regulations.

3. The productions should be original and no plagiarism is allowed. See Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China for the definition of plagiarism. Plagiarists will be disqualified and held accountable for any copyright dispute that may arise.

4. All submitted material will not be returned. The participants rather than the organizing committee should confirm their copyright ownership. The participants should bear the legal responsibility should there be any infringement of copyrights or intellectual property rights. The organizing committee assumes no responsibility in any such disputes. Under such circumstances, the committee reserves the right to disqualify the participants and reclaim the awards.

5. The participants enjoy the copyright, while the sponsor and other approved individuals or organizations have the right to use and disseminate the productions for non-commercial purposes. No payment is required for event reports, publicity and promotional activities.

6. The organizing committee is responsible for arranging reviews of the productions and enjoys the right to display the results in all legitimate ways. No fees will be charged for all the productions.

7. Any submission of material will be automatically construed as an acceptance of all the requirements for the competition by the participants.

. Reviews and Rewards

1. Reviews: The organizing committee is consisted of experts from government bodies, higher education institutions and media outlets. Excellent productions will be awarded review committee awards, awards for every category and special awards. Both the winners and the committee enjoy the IPR ownership of the productions.

2. Rewards: Publicity reports will be written by the organizing committee on the winners and their productions. Outstanding productions may be singled out for further transformation. Winners may enjoy the opportunity of joining the workshops organized by the sponsor at home and abroad.

3. Prizes and Certificates:

A. One to three Special Awards for telling a Guangzhou story, each granting a prize of 10,000 RMB yuan and a certificate.

B. One to three Review Committee Awards, each granting a prize of 10,000 RMB yuan and a certificate.

C. Awards for Best Story, Best Documentary, Best Advertisement (Publicity Film), Best Animation, Best Talk Show, Best Music Video and Best Narrative Photographic Work (Series), each granting a prize of 3,000 RMB yuan and a certificate.

Awards for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Script, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Cinematography and ViewersChoice, each granting a prize of 2,000 RMB yuan and a certificate.

Submitted productions will be reviewed by categories.

 Schedule

January 5, 2018, the Launching Ceremony at GDUFS

By 12:00p.m. May 10, 2018, submission of productions

Early May in 2018, the Carnival

Mid-May in 2018, the Premiere and Showcase

May 2018, expert reviews

June 2018, result announcement

June 2018, the Award Ceremony

 Contacts and Submission

1. Online Submission

The participants shall name their production and send the required material to jhzhggs@163.com, including the production, application form, letter of agreement and related material. Please package the production and application form into one and name it in the form of production type + production name + team leaders name.

2. Mail Submission

A. Required materials: the application form and letter of agreement, a video DVD, a data DVD and a disk (the file names within should be in the form of production type + production name + team leaders name). Participants in the College Group should also provide their student certificates.

B. Address: Room 304, Teaching Building C, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, No. 178 Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Panyu District, Guangzhou 510006 China . To: DVNEWSCAR Organizing Committee

Contact persons: Chen Bofei 020-39328084, Liang Jiahao 15900040872

For further questions, please contact the Organizing Committee in the following ways:

A. Official account on Wechat: DVNewscar (ID: DVNEWSCAR)

B. Official account on Weibo: DVNEWSCAR

http://weibo.com/dvnewscar2011 (please contact via chats)

 The Organizing Committee of the Tell the Chinese Story Competition and the 12th GDUFS DV NEWSCAR Micro Film Competition reserves the right of final interpretation.




Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his strong determination on Friday to significantly improve Japan's relations with China this year, which marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the bilateral peace and friendship treaty.

"I want to make 2018 a year in which the people of both countries recognize significant improvement in relations," Abe said in a speech during a New Year's greeting party organized by the Jiji Press group.

Abe aims to realize a reciprocal visit by him and Chinese President Xi Jinping to each other's country this year. The Japanese prime minister exchanged words with Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua, who attended the party.

In the speech, Abe said North Korea's nuclear and missile development and a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia are also high on his diplomatic agenda.

Abe also said he will put top priority on the economy. "I will push forward with policies aimed at pulling the country out of deflation," he said.

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I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army:

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I

P

S

1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army
But when politicians exercise judgement in favour of the national interest, they may attract the irritation of constituents. It may be claimed politicians are not doing the job they were elected to do. This may result in rejection at the next election.

If a national issue arises in parliament the politician is supposed to balance the needs of the nation against the views of the electorate in order to reach an appropriate decision. Sometimes the view of the electorate must prevail, even if it runs counter to the politicians own views.

Politicians representing particular electorates are obliged to represent not only the people who voted for them but all the people in that electorate.

For this reason the parliament is sometimes referred to as the peoples house.

TUMBY BAY - In a democracy politicians are supposed to be the servants of the people. In essence they are expected to represent the will of the people.

Its worth noting that typically half of PNGs national politicians lose their job at each election.

So, if politicians consistently ignore the views and needs of the electorate, they may not be seen as servants of the people. Indeed, the people may see themselves as servants of the politician.

This is one of the great dilemmas, the great paradoxes, for constituency politicians throughout the world  balancing the national interest with the local interest. In some cases, that can be very difficult to achieve.

For example, if there is a demand for more local aid posts but at a national level, money needs to be spent on improving the university sector for the longer term welfare of the nation.

How many times have you heard a politician say, This is not a popular measure but it must be done for the peoples good and for the good of the country? Australians still remember former Treasurer Paul Keating saying that a severe economic downturn was the recession we had to have.

Coming down on the side of the national interest, of course, is often valid. After all, if a government had to run strictly to the will of the people a great dumbing down would take place.

We all know that the average public view of an issue is often a horrible melange of baser instincts that would send a country broke. Sometimes people dont know whats in their own best interests.

And if a politician carried out the general will of the people in Papua New Guinea it might simply mean handing out swags of cash, beer and lamb flaps. This is not the function of a politician in a democracy, no matter how much the people think it should be.

Another common reason why politicians might abandon the views of their constituents is when they come under the influence of vested interests through their lobbyists.

This is what has happened in most democracies in the world, its reached high art form in the USA but is also prolific Australia and Papua New Guinea.

When this happens politicians employ various means of subterfuge to disguise their nefarious dealings. In most cases they try to dress them up as the will of the people, representing them as what the people want or need.

This is now the way politicians the world over operate but it is particularly pronounced in places like PNG where politicians seem to be the worlds biggest suckers for a bribe. They are world champions at selling out their people.

When this approach eventually blows up in the politicians faces and goes pear-shaped, they revert to strategies designed to weather the storm.

Seldom do they see or acknowledge the error of their ways and reverse poor decisions. Instead they try bluff, bluster and pure deception. When someone loudly professes their innocence butg is unwilling to allow the evidence to be presented, chances are they are guilty.

One factor politicians rely upon is the fickle and short memories of the people.

Peter ONeill has refined to legendary heights the art of hunkering down, delaying and sitting out an issue until people forget about it.

The number of issues he has let slide until people no longer remember them runs into the scores.

Peter ONeill relies heavily on the defective memory of the Papua New Guinean people. He relies on wearing them down until they become bored and forget why they were upset with him in the first place. For Peter ONeill silence is a golden tactic.

Even social media, which he is quietly nobbling by requiring the registration of SIM cards and preparing to introduce legislation to curb public comment, tends to forget in the day-to-day distraction of cat photographs.

And, come election time, a dazzling new array of extravagant promises that he has no intention of keeping will divert people from remembering what he has really done during his last term.

Remember the old adage, an elephant never forgets?

Well, the last time I looked, there were no elephants in Papua New Guinea.
Moroccos special forces will receive $18 million dollars as part of a US administration plan worth hundreds of millions of dollars to equip allies in the MENA region to counter the IS threat as the group seeks to relocate its terrorist activities from Iraq and Syria to Africa.

The news was relayed by Al Monitor website, which quoted Pentagon sources.

The Pentagon will outfit a special forces unit in Morocco with more than $18 million in trucks, pistols, rifles and training from US forces to deal with the emerging threat, it said.

The United States also plans to beef up special forces in North Africa as IS migrates away from the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, the source added.

Tunisia for its part will receive $13 million in body armor and outmoded choppers using the US train-and-equip fund.

Weapons provided by the Trump administration could also put Jordan and Lebanon in a stronger position to take the lead in the regional fight against terrorism.

Jordan typically receives $1 billion in US foreign aid each year, while the Lebanese Armed Forces have received more than $1.4 billion in US security assistance since 2005, according to the US Central Command.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed its deep shock after 20 people were reported to have been executed in Egypt since last week.

The OHCHR also raised concerns that due process and fair trial guarantees did not appear to have been followed.

The UN statement cited the case of five men who had been sentenced on January 2 to death by an Egyptian military court and who were hanged in Alexandria. Four of them had been convicted for an explosion near a stadium in Kafr al-Sheikh on 15 April 2015 that killed three military recruits and injured two others.

We understand the defendants were tried by military judges on the basis of legislation that refers cases of destruction of public property to military courts and in view of the victims being from the Egyptian Military Academy, OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters at the regular news briefing in Geneva.

Civilians should only be tried in military or special courts in exceptional cases, she continued.

OHCHR also urged Egypt to uphold its commitments under Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a State party.

She also stressed the need for a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal.

In cases of capital punishment, trials must meet the highest standards of fairness and due process. Reports also indicated that the prisoners who were executed may have been subjected to initial enforced disappearance and torture before being tried, she asserted.
The Polisario is set to occupy the border crossing linking Morocco to Mauritania through its repetitive acts of banditry in the area that is supposed to remain demilitarized under the UN sponsored 1991 ceasefire agreement in the Sahara.

Few days after barring the road to participants in a desert rally departing from Dakhla and bound for Nouakchott, Polisario militiamen have deployed their pick-ups in an attempt to establish a checkpoint obstructing the flow of traffic in the only road that links Morocco to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the intervention of the UN mission in the Sahara, MINURSO, Polisario maintained presence in the buffer strip, showing disregard for the international legality, the 1991 ceasefire agreement and the UN resolutions calling for a negotiated solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara.

Moroccos representative at the UN in New York, Omar Hilale, has condemned in a letter to the UN Security Council Polisarios provocations in the southernmost tip of the southern provinces.

For his part, head of the MINURSO, Canadas Colin Stewart, informed the UN of the Polisarios breach of the ceasefire agreement in the demilitarized area, east of the Moroccan-built security wall.

Morocco has warned on multiple occasions that there will be no negotiations with the separatists unless they withdraw from the Guerguerat border crossing. In April 2017, Morocco won the battle over the Guerguarat without firing a single bullet as the Polisario ensued a humiliating retreat prior to the adoption of a UN security resolution on the Sahara.

But with the return of the Polsiario militiamen to the area, emboldened by Algerias military and diplomatic cover, Moroccos restraint comes to a new test. If last year Morocco sought international pressure over the Polisario, which occupied the border post despite warnings by the UN Secretary General that the flow of commercial traffic needs to remain unhindered, this year it is unclear if Morocco will let the separatist group mess with its strategic interests.

The Polisario, which acts upon directives from its mentors in Algiers, sees in setting up the checkpoints in the buffer strip an act to galvanize support amid the disenchanted population held against their will in the Tindouf camps.

The Tindouf-based militia are also attempting to divert attention from Moroccos recent diplomatic breakthrough in Africa, notably after it gained support of countries that were until recently aligning with the Algerian-sponsored separatist thesis.

By pulling the strings of the Polisario to provoke Morocco into a military response, the Algerian military junta is also seeking to divert attention from the internal economic and social crisis that bears the seeds of an imminent implosion.

Such irresponsible Polisario acts are also likely to sap all efforts aiming to find a lasting, political and mutually acceptable solution based on the Moroccan autonomy initiative.

The Polisarios hostile acts and its obstinacy to maintain its armed men within the buffer zone in an utter disregard for the ceasefire agreement are threatening with a casus belli the whole region.
The Arab ministerial delegation tasked with following up on the repercussions of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city held its first meeting in Amman this Saturday (Jan.6).

The ministerial delegation, set up by the Arab League last December 17, is made up of the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to the Arab League Secretary General.

At a meeting with the Arab ministerial delegation Saturday, King Abdullah II underlined the need to ramp up efforts and coordinate Arab positions to support the Palestinians in safeguarding their solid historic and legal rights in the city of Jerusalem and their quest to set up their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Jordanian news agency Petra reported.

The issue of Jerusalem, he stressed, should be settled within the framework of a final settlement and a permanent peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis based on the two-state solution and according to international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, the agency added.

King Abdallah also emphasized the importance of supporting the steadfastness of Jerusalemites and safeguarding the Arab identity of Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city, and the need to build on the international consensus regarding the legal status of Jerusalem.

According to Petra, the meeting tackled the best means to counter the implications of the US decision, which contravenes international legitimacy resolutions affirming that the status of Jerusalem can only be determined through negotiations between the parties concerned.

It was also agreed that efforts should be intensified to open a political horizon towards ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on bases that meet the Palestinian peoples right to freedom and statehood with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Moroccos Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita handed over to King Abdullah II a verbal message from King Mohammed VI.

During the audience, King Abdullah stressed the deep, historic and brotherly ties between Jordan and Morocco and his keenness to consolidate further bilateral relations in various fields.

According to Jordanian media, the message from King Mohammed VI was related to the brotherly relations between the two kingdoms and the latest developments in the region, with focus on the issue of Al-Quds, in the aftermath of Trumps decision to recognize the holy city as the capital of Israel.

King Mohammed VI had warned that any change to Jerusalem status will fan the flames of religious and ideological conflicts.

In separate messages to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and to President Trump, last December, the Monarch had pointed out that infringement of the internationally recognized legal and historical status of Jerusalem means one runs the risk of hurling the issue into the quagmire of religious and ideological conflict.

King Mohammed VI had also underlined that such a move would also frustrate international efforts aimed at bringing about an atmosphere conducive to a resumption of peace negotiations, and would ultimately lead to increased strife and tension and undermine all opportunities for peace, not to mention fuel violence and extremism.

With its unique religious character, historical identity and special political symbolism, the city of Jerusalem should remain a land as well as a symbol of coexistence and tolerance among all people, he had insisted in his message to President Trump.
Former president Bannon. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

While President Trump has been known to occasionally reconcile with his enemies (see his cozy relationship with Lyin Ted Cruz), accusing ones son of treason doesnt seem like something anyone would come back from easily. Indeed, the fallout from Michael Wolffs forthcoming book about the Trump White House  which features many of Bannons unflattering musings about the First Family  continued well into Tuesday night. Trumps lawyers have now formalized the feud, issuing a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Bannon stop making disparaging comments about the Trumps.

The legal threats didnt end there. On Thursday morning, Trumps lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Wolff and his publisher, Henry Holt & Co. The letter demanded that the publisher immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book, and cancel any planned excerpts. It also asked that Trumps team receive a free copy.

In a statement regarding Bannon, Trumps team said: On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent.

Trump reportedly had all of his campaign staffers sign nondisclosure agreements, just as hes done throughout his business career, so its likely that there is a document in which Bannon agrees not to spill Trump family secrets. But theres good reason to doubt that legal action against Bannon is actually imminent.

The letter from Trump attorney Charles J. Harder (who represented Hulk Hogan in the case that bankrupted Gawker Media) cites specific paragraphs in the nondisclosure agreement and lays out how suggesting the family is involved in money laundering and calling Ivanka Trump dumb as a brick in chats with a journalist might violate it. Per ABC News:

You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolffs book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book.

Harder adds, Remedies for your breach of the agreement include but are not limited to monetary damages, injunctive relief and all other remedies available at law and equity. The amount of these potential monetary damages is not disclosed, but Bannon probably isnt worried that hell be forking over millions to Trump. (Though he may be facing a serious funding problem. The Washington Post reports that Bannon recently alienated his primary financial backer, Rebekah Mercer.)

Presumably, President Trump doesnt actually want Bannon and various members of his family and staff to be deposed under oath; issuing cease-and-desist letters has just become habit for him. Over the years, Trumps attorneys have issued similar threats over a protest against Trumps relationship with Macys, Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz publicly disparaging Trump, the failing New York Times reporting on Trump sexual-misconduct allegations, a Club for Growth attack ad, more negative ads from Jeb Bush and John Kasich supporters, and a Ted Cruz ad that consisted of an undoctored clip of Trump calling himself pro-choice on Meet the Press.

I have to say, Mr. Trump, you have been threatening frivolous lawsuits your entire adult life. Even in the annals of frivolous lawsuits, this takes the cake, Cruz responded, inviting Trump to file the lawsuit.

As with the vast majority of Trump legal threats, the suit never materialized. FiveThirtyEight counted 20 instances in which Trump threatened to sue during the campaign alone, and he only followed through twice.

Regardless of whether the latest legal threat is real, it marks a remarkable turn in Trumps relationship with Bannon. As recently as October, the president described his former adviser as a friend of mine. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump issued a scorching four-paragraph statement in which he said Bannon had nothing to do with his victory and was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me. He added, When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.

Bannon allies told the Post that he had considered issuing a statement denouncing the book and denying some of his quotes, but Trump attacked him before he got a chance.

Bannons eventual response suggests hes still holding out hope that his relationship with Trump can be repaired. While hosting the Breitbart News Tonight radio show on SiriusXM, Bannon mostly focused on immigration, but had only kind words when a caller referenced his feud with Trump. The president of the United States is a great man, Bannon said. You know, I support him day in and day out, whether going through the country giving the Trump miracle speech or on the show or on the website.
King of all racist copswelcome to the resistance. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

On Thursday, we learned that Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to dig up dirt on James Comey as a means of sabotaging the credibility of the FBIs Russia investigation. That same day, House conservatives called on Sessions to resign for his mismanagement of the FBI  while congressional Democrats rallied to his defense.

The explanation for this odd state of affairs is simple: The easiest way for Trump to kill the Mueller investigation would be to appoint a new attorney general willing to kill it for him. Sessions, of course, recused himself from the Russia probe  a move that allowed his deputy Rod Rosenstein to appoint the special counsel. Rosenstein is no Trump crony, and has evinced zero interest in interfering with Robert Muellers work. So long as Sessions remains at the top of the Justice Departments chain of command, Trump will need to fire Rosenstein, and then keep firing his way down the DOJs org chart until he finds a career Justice employee willing to carry out his order.

Were Sessions to step down, however, Trump would merely need to find someone willing to quash the investigation (and lie to the Senate about his or her willingness to do so).

In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner Thursday, House Freedom Caucus leaders Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan called for Sessionss resignation on the grounds that he failed to prevent federal law-enforcement agents from leaking to the press. But the bulk of the column is devoted to making the ostensibly irrelevant  and transparently false  argument that there is no evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

The op-ed doesnt explicitly argue that Sessions should resign because thats the most expedient way for Republicans to end an illegitimate investigation into their dear leader, but the lawmakers intention is unmistakable.

This has left Democrats in the unenviable position of arguing that the racist authoritarian who has repeatedly misled Congress in sworn testimony  and, apparently, tried to sabotage his own FBI director on the presidents behalf  must be allowed to continue running the Justice Department, for the sake of our democracy.

I voted against Jeff Sessions and said he never should be there in the first place, given his record on civil rights, on immigration, on so many other issues, Chuck Schumer said on Capitol Hill Thursday. My view now is very simple: Nothing, nothing should ever interfere with the Mueller investigation.

Meanwhile, EPA chief Scott Pruitt is reportedly excited by the prospect of (once again) moving up Americas political ladder on the strength of his unscrupulousness.
As Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell undoubtedly know, the Republican Party is a prisoner of Donald Trumps dangerous eccentricities. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The most troubling thing to come out of the disclosures in Michael Wolffs new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, is this confirmation of his portrait of the president and his advisers from the consummate political insiders Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei of Axios, who surely have dozens if not hundreds of sources in the administration and the top echelons of Congress.

[T]here are two things he gets absolutely right, even in the eyes of White House officials who think some of the books scenes are fiction: his spot-on portrait of Trump as an emotionally erratic president, and the low opinion of him among some of those serving him.

More specifically, Allen and VandeHei agree from all the impressions they have gathered that Trump is postliterate, gathering most of his limited information from TV; prone to random, uninformed, and seemingly capricious reactions to international developments; deeply hostile to experts and reliant on his gut instincts; and subject to dark hours in which he is paralyzed by irrational rage and cannot be approached by anyone. Just as disturbingly, Allen, VandeHei, and Wolff all agree Trumps circle of associates is heavily populated by people who see and fear his shortcomings but understand the only way to maintain his trust is to agree with him extravagantly.

Allen and VandeHei conclude:

More than half a dozen of the more skilled White House staff are contemplating imminent departures. Many leaving are quite fearful about the next chapter of the Trump presidency.

All in all, the more we learn, the more it seems that the White House is gripped in a genuine emperor has no clothes atmosphere, in which the escalating craziness is the one thing no one can openly acknowledge. Hence the strange phenomenon of the little pep rallies that Executive branch and congressional GOP officials insist on holding to buck up Trumps moods when hes in danger of entering one of those dark hours, with Vice-President Pence invariably serving as Sycophant-in-Chief.

If this impression is true, or even half-true, it creates a terrible political dilemma for Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Theyve struggled to wring some accomplishments from Trumps first year in office, but need more time to add to the ranks of conservative judges, dismantle more regulations, and in general, undermine as much of the New Deal/Great Society legacy as possible. But they are in dire danger of losing their grip on power in the 2018 midterms. A Democratic House would entirely eliminate their power to enact legislation on a party-line basis as they did with the tax bill (and nearly did with health-care legislation), while turning the investigatory committees of that chamber over to a hostile party thats not going to participate in Trumps malicious fantasy pursuit of Crooked Hillary or James Comey. And a Democratic Senate could pretty much ruin everything.

On the other hand, if congressional Republicans somehow stanch the bleeding and hang onto both congressional chambers (with, almost certainly, a loss of House seats and, at best, a narrow Senate margin), then they fall onto the other horn of the dilemma: Everything we know about Donald Trump tells us that he will see this relative success as a vindication of his own political brilliance and a clear mandate to run for a second term.

If GOP insiders are indeed engaged in a tense, teeth-grinding, self-repressive effort to keep Donald Trump from careening out of control at the price of never, ever telling him or others (on the record, at least) about his actual limitations, then thats an act that can only be maintained for a certain period of time. Do they want to risk seven more years of this dance on the precipice? Or alternatively, a political disaster in 2020 that could give Democrats even more power than Republicans obtained in November 2016? These have to be concerns that occur to smart Republicans all the time.

But they are caught in a trap of their own making. It is telling that the one figure best positioned to lead a GOP transition away from Trump is Pence, whose obsequious behavior toward the boss would make it exceedingly awkward for him to suddenly play a role in easing the mogul off the stage into retirement.

However it all turns out, its a safe bet that in the future, the informal rule-makers of American politics do everything they can to reinforce resistance to true outsiders running for president. Whatever you think of career politicians, they are almost always known quantities; there is no way theyd get close to Iowa or New Hampshire having displayed the kind of personality traits exhibited by the 45th president. For the time being, though, well all  including the presidents most intimate White House associates  have to continue waking up each morning wondering: What has he tweeted already today?
Admiral Mike Rogers. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

National Security Agency head Admiral Mike Rogers is retiring in the spring, he reportedly told staffers in a classified memo Friday.

The memo has since leaked to NPR and Politico, among others. Its a fitting end to Rogerss four-year tenure at the NSA, which was marked by high-profile intelligence leaks and his efforts to prevent them.

Brought on in the aftermath of Edward Snowdens bombshell NSA leaks, Rogers was tasked with making sure nothing of the sort ever happened again. But he wasnt successful.

Rogers later ran afoul of the Obama administration in the waning days of 2016 when he met with then-president-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower. The Washington Post reported at the time that Obama administration officials were lobbying the president to dismiss Rogers over the unprecedented move. He held on to his job though, which includes running the U.S. Cyber Command in addition to overseeing the NSA.

Though he stayed on under President Trump, Rogers didnt always see eye to eye with his new boss. Trump reportedly asked him last year to publicly state that his campaign did not collude with Russia, but Rogers wouldnt do it. His replacement is expected to be announced this month.
Donald Trump will have his revenge. Photo: Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images

There are two ways for a president to corrupt the vast powers of federal law enforcement. The one that has commanded the greatest attention so far is the defensive corruption of curtailing investigations into the administration and its allies (by, say, firing Robert Mueller). The other is offensive, by directing investigations into the administrations political critics. And while this form of corruption has attracted less attention, Trump appears to have made far greater headway here.

Republican senators Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham have made a criminal referral to the Justice Department against Christopher Steele. It is unclear what crime they have in mind. Steeles underlying offense is having been hired to investigate Donald Trumps murky connections with Russia, and then having the leads he compiled published without his knowledge. While the FBI had other reasons to investigate Trump besides Steeles reporting  reportedly the investigation began after Trump aide George Papadopoulos shot off his mouth to an Australian diplomat  Steeles dossier became a source of humiliation for Trump. The president has been raging for the last year about the fake dossier  the veracity of which has been unverified, though many of its elements have been borne out by subsequent reporting. And now two Republican senators, one of whom chairs the Judiciary Committee, have taken up Trumps demands to treat the dossiers author, a well-respected British intelligence agent, like a criminal.

In the meantime, the FBI is investigating the Clinton Foundation. It is conceivable they have found evidence of genuine criminality. But years of investigations into the foundation have found nothing more than a typical pattern of fundraising and access. The foundations arrangements may have been unwise, or even unethical, for a presidential candidate, but it has survived intense scrutiny without a hint of any criminal behavior.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is reportedly probing Hillary Clintons use of a private email server again. A former senior DOJ official familiar with department leaderships thinking said officials there are acutely aware of demands from President Donald Trump that they look into Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of Stateand that they lock up her top aide, Huma Abedin, reports Betsy Woodruff. It is impossible to imagine any new lead or legitimate reason to reopen an investigation that was completed last year, other than to satisfy Trumps lust to criminalize his opponents.

At minimum, the effect will be to feed the right-wing news medias message that Trumps opponents are the real criminals, in order to supply a distraction for his base. At maximum, the charges will allow Trump to have something to trade away  he could fire Mueller while magnanimously pardoning his enemies in the alleged spirit of letting old feuds die. In either case, the threat of investigation can be used to make any potential Trump critic think twice.

A year ago, the prospect that law enforcement would be investigating Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Christopher Steele would have been unthinkable. At the moment, it seems hard to imagine the Republican Party raising any objection.
In the case of my own recruitment, it was Royce Webb and the interview was in Melbourne. At its conclusion he looked at me and said, Thats all fine. All you have to do now is pass the medical. Phew!

The applications were culled and a shortlist of interviewees created. Depending on its size and geographic spread, two or three senior officers were sent from Papua New Guinea to Australia to conduct interviews and were usually those holding the role of District Inspector at Deputy District Commissioner rank located at headquarters in Konedobu.

Regarding the recruitment process for kiaps mentioned by Paul Oates , when sufficient vacancies occurred each year an advertisement appeared in various Australian newspapers.

MELBOURNE - Ive been called a number of things in my time - including kiap with varying degrees of sneer and unprintable adjectives - but never misfit as Phil Fitzpatrick has recorded .

The figures of the number of kiaps at any one time quoted by Phil and Paul are a bit simplistic and require clarification and amendment.

In my retirement, and with assistance from former colleagues, Ive been developing a Kiap Nominal Roll which dates back to the earliest British and Australian Administrations. This task has entailed researching a range of historical publications including histories, annual reports and staff lists.

In 1900, with only Papua under British administration, and managed through the Queensland government, I estimate that the total field service was approximately 30.

In 1914, an Australian force captured German New Guinea and established a field service to replace the German civil administration. It was from this that the word kiap arose. In 1921 New Guinea became an Australian-managed civil administration responsible to the League of Nations under a mandate. By this time there was about 40 field staff.

When the Japanese invaded in 1942, civil administration was suspended and a joint military administrative unit known as ANGAU created with about 120 men undertaking the former kiap role. Many of these men had been kiaps before the war and stayed on to become kiaps in the post-war resumption of civil administration.

In the post-war era, the United Nations agreed with the single administration model and the Territory of Papua New Guinea was created. As the administration was extended into remote regions, new government stations were opened which required an increased staffing establishment.

By 1970, this establishment included about 756 staff with field officer designations across headquarters and 18 districts in four regions.

This number further grew over following years with an increase to 20 districts and the accelerated recruitment of Papua New Guineans under the localisation program leading to self-government and independence.

However, using the 1970 figures of 756 staff, 151 were attached to headquarters and 605 in the 18 districts. If we take an approximate figure of eight officers at each district headquarters in command and specialist roles, this left about 460 in actual field administration at any one time.

Of the 151 at headquarters, approximately 120 were on training courses of various types from basic to advanced either in PNG or Australia.

Of the remainder, they were senior kiaps promoted to oversee the general or specialist administration of the department including various training programs required from time to time.

Its been quoted before but its worth noting again. Field Marshall Sir William Slim, the eminent British military commander, when he was Governor-General of Australia, made a comment to Australian Minister for Territories Paul Hasluck:

Your young chaps in New Guinea have gone out where I would never have gone without a battalion and they have done on their own by sheer force of character what I could only do with troops. I dont think theres been anything like it in the modern world....

Like Chris Overland, after nearly 14 years in PNG as a kiap, I went on to significant things in my professional career that Im proud of.

However, despite reading of the negative events occurring in PNG since I left, I consider that period of my lifes work was the most gratifying.
President Trump, GOP and cabinet officials, and Mitch McConnells blue jeans all shared the stage on Saturday at Camp David. Photo: Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images

President Trump took questions from the media during a joint press conference with GOP leaders and cabinet officials on Saturday at Camp David, weighing in on everything from the crisis with North Korea and the Russia investigation to the border wall and future of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump, several members of his cabinet, and GOP leaders were all there for a legislative summit to go over common goals for the rest of the year, and the attendees all appeared on the sidelines for an impromptu press availability, which surely doubled as a show of unity after what has been a very rough week for the White House.

Below are the most consequential remarks Trump made during the Q&A with reporters:

North Korea

Trump said he was open to speaking on the phone with Kim Jong Un, less than a week after boasting on Twitter that he had a bigger, more powerful nuclear button than the North Korean leader. Sure, I always believe in talking, Trump said, also claiming that his leadership was somehow responsible for North Korea recently reaching out to South Korea to discuss the upcoming Olympics and other issues. (The two countries will begin rare meetings next week.) Trump said that North Koreas government knows he is not messing around, but that if talks lead to a solution, that would be a great thing for all humanity.

The Russia Investigation

Everything that Ive done was 100 percent proper, thats what I do is I do things proper, the president insisted when asked about a Thursday New York Times story, which reported that Trump had ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the investigation into Russias 2016 election meddling. Trump called the Times story way off, or at least off, and when asked to explain how it was wrong, only offered a characteristic (and likely empty) tease of youll find out. Asked if he still supported Sessions  whose recusal preceded the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to lead an independent investigation, and whose job was rumored to be at risk this past week  Trump said that he did.

As he has in the past, Trump wholly dismissed the Russia investigation, insisting that there had been no collusion, or evidence of collusion found, between his campaign and the Kremlin. He also repeatedly attempted, without citing any evidence, to shift the collusion blame on Hillary Clinton and Democrats instead.

Trump additionally seemed to say that he was willing to meet with Mueller if the special counsel requested it, but he tried to paint the whole investigation as an embarrassment for the country. Claiming his administration has been very open to Muellers investigators, Trump made it clear he wanted the ordeal to end:

When youve done nothing wrong, lets be open and get it over with, because honestly, its very, very bad for our country and its making us look foolish. This is a country that I dont want looking foolish, and its not going to look foolish as long as Im here. So weve been very open and we just want to get that over with.

It still remains unclear, however, just how far Trump is willing to go to make that happen.

Michael Wolff and Trumps Mental Fitness

Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff was also a repeat target during the press conference. A reporter asked Trump why he felt the need to declare himself a very stable genius on Twitter Saturday morning. After listing his life accomplishments, Trump continued his attacks on Wolff, whose scathing new book details crippling dysfunction and, in Trumps case, incoherence, within the White House over the course of last year. The book, which Trump called a work of fiction, has led to renewed discussion of Trumps mental capacity to be president (and Trumps subsequent early-morning tweetstorm).

As he, the White House, and the Republican Party have done for the past few days, Trump sought to discredit Wolff, championing fake news media criticism of the author and remarking that it was a disgrace that Wolff could write and say the things he did  something Trump blamed on Americas weak libel laws:

Trump on 'Fire and Fury': "The libel laws are very weak in this country. If they were strong, it would be very helpful. You wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head." (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/4feL4cFesU  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 6, 2018

The president again said that Wolff never interviewed him, as the author claims, and tried to blame Wolffs level of access to the White House and its staff on Steve Bannon, Trumps now excommunicated former chief strategist, whose quotes feature heavily in the book.

I guess Sloppy Steve brought him into the White House a lot, Trump suggested, using his new derogatory nickname for the notoriously unkempt Bannon. Thats why Sloppy Steve is looking for a job.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Saturday, Wolff said that according to his sources still inside the White House, Trump has been flipping out over the book. I hear that the president is very angry, or, let me be precise: I hear that he is truly bouncing off the walls.

DACA, the Border Wall, and Immigration

President Trump once again linked his support for protecting immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to whether or not a legislative fix for the program includes funding for his wall on the southern border with Mexico and new restrictions on the countrys immigration system. The Trump administration asked Congress for $18 billion both to install and bolster sections of wall along the border on Friday, and on Saturday, Trump reiterated his campaign promise that Mexico will ultimately pay for the wall, despite the fact that Mexico has repeatedly said it will not.

I believe Mexico will pay for the wall, Trump said. I have a very good relationship with Mexico. But yes, in some form, Mexico will pay for the wall.

This Years Midterm Elections

When asked, President Trump said that he would not challenge GOP incumbents up for reelection this year before obviously looking in the direction of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. Trump said he was excited for the campaigning to start, vowed to be very involved, and lamented the partys recent loss in Alabama  blaming it on Steve Bannon, even though Trump ultimately endorsed and effectively campaigned for loser and alleged sexual predator Roy Moore.

Trump also implied he would be a big help, saying that his poll numbers have gone way up, though its not clear what poll numbers he was referring to.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has been awarded three-and-a-half years in jail in the fodder scam case by a CBI Special Court today. The court also imposed penalty of Rs 10 lakh, failure to pay which will add another six months to the sentence. Six former IAS officials indicted in the case were also awarded jail terms of 3.5 years by the special court.

The RJD is now planning to move High Court against the sentence. They have to go to the High Court to get bail for Yadav as the CBI Court is authorised to grant bail only in cases where the quantum of sentence is three years or less.

The quantum of sentence was for withdrawing Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deogarh Treasury between 1991 and 1994, when Yadav was the Chief Minister of Bihar. The CBI Court in Ranchi pronounced the sentence under Indian Penal Code Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468, and Preventio of Corruption Act. He was fine Rs 5 lakh each under the IPC and PCA. This will be the sixth stint in jail for the RJD patriarch.

The special court had convicted Yadav and 15 others in the fodder scam case on December 23, while acquitting former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and five others. The court said it was hearing the cases in alphabetical order.

Back in 1996, the Patna High Court had ordered an inquiry into fodder scam cases. A charge sheet in the Deogarh Treasury case was filed against 38 people on October 27, 1997. Eleven of them died and three turned approvers while two other accused confessed and were convicted in 2006-07.

On September 30, 2013, Yadav, Mishra, and several others had been convicted in another case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in the early 1990s. The conviction on December 23 last is the second in the scam.



Yadav has three more fodder scam cases against him for illicit withdrawal of Rs 3.97 crore from the Dumka Treasury, Rs 36 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury and Rs 184 crore from the Doranda Treasury.
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
FORT EDWARD  An 81-year-old Granville man backed his vehicle into a pedestrian, pinning her between his GMC pickup truck and a parked tractor-trailer at the Washington County Annex Building on Friday morning, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

When deputies arrived on scene, Carol A. McGivern, 70, of Hebron was on the ground with injuries to her face and chest, police said. Fort Edward EMS, on scene, called for a medical helicopter for McGivern, but weather conditions made it impossible for the helicopter to fly.

She was taken by ambulance to Glens Falls Hospital and transferred to Albany Medical Center. McGivern's condition was listed as fair Friday night, according to a spokeswoman from Albany Medical Center.

According to Lt. Todd Lemery, Owen OBrien was backing his truck up to the side of a parked tractor trailer to help off-load food items for Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York deliveries. Mr. OBrien over-accelerated while backing up, struck McGivern and briefly pinned her between the trailer and pick-up she stood by at the side of the trailer, Lemery wrote in a release.

The accident remains under investigation and no tickets have been issued at this time.

Fort Edward Fire and EMS and Hudson Falls Fire Department also assisted on scene.
QUEENSBURY  A Queensbury woman who sold prescription painkillers during a police investigation last fall pleaded guilty Wednesday in Warren County Court to a felony charge.

Cherie A. Larich, 60, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance for a sale of Fentanyl to a police informant or undercover police officer last year in Queensbury.

Fentanyl is a powerful opioid that has been blamed for a wave of overdose deaths around the Northeast.

Larich, who has at least one felony conviction, was sentenced to 4.5 years in state prison to be followed by 2 years on parole.
FORT EDWARD  A former Washington County Jail guard who was arrested last fall for sex acts with a prisoner is headed to jail for 6 months.

Brandon M. Donaldson, 22, of Whitehall, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual act for alleged sexual encounters with a female prisoner in a jail janitorial closet last year. He agreed to a plea deal that includes the jail term as well as 10 years on probation when he is sentenced Feb. 9 by Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan.

He was arrested in October, charged with two counts of criminal sexual act because inmates cant legally consent to sexual contact with jail staff members. The Washington County Sheriffs Office began looking into the situation when learning of it during an investigation into unspecified contraband that made its way into the jail.

Donaldson told investigators that the inmate initiated the contact, showing him her breasts at one point, and that other correction officers had said she had been flirtatious with them as well. She also continued having contact with him after she was released from jail to participate in the countys felony drug treatment court.

The inmates name was not released, but she was in jail on burglary and drug-related charges.

The Warren County District Attorneys Office prosecuted the case as a special prosecutor, after the Washington County District Attorneys Office stepped away because of a conflict of interest related to prosecution of the female inmate.

Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone said he had no comment on the case Saturday, pending sentencing.

Donaldson was represented by lawyer John Oswald, who did not return a phone call for comment Friday, but has said his client had no prior criminal record.

Donaldson was a part-time guard at the jail for about two years, and was fired after police determined the veracity of allegations, Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy said.

Donaldson is free pending sentencing. He will have to register as a sex offender because of the conviction.
QUEENSBURY  Town Councilman Doug Irish is gone, but the town is still fighting with him.

Irish resigned in October, several months after taking a job in North Carolina. His wife returned his town office keys, but Irish kept his code book.

Now the town wants it back, to give to one of the two new council members who just took office.

Irish wont return it.

The book costs $569 and is updated every time any code is changed in the town. Town officials usually use post-it notes to mark up their books as they consider amendments or run across unusual situations that could require a new code.

Although the codes are also available online, Irish wants to keep his book.

I keep everything because you never know when you may want to confirm or rebut a comment made by a town official based on the actual town code, Irish said. Call me a skeptic, but (Supervisor) John Strough is the last person I would trust to tell me the truth about town law.

He told town officials that he was allowed to keep his book when he last left office in the late 1990s. He said hed only give it back if the town could produce a signed statement saying he understood the book was town property. He thinks Strough is being hard on him simply to continue their feud.

I believe it is John being political, Irish said, before adding, Maybe if they werent paying companies like SmartWatt $20,000 for a report we were not obligated to pay for, John wouldnt be worried about the $500.

Meanwhile, Stroughs executive assistant said shes just trying to get the book back.

They just get passed on to the next person, Victoria LaMarque said. John just wanted me to let him know how much it cost  just hoping to jar some sense of being nice from him.

If the stalemate continues, she said the town will buy another book.

We dont want to put out that kind of money, she said.

The extra book might end up on Stroughs desk. He had two books  one for home and one for his office, LaMarque said. When Councilman George Ferone replaced Irish, Strough gave Ferone the extra book.

Outgoing Councilman Brian Clements has already returned his book, and outgoing Councilman Tim Brewer has told the town he will return his, LaMarque said.

She sent Irish one last email recently, hoping he would give up the book.

This is a very expensive thing to replace, so if you could get this back to us as soon as possible, we would greatly appreciate it, she wrote.

Irish laughed off the request. He told a Post-Star reporter that theres no way the town will avoid the $569 expense, even if he returns the book.

Of course, Id have to charge them for the labor to keep it updated, which ironically enough is just about what a new book would cost. Thats based on my consulting rate of $180 an hour, he said.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  There will be an election in the village this spring after all.

With no ones term ending this March, the village was not intending to hold an election. But the resignation of Village Board member Bill Hayes will require one.

The special election has been set for March 20.

If Bill had resigned a week later, we wouldnt have to do this, said Mayor Harry Gutheil.

Hayes had 15 months left in his term.

Holding a special election will cost the village about $2,000, Gutheil said.

To avoid that cost, he called up Hayes and asked if he would be willing to serve for one more week.

He said no, Gutheil said.

Gutheil had considered either appointing someone for the next 15 months, until the next regularly scheduled election, or leaving the position vacant. Then the Board of Elections told him he had no choice.

That left some residents happy. In addition to Republicans, some Democrats are considering a run for the seat. The Green Party also held a caucus last year and ran a candidate for a Village Board seat, and may do so again.

Resident Charlie Granger told the Village Board that the seat should be filled.

I feel if we dont get anyone in that spot, we arent being fairly represented, he said.

Parties will have to move quickly to prepare for the election. Theyll need to hold caucuses in the next few weeks. Then their chosen candidates will have just seven weeks to campaign.

The caucuses come up in the end of January, so its going to happen fairly fast, Gutheil said.

The main costs for the special election are the pay for the election inspectors and the cost of legal ads announcing the election. Those costs are borne by the village.

Each political party that holds a caucus will also have to advertise its caucus in advance. Those costs are borne by each party, not the village.

Hayes resigned in December, saying he did not like the way employees were being treated under Gutheil. Several employees have resigned, all blaming Gutheil.

I dont particularly like the way things have been going, Hayes said, citing employees complaints. Thats not something Im used to.

South Glens Falls trustee resigns, citing employee complaints under mayor SOUTH GLENS FALLS  Employee complaints about working under Mayor Harry Gutheil have led lon

Hayes was appointed in November 1987 and was first elected the following March.
WHITEHALL  Brian Brooks has been fighting Washington County fires out of the Whitehall Fire Station on Main Street for nearly four decades. In that time, both as a paid firefighter and a volunteer, he has amassed a museums worth of history about the firefighters, the equipment and the fire stations storied and significant past.

Spending even an hour with Brooks opens a world of firefighting history, like the way they used to hang the heavy cotton fire hoses with brass fittings from the stations bell tower to dry; how men used to pull the steamer pump truck to fires, running it up and down the village streets; how the fire companies would battle over being the first to put water on the flames for the insurance company purse; how the 1913 fire station got moved across Main Street by a team of horses; how rubber fire coats and plastic helmets of the 1960s would burn in a fire; how the 1913 Webb fire truck made on a Thomas Flyer frame earned the reputation of being a tough rig; or how the Skenesborough Museum in Whitehall has the 1841 Button hand pump truck, the oldest one in the world.

Thats why getting the Whitehall Fire Station nominated to the State and National Registers of Historic Places was important to Brooks, who has served in many capacities with the fire company including chief, deputy chief and now president.

We hoped we would make it, he said Friday night while at the 105-year-old fire station. It is mostly untouched as it was in 1913 ... and it has always been used for the same purpose.

In late December, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recognized the structures historic significance when he announced the New York State Board for Historic Preservation had recommended The Whitehall Fire Station and 22 others to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

These nominations will help communities across this great state preserve the historic landmarks and sites that shaped New Yorks rich heritage, Cuomo said on Dec. 22, 2017. By recognizing the very fabric of our cities and towns, New York is shining light on important sites and resources in every region.

The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture, archaeology and culture of New York State and the nation.

In a 2017 release, the governor said the Whitehall Fire Station was significant because the 1913 structure was built to house the villages first mechanized, gas-powered fire engine and that the station was moved in 1932 by a team of horses to its present location after its original site was claimed for the relocation of railroad tracks.

According to Brooks, switching to a gas-powered fire engine marked a dramatic change in the way firefighters fought fires.

About two years ago, Brooks began the historic designation process and in November 2017, William Krattinger, a Department of the Interior historian, completed a detailed description and history of firefighting in Whitehall and the important role the fire station played.

The Whitehall Fire Station remains an important legacy of the villages attempt to improve its firefighting capabilities in the early twentieth century, Krattinger wrote in his conclusion. The station was clearly among the first in this region of eastern New York State to have been built with motor vehicles in mind, marking it as an important architectural manifestation of the transition then occurring from animal drawn to gas-fired equipment. Today it continues to function in the same capacity as the center of Whitehalls firefighting capabilities.

Today, the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company has about 80 members and is equipped to handle structure fires, assist at motor vehicle accidents, ice and cold-water rescue, wild-land search and low angle rescue.

We keep properties on the rolls by not letting them burn, he said. We can limit damage with trained firefighters.

In addition to adding more firefighter training tools and equipment, Brooks said they are working on restoring the building including replacing floors in the 1913 portion of the station.

We want to building to last another 100 years, he said.

The fire station, listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places, was also nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, and once approved, it will be entered on the National Register.
Four years ago, the state Assembly agreed to pay $545,000 to two women who had been sexually harassed by Vito Lopez, a Brooklyn assemblyman.

Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged in his State of the State address that public funds not be used to pay off claims of sexual harassment by government officials.

Maybe the governor was thinking about the situation for the past four years and weighing how to do the right thing.

Or maybe he wasnt terribly concerned until a few months ago, when awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace and attention to it exploded nationwide.

You can say many things about Andrew Cuomo, but you cannot say he lets an opportunity to jump on a bandwagon pass him by.

We do agree that any state government employee or official, appointed or elected, should be on his own when accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. The accused should pay for their own lawyers and pay their own settlements.

But this argument should be filed under things we shouldnt have to say.

It feels so unnecessary to make the case that dealing with the consequences of sexual harassment should be the responsibility of the harasser.

Unfortunately, the Lopez case is hardly an aberration. For years, the consequences of workplace sexual harassment have fallen primarily on the targets of the abuse.

While powerful men have been allowed to misbehave with impunity, less-powerful women  and sometimes men  who have done nothing wrong have lost their jobs, their reputations and their self-esteem.

What this cultural moment is about is, finally, evening out power imbalances in the workplace, so that people who are mistreated have recourse.

The #MeToo movement is one front in the struggle for justice, and the more people who understand its importance, the quicker we will take another step toward a just society.

We cant criticize Gov. Cuomos acknowledgement of the issue, belated as it was. Many of us have had our eyes opened over the past few months to the extent of this problem, and we are not talking about friendly compliments or jokes between friends.

We are talking about workplaces made toxic by harassment and about physical assault.

The abuses committed by Vito Lopez cost New York taxpayers more than half a million dollars. Four years later, its time to acknowledge that we shouldnt have paid a dime.
In the Dec. 23, 2017 Post-Star, there was an article stating that New York state is going to invest $9 million in water quality projects. There have also been articles lately lamenting the closing of the popular Brant Lake watering tub due to E. coli bacteria. This would seem to me to be a wonderful project to correct a problem and affect positively a vast number of our citizens.
Its the new year, and as the new fresh year looms ahead of us, it doesnt hurt to take one last look back at the successes and not-so-successes of the old year. Plus, it doesnt hurt to take a look forward. In recent columns I have recalled the successes of the new Old Erie Canal Heritage Park, so I will skip that. But 2017 saw the opening of the new Dollar General, the very successful visit of The Wall That Heals and the successful production of Clintons Ditch, a locally cast, staffed and funded play. We ended the year with the good news that Port Byron (along with Mentz, Brutus and Weedsport) had been awarded a grant to study the rewatering of the old canal. And thanks to the hard work of volunteers and the guidance from the Cayuga County Planning Department, the town now has an agricultural lands protection plan. Thats a fair bit, I would say.

Of course, my main activity is local history, so lets take a look at what happened there. The Lock 52 Historical Society built a new website that hopefully serves to be both a tourism welcome and a source of historical information. There is a lot more to do with it, and as time allows, we will continue to increase what we offer. The societys house finally got a new basement floor that will help to expand the manner in which we can expand and store our collection. We got many lovely donations from the folks of Port Byron. Dave Thomas has been bringing in things almost weekly, much of which I put up on Facebook and the blog for all to see. There were some more Bruce Carter photos. We have been running across Bruces stuff for a couple years now, and they always bring more delights. We learned a little about the Owl Club, but were never able to track down the original copy of the signed membership roll.

Jean and Erv Rooker donated a very neat three-burner Perfection stove that is now on display in the house. When I told Ted Wilt about this stove, he said that many people had them as summer stoves, so they didnt have to use the wood stove. He also said they didnt work particularly well, and I can see that by looking at it. Its basically a kerosene heater with cooking grates. But being aware of it, I now find ads for Perfection heaters and stoves in the local ads of the time. Ted also gave me some more information about the Jacobs Pure Horseradish that I wrote about a couple months ago. He said that Frank Jacobs used the Wilt mill as a place to grind the raw roots, creating a gassy smell that he couldnt take for more than a few minutes. Everyone on Green Street must have enjoyed that. We made a nice connection with members of the Blake family, who shared information about the family and shared some images of the family and the drug store. My friends in the Canal Society of New York State shared photos of canal spots around the village, showing the old aqueduct, Lock 52 and the Erie House. Anita Messina has been interviewing many of the older folks, and we have been posting her articles to our blog. Along that line, I have started doing some interviews and recording them so we can save the words of our local folks for the future historians. And I have been told by a number of people that they really must get to their photos and share with the society. It gives me something to look forward to in the new year.

Looking forward to articles in 2018: May will be the 100-year anniversary of the opening of the Barge Canal that removed the canal from Weedsport, Port Byron and Montezuma. In fact, 100 years ago this winter saw the removal of much of the Montezuma Aqueduct. So we will take a look at that newfangled Barge Canal. 2018 is also the 100-year anniversary of the start of the great influenza pandemic that sickened many, killed many and touched everyone. So we will note that grim anniversary. We will also learn who will be running the new park for the next three years, and there always is more. So while it is too cold to do much else, pull out those photo albums and give some thought to sharing with us.
Yolanduis L. McDuffie was sentenced Friday to 55 years in prison in relation to the fatal shooting of tattoo artist Derek Jackson.

Mr. Jackson, 24, was killed on Dec. 18, 2013, at his Rock Island home. His girlfriend and young son were upstairs. Mr. McDuffie, 24, of Moline, and Aaron D. Henderson II, 25, of Rock Island, were both accused of the killing.

They were each found guilty of one count of first-degree murder in separate trials. The count against each man accused him of planning and participating in the crime that led to Mr. Jackson's death. Neither Mr. Henderson or Mr. McDuffie were convicted of pulling the trigger, though each was also charged under that theory.

Rock Island County Judge Frank R. Fuhr said during the hearing that he had considered Mr. McDuffie's prior criminal record before setting the sentence, which is five years short of the maximum range for first-degree murder.

According to court records, that criminal record includes a 2011 conviction for aggravated battery in Rock Island County. It also includes a conviction for voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm in relation to the April 5, 2015, shooting of James Earl Goode Jr. in Davenport.

"He is a danger to the public," Judge Fuhr said on Friday.

The sentence for the killing of Derek Jackson will be concurrent to the up to 15-year sentence Mr. McDuffie is already serving for the killing in Scott County, Judge Fuhr said.

The ruling came after a several-hour morning hearing that included a statement from Susan Poe, Mr. Jackson's mother, about dealing with the death of her son, and arguments by Nate Nieman, Mr. McDuffie's attorney, as to why his client should get a new trial. Mr. McDuffie chose not to speak.

"Our lives have been crushed," Ms. Poe said. "So much has been taken from us."

She said her son was beautiful on the outside, kind on the inside, loved life and was funny. He had sisters  one of them a twin. Nephews and nieces have been born since his death who will only know their uncle from the stories the family tells.

Ms. Poe spoke of her son's skill as an artist and his career in tattooing.

"There was no stopping Derek and his talent" Ms. Poe said.

Mr. Jackson loved his son and was very patient with him, she said. Recently, she took the boy to his father's old shop.

Ms. Poe recounted that the boy looked in and said, "His stuff isn't in there anymore."

She argued for the maximum sentence.

During the hearing, Mr. Nieman argued for a new trial on several points, including that the defense was not allowed to fully question the prosecution's primary witness, Kamren Bolden, concerning a felony charge pending against Mr. Bolden. The charge, Mr. Nieman argued, might allow the state to exercise control over Mr. Bolden's testimony.

Mr. Nieman contended that had he been able to question Mr. Bolden on the charge as he had wished during the trial, it would have given him an opportunity to more strongly challenge Mr. Bolden's credibility as a witness.

Judge Fuhr denied Mr. Nieman's motion for a new trial, but said his arguments were preserved for the appeal process. Mr. Nieman said Mr. McDuffie already intended to appeal.

Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee attended the sentencing. Afterward, he said the state was satisfied with the judge's decision.

Mr. Henderson recently had his conviction and 40-year sentence in the case overturned, and is expected to have a new trial. The Third District Appellate Court has ruled that then Rock Island County Judge F. Michael Meersman erred by allowing a Rock Island County State's Attorney's Office employee and a bailiff to be in the presence of Mr. Henderson's jury as it reviewed video and audio recordings in the case.

Mr. McGehee said the county had not yet received the mandate from the appellate court concerning Mr. Henderson's new trial, but the state's attorney's office was prepared to try him again.

Ms. Poe said she thought the prosecution did a good job during Mr. Henderson's first trial, and can do another for his second. She added that Mr. Henderson might get a longer sentence the second time.
Mike Harvard started with Mark's Pizzeria in Skaneateles as a delivery driver in 1999, and now his name adorns the sign of his pizza business.

The Mark's location in Skaneateles quietly opened as Mike's Pizzeria late last month, with a new logo to match. Harvard, who had co-owned that Mark's location with Jamie Schneider since 2003, said they made a mutual agreement with Mark's Pizzeria Inc. to re-open as a separate business in that same location, a decision influenced by the state's fast food minimum wage law.

Harvard said this decision was a part of conversations between the duo and the company for the last couple years on how to address the state's rising minimum wage requirements for fast food establishments, which, according to the state Department of Labor, is a business in a chain of 30 or more locations. Pay requirements for fast food workers were first enacted by the state at the end of 2015, with separate pay increases for New York City and the rest of the state.

This will culminate in a fast food minimum wage of $15 by the end of the year for New York City and by 2021 for the rest of the state. Fast food wages were bumped up by $1 to $11.75 for the rest of the state on Dec. 31. Prior to that date, the Mark's chain shuttered several central New York stores, including the one in Elbridge.

Others, like the Skaneateles location, rebranded into independent operations. Harvard noted there are now currently 29 Mark's locations, keeping the franchise below that threshold of 30 locations to require raising the fast food minimum wage. He said becoming a separate business will keep costs down, and prices from rising, due to not having to pay workers more.

A Mark's official, however, said the minimum wage law was not the driving factor behind the company's recent closures. Joe Kondas, the director of communications for Mark's Pizzeria, said the Skaneateles location, as with the closed businesses in areas such as Clay, Cicero and Elbridge, were simply not profitable enough for the company to keep operating. The company also has its eyes on turning different locations into larger "super stores" with 60-90 seats  with three stores planned for renovations this year  and those closed locations weren't making enough of a profit, let alone earning enough, to justify expanding them.

Kondas said the company tried various means to make those closed locations more profitable.

"We tried to push the needle as much as we could," he said.

Kondas said the company hopes that Harvard's venture does well, adding that Harvard and company founder Mark Crane are good friends.

Kondas said the Mark's location in Auburn will remain, adding that it is "very profitable" for the company.

"We wish him all the best and we hope that with his format he can go forth and prosper," Kondas said.

Harvard said going from first being hired by Schneider to co-owning his own establishment has been "pretty wild." The newly named business has been doing well since discretely opening on Dec. 27.

"I've been doing this for 18 years; it's not much different, we're still making pizza," Harvard said.
GOP Rep. Chris Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, joined the growing list of Republicans calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign.

"This is hard for me, it really is, because I think Jeff Sessions is one of the most honorable men in Washington, D.C.," Stewart told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Friday afternoon. "But we have been weakened in our investigation into very important concerns at the Department of Justice and the FBI. Jeff Sessions is not able to take the reigns and direct that investigation."

He continued: "We need the director there who can take the reigns and be assertive in that. He can't do that when he is recused. I believe it may be time for him to step aside."

Because of his recusal, Sessions is unable to act on the department's current Russia probe -- spearheaded by special counsel Robert Mueller's team, appointed in May, and overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. But a new attorney general, appointed by Trump, would not be bound by those restrictions, and could potentially fire Rosenstein and Mueller and reassert control over the investigation.

In the call, Stewart joined Mark Meadows, Freedom Caucus chair, and Jim Jordan, a member who sits on the oversight and judiciary committees in the US House of Representatives, who wrote an op-ed for the Washington Examiner and criticized Sessions' handling of the department's investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation, but it would appear he has no control at all of the premier law enforcement agency in the world," they wrote. "It is time for Sessions to start managing in a spirit of transparency to bring all of this improper behavior to light and stop further violations."

The Republican congressmen wrote that "if Sessions can't address this issue immediately, then we have one final question needing an answer: When is it time for a new attorney general? Sadly, it seems the answer is now."
Four deaths from influenza, which occurred in one week in all regions of Iowa, worried health officials so much that the Iowa Department of Public Health issued a warning on Friday.

"Flu deaths rise in Iowa," the department announced, showing six people, total, have died from the highly contagious illness.

"There is still time to get vaccinated; get one this weekend," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist.

Four of six deaths, overall, were reported in eastern Iowa, with one in the northeast, two in the southeast and one in the east. The average age of those who died was 86, and three of them had underlying conditions that made it more likely they would die from influenza.

"These deaths are a sad reminder that influenza hits the very young, the very old, and those with weakened immune systems," Quinlisk said.

It's also not the time to visit others in hospitals or long-term care facilities, if feeling unwell. Both Genesis Health System and the Unity Point Health Trinity organization issued requests on Jan. 1 to ask that only healthy people make visits to local hospitals.

Symptoms, the doctor said, often start with a spiked temperature. "I always tell people, if you have symptoms above the neck, alone, that's probably a cold," she said.

But below the neck, with symptoms like overall pain, a loss of appetite, and high fever; that is probably the flu and it means a person should stay home and recover.

Vaccines are available in local doctor's offices, and various retail outlets. In general, influenza spikes in Iowa in late January and early February.

But the illness rate is now "widespread" throughout the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

The recent weather, and the holidays, meant that many families spent time together, indoors. This helps spread respiratory illnesses, Quinlisk said, such as rhinovirus, enterovirus, coronavirus, and Respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, in children.

The lack of humidity indoors causes mucus membranes to dry out in humans, and that makes it easier for germs to access a body, the doctor said.

Ways to combat that is to drink plenty of liquids, and use humidifiers. Or, keep plants in the house and water them regularly, or take showers and leave the bathroom doors open.

The doctor said her mother, years ago, used to boil water on the stove, and put cinnamon inside to scent the air a bit. "You just need to keep up humidity levels," she said. Suggested are 30-50 percent humidity levels in the winter.
Lackluster profits among legal marijuana growers is no reason to expand pot laws in Illinois.

There are much better reasons.

Retail sales of medical cannabis in Illinois reached about $9.3 million in December, the Chicago Tribune reported. Operators say the count is low, and that's because of too many constraints on the law.

But those in the state-sanctioned marijuana business knew they were taking risks when they stepped in. In Illinois, after all, medical marijuana's status is that of a pilot program, set to expire in a couple of short years.

Even those who are in the business, however, agree that profit isn't the point of pot.

"Let's not make it about money. Let's make it about quality of life," said Matt Stern, owner of the Quad-Cities' only retail dispensary, Nature's Treatment of Illinois, in Milan. "Let's make it about saving lives."

Saving lives with medically permitted weed? Stern is not overstating the case.

"There's no doubt: In every state they've loosened up marijuana laws, opioid use has decreased," he said. "I have a customer who is a quadriplegic who was taking eight medications, including narcotics for pain. He now takes zero."

Stern is among the growing list of state operators who want to see medical pot laws extended to those who suffer from chronic pain, because marijuana often is effective at treating the same types of pain that compels doctors to prescribe opiates. And evidence shows an increasing number of sufferers are choosing pot over pills.

Research published in the American Journal for Public Health showed that marijuana legalization in Colorado led to a "reversal of opiate overdose deaths in that state. This is a meaningful development on the entire public-health front, because of the opioid crisis and the fact marijuana carries essentially no risk of a fatal overdose.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Opioids (including prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl) killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record. Nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid."

And many of the illegal-drug overdoses are the result of an addiction that started with prescription drugs.

Illinois law currently does not permit medical cannabis access for chronic pain, but a listening legislature surely will be agreeable to adding it. And legislators have the opportunity under a plan that would grant patients who qualify for prescription opioids access to medical pot.

Profit is not good grounds for public policy that relates to public health, no matter who is profiting. And Stern said profit is precisely the thing that keeps Illinois in the business of banning a drug that has proven to provide much safer relief to citizens who suffer.

Not only are some doctors under pressure from pharmaceutical companies to write more prescriptions, he said, but too many lawmakers succumb to big financial support they get from the pharmaceutical lobby. And that power goes all the way to the top.

Stern said the recent announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions about cracking down on states that have decriminalized pot is "just big money" talking.

Sessions and many other Republicans, including the president, vigorously defend states' rights on most counts, so going after their autonomy on pot laws is rightly drawing skepticism. And it's even more suspect considering the president's declaration that the opioid crisis is a national public health emergency.

As the smoke continues to clear, it is becoming more evident that marijuana is safer than narcotics in the treatment of chronic pain, among other afflictions. If money has to be a factor, let it be in the new state taxes that result from a demonstrably life-saving extension of a well-meaning, well-regulated law.
Described as a "scholar and a gentleman," John Erwin has taken the interim leadership at Moline's Black Hawk College for up to six months.

Erwin, of Peoria, serves as interim president to succeed Bettie Truitt, who retired in December. Erwin will help oversee the search for a new president, now being carried out by the Pauly Group, academic executive search consultants from Springfield, Illinois.

This is not the first interim job that Erwin has held; he most recently had the same job at Marion Technical College in Marion, Ohio. For 14 years, he was president of Illinois Central College, East Peoria.

"People here are warm and inviting," Erwin said. "I appreciate the warm welcome I've had."

The college is fortunate to find Erwin, according to Richard Fiems, who chairs the college's board of trustees. Having an interim president will keep Black Hawk on an "even keel," he said, and Erwin will help the college find a good, permanent replacement for Truitt.

Erwin will make day-to-day decisions at the school, and he's prepared to stay up to six months, or July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The replacement timeline, as Erwin suggests, would be posting the president's job in early February, and having a shifting pool of applicants by March. Job finalists could be identified by late March or early April, and there will be sessions to meet-and-greet the public.

The interim president is "a classic example of a scholar and a gentleman," said Fiems, who has an associate degree from Black Hawk in his academic background and is retired after a career as a police officer.

Erwin has a long resume, with academic success that started in 1977 at the University of Indianapolis. He's done a lecture series and study tour at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in 1989, spent time at Harvard University in the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1999, and at the Disney Institute in 2011.

He is married, and his wife is a retired teacher from Illinois. They have three adult children and one new grandchild. "Becky knows I'm happiest when I'm really busy," he said.

He enjoys the interim positions because he deeply believes in the mission of community colleges, in Illinois and nationwide. He is grateful to be part of the educational program, and appreciates his chance to "advise and support" at Black Hawk.

Black Hawk is a strong community college, he said, financially and through its programming.

There are challenges. Last year, Black Hawk cut 17 teaching positions, a move Erwin said was painful, but necessary. There is a "new normal," he said, when it comes to enrollment and financial challenges.

Enrollment at community college goes up when the economy is bad, because workers need retraining programs. However, it goes down in an "up" economy, Erwin said, noting, currently, there is less than 4 percent unemployment.

During historic low levels in unemployment, Erwin appreciates the nimble curriculum offered at the community college level and points to three especially popular programs at Black Hawk: Health sciences, veterinary technology and vocational programs like welding.

Welders are being trained at Black Hawk to meet a demand from the construction industry and nurses earn a number of two-year degrees. The college also is working to add a four-year academic degree program to the nursing school.

"This is where we are reflexive, and responsible," Erwin said. The key in community colleges is ferreting out economic needs in a community, and educating workers to meet those needs.
Saying that Iowa needs to focus on adequately funding education before the state finds itself unable to compete for the jobs of tomorrow, gubernatorial candidate and state senator Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, brought his message to Davenport on Friday.

About 40 people attended Boultons meeting at the J.B. Young Opportunity Center. He spent about 45 minutes speaking and answering questions. He spent another 45 minutes talking one-on-one with members of the audience.

For at least the last seven years, Boulton said, education in Iowa has suffered from the current administrations budget mismanagement and misallocation of funding. Each of those years, he said, Iowas educational system from Pre-K to the university level has been underfunded.

Corporate tax exemptions and giveaways have totaled in the hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been used for education, he said.

The corporate giveaways have not provided the economic benefits they promised, and they never have and if you extend this out 20, 30 or 40 years, they never will, Boulton told the audience.

Boulton said the problems in education are on several fronts.

First, during the last legislative session, the ability of teachers to bargain for better wages and salaries was limited.

Boulton said he also is concerned that the legislature in the next session will attack IPERS, replacing it with a 401(k) type of contribution program that will remove some of the retirement security for new teachers and in which IPERS will shrink to a level that cant support those older employees who will be retiring.

Those two issues likely will cause some potential teachers to choose other professions or to take their talents and teach in another state.

Asked if he saw any movement in the Davenport Community School Districts fight for equity funding, Boulton said,, I was there last year and I didnt see much progress on it from this administration.

We put school districts in this state like Davenports in a very difficult position not only in terms of equity funding, but in funding in general, he said.

When reminded that Davenport Superintendent Art Tate has said he will dip into the districts reserves to insure the districts students and teachers have the educational tools and resources necessary to ensure a quality education, Boulton said he does not want to see districts robbing their reserves.

Boulton said he also is concerned about the legislature passing education savings accounts for those people who want to home school their children or place them in private schools.

If we take $3,000 or $4,000 out of the district because someone is home schooled or in private schools, those resources are gone, he said.

The poorest students in the poorest districts and the students with special needs will be especially hard hit, he said.

Unless something is done, Iowas educational systems will suffer. Fewer qualified teachers will want to remain in Iowa, students will not have the most current resources for learning, and Iowas long-standing tradition as having a qualified educated workforce will melt away.

Without a qualified workforce, no businesses will come, and as the tax base shrinks the states infrastructure will deteriorate.

Who will be the next generation of employers in that scenario, Boulton said.

In addition to Boulton, six other Democrats are running for the governor's chair in 2018: Cathy Glasson, president of the SEIU Local 199; businessman Fred Hubbell; Dr. Andy McGuire, attorney Jon Neiderbach; John Norris, former chief of staff to Gov. Tom Vilsack; and former Iowa City Mayor Ross Wilburn.
Civil Constructors Inc., of East Moline, has been awarded an $11.2 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the downstream guidewall of Lock & Dam 15 in Davenport.

The wall that towboats touch up against to ease their loads into and out of the lock is anchored below water level by timbers that sit on bedrock and, where the bedrock slopes away downstream, on clay, Josh Hendrix, a civil engineer with the Corps, explained.

During the 1990s, a slight, inch-deep tipping in the wall was noticed during routine inspections. The tipping accelerated until it came to a head in late May when a sidewalk above the wall buckled and cracked.

Worried that the wall could fall into the channel, blocking navigation, crews came in with excavators to break up the concrete and remove a 120-foot section of the above-water wall itself, Hendrix said.

This removed the hazard and took weight off the supporting structure below, but was "an interim risk reduction measure" until such time as the overall problem could be addressed, Hendrix said.

Because some of the reconstruction will make the lock unusable for shipping traffic, the bulk of the work has to be done during a winter shutdown, Hendrix said. The lock is shut down now, but because of the scope of the project and the time it will take, visible construction likely won't begin until the fall of 2018, he said.

The work will replace the wall as well as the structure under water that consists of piles, or piers, inside rock-filled crib boxes. Specifications call for the original wood piles to be abandoned and replaced with concrete and steel piles, and they will be drilled into bedrock, Hendrix said. The work also will involve more wall  360 feet, or about one-third of the total, compared with the 120 feet that is affected now, he said.

In addition, a wall monitoring system will be installed and the earthen embankment on the land side of the wall will be replaced.

Meanwhile, towboat operators will have to make it through the 2018 season without the wall to guide them. They will have to be more careful in how they steer, Hendrix said.

Despite underwater inspections by dive teams, engineers aren't sure what caused the tipping problem in the first place, he said.

But the wall is 80 years old, finished in 1934 with an intended design life of about 50 years. The composition of clay (that the wall sits on) might weaken over time, creating an inadequate foundation, but that is speculation, Hendrix said.

When the sidewalk above the wall buckled in May, Mike Cox, chief of the Rock Island District's Operations Division, noted that the problem is indicative of infrastructure that is well past its prime.

Almost all of the locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River system are experiencing varying levels of problems due to age, he said.
Autumn Phillips is resigning as the Quad-City Times executive editor to accept a position as the managing editor of The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina.

Her last day will be Jan. 31.

Phillips joined the Times in December 2015. She has worked for the Davenport-based Lee Enterprises, parent company of the Times, since March 2012.

"This leaving is bittersweet," Phillips said. "I'm excited for the new opportunity, but I'm leaving a company that I've worked for in three markets and where I have formed many deep friendships."

Phillips, 44, announced her decision to the news staff earlier this week.

"We're fortunate to have had such a talented editor lead our team for the last couple of years," said Times Publisher Debbie Anselm. "She embraced her role as a leader not only in our newsroom but in the community."

Anselm credited Phillips as a strong supporter of community journalism and enterprise reporting. During Phillips' tenure, the Times underwent a redesign of its Sunday newspaper, including introduction of The Big Story.

"The Big Story is certainly something our readers have enjoyed," Anselm said. "One of the things Autumn brings to the organization is a commitment to be innovative. She is always looking for new ways to tell stories and new ways to reach our audiences."

Phillips also was a driving force behind the Times' new Virtual Reality storytelling project, hosted on the free app QCT VR.

According to Anselm, the changes have come as Phillips and her team also "made sure we were good stewards for transparency in government and an advocate for open meetings and open records.

A national search for a new executive editor is in the works.

Wishing Phillips well, Anselm said, "I appreciate the way she carried out her role. She was an active leader. She was in the community working beside other leaders and other citizens."

Phillips' community service includes the Rotary Club of Davenport. She also is a board member for the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and the national APME (Associated Press Media Editors) board.

Also during her tenure, the Times was named one of the 10 Newspapers That Do it Right by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2017.

"I'm leaving a community that embraced me and made me feel at home," Phillips said. "It's a community where I formed some friendships that I don't expect to end when I drive across the bridge for the final time next month."

Prior to joining the Times, Phillips was editor at The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale and in Twin Falls, Idaho, both Lee newspapers.

"She has certainly had a bright career at Lee Enterprises," Anselm said.
After visiting Tehran in 2013, I wrote that the Iranian capital seemed suspended somewhere between Pyongyang and Los Angeles. We've seen this past week how passionately Iranians want the latter, not the former -- as they denounced their impoverished garrison state and demanded a prosperous, modern future.

Asking whether Iran's demonstrations create a "pre-revolutionary" situation may miss the larger point. The process of change has already begun. The regime will use its instruments of repression, and the unrest may wane. But the protests have been so widespread, in what a former U.S. intelligence officer says are 80 cities, that it will be impossible to put the whole country back in a box.

The Iranian protests have dramatized the contradictions that have been deepening since the 1979 revolution -- between aged theocratic rulers and a restless young country, between Iran's immense economic capabilities and its poor performance, and between its foreign adventures and domestic needs. The government is split, with President Hassan Rouhani expressing sympathy with the protesters and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hoping to crush dissent.

In today's world, it's hard to argue that repression won't work in the short run. But this is a long game, and while the mullahs have the guns, they seem to have lost the public's trust. As the regime weakens, there's space for a popular leader who speaks for an unhappy country. A week ago, that might have been Rouhani, but he seems to have lost his chance.

Western governments are split about how vigorously to support the Iranian protesters. President Trump's boisterous tweets have offended European governments, which argue they make it easier for the regime to blame the "Great Satan" and other outside meddlers. This week, France, Germany and Britain balked at a U.S. request for a joint statement on Iran. Although Trump's rhetoric is often recklessly irresponsible, on this question he's right.

The West certainly should be careful about statements that encourage Iranians to open rebellion. There's moral hazard in such cheerleading. But silence is wrong. The West should urge Iranian protesters to remain peaceful (they're more likely to succeed that way) and also warn the regime that it will be held accountable for violence against its citizens. If the government cracks down hard, as it did during the 2009 Green Movement, it must face real consequences.

The West should also help keep communications open with Iran. The regime is restricting messaging, but they'll have trouble blocking it entirely. Iran has an estimated 48 million smartphones today, compared with 1 million in 2009. Iranians can access more encrypted messaging apps than the regime can block. From some southern points, cellphones can reach networks in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The number of cellphone videos posted from Iran seems to have declined sharply through this week, but a total digital blackout will probably be impossible.

With the world focused on the repressive, destabilizing nature of the Iranian regime, the Trump administration would be idiotic to shift the subject to the Iran nuclear agreement. Trump should leave the pact in place and concentrate on Iranian meddling abroad. With Tehran distracted at home, this is an ideal time to squeeze Iran's logistical pipeline to its proxy forces in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. In challenging Iranian proxies, the U.S. and its allies will amplify the protesters' chant: "Not Gaza, Not Lebanon, I give my life for Iran."

Iran's leaders undoubtedly will blame America and its allies, regardless of what Trump and the Europeans say. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's supreme national security council, declared in a television interview this week, with spurious precision, that 27 percent to 29 percent of the protest hashtags were generated by the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia is certainly delighted by the protests, but the idea that nationwide demonstrations are the result of a foreign conspiracy is self-deluding, and also logistically impossible.

What's the lesson of the past week for the Middle East? I put that question to Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi king's son and ambassador to Washington, and here's his answer: "The Iranian regime tried to block the future. They're waging a backwards revolution. We want to go the other way." If the Saudis really are betting on youth and modernization, they're going in the right direction.

The Iranian regime was rocked this week, and it will fight back ruthlessly. But it's hard to imagine the theocracy prevailing indefinitely in a society so hungry for change. The West can't wage this fight. But it shouldn't be afraid to say who's right and wrong.
When the temperature reached minus-20 degrees, I worried about the dogs in puppy mills. There are over 250 puppy mills with about 15,000 adult dogs in Iowa. Many of them live in small, wire cages their whole lives. They dont even have bedding. They are treated as commodities, not as living beings. Imagine what that they endure on cold winter nights and days. These dogs only receive enough care to keep them breathing and breeding. There is no socialization, exercise or veterinary care. This industry is just about money.

Please do not buy a puppy from a pet store or an internet site. Reputable breeders do not sell puppies that way. They actually care about the welfare of the animals. Do not be fooled by brick-and-morter or internet businesses telling you their facilities are USDA inspected or that their puppies are American Kennel Club registered. Those things mean nothing about how the dogs are treated. Their puppies come from mills.

We need to stop this industry. Communities are enacting laws to ban the retail sale of dogs at pet stores. We should join this movement. If you want to find a canine companion, please consider adopting. There are many shelters and rescues that will help. Open your heart to a dog in need and help close the door on puppy mills.

Lynn Galllagher

Solon, Iowa
The smear campaign against Alabama Judge Roy Moore was successful. Score this victory for the Democrats, leftists and Republican establishment. Score this as a defeat for the American people.

All of a sudden, just before this election, accounts of sexual improprieties from 40 years ago come out against Moore. What timing. Realizing tactics of this nature are commonly used by the leftists, then how come Alabama citizens could not see through this smear campaign?

Democratic candidate Doug Jones spent substantially more funds on advertising. Mainstream media was against Moore because they support the global elitist, Democrat and leftist agenda. Moore is not a globalist elitist, hes for the people and the Constitution; thus, Moore was viciously attacked.

Eyes and ears are key to a persons heart. Pound the people again with negative propaganda, and it will begin to register. The smear campaign slammed Moore again and again. Unfortunately, it registered with many in Alabama. The global elitists know the importance of negative propaganda, and consistently practice it.

The key disappointment in all this, in my view, is the Republican establishment. It was shameful that they would not support their candidate who is a strong supporter of the Constitution. Instead, they tried to take him out so a leftist Democrat could be elected - foolishness personified.

The accusations against Moore were allegations from over 40 years ago and not proven. Anytime mainstream media, Democrats and Republican establishment attack someone viciously, it probably means that person was a great candidate for America.

Michael Imhof

Aurora, Illinois
A Rochester man facing two grand larceny charges in Orleans County now has another from Cayuga County to add to the list.

The Auburn Police Department said 40-year-old Adrian R. Taylor Sr., of 480 Upper Falls Blvd., was wanted on an arrest warrant for stealing 41 items in February last year from Walmart on Grant Avenue in Auburn. Police could not provide details of what items were stolen, but they said it was in excess of $3,000.

Taylor is currently an inmate in Orleans County Jail in connection with two third-degree grand larceny charges in that county. Auburn police arrested Taylor Jan. 4 on the same charge for Cayuga County. Third-degree grand larceny is a class D felony.

He was remanded back to Orleans County Jail. The jail confirmed Friday that he is still an inmate there.
A public elementary school in Kansas is ending the free distribution of Bibles to students after complaints about the practice violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

Herington Elementary School's giveaway took place about two weeks ago. A table was placed at the school with a sign inviting fifth-graders to help themselves to a free Bible, the Wichita Eagle reported.

"In no way were we trying to impose anything on anyone," said Ron Wilson, superintendent of Herington Schools.

The legal branch of the American Humanist Association sent a letter to the school district, demanding that it end the practice, after receiving complaints from parents.

"The district's actions in assisting the Gideons in distributing Bibles to elementary students represents a clear breach of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution and we hereby demand assurances that this practice will discontinue immediately," wrote Monica Miller, a lawyer with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center.

Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization known for distributing free Bibles in locations such as hotel rooms and schools, as well as countries overseas.

Bible distribution tables outside classrooms are legal in junior high and high schools only if other groups that want to distribute their literature to students are allowed to do the same, said Jeff Jackson, a constitutional law professor at Washburn University.

But such tables have been barred from elementary schools because courts ruled that the young students "are especially open to coercion," Jackson said. "Because of their age, they're particularly impressionable."

Wilson, in his first year as superintendent, said he visited with the principal and decided to change the annual tradition of the one-day Bible giveaway.

"Our district respects all religious beliefs and the constitutional rights of every student," he said. "We will no longer allow distribution of religious materials."
Pope Francis on Monday recommended jettisoning life's "useless baggage" in 2018, including what he called "empty chatter" and banal consumerism, and focusing instead on building a peaceful and welcoming world, particularly for refugees and migrants.

Francis offered his reflections on paring down non-essentials as he celebrated New Year's Day Mass Monday in St. Peter's Basilica and later greeted some 40,000 people in St. Peter's Square.

His advice included setting aside a moment of silence daily to be with God. Doing so would help "keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting," Francis said.

"At the beginning of the year, we too, as Christians on our pilgrim way, feel the need to set out anew from the center, to leave behind the burdens of the past and to start over from the things that really matter," he said.

The Catholic church designates Jan. 1 as World Peace Day, and in his comments after Mass to the crowd in the square outside the basilica, Francis noted that this year's focus of the day was the search for peace by migrants and refugees.

"I desire, yet again, to speak for these our brothers and sisters who invoke for their future a horizon of peace," Francis said. "For this peace, which is the right of everyone, many of them are willing to risk their life in a voyage that is in the great majority of cases long and dangerous, willing to face hardships and suffering," the pontiff said.

In the past few years, hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed the Mediterranean from northern Africa in human traffickers' unseaworthy boats, desperate to reach European shores. The pope's foreign travels in 2017 included a voyage to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where the suffering of minority Rohingya Muslims, who have fled from the first country to take refuge in the second, was a central concern of his pilgrimage.

Francis in his appeal Monday said of refugees and migrants: "Let us not extinguish the hope in their hearts. Let us not suffocate their expectations for peace." He called for all to make commitments "to assure the refugees, the migrants, everyone, a future of peace."

The pope then prayed that people "work in this new year with generosity to realize a world that is more united and welcoming."
Viewers intrigued by the Gianni Versace murder case featured in the new season of "American Crime Story" can retrace the fashion designer's steps at his former mansion in South Beach.

Tourists stop on its stone front steps every day to pose for pictures where Versace was fatally shot by serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997. There's more to the Mediterranean-style mansion than Versace's death, however.

Now a boutique hotel, The Villa Casa Casuarina , Versace's former home still reflects his glamorous designs and opulent lifestyle. Visitors can swim in the pool he lined with 24-karat gold tiles, sleep on double-king-sized beds so large they require custom-made sheets, gaze at the ocean from his rooftop observatory and dine in a gourmet restaurant established in his former dining room.

A resident artist maintains the mosaics and frescos that Versace had made for the property, including designs showcasing his signature snake-haired Medusa head, said Chauncey Copeland, the hotel's general manager.

"We actually have preserved what Versace created here and just augmented it with some modern touches for the convenience of our hotel guests and restaurant patrons," Copeland said.

Versace spent $33 million renovating the three-story building he purchased in 1992. It was originally an apartment complex built in 1930 by Standard Oil heir Alden Freeman. After Versace's death, his family sold the property. The Villa Casa Casuarina now is part of the Victor Hotels group, which acquired the mansion at a 2013 auction for $41.5 million.

The opportunity to sleep in Versace's former bedroom stands out among other luxury hotel experiences, even in glitzy South Beach, said Joey Cargill, of Manila, the Philippines, a hotel guest relaxing in the pool just after Christmas.

"It's just the history, and Versace was an artist, and I kind of consider myself a little bit of an artist. Maybe I can grasp a little bit of that, in a different fashion," Cargill said.

To live like Versace is to live large, transforming the most ordinary things into outrageous memories. "I can't even hit all sides of the bed, it's so big. I just take a corner of it," Cargill said.

"The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story" premieres Jan. 17 on FX.

The cast and crew spent about a month filming at the hotel, Copeland said. "It's really striking just how accurate they are," he said.
Even on short notice, Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender didnt mind taking over as keynote speaker at Fridays Rapid City Economic Development Partnership annual meeting.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard was originally slated to deliver the main address at Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn, but the governor was unable to fly to Rapid City because of thick fog enveloping the area Friday morning.

Allender said he received a text from Partnership president Ben Snow at 5:45 a.m. asking him to take the governor's spot.

I said, 'Hey, dont worry about it,' Allender said he told Snow before adding two pages of handwritten notes to original 10-minute speech originally planned to proceed the governors remarks.

Allender had plenty of material on the citys economic outlook to fill the allotted time, from the implementation of the citys downtown master plan, the expansion of the downtown core east of Fifth Street and plans to build an innovation center downtown core as part of the expansion of the Black Hills Business Development Center.

One of the first key steps, he said, will be proposals coming to city planners and the city council to rezone 700 parcels of property between the current downtown as far east as the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology campus.

What he called a hybrid combination of downtown commercial and general commercial zoning will help development of new retail and professional businesses along with new housing for the corridor.

The rezoning is the official expansion of downtown Rapid City east of Fifth Street, Allender said.

He also cited the city issuing more than 300 million in building permits for the second straight year, a number that equates to two building permits issued for each hour of a work day.

If anybody doubts this number, go drive around Rapid City, see how many homes there are, see how many construction companies there are working, he said.

The areas traditional low unemployment numbers sound like a positive, Allender said, but in turn limits the types of companies the city might attract because of the shortage of an available workforce.

He said Thursdays announcement of the impending closure of Rapid Citys Sears store is another sign of the continuing evolution of the areas economy, and adaption of private business to the needs of the public.

Sears is closing and that gives us memories. It sounds like trouble, but lets just consider, if its something else. It might just be an opportunity, Allender said. We are evolving. That is always something to be proud of and excited about."

In other partnership news, Terri Haverly resigned as partnership vice president to work full time with the partnerships foundation as the Black Hills Business Development Center begins to expand from the current center on the Mines campus to a new downtown innovation center planned for 108 Main St.

Allender said the city councils unanimous decision on Nov. 20 to donate the property, originally purchased for a new downtown fire station, is a purposeful acknowledgement by the Rapid City Council that economic development matters, that innovation matters and the School of Mines matters, Allender said. The downtown master plan is a plan that matters.

This is a time in history when we should be proud of what is happening in Rapid City. Thats a good deal.

Pat Burchill, of the RCED Foundation and chairman of the Ellsworth Development Authority, said the Air Force base continues to solidify its chances of remaining a viable military facility 13 years after being included on a Base realignment and closure commission list for closure.

It scared everyone, but we rallied, Burchill said. Against all odds we took the commissions information and proved them wrong."

He said the development authority is working to bring the next generation of strategic bomber, the B-21, to Ellsworth. Hopefully there will be a whole squadron of (B-21s) stationed at Ellsworth in the near future, Burchill said.

Outgoing chairman David Lust cited the large number of major construction projects begun, continuing or completed in 2017, including Black Hills Energys new corporate headquarters, Horizon Point, which was dedicated Friday. There was also more than $150 million in new construction and renovation work at Regional Healths Rapid City Regional Hospital and a $90 million kiln expansion by GCC Dacotah Cement.

Its not going to be recruiting Google or IBM to come to Rapid City, its going to be what we have here in maximizing it and getting those companies that exist here to grow, Lust said.

The breakfast meeting also included Ron Blum taking over as partnership chairman for 2018, succeeding Lust.
This weeks From the Archives brings you the first issue of the new year, 1965!

From the Chadron Record  January 4, 1965

First Baby Here Arrived Today

The first baby at the Chadron Community Hospital in 1965 was born this morning at 9:50a.m. to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ewer, 146 Lake St. in Chadron. The 8lb. 12 oz. boy will reportedly be named Michael.

Included in the list of prizes for the young gentleman and his family are gifts from 11 Chadron merchants. Included in the list of donars (sic) are: Ideal Market, Midwest Furniture, The Style Shop, Schaefers, F&M Bootery, Service Drug, Model Laundry and cleaners, Wahlstrom Ford, Chadron Record, Bank of Chadron, and Staska Dairy.

The prize winner has two sisters and one brother.

Many Highway Mishaps In Area Over Weekend

A rash of accidents hit Dawes County roads over the weekend causing extensive property damage and hospitalizing two persons in serious condition.

The worst of the mishaps occurred Saturday at 6:30 p.m. 1 mile west of Marsland at the junction of Highway 2. Involved were cars driven by Jim Olsen, Marsland, and Guy S. Mason of Crawford. Both Mason and his wife, Grayce, were taken to the Crawford hospital in serious condiditon. Mrs. Mason suffered a broken wrist, pelvis and nose, a dislocated hip, and multiple lacerations. Mr. Mason had a fractured nose and rib. Olson, who was traveling alone, was not hurt in the crash.

According to investigating officer Sheriff Marvin Wohlers, the Olsen vehicle was attempting to turn onto the junction road when it struck the Mason auto which was proceeding north on the highway. Both cars, a 1955 Ford owned by Olsen, and a 1957 Ford driven by Mason, were declared total losses.

A car-deer crash this morning on Highway 385, 3 miles south of Chadron also totally destroyed a car. The accident took place at 6:50 a.m. The car was operated by Mike Rockey of Alliance. The small doe deer was killed in the crash. Rockeys car was a 1950 Ford.

Two young Chadron boys luckily escaped injury Thursday at 5 p.m. when their car went out of control on an icy patch and plunged off a bridge 4 miles west and 11  miles south of Chadron on the Deadhorse Road. The car was driven by Alan E. Smith, Rt. 1. Neither he nor his brother, David, were injured. About $350 damage to the car resulted.

Extensive damage was also reported to a 1960 Rambler found overturned near the White River bridge 2 miles east and 11 miles north of Chadron on the Slim Butte Road. The car belonged to Terry Vanderventer, 616 E. 5th, Alliance, and had been stolen January 1 in Alliance. As yet, no arrests have been made. The car was abandoned when found by the Deputy Sheriff Jim Locke.

The last of the weekend wrecks occurred Sunday at 11 a.m. on the Kings Canyon Road, 5 miles south of Chadron. Minor damage was reported to vehicles driven by Howard Franklin, Chadron, and William Anton, Redfield, S.D.

Fort Gets Look From Park Service

The National park Service, along with other federal and state agencies, will investigate the recreational and historic area of Fort Robinson as part of a three step study of the historic, scenic and recreation resources of the Great Plains.

Although not officially announced, it is expected that if the study committee likes what it finds, the Fort could be made into a national park.

Besides the look at Fort Robinson, the other phases of the study will include the possibilities of constructing a Great Plains parkway or scenic road through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and other plains states. The second point would include a study of plains and prairie grassland areas suitable for possible inclusion in the national park system.

The program was announced by secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall

In making the announcement, Udall said, The Department of the Interior is vitally interested in preseriving for public use the enjoyment of representative segments of the countrys once vast undeveloped plains and prairie lands, together with their important historic sites and outdoor recreation resources.

H. Raymond Gregg, superintendant of the Jefferson national Expansion Memorial at St. Louis, will head the study.

Recently, Mel O. Streen, head of the Nebraska Game Commission, said he doubted that For Robinson would be included in the National Park set-up, but said the state planned to build it into the best state park in the state.
A Newell town commissioner is facing charges of stalking and sexual contact without consent involving a home aid.

Allen Youngberg, 67, appeared in magistrate court in Belle Fourche on Dec. 15 and pleaded not guilty to both charges. Each is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail and/or a $2,000 fine.

The accusations against Youngberg relate to a June 19 incident at a Newell apartment, according to court documents. The complainant, 37-year-old Nora Mae Simmons, told the Butte County Sheriffs Office that Youngberg harassed her and touched her inappropriately while she was cleaning the home of a 94-year-old man. Youngberg apparently lived in the same building and knew Simmons client.

To prevent a conflict of interest in the investigation, the sheriffs office asked for assistance from the state Division of Criminal Investigation, states a police report filed in court.

Simmons had written up an account of Youngbergs actions and dropped off a copy at the Newell mayors office, but authorities said the documents went missing. Newell City Employee Jennifer Parrow believes Allen stole paperwork Simmons had dropped off for the Mayor on June 22, reads the police report.

Youngberg was charged by a grand jury on Nov. 14 and arrested three days later. His bond was set at $350, and he was ordered not to have any contact with Simmons, according to court records.

Newell Mayor Mike Keolker is concerned about the criminal charges.

While Mr. Youngberg has not been tried and he is still presumed innocent, I am concerned by the seriousness of the charges, Keolker said. This type of behavior is unacceptable under any circumstances and even worse for someone elected by the people.

Newells official website identifies Youngberg as the towns public safety commissioner, whose term runs till 2020.

Youngberg declined to comment for this story. He is scheduled to return to the Butte County Courthouse for a status hearing on Jan. 19. Magistrate Judge Chad Callahan, of the 4th Circuit Court, is presiding over the case.

The Newell Council has no recourse planned until it learns of the status hearings results.

In September, a judge in Pennington County granted Simmons request for a protection order against Youngberg. The court found that a stalking offense had occurred, and issued a five-year protection order  the longest that can be given.

It forbids Youngberg from committing acts of abuse and physical harm, making threats of abuse, stalking or harassment, including coming within 100 yards of Simmons, according to the protection order.

Youngberg earlier asked Magistrate Judge Todd Hyronimus to have the case moved to Butte County, where he lives, but the request was denied.

Since 2010, three other people have filed for permanent protection orders against Youngberg in Butte County. All the cases were dismissed, according to court records, because of the petitioners failure to provide sufficient evidence.
PIERRE | The Associated School Boards of South Dakota can file a brief supporting the state Water Management Board against a complaint brought by Pennington County Commissioner George Ferebee, the South Dakota Open Meetings Commission unanimously decided Friday.

Chairman Kevin Krull directed the commissions lawyer to distribute the brief to the five commissioners. Krull is Meade County states attorney.

Gerry Kaufman Jr. said he had previously provided copies to Matt Naasz, the lawyer for the water board, and Ferebee. Kaufman is director of policy and legal services for the school boards organization.

The commissioners set Feb. 2 for the re-hearing of Ferebees complaint. The commission tied 2-2 last summer and decided all five members should re-hear it.

Kaufmans motion said the brief would present information the water board didn't commit a violation. He said it would show the governing board of a political subdivision such as a school board or city commission, or a state board such as the Water Management Board or South Dakota Board of Education could legally conduct deliberations in executive session.

State law 1-25-2 sets five situations when public meetings can be taken into executive session. The third exemption says: Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters.

The roots of the case reach back several years. Pennington County officials charged Ferebee with a zoning violation for his wastewater system. Ferebee, who lives in Hill City, filed the complaint against the water board as a private individual.

He alleges the water board members violated South Dakotas open-meeting law in 2016. His complaint is they closed the meeting to the public and privately deliberated who should regulate wastewater treatment systems.

The state board publicly ruled they or other local governments could regulate wastewater systems.

Ferebee complained to the state commission that the water board members should have talked about the issue in public. That produced a split vote by the commission.

Voting for a violation at the Aug. 31 hearing were Aurora County states attorney John Steele and Bon Homme County states attorney Lisa Rothschadl. Voting to dismiss the complaint that day were Krull and Grant County states attorney Mark Reedstrom. The fifth member, Sully County states attorney Emily Sovell, didnt attend the meeting.

Ferebee described the school boards filing Friday as 19 pages of balderdash.

Commission chairman Krull initially gave Ferebee and Naasz a deadline of Jan. 19 to file responses to the school boards filing. That matched a federal-courts rule regarding such briefs.

But Steele said he sensed Ferebee wanted more time. Steele suggested the commission accommodate Ferbee because he isnt a lawyer. Ferebee said Steele was right.

Sovell in turn suggested the Jan. 29 deadline. She indicated the commission should decide the matter Feb. 2. We all had a lot of time to think about it, Sovell said.

Ferebee opposed allowing the school boards brief. He argued Friday the deadline should have been before the Aug. 31 hearing by the meeting commission.

He also said state law doesnt give authority for the commission to accept outside briefs. We need to draw the line on whats allowed and not allowed, Ferebee said.

School boards lawyer Kaufman said the case was still pending. It was very timely, he said.

As to authority, Kaufman said it was implied. Kaufman said the situation was analogous to the commission accepting oral arguments even though state law doesnt specifically authorize it.

None of the commissioners disagreed with Krulls initial observation that more information was better for deciding cases. None of them disagreed either with Steeles later comment that authority was implicitly left up to us.

Ferebee said the case had already been heard on its merits. The South Dakota Supreme Court had ruled many times that local governments have only the powers given to them by the Legislature, Ferebee said.

Youve got to have something to imply from, Ferebee said.
PIERRE | The Legislature opens the 2018 regular session at noon Tuesday. There are 38 working days this year. Number 37 comes Friday, March 9. Number 38 is Monday, March 26, after a two-week break.

During the past nine months, South Dakota lawmakers seemed at least as busy as during previous interims. By mid-Wednesday, House committees already faced 43 proposed laws, while 34 awaited Senate panels.

These pre-filed bills are changes state government agencies seek or came from the Legislatures special committees that met during the off-season.

During the coming weeks, legislators will be walking the floors of the two chambers (and the hallways and office spaces between them) searching for co-sponsors on their individual bills.

The final deadline for introducing an individual lawmakers legislation is Thursday, Feb. 1. The final deadline for committee legislation is Friday, Feb. 2.

One self-imposed rule I try every year to keep is reading every bill at some point after official introduction. Surprises can be fun. Here are some favorites among the dozens so far:

The Health Department wants to revise the schedule of controlled substances so that derivatives of fentanyl  very dangerous opioids, in other words  make the list (SB 32).

The Legislatures Executive Board wants the House speaker pro tem  the chambers No. 2 presiding officer  to be a non-voting member of the board if she or he isnt already a voting member (HB 1001).

Gov. Dennis Daugaard wants the sunset year changed to 2021 in the non-meandered waters law passed during the 2017 special session. The law currently expires June 30 of this year (SB 24).

The Military Department hopes to design and construct a $3 million-plus National Guard readiness center at Rapid City Regional Airport using federal funds (HB 1043).

The Legislatures Initiative and Referendum Task Force asks that initiated laws and initiated constitutional amendments placed on the general-election ballot receive a fiscal review, and the impact  if any  for taxpayers must be noted (SB 9 and SB 13).

Another task-force proposal establishes an 11-member citizen review panel that would hold at least one hearing in Pierre for each statewide initiated law or initiated constitutional amendment (HB 1007).

The Public Safety Department hopes to repeal state laws allowing explosives, pyrotechnics and fireworks to be used for protecting sunflower fields in counties that dont ban the practice (HB 1015).

Public Safety officials also request that commercial driver license applicants be limited to three tests in a period of six months (SB 22).

The Public Utilities Commission wants to extend the period to one year for processing wind-farm permits. State law currently limits the commission to six months, which came into play on a Clark County application in 2017 (HB 1022).

The Veterans Affairs Department wants to tighten the qualifications for a county veterans services officer by requiring the person be honorably discharged (HB 1025).

By the way: The 390 bills introduced during the 2017 session were the fewest ever  and the legislators on average were the most experienced since at least the 2001 term.
Western Montana's high school graduation rates beat the state average of 85.8 percent in 2017, new figures from the Office of Public Instruction show.

State graduation rates have generally trended up this decade, rising from 82.2 percent to a peak of 86 percent in 2015. Rates dipped to 85.6 percent in 2016 before inching up to 85.8 percent in 2017.

Ravalli County sits at almost a 92 percent four-year graduation rate, well above Flathead Countys 87 percent and Missoula Countys 86 percent.

All three counties numbers have varied over the last four years. This year marks Ravalli Countys highest rate, while Missoula and Flathead counties peaked in 2015 at 90 percent 87 percent, respectively.

Regina Plettenberg, the Ravalli County superintendent and clerk and recorder, fulfills a liaison position and doesn't get involved in the day-to-day school operations. Yet she's watched school districts, boards and superintendents struggle with limited budgets, and is thrilled with the graduation rates.

"I'm so proud of our schools," she said on Friday. "This shows people that the money they're putting into the school districts - their tax dollars - are paying off."

Tom Korst, superintendent of the Hamilton School District, said the high graduation rate is due to the hard work by Principal Dan Kimzey, his staff and the community as a whole. Korst added the graduation results are particularly sweet since their alternative school accepts students at risk of dropping out from other districts.

"They all focus on helping kids graduate," Korst said. "They're all taking those extra steps."

Graduation rates have gained increasing prominence in education debates; the national graduation rate hit a record-high of about 84 percent in 2016.

Montana focused on the topic through Graduation Matters, a grant program that funded local-level efforts to get students through school, under previous Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau.

Current Superintendent Elsie Arntzen has rolled out a similar initative in conjunction with several other education groups. It's called iGraduate, which will "build on the work of Graduation Matters," according to a release from Arntzen's office.

Montana's completion rate, which includes students outside the usual four-year high school track, increased to a five-year high of 86.6 percent. The completion rate has gone up each of the past five years.

The state's dropout rate, measuring students who leave high school regardless of grade level, dropped .06 percent to 3.33 percent. The lower the rate, the fewer students drop out.

Western Montana is also better than the state average in dropout rate, though not by much. Flathead and Missoula counties are at 3.22 and 3.28 percent respectively. Ravalli County is just over 1 percent, the lowest in the state.

In an emailed press release, Arntzen focused on funneling students to job opportunities.

It is crucial that Montana students have pathways to future success after they receive that high school diploma, Arntzen said. I am working with our partners in higher education and private sector industries to expand career pathways so that all Montana students can succeed after high school.

Achievement Gaps

Native American students saw a significant increase in 2017, improving more than 3 percent to a five-year-high graduation rate of 69.4 percent.

Montana has long-held achievement gaps between the overall student body and Native American students, which often reflects economic status. The 18.9 percent achievement gap in 2017 is the smallest it's been in five years.

"While looking at the achievement gaps, it is important to consider factors of opportunity gaps, causes for students failing to thrive, and the supports that schools, communities, and partners can provide to remove barriers," a 2017 report on Montana American Indian student achievement notes.

The 2017 graduation rate for African-American students was 80.1 percent. The rate for Hispanic students was 79.8 percent.

Students who qualify for free and reduced lunches  long used as a proxy for economic status  also typically have lower graduation rates and test scores than their wealthier peers.

In 2017, the graduation rate for students qualifying for free lunch was 76.6 percent, up about .2 percent from 2016. The rate for students not in the free lunch program was 94 percent, up about .4 percent.

The rate for special education students was 76.7 percent, compared to 87.1 percent for students not in special education programs.

The rate for homeless students dipped to 61.9 percent, down from about 66.3 percent and a five-year low.

Eve Byron at the Ravalli Republic contributed to this report.
A 60-year-old Skaneateles woman was fined $1,500 after illegally burning tires and other debris in the town.

Melody L. Smith, of Vinegar Hill Road, was convicted of unlawful disposal of solid waste on Dec. 6 in Skaneateles Town Court.

According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the offense stems from an Oct. 21 tire fire that DEC officers responded to via the request of New York State Police and the Mottville Fire Company. Officers Don Damrath and Dan Plows observed approximately 50 smoldering tires, construction and demolition debris and other non-exempt waste at the bottom of a well-used burn pit at 4876 Vinegar Hill Road.

Following an investigation, the DEC said Smith was ticketed for unlawful open burn, a misdemeanor, and two violations  unlawful disposal of solid waste and unlawful disposal of regulated waste.

Smith was convicted of unlawful disposal of solid waste in satisfaction of all the charges. Smith was fined $1,500 plus a $90 court surcharge.
The newest member of the Montana Supreme Court took the oath of office Friday in her hometown of Billings in a room packed with family, friends, attorneys and judges.

Ingrid Gustafson, a district court judge for 14 years in Yellowstone County, was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock in December to succeed retiring Justice Mike Wheat, who left office Dec. 31, 2017.

Presiding over the ceremony was U.S. District Judge Susan Watters. Sitting judges for the 13th Judicial District participated, minus Judge Don Harris, who had court proceedings at the time. U.S. Magistrate Timothy Cavan was present, as was Russell Fagg, retired district court judge.

It was a celebratory day in the courtroom, with no shortage of lighthearted moments. Gustafson joked about the "Hogwarts robes" judges must wear, and said it was a "truly rare occasion" that her husband donned a suit, as he did for the ceremony Friday.

Watters, who met Gustafson at law school at the University of Montana in the 1980s, performed the swearing in. She also spoke about Gustafsons work ethic, saying that despite 13th district judges having the highest caseload in the state  roughly 1,600 cases annually  Gustafson had achieved one of the highest rates of on-time case resolutions in the state.

Billings attorney Randy Bishop also spoke on Gustafson's behalf, saying she would bring to the job the discipline characteristic of an All-American athlete, together with the talent for critical thinking, independent thought, thorough research, careful analysis and humane common sense.

Gustafson later joked that Bishops comments overwhelmed her.

I will work for greatness, but Im not guaranteeing anything, she said.

Gustafson teared up while thanking her family, friends, colleagues and staff for their support, and spoke briefly about her judicial philosophy.

And Ive learned there are many unintended consequences of some of the work that we do that cost taxpayers a lot of money and dont reduce recidivism, she said.

Gustafson added that society cannot punish the addiction out of people, and called for greater substance abuse treatment resources.

People respond better to incentives than they do sanctions, she added.

Gustafson, a West High graduate, was appointed by then-Gov. Judy Martz in 2004, won election to retain the post that year and has been re-elected twice since.

She started the 13th Judicial Districts first felony drug court in 2011 and spearheaded a pilot project that was later implemented at other sites throughout Montana to increase family reunification rates and speed up resolutions on child abuse and neglect cases.

Due to the heavy caseload in Yellowstone County, Gustafson wont leave her Billings job immediately. Shell continue to manage the districts adult drug court and her departments active child abuse and neglect cases. Judge Harris will eventually take over administration of the adult drug court.

Gustafson must run for election this year to retain her seat. If successful, she will serve the remainder of Wheats term, which expires in January 2023. The position pays $144,066.

Supreme Court officials hope to have a new judge in Gustafsons department by April. The Judicial Nomination Commission is accepting applications until Jan. 22. As of Friday afternoon, no applications for the position had been posted.

Yellowstone County has seen considerable turnover on the bench in recent months. In October, Harris was appointed to succeed Fagg, who retired to launch a campaign for U.S. Senate. Additionally, two new judges will take office in Yellowstone County at the start of 2019 after being selected by voters in the November 2018 election.

The two new judges were funded by the Montana Legislature in response to growing caseloads. The 13th Judicial District, which covers Yellowstone County, is the busiest judicial district in the state. It needs an additional seven judges  or 6.7 full-time equivalents  according to the most recent workload review office of the Montana Supreme Court administrator, although lawmakers approved funding for just the two new judgeships.
 In prelude to federal prosecution, killer of Kate Steinle gets three-year sentence on sole state count of conviction | Main | Some notable recent empirical research on crime 

January 5, 2018

"Prosecutors and Democracy: A Cross-National Study"

The title of this post is the title of this recently published book by Maximo Langer and David Sklansky. Here is how the publisher describes the book's contents:

Focusing on the relationship between prosecutors and democracy, this volume throws light on key questions about prosecutors and the role they should play in liberal self-government. Internationally distinguished scholars discuss how prosecutors can strengthen democracy, how they sometimes undermine it, and why it has proven so challenging to hold prosecutors accountable while insulating them from politics. The contributors explore the different ways legal systems have addressed that challenge in the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe. Contrasting those strategies allows an assessment of their relative strengths -- and a richer understanding of the contested connections between law and democratic politics. Chapters are in explicit conversation with each other, facilitating comparison and deepening the analysis. This is an important new resource for legal scholars and reformers, political philosophers, and social scientists.

January 5, 2018 at 04:36 PM | Permalink

Comments

The lawyer has many false beliefs. One is that its profession can regulate itself. That is not possible for any human. The Disciplinary Counsel only enforces 4 rules, and almost never any other.

All lawyer self dealt immunities must be ended by an amendment to the constitution. Prosecutors have dozens of duties to defendants enumerated in statutes covering the Rules of Evidence, of Criminal Procedure, of Conduct, and in the common law precedents. Make the prosecutor accountable under professionals standards of professional due care.

Once that is achieved, do the same with the subhuman scum on the bench.

Posted by: David Behar | Jan 6, 2018 1:56:24 AM

Hug a thug worked here.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/2-boys-carjacked-an-80-year-old-baltimore-city-council-member-now-shes-their-advocate/ar-BBHT1LB?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Posted by: David Behar | Jan 6, 2018 2:38:41 PM

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At the reception, the French ambassador desired the construction of French House would be finished this year to mark the 45th establishment anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations and the five years since France and Vietnam have established the partnership relations.In addition, he also hoped that Ho Chi Minh City would support in promoting economic projects and create favorable conditions for the French enterprises and investors in Vietnam.Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary shared a plan for building the European Management School (EMS) in Vietnam with three degree levels of Bachelor's, Master's and PhD.City Party chief Nguyen Thien Nhan acclaimed cooperation projects, especially establishment of the French House which would contribute enhancing bilateral relationships as well as cooperation investment between Ho Chi Minh City and France.Currently, France is ranked the 17th biggest investor in Ho Chi Minh City with around 215 projects and 300 companies.

BY XUAN HANH Transalted by Huyen Huong
At least 13 people died after a passenger boat capsized off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, only two days after a similar accident in the archipelago killed at least nine on New Years Day, police said on January 5.





The boat was carrying 55 people along the Musi river when it was hit by a large wave and sank amid bad weather on January 3, South Sumatra water police chief Robinson Siregar said.



He said the police were still searching for the captain. Meanwhile, his assistant has been detained for questioning to find out whether or not the boat was seaworthy or there was negligence by the crew.



It was the latest deadly maritime accident in the Indonesian archipelago, which relies heavily on boats to ferry people around its 17,000 islands.



On New Year's Day, at least nine people died after a passenger boat capsized when traveling from the city of Tarakan to Tanjung Selor on Borneo island. Vietnamplus
Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam  Cambodia Friendship Association Truong Minh Nhut reviewed the main events in Cambodia's victory over the Pol Pot genocidal regime to rebuild new society for the Cambodian people.the 7th of January is considered as a historical landmark of international transparency, loyalty and friendly relations between Vietnam and Cambodia; helping Cambodia over the Pol Pot genocidal regime to enter the era of freedom, independence and revision and open a period of the countries good neighboring relationships, said chairman Truong Minh Nhut.Currently, the economic cooperation between the two nations has been expanding; in particular, total registered investment capital of Vietnam into Cambodia reached over US$ 3.5 billion with more than 184 projects ranking the fifth biggest foreign investor as well as the third biggest trade partner of the country in the fields of telecommunications, banking, energy, rubber tree planting, agricultural processing and fertilizer 

BY KHANH MINH- Translated by Huyen Huong
While "Get Out" was the best horror film with a social statement, "It" was the best horror film with old-fashioned scares.

Focusing on the first half of Stephen King's sprawling story, Director Andy Muschietti was able to get quick buy-in and a lot of "Stranger Things" vibes.

In the remake, we fall for the seven kids who are known as losers. Set in 1989, the thriller pulls you into their world (either through nostalgia or sheer charm) and never lets go  particularly when the seven join to battle their individual demons.

A clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) is at the heart of it. He first grabs one boys brother, then masterminds the nightmares of the others.

By the time the gang unites, the goal is clear: Seek and destroy.

Muschietti does much with Kings seven deadly sins. He isnt afraid to taunt the kids in the worst way and doesnt hold back when it comes to bullies. Looking a bit like older versions of the bad boys in A Christmas Story, they have their demons, too, and account for much of the films violence.

While 12- and 13-year-olds would love this, its rated R for a reason, not the least of which is Finn Wolfhards penchant for swearing. A regular in Stranger Things, Wolfhard gets the best lines, largely because he rages at tyranny that comes in the form of guys with switchblades.

While Jaeden Lieberher struggles with his characters stutter and Sophia Lillis looks a bit too much like Amy Adams for her own good, they make a great couple, able to give first love the innocence it deserves.

Like The Goldbergs Adam Goldberg, Muschietti embraces the 1980s with gusto, filling his sets with so many touchstones youll feel like he knew Doc Brown and had keys to Marty McFlys DeLorean. When he delves into the storys horror lining, It isnt as tightly hemmed as it should be.

Some of the moments are stirringly effective. Others are just head scratchers.

When Jeremy Ray Taylor is roughed up by the toughs, our heart bleeds. Hes the overweight friend who has clues to all the strange events going on in Derry, Maine.

By studying papers in the towns library, hes able to create a NCIS-level dossier that helps the others find the source of their woes.

While Skarsgard is truly terrifying, part of his fear factor depends on that oh-so-creepy Oscar-worthy makeup. Hes even scarier than Tim Curry in the TV miniseries version of Kings book.

While that edition tried to stuff more than 1,000 pages of terror into its running time, this It holds back, promising plenty for a sequel.

Skarsgard, no doubt, is more than ready to continue the journey. He's got "It."
WASHINGTON -- New year. Same old president.

2018 was only seven hours and 12 minutes old when President Trump launched his first verbal attack of the year on a foreign country.

His target: the unsuspecting nation of Pakistan, which, he charged, has "given us nothing but lies & deceit" and "safe haven to the terrorists."

Only 10 weeks earlier, Trump tweeted about a "much better relationship with Pakistan," saying, "I want to thank them for their cooperation on many fronts."

Before whiplashed Pakistanis could make sense of it all, Trump moved on. Thirty-two minutes later, he was attacking Iran for "failing at every level."

Trump has insulted, browbeaten or otherwise abused dozens of countries in his first year, and they are as likely to be allies such as Britain as foes such as North Korea (which, if you haven't heard, is run by a "short and fat" "madman" known as "Rocket Man"). The BBC has created an interactive feature on its website titled "What has President Trump said about your country?"

Early in his term, Trump turned his wrath on the great Scandinavian menace. "Look at what's happening last night in Sweden," he told a crowd, suggesting there had been immigrant violence in that peaceful land. Swedes were baffled: Nothing newsworthy had occurred the previous night.

Trump physically shoved aside the prime minister of Montenegro while making his way to the front of a group of NATO leaders for a photo. But his other assaults have been verbal.

Americans have barely had cross words with the Dutch since New York was New Amsterdam -- until now. Trump sent to the Hague an ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, who had said that the Netherlands' terrorism problem was so bad that there were "no go" areas. Hoekstra denied to a Dutch journalist that he had said that, and when shown footage of him saying that, denied that he denied saying it.

That's minor compared with what Trump did to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull -- or, as the White House has called him, "Trumbull." A transcript leaked to The Washington Post showed Trump calling their conversation "the worst call by far" and an agreement between the countries "the worst deal ever."

Some insults come from ignorance. A White House news release identified the People's Republic of China as "the Republic of China" -- China's antagonist Taiwan. At the G-20 Summit, Trump posted a photo on Instagram of him "and the president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo." The man in the photo with Trump was Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. Trump has likewise referred repeatedly to Tanzania as Tan-ZANY-a, and he has invented a country called "Nambia," to the likely consternation of Namibia and Zambia.

Less excusable is Trump calling the mayor of London "pathetic" and telling Prime Minister Theresa May to mind her own business when she protested his retweeting of a British white-supremacist group.

Trump doesn't spare the weak, reportedly claiming all immigrants from Haiti "have AIDS." But he generally avoids insulting strongmen such as Russia's Vladimir Putin, the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, Egypt's Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and the Saudi rulers.

It's not unusual that he denounces Cuba and Venezuela. But he seems to take joy in poking the eyes of friends and neighbors, including Mexico ("one of the highest crime nations in the world"), Canada (trade practices a "disgrace"), France ("Paris is no longer Paris") and Germany (declining to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand).

Dissing friends is confusing business. Iraq is an ally -- but it was included in Trump's first travel ban.

Chad is an ally, but it was included in a later travel ban -- because it didn't have the right kind of passport paper.

(Trump, by the way, has a "very good relationship" with China -- when it isn't "raping our country.")

Before he became president, Trump insulted Germany ("a total mess"), Merkel ("ruining Germany"), South Africa ("a crime ridden mess") and the United Nations ("so sad!").

Now he's threatening to cut U.N. funding and to punish nations that supported a General Assembly resolution denouncing Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley threatened that "the U.S. will be taking names."

Hope she brought a lot of paper. Fully 128 nations, including France and Britain, defied the Trump threats, while 56 others abstained or skipped the vote. Only eight supported the U.S. position, and those were mostly microstates in the south Pacific.

That's quite an achievement: After a year of insults, Trump can now count America's friends on the fingers of two hands.
AUBURN  Alice Marie OBrien Foster, 91, of Auburn, passed away Wednesday evening, Jan. 3, 2018, at her home where she had lived all her life. She was surrounded by her loving family.

Born Alice Marie OBrien on June 20, 1926, she was the only child of Charles and Frances Shaw OBrien. Alice was a graduate of St. Alphonsus School, East High School, Auburn Business School, and completed courses at Auburn Community College. Prior to her marriage, Alice worked in the accounting department at ALCO and Stevens Clothing Store in downtown Auburn.

Alice met her future husband, Robert J. Foster, of Auburn, on a blind date arranged by her good friend, Gloria Fennessy Offenburg. Alice and Bob were married June 25, 1949 in St. Alphonsus Church. The couple renewed their vows at a 50th wedding anniversary Mass there in 1999.

Both Alice and Bob were devoted to their Catholic faith and parish. Alice belonged to many parish groups including the St. Alphonsus Rosary and Altar Society, and she often attended daily Mass. In later years, she was active in the St. Alphonsus Alumni Association, reunion committees, and the Melrose Senior Citizens.

For many years, Alice helped to serve lunches to priests at the rectory. When her children were growing up, she was involved in parent organizations at their schools where she was always ready to bake cookies and cakes for bake sales and fundraisers.

Faith, family, and friends meant everything to Alice throughout her active, generous life. She was very close to her family, and her Irish wit and spunk were legendary among those who knew her.

Her home on Anna Street  built by her grandfather Shaw  has been home to four generations of her family and has always been known as a happy gathering place for family, friends and neighbors.

Family Sunday dinners, birthday celebrations, holiday parties, garage sales, mystery parties and haunted houses were held there over the years, each filled with plenty of laughter and fun.

Visitors were often met at the kitchen door with the aroma of fresh-baked cookies or brownies, and Alices warm greeting and infectious laughter  along with her ever-present Boston Terrier, Skipper.

She had the gift for making everyone feel right at home, quickly putting newcomers at ease. Everyone was welcome, and often an extra chair would be added to her large dining room table to seat an added guest.

Alice took care of her aging parents and relatives over the years, and she developed a lifelong affinity for helping those in need. Years before Meals on Wheels began, she cooked extra amounts of food and sent piping hot dinners to the homebound and elderly neighbors who no longer cooked for themselves. Her husband and children delivered those hot meals.

A talented knitter, Alice left a legacy of beautiful handmade sweaters, hats, coats, mittens, afghans, and baby clothes to her children, grandchildren, friends and people whom she never knew. Never one to be idle, she enjoyed knitting at night and donating many of her knitted items to anyone in need.

Family road trips also gave Alice great pleasure. She loved to travel, and she was always keen to visit a new city or destination. Her favorite jaunts included New York City in early December, Myrtle Beach, Lake Placid and the Adirondacks, Cape Cod, Stowe Vermont, Notre Dame, Maine and Massachusetts. In August 2016, Alices 90th birthday wish was fulfilled as she, and her family made a pilgrimage to Saint Anne De-Beaupre Cathedral near Quebec, Canada where she and Bob had honeymooned in 1949.

Never one to seek the spotlight, Alice was most comfortable working behind the scenes but never wanting any recognition for her generosity. She never wanted to get up in front of a crowd, give a speech or draw attention to her work. Yet, she was the heart of her family and people naturally were drawn to her energy, faith and wonderful spirit.

Alice was predeceased by her parents and husband; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, William and Teresa Foster; niece, Barbara Bonnie (Foster) DelloStritto.

Alice is survived by sons and daughters, Robert C. (Carolyn) Foster, William L. Foster, Mary A. (William) Rowe, Cheryl A. Foster, and Laura F. (Douglas) Cuthbert; grandchildren, Kara Foster, Megan (Ryan) Barkley, John Foster, and Connor and Ailish Cuthbert; nieces and nephews, Patricia (Roger) Beer, Margret Foster, William (Patricia) Foster, and David (Anne) Foster; several great-nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends, and her faithful four legged companion, Skipper John.

Calling hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, at Farrells Funeral Service, Inc., 84 South St., Auburn. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9 in St. Alphonsus Church. Interment will be in St. Josephs Cemetery.

Memorial contributions can be made to St. Alphonsus Parish or St. Jude Childrens Hospital in Alices memory.

Our loss is Heavens gain.
WASHINGTON -- Can our government function normally when President Trump tweets about his "button" being bigger than that of an armed adversary? Can there be business as usual when the word "insane" is being applied with increasing frequency to his actions, and when one of his most loyal supporters has called a meeting between Russian operatives and Trump campaign officials "treasonous"?

Only a few days into the new year, there is a striking disconnect in the nation's capital between the ordinary and the mind-boggling -- between the sorts of transactions politicians routinely make to keep the country running and displays of the irrational, the abusive and the menacing emanating from the White House.

There has been an inclination over the past year in both politics and journalism to separate Trump's tweets and other outbursts from the realities of governing. The idea is that his eruptions are either (a) largely irrelevant forms of his letting off steam, or (b) signs of a brilliance beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. What looks to most of us like madness is cast as genius in setting up enemies, signaling his base or distracting us from one thing or another.

But we are past the time when we can believe any of this. Trump is, without question, doing enormous damage to the United States' standing in the world, and his strategy for political survival is rooted in a willingness to destroy our institutions.

While the news on Wednesday understandably focused on Steve Bannon's treason comments in a new book by journalist Michael Wolff, 2018 has already produced two remarkable essays explaining the genuine threat the president poses to the nation's foreign policy interests.

Susan Glasser, writing in Politico, offers frightening detail about how Trump's stunning lack of knowledge and his indifference to his own obliviousness have led diplomats to label him "insane," "catastrophic," "terrifying," "incompetent" and "dangerous." Glasser concludes: "When it comes to Trump and the world, it's not better than you think. It's worse."

And Evan Osnos' carefully reported and much-discussed article in The New Yorker demonstrates how Trump's policies but also his pathological focus on himself, his ignorance, and his astonishing susceptibility to flattery have profoundly weakened the U.S.' position in Asia and played into Chinese President Xi Jinping's reach for international power.

Osnos cites a Chinese think tank's observation that the Trump administration is a collection of hostile "cliques," the most powerful of which is the "Trump family clan." And its analysis uses a term from feudal China, "jiatianxia," to define Trump's approach. It means "to treat the state as your possession."

This insight cuts to the heart of the peril the president represents to our democracy and the rule of law.

On the second day of the year, Trump called on the Justice Department to "finally act" against Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide, and also against James Comey, the former FBI director he fired. And by referring not to the Justice Department, but to the "Deep State Justice Dept," Trump continued to push back against all others investigating him, treating them as if they were a band of spies and traitors.

Directing the prosecution of political enemies is a habit of autocrats. As Benjamin Wittes, my Brookings Institution colleague, wrote recently, Trump is "normalizing for an entire political movement the politicization and weaponization of law enforcement and intelligence." Is this the legacy the Republican Party wants?

In the midst of all this, Republicans and Democrats in Congress go about their business, trying to negotiate a budget agreement to avoid a shutdown and, in the Democrats' case, trying to protect the Dreamers and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

And, who knows, maybe we can manage with a kind of split-level politics. While we sit back and wait on special counsel Robert Mueller to issue his findings, we pray that regular governance will be possible because there is no other choice.

Yet doing so means continuing to absorb Trump's blows to our system and to our country's influence around the globe. It also requires great faith in our capacity for restoration despite the readiness of the president's allies to place his survival above the health of our polity.

The United States does have extraordinary gifts for self-correction. But we must face the fact that Trump is accelerating us toward the breaking point. No matter how confident we are in our resilience, we should not imagine otherwise. Not even Mueller has a button on his desk he can press to get us out of this without scars.
SEGGAUBERG, Austria (AP)  Austria's new chancellor on Friday rejected suggestions that his government will align with eastern European Union nations that have clashed with the bloc over migrants and other issues.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz leads a coalition with the traditionally euroskeptic Freedom Party that took office just before Christmas. Both Kurz' conservative People's Party and the Freedom Party have taken a hard line against migration.

The position has generated speculation that Austria could move closer to the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia than to its western EU allies.

Kurz, who at 31 is Europe's youngest leader, warned Friday against "over-interpreting things."

"There are measures and initiatives where we have goodwill in western European countries," he told reporters after a meeting of the new Cabinet. "There are others where we will perhaps get applause from the Visegrad countries, and still others where we agree with all other 27 EU member states."

Kurz plans to visit Paris and Berlin in the coming weeks. He said he expects a "good exchange" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stressing that "Germany is our biggest neighbor, our most important economic partner."

Of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has championed efforts to reform the EU, Kurz said: "It is clearly positive for all of us in the European Union that there is a French president who aspires to change something in the European Union."

Kurz called for an EU that is strong on "big questions" such as border security but leaves many policy decisions to individual countries and regions.

Austria will hold the EU's rotating presidency in the second half of this year, when the bloc should be finalizing the terms of Britain's departure.

"I very much hope that we succeed in organizing an orderly departure by the British," Kurz said, arguing that a failure to do so would hurt both sides.

Speaking alongside Kurz, Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache downplayed comments in an interview with public broadcaster ORF in which he appeared to raise the idea of housing asylum-seekers in military barracks.

Strache, the Freedom Party leader, said Friday his comments had been taken out of context and "no mass accommodation is planned" for asylum-seekers in military facilities.
Sharia is not only a law, but also a government ruled by Islamic values.

Since the beginning of his term, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been constantly talking about "Islamophobia" which means fear of Islam.

It seems that Justin Trudeau is trying to limit freedom of speech by criminalizing criticism of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, in countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia it is called "Sharia blasphemy law".

There are already anti-hate speech laws in Canada, and there is no need to give Islam a special status under Canadian law.

Justin Trudeau is discriminating against Islam by giving it special treatment over other religions.

Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in a Western democratic state.

Shari'a laws and blasphemy law are incompatible with Western values.



Trudeau ruled a failed immigration policy in Canada.

Justin Trudeau took 25,000 Syrian immigrants into Canada.

They were not brought out of Syria, they were brought out of a safe place (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan) into Canada.

They are not really "refugees".

After Trump announced his "Travel ban", Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau wrote a post on Twitter and invited the immigrants to invade Canada illegally.

Now Canada is facing an immigration crisis, thanks to Justin Trudeau.



In his foreign policy, the situation is even worse.

Canadian PM Trudeau stabs Israel in the back by funding an Islamic UN agency in Gaza

UNRWA's education program teaches children to be suicide bombers "in the name of Allah" and wage a war of jihad against the West.

During the 2014 war in Gaza, the UN found rockets and missile launchers hidden inside UNRWA schools.

Canada must stop funding Hamas schools in Gaza.

Every Western country has the right to defend itself, Canada must close its borders and deport illegal immigrants back to where they came from.
Over the past few years, city commissioners, county commissioners and human rights groups have come together to ban conversion therapy on minors  the protections for LGBT youth spreading city by city, and eventually reaching a county level with the recently passed Palm Beach County ban.

The Palm Beach County ban covers people studying conversion therapy as well, Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council told SFGN. The language of our ban is different than the others have been  they cannot perform conversion therapy while pursuing their license, making this the most expansive ban yet in Florida.

The end of 2017 ended on a quite a high note for Rand Hoch and PBCHRC with the passage of the county ban. With surgical precision the organization passed similar bans in city after city in throughout the county since 2016. In total they were able to get 8 city bans passed from the countys major cities of West Palm Beach and Boca Raton to smaller municipalities like Greenacres and Riviera Beach.

Conversion therapy is a term encompassing a number of harmful therapeutic and psychological practices aimed at changing, or fixing the sexuality or gender identity of an LGBT child. The practice has been condemned by a number of psychological and medical groups due to its ineffectiveness and slew of harmful effects such as depression, intimacy issues and even an increase in suicide rates.

Outside of Palm Beach County, Key West, Wilton Manors, Oakland Park and other municipalities have also enacted bans. But on a county level Palm Beach was the first. Miami-Dade attempted to pass a ban in October but the commission rejected it 7-4. It the biggest set back for the growing movement to ban conversion therapy on minors. Broward County will vote on Tuesday. With the majority of county commissioners supporting the ban, its expected to pass.

While the local campaigns have mostly been successful, the same cannot be said for bans at the state level. Several attempts at banning conversion therapy throughout the state of Florida have been made in the Florida legislature, though no action has been taken. Bills were introduced to ban conversion therapy for minors in 2016 and 2017 in Tallahassee, but were never heard.

We need to change the people who are elected to the state legislature and to the state office, Broward County commissioner Nan Rich told SFGN. The makeup of the current legislature I think would not pass [a statewide ban]. Im hoping for a sweep in 2018, it would be nice to be able say that Florida could join New Jersey, California and other states who have done this on a statewide basis.

Although the ban has been unable to pass at state level, a recent Gravis Marketing poll of Florida voters found that 69 percent of voters think conversion therapy should be illegal, while only 11 percent think it should remain legal.

With a state ban out of the question, advocacy groups such as the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have taken the initiative to pursue bans at the city  and now county  level.

I am hoping that municipalities and counties with large LGBTQ populations will take a look at this and say we can do this here too, Hoch said. At a local level, if you can get your political ducks in line you can do this too and protect the kids.

The Broward County ban is being led by Nan Rich. Eight of nine commissioners have asked to be co-sponsors.

I really think the vote will be unanimous, Rich said. Our commission really understands the issue and is very supportive of an ordinance prohibiting this type of therapy.

Rich continued, Im glad to be able to do something that can protect the physical and psychological well-being of minors  especially LGBTQ youth  from exposure to harm caused by conversion therapy  if you read the research, conversion therapy is really damaging; dangerous and damaging.

Beyond preventing children from exposure to conversion therapy in state licensed offices, the bans send an important message to children and their parents.

All of the publicity that is going out is educating people that this is going on, and there are certain parents that dont love their children the way they are, and more and more people are saying that isnt right, Hoch said. Thats one of the most important things Ive seen coming out of the conversion therapy movement apart from the bans themselves.

In the absence of conversion therapy there are affirming therapies that help LGBT youth come to terms with their sexuality, deal with bullying and depressive thoughts and more. Hoch recommends that parents also pursue therapy themselves to help deal with the reality that their children will grow up differently than they expected.

PBCHRC and other human rights groups are working to pass more bans with the help of local leaders, and are also trying to raise public awareness of the dangers of conversion therapy.

PBCHRC has resources and templates for anyone that wants to enact in their city or county. Gainesville will vote soon on a ban. That effort is being spearheaded by the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida and its president Bob Karp.

Weve done all the homework, SAVE has done all the homework, and I was contacted by Bob from Gainesville and I sent him eight pages of research that weve already done, Hoch said. We have all the resources to back everybody up, those who want [to pass a ban] just need to have their political ducks in line.

Hoch continued: So all it takes is one activist to say I can do this  we have all the materials, we just need one individual, one activist who can convince their city council that this is the right thing to do, we can help with the rest.

Heres a list of all of the cities in Florida that have enacted bans on conversion therapy for minors thus far: Tampa, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Riviera Beach, Boynton Beach, Miami, Wilton Manors, Miami Beach, Bay Harbor Islands, El Portal, Key West, Wellington, Greenacres, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Oakland Park.
To our valued Four Barrel Employees, Customers, and Friends,

We have reviewed the lawsuit filed on Friday. We take it very seriously and are deeply saddened. Four Barrel will not tolerate inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Its essential that our employees and co-workers understand that they are valued and respected. We will continue to take prompt action to address any and all employee concerns, as we have done in the past.

While we investigate the matter, we want to note that Jeremy Tooker withdrew as CEO in November, before this lawsuit was filed. He also has agreed to divest his remaining ownership in the company, regardless of the outcome of the investigation. He is no longer an employee of Four Barrel and will not be affiliated with the company moving forward.

Due to the lawsuit, we cant comment as fully as we would like, but we can say this: we take issue with the claims being asserted in the lawsuit, and the mischaracterization of our current culture.

We stand with women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and others who are frequently ignored, unheard, or unprotected in our society. We stand with those fighting every day to make workplaces safe, supportive and equal. Were doing our part where we can have the quickest and surest effect: our own company.

We have engaged an outside HR firm to enact procedures to facilitate reporting of any concerns by employees. While we implement these changes, all of us at Four Barrel will continue to do what we love doing: supporting coffee producers, hand-roasting incredible coffees, and offering an exceptional hospitality experience.

Four Barrel is the hard work, dedication, and collaborative efforts of everyone aboard that have made it what it is today. Four Barrel is the baristas. The roasters. The venerable wholesale team. The amazing production crew. And the incredible farmers with whom weve worked for years. We have positively impacted communities the world over and have brought equity and sustainability to the table in a real way. We will continue to be one of the leaders in our industry, in every way we are able.

Thank you to our employees for your continuing hard work, and thank you to our patrons and supporters in the coffee community for your continued faith in us.

Jodi Geren, CFO

Tal Mor, CEO

Four Barrel Coffee
Twitter announced last week it has begun to enforce new rules meant to reduce abusive, hateful, violent content. Of course, the intent is good; and Twitter has every right to host whatever content it chooses. It is free to encourage or suppress whatever speech its decision-makers deem meet or do not meet its standards.

However, Twitter should exercise caution, now that it has moved into the dangerous territory of enforcing new rules that appear to be a reaction to one specific message and the few groups spreading it. In this case, the rules are being used to shut down the accounts of groups such as the far-right Britain First, which posts inflammatory (and allegedly falsified) videos meant to cast Muslims in the worst possible light. There is little doubt their posts are meant to stir up hate.

Few would claim Britain First's messages are anything but garbage, which the vast majority of civilized society rightly rejects. That does not mean they do not have a right  under the U.S. Constitution, at least  to express those sentiments that do not specifically encourage violence.

Twitter is a private business, of course. Its owners are free to encourage or limit whatever types of speech they desire. Still, as something approaching a common carrier, Twitter should bend over backward to ensure the standards it uses to ban Britain First and other similar accounts are applied uniformly to all its accounts.

It is interesting, and not a little distressing, that many of the groups applauding Twitter's initiative become livid when anyone suggests speech from their favored causes may cause violence or amount to hate speech. Inflammatory speech that can trigger race riots comes to mind.

Both situations bring to light the difficulties of maintaining the right to free expression, amid the temptation to crack down on  even punish  speech some find disagreeable or flat out wrong. Twitter, as a non-government corporation, has the most leeway to make such decisions; but also a great deal of responsibility to lead by example. Whether it be banning controversial social media accounts or banning uncomfortable (for some) words, the slippery slope of muzzling speech is one down which we must not slide.

 The Post-Journal, Jamestown

The most expensive cost per month to most working New Yorkers isn't their home or even their groceries  it's ever-escalating health care premiums.

A recent WalletHub study ranked New York 46th in the country for cost of health care, though the state ranked ninth in access to care and 25th in patient outcomes. While the national debate over health care has been boisterous and partisan, it would seem everyone can agree that as much as possible should be done to lower health care costs for everyone. Spending less on health care would mean more money pumped into local economies.

New York could help consumers by removing the taxes, surcharges and assessments the state imposes on employers and those who purchase health insurance. Unshackle Upstate, in its 2018 legislative priorities, mentions the taxes that are "hidden" in health insurance premiums. Notably, in 2016, the "covered lives" assessment ($1.1 billion), the premium tax on commercial health insurance ($353 million), the New York State Department of Financial Services section 206 assessments ($149 million) and the HCRA surcharge ($3.1 billion), combine to cost consumers $4.7 billion. The taxes can add as much as 10 percent to the premium costs paid by an employer and passed on to employees.

There is no question that the federal government  both Republicans and Democrats  is part of this problem. But New York's elected officials do have a role to play in lessening the cost of health care for New York residents. They should do so.

 The Evening Observer, Dunkirk

It is about time U.S. officials began worrying about reliance on other countries for critical resources. For too long, as evidenced by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's State Department approving acquisition of a major amount of U.S. uranium by Russia, there has been a "don't worry, be happy" attitude.

President Donald Trump recently ordered that the government take steps to boost domestic production of some critical minerals, such as platinum and manganese.

Noting we rely on China and Russia for supplies of some strategically important minerals, Trump said that is a national security risk.

Of course it is.

Now, if someone in Washington would just come to the same realization regarding certain manufactured products  steel and aluminum come to mind  Americans might have reason to feel more secure.

 The Leader-Herald, Gloversville
Wisdom of the Crowd: 55 % of respondents said that the Trust Bak set up by Fairprice will not be profitable as there are already too many d...
The multimillion-dollar Willapa Bay oyster industry is getting closer to finally getting a decision on its use of a controversial pest-control chemical after the state released a final environmental review on the pesticide Friday.

The state Department of Ecology study found that using imidacloprid to control the burrowing shrimp has little known direct risk on the health of humans, fish, birds and marine mammals. However, it might have other negative impacts on the ecosystem at the base on the food chain.

The agency said it will announce a decision on the industrys application to use imidacloprid in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor in about a month, a press release states.

Other findings from the study conclude that imidacloprid:

Would have significant impacts on small invertebrate organisms living in the mud at the bottom of the bay.

Negatively impacts juvenile worms and crustaceans.

Would likely cause indirect impacts to fish and birds if the food chain is interrupted.

Ecology spokeswoman Jessie Payne added that Ecology found imidacloprid, once sprayed on oyster beds, could be spread by tides to other areas more powerfully than the agency initially expected.

The agency said it plans on using the study to help make its decision on the Willapa Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Associations permit request.

One major public supporter of using imidacloprid, state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said he tried to contact Ecology Director Maia Bellon after he discovered the agency had completed its study and later received a voicemail from her explaining the agencys review. Walsh described his feelings towards Ecologys findings as a little pessimistic.

Frankly, based on the tone of that voicemail, Im worried about the tone of some of the framing of the findings, he said. It seems like this is heading for a bad result, meaning no permit.

Walsh said he wants more information about the finding that tides will spread the pesticide to a greater extent than previously thought. He also wants more detail about why Ecology concludes imidacloprid could be a hazard to juvenile crustaceans.

Kathleen Nisbet-Moncy, the chief operating officer of Goose Point Oysters in Bay Center, said her company is seriously concerned about Ecologys final environmental review. She agrees with Walsh that the agency will likely deny the permit application.

Nisbet-Moncy added that the study re-characterized findings from the original 2015 environmental impact statement on imidacloprid, particularly in the section describing impacts to invertebrates and sediment. These changes come despite Ecology not presenting any new scientific information during its public comment periods in South Bend and Olympia in October, she said.

The science should be the backbone of a regulatory agency when it makes decisions, Nisbet-Moncy said. We believe they are using political pressure to deny the permit.

Nisbet-Moncy said she plans on talking with Ecology before it announces a decision as well as Gov. Jay Inslee, who visited Goose Point Oysters in July.

Getting (Inslee) involved is our next step, she said. We have calls with him already.

Walsh said he had a similar idea, as he expressed interest in discussing the study with Bellon and her staff.

If the talks can happen in an informal way, that would be great, he said. But if not, we  will do whatever it takes to get a good, science-based conclusion with this process and not load this process with non-scientific considerations.

Payne made clear that the agency has not made a decision yet, and if Ecology did approve the permit, spraying would still have to meet state sediment and water quality protection laws.

According to Inslees communications director, Tara Lee, the governor is aware of this issue and also of Ecologys process. Lee brought up Inslees July visit to Goose Point as well.

The governor, she said in an email, has a good understanding of the complexities around this issue and appreciates the work done by the Department of Ecology to review and evaluate it.

Willapa Bay is one of the largest producers of shellfish in the United States, and a 2013 analysis by the Pacific Shellfish Institute estimated that the Pacific County aquaculture industry generated $90 million in total economic output and nearly 1,600 jobs in 2010. The Willapa Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Association estimates that failure to control burrowing shrimp would reduce oyster production 70 percent to 80 percent.

The industry has been searching for decades for an alternative to carbaryl, a pesticide that kills the shrimp effectively but is toxic to fish, crab and other life. Oyster growers agreed to discontinue carbaryl use in 2012 and have been trying to get permission to replace it with imidacloprid. But environmental groups and some consumer advocates have opposed its use. Ecologys decision on the matter has been put off several times.
Lower Columbia College is looking for families to host 12 female Japanese exchange students from Feb. 11 to March 3.

The students are visiting from Atomi University in Japan to take courses, visit the region and improve their English, according to a press release.

Host families would be responsible for bringing the students to campus in the morning and picking them up at night. In the evenings, the students can participate in family activities or planned events at LCC.

This is a great opportunity to learn about another culture, share a bit of your American life, and offer friendship to a visiting student. Those who have participated in these programs have found them to be incredibly life-changing experiences, LCC President Chris Bailey wrote in a press release.

For more information, contact Marie Boisvert at mboisvert@lowercolumbia.edu or Julie Curley at jcurley@lowercolumbia.edu in the International Programs office 360-442-2310.
An outpouring of support on social media Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the shooting death of Rainier Police Chief Ralph Painter.

The responses came after Painters wife, Amy Painter, posted Thursday afternoon asking the public to share a story with #chiefpainter. As of Friday afternoon, she had 19 comments and 139 shares.

Police Chief Painter was shot and killed on Jan. 5, 2011, after responding to a call at the Rainier Sound Authority.

Daniel Butts, of Kalama, is accused of murdering Painter. His trial is tentatively scheduled for early 2019. He was ruled unfit to stand trial in 2013 and has since been forcibly medicated at Oregon State Hospital in hopes that he will become mentally competent to stand trial.

Many fellow law enforcement agencies paid tribute to Painter on Facebook Friday.

The Kelso Police Department wrote, Blue lights are shining bright in our lobby today. ... While Chief Painter may be gone, he is not forgotten.

On this morning, seven years ago we lost a good friend. We think of the Painter family and an entire community that continues to mourn the loss. He will always be missed, the St. Helens Police Department wrote.

Others posted photos of blue candles and memories as part of the virtual candlelight vigil.
Insurance companies

(Thumbs down)

We read a story Friday from the Florida Sun Sentinel about how settlement checks from policyholders insurance companies for payment of damages caused by Hurricane Irma include language noting if the policyholders accept the checks, they release the insurance companies from any further obligations connected to the claims.

In December, the Florida state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation declared that rising labor and materials costs caused by the hurricane could result in higher repair costs than what were first calculated.

Apparently, the insurance companies dont want to pay those possible additional costs. Checks being issued from Floridas largest insurance company, Universal P&C, have a statement on the backs of them noting if the payee endorses the check, it constitutes receipt and release in full settlement for the claim or item mentioned in the draft.

And, according to the article, at least two victims of the hurricane received release of property damage notices with their checks from Gulfstream Property and Casualty Insurance Co., stating does hereby  release, acquit and forever discharge the company and its officials from any and all claims, actions, causes of actions, demands, rights, damages, costs, loss of service, expenses and compensation whatsoever originating from the hurricane.

This is being done despite a section of the state of Florida insurance law that, according to the story, reads an insurer, after paying actual cash value for an insured loss minus any applicable deductible, shall pay any remaining amounts necessary to perform such repairs as work is performed and expenses are incurred.

At least one Florida insurance company doesnt send release language with its claims checks. We wouldnt treat people that way, chairman and president Locke Burt of Security First Insurance is quoted in the story. Kudos to SFI.

Many victims of Hurricane Irma lost everything  from their homes to their personal belongings. Shame on the insurance companies that are attempting to intimidate policyholders because the companies dont want to pay for possible additional expenses and repair costs.

Dog poop

(Thumbs down)

On New Years Day, we were walking our dogs on the dike path by Ditch 6 between 30th and 38th avenues where we discovered numerous piles of dog poop.

Along the path, the city of Longview provides free bags for owners to use to pick up their pets excrement as well as garbage cans to dispose of the full bags.

With the supplies provided, there is no excuse for the irresponsibility and rudeness demonstrated by owners who dont pick up after their pets. It is disgusting to see the heaps of waste and puts a damper on what should be an enjoyable time spent with our dogs.

As American journalist and non-fiction writer John Grogan wrote in his best-selling memoir, Marley & Me, Theres no such thing as a bad dog, just a bad owner.

To the bad owners, pick up after your pets.

Badly done, Kalama

(Thumbs down)

In Wednesdays newspaper, we learned from a story by reporter Zack Hale that outgoing Kalama mayor Pete Poulsen eliminated Molly Ciancibellis position at the Kalama Public Library  a position the 73-year-old has held for three decades.

Poulsens decision, which was backed by members of the Kalama City Council goes against a public show of support for library employees at a contentious meeting in November, Hale wrote.

And former library board member Carol Eby told Hale that Poulsens move was a blatant act of political retribution and strikes her as an abuse of office.

Despite the apparent drama taking place in Kalama, what we consider unprofessional and inappropriate is how Poulsen handled notifying Ciancibelli of her termination. Poulsen asked  or told  Kalama Police Chief Ralph Herrera to deliver a sealed letter to Ciancibelli at her home. Poulsen should have had the fortitude to convey the notification face to face.

In Jane Austens words from her novel, Emma, It was badly done, indeed!

Jane Austen

(Thumbs Up)

And, speaking of Jane Austen, this month is the anniversary of one of our favorite authors most popular and beloved novels, Pride and Prejudice. The book, set in the early 1800s, is about a young lady in a family of mostly women who learns the pitfalls of prejudice and the importance of having moral character.

The theme in the novel, as in all of Austens works, is the need for individuals to possess strong and stable moral qualities.

As we learned in high school literature class, upbringing and environment play an important part on young peoples moral character.

In short, it seems Austen, in her writings from more than 200 years ago, believes as we do today  what we teach our children has a major effect on their behavior and character as they grow up.
Kalamas loss

I find it regrettable that Kalama City Council members have lost sight of their responsibilities to the citizens of Kalama in siding with the former mayor who chose to terminate Molly Ciancibellis position on the library staff.

Even after several large crowds came to meetings in November and December to show their support for keeping the library staffs quota, City Council members still chose to vote for the removal of the longest standing and most valuable librarian on the staff. Even after a show of support from dozens of citizens at those council meetings, the councils library representative, Councilwoman Mary Putka, chose to defy the desires of her constituents and side with the mayor in downsizing the staff size. Shame on you Ms. Putka and shame on the council for refusing to represent the citizens of Kalama.

I believe it is time for the council to dust off the council members manual and reacquaint themselves with their job descriptions if in fact they ever have understood them in the first place.

Dominic Ciancibelli

Kalama

Just kidding

All joking Assad, things are getting pretty Syrias.

Burt Harwood

Longview

Who pays?

I wonder how many people there are with favorable experiences with the isolation box like those expressed in Niki Favelas Jan. 3 letter to the editor? The letter was well-written and Favela should be a character witness. There are so many complications, i.e. why the children misbehaved, and did the teacher cross the fine line of discipline? I would not want to judge or be on the jury. The jury needs to be child psychiatrists at the least, but I know thats not possible.

And who would have lost if Principal Patrick Kelley and Jerry Stein (school district) lost? The Cowlitz County taxpayer or all the school children, with fewer education funds? First, the school district pays, the insurance pays, the insurance increases the rate to the school. Yes, Stein has to be a Solomon in his decisions and for the school and taxpayers. Lets hope he is.

Perhaps (and I feel) the blame should be on Hollywood, TV and todays society. There are movies on TV which are too violent for me to watch (at 83 years old) and language my mom and dad (and school teachers) would have spanked me for.

Ours is a messed up society.

Yes, taking out of Favelas letter, This is an injustice by adults wanting to cash in on their childrens behavior.. Stein is doing his best to correct the kids, but its like pushing on a rope.

David R. Westerlund

Longview

Apologies

Sen. Franken should not resign without a fair ethics committee hearing.

No other men should resign because of harrassment charges until Donald Trump apologizes to the nation and resigns from his office. Until that happens, we all know that those in government power dont really mean what they say about the harrassment of half of our people.

Mike Russell

Kelso

The real problem

The mayor is correct. Longview has its problems. However, the problem starts with the mayor himself. If we the people of Longview want to see things get better it would start with the resignation of the mayor and the dinosaurs on the city council. Talking about fake news, they are full of it. Hey Mike, quit being a puppet on a string, it just may come back to bite you.

Mark Lengyel

Longview

Law of averages

Steve Kern, general manager of PUD, is getting a raise from $206,000 to $214,240 in 2018 up $8,240 per year he started 2016. We are a small town. Average annual employee salaries at the PUD are $57,000 to $136,000; another site says $84,000 to $118,000 a year. Also, for the state the average is $84,000 per year. Rates go up 3 percent in April 2018. Social Security is going up 2 percent in 2018. Thats 10 dollars a month more for me, so there goes my raise. Longview is a low-income town. I live off a little over $8,000 a year, others not much more. I have heat in two rooms only, the rest of the house is cold. I know of another in the same situation, and they are sick with a bad cough. The PUD needs to stop raising rates. Water rates also keep rising, along with employees salaries.

Property taxes go up when schools are voted for. Superintendent Dan Zorns salary is $172,880 a year; Chris Fritsch, assistant superintendent, is at $135,186 a year. Principals average $107,000 to $114,617 a year and teachers average $44,208 a year.

N.E. Haynes

Longview
Freestyle rice import to encourage corruption

A report carried by The New Nation on Saturday said rice price is still growing high in the market and selling at record high level despite huge import last year in public and private channels as the market remained hostage to dishonest merchant syndicates. Another report in the Friday's issue mentioned that government has taken initiatives to import rice by local traders and later to buy from them to boost the food grain stock. The local traders will import rice from India, Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam.







According to the reports, rice imports hit two-decade high as private importers rushed to import more to make higher profits. Side by side, the government has decided to import 20 lakh tonnes of food grains, 15 lakh tonnes of rice and five lakh tonnes of wheat till July 2018 in the current fiscal year; which is 11 lakh tonnes more than the government's earlier projected food import volume.







There is a clear indication in both reports that country's food grain stock is 'riskily' insufficient. Though the government has made deals with several rice exporting countries, including Myanmar, it is still battling to increase its reserves. Actually, the government has failed to maintain reasonable buffer stock to keep the market stable.







World's fourth-biggest rice producer Bangladesh was hit hard by floods and fungal attacks last year which punched the domestic output and pushed up rice prices. Since then, the government has been desperately trying to replenish its depleted stock through imports. In line with its policy, the government in June last year reduced the import duty on rice from 28 percent to 10 percent. To make the import easier, Bangladesh Bank had also instructed the banks to allow private traders to import rice without any deposit against Letters of Credit or LC margin. The efforts, however, did not work. The rice price in the local market has not yet fallen where coarse and fine cut rice price is still fluctuating from Tk 50 to Tk 70.





The parliament was told recently that there was no possibility of major shortfall of food grain production despite floods. In reality, the condition of haor people is still very miserable as most of them had lost everything. We still have not forgotten what had happened with the ultra poor's rice of Tk 10 per kg. A major quantity of the rice had swallowed by ruling party men and sold in the black markets. Besides, the role of Food Ministry is questionable for bringing rotten and inconsumable wheat in exchange of millions of taka from different countries.







So, we fear, the freestyle rice import by the local traders would encourage and spread the corruption. Some of them also could be interested in stockpiling bypassing the government for pocketing extra money. We think, it needs high caution and proper monitoring to keep the rice market out of syndicate's grip.
BASIS Flagstaff is under construction. The college prep charter school is working on nearly doubling its current campus on Gemini Road by 30,877 square feet to make room for new classrooms, a new gym, a new playground and more parking.

Alex Cohen, a fifth-grade teacher at BASIS, cant wait for the new construction to be finished.

Im really excited to see if we can push and achieve more. For the first time ever well be able to build off our own curriculum, she said, referring to the fact that the school will also add kindergarten through second grade for the 2018 school year. According to Cohen, that means that in a few short years shell be teaching students who have only attended BASIS for their schooling.

Cohen, who teaches math and science, is also excited about the new state-of-the-art science labs that are part of the new construction. She said the students are excited about the new full-sized gym and the new playgrounds that will be installed. The 2018 senior class is especially excited about the plans for a senior lounge area where students can relax and work on their senior projects.

According to a press release from Willmeng Construction, the construction has been in the work for a few months and will expand the existing 34,867 square-foot building to accommodate BASIS plans to add kindergarten and first and second grades to the school. Charhuff & Cueva Architects have designed the new space.

The construction includes renovations to the existing building to renovate restrooms, add locker cubbies, paint, install new carpet and update the administrative offices. The construction is supposed to be finished in October but the new classrooms should be available to students at the start of the school year in August.

The school opened in 2011 with 425 students and served fifth through 12 grades at first. It welcomed fourth-graders in 2015 and third-graders in 2016. It now serves 650 students. The addition of kindergarten through second grades would make the Flagstaff school the second BASIS school in Arizona to serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade in one building, joining BASIS Prescott.

BASIS.ed, the organization behind BASIS Flagstaff, was founded in 1998 in Tucson with 50 students and six teachers. The organization now has schools spread across the U.S. and one international school. BASIS.ed is known for its rigorous curriculum, including college prep classes, that allows some students to meet state graduation requirements by grade 11. Seniors at BASIS can take classes that are equivalent to 200 to 300 level college classes. They also have the option of doing an intensive research project that is related to their college or career goals.
Protests threaten Iran's ascendant role in the ME

In Iran, hundreds have been arrested as protests turned against the government

The Washington Post :

The sudden eruption of political unrest in Iran has presented an unforeseen challenge to Tehran's ascendant influence in the Middle East, potentially threatening Iran's claims to regional hegemony just when it seemed to have secured an unassailable role.

The demonstrations, triggered mostly by popular disaffection with the stagnant economy, come at a time when Iran has been boasting about its newfound clout, won mainly by intervening in the region's many wars.

Iran's role as the Middle East's most consequential power has been cemented by its support for President Bashar Assad in Syria, for the Shiite militias in Iraq fighting the Islamic State, for the Houthi rebels in Yemen and for the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

But the interventions have been costly and, as the demonstrations have revealed, unpopular - at least with some Iranians.

"No Gaza, no Lebanon, our lives for Iran," the crowds chanted at one of the first demonstrations, a reference to Iranian support for the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza and for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Leave Syria alone, think about us," and "Death to Hezbollah" are among the other slogans.

These are a reminder that Iran's power plays in the region have come at a price, according to Mohamad Bazzi, a professor of journalism at New York University who is writing a book about Iran's role in the region and its rivalry with Saudi Arabia.

"For the past few months, if not years, Iran has been viewed as ascendant. They've been, quote, winning in the Middle East," he said. "And now we find out Iranians don't approve of their government spending all this money in places like Lebanon and Syria."

With anti-government protests appearing to fade Thursday, there is no reason to anticipate any immediate changes to Iranian policies, either foreign or domestic. For a second straight day, the authorities organized pro-government demonstrations in numerous Iranian cities, seeking to underline the message that the anti-government protesters represented only a tiny minority of Iranians and had been instigated by Iran's foreign enemies: notably the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The spread of the anti-government protests over the past week nonetheless suggest a level of domestic unhappiness that calls into question whether Tehran's regional ambitions can be sustained, said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle East politics at the London School of Economics.

"Before the protests, you had this dominant narrative that Iran is unstoppable, Iran is undefeatable, Iran is as solid as a rock," he said. "The protests have undermined the posture of the Islamic Republic in the region, as the unrivaled superpower."

"Thousands of protesters have exposed a major rupture in Iranian society, not just between reformists and ultraconservatives but between a critical segment of Iranian public opinion and the leadership," he said. "This is really why this particular moment matters a great deal."

Exactly how much Iran has spent on its foreign interventions is unknown, said Sanam Vakil, who studies Iran at London's Chatham House think tank. One of the triggers for the demonstrations, she said, appears to have been the recent unveiling of the country's 2018 budget by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. It featured, among other unpopular items, a big jump in funding for the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to about around $8 billion - almost two-thirds of the defense budget, according to Iranian news reports.

The IRGC oversees the Quds Force, labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, which has overall responsibility for promoting Iran's vision of revolutionary Shiite Islam in the region. The group is commanded by the legendary warrior Qassem Soleimani, who has repeatedly been pictured at the front lines of the region's wars in photographs on Instagram and Twitter. This strategic portrayal broadcasts Iranian influence on the outcome of battles from Aleppo in Syria to the small town of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad.

The IRGC also controls extensive business interests that amplify its income while obscuring the true cost of Iran's foreign interventions, Vakil said. "A lot of money is spent that is not accountable. It's a black box and the government doesn't publicize it."

The budget featured big sums for some of Iran's religious foundations, and the protests appeared to be rooted as much in resentment over local issues, such as corruption and income inequality, as in specific concerns about the country's foreign interventions.

But there is no question that Iran's expenditure of billions of dollars on other countries' wars clashes with the reality of dwindling living standards in Iran, said Alireza Nader of the Rand Corp.

"They're completely overstretched," he said of the Iranian government. "On the surface they seem to be doing pretty well and winning these conflicts, but they're spending money they don't have."

Iran's leadership has until now seemed oblivious to any potential contradiction between its role in fighting the region's wars and its standing with ordinary citizens. Rather, leaders have repeatedly trumpeted the gains they have made.




Tackling youth unemployment and the skills gap

Stefan Crets :

Nowadays, young people find it more and more difficult to get a decent and stable job, despite being one of the best-educated generations ever. Youth is still suffering the effects of the economic crisis.

The challenges are many and they vary from region to region and from person to person. Unemployment and growing inequality create a feeling of indignation and a severe sense of injustice.

In addition to the consequences of the crisis, business has changed dramatically over the past decade. As a result, labour skills and requirements have also changed.

There are jobs today that didn't exist ten years ago such as social media manager, data scientist, Uber driver or app developer. In the next five years, there will be new roles with new requirements that don't exist today.

Improving the value of today's education system and helping the preparation of students for life after studies means also adopting a more practical and applied approach and a closer co-operation between business and education.

Launched in 2015, the European Pact for Youth started as a mutual engagement of business, education, youth and EU institutions to create a culture of business-education partnerships and support youth employability and inclusion.

In the last two-years, the Pact has worked to improve opportunities for young people across Europe. Companies and stakeholders in various European countries and regions have agreed on National Actions Plans.

These plans set local priorities for youth's skills and to facilitate their transition towards real jobs. During the two years, the partners created over 23.000 business-education partnerships and provided around 160.000 new opportunities for young people.

Building upon the Pact, business and civil society leaders have developed three policy proposals to make business-education partnerships the new norm.

In this sense, a joint appeal will be presented on the occasion of the First European Business-Education Summit to European leaders to accelerate the pace of reforms to make business-education partnerships the new norm.

Through these three proposals, the leaders of the Pact provide a strategic vision on how European institutions and governments can act as game changers to :

make vocational education and training/apprenticeships an equal choice for youth; make business-education partnerships the new normal in Europe; mainstream entrepreneurship education in learning.

The proposals are addressed to the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council as well a the European Heads of State, governments and ministers of Labour, Economy, Education and Youth, and businesses.

They contribute to EU and national policies on skills for competitiveness and employment, which aim to have a long-standing and significant impact on youth. They are accompanied by National Action Plans that are outlined by local actors on the ground. They provide concrete solutions that respect subsidiarity with member states and public bodies in co-operation with other actors working on the ground, target high ambition and are easy to engage in.

For a number of generations, education has successfully supported economic development, growth and social change.

Today, our economies face a large amplitude of change and disruption. These challenges bring significant opportunities for EU institutions and the Member States to find new ways to deliver more value to students and human resources. By recognising how important corporate social responsibility is to European integration and capitalising on business-education collaborations, we can shape a new way of working and learning, fight youth unemployment and boost growth.





(Stefan Crets is the executive director of CSR Europe, the business network for corporate social responsibility. This opinion piece is published ahead of the First European Business-Education Summit taking place in Brussels on November 23, as part of the 2nd Vocational Skills Week).


A European education area: How to make it work for Europe

Michael Gaebel and Thomas Jorgensen :

A new dynamic is emerging in Brussels following a recent European Commission proposal to create a European Education Area. The move, accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron's push for coordinated networks of universities, and discussions at the recent Social Summit in Gothenburg, finally puts education where it belongs - at the heart of a more social and prosperous Europe.

Major changes in the European education landscape, and in society in general, have been underway for years now in relation to digitalisation and changing labour markets. We have closely followed these changes and believe that the development of an education area rightly addresses some of Europe's most difficult challenges.

Digitalisation, a tool that supports much-needed innovation, is also a distinct disruptor of the labour market. It changes the skills we need to participate in the workforce. Moreover, it modifies the way we learn skills, and teach them - especially considering the many new means of creating and sharing knowledge that go well beyond universities.

Teaching methods and aims are clearly changing, and the demand for lifelong learning is up. Universities are therefore well-placed to explore the many impacts of digitalisation and to create the solutions our societies need to face it.

These developments cannot be detached from the social dimension of education that has been percolating in Europe over the years: Student populations are changing. They are bigger and more diverse than ever before.

People are on the move and searching for new paths to enter into an ever-evolving labour market that increasingly needs highly-skilled workers. Universities cater to students of different ages and backgrounds and, therefore, require different contents, teaching formats and funding models to prepare them to succeed in a rapidly-changing world.

A European Education Area could address all of this. However, before moving forward, decision-makers need to consider that collaboration at the EU policy level through such an initiative would need careful alignment with existing frameworks such as the Bologna Process, whose geographical scope goes far beyond the EU and includes governments and stakeholders alike.

They should also consider initiatives under the Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education launched in May of this year, as well as the European Research Area. We strongly recommend the integration of these activities to avoid policy fragmentation and the creation of parallel processes.

Furthermore, if we are to enhance education in Europe through initiatives addressing issues such as the Europe-wide recognition of diplomas and the advancement of learning and teaching, policymakers need to take a good look at what is already being done.

Both of these areas, for instance, have strong foundations as many achievements have already been made. The process should therefore build on existing activities, such as the EUA Learning and Teaching Initiative.

Finally, we must not forget the 9th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, whose future design is currently under debate. In our recommendations, released earlier this month, we point to the need for a better link between research, education and innovation in policies at the EU level.

Future EU funding programmes should support universities as institutions in their efforts to improve provision, especially through digital means and for lifelong learning. This is will be a key to helping Europe face its important challenges.

A coordinated, more integrated effort in education could very well do the trick in helping Europe face its societal changes, but the initiatives that are already in progress should not be overlooked or end up on the back burner.

Otherwise, we risk that ambitions become diluted and that the education area becomes like a Swiss army knife - a tool with many functions that does not do anything very well. Instead, a focused, clear and purposeful education policy is what Europe needs.

(Michael Gaebel is director of higher education policy and Thomas Jorgensen is senior policy coordinator at the European University Association (EUA), representing more than 800 universities in 47 European countries. Combined, they are the single largest beneficiary of the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP9).
Law career workshop held at CU

CU Correspondent :

The Bangladesh Chapter of Network for International Law Students (NILS) yesterday organised a law career workshop in Bangladesh exclusively with internship opportunity, titled as 'Career opportunity: Way to thriving legal industry', in association with Department of Law, University of Chittagong (CU), at A K Khan Law Faculty Auditorium .

More than 500 enthusiastic law students from 25 different universities of Bangladesh attended the workshop.

The workshop was auspicated by the welcoming speech of Ms. Nasrin Sultana, President of NILS Bangladesh, who warmly welcomed the participants of the workshop & presented the glance view of the past activities of NILS and clarified about its aims & objectives as well.

Following the inauguration ceremony, two sessions of the workshop were held. The first session was composed of lectures by distinguished guest speakers of the workshop, Md. MasdarHossain, Senior District & Sessions Judge (Rtd), Manzur Al Matin, media person & news presenter Channel 24 as well as Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh &SaeedAhsan Khalid, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, University of Chittagong. Honorable guest speakers exhibited a crystal view of the opportunities for law students in professional career before the participants as well as provided accessory tips, techniques and directions regarding how to grab those opportunities.

The next session was of mutual session between the panel speakers & the participants of the workshop. The session was repleted with the presence of highly qualified professional personalities of Legal Field.



The Senior Assistant Secretary of Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, MasomaZaman, Assistant Director (Legal) of Bangladesh Bank Mr. JahedHoshen, Deputy Secretary of Finance ministry, TonimaTasnim, Senior ASP, Immigration In-Charge of HazratShahjalal International Airport, Mansur AlamKaderi, Lieutenant of JAG Branch ofBangladesh Navy, MrFaruqul Islam, Metropolitan Magistrate of Chittagong, Mr. Mohammad Al Imran Khan (A I Khan) & two advocates of Bangldesh Supreme Court, Barrister Suhan Khan and Mr. MokarramusShaklan appeared as the panel speakers before the participants in that session. The respected panel speakers presented a short speech on & about their profession with necessary direction towards the presence &, after the completion of the speeches, microphone was left open for the participants to place the queries before the speakers. The curious asking minded participants placed their queries & got the satisfactory information from the speakers there. Then the sessions came to conclusion.

The inauguration ceremony was chaired by the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Chittagong, Prof A B M Abu Noman while Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University, Professor Dr. IftekharUddinChowdhury ornamented the ceremony as Chief Guest as well as Christine Richardson, Chairman & Associate Professor of Department of Land Law & Management, Jagannath University and Md. MasdarHossain, Senior District & Sessions Judge (Retd) facilitated the ceremony as special guest.

However, upon the whole day performance, one of the participants awarded as the best performer of the workshop & certificate of participation gave to all the participants of the workshop.




Jubo League chief pays tributes to Mohiuddin Chy

Chittagong Bureau :

Bangladesh Awami Jubo League President Omar Faruk Chowdhury here Friday afternoon paid glowing tributes to former President of City Awami League (AL) and former Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury for his outstanding contributions to politics and welfare of the common masses.

"We have many things to learn from the prolonged political legacy of Mohiuddin that he left for the rank and file of the party", said Omar Fruk Chowdhury while addressing a memorial meeting on the late former Mayor of Chittagong ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, as the chief guest.

The Jubo League President said, Mohiuddin became politician from the grass-root level and urged the party stalwarts to take lessons from the life of the late leader.

Speaking on the occasion, acting President of Chittagong City Awami League (AL) Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury recalled Mohiuddin's immense contributions to the development and welfare of Chittagong and its people.

Mayor of Chittagong AJM Nasir Uddin said late Chowdhury did a lot for social, cultural and educational fields in Chittagong during his long political carrier.

Jubo League Chittagong City Unit organised the memorial meeting.

Presided over by Jubu League city unit President Mohiuddin Bacchu, the meeting was addressed, among others, by M A Latif MP, AL leader Khurshed Alam Sujan, CDA Chairman Abdus Salam and central Jubo League leader Akter Hossain.




Democratic leaders nowhere fight against judiciary`s independence: Mainul

Staff Reporter :

Democratic leaders anywhere do not fight the judiciary to undermine its independence because they know how essential it is for good governance. Suhrawardy, AK Fazlul Haq or Nehru (of India) never thought of interfering with the independence of the judiciary. But in our country, fight to deny independence to the judiciary has been persistent, so said Barrister Mainul Hosein in a talk show, Tritiyo Matra on Channel-i TV on Friday moderated by Zillur Rahman. The other participant was Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar of SHUJAN.

Using the rules making power of the President, promotion, transfer and taking disciplinary actions against the judges of the lower judiciary have been kept under the control of the executive. The rules, accepted by the Appellate Division after refusing to do so for a long time, though require consultation with the Supreme Court but this has created a conflicting situation when read with Article 109 of the Constitution which mandates High Court Division to have superintendence and control over the lower courts, he pointed out and concluded that without the power of posting, promoting and punishing the lower court judges the constitutional responsibility under Article 109 ceases to be meaningful.

Barrister Hosein explained that a bureaucracy-dominated government anywhere cannot accept constitutional checks and balances or independence of the judiciary and our government being in the grip of bureaucracy is fast shedding its democratic nature. He said our bureaucracy-led government known elsewhere as civilian martial law not to tolerate independence of the judiciary. The opposite of democracy is autocracy.

We have also an arrangement of things done or said through intimidation. Who are responsible not known. But the nation is living with terror-phobia.

Barrister Hosein expressed his bafflement as to how the High Court Division will effectively supervise and control the activities of the lower courts when the power of posting, transfer and punishment will be exercised by President or the law ministry if the President so arranges.

On the question of coming general election Barrister Mainul has made his view again clear that without dissolving the parliament no condition for parliamentary election exists. It is not also level playing field for the election to be free and fair under the party government in power.

Citing examples of parliamentary practice in other countries, Barrister Mainul said in those countries the existing prime minister is accepted to head the election time care taker government because the prime minister is trusted for not stealing the election.

He said it categorically that Election Commission is in no position to hold free and fair election and blaming it is not the solution.

Mr Majumdar is disappointed with the conduct of the judges of the Appellate Division in accepting the rules which were earlier refused. He was shocked to know the five judges telling the former Chief Justice not to sit with him in court before he was found guilty. He made this observation feeling concerned for their high position of public faith.

He has placed his high hope about the possibility of reaching a political compromise over the election.

Majumdar expects the Election Commission to say boldly that condition for a free and fair election is not available with the government fully in control of the administrative machinery.
ACC to quiz six more AB Bank's directors

Staff Reporter :

The Anti-Corruption Commission summoned six more members of the AB Bank's Board of Directors to quiz them about the alleged laundering of Tk 165 crore to the United Arab Emirates.

They have been asked to be present at ACC's headquarters on Sunday.

Assistant Director (public relations) of the Commission Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told The New Nation that a notice was issued on January 1 asking for their appearance before the commission on January 7.

The directors are Shishir Ranjan Bose, Mejbahul Haque, Fahimul Haque, Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin, Runa Zakia and Md Anwar Jamil Siddiqui.

Five officials of the bank Mohammad Mahfuz Ul Islam, head of corporate treasury, Mohammad Lokman, head of offshore banking unit, Arif Neaz, OBU at EPZ branch, Mahadeb Sarkar Sumon, Company Secretary, and MN Azim, who works in financial institutions and treasury section were interrogated by ACC on January 2.

Earlier on December 28 of the last year, the bank's former Chairman M Wahidul Haque and former Managing Director M Fazlur Rahman were interrogated.

Wahidul Haque, along with AB Bank's vice-chairman and a director, resigned from the bank's board of directors on December 21, 2017 amid allegations of laundering around Tk 165 crore to the United Arab Emirates through two shady organisations in the name of investment.

Meanwhile, the ACC imposed a ban on the travel of 12 senior officials of the bank.
Iran protests: Students 'among over 1,000 arrested'



Ninety university students are among more than 1,000 people arrested since anti-government demonstrations began last month, say reformist MPs in Iran.

Mahmoud Sadeghi told the Iranian Students' News Agency that many of them were not involved in protests.

Another MP, Farid Mousavi, said it was a preventative measure and they would be released soon.

At least 21 people have been killed in the protests, which erupted across the country over the state of the economy.

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday declared the defeat of what he described as "sedition" in the country.

Despite this, a number of towns and cities saw fresh protests overnight. However, Reuters, quoting local residents, said they were showing signs of abating after the Revolutionary Guards were sent to several provinces.

The unrest - the most widescale of its kind since a disputed presidential election in 2009 - initially began over price rises and corruption but protests have since turned into wider anti-government sentiment.

Some reports put the number of people arrested since 28 December as high as 1,700.

The vice-president of Tehran University, which has seen clashes in recent days, said a committee had been formed to track the fate of students who had been arrested.

"Our efforts at the university are aimed at co-operating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time," Majid Sarsangi told the Iranian Students' News Agency.

MP Mahmoud Sadeghi said little was known about at least 10 of the 90 students detained.

He told semi-official Ilna news agency that 58 were from universities in Tehran, and the rest from across the country.

Many of them, he said, had been arrested at their homes.

Meanwhile, state TV has broadcast images of thousands of pro-government supporters attending fresh rallies on Saturday, with some chanting "death to America", "death to Israel" and "death to Britain".

It comes a day after Iran accused the US of abusing its power as a permanent member of the UN Security Council after it convened an emergency session over the protests.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, have voiced their support for the protests since they began. The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the council on Friday that Washington stood "unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families and dignity for their nation".

The move to hold the emergency meeting angered other council members, including Russia, whose envoy described the protests as an "internal affair".

Iranian officials have blamed the demonstrations on foreign meddling and at the UN on Friday Iranian envoy Gholamali Khoshroo said Tehran had "hard evidence" that they were "very clearly directed from abroad".
Conspiracy to stop One Stop Service at MMCH alleged

MYMENSINGH: A view of One Stop Service at MMCH

Kafi Khan , Mymensingh :

A vested quarter has been trying to stop one stop service at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH).

It is alleged that some owners of private diagnostic centers and clinics located around the hospital including some commissioned doctors and officials, and representatives of various drug companies deported from the hospital and the owners of pharmacists in front of the hospital are involved in the conspiracy.

One Stop Service of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital has already achieved the confidence and reputation of patients in several districts around Mymensingh.

With that, the violence and the sufferings of the distressed brokers are diminished. With the introduction of this service, the number of patients decreased in private diagnostic centers, clinics and hospitals, developed around the government hospital. As a result, a vigilant cycle is desirous to stop this service. However, more than three crore people in greater Mymensingh region will get the benefit of one stop service. This information was found on the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital surroundings. Health Minister Mohammad Nasim told that the government's allocation of 100 percent of the government's medicines, including the free supply of nominal fees, has all the examinations, the pressure of the patient is increasing day by day. The pressure is also increasing due to the patients who are not required to come directly into the ward by admission. Once the one-stop service is introduced, the pressure of admission to these patients will be reduced. If the One stop service is opened in the emergency department of the hospital, then the specialist doctors will send the wards to the patients who think they will need admission.

Compared to the existing infrastructure and services of the hospital in Mymensingh Medical College, the Director General of the Health Department Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad told the people that I was impressed by the different methods of treatment including the one-stop service and infrastructure of Mymensingh Medical College. I have advised the directors of other government hospitals to come to see the infrastructure and medical facilities already in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. To stop the one-stop service of this hospital, the prevention of any cycle will be prevented. The Health Department will continue to cooperate to continue this service.

First One Stop Service: According to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, it is known that in this one-stop service launched from 19 November, 2017, 24-hour treatment of surgery, gynecology, medicine, cardiology specialist doctors including Eco Cardio Gram-ECG, Ultrasynography, digital x-ray, pathology test, day care center and monitoring ward There are benefits to pay. Apart from this, arrangements have been made to provide treatment to the injured and casualties of patients who have problems with emergency delivery. Hospital authorities claim that the introduction of this service for the first time in any government hospital in the country has started decreasing the patient's admission to different wards of the intermediate section of the hospital. In the meanwhile, the pressure of admission of 1 to 200 patients per day has decreased. It is expected that this pressure of patient admission will reduce further. More than 2,000 patients were released with emergency medical services in one stop Service in the last month.



More than 4000 patients were given primary treatment at this time. More than 2,000 patients have been operated in one stop Service. More than 4,000 patients have got the existing test facility.



Outgoing On the other hand, there has been a radical change in infrastructure and treatment at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. Clean and healthy environment The One stop Service has been introduced separately in part of the emergency department of the hospital. Emergency Medical Officers (EMO) on the care of the patients who come in the emergency department are sending serious patients after visiting the wards and sending them directly to the ward. Somebody else is sending Day Care Center and somebody to the ward. At this time, the patients are sent to X-ray, ECG, ultrasonography and pathology lab for emergency testing. After 24 hours or more, patients are being discharged from the day care center and observation ward, and are being sent to the ward. Kishoreganj district's Tarail Upazila was injured in the incident and Kishor Jahirul came to the emergency department of the hospital. Watch the ward for the last 3 days. In the meantime, he was strapped with bandages. Khaira Zahirul and his family members are happy with the management of the One Stop Service in the hospital. They said, the full abdominal ultrasonography test matched with digital X-ray of only 120 taka and 400 taka However, for the exterior of the hospital 300 rupees for X-ray and the amount of 1200 rupees for the ultrasanography. Sharmin, 14, a schoolgirl of Chakrampur village in Trishal upazila, came under severe pain in the emergency department of the hospital. After the duty doctor sent him to day care, it was done immediately after the ECG. Sharmin and her family returned relief after giving them leave after 3 hours due to lack of problems. Sharmin's father, Sufi Ahmed, said that after checking the ECG test of only Tk 120, the doctors told him that there is no problem.

If you want, you can go back home. Sufi Ahmed Expressed of satisfaction with the immediate and hassle-free service. Selim Mia, a resident of Puranpara under Dhobaura Police station in Mymensingh, told that he was under treatment at the hospital three months before being diagnosed with kidney problem. On the advice of a doctor, he was forced to do some tests on the outside diagnostic center. An attempt was made to bring him outside to a clinic. But he is taking treatment at government hospital. Following the launch of one stop Service, it has become very easy to follow up. Selim Mia said that the patients were released from unprotected harassment due to the violence of the representatives of outside diagnostic centers, clinics and hospitals. Tea shopkeeper Mohammad Giasuddin (47), who was dressed in a street outside the main gate of the hospital, told that he has been running a tea shop for 12 years. Many patients coming to the hospital used to drink tea at my shop every day. Listen to the WANSTOP service's compliment on their face. Many of my acquaintances took service. Since this service is open, no patient is required to go to hospital without the need, said Md Giasuddin.



Secretary General of Swadhinata Parishad Parishad (Swachip) Prof Dr. MA Aziz thanked the initiative of launching one stop service at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, saying that its benefits are getting rich people in the greater Mymensingh region. However, he has expressed concern because a group identified is plotting to stop these benefits. In order to counter the mischief of Kuchakri Mahila, he advised the local health center to keep one stop services actively involved with the concerned

doctors and officials.


Mosquito menace creates panic in city

Reza Mahmud :

Increased mosquito menace in the capital city has created panic among the dwellers as a noticeable number of them suffered from Chikunguniya, a mosquito infecting disease, few months ago.

Sources said, the Dhaka South and Dhaka North City Corporations have spent more than Tk 131 crore to combat mosquito menace in last five years. But they failed to show a positive result yet. "We can't stay few moments in ease position due to untold mosquito menace. The children are mostly victims of the mosquitoes. They even can't enjoy to read their new books. The elderly people also become the victims of the menace," said Abul Hossain, a Pharmacy owner at Gendaria in the city.

He said the people are in fear of increasing mosquito menace as many of them had suffered Chikunguniya a few months ago.

Sources said, increasing mosquito threat mostly being witnessed in Jurain, Gandaria, Mirhazirbagh, Narinda, Sutrapur, Wari, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Dhalpur, Motijheel, Fakirapool, Kamlapur, Mugda, Bashaboo, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Banasree, Badda Bazar Road near Egaro Sharani, Rampura, Kuril, Farmgate, Mohammadpur, Hazaribagh, Rayerbagh and Mirpur areas.

The menace is also spreading in the posh areas like Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani, Uttara and Dhanmondi areas, though most of the apartments in those areas are secured with net in the windows.

"Flock of mosquitoes are used to attack us the whole day -- in the morning, noon, afternoon, evening and the night. We cannot get rid of it any time in 24 hours," said Atif Shahriyar, a Private University student from Gulshan Avenue told The New Nation yesterday.

Official data shows that the two city corporations spent more than Tk 131 crore in last five years to combat with mosquitoes. But it cannot give a positive result yet.

DSCC has spent Tk 66.76 crore in last five years to eliminate mosquitoes. Amongst those, it has allocated Tk 25.60 crore in this 2017-18 fiscal year. It spent Tk 17.18 crore in 2016-17, Tk 9.90 in 2015-16, Tk 11.95 crore in 2014-15, Tk 2.13 crore in 2013-14 fiscal years.

DNCC has spent Tk 64.40 crore in last five years to combat mosquito menace. Amongst them, it has allocated Tk 20 crore in this 2017-18 fiscal year. It spent Tk 16.85 crore in 2016-17, Tk 11.95 in 2015-16, Tk 7.80 in 2014-15, Tk 7.85 in 2013-14 fiscal years.

The city dwellers alleged that negligence of concern employees of both the city corporations is responsible for the increasing mosquito menace. They are not honestly taking care to clean drains, ponds and other water bodies where the mosquitoes are breeding as their safe havens.

The citizens also alleged that the six employees fixed for each ward in the city areas to spray medicines to kill mosquitoes have not been found regularly for long. That is why the breeding of mosquitoes has increased in the last few weeks.

The residents, especially the children, are in fear to infect different types of diseases like Dengue, Malaria and Filaria to be spread from the mosquito bites.

When contacted, DSCC Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Dr. Sheikh Salahuddin said, "The Mosquitoes are increasing in this environment. In such circumstances, we have increased 33 percent of medicine to kill mosquitoes."

He asked people to be aware from mosquito infecting disease.

The official said 328 employees are working to combat mosquito menace with 246 fogger machines and 370 more hand driven machines.

The DNCC Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Dr. Zakir Hossain said, "We have already completed a crush programme in this regard started from 28 December last year ended on January 4."

He also said the DNCC health officials have already made clear 900 bigha waterbodies from 2153 bighas aiming to destroy mosquito- breeding hubs.

He said 284 DNCC workers are fighting to eliminate mosquitoes with 250 fogger machines. They also have plans to buy more 150 fogger machines soon.


Orlando and Davida Watts transferred to Northern Arizona University in August to complete their educations. They left their children with a family member in New Mexico, where they had been attending community college.

Before the arrived, they made arrangements to rent a home in Flagstaff, but before they could move in, the owner of the home sold it.

That left us homeless, Davida said.

They camped for a week at the KOA campground before moving to the Woody Mountain Campground. While staying in a motel in Flagstaff, their family member brought their children to Flagstaff.

Luckily, the Watts family connected with Catholic Charities, and they found respite in the citys only homeless shelter devoted to families. Yet, despite filling an important niche in the communitys social safety net, the family shelter struggles to find a regular source of funding to keep its doors opened.

Camie Rasband, housing supervisor with Catholic Charities, said that, to date for 2017, the family shelter has served a total of nine families (28 people, 14 of whom were children). There are other shelters in Flagstaff that do house families, but they either focuses on single parents with children, most often women, escaping domestic violence, or they allow women with children and if their male children are under the age of 15. The only option for single fathers with children, or families who wish to stay together, or women with children over the age of 15 is the Catholic Charities shelter. At times, families have to be split up in order to house them.

We take the family unit as the come, Rasband said. Whether thats multiple generations, single parents, etc.

The families do not pay rent and work with a case manager to find stable, permanent housing before they leave the 90-day shelter. The shelter, located in Sunnyside, houses three families at any given time. Each family has their own living space, bedroom and bathroom. They share a bigger living room and kitchen and laundry facilities.

The shelter does not currently have a set funding source, Rasband said. We are piecing together funding to keep it open.

The budget for the shelter is about $100,00 a year, and a grant from Full Circle Charities this year helped with keeping the doors open.

Before finding the shelter and living in campgrounds and motels, Orlando and Davida continued to attend classes. Davida is a junior studying Parks and Recreation Management. Orlando, an artist, is a freshman working toward his bachelors degree in Fine Arts. Both attend full time and receive financial aid to go to school. Davida works part time and Orlando takes care of their one adult child and two middle-school aged children.

The younger children can walk to school. There is a nearby clinic to help with their health concerns, and a grocery store is just up the street. The church they go to is also within walking distance.

Orlando said faith helped him clean up his troubled life. At school, hes currently working on maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average. Davida said her grade-point average isnt as good.

Rasband said that all the families at the shelter meet with case managers weekly to determine their goals and get them into long-term housing  either their own housing, or supportive housing.

Here, they have a safe place to do that, Rasband said.

In 2017, of the six families that exited the shelter, three moved into rentals with the help of housing subsidies, two moved into rentals without subsidy help, and one head of household was incarcerated, Rasband said.

Davida said that they have a year lease for a rental beginning in January. Their new rental, which is an affordable rental unit owned by Catholic Charities, is a two bedroom apartment that will cost them $660 a month.

From there, we can keep going, Davida added.

The knowledge that they have a place to live while they finish their studies fills the Watts family with relief, they said.

It really cant be described, Orlando said. Theyve helped us out so much. Its been such a blessing.

Davida nodded and said, Theyve gone beyond  Our lives are falling into place.

For more information about Catholic Charities and their various programs to help the communitys less fortunate, visit www.catholiccharitiesaz.org.
13 BCL activists hurt in gas balloon blast as bus catches fire

13 BCL activists were injured in gas balloon explosion in a bus when it catches fire as someone lit a lighter for cigarette was taken from Burnt Unit of DMCH on Saturday.

Staff Reporter :

At least 12 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) received burn injuries when a hired bus of Raida Paribahan caught fire due to gas balloons explosion in city's Farmgate area on Saturday morning.

The injured BCL men were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) with severe burn injuries, said Babul Miah, Assistant Sub-Inspector of DMCH Police outpost.

All the injured activists are mostly teens to young adults, said Dr Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of DMCH's Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit,.

"The bus of Raida Paribahan carrying around 40 young activists caught fire in front of Al-Razi Hospital at Farmgate around 10:30am," said Ataur Rahman, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) Headquarters.

Although one fire fighting unit was dispatched, locals managed to douse the flames before they reached the spot, the FSCD official said.

It is suspected that the fire might have started from gas balloons, which were used for decorative purposes, after someone lit a cigarette inside the bus, according to him.

Mazharul Islam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tejgaon Police Station, said, the BCL activists hired the bus from Uttara to join BCL's joy rally at TSC on Dhaka University ahead of the founding day of the BCL. The fire might have originated from a cigarette."


S Arabia's chance to create a Liberal Kingdom

By Ensaf Haidar :

I was astonished when, in late September, Saudi Arabia decided to allow women to drive, putting an end to an old, discriminatory practice. This was only one of several cautious social reforms that have been introduced in the country. In the past two years, King Salman bin Abdulaziz has restricted the powers of the notorious religious police and relaxed male guardianship laws. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spoken about embracing "moderate Islam" and increasing social freedoms.

Prince Mohammed is being credited for the effort to transform Saudi Arabia, but the changes might not have been possible without the Saudi activists and intellectuals who struggled and suffered over the years - enduring the loss of jobs, imprisonment and exile - to increase the freedoms in their country.

As I look forward to seeing Saudi women drive starting in June, I remember the 47 women who drove their cars in 1990. They were arrested, lost their jobs and were prohibited from traveling. Two years later they were allowed to return to their jobs. Some faded into private life; others focused on helping women at schools and universities and in programs for abused women and children.

The courage of Wajeha al-Huwaider, a women's rights activist, is unforgettable. On Aug. 4, 2006, three days after the first anniversary of King Abdullah's accession to power, she stood on Fahd Causeway - the bridge that links Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - and held a poster with a single sentence written on it: "Give women their rights!" She was arrested but treated respectfully and released the same day.

In 2007, al-Huwaider and a colleague started a petition demanding that Saudi women be granted the right to drive. In March 2008, she filmed herself driving a car and uploaded the video on YouTube to remind the world of the prohibition.



When the uprisings of 2011 engulfed the Arab world, Saudi female activists started the "Women2Drive" campaign, using social media to organize. They called on women with international driver's licenses to take to the roads.

Manal al-Sharif and Loujain al-Hathloul, two renowned activists, became the public face of the campaign. Ms. Sharif spent nine days in detention for posting a video of herself driving; Ms. Hathloul spent 73 days in prison after attempting to drive into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates in 2014. If it were not for their willingness to struggle and sacrifice for what they believed in, we would never have achieved this change.

Other incremental social reforms have also illustrated the Saudi leadership's responsiveness to years of protests and activism by women's rights activists. Saudi women have long chafed under the "male guardianship" laws, under which a woman must have a male guardian - father, husband, uncle or son - without whose approval she cannot see a doctor, file a police complaint, leave a prison, travel outside the country, apply for a passport, marry or use various public services.

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A movement against guardianship laws intensified in recent years, picking up steam after a 2016 Human Rights Watch report about it. About 14,000 women signed a petition calling for an end to the guardianship laws and advocated the change online using the hashtag #IAmMyOwnGuardian.

Though the guardian system remains on the books, a royal decree relaxed its grip in June and women are now allowed access to health care, education and travel without a guardian's permission.

Advocacy, outrage and subsequent official responsiveness also helped in getting the Saudi women relief from the religious police, who focused on a prohibition of alcohol and drugs, maintaining gender segregation and aggressively targeting Saudi women who weren't "appropriately" covered.

King Salman divested the religious police of authority to chase or arrest people suspected of breaking the strict moral regulations and directed the force to report its observations to the regular police. Saudi Arabia had seen widespread outrage in February 2016 after the religious police assaulted two young women outside a shopping mall in Riyadh.

But demanding greater social and political rights has often exacted a severe cost on Saudi activists and intellectuals. I know this from experience.

My husband, Raif Badawi, a blogger and activist, was a harsh critic of Saudi Arabia's clerical establishment. He called for the elimination of the male guardianship system and insisted in his writings on restricting the powers of the religious establishment. In 2007, he acted as the spokesman for Salman al Harissi, a Saudi citizen who was arrested and killed by the religious police during interrogation. Raif exposed the torture by the religious police and demanded justice and compensation for Mr. Harissi's family.

Raif founded the "Free Saudi Liberals" website in 2006, where like-minded bloggers discussed issues such as separation of state and religion, and women's rights. I always remember how he defined liberalism: "For me, liberalism simply means live and let live."

On June 17, 2012, Raif was detained on charges that included apostasy, cybercrime and disobeying his father. According to Saudi law, children can be separated from their parents if they are accused of apostasy. I feared that Raif's father or my family might deprive me the custody of my children. Raif and I decided that I should leave the country to ensure that our children stay with me. Along with my children, I sought asylum in Canada.

In May 2014, Raif was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes, and fined a million Saudi Arabian riyal for creating an online forum for public debate and "insulting" Islam. On Jan. 9, 2015, Raif was struck with 50 lashes in a public square in Jeddah, but the lashing was stopped on medical advice. He remains in prison. Only a pardon from King Salman can get him released.

Prince Mohammed has the opportunity to rewrite Saudi history and bring freedom and openness to our country. He could start a process of national reconciliation by reconsidering the cases and imprisonment of prisoners of conscience like my husband. By securing their freedom, Prince Mohammed would give us hope and make our country a place exiles would prefer to return to and participate in building our collective future.

(Ensaf Haidar is the president of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom, named after her husband, who is in prison in Saudi Arabia)
Pranab due on Jan 15

UNB, Chittagong :

Former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee will arrive in Dhaka on January 15 on a three-day private visit.

Indian Assistant High Commissioner in Chittagong Anindya Banerjee said the former president will arrive in Bangladesh on January 15 but his programmes

are yet to be finalized. Officials at the Indian Assistant High Commission office here said Pranab Mukherjee is expected visit the home of Masterda Surya Sen, an influential leader of Indian independence movement against British rule, at Noapara village under Raozan Upazila in Chittagong.

He will meet President Abdul Hamid and attend some other programmes in Dhaka, said the officials.

Pranab, who served as the 13th president of India and has been enjoying retirement by reading books and writing a diary, is likely attend programmes of Dhaka University and Chittagong University.
Construction work starts on Jan 25

bdnews24.com :

The construction work of the 1200 megawatt coal-fired power plant at Matarbari in Maheshkhali of Cox's Bazar will start on January 25.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate the work and address a rally there on that day.

On Friday, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid visited the project site.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi, Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA Chief Representative Takatoshi Nishikata, Power Development Board Chairman Khaled Mahmood, Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited or CPGCBL Managing Director Abul Kashem accompanied the state minister.

State Minister Nasrul said the type of the power plant would be ultra-supercritical.

According to him, 18 percent work to construct associated facilities like jetty and coal handling facilities for coal import, coal storage, township and roads was already completed.

The estimated cost to build the plant on a 1,414-acre piece of land is around Tk 360 billion.

Japan is providing around Tk 290 billion in loan support for the project while the government will fund over Tk 70



billion. The state minister expressed hope that it would be possible to supply electricity to the national grid from the Matarbari power plant by 2023. Asheq Ullah Rafiq MP of Maheshkhali, who also accompanied the minister during the visit, told bdnews24.com that the ruling Awami League's local units took preparations to welcome party chief Hasina. "We hope the Matarbari project will help us develop this neglected coastal area," he said. Among the 10 projects prioritised by the government, Matarbari power plant is placed second after Rooppur nuclear power plant project in terms of cost.

The government cleared the Matarbari project in August 2015, but the tender process was postponed after the killings of 17 foreigners, including Japanese engineers, in the Gulshan cafe attack on July 1, 2016.

State-owned CPGCBL finally signed the deal with Japanese consortium of Sumitomo Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and IHI Corporation on July 27 last year to build the plant.

The government has also started work to set up a deep sea port and liquefied natural gas or LNG terminal along with a special economic zone, which is expected to create a huge number of jobs.
Pak citizen dies in Kashimpur jail

UNB, Gazipur :

A Pakistani national, who was arrested in Bangladesh in connection with drug and gold smuggling case, fell sick and died in Kashimpur Central Jail early Saturday.

The deceased is identified as Md Harun, 52, resident of Karachi in Pakistan.

The body was sent to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.

Prosanto Kumar Bonik, superintendent of

Kashimpur Jail-2 said Harun, arrested over a case filed for drug and gold smuggling, fell sick early hours on Saturday.

Harun was rushed to hospital as he felt severe chest pain. Doctors declared him dead in the hospital, he said.

The authorities were preparing to inform the family members of the deceased through Pakistan Embassy.
Jan 5 election was not voterless: PM

UNB, Dhaka :

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the January 5 election of 2014 was not a voter less election like the ones held during Ershad and Khaleda Zia's regimes.

"In any form, the January 5 election was not a voter less at all...more than 40 percent voters cast their votes. Khaleda Zia burned people alive to resist it, burned down 582 schools, polling centres, killed presiding and assistant presiding officers. But people resisted it and went to polling centres," she said.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a meeting of Awami League Central Working Committee at her official residence Ganobhaban.

She said the government has completed four years of its tenure as people cast their votes in favour of Awami League.

"Ershad and Khaleda Zia couldn't complete their tenures after holding the voters less elections in 1988 and 1996," she said. Hasina mentioned that Ershad had to resign in 1990 after holding the voters less election in 1988 while Khaleda had to do the same after the February 15, 1996 polls.

"She (Khaleda) stepped down in March 1996... she could managed to stay in power only for one and a half months because they had rigged the election," she said.



Sheikh Hasina, also the chief of the ruling Awmai League, said her party was elected by people and it was the prime aim of the party to protect democracy in the country.

"We've completed four years after the election... we've advanced the country as there was the continuation of government...the country is advancing towards progress, and the development is visible at the grassroots level too...this continuation of development has to be continued," she said.

The Prime Minister said those who move with Al Badrs, Rajakars, killers, make them politicians and leaders could not do anything for the welfare of people.

"Those who can burn people alive and hang them to death can never do anything good for people after coming to power. These elements don't know how to ensure the welfare of people as they never did that," she said.

The AL chief mentioned that the people of the country have lost over 28 years to misrules except AL's rule. "Let's make sure not a single day is wasted from the life of the people of the country," she added.
Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

2 years ago
The Independent, by Sabrina Barr

A boy from Egypt has been dubbed the smartest child in the world after winning first place at a global competition.

The Intelligent Mental Arithmetic International Competition took place in Malaysia in late December to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Intelligent Education Group.

Abdulrahman Hussain was one of 3,000 competitors taking part.

The thirteen-year-old boy from Egypt solved 230 complex arithmetic problems in a mere eight minutes to win the coveted prize, Al Arabiya reports.

This year the IMA International Competition was held at the Persada Johor International Convention Centre in Malaysia.

An astounding number of nationalities came together for the tournament, with children from over 70 countries put to the test in a series of gruelling tasks.

Hussain spoke to Al Arabiya after his victory, saying that his amazing achievement all bottles down to the support and guidance that hes received from his teachers and family.

Hussains teacher, Batul Mohammed Montasser, explained that Hussain has been training his mental capabilities for five years in preparation for the competition.

In 2012, Hussain began his training using the Malaysian mental skills development programme and has partaken in a number of previous competitions.

On the Intelligent Education Group website, they provide resources for people to learn from the Intelligent Mental Arithmetic Programme.

They explain that child prodigies are simply children who have received an effective early education, writing: According to a scientific study, the so-called child prodigy is but a common individual who happens to have developed an earlier and better mental faculty.

For the schooling children, the method will be of great help to them in their ability and capability of calculation, response, concentration and memory, which in turn will assist them to balance their brain power and strengthen the function of both their left and right brains."
BENTON  A Benton man is facing federal charges of wire and mail fraud for allegedly defrauding Southern Illinois Healthcare while he was employed there, to the tune of half a million dollars.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Cary E. Mosley, 48, has been charged in an indictment with six counts of wire fraud and six counts of mail fraud.

The release states that from December 2006 to July 2013, while Mosley was the manager of the Radiation Oncology Department at SIH, he also had a job with QED Medical Physics Inc., a Tennessee contractor that provides support services for radiation oncology departments at smaller hospitals. The indictment alleges that during that time, Mosley was paid by QED for work he did at SIH that would have been part of his typical duties.

The indictment charges that Mosley made entries in QED's timekeeping system that falsely claimed he had performed work at SIH that he did not actually perform. It also states that Mosley claimed he was entitled to compensation from the contractor for performing duties that were part of his job at SIH. Since Mosley allegedly fraudulently made timekeeping entries, QED would submit inflated invoices to SIH.

According to the release, Mosley concealed the scheme by altering documents. He allegedly removed his name from documents sent by QED to SIH's Accounts Payable and replaced it with other employees' names. He allegedly also discarded documents that were meant to be sent to Accounts Payable.

The indictment says Mosley was paid more than $500,000 by QED for work he allegedly performed at SIH.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. He may also have to pay restitution to SIH.

Mosley is scheduled to be arraigned at the federal courthouse in Benton at 2 p.m. Jan. 16.
CARBONDALE  Carbondale Community High School administrators arent hanging their heads after learning that its principal, Daniel Booth, agreed to a five-year contract to be the superintendent of Carbondale Elementary School District No. 95, according to Superintendent Steve Murphy.

Daniel Booth hired as Carbondale Elementary School District 95 superintendent A familiar face will lead the charge for Carbondale Elementary School District No. 95.

I know the faculty, the board and the whole community is really excited for Daniel and for Carbondale, he said Friday. Although we care about him very much, we know hes staying in Carbondale and he is doing something good for the children in Carbondale.

He said the high school still possesses successful administrators, a phenomenal board of education and amazing faculty members.

We still have those characteristics in place, he said.

Although everything is dependent on the route the school board decides to go, Murphy said the public can probably expect a job posting for a new principal in mid- to late January.

In the past, Murphy said, the high school has gone with a selection committee made up of faculty that shuffles through applicants and conducts preliminary interviews to come up with finalists.

We have a lot of faculty involvement because the faculty is so strong, he said.

After those initial finalists are chosen, the district traditionally forms a smaller committee which makes a recommendation to the board. Murphy said those interviews could happen in March and a new principal could be selected in April or May.

However, there arent any set plans on how the search or process will happen, as Murphy was just referring to how the searches have happened in the past. He said the search most likely wouldnt be limited in scope and external and internal candidates will have a chance to apply.

Qualified internal candidates could have a leg-up on the competition based solely on familiarity.

Typically, when you are talking about a principal, if you have somebody internally that rises to the top, it is nice to have experience in Carbondale or in the district and who knows the culture and how the district functions, Murphy said.

The high school superintendent said when the news broke to the faculty at CCHS, there were some initial tears about Booths leaving, but by the end of the meeting, there was a standing ovation for him and everybody was excited.

If you are a great leader and when you leave everything falls apart, then you werent really a great leader, Murphy said. I think Daniel was a great leader and a lot of the strides he made will stay with us for a lot of years to come. Everybody is excited for a new opportunity.
WEST FRANKFORT  On a Sunday afternoon this summer, Elizabeth Hernandezs attention flitted back and forth between the beans on the stove and her 2-year-old son, Maximus, who tugged at a pants leg to ask her help with turning on a game on the familys electronic tablet.

The older two boys, Kharloz, 9, and Juanluca, 7, were snuggled up on the couch glued to A Secret Life of Pets.

Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco, Elizabeths husband and the father of three young boys, has lived in the U.S. without papers for about 20 years, after first coming across the border in secret in 1998. He was detained on Feb. 9 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement paid a visit to his house looking for someone else. Now, he faces the possibility of deportation.

If deported, he will go back alone

Carlos said that if he is deported, he will not take his family with him. Elizabeth and the children are American citizens. While Elizabeth grew up in Mexico, where she lived until the age of 12, West Frankfort is the only home the boys have ever known. Elizabeth said she is concerned, but tries not to waste too much time dwelling on the numerous scenarios that may play out because it will not change the outcome, and she doesnt want their children to be negatively affected by the situation or their worry over it.

Im more of the kind of person where I dont get nervous and panic until I know whats going to happen, because sometimes you never know and you can just worry too much and then everything is going to be fine, she said. "So Im just kind of a person that stays calm until I need to worry. And plus, I have them. 

If they see me, that Im worried or I dont feel good, theyre going to not feel good.

Because of the massive backlog of the immigration courts, Carlos next hearing before an immigration judge is not scheduled to take place until April 2021.

A lot could change between now and then when it comes to immigration law and enforcement. A presidential election will have passed, meaning President Trump, who has followed through on campaign promises to more strictly enforce immigration laws during his first year in office, could either be entering a second term, or, a new person will have moved into the White House. Either of those scenarios could bring changes to immigration laws or enforcement policies  either strengthening or loosening them  that are impossible to predict.

The Hernandezes are hopeful that Carlos will be allowed to remain in the United States. But they also know its possible that his pursuit of legal residency will not go in their favor.

The Undocumented Immigrant Next Door: A trip to Mexico complicates his path to legal residency WEST FRANKFORT  The year after returning to Mexico for his sister's funeral in 2002, about five years after he came to America by sneaking ac

Elizabeth and Carlos said they have discussed what might happen with their two older children, but she also teaches them not to spend too much time dwelling on what might be. Instead, they have tried to be proactive and positive toward preparing for that day, she said.

Ive even told them youve got to practice your Spanish, because we might have to go to Mexico for a while or to see him, and possibly to live there. And theyre like, OK, but why? And then I have to explain to them that he doesnt have papers to live here. They kind of understand. They hate the situation, but theyre good.

Carlos said that if he is deported, he does not want to take his family out of America. They will arrange ways for them to visit when they are out of school for breaks, he said. But Hernandez said it would not be fair to uproot his boys, who have only known life in America, and move them to a foreign country.

Carlos and Elizabeth have been married for 10 years. Carlos had been assigned to help open and manage the La Fiesta restaurant in 2007, and Elizabeth applied for a job. Carlos said that when he first heard that someone from the small Mexican town of Comburindio, Heutamo, Michoacan, was applying for a job, which has a population of less than 700 people, he rolled his eyes.

But when he met Elizabeth, Carlos said he was instantly smitten and surprised by the ways she shattered his negative stereotypes about country people from Mexico. Elizabeth wasnt so interested at first, he said. According to Carlos, she had heard about his past troubles with drinking, and was skeptical about his intentions.

Eventually, he said, she decided to give him a chance. After they started dating, they were married seven weeks later. Their wedding reception was held at the La Fiesta restaurant. Not long after, their oldest boy, Kharloz, came along, then Juanluca, and five years later, little Max. The two shared much in common.

Elizabeth's path to citizenship

Elizabeth also came to America without authorization, but her situation was different because she was so young. When she was only 4 years old, Elizabeth said her dad left the family, and her mom didnt know how she was going to provide for three children by herself. She didnt have anything to feed us. So mom left, she said. Elizabeth said her mom applied for a visa to travel to America legally, but there were complications that prevented her from using it. Ultimately, she crossed the border illegally and landed in Chicago, Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth said she was heartbroken that her mother had left her and her siblings with their grandmother. But when she became older, Elizabeth said she understood why her mom made the decision she did. She sent back money every week from her various cooking and cleaning jobs to help their grandmother afford to keep them fed and clothed, she said. Eventually, her mother remarried.

Eight years later, Elizabeth said her mother sent for her and she went to live with her and her stepfather in Chicago. Once she arrived, he adopted Elizabeth, and because she was a child, Elizabeth was able to become a legal resident of the U.S. For years, she kept that status while remaining a citizen of Mexico.

After she graduated high school in Chicago, Elizabeth said her mother decided to move the family to McLeansboro to get a younger brother away from his friends in Chicago who were causing him to fall into trouble.

Elizabeth was hired to wait tables at a Mexican restaurant. I didnt want to move. It was so depressing at first. I was working in the restaurant all day, every day, she said. Elizabeth said she went with her mom because she needed help looking after her younger half siblings. Its very different here, she said of Southern Illinois compared to Chicago. It took me a long time to figure out what people were talking about when they asked for a soddy. And Im like, you mean a pop? And then youd hear stuff like Sund-ee, Mond-ee, Tuesd-ee, she said of the local dialect, with good-natured laughter.

Elizabeth said she will always prefer big cities such as Chicago, where she spent her formative years. But Southern Illinois has been a nice place to raise a family, she said, adding that her boys enjoy it here. The public school district has been good to them, she said. Though Frankfort Community Unit School District 168 has a 95 percent white student population, Elizabeth said that her boys have not faced any discrimination that she is aware of from other children or staff. School officials were supportive when the stories broke about Carlos arrest, she said.

As is the case with any child born in America, the Hernandezes children are citizens. Elizabeth, who has been a legal resident for years, decided to become a citizen as well in 2016. Obviously, I was the priority for that, Carlos said.

The two made the decision during the campaign, as Trump turned up the notch on the immigration debate with his heated words on the campaign trail. They thought it might help their pursuit of Carlos legal status, and provide additional protections for the family in the event Carlos was deported. When they were first married, the couple obtained a lawyer in Chicago that walked them through filing paperwork for a family-sponsored immigrant visa, but it was never processed despite the thousands of dollars they spent on the process, Carlos said.

Elizabeth said she was apprehensive about the process at first, because it meant choosing between being an official citizen of the U.S. or Mexico. But she went through with it, to help her family.

When you go to the citizenship ceremony, the judge says, Just because you become American citizen does not mean you have to give up your culture. Thats what makes America great. I liked that part.
Bobby Cotton has found a way to turn his hobby into a positive model for children in his hometown.

Cotton is the Coon Hunting Preacher.

Ive used this in a way as a ministry situation, he said.

He teaches boys and girls coon hunting skills as a way to keep them out of trouble.

Just trying to get them to do something instead of being on the streets, Cotton said.

Cotton and his daughter traveled from Kentucky to take part in one of Orangeburgs largest annual events, The Grand American Coon Hunt.

They brought their 4-year-old American Black and Tan Coonhound with them.

His name?

Cottons Lookin Up Chicken Stomp! Cotton said, smiling.

He explained that the name came from his youngest son. Cotton had taken his son to stay with his father when he was little and while he was there, he started having a fit.

My dad said, Get up off of that floor and quit that kicking and stomping!' Cotton said. My son said, Im not a chicken stomp! and thats how the name came about.

Chicken Stomp, as hes affectionately called, is a grand champion show dog that has won competitions all across the country.

Most recently, he was named Champion of Champions at a Bench Show in Houston County, Tennessee on Dec. 1.

Cotton said his dog was also named the champion male both days at the St. Jude Hunt in Parsons, Tennessee.

He said he's been involved in coon hunting since his young days going out with his dad.

After several years of not participating, Cotton returned to the hobby around 1999. He said he knows the struggles of training.

From a pup to a 4-year-old, its a whole lot of work, Cotton said. You start them off on a scent drag and work your way up.

This is when a raccoon scent is placed on a rag and the dogs are made to find it.

You lay a track, and when theyre a pup, you see if they can run that track to the tree, Cotton said.

He said dogs are similar to children and people.

Most of them have a natural ability to do something, he said. Some of them just naturally take off faster than others, kind of like how people are.

Cotton said training dogs for hunting is one thing, but to be a show dog is a separate beast in itself.

Even the showing takes a lot of time to get them looking right and standing right, he said. They need to have great legs and head looking right.

The dogs are examined down to how their ears set on their head, Cotton added.

His daughter, Merinda Cotton, said she supports her father in his efforts, noting that Chicken Stomp has been a great companion.

Hes a pretty dog and hes really well mannered, she said.

Chicken Stomp has recently been allowed to stay inside their home, and he hasnt barked and has been entirely obedient, Cotton said.

The Grand American Coon Hunt is the largest annual event in Orangeburg County and is billed as the nations largest field trial for raccoon-hunting dogs.

Hunters are at this weekend's event from all over the country.

The event typically brings in about 1,000 dog/owner teams and between 25,000 to 30,000 visitors, according to the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce.
American Red Cross disaster-trained volunteers are assisting a family whose Elder Branch Road home was damaged by a fire Friday morning.

The Cordova and Canaan fire departments responded to the blaze.

The Red Cross is helping three adults by providing financial assistance for food, clothing, lodging and other essentials, and comfort kits containing personal hygiene items.

To volunteer or contribute to the efforts of the Red Cross, visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

The free Red Cross emergency app can be found in a mobile devices app store by searching for American Red Cross or by going to redcross.org/apps.
Local lawmakers say theyll face two major issues when they return to Columbia: education and the failed expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

While the nuclear project is located in Fairfield County, Rep. Russell Ott said, Every local person in Orangeburg is going to be affected someway, somehow.

A large number of citizens get their electricity from SCE&G or an electric co-op served by Santee Cooper, so the vast majority of people in our region are going to be affected, he said. The St. Matthews Democrat sits on the Houses Utility Ratepayer Protection Committee.

The General Assembly will officially begin its work on Tuesday.

Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, said the legislators will, have to deal with the nuclear issue.

I think if you look at the providers in this area, theyre either Santee Cooper connected or SCE&G, he said.

Investor-owned South Carolina Electric & Gas and state-owned Santee Cooper stopped work on the joint nuclear project this summer after spending roughly $10 billion. The expansion was years behind schedule and billions over budget.

Customers have been paying for the project through higher electric bills.

Virginia-based Dominion Energy is seeking to buy SCANA, SCE&Gs parent company, following the failure. There has also been discussion about selling Santee Cooper.

Matthews said lawmakers still do not know the total value of Santee Cooper.

With the companys debt estimated at $8 billion, he is not sure if a decision can be made yet. A study is being conducted now to determine the companys total value.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said, I want to make sure that we tell people the truth and not what they want to hear.

SCE&G and Santee-Cooper will not be able to recoup the losses. Thats not going to happen and we ought not give people that impression.

With much of her district served by Tri-County Electric Co-op, which gets its power from Santee Cooper, Cobb-Hunter said she wants to ensure that the burden does not fall unfairly on the customers through higher fees.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said, I dont think that well end up selling Santee Cooper.

I dont think we can do anything to change the rates, he added.

Hutto said the electric rates are set by the states Public Service Commission. He does not believe the General Assembly should try and legislate a reduction of the rates.

He does however think that the rates will go down rather than rising.

Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, says he does not favor selling Santee Cooper, especially since the state is about to lose SCANA.

I think those people that screwed up the situation in terms of the nuclear plant in Fairfield need to be held accountable, Govan said.

He is concerned that if the state loses Santee Cooper, it will lose more than just an asset that deals with power.

It has several other resources that they manage for the state of South Carolina and that we benefit from. When youre talking about Santee Cooper, its not just selling off the energy-producing component, but it also puts other revenue-generating avenues and assets into play that we not want to lose control of, Govan said.

A top local priority will be dealing with the governors veto of a bill designed to consolidate Orangeburg Countys three school districts into one.

Supporters of consolidation hope to override the governors veto or pass new legislation designed to deal with the governors concerns.

Matthews said if consolidation is not finished this year, its never going to get done.

Govan said, I think its important that since the decision has been made to move forward on consolidation, that it be done properly and in the right way.

At this point, its absolutely critical considering whats happening on the state level that the transition not only be a smooth one but it encapsulates a vision for education for the entire county, he said.

Govan said consolidating the school districts in and of itself will not improve the quality of education in Orangeburg County.

We need a holistic vision that deals with the realities of education in Orangeburg County, he said.

Cobb-Hunter says shed like to see lawmakers find a real solution to the Abbeville decision.

In 2014, the S.C. Supreme Court handed down a decision in the Abbeville vs. South Carolina lawsuit. It found the state has failed to provide a minimally adequate education for children in rural, poor counties and instructed the state to address the issue.

I dont believe the General Assembly has done enough to address the issues raised in the original lawsuit, Cobb-Hunter said.

Funding for education is a major priority for the lawmakers.

What needs to be accomplished is to work on improving education funding and infrastructure, Hutto said. Were going to have to make sure that we address providing quality education to all of our students regardless of what county they live in.

He also said unequal pay needs to be addressed to combat the teacher shortage.

Govan said the cost of higher education also needs to be addressed.

If we talk about trying to increase economic development, you cant do that without raising the level of education of this state, he said.

At a minimum, we need to target at least our citizens to have an associate or associate level-type degree in either academics or training so that we can compete for the jobs of the future.

If not, South Carolina could be in danger of becoming locked in as the state that businesses come to in order to pay minimum wages, Govan said.
Weather models that once predicted freezing rain on Monday morning have changed. Now it seems as if only rain will fall.

Forecasters once predicted rain would fall early Monday, making for an icy drive into work.

Now the National Weather Service is forecasting a 40 percent chance of rain falling after 11 a.m., when it will be warmer. Mondays high temperature is forecast to be 53 degrees.

Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 spokesman Bill Clark said the district will be monitoring the weather. There have been no discussions of cancelling school on Monday.

School was cancelled for several days this week following Wednesdays storm, which dropped several inches of snow in areas throughout The T&D Region.

Reported amounts include:

 Cameron -- 5.8 inches

 Bowman -- 3 inches

 Orangeburg -- 2 inches

 Cope  2 inches

 Woodford -- half an inch

 Bamberg -- half an inch

 St. Matthews -- trace or dusting

Unofficial reports from the eastern end of Orangeburg County estimate snowfall totals between 4 inches to 6 inches in areas such as Holly Hill, Eutawville and Vance.

Low temperatures have been in the teens.

It was so cold that SCE&G reported its customers set a new electricity usage record. Customers used more than 103,700 megawatt hours of electricity, surpassing 2014s record of 101,118 megawatt hours.

Cold temperatures will persist throughout the weekend, with Saturdays high expected to reach 38 degrees and the low expected to drop to 16 degrees.

Sundays high is expected to reach 41 degrees, while the overnight low is forecast to be 28 degrees.

Temperatures next week are going to be seasonal with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.
Nebraska Sen. Roy Baker began his last legislative session on Wednesday, and its looking like the budget will be the predominant focus for the second session of the 105th Legislature.

Baker, who represents District 30 of Nebraska, which covers Beatrice and Gage County, as well as parts of Lancaster County, said that the Legislature was just getting revved up with proposed bills.

Over the past week and continuing through the first few days of next week, Nebraska state senators will be putting in new bills for consideration. Then bills will go to the referencing committee which will determine what legislative committee each bill will go to.

Sometime around Jan. 16, Baker said, the senate will start to hold hearings for bills on the floor, and senators will have an opportunity to take up some of the bills they werent able to get to last year.

Because of the revenue shortfall this year, Baker said there are some tough issues to decide on concerning what expenditures will be cut from the budget. Those decisions will be based on reports from the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory board, whose next report is due out in February.

At this point, it looks like there's about $173 million that would have to be chopped and, hopefully, the picture will be a little bit more favorable in February, he said.

What stays and what gets put on the chopping block can be a contentious issue, Baker said.

That's the one predominant issue, I guess, is budget, he said. And then we have people who will make a run again at income tax relief. Then you've got another segment of the legislature saying, 'No, not income tax relief. We want property tax relief.' So, there will be some good debates on the whole idea of tax relief and how you make that work in a year when you're short on revenue.

Add to that the yearly debates on some of the ideological topics like gun control and Medicaid expansion, and the Legislature is in for a lively season.

With the last four years being both his first and last term in office, Baker said that hes learned a lot from his fellow legislators. He came from a 43-year career in education, including a brief stint as interim superintendent of Beatrice Public Schools, which he said helped him in dealing with educational issues. Having a diverse set of backgrounds inside the Legislature is important, Baker said.

Legislators have to know something about everything because hundreds of bills are discussed every year, he said. Oftentimes, bills don't deal with your specific field of expertise. Being able to rely on people with medical backgrounds, legal backgrounds and farming backgrounds to name a few really provided for some good discussion, as well as arguments, he said.

You have to learn how the system works, Baker said. How all the moving parts move together.

At the end of his term next January, Baker said hes planning on moving closer to his children and grandchildren. He and his wife will split their time and live near their son and grandchildren in St. Paul, Minn. during the warmer months and near their older son who lives near Phoenix, Ariz. during the winter.

It's probably not an ideal situation what I'm doing, just going one term, but that's something that I determined, that when the time came, we were going to move to be closer to kids and grandkids, Baker said. Family's the most important thing to me. Unfortunately, that means I just serve four years.

Being a member of the nations only unicameral system of governance and the smallest legislature in the United States means one persons vote has a lot of influence, he said. When youre one of 49 people, one person can make a difference, he said.

Sometimes people ask me what the biggest surprise has been, Baker said. I'd have to say the biggest surprise for me has been how often my vote mattered. Whether a bill passed or didn't.
A Holly Hill man has been accused of pistol-whipping his mothers boyfriend during a July dispute over a vehicles engine.

Daniel James Washington, 27, of 728 Sugar Hill Road, was charged Wednesday with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and pointing and presenting a firearm.

The incident started as the boyfriend was working on Washingtons vehicle on July 25, 2017, according to an Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office incident report.

Washington accused the boyfriend of stealing an engine from a vehicle parked in the yard, the report said. The boyfriend said he didnt take the engine.

The two men continued arguing.

Washington allegedly pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and hit the boyfriend twice in the head.

He allegedly hit the boyfriend in the head six more times, which caused swelling, bruises and bleeding.

The incident report states the victim was bleeding from a cut on the left side of his face near his eye and his left ear.

Orangeburg County EMS transported him to the Regional Medical Center.

Washington appeared before Orangeburg County Chief Magistrate Rob Clariday who set his bonds as follows: assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, $7,500; possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, $2,000; and pointing and presenting a firearm, $5,000.

Washington used a bail bonding service and was released.

If hes convicted on the assault charge, Washington faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has appointed independent board member Dr Khalid Abdullah Al-Souhem as the deputy chairman of the board of directors.

The decision was taken at a board meeting on December 20 at its headquarters in Riyadh, said a statement.

The appointment was made in accordance with the new corporate governance regulations issued by the Capital Market Authority Board on February 13, 2017, the statement said.

The appointment is effective as of December 2017 through the end of the current board session on June 5, 2018.

The meeting was attended by KHC board members Eng Talal Almaiman, chief executive officer; Sarmad Zok, executive director of hotel investments; Mohamed Fahmy, chief financial officer; and non-executive board members Eng Taher Agueel and Dr Khaled Al-Saheem.

The board also accepted the resignation of Eng. Rasha Amer El-Hoshan (independent member), submitted on September 28, and was effective as of December 20. Eng El-Hoshan resigned due to personal reasons, it said.

KHC will continue its dividend policy in the same manner as earlier, it added.

CEO Talal Almaiman presented to the board the companys latest results and highlighted the ongoing successful strategy to further enhance the business and create premium value for shareholders. - TradeArabia News Service
King Salman has ordered extra pay for Saudi government workers and soldiers this year in compensation for rising cost of living after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax (VAT).

Royal orders issued early Saturday restored an annual pay raise for Saudi civil servants, suspended as part of attempts to rein in a hefty public-sector wage bill, reported Bloomberg.

The monarch also ordered a SR5,000 ($1,333) bonus for soldiers fighting in the kingdoms war in Yemen and granted Saudis working for the state an extra SR1,000 a month as a 'cost of living' allowance for a year, it stated.

Saudi citizens, including some prominent writers, took to social media and television to complain about rising prices after the introduction of a 5 per cent VAT as well as a substantial increase in electricity tariffs and gasoline prices as of January 1.

The measures were part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans plan to raise non-oil revenue and repair public finances strained by low oil prices.

Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan, appearing on state television to explain the reasons behind the price increases, struggled to keep up with repeated questions over the impact on citizens.

Calls for the return of annual pay raises for public sector workers were persistently trending on social media, reported the Bloomberg.

King Salman said he issued the orders after Prince Mohammed, his son and heir, explained that the recent measures would increase the burden on some citizens, according to the royal decree published by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The orders also included SR500 extra a month for retirees and social benefits recipients and 10 per cent jump in student allowances besides the government decision to bear the cost of VAT for citizens benefiting from private healthcare and education services.

These handouts will cost the state more than SR50 billion, Saud Al Qahtani, an adviser to the royal court, said on his Twitter account.
Arab Contractors, a leading construction company in the Middle East and Africa, has joined hands with Orascom Construction Company, a global engineering and construction contractor, to build Egypts first primary monorail project in capital Cairo.

Both the companies will work with Canadian Bombardier Company for the construction of the $1.4-billion project, reported Amwal Alghad, citing a top official of state-owned Arab Contractors.

Works will include changing the location of utilities and construction as well as power plants and the installation of tracks, stated the chairman Mohsen Salah.

Earlier, the Egyptian Housing Ministry invited the local construction companies to submit their bids to execute the monorail project.

Orascom had earlier submitted a full study to execute the monorail, said Salah, noting that the project is expected to link between Sixth of October Citys district and Giza.

Established in 1955, Arab Construction also participated in the construction of the Aswan High Dam, a dam built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt.

In addition, the company was involved in the construction of several government buildings in Egypt.
Bahrain's Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf held a meeting with the members of Shura Councils Financial and Economic Affairs Committee to discuss the projects being implemented and those in the design and tendering stages.



The minister stated that the meeting was part of the communication and integration between the two parties, which serves the public interest and contributes to strengthening collaboration on all levels.



Besides discussing means of collaboration with the legislative power, the meeting referred to the projects and programmes that seek to configure infrastructure based on the best international standards, said the statement from the ministry.



Al Khalaf said the meeting also put the focus on the latest roads and sanitary projects, and projects included within the Gulf Support Programme.



The attendees discussed the ministrys collaboration with the Traffic General Directorate, regarding plans and projects contributing to alleviating traffic congestions. They also shed light on the pros of the ministrys system (Tawasul), which is considered a tool to improve performance and services.



Works Affairs Undersecretary Ahmed Al Khayyat highlighted the ministrys preparations for the rainy season and touched upon the most important stormwater drainage networks projects, said the statement.



The meeting also referred to the support extended by the ministry for the development of marine resources, fishermen support, construction and development of fishing harbours, in addition to aspects related to agriculture; being an vital pillar for sustainable development and food security, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
In 2016, Dubai witnessed an overall growth of 9.5 per cent in the number of medical and health tourists in Dubai, a senior official from the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said on Monday.



The emirate received a total of 326,649 international medical tourists, a majority of whom came from Asia (37 per cent), followed by Arab and GCC (31 per cent) and Europe (15 per cent).



Orthopaedic, dermatology and ophthalmology were the most sought medical and health tourism specialties. However, Dubai is also well known for cosmetic, dental and fertility treatments.



Revenue generated from international patients was worth over Dh1 billion ($272.2 million), reinforcing the growing contribution of the sector to the national GDP.



Dr. Layla Mohamed Al Marzouqi, Director - The Health Tourism Council, DHA, said: Our goal is to continue to position Dubai as the prime destination for health tourism through a combination of world class infrastructure, cutting edge technology and expert medical practitioners."



"We believe that Dubai has what it takes to become the preferred destination for medical and health treatments, and our objective now is to create wider awareness about the facilities and services that DXH Group members provide and showcase the length and breadth of their expertise to an international audience.



With the availability of modern technology and infrastructure, each patient can investigate and arrange healthcare facilities remotely using a trusted website and medical facilitators.



DXH.ae, the official health tourism website of Dubai, gets average of 10,000 visitors on a monthly basis looking for various types of information to help identify desired medical treatment.



The website also provides medical tourists the opportunity to compare and choose from over 400 healthcare packages that are designed to meet each individuals requirement. The packages clearly outline the cost, inclusions, and exclusions. The comprehensive packages listed on the portal combine both leisure and health including, hotel accommodation, visa and insurance along with the selected medical treatments. The portal also offers options to request an appointment and 24X7 live chat.



Dubais strategy for health tourism is designed to keeps the interests of the patient at heart. It includes a charter of patient's rights and responsibilities with which medical tourists can understand their rights before arriving in Dubai for healthcare.



Additionally, DHA has created a medical complaints procedure for anyone with a medical related complain for health professional or facility in Dubai. The process has been designed to address issues based on the level of severity, and provide families with a clean timetable for resolution.



To facilitate the arrival of medical tourists, the DHA works with a third party company to provide coverage. This policy, according to the DHA, is an important "safety net" in the event of any unforeseen complications that may arise from treatment in the emirate.



Linda Abdullah, consultant - The Healthy Tourism Council, DHA said: We have recently broadened our portfolio to include health and wellness, in order to attract the tourist seeking a holistic wellness experience. We want health tourists to embrace their wellness journey in the city of Dubai , via our wellness offerings that include preventive health screenings, DNA tests, detox and weight loss programs, anti- aging treatments ,diabetes management and alternative medicines to name few."



Dubai has around 3,000 private health facilities ranging from hospitals, specialised clinics to day-surgery centres with around 35,000 health specialists from more than 110 different nationalities working in the sector.



These numbers are expected to grow to 40,000 specialists and 4,000 health centres by 2020. -

In 2016, Dubai witnessed an overall growth of 9.5 per cent in the number of medical and health tourists in Dubai, a senior official from the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said on Monday.



The emirate received a total of 326,649 international medical tourists, a majority of whome came from Asia (37 per cent), followed by Arab and GCC (31 per cent) and Europe (15 per cent).



Orthopaedic, dermatology and ophthalmology were the most sought medical and health tourism specialties. However, Dubai is also well known for cosmetic, dental and fertility treatments.



Revenue generated from international patients was worth over Dh1 billion ($272.2 million), reinforcing the growing contribution of the sector to the national GDP.



Dr. Layla Mohamed Al Marzouqi, Director - The Health Tourism Council, DHA commented: Our goal is to continue to position Dubai as the prime destination for health tourism through a combination of world class infrastructure, cutting edge technology and expert medical practitioners."



"We believe that Dubai has what it takes to become the preferred destination for medical and health treatments, and our objective now is to create wider awareness about the facilities and services that DXH Group members provide and showcase the length and breadth of their expertise to an international audience.



With the availability of modern technology and infrastructure, each patient can investigate and arrange healthcare facilities remotely using a trusted website and medical facilitators.



DXH.ae, the official health tourism website of Dubai, gets average of 10,000 visitors on a monthly basis looking for various types of information to help identify desired medical treatment.



The website also provides medical tourists the opportunity to compare and choose from over 400 healthcare packages that are designed to meet each individuals requirement. The packages clearly outline the cost, inclusions, and exclusions. The comprehensive packages listed on the portal combine both leisure and health including, hotel accommodation, visa and insurance along with the selected medical treatments. The portal also offers options to request an appointment and 24X7 live chat.



Dubais strategy for health tourism is designed to keeps the interests of the patient at heart. It includes a charter of patient's rights and responsibilities with which medical tourists can understand their rights before arriving in Dubai for healthcare.



Additionally, DHA has created a medical complaints procedure for anyone with a medical related complain for health professional or facility in Dubai. The process has been designed to address issues based on the level of severity, and provide families with a clean timetable for resolution.



To facilitate the arrival of medical tourists, the DHA works with a third party company to provide coverage. This policy, according to the DHA, is an important "safety net" in the event of any unforeseen complications that may arise from treatment in the emirate.



Linda Abdullah, consultant - The Healthy Tourism Council, DHA said: We have recently broadened our portfolio to include health and wellness, in order to attract the tourist seeking a holistic wellness experience. We want health tourists to embrace their wellness journey in the city of Dubai , via our wellness offerings that include preventive health screenings, DNA tests, detox and weight loss programs, anti- aging treatments ,diabetes management and alternative medicines to name few."



Dubai has around 3,000 private health facilities ranging from hospitals, specialised clinics to day-surgery centres with around 35,000 health specialists from more than 110 different nationalities working in the sector.



These numbers are expected to grow to 40,000 specialists and 4,000 health centres by 2020. - TrradeArabia News Service
Airbus has finalised agreements with India-based Indigo Partners and its four portfolio airlines for the purchase of 430 additional A320neo Family aircraft for ultra-low-cost airlines.



Airbus has finalised agreements with Indigo Partners and its four portfolio airlines for the purchase of 430 additional A320neo Family aircraft for ultra-low-cost airlines Frontier Airlines (United States), JetSMART (Chile), Volaris (Mexico) and Wizz Air (Hungary).



The signed purchase agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding among the parties announced at the Dubai Air Show last month.



The 430-aircraft order is made up of 274 A320neos and 156 A321neos worth $49.5 billion at list prices. Airlines in the Indigo Partners family had previously placed orders for a total of 427 A320 Family aircraft.



These customer-friendly and efficient A320neo Family aircraft form a great platform for continued growth for our family of ultra-low-cost airlines, said Bill Franke, managing partner of Indigo Partners. The Indigo Partners team looks forward to creating even more value for even more passengers around the world with these modern and efficient aircraft.



John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer, Customers, added, Bill Franke and the teams from Wizz, Volaris, JetSMART and Frontier are great partners, and the global Airbus team is very proud to continue to meet their growing needs for aircraft that provide value, reliability and comfort. The A320neo Family offers the lowest operating costs, longest range and most spacious cabin in the single-aisle aircraft market, making the NEO a great choice for these low-cost airlines in the Americas and Europe.



The aircraft ordered today are a mix of A320neos and A321neos and will be delivered to the individual airlines as follows:



Wizz - 72 A320neo, 74 A321neo

Frontier - 100 A320neo, 34 A321neo

JetSMART - 56 A320neo, 14 A321neo

Volaris - 46 A320neo, 34 A321neo



Indigo Partners Franke indicated that engine selections will be made at a later date.



The A320neo Family incorporates the very latest technologies, including new generation engines and Sharklet wing-tip devices, which together will deliver 20 percent fuel savings by 2020. With more than 5,800 orders received from 98 customers since its launch in 2010, the A320neo Family has captured some 60 percent market share.



Indigo Partners, based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA is a private equity fund focused on worldwide investments in air transportation.  TradeArabia News Service


Turkish Airlines has signed a non-binding agreement with Airbus on a potential order for 25 A350-900 mid-size wide-body long-haul aircraft.



The agreement was signed at the Elysee Palace, Paris, during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans official visit to France.



The A350 XWB is an all new family of mid-size wide-body long-haul airliners shaping the future of air travel. It features the latest aerodynamic design, carbon fiber fuselage and wings, plus new fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce engines, said a statement from Turkish Airlines.



Together, these latest technologies translate into unrivalled levels of operational efficiency, with a 25 per cent reduction in fuel burn and emissions, and significantly lower maintenance costs, it stated.



"With Turkish Airlines serving more destinations than any other airline around the world, we will be delighted to rely on our new A350 XWB to further develop our major international routes from Turkey," remarked M. Ilker Ayci, the chairman of the board and the executive committee, Turkish Airlines, after signing the deal in the presence of Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron.



"With this agreement today, we have signed our good will to carry on and finalize the acquisition with Airbus. Our agreement is a significant step forward in enhancing our passengers flight experience. This order is set to play a key role in our growing business in the years to come," stated Ayci.



According to him, the A350 XWB features an airspace cabin which, on top of the aircraft spaciousness and quietness, provides better ambience, design and services, contributing to superior levels of comfort and well-being, and setting new standards in terms of flight experience for all passengers.



"As we will be strictly evaluating during the talks to finalize the order, furthermore the increased business volume for the local Turkish supplier industry by Airbus will be a great gain for the sector," he noted.



Turkey, he stated, is an integral part of the Airbus supply chain for almost 20 years, being a partner in all Airbus aircraft programmes, including the prestigious A350 XWB.



While Airbus focusses on the continued development of long-term cooperation projects with Turkey, the Turkish aeronautical industries progressively have embarked and built-up a remarkable portfolio of high capabilities and skills over the last 10 years, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Welcome to Transfigurations! This blog is intended to serve the orthodox Anglican community and the wider Christian community. We pray that all that is posted here will be faithful to the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, speak the truth in love, edify, bless and transform this local body of Christ, and be an impetus for revival, repentance, prayer and intercession!
This past month a completely unknown and unproven company called Blackjewel, LLC bought two of Wyomings oldest and biggest coal mines. More particularly, they were given the mines in exchange for assuming their cleanup risks and some hypothetical future royalties. They acquired the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines near Gillette from another new and unproven company called Contura Energy, spawned just last year when Alpha Natural Resources went through bankruptcy and spun off what it called its crown jewel Wyoming assets. Now the crown jewels arent looking so shiny and Contura is unloading them at a loss because these mines are liabilities. Instead, Contura will concentrate on its metallurgical coal business in the East.

Hopefully, the one thing that should not be a problem going forward is bonding to assure clean up and reclamation of the mines. Thanks to a settlement agreement with the Department of Interior during Alphas bankruptcy, Contura wasnt allowed to self-bond. Instead of continuing to hide, as Alpha had done, behind the chimera of a self-guarantee  really nothing more than an uncollectible IOU  Contura was forced to back Eagle Butte and Belle Ayrs reclamation work with surety bonds and letters of credit from third-party financial institutions. Blackjewel should be required to do the same as a condition of the sale before the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) lets them take over the mine permits. This would insure there will be money available for reclamation jobs if Blackjewel were to walk away from its cleanup obligations while these bonds are still in effect.

The recent history of the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal mines demonstrates one thing: their cleanup liabilities are nearly as high as (and possibly higher than) their value as operating mines. This loudly underscores that Wyoming regulators must not continue to allow self-bonding.

If uncertainties and a down market continue to plague the coal industry as economists nearly unanimously predict, self-bonds will remain worthless promises and Wyoming will pay the price. Unless Wyoming prohibits them now, the next time mines change hands and weaker and weaker mine owners go bankrupt, we will not be so lucky.

Self-bonding has no place in a regulatory scheme that was created to ensure the worst-case never happens. Taxpayers were never meant to be left holding the bag for hundreds of millions of dollars in reclamation work. Americas coal mining regulations were born in the late 1970s when abandoned and un-reclaimed mines were strewn across the country. Congress created an abandoned mine land fee to clean up past messes and required reclamation bonds to prevent future mines from being abandoned without reclamation. But the law also contained a loophole allowing states to accept self-bonds in the place of reliable third-party guarantees. Although Montana and other states showed the foresight to prohibit self-bonding, Wyoming became the No. 1 user in the country of self-bonding IOUs. Three years ago when Alpha, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal all declared bankruptcy, there was more than $2.4 billion of reclamation work in our state not covered by collectible insurance.

With the lessons of these bankruptcies fresh in our memory, DEQ is considering an important step to update Wyomings reclamation bond rules. The update proposes to remove loopholes that allow companies to qualify for self-bonds when they really shouldnt. DEQs proposed rules are an important change that would reduce risk to our citizens and our state treasury. Unfortunately, there will always be some risk from self-bonding until Wyoming totally eliminates the practice. As DEQ moves forward with their new rules, the agency needs to eliminate ALL self-bonding for ALL new coalmine permits and ALL permit renewals. Colorado has recently taken steps to limit self-bonding after the Peabody and Arch bankruptcies, and Wyoming should follow their example.

Bankruptcy will likely continue to be part of the industrys future as coals market share continues to decline. Like it or not, coal just cant compete the way it once did because cheap natural gas is more abundant than ever, and renewable energy is getting less expensive every day. As this new normal plays out in Wyoming and across the nation, we need to make sure taxpayers are protected, mine reclamation is assured and reclamation jobs are available, no matter what happens to mine owners. I hope our DEQ is up to the challenge and hope their updated rules and practices truly achieve these goals. But well see.
Casper, Wyoming / January 1, 2018

Brett M. Hede died on January 1, 2018 at the age of 63 following a two year battle with cancer.

He was born in Powell, WY and the family moved to Casper in 1961. In 1965 Brett joined the Casper Troopers and enjoyed performing with the corp until the end of summer in 1972. Following his graduation from Kelly Walsh high school he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. He was discharged in 1976 at the rank of second class electronics technician. Upon discharge Brett returned to Casper and joined his family in their photography business, Hede Photographers, Inc. He closed the business in 2010 after thirty-four years of operation.

Brett had two sons, Nick and Adam. In 1987 he married the love of his life, Judi Blair. She also had a son, Jeff, which he adopted. They enjoyed 30 wonderful years together along with their children and pets.

Brett was a kind soul and was one of those people who was liked by everyone. He had a strong work ethic and excelled at any job put before him. He had a great sense of humor and had fun scaring people with plastic snakes and spiders hiding in desk drawers.

He was a long time Christian and the family looks forward to the day when they will all be reunited.

Brett leaves behind his loving wife Judi; sons, Nick (Lizzy) and their children, Katherine, Geneva, and Arthur of Casper, Adam (Erica) of Marana, AZ, and Jeff of Cheyenne. He also leaves another granddaughter, Ashley Hede-Gilstrap of Casper, and his brother, Bob of Lander.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Mitzi Coupens.

Private services have been held.
LAS VEGAS  Rocky Mountains snowpack that feeds Colorado River water supplies was 20 percent below average in December in some areas, prompting a prediction that the key water source for seven U.S. states could flow at 54 percent of its average volume during the April-July snowpack runoff period.

The conditions issued by the National Weather Services Colorado Basin River Forecast Center could improve if more snow falls but that winter precipitation so far has been far below normal.

The river is a critical water source for Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Lake Meads surface has dropped more than 130 feet since drought descended on the Colorado in 2000. But the lake that sits upstream from Hoover Dam east of Las Vegas ended 2017 almost 2 feet higher than a year ago, as use of Colorado River water by Nevada, Arizona and California hit its lowest level since 1992.

According to preliminary accounting figures from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, those three states consumed a combined 6.7 million acre-feet from the river last year, driven by wet conditions in California and widening efforts to curb use in Arizona.

That left enough water in Lake Mead to keep it more than 7 feet above the trigger point for a federal shortage declaration, which would mean mandatory cuts for river users in Nevada and Arizona.

The federal projections released last month called for Lake Mead to finish 2018 roughly 4 feet lower than it is now but still safely out of shortage territory. In light of Wednesdays river forecast, the projections for the lake are almost certain to get worse.

Colorado River author and expert John Fleck said the reduction in consumption is impressive considering the population in the areas served by the river has grown by about 7 million people since 1992.

Its a sign that we are succeeding in using less water in the Lower Colorado Basin, said Fleck, director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Its critical that were learning to do this, because this isnt enough. . Were going to have to do it more, he told said.

California was able to cut its river use by more than 440,000 acre-feet last year, in large part because of huge snow accumulations in the Sierra Nevada that helped refill the states drought-depleted reservoirs and above-average precipitation elsewhere that reduced water demand.

Fleck said Arizona cut its river use by almost 360,000 acre-feet mostly to stave off more substantial, mandatory cuts in the future.

Arizona has been cranking down their use to try to avoid a shortage, he said.

Nevada used about 239,000 acre-feet of its 300,000 acre-foot allocation in 2017, an increase of roughly 2 percent over the previous year.

Bronson Mack, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said water use went up slightly last year because of increased economic activity and the addition of more water customers. Hotter, drier weather also might have played a part, he said.

One acre-foot of water is enough to supply two average for a little more than a year.

Most of Nevadas river water goes to supply about 90 percent of the water consumed by the Las Vegas Valleys 2 million residents and 40 million annual visitors.
A councilman is calling on community members to speak up if they witness suspicious activity.

A shooting incident like the one that recently occurred in Colorado could also happen in Wyoming, which is why everyone must be vigilant about reporting abnormal behavior, said Casper City Councilman Chris Walsh at Tuesdays meeting.

A gunman in a Denver suburb shot two civilians and five police officers who were responding to a disturbance at an apartment complex on Dec. 26. Zackari Parrish, a 29-year-old deputy, was killed by the assailant.

The key point is that we see this time and time again and its always the mental illness thing that comes to the forefront, said Walsh. Neighbors know about it, and people know about it, and they dont say anything.

People might be worried about being labeled a bigot or racist, but everyone has a responsibility to speak up if they have concerns, and those who do not are part of the problem, said Walsh.

Explaining that he and the shooter were in the same National Guard unit a few years ago, Councilman Shawn Johnson said the man appeared completely normal back then.

I think we treat mental health issues in the wrong way in this nation overall, he said. I think we look at incarceration over treatment, and its a culture change that needs to happen.

***

Wyomings reputation was also discussed Tuesday night. Vice mayor Charlie Powell said the state should work on improving its image in 2018.

Its a little scary sometimes to read what people outside of our state say about us...We are viewed as backward, possibly racist and certainly sexist, said Powell.

This reputation affects the states economy because it prevents new businesses and residents from moving to the area, he explained.

The vice mayor said he sometimes votes in favor of what others view as unnecessary expenditures but believes its important to ensure that Casper is attractive and inviting. That way, when people visit, they can see that their previous perceptions of the state are incorrect, he explained.

***

Councilman Bob Hopkins also expressed irritation with irresponsible pet owners Tuesday night. Residents have complained to the councilman that people arent picking up after their dogs along 200 East Second Street.

Its a mess, especially when we have snow and ice, said Hopkins, adding that it counts as littering, carries a fine.

Hopkins said council should consider placing anti-littering signs in the area, as well as bag dispensers.
Firefighters extinguished a small fire at a Casper business Friday, according to a press release from Casper Fire-EMS. The building was unoccupied, and no injuries were reported.

The department responded to reports of smoke at 1402 E. Second St. at 9:46 p.m. They found smoke and flames coming from the roof, according to the release.

A small fire around a heating unit was quickly extinguished. The structure sustained minor damage, and the business is expected to be able to operate normally, according to the release.

The cause is under investigation. Initial findings indicated the heating unit malfunctioned.

The Casper Fire-EMS Department passes along the following educational messages: Keep any flammable materials at least three feet from heating equipment. All heating equipment should be installed and annually inspected and maintained by a qualified professional.
A man wanted for allegedly murdering a woman on Thursday in northern Wyoming was found by law enforcement in Mills, according to a Lovell Police Department news release.

Donald Joe Crouse, 48, is currently in custody and faces first-degree murder charges, according to the release.

Police in Lovell went to an apartment on Thursday for a welfare check and found Carol Jean Barnes, 49, of Cowley dead inside, the release states. She was killed sometime in the afternoon or evening of the same day.

Crouse was arrested in Mills after a search by the Lovell Police Department, The Big Horn County Sheriffs Office and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. The release did not specify when Crouse was taken into custody and Lovell police declined to answer additional questions.

A Natrona County Sheriffs Office spokesman declined to comment when reached about the case.

Police said Crouse and Barnes were previously in a relationship of an unspecified nature.

Our thoughts, prayers and sympathy are extended to the victims family and loved ones, Lovell police Chief Dan Laffin wrote in the release.

Lovell police continue to work with local and state agencies, though the nature of that work was not specified.
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo.  A Colorado sheriffs deputy killed by a man with a history of mental health problems tried to help the gunman before being shot, his boss said Friday at a funeral that drew law enforcement officers from around the state and elsewhere.

Up until the moment he died, he was pleading with the man, Let me talk to you, let me help you and then the killer killed him, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said of Deputy Zackari Parrish, 29, relaying what he heard on audio from body camera footage of the Sunday shooting.

Spurlock said he never heard anyone deal more calmly with such a situation.

Parrish and three other deputies were shot after being called to the home of Matthew Riehl, an Army veteran and former Wyoming lawyer, for the second time early on New Years Eve. The others managed to get away but were not able to take Parrish with them.

Riehl was later killed by a SWAT team in a gunfight that also wounded another officer. Two people in nearby units were also wounded.

A long motorcade of law enforcement officers escorted the hearse carrying Parrishs body to Cherry Hills Community Church in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, not far from the apartment complex where he was killed.

The procession along Interstate 25 was led by about 80 officers on motorcycles and ended with bagpipers and drummers escorting the hearse to the church.

Along the way, saluting firefighters stood atop a fire truck and others watched on overpasses and along streets. In two spots, large American flags were hung from ladder trucks.

Parrish leaves behind a wife, Gracie, and two young daughters.

He left a career in banking to pursue one in law enforcement. Spurlock and others who spoke said he loved his job, was passionate about serving others and had a knack for connecting with people.

His former boss, Castle Rock police Chief Jack Cauley, recalled how Parrish held a child so he would not see a parent being handcuffed.

Riehl had been hospitalized at a VA psychiatric ward in Wyoming in 2014, and at one point he was placed under a 72-hour mental health hold, but his records did not show any military service-related psychiatric disorders, according to a VA document.

The mental health hold was likely just to keep him under observation and probably would not have made it illegal for him to buy guns, FBI spokesman Stephen G. Fischer Jr. said Friday.

Police at the University of Wyoming, where Riehl attended law school, began investigating him in October over some social media posts, including a vague threat to shoot someone.

The following month they were concerned enough to contact police in Lone Tree, Colorado, where his family lives.
Shannon Hills face said it all. When she walked into Thermopolis Middle on Friday morning, she did not think she would come away with $25,000.

She was frozen for a second, said Greg Gallagher of the Milken Family Foundation, which presented the teacher with a surprise national teaching award and the money that came with it.

I was completely shocked and overwhelmed all at the same time, Hill said, still laughing incredulously, nearly two hours after she received the award. I just couldnt believe it was me.

In a video of the ceremony, state Superintendent Jillian Balow stands at a lectern and asks the assembled students for a drum roll. The entire assembly was a ruse: The students and staff gathered in the gym thinking they were going to receive a schoolwide award. The winner was a secret, known to few in Wyoming.

Then the gathered students and staff were told it was a teaching award for someone in the room. The drum roll began. Being middle schoolers, the students didnt miss the opportunity to make some noise.

As the human drum roll rose, Balow announced Hills name.

Hill slowly stood from the bleachers, cupped her hands over her mouth, and then, almost in a smiling stupor, she made her way down to the gym floor, where Balow and other educators waited for her, grinning and holding a jumbo-sized check.

The award had been completely secret: The Hot Springs School District superintendent, Dustin Hunt, found out Hill had won in September, and he was sworn to secrecy. Hills husband didnt know until she called him Friday. He was proud of his wife, she said, and then she told him how much the check was for.

As staff and students looked on, the prize was first announced as a $250 check. Then officials added a zero. Finally, it was announced that the real prize was $25,000.

Then the drum roll, and Hills name rang out.

I thought it would be our eighth-grade math teacher, Hill said afterward, laughing again.

Shes in her sixth year at the middle school, where she teaches health and physical education. She was Wyomings first winner of the Milken Educator Award in some time, Balow said, and was one of 44 winners nationwide.

In addition to her check, Hill won a trip to Washington, D.C., and inclusion in an exclusive club of past Milken winners.

The award was a needed bit of good news in Wyomings education community, which has grappled with cuts amid a funding crisis. A number of legislators, including Senate President Eli Bebout, have criticized districts and said the state isnt receiving an acceptable return on its substantial education spending.

But Hills award was a pushback on that, she said.

The work that teachers are doing day in and day out, before school, after school, we dont do it for recognition. We dont do it for the big checks, she said. Teachers work so hard, just with that mindset of bettering each student, making sure students are successful and living the best life that they can.

She praised her colleagues repeatedly and said she couldnt do her job without their daily support.

Hill was surprised she won partially because her area of teaching doesnt have a way to really measure success. There arent statewide tests that can be tracked, results that she can point to as tangible evidence that shes doing well.

That those stats dont exist and Hill won anyway is a testament to her ability, Hunt, the superintendent, said.

You cant really put a graph on what she does in a school, he said, adding that she was a pillar of the Thermopolis community. But shes a leader and exudes excellence.

Hill works hard to keep students active during and after school, even into the summer. Still, shes trying to figure out why she won.

Thats what I keep asking myself, she said. I know the work that I do. ... You know, my colleagues, they work just as hard as I do. Im trying to implement our PE program into summer programs. I have a summer program where I take kids hiking and biking.

But how did Milken, a national organization, hear about a PE teacher in Thermopolis, Wyoming? How did a teacher serving a school district of less than 700 students become a winner, especially when the organization doesnt accept recommendations or applications?

Balow said shed spoken with the Milken people and that one of her goals since taking office was to produce a Wyoming winner. Gallagher said the organization worked with a blue ribbon panel to help identify possible educators. Finalists are found, and a panel of educators and others helps decide.

Balow hopes that Hills win will mean more Milken awards will come to Wyoming in the coming years.

Please take a look at Wyoming, she remembers telling Milken officials. Wyoming has just not been on their radar.

But she says she worked hard to re-establish a relationship with the organization and hopes that Wyoming has blipped back into their minds.

As for Hill, she was still in shock. Overwhelmed was a frequent word.

Then, of course, is the question of what shes going to do with the money.

Thats what my daughter keeps asking me, she said. Her daughter is a fifth-grader who was in attendance when her mom won. My first thought was just to give back to the school and see what we can do.

She paused.

Obviously I wont spend it all on the school, she continued. I just feel overwhelmed. The amount of money is nothing I would ever imagine.
Nothing has been normal for Casper native Travis Ziehl since driving to work on Dec. 8.

While driving 55 mph down the highway to his Jackson business, Ziehl had a seizure. His muscles contracted. He lost consciousness. Suddenly, his truck veered across four lanes, charged across a field and crashed into the side of a house, hitting a gas line.

Miraculously, nobody else was injured, Ziehls wife, Monika, said. But the couple had more challenges ahead.

After the accident, Travis was conscious long enough to ask staff at St. Johns Hospital to call Monika, who arrived within minutes from her job at Jackson Hole Trust Company. But then Travis had another seizure and fell unconscious again. Later that day, he flew via air ambulance to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. The Jackson hospital did not have a neurologist, and Travis needed one.

He was three nights in Idaho Falls, Monika said. Originally we were just told that it was a cyst on his brain, and that it was a case of figuring out the right meds and he should be fine.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

He never got better, and his symptoms just kind of kept getting worse, Monika said. He was having micro seizures at home and we ended up back in the ER in Jackson.

The next day, the couple was back in Idaho Falls. The neurologist there increased his meds, again.

On Dec. 30, Travis underwent a scheduled followup MRI at St. Johns. Thats when they got the news.

We were not expecting any results that day at all, and the radiologist at St. Johns gave us the news that he has a PXA brain tumor, Monika said.

In shock, the couple took immediate action. Within days, they secured an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where Travis will undergo surgery sometime in the near future. Despite the uncertainty, Travis remains in good spirits, Monika said.

I am feeling much more relieved now that we are actually here, she said. The fear was that his condition would worsen and he wouldnt be able to travel.

Monika said his symptoms are kind of alarming. The numbness in his face is getting worse. Hes very sensitive to sound and light. Hes more confused and struggles to speak.

He seems to get kind of easily frustrated and gets tired pretty easily, but I think hes doing remarkably well considering what hes been through, Monika said.

While the couple waits for more information, their friends and family have been raising money for Travis medical expenses. Although the Ziehls live in Jackson, Travis grew up in Casper, where he attended Natrona County High School and Casper College before working at Hogadon Ski Area and Natrona County Weed and Pest.

Monikas sister, Erika Edmiston in Jackson, started a GoFundMe account on Wednesday with a goal of $50,000 for medical expenses. By noon on Friday, 149 people had donated $17,083.

Earlier Friday, Monika was unaware that so much had been raised.

He is such a kind and thoughtful and giving person, she said. I am so amazed at the amount of people who have come forward to show kindness and love and generosity back towards us. Hes always been the kind of person who just puts everything aside to help somebody else.

And as for Monika, shes hanging in there.

Sleep has been really hard to come by, she said. Im running on very little sleep over the last month. Its been really tough. It doesnt even feel like were living our life.
A Montana judge has temporarily restricted wolf hunting and trapping near Yellowstone and Glacier national parks and imposed tighter statewide limits on killing the predators. Wildlife advocates sued last month claiming that looser hunting rules adopted in the Republican-controlled state could harm wolf populations. State District Court Judge Christopher Abbott on Tuesday ordered officials to reimpose rules from 2020 that allow the killing of only five wolves per person, instead of 20, and forbid the use of snares for trapping. Abbott also limited hunting and trapping near the national parks. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte criticized the ruling, saying he thinks the judge overstepped his bounds. But state wildlife officials have pledged to comply with the order.
CHEYENNE In 1977, the cash was flowing into Wyomings coffers from the coal boom in the Powder River Basin.

The future was bright as the state with its mercurial feast-or-famine economy entered another boom.

People flocked to Wyoming for the jobs.

In 1975, the states population was 374,000, an increase of nearly 42,000 from the 1970 census.

Democratic Gov. Ed Herschler predicted the state would have 750,000 residents by 1985.

The prospect of the states population doubling in the next eight years alarmed many residents.

How, they wanted to know, could the state absorb that many people? How would it affect the uncrowded way of life they treasured?

In his 1977 book, Wyoming, University of Wyoming historian T.A. Larson said that the state was facing a challenge and also an opportunity to demonstrate what America could have been if planners and developers had traded short term profits for long term gains.

It is possible that Wyoming could emerge from its primitive isolation but in such a way that its greatest values are preserved and its old way of life left for those who chose to follow it, he wrote.

Development does not necessarily have to be a story of unmitigated unrelieved disaster. While it appears that the people of Wyoming are going to have to sacrifice in part some of the things they value most there is still hope that much can be salvaged. The doubling of population by 1985 may not, after all, occur.

And the doubling didnt occur. By 1985, the population was a tad under 500,000.

Today Wyoming is again leaking folks and is ranked as the state with the smallest number of people, thus cementing its reputation as The Big Empty.

Last year the state lost more than 6,500 residents and now has about 579,000 total.

According to historian Phil Roberts, Wyoming has had to struggle since it was a territory to increase the population.

Wyoming has always had the need for more people, he said last week in an interview.

In 1890, when Wyoming was hoping to become the 44th state, the minimum population required by law was 60,000 people.

Joseph M. Carey, Wyomings territorial delegate to Congress claimed that 125,000 people lived in Wyoming.

A member of Congress challenged that figure, saying he had been through Wyoming on a train and saw only small dusty towns with very few people.

Careys questionable explanation was that most of the people did not live along the UP railroad line but were in the more scenic northern part of the state.

In an attempt to settle the debate over population, Territorial Governor Frances Warren did his own head count and said it showed sufficient numbers for statehood.

Wyoming officially became a state on July 10, 1890. The 1890 census was taken in April that year. It wasnt published until two years later. It showed Wyoming had 62,555 people, hardly a population explosion but enough to become state and to support Warrens head count.

Roberts said it wasnt clear what would have happened if the number had been under 60,000. It is doubtful, however, that congress would have rescinded Wyomings statehood.

During the period before World War I, Roberts said, there was considerable boosterism in Wyoming with business leaders expecting exponential growth during the 20th century.

One overly optimistic prediction was that the state would have one million residents by the year 2000.

The business community has always been well aware that population growth means an increase in economic activity.

The newspapers helped promote development. In 1920, the Cody Enterprise boasted that with the increase in mineral activity the city could become another Pittsburgh, Roberts said.

State leaders, meanwhile, have been pushing the notion of economic diversification since statehood without much success.

Its been a vicious cycle. Every time we had a boom, the leaders of the state said this was not the time to diversify, Roberts said. In the bust time, they said there was no money to diversify.

As for Larsons hope for the 1977 boom, short-term profits won out again. The bust came in the 1980s and it was a dandy.
As a new class of students enters the biology classroom, the teacher cannot know what answers are in the minds of the students concerning Earths beginning, origin of life or the causes of lifes variations. These are questions open to scientific inquiry that may have been previously answered with ready answers of religions.

My science-teaching career began at Monticello High School in Monticello, Utah. I replaced a science teacher who had trouble building rapport with students. He told me students in his biology class walked out when he began the study of evolution. And to the south, in the small town of Blanding, the biology teacher said he skipped that chapter.

The Next Generation Science Standards, now in many Wyoming schools, were developed by a consortium of 26 states, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Research Council. Core Idea SS4 in Life Science standards says: Biological evolution explains both the unity and diversity of species and provides a unifying principle for the history and diversity of life on Earth. It is supported by extensive scientific evidence ranging from the fossil record to genetic relationships among species.

In Monticello, teaching biological evolution to students of Life Science and Earth Science classes was smooth sailing for me. Rapport with the students helped. After I left the school, 12th graders called me back to give their graduation commencement address. But later, as principal of the junior high school in Blanding, the vice president of the school board confronted me about posters I hung in a school hallway depicting world problems of overpopulation and limited natural resources. I showed her the issue was covered in the state adopted texts we used in Life Science and Earth Science classes. I told her, Beyond sparsely populated San Juan County there were world problems because of too many people and too few resources. Students of this district should know about controversial concepts, like evolution of life. She replied, Do you believe that too? Most religions have explanations about lifes beginning. Religious doctrine presented as science doesnt mix. Science comes from another process.

Nearly 160 years after publication of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, for some, controversy rages on. The idea that by survival of the fittest species survive and change is unacceptable. For science it was unequivocally the most important discovery of the 19th century. Its most fundamental support was the greatest discovery of the 20th century: DNA and what genes really are, how they function and mutate, allows natural selection.

Perhaps you have read The Fish Within Us by Neil Shubin. The author goes to all ends of the earth, literally, to acquire the best evidence about our anatomical and physiological links with earths early life and life today.

For example, the Devonian Period, 419 million years ago, is known as the Age of Fishes. Many kinds of fish came into being. Paleontologists know many aquatic environments existed and fish met these environments, including shallow seas that interfaced with land. To live in both environments was a distinct advantage. Shubins team went to Ellesmere Island, 1,000 miles from the North Pole where there is an exposure of Devonian sediments of a once shallow freshwater sea. A student of his team found fossils of a fish now known as Tiktaalik, that had appendages with the basic structure of amphibians that today manage land and water environments. Shubins book isnt only about anatomical links of fishes and us. It looks at physiological links. A DNA segment (gene) that evolved millions of years ago continues today to stimulate development of fish eyes, salamander eyes and all land vertebrate eyes.

Success in teaching evolution in Monticello was to separate the subject from religion. Students knew I was not teaching religion. In that small Utah town, where life in all of its dimensions is around LDS church teachings, to persuade the students, and parents too, that understanding evolution was important, is a proud accomplishment. To keep evolution science in the classroom and not to mix it with religion is not to say that understanding evolution doesnt affect students religious thinking.

For species, thousands of survival systems have evolved. Average weight for adult blue whales is over 200,000 pounds. Its heart alone is as large as a small car. It survives by filtering tiny krill crustaceans. A small bat may weigh 1 ounce. It survives by bouncing sound waves off of insects in the air, to locate and eat them. Such ideas may be stupefying but no less than the time element for evolution. Whales and bats are mammals and genetically more alike than bats and moths. Long before bats arrived, moths were on another tangent.

Organisms have evolved survival systems and we are not the pinnacle of evolution with our enlarged cerebrum. Understanding evolution affects ones worldview and self view also. Thus, understanding evolution may alter religious views.
NOGALES  The road turns from a dusty brown to a deep, red clay along the road to Buena Vista Ranch, where cattle rancher Dean Fish raises commercial cattle.

Green vegetation dots the desert for miles from Fishs ranch headquarters to the ranchs edge on the Arizona-Mexico border. Black Angus cattle dip their heads to grab another bite of mesquite.

Fish works to bring sustainable cattle raising from the fringes to the mainstream, conserving water and maintaining pasture health to make the land more productive. He marries those practices with feed efficiency and breeding practices that he says set his system apart from traditional ranching techniques.

Ultimately, our goal is to produce a safe, wholesome, tasty, nutritious product thats going to go on Americas dinner plate, Fish said of cattle ranchers. So everything that we can do to move toward that goal is going to increase our economic ability to survive and thrive.

Most days start before sunrise with Fish styling his handlebar mustache and slipping on his cowboy hat. He spends his days driving, riding, mending, breeding, vaccinating and herding cattle.

Fish looks like an iconic cowboy, straight from faded 19th-century photographs. But he represents a cattle ranching system focused on the future.

THREE-LEGGED SUSTAINABILITY

For decades, ranchers would herd cattle to wherever they could find grass, damaging the vegetation. That led to a 75 percent decline in cattle in the early 1900s.

Responsible cattle grazing and handling practices were among innovations that spurred industry growth. Now, about 30 million beef cattle are in the U.S.

According to Sarah Place, senior director of sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemens Beef Association, using science and data is key to running more sustainable ranches.

By implementing responsible grazing techniques and breeding an efficient herd, ranchers are producing globally the same amount of beef as in 1975 with one-third fewer cattle, Place said.

Think of sustainability as a three-legged stool, Fish said, with an economic leg, an environmental leg and a social leg. To start, the practices ranchers use to breed cattle need to be able to support them financially. They need to be able to spend enough money on feed and other expenses such as water and medicine while still turning a profit.

In the livestock business youre not going to become wealthy, said Fish, who has been heading the ranch for five years. But if you can make a fair living, I think thats my goal from the economic sustainability standpoint.

Between the cattle sold, fences and pipes fixed and other expenses, Fishs annual net income is about $40,000.

Fish says he focuses on breeding cattle with better feed efficiency. He follows the traditional method of grazing cattle with a salt block added occasionally for added nutrition. But he breeds cattle to digest less grass for the amount of beef produced  consume less, produce more. It also means less money spent on feeding resources and fillers.

Fish said his father, Ron Fish, taught him to be an environmental steward. He practiced rest-rotation grazing, a common practice among ranchers, but the elder Fish began to document the vegetation in his pastures. Using this data, he would have his cattle graze in areas according to the growing season of each plant to utilize the most vegetation for the cattle while maintaining soil and plant health.

I want to leave this land in better shape than when I became the caretaker for it, Fish said.

On the social side of ranching, Fish rides around in his Dodge diesel daily, checking the water tanks, fencing and the state of his cattle.

Fish practices low-stress cattle handling. He moves slowly and quietly to make the cattle feel at ease.

Were making sure that were effective in how we move cattle  through our facilities, Fish said.

Fish said research has shown that when an animal is stressed its cortisol level goes up and can block the effects of vaccines.

Place said practicing effective stockmanship produces cattle that are less stressed and convert feed more efficiently, creating a better meat product.

BREEDING BETTER BEEF

Angus is Americas cattle. When someone goes to the grocery store, Fish said, they are looking for that Certified Angus Beef label that indicates high quality meat.

Fish builds on Angus superior genes by using expected progeny differences, known as EPDs, to estimate the genetic value of an animal. According to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, EPDs are used to compare the genetic difference between the two animal parents of the same breed and what their possible offspring could be like. EPDs are calculated in pounds for birth, growth, maternal and carcass traits.

Dan Faulkner, University of Arizona extension beef specialist, said using sustainable practices like EPDs produces higher quality cattle.

Its really resulted in a better product for the consumer, Faulkner said. With a focus on genetics, cattle can be produced to reach their weaning weight quicker because they process their feed more efficiently. That leads to a shorter lifespan for cattle, less gas emissions and less resources consumed.

Place said genetics are a really powerful tool and a unique one for sustainable cattle production across the country.

GROWING UP TO RESPECT SUSTAINABILITY

Fish was raised to be a sustainable rancher. His father was recognized as Range Manager of the Year by the Arizona Section of the Society for Range Management for 35 years of working the land his son now oversees.

Fish grew up on the ranch in Nogales and attended local schools and community college in Tucson. He received a bachelors degree in animal science from the University of Arizona and a masters degree in reproductive physiology.

Fish then returned to Santa Cruz County and was an extension agent for the University of Arizona working with local 4-H groups, livestock, horticulture and other agricultural programs for 15 years.

When his dad retired five years ago, Fish had the opportunity to come back to the ranch and take his fathers place as manager. In the middle of these career changes, Fish completed a doctorate in reproductive physiology.

Fish, a husband and father of two, manages two areas: Santa Fe and Buena Vista. Ranch headquarters are located at Santa Fe where Fish hosts school field trips, agriculture literacy events and animal therapy sessions for individuals with disabilities.
Tech Launch Arizona has upped the University of Arizonas technology commercialization game since it was launched about five years ago.

But how has that translated to local economic impact, a secondary, yet important goal of university tech transfer?

Since Tech Launch Arizona (TLA) began operations in the 2013 fiscal year, the UA has advanced in every measure of technology commercialization  things like invention disclosures, patents and licensed startups.

And while no detailed economic-impact study has been done, Tech Launch recently compiled some data on startups that provide some clues, short of a full-blown, economic-impact analysis, said Joann MacMaster, Tech Launchs director of business development.

According to the internal study, since Tech Launch Arizona began operations in the 2013 fiscal year through the 2017 fiscal year ended June 30:

Tech Launch Arizona has fostered 55 startup companies based on technologies developed by faculty and licensed by the UA, and 53 of those were still in operation during the 2017 fiscal year. That compares with 128 total UA startups since 1984, of which 101 are still in business.

The UA tech startups have created 780 jobs since the formation of TLA.

The startups generated $32 million in revenue in fiscal 2017.

The companies have attracted $18.9 million in private equity investment and $7.8 million in new grants.

MacMaster said the results show TLA is on track.

For us, its a really good understanding of where we are and how our startups are performing, and it kind of sets the stage, MacMaster said, adding that plans are to conduct the startup analysis every year and publish an annual report.

The startup and other data also could be used to create a detailed economic-impact analysis, which would require a more sophisticated analysis to gauge things like indirect impacts, she said.

MacMaster said the startup results are promising but stand to rise as the pipeline grows.

Id like to be able to show the impact our startups are having not just in terms of jobs and revenue, but how many products are in the market, MacMaster said. Were still a relatively young organization, so it will take a while for those startup numbers to take off.

While the UA hasnt done a detailed comparison of startup impact compared with other schools, MacMaster said her experience as former chief of a statewide business incubator program tells her TLA is on the right track.

If you look at how incubators and accelerators do at developing companies, and keeping in mind were a pre-incubation process, the number of companies that are still in existence and the amount of revenue they generated last year is pretty significant, she said.

Even so, the startup numbers dont tell the whole story because the UA focuses much of its efforts on licensing UA technologies to existing companies, said Doug Hockstad, TLAs assistant vice president of technology transfer.

Ninety percent of what we do doesnt involve licensing to startups, and we dont have the economic impact of those, he said.

Like most university technology-transfer agencies, Tech Launch Arizona is not profitable or self-sustaining, though thats not the main goal.

Tech Launch has an annual budget of about $6 million and is funded by a portion of state sales-tax money earmarked for technology development at the state universities, UA-administered research grants, invention licensing fees and royalties and university allocations of state funds and other sources.

License revenue grew about 30 percent in fiscal year 2017, to $2.7 million, while the school showed across-the-board increases in startup companies, license agreements and other measures.

We dont look at revenues, Hockstad said. The real goal is to make sure that youre having an impact, and getting the results of the research out in the commercial world, beyond the academic world.

To create more startups to push UA faculty inventions into the marketplace, Tech Launch Arizona has boosted its asset development program, in which the UA funds research to ready them for market.

From its inception in 2013 through fiscal 2017, Tech Launch doled out $3.74 million in asset development grants, averaging about $30,000 to $35,000 each, and its on track to spend about $1 million on asset development this year, MacMaster said.

The goal is to advance the technologies and make them attractive for a license, MacMaster said.

A good example is the 2016 UA drug startup Regulonix, which is developing a new class of non-opioid painkillers and licensed the technology from the UA.

The company was co-founded by Rajesh Khanna, associate professor of anesthesiology and neuroscience and professor of pharmacology; May Khanna, assistant professor of pharmacology and Rajeshs spouse; and Vijay Gokhale, Ph.D. senior research scientist at the UA BIO5 Institute.

Through multiple asset-development awards totaling $130,000, Regulonix was able to gather more data that helped the company win a $300,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, Rajesh Khanna said.

Its a sort of steppingstone, letting us leverage those funds to raise larger funds, he said.

Khanna said he patented a different pain-drug technology and started a related drug-development company while in his prior position at Indiana University-Indianapolis, before accepting a position at the UA in 2014.

While that technology and company failed to gain traction, Khanna credited the team assigned to the company at Tech Launch Arizona with guiding Regulonix every step of the way with regular business meetings, sponsoring trips to technology showcases and setting up promising connections with Big Pharma companies.

They are always there, working to help us get that connection, he said, citing pharma industry veteran and TLA mentor-in-residence Mike Sember as a key advisor.

Khanna said that animal testing has shown that the drug candidates are more effective than morphine, nonaddictive and nontoxic at high doses.

The company is in talks with investor groups and is looking to raise money for initial human clinical trials in the next two to three years, Khanna said.

It is a very timely technology  we hear about opioid abuse in the news every single day, and this is a passion for them, MacMaster said. Theyre still in the very early stages but were really excited to see where they take the technology.

Meanwhile, Tech Launch is not only working with 15 startups from fiscal 2017, but it has already logged 10 new startups this fiscal year through the end of December, towards an initial goal of 16 this fiscal year.

Overall, our numbers are trending up, and startups in particular are way high, Hockstad said.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Jan. 6 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages.
Trees along the creek in popular Sabino Canyon northeast of Tucson are still showing brilliant autumn color in January  but one of the foremost experts on the canyon says there is a troubling side to that unseasonable beauty.

There are an unusual number of colorful leaves still clinging to Sabinos big trees for this time of year, said David Lazaroff, a naturalist and author of Sabino Canyon: The Life of a Southwestern Oasis. Equally striking is the number of trees whose leaves are just beginning to change color.

The effect of all this is pleasant to the eye but troubling to the soul, Lazaroff said. These are just the most visible changes to the natural scheme of things in Sabino Canyon resulting from a changing climate. More powerful floods and longer periods when the creek is dry are other climate-related effects.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACTOR

Scientists at the University of Arizona note that a global warming trend is indisputable. But they emphasize that its not possible to say with certainty that specific phenomena  such as the very late autumn color in Sabino Canyon  are a result of climate change.

Theres an incredibly clear warming trend where weve had these record warm years, said David Breshears, a professor of natural resources at the university. These types of responses  lower stream flow and changing phenology of plants (seasonal life-cycle events)  are not surprising.

But its difficult to say that a specific change at a specific time is related to climate change, Breshears said.

Others, including experts at the USA National Phenology Network in Tucson, said sparse records spanning a relatively short period of time are insufficient to attribute something such as a late leaf drop to a particular cause.

BONE-DRY CREEK

Prolonged drought conditions have left Sabino Creek bone dry for an unusually long period of time.

We havent had any flow in Sabino creek since September 14, said Chris Magirl, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

That means the waterway, a favorite destination for many canyon visitors, has been without flowing water for 113 days as of Friday, Jan. 5.

Magirl said stream-flow records indicate that this is the fifth-longest no-flow period on Sabino Creek since measurements began in 1932, with the other four occurring in recent decades. The longest period of continuous dry days was 165, ending in March of 2006.

Magirl said it will take about an inch or more of rainfall, or snowmelt from the nearby Catalina Mountains, to get the creek flowing again.

The long-term outlook for the creek and vegetation in the canyon remains uncertain.

No one can predict everything thats coming, Lazaroff said.

The Sabino Canyon visitor center is at 5700 N. Sabino Canyon Road. Admission is $5 per vehicle.
Reporter

Shaq is a public safety reporter and the Road Runner columnist, keeping readers up to date on transportation news. In 2017, he started as an apprentice and later worked part-time until graduating from the UA and being offered a full-time position in 2018.
The policy of the Obama administration for 8 years towards North Korea was "strategic patience" or "ignoring" it. Meanwhile the country greatly improved and modernized its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

Over the last year, the Trump administration spearheaded at least two new UN economic sanctions packages against North Korea and implemented its own US sanctions. On his Asia trip, Trump galvanized nations in the region to further cooperate against North Korea. Additionally, Sec. of State Tillerson has a "bucket list" of specific items, i.e, exports, travel, financing, etc., related to North Korea, that he mentions to every foreign leader that he meets with asking them to halt it.

Trump has tightened the economic screws on Kim Jong Un more in one year than the entirety of the eight years under Obama. You may not like Trump's rhetoric toward him, but you cannot deny his diplomatic efforts.

David Burford

Northwest side
Help India!

By Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net

It is often found that the greatest of changes in our society starts off with just a thought. It doesnt matter how much you care about the society, what matters is worth how much you wish to contribute. A good thought for a better society, especially by someone who is himself from the marginalized section of the society, is always more effective than hundreds of conferences arranged in plush hotels.

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Meet one such man, Dr Faruk Hossain Gazi, from North 24 Parganas Sandeshkhali locality. A doctor by profession posted as Government Medical Officer at Dubrajpur Rural Hospital in Bengals Birbhum district, Gazi was never satisfied with just patients that came to him.

Coming from a very poor family and having faced hardships he had to bear with throughout his academic life, his own life taught him the very need of education and concern for health a lesson that somehow whetted his zeal for the establishment of an organisation, Naba Diganta, for the welfare of marginalised people of the society. Dr Gazi, the founder and the General Secretary of Naba Diganta, initiated this establishment by spending Rs 4.5 lakh from his own pocket.

Naba Diganta works with the tagline Helping the helpless and set out its journey with five members who are by profession doctors, organising free medical camps in the remote rural areas of Sandeshkhali locality. Nearly four years later, they have now a registered office at Dr Faruks village, Khas Sankdaha, and the numbers of volunteers are now more than 5,000. From five members, now the organisation has 100 active members who work now in all the districts of Bengal. The volunteers of Naba Diganta include many personalities from many professions like Professors, doctors, Police Officers, Advocates, journalists and scholars and many others who are directly or indirectly helping Naba Diganta.

While organizing medical camps in rural areas, they realized the need of education for poor children and they established a free school, Naba Diganta Mission School, for orphans and poor children. Started with 40 students from class one to class four, now the school has 200 students whose all expenditures are taken care by the organisation.

Within three years since its establishment, Naba Diganta organized many medical camps and every week, more than 200 rural people are given free treatment, medicines, eye camp and various check-ups, especially for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney diseases, and heart diseases patients are done at free of cost. There are 40 volunteers, especially female graduates in Naba Diganta who are trained in medical terms to check patients already checked by doctors on a daily basis and they work on a Swasthyabroti Health Volunteers Project. Naba Diganta also employed many local educated students by employing them in its own school.

The team of Naba Diganta also reached out to the flood victims of Bengal that ransacked thousands of lives last year and the team organized medical camps in Malda, Medinipur, Howrah, Uttar Dinajpur districts and distributed free medicines and check-ups and distributed clothes among the distressed people.

Blankets are also distributed among the street beggars and footpath dwellers every year. The team also looks for orphans, poorest of the poor children to give them education and save from being child labourers and early marriage of minor females.

Speaking to TwoCircles.Net, Dr. Gazi said,  I faced extreme poverty in my own life and the hardships that I had to bear with. So, from the very beginning of my life, I had a dream to stand by other children like I was as many ways as possible. While staying at Al Ameen Mission, I got more inspiration from our Secretary, Nurul Islam through whom I came to know about the selfless activities of Ramakrishna Mission. Even my wife, who is a full-time social worker, inspired me a lot to execute that dream. Hence, the establishment of Naba Diganta took place. He added,  until or unless the health and education condition of the marginalized society is secured, they could not be brought to the mainstream society.

But the process of implementing his dream was not easy at all. In this regard, Dr Gazi said, Initially, I was rebuked by many even by my near and dear ones who advised me to follow my higher degrees and secure a healthy stable life. In his efforts, he was helped by the role of social media which helped Naba Diganta a lot to get volunteers who willingly joined Naba Diganta after witnessing its overwhelm tasks for the society.

Though Naba Diganta has won accolades for its excellent work and applauded by some mainstream media and social media coverage, it has received no help from either by the government or by any other welfare organisation. The Trust is run by its volunteers who give one-time donation or donation on a monthly basis that starts at Rs 100 per month. There are three schemes for their donations-either they can donate yearly, or in two steps with a gap of six months or they can bring some donors to help Naba Diganta or they can travel to the localities as a survey.

Dr Gazi aspires to reach out his organisation into an international level organisation. But before they reach that stage, the Trust needs many activities to be done that is not being done because of the financial crisis. The General Secretary, Dr Gazi, urges benevolent people to help them. He said, There are lakhs of orphans in West Bengal who are deprived of education and we want to change the picture of education in and to this. We request all to donate Rs 4,000 for an orphan for the whole year and we will be then able to reach out to large to eradicate illiteracy among the marginalised people. He added, One can give old clothes to us at our registered address so that we can give that to the needy. Doctors can also help us by donating those sample medicines that are stored in their storehouses; others can donate us Glucometer, Stethoscope, BP machine and benevolent persons may send us their portions of zakat to our bank account.
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

A day after the UP government scrapped holiday like Eid and Muharram from the madrasa school system, residents of the state woke up on Friday morning to see that the walls of the UP State Hajj committee had been painted saffron.

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Ever since Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power, it has been using saffron colour at many places. Government offices in Lucknow were also painted in saffron. In fact, just a few months ago the UP government was thinking of issuing an order to ensure that saffron coloured sheets and clothes in all government hospitals of the state.

State cabinet minister Mohsin Raza defended the governments action of painting Haj house saffron. Raza told the media, There is no need for controversy in such things, saffron is an energetic and bright looking colour, the building looks beautiful.

Opposition has no big issues against us so they raise inconsequential things, Raza added.

Uttar Pradesh has a long history of using party colours over public schemes and places. But this may be the first time when a government has been using the colours on places of religious importance as well.

When we contacted several members of state Haj Committee, we noticed that most of the committee members were not aware of the decision and that this step was taken without any consensus or consultation.

Mohd Azam Khan, ex-state minister, SP leader and chairman of the state Haj Committee told TwoCircles.net, We all know the source of the decision. And the source is not the one who is talking.

Painting a place with saffron colour clearly implies the thinking and mentality of the government. And it is easy to figure out where the country is going, said Khan.

Azam Khan admitted that he was not consulted for any such decision. He said, The government should have looked towards increasing the number of Hajis, which has hit the lowest this year.

According to the recently disclosed number, the Haji count went down 16 percent compared to the number in the year 2016.

SP government never painted Haj house green. I never put any religious things inside my car or office. I consider myself secular, said Azam Khan. But BJP ministers have their own version of secularism where they want to put Saffron colours everywhere.

They cannot take our religious beliefs just by painting a wall with their colours, added Khan.
Help India!

By Daisy Katta, TwoCircles.net

Mumbai, which has been the epicentre of the Ambedkarite Movement in Maharashtra, saw a huge participation by students in the protests after the Bhima Koregaon unrest. The Bhima Koregaon unrest started on January 1, 2018, after the discretion of the tomb of Gopal Govind Gaikwad at the village of Vadhu Budruk, near Bhima Koregaon on December 31. This year marked the 200 years of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon and saw lakhs of people lined up to pay homage at the war memorial. So far, there have been thousands of arrests across Maharashtra.

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Amidst media reports which indicated a huge number of violent protests in other parts of Maharashtra, many Ambedkarite students groups worked towards ensuring peaceful protests in Mumbai. In Ramabai Colony in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai, around 3,000 people joined in the protest. People gathered from 11 AM to 5 PM at the Eastern Express Highway.

Harish*, a young student and his group of twenty friends who had witnessed the unrest at Bhima Koregaon a day earlier said,  Rambai is a cradle of Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai. After the unrest we witnessed at Bhima Koregaon, we decided to do a peaceful protest. We were inspired by the students movement after the death of Rohith Vemulawe travelled all the way from Hyderabad to Delhi during that time and we did not witness any untoward incident. I know that there are reports of some violence in the city but they might have been some outside elements who are trying to provoke people.

He further added, There was misreporting from the media that during the protest, even ambulances were not allowed to pass from the Eastern Express Highway. I think this is false reporting by the mediawe were right at Eastern Express Highway and ensured that ambulances and people who were headed to places like hospitals are given a way out of the crowd.

For many youngsters who took part in this protest, this was the very first time that they witnessed and were part of the Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai.

Deepankar*, a young student who is part of International Human Rights Justice Federation were part of the protest at JVLR in Powai along with other students members from the Republican Party of India (RPI), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bharatiya Republican Paksha-Bahujan Mahasangh (BHARIP). He said, After 100 of years of injustice, we cannot keep quiet. The right to protest is our constitutional right. It was a protest for our own community. He further added, We are planning to visit police station wherever innocent youngsters have been detained and we will try to seek legal help for them.

On the day of the bandh, around 1,000 youth were picked up after imposing Section 144 in areas like Mankhurd, Deonar and Chembur of Mumbai. Student groups all over the city have started mobilising for providing legal help to the families of the victims, mainly through WhatsApp and Facebook.

The protests also saw huge participation from women.

Ragini* another student from Ghatkopar added, It is the first time that I have been a part of a protestall our families joined it, there was equal participation of women and young girls like me. Another student from the group added, These protests in Mumbai had no leader, we were not supported by anyonethe protests purely took place out of public conscience and concern for justice regarding the incident at Bhima Koregaon.

A young researcher from who joined in the protest at Mankhurd and Deonar added, Some violence can definitely take place in a situation like this, but we need to reflect on why people have been put in such a situation. We participated in the rasta roko (road blockade) but our intention was not to disturb the transport. We wanted to make a point that our lives also matter.

Other students like Rajiv* from Govandi who joined the protest said, We came to know about the protests in various parts of Mumbai from Facebook. There were a large number of women and girls in the protest at Ghatkopar. Contradictory to media reports it was a peaceful protest, other young Ambedkarite groups from our area joined too joined in. It was a learning experience for them just to witness the scale and magnitude of Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai.

*Names have been changed on request.
Help India!

By Disha KR for TwoCircles.net

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Dear Mr Arnab Goswami,

Your debate #Endcastepolitics on both 2nd and 3rd of January is a perfect example of a casteist media. Its an irony that your media, named Republic TV tried, as always, to manipulate the whole Bhima Koregaon attack on 1st January and sided with the anti-republic feelings of the Hindu right-wing.

I have a few questions and comments for you:

Why didnt your TV channel cover the attack that happened on thousands of innocent Dalits on 1st January  werent they innocent enough for you? In the debate, you mentioned that a 6-year-old Dalit boy held a stone to throw at people who troubled them. You and your right-wing panellist said that it was a jihadi element. But there were several kids of the same age and much younger kids who were attacked at Bhima Koregaon. So with what ethics do you say that this boy picking up the stone is wrong? If a child gets hit, what would be the immediate response of the child? He might hit back. Is this his fault or the peoples fault who put these children in such inevitable position that they would pick up the stone for their safety?

Mr Goswami, you would have understood if you would have covered the attack on Bhima Koregaon or at least if you would have even looked at the footages captured by Ambedkar TV, where children said how they were attacked and how they escaped the mob at Bhima Koregaon. But your channel did not cover it, obviously, because your nation doesnt want to know our issues. Your nation is casteist. It is indeed deeply rooted in caste. Your janaeu might have been disappeared from your body, but it is much stronger and deeply entrenched in your mind despite how much you blabber about your India-ness.

Your India-ness was clearly conveyed in the way you framed your debate and what footages you aired. Your debate seemed to just look at the attack as political instigation rather than deep-rooted casteist feeling among the upper-castes which lead to stone pelting on thousands of innocent Dalits who were peacefully walking towards Bhima Koregaon. You didnt even once talk about the tensions which was being built in and around Bhima Koregaon prior the attack on January 1st. You as a journalist didnt pose the right questions as usual Mr Goswami.

You didnt question why few fundamentalist right-wing organisations opposed the celebrations of Bhima koregaon by Dalits. You didnt question the Maharashtra government for not providing adequate security at the event. You didnt question why stones were pelted at innocent Dalit men, women and children at Bhima Koregaon. You didnt question the government nor did you ask the government to meet the demands of the Dalit protesters, who just demanded the justice against the attack. This should have been the issues for debate.

But instead you stigmatised Dalit protests and even called them a caste mob. You even said and aired repeatedly that your reporters were heckled by Dalit protesters. And of course, why will they not be heckled when you and your channel chose to completely ignore the need to cover the attacks on Dalits at Bhima Koregaon? Your channel was also involved in instigating rumours and false news by showing a footage of Hindutva goons vandalising vehicles of Dalits in Bhima Koregaon as the act of Dalits in Chembur. Your casteist channel, if not you, didnt even have the media ethics to not use the false footage. You did use the footage of a man and crowd throwing stones because the person who was vandalizing the vehicle used the Buddhist flag to hit the car. If you would have been interested to actually look into to news rather than to act as a loud mouthpiece for right-wing you would have observed that the car which was being vandalized had an Ambedkarite flag. Why such blind eye Mr Goswami? Dont our lives matter? Doesnt our loss of property matter? Doesnt our history matter? Doesnt our self-dignity matter? We have long back understood that, for Your Nation, we Dalits dont matter. Not just Dalits but Adivasis, Bahujans and Muslims  none of us matter to your nation.

And your debate which said Citizens have rejected the bandh said much more clearly that we are not your Citizens at all. Only the so-called upper-caste Hindus are your Citizen of Ram Rajya. We would never be a citizen. We would always just be a votebank or a casteist mob. Whenever we fight back, whenever we assert, may it be through reclaiming history, through protests, through Bandh or through every day assertions in our lives we become casteist and anti-national to you and your Nation. But fortunately and more importantly we too dont want to be the citizens of your Nation Mr Goswami. I am very sure that Dalits, Bahujans, Adivasis and Muslims dont ever want to be the Citizens of your Nation. Being your citizen means being oppressed under your fascist Brahminical patriarchal and casteist ideology which we would rather fight against and die than be your Nations citizen.

And one last thing Mr Goswami, you might how many ever time scream that you have given up caste and your caste is Indian, but your surname Goswami will rather convey something else. You dont even have to mention your caste Mr Goswami, your surname will do all the work. So, if you really want to give up caste then first acknowledge your caste, the privileges which came with your caste, criticize your community for the casteist oppression, attitudes and feelings in past and present and only then you can be on the path of giving up caste Mr Goswami. There is no shortcut for the annihilation of caste, neither for you nor for your Nation. If your caste has to be Indian then you have to first acknowledge your caste privileges and give up your privileged surname Goswami. That would be a first step towards the annihilation of caste.

The author is currently pursuing M.Phil in Womens Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
The US-Mexico Border Wall was an election campaign promise by Donald Trump, and latest estimates reveal that the first phase of the wall will require $18-billion, spread out over the next decade. Trump had said that the wall will keep out Illegal Migrants and drug smugglers and make America safe. He also said that Mexico would provide the necessary funds, but such a possibility appears to be remote and the American taxpayers would have to bear the burden.

New Zealand Herald reports that the money will go towards building 316 miles of new fencing while reinforcing another 407 miles of existing barriers.

According to tentative plans, the border will have to have some sort of a physical barrier to discourage illegal entrants by 2027.

It will be a cost-intensive affair

The $18 billion that has been projected for funding the US-Mexico border wall is only one portion of the total cost. The CBP will need to recruit additional personnel who will have to be trained. Moreover, the existing surveillance technology and equipment will also need to be upgraded and necessary access roads will also have to be built to reach interior locations. These are estimated to add up to another $15-billion.

This totals up to $33 billion which does not include the cost to be incurred for adding 10,000 officers in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department and increase the number of beds available for immigration detention.

The work has already been taken up by building prototypes in San Diego based on rigid specifications. The design must prevent the entry of illegal migrants and other such persons. Eight sample walls have been built by different contractors and the final design has yet to be decided. These are under evaluation by the CBP and Donald Trump could visit San Diego to see these prototypes for himself.

Is the wall really necessary?

The US-Mexico border wall is meant to check entry of illegal migrants and other unauthorized persons who usually cross over by using the gaps in the walls and fences. Donald Trump wants to plug all loopholes. Incidentally, one section of Republicans feel that a physical wall along the entire border is impractical.

More effective border security could be achieved through alternate means like better surveillance and technology.

According to a report by USA Today, the number of people trying to gain illegal entry into America has already reduced. Many of them want to flee from poverty and violence, but radio and billboard campaigns have been introduced to warn them of the dangers involved and the possible consequences of illegal entry. These have probably acted as a more effective deterrent than a wall.

Therefore, the policymakers need to re-examine the issue and make a final decision. As things stand, it will take at least another decade to build a part of the wall and illegal crossovers could continue until then.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding on Saturday, May 19, 2018 will bring more than excitement. The wedding is expected to raise Britain's economy by $680 million. Some people might be surprised that the royal wedding will be a money magnet for the country. According to the New York Times, there are many ways the wedding will make money for the United Kingdom.

Prince Harry is one of the most popular members of the royal family. Meghan, known for her starring role in the television legal drama Suits, has become popular in the last year because of her romance with the 33-year-old prince.

Therefore, it is safe to say people will be there to see the 36-year-old former actress tie the knot in real life since she did it in her role as Rachel Zane on "Suits" during her last season on the series.

A big amount of money will come from tourism

Almost everything relating to the wedding has a price attached to it. Brand Finance reports that there will be a huge number of tourists who will be traveling to the country. Chief executive David Haigh predicts that Tourism, travel, and hotels will bring in over $270 million. He is basing that amount on what happened when Prince Harry's older brother, Prince William and Kate Middleton got married in April 2011. About 350,000 people traveled to the country at that time.

The Office of National Statistics expects that Harry and Meghan's wedding will bring in just as many or even more people. Because of such a great interest in the younger brother's wedding, hotel rooms in Windsor are already almost all booked even though the wedding is five months away.

Tourists will not be able to go to the wedding at Windsor Castle, but they are expected to come from far and near just to be in the area and line the streets.

Restaurants and other businesses are gearing up to accommodate those who will be waiting anxiously to get a glimpse of the couple.

One-tenth of the money will come from merchandise sales

Merchandise sales will make up about one-tenth of the $680 million. After the engagement was announced in November, about 1,000 ceramic mugs went on sale for $27 each.

Because of the great interest in the event, the mugs were sold out in 24 hours. If that happened after the announcement of the engagement, the wedding will generate even more Prince Harry and Meghan Markle merchandise that will likely sell out just as quickly. Some items will include T-shirts, hats, picture frames with the couple's photo, and many other commemorative items.
Radar Online recently reported some disturbing news about Barbara Walters and her health. The once active journalist is now isolated in her home with failing health. The 88-year television legend has not been seen in public since July 2016. A person close to Walters says she is wheelchair-bound and never leaves her New York apartment. Her friends are concerned about her because they are not allowed to see or talk to her. Friends have tried unsuccessfully to see Walters. When they show up to visit, doormen have been instructed to keep everyone away.

Health issues

Radar Online reported that Walters' hearing is impaired and she suffers from heart disease. She has been showing signs of dementia for months, but her reps deny it. The last person who saw her is convinced that she does have Alzheimers. A sign is that she doesn't recognize much these days. Sometimes she doesn't recognize her own name. She does recognize a few old photos of her late dog, Cha Cha, and the televised voice of Joy Behar, co-host of "The View," the ABC morning talk show that Walters created with Bill Geddie in 1997. She is often disoriented and has nurses with her around the clock.

A few months ago, the iconic journalist broke her hip. Therefore, she is using a wheelchair to get around in her apartment.

She spends most of her days in her library reading and staring at the same page for hours. At other times, she looks out the window at Central Park.

Other issues

Walters has become suspicious of her staff and the nurses in her household. She has become paranoid and accuses them of stealing valuables from her. She sometimes gets so angry with them and tries to fight them when they are only trying to take care of her.

The woman who used to be so careful about her appearance hasn't had her hair done in over a year, according to her longtime hairdresser. Her caregiver washes it and puts it up in a ponytail.

The broadcast journalist, author, and television personality is well known around the world by political leaders, dignitaries from foreign countries and average television viewers.

Her career started in 1952, and she was very active on ABC until she retired from "The View" in 2014 after hosting it for 16 seasons. She is still the executive producer of the ABC morning talk show. She also hosted the "Today Show," "20/20," and "ABC Evening News." Viewers looked forward to her specials every year.

Walters' friends and former co-workers are very concerned about her. They fear the worst for her because of her health issues and the isolation. They really want to see her with their own eyes while there is still time.
As each month continues on in the Donald Trump administration, critics wonder if the president's reckless and unorthodox behavior is a sign of deteriorating mental health. Following the release of Michael Wolff's new book that expanded on this speculation, a host on MSNBC decided to throw a little shade at the White House and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

MSNBC on Trump

From the early days of his campaign for president, Donald Trump stood out from the other candidates running due to his controversial style. The former host of "The Apprentice" was not a conventional politician as he shot off with his mouth, insulting anyone he felt needed it, while proposing policies that weren't rooted in facts, and at times, common sense.

Since his upset election win over Hillary Clinton, Trump's quick temper and over-sensitivity has caused him to lash out on a daily basis in response to anyone who dares criticize him. From the mainstream media, to professional athletes, to Democrats, and even select Republicans, Trump's reaction to their criticism has raised many red flags. In addition, several reports claim that those close to the president have made similar allegations in private, which was brought to light during the recent release of "Fire And Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by author Michael Wolff. As expected, the White House claims the book is "made up lies" and "fiction," though it quickly became a best seller. These issues and more were discussed during a January 5 segment on MSNBC.

During the Friday edition of MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," host Nicolle Wallace was joined by Kimberly Atkins of the Boston Globe to discuss Donald Trump's mental health.

"What is now public. What has not been pushed back on that I have seen anywhere other than the press secretary's podium, not always sanctum of truth, is that there are questions about his mental fitness," Wallace said, while taking a shot at Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the process.

Donald Trump's closest aides have reached the same conclusion in private that scores of mental-health professionals have made in public https://t.co/LsGPltdGsN  New York Magazine (@NYMag) January 4, 2018

Kimberly Atkins warned that Democrats shouldn't be too quick to examine Donald Trump's mental health due to running the risk of setting a precedent for Republicans to do the same in the future when a Democrats is in office.

"If it is true that people in the White House have concerns about his mental fitness as a public servant, it is incumbent upon them to consider that and take some action," Atkins said, before cautioning those not to act too quick.

Next up

As the backlash to "Fire and Fury" continues, Donald Trump is now in his second year as commander in chief, with an approval rating that is hovering around just 35 percent. As the pressure mounts and the investigation into Russian election interference heats up, only time will tell if the president is revealed to have mental health problems, or if it's all just part of his personality.
It's less than a week into the new year and politics have already been turned on its head. With the release of bombshell new book exposing controversial details about Donald Trump's campaign and first year in office, the president decided to vent on social media.

Trump on Twitter

Earlier this week, excerpts of a new book by author Michael Wolff, titled "Fire And Fury: Inside the Trump White House," were released to the public and the details didn't go over well with the administration. Wolff had obtained access to the Trump campaign, and later White House, mostly due to Steve Bannon, who had previously served as campaign CEO and later Chief Strategist in the administration.

Bannon, though once linked to Trump as his right-hand man, threw the former host of "The Apprentice" under the bus while also taking shots at the entire Trump family in the process. Bannon even went on to accuse Donald Trump Jr. of "treasonous" activity by meeting with Russians at Trump Tower. In response, the president quickly lashed out, claiming Bannon had "lost his mind," while dismissing the book as fiction. The White House has since doubled down on the narrative, which was continued during a January 5 tweet by the commander in chief.

Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018

In a tweet on Friday morning, Donald Trump once again hit back against the "Fire and Fury" book, as well as target Hillary Clinton in an attempt to link the former Secretary of State to potential collusion with Russia.

"Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable," Trump tweeted. "They should try winning an election," he continued, before adding, "Sad!"

Instant reaction

In response to the tweet by Donald Trump, critics of the president gave their thoughts.

"If the Russia investigation is a 'hoax,' why did you try and prevent Jeff Sessions from recusing himself, and why did you try digging up dirt on Comey before firing him?" one tweet read.

If the Russia investigation is a "hoax", why did you try and prevent Jeff Sessions from recusing himself, and why did you try digging up dirt on Comey before firing him?  Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 5, 2018

he is sick! of course it makes no sense  Kwami Damba (@Kwami_Damba) January 5, 2018

And this proof is where? Delusion must be a terrible state to be in.  tony winters (@twinters527) January 5, 2018

"That 'phony new book' is a bunch of quotes from members of your own administration.

If it's phony, then your administration is phony," a follow-up tweet stated. "This makes absolutely no sense, its just incoherent rambling," another Twitter user added. "And this proof is where? Delusion must be a terrible state to be in," an additional tweet noted.

0 Days in a row without mentioning Hillary  Greg Shugar (@GregShugar) January 5, 2018

Don't you realize that the more you rail against this book, the more interest you generate in it? Surely the world's greatest businessman would understand that?   Caz (@PurpleCarib) January 5, 2018

The only hoax here is you. Oh, and we all know youve never read a book (or the Constitution, or an executive order, etc.) in your life. Time to #Resign!  ainnj (@ainnj2) January 5, 2018

"The only hoax here is you.

Oh, and we all know youve never read a book (or the Constitution, or an executive order, etc.) in your life. Time to resign!" yet another tweet stated. "Lets be honest here. If you had nothing to hide, would you seriously be this obsessed with the Russia investigation?" a tweet read.
Kim Kardashian West has endured scrutiny over the years where her Parenting Skills are concerned, but the latest accusation against her seems to go beyond the pale. The mother of two is facing contempt regarding the rumor that she left her extremely ill child alone in the hospital while she partied the night away with her husband, Kanye West. As usual, the world is ready to stand as judge and jury against her.

Kim Kardashian is angered by the rumors

Apparently, her two-year-old son, Saint West, was recently so ill he was required to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

It was determined he suffered from a severe bout of pneumonia. According to CNN, a representative of the family confirmed that the little boy was admitted on Wednesday and released the following Saturday, December 30.

On New Year's Eve, the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star snapped some selfies as she celebrated the holiday with her husband and some friends. A flurry of backlash followed as concerned citizens assumed Kim and Kanye ignored the needs of their sick baby while heading out for a night of fun. Kim adamantly denied these claims, pointing to the fact that Saint was sleeping when the celebrating began. Going even further, she revealed that she and her husband hosted the festivities at their own home.

Taking to Twitter, she addressed the rumors, setting the record straight and retweeting a message which defended her devotion as a mother.

I haven't heard this BUT lets get this straight. I did not leave my son for one minute during his hospital stay. We were there Wednesday night to Saturday. NYE WAS SUNDAY NIGHT. People came over when he was already asleep for the night! Don't even try me when it comes to my kids https://t.co/wrl47awaUr  Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) January 3, 2018

why do people continuously think KimYe were partying New years Eve while saint was at the hospital? Kim & Kanye love their kids so much, so to even THINK they werent around when Saint was sick is really stupid af. Yal love to hate Kim, just to hate her, its dumb at this point!  Jake (@thejakekardash) January 3, 2018

Kim Kardashian's baby is recovering well

Saint West may have had a terrifying ordeal, in what Kim called a "challenging" end to 2017, but the little guy is resilient and well on his way to good health.

It is not the first time, and likely will not be the last, that Kardashian's parenting is called into question. Since she became a mom four years ago, she has been called out for numerous infractions from misusage of car seats to leaving drugs out around her children.

Last July, a selfie showed what appeared to be a line of cocaine on a table top in the background.

At the time, Kardashian claimed it must have been simply sugar spilled from pixie sticks.

She swore the rumors were untrue, but the outcry did not dissipate until Mrs. West returned to the hotel room where the photo was taken. She found that the table top was made of marble, and what appeared to be a line of cocaine (or sugar) was actually just part of the marble pattern.

Say what you want about Kim Kardashian West, but there's no denying her claws will come out like a tiger mama defending her cubs when challenged about the role she plays in the lives of her children.
The marriage date of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been announced as May 19 and preparations have started. However, from all appearances, this event could witness a few differences from Royal traditions.

Prince Harry is a fighter pilot, has trained in Apache helicopters and has seen action in Afghanistan while Meghan Markle is an actress from Hollywood. They have traveled and seen the world from a different perspective. It is, therefore, quite possible that their visions of marriage may not match with the expectations of the Royals.

US Magazine has revealed a few interesting aspects of the marriage that indicates the pairs decision to do things their way without bothering about protocol.

Comparisons with William and Kate

Prince Harrys elder brother Prince William married Kate Middleton who also did not also have any Royal linkage. They announced their engagement in November 2010 but, Kate could not attend Christmas at Sandringham House, Queen Elizabeth IIs place. That happened only after her marriage. However, the Queen made an exception at the request of Prince Harry so that Meghan Markle could attend the Christmas party before marriage.

Moreover, while the elder pair of William and Kate seldom made any public display of their affection, Harry and Meghan have chosen to be different. They first came in front of the public in September during the Invictus Games in Toronto, and at that time, they held hands and shared a kiss.

Incidentally, Meghan has revealed her individuality through her selection of dresses which must have raised eyebrows in some quarters.

The venue of marriage

Here again, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to stray away from the beaten path. There was pressure to hold the ceremony at Westminster Abbey where William and Kate had tied the knot.

However, Harry and Markle chose St. Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle for their marriage. This is a comparatively smaller venue and Harry wants to not only keep it personal but also avoid pomp and pageantry.

Markle, on her part, is keen to have a maid of honor instead of a British chief bridesmaid. She also wants her mother instead of her father to walk her down the aisle.

Of course, it will not be the first time that she will be doing that because she was married in 2011 but it did not last.

She is a celebrity in her own right and has to her credit the TV series Suits where she appeared for seven seasons. She has also acted in a couple of Hollywood films and could bid adieu to acting to take up humanitarian work after marriage.
Lala Kent is okay with being called a "Home Wrecker" but she does not want to be labeled "dumb" by anyone. According to a new report, the "Vanderpump Rules" star recently hosted an Instagram live session and during the session, she offered some advice to someone who admitted to feeling "dumb" after a date with an older man that went horribly wrong.

After the woman opened up to Lala Kent, claiming that she drank too much in an effort to calm her nerves, she admitted to stripping down for the man in a cab. Then, after the man began to reprimand her for doing so, she said she felt quite stupid after seeing how upset her striptease made him.

"You make me feel dumb, I'm not about that life," Lala Kent explained in response to the woman's story, according to a January 4 report by E! News. Continuing on, the "Vanderpump Rules" star said that she has no problem being labeled a "home wrecker" or a "b***h," but if someone was to make her feel dumb, she would wipe her hands clean of them.

Lala Kent is dating movie producer Randall Emmett

After keeping her relationship out of the spotlight for over a year, Lala Kent went public with boyfriend Randall Emmett on January 1 as she celebrated the New Year in Miami, Florida. As E! News pointed out, the 46-year-old's former wife, actress Ambyr Childers, filed for divorce in January of last year, around the time that Kent began facing allegations of dating a married man on "Vanderpump Rules" season five.

The ex-couple has two children, four-year-old London and one-year-old Rylee. While Emmett initially requested a legal separation from Childers in April 2015, he asked that the court throw out his request one year later.

Lala Kent and Randall Emmett were caught kissing in early December

Just weeks before both Kent and Emmett confirmed their romance with photos of one another on Instagram, the couple was seen attending a FabFitFun party in Beverly Hills, California, where they were caught kissing one another as they stood among other guests.

Weeks later, as Kent posted a photo of herself and Emmett together, Emmett took to his page and gave fans a look at Kent boarding his private jet.

To see more of Lala Kent and her co-stars, including Jax Taylor, James Kennedy, Stassi Schroeder, Scheana Marie, Ariana Madix, Kristen Doute, Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz, and Lisa Vanderpump, don't miss new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" season six on Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.
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HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue has asked the Ministry of Justice and the State Bank of Viet Nam to hasten and complete the legal framework for managing virtual currencies in Viet Nam.

The report on the progress must be submitted to the Government for consideration before the end of January.

Virtual currencies, especially bitcoin, have sparked a fever worldwide.

According to cryptocurrency news website cointelegraph.com, the total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies reached a new all-time high on Wednesday to over US$700 billion.

Still, countries were divided on how to manage cryptocurrencies.

In Viet Nam, the bitcoin drew significant market attention despite experts warnings about its risks and the lack of a management framework.

At a National Assembly hearing in November, Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Le Minh Hung said under current Vietnamese regulations, bitcoin was not a legal tender or a permitted means of payment.

The central bank said the issuance and use of bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies for legal payment was prohibited in Viet Nam.

However, Hung said from the perspective of treating it as an investment asset, the central bank would co-operate with the Ministry of Justice to study the legal framework for managing the bitcoin.

In August, the Government approved a project to develop a legal framework to manage cryptocurrencies with an aim to protect legal rights of investors.

Accordingly, the nature of cryptocurrencies must be clarified. In addition, Viet Nam must learn from international experiences to develop the legal framework for managing virtual currencies to minimise risks, but at the same time ensure flexibility and promote innovation in the rapid technology development.

Most recently, China and South Korea have made moves to tighten the management of bitcoin.

oan Duy Khuong, Deputy Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that bitcoin should be considered as a kind of goods and not a means of payment.

According Noah Eric Silverman, an expert in artificial intelligence from Hong Kong, many investors consider bitcoin as an investment asset. Others consider it as real money and accept it for payment, such as in Japan.

Silverman said that the Vietnamese Government should develop an appropriate legal framework to better manage bitcoin.

Besides the legal framework for bitcoin management, Hue urged the Ministry of Finance to complete the project on tax management of the non-State economic sector and expand the tax base of the private sector.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was required to complete the economic statistical project to provide a comprehensive view of the economy.  VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung (R) receives president of Samsung Viet Nam Complex Shim Won Hwan in Ha Noi on Friday.  Photo soha.vn

HA NOI  The Vietnamese Government expects Samsung to further support human resource training and technology transfer in the country, helping Vietnamese parts suppliers take part in value chains and become suppliers of materials and parts for Samsung, said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung.

Speaking at a meeting with president of Samsung Viet Nam Complex Shim Won Hwan in Ha Noi yesterday, Dung said he hoped Samsung and South Korean investors would continue increasing output and export value, generating jobs and boosting peoples living standards.

Shim Won Hwan said there were 160,000 people working for Samsung factories in Viet Nam. The firm had carried out development policies and ensured social security.

Along with that, he said enterprises are also promoting other fields such as household electronics, electronic parts and accessories. Up to now, 20 Vietnamese enterprises have become level-1 suppliers for Samsung.

Previously, Vietnamese enterprises mainly provided printing and packaging products, but now they can supply hi-tech devices and materials such as metal moulds and components, said Hwan.

To attract more Vietnamese businesses to value chains, Samsung annually holds two exhibitions to introduce technology and seek local suppliers. The company also helps Vietnamese enterprises upgrade their knowledge and skills in technology and management to help them become component suppliers for Samsung factories.

Deputy PM Dung lauded the large-scale investment of Samsung in Viet Nam that generated jobs for hundreds of thousands of employees and created global products, contributing to the increase of exports and reducing Viet Nams trade deficit, ensuring trade balance between Viet Nam and South Korea.

Keb Hana encouraged to boost investment

The Vietnamese Government also welcomes South Korean investors, including Keb Hana Financial Group, to invest in the country and help improve the local financial market, said Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue.

Hue said during a meeting with the South Korean financial groups chairman Kim Jung Tai yesterday that Viet Nam expects Hana to study the local market and enhance its direct and indirect investment in this sector as Viet Nam has been raising a substantial amount of capital for the development of domestic infrastructure via private-public partnership agreements with foreign investors.

In addition, the Hana group could work with the Vietnamese Government to restructure the banking industry, using strigent regulations.

The Government sees 2018 as the year in which the restructuring of the banking sector should be sped up and that will create good investment opportunities for financial investors like Keb Hana Financial Group, said Hue.

He also lauded the partnership between Keb Hana Financial Group and the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) and said the two sides would have a big opportunity to explore the Vietnamese technology-based financial solution (fintech) and mobile payment markets in the future.

In return, Keb Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Jung Tai praised Viet Nams investment and business climate, which has improved in recent years.

The South Korean financial firm plans to invest in infrastructure development via direct and indirect investment and expand its co-operation with Vietnamese financial institutions via fintech firms, he said.

The partnership with BIDV will help both sides increase their business values and explore new financial and lending solutions, Kim said.

In the past year, the two countries celebrated 25 years of diplomatic relations. Accumulated up to December 2017, South Korea ranked first of 121 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam with more than 6,400 projects with total registered capital of about $57.66 billion.  VNS
The first day of the new year was also time for the Sedang, an ethnic group among the 54 ethnicities of Viet Nam, to celebrate their New Rice Festival.

One two step: Young Sedang women perform a group dance in front of the villages communal house.

One of the most important festivals for the Sedang, the festival is held at the beginning of the year to appease the spirit of the rice, to celebrate a bountiful harvest and to pray for good fortune in the new year.

Feel the beat: Sedang elder women play the Klongput during the celebration.

The festival begins with Sedang families going to their rice field to pick the most beautiful rice plants and bring them home. Families must prepare food offerings to the spirit using the new rice.

On the day of the ceremony, a village elder summons everyone to the villages nha rong  the Sedangs communal house where the majority of their spiritual and social activities take place. Young men erect a cay neu  a tall tree with a totem on top of it  in front of the house.

Bottoms up: Visitors invited to sit down and share tube wine with the village.

The Sedang dance and sing around the tree. Their musical instruments include gongs in various sizes and the Klongput  a wind clap xylophone. Made of bodies of bamboo trees cut and designed in different length, the xylophone sound is made when people clap their hands near one of their ends.

Celebration: Sedang men play the gongs during a ceremony at the festival.

Most of the Sedang villages, which house a total population of nearly 100,000, are located in Viet Nams central highlands region. Isolated and often without contact with other villages, the Sedangs were said to be fierce warriors years ago. The Sedangs now make farming their primary occupation.  VNS
HA NOI  Potential wrongdoings involving VN15 trillion (US$658.5 million) and 6.7 million sq.m of real estate were found with the State-owned coal and mining giant, Vinacomin.

Other problems in financial management, investment and land management were also disclosed in a recently released report by the Government Inspectorate (GI) regarding law and policy compliance of Vinacomin (Viet Nam National Coal  Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited) and its subsidiaries in the 2010-2015 June period.

The GI has asked the Ministry of Public Security to review and investigate these findings.

According to the report, some $4.4 million of capital that Vinacomin poured into the Cambodia-based Southern Mining Co Ltd might be for naught as the corporates management board failed to follow legal regulations on investment and co-operation contracts.

Doan Van Quang, Deputy Director of the corporation, signed the memorandum to buy shares from the Cambodian company and transferred the said amount of money to a Cambodian account, while no surveys into the return on investment were done.

Similarly, questions have also been raised on Vinacomins disbursement of VN112 billion (out of the pledged VN587 billion) into the Co inh Chromite project in Thanh Hoa Province, which has not been functional since 2013.

Concerning the management of capital and assets, the inspectorates report shed light on several decisions that lack legal and practical basis, such as providing guarantees for loans exceeding the banks legal lending limit, which ultimately led to sizeable losses in certain investments.

For example, Vinacomin assumed the role of guarantee beyond its authority for loans made by Thai Nguyen Non-ferrous Metal JSC from Thailands Eximbank, causing the company to now handle a $13.7 million debt (including the original debt and interest).

Vinacomins argument

ang Thi Tuyet, head of Vinacomins legal department, told Vietnam News Agency that the VN15 trillion figure, as stated in the GIs report, is recommended to be properly handled, and that the report didnt arrive at the conclusion that there were definitely wrongdoings involving this amount of money.

Tuyet said that the Deputy Prime Minister has assigned as much as VN8.3 trillion, or more than half of the amount found to be problematic, including the difference in exchange rate not yet manifested in the current power price, to be handled by the Ministry of Finance.

Vinacomin also contested the inspectorates request that VN1.872 trillion ($82.555 million), much of the figure  VN 1.6 trillion - was natural resources tax on coal, must be collected from Vinacomin to the State budget. The coal giant said the GIs arrears request was unreasonable, citing a misidentification of the taxpayer and wrong ad valorem tax calculation.

Vinacomin has declared and paid tax in accordance with the tax law on natural resources, as well as the guiding circulars and decrees, Tuyet said, adding that the finance ministry concluded that Vinacomins tax calculation was proper.

The remaining amount of tax to be paid, VN272 billion, will be addressed when the GIs arrears decision is officially made, the corporation said.

Regarding possible violations of law in the companys foreign investment and debt, Vinacomin said that some of the failed investments were due to risks, others were done under the Governments policy, while still others have been handled by competent legal authorities.

Vinacomin also said that its arguments regarding its disagreements with the Governments watchdog agency would be officially submitted to the authorities concerned.  VNS
The Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, which was upgraded from the Viet Nam Peacekeeping Centre of the Ministry of National Defence, made its debut at a ceremony held in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo An ang

HA NOI  The Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, which was upgraded from the Viet Nam Peacekeeping Centre of the Ministry of National Defence, made its debut at a ceremony held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh congratulated the agency on its new status, saying it reflects the Partys and Governments acknowledgement of the agencys contributions to realising the countrys extensive global integration in the defence field.

He expected that it will provide a new cooperative channel with the UN and other important partners.

He urged ministries and sectors to closely work with the defence ministry in peacekeeping-related activities to advise the Party and Government on the implementation of fieldwork missions and involvement in the UNs relevant policy planning.

He asked the department to boost human resources training, particularly in specialised skills and language proficiency, and capitalise on international support, such as from the UN and other key partners.

Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the department, said the agency is highly committed to fulfilling its duty and responsibilities.

Also at the ceremony, the interdisciplinary working group on UN peacekeeping mission was transferred from the Foreign Ministry to the Defence Ministry.

Deputy Minister of Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh said Viet Nams participation in peacekeeping mission is set to be expanded in the future, so there will be difficulties in legal framework, resources, and policies.

Vinh asked relevant agencies, particularly the Foreign Ministry, to assist his ministry in carrying out the tasks assigned to the working group.  VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead the Vietnamese delegation to the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Summit held on January 10 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead the Vietnamese delegation to the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Summit held on January 10 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

PM Phuc is attending the event at the invitation of his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.

The MLC is a sub-regional cooperation mechanism established in 2016 by six Mekong riparian countries: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. Various exchange activities between political parties, officials, youth and religious groups have been organised under its auspices since.  VNS
The Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau held a ceremony on Friday to launch a consulate office in the Macau Special Administrative Region of China.  Photo vov.vn

BEIJING  The Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau held a ceremony on Friday to launch a consulate office in the Macau Special Administrative Region of China.

Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau, Tran Thanh Huan, said the office aims to better ensure the rights of Vietnamese citizens and tourists in the region.

It will also give locals and international friends easier access to information about Viet Nam, thus boosting the friendship and co-operation between Viet Nam and Macau. Huan expressed his hope that the office will receive active and effective support of local organisations and enterprises, as well as of the Viet Nam Fellow Countrymen Friendship Association in Macau.

Macau is home to over 20,000 Vietnamese people, mostly domestic workers and service staff at casinos.

There are also several Vietnamese-run firms operating in tourism and services.  VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh (R) receives Chief Judge of the Lao Supreme Peoples Court Khamphanh Sit Thi Dampha in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Van iep

HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has applauded the close cooperation between the court systems of Viet Nam and Laos, at both supreme and provincial levels, while receiving Chief Judge of the Lao Supreme Peoples Court Khamphanh Sit Thi Dampha in Ha Noi yesterday.

The support of Viet Nams court sector to its Lao counterpart is a vivid manifestation of the special relationship between the two countries Parties and States, the official said.

He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always supports bilateral judicial ties, contributing to the development of each nation.

The Deputy PM asked the Lao court to continue implementing contents of co-operation agreements reached by the two sides, and organise visits and exchanges for Vietnamese and Lao judicial officials.

The Communist Party, State and Government of Viet Nam always do their best, in any circumstances, to preserve the traditional relationship and special solidarity between Viet Nam and Laos, he emphasised.

In reply, Dampha told his host that the Vietnamese and Lao court sectors have carried out a range of co-operation activities with a focus on training of judges, in the past and increased the exchange of delegations at both central and local levels.

Hailing the Vietnamese court sectors assistance in personnel training, the guest said ten Lao court officials will be sent to Viet Nam to attend training courses at the Viet Nam Court Academy in 2018.

On this occasion, Dampha handed over an insignia of the Lao court sector to Deputy PM Binh to honour his contributions to the formation and development of the Lao Peoples Supreme Court.

On Thursday, on behalf of Vietnamese Party and State leaders, Chief Judge of the Supreme Peoples Court of Viet Nam Nguyen Hoa Binh presented a first-class Independence Order to the Peoples Supreme Court of Laos.  VNS
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) receives Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field yesterday.  Photo VGP

HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh yesterday called on the British Government to encourage the countrys enterprises to intensify investment and business activities in Viet Nam.

Receiving Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, who is visiting Viet Nam, the Deputy PM said Viet Nam looked forward to working closely with the UK to better use financial aid from the Commonwealth Fund and to being facilitated to get access to the Fund.

Speaking highly of the dynamic and effective development of bilateral ties, Field affirmed that the UK Government continued prioritising an improved strategic partnership cooperation between the two sides in all areas in the future.

Earlier yesterday, Field and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son co-chaired the sixth Viet Nam  UK Strategic Dialogue in Ha Noi, discussing specific orientations and measures to fortify the strategic partnership as the two countries celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties (1973-2018).

They agreed to increase the exchange of all-level delegations while fruitfully implementing strategic dialogue mechanisms on diplomacy, national defence and security.

At the same time, they will increase the promotion of trade, investment, culture and tourism relations, and people-to-people exchange, along with intensifying their co-operation at international forums such as the UN, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and within the framework of the ASEAN-EU co-operation.

Both sides stressed that economic co-operation will continue being a key pillar of the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership.

Son affirmed that the Vietnamese Government will continue creating favourable conditions for UK enterprises to do effective business in the country in the fields of infrastructure development, finance-banking, insurance, oil and gas, energy and pharmacy.

The two sides agreed to foster co-operation to ensure continuity in key cooperative fields, especially trade and investment, after Brexit; and to closely coordinate in fighting organised crime, human trafficking, illegal migration, and the illegal trade of wildlife.

Within the framework of the dialogue, the two officials compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern.

Concerning the East Sea issue, they called on involved parties to show their goodwill in implementing international obligations, avoid activities that can complicate the situation and increase tension in the region.

They also stressed the increasingly important role played by ASEAN in maintaining peace and stability in the region, reiterating that disputes must be solved by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

The two sides also issued a joint press release on the outcomes of the dialogue.  VNS
TAY NINH  Tay Ninh Province has decided to pursue organic farming in a move to restructure its agricultural sector towards sustainable development, the daily newspaper Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) reported.

Located in the southern key economic zone, the proivnce has devoted more than 65 per cent of its total 270,000ha of land to agricultural production.

Other advantages for agricultural development in the province include soil suited to many types of crops and the largest irrigation system in the country, Dau Tieng, which can supply water to 47,000ha of farmland.

As for its potential for agricultural production, the province has sent its request to the Prime Minister and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to be the first in the country to pilot the national organic agricultural development project for the 2018-2025 term.

The PM has urged the ministry to complete the projects plan which includes guidelines for organic farming adaptation, and incentives and support measures for agricultural producers.

In the meantime, Tay Ninh has launched its own agricultural development plan which involves the use of technology in agricultural restructuring. It plans to set up clean agricultural production zones and offer incentives to attract big investors to clean and organic farming projects.

Some of the projects include a vegetable and fruit processing plant with a capacity of 500 tonnes per day, which will be put into operation by the end of 2018.

The province has also approved a list of agricultural projects that that need investment from 2017-2020.

Some of the projects include fruit and vegetable processing applying the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point management system. With this system, food safety is addressed via analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards, from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

Chili pepper salt - a Tay Ninh specialty  will be included in brand building.

Investors in these projects must ensure sufficient planting area of fruit and vegetables of at least 10ha and the use of Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP).

The province has also prioritised calling for investment in construction of livestock and poultry slaughterhouses and production of frozen meat products in Chau Thanh, Go Dau and Trang Bang districts.

Vo uc Trong, director of the provinces department of agriculture and rural development, said the restructuring of the provinces agricultural sector must start from the market, meaning that the province would now produce products based on market demand.

At the same time, it has to switch from low-yield crops to more competitive higher-yield and higher-value crops to export to foreign markets, he said.

The province has expanded large-scale production of high value-added crops, including pomelo, passion fruit, pineapple, and custard apple which can be used as inputs for processed products for exports.

It has learned lessons from Taiwan, Thailand and Brazil and taught local farmers how to increase production capacity and competitiveness.

According to chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, Pham Van Tan, this will not only result in high-quality products with more economic value but will also help farmers increase their income.

To expand organic agriculture, Tan said that the Government, ministries and agencies must adopt regulations and policies on prioritising clean agricultural production, special policies for clean farm product processing, and support measures for farmers and agricultural firms in studying new production models, marketing and branding.

He said the ministry should also help local governments invite international experts and provide assistance to large organic producers in clean farming techniques training, expertise and experience sharing, and calls for investment.

The ministry should also create a complete set of standards for producing, processing, assessing and monitoring organic products and disseminating information about organic agriculture to farmers so they can adopt good farming techniques, he added.

Thirty-three of the 63 provinces and cities in Viet Nam have developed organic farming models, but their scale is still small, about 76,000 ha in total.

Several agricultural firms have said that organic farming had brought them more challenges than successes. They cited several reasons, including strict standards for organic production; amount of time and money spent on land renovation; and lengthy and costly procedures in obtaining organic farming certificates. VNS
HCM CITY  New faculties will be opened at universities during the 2018-2019 academic year, according to the Ministry of Education and Trainings new catalogue on training programmes in higher education.

Most of the new faculties will be in the social fields. In the IT field, cybersafety will be taught first at eight universities, including Ha Noi University of Science and Technology, Military Technical Academy, Academy of Cryptography Techniques, and Post and Telecommunications Institute of Technology.

In the health field, a nutrition faculty will be created. No new faculties will be created in veterinary medicine, art and life science.

HCM City University of Architecture will have a new faculty of Urban Fine Arts to meet the demand for coherent development of landscapes and living spaces in urban areas.

Van Lang University in HCM City will enrol students in its new major of applied literature under the faculty of Public Relations and Communications.

The HCM City University of Technology and Education has completed procedures to open six new faculties including graphic design, architecture, construction management, renewable energy, food services and restaurant administration, and technological education.

The university will continue its high-quality training programmes in English in two additional faculties.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the country in the 2017-18 academic year has 235 universities and institutes, not including those in national defense and security.

By 2020, it is expected that nearly 2.2 million students will attend university and college. In 2017-2018, enrolment was 1.7 million.  VNS
HCM CITY  A 17-day workshop that ended on January 6 taught safe driving skills and encouraged university students to promote traffic safety among their peers and in the community.

The workshop, which attracted 210 road-safety ambassadors from seven universities in HCM City and Ha Noi, was part of the Safety Delivered programme organised by Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, supported by the UPS Foundation,

Uong Viet Dung, deputy chief of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said the majority of road users, especially students, lacked motorcycle driving skills, which is a major factor in the high number of crashes in Viet Nam.

The National Traffic Safety Committee supports the Safety Delivered programme, which targets university students and empowers them to take on the role of road-safety ambassadors.

Following a series of focus group discussions with university students from Ha Noi and HCM City, AIP Foundation developed a motorcycle safety education toolkit in partnership with the National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training.

The training topics focus on risky behaviors among youth in Viet Nam, including not wearing a helmet, not checking blind spots, speeding, overtaking, and distracted driving.

AIP Foundation will encourage the use of diverse media as students design their own road safety initiatives.

Hoang Na Huong, deputy CEO of AIP Foundation, said: The student ambassadors play a critical role in Safety Delivered goals by promoting road-safety awareness among their peers. We are excited to empower these young people to use their experience and insights to make roads safe in their own communities.  VNS
QUANG TRI  As Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches, firecracker smuggling is again "hot" in the border areas. Several tonnes have already been seized by customs authorities as they head across the border into Viet Nam.

Police, border guards and market managements in the central province of Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces have been seizing tens of cases of Lao-made firecrackers.

On December 30, moe than 150kg of fireworks were discovered in Quang Tri Provinces Lao Bao Township, according to border point officials.

Earlier, provincial police stopped a suspicious car in Vinh Linh District.and discovered nearly 300kg of firecrackers.

The driver, Nguyen Tan Tan, 32, confessed that he bought the goods at Huong Hoa District of Quang Tri Province to sell in Quang Binh Province.

Border guards also arrested two people for allegedly transporting 163kg of explosives for sale at A Ho Village in Thanh Commune on December 25.

In Quang Binh Province, police have seized more than 3.7 tonnes of different types of firecrackers.

Smugglers are using more and more sophisticated tricks to transport banned products into Viet Nam, said Colonel Phan Thanh Quang, head of Police Office in Huong Hoa District.

The Government has banned firecracker production, trade and use since 1995. However, every year there are reports of illegal firecracker smuggling and subsequent accidents in the days ahead of the Tet holidays.

Colonel Quang said the Police Office also sent officials to hot spots such as Tan Long and Tan Thanh communes and Lao Bao Township to encourage local residents to sign a commitment not to buy, sell or use firecrackers.

In order to effectively prevent smuggling, they are co-ordinating with authorities in Laos to implement drastic measures, he said.

Northern border provinces including Lang Son, Ha Giang and Quang Ninh are also hot spots for firecracker smuggling.

Authorities in Lang Son Province have discovered 134 cases involving 173 suspects and seized more than six tonnes of firecrackers.

Recently, provincial police seized 150kg of firecrackers transported by waterway from China to Viet Nam and then by car and motorbike to the domestic market.

Nguyen Xuan Tien, head of a provincial police patrol team, said smugglers used many tricks to hide the products, especially in passenger cars departing from Mong Cai City.

In particular, Highway 18 was the road that smugglers often use to illegal transporting firecrackers from China, he said.

Smugglers from Quang Ninh and Bac Giang provinces are also known to get together to carry goods to Hai Duong Province for selling, Tien said.

On December 7, police in Hai Duong Province discovered three smugglers transporting 183kg of firecrackers.

On Sunday, January 1, police and soldiers in Ha Giang Province detected people transporting firecrackers in Meo Vac Disticts Xin Cai Commune. They seized 58 casks containing 1.2 tonnes of foreign-made firecrackers.

According to the soldiers, this was the largest cache of firecrackers uncovered in the province.  VNS
RAF Museum Cosford 2018 Events Diary

Forthcoming events taking place at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford during 2018:

Further details on each event will be issued nearer the time. A dmission charges apply for some events and activities. Events may be subject to change and additional events may be added during the year, please visit the Museum website www.rafmuseum.org/cosford for more details.

RAF Museum Cosford Public Events Manager, Abi Betteridge said:

We will be celebrating the centenary of the Royal Air Force throughout 2018 with a number of events tailored towards commemorating this milestone. Across both our London and Cosford sites we will be opening up the doors to 100 Cockpits and Cabs so visitors can get up close and inside more of our collection than ever before, with the first of four dates at Cosford in February.

Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend on 1-2 April, we will be marking the official formation of the Royal Air Force with a 100 Years Festival, packed with re-enactors, displays and activities for families. There will also be a new permanent display celebrating the RAF through the decades with artefacts from within our collection interpreting the RAF story.

One of our most popular events, the Spitfire 10K will be returning in September, where up to 1,200 runners this year can race across the airfield. In addition, weve set a new centenary challenge to run 100K in 100 days in a virtual race and were busy working on a suitably spectacular medal for those who rise to the task. All proceeds from these races will go towards the RAF100 Appeal, a joint venture between the Royal Air Force and four major RAF charities.

These new events are in addition to activities running throughout each of the school holidays as well as our major summer event, the Cosford Food Festival. Plus the Outdoor Cinema Screening will be returning for two nights in September and of course, the chance to see behind the scenes in our Conservation Centre during the Open Week in November.
MANCHESTER  A Waterloo sex offender who was shot at by a sheriffs deputy during a November car chase is back in jail.

Eric John Norelius, 35, who had been out on bond in the pursuit case, was arrested Jan. 2 in Delaware County on Black Hawk County warrants for missing court dates for an unrelated assault charge and a sex offender registration violation.

He was also arrested on a new charge in Delaware County for violating sex offender registration requirements there. According to court records, Manchester police discovered Norelius had been living at a Denton Street address when he was detained on the Black Hawk warrants, and he hadnt registered the address with authorities.

Norelius told police he had been staying there less than a week, but the landlord said he had been living at the address since before Christmas. Under Iowa law, people subject to sex offender registration requirements must inform authorities of address changes within five business days.

As of Saturday, Norelius remained at the Delaware County Jail in Manchester.

In November, police said Norelius refused to pull over for Waterloo police during a traffic stop, and the chase continued for about half an hour. During the pursuit, Deputy Joe Schmidt and another officer were out of their vehicles attempting to set up Stop Sticks in the area of Cedar Bend Street and Longfellow Avenue when the truck Norelius was driving headed into a yard where Schmidt was standing.

Schmidt fired several shots at the vehicle, which continued on before eventually stopping on Allen Street, where Norelius was detained, police said. None of the shots struck Norelius, police said.
INDEPENDENCE  A judge has declined to throw out charges against reality TV star Chris Soules in the April crash that killed an Aurora farmer.

Defense attorneys had asked the court to dismiss a felony leaving the scene charge against Soules, arguing Soules had stopped following the collision, called 911 and identified himself, and rendered aid to 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher until medics arrived.

Prosecutors said Soules, 36, of rural Arlington, left the scene before law enforcement arrived and then refused to exit his home until sheriffs deputies obtained a warrant.

Trial had been scheduled for Jan. 18 in Buchanan County District Court in Independence, but the trial was postponed during a Thursday conference, and a new date will be set later this month.

During a November hearing, defense attorney Robert Montgomery argued the charges should be thrown out because Iowa law  written before the advent cell phones  was vague as it applied to the case and was unconstitutional because it infringed on Soules right against unreasonable search and seizure and self-incrimination.

In a ruling handed down Friday, Judge Andrea Dryer declined to dismiss the charges, allowing the case to move toward trial.

Under this construction the defendants conduct does not clearly fall outside the statute. The statute is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to the defendant, Dryer wrote in her ruling.

Dryer also found the statute doesnt amount to unreasonable seizure and doesnt require self-incrimination.

The existence of a statute that imposes duties upon all surviving drivers of vehicles involved in accidents causing the death of a person as part of a chapter regulating motor vehicles and their use in this state is not a seizure under either the United States or Iowa Constitution, she wrote.

Only evidence that is testimonial in nature is protected by the Fifth Amendment.  The act of remaining at or returning to the scene of an accident causing a persons death is no more testimonial than a person in custodys submission to fingerprinting, photographing or other physical measurements, writing or speaking for identification, standing, walking, or making a particular gesture, or submission to a blood test, the ruling continued.

During the November hearing, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown argued the law requires drivers to remain at a scene to allow law enforcement to collect information about the crash. He said Soules left after only about 14 minutes.

On Friday following the ruling, Soules attorneys issued a statement saying they plan to appeal Dryers ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court. The defense team said Soules wasnt evading liability and made sure Mosher was receiving treatment, and attorneys said the prosecution is based on a technicality in the statute.

In response to the ruling, Mr. Soules attorneys again emphasized that Mr. Soules indisputably called 911, identified himself, explained his role in this tragic accident, and tried to save Mr. Mosher. Attorney Brandon Brown noted the Iowa Supreme Court has never considered whether such actions can rightfully be punished as a hit and run, the statement read.

Last month, Brandon Brown, member of the defense team, also submitted a notice Soules may use a diminished capacity defense based on injuries he sustained.
WATERLOO  The city has received a state grant to alleviate a traffic bottleneck on Ansborough Avenue.

Waterloo City Council members will be asked Monday to accept $277,600 from the Iowa Department of Transportations Clean Air Attainment Program to add a fifth lane on Ansborough between Black Hawk Road and Downing Avenue.

The citys $69,400 grant match would come from general obligation bonds, which are repaid with property taxes.

Adding another lane to that block of roadway would allow the center lane to become a two-way left-turn lane.

The federally funded ICAAP grant program is designed for projects that reduce traffic congestion, which reduced vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.

This will have several benefits, Interim Public Works Director Sandie Greco said in a memorandum to council members. It will make signal operation more efficient without compromising safety. It will increase capacity.

To the north, Ansborough from Downing north to University Avenue is already five lanes wide.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall. A work session on a new airport overlay zoning ordinance is scheduled for 4:50 p.m.
You surely do not like to get embarrassed that silvery smile that insinuates in your dental history. People such as Bernie Sanders would likely agree. Previously, people have to be in accordance with the amalgam of filler treatment to eliminate the problem of tooth decay. However, the strong growth in the field of technology has altered this long-standing dispute concept. You can now finish with ugly and painful cavities without compromising its overall appearance. Read more here: Author. In addition, these teeth comparatively more durable than the traditional silver amalgam fillings stuffed with color-son. If you live in Michigan, you can consult with an experienced dentist Warren to accumulate more knowledge about this innovative procedure of dental treatment before going under this treatment.



Miller, one of the dentists took note of Detroit, it is recommending teeth filled with color for its numerous advantages. Don't be afraid do away with the idea that filling cavity mismatch with the original color of your teeth. Fill color is the perfect solution to this problem. This fill color matches original of your teeth and if the procedure is elaborated in the hands of an experienced dentist. The benefits of tooth color fills specified below: * is practically invisible. * Protects teeth from decay and more damage. * It contributes to maintaining the original shape of the tooth structure. ** The removal of the side effects that are commonly associated with the filler metal.



* Insulator teeth of the effects of temperature changes. You can take advantage of these benefits of tooth color fills using the fixing of an appointment with the renowned Royal Oak dentist-Miller, who has been treating patients since 1979. Despite cosmetic and preventative dentistry it is your area of forte, who is well versed with other branches of dentistry. He treats each patient with special attention and tries hard to maintain the original shape of the teeth at any cost. Stress not only in appearance but also in the correct functionality of the teeth. If it has already passed under metal fillings, you don't have to worry at all. You can substitute tooth color fillings metal fillings without affecting the health of your teeth or surrounding tissues. Tooth filling color not only gives a natural look, but is also more secure than traditional metal fillings. Mercury, which is considered more toxic than arsenic or cadmium, is the main ingredient of the silver amalgam. Therefore, in the long term, the traditional procedure of treatment can lead to many complications. This is the reason why more and more people are opting for color teeth fillings. Unlike silver amalgam fillings, filling blank does not contain any harmful material. In addition, color of filling teeth is more durable than other fillers and therefore you don't have to be in accordance with another procedure of dental treatment. Boost your confidence level to get rid of cavities by ugly in virtue of that teeth color fills. In this treatment will be deciding various aspects of their future lives, it is necessary to consult with a experienced dentist who has a good reputation in the medical field.
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Jan 5, 2018 | By David

When it comes to treating injured animals, 3D printing technology is starting to establish a serious reputation for itself. Our furry and feathered friends have found their own friend in 3D printing, which has been used in crucial veterinary surgery as well as to make prosthetics for dogs and penguins, amongst other creatures. The latest critter to be put back together with the help of the technology is an Arkansas-based duck known as Peg, who received a 3D printed replacement leg to help him waddle again after a mysterious attack that possibly involved a violent turtle.

We found Peg sitting on the bank and he hadnt been hatched long, his new owner, Patsy Smith, told Arkansas TV company KAIT. Smith has raised ducks for years, but none of them were in quite the shape that the now eight month-old Indian Runner Duck was when she found him. When I picked him up I noticed his foot was gone and was in horrible condition. Evidently a turtle had bitten his foot off. As the duck grew older, the problem only worsened, and the injured foot, or what was left of it, became irritated.

Smith reached out to various animal rescue operations to help restore Peg back to the way nature intended, but the injured aquatic bird was eventually saved by a group of plucky eighth-graders from Armorel High School in northeastern Arkansas. A new prosthetic leg was made for the duck by three technically-minded students at the school, Abby Simmons, Matthew Cook and Darshan Patel, all aged 14 or 15. The students spent months 3D printing a prosthetic leg for Peg, after having already experimented with making other things using the 3D printer in the schools lab.

We already were looking into ways of creating sophisticated creations with our 3D printer and we saw that we could do just that for a duck, said Alicia Bell, EAST Lab facilitator. Animals bring everyone together and this was just a great way to show how work in the classroom can impact real life.

If you think that putting a duck back together using 3D printing is easy, then youre wrong. In fact, the opposite is the case. It took the students 30 tries before they eventually nailed the perfect prosthetic for Peg, with no small amount of frustration and heartbreak along the way. We thought it was just going to be a shaft with a hole in it connected to a foot but it was much more complicated than that, said Cook. According to Simmons, It was really frustrating because we had to make sure it fit him perfectly and we had to start over due to some issues with the printing but it all worked out in the end.

Images: KAIT

Sometimes the journey is the destination, but this time there was also a destination, which was the restoration of Pegs waddling ability. The Indian Runner might not quite be living up to the second part of his name, but hes definitely more mobile than before, and he has 3D printing to thank. As for the students, they are all a lot wiser for the experience, and wed be surprised if this is the last we hear of Armorel EAST Labs 3D printing expertise.

Smith couldnt be happier about what happened, and is amazed at how 3D printing and animals can really bring out the best in people. ''Not only is it heartwarming but it is exciting and I am just so grateful that there are people that truly care and they have gone out of their way to do all they can to make it as comfortable for the duck.

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Jan 5, 2018 | By Benedict

Ramaco Carbon, LLC, of Sheridan Wyoming, has partnered with Silicon Valley 3D printing company Carbon, formerly Carbon 3D. As part of the deal, Ramaco will produce products and parts for third parties using high-speed Carbon 3D printers.

With its proprietary CLIP technology, a breakthrough 3D printing process that uses DLP, oxygen-permeable optics, and programmable liquid resins, Silicon Valley company Carbon is one of the most exciting players in the 3D printing game.

Just a few weeks ago, Carbon announced it had raised $200 million in Series D funding in order to scale its 3D printing operations for manufacturing. Investors included Baillie Gifford, ARCHINA Capital, and GE Ventures, the venture capital arm of General Electric.

These organizations have been convinced by hardware like the Carbon SpeedCell, a system of connected 3D printing systemsthe M2 Printer, M1 Printer, and Smart Part Washerthat enables the repeatable production of end-use parts at any scale.

But despite continuing to receive investment, Carbon has already taken big strides in the industry, including making deals with production companies. One producer soon to be making the most of Carbons 3D printing technology is Ramaco Carbon, a Wyoming company with whom Carbon has just agreed a production partnership agreement.

As part of that agreement, Ramaco will begin 3D printing a variety of products and component parts for third parties using Carbon's high-speed 3D printers like the M2 and M1. Ramaco says the 3D printed parts will eventually be manufactured at Ramacos proposed iPark industrial facility near Sheridan.

3D printing is becoming the transformative advanced manufacturing technique of the 21st century, commented Randall Atkins, Chairman and CEO of Ramaco Carbon. Our shared vision for the iCAM and iPark is to be a leader in the future of enhanced carbon technology and manufacturing.

Ramacos plan is to create a series of carbon-based industrial and manufacturing facilities at its proposed Brook Mine, iCAM, and iPark facilities. The three areas will provide manufacturers with the worlds only fully integrated carbon resource, research, development, and production facility.

In terms of its new 3D printing powers, Ramaco expects to announce some of its first 3D printed products in the near future.

"Carbon and Ramaco are committed to helping companies develop high-performing, cost-effective products using Carbon's technology and materials," said Dana McCallum, Head of Production Partnerships at Carbon. "The Wyoming iPark and iCAM is a growing research campus and will be a great place for companies to come together in the industrial manufacturing industry."

Although Ramaco must wait on approval for its expansion plans, it hopes to start using its new Carbon 3D printing equipment by spring 2018. To do so, it will lease a small building in Sheridan, employing around 20 to 40 people. That number could eventually reach over 200.

In a separate project, Ramaco Carbon is working with DOE, MIT's Grossman Group (GG-MIT), ORNL, WRI, Southern Research, and others in an attempt to turn "carbon into cars." The project involves using low-cost carbon fiber made from plants, pitch and PAN to make car components.

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NOTE: Thanks to AofA reader, commenter and contributor Jonathan Rose for his alert to the updates on this macabre story. Scott Kologi is accused of shooting four family members on New Year's Eve with a semi-automatic rifle. He has autism. Most of us know that our kids are not aggressively violent - meaning they do not plot violence or retaliation or revenge on others. Most are rule followers and the rule of law is a comfort. However, I know that even in my pretty young women girls, they can have behaviors that are called "aggression." It's a dark secret for many families. Patching spackle is always at the ready for holes in walls. Scratches are laughed off as a bad kitty cat in the house. Bruises are fodder for banter between us in quiet talks. Sudden rage is a problem in autism and Asperger's too. Uncontrolled outbursts are shocking. Share your experience if you want to, in our comments. We'll follow this case - it blows away many of the myths created around autism. And it begs the question the media loathes asking - we're psych medications a factor? No matter, a 16 year old with autism is looking at life in prison or a psychiatric ward. His family members are in deep mourning. It's a horror all around. Surely we can find it in our hearts to at least think about his future - since it may be the same for many of us..... Also, thanks to John Robison for his contribution to the story below in app.com. Kim



Click here for several in depth stories about the Kologi family.



Nearly a week after a Long Branch teen said to have autism allegedly shot and killed his mother, father, sister and a family friend, a host of critical questions remain unanswered.

Among them: What happened inside the familys modest brick home on Wall Street leading up to the shootings, which took place minutes before the stroke of midnight ushered in the new year?

And what about the alleged murder weapon, described as a semiautomatic AK-style rifle? Whose rifle was it, and how did the boy accused of the shooting, 16-year-old Scott Kologi, get a hold of it?

The teen is facing four counts of murder and a weapons charge in the deaths of his parents, 42-year-old Steven and 44-year-old Linda Kologi; his 18-year-old sister, Brittany Kologi; and a family friend, 70-year-old Mary Schulz.

More: Long Branch shooting: Victim's death stuns Jersey Shore biz community

Few answers have been forthcoming after a judge barred the press from covering the juvenile court hearing and another judge issued a gag order to prevent lawyers from talking about the case. But one answer may never be known, even to Scott Kologi himself and his surviving relatives: What role, if any, did autism play?

Its a complex, emotionally charged question, one that has surfaced in the aftermath of other mass shootings by individuals who had exhibited anti-social, autistic-like behavior.

That was the case with Adam Lanza, who killed 20 children and six adults in the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza, who shot and killed his mother prior to going to the school, and later committed suicide, had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum.
The Assyrian Poet

( ALAMY) "I am alive like you, and I am standing beside you. Close your eyes and look around, you will see me in front of you," reads the elegy on the grave of Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. These words rang true Friday at a major three-day conference entitled, "Gibran in the 21st Century, Lebanon's Message to the World," at the Lebanese American University of Beirut.

The conference was a joint event organized by the Center for Lebanese Heritage at LAU, the Gibran National Committee and the George and Lisa Zakhem Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace.

Speakers came from around the world and included physicians, scholars, filmmakers, curators, lawyers and a former Lebanese minister -- diversity that spoke to a body of work that transcended language, culture, and socio-economic barriers, shaping the lives of many, even 100 years after he published "The Madman," his first book in English.

"The past is similar to the present," Gibran once wrote. Nidale al-Aymouni Daccache, an associate professor of Arabic Literature at LAU, said this maxim is proven by the fact that "Gibran is still with us today."

She illustrated Gibran's enduring relevance in the modern age by examining certain topics in his writing. "How can we blame innocent lambs when they are attacked by a hungry wolf?" Gibran had asked. "Does this sound familiar?" Daccache posited to the audience, who erupted in applause and approval.

She explained that Gibran had rejected laws or traditions that reinforced an ideal of brute masculinity at the expense of women, while the mentality of blaming women for gender-based violence inflicted upon them is still prevalent today.

Gibran commended women and believed they should be treated equally. "The face of my mother is the face of my nation," he wrote, summarizing his conviction to honor women.

Daccache then turned to Gibran's work regarding the Arabic language. "Language is the first manifestation of the power of imagination," Gibran said. According to Daccache, Gibran believed that Arabic could not be taught in schools until they became free of the sectarian system. Schools should rather be regulated by the government to ensure that Arabic is taught the same way.

While sectarianism in Lebanon has today become embedded in Lebanese state institutions, Gibran had criticized the phenomenon for separating people and sowing discord.

Tania Sammons, a curator, focused her lecture on Gibran and Mary Haskell, a confidante, editor and Gibran's love interest. "They were a powerful literary couple," Sammons said. She gave a historical review of their lives together, using excerpts from Haskell's diaries.

After Gibran's death, Haskell donated the contents of his studio to his hometown in north Lebanon, Bsharri, and her belongings to a museum in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. "Imagine if Haskell had destroyed the letters, or burned them to keep herself warm one night," Guita Hourani, the director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center at Notre Dame University and the panel's moderator, mused. "Where would we be?" Sammons argued that without Haskell, Gibran wouldn't have become a worldwide legacy.

Francesco Medici, a scholar and researcher who translated the works of Gibran into Italian, took a different approach to the writer. He gathered documents such as a $25 check Gibran wrote to a friend and pictures with colleagues and acquaintances. The translator said society tends to forget that artists are human beings who lead average lives, with groceries to buy and bills to pay, choosing to remember them only by their work.

Medici showcased a letter written by Siegfried Sassoon, one of the leading English poets of WWI. "I had lunch with a little poet today, Khalil Gibran, and he drew me ... ," the letter said. He also exhibited a letter written by Gibran that talked about his new phone number and provided the official documentation to back up the claim.

Medici also shared an interesting story about the English spelling of Gibran's name. Gibran came to the United States three times, each time registering with a different spelling, as demonstrated in official documents shown to the audience.

The conference was the third international conference on Gibran, with the first two held in the U.S. However, there is still much to be discovered and said about the poet, a visionary and pioneer, even in modern times.
The Assyrian Church Presence in Kuwait

The presence of Christians in Kuwait is old, dating back to the eras of the Umayyad or Abbasid dynasties. This is confirmed by the inscriptions on ceramic pieces that were recently discovered in Failaka Island, reports Al-Rai daily. Head of the French expedition team that is exploring the ruins on Failaka Island Dr Juliet Bonrik disclosed that the new archeological discovery in Failaka Island few days ago is Syriac [Assyrian] engravings on ceramic pieces. She said, "These Syriac writings date back to either the Umayyad or Abbasid eras, and are the first of its kind in Kuwait and the Gulf region. It indicates the presence of Christians in Kuwait during these two periods. The existence of Christians in Iraq, Syria and Egypt during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras is a known fact, but the revelation of their presence in the Arabian Peninsula is new". Dr Bonrik revealed, "These Syriac writings were engraved in black and I have never seen them before. We were lucky. We kept all the pieces and checked them separately. When I saw the engravings, I imagined they were written in Arabic". "The period during which these writings were engraved can be identified but we cannot accurately identify the year", she added. Dr Bonrik affirmed, "This revelation, which confirms the presence of Christians in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf region in the post-Islamic era, indicates the level of tolerance and acceptance of the others". She added, "We do not know the details of the Syriac writings on the ceramic pieces and the topics that were discussed". Dr Bonrik has been working for ten years in the field of antiquities in Kuwait and the Gulf and is specializing in the field of Islamic monuments especially of the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. She said, "Kuwait had a Christian church and a monastery in Failaka Island, which lies within the port of Shuwaikh". Dr Bonrik thanked Kuwait for its support shown to the Kuwaiti- French archeological expedition team, highlighting that Total Kuwait also has been providing support for their archaeological activities. Director of the French Center for Archeology and Social Sciences in Kuwait, Abbas Zouashi, stressed the importance of Kuwaiti-French cooperation in the cultural, historical and archaeological fields. He said, "The center works in coordination with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French National Center for Scientific Research. The center has formed relations with all Kuwaiti institutions such as Kuwait University".
Big Bad Breakfast will open its second metro Birmingham location in downtown Homewood on Jan. 23, according to an operating partner of the restaurant.

The newest location of the popular breakfast and lunch spot will be at 1926 29th Ave. South, in the old Cathay Inn Restaurant space near Real & Rosemary restaurant and across the street from the Pastry Art Bake Shoppe.

The first Birmingham location of Big Bad Breakfast opened on U.S. 280 in June 2014.

"Obviously, Homewood is a very desirable location," James Claborn, an operating partner in both Birmingham restaurants, told AL.com. "Lots of restaurants have been trying to move in there and have. The downtown area of Homewood has a vibrant walking community, which bodes well for any restaurant.

"We're happy to be closer to town," Claborn added. "We're happy to be able to (also) serve the people of Mountain Brook and Vestavia and Crestwood, the people who live in the lofts downtown, that maybe thought it was too far to drive out to (U.S) 280. We will be capturing a lot more people that are closer to Birmingham."

James Beard Award-winning chef John Currence of Oxford, Miss., opened the original Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford in 2008, and Currence partnered with the Fresh Hospitality Group to bring his breakfast concept to Birmingham.

The menu features omelets, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, steak and eggs and other made-from-scratch breakfast dishes, as well as sandwiches, wraps and burgers.

Fresh Hospitality first announced plans to expand Big Bad Breakfast into Homewood in the spring of 2016.

The building, which most recently housed the Steep & Deep ski and scuba shop, had to be almost totally rebuilt, including removing and replacing the front and rear walls and adding a 12-foot extension to make room for a kitchen in what used to be a driveway on the western side of the building, Claborn said.

With seating upstairs and downstairs, the restaurant will accommodate about 110 guests, Claborn said.

The new Homewood location is now hiring servers, bartenders, hosts, line cooks and prep cooks, Claborn said. To apply, call 205-910-3260.

The restaurant will be open for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.
Just before Christmas 1994 Betsy Lehman, a 39 year-old prize-winning health reporter for the Boston Globe suddenly and unexpectedly died as she was about to be discharged from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she was being treated for breast cancer. More than 2 months later, during a routine record check, it came to light that she had died from an accidental overdose of the chemotherapy drug she had been receiving. This was particularly shocking as the Dana-Farber is widely regarded one of the world's premier cancer research institutions. Roughly 25 medical staff involved in Ms. Lehman's care could have caught the error, but didn't.

Medicine is practiced by humans and humans make errors. What matters in medicine as in life is how we respond to our errors once they are discovered.

The Dana-Farber responded by publically admitted its mistake, launching a massive investigation of what caused it, and ultimately installing a host of new, more rigorous patient safety procedures. Those procedures have become a model for maximizing patient safety at numerous other hospitals across the country.

As I've noted before, admitting mistakes is not something we are wired to do easily. If possible we nearly always prefer to cover up an error or shift the blame. Yet progress and improvement depends upon learning from our mistakes and to do that you have to admit them. That's how we get better at anything not just hospital care.

Of all the fields that could benefit from admitting its mistakes, law enforcement seems to be the most resistant to doing so. Why is this? People in law enforcement are no different than the rest of us. My hunch is that it is a byproduct of our adversarial justice system, that emphasizes winning rather than unbiased inquiry. For whatever reason, a consequence is that while medical care continually improves its safety record, there is no evidence of any improvement in the rate of false convictions in our legal system. In fact, a recent study of exonerations in one of the world's leading science journals estimated that about 1 in 25 death sentences imposed in the United States is a false conviction. We wouldn't accept this sort of error rate in our mail delivery system but apparently we do in judging our most serious crimes. A little error reduction might be in order.

One particularly egregious example of a refusal to admit error is the case of Anthony Ray Hinton, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for two murders in Birmingham, Alabama that he didn't commit. He was exonerated and released from prison nearly 30 years later on Good Friday 2015, having become one of the longest-serving, falsely imprisoned individuals in American history.

The case against him was flimsy from the beginning. He had no history of violent crime. There were no witnesses to either murder. No evidence of any kind linking him to the killings was found at either crime scene or in his car or at his home. However, investigators did find a gun, belonging to his mother with whom he shared a house, which was the same caliber as that used in the murders.

The entire case depended on a forensic match between bullets fired from that gun and those recovered at the crime scene. The state's ballistic examiners indeed declared a match and this was enough to convict Hinton and get him sentenced to death.

Hinton never wavered in proclaiming his innocence. In 2002, his new legal team from the Equal Justice Initiative, engaged three of the nation's top firearms examiners, including the former Chief of the FBI's firearms and tool mark unit, to re-examine the ballistics evidence. All three agreed that none of the six bullets were marked with sufficient clarity to match them to the gun in question or with one another for that matter. When asked to explain to these examiners how he had determined the original match to the weapon, the State's expert refused to cooperate.

This could have been the end of the story. The prosecution could have decided to re-examine the evidence themselves or even have dropped all charges because the best experts in the country could not validate their only evidence linking Mr. Hinton to the crimes. But they chose not to. In fact, they fought re-opening the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted unanimously that Mr. Hinton was due a new trial. At that point prosecutors gave up, decided not to re-try him, and he was released.

Let's consider the damage that could have been avoided here. There was the damage to Mr. Hinton, who served 13 more years in hell than he needed to. And there was the lost opportunity to begin an investigation and re-evaluation of the training, competence, and procedures at the state forensic laboratories to help prevent future miscarriages of justice.

Tellingly, another Alabamian exonerated in the same year as Mr. Hinton, Beniah Alton Dandridge, had been also been falsely convicted due to flawed forensic analysis, in this case a mistaken fingerprint identification by the Alabama state forensic lab. Mr. Dandridge had been imprisoned 20 years by then.

Learning how to reduce future errors is one large benefit of admitting one's mistakes. Another benefit is that it allows us to at least partially right-the-wrong by compensating people who are damaged by our mistakes. This is basic fairness, something I think we all agree on. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reached what the Boston Globe reported to be a multimillion dollar settlement with the family of Betsy Lehman.

But as law enforcement hates to admit error, they also hate to see compensation paid for false convictions, because it is unavoidably a public admission that they had made a mistake.

As the trickle of criminal exonerations in the 1990's turned into a stream in the early 2000's and a flood more recently, 32 states including Alabama passed laws defining the monetary amount due those who were wrongly incarcerated. In Alabama the minimum amount for each year of incarceration was set at $50,000. For Anthony Ray Hinton, that means he is owed a minimum of about $1.5 million. Of course, it is not that simple. The state Committee on Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration and the State Division of Risk Management must both agree that such compensation is really warranted and the State legislature must then appropriate the funds.

In Mr. Hinton's case, both of the appropriate entities have approved payment and State Senator, Paul Bussman (R, Cullman) sponsored a bill in the last legislative session to appropriate the funds. That bill never made it out of committee, however.

Unsurprisingly, state prosecutors, whose approval is thankfully not required, have resisted. Assistant Attorney General James Houts has been vehemently opposed to any compensation for Mr. Hinton, saying that a lack of the ability to match the bullets to the gun "is not evidence of innocence," the presumption of innocence, a core value of our justice system, apparently having slipped his mind.

The legislature is about to reconvene. Senator Bussman, reiterating his view that "if they still think he is guilty, they should re-try him; if not, they need to compensate him," has assured me that reintroducing his compensation appropriation bill will be one of the first things on his agenda for the new session. At a time when Alabama is trying to shed its reputation for racial injustice, after Mr. Hinton has been exonerated for nearly three years, isn't it time for our legislature to do the right thing?

Steven Austad is Chair of the Biology Department at UAB. Before becoming a research scientist, he had various lives as an English major, a newspaper reporter, a New York City taxi driver, and a Hollywood wild animal trainer. Living now in Birmingham with his veterinarian wife, 6 dogs, 2 parrots, and a cat, his column posts every other Saturday morning on AL.com.
The gunman accused of shooting a Piedmont man outside of a Jacksonsville Walmart was taken into custody Friday evening.

De'Abra Richmond, 20, was captured by Jacksonville police and the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. He was arrested about 6:45 p.m,

Jacksonville police responded just after 8:15 p.m. Wednesday to Walmart on Pelham Road South. They were summoned to the scene after a person was spotted stumbling from around the north side of the store, said Assistant Chief Bill Wineman.

Officers found the victim, 43-year-old Johnny Stanton McIntyre, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He also had been stabbed. He was taken to Jacksonville Region Medical Center and the airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. He remained hospitalized Friday.

A second person - 19-year-old Tristan Taylor Hensley - arrived later at the Jacksonville hospital with what authorities said appeared to be a knife wound. He was treated for his injury and then released and taken to jail.

Both Hensley and Richmond are charged with first-degree assault. Jacksonville Police Chief Tommy Thompson said Thursday that Hensley and McIntyre were acquaintances and apparently were in some kind of dispute over a gun. No additional information has been released.
The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals on Friday ordered a judge to toss out the Birmingham Board of Education's lawsuit that seeks to block the opening of a charter school in the city.

Attorneys for the Birmingham Board of Education had not responded to a request for comment prior to publication of this story.

According to its lawsuit filed in June against the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, the Birmingham BOE claims the commission improperly overruled its decision to deny a charter to STAR Academy. The lawsuit asked that a judge rule the commission violated the state's charter schools law and to prohibit STAR Academy from opening without first getting approval from the board of education.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Jim Hughey III ruled in October that the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act (AAPA), which pertains to the appeal of state agency decisions, applied to the case and refused to dismiss the case at the request of the Commission.

But in its ruling today the appeals court stated that the Board of Education did not properly file under deadlines its appeals under the AAPA

Because, under the act "'a circuit court can acquire appellate jurisdiction over a final state-agency decision only if the appellant initially filed a notice of appeal with the agency within 30 days of the appellant's receipt of the agency's final decision,'" and the respondent Board in this case did not do so, we agree with the Commission that the circuit court acted outside its discretion in denying the Commission's second motion to dismiss. Accordingly, the Commission's petition is granted, and the circuit court is directed to set aside its October 12, 2017, order and to enter a new order dismissing the Board's action."

The appellate court summarized the deadlines and timeline in Friday's order:

The Board of Education filed its lawsuit on June 1 after commissioners in an oral statement had approved Star Academy's application. However, the commission didn't enter its final order until June 27, the appeals court noted in its ruling.

On July 12 "the Commission filed a motion to dismiss the Birmingham Board of Education's lawsuit asserting, among other things, that the BOE's action was governed by the AAPA and that the Board had improperly sought judicial review while the cause was not ripe for such review, in which this court held that a circuit court does not acquire jurisdiction under the AAPA to review the actions of an administrative agency in the absence of a final, written order."

Judge Hughey in an order stated that the Board of Education had been served with notice of the Commission's final order on July 3, 2017; purported to extend the time for the Board to file a "proper petition" for judicial review under the AAPA until September 1, 2017; and ordered that the individual members of the Commission would be dismissed as parties.

The judge also ruled that after the board had filed an amended complaint on Sept. 1 that, among other things, expressly invoked the AAPA as a basis for relief, the Commission filed a second motion to dismiss in which the Commission relied upon the Board's failure to have filed a timely notice of appeal under the AAPA with the Commission.

The Board responded in opposition to the Commission's motion, asserting that the Commission had had actual notice of the Board's intent to seek judicial review and that the Commission had itself been guilty in its appellate-review proceedings of omissions contrary to the requirements of the AAPA. On October 12, 2017, the circuit court entered an order denying the Commission's second motion to dismiss, after which the Commission timely filed its mandamus petition in this court.

Updated at 7:35 p.m. Jan. 5, 2018 to correct that the decision was made by the Civil Court of Appeals
The causes of the uprising that has been rocking the Islamic Republic of Iran for a week now are unsurprisingly both structural and contingent. Initially kicked off by the economically dispossessed youth and joined by lower sections of the middle class, students and also some pensioners, it has reached an unprecedented geographical scope with protests spanning across 70 mainly smaller cities and towns in all four corners of the country. According to the authorities, 42,000 people, 90 percent of whom under the age of 25, have taken part, while the real number may be higher. They have been met by myriad methods of repression by the states security apparatus, leaving over 20 people dead (again merely an official figure), 1,000 jailed and an uncounted number injured.

Besides the structural factors that have been an almost constant feature of the Islamic Republics rule, the past months and weeks have added a new level of discontent with the regime as a whole, which led me to speculate the recent waves of protests may only be a forerunner of more to come.

The immediate trigger was a protest staged by Rouhanis right-wing conservative opponents in Mashhad against the presidents economic performance that spiralled out of control. Then, like a wildfire, it ignited the entire country with a combination of social justice and anti-regime slogans. Yet, all this took place against the background of a wave of protests in the preceding months and weeks by workers, pensioners, teachers, and students.

Wave of protests since 2016

Since March 2016, Iran has seen 1,700 social protests, according to the Islamic Revolution Devotees Society (Jamiyat-e Isargara-e Enqelab-e Eslami), a conservative party of which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a founding member. Over the course of 2017, hundreds of protests took place by workers, pensioners, teachers, and students. Labour protests continued due to unpaid salaries, neoliberal economic policies and resistance towards labour organising, which were confronted with harsh repression by security forces and sanctioned by arbitrary layoffs.

While waves of such protests had already taken place throughout the Ahmadinejad presidency, President Rouhanis stance against labour rights and a decent minimum wage had only exacerbated the situation. Over the course of 2017, pensioners and teachers staged many protests against unpaid pensions and low salaries  yet their concerns were ignored by the authorities. The December 7 Student Day saw a wave of university protests with students demanding social justice and an end to political tutelage, while pointing out that the climate for activism had even become worse.

Popular disillusion towards all factions of the regime

A number of key events over 2017 led popular disillusion with the regime as a whole to reach a new level. In May, after a deadly mine explosion in northern Iran, the miners rage descended upon President Rouhani, when angry workers attacked his armoured vehicle when he wanted to visit the site. In mid-November the heavy earthquakes shaking the country had demonstrated to all Iranians the regimes utter neglect for their most vital needs  from the social housing, built under corrupt circumstances during the Ahmadinejad years, which had abruptly collapsed burying innumerous people under their rubble until the Rouhani administrations hesitant reaction to provide aid to the victims that left many literally in the cold.

The ongoing rage, predicated upon by the same unaltered conditions that generated it in the first place, continues to fuel protests, which continue to pose a veritable threat to the entire elite. by

Adding the final touch to those multilayered frustrations was the Rouhani administrations announcement of its upcoming annual budget that defied the presidents bold promises to finally tackle the issue of social justice. Instead, major sums were devoted to religious foundations, run by both the regimes conservative and reformist camps, as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). This led to fierce criticism of the proposed budget on social networks. Disenchanted Rouhani voters then started a Twitter campaign against their erstwhile bearer of hope  with the hashtag I regret (Pashimanam). Thus, for many, Rouhanis budget plan had evaporated any hope that a turn towards social justice and towards weakening authoritarian structures might be on the horizon.

The moderates versus the people

The fact that the more moderate part of the Islamic republics elite, the reformists, who have lent their support to the centrist president, has equally been the target of the protesters rage is hardly surprising. Only after experiencing the massive corruption under the Ahmadinejad administration, Iranians had to soon learn about cases of corruption in the entourage of President Rouhani, the same who had taken up the cause of fighting corruption.

Over the last summer, Iranians became enraged about the elites nepotism, mainly in the reformist camp. The outcry was provoked by a 20 July interview in which the son of the leading reformist politician Mohammad-Reza Aref credited his good genes for his professional success. On social media, Iranians identified more cases of such Aqazadeh whose lucrative jobs were due to their fathers position in the system. On the one hand, this further undermined the tarnished reputation of the reformists, making clear that they were clearly part of the ruling elite and not on the side of the people they pretended to represent. On the other, the structuring wall erected after the revolution between regime insiders (khodi), who enjoyed access to state resources and privileges, and outsiders (qeyr-e khodi), seemed to be insurmountable for most Iranians.

Socioeconomic frustration post-JCPOA

All these developments over the past weeks and months came on the back of increased social frustration  certainly an important factor in any uprising  during the past five years of the Rouhani presidency as economic expectations remained unfulfilled. It is true that under Rouhani, Iran has seen its GDP grow again, at around five percent. Yet, economic growth as such is not a reliable indicator of socioeconomic development. Crucially, this growth has not been inclusive, that is, its dividends have not been distributed equally. Rather than benefiting larger sections of the population, merely the elite has enriched itself. For instance, the partial revitalisation of trade and investment with the outside world has almost exclusively benefitted the IRGCs and the Supreme Leaders economic empires. Given the Islamic Republics political-economic structures where the private sector only plays a marginal role, this lopsided outcome hardly came as a surprise  but is still discomforting. Finally, under Rouhani poverty and income inequality, especially in smaller cities, have risen.

Rouhanis neoliberal-authoritarian model

In other words, in contrast to Rouhanis promises, barely anything trickled down onto the general population. Given the administrations neoliberal leanings, its economic policies heavily relied on austerity. The latter together with security formed the two constant pillars of Rouhanis budget allocations. This neoliberal-authoritarian mix has neither alleviated the socioeconomic misery of Iranians, nor weakened authoritarian structures.

Structurally, the ongoing social misery, as well as the political systems autocratic and repressive nature, have long formed the dual and intertwined core of a regime who had monopolised economic and political power in its own hands. Today, almost half of the Iranian population persevere around the poverty line  which tellingly stands above the official minimum wage. Officially, every eighth is unemployed; among the youth one in four also is  in reality, the real figures should be much higher. It was precisely this impoverished youth in their 20s who were the drivers of the uprising. According to estimates, 40 percent of the youth are unemployed.

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All this is only a preliminary account of factors I deem important to consider. As with all such almost on-the-spot analysis of ongoing social phenomena, the insights presented here can only be tentative and non-exhaustive. Yet, what I present here for debate is that the dual evil of Rouhanis neoliberal economic policies and the Islamic republics authoritarianism has created this new level of discontent fuelling the uprising. Because of that nefarious combination, I would argue, such an eruption was merely a matter of time.

Almost precisely seven years after the start of the Arab Spring, people from similar social backgrounds and with similar socioeconomic and political demands boldly took to the streets, shaking the very foundations of yet another four-decade-old autocracy in the Middle East. Importantly, their hopes have been belied time and again by both sections of Irans establishment, conservative and reformist, as reflected in many protest slogans. A much-needed third way can only materialise when those factions permit for the emergence of a political alternative that Iranians have been deprived of since the inception of the Islamic republic with its exclusively Islamist political establishment.

The wave of protests might have waned now a week after it started, due to repression and the lack of support of the reform-oriented section of the middle class. Yet the ongoing rage, predicated upon by the same unaltered conditions that generated it in the first place, continues to fuel protests, posing a veritable threat to the entire elite. Ironically it seems, once assuming power to represent the neglected interests of the oppressed (mostazafan), the same turned into outsiders (qeyr-e khodi) have now come to haunt the Islamic Republics very destiny.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Iranians are frustrated by the inability of the establishment to create any meaningful political and economic change.

The demonstrations that took Iran and the world by surprise remain undefined, leaderless and unprecedented in the mix of messages and geographical locations. Yet they are extremely significant, as they portray the depth of anger at the lack of economic and political progress in the Islamic republic 39 years on.

President Hassan Rouhani has taken four courageous steps over the past two years all of which have infuriated the hardliners: Against all odds he completed the Iran nuclear deal; stood up directly to the hardliners siding instead with the reformists; took the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund and implemented fiscal restraints policy; and finally took steps to tackle high-level corruption.

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Yet, none of these steps have reached fruition and, as such, they have caused immense public resentment and hardship.

Despite that, the thrust of the political slogans at the protests were not directed at Rouhani. Initially aimed against high prices, the anti-government protests quickly turned against the regime as a whole and in an unprecedented level against the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Last Saturday, December 30, was the national day of Alliance with the Supreme Leader. Instead, the day turned into one of burning the flag of the Islamic republic and tearing photos of Ayatollah Khamenei. Much anger was expressed at the clerical establishment, its repressive measures at home and its political and financial focus on Syria, Iraq and Palestine, rather than on the needs of the Iranians.

Encouraged by hardliners

Many blame the hardliners for starting the protests in Mashhad. And some hardline clerics were reportedly summoned to the National Security Council and reprimanded.

Mashhad is the stronghold of Rouhanis hardline rival, Ebrahim Raissi, who was the preferred candidate of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). He is the chief custodian of the powerful religious foundation Astan Ghods Razavi and as such holds the largest pot of public funds. Together with his ultra-hardline father-in-law, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamalhoda, he is accused of having turned Mashhad into a key location for opposing Rouhani and his policies.

Mashhad was also at the centre of the high-profile fraud case of Padideh Shandiz Construction. The $35bn fraud case which revealed unprecedented corruption at the highest levels dating back to the hardline government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The chief executive of the firm was jailed in 2016. Investors shares dropped drastically in value and there was no state-owned enterprise control. Since then investors have regularly protested in Mashhad and Tehran.

Protests turn political

The surprise came only when the protests spread to some 70 more remote towns and provincial cities where police stations and security forces were directly targeted.

The slogans became overtly anti-establishment: Death to the Khamenei, Down with the dictator, Have shame, you mullah, I dont want an Islamic republic, and O Shah, rest in peace, or Let go of Palestine, not Gaza, not Lebanon, Id give my life [only] for Iran.

On January 5, the hardline Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami hit back before Friday prayers in Tehran:

The slogans chanted on behalf of Trump and Netanyahu in the recent riots that said Neither Gaza, Nor Lebanon are the voices of outsiders, and should be stifled.

IRGC chief Mohammad-Ali Jaffari also blamed the US, Zionists and Al Saud for acts of sabotage and blasts.

Whoever started the protests or fanned its flames with whatever ulterior motive, one thing is clear that the public outcry against Islamic republic's repressive methods and the economic malaise cannot be written off as a mere conspiracy, or whitewashed with mass pro-regime demonstrations. by

This showed the regimes nervous disposition after reports of joint efforts by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia for exerting pressure on Iran. And it was exasperated when both the US president, Donald Trump, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised the brave demonstrators.

Scepticism increased when some prominent Iranian figures such as the former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, and the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi asked the US to increase pressure on Iran. Many wondered whether there was a foreign ulterior motive to fan the flame of the protests.

Whoever started the protests or fanned its flames with whatever ulterior motive, one thing is clear that the public outcry against Islamic republics repressive methods and the economic malaise cannot be written off as a mere conspiracy, or whitewashed with mass pro-regime demonstrations.

Iranians are frustrated by the inability of the establishment to create any meaningful change whether at the economic or political level. This was the third time Ayatollah Khamenei was hearing the call for his downfall and it was stronger than 2009 and 2013.

And the establishment was unusually apprehensive. IRGC said it had not been called to take action. Its involvement was very limited. The Supreme Leader did not speak for five days. The hardline Kayhan newspaper acknowledged: the nation has risen in protest, and the president promised to create more jobs and improve the credit oversight.

The question now is whether Rouhani can use the protests to his benefit and convince the supreme leader of the need to implement the major economic corrective surgery to which he referred to in his speech. This may be difficult while US sanctions hover over Irans economy. The hardliners are likely to put all the blame on the president and push for the need to project a more military image of Iran to the world.

Whatever the outcome, a new benchmark has now been set for future protests and some past taboos have been broken. They should be taken seriously.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
In 2017, any number of governments and organisations condemned Myanmars campaign against its minority as ethnic cleansing. In 2018, Rohingya refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh are facing dire conditions.

For the latest report in our series on what we think will be some of the biggest stories of the year, were in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Its now home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya whove fled violence in Myanmar since August.

The UN has accused Myanmars government of textbook ethnic cleansing, which it denies.

Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford reports on what the refugees face in the year ahead.
A new attempt by a private ocean survey company is under way to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 nearly four years after it mysteriously disappeared.

The vanishing of the commercial aircraft as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China in March 2014 with 239 people aboard ranks as the worlds greatest aviation mystery.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

Australia, China, and Malaysia ended an unsuccessful $157m search in January 2017.

US-based company Ocean Infinity dispatched a search vessel this past week to look in the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the plane.

The basis of the offer from Ocean Infinity is based on no cure, no fee,' Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday, meaning payment will be made only if the company finds the wreckage.





That means they are willing to search the area of 25,000 square kilometres pointed out by the expert group near the Australian waters. I dont want to give too much hope  to the [next of kin], he added.

Ocean Infinity said in a statement the search vessel Seabed Constructor, which left the South African port of Durban on Tuesday, was taking advantage of favourable weather to move towards the vicinity of the possible search zone.

Search conditions are best during the current southern hemisphere summer before the colder months bring storm-force winds and mountainous seas.

The previous search was extremely difficult because no transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight. Systems designed to automatically transmit the planes position failed to work after this point, according to an Australian report.

Australian Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce told Australian Broadcasting Corp this week he didnt hold out much hope that the plane would be found.

I can understand how Malaysians are incredibly driven by finding the wreckage, said Joyce. I have, to be quite frank, some concerns as to whether it will be found.
Foreign ministers of Turkey and Germany agree to work towards improving relations after period of high tensions.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Germany have agreed to work towards improving relations that have been strained after a period of high tensions.

The apparent bid to restore friendlier ties between the two countries was laid bare on Saturday when Sigmar Gabriel, Germanys foreign minister, hosted his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Speaking to reporters at the central German city of Goslar, Gabriel said the two top diplomats had been tasked to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been in German-Turkish relations and to find more common ground in the future.

For his part, Cavusoglu said major differences remained between the two countries, but noted that as two foreign ministers, we believe we can overcome this through dialogue.

Soured relations

Ankara and Berlin have clashed over numerous issues in recent years, especially after a failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

The tensions rose partly due to the subsequent imprisonment of German journalists and activists by Turkish authorities on terror charges as well as Germanys refusal to extradite asylum seekers Turkey alleges were involved in the putsch bid.

Tens of thousands of people have been held and purged in Turkey since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, prompting condemnation by some EU member states as well as rights groups which accuse the Turkish authorities of using the putsch bid as a pretext to silence opposition.

Turkey, however, insists the moves are aimed at removing supporters of Fethullah Gulen from state institutions and other parts of society. Ankara blames Gulen for the coup bid, a charge which he denies.

Turkish officials have meanwhile accused Germany of harbouring terrorists, while also expressing frustration over their countrys stalled EU membership bid.

In recent weeks, Ankara has released several German citizens on bail following their detention after the failed coup attempt. Among them are Mesale Tolu, a journalist with the ETHA news agency, and human rights activist Peter Steudtner.

Gabriel said he had discussed the arrest of Deniz Yucel, a prominent German-Turkish journalist who has been jailed in Turkey pending trial on charges of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.

He did not offer additional details.

They need each other

Al Jazeeras Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said the two ministers sought to stress areas of agreement, including a 2015 EU-Turkey deal aimed at reducing the flow of refugees into Europe, while avoiding thorny issues during Saturdays meeting.

The point here is that the two countries need each other, he said.

From the German perspective, the deal made between Turkey and the EU is one that must succeed. Likewise, Germany is an important country for Turkey, given that there are millions of people living in Germany who are of Turkish descent.

Germany, home to a three-million ethnic Turks, is also Turkeys biggest trade partner.

Before his visit to Germany, Cavusoglu called for a fresh start based on friendship and cooperation between equal partners.
The United Nations will launch an investigation into a deadly attack on UN forces last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Secretary General Antonio Guterres has announced.

Fifteen Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed and 43 other people were wounded in the town of Semulikion, in the Congos northeastern province of North Kivu, on December 7 by Ugandan fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), according to the UN.

Investigators will examine the peacekeepers response to the attack, as well as other assaults on UN forces in the area, and make recommendations on how to prevent further violent incidents, Guterres said in a statement on Friday.

This special investigation will include a focus on the 7 December attack in Semuliki, in which 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed, 43 wounded and one remains missing, he said.

The former UN assistant secretary general, Dmitry Titov, was appointed by Guterres to lead the probe into the assault, described by Guterres last month as the worst attack on UN peacekeepers in  recent history.

It was the bloodiest attack to date on the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the UN force deployed in the DRC since November 1999.

Two military officers from Tanzania will join the UN team assigned to the investigation, which will begin in the Congo later this month. The team will also travel to other countries in the region as part of the review.

The DRCs North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, has been beset by violence in recent years.

The ADF, an Islamist rebel group active in the area, has been accused by the UN of killing more than 700 people in the region since October 2014.
Despite objections from Tehran and dissent from other member states, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting about the now-diminishing demonstrations in Iran.

The UN Security Council has wrapped up a special session demanded by the Trump administration on the recent protests in Iran  with the US accusing Tehran of stifling the voices of its people.

But other members objected to the meeting, insisting the Council wasnt empowered to discuss the internal affairs of a UN member state.

But, with the support of the UK among others, the US got its wish and the debate went ahead as planned.

Al Jazeeras Mike Hanna reports from the United Nations.
Chants of Death to America, Israel, Britain ring out as thousands rally throughout Iran backing the government.

Thousands of Iranians took to the streets in support of the government for a fourth-straight day chanting death to foreign nations accused of instigating deadly unrest that began last month.

State television showed pro-government rallies in cities including Amol, Semnan, and Shadegan with supporters waving Iranian flags and chanting Death to America, Death to Israel, and Death to Britain.

State TV described the rallies as a response to rioters and supporters of the riots.

Irans chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri on Thursday accused the American CIA, Israels Mossad spy agency, and Saudi Arabia of orchestrating the anti-government demonstrations that led to the deaths of 22 people, along with hundreds of arrests.

Saturdays rallies came after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)  at the request of the United States  held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss Irans protests.

Tehrans foreign minister called out the US government for raising a domestic issue before the international body.

The UNSC rebuffed the USs naked attempt to hijack its mandate Another FP [foreign policy] blunder for the Trump administration, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

The UNSC rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Majority emphasized the need to fully implement the JCPOA and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others. Another FP blunder for the Trump administration. Iran's statement: https://t.co/QsbihBW69V  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 5, 2018

Unrest spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns late last month as thousands of young and working class Iranians voiced anger at corruption, unemployment, and a deepening gap between rich and poor in the biggest anti-government demonstrations since 2009.

Those protests have petered out in recent days while pro-government rallies have gained momentum.

About 1,000 people are estimated to have been arrested during the demonstrations. Videos appearing on social media in recent days showed relatives of detainees gathering outside prisons to seek information about the fate of their loved ones.

Tehran University Vice President Majid Sarsangi said the university had set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the unrest.

Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time, Sarsangi told ISNA news agency.

The provincial governor in northeastern Mashhad, where the protests started, was quoted as saying on Saturday that 85 percent of detainees there had been released after signing a pledge not to re-offend.

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Those with a criminal record, or those charged with sabotage such a setting fire to motorcycles or damaging public buildings have been referred to judicial authorities, governor Alireza Rashidian was quoted by ISNA as saying.

On Saturday, Iranians were able to access the photo-sharing site Instagram again after it was blocked for the past week.

The government suspended access to the messaging app Telegram, which was being used to publicise the protests. Twitter and Facebook were already banned.
Angry scenes in Bethlehem as Theophilos IIIs convoy is pelted with eggs over alleged role in sale of land to Israelis.

Protests have broken out in Bethlehem as Palestinians rallied against the Greek Orthodox patriarch, accusing him of selling church land to Israelis.

Angry protesters on Saturday threw eggs and attacked the convoy of Theophilos III as it made its way its way to Bethlehems Manger Square in the occupied West Bank.

The patriarch was visiting the Church of the Nativity for services marking the Orthodox Christmas Eve. Many Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on January 7.

The patriarch has been at the centre of public anger after recent news reports alleged that the church leader had been involved in property sales to foreign tax havens, and those properties may end up in the hands of Israeli businesses.

A protest calling for the removal of Theophilos III was also held in September following the publication of reports claiming that he had colluded with a settler organisation.

The settler group, Ateret Cohanim, has been working for decades to evict Palestinians from their homes and shops in the city, including around important holy sites such as the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

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Speaking to Al Jazeera, representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem denied the reported allegations.

We did not, as they claim, sell our land to the Israeli occupation, said Father Issa Musleh.

Those are old deals the patriarch wants to rectify and clarify, because all those old deals are detrimental to the rights of the patriarchate and its congregation.

Read our in-depth story about this issue here.

Al Jazeeras Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Bethlehem, described Saturdays scenes as unprecedented and dramatic.

There have been protests before, but not at this level. There were eggs being hurled at the convoy, people sitting in the middle of streets. It really underscores how angry people are about these reports, he said.

Local officials also gave him a cold shoulder when they refused to welcome him to the square, added Jamjoom.

The Orthodox Church is reportedly the second-biggest landowner in East Jerusalem, and many Palestinians think the sales of East Jerusalem land to Israelis will endanger the future of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Sombre mood

However, the land sales have triggered a broader campaign demanding an end to the churchs dominance by Greek-born clergy.

Past protests have called for Palestinian clerics to take over the patriarchate.

Our demands are clear and simple, Aghlab Khoury, a member of the Orthodox Central Council, told Al Jazeera at the Bethlehem protest.

We want the patriarch to resign; we want reform to the patriarchate; assign a legal committee to evaluate the situation in the patriarchate; and appraise the existing property.

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The protests came one month after US President Donald Trump officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said he would start a process to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

That decision led to massive protests in the occupied Palestinian territories and major rallies in support of the Palestinians across the Muslim world.

A majority of UN member also heavily criticised Trumps announcement, declaring his Jerusalem move null and void.

Al Jazeeras Jamjoom said the events of the past month reinforced the sombre mood in Bethlehem and overshadowed the traditional Christmas festivities.

I spoke to a man who has been coming here for decades to celebrate, and he said he had never seen it this empty, said Jamjoom.

In the past, Muslims would be out here, Christians would be out here. The courtyard would be full of children. But up until now, it has been very empty outside of the Church of the Nativity, he added.

It is one more thing that highlights the hopelessness that Palestinian Christians are feeling right now, in a period where they should be feeling peaceful, festive and hopeful.
Statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights comes after 20 people were reportedly put to death.

The United Nations human rights office has expressed deep shock and concern over the reported executions of 20 people in Egypt over the past two weeks.

Due process and fair trial guarantees appear to have been disregarded, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted in a statement issued on Friday.

On January 2, five men were reportedly hanged in Alexandria after being sentenced to death by an Egyptian military court; four had been convicted over a 2015 blast in Kafr al-Sheikh that killed three military recruits and injured two others.

We understand the defendants were tried by military judges on the basis of legislation that refers cases of destruction of public property to military courts and in view of the victims being from the Egyptian Military Academy, OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva. Civilians should only be tried in military or special courts in exceptional cases.

Previously, on December 26, a group of 15 men convicted on terrorism charges over the 2013 deaths of soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula were executed.

Military courts typically deny defendants the rights afforded by civilian courts, Throssell said, citing reports that the prisoners who were executed may have been subjected to initial enforced disappearance and torture before being tried.

The UN human rights office has urged Egyptian authorities to reconsider the use of the death penalty, noting that executions should not be used as a means to combat terrorism.

Increase in executions

According to figures from Cornell Universitys Death Penalty Worldwide, there has been a sharp increase in executions in the years since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power.

From 2011, the year that former President Hosni Mubarak was deposed, to 2013, Egypt executed one person.

In 2014, Egypt executed 14 people. The following year, 22 more people were executed, and at least 44 people were executed in 2016.

Sisis government has also overseen an increasing crackdown on journalists in Egypt. Reporters Without Borders placed the country at 161 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom.
Five security forces wounded, one critically, after military vehicle hit by a landmine and small-arms fire in Rakhine.

Rohingya rebels attacked an army truck in Myanmars restive Rakhine state and wounded five soldiers, state media said.

A spokesman for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for the ambush on Friday.

A vehicle  was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms, the government said, adding about 10 rebels were involved.

The military added extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA carried out the ambush.

A series of attacks on security installations last August ignited an exodus of more than 620,000 Rohingya villagers from Rakhine into neighbouring Bangladesh, after Myanmar soldiers launched a brutal crackdown.

Fleeing Rohingya have reported many stories of mass killings, gang rape, and arson attacks by security forces.

The United Nations has called violence against civilians ethnic cleansing, but Myanmars government has rejected the description.

A rebel spokesman confirmed his group had carried out the attack. Yes, ARSA takes responsibility for the latest military movement, the unidentified fighter told Reuters news agency.

Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine reported six soldiers were hospitalised, one with critical wounds.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal last month for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, but little is known of its details.
Russian ambassador to the UN derides American demand for emergency Security Council meeting on Iran demonstrations.

The United States is exploiting the protests in Iran in order to derail the landmark nuclear deal with the Middle East country, Russias ambassador to the UN alleged.

The comments late on Friday came after the US called an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council to address the deadly demonstrations that began in late December in Iran.

The United States is abusing the platform of the Security Council. Let Iran deal with its own problems, said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.

The real reason for convening today is not protect human rights or promote the interests of the Iranian people, but rather a veiled attempt to continue to undermine the Iranian nuclear agreement.

Envoys from several other countries  from China to newcomer Equatorial Guinea  also expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

Almost a week of sometimes violent protests left at least 22 people dead, with Iranian authorities accusing the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia of involvement.

The demonstrations were the most significant anti-government reaction since 2009 protests against alleged election irregularities.





Nebenzia said if the UN Security Council followed the reasoning behind convening the meeting over domestic protests in Iran, it should have met after demonstrations in the US following the killing of African American teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in the state of Missouri in 2014.

Frances ambassador to the United Nations told the Security Council the protests in Iran did not require a meeting before the international body.

However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security, Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

We must be wary of any attempts to exploit this crisis for personal ends, which would have the diametrically opposed outcome to that which is wished.

Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said the United States had abused its power as a permanent member of the Security Council by calling the emergency meeting.

It is unfortunate that despite the resistance on the part of some of its members, this council has allowed itself to be abused by the current US administration in holding a meeting on an issue that falls outside the scope of its mandate, said Khoshroo.

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He added his government has hard evidence the recent protests in Iran were very clearly directed from abroad.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, argued the demonstrations were a human rights issue that could spiral into an international problem.

The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do, Haley said.

The UN charter empowers to the council to investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction, she said.

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft concurred with Haley.

It is right and proper  indeed, our responsibility  to assess whether a situation like this could become a threat to international peace and security, Rycroft said.

An estimated 42,000 people took part in the protests, according to Irans Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli. Tens of thousands of people, meanwhile, have attended pro-government rallies in recent days.

US President Donald Trump has called the international nuclear agreement with Iran the worst deal ever.

Trump must decide by January 12 whether he will re-certify the deal, which he didnt do as required in October.
Rwanda and Uganda have denied the existence of a deal to take African migrants from Israel.

Rwanda and Uganda have rejected claims of signing a controversial deal to take in African migrants from Israel.

Earlier this week, Israel approved a plan to force asylum seekers to choose between indefinite detention in an Israeli prison, or deportation to a third country in Africa.

The migrants were told they had three months to leave, drawing condemnation by activists who said the Israelis government move would endanger peoples lives.

Israel did not specify where the asylum seekers should go, but local media and rights groups have previously said that Rwanda and Uganda had agreed to take in migrants from Israel.

On Friday, however, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said his country had not signed such a deal, calling the claims fake news in response to a Twitter post by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

Rwanda has no deal whatsoever with Israel to host any African migrant from that country, he said.

Nice try Ken! You thought that you found a new opening to bash your "favourite" country, but I am sorry to tell you this: #Rwanda has no deal whatsoever with #Israel to host any African migrant from that country. This story is no news; it's FAKE NEWS, as you like them.  Amb. Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe (@onduhungirehe) January 5, 2018

Okello Oryem, Ugandas foreign minister, has also denied the existence of such an agreement, calling any suggestion to the contrary absolute rubbish.

There is no written agreement or any form of agreement between the government of Uganda and the Israeli government to accept refugees from Israel, he was quoted as saying on Friday by news agencies.

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The infiltrators have a clear choice

Currently, Israel is home to about 40,000 asylum seekers, according to government figures. That includes 27,500 Eritrean and 7,800 Sudanese asylum seekers, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has reported.

According to the Israeli scheme, asylum seekers will be given a plane ticket and up to $3,500 for leaving.

Speaking as the plan was approved by his cabinet on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move against asylum seekers  whom he referred to as infiltrators  would help Israel to guard its borders.

The infiltrators have a clear choice  cooperate with us and leave voluntarily, respectably, humanely and legally, or we will have to use other tools at our disposal, which are also according to the law, he said.

Most asylum seekers in Israel are from Sudan and Eritrea. They arrived in the country over the last decade via Egypt and most have fled war, torture and other mistreatment.

Between December 2013 and June of this year, about 4,000 Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers were deported under Israels voluntary departure programme to Rwanda and Uganda, according to the UNs refugee agency (UNHCR).

In November, the UNHCR raised alarm that those who had already been relocated through that scheme were not receiving support after leaving Israel.

UNHCR is concerned that these persons have not found adequate safety or a durable solution to their plight and that many have subsequently attempted dangerous onward movements within Africa or to Europe, it said in a statement.
Michael Wolff, author of the new book, Fire and Fury, is refusing to back down to legal threats from the US president.

The author of a critical book of US President Donald Trump is standing by his work, saying it was based on about 200 interviews.

Publishers of the account of Trumps first year in office released the book early, ignoring a legal challenge from the president to prevent its publication.

Michael Wolff, the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, says Trump has no credibility.

Trump has branded the book phony and full of lies.

Al Jazeeras Diane Estabrook reports from Washington, DC.
Corruption, structural problems and Ankaras grip on pseudo-state dominate campaigns while Cyprus dispute is sidelined.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will head to the polls on Sunday, in a parliamentary election that has failed to stir enthusiasm among a largely disillusioned electorate.

Elections in the internationally unrecognised entity are typically dominated by the long-running dispute of Cyprus, a Mediterranean island split between Turkish Cypriots in the north and Greek Cypriots in the south.

With a solution to the problem, however, not in sight, campaign discussions this time have largely centred around TRNCs enduring issues: corruption, nepotism, citizenships distributed to Turkish nationals and Ankaras grip on the pseudo-state.

The TRNC, which has a functioning parliament and state institutions, is recognised only by Turkey since it unilaterally declared independence in 1983, breaking away from the Republic of Cyprus.

Cyprus had been practically divided since 1974, when Turkey militarily intervened on the island in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup. Ankara said it acted in line with a treaty of guarantee signed in 1960 when the Republic of Cyprus was founded.

Since the establishment of the de facto TRNC, the north has been described as occupied part of Cyprus by the UN Security Council.

Repeated diplomatic efforts to end the partition have failed, as did the latest round of talks to reunify the island in Switzerland in July despite efforts by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

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As a result, the Cyprus dispute is not high on the agenda of the TRNC parties contesting Sundays race  a highly unusual development for the politics of the north, where political forces typically shape their platforms in accordance to their position over the deadlocked problem.

The possibility of future unification talks will also be determined by the results of a presidential election in the Republic of Cyprus in late January.

The TRNC survives on financial aid coming from Turkey as the unrecognised entity has extremely limited options of direct foreign trade.

The situation is also compounded by the fact that there are no direct sea or air links to any other country from the north of the island, with the exception of Turkey, leading TRNC leaders to impose austerity measures to shore up finances.

The north of Cyprus is practically and psychologically a sub-government of Turkey, Ulas Baris, a Turkish Cypriot analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Therefore, although some parties try and campaign for certain policies with a good will, it is Turkey that economically controls the north of the island and intervenes in the politics here either directly or indirectly.

Puppet parliament

Amid this climate, people in the north of Cyprus are generally sceptical about change.

The widespread view appears to be that the TRNCs political parties do not have the capacity to tackle the entitys persisting structural issues.

I dont believe in the TRNC parliament, said Ercay Onac, echoing a wider view that wants local politicians having little or no influence when it comes to important policy decisions.

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Onac, a 33-year-old municipality employee from the coastal town of Girne, told Al Jazeera that he would boycott the parliamentary poll.

It is not a real parliament, its just a puppet parliament of Turkey, he added.

Turkey threatens politicians here with cutting financial aid or other ways, so politicians do whatever government in Ankara wants, he said.

Citing the building of large mosques and religious schools in various part of the TRNC, Onac pointed out to the growing influence of conservative voices in Ankara on Turkish Cypriots, a largely secular and liberal society.

Emrah Karayaprak, a 34-year-old who works in the tourism sector, says the TRNC is becoming a smaller version of Turkey.

This is a process to transform the society. There are some new restaurants that do not serve alcohol in the country, he said.

This is not normal here. Things are changing.

Parties in the race

There are eight parties taking part in Sundays contest, with five of them seen as likely to pass the five percent threshold needed to enter the 50-member parliament.

Among them is the National Unity Party (UBP), the largest partner of the current right-wing coalition. In power for 27 years, since the establishment of the TRNC, UBP has been accused by critics for building todays problematic structure in the self-declared state, in which, they say, nepotism and bribery are the norm.

Along with its coalition government partner  the right-wing Democrat Party (DP), which set up by ex-UBP members  it gave hundreds of TRNC citizenships to Turkey national through weeks before the poll, in a move seen as a bid to increase its voter share.

The UBP is traditionally advocating for keeping good relations with Turkey and maintaining the islands status quo, rather than settling the long-standing dispute to reunify Greek and Turkish Cypriot parts.





The centre-left pro-unification Republican Turkish Party (CTP) traditionally has defined its platform through the Cyprus dispute, with promises to reunite the island.

Ahead of Sundays election, the party turned its attention to internal matters, running an anti-corruption campaign with a pledge to closely monitor corruption allegations  even if they target its own members.

Last month, it announced a reform programme, vowing to establish an efficient public administration, increase productivity and oversee a fairer distribution of income.

The CTP also seeks to pursue the alleged corruption cases against the government. Yet, it has also been accused of widespread corruption and nepotism during the periods it was in power in the 2000s and 2010s.

In contrast to the UBP and DP, the CTP has traditionally been against the inflow of Turkish citizens into the island, and the practice of granting them a TRNC citizenship. Passports are not needed for people travelling between northern Cyprus and Turkey.

The newly-formed right-wing Peoples Voice Party run on a campaign to fight for an open, corruption-free society.

The left-wing Communal Democracy Party is President Mustafa Akincis former party. It has seen its popularity rise after he took office in 2015.

Sundays election is the first where there is a mandatory 30 percent womens quota.

According to Baris, the Turkish Cypriot analyst, a combination of corruption, bribery and shifting political alliances means that many voters have little faith in the promises made in the run-up to the elections.

People do not take politicians seriously, he said, predicting that voter turnout would drop significantly.

Impossible promises such as free education, a salary for every household and free housing make the politics here see new lows, he said.

Burcin Aybars, a 34-year-old photographer from the capital, Nicosia, agreed: People in northern Cyprus do not believe in the political system anymore.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_Uras
Jerusalem  An Israeli minister has said US President Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital does not signal the end of the two-state solution, with Israel willing to grant Palestinians their own independent state but with limited sovereignty.

Tzachi Hanegbi, minister of regional cooperation, said Trumps controversial decision on December 6 should not hinder Palestinian claims to have occupied East Jerusalem as their capital.

We claim that Jerusalem is our capital and should not be divided, but thats only a claim, not a diktat, Hanegbi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Likud party, told Al Jazeera at his office in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict.

Israel occupied the citys eastern sector in 1967 and proceeded to annex it in breach of international law. Palestinian leaders want occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israel, meanwhile, insists that the city is its indivisible capital

Palestinians can claim East Jerusalem as their capital and we can negotiate a settlement. Although we annexed East Jerusalem, it is still up for negotiations, said Hanegbi.

Palestinian reaction

But Nasser al-Kidwa, a senior Palestinian official, dismissed Hanegbis remarks on Jerusalem as nonsense, saying the ministers words could be true if they were matched by Israeli actions on the ground.

While Israeli officials are talking about peace and negotiations, their government is creating facts on the ground that will undermine the two-state solution, al-Kidwa told Al Jazeera.

Continued Israeli military occupation and building illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank will not put an end to the conflict, he said by phone from Ramallah in the West Bank.





Breaking with years of US policy, Trump on December 6 formally recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital, in a move that drew international condemnation and sparked a wave of heated rallies in support of the Palestinians around the Muslim world.

Leaders in the Middle East and elsewhere also warned Trump that his controversial decision, as well as his plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, would have grave implications for the so-called peace process and could lead to further unrest in the Middle East.

No country currently has its embassy in Jerusalem, which is home to holy religious sites and has particular significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Palestinian officials also called Trumps move a kiss of death to the two-state solution.

Jerusalem cannot be monopolised

Earlier this week, the Israeli Knesset passed a law making it harder to divide Jerusalem in any future deal with the Palestinians, a move described by some as dealing yet another fatal blow to a possible two-state solution.

But Hanegbi, a right-wing politician and close ally of Netanyahu, blamed the Palestinian leadership for failing to reach a final settlement to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We dont reject the fact that Palestinians have legitimate aspirations to be independent, the minister of regional cooperation told Al Jazeera.





From a moral point of view, there are conflicting moral values between Israelis and the Palestinians over which claim over the land is more legitimate than the other. Morally, we understand that millions of Palestinians want freedom.

Asked how he would feel if he was a Palestinian citizen living in the Palestinian cities of Jaffa, Haifa and Acre before 1948, which later became part of Israel, he replied: I would be feel very bad. Thats why there should be a compromise between both peoples.

Palestinians, however, rejected Hanegbis allegations, saying it is the Israeli government that has so far not lived up to its signed agreements with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Al-Kidwa, a member of the central committee of PA President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah faction, said that given the vastly lopsided balance of power in favour of Israel against the Palestinians, a clear and firm negotiating framework must be established first.

If the Israelis truly want to negotiate a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Israel must first recognise the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and only then both Palestinians and Israelis can negotiate over other issues, he said.

Jerusalem cannot be monopolised by any party. Palestinians, who are native to the land, have compromised 78 percent of historic Palestine and are now only seeking to establish their state over the remaining 22 percent in the West Bank and Gaza.

Talking to Hamas

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Hanegbi also said that the Israelis had no objection to talk to Hamas and would be willing to negotiate if it accepts the principles set by the Quartet of international peace brokers: recognise Israel, abide by past Israeli-Palestinian agreements and renounce violence as a means to achieving its goals.

However, Osama Hamdan, Hamas foreign policy chief, said such talks could not take place under the existing conditions.





Negotiating with Israel is futile  under the current Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, he told Al Jazeera.

From experience, Israel is not seeking a resolution to the conflict, rather to control the Palestinian people. Israels occupation must end first, added Hamdan.

Israeli cooperation with Gulf states

Commenting on regional matters, Hanegbi said that the Israeli government has back-channel ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but cannot risk acknowledging these without first reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

I cannot really envisage them willing to cooperate publicly with Israel until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is moving forward, he said.

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There is some kind of cooperation with Israel now, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has hinted at in the past. Moreover, we never heard a voice from the Gulf states denouncing these reports or saying it is not true, he said.

Hanegbi also said he has no knowledge of a secret deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia or other Arab states to create a Gaza-only Palestinian state, in what has been referred to in international press as the ultimate deal.

Jordan ties

In his interview with Al Jazeera, Israels minister of regional cooperation also highlighted the importance of Jordanian-Israeli relations, calling Amman a strategic ally of his country.

Israel-Jordan relations reached a crisis level when an Israeli embassy guard shot and killed two Jordanian citizens, including a 17-year-old, in July 2017.

Israels government alleges the teenage boy had attacked the Israeli guard.

Israels ambassador and other embassy staff returned to Israel amid public demands for the guard to stand trial in Jordan.

The government of Israel should issue a formal apology to Jordan over the accidental killing of the Jordanian doctor, said Hanegbi.

Regarding the snag in the ties between the two countries, Hanegbi said that Israel should give Jordan a ladder to climb down from the high tree it climbed up.

He said a joint Jordanian water canal project between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea is not moving forward because of disagreements over which country is responsible for its upkeep.

The Jordanians would like to go ahead with the project but we have some reservations over who will pay for the hazard of the project because it is wholly on Jordanian soil.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter @ali_reports
Secretary of state says officials and US legislators are in talks to save the landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States is working on a plan to fix the Iran nuclear deal as speculation continues on whether President Donald Trump will scrap the famous agreement.

Changes to American law codifying US participation in the 2015 agreement could come as early as next week as US officials negotiate with legislators, Tillerson told The Associated Press on Friday.

The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it, Tillerson was quoted as saying. We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it.

Trump faces a series of deadlines this month on how to proceed with the landmark nuclear accord signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, also involving China, Russia, Germany, the UK, and France. The US president has described the agreement as the worst deal ever.

Its unclear what Trumps decision on Iran will be by January 12 when he must decide again whether to certify Tehrans compliance with the nuclear pact  as hes required to do every three months.





In October, Trump declined to certify Irans compliance, saying sanctions relief was disproportionate to Irans concessions, adding the agreement goes against US interests.

However, Trump waived the sanctions for another three months and left the decision on staying in or quitting the deal for later, while urging Congress to change the US law concerning the certification.

Tillerson said the administration was speaking with congressional leaders on a very active basis about a fix.

He suggested Trump might be inclined to preserve the deal by waiving sanctions again on January 12 if there were signs Congress would act in short order.

I dont want to suggest were across the finish line on anything yet, Tillerson said.

One option legislators are discussing with the White House is removing the requirement that Trump certify Iranian compliance. Another possibility is changing the law so certification occurs far less often, officials told AP.

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Analyst Bassima Alghussein from the Truman National Security Project said new legislation would act as political cover for Trump.

What weve seen is really hes unable to come up with a better deal. So what theyre trying to do politically is just prevent the president from being the one to have to sign off on it [every three months], she told Al Jazeera.

What hes done is punted it to Congress and theyre looking at ways to be creative now  without essentially scrapping the deal all together.
The critical book was published early after the US presidents lawyers threatened to sue.

There is so much demand for the new book critical of US President Donald Trump that stores cant keep up.

Publishers of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House released the book early, ignoring threats of a legal challenge from the presidents lawyers to prevent its publication.

The book, written by Michael Wolff, draws a picture of a chaotic first year in office.

Trump has slammed it as phoney and called Wolff a loser.

But the author defended the book, saying Trumps response helps prove the US president lacks credibility.

Will the book affect Trumps presidency and US foreign policy?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra

Guests:

Mohammed Cherkaoui  professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University

Rami Khouri  senior public policy fellow and adjunct professor of Journalism at the American University of Beirut

Ian Black  visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics, Middle East Centre
Whether it is merely the FBI trying to restore its shattered credibility or justice finally being done, the news that the pay-to-play activities of the Clinton Foundation are going to get renewed and serious attention is welcome. The Clintons have made a career of ignoring, skirting, and breaking the law. Up to this point, crime has paid off handsomely for the Clintons, but now they may find themselves caught between Little Rock and a hard place:

The Justice Department has launched a new inquiry into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in any pay-to-play politics or other illegal activities while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of [s]tate, law enforcement officials and a witness tell[] The Hill. FBI agents from Little Rock, Ark., where the foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month, and law enforcement officials said additional activities are expected in the coming weeks. The officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the probe is examining whether the Clintons promised or performed any policy favors in return for largesse to their charitable efforts or whether donors made commitments of donations in hopes of securing government outcomes.

This should be a short investigation  Hillary Clinton is a ham sandwich waiting to be indicted. All that should be necessary is to empanel a grand jury and read them the known facts. The Clinton Foundation was hardly charitable except to its donors.

Any investigation should start with Haiti, where the Clinton Foundation plundered the disaster-ridden island for fun and profit. As the Washington Free Beacon reported:

Haitian activists protested outside ... the Clinton Foundation in New York over the loss of "billions of dollars" that was meant to help rebuild after the devastating 2010 earthquake. The activists are claiming [that] the money was stolen through the Haiti Reconstruction Commission that was headed by Bill Clinton. In January 2015, the Clinton Foundation was the target of protests for wasting more than $10 billion and awarding contracts to non-Haitian companies. The activists also said Haiti is a cover for foreign governments to funnel kickbacks of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. They believe that this was done for favors that Hillary was doing for the foreign governments while she was [s]ecretary of [s]tate. "We are telling the world of the crimes that Bill and Hillary Clinton are responsible for in Haiti," said Dhoud Andre of the Committee Against Dictatorship in Haiti.

That the Clinton Foundation's operations were nothing but a cash cow scam is seen in a brilliant analysis and expose of its operations in Colombia, a country beset by internal strife and an ongoing battle with drug cartels. The truth, as reported by Ken Silverman and the American Media Institute in Fusion, a joint venture of ABC and Univision, hardly Trump surrogates, explains in part how the Clintons amassed a small fortune without holding any job or running any business:

Colombia should be the Clinton Foundation's best case study. Ground zero for the drug wars of the 1980s and [']90s, racked by uneven development and low-intensity conflict for half a century, Colombia has received more foundation money and attention than any other nation outside the United States. Bill and Hillary Clinton have visited the country often and enjoy close relationships with members of Colombia's ruling party. Colombia has also been home to the vast oil and natural gas holdings of the man who is reportedly the Clinton Foundation's largest individual donor, Canadian financier Frank Giustra[.] ... Many of the Colombian "success stories" touted on the foundation's website  the ones specific enough for us to track down  were critical about the foundation's effect on their lives. Labor leaders and progressive activists say foundation programs caused environmental harm, displaced indigenous people, and ... concentrated a larger share of Colombia's oil and natural gas reserves in the hands of Giustra[.] ... We interviewed young women in the foundation's job-training programs; female business owners who sought help from its programs; workers who toiled for the foundation's biggest individual donor's firms; indigenous fisherm[e]n who were promised jobs and aid; and union leaders, social[] justice activists, and progressive lawmakers. Some say they lost money. Others said they were used as props. Still others simply thought that the foundation had wasted a lot of their time. "They are doing nothing for workers," one Colombian union official told us, with disgust. "I don't even know what they are doing in this country other than exploiting poverty and extracting money."

Clinton donor Giustra benefited significantly from his association, even if the people of Colombia didn't:

When we met him (Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo) in his wood-paneled office in Colombia's [c]apitol building in May, his desk was stacked high with papers related to Pacific Rubiales's labor practices, the result of years of investigative work by his staff. He did not see the Clinton Foundation and its partnership with Giustra's Pacific Rubiales as either progressive or positive. "The territory where Pacific Rubiales operated," he said, thumbing through pages of alleged human[] rights violations, "was a type of concentration camp for workers." ... In September 2005, Giustra and Clinton flew to Kazakhstan together to meet the Central Asian nation's president. Shortly thereafter, Giustra secured a lucrative concession to mine Kazakh uranium, despite his company's lack of experience with the radioactive ore. As Bill Clinton opened doors for Giustra, the financier gave generously to Clinton's foundation.

As the New York Times reported, this mutual back-scratching gave Clinton donor Giustra, and later Putin's Russia, control of a significant portion of the world's uranium supply:

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them. Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium[-]mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic . But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton[.] ... Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton's charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3[-]million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra's more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton's inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges[.] ... In February 2007, a company called Uranium One agreed to pay $3.1 billion to acquire UrAsia. Mr. Giustra, a director and major shareholder in UrAsia, would be paid $7.05 per share for a company that just two years earlier was trading at 10 cents per share.

Clinton played a pivotal role in the Uranium One deal, which ended up giving Russian interests control of 20 percent of our uranium supply in exchange for donations of $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a federal crime. As Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer has noted [italics ours ed.]:

Tuesday on Fox Business Network, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Breitbart editor at large and the author of Clinton Cash, Peter Schweizer[,] said there needs to be a federal investigation into the Russian uranium deal then-[s]ecretary of [s]tate Hillary Clinton's State Department approved after the Clinton Foundation receiving $145 million from the shareholders of Uranium One[.] ... Discussing the Clinton Foundation receiving $145 million from the shareholders of Uranium One, he continued, "Look[:] there are couple of things that are extremely troubling about the deal we touched on. Number one is the amount of money  $145 million. We are not talking about a super[-]PAC giving a million dollars to support a candidate. We are not talking about campaign donations. We are talking about $145 million[,] which[,] by the way[,] is 75 percent or more of the annual budget of the Clinton Foundation itself so it's a huge sum of money. Second of all[,] we are talking about a fundamental issue of national security[,] which is uranium  it's not like oil and gas that you can find all sorts of places. [There] are precious few places you can mine for uranium, [and] the United States is one of those areas. And number three[:] we are talking about the Russian government. A lot of people don't realize it now, in parts of the Midwest[,] American soil is owned by Vladimir Putin's government because this deal went through. And in addition to the $145 million[,] Bill Clinton got half a million dollars, $500,000, for a 20-minute speech from a Russian investment bank tied to the Kremlin, two months before the State Department signed off on this deal."

As Investor's Business Daily editorialized, donations to the Clinton Foundation even played a factor in the refusal of Hillary Clinton's State Department for two years to designate Nigeria's Boko Haram as a terrorist organization:

Last May, we wondered why for two years on Hillary Clinton's watch the State Department refused to designate a Nigerian Islamist group as a terrorist organization. This group has murdered thousands as it wages a real war on women. As Josh Rogin at the Daily Beast reports, the Clinton State Department "refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011" after the group bombed the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., sent a letter to [s]ecretary of [s]tate John Kerry last week asking for all of Hillary's records relating to Boko Haram and her reluctance to designate it a foreign terrorist organization. Vitter also requested all of Hillary's communications with Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian construction tycoon who has donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. Vitter noted that Chagoury had a financial interest in the potential impact of designating Boko Haram a terrorist group.

Uranium One alone is an example of criminal pay-to-play, unless we are to believe that the Russians, who are the least charitable people on Earth, just woke up one morning and decided to funnel $145 million into the Clinton Foundation out of the goodness of their Bolshevik hearts.

One would think that in addition to Hillary's shenanigans, Bill Clinton's making speeches to foreign entities seeking influence with his secretary of state wife for ungodly sums while donations poured into the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments and individuals to pay, among other things, for Chelsea Clinton's wedding dress and lifestyle would be worthy of a criminal investigation.

Emails fully incriminating Hillary are part of documents obtained by Judicial Watch under a court order forcing the State Department to find the documents it said it couldn't find, didn't have, or was too understaffed to look for.

Among the examples cited by Judicial Watch in the documents:

Hillary Clinton and her husband used her position as secretary of state to enrich themselves personally through their Clinton Foundation, a front for a criminal shakedown of donors and influence-peddlers and buyers. They placed American national security at risk for fun and profit.

Investigate her, and then lock her up.
Nineteen seventy-nine was a momentous year. In my little world, college graduation was celebrated with enthusiasm and zeal. In the world at large, the Iranian revolution occurred  and wreaked havoc and destruction in ways neither the Iranians nor the rest of the world could have ever imagined.

At the time, being an educated and low-information voter, as we know they are synonymous, I paid little attention to these circumstances except to understand that the Shah and his secret police, the Savak, were deposed; a medieval-looking, menacing ayatollah took over the country; and Americans were held hostage, eventually being released.

Fast-forward several years. Glimpses of this backward country were revealed through various media. The movie Not Without My Daughter revealed the riveting account of an American woman married to an Iranian and her attempts and eventual success in escaping the hellhole where she found herself. Geraldine Brooks's fabulous book, Nine Parts of Desire, about women of the Middle East, also offered a picture of life for women in Iran. The fatwa declared by Ayatollah Khomeini on Salman Rushdie, forcing him into hiding, became worldwide news. The Iranian film festival was brought to the United States on an annual basis exposing many of us to the inner workings of Iranian society and their yearning for a freer way of life. We came to discover that the Iranians, including women, next to the Israelis, were some of the most educated people in the Middle East.

Like many of the readers of these pages who have become more informed  call it a true education  I learned the truth about the repercussions of the Iranian revolution. Jimmy Carter's naive and dangerous proclamations against the Shah, a U.S. ally, were the fuel that ignited the Shah's overthrow. Investor's Business Daily had a wonderful piece in the mid-2000s summarizing the hideous consequences. The Shah's executions over twenty-five years were less than those under Ayatollah Khomeini's in one year. The ayatollah, purported religious man that he was, supported Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization, and promised to fund families of suicide bombers attacking Israel. Hezb'allah (Party of God), a Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization, originated because of a radical Iran. People suffered gravely under this regime. In the book Children of Paradise by Laura Secor, there is a section that chronicles the events surrounding the mass executions of political prisoners during the early and later 1980s.

Along the way, I became sympathetic to the plight of the Iranian people. I used to donate to Freedom House and asked that the funds be directed to Gozaar, an Iranian web portal that provided information to the Iranian people. Shortly after Mr. Obama was elected, the State Department stopped funding this organization. Excuses were made for this action. Some people, especially on the left, believed that Gozaar endangered Iranian NGOs fighting for reform and supported Mr. Obama's decision to engage rather than fund.

Well, it goes without saying how effective that has been to promote freedom for the Iranian people. Those of us who see Mr. Obama for who he is were disturbed but not surprised about the events surrounding the 2009 Iranian uprising. The Green Revolution took hold, and all they asked from our globalist president was rhetorical support. The response from our commander-in-chief was a deafening silence. The Iranian people understood the message loud and clear: not "no can do," but "no will do." Soon their spirits deflated, their will withered, and their oppressors crushed what was left. Would it have made a difference if Mr. Obama had used his silver tongue and given some support? We will never know, but being the interloper he has been with so many other countries, it is ironic  or maybe not  that the most powerful leader of the free world could not wish the same for others.

We learned more about Mr. Obama's motives when he circumvented Congress with a so-called executive treaty by returning billions to the Iranian government in exchange for a promise of nuclear disarmament. Hasn't Mr. Obama ever heard of "taqiyya"? Perhaps he knows it better than we think. Most important, how did this or any of his actions help the Iranian people? If anything, it emboldened the tyrannical mullahs. As of late we heard about Project Cassandra, an investigation into Hezb'allah-linked drug-dealings within our borders, having been stymied by the Obama administration to prevent the nuclear deal from being aborted. Who knows what else will be uncovered about Mr. Obama's dealings with the Iranians or those of his Rasputin, Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett? We may never get the full truth.

Now we have a new sheriff in town. Unlike Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump does not deliver his message with such mellifluousness, and unlike the elitists of left and right, we "deplorables" are most thankful for that. He is bold, honest, and direct. Perhaps, with the help of social media and the internet, his message of freedom through strength is permeating the walls of censorship and reaching the Iranian people. Their rumblings and discontent are heard loud and clear by this president. Already, he is tweeting his message of support to the people.

Could the Iranians risk another uprising? Time will tell. If they have the will and strength to do so, they should know that freedom-loving Americans support their cause. Could 2018 be the year? If so, we could eventually see the beginnings of a new Middle Eastern landscape. Now, that might seem like a dream, but who would have dreamt that a daring businessman could take on every other GOP candidate; a queen in waiting; and a corrupt, biased press to win the office of president of the United States?

Yes, dreams can and do come true. Here is to the Iranian people.

The author is using a pen name for reasons she explains here
The city of Nuremberg, Germany is faced with a problem: what to do with the decaying monuments of the Third Reich, including Zeppelinfeld, the huge stadium that saw the Nazi rallies of the 1930s.



Zeppelinfeld in the 1930s.



Zeppelinfeld today.

The restoration of the colossal and wordless testament to Nazism's power continues to present a dilemma to the citizens of Nuremberg. Some think the ruins should be preserved as a warning for future generations; others believe that the whole complex should be allowed to disintegrate.

Looking at the ruins of Nuremberg, part of the empire that was to last for a thousand years, it is perhaps difficult to believe the powerfully mesmerizing impact the grand formations of Nazi soldiers and symbols at one time had.

Perhaps no one documented the effects of Nazism's intoxicatingly splendiferous grandeur better than filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose Triumph of the Will remains a cinematic masterpiece even though 73 years have passed since the fall of the Third Reich. Students of cinema still study her work.

Riefenstahl's genius was not limited to technologically advanced camera work and exciting new photographic angles. Her brilliant cinematography, accompanied by heroically themed music, captured the hypnotic power of Nazi ideology, including its messianic hope that one man could, by the mere power of his will, completely re-order German society and, through it, re-order the entire world.

From the opening scene, which depicts Hitler descending from the clouds in a pictorial reversal of the ascension of Christ, to the stunning shots of the parade grounds packed with rank upon rank of examples of the supposedly perfect Aryan race, and at last to the hypnotizing closing speech of der Fuhrer, the film was a ground-breaking cinematographic masterpiece as well as a triumph of National Socialist propaganda.

William Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, was later to comment on the intoxicating effect Nazi rallies had on the masses. He wrote that "every word dropped by Hitler seemed like an inspired word from on high. Man's  or at least the German's  critical faculty is swept away at such moments, and every lie pronounced is accepted as high truth itself." Hitler himself declared that the Nazi Party "will be unchangeable in its doctrine, hard as steel in its organization, supple and adaptable in its tactics. In its entity, however, it will be like a religious order[.]"

It causes great sadness to think back on all that the decaying monuments and buildings of the Third Reich represents. It is grievous still, almost three quarters of a century later, to see the lingering results of the attempted murder of European civilization.

It is sadder to recognize the ideology that supported the Third Reich. Namely, the deeply flawed and essentially falsely religious idea that the power of the unfettered human will can restructure reality continues in the West, albeit in new forms.

The fact is that the belief in the triumph of the human will to power continues to be reformulated in today's identity politics. It exhibits itself in the belief that any human being can identify one's essential being as one wishes and in the idea that society must then be restructured to suit the perception and the will of the self-identified. To put it another way, fascistic messianism has been rerouted to individuals, including mere children, who supposedly have an infallible inner divine light that gives the right to identify the self and to reorder society to conform to one's chosen identity.

That such a pathology migrated to our shores and now is expressed by the American left, now hopefully in its death throes, is a testament to the so-called intellectual flaccidity in academia, including many of the nation's seminaries. Too often, orthodox theology concerning mankind as created imago Dei has been sidelined as a specialty with no particular relevance to modernity other than to fight old battles of the past, engage trivialities of the present, or provide a justificatory framework for new "progressive" ideals of modernism and postmodernism.

The new fascistic messianism now available to the masses repudiates both nature and revelation in order to embrace the lies of the ideologies of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, relying on fantasies that have been proved disastrous over and over again in all their multitudinous forms, be they the fantasy of the perfect Aryan or the perfect communist. The rebirth of the pernicious idea that any human being can redefine being and force the complete restructuring of society in order to reinforce the fantasies conjured in his brain at any given moment is disastrous.

The powers of the human will are intrinsically limited, either by laws of nature or by miraculous intervention and the will of the Almighty. Free will does not give power to declare oneself the opposite of the sex one is born as any more than free will enables a human to breathe under water. Free will does not enable humans to change the structure of the universe to accommodate any fantasy conjured from the brain.

As Solzhenitsyn prophetically stated in his Nobel speech of 1970:

One kind of artist imagines himself the creator of an independent spiritual world and shoulders the act of creating that world and the people in it, assuming total responsibility for it  but he collapses, for no mortal genius is able to hold up under such a load [ j]ust as man, who once declared himself the center of existence, has not been able to create a stable spiritual system. When failure overwhelms him, he blames it on the age-old discord of the world, on the complexity of the fragmented and torn modern soul, or on the public's lack of understanding.

Solzhenitsyn added that using one's own personal scale to decide things for everyone always results in the triumph of lies and violence:

Let us not forget that violence does not and cannot flourish by itself; it is inevitably intertwined with lying ... and the only way lies can hold out is by violence. Whoever has once announced violence as his method must inexorably choose lying as his principle. [The lie] does not always or necessarily go straight for the gullet; usually it demands of its victims only allegiance to the lie, only complicity in the lie. The simple act of an ordinary courageous man is not to take part, not to support lies! Let that [lie] come into the world and even reign over it, but not through me. Once lies have been dispelled, the repulsive nakedness of violence will be exposed  and hollow violence will collapse.

Those who proclaim allegiance to the lies and to the violence of the left will find themselves, as Dostoevsky noted, in "slavery to half-cocked progressive ideas."

As Solzhenitsyn wrote, "[t]he defense of individual rights has reached such extremes as to make society as a whole defenseless against certain individuals." That is because the triumph of the individual human inevitably involves force against those who do not believe in what fascistic messianic figures believe and wish themselves and society to be. To be opposed to the new messianic left is to be considered hateful and so worthy of punishment.

The triumph of the will is the result of the belief in the autonomy of individual persons from any higher force above them. It is the very height of anthropocentricity, with the individual at the center of everything that exists.

Solzhenitsyn:

Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual could be granted boundless freedom simply for the satisfaction of his instincts or whims. Subsequently, however, all such limitations were discarded everywhere in the West; a total liberation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice[.] ... The West [has] ended up by truly enforcing human rights, sometimes even excessively, but man's sense of responsibility to God and society grew dimmer and dimmer.

The result has been, Solzhenitsyn continued, a moral poverty no none could have imagined even as late as the 19th century. He added: "I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness. To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging everything on earth  imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects."

If there are no limitations to the power of individual will, the uncontrolled power of the individual triumph of the will inevitably results in malice toward all and charity toward none, not even toward the anointed Self.

But for many if not most of us, asserting and reasserting what the heart, mind, and soul cannot believe will never succeed. Messianic fascism failed and continues to fail, no matter how pervasive the lies and the application of force.

That is because the sum of Truth resides not in the will of man, but in the mind and heart of God the Savior, who alone can free the individual from the tyranny of Self.

Fay Voshell holds an M.Div. from Princeton Seminary, which awarded her its prize for excellence in systematic theology. She is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. Her thoughts have appeared in many other online magazines. She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com.
The Iranian regime aspires to hold the world hostage under the threat of nuclear conflict while continuing nearly forty years of repression of the Iranian people. The 2009 Iranian revolution resulted in terrible suffering for many of the protesters, including dozens killed and thousands of arrests. Major protests again rock Iran, and Iran has responded by blocking social media and cracking down on protesters through killings and arrests.

The U.S. must offer Iran an ultimatum: respect peaceful protests, stop the social media blackout, and open all Iranian military sites to international inspection or face biting sanctions.

The world is giving Iran a free pass from sanctions on account of Iran's purported commitments to the Iran nuclear deal (aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or

JCPOA). The JCPOA repeatedly notes Iran's "voluntary commitments"  which clearly indicate that Iran is not bound by supposed requirements listed in the JCPOA. And while, this past November, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claimed that Iran is complying with the JCPOA, asserting that "the IAEA has so far had access to all the locations it needed to visit in the country," this contradicts Ayatollah Khamenei's statement of June 24, 2015 that "no inspection of military sites can ever be done." After the agreement, he declared that the JCPOA would not limit Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons. And the Iranian parliament never adopted the JCPOA, meaning that the Iranian nuclear deal is a total charade, with the international community acting as if it were binding when it never has been.

Unsurprisingly, Khamenei's requirement of "no inspection of military sites" has remained unchanged. In late August 2017, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley urged the IAEA to seek access to Iranian military bases for nuclear-related inspections. In response, Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht stated that "Iran's military sites are off limits," noting that "all information about these sites [is] classified. Iran will never allow such visits."

Shortly thereafter, on August 27, 2017, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), top military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, said that "in the Islamic Republic of Iran, no official, foreign or Iranian, nor even other unrelated members of the armed forces, can inspect our military centers except with the permission of the [c]ommander in [c]hief." The "commander in chief" is Ayatollah Khamenei.

In fact, an October 2017 report released by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) states with a high degree of certainty that four new military sites "involved in various aspects of the nuclear weapons program" along with two headquarters are operating in Iran free of inspection. These six sites operate in flagrant violation of the expectations laid down in the JCPOA.

According to Alireza Jafarzadeh of the NCRI, in an article posted on Townhall.com:

Tehran has two nuclear programs  one civilian and the other military. The military program has been and remains at the heart of Iran's nuclear activities. Officials of the IRGC help to bridge the two programs. Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani embodies this role. A member of the IRGC at its inception, he received a Ph.D. in nuclear science and is also an expert in laser technology, which he used to help the advancement of the laser refinement process. After playing an active role in the creation of the weaponization headquarters and achieving the rank of general within the IRGC, Abbasi was for years the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian sector. The civilian sector of the nuclear program has systematically provided a plausible logistical cover for the military sector and acts as a conduit for it. The results of the research and advancements of the civilian program have been directed to the military. Iran has used multiple military-related nuclear sites to develop various areas of the nuclear program. These sites include Pazhouheshkadeh, the Nouri Industrial site, the Haft-Tir site, and the Sanjarian site. Each of these locations and their operations are either controlled by, directed by, or work in close association with the military Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (Sazman-e Pazhouheshhaye Novin-e Defa'i), known by its Persian acronym SPND. The sites focus on the different aspects of nuclear weapons that facilitate their use, such as transport, detonation, and warhead design.

Iran is free to keep military sites off-limits to inspection and is not even bound by the nuclear deal altogether. In exchange for the charade of appearing to agree to the nuclear deal, the Obama administration granted Iran access to $150 billion. To make matters worse, Iran plans to begin receive new Boeing aircraft this April that would undoubtedly be used to arm and support Iran's terror proxies in the region.

Iran has a history of using commercial aircraft to transport weaponry. According to a 2011 press release from the U.S. Treasury Department, "rockets or missiles have been transported via Iran Air passenger aircraft" and have "been used to transport missile or rocket components to Syria." The new jets would enable Iran to triple its commercial air fleet from approximately 250 to 750 aircraft, enabling it to more quickly arm Hezb'allah with advanced weaponry that could be used against U.S. forces in the region and against U.S. allies, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.

It is clear that the Iranian nuclear deal is a farce and that the U.S. must decertify it. The threat to U.S. national security and international security from inaction to combat Iran's active nuclear weapons program cannot be overstated. The threat the despotic Iranian regime poses to its own innocent civilians constitutes a grievous and inexcusable evil that must be stopped.

Where the League of Nations failed in its mission to prevent WWII and where the United Nations has failed to stop Iran's nuclear program with illusory assurances of peace courtesy of a failed Iranian nuclear deal, it is up to the U.S. and President Trump to make America and the world safe again by decertifying the Iran nuclear deal and by sanctioning Iran. President Trump has demonstrated that moral clarity and leadership reside in the White House. Such leadership is sorely needed for long-term international security.
Having been successful in writing nonfiction books and recognizing I have zero talent for fiction, I found my writing niche at Regnery Press. As a proud Regnery bestselling author, I fully supported Marji Ross's shunning of the NYT bestseller list as a metric of authorial success. President Ross was on solid ground.

Here is the letter I received as an author who has published a bestseller on the New York Times list.

Dear Regnery Author, I am writing to inform you of an important decision we have made here at Regnery Publishing. After many years of using the New York Times' bestseller list despite what we believe to be a clear bias against conservative books and authors and an underreporting of the bestseller rankings of those books and authors, we have concluded that we cannot in good conscience endorse this list any longer[.]

I know the difference between fiction and non-fiction, which brings me to a book written by Dr. Bandy X. Lee, Yale School of Medicine, who has decided with moral certitude, I guess because she is also an M.Div., Yale Divinity School '95, to violate "the Goldwater Rule" by diagnosing President Trump from secondhand observations.

A dozen lawmakers from the House and Senate received a briefing from Yale psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee on Capitol Hill in early December about President Donald Trump's fitness to be president  and Lee has been asked to speak with additional lawmakers, worried about the [p]resident's mental state, later this month. ... Lee's public comments are highly unusual given protocols from medical professional organizations  including the 37,000-member American Psychiatric Association  banning psychiatrists from diagnosing patients without a formal examination.

Section 7, which appeared in the first edition of the APA's Principles of Medical Ethics in 1973 and is still in effect as of 2017, says:

On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself ... through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his ... expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he ... has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement[.]

Even discussing such a breach of established medical guidelines and ethics puts Dr. Lee more in play than she deserves. Also, shame on any congressional enablers.

In addressing this latest attack on President Trump by a medical professional who should have known better, I want to say: Two can diagnose.

As a former USMC fighter pilot, I have actually seen mentally deficient enemies who acted on their own version of zealotry  call it "moral certitude." The Khmer Rouge and Castro's Cuba come to mind.

So Dr. Lee, who, by reputation, I am sure, successfully and ethically treats those afflicted with significant mental health problems, should know better. By her own secondhand derivative standards, I also have every right by my life experiences to diagnose her actions as at least ethically compromised.

Two D.C. rules come to mind  if you are explaining, you are losing, and never repeat a negative  so this is the last I will mention of Dr. Bandy Lee and what she is doing. Except there is one additional point in the hothouse world of U.S. publishing: often my fellow Regnery authors have been attacked simply for being right-wing.

This ignores two additional points. The first is that the rule for good writing is to "show, not tell," and the second is that the truth is the truth. Dr Lee ignoring the Goldwater Rule violates both those principles.

I will not mention her book title, but as far as the publisher, Thomas Dunne Books, is concerned, here is its publishing record claim to fame. I truly commend those fellow authors who are most fortunate to have the great gift of writing good fiction:

Thomas Dunne Books produces approximately 175 titles each year, covering a range of genres including commercial and literary fiction, mysteries, thrillers, biography, politics, history, sports, and popular science. The imprint is the leading mysteries publisher. In its nearly 30-year history, Thomas Dunne Books has published numerous New York Times bestsellers including Dan Brown's first novel Digital Fortress, over 20 books by international sensation Rosamunde Pilcher, a series of Walking Dead novels written by series creator Robert Kirkman, A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowden, the Meg Langslow mysteries by Donna Andrews ...

...and their claim to infamy:

The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph Goebbels biography in 1996 but had to drop the book when it was found out that Irving was a Holocaust-denier, having links to Institute for Historical Review, "the literary center of the United States Holocaust[] denial movement."

In October 1999, St. Martin's Press recalled a Dunne book, Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, and destroyed copies after various incidents about the author, J.H. Hatfield, surfaced. The incidents were that he had served prison time for a car-bombing attempt on his former boss's life and that he included an anonymous accusation about Bush. A St. Martin's executive editor resigned in protest over the publication. In November, Dunne editors stopped attending St. Martin editorial meetings and started their own.
A prominent Antifa activist was ordered to pay $11,000 in damages to the president of the Berkeley College Republicans for filing "baseless and vexatious" lawsuits against him.

College Republican Troy Worden sued Yvette Felarca after a judge dropped a restraining order against Wooden by Falarca following months of harassment by the Antifa activist.

Campus Reform:

Worden, who has made numerous appearances on national media in his capacity as a Campus Reform correspondent to discuss his ongoing battles with the Berkeley administration and who was voted a winner of Campus Reform's 2017 Higher Ed Heroes Award, remarked at the time that "Felarca's frivolous legal actions were meant to intimidate [him] and hinder [his] political activism." Harmeet Dhillon of the Dhillon Law Group, through which Meuser is representing Worden, said that Felarca has a history of "filing and dismissing utterly frivolous cases against innocent targets" and pledged to hold her and her lawyers "accountable." "Felarca and her fellow travelers in BAMN [By Any Means Necessary]/Antifa need to learn that the California courts are not their personal plaything to use and abuse at will by filing baseless and vexatious lawsuits," she added, with Worden noting that the restraining order prevented him from exercising his free[] speech rights on campus. Now, Commissioner Thomas Rasch of the Superior Court of Alameda County has ordered Felarca to pay Worden $11,100 in attorney fees, according to a Thursday press release, which says Rasch determined that the order "had not been filed in good faith." Additionally, the press release notes that Felarca, whom it identifies as a Berkeley Middle School teacher, was arrested twice in 2017 for incitement of a riot, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer, arguing that the restraining order was an attempt to further stifle Worden's First Amendment rights after the College Republicans invited several controversial speakers to campus.

We covered Felarca back in September when it was discovered that dozens of Antifa activists were middle and high school teachers. Presumably, she is still employed as a teacher, which allows her to spread her poisonous ideology to children.

This kind of "lawfare" used by Felarca and other radical leftists more often than not goes unpunished. It may be that many judges agree with Antifa's agenda or are reluctant to interfere in what amounts to a political dispute. Whatever the reason, judges are usually inclined to give wide leeway to radical leftists in their legal battles against conservatives on campus.

Worden originally sued Felarca for $100,000. That he got only $11,000 is disappointing. No doubt, Felarca will be able to raise that amount easily by tapping into the Antifa network, but the lesson has been given. Hopefully, Worden's success will embolden more conservatives to push back against this clear attempt to stifle political speech.
Over the last couple of years, Brazil has been inundated with one corruption scandal after another. The government responded with "Operation Carwash," sort of like our "drain the swamp."

We learned this week that Petrobras, the state oil monopoly, settled a huge one with U.S. investors:

Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said on Wednesday that it had agreed to pay $2.95 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit in the United States over a corruption scandal that has ensnared dozens of politicians and corporate executives, including two former Brazilian presidents. Prosecutors, in a long-running investigation known as Operation Carwash, have claimed that a small number of top officials at the company, known as Petrobras, conspired with a group of other companies to overcharge Petrobras for construction and service work, receiving bribes in return. The ensuing scandal and vast investigation has implicated dozens of high-level figures like former [p]resident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff. Corruption allegations have also dogged the current president, Michel Temer, and several of his close allies. Petrobras officials believe [that] nearly $3 billion in bribes [was] paid as part of the scheme, which allegedly included gifts of Rolex watches, $3,000 bottles of wine, yachts, helicopters[,] and prostitutes. The company said on Monday that it was a victim of the bribery scheme and had already recovered 1.475 billion Brazilian rea[l]s, or about $449 million, in restitution. Petrobras said it would "continue to pursue all available legal remedies from culpable companies and individuals."

This is good news for a couple of reasons:

1) It protects foreign investors, the necessary ingredient for future growth. Like any other growing economy, Brazil needs to attract money, and this settlement is a sign of respect toward these and future investors.

2) It shows that the anti-corruption campaign is serious. As my friend in Brazil said, it looks as if we are washing one corrupt car at a time. It's good to see Brazil get serious about corruption.

Cheers for Brazil. I hope other Latin American countries learn from this experience.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Many in the media along with other Democrats say Trump is mentally incompetent and needs his head examined.

I believe that the people who actually need their heads examined are Obama and all the journalists and Democrats who supported him, no matter what he did.

Obama was paranoid, delusional, and a power-hungry autocrat who didn't care about equal justice, his oath to enforce laws, the Constitution, economic opportunity for all, or the safety of the people.

Paranoid

Obama wiretapped James Rosen, threw Dinesh D'Souza in jail, and spied on Sharyl Attkisson. If you were an opponent of Obama, you weren't safe. I did not see supporters thrown in jail.

The State Department deliberately deleted embarrassing questions from James Rosen about Iran. (The media and Democrats didn't care.)

Obama illegally spied on thousands of Americans for years and spied on his political opponent, Trump.

Obama changed the rules so that members of his staff and bureaucrats could illegally unmask people's names and illegally leak conversations to the media. There was no punishment by the Justice Department, and somehow there were no leaks surrounding Hillary or Obama.

Obama compared Tea Party members to domestic terrorists, and his IRS clearly targeted them, violating free speech rights.

The Justice Department threatened legal action against those who disagree that mankind is responsible for changes in the global climate.

Delusional

He said when he was elected that sea levels would stop rising. He was so delusional that he would go around the world saying that if the people and businesses just handed over trillions of dollars, politicians could control temperatures, sea levels, and storm activity forever.

Obama was either delusional or a congenital liar when he went around the U.S., repeating over and over that you could keep your doctor and health care plan and that your premiums would go down if Obamacare passed. He also lied when he said middle-class taxes would not be raised under Obamacare.

Either he was delusional to believe that government is the best way to grow the economy or he didn't care what was coming out of his mouth.

Autocrat and power-hungry

He issued regulations at a fast pace to transfer control from the private sector to the government. As it was clear that the economy was recovering at the slowest rate in seventy years, Obama just kept adding regulations and usurping power from the people, showing that he either is either a really slow learner or just wanted power and didn't care that he was reducing economic opportunities for the poor and the middle class.

He and the Democrats passed a bill that dictatorially told 100% of the American people what type of health policy they had to buy. If they didn't do as they were told, they were fined.

He dictatorially threatened to cut off funds from schools if they didn't allow boys and girls to expose themselves in whichever locker room or restroom they chose, notwithstanding which anatomical parts they possessed.

No matter how many times pipelines passed environmental standards, he just said no.

Equal justice for all

Clapper, Brennan, Hillary, Rice, Huma, and Holder all committed perjury, and they were never prosecuted.

Hillary and her aides continually violated the nation's security laws, and they were purposely not charged.

Lois Lerner and others at the IRS committed perjury, destroyed records and computers, and violated people's constitutional rights, and Justice didn't charge them.

Obama said there wasn't a smidgen of evidence of wrongdoing at IRS and didn't see anything Hillary and others did at the State Department that jeopardized the safety of the U.S. The "independent" Justice Department did what it was told by not charging anyone.

His oath to enforce laws and the Constitution

Obama repeatedly said he didn't have the right to unilaterally change immigration laws but did it anyway.

When Arizona wanted to enforce immigration laws, he sued the state.

When sanctuary cities refused to enforce laws on the books, he supported them.

When states passed sensible voter ID laws, Obama sued them. (States' rights seem important to Democrats only when they comport with the Democrat agenda.)

The IRS violated conservative free speech rights, and Obama supported it (probably instructed the agency).

The Justice Department sued the Little Sisters of the Poor for daring to exercise their freedom of religion.

And the supposedly independent Justice Department did exactly what Obama instructed it to do.

Didn't care about the safety of people

Pulled out all troops from Iraq, letting the terrorist organization ISIS build up.

Essentially did nothing to stop North Korea from continually developing nuclear weapons.

Failed to live up to our commitment to help Ukraine.

Drew a fictitious red line in Syria.

Built up Iran, which continues to threaten death to America and death to Israel and supports terrorism throughout the world and the Mideast.

One of the most disgusting things Obama did as president

On September 11, 2012, there was an attack happening on American people in Benghazi. Despite Obama, Hillary, and others having no idea how long the attack would last, they did not lift a finger to help save those lives. Instead, they seemed to spend the night figuring out how to protect their political power because a terrorist attack would be inconvenient that close to an election. Therefore, they concocted a lie about a video causing the attack and sent Susan Rice out to tell the world the lie.

It shows that Hillary and Obama have zero empathy. They wouldn't tell the families of those who lost loved ones the truth. Their power was much more important to them than those who suffered.

My choice

I will gladly take a president who leads from ahead, who follows laws that Congress has passed, and who is striving to give the power and purse back to the people as fast as he can. His mental capacity to produce results appears to be spectacular.

Here is a hint for the media: the president who is seeking to reduce regulations as fast as he can and give the power and purse back to the people is not the power-hungry autocrat. Obama was the autocrat and the power-hungry man, and the media and other Democrats supported him at all times.

A side note

Black unemployment hit a record low in December. I would think the media and other Democrats would be celebrating, but instead, their goal is to destroy the president who wants to give economic opportunity to everyone. That is more proof that Democrats want more people to be dependent on government and that they would rather oppress than progress.

Correction: James Rosen was wiretapped, not imprisoned
With each report of good economic news, the public should expect that the establishment will grow ever more frantic in its rabid zeal to end the Trump presidency.

On the front page of The New York Times, January 5  but below the fold  the headline reported: "The Dow Hits 25,000: The Party Will End One Day, but When?" The January 5 Times lead story ignored the booming stock market to focus on whether Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III can bring an obstruction of justice charge against President Trump.

That January 5 Times front page, in column two, carried another economy-related story, informing readers that the Trump administration "would allow new offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all United States coastal waters[.]" The Times article pointed out that the president's action lifted "a ban on such drilling imposed by President Barack Obama near the end of his term and would deal a serious blow to his environmental legacy.

Meanwhile, money.cnn.com reported, January 5, that the economy added some two million jobs in 2017, which, it might be noted, reversed the serious blows hammered at the economy during the eight long Obama years.

The greater the successes of President Trump, the more intense the opposition. After all, Bret Stephens, in his year-ending Times column, December 30, "Why I'm Still a Never Trumper," set forth a series of actions taken by the Trump administration that Stephens backs, including the appointment of Justice Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, success against ISIS, and condemnation of "Title IX kangaroo courts on campus." Yet Stephens still wishes, bizarrely, that "Hillary Clinton were president."

It is, clearly, quite reasonable to acknowledge the unreasonableness of the Trump-haters: if he succeeds in making America great again, they will be prodded all the more to protect their standing and seek his ouster.

And so, the past week, The New York Times has changed its position on the allegation of Trump-Russian collusion, claiming, now, that the FBI looked into the issue not because of material in a dossier accumulated by one Christopher Steele, with the focus on someone named Carter Page, but because of a bibulous chat between an Australian diplomat and a foreign policy wannabe named George Papadopoulos, who worked on the Trump campaign. The sleight of hand at the Times was bolstered in an op-ed, January 3, by Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch, of Fusion GPS, which, per Simpson and Fritsch, "hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert." And Simpson and Fritsch now claim they "don't believe [that] the Steele dossier was the trigger for the [FBI's] investigation into Russian meddling."

Simpson and Fritsch also claim in their op-ed not to have spoken to the FBI about the Steele dossier  again behold the careful use of language, as their disclaimer does not extend to the Justice Department. And so the Simpson-Fritsch op-ed does not mention that Nellie Ohr, wife of Bruce Ohr, a senior Justice official, worked at Fusion GPS during the 2016 election campaign.

But was the dossier the trigger for something else  the surveillance of people on the Trump campaign? The anti-Trump forces are so careful with language  scoffing, for example, last March at Trump assertions that his phones at Trump Tower in New York City had been wiretapped. Also, we are apparently to ignore this report, on the Times front page, January 20, 2017  Trump's inauguration day:

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-[E]lect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said.

The headline on this story read: "WIRETAPPED DATA USED IN INQUIRY OF TRUMP AIDES." This story went on to indicate that Obama officials were leaking information on their suspicions about Trump-Russian ties "because they feared [that] the new administration would obstruct their efforts."

One year later, the anti-Trump forces seem to be confident that President Trump will not put an end to the collusion witch hunt, lest he frighten shaky Republicans into agreeing to hold impeachment hearings. And one might with reason wonder if the decision was made to staff the special counsel team with Democrat donors to provoke the president into dismissing Mueller for obvious bias, thus paving the way for impeachment demands. (Imagine how the left would thunder if a Hillary Clinton investigation involved donors to conservatives causes.)

What would be the impeachment charge? Does it matter? Basically, wouldn't it come down to this: Donald J. Trump is president of the United States against our wishes? After all, this was the headline on a Peter Wehner Times op-ed, "President Trump? Just Say No." The date: July 8, 2015.

Wehner ended that column  he remains staunchly anti-Trump  with these words:

Mr. Trump is a pernicious figure on the American political landscape. He can't be wished away. Which means the people who have to confront and expose him are conservatives. We're the ones who have the most to lose from a successful Trump candidacy.

To this one would add: and the American people have the most to gain from a successful Trump presidency.
Elected officials in the City of Harvey, Illinois are going to be missing their paychecks, as the decades of over-spending and over-taxing finally come home for the politicians responsible for the crisis.

Zack Keske of the Chicago Tribune reports:

Elected officials in Harvey learned Thursday they would not be getting paid this pay cycle due to the city's "financial constraints," according to an email obtained by the Daily Southtown. City [c]omptroller Louis B. Williams notified officials early Thursday afternoon that the city could not pay them this pay period but hoped to process payments as early as within a week. "Due to the financial constraints the City is experiencing, we are unable to pay elected officials for this current pay period 01/05/18," reads the email, which Williams sent to the mayor, aldermen, the treasurer, the clerk, the deputy clerk[,] and a mayoral aide. "Regarding your paychecks, we will keep you all updated, as we are hoping to process them sometime next week if funding is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding at this time." The brief communication prompted email responses from multiple aldermen, who claimed they had been left in the dark about the city's financial state and requested that a meeting be called to discuss the matter, emails provided by one of the aldermen show.



Downtown Harvey, Illinois (photo credit: David Wilson1949).

Harvey, Illinois is, to be frank, a basket case of mismanagement. Half a year ago, the Chicago Tribune editorial board wrote:

To live in Harvey is to live in a perpetual state of municipal dysfunction. The city's mismanagement spans decades. Police pensions went unpaid for years. Rape kits languished on a shelf when they should have been sent to a lab for analysis  a lag time, prosecutors say, in which some of the suspects in those cases raped again. In 2015, when the city's police desperately needed squad cars, Mayor Eric Kellogg's administration used $51,000 in federal grant money to get the mayor an SUV.

The city has a long history of switching money around from intended (and legal) uses to cover shortfalls elsewhere. The Trib editorial, focused on water system failures, noted:

Water fund revenue was used to cover budget deficits and meet the payroll of non-water department workers. The misspending of water revenue also included payments to Kay Jewelers, a Kohl's department store[,] and a college savings account. Harvey officials say they discovered those fraudulent payments and made sure the money was paid back. "It is undisputed that Harvey's water fund finances are in disarray," [Judge] Pantle wrote in her ruling, "and are being unlawfully raided by Harvey's government to pay for non[-]water-related expenses."

Apparently, there are no more accounts to be looted to pay the pols. Or, in Margaret Thatcher's words, "eventually, you run out of other people's money."

How long will it be until demands for a federal bailout are heard? Illinois has too many problems of its own to start bailing out its municipalities. Keep in mind that Harvey's population is over three quarters black, according to the 2010 census.
Illinois is broke. More people are moving out of the state than coming in, the state has approved the public paying for abortions for Medicaid recipients and state workers, and Illinois has decided that it shouldn't follow immigration laws. But the AP has spotted the biggest problem: not enough people are buying medical marijuana.

The investors aren't recouping their investment, so we've got to find a way to get more people buying pot. One solution the people running Illinois have come up with is to get people who are hooked on opioids to start buying medical marijuana instead. My guess is that there is no proof that this will help, but what the heck  we need to try so investors can make more money.

I have always joked that the only cure for my hangnail or paper cut is medical marijuana, but that is not far off from the truth. These people keep adding more ailments to be eligible to get more customers instead of being happy that fewer people are getting drugs.

From the article:

Illinois could see changes this year that expand access to medical marijuana, as operators say the number of patients allowed to buy the drug is too low to recoup investments. Retail sales of medical cannabis in Illinois only topped about $9.3 million last month in the state's pilot program, the Chicago Tribune reported. Operators said the low patient count stems from constraints that state law imposes on the program, which is set to expire in 2020. Revolution Enterprises' two marijuana cultivation facilities in the state are operating at less than 30 percent capacity, said Mark de Souza, the company's CEO. "Current market conditions just dictate that we have to operate as lean as possible, assuming extremely slow growth in the overall market," de Souza said. "We can't plan any other way, and that's what makes being a businessperson in this industry a little more challenging." Operators have also said making marijuana available to patients who currently depend on opioids for chronic pain could provide significant relief and help curb opioid addiction. Illinois doesn't currently allow medical cannabis access to patients with chronic pain.

I had no idea that the goal of the government and taxpayers in Illinois is to make sure these investors make money. Why doesn't the state figure out a way to keep residents in Illinois so retail stores that don't sell medical marijuana survive?

This story reminds me of the way government treats all problems. No matter how much of a failure a program is, government just throws more money at it. When the government is broke, these people don't figure out what to cut; they figure out how to confiscate more money out of the people and businesses.

When electric cars don't sell according to government projections, the bureaucrats increase mandates and tax credits. We've got to make sure to subsidize rich people buying toys to pretend they care. Last year, around 200,000 electric cars were sold  around 1.2% of total sales, and that is just not good enough.

When Obamacare passed, the CBO projected that 26 million would be signed up for the exchanges by 2016. The actual number was 11 million, and it is declared a raging success.

When we hit record cold temperatures, we are told that global warming and humans are part of the cause. Just repeat the same garbage over and over again, and journalists will repeat it, too, with no questions asked. The agenda is way more important than facts.

When medical marijuana use is lower than projected, we should celebrate instead of figuring out more ways to get people to use it. There should be no obligation for Illinois or taxpayers to make sure these investors who took the risk make a lot of money.

Capitalism and the private sector, not government, are what made the U.S. the greatest economy that gives the most people the opportunity to move up the economic ladder.
If you could have 300 extra miles of border wall in 2027, but you had to give the "DREAMers" amnesty now to do it, would you? For President Trump, it's not a tough call.

The Trump administration has proposed spending $18 billion over 10 years to significantly extend the border wall with Mexico, providing one of its most detailed blueprints of how the president hopes to carry out a signature campaign pledge. The proposal by Customs and Border Protection calls for 316 miles (505 kilometers) of additional barrier by September 2027, bringing total coverage to 970 miles (1,552 kilometers), or nearly half the border, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter. It also calls for 407 miles (651 kilometers) of replacement or secondary fencing[.] ... Homeland Security [s]ecretary Kirstjen Nielsen told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the wall would be "first and foremost" in any package that includes new protections for DACA recipients. She also said the administration want[s] to close "loopholes" on issues that include handling asylum claims and local police working with immigration authorities.

Bloomberg News has some excellent graphics about our southern border. The first is the number of illegals arrested in each zone.

The graphic above shows the area where we have an actual border fence.

In 2006, George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, which ultimately led to construction of 653 miles of reinforced fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The bulk of the existing 653 miles of fencing took about three years to erect, but some of the more difficult terrain increased that timeline.

What have we learned from this?

1) We already have 653 miles of fencing on a 2,000-mile border.

2) The 653 miles of fencing was built in three years. Trump wants to build his 300 miles of additional fencing and 400 miles of reinforced fencing in ten years. Even if Trump's wall or fence is more substantial than George W. Bush's, that seems to be a relaxed time frame.

3) On the other hand, Trump is right to want to reinforce existing fencing; the area with the most illegal entries, the Rio Grande, already has a fence, which is obviously ineffectual, since there were 138,000 arrests last year in that area alone. Similarly, if you compare the two graphics above, the biggest problem areas seem to be the areas that have fencing rather than the areas that don't. Of course, if the fencing truly becomes effective, illegals may shift their efforts to areas without fencing, which is why we need more than 300 additional miles of fencing.

If these reports are true, it is disappointing that President Trump would trade amnesty now for border security in ten years. Trump also wants to end chain migration, reduce legal immigration, and end sanctuary cities. Those are more powerful inducements to make a deal rather than this casual plan to reinforce the border piecemeal over a period of many years.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
Lebanon: two indicted for 'Israeli plot' Charged for alleged plan to kill premier's MP aunt

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 5 - Two Lebanese nationals, including a main residing in Israel, have been indicted in Beirut on charges of attempting to organize the murder of MP Bahia Hariri, aunt of Premier Saad Hariri, at the order of Israeli secret services. The murder was allegedly intended to spark a crisis in Lebanon after the premier stepped down last November.



The Lebanese newspaper Daily Star reported on Friday that military judge Riad Abu Ghayda indicted Mohammad Mustafa al Dabet on charges that he was working for the Mossad and operated at the orders of another Lebanese national, Walid al Naqouzi, who lives in Israel and was indicted in absentia.



Israel "wanted to take advantage of Hariri's resignation and asked Dabet to prepare a plot to kill MP Hariri to shake the country", according to the prosecution. The magistrate believes Dabet then was supposed to flee to Turkey.



In a surprise announcement last November 4 from Riyadh, Saad Hariri announced he was stepping down as premier. He remained in the Saudi capital for about two weeks before returning home via Paris and revoking his resignation. (ANSAmed).